Spiritus Ex Machina

Art and science were not always pitted against each other: they were once perceived as two sides of the same great and terrible coin. Spiritus Ex Machina, the debut collection from author LC von Hessen, explores this duality of creation in 14 stories, following an introduction by Michael Cisco (The Divinity Student, Antisocieties, Weird Fiction: A Genre Study).

Within this collection, painters, photographers, dancers, doctors, scholars, engineers, occultists, bureaucrats, plutocrats, restaurateurs, pro-dommes, mad scientists, and various hapless folk all become embroiled in the Unknowable. From 18th-century French salon to contemporary Brooklyn apartment, from traveling carnival to libertine nightclub to body-horror laboratory, explore the dark side of the creative urge among phantasmic machines, dubiously ethical biomedical experiments, unsettling art installations, and a discomforting array of Uncanny Valley denizens. Become a human worm, traverse the dreams of an automaton, perform necromancy through antique film reels, join a secret society in the bowels of a Gilded Age factory-and remember to never, ever trust a face.

"LC von Hessen deserves your attention. Mordant wit, vibrant fantasy, keen insight into character, artful eroticism, and an authentically historic voice. Every piece in this collection will reward you."

-Michael Cisco, author of The Divinity Student and Antisocieties

"Sometimes you encounter the work of a writer whose name you want to shout from the rooftops. LC von Hessen is such a writer. von Hessen expertly weaves the macabre, the grotesque, and the phantasmagorical into an intricate, artful black web. Count me among their new fans. I suspect there'll soon be many, many more."

-Matthew M. Bartlett, author of Gateways to Abomination

LC von Hessen was born in the Midwest and fled to the East Coast after high school, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts. In addition to writing, they are also a noise musician and multidisciplinary artist/actor/performer. Some of the places where they've worked to pay the bills over the years include a comic book shop, a Halloween supply store, a tabloid newsroom, and a BDSM dungeon; they've also volunteered as a docent at Morbid Anatomy Museum. Their story "Transmasc of the Red Death" is a 2023 Brave New Weird Award winner. They live in Brooklyn with a talkative orange cat named Monty. LC von Hessen was born in the Midwest and fled to the East Coast after high school, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts. In addition to writing, they are also a noise musician and multidisciplinary artist/actor/performer. Some of the places where they've worked to pay the bills over the years include a comic book shop, a Halloween supply store, a tabloid newsroom, and a BDSM dungeon; they've also volunteered as a docent at Morbid Anatomy Museum. Their story "Transmasc of the Red Death" is a 2023 Brave New Weird Award winner. They live in Brooklyn with a talkative orange cat named Monty.

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