Book excerpt: Richard Laymon is the undisputed master of the macabre, and nowhere is his talent to terrify shown to better effect than in his short stories. DREADFUL TALES contains all of his short fiction not previously published in the UK and forms a delicious cornucopia of homicidal maniacs, vampires and lust-crazed teenagers - not to mention the drinkers in a low-life dive who attempt to salvage a diamond ring from the mouth of a severed head in a fish tank - with grisly results.