DESPERATELY SEEKING SPIRIT: Review of Martha Beck’s “Leaving the Saints”

Martha Beck’s Leaving the Saints is valuable . . .  .Why? Because in my view the book is so very Mormon. There are rich and telling descriptions of the Church and of Mormon culture, particularly as it configures in Utah Valley,more precisely at church-owned Brigham Young University. Many of us are apt to …

Salt Lake Tribune: Utah writer tells a contemporary Mormon coming-of-age story through an immortal narrator.

by Ellen Fagg Weist “If David Pace’s novel about a young man reared in a large, devoted Utah family rings with authenticity, that’s because its themes have autobiographical resonance for its author. “Pace, the literary editor of the Utah arts magazine 15 Bytes, will launch his first novel, “Dream House …

“True North Everywhere”: Review of “House Under the Moon”

This review originally appeared in 15 Bytes Magazine. “House Under the Moon” was a finalist for the 2013 15 Bytes Book Awards in poetry. I liked this book partly because I’ve met Michael personally in Logan where he and his family live, and partly because he’s a practitioner of Buddhist …

Barbara K. Richardson’s Tributary, Winner of the 15 Bytes Book Award, 2013

In the fall of 2013 the winners of the first annual 15 Bytes Book Awards were announced. As the literary editor of this online arts magazine, I had the privilege of working with other magazine staff and the editor, Shawn Rossiter, to determine all the particulars of launching a new …

Poetry Book Review: Lillian-Yvonne Bertram’s “But a Storm is Blowing From Paradise”

    “It’s rare to read poetry that is this experiential, visceral and somehow transcendent at the same time. In three sections Bertram runs her electric fingers as if over the braille of American life  as varied as wildlife (coyotes, elk), the natural sciences (inter-galactic formulas, weather patterns—in both a …