When I launched The Reckless imprint, I mentioned that several shuttles were in its landing bay ready to start exploratory missions. After the interstellar diplomacy of Wisps of Spider Silk and the noir interplanetary sleuthing of Piper Deez come the oneiric frissons of deeply mythic Dreaming the Dark, accompanied by an evocative cover. The story’s premise:

The bodies of the People are asleep in the frozen winter ground, while their spirits wander in the dreamlands. But what emerges in the spring from the winter houses is not always human. Kua, a reluctant shaman, cursed with the other-sight that allows her to see the monstrous powers ruling her world, is trying to defend her family from the Tupilak – a soul-stealer and a body-devourer. Meanwhile, as a cruise ship is pushing deeper into the beauty and terror of the North, Oleg, a tech entrepreneur, is beginning to see the same visions that drove his late wife to madness and suicide…

The lovely cover art is by wide-ranging Alan C. Caum and the haunting photo was taken by the author herself.

Elana Gomel is the author of five non-fiction books published by Routledge, Macmillan and others, and of numerous articles on subjects ranging from science fiction and fantasy to posthumanism and Victorian literature. She has published more than 30 fantasy and science fiction stories, in such magazines as New Horizons, Bewildering Stories, Timeless Tales, The Singularity, New Realm, Mythic, and The Fantasist; and in anthologies The Apex Book of World SF, People of the Book, Twelve Days of Christmas, among others. Her fantasy novel A Tale of Three Cities was published in 2013.

We expect to share Dreaming the Dark in early 2018—most likely on Brigid’s Day (Feb. 1). Mark your calendars for dreamtime!