New from Anxiety Press: The Garden

Anxiety Press is pleased to announce the release of The Garden by Aidan Scott

Synopsis

Across the desolate landscape of the American south in the year 1847, against the backdrop of the Mexican-American War, The Garden unfolds its sombre narrative. Here where the hearts of men are as unyielding as the terrain, two restless souls embark upon a pilgrimage seeking desperately a home or flicker of hope.

Yet a darker shadow looms over their journey. They are pursued relentlessly by an enigmatic adversary and his acolytes, an alchemic and malevolent force consumed by a twisted vision of remaking the world, leaving behind only ashes and a trail drenched in the crimson echoes of his relentless ambitions. As they navigate this unforgiving landscape the world teeters on the precipice of a profound occult metamorphosis where the seeds of fascism may also be seen to take root beneath the banner of manifest destiny.

In the bleak and disquieting prose of his debut novel Aidan Scott weaves a haunting tale of survival, morality and the eerie birth of an unsettling future where the land itself will bear witness to the horrors of humanity’s inexorable pursuit of power and a destiny shrouded in enigma and dread.

Blurbs

“The Garden is an apocalyptic vision of biblical proportions, steeped in the rich imagery of a distantly familiar world like a hospice patient’s fever dream. Not since Cormac McCarthy or William Faulkner have I read prose so searing, so hypnotic in its overwhelming display of talent. Aidan Scott has written nothing less than a modern masterpiece.”

— Jack Moody, author of The Monotony of Everlasting and Crooked Smile

"In The Garden, Scott slits the underbelly of Antebellum America, opening manifest destiny to the red. Rather than tracing words in spilled blood, the ink is the brine of diseased spirit. An inspired, intelligent work, and a haunting odyssey."

— Coy Hall, author of The Promise of Plague Wolves and A Séance for Wicked King Death

“The Garden by Aidan Scott is a syllabus of exquisite language, scenarios, and poetic discourse that takes place in the old-west. Each sentence is exquisitely written, composed of portmanteaus and authentic vernacular, creating a period-accurate narrative. Every once in a while a post-apocalyptic western novel— like those written by Cormac McCarthy and James Carlos Blake— appears to legitimize the western genre. This is one of those books. Fans of apocalyptic westerns are in for a second coming.”

— Manny Torres, author of Dead Dogs, Father Was a Rat King, Perras Malas, and Cabrones Perros

About the Author

Aidan Scott is a 24-year-old author from Canberra, Australia, who lives with their cat. They write historical fiction examining folklore, mythology, the occult, and dreams. They can be reached @_art.in.focus on Instagram. The Garden is their first novel. They are currently working on their second.