Already well established in the fantasy world, Bradley P. Beaulieu – writing here as Brendan P. Bellecourt – turns his attention to science fiction with Abysnthe, a wonderfully imaginative novel which blends art deco stylings with retrofuturistic technology and mind bending illusions. Liam Mulcahey remembers little of his time in the Great War, his memories fractured due to a head wound sustained during the fighting, and now years later he works as a mechanic for the wealthy family of his closest friend. When he joins Morgan and his socialite friends at a Chicago speakeasy he meets the beguiling, mysterious Grace, and partakes of the hallucination-inducing spirit absynthe. The visions Liam sees under the liquor’s influence leave him unsettled, but it soon becomes clear that they were much more than simple flights of fancy, as he finds himself caught up in secrets and conspiracies even as his jumbled memories begin to come clear.
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