Compared to what we can think of as God, this is deeper, stranger. This is the ecstatic path. We will be lost here with reason alone, just as reason is useless to us when drowning. We must trust our senses. We must rely on consciousness.
Ten strange stories to take us to the edge of our minds. Is there light beyond the ego? Are we more fearful of death than necessary? What is consciousness and the nature of happiness?
The stories include a man who falls into layers of dreams, a woman who kills to quiet her mind, someone who finds a back door to his own body where all his hopes and dreams are buried, and a woman who wakes up to the true nature of her mind upon dying. Also in the mix are an old man who gets lost in a dollhouse and a young man who turns into a lizard and discovers the taste of rain.
“Dreams of Life and Death” follows a man who wanders through a dream world, aware that he’s dreaming and learning about facets of his own mortality. In “A Sky that Rains Numbers,” a dying woman dreams of trading her soul to hell so her nonverbal son can be made “normal”; in “The Woman Who Woke Up,” another dying woman grapples with her life and the implications of memory. “Inherent Emptiness” follows K.T., a hospital patient whose body grows scales and vomits up aspects of his self. “Clinging, Mourning, Magic” sees the deterioration of a relationship between a boy and his father as the father gradually loses his grip on reality.
Chan’s characters are ordinary; there is no one particularly heroic or wise. Bewildered (or erroneously certain they know what’s going on), they fight and flail against an onslaught of strange situations. Chan’s poetic turns of phrase (“What was so pitiful about being seventeen? But you are only seventeen. Those five little words were like five little cancers, five little tombstones”) underscore the meditative quality of his stories, which lack a certain definition. However, the reader simply does not get to know enough about Chan’s characters to gain a foothold through caring about them, costing the narrative some of its thrust. Even when philosophizing outweighs characterization, these works are a fine example of the more existential end of weird fiction.
Takeaway: Chan’s work is perfect for seasoned readers of weird fiction who like horror with a side of existential dread.
Great for fans of Michael Kelly, Sam Weller.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: B
Illustrations: -
Editing: B
Marketing copy: B
