Published by Manilla Press, 2023, 341 pages. “This morning, I met the man who started the fire. He did something terrible, but then, so did I. I left him.“I left him, and now he may be dead. I can see him clearly, exactly as he was this morning, sitting beneath the ancient tree, his eyes …
Tag: Fiction
The Last Day: Jaroslavas Melnikas
Translated from Lithuanian by Marija MarcinkutePublished by Noir Press, 2018, 175 pages. Original version published in 2018. The Last Day is a book of absurdist short stories by a Lithuanian writer. The protagonists, mainly men (with one exception), are victims of circumstance, caught up in strange situations that they cannot control. In the title story, …
On the Trail of Crime around the World
Photo: FU via Adobe Stock Crime fiction has consistently been one of the most popular genres—in 2014, around one in three novels published in English was a crime novel.[1] What makes this genre so popular? For one, the plot is a puzzle, challenging the reader to guess who done it—which was what first attracted me …
The Virago Book of Ghost Stories: Edited by Richard Dalby
Published by Virago, 2006, 496 pages. “...nobody knows better than a ghost how hard it is to put him or her into words shadowy, yet transparent enough...If a ghost story sends a cold shiver down one’s spine, it has done its job and done it well.”—Edith Wharton, quoted in Richard Dalby’s Preface If you’ve been …
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The Best Books of 2024
Photo: Maria Starus via AdobeStock We’re coming to the end of 2024. It’s been quite a year. But it’s good to know that people are still reading. And reading widely, judging by the lists you sent me. As always, we have a rich and varied collection. The longest part of this list is the one …
Cahokia Jazz: Francis Spufford
Review by Kristine GouldingPublished by Faber & Faber, 2023, 496 pages. Francis Spufford’s Cahokia Jazz is an exceptional alternate history that transports readers to a reimagined 1920s America. In this version of the past, Cahokia—a thriving city built around the real-life Cahokia Mounds near a village called St. Louis—has replaced New York as the cultural …
The Cemetery of Untold Stories: Julia Alvarez
Published by Charco Press, 2024, 265 pages. “As usual, she stops at El Barón’s tomb, to pay her respects, making the sign of the cross, then laying her fingers on the glass. The touch sets the flakes flying. A voice commences recounting its stories, other voices join in, more and more, as if blown by …
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No One Prayed Over Their Graves: Khaled Khalifa
Translated from Arabic by Leri Price.Published by Faber, 2023, 404 pages. Original version published in 2019. January 1907. A flood wipes out the village of Hosh Hanna, near Aleppo, leaving only two survivors. At the time, Hanna Gregoros—who had built this village—is away with his friend Zakariya Bayazidi. They return home to total devastation: Hanna’s …
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On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous: Ocean Vuong
Published by Jonathan Cape / Vintage / Penguin, 2019, 242 pages. “In a previous draft of this letter, one I’ve since deleted, I told you how I came to be a writer. How I, the first in our family to go to college, squandered it on a degree in English. … But none of that …
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The Fifth Season: N. K. Jemisin
Published by Orbit, 2015, 468 pages. “This is what you must remember: the ending of one story is just the beginning of another. This has happened before, after all. People die. Old orders pass. New societies are born. When we say ‘the world has ended,’ it’s usually a lie, because the planet is just fine."But …
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