Words In: Altar by Philip Fracassi

Altar is a novella by Philip Fracassi, published by Dunhams Manor Press earlier this year. It’s an engaging, pleasingly straightforward horror story of childhood summer vacation and the attractive and repulsive force of the neighborhood swimming pool.

Summer vacation has some nicer aspects, such as leisure, freedom from the classroom (or as we age, from work) and recreation in warm weather. But it also has a less savory side, as parents try to deal with kids running loose all over the neighborhood. Young kids are preyed upon, bullied or bothered by older youths, and our impulses toward recklessness and daring are inflamed by too much time and not enough supervision.

This snapshot is brief, but feels familiar, recognizable in aspects both pleasant and nasty, as if representing elements of a universal childhood summer. Altar is a story I recommend, and one that makes me want to read more of Fracassi’s work. The good news here is that Fracassi recently announced the planned release of another novella as well as his debut short fiction collection with Journalstone, so we’ll have lot of material coming from him in the next year.