I first encountered the work of Mary Mill when I was guest editor for SmokeLong Quarterly and my friend Katrina Denza suggested I check out her writing. I did and asked her to submit for the issue. She sent us this: A Blind Dog Named Killer and a Colony of Bees. All this is to say that before I even cracked the spine of … Read More Big World, by Mary Miller
It’s not surprising to me that I loved Steward O’Nan’s Last Night at the Lobster; he’s one of my favorite writers, after all, and this books stands out for me among the many books of his I love. It’s not only a book with a lot of heart; it’s also a book that is timely–as 2009 is said to be the year that many … Read More Last Night at the Lobster, by Stewart O’Nan
I read Anne Enright’s The Gathering (Man Booker Prize) slowly. I had to. If I had not, the pain would have been insurmountable. Even so, the pain was there, a dull throb. If you have ever grieved (which we nearly all have or will at some point in our lives), then this book will speak to you. Directly, honestly. If you have ever grieved a … Read More The Gathering, by Anne Enright
+ books, fiction, flash fiction, Kathy Fish, literary, Pia Ehrhardt, small press, storytelling, writers
I’m delighted to direct your attention to my review of A Peculiar Feeling of Restlessness: Four Chapbooks of Short Short Fiction by Four Women over at Quick Fiction. I loved the book and so will you. So please do order yourself a copy. I promise you will be captivated.
Pia Z. Ehrhardt is one of my favorite writers and human beings and her excellent story “Closer, Still” is serialized on fivechapters.com this week. Here’s part I. Read it!
Alexander Chee’s Edinburgh is necessary, is timely, and is downright gorgeous despite it’s sometimes ugly subject matter. This is the story of Fee–how his life ended up the way it did, on a beach, deciding to live instead of die. It is also “a fox story. Of how a fox can be a boy. And so it is also the story of a fire.” … Read More Edinburgh, by Alexander Chee
Jack Gorse/Ronan the protagonist of Pamela Erens’s smashing debut novel, The Understory, is a man obsessed: with twins, with vegetation, with books, with his routine, and with a kind-hearted architect named Patrick. He is also searching, it seems, for that other part of himself—the other half of himself. At one point, he hopes he will find that other within Patrick, but really that other … Read More The Understory, by Pamela Erens
+ books, literary, nonfiction, writers
If I press a book into your hand and beg you to read it, you will know that I am doing so because I love the book and I want to share that love with you. When you examine the beloved book, you will note how many pages I’ve dog eared. The more dog ears, the deeper my love. Paul Lisicky’s gorgeous, tender book … Read More Famous Builder, by Paul Lisicky
+ fiction, flash fiction, literary, literary journal, Myfanwy Collins, short stories, short story, writers
I’m thrilled and delighted to announce that I have stories in the latest issues of the Mississippi Review (the movie issue) and Quick Fiction.
Paula Nangle’s debut novel, The Leper Compound, is a book I won’t soon forget. I’m tempted to call it a novel-in-stories as each chapter is perfectly self-contained and yet the whole does provide one full narrative. Regardless, it is a brilliant effort. The book starts out with Colleen as a motherless child ill with Malaria and ends with the death of her father and … Read More The Leper Compound, by Paula Nangle
+ books, fiction, flash fiction, Kim Chinquee, literary, short stories, short story, small press, storytelling, writers
Be prepared: Oh Baby, Kim Chinquee’s debut collection, will knock you on your ass. It’s a book about love: mother for child; child for mother, for father; man for woman; woman for man and man and man. Love for running. Love for vodka. It’s a book about women: a runner, an artist, a nurse, a mother, a girlfriend, a wife, a daughter, a friend. … Read More Oh Baby, by Kim Chinquee
myfanwy collins 