Showing The Dog of the World by S. E. Karsnick

"It was in the year of the dog when suicide topped cancer as the nationwide leading casualty. It came from the back of the pack, it was a dark horse in a season of stars and it looked like it might be a photo-finish and finish it did many of the lives left floating in the wake of big endings. Economic endings, lifestyle endings, environmental endings and perhaps the thing was catching and it was this magnet of multiple endings, that was responsible for pulling people and old world institutions into their own endgame."

What if the end of the world doesn't come from world war, plague, famine or the cataclysmic cacophony of a natural disaster, but instead . . . comes quietly, slowly, as one by one, the people of the earth begin to commit suicide? This novel looks at the incredible complexity of kind humans being in a world that is a puzzle . . . and only through utilizing the qualities of patience, love and mercy are we able to put the pieces together, to gasp in awe at the largest picture.

This is the story of a woman who wants to live in the world and a man who wants to leave it. As Esther and Jason story's intertwine, their tales wag the dog and turn self created endings into beginning yet again and again and . . .

Each page of this exceptionally unusual, experimental work brings a fresh discovery of ordinary words in extraordinary play as we pay attention, as we work to understand the cause of widespread contemporary depression.

This word revolution, this sparkling, loving solution cleans a space in the soul long enough to peek at something true, to poke a dozing body from sleep walking into waking up.

To release denied emotion.

To move from the diamond mind to the golden heart.

"'The Dog of the World' is a unique concept masterfully executed."
Five star recommendation to Amazon.
Midwest Book Review 2009

"Filled with sorrowfulness, nuances and pathos as well as tranquility, elation and anticipation; The Dog of The World carries the reader along on a tentative journey teetering on the brink of disconcert. The writer assures us that this is a work of fiction, however, for many for whom depression is a near overpowering force; the work may seem as a page from their own perceptive."

The Compulsive Reader 2009

First Runner-up 2010 International Book Award for Visionary Fiction
Finalist for 2009 USA Book Award for Visionary Fiction.