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 […]
Fall 2025 Books of Note
October 6, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Come Again No More (Jack Leg Press 2025) by David Williams. Erstwhile reporter Charley Hull is the latest casualty of a dying industry. It’s an elegy with heart and gallows humor, told in Charley’s lyrical and oft-salty voice. The novel is set in Memphis and steeped in the music of the city and nearby Mississippi […]
“Fiend” by Alma Katsu
October 6, 2025 by Leave a Comment
What happens when an elite family has a demon to do their dirty work? Alma Katsu’s Fiend (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2025) explores what a rich and powerful family is willing to do to stay on top. All the while, a dark force looms over them in the shadows—always watching, waiting. This family, the Berishas, seems […]