journals accepting book reviews

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Written by S. Kalekar January 29th, 2018

18 Literary Magazines That Publish Book Reviews

This is a list of literary magazines accepting book reviews. They review fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translated works and children’s books. Some of them are keen to review works that are not current, or do not receive attention from the national press. Several of these magazines also accept fiction, nonfiction, translations and poetry submissions. Not all of them are open for submissions now, but most are. Many of these pay writers.

Mid-American Review

They want book reviews of about 400 words, of books published within six months of the magazine’s publication dates (April and November), of poetry, fiction and nonfiction. Potential reviewers should query first. They also accept works of fiction, poetry, translations, and nonfiction (including personal essays and essays on writing). Details here .

They accept book reviews pertaining to SF and fantasy themes and pay $0.03/word for these. They also publish speculative and weird fiction, articles on future art, technology and art, fannish culture, emerging media, art and science, or art and fantasy, among other things, and speculative poetry. For fiction and nonfiction, they pay $0.03-0.05/word, and $20 for poetry. Submissions will open in February 2018. Details here .

Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review

They accept reviews and essays germane to poetry. Reviews should be up to 1,500 words, though reviews of multiple books may be longer. They accept poems – outwardly directed poetry that exhibits social, political, geographical, historical or spiritual awareness, both traditional and experimental. Editors will begin reading for the Fall issue on 30 March 2018. Details here .

Contemporary Poetry Review

They invite submissions and take on people as critic contributors who contribute regularly, and are paid. Contributors can choose their own schedules and deadlines. There are no length restrictions for the poetry reviews. Details here .

The Quarterly Conversation

They publish book reviews, essays and interviews that address literature (broadly conceived) from original and provocative perspectives. They do not accept fiction or poetry submissions. Book reviews (1,000-1,500 words for single-title reviews, longer for more works) should cover works of fiction or nonfiction of literary and/or cultural value. Translated works, especially from traditionally neglected nations or languages, are of special interest. They also publish reviews of out-of-print works that have been brought back to print. Reviews should discuss books that have been published up to one year before the submission date, while essays (3,000-5,000 words) discuss older books, possibly out of print, that have significant literary merit. Details here .

Necessary Fiction

They publish new book reviews – one every week. They also publish short stories (including translations), Research Notes and Translation Notes (reflections on the research for fiction, and on the process of translation), and occasional interviews, essays, and other things. They are especially interested in reviews of fiction from independent publishers, with a moderate emphasis on short story collections, novellas and translations. They also review self-published authors, and spotlight recent issues of literary journals. Details here .

The Georgia Review

They publish book reviews (3-5 pages), book briefs (2 pages), and essay-reviews (2-4 pages per book reviewed), which focus on more than one book and comment on literature and culture beyond the texts at hand. Reviews can be submitted electronically for free. They also publish fiction, essays and poetry – there is no fee for mailed submissions. Payment is $50 per page of prose, including for essay reviews; book briefs are paid $50. Details here .

Prairie Schooner

They publish reviews of current books of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. They also publish short stories, poetry and imaginative essays of general interest. Contributors are paid in copies. Details here .

Valparaiso Poetry Review  

Apart from poetry, they welcome book reviews. They have a list of recent and recommended books on their site for possible subjects of reviews. They also publish author interviews and essays about poetry and poetics. Translations are not considered. They sometimes accept previously published work. Details here .

West Branch

Book reviews are by assignment only, and they only review poetry books. They welcome queries from writers; pay is $200 per review. They also publish fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry; payment is $50 per poem, and $0.05/word for prose up to $100. Details here .

The Malahat Review

The magazine publishes reviews of Canadian-authored books of poetry, fiction, and literary nonfiction in every issue. Most reviews are 800 to 1,000 words; potential reviewers should query first. They also accept poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction, and translations of these, by writers from Canada and abroad. Pay is CAD60 per page, and subscription. Details here .

This prestigious publication publishes reviews of poetry books and other poetry-related prose of up to 10 pages, apart from poetry and poetry translations. They pay $10 per line of poetry ($300 minimum), and $150 per page of prose. Details here .

Strange Horizons

They publish in-depth reviews of speculative art and entertainment, especially books, films, and television, thrice a week. Reviews normally cover new works, although they do accept occasional features on older works. They prefer reviews of 1,500-2,000 words (there is no upper limit), and pay $40 for reviews of at least 1,000 words. They have a fairly detailed description of what a review should provide, in their guidelines. They also publish speculative fiction, nonfiction, poetry, columns and roundtables, for which rates vary. Details here .

This is the magazine of translated speculative literature, published by Strange Horizons. They want in-depth, critical review-essays of 2,000-3,000 words of works recently translated in English, works which haven’t been translated but will be of interest to an English-speaking audience, and of critical works focusing on speculative works in translation. Works can be in any medium – books, stories, poetry, film, TV, and other artistic works. They also publish translations of speculative short stories, poetry and interview/conversations. They pay $40 for review-essays; poetry, fiction and fiction reprints have other rates. Details here .

New Letters

Book reviews should be concise, detailed, vivid, and free of theoretical and academic jargon. Length is 300-800 words for single- and double-book reviews, essay-reviews of groups of books could be longer. Potential reviewers should consider querying first. They are particularly interested in excellent books that otherwise do not receive much attention in the national media. They are also interested in books that have something important to say about culture, politics, aesthetics, or any kind of art; that includes scholarly, critical, or biographical books that could find a non-specialized readership. Pay for single-book reviews is $35 (not guaranteed, as resources allow), more for longer. They also accept essays, stories and interviews ($25-100) and poetry (at least $12). Details here .

Quill & Quire

This is the magazine of the Canadian book trade. Content includes author profiles, news about upcoming books and developments in the Canadian industry, and several reviews of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, new adult and children’s titles. Their FAQ section has details of the editors who should be contacted for pitching book review ideas. Details here .

New Haven Review

This magazine was founded to be a venue for writers associated with the Greater New Haven area, and to resuscitate the art of the book review. They like to publish work from writers who have some connection with New Haven, though this is not mandatory. Apart from reviews, they publish essays, fiction and poetry. Pay is $500 for prose and at least $25 for poetry. Details here .

Rain Taxi Review of Books

This is a place for the spirited exchange of ideas about books, particularly those overlooked by mainstream review media. While they focus on current releases, they also devote space to the discussion of older works that continue to resonate. Interviews, essays, and “Widely Unavailable” (reviews of out-of-print books) are also regular features of the magazine. They do not accept fiction or poetry submissions. Details here .

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About Us: We're dedicated to helping authors build their writing careers. We send you reviews of publishers accepting submissions, and articles to help you become a successful, published, author. Everything is free and delivered via email. You can view our privacy policy here. To get started sign up for our free email newsletter .

Trish Hopkinson

A selfish poet, 50+ lit mags for book reviews & author interviews.

