Writing Madness is a collection of short fiction, novellas, and essays by Patrick McGrath. It features the complete contents of McGrath’s 1987 debut collection, Blood and Water and Other Tales, the three novellas of Ghost Town, six previously uncollected short stories, seven essays, and over 20 of McGrath’s introductions and book reviews. This volume includes the stories in Blood and Water and Other Tales and Ghost Town: Tales of Manhattan Then and Now. Also included are a number of McGrath’s essays, introductions, book reviews, and several uncollected stories. An account of his childhood in the shadow of the walls of Britain’s largest top-security mental hospital, “A Boy’s Broadmoor,” is reprinted here, as is his account of a true-life tragedy, “Death of a Silent Twin.” Illustrated by Harry Brockway, Writing Madness includes an introductory essay by Joyce Carol Oates and an endnote by Danel Olson.