KENNETH CALHOUN has had stories published in The Paris Review, Tin House, and the 2011 Pen/O. Henry Prize Collection, among others. He lives in Boston, where he is a graphic design professor at Lasell College. Black Moon is his first novel.
Longlisted for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut
Fiction
“Haunting. . . . Many authors have tackled the mystique of
sleeplessness — but few have done so with the grotesque grace and
poetic insight of Black Moon. . . . Its totemic power builds into
something heart-wrenchingly resonant. . . . [Calhoun’s] prose-rich
passages of hallucinogenic abandon aren’t psychedelic—they’re
razor-sharp.” —NPR.org
“Intriguing…Startling and evocative…Compelling, with an
undercurrent of the surreal as science grapples with matters of the
subconscious.”—Jeff Vandermeer, Los Angeles Times
"A dazzlying distopia...Its chillingness lies not only in its
accurate portrayal of the insomniac brain but in the
plausibility."—The Times (UK)
“Morbid, hallucinatory, darkly funny, and symbolically striking. .
. . [Calhoun] carves out new space in the post-sleep apocalypse.”
—The AV Club
“Gripping. . . . The characters are all completely relatable. I
found myself rooting for their survival from page one.” —Real
Simple
“Uniquely haunting. . . . Terrifying and poetically beautiful at
the same time. . . . [Calhoun] pushes the weirdness as far as he
can, in a way that feels horribly plausible.” —io9
“Engaging. . . . speculative fiction at its best: suspenseful,
intelligent, moving, and sure to keep you awake.” —PopMatters
“Calhoun’s depiction of the collapse of language, reason, and love
in a world without sleep is unflinching, and—scariest of all—it
feels brilliantly contemporary.” —Publishers Weekly (starred
review)
“Calhoun’s literary dystopia, which features beautiful writing,
arresting imagery, and powerful metaphors, will appeal to fans of
Karen Thompson Walker’s The Age of Miracles. . . . A deeply lyrical
exploration of humanity at the extremes.” —Library Journal (starred
review)
“Surprising and unpredictable. . . . In his first novel, Calhoun
paints an all-too-believable landscape. . . . His dark tale is
allegorical and relevant in today’s zombie-infatuated zeitgeist.
This clever twist on the dystopian formula is a standout.”
—Booklist
“Surreal. . . . Calhoun’s premise is brilliant.”—Kirkus
“Black Moon is the kind of book I envy as a writer, and seek out as
a reader—a novel of ideas wrapped in a gripping, expertly
constructed story, full of feeling and intelligence.” —Charles Yu,
author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe
“Black Moon is tremendous: smart, beautifully written, and artfully
plotted. Kenneth Calhoun’s story is so engagingly told that it
would be easy to overlook how finely crafted it is. And he manages
to pull off that essential feat: he makes us care—deeply—for
ordinary people trapped in a very extraordinary world.” —Scott
Smith, author of The Ruins and A Simple Plan
“A thrilling, deeply intelligent portrait of catastrophe brought on
by mass insomnia, by the wreckage that occurs when we lose our
ability to close our eyes and escape into dreams. The dystopian
landscape is absorbing, the prose electric, but the burning core of
this novel is the heartrending and unforgettable story of a man’s
quest to save the woman he loves.” —Laura van den Berg, author of
The Isle of Youth
“Calhoun’s epidemic, this new and improved insomnia, sinks us
into a world where ‘sleepers’ are the target of violent rage. Here
we see the erosion of the everyday ruses that allow us to soldier
on, the ugly truths we run from gaining ground. Black Moon is a
powerful, beautiful debut.” —John Brandon, author of Citrus County
and A Million Heavens
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