BOOKLOVES

A 50-year true crime saga that underscores the shocking darkness—and unending lightness—of the human soul jack·light·ing | ˈjak-ˌlīt-iŋ | Noun The hunting method of shining artificial light on game at night to stun or freeze it in place—exploiting the “deer-in-the-headlights” effect to make it an easy target. By extension, the kill itself: an amoral killing […]

The organ sits in an alcove by the fireplace where a green velvet love seat used to be, lit by a single wrought-iron lamp. It is carved with garlands and urns, it stands on clawed animal feet, and when Cynthia touches the keys nothing happens, because she has forgotten the bellows need pumping first. What […]

Traffic stops dead halfway across the Coronado Bridge. Rain hammers the minivan, the young driver is breathing into a paper bag, and the only edible thing anyone has found is a bag of hemp-laced dog biscuits meant to calm an elderly Pomeranian on flights. So three adults eat them, in solidarity. They are earthy, gluey […]

A superlative work of first-class mentorship  Garnet Morris’s second book, Do the Hard Things, transcends self-help to become something like a mentorship in book form. The distinction is subtle but important. Mentorship requires the author’s lived experience, depth of commitment, and a clear sense of responsibility for the message. In short, it requires palpable commitment […]

What happens when belief becomes humanity’s most dangerous technology? The Meme by Nicholas Rov Kent is a deliberately destabilizing intellectual experiment—in novel form. It may not be a traditional narrative, but it is speculative fiction that blends dystopian futurism, political philosophy, metafiction, and social satire. To call the book unconventional would be understating the matter. […]

A casserole hits the kitchen floor. Bazil Coutts has come in quietly, the way he always used to, and put his arms around his wife at the sink, and the dish is in pieces before either of them can speak. Geraldine looks at him, steps over the mess and climbs the stairs without a sound, […]

The killing frost has finally arrived in Tinker’s Cove, blackening the last chrysanthemums, and Lucy Stone takes her ageing black Lab out on the old logging road to enjoy it. At Blueberry Pond, newly sealed with smooth ice, she pauses to practise the mindfulness her yoga-teacher friend keeps recommending. When she opens her eyes there […]