I had the pleasure of reading ‘Slow Burn On Riverside’ recently which is the prequel for ‘The Same Deep Water As You’ and I’m glad I read them this way around – as when I turned that first page the distinct voice of Jex poured from the pages and it was like returning to a
Well Read Beard reviews Alan Baxter’s ‘The Gulp’ – our very own Ross Jeffery reviewed this already on STORGY but the collection is so good we thought we’d review it twice, so here’s Kevin giving his thoughts on this quite brilliant collection… once you’ve watched it, go out and pick up a copy, this is
Of Foster Homes and Flies is a Pandora’s Box of emotions; love, loss, despair, fear, abuse, hope, desire and transformation. Once you lift that lid (or cover in this situation) you can’t put those feelings back, however hard you try! It’s a book that explores the darkness of growing up in a house devoid of
Well Read Beard reviews Chad Lutzke’s ‘The Neon Owl – When The Shit Hits The Van. Chad’s work is fabulous and if you’ve not discovered the prose magic this guy offers with every book you might want to change that this year! Don’t forget to subscribe to The Beard! Unlike many other Arts & Entertainment
Back in the early part of 2014 I first read Bunt Tongues (an anthology of transgressive fiction) and to be honest, I didn’t think much of it. This year Burnt Tongues got a much needed facelift. The thing is the only difference was a new cover and an illustration for each of the stories held
A mothers grief is something even the devil should fear. This is my first experience of Laurel Hightower and it will not be my last. Crossroads is a sensational, emotionally shredding, grief riddled nightmare of a book. The story is one that will affect you for long after reading (whether you are a parent or
Seventy years is a long time right? It’s in fact a lifetime, but what we have with An Inheritance is a gripping novella-in-flash that takes us on this journey at breakneck speed, as we flit through seventy years and four generations of family life – with all its love, grittiness, despair, hope, loss, grief and
You know how some books just sell themselves? They have that comfy kind of mass appeal – a little light and shade, a little wholesome, a character for everyone? Well, how does a work of autofiction with a semi stream-of-consciousness narrative about a doom-drone band, the specifications of guitar amps, edibles, the echo chamber and
About a year ago, I was at a book launch in Dublin and a card caught my eye as I was leaving. I had my newborn in the pram with me (I figured she wasn’t sleeping anyway, so she might as well come to a book launch). It was coming up to Mother’s Day, and
Communion by Steve Stred is the second book of an ongoing trilogy – book one was Ritual (which we reviewed here) and the second book starts pretty much where book one finished. This proposed trilogy of books by Stred is dark, brooding and graphic as hell, with Stred giving us a slice after slice of
