Under the idyllic and pastoral cover, The Stranger Manual by Catie Rosemurgy is a creepy little book of poems. It juxtaposes the realities of grotesque and pretty: of comic and disturbing. While this seems alarming,…
Posts Published by Melissa Slachetka
It?s all in the Cards
The Last Days of Madame Rey is a perfect companion to A. W. Hill's Nowhere-Land. Both feature the daring PI Stephan Raszer, and although Madame Rey came first, it has just been newly released in…
Poetry without boundaries
Greg Hewett's new book of poems, darkacre, dabbles in property law as well as the physical and abstract definitions surrounding it. The poetry collection’s name is a play on the legal term 'blackacre' which simply…
America’s Mid-Life Crisis
Unincorporated Persons in the Late Honda Dynasty is a colorful and contradictory view of America. The poems are a filled with musings on the century we are living in and the dynamics of love and…
Ominous verses
Like a CSI television drama, Find the Girl captures our full attention. The poems deal with the death of and lurking danger to girls and young women. Author, Lightsey Darst's verses urge the reader to…
Hella Good Cooking
Minneapolis's own Hell's Kitchen is no relation to the television show of same name but it is just as intense, and reading the story behind its success is even better than watching Chef Ramsay yell….
Writing: A Lifestyle
Writer's block, obsessive authors, and drunken arrests, don't begin to describe John McNally's novel, After the Workshop. Main character, Jack Hercules Sheahan, is a writer that had a chance to make a name for himself…
More Precious than Gems
Ruby and the Stone Age Diet is a classic Martin Millar novel with a jumble of sub-plots, twists and turns, and an unnamed narrator. Millar, once again, explores the world of Britain's underclass filled with…
Diary of an American in Italy
Never Trust a Thin Cook is best described as an epicurious travelogue. It focuses more on the joy of food and cooking traditions than on specific recipes. Essentially, it is a diary of an American…
Happiness is a State of Mind
Alex Lemon's memoir, Happy, is filled with blood, sweat, and courage. It is a raw and brutally honest look at overcoming what fate throws at you. Happy is a nickname and a personality Lemon shows…
Melissa’s Top Ten Favorites of 2009
1. Ray of the Star by Laird Hunt: Loved everything about this book! The writing is dynamic, the setting is exotic, and the plotline is filled with beauty and tragedy. [review] 2. The Invisible Mountain…