From Where We Threw Dogs by Stephen Mellor

Transcending the boundaries of history, culture, and traditional narration, From Where We Threw Dogs by Stephen Mellor is a visceral and haunting new novel about family, destiny, and the cycles of fate from which we can never escape.

Ben and Sara are celebrating their anniversary with a rambling journey across Spain, but his exhausting and disturbing dreams threaten to derail their perfect trip. In another corner of time and space, a patchwork tribe of bandits ruling over a gorge of the gods seeks to expand their kingdom, but may be torn asunder by division within their leaders. A ghost from that realm begins to haunt Ben’s waking world, teasing him with cryptic riddles as he trails the happy couple on their journey. As Ben’s past life as the ghost’s brother begins to resurface, it becomes clear that some deadly secrets refuse to stay hidden, and violent legacies are impossible to shed.

Gripping in its slow-burn storytelling, the prose drips with import and drama, as though a twist is always waiting around the turn of the page. The relationship between Ben and Sara is intimate and deeply human, perfectly capturing the tone and texture of early romance, while the more surreal and Gothic elements of the plot are executed with equal dexterity, revealing the shadowy side of obsession, competition, and honor. The mirrored details in the narratives of Infante, Ben, Jimi, Alej, and Sara are done subtly, acting as a kind of Easter egg that demands a close read.

Unforgettable and undeniably unique, Mellor delivers a brilliant slice of visionary fantasy in this dark but thought-provoking novel.