Relentlessly repetitive, Lessons About Life hammers home a brand of prosperity theology that claims “You are the captain of your own Destiny.” Assuming (as always) that the author’s Christian intentions are good, it stands to... Read More

Buying a lemon—a car plagued by mechanical problems from the day it’s driven off the dealer’s lot—is an all-too-common experience. Samson Kamara, a science teacher-turned-writer, has imagined that situation into a short novel,... Read More

The characters in "Translucent Tree" (Vertical, 978-1-934287-14-9) are steeped in love and also handle peripherally the concepts of home and belonging. In this novel, winner of the Tanizaki Award, Go and Chigiri meet again after... Read More

Iran has for several decades projected a dismal image—repression of political and human rights; crippling censorship in the press, literature, the arts, and self-expression; the ideological distortion of education; and the increasing... Read More

The double standard has been around, it seems, since Adam and Eve. After all, they both took bites of the apple, but only one has taken a sound thrashing for it ever since. In her exploration of the double standards we see every day,... Read More

“A year of turmoil had followed the coming of the Kéthani. The human race, suspicious and hostile at the best of times, did not trust the alien race that had arrived unannounced bearing its gift from the stars…we were, of course,... Read More