Author: Brandon M. Stickney

My Life as a Rat, by Joyce Carol Oates (New York: Ecco, 2019, ISBN 978-0-06-289983-5). 416 pp. Hardcover, $28.99.   There are certain things you don’t talk about, such as your brothers cleaning their murder weapon, the math teacher who drugged you, or the uncle who lusted after you. In this riveting yet grim forty-fourth …

Diderot and the Art of Thinking Freely, by Andrew S. Curran (New York, New York: Other Press, 2019, ISBN 978-1-59051-670-6). 320 pp. Hardcover, $26.95.             “Skepticism is the first step toward truth.” —Denis Diderot Denis Diderot just wanted to level the playing field: religious zealots on one side, and he …

Cover Image: T.C. Boyle, Wikipedia   Santa Barbara, California—It’s like he’s saying, “I’ll take you there.” When it comes to freethinkers, American author T. C. Boyle (Distinguished Professor of English Emeritus at the University of Southern California) is the Daliesque prince, a commentator for the tragicomedy that is our mutual existence. When the subtle meets the …