Sarasota News and Books

Every year beginning in 1976, Pushcart Press has published its Best of the Small Presses anthology. Within these lengthy tomes, you’ll find a variety of new fiction, non-fiction, and poetry written by authors both known and unknown. The only requirement is that the piece appeared in a small-print magazine or collection during the previous year.Part of the pleasure in reading such a collection is in imagining where these authors will be in ten years. Many acclaimed writers, including Raymond Carver and Tim O’Brien, reached the public consciousness based on their inclusion in early editions. Which authors from this collection could achieve the same success? There’s Gregory Orr, a documentary filmmaker with one of his first published prose pieces (“Return to Hayneville,” a non-fiction piece). In contrast, J.C. Hallman’s “Ethan: A Love Story” is an insightful piece on video games. [»]

The Edgar Allen Poe Awards features a prize for “Best First Novel by an American Author.” Such a claim doesn’t imply that the novel is perfectfar from it. Instead, it applauds a writer first for the difficult task of creating a book that can hold a reader’s attention, and secondly for displaying a talent that can only grow with time. The 2010 award went to Stefanie Pintoff’s In the Shadow of Gotham. While the book does have its flaws, it remains a fascinating mystery story with room to grow.The book takes place in New York in the year 1905. Turning a complex mystery into a period piece (or vice versa, if you prefer) is not a new accomplishmentCaleb Carr is perhaps the most notable practitionerbut the comparison comes off much better for the first-time author than you would expect. Pintoff’s story brings protagonist Det. Simon Ziele into contact with turn-of-the-century criminologists, feminist protestors, and accurate depictions of historical New York locales. It’s true that Pintoff sometimes has the tendency to over-describe, laying her settings or set-pieces out in almost-clinical detail. [»]