My Review of MY SISTER, THE SERIAL KILLER by Oyinkan Braithwaite up at Los Angeles Review of Books!!!!

To wrap up my review publishing for the year, I'd love for you to take a peek at my review of the very compelling novel My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite, which just appeared at Los Angeles Review of Books. Do you like Jane Austen-influenced fiction? How about murder fiction? Braithwaite knocks both out of the park.

See you in 2019!

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

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My Review of THE SHAKESPEARE REQUIREMENT by Julie Schumacher up at Kenyon Review!!!

Big surprise, but I managed to work politics into my review of the excellent new novel by Julie Schumacher, The Shakespeare Requirement. The novel is flat-out entertaining while also managing to render a world where people mighty disagree but never un-friend.

It's the first of two reviews I've recently had accepted by the Kenyon Review, and I'd love for you to take a look.

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

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My Review of The Glitch by Elisabeth Cohen and Lord of California by Andrew Valencia up at The Believer!!!

I've been submitting my nonfiction to The Believer for about seven years. I love their symposium section, and I'm thrilled that--after a total of 30 submissions--they finally accepted one of my pieces.

The piece is a dual review of a two of recently published novels, The Glitch by Elisabeth Cohen and Lord of California by Andrew Valencia. The novels' subject matter fits nicely into this issue's symposium theme, "This Modern Family," and I'm glad to have my reviews mixed in with a few other really good ones on this subject. Feel free to take a look. Scroll down to mine, which is called "Left (behind) Coast."

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

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My Review of This is Memorial Device by David Keenan up at JMWW!

I'm always excited to get rock novel recommendations.

Lewis Buzbee passed This is Memorial Device by David Keenan on to me, which he found and read while traveling in Europe in 2017. I had to wait until this past February to get my hands on it here in the States, and it was well worth the wait. I touch on what the novel does well in my review of it, which just popped up at JMWW this past week. Give the review a read, then give the book a read.

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

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My Review of The Selfishness of Others by Kristen Dombek up at JMWW!

I started getting interested in narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) in the early 2000s. The term seemed fresh and new to me at the time. The books I read on NPD opened my eyes to a certain type of person to avoid, and I've done what I could to avoid them. 

Unfortunately, in 2018, the term no longer seems to apply only to my life anymore. I'm sorry for this, but on the upside is it's led to a great deal of compelling writing on NPD. As an example I offer Kristen Dombek's The Selfishness of Others, which I reviewed for JMWW. 

Take a look, and here's hoping you don't see your reflection!

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

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My Review of Surfing with Sartre by Aaron James up at Colorado Review!!!

I took philosophy as a minor in college, and I struggled with the esoteric nature of some of the books. I thought I was going to learn how philosophical principles applied to my life. Instead, I spent most of my time trying to figure out where these famous philosophers stood on anything. 

Aaron James, philosophy professor and author of Surfing with Sartre, seems to get it. His latest book of nonfiction explores how people might apply the loose rules of surfing to cultivate a more meaningful life for themselves both in and out of the water. I loved the book, and I wrote a review of it that just popped up at Colorado Review. Give the review a read, and consider giving James' book a shot too.

Here's that link again.

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

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My Review of The King of Good Intentions up at JMWW!!!

I love it when a new review of mine pops up, so much so that I want to make sure you know that my review of the rock novel The King of Good Intentions by John Andrew Fredrick went live this week at JMWW.

The King of Good Intentions is the first of at least two rock novels in a series by Fredrick. You all know how fond I am of rock novels in a series. Let's just say Fredrick's debut reminded me a bit of my 2003 debut Stuck Outside of Phoenix, except his is set in Los Angeles and has a narrator (and writer) boasting some serious acuity with the language. Lovely prose, lots of good honest trouble. Give the review a read, and give the novel a chance as well!

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

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My Review of The End of My Career up at Los Angeles Review of Books!!!

Why do I prefer memoirs to novels now? Argh! Stop messing with my mind!

Read about it in my review of the Martha Grover's memoir The End of My Career, which just went live at Los Angeles Review of Books. 

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

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My Short Story "Nello's Liner Notes" now Available for Free at The Wax Paper!!!

My process for writing fiction is pretty laborious. Novels take many drafts and several years. Short stories can take just as long.

Such was not the case for my short story "Nello's Liner Notes," which came out a year or two ago at The Wax Paper.

As much as I love The Wax Paper's newspaper-y format, I'm always a little disappointed when I can't send a link around of a newly-published piece. Well, The Wax Paper has recently published "Nello's Liner Notes" online, which is great because I finally get to offer it to you.

"Nello's Liner Notes" is told by Nello Van Hansen, lead singer of Comatoast, and it's about his inability to get his band's debut album in the can.

So, give ten minutes to "Nello's Liner Notes," and let me know your thoughts.

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

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