Out of the Woodwork June/July 2015 | Page 44

Benjamin Percy, author of The Deadlands, takes the werewolf-vampire craze to unreached heights in his newest novel Red Moon. On a World War Z scale, werewolves plague the earth. The problem is these werewolves are also people. Contemplating human rights, public safety, and simply coming-of-age in a world sundering apart, Percy’s thriller, quite simply, entertains. His novel tracks the lives of several unrelated individuals from divers economic and socio-political statuses. No two main characters are the same, and Percy skilfully tweaks his writing style to fit the varying ages and genders of the different characters. If you’ve ever wondered what might be the product were Stephen King to write about a global werewolf pandemic, pick up Percy’s novel Red Moon. It’s the sort of book one might read curled up around a campfire in July (far from wolves of course).

Once every so often, when the stars align and the grass blows with the movement of the tide, an author publishes a piece of young adult fiction dealing with more than the paltry romance of some unfortunate high-schooler. Such Pete Hautman accomplished in his most recent work Eden West. Beautifully written in a style aeons apart from his normal work, Hautman captures the human condition better than any current young adult writer. In a story set in rural Montana, Hautman details how one boy, raised inside a sheltered cult, comes of age. In spite of the cult setting, Hautman proves he knows what it means to be a teenager, and perhaps more importantly, what it means to be human. Don’t worry, there’s still teenage romance. But the story also deals with larger human issues—forgiveness, disappointment, and longing. Hautman’s book accomplished what great writers always do: he shows humanity as it is. He grapples with the only issue that matters: what does it mean to be human? Anyone who’s ever asked that best read Eden West. My only complaint: it was too short.

-Very Good Lives, By J.K. Rowling / Nonfiction, Inspirational

With her world-renown Harry Potter series, and even her recent crime series Cormoran Strikes, J.K. Rowling has dominated the realm of fiction literature. More recently, however, she has thrown her toes into the oceanic realm of nonfiction with her book Very Good Lives. Anyone familiar with her 2008 Harvard commencement address will enjoy this pocket-sized book—it’s simply a reprinting of that speech. Much like This is Water is a typed and bound version of David Foster Wallace’s mesmerizing Kenyon College commencement address, Very Good Lives retells, word-by-word, everything J.K. Rowling mused that June day at Harvard in 2008. But never one looking to make an easy dollar by leeching off her fame, Rowling’s book perpetuates the philanthropy entirely characteristic of Rowling herself. Sales from Very Good Lives go towards benefiting a non-profit organization against child institutionalization as well as toward Harvard

Once every so often, when the stars align and the grass blows with the movement of the tide, an author publishes a piece of young adult fiction dealing with more than the paltry romance of some unfortunate high-schooler. Such Pete Hautman accomplished in his most recent work Eden West. Beautifully written in a style aeons apart from his normal work, Hautman captures the human condition better than any current young adult writer. In a story set in rural Montana, Hautman details how one boy, raised inside a sheltered cult, comes of age. In spite of the cult setting, Hautman proves he knows what it means to be a teenager, and perhaps more importantly, what it means to be human. Don’t worry, there’s still teenage romance. But the story also deals with larger human issues—forgiveness, disappointment, and longing. Hautman’s book accomplished what great writers always do: he shows humanity as it is. He grapples with the only issue that matters: what does it mean to be human? Anyone who’s ever asked that best read Eden West. My only complaint: it was too short.

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Red Moon by Benjamin Percy

Adult Fiction, Thriller

Eden west by pete Hautman

Ya fiction