Read This: Red Skies in the Morning

Red Skies in the Morning, Nadia Bulkin’s latest novella, is the philosophical, tensely-plotted, and all-too-timely story of Selene and Hannah, two sisters with conflicting ways of navigating a dangerous new world. 

In Red Skies Bulkin imagines a deadly new form of possession called paracontaigion that manifests as a visually-transmitted infection. Superstitions, fears, and voyeuristic fascination all swirl around the phenomenon. Blame is cast in multiple directions. Social and political implications of the new, supernatural public health crisis are woven through the family drama, shaping it with inescapable outside forces.

It’s uncomfortably familiar.

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Selene works for the government to try to manage paracontaigions and prevent the gruesome deaths that will follow in seven days if new hosts cannot be found for the tormented ghosts. 

She raised her sister Hannah from the time they were orphaned as children, and still tries to protect her as she becomes an adult with her own somewhat metaphysical worldview. Selene struggles to understand how her sister’s conclusions about dealing with the paracontagions and their consequences are so much different than her own.

When Hannah suddenly disappears, Selene must reckon with the urgent search for her as well as just how far Hannah’s beliefs may have taken her. 

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The feeling of instability as society and familial relationships shift and reform in reaction to the dangers is the fear at the heart of this book. The paracontaigions are seen by various groups as threats, weapons, and mystical communications–and they demand an interdependence that is impossible for some to accept. People tell each other not to look at anything that might carry one. At the same time, they cannot keep themselves from watching the carnage when it erupts. Everyone is searching for solid ground, but there is precious little left for any of them to make a stand on.

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Red Skies in the Morning has already sold out in it’s first edition from Dim Shores, but you’ll be able to find it next year as part of a collection of Bulkin’s novellas from Ghoulish Books. Pre-order it now. It’s well worth the wait.