The Rim of Morning: Two Cosmic Tales, by William Sloane.

This book consists of two novels, To Walk the Night and The Edge of Running Water. They appear to be the only two things Sloan wrote. Both are terrific. They were written the 1930’s. Much like Lovecraft stories, but without all of his overwriting. They are also genre-defying: part science fiction, part horror, part gothic.

In To Walk the Night, two college alums go back to their Alma Mater to visit a cherished astronomy professor. They come upon his body, consumed by fire, in his laboratory. They are eventually led by his wife to the deserts of Arizona where she reveals a secret he discovered that could change mankind forever.

The Edge of Running Water is about an electrophysicist who moves to a remote town in Maine to conduct experiments, experiments he believes will allow him to communicate with his dead wife, but which instead lead to uncovering a force that could destroy the world.

I think both novels work exceptionally well precisely *because* genre bounds are ignored. The tension in both becomes overwhelming. Highly recommended!

It’s too bad these are Sloane’s only works. He went on to become the editor of Rutger University Press, a position he held for nearly twenty years.