Reviews
"Tony Ardizzone achieves an intriguingly prismatic effect in his second collection of short fiction, Larabi's Ox, by tracking three Americans traveling simultaneously but independently in Morocco. Each of the main characters who figure in these 14 stories visits North Africa for a different reason. For Peter Corvino, the trip is a respite from the monotony of tenure-track academia; for Sarah Rosen, it's a test of her self-sufficiency after a failed romance; and for the cancer-afflicted Henry Goodson, Morocco is a place to die. Although they share a bus ride in the title story, the three never meet.
Mr. Ardizzone—who has taught at Mohammed V University in Rabat, Morocco, and has traveled extensively in that country—walks this trio through the classic Moroccan rites of passage, from the inevitable onslaught of self-appointed guides for foreigners to the labyrinthine formalities involved in the purchase of a rug. But it's through their curiously affecting relationships with the locals that they find what they blindly came to seek. In "The Surrender," the disaffected Peter discovers new meaning in teaching by taking two young beggars under his wing. In "The Fire-Eater," Sarah reaches a point where "her life could be more her own" after asserting herself sexually with a Moroccan man. Disappointingly, Henry remains stubbornly, if colorfully, one-dimensional.
Because of Mr. Ardizzone's cumulative approach to storytelling—his deliberate style drags at times—these vignettes work better as a group than individually. But his use of shifting perspectives is an effective device. His willingness to penetrate Moroccan culture, rather than paint it as an exotic backdrop for expatriate adventures, makes this collection, which won the 1992 Milkweed National Fiction Prize, refreshingly original." --- New York Times Book Review
"Larabi's Ox places Tony Ardizzone in our first rank of story writers. His range is wide enough to embrace man and beast, infidel and Muslim, the fallen and the saved; his empathy is such that he immediately makes compelling any character that appears. These are wise stories, memorably told, beautifully written." -- W. D. Wetherell
"Ardizzone has gone into an alien land, taken it on its own terms, and captured the essence of the place -- the smells, the rhythms, the colors, the philosophy. Some writers deal with the foreign by making it familiar; Ardizzone has somehow kept it foreign, and so allows us to see what connects and what doesn't. When he's done, the place is at it is -- it is we who are different." -- David Bradley
"Vibrant, absorbing, and ingenious as a fine collage, Larabi's Ox is a collection of superb stories, and far more. Tony Ardizzone's stunning portrait of Morocco is a grave and intricate riddle whose answers reveal the soul of human striving. Look into these memorable characters and you will encounter your essential self."—Susan Dodd
Laila Lalami is a Moroccan-American novelist, essayist, and professor. After earning her Licence de lettres degree in Morocco, she received a fellowship to study in the United Kingdom (UK), where she earned an MA in linguistics.
Todd James Pierce, is an American novelist and short story writer.
Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits (2005) is the debut book by Moroccan-American author Laila Lalami. It has been described as a novel, and as a linked series of short stories or fictional portraits. First published in the United States, the connected stories explore the extensive immigration from North Africa to Europe through the lives of four Moroccan characters: two men and two women.
Pattiann Rogers is an American poet, and a recipient of the Lannan Literary Award for Poetry. In 2018, she was awarded a special John Burroughs Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Nature Poetry.
K. L. Cook is an American writer from Texas. He is the author of Last Call (2004), a collection of linked stories spanning thirty-two years in the life of a West Texas family, the novel, The Girl From Charnelle (2006), and the short story collection, Love Songs for the Quarantined (2011). His most recent books are a collection of short stories, Marrying Kind (2019), a collection of poetry, Lost Soliloquies (2019), and The Art of Disobedience: Essays on Form, Fiction, and Influence (2020). He co-directs the MFA Program in Creative Writing & Environment at Iowa State University and teaches in the low-residency MFA in Writing Program at Spalding University.
