The Critic’s Handbook to Pontificating About Everything offers no guidance on how to assess the quality of an opera libretto that’s written in the form of a mystery novel—which is precisely what "Quicksand" announces itself to be.... Read More

Christopher Cartmill, successful New York playwright, director, and actor, disregarded Thomas Wolfe’s famous advice that “You can’t go home again,” and returned to his home in Nebraska to research and write a play. His subject... Read More

Self-assessments as frank and all-encompassing as “…she knows herself to be a woman afraid of engagement, of exposure, of experience, of change, of strangers, of obsolescence and loneliness” are seldom expressed during everyday... Read More

Linda LeGarde Grover knows how to end a story—and manages to achieve both circularity and closure in each and every one. This is an impressive feat in and of itself, but for a collection of linked stories like "The Dance Boots", which... Read More

The metaphor of the mirror is used in psychology, books, and even the famous Michael Jackson song, to help people view their actions objectively. The central theme of "Who Do You See in the Mirror?" is the trend toward irresponsible... Read More

Bold, exact, and unflinching, Tim Johnston’s second book-length release is a display of adept, agile storytelling. Winner of the Katherine Anne Porter Prize in short fiction, judged this year by Janet Peery, this book omits... Read More

Ten years ago Ohio funeral director Robert Webster would have had a hard time publishing a book packed with lurid biological and gossipy details about his business. People would have considered the subject too ghoulish or shocking. But... Read More

Why are lawyers so miserable? Why the sky-high rate of burnout, job dissatisfaction, divorce, depression, suicide, and drug and alcohol addiction? Is it because of the incredible pressures of their job, from exorbitant demands for... Read More