TOP TEN TUESDAY: Short and sweet

Short stories and novellas can get lost in the shadow of epic novels and great works of biography, but the compact storytelling form can pack a wallop. Aside from my standbys Poe, Maupassant and Conan Doyle, these are some of my favorite stories and novellas.

ARMCHAIR BEA: Literature & Literary Fiction

With such a broad category it is difficult to know where to begin… Lately I have been really connecting with books that put a twist on the the typical storytelling model.  These books alter the framework and force us to experience story in a different way. Gillespie & I — by Jane Harris A fascinating and…

REVIEW: YOUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE, YOUR CHILDREN ALL GONE by Stefan Kiesbye

This book nearly defies description, but here goes. The novel is a spider web of small tales, each with an allegorical twist.  Somewhere vaguely Germanic, or possibly in eastern European, is the small town of Hemmersmoor.  These people live a simple, happy life.  There are still stores on the main street – bakeries, hardware stores…

GIVEAWAY: YOUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE, YOUR CHILDREN ALL GONE

Just in time for Halloween, the kind folks at Penguin have sent me a giveaway copy of the new creepy book by Stefan Kiesbye, author of Next Door Lived A Girl. Here is what others are saying: “Creepy in a way that actually made me quite nervous.” —Ben Loory, author of Stories for Nighttime and Some for…