Reviews are a great way to prompt yourself to think critically about a work–to spend more time with something you love, or well, maybe don’t so much.  You can check out the reviews I’ve written here , including Paisley Rekdal’s most recent poetry collection  Nightingale , published by Copper Canyon Press.  Click here for review writing tips and “A list of places that like book reviews” by Alina Stefanescu.

Interviews are an excellent way to learn more about an author, help them promote their work, and to add to your list of publications. Not only that, but they can be a great time! I’ve truly enjoyed the years I’ve spent interviewing editors, poets. Video interviews are particular rewarding and you can check out my interviews for the Tell Tell Poetry Interview Submissions Series here .

Tremendous thanks to Becky Tuch for the original publication of my list of 50+ Lit Mags for Book Reviews & Author Interviews in her Lit Mag News Roundup in her new column on publishing tips. She offers so much excellent free content, including a regular newsletter as well as Q&A interviews with editors. You can also subscribe for even more! Right now she’s offering a free 30 day trial. Subscriptions are very reasonable for the amount of information provided and can be canceled at any time. Click here to start your free trial or to subscribe .

If you like this post, please share with your writerly friends and/or  follow me on Facebook , Twitter , or Instagram . You can see all the FREE resources my site offers poets/writers on my Start Here  page. 

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• Harvard Library
• Research Guides
• Faculty of Arts & Sciences Libraries

Finding Book Reviews

Introduction, basic sources.

• Additional Sources
• 18th-19th Century British Book Reviews
• Major Review Periodicals and their Indexes

This guide is intended to help Harvard students and faculty find book reviews. Book reviews are published in general/popular magazines (e.g., Newsweek ), scholarly journals (e.g., British Journal for the History of Science ), and in book review periodicals ( New York Review of Books ). The reviews may be brief summaries or long scholarly evaluations.

Find them by consulting periodical indexes and book review indexes. This guide lists some of the major general indexes which include book reviews. Many periodical indexes index book reviews; others do not. See Finding Articles in General and Popular Periodicals (North America and Western Europe) for general periodical indexes which may index book reviews. Research guides to specialized periodical indexes are listed in the Introduction to Finding Articles in General and Popular Periodicals (North America and Western Europe) .

Online resources are available through Harvard Library (Harvard ID and PIN required) unless otherwise indicated.

If you want scholarly evaluative book reviews, you may wish to omit reviews in: American Libraries , Booklist , Choice , Library Journal , Publishers Weekly . These reviews do provide good short statements of the subjects of books.

HOLLIS In the Catalog+Articles search, enter the title of your book in quotes ("").  If the title is short and insufficient to specify the book, add the author's name. If there are too many other kinds of articles, choose Reviews under Resource Type on the left side of the screen. Example: Emigrants Sebald.

Academic Search Premier (EBSCOHost) coverage is, largely, from the 1980s to the present. For book reviews enter author and title words. Thus, "Buell and imagination" for reviews of Lawrence Buell's The Environmental Imagination . Results can be limited to book reviews by using the Document Type limitation, but this may exclude some articles of interest, e.g., interviews with the author, which are not strictly speaking book reviews.

Citation Indexes (Web of Science) . Choose General Search. You may enter the authors last name and a word or words from the title. Thus for W. G. Sebald's Vertigo , search Sebald and Vertigo. You may limit to Book Reviews using "Restrict search by languages and document types:". A guide is available: Searching the Citation Indexes (Web of Science) . The Web of Science comprises three indexes: Science Citation Index, (1900- ), Social Sciences Citation Index (1956- ) and Arts and Humanities Citation Index (1975- ). The indexed journals are listed by subject categories in the Thomson Master Journal List .

H-Net Reviews in the Humanities and Social Sciences (1994- ) offers online reviews of academic books.

JSTOR contains full text book reviews for over 200 journals in many subjects. Journals are covered from their date of inception to around 5 years ago. Choose Search JSTOR, then enter search in the form <rt:book title ra:book author>. Thus, for MacArthur and Wilson's Theory of Island Biogeography search: ra:MacArthur rt:biogeography.

Periodicals Index Online includes several thousand general/humanities/social sciences journals indexed from their dates of inception to 1995.

• Next: Additional Sources >>
• Last Updated: Nov 4, 2023 9:05 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.harvard.edu/bookreviews

Harvard University Digital Accessibility Policy

A Journal of Wakeful Society, Culture, and Politics

Book review submissions, now accepting book reviews.

We’re excited to announce that The Arrow Journal has started a book review section. We invite writers, scholars, and graduate students to submit reviews of recently published books or fresh takes on older works—well known and obscure.

What kinds of books interest The Arrow ?

As a journal that fosters thoughtful, nuanced, and scholarly investigation of the applications of contemplative wisdom traditions to addressing global challenges, we’re most interested in reviews of books that bring the spiritual and political into meaningful conversation.

We are especially interested in the perspectives of traditions outside the Western mainstream, which offer important and often overlooked insights for confronting the challenges we face as a global community. Examples include—but certainly are not limited to—Indigenous traditions, African spirituality, and Buddhism.

We’re also open to publishing reviews of books that either present spiritual teachings or tackle social, political, or ecological challenges, provided that the book review takes the conversation further by incorporating the complementary perspective. For example, a review of a book focused on spiritual practice alone should expand, augment, or challenge the text with a social systems perspective, while reviews of books exclusively about socio-political issues should broaden the discourse with contemplative wisdom.

Reviews of recently published books are always welcome. Reviews of classic works should offer a fresh perspective that sheds new light on the work. We also welcome combinations of the above.

Review of a single book: 500-1000 words Review of two books: 1000-2000 words

Submission Process

Before submitting your book review, please read our Submission Guidelines .

About The Arrow Journal

The Arrow Journal explores the relationship among contemplative practice, politics, and activism. The Arrow welcomes the insights of multiple contemplative lineages for achieving a kinder, healthier, and more compassionate world. We encourage dialogue on wisdom and knowledge arising from methods of contemplative inquiry, ways of embodied knowing, and intellectual disciplines. In doing so, The Arrow provides a critical and much needed space for investigating the meeting point of contemplative wisdom and pressing social, political, and environmental challenges.

Privacy Overview

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How to Find Book Reviews

• Academic Book Reviews
• Best Starting Places
• General Sources
• Books Published Before 1990

African-American and Diaspora Studies

• International Index to Black Periodicals This link opens in a new window Select "Review" under Document Type. more... less... All current Vanderbilt University students, faculty, and staff have access, both on and off campus.

Anthropology

• AnthroSource This link opens in a new window Archive of all journals, newsletters, and bulletins of the American Anthropological Association.

• Art Full Text and Art Index Retrospective This link opens in a new window Comprehensive resource for art literature: articles, indexing and abstracting of journals, and art dissertations; covering fine, decorative, and commercial art, folk art, photography, film, and architecture. Includes indexing of publications, and citations of book reviews. Indexing of art reproductions provides examples of styles and art movements, including works by emerging artists. more... less... Coverage: 1929 to present. User Limit: 4.

