Varying Distances

Prepare to lose yourself in the mesmerizing voice and worldview of author Darren Speegle…

"Speegle's delicious evocation of landscape delivers the reader, quite seamlessly, from places of precisely-evoked geography into landscapes of haunting spiritual menace…" – Graham Joyce

In his latest short story collection of dark, unsettling tales, Darren Speegle takes us on a journey through the textured layers of time and space. From Flower Age Ibiza, Spain to present-day war-torn Iraq, from the mysteries of America's Deep South to those of a haunting future landscape where humans and machines are virtually indistinguishable, these stories explore what it is to be us among the varying distances.  

An infamous German writer searches for the meaning of consciousness.

A future artist is forced by a cult leader to try to capture his soul in a portrait.

An American contractor working a camp gate in Iraq is confronted by incoming vehicles the likes of which he has never seen before.

A godlike being welcomes in Halloween with a special device. 

A hitman tries to determine which woman among a party of three is the android, his target.

This surreal collection includes:

• Introduction by Jeffrey Thomas
• In the Distance, a Familiar Sound
• The Flesh Winks While the Ghost Weeps
• The Staging Yard
• For Love of War
• Balearic Moon
• A Carousel of Faces
• Death Paper Burn
• Twinkle, Twinkle, Amsterdam
• That's the Game
• Song in a Sundress
• A Puddle in the Wilderness
• Nowhere

"There is much poetry in these pages. It is a major component of the original voice of Darren Speegle… And his dialogue? Throughout, it sings, and scintillates. It's one of his strongest virtues." – Jeffrey Thomas

Proudly brought to you by Crystal Lake Publishing—Tales from the Darkest Depths.