Bewildering Stories welcomes...

Shayne Holzman

Shayne rode equestrian at a young age, but in high school she was beset by many psychological problems. Her poems and fiction deal with her struggle with the stigma attached to her illness.

“Color My Face” is powerful and unsettling to the point of being scary. Readers have to think: “This could happen to me.” But the story is unusually compelling for a completely different reason: there is no self-pity or despair of doom. Rather, the story reflects a cool intelligence, as though to say: “these are the symptoms, and this is what life is like with this infirmity.”

As a result, there are even touches of humor in circumstances one would normally find distressing. The language reflects a blurring of cause and effect as well as of identities. And utterly unexpected words leap out of sentences that might otherwise appear mundane.

At its best, fiction transcends history and case studies by bringing their stories to life, and that’s what “Color My Face” does.

Shayne Holzman’s bio sketch can be found here.

Welcome to Bewildering Stories, Shayne. We hope to hear from you again soon and often!