AltWeeklies Wire
Talk is Plentiful in 'Ohio River Dialogues'new
Anyone who's ever talked deep with a small group of friends and thought it might make for art should look into William Zink's experimental novel.
Pittsburgh City Paper |
Bill O'Driscoll |
01-14-2008 |
Fiction
'The Flowers': Leaves of Sassnew
A story "that didn't have nothing to do with people or places you've ever seen," the book also lifts its seasoned author to another place in the literary order.
The Texas Observer |
Steven G. Kellman |
01-14-2008 |
Fiction
Winter's Talenew
There's a section of The Architects Are Here that really got to me. Reading it gave me that feeling I love -- a thundering in my head that I don't notice until I've finished the passage and my brain calms down.
NOW Magazine |
Susan B. Cole |
01-11-2008 |
Fiction
John MacLachlan Gray's Victorian-era Thrillernew
Like his previous forays into the genre, there's a lot more going on than the pondering of pale corpses in floppy cravats.
The Georgia Straight |
John Lekich |
01-11-2008 |
Fiction
Geraldine Brooks' Thrilling Yarn of Biblical Scholarshipnew
Her historical fiction, inspired by a recent real-life discovery, makes a speculative journey with the embattled Haggadah all the way back to its imagined creation in medieval Spain.
Satan's Choicenew
This colorful, well-crafted historical tale of a bad cop and the corrupt system he served to death shows that the U.S. has been executing innocent people for a long time.
NOW Magazine |
Howard Goldenthal |
01-04-2008 |
Fiction
Comic Proportionsnew
Reviews of Batman and the Outsiders No. 3 and New X-Men No. 45.
Creative Loafing (Charlotte) |
Carlton Hargro |
12-28-2007 |
Fiction
Tags: Fiction Reviews
'Refresh, Refresh' Looks at the Impact of Warnew
Fiction in the key of fear and frustration.
Shepherd Express |
Erin Kogler |
12-28-2007 |
Fiction
'The Feasting Season' Offers a Wine Romancenew
The food novel is a sensuous, luscious read, one foodies and fiction aficionados will be glad they got their hands on before the inevitable movie is made (how about Diane Lane and Vincent Cassel?).
Nicola Barker Sets a Full Table in 'Darkmans'new
What Barker accomplishes is the sort of comprehensive and wide-ranging novel that towers over the single-note memoirs, genre pieces and pink-cover chick-lit books that so outnumber it.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Justin Bauer |
12-26-2007 |
Fiction
Nersesian Builds on the Post-Apocalyptic Genrenew
He constructs an alternate timeline, with Watergate quashed and the counterculture exiled to a replica New York built in the Nevada desert. His plot is scrambled out of The Odyssey, but it's really only an easel for the cabinet of curiosities his replica city contains.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Justin Bauer |
12-26-2007 |
Fiction
Jonathan Messinger's Cringe-Lit and Morenew
His style in the 15 stories that make up Hiding Out doesn't change much, but each story accomplishes a lingering pang that makes them all feel like individual showcases.
The Portland Mercury |
Kevin Sampsell |
12-20-2007 |
Fiction
Mario Vargas Llosa Creates Deeply Satisfying Talenew
He remains a giant of South American literature, and in The Bad Girl, a tale of romantic obsession taken to the point of destruction, his sure touch and dexterity are undiminished.
The Georgia Straight |
Mat Loup |
12-17-2007 |
Fiction
Dispirit of the Seasonnew
Michael Knight's slim volume The Holiday Season might make a good stocking stuffer for family members in need of escape and commiseration after the shrapnel of present-opening has settled, the eggnog has curdled and cabin fever has set in.
'Shooting War' Does Have a Pointnew
While critiquing the self-importance of the blogosphere, Anthony Lappe and Dan Goldman's graphic novel Shooting War perpetrates some of the sphere's worst customs: the self-importance, the self-pity, the lazy writing.
Metro Silicon Valley |
Richard von Busack |
12-13-2007 |
Fiction