Asian Studies

• Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new window Select "Review" under Publication Type. more... less... Coverage: 1955 to present. User Limit: 6.
• JSTOR This link opens in a new window In Advanced Search, select Narrow By "Review."
• Nature Browse reviews by year: Click “Archive” in the headline banner, then click “Article category archive,” then look for “Books and Arts.”
• Science Book reviews may be searched or browsed by ticking the “Book & Web Reviews” box on the Advanced Search page.
• Springer Link This link opens in a new window Journal articles, book chapters, reference works, and protocols. more... less... All current Vanderbilt University students, faculty, and staff have access, both on and off campus.
• Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window Select "Book Review" under Document Type. more... less... All current Vanderbilt University students, faculty, and staff have access, both on and off campus.
• American Chemical Society Publications This link opens in a new window American Chemical Society's peer-reviewed research journals in chemical and related sciences.
• Choice Reviews Online This link opens in a new window ***Individual user accounts will not be ported to the new site. Users will need to create new individual accounts on choicereviews.org. For instructions on how to do so, please see the Choice Reviews Quick-start Guide.*** Reviews of academic books, electronic media, and Internet resources of interest to those in higher education. more... less... User Limit: 1. Vendor Tutorials: http://choicereviews.org/faq
• Royal Society of Chemistry Journals Do a search for book reviews in the search field.

Cinema & Media Studies

• FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals This link opens in a new window Indexes academic and popular film journals. In the Advanced Search limit Document Type to "Review" for best results. more... less... Coverage: 1972 to present.
• Année Philologique This link opens in a new window To find reviews: Search for the title of the book. In the detail record for the book there will be a list of references to book reviews at the end of the entry. more... less... Coverage: 1969 to present. User Limit: Unlimited. Vendor Tutorials: http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/central/classics/APhGuide.html
• Classical Review The Classical Review publishes informative reviews from leading scholars on new work covering the literatures and civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome.

Communication Studies

• Communication & Mass Media Complete (CMMC) This link opens in a new window Content of CommSearch and Mass Media Articles Index and other journals in communication, mass media, and other closely-related fields of study.

Computer Science

• ACM Digital Library This link opens in a new window Association for Computing Machinery's access to journals, magazines, transactions, ACM proceedings, SIG proceedings, newsletters, and publications by affiliated organizations.

Earth and Environmental Science

• Earth Formerly known as Geotimes.
• Geology Today
• Nature Geoscience
• EconLit with Full Text This link opens in a new window Comprehensive, indexed bibliography with selected abstracts of the world's economic literature, produced by the American Economic Association. Includes working papers which have been licensed from the Cambridge University Press. more... less... Coverage: 1969 to present. User Limit: Unlimited.
• Education Full Text This link opens in a new window Select "Review" under Document Type. more... less... Coverage: 1929 to present. Full text begins 1996. User Limit: 4.

Engineering

• IEEE Xplore This link opens in a new window To browse book reviews, click the “Advanced Search” link, then type “book reviews” (quote marks optional) and change the value in the dropdown box to “IEEE Terms.” To search for a review of a specific title, follow the first steps above, then in the second search box enter the book title in quotes, keeping “Metadata Only” in the dropdown box. more... less... Coverage: 1988 to present. User Limit: 15.

English & Theatre

• Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature, 1920- (ABELL) This link opens in a new window Select "Review" under Limit To. more... less... Coverage: 1920 to present.
• MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window Subject indexing of journals, books, proceedings, and dissertations in the areas of literature, language and linguistics, folklore, film, literary theory & criticism, dramatic arts, and the historical aspects of printing and publishing. more... less... Coverage: 1926 to present.

A brief selection of resources is below.  A larger selection is on the book reviews tab of the History Resources research guide.

• America: History and Life This link opens in a new window Select "Review" under Publication Type. more... less... Coverage: 1910 to present. User Limit: 6.

Jewish Studies

Mathematics.

• MathSciNet: Mathematical Reviews (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window Pure and applied mathematics and statistics, and applications to other fields, such as physics, computer science, and engineering. Most entries contain an author's abstract or critical review. more... less... Coverage: 1940 to present.
• MathSciNet: Mathematical Reviews (American Mathematical Society) This link opens in a new window Pure and applied mathematics and statistics, and applications to other fields, such as physics, computer science, and engineering. Most entries contain an author's abstract or critical review. more... less... Coverage: 1940 to present.
• Music Periodicals Database This link opens in a new window A database of articles published in music and related periodicals containing over 160,000 citations to more than 350 journals. Under Advanced Search, limit "Document Type" to "Review" for best results. more... less... User Limit: 5.
• Philosopher's Index This link opens in a new window Click Advanced Search, then select "Book Review" under Publication Type. more... less... Coverage: 1940 to present.
• ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window Scientific, business, technical and medical journals and books, including pre-pub and open access content. The back file of the Business collection is an invaluable archival source for business research. In Advanced Search, limit Article Types to Book Reviews. more... less... All current Vanderbilt University students, faculty, and staff have access, both on and off campus. You can set up your own personal profile which will enable you to save searches and create alerts for new issues.

Political Science

• Worldwide Political Science Abstracts (WPSA) This link opens in a new window In Advanced Search, choose "Book Review" from Document type. more... less... Coverage: 1975 to present.
• PsycINFO This link opens in a new window In Advanced Search, choose "Review-book" from Record type. more... less... Coverage: 1800s to present.
• ATLA (American Theological Library Association) Religion Database with ATLA Serials (Alumni Access) This link opens in a new window Select "Review" under Publication Type more... less... Access Note: To obtain or reset a VUNetID, submit a request via the link Ask a Librarian with your full name, school name and the year of graduation. Coverage: 19th century to present.
• Religion and Philosophy Collection This link opens in a new window Select "Book Review" under Document Type
• Review of Biblical Literature
• Reviews in Religion and Theology Journal dedicated to the review of theological scholarship
• Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new window In Advanced Search, choose "Book Review" from Document type. more... less... Coverage: 1953 to present.
• << Previous: Books Published Before 1990
• Last Updated: Dec 7, 2023 2:13 PM
• URL: https://researchguides.library.vanderbilt.edu/bookreviews

How to Publish a Book Review

Book reviews serve a very important function in the world of scholarly communication. If you are ready to take the plunge, here is a step-by-step guide.

Updated on January 21, 2015

In another article , we presented academics new to publishing with some suggestions regarding how to begin their publication record in the humanities. Here, we will devote more attention to the book review since it is relatively easy to accomplish and an established form of academic publishing that can be added to the publications section of your CV.

Book reviews serve a very important function in the world of scholarly communication. They allow researchers and publishers to publicize their books; they allow journals, societies, and associations in very small subfields to circulate new research among their peers within the larger discipline; and last but not least, they are a way for readers to find out whether they would like to read a particular book.

If you are ready to take the plunge, here is a step-by-step guide to navigating this process:

1. identify a journal in your area of study that publishes book reviews.

If you are a graduate student, this is also a good opportunity for you to begin narrowing your area of study and getting familiar with journals that publish work in that area. If you don't know where to start, search for keywords or authors who interest you in a database and see where this work is getting published.

