The BookBrowse Review

Published July 31, 2024

ISSN: 1930-0018

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Contents

In This Edition of
The BookBrowse Review

Highlighting indicates debut books

Editor's Introduction
Reviews
Hardcovers Paperbacks
First Impressions
Latest Author Interviews
Recommended for Book Clubs
Book Discussions

Discussions are open to all members to read and post. Click to view the books currently being discussed.

Publishing Soon

Literary Fiction


Historical Fiction


Short Stories


Essays


Poetry & Novels in Verse


Thrillers


Romance


Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History


Graphic Novels


Biography/Memoir


History, Current Affairs and Religion


Science, Health and the Environment


True Crime


Travel & Adventure


Other


Young Adults

Mysteries


Thrillers


Romance


Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History


Graphic Novels


History, Current Affairs and Religion


Extras
  • Blog:
    The New York Times Best 100 Books of the 21st Century: How Does BookBrowse's Coverage Compare?
  • Wordplay:
    It's R C A D
  • Book Giveaway:
    Smothermoss by Alisa Alering
Book Jacket

Hello, Horse
by Richard Kelly Kemick
6 Aug 2024
224 pages
Publisher: Biblioasis
Genre: Short Stories
Peperback Original
Critics:

Taut, stylish stories take on big moral questions from surprising perspectives.

A teenager's job mucking stalls at a dog track takes a strange turn when his co-worker finds a new religion at odds with winning streaks. Two brothers set out in search of fame upon the frozen waters of a subarctic lake. After her mother's death, a high school student tries to make rent by winning the Unitarian Church's Annual Young Writer's Short Story Competition. An incarcerated man considers the nature of justice between shifts with his fellow inmates at Nations at War, the ultimate live-action experience for tourists eager to learn about the Canadian Civil War.

Spanning states and provinces, and featuring an apocalypse, a coterie of ghosts, nuns on ice, and an above-average number of dogs, the stories in Hello, Horse consider the mirage of authenticity and the impact of decisions we make—for better and for worse.

"The tales here mix whimsy, weirdness, lust, and Canadian politics, bringing to mind George Saunders and the slackers from Wayne's World ... He has a penchant for alternating between things familiar and bizarre ... Provocative, entertaining short fiction." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"The animal world interacts with the human one in confounding and sometimes wondrous ways in Kemick's first collection, which abounds with the poet's sideways, observational writing." —Globe and Mail (UK)

"Richard Kelly Kemick's Hello, Horse is wildly original and filled with astonishing moments. A wonderful collection that resonates long after reading." —Don Gillmor, author of Breaking and Entering

"Hello, Horse is beguiling and wondrous, with talking dogs and nuns at the end of the world, images that linger with strange pleasure; Richard Kelly Kemick is a stellar wordsmith." —Mark Anthony Jarman, author of Burn Man

Richard Kelly Kemick is an award-winning poet, journalist, and fiction writer. His limited series podcast, Natural Life, is an intimate and unexpectedly honest documentary on his cousin, who is serving a life sentence without parole in Michigan. Richard is also the author of I Am Herod (also on audiobook), which takes readers undercover at one of the world's largest religious events, and Caribou Run, a collection of poetry. He is the recipient of multiple awards including two National Magazine Awards and the Writers' Guild of Alberta's 2019 Award for Best Short Story. He lives in Rossland, British Columbia.

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