Okay, I admit it. Every once in a while I Google my own name to see if there's anything new. To my surprise, I found this review of a short story I published in Identity Theory about a year ago. I don't know you, Mr. Ott, but I like you very very much and I thank you for liking my story. If readers would like to read it, there's a link to this story right here on my blog, as well as links to a lot of published poetry, short fiction and essays.
Demon Love Story by Tree Riesener is a lyric piece of magical realism in a domestic setting. Through the use of a loose second-person point of view, the narrator tells the story of abandoning a long-term, comfortable relationship with Satan to pursue the excitement of a life of affairs and relationships with more suitable amorous interests. But after working through the end of the relationship with the Demon Lover in very real terms, the narrator’s new life playing the field eventually finds the way back to a relationship with a changed, improved Satan,
which is yet a life with Satan nonetheless.
The primary attraction of this piece is the skilful use of Satan to personify a relationship that, while mature and developed, lacks the romance that this life should embody. The narrative manages to capture very quickly the essence of new, vibrant love appearing for somebody already in a committed arrangement and contrast it against a pre-existing love of convenience. Particularly stunning is the detailed, contemporary feel of the everyday events catalogued to illustrate the end of a relationship and the adventure of entering new romantic frontiers as well as how, though all new love gives way to old love, the essential nature of a mature relationship can change with experience.