The Last Catastrophe by Allegra Hyde is a book of speculative short stories about how humanity grapples in a world transformed by climate change as well as other serious issues facing us all. The book description from the publisher describes it best: “A vast caravan of RVs roam the United States. A girl grows a unicorn horn, complicating her small-town friendships and big city ambitions. A young lady on a spaceship bonds with her AI warden while trying to avoid an arranged marriage. In Allegra Hyde's universe nothing is as it seems, yet the challenges her characters face mirror those of our modern age. Spanning the length of our very solar system, the fifteen stories in this collection explore a myriad of potential futures, all while reminding us that our world is precious, and that protecting it has the potential to bring us all together.”

In The Last Catastrophe, readers experience vignettes from different possible futures, most of which stem from environmental catastrophe with the end of the world being the titular scenario. Hyde excels at exposing the humanity in her characters which struggle to connect with others when their worlds are falling apart, literally and figuratively. Several characters have to coddle fragile men—a systemic disease of our society—through the “virtues of white lies” or supporting the “husbands lost in the system.”

The stories “Loving Homes for Lost & Broken Men” and “Cougar” and “Colonel Merryweather’s Intergalactic Finishing School for Young Ladies of Grace & Good Nature” are standouts in this already excellent collection.

The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li is a novel of literary fiction about two teenage girls from the post-World War II French countryside who write a book together, making one of them famous. The book description from the publisher describes it best: “A magnificent, beguiling tale winding from the postwar rural provinces to Paris, from an English boarding school to the quiet Pennsylvania home where a woman can live without her past, The Book of Goose is a story of disturbing intimacy and obsession, of exploitation and strength of will, by the celebrated author Yiyun Li. Fabienne is dead. Her childhood best friend, Agnès, receives the news in America, far from the French countryside where the two girls were raised--the place that Fabienne helped Agnès escape ten years ago. Now Agnès is free to tell her story. As children in a war-ravaged backwater town, they'd built a private world, invisible to everyone but themselves--until Fabienne hatched the plan that would change everything, launching Agnès on an epic trajectory through fame, fortune, and terrible loss.”

Agnès and Fabienne are young teens stuck in a rural French village post-WWII. Fabienne is rebellious and often cruel. Agnès is passive and malleable. They concoct a plan to write a book of gruesome stories about village life and enlist a widowed postal worker to unwittingly help them get it published. He succeeds in helping them meet with his colleagues in the publishing world in Paris. Agnès is convinced by Fabienne to be the sole “author” of their book which launches her into literary infamy. Later, Fabienne conjures a plan to ostracize the widower from the village by pretending to be sexually assaulted. An English private school headmistress then takes Agnès to England for an all-expenses paid year of finishing school, but the headmistress has her own selfish motives for helping her. All the while, Agnès just wishes to go back to the small village in France and be with her strange and unruly friend, wishing the two of them would move to Paris together and start their own life.

Year of the Buffalo by Aaron Burch is a humorous novel of literary fiction about the lingering familial dysfunction between two brothers. The book description from the publisher describes it best: “Ernie and his brother, Scott, have never seen eye-to-eye—literally or figuratively. Scott’s a mountain of a man; Ernie’s a meek computer analyst with a shambles of a marriage, who never, ever answers the phone when his brother calls. That all changes when Scott is introduced as the face of Go West!, a video game featuring his old wrestling persona, Mr. Bison. Now among the nouveau riche, Scott invites Ernie to come live with him and his pregnant wife, Holly, a teacher and aspiring diarist, on their new farm—complete with a living, breathing buffalo, Billy. When the video-game producers call on Scott to help sell Go West!, Holly orchestrates an American road trip that sends the brothers eastward and into the less-traveled depths of their hearts and memories. What ensues is an episodic tale that examines themes of grief, sibling rivalry, ambition, and the repercussions of toxic masculinity as it follows the Isaacson brothers’ fumbling attempts to reestablish their childhood relationship—or what they wish that relationship had been.”

On the surface, this novel is about the coming together of two brothers who couldn’t be more different and the ensuing road trip that will hopefully bring them back together. But what this novel is really about is what happens in the margins, and the thoughts behind the silent yet awkward moments and the sighs of discontent between two siblings who never really “got” each other. When brothers Ernie and Scott are reunited after Scott is named the face for a forthcoming video game featuring his past alter-ego as a pro wrestler, an idea is hatched that they’ll spend time together on a road trip. The trip is a painful reminder of their familial dysfunction—both past and present.

Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett is a humorous novel of literary fiction about grief and family. The book description from the publisher describes it best: “Elvis Babbitt has a head for the facts: she knows science proves yellow is the happiest color, she knows a healthy male giraffe weighs about 3,000 pounds, and she knows that the naked mole rat is the longest living rodent. She knows she should plan to grieve her mother, who has recently drowned while sleepwalking, for exactly eighteen months. But there are things Elvis doesn't yet know—like how to keep her sister Lizzie from poisoning herself while sleep-eating or why her father has started wearing her mother's silk bathrobe around the house. Elvis investigates the strange circumstances of her mother's death and finds comfort, if not answers, in the people (and animals) of Freedom, Alabama. As hilarious a storyteller as she is heartbreakingly honest, Elvis is a truly original voice in this exploration of grief, family, and the endurance of humor after loss.”

Elementary school-aged protagonist and narrator Elvis Babbitt has recently lost her mother, who drowned while sleepwalking one night. Elvis’s counselor at school helps her through her grief while Elvis snags self-help books from her office to research grief and trauma herself. Her sister Lizzie also sleepwalks and sleep-eats and it causes the family trouble, so much so that she’s sent to an insane asylum for a time, eventually bringing her kooky roommate home with her. The sister ultimately pours her grief into baking one thousand rabbit-shaped cakes to set a world record. Her father tackles his own grief while wearing the lipstick and the robe of his deceased wife, pouring his deep well of love into caring for a parrot named Ernest Hemingway, a reject from the local pet store. Even though this novel is about grief, it is filled with humor and lightness and love for this dysfunctional family who learn to come together in the wake of the matriarch’s death.

I loved loved loved this novel! I loved Elvis as a narrator and her spunkiness, intelligence, empathy, wittiness, and love for her family. I loved how the family came together despite the large holes left in their hearts. I loved the family's pets too, characters in their own right, the family dog Boomer and parrot Ernest, both having quirky personalities all their own including the parrot's propensity to speak in the deceased matriarch’s voice, something he learned when she used to visit the pet store where he lived for a time. In short, I loved this big-hearted novel. Don't let the fact that it's about grief scare you away. It is a lovely book that I didn’t want to end.

Saint Sebastian’s Abyss by Mark Haber is a dark comedic novel of literary fiction. The book description from the publisher describes it best: “Former best friends who built their careers writing about a single work of art meet after a decades-long falling-out. One of them, called to the other's deathbed for unknown reasons by a "relatively short" nine-page email, spends his flight to Berlin reflecting on Dutch Renaissance painter Count Hugo Beckenbauer and his masterpiece, Saint Sebastian's Abyss, the work that established both men as important art critics and also destroyed their relationship. A darkly comic meditation on art, obsession, and the enigmatic power of friendship, Saint Sebastian's Abyss stalks the museum halls of Europe, feverishly seeking salvation, annihilation, and the meaning of belief.”

The unnamed narrator and his former best friend / frenemy Schmidt were college friends who simultaneously “rediscovered” the titular painting by Beckenbauer, Saint Sebastian’s Abyss, which launched both of their careers as art critics. But their careers are singularly and obsessively focused on this one painting even though Beckenbauer painted other lesser works, two of which are referred to as “monkey paintings” by the two critics. Their obsession over this painting consumes their lives and eventually destroys their friendship as well as the narrator’s two (!!!) marriages. The results for the readers of this dark comedy are thought-provoking and enlightening.

Haber excels at mining the obsession between these two “friends” and creating a cadence with the narration that is circular yet unique. Many phrases are repeated throughout the novel like the title of the painting “Saint Sebastian’s Abyss” as well as “that horrible thing I said,” creating a mantra-like effect. Haber has an astute comedic eye and describes Schmidt as an animated critic with a “flexing moustache,” a hilarious mental visual. His followers or “fans” also sport their owning flexing moustaches as an ode to their favorite art critic. “The Holy Donkey” is another repeated phrase, a character from the painting itself, a moribund animal on the precipice of falling off a cliff in the painting who can absorb the emotions elicited by the two “friends” as the symbol of their devotion to Beckenbauer’s masterpiece.

Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson is a coming-of-age novel of literary fiction. The book description from the publisher describes it best: “Sixteen-year-old Frankie Budge—aspiring writer, indifferent student, offbeat loner—is determined to make it through yet another summer in Coalfield, Tennessee, when she meets Zeke, a talented artist who has just moved into his grandmother’s house and who is as awkward as Frankie is. Romantic and creative sparks begin to fly, and when the two jointly make an unsigned poster, shot through with an enigmatic phrase, it becomes unforgettable to anyone who sees it. A bold coming-of-age story, written with Kevin Wilson’s trademark wit and blazing prose, Now Is Not the Time to Panic is a nuanced exploration of young love, identity, and the power of art. It’s also about the secrets that haunt us—and, ultimately, what the truth will set free.”

Frankie and Zeke are two weirdos who gravitate to each other one summer in 1996. And once they realize they both have a creative fire inside themselves that needs kindling and tending, their lives are forever changed. Wilson excels at finding the emotional core of his characters, excavating it for the reader, and showing just how special it is. Although there is also a “romantic” connection between these two, their friendship is more than that. It’s their mutual validation of their true selves—their creative desires and their mutual appreciation for each other—that bonds them together. Frankie can’t get over that initial spark, just how special it was, just how something so random changed her forever, and created this writer who is putting great work out into the world as an adult.

Wilson excels at characterization and dialogue between his characters. When Zeke introduces himself to Frankie and explains that Zeke comes from Ezekiel, he says, “It’s biblical. But it’s my middle name. I’m trying it out this summer. Just to see how it sounds.” Wilson seems to remember in great detail what it was like to be a teenager and the magic that comes from trying anything, being open to friends trying anything, and the willingness to let others in their lives simply because they liked the same things. Many adults lose this ability to make friends easily, but Wilson posits that this is what makes being a teenager so extraordinary.

Tell Me One Thing by Kerri Schlottman is a novel of literary fiction. The book description from the publisher describes it best: “Outside a rural Pennsylvania motel, nine-year-old Lulu smokes a cigarette while sitting on the lap of a trucker. Recent art grad Quinn is passing through town and captures it. The photograph, later titled "Lulu & the Trucker," launches Quinn's career, escalating her from a starving artist to a renowned photographer. In a parallel life, Lulu fights to survive a volatile home, growing up too quickly in an environment wrought with drug abuse and her mother's prostitution. Decades later, when Quinn has a retrospective at the Whitney Museum of Art and "Lulu & the Trucker" has sold at auction for a record-breaking amount, Lulu is surprised to find the troubling image of her young self in the newspaper. She attends an artist talk for the exhibition with one question in mind for Quinn: Why didn't you help me all those years ago? Tell Me One Thing is a portrait of two Americas, examining power, privilege, and the sacrifices one is willing to make to succeed. Traveling through the 1980s to present day, it delves into New York City's free-for-all grittiness while exposing a neglected slice of the struggling rust belt.”

Quinn Bradford eventually becomes successful as a photographer, but she can’t seem to shake the knowledge that maybe she could have helped Lulu instead of photographing her. As Lulu grows into an adult, she often wonders herself why Quinn didn’t do something to help her. This novel explores both women’s lives that splinter from the moment Quinn snaps the Polaroid of 10-year old Lulu sitting uncomfortably on a trucker’s lap while she holds a cigarette, his grubby hands wrapped around her waist. Both women struggle in their own way: Lulu within the drug-addled community of her childhood and Quinn living the life of a poor artist who many take advantage of. They both live long lives filled with loss and love, but only Quinn rises above poverty to become famous.

Schlottman deploys a dual timeline for both women and their lives are depicted with pathos and levity, the grim nature of poverty revealed as well as the joy of finding souls who bond through love and suffering. Once the photo of “Lulu and the Trucker” is taken and both of their lives are revealed separately, this one question remains: how will their two timelines come back together? There is an obvious way that they could merge, but Schlottman wisely avoids this tactic. The ending seems to me to be well-earned and true, a fitting end to a fantastic novel. Keep an eye out for Kerri Schlottman. She has a great literary career ahead of her.

