Terrifying Tales of Classic Horror Beginning with a last-man-on-Earth tale that ends with a surprising twist and finishing with a seductive ghost story, If I Should Wake Before I Die collects the complete horror short fiction of author Eric B. Olsen into one volume. Written between 1986 and 1992, these stories reflect the inspiration of major horror writers of the time, like Stephen King and Peter Straub, as well as the EC horror comics of the 1950s. Each of the primary stories is prefaced by a second-person short-short story that sets the scene for the spine tingling tales that follow. While the settings and characters begin in the normal world of everyday life, before long that world transforms into something terrifyingly abnormal. From post-apocalyptic science fiction to karmic retribution, the supernatural manipulation of existence to self-induced psychosis, Olsens vision is a unique one that combines realism with an edge of humor to create a collection that is as thought provoking as it is frightening. In addition to the fifteen stories from the original collection, this edition contains two additional stories as well as his two horror novellas Blood Feast and Bride of Blood Feast. The horror stories of Eric B. Olsen pull back the curtain of ordinary life and allow the reader to catch a glimpse of a frighteningly alternate reality.