Reviewed by Daniel James Sundahl I recall my first visit to Charleston a year or so after Hurricane Hugo. Driving south to north along the coastal roads, I made side trips into the South Carolina Low Country where I found isolation and the remnants of the Gullah people. I had been unbeknownst driving along and […]
“Life Through These Eyes,” by Michael S. Lambiotte
June 23, 2016 by 1 Comment
Reviewed by Donna Meredith Life Through These Eyes is a collection of over a hundred thoughtful, short personal essays by West Virginia native Michael S. Lambiotte. A few of these essays, first published as columns for a local newspaper, are specific to life in Clarksburg, but most would strike a chord of familiarity with people […]
“Reckoning and Ruin,” by Tina Whittle
June 17, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Philip K. Jason I have finally caught up with Tina Whittle’s Tai Randolph Mystery series, now in its fifth installment. Set in Atlanta and Savannah, this tale of crime, family, retribution, and Old South/New South contrasts and continuities has plenty of energy and strong characters. It’s main center of interest, however, is not […]
“Friday Afternoon and Other Stories,” by T. D. Johnston
June 15, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Daniel James Sundahl The phrase “twilight zone” has likely become iconic in American culture. Episodes from the television series contained elements of drama, suspense or horror, and aspects of the macabre. Gauntlet Press has published collections of original “The Twilight Zone” scripts, some with Rod Serlings’s hand-written edits. A former student of mine […]
June Read of the Month: “Damn Yankees,” by George C. Rable
June 2, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Joshua S. Fullman From cinematic accounts alone, one might be tempted to conclude that the American Civil War brought out the better angels of our nature instead of our devils. Indeed, one does not need to go all the way back to Selznick’s Gone With the Wind to find romantic portraits of nineteenth-century […]
“Drifting too far from the Shore,” by Niles Reddick
May 25, 2016 by 1 Comment
Reviewed by Janice Daugharty In Niles Reddick’s latest novel, he uses no literary devices or showy language to tell his fresh, simple story of an elderly woman in a little fictional South Georgia town. The main character is Muddy Rewis, nick-named “Muddy” for her childhood passion of patting out mudpies on the bottom of a […]