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Will the Sun Ever Come Out Again?
In these four novellas, Nate Southard blurs the line between crime fiction and cosmic horror to create a unique and frightening style that is all his own.
"He Stepped Through" - "The Shield" meets Lovecraft in this story of a gangbanger in South Central LA who opens an interdimensional portal that tears apart the psyches of both the gang members and the cops who investigate them.
"Something Went Wrong" - Two "fixers" in South Texas use mind-control magic to force witnesses to the supernatural into suicide.
"Deeper Waters" - After a flood puts the cursed town of Sulfur eight feet underwater, a backwoods magician named Charlie Crawdad sets up a showdown with a fish-like demon in a deserted diner.
"Safe House" - Heavily armed survivalists hole up in a cabin, awaiting the impending apocalypse. When their comrades go missing one by one, the remaining militants must rally to survive the strange force haunting the surrounding woods...if they don't tear each other apart first.
"Southard doesn’t pull his punches, he doesn’t flinch from the harsh truth, and he doesn’t coddle his characters or the reader. And no, he isn’t constrained by the usual paradigms. What Southard is, is one of the hardest working writers tilling the field. He’s a maestro in the art of lo-fi blood in your eye horror, psycho-slasher creepiness. That’s only the beginning of the particular madness he’s laying down: Horror is merely a sample of his palette. His narratives pitch into crime, science fiction, and pulp noir with admirable facility. I possess a fondness for the Ellroy/Thompson end of the spectrum--scotch, lead, and femmes fatals, and so does Southard. His words smell of gun smoke that follows five rounds and whips of sparks through the barrel of a .41 magnum. He captures the reek of flop sweat and the baritone drone of murderous bastards talking themselves into another killing. He drives a story with steely-eyed recklessness down night-roads, tires screaming, headlights out, strange silhouettes rearranging through a windshield smashed to hell in a spider web of cracks." -Laird Barron (from his introduction)
"He Stepped Through" - "The Shield" meets Lovecraft in this story of a gangbanger in South Central LA who opens an interdimensional portal that tears apart the psyches of both the gang members and the cops who investigate them.
"Something Went Wrong" - Two "fixers" in South Texas use mind-control magic to force witnesses to the supernatural into suicide.
"Deeper Waters" - After a flood puts the cursed town of Sulfur eight feet underwater, a backwoods magician named Charlie Crawdad sets up a showdown with a fish-like demon in a deserted diner.
"Safe House" - Heavily armed survivalists hole up in a cabin, awaiting the impending apocalypse. When their comrades go missing one by one, the remaining militants must rally to survive the strange force haunting the surrounding woods...if they don't tear each other apart first.
"Southard doesn’t pull his punches, he doesn’t flinch from the harsh truth, and he doesn’t coddle his characters or the reader. And no, he isn’t constrained by the usual paradigms. What Southard is, is one of the hardest working writers tilling the field. He’s a maestro in the art of lo-fi blood in your eye horror, psycho-slasher creepiness. That’s only the beginning of the particular madness he’s laying down: Horror is merely a sample of his palette. His narratives pitch into crime, science fiction, and pulp noir with admirable facility. I possess a fondness for the Ellroy/Thompson end of the spectrum--scotch, lead, and femmes fatals, and so does Southard. His words smell of gun smoke that follows five rounds and whips of sparks through the barrel of a .41 magnum. He captures the reek of flop sweat and the baritone drone of murderous bastards talking themselves into another killing. He drives a story with steely-eyed recklessness down night-roads, tires screaming, headlights out, strange silhouettes rearranging through a windshield smashed to hell in a spider web of cracks." -Laird Barron (from his introduction)
- GenresHorror
258 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 15, 2015
8 people are currently reading
159 people want to read
About the author
Nate Southard
67 books119 followersNate Southard is moody, shy, lanky, bald, and has bad skin. When he isn’t writing, he’s probably cooking Thai food or fried chicken. Seriously, he has something like fifty fried chicken recipes. It’s ridiculous. He recently discovered coffee-flavored ice cream, and it’s ruling his entire world. Did you know if you mix it with chocolate ice cream, you can kinda make mocha ice cream? Nate does!
Nate lives in Austin, Texas.
He sucks at skateboarding.
Nate Southard's books include Will the Sun Ever Come Out Again?, Scavengers, This Little Light of Mine, Red Sky, Just Like Hell, Broken Skin, and He Stepped Through. His short fiction has appeared in such venues as Nightmare Magazine, Cemetery Dance, Black Static, Thuglit, and LampLight. His short story "Going Home, Ugly Stick in Hand" received an honorable mention in Ellen Datlow's The Year's Best Horror, and he earned a Bram Stoker Award nomination for his story "In the Middle of Poplar Street."
