Tartarus Press

publishers

Dark Arts

by

Eric Stener Carlson

 

Eric Stener Carlson’s short stories navigate dark spaces, intertwining life with death and art. His characters seek enlightenment in music, literature, painting and photography, but they also find darkness—something menacing, magical and obscure. Art is a spirit board allowing them to contact shades from the past, or to discover danger in the shadows.

 

A man keeping vigil at the bedside of his dying lover hears jazz that reminds him of a girl he lost long ago. At a late-night coffee shop, a professor clings to the diary of a dead man, but it fails to give him the protection he’s longing for. A girl wrapped up in the wonders of a book tumbles down the stairs and wakes up in a world beyond her dreams. A refugee paints the last picture the world will ever know.

 

Lyrical and haunting, these twelve stories (ten published here for the first time) explore the tenderness and terrors of life. They invite us to a place where the worlds of the living and the spirits of the lost blend in a seamless new reality. And when the end finally comes, Mother Night is kind.

 

Cover image by Joseph Dawson

 

Contents: ‘Author’s Introduction’, ‘Golden Book’, ‘Coffee Shop’, ‘Divining Rod’, ‘Leopard-spotted Scarf’, ‘Corridor’, ‘Bradycardia’, ‘Stray’, ‘Strasse 60, Berlin’, ‘Salt’, ‘Monsieur Machine’, ‘I Loved You at Your Darkest’, ‘The Atelier’.

 

Reviews:

'A traditional structure and simple yet elegant style add to the impression that these modern tales could be timeless classics.' Lisa Tuttle, The Guardian

'These subtle, oblique tales are sure to appeal to fans of weird fiction.' Publishers Weekly

'... exquisite, lyrical ... beautiful, offbeat.' Mario Guslandi, Horror World

'Dark Arts represents the literary end of horror and weird, in a rewarding assemblage of ardently readable stories. Fans of high-end speculative fiction will want this on their shelves.' Aurealis #160

'Dark Arts is a truly excellent collection, both beautiful and terrifying, written by a skilled master of his own art. Beyond highly recommended, I cannot praise this book enough.' Nancy Oakes, Oddly Weird Fiction

 

Also available by Eric Stener Carlson

The St Perpetuus Club of Buenos Aires paperback

Muladona paperback

 

Biography

Eric Stener Carlson is originally from Minnesota, United States. Having lived most of his life abroad, his work draws from his experiences in Latin America, Asia, Australia and Europe, and he is particularly interested in legends about the nature of the soul. He has published two novels with Tartarus Press, The Saint Perpetuus Club of Buenos Aires (2009) and Muladona (2016). His other fiction includes the novel Anxiety of Ghosts (Amazon, 2017), the short story collection Gas (Mount Abraxas, 2017) and his first novel written in Spanish, Plaza Lavalle (Raphus Press, 2022). Eric’s short stories and articles have appeared in journals and collections in Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Puerto Rico, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. He currently lives in Geneva, Switzerland.