The 'Geisters

“Bram Stoker Award winner Nickle’s (
Eutopia
) latest novel tells a complex story of supernatural horror and psychological suspense crafted with the somber foreboding of a Russian novel and the genre-breaking freedom of magical realism. VERDICT: This novel is supernatural eeriness at its best, with intriguing characters, no clear heroes, and a dark passion at its heart. Horror aficionados and fans of Stephen King’s larger novels should appreciate this macabre look at the aftermath of the Cold War.”

—Library Journal

“As always, Nickle is right on point. The prose here is thoughtful, energetic and sharp. Most importantly of all, the plot of
Rasputin’s Bastards
is complicated and it’s told in a complex way. Despite this, it’s stiffly compelling. Once you’re done, there’s no question: the hours spent enfolded in Nickle’s imagination are well spent. You won’t ever feel the desire to ask for them back.”

—David Middleton,
January Magazine

“I’m almost certain the book
isn’t
an attempt on the part of ChiZine Publications and author David Nickle to subconsciously program an army of sleeper agents. That said, there are times when
Rasputin’s Bastards
feels like a twenty-first century answer to
Catch-22
. Both books are complex, revel in asynchronous storytelling, and left this reader eager to reread if only to mine for details, subtexts, and plot threads missed on a first read through.”

—Adam Shaftoe,
Page of Reviews

“While recognizably ‘genre,’ whatever that may mean to the reader (and their prejudices about the same),
Rasputin’s Bastards
is not of a genre. Instead it’s an ambitious melange of them all. Nickle’s horror is the theft of body and will; the revelation that one’s father is ‘A cold, soul-dead killer.’ His science fiction feels like ’50s pulps, his fantasy a dark-lensed fairy tale with literary heft. Rasputin’s Bastards is a testament to the fact Nickle can write
anything
.”

—Chadwick Ginther,
The Winnipeg Review

“
Rasputin’s Bastards
is a fever dream of a novel. It’s something you must jump into and allow to take along through the tides and currents. And sense? Don’t depend too much on that. Rather depend on your senses, and on Mr. Nickle’s ability to take you along on a journey you won’t soon forget. Highly recommended.”

—Chaotic Compendiums

“[Nickle’s] novel
Eutopia
is a gloriously original American historical horror, and his follow-up
Rasputin’s Bastards
is a bold and disturbing Russian epic spy thriller that takes drastically disparate elements (there are echoes of James Bond, John le Carré, China Miéville, and Simmons’
Carrion Comfort
) and mashes them together in a fantastical narrative that crosses POVs and dimensions with an assurance that is staggering. Have I got your attention yet? Good. Because David Nickle is
that
good.”

—Corey Redekop, author of
Husk

“
Rasputin’s Bastards
is an utterly unique novel; I’ve never read anything quite like it before. It’s a mind-blowing blend of science fiction, political thriller, and understated horror.”

—Paul Goat Allen,
Barnes & Noble Books Blog

“Part
Bioshock
, part
X-Files
, part
Sopranos—
and 100%, uncut Nickle—
Rasputin’s Bastards
is a glorious, chaotic delight. I wish I’d written it; in fact, I may yet steal the domesticated giant squid.”

—Peter Watts, author of
Blindsight

“A journey from the depths of the sea, the heart of Mother Russia, to the darkest corners of the soul, this book appeals to the reader’s intellectual curiosity, and engages the heart with surprising moments of emotionality.”

—K.E. Bergdoll,
The Crow’s Caw

“[David Nickle] has a talent for spinning a phrase to make it much more than the sum of its parts, and surprisingly, there’s quite a lot of humor as well: clever and dry, popping up just when things start to get really serious, but never disrupting the flow. The author dives deep into his main characters and paints very complete pictures, weaving the stories together amidst a surrealistic landscape of dream walkers and mind control. This reminded me very much of Dan Simmons’
Carrion Comfort
(one of my all time favorites), and it’s been quite a while since I’ve read a book with this much teeth. Lovely, rich writing only serves to make the creepy bits (of which there are plenty), well, even more creepy, and fans of subtle horror will find much to like in
Rasputin’s Bastards
.”

