The Triumph of Love

The Triumph of Love

Muses of a Fire: Essays on Faith, Film, and Literature By Paul Krause. Stone Tower Press, 2024. Paperback, 227 pages, $24.95. Reviewed by Jesse Russell. Roman Polanski’s 1974 masterpiece Chinatown is not only a classic of film noir, but it is also one of the greatest...
Understanding the Rest of Hemingway’s Iceberg

Understanding the Rest of Hemingway’s Iceberg

Hemingway’s Art of Revision: The Making of the Short Fiction By John Beall.  Louisiana State University Press, 2024.  Hardcover, 310 pages, $50. Reviewed by Sean C. Hadley. In Brad Paisley’s 2005 hit song, “Alcohol,” the country musician sings about the praises and...
The Postmodern Poetry of J.R.R. Tolkien

The Postmodern Poetry of J.R.R. Tolkien

The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien: Three-Volume Box Set By J.R.R. Tolkien. Edited by Christina Scull & Wayne G. Hammond. William Morrow, 2024. Hardcover, 1728 pages, $125. Reviewed by Michael Lucchese. J.R.R. Tolkien surely ranks among the greatest novelists...
Frontier Fiction at Its Best

Frontier Fiction at Its Best

The Cannibal Owl By Aaron Gwyn. Belle Point Press, 2025. Paperback, 80 pages, $15.95. Reviewed by Daniel Cowper. The Cannibal Owl, by Aaron Gwyn, is a novella about Levi English, a boy on the Texas frontier of the 1820s who grows up among a band of Comanche. It is...
Et in Arcadia Ego

Et in Arcadia Ego

Fret Not  By Michael Shindler. Finishing Line Press, 2024. Paperback, 40 pages, $17.99. Reviewed by Dan Rattelle. A first look at Fret Not quickly reveals that its author, Michael Shindler, does not have an MFA. Good. Absent is any sort of knowing irony in its deeply...