I have ambitions this year to tackle some more challenging literary works, but right now I'm sicker than a thing that is very sick indeed and fancy a bit of this post-collapse cyberpunk horror sci-fi western. The last published in the Dark Future series, it's also a prequel, as Elder Seth leads his Josephite flock through the vast, nearly abandoned US desert, to Salt Lake City. It's a bloody trail, and that's how Seth likes it, all part of the ritual to bring forth the dark Lovevraftian gods he serves. It's nasty and satirical and violent and somehow sets the right mood for this dog-day New Year. ( )