I recently had a zoom interview with poet Anne Elezabeth Pluto to discuss her most recent book, How Many Miles to Babylon. The author sipped tea while holding her adorable adopted French Bulldog named Celine on her lap. Pluto is the editor of Nixes Mate Review and teaches at Lesley University. This is her second book.
A review of Spellbook of Ordinary Mistakes by Jane LeCroy
That is to say, we may get a glimpse of the Jane LeCroy who grew up in Nyack, New York, in the shadow of the Tappan Zee Bridge looming in the distance, but the real Jane LeCroy is as elusive as the butterfly we think we’ve captured when we pin it to a board.
A Review of House of Gucci by Sara Forden
I am secretly trying to light a wick: A Conversation between Matt Mauch and Tiffany Troy about their new books
I tell my students to fall in love with the process—the process of writing, of doing it every day, of making it a habit, a job that doesn’t pay you but matters more than the jobs that do—and that the product will come. I try to teach them to take the long view. Saying “the product will come” is my assent to our economic system, to capitalism, to ego.
A review of Long Island by Colm Tóibín
Tóibín excels at novels from a woman’s point of view. Here he gives a sympathetic portrait of two women shaken by events and hoping for a second chance. The main male characters, Tony and Jim, lack the determination and character of Eilis and Nancy. Unthinking, they grab onto the first thing that comes along.
A review of Tiger Cage by Max Brooks
Brooks is still the master of creating a convincing if fantastical world through the eyes of a minor participant. In broad strokes, he paints a compelling picture of a war-torn Los Angeles, particularly Hollywood, an area he has extensive knowledge of as the child of Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft.
Where the Time Goes, a review of Knowing by Mark Cox
Perhaps all of the aforementioned influenced the distinct voice in Knowing, a voice that probes and wonders, laments and celebrates. Three central ideas are: The past is good, the present is better; fate coexists with human will; and time is unstoppable, art stops time.
Queer Bodies and Youthful Exuberance in Rainbow Rainbow by Lydia Conklin
Through sparse prose, a keen eye for detail, and sharp social critique, the stories in Rainbow Rainbow create a sense of fluidity both in scope and philosophy grounded only by the limitations of the body and the identities we associate with it.
A review of Opus: A life With Music by Pip Griffin
Griffin is a poet of philosophical refinement and linguistic delicacy, the poems in this collection are also compelling and wise, each poem a seed planted in a garden of beauty.
A review of Finish What We Started: The MAGA Movement’s Ground War to End Democracy by Isaac Arnsdorf
The fanaticism of the MAGA conservatives rests on cynicism and conspiracy, a fundamental belief that the world (the Republican party, Democrats, Hollywood elites, paper shredding trucks) is out to get them, to squeeze their voice—and their vote—from existence. In their view, the only way to fight this grand conspiracy is through a ferocious commitment to ideology and an organized grassroots movement, sponsored by MyPillow.