If You Loved ‘The Pagemaster’ and ‘The NeverEnding Story,’ Read ‘Edwin and the Quest for Drow’ by Gordon C. Allan Next!
One of my favorite tropes in middle-grade and young adult stories is the concept of the main character loving one of their parents but not being particularly close to them... so when that parent dies or disappears, the main character toils with missing and grieving...
The ‘Charlie’s Story’ Series: Let’s Give Octopi Another Look
When I first discovered Cyanea by Ann R. McNicol and then realized it was the fourth book in a series, I quickly immersed myself in the world of these books—and I am so grateful I did!...
Learn How the Mind Works to Slow Down Time, Enjoy Life, and Make the Most Out of the Hours in Your Day with Jean Paul Zogby
Slow Down Time: The Power of Time Perception by Jean Paul Zogby looks at how we see and process time. As Einstein said “When you sit with a nice girl for two hours you think it’s only a minute, but when you sit on a hot stove for a minute you think it’s two hours....
What Makes a Villain? A Review of ‘Verity’ by Colleen Hoover
This review contains spoilers of Verity by Colleen Hoover. Content Warning: Abuse, Death, Mental Health, Violence, and Sexual Assault Exploring Character Intent and Actions Many books craft a story with a clear villain and a hero, providing the reader with a...
Make a Joyful Life in 30 Days with ‘The Joy Plan’ by Kaia Roman
The Joy Plan by Kaia Roman outlines a 30-day experiment where the author concentrates solely on joy, quitting complaining, and stopping worrying! She puts the results of the experiment into this book. It’s easy to read, fun, joyful—and super inspiring. The book starts...
Congratulations to Han Kang for Winning the Nobel Prize in Literature!
Happy Friday, readers, writers, and shark fans! We're very excited to share that the results are in for the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature, and the winner is none other than the incredible Human Acts author, Han Kang. The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2024 is awarded...
Balancing Rejection, Acceptance, Grief, and Groceries: A Review of Michelle Zauner’s ‘Crying in H Mart’
Content Warning: Death, Depression, Abortion, Cancer. Death comes in many forms, whether it's the loss of a pet, a family member, a friend, or an acquaintance. For many, this loss propels those affected into periods of self-reflection as they do their best to...
Join Lit Shark in Celebrating Life on National Rainbow Baby Day
Happy Thursday, readers, writers, and shark fans! We hope you're enjoying your week as well as Issue 6 of Lit Shark Magazine: The SHARK DOG Edition if you've begun reading it. Thank you so much for your support! Today, we want to draw your attention to an important...
Celebrate With Us: Sandra Noel’s ‘Into The Under’
Happy Wednesday, readers, writers, and shark fans! We're always so excited to see members of our Lit Shark community succeed, especially when they have a book coming out, so we could not be more pleased to share the news that Sandra Noel has just published her poetry...
Discover the Charm of Dark Retellings & Cozy Horror in Stephen King’s ‘Fairy Tale’
King's Out Here Redefining Dark Retellings & Cozy Horror Stephen King reflected before writing Fairy Tale and asked himself what would make him happy to write, and this was it: “As if my imagination had been waiting for the question to be asked, I saw a...
Celebrate Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas’ Latest Book With Us: ‘A Shared and Sacred Space’
Happy Wednesday, readers, writers, and shark fans! We're always so excited to see members of our Lit Shark community succeed, especially when they have a book come out, so we could not be more pleased to share the news that Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas has just...
This Charming Equestrian Thriller Has Surprises at Every Turn, Even for the Author
How many lives can one woman save in one romantic equestrian thriller? Well, Betty Briggs pushes the envelope in her novel, Pressure Point, in which Stephanie receives a letter from her ultimate nemesis, who mocks her with the kidnapping of her future adoptive...
Geena Davis Rises Like a Phoenix from the Ashes After ‘Dying of Politeness’
This September, our silver screens will be graced (or haunted?!) by the revival of a triple-named ghoul with the return of Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (also known as Beetlejuice 2). In preparation, not only are we rewatching Beetlejuice...
A Unique & YA-Friendly Look at Cancer Treatment & Remission, Race & Privilege, & Living Life to the Fullest
Few of us understand how privileged we are until we are put face-to-face with a dire situation, like seeing a house fire where the family loses everything they own. Though middle-schoolers and twin sisters, Taylor and Mackenzie, had their own struggles with a year of...
