Reviews and Blurbs

Blurbs about my work

  

“Fawver’s latest collection is unsettling not only for the strangeness of his imagination but for the way in which he can move deeply into odd and uncanny territories that are still deeply haunted by the politics of our current moment. At the heart of We are Happy, We are Doomed are fractured and confused communities, struggling to pursue a way forward while still not entirely sure what has traumatized them. A powerful and resonant collection by a nimble writer and thinker.”

— Brian Evenson, author of Last Days

“Kurt Fawver is one of the most innovative and unique voices to emerge in weird fiction in the last decade, and his collection, We are Happy, We are Doomed, is proof why. These dark and strange tales contain foreboding landscapes, unusual formats, and a pervading sense of dread that creeps up on you and never quite lets you go. Highly recommended.”
--- Gwendolyn Kiste, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Rust Maidens and Reluctant Immortals

“Delightfully acerbic, poetically strange, We are Happy, We are Doomed builds upon bedrock weird fiction influences to rise as its own dark island. If we’re talking about Thomas Ligotti and Michael Cisco, we need to be talking about Kurt Fawver.”
— Laird Barron, author of Swift to Chase

“In these brilliantly atmospheric stories human nature crashes against the unknown, with catastrophic results. Some of the characters try to understand or alter their fate by closely and repeatedly examining physical clues, to no avail. Maybe because knowing the truth wouldn’t really change the outcome, or because our natural adaptability undermines our will to escape. This is the most disturbing part of Kurt Fawver’s expertly drawn, densely detailed, and philosophical stories—the ineffectuality of humans, individually or collectively, in the face of a great cosmic mystery. No matter how intelligent we are, no matter how lofty or how mundane our intentions, we are no match for the universe.”
— S. P. Miskowski, author of I Wish I Was Like You

“We are Happy, We are Doomed demonstrates Fawver’s continued transformation into one of the most interesting writers in modern weird fiction. His singular vision crosses back and forth across the thin boundary separating the absurd from the horrific, creating amalgamations that are as bizarre as they are unnerving. Kurt Fawver has staked a claim in the genre that’s all his own.”
— Simon Strantzas, author of Nothing is Everything

“These stories are reminiscent of ethnographies, oral histories exploring the darkest regions of existence, and the remarkably diverse manifestations alternate worlds may take. Here Fawver proves once more that he’s capable of evoking not only mordant terror, but profound humanity coupled with scathing socio-political awareness, accentuated by profound philosophical insight—often in the same story. There’s nothing quite like it out there; Fawver’s creations are unique. I’ve no idea how he does it, but finishing this collection made me feel as if I were sinking into the molasses-thick dark matter that permeates the universe. Like some Fortean academic of dread, We are Happy, We are Doomed reads as a hortative colloquy building deliriously until the lecture theater dims and you’re no longer certain what constitutes reality, much less what it means to be human. Fawver is an absolute master of the strange fable.”
— Christopher Slatsky, author of The Immeasurable Corpse of Nature

“Kurt Fawver traffics in dark allegories, deeply strange fables, and the boldly outré. He’s a true original, a treasure, and We are Happy, We are Doomed is a showcase for some of his finest work to date.”
— Matthew M. Bartlett, author of Gateways to Abomination

 "The Dissolution of Small Worlds is a volume that finds the middleground between the strange, the weird, and the philosophically perverse, and peels back those layers to examine what beats at its centre. In this era where the world grows more fascinated daily by all nature of horrors, Fawver’s book acts as a flagpole, signalling his intent to plunge forward into that breach and take us all with him."
—Simon Strantzas, author of Nothing is Everything and Burnt Black Suns

“Kurt Fawver’s stories are nasty little shockers that dare to dream big. And he isn't afraid to follow those big and totally mad ideas through to their horrific conclusions. Yeah, Kurt is a little messed up, and Forever, in Pieces is a promising debut.”
—Paul Tremblay, author of Head Full of Ghosts and The Cabin at the End of the World

“Forever, in Pieces is aptly titled, for this book offers readers unnerving glimpses into our eternal fears, both staggeringly cosmic and painfully intimate. Kurt Fawver’s tales are gruesome and poignant. An impressive debut.”
—Richard Gavin, author of Sylvan Tales and At Fear’s Altar

“A poignant and genuinely unnerving debut collection. Exquisite in every possible way. Kurt Fawver is a virtuoso of short-form literature, and Forever, in Pieces is his magnum opus.”
—Adam Millard, author of Dead Line

“With Forever, in Pieces, Kurt Fawver creates a collection perfectly balanced between beautiful and vicious, clever and dark. Like love stories for the dead, it calls to your soul to just keep turning pages.”
—Jonathan Moon, author of Heinous and Hollow Mountain Dead

“Kurt Fawver’s Forever, in Pieces is a searing and unapologetic exploration of futility. His very purpose in the tragically beautiful arrangement of his words is to prove that ‘On every level, we are not meant to overcome; we are meant to fall apart’—and his thoughtful, captivating stories illustrate this truth in an impeccably somber literary performance.”
—Shawna L. Bernard (Sydney Leigh), author and editor of Cellar Door and Ugly Babies

 

 

 Reviews of The Dissolution of Small Worlds

The Dissolution of Small Worlds Goodreads page

Review by Publishers Weekly

Review by Mike Denham at Signal Horizon

Review by Des Lewis at Gestalt Real-Time Reviews


Reviews of Forever, in Pieces

Forever, in Pieces Goodreads page

Review by C.M. Muller at Chthonicmatter

Review by Paul St John Mackintosh at Teleread

Review by Josh Black at Hellnotes

Review by Kris Lugosi at Horror Society

Review by Jocelyn Rivard (the Hardcover Honey) at Horror Honeys

Review by Jodi Scaife at Fanboycomics


Reviews of Burning Witches, Burning Angels

Burning Witches, Burning Angels Goodreads page