The Shivering Ground & Other Stories

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The Shivering Ground & Other Stories is a collection of weird fiction with a steampunk aesthetic.

In "The Door at the End of the Path" a young girl discovers her parents' secret in their gothic house with a garden behind it... in "Conditions" a man with Frankenstein-ian aspirations gets a visit from his twin sister, who tells him about the disappearance of her ex-lover.

"The Eternal In-Between" details a narrator's dream during the plague, while "The Mannequin" explains a medical procedure that involves taking out one's heart. "Brianna" retells Sleeping Beauty with a dark twist, and "Noticing" is post-apocalyptic fiction about a man and an alien creature obsessed with extinct birds, stuck on earth during the end of it all.

"Entanglement" tells the story of love between two soldiers, and "The Day Before Tomorrow" tells the story of friendship between two young girls in an ordinary suburb, that is being slowly eaten away by a vastness of char and bones.

"It's Already Too Late" is a fatalistic group of people's response to the changes in their world, and "The Shivering Ground" creates a narrative between a guard and their winged captive in a post-war city, intertwined with music.

 "A Universe Akilter," the collection's only novella, a love story in epistolary format, tells of the meetings, through dreams, between a failed playwright and a young painter who live in different dimensions.

The full first story is available as a free download! ⚜

THE SHIVERING GROUND is a National Indie Excellence Awards finalist.

Table of Contents:

1. The Door at the End of the Path
2. Conditions
3. The Eternal In-Between
4. The Mannequin
5. Brianna
6. Noticing
7. Entanglement
8. The Day Before Tomorrow
9. It's Already Too Late
10. The Shivering Ground
11. A Universe Akilter

"[Sara Barkat] wields words as she pleases, in ways that delight and unsettle. In this, she reminds me of Emily Dickinson." —John Wilson, editor of Books & Culture (1995-2016)

"The majority of [the stories] are shiver-inducing, if not for their terror-strewn settings, then for their hypodermic-sharp symbolism. The unnerving humanness of mannikins, for instance, has never failed to creep me out. The inner whorls of the rose, the trickle of moonlight through a cracked window, faintly uttered sounds amid the gathering shadows. If you appreciate and delight in these things, then this collection will tickle your senses, set your imagination working like a live wire, jumpstart your lucid dreams and leave you reeling." —L.S. Popovich, author

"The writing at times reminds me of Ray Bradbury in his more contemplative and nostalgic moods." —Byrd Nash, author

"Very highly recommended if you enjoy evocative science-fiction stories in a distinctive style." —Jon F. Zeigler, Amazon review

• buy the paperback on amazon: https://amzn.to/3daHxg4

• buy the kindle on amazon: https://amzn.to/3C69Veo

⚜ surreal film trailer by Sara Barkat. Music video trailer by Sweetie2566.