Reviewed by Allen Mendenhall With so many journals and genres available today, the dependable reviewer has a duty to warn off the noble optimists and advise the faint-hearted when a book is not for them. Obligation thus requires that I caution readers: Gilbert Allen’s The Final Days of Great American Shopping, a collection of short […]
“The Final Days of Great American Shopping,” by Gilbert Allen
“Soon,” by Pam Durban

Reviewed by Dan Sundahl Came a time I drove into old man Engebretson’s farm yard, late 1950s, southern Minnesota. It was a good bright day with a light sugary coating of snow on the ground. The old man had a 40-acre duck pond on his farm and corn rows to walk, ducks and pheasants in […]
Pinckney Benedict’s Miracle Boy and Other Stories
Click to Order Pinckney Benedict’s third collection of stories, Miracle Boy and other Stories, fearlessly merges Benedict’s well-established literary style with a darker, more “popular” approach to storytelling. Born to a family of West Virginia dairy farmers, and a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop, Benedict burst onto the literary fiction scene in 1987 with […]
Ugly to Start With, by John Michael Cummings
Ugly to Start With By John Michael Cummings Reviewed by Niles Reddick On the heels of his Paterson Prize-winning novel The Night I Freed John Brown, John Michael Cummings has offered fans another look at the historical and picturesque Harpers Ferry, West Virginia in his new collection Ugly to Start With. […]
Three Must-Read Short Story Collections
Tired of buying electronics or golf gadgets for Father’s Day. Hook your father figure up with a sweet read this month instead. Even if the men in your life don’t have the attention span for a novel or memoir, they will enjoy these powerful literary shorts…but old and new. Warning: These are so good, you might […]
Small Displacements Nails Turning Points in Characters’ Lives
Click to Buy Small Displacements Review by Donna Meredith When I was given Vanessa Furse Jackson’s short story collection Small Displacements, I almost sent it back. I’m glad I didn’t. I don’t often warm up to short stories the way I do to novels, perhaps because I don’t get to spend enough time […]