Austin Price

Critical Shortcomings in Cynthia Ozick’s ‘Critics, Monsters, Fanatics & Other Literary Essays’
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Critical Shortcomings in Cynthia Ozick’s ‘Critics, Monsters, Fanatics & Other Literary Essays’

By
 / 7 December 2016
It's so easy to be distracted by the powerful writing and insightful analysis that one misses Ozick's inability to deliver on the larger thematic promises of her latest collection.
The Valley Unpleasant in ‘Mount Pleasant’
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The Valley Unpleasant in ‘Mount Pleasant’

By
 / 7 September 2016
Ruined by blind ambition, Mount Pleasant stands as a cautionary tale to any writer possessed of more aspiration than art.
If Only ‘Everything Is Teeth’ Had Avoided the Grinding
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If Only ‘Everything Is Teeth’ Had Avoided the Grinding

By
 / 30 June 2016
It's as though Wyld is, ironically, scared of writing a story willing to give fear its due.
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‘Til Human Faces Wake Us: Don DeLillo’s ‘Zero K’

By
 / 20 May 2016
‘The Regional Office is Under Attack’ Suffers an Identity Crisis
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‘The Regional Office is Under Attack’ Suffers an Identity Crisis

By
 / 4 May 2016
There's something ugly at the heart of this story of superheroics, something that utterly conflicts with the book's sometimes better nature.
The Empty Apocalypse of Style
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The Empty Apocalypse of Style

By
 / 16 March 2016
Muslim's short story collection, Age of Blight, is conceptually interesting but stylistically and thematically shallow.
‘Hurt People’, Fractured Book
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‘Hurt People’, Fractured Book

By
 / 7 March 2016
There are sinister elements at work in Cote Smith's debut novel that mark it as an honest horror story of the best kind. If only they didn't also compromise it so fundamentally.
On the Meaningful Nonsense in ‘Jottings From a Far Away Place’
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On the Meaningful Nonsense in ‘Jottings From a Far Away Place’

By
 / 4 February 2016
Formally inventive, beautifully written and thematically dense, Brendan Connell's latest collection is a multi-layered anthology that compels multiple readings.
The Eternally Recurrent Themes in Susan Barker’s ‘The Incarnations’
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The Eternally Recurrent Themes in Susan Barker’s ‘The Incarnations’

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 / 2 December 2015
The Incarnations works perfectly as a collection of studied, precise short stories unified by simple but powerful themes and a bevy of stylistic strengths.
Reality Itself Is Malevolent in Thomas Ligotti’s Work
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Reality Itself Is Malevolent in Thomas Ligotti’s Work

By
 / 16 November 2015
Ligotti's stories seem almost violently unpalatable. They afford neither easy resolutions nor the seemingly ambiguous but ultimately fulfilling pleasures of so many mystery stories.
Jonathan Franzen Pulls a Convincing Authorial Disappearing Act in ‘Purity’
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Jonathan Franzen Pulls a Convincing Authorial Disappearing Act in ‘Purity’

By
 / 12 October 2015
Franzen's latest is a fulfilling if frustrating exploration of our modern identity crisis.
Tijuana Panthers: Posters
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Tijuana Panthers: Posters

By
 / 22 September 2015
Poster's sepia-tinted surf rock glides along with all the grace of a surfer atop a too-calm ocean.