Nate lives in Austin, Texas.
He sucks at skateboarding.
Nate Southard's books include Will the Sun Ever Come Out Again?, Scavengers, This Little Light of Mine, Red Sky, Just Like Hell, Broken Skin, and He Stepped Through. His short fiction has appeared in such venues as Nightmare Magazine, Cemetery Dance, Black Static, Thuglit, and LampLight. His short story "Going Home, Ugly Stick in Hand" received an honorable mention in Ellen Datlow's The Year's Best Horror, and he earned a Bram Stoker Award nomination for his story "In the Middle of Poplar Street."
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
August 9, 2015
I loved this book. The four novellas within contained all the elements I crave in well-executed horror. There is the aura of dread in familiar places; glimpses of humanity and brutality acting in harmony; and shadows of the unknown that act as unseen warnings. The first novella is aptly titled "He Stepped Through." Let this be your invitation. Do it. Step through.
March 9, 2017
*3.5 Stars*
I also really enjoyed Southard's approach to horror: his build-up of atmosphere, his dedication to keeping the horror mostly mysterious and unseen, and his equal intensity with both the subtle suspense bits and with the balls-out gore. The two novellas in the middle of the collection suffered a little from being a bit meandering without a worthy payoff, but He Stepped Through and the last story (Safe House), were haunting and very effective.
"Everything and all. There is a darkness below, and it rises."The thing that struck me the most about this collection of novellas is Nate Southard's sharp imagination. Each story has an intriguing concept that begs to be expanded, whether it's the tale of a Compton street gang opening a door to Hell (or something even worse) in the first novella He Stepped Through, or in Deeper Waters, the story of a redneck magician defending a diner from attack after a severe flood hits a small town, bringing with it creatures from deep in the Ohio River.
I also really enjoyed Southard's approach to horror: his build-up of atmosphere, his dedication to keeping the horror mostly mysterious and unseen, and his equal intensity with both the subtle suspense bits and with the balls-out gore. The two novellas in the middle of the collection suffered a little from being a bit meandering without a worthy payoff, but He Stepped Through and the last story (Safe House), were haunting and very effective.
"The light? You know better than that, Jimmy. Ain't no light but the sun. It's all darkness past that. Heaven ain't shit but a myth the devil's scared of."
March 16, 2017
A wonderful collection of dark and grimy tales. I picked this book up based on a recommendation from writer Laird Barron, and damn I wasn't disappointed. A must read for fans of cosmic horror and horror in general.
4 stars.
4 stars.
June 1, 2016
What a beautiful, dark, violent, taut, incendiary collection of novellas this is. I could go on with the adjective obesity but that wouldn't really pay proper service to this great writer.
Southard writes without compromise, and this permeates every aspect of his stories. The characters are troubled at best and the situations they find themselves in do nothing to better their lives (except perhaps in one case). His prose winds tight and his language is evocative and poetic without losing the reader in a lush forest of words. Each of the stories here acts like a great self-contained set piece but Southard's skill is such that the narrative evokes a much larger world around the peripheries, with its own weirdness and conflict and unanswered questions.
There's a sense of melancholy and terror in these stories, and an emotional impact that goes beyond the dread that a lesser writer would evoke. There'd be nothing wrong with that of course, but Southard's characters, their motivations and troubles, left me breathless and empathetic and shuddering with the suckerpunch of his talent. His stories work on so many levels, not the least of which is that they're just enormously entertaining; an incredible, fast-paced read that you can't stop devouring but don't want to finish. There's violence there - and plenty of it - but Southard paints on the blood with relish, leaving me horrified and exhilarated at the end of every page.
Essentially - as you can tell from this near-sycophantic review - I cannot praise or recommend this collection enough. It has a variety and weight and originality that makes it an absolute pleasure to read. I wolfed it down in a few sittings, and so should you. Right now. Go.
Southard writes without compromise, and this permeates every aspect of his stories. The characters are troubled at best and the situations they find themselves in do nothing to better their lives (except perhaps in one case). His prose winds tight and his language is evocative and poetic without losing the reader in a lush forest of words. Each of the stories here acts like a great self-contained set piece but Southard's skill is such that the narrative evokes a much larger world around the peripheries, with its own weirdness and conflict and unanswered questions.
There's a sense of melancholy and terror in these stories, and an emotional impact that goes beyond the dread that a lesser writer would evoke. There'd be nothing wrong with that of course, but Southard's characters, their motivations and troubles, left me breathless and empathetic and shuddering with the suckerpunch of his talent. His stories work on so many levels, not the least of which is that they're just enormously entertaining; an incredible, fast-paced read that you can't stop devouring but don't want to finish. There's violence there - and plenty of it - but Southard paints on the blood with relish, leaving me horrified and exhilarated at the end of every page.
