Book excerpt: On SPIRIT GARDEN: In Spirit Garden, poet-scholar-playwright Joe Martin sings ecstatically of the One, the hidden integrity of opposites & the living mystery of existence. He not only fuses Sufi, Buddhist & Jewish paths in a troubadours transcendence both timeless & time-bound, his thirty poems share the page with Enrique Castanons haunting figures which shift foreground and background to meta-illustrate the gestalt of Martins vision. Kirpal Gordon, author, Giant Steps Press blog On FOREIGNERS: "[An] absurdist mind grenade... Joe Martin's first novel paints this neo-European shadow landscape with panache a gifted American writer." Richard Peabody, Editor, Gargoyle On RUMIS MATHNAVI: A Stage Adaptation Absolutely remarkable and memorable lifting the veils one after another. Lida Saeedian, co-translator of The Pocket Rumi On PARABOLA: SHORTER FICTIONS ...through the tightly structured geometry of this metaphorically rich [work is a] recognition of the search we undertake to fi x a place for ourselves and try to make sense of a confusing, alienating and often combative world. Cheryl Pallant, High Performance