What does an ideal field guide look like? It has enough information to be useful in a variety of wild places, but not so much that the reader gets lost in thickets of unnecessary text. Forager George Barnett’s first book , Foraging Kentucky (University Press of Kentucky 2024), masterfully shepherds plant enthusiasts through the terrain […]
“The Christmas Spirits on Tradd Street,” by Karen White
March 3, 2021 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Brandy Renee McCann The Christmas Spirits on Tradd Street, the sixth novel in the Tradd Street mysteries series by Karen White, brings readers along with Melanie Trenholm as she uncovers the story of a Revolutionary War era spy ring. The rich and evocative language of the opening scene unmistakably draws readers in and […]
September Read of the Month: “When Nighttime Shadows Fall,” by Diane Michael Cantor
September 6, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Brandy Renee McCann As a social scientist and native to southern Appalachia, I picked up Diane Michael Cantor’s novel, When Nighttime Shadows Fall (University of South Carolina Press, 2017), with interest. Similar to the characters in the novel, in 1976 my eighteen-year-old mother was pregnant with me. My folks were married at the time […]
Brandy Renee McCann
September 4, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Brandy Renee McCann, PhD, is an interdisciplinary writer and scholar whose work focuses on southern Appalachian people and stories. In addition to a regular craft column at Reckon Review, her creative work has appeared in the Anthology of Appalachian Writers: Barbara Kingsolver edition; Still: The Journal; Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel; and The Dead Mule, among others. Brandy works at Virginia […]