Emily Choate | writer

I have new review up at Chapter 16 today, covering Bryn Chancellor’s debut story collection When Are You Coming Home? She’s got such a smart, often funny point of view, and I enjoyed getting a chance to write about this debut. You can read my review at Chapter 16.

I’m excited to share my Q&A with Kaitlyn Greenidge, author of the fascinating novel We Love You, Charlie Freeman. I like how ambitious this novel is—full of complex characters and challenging explorations of race in American history. The book is thought-provoking, as are her answers. You can read my Q&A with Greenidge at Late Night Library.

I’m pleased to share my review of Ron Rash’s Poems: New and Selected, up this week at Chapter 16. Being such a devotee of Rash’s fiction, I cringe to admit that I wasn’t well-read in his poetry until now. But this collection is a must for anyone who enjoys his work. Also, it provides a great Appalachian lit fix, which I am always happy to get. You can read my review here at Chapter 16.

I’m excited to share my new Q&A with Lee Smith, whose memoir Dimestore is about to be released this week! She is possibly the most natural storyteller of any writer I can think of, and her first memoir bears that out, as do her answers here. She’s a long-time favorite of mine, and I’m thrilled that I was able to ask her some questions. The Q&A is up today, and you can read it here at Late Night Library.

I’m happy to share the link to my review of Diane Les Becquets’s novel Breaking Wild. This novel touches on lots of subjects dear to me–how wild landscapes can create strong holds over us, how (and I mean, how in the ever-loving universe) women can plot a course through modern life without disaster, how we heal and how we forgive. You can read my review here at Chapter 16.

I’m thrilled to share that my short story, “Thunder Sometimes, Never Bells,” is available in the newest issue of The Florida Review. (The print issue can be ordered from TFR’s website.) This one has been with me a long while—the zygote version went into a drawer for seven years, then climbed out again to be finished, and then again to seed a novel. Now that I’m nearing completion of that novel, it seems right for this small piece to be heading out first, like a scout or a spyboy.

I’m pleased to share my review of the essay anthology Walk Till the Dogs Get Mean, which is full of terrific writing about secretiveness in Appalachian lives. The book contains pieces by a wide array of voices, including Jayne Anne Phillips, Chris Offutt, Jacinda Townsend, Dorothy Allison, bell hooks, Charles Dodd White, and Pinkney Benedict. Reviewing an anthology like this one always seems a little insufficient: you just don’t have room to mention all the good stuff, so you make choices on the day. I’d now add a special mention of the section featuring LGBT Appalachian writers, especially essays by Jason Howard, Julia Watts, and Carter Sickels. Cheers to them and to this great book. My review’s up today at Chapter 16.

A piece of my short fiction, “Sky Fire Shrine Machine,” is live today in New Orleans’s Faulkner Society journal, The Double Dealer. My story appears in connection with the Faulkner Society’s William Faulkner-William Wisdom Competition, where it was a runner-up for Short Story. Tricky to read in its behemoth, double-issue digital form here (story starts on page 265), but I’m pleased to share the story. To check out the issue, click here.

I’m so pleased that I had a chance to review Geraldine Brooks’s new novel, The Secret Chord.  Her body of work is of particular fascination to me–in each of her novels, there’s a boundless respect for the pre-modern consciousness, as well as a respect for the contradictions and paradoxes of all human beings’ lives. The only way to attempt a novel that depicts the life and relationships of a Biblical character like King David is to go for broke, and Brooks has done that. It’ll piss off some people, likely in useful ways. You can read my review at Chapter 16. 

Here’s my review of Lorraine Lopez’s novel The Darling. I’m into this one. It’s wicked and funny without shortchanging emotional depth (and the bibliophile mind–my favorite kind). Don’t let the cover fool you—it’s got Voltaire jokes. You can read my review over at Chapter 16.