Beyond Killer Fiction

25 years on, Florida's first serial killer GJ Schaefer returns with a new expanded volume of illustrated killer fiction, featuring the stories used to convict him of double murder in 1973. The ex-cop and serial killer was doing two life sentences for the murder of two teenage girls, when he himself murdered in 1995. Sondra London first published a collection of these stories in 1989, under the imprimatur of Media Queen. Feral House published Killer Fiction in 1997. Now comes the new expanded collection, that also includes the stories Schaefer wrote in prison for Sondra London. 73 illustrations include drawings by Schaefer seized by police in 1973 and used as evidence to convict him of murder; impressionistic sketches of Schaefer by Sondra London; and facsimiles of his handwritten statements. True-Crime Author Michael Newton: "Grabs the reader in a stranglehold & never lets go... smacks of a collaboration between Elmore Leonard & Jack the Ripper... an extended walk on the dark side with no holds barred... required reading for students of serial murder." Time Magazine: "Incredible... real or imagined acts of murder, necrophilia, dismemberment & burial." Miami Herald: "Lurid accounts of sex with cheap women followed by gruesome murder." True Detective: "Depraved fantasizing from a horrendously vivid & morbid imagination." Inside Detective: "Lurid & violent sex stories." Robert Ressler: "Right on target to what happens in serial homicides." State's Atty. Rodney Smith: "Personally offensive." State's Atty. Robert Stone: "He's a madman... he's dangerous. If he gets out it's like signing people's death warrants." Fla. Dept. of Corrections: "Graphic presentation of sexual behavior & graphic violence in violation of state law." Fla. Bar: "Inappropriate in the hands of a prisoner." Mike Gunderloy, Factsheet Five: "The most revolting book I've reviewed... the real thing." John Wayne Gacy: "Schaefer's writing is good. It's graphic and keeps the reader wanting more. Even in fiction, it has to be done that way. You can tell he has done his research, but it almost reads like he has tried it all too. I can see how they used it against him. I know sometimes being honest is not always the best policy, as you can see how it worked against Schaefer." Lawrence 'Pliers' Bittaker: "Schaefer has a gift for creating a readable story. His subjects are predominantly morbid or bizarre. Whether that relates to his own interests, or he merely seeks to shock and offend, is unknown. Such (allegedly "fiction") stories seem knowledgeable on the subject of murder, but they also indicate some exaggeration; whether his expressions are based on experience or simply fantasy, or a combination of both, only he knows for sure." Danny Rolling: "This guy has got real problems, doesn't he? Schaefer's twisted and delusioned writings left a bitter taste in my mouth. He boasts he is 'The Greatest Killer of Women This Century.' How could anyone blatantly brag about such a thing? 'I loved killing whores.' What an awful self-professed statement! This stuff is well-written puke. I can write better than Schaefer, period." William 'Catch-Me Killer' Heirens: "Schaefer can write, but I'm afraid he's misusing his talent. I can see what he is trying to do - saturate the public with "kinky" fictionalized murder accounts to offset the writings that were used to convict him. But what Schaefer might be trying to do (if I'm correct) is very dangerous. A person could read one of his stories and come away with the conviction that he is a bad person, instead of an entertainer. Researchers who might peruse his work as a window to the criminal mind could be put off by his claim that it was all fiction."