Suspend Your Disbelief

Posts Tagged ‘debut novel’

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Book of the Week: Men in the Making, by Bruce Machart

by Jeremiah Chamberlin

This week’s feature is Bruce Machart’s debut story collection Men in the Making, published this week by Houghton Mifflin. He is also the author of the acclaimed 2010 novel The Wake of Forgiveness, which won the Steven Turner Prize for debut fiction from The Texas Institute of Letters. It was also selected by Independent Booksellers for their Indie Next List and by the Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association as its “Reading the West” book of the year, as well as named a finalist for the PEN/USA Literary Prize. The stories in this new collection have appeared in Zoetrope: All […]


Interviews |

The Man and the Making: An Interview with Bruce Machart

by Aaron J. Cance

“Thunderstruck,” Aaron Cance describes his reading of Bruce Machart’s two debut books: a novel, The Wake of Forgiveness, and a story collection, Men in the Making, out this week. They also discuss the themes of faith, masculinity, and love, and how a New England basement is a helpful metaphor for writing.


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Book-of-the-Week Winners: How the Mistakes Were Made

by Jeremiah Chamberlin

Last week we featured How the Mistakes Were Made as our Book-of-the-Week title, and we’re pleased to announce the winners. Congratulations to: Laurence Pritchard (@Laurence99) Daniel Levin (@Daniel_Levin) Rick Rofihe (@RickRofihe) To claim your copy of this collection, please email us at the following address: winners [at] fictionwritersreview.com If you’d like to be eligible for future giveaways, please visit our Twitter Page and “follow” us!


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Book of the Week: How the Mistakes Were Made

by Jeremiah Chamberlin

This week’s feature is Tyler McMahon’s How the Mistakes Were Made, published this week by St. Martin’s Griffin. Born and raised in the Washington, DC area, Tyler McMahon studied at the University of Virginia and Boise State University. Before writing his first novel, he worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in El Salvador, a surf instructor in California, and waiter in Montana. He co-edited the anthologies Surfing’s Greatest Misadventures and Fishing’s Greatest Misadventures for Casagrande Press. He lives in Honolulu with his wife, food writer Dabney Gough, and teaches in the English Department at Hawaii Pacific University. His short stories […]


Interviews |

Grunge Rock, Nabokov, and the Threat of Nuclear Apocalypse: An Interview with Tyler McMahon

Tyler McMahon’s new novel, How the Mistakes Were Made, is a tragedy set to rock and roll. In this conversation with Caleb Winters, McMahon recalls the paranoia of Cold War America, shares his experiences touring with a band, and reveals how writing can be like church.


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Book-of-the-Week Winners: Season of Water and Ice

by Jeremiah Chamberlin

Last week we featured Season of Water and Ice as our Book-of-the-Week title, and we’re pleased to announce the winners. Congratulations to: Kristin Offiler (@KristinOffiler) Paul Liebert (@paliebert) David Henry Sterry (@Sterryhead) To claim your signed copy of this novel, please email us at the following address: winners [at] fictionwritersreview.com If you’d like to be eligible for future giveaways, please visit our Twitter Page and “follow” us!


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Book of the Week: Season of Water and Ice, by Donald Lystra

by Jeremiah Chamberlin

This week’s feature is Donald Lystra’s debut novel Season of Water and Ice. Lystra, a retired engineer, lives in Ann Arbor and spends part of each summer in northern Michigan, on the Leelanau Peninsula, where this book is set. His short fiction has appeared in many literary journals, including Other Voices, The North American Review, Passages North, and The Greensboro Review. A story called “Family Way,” which eventually grew into Season of Water and Ice, appeared in Cimarron Review in 2006, and an excerpt from the book appeared in Natural Bridge in 2009. This is his first novel. This novel […]


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Book-of-the-Week Winners: The Swan

by Jeremiah Chamberlin

Last week we featured The Swan as our Book-of-the-Week title, and we’re pleased to announce the winners. Congratulations to: Chuck A. Stetson (@cstetson) Eliza Weber (@deareliza) J-Dub (@cre8ivepen) To claim your signed copy of this novel, please email us at the following address: winners [at] fictionwritersreview.com If you’d like to be eligible for future giveaways, please visit our Twitter Page and “follow” us!


Interviews |

A More Interesting Period of Time: An Interview with Donald Lystra

Donald Lystra, who published his first novel Season of Water and Ice after retiring from a career as an engineer, talks about making the transition from engineering to writing, publishing with a small press, winning a Midwest Book Award, and what people get wrong about the 1950s.


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Book of the Week: The Swan, by Jim Cohee

by Jeremiah Chamberlin

This week’s feature is Jim Cohee’s novel The Swan. Cohee, a retired editor for Sierra Club Books, lives in San Francisco. This is his first book. This novel is also one of the first titles to be released from Break Away Books, an imprint of Indiana University Press. Edited by Susan Neville and Michael Martone, this series will focus on “fiction, memoir, creative nonfiction, and poetry with a Midwest connection.” Like Switchgrass Books, the imprint of Northern Illinois University Press, which launched in the fall of 2009, the goal of this series is to feature work that is rooted in […]




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