Transubstantiate - Softcover

Richard Thomas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0982607245 ISBN 13: 9780982607244

Publisher: Otherworld Publications LLC, 2010

Synopsis

"They say Jimmy made it out. But the postcards we get, well, they don't seem...real." When an experiment with population control works too well, and the planet is decimated, seven broken people are united by a supernatural bond in a modern day Eden. Most on the island are fully aware of this prison disguised as an oasis. Unfortunately, Jimmy is on the mainland, desperate to get back, in a post-apocalyptic stand-off, fighting for his survival and that of his unborn child. Back on the island, Jacob stares at the ocean through his telescope and plots his escape, reluctant to aid the cause. Marcy tries to hide from her past sexual escapades that may be her saving grace. X sits in his compound, a quiet, massive presence, trapped in his body by ancient whispers and yet free in spirit to visit other places and times. Roland, the angry, bitter son of Marcy is determined to leave, and sets out on his own. Watching over it all is Assigned, the ghost in the machine. And coming for them, to exact revenge, and finish the job that the virus started, is Gordon. He just landed on the island and he has help. Transubstantiate is a neo-noir thriller, filled with uncertainty at every portal, and jungles infiltrated with The Darkness. Vivid settings, lyrical language, and a slow reveal of plot, motivation, past crimes and future hope collide in a showdown that keeps you guessing until the final haunting words. Transubstantiate: to change from one substance into another.

About this title

About the Author

His debut novel, Transubstantiate (Otherworld Publications) was released in 2010. He is currently at work on his second novel, Disintegration. There will be two short story collections in 2012, Staring Into the Abyss (Kraken Press) and Herniated Roots (Snubnose Press).

He was the winner of the Cafe Doom / One Buck Horror contest in 2011. He was one of five winners recognized at Punchnel's in their Hard-Boiled Down Noir Fiction contest in 2011. Richard was the winner of the ChiZine Publications 2009 "Enter the World of Filaria" contest. It has since gone on to also win at Jotspeak. 

His work is published or forthcoming in Shivers VI (Cemetery Dance) with Stephen King and Peter Straub, Murky Depths, PANK, Gargoyle, Weird Fiction Review, Pear Noir!, Metazen, 3:AM Magazine, Word Riot, Dogmatika, Opium, Vain, Emprise Review, Cherry Bleeds, Beat to a Pulp, Crime Factory, Warmed and Bound (Velvet Press), Noir at the Bar (Noir at the Bar Press), Slices of Flesh (Dark Moon Books), Dark Moon Presents: Vampires (Dark Moon Books), In Search of a City: Los Angeles in 1,000 Words (Thunderdome Press), Eternal Night: A Vampire Anthology (Living Dead Press), Outsider Writers Collective, The Oddville Press, Colored Chalk, Cause and Effect, Gold Dust, Nefarious Muse, and Troubadour 21. 

In his spare time he is a Featured Book Critic at The Nervous Breakdown and writes a column, entitled, Storyville, at Lit Reactor. He received four Pushcart nominations in 2011.

He lives in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.

From the Back Cover

"Transubstantiate is, is -- it's a visual: that 2001 baby opening its eyes in the monolith, but the monolith is shrouded in this story of loss and hope and identity, and encoded in the cadence of that story, if you listen close, is the genetic map with which to draw this impossible celestial infant, opening its eyes on the page, looking right into you."
--Stephen Graham Jones
All The Beautiful Sinners, Bleed Into Me: A Book of Stories, Ledfeather, The Ones That Got Away

"Transubstantiate is an intricately-woven dystopian thriller, with every thread pulled tight. This is a solid debut from Richard Thomas."
--Craig Clevenger
The Contortionist's Handbook, Dermaphoria

"Richard Thomas's Transubstantiate constructs a collection of voices that reveals a disturbing futuristic vision of terror and beauty. The novel's island paradise, its imprisoned inhabitants, and the digital presence that works to control them, merge with ancient forces of rite and belief to create a surreal and devastating collage. This is a work that captures a world we almost know, its realities enough to raise an uneasy sense of potentiality."
--Karen Brown
Pins and Needles, The Best American Short Stories 2008 (contributor)

"Told through various shadowy narrators, Transubstantiate is a trippy, intriguing novel that forecasts dystopia for our near-future. Thomas successfully blends several genres here--noir, literary fiction, sci-fi--all with abrasive, haunting language."
--Joey Goebel
Torture the Artist, The Anomalies, Commonwealth

Edition details

• Publisher: Otherworld Publications LLC
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0982607245
• ISBN 13: 9780982607244
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 250