Tag Archives: Summer 2013

NATIVE AMERICAN CLASSICS

Graphic Classics Volume 24 Edited by Tom Pomplun Eureka Productions ($17.95) by Dave Wagner and Paul Buhle If there is a theme linking the most ambitious narratives in this wonderful collection, it’s the representation of the natural world as a kind of supernatural democracy. In a crisis, every creature has an equal voice. It is […]

CRAPALACHIA: A Biography of a Place

Scott McClanahan Two Dollar Radio ($16) by Alex Miller Scott McClanahan’s Crapalachia is a powerful remembrance of the uncles and grandparents who raised him in West Virginia and the friends he ran with. It’s the story of a place that no longer exists and loved ones who all have died or gone away. The book, […]

COUNTRY GIRL

Edna O’Brien Little, Brown ($27.99) by Chris Beal Like a bevy of other Irish writers, Edna O’Brien exiled herself from her native land, clearly unwelcome because of the raw sexuality in her writing. She lived in London for most of her adult life, and it was there that she wrote her first novel, The Country Girls, […]

NÂZIM HIKMET: The Life and Times of Turkey’s World Poet

Mutlu Konuk Blasing Persea Books ($27.95) by Mark Gustafson A revolutionary poet adept at epic, lyric, and didactic modes, Nâzım Hikmet gained international renown for his dedication to the common good—at great personal expense. He continues to exemplify hope in the face of oppression, and his indomitable love of life remains an inspiration. Those of us […]

THE END OF SAN FRANCISCO

Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore City Lights ($15.95) by Mariana Roa Oliva Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore has a model for relationships that says: “First you reveal everything, and then when you can’t think of anything else to reveal you go deeper.” In The End of San Francisco, Sycamore lets the reader feel the bitter sweetness of that relationship model, […]

VS. DEATH NOISES

Marcus Pactor Subito Press ($14) by John Pistelli John Gardner’s venerable The Art of Fiction ends with a set of pedagogical prompts, many of which are designed to teach that aesthetic tact whereby the young writer will learn to evoke great emotion without wallowing in sentimentality: “Describe a building as seen by a man whose son has […]

WAR STORIES

Elisabeth Doyle Two Harbors Press ($14.95) by Benjamin Woodard We all possess a war story or two, narratives hoisted and lugged around long after they convert to memory, remembered because they helped define our character and shaped our being. For some, these tales concern actual military combat, but to most, the idea has adopted a […]

THE EYES: A Novella & Stories

Michael Harris Cohen Mixer Publishing ($16) by Peter Grandbois The mission statement of Mixer Publishing states that their goal is to “break down the arbitrary boundaries between genre fiction and ‘literature,’” as well as to “seek a playful middle ground between entertainment and art.” If their first book, Michael Harris Cohen’s The Eyes: A Novella & […]