As Summer's Mask Slips and Other Disruptions

by Gordon B. White

Overview

A genderfluid witch in a small Southern town prepares for their Black Cotillion coming out party. Singing worms converge on an old woman and young boy living in a house buried deep underground. Revenge drives an angry spirit through possession after possession in the bare-knuckle boxing ring. A father and son’s canoe trip to one of the world’s “soft places” culminates in an ecstatic encounter with the Weird.

These are just a few of the fifteen stories contained in As Summer’s Mask Slips, and Other Disruptions, Gordon B. White’s debut collection of horror and Weird fiction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781950305209
Publisher:	JournalStone
Publication date:	01/31/2020
Pages:	190
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.44(d)

About the Author

Gordon B. White has lived in North Carolina, New York, and the Pacific Northwest. He is a 2017 graduate of the Clarion West Writing Workshop. In addition to writing fiction, he also contributes reviews and interviews to various outlets. You can find him online at www.gordonbwhite.com or on Twitter at @GordonBWhite.

Editorial Reviews

★ 01/13/2020

White’s grisly, tantalizing debut story collection is a love letter to the horror genre. The powerful “Hairy Shirt Drag” tells the story of a gender-fluid witch who subverts and reclaims a violent rite of passage. In the anxiety-provoking title story, a grieving daughter explores the woods surrounding her father’s former home, only to realize that she is being followed. “The Buchanan Boys Ride Again,” arguably the best story on offer, is a surreptitiously funny, Stranger Things–esque tale of an overworked father and his surly teenage son donning head-to-toe rubber suits and wielding WD-40 to fight the creeping tendrils that live in their bathroom pipes. White conveys visceral terror through gorgeous, evocative prose (“Above her, the sky is striped in the violent bruise and citrus hues that soak early winter’s premature evenings.”), juxtaposing the macabre with the sublime for a truly pleasurable read. This exceptional debut is sure to earn White a significant fan base. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

With his debut collection, Gordon B. White establishes himself as one of the major new voices of speculative fiction. A quiet creeping dread that never lets up, As Summer's Mask Slips and Other Disruptions explores pain, loneliness, and horror through a deeply personal lens of family and outsiders. These unforgettable short stories are not to be missed. —Gwendolyn Kiste, Bram Stoker Award®-winning author of The Rust Maidens

Tapping into the atmosphere, authority, and history of Southern gothic fiction, Gordon B. White's collection of horror stories is haunting, lyrical, and unsettling. There is a primal fear that lurks in us all: a worry that just beyond the end of the flashlight beam waits unimaginable horror—and this cornucopia of dark tales proves that point.—Richard Thomas, author of Disintegration and the Thriller Award-nominated Breaker

Smart, spooky, and heartfelt. Gordon B. White’s stories for readers who like their tales weird and full of solid storytelling. —Daniel Braum, author of The Night Marchers and Other Strange Tales

Gordon B. White's stories are weird and wise and always surprising. An impressive first collection. —Kij Johnson, author of The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe

From the Publisher

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