The Uncertain Beyond
Oren Kosmos
When Death exits, sometimes she leaves the door cracked open.
Chapter 8
Mozi cleared his throat as he was a little nervous. “I was named after an ancient Chinese philosopher.”
“Oh, is that so? And what was his message?”
“His message? Oh, his message.” He straightened his back. “We should be true to ourselves–everyone’s important, everyone’s equal, everyone’s story deserves to be heard.”
Chapter Eight
“If we looked back on our lives, would we lose everything? Will I, too, disappear into darkness? If all the future beaus in your life were to form a constellation, could I be an asterisk among your stars? One could say that with time and from a distance, a constellation is nothing more than a cluster of stars in an infinite sea of such; nonetheless, it matters to me.”
Mozi echoed, “It matters to me.”
“Even if for a brief sparkling moment, we could be the only pair of stars in a universe filled with intangibles.”
A whirlwind of snow blew in. Books unfurled, and their pages danced in the air. The fire went out and then reignited. Oren had vanished.
Mozi carried a burning candle down the staircase, its wax dripping from the tip. The entrance above him was sealed shut. His hand covered the flame; his shadow stretched along the walls. Mozi made his way to Oren’s room and stood by the bed. The lace curtain covered Oren’s bust. He placed the candle next to the bust and fell onto the bed. Mozi faced Denis’ pillow. He reached into the pillow’s impression of Denis’s head. He cupped his hands and dipped them into the hollow, scooping Denis’s scent to his nose. And at that moment, the stone of longing hit the bottomless pit of his near-empty heart. He buried his head where Denis rested on the pillow and drifted.
Chapter 10
“I’ve fallen in love with the sun, and now I’ve gone blind.”
Mozi
hook
Mozi Fong, an Asian American teenager, summons his mother’s spirit to foretell his and his beloved’s future. Her grim prophecy ignites a series of deadly supernatural events intertwined with Western and Chinese traditions.
Denis
Constancy
& Freedom
bio
A few of HRH-RH’s honors include a Student Academy Award for his German Expressionist short, The Yellow Umbrella, about a boy discovering an umbrella emitting sunshine in a rainy world, and the Pacific/Rim Award for Playwriting for Orpheus Afloat about a young gay Asian man who realizes his beloved’s love too late. He recently became a Webby Honoree for Midnight Balloon, a limited-series podcast that takes the audience on a light-hearted journey through darkness.
Editors
Primary Editor: Mark Spencer
Mark Spencer has won four major national awards: The Faulkner Society Faulkner Award, The Omaha Prize for the Novel, The Patrick T. Bradshaw Book Award, and The St. Andrews Press/Cairn Short Fiction Award.
“The overarching narrative design is wonderfully effective; you consistently move gracefully (and creepily) from character to character, plotline to plotline; and you have a consistently distinct and compelling omniscient narrative voice.
The short scenes—like in a streaming Netflix or Amazon series—enhance the reader’s sense of a swift pace. Every plotline and character is compelling—no weak narrative threads or people.
And the comedy is delightful! The novel really is a superb blend of horror, mind-bending action, pathos, and comedy.”
Consulting Editor: Timons Esaias
Timons Esaias was shortlisted for the Hugo Award and has received multiple nominations for the Rhysling, Asimov’s Readers Poll, and the British Science Fiction Awards.