Suspicions

“In this collection of short fiction, Elizabeth Engstrom expertly plies her trade as a veteran storyteller. Handpicked from her archives of dark and haunting short stories, she has chosen those that will take you on some extraordinary excursions.

“She’ll take you across the River Styx, welcome you aboard the judgment day train, let you witness the righteous death of a bad, bad man, climb aboard a mothballed Navy destroyer out for revenge, and take you to a tattoo parlor for a transforming experience. You’ll find mystery, horror, erotica, science fiction, fantasy and humor, side by side with moving human drama and cautionary, moral tales. In this volume, you’ll view the world through her dark and edgy lens, distorting your vision and nicking your heart ever so gently in the process.

“These stories are not for the faint of heart, the squeamish, or the prudish. Engstrom reaches deep, and pulls forth some harsh realities. If you want light entertainment, you’ll find some of that here. But for the most part, sit back and get ready for a ride that will take you to places within yourself that you never knew existed.”

Available on Kindle

“This is where she’s at her best.” —Locus

“A harrowing and suspenseful anthology filled with superbly crafted short stories about love, death, sex, and crossing the River Styx. Dark humor courses through these dramatic and sometimes horrific tales, in this blood-curdling anthology that leaves a fearsome chill in one’s spine long after the last page has been turned. Suspicions is strongly recommended reading for those that prefer their literary entertainment with a decided flair for the unexpected.” —Midwest Book Review

“A spooky collection of tales.” —Publishers Weekly

“A hefty, genre-crossing pie spiced with images capable of snagging the imagination.” —Booklist

“Elizabeth Engstrom has selected twenty-five (four original to the collection) stories from the past twenty years of writing that reveal her as a suspicious sort. But then, aren’t we all? We all suspect the unknown, death, sex, and “friends, family, love, work, technology, the government, and everything else.” It’s just that Elizabeth Engstrom can take her lack of trust and craft fine fiction from it. Like many fine writers, Engstrom’s stories are across all genres. Some can be termed sf, others as mystery or fantasy or horror, still others are simply “fiction.” A few are light and humorous. Most are quietly dark, slightly skewed, angled toward that indescribable place just at the edge of shadow. All are worth reading. Many are worth pondering. By the end, at least one suspicion will definitely be confirmed: Elizabeth Engstrom is one of the best. No doubts.” —Cemetery Dance

What does it mean to be a fan?

I was introduced to football in my early teens by the football-crazed family down the street. Their children were much younger than I, and the parents, of course, much older, but Sunday afternoons would always find me at their house learning football. The Green Bay Packers was their team, and while they didn’t festoon their bodies or their house with Packers merch, game day was a bit of a holy time.

I’ve had a love/hate relationship with football ever since. It’s violent, people get hurt, sometimes seriously, and some fans take the game-type violence out personally into their after-game lives. I don’t like any of that.

But I do love being a fan.

There is such a thing as watching too much football. I limit myself to the Oregon Ducks and the Seattle Seahawks. I dress in the appropriate colors on game day. I celebrate a win and mourn a loss. But really, it’s just a game. Television entertainment. Perfect time for knitting. Am I a hockey fan? Basketball fan? Baseball fan? No, no, and no. I don’t know the rules in hockey, I can’t knit and watch basketball, and baseball is too slow for me. Plus, I don’t have the time for more than one sport. I celebrate football season.

I love the little tailgate group we have in our neighbor’s big-screen television “stadium”. I love that Alaska Airlines will give priority boarding to passengers wearing Seahawks gear on game day.

And when my team loses? It doesn’t really matter. Every season is a new team, especially in college ball. There will always be another game, another season, another quarterback, another coach. But fandom endures.

It’s a tribe. And I think we’re tribal creatures. We should be very careful about which tribes we join, which groups we identify with. But this is not the case with sports.

The other day I was talking with a friend (the fan of a rival organization — another fun thing) and asked if his girlfriend was a fan. He said that she didn’t know how to pick the right team. My answer: There is no right team. There is just the team you pick.

We pick teams all the time in life. We are loyal to our family, our country, our state, our city, our political party… You know what I’m talking about. But life doesn’t usually give us enough opportunities, or the right kind of opportunities to publicly express our loyalties the way being a sports fan does.

So light up your life a little bit. Pick a team. Dive in. It’s fun. And maybe I’ll see you at a Seahawks game in your #3 jersey.

It’s good to be a fan.

Fun, Sports