AltWeeklies Wire
Remembrance of Persons Pastnew
Death, like magic and insanity, has always provided a good excuse for authors to go nonlinear with their writing, and Brockmeier uses the opportunity to gorgeous effect.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Thomas Bell |
02-09-2006 |
Fiction
Being Frank Steinnew
Frank recounts the beastly book he stitched together from the fundamental particles of language discovered during his prodigal studies of modern linguistics.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Thomas Bell |
02-02-2006 |
Fiction
High on Lifenew
This adventure story is also a melancholy reflection on what matters in a life: adventure or acquisitions, challenge or comfort, passion or position?
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Thomas Bell |
01-19-2006 |
Fiction
Slim to Nilnew
Bob Armstrong's reflections would be a fascinating story, if only he hadn't tried so hard to write himself into the role of street prophet and pimp poet.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Thomas Bell |
01-12-2006 |
Fiction
Screwing With Your Headnew
The author uses this method in attracting readers: The bigger the lie, the more they'll believe it.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Thomas Bell |
12-15-2005 |
Fiction
Bibliophile in a Bindnew
The House of Paper is nevertheless a soulful study of the peculiar passions and perils of bibliomania.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Thomas Bell |
12-08-2005 |
Fiction
Author Finds the Tension Between Irony and Sinceritynew
Losers and loners populate the pages of an Atlantan's collection of short stories and a novella.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Thomas Bell |
11-23-2005 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Book Has Become Valuable History After Hurricanenew
The author's love (an angry, desperate, grieving, intimate love) for the culture reads sincere, offering a full sensory tour of a part of New Orleans that was always way off the tourist map and may now be gone forever.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Thomas Bell |
11-17-2005 |
Nonfiction
It's an Irresistable Literary Conceitnew
Since 1969, George McDonald Fraser's "Flashman" series has been arguably the funniest -- and most educational -- series of novels being published.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Thomas Bell |
11-10-2005 |
Fiction
He Went Under the Cover of Flagnew
In an age of absurdity fit to make Aristophanes shoot milk through his nose, a trickster like Harmon Leon is a welcome reflection of our ridiculous reality.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Thomas Bell |
11-04-2005 |
Nonfiction
Eden Moore Sees Dead Peoplenew
If you're looking for a Stephen King-style, piss-your-pants fright fest, Four and Twenty Blackbirds will disappoint. Priest is at times overly clinical, and many of the main character's ghosts hold no more terror than a kiss from your stinky Aunt Edna.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Thomas Bell |
10-27-2005 |
Fiction
How Popeye Lost His Eyenew
Little Red Riding Hood, Dick Tracy, Popeye the Sailor Man ... don't let the characters fool you. Big Lonesome isn't written for kids, at least not for the pasteurized milk-fed children of the Disney generations.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Thomas Bell |
10-13-2005 |
Fiction
A Near War on Junk Foodnew
Like the film Traffic on sugar and triglycerides, Christopher Largen's novel Junk takes us on a tour of a near future "war" on junk food, complete with a food czar, a Food Enforcement Agency, and mandatory sentences for possession of hamburgers, doughnuts and milk shakes.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Thomas Bell |
10-06-2005 |
Fiction
Author Loves Her Gunnew
Kayla Williams tells her story of being a woman in what is still largely a man's Army, in which every woman is considered either a bitch or a slut.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Thomas Bell |
09-29-2005 |
Nonfiction
Stories From Papers You Don't Bring Home to Mothernew
In Notes from the Underground, you'll find stories of train-hopping hobos; high-priced, semi-retired call girls; marijuana; pedophilia; and polygamy. Yup, making our J-school mentors proud.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Thomas Bell |
09-15-2005 |
Nonfiction
