Web site of Biff Mitchell, author, humorist, smartass and not-poet.

From MyShelf.com

 Here is a collection of tales that may leave your mind twisted. Twisted Tails is an anthology as warped as any I have ever read. J. Richard Jacobs rounds a motley cast of writers, including, Peter Prellwitz (who has been an Eppie finalist), Marilyn Peake, Jeremy Davies, Biff Mitchell and many others who pool their talents to weave a tapestry of tales that you may be able to read from cover to cover...I could not.  For me, it was like a rich desert, just a little at a time worked best.

Read the entire review by Beverly J. Rowe at MyShelf.com

From TCM Reviews

Twisted Tails is an anthology as warped as the devil himself. J. Richard Jacobs rounds a motley cast of suspects, including several time Eppie finalist, Peter Prellwitz. Together, they weave a spell of spicy tales alluring as a tepid river that implores you plunge deeper, cajoles you swim further out, again deeper… At that moment, when your trust is bottomless, your valiance unwavering, pitiless waves swallow and spit you whole, lifeless, onto a bed of suppurating weed and murky froth.

The assortment opens with the sharpness of K. L. Nappier’s Veil, the tale of a hideous troll so fetid, so scarred, it leaves more than the terror of death; Steve Lazarowitz picks the race with Dead Wrong, a tech noir filled with much suspense, much tension; J. Richard Jacobs grabs the baton with Things (best said with a Southern drawl), and curves a leg most gruesome in its bend. And though you shudder, can’t help but read on. Marilyn Peake casts aside children’s tales to emerge with Tiger in the Plum Blossoms, an engaging story, oriental in set; D.L. White & Peter Prellwitz join forces in Cassiopeia’s tears to make a sprint double; Jamie A. Hughes transmits the 72914 female; Biff Mitchell hacks into a termite colossal. Pause. Shuffle back to Steve Lazarowitz’s A Matter of Grave Importance, read it with increasing astonishment…

And that is just a sample. With J. Richard Jacobs’ more than a smidgen of pepper, a clove of Terence West, a gloop of Jeremy Davies, a measure of Margaret Whitley’s sweep endings and what else, oh what a treat! Best read how you please, fried to your own arrangement. Whichever way one delves, back to front, front to back, apiece, apiece – the crystal’s sparkle is not lost, the diamond still glitters and a grassy burst of ruby wine endlessly toys on the back of your tongue. Pleasure, pleasure, pleasure, especially when it is filled with dread.

Twisted Tales, An Anthology to Surprise & Delight
Compiled & Edited by J. Richard Jacobs
Double Dragon Publishing
ISBN: 1-55404-339-5
Fiction, Anthology
Reviewed by Eugen Bacon

Nights and Weekends

"Twisted Tails is a delicious, diverse collection of weird and wonderful short stories.  You’ll find yourself dipping into this collaboration just to get away from it all between mundane tasks, like cleaning your house and doing mindless work for your boss at the office. Heck, you don’t even need a reason to dip in because you’ll be eager to read another one and another one and another until they’re all gone, leaving you wanting more like the proverbial bag of chips.

Mr. Jacobs promises a sweet, sour, bitter, tangy, titillating, tantalizing, torturous, terrifying, humorous, and horrifying blend of tales to satisfy every taste, and I assure you he keeps that promise.

Things aren’t always as they seem in these stories, yet you find yourself surprised by the ending every time.  The tales keep you engrossed, each having originality I’ve seldom encountered in any compilation of its kind....

...The thirty-one short stories in Twisted Tails will keep boredom at bay—I promise!

Reveiwed by Margaret Marr"

Kim McDougal

Twisted Tails, An Anthology to Surprise and Delight, isn't so much between the cracks as it covers all the cracks.  In this mammoth tome (552 pages) every fan of fantasy, sci-fi and horror will find something to taste.  It's like a thirty-one course gourmet meal.

Editor J. Richard Jacobs, introduces each story with a food themed metaphor. Of Steve Lazarowitz’s story "Dead Wrong," Jacobs writes, "Life is full of options. Like our menu.  Some are of our own choosing. Some are . . . well, not. Some appear to be the work of destiny. This Lazarowitz offering is a tray filled with options.  Hamburger or filet mignon? The choice is yours. Will the decision be yours, or will you be driven . . . by some other force?"

"Dead Wrong" is a sinister sci-fi look at what will happen when death gets a better marketing firm.  Marilyn Peake’s "Tiger in the Plum Blossoms" is a chilling Japanese myth.  "Throwing up Sashes" by Peter Prellwitz is a delightful tale of Christmas in a biodome.  Jeremy Davies turns the kingdom on its head, when a dragon saves the knight in distress from an arm-wrestling princess in " . . . In Distress."

Each of these stories and the others in this anthology come with a jolt at the end.
Sometimes it’s a pleasant surprise, sometimes not, but it’s always worth reading to the end.

Twisted Tails is the first of three anthologies edited by J. Richard Jacobs and published by Double Dragon Publishing.  Twisted Tails II, Volumes 1 & 2 are time travel themed stories with that hallmark twist ending. Twisted Tails III: Pure Fear is now open for submissions