I’m always excited to pick up a new collection of poetry by Gary Beck, because his work challenges the status quo and our preconceptions, examining issues both universal and personal. His new work, Perturbations, is no exception.

Sometimes morose, sometimes with brief glimmerings of hope, it explores a variety of themes, some new to Mr. Beck’s repertoire and some revisted.  For my full review of the book, you can find it here on Bewildering Stories.

If you'd like to learn more about Gary, I also had a great chat with him about his writing, which you can find on my blog here.

I really enjoyed reading Perturbations, and I hope you will, also.

For those of you who've been reading my book reviews over the years, you might notice that I'm a fan of Gary Beck's poetry.  He's a prolific writer and he tackles the most relevant social and political issues facing us today.  His new collection of poems, Virtual Living, is no exception, although it does take a new slant for its overarching theme: it explores technology and how it impacts society and the natural world.  That's not to say the collection shies away from Mr. Beck's usual themes tackling politics and the modern world, but it does so through the lens of technology and how it impacts people.  It was interesting to see Mr. Beck's take on tech as a force for change in all walks of life, big and small.

If you'd like to know more, you can read a full review of Mr. Beck's collection here at Bewildering Stories.  I hope you enjoy reading Mr. Beck's collection as much as I did.

One of my greatest joys about being a book reviewer is finding writers who are new to me.  John Reinhart is a poet whose work is fun and funny, in addition to being serious and thoughtful.  His writing mixes the speculative genre with literary, humor with pathos.

I read Mr. Reinhart's latest collection of poetry, broken bottle of time, and enjoyed it immensely.  The full review of it was published today at Bewildering Stories, and you can read it here, along with some excerpts from Mr. Reinhart's work..

I hope you enjoy reading broken bottle of time as much as I did!

I'm a bit behind in posting this, but I recently read a very intruiging collection of short stories called Lethal Kisses.  Edited by Ellen Datlow, it contains a number of big names, such as Joyce Carol Oates, Pat Cadigan and Michael Swanwick, to name a few.  As you can probably guess from the title, it's a collection of stories about revenge.  I would recommend it - there were some great and unexpected stories, and all were enjoyable to read.  You can catch my full review at Bewildering Stories magazine here.

I've known Edward Ahern for a couple of years now, and I was pleased to pick up his new collection of short stories, Capricious Visions.  A mixture of fantasy and horror stories, the writing is at times fun and other times macabre, but the stories always held my interest from start to finish.  I've written a more in-depth review at Bewildering Stories, which you can read here.  I hope you enjoy the collection as much as I did!

​I just finished reading Resonance, a poetry collection by Gary Beck.  You can find a full review for it at the ezine Bewildering Stories by clicking here.  I hope you enjoy reading both the review and Mr. Beck's poetry! 

I have a number of poems published as well as short stories, and I never realized how biased my book reviews were until a friend of mine lent me a couple of collections of poetry by poet Mary Oliver.  That's when I realized I've never reviewed any poetry on my website.  So I figured I'd start with my friend's recommendations, which were fantastic.

The two books he lent me were American Primitive and Owls and Other Fantasies.  I haven't read any other poetry by Mary Oliver, so I have no idea whether these represent her best work or only one period of her writing, but I must say I was quite impressed.  I could see why she has won multiple awards for her work.  Her poetry revolves around nature, history and often how people and relationships figure into both of them.  Although some of her poems struck me more vividly than others, all of her poetry has very concrete imagery that effortlessly brings to mind the slices of scenes she is trying to bring to life.  Each poem is like a photograph, capturing a moment in time, usually with the theme summarized by the very simple, often one- or two-word titles.  The only thing that sometimes put me off from her poetry was her high usage of exclamation marks, which to me seemed to try to intentionally create an unnatural emphasis for the reader.  But, other than that, I really enjoyed her style, which is composed of short lines and short stanzas.  Most of her poems are short also, very rarely more than a page.

In American Primitive, there are are a number of historical poems as well as nature poems.  While the historical ones were interesting, they weren't what most captured my interest.  Some of my favorites included "August" (about berry picking), "The Bobcat," "Tasting the Wild Grapes" (which, oddly enough, brought to mind "The Tyger" by William Blake), "Flying" (about being on a plane and seeing a compelling stranger), "Postcard from Flamingo" (about missing someone distant), "An Old Whorehouse," "The Fish"... well, the list goes on.  I could probably fully name half the poems out of the collection.

In Owls and Other Fantasies, the poems are all about birds and nature; while I enjoyed them, this might be one problem I have with themed collections by the same author/poet (and one thing I've found myself in writing poetry) - it can be easy to get stuck on a motif or repeat phrases or imagery, especially with such similar inspiration.  While I also enjoyed this collection, I much preferred American Primitive, as it had a wider scope and breadth of themes.

Ms. Oliver's turn of phrase creates a cornucopia of imagery, despite her sometimes sparse style.  I would highly recommend her writing to anyone who enjoys poets such as Robert Frost or Margaret Atwood.  Ms. Oliver has a number of books published, so I know I'll be picking up more work by her in the future.

I can't get enough of Emily St. John Mandel!  Normally, I wouldn't repeat authors too often in my reviews, since I read so many books, but I feel that every single one of her books is well worth a review.  Each of her stories focuses on a different aspect of humanity and how it can fall apart - Station Eleven is about community, The Lola Quartet about friendship/relationships, and The Singer's Gun is all about family in its many incarnations.

The main character, Anton, hails from Brooklyn, although his parents are first-generation immigrants to the United States.  His family runs a furniture business that is on the wrong side of legal, and Anton grows up in close proximity with his cousin, Elena.  Elena's mother is an illegal immigrant who is deported when Elena is young, and her father shortly follows her mother back to her home country, leaving Elena stranded with Anton's family.

Anton's cousin, like his parents, has no problem with illegal activities.  However, Anton's conscience is troubled by his family's seemingly insouciant disregard for the law.  While he starts out participating in his family's business, he can't wait to get on the straight and narrow path, which he finally does.  But when he meets the woman he falls in love with, he is drawn into one last family activity - and it is this situation that changes everything.

I've been working my way backwards in time through Ms. Mandel's books, and it is interesting to see her style change in reverse.  There are some common motifs in her writing and definitely similar composition in her stories - they flash backwards and forwards in time, revealing the story piece by piece to heighten the tension.  But one thing that has stayed consistent with her writing, even from her first book, is the strength of her writing style.  It is literary but immediate, with flawed characters that are easy to identify with, and it is the immediacy of her writing that keeps the reader turning the page.  This is another book I would recommend for those interested in literary thrillers - a beautifully told story, and well worth the read.