Digging through the Ooligan Press backlist, eager to see the legacy of those who’ve come before me and gone on to complete their degrees, I stumbled across Untangling the Knot: Queer Voices on Marriage, Relationships & Identity and was immediately intrigued. This collection of twenty-five essays from individuals of all genders, all sexual orientations, and […]
Backlist to the Future
Close is Just Fine By Me
By Chelsea Lobey
I grew up in a small town. A population of less than two thousand, a small gas station and convenience store, a tavern, and no stoplight anywhere even close to the city limits. There’s a way of life in small towns—slower, quieter, less self-aware—that people who grew up in a city just can’t quite grasp. […]
Are you reading the summer away, or have you barely picked up a book?
By Stephanie Sandmeyer
When I was between eleven and fourteen years old, there wasn’t a whole lot to choose from in terms of books for and about young adults. I consumed the entire Sweet Valley High series (I know, gross and gag me with a spoon, in the parlance of those times), anything by Judy Blume (which would […]
Bloody Wednesday
By Stephanie Sandmeyer
Ahhh, Independence Day. A holiday intended to honor and celebrate America’s brave beginnings and illustrious history. A holiday of opposing emotions. And much like Thanksgiving, for many of us it may be filled with food, family, and fun. But also like Thanksgiving, it acts as a strange facade for a history that is far more […]
Surviving the War
By Nicholas Shea
The Wax Bullet War is not a story that relishes in scenes of drama and so-called action. On the contrary, Sean Davis’s account of the war in Iraq is shockingly realistic and enlightening. His memoir begins the day of reenlistment, traverses through the chaos of war, and relives the trauma of violence. There are no […]
If The Breakfast Club and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn had a Baby
By Nicholas Shea
Picture the popular jock, the beautiful girl who wants more out of life, and the outcast traversing high school life. Now, cue the backdrop of a small town surrounded by the woods and dammed lake with nothing to do but hang out at the local cinema and café-barbershop. This is the foundation for Robin Cody’s […]