The Pre-Loved edit from Shopbop
To share your reaction on this item, open the Amazon app from the App Store or Google Play on your phone.

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Alice Walks Kindle Edition

4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 15 ratings

"Alice walks. She walks 'cause she can't breathe. She's angry that you can."

Fourteen-year-old Alice Arthur had drowned that past summer. When Mikey Fitzsimmons and his friends go to St. Mary's Cemetery to hang out and tell ghost stories, Mikey invents a legend about Alice to scare his pals.

Inspired by Mikey's frightening tale, the friends make their way down to the mausoleum -- to open the heavy granite door, to move aside the mosquito netting, to creep up for a closer look at the body.

They had no idea what they were to awaken down there.

"...a masterpiece, subtle, scary, brilliant. Michael Aronovitz's literate style perfectly suits this frightening tale. His voice is all his own, but contains nostalgic notes of Ray Bradbury and delicious hints of Dan Simmons. Alice Walks is one of the finest ghost stories I've ever loved." --Tamara Thorne


From the Publisher

Cemetery Dance Publications - Michael Aronovitz

More About Cemetery Dance Publicationa

Founded by Richard Chizmar in 1988, Cemetery Dance Publications is a specialty press and small press publisher of horror and dark suspense. We've published Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Ray Bradbury, Peter Straub, William Peter Blatty, Clive Barker, Gillian Flynn, Scott Smith, Daphne du Maurier, Justin Cronin, Frank Darabont, Mick Garris, Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child, Max Brooks, Joe R. Lansdale, Norman Partridge, Richard Laymon, Michael Slade, Graham Masterton, Douglas Clegg, Jack Ketchum, William F. Nolan, Nancy A. Collins, Al Sarrantonio, John Skipp, Michael Koryta, and many other horror writers, both classic and contemporary.

Michael Aronovitz

More About Michael Aronovtiz

novels include Dancing With Tombstones, Alice Walks, The Witch of the Wood, Phantom Effect, and The Sculptor (January 2021), his collections – Seven Deadly Pleasures and The Voices in Our Heads. Aronovitz has published more than fifty short stories, and has appeared in magazines and anthologies such as Weird Tales, Searchers After Horror, and Apostles of the Weird. His short story titled “How Bria Died” was featured in The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror, 2011, Prime Books, and currently, Aronovitz has much of the above-mentioned workbeing translated into German and re-released by Firma Edition Barenklau. Michael Aronovitz lives with his wife and son in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania

Customer Reviews
4.4 out of 5 stars
105
4.3 out of 5 stars
92
4.1 out of 5 stars
13
4.2 out of 5 stars
26
4.2 out of 5 stars
226
4.0 out of 5 stars
62
Price $4.99 $4.99 $4.99 $4.99 $4.99 $4.99
More Cemetery Dance Books! Harrowing Spiritual Magical Realism Old School Suspenseful Action Packed

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The bristling curiosity of the main characters ... provokes a chilling sense of inevitability and foreboding that will draw the reader into its spiraling narrative. Walking past a graveyard will never the the same again." --Dr. Donna McRae, Writer and Film Director, Johnny Ghost

"...a masterpiece, subtle, scary, brilliant. Michael Aronovitz's literate style perfectly suits this frightening tale. His voice is all his own, but contains nostalgic notes of Ray Bradbury and delicious hints of Dan Simmons.
Alice Walks is one of the finest ghost stories I've ever loved." --Tamara Thorne, author of Haunted and Belinda: The New Governess

"...the exquisitely, excruciating slow and gradual way in which the horror builds and builds to a spectacular climax. What starts out as a lark turns into something far more terrifying. It is this sense of the insidious, all-engulfing nature of the ghost that is the most impressive thing about
Alice Walks. --S. T. Joshi

"The bristling curiosity of the main characters ... provokes a chilling sense of inevitability and foreboding that will draw the reader into its spiraling narrative. Walking past a graveyard will never the the same again." --Dr. Donna McRae, Writer and Film Director, Johnny Ghost

"...a masterpiece, subtle, scary, brilliant. Michael Aronovitz's literate style perfectly suits this frightening tale. His voice is all his own, but contains nostalgic notes of Ray Bradbury and delicious hints of Dan Simmons.
Alice Walks is one of the finest ghost stories I've ever loved." --Tamara Thorne, author of Haunted and Belinda: The New Governess

