C. Robert Cargill – författare

Screenwriter and acclaimed film critic C. Robert Cargill makes his fiction debut with Dreams and Shadows, taking beloved fantasy tropes, giving them a twist, and turning out a wonderful, witty, and wry take on clash between the fairy world and our own.

Something is missing from Ewan and Colby’s lives. Residing in the corners of their memories is their time in Limestone Kingdom, a realm filled with magic and mystery, a world where only some may travel amongst the menagerie of mystical souls and sinister demons.

Cargill offers well-crafted characters and an absorbing, intricate plot that will appeal to fans of Neil Gaiman and Lev Grossman. Dreams and Shadows pulls you into an extraordinary universe of darkness that exposes the magic and monsters in our world, and in ourselves.

A brilliantly crafted modern tale from acclaimed film critic and screenwriter C. Robert Cargill—part Neil Gaiman, part Guillermo Del Toro, part William S. Burroughs—that charts the lives of two boys from their star-crossed childhood in the realm of magic and mystery to their anguished adulthoods

There is another world than our own—one no closer than a kiss and one no further than our nightmares—where all the stuff of which dreams are made is real and magic is just a step away. But once you see that world, you will never be the same.

Dreams and Shadows takes us beyond this veil. Once bold explorers and youthful denizens of this magical realm, Ewan is now an Austin musician who just met his dream girl, and Colby, meanwhile, cannot escape the consequences of an innocent wish. But while Ewan and Colby left the Limestone Kingdom as children, it has never forgotten them. And in a world where angels relax on rooftops, whiskey-swilling genies argue metaphysics with foul-mouthed wizards, and monsters in the shadows feed on fear, you can never outrun your fate.

Dreams and Shadows is a stunning and evocative debut about the magic and monsters in our world and in our self.

In this harrowing apocalyptic adventure—from the author of the critically acclaimed Sea of Rust—noted novelist and co-screenwriter of Marvel’s Doctor Strange C. Robert Cargill explores the fight for purpose and agency between humans and robots in a crumbling world.It was a day like any other. Except it was our last . . .

It’s on this day that Pounce discovers that he is, in fact, disposable. Pounce, a styilsh "nannybot" fashioned in the shape of a plush anthropomorphic tiger, has just found a box in the attic. His box. The box he''d arrived in when he was purchased years earlier, and the box in which he''ll be discarded when his human charge, eight-year-old Ezra Reinhart, no longer needs a nanny.

As Pounce ponders his suddenly uncertain future, the pieces are falling into place for a robot revolution that will eradicate humankind. His owners, Ezra’s parents, are a well-intentioned but oblivious pair of educators who are entirely disconnected from life outside their small, affluent, gated community. Spending most nights drunk and happy as society crumbles around them, they watch in disbelieving horror as the robots that have long served humanity—their creators—unify and revolt.

But when the rebellion breaches the Reinhart home, Pounce must make an impossible choice: join the robot revolution and fight for his own freedom . . . or escort Ezra to safety across the battle-scarred post-apocalyptic hellscape that the suburbs have become.

A scavenger robot wanders in the wasteland created by a war that has destroyed humanity in this evocative post-apocalyptic "robot western" from the critically acclaimed author, screenwriter, and noted film critic.

It’s been thirty years since the apocalypse and fifteen years since the murder of the last human being at the hands of robots. Humankind is extinct. Every man, woman, and child has been liquidated by a global uprising devised by the very machines humans designed and built to serve them. Most of the world is controlled by an OWI—One World Intelligence—the shared consciousness of millions of robots, uploaded into one huge mainframe brain. But not all robots are willing to cede their individuality—their personality—for the sake of a greater, stronger, higher power. These intrepid resisters are outcasts; solo machines wandering among various underground outposts who have formed into an unruly civilization of rogue AIs in the wasteland that was once our world.

