“Ride the carousel
And cast a magic spell
You can fly, fly
Beware of a place
A smile of a bright shining face
I’ll never return, how do you know?
Tarot woman, well I don’t know”
― Tarot Woman (1976), RAINBOW
TAYLOR BROWN
Guest Editor
Issue 48 Editorial
CAROUSEL Editor — Mark Laliberte
Reviews Editor / C48 Copy Editor — Jade Wallace
Graphics + Website — Obscure Design
Cover Illustration — Ben O’Neil
Copyright © 2022 by the contributors. All rights reserved.
FEATURED ARTIST
BEN O’NEIL
The Anonima Deck
FICTION
MORGAN DICK
The Broken Horse Cookhouse and Dancehall
HOLLAY GHADERY
Tarot of St. Petersburg
POETRY
COURTNEY BATES-HARDY
The Lovers
MICHELLE CADIZ
odysseus carries an oar inland
SOPHIE CROCKER
wisdom tooth blues
MARGUERITE DOYLE
Gooseberry Fool
MERIE KIRBY
This is your reminder call
ALISON LUBAR
Every lover leaves a glass half-full
KORNELIA MLAK
2 Poems
JAKE PHILLIPS
Ode to the Emperor (some wild thing)
BELICIA RHEA
Vanishing Act
EMORY ROSE
2 Poems
MICHAEL RUSSELL
Woven into His Collar
SALONEE VERMA
I Am the High Priestess of Washington, D.C.
CONVERSATIONS
USEREVIEW: 060–074
It’s the second anniversary of USEREVIEW! CAROUSEL’s very first review as part of our regular reviews column appeared on September 5, 2020, and since then we’ve published over 90 traditional, experimental and capsule reviews. In that time we’ve seen an incredible depth and breadth of critical practice, and a vast array of titles and reviewers in our virtual pages. We’re deeply honoured by the continued engagement of both contributors and readers with USEREVIEW, and equally honoured to be able to shine a spotlight on so many excellent, and often underrated, works of literature.
In 2022, we’ve been proud to publish at a swift, steady rate of one review every week, made possible in part by the debut of our Reviewer-in-Residence program. Our Reviewers-in-Residence take over USEREVIEW for 3 weeks in a row, with each week featuring one of their short-form capsule reviews. These groups of reviews are often deliberately planned to examine three books that work well in conversation with one another. Our current issue collects the inaugural three Reviewers-in-Residence: Manahil Bandukwala, Hollay Ghadery and A.G. Pasquella. You can read their reviews below to see how our Reviewer-in-Residence program is shaping up, and look forward to the continuation, and maybe even expansion, of the program over the coming year.
In addition to our Reviewers-in-Residence, this issue also features new and returning reviewers Emily Woodworth, Gustave Morin, Renée M. Sgroi and Kate Finegan with superb, longer-form traditional and experimental reviews. If you’ve been searching for some contemporary books to sink your teeth into just in time for Halloween, peruse the reviews menu below and get your knives ready.
JADE WALLACE
USEREVIEW 060: (Capsule)
Reviewing C.J. Lavigne’s debut novel In Veritas (NeWest Press, 2020)
JADE WALLACE
USEREVIEW 061: (Capsule)
Reviewing Aaron Schneider’s debut short fiction collection What We Think We Know (Gordon Hill Press, 2021)
EMILY WOODWORTH
USEREVIEW 062: A Bloodstory
A not-quite-traditional review of Rahela Nayebzadah’s debut novel Monster Child (Wolsak & Wynn, 2021)
MANAHIL BANDUKWALA
USEREVIEW 063: (Capsule)
Reviewing Dominik Parisien’s debut poetry collection Side Effects May Include Strangers (Mcgill-Queens University Press, 2020)
MANAHIL BANDUKWALA
USEREVIEW 064: (Capsule)
Reviewing Vannessa Barnier’s debut chapbook Sample Platter (Gap Riot Press, 2021)
MANAHIL BANDUKWALA
USEREVIEW 065: (Capsule)
Reviewing Terrence Abrahams X Cleopatria Peterson’s collaborative poetry collection What We Call Home (Collusion Books, 2021)
GUSTAVE MORIN
USEREVIEW 066: A Bolt of Blue
A traditional review of Lorenzo Buj’s debut poetry collection Earlybloom Bombs (2021)
HOLLAY GHADERY
USEREVIEW 067: (Capsule)
Reviewing Jean Marc Ah-Sen, Emily Anglin, Devon Code and Lee Hederson’s collaborative novella suite Disintegration in Four Parts (Coach House Books, 2021)
HOLLAY GHADERY
USEREVIEW 068: (Capsule)
Reviewing Ashley-Elizabeth Best’s poetry chapbook Alignment (Rahila’s Ghost Press, 2021)
HOLLAY GHADERY
USEREVIEW 069: (Capsule)
Reviewing SJ Sindu’s poetry chapbook Dominant Genes (Black Lawrence Press, 2021)
RENÉE M. SGROI
USEREVIEW 070: By Definition
A traditional review of the essay collection Poetry & the Dictionary (Liverpool University, 2021), edited by Andrew Blades and Piers Pennington
KATE FINEGAN
USEREVIEW 071: Looking for Lost Keys
A traditional review of Amy LeBlanc’s debut novella Unlocking (University of Calgary Press, 2021)
A.G. PASQUELLA
USEREVIEW 072: (Capsule)
Reviewing Genevieve LeBleu’s debut graphic novel Weeding (Conundrum Press, 2021)
A.G. PASQUELLA
USEREVIEW 073: (Capsule)
Reviewing the graphic novel The Good Fight (Scholastic Canada, 2021) written by Ted Staunton and illustrated by Josh Rosen
A.G. PASQUELLA
USEREVIEW 074: (Capsule)
Reviewing Philippe Girard’s graphic novel Leonard Cohen: On a Wire (Drawn & Quarterly, 2021), translated by Helge Dascher and Karen Houle
Published two or three times a year. We gratefully acknowledge the financial assistance of the Central Students’ Association and the students of the University of Guelph.
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