2. Reach out to the reviews editor

Typically, established researchers will be contacted to review a specific book, but it is perfectly acceptable for you to contact the journal. Most journals have a reviews editor whom you may contact to ask about books he or she would like reviewed. Remember to keep your e-mail to the reviews editor short and to the point, letting him or her know a little bit about yourself as a researcher. Here is a model template you can use if you do not have a particular book in mind:

Dear _______ ,

My name is _____ , and I'm a ___ -year PhD student in [area of study] at [name of university]. My area of research focuses on [1 or 2 sentences about your research].

I would love to have the opportunity to write a book review for [name of journal] if there are any books in my area that you would like reviewed.

Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you.

[your name]

[your contact information]

Before you contact the journal, however, make sure to see whether they have a Books Received section -- a lot of journals do. If you are interested in one of these books, make sure to ask whether anyone has already claimed that particular book.

If you have a specific book (usually published within the last two years) that you think will be a good fit for the journal and its audience, feel free to suggest it. Indeed, it's a good idea to be somewhat strategic in your book selection. Pick a book in an area you would like to begin developing expertise in, one that will help you with your qualifying exams, or one that will help you research and write a paper you already have in the works. If the journal is not interested in your idea, let them know that you'd also be open to reviewing one of their received books.

Note that there is no harm in emailing the reviews editor to express your interest in reviewing for the journal; failure to come to an agreement about a particular book will not damage your chances of publishing an article or book review in that journal in the future.

3. Look at other reviews while you are waiting for your book

If you come to an agreement on a book, congratulations! The journal will be sending you a copy of that book in the mail. In the meantime, look at other reviews published by the journal, as they will give you insight into what kind of balance they are looking for in terms of review vs. critique.

4. Read the book and write the review

There isn't a formula for writing a good review. Good book reviews will give a sense of the structure and main ideas of the book while also offering a critique of the ideas. You also don't want to champion or knock down every single idea and argument offered by the author, but rather, you should offer a sense of why it is important to engage with the book. Otherwise, there is no point in bringing attention to it and participating in the conversation. Again, looking over reviews in back issues of the journal is important, as it will give you a sense of what your journal expects of its book reviewers.

You will most likely also be receiving formatting guidelines at some point, either with your book or by email. Make sure to stick with them (the most important is to not go over the word limit) and with the due date, especially if you'd like to contribute another review in the future.

After submitting your review, you will enter a period of waiting. As you may be aware, the publishing world in the humanities operates within time frames all of its own. It could be up to 6 months or more before you even get your essay proofs. Publishers' proofs usually arrive by mail, together with copyright consent forms.

Writing a book review is a great opportunity for graduate students and new academics just starting out to begin to think about their interests and audience. It requires focusing on an area in your discipline and communicating with its audience. In other words, you can begin to participate in a particular research community. Writing a book review is also an excellent introduction to the academic publishing process, as you get first-hand experience communicating with journal editors, working within certain journal guidelines, and working with proofs. AJE wishes you the best of luck!

Celina Bragagnolo, PhD

Teacher at Washington International School

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We hope this page provides the information you need to submit titles for review consideration

Library Journal  reviews new general trade books, original paperbacks, e-originals, graphic novels, reference books, and professional development titles for librarians and educators prior to their first U.S. publication. We also review audiobooks, DVDs/Blu-rays, databases, and subscription services of interest to libraries. LJ reviews are available online, and select reviews appear in our monthly print magazine.  LJ  reviews are also licensed to book distributors and vendors.

Works are selected for their potential interest to a broad spectrum of libraries. Only a few areas of publishing fall outside  LJ ’s scope: textbooks, children’s and Young Adult books (handled by our sister publication, School Library Journal ;  see SLJ submission guidelines here ), and very technical or specialized titles (particularly those directed at a professional audience). Books previously published abroad are eligible if they are being released in the United States for the first time and have a U.S. distributor.

To be considered for review, books must be of national interest. Review copies should be received  six months prior to publication . If that is not possible, please alert editors as to when the book will become available. Review coverage is not automatic; many books submitted are not reviewed.

Submissions

*new galley submission process*.

Library Journal has a new galley submission process. 

Our improved method of submission offers publishers email receipt of titles submitted to LJ , email notification of any issues with submissions, and email notification when a title is assigned to a reviewer.

To submit titles, you need to be added to our system.  Please use this link to access the sign-up form and create an account . You will receive an email from [email protected] with a link in the email body. It can take up to two business days for our system to send you the email, but you may receive it much sooner. Click the link and follow the instructions. Once set, you will be redirected to a personal folder where you will be able to securely upload PDF files to our book room. Please bookmark this site.

You can then begin using the new book room. We have made a quick-start guide and a more detailed set of instructions on how to use and navigate the book room. If you encounter any issues, please reach out to us at [email protected] .  

LJ Edelweiss Community

If you are active on Edelweiss, please auto-approve the Library Journal Reviewers community. This community is accessible only to LJ review editors and active LJ reviewers who read e-galleys.

This is a one-time process in which you approve the community rather than individually approving each reviewer. Edelweiss has made this document outlining the steps to approve a community . If you have questions on approving the Library Journal Reviewers community, please reach out to Deidre Dumpson: [email protected] .

Physical Copies

Library Journal: Book Room

7858 Industrial Parkway

Plain City, Ohio 43064

Physical copies are our preferred format for works of a highly visual nature.

Submission Terms & Conditions

Before you submit .

Library Journal ’s reviews are both positive and negative, and make recommendations both for and against purchase. Our reviewers are encouraged to compare new titles to other materials that are already held in most library collections. Each title is evaluated on its literary and illustrative quality, its clarity and accuracy of presentation, and its appeal to the intended audience.

• Submission does not guarantee review.  Due to space limitations and the great volume of material submitted to LJ , we cannot review every work sent to us. The editors decide which books and multimedia materials to review based on potential interest to  LJ  readers. All submissions of books and multimedia materials become the sole property of Media Source Inc.; requests for return of materials or other restrictions cannot be honored.
• All reviews are final and not subject to change. We will correct factual errors but not the editorial substance of reviews.

Formats Reviewed and Contacts at Library Journal

We will accept digital galleys, bound galleys, bound page proofs, or bound manuscripts (only one copy is necessary). Those publishers that cannot supply advance bound galleys may submit finished books, but these should be sent as early as possible with the words “in lieu of galleys” and the publication date affixed to the cover.

We generally avoid reviewing books later than date of publication, though we do make exceptions for reference and heavily illustrated works. Books that fall into the following categories may be reviewed several months after their publication date:

• Coffee-table books, art books, and other works that are heavily illustrated

Graphic Novels

• Crafts and DIY
• Library Science

For review consideration, advance copies are appreciated, but not necessary; we prefer to review from the finished copy when available (unless the galley is very high quality). We do not review single-issue comics, only hardback or paperback compilations. Please send titles for review consideration as close to the publishing date as possible. Bibliographic information and promotional materials should be included in your email. If advance copies of a title with color illustrations are in black and white, please send or make available sample color pages or a color PDF. Please submit these materials to Melissa DeWild:  [email protected] .

