Songs of the Dead

A serial killer stalks the streets of Spokane, acting out a misogynist script from the dark heart of this culture. Across town, a writer named Derrick has spent his life tracking the reasons—political, psychological, spiritual—for the sadism of modern civilization. And through the grim nights, Nika, a trafficked woman, tries to survive the grinding violence of prostitution. Their lives, and the forces propelling them, are about to collide. And what hangs in the balance is the fate of life on earth. With Songs of the Dead, Derrick Jensen has written more than a thriller. This is a story lush with rage and tenderness on its way to being a weapon.

Contents and Excerpts

• The Cannibal Sickness
• Possession
• Places We Do Not See
• The Director (p 12)
• Car Accident (p 14)
• Power
• The Muse
• Intertwinings (p 40)
• Wétikos
• Beauty
• Enemy Territory
• Nika Almost Never Remains On the Table (p 74)
• Falling Through Time
• The Problem is God
• Who’s in Charge?
• Necrophilia
• Parasites (p 115)
• And Then I Read… (p 118)
• Confusion
• Latah Creek (p 132)
• I Don’t Understand (p 136)
• Thunder
• Nika Is Dreaming (p 146)
• Luck (p 148)
• Miracles
• Ancestors (p 164)
• Colleen
• Dreaming About Boundaries (p 178)
• More Miracles
• The Land
• Do Not Fear Life or Death (p 204)
• To Be a Forest
• Hell
• Dr. Kline
• Demons
• On the Run
• Deathwatch
• Others Mourn Their Losses (p 273)
• Power, Again
• The Voice of God
• Stauffenberg’s Ring

Reviews

August 2009, by Fred Goodsell