Book Reviews

“In childhood, Mama often took me to the symphony...When a gifted orchestra breathes its last note, eardrums of the audience still ring a moment longer. The music floats a bit past silence. I’ve since searched for this sensation, this quiet, haunting ringing; I’ve rediscovered it with the short tales of Joy Williams.” 

Review by Mariya Kurbatova

"...Encounters for the Living and the Dead radiates with Dallis’s love of poetry as an art. The attention to form, intensity of imagery, and evident research inside the collection are astounding; the construction of these elements shows the intense passion and professionalism behind Dallis’s work. Of the collection’s strengths, it was the imagery which stood out to me the most, in particular, the presence of motifs which repeat across multiple poems."

Review by Lillian Durr

"Avitus B. Carle’s debut flash fiction collection, These Worn Bodies, is akin to an impressive snow globe collection you’d find in a great aunt’s attic ... Carle tackles grief, identity, mental health, and love, young and old with fresh perspectives in bold narratives that proves Carle can make the wildest “What if?” feel grounded and undeniably full of human heart. Her ability to capture the same magic time and time again with each following story is what makes These Worn Bodies a worthy read for anyone ready to get their heart pulled in a million different directions."

Review by Mar Prax

"Monsters, body horror, and terror have a long and storied literary relationship with representations of queer experiences, social ostracization, and trauma—a relationship which presents a series of predictable tropes that are easy to fall into. In CD Eskilson’s debut poetry collection Scream/Queen, Eskilson spectacularly avoids and at times wittily critiques these clichés, presenting a beautifully original series of poems which play with familiar themes and poetic forms in practiced, unique ways..."

Review by Lillian Durr