In her excellent biography of Houston, cultural critic Lordi contrasts the legendary singer and actor with other Black cultural innovators, like Nina Simone, writing that Houston “appears not as a visionary but as a femme object we gaze at or gape at, asking what happened to her, not what she did.” She has a point. […]
The author, a writer based in San Francisco, didn’t get off to a strong start when it came to familial stability: Her biological father, Juan, left when her 18-year-old mother got pregnant in 1975. Heartbroken, her mother married a harsh man named Kurt, who moved their small family from suburban Oregon to an Army base […]
Helene Weaver is a familiar figure in fiction (and memoirs): the larger-than-life, charismatic, mercurial, possibly mentally ill mother. Her daughter Gerry’s completely absent father is of zero importance in a novel so female-centered that male characters barely register. Helene takes temp jobs to support the duo’s wanderings up and down the West Coast while casually […]
Charlotte is enjoying a holiday in Devon with Mrs. Watson, Lord Ingram, and a group of family and friends when Mrs. Watson’s estranged sister, Justina Carstairs, the lady of a family of consequence, appears with ambiguous intentions. No sooner has she requested her sister’s presence at her home and suggested that something dangerous is imminent […]
The author, who entranced readers with her candor in Blackout (2015), a memoir of her years of alcoholism, brings the same unsparing honesty to her search for true love. She explains that in her 20s, she chose a big, unconventional life: adventure, a career, and the things unavailable to her mother, whose “small radius” existence […]
With Halloween still a week away, Tinker’s Cove, Maine, is already gearing up for its Merrie Olde Christmas extravaganza. Undeterred by a nasty doxxing incident, Chamber of Commerce Chair Corney Clark is teeing up costumes, carolers, and contests, capped by a plum pudding bake-off. But visions of sugarplums don’t have sweet associations for all residents. […]
“Every movie romance needs an Obstacle, a reason the characters don’t naturally fall into each other.” In the off-screen romance between actors Juniper Castillo and Kai Laramie, the obstacle is a moving target. Juniper notices early on that as flirty and forward as Kai is, he seems “closed off to a romantic connection”; that turns […]
On the eve of his Full Horn Ceremony, young faun Panmiel is playing in the forest when he meets Hobkin, a satyr. They spend the day together, learning about their differences, but also their similarities. Despite being told all his life that satyrs are evil, Pan can’t help but see Hobkin as a friend who […]
“Hank takes this stuff seriously,” hunter Randy Newberg stresses in Buck, Buck, Moose’s 10th anniversary foreword. Over nearly 300 pages of hunting stories, butchery guides, and recipes, readers will surely come to agree—Hank does take this stuff seriously. Shaw, a former restaurant cook, has made a career out of welcoming curious readers to the “wild food […]
The author explains in his introduction that he wanted to create pieces that “hung there in midair, suspended” without categorizing them as prose poetry, flash fiction, or micro-fiction. The very short entries presented here, sometimes only spanning a few pages, generally introduce a single character, capture one consequential moment, and culminate with an ironic reversal. […]