The Cozy Cosmic — John Shirley

Some argue existence is an exercise in futility. They claim there are no winners in life. Ultimately, we are insignificant in the face of vast cosmic intelligences that were old when the Universe began.The best minds gibber at the incomprehensibility of it all. Other minds lose themselves in strange geometries because they can't comprehend any alternative.Whatever. The rest of us have to get up in the morning, feed the cat, and go to work.The Cozy Cosmic contains 33 stories of the horrors hidden within the micro-aggressions, the horrors trapped beneath the floorboards, and the horrors waiting patiently on the windowsill. This is the horror that forgets to turn off the light at night. This is the horror of waiting for the tea to boil, knowing full well who you just buried-for the second time-in the yard less than a hour ago. This is the horror of knowing where the dark wool comes from, but you wear the sweater anyway because it was a gift-an expression of love-and, well, being alone is worse than the horror of the unknowable, isn't it?The full table of contents for The Cozy Cosmic is as follows: John Shirley Death, in TwoTais Teng On Hearing the First Shoggoth in SpringTyler Battaglia What the Sea ProvidesEllis Bray My Grandmother's SacristyE. E. Marshall Right and BrightDevan Barlow Dinner, Overlooking the SeaScotty Milder A Little God in Their HandsMaxwell I. Gold The Great Cosmic ItchRemy Nakamura Wet Dreams in R'lyehAndrew S. Fuller A Perfectly Fine HobbyKiera Lesley ObsolescentKurt Newton A Mournful Melancholia of Things Forever LostJ. B. Kish Lo-Fi Chocolate CakeRajiv Moté Carrisa and Kevin Gaze into the AbyssDaniel David Froid In Another Distant Land, in a Luminescent LandKate Ristau ShineErik Grove Fuzzy Fuzzy Kitty KittiesWilliam J. Connell Poe's Guys Respond to Their Significant OthersPaul Jessup The Museum of Endless SummerNgo Binh Anh Khoa Through Life and Death, ForevermoreJonathan Wood JavapocalypseL. E. Daniels Final CycleKen Hueler The Unknowable OnesTania Chen A Study of Metamorphosis CalamityEric Shanower The Purple EmperorKevin Wetmore A Child's Christmas in InnsmouthMegan Lee Beals SplinterboneCorinne Hughes The Sheep Rancher's HusbandShanna Germain A Napkin Upon Your GlassSimone Cooper GnocchiJessie Kwak Blood and GlitterCody T Luff Den MotherR. Ostermeier The Dark Young