To Read & To Write

“Then Kate sank back upon her pillows and allowed herself the luxury of terror,” reads the closing sentence of Chapter 29 in Gregory Frost’s “Fitcher’s Brides: The Tale of Bluebeard, Re-Envisioned As A Dark Fable of Faith and Truth”. Indeed, this is much what reading the book is like: allowing yourself the luxury of terror while witnessing the effects of a twisted, power-obsessed, murderous preacher’s sermon grasping the minds of the spiritually weak community, all the while knowing that innocent women will be tortured under that same preacher’s hands. Why continue reading? Something about the bone-chilling revelation about the dirtier nature of organized religion (its power to repress, to oppress, and to control) urges you to read on, knowing deep down that some of this fiction has truth within it’s pages. Luckily, like Kate at that moment in the story, you are snuggled and safe under the covers of a warm bed. But also like Kate, you are somewhat unsure of what tomorrow might bri...