Recent Press & Endorsements for Road Seven

Publishers Weekly – “This well wrought speculative tale that is quirky and creepy by turn … the blend of genres, from science fiction to cosmic horror, is masterfully executed. Readers will be riveted by this clever, unsettling adventure.”- Full Review

Kirkus Reviews – “As in his Smoke City (2017), Rosson offers crisp characterization and surprising twists. Here he maps a magical journey through the wilds of rural Iceland and into a kaleidoscopic terrain filled with secretly active military bases, and muddied body parts that sully what began as an innocent expedition into the supernatural. … Rosson’s clever, swiftly paced story has more than enough to keep readers turning the pages and wanting to believe. …An engrossing and creative story of the wonders of the unknown with an Icelandic accent.” – Full Review

Foreword Reviews – “Inventive and empathetic, the novel is populated by broken people with deep flaws whose relationships are troubled … Cross-genre elements— including personalized, existential horror; noir threats; and the unsettling unknown—result in a disconcerting adventure whose dark humor prevails. Darkly comic and brimming with flawed characters, Road Seven examines the price of knowledge as the unknown becomes horrific.”

Lightspeed Magazine – “Read if: you like The X-Files; you want to believe something’s out there; you don’t regret finding what’s really out there.”

Ben Loory, author of Tales of Falling and Flying – “A wonderful book—funny, strange, perpetually surprising, aglow with insight and fierce compassion. Keith Rosson is one of my favorite writers; I’d follow him through the haunted woods any day.”

John McNally, author of The Fear of Everything and The Book of Ralph – “When was the last time I had this much fun reading a novel? Keith Rosson is a mixologist of fiction, and Road Seven, with its cryptozoology, Icelandic mysticism, science fiction-ey conspiracy-laden horror, is his craft cocktail. With the forward momentum of a T.C. Boyle novel but a vision wholly his own, Rosson emerges as one of fiction’s most exciting voices with a novel unlike any I’ve read.”

Roy Freirich, author of Deprivation and Winged Creatures – “With his unique, preternatural skills, Keith Rosson is back with Road Seven. Deeply dimensional characters struggle at their wits’ end with the emotional truths of their utterly flawed, conflicted, hapless selves. Dialogue vibrates with subtext in vividly imagined scenes described in always surprising, always apt words. He achieves the goal of so many writers: a style all his own that signifies in all the ways—from the subtlest touches to quick jabs, gut punches, and spin kicks that will floor you. Give yourself time to catch your breath, recover, and reread.”

Aconite Cafe (5 stars) – “This book is drool worthy … The story has so many moving parts, as you read it’s hard to see how they will ever fit together, or who might be hallucinating, but they magically piece together in a terrifying yet mystifying way. By the end you’re left wondering if you’re living your best life, if you’ve made the right choices, and what you can do to start doing so. If you love books that are deep yet fantastical, light but heavy- you’re going to want to pick up Road Seven.” – Full Review

Praise for Previous Work

Smoke City (Jan 2018)

[Ippy Award Silver Medalist, Benjamin Franklin Award Silver Medalist, Foreword Book of the Year Award Finalist]

Powell’s Best Fiction of 2018 – “”Rosson tackles the big life questions in this book, picking apart themes of purpose, redemption, suffering, forgiveness, addiction, passion, talent, guilt, the unknowable nature of life and death, the ways in which we help each other and the ways in which we hinder, the joy of living and the anticipation of death, and the absolute necessity of an examined life. His talent is staggering, his craft is meticulous, and his story is one of the quirkiest but most heartfelt I have ever read. He will clench your heart and drag you through his landscape of horror and bliss. You’ll be so utterly grateful for it.” – Full Article

Foreword Reviews (starred review) – “A brilliantly haunting tale of forgiveness and redemption even in the face of abject failure . . . Depravity and grace meet in a powerful, profound, and lavish banquet for the soul.” – Full Review

Linda Hepworth, Nudge-Book Magazine – “[A] story about hope, about love and about the essential decency of people . . . hugely satisfying . . . the literary quality of Keith Rosson’s writing is truly remarkable and, at times, quite breathtakingly beautiful.” – Full Review

Kirkus Reviews – “A surreal road novel about misfits on a journey to Southern California … An offbeat, strangely satisfying adventure through a land full of (literal) ghosts.” – Full Review

New York Journal of Books – “Keith Rosson has a remarkable talent. He’s created an enjoyable story, an offbeat, occasionally absurd but haunting tale of life, death, heartbreak, and ultimately, redemption—if not in the way expected.” – Full Review

Andromeda Spaceways Magazine (4.5 stars) – “Keith Rosson is making a name for himself as a genre-defying author, and this book fits that description. Perhaps magical realism would be the best label for his work. I enjoyed his blend of literary drama and the supernatural, and I’ll
be looking out for more of his work.”

Indiepicks Magazine – “Rosson creates a fantasy where a very real world of human relationships filled with common concerns such as forgiveness or guilt mixes with fantastic elements in a seemingly matter-of-fact way, similar to the slipstream style of writers such as Kelly Link, Ted Chiang, or Jonathan Lethem. Smoke City is an involving and engrossing blend of fantasy and the everyday, and is highly recommended to anyone looking for the sort of book that allow a reader to get lost within its pages.”

Razorcake Magazine – “Rosson is a gifted writer. Throughout Smoke City, he maintains distinct narrative voices, incorporating media reports and journal entries to add heft and credibility to a story that in lesser hands might not pack as much punch, or sound remotely feasible. Beyond the stylistic elements, though, what Rosson does here is create a cast of cantankerous, difficult characters—then he brings readers around to liking them.” – Full Review

The Mercy of the Tide (Feb 2017)

[Shortlisted for Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievment in a First Novel]

The Oregonian | Amy Wang – “For a true literary beach escape, seek out copies of Ursula K. Le Guin’s short story collection “Searoad,” Brian Doyle’s “Mink River” or Keith Rosson’s “The Mercy of the Tide.” All are set in fictional Oregon coastal communities.  –Amy Wang, The Oregonian” – Full Article

NPR Books | Jason Heller – “Rosson is a talent to be watched, and Riptide is one of the most immersive fictional settings in recent memory.” – Full Review

Razorcake Magazine | Matthew Hart – “The Mercy of the Tide is intense and beautiful, epically sad yet restorative like all great novels are. Affirmation in every sense of the term. Highly Recommended.” – Full Review

Razorcake Magazine | Kurt Morris – “The world of publishing is strange. It’s kind of like music in the sense of I don’t know why some albums get popular acclaim and others fall through the cracks. I’ve read books that are “successful” and they’re lost on me. Meanwhile, people like Rosson are putting out gripping, illustrative books like The Mercy of the Tide. God damn, if this isn’t made into a movie it’s a crying shame.” – Full Review

The Oregonian | Amy Wang – “. . . Rosson’s voice is sure; his characters are vividly, heartbreakingly human in their flaws and foibles and relationships; and his plot rolls relentlessly along, growing ever more nerve-wracking until the final, completely unsettling chapter. ” – Full Article/Interview

Publisher’s Weekly (Starred review) – “A striking novel” Full Review

Foreword Reviews (5/5 Hearts) – “An exquisitely honed, beautifully written novel.” Full Review