In Which My Posterior Has Been Booted

Today I’m going to talk about two people.

One you will likely know very soon if you don’t already.

The other one everyone needs to know.

I’m no longer a bookseller, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to waste an opportunity to “hand” sell something awesome.

Hilary Davidson

Today I finished Hilary Davidson’s debut novel, The Damage Done. Having poked around in her short fiction prior to this novel I’m going to make a statement. Davidson is the new master (Mistress? Feh, no) of the visceral. I haven’t read a single story of hers yet that didn’t leave me gut punched, and when I closed this book today I actually had to go walk it off.

From the book’s website:

Lily Moore, a successful travel writer, fled to Spain to get away from her troubled, drug-addicted younger sister, Claudia. But when Claudia is found dead in a bathtub on the anniversary of their mother’s suicide, Lily must return to New York to deal with the aftermath.

The situation shifts from tragic to baffling when the body at the morgue turns out to be a stranger’s. The dead woman had been using Claudia’s identity for months. The real Claudia had vanished, reappearing briefly on the day her impostor died. As Claudia transforms from victim to suspect in the eyes of the police, Lily becomes determined to find her before they do…

Davidson has a grasp of her characters and who they are that is becoming hard to find lately in this genre. Not a single twist feels cheap or contrived, and enough hints are dropped that the reader should get that nibble in the brain. That little nibble that a reader files away without even realizing it?

Davidson is a master of that, too.

I also want to point you to the Spring 2010 issue of Needle Magazine for Davidson’s story, “The Black Widow Club” which I discussed here back in May.

Otherwise just make with the clicks on the handy sidebar of the website for The Damage Done, and start reading.

And buy the book, or go pester your local library.

Chris F. Holm

I like Holm the way I like hot wings. Not in a plastic basket and sticky, because his wife would beat the snot out of me, but in big, giant doses.

We don’t get Chris F. Holm in big, giant doses yet.

That’s a huge bummer to me. Holm is a fantastic storyteller who writes like he has to, or he’ll explode. Isn’t that really what it’s all about?

I toodled to his website and read excerpts from two novels he’s got in the bag. They haven’t found a home yet, but maybe if enough people start pimping him to friends that could change?

Maybe?

I’m going to be helpful here and provide some links. You knew they were coming. Trust me, I check, too. If you don’t click-

I’LL KNOW.

DEAD HARVEST (The first five pages)

“Sam Thornton collects souls. The souls of the damned, to be precise. Once collected himself, he’s doomed to ferry souls to hell for all eternity, in service of a debt he can never repay. But when he’s dispatched to collect the soul of a girl he believes is innocent, Sam does something no Collector has ever done before: he refuses.”

THE ANGELS’ SHARE (Chapter One)

“Kirkland, Maine is a town with many secrets. When reporter Alex Whittaker discovers a Kirkland High student beaten and left for dead on the eve of a contentious local election, she is determined to unmask the girl’s assailant. Soon, Alex is plagued by memories that are not her own, and dreams too terrifying to contemplate. Her investigation reveals a town rife with scandal and corruption, and she finds that there are some who’d go to any lengths to silence her. As her dreams bleed into her waking hours, Alex is forced to make a choice: face off against a vicious killer, or risk losing herself completely.”

So that’s easy enough, but yeah, they’re excerpts, blah, you want something that’s got a beginning, middle, end…

Go here to his bibliography. Move your mouse on down, and click the links for the online shorts.

Move on over to the Needle cover on my sidebar and click. Holm’s novella “The Hitter” is in the summer issue, and it’s fantastic.

I admit this is selfish. I admit this is based primarily on the fact that I want to read the rest of each of those novels.

I also really miss sharing what I’ve read and loved with others.

Now go. Read.