Black Hole Sundown

“I believe the common denominator of the universe is not harmony, but chaos, hostility, and murder.” — Werner Herzog In his sixth, and likely final, full-length story collection, Brian Hodge serves up his most mature and expansive vision of a universe that is, by turns, actively hostile and coldly indifferent... Yet, at the same time, is the ultimate battleground for carving meaning out of chaos. Come for the horrors of the cosmos, writ large in the gulfs of space and time; stay for the horrors writ small, between the beats of a human heart. Among the casualties: “West of Matamoros, North of Hell” • Taken by members of a cartel, three electro musicians from Mexico City struggle to keep their lives and souls intact when they’re plunged into the ancient Mesoamerican heritage of human sacrifice. “Insanity Among Penguins” • Two film nerds, clinging to the long-gone glory days of indie video stores, pursue their ultimate prize: a nightmarish lost documentary by the legendary Werner Herzog. “Weird Shadows Over Innsmouth” • The downfall of H.P. Lovecraft’s notorious seaport town, as seen by the hulking, career-doomed Bureau agent who broke the case wide open. “The Atrocity Exhibitionists” • When the monstrous god of social media demands its due, nothing has less value than your dignity, your conscience, your soul. “The Weight of the Dead” • After her father is exiled from their post-apocalyptic community, an adolescent girl deals with her sudden vulnerability to the resident predators, while a dark magic begins to re-emerge from the forests. “On These Blackened Shores of Time” • A family suffering an unimaginable tragedy is engulfed by the discovery that their loss was hundreds of millions of years in the making. Make your peace. A black sun is coming down, and it’s about to swallow everything.