Review: Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil

3 stars. Very, very interesting piece of literary horror here. It's extremely meta - writing for writers, I think - and references current events, politics, cultural touchpoints, etc. But even at its most proselytizing / sanctimonious, I kind of dug it. Horror is not a new lens through which to examine very real-life things like racism, immigration, sexism, injustice, politics, etc., but this felt really fresh all the same. Would be great on a college syllabus.

Craft is a collection of short stories woven together by a writer who slept with the Devil one Halloween night decades ago. These stories feature a wide range of premises, concepts and formats - from magical realism to body horror to hauntings to surrealism - and they are all incredibly captivating in their own ways. I wouldn't exactly call it subtle or particularly groundbreaking, but it is fascinating, eye-opening and unique.

And what a week I picked to read something like this. My American bones ache these days and I am grateful for brilliant stories to help me process. They are surprisingly warm for taking place in such a cold, dark world. I recommend.

Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil on: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Goodreads