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If you know online literary magazines, you know David Barringer. He’s been published everywhere and, chances are, he’s on the front page of some sites right now. His stories stick out like a sore thumb. They’re experimental and jazzy and full of wonderful despair. Their characters are outsiders in odd situations that could happen, but aren’t likely. His new collection, “Terminally Curious,” is no different. Within its pages you’ll find people who long for better things, who are painfully numb and who find a baby thrown through their window. This is Barringer’s domain: human drama, with a hearty spoonful of surrealism on the side. Sometimes it’s almost too much, though, like in “Eat Grass” and “The Drummer,” where it feels he’s tried so hard it’s alienated you. But then, quickly and masterfully, you’re pulled back in by something that is at once beautiful and disheveled, like in “The Party” and “The Recruiter.” “Terminally Curious” is a testament to the time Barringer has spent working at his craft. It might take you a reread to get it, but you won’t find a small-press book with more heart than this. —Steve Seighman |
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Helping your fellow creatures is sometimes hard, but always worth it. In this adorable graphic novel, Owly the owl and his friend Wormy learn to build a birdhouse and rescue a family of endangered bluebirds. Runton tells the story without words but neatly illustrates all the characters’ hopes and fears. The book includes pointers for building your own bluebird house. “Owly” would make a good gift for a school-age child or animal lover of any age. —Jill Charles |
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Willy’s life could use some examining; he hates his apartment manager job, dates his best friend’s girl and harbors a dark secret from his childhood. Willy’s conscience shows up in the form of Oliver, a ghost from his past, and offers him the chance to redeem himself. But is it too late? I loved the flashbacks, empathized with Willy’s guilt, and read “Hello Again” in one sitting. —JC |
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The fourth volume of this comics anthology features some neat stuff (as Peter Bagge might say). Of the seven, my favorites are by Brian Ralph and Tobias Tak. Ralph’s “Reggie-12: Ultimate Origins” features cats and robots (‘nuff said). Tak’s “Gardenia, or A Fluff’s Flight” is even more ambitious. The bizarro story, which bridges two worlds, is the highlight of the collection, what with the bad puns, characters who look like Robert Mitchum and Edgar G. Robinson and, best of all, a cat in a bow tie (once again: ‘nuff said). —Kathleen C Fennessy |
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Writing on walls has always been and will always be an act of rebellion. You’re doing something you’re not supposed to—appropriating a public (or private) space for your own devices. This is what gives real street art its energy. This book, now in paperback, has 144 glorious pages of color pictures of work from some of the best names in street art from around the world. Almost none of these guys, however, traffic in the typical styles of traditional graffiti. Street art has expanded to stencils, stickers, paste-ups and other modes of expression which is what this book showcases. Everyone from Dave Kinsey, Shepard Fairey and WKineract to the London Police and Alexone are represented here. Some of it is truly amazing. —Kristopher Monroe |
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Murder. Mystery. Mayhem. Once again we visit the borough of Brooklyn by way of deftly authored stories by those who live and breathe it. The first installment of this series, a collection by some of Brooklyn’s finest, contained original works composed specifically for the volume. However, this time around editor Tim McLoughlin handpicked a tome full of the best tales already told about the duplicitousness of both Brooklyn’s landscape and inhabitants. We revisit the creepy confines of H.P. Lovecraft’s Red Hook neighborhood in the ‘20s, the mob storefronts of Jonathan Lethem’s late ‘70s/early ‘80s Court Street and the urgency and innocence of wartime love in Salvatore La Puma’s WWII Brooklyn. Old school Brooklyn to new school Brooklyn and all points between. Other gems include works by Stanley Ellin, Carolyn Wheat and Donald Westlake. —Brittany D Friesner |
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