Varying Distances

Prepare to lose yourself in the mesmerizing voice and worldview of author Darren Speegle... "Speegle's delicious evocation of landscape delivers the reader, quite seamlessly, from places of precisely-evoked geography into landscapes of haunting spiritual menace..." - Graham Joyce In his latest short story collection of dark, unsettling tales, Darren Speegle takes us on a journey through the textured layers of time and space. From Flower Age Ibiza, Spain to present-day war-torn Iraq, from the mysteries of America's Deep South to those of a haunting future landscape where humans and machines are virtually indistinguishable, these stories explore what it is to be us among the varying distances. An infamous German writer searches for the meaning of consciousness. A future artist is forced by a cult leader to try to capture his soul in a portrait. An American contractor working a camp gate in Iraq is confronted by incoming vehicles the likes of which he has never seen before. A godlike being welcomes in Halloween with a special device. A hitman tries to determine which woman among a party of three is the android, his target. This surreal collection includes: Introduction by Jeffrey ThomasIn the Distance, a Familiar SoundThe Flesh Winks While the Ghost WeepsThe Staging YardFor Love of WarBalearic MoonA Carousel of FacesDeath Paper BurnTwinkle, Twinkle, AmsterdamThat's the GameSong in a SundressA Puddle in the WildernessNowhere "There is much poetry in these pages. It is a major component of the original voice of Darren Speegle... And his dialogue? Throughout, it sings, and scintillates. It's one of his strongest virtues." - Jeffrey Thomas Proudly brought to you by Crystal Lake Publishing--Tales from the Darkest Depths. Categories: Genre Fiction MashupsSurrealism HorrorGenre Fiction CollectionHorror CollectionScience fiction CollectionFantasyMystery Short StoriesLiterary FictionExistentialismShort story collectionsDark Fantasy Experience it today!

T.M. Wright

"He's among the best writers I've read."

Graham Joyce

"Speegle's delicious evocation of landscape delivers the reader, quite seamlessly, from places of precisely-evoked geography into landscapes of haunting spiritual menace..."

Gary A. Braunbeck

"Speegle's voice and worldview are bizarre and mesmerizing, humane and compelling, and the stories contained in this collection will fry your mind."

Gene O'Neill

"If you like speculative fiction with a solid literary flair, Darren Speegle's new collection is for you."

from treading familiar paths, from traversing the same unvarying distances..."

"When I crack open a book, it's an escape from routine

Jeff Vandermeer

"Elegant, sometimes intense and horrific but always finely crafted and devious in the best way, Darren Speegle's stories will delight and entertain fans of dark fantasy."

Cemetery Dance

"Elegant and sophisticated; Darren Speegle is one of the most intriguing voices active in genre fiction."

Asimov's Science Fiction

"Fiendish ingenuity."

Laird Barron

"Speegle works in the seams of fiction; he inhabits the twilight land between psychological horror and the supernatural."

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