—My Bookish Ways

“Nickle (
Monstrous Affections
) blends
Little House on the Prairie
with distillates of
Rosemary’s Baby
and
The X-Files
to create a chilling survival-of-the-fittest story. . . . [His] bleak debut novel mixes utopian vision, rustic Americana, and pure creepiness.”

—Publishers Weekly

“Toronto author David Nickle’s debut novel, the follow-up to his brilliantly wicked collection of horror stories
Monstrous Affections
, establishes him as a worthy heir to the mantle of Stephen King. And I don’t mean the King of
Under the Dome
or other recent flops, but the master of psychological suspense who ruled the ’80s with classics like
Pet Sematary
.”

—Alex Good,
The National Post

“Try to imagine a collaboration by Mark Twain and H.P. Lovecraft, with Joe R. Lansdale supplying final editorial polish. Or if that’s too difficult to imagine, read the book and see for yourself.”

—Joe Sanders,
The New York Review of Science Fiction

“[
Eutopia
] is immensely readable: a quick-paced mountain stream of a novel, cool and sharp and intense, and terrifically adept at drawing a reader in. . . .
Eutopia
accomplishes what the best horror fiction strives for: gives us characters we can care about and hope for, and then inflicts on them the kind of realistic, inescapable, logical sufferings that make us close our eyes a little at the unfairness of not the author, but the world—and all the while with something more to say for itself than
the world is a very bad place
.”

—Leah Bobet,
Ideomancer

“
Eutopia
crosses genres in a world where folks from a rustic Faulkner novel might clash with H.P. Lovecraft’s monstrosities. Add a dash of Cronenbergian body horror to atmosphere worthy of Poe, and you get one of the most original horror stories
in years.”

—Chris Hallock,
All Things Horror

“This novel is seriously creepy. Do not read it on your own, at night, with the bedroom window open. I ended up jumpy and paranoid and then had to sleep with the window closed even though it was muggy and uncomfortable.”

—Ellie Warren,
Curiosity Killed the Bookworm

“David Nickle writes ’em damned weird and damned good and damned dark. He is bourbon-rough, poetic and vivid. Don’t miss this one.”

—Cory Doctorow, author of
Pirate Cinema

“Bleak, stark and creepy, Stoker-winner Nickle’s first collection will delight the literary horror reader. . . . This ambitious collection firmly establishes Nickle as a writer to watch.”

—Publishers Weekly
(STARRED REVIEW)

“These stories work so well in part because of Nickle’s facility with the language of the place he’s created. He is comfortable writing in different voices . . . and he knows the idiom of his semi-rural environment. . . .”

—Quill & Quire

“The cover is creepy. . . . The stories themselves are also very creepy, drawing you into believable, domestic worlds, then showing you the blue pulsing intestines of those worlds.”

—Kaaron Warren, author of
Slights

“[L]ike the cover, the stories inside are not what they seem. But also, like the cover, the stories inside are brilliant. . . . You’d think that you were reading a book full of what you had always expected a horror story to be, but Nickle takes a left turn and blindsides you with tales that are not of the norm, but are all the more horrific because of surprise twists, darkness and raw emotion.”

—January Magazine’s Best Books of 2009

ChiZine Publications

The ’Geisters
© 2013 by David Nickle
Cover artwork © 2013 by Erik Mohr
Cover design © 2013 by Samantha Beiko
Interior design © 2013 by Danny Evarts

All rights reserved.

Published by ChiZine Publications

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either a product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

EPub Edition MAY 2013 ISBN: 978-1-77148-144-1

All rights reserved under all applicable International Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen.

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CHIZINE PUBLICATIONS
Toronto, Canada
www.chizinepub.com
[email protected]

Edited and copyedited by Sandra Kasturi
Proofread by Kelsi Morris

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $20.1 million in writing and publishing throughout Canada.

Published with the generous assistance of the Ontario Arts Council.