Briar Patch Books

Category: Contemporary literary fiction

  • Death by incompetence

    Fellow displaced journalist Paul O’Connor (OK, OK, I fired him, but THEY made me do it) reviews a novel about the death of a newspaper. Just reading the review made me sad, but I think I’ll give the book a try anyway. By Paul T. O’Connor THE IMPERFECTIONISTS: A NOVEL.  By Tom Rachman. Dial Press.…

  • Mad sanity, or sane madness

    Steve Wishnevsky of Winston-Salem has unearthed a gem from a few years back. By Stephen Wishnevsky LAMB: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal. By Christopher Moore. Harper, 2002. Available in various hardback and paperback editions. One of those books. Quite mad, and rather sane, a parable of parables, or a satire of satires,…

  • Michael Malone’s latest (I think), and editors or their lack

    Michael Malone, a North Carolina writer, is one of my favorite contemporary authors. He’s also one of the most frustrating. At times, he goes long stretches without publishing a novel. Somehow, when he does come out with a new novel, it takes me by surprise. Even though I’ve been a book-review editor for 25 years,…

  • Private Life

    Our latest review is by that gentleman and scholar, Robert Moyer of Winston-Salem. Here’s how Bob describes himself (I think it’s mostly true): Bob Moyer is a member of the National Book Critics’ Circle.  His haiku poetry has been published extensively, and may be seen frequently at Haiku News (wayfarergallery.net). He is a member of…