Born in Salt
T. C. Weber
Freedom Thorn Press
ISBN: 978-1-7369017-1-7
$16.95 paper/$3.99 ebook
Website: https://www.tcweber.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Born-Salt-T-C-Weber-ebook/dp/B091G53X58
Born
in Salt is
an alternate American history story about a nation vastly changed after
a coup
replaces President Franklin Roosevelt with a fascist dictatorship. Born
into
this milieu decades later, Illinois young adult Ben just wants to fish,
hunt,
and live a quiet life. But when his military brother Jake is murdered,
Ben and
his brother's fiancée Rachel become caught up in a rebellion neither
had
planned on being a part of when they begin to piece together the truth
of why
Jake died: “Did you get a letter about a
mission he said he couldn’t get out of his head?” I asked. “Mine was
half
censored.” She searched the box. “Yeah. Mine had a lot of redactions
too, and
I’ve wondered why.” She pulled out an envelope. “Here it is.”
There's more--Rachel is
convinced that Jake is
communicating with her from beyond the grave, seeking redress for his
murder.
Jake appears to Ben too, and they decide to rally
people against the war.
The two fall in the clutches of the dreaded Internal Security
Service, and
are threatened with lobotomies and imprisonment for life.
Their only way
out, the agent in charge tells them, is to turn in
others--including their
friends.
Meanwhile, the bank is
intent on seizing the family farm.
Ben's attempts to save Rachel, his family, and his friends appear
futile in the
face of an all-powerful government, and he falls into drug addiction.
Yet
despite all this, he perseveres, searching desperately for a
hidden way
out. Surrounded by informers and pursued by police, private detectives,
and
fellow rebels, Ben must navigate a maze of factions and treachery, and
find a
way to save the people he cares about, while avenging his
brother and
bringing down his enemies.
T. C. Weber cements the
story with two strong characters
whose interactions with the outside world clash with their own best
interests.
His vision of a future in which repression and ingrained belief systems
are put
to the test is realistic, engrossing, and fueled by astute social and
political
interactions throughout the story.
The moral and ethical
quandaries Ben faces (is he willing
to sacrifice Rachel for a greater good?) power a fine tale that
embraces drug
abuse, changing political alliances, and social issues alike.
Readers who enjoy strong
alternate history stories where
protagonists are challenged to rise above personal concerns to affect
the world
around them in new ways will find Born in
Salt involving and thought-provoking as Ben searches for an
elusive
solution to impossible personal and political issues alike.
Return to Index
Conduit: The
Beginning
James Alexander
J&A Publishing
ASIN: B007CLQIHY
$2.99
https://www.amazon.com/Conduit-Beginning-James-Alexander-ebook/dp/B007CLQIHY
Conduit: The Beginning is an alien
invasion story about the
destruction of mankind from within and outside, reflecting the
evolution of
hope in the birth of a baby who hones extraordinary abilities after his
mother
is shot in a mall.
For Marc,
placed in
foster care after this event and forced to grow up in a challenging
social
system, these abilities have both plagued and supported him, but they
seem
pointless until aliens come to town.
When he
learns of
these beings' special interest in and deadly purpose for humanity, and
the
truth about his own origins, Marc comes to believe he may be the only
one to
save the world, even broken as he is.
A new day is
dawning,
for both Marc and humanity. But first, both must accept a revised
vision of the
world and their place in it, in order to survive the aliens' intentions.
From a
president who
becomes involved in the seeming peaceful relationship between races,
but who
faces treachery from his wife, to Jack and Adrianna Connor's handling
of Marc
after the shooting and years later, when Marc returns to date their
daughter, Conduit: The Beginning
excels in many
satisfying twists and turns of plot that introduces a host of
characters.
As lives
become
entwined and threats move from political to personal circles, Conduit: The Beginning builds a
different kind of alien story that is as much about alienation and
heroism on
different levels as it is about a world-changing invasion.
Marc is an
experiment
from the past with the sole key to change the present...but only if he
can
survive the invasion to fulfill his potential.
James
Alexander does
an excellent job of depicting Marc's changing life, his uncertain
progression
through childhood into an adulthood that itself suffers a sea change,
and the
motivations and psychology of characters around him, who also evolve in
different directions as they age.
Tension is
well done
and the story's unexpected progression places it above and beyond most
(too-predictable) alien invasion scenarios.
The result
is a
sci-fi read covering the ends of some worlds and the beginnings of
others. Conduit: The Beginning's
ability to draw
readers with a fine anti-hero flawed by his own mystery and
uncertainties, yet
able to step up to an unbelievable role, creates a read that's hard to
put
down.
Return to Index
The
Dreamsinger
Edward Myers
Montemayor Press
978-1-932727-43-2
$16.95 Paper
www.MontemayorPress.com
In
the Realm of
Siir, teenage Allu's world, all music is forbidden. It's a power
possessed only
by the Masters who rule over everyone else. Despite this edict, Allu is
by
nature musically gifted, and her abilities are recognized by these
Masters, who
decide to hone her craft for their own purposes.
As
The
Dreamsinger unfolds, Allu finds her gift and its perceived
value at odds
with her innate inclination to employ it for a different purpose.
Complicating
matters is a romance which presents Allu with additional questions,
challenges,
and dangerous decisions.
Allu's
unique
voice threatens and promises to change everything. This likeable young
protagonist is especially compelling and nicely drawn as Allu faces an
evil
that defies defeat, romance, and her growing powers as a novice
musician in a
world where music is strictly regulated. Allu feels she's been betrayed
by her
family. Will she be betrayed by her own emotions and her love, as well?
As
she creates
forbidden music with her would-be lover, Ned, she comes to question the
Masters
and their purposes, as well as her role in exploring her gifts in a
different
manner than she was raised to believe. Allu uncovers how the power of
music can
risk the Masters' rage and reign, and she finds out why they are so
controlling
and so afraid of her music being released into the world.
Edward
Myers
embeds The Dreamsinger with lovely, evocative
reflections as Allu faces
important decisions and finds her loyalties becoming fluid: "The
Song
Guards started singing the Anthem Against Evil. The tune took Allu by
surprise.
She forced herself to pay attention, took a deep breath, and joined in.
The
Guards’ voices rose like startled pigeons. Allu couldn’t help but smile
to
herself: so much for those traitors!"
Allu
soon finds
within herself the courage to identify who is the real traitor, who
remains
true to music and the harmony of good in her world, and what path she
should
choose for herself and her community.
Edward
Myers
creates a bold and strange new world where a young woman is at the
heart of
social and artistic transformation--changes that are intrinsically
linked in
this book.
The Dreamsinger will appeal to fantasy readers--both young adults
and adults--who seek
a tale that is evocative, absorbing, and powered by a young woman who
comes
into her own various talents as a composer and singer.
Return to Index
Manifestation
Rob Tucker
Tell-Tale Publishing
Group
978-1-952020-12-4
$35.00 Hardcover/$4.95 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Manifestation-Black-Spiral-Book-2-ebook/dp/B0914ZJJDS
Book 2 of
the Black
Spiral horror/fantasy series returns to the scenario of the first
story,
portraying Simonetta Vespucci's escape from her creator, Hiram Bean, to
inhabit
the psyche of Bernadette Garcetti. There, she embarks on a mission that
attracts the attention of FBI agent Leon Saffulo, who finds himself
working
with (of all things) a magician when his usual high-tech approach to
problem-solving encounters a force he can't define or control.
The blending
of
Bernadette's psyche with Simonetta's is strategically well done,
offering
benefits that enhance both. As they together (through different facets
of
reality and beliefs about one another) confront an assassin and Hiram
Bean's
efforts to destabilize the world social order, Bernadette/Simonetta
find that the
digital and real realms each resides in are threatened by forces even
their
combined powers can't match.
Readers of
metaphysical fantasy, horror, and thriller-style intrigue will find Manifestation a genre-busting read that
incorporates elements of all these and more. This is also a story that
will
especially appeal to hard sci-fi readers, offering many in-depth
explorations
that cement action and the different levels of events with an attention
to
scientific detail: "On a parallel
evolutionary track, the black spiral DNA developed a parasitic
existence in the
early human forms when stone making tools appeared 2.6 million years
ago and
the migration of Homo Erectus out of Africa to the Middle-East,
European, and
Asian regions of the world."
As efforts
coalesce
around a black spiral DNA conversion set to change the world, the
threat to
Bernadette (by forces who would excise Simonetta from her mind by
killing her)
grows. Visions of a fractured future drive her and others to try to
reverse
what First World is moving into position through their covert dark
energy
invasion project.
The action,
premise,
and characterization are all exquisitely portrayed. Readers should
accept that
this is no light read, but a complicated mix of science, social
inspection,
horror, and intrigue that will demand from them some prior affection
for hard
science fiction and metaphysical scenarios.
Those who
relish fast
action, twists and turns, and challenging entwining psyches will find
the story
thoroughly engrossing and hard to put down, depicting a spiritual
invasion
replete with parallel existences, evil purposes, and even the promise
of love.
Return to Index
Platformed
Kelsey Josund
All She Wrote Publications
9780996899338 / 9780996899345
$28.00 Hardcover/$9.99 ebook
Author Website: www.kelseyjosund.com
Publisher Website: www.allshewroteproductions.com
Ordering link:
https://www.amazon.com/Platformed-Novel-Kelsey-Josund-ebook/dp/B08ZLJTS35
California's Silicon Valley in 2030 is still home to business dreams and wildfire nightmares: not very different from today. In this milieu, Sara loses both her startup company (which has failed) and her home (to the fires that have become a yearly California threat).
It seemed a solid option to retreat to a utopian community surrounded by water in the now-ocean-drowned Monterey area, but as the events in the near-future story Platformed evolve, Sara finds that societal downfall (which she is supposedly protected from by corporate control in her new community) is simply being mirrored in a different way on the inside.
Has she moved to the last perfect replica of a functioning society left on Earth, or has she moved into a corporate-run nightmare?
Perhaps one reason Platformed is so hard-hitting is its element of believability. It's not a stretch of the imagination to envision Sara's world, which holds its roots in present-day real-world affairs. It's not a surprise to find that Sara grasps with both hands the only life preserver thrown to her, only to find that its guise of safety actually masks threatening sharks that attack the freedoms she has signed away for the next five years.
As Sara's perception of what makes a community livable begins to fall apart much, she embarks on a new and last-ditch attempt to find a better place in a changing world, which requires that she not be as invisible as she'd hoped, in her new life.
Whether in relationships or approaches to life, Sara and her readers discover that the omnipotent corporation has its tentacles everywhere, even in personal relationships: "It was the right thing to do, even if the conversation it started would inevitably end with them breaking up. The universe—or the company, anyway—had already decided that for them."
In many ways, this dystopian corporate-run world is a cautionary tale. It feels very real partially because young author Kelsey Josund is a software engineer well used to the approaches and thought processes of tech companies.
Sara at first accepts much about her new life: "Weekends and weekdays didn't mean much in her new life, but she was used to that: unemployment had taught her to expect a lot of sameness from every day. Perhaps she should be grateful that the disappointments in her life prepared her for this."
As she begins to perceive that utopia isn't quite what it's made out to be and that the price is too steep, Sara brings readers into a new world of choices and consequences which hold great impact not just for Sara, but for readers struggling with their own assessments of corporate control over ordinary lives.
Themes include eschewing the familiar to take a risk on something that offers comfort, only to find that comfort comes with a heavy element of control and excess that separates the fortunate from those who have much less. This creates inequities that eventually challenge and influence moral and ethical decisions on every individual's part in this world, making for thought-provoking reading.
From world hunger to gimmicks and apps designed to mitigate the effects of social injustice and climate change, Sara's social revelations are riveting: "She thought back to their gimmicky breakthrough project, delivering a single french fry to new users of their service. It was admittedly tongue in cheek, but she found it hilarious at the time. Now she found it emblematic of an excess she had once been blind to."
The language and nuances of Sara's journey towards social and self-realization are particularly evocative: "She had tried to flee that sun, chasing the night out into the waves, but the daylight was so very beautiful. Casting the landscape in a multicolored morning, making the windows of the Community's buildings glitter as if they were something to cherish rather than fear. She could keep swimming away. She could just stay where she was and let the ocean decide what to do with her."
