Seven Shorts

The tales collected in Julie Rogers's Seven Shorts can be compared to a wintry landscape: what lurks beneath is cloaked by deceptive beauty. They hold literary garments elegant and genteel, belying curves and forms patiently waiting—at any moment—to shock, or even enlighten. Cover your eyes, spin you a few times, and shove you into a room with . . . never mind. Seven Shorts cannot be labeled Horror, Dark Fantasy, Magical Realism or anything so reductive. Nonetheless, connoisseurs of those traditions will find much here to like—even love. Spanning decades—1969 to 2045—the narratives weave through classic territories, striking in their range and fertility of imagination. Comprising the collection are stories psychological and horrific, darkly humorous and stoic, filtered through a fine lens of social—and personal—observation so reasonable you'll follow it anywhere . . . to the very end. With Seven Shorts, Julie Rogers creates her own genre, one surging with emotion, wit, and stark-raving sanity.