AltWeeklies Wire
'Through Black Spruce' is a Muscular Novel Worthy of All the Hypenew
Joseph Boyden's second novel is stunning at being a million things at once, but at heart it's a page-turning campfire story told by one person to another in hushed tones, heartbeat to heartbeat.
NOW Magazine |
Zoe Whittall |
11-03-2008 |
Fiction
Poachers Meet Their Match in Kirk Russell's Eco-Thrillersnew
For Russell, writing about a California Department of Fish & Game Special Operations Unit -- and creating his protagonist, sensitive-but-tough Lieutenant John Marquez -- isn't a mere gimmick.
East Bay Express |
Anneli Rufus |
10-29-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
'Exit Lines': Euthanasia with Humornew
Joan Barfoot's latest novel explores the idea of choice -- the right to choose life or death at will -- through the lives of four very different characters brought together in an old folks home.
Fast Forward Weekly |
Natalie St Denis |
10-23-2008 |
Fiction
Kerouac and Burroughs's Lost Noir is Published At Lastnew
The publication of And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks, the last known unpublished manuscript by any of the Founding Fathers of the Beat Generation, had to wait for the death of Lucien Carr.
Boston Phoenix |
George Kimball |
10-23-2008 |
Fiction
Much-Praised Legal Thriller 'A Cure for Night' Traffics in Stereotypesnew
A large number of the characters in Justin Peacock's book are African–American. The plot pivots around them. There is no story without them. If they read as caricatures -- and offensive ones, at that -- how can this book be successful?
Philadelphia Weekly |
Liz Spikol |
10-20-2008 |
Fiction
Ron Rash Hits the Jackpot with 'Serena'new
Blood, greed, history and hubris blend and bump together in powerful, explosive combinations in Rash's new novel, Serena.
Creative Loafing (Charlotte) |
John Grooms |
10-16-2008 |
Fiction
'Famous Suicides' Takes on Love and Loss, in Chicago and Ancient Japannew
Mura's book takes as its epigraph Walter Benjamin's oft-repeated statement that history is a tale told by the victors, but the novel shows up this line as a lie. History belongs not to the winners but to the writers and the survivors, who never really win.
Willamette Week |
Matthew Korfhage |
10-16-2008 |
Fiction
'The Soul of All Great Designs' Goes Off the Railsnew
Neil Bissoondath can really write, but in his latest novel he gets trapped by his own unworkable premise.
NOW Magazine |
Susan G. Cole |
10-14-2008 |
Fiction
The Worst Thing About 'Be Good' is That it's Too Shortnew
Though a cover blurb for Stacey May Fowles's first novel proclaims it to be essential reading for women in their 20s, Be Good is also essential for 20-something men.
NOW Magazine |
Jacob Scheier |
10-14-2008 |
Fiction
In 'American Wife,' the President's One Good Decision is Choosing His Wifenew
Curtis Sittenfeld's novel is based very loosely on Laura Bush's life. Here she's known as Alice Blackwell, and comes from small-town Wisconsin, not small-town Texas. But that's where the major differences end (unless you want to count the fact that, in the book, she marries a man who you somehow can't help liking).
Montreal Mirror |
Juliet Waters |
10-06-2008 |
Fiction
Truly a Pleasurenew
From the first page of “Earthly Pleasures,” the new novel from Karen Neches, readers will find the opportunity to laugh, cry, and go on an all out ride through a wonderful narrative.
A former columnist for the Augusta Chronicle, a co-author of one novel, and the sole voice of the Bottom Dollar Girl series, Karen Neches is a voice readers with an ear for intricate plots have to hear. Otherwise known as Karin Gillespie, this founder of the virtual tour The Girlfriend Circuit who travels the Southeast with the Dixie Divas provides an animated unconventional love story in her latest composition.
Metro Spirit |
Jason Sumerau |
04-27-2008 |
Fiction
Tags: fiction, Education, Life, The Beatles, God, Earthly Pleasures, fun, love, chick lit, chick-lit, angel, heaven, Karen Gillespie, Karen Neches, life lessons, Fiction Reviews
Finding Meaning in the Oldest Storynew
It’s a terrible struggle, becoming human, but this is exactly what Actors Scene Unseen attempts in a rejuvenation of one of the world’s oldest stories in “Gilgamesh: A Verse Play.”
Pulitzer Prize winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa and former Executive Director of Inverse Theater Chad Garcia reinvent the ageless epic in an audio experience. The work of the two reminds contemporary listeners of the pains necessary in the search for meaning between man and the supernatural.
Metro Spirit |
Jason Sumerau |
04-27-2008 |
Fiction
Tags: fiction, Poetry, Drama, Pulitzer Prize, theater, book, epic, stage, Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh: A Verse Play, meter, play, rhyme, Theatre, Yusef Komunyakaa, Fiction Reviews
Sparkling Waters of Characternew
“It almost seemed like a dream, a long dream but a good one” states Marshall B. Allen, Jr. in his second collection of stories about Newton Fiveash, Jr, “Newt in the World of Tarzan” takes the reader on a splendid joyride among the flavorful characters of the Sparklin’ Waters Park in Okena, Florida, and in so doing, highlights the life of a man in a time gone by.
Metro Spirit |
Jason Sumerau |
04-27-2008 |
Nonfiction
Iain M. Banks' Latest Won't Win Him New Convertsnew
His latest sci-fi epic, Matter, is dense, both in terms of weight and scope.
Baltimore City Paper |
Adrienne Martini |
04-08-2008 |
Fiction
