The employee of a library-planet grapples with industrial espionage. The connection between an indie comic and a local boogie-man is discovered by a group of friends. In a future museum of the mind, a nostalgia-addicted curator tries to understand the emotions of 20th century humans. An Anglo-Saxon traveller narrates her journey into the Artic regions to her Queen. A group of friends try to capture the last pink-footed goose on Planet Earth… Marian Womack’s new collection of short stories shows us how the then and the now, the future and the past, are made of the same particles. Loneliness, nostalgia and its dark ghosts, and the possibilities for humanity if technology and preservation dovetail, are brought together with Womack’s characteristic crossing of genres, places and moods. Out Through the Window, Into the Dark is a collection for our and future times, movingly demonstrating the devastating consequences of our collective actions.

“Marian Womack is a formidable talent. Each story in Out of the Window, Into the Dark sparkles like cut-glass, offering readers a dazzling exploration of power, legacy, climate change, and the looming threat of extinction. A mesmeric must-read.” Helen Marshall

“In this stunning collection, Marian Womack draws upon themes that are at once universal and intensely personal. Her tales evoke the wild worldbuilding of Ursula Le Guin and the unsettling domesticity of Shirley Jackson, with a meticulousness that’s highlighted by a Borgesian fascination with libraries. The stories in Out of the Window, Into the Dark are unpredictable, yet consistently affecting and rewarding.” Tim Major

Cover art by Vince Haig.

These stories explore place and landscape at different stages of decay, positioning them as fighting grounds for death and renewal. From dystopian Andalusia to Scotland or the Norfolk countryside, they bring together monstrous insects, ghostly lovers, soon-to-be extinct species, unexpected birds, and interstellar explorers, to form a coherent narrative about loss and absence.

“Addresses humankind’s senseless despoliation of its home in subtle, profoundly affecting ways.” Timothy Jarvis, Los Angeles Review of Books

“Incredibly powerful.” Charles Payseur

“A beautiful, haunting eulogy to our planet.” Eco-Fiction

Cover art by Vince Haig.