Impossible Encounters

A nuanced mix of the ordinary with the surreal, the mundane with the sublime, this mosaic novel quietly twists trusted concepts. With simple yet fine prose, this story unfolds as a series of otherworldly meetings. After death, a man encounters not a light at the end of a long, dark tunnel, but a hall of portraits and, locked in a room, the most extraordinary artwork of all. Other colorful characters include a young man who finds himself atop a mountain, a bookseller that services the most ordinary of requests from a highly unusual patron, a banker who meets his maker on a train, a priest who receives absolution from the devil, and a dying author who finds hope in the most unlikely of conversations. Long before the last page, readers may find the world has been turned inside out.

Zoran Zivkovic is the author of The Book/The Author, The Fourth Circle, The Library, Seven Touches of Music, and Steps Through the Mist and the editor of the anthology Leviathan Three. He is the recipient of the 2003 World Fantasy Award, and his work has been published in 11 countries, produced for television, and optioned for film. He was named as a Guest of Honor for EuroCon 2007.