What Critics and Readers are Saying about Eric's Writing
To see reviews published in journals, magazines, newspapers, and websites, visit the Published Book Reviews page.
“Quirky and surprisingly endearing.”
--Robin Black, author of Life Drawing and If I loved You, I Would Tell You This
“Flinty empathy.”
--Judith Krummeck, author of Old New Worlds and Beyond the Baobab
“Cleverly pieced together.”
--Timmy Reed, author of Kill Me Now and Tell God I Don’t Exist
“Probes the way identity is formed and its fluidity.”
--B. Morrison, author of Innocent: Confessions of a Welfare Mother and Terrarium: Poems
“A good novel always confronts the reader with a moral question.”
--Tom Glenn, author of Last of the Annamese and Coming to Terms
“Thought-provoking … captivating read.”
--Toby Devens, author of Barefoot Beach and Happy Any Day Now
“Goodman is a talented storyteller.”
--Charles Rammelkamp, author of The Secretkeepers and Catastroika
“Entertaining and enlightening.”
--Sally Whitney, author of When Enemies Offend Thee and Surface and Shadow
“A tight, taut, terrific thriller.”
--Steve Berry, New York Times Bestselling author of 19 novels, including
The Amber Room, The Romanoff Prophesy, and The Emperor’s Tomb
“Eric D. Goodman writes the kind of fiction a reader can love and a writer can admire. The Color of Jadeite is as tense, romantic and obsessed as the great noir thrillers.”
--Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of The Deep End of the Ocean
“The adventures of Clive Allan, a gumshoe as irreverent as Sam Spade and wry as Mike Hammer, take the reader through the wonders of China in search of a priceless jadeite treasure. Clive’s partner is the beautiful Wei Wei, a woman with a past. Together they outwit their rivals and discover one another. In a world where nothing is what it seems, Eric D. Goodman leads the reader through an escapade that turns out to be a literary novel in disguise.”
--Tom Glenn
author of Last of the Annamese
“Eric D. Goodman’s new novel is full of intrigue and romance, a treacherous femme fatale, thugs straight from a James Bond thriller, and interesting insight into the mysteries of Chinese art and culture. Clive Allen, suave as any Dashiell Hammett detective, accompanied by partners Salvador and Mackenzie, takes on the dangerous mission of tracking down the lost jadeite tablet of Emperor Xuande of the Ming dynasty. A fool’s errand? The search takes them to Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and elsewhere, with rickshaw chases, gunfights and betrayal throughout. This is a book that’s hard to put down.”
--Charles Rammelkamp
author of Mata Hari: Eye of the Day and Catastroika
“This fast-paced adventure through modern China packs mystery, history, intrigue and a cast of unforgettable characters in a clue-lead hunt for a priceless ancient artifact. A clever, witty, captivating read!”
--Toby Devens
author of Barefoot Beach and Happy Any Day Now
“Ingenuity of Plot; artistry in surprising the reader; scenery is awe-inspiring …”
— Loch Raven Review
“A noir novel that’s packed with fast action, riveting characters, and a sense of purpose.”
— Late Last Night Books
“Like Karen Joy Fowler’s classic, We are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Eric D. Goodman’s newest novel is droll, trenchant, political … it operates on just about any level a reader could wish for. Setting the Family Free might be a fable by intention, but the what-if premise of a private zoo of exotic animals loosed on a middle American town is also a generous, boisterous, surprising read, like a tiger in your backyard.”
- Jacquelyn Mitchard
author of The Deep End of the Ocean
“A supremely moving novel by turns ferocious and tender and funny from beginning to end. Goodman’s finest book.”
-Junot Díaz
Pulitzer Prize winning author of
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
“Setting the Family Free reinforces Eric D. Goodman’s powerful voice and imagination as one of Baltimore’s most riveting and prolific writers. As with his former novels, Goodman captures the human condition through multiple and unpredictable lenses, illuminating our strengths and weaknesses in a presentation which merges past and present stories, intertwining conversations, and metaphorical geographies. However, Setting the Family Free takes that vision a step further, exploring the existence of the animal, both human and nonhuman, when pushed beyond its natural and enforced boundaries. The blurring between caged and free is violently, gracefully, and thoughtfully crafted, a true tale of terror—both within and without real and realized bars.”
- Katherine Cottle
author of My Father's Speech,
Halfway: A Journal through Pregnancy, and I Remain Yours
“What a read! Part fable, part meditation, and total page-turner, Setting the Family Free is a rollicking read from first sentence to last. This engaging tale of a zoo that literally opens its doors is at once funny, terrifying, and sometimes heartbreaking. What Eric D. Goodman has managed to do with the sections told by the animals is something rare and wonderful. Look for this one on the ‘Best of 2019’ lists!”
