Audely Bensen Writes

I pulled The Garden by Clare Beams off the shelf at the library at random, and I'm glad I did. It fit right in with all the horror I've accidentally been reading, and hit the perfect line between literary and genre. I inhaled the first two thirds of the story, and then couldn't read farther than that for weeks. I was too scared of what might happen to the characters that I'd grown to care for. This seems to be a central problem for me lately. I wish it was easier to put my own worries aside!  My one complaint about this book (other than my poor nerves!) was that while it is vaguely historical, I never quite nailed down the time stamp. Even by the end, I had no idea when or where the book was set. Maybe that was just me, reading the beginning too quickly.  I'm looking forward to reading more of this author's work. 

The last few months I've been focusing my speculative reading on books that sit on the literary line, and on books that lean more towards horror or sci-fi, since that's more in line with what I've been writing. It's important to stay up to date in the genre and to know what sort of books I'm trying to stay in conversation with. At the same time, I've really struggled to read a lot of recent fantasy releases. While many of them are truly excellent, it seems that the expectation is for tightly coiled tension, and when I already struggle with anxiety, I find it hard to focus on books where I can feel trouble coming.  And then two fantasy novels landed in my lap.  Everyone in my writing group raves about Uprooted , and I really enjoyed the other Naomi Novak books I've read. After struggling to read every fantasy book I've tried for the last year or so, Uprooted unspooled in my lap over the course of a lazy weekend. I really enjoyed this book. The tension was...