Breathing Darkness

by Matt Bialer

Famous for his long poems exploring the paranormal, the weird, the unexplained, and what makes us human, Matt Bialer turns his poetic talents to the urban legend of the Shadow People.Pat is a cyber-security expert at a software start-up called InterFaze, which was acquired by a Saudi Arabian prince. The prince wants to launch this revolutionary image and face recognition software called FazeLift at a major hacker convention in Las Vegas. Pat must launch the vital cyber-security software called The Dome before the conference, as the prince wants to maximize its publicity. Meanwhile, at home, Pat’s ten-year-old son, Jared, keeps waking in the middle of the night screaming, saying a tall being in a long black coat and fedora hat is watching him. His younger son, Max, is also seeing this figure; this man made of darkness.When Pat learns that what his sons are seeing is true, that they’re being visited by entities known as the Shadow People, he takes an unexpected trip to Saudi Arabia for answers, and in turn, confronts his deepest fears.

98 pages, Paperback

Published January 22, 2019

About the author

Matt Bialer is the author of eight books of poetry including Radius (Les Editions du Zaporogue), Already Here, Ark, Black Powder, (all from Black Coffee Press) Bridge (Leaky Boot Press) ,Tell Them What I Saw (PS Publishing, UK) He Walks On All Fours (Dynatox Ministries) and Ascent (Bizarro Pulp Press). His poems have appeared in many print and online journals including La Zaporogue, Green Mountains Review, Gobbet, Forklift Ohio, Cultural Weekly and H_NGM_N. He is also an acclaimed black and white street photographer and watercolorist who has exhibited widely. Some of his photographs are in the permanent collections of The Brooklyn Museum, The Museum of the City of New York and the The New York Public Library and his watercolors are in many private collections. His photographic monograph, More Than You Know, was published in 2011 by Les Editions du Zaporogue and Shadowbrook, a book of his paintings was issued by the same publisher in 2012. Matt lives with his wife Lenora Lapidus and daughter Izzy in Park Slope, Brooklyn. His website is www.mattbialer.com

Reviews

[Dutch Calico · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always been a fan of epic poetry and I feel sadly it seems to be a lost art. Not to Matt Bialer, however. He has it down. I have a long-time interest in the paranormal and this is a topic Bialer often touches upon. This one is about Shadow People and tech. Bialer captures the creep effect well and keeps your eyes stuck to his enticing prose. I definitely recommend this.

[Donald Armfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

The darkness breathes, lurks and has taken everything. Molded from smokeless flame of fire the Djinn breaths in the darkness.
Bialer has the trick to raise suspense, horror or fear with the lease words possible.
A granted wish for a quick interesting read solved.