Category Archives: Uncategorized

It’s the best kind of challenge to review an ambitious novel. And the best pleasure to review one that you love. My review of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ debut novel, The Water Dancer, is up today at the ambitious and lovely Chapter 16. You can … Continue reading →

I’m pleased to share my review of Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne’s debut novel, Holding On To Nothing. It’s always great to see familiar Appalachian literary tropes made into something fresh. My review is up today at the always-refreshing Chapter 16.

I’m very excited to share a new Q&A I’ve done with the wonderful fiction writer Anne Valente. She’s the author of two novels, Our Hearts Will Burn Us Down and this year’s The Desert Sky Before Us. You can read our Q&A over at Bayou … Continue reading →

I’m happy to share my review of an engaging debut novel, The Affairs of the Falcóns, by Melissa Rivero. I especially valued this novel’s wonderful protagonist, an undocumented Peruvian-born mother named Ana, who’s struggling to keep her family intact in New York … Continue reading →

I’m very excited to share a Q&A I’ve done with Ottessa Moshfegh! Her marvelous novel, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, went paperback this summer. In the interview, she discusses her relationship to writing, several key elements of this novel, and … Continue reading →

I’m especially pleased to share my involvement with the new literary journal, Peauxdunque Review. Starting now, in the lead-up to its second issue, I’ve begun work as Peauxdunque Review’s Fiction Editor. I had the pleasure of serving on the inaugural issue’s … Continue reading →

Recently, I had the chance to write a feature about an interesting reading series based in Knoxville, WordStream: The Weekly Writer’s Voice—a live weekly series which has also just launched a podcast, all in connection with Knoxville’s WDVX FM. WordStream … Continue reading →

I admit, while reviewing Andrew Lawler’s The Secret Token, I fell down the rabbit hole of curiosity about the fate of the lost colony of Roanoke, England’s first settlement in North America (during the late sixteenth century). That story’s mesmerizing ability … Continue reading →

I was moved and galvanized by reading Jessica Wilkerson’s To Live Here, You Have to Fight, which traces the contributions of women activists in the Appalachian labor and social-justice battles of the twentieth century. A book like this one provides a … Continue reading →

I’m especially glad to share my review of Nora McInerny’s great new memoir, No Happy Endings.McInerny, who hosts the also-great “Terrible, Thanks for Asking,” is as funny as anyone could be about the collisions of joy and tragedy in our … Continue reading →