High school football is a world unto itself, especially in the South, especially in a small town. The Coaches’ Wives, by W. Scott Jones, draws the reader into that world, where everything revolves around the Friday night games, and where love and heartbreak, winning and losing, and success and tragedy all play a part in […]
Writing opportunities from Julie Cantrell
January 13, 2026 by Leave a Comment
THREE big opportunities for YOU to write, publish, and create in 2026. ——————- LAST CALL FOR WOMEN’S WRITING RETREAT IN FRANCE ——————– ONLY 2 spots left! Here’s your last chance to join fellow NYT bestselling author Sadeqa Johnson and me for a week of writing, relaxing, and exploring in beautiful Arcachon, France. If you’ve been needing […]
January 2026 Books of Note
January 11, 2026 by Leave a Comment
“Cinnamon Beach” by Suzanne Kamata “Multicultural family” does not adequately describe the relationships among the characters in Suzanne Kamata’s Cinnamon Beach (Wyatt-MacKenzie, 2024). Characters who are Indian American, Black, Japanese, American Japanese, white, hearing impaired, and gender fluid people this novel. Add in family members with chronic illnesses related to aging, and the character who […]
“Great and Small” by Josh Dugat
January 11, 2026 by Leave a Comment
In this rich, rewarding collection, Josh Dugat pays tribute to the varied matters of the world—subjects both seemingly simple yet expansive, intimate yet universal. As reflected in its title, the many poems in Great and Small: Poems (Able Muse Press 2025) luminously ring with celebration and observation of a myriad of things. Dugat casts his […]
“Where Dark Things Rise” by Andrew K. Clark
January 11, 2026 by Leave a Comment
In the dusky shadows of 1980’s North Carolina, Andrew K. Clark conjures a novel both haunted and alive in Where Dark Things Rise (Quill & Crow Press, 2025. Two generations past the events of his earlier work, Where Dark Things Grow (Independently Published, August 2024), the world here is darker and more restless, peopled by […]
“A Sharper Silence” by Michael Hettich
January 8, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Etudes. Studies. In music, these were thought to be mere technical exercises to develop a student’s skill with an instrument. Then Frédéric Chopin came along, so the story goes, and elevated the étude to the realm of highest artistry. I imagine Michael Hettich similarly. He sits down at his writing desk to do these studies, […]