Platformed is a very highly recommended story that will hit close to home for many sci-fi fans in a dystopian production designed to keep readers thinking and involved to the end.
PlatformedReturn to Index
Proles
Joel E Lorentzen
Independently Published
9798593702081
$$4.99 Ebook/$14.99 Paperback
www.prolesthebook.com
Imagine a perfect society
where everybody lives in
harmony...one in which scientific models are regularly run to assure
that every
member lives in equality and peace. That's what the Theites have
designed for
themselves in Proles: A Novel About 2084.
That's what their less enlightened neighbors, the proles, resist. And
that is
what seems destined to fail when it turns out that their perfect
science is
flawed.
Eric Brunson, Junior
Brunson, Kelly, and other characters
reside in an area that used to be Ohio. Shifting perspectives between
different
characters in this future society bring various issues to life. One
example is
the opening lines from twenty-nine-year-old Julianna's life: "Protocol. Nobody touched. The crowded
lift was quiet. Julianna-119 was riding from her apartment to the lower
floors
in the building where she worked. Soap-and-fabric-softener smells
filled the
space. To Julianna, everything was both familiar and oddly out of
place. Seeing
her reflection in the spotless, mirror-finish stainless steel of the
walls,
Julianna forced her face to a mask of obscurity. Doesn’t death matter
to
anybody but me?"
Julianna is responsible for
manipulating environments in
a given game zone to assure that the models they rely on work
seamlessly. She,
Tim, and others are so heavily invested in the processes and operations
of the
Best Society that they are in awe of their own prowess, remaining
ignorant of
its detriments.
As her father's death and
the non-reactions of those
around her combine with newly revealed secrets to shake Julianna's
world,
however, the proles begin to make more sense, in a strange manner, as
her
vision of the world and her place in supporting it are shaken to the
core.
Can supercomputers really
create a utopian networked
society? Can technological code implanted into human beings smooth
imperfections and result in a better world? What about the proles, who
eschew
the urban wonders the Theites have embraced, and who desire a different
lifestyle outside of computer-controlled culture?
Science, philosophy, and
moral and ethical quandaries
coalesce in a satisfying manner in Proles.
Some sci-fi readers might consider the constantly changing perspectives
and
questions that permeate this story a challenge to absorb, but Joel E
Lorentzen's read isn't intended for casual action-oriented sci-fi
audiences. It
will please more intellectual readers of Orwell, H.G. Wells, and others
who
question the idea of an idyllic, one-size-fits-all social order.
High Council member
Christina states the evolutionary
apex of these goals in her speech: “For
many years, the progress of the Best Society was constrained by the
capacity of
this model to assimilate the needs of many of the world’s proles. The
scale of
the demands required refinements in production and distribution models,
and the
new version is significantly improved. But the breakthrough innovation
is its
treatment of behavioral science. In this model, social constructs are
no longer
just inputs, but outputs – so that happiness itself can be managed and
maximized. Higher levels of happiness can be achieved, even with the
same goods
and services. So far, the evidence is convincing. People have more of
everything that makes them happy, and everyone is happier with what
they have.”
Lorentzen excels at leading
readers to question the
benefits of a happy world if it demands conformity from all in order to
define
and reflect that feeling of success.
He also injects a powerful
series of events into this
allegory that are reflected in modern social struggles. This, much as
the
classic novel 1984 did upon its
first
appearance many decades ago, succeeds in engaging modern readers with a
social
backdrop which is eerily similar to modern scenarios, yet alien at the
same
time.
Through Julianna's changing
life, the pivot point
reflecting the clashing values of Theites and proles, readers receive a
powerful intersection and examination of values that offer engaging,
thought-provoking considerations of the kind of human society and the
image of
perfection that humans are striving for today.
In a world where showing
grief is cause for treatment and
striving for bigger things outside the norm borders on revolution,
where can
Julianna find a revised sense of peace that has been unstable since her
father's demise?
Joel E Lorentzen's story
asks hard questions about
values, control, freedom, and smoothing out differences between people
in
society. It leads readers to consider their own answers as technology
and
culture clash in this futuristic story.
Proles:
A Novel
About 2084 is highly recommended not just for sci-fi
readers, but
literature and social issues classes looking for discussion material
about
managed societies and the outcome of a controlled search for human
perfection.
Return to Index
Blindsided
Dawn Downey
Pathless Land Press
978-0-9963240-7-6
$14.00
Paper/$4.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Blindsided-Essays-Only-Black-Woman/dp/0996324070
Blindsided:
Essays
from the Only Black Woman in the Room is a highly
recommended memoir
that uses the essay format to its best advantage. It tackles issues of
women's
lives and racial divide during the course of Dawn Downey's life, from
childhood
to adulthood.
Most of Dawn's friends were
white. She subconsciously assumed
a mantle of privilege and accessibility from these early relationships
that
lead black classmates to identify her as "high yellow," and not of
their group.
From a move from Des Moines
to Pasadena and a white
stepmother, Downey was labeled by classmates and identified as a "a
high-potential/low-achiever" by her school, which deemed she needed
extra
help, and was faced with changes not of her choosing.
A series of moves led to her
being identified as
"stuck up" (among other names), while various moves, from changing
her hairstyle to both learning about and hiding from the world around
her, led
her through counterculture worlds of white and black folk that each
challenged
her path to self-realization and empowerment.
As her journey evolves,
readers receive a fine discussion
of privilege, oppression, and the kinds of interactions between whites
and
blacks at all levels of society, from arts and theater groups to school
and new
age circles.
It's rare to receive a
memoir that crosses so many social
and cultural boundaries; much less one that takes the time to explore
how these
relationships and perceptions ultimately affect a sense of racial
awareness and
self.
Downey takes the time to
explore this process and the
accompanying stereotypes that permeate both her life and the world that
affects
it: "A white woman was going to
clean my house. Mon and Mama chuckled at the notion. Their white ladies
chuckled too, because I had hired help—just as they had. My yoga
classmates
would chuckle in bemusement that help was
anything other than a solution to a problem. What’s the fuss? Dirty
house? Call
Sarah."
Downey's story gives readers
insights that will lead to
self-examination of underlying prejudices, assumptions, stereotypes,
and the
process of self-realization that can often be sent off course by
attitudes
inherent in class, race, and economic status.
Blindsided
is
more than just one woman's life experiences. It follows the steps of a
dance
black people face in their lives every day. (White people, too, would
face the
music if they could recognize the dance is being enacted on racial and
social
lines.)
Blindsided
offers the first step towards this awareness with a powerful series of
snapshots of one woman's journey through racist attitudes on all sides.
It is highly
recommended reading for anyone concerned about the evolution and
processes of
racism in America.
Return to Index
Clarity: A
Memoir
Diane Estill
Corncob Press
978-0990644231
$14.99 Paper/$3.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08YM2C42M
At age four, author Diane
Estill was largely parenting
herself, managing the family finances and shopping for groceries while
her
father chased women and her mother checked out. Clarity:
A Memoir mines
these early memories for important insights about abuse and its lasting
impact
on families.
Clarity is
about the process of growing up
virtually alone, without guidance, and falling into the trap of
manipulation.
From having to confront childhood monsters without the comfort of
caregivers,
to handling frightening adult responses to life, Estill reveals how
emotionally
abused children navigate their world to survive. When her volatile
father
drives dangerously, raging at a sputtering auto engine, she intuits his
message: Perform or perish. “Never would I disobey my
dad, I resolved.
When he raged, even his car feared him." That
singular thought
readies her for a lifetime of people pleasing.
From coping with her
father's sexual fixations, to an
abrupt move from an urban to a rural lifestyle, Estill searches for an
ever-elusive normalcy. Even after she marries, she’s still trapped with
her
crazy family and looking for a way out: “...my
marriage had not
extinguished the need to escape home. All I had gained was a cellmate."
As her story moves into
spiritual realms, Estill finds a
level of acceptance and a different kind of love that changes her
perspective. "Reluctantly I accepted what I'd spent a
lifetime
denying. I would never have the relationship I craved with my mom or
dad. "
Filled with moments of
self-discovery that will
especially resonate with fans of The Glass Castle and The
Liar’s Club, Clarity is
more than just a memoir. This
personal narrative told in a fictional style traces the path from abuse
to
recovery and forgiveness.
Readers interested in
stories replete with psychological
and emotional depth will welcome this engaging read.
Return to Index
Get Up &
Fight
Rena “Rusty” Kanokogi
& Jean Kanokogi, PhD
All She Wrote
Productions
9781736089040
$9.95 Kindle
Publisher Website: www.allshewroteproductions.com
https://www.amazon.com/Get-Up-Fight-Memoir-Kanokogi-ebook/dp/B08XYVDZWR
Martial arts
collections and readers who enjoy biographies of notable figures are in
for a
treat with Get Up
& Fight: The Memoir of Rena “Rusty” Kanokogi, The Mother of
Women’s Judo. This
sports
autobiography revolves around a woman who promoted the presence of
women in
martial arts early on, covering the blatant discrimination and
prejudice she
faced while honing her abilities and making a name for herself.
Rusty's dreams went beyond
individual success. She wanted
women's judo to earn a place in the Olympics, and served as a role
model to
younger women coming up in the martial arts world.
From her coming of age in
beauty school where white girls
were a minority and gangs usually involved male participants to her
determination to fight on many different levels and make a name for
herself,
Rusty alternated between "creating chaos" wherever she went and
promoting empowerment and physical ability.
Vivid memories accompanied
by color images throughout
capture this evolving sense of strength: "My
Capone image was surfacing. All the other areas of my life seemed out
of my
control, but when I acquired that Capone persona, I was the one with
the power.
One day, I was using the stapler too long for one of the boys in
English class.
When he came over to me to take the stapler, I got out of my chair and
told him
to get the hell away from me or I would staple his balls together.
After I
slapped his head by surprise, he meekly walked away. I was
in control, even if just for the moment. This felt surprisingly calming
to
me."
The story of how these early
encounters led to her
involvement in women's martial arts and her determination to strengthen
herself
by working out makes for an inspirational story that charts the huge
steps
forward made by women in judo.
Rena “Rusty”
Kanokogi's story also embraces the specter of discrimination in women's
sports.
It's particularly notable for its insights into how she fought on this
level,
as well: "I think Miller just got
caught up in this mess because he was basically a nice guy. It was a
perfect
example of passing the buck. With all my reading of the documents on
laws,
entitlements and rights, I didn’t know where to turn. But not for long.
I had
already been to Los Angles to give testimony to the American Civil
Liberties
Union regarding discrimination of women’s judo and would, at a later
date, join
several other sport groups who were organizing against the
International
Olympic Committee."
Get
Up & Fight is
a book that will appeal beyond martial arts or women's sports memoir
circles,
making it onto the reading lists of those interested in the history and
evolution
of women's competitive sports and the discrimination surrounding it.
Return to Index
Gray Is the New Black
Dorothy Rice
Otis Books
978-9980-2-4302-7
$12.95
Website: https://www.dorothyriceauthor.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Gray-New-Black-Dorothy-Rice/dp/9980243023
Gray
Is the New
Black is a memoir drawn from Dorothy Rice's memory of events
that took
place during her coming of age in the 1960s. It reflects on these
events from
the vantage point of experience and maturity as it considers her
changing
relationships with sisters, friends, and other women who influenced her
life
from youth onwards.
From changing body image and
the perceptions of youth and
aging as the years unfold to dealing with a mother's Alzheimer's and
her
cultivation of a 'heroic resistance' to remain strong in the face of
life's
adversities and challenges, Rice offers readers a journey through
changing life
rituals. This process is cemented by a woman's attempts to move through
critical self-inspection to self-acceptance and a better appreciation
of her
strengths.
Through struggles with aging
to realizing dreams and
embracing new visions of what makes for an effective, fulfilling life,
Rice
blends a sense of humor into her examinations of family, friends, and
social
pressures.
Her self-consideration pulls
no punches: "Mom nailed it, as mothers often
do. I
hated myself. Sometimes I still do...My parents didn't put the self
loathing in
me. No man put the hate in men, though most didn't do me any favors,
either. 63
might be kind of late in life to go searching for a better way to be,
to cope,
but better late than never. Half a century of shame is a lot to shed."
