S.P. Miskowski’s Stag in Flight is the latest from Dim Shores, the excellent boutique press operated by Sam Cowan.

A story of twisted psychology, in which a lonely and depressed unemployed library, Benny, finds his way into therapy, which seems less designed to heal his pain or grant him relief than for his weirdly self-focused therapist Dot to tell stories about her own excellent life, her history and her family, accentuating all the many ways in which Benny’s weakness, inferiority, pain and loneliness stand in opposition to her success, her bright creativity and fulfilling relationships. In one such therapy session, Benny encounters a stag beetle, and in his surprise, has a reaction to it that he then questions. Later, alone in his apartment again, he begins to feel connected to the image of the beetle, and even strengthened by emulation of its example.

Wonderfully dark, strangely moody and sad, rich with the anguish of unwanted solitude and fear a life of no possibilities or outlets available. S.P. Miskowski was already one of my favorite writers on the strength of her Skillute Cycle (the novel Knock Knock and the trio of connected novellas), and Stag in Flight certainly at least matches her earlier work in quality.

It remains available for purchase (see link to Dim Shores below), though there aren’t many left, and when they’re gone, they’re gone!

Stag in Flight on Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29904180-stag-in-flight

Stag in Flight on Dim Shores:
http://dimshores.storenvy.com/products/16500057-stag-in-flight

I just realized I never finished posting my “2015 Favorite Reads” series, with this “favorite things from prior years I only just read in 2015” lingering in the queue. Better to post this relatively late, as we approach the 2016 mid-year mark, than not at all. So then…

One of my favorite reads of 2015 in the “books published in previous years but first read in 2015” category was The Last Horror Novel in the History of the World by Brian Allen Carr. This one came out in 2014 from Lazy Fascist Press, but I was slightly late to the party. This is a brief but very unusual and disturbing book, which is also at times funny. I think more people should check this out.

On Goodreads I wrote:
Wonderful and strange sort-of-apocalypse story set on the Texas border, brief and powerful and so very well written. Brian Allen Carr is someone I need to watch.

The Last Horror Novel in the History of the World on GoodReads

The Last Horror Novel in the History of the World on Amazon

The Last Horror Novel in the History of the World at Lazy Fascist