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The Fearing #1-4
The Fearing: The Definitive Edition
What if all humanity's fears were unleashed on the world...all at once?
A series of cataclysmic events are felt around the globe, and throughout the United States the last vestiges of society band together in rag-tag groups to face off against the ghastly horrors of their shattered world.
Opposing them is the enigmatic Adam Sigil--a man seemingly able to inflict others with his own darkest fears--and his equally mysterious companion Jelnik. As the world slips into darkness, the survivors of the onslaught struggle with the new normal of their now-dystopian lives amidst ongoing skirmishes with mankind's nightmares. With devastation and atrocities continuing to escalate, and hysteria threatening to rip their tenuous society apart, they find themselves on a collision course with this malevolent duo, headed toward a terrifying showdown that could ultimately signal the end of humanity.
Multiple Bram Stoker Award-nominated author John F.D. Taff's sprawling, apocalyptic epic The Fearing was called the event of the year when it was originally released as four standalone novellas: Fire & Rain, Water & Wind, Air & Dust, and Earth & Ember. Now, here for the first time, all four parts have finally come together with an altered timeline in this collected edition of The Fearing.
Includes a special introduction from a Grand Master of Horror, the esteemed Ray Garton, author of Ravenous, Live Girls, and many more novels.
A series of cataclysmic events are felt around the globe, and throughout the United States the last vestiges of society band together in rag-tag groups to face off against the ghastly horrors of their shattered world.
Opposing them is the enigmatic Adam Sigil--a man seemingly able to inflict others with his own darkest fears--and his equally mysterious companion Jelnik. As the world slips into darkness, the survivors of the onslaught struggle with the new normal of their now-dystopian lives amidst ongoing skirmishes with mankind's nightmares. With devastation and atrocities continuing to escalate, and hysteria threatening to rip their tenuous society apart, they find themselves on a collision course with this malevolent duo, headed toward a terrifying showdown that could ultimately signal the end of humanity.
Multiple Bram Stoker Award-nominated author John F.D. Taff's sprawling, apocalyptic epic The Fearing was called the event of the year when it was originally released as four standalone novellas: Fire & Rain, Water & Wind, Air & Dust, and Earth & Ember. Now, here for the first time, all four parts have finally come together with an altered timeline in this collected edition of The Fearing.
Includes a special introduction from a Grand Master of Horror, the esteemed Ray Garton, author of Ravenous, Live Girls, and many more novels.
Audio CD
Published December 7, 2021
2 people are currently reading
185 people want to read
About the author
John F.D. Taff
86 books258 followersJohn F.D. Taff is a multi-Bram Stoker Award short-listed dark fiction author with more than 30 years experience, and more than 100 short stories and seven novels in print.
He has appeared in Cemetery Dance, Eldritch Tales, Unnerving, Deathrealm, Big Pulp and One Buck Horror, as well as anthologies such as Hot Blood: Seeds of Fear, Hot Blood: Fear the Fever, Shock Rock II, Lullabies for Suffering, Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories, Behold!, Shadows Over Main Street 2, Horror Library V, Best of Horror Library, Dark Visions Vol. 1, Ominous Realities, Death's Realm, I Can Taste the Blood and Savage Beasts. His work will appear soon in The Seven Deadliest and I Can Hear the Shadows.
His novels include The Bell Witch, Kill-Off and the serialized apocalyptic epic The Fearing. Thunderstorm Books and Grey Matter Press will release a one-volume version of The Fearing in 2021, in limited edition hardcover, soft cover and digital. Short fiction collections include Little Deaths: The Definitive Collection and Little Black Spots, both published by Grey Matter Press.
Taff's novella collection, The End in All Beginnings, was called one of the best novella collections by Jack Ketchum and was a Stoker Award Finalist. His short "A Winter's Tale" was also a Stoker Finalist.
His upcoming anthology Dark Stars, a tribute to that seminal '80s work Dark Forces, will be published by Tor/Nightfire 11/2/21.
His website is at johnfdtaff.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnfdtaff.
He has appeared in Cemetery Dance, Eldritch Tales, Unnerving, Deathrealm, Big Pulp and One Buck Horror, as well as anthologies such as Hot Blood: Seeds of Fear, Hot Blood: Fear the Fever, Shock Rock II, Lullabies for Suffering, Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories, Behold!, Shadows Over Main Street 2, Horror Library V, Best of Horror Library, Dark Visions Vol. 1, Ominous Realities, Death's Realm, I Can Taste the Blood and Savage Beasts. His work will appear soon in The Seven Deadliest and I Can Hear the Shadows.
His novels include The Bell Witch, Kill-Off and the serialized apocalyptic epic The Fearing. Thunderstorm Books and Grey Matter Press will release a one-volume version of The Fearing in 2021, in limited edition hardcover, soft cover and digital. Short fiction collections include Little Deaths: The Definitive Collection and Little Black Spots, both published by Grey Matter Press.