By reviewing the processes,
influences, and, most of all,
the inner messages that directed her life choices, Rice offers other
women of
all ages a blueprint of life's ups, downs, and the underlying
perceptions that
directed it.
Ultimately, Gray
Is
the New Black is about finding the life lessons that
influence us, then
reconsidering and re-envisioning them to more powerful approaches to
living.
For Rice, there's always a
new plan. For readers who
choose her book, there are many insights into the pitfalls and promises
which
lead to close relationships that hopefully move beyond shared history
and into
better levels of acceptance on all sides.
Gray
Is the New
Black charts this course. Its review of Rice's life and
attitudes towards
aging, growth, and change moves from the 1960s generation into modern
times.
It's a read that ideally will be chosen by all ages; especially women
seeking
to understand the underlying messages affecting their own identities
and
growth. Ultimately, it's about learning a new language.
Return to Index
I Am Here: Postcards from My
Daughter in Spirit
Judith Jones Togher
Izzard Ink Publishing
9781642280630
$14.95
https://www.amazon.com/Am-Here-Postcards-Daughter-Spirit/dp/1642280631
I
Am Here:
Postcards from My Daughter in Spirit is about the after-death
communications that mother Judith Jones Togher experienced after the
death of
her daughter. It provides a story of hope, inspiration, and afterlife
possibilities to those who would read about a journey through grief and
accept
the possibility of a lingering spiritual connection afterwards.
Togher uses dreams,
automatic writing, and mediums to
reconnect with her daughter. Her process of journeying to new realms of
discovery, grieving, and recovery through them will prove especially
inspirational to those facing their own grieving process.
The succinct, hard-hitting
introduction pulls no punches,
laying out the course of this journey in the very first paragraph: "I lost a child. My youngest daughter
died and I was so overcome with the darkness of grief that I wanted to
die too.
It was only when I knew she really was not far from me, and we could
still communicate
in a different way, that the darkness lifted and I began to heal and
live the
life I needed to live, in peace and in wonderment. I hope to convey
ways for
you to learn to recognize messages that your loved one may give you in
Spirit,
and to discover some techniques to help you through grief and loss
toward
healing and joy in life."
Togher finds pieces of her
daughter in everyday
life...postcards, if you will, which serve as healing reminders of past
and
present connections which last beyond death: "On
a day of mixed memories centered on her life and passing, this
message was exactly what I needed to hear. It’s an example of my
daughter’s
sense of humor and love for her friend."
These serve as reminders of
a connection that does not
fade, but is living proof of resilience, love, and the lasting power of
a faith
and opportunities that still exist after the death of a loved one.
As Togher documents these
postcard reminders and the
healing process they bring, readers will find many insights throughout.
Those
open to the work of mediums will also discover that the mother/daughter
bond is
strengthened through messages and perceptions of their continued
applications
to everyday people and events: "...she
wanted me to tell a good friend in San Francisco that she was always
there for
her. She expressed that her friends were not open to her clues that she
was
near, and it caused her much frustration!"
Ideally, I
Am Here
will be chosen by those who struggle with grief after the death of a
loved one,
who are open to the possibilities of their continued presence in and
influence
on life after their passing. This audience will have set aside
skepticism in
favor of seeing opportunities to heal and revise their connections to
their
loved one, and will find I Am Here
a
golden opportunity to move ahead and onward, bringing not just the
memories but
the influence of a loved one through them in life.
Togher explains why this is
so important to the recovery
process, for her: "Spirit has
reassured us of the afterlife. Suzanne has reassured me of her
happiness, joy
and the fact of her presence when I need her. There is nothing to fear
of
death, and knowing this, we find our grief from the loss of loved ones
here on
Earth is eased."
Through her experiences,
readers receive keys on how to
find, recognize, and use their own 'postcards' to develop a revised
worldview
and connections to spirit and deceased loved ones. I
Am Here's notes about compassion and the accompanying
grieving of
those who also experienced loss on different levels are signposts to
new
opportunities and life perspectives.
I
Am Here
should be included on the reading lists of those recovering from grief
and
those interested in afterlife stories and how they affect the living.
Return to Index
Love
for a Deaf
Rebel: Schizophrenia on Bowen Island
Derrick King
Provenance Press
ebook: 978-981-18-0575-2, 190 Pages, ePub
https://archive.org/details/love-for-a-deaf-rebel-ebook-edition_202103
Print: 978-981-18-0574-5, 356 Pages, PDF, Illustrated
https://archive.org/details/love-for-a-deaf-rebel_20210324
“Are you deaf?”
Derrick said to the young woman in
the food court who was intently studying the young banker sitting in
the seat
opposite her. With this question, his life changed as
he slowly fell in
love with Pearl, thought he came to understand her, and then found the
added
challenge of living with a paranoid schizophrenic without knowing what
was
wrong. She wrote: “I watch lips. If you speak and I ignore
you will think I
am rude. I don’t want hearing to think that deafies like me are rude.”
The encounter between
strangers living in two worlds
is compellingly described. The bond that then develops brings with it
revelations about prejudice, acceptance, handicaps, and relationships.
As the
author begins to see how his perception of a relationship with a
handicapped
woman is influenced by his vision of equality, he changes … and so will
the
reader.
Pearl is deaf, but her
struggle is psychological. Derrick
must face both his love for her and, later, his growing realization
that she
needs more help than he can offer. He is especially astute at
describing the
intersection of his needs and Pearl’s psyche: “I was still so
stunned by her
accusations that I couldn’t see how much Pearl must have been suffering
in
order to develop, to live with, and to act upon her bizarre thoughts.”
The
duality of deafness and schizophrenia is charted through the lens of an
intense
love and personal growth process that brings a “you are here”
feel to the
story in a way few other memoirs achieve.
Derrick’s shift
from staid banker to hobby farmer
and devoted husband to frustrated partner are exceptional coverages
that offer
readers in any similar circumstance the opportunity to reconsider not
just
their relationship, and their prejudices and motivations surrounding
it, but
obstacles and opportunities for change. This is an important feature in
Love
for a Deaf Rebel because it embraces not just personal
experience, but many
thought-provoking insights into the mechanics of identifying, helping,
and
living with deafness and schizophrenia simultaneously: a one-two punch
that
would leave many lost.
The eye-opening contrast
between following dreams
and building an adventurous life together and the crushing
realities of a
mental illness which can’t be left behind show what it means to be in
love
against all odds. This isn’t just a story of relationship discoveries;
it’s
about building a life together, constructing a
home, discovering a
swindler and a spoiled house, and Pearl’s challenge of developing
enough trust
to build the devotion that “glues” a marriage together over the long
term,
ready to have children.
As their relationship
founders, Derrick questions his
love, commitment, and ability to remain a force in her life and in his
own. The
role of friends and family is examined as closely as Derrick’s own
interactions
with her and his choices to stand by her while her mental health
collapses,
nearly bringing him down with it.
Anyone interested in mental
illness in family
relationships or in the special interactions between deaf and hearing
lovers
will find Love for a Deaf Rebel infused with a
passion that brings it
more than a cut above the normal memoir; it’s a riveting adventure
through life
and psyche that proves hard to put down. The epilogue is especially
touching—but don’t read it until the end.
Love for a Deaf
Rebel is offered in a 350-page
print edition and a 190-page ebook edition. The print edition has
twelve pages
of color photos of their life together while the ebook edition provides
readers
with a shorter story that can be more easily browsed on a small mobile
reader.
As a tribute to Pearl, both editions are free to
download.
Return to Index
The Rope of Life: A Memoir
Mirinda Kossoff
Lystra Books & Literary Services, LLC
978-1-7336816-7-4
$16.95
Paper/$6.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Rope-Life-Memoir-Mirinda-Kossoff/dp/1733681671
The
Rope of Life: A
Memoir represents a daughter's journey to understand
enigmatic father Hugh
Kossoff, who died at age fifty-six. He left behind a legacy that
involved
renouncing his Jewish heritage and becoming a Baptist in staunchly
Confederate
town Danville, Virginia in an attempt to fit in and raise his family
without
the stigma of being a 'Yankee Jew'.
Hugh prospered financially
as the town dentist, but he
and his family never quite overcame the stigma attached to their Jewish
roots,
nor did daughter Mirinda Kossoff really begin to understand her
father's
choices until she embarked on a personal journey to more closely probe
her
family's roots and the wellsprings of her father's decisions.
More so than most books
about family ties, mysteries, and
the lingering impacts of decisions, The
Rope of Life represents an
investigative process and coming to terms with the past that will
appeal beyond
Jewish readers to any who wonder about their parents' decisions,
psyches, and
influences.
Mirinda once trusted her
capable father to bring them back
home safely when she flew with him in his small plane, only to find,
once they
were in the air, that landmarks were all he had available to guide him.
It was
a one-time event she undertook to prove her loyalty to him; but once he
was
gone, that loyalty is tested over and over as she uncovers facts about
his life
and choices, and their lasting consequences.
At the point of his
permanent departure, Mirinda excels
at describing the enigma he's become and the distance between them as
she
became an adult: "He was fifty-three
years old then, not old, and I was thirty, not a child, and we were at
a
crossroads. Debilitating back pain had reduced him to a phantom of his
former
hyperactive, optimistic self. His confidence was shaky. He worked less
and less.
He was not the father I knew growing up, the one I looked up to as
fearless,
strong, funny, protective, and controlling. After college, I fled my
hometown
to live in Japan, followed a few years later by nine months in England.
While
my world was expanding, his was shrinking. It frightened me to learn
the extent
to which he had withered, while I was living my life apart from his."
As she reviews her own
childhood, coming of age,
adulthood, and changing relationship with her parents, the story
includes many
personal insights of coping mechanisms and approaches to life that
stemmed from
her upbringing: "In situations where
others get emotional and break down, I have vast reserves of psychic
Novocain.
Only an interior adrenaline buzz lets me know something emotional is
going on.
Much later, the real feelings surface, in private."
Adult children rediscovering
the sources of their own
attitudes towards and reactions to life will find The
Rope of Life: A Memoir
especially significant not just for its psychological inspections, but
for its
capture of the social and cultural atmosphere of a Southern girl's
coming of
age in Jim Crow South with a Jewish father who tried his best
to fit in,
but never could break the racial prejudice barrier.
Its dual story of family
tragedy and social change will
engross any reader interested in either family relationships or the
circumstances of prejudice in the 1960s Jim Crow era—lessons perhaps
holding
even more importance in the face of modern attempts to return to some
of the
life approaches and values of the past.
Return to Index
Who Do You Think You Are?
Joseph Torra
PFP Publishing
9781736720226
$20.00
www.joetorra.com
Who
Do You Think
You Are? Reflections of a Writer's Life... reviews Joseph
Torra's thirty-some
years as a writer and teacher, examining his life and literary
challenges. It's
a memoir that shares personal stories about his youth, coming of age,
and
artistic influences; but most of all, it's a story of perseverance and
an
evolving dream that will strike a chord with anyone who has aspired
towards
success.
The title comes from an
encounter with a peer who
challenged such a dream coming from a young man who was somewhat of a
drifter
through life: "One day I told an old
corner friend that I wanted to be a writer. He looked at me as if I'd
grown a
third eye and asked, Who the fuck do you think you are?"
It's always an extraordinary
effort to harbor dreams that
are not part of either one's upbringing or support system. Torra went
on to
publish sixteen books, including works of fiction and poetry, and to
become an
editor; but this book is about the process of discovering and nurturing
a
creative spirit against all odds.
It nicely juxtaposes these
growth processes as he taps
his job as a waiter in Boston to interact with writers, musicians, and
creative
folk in "the perfect work environment for me" and hones his craft and
vision.
His experiences of and
comments on mentors and their
lasting impact is only one critical piece to a story that ultimately
outlines
not just an individual pathway to literary success, but how kids from
disparate
environments can follow their own aspirations to achievement, no matter
how
impossible or far-fetched the dream.
Within this writer's life
are nuggets of wisdom on how to
navigate life's obstacles to envision, refine, and reach for something
different.
Who
Do You Think
You Are? is an inspiring, lively read that not only reveals
Torra's world,
but invites readers to consider their own processes and goals in the
art world,
no matter what their origins and experiences seem to dictate as a
logical
course.
