About this ebook
Includes "In Vaulted Halls Entombed" featured in the Netflix series Love, Death & Robots.
“Alan Baxter is Australia’s master of literary darkness.” — This Is Horror Podcast
Collected together for the first time ever, these sixteen provocative and intensely chilling tales by multi-award-winning-author Alan Baxter venture into the depths of the darkest and most shadowy places where unspeakable horrors are the predators and we the willing prey.
Prepare for an always terrifying, frequently heartbreaking journey in multiple stages, each piece echoing Alan Baxter's unique voice that effortlessly blends horror, fantasy and the weird with elements of the dark fantastique, resulting in an unforgettable volume of fiction.
Praise for Alan Baxter and Served Cold:
"Step into the ring with Alan Baxter, I dare you. He writes with the grace, precision, and swift brutality of a prizefighter. Served Cold is a stellar showcase for his talents. If you haven't had the pleasure of reading him yet, start here!" — Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of Ararat and The Pandora Room
"In Served Cold Alan Baxter shows off his impressive versatility and range with a host of stories that mix old school terrors with very now concerns. At turns creepy and visceral, Baxter delivers the horror goods." — Paul Tremblay, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of A Head Full of Ghosts and The Cabin at the End of the World
"Alan Baxter's Served Cold is a feast for readers, who will push back from the table wanting more!" — John F.D. Taff, Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of The Fearing and The End in All Beginnings
Proudly presented by Grey Matter Press, the independent home of multiple award-winning and Bram Stoker Award-nominated titles.
Grey Matter Press: Where Dark Thoughts Thrive
About the author
Alan Baxter is a British-Australian, multi-award-winning author of horror, supernatural thrillers, and dark fantasy. He’s also a martial arts expert, a whisky-soaked swear monkey, and dog lover. He creates dark, weird stories among dairy paddocks on the beautiful south coast of NSW, Australia, where he lives with his wife, son, hound and other creatures.
He is the author of several novels, including the Alex Caine trilogy: Bound, Obsidian and Abduction; The Balance duology: RealmShift and MageSign; the urban horror noir novel Hidden City; and the horror/crime thriller Devouring Dark. He’s also written several novellas, including the cosmic horror thriller The Book Club; the supernatural noir Eli Carver Supernatural Thriller series: Manifest Recall, Recall Night and Ghost Recall; the wildly popular gonzo horror novella The Roo; and the collection of five interconnected horror novellas The Gulp.
Alan has also had more than 80 short fiction publications in journals and anthologies in Australia, the US, the UK, France, Germany and Japan, including The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Daily Science Fiction, and many others. Alan has two volumes of collected short fiction: Crow Shine and Served Cold.
At times, Alan collaborates with US action/adventure bestselling author, David Wood. Together they have co-authored the short horror novel Dark Rite, four action thrillers in The Jake Crowley Adventures, and the Sam Aston Investigations giant monster thrillers Primordial, Overlord, and Crocalypse.
Alan has been an eight-time finalist in the Aurealis Awards, an eight-time finalist in the Australian Shadows Awards and a seven-time finalist in the Ditmar Awards. From those shortlistings he won the 2014 Australian Shadows Award for Best Short Story (“Shadows of the Lonely Dead”), the 2015 Australian Shadows Paul Haines Award For Long Fiction (“In Vaulted Halls Entombed”), the 2016 Australian Shadows Award for Best Collection (Crow Shine), and the 2019 Australian Shadows Award for Best Collection (Served Cold). He is also a past winner of the AHWA Short Story Competition (“It’s Always the Children Who Suffer”). Alan’s first collection, Crow Shine, also made the preliminary ballot for the 2016 Bram Stoker Award (TM) for Best Collection.
Anthony Rivera is founder and publisher of the Chicago-based independent Grey Matter Press. Rivera is a Bram Stoker Award-nominated editor committed to discovering, developing and nurturing the finest talent writing in the thriller, crime, fantasy, psychological, horror, and speculative genres that are published by Grey Matter Press.
Having spent the majority of his professional career in consumer product marketing supporting an array of global brands, he established the press in 2012 and has leveraged his extensive communications and branding expertise to build a publishing house that has become one of the most respected independent fiction presses in the industry.
