We Are Happy, We Are Doomed

Small towns, apocalypses, deformed bodies, and sensory oddities wind through this strong collection of weird fiction from Fawver (The Dissolution of Small Worlds). While some of these 14 stories recall the pulp horror narratives of the 1980s yet come off as more goofy than horrific, most are Thomas Ligotti–influenced weird fiction and body horror. Fawver is not a stylist and has a largely formulaic approach to story structure, but his ideas are highly original and memorable. “The Man in the Highchair” is the masterpiece, telling of a man living in a high chair atop his town’s city hall and the haunting impact his presence has on the townspeople. “Extinction in Green,” about a group of survivors hiding from a green light that deforms anything it shines upon, embodies a genuine sense of dread. In the strange and strong final novelette “Pwdre Ser,” a cometlike hunk of jelly crashes into a small-town high school, heralding the arrival of “the wobbly people.” The result is a solid collection with plenty to please horror fans. (Dec.)