Shout Kill Revel Repeat

Jones (Transmissions from Punktown) conjures monsters, mayhem, and madness in these 17 inventive cosmic horror stories. In “The Spike,” a laboratory assistant is duped by his company’s charismatic but unscrupulous founder into serving as the living conduit for a horrific otherworldly singularity. “Ka Nipihat Wetigowa” draws on native Canadian legends to tell of two brothers who battle a flesh-eating wetigo amid the carnage of a WWI battlefield. In the dark future of “Last Stand at Cougar Annie’s,” women unite into matriarchal clans to fight for survival against a monstrously mutated male populace. A serial killer monologues to his therapist in “The Chrysanthemum,” one of three stories original to the book, revealing that he believes he must kill people in order to break their “shells” and thus enlighten them to the coming apocalypse. Each of the collection’s dark tales offers a glimpse at otherworldly possibilities via a skillful blend of science fiction and supernatural elements. These strange, chilling stories push genre boundaries to excellent effect. (Dec.)