Bentley Little has forged a name for himself as one of the most startlingly original authors in contemporary horror. His subversion of genre tropes and talent for creating surreal, Boschian-like nightmares from the mundane is without parallel.

Herein you'll meet: the mischievous "Rodeo Clown," who may very well be evil incarnate, or perhaps little more than an innocent bystander in a ring of coincidence; a man obsessed with dental hygiene to the point of stalking, in "Brushing"; a cynic forced to tag along on an ill-advised trip to a faith healer in "Documented Miracles"; a demented birthday girl whose equally demented birthday wishes are about to come true, in "Happy Birthday, Dear Tama"; a family on the run from cartoonists in search of their god, in "Loony Tune"; and a man who pays the ultimate price for circumventing a parking attendant in the never before published, "Valet Parking."

Rounding out the collection are "The Black Ladies" and "The Pinata", a pair of unsettling stories culled from childhood nightmares, and the surprisingly poignant "Even the Dead", which documents the last days of a tender partnership between two friends, only one of whom is still alive.

Indignities of the Flesh is a superlative gathering of the kind of twisted, darkly humorous, and mind-bending stories for which Bentley Little is best known.

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Subterranean (May 31, 2012)
• ISBN-13: 978-1596064782