The Ethereal Transit Society - Out December 7th!
What happens when Heaven’s Gate mixes with Deliverance and Close Encounters of the Third Kind? You get The Ethereal Transit Society, a debut novella from writer Thomas Vaughn.
“Just as I do not fear the sunrise, I will not fear death, just as I do not fear the passing seasons, I will not fear the infirmity of my vehicle, for my body is a transient container, and my awareness will live forever as cosmic energy.”
A year ago a cult was found dead in Malibu. ET was what they went by and what they believed in was that their bodies - their “vehicles” - could speak to the “Transit Light” guided by their leader; Quint. The Transit Light would come down to earth one day, destroying everyone except for those in the ET who would transcend into the stars. But one of the members, Simon, got cold feet at the last moment and put a bullet through his head. It didn’t kill him though, only maim him completely. Quint sent two of his followers after Simon; Xi and Danielle. While the three were gone, the group attempted to transcend.
Now a year later, the three surviving members have felt the call of the Transit Light again and have set out to find Quint’s body and finish what the cult started.
“That’s the way faith is. It’s not up to the believers to prove their reality, but the skeptics to disprove it.”
Premise:
This was such a joy and honour to read. Maybe ‘joy’ isn’t the word you’d think to use when talking about a sci-fi fantasy horror hybrid, but it was really a joy. Vaughn has such a beautiful way of creating and writing characters that brings them to life very quickly on the page. While this book only runs 131 pages, he’s created a fully completed story alongside fully developed characters that somehow still manage to grow realistically.
Despite the heavy material, the story feels filled with hope and positivity. With everything riding against this team of three cult members they still continue to lift each other up and push for their future.
There’s definitely a sci-fi element here with the Transit Light coming to fruition and the talk of implants and other beings. The horror element comes into play softly at first with a few graphic depictions of dead bodies and a small town filled with “hick types”. But it quickly ramps up at the end as we read the fate of the three characters and the world itself. As the back of the book states; not all doomsday cults are wrong about the end of the world…
I LOVE a cult story as most of you readers know, but this felt more like something special than your typical bad guy cult. The ET are not bad guys, they’re not out there sacrificing people, preaching doom, brainwashing people. The ET are out there letting people know that your “vehicle” is meant to feel pain, meant to feel happiness, meant to FEEL and that’s okay. As Xi shares, “I just looked around at our species and figured we could do better. We’re a rather sad lot, you know. There must be a level above human.”
Vaughn has done such a unique job of taking the typical cult we see in pop culture and moulding and shaping it to fit this great narrative. And honestly, we’re dealing with an expert here. Vaughn is a college professor who focuses on apocalyptic rhetoric and doomsday cults. He knows his shit.
“We are neither saints nor sinners. We are simply the orphaned apostles of the oncoming light.”
Book mood board - images found on weheartit
Overall:
This is a really unique story that may sound morbid at first but is actually a strangely uplifting tale that will leave you with a soft smile on your face as the world burns around you.
Thank you so much to Bad Dream Entertainment for sending me a copy in return for an honest review. The Ethereal Transit Society releases on December 7th and is available HERE.
Check out Thomas Vaughn HERE.
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