Author profile: Elissa Malcohn

April 1, 10:14 PMTampa Books ExaminerJulianne Draper

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author Elissa Malcohn; photo credits: author

No, not all the talented writers are published by the Big Houses; well this reader says that’s just too bad because there are some great writers out there, and it’s a shame to think the next  John Steinbeck or Bram Stoker, or Virginia Woolf (self-published via the Hogarth Press--housed in her living room), might, at this moment, be toiling away unnoticed, just because big flashy dollar signs are shining a bit too brightly in someone’s eyes to see what a subtle pearl lies before them.
 

And yet, some do manage to make a name for themselves, even without help from the Big Guys. Take Ms. Elissa Malcohn, a talented and very kind, mild mannered fantasy and horror writer from Citrus County, Florida whose novel Covenant shows some killer talent, and reminds this reader of that paragon of science fiction and fantasy: Robert Silverberg; and her oeuvre doesn’t stop there. No, indeed, it is lengthy and one that could put many writers to shame, with everything from short fiction to poetry, creative non-fiction and a novel manuscript or three to her name; in October 2008 she was keynote speaker at the Florida State Poet’s Association; she has been an attendee at the annual Fantasy and Science Fiction convention in St. Petersburg,  the Necronomicon; she has short stories published in a variety of SciFi magazines , while her story “Hermit Crabs”, in particular, was published in Electric Velocipede, a fanzine that is on this year’s ballot for the Hugo Awards (the Hugo Awards, people!); all which can be sampled at her home page. Furthermore, the news came in just a few days ago that Dark Scribe's anthology Unspeakable Horror, has found its name among the nominees for this year’s prestigious Bram Stoker Award—and Ms. Malcohn’s short story “Memento Mori” is among the stories housed within that tome's now-honored pages.

This is huge, heady stuff; congratulations are definitely in order! And here Ms. Malcohn  is, hidden away in little ole Florida; one can only wonder, how can so much talent pass by the Big Guys? How can we keep such great secrets to ourselves, and not share them with the world? That, I hope I have done here. Maybe it's only a matter of time before the world at large does find the stars in our midst—or at least, this one?  I, for one, certainly hope so.