Welcome to The Court of Lies, the first collection by Mark Teppo. These are stories of liars, heartbreakers, and fabulists; the way they see the world is undoubtedly the way it truly is. The Queen suggests you place your trust in her. The Prince is also your guide, and you should not trust his disarming smile. And, the horned King beckons you to approach his throne. At least one sentence of the previous paragraph is true. There is no escaping The Court of Lies.

This dynamic collection of 27 stories offers a wealth of fantastical and horrifying settings. Life after death, digital personalities, alien invasion, and Lovecraftian horror. It includes “Life on the Preservation,” the basis for Skillingstead’s Philip K. Dick nominated novel of the same name. In the title story, a parapolice detective in hot pursuit of a serial killer receives help from a responsive memory module of the killer’s mother, but soon discovers that he might be falling in love with the module. Edgy and surreal, each tale reflects on familiar, emotional issues and complex relationships from new and imaginative angles.