- Jerry Holt
author of The Killing of Strangers and Rickey
“After nearly 150 years of “The Greatest Show on Earth,” Ringling Brothers locked up the lion and tiger and camel and kangaroo cages for good not too long ago. Where did the animals go? Here, in Eric D. Goodman's latest literary circus, a good read under the Big Top of fine a craftsman's imagination. Step right up.”
- Rafael Alvarez
author of Basilio Boullosa Stars in the Fountain of Highlandtown and
The Wire: Truth be Told
“Warm, poignant, funny, and suspenseful, Eric D. Goodman’s Setting the Family Free looks at the meaning of family from different, sometimes conflicting, perspectives. The unusual structure with its many points of view brings to life the individuals—including the animals—that make up the colorful cast of characters. This novel was a quick read: I flipped the pages rapidly, wanting to know what each character would say or do next and how that individual would affect the whole. Setting the Family Free is entertaining, but while reading, I also paused at particularly touching spots of the story to ponder on this messy, sometimes crazy, sometimes wonderful unit called family.”
- Lucrecia Guerrero
author of the award-winning novel Tree of Sighs
“Sammy Johnson collects exotic animals on his rural Ohio property, which isn’t a problem until suddenly it is, and then everybody wants in on the action. ‘Dealing with the press could prove as unpleasant as dealing with wild animals,’ Deputy Chuck Ellison observes. But the press is only a part of it in Eric D. Goodman’s rollicking story of things getting out of control. Toss in the law, psychologists, zoologists and even an old drinking buddy, and you start to get the full picture, vivid as the nightly news!”
- Charles Rammelkamp
author of Mata Hari: Eye of the Day and American Zeitgeist
“In an age when we humans seem hellbent on destroying the planet and everything on it, it's imperative to have authors writing with empathy about the impact our decisions have on our fellow creatures. Fiction is the perfect vehicle for this, especially in the hands of a compassionate writer. Eric D. Goodman takes an interesting premise, the release of captive animals from human control, and puts them on a more even footing with humans. Are we the same or even similar? Or are they just the "other" and must be subdued if their needs and wants conflict with ours? Goodman resists a Disney ending, and as all good writers do, manages to raise more questions than he answers. Setting the Family Free is a good read written by a thoughtful and skilled writer.”
- Bathsheba Monk
author of Nude Walker
“Wild, wonderful, well written, and highly original. An Ohio town is overrun by wild animals and it's a jungle out there in this page-turner novel.”
- Toby Devens
Author of Happy Any Day Now and Barefoot Beach
“Setting the Family Free creates a genre all its own. It has elements of a crime novel, a romance, and a thriller. But at its heart, it is literary fiction telling the story of a deeply flawed but good man who seeks his own fulfilment through the love of animals. Awed by the power and majesty of exotic animals—lions, tigers, leopards, bears—Sammy Johnson collects them, lives with them, and loves them. His feelings for them, and theirs for him, clash with the norms of the society in which he lives, costs him his marriage, and threatens his way of life. His solution to the dilemma makes for a gripping read. This book will stay in my mind for years to come.”
- Tom Glenn
author of Last of the Annamese and The Trion Syndrome
“Inspired by true events, and set in the ‘Badlands’ of Southern Ohio, Eric D. Goodman’s latest novel describes the consequences of ‘legal’ persecution: what happens when a man who served his country in war is destroyed by tax charges and Byzantine laws.
“Usually, such men die quietly. But some—like Joseph Stack, who crashed his plane into an Internal Revenue Service Building in 2010, or Sammy Johnson, the outlaw of Goodman’s book, who released dangerous predators by cutting open their cages in his private zoo—lash out one last time. They choose the ‘Samson Option.’ They kill themselves and take others with them.
“Every year, humans kill 50 billion animals for meat. Now, thanks to Goodman’s Setting the Family Free, the animals are eating us . . .”
- Mark Mirabello, Ph.D, professor of history at Shawnee State University
author of The Cannibal Within, A Traveler's Guide to the Afterlife, and
Handbook for Rebels and Outlaws
“An utterly unique look at the world from the most unlikely vantage point. In Womb, Goodman has created a humorous, thoughtful, unexpected narrator who is wise beyond his years.”
“This is a book that satisfies on many levels. A kaleidoscopic … that adds up to one seamless, gripping story that’s both fast-paced disaster thriller and philosophical meditation on the intrinsic value of all living things.”