About the Author

Michael Aronovitz's debut collection, Seven Deadly Pleasures, was published by Hippocampus Press in 2009. Alice Walks is Aronovitz's first novel. His dark collection The Voices in Our Heads was released by Horrified Press February of 2014, and Hippocampus will publish his novel The Witch of the Wood in December of 2014. His short story The Girl Between The Slats appeared in S.T. Joshi's latest anthology Searchers After Horror, and his short ghost story How Bria Died" was featured in The Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror 2011. Michael Aronovitz is a Professor of English and the English Department Chair for a Philadelphia charter school. He lives with his wife Kim and their son Max in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0759PFMN8
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 31, 2017
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 318 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 137 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 15 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Michael Aronovitz
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Michael Aronovitz is an author of weird fiction. His first collection titled "Seven Deadly Pleasures" came out through Hippocampus Press in 2009. His first novel titled "Alice Walks" came out in a collector's hard cover edition through Centipede Press in 2013, and was put in paperback format by Dark Renaissance Books in 2014. His second collection titled "The Voices in Our Heads" came out through Horrified Press in 2014, and his latest novel titled "The Witch of the Wood" came out through Hippocampus in late 2014.

Aronovitz will publish his first young adult novel titled "Becky's Kiss" through Vinspire Press in November of 2015. Additionally, his third novel titled "Phantom Effect" will be coming out through Night Shade Books in the fall of 2015.

