“There Are Still Empty Places in California” and Red Savina Review Reviewed in The Review Review

James Brega: What I Write Instead of Nothing

Have you ever driven up the California coast from San Luis Obispo to Monterey, knuckles white on the steering wheel as you fight for control of the car through hairpin curves? Have you ever dreamed that you had murdered someone and, upon waking, been unable to shake the conviction that it was true? Have you ever sung onstage to a packed audience, been robbed at gunpoint by a ten-year-old, laughed when it seemed— for a moment—that a famous author had stolen your mojo, wondered why we don’t drive steam-powered automobiles, or confronted your guardian angel at high tide on a gay beach once claimed by Pilgrims ? In What I Say Instead of Nothing, James Brega invites you to explore his real, imagined, and re-imagined experiences through his collected essays and short stories—a journey that will feed your nostalgia for life at the end of the twentieth century and remind you how desperately you wish that a great deal of it had never happened.

“There Are Still Empty Places in California” and Red Savina Review Reviewed in The Review Review

December 3, 2013

Okay, this sentence gets complicated: a well-known online journal called The

Review Review, which publishes reviews of literary journals, today published a review of the journal Red Savina Review, whose most recent issue (September 8) included my essay, “There Are Still Empty Places in California.” I almost blush (almost) to quote the review, but here’s a piece of it: “Jim Brega’s opener falls into the ‘second person,’ how-to genre. You do this. You do that. It anchors the issue in the Southwest, but the writing itself is over-the-top fabulous.”

I think I know what I want on my headstone…

Read the entire piece here.

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One Response to ““There Are Still Empty Places in California” and Red Savina Review Reviewed in The Review Review”

Anthony Martin Says:

December 4, 2013 at 8:00 am
It’s a solid piece, Jim–I think they got it right. I’m also glad to see that, overall, RSR received a strong review. I’ve seen others fare far worse!

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James Brega: What I Write Instead of Nothing