The Book of the Autumn Demons

People don’t believe in demons. Maybe they’re wrong, because demons believe in people. These stories are about a person whose world is falling apart before their eyes. Here, in this strange hotel in the middle of the woods, a desperate loser gets a key to conquering the world—without yet realizing what game he has gotten himself into. A perfectly ordinary visit to a psychotherapist turns into a bizarre parable about the struggle between light and darkness, where nothing is what it seems. Simple, yet so real, everyday horrors meet the myth of the werewolf. Here the nightmare hides behind the ordinary until it shows its sinister face in all its glory—and black butterflies announce death, though it’s not immediately clear who they’ve come to take. These are tales about how the supernatural collides with reality; they reveal Yaroslav Hzgendovich’s creativity from an unfamiliar, lyrical but completely ruthless side.

The collection includes: Prologue (short story); The Club of the Absolute Credit Card (novella); A Psychotherapist’s Story (novella); The Witch and the Wolf (novella); Lightning (novella); Black Butterflies (novella); Epilogue (short story).