Reviewed by Kelsie Colclough The End We Start From is Megan Hunter’s ambitious debut novella. Exploring motherhood in a flooded Britain is a fascinating concept delivered in the novella in a shaky format. The End We Start From leaves you feeling that more than Britain has flooded and been swept away; character names are reduced …
In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
Reviewed by Clea Dobrish In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado- a raw, honest, and innovatively told memoir that paints a new picture of abuse. Machado has recently made herself known in the literary world with her short story collection titled Her Body and Other Parties. Using fairy tales to depict the stories of …
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Sunlit Imagery, Heartfelt Lament: Two Chapbooks by William Heath
Reviewed by David Salner William Heath’s distinguished writing career includes scholarly books plus crime and historical novels. With these two new chapterbooks Heath shows us what he can do as a poet, from sunlit imagery to heartfelt lament. The reader would expect a mastery of setting in a volume titled Leaving Seville. But Heath’s lines …
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Let’s Chat with Author & Producer Lancelot Schaubert
Hello Book Smugglers! I recently got the chance to speak with author and producer Lancelot Schaubert whose book Bell Hammers is available to read now. Keep reading to see what advice Schaubert has for his fellow authors and what he enjoys most about writing. What inspired you to write BELL HAMMERS? An accident. Normally I write scifi, …
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Maid by Stephanie Land
Summary via Amazon At 28, Stephanie Land's plans of breaking free from the roots of her hometown in the Pacific Northwest to chase her dreams of attending a university and becoming a writer were cut short when a summer fling turned into an unexpected pregnancy. She turned to housekeeping to make ends meet, and with …
Let’s Chat with Author Regina G. Hanson
Hello Book Smugglers! I recently got the chance to read an unpublished chapter of, Racism: The Real Reason I Left The South, and am so excited to announce that I had the opportunity to speak with the author, Regina Hanson. Keep reading to see what Hanson has to say about becoming a published author and …
Great Plains Birds by Larkin Powell
Reviewed by Cheyenne Marco University of South Dakota Let’s get one thing out of the way: I am not a birder. But one doesn’t have to be to enjoy Larkin Powell’s Great Plains Birds. Written for a general audience, Powell’s work moves beyond the litany of lists and maps of a standard guidebook and expresses …
Nature’s Best Hope by Douglas W. Tallamy
Reviewed by John C. Krieg Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard by Douglas W. Tallamy is a work that is indeed full of hope. We of the species Homo sapiens have failed abysmally in our efforts to preserve nature and are now in the position where we will …
Adrift on the Nile by Naguib Mahfouz
Reviewed by Nadia Benjelloun Bombs, beards, and belly-dancing. Rather than just a fun alliteration to say, this phrase would summarize what would come to mind upon hearing the word Arab. This is the epitome of orientalism. It’s all due to narrative, but just as there are misconstrued Arab and Muslim representations from sources that range …
Pantheon by Eric Syrdal
Reviewed by Candice Louisa Daquin Poetry has reclaimed its prior popularity with the easy access of the internet; anonymous and known poets can write on any subject in any style and find an audience and succor. There are those who do it for a career, those who write because they must and if they sell …