In 1985, it isn’t easy for a woman to break into the tattoo business, especially not in a small town like Blue Claw. When Gina turns 18, her brother reluctantly lets her apprentice at his tattoo shop, and the next year is filled with unexpected surprises. I was completely wrapped up in Gina’s coming-of-age story. …
This book has one of the most fascinating narrators I’ve ever read: a multi-conscious, all-knowing parasite posing as the world’s doctors in order to keep its human hosts alive. One such doctor is sent to an old chateau to care for the ills of a decrepit local despot and his family. This post-post-apocalyptic novel is a ton of fun with plenty …
When a meme mocking her cousin’s body hair becomes the talk of the school, TJ Powar begins to wonder how and why something as natural as hair is seen as disgusting or unclean—she then decides to discontinue her shaving and waxing regimens to test just how much it affects her social status. TJ Powar Has …
One of the hazards in the fast-growing American cities of the late 1800s was fire, and the Northwest was no exception. Most of us are familiar with the 1889 blaze that reshaped Seattle’s streets, but Spokane fell victim to flame in the same year. Unlike the Seattle fire, Spokane’s conflagration remains unexplained, which enables Leyna …
I loved this set of a dozen stories brought to life in Morgan Talty’s words. Each story is demonstrative of life as a Penobscot, in a Native community in Maine. One of my favorites is about a boy who opens a Pandora’s box kind of jar and lets out a curse that ruins his family. …
“These unbroken stretches of consciousness, days sometimes blurring into one another, seems just a feature of modern life, not worth complaining about,” an insomniac remarks to herself. Kim Fu’s Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century is a collection of short stories that captures the modern sense of malaise that is now more pronounced, more intense, as …
Five stories and one novella that pack a punch! How does she make her stories feel like science fiction, present day reality and historical fiction all at once? I am looking forward to more from this original writer! –Nancy, Island Books, Mercer Island, WA This was one of Island Books’ top fiction books from …
Originally published for OLY ARTS by Molly Gilmore. Jonah Barrett wouldn’t be insulted if anyone said their first book was monstrous. That’s because Barrett’s short-story collection Moss Covered Claws, dropping March 18, is all about monsters. Barrett of Olympia, a filmmaker, fantasy writer, and OLY ARTS contributor, is launching the book with an online reading and talk at …
NWbooklovers congratulates Tina Ontiveros, bookseller and book buyer at Klindt’s Booksellers in the Dalles and President of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association, on the publication of her memoir, rough house. rough house will be available at independent bookstores everywhere this month. Waucoma Books in Hood River, OR is hosting a virtual book launch event with …
The Lightness is the debut novel from the editor of Literary Hub. Not only does she recognize good writing, but Temple also writes beautifully, herself. I enjoyed this book for its attention to detail as much as for its story, about a teenage girl, Olivia, who signs herself up for a meditation retreat that is …
