Book Roundup

By Steven L. Peck

What excites me in the world of soon-to-appear Mormon literature? Looking ahead, there is much that has sent my heart aflutter. One a book of fictional short stories, and the other a memoir. First, the memoir. As a writer, I'm always looking for things that will aid me in thinking new thoughts, enhance my historical perspectives, and help better contextualize and understand the things that make my people who and what they are. So the newly-published book, A Chosen Path: A Memoir of D. Michael Quinn has my attention. He was a historian's historian, and the world he inhabited in his life was some of the most defining moments of contemporary LDS History. He navigated a place where his commitment to both his faith and the truth as he saw it made him a controversial figure for much of his complex and intriguing life.

William Morris's short story collection, The Darkest Abyss: Strange Mormon Stories coming out from BCC Press around Oct 4th this year, is flat-out wondrous. I've known William for a long time, and his work has had an impact on my own. For many years we were in a writing group together that included the late Johnathan Langford and Scott Parkin. This collection is William at his best. The stories are multivalent, enjoyable, compelling, and literary. The titular "strange" might have been replaced with "weird and delightful." These thoughtful stories are a master class in storytelling and craft, but you won't notice that while you are reading because you'll be having too much fun. The stories are speculative fiction in all of the right ways. I loved every one of them, and I think you will too. 

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