Welcome to another installment of If My Book, the Monkeybicycle feature in which authors compare their recently released books to weird things. This week Lori D’Angelo writes about The Monsters Are Here, her new story collection out now from ELJ Editions.
If The Monsters Are Here were a Mass time, it would be midnight: scary, sacred, and veiled in mystery.
If The Monsters Are Here were a Downtown Abbey character, it would be Mary–smart, sassy, fearless, hopelessly romantic, and absolutely determined.
If The Monsters Are Here were a Batman, it would be Michael Keaton: handsome, funny, and dark but not too broody.
If The Monsters Are Here were an X-Files episode, it would be “Darkness Falls,” crackling with chemistry, out in the woods creepy and a little wild but not afraid to laugh at itself.
If The Monsters Are Here were a Mattel doll, it would be wisecracking, still hanging in there but deeply scarred Weird Barbie.
If The Monsters Are Here were a Bond movie, it would be strange, sizzling, fate-infused funeral procession filled Live and Let Die.
If The Monsters Are Here were a mystery novel protagonist, it would be The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’s innocuous-seeming outsider underestimate-me-at-your-peril Lisbeth Salander.
If The Monsters Are Here were a Taylor Swift song, it would be the twisty, complicated yet still likable “Anti-Hero.”
If The Monsters Are Here were a scifi show, it would be Ron Moore’s robot-human grappling with faith and doubt and big societal issues in space (2004) Battlestar Galactica.
If The Monsters Are Here were a Shakespeare play, it would be magic-infused swirling with shadows and tragedy Macbeth.
If The Monsters Are Here were a poet, it would be intense unsettling Emily Dickinson.
If The Monsters Are Here were a David E. Kelly television drama, it would be Pickett Fences.
If The Monsters Are Here were a playing card, it would be the Ace of Spades: ominous, sinister, and extremely powerful.
Lori D’Angelo is a grant recipient from the Elizabeth George Foundation and an alumna of the Community of Writers. Her recent work has appeared in various literary journals including Anti-Heroin Chic, BULL, Bullshit Lit, Chaotic Merge, Ellipsis Zine, Idle Ink, Litmora, Rejection Letters, Thin Veil Press, and Voidspace. She earned her BSJ from Northwestern University with a double major in English-creative writing. She has a master’s degree from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, a master’s degree from the University of Dayton, and an MFA in creative writing from West Virginia University. Originally from Pittsburgh, she now lives in central Virginia with her family. Find her on Twitter and Bluesky @sclly21 or Instagram and Threads at lori.dangelo1.