Essentially - as you can tell from this near-sycophantic review - I cannot praise or recommend this collection enough. It has a variety and weight and originality that makes it an absolute pleasure to read. I wolfed it down in a few sittings, and so should you. Right now. Go.
April 14, 2016
Few books are ever exactly what I want them to be. It’s hard for an author to live up to the hype a reader can build in their own head. However, Southard had delivered everything I had hoped it would be. Four novellas of cosmic horror, all tempered with a gritty realism that make these tales uniquely told. A fascinating study in contrasts, a sort of celestial madness shown through a mundane lens, Southard throws you down in the dirt so you may look up into the emptiness beyond the stars.
We start out with “He Stepped Through,” a police procedural turned supernatural. A local gang leader has found religion, but not with any familiar faith. Turning his gang into a cult, the streets run bloody as clues are pieced together to a horrifying conclusion. In “Something Went Wrong,” we follow three different narratives in a small town as a creature’s body in discovered on the shore. The man who put it there, those who want to remove it, and the man caught in the middle all share secrets. With “Deeper Waters,” an amateur mage, known in town for his abilities, is hired by the diner owner to keep the rising flood waters at bay. But the mage has a hidden agenda, both for the diner and for the things that swim in those waters. Finally, “Safe House” tells of a militia cell that gathers at a cabin in the woods, thinking to prepare for the fall of America. However, they are unprepared for what lives in the woods, in the shack a mile away, something older and grander the humanity, that uses them like toys.
Southard’s work is both relatable and imaginative. There is a noir element while still being expansive, a bleak universe you readily swallow. I read this entire book in a single sitting, I was so engrossed with the prose, the characters, the ideas presented. Nate Southard has shown himself to be a fantastic author of cosmic horror with WILL THE SUN EVER COME OUT AGAIN? and I can’t wait to read more by him.
We start out with “He Stepped Through,” a police procedural turned supernatural. A local gang leader has found religion, but not with any familiar faith. Turning his gang into a cult, the streets run bloody as clues are pieced together to a horrifying conclusion. In “Something Went Wrong,” we follow three different narratives in a small town as a creature’s body in discovered on the shore. The man who put it there, those who want to remove it, and the man caught in the middle all share secrets. With “Deeper Waters,” an amateur mage, known in town for his abilities, is hired by the diner owner to keep the rising flood waters at bay. But the mage has a hidden agenda, both for the diner and for the things that swim in those waters. Finally, “Safe House” tells of a militia cell that gathers at a cabin in the woods, thinking to prepare for the fall of America. However, they are unprepared for what lives in the woods, in the shack a mile away, something older and grander the humanity, that uses them like toys.
Southard’s work is both relatable and imaginative. There is a noir element while still being expansive, a bleak universe you readily swallow. I read this entire book in a single sitting, I was so engrossed with the prose, the characters, the ideas presented. Nate Southard has shown himself to be a fantastic author of cosmic horror with WILL THE SUN EVER COME OUT AGAIN? and I can’t wait to read more by him.
April 28, 2015
A tight, intensely violent collection, with sharp writing and a fascinating take on the intersection of crime and Lovecraftian horror. I'm not quite the audience for this book--since the pace was so unrelenting I found myself wishing the characters and themes had space to breathe--but I definitely enjoyed it, and for anyone interested in brutal, bleak noir (the kind of thing where someone is getting torn open every few pages) with a lot of strangeness around the edges, this is the perfect book for you. The prose is a punch to the face, really polished and but also very natural, and every story was full of striking setpieces and gritty imagination. Not quite my thing, but I'm definitely glad I checked it out; and I'm especially glad to see a collection made up entirely of 4 novellas, which is something I wish more publishers would do.
July 7, 2016
This is the payoff for wading through many other lesser collections.
Very clever series of four dark/weird novellas.
I appreciated that things were not spelled out to me as a reader immediately. I had to read for nine or ten pages to finally figure our relationships between characters in the first tale. I love being left to formulate my own theories and see if they are confirmed in the second.
Looks like I will be buying more of Southard's writing - past and future.
Very clever series of four dark/weird novellas.
I appreciated that things were not spelled out to me as a reader immediately. I had to read for nine or ten pages to finally figure our relationships between characters in the first tale. I love being left to formulate my own theories and see if they are confirmed in the second.
Looks like I will be buying more of Southard's writing - past and future.
