The Cedar Hill Story Cycle
Cedar Hill, Ohio is the town most used, and abused, by Ohio horror author Gary Braunbeck. Below is the collection of stories centered in and around Cedar Hill.
Title List | Links | Author Page | Ohio Connection | Notes
 In Silent Graves  |
In Silent GravesAuthor: Braunbeck, Gary A. |
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A slightly revised mass market paperback version of the difficult-to-get Stoker Award nominated novel: The Indifference of Heaven. Robert Londrigan seems to have it all. He is a newscaster with a rising career. He has a beautiful wife, Denise, and a new baby on the way. But in just a few short hours Robert’s world is turned upside down. Now his family is gone. But the torment only gets worse when his daughter’s body is stolen from the morgue by a strange, disfigured man. . . . Robert is about to begin a journey into a world of nightmare, an unimaginable world of mystery, horror and revelation. He will learn, from both the living and the dead, secrets about this world and things beyond this world. Though his journey will be grotesque, terrifying and heartbreaking, he will not be allowed to stop. But can he survive with his mind intact? Can he survive at all? |
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 In the Midnight Museum  |
In the Midnight MuseumAuthor: Braunbeck, Gary A. |
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Martin Tyler is a 44-year-old janitor whose life has come to a sputtering halt; he has no friends, no family, and no promise of better days ahead. In the grip of blackest depression, he attempts to take his own life, only to find himself waking up in a local mental health facility where he has been placed for observation. But something more has happened to Martin than just a failed suicide attempt; certain doors of perception have been unlocked in his mind, allowing him to see fantastic creatures that lurk outside on the streets of Cedar Hill - creatures only he can perceive. Over the next 48 hours, Martin will discover what these creatures are, who controls them, and why he must enter The Midnight Museum, a place with no doors or windows, but many entrances and exits; a place just outside the perception of everyday life; a place where Martin will discover how and why he inadvertently holds the fate of the world in his hands. |
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 Keepers  |
KeepersAuthor: Braunbeck, Gary A. |
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Nominated for the 2005 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Novel. Everything changed for Gil Stewart on the day he saw the old man die. Gil had witnessed the bizarre accident on the highway and stopped to help. The old man couldn’t be saved, but just before he died he clutched Gil’s shirt and whispered a warning: “The Keepers are coming!” That was when Gil’s nightmare began. At first he thought it was merely odd, a series of weird coincidences. Household pets started acting strangely. Zoo animals escaped. But now he can see a pattern emerging, a chilling reminder from a past that he can’t — or won’t — remember. As the true horror becomes clear, and terror builds upon terror, Gil can only await the coming of . . . the Keepers. |
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 Mr. Hands  |
Mr. HandsBonus Novella: Kiss of the Mudman |
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This book also contains the author preferred version of Kiss of the Mudman, the 2005 IHG Award winner Recognizing Outstanding Achievement in Long Fiction. The doll is odd, carved out of wood, with long arms and huge hands. Little Sarah named it Mr. Hands and loved the doll until the day she was murdered. Now her mother, Lucy, discovers something amazing about Sarah’s doll — it allows her to control another Mr. Hands. This Mr. Hands is a living, terrifying being with horrendous power. At Lucy’s command he will do whatever she tells him — even kill. This is Lucy’s chance to see justice is done. She decides who will live and who will suffer a horrible death, and Mr. Hands carries out the sentences without mercy. But once Mr. Hands is unleashed, will anyone be able to stop him? |
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 Coffin County  |
Coffin CountyAuthor: Braunbeck, Gary A. |
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| The small town of Cedar Hill is no stranger to tragedy and terror. Nearly two centuries ago, when the area was first settled, a gruesome mass murder baptized the town with blood. More recently there was the Great Fire, the notorious night the casket factory burned down, taking an entire neighborhood with it. But no one in Cedar Hill can be prepared for what is to come — shocking murders that grow more horrendous with each victim, and a trail of taunting clues that point to the past . . . and to an old, abandoned graveyard. | |||
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The Series: The Collected Short Stories
 Graveyard People  |
Graveyard People: The Collected Cedar Hill Stories (The Collected Cedar Hill Stories #1)Author: Braunbeck, Gary A. |
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Nominated for the 2003 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement for a Fiction Collection. A powerful collection of short stories and novellas all centering around Gary’s town of Cedar Hills, Ohio. Most stories have appeared in magazines and other anthologies but these represent the definitive author’s version. Table of Contents:
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 Home before Dark  |
Home before Dark: The Collected Cedar Hill Stories (The Collected Cedar Hill Stories #2)Author: Braunbeck, Gary A. |
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Contains the 2005 IHG Award winner Recognizing Outstanding Achievement in Long Fiction, Kiss of the Mudman. This is the second collection of short stories and novellas all centering around Gary’s town of Cedar Hills, Ohio. Most stories have appeared in magazines and other anthologies but these represent the definitive author’s vision. Table of Contents:
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Original Sources:
 Things Left Behind: A Story Cycle  |
Things Left Behind: A Story CycleAuthor: Braunbeck, Gary A. |
