Ghost thumbs. Microscopic dogs. One very sad can of tomato soup . . . Helen Marshall's second collection offers a series of twisted surrealities that explore the legacies we pass on to our children. A son seeks to reconnect with his father through a telescope that sees into the past. A young girl discovers what lies on the other side of her mother's bellybutton. Death's wife prepares for a very special funeral. In Gifts for the One Who Comes After, Marshall delivers eighteen tales of love and loss that cement her as a powerful voice in dark fantasy and the New Weird. Dazzling, disturbing, and deeply moving.
Praise for Gifts for the One Who Comes After
"Helen Marshall whispers in your ear when she fits the noose around your neck, filling you with wonder and dread, urging you into a startling, beautiful darkness. These stories―which sometimes feel more like spells―are the very best kind of unsettling."
―Benjamin Percy, author of Red Moon, The Wilding, Refresh, Refresh, and The Language of Elk
"Helen Marshall is a writer who creates real people in real situations, then uses the fantastic to pry her way inside her readers' ribcages and break us wide open."
―Neil Gaiman, international bestselling author of The Ocean at the End of the Lane