Currently Aronovitz is working on his fourth novel titled "Dead Red." He lives in Pennsylvania with his wife Kim and their son Max.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
15 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2019
    Ghost stories have been a relevant part of literature since the beginning of time. Michael Aronovitz’s novel Alice Walks, is a contemporary ghost story about a fourteen-year-old boy named Mikey Fitzsimmons, that sneaks out with his father’s keys to St. Mary’s Cemetery, to smoke and tell ghost stories with his two best friends, Will and Nick. However, out of curiosity about Mikey’s discussion of the late Alice Arthur, the boys decide to visit her body in a mausoleum in the cemetery. Little did Mikey and his friends know that they awakened Alice during their visit that eventually leads to a series of unfortunate events for Mikey (Aronovitz, Chapter 1-Chapter 25). This novel is a modern classic and uses different techniques and literary elements. Throughout this piece, Aronovitz demonstrates exceptional imagery, impeccable character development with a believable family dynamic, and foreshadowing with successful payoff. Alice Walks is arguably a classic that displays a fresh, modern ghost story with suspense that will keep readers on the edge of their seats.
    The exceptional use of imagery in Alice Walks proves that this piece is a modern literary classic. Aronovitz’s has excellent poetic prose while describing the setting and various examples of imagery. Early on in the novel, Aronovitz applies imagery to allow the reader to visualize a cold, eerie winter night in the St. Mary’s Cemetery. This is shown by the quote, “[t]he ancient floodlight hidden from view and positioned a foot or so above the corrugated overhang, cast a pale glow back over our footprints, already in the process of being dusted back in from the snow fluttering down from the black sky” (Aronovitz, Chapter 1). Exceptional use of imagery is shown with Aronovitz’s word choice of describing Mikey Fitzsimmons’ home. The function of this description is to show how the father neglects the maintenance of the home which reciprocates with how his father feels due to losing his job and livelihood (Aronovitz, Chapter 4; Chapter 8). The house is depicted as being the odd one out on the street because of the “tangle of bramble bushes fifteen feet high, running all the way to the corner of the backyard. Untrimmed bushes and snarled vegetation spilled over the stone walkway” and ivy growing up the frontside of the house that it almost covers the “living room picture window” (Aronovitz, Chapter 4). However, as the plot progresses and Mikey needs to visit Alice Arthur at the mausoleum, the setting becomes more ominous. Mikey walks through “Rock Ridge Park” to navigate towards the cemetery by himself. The night was described to be “a cold one” and the sky is “black as ink.” The heavy snow covered the ground, and the “trees dipped and bowed with the wind, and the park opened out before [Mikey] , into a gravel parking area rimmed with high weeds, the creek to the left leading to the golf course, and the rise of woods due right” (Aronovitz, Chapter 13). The climactic scene where Nick and Will stone Alice to death again, so to speak, is depicted as “[Alice holding out] her bony hands like a statue ready to willingly, like Jesus, like the violent images of sacrifice”… allowing each of the stones to hit her, causing blood to erupt out and break her skull underneath her veil (Aronovitz, Chapter 19). This scene is arguably the turning point of the story. Its imagery and symbolism comparing Alice to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, has the reader recognize this scene as significant. The imagery used throughout this novel to describe the setting is done exceptionally well to allow the reader to visualize scenes and create moods to contribute to the emotion of the plot.
    The description and development of the characters in this novel were done remarkably well. Regardless of whether the characters were important and had a function in the piece, Aronovitz elaborated and described the characters throughout the novel. The story is told in the perspective of a fourteen-year-old boy, named Mikey. “Aronovitz captures the teenage voice perfectly, the humour and the insecurity and the insight adults don't necessarily notice or give them credit for” (Dadswell). The immature jokes with his friends, the activities and hobbies the boys participating in such as looking through Playboy Magazines, playing instruments at obnoxious volumes, and sneaking out to smoke weed, are predicted activities a fourteen-year-old would participate in (Aronovitz, Chapter 1; Chapter 7). These examples fortify the argument that this novel through the voice of Mikey is believable. Moreover, Mikey’s character description is exquisite when Aronovitz describes him to be, “some hillbilly” from Nebraska, with “solid forearms, square jaw, and dirty blond hair. [He} also had [his] Jew-roots from [his] dad…making [his] nose a bit long, [his] eyes close set together, and that dirty blond hair—thick and prone to stick up…rather than lying over [his] ears and across [his] forehead like corn silk” (Aronovitz, Chapter 6). Aronovitz stops the time in the story to illustrate his characters, especially his protagonist, Mikey. Nevertheless, even characters such as Nick’s mother, who doesn’t have an intended purpose or is significant to the plot, could easily be depicted by the reader. No one can forget the tough mother, with “ short bleach-blonde hair, big circular horn-rimmed glasses, a thick face, drawn on eyebrows, severe liner that curved up catlike on the far edges, and a voice that never failed to raise the hair on the back of your neck, especially if she was peeved” (Aronovitz, Chapter 7). The antagonist, Alice Arthur, is described much differently than the other characters. Aronovitz describes Alice in a way that allows the reader to be terrified, yet simultaneously feel sympathetic towards her. Alice was introduced to the story when Mikey and his friends decided to visit Alice in the mausoleum. Mikey begs his friends to stop discussing the fake stories about the late Alice Arthur when Mikey states, “‘ Please guys. The stories were cool and all, but she’s not a monster. She’s a dead kid, and we should leave here thinking of her that way…’” (Aronovitz, Chapter 3). This allows the reader to feel sympathetic about a little fourteen-year-old girl who died by drowning (Aronovitz, Chapter 6). However, a sinister illustration of Alice is depicted later in the novel. Alice Arthur is described while she is standing at the foot of Mikey’s bed, as a tall girl in a long, white “sun dress [that was] laid out on her, the skin on her bare arms mapped with twists and patches of dried and deteriorated flesh” [and]… “her face was covered by a veil” that doesn’t reveal any facial features. In addition, to the veil covering her face, when Alice takes a deep breath in, the veil “contour[s] to her open mouth (Aronovitz, Chapter 11). These two different perceptions of Alice Arthur can function as a paradox because they contrast each other, hold a significant value to the story, and have the reader feel terrified, yet sympathetic for Alice Arthur.
