Frequencies of Existence

Andrew Hook sees the world through a different lens. He takes often mundane things and coaxes the reader to find strangeness, beauty, and horror in their form; he colours the world in surreal shades and leads the reader down discomforting paths where nothing is quite as it should be.

“For lovers of metafiction, poetic text, intellectual narrative and elusive characters who linger to haunt you. The thrill you get reading Andrew Hook’s weird collection is out of this world. It’s a pastiche of the literary strange. You’ll want to read more of Hook after this.” – Aurealis

“Frequencies of Existence is a snapshot of an author who is not bound by the conventions of story-telling yet manages to produce astonishing and compelling fiction.” – the EXAGGERATED website

“Whilst appreciating some stories more than others, this is overall a truly great collection of short fiction.” – Des Lewis Reviews

“Andrew Hook is an undisputed superstar of strange fiction” – Neil Williamson, author of The Moon King

“A rich slab of Andrew Hook’s trademark understated darkness: measured, careful, but ruthless in its own quiet way.” – Chris Beckett, Arthur C. Clarke and Edge Hill Prize-winning author.

“Four stars for pronounced writing skills and exceptional out of the box thinking!” – LibraryThing Reviewer

“His stories range from the darkly apocalyptic to the hopefully visionary, some brilliant and none less than satisfactory." – The Harrow

“Refreshingly original, uncompromisingly provocative, and daringly intelligent” – The Future Fire

Frequencies of Existence features twenty-four of the author’s finest stories, including four that are original to this collection.

Whilst the opening story “Your Golden Hands” transports us to a far future world, perhaps the author’s strongest suit lies in his skill at viewing the present through a different lens, in showing us what we know but then stepping sideways to a place deceptively familiar yet disturbingly off-kilter; where surreal gently overlays the real. In “Interference” we meet Matt, who sees the world in reverse and carries a hand mirror with him at all times in order to fit in, while “The Caged Sea” delivers a cross-cultural love story that culminates in a trip to Japan’s Aokigahara forest, famed as a suicide spot, where déjà vu and jamais vu collide. In “A Knot Of Toads” we visit the picturesque Lake District, where a most particular serial killer quietly plies their trade, and “The Abduction Of Europe” takes us on a pilgrimage, following in the footsteps of Salvador Dali.

Contents:

Your Golden Hands
The Universe At Gun Point
Kodokushi
A Knot of Toads
The Abduction of Europe
The Aniseed Gumball Kid
Eskimo
The Last Mohican
Bullet
A Life In Plastic
Burning Daylight
Making Friends With Fold-Out Flaps
The Frequency of Existence
The Stench of Winter
A Pageant of Clouds
Always Forever Today
The Caged Sea
Interference
Softwood
My Naked Man
Tokyo In Rain
The Day My Heart Stood Still
Drowning In Air
White Matter
About the Author