Patrick Barb – författare

In this new collection, Patrick Barb explores themes of family found and lost, media consumption and the dangers of runaway nostalgia, the supernatural in our lives, and the impact of violence in both the long- and short-term.

From rural backwoods to Park Slope brownstones, Barb''s characters face impossible, awful situations, testing their inner strength and understanding of reality. Covering quiet horror, weird fiction, supernatural horror, slasher horror, topical dark fiction, and more, these stories spotlight supposedly familiar terrors and fears in new and unexpected ways.

Ted Hideman is a family man and a renowned tech start up guru.

He''s also the notorious impossible-to-track online troll JK-LOL.

When his online persona spills over into the real world, attacking those he''s virtually harassed and leaving a trail of bodies from California to Mississippi, the disgraced Silicon Valley wünderkind must abandon the protective anonymity of the online sphere and desperately search for answers in the real world.

As the authorities close in on him, and with the unlikely allyship of a cybercrimes-focused federal agent who''s been trying to nail JK-LOL for years, Ted is brought face-to-face with the living embodiments of his vile, hateful speech. Following in the tradition of Black Mirror and Barb''s sci-fi/horror novelette Helicopter Parenting in the Age of Drone Warfare, JK-LOL highlights the dark side of tech and how terrifying connectivity can truly be.