[who did it] Zebra Books; August, 1995; (mass-market paperback).

[chance of gettin'] You can find it used if you look hard, or better yet, you can get a signed copy from The Official Edward Lee Bookstore.

[the skinny] The final mass-market paperback of Lee’s early-’90s three-book contract with Zebra/Kensington, and Lee’s only use of the “Richard Kinion” pen-name (Lee used a phone book to pick the name). The original title for this book was SUBCARNATE (Lee didn’t want that name not only because it sounded too generic but because a John Farris book with the same title was released around the same time.) This erotic supernatural thriller was doomed from the start since it was released as the final nail was being hammered into the coffin of midlist mass-market horror fiction. Zebra insisted on a new pen name in hopes of raising shipping orders that would not be tainted from the low print runs of CREEKERS and THE CHOSEN. To the best of Lee’s knowledge, the ploy didn’t work, even with the deceiving “psychological suspense” cover art on a book that is clearly occult horror. Lee has no ill-feelings towards Zebra in spite of the fiasco. “None of those three books stunk. THE CHOSEN was shaky but still very entertaining in my opinion, and I’ve always been proud of CREEKERS and SACRIFICE. I think they’re good, solid modern horror novels,” Lee relates. “The market happened to die just as I was getting on a roll. Shit happens. I’ll always be grateful to Zebra in general and to editor John Scognamiglio for publishing me. It’s too bad things didn’t work out.” Set in Annapolis, Maryland (Lee’s former stomping ground), SACRIFICE is the author’s most erotic effort in the “haunted house” sub-genre; it made the Preliminary Ballot for the 1995 HWA Stoker Award for Best Novel.