“Here are cool shadows and silence and stone, tile painted by the fall of light through stained glass.” James Dressler has sought refuge in the Catholic Church since his youth. It is his sanctuary from a tumultuous home life, and a... Read More

Secrets corrode and divide; truths heal and unite. This concept is gracefully explored in first-time novelist Peter Geye’s lyric story of familial strife and re-conciliation, "Safe from the Sea". Called home by his dying father after... Read More

It would take no less than a poet with an evolved spirit and keen sense of history to add new insights on the Holocaust. Andre Schwarz-Bart (1928–2006), a Polish Jew whose parents and brothers were victims of the Nazis, was just such a... Read More

This is an astounding book—in verbal pyrotechnics, but also in the fact that it’s a softcover re-issue. How could such a rich fictional brew have come and gone with so little fanfare? John Crow’s Devil tells the story of the Rum... Read More

In March 2003, the government of the United States unleashes a “wave of steel” on Iraq—operation “shock and awe” at full throttle. Missiles whistle across cloudy landscapes on television screens and Tom, a writer and professor... Read More

The “problem” with novellas that take just over an hour to read is that, if the author has done a stellar job, it may take twice as long for a reader to adequately describe the experience. Swimmer in the Secret Sea is such a book;... Read More

This novella plays with conventions of storytelling. It is experimental fiction, meaning nothing is certain, and everything is contrived: “the rules need not necessarily apply.” The author is out to shake up the reader’s... Read More

Arvid Jansen is standing on the precipice of loss. He is losing his mother, who has recently been diagnosed with cancer. His marriage is also dying, as is Communism, which has formed the basis of Arvid’s beliefs since he was a young... Read More