This review first appeared on Fourth & Sycamore. Shirley Jackson’s classic haunted house tale The Haunting of Hill House is one of the best executed examples of the genre anywhere… Read more “Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House”
Category: Fiction Reviews
Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle
This review first appeared on Fourth & Sycamore. “My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I… Read more “Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle”
Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes
This essay first appeared on Fourth & Sycamore. No writer has ever understood the sad, strange, ecstatic wonder of midwestern childhood like Ray Bradbury. The curious freedoms… Read more “Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes”
A Review of The Girl Who Slept with God by Val Brelinski
This review first appeared on Fourth & Sycamore. Some books are easier to review than others. The difficulty in reviewing some books can be for a variety… Read more “A Review of The Girl Who Slept with God by Val Brelinski”
A Review of Saving Julian by Mason Stokes
This review first appeared on Fourth & Sycamore. Paul Drucker is a middle-aged preacher and psychology professor with a thriving gay conversion ministry, a successful book called Saving Our… Read more “A Review of Saving Julian by Mason Stokes”
A Review of Love and Other Wounds: Stories by Jordan Harper
This review first appeared on Fourth & Sycamore. Jordan Harper’s first collection of short stories, Love and Other Wounds, might be the most brutal collection of short fiction I’ve… Read more “A Review of Love and Other Wounds: Stories by Jordan Harper”
Teeth and Bones and No Home to Haunt: A Review of Colin Winnette’s Haints Stay
This review first appeared on Fourth & Sycamore. The Old West of Colin Winnette’s newest book is one denuded of the romance of American goodness, the country’s… Read more “Teeth and Bones and No Home to Haunt: A Review of Colin Winnette’s Haints Stay”
Whisky and the Werewolf: A Review of Andrew Ervin’s Burning Down George Orwell’s House
This review first appeared on Fourth & Sycamore. Ray Welter has no idea who he is anymore. A successful thirtysomething Chicago ad executive who made his name… Read more “Whisky and the Werewolf: A Review of Andrew Ervin’s Burning Down George Orwell’s House”
A Review of The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
This review first appeared on Fourth & Sycamore. There is no other fiction author I know of who handles her characters with the grace of Jhumpa Lahiri. Perhaps… Read more “A Review of The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri”
Camp Classic: The Last Days of Video by Jeremy Hawkins
This review was first published on Fourth & Sycamore. The Last Days of Video by Jeremy Hawkins (Soft Skull Press, 2015) is more than anything a… Read more “Camp Classic: The Last Days of Video by Jeremy Hawkins”