Horror, then, is the permission to speculate beyond our own limitations as a species, including the inherent failure of communication, and to truly understand the concept of being without thought.

This slim volume is a speculative realist take on the abject and what is described as a horror reality. Peak asserts that humans are cursed with faulty communication and yet possess the ability to imagine a reality beyond the present, including what is described as a world-without-is. This pondering of limitations, unfriendly infinity and an erosion of sense-making is a fertile ground for the horror genre. A shorthand would reveal a twinning of Heidegger and Lovecraft.

Peak cites dozens of literary and cinematic examples to further this point. He does appear somewhat reluctant on theoretical matters, sticking to Nietzsche and Schopenhauer with contemporary points made by Kristeva, Graham Harman and Quentin Meillassoux.

This is an intriguing premise, one which I look forward to exploring. ( )