Stay on the Line

A Novelette

De: Clay McLeod Chapman

Narrado por: Patricia Santomasso, Sean Patrick Hopkins

After a small coastal town is devastated by a hurricane, the survivors gravitate toward a long out-of-service payphone in hopes of talking out their grief and saying goodbye to loved ones, only for it to begin ringing on its own. As more townspeople answer the call, friends and family believed to have been lost to the storm begin searching for a way back home.

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Reseñas de la Crítica

"This book is a literary punch to the heart." —New York Times

Must read!

Stay On The Line
By Clay McLeod Chapman
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
When a hurricane blows through the town of Brandywine and the lives of many are lost, their family members are all grief stricken. Until one day, they see a woman who seems to be talking to someone in the abandoned phone booth. Jenny lost her husband and is left alone to raise their daughter Shelby. When Jenny decides to venture into the phone booth, she’s amazed to find her husband’s voice on the line. What starts as a sprinkle of joy in her life soon turns to one of fear and uncertainty.
Patricia narrates this book with ease. She brought this book to life with her steady tone and flow. Sean’s role on the other side of phone line is portrayed with such emotion. The sound effects used really transport you into the book as if you are in that phone booth with Jenny.

Reach Out and Touch Someone

“Reach out and touch someone.”

This was the slogan gracing television and radio waves throughout the 1980s courtesy of phone giant AT&T’s marketing campaigns. Long before emails, texting, and social media DMs took over as means of long-distance communication, there was the stationary, rooted-in-one-place landline telephone.

In Clay McLeod Chapman’s subtextual novelette STAY ON THE LINE (2024), this landline comes in the form of a telephone booth, an instrument so prevalent at one time, it was actually adopted as Clark Kent’s “changing room” when he would need to transform into everyone’s favorite alien hero Superman. Here, the payphone relic is the center of transformation once again, but now in a present-day seaside town where it stands the test of time and the powerful winds of a devastating hurricane. Except this landline not only reaches out to loved ones -- it reaches out to the dead.

The Story

Brandywine, population 233, situated somewhere along the Chesapeake Bay where fishing is the main industry of the day, is home to married couple Jenny (bartender at the fisherman bar) and Collum (the fisherman) and their young daughter Shelby. As Hurricane Audrey (who Jenny calls “the other woman”) is about to make landfall into their small town, Collum decides to check on his boat to make sure it’s anchored and prepared for the impact much to Jenny’s protest. “Be right back,” he tells her. Unfortunately, Collum never makes it back home, leaving Jenny without a husband and Shelby without a father. Through all of this, I couldn’t help but think of Looking Glass’s one hit wonder from the 1970s “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” where the fisherman tells the titular bartender who is in love with him, “my life my love and my lady is the sea” as he leaves her behind the bar. I’m sure the name of the town is just a coincidence…?

As the town begins mourning those they lost in the storm, the monolithic artifact from the past standing outside Jenny’s bar begins to work again, connecting Brandywine’s citizens with the voices of their recently deceased/missing loved ones.

Jenny hears Collum’s voice again, giving her a sense of hope that he’s still alive somewhere out there (“I know that look: hope”). It’s only when the residents who have communicated with their loved ones end up dead themselves, washed ashore and half-eaten by the oceanic wildlife, does Jenny begin to question the phone booth’s purpose and the voices on the other end of its wire.

The Subtext

If you haven’t figured it out by now, this emotional punch of a story is full of subtext and Chapman does an excellent job presenting it within this small space.

Examples:

The Past – It should not be lost on the reader that an artifact from the past is the device used to connect to the past, both lost to the “before.” The phone booth has a landline, something that doesn’t move, something frozen in place and time. It holds us in place as we grieve for another life once lived that we can no longer have. The booth becomes a sarcophagus made of glass and metal. But we must believe…we must have faith…

Religion – You must have faith in order to believe. Even when the evidence tells you different, even when your common sense says otherwise, you must believe the impossible to be possible. There are even symbolic moments that try to convince you, like when the booth appears under the streetlight in the dark of night, as if sent from the Heavens above. It must be a sign, right?

Cults –Related to religion before it, when we are grieving, in a state of shock, dealing with trauma, we become the most vulnerable versions of ourselves, and predators at the door are ready to pounce. The booth becomes a remodeled and refurbished shrine, even in better shape than it had been during its heyday.

Addiction – The residents become addicted to the voices on the other end, they even become hostile to one another, obsessive, possessive, often exhibiting tics and irritation. The citizens, including Jenny, even begin hearing the voices of their loved ones in their heads without the telephone up to their ears. They need it. They can’t live without it.

