Keeping the Stars Awake

by Matthew J. McKee

This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.

Buy on Amazon Buy on BN.com Buy on Bookshop.org

*This page contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.

Pub Date Jul 15 2022 | Archive Date Sep 11 2022

Atmosphere Press

Sci Fi & Fantasy

Talking about this book? Use #KeepingtheStarsAwake #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!

Description

Dead in a matter of pages! No self-respecting narrator would dare call such a story a novel, but the narrator of this novel has no self-respect, and his story doesn’t end with death. Absurdity of the highest order follows him down to hell, leaving death the least of his worries.

Unable to sleep, and with a blue-and-green-eyed beauty dragging him ever forward through the horde of assorted horrors that stand between him and the only slice of normalcy left untouched, our narrator has his work cut out for him; as do we, the unsuspecting yet equally guilty masses swept along for the ride in the darkness beneath his hood, and the darker, deeper, and more terrifying truth lying therein.

In turns hilarious and horrifying, self-reflective and self-reproachful, Keeping the Stars Awake is author Matthew J. McKee’s invitation into a mirror world much like our own, asking, are we all just coming home to lose?

A Note From the Publisher

Matthew J. McKee grew up in rural Wyoming where he gained a love of reading and writing from an early age. Matthew went to college in Montana before moving to Alaska, where, in the dark, in an isolated cabin in the mountains, he began to write in earnest. He currently resides in Japan with his fiancée and daughter. Keeping the Stars Awake is his first published novel. Learn more at matthewjmckee.com.

Matthew J. McKee grew up in rural Wyoming where he gained a love of reading and writing from an early age. Matthew went to college in Montana before moving to Alaska, where, in the dark, in an...

Read More Read More

A Note From the Publisher

Matthew J. McKee grew up in rural Wyoming where he gained a love of reading and writing from an early age. Matthew went to college in Montana before moving to Alaska, where, in the dark, in an isolated cabin in the mountains, he began to write in earnest. He currently resides in Japan with his fiancée and daughter. Keeping the Stars Awake is his first published novel. Learn more at matthewjmckee.com.

Advance Praise

"Keeping the Stars Awake is a lively epic of youthful grit in a thoroughly unearthly setting that will doubtless appeal to lovers of madcap, high-speed fantasy."

-Feathered Quill

"This hidden gem propels the reader through the absurd, provides a welcome walking stick in the wilderness of weird and wacky."

-Independent Book Review

"McKee debuts with dystopian, speculative fiction about a hoodie-wearing teenager who finds he’s a character in a book...Absurd, slightly unhinged storytelling about confronting your demons."

-Kirkus Reviews

"Unexpected plot twists contribute mystery and terror to this original and strange story about identity, survival, and power dynamic."

-Bookview Review

"A world at once familiar and alien...Libraries and literary discussion groups will find Keeping the Stars Awake a compelling exploration that pushes the boundaries of the definition of sci-fi and ironic inspection alike."

-D. Donovan, Sr. Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

"Keeping the Stars Awake is a lively epic of youthful grit in a thoroughly unearthly setting that will doubtless appeal to lovers of madcap, high-speed fantasy."

-Feathered Quill

"This hidden gem...