Forever, in Pieces

Book excerpt: EIGHTEEN HAUNTING VISIONS . . . FROM A MIND ADROITLY TWISTED In this debut collection of short fiction from Kurt Fawver, one of the horror world's rising stars, you will find a melange of lost souls, cosmic terrors, wondrous abysses, and even some good old-fashioned murder. You will be taken to the end of humanity, to dystopian futures and personal hells. You'll meet conquering gods and unholy messiahs, invisible babies and talking chairs, interdimensional monsters and the monsters we sometimes see all too clearly in the mirrors before our own faces. The stories in Forever, in Pieces will immerse you in loneliness and loss, life and death, love and obsession, and, above all, the shadowed-and often terrible-veil of eternity. "Kurt Fawver's stories are nasty little shockers that dare to dream big. And he isn't afraid to follow those big and totally mad ideas through to their horrific conclusions. Yeah, Kurt is a little messed up, and Forever, in Pieces is a promising debut." -Paul Tremblay, author of In the Mean Time and Swallowing a Donkey's Eye "From the most far-flung reaches of space, time and imagination, Fawver presents a parade of original and startling visions." -David Dunwoody, author of Unbound & Other Tales "A poignant and genuinely unnerving debut collection. Exquisite in every possible way. Kurt Fawver is a virtuoso of short-form literature, and Forever, in Pieces is his magnum opus." -Adam Millard, author of Dead Line "Forever, in Pieces is aptly titled, for this book offers readers unnerving glimpses into our eternal fears, both staggeringly cosmic and painfully intimate. Kurt Fawver's tales are gruesome and poignant. An impressive debut." -Richard Gavin, author of At Fear's Altar "With Forever, in Pieces, Kurt Fawver creates a collection perfectly balanced between beautiful and vicious, clever and dark. Like love stories for the dead, it calls to your soul to just keep turning pages." -Jonathan Moon, author of Heinous and Hollow Mountain Dead "Kurt Fawver's Forever, in Pieces is a searing and unapologetic exploration of futility. His very purpose in the tragically beautiful arrangement of his words is to prove that 'On every level, we are not meant to overcome; we are meant to fall apart'-and his thoughtful, captivating stories illustrate this truth in an impeccably somber literary performance." -Shawna L. Bernard, editor of Cellar Door and Ugly Babies