Wintry Weather, Warm Reviews

January's been cold, but the coverage of Rose Metal Press titles has not. Just take this review by Spencer Dew of Kim Henderson's The Kind of Girl  in decomP: "Henderson sets each phrase down like a tile, building a monument of denial, framing the absence at the center of her language."

And this review by Daniel M. Shapiro of But Our Princess is in Another Castle by B.J. Best in Arsenic Lobster: "Even though video games inspired the poem titles of But Our Princess Is in Another Castle and give the book its distinctive thread, the book has much to offer for people who have no interest in Googling “Kid Icarus,” “Astrosmash,” or “Grim Fandango” (although doing so would reveal hidden riches). At times, only a faint trace of a game is detectable, as when the speaker of “Loom” recalls his mother ironing while footage of the Challenger explosion replays on TV, or when “Excitebike” incorporates pathos in its depiction of parenting."

And this review by Pauline  Masurel of Kelcey Parker's Liliane's Balcony in The Short Review: "The building blocks of Liliane’s Balcony are the words themselves, and the words are beautifully handled, the layers well-constructed.  Adventurous and worth the risk, like Fallingwater itself, this book is sound. As Frank Lloyd Wright said: ‘The truth is more important than the facts.’"

And this one by Micah McCrary, also of Liliane's Balcony in The Nervous Breakdown: "She wants a story weighted by words—words we won’t discard or mistrust, with a fusion of ideas and language that can’t be ignored. If we indeed write the stories we want to read, with the words we know we need to hear, then she’s given us what she must be longing for: a story that more than falls at our feet. She’s given us a story that, like water, falls ever so timidly—so slow at the start, and then, all at once, in a rush."

Thanks to all the reviewers and magazines for the excellent coverage.