I was surprised to see Amy Dawson Robertson’s second novel billed by her publisher as a “Romance, Mystery.” While there...
Unlike other contemporary poets, Trinidad is good at making campy realities, such as kitsch Hollywood cinema, sound confessional, autobiographical. This deliberate and ostentatious, almost anti-academic, humor is part of his charm. Read More
It is difficult to casually categorise Manuel Muñoz's first novel. Mystery? Noir thriller? Romance? Literary fiction? Historical fiction? Meta-fiction? The answer, as it turns out, is all of the above. Read More
Schulman is brilliant at conveying how devastating and surreal it was to live during the AIDS crisis, and in examining its impact on the living, she draws connections between the gentrification of cities like New York and the coincidental timing of the AIDS crisis... Read More
In the opening scene of Marianne Banks’ first novel, Growing Up Delicious (Bella), the protagonist, Jennifer Andersen, admits something we’ve all felt one time or another: “The problem was I looked grown up but felt twelve years old." Read More
Amy King’s poems aren’t a walk in the park. They’re a hustle down a city street, an unflinching look at...
Ingram has a wonderful way with words. Not just in terms of vocabulary, but in how to use that vocabulary to propel the story and give the reader a vivid image of the transpiring events. Readers will find themselves blazing through this novel, turning the pages quickly, in part because it flows before your eyes like a movie. Read More
In D.A. Powell’s fifth book, he takes up the landscapes of the Central Valley. He shows us the churches and the malls, the housing developments and the gay bars, the parking lots and the fields (yes, there are naughty times to be had in all)... Read More
By Blood, Ellen Ullman’s latest novel, is a noir gem. The novel is creepy-exciting and skillfully ironic at almost every turn, with a narrator’s voice snaking through the measured text. It is a voice that is appalling, brilliantly perverted, cunning and smart—and desperate for redemption. Read More
The essays are generally filled with fascinating gossipy details and remarkable asides. They reflect White’s masterful ability to effectively pull ideas out of novels, stories, and art, while simultaneously showcasing a personalized purview of his own life and passions. Read More
