by Fritz Leiber
First published 2016
Franz Westen walks the streets of San Francisco, sensing something wrong in the city's concrete and steel. The buildings themselves seem alive, feeding on the misery of their inhabitants. Westen encounters the paramentals, creatures that emerge from the intersection of urban architecture and human despair. These entities grow stronger as the city grows more alienated, more disconnected from nature. Glass towers and concrete blocks absorb the anguish of millions, transforming pain into something far worse. Westen must understand these urban monsters before they consume everything he cares about. The city has become a breeding ground for horrors that feed on isolation and feed back terror.
Genres: fantasy, horror, dark-fantasy, urban-fantasy
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, thought-provoking
Tropes: creature-feature, supernatural-elements
Setting: San Francisco
Period: 20th-century
MP3 CD · Audible Studios on Brilliance Audio
Content warnings: body-horror, violence