Magical Realism in the “Pages of Mourning” by Diego Gerard Morrison

Diego Gerard Morrison’s second novel, Pages of Mourning, may call Mexico its mainhome, but its first scene is a literal writer’s nightmare in a New York City coffee shop. Aureliano Más, the novel’s rarely sober, often haunted, and slyly named protagonist, sees dead people. It happens when he’s asleep and even, sometimes, when he’s awake and…

Read More

Adult Malice and Childhood Savagery in Dizz Tate’s Debut “Brutes”

An early scene in Dizz Tate’s debut novel Brutes depicts a birthday party of teenage girls stuffing water balloons inside their shirts: Leila told us that one girl had stuffed two balloons down the front of her bikini-top, and soon all the girls were running around with large, wobbling breasts. Then they started body-slamming each other to…

Read More