Horrifying. Haunting. Gut-wrenching. All of these describe The Nurse at Baker Hospital (Regal, October 2026) by Jocelyn Cullity. Drawing on primary sources, the novel meets the highest standards of historical fiction while reading with the urgency of a thriller. Though the events are rooted in the past, the lessons they offer are not merely relevant—they […]
October Read of the Month: “The Nurse at Baker Hospital” by Jocelyn Cullity
October 7, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Read of the Month: “The Watersmith” by Yance Wyatt
September 2, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Water imagery cascades through Yance Wyatt’s lyrical literary novel, The Watersmith, from beginning to end in both expected and very unexpected ways. Three epigraphs illustrate the religious importance of water with quotations from the Buddha, Allah, and Jesus.—totally expected use of water in a novel. So are the thunder, rainstorms, rivers, and lakes created by […]
Read of the Month: “Abundant Life: New and Selected Poems” by Hank Lazer
August 5, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Eclectic in theme and form, powerful in reach, and electric in impact, Abundant Life: New and Selected Poems (Chax Press 2025) by poet, scholar, and educator Hank Lazer is an intelligent collection of works selected from fifteen prior books, as well as new poems. This generous sharing of his poetry spans the years from 1994 […]
Read of the Month: “Massawa” by Pam Webber
July 1, 2026 by Leave a Comment
In a gripping World War II thriller based on true events, Massawa: A Tale of Espionage, Love and Illusion (She Writes Press 2026) by Pam Webber will keep readers turning pages to discover what happens next to a young American spy. Fans of The Alice Network, The Rose Code, A Woman of No Importance, The […]
Read of the Month: “The Walls Are Closing In On Us” by Joshua Trent Brown
June 3, 2026 by Leave a Comment
What would your life look like if it were played back for you in your final moments, watched from a lofty vantage like heaven, or the more oblique angle of purgatory? Would you see yourself being carried along, pinged from vertex to vertex as the polygon of your life develops? Could you name the forces […]
Read of the Month: “Kissing the Sky” by Lisa Patton
May 6, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Kissing the Sky (Lake Union Publishing 2026) by Lisa Patton is an engaging historical coming-of-age novel about finding and asserting one’s true self. Set during turbulent times, much of the story takes place at Woodstock—both the original 1969 famous music festival and the 50-year anniversary celebration. In her author’s notes, Patton admits she was too […]