Fever Dreams of a Parasite

The 20 stories in this blood-curdling collection from Iniguez (Control Theory) blend cosmic horror and social commentary. In “Nightmare of a Million Faces,” a porn actor recovering from a traumatic relationship with a former costar ventures to a party in the desert in hopes of finding a job and getting back on her feet—only to be greeted by a force even more malevolent than the porn industry itself. A cannibal in “Feast of the Dreamer” uses his gustatory endeavors to gain temporary access to a seething, hallucinatory dreamscape. “Adrift Ebon Tides” centers on two men stranded on a life raft following the destruction of their ship. Their struggle for survival is complicated by their haunting memories of the eldritch horrors they’ve witnessed at sea. Throughout, Iniguez’s rich prose brings the more grotesque elements of the stories to vivid life. Though the collection’s classic horror influences occasionally loom too large for some of the tales to establish their own mythology, Iniguez nevertheless manages to carve out a unique space within weird fiction. Fans of Clive Barker’s Books of Blood will be pleased. (Mar.)