A collection takes in uncertainties of perception, feelings of vulnerability-to the weather, the natural world, the tenuousness of sanity-and mixes these elements with a strong sense of history and folklore. From the title piece, which evokes the pure claustrophobic terror of becoming lost and disoriented in a cave-system, to the final tale, Doireann, where a woman performs unusual funeral rites in a starving community, each story layers ambiguities to create an unnerving effect that will get under your skin.
This new edition also includes Marceau's novelette Magnum Opus, which follows the story of Charlotte Curran, an author who's willing to do whatever it takes to make sure her newest book is a best seller... even if that means murdering her best friend. Magnum Opus is a dark look at the price of fame and the legacy we leave behind.
PRAISE FOR A BLACKNESS ABSOLUTE:
"In her latest collection, Caitlin Marceau continues to display her boundless creativity and inventiveness. With surgical precision, she cuts into the hearts and minds of her doomed characters, extracting gothic tales of ghostly betrayal, teenage revenge, cloying claustrophobia, statuesque sirens and more. Marceau understands the terror that waits in the dark places beyond the seemingly Everyday. Fans will not be disappointed, and new readers will find themselves falling deep into A Blackness Absolute."
- Laura Keating, author of Agony's Lodestone
"A sharp tongue stretching deep into the collective unconscious, like campfire stories, to divine a vast array of hells to chill you with. A Blackness Absolute stitches together Junji Ito-esque horrors that crawl into some atavistic part of your brain and take root there, shading your dreams with dread and uncertainty. Marceau has written a reflection on the terrifying ways in which time stains everything, unforgivably, into states of ruin. She cuts, with serrated edge, into the pure, disturbing imagination of nightmares, and sustains terror from start to finish. Creepy as hell. Utterly addictive and compellingly frightening. A remarkable ride I cannot recommend enough."
- Sofia Ajram, author of The Arborglyph
Autorentext
Caitlin Marceau is a queer author and lecturer based in Montreal. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing, is an Active Member of the Horror Writers Association, and has spoken about genre literature at several Canadian conventions. She spends most of her time writing horror and experimental fiction, but has also been published for poetry as well as creative non-fiction. Her work includes PALIMPSEST, A BLACKNESS ABSOLUTE, and her debut novella, THIS IS WHERE WE TALK THINGS OUT. For more, visit CaitlinMarceau.ca or find her on social media.