*Includes the bonus novelette 'Claustrum.'
Dr. Rachel Hoggendorf has seen it all. An accomplished psychiatrist, she's always prided herself on connecting to the patients who've been brought to the facility, no matter how difficult or closed-off they are. That is, until David arrives.
At first, she listens to what David has to say. How he claims to be four-hundred-years-old and possessed by a demon. She diagnosis him as having multiple personalities and approaches his treatment as such.
But as their time together continues, David begins to share details he shouldn't know and begins to lash out violently. When Rachel brings in her colleague Dr. Dravendash, David's behavior escalates and it's not long before they begin to wonder if David just might be telling the truth. That he's possessed by a demonic presence... and it wants out.
A visceral, edge-of-your-seat novella, 'When I Look At the Sky, All I See Are Stars' is everything you'd expect from 2X Splatterpunk-nominated author Steve Stred. Frantic pacing, hooves and horns and the growing dread that what lies beyond this plane is a land filled with ash and a place we never want to visit.
"From philosophy to spirituality and all the complicated weigh-stations in-between, Steve Stred's 'When I Look At the Sky, All I See Are Stars, ' is a gore-soaked psychosexual possession story sure to leave you breathless, both from the full-on assault of the author's gift for splatter and suspense, but also in anticipation of whatever he does next."
- Kealan Patrick Burke, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Kin and Sour Candy.
"Steve Stred unleashes a full throttle terror that will delight readers of both possession and cosmic horror. This one torched my eyeballs!"
- Tim McGregor, author of Eynhallow, Wasps in the Ice Cream and Lure.
"Stred's best work yet! A psychosexual nightmare that only gets darker as the mystery unfolds."
- Duncan Ralston, author of Woom and Ghostland.
"A deeply unsettling read. 'When I Look At the Sky, All I See Are Stars' is a fever dream of madness, violence, possession, death, and what comes afterwards. Steve Stred approaches each act of horror with near sadistic glee, dragging us from one nightmarish set piece to the next, racing towards a pitch-black finale."
- C.M. Forest, author of 'Infested.'
'A deliciously malevolent slice of cosmic horror. Sinister and unrelenting, it breathlessly propels you into the unknown.'
- Evan Dickson, screenwriter, V/H/S/85 and Totem