September 3, 2015
Wow! If Bukowski came back from the dead and wrote scripts for Supernatural ...
Nah! I love Bukowski! I love Supernatural! Now, I love Nate Southard. Read him!
Nah! I love Bukowski! I love Supernatural! Now, I love Nate Southard. Read him!
September 4, 2021
Bleak is how I would describe the 4 stories found in Will the Sun Ever Come Out Again. From the characters to the walls they inhabit, it all reverberates with the demonic and the wicked. Here is another contender in the crime/horror sub-genre to rejoice over.
I dug it. “He Stepped Through” is a gang related satanic ride that quakes with morbidity and flows on a super interesting idea. “Something Went Wrong” takes us on slow burn journey with multiple perspectives through a windy sci-fi crime tale reminiscent of a Cronenberg film. This was my favorite of the bunch. With “Safe House” you have a tense psychological horror moment that serves its purpose.
The entry that I wasn’t too fond of was “Deep Waters.” I found it to be a bit cold in its execution. Cool premise with more Lovecraftian vibes found elsewhere in the collection, but the magic thrown around was a little heavy handed.
Overall this is a solid collection with beautiful writing on top of its excellent genre bending stories. Southward nailed it with evil atmosphere. I thoroughly enjoyed the read and would’ve loved a full length novel to the world of “Something Went Wrong.” Prepare yourself for severed body parts galore.
I dug it. “He Stepped Through” is a gang related satanic ride that quakes with morbidity and flows on a super interesting idea. “Something Went Wrong” takes us on slow burn journey with multiple perspectives through a windy sci-fi crime tale reminiscent of a Cronenberg film. This was my favorite of the bunch. With “Safe House” you have a tense psychological horror moment that serves its purpose.
The entry that I wasn’t too fond of was “Deep Waters.” I found it to be a bit cold in its execution. Cool premise with more Lovecraftian vibes found elsewhere in the collection, but the magic thrown around was a little heavy handed.
Overall this is a solid collection with beautiful writing on top of its excellent genre bending stories. Southward nailed it with evil atmosphere. I thoroughly enjoyed the read and would’ve loved a full length novel to the world of “Something Went Wrong.” Prepare yourself for severed body parts galore.
May 7, 2017
A collection of short, semi-interlocking tales with a bit of a weird bent to them but generally more straightforward mystery. It's True Detective-esque in a sense in that everything is super gritty and hints at something more, but I was ultimately simply disappointed that this didn't follow through fully with what I was looking for. It has its bizarre moments but it's almost too secondary to fully make an impact.
March 8, 2017
Visceral, promising horror, I dug some of the situations and settings he uses (like the violent gang ridden city occult hybrid in the first few tales). Some of the stories were less impressive than others, but what I did enjoy, I REALLY liked, so I'll certainly watch out for some of his other material.
July 11, 2022
Four dark novellas from one of the best crime/horror writers working today. None of the four should be skipped, but to me the standout was the first story "He Stepped Through", which was as Lovecraftian as they come.
March 23, 2018
Fantastic set of stories! The first especially, I could have read a whole novel made of that story!
May 3, 2020
If you enjoy gritty horror and refreshing originality, I highly recommend this book.
February 19, 2021
Southard is a VERY propulsive storyteller, with lots of talent and nifty skills, and when he doesn't cut corners, the stories turn out cutting. Like these four. Good job.
August 20, 2015
If you’re a fan of the HBO series “True Detective,” you might have wished (like I did) that the first season’s flirting with ineffable, supernatural threats had blossomed into something truly horrific in the finale. While fans realize now that the series is just into exploring the darkness in human beings, many of us were left with a hankering for a crime show that crosses into the weird.
Luckily for us, authors like Nate Southard produce work that fulfills that promise. Will the Sun Ever Come Out Again? is a collection of four novellas by the Austin resident in which he straddles noir and existential horror with deft control of atmospherics and other suspense-ratcheting techniques.
The first piece, “He Stepped Through,” should simply become “True Detective’s” third season. Part of Southard’s quasi-Lovecraftian Darkness Below universe, this novella charts the collision of Los Angeles cops and a gang whose leader has opened a door into a bleak dimension whose monstrous and indifferent denizens step through into human minds. Brutally effective, the story haunted me for weeks.
In “Something Went Wrong,” Southard weaves together three apparently distinct narrative threads to tell the tale of telepathic “fixers” who track down folks who’ve witnessed the supernatural and then manipulate them into suicide. Like a horrific blend of Philip K. Dick’s “The Adjustment Team” and the fixers from movies like Pulp Fiction and La Femme Nikita, this piece will leave you quite paranoid.
