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Tracy's avatar

Great story and job of building suspense!

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Lev Raphael's avatar

Thanks! I think it's really one of the best stories I've published since I began my career.

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M.E. Proctor's avatar

I had a feeling when I read the story last week that there was some real stuff in there! I could see that flat, and the portrait, brrrr!

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Lev Raphael's avatar

It helped me to publish two memoir essays about experiences in the US in Paranormal Magazine to get going with this short story, which is heavily fictionalized. There's a bit of Poe there and other classic writers of Gothic tales.

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Liz Gauffreau's avatar

I enjoyed reading your story. It reminded me a great deal of Henry James.

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Lev Raphael's avatar

That is the most wonderful thing you can say. I am a Jamesian and also a Whartonian, and both writers' ghost stories were something I studied while working on this one. Mille fois merci!

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Liz Gauffreau's avatar

I'm glad! You're welcome.

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Lev Raphael's avatar

Sending you a cyber hug. One of the coolest things my college mentor said to me was that my novel Rosedale in Love, a revision of The House of Mirth, was a Jamesian take on Wharton. I was thrilled.

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Liz Gauffreau's avatar

Thank you for the hug!

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