Lindy Ryan, Carina Bissett, Lee Murray, sho yamagushiku, Pixie Bruner, & Travis Baldree
A six-pack of reviews for April 12, 2024
Bless Your Heart by Lindy Ryan │Just released on Tuesday, April 9, I wouldn’t normally have time to get this book read in time for this review but I couldn’t put it down. Bless Your Heart is a hilarious romp through a small Texas town mystery in the company of the women who run Evans Funeral Parlor. When their ‘customers’ start coming back to life they know they have a problem. A refreshing, modern take on Strigoi, an old world problem, Bless Your Heart is a fun read that will satisfy your craving for scary reading.
Find Bless Your Heart by Lindy Ryan on Amazon here.
Dead Girl, Driving and Other Devastations by Carina Bissett │This beautiful, fierce and brave exploration of the darkly feminine is a collection to devour with a stark warning: don’t mistake pretty words for weakness. There is iron resilience demonstrated though out these 20 tales. Visceral, clever, razor-sharp whimsy, the moral of these tales is take nothing for granted. Bissett’s prose is worth sinking your teeth into.
Find Dead Girl, Driving and Other Devastations by Carina Bissett on Amazon here.
Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud by Lee Murray │The lush poetry of Lee Murray never fails to please. Paying tribute to her home of New Zealand, or Aotearoa, Murray weaves the horrifying yet darkly beautiful tales of women of the Chinese diaspora who have arrived before her into the narrative of the the nine-tailed fox spirit húli jīng. The fox relates the stories of these women, based on true accountings gathered by Murray. A gorgeous tribute to the truth.
Find Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud by Lee Murray on The Cuba Press here.
shima: Poems by shō yamagushiku │This was a treasure. yamagushiku writes from his Ryukyuan perspective, the indigenous people of Okinawa. His poetry is tense, distilled and infinitely expressive of his varied experiences as a Ryukyuan from “amerika” to Yanbaru. Shima is the Uchinaaguchi word for island, but more than that it means a community. In this collection of poetry, yamagushiku has built a community for the scattered Ryukyuan diaspora.
Find shima: Poems by shō yamagushiku on Amazon.
The Body As Haunted by Pixie Bruner │Dark, guttural utterances, this is poetry that bleeds onto the page. This debut collection haunts like a dream with razor wire recall and smoky, backroom recollections. Bruner pulls no punches. She takes no prisoners. She will leave you bleeding on the floor, winded and wondering what the hell just happened. Cover art by Gemma Files.
Find The Body As Haunted by Pixie Bruner on Amazon.
Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree │This book is the prequel to last year’s Legends & Lattes, the surprise hit that utterly captivated me and became one of my favorite, all-time reads. Could Baldree do it again with Bookshops and Bonedust, I wondered? The answer is an orc-smashing yes. While I haven’t read much fantasy since I was a teenager, Baldree has me returning to the genre. His work is humorous, loving, riveting… the adventure I didn’t know I needed. The masterful and seamless way he tied the two books together had me applauding. My only regret is that I didn’t write these books myself, and there is no third book (yet).
Thank you!