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Nominated for the 1997 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement for a Fiction Collection. A firm believer that speculative fiction in all of its forms is the supreme mythic literature of our times, Gary A. Braunbeck accomplishes what all serious genre writers set out to do: to entertain, to instill honest emotion and incorporate the writer’s own sensibilities into his or her fiction, and — when the job has been done well — perhaps leave the reader with a little food for thought afterward. That Braunbeck has done so is exceptional; that he has done so repeatedly is evidenced by many of his stories regularly appearing on several “Year’s Best” lists. Things Left Behind not only displays the versatility of Braunbeck’s work (with stories from the horror, fantasy, mystery, literary, suspense, historical, science fiction, and popular mainstream fields) but showcases it in a structure that only a handful of writers have attempted. Some will call it “a collection,” others might deem it an “episodic novel,” what cannot be argued is that it is unlike anything else you will encounter in genre fiction this year. Read the book as you would a novel — straight through to the end, for Things Left Behind is much more than an assortment of meticulously-crafted short stories and novellas; it is an exploration of the myriad realms of mystery, violence, grief, rage, loneliness, joy, and horror that lie just beneath the surface of the everyday world, and what can happen when one goes looking for answers to questions that cannot — and perhaps should not — be found. Focused and unified in ways that recall Peter Straub’s Houses Without Doors, Hemingway’s In Our Time, and Russell Bank’s Success Stories, Braunbeck’s Things Left Behind is a disturbing portrayal of archetypes (the outsider, the warrior, the ghost, the werewolf, the magician, the killer, the singer, the vampire, the storyteller, and so on) of a small, archetypical society — in this case, the fictional town of Cedar Hill, Ohio. The book begins with “Dreams and Permanence,” essentially a brief study of the outsider, and, coming full-circle, ends with “Searching For Survivors,” a horrifying, powerful, and ultimately moving meditation on the effects of unspeakable violence, wherein the outsider becomes the storyteller. Along the way, readers will be treated to some of Braunbeck’s most popular pieces — “After The Elephant Ballet,” “By Civilized Means,” “Cyrano,” and the controversial novella “Some Touch Of Pity,” presented here for the first time in its original, uncut form — as well as several brand-new works (nearly two-thirds of the stories presented here have never been published before), including a 30,000 word novella, “The Sisterhood Of Plain-Faced Women,” perhaps the most accomplished piece of short fiction Braunbeck has thus far written. This Cemetery Dance edition, illustrated by Allen Koszowski, also boasts a stunning cover by World Fantasy Award-winning artist Alan M. Clark, a Preface by J.N. Williamson, an Introduction by the legendary William F. Nolan, an Afterword by Ed Gorman, and is signed by all contributors! Things Left Behind promises to be the most talked-about debut of the year, so open the book, turn the first page, and let your journey into the unique, terrifying, and heartbreaking world of Gary A. Braunbeck begin. And hang on to something. Table of Contents:
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 The Indifference of Heaven  |
The Indifference of HeavenAuthor: Braunbeck, Gary A. |
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Nominated for the 2000 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Novel. When his wife dies giving birth to a stillborn child, Robert Londrigan’s grief quickly turns to horror with the theft of his dead daughter’s body. As his hold on reality fades, he encounters a mysterious man named Rael who rules over an underground haven filled with children who may or may not be dead. Though not for the squeamish, Braunbeck’s first solo novel nevertheless presents a compelling and disturbingly graphic exploration of grief and redemption that should appeal to fans of dark fantasy and psychological horror. This book is out of print and difficult to get. It was, however, reprinted as In Silent Graves with minor rewrites. |
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 Escaping Purgatory: Fables in Words and Pictures  |
Escaping Purgatory: Fables in Words and PicturesAuthor: Braunbeck, Gary A. and Clark, Alan M. |
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Escaping Purgatory is about personal hells. We all create them. We find ways to convince ourselves that we are comfortable with the really cruel ones, at least for a while. It’s understandable. After all change is frightening. But inevitably there comes a time when we are willing to do anything to end the torment. In this book you’ll meet some of those extremes and perhaps you’ll recognize yourself. Table of Contents:
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 From beneath These Fields of Blood  |
From beneath These Fields of BloodAuthor: Braunbeck, Gary A. |
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A powerful collection of short stories and novellas. |
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Summary:
Title List: Complete (revised)
1. Graveyard People: The Collected Cedar Hill Stories (Vol. 1)
2. Home before Dark: The Collected Cedar Hill Stories (Vol. 2)
3. In Silent Graves
4. In the Midnight Museum
5. Keepers
6. Mr. Hands
7. Coffin County
Title List: Story Cycle
1. In Silent Graves
2. In the Midnight Museum
3. Keepers
4. Mr. Hands
5. Coffin County
Title List: Collections
1. Graveyard People: The Collected Cedar Hill Stories (Vol. 1)
2. Home before Dark: The Collected Cedar Hill Stories (Vol. 2)
Title List: Original
1. Things Left Behind: A Story Cycle
2. The Indifference of Heaven
3. Escaping Purgatory: Fables in Words and Pictures
4. From beneath These Fields of Blood
Weblinks List:
Gary A. Braunbeck — Official Site
For a complete list of books and short stories, check out Gary A. Braunbeck — Bibliography
Book List for:
Gary A. Braunbeck
Ohio Connection:
Gary A. Braunbeck was born in Newark, Ohio and currently lives in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and fellow writer Lucy A. Snyder.
The stories in this list are mostly set in the town of Cedar Hill, Ohio.
