Patrick O'Neil's memoir Gun, Needle, Spoon is "an unforgettable story". Gabriel Ricard with the review.
Patrick O'Neil's memoir Gun, Needle, Spoon is "an unforgettable story". Gabriel Ricard with the review.
Is Harper Lee's new novel, Go Set a Watchman, worth waiting five decades for? Is it a true sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird, or just a shamleless money-grab? Gabriel Ricard reviews and explores the most controversial book of the year.
Gabriel Ricard reviews John Wayne: The Life and Legend by Scott Eyman, which reveals a more complicated portrait of the iconic Western film star than you might expect.
Gabriel Ricard reviews the new collection of short fiction from Samantha Memi, All in Letters Bound in String.
Some poets deal in the unseen. They look for the dystopian galaxy that may or may not exist within some seemingly random, supposedly ordinary household object. Ridgeway occasionally touches on this philosophy, but it ultimately doesn’t seem to be his bag. He is much more interested in functioning as a storyteller. He thrives on giving us the impression that we have just set foot in an urban setting that is simultaneously 1960s Las Vegas, Tim Burton’s Gotham City, the breaking point New York City reached by the end of the 1970s, and a few other sprawling, menacing, dazzling cityscapes.
Loss and guilt haunt our future. When we look forward, these are the two characteristics that keep us from experiencing total separation from our past. We want to regain that which has left us, and we certainly want to amend our mistakes. In truth, what lies behind us, whether with wet or dry tracks, dictates how far we’ll ever be able to go. For many of us, moving on is nearly impossible. In the masterful Black River, debut novelist S.M. Hulse sets out to explore how much loss a man can take, and Hulse seems to wonder if maybe dealing with one’s guilt can change things.
While KocKblockers is not a book that all readers will enjoy, it is one that everyone should respect. Koweski takes characters who are greedy, self-destructive, vile, and disloyal, and he makes them relatable; more so, he makes us root for many of them.
Gerry Kirstein has most definitely been a fan for a very long time. Lengthy portions of his book are devoted to his journey as an appreciative listener of The Doors’ music and of Morrison’s lyrics. This is one of the ways in which the book stands to appeal to those who are either indifferent about The Doors, or perhaps even those who dislike The Doors. Kirstein makes an impassioned case, without actually making you feel as though the music is being shoved down your throat. It’s impossible to get through this book, without wanting to listen to a couple of Doors albums.
Without diminishing that larger disaster, ZoBell moves as deep into the repercussions of what happened to those on the ground as any writer would ever dare. She allows the drama, horror, humor, and humanity one would expect of those who experience something like this event to occur naturally.
How do you even describe How I Met the Apocalypse? It’s a dream that you get when the couch has eaten half your spirit, the cough syrup is drowning your organs, and there are too many things to watch on TV. It’s haunting a lot of time, but quite frankly hilarious in a number of places, as well.