Crysa's profile

I am a book reviewer for “Fantasy Magazine”. (darkfantasy.org)  5 of my poems have been accepted by “Conceit Magazine” and “Amulet” and will be published in various issues throughout the next year.  I have two short stories currently in circulation, 4 more written and in need of polishing, and 3 more that consist mostly of detailed outlines.  I’m also about 10,000 words into my novel, a fantasy/horror story about a nurse during the Civil War.  

I’ve noticed that many people don’t like my reviews.  I don’t understand why there is the rating system for reviews…when reviewers are ASKED to provide their opinion.  I am RIGHT.  When I give a review.  I’m honest about what I think.  I.  I don’t care if you think I didn’t “get” it.  Maybe I…

I am a book reviewer for “Fantasy Magazine”. (darkfantasy.org)  5 of my poems have been accepted by “Conceit Magazine” and “Amulet” and will be published in various issues throughout the next year.  I have two short stories currently in circulation, 4 more written and in need of polishing, and 3 more that consist mostly of detailed outlines.  I’m also about 10,000 words into my novel, a fantasy/horror story about a nurse during the Civil War.  

I’ve noticed that many people don’t like my reviews.  I don’t understand why there is the rating system for reviews…when reviewers are ASKED to provide their opinion.  I am RIGHT.  When I give a review.  I’m honest about what I think.  I.  I don’t care if you think I didn’t “get” it.  Maybe I didn’t.  That could be because I’m not your target audience and therefore don’t have the basic proclivity towards your genre.  Or, it could be because, as a writer, you didn’t get your point across.  I don’t care which you choose to go with.  Just keep in mind, that I am being honest about your writing, I’m not insulting you, and I expect that same honesty in reviews of my own work.  

I have recently started a livejournal specifically for “networking”.  Feel free to look me up.  http://crysaleflar.livejournal.com/

One of my favorite short horror stories is “The Floor Above” by M.L. Humphreys.  I love Algernon Blackwood, Ambrose Bierce, Arthur Machen, and of course Poe (Some Words With a Mummy being my favorite). I don’t have the same standards for Horror as most people seem to.  I think one of the best short horror stories I’ve ever read is “A Torture by Hope” by  Villiers de l’Isle-Adam, and I consider Faulkner’s “A Rose For Emily” to be horror.  I love subtlety and emotion.  I don’t consider stories that rely on gore and physical threats to be horror.  True horror, to me, is mental.  Physical tortures can be endured, you either get away and live, or you die.  Mental torture is horrifying.  Afterall, how do you escape your own mind?