posted                   

quote:

---

Rick Manchester is the regret-filled protagonist of Scott M. Roberts’s story, “Eviction Notice.” He sees himself as a failed soldier, husband, and father. Facing eviction from the home which holds many powerful memories for him, Rick must confront his inner demons to save himself and the soul of his dead son, Tommy.

Roberts delivers lean, visceral prose full of memorable images: the demon who feeds off misery, Quincy Umble, symbolically castrates Rick by cutting off his beard with a combat knife; Tommy’s ghost is trapped in a dumbwaiter; dark butterflies signal the arrival of evil. Roberts’s skill is also evident in the fact that Rick, a man who has done despicable things and seems beyond redemption, wins the reader’s sympathy and approval. It’s also refreshing to read a story which assumes some intelligence on the part of the reader: exposition is delivered with subtlety, not a spoon. “Eviction Notice” is an unqualified success.

---

Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999  |  IP: Logged | 

posted                  

quote:

---

Scott M. Roberts ... sees himself as a ... demon who feeds off ... dark butterflies ... of evil. Roberts ... is also ... a man who has done despicable things... with ... a spoon.

---

Posts: 99 | Registered: Nov 2003  |  IP: Logged | 

posted                   

quote:

---

The small things, that’s what Clark concentrated on. Never mind the wolf scratching at the insides of his hands, never mind the sound of its breath in his throat, the desire to hang his tongue out and let it loll. Never mind the way the moon, the full moon, tugged at his skin.

External things. Things outside of him, things beyond the reach of the wolf. The motorcycle, for one, his tools for another. The way the transmission rested in his hands. (Don’t think on the hands, no, that will lead to the wolf, the wolf...) The transmission. Rebuilt now, and it had taken him almost all night, but he had done it. He’d fought off the wolf all night by focusing on small things. The devil was in the details, but the wolf, thank God, was not. And maybe, tonight, the devil wasn’t in the details either. Tonight... God was in the details. God in the chrome, God in the gears, God in the grease and bolts and bits of everything that he touched.

Even as he thought it, he knew that that was another pathway to the wolf. Thinking about touching, about his fingers, his skin, the stripe of grease that was somehow on his lips... Clark felt an itch in the back of his throat to lick the grease, but stopped himself.

---

Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999  |  IP: Logged | 

posted                   

quote:

---

I really liked the plot, feel, and language of "Blackberry Witch," and it's exactly along the lines of this new speculative fiction line. Are
you currently working on a novel (or anthology of short stories), or do you have a novel that you're shopping around? If so, I'd love to see it!

---

This came in about an hour ago. It appears to be the real deal, from a real publisher.

Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999  |  IP: Logged |