Five individuals from the same New England town, some acquainted and others not, all have the same remarkable dream one evening. Upon awakening, they realize they were once “mechanics,” a kind of celestial repairmen tasked with maintaining the universe's order and rectifying the disruptions caused by both conscious beings and the occasional, inevitably destructive Chaos. Being a mechanic is an arduous and draining profession. So after a certain amount of time, all mechanics’ memories are wiped clean and new identities are crafted for them to blend in with new environments. Dispatched to various corners of the cosmos, they live out their remaining days as ordinary civilians of different worlds. However, for the first time, ALL retired mechanics are now being summoned back to work because a new kind of hugely destructive Chaos is coming. One like nothing ever seen before.
Jonathan Carroll has published more than twenty novels including The Land of Laughs, The Wooden Sea, and Outside the Dog Museum, two story collections, and a collection of short nonfiction pieces, The Crow’s Dinner. His work has been translated into over thirty languages. He’s won a Pushcart Prize, World Fantasy award, British Fantasy award, French Fantasy award twice, and the Bram Stoker award. His novella Black Cocktail was dramatized in a one man show at the Edinburgh Festival. For many years he was a teacher at the American International School in Vienna while secretly writing his novels under the covers at night, lit only by hope and a dull flashlight. Carroll’s latest novel is Mr. Breakfast (2023).