Perdition

Perdition is the debut collection from Medieval scholar Brian Kubarycz. Conjuring dread without the jump scares, each story focuses not on an action but on a single arresting vision. In "The Bends," a hunting expedition devolves into a disorienting search for a lost woman, while in "Buckets," human bodies fall from the sky. These stories are dark and moody, but despite their darkness, they do not lack humor, though the laughter tends to come from the balconies as in "Denomination," where a true believer seeks salvation by swallowing scripture and corn whiskey. Frightening and cerebral, these stories create an atmosphere that is equal parts psychological and visceral. Each fiction results in what can only be qualified as terror, and the air in each is "filled with the very instant of it." Singular in theme and surprising in musicality, Perdition is a bright light that entrances the reader, but also the monstrous things lurking behind the light in the grim dark.