Audio Recordings

Please submit lists of upcoming releases, noting publication date, running time, narrator, subject/genre, ISBN, and price. An editor will reach out to request review files for selected titles. Please send these lists to Sarah Hashimoto:  [email protected] .

DVDs and Streaming Film Files

Please submit lists of forthcoming DVD/Blu-ray releases, foreign films, indies, and documentaries, noting publication date, running time, director, studio, DVD UPC, rating, subject/genre, and price. A columnist will reach out to request review copies for selected titles. Please send these lists to Liz French: [email protected] .

Online Resources and Databases

Reference products and online resources, designed for both general and academic users, should be sent to Sarah Hashimoto:  [email protected] .

Collection Development and Readers’ Advisory Columns

In addition to reviews,  LJ  also publishes subject- or genre-specific review columns and articles on collection development and/or readers’ advisory. Publishers may request a list of the planned columns and special roundups on the editorial calendar from their sales representative. To submit materials for potential coverage in a specific column or article, contact Neal Wyatt:  [email protected] .

Author Interviews and Q&As

To pitch an author for special coverage in  LJ , contact the review editor in charge of the relevant section. Editors are listed below.

Review Editors:

Jill Cox-Cordova [email protected]

• Social Science
• Science and Technology
• Biography and Memoir
• Professional Media/Library Science
• Performing Arts/Music
• Careers/Education
• Law/Crime/True Crime
• Interior Design
• Home Economics
• Business/Economics
• Gardening/Farming
• Communications
• Print Reference

Melissa DeWild  [email protected]

• Romance Fiction
• Science Fiction
• Fantasy Fiction
• Horror Fiction
• Christian Fiction
• Graphic Novels/Manga

Liz French [email protected]

• Mystery & Suspense/Crime Fiction
• Historical Fiction
• Women’s Fiction
• Popular Fiction
• Literature & Literary Criticism
• Fine Arts/Photography
• Pets/Animal Husbandry
• Parapsychology

Sarah Hashimoto [email protected]

• Reference Databases
• Library Science/Pro Media

For all other subjects, or any questions, please contact Neal Wyatt, Reviews Editor:  [email protected]

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A study of book reviews in SCI-Expanded, SSCI, and A&HCI journals by researchers from five countries: 2006–2015

• Published: 26 February 2018
• Volume 115 , pages 637–654, ( 2018 )

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• Yaoyu Wei 1 , 2 &
• Weiwei Fan 1  

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This article reports a study on the publications of book reviews by researchers from USA, Germany, Japan, China, and India. The Web of Science database was used to obtain the data concerning the publications of book reviews in SCI-Expanded, SSCI and A&HCI indexed journals from 2006 to 2015. Several results of interest were found. First, the results showed that the annual outputs of book reviews by researchers from Germany, Japan, China, and India increased significantly. Second, the number of book reviews contributed by researchers from Japan, China, and India is much lower than researchers from traditional scientific powers such as USA and Germany. Third, book reviews are published more in areas of social science and arts and humanities than in those of science and technology. Fourth, book reviews are much less cited than publications of other types are.

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Web of science use in published research and review papers 1997–2017: a selective, dynamic, cross-domain, content-based analysis.

What are you reading? From core journals to trendy journals in the Library and Information Science (LIS) field

Studying review articles in scientometrics and beyond: a research agenda

Since the Web of Science cannot generate citation reports with more than 10,000 documents and the number of book review outputs from USA and Germany are more than 10,000, we used the following methods. For those from Germany, we grouped the book reviews by disciplines and retrieved twice, and averaged the two numbers of citations per item. For those from USA, since the total output was much larger than 10,000 (249,660 to be exact), we chose the year 2011 for demonstration purposes. Similar to the method for those from Germany, we averaged the three numbers of citations per item (25,929 items) in 2011.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the comments of the anonymous reviewers. We also appreciate the help of Dr. Dilin Liu at the University of Alabama, who helped us polish the language of the manuscript.

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Wei, Y., Fan, W. A study of book reviews in SCI-Expanded, SSCI, and A&HCI journals by researchers from five countries: 2006–2015. Scientometrics 115 , 637–654 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-018-2679-9

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Received : 23 November 2016

Published : 26 February 2018

Issue Date : May 2018

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-018-2679-9

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"i will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh" -ezekiel 36:26, where else can i submit.

If you are a writer or artist looking for places to submit Christian-themed work, we’re here to help! Here is a growing list of literary journals, magazines, and presses accepting Christian, religious, and spiritual work. Please check each site for more information about reading periods, themes, and guidelines. May God bless and guide you on your publishing journey!

(Note: Being included in this list does not equal endorsement by Heart of Flesh . Please carefully check the content on each site to see if it is a good fit for you.)

Know of someone that accepts Christian/Religious/Spiritual work that doesn’t appear on the list? Leave a comment below, and our editor will check it out.

Literary Journals, Magazines, and Presses:

