notanotherbookreview

Called "one of the innovators of the short short story" by Publishers Weekly, Peter Cherches'  Whistler's Mother's Son and Other Curiosities (3/23, Pelekinesis) is a marvel of wit an ingenuity. In this collection of short works, over 100 pieces of prose, he veers from minimalism to satire, noir to children's tale, abstraction to surrealism. Cherches' imagination takes a variety of forms; parodies, standarized tests, nursery rhymes, conundrums, rescued cliches, misbegotten mysteries, dark Americana, existential misdemeanors, optimistic nihilism and more. Whistler's Mother's Son features material never before published, published in small magazines, and from his early  Condensed Book .   Here are beloved characters; Hamlet, Gertrude Stein, Amelia Earhart, Fred Flintstone, Mr. Mondrian--hard-boiled dicks, a man with two mustaches and even a confused Peter Cherches. Though I have read  Between a Dream and a Cup of Coffee,  Lift Your Right Arm  ...

Farewell to  The Author's Corner,  a grand experiment. Thank you for being part of a grand experiment --  to keep literary voices alive . Instead of the ho-hum “book review” or “author interview,” how about “authentic author readings” from new books? That was the concept, a new third platform known as  The Author's Corner,  distributed nationwide to public radio stations for daily airing. TAC aired numerous debut authors plus ten Pulitzer-winners, with fully 50% women authors by design, in fiction and non-fiction. Listeners heard dramatic, revelatory and moving passages from hundreds of books they'd otherwise not encounter: truly --  many voices, many views, changing daily . It was delightful to introduce new authors to audiences... but where else could you also hear from the son of the "Cowardly Lion" of Oz, the younger brother of Lady Diana, sassy Amy Poehler, and a Nobel-winning president? The concept still se...