Song for the Unraveling of the World - by Brian Evenson (Paperback)

About the Book

From a modern master of the form, a new short story collection that dexterously walks the tightrope between literary fiction, sci-fi, and horror.

Book Synopsis

From a modern master of the form, a new short story collection that dexterously walks the tightrope between literary fiction, sci-fi, and horror.

A newborn's absent face appears on the back of someone else's head, a filmmaker goes to gruesome lengths to achieve the silence he's after for his final scene, and a therapist begins, impossibly, to appear in a troubled patient's room late at night. In these stories of doubt, delusion, and paranoia, no belief, no claim to objectivity, is immune to the distortions of human perception. Here, self-deception is a means of justifying our most inhuman impulses-whether we know it or not.

Review Quotes

Praise for Song for the Unraveling of the World

Winner of the 2019 Shirley Jackson Award for a single-author collection
Finalist for the 2019 Los Angeles Times Winner of the Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, Fantasy Speculative Fiction
Finalist for the 2019 Big Other Book Award for Fiction
A New York Times Best Horror Fiction
A Washington Post Best Horror Fiction of the Year
An NPR Best Book of 2019 An Entropy Best Book of 2019

"These stories are carefully calibrated exercises in ambiguity in which Evenson (Windeye) leaves it unclear how much of the off-kilterness exists outside of the deep-seated pathologies that motivate his characters." -Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Missing persons, paranoia and psychosis . . . the kind of writer who leads you into the labyrinth, then abandons you there. It's hard to believe a guy can be so frightening, so consistently." --The New York Times

"Evenson is one of our best living writers--regardless of genre . . . Song is a skillfully crafted, cleverly executed, and extremely entertaining collection." --NPR

"Enigmatic, superbly rendered slices of fear, uncertainty and paranoia." --The Washington Post

"Evenson's little nightmares are deftly crafted, stylistically daring, and surprisingly emotional." --Kirkus Review

"Evenson renders the world as a place of infinite and paralyzing delusion. . . . In an Evenson story, a house isn't inescapable because of its lack of doors and windows; it's inescapable because it was built by an impressionable mind." -- The Los Angeles Review of Books

"Brian Evenson is one of my favorite living horror writers, and this collection is him at his eerie and disquieting best." --Carmen Maria Machado

"Evenson lures readers into each twisted tale by starting not at the beginning, but somewhere else, creating a sense of disorientation and unease. As each tale unspools and each surreal world clarifies into a malformed sort of logic, the creeps set firmly in. Readers of literary horror will not want to miss this one." --Library Journal

"Evenson is our most impressive explorer of the cracks in things that let in not the light, as Leonard Cohen would have it, but fever, chaos, and darkness." --The Vulture

"[A] collection of short stories that deal with art, paranoia and the dark urges that haunt even the most normal people." --The Los Angeles Times

"Evenson's uncanny but accessible fiction can remind you of Edgar Allan Poe or 'The Twilight Zone' . . . an inspired, thoroughly entertaining book." --The Star Tribune

"[Brian Evenson's] literary horror fiction is just too good, too immersive, and too alien for a mere mortal. This book has everything one comes to expect from Evenson--brief glimpses of dark worlds where no one is completely sure where they are, who they are, or what is real." --The A. V. Club

"Evenson at his most intense and discomfiting ... he makes our skin rise and crawl with the intimation that all, although outwardly normal, is certainly not. Why else are we paying attention so closely?" --The Los Angeles Review of Books

"Song puts Evenson's staggering ventriloquism on display, incorporating elements of science fiction, horror, fantasy, translation, poetry, and myth, often within a single story." --Epiphany

"[Evenson's] latest collection offers readers a fantastic overview of his strengths as a writer, from tales of

About the Author

Brian Evenson is the recipient of three O. Henry Prizes and has been a finalist for the Edgar Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the World Fantasy Award. He is also the winner of the International Horror Guild Award and the American Library Association's award for Best Horror Novel, and his work has been named in Time Out New York's top books.