Reviewed by MW Rishell Intertwined strands of DNA have become a popular metaphor, one that comes to mind while reading The Walmart Republic, a co-authored collection of poetry by Quraysh Ali Lansana and Christopher H. Stewart. The poems are gathered into five sections, with the first featuring the work of Stewart and the second the […]
“The Walmart Republic,” by Quraysh Ali Lansana and Christopher H. Stewart
December 18, 2014 by Leave a Comment
“The Promise,” by Ann Weisgarber
December 11, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by JoAn Watson Martin Ann Weisgarber grew up in a suburb of Dayton, Ohio, and now lives in Sugar Land, Texas, near Houston and Galveston. Her fiction is marked by these settings and her familiarity with them is an important aspect of her work. A writer and an historian, she penned much of The […]
December Read of the Month: “Return to Tradd Street,” by Karen White
December 4, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Lynn Braxton When Charleston Realtor Melanie Middleton inherits an historic house from a benefactor she met only once, Charlestonians wonder what coercion she employed to gain the property, not realizing that Melanie has a pronounced dislike for old houses, branding the crumbling ruins as money pits. To make matters worse, and 55 Tradd […]
“The Cottoncrest Curse,” by Michael H. Rubin
November 26, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Donna Meredith It’s the history woven into the tale that grabbed me most in Michael H. Rubin’s debut novel, The Cottoncrest Curse. Thoroughly researched, this historical thriller captures the high drama of the Civil Rights Era’s Freedom Riders and Knights of the White Camellia and offers authentic details concerning the harvesting of sugarcane […]
“The Sheltering,” by Mark Powell
November 24, 2014 by 1 Comment
Reviewed by Sam Slaughter There is no need to fear the reaper here. In Mark Powell’s fourth novel, the author who has been called one of the best Appalachian writers of his generation proves that his home turf is not the only place he can write about. The Sheltering is a story of a drone […]
“Lay it on my Heart,” by Angela Pneuman
November 21, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Emily Hoover Like thick, humid air on a late-summer afternoon in the Deep South, Angela Pneuman’s debut novel, Lay it on my Heart, is heavy. It exists as a commentary on faith, mental illness, and womanhood that’s appropriately served chilled, like glasses of sweet tea I remember from childhood. Darkly humorous and painfully […]