Black Cocktail

A novella, limited edition. Illustrated by Dave McKean.

Jonathan Carroll's exquisitely rich contemporary fantasies provoke both adulation and controversy. The breakdown of reality, the intrusion of the supernatural, the ambiguous magic of fairy tales, these are the hallmarks of a Carroll story. With Black Cocktail, he has written a superb novella centred on friendship, the tactics of terror, and a search for identity.

Imagine the sort of friend whose funny tales and charm can pull you out of the lowest depths and make life good once more. That's what Michael Billa meant to Ingram York.

Then imagine that friend's friend, someone who tells you that most of those stories are lies. When Clinton Deix shows up, it isn't long before Ingram doesn't know who to believe.

And what most confuses and upsets him is that both say they are old school friends. But Michael is in his late thirties – Clinton is still fifteen.

Clinton insists that Michael has the power to 'freeze' people. And he says Ingram is next in line...

Carroll's astonishingly powerful work has been acknowledged as a 'pyrotechnical display of sheer brilliance'. At once funny and chilling, full of magic and illusion, Black Cocktail is a gripping read from a writer at the height of his power to disturb and enthrall.

”Sinister...Extraordinary fantasy with a twist of darkness.” – The Times

”Sly and taxing and corrosive...Brilliant” – John Clute, Observer