Hottest Authors of the Summer: Three Local Authors Share their Beach Reads

VICTORIA DALPE: Alone in the woods, some of us find solace. In that solace, some of us find fear – afraid of what lurks in the shadows or what lurks within? Victoria Dalpe is a Rhode Island horror writer. She delves into the complexities of our tortured nature in her book series “Selene Shade: Resurrectionist For Hire.” Dalpe, a member of the Horror Writers and New England Horror Writers Associations, has always been fascinated with stories. Disillusioned with museum work and desk jobs, she took a significant career pivot to focus on writing. Years later, she has 40-plus short stories in different horror anthologies and is a massive figure in RI’s horror literature scene. Her latest publication is Book One of a series. Meet Selene Shade, “a resurrectionist for hire who may have taken on the wrong case.” In Dalpe’s world, a resurrectionist for hire is someone paid to bring people back from the dead. Dalpe comments, “Everyone in the book is just a little askew of what you could expect. I like taking fantasy and making it mundane.” The read, she says, is “fun and fast. The world is in peril. People are getting murdered, but it isn’t nihilistic. It has a little bit for everyone.” Her first installment in the series comes out in September, with a book release party at Lovecraft Arts and Sciences on the 20th from 6 – 8pm. While you wait for Book One to drop, you can read her highly-rated short story collection Les Femmes Grotesques and her novel Parasite Life. Or, you can take her advice and enjoy the virtues of RI summer; “the best part – all the oysters and lobsters everywhere. Oh, and the seagulls stealing your french fries.”

CHRISTA CARMEN: It is common knowledge that the streets of Rhode Island are haunted. Despite its extensive history, there is a certain eeriness about particular places. An unnamed shiver runs up the spine of those who traverse the old roads, beachside villages, and quiet towns alone. Christa Carmen, another horror writer from Rhode Island, draws her inspiration from our tiny state. She began her career as a writer by first being a voracious reader. She was drawn predominantly to “spookier stuff.” As she gained momentum in her craft, becoming a part of the horror and dark fiction community and graduating from an MFA program, she always strove to write about “things that scare me [sic].” On top of many other accolades, her 2018 short story collection, Something Borrowed, Something Blood-soaked, won an Indie Horror Book Award. Her latest book, Daughters of Block Island, won a Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel. Daughters of Block Island is reviewed as an “ingenious and subversive twist on the classic gothic novel, the mysterious past of an island mansion lures two sisters into a spiderweb of scandal, secrets, and murder.” Carmen considers it the perfect beach read because, “It’s suspenseful and takes place on an island. It is fast-paced, and people like their beach reads that way.” Next time you trundle off to the beach with all your goodies, be sure to visit your local bookstore and pick up a copy, and while you do that, make sure to preorder her next book “Beneath the Poets House.” Releasing on December 10th, 2024, Beneath the Poets House is a modern ghost story that takes place right in our backyard, at 88 Benefit St.

CLAUDIA GEIB: You are in the jungle. Outside your window is a concrete sea. Smog engulfs the air. Hunks of metal roll under a sun blocked by rectangular bricks. To you, the city-dweller, the closest you’ve ever gotten to the idea of an elephant is the RIPTA bus. Thankfully, Claudia Geib, a renowned New England-based naturalist, can take us to the continents where nature sprawls unencumbered without us ever having to leave our meager patios. Geib was a kid who was fascinated with science. She loved being outdoors and in the woods. Geib was unsure how to channel this into a career until a stroke of luck introduced her to a college mentor who advocated for her entry into science journalism. With an undergrad degree in environmental science and a graduate degree in journalism, she approaches her writing with a natural curiosity backed by her rigorous study. Geib is interested specifically in “biophilia.” The fact is humans have a natural connection to the environment around them. Plants and animals all get removed through the modern world and all these magnificent conveniences, but the more time we spend outside, the more it feels like the place we belong.” Geib’s latest book, Secrets of the Elephants, came out through National Geographic Press and takes you on a journey with four different subspecies of elephants through the continents of Asia and Africa. She says, “You can put it down and come back to take a swim, build a sandcastle with friends, and come back and pick it right up. That’s what makes it a good beach read.” Perfect for the Ocean State. •