This Brilliant Darkness
Purchase This Brilliant Darkness on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, iTunes, Kobo
Paperback links Paperback is now available, direct from CreateSpace, Amazon, & Barnes & Noble. If you have a favorite online bookstore (Powell’s, Harvard, RJ Julia, etc.) try searching for the book there and see if it comes up. It should. Outside the US, check the Book Depository.
If you’d like to order a signed copy from yours truly, here’s a link for that.
Axel Howerton says:
The enigmatic Red Tash has created a compelling, multi-layered - and fully nuanced - modern fairytale, full of pop reference and varied philosophical allusions. This Brilliant Darkness is smart, thrilling, funny and full of great characters tangled in the kind of small-town webs Stephen King revels in. Excellent writing from a writer to watch. One of the best new writers I’ve read in years. Pick it up!
Librarian, author, and lover of physics Amy Marshall gives possibly the best review of TBD, yet:
Well, by midnight, I had not put the book down, and had no intention of putting it down. At 12:15am, my fourteen-year-old son stumbled out to get a drink of water. “You’re still up?” he asked. “Go to bed.” I looked up from my Nook, smiled, and said, “Not on your life, dude. Not until this ends.”
Read the rest of the review here.
Poet Christina M. Grey calls it “Mystery Science Masterpiece Theatre” and gives it five stars. Her review lists lots of things she loves about the book, and gives you the flavor of the story without giving spoilers.
Here’s a quick review/summary of the book by author & book vlogger Thea Isis Gregory:
Christine is a young, well-liked professor at Indiana University, though you would have trouble convincing her of that. She lives on coffee and zen meditation, adores antiquated technology and her retired greyhound, Sadie. She loves the feel of a heavy rotary phone receiver in her hand, and the amber glow of an ancient computer monitor. She doesn’t trust her smartphone, the government, God, or her own good judgment. “Socially awkward” doesn’t begin to describe her.
Tom is Christine’s live-in boyfriend, a long-haired carpenter who bikes all over town. They’ve been together a few years, and he is very much in love with her. He’s into green fuel, the Doors, tie-dye, and Birkenstocks. He was someone very special in a past life, but he doesn’t know that yet. He loves hotwings and beer. He is a Bloomington boy by birth, a townie.
Richard is an eccentric, wounded recluse venturing back into the land of living for the first time in years. He was raised in privilege across the pond by a controlling father. He was happily married and somewhat normal before his wife’s accident. Bloomington life brings out the best in him.
Greachin. What can I tell you about Greachin? Greachin is the dark shadow waiting for you, playing tricks with your mind. Greachin is reading your thoughts, scanning the universe constantly for predators. Greachin is broken, damaged, dirty, insane. Greachin possesses immense power, able to flit in and out of time on a whim, and mutate organic DNA into taking any form he desires. He specializes in studying his prey to determine what they fear the most, then turning himself into their deepest terror before striking a soul-crushing blow. He’s been at it a long time, but it’s a lonely life. In This Brilliant Darkness, Greachin begins to wonder if it’s a game he’s still willing to play. Sure, it’s kept him alive this long, but at what cost?
Simon is a monk with a dark past and an uncertain future, devoted to prayer and plagued by dreams of people or spirits he’s never met.
Dudley is the University President, and an old school friend of Richard’s.
Roger is Christine’s department chair.
Junie is Christine’s Teaching Assistant (TA).
Officer Scott is a friend of Tom’s, also a townie.
I refuse to tell you anything about Tristan at this point. We can talk about that later.
Recently, I made up a quiz so people could find out which character they are most like. It’s here. I chose a fantasy cast to go those results and put them on my This Brilliant Darkness pinboard on Pinterest, too. Fun, huh?
This book does come with a couple of caveats: language and violence. There’s a bit more of the first than the second. There’s not much I can do about how the characters talk, act, and think, so if they offend you, I am very sorry. I wish sometimes I could write fluffy historicals where the heroine gets the vapors and locks herself away for a week in protest of some anachronistic social issue, but that’s never really worked for me. I yam what I yam.
If you think any of this bunch are ugly, you are really going to hate the trolls in Troll Or Derby.
On the other hand, if you know a good guilty pleasure when you see one, then belly up to the bar! I’m dishing it out.
Click to enlarge!
Previous cover:
I made a Wix site for This Brilliant Darkness, just because it’s pretty. ”Just because it’s pretty” is a good reason to do things, sometimes.
Catch the book trailer for This Brilliant Darkness.
