the naming of ghosts

The Naming of Ghosts includes four Pushcart Prize nominated short stories including Platform, Above the Rooftop, and Wave. Published by Press 53.

Buy The Naming of Ghosts

People are Saying

“’This time I’m not walking. I am a still point. This time, I merely sit quietly and allow the full weight of joy, of family, of the love we share, to bear me forward into a moment of glory where for one single and splendid instant I am absolutely one with every soul around me and the terror of it burns me clean.’ This is perhaps the most telling passage in Steve Mitchell’s impressive volume because it reveals in dramatic though indirect fashion one theme common to almost all the stories in The Naming of Ghosts: the unabidable fear of loneliness, the need to escape by any means the solitary confinement of self.

Albert Camus would admire this book.”
Fred Chappell, North Carolina Literary Review

“What I admire most about 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 the book.”

-Peter Fogtdal, 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, Contrary Magazine

“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, Able Muse

Fred Armisen reads The Naming of Ghosts in an episode of Portlandia.