Shutter has the makings of a fantastic story that takes its character far beyond the tropes of a typical murder mystery protagonist, but by the climax, I only felt exhausted.
Author Archives: Elisabeth Ring
Now Live: Eye to the Telescope #49
Another fun Friday announcement: Issue #49 of the excellent speculative poetry mag Eye to the Telescope is live, and in it is my poem “Thirty-eight Years After.” This one started as a couple of lines jingling around like spare change, and I wasn’t sure what form they wanted to take. I tried fiction but soonContinue reading “Now Live: Eye to the Telescope #49”
‘Rose House’ Chilling in its Plausibility
This is not a horror novel, but its premise manages to be spine-tingling for the picture it paints—not bleak, exactly, but pragmatic to the point of irrationality, yet difficult to argue with.
Drabble in Martian Mag
Fun news today out of Martian magazine: my drabble “Who Needs Words When You’re In Love” was published today. Check it out, along with the rest of Martian’s excellent brief dips into fantastic lands!
‘The Facemaker’ Revives a Forgotten History
Reading The Facemaker also feels like an act of witnessing something that shouldn’t have ever been forgotten. We did this to ourselves, from the standpoint of humanity, and over a hundred years later, we haven’t stopped.
Plenty to Scare in this Haunted ‘Home’
The haunting in Just Like Home is twofold: there’s the thing that goes bump in the night, and then there are the memories that lurk in every corner.
‘Killers’ a Romp with a Razor-Sharp Edge
Killers of a Certain Age is a book about aging and killers and betrayal, but its heart is oddly wholesome and comforting. While I wouldn’t call this a cozy read, it’s one that makes me look at the people around me a little more positively—and at the objects around my house as so many potential murder weapons.
‘American Summer’ A Nuanced Portrayal of Trauma, Humanity
While An American Summer can be hard to read at times, it’s not hopeless. Nor are the people Kotlowitz writes about reduced to stereotypes. Rather, he has clearly taken the time to build the relationships that foster vulnerability.
‘Drowning’ A Classic Summer Read
If you distill the most quintessential parts of summer and turn it into ink, the book that ink would write would look a lot like Christine Lynn Herman’s latest novel, The Drowning Summer.
‘The Wager’ A Harrowing Survival Tale
In fairness, at this point, I’d read a takeout menu if David Grann wrote it. But his writing, and research, continue to be rich and compelling.
