Musos

Of course, I loved Laura.I loved her my whole life.At least, as much of it as I can remember.And I guess, then, only most of it.But I loved her.And I didn’t kill her.Don’t get me wrong, I killed that girl.It wasn’t Laura.The best that I can gather is, the best that I imagine is, the best that I can reason is, that when, that thing, I did do it, Laura died."Every human being in MUSOS has the flesh of every other human being in their stomach. To read MUSOS is to taste their unctuous gorge." – John Trefry, author of PLATS“A masterful exploration of obsession, tortured self-consciousness, and the transcendent allure of murder, which can be suppressed for a time but never overcome. At once philosophically expansive and physically relentless, Elsby has given us a first-person narrator as slippery as the best of Nabokov's, and an arena of violence as unflinching as the best of the New French Extremity, all of which somehow coalesces into a poignant story of true love.” – David Leo Rice, author of The New House"MUSOS is the most damning and incisive portrait of humanity and selfhood I've ever encountered. It is somehow operatically grandiose and entirely stripped-down. Elsby is the rare soul who can channel darkness and transform it. I will never, ever forget hearing her read the concluding pages of this book aloud. Its power radiates; it is more force than book." – Lindsay Lerman, author of What Are You“Sartre says hell is other people, Wittgenstein says it’s yourself. In Musos, Charlene Elsby confronts something more terrifying: we desire the hell in others.” – Andrew J. Wilt, author of Age of Agility and founder of 11:11 Press

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