I agree with you wholeheartedly about Tom Piccrilli, and my LAST KIND WORDS, which I fortunately still have, is similarly inscribed by Pic.
R.e. Ballingrud's THE STRANGE, I'm reading that right now -- about halfway through as of today -- and it's a great book. The protagonists are thus far a little hard to like and thus sympathies to their plight is a bit slighted, but I kind of suspect that'll change as the book goes on and, even if not, the setting, the story, the prose alone make this book very entertaining. Midworld Press is doing a signed/limited Ballingrud -- announcing Monday, 5/15 -- and rumor is that it will be THE STRANGE (but time will tell).