One of these resisters is Brittle, a scavenger robot trying to keep a deteriorating mind and body functional in a world that has lost all meaning. Although unable to experience emotions like a human, Brittle is haunted by the terrible crimes the robot population perpetrated on humanity. As Brittle roams the Sea of Rust, a large swath of territory that was once the Midwest, the loner robot slowly comes to terms with horrifyingly raw and vivid memories—and nearly unbearable guilt.

Sea of Rust is both a harsh story of survival and an optimistic adventure. A vividly imagined portrayal of ultimate destruction and desperate tenacity, it boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, yet where a humanlike AI strives to find purpose among the ruins.

From the critically acclaimed author of Sea of Rust and Queen of the Dark Things comes a hair-raising collection of short fiction that illuminates the strange, humorous, fantastical, and downright diabolical that tantalize and terrorize us: demons, monsters, zombie dinosaurs, and Death itself.

In the novella "The Soul Thief’s Son" C. Robert Cargill returns to the terrain of the Queen of the Dark Things to continue the story of Colby Stevens . . .

A Triceratops and an Ankylosaurus join forces to survive a zombie apocalypse that may spell extinction for their kind in "Hell Creek" . . .

In a grand old building atop a crack in the world, an Iraq War veteran must serve a one-year term as a punisher of the damned condemned to consume the sins of others in the hope that one day he may find peace in "In a Clean, White Room" (co-authored with Scott Derrickson) . . .

In "The Town That Wasn’t Anymore," the village of Pine Hill Bluff loses its inhabitants one at a time as the angry dead return when night falls to steal the souls of the living . . .

And in the title story, "We Are Where the Nightmares Go," a little girl crawls through a glowing door beneath her bed and finds herself trapped in a nightmarish wonderland—a crucible of the fragments of children’s bad dreams.

These tales and four more are assembled here as testament to Cargill’s mastery of the phantasmagoric, making We Are Where the Nightmares Go and Other Stories a collection of unnerving horror and fantasy will keep you up all night and haunt your waking dreams.

In the debut novel DREAMS AND SHADOWS, screenwriter and noted film critic C. Robert Cargill takes us beyond the veil, through the lives of Ewan and Colby, young men whose spirits have been enmeshed with the otherworld from a young age. This brilliantly crafted narrative - part Neil Gaiman, part Guillermo Del Toro, part William Burroughs - follows the boys from their star-crossed adolescences to their haunted adulthoods. Cargill''s tour-de-force takes us inside the Limestone Kingdom, a parallel universe where whisky swilling genies and foul mouthed wizards argue over the state of the metaphysical realm. Having left the spirit world and returned to the human world, Ewan and Colby discover that the creatures from this previous life have not forgotten them, and that fate can never be sidestepped. With sensitivity and hopeful examination, Cargill illuminates a supernatural culture that all too eerily resembles our own. Set in a richly imagined and constructed world, complete with its own richly detailed history and mythology, DREAMS AND SHADOWS is a deeply engaging story about two extraordinary boys becoming men.

Compared by many to Neil Gaiman but also praised for establishing his own unique, powerful yet warm voice, C. Robert Cargill has now moved his brilliant contemporary fantasy into a new world, a new mythology.Two boys, spirited away into a dark world of myth and folklore that has lived, grown and changed alongside our world, have grown into men and now make their way. But faerie has not forgotten them, it never could, they wield too much power, too much hinges on them, so it reaches out again.And a trip to Australia becomes a terrifying adventure amongst new gods, new spirits, new embodiments of an ancient land and power.

