reviews

Sunshine and Desperation... Author:  J. Robert Lennon While I think about books a lot, I don’t often pay much attention to the world of publishing.  But lately, I’ve increasingly come across books from Graywolf Press , a Minneapolis based non-profit publisher that seems to have an award winning book or two on every best of 2014 book list I’ve come across this winter.  I’ve previously reviewed works by the magical essayist Eula Biss and the Pulitzer winning poetess Tracy K. Smith, but this time I’ve selected See You in Paradise, a collection of short stories by J. Robert Lennon that [...]

Murder and Betrayal in the Trailer Park Author: Jimmie Ruth Evans Working two jobs, taking care of two half-grown girls and her grandson, and forcing ends to meet, Wanda Nell Cullpepper doesn’t have time for her smarmy ex-husband, Bobby Ray. So, when he shows up in her trailer one day, all smiles and obscene amounts of cash, she kicks him out in hollering style, waking up the entire trailer park. The next day he’s found dead with one of Wanda Nell’s prized plastic flamingos staked through his heart. Sherriff Elmer Lee Johnson, longtime friend of Bobby Lee, has a bone [...]

A Wise Feathered Friend... Author:  Martin Windrow For millennia, humans have been found owls intriguing.  Whether as symbols of impending doom or serene wisdom – or as an ally of literature’s most famous teen wizard – these nocturnal predators have captured human attention in a unique way.  Years before Hedwig became a household avian name, British military historian Martin Windrow had a fascination for birds of prey and became quite obsessed with the idea of having a pet owl, even though his seventh-floor London flat didn’t really represent the best environment for such an escapade.  Now, many years later, he [...]