1. Michael Landweber’s review of The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay. “These are not the droogs of A Clockwork Orange, driven by a terrifying narcissistic hedonism, or the self-centered and maniacal Annie Wilkes of Misery, who just wants a better ending to her favorite author’s latest book. Instead, Tremblay’s intruders, who say they haven’t met before that day, claim to be driven by a deep altruism. They believe that what happens in this cabin could save the world. But in order to avert the apocalypse, drastic action must be taken.”


2. “Requiem.” In her monthly column, “Write Now,” Jennifer Bort Yacovissi penned a poignant ode to her friend, journalist John McNamara, one of five people slaughtered at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, MD, in late June.


3. Alice Stephens’ review of Everything Here Is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee. “With this tender, beautifully written novel, Mira Lee seeks to erase the stigma of mental illness by portraying it as a debilitating malady whose sufferers should be treated with the same dignity and sympathy as any other victim of a chronic illness.”


4. An interview with Tina Alexis Allen. When Cathy Alter chatted with the actress/playwright about sexuality, family secrets, and the redemptive power of forgiveness, readers listened.


5. Kitty Kelley’s review of Picasso and the Painting That Shocked the World by Miles J. Unger. “Given the heaving shelves of Picasso books, and the fourth and final volume of the artist’s life to be published soon by Sir John Richardson, one has to applaud Unger, an art historian, for carving his own niche in the adoration wall that surrounds Picasso’s genius. While the author genuflects to the artist’s protean talents, he does not spare the man holding the paintbrush. Unger describes Picasso’s whorehouse as ‘the great battlefield of the human soul, an Armageddon of lust and loathing but also of liberation, the site where our conflicted nature reveals itself in all its anarchic violence.’”

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