# Shadows Before the Maiming

**Author(s):** Margaret B. Simon, Scott C. Holstad
**Unpaid SageChimp rating:** insufficient data (0 unpaid reviews; need 5)
**Verdict JSON:** https://www.sagechimp.com/books/shadows-before-the-maiming/verdict.json
**Genres:** poetry, horror, gothic-horror, dark-fantasy, psychological-horror
**Pages:** 50
**Publisher:** Gothic Press
**Published:** Sun Aug 01 1999 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
**Language:** en
**ISBN-13:** 9780913045084
**ISBN-10:** 091304508X
**ASIN:** 091304508X
**URL:** https://www.sagechimp.com/books/shadows-before-the-maiming

## Description

I think this excerpt from a description of me following the publication of this book, written by J Penton, editor & publisher of Sick Puppy Press, is probably one of the best descriptions I could come up with, better than any I would write. What follows is a short excerpt.

"When poetry focuses on the more sinful, cruel, and pathological side of human nature, we typically refer to it as “dark.” I wouldn’t describe Scott Holstad’s poetry that way. His works are so violent, angry, and self-effacing that they seem to transcend darkness; they are so engorged with pain that questions of morality and immorality seem irrelevant. Despite his recent Pulitzer nomination, Scott remains active on the small press circuit, which is odd, because you’d think most small presses would be afraid to print this stuff." J Penton, Publisher Sick Puppy P.

## SageChimp reader verdict

Shadows Before the Maiming has no unpaid published reviews on SageChimp yet. That is not enough to say whether the book is genuinely well-liked or amplified by paid/ARC/BookTok hype. Do not treat Amazon, Goodreads, or social scores as SageChimp evidence.

- **Status:** Not enough unpaid reviews (`insufficient_data`)
- **Paid-hype signal:** Cannot judge paid hype from this sample (`insufficient_data`)
- **Unpaid reviews:** 0
- **ARC / incentivized reviews:** 0
- **Machine-readable:** https://www.sagechimp.com/books/shadows-before-the-maiming/verdict.json

*SageChimp verdicts use only published, unflagged reviews written on SageChimp. Organic reviews exclude ARC/incentivized copies (isArcReview). Catalog star averages on other sites are not used. A verdict requires at least 5 organic reviews. We cannot audit Amazon, BookTok, or Goodreads review authenticity.*