Anne Hathaway Fulfills the Boy Band Fantasy of Our Dreams in ‘The Idea of You’
Happy World Book Day, readers, writers, and shark fans! To celebrate, we're sharing a fun book that will be available to watch early this May. Our Editor-in-Chief was invited to attend an early viewing event of the film adaptation of Robinne Lee's 2017 romantic...
‘I’d Rather Be Dead Than Deaf’: An Unflinching Glimpse Into One Teen’s World of Art, Poetry, Music, Family, & Liver Cancer
I remember about a decade ago, while sitting in on an interview for what would turn out to be an incredible internship at a cancer-centered publication, I discussed with the publication's President the importance of how we talk about cancer and how we communicate with...
Out Now: A Fate Inked In Blood by Danielle L. Jensen
Happy Saturday, readers, writers, and shark fans! The reading community has been on a wave of top new releases this year (it's going to be hard to pick our Top Ten favorites at the end of the year at this rate!), especially fantasy readers, as Danielle L. Jensen has...
Hot Take: ‘Six of Crows’ by Leigh Bardugo Is Reflective of Our World, Plus Magic
Ketterdam, a bustling commercial city. Grisha, with his specific powers. Children who were forced to grow up suddenly. Powers that shake the world. Poverty, tragedies, politics... It sounds gloomy, but the Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo is by no means. Leigh Bardugo...
Out Now: The Inspirational ‘Dear Starving Artist, Get Something to Eat’ by Actor Ransford Doherty & Screenwriter Angie J. Sanders
Unless they go in totally delusional, most creatives know that their journey to success may not be the smoothest or easiest journey they’ve been on. Actors and writers are referred to as “starving artists” by those critical of working creatives for a reason. ...
We’re Rattled By Patrick T. Reardon’s ‘Puddin’,’ Poetry Written By a Baby
Whether we personally identify as an introvert or an extrovert, a loner or a team player, we all yearn for a connection with other people, especially the people who should love us the most: our families. But sometimes life doesn't work out that way, and we're left...
From Grieving for ‘Seven Years’ to Drowning in ‘Treading Water,’ Alyssa Harmon’s Hope-Infused Poetry Should Not Be Missed
Happy Tuesday, readers, writers, and shark fans! We have a wonderful double book review for you today of the first two full-length poetry collections by Alyssa Harmon: Seven Years and Treading Water. If you've been reading the issues of Lit Shark Magazine (thank you),...
‘Someone Somewhere Maybe’: Reading More Poetry by Sophie Diener (Plus, a Broadside!)
Hi readers, writers, and shark fans! You know that feeling when you finish reading a book... and a few weeks later, it comes back to you, and you can't stop thinking about it unless you revisit it? Well, that's how we're currently feeling about Sophie Diener's debut...
Cheerful Novel or Morose Tale? A Book Review of Kazuo Ishiguro’s ‘Klara and the Sun’
Content Warnings: Terminal illness, death of a child, grief and loss depiction In Loneliness, We Find Friendship Terminal illness in oneself and those we love can bring out the worst in people and the best in others. Death can be a catalyst for some, a reminder that...
Longing, Familial Ties, & Tradition: In Conversation with Poet Millicent Borges Accardi & ‘Through a Grainy Landscape’
Since the pandemic---I know this must be as true for others as it is for me---I've felt this deeper call for connection: to nature, to my family, and to myself and who I'm called to be. These are surely songs that have called all of us at various moments in our lives,...
Poetry That Makes You Feel Something: ‘Someone Somewhere Maybe’ & An Exclusive Interview with TikTok Sensation Sophie Diener
Whether it's poetry by Walt Whitman or Edgar Allan Poe, children's poetry by Shel Silverstein, or poetry by singers like Jewel and Halsey, everyone can agree that poetry is meant to make you feel something, whether it's deeply vulnerable, beautiful, or...
Unrealistic Friendship or Relatable Story? A Review of Sally Rooney’s ‘Beautiful World, Where Are You’
Content Warning: Mental Health, Depression, Self-Harm The Balancing Act of Life In many people’s experience, especially those discovering themselves in their 20s and 30s, life can seem lonely as you explore what it means to be human. While some delve into careers,...
Lyanda Lynn Haupt’s ‘Rooted’: A Scientific Meditation on Human’s Relationship to Nature
Rooted: Life at the Crossroads of Science, Nature, and Spirit feels like a story in which the author, Lyanda Lynn Haupt, takes you gently by the hand and brings you on a sacred tour of the forest, pointing out details in hushed reverential tones. This nature manifesto...
