The Red Carnival

The Jim Dandy Traveling Amusement Fair is a small carnival on the road. The carnies—a family of oddballs, grifters, students, and a retired grandmother—are making their way in the world, but just barely. Their latest encampment may be haunted… or it may just be dirty local politics. But one thing is certain: the carnival will never be the same. Demonic possession, earthly threats, and a guardian dragon spirit will combine to make The Red Carnival one the locals—and the reader—will never forget. Reviews: "At times dark and unsettling, Casper's novel holds the same wonderful prose and love of the uncanny as her published short fiction." —Library Journal "I love Casper's style. It is truly gritty, edgy, compelling, dark and emotional. In this case, there is a stark and sinister force at this carny in the town of Somerset that makes all the festival lights turn red. There is a ride that appears out of nowhere, not attested to by the carny operators, called 'Golgotha, Place of Skulls,' and there comes a frenzy of violence by the carnygo'ers and carny staff. There is an impulsivity to this narrative that is disturbing, yet almost amusing." —True Review "Susan wrote this book with the kind of enthusiasm and love that every writer wants to have for their own work. I kept waiting for her to sell it—she never did. I wish she had because it deserved to be read. I'm so glad it's getting an audience now. I wish I could hug Susan and tell her what a great book she wrote and what a fine, gifted, and beautiful writer she is." —Pat Cadigan "Take it from a guy who wrote a four-book series about a carnival, Susan Casper knew her stuff. The Red Carnival is a remarkable blend of power and sensitivity." —Mike Resnick "The Red Carnival is so intensely atmospheric that you look up from the book expecting to see the bozo, the ten-in-one, the hootchy kootchy tent. Susan Casper's harrowing novel explores the most terrifying of all ideas: that not only can any one of us be tortured by evil, any one of us can become it. Casper understands not only how fragile human beings are, but how strong. And you will never again look at a carnival the same way." —Nancy Kress "The Red Carnival continues a great American literary tradition, dark fantasy novels about wandering carnivals. Casper's novel belongs on the same shelf as Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes and Charles G. Finney's The Circus of Dr. Lao." —Allen M. Steele "Susan Casper was a damn good short story writer. And lucky for us, in addition to the recent publication of her collected short fiction, we now have The Red Carnival, a previously unpublished dark fantasy novel from her fine creative mind." —Ellen Datlow