S. P. Miskowski
Author of Knock Knock
Works by S. P. Miskowski
Strange Is the Night 2 copies
Stag in Flight 2 copies
If You Knew Me: A Novel 2 copies
The Highest and the Sweetest 1 copy
Associated Works
Looming Low Volume II — Contributor — 4 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Miskowski, S. P.
- Gender
- female
- Education
- University of Washington
- Organizations
- Wily Writers
- Awards and honors
- National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
- Short biography
- Grew up in Decatur, Georgia. Earned an M.F.A. at the University of Washington. Received two Swarthout student prizes for short fiction, and two NEA Fellowships (for fiction and drama). Commissioned by New City Theater and produced by numerous companies including Live Girls! Theater ("Emerald City"). Nominated for American Theatre Critics Association/Steinberg New Play Award for "my new friends (are so much better than you)." Fiction published by Identity Theory, Other Voices, Horror Bound Online Magazine, Supernatural Tales 21. Novel "Knock Knock" published by Omnium Gatherum.
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Decatur, Georgia, USA
- Places of residence
- Decatur, Georgia, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- Decatur, Georgia, USA
Members
Reviews
Small town living-it's just the best, right? There's none of that violence you hear about in big cities and the people are friendlier too or so we've all heard. Unfortunately, none of that applies to Skillute.
A couple and their young daughter move to Skillute for exactly the reasons listed above. But Skillute is a dying town, and as it turns out? The people are really not that friendly. Especially, if like the Davis family, you're coming from liberal-town USA. It's not only the politics of show more the situation that keep the Davis family isolated though, it's Skillute itself.
When the Davis' daughter, Tasha, finally makes friends with a new classmate, Briar, her parents are excited, yet fearful. Briar isn't all they had hoped for -being from a broken family and all. But Tasha and Briar's friendship soon becomes more solid, with their secrets being the thread that stitches them together. What are their secrets? What is wrong with Skillute? You'll have to read this to find out!
Over the last few years, I've forgotten how much I enjoyed the work of S.P. Miskowski. She writes a quiet kind of horror which is the kind I prefer these days. The town of Skillute reminds me in some ways of Charles L. Grant's Oxrun Station. The history of Skillute can be found in a few of Miskowski's other books, (THE SKILLUTE CYCLE), but it's not necessary to read them to "get" this one. They all take place in different time periods so that the history of Skillute unfolds in front of you, mostly through the eyes of its women.
There are ghosts in this town, there are witches and there are spirits as of yet undefined. Not everything is spelled out for you like a game of Scrabble. Some things you have to figure out for yourself. I enjoy that. I feel that the author respects me enough to trust me to see where she's going. To see the meaning-to see the inevitable end. And boy, that end?! I suspect it's going to raise some hackles out there! It didn't raise mine though: for me, it ended on a perfect note.
I loved this tale of small town life, the supernatural, and most of all: the people. The characters here came alive and while none of them were perfect, they all came across as real to me and as such? I felt for them. Maybe you could let yourself feel for them too?
My highest recommendation!
Available February 22, but you can pre-order here: https://amzn.to/2Tj7VZO
*Thank you to S. P. Miskowski for providing a free e-ARC with no strings attached. I freely chose to read and review this book honestly.* show less
A couple and their young daughter move to Skillute for exactly the reasons listed above. But Skillute is a dying town, and as it turns out? The people are really not that friendly. Especially, if like the Davis family, you're coming from liberal-town USA. It's not only the politics of show more the situation that keep the Davis family isolated though, it's Skillute itself.
When the Davis' daughter, Tasha, finally makes friends with a new classmate, Briar, her parents are excited, yet fearful. Briar isn't all they had hoped for -being from a broken family and all. But Tasha and Briar's friendship soon becomes more solid, with their secrets being the thread that stitches them together. What are their secrets? What is wrong with Skillute? You'll have to read this to find out!
