Old Firehouse Books suggests fantasy titles and a little true crime
The staff from Old Firehouse Books in Fort Collins recommends fantastical short stories, a tale of demons and angels and a dark crime novel.
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Each week as part of SunLit — The Sun’s literature section — we feature staff recommendations from book stores across Colorado. This week, the staff from Old Firehouse Books in Fort Collins recommends fantastical short stories, a tale of demons and angels and a dark crime novel.
A Sunny Place for Shady People
By Mariana Enriquez
Hogarth
$28
September 2024
Purchase
From the publisher: On the shores of this river, all the birds that fly, drink, perch on branches, and disturb siestas with the demonic squawking of the possessed—all those birds were once women. Welcome to Argentina and the fascinating, frightening, fantastical imagination of Mariana Enriquez. In 12 spellbinding new stories, Enriquez writes about ordinary people, especially women, whose lives turn inside out when they encounter terror, the surreal, and the supernatural. A neighborhood nuisanced by ghosts, a family whose faces melt away, a faded hotel haunted by a girl who dissolved in the water tank on the roof, a riverbank populated by birds that used to be women—these and other tales illuminate the shadows of contemporary life, where the line between good and evil no longer exists.
Lyrical and hypnotic, heart-stopping and deeply moving, Enriquez’s stories never fail to enthrall, entertain, and leave us shaken.
From Teresa, bookseller: Mariana Enriquez is an insta-buy author for me and once again this extremely talented writer has knocked it out of the park. This collection of short stories was so easy to read, it kept me up far past my bedtime, and every time I was immersed in this world the hairs on the back of my neck stood straight up and I was constantly looking over my shoulder. Each story was a juggernaut, filled with tense interactions and creepy ideas/creatures/people that made me leave the light on once I went to sleep. “Hyena Hymns & A Local Artist” will stay with me for a very long time.
The City in Glass
By Nghi Vo
Tordotcom
$24.99
October 2024
Purchase
From the publisher: A demon. An angel. A city.
The demon Vitrine—immortal, powerful, and capricious—loves the dazzling city of Azril. She has mothered, married, and maddened the city and its people for generations, and built it into a place of joy and desire, revelry and riot.
And then the angels come, and the city falls.
Vitrine is left with nothing but memories and a book containing the names of those she has lost—and an angel, now bound by her mad, grief-stricken curse to haunt the city he burned. She mourns her dead and rages against the angel she longs to destroy. Made to be each other’s devastation, angel and demon are destined for eternal battle. Instead, they find themselves locked in a devouring fascination that will change them both forever.
From Allison, buyer: Perfectly raw, bitingly tender. Induced psychosis for a week. Our “heroine” Vitrine is deliciously cruel yet tragic. What makes a city? What does it mean to love a city? Nghi Vo has some beautiful answers. Love to see her doing some more short-form standalones work.
Dark Places
By Gillian Flynn
Crown
$18X
May 2010
Purchase
From the publisher: Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” She survived—and famously testified that her 15-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, the Kill Club—a secret society obsessed with notorious crimes—locates Libby and pumps her for details. They hope to discover proof that may free Ben.
Libby hopes to turn a profit off her tragic history: She’ll reconnect with the players from that night and report her findings to the club—for a fee. As Libby’s search takes her from shabby Missouri strip clubs to abandoned Oklahoma tourist towns, the unimaginable truth emerges, and Libby finds herself right back where she started—on the run from a killer.
From Simon, bookseller: So you’re kind of fascinated by true crime, but it bothers you as a medium of entertainment, but you need a thrilling story with a crazy twist. Welcome! Gillian Flynn writes to ruin you for other books, and her first novel is everything you want in a really messed up cold case. In “Dark Places,” Libby investigates the unsolved murder of her family to renew the well of pity money and royalties that kept her afloat as the sole survivor of an infamous tragedy.
THIS WEEK’S BOOK RECS COME FROM:
Old Firehouse Books
232 Walnut St., Fort Collins
As part of The Colorado Sun’s literature section — SunLit — we’re featuring staff picks from book stores across the state. Read more.
