The magic system of Jamie Pacton’s delightful, haunting fantasy novel "The Vermilion Emporium" pays tribute to the Radium Girls, who met tragic ends. Quinta is an orphan who fears she will never live up to her mother’s magical life.... Read More
In Amanda Dykes’s mesmerizing historical novel "All the Lost Places", a California man travels to Venice, where he confronts the mysteries around a fabled book. In 1807, Sebastien was set afloat in a canal. He was discovered by an... Read More
In Lori Weber’s enthralling historical novel "The Ribbon Leaf", a girls’ friendship changes after Kristallnacht, though their memories still sustain them across an ocean and a decade. In 1938 in Germany, twelve-year-old Sabine is... Read More
Cynthia Flood’s short story collection "You Are Here" seethes with political menace that’s seen through focused personal dramas. These stories defy categorization; they are wonderful, layered, powerful, and imbued with clear senses... Read More
Sacha Lamb’s "When the Angels Left the Old Country" is a luminescent novel about two incidental supernatural emigres. In a shtetl too small to warrant its own name, an angel and a demon argue Talmud together, wrapping themselves in the... Read More
SumoKitty is back with his wise pal Kuma, the grand champion at a sumo training center. Kuma has settled into a teaching position; older now, SumoKitty wishes to “catnap more and chase mice less.” But when a puppy, Chanko-chan, is... Read More
In Tegan Nia Swanson’s mystery novel "Things We Found When the Water Went Down", three generations of women seek to protect a damaged world. In the midst of a blizzard, Marietta is accused of murder and escapes custody almost as fast... Read More
Zig-zagging back and forth across time, Li Zi Shu’s "The Age of Goodbyes" is a kaleidoscopic family drama presented through multiple perspectives. The novel’s central focus is a book also titled "The Age of Goodbyes"; it follows the... Read More