Books
LITERARY BIOGRAPHY
A Binary Star with Anonymous
By William S. Niederkorn
Shakespeare’s Lost Kingdom by Charles Beauclerk, first published last year and reissued this year in paperback, is an account of Shakespeare’s life that relies heavily on a biographical interpretation of the plays, poems, and sonnets.
In Conversation
BEER IS TWO SUBWAY STOPS AWAY FROM MYSTICISM: SHARON MESMER with Bart Plantenga
Plantenga’s work has always explored the permeable boundary between illumination and inebriation, and what treasures and treacheries are found there.
FICTION
An Art Family
By Paul Charles Griffin
In The Family Fang, Kevin Wilson endeavors to answer the age-old question of how much art is really worth. How much sacrifice? How much pain? Moreover, Wilson asks if one can be both a good parent and a successful artist.
FICTION
The Thing About Harry
By Andrea Scrima
Harry Quirk, failed poet and middle-aged father to a lesbian, dumpster-diving freegan and a weak-willed son currently in the clutches of a pseudo-religious cult, has been thrown out of his home by his wife Luz, who suspects him of having a long-term affair with his best friend Marion.
FICTION
The Dangling Publication
By Meghan Roe
Melville House’s 2011 reissue of Joan Taylor’s 2006 debut novel, Conversations with Mr. Prain, begins with a rallying cry to the unpublished writers of the world, those who would sit by dejectedly and watch their literary ambitions fade in proportion to their commercial rejections.
FICTION
Romantic Interlude
By Molly Gallentine
Simon Van Booy’s debut novel, Everything Beautiful Began After, follows three characters: Rebecca, a gifted artist; George, a drunken intellectual; and Henry, an accomplished archaeologist, as they find love, friendship, and forgiveness.
ESSAYS
Wandering Through Life’s Wilderness
By Winston Len
How many people can correctly identify the flora and fauna they encounter in everyday life? Fearfully few. Edward Hoagland can do that, and more.
MEMOIR
Roots Music
By Tatiaana L. Laine
The literature world is full of funny, male authors who tell about the struggles of being a die-hard music fan, or musician, in a world full of lukewarm listeners. Gentlemen, make way for Alina Simone.
RAPID TRANSIT
Image Makers in Photography and Poetry
By Jeffrey Cyphers Wright
Ethnographic, environmental, and aesthetic—this book is a triple win. Photographer Phil Borges returned to Tibet after 15 years to make this panoramic portrait of a people and place that are drastically changing.
FICTION
Art, War, and Captivity
By Zachary Slingsby
In the middle of Nowhere, California, filmmaker Jim Finley is a houseguest of Richard Elster, a retired scholar recruited to market the war in Iraq. Finley is trying to enlist him for a new project: a film that would include nothing beyond a camera, a wall, and Elster in a chair telling the tale of his time in the Pentagon. There are no hidden motives on the part of either character.
FICTION
Knife Music
By Bruce Seymour
Black Sharpies and bold lettering accent David Carnoy’s debut novel, Knife Music. This doctor versus detective thriller belongs on the shelf with Michael Connelly, Dennis Lehane, or Chuck Hogan. Trauma alerts, cops, and teenagers lace the narrative in a high-pressure mix of empathy, encouragement, and contempt.
