Tom Piccirilli (1965-2015)

Writer Tom Piccirilli, 50, died July 11, 2015.

Thomas Edward Piccirilli was born May 27, 1965. He published over a dozen ambitious and accomplished crime and horror novels, notably Stoker Award winner The Night Class (2003) and The Cold Spot (2008), a finalist for the Edgar Award for best paperback original mystery. He was an accomplished author of bleak and quirky short fiction as well, with many collections, including World Fantasy Award finalist Deep into that Darkness Peering (2000). His story “The Misfit Child Grows Fat on Despair” (2002) won a Stoker Award. Piccirilli was also a prolific poet who produced many volumes, among them Stoker Award winners A Student of Hell (2000) and Forgiving Judas (2014). He edited and co-edited numerous anthologies, including Stoker Award-winning poetry anthology The Devil’s Wine (2004).

Piccirilli was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2012, and suffered a stroke in 2014. He is survived by his wife, writer Michelle Scalise.

See the August issue of Locus for a complete obituary.