Objects of Worship

by Claude Lalumière

Twelve strange, eerie, sensual stories by a bold new voice in weird fiction. Capricious gods rule a world of women. Zombies breed human cattle. The son of a superhero must decide between his heritage and his religion. Young lovers worship a primordial spider god. The apocalyptic rebirth of the god of the elephants. Monstrous chimeras roam through a devastated future Earth. A retired fisherman caught in the middle of a conflict between gods and superheroes. Teenagers struggle to survive a surreal ice age . . .

This volume also contains interior illustrations by Rupert Bottenberg (Claude's Lost Myths collaborator) with an introduction by World Fantasy Award-winning author James Morrow and an afterword by the author.

Reviews - What's Being Said About Claude Lalumière

Claude Lalumière's Objects of Worship, should, in my opinion, get the Hugo for 2010 Best Collection.
– Anna Tambour, Medlar Comfits
Lalumière's astounding imagination has birthed entire worlds for each story, and you never know just where his journeys will end . . . If you're hungry for original genre content, Objects of Worship is just the nectar you've been praying for.
– Dave Alexander, Rue Morgue (December 2009)
Twelve superb and sometimes quite disturbing stories later and I have to say that ChiZine delivered another winner and Mr. Lalumiere is a name to be watched in the sff space.
– Fantasy Book Critic
(T)akes us on a journey of the weird . . . bringing forth the inner workings of characters that are rarely seen on paper, we find a highly skilled writer at work . . . a most engrossing and disturbing collection. I was deliciously disgusted and perturbed, the religious and philosophical receptors of my mind finally tickled by something more then the mass market flood.
– The Novel Blog
(An) extremely enjoyable and thought-provoking first short story collection . . . I was reminded of some of the better Twilight Zone and Outer Limits offerings, with the emphasis on human interaction (even if those "humans" are gay zombies) rather than futuristic gadgets or the ever-popular trips through cyberspace . . . Lalumière has an assured, easy-going writing style that fits in very well with his outlandish imagination. This helps to make even the craziest notions seem as if they’re the most natural thing in the world.
– Michael Mirolla, The Rover
(T)he uninitiated reader may be caught off guard by the visceral subject matter . . . fun and disgusting.
– Vanessa Bonneau, Montreal Review of Books
Precision-crafted stories of oddball characters and their yearnings . . . The theme of power and responsibility is strongly felt throughout the collection . . . Like everyone, Lalumière's characters hunger, but hunger can take many forms here, from sex or physical comfort to justice, mystic control, or tasty brains. I wouldn't want to live in Lalumière's world, but it's an interesting place to visit.
– Charlene Brusso, Brutarian Magazine
Highly enjoyable, ranging from humorous allegories to exciting yarns, with the odd detour into strange erotica.
– Malcom Fraser, Montreal Mirror
Lalumière’s trick is to make the fantastic appear mundane and then to amplify what one may consider mundane to fantastical proportions.
– R. Brian Hastie, The Link
The strange is matter-of-factly mundane . . . (I)ntensely memorable.
– Publishers Weekly (9/21/2009)
Claude Lalumière's stories are dark, mordant, precisely formed. His first collection is extraordinarily accomplished in its craft and subversive intent.
– Lucius Shepard
These stories are terrifically creepy. And not unlike Edgar Allan Poe or Potted Meat Product, they gave me the willies.
– Christopher Moore
Claude Lalumière has a poet's sensibility. He suggests; never overstates. This finely crafted, stylishly dark collection is a vitrine of objets and curios, a specimen cabinet of elegant bizarrerie. I recommend it to all connoisseurs of lyricism and things passing strange.
– Richard Calder
You hear about kids locked away in attics, their only toys broken clothespins, a few pipe cleaners, a spool of yarn. Yet with these toys, they manage to concoct imaginary worlds of great wonder and beauty. Claude must have grown up in an attic because he writes like one of those kids.
– Neil Smith
Claude Lalumière's extravagant imagination is matched by only two other qualities: his compassion for his characters, and his sparkling facility with language. His stories resound with the clash of ideas, the music of hearts and the howls of indignation that any sensitive creator emits when confronted with a universe less esthetically pleasing and fair-minded than the ones he daily strives to create.
– Paul Di Filippo
In these stories, life still aches after death, spirits leave the flesh and return, and the only people comfortable with their bodies are rotting zombies. Disturbing and funny, sexy and psychedelic, this collection marks the debut of a highly original voice in fantastic fiction. Read it for the thrill of getting lost, or the pleasure of letting an author lead you into undiscovered places.
– Jan Lars Jensen
Claude Lalumière's stories are delicious.
– Anna Tambour
It is, literally, sensuous. Overall, then, there’s a sensibility here unlike any others I can think of.
– Matthew David Surridge, Hochelaga Depicta