Reviews

Praise for “Memoirscape: a cozy interactive experience”

Eurogamer:

This is Memoirscape, a self-styled ‘cosy escape room’ created as part of the Design of Interactive Experiences course at Massachusetts’ Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Its slightly sci-fi set-up casts players as participants in a live demonstration of Dr. Julia Adler’s work on interactive memories. […] Ultimately, Memoirscape invites a different kind of escapism beyond timed metrics, accommodating a range of playstyles to suit different tastes. For me, combing through its carefully curated period-appropriate books and ephemera was a joy, but other players might choose to simply hang out with their friends, play chess, and soak up its period atmosphere. Or they might opt to speedrun the puzzles and discover Adler’s secrets as quickly as possible. […] In this way Memoirscape perhaps subverts one of the fundamental principles of escape rooms; it isn’t that players are prevented from leaving, they’re presented with a space so cosy they don’t want to leave. (more…)

Praise for “Building the Spear: A ‘Blow the Man Down’ Text Adventure”

Fanhackers:

Katherine Crighton, Dr. Naomi Jacobs and Shivhan Szabo introduced an online game where you can create new fanworks for your blorbo for the newest fannish sensation: Blow the Man Down. The catch is, this fannish sensation is not a TV show. The story is reverse engineered through the fanworks created for it, but in a sense, it doesn’t exist. Your blorbo also doesn’t exist. My blorbo is real cool, though, their name is Bogdán. (more…)

Praise for “DEMON FIGHTER SUCKS”

Tor Nightfire:

June 2021’s Best Horror Short Fiction and Poetry

I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for stories based online or in chat rooms, about YouTubers or streamers–really any story that showcases the wild world of the web–and Katherine Crighton’s ‘Demon Fighter Sucks’ does that and so much more. […] ‘Demon Fighter Sucks’ is one of those horror stories that’s a bit funny, a bit sad, and fun to read. (more…)

Locus:

Run is a 16-year-old girl who – as part of her campaign against the fake magic of supernatural TV shows – attempts to summon a fairy for her Fun with Public Domain Magic livestream. Both entertaining and poignant. (more…)

Quick Sip Reviews:

A story that unfolds as the description of a vlog where the host debunks magic from a Supernatural-esque show that she once loved and now hates because its magic failed to save her mother. This episode focuses on a summoning spell and the piece is well constructed, emotional, and pulls down to an ending that is both grim and hopeful all at once, shattering in more ways than one. A wonderful story! (more…)

Praise for “Sing in Me, Muse”

Quick Sip Reviews:

The piece has a song-like quality to it, bright at first, triumphant, but swirling down into something else as the piece moves, ending in a kind of crush of loss and grief, a cycle of silence and oppression. […] It’s a wrenching story of resistance and space, hope and song, and it’s a great read! (more…)

Praise for “The Lies We Tell Our Children”

Dab of Darkness Book Reviews:

Very nice sadly sweet story. (more…)

Praise for Salt and Silver

Publishers Weekly:

Starred Review

This lively tale of demons and gods, the debut effort of Katherine Macdonald and former Tor editor Anna Genoese, opens six years after witty, sarcastic Allie, a trust fund baby turned Brooklyn diner manager, inadvertently generates a door to hell in the diner’s basement[…]. Genoese and Macdonald mix multiple mythologies into a charming, biting cautionary narrative about taking responsibility for one’s actions. (more…)

Romantic Times Books Review:

Top Pick!
4 1/2 stars

Allie is the newest heroine on the scene, trading designer clothes for demon slaying. Her first adventure is filled with interesting twists on paranormal creatures, and the story is one of a kind. The action and romance is interlaced with humor, bringing a readability to tough topics. (more…)

Romance Reviews Today:

A Perfect 10

With a smart, sassy, and brave heroine whose life has changed dramatically, SALT AND SILVER makes a clever, action-packed story. Allie prefers work to her previous idle lifestyle, and she enjoys it with cheeky attitude. Ryan makes a strong, dedicated hero who annoys Allie no end. Remarkable secondary characters contribute important aspects to the business of closing the doors to hell. A fast paced and humor-laced story, SALT AND SILVER deserves RRT’s Perfect 10. Oh, FYI: salt protects and silver heals. It’s all magical stuff too good to miss. (more…)

SFRevu:

Anna Katherine turns in a fun, fast-paced paranormal romance in Salt and Silver, serving up a worthy heroine in Allie and a hot love interest in Ryan […]. She also provides a great supporting character for Allie in the form of Amanda, whose train wreck lifestyle masks a depth of compassion and love for her friend. Perfect for fans of dark urban fantasy, Salt and Silver is an interesting, quirky book with an awful lot to say in nearly 360 pages. (more…)

The Book Smugglers:

I devoured the book and I was riveted with every single detail […] A fantastic heroine with an engaging narrative voice, some lovely romance and a fascinating trip to Hell. Highly recommended. (more…)

Romance Junkies:

Many urban fantasy novels touch on Hell and some give descriptions of it, but few touch on as many dimensions and with as much detail as Anna Katherine in SALT AND SILVER. Anna Katherine, a pseudonym for two women, have written an action-packed debut that moves forward at a steady clip. Tension, romantic and otherwise, grows as the story progresses, and the ending might come as a surprise, one of the things I liked most. […] Overall, a terrific and unique story. (more…)