Diabolical Plots #105, November 2023

“In the Shelter of Ghosts” by Risa Wolf

Reviewed by David Wesley Hill

“In the Shelter of Ghosts” by Risa Wolf, the November offering of Diabolical Plots, takes us to a truly dismal future world in the grip of a pandemic. What differentiates this story from other post-apocalyptic fiction is that “the bug” rarely harms people—but it destroys all but the most durable human objects. Even houses are fair game to this plague, and most people are homeless, or sleeping in old stone structures, or squatting four to a room in steel shipping containers. This is the situation Rory is in—the bug ate away the house her father had built—but she is determined to defy the odds and build a home for herself that will withstand the infestation. The only way to do this, however, involves holding a seance and enlisting the aid of a dead ancestor … and dead ancestors are notoriously unpredictable…. A quirky story with an intriguing premise but not enough epiphany. Interesting.