Mythology – From the sea, they sing their beautiful songs of hope that entice the fisherman to forget everything they know and join them in the deep waters of oblivion. I am of course talking about the Sirens reaching out and touching someone – forever.

Karma – It’s stated explicitly in the story about how the phone calls are like fishing lines, hoping people stay on the line, hooked by the voices, and eventually get reeled in. The subtext though? This is a town that has benefited from its fishing industry and now the roles have reversed.

The Performances

Human emotions are complex. Losing a loved one can bring sorrow so deep it can drown the bereaved in a stalled life full of false hopes with a vulnerability to be preyed upon by nefarious players. But it’s what we do with the sorrow that can provide us with a lifesaver or, on the other hand, a pair of cement shoes.

And this complexity is superbly brought to life through the performance of narrator Patricia Santomasso.

“How could you leave us?” The sorrow is palpable through the speakers when Santomasso provides it. The emotion is transferred to listener, and we feel humanity pouring through the anger, resentment, vulnerability, false hope, and eventually acceptance. The heart wrenching story is made that much stronger by her performance. Only a human who’s lived, lost, and loved can deliver it.

Which is why Santomasso’s performance gives me REAL hope when it comes to human narrators preventing the AI clones from taking over, particularly for voice acting in fiction whether it be audiobooks, audiodramas, animation, or even video games. The nuances of human emotion cannot be taught, nor can they be authenticated through the most proficient of artificial means.

Santomasso provides different voices throughout the story, even Collum’s voice, until the also-talented Sean Patrick Hopkins provides the voice for the Collum on the other end of the phone booth line. Flat at first before gradually becoming entrusting and then becoming something entirely different, the change of voice is an ingenious move as you will understand once you hear the full story. Kudos to Hopkins for providing that chill you’ll feel going up and down your spine at one point in the conversation.

The Conclusion

Do we hang on to the past, wallow in our grief, hoping and wishing for a return of how things used to be? Do we allow the grief to swallow us up and pull us in the undertow of eternity? Do we adopt a new religion or join a cult with the hopes that we will see our lost loved ones again sooner rather than later, not allowing anything to stand in our way of doing so? Or do we move forward, determined to live in our present and to continue living in our future, if not for us, then for somebody else we dearly love?

Much like the AT&T slogan of old said “reach out and touch someone,” this story and the performances did exactly that for me. I hope it’ll touch you too.

Deft manipulation of the horror of grief

Ooh, this was such a compelling listen. Patricia Santomasso had me “on the line” from the first sentence. The chilling foreboding in this novelette plays out so beautifully from the opening moments of her performance. The raw intensity in her voice finds a delicious counterpoint in Sean Patrick Hopkins’ smoothly layered swell towards the sinister. No spoilers but the ending left me quite… unsettled. Definitely seeking out more titles from this author and narrators!

Fantastic story with very talented narrators!

This story grabbed me from the first line and never let up. It was well plotted and well paced but the thing that really made it stand out to me was the emotional depth and humanity in it. The narrators, especially Tricia Santomasso, did a wonderful job of bringing those aspects to life. There were a couple points I actually found myself tearing up. Sean Patrick Hopkins who read for the husband is Tricia’s spouse and knowing the two are romantic partners added an extra layer of realism and depth to a story that is already resonant with those qualities. All these elements came together to make for an immersive and thoroughly enjoyable narrative experience that I highly recommend!

Creepy story, exemplary performances

Great story, combined with flawless narration! Quick listen, but it sticks with you. Very atmospheric, very intense.

Holy H*LL, That Was Awesome!

Since Chapman's Kill Your Darling, I have become a nearly rabid fan of his work. I jumped at the chance to listen to this short audiobook and you should do the same!

Grief horror is a thing and I am here for it. Who wouldn't want to hear again the voices of those they have loved and lost? You can see the cover of the book and now you have an idea where it's going and that's all you're getting plot-wise.

The audiobook edition of this is the way to go, honestly. Patricia Santomasso and Sean Patrick Hopkins offer up exceptional performances and there are a few other cool audio touches to make this extra special.

That's all can tell you about this audio novelette other than that you need to hop on this, like NOW. It's a short, sharp, shock of a tale that only Clay McLeod Chapman can provide!

My highest recommendation!

*ARC from narrator

It’ll give you the creeps in broad daylight!

I’m glad I listened to this book by the light of day because I don’t think I would have slept well if I had listened at night. The narration is excellent- pauses at all the right moments, pure terror creeping into her voice as the story ramps up. In the spirit of Pet Sematary, makes you wonder what lengths you’d go to to connect with a lost loved one. And is it ever worth it in the end? Have a listen! You won’t be disappointed.