Scaring the Stars into Submission

Scaring the Stars into Submission
359 Pages
ISBN 1976700612

A great, unnamed event. A world both drowning and engulfed in flames. Autopsies reveal gardens of lilies sprouting up inside the rib cages of the dead. Clouds fall to the earth and affect the behavior of those that come in contact with them. Revolution and violent uprisings spread through nations across the globe. Twelve blind men in a basement transcribe the history of the world as it burns down around them. Nightmares become reality; reality becomes nightmare. Families turn to reluctant cannibalism in the hopes of waiting out the horrors beyond. Corporations push to create a new population to replace the old one. Philosophical musings from a balcony overlooking a dark, empty city. A brief moment of something good between lovers as the world begins to slowly recover.

These are the stories before the event. These are the stories during the event. These are the stories after the event. These are the stories of people coping and surviving, fighting to live, or fighting just to be doing something, anything.

The stories in this collection are brief moments, tiny pockets of surreal happenstance, but pure emotion. Each piece ties into the next by the tiniest filament, each story connected to the one before and the one after, each trying to hold on to some bit of normalcy, but failing in spectacular and terrifying ways.

Adam "Bucho" Rodenberger

About Adam "Bucho" Rodenberger (Kansas City, Missouri & Kansas Author)

Adam "Bucho" Rodenberger

Adam “Bucho” Rodenberger is a surrealist writer from Kansas City. He earned dual bachelor’s degrees in English and Philosophy from the University of Kansas City-Missouri in 2009 while minoring in Political Science. He earned his MFA in Writing from the University of San Francisco in 2011 and continues to work on short stories and novels-in-progress. He released his first short story collection, “Scaring the Stars into Submission,” in 2016 and released his second collection, "The Machinery of the Heart: Love Stories" in May of 2019.

He has been published in Agua Magazine, Alors, Et Tois?, Aphelion, Bluestem Magazine, BrainBox Magazine, Castabout Art & Literature, Cause & Effect Magazine, Cahoodaloodaling, Crack the Spine, Eunoia Review, Five Quarterly Magazine, Ginosko Literary Journal, Glint Literary Journal, The Gloom Cupboard, Hamilton Stone Review, The Heartland Review, L’allures des Mots, Lunch Box, Marathon Literary Review, Meat For Tea: The Valley Review, New Dead Families, Offbeatpulp, Penduline Press, Phoebe, Poydras Review, The Raw Art Review, The Santa Clara Review, Serving House Journal, The Seventh Wave, Sheepshead Review, Slice Magazine, Summerset Review, Up The Staircase, Fox Spirit's "Girl at the End of the World: Book 1" anthology, and was included in the “Broken Worlds” anthology published by Almond Press.

He blogs at: http://buchorodenberger.blogspot.com

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