It Helps with the Blues

if you have done any of the following things, this is the novel for you: - smoked grape swishers in a cornfield at night - had an intense emotional reaction when listening to american football's debut album for the first time - were taught how to smoke weed by the cool indie girl in high school - left i......more

It Helps With the Blues is not a romance. I first met the author, Bryan Cebulski, when he submitted a poignant post-apocalyptic tale called “From the Sun and Scorched Earth” to Other Worlds Ink for the “Fix the World” anthology. It’s the story of a broken boy – barely a man – who was sent to war and......more

Low-key and subtle despite the serious, dramatic subject matter, this is one of the most realistic depictions of college town queer teen depression and coming of age I've read. Hovers in that supposedly unmarketable but, in my opinion, invaluable zone where it would be of equal interest and approach......more

It's a snapshot of teens at a liminal age. They're old enough to drink and pair off and yet still childlike in their excitement of discovering themselves as people. They're fascinated by the immediate moment and how it affects them. They draw us into that moment, too, as observers. If high school fe......more

The intensity of teenage years written with the clarity of adulthood. I first read this book the end of last year, and the sober tone struck me and made me nostalgic for an experience that felt both universal and unique to a time and place I had not personally lived through. BLUES follows five teena......more