by James Howe
First published 2001
In "Color of Absence," James Howe's acclaimed collection of short stories, the mundane becomes menacing. A young boy's bicycle ride through his suburban neighborhood takes a dark turn. A woman's quiet evening is disrupted by a mysterious noise. A family's Thanksgiving dinner is shadowed by a ghostly presence. These seemingly normal situations become charged with unease, as the characters confront the unseen forces that disrupt their lives. Howe's spare, evocative prose heightens the sense of mystery and dread, drawing readers into a world where the familiar becomes unsettlingly strange. At the heart of these stories lies the human need to find meaning and connection in the face of life's uncertainties.
Genres: fiction, short-stories, literary-fiction, mystery, horror, contemporary
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: the-uncanny, unreliable-narrator
256 pages · Hardcover · Atheneum