“Vessels seems to have distilled the essence of Dunsany, Lovecraft, Zelazny, other influences I cannot identify, and certainly something of himself, to produce a brandy the gods would savour.”
— Chris Wozny,
The Nameless Zine
“Stephen Vessels is one of those rare artists who effortlessly—or so it appears—cruises through genres, equally comfortable in science fiction, dark fantasy, and his own brand of emotionally-charged weirdness. He skates gracefully on the thin ices of genius in this superb collection.”
— Elizabeth Engstrom,
Author of The Northwoods Chronicles
and Baggage Check
“The Mountain and The Vortex is a tour-de-force of the imagination, and a book of many worlds: some scary, all wondrous, all original. Exotic and intensely human, these stories will stay with you and leave you waiting eagerly for Stephen Vessels’ next book.”
— Lorelei Armstrong,
Author of In The Face
“From his portrayal of the consuming isolation of a teacher’s power in ‘The Burning Professor’ to the payment of a ghostly father’s debts in ‘Doloroso,’ I was enthralled by Stephen Vessel’ debut collection of sometimes surreal, sometimes hyper-real, and sometimes purely mystical, mythical tales.”
— Eric M. Witchey,
Author of Beyond The Serpent’s Heart,
To Build A Boat Listen To Trees,
and Bull’s Labyrinth
Twelve Stories of dark futures and odd imaginings
to catch your breath and unhinge your mind.