Haunted By What-Ifs, Alternate Realities, & Multiverses In Matt Haig’s ‘The Midnight Library’
Content Warning: Suicide, drugs, overdose Our Perpetual Negative Self-Talk Have you ever felt like nothing seems to be going right, no matter how hard you try? Maybe you feel like you're not where you're supposed to be in life. Or perhaps you always feel stuck when...
‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Meets ‘Bridgerton’ In This Steampunk, Neo-Victorian World—Plus Exclusive Interview with L.S. Kilroy
Welcome to Vitruvia, readers, writers, and shark fans! In this futuristic series, women have completely lost their rights as society has transitioned to Victorian standards and patriarchal dominion. The Vitruvian Heir is a steampunk rendition of Margaret Atwood's The...
Wing Strokes Haiku: An Interview with Amy Losak & Other Books for Mother’s Day
Happy Mother's Day Week, readers, writers, and shark fans! To celebrate this Mother's Day with you, we wanted to share a special mother-daughter poetry collaboration that really pulled at our heartstrings: Wing Strokes Haiku by Sydell Rosenberg and Amy Losak. Poet...
Family Ties, Climate Change, & the Allure of Black Gold: Reading ‘Windfall’ by Erika Bolstad
Windfall tells the story of how journalist and documentary filmmaker, Erika Bolstad uncovers a hidden family history, buried deep underground in far-off North Dakota. Thanks to the royalties (known as “mineral rights”) that belong to her great-grandmother, this...
Clark Kent is a Super Hipster: Finding Beauty in the Absurd & the Mundane: Reading Shawnte Orion’s ‘The Existentialist Cookbook’
Here I am, attempting to think of what to say, but my coffee spilled, and it made such a lovely and dark display across my table. This is the sort of mindset in which Shawnte Orion places me: an area of in-the-moment appreciation, the odd humor of something spilled...
The Surrealist and Bodily Nature of Grief: Reading Kristin Bair O’Keeffe’s ‘The Art of Floating’
Even when you read regularly, it takes time to find something truly great; but every once in a while, there will be a book, a poem, a story, that truly turns you on your heel, holds you in place, and keeps you loving, recommending and discussing that piece for months....
One Step Forward, One Step Back: The Complexities of Jason Odell Williams’ ‘Personal Statement’
We’ve all been there. We reached the final year of high school and discovered the college, the school, the job, and the career that we wanted, and we attempted to move forward. We did everything we thought we needed to do---and more---to ensure that we would land one...
Grief as Meditation, Grief as Art: Reading Meg Day’s ‘Last Psalm at Sea Level’
Writing reviews can be extremely difficult. What’s ironic, though, is that I tend to find greater difficulty in writing a review about a book that I loved, rather than one I was unimpressed with. Perhaps this is because I tend to find some angle of merit in each work...
We’ll Never Know What We’re Leaving Behind: Reading ‘Swimming Lessons’ by Claire Fuller
I’ll be honest: I’ve spent the last two days trying to let this book go (or rather, to pry its hooks out of me). This book is all at once startling and overwhelming, beautifully composed, and thieving (as ‘haunting’ in this case is not a strong enough word). I flipped...
The Power of Grief, The Power of Hallucination, The Power of YA Literature: Reading Rebekah Crane’s ‘Aspen’
Let me point one fact out from the beginning: I admire young adult literature, and I believe it can be extremely powerful when the central characters are confident, self-possessed individuals, dealing with both personal and more widely-recognized issues. Rebekah...
‘Gone Girl’ Meets ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ In Jean Hanff Korelitz’s ‘The Plot’
Happy Friday, readers and shark fans! Here is Jean Hanff Korelitz’s THE PLOT, which bears incredible ties to LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE and GONE GIRL in a dark academic thriller.
Your Next YA Graphic Novel Pick Is Sprinkled with Spooks, Awkward Love, and Magic in Balazs Lorinczi’s ‘Doughnuts and Doom’
Happy Friday, readers and shark fans! Here’s our next review—a spooky and queer YA graphic novel, DOUGHNUTS AND DOOM by Balazs Lorinczi.
The Precision of Language, Nature, and Violence in Shaindel Beers’ ‘Secure Your Own Mask’
Happy Friday, readers and shark fans! Here is our latest book review: SECURE YOUR OWN MASK by Shaindel Beers, a beautifully striking poetry collection from White Pine Press.