(Reviewed by Pat Luboff) I just discovered a treasure that you might not find if you’re depending on the mainstream bestsellers list for reading recommendations. I can’t say enough good things about Small Moments by Mary M. Barrow. Small Moments is a big book, but I don't mean page-wise. It illuminates the horrors of racism and…
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “New Orleans seems to exist as a blank slate for outsiders to grasp and cast their own aspirations, pretenses, and prejudices upon. A few of the outsiders always end up lingering, holding fast, and adding to the city’s layers, despite the fact that New Orleans changes them more than otherwise, ingrains…
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “Democracy doesn't just happen, it takes dedicated citizens continuously fighting to preserve it. Elected officials will get away with as much as they can and if no one picks on them for a long time, they slip into an arrogance that breeds a careless contempt.” Though this novel takes place in…
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “…the elimination of costly criminal trials, freeing the truly innocent, simplifying background checks, and making society as a whole more honest. Other than curing terminal diseases, can you think of anything more important?” What personal liberties are we willing to sacrifice in exchange for a safe society? Will these sacrifices preserve…
(Reviewed by Melanie Hamilton) What does it mean to call a place home? What are the consequences of commitment? These are some of the questions raised in the conflict between being alien and feeling the land as home. A soldier is persuaded to open a textile mill on a planet only accessible through a wormhole--with…
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “As they stood before a large stone crucifix of the body of Christ carved in a three-dimensional form she pulled out her syringe. When she moved toward Amanda to complete the deed, her sister Margie stepped out from behind the crucifix…” Each of the seven women had her own reasons for…
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “What’s worse than an out-of-work actor? An out-of-work actor who dresses up like Santa for a month for Hollywood power players and is reminded he’s a lonely depressed, out-of-work actor dressing up in costumes all year round for Hollywood power players who, out in the real world, wouldn't piss on him…
(Reviewed by Pat Luboff) Dante’s Hell had a sign over the gate: "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” Larry Gottlieb’s book could have a similar sign: “Abandon all ideas of who you are and what the world is, ye who read this.” And, instead of leading us into hell, Gottlieb shows us how to…
