The first time anything of mine has been reviewed in Publishers Weekly, and it’s a good one. Thanks so much to the reviewer for the kind words. I’m glad you enjoyed it!

Mr. Wicker
Maria Alexander. Raw Dog Screaming, $14.95
trade paper (236p) ISBN 978-1-935738-66-4

Convincing in its haunting whimsy,
Alexander’s emotionally complex faerie
tale comments on grim reality with chilling
metaphors. A suicide attempt leads
failed horror novelist Alicia Baum to the
Library of Lost Childhood Memories and
Mr. Wicker, a sinister man who arouses
both her passion and her disgust, before
she returns to life. She ends up in the care
of Dr. Farron, a gentle psychologist researching
the concept of bogeymen. Alicia
strives to recover missing childhood
memories as increasingly violent accidents
befall her friends and family, and
she grows more and more convinced that
Mr. Wicker is not only real but intimately
connected to her past. Alexander (By
the Pricking) makes the impossible feel
probable, anchoring fantasy in everyday
struggles. Alicia’s spitfire defiance and
charming vulnerability, and the eventual
romance between her and Dr. Farron, inject
warmth into chilling encounters between
a world that shouldn’t exist and
undependable reality. Illness, loss, and
heartache color this splendid, bittersweet
ode to the ghosts of childhood.