From alternative medicine to murder, this anthology reveals terrors surgical, psychological and institutional. In stark, operating-room light these 14 writers take scalpel and pen to the body and soul of humanity as it lies stretched out on the stainless-steel page. Rendered in laser-sharp detail, these incisive narratives reveal human needs, hurts, desires, and fears.

This unsettling anthology submerges us in the near-witchcraft methods of a nineteenth century abortionist and awes us with a post-apocalypse future where autistic mutants telepathically remove pain. But more than anything, it gives us frighteningly real glimpses of ourselves and a nightmarish medical future that may be here in five minutes - if it's not already.