Following on from her Aurealis and Australian Shadow Award-winning debut collection, Joanne Anderton’s Inanimates finds the terrifying in the everyday, bringing together seven stories where ordinary objects become the source of nightmares and extraordinary threat.

In Thread Embrace, a well-dressed killer finds himself at the mercy of an unexpectedly sartorial threat. Simulation Theory sees a wounded soldier bonds with the bomb disposal robot he worked with in the field. In the heartbreaking last story, High Density , the comfortable suburban ideal of a retired couple becomes a war against a dark and dangerous form of urban renewal.

In turns wicked, delightful, horrifying, and fantastic, Inanimates: Tales of Everyday Fear showcases a hidden gem of the Australian genre scene, and highlights Anderton’s ability to see the dark, supernatural threats inherent in ordinary things.