    Furthermore, the family dynamic of the Fitzsimmons can be described as dysfunctional due to the lack of communication and the tension between Mikey’s parents regarding their financial struggles. Although the Fitzsimmons display this particular family dynamic, it allows the readers to experience the authenticity and ability to relate to the family. Mikey’s mom works in a deli, enduring the countless back to back doubles that is contributing to her stress (Aronovitz, Chapter 5). His father, lost his teaching job due to a confrontation he faced with an old student in the hallway due to an inappropriate scene in a book they were reading in class (Aronovitz, Chapter 19). Mikey’s dad now works as a groundskeeper at St. Mary’s Cemetery just to get by, even though writing is his passion (Aronovitz, Chapter 1; Chapter 10). However, the communication between the Fitzsimmons is very complicated and problematic. In the midpoint of the story, Mikey’s parents are fighting about the family car. Mikey mentions that all of his parents’ fights consist of his mom being so hurtful and picking on things his father could not change. Meanwhile, his father usually ends up apologizing for “his screw-ups” instead of solving the initial problem (Aronovitz, Chapter 8). However, the father discusses with Mikey about “[their] family situation, and ways [Mikey] can help out a bit more with everything”. This infuriated Mikey because he had nothing to do with the argument about the car, however, he kept these feelings to himself (Aronovitz, Chapter 8). The authenticity of this scene shows how well this family can be depicted by the readers: not only by the details of the communication between the characters, but the relatability a reader could have to this family dynamic. Aronovitz’s use of characterization is to reinforce the dysfunctional family dynamic between Mikey’s family, which makes these characters believable.
    Aronovitz uses foreshadowing with successful payoff in Alice Walks. Early on in the novel, Alice suggests Mikey to go “visit [her] in the house of gray stone” …Although “[she] could return, but every time [she] leaves the yard, something must die”. Once she mentions this specific rule she has to follow, she is seen holding up a dead racoon by the tail (Aronovitz, Chapter 11). This rule also has no distinction in to what exactly has to be killed in order for her to be allowed to leave the yard. Another example of foreshadowing earlier on in the novel, is when Mikey was sleeping in his bedroom and was awakened by “a dead bird lying on [his] pillow…The feathers were ruffled and its neck was snapped… [and] one black eye burst from the socket, hanging by a wet, gray tendril” (Aronovitz, Chapter 9). These particular events in the story foreshadow the death of Mikey’s friend, Will. Alice murdered Will in response of Mikey getting mad at his “ex friends” for stoning Alice. This particular scene describes the gruesome details of how Will died. For example, “[Will’s] right eye fell out, and there was green glowing through the void… He pulled off his skin as if it was a costume, as if he was pulling a sweater over his head…” (Aronovitz, Chapter 20). To clarify, the dead bird with its eye out of its socket foreshadows Will’s fate. Aronovitz use of foreshadowing allows the reader to be drawn into the story and anticipate what will happen next.
    In conclusion, Michael Aronovitz’s novel, Alice Walks is arguably a modern-day classic that leaves readers on the edge of their seats. Throughout this piece, Aronovitz demonstrates different techniques and literary devices, such as, exceptional imagery, impeccable character development with a believable family dynamic, and foreshadowing with successful payoff. Aronovitz’s superior story-telling will captivate readers with every line and leave them wanting more!
    2 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2017
    Mr. Aronovitz's coming-of-age tale is a great ride, with dialogue and description that is just beautiful writing. It is a story of a haunting and a loss of innocence and is a meditation on death. The scares are plentiful and often wildly creative. The protagonist is sympathetic and unexpectedly heroic as he copes with threats supernatural and non-supernatural. It will be difficult to not think of this book the next time I pass a cemetery.
    One person found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2015
    This is an interesting ghost story. Starting off in the 70's at what can only be called a random lark between friends in a graveyard which turns out to have lasting consequences for all involved. It is at times scary but the most unsettling part is the final few pages at the end, where the narrator, now an adult, talks about what happened with his son. Not to give anything away but it actually made me mad at the main character who until that time I had looked on with remorse at the consequences of his actions. Overall a really good ghost story. The only real negative is not with the story but has to do centipede press which puts out expensive volumes that are usually beyond what most people would pay for books
  • Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2016
    It's the nicest book I own, plus the story's amazing
    One person found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2014
    ALICE WALKS was my first novel by Michael Aronovitz. From the very beginning of this story, I found that I was immediately drawn into his words. Despite the fact that most of the main characters are around the age of fourteen, there is nothing "young adult" about Aronovitz's use of language. At times, I felt it held an almost poetic quality to it--soothing, if you are able to discount the subject material ;).

    One of my favorite quotes came from early on in the tale: "But oaths were for fools who thought that the boundaries of our world didn't sit right up against the borders of another, and vows were for those who couldn't fathom the bleeding if those two realms were to somehow overlap."

    The story begins with three young teenaged boys, Mikey, Will, and Nick, sneaking into Saint Mary's Cemetery at night to amuse themselves by telling ghost stories. As Mikey's father had been dismissed under scandal from his teaching position, he was now the groundskeeper for this particular burial section. Taking advantage of the opportunity provided, Mikey sneaks out with the keys to the crypts, and a story about a girl, Alice Arthur, who had died a mere six months earlier.

    I found it impossible NOT to get caught up in the atmosphere Aronovitz sets for us. From the novel: "Maybe death was a long trail, a waterfall bigger and longer and deeper than we could possibly imagine, from, well, this side or whatever. Maybe when I held her hand, I'd pulled her out of the current, or something. Into limbo.... ".

    An incredible read that I will not be forgetting. In closing: "Time does not blur nor smooth things over with her as it does with us. As I said, it is math: the arithmetic of terror and horror and vengeance and murder".

    Highest recommendation!
    3 people found this helpful
    Report

Report an issue


Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?