PLAY DEAD

Raw Dog Screaming Press, 2005

ISBN 1933293047, 272 pages


Play Dead (2005)

Novel

Description: Noir Supernatural Thriller. A pathological gambler is swept into an underground poker game involving photographs of each player's murder victims.

Read an Excerpt

Out Of Print from the publisher

Trade Hardcover
and
Limited Editions
  • Run of 74 "Grim Grimoire" Sculpture-Bound Hardcovers with autographed custom-made playing card
  • Play Dead deck of cards featuring art by David Liscomb
  • Note: about 100 standard trade editions preordered early by some specialty booksellers included a signed playing card from a standard deck of cards (not the special Play Dead deck) as a collector's bonus

Cover Art by Jennifer Barnes

Copies may still be available from some of these fine retailers:


Play Dead 'Grim Grimoire' (2005)

Praise/Reviews:

"Set in a neon-lit metropolis where desperation and moral corruption are commonplace and the difference between life and death is mere luck, this viciously realistic look into the not-so-glamorous world of high-stakes gambling (and the sinister individuals who exist in its shadows) is as utterly repellent as it is addictively readable. Gambling aficionados as well as horror, mystery and crime fiction fans are sure to enjoy this action-packed 52-chapter 'novel-of-cards'—if Play Dead were a poker hand, it would undoubtedly be a royal flush." --Paul Goat Allen, Barnes & Noble Ransom Notes

"Established contemporary horror author Arnzen serves up a chilling brew of gritty dialogue and hard-boiled, James-Ellroy-style action that, by means of unexpected plot twists, never fails to keep readers alert and guessing." —-Booklist

"Not since Tim Power's Last Call has a novel of Las Vegas created such a vibrant portrait of a city poised on the edge of Destiny's precipice...Play Dead will induce shivers of delight and pure fear. It will gross you out in places, but in such a literary way that you'll thank its author....Play Dead is no gamble -- it's a winner of a novel, representing the lyricism possible in our field when an accomplished writer plays his gruesome cards in just the right order." --William Gagliani, ChiZine

"Arnzen (Bram Stoker award-winner, Grave Markings) sets his second horror novel in a nightmarish 'Vegas,' where a group of desperate homeless men play an ultra-high-stakes 'Butcher Boy' card game run by casino owner Nebo Tarrochi. To qualify for the game, each player must create a suit of cards based on lurid photographs of dead people, and this cautionary tale grows sticky with relentless gore as the victims pile up." --Publisher's Weekly


Custom Play Dead Card
Art by David Liscomb

"This novel does indeed work as hardboiled crime fiction, but has a layer of brutality and undercurrent of the supernatural that makes it work for horror fans, too. Imagine David Mamet doing an episode of Tales from the Crypt, Scorcese in the Twilight Zone, that sort of feel. And the horror in the novel is genuine. Though the central characters are archetypal, they are richly drawn and you find yourself genuinely concerned about them (Gin in particular). Despite the pulpy feel, the existential questions put forth by the novel give it a real gravity." --Jeremy Robert Johnson, Dark Discoveries

"Broken down into fifty-two chapters, Play Dead is sure to appeal to both card players and horror fans alike." --Ray Wallace, SFReader

"Like the ragtag characters in Poppy Z. Brite's Lost Souls, the folks that you meet in Michael A. Arnzen's Play Dead will lead you down the back alleys and boulevards of an intensely desparate and wasted existence.... Play Dead is a sure bet. I recommend it highly." --Steve Vernon, Cemetery Dance Insider

"Like a game of high-stakes poker, the story progresses hand after hand, with increasing intensity, the characters tempting fate while they seal their own. ...Arnzen is a master of the concise. This book is relatively short, under 300 pages, but packs a powerful wallop." --Flesh & Blood

"Play Dead reads like white lightning. The wonderfully grungy characters and staccato-fast chapters grab you by the face, haul you in, and won't let go, while the richly metaphoric style begs for savoring on every page. Arnzen wears a wry gaming grin even as he reminds us the universe is little more than a horrorshow comprised of pure plain chance. This terrific (in all senses of the word) novel hits the ground running and just won't stop." --Lance Olsen, author of Hideous Beauties and Girl Imagined by Chance

"With Play Dead, Arnzen has created a masterpiece of eloquent depravity. It features all of the sins of Vegas, slathering on heaping portions of insane greed, savage sex, irredeemable blasphemy, and skull-crunching violence. You'll get sucked in on the first page, and won't put the book down until you reach the breathless finale. Arnzen writes like someone has a shotgun to his head, and Mike might be the one pulling the trigger..." --J.A. Konrath, author of Bloody Mary

"Play Dead is a fun story full of power, life and death, intricacies of relationships, mysticism and survival. Arnzen weaves a gripping tale with just the right blend of intrigue, horror, and morality. Very entertaining." --Horror-Web

"...a fast-paced, brutal, gritty, and unflinching novel." --Cemetery Dance

See also: Gambling