-Loch Raven Review
"A compelling story told by a skillful, adventurous writer."
-Late Last Night Books
“As we learn more about animal intelligence, we begin to question the idea that we should have dominion over them. This book is a valuable step in opening that conversation.”
-Monday Morning Book Blog
“A riveting page-turner. Goodman reveals a disturbing truth about human relationships: none of us is the same person to two or more others. Just as each of us is unique, so each relationship between individuals is unique.”
-The Baltimore Review
“A riveting page-turner. Goodman reveals a disturbing truth about human relationships: none of us is the same person to two or more others. Just as each of us is unique, so each relationship between individuals is unique.”
- Jennifer Miller, author of The Heart You Carry Home
“Eric D. Goodman has taken a strange and wonderful idea and turned it into the novel Womb, which is narrated winningly by the wisest fetus in literature.”
- Michael Kimball, author of Us, Big Ray, and Dear Everybody
“Wild, wacky and engagingly original, Womb will take you on a journey whose destination is nothing short of Life—with a capital L.”
- Yona Zeldis McDonough, author of The House On Primrose Pond
“There is real suspense in this brave book and more than one surprise. So, suspend your disbelief and let the lad talk.”
- Ron Tanner, author of Missile Paradise
“In Womb: a novel in utero, Eric D. Goodman explores the paradox between what we know innately about love and what we’ve forgotten in our attempts and mistakes to cherish each other. It is a tenderhearted story that’s laced with grace.”
- Jen Grow, author of My Life As A Mermaid
“Womb’s wise before his years narrator has a whole world to show us—our own—if only we, and his own struggling parents, can remember how to listen past the noise of our busy postnatal lives. He knows big things we’ve forgotten and he knows he’ll forget them soon, too, but this highly attuned, deeply inquisitive novel gives us a welcome chance to be reminded of what is always already there.”
- Steve Himmer, author of Scratch, Fram, and The Bee-Loud Glade
“Goodman's Womb is a witty, innovative look into inner space. Well written, with entertaining plot twists."
- Toby Devens, author of Barefoot Beach and Happy Any Day Now
“Eric D. Goodman's absorbing new novel, Womb, is about a high-risk pregnancy—in more ways than one—told from the fetus's point of view. The narrator is full of wisdom and goodwill, which we understand to be our birthright, but it's his father, Jack, whose character and courage burst from the pages like … well, like an infant from the womb. Eric D. Goodman is a talented storyteller.”
- Charles Rammelkamp, author of Mata Hari: Eye of the Day and
American Zeitgeist
“It is amazing, what awaits in Eric D. Goodman's latest full-length fiction. Womb, an inventive and eye-opening novel-in-utero, is a cocktail of all human emotion, presented through the impressions and knowledge of the most internally omniscient and instinctual of narrators. Goodman bravely stakes out uncharted routes in his endearing and enduring account of life, both before and after birth. Fear, love, pain, desire, and longing drive the human minds and voices of this literary crossroads, and their unstoppable drive toward and from each other.”
- Katherine Cottle, author of Halfway: A Journal through Pregnancy
“Leave it to Eric D. Goodman to have the imagination to narrate his latest risk-taking novel,Womb, in utero. The point of view here is not only inimitable and inventive in its fly-on-the-wall approach, but Goodman’s novel also brings the goods in scintillating prose. A truly tender, remarkable story. You won’t read another novel like Womb anywhere.”
- Nathan Leslie, author of Sibs, Madre, and The Tall Tale of Tommy Twice
“Eric D. Goodman’s Womb: a novel in utero is unique. In Goodman’s telling, the zygote—and later the embryo and still later the fetus—is blessed with the wisdom of the ages, which he fears he will lose upon birth. As he watches his parents and people around them cope with his existence, he worries about their life choices. He yearns to impart to them his wisdom and is determined that after birth he will remember everything he now knows. Written with sophistication and poetry, Womb surpasses Goodman’s earlier writing in the sheer beauty of the prose and the suspense that unnerves the unborn protagonist.”
- Tom Glenn, author of No-Accounts and Last of the Anamese
“The precocious prenatal narrator of Eric D. Goodman's novel, Womb, examines one of humanity's most common experiences—the nine-month drama of expecting parents—complete with its anxiety, joy, and adjustments. When a secret threatens to tear apart Jack and Penny, the arrival of this imaginative novel's in utero sage might be the ultimate solution.”
- Gregg Wilhelm, Founder Emeritus, CityLit Project
“Goodman rises to the challenge posed by the foetus’ limited perspective, relating a story of betrayal and domestic turmoil through the filter of the uterine wall.”
