Imagine you want to write about the opioid epidemic in Appalachia, a place you are from and have loved your whole life. Then imagine you are on a book tour in England and stay in Charles Dickens’s house, Bleak House, and you sit at his desk and lay your head down and ask the master writer, how? And you receive the answer, “let the orphan tell the story.” And with that, Demon Copperhead, a retelling of David Copperfield, is born.
We Rule the Night caught me completely off guard with its immersive fantasy historical fiction world and narrative of fierce women. People who like the concepts of living aircraft, military, wartime, and magic will enjoy this. There is also the idea of traitors thrown into the mix.
Kimmerer has the scientific training--rational, evidence-based, data-driven--of a botanist; the indigenous culture, worldview, and beliefs of a Potawatomi Anishinaabe; and the language, spirit, and skill of a poet. In this book she wonderfully melds those three ways of seeing, of knowing, of understanding and communicating. She beautifully shares an ecological message of the possibility of harmonious co-existence with plants and nature, a perspective deeply supported by science. More than any other book I know, it spoke equally to my head, my heart, and my soul.
R. F. Kuang is known for her fantasy novels but steps outside of the genre in this satirical, unreliable-narrator novel. Yellowfaceis, if nothing else, a compulsively interesting read. Some of the Goodreads reviews are pretty divided on it, which I think is testament to the complexity of the satire that R. F. Kuang has introduced. Kuang, who is Chinese-American, writes from the perspective of a white woman whose friend is a successful Asian writer.
Johnson County Library is pleased to announce that Steve Brisendine has won our writing contest on the theme of Cycles with his piece "Cyclone/cyclic."
What a perfectly sinister, unsettling little book. Well, not so much a "little book," more a little amount of unease. A mildly sinister and unsettling book--in the best possible way. It is subtle. A tickle. Something not quite right gnawing at the edges, never openly stated, never resolved. Ambiguous and open to interpretation, with no interpretation feeling like a good one.
Johnson County Library is pleased to announce that Claire McMurray has won our writing contest on the theme of Cycles with her piece "In And Out of Our Lives."
Claire is a former academic who now writes about special needs parenting. You can her find posts, articles, and winning non-fiction essays on her blog, I Don't Know How You Do It (www.idontknowhowyoudoit.org).
“Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
The Seventh Wish, by Kate Messner, interweaves fantasy and real life. This middle-grade fiction novel focuses on magic, empathy, overcoming obstacles, and family/friend relationships.
Charlie Brennan, twelve-years-old, is ice fishing when she catches her first fish. The fish offers her a wish in trade for its freedom.
Johnson County Library is pleased to announce that Theresa Kopper has won our writing contest on the theme of Cycles with her piece "Someone Forgotten."
I am just beginning my creative writing quest. I write as a hobby, in between taking care of my two children, and working as an environmental engineer. This story is about the harmful cycle of beauty, and how it impacts those most vulnerable. As well as, how our society rewards those who continue this cycle.
I was, I think, 18 years old when I saw the movie Flatliners; just the right age for it to make a vivid impression on me even though it has never been thought of as a particularly good film. The characters are medical students who agree to take turns temporarily dying ("flatlining") before being revived by the others. They hope to experience a moment of the afterlife to gain insight and wisdom. They wanted, in the parlance of this book, to learn from a visit to the land of the dead.
