Marina Brown is an award-winning author, poet, and journalist. Her debut novel, Land Without Mirrors, in 2013 won a Gold Medal from the Florida Authors and Writers Association. Her second novel, Lisbeth in 2015, also won the Gold Medal from the Florida Writers Association. A volume of poetry, The Leaf Does Not Believe It Will […]
“Otherwise I’m Fine: A Memoir” by Barbara Presnell
October 12, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Otherwise I’m Fine: A Memoir is an elegant and alluring story written by Barbara Presnell and published in 2025 by The University of South Carolina Press. In this 252-page memoir, Presnell seamlessly weaves together events, place-based information, historical details, and personal memories to depict a difficult story of three siblings who at a young age […]
“Naked Thoughts” by Marina Brown
October 12, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Well-named and powerful, Naked Thoughts (Gilberte Publishing, 2025) by multi-award-winning writer Marina Brown contains 58 poems that invite readers into beauty and soul-searching along with her poetic syntax. These poems will haunt you long after the final line as Brown’s artistry conjures images both unforgettable and of the deepest beauty. In what is perhaps her […]
Gary Kerley
October 11, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Gary Lee Kerley, retired after 40 years teaching, lives in Bermuda Run, North Carolina. His poetry, reviews, and articles have appeared in numerous publications, including “The Sewanee Review,” “The Georgia Review,” “The South Carolina Review,” and the “James Dickey Review.”
“The Tears of Things” by Catherine Hamrick
October 9, 2025 by Leave a Comment
The Tears of Things (Madville Publishing 2025) by Catherine Hamrick is an exquisite, sensory-rich and sensitive body of poems that vividly capture with what it means to love, lose, fall, get up, and do it all again. Hamrick’s language is consistently vibrant, and often unique—for example, “slick-tripped” in a poem about winter ice entitled “Fat […]
“Devil’s Hand” by Lori B. Duff
October 7, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Lawyer Jessica Fischer returns in Devil’s Hand (She Writes Press 2025), the second installment in Lori B. Duff’s legal thriller series following Devil’s Defense (reviewed here). This time, Jessica represents Susan Wolan in what initially appears to be a straightforward divorce case. Compared to defending a coach who didn’t want to meet the daughter he […]