- Litro,United Kingdom’s largest print and online literary magazine
“An expansive meditation on stability and identity from a confined perspective.”
(In a review comparing Eric D. Goodman's Womb to Ian McEwan's Nutshell and Emma Donoghue's Room.)
- Library Journal
“Quirky and surprisingly endearing.”
--Robin Black, author of Life Drawing and If I loved You, I Would Tell You This
“Flinty empathy.”
--Judith Krummeck, author of Old New Worlds and Beyond the Baobab
“Cleverly pieced together.”
--Timmy Reed, author of Kill Me Now and Tell God I Don’t Exist
“Probes the way identity is formed and its fluidity.”
--B. Morrison, author of Innocent: Confessions of a Welfare Mother and Terrarium: Poems
“A good novel always confronts the reader with a moral question.”
--Tom Glenn, author of Last of the Annamese and Coming to Terms
“Thought-provoking … captivating read.”
--Toby Devens, author of Barefoot Beach and Happy Any Day Now
“Goodman is a talented storyteller.”
--Charles Rammelkamp, author of The Secretkeepers and Catastroika
“Entertaining and enlightening.”
--Sally Whitney, author of When Enemies Offend Thee and Surface and Shadow
“A tight, taut, terrific thriller.”
--Steve Berry, New York Times Bestselling author of 19 novels, including
The Amber Room, The Romanoff Prophesy, and The Emperor’s Tomb
“Eric D. Goodman writes the kind of fiction a reader can love and a writer can admire. The Color of Jadeite is as tense, romantic and obsessed as the great noir thrillers.”
--Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of The Deep End of the Ocean
“The adventures of Clive Allan, a gumshoe as irreverent as Sam Spade and wry as Mike Hammer, take the reader through the wonders of China in search of a priceless jadeite treasure. Clive’s partner is the beautiful Wei Wei, a woman with a past. Together they outwit their rivals and discover one another. In a world where nothing is what it seems, Eric D. Goodman leads the reader through an escapade that turns out to be a literary novel in disguise.”
--Tom Glenn
author of Last of the Annamese
“Eric D. Goodman’s new novel is full of intrigue and romance, a treacherous femme fatale, thugs straight from a James Bond thriller, and interesting insight into the mysteries of Chinese art and culture. Clive Allen, suave as any Dashiell Hammett detective, accompanied by partners Salvador and Mackenzie, takes on the dangerous mission of tracking down the lost jadeite tablet of Emperor Xuande of the Ming dynasty. A fool’s errand? The search takes them to Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and elsewhere, with rickshaw chases, gunfights and betrayal throughout. This is a book that’s hard to put down.”
--Charles Rammelkamp
author of Mata Hari: Eye of the Day and Catastroika
“This fast-paced adventure through modern China packs mystery, history, intrigue and a cast of unforgettable characters in a clue-lead hunt for a priceless ancient artifact. A clever, witty, captivating read!”
--Toby Devens
author of Barefoot Beach and Happy Any Day Now
“Ingenuity of Plot; artistry in surprising the reader; scenery is awe-inspiring …”
— Loch Raven Review
“A noir novel that’s packed with fast action, riveting characters, and a sense of purpose.”
— Late Last Night Books
“Like Karen Joy Fowler’s classic, We are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Eric D. Goodman’s newest novel is droll, trenchant, political … it operates on just about any level a reader could wish for. Setting the Family Free might be a fable by intention, but the what-if premise of a private zoo of exotic animals loosed on a middle American town is also a generous, boisterous, surprising read, like a tiger in your backyard.”
- Jacquelyn Mitchard
author of The Deep End of the Ocean
“A supremely moving novel by turns ferocious and tender and funny from beginning to end. Goodman’s finest book.”
-Junot Díaz
Pulitzer Prize winning author of
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
“Setting the Family Free reinforces Eric D. Goodman’s powerful voice and imagination as one of Baltimore’s most riveting and prolific writers. As with his former novels, Goodman captures the human condition through multiple and unpredictable lenses, illuminating our strengths and weaknesses in a presentation which merges past and present stories, intertwining conversations, and metaphorical geographies. However, Setting the Family Free takes that vision a step further, exploring the existence of the animal, both human and nonhuman, when pushed beyond its natural and enforced boundaries. The blurring between caged and free is violently, gracefully, and thoughtfully crafted, a true tale of terror—both within and without real and realized bars.”