Over the last few years, I've forgotten how much I enjoyed the work of S.P. Miskowski. She writes a quiet kind of horror which is the kind I prefer these days. The town of Skillute reminds me in some ways of Charles L. Grant's Oxrun Station. The history of Skillute can be found in a few of Miskowski's other books, (THE SKILLUTE CYCLE), but it's not necessary to read them to "get" this one. They all take place in different time periods so that the history of Skillute unfolds in front of you, mostly through the eyes of its women.
There are ghosts in this town, there are witches and there are spirits as of yet undefined. Not everything is spelled out for you like a game of Scrabble. Some things you have to figure out for yourself. I enjoy that. I feel that the author respects me enough to trust me to see where she's going. To see the meaning-to see the inevitable end. And boy, that end?! I suspect it's going to raise some hackles out there! It didn't raise mine though: for me, it ended on a perfect note.
I loved this tale of small town life, the supernatural, and most of all: the people. The characters here came alive and while none of them were perfect, they all came across as real to me and as such? I felt for them. Maybe you could let yourself feel for them too?
My highest recommendation!
Available February 22, but you can pre-order here: https://amzn.to/2Tj7VZO
*Thank you to S. P. Miskowski for providing a free e-ARC with no strings attached. I freely chose to read and review this book honestly.* show less
I was lucky enough to receive a free electronic preview copy of Astoria. I’d previously read Knock Knock and Delphine Dodd and had been highly impressed by both.
When I read Knock Knock, I’d initially planned on just reading a chapter and then putting it down. Several hours later I realized I’d lost track of time. That the book had absorbed me so thoroughly that I’d lost the afternoon. So I was prepared for this when I opened up Astoria on my Kindle. As in Knock Knock and Delphine show more Dodd, Miskowski’s quality of prose provides a powerful lure, creating a sense of immersion that makes effortless the loss of everyday troubles or tasks.
At the start of Astoria, Ethel is struggling to cope with raising her daughter. Her daughter is likely a sociopath. I don’t think that Ethel rationally believes that her daughter is the personification of evil resulting from a broken bargain with a supernatural being in Ethel’s youth, but she suspects in her heart that there is something wrong beyond the normal range of childhood problems. When the child dies, Ethel is therefore conflicted. She leaves her husband and the town she was raised in. She wanders southwest Washington, before crossing the Columbia to Astoria, all the while it seems like there’s something chasing her on the edge of reality.
Maybe it’s the Northwest settings in these books, but thinking about describing this time loss got me thinking about something a character in Twin Peaks said, something about “I know I should be sad, and I am, part of me is. But it's like... it's like I'm having the most beautiful dream... and the most terrible nightmare, all at once.” And that’s how I felt reading this novella about a woman who has just lost a child, but has every reason to feel like she’s been given a chance at freedom. It’s very dreamlike. Reading Astoria felt a lot like closing my eyes and experiencing the most strangely pleasing nightmare.
I’ve been struggling to put my finger on how Miskowski accomplishes this sense of enjoyable horror. It’s not like there’s over the top supernatural dark fantasy action in these stories. In Astoria so much of the action seems fairly mundane. But there’s this fringe of terror coming at it from the edges. The protagonist is exhausted. She’s seeing things that aren’t really there, or is she? There’s that question of whether she’s hallucinating or whether her past has caught up with her. And throughout the book it feels like she’s surrounded by that past. Are the things she’s seeing supernatural repercussions? Her friend Marietta, who is as close to an expert as she’s likely to find, thinks so. But Marietta doesn’t have a large role in Astoria. She’s like the sense of the supernatural in this story, connected but sort of tangentially. When Marietta contacts Ethel there’s that sense that “no you haven’t escaped”. By building up Ethel’s story of trying to start her new life in Astoria, it makes the incursions of the supernatural and her past all the more frightening.
