Read more
Category Archives: Prose and Cons
A local shines on the national literary stage
It’s nigh impossible to make it as an author of adult literary fiction. Yet that’s the goal Four Corners writer Mandy Mikulencak set for herself in 2009. Nine years later, Mikulencak has succeeded, brilliantly, with the release of The Last … Continue reading
Published in February 2018, Prose and Cons
Beau knows Louis L’Amour
“This book may drive you crazy.” So begins Beau L’Amour’s Introduction to Louis L’Amour’s Lost Treasures, Vol. 1, a 500-page compendium of his late father’s unfinished manuscripts, treatments, and notes. But in this, Beau misleads. Truer to have written, “This … Continue reading
Published in January 2018, Prose and Cons
Johnson mixes humor and intrigue in ‘Western Star’
I can attest from experience that injecting humor into an otherwise serious tale of murderous intrigue isn’t easy. But Craig Johnson has been pulling off that enviable trick in his murder mysteries for well over a decade now, to national … Continue reading
Published in December 2017, Prose and Cons
Nativity
We live in troubling times; nowhere more so than in the arena of women’s reproductive health. On his first day in office, President Trump signed a ban on federal money going to international aid groups that provide information on abortions … Continue reading
Published in November 2017, Prose and Cons
A fine Navajoland whodunnit
Despite confronting the bodies of four murdered young people at the start of Katayoun Medhat’s The Quality of Mercy, readers know they’re in for an enjoyable — if dark — ride by the end of the first chapter of Medhat’s … Continue reading
Published in October 2017, Prose and Cons
Gothic ramblings
Race, like a flaming cross at a Klan rally, stands at the center of Sing, Unburied, Sing, casting shadows on all that transpires. The novel, Jesmyn Ward’s third and the first since her National Book Award-winning Salvage the Bones, depicts … Continue reading
Published in Prose and Cons, September 2017
Rose invents a new genre with ‘Thief’ (Prose and Cons)
Augustus Rose may have invented a new genre with his debut novel, The Readymade Thief, released Aug. 1 by Viking Press. Let’s call Rose’s creation a Young Adult novel for adults; rather than a YA novel, Rose has written a … Continue reading
Published in August 2017, Prose and Cons
Worth the weight (Prose and Cons)
There are many authors whose virtuosity inspires me to be a better writer. There are but a few, however, whose talent is so prodigious, so dispiritingly outsized, as to make me want to throw up my hands and quit writing … Continue reading
Published in July 2017, Prose and Cons
Grann’s ‘Killers’ chronicles murders of the Osage Indians (Prose and Cons)
Residents of the Four Corners region generally understand the debt they owe the Utes, Navajos, Apaches and other Native Americans who inhabited the area before them. David Grann’s latest nonfiction bestseller, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and … Continue reading
Published in June 2017, Prose and Cons
Start spreading the News (Prose and Cons)
The year is 1870, and across the State of Texas, Capt. Jefferson Kyle Kidd travels from town to town performing live readings from newspapers to paying audiences eager to learn the news of the world. Seventy-two and widowed, a veteran … Continue reading
Published in May 2017, Prose and Cons
Anne Hillerman sings in ‘Song of the Lion’ (Prose and Cons)
By rights, it shouldn’t work. But it does. Beloved mystery author Tony Hillerman’s bestselling series, which featured Navajo Nation cops Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, ended with Hillerman’s death in 2008. Or so his devoted readers thought. There were plenty … Continue reading
Published in April 2017, Prose and Cons
Deadly dozen (Prose and Cons)
The cliché that certain crime novels “transcend the genre” is as shopworn as the genre itself can sometimes be. But there’s no disputing that a new generation of crime novelists, many of them women, are rewriting the rules and bringing … Continue reading
Published in March 2017, Prose and Cons
Winter’s Tales (Prose and Cons)
Norse mythology permeates our Western culture, from the seven days of the Gregorian calendar (four of which are named for the Norse gods Tyr, Odin, Thor, and Frigg) to the symbolism of Biblical Christianity (Odin, the all-father of Norse myth, … Continue reading
Published in January 2017, Prose and Cons
Exploring the changing face of the Western world Prose and Cons
Amid this year’s pre-holiday blizzard of book releases, British author Zadie Smith’s Swing Time stands out. Eagerly anticipated by her legions of fans, Swing Time is Smith’s first novel in four years, following 2012’s experimental NW. As a young, biracial, … Continue reading
Published in December 2016, Prose and Cons
Time in a bottle (Prose and Cons)
In their 2011 memoir We Wanted to be Writers, authors Eric Olsen and Glenn Schaeffer recount their experiences (in “Life, Love, and Literature”) at the storied Iowa Writers’ Workshop while arguing that their mid-1970s MFA classmates – a gilded cohort … Continue reading
Published in November 2016, Prose and Cons
Another sparkling mystery from Tana French Prose and Cons
Most mystery-series authors write a book a year at the behest of their publishers. But since the success a decade ago of her acclaimed Dublin Murder Squad debut In the Woods, Tana French has written and released a new Murder … Continue reading
Published in October 2016, Prose and Cons
If you remember the ’60s. . . (Prose and Cons)
Samuel Anderson, the guileless protagonist of The Nix, Nathan Hill’s sprawling debut novel, is a Chicago college professor with a past that’s as murky to him as his future. Samuel, whose mother abandoned him at age 11, medicates the stress … Continue reading
Published in Prose and Cons, September 2016
O’Nan’s latest is slender but powerful Prose and Cons
