Agents of Dreamland

December 19, 2016
This chilling supernatural noir novella from celebrated dark fantasy writer Kiernan threads together a story across several different decades, combining government secrecy and otherworldly cults. The Signalman, a lone government agent who is haunted by past events, encounters a cult leader who has amassed forces on the shores of the Salton Sea, waiting for a Lovecraftian second coming. Kiernan’s novella is a study of fear, curiosity, and awe at things that remain unknown or inexplicable. The characterization is brief and understated. The Signalman in some respects is an everyman, as bewildered as the audience by what is going around him; “he’s learned to settle for the doubtful consolation of necessary fictions.” Kiernan’s subtly haunting voice draws the reader in, and her work demands a close reading as well as requiring some familiarity with the conventions of dark fantasy and horror.

February 15, 2017

Two rival intelligence agents meet in a diner in Winslow, AZ, to exchange information. One of the agents, known only as the Signalman, is haunted by horrors witnessed at the compound of a cult that was awaiting the arrival of elder gods from a Lovecraftian realm. Gathering acolytes by the shores of the Salton Sea, the cult leader targeted those like young Chloe from Los Angeles, promising them a new world. VERDICT There is no writer more skilled at conveying horrifying images in gorgeous language than Kiernan (The Drowning Girl). Here she combines remote locations, mysterious secret agents (one of whom seems unbounded by the laws of time), zombie fungus, tarot card prophecies, and satellites at the edges of our solar system into one compact novella.--MM

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