'Stargazers': a moving horror novella about a father's love at the end of everything

TITLE: Stargazers
AUTHOR: L.P. Hernandez
GENRE: Horror
AGE RANGE: Adult
PAGES: 120pg
PUBLISHER: Cemetery Gates Media

Don’t read with the lights on…this is My Dark Library.

A collection of novellas curated by Sadie “Mother Horror” Hartmann to represent her favorite themes, tropes, and subgenres in horror fiction today.

Book One: STARGAZERS
It began with a forum post titled “My Neighbor Has Been Staring at the Moon for Hours.” Dismissed as a poor attempt at fiction, other accounts soon joined, describing family members and neighbors gazing open-mouthed at the stars throughout the night. As the sun rises, the Stargazers are changed. Some gather in groups, some destroy, and some kill.

The unfolding chaos is familiar for war veteran, now father, Henry Sylva. As the city crumbles from its center, he relies on old instincts to save his family. But the enemy is all around, Stargazers and human monsters alike.

As Henry battles for survival a dwindling online community documents civilization’s end. A new beginning, perhaps, for what is to come.

“Run if you want. Hide if you want.”
“They are coming.”

Stargazers centers on a small family’s attempts to seek safety during a bizarre mass societal breakdown in which people nicknamed “stargazers” suddenly become emotionless, seemingly automated entities with an unstoppable need to destroy. Alternating between narrative chapters and frantic reddit threads, we watch helplessly as Henry, a veteran with PTSD, does everything he can to keep his family out of harm’s way.

I went into this novella with no idea of what to expect, having never read anything by this author before, but I am so happy that it was put onto my radar because I could not put this book down. Every single page had me on the edge of my seat and I connected so easily and so tightly to these characters.

It was stunningly gorgeous, disturbing, and above all, full of heart and a father’s love. My Dark Library knocked it out of the park choosing this as the first release, and I’m so excited to read more from L.P. Hernandez ASAP. (In fact, I loved this book so much that I immediately went and bought a copy of his short story collection, The Rat King: A Horror Collection!)

Thank you to the publisher for the review copy! All thoughts are honest and my own.

content warnings →

WARNINGS:

violence, murder, sexual assault (brief), threats of sexual assault/pedophilia, child endangerment, child death & infanticide (brief), gun violence

representation →

Henry has PTSD