Reviewed by Daniel James Sundahl We have moved from Michigan to South Carolina, which is not unlike a sailing ship lifting anchor. If I read DéLana R. A. Dameron’s Weary Kingdom properly, there’s some similarity, a movement from the familiarity of a home in South Carolina to a different world, Harlem and Brooklyn, where she […]
November Read of the Month: “Weary Kingdom,” by DéLana R. A. Dameron
November 1, 2017 by Leave a Comment
October Read of the Month: “Of Bees and Boys,” by Allen Mendenhall
October 3, 2017 by 1 Comment
Reviewed by Yasser El-Sayed Much has already been written about Allen Mendenhall’s new book, Of Bees & Boys: Lines from a Southern Lawyer. The celebrated author William Bernhardt, who penned the forward to the collection of essays, states that “Mendenhall is an artist and writer of the first caliber . . . Time and again […]
September Read of the Month: “The Headmaster’s Darlings,” by Katherine Clark
September 5, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Ashley D. Black Most people who are raised in a small, Southern town would agree that preserving local traditions is of the utmost importance to its residents. At times, however, maintaining a town’s customs can prevent the populace from evolving with the rest of the country both politically and culturally. Those who challenge […]
August Read of the Month: “Hopscotch,” by Steve Cushman
August 10, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Claire Matturro Someone draws a hopscotch board on a sidewalk by a hospital in Greensboro, North Carolina. The hospital CEO with a Grinch persona orders it cleared off and a recently released felon, John Deaver, glad for his job as a janitor, erases it. But the chalk hopscotch board reappears on the sidewalk—again […]
July Read of the Month: “Parade of Horribles,” by Rhett DeVane
July 3, 2017 by 1 Comment
Reviewed by Donna Meredith Once again, Rhett DeVane captures the essence of life in a small southern town in Parade of Horribles, the seventh installment in her beloved Chattahoochee series. DeVane mines the debilitating nature of fear and the need to forgive in this deeply appealing novel. Jake Witherspoon, familiar to readers of DeVane’s earlier […]
June Read of the Month: “Abraham Anyhow,” by Adam Van Winkle
June 1, 2017 by 1 Comment
Reviewed by William Bernhardt I am particular about how Oklahoma is portrayed in fiction. Perhaps I’m unduly defensive, but at this point, having written more than almost thirty novels set in Oklahoma, in a variety of time periods, I think I’ve earned the right. I chafe when I hear editors, upon hearing that the novel takes […]