April 7, 2023

Gossamer Threads

How to describe my Gossamer stories? I’ve only written two so far, but the concept is fascinating, so I want to do more. Let me try it say it succinctly:

The subtitle gives you part of the picture, these are stories from an unusual apocalypse, a “karmic” apocalypse if you will.

The aliens came in peace, and we attacked them, so they rained gossamer thread down on us and now when anyone dies and feels they’ve been wronged, their “ghost” haunts whoever they felt did them the most harm.

Imagine this for a moment: who do all the soldiers “haunt” that die in war? Who do those haunt that were cheated out of a livelihood and died? Who do those that are mentally unstable haunt?

This is really a unique and fascinating world for storytelling.

Gossamer Threads is the first story I wrote in this world. It’s fairly dark and doesn’t explore the questions above but some other interesting territory.

This story first appeared in Anomalous Readings: Thirteen Curious and Confounding Tales. It certainly belonged there but is getting a solo release today since the next one will be getting a solo release soon.

Here’s all the links. The blurb is below.


A story from an unusual apocalypse

The aliens came in peace and we met them with violence. After we attacked them, we thought they left for good, but the day the alien’s gossamer threads fall, everything changes. Now the dead become gossamer ghosts, haunting the living, intent on balancing the scales of their lives.

In “Gossamer Threads” eleven-year-old Ronny struggles to find a place in this new world. After his mother dies and turns into a gossamer ghost and his father leaves to protect him from the nightmares the dead visit on the living, Ronny sets out after them. But he finds a world full of lonely ghosts, dangerous people, and unimaginable challenges.

In this innovative novelette of a “karmic” apocalypse, Robert J. McCarter, the author of Woody and June versus the Apocalypse, shares an unforgettable vision of a future, one both terrifying and hopeful.


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Robert J. McCarter


Robert J. McCarter is the author of more than ten novels and over a hundred short stories...... learn more

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