Title: Black Moon (audiobook)

Author: Kenneth Calhoun
Narrator; Neil Shah
Publisher: 2014 Dreamscape Media
Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopian, Apocalyptic

When the world becomes sleepless and insane, it falls to one man to dream for all.

Biggs is a man who is surrounded by the chaos and fractured despair of a world filled with humanity wracked by insomnia. He is the only human left that can sleep and dream naturally, a condition that inspires homicidal rage in the sleepless people he encounters. When his beloved wife disappears into the crumbling desperate world, he sets out to save her and finds that he is the one that can save humanity.

The story of Biggs is told alongside that of several interesting characters, each lost in the frantic shape of their own decline. These characters and their human frailty stand out in haunting relief occasionally, especially through captured moments such as Lila’s reason for hiding inside the owl mascot head, Chase and his conflicted relationship with a cooler full of drugs and a truckload of rescued sheep, and Felicia’s end to her tragic journey.

The first half of this book was compelling, but it became more and more obscure as it progressed. The cohesion that made the premise plausible begins to break down as the reader is forced to experience more messianic complexities and psychedelic wandering than purposeful storytelling. I did finish it, and thoroughly enjoyed the parts that I found enjoyable.

All in all this title was entertaining and well written, though slippery at times, bordering on obtuse. I would not recommend it to introduce a reader to the science fiction genre.