If the fine American fiction writer Stewart O’Nan is any indication, authors who adhere too strictly to writing only what interests them—and, they presumably hope, their readers—may well do so at their professional peril. O’Nan counts among his most ardent … Continue reading
Published in August 2016, Prose and Cons
An epic chopping spree (Prose and Cons)
Annie Proulx is perhaps best known for her 1993 bestseller The Shipping News, which won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Or is it for her 1997 short story “Brokeback Mountain,” which brought her the … Continue reading
Published in July 2016, Prose and Cons
‘Cutting’ local water (Prose and Cons)
With their futuristic, otherworldly settings, science fiction novels aren’t generally meant to strike close to home. For residents of the Four Corners area, however, acclaimed western Colorado author Paolo Bacigalupi’s best-selling, green sci-fi novel, The Water Knife, does just that. … Continue reading
Published in June 2016, Prose and Cons
Futuristic ‘Zero K’ has style and substance (Prose and Cons)
It has long been my observation that the three incubatory professions most overrepresented in the pantheon of great American authors are journalism, law, and advertising. The reason, I suspect, is that each involves a reductive writing process – the art … Continue reading
Published in May 2016, Prose and Cons
‘News of the World’ offers rare beauty (Prose and Cons)
When an accomplished poet turns pen to prose, readers ofttimes are rewarded with work of startling beauty. Such is the case with poet-turned-novelist Paulette Jiles’ latest book, “News of the World,” an exquisitely told tale set in north Texas shortly … Continue reading
Published in April 2016, Prose and Cons
Dipping below the horizon: Nesbo’s latest thriller is worthwhile, but not one of his best offerings (Prose and Cons)
It’s been said that there are only two plots in all of fiction. In the first, a man goes on a journey. In the second, a stranger comes to town. “Midnight Sun,” by Norwegian crime master Jo Nesbo, is a … Continue reading
Published in March 2016, Prose and Cons
Killing it: Fans of mysteries and canines will enjoy this Colorado-based crime tale (Prose and Cons)
Four Corners-area mystery lovers who love dogs — or dog lovers who also love mysteries set close to home — have reason to cheer. With “Killing Trail,” Margaret Mizushima has launched a fine, southern Colorado-based mystery series featuring kind-hearted small-town … Continue reading
Published in February 2016, Prose and Cons
A novel for masochists: Elizabeth Strout’s latest features grim ruminations on family, forgiveness (Prose and Cons)
To paraphrase Gore Vidal on the subject of Joyce Carol Oates, the two saddest words in the English language are Elizabeth Strout. Strout, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction with her 2008 novel “Olive Kitteridge,” generally traffics in mother-daughter … Continue reading
Published in January 2016, Prose and Cons
On the trail of buffaloes and history (Prose and Cons)
Jeff Guinn is a noted Western historian who also happens to know how to write gripping, plot-driven tales of aggression and survival. That combination serves historical fiction devotees well in Guinn’s latest book, “Buffalo Trail,” the second, stirring installment of … Continue reading
Published in December 2015, Prose and Cons
‘City on Fire’ an impressive debut (Prose and Cons)
It is from the distance between an author’s ambitions and his finished novel that we may measure his literary chops. So when an author, knowing this cold calculus, undertakes to write the Great American Novel – or at least the … Continue reading
Published in November 2015, Prose and Cons
Tagged Chuck Greaves, City on Fire, Garth Risk Hallberg
High adventure and low characters (Prose and Cons)
Good stories beget good stories. At least, that’s three-time novelist Patrick DeWitt’s story. DeWitt’s third novel, “Undermajordomo Minor,” released last month, continues his penchant of reinventing genres — this time, the fable. DeWitt’s personal story begins with the peculiar discovery … Continue reading
Published in October 2015, Prose and Cons
Tagged Patrick DeWitt, Scott Graham, Undermajordomo Minor
Evison is getting better all the time (Prose and Cons)
Want to catch a rising star? “All About Lulu,” the witty, wise, and achingly poignant debut novel that launched Jonathan Evison onto the nation’s literary radar in 2008, remains one of my favorite discoveries of the past 10 years. Moving … Continue reading
Published in Prose and Cons, September 2015
Tagged Chuck Greaves, Jonathan Evision, This is Your Life Harriet Chance
Oil boom leads to crime (Prose and Cons)
There remain in the New West a select few old-school Westerners on whom a Stetson truly fits. Perennial New York Times-bestselling mystery/thriller author and Wyoming native son C.J. Box is one. Box’s Stetson-wearing bonafides derive primarily from his series of … Continue reading
Published in August 2015, Prose and Cons
Tagged Badlands, C.J. Box, Scott Graham
‘Darkness’ helps fill void left by Hillerman (Prose and Cons)
Tony Hillerman, the late, great author of 18 novels featuring Navajo tribal police officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, cited the aboriginal mysteries of Australian crime writer Arthur W. Upfield as the inspirations for his signature blend of page-turning whodunits … Continue reading
Published in July 2015, Prose and Cons
Tagged Chuck Greaves, Meredith Blevins, The Darkness Rolling, Win Blevins
‘American Meteor’ is a fine frontier yarn (Prose and Cons)
We first meet Stephen Moran, the Brooklyn-born narrator of American Meteor, Norman Lock’s keyhole-view history of the American West, as a 16-year-old bugle boy convalescing in a Washington, D.C. hospital. Young Stephen has lost half his sight, and all his … Continue reading
Published in June 2015, Prose and Cons
Tagged American Meteor, Chuck Greaves, Norman Lock