Robert Gwaltney undoubtedly has one of the most stunning imaginations of any author now writing. In his award-winning debut, The Cicada Tree—which, among other honors, won the Georgia Writer of the Year Award for a First Novel—he proved he excels in lyrical prose, richly drawn characters, and confident storytelling. Now, with his second novel, Sing […]
“1000 Pieces of Time” by Michael Minassian
Literate, imaginative, erudite, precise, and lovely—the poems by Michael Minassian in 1000 Pieces of Time (Sheila-Na-Gig Editions 2025) are all that and more. Minassian blends the here and the gone, the realistic and the fanciful, the dreamy and the sharp, in a collection at once creative and impeccably well crafted. Divided into three distinctive parts, […]
“The Athlete Whisperer: An Improbable Voice in Sports” by Andrea Kirby
To be truly captivating, a personal memoir needs to have at least these three things: an interesting baseline story, meaningful insight, and a strong voice conveyed well in quality writing. In all those ways, Andrea Kirby’s new memoir, The Athlete Whisperer: An Improbable Voice in Sports (FriesenPress 2025), excels. The baseline story tells readers how […]
“Great and Small” by Josh Dugat
In this rich, rewarding collection, Josh Dugat pays tribute to the varied matters of the world—subjects both seemingly simple yet expansive, intimate yet universal. As reflected in its title, the many poems in Great and Small: Poems (Able Muse Press 2025) luminously ring with celebration and observation of a myriad of things. Dugat casts his […]
“Antebellum Oz” by Joseph Eldredge
An Antebellum Oz (Choice Press 2025) by Joseph Eldredge is a boldly reimagined The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in which six friends—three free siblings, three enslaved youths—on a Mississippi farm at the beginning of the Civil War find themselves uplifted in a hurricane and set down in Oz. The story is inventive, thought-provoking, and engrossing […]




