heartwarming

Success In the Press: What Awaits by Ernie Gammage

American BookFest 2022 Book of the Year Finalist

American BookFest 2022 Book of the Year Finalist ★

From the Author: Relationships are tough. Present or future, crazed or loving, they’re tough. Full of the “what ifs” that define speculative short fiction, some stories are an easy read, heartwarming even; others…not so much. In some there’s peace, love, and epiphany, in others revenge, horror, and death. From Mexico to Titan, Memphis to the foothills of the Himalayas, the unpredictable and the unexpected await in this exploration of the predicament that is the human condition.

  • This Room of Gold – Across time and space, Myla stumbles into what might be her best future. Is it?

  • Tattooed – Laird gladly loses himself in Nita’s tattoo, but how is he going to find his way back? And if he doesn’t…?

  • In The Black Wood – Efram wades into the Black Wood and finds more than he anticipated. Have he and his friends unleashed the End Times?

  • The Reader – Channeling gifts from a long family line, Lysette becomes a clairvoyant. When the role becomes too much for her, can she find a way to escape its grip?

  • Stockyards – Angie has the perfect marriage until the old woman gives her a frightening gift, one that will change her life forever. Now what?

For fans of Neil Gaiman, Margaret Atwood, Kurt Vonnegut, Haruki Murakami, and George Saunders. For Adult and New Adult readers. Not appropriate for children.

Our Take: A bold, cerebral collection that moves through genres, geographies, and timelines—but always lands on the messy complexity of being human. Each literary tale is surprising and deeply varied: some intimate and unsettling, others cosmic and tender, all with twists that linger long after the last page. From the eerie to the uplifting, this collection invites you to consider the paths we take—and the strange, beautiful, or terrifying possibilities that lie just beyond them. A smart, genre-crossing read for fans of literary weirdness and emotional depth, What Awaits is great for readers seeking contemplative fiction.

From a Reader: “[…] a collection of short stories that will leave you bewildered and intrigued. Each story has a twist, an understood assumption, or at times the author lets you fill in the ending with your own imagination.”

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