Magazine Review: The Drift Fall 2023

Cover by Ivy Sanders Schneider, inspired by Adolph Dehn's cover for "The Liberator" December 1921 issue.

Magazine Review: The Drift Fall 2023 edited by Kiara Barrow and Rebecca Panovka This one’s a relatively new literary magazine, having started during the pandemic. The editorial slant appears to be socialist and class-conscious. Let’s see what this issue has to offer us. The opening editorial is on “Corrupt Organizations”, talking about the use and… Continue reading Magazine Review: The Drift Fall 2023

Movie Review: The Return of Dracula (1958)

Dracula's coffin is not well-ventilated.

Movie Review: The Return of Dracula (1958) directed by Paul Landres It is a known fact that Count Dracula (Francis Lederer) is a real person, a vampire who drains the blood of the living and creates others of his kind. He’s been terrorizing central Europe for decades, evading attempts to permanently destroy him. At the beginning… Continue reading Movie Review: The Return of Dracula (1958)

Book Review: Looking for Humboldt & Searching for German Footprints in New Mexico and Beyond

Book Review: Looking for Humboldt & Searching for German Footprints in New Mexico and Beyond by Erika Schelby The author is a German immigrant to New Mexico. While studying the history of her new state, she learned that Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), the famous Prussian naturalist and explorer, had passed through what would become New… Continue reading Book Review: Looking for Humboldt & Searching for German Footprints in New Mexico and Beyond

Magazine Review: Haute Dish Spring 2016

Magazine Review: Haute Dish Spring 2016 edited by Debby Dathe This pun-titled periodical is the thrice-yearly organ of Metropolitan State University in Saint Paul, Minnesota.  It features the artistic (mostly photography) and literary talents of the students there.  This issue is thin compared to most college literary magazines I’ve seen, and the written contributions short–the… Continue reading Magazine Review: Haute Dish Spring 2016

Book Review: The Transplanted

Book Review: The Transplanted by John Bodnar This volume, written in the 1980s, is a survey of patterns of immigration into urban areas of the United States between 1830-1930 (approximately.)    It covers those who came to stay, those who just came to get a nest egg to improve life in their home country, and… Continue reading Book Review: The Transplanted

Book Review: A Memory This Size and Other Stories: The Caine Prize for African Writing 2013

Book Review: A Memory This Size and Other Stories: The Caine Prize for African Writing 2013 Introduction by Lizzy Attree The Caine Prize is awarded to a short story written by an African author (which primarily means one born in Africa–all the authors in this volume are from Sub-Saharan Africa), published in English in the… Continue reading Book Review: A Memory This Size and Other Stories: The Caine Prize for African Writing 2013

Book Review: The Land of Dreams

Book Review: The Land of Dreams by Vidar Sundstøl Lance Hansen has not dreamed in seven years.   A divorced Forest Service police officer on the North Shore of Lake Superior, most of his days are spent chasing illegal fishing and people camping in the wrong places.  He thinks that the latter will be his… Continue reading Book Review: The Land of Dreams

Book Review: Jewish Noir

Book Review: Jewish Noir edited by Kenneth Wishnia Many of the themes of noir fiction, alienation, hostile society, darkness and bitter endings, resonate with the experience of Jewish people.  So it’s not surprising that it was easy to find submissions for an anthology of thirty-plus noir stories with Jewish themes.  (Not all of the authors are… Continue reading Book Review: Jewish Noir

Magazine Review: Water~Stone Review Volume 18: All We Cannot Alter

Magazine Review: Water~Stone Review Volume 18: All We Cannot Alter edited by Mary François Rockcastle. This is the latest volume of Hamline University’s annual literary magazine, which I picked up at the Rain Taxi Book Festival.  The subtitle comes from one of the poems in this issue, “Is This What Poets Do?” by Elizabeth Oness.… Continue reading Magazine Review: Water~Stone Review Volume 18: All We Cannot Alter

Book Review: Herblock’s Here and Now

Book Review: Herblock’s Here and Now by Herbert Block Shortly after reviewing Herblock at Large, I discovered this volume in the local used book store.  It was published in 1955, and contains many of Mr. Block’s political cartoons from the early 1950s. This included his Pulitzer-winning Joseph McCarthy work; Herblock appears to have actually coined the… Continue reading Book Review: Herblock’s Here and Now