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Publication Date: June 10, 2022
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Genre: Short Story Collection
List Price: $15.99 USD / £12.50 GBP
Page Count: 212
ISBN: 978-1-63988-358-5
Ellis crafts a layered exploration of life, death, and otherworldliness in his latest collection of four short stories. The book opens with the old fashioned, simple ghost story, “Soul Train,” in which the protagonist, in his attempt to escape a grim reality, gets caught in a horrendous situation that changes his life forever. “Everywhere” takes readers on one man’s journey as he tries to make sense of his disconcerting surroundings. A teenage boy sets out to investigate the sudden appearance of strange footprints outside his home in “The Devil in the Rainbow” and meets a strange fate. The protagonist in “Dark Horse” comes across something strange and uncanny in a pub. Ellis builds a vivid and lived-in world with innumerable creeping horrors hiding in its shadows. Though readers will wish they had more time to explore this dark world, Ellis’s focus on character development makes every interaction matter. The characters are fully realized, making it easy for readers to invest in them. The result is emotionally complex, imaginative, and unsettlingly dark collection that nails the author’s complex exploration of familial ties, love, life, death, pain, and fear in mesmerizing prose. Unsettling and engrossing, this is sure to draw readers in. A winner.
***
Categories: Fiction
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