Book Review + New Fiction

My review of Nicholas Mainieri’s debut novel, The Infinite, is up at the Washington Independent Review of Books. This exceptional debut, set in post-Katrina New Orleans and northern Mexico, weaves a complex tale of love and loss. You can read my review here.

I was also asked to contribute a short piece of fiction to the new literary magazine Boink, which you can read here. I'm honored the editors asked me to be part of the debut issue! Thanks so much to Rob Parrish, Chelsea Laine Wells, and Robert Vaughn for having me!

Book Review

I reviewed Dan Cluchey's debut novel, The Life of the World to Come, for the Washington Independent Review of Books. Cluchey's debut is chock-full of heart and humor and a dose of sadness. You can read my review here.

Families Among Us: Great Review at PANK

Thank you to Thomas Michael Duncan and PANK for this great review of my chapbook, Families Among Us. Here is a short excerpt:

When a writer tells vibrant stories that bleed into the margins, and when a sharp design meets fitting, fascinating artwork, the result is too great to ignore. In other words, the result is Families Among Us. An entire universe lives within these forty pages, spun into existence with the sincere cadence of an ancient origin story. For readers, this chapbook is a welcome pause from realism, a chance to give in to and live briefly in the fantastical.

You can read the rest of the review here. And if you'd like to buy a copy of Families Among Us, you can do so here. Thanks for reading!

Families Among Us: Great Review in Fiction Southeast

I'm thrilled to share this great review of Families Among Us, published in Fiction Southeast today. Here is a short snippet:

Families Among Us is a daring book. It’s not just that Kimzey writes about kids (and adults) turning into animals or magical creatures, taking off their clothes and scurrying or flying into the wild. No, it's that each of these disquieting stories force the reader to experience familiar emotional realities with the wonder and surprise of a child. Kimzey's world is new and dangerous, even sobering, precisely because its strangeness drives us into the heart of the familiar, into childhood's loneliness and consuming anxiety.

This, I suspect, is just what Kimzey wants. Each story, even those told from the perspective of adults, affects a dream-like quality, though not necessarily one of nightmare. This mood is achieved though natural, unobtrusive, even quietly beautiful prose. The understated prose allows us to engage the fantastic without distraction.  And it’s these surprises themselves which meet us again and again in Families Among Us and become the collection’s most immediate source of delight.

As with Kafka’s work, after living in these stories for a couple days, they get even stranger, and new layers emerge.

You can read the rest of the review here. I can't thank Fiction Southeast or reviewer Joel Looper enough for these kind words!

And if you'd like to purchase the book, you can do so here. Thanks for reading!

Book Review in Mid-American Review

I reviewed The Incurables by Mark Brazaitis for the current issue of Mid-American Review. The stories in this linked collection, reminiscent of Sherwood Anderson's masterful Winesburg, Ohio, are fresh, inviting, and comically bizarre. Brazaitis conjures the small town of Sherman, Ohio, a place that comes to life beautifully on the page. The characters here have deep roots, and for most, the city limits act as a boundary that they dare not cross. Never unkind, Brazaitis forces his characters to face down trouble of their own making; he backs them into a corner and makes them fight their way out, often with dire consequences. I can't recommend this book enough.

Thanks again to Mid-American Review editor Michael Czyzniejewski for assigning this book for review; I'm happy to be a regular contributor now. You can get a copy of the new issue of Mid-American Review here and a copy of The Incurables here.