Praise for the author:
“The prose is crisp and punchy; there’s never a word wasted but it’s always evocative, whether capturing the oppressive humidity of a Texan summer or the terror of an encounter with the supernatural. A tale of friendship and growing up enhanced with a thrilling frisson of fear.”
—SFX
“Pure magic. A novel that sparks with wonder, heartbreak, and hope. Wildly endearing and compulsively readable, with an immersive, richly drawn world and vibrant characters you’ll never forget. The truths within—about friendship, about pain, about growing up and making mistakes— are beautiful and absolute. A masterpiece.”
—Rachel Harrison, national bestselling author of Black Sheep and Such Sharp Teeth
“The most impressive magical feat of The Dissonance are the four teen friends and their complicated, cringy, familiar wart-filled relationship, one imbued with enough love to refill your soul. The result is that this wildly imaginative, thrilling, time-hopping, magic and monsters epic feels authentic and lived in. Not sure how Shaun did it. The jerk.”
—Paul Tremblay, author of The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts
“Shaun Hamill proves there are strange new worlds yet to be explored on the bookshelf. The Dissonance is yet another testament to Hamill’s mantel as a master storyteller, blending the terrors and wonders of traumatic magic. You won’t read another novel quite like The Dissonance this year, or perhaps ever in this life—or even beyond it.”
—Clay McLeod Chapman, author of What Kind of Mother and Ghost Eaters
“A brilliantly rendered tale of friendship, redemption, cosmic horror, and so much heart. The Dissonance cements Hamill as a master world-builder and one of the most exciting voices in fantasy today. I already want to reread this book.”
–Erin A. Craig, #1 New York Times bestselling author of House of Roots and Ruin
“The Dissonance packs all the punch of a ‘kids on bikes’ adventure—that is, if instead of bikes, the kids were riding waves of terror conjured by eldritch horrors. Shaun Hamill will make you nostalgically recall your first kiss—and mere pages later, he’ll gift you a demon in a skinsuit puking out its own entrails. And the most messed up part? It works. If you, like me, wish there was an Animorphs for fucked up grown-ups—wish granted.”
—GennaRose Nethercott, author of Thistlefoot
PRAISE FOR A COSMOLOGY OF MONSTERS:
“Shaun Hamill’s A Cosmology of Monsters brilliantly combines the mythos of H.P. Lovecraft with a contemporary story of a family under threat of destruction from supernatural forces. It succeeds because these are good, likeable people that we root for; they could be our neighbors. Horror only works when we care for the people involved, and because we care for the Turners, their nightmare becomes ours. Hamill’s prose is simple, and simply beautiful. If John Irving ever wrote a horror novel, it would be something like this. I loved it, and think you will, too.”
–Stephen King
“A monster stalks a family across generations; a hidden city beckons from beyond perception; trauma and human frailty and loss bear their terrible fangs. . . . A Cosmology of Monsters is as weird and compelling and ambitious a horror novel as you could possibly want.”
–Carmen Maria Machado, author of Her Body and Other Parties
“Sometimes you read a book and you know it’s special. A Cosmology of Monsters by Shaun Hamill is just such a book. It’s a book about family, love, loss, obsession . . . and monsters. Unique and wonderful. You won’t read anything like it this year.”
–C. J. Tudor, author of The Chalk Man and The Hiding Place
“Exquisitely written, A Cosmology of Monsters is both beautiful and haunting. Shaun Hamill has crafted the best sort of horror story: one full of love and dread that will have you rethinking your definition of what a monster is.”
–Jennifer McMahon, New York Times bestselling author of The Winter People and The Invited
“A Cosmology of Monsters by Shaun Hamill is beautiful, heartbreaking, offbeat horror. A terrific debut.”
–Ellen Datlow, editor of The Best Horror of the Year
“[A] very scary coming-of-age tale that lives in the same space as Stranger Things, Stand By Me, and Stephen King’s It. . . . The way Hamill weaves his way between the phantasmagorical elements and Noah’s everyday dramas is nimble in a way reminiscent of King. . . . An accomplished, macabre horror saga and a promising debut from an imaginative new author.”
–Kirkus Reviews
‘This is a gem: a gentle horror novel, a haunted ride with real heart. I liked it so much that it made me feel personally grateful to Shaun for writing it.’
–Francesco Dimitri, author of The Book of Hidden Things
“Gorgeously written and with beautifully observed characterisation, this heartfelt, deeply human tale of monsters kept me reading into the small hours. I’m glad to have discovered Shaun Hamill!.”
–Alison Littlewood, author of A Cold Season
“A Cosmology of Monsters is a staggeringly good debut novel, by turns warm and terrifying, tender and devastating. Its tone occupies a strange hinterland halfway between H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu tales and Jeffrey Eugenides’ Middlesex. I was reluctant to finish the novel, not wanting to let the endearingly complex Turner family go, and I’ll be waiting eagerly to read whatever Shaun Hamill comes up with next.”
–Tim Major, author of Snakeskins and Hope Island
“By turns moving and harrowing, and not for the faint-hearted.”
–Guardian
“Hamill writes beautifully.”
–SFX
“A haunting tale of love, shifting dimensions and offbeat horror.”
–Hot House Horror
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