Old Firehouse Books suggests fantasy titles and a bit of true crime

Each week as part of SunLit — The Sun's literary division — we feature staff picks from bookstores across Colorado. This week the staff at Old Firehouse Books in Fort Collins recommend fantastic short stories, a story about demons and angels, and a dark crime novel.

From the publisher: On the banks of this river there are all the birds that fly, drink, sit on branches and disturb the siesta with the demonic shrieks of the possessed – all these birds were once women. Welcome to Argentina and the fascinating, frightening, fantastic fantasy of Mariana Enriquez. In twelve fascinating new stories, Enriquez writes about ordinary people, particularly women, whose lives are turned upside down when they encounter terror, the surreal and the supernatural. A neighborhood haunted by ghosts, a family whose faces are melting, a faded hotel haunted by a girl who dissolves in the rooftop water tank, a riverbank populated by birds that were once women – These and other stories illuminate the shadows of contemporary life, in which the line between good and evil no longer exists.

Lyrical and hypnotic, heartbreaking and deeply moving, Enriquez's stories captivate, entertain and leave us shaken.

From Teresa, bookseller: Mariana Enriquez is an Insta-Buy author for me, and this extremely talented author has done it again. This collection of short stories was so easy to read that it kept me awake well past bedtime, and every time I immersed myself in this world the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I kept looking over my shoulder. Each story was a juggernaut full of exciting interactions and creepy ideas/creatures/people that made me want to leave the lights on as soon as I went to sleep. “Hyena Hymns & A Local Artist” will remain in my memory for a very long time.

The city in glass

By Nghi Vo
Tordotcom
$24.99
October 2024
Buy

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 driven the city and its people crazy for generations, making it a place of joy and longing, celebration and turmoil.
And then the angels come and the city falls.

All that's left in the display case are memories and a book with the names of those she lost – and an angel now bound by her insane, grief-filled curse to haunt the city he burned. She mourns her death and rages against the angel she wants to destroy. Since angel and demon are created to destroy each other, they are destined for eternal battle. Instead, they fall into a consuming fascination that will change them both forever.

From Allison, Buyer: Perfectly raw, bitingly tender. An induced psychosis for a week. Our “heroine” showcase is deliciously cruel yet tragic. What makes a city? What does it mean to love a city? Nghi Vo has some nice answers. I'm looking forward to watching her do more original short form work.

Dark places

By Gillian Flynn
crown
$18X
May 2010
Buy

From the publisher: Libby Day was seven years old 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. 25 years later, the Kill Club – a secret society obsessed with infamous crimes – tracks down Libby and asks her for details. They hope to find evidence that could free Ben.

Libby hopes to gain something from her tragic story: she will get back in touch with the players from that night and report her findings to the club – for a fee. As Libby's search takes her from seedy strip clubs in Missouri to abandoned tourist towns in Oklahoma, the unimaginable truth is revealed and Libby finds herself back where she started – on the run from a murderer.

From Simon, bookseller: So you're somehow fascinated by true crime, but as an entertainment medium it bothers you, but you need an exciting story with a crazy twist. Welcome! Gillian Flynn writes to ruin you for other books, and her first novel is everything you want one to be Really screwed up cold case. In Dark Places, Libby investigates her family's unsolved murder in order to renew the well of compassion and royalties that kept her afloat as the sole survivor of an infamous tragedy.

THIS WEEK'S BOOK RECIPES COME FROM:

Old fire department books

232 Walnut St., Fort Collins

oldfirehousebooks.com

As part of The Colorado Sun's In the literature section – SunLit – we feature staff selections from bookstores across the state. Read more.