We are all, in some way, either buried or drowned. Eleven stories that plunge into the dark spaces where ancient power meets human ambition—and where terrible choices must be made.
In the stark landscape of Iceland's Snæfellsnes peninsula, a pastor seeks silence in the Black Church but finds something ancient stirring beneath the glacier. In the waters off New Zealand, a burned-out executive discovers the seductive pull of the deep—and the peace that lies in never surfacing. Beneath Bristol Zoo's Victorian foundations, secrets unearthed force a daughter to confront her father's dark legacy.
These stories span more than a decade of J.F. Penn's writing life, each rooted in places that left their mark and questions she still struggles to answer. From childhood memories of Bristol Zoo to scuba diving at the Poor Knights Islands, from a fiftieth birthday trip to Iceland to standing before Seahenge's ancient timbers in the British Museum, these tales emerge from the author's own confrontations with deep time, dark places, and the thin veil between worlds.
Perfect for Readers Who Love:
- Neil Gaiman's atmospheric urban fantasy (American Gods, The Ocean at the End of the Lane)
- Archaeological horror like The Ruins by Scott Smith
- British dark fiction and Gothic sensibilities
- Short story collections that explore mythology and ancient power
- Stories where setting becomes a character—from Norfolk's fenlands to Icelandic lava fields
- Thrillers and horror with intellectual depth and historical authenticity
- Tales of crisis and transformation at the edge of the world
What's Inside:
This collection includes eleven stories of varying lengths, each a complete dark journey:
- The Black Church – Iceland's glacier holds secrets best left buried
- Between Two Breaths – The call of the void beneath Pacific waters
- Beneath the Zoo – Victorian foundations hide more than bones
- Soldiers of God – A standalone ARKANE thriller of religious extremism
- Blood, Sweat, and Flame – Choices made in the heat of a glass furnace
- Sins of Treachery – Betrayal's long shadow
- The Dark Queen – Ancient power awakening
- A Midwinter Sacrifice – Bath's Christmas market and the goddess Sulis
- De-Extinction of the Nephilim – When science resurrects what should stay buried
- With A Demon's Eye – A war photographer's terrible gift
- Seahenge – Norfolk's Bronze Age timber circle and what it protected
Series & Author Context:
While some stories connect to the ARKANE thriller universe (*Soldiers of God* features ARKANE agents), most are standalone dark tales. Readers of J.F. Penn's longer works will recognize her fascination with archaeology, ancient sites, and the tension between scientific rationality and the inexplicable.
Themes & Atmosphere:
These stories explore liminal spaces—between land and sea, past and present, the sacred and the profane. They ask what happens when we disturb what has been preserved: in peat bogs and salt marshes, beneath glaciers and zoo foundations, in the depths of ocean trenches and human memory.
Atmospheric, literary dark fiction that blends archaeological thriller elements with Gothic horror, mythological depth, and philosophical questions about faith, science, and what we're willing to sacrifice.
Story Details:
- Genre:Dark fiction, horror, archaeological thriller, Gothic, short story collection
- Total Stories: 11 complete tales
- Length: Approximately 70,000 words / 260+ pages
- Reading time: 6-8 hours total (stories range from 20-minute reads to 90-minute novellas)
- Mood: Atmospheric, unsettling, intellectually engaging, darkly beautiful
- Settings: Iceland, England (Bath, Bristol, Norfolk, Oxford, Paris), New Zealand, Middle East
- Content note: Dark themes, some horror elements, archaeological and mythological content. Not for young readers.
From the Author:
"I've always been drawn to the darker corners of human experience, perhaps because they reveal the most truth about who we really are. In these liminal spaces, between land and sea, past and present, the sacred and the profane, we discover what we're truly capable of."