A Bright and Beautiful Eternal World

Chambers (The Engines of Sacrifice) combines original Lovecraftian horror with emotionally intelligent characterization in this stellar assembly of 12 short stories set in Knicksport, Long Island, which “exists in the fragments of places and times.” The paths that his characters take toward madness and devastation often start prosaically. In “Odd Quahogs,” Big Gene, a Black Korean war veteran who’s found a sense of community in Knicksport despite the town’s racists, accepts a job raking odd quahogs in the middle of the night for some shunned local residents. In doing so, however, he puts his beloved wife, Bethie, in harm’s way. “Refugees” follows a high schooler who’s teased by most of his classmates for his facial disfigurement, but befriends a mysterious new girl with a strange disease. Other highlights see Jack Kerouac (“A Song Left Behind in the Aztakea Hills) and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (“All’s Well That Ends”) making cameos in Knicksport, with Chambers cleverly linking the authors to Lovecraft’s terrifying cosmic gods. Each entry facilitates the suspension of disbelief by dint of evocative prose and characters who remain recognizable even when gripped by terror. Readers looking for fresh cosmic horror will want to check this out. (Dec.)