Literature

NEW PUBLICATION: What Grew Before the Sun

I’m happy to announce the publication of a new short story, “What Grew Before the Sun,” which appears in The Big Book of Orgasms: Volume 2 (out February 8, 2022).

You read that right—my new short story is . . . Continue reading →

Life in Glass — Blood and Poetry

Since I was sixteen, I’ve lived a life in glass — a life of clean cuts and sharp edges; of broken windows and shattered mirror; of blood spatter and stitches… Continue reading →

BURN WITH ME — A Review of Joel Thomas Hynes’ Fourth Novel

…there’s something dangerously intoxicating about a title like that. It’s both threatening and evocative, in turn conversational and cruelly prophetic. It’s the kind of title that sits in the back of your mind and never lets you forget it… Continue reading →

HOT DAMN #14 — Not Slam Poetry

It’s a matter of personal taste, I suppose, but the often overwrought and affected tone punctuated by flailing arm gestures and a lot of yelling . . . Continue reading →

High School Reading–Novels That Don’t Suck As Much As You Remember

Opinion By Z.S. Roe High school English class is rarely the high point of a student’s academic career, not the least of which because of the many mandatory novels that they’re required to read. From Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird to William Golding’s Lord of the Flies to Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, required … Continue reading →

RFP: Literary Credibility–A Meaningless Distinction

Few fiction writers make a lot of money from their writing. Talented or not, only the lucky few ever make it big with a book on the bestseller lists and a hefty pay check in their pocketbook. Writing is largely pursued without pay, hence the old stereotype of the starving artist. Mind you, for those … Continue reading →

Rowing For Pleasure: The Novel–When In Doubt, Write About The Holocaust

Have you been following this year’s Canada Reads?  The annual battle of the books competition (broadcast by CBC radio) is a popular event in the Canadian literary scene, wherein five celebrity panellists defend what they believe is the most essential Canadian novel.  Over a five-day period, the books are debated and voted upon until the … Continue reading →

Rowing For Pleasure: The Doggone Truth

A dog is a man’s best friend, or so the story goes.  True or not, the saying’s stuck, and many of us would argue—and passionately so—that there is far more fact than fiction underlying that sentiment.  And, as life is often imitated in art, that sentiment has been expressed in film, poetry, prose, music, and … Continue reading →