Black Days: a novel

by Jackson Ellis

Overview

Black  Days  tells the story of Daniel Fassett, a Vermont man who crashes his vehicle into the Mad River on Christmas Eve, 1992. After nearly drowning, Daniel falls into a four-month-long coma shortly before his retirement date, and loses a significant portion of his pension. Depressed and financially strapped, he enlists the aid of a local semi-retired physician, Dr. William Butcher, to help him hibernate through the winter in a homemade casket housed in a backyard maple sugarhouse. Despite Daniel's attempts to maintain secrecy, word of the procedure eventually gets out — and that is when trouble begins. From across the country, folks eager to escape their woes reach out to Daniel and Dr. Butcher in hopes of becoming the next to pass a season in oblivion. Large sums of money are offered for the privilege — but death, deception, and moral and ethical dilemmas that have no clear solutions wreak havoc on Daniel's life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798989178452
Publisher:	Green Writers Press
Publication date:	10/22/2024
Pages:	202
Sales rank:	616,762
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Jackson Ellis is a writer and editor from Vermont who has also spent time living in Nevada and Montana. His short fiction has appeared in  The Vermont Literary Review,  Sheepshead Review,  Broken Pencil,  The Birmingham Arts Journal,  East Coast Literary Review,  Midwest Literary Magazine, and  The Journal of Microliterature. He co-published VerbicideMagazine.com, which he founded as a print periodical in 1999.  His debut, Lords of St. Thomas, received the 2017 Howard Frank Mosher First Novel Prize.

Editorial Reviews

"A thrilling story of medical breakthroughs, unsettling secrets, and the border between life and death."—Reactor

“A deeply depressed man takes a break from life via cryogenic hibernation and wakes to a world of trouble. . . . This is a strange and marvelously unpredictable tale, one that raises provocative questions about the tension between scientific progress and moral goodness. The narrative is intelligently conceived and executed, and refreshingly original. A compelling plot infused with philosophical vitality.”—Kirkus Reviews

“The book's straightforward and linear narration about how to freeze people keeps the story moving at a steady clip. The experiment at its heart, carried out by two able men, is intriguing enough. The real hook, though, is a lurking tragedy, pernicious and startling and devastating to everyone in its wake. Are we ready to believe we're as susceptible to it as the pervasive condition Daniel exemplifies? What begins as a science fiction hoax becomes a psychological thriller, a double hitter that packs a painful punch.”—Midwest Book Review

"What happens if you mix a crime drama, gothic thriller and literary fiction novel into one? You get Black Days. . . . part thriller and part dark comedy . . . it was his characters that he [Ellis]  wanted the emphasis to be on . . . ‘it’s the emotions that carry the story,’ he said.” —Jackie DiBartolomeo for The Essex Reporter

"In Jackson Ellis’s provocative science fiction novel Black Days, a despondent Vermont man’s inspired plan leads to disaster, raising questions about the consequences of unchecked human ambition. . . .The novel confronts challenging issues, such as the question of whether perpetrators of heinous crimes can earn forgiveness. . . .A Vermont man and a doctor team up on a scientific experiment that triggers disastrous results in Black Days, an arresting science fiction novel.”—Foreword Reviews

"Some books make you think about yourself, your life, and then lift you up in an unexpected way. That’s exactly what Jackson Ellis's book Black Days does. . . . Overall, memorable characters, thrilling story, and important life lessons make Black Days a highly recommended book. It’s a must-read for everyone who wants to experience a uniquely thrilling tale while also getting reminded about how to look at life to make the most of it.”—Haunted Vermont

From the Publisher

2024-07-05
A deeply depressed man takes a break from life via cryogenic hibernation and wakes to a world of trouble.

Daniel Fassett’s life has been a disappointing one filled with regret, but he sees a second chance in retirement from his factory job in Granbury, Vermont, his hometown. Expecting a generous pension after 30 years of employment, he buys a small cottage in Key Largo, Florida, eager to start life anew at 62 years of age. However, he loses control of his car and drives into a freezing river, where, for at least 20 minutes, he is unconscious before being rescued. When he awakens from his coma four months later, his life is in a shambles—facing a considerable rehabilitation, he discovers his pension was greatly reduced on the basis of a technicality; all but broke, he has no choice but to abandon his retirement home. Utterly despondent and terrified to face a long winter alone, he comes up with a crazy idea, one fantastically implausible but nevertheless fascinatingly developed by the author: Daniel decides he’d like to spend the winter suspended in hibernation and shares his plan with his old friend and physician, William Butcher. Butcher is initially incredulous, but then decides it can be done, and they freeze Daniel in a “hibernation casket” housed in an old sugar shack designed for the production of maple syrup. The plan works—Daniel wakes rejuvenated after nearly 119 days of slumber—but when the world learns what he has accomplished, it turns his life inside out. Ellis’ prose is simple and powerfully foursquare. When Ralphie, Daniel’s son, asks him why he froze himself, he answers plainly: “Desperation. Money. Sadness . . . loneliness.” This is a strange and marvelously unpredictable tale, one that raises provocative questions about the tension between scientific progress and moral goodness. The narrative is intelligently conceived and executed, and refreshingly original.

A compelling plot infused with philosophical vitality.

Kirkus Reviews