Ewing Campbell
Dolores Hayden
Michael Hettich
Jalina Mhyana
JL Navarro
JL Navarro Allow me to repeat this warning: This book is not for the
faint-hearted.
Ozzie Nogg
Katherine Soniat
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Special Mini Review Section 2005
AS A way to pay tribute to our contributors over these last five years, we offer these brief reviews of books published by our writers. We hope you'll seek out these books and read them. Your support of imaginative literary writing is essential, not only to their careers, but to the spirit and purpose of all creative writing. All reviews written by MARGIN editor, Tamara Kaye Sellman
JP Briggs
~ Trickster Tales ~
Short stories
which evolve around a loose concept of the Trickster, a
Native American mythological entity which behaves in
ways both foolish and wise. Briggs captures the humorous
essence of the Trickster well in his stories. Stories to read,
in particular: "An Urgent Message," "The Bow Tie," "Haircut" and "A Disproportionate Affair." I couldn't put down this collection.
~ Madonna, Maleva ~
Short novel published as part of the Innovative Fiction series offered by
York Press of Canada. This postmodern novella begins
with a raucous on-air dialog between a Tex-Mex radio
personality and his callers. When we meet the wimpled (as
in, wearing the collar of a nun) skater Maleva (and her
golem), passions both sensual and spiritual are set into
motion in ways equally serious and hilarious. You'll find
severed ears, broken Madonnas, drugs and needles,
monasteries, horoscopes—gritty fragments of real life
played out upon the sensuously marvelous stage of
contemporary life along the borderlands, complete with its
chaparral, the scent of hanging cilantro and coffee.
~ American Yard ~
Poetry
collection focused upon "the America within ourselves, a
place of violence and drift, but also—still!—sweetness and
beauty" (Katha Pollit). Hayden's poems vary in their forms
of (mostly) realism, but two MR efforts stand out: "Hospice"
and "The Milliner's Proposals." Nice poetry overall; some
accomplished end-rhyme in particular (which rarely succeeds, in contemporary, I think) and Hayden's serious craft at work with regard to
her more formal poetics.
~ Behind Our Memories ~
Lovely
hand-bound chapbook from Adastra Press. Hettich stays
true to form here—the prose poem form, that is. (What we
liked about him in the first place.) He manages free verse
with equal aplomb. Some favorite works include "The
Same," the longpoem "Behind Our Memories, Our Larger
Families Wait," and "Distances." These poems are
immensely personal in a way that renders them as gifts for
the reader.
~ Spikeseed ~
A humble little
chapbook, but don't let the "low production" format fool
you. Spend the $3 now, if you can! These poems left me
breathless, one after another, starting with the very first,
"August 6, 1945," which transforms the white shadows of
Hiroshima's victims into something immediate and visceral.
Other poems that slayed me: "Pains of Pilgrimage,"
"Questions for an Old Friend," "Mischief" and the book's
title poem. Mhyana's evocative and insightful style is
informed by her careful crafting of words and sensory
detail into lingering images both fresh and frightening. I'll
make it official here, if it hasn't already been done
elsewhere, and proclaim Mhyana a "Poet to Watch."
~ After the War ~
An
iUniverse.com novel that should interest fans of Kafka,
Castaneda and Rulfo. Navarro's narrative, about a young
Vietnam vet adrift in Mexico, moves across the
spectrum of genre, from magical realism to surrealism to
science fiction and horror, with shades of Western
literature: imagine The Twilight Zone setting up,
hacienda-style, in the remote village of El Pueblo. Navarro
is an extreme risk-taker with his fiction. It comes as no
surprise that his Blue Day on Main Street (1973)
was the first Chicano short story collection to be published
in the US. WARNING: This book is not for the
faint-hearted.
~ The Blood Cake Vendor and other stories ~
A hefty iUniverse.com short-story collection
on par with the underlying themes of war, hell and
humanity's lowest denominators, as we found so
well-defined in the title story.
Navarro takes on the more grim and corporeal aspects of
death. It may seem obvious, but a good place to start in this
journey would be with the story, "Strange Things Happen."
Gabo fans might enjoy exploring the more sinister
turns of events in Navarro's "The House of Gabriel Goez"
or "The Colonel's Execution," from which we are treated
with these lines: "On any given day of the
trials, men, women and children who had survived the
former regime packed the gallery. Many of them were
already dead and had begun to sprout twigs and showed
green leaves growing from their neck or hands."
~ Joseph's Bones: a collection of stories ~
This little, self-published book gets big marks
for its lovely production. This collection of creative
nonfiction comes in a fun-to-hold squarish format with
distinct black-and-white illustrations showcasing the
author's many talents. I don't think Joseph's Bones would be
so utterly collectible without this physical
one-of-a-kindness. The stories, all of them
personal and meant to be shared with Ozzie's grandchildren,
are old-fashioned, yet exude a timeless mystique. She has mastered the art of collecting Jewish
identity and tradition together in one clean, well-humored
style. Ozzie's
recollections as a rabbi's daughter show off a worldview
shaped by a lifetime of Jewish oral history. They also
deliver the good humor and insight of an Erma Bombeck. Ozzie's a generous author, having
included a glossary of Hebrew terms to help make things
plain and simple for those readers unaccustomed to the language of Jewish
culture.
~ Alluvial ~
Katherine Soniat
strikes me as another "Poet to Watch." She's prolific, hip to
the state of the world, versed in American history and keen to the
poetic craft. I like the mythic "The Oils of Europe" for its
ventriloquistic detailing of a strange, life-threatening event in
the travels of one Captain Smith. "The Eel Hour" recounts,
in kind, the politically magical world of ocean animals. "The
Moon Box" captures the enchanted quality of life
along the northeast coast at summertime (reminding me of
the gleaming, yet casual essence of Alice B.
Hoffman's prose). "Backtalk" engages an eternal conversation between son and mother, referencing Frederick
Douglass. Not all the poems are MR in this collection, but I
recommend this book for its clear thematic strength and
Soniat's powerful voice and distinct vision.
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