Lindsay Lusby – Catechesis, a Postpastoral
The collection is a stunning pastiche, interwoven with references to Grimm’s Fairytales, Silence of the Lambs, anatomical drawings from Grey’s Anatomy, and botanical references, all done in gorgeous, precise verse. This book studies the overwhelming horror and beauty of the natural world as well as the overwhelming unease of being a woman.
Chelsey Minnis – Zirconia
Bad Bad Chelsey Minnis is a rockstar. Each poem in this book is intoxicatingly lush, hard and glittering. I am absolutely obsessed with “The Skull Ring.” It’s a pleasantly dark and quirky poem.
Lucie McKnight Hardy – Water Shall Refuse Them
The writing of this book is spellbinding! The narrative of Nif, and what happens when her family goes to stay in a small town in Wales after the death of her sister Petra slowly unfolds into a twist that completely gobsmacked me.
Kiki Petrosino – Witch Wife
The collection weaves personal history and inheritance and one’s ghosts into a gorgeous book. The first time that I read it, when I finished it, and then I read it again.
Georgina Bruce – This House of Wounds
I was deeply absorbed by the poetic phrasing, and the dark situations. Bruce takes stories that we know—Alice in Wonderland, Grimms’ Fairytales—and turns them into something new—horror, science fiction. The new worlds that she creates are rich, well-crafted, and very dangerous.
Jessica Drake-Thomas is a poet, fiction writer, editor, and blogger. Her full length collection, Burials, is forthcoming from CLASH Books this year. Her work has been featured in Coffin Bell Journal, PVSSYMAGIC, Three Drops from a Cauldron, and others. “