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.

It’s Monday – August 8

So, we’ve had to move out of our house for a couple of weeks while some work is done. It’s been fairly stressful, to say the least, and my reading has been sporadic. We are so lucky to have wonderful friends who are letting us (and a dog and cat) stay with them and we…

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…