The eighty-eight pages in Museum of the Soon to Depart (Carnegie Mellon University Press 2024) by Andy Young flow with exquisitely phrased words of grief and loss. Yet, no matter how beautifully written, the poems are nonetheless quite somber. The dying and death of the narrator’s mother from brain cancer, coupled with poems about plagues, […]
“Going to Maine: All the Ways to Fall on the Appalachian Trail” by Sally Chaffin Brooks
June 17, 2025 by Leave a Comment
The author, Sally Chaffin Brooks, is also a comedian, and this shows in a positive way in her memoir about hiking the Appalachian Trail when she is only twenty-five. Going to Maine: All the Ways to Fall on the Appalachian Trail (Running Wild Press 2024) is, thus, to be expected humorous and it is in a […]
“While Visiting Babette” by Kat Meads
June 15, 2025 by Leave a Comment
This novella is ninety pages of sheer delight, a well-told story with a tender twist. While Visiting Babette (Sagging Meniscus Press 2025) uses the technique of the unreliable narrator to spin a charming, endlessly clever, and at least slightly bizarre tale of two cousins, Ina and Babette. These two are more like close sisters, each […]
“Boomerang” by Robert Bailey
April 29, 2025 by 3 Comments
“[Do] you really believe that the US government has deliberately covered up the cure for cancer?” This question, asked by Eli James, the protagonist in Robert Bailey’s newest political thriller, The Boomerang (Thomas and Mercer May 2025), reflects the central conflict in a riveting, suspenseful, and gloriously bold novel. The author has faced cancer within […]
“Distant Relations” by Cheryl Whitehead
April 2, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Cheryl Whitehead is both a gifted poet and a gifted storyteller—and these can be two distinct, albeit complimentary talents. In Distant Relations (Loblolly Press 2025), Whitehead weaves these dual talents together into an always engaging, often uncanny collection of poetry rich with family, nature, culture, and transcendency. Her verses reverberate with turmoil and grace, all […]