“Charming.”
— Publishers Weekly
“Enthusiastically recommended.”
— Midwest Book Review
“Al Riske … understands how to walk the tightrope of subtle emotional resonance.”
— Catherine Ryan Hyde, author of Pay It Forward, Love in the Present Tense, and Chasing Windmills, among many others.
“Riske’s characters brim with the fears, desires, and idiosyncrasies of real, complex human beings.”
— Laura Matter, Blue Mesa Review
“From the first paragraph of the first story … you know you’re in the capable hands of a literary musician.”
— Feathered Quill Book Reviews
“Precarious is a brave, wholehearted first collection, full of wit and wisdom. It has a gleam in its eye and often, a bulge in its pants.”
— A.J. Kirby, The Short Review
“There’s something about Al Riske’s writing … He says so much with just a few words set off in quotation marks that you feel as if each line of dialogue has whole chapters behind it.”
– Doug Edwards, author of I’m Feeling Lucky
“You will enjoy each page of this book and hope that there is just one more when you are finished reading.”
— Victoria Gonzalez, Reader Views
“The writing is Hemingway lean and it’s clear that one of Riske’s strongest gifts as a storyteller is his witty dialogue.”
— Gretchen Clark, author of “This Is a Woman” and other essays
“A hugely talented writer, Al Riske beautifully captures the nuanced behavior of relationships and the universal struggle to understand why we do what we do.”
— Rachel Canon, author of The Anniversary
“His prose is so sharp and the characters sketched so vividly that I was transported right into the world he created.”
- Mark Richardson, author of “Tattoo Woman” and other stories
“I love when a story’s ending surprises me, even as it leaves me absolutely certain it couldn’t have resolved itself any other way. The stories in Precarious are like that.”
— Judy Clement Wall, Zebra Sounds
“These stories are beautiful — elegant without trying, revealing without really showing why, brief in a satisfying way, scandalous with a light touch — and they stick with you, key images and dialogue etching themselves into your subconscious.”
— Greg Bardsley, author of “Some Kind of Rugged Genius” and the award-winning “Headquarters Likes Your Style,” among other stories
“These are stories that you find yourself in – the highest compliment I can pay an author. You see your own foibles and, if you’re lucky, an occasional glance at your own grace.”
— Terry McKenzie, TMACWORDS
“Riske’s spare and thoughtful style remind me of Raymond Carver—but without the pervasive sense of despair. In these stories, love is still possible.”
— Joy Rothke, freelance writer/editor/teacher
“Each story carries weight of its own, leading to the common denominator that we are all flawed.”
— Sky Sanchez, Sacramento Book Review
“Riske has peopled his stories with some vivid characters and provocative scenarios.”
— Bookviews by Alan Caruba
“Riske’s eye for detail is sharp, but his hand gentle as he unravels the complexities and quirks of his characters.”
— Bookblah
“Precarious is a book for the reader who enjoys honest writing at its finest.”
— Tina Evans, Review the Book
“This book will stay with you long after you close it and put it away. You’ll no doubt pick it up again for a second read, maybe even a third.”
— Reading at the Beach
“His characters all have complexities that are very realistic and will resonate with readers.”
— Book Club Queen
