Loners.  Introverts.  Hermits.  Labels attached to those willfully isolated individuals who prefer their own company to the companionship of others.  Not all such lone wolf personalities are birthed, however, but gradually created-molded over time, perhaps even forced into a solitary existence by circumstances beyond their control.

    Witness then, six such psyche-altering transformations and the grave events that led those involved down a dark, twisted road toward utter isolation.

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-   The slacker son of a best-selling horror novelist finds peace and tranquility on his late father’s personal desert island oasis, at least until an uninvited guest with malevolent motives floats ashore.

– On the eve of a weather-related apocalypse, a middle-aged man and teenage girl form a bizarre, uneasy alliance within the stony confines of a futuristic fall-out shelter. 

– A self-professed hermit discovers little solitude or serenity after volunteering for a government funded project code-named ‘Introvert’.

– An alcoholic ex-cop attempting to elude his inner demons via a desolate, mountaintop hideaway meets a kindred spirit in the way of an enigmatic, amnesia-stricken woman whose own checkered past might well prove fatal to them both.

– Relocated to purgatory following his own murder, a cynical loner faces his greatest fear within the murky, fog-laden confines of an eerily familiar landscape. 

– With great dread and trepidation, a pre-teen boy with definitive loner tendencies is forced to partake in the hellish rituals of the annual family reunion. 

Terry Lloyd Vinson's 'RECLUSES' is the author's first collection of horror/suspense short stories since 2007's zombie-themed 'The Dead Effect'.   As is his trademark since 2001's 'Skeletal Remains', the tales contained within are bookmarked by a chilling framework story that serves to tie the collection together as a whole. 

   The novel is scheduled for a July 2011 release from Double-Dragon Publishing. 

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  Contrary to public opinion, there can be tangible reasons behind such stark, anti-social conduct, such as the deep, permanent psychological scarring that can occur from recalling unspeakable terrors both past and present.  

 Thus to some, living a lone existence is not nearly so much a preference as it is destiny.

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