Special Mini Review Section 2005

AS A way to pay tribute to our contributors over these last five years, we offer these brief reviews of books published by our writers. We hope you'll seek out these books and read them. Your support of imaginative literary writing is essential, not only to their careers, but to the spirit and purpose of all creative writing. All reviews written by MARGIN editor, Tamara Kaye Sellman

JP Briggs
~ Trickster Tales ~
Short stories which evolve around a loose concept of the Trickster, a Native American mythological entity which behaves in ways both foolish and wise. Briggs captures the humorous essence of the Trickster well in his stories. Stories to read, in particular: "An Urgent Message," "The Bow Tie," "Haircut" and "A Disproportionate Affair." I couldn't put down this collection.

Ewing Campbell
~ Madonna, Maleva ~
Short novel published as part of the Innovative Fiction series offered by York Press of Canada. This postmodern novella begins with a raucous on-air dialog between a Tex-Mex radio personality and his callers. When we meet the wimpled (as in, wearing the collar of a nun) skater Maleva (and her golem), passions both sensual and spiritual are set into motion in ways equally serious and hilarious. You'll find severed ears, broken Madonnas, drugs and needles, monasteries, horoscopes—gritty fragments of real life played out upon the sensuously marvelous stage of contemporary life along the borderlands, complete with its chaparral, the scent of hanging cilantro and coffee.

Dolores Hayden
~ American Yard ~
Poetry collection focused upon "the America within ourselves, a place of violence and drift, but also—still!—sweetness and beauty" (Katha Pollit). Hayden's poems vary in their forms of (mostly) realism, but two MR efforts stand out: "Hospice" and "The Milliner's Proposals." Nice poetry overall; some accomplished end-rhyme in particular (which rarely succeeds, in contemporary, I think) and Hayden's serious craft at work with regard to her more formal poetics.

Michael Hettich
~ Behind Our Memories ~
Lovely hand-bound chapbook from Adastra Press. Hettich stays true to form here—the prose poem form, that is. (What we liked about him in the first place.) He manages free verse with equal aplomb. Some favorite works include "The Same," the longpoem "Behind Our Memories, Our Larger Families Wait," and "Distances." These poems are immensely personal in a way that renders them as gifts for the reader.

Jalina Mhyana
~ Spikeseed ~
A humble little chapbook, but don't let the "low production" format fool you. Spend the $3 now, if you can! These poems left me breathless, one after another, starting with the very first, "August 6, 1945," which transforms the white shadows of Hiroshima's victims into something immediate and visceral. Other poems that slayed me: "Pains of Pilgrimage," "Questions for an Old Friend," "Mischief" and the book's title poem. Mhyana's evocative and insightful style is informed by her careful crafting of words and sensory detail into lingering images both fresh and frightening. I'll make it official here, if it hasn't already been done elsewhere, and proclaim Mhyana a "Poet to Watch."

JL Navarro
~ After the War ~
An iUniverse.com novel that should interest fans of Kafka, Castaneda and Rulfo. Navarro's narrative, about a young Vietnam vet adrift in Mexico, moves across the spectrum of genre, from magical realism to surrealism to science fiction and horror, with shades of Western literature: imagine The Twilight Zone setting up, hacienda-style, in the remote village of El Pueblo. Navarro is an extreme risk-taker with his fiction. It comes as no surprise that his Blue Day on Main Street (1973) was the first Chicano short story collection to be published in the US. WARNING: This book is not for the faint-hearted.

JL Navarro
~ The Blood Cake Vendor and other stories ~
A hefty iUniverse.com short-story collection on par with the underlying themes of war, hell and humanity's lowest denominators, as we found so well-defined in the title story. Navarro takes on the more grim and corporeal aspects of death. It may seem obvious, but a good place to start in this journey would be with the story, "Strange Things Happen." Gabo fans might enjoy exploring the more sinister turns of events in Navarro's "The House of Gabriel Goez" or "The Colonel's Execution," from which we are treated with these lines:

"On any given day of the trials, men, women and children who had survived the former regime packed the gallery. Many of them were already dead and had begun to sprout twigs and showed green leaves growing from their neck or hands."

Allow me to repeat this warning: This book is not for the faint-hearted.

Ozzie Nogg
~ Joseph's Bones: a collection of stories ~
This little, self-published book gets big marks for its lovely production. This collection of creative nonfiction comes in a fun-to-hold squarish format with distinct black-and-white illustrations showcasing the author's many talents. I don't think Joseph's Bones would be so utterly collectible without this physical one-of-a-kindness. The stories, all of them personal and meant to be shared with Ozzie's grandchildren, are old-fashioned, yet exude a timeless mystique. She has mastered the art of collecting Jewish identity and tradition together in one clean, well-humored style. Ozzie's recollections as a rabbi's daughter show off a worldview shaped by a lifetime of Jewish oral history. They also deliver the good humor and insight of an Erma Bombeck. Ozzie's a generous author, having included a glossary of Hebrew terms to help make things plain and simple for those readers unaccustomed to the language of Jewish culture.

Katherine Soniat
~ Alluvial ~
Katherine Soniat strikes me as another "Poet to Watch." She's prolific, hip to the state of the world, versed in American history and keen to the poetic craft. I like the mythic "The Oils of Europe" for its ventriloquistic detailing of a strange, life-threatening event in the travels of one Captain Smith. "The Eel Hour" recounts, in kind, the politically magical world of ocean animals. "The Moon Box" captures the enchanted quality of life along the northeast coast at summertime (reminding me of the gleaming, yet casual essence of Alice B. Hoffman's prose). "Backtalk" engages an eternal conversation between son and mother, referencing Frederick Douglass. Not all the poems are MR in this collection, but I recommend this book for its clear thematic strength and Soniat's powerful voice and distinct vision.

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Rev'd 2005/01/26