Return to Index
The Cat in the Window Murders
Frank L. Gertcher
Cardinal Publishers Group
978-1-7351459-3-8
$29.95
www.cardinalpub.com
The Cat in the
Window Murders is
the third in a murder-mystery series and opens
with the first-person diary of Caroline Case Jones, a wealthy woman who
made
her money in the 1920s as 'Madame Caroline' running houses of ill
repute in
Wabash Valley.
In this book, Caroline moves
from her former world to
becoming a sleuth working alongside Hannibal Jones, her business and
romantic
partner. Their latest adventure involves a trip to Europe in 1929-30,
where
they encounter further intrigue in a war-torn milieu where murder is
the norm,
not the exception. Their arrival at the scene of the murder of an
American
heiress on the luxury ship SS Isle
de France leads to a series of dangerous
encounters that tests them
in many new ways.
Caroline runs in more
expensive circles than the usual
P.I. From being a guest of Coco Chanel at an exclusive model session to
a
broadening case that involves a search for gangsters Paul Carbone,
François
Spirito and their contacts in the Préfet de Police, this romp through
1930s
Europe comes to life through first-person observations.
As she solves cases big and
small, the investigative
questioning and cases are supplemented by humor that brings not just
the
mysteries but the European countryside to life: "Hannibal turned to
me, grinned and said: “Pierre said the cow’s death will be ruled a
suicide.
Shall we continue our journey?” “Good idea,” I replied. “Case closed.
Would you
like to drive?”
Frank L. Gertcher is adept
at capturing the atmosphere of
both P.I. work and Europe of the times. He also injects moral and
ethical
conundrums into his story for more than just a methodical investigative
mystery: “I
have skirted the fringes of gang warfare most of my adult life,” my
thoughts continued. “Sometimes justice is served outside the law,” I
finally
rationalized. I could see no downside to such an outcome." The
conscious reflections on choice, consequence and their ultimate impact
both on
the investigation process and its outcome spices the story and gives it
a
three-dimensional feel too often lacking in P.I. procedurals.
This, combined with a
winning attention to capturing the
social, political, and cultural milieu of Europe as seen from the eyes
of two
American investigators, creates a warm and compelling story that
attracts on
many levels. The
Cat in the Window Murders will reach
newcomers and
prior readers alike with a mystery that isn't just a singular
production, but a
multifaceted journey through bygone times.
Return to Index
City of Schemes
Bill Garwin
Independently Published
9798503372403
$9.75 Paper/$3.99 Kindle
www.amazon.com/dp/B0952B3TWY
Thriller
readers who
enjoy high-octane adventure with nonstop twists and turns will find City
of
Schemes just the ticket for a
thoroughly engrossing read.
The
story is supercharged from its first
paragraphs describing Megan Garrity's
race through the San Francisco Bay waters at night in a blow-up boat.
She's
entrusted her survival and that of her shivering thirteen-year-old son
Nick
beside her to the Yellow Brick Road human smugglers.
Megan
isn't a
criminal. She's a concerned mother on a mission to save her son: "Being
a mother, Megan came to believe there were two sets of
rules. One governed
most everything, most every day. The other required you to do
whatever you
must for your child, which was why she was about to break into Norcal,
a place
of infinite opportunity."
The
"infinite opportunity" she perceives is about to become an infinite
nightmare, opening doors to a breached experiment that began with the
government's blessing and is now being run by a monster armed not only
with the
biggest technological advancements in existence, but the power of an
alternate
Internet-type system, the Grid.
Megan
didn't go
looking for trouble. YBR reached out and found her. She'd never thought
of
breaking the rules, before. Now she's doing nothing but breaking
everything
around her. The story that opens with a bang just gets fierier and more
absorbing as hacker and leader Walrus assigns an anarchist detective to
follow
her, only to find that Boty and Bob have intercepted her, first.
Why
is Megan in
the crosshairs of so many forces? What does her special son Nick have
to do
with these plots and ploys?
Bill
Garwin's story
is set against the backdrop of San Francisco and embraces its streets,
culture,
sights, and sounds. San Francisco natives will enjoy this backdrop,
which is
the perfect choice for the intrigue that revolves around Megan and the
disparate special forces that operate under the city's different layers
of
street culture.
The action
is
unrelenting, characterization and intrigue well done and built to
attract and
maintain attention, and the story line's blend of high-tech threat and
human
clashes on various levels keeps readers engrossed.
Most of all, the
believable character of a concerned mother who is drawn into affairs
far beyond
her comfort zone or knowledge keeps the action personal and intriguing.
As
the Norcal
projects and intentions unfold, the puzzles intersect and become even
more
complex and satisfying. Readers are invited to absorb moral and ethical
decision-making dilemmas as the line between good and bad guys blurs.
Garwin's ability
to introduce a wide range of special interests and characters, with
chases and
action moving from San Francisco to beyond the Bay Area, keeps his
story edgy
and engrossing. It's just the ticket for an escape into a world laced
with real
places and influential rebels whose intentions to do good become
diverted and
sometimes corrupted in unexpected ways.
Return to Index
Cliffhanger
Michael R. French
Moot Point Publications
978-1-7325117-5-0
$14.95
Paper/$3.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Cliffhanger-Jump-Before-You-Pushed/dp/1732511756
Cliffhanger:
Jump
Before You Get Pushed is a futuristic genre-busting blend of
romance,
intrigue, mystery, and sci-fi set in 2030, a near-future world that
feels both
familiar and frighteningly alien. Self-billed by Michael R. French as
an
'existential thriller', Cliffhanger has
been rewritten from a young adult story French began three years ago
into one
for adults, who will find its social and political messages especially
powerful
in these pandemic times.
The story opens twenty-nine
years in the past, when an
under-thirty Senate staffer on break witnesses the attack on the World
Trade
Center. Stuart moves from D.C. determined to avoid big cities and
disillusioned
about his pursuit of a political career, as a result. He randomly
chooses to
make his new home in Hawthorn, Indiana, which he deems "quiet and out
of
the way, and insulated from the dreams of unpredictable fanatics."
But Indiana holds its own
political ambitions,
contestants, and challenges. Fast forward to high school political
candidates
Matthew and his novice opponent Britain as they run for office. While
their
campaign would seem to affect little outside of the school, one history
teacher
believes that the winner is destined to change America.
As Brit and Matthew struggle
both with each other and the
future of their high school and nation, the town of Hawthorn becomes a
microcosm representing political approaches, ambitions, and threats.
Michael R. French is adept
at capturing the nuances of
this process as the candidates cultivate different approaches to the
ultimate
goal of winning: "Someone can call
himself a winner, but does that make him a winner? How much do you
really know
about my chief competitor? Read his Wiki page carefully. Demand
transparency
from Team Matthew, because that’s what I’m giving you—the whole truth
and
nothing but. I’ve just been called a sorcerer. I can prove otherwise.
If I were
really a sorcerer, I would have made my opponent disappear. Instead,
I’ll give
him another chance to come clean and reveal who he really is."
Brit faces intimidation,
scare tactics, hackers, and the
lure of breaking rules herself, and thus the race to win becomes a
mirror image
of America's failing moral and ethical systems as the goal becomes more
important than the methods used to achieve it.
Brit's evolutionary process
is nicely detailed in a story
that follows her influences, decisions, and growth. French is
especially astute
at depicting the give-and-take of a no-holds-barred competition: "What were the odds of a ceasefire
holding? The spoils of winning seemed too grand for anyone to gamble on
peace
for very long."
As Team Matthew's mentors,
followers, and campaign ramp
up, Brit assesses the price tag of buying loyalty and the deep rifts
created in
the community by a run for student body president that becomes replete
with
corruption and moral and ethical challenges.
Manipulation and covert
operations permeate the election
and influence Brit's growth as she searches for a way to reign in the
greed and
ruthlessness that threaten future endeavors and the underlying meaning
of PTE
(Prosperity Through Education, a nonprofit corporation registered for
political
fundraising which appears to hold powers beyond its stated intentions).
Realistic, engrossing, and
politically intriguing, Cliffhanger
is about the kinds of
social, political, and interpersonal abysses faced not just by
individuals, but
institutions and society as a whole.
Cliffhanger
will delight political thriller readers who will find its social and
political
commentary shrewdly thought-provoking.
Return to Index
A Dangerous Freedom
John Ruane
Permuted Press
978-1682619735
$17.00
Paper/$9.99 Kindle
www.permutedpress.com
Thrillers revolving around
terrorism and struggles against
it abound; but what places John Ruane's story in a different category
than most
is its attention to building a character who confronts adversity in a
different
way.
Dylan Reilly has only
resorted to carrying a gun in the
aftermath of three attacks that threaten him and his wife. Dylan has
become an
expert shooter. This leads to an approach to confronting danger that is
reminiscent of old-time Western days as he develops a sixth sense for
trouble
and protects wife Darleen and himself.
This story offers realistic
focus on the lasting effects
of 9/11 on the country. Dylan not only develops a hyper-ability to
perceive
threats and tackle them more effectively, but those around him
acknowledge that
this awareness has permeated society: "A
smirk grew on the security guard’s face. “Sure, I get it,” said the
officer
with a strong Brooklyn accent. “You’re at the Freedom Tower for the
first time,
right?” “Yes,” said
Dylan, looking
around, realizing this guard wasn’t taking him seriously. “You’re overwhelmed by the
fact that you’re
standing in the place where the worst attack on American soil took
place, and
you have to keep an eye out for terrorists, who will no doubt attack
again,
right?”
While Dylan's instincts are
spot on and get him out of
many kinds of binds, terrorist threats become part of the cat-and-mouse
game
he's always fighting: "Ziad felt no
remorse about killing innocent civilians, Americans."
Forced to change his looks
and his approach to
identifying trouble in the making, Dylan finds that, too often, he
remains the
only obstacle to terrorist plots that others don't seem to see in
advance.
Can the world's fastest gun
outthink them all and prove a
hero to a country reeling from violent attacks?
John Ruane does a
particularly fine job of capturing the
psychological milieu of modern-day America post-911. As his main
protagonist's
role and objectives are brought to life, so is the growth process of
both an
individual tasked with protecting others and the ordinary citizens of a
nation
tasked with protecting itself.
Readers who think that the
proliferation of guns and
those who employ them in the name of justice should be tempered might
find the
plot and actions of its main protagonist to be counter to their
beliefs, but
Ruane creates a thought-provoking inspection of the character of a man
who
turns to firearms to thwart his enemies.
As Dylan's coveted anonymity
is lost, along with many of
the things he treasures in life, he reinvents himself in a specific
manner that
leads him to expose not just himself, but the undercurrents of threat
that
create the very dangers communities strive to foil.
The result is a
thought-provoking blend of cowboy-style
heroism, terrorism inspection, and social commentary that will leave
thriller
readers thinking long after the final volley is fired.
Return to Index
A Different
Way to
Die
Robert Lane
Mason Alley
Publishing
978-1-7322945-3-0
https://robertlanebooks.com/a-different-way-to-die/
A Different Way to Die is the eighth
installment in the Jake Travis
series and opens with his investigation of a boat fire that presumably
claimed
the life of twenty-two-year-old Chris Callaghan twenty-four years
earlier.
Revisiting
such an
old case is never easy, but Yankee Conrad, an uncle who remains
uncomfortable
about its unresolved issues, employs Jake to resume the investigation
to find
out what really happened.
What Jake
uncovers
awakens a hornet's nest of present-day trouble that involves close-held
secrets
by a small town's group of friends, who have a vested interest in never
revealing the truth.
Yankee asks
one more
thing of Travis. “I ask you to always act
in my family’s best interest. To treat all information with utmost
confidentiality.” “You have my word.”
Those
were easy words to say, but hard words to keep."
Although
this is the
eighth story in the series, it's important to note that, at this point,
A Different Way to Die holds the
rare
ability to act as a stand-alone read for those who usually eschew
series titles,
and a complimentary new adventure for prior Travis fans.
Both
audiences will
relish the tension and mystery that surround this latest investigative
process,
which moves from a local mystery to international waters, politics, and
foreign
operations.
From relics
of the
Cold War to the rise of the Network which challenges Jake and those who
have
come to believe in him, the story embraces wild cards, risks, secret
government
operatives and operations, and much more.