• Agape Review : Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Flash Fiction
• America Magazine : Essays, Poetry
• Amethyst Review : Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction, Reviews
• Anglican Theological Review : Articles, Poetry, Book Reviews
• As Surely As the Sun : Poetry, Flash/Micro Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Photography, Art
• Assisi : Essays, Short Fiction, Poetry, Photography, Visual Art
• Bethany Review : Poetry, Essays, Short Stories // *NEW*
• Bible Advocate : Articles, Poetry // *Themed*
• Calla Press Publishing : Children’s Books, Nonfiction Books, Fiction Books
• Catholic Poetry Room : Poetry
• Christ and Pop Culture : Articles
• Christian Century : Articles, Poetry
• Christian Courier : Visual Art, Poetry, Reviews, Editorials
• Christian Devotions : Devotions
• The Christian Journal : Articles // *Themed* *Under Maintanence*
• The Clayjar Review : Poetry, Prose, Musings // *Themed*
• Creation Illustrated : Photography, Poetry, Short Stories, Articles
• The Cresset : Essays, Reviews, Poetry
• Commonweal Magazine : Poetry
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• EcoTheo Review : Poetry, Fiction, Essays, Visual Art, Interviews, Book Reviews, Scholarly Articles
• Ekstasis : Essays, Poetry
• Faith On Every Corner : Articles, Short Stories, Poetry, Testimonies
• Fare Forward : Pitches, Poetry
• Fathom : Articles, Essays, Profiles, Interviews, Book Reviews, Bible Exposition, Theological/Historical Analysis, Poetry, Short Stories
• Focus on the Family Clubhouse : Short Fiction, Nonfiction, Articles // *For child audience, ages 8-12*
• Focus on the Family Clubhouse Jr. : Short Fiction, Nonfiction, Articles // *For child audience, ages 3-7*
• Foreshadow Magazine : Nonfiction, Fiction, Poetry, Music, Photography, Visual Art
• Guide : Nonfiction // *For child audience, ages 10-14
• Guideposts : Nonfiction
• Inkslinger : Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, B+W Art // *Accepts submissions only from Biola University students, alumni, and faculty, and students from Christian colleges across California*
• inScribe Journal : Short Fiction, Poetry, Creative Nonfiction
• Keys for Kids : Short Stories // *For child audience, ages 6-12*
• Kosmeo : Poetry, Short Stories, Flash Fiction, Essays, Articles, Art, Music
• Labyrinthine Passages : Poetry, Prose
• The Lutheran Digest : Articles, Poetry, Jokes
• Macrina Magazine : Academic Essays, Articles, Short Fiction, Poetry, Personal Essays
• Mysterion : Speculative Fiction, Visual Art
• North American Anglican : Articles, Book Reviews, Poetry
• Orison Books : Long Fiction, Short Fiction, Flash Fiction, Nonfiction, Essays, Memoir, Literary Criticism, Poetry, Chapbooks
• The Penwood Review : Poetry
• Pilgrimage : Creative Nonfiction, Fiction, Translation, Poetry, Visual Art
• Plough : Articles, Essays, Reviews, Visual Art, Photography, Short Fiction, Letters to the Editor, Book Proposals, Poetry
• Presence : Poetry, Book Reviews
• Providence : Articles
• Psaltery & Lyre : Essays, Stories, Poetry, Hybrid Work
• Pure in Heart Stories : Poetry, Short Stories, Photography, Visual Art, Image-Text Hybrid // *For child and family audiences; accepts work from kids, teens, and adults*
• The Purpled Nail : Short Stories, Poetry
• Radix : Essays, Reviews, Stories, Interviews, Poetry // *Charges fee for poetry submissions*
• Relevant : Articles
• Relief : Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Poetry, Graphic Narrative // *Charges fees*
• Rock & Sling : Graphic Art & Comics, Visual Art, Photography, Creative Nonfiction, Reviews
• Saint Anthony’s Messenger : Articles, Short Fiction
• Saint Katherine Review : Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Reviews
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• The Scriblerus : Cartoons, Short Fiction, Film, Music, Essays, Poetry, Spoken Word Poetry, Visual Art
• Solid Food Press : Poetry, Prose, Essays & Articles, Photography, Art, Comics
• Solum Literary Press/Solum Journal : Poetry, Short Stories, Homilies
• Spirit Fire Review : Poetry, Creative Nonfiction, Essays, Photography, Visual Art, Testimonies, Music
• Spiritus : Academic Articles, Essays
• Theophron : Academic Articles, Poetry, Reflections
• Tiferet : Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Visual Art, Photography
• Time of Singing : Poetry
• Touchstone : Articles, Reviews
• Transfigured Lit : Flash Fiction
• Twelve House Books : Short Story Collections, Novellas, Poetry Collections
• Unlocked : Essays, Fiction, Poetry // *For teen audience; accepts work from teens and adults*
• Untold Volumes : Poetry
• The Unmooring : Essays, Articles, Visual Art, Liturgy, Photography // *Women only*
• U.S. Catholic : Essays, Articles, Reviews, Poetry
• Valiant Scribe : Creative Nonfiction, Essays, Devotionals, Flash Fiction, Poetry, Art, and Photography
• Vita Poetica Journal : Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Visual Art, Reviews, Interviews
• The Windhover : Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Book Reviews
• The Wittenburg Door : Articles, Cartoons, Interviews, Humor
• Words of the Lamb : Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction, Art, Photography

If you have concerns about a site listed, or believe a site to be defunct or on hiatus, please contact us here .

Share this:

Are any of these based in the UK? I am a British Christian poet looking to submit, but cannot find any UK Christian presses, magazines or competitions etc.

As a Christian poet myself, I believe you can still submit to any of the literary magazines on this list regardless of where they’re based. And even if you did submit to a Christian literary magazine not based in the UK exclusively, your work will reach many more people out there. Just earlier I found a literary magazine for Christian writers with an editorial team based in various parts of the UK. It’s called Areopagus Magazine. Go to https://www.areopagus.org.uk . Hope this helped and best of luck!

The Society of Classical Poets is very Christian-friendly; the magazine publishes explicitly conservative and Christian poetry on a regular basis. https://classicalpoets.org/

Also Atop the Cliffs: https://www.atopthecliffs.com/poetry

Hello, Words of The Lamb Magazine is new on the block, and set in motion. Can’t wait to meet fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. http://www.wordsofthelamb.com

Like Liked by 1 person

Hello! Thank you for creating this list. I’m the EiC for Inkslinger, a Christian literary journal for students by students. 🙂

Hello, As Surely As the Sun Lit (surelyasthesun.weebly.com) is a beautiful new Christian literary journal you may want to add to your list. God Bless:)

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Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) charts his process — as a writer, reader and for living life

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Book Review

And Then? And Then? What Else?

By Daniel Handler Liveright: 240 pages, $26.99 If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission form Bookshop.org , whose fees support independent bookstores.

To begin, a confession: I’ve never read much Lemony Snicket, neither the 13-book sequence “A Series of Unfortunate Events” nor the four-volume follow-up, “All the Wrong Questions.” This is not a matter of aesthetics but pragmatics. When my kids were young, their tastes ran in other directions: Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, “Twilight.” Although we read “The Bad Beginning” and perhaps part of “The Reptile Room” — I can’t remember — they never warmed to the author’s gothic sensibilities or allusive style.

This, I fully accept, represents a parental failing on my part.

Let me admit, too, that I had a little difficulty at first with “And Then? And Then? What Else?” by Daniel Handler, the writer behind the Snicket franchise — “aka Lemony Snicket,” he identifies himself on the cover. This has to do with the nature of the writing, which can feel diffuse before it grows into one of the enduring charms of the book. The reason? “And Then? And Then? What Else?” is a bit of a grab bag, starting in the middle and ending in the middle, while telling a series of stories that both connect and overlap.

That something similar might be said of the Lemony Snicket novels is the whole idea. Handler is skilled and nuanced as a writer, with a developed voice and point of view. He has never fit the categories, so why would we expect him to start here?

As an example, there’s the question of form or genre. “And Then? And Then? What Else?” comes positioned as a memoir, but that’s not quite accurate. Neither is “craft book,” although there are a lot of notes on craft. More accurately, it’s what I want to label a process book, walking us through the author’s process as writer and reader. It is also a book that means to tell us how to make a life.

Handler gets at this from the outset: “What am I doing?” the book begins. It’s not a rhetorical question but a reflective one, and it opens a line of free association, of opinions and observations, that push back against our expectations. Yes, the author recognizes, we will have preconceptions; how, after all, could we not? Regardless of whether we’ve read the saga of the orphaned Baudelaire children, Handler’s reputation, the work he’s produced, carries its own cultural weight.

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April 14, 2014

“I’m hunched over, headphoned,” he explains, describing himself writing on a legal pad in a cafe not far from his San Francisco home, “I look like a lunatic, which is likely the wrong word. It feels right, though.”

