In Victoria Bastedo’s Zugadu’s Heart, after being found living alone in the woods, Oskar is taken in by Stu and Marla, a couple who give him a place to stay while bringing him into Stu’s off-the-books work, collecting proof of illegal activity. While traveling, Stu...

“The truth? It don't fit clean. Life don't work like no sermon or a newspaper headline. It's messy. It bleeds.” Life does these things and more, and messy can be an understatement as The Bible Of Blackwater County, a novel by Jenny Cafaro, clearly illustrates....

In 14 Hours of Saturn by Mike J. Kizman, Saturn Syres arrives in Oakfield at twenty-four to begin work at All Ways Advertising, determined to move beyond the voice roles that defined her early career and claim a place shaping campaigns of her own. Living...

The Gospel of Caiaphas by Nicole Diamond Austin is a fictional telling of Joseph ben Caiaphas, who has always been infamously portrayed as presiding over the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus. Austin recreates Caiaphas, from childhood in a priestly household, to his rise as the high...

At twenty-one, Alice had left college behind and was working at a restaurant, trying to make sense of her life. Her father, John, has accepted her choices, but he worried that she was never going to be an independent and responsible young adult. Alice was...

In Mountain Home by Grace Zacaroli, Danat belongs to a quiet faith community that shelters Solomon after war kills the boy’s parents. Solomon is twelve years old with a living father, whom he has never met, in the northern mountains. Danat accepts the duty of...

Elco Parks by Sandro Laudadio is one of the most unusual stories I have read in a while, and it resonates with its themes and atmosphere. The setting is Vancouver in 2008, where a new religion has taken hold in the belief that glacial striations...

“This was the pattern—hope, creation, corruption, destruction. Always the same ending.” Painful failure and seven frightful creatures torment an aged Creator in The Lord's Canvas by Stephen Wayne. The story unfolds in an endless void, where nothing exists save a canvas of creation waiting to...

The Crucifixion was one of the most dramatic incidents in history, and it continues to cast a long shadow in Daniel Grace’s novel In the Wake of Golgotha. As the book begins, we meet Jude Issachar, a New York social worker and adjunct professor who...

Rhythm's First Lady by Long Temple follows Claire and Oliver, a newly married couple learning how to hold their relationship together while taking on public responsibility. Claire is starting her own architecture firm, and Oliver is becoming more involved in leadership at Mount Zion, a...