Unfortunately, we will no longer accept review requests. If you would like to get in touch with one of the FOC editors about reviews, blurbs, comments, promo, etc. please feel free to do so but we are only going to review and discuss work that we select and want to write about, when we feel [...]
Rummaging In The Attic is a collection of poetry by Constance Stadler, produced by Differentia Press in 2010. (Read It Online Here) Constance Stadler takes us through a mindscape, the attic housing of the seemingly disparate in context and chronology, at times rendered mute and others- in the words of Rich Follett- buoyant, ebullient. The [...]
The Gravedigger, a novel by Ilan Herman. Reviewed by Lynn Alexander for Crow Reviews. This is Herman’s debut novel from Casperian Books, released this Spring. Sometimes he thought that all life was wasted. That was the nature of life- to be wasted. No bending words could change that. -The Gravedigger Ilan Herman admits that questions [...]
When the Cats Razzed the Chickens by Mel Bosworth, Folded Word Press. Reviewed by Lynn Alexander. First of all, I have to start by saying that I happily ordered this book because I have never been disappointed by Mel Bosworth or the work of Folded Word. I wanted to write about it because I hope [...]
ANGLES OF DISORDER BlazeVOX (Books) (www.blazevox.org) ; 2009 – 96 pages I think I’m writing this review in reverse, but the almost too brilliant Angles of Disorder by Zachary Bush is a deconstructive whirlwind around the wheel of life, which when it ends, kind of pulls the whole thread together with a poem entitled “The [...]
Review of Shudder Pageant by Mel Bosworth & xtx. (for PDF ) (for MP3) 2009, 57 pages Shudder Pageant is a collaborative multi-media flash novel (as opposed to “micro-novel” – a novel told in 140 character increments) by a couple of young and edgy authors who are probably too good for their own good. The [...]
As with all the chaps to be born at Blackheath Books, Geraint Hughes hand-crafted collection “this is it….,” has a warmth both inside and out. This 20 poem collection speaks to personal journeys in times of change that can really only be traversed alone. It recounts touching moments prior to and after the death of [...]
“Poet Laureate Of A Dirty Garage” by Wayne Mason, erbacce-press, 2009. Wayne Mason has been lauded as a working man’s poet and that is clearly defined in this collection of poems published by erbacce-press. Poet Laureate Of A Dirty Garage is equal parts blue collar factory man, lone writer, and side-car Buddhist. He is at [...]
“Acres” by Bill Shute, Kendra Steiner Editions, #131, 2009. What have we become? If observing the industrial minicosm of Bill Shute’s Acres can tell us anything, it’s that we are increasingly a society as he concludes: without ideas, only things. And so he takes us through a setting of things: buildings with their smoky windows, [...]
Bill Shute: “Point Loma Purple: The Life And Work of Katherine Tingley, An Imagined History in Mosaic Verse” . Poetry. 2007. Word Mechanics. This 2007 volume by Bill Shute is a work to revisit. He achieves something very magical in Point Loma Purple, but keeps it accessible: he tells us a story. In these “mosaic [...]