Sheryl Monks's Blog - Posts Tagged "sara-pritchard"
Praise for Monsters in Appalachia
“These elemental stories take on the dark Appalachian territory of David Joy and Ron Rash with a kind of raw, absolute, female confidence. Coal miners, snake handlers, smart, scary women at their wits end-- all at the mercy of their terrific landscape. Monsters In Appalachia offers a glimpse of the edge of a world that seems freshly electric, and treacherous as hell.”
~ Ashley Warlick, author of The Arrangement, and The Distance from the Heart of Things
“There’s music in these stories—visceral, rhythmical, soulful, deep. They are siren songs, taking us places we otherwise might not go.”
~ Kim Church, author of Byrd
“Sheryl Monks's stories are gorgeously written dispatches from Appalachia, telling the difficult truth of what it is to survive in a place that can exact a heavy price. But these tales are generous too, and a particular grace sets on them all.”
~ Charles Dodd White, author of A Shelter of Others, and Sinners of Sanction County
“Monsters in Appalachia is wildly outrageous at times but there is empathy in these stories as well. Humor and sadness achieve a delicate balance.”
~ Ron Rash, author of Serena, and Something Rich and Strange
“Sheryl Monks writes with unflinching honesty and deep affection about the Appalachia I know: a place of imminent peril to both body and soul, home to lingering ghosts. Her gorgeous (but never merely decorative) language generously limns the hard mountain landscape as well as the luminously-realized and all-too-human folks who struggle there. This collection brought me home again.”
~ Pinckney Benedict, author of Miracle Boy and Other Stories, The Wrecking Yard, and Dogs of God
“Monsters in Appalachia introduces a fresh, new voice in contemporary fiction, in stories of teenage angst, bonds of family, motherhood, and contradictions of middle age. Always surprising, with touches of humor and magic, and seductive, snake-handling preachers, these stories conjure both sorrow and mystery with intimate loving detail.”
~ Robert Morgan, author of Chasing the North Star, Gap Creek, and The Balm of Gilead Tree
“Haunting, raw, terrifying, and passionate.”
~ Sara Pritchard, author of Crackpots, Help Wanted: Female, and Lately
“Sheryl Monks gives us such a range and depth of character in one collection. Her stories continue to delight and haunt long after reading.”
~ Renée K. Nicholson, author of Roundabout Directions to Lincoln Center
~ Ashley Warlick, author of The Arrangement, and The Distance from the Heart of Things
“There’s music in these stories—visceral, rhythmical, soulful, deep. They are siren songs, taking us places we otherwise might not go.”
~ Kim Church, author of Byrd
“Sheryl Monks's stories are gorgeously written dispatches from Appalachia, telling the difficult truth of what it is to survive in a place that can exact a heavy price. But these tales are generous too, and a particular grace sets on them all.”
~ Charles Dodd White, author of A Shelter of Others, and Sinners of Sanction County
“Monsters in Appalachia is wildly outrageous at times but there is empathy in these stories as well. Humor and sadness achieve a delicate balance.”
~ Ron Rash, author of Serena, and Something Rich and Strange
“Sheryl Monks writes with unflinching honesty and deep affection about the Appalachia I know: a place of imminent peril to both body and soul, home to lingering ghosts. Her gorgeous (but never merely decorative) language generously limns the hard mountain landscape as well as the luminously-realized and all-too-human folks who struggle there. This collection brought me home again.”
~ Pinckney Benedict, author of Miracle Boy and Other Stories, The Wrecking Yard, and Dogs of God
“Monsters in Appalachia introduces a fresh, new voice in contemporary fiction, in stories of teenage angst, bonds of family, motherhood, and contradictions of middle age. Always surprising, with touches of humor and magic, and seductive, snake-handling preachers, these stories conjure both sorrow and mystery with intimate loving detail.”
~ Robert Morgan, author of Chasing the North Star, Gap Creek, and The Balm of Gilead Tree
“Haunting, raw, terrifying, and passionate.”
~ Sara Pritchard, author of Crackpots, Help Wanted: Female, and Lately
“Sheryl Monks gives us such a range and depth of character in one collection. Her stories continue to delight and haunt long after reading.”
~ Renée K. Nicholson, author of Roundabout Directions to Lincoln Center
