“In compiling this anthology, it was my intention to focus on stories of crime motivated by hate. Not racially, politically, or religiously motivated violence, even though these are labeled ‘hate crimes’ in contemporary media.

Edgar Allan Poe’s The Casque of Amontillado opens the anthology and The Interlopers by Saki (H.H. Munro) provides an appropriately hateful bookend as the final tale.

In between these two classic stories you will find seven very imaginative and original creations by incredibly talented contemporary authors:

Jennifer Trumbull gives us her take on what happens when a privileged young woman with everything going for her decides to kill someone in the aptly titled I Hate You.

Randall Smith cautions Don’t Be Stupid in his disturbing tale of an eleven-year-old boy who’s not quite right.

Psychopaths, Grieving and Timeslips is a most unusual novella from P.K. Kleypas. It deals with hate and the ensuing guilt it can arouse in ‘normal’ people forced to deal with psychopathic family members.

SF by Steven Purselley is a coming-of-age tale of profound darkness.

The Last Ray of Summer by Anthony Ferguson is another tale of family drama and the extreme measures required to end the acts of a sociopathic father.

Che Trujillo offers an inside look at the initiatory practices of an urban gang and a glimpse into the mind of a victim turned killer in Cherry Boy.

Crepuscular, my own contribution to this collection, tells of the lingering consequences crimes of hate can generate even decades after the fact.

So, immerse yourself in the strange situations and states of consciousness we have conjured for your amusement. And, be cautioned against unleashing your own crimes of hate on the unsuspecting world.”

—Bret McCormick