Robert
Lane's story
embraces so many twists and turns that readers who anticipate a
small-town
local whodunit will find the thriller unusually expansive and complex
as Jake
follows the dots that wind through personal lives and government
affairs alike.
The story's
ability
to move within and between such circles while keeping readers engrossed
in the
intrigue is exceptional, providing a powerful story of difficult
choices and
their consequences: "Every day is a
deeper well of what I don’t know. We only know the path we take.”
A Different Way to Die's hard-hitting
story will prove hard to put
down, unexpected right up to its surprise conclusion. That Lane can
create such
an expansive story, yet keep the action nonstop and the logic and
characterization impeccably realistic, is to his credit and lends to
the
exceptional read; a 'must' for any thriller and mystery enthusiast.
Return to Index
Dying for
Dominoes
Jane Elzey
Scorpius Carta Press
978-1734642810
$26.99 Hardcover;
$13.99 Paper
https://www.amazon.com/Dying-Dominoes-Cardboard-Cottage-Mystery/dp/1734642815
Dying for Dominoes is a Cardboard Cottage
murder mystery about a
group of middle-aged women charged with enjoying the games that draw
them
together in the Tiddlywinks Players Club, headed by Amy Sparks.
During the
course of
the game, a confession about a best friend who is tired of her fourth
husband
leads to an investigation when he's found murdered, leading Amy to
believe that
perhaps the game served as a warning of impending disaster, imparting
information she was privy to.
Charged with
supporting her friend and uncovering the truth about her husband's
death, Amy
becomes a sleuth determined to win a very different game...one which
tests the
boundaries of friendship.
Jane Elzey's
blend of
murder mystery and a circle of female friends who get together to play
dominoes
and talk makes for a cozy, warm story that is as much about evolving
interpersonal relationships that change under adversity as it is about
whodunit.
Elzey
creates warm
moments and thoughtful inspections of middle age, sisterhood, and
murder that
tests and expands friends' perceptions of their lives, heritage, and
approaches
to problem-solving: “Amy, listen to me,”
Genna continued, her face flushed. “None of us had a reason to run Zack
over.
Zip. Nada. Nil. That’s the story, no matter who is doing the telling.
Or who is
doing the asking. Not one of us had a motive nor opportunity to kill
Zack. Even
if that fat, stinky old copper thinks we did! Got it?” “Except for me.”
Zelda’s
voice was barely audible. “I doubled Zack’s life insurance policy six
months
ago. He thought it was a good idea.” “Why did you do that?” Amy asked.
“Protection against the odds. Zack was a horrible husband.”
The blend of
sassy,
feisty, assertive women who take charge of the situation and a probe
that
begins to reveal more than a perp wants discovered adds to a story that
is
replete with strong characters, steeped in the atmosphere of the South
and the
culture of an Arkansas tourist town.
Dying for Dominoes is a moving story of
discovery that tests the
fine line between reality and insanity as the women use their
game-playing
prowess to tackle a real-life series of cat-and-mouse moves.
Cozy mystery
readers
are in for a delightful treat that engages female mystery readers,
presenting a
circle of savvy friends dedicated to supporting each other with
affection while
staying candid and realistic about all the possibilities in an evolving
conundrum that threatens their lives, their trust in one another, and
their
ability to cheat the odds.
Return to Index
Family Secret
Tom P. Alberti
Independently
Published
ASIN: B091CZ3ZRT
$2.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Family-Secret-Tom-P-Alberti-ebook/dp/B091CZ3ZRT
In Family Secret, Frank Winslow has only
been working in his father's business for a few months as its new
accountant before
he stumbles upon a secret that results in his murder.
Charged with
discovering
the reasons behind Frank's murder, Lieutenant Paul Marconi and
Detective Abby
Trip find that as quickly as they develop suspects and motives, these
are, in
turn, murdered.
Frank was
unerringly
honest and was conflicted about fingering his father in an embezzlement
scheme
he must have known about, before his demise. It's up to the two
detectives to
sift through the mounting clues and bodies to find answers.
Tom P.
Alberti
injects a wry sense of humor throughout the process, which is
strengthened by first-person
observations and experiences: "Poor
Francis." His eyes opened wide as he kept shaking his head, staring at
the
ground. "I can't believe it. Francis was a nice man. So was his woman
friend." "Woman?" My trip suddenly became worthwhile. "Can
you describe this woman?" "She was a tall woman, I think, had blond
hair, or was it red?" He tapped his dirty index finger on his lips. He
then remarked, "She had a great ass." Great, I'll just go back to
headquarters and look into our databases for a "great ass."
He also
includes a
wide range of victim involvements, such as Regina, Frank's fiancée, and
the
life they were to have before everything went awry for both of them.
This second
book in
the Lieutenant Marconi series (the first was The
Unexpected Visitor) will especially delight readers of
Sherlock
Holmes, who will appreciate Alberti's attention to detail as the story
pieces
together a seemingly impossible murder puzzle.
As perps are
considered and begin to fall like dominos, Paul Marconi and Abby Trip
find that
the one person not on their radar is the more likely threat; but is in
the
least suspect position.
Alberti's
characters
are as inviting and as involving as the mystery itself. The
first-person
observations of the investigator, the dialogues between Paul and Abby,
and the
conundrums that grow to embrace murder and a nefarious plot that holds
unintended consequences creates a riveting detective investigation with
many
satisfying twists and turns.
The humor
that offers
comic relief throughout ("I turned,
but not quick enough. In that instant, I saw a flash of fire. The
figure,
behind me, dropped to the floor as the gun he had pointed at my back
fell from
his hand. I then saw the nozzle of a forty-five that belonged to Abby.
"I
owe you a day-off," I mused. "More like a month," she
quipped.") and the blend of fast-paced action, confrontation,
and
problem-solving savvy contribute to a police procedural detective story
that is
engrossing, surprising, and hard to put down.
Return to Index
Fatal Infraction
Kevin G. Chapman
Independently Published
B091PNQRQ8
$2.99
Kindle
www.KevinGChapman.com
Readers of police
procedurals and crime stories will find
Fatal Infraction just the ticket for
an engrossing whodunit read. It returns NYPD homicide detectives Mike
Stoneman
and Jason Dickson to center stage as they investigate the
strange death of
a football quarterback found naked on a park carousel.
Jimmy Rydell was as
controversial in life as he is
mysterious in the nature of his death. He was missing for two days
before his
body was found. And it was well known that he'd crossed the line in
sleeping
with teammate Nate Bedford's girlfriend before his murder.
It seems obvious that Nate
is the perp; but as Mike and
Jason investigate, too many questions and possibilities emerge that
lead them
into an ever-more convoluted probe of Jimmy's life and the forces
working
against him.
The action is swift and the
police investigation nicely
done, but it's the reader with an interest in football, team politics
and
processes, and the sport's interplay with other influencers who will
find this
story particularly compelling.
Did a racist football fan
kill him? Is an unidentified
bald giant the killer? Was Jimmy connected to a larger crime operation?
Is
there a second killer? And does another murder suggest that a bigger
picture is
involved? The more information they receive, the less the list of
suspects
narrows. While some facts about a scheme mesh, other questions are
unresolved,
leading Mike and Jason to realize that they only know a small piece of
the
puzzle, even after they have a suspect in jail.
As questions mount, the
action is fast-paced, the
investigative logic impeccable, and the unexpected twists and turns of
story
are nicely done. All this brings readers on a roller coaster ride of
possibilities and emotions that form the controversies and ultimate
outcome of
Jimmy's life and death. Along the way, Mike learns some lessons about
racism
from his Black partner.
Kevin G. Chapman is adept at
creating a fast-paced story
that keeps readers thinking, wondering, and on their toes. Sports fans,
in
particular, will find this murder mystery a special blend of intrigue,
sports
politics and associations, and unexpected social inspections of the
roots of
and connections between prejudice, sports, and political involvements.
Return to Index
First Cut
J.T. Bishop
Eudoran Press, LLC
978-1732553125
$4.99
(ebook)/$14.95 (paperback)
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/First-Cut-Suspense-Detectives-Daniels/dp/1732553122
Website: www.jtbishopauthor.com
First
Cut is
Book One in the 'Family or Foe' series and provides thriller and
mystery
readers with a psychic adventure that revolves around former Seattle
detective
Jill Jacobs, who has failed to catch a serial killer despite her best
efforts.
Jill is on a drinking binge
in San Diego, far from the
scene of a crime she was ultimately unable to solve, when the serial
killer
turns up in her new life and town to strike once again.
Why should she become
re-involved? Because her hidden
ability involves a psychic link to the killer that forces her to view
events
from his eyes. Her special ability may prove the only key to stopping
his
relentless bloodbath.
And so she joins forces with
two local detectives,
Daniels and Remalla, to augment their probe on quite a different level.
There's
only one problem. The killer is not only aware of her presence in his
mind, but
he craves her attention, which may be leading him to kill for a psychic
thrill
she unwittingly is fostering within him.
J.T. Bishop excels in
providing an inspection that
compellingly skirts the boundaries of madness, sanity, and the privacy
of
thoughts and actions. One especially effective device she employs is a
thorough
consideration of the psyches of all involved, from the damaged psychic
investigator
Jill to a detective who has a wife and forthcoming new baby to
consider, and a
partner willing to risk his personal safety to protect the one witness
who may
be able to stop the killings.
It's ironic that the woman
who harbors this special skill
to see into minds can't reconcile her ability with her own future and
heart: "They were quiet for a moment as Elmer
chased Bugs through the woods before he spoke. “You ever think about
the
future?” She tensed, staring at the pillow and playing with its frayed
edges.
“Not in a long time.” “Why not?”
“What’s
to think
about?” He shifted to face her. “Oh, I don’t know. Marriage. Kids. You
want
that?” Her stomach knotted. “I thought I did.” “Not anymore?” “Before
the
Artist, things were different. Now…well, now I don’t know if I’ll live
long
enough. It’s hard to see beyond the next day, never mind the next year.”
As the fates of
investigators and killer begin to
coalesce, all involved are charged with seeing the world in a different
way,
which includes futures that once seemed set in stone.
There is a fair degree of
violence, but always in keeping
with the story line's progression as Jill becomes threatened.
From cat-and-mouse games to
interactions that become
increasingly dangerous on more than one level, Bishop's story is a fine
story
of intrigue and survival that introduces the first spark of romance and
leaves
the door well open for more books in the series.
Return to Index
Haunted River
J. T. Bishop
Eudoran Press, LLC
978-1732553163
$4.99
(ebook)/$14.95 {paperback)
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Haunted-River-Suspense-Detectives-Daniels/dp/1732553165
Website: www.jtbishopauthor.com
Haunted
River,
Book One in the 'Detectives Daniels and Remalla' series, is about an
unsolved
murder, a ghost, and a mystery that rekindles when Detective Gordon
Daniels inherits his grandmother's home and a decades-old
puzzle.
His partner, Detective Aaron
Remalla, is invited not to
open up a new investigation but to clean out the house in preparation
for its
sale; but what they unearth will spark renewed interest in the outcome
and real
impact of events that affected not just the house, but the nearby town.
As Daniels' own family
history becomes entwined in a
story that embraces too many odd characters and nefarious
possibilities, the
fate of the murdered nineteen-year-old Scarlet Hokans becomes tied to
local
residents and events that won't stay buried, arising again to affect
present-day people.
The whole town thinks they
know the story—and the perp,
identified as Scarlet's boyfriend Big Billy. Also suspect is Daniels'
grandfather.
Can a crystal ball's look
into the past revolve the
mystery? No; but two savvy detectives can possibly employ unusual
devices to
get at the heart of this decades-old conundrum.
From accusations over local
drug trade to the real events
surrounding now-three dead women (Scarlet, Chelsea, and Annie), the
story
expands with perp possibilities and a deadly threat.
Having a phantom be an
active part of the problem-solving
effort sets this mystery thriller apart from many others. And yet, the
detectives must rely not just on supernatural influences, but their own
evolving savvy to find a solution to a problem which has eluded every
investigator before them.
A host of characters are
created who are realistic,
logical, and interesting, with the mystery itself taking several twists
and
turns readers won't see coming.
The result is a satisfying
blend of investigative
procedure and ghost story that provides a haunting tale of detectives
who
inherit more than a few surprises. Mystery readers who also like a good
ghost
story will be intrigued by the whodunit and the added spice of a
haunting
figure.
