Thirteen Conjurations

In this third short story collection, following up on Midnight Call (2008) and Tempting Providence (2010), Jonathan Thomas continues to demonstrate the skill and emotive power that have made him a dynamic new voice in contemporary weird fiction. This volume opens with a quartet of tales elaborating upon Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, including "Mobymart After Midnight" (a delightful skewering of Walmart culture) and "King of Cat Swamp," an ingenious riff on "The Call of Cthulhu." Other...
More Description

In this third short story collection, following up on Midnight Call (2008) and Tempting Providence (2010), Jonathan Thomas continues to demonstrate the skill and emotive power that have made him a dynamic new voice in contemporary weird fiction. This volume opens with a quartet of tales elaborating upon Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, including "Mobymart After Midnight" (a delightful skewering of Walmart culture) and "King of Cat Swamp," an ingenious riff on "The Call of Cthulhu." Other stories treat a variety of weird themes: "Way Up When," about a man who has remarkable precognitive powers; "The Comeuppance Hour," in which the makers of a skeptical TV show about occult phenomena find more than they bargain for; and "A Retouch in Camonica," about strange happenings in an Italian archaeological site. The volume concludes with a "Swedish-Americna Triptych," in which various protagonists encounter the bizarre in a far Baltic land. Each tale is crafted meticulously and enlivened by a wit and mordant satire that renders them unique in recent weird writing.