- Katherine Cottle
author of My Father's Speech,
Halfway: A Journal through Pregnancy, and I Remain Yours
“What a read! Part fable, part meditation, and total page-turner, Setting the Family Free is a rollicking read from first sentence to last. This engaging tale of a zoo that literally opens its doors is at once funny, terrifying, and sometimes heartbreaking. What Eric D. Goodman has managed to do with the sections told by the animals is something rare and wonderful. Look for this one on the ‘Best of 2019’ lists!”
- Jerry Holt
author of The Killing of Strangers and Rickey
“After nearly 150 years of “The Greatest Show on Earth,” Ringling Brothers locked up the lion and tiger and camel and kangaroo cages for good not too long ago. Where did the animals go? Here, in Eric D. Goodman's latest literary circus, a good read under the Big Top of fine a craftsman's imagination. Step right up.”
- Rafael Alvarez
author of Basilio Boullosa Stars in the Fountain of Highlandtown and
The Wire: Truth be Told
“Warm, poignant, funny, and suspenseful, Eric D. Goodman’s Setting the Family Free looks at the meaning of family from different, sometimes conflicting, perspectives. The unusual structure with its many points of view brings to life the individuals—including the animals—that make up the colorful cast of characters. This novel was a quick read: I flipped the pages rapidly, wanting to know what each character would say or do next and how that individual would affect the whole. Setting the Family Free is entertaining, but while reading, I also paused at particularly touching spots of the story to ponder on this messy, sometimes crazy, sometimes wonderful unit called family.”
- Lucrecia Guerrero
author of the award-winning novel Tree of Sighs
“Sammy Johnson collects exotic animals on his rural Ohio property, which isn’t a problem until suddenly it is, and then everybody wants in on the action. ‘Dealing with the press could prove as unpleasant as dealing with wild animals,’ Deputy Chuck Ellison observes. But the press is only a part of it in Eric D. Goodman’s rollicking story of things getting out of control. Toss in the law, psychologists, zoologists and even an old drinking buddy, and you start to get the full picture, vivid as the nightly news!”
- Charles Rammelkamp
author of Mata Hari: Eye of the Day and American Zeitgeist
“In an age when we humans seem hellbent on destroying the planet and everything on it, it's imperative to have authors writing with empathy about the impact our decisions have on our fellow creatures. Fiction is the perfect vehicle for this, especially in the hands of a compassionate writer. Eric D. Goodman takes an interesting premise, the release of captive animals from human control, and puts them on a more even footing with humans. Are we the same or even similar? Or are they just the "other" and must be subdued if their needs and wants conflict with ours? Goodman resists a Disney ending, and as all good writers do, manages to raise more questions than he answers. Setting the Family Free is a good read written by a thoughtful and skilled writer.”
- Bathsheba Monk
author of Nude Walker
“Wild, wonderful, well written, and highly original. An Ohio town is overrun by wild animals and it's a jungle out there in this page-turner novel.”
- Toby Devens
Author of Happy Any Day Now and Barefoot Beach
“Setting the Family Free creates a genre all its own. It has elements of a crime novel, a romance, and a thriller. But at its heart, it is literary fiction telling the story of a deeply flawed but good man who seeks his own fulfilment through the love of animals. Awed by the power and majesty of exotic animals—lions, tigers, leopards, bears—Sammy Johnson collects them, lives with them, and loves them. His feelings for them, and theirs for him, clash with the norms of the society in which he lives, costs him his marriage, and threatens his way of life. His solution to the dilemma makes for a gripping read. This book will stay in my mind for years to come.”
- Tom Glenn
author of Last of the Annamese and The Trion Syndrome
“Inspired by true events, and set in the ‘Badlands’ of Southern Ohio, Eric D. Goodman’s latest novel describes the consequences of ‘legal’ persecution: what happens when a man who served his country in war is destroyed by tax charges and Byzantine laws.
“Usually, such men die quietly. But some—like Joseph Stack, who crashed his plane into an Internal Revenue Service Building in 2010, or Sammy Johnson, the outlaw of Goodman’s book, who released dangerous predators by cutting open their cages in his private zoo—lash out one last time. They choose the ‘Samson Option.’ They kill themselves and take others with them.
“Every year, humans kill 50 billion animals for meat. Now, thanks to Goodman’s Setting the Family Free, the animals are eating us . . .”
- Mark Mirabello, Ph.D, professor of history at Shawnee State University
author of The Cannibal Within, A Traveler's Guide to the Afterlife, and
Handbook for Rebels and Outlaws
“An utterly unique look at the world from the most unlikely vantage point. In Womb, Goodman has created a humorous, thoughtful, unexpected narrator who is wise beyond his years.”
“This is a book that satisfies on many levels. A kaleidoscopic … that adds up to one seamless, gripping story that’s both fast-paced disaster thriller and philosophical meditation on the intrinsic value of all living things.”
-Loch Raven Review
"A compelling story told by a skillful, adventurous writer."
-Late Last Night Books
“As we learn more about animal intelligence, we begin to question the idea that we should have dominion over them. This book is a valuable step in opening that conversation.”
-Monday Morning Book Blog
“A riveting page-turner. Goodman reveals a disturbing truth about human relationships: none of us is the same person to two or more others. Just as each of us is unique, so each relationship between individuals is unique.”
-The Baltimore Review
“A riveting page-turner. Goodman reveals a disturbing truth about human relationships: none of us is the same person to two or more others. Just as each of us is unique, so each relationship between individuals is unique.”
- Jennifer Miller, author of The Heart You Carry Home
“Eric D. Goodman has taken a strange and wonderful idea and turned it into the novel Womb, which is narrated winningly by the wisest fetus in literature.”
- Michael Kimball, author of Us, Big Ray, and Dear Everybody
“Wild, wacky and engagingly original, Womb will take you on a journey whose destination is nothing short of Life—with a capital L.”
- Yona Zeldis McDonough, author of The House On Primrose Pond
“There is real suspense in this brave book and more than one surprise. So, suspend your disbelief and let the lad talk.”
- Ron Tanner, author of Missile Paradise
“In Womb: a novel in utero, Eric D. Goodman explores the paradox between what we know innately about love and what we’ve forgotten in our attempts and mistakes to cherish each other. It is a tenderhearted story that’s laced with grace.”
- Jen Grow, author of My Life As A Mermaid
“Womb’s wise before his years narrator has a whole world to show us—our own—if only we, and his own struggling parents, can remember how to listen past the noise of our busy postnatal lives. He knows big things we’ve forgotten and he knows he’ll forget them soon, too, but this highly attuned, deeply inquisitive novel gives us a welcome chance to be reminded of what is always already there.”
- Steve Himmer, author of Scratch, Fram, and The Bee-Loud Glade
“Goodman's Womb is a witty, innovative look into inner space. Well written, with entertaining plot twists."
- Toby Devens, author of Barefoot Beach and Happy Any Day Now
“Eric D. Goodman's absorbing new novel, Womb, is about a high-risk pregnancy—in more ways than one—told from the fetus's point of view. The narrator is full of wisdom and goodwill, which we understand to be our birthright, but it's his father, Jack, whose character and courage burst from the pages like … well, like an infant from the womb. Eric D. Goodman is a talented storyteller.”
- Charles Rammelkamp, author of Mata Hari: Eye of the Day and
American Zeitgeist
“It is amazing, what awaits in Eric D. Goodman's latest full-length fiction. Womb, an inventive and eye-opening novel-in-utero, is a cocktail of all human emotion, presented through the impressions and knowledge of the most internally omniscient and instinctual of narrators. Goodman bravely stakes out uncharted routes in his endearing and enduring account of life, both before and after birth. Fear, love, pain, desire, and longing drive the human minds and voices of this literary crossroads, and their unstoppable drive toward and from each other.”
- Katherine Cottle, author of Halfway: A Journal through Pregnancy
“Leave it to Eric D. Goodman to have the imagination to narrate his latest risk-taking novel,Womb, in utero. The point of view here is not only inimitable and inventive in its fly-on-the-wall approach, but Goodman’s novel also brings the goods in scintillating prose. A truly tender, remarkable story. You won’t read another novel like Womb anywhere.”
- Nathan Leslie, author of Sibs, Madre, and The Tall Tale of Tommy Twice
“Eric D. Goodman’s Womb: a novel in utero is unique. In Goodman’s telling, the zygote—and later the embryo and still later the fetus—is blessed with the wisdom of the ages, which he fears he will lose upon birth. As he watches his parents and people around them cope with his existence, he worries about their life choices. He yearns to impart to them his wisdom and is determined that after birth he will remember everything he now knows. Written with sophistication and poetry, Womb surpasses Goodman’s earlier writing in the sheer beauty of the prose and the suspense that unnerves the unborn protagonist.”
- Tom Glenn, author of No-Accounts and Last of the Anamese
“The precocious prenatal narrator of Eric D. Goodman's novel, Womb, examines one of humanity's most common experiences—the nine-month drama of expecting parents—complete with its anxiety, joy, and adjustments. When a secret threatens to tear apart Jack and Penny, the arrival of this imaginative novel's in utero sage might be the ultimate solution.”
- Gregg Wilhelm, Founder Emeritus, CityLit Project
“Goodman rises to the challenge posed by the foetus’ limited perspective, relating a story of betrayal and domestic turmoil through the filter of the uterine wall.”
- Litro,United Kingdom’s largest print and online literary magazine
“An expansive meditation on stability and identity from a confined perspective.”
(In a review comparing Eric D. Goodman's Womb to Ian McEwan's Nutshell and Emma Donoghue's Room.)
- Library Journal
"Goodman's Tracks is a most cunningly crafted tale—a perfect read for trains, planes and automobiles... or even for your armchair."
Madison Smartt Bell
Author of All Souls’ Rising,
a National Book Award nominee
“… a terrific collection of stories. Short stories are often an under-appreciated art form. In Tracks, Eric D. Goodman takes the craft to the level of art. An exciting talent.”
Thomas Steinbeck
Author of Down to a Soundless Sea
and In the Shadow of the Cypress
Thomas Steinbeck
Author of Down to a Soundless Sea
and In the Shadow of the Cypress
“From the first story in Eric D. Goodman’s novel in stories, Tracks, I knew I was in for an enjoyable ride. Goodman is a keen, compassionate and refreshingly un-ironic observer of the human condition. In Tracks, Goodman skillfully weaves stories of chance encounters, lost opportunities and new beginnings into a tight, colorful, breathtaking tapestry which he says is a train ride, but seems an awful lot like life.”
Bathsheba Monk
Author of Nude Walker and
Now You See It ... Stories from Cokesville, PA
"Eric D. Goodman’s novel in stories, Tracks, allows the reader to journey with his characters in their moving and transforming destinies. Sincere and empathetic, Goodman delivers. These intertwined stories are melodious and brim with soulful compassion."
Victoria Patterson
Author of Drift and
This Vacant Paradise
Victoria Patterson
Author of Drift and
This Vacant Paradise
“Who among us hasn’t sat on a train and played at reading the minds of strangers? In this way, Tracks is a voyeuristic fantasy fulfilled. But here’s the real surprise: Once you have mental telepathy, it’s hard to call anyone a stranger anymore.”
Aaron Henkin
Baltimore's NPR station, WYPR
Aaron Henkin
Baltimore's NPR station, WYPR
"Eric D. Goodman's Tracks is an absolute delight. The beautifully-written stories of strangers riding the same train will hypnotically pull you in and captivate you to the very end."
Jessica Anya Blau
author of Drinking Closer to Home and
The Summer of Naked Swim Parties
"... irresistible ..."
The Writer Magazine
"Goodman limns the lives of his characters—all travelers on the same train—with a light and sensitive touch, yet he manages to delve deep, right to their very hearts. By turns comic and poignant, these pilgrims are united in one significant way: they all seek to make sense of life’s unpredictable journey."
Yona Zeldis McDonough
Author of Breaking the Bank,
In Dahlia's Wake and The Four Temperaments
“In Tracks, Goodman manages to capture the complicated push and pull of family, of friends, of history, of life—how it bears down on each of us, pulling us apart while simultaneously pushing us together. His characters are, in turn, compassionate, indifferent, bitter, sympathetic, wistful, and most of all, real. I recognized parts of myself in each one of them, and I imagine this is exactly what Goodman intended. Tracks is a wonderful debut.”
Mary Beth Keane
Author of The Walking People
"A terrific use of the novel-in-stories as form, Eric D. Goodman’s Tracks does what so many of us wish we could do in our travels: peer beneath the surfaces of the lives that intersect ours, if only for a moment. As his narrative winds from car to car, Goodman explores the ways our urge to isolate ourselves is often in direct competition with the way we long to connect, as well as the many layers of love lost and found we carry with us wherever we go. Hopeful and well-imagined, Tracks skillfully captures what makes rail travel so compelling: that while cars or planes might be about traveling from place to place, the train is a place."
Rebecca Barry
Author of Later, at the Bar
“Eric D. Goodman gets on board a fictional train from Baltimore to Chicago to tell the compelling stories of passengers taking inner journeys. From the couple who define the beauty of silence, to the last hurrah of a hit man, Tracks is insightful, engaging and, in so many ways, truly moving.”
Toby Devens
Author of My Favorite Midlife Crisis (Yet)
"I have long been a fan of Eric D. Goodman's taut naturalistic fiction, so I came to Tracks with almost unfairly high expectations. I was not disappointed. Read these linked stories separately for their rich textures, their well-drawn characters, and their breathtaking moments of epiphany. Then read them again in sequence, allowing the cumulative power, the subtle connections and insights to reach their full force. Tracks is an unforgettable journey that cuts deep furrows in both the inner and the outer landscape."