Return to Index
The
Seeds of
Eden: Privileged Secrets
Harper Woods
Independently
Published
979-8636635604
$18.98 Paper/$.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Privileged-Secrets-Book-One-Seeds/dp/B08732LVX6
Book
One in the
Seeds of Eden series, Privileged Secrets, is a
strong political thriller
set in a world where a new religious order, The Society of Truth, is
taking
over. Thousands of people are being brainwashed daily by this cult,
which
professes to know secrets about achieving immortality. But its members
and
these secrets are about to be challenged by an underground organization
whose
sole purpose is to expose and contradict corrupt groups.
Erica
Pfeiffer is the best agent working on this alternate force.
She is going
undercover as a Society of Truth member to gain access to the
mysterious
artifacts that have given them this power. While on assignment as a
spy, she
also discovers a deplorable and sinister practice being conducted in
the name
of religion.
As
Privileged
Secrets evolves into a tense series of encounters that
explores social and
political challenges, it pairs action-packed scenarios with
extraordinary
forces reminiscent of Indiana Jones with a dangerous investigation of
influences of the past in the manner of The Davinci Code.
However, this
story also examines the personalities and interests of cult members who
have
gotten involved and over their heads in the group's secrets and
relationships.
"We have to be
prepared for this inevitability.
I’m sure God is. He probably inspired us to have this discussion."
With
its premise
backed by mystery and religious precedent, the Society seems
invincible; its
lure impossible to question or break. Erica is charged with gathering
her
evidence and ammunition from the beginning of time itself. This feels
like an
impossible situation as she confronts forces beyond even her own vast
experience.
Will
a new
generation come to the rescue with a special brand of kindness and a
secret
strength from a Higher Power?
Readers
who
enjoy social, political, and spiritual overlays that bring characters
and cults
to life will appreciate how Harper Woods brings all these facets
together in a
tense thriller filled with many unexpected twists and turns.
When
values of
good and evil are turned upside down and a new cohort rises, can real
free will
change everything? A new movement within a movement, based on different
values,
emerges...but, perhaps not in time to save everyone.
Privileged Secrets proves a powerful force in both its characters and
story line. It's
thoroughly engrossing, psychologically gripping, and difficult to put
down.
Political
thriller readers are in for a treat!
Return to Index
The Sower
Rob Jung
Hawk Hill Literary,
LLC, an imprint of Ingram
978-1-7366108-0-0
$15.95
https://www.robjungwriter.com
The Sower is Book Two of the Chimera
Chronicles, and continues the
story introduced in its prequel, The Reaper. In that first story, Catalan artist Joan Miro's
painting, popularly
known as 'The Reaper', disappears after the 1937 Paris World
Exposition. The last
week of that exposition was captured by the experiences of security
guard
Francois Picard and freight hauler Antoine Lipp in a historical piece
that
brings the time and the painting's fate to life.
The Sower continues the saga, and will
best be read by those who
have enjoyed The Reaper. It
carries on the story of what happened after the painting was recovered
and a
murder mystery investigation begun in 2014, calling into question the
recovered
art's authenticity and introducing a multifaceted new character in
transgender
Minnesota P.I. and ex-Marine Veronica "Ronni" Brilliant.
Ronnie is charged with solving the murder of
Lorraine Blethen, Magnolia Kanaranzi’s mother (introduced in the first
story),
but battles her own trauma and past as she struggles to do her job. At
first
Magnolia is disturbed about what Ronnie might uncover, but she's
admonished
that "I have it on good authority that a sex change operation
takes
their backbone as well as their balls.”
Aaron
Feldman,
Kanaranzi’s chief policy adviser, thinks the investigation won't get in
the way
of Magnolia's political ambitions and plans, but he's wrong. Veronica
exhibits
tenacity irregardless of her gender, and proves to be a bulldog that
can't let
go of a lead...even if it threatens her life.
As conflicts
escalate
between Kanaranzi and her estranged son and a secret campaign to
intimidate
Ronni comes to light, Ronni's determination not to become embroiled in
a
political race is overturned by her increasing involvement in a plot
that holds
many surprising twists.
Far more
than the
usual murder mystery or thriller approach, the historical and
psychological
elements of The Sower are
outstanding. The
true history is so
realistically woven into the story line that readers who usually eschew
the
tendency of historical fiction to impart too many dry facts will find
the
combination of Ronni's intrigue, problem-solving, and social struggles
make for
a compelling piece that's hard to put down.
More than a
whodunit
mystery, it's a story of redemption, growth, subterfuge, politics, and
a
determined investigator's pursuit of the truth not only about Magnolia
and her
family, but her own psyche.
Set in the
political
and social milieu of Boston, Minneapolis and St. Paul and including
fine
details on Ronni's personal relationships and conundrums, The Sower proves every bit as compelling
as its predecessor. It
will attract an audience of historical mystery readers looking for more
psychological depth than the usual murder mystery offers.
Return to Index
Their
Feet Run to Evil
Thomas
D. Holland
Independently
Published
9798687756235
$14.99 Paper/$2.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Their-Feet-Run-Evil-Elmore/dp/B08N9P8Z16
Their Feet Run to Evil
introduces a new series powered by the
figure of Arkansas police chief Big Ray Elmore. It is set in 1957, but
contains
flashback scenes to a crime committed in the 1930s which seems to be
linked to
the murder Big Ray is investigating now.
Historical
truths wind into the story to provide realistic, thought-provoking
suspense and
action, creating a discourse that embraces intrigue while exploring
issues of
Southern culture, prejudice, and justice.
The
story opens with teen Opal Alice Turner's departure from her uncle's
farmhouse.
She had left the family's Chicago home in the 1930s to spend the summer
with
her uncle on his Arkansas delta farm, and her mother warned her at the
time
about the South's very different culture and her vulnerable place in it.
But
Opal didn't listen to sage advice when she encountered a teenage white
boy in
the South; and for this, she paid with her life: "She’d made
eye
contact with him when he surfaced and locked onto her gaze, not
averting her
amber-colored eyes the way she should have; the way the other Colored
girls
from the area would have. She was city-bred and anxious to prove it to
her
cousins and all their country-mouse friends. She didn’t miss an
opportunity to
remind them that she was from the broad-shouldered city of Chicago."
Fast
forward to 1957, where a rainmaker with a secret to hide uses his
knowledge of
the Mississippi River to get rid of a bundle of evidence that could
land him in
big trouble. He feels no regrets because he, after all, is righteous
man: "It
wasn’t that he had any remorse. Remorse was too much akin to guilt, and
he had
none of that. What did he have to feel guilty about? He knew that he
was a
religious man." It's
a
perception that will come back to haunt him as Big Ray probes events
that bring
up a lynching and stir up memories that some have repressed even as
others have
hidden behind them.
As
Big Ray probes the rainmaker's actions and past, he draws closer to a
dangerous
truth that holds implications not just for one murder, but the entire
town.
Thomas
D. Holland excels in crafting not just a mystery, but the Southern
culture and
milieu backing it. Under his hand, Big Ray becomes a realistic,
likeable,
engrossing character whose upbringing and Southern roots come to life
as much
as his investigation: "When I was young and stupid, I made a
wrong turn
and got myself and another person into a bad place. It didn’t end well.
Ended
about as bad as something can end. It did scandalize the town. In some
ways,
what I did, the wrong turn I took all those years ago, was more
natural, but it
was every bit as much a taboo as the path that Little Dub stumbled upon
a few
years back. What I know is that my daddy hardly said a word to me about
what I
did. He never let me shirk my responsibility for what happened, not for
a
minute, but he didn’t remind me or lecture me or strive to punish me.
He raised
me to understand that we each accumulate our own individual pattern of
scars,
taught me that you can read the smooth hardened tissue like a blind man
reads
Braille, and that those scars will tell the story of your character.
The way my
father handled that time in my life changed me probably more than
anything
short of the war, and I know it sounds funny, me being a policeman and
all, but
it tempered my willingness to intrude upon people’s lives
unnecessarily."
Readers
who look for nonstop action will find plenty to like; but Holland also
takes
the time to weave solid character development into this story, as well
as
social and political inspection.
This
sets the police procedural apart from other murder stories, lending it
added
value with its close inspection of Southern roots and secrets that grow
within
the context of family relationships, upbringing, and attitudes towards
life and
other people. The Arkansas backdrop comes to life particularly
strongly—perhaps
because Holland was born and raised there.
To
call Their Feet Run to Evil a murder mystery alone
would be to do the
story a grave injustice. Its special blend of social inspection and
focus on
prejudice and interpersonal interactions sets it in a class of its own.
It
holds the ability to reach outside the usual genre read to those who
like their
stories firmly grounded in social dilemmas and changing community
perspectives.
Return to Index
You Have Your Way
E. Vernon F. Glenn
Cooper River Books
978-1-732906617
$18.95
Paper/$7.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/You-Have-Your-Vernon-Glenn/dp/1732906610
In You
Have Your
Way, trial lawyer Eddie Terrell is seeing much
professional success,
but wants more. He becomes involved in nefarious pursuits involving
risky
investments and questionable schemes. These, in turn, introduce him to
new
women and personal challenges that seem to lead him away from his
initial successes.
As Eddie navigates uncertain
new worlds, he begins to
understand the mechanics of what constitutes real success in life.
E. Vernon F. Glenn
cultivates a chatty series of
descriptions that draw readers into Eddie's life with surprising
imagery and
experiences: "She needed a wingman
to legit her, so she had called on Eddie Terrell to be her shade
moustache.
They had tussled often here and there in the past, always enjoyed the
push and
shove, always got the claims settled and had plenty of respect for each
other.
Now they were on the same side and since she had requested Chubb to put
Eddie
in the game with her, Eddie was getting paid fat by the hour too. It
would be
fair to say they looked at each other as pros and also knew that they
should
not dip their quills in the company ink well."
The character of Gigi Faye
Erin, a "crackerjack
insurance investigator" that gives Eddie a run for his money, is very
nicely portrayed as the story evolves. Glenn cultivates just the right
tone of
description to lend the story a sultry tone ("He
loved her voice that sang and twanged out of her angel lips. She was
built like a long, lovely country road he loved cruising up and down
with his
eyes."). Such descriptions might offend readers...but then,
this
audience should not be imbibing the special attributes Eddie has to
offer.
Eddie also interacts with a
host of other characters that
intersect with and change his life and its certain trajectory. These
all add
depth and surprise to his story as he hones trial skills and
interpersonal
relationships alike.
There's a sharp edge to You Have Your Way which defies pat
answers, predictable characters
and events, and Eddie's own inherent attitudes about his profession and
his
women.
As negligence cases, death,
payback, and negotiations
take place on different levels, Glenn provides readers with a story
filled with
twists and changes, always powered by candid, revealing characters who
interact
in surprising ways: “I’m afraid that the
Emily Post Miss Manners Good Old Boys Club approach is not going to be
helpful
here. We are going to find the strike price here pretty soon or the
gloves are
going to come off. So, now, what is your authority?”
You
Have Your Way is
a suspense thriller that revolves not around courtroom proceedings, but
matters
of the heart, providing a conflict-laden mystery that keeps readers
involved to
the end.
Return to Index
Young Blood and Old Paint
William M. Frank
Terra Nova Books
978-1948749817
$19.95
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Young-Blood-Paint-William-Frank/dp/1948749815
Young
Blood and Old
Paint is a mystery revolving around Tommy McNaul, an FBI
agent on the Art
Crime Team who has an idyllic life until a sting operation gone awry
under his
watch results in the shooting of a congressman's son.
His entire life, from family
to career, ends that day in
Boston; and he leaves the bureau to join his brother in Santa Fe,
working in
his PI business. Ironically, once again, Tommy finds himself
investigating the
art world. This time, it's a forgery and a murder that hit too close to
his
prior experience and failures.
As Tom and his brother
Willie investigate, the forgery,
gallery owner, and events back in Boston become frighteningly entwined
as
bullets fly once again and new facts come to light not only about this
case,
but the events that destroyed his life.
From the story's opening
lines, William M. Frank
captivates: "A wail like a keening
banshee pulled Tom McNaul back to consciousness. As the howl of the
Boston
police cruiser faded into the urban din, he reached across the bed. The
tangled
sheets were damp, but Colleen was gone."
