A Glimpse of the Numinous

by Jeff Gardiner

170 pages

A girl born with a number for a name, destined to become a new messiah – a seagull who becomes a household pet and national celebrity – flashing patterns of light as a key to your darkest fears – an impoverished family with a murderous secret. In these fourteen stories of this his first collection, Jeff Gardiner shows a startling range of styles and imagination, from visceral horror to lyrical literary prose. Keen psychological insight is allied to a shrewd knowledge of ancient myth and mysticism. Gardiner’s recurring interest is in religion and spirituality and the strange traces these almost outlawed strangers have left on modern urban life. His characters are often dangerous and unreasonable, their actions unpredictable, a far cry from the rational universe we like to think we share. Look again at your world and let Gardiner show the glimpses you’ve been missing of the doors that beckon you to other ways of seeing. The ominous, the luminous… the numinous.

 

Jeff Gardiner is fascinated by the beliefs and experiences of the individual; those profound mysteries which can be comical, sinister or spiritually enlightening. He loves writing slipstream, horror, humour and unexpected fiction that flits around the traditional genres of literature. Many of his stories have appeared in anthologies, magazines and websites in the UK and USA - however A Glimpse of the Numinous is his first published collection.

He is the author of the non-fiction work The Age of Chaos: the Multiverse of Michael Moorcock (now available as The Law of Chaos as a kindle book on Amazon.com) as well as various articles on fantasy and horror writers, some translated into German. He is currently working on a novel set in Nigeria and recently completed a young adult work of fiction. You can read an in-depth interview with Jeff in ‘Midnight Street’ #14. His website and blog can be found on jeffgardiner.com and jeffgardiner.wordpress.com.

In his other life Jeff has a secret identity (or clone) teaching Drama, English and Film Studies.