Cosmic Horror

Powerful. Brutal. Bursting at the seams with cosmic horror, ennui, violence and self-annihilation. There are many ways to describe Laird Barron’s latest collection, NOT A SPECK OF LIGHT: Stories (Bad Hand Books, 370 pp., paperback, $19.99), but superb works just fine.

A murderer recounts his most memorable kills and how his victims have haunted him in “The Glorification of Custer Poe.” In “Joren Falls,” a retired couple learn to live with the hungry abomination that dwells in their attic. “The Blood in My Mouth” follows a man whose partner will do anything to see her dog again, even if it means delving deep into the supernatural.

Recurring elements across the 16 tales in this collection — space as a threatening place full of monsters; Alaska as the cold, unforgiving backdrop where death lurks at all times; violence as the answer to most questions — give it a pleasing sense of cohesion. Barron’s work is where eldritch horrors and unflinching brutality collide with poetry. “Not a Speck of Light” proves Barron belongs on the Mount Rushmore of dark speculative fiction.

The five books are:

• Not a Speck of Light by Laird Barron
• The Night Guest by Hildur Knutsdottir
• Incarnate by Richard Thomas
• Sinophagia: A Celebration of Chinese Horror, translated and edited by Xueting C. Ni