Alan Stuart Cheuse was an American writer, editor, professor of literature, and radio commentator. A longtime NPR book commentator, he was also the author of five novels, five collections of short stories and novellas, a memoir and a collection of travel essays. In addition, Cheuse was a regular contributor to All Things Considered. His short fiction appeared in respected publications like The New Yorker, Ploughshares, The Antioch Review, Prairie Schooner, among other places. He taught in the Writing Program at George Mason University and the Community of Writers.
Beyond Time and Space is an anthology of science fiction stories edited by American writer August Derleth. It was first published by Pellegrini & Cudahy in 1950. Several of the stories had originally appeared in the magazines The Century, The Atlantic Monthly, The Strand, Blue Book, Blackwood's Magazine, Weird Tales, Amazing Stories, Astounding Stories, Maclean's, The American Legion Magazine and Startling Stories. A heavily abridged paperback edition was issued by Berkley Books in 1958.
Enid Shomer is an American poet and fiction writer. She is the author of five poetry collections, two short story collections and a novel. Her poems have appeared in literary journals and magazines including The Atlantic Monthly, Poetry, Paris Review, The New Criterion, Parnassus, Kenyon Review, Tikkun, and in anthologies including The Best American Poetry. Her stories have appeared in The New Yorker, New Stories from the South, the Year's Best, Modern Maturity, New Letters, Prairie Schooner, Shenandoah, and Virginia Quarterly Review. Her stories, poems, and essays have been included in more than fifty anthologies and textbooks, including Poetry: A HarperCollins Pocket Anthology. Her book reviews and essays have appeared in The New Times Book Review, The Women's Review of Books, and elsewhere. Two of her books, Stars at Noon and Imaginary Men, were the subjects of feature interviews on NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Her writing is often set in or influenced by life in the State of Florida. Shomer was Poetry Series Editor for the University of Arkansas Press from 2002 to 2015, and has taught at many universities, including the University of Arkansas, Florida State University, and the Ohio State University, where she was the Thurber House Writer-in-Residence.
Leslie Pietrzyk is an American author who has three traditionally published novels, Pears on a Willow Tree, A Year and a Day, and Silver Girl. Her historical novel, Reversing the River, set in Chicago on the first day of 1900, was serialized on the literary app, Great Jones Street.
Nicholas Montemarano is an American writer originally from Queens, New York. He is the author of three novels, The Senator's Children, The Book of Why, and A Fine Place, and the short story collection If the Sky Falls. His fiction has been published widely in magazines such as Esquire, Zoetrope: All-Story, Tin House, DoubleTake, The Gettysburg Review, The Antioch Review, The Southern Review, and AGNI.
Jon Pineda is an American poet, memoirist, and novelist.
Harry Humes is an American poet, short-story writer, professor, and editor.
Anthony V. Ardizzone is an American novelist, short story writer, and editor.
Margot Singer is an American short story writer and novelist. Her book The Pale of Settlement won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction in 2006 and her novel Underground Fugue was listed as "one of the most anticipated books by women in 2017" by Elle Magazine.
Speer Morgan is an American novelist, short story writer, and editor.
Heart of the Order is a 1986 novel written by Tony Ardizzone. It was published by Henry Holt and Company and won the Virginia Prize for Fiction and named one of the 10 Best Sports Books 1986 by The National Sports Review.
Taking it Home: Stories from the Neighborhood is the third collection by Tony Ardizzone. Published in 1996 by the University of Illinois Press Sunsinger Books. It was a finalist for the Paterson Fiction Prize. Of the twelve stories included, six were previously published in the author's first collection, The Evening News.
The Evening News is Tony Ardizzone's first collection of stories, and winner of the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction. The collection is a small press book published in 1986 by the University of Georgia Press.
Ashlee Adams Crews is an American fiction writer who typically incorporates her rural Middle Georgia roots in her works of literature.
Orlando Ricardo Menes is a Cuban-American poet, short story writer, translator, editor, and professor.