There it is, right from the get-go, a conditionality that might feel like a gimmick were it not also true to life. Likely the wrong word but it feels right? Here we get a glimpse of how Handler works. Throughout “And Then? And Then? What Else?” he highlights the tension between thought and feeling, the way we can infer something without fully knowing it. That’s a sensation familiar to every kid who reads “A Series of Unfortunate Events”: What adults are saying and what they’re doing are very different things.

For Handler, such suspicions didn’t disappear with childhood. Early in “And Then? And Then? What Else?” he recalls a party he attended where “real estate and traffic were the mandatory conversation topics,” all the boredom of the grown-up world. Eventually, he met a 6-year-old “and asked him what was up, in the hopes of a better conversation.” The child answered: “Last night I dreamed I was a horse.”

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It’s an instructive anecdote, Handler insists, because children “generally have a firmer grasp on what is interesting to say.” By way of elaboration, he continues: “If you had to sum up lasting literature in a single sentence, you could do worse than ‘I dreamed I was a horse’ — prophetic dreams and animal transformation appear much more frequently in the old epics than, say, which neighborhoods have the best schools.” A perception of the world, in other words, as magical, as inexplicable, as full of wonder, fear and awe. Isn’t this the reason so many of us started reading? Isn’t that what we look for most when we pick up a book?

In “And Then? And Then? What Else?” (the title, fittingly, comes from Baudelaire), Handler returns repeatedly to this notion, whether he’s discussing his books or the details of his life. He is frank without being overly revealing and always seeks out some larger integration, a place where thought and feeling might intersect. As an undergraduate, he suffered from recurring nightmares, populated by ghost-like figures, “naked, bald, painted or powdered white.” The resulting sleep deprivation led to seizures, as well as hallucinations in which these characters began to appear in the waking world.

Or perhaps, Handler conjectures, “hallucinations” is not the proper word. “Nabokov,” he writes, “famously said that reality was ‘one of the few words which means nothing without quotes,’ and this was an idea that kept visiting, bringing me comfort and bliss.”

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What he means is that we never know anything, not truly, and that what we think of as the real world is just another construct, built out of our desires and preconceptions (that word again), as subjective as the angle of our minds. That’s the craft lesson here, and the life lesson also: Be curious. Accept nothing at face value. Why couldn’t the figures from his dream exist — an acceptance that ultimately frees Handler from their influence — even if most of us don’t see them?

Of course, to believe that requires a creative leap. That disposition, that openness leads Handler to an especially acute critique of the pieties of cancel culture, with its distrust of work that some might suggest is “problematic” — a word, he explains, that “describes the entire human condition, which is to say it describes nothing.” Given the subjects and scenarios of his fiction, Handler has found himself in the cross-hairs of various self-appointed cultural guardians on more than one occasion, but while he shares some of those details, that is not what interests him. Rather, it is the question of human personality, human weirdness, which is, as it has ever been, the only source of art.

“The peculiarities of individual works,” he argues, “come from the peculiarities of the individuals who make them. All these peculiarities — all of them — are problematic to somebody or other. Luckily, your own choices about preferences, dictating what you decide to read, are problematic, too.”

If that’s the case, “And Then? And Then? What Else?” counsels, why not opt for joy? This, Handler wants us to understand, is the most important component of storytelling — of reading and writing — and of living too. I keep thinking of the conversation with the 6-year-old at that stultifying party, and the unalloyed pleasure of both the teller and the listener as they discover in the moment their own shared humanity.

“ Last night I dreamed I was a horse . You don’t say. Tell me more.” That is everything and all we need to know.

David L. Ulin is a contributing writer to Opinion. He is the former book editor and book critic of The Times.

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Adultery Gets Weird in Miranda July’s New Novel

An anxious artist’s road trip stops short for a torrid affair at a tired motel. In “All Fours,” the desire for change is familiar. How to satisfy it isn’t.

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By Alexandra Jacobs

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ALL FOURS, by Miranda July

Erica Jong’s Isadora Wing feared flying , but womanned up to attend the first psychoanalytic conference in Vienna since the Holocaust. Fifty years later , the unnamed heroine of Miranda July’s new novel, “All Fours” — let’s call her Amanda Huggenkiss — can barely begin a cross-country road trip.

Huggenkiss — aah, never mind — the anonymous narrator is five years from 50 herself: a “semi-famous” artist with a desk that’s a little wobbly and a career to match. “I worked in so many mediums that I was able to debut many times,” she recounts. “I just kept emerging, like a bud opening over and over again.”

She’s married to a music producer, Harris, who divides people up not into hedgehogs and foxes but Drivers and Parkers. The former, like himself, are functional and content. The latter, like his wife, are bored by ordinary life but, craving applause, thrive in tight spots and emergencies.

One was the birth of their baby, Sam (a nonbinary “ theyby ”), after the kind of fetal-maternal hemorrhage that often results in stillbirth. Mrs. Harris is ecstatic about her child, now a second grader — taking weekly candlelit baths with them, she weeps with love — but she feels her parenting efforts, which include massaging kale for a five-part bento box lunch, go underrecognized or criticized. And her sex life, which is dependent on fantasy, a.k.a. “mind-rooted,” has suffered. Sometimes when she delays initiating, she can hear her body-rooted husband’s penis “whistling impatiently like a teakettle.”

After a whiskey company unexpectedly licenses one of her saucy sentences for $20,000, she decides to splurge for her birthday on a room at the Carlyle, the fancy-pants hotel on New York’s Upper East Side. But, starting from Los Angeles, she only makes it as far as a motel in the nearby suburb of Monrovia. And that’s when things get weird in that Miranda July way that some critics find the ne plus ultra of twee (Harris twee?) and I happen to enjoy very much, with a few caveats.

Angst about the change of life — what Jong would call “ Fear of Fifty ” — seems a family curse. At 55, the narrator’s paternal grandmother had fatally flung herself out the window, first considerately placing herself in a garbage bag; an Aunt Ruthie followed; and her own mother is cognitively impaired and hard of hearing (while her father perpetually occupies a “deathfield” of depression and panic). But she is most immediately concerned with losing her looks and libido: of falling off, what she sees on a graph of shifting hormones over a life span, the “estrogen cliff.”

She blows her windfall to redo Room 321 in lavish and idiosyncratic style, carpeted in New Zealand wool and scented with tonka beans, then begins a torrid and all-consuming romance with the decorator’s husband, a hip-hop hobbyist named Davey who works at Hertz and resembles Gilbert Blythe from the “Anne of Green Gables” series. (Blythe and a Grand Parterre Sarouk carpet are the kinds of allusions July drops for her cultivated audience without explanation.)

A few words about the sex in “All Fours,” which is titled for what the narrator’s best friend, a sculptor, calls “the most stable position. Like a table.” (Well, not a wobbly one.) It is gaspingly graphic, sometimes verging on gross (urine, tampons and a suspected polyp — “hopefully benign”— all come into play), and supplemented with masturbation galore. Compelled to read these definitely not twee-rated passages, I briefly considered filing a complaint with human resources. Then I remembered the protracted and messy sex scenes released with such fanfare into the culture by Philip Roth, Harold Brodkey, et al., and decided I was being discriminatory and prudish.

