Fiction

“The writing is beautiful. Harvey’s style is elegant and sharp-witted, just as the main character, Rei, is. I can’t think of the last time I found a novel written in third person where I felt the author’s voice was such a perfect representation of the story.”

“What makes Rosemary Zibart’s True Brit most engaging is the attention to detail, from descriptions of mud homes and pinon trees to ‘A-okay’ American slang. Beatrice’s journal entries add more insight into her evolution from a privileged girl to the beginnings of a modern woman.”

“This is what a collection of stories should be, rich and varied, playful, daring, poignant and always entertaining. Corey Mesler’s children and adults move about American locales both familiar and exotic and the result is an experience as broad and interesting as life itself.”

“The ghosts of the Old South are present throughout, even while the main characters’ struggles are distinctively contemporary. It’s all here, the awkwardness of reconnecting with childhood friends, the impossibility of integrating your youth with your adulthood, the longing for home when home is a time and not a place: Hathcock writes haunting, unforgettable stories.”

“A deeply moving and passionate book, Michael Potts’ End of Summer is a poignant literary novel about childhood and memory. This is contemporary Southern fiction at its best. In textured language and with heartfelt attention to detail, Potts’ nuanced portrayal of rural life in southern Appalachia and a young boy’s initial encounter with death reminds us that life at the economic margins can be culturally and spiritually rich, and that even as absences and losses sometimes damage us, these can also strengthen and redeem.”