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We Are All Made of Stars
A review of Jordan Harper’s The Last King of California By Justin Lee “See a scar of smoke across the belly of the sky.” That ominous opening line brings us into Jordan Harper’s The Last King of California. At the offset we are introduced to Beast Daniels, the big bad with bolts that is killing […]
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Outsider Perspectives: Matchmaking for the Outsider
By Mandira Pattnaik When I signed up to be a Columnist for Reckon Review, it was a leap of faith for me. I’ve written fiction and poetry, but columns? It was a November day like this, exactly a year ago, and whoops! I had committed to it! I guess I’d trusted my instincts. Several columns […]
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Today, Your Secrets are Safe with Me
Creative Nonfiction by Cheryl Skory Suma It made me feel worse, talking about you as if we’d known one another. Everyone assumed we did; what mother and daughter don’t know each other’s stories? All I knew was how important today was for you; how much you needed the approval of the people in that room, […]
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The Nitty Gritty: TALKING INDEPENDENT PRESS WITH CASIE DODD OF BELLE POINT PRESS
By Charlotte Hamrick Some time this past summer I became aware of Casie Dodd and Belle Point Press on Twitter. Honestly, I don’t remember why, out of all the presses on Twitter, this one caught my eye (maybe because it’s based in the South?!) but I’ve been following its progress ever since. I feel like […]
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The Pie Was a Final Draft: On Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls and the Root of All Suffering
By Michaella Thornton Last Thursday my work hosted a Great Pumpkin Bakeoff, and while I’m usually not one to brag or indulge in trash talk, I knew I would mop the floor with the competition. Ah, hubris. How easy you are to spot in others but not in myself. While I faithfully followed the tried-and-true, […]
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A Most Violent Heritage
Fiction by Matt Starr Growing up, I knew violence by the voice it used to holler. A mangled, deep thing, like the wet howl of a bluetick. That’s how it always started, with people barking and carrying on. It ended in a similar fashion but with more whimpering than anything else. Mama and Deddy learned […]
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Horror in the Hills
A review of C.W. Blackwell’s Song of the Red Squire By Chris McGinley There’s a renewed interest in folk horror out there! In literature, film, and television, artists are resuscitating the sub-genre . . . or maybe it never left us. Either way, it’s popular again. Like any genre, there will always be debate about […]
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Country Craft: Crafting a Legacy
By Stuart Phillips Recently, a writer called my work “honest and soulful.” That was touching, especially since I didn’t know he had read anything of mine. The realization that you never know who reads, and likes, your work reminded me of when I came home to Mississippi after my first hitch in the Army. One […]
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His Other Best Friend
Fiction by George Wood Jack Grimes and Charlie McGinn had finished their Sunday morning breakfasts of biscuits and sausage gravy and were waiting for their checks. Jack nursed a last cup of coffee and said: “If you got time, I got someone to introduce you to.” “Got nothing but time.” Charlie said, working over his […]
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Gould Climbs Out of the Saddle
A review of Scott Gould’s The Hammerhead Chronicles By Jon Sokol Prize-winning author Scott Gould has a unique way of taking diverse characters found in everyday life and shoving them together in unbelievable, yet somehow awkwardly familiar circumstances to create stories filled with wickedly sharp humor, heart-rending grief, and soulful observations on the human condition. […]