The CIA sends Artemis Aphrodite Procter to become their chief of station in London and help “rebalance things with the Brits.” She accepts the assignment reluctantly, as she’s dismissive of the British in general and London in particular. Told that the city is lovely, she replies that’s the problem. The Brits are pickpockets, she claims, …
The author sets the stage immediately: “I am Joseph Senu, an African immigrant living in Redondo Beach, California, United States of America….I am telling my grandson, Caleb, my life story so that he may learn lessons from it to lead his own life.” Joseph, feeling that he’s in the “departure lounge” of his own existence, …
Bentley explores the difficult reality of being a doctor during the Covid pandemic: “The health care system, the people in it providing the care, were stretched beyond capacity.” While the story follows Bentley’s treatment of an array of patients, the larger tale is the author’s excessive self-criticism. Working herself to the bone, Bentley relied on …
The author explains in his introduction that he wanted to create pieces that “hung there in midair, suspended” without categorizing them as prose poetry, flash fiction, or micro-fiction. The very short entries presented here, sometimes only spanning a few pages, generally introduce a single character, capture one consequential moment, and culminate with an ironic reversal. …
On the eve of his Full Horn Ceremony, young faun Panmiel is playing in the forest when he meets Hobkin, a satyr. They spend the day together, learning about their differences, but also their similarities. Despite being told all his life that satyrs are evil, Pan can’t help but see Hobkin as a friend who …
“Hank takes this stuff seriously,” hunter Randy Newberg stresses in Buck, Buck, Moose’s 10th anniversary foreword. Over nearly 300 pages of hunting stories, butchery guides, and recipes, readers will surely come to agree—Hank does take this stuff seriously. Shaw, a former restaurant cook, has made a career out of welcoming curious readers to the “wild food …
It’s August 2005 in Hartless, a small, dusty town in the Texas Panhandle. Kindergarten teacher Helen McCabe, in her mid-50s, has just finished the first week of school, hoping that her class will help her find her mooring again. Her husband, Hal, recently died in a car crash; he drove into an intersection, just as …
In a curious and visually unique combination of words by former New York Times reporter Black and page designs (“visualization”) by illustrator Lehrer, this book portrays the author’s experiences dealing with grief after his mother’s unexpected death. The minimal text Black provides is scattered sparingly across the book’s pages, often with just a single word on …
Whether it was losing his parents or the dissolution of his nearly 25-year marriage, whenever the pain of loss became too great for him to bear, Mirasole looked to the open road for escape. “I’d come home from those roads different in some way I couldn’t name—quieter, maybe, or more willing to be alone with …
This motivational book opens by discussing how women often face “You should say something” moments but don’t end up speaking out because of fear. The author emphasizes that the goal is not to have the loudest voice but the clearest. A woman’s voice, she insists, can create a “ripple” that extends to fellow teammates or …
