Skidding Into Oblivion

by Brian Hodge

Overview

We each inhabit many worlds, often at the same time. From worlds on the inside, to the world on a cosmic scale. Worlds imposed on us, and worlds of our own making.

In time, though, all worlds will end. Bear witness:

After the death of their grandmother, two cousins return to their family’s rural homestead to find a community rotting from the soul outward, and a secret nobody dreamed their matriarch had been keeping.

The survivors of the 1929 raid on H.P. Lovecraft’s town of Innsmouth hold the key to an anomalous new event in the ocean, if only someone could communicate with them.

The ultimate snow day turns into the ultimate nightmare when it just doesn’t stop.

An extreme metal musician compels his harshest critic to live up to the hyperbole of his trolling.

With the last of a generation of grotesquely selfish city fathers on his deathbed, the residents of the town they doomed exercise their right to self-determination one last time.

As history repeats itself and the world shivers through a volcanic winter, a group gathers around the shore of a mountain lake to once again invoke the magic that created the world’s most famous monster.

With Skidding Into Oblivion, his fifth collection, award-winning author Brian Hodge brings together his most concentrated assortment yet of year’s best picks and awards finalists, with one thing in common:

It’s the end of the world as we know it . . . and we don’t feel fine at all.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781771484787
Publisher:	ChiZine Publications
Publication date:	02/26/2019
Pages:	350
Sales rank:	136,265
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Called “a writer of spectacularly unflinching gifts” by no less than Peter Straub, Brian Hodge is one of those people who always has to be making something. So far, he’s made thirteen novels, around 130 shorter works, five full-length collections, and, for Whom the Gods Would Destroy, a book soundtrack of cinematic ambient and space music. One recent novella of cosmic horror has been optioned for development as a TV series.

He lives in Colorado, where he also likes to make music and photographs; loves everything about organic gardening except the thieving squirrels; and trains in Krav Maga and kickboxing, which are of no use at all against the squirrels.

Table of Contents

Roots and All
This Stagnant Breath of Change
Scars In Progress
Just Outside Our Windows, Deep Inside Our Walls
Eternal, Ever Since Wednesday
Let My Smile Be Your Umbrella
We, the Fortunate Bereaved
One Possible Shape of Things to Come
Cures for a Sickened World
The Same Deep Waters As You
One Last Year Without a Summer
Endnotes: Because Black Holes Have Emissions After All

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Praise for Brian Hodge

“Horror fiction aficionados—often authors themselves—have been raving about the work of novelist and short story writer Brian Hodge for decades now, though he’s yet to break through to the mainstream. This new collection gives readers a chance to jump on the still un-crowded bandwagon to find out what all the fuss is about. Skidding Into Oblivion contains 11 of Hodges’ recent short stories, and as he explains in a series of end notes, the collection reflects his ongoing interest in “cosmic horror,” a fecund subgenre pioneered by H.P. Lovecraft and other pulp writers of the mid-20th century in which the very landscape itself and the stars above are revealed as the locus of human fear. Hodges employs the genre’s tropes to masterful effect here, creating tightly plotted, atmospheric tales that are a joy to read.”
—James Grainger, The Toronto Star

“The Immaculate Void is a highly cinematic, fast-paced, gory, disturbing, yet in its heart of hearts, touchingly warm tale of horrors which may surpass humanity, but does not entirely diminish it, even in the face of apocalypse.”
—Rue Morgue

“A writer of spectacularly unflinching gifts . . . leaves most contemporary horror writing in the dust.”
—Peter Straub

“One of the finest authors in the horror field . . . a literary equivalent of filmmaker David Cronenberg.”
—Fangoria

“Not only does Brian Hodge get the ‘cosmic awe’ concept nailed down, but his characters, and the way he describes the relationships between them, are expertly drawn to a degree that [H.P.] Lovecraft himself could never have achieved.”
—The British Fantasy Society

“Emotional, thrilling, and dread-inducing . . . Brian Hodge is clearly a master craftsman of a writer.”
—This Is Horror UK

“Each book of his stands out as so ‘original,’ that I’d have a difficult time in saying which was my personal favorite. . . . It’s his writing style, combined with his incredible imagination, which makes his books so consistently good.”
—Horror After Dark

“Brian Hodge has long been a favorite of horror insiders, both for his audacious themes and his impressive facility with language. . . . You can hear the music in Hodge’s prose, a kind of euphony that, at its best, is reminiscent of Brite, Koja, Gaiman, or even Roger Zelazny, while remaining totally unique.”
—Gothic.net

Editorial Reviews

In his fifth short fiction collection, Skidding Into Oblivion, Brian Hodge offers readers eleven atmospheric stories in which readers can immerse themselves. The opening story “Roots and All” is perhaps one of the best stories I’ve ever read. . . . Hodge’s story is truly gripping and the imagery he creates is a marvel to behold. It’s impressive how the prose simultaneously evokes mood, conveys background, and advances the plot—all while seeming conversational and matter-of-fact. So much so that you don’t see the emotional wallop coming until it hits you in the heart.”
—John DeNardo, Kirkus Reviews

“Horror fiction aficionados—often authors themselves—have been raving about the work of novelist and short story writer Brian Hodge for decades now, though he’s yet to break through to the mainstream. This new collection gives readers a chance to jump on the still un-crowded bandwagon to find out what all the fuss is about. Skidding Into Oblivion contains 11 of Hodges’ recent short stories, and as he explains in a series of end notes, the collection reflects his ongoing interest in “cosmic horror,” a fecund subgenre pioneered by H.P. Lovecraft and other pulp writers of the mid-20th century in which the very landscape itself and the stars above are revealed as the locus of human fear. Hodges employs the genre’s tropes to masterful effect here, creating tightly plotted, atmospheric tales that are a joy to read.”
—James Grainger, The Toronto Star

“ The Immaculate Void is a highly cinematic, fast-paced, gory, disturbing, yet in its heart of hearts, touchingly warm tale of horrors which may surpass humanity, but does not entirely diminish it, even in the face of apocalypse.”
— Rue Morgue

“A writer of spectacularly unflinching gifts . . . leaves most contemporary horror writing in the dust.”
—Peter Straub

“One of the finest authors in the horror field . . . a literary equivalent of filmmaker David Cronenberg.”
— Fangoria

“Not only does Brian Hodge get the ‘cosmic awe’ concept nailed down, but his characters, and the way he describes the relationships between them, are expertly drawn to a degree that [H.P.] Lovecraft himself could never have achieved.”
—The British Fantasy Society

“Emotional, thrilling, and dread-inducing . . . Brian Hodge is clearly a master craftsman of a writer.”
— This Is Horror UK

“Each book of his stands out as so ‘original,’ that I’d have a difficult time in saying which was my personal favorite. . . . It’s his writing style, combined with his incredible imagination, which makes his books so consistently good.”
— Horror After Dark

“Brian Hodge has long been a favorite of horror insiders, both for his audacious themes and his impressive facility with language. . . . You can hear the music in Hodge’s prose, a kind of euphony that, at its best, is reminiscent of Brite, Koja, Gaiman, or even Roger Zelazny, while remaining totally unique.”
— Gothic.net

From the Publisher