Here is the debut collection of short stories by Joe Hill, which immediately put the author on a par with such luminaries of the mysticism genre as Howard Lovecraft, Ray Bradbury, Stephen King. The collection was awarded the "Bag Stoker Award" and the "British Fantasy Award", and its author received the William L. Crawford Award for best debut author in 2006. The short story “Voluntary Imprisonment” was awarded the “World Fantasy Award”. “Better than at home” was brought to the author by “A. E. Coppard Long Fiction Prize. The stories "The Black Telephone" and "Hear the Locusts Sing" were nominated for the 2005 British Fantasy Award.