You open your eyes for what you know is not the first time and you remember nothing. You find out that a catastrophic event known as the Kollaps has destroyed life as we know it. Someone claiming to be your friend tells you that you're needed. Something crucial has been stolen--but under no circumstances can you know what or why. You've got to get it back or something bad is going to happen. And you've got to get it back fast, so they can freeze you again before your own time runs out. Paralyzed from the waist down, you're being carried around on the backs of two men who don't seem anything like you at all. They inject you regularly and tell you it's for your own good, to stop the disease, or else they must cut directly into your spine. Welcome to the life of Josef Horkai. Critically acclaimed author and winner of the O. Henry Prize, Brian Evenson turns his literary eye to a post-apocalyptic earth in this dazzling science fiction novel.