Setting Suns

by Elizabeth Donald

A nightmarish fun house turned deadly.

A couple trapped in a futile journey through time.

A single baleful eye watching from the deep.

An assassin waiting in a snow-covered tree.

A toy that seems to have a life of its own.

A pair of soldiers trapped between death and something worse.

A tenebrous hand reaching out of the shadows.

These are the award-winning tales and terrors of Elizabeth Donald, writer of things that go chomp in the night. This new anniversary edition is being released 20 years after the first story was published, now including a bonus short story and the author’s reflections on twenty years of twilight tales.

In that space between evening and nightfall, between consciousness and sleep, the moment when the light fades and the shadows take over… These are the lands of the Setting Suns.


Winner of the 2005 Darrell Award

“Elizabeth Donald is the George R.R. Martin of horror.” – Michael Knost, author of Return of the Mothman

“Donald’s is one of the strongest and freshest new genre voices out there.” – Bryan Smith, author of 68 Kill and The Unseen

“Elizabeth Donald delves into the shadows of the human psyche and plucks out the darkest, squirmiest bits fit for the spookiest of campfire gatherings.” – Sara Harvey, author of Music City

"One of the strongest writers it is my privilege to know.” – H. David Blalock, author of Ascendant

“A storytelling ability to rival that of Stephen King.” – Enchanting Reviews

Genres: Horror

205 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 15, 2006

About the author

Elizabeth Donald is a dark fiction writer fond of things that go chomp in the night. She is author of the Blackfire urban fantasy series and Nocturne vampire mystery series, as well as other novels, novellas and stories in the horror, science fiction and fantasy genres. She is a three-time winner of the Darrell Award for speculative fiction and finalist for the Prism, Imadjinn and Knost awards, and more recently received the Mimi Zanger Award for fiction. She is the founder of the Literary Underworld small-press cooperative; an award-winning journalist and essayist with more than 25 years in journalism; a nature and art photographer; freelance editor and writing coach. She holds a masters degree in media studies and MFA in creative writing from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, and teaches journalism and English composition at several St. Louis colleges. She serves as president of the St. Louis Society of Professional Journalists and vice president of the AWP Adjunct Writers Caucus, and is a member of the national SPJ Ethics Committee, Association of Writers and Writing Programs, Authors Against Book Bans, Authors Guild, and more writing and trade organizations than is healthy. She lives with her family in a haunted house in Edwardsville, Illinois. In her spare time, she has no spare time. 

Reviews

[Em Rendleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Long ago, when I was a child (8?10?12?) my family attended a book reading of my mom's author friend. As I huddled in a corner attempting to focus on an Artemis Fowl novel, Elizabeth Donald spun out her latest (?) zombie novel "The Cold Ones." It gave me--and my grandma--the spooks. From that day on, I swore I wouldn't read any of Elizabeth's stories, even the promised ones about my personified bee-god form or my nightmarish enemy known only as "The Schlep." However, as I am now grown, I have found myself coerced into at least reading Setting Suns, her fantastic collection featuring "Twilight Zone-esque" tales of things that go chomp in the corners of our mind. It is a decision I absolutely could not regret, as the stories are all thrilling, chilling, and I can't think of another word to rhyme (fear-instilling?). I will be following this with Moonlight Sonata at some point, but you will catch me reading The Cold Ones when I have cold dead hands 😂❣️

[Carla Cilvik · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the pleasure of attending a workshop with Elizabeth three years ago at a writer's conference. While I'm a poet, and not a novelist, I was still curious about the ways of publishing. I had self published a book and now I have one through a publisher! (It was an excellent workshop btw, filled with lots of wisdom and humor!) I purchased the 2022 version of this book at that convention and just got around to reading it now for spooky season. If you want to be thoroughly creeped out, read this book! If you want to read horror stories that stick with you, read this book. If you want to read something new and highly imaginative, read this book!! I'm glad I chose this one. I'm looking forward to reading more of her work.

[Mark Kaiser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Creepy Jesus Loves Me Bear - aaaaaargh!!!!! I have kids and THAT image comes back to me on at least a weekly basis ever since I read it years ago. Donald's horror succeeds where it is visceral and empathizes with the reader, and every story in Setting Suns is superbly distilled to accomplish those goals.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite of Elizabeth's books. The short stories are complete little nuggets of horror. I normally don't have a problem with horror novels, but reading these short stories before bedtime was almost too much for me. I think this is a great book to read during the daytime.