“Deeper Waters” is another great story, featuring the redneck magician (and major heel) Charlie Crawdad, who finds himself facing an aquatic demon after the damned town of Sulfur is submerged in a flood. A smidge of early, cocky Eastwood DNA in this rounded anti-hero. Finally, in “Safe House” (another Darkness Below tale) a militia group hides in a cabin in the woods, only to be picked off one-by-one by some unseen being lurking amid the trees.
Peopled with believable characters, unflinchingly told and nuanced by an able hand, these four novellas make a lasting impression, like a beautiful bruise.
Luckily for us, authors like Nate Southard produce work that fulfills that promise. Will the Sun Ever Come Out Again? is a collection of four novellas by the Austin resident in which he straddles noir and existential horror with deft control of atmospherics and other suspense-ratcheting techniques.
The first piece, “He Stepped Through,” should simply become “True Detective’s” third season. Part of Southard’s quasi-Lovecraftian Darkness Below universe, this novella charts the collision of Los Angeles cops and a gang whose leader has opened a door into a bleak dimension whose monstrous and indifferent denizens step through into human minds. Brutally effective, the story haunted me for weeks.
In “Something Went Wrong,” Southard weaves together three apparently distinct narrative threads to tell the tale of telepathic “fixers” who track down folks who’ve witnessed the supernatural and then manipulate them into suicide. Like a horrific blend of Philip K. Dick’s “The Adjustment Team” and the fixers from movies like Pulp Fiction and La Femme Nikita, this piece will leave you quite paranoid.
“Deeper Waters” is another great story, featuring the redneck magician (and major heel) Charlie Crawdad, who finds himself facing an aquatic demon after the damned town of Sulfur is submerged in a flood. A smidge of early, cocky Eastwood DNA in this rounded anti-hero. Finally, in “Safe House” (another Darkness Below tale) a militia group hides in a cabin in the woods, only to be picked off one-by-one by some unseen being lurking amid the trees.
Peopled with believable characters, unflinchingly told and nuanced by an able hand, these four novellas make a lasting impression, like a beautiful bruise.
April 27, 2015
Entertaining and Unexpected
Even though I already said it on my Amazon.com review I can't help but repeat that I love this book because it's like a lazy river of horror rather than a frantic, fast paced, stress-inducing mess.
The writing is high quality but readable. It's conversational in the ease of enjoyment but not sloppy.
The writing strikes a balance and I love the way each story is about such different stuff and one is even written journal-style which I didn't expect but was the perfect choice for the story.
My favorite story was the one with the guy who didn't like his job. I really wish I knew how he got the job because I wanted to read a whole book of that guy's journey. Before and after the chunk in the novella in this book.
It's worth the money and the time to read.
Even though I already said it on my Amazon.com review I can't help but repeat that I love this book because it's like a lazy river of horror rather than a frantic, fast paced, stress-inducing mess.
The writing is high quality but readable. It's conversational in the ease of enjoyment but not sloppy.
The writing strikes a balance and I love the way each story is about such different stuff and one is even written journal-style which I didn't expect but was the perfect choice for the story.
My favorite story was the one with the guy who didn't like his job. I really wish I knew how he got the job because I wanted to read a whole book of that guy's journey. Before and after the chunk in the novella in this book.
It's worth the money and the time to read.
May 11, 2015
This collection has four amazing novellas that manage to tap into very human stories and characters while also leaving you suspiciously eyeing dark corners and gripping your bed sheets with fear, anticipation and a slight sense of dysphoria. I particularly enjoyed the "Deeper Waters" story and hope to see more of the Charlie Crawford character - unremittingly flawed and charming as hell.
I was both elated at the end of the read and sad the ride was over. Author notes at the end were appreciated and added a nice touch to the experience of the collection. I highly recommend picking this one up!
I was both elated at the end of the read and sad the ride was over. Author notes at the end were appreciated and added a nice touch to the experience of the collection. I highly recommend picking this one up!
October 23, 2016
I'm a fan of this author's work, and I enjoyed this collection of four long fiction stories. They're all good, but "Something Went Wrong" was my favorite. I was introduced to different characters and storylines that ended up coming together at the end in a way I wasn't expecting, which is always good. This author doesn't hold back and has a great way of telling complex stories through the eyes of characters that are easy to relate to--strange and violent incidents that happen to the average person. I recommend this book for fans of horror, weird, and dark fiction.
May 30, 2015
First-rate horror. Hell on earth, demons, monsters, deep atmosphere. It is gruesome as all get out, but that comes with the territory. Nate Southard has some imagination, and I haven't felt jolts like these in a good while.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews