“An excellent example of fine poems, each one, a panel falling into the next panel: poem for poem they belong to each other. Leah goes to the winner’s circle!”
—Heeltap Book Reviews“We’ve never read a book of Leah’s that wasn’t worth ten times the cover price, with each piece shooting dead into the bullseye. Vast talent, polished, power-packed, primed to detonate.”
—Nibble Reviews“So vividly and authentically drawn, with characters that are so alive and relevant, and a narrative so masterfully paced and plotted.”
—Kevin Catalano, author of Where the Sun Shines Out“Leah is a writer par excellence, and her pen captures everyday people and places with a striking clarity. Captivating and honest, truly the work of a very gifted writer.”
—Nightwaves Reviews“Leah is an excellent poet. I love her voice and her style. Her writing blew me out of my seat.”
—Julie Buffaloe-Yoder, author of Price Reduced Again“Angstman plunges readers into a brilliantly realized historical milieu peopled by characters real enough to touch. A compulsive, vivid read to change the way you look at the origins of our country.”
—Ashley Shelby, author of South Pole Station“One disaster after another spilling out in the most interesting and perverse ways: brilliant, Ms. Angstman, just brilliant.”
—Poet Hound Reviews“Angstman’s work never disappoints me; her language is vivid—always—and crisp.”
—Xerography Debt“Angstman creates an immersive world for readers to get lost in and a fascinating story to propel them through it. A thoroughly engaging and compelling tale.”
—Steph Post, author of Miraculum“Angstman’s lines are sharp and sweet. Her words are a soulful elegy to the timeless half-world available everywhere between flights.”
—Denver Examiner“Angstman is comfortable living among words and images, as if she’s playing with old friends within her pages, frolicking and reveling, even when their games turn gravely serious.”
—Indie Book Man“Leah has what I would call creative courage, balancing biting commentary with subtle and striking observations on life in general.”
—What to Wear During an Orange Alert“Angstman has performed the miracle of layering the tumultuous past over our troubled present to gift us a sparkling new reality.”
—Kevin Catalano, author of Where the Sun Shines Out“Angstman paces her rhythms perfectly and creates stories like deep, glistening pools you stumble across in the middle of a lonely wood, unable to resist the urge to dive right in.”
—Nibble Reviews“Leah goes to the edge of inventing language patterns that disrupt our normal constructions. But there is also a thread of quite elegant lyricism running throughout the dark forest of brute trees.”
—Boston Area Small Press & Poetry Scene“I have found me a new writer to enjoy. The honesty with which a life is examined in Leah’s books has value—in her writing, the reality of emotion almost rudely bumps the language up into song.”
—The Time Garden“Angstman has the capacity to describe scenes with flair. The palpable voice persists through shades and nuances of tenor, motion, estrangement, experience, and acceptance.”
—The Nondisenchanted Foreshore“Always the right word for the right moment, emphasis precisely placed, graphic by turns but compassionate. Angstman’s words are daring and show a precision that’s hard to find.”
—Xerography Debt“Leah’s work is wonderfully human, wise, compassionate without becoming sentimental, and infused with modern toughness brought about through experience, both painful and joyous.”
—Fearless Magazine“Angstman reveals herself as a brave new voice in historical fiction that speaks to the present, recalling the bold spirits and cultural upheavals of a nation yet to be born.”
—Taylor Brown, author of The River of Kings“Angstman has written the historical novel that I didn’t know I needed to read.”
—Kevin Catalano, author of Where the Sun Shines Out“The kind of historical writing that evokes its time and place so vividly that the effect is just shy of hallucinogenic. I enjoyed it immensely.”
—Scott Phillips, author of The Ice Harvest“Watching Angstman’s willful protagonist openly challenge the brutal world of 17th-Century New England, with its limiting ideas about gender, race, and science, was a delight.”
—Aline Ohanesian, author of Orhan’s Inheritance“Angstman is a gifted storyteller with a poet’s sense of both beauty and darkness, and her stunning historical novel establishes her as one of the most exciting young novelists in the country.”
—Ashley Shelby, author of South Pole Station“Angstman’s eye is keen, and her ability to transport you into America’s beginnings is powerful. With the raw ingredients of history, she creates a story both dashing and pensive, robust yet believable.”
—Eric Shonkwiler, author of Above All Men“Rich, lyrical, and atmospheric, with a poet’s hand and a historian’s attention to detail.”
—Steph Post, author of Lightwood“Leah’s work spans diverse terrain and unearths moments and figures from our past in a unique, modern light.”
—Lynn Alexander, author of Flesh Made Widow“Leah’s writing is part enthralling daydream, part history lesson. Digging into the past, we relive our struggles and our battles through her words.”
—J. Lewis Fleming, author of The Bones of Saints Under Glass
None currently.
“Every step counts”Big Muddy • Iss 18.1 • 4/4/18 • Print
Leah has a short story, “Every step counts,” published in Big Muddy, Issue 18.1, the journal of Southeast Missouri State University. The story is a flash piece that takes a look at patiently caring for those with mental illness, while it travels inside the mind of a 19th-century woman with severe obsessive compulsive disorder, at war with a set of teacups and a whiskbroom.
“Every time it snows”Gulf Stream Literary Magazine • Iss 17 • 5/15/17 • Online
Leah had a short story, “Every time it snows,” a historical take on PTSD after the American Civil War, published in Gulf Stream Issue 17. You can read the whole issue online for free HERE, or go straight to Leah’s story HERE.
“Small sacrifices”Footnote • Iss 1 • 8/11/15 • Print & eBook
Leah had a piece published in the literary journal of history, Footnote #1. “Small sacrifices” is a short story about two soldier friends during the Civil War, one who wants to return home to his wife, and one who wants to stay at war so he never has to see his wife again. You can find this piece alongside over a hundred other pieces of historical writing in the inaugural issue of Footnote, a literary journal dedicated to personal and non-scholarly historical and contemporary views on history told through poetry, maps and historical photographs, fiction, essays, articles, and nonfiction by various authors, both contemporary and historical. Purchase the book in paperback and eBook HERE.
“Music knows no color”Atticus Review • Pushcart Prize NOMINEE • The Music Iss • 8/11/15 • Online
Leah had a short story, “Music knows no color,” about Frederick Douglass’ violin-playing grandson, Joseph Douglass, playing classical music before a stunned crowd at the Chicago World’s Fair, published in Atticus Review’s Music Issue. You can read the whole Music Issue online for free HERE, or go straight to Leah’s story HERE.
“The Orphan Train”Tupelo Quarterly • Iss 2 • 1/15/14 • Online
Leah had one of her favorite short stories, “The Orphan Train,” published in Tupelo Quarterly #2. You can read the entire issue #2 (with so many good pieces!) online for free HERE, or go directly to Leah’s piece HERE.
“New Mexico farmhouse, hard to find after all those years”Poiesis Review • Iss 6 • 12/23/13 • Print
Leah had two pieces of short fiction, “New Mexico farmhouse, hard to find after all those years” and “One night, when the breath of August blew hotter,” included in the literary print journal, Poiesis Review #6. The perfect-bound journal, containing 40 authors and 200 pages, is available for purchase HERE.
“One night, when the breath of August blew hotter”Poiesis Review • Iss 6 • 12/23/13 • Print
Leah had two pieces of short fiction, “New Mexico farmhouse, hard to find after all those years” and “One night, when the breath of August blew hotter,” included in the literary print journal, Poiesis Review #6. The perfect-bound journal, containing 40 authors and 200 pages, is available for purchase HERE.
“Corner to corner, end to end”Shenandoah • Bevel Summers Fiction Prize HM • Vol 63.1 • 10/4/13 • Online
Leah had her award-winning short story, “Corner to corner, end to end,” published in Shenandoah: The Washington and Lee University Review Volume 63, No. 1. The piece was the Honorable Mention winner in the 2013 Bevel Summers Prize for Short Fiction, judged against 400+ pieces. You can read the entire issue of Volume 63, No. 1 HERE, or go directly to Leah’s piece HERE.
“I stand over a hero’s grave, view blocked.”The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts • Triptych Series • 10/4/13 • Online
Leah had a triptych fiction piece, “I stand over a hero’s grave, view blocked,” published in The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts, on Matter Press. The journal focuses on “compressed arts” and what compression means to the writer, preferring stripped-down pieces that say the barest of what need be said in order to tell a story. The idea of the triptych, a genre for which this journal asked specifically, was to give a compressed nonfiction or fiction story of fewer than 300 words, and then, surround it on both sides with little pop-up snippets that pertain to both the story and to whatever was going on in the author’s head when the story was written. It’s an intimate look behind the scenes of a story, and the result is very personal, yet accessible.
“One night, when the breath of August blew hotter”In Between Altered States • Ep 34: Manipulation • 5/1/13 • Online
Leah had a flash-fiction piece, “One night, when the breath of August blew hotter,” published on the online flash-fiction journal, In Between Altered States. She was featured in Episode #34 with the theme of “Manipulation.” The entire episode can be read HERE from start to finish, or to view only Leah’s piece, you can read HERE.
“New Mexico farmhouse, hard to find after all those years”In Between Altered States • Ep 33: Revenge • 3/4/13 • Online
Leah had a flash-fiction piece of 350 words, “New Mexico farmhouse, hard to find after all those years,” published in Episode #33 of the online flash-fiction journal In Between Altered States. The theme of the issue was Revenge, and the selections are wonderful, as always. For best reading pleasure, read all the pieces in the episode in order HERE. To view Leah’s piece individually, go HERE.
