Review of Mike Thorn’s “Shelter for the Damned”
By Vincent Potter Shelter for the Damned by Mike Thorn JournalStone (2021) “They sat for hours, talking dirty in the rot and gloom. Mark had never taken so long to smoke a…
Review of Arleen Paré’s “First”
By Catherine Owen First by Arleen Paré Brick Books (2020) The topic of female friendships in literature: enduring, formative, is unfortunately uncommon. Often dismissed as a bond of fripperies by a patriarchal society, close…
Review of Marcello Di Cintio’s “Driven”
By Annie Wesko Driven: The Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers by Marcello Di Cintio Biblioasis (2021) Marcello Di Cintio writes of so many immigrant taxi drivers who had seen war…
Review of Leona Theis’ “If Sylvie Had Nine Lives”
By Annie Wesko If Sylvie Had Nine Lives by Leona Theis Freehand Books (2020) If Sylvie Had Nine Lives is Leona Theis’s third book, a novel in nine stories written in…
Review of Keith Garebian’s “Scan: Cancer Poems”
By Blaine Marchand Scan: Cancer Poems by Keith Garebian Dis/ability Series: Number Twenty-two Limited Edition, 100 copies Frog Hollow Press In the opening to Keith Garebian’s probing, insightful and powerful…
Review of Pamela Medland’s “Echo of Ash”
By Carla Scarano Echo of Ash by Pamela Medland Passwords Enterprises ISBN 9780968091860 Echo of Ash is an engaging first full collection that displays a journey through bereavement after the…
Review of Doreen Vanderstoop’s “Watershed”
By Vincent Potter Watershed by Doreen Vanderstoop Freehand Books (2020) ISBN: 9781988298597 The dystopia in Doreen Vanderstoop’s Watershed is one worryingly reasonable: it’s 2058, no one has enough water, and being…
Review of Ariel Gordon’s “TreeTalk”
By Skylar Kay TreeTalk by Ariel Gordon At Bay Press (2020) ISBN-10: 1988168279 ISBN-13: 978-1988168272 First of all, TreeTalk is an innovative poetry collection. While most entries are from Gordon,…
Review of Lisa Richter’s “Nautilus and Bone”
By Angeline Schellenberg Nautilus and Bone by Lisa Richter Frontenac House (2020) ISBN: 9781989466124 I’m usually drawn to poetry books that feel like old friends: collections that put music to…
Review of Lori Hahnel’s “Vermin”
By Kathryn Shalley Vermin by Lori Hahnel Great Plains Publications (2020) ISBN: 9781773370460 Though disparate in time and location, the stories in Lori Hahnel’s Vermin are bound by a common…