Contributions by Melissa Schwenk

Book Review: THE SPIRIT BIRD by Kent Nelson

By | Book Review, Prose

The Spirit Bird by Kent Nelson University of Pittsburgh Press, 2014 $24.95 The line between reality and imagination is very thin in The Spirit Bird by Kent Nelson. This collection of short stories, told from both first and third person point of view, looks at the inner demons within all of us, the beautiful landscapes …

Book Review: JUNKETTE by Sarah Shotland

By | Book Review, Prose

Junkette by Sarah Shotland White Gorilla Press, 2014 $11.99 Your skin crawls, you feel the craving kick in, and you want more. That’s exactly the experience of reading Sarah Shotland’s Junkette. This candid tale of addiction makes you hunger for more—more love, more drugs, and definitely more for the protagonist, Claire. As a college educated woman, …

Book Review: THE AMADO WOMEN by Désirée Zamorano

By | Book Review, Prose

The Amado Women by Désirée Zamorano Cinco Puntos Press, 2014 $16.95 “You had to parcel out your secrets, you couldn’t trust any single person with the entire, authentic you,” states Sylvia Amado in Desiree Zamorano’s novel The Amado Women. The book opens with one of Sylvia’s biggest secrets—that she’s in an abusive relationship with her husband. …

Book Review: Nevers by Megan Martin

By | Book Review, Prose

Nevers by Megan Martin Caketrain Press, 2014 $9.00 From the title I expected Megan Martin’s book, Nevers, to be a book about being unfulfilled, a book of false starts. However, it is much more complicated than that. The ambitious author/narrator is more interested in deconstructing love and finding her true self through her aspirations as …

Book Review: Sorrow by Catherine Gammon

By | Book Review, Prose

Sorrow by Catherine Gammon Braddock Avenue Books, 2013 $16.00 For years she had kept herself alive by working out the details. What was left to imagine? She knew everything except which of them it would be. Necessity was what she understood: When? Now. Why? Because. But Who? always eluded her. Choose me, the little voice …