The Abysmal (A Novella) (English Edition)

"Aaron listened attentively, considering every word. He wanted nothing more than to be with this woman, but she was married, promised to a man who carried a gun. Leave! Right now! Go upstairs and lock the door! But that was Reason talking; Emotion had other advice. He thought about Livingston, the fleshy brute of a man who snorted and barked, who, through insults and threats, however vague, had made it clear that Jeanine was his property--she was not to be touched, especially by a nobody like him. He imagined the troll, his ugly face becoming more hideous once learning of the affair. And how would he appear once deflated? his bloated ego greatly diminished by the sweat of another man. How else does one react who believed himself secure, who believed money could not only get a woman, but keep her as well? Aaron knew better, and now he'd teach Livingston the lesson he had learned: that a vagina can be paid for, but the heart is always free."

Aaron came to Brooklyn to get away; behind him, in Queens, he'd left chaos, misery, and sorrow. All he wanted now was isolation and a little peace--what he found was love...and death.

"In his second Gothic-influenced novella, Bryan Gibson explores the depths of love, sorrow, and hate, wringing from each a torrent of pathos that floods every page until the inevitable, tragic end. Throughout the novella readers might laugh, cry, even clench their fists, but at no point will they regret consuming Gibson's sumptuous feast. A triumph!--a dark, unsettling, blasphemous triumph!" --E. Lynn Harris