The Mortuary Monster

"Andrew Stone's The Mortuary Monster hits like a Hammer film. It's a creepy yarn that opens with a birth scene and ends with you losing your whole fucking mind. Crawl into this coffin with me. Crawl into this coffin forever!" - Brian Allen Carr

"Reading like a cross between The Graveyard Book and High Spirits if both had been written by Terry Southern, The Mortuary Monster is a madcap tumble into that tender place where death and life meet, and then try to eat one another. An odd and provocative book, and a seriously audacious debut." - Brian Evenson

It’s Corpse Bride meets Eraserhead despite Gonzalo’s best efforts to live a life like Leave It to Beaver’s.

Gonzalo grew up in the cemetery under the care of his monstrous parents and in the company of decaying corpses. As a result, he only desired one thing throughout his childhood: To be normal enough to join society. But despite his attempts at running away from his family, he has never been able to leave the mortuary.

Now, as an adult, Gonzalo manages the cemetery. His family has died yet he is still unable to leave. Then, on the night of the annual Cadaver Tea party, something impossible happens — he impregnates the corpse Fiona.

In an attempt to normalize the cemetery before his child’s birth, Gonzalo begins to close all the coffins, forever locking the dead inside. Without the intercession of corpses like Henry, the voluntary babysitter of abused children, Lionel, the life-long explorer, Victoria, the world’s first professional deep-sea water ski champion, and Vincent, Victoria’s long-time lover and trainer, Gonzalo believes he and Fiona will be able to raise their child to join the rest of the world.

But in the throes of terminal calcium deficiency, Fiona’s bones deteriorate to dust immediately after she gives birth. Can Gonzalo make the young Frank, his now motherless, half-corpse son, normal enough for society? Can he raise his son without becoming like his own parents? Will Gonzalo become the Mortuary Monster he has spent his whole life trying to escape?