Jong popularized the idea of “zipless” intercourse (more snappily than that); July’s term is “bottomless.” Her perimenopausal protagonist’s desire is insatiable, unfathomable, roving across genders and generations: a kind of supernova of lust preceding what she anticipates will be the black hole of senescence.

Even more than this adulterous appetite, her casual ageism, in a milieu where preferred pronouns are sacred, can shock. “Nobody except the doctor knew — or could even conceive of — what was going on between her legs,” she thinks of a woman in her 70s glimpsed in the gynecologist’s office, imagining “gray labia, long and loose.” ( Paging Arnold Kegel !) And, buying a 1920s bedspread from a “free spirit” at an antique mall: “Sometimes my hatred of older women almost knocked me over, it came so abruptly.”

Hatred is fear-based, of course — and you come to understand that the main character’s real journey will not be on Route 66, but the path to self-acceptance. In order to ride shotgun comfortably, though, you have to accept her preoccupation with the reflection in the rearview mirror; her indifference to any current affairs but her own.

When this unnamed She spray-paints “CALL ME” on a chair for the now-estranged Davey, it’s like John Cusack’s boombox serenade in “Say Anything.” When she posts a wild dance on Instagram after firming her own body at the gym, frantically seeking his Like, it’s like the boombox turned up to arena volume.

Are the mental-health professionals back from Europe yet? One pops up late on Harris’s arm, as the marriage reconfigures, but otherwise they’re strangely absent from “All Fours,” whose woman on the verge of chronological maturity has the intense focus of an artist, sure — but also a yearning adolescent.

ALL FOURS | By Miranda July | Riverhead | 336 pp. | $29

Alexandra Jacobs is a Times book critic and occasional features writer. She joined The Times in 2010. More about Alexandra Jacobs

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Books | former denver post reporter writes book about slain colleague’s murder, “the last story,” by arthur kane tells the story of jeff german’s killing in las vegas.

German is much more than a statistic, though.

In “The Last Story: The Murder of an Investigative Journalist In Las Vegas (WildBlue Press), German’s colleague Arthur Kane delves into the reporter’s professional life, the police investigation into his death, and the evolution of Las Vegas and news media over recent decades.

“It was important to me to get the story out there,” said Kane, an award-winning investigative journalist who worked at The Denver Post for seven years. “As far as we can tell, the last time a public government official was accused or convicted of killing a journalist was in the ’40s in Texas when a [deputy] sheriff killed a radio reporter who was digging into some of his properties he was running brothels out of.”

“We talk about threats all over the world to journalists, but a lot of times people don’t realize it happens here.”

German was 69 when he was fatally stabbed outside his Las Vegas home. He spent four decades working as a reporter there, covering everything from the mob to corrupt politicians. Police allege former Clark County public administrator Robert Telles killed German as retribution for an article he wrote, based on staff interviews, about the “hostile work environment” Telles’ created and an inappropriate relationship he had with a coworker.

A month after the story published, Telles lost a primary for re-election.

His arrest soon after the murder shocked many of German’s colleagues since the articles weren’t among the journalist’s most forceful or impactful. They didn’t expect any serious fallout from what he wrote about Telles, a low-level government official. (After all, German had once been sucker-punched by a mobster.)

“We didn’t think anything of it,” said Kane, who joined the Review-Journal in 2016 and is currently the investigations editor. “There was nothing to indicate that this would be anything different than a politician trying to cover up for things he did wrong in office and blaming the messenger for it.”

“The Last Story” is not just about German’s tragic death, though. It covers much of the newspaperman’s life, homing in on his career, from covering organized crime in Sin City at the Las Vegas Sun — which led him to host the second season of the “Mobbed Up” podcast — to major court trials to questionable actions by government personnel.

Kane doesn’t gloss over the negative moments of German’s career, either; he describes some questionable ethical decisions and calls out some of his colleague’s more arrogant moments. “I [set out to] try and paint the most accurate picture of his life, what happened and what kind of city Las Vegas is away from the Strip, this level of conflict that [German] lived through for 40 years of his life here,” said Kane. “Jeff’s life mirrored a lot of really interesting times in Vegas.”

Kane sometimes gets a little lost in the details of those times, inundating the reader with names and meticulous narrations. But “The Last Story” also paints a larger picture through its exploration of Las Vegas’ underbelly, its exploration of the state of contemporary journalism and the struggle to continue doing the kind of hard-hitting investigating work to which German and Kane devoted their careers.

German’s killing has also raised intriguing questions about a free press — chiefly, whether a journalist’s sources remain protected after death. Information gleaned from German’s personal devices (the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department seized his cellphone, four personal computers and a hard drive after the murder) are an ongoing question despite the Nevada Supreme Court ruling in October that the state’s shield law that protects journalists from being forced to disclose sources remains intact in death. More than 40 news organizations filed a brief asking the judge not to allow police to access German’s electronic devices.

Review-Journal employees recently finished reviewing those gadgets and logging what they consider to be privileged information not relevant to the case; they’re expected to turn over more than 1,000 items to prosecutors.

Telles’ murder trial has been postponed until early August. He has pleaded not guilty and remains in jail without bail. He faces life in prison if convicted.

Kane said he and German used to joke to one another about watching their backs after sensitive stories were published. They’d ask the other journalist to investigate and write about it if a source did come after them. It was, Kane said, “gallows humor.” But it took on a more serious bent after German’s death: Kane had last seen him in person a week earlier, after Telles had lost his re-election and the two journalists recited the same old shtick.

“In a way, I’m keeping a promise to Jeff,” Kane said of the book. “I feel obligated to do what we talked about even if it was joking.”

“The Last Story”

Author: Arthur Kane

Publisher: WildBlue Press

Daliah Singer is a freelance writer.

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Journal of Materials Chemistry A

Recent advances in aqueous and non-aqueous alkali metal hybrid ion capacitors.

Alkali metal hybrid ion capacitors (AHICs) combine the advantages of batteries and supercapacitors and balance the disadvantages of both devices, which allows high energy and power densities and long cycle life to be maintained simultaneously. The paper first summarizes the working principles, classification, scientific issues, and performance evaluation methods in AHICs. Then, orientated towards performance and structural optimization, various battery-type and capacitor-type materials in aqueous and non-aqueous systems are discussed, focusing on their structure-property relationships, charge storage mechanisms, and electrochemical performance, respectively. Additionally, the common prelithiation/presodiation/ prepotassiation methods used in AHICs are outlined. Finally, some challenges and future research directions in this field are presented.

• This article is part of the themed collection: Journal of Materials Chemistry A Recent Review Articles

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Z. Jia, S. Hou, J. Peng, X. Wu, W. Tang, W. Sun, S. Lv, X. yuan, L. Liu and Y. Wu, J. Mater. Chem. A , 2024, Accepted Manuscript , DOI: 10.1039/D4TA02060J

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