A “Gatsby Remix” for Young Adult readers. You might think you know this story already, but I can assure you that this retelling is an enticing, intersectional crown jewel that just might, for me, surpass the original. McLemore has long been a master of writing atmosphere and longing, and this quality really shines in Self-Made …
From the Gold Rush with Chinese, Irish, and Native Americans among the protagonists, Evison alternates time — work on the rails to Amtrak; gold panning to modern West Coast life — tying generations together in a splendid sleight of hand. —Pat Rutledge, A Book For All Seasons, Leavenworth, WA Grab epic end-of-summer reads from A …
Nicola Griffith returns with a queer recasting of Arthurian legend with Spear, the story of a young woman, a Grail quest, and love. Many know Griffith from her fabulous Hild, the story of the seventh-century saint, and while Spear travels some of that same landscape, it is definitely flush with magic and dragons. Marvelous stuff! —A Good …
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 read a book by Michelle Gable entitled The Bookseller’s Secret. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to try A Paris Apartment by the same author. It is one of the author’s earlier works. Like my first Gable book, this is based on fact but is a novel. The apartment existed. Marthe de Florian existed. …
Author’s Note: The Valley is the second book in The Druid Chronicles, a five-part historical fiction series based on the premise that the remnants of a once powerful pagan cult have survived into the last years of the eighth century, a time when the conversion to Christianity is all but complete throughout the rest of …
I ran across this book when it was described as “a himbo meets an archivist,” so of course, I had to pick it up. Two men are unwittingly caught up in trying to break a deadly curse that, if left unattended, may come to spell out disastrous consequences for all the magicians in Britain. A …
Jody Hadlock had some great questions for Linda Stewart Henley about her latest novel, Waterbury Winter. JH: Tell us in one or two sentences what your book is about. LSH: It’s about a man and his attempt to overcome problems that have prevented him from following his calling as an artist. JH: How did you …
Grace Campbell of Olympia and Laura Stanfill of Portland met at Mineral School in Mineral, Washington, during a 2018 parent residency week. Grace Campbell is the Fiction Editor at 5×5 Literary Magazine. Her roots are in flash/microfiction, where she has been published in journals like Brevity, Hobart, Joyland, and Midway. Her work has been featured …
Memorably set in WWII Ukraine and then Germany, this middle grade novel-in-verse is the story of two sisters who used their talent playing the piano to escape their parents’ fate on the death march to Drobitsky Yar. They hid as students in a prestigious German music school in Berlin through the whole war. One of the …
