Here's what reviewers have to say about my recent story I AM THE SHADOW THAT WALKS THERE which appeared in the Stoker-award winning anthology Unspeakable Horror. My story was nominated for the 2010 Spectrum Award which honors outstanding works of science fiction, fantasy and horror that include significant positive explorations of gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered characters, themes, or issues. And received an honorable mention in Years Best.

"Michelle Scalise’s “I Am the Shadow That Walks There” is a wonderful piece of historical fiction with a gruesome ghostly plotline that certainly fuses classic horror with modern splatter. In it, two young writers from the Oxford crowd join the fight in the First World War to seek adventure, but tragedy ensues. One of them, Edmund, ends up in a psychiatric hospital (kudos to Scalise for an excellent portrayal of the asylum and medical environment during this period) and is reluctant to divulge his love for Lewis (missing in action) to Doctor Price, who in the spirit of the nineteenth-century sexologist Richard von Krafft-Ebing only sees same sex attraction as deviance and disease. Edmund’s quest to understand what happened and be reunited with Lewis is effective and frightening. Like many of the stories, it packs a shocking conclusion." -HORROR BOUND MAGAZINE

"In Michelle Scalise’s “I Am the Shadow That Walks There” we savour classy storytelling, admirably blending the story of a homosexual affair with the horrors of war." -NOSSA MORTE

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"The Disinterment of Ophelia" by Michelle Scalise, an oddly touching look at how a spot of grave robbing for the sake of poetry affects a nicely varied cast of Dickensian characters.-Rambles.net

The issue also features six short fiction selections; one of which is entitled "Three Floors Down We Cleanse the Soul" by Michelle Scalise, a particularly chilling little piece about familial decay in the South.-Coolshopping.com

Here's what reviewers had to say about my story THE BEAUTIFUL ONES which appeared in Crimewave 8 and received an honorable mention in this YEARS BEST FANTASY AND HORROR

"In "The Beautiful Ones," Michelle Scalise takes us back in time to Victorian London for the first person tale of a failing poet and playwright who is secretly gay and addicted to chloral, which causes vivid hallucinations. When one of his associates—a more successful playwright named Childe—is arrested for indecency for cavorting with young, male prostitutes, our protagonist must decide whether to publicly come to the aid of his friend, or suffer what he is in silence. Or does the chloral have other plans?This is a well-written story. Scalise does a wonderful job of painting a different time period for us and has peopled it with sympathetic characters who are fully realized." -TANGENT ONLINE

"‘The Beautiful Ones’ by Michelle Scalise is a story that works on many levels. The narrator is a failed playwright and wannabe aesthete, who lives on the fringes of the Edwardian gay in-crowd, the ‘beautiful ones’ of the title. He is haunted by visions of a drowned woman, the wife of Childe, an Oscar Wilde character facing the same kind of trial that the great man did. Mrs. Childe is very much alive as the visions are induced by chloral, the drug of choice for the beautiful and sophisticated. The aesthetes are portrayed as desperate, elegant, and persecuted – but also have their delusions about themselves revealed. They hand hard faced rent boys roses and quote poetry in an effort to gild a lifestyle that is self centred, shallow, and exploitative, devoid of any loyalty, affection, or genuine emotion. When the crisis comes, both Childe and the narrator are abandoned by their friends. The most honest assessment of them comes from a renter who betrays them : ‘pretentious fops pretending you were better than me.’Threaded through this story is another one: that of Childe’s wife, a pathetic creature who loves her husband and retains her devotion to him although she is of no importance to him. She is fated to be a ‘shadow drifting past his window,’ an object of mockery to his witty friends (her dress sense is despicable, apparently, and her loyalty and devotion of no account). The narrator’s visions turn out to be premonitory – for all the excessive emotion and dramatics of the aesthetes, it is she who commits suicide, quietly and without fuss. The haunting of the narrator is really a battle with his inner self. Marriage with a suitable girl who bores him is on the cards. He knows the damage done to Mrs. Childe, but he tries to love his fiancée (after all, her father will finance his latest play) but in the end is torn hopelessly between his desire for men (eerily explored in dream sequences) and the security of the camouflage of marriage. The denouement is shocking and it is impossible to know who to feel most pity for. " -Laura Hird THE NEW REVIEW

