Which part of the human mind will finalize our fate? The part that wrote the Gettysburg Address – or the part that murdered Abraham Lincoln? The Beatin’ Path – a lyrical guide to lucid evolution levels a look at both the enemies of human progress and the better angels of our nature. The cast of this collection…
Category: First Read
[redacted] by @tristamateer
Taking National Poetry Month’s poem-a-day challenge one step further, for her fourth collection, Trista Mateer has not only compiled a chapbook of her 2016 ‘30 for 30’ poems, but she has also chosen to include nearly everything else written in the month of April. This comes in the form of handwritten notes and poetry fragments,…
Unopened by Doug Hoekstra
“Unopened,” an intriguing volume of previously published and unpublished poetry, is Doug Hoekstra’s latest and third book. Among its fifty-seven selections, the reader will find poems that rhyme, poems that don’t, prose poems, sedokas, and yes, even an obligatory sonnet. Some are personal; some are societal. Some look inward, some look outward. Throughout the reader…
Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah
In this gorgeously stunning debut, a mysterious child teaches two strangers how to love and trust again. After the loss of her mother and her own battle with breast cancer, Joanna Teale returns to her graduate research on nesting birds in rural Illinois, determined to prove that her recent hardships have not broken her. She…
The Beast’s Heart by @leioss
I am neither monster nor man—yet I am both. I am the Beast. The day I was cursed to this wretched existence was the day I was saved—although it did not feel so at the time. My redemption sprung from contemptible roots; I am not proud of what I did the day her father happened…
The Crow Trap by @AnnCleeves
At the isolated Baikie’s Cottage on the North Pennines, three very different women come together to complete an environmental survey. Three women who, in some way or another, know the meaning of betrayal… For team leader Rachael Lambert the project is the perfect opportunity to rebuild her confidence after a double-betrayal by her lover and…
Cherry Blossom Days by Sandy Benitez
Cherry Blossom Days, by Sandy Benitez, is a petite collection of ethereal love poems; a love story that unfolds within the season of Spring infused with memories of the Pacific Northwest and Asian imagery. *** [Winter of 1989 / frozen and alone / I arrived in Spokane PACIFIC NORTHWEST, THE FIRST CHAPTER] *** (Flutter Press,…
Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss
In the north of England, far from the intrusions of cities but not far from civilization, Silvie and her family are living as if they are ancient Britons, surviving by the tools and knowledge of the Iron Age. For two weeks, the length of her father’s vacation, they join an anthropology course set to re-enact…
Black Sheep by @RoryScholl
An irresponsible twentysomething comic and his equally shameless grandmother join forces as proud pariahs in this dark and rowdy story of dicey family ties, kindred spirits, bad behavior, and bribery. When Rory’s judgmental mother told him that he took after his grandma Evelyn, he took it as a compliment. The ninety-two-year-old cocktail-toting, off track-betting party…
Oak Avenue by @_SashaDawn
A young wife and mother—new to this town and to its secrets—learns just how much she doesn’t know in this tingly tale of all the things hiding in the dark at the top of the stairs, from bestselling author Brandi Reeds. While renovating her Victorian home, Ana Clementine finds an ornate door buried under forty…
