Not a Speck of Light: Stories

It’s about to get very dark. Bram Stoker Award-winning author Laird Barron returns to the dark and dreadful with his fifth horror collection, which weaves sixteen weird tales into a mosaic of the bloody and the macabre. Here’s just a glimmer of what to expect: Somewhere in Alaska, a middle-aged woman confronts a terrifying creature that haunts disaster sites. Jessica Mace, professional final girl, is dispatched to an Adirondacks compound to steal a formula from a murderous tech billionaire. When a couple and their faithful dog move into the country, they are ensnared in the malevolent designs of a former scream queen. A successful wildlife photographer traces his nervous breakdown to sinister childhood games. Bring a flashlight and a book of matches. Where we’re going, there’s not a speck of light. * ► The stories in Laird Barron's stunning new collection range from the vastness of Alaska to the intimacy of a family's vacation cottage. In these tales, characters are shunted from one world to another, sometimes figuratively, sometimes literally. At the messy border where the human meets the inhuman, monsters and heroes meet around signposts marked love, family, and obsession. Confronted by extinction personal and planetary, Barron's women, men, and dogs grit their teeth, square their stance, and prepare for a common, though not unworthy, doom. There may be no trace of light within these pages, but they burn nonetheless with a fierce, fiery darkness. ◄ John Langan * CONTENTS I. Blood Red Samaritans 1. In a Cavern, In a Canyon • (2015) • novelette 2. Girls Without Their Faces On • (2018) • short story 3. Mobility • (2016) • novelette 4. The Gloryfication of Custer Poe • (2013 as The Beatification of Custer Poe) • short story II. Wandering Stars 5. Jören Falls • (2021) • short story 6. The Blood in My Mouth • (2015) • novelette 7. Nemesis • (2013) • short story 8. Soul of Me • (2016) • short story III. Alan Smeethee Is Dead 9. Fear Sun • (2015) • short story 10. Swift to Chase • (2017) • novelette 11. Don’t Make Me Assume My Ultimate Form • (2015) • novelette 12. American Remake of a Japanese Ghost Story • (2021) • short story IV. Lake Terror 13. Strident Caller • (2015) • short story 14. Not a Speck of Light • novelette 15. Tiptoe • (2021) • novelette 16. (You Won’t Be) Saved by the Ghost of Your Old Dog • (2021) • short story Afterword by Laird Barron Acknowledgments About the Author