His ability to capture
events, emotions, and atmosphere
using succinct, powerful language with a minimum of wasted words drives
a story
line packed with twists and turns—satisfyingly more so than the usual
mystery.
The intrigue is nicely done,
the thriller component is
elevated through relationship and life encounters between perps, good
guys, and
those who operate in the gray area in-between, and the story line feels
compellingly realistic.
From death threats Willie
deems lame to how the brothers
work together to formulate intention and identify the true culprits
operating
behind the scenes, readers remain riveted both by the art world and the
evolving probe.
Powered by atmospheric and
realistic moments of
contemplation and discovery, the story line crafts a magnetic draw: "Something didn’t add up. Tom’s
subconscious had battled the whiskey all through the short night,
leaving him
groggy and unenlightened. He stared out the window at the only visible
frame—the neighborhood fire hydrant, splendidly lit within the cone of
a
streetlight. Erratic snowflakes spiraled down through the beam of
light. The
scene lacked only a couple of dogs wearing fedoras and drinking coffee."
Young
Blood and Old
Paint will especially delight those with an affection for the
art world and
the possibilities of criminal activity revolving around and within it.
It's a gripping tale that keeps
readers
guessing and involved to the end.
Return to Index
All Things Small
Norman B. Schwartz
Cresting Wave Publishing
978-1-7354135-4-9
$12.99
Paper/$2.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/ALL-THINGS-small-Norman-Schwartz-ebook/dp/B08ZS9CXCQ
All
Things Small
is a literary fiction piece that takes place in Rome, where an ordinary
American tourist becomes caught up in Italian culture in a strange
manner that
he hadn't anticipated. This romp through irony and strange encounters
leads him
to confront opera, the Mafia, gelato, plots, and a film shoot gone
awry. A
whimsical and eye-opening inspection is created that embraces all the
nuances
and flavors of Rome while immersing the protagonist and readers in a
tour de
farce.
From Nathan's desire to be a
film cutter against all odds
to his evolving romance and a way of life that seems intrinsic to
Europe's
slower speed, All Things Small
begins
with ordinary encounters and embraces the milieu of Italian art and
culture: "The waves of the Mare
Tirreno, the Tyrrhenian sea,
rolled up on to the beach casually, slower than any waves he had ever
seen
before. Time, Roman time, continued to run at another speed. A seagull
and a
cormorant strolled side-by-side in slow-motion with no intention of
flying. Why
bother when you would only have to do it again?"
Nathan's fall into
questionable circles and ambitions
begins slowly, but evolves into a story laced with wit and irony as he
ignores
both common sense and the advice of others and finds himself in more
than one
kind of pickle: “The beginnings of all
things are small,” Nathan replied. “A poet said that.”
As his immersion in film and
European culture grows,
Nathan discovers new opportunities that lead him beyond Rome to
Hollywood,
where his comic misadventures impart a wisdom and approach to the art
that lead
to success.
All
Things Small
makes the most of a European sojourn to explore an American wannabe
film
novice's adventures and growth process. Norman B. Schwartz excels in
considering the rocky road to big bucks, new ideas, revised dreams, and
the
flexibility that Nathan develops as he navigates unfamiliar terrain to
not only
make his mark on the industry, but accept new directions as part of his
life.
Schwartz creates a character
who enters into unfamiliar
territory and excels at not just surviving obstacles, but learning from
them.
Nathan's long search begins
with a small story. The
surprising conclusion of his efforts gives a satisfying bang to the
journey
Nathan undertakes, both in a foreign land and in his own personal and
professional development.
Readers interested in
Italian culture, film, and
interactions between Italians and Americans will find All
Things Small a thoroughly engrossing tale that embraces
Italian
culture and approaches to life.
Return to Index
Carolina Road
Dee L. Evans
Independently Published
9781736179505
$13.99
Paper/$3.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Carolina-Road-Dee-L-Evans/dp/1736179500
Rachel Harris never imagined
that she'd be a polygamist.
She's just trying to survive the Civil War, which literally leads the
two sides
to march up the Carolina Road into her own Virginia home.
But circumstances lead her
to discover she's become
married to two men on opposite sides of the war. Both are alive. Both
love her.
And she loves both of them.
More so than most Civil War
stories, the injection of
romance and a moral dilemma into this character's life brings alive the
divide
and issues of battle like few other stories can achieve.
Dee L. Evans uses the first
person to illuminate Rachel's
world. Even more importantly, she adds many physical and mental
challenges to
the battle scenarios and alternates perspectives between Rachel, Caleb,
and
other major characters to expand the reader's perception of the Civil
War's
impact on every facet of life. The book can be rated 'PG' for its
straightforward narration and lack of profanity.
Caleb reflects on this
physical and mental challenge both
on the battlefield and at home as he interacts with Rachel: "Watching that scene between mother and
child more than knocked the wind out of me. I felt the pain all over
again that
enveloped me on the Shiloh battlefield when I was hit by a shell and
thrown
under my horse and nearly trampled to death. I'll always remember the
awful
despair that overcame me before everything went black."
And Rachel hits him with her
impossible situation, as
well: "You two are forcing me to
make an impossible decision—someone is going to get hurt no matter who
I
choose. You're putting me squarely in the middle of your brotherly
competition.
Who's the better man? Who can win the hand of the fair damsel? Well I'm
not
going to play your little game any longer. I've got to think of myself
and the
welfare of my son."
Very different brothers
"dropped into the same
family" who hold surprising bonds as well as big differences lends to a
Civil War story like few others. As further controversies and trials
evolve
against this backdrop, the characters come alive, and readers will find
themselves with reasons to like each person despite the impossible
conundrum
that places them at odds with one another.
Readers looking for a Civil
War book that brings the
people of the times to life will find Carolina
Road a powerfully compelling saga that's nearly impossible to
put down,
providing a very thoroughly researched, accurate portrayal of the Civil
War in
Virginia.
Return to Index
The
Collingwood
Series
George Fillis
Note:
The Collingwood
Series should be read in chronological order; not as individual
stand-alone
titles. Without the background of events in A Heart to
Survive, the
special challenges that test Winson's morals, ethics, and goals would
hold less
impact in An Unexpected Father. Together, the two
books support one
another, expanding discussions of many of the social issues covered in
this
Canadian historical romance. From its initial roots in 1949 China's
bloody
revolution and its aftermath to reverberations of change which echo
across the
world to Canada, the Collingwood Series brings to life not just a
singular
struggle, but the psyche and temperament of a nation and the individual
choices
of various characters who act and react to events under the Canadian
flag.
A
Heart To
Survive: first novel in the Collingwood Series
978-1-7359372-0-5
$14.95 Paper/$5.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Heart-Survive-first-Novel-Collingwood/dp/1735937207
An
Unexpected
Father: second novel in the Collingwood Series
978-1735937229
$14.95 Paper/$5.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Unexpected-Father-second-novel-Collingwood/dp/1735937223
The
Collingwood
Series is Canadian historical fiction at its best, reviewing events
that took
place in 1950s and 1960s Canada, an era when racism was often
unacknowledged.
The
main
character in the opening book A Heart to Survive
(978-1735937205;
$14.95) is fourteen-year-old Tao Wen Shun, whose family has been forced
to flee
China and Chairman Mao's repressive regime. As he observes from the
start, "Events
that started at home pursued me across the oceans." In this
case,
repression and prejudice tests the bonds of family and adaptation alike.
Wen
Shun resists
the idea that he is to go first, separating from those he loves, whom
he might
never see again: “I’d rather be together in bondage than free
in another
country.”
He
no longer
feels secure in a predictable vision of his future, or has the
foundation of
stability in the world. This influences both his journey and his
ability to
rebuild a life on new soil.
The
voyage to
Canada introduces him to new support systems that seem to fracture
almost as he
sets foot in BC, although it has given him a newfound maturity about
the
prospects of his future: "Now was the time to be optimistic,
focus on
being with a new family, and learn a new culture. My experiences on the
ship
had toughened me. I knew I had to be strong and determined."
As
he
experiences and learns about the roots of racism in his new home, which
extend
beyond anti-Chinese circles and even into those who appear to be white,
but
have their roots in other cultures and worlds, Wen Shun (who has
renamed
himself Winson) receives a history that opens his eyes to the pervasive
attitudes that dominate not just China or Canada, but the world: "...it
isn’t only your race that’s a target for persecution. Many believe
evolution
allowed for a creative mistake by which certain races survived. No one
is born
hating."
George
Fillis
does an excellent job of blending a young immigrant's experiences and
struggles
with the coming of age of a young man just beginning to identify his
ambitions
and prospects in life.
Particularly
notable is the concurrent evolution of love, heartbreak, and
relationships
challenged on all sides as Winson falls into a dangerous situation that
truly
tests not just his heart, but his life: "We fell in love, but
this
society told us it was wrong."
Elements
of
suspense, romance, action, and the evolution of self-determination
against all
odds weave into real Canadian social and political history to provide a
story
that is riveting and educational on many levels, offering perfect
material for
book club or classroom discussion.
As
moral and
ethical conundrums arise, Winson begins to see the kinds of choices and
their
consequences as elements that could challenge and ultimately change not
only
his world, but society as a whole.
The
fact that
Winson is based on an actual person and Collingwood, Ontario is a real
place
adds to the authentic voice of this introduction to the series, which
lays a
compelling groundwork for Book 2.
The
second book
in the series, An Unexpected Father
(978-1-7359372-2-9, $14.95) is a
sequel which takes Winson's story in an unexpected direction after he
marries.
An
Unexpected
Father explores the relationship between Julian LeBlanc and
Winson,
employer and employee, one that starts out benign and unassuming, and
evolves
to a depth neither party anticipated, and which transforms both their
lives.
Catherine, Julian and Caitlin keep Winson grounded as he faces many
different
kinds of choices that each bring with them implications and
consequences for
the kind of man he is becoming in this strange new world.
Tak,
a leader of
a human trafficking ring who made his appearance in A Heart
to Survive,
returns to add new chaos and questions to Winson's life, changing its
trajectory
yet again and posing new challenges Winson must address if he is to
ever be
happy.
As
he faces new
social, political, and legal challenges, Winson questions whether
justice and
equality will ever be part of his future: "If the government
restricted
licensed Jewish doctors and attorneys from practicing their profession,
then
who was I? A man from China was lower than the Jews. What was
I to expect
in a country where laws don’t work the same for everyone?" Winson's
personal struggles with issues of equality results in changes to the
lives of
those around him, who are challenged to make and reconsider their own
ideals of
freedom and equality in the face of his different reality about
opportunities
in Canada.
Once
again, in
this second book, Fillis has added enhancements and expansions of
immigrant
concerns and experiences that intersect nicely with the broader world's
milieu.
The two books dovetail nicely, expanding the scope of Winson's growth
and entry
into a society still replete with prejudices of all kinds, against all
kinds of
people.
The
result is a
series that introduces Canadian history and social issues on many
different
levels, exploring them through a diverse set of characters who each
harbor
their own visions of what it means to be successful and independent.
The
Collingwood
Series, through its first two books, delivers a one-two punch of
reality that
brings to life the clash between cultures, ideals, and changing worlds
in
Canada.
George
Fillis
has crafted a remarkably astute, wide-ranging survey that will provide
much
food for thought and discussion among any with an interest in the
foundations
of courage, convictions about equality for all, and how a nation
handles (or
mishandles) its immigrant influx and their absorption in and
contributions to
society.
Return to Index
Cows
Can't Jump
Philip Bowne
Neem Tree Press
978-1911107354
$12.99 Paper/$.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Cows-Cant-Jump-Philip-Bowne/dp/1911107356
Cows Can't Jump combines a coming-of-age story with a road trip
adventure.
Eighteen-year-old Billy struggles with a series of dead ends in life,
from a
dysfunctional family and a grave digging job that holds no opportunity
for a
social life or advancement to a UK holding its breath for the EU
referendum
which will change everything.
When
he falls in
love with an older girl from Switzerland, there is the temporary
promise of
positive change, dashed when she returns to her home country. There's
only one
thing to do. Follow her.
And
so Billy
erupts from his comfort zone of angst to embark on a journey that
involves a
series of escapades and mishaps as he crosses countries in a purported
search
for love, which turns out to be a more elusive struggle to grasp life's
meaning.
