Praise for The Naming of Ghosts

“[An] arresting collection . . . . Albert Camus would admire this book.”

 —Fred Chappell

"What I admire most about Steve Mitchell's stories is the sheer beauty of his melancholic prose. His voice is outstanding and will stay with you for a long time after you finish his book." 

— Peter H. Fogtdal, author of The Tsar's Dwarf

“Steve Mitchell's lyrical prose and beautifully crafted stories haunt the reader long after the final pages. His characters are so full and fascinating, and the urgency of their need to connect is so strong.  Poignant, inspiring, and compelling, The Naming of Ghosts is the finest collection of stories out there.” 

— Frances Badgett, Fiction Editor at Contrary Magazine

“Steve Mitchell’s stories seem to play out in dimensions that fluidly interconnect our palpable and dreamy selves. Whether they “stroke waves of heat into [our] flesh” as in “Dandelion,” or happen “when the world had darkened so deeply that only tears, and more tears, would soften it at all” as in “Wave,”  we often arrive at transformation without conscious knowledge of how we were transported. Mitchell’s storytelling is remarkable in its hypnotic rhythms, in the unique voice. Story after story in The Naming of Ghosts stays with us long after the ending. This is an impressive collection that must be read, and read again.” 

— Alexander Pepple, Editor of Able Muse and Able Muse Anthology

About the Author

Steve Mitchell has been a construction worker, cowboy, substitute teacher, chef, and has developed and managed a mental health program for the chronic mentally ill. He's worked in theatre, film and multi-voice poetry. His work has been published in the Southeast Review, Contrary, Glossolalia, and The North Carolina Literary Review, among others, and has been nominated three times for the Pushcart Prize. His short story, “Above the Rooftop,” was named a storySouth Million Writers Award Notable Story of 2010, and he is currently completing a novel, Body of Trust. He has a deep belief in the primacy of doubt and an abiding conviction that great wisdom can inhabit very bad movies. He has an ambivalent relationship with his cat, Mr. Zip. Sometimes, he just doesn't know. And that's all right.