Patry Francis
Author of The Liar’s Diary
Tracks presents a creative approach to addressing the complex issues in the real world and human nature. Eric D. Goodman provides intimate glimpses into the complex nature of a broad cross section of humanity traveling by train through the heartland of America. He integrates themes of familial bonds and fragments of lives and careers in jeopardy through the unique relationship of vividly drawn characters. Tracks is a refreshing narrative presented through deep reflections and vivid imagery that will propel readers into a page-turning adventure.
D.L. Wilson
Author of Unholy Grail and
Sirocco
"In an age of twitter, microfiction, and small attention spans, the stories in Eric D. Goodman's Tracks are built on narrative fiction and the U.S. rail system, both of which are seemingly pronounced dead every new decade. But like a good meal, these stories of strangers on a train marinate and simmer, creating a flavor that is richer than their parts. Goodman's alternating harsh and tender stories travel the spectrum of human emotion, and his care for his characters is evident from the first page to the last. By the end, we have not only lived through every character, but we are every character."
Jen Michalski
author of Close Encounters
and May-September
"In the best literary tradition of The Decameron, The Canterbury Tales, and Spoon River Anthology, Goodman's novel-in-stories reveals the rich textures and patterns in the tapestry of human experience. Tracks is elemental storytelling."
D.R. Belz
author of White Asparagus
"Who doesn’t love a train ride? And what a ride you’ll get with Eric D. Goodman’s Tracks. Hand your ticket to the conductor, join the other passengers in the lounge car, and listen to their stories as the landscape speeds by. You’ll enjoy meeting each of these characters, sharing their fears, their desires and their dreams, in this entertaining and thought-provoking novel-in-stories."
Pat Valdata
author of Inherent Vice and
The Other Sister
“Eric D. Goodman's scintillating first novel-in-stories travels along several parallel plot-lines, introducing the reader in mesmerizing fashion to men and women and the train tracks which serve as the object of their reflections and obsessions. Tracks is a tour-de-force, mirroring in its original structure perhaps train tracks themselves. The Westward expansion of our country, the grind of the daily commute, urbanization, the Holocaust—Goodman encapsulates all of this, so much of history and contemporary living. In the process, Goodman captures something almost ineffable—trains are us and vice versa. If one of the goals of great fiction is to set forth into new fictional territory, Tracks is that. And then some.”
Nathan Leslie
Author of Believers,
Madre, and Drivers
“In an age of commuter rush, virtual friends, and novels written in 140-character bursts, Eric D. Goodman reminds us of the richness of train travel or a good book: when the pace is slower, you never know what sort of souls will greet you.”
Gregg A. Wilhelm
Executive Director
CityLit Project
“Eric D. Goodman is a virtuoso; he breathes life into each character in such a way that you want to know everything about them, and each story makes you want to read the next to see how these lives intersect. Even when Tracks ends, it continues in the mind, leaving you wanting to know more, thinking about not only the lives of these multi-faceted characters, but your own life and the lives of those around you. Life is a journey and Tracks captures that feeling in a way that few interconnected story collections do.”
Nancy Greene
Author of Portraits in the Dark
“Get on board Eric D. Goodman’s Tracks for a rollicking ride from Baltimore to Chicago with a passenger list of colorful characters, from a sleazy traveling salesman, an adulterous sculptress and a Holocaust survivor to a couple of kids in love, a woman returning home to Cincinnati from burying her parents in Baltimore, and a poet. Told in Goodman’s witty, confidential style, these stories – this long tale – are well worth the price of the ticket!”
Charles Rammelkamp
Author of The Secretkeepers and
Castleman in the Academy
Charles Rammelkamp
Author of The Secretkeepers and
Castleman in the Academy
"If you're a regular listener to The Signal, you're probably familiar with the name Eric D. Goodman. His novel in stories, Tracks is set on a train traveling from Baltimore to Chicago. Each story takes the reader into the psyche of another passenger on the train."
Andy Bienstock
Baltimore's NPR Station, WPYR
"A Tarantino-style LOVE ACTUALLY meets literary fiction — the reader journeys by train from Baltimore to Chicago via the perspectives of a diverse array of passengers."
Doris M. Michaels Literary Agency, Inc.
Doris M. Michaels Literary Agency, Inc.
"If you only read one novel in stories set on a train this year, make it Tracks!
Amtrak Conductor
Amtrak Conductor