"Michelle Scalise's "The Beautiful Ones", a spooky tale narrated by a chloral-supping aesthete, goes the whole hog and plunges into the demimonde of Oscar Wilde's Victorian London." -Guardian.co.uk

.raise for my first collection, Intervals Of Horrible Sanity

"It isn't often that a collection reveals its brilliance so quickly, but Intervals of Horrible Sanity trumpets Michelle Scalise's unique talent from the intense, harrowing first story and maintains its unbreakable hold until the last page. Even after closing the book, the resonances of the tales never quite let go. Whether violent, chilling, unsettling, or shocking, each selection earns its right to be included; there is no filler here, only the "good stuff." "

-Lisa DuMond Contributing Editor and Senior Reviewer for SFSite and Black Gate Magazine

(also selected as one of Ms. DuMond's picks for ten best books of the year!)

"Michelle Scalise is soon going to be one of the big names in horror, and one you won't forget after reading Intervals of Horrible Sanity" -Jonathan Reitan, Cemetery Dance Magazine

"Visceral, Dark, Disturbing. The images stand out like old scars, pain and suffering that stay with you forever. Be prepared for an unsettling read." - Talebones Magazine

"Michelle Scalise's writing is entertaining, emotionally charged and challenging. She manages to be shocking and surprising, brutal and moving, lyrical and gritty, and her stories have a way of staying with you for a long time. I don't know what dark magic she uses ... but I like it!" -- Tim Lebbon, Bram Stoker award winning author of AS THE SUN GOES DOWN and THE NATURE OF BALANCE

"Michelle Scalise is a born storyteller who fills her tales with narrative muscle and the relentless draw of seductive dreams. Once hooked you won't be able to resist her dark charms."–Tom Piccirilli, Bram Stoker award winning author of THE NIGHT CLASS and A CHOIR OF ILL CHILDREN

"Michelle Scalise's poetry and stories are siren songs from the heart of darkness: they draw the reader in with their beauty and passion, and deliver terrible truths with precision and power. Her work captivates and torments with its haunting vision." - Gerard Houarner, author of THE BEAST THAT WAS MAX, ROAD TO HELL

"MICHELLE SCALISE'S writing evokes the dark beauty of a razor glinting in the moonlight. Sharp, powerful and emotinally unsettling, Scalise is a masterful new talent. I'm a fan!" --Brian Keene, author of THE RISING and NO REST FOR THE WICKED

"The company of accomplished poets that have turned their hands to crafting exceptional weird tales is a small but distinguished group that includes Clark Ashton Smith, Joseph Payne Brennan, and of course Edgar Allan Poe. With the publication of Intervals Of Horrible Sanity we can now add the name of Michelle Scalise to this dark and august company. Definitely an important new voice in the genre." --John Pelan, Bram Stoker award winning editor of THE DARKER SIDE and co-author of FAMILY TRADITION

"Michelle Scalise's work doesn't scream or howl or scratch at the walls trying to get out . . . but it doesn't have to be to get the job done. Subtle and hard-edged, her stories will slip quietly into your mind like a knife made of ice and stay with you long after the blade is removed." --P.D. Cacek, Bram Stoker award winning author of NIGHT PRAYERS and CANYONS

"Michelle Scalise is one of those rare writers who can successfully pair shock with sensitivity. Her work is at turns poetically conceptual and viscerally riveting. INTERVALS OF HORRIBLE SANITY will take you places you may not always want to visit but which you will never forget." -- Charlee Jacob, author of THIS SYMBIOTIC FASCINATION and GUISES

"When I read erotica, I rarely have much of a reaction. When I read Scalise's erotica, my wife flees in terror." -- Michael Oliveri, Bram Stoker award winning author of DEADLIEST OF THE SPECIES and co-author of 4x4

"Michelle's work is always intense, very energetic, with compelling, poetic use of language. I predict we'll be seeing the name Scalise in more tables of contents and on many more book-spines as the years progress!" Mark McLaughlin --Bram Stoker award winning co-author of THE GOSSAMER EYE and YOUR HANDY OFFICE GUIDE TO CORPORATE MONSTERS