Where Black Stars Rise

By Nadia Shammas & Marie Enger | Paperback

"Where Black Stars Rise boldly pushes the limits of what a comic can do. ...It's a gorgeous work. I loved it." --Trung Le Nguyen, author of The Magic Fish

Nadia Shammas and Marie Enger's Where Black Stars Rise is an eldritch horror graphic novel that explores mental illness and diaspora, set in modern-day Brooklyn.

Dr. Amal Robardin, a Lebanese immigrant and a therapist in training, finds herself out of her depth when her first client, Yasmin, a schizophrenic, is visited by a nightly malevolent presence that seems all too real. Yasmin becomes obsessed with Robert Chambers' classic horror story collection The King in Yellow. Messages she finds in the book lead Yasmin to disappear, seeking answers she can't find in therapy. Amal attempts to retrace her patient's last steps--and accidentally slips through dimensions, ending up in Carcosa, realm of the King in Yellow. Determined to find her way out, Amal enlists the help of a mysterious guide. Can Amal save Yasmin? Or are they both trapped forever?

"Strange is the night where black stars rise, and strange moons circle through the skies. But stranger still is lost Carcosa..." --From The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers

About the Author

NADIA SHAMMAS is a Palestinian-American writer from Brooklyn, NY. She's best known for being the co-creator of Squire with Sara Alfageeh, as well as being the creator of CORPUS: A Comic Anthology of Bodily Ailments. Her work often focuses on identity, memory, and decolonizing genre tropes. When she's not writing, she's trying to perfect her cold brew recipe and win the love of her cats, Lilith and Dash. MARIE ENGER is a St. Louis-based creator who spends a lot of time listening to loud music in the dark and creating weird stuff. In addition to reading Where Black Stars Rise, you can play their dark occult western TTRPG, Casket Land, read their bootleg-of-a-bootleg, Nosferatu!, or get in the eldritch zone with their super-sad comic, The Bones of This Place.