Books in series
#1
Fire & Rain
2019
John F.D. Taff's highly-anticipated epic supernatural thriller, The Fearing, begins with Book One: Fire & Rain where humanity faces a series of catastrophes spawned by a worldwide event that unleashes all of mankind's greatest fears.
In the American high desert, vacationers returning from a road trip are thrust into a heart-stopping flight from death as they try to avoid a cataclysmic end. In rural Missouri, the lives of a group of high school students are destroyed after their small town is devastated and they're forced to confront the end of everything they've ever known.
And on the eastern seaboard, there's someone else. An enigmatic man who thrives on despair and embraces all fear. A man with his own dark and sinister goals. Someone who wants to ensure humanity goes out with the biggest bang possible.
#2
Water and Wind
2018
John F.D. Taff's epic apocalypse of terror, The Fearing, continues in Book Two: Water & Wind when a group of battle-worn seniors pick up the pieces of their ravaged lives and grapple with survival after the end of the world. And for the first time, they begin to notice an ominous pattern in the deluge of fears now roaming the earth.
Teenagers Kyle, Sarah and Carli sift through the devastation of their lost lives to find anything resembling hope for a future. But when Carli goes missing, the stakes get higher as the search for her takes a diabolical turn.
And the enigmatic Adam retains his tight-fisted grip on his submissive minion Jelnik as a series of unspeakable horrors follow in their wake as the two men travel west toward their dark destiny.
Proudly presented by Grey Matter Press, the multiple Bram Stoker Award-nominated independent publisher.
Grey Matter Press: Where Dark Thoughts Thrive.
#3
Air & Dust
2019
John F.D. Taff's apocalyptic novel, The Fearing, continues in Book Three: Air & Dust as Adam and Jelnik make their way to a prophetic meeting and a mysterious darkness is creeping inward from the horizon, further threatening the lives of all who remain.
Amid the devastation of his Georgia church, a Baptist minister comforts an orphaned girl suffering from amnesia. All she knows is her name. Together they confront the darkest of fears as they make their way to a gathering point for the remnants of society.
After a disastrous night of attacks at an abandoned airfield, a group of survivors plans its exodus. But their hopes are dashed when an autocratic leader arrives to seize control. Fears are one thing, but could this man represent something far worse?
Proudly presented by Grey Matter Press, the multiple Bram Stoker Award-nominated independent publisher.
Grey Matter Press: Where Dark Thoughts Thrive.
#4
Earth & Ember
2019
John F.D. Taff's supernatural epic, The Fearing, concludes in Book Four: Earth & Ember as maniacal leader Tim Jacoby solidifies his militaristic control over his followers by choosing who will live and who will die.
With a new destination in sight, survivors fleeing the encroaching darkness that's devouring everything in its path arrive at Graceland to re-establish society. But it could also change it forever.
And as humanity's extinction appears on the horizon, Adam and Jelnik contemplate their mysterious roles in the end of all things. Under a silver arch, they confront all that remains of humanity and, together, gather to face what waits within the darkness.
Everything ends here.
Proudly presented by Grey Matter Press, the multiple Bram Stoker Award-nominated independent publisher.
Grey Matter Press: Where Dark Thoughts Thrive
#5
Blood & Brimstone
2020
Imagine that within the vast collective unconscious there is a receptacle, a bowl that holds all of the fears that humanity has accumulated over the centuries. Every single thing a human has ever been afraid of. All collected, drip by drip through millennia.
Imagine that this bowl has filled, that it must empty so it can reset itself. Now imagine that all fears, everything from the most commonly shared fears to the most deeply personal are released onto the earth, all at the same time. The chaos, the apocalypse caused by this is The Fearing.
The Fearing: Blood & Brimstone takes place firmly in the timeline of the complete novel. It tells the story of Timothy Jacoby and Tam Washington, two of the novel’s primary antagonists, who show up in Books Three and Four. It expands and deepens their stories, and the novel as a whole.
This book will be available in hardcover, softcover and digital through a Kickstarter campaign beginning Sept. 15 via Saturday Morning Scenarios. Books will ship before Thanksgiving.
#1-4
The Fearing
2021
Multiple Bram Stoker Award-nominated author John F.D. Taff’s sprawling, apocalyptic epic The Fearing was called "the event of the year" when it was originally released as four standalone novellas: Fire & Rain, Water & Wind, Air & Dust, and Earth & Ember. Now, here for the first time, all four parts have finally come together with an altered timeline in this collected edition of The Fearing.
A series of cataclysmic events are felt around the globe, and throughout the United States the last vestiges of society band together in rag-tag groups to face off against the ghastly horrors of their shattered world.
Opposing them is the enigmatic Adam Sigil—a man seemingly able to inflict others with his own darkest fears—and his equally mysterious companion Jelnik. As the world slips into darkness, the survivors of the onslaught struggle with the new normal of their now-dystopian lives amidst ongoing skirmishes with mankind's nightmares. With devastation and atrocities continuing to escalate, and hysteria threatening to rip their tenuous society apart, they find themselves on a collision course with this malevolent duo, headed toward a terrifying showdown that could ultimately signal the end of humanity.
Includes a special introduction from a Grand Master of Horror, the esteemed Ray Garton, author of Ravenous, Live Girls and many more novels.
Author
John F.D. Taff
Author · 14 books
John F.D. Taff is a multi-Bram Stoker Award short-listed dark fiction author with more than 30 years experience, and more than 100 short stories and seven novels in print. He has appeared in Cemetery Dance, Eldritch Tales, Unnerving, Deathrealm, Big Pulp and One Buck Horror, as well as anthologies such as Hot Blood: Seeds of Fear, Hot Blood: Fear the Fever, Shock Rock II, Lullabies for Suffering, Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories, Behold!, Shadows Over Main Street 2, Horror Library V, Best of Horror Library, Dark Visions Vol. 1, Ominous Realities, Death's Realm, I Can Taste the Blood and Savage Beasts. His work will appear soon in The Seven Deadliest and I Can Hear the Shadows. His novels include The Bell Witch, Kill-Off and the serialized apocalyptic epic The Fearing. Thunderstorm Books and Grey Matter Press will release a one-volume version of The Fearing in 2021, in limited edition hardcover, soft cover and digital. Short fiction collections include Little Deaths: The Definitive Collection and Little Black Spots, both published by Grey Matter Press. Taff's novella collection, The End in All Beginnings, was called one of the best novella collections by Jack Ketchum and was a Stoker Award Finalist. His short "A Winter's Tale" was also a Stoker Finalist. His upcoming anthology Dark Stars, a tribute to that seminal '80s work Dark Forces, will be published by Tor/Nightfire 11/2/21. His website is at johnfdtaff.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnfdtaff.