As I said I did read Delphine Dodd and Knock Knock beforehand, but I think while these added to my enjoyment of Astoria, I’m pretty certain Astoria would stand alone well on its own. Though I’m certain that if someone picked this up first, they would be compelled by the strength of writing and the joy of the story to go back and read the others. show less
When I read Knock Knock, I’d initially planned on just reading a chapter and then putting it down. Several hours later I realized I’d lost track of time. That the book had absorbed me so thoroughly that I’d lost the afternoon. So I was prepared for this when I opened up Astoria on my Kindle. As in Knock Knock and Delphine show more Dodd, Miskowski’s quality of prose provides a powerful lure, creating a sense of immersion that makes effortless the loss of everyday troubles or tasks.
At the start of Astoria, Ethel is struggling to cope with raising her daughter. Her daughter is likely a sociopath. I don’t think that Ethel rationally believes that her daughter is the personification of evil resulting from a broken bargain with a supernatural being in Ethel’s youth, but she suspects in her heart that there is something wrong beyond the normal range of childhood problems. When the child dies, Ethel is therefore conflicted. She leaves her husband and the town she was raised in. She wanders southwest Washington, before crossing the Columbia to Astoria, all the while it seems like there’s something chasing her on the edge of reality.
Maybe it’s the Northwest settings in these books, but thinking about describing this time loss got me thinking about something a character in Twin Peaks said, something about “I know I should be sad, and I am, part of me is. But it's like... it's like I'm having the most beautiful dream... and the most terrible nightmare, all at once.” And that’s how I felt reading this novella about a woman who has just lost a child, but has every reason to feel like she’s been given a chance at freedom. It’s very dreamlike. Reading Astoria felt a lot like closing my eyes and experiencing the most strangely pleasing nightmare.
I’ve been struggling to put my finger on how Miskowski accomplishes this sense of enjoyable horror. It’s not like there’s over the top supernatural dark fantasy action in these stories. In Astoria so much of the action seems fairly mundane. But there’s this fringe of terror coming at it from the edges. The protagonist is exhausted. She’s seeing things that aren’t really there, or is she? There’s that question of whether she’s hallucinating or whether her past has caught up with her. And throughout the book it feels like she’s surrounded by that past. Are the things she’s seeing supernatural repercussions? Her friend Marietta, who is as close to an expert as she’s likely to find, thinks so. But Marietta doesn’t have a large role in Astoria. She’s like the sense of the supernatural in this story, connected but sort of tangentially. When Marietta contacts Ethel there’s that sense that “no you haven’t escaped”. By building up Ethel’s story of trying to start her new life in Astoria, it makes the incursions of the supernatural and her past all the more frightening.
As I said I did read Delphine Dodd and Knock Knock beforehand, but I think while these added to my enjoyment of Astoria, I’m pretty certain Astoria would stand alone well on its own. Though I’m certain that if someone picked this up first, they would be compelled by the strength of writing and the joy of the story to go back and read the others. show less
I won this book on Librarything in exchange for an honest review.
I'll start with this... I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight. The buildup, the suspense, the darkness lurking behind every page is just right. I almost tabbed through the pages faster just because the buildup was too agonizing, I knew something horrible was going to happen and it was scaring my socks off.
The book starts off with three little girls making a blood pact in the middle of the woods in a small town. Then it show more spans over the next 50 years. The characters were well developed, the prose well written, and the setting spot on.
I sure hope I don't hear any scratching on my window tonight! show less
I'll start with this... I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight. The buildup, the suspense, the darkness lurking behind every page is just right. I almost tabbed through the pages faster just because the buildup was too agonizing, I knew something horrible was going to happen and it was scaring my socks off.
The book starts off with three little girls making a blood pact in the middle of the woods in a small town. Then it show more spans over the next 50 years. The characters were well developed, the prose well written, and the setting spot on.
I sure hope I don't hear any scratching on my window tonight! show less
This review was written for LibraryThing Member Giveaways.
This is a terrific, beautiful, mean book. It's been a long time since I was so hooked by a narrator, and I suspect Greta will haunt my thoughts for a long time. Can't wait to dig into this author's other books.
Lists
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 19
- Also by
- 18
- Members
- 248
- Popularity
- #92,013
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 20
- ISBNs
- 14
- Favorited
- 1