Taff's novella collection, The End in All Beginnings, was called one of the best novella collections by Jack Ketchum and was a Stoker Award Finalist. His short "A Winter's Tale" was also a Stoker Finalist.
His upcoming anthology Dark Stars, a tribute to that seminal '80s work Dark Forces, will be published by Tor/Nightfire 11/2/21.
His website is at johnfdtaff.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnfdtaff.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
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September 26, 2022This is the collected volume-all 4 separate books that were released one at a time.
April 26, 2024
*SIGHS DEEP* 👀
Damn, up until about 70'ish%, I was fully on board with this story. I listened to the audiobook during my work commutes and found myself spacing out until I just stopped for a bit, then threw it back on but upped the speed.
I know that this edition consists of four shorter stories, so maybe... do. Once the separate group stories started converging, it felt distracted and convoluted. Characters were getting killed off, and I could not find it in me to care. The 'bigger' story fizzled out before it really got started, and then I was just kinda confused. 🤷🏻♀️
Damn, up until about 70'ish%, I was fully on board with this story. I listened to the audiobook during my work commutes and found myself spacing out until I just stopped for a bit, then threw it back on but upped the speed.
I know that this edition consists of four shorter stories, so maybe... do. Once the separate group stories started converging, it felt distracted and convoluted. Characters were getting killed off, and I could not find it in me to care. The 'bigger' story fizzled out before it really got started, and then I was just kinda confused. 🤷🏻♀️
October 24, 2023
It feels like a poor man's version of The Stand by Stephen King. It is a good novel, and the premise that the end of the world is caused by fear is very good, although the explanation of it as a machine is pretty lame.
Some of the fears unleashed upon the survivors are very creative and scary, but the face off between good and evil seems unpolished and could have been explored better.
I felt the novel doesn't move along fast enough in some points, especially in book 3. I also felt there was a lot of build up for the book to end somewhat abruptly and with a final showdown just a few pages long.
Some of the fears unleashed upon the survivors are very creative and scary, but the face off between good and evil seems unpolished and could have been explored better.
I felt the novel doesn't move along fast enough in some points, especially in book 3. I also felt there was a lot of build up for the book to end somewhat abruptly and with a final showdown just a few pages long.
September 7, 2024
So when I found this on Audible, I thought it was going to be a book filled with people being attacked, the world being overwhelmed with monsters created from our own nightmares. I was looking for pandemonium, gore and a lot of F-bombs. I was pleasantly pleased to find it not to my own imagination. Though the pandemonium, gore and even the F-bombs would have been happily accepted.
So in The Fearing, Taff took us on a journey of something along the lines of M. Night Shamalamadingdong's movie, of which I will not name. Not because I didn't like it, but because it was about what we do to the world. How we damage the environment, as well as ourselves. It took a lot of imagination to do this and I feel it was creatively, adventurously and even a tad nightmarishly done.
The world is on a losing end of a battle that has nothing to do with its inhabitants, other than what they faer. The best part was when I'd feared we were to run into the boring trope of most apocalyptic/dystopian scenarios... see loser who feels he needs to be a ruthless leader over mankind. Thankfully this didn't even take place. This book did a lot that I didn't expect, and that was refreshing.
Cheers!
So in The Fearing, Taff took us on a journey of something along the lines of M. Night Shamalamadingdong's movie, of which I will not name. Not because I didn't like it, but because it was about what we do to the world. How we damage the environment, as well as ourselves. It took a lot of imagination to do this and I feel it was creatively, adventurously and even a tad nightmarishly done.
The world is on a losing end of a battle that has nothing to do with its inhabitants, other than what they faer. The best part was when I'd feared we were to run into the boring trope of most apocalyptic/dystopian scenarios... see loser who feels he needs to be a ruthless leader over mankind. Thankfully this didn't even take place. This book did a lot that I didn't expect, and that was refreshing.
Cheers!
January 11, 2025
An excellent apocalyptic horror novel written by one of our more criminally overlooked authors. The world falls into chaos as the fears of the people come to life. Taff should be huge, the genre is lucky to have him.
February 26, 2022
I loved everything about this story! The audiobook is excellent.
May 7, 2022
Very well done apocalyptic story. The narrator nailed it.
The darkness is coming.
The darkness is coming.
July 20, 2024
Different and interesting. I enjoyed reading
June 13, 2024
Initially released in four parts, the audiobook I found on Hoopla had them all together in one release. It informs a complete narrative and surprisingly doesn’t feel episodic as you might think from its initial release. Owing much to The Stand and Swan Song, it is a fun, propulsive ride.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews