Horror and intimacy are central in the telling of The Sturgeon's Heart by Amy E. Casey. The tale begins in a Duluth apartment where a man notices the outer layers of his skin beginning to fade from sight.
For the author, inspiration and motivation are found at the intersecting point of reality and fantasy. "I, as a writer, am very much drawn to finding the magical and the horrifying in the everyday," says Casey. In this contemporary monster story, Casey looks to classical themes like transformation and fear while maintaining an intimate perspective. "My stories are very character driven... I really love that deep exploration that makes a character real."
The exploration doesn't stop with the characters. Casey sets the scene in Duluth, Minnesota. "I am a very setting-first writer," says Casey who has a fondness for Duluth and the Northshore. "It's beautiful, it's kind of wild, it's often cold, sometimes even dangerous... to me that was a setting that was calling out for a monster story."
The Northeastern Minnesota Book Award nominated The Sturgeon's Heart can be found wherever books are sold. "[The book] can also be requested from your public library," says Casey.
Minnesota Reads is produced at The North 103.3 with funding provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.