His
mission—to
make things good between himself and Eva again—evolves as Billy
experiences a
challenging set of circumstances which leaves him stranded in the
middle of
nowhere in Croatia, among other dilemmas.
His
odyssey,
which involves a bit of drinking with strangers and pairs personal
revelations
with alcoholic adventures, makes for a lively romp through Europe that
peppers
travel experiences with those of finding better ways to absorb life
lessons: “When
you travel the real way, Marko, you will know the importance of such
things.
When you learn to live with nothing, just the shirt on your back, and
when you
depend on the fruits of your own hands and feet–”
Fans
of
Kerouac's On the Road will find that Cows
Can't Jump adopts a
similar blend of angst, growth, and social observation—but in a
European
setting.
This
lively
story that will appeal to fans of travelogues and adventure as well as
personal
growth fiction, bringing the world and its meaning to life through
Billy's
astute observations.
Return to Index
Eleonora and Joseph
Julieta Almeida Rodrigues
New Academia Publishing
978-1-7348659-1-2
$24.00
https://www.julietaalmeidarodriguesauthor.com
Eleonora and
Joseph: Passion, Tragedy, and Revolution
in the Age of Enlightenment is
a novel set in 18th century Naples and the fledgling United States, and
uses three real-world historical figures to
explore a doomed relationship between two of
them.
Julieta Almeida Rodrigues
brings these colorful
historical figures to life and marries their worlds in a
narrative
that is vividly written, capturing not just their lives, but
an era on the
cusp of unprecedented social, political, and cultural change.
Eleonora Fonseca Pimentel
envisioned and fought for a
Republic inspired by the French Revolution. Joseph Correia de
Serra, the
love of her adolescence, became an acclaimed
naturalist and diplomat
later in life. When imprisoned, Eleonora writes
a journal which
includes descriptions of her lost love - a journal Joseph
discovers in
Monticello as a guest of Thomas Jefferson.
As Thomas Jefferson plays a
key role in creating the
circumstances which bring Eleonora’s journal - and
its
revelations - to new life years after its creation,
readers receive a
satisfying contrast of European and American environments that embraces
and
explores moral, ethical, and social conundrums alike.
Readers of 18th century
history will be particularly
attracted to not just the fictional premise but the attention to
authentic
historical detail that Rodrigues adds into the story to give it a solid
foundation in fact.
Rodrigues is especially
adept at juxtaposing personal
decision-making with insights on the social and political pressures
that
influenced them. Joseph says about his lack of involvement in
saving
Eleonora’s life:“I regret that I didn’t. Banks and the
British ambassador Lord Hamilton were both naturalists and good
friends. They
were forever exchanging letters on Mount Vesuvius. Had I asked, they
might have
intervened. But I was only thinking of myself. I was seeking a position
at the
Portuguese embassy in London and didn’t want to jeopardize my chances.”
“Silences are, sometimes, golden. In this case, you wanted to protect
yourself,” Jefferson said. I was struck hard by his words. They showed
understanding, compassion, and friendship. My heart stirred with
gratitude and
reverence. As during my previous visit, I had the feeling that
Jefferson agreed
with my silences because they mirrored his own. “It was a hard choice.”
I said.
“I feared repercussions if I interfered with Portuguese affairs. As a
royal
subject in London, I would gain nothing by trying to rescue an
insurgent. I
might even be considered one, too.”
While many historical novels
require some prior knowledge
in the era and environment under discussion, there's no need for such,
here.
Rodrigues provides all the background information for a seamless read.
Readers
will find themselves absorbing 18th century history and characters
without any
confusion over their backgrounds, motivations, or times.
From issues of slavery in
America to contrasts between
lower social strata in Europe, Rodrigues brings the themes to
life in a
manner that history buffs, in particular, will find refreshingly
thought-provoking. Eleonora says about her contribution
in Il Monitore Napoletano, "I
addressed the people directly in my work. I said: “I hope that the
plebe (the
lowest of the low, the lazzaroni) might, with the help of the people
(popolo),
get to the cultural and instructional level of the latter.” I knew that
the
lazzaroni were vulgar and brutish. I knew that they didn’t trust us,
the
republican literati. I despaired at their wretchedness; ignorant,
knowing no
better, they worshipped the monarchy and wanted it back. Nevertheless,
I
remained at their side to the very end. I admired their strength, their
vitality, even if misguided. I wrote: “Justice demands that the
lazzaroni be
educated, more than condemned, and it is never too late to instruct
them.” I
exercised the most balanced position in page after page. In the last
few
issues, I addressed the people as Majestas Populi, the people as
sovereign. I
called for unity: “I have appealed to the courage of all. Because
liberty
cannot be loved in half…and cannot produce its effects until everyone
is free.”
Yes, I repeat to this day, liberty is not only for the entitled. The
lazzaroni
of Naples needed education to understand this."
The result is a novel that
is heavily grounded by and
laced with historical fact: a piece that will be welcomed by readers
interested
in 18th century on both sides of the pond.
Return to Index
The
Essence of Nathan Biddle
J. William Lewis
Greenleaf Book Group Press
978-1626348462
$27.95
https://www.amazon.com/Essence-Nathan-Biddle-William-Lewis/dp/1626348464
The
Essence of Nathan Biddle follows a Southern boy's
coming of age and search for meaning, and is recommended for mature
teen to
adult audiences looking for a powerful blend of mystery, philosophy,
and
psychological inspection.
Of these elements, perhaps an
appreciation of philosophy will be the biggest prerequisite for readers
of this
novel. The story is introduced with a reference to Kierkegaard and
continues to
weave elements of various philosophies into Nathan Biddle's story as it
opens,
surprisingly, not with a piece of his life, but a reflection about his
death: "On the first anniversary of Nathan’s
death, we went to the sea. We may have been looking for the ungraspable
image
that Melville said is visible in all rivers and oceans, but I didn’t
see it.
Maybe I wouldn’t have recognized it if it were floating like flotsam on
the
surface of the water. In any case, I didn’t see the image and I didn’t
find the
key to it all."
His death is inconceivable to
the first-person narrator, the ocean offers comfort, and as Nathan's
story
unfolds, it's evident that the brooding narrator's foray into
Existentialism
offers some means of special understanding of these unique matters.
As Kit reflects on his uncle's
demise and tragic life and faces his own confrontation with death, he
begins to
lose track of a deeper meaning: "I
was so intent on finding an explanation of the meaning of existence
that I
couldn’t understand the point of the discussion. I struggled with it
for
several hours before giving up. I don’t know how long it took me to
figure it
out, but I finally realized that existentialism doesn’t give answers;
it just
gives a person a theory for superimposing meaning on his existence.
That wasn’t
what I was looking for."
Readers follow Kit's slow
enlightenment process to receive keys to understanding not just
philosophy's
connection to life, but his family ties with his mother and his 'not
quite
friends' relationship with Anna, which is mercurial and as puzzling as
his
uncle's influence.
J. William Lewis excels at
twists of language that lead readers to think about understated
meanings and
unexpected revelations: “Are you awake,
Kit?” my mother asked sweetly. I had opened my eyes and I was looking
directly
at her, so she had to know perfectly well that I was awake. What she
really
meant was, “Are you ready for a bomb, Kit?”
Kit's ability to grasp nuances
of these relationships and life's meaning leads readers into the
satisfyingly
complex story of a young man's proclivity for trouble, getting fired,
and
skirting on the edge of existential enlightenment.
Kit questions his identity,
relationships, and trajectory, bringing readers a satisfying story
steeped in
Southern lingo, atmosphere, and a touch of intrigue within the overlay
of a
coming of age story that keeps readers engaged and guessing to the end.
His search for a better place,
a different reality, and answers to life's meaning make for an
engrossing,
involving story that's hard to put down as his unique version of
reality
traverses questions and new insights.
Return to Index
First
Past The
Post
SJ Garland
Independently
Published
ASIN: B091BZVY4T
$7.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/First-Past-Post-American-Heiress-ebook/dp/B091BZVY4T
First Past The Post introduces the American Heiress series with a
horse-centered survey of
the cream of New York society and a behind-the-scenes examination of
the
pressures of challenging gender roles in the 1890s.
The
exciting
(yet dangerous) world of thoroughbred racing and the women competing in
it is
explored through the eyes of Eva McKenzie, her friend Lily Randolph,
and a cast
of characters who become involved in a missing horse mystery that sends
Eva
halfway around the world in pursuit of answers.
Francis
Wentworth, Duke of Wiltshire, also finds himself drawn into this
mystery that
crosses oceans and national borders alike; and as he faces a terrible
dilemma,
he wonders how far he will go to see justice done...and how many
innocent
people will die because of his decision to pursue a dangerous adversary.
His
resolution
to investigate the identities of two women who fall under his influence
is
captured in descriptions that probe the foundations of aristocratic
behaviors
on both sides of the pond: "Francis nodded and looked up at
the façade
of his parent’s grand townhouse. 'The challenge will be to keep Miss
McKenzie
and Miss Randolph out of the loop.' A thought passed through Francis’s
head
when he thought of Miss Randolph. Now that they were back in town it
was a
perfect time to search for more information on Miss Randolph and find
out why
she was so world weary."
From
a mad dash
across London in treacherous weather to dubious horse values that
demand
sacrifices and threaten lives, SJ Garland is adept at capturing the
uncertain
forces that motivate different characters to act against their own best
interests:
"Francis damned the stallion to hell and back before doing the
same to
Eva. How was he ever going to convince her of the value of her own life
over
horses?"
Think
thriller
author Dick Francis, but with a more aristocratic bent that considers
women's changing
roles shortly before the turn of the century. Garland crafts a mystery
and
pursuit that brings the strengths of all characters to the forefront as
they
not only interact within higher levels of society, but expand the bonds
and
strengths of their growing interpersonal relationships.
As
a crime
syndicate draws all the characters deeper into its nefarious scheme,
Francis
and Eva find themselves navigating social and political disaster as
Lily
settles her own debts and faces the consequences of her secret identity.
Fast-paced,
action-packed, and embedded with the flavors of American and British
worlds and
thoroughbred racing alike, First Past The Post will
enthrall its readers
with social inspection, mystery and intrigue, and twists and turns
throughout.
The story is especially recommended for fans of Dick Francis, who will
find its
political, social, and horse milieus astutely described and simply
captivating.
The
story ends
with a revelation that leaves the door ajar for more adventures.
Return to Index
The Frontline: Season 1 Episode
1: Pilot Episode
Michael
Santino
Independently Published
978-1737063612
$6.99 Paper/$.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Frontline-Episode-emerging-domestic-terrorism/dp/1737063611
The
Frontline:
Season 1 Episode 1: Pilot Episode
represents a modern take on the
relatively lost art of serial novel writing, and will appeal to
thriller
readers who usually don't receive this form of novelette in such a
digestible,
succinct style.
In the 1800s and early to
mid-1900s, serialization was an immensely popular form of publishing.
Publishing works in serialized form
gave authors a much wider readership because even poorer readers could
afford
to buy short volumes, and even busy individuals could afford to read
them.
Today, this form has largely
gone by the wayside, but Michael
Santino's revival of it in this book demonstrates that its usefulness
may be
even more appropriate for modern audience attention spans and budgets
than in
the past.
The
serial is designed to be read in order, and in short, two-hour
segments. There
are seven episodes in this series, so readers should be prepared to
enjoy them
all in the order given.
The
Kole County series begins with an FBI investigation into domestic
terrorism and
the group American Dawn. Agent Christopher Odacio and State Police
Senior
Investigator.
Kole
County's experiences mirror events across America and prove the
frontline in an
emerging threat that challenges the face of what it means to be a
patriot as
the two investigators draw closer to a truth that challenges their
personal
lives.
American
Dawn's organization and logic are explained by organizer Keith Brown to
Odacio:
"American Dawn is a peaceful organization, Odacio, but we’re
also
preparing for what we know is coming. We’ll be on the frontlines when
it
happens, and we need trained military men to run our operations when
the time
comes. We’re operating within the bounds of the law, and well within
our
rights, that is, if we still have any rights.”
How
does an American's initial charge to defend liberty and freedom result
in a
ragtag army of recruits who represent "...a toxic mix of nationