The Mad Butterfly's Ball

ABOUT THIS BOOK
The Mad Butterfly’s Ball is an essential compendium of stories dedicated to the lurking horror and profound wonder of those that live, largely unseen, in the world around us—the enigmatic insect! Featuring original and new works by Clive Barker, Jeffrey Thomas, Kaaron Warren, Paul Di Filippo, Eugen Bacon, and many more, alongside classics of the subgenre, The Mad Butterfly’s Ball is the largest and most comprehensive anthology of its kind, with stunning illustrations by Richard Kirk and Yoshika Nagata.

CONTENTS

HEAD
Insects and the Poetics of Estrangement - Preston Grassmann
Hive Politics – Chris Kelso

THORAX
Upon a Milk Warm Dawn – Clive Barker
Hivehead – Paul Di Filippo
The Wings of Mourning – Jeffrey Thomas
The King’s Walkingstick – Richard A. Kirk
Butterflies of Eastern Texas – Kij Johnson
The Nature of Bees – Priya Sharma
The Absent Swarm – Tom Over
The Dream of Akinosuke — Lafciado Hearn
The Man From Nowhere – Eugen Bacon
Lysergic is The Circle of My Secret – Joe Koch
After the Flood – Anna Tambour
Eejelé – Nuzo Onoh
Possum – Matthew Holness
Warning Wings – Arlton Eadie
Scarabaeus – Rumi Kaneko (translated by Preston Grassmann)
The Roaches – Thomas M. Disch
The Ladybug – D.R.G. Sugawara
Mantis Wives – Kij Johnson
Jenny Longlegs – Chris Kelso & Brian Evenson
Not Just the Stars that They Devour – Matt Neil Hill
Honeydew — Dempow Torishima
The Empire of the Ants – H.G. Wells
The Parliament of Wasps – Preston Grassmann
Caterpillars – E.F. Benson
The Ruins with a Spectator – Kaaron Warren
The Hollow Electricity of Tiny Papery Wings or the Pinprick in the Powder — Christopher Young
An Egyptian Hornet – Algernon Blackwood
Wrapped Up — Ramsey Campbell
Decomposer – Alvaro Zinos-Amaro
Death is like the Insect – Emily Dickinson

ABDOMEN
The Praying Mantis – Henri Fabre
Entomophilia: A Case for the Defence – Preston Grassmann
The Death of Conrad Unger – Gary J. Shipley
Mimic and Starship Troopers: Us and Them – Jon Greenaway
The Ancient Cockroach – Chris Kelso