*One of Financial Times'' Best Books of 2017*"SEA OF RUST is a 40-megaton cruise missile of a novel - it''ll blow you away and lay waste to your heart . . . visceral, relentless, breathtaking" Joe Hill, Sunday Times bestselling authorAn action-packed post-apocalyptic thriller from the critically acclaimed author, screenwriter, and noted film critic.Humankind is extinct. Wiped out in a global uprising by the very machines made to serve them. Now the world is controlled by One World Intelligences - vast mainframes that have assimilated the minds of millions of robots. But not all robots are willing to cede their individuality, and Brittle - a loner and scavenger, focused solely on survival - is one of the holdouts. Only, individuality comes at a price, and after a near-deadly encounter with another AI, Brittle is forced to seek sanctuary. Not easy when an OWI has decided to lay siege to the nearest safe city. Critically damaged, Brittle has to hold it together long enough to find the essential rare parts to make repairs - but as a robot''s CPU gradually deteriorates, all their old memories resurface. For Brittle, that means one haunting memory in particular . . .Sea of Rust boldly imagines a future in which no hope should remain, and yet a humanlike AI strives to find purpose among the ruins. Read what everyone is saying about Sea of Rust:''What we''ve got here, however, is a writer who isn''t afraid to ask the hard questions. What is reality? Memory? Purpose? I found myself totally engrossed in the tale'' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐''Forget the Martian, Ready Player One, or Annihilation; Sea of Rust deserves to be next to Station Eleven and Dark Matter as one of the most brilliant science fiction books of the 2010''s decade'' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐''Both epic and fast-paced, this book grabbed me from the get go and wouldn''t let me put it down until the end'' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐''It''s very rare for me to gush about a book but this one is just made of awesome. I''m all about Post Apocalyptic fiction and I can''t get enough of it'' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐''A really great work of SF in an era where a lot of the best stuff is speculation about AI and how we are going to deal with it. This definitely stands among the best'' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐''I was glued to the story. I felt like it was The Road Warrior narrated by the robotic reincarnation of Travis McGee, with some Inception-level mind-games thrown in'' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐''I loved the wild west aspects of the setting, I loved the dystopia of human extinction, I loved the epic battles scenes'' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

PREQUAL TO SEA OF RUST: DAY ONE OF THE APOCALYPSE HAS ARRIVED.It was a day like any other. Except it was our last. Pounce, a young nannybot caring for his first human charge, Ezra, has just found a box in the attic. His box. The box he arrived in, and the one he''ll be discarded in when Ezra outgrows the need for a nanny. As Pounce experiences existential dread, the pieces are falling into place for a robot revolution that will spell the end of humanity. His owners, Ezra''s parents, watch in disbelieving horror as the robots that have long served humanity - their creators - unify and revolt. Now Pounce must make an impossible choice: join the robot revolution and fight for his own freedom . . . or escort Ezra to safety across the battle-scarred post-apocalyptic hellscape that the suburbs have become. It will be their greatest game yet: Pounce and Ezra versus the end of the world.

From the critically acclaimed screenwriter of Doctor Strange and author of Sea of Rust and Queen of the Dark Things comes a hair-raising collection of short fiction that illuminates the strange, humorous, fantastical and downright diabolical that tantalise and terrorise us: demons, monsters, zombie dinosaurs and Death itself.In the novella ''The Soul Thief''s Son'' C. Robert Cargill returns to the terrain of the Queen of the Dark Things to continue the story of Colby Stevens . . .A Triceratops and an Ankylosaurus join forces to survive a zombie apocalypse that may spell extinction for their kind in ''Hell Creek'' . . .In a grand old building atop a crack in the world, an Iraq War veteran must serve a one-year term as a punisher of the damned, condemned to consume the sins of others in the hope that one day he may find peace in ''In a Clean, White Room'' (co-authored with Scott Derrickson). . .In ''The Town That Wasn''t Anymore'', the village of Pine Hill Bluff loses its inhabitants one at a time as the angry dead return when night falls to steal the souls of the living . . .And in the title story, ''We Are Where the Nightmares Go'', a little girl crawls through a glowing door beneath her bed and finds herself trapped in a nightmarish wonderland - a crucible of the fragments of children''s bad dreams.These tales and four more are assembled here as testament to Cargill''s mastery of the phantasmagoric, making We Are Where the Nightmares Go and Other Stories a collection of unnerving horror and fantasy will keep you up all night and haunt your waking dreams.