Stay on the Line, a novelette written by Clay McLeod Chapman, brings to life a small coastal town following a devastating hurricane. The survivors gravitate towards a long out-of-service payphone booth that has more in store for them they could imagine.
This phone booth allows the townspeople to talk to their loved ones and give one last goodbye, but as more people answer the call, friends and family believed to have been lost to the storm begin searching for a way back home. As big fans of Chapman’s work, this novelette didn’t disappoint. We found the idea of a phone booth that allows you to talk to those who have passed a wonderful and imaginative story.
Chapman’s writing has the ability to captivate and draw us in with only a few words. In Stay on the Line, he weaves elements of horror into a story about grief to create a story that kept us gripping the book while feeling for those involved. Pacing can be tough to nail down in a short story, novella or novelette with a limited number of pages to tell the story, however, Chapman’s pacing was perfect to creative a sense of suspense and tension.
While the length of this story didn’t hold anything back, we would love to see what could happen with a longer format to flesh out some of these characters we are introduced. The little we know about each character gives us enough to relate and feel for them, but knowing a bit more would just give us that much more in which to attach ourselves.
The imagery in Stay on the Line is vivid and even unsettling at times. Chapman paints us a picture of a town torn apart by a devastating storm and how they handle the tragedy when haunted by ghosts both literal and metaphorical. His attention to detail brings the book to life in such an eerie way.
As a bonus, Trevor Henderson added a few illustrations throughout the book which just adds to the experience.
Stay on the Line by Clay McLeod Chapman is hauntingly beautiful. The story explores themes of loss, but in such a unique way. Chapman is one talented writer and this novelette continues to prove he doesn’t need a ton of space to tell a gripping story. Stay on the Line is calling, will you pick up?
Stay on the Line hits bookstores everywhere on July 30, 2024 from Shortwave Publishing.
