Perfect Circle

Published June 2004 by Small Beer Press
Published in the UK as Firecracker by Orion Publishing Co.


Perfect CircleAwards & Honors
  • Nominated for the Nebula Award
  • Shortlisted for the World Fantasy Award
  • A Book Sense Notable Book
  • Best of the Year: Booklist, Locus, San Francisco Chronicle
  • A Locus bestseller

About the novel, from Sean:

I have written a little 8-page comic as a companion piece for the novel. The very cool Steve Lieber (Road to Perdition, Whiteout) is doing the art, and Small Beer Press is now selling copies for $1 (it comes free when you buy a copy of the novel from them). You can see an online version of the comic on Small Beer Press’s site.

About the novel, from the Publishers:

Sean Stewart’s much-anticipated eighth novel is a dark, funny, fast-moving thriller that you won’t want to put down. Stewart was the lead author behind the innovative interactive web game known as “The Beast” (inspired by the film A.I.,) which became a break-out cult hit. He is the winner of the Arthur Ellis, Aurora, and World Fantasy awards, and the author of The New York Times Notable Books Mockingbird and Resurrection Man.

William “Dead” Kennedy has problems. He’s haunted by family, by dead people with unfinished business, and by those perfect pop songs that you can’t get out of your head. He’s a 32-year-old Texan still in love with his ex-wife. He just lost his job at Pet-Co for eating cat food. His air-conditioning is broken, there’s no good music on the radio, and he’s been dreaming about ghost roads.

When Will’s cousin (“My dad married your Aunt Dot’s half-sister”) calls in the middle of the night about a dead girl haunting his garage, it seems like an easy way to make a thousand dollars. But nothing is ever that simple, especially when family is involved. Will’s mother is planning a family reunion of epic proportions. Will’s ex-wife is married to a former Marine. His twelve-year-old daughter Megan thinks Will needs someone to look after him. And recently his dead relatives seem to want something from him.

Perfect Circle is a perfect read, exciting, unique, everything here but the Second Coming, but, Sean Stewart himself is the prize. What a talent. Write on, my man. Write on. — Joe Lansdale, Sunset and Sawdust

Needy Ghosts, bar fights, concealed weapons, R.E.M., and ramen noodles — Perfect Circle is an irreverent Texas treat. Sean Stewart is one bright, funny writer. — Stewart O’Nan, The Night Country

Will Kennedy has some troublesome relatives. Especially the dead ones. Perfect Circle is Sean Stewart at his spooky, funny, sad, and haunting best. — Karen Joy Fowler, The Jane Austen Book Club

Perfect Circle is a ghost story for grown-ups, frightening, funny, and finally redemptive. It kept me up way past my bedtime. — Harley Jane Kozak, Dating Dead Men

I read it all in one gulp, by turns fearful and joyful for Stewart’s likable loser protagonist. — Cory Doctorow, Eastern Standard Tribe

  • Extract of the first chapter of Perfect Circle (PDF)
  • Extract of the second chapter of Perfect Circle (PDF)
  • Buy a copy of Perfect Circle from Small Beer Press
  • Buy a copy of Perfect Circle as a Kindle book

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