“With his latest, Hamill sends a trio home to confront horrors old and new as Texas is torn apart in an apocalyptic nightmare.”
“You can never go home again,” the saying goes …
For Hal, Athena, and Erin, home is exactly where they must go. Twenty years ago, the three were students of eccentric Professor Marsh while in high school. There, they learned of a magic system called the Dissonance. Power is derived from harnessing negative emotions: Pain, alienation, anger. Then, something happened to their small coven, scattering the three across the country, alone, caught in mundane lives.
Now, horrifying signs and portents—and a rather pointed Facebook invite—summon the three back to Clegg, Texas. There, they cross paths with Owen, a closeted teenager who summoned something he can’t control during a botched seance to contact his crush. The entity Owen summoned has kidnapped him to toil in servitude. While Owen attempts to outwit his captor, Hal, Athena, and Erin learn the choices they made as teens might have everything to do with the strange apocalyptic events occurring over the Lone Star State.
Why we’re excited about this book:
When it comes to writers blending contemporary fantasy and horror, Shaun Hamill’s name is at the top of the list. The author of A Cosmology of Monsters, Music of the Abyss, and Conan: Lethal Consignment: The Heroic Legends Series, Hamill’s short fiction has appeared in such publications as Carve and Tor Nightfire, with non-fiction appearing in Crimereads. With his latest, Hamill sends a trio home to confront horrors old and new as Texas is torn apart in an apocalyptic nightmare. Clay McLeod Chapman (Ghost Eaters, What Kind of Mother) says: “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.”, and Rachel Harrison (Such Sharp Teeth, Black Sheep) calls The Dissonance “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.”
Releasing from Pantheon 23 July 2024, The Dissonance by Shaun Hamill is available for pre-order now.
BOB PASTORELLA
