Author's posts

2 poems from Susan Ward Mickelberry’s AND BLACKBERRIES GREW WILD

Last Night I Sat Alone Last night I sat alone waiting for you on the ground in the sun under the oak, as I had waited long ago. The wind rustled the trees and the undergrowth. I drew with a stick in the sand what looked like a Mayan temple. My white t-shirt reflected the …

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Reading by Francine Witte: “Balance” from RADIO WATER

short interview and reading by Scot Young on JAM Sessions with Joe Mykut

Review by Nadia Bruce-Rawlings: RADIO WATER by Francine Witte

review first published on A THIN SLICE OF ANXIETY (Anxiety Press) Radio Water, published by Roadside Press, is a beautiful collection of flash fiction from author Francine Witte. Witte writes with such poetry and grace. Every word is thought out, every action flows. The theme is mostly the dysfunctional family, women and children who have …

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Review by Steven Meloan: The Dead and the Desperate by Dan Denton

If you’re looking for a tale of personal purgatory but ultimate redemption, The Dead and the Desperate is the book for you. There have been many literary takes on blue collar life in America—dead-end jobs, dead-end relationships, and often mixed with substance abuse or variations of mental illness. But as a deft and brutally honest …

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an excerpt from RADIO WATER, a collection of flash fiction, by Francine Witte

Night is a Man A man without hands, without feet. Night has nothing but eyes and ears and a scrap of heart. You left ten weeks ago, and Night is what I sleep with. Tonight, I wake Night up and take him to the grocery store. On the way there, Night looks at the moon, …

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Review by Alan Catlin: Kiss the Heathens by Ryan Quinn Flanagan

review first published in misfitmagazine.net, Issue No. 37, Winter 2024 Ryan Quinn Flanagan, Kiss the Heathens, Roadside Press, available from www.magicaljeep.com 2023, 230 pages $20 Make no mistake about it, Kiss the Heathens, is a big ass book and true to its size and nature, it delivers the goods by taking names and seriously kicking …

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Review by Alan Catlin: Nothing and Too Much to Talk About by Nancy Patrice Davenport

review first published in misfitmagazine.net, Issue No. 37, Winter 2024   Nancy Patrice Davenport, Nothing and Too Much to Talk About, Roadside Press,  2023, 86 pages, $15- There is a lot of smoking , all sorts of substances, chilling and communing with cats in Nancy Patrice Davenport’s latest book. I guess it should be expected …

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an excerpt from Clown Gravy by Misti Rainwater-Lites

CLOWN GRAVY Vanilla Cupcake was talking shit again, talking about how she would give anything to get in my bed for one hour. One hour is all it would take. It ain’t nothin’ nice bein’ the only African-American in a circus full of wack ass crackers. Sometimes I drop my g’s. Nothin’. Bein’. I’m from …

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Review by Alan Catlin: Resurrection Song by George Wallace

review first published in misfitmagazine.net, Issue No. 37, Winter 2024 George Wallace. Resurrection Song, Roadside Press, available through www.magicaljeep.com 2023, 250 pages, $20- Make no mistake about it, this is a massive tome that feels like a compilation of a life’s hard work, living, traveling, reading, and contemplating life and literature. The collection is not …

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