I really enjoyed this novel and I highly recommend it. I would give this book 5 stars.

Buy the paperback on Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/a/152/9781646033010

The Last Karankawas by Kimberly Garza is a novel of literary fiction. The book description from the publisher describes it best: “Welcome to Galveston, Texas. Population 50,241. A popular tourist destination and major shipping port, Galveston attracts millions of visitors each year. Yet of those who come to drink by the beach, few stray from the boulevards to Fish Village, the neighborhood home to individuals who for generations have powered the island. Carly Castillo has only ever known Fish Village. Her grandmother claims that they descend from the Karankawas, an extinct indigenous Texan tribe, thereby tethering them to Galveston. But as Carly ages, she begins to imagine a life elsewhere, undefined by her family’s history. Moving through these characters’ lives and those of the extraordinary individuals who circle them, Kimberly Garza's The Last Karankawas weaves together a multitude of voices to present a lyrical, emotionally charged portrait of everyday survival. The result is an unforgettable exploration of familial inheritance, human resilience, and the histories we assign to ourselves, reminding us that the deepest bonds are forged not by blood, but by fire.”

This debut novel examines the ties between the Filipino and Mexican communities of Galveston, Texas as the imminent arrival of Hurricane Ike in 2008 looms large. Carly dreams of a better life far away from the stranglehold of Galveston, the only place she’s ever known, even though that stranglehold feels sometimes like a loving embrace. Her grandmother Magdalena proudly claims to be a descendent of the great Karankawa tribe, but her claims are dubious at best even though her influence over Carly is profound. The chorus of Filipino church members who scrutinize Carly casts a large net, one that is difficult for her to break free from. Garza weaves an exquisite tapestry of the communities of Galveston, one made of brightly colored threads of the different cultures, but when examined as a whole is beautifully rendered.

As Magdalena states of her love of Galveston about halfway through the novel, “To love this place is to love its bad parts también. The brown water, the heat, the zancudos. The storms.”

It’s clear that Garza loves Galveston too—the good and the bad. An excellent debut novel!

I really enjoyed this novel and I highly recommend it. I would give this book 5 stars.

Buy the hardcover on Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/a/152/9781250819857

Beasts of the Earth by James Wade is a novel of literary fiction with elements of mystery, crime, and family drama. The book description from the publisher describes it best: “Beasts of the Earth tells the story of Harlen LeBlanc, a dependable if quiet employee of the Carter Hills High School’s grounds department, whose carefully maintained routine is overthrown by an act of violence. As the town searches for answers, LeBlanc strikes out on his own to exonerate a friend, while drawing the eyes of the law to himself and fending off unwelcome voices that call for a sterner form of justice. Twenty years earlier, young Michael Fischer dreads the return of his father from prison. He spends his days stealing from trap lines in the Louisiana bayou to feed his fanatically religious mother and his cherished younger sister, Doreen. When his father eventually returns, an evil arrives in Michael’s life that sends him running from everything he has ever known. He is rescued by a dying poet and his lover, who extract from him a promise: to be a good man, whatever that may require. Beasts of the Earth deftly intertwines these stories, exploring themes of time, fate, and free will, to produce a revelatory conclusion that is both beautiful and heartbreaking.”

Beasts of the Earth is the third novel from acclaimed literary author James Wade. Although a modern Western with similar themes to his previous work, this new novel is leaner and more grounded to its characters and the town they live in. There is a much keener focus to the many characters that inhabit this world as well as the relationships that develop. Tightly plotted and drawn with dreadful suspense, the two plot lines run in distinct parallel lines until the satisfying conclusion which reveals the ties that bind them. There is some rumination about time and fate, although less so than in Wade’s previous novels, but what is here is beautifully written. Wade’s poetic observations about nature are still on display as these unruly creatures of nature and the small town they inhabit come alive.

Main character Harlen LeBlanc is mysterious and reticent yet compelling. The townsfolk as well as the reader will wonder what is simmering underneath that laconic exterior. Once revealed, the town and the reader will never be the same. James Wade is a writer of exceptional talent and this novel is his latest entry toward his path to greatness.

I really enjoyed this novel and I highly recommend it. I would give this book 5 stars.

Buy the hardcover on Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/a/152/9781665024082