Evie Wyld Vintage ($15.95) by Lori Feathers Jake Whyte, the protagonist of Evie Wyld’s slim novel All the Birds, Singing, attracts attention despite her ardent desire to be left alone and farm sheep on a remote British isle. With her large, muscular frame and contempt for soft or pretty things, Jake exudes physical strength, but […]
“50 Girls 50” and Other Stories Illustrated by Al Williamson “Came the Dawn” and Other Stories Illustrated by Wallace Wood “’Taint the Meat . . . It’s the Humanity!” and Other Stories Illustrated by Jack Davis “Corpse On the Imjin!” and Other Stories Illustrated by Harvey Kurtzman Fantagraphics ($28.99 each) by Paul Buhle The Age […]
Joseph Hutchison Turning Point ($18) by Dale Jacobson Joseph Hutchison, recently appointed to the position of Poet Laureate of Colorado, is the author of more than a dozen poetry collections. His careful, patient voice nonetheless carries an undercurrent of intense inquiry and passion, as in these lines from the poem “Dark Matter”: Odd, how the […]
Diogo Mainardi translated by Margaret Jull Costa Other Press ($20) by Nicole Montalvo Brazilian journalist and author Diogo Mainardi tells his story in a manner that is sentimental, intellectual, and without bitterness in The Fall: A Father’s Memoir in 424 Steps. The book is written in list format, composed of 424 items that represent the […]
David Armstrong Leapfrog Press ($15.95) by Isaac Faleschini David Armstrong’s collection of short stories, Going Anywhere, promises much. Eight of the thirteen stories have won awards from reputable literary publications such as Mississippi Review, the Miriam Rodriguez Short Story Contest, and others. In addition, ten of the thirteen stories have been published in places as […]
Edited by Dean Rader 99: The Press ($16) by John Bradley “Some of the great American poetry of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries addresses issues of poverty, class, and capitalism,” writes Dean Rader in his preface to this anthology of poetry inspired by the nation’s continuing economic crisis. “I began to realize,” he continues, “that […]
Robin Fulton Macpherson Marick Press ($16.95) by Peter McDonald Two things are certain in Scotland in July: midges in the highlands, and tourists in the urban centers. Edinburgh suffers particularly from the latter. But at the far tag end of the Royal Mile, in a little alley, sits The Scottish Poetry Library, an oasis of […]
Roxane Gay Harper Perennial ($15.99) by Sally Franson In Bad Feminist, Roxane Gay’s first essay collection and second book released in 2014, the author asserts that the impossibility of perfection should not negate earnest effort when it comes to navigating identity politics. But the “bad” in her feminism serves as absolution for whatever contradictions the […]
Dorothea Lasky Liveright ($23.95) by Gretchen Marquette Dorothea Lasky’s fourth full-length collection, Rome, thrums with intelligence and uneasy energy. Within the first few pages it becomes clear that we’re in the presence of a speaker who will walk the razor’s edge between edgy and agitated, between vivacious and anxious. It’s difficult to pin this voice […]
Saeed Jones Coffee House Press ($16) by Kate Schapira With fire and ash in all senses, Prelude to Bruise shows how for a gay Black boy becoming a gay Black man, the danger of wanting and being wanted burns into wanting danger: Singed, then smoked out: I'm your black matador, blood only makes me readier. […]