The Apocalypse-a-Day Desk Calendar

Bram Stoker Award winner Prentiss (Dark Screams) assembles 365 hit-or-miss macabre entries, one for each day of the year. It’s a mix of flash fiction, serialized stories, poetry, TV scripts, and vignettes, each featuring an apocalypse of some kind that tests the survival skills of those left behind—among them hoarders and recluses (“The Exterminator’s Visit (Part 2)”), flesh-eating monsters, (”The Hell of Food That Looks Like Other Food”), and mutants (“World UFO Day”). Significant dates inspire commentary, as in February 14’s entry, “Valentine’s Day,” which takes as its premise that “some spiteful magic took away our ability to love.” Prentiss also draws from history in “1979—Nuclear Leak at Three Mile Island” and “1893—Lizzie Borden Found Not Guilty of Murder.” Though the concept is clever, the stories lose their power as they start to blend together, and some are decidedly more fully realized than others. Among the best are “Social Media Giving Day,” which evokes a sense of immediacy through its use of the second person, and “Dear Apocalypse [The Advice Column for Our Troubled Times],” which delivers some very dark humor. Scattered illustrations punctuate the chills. Though not entirely successful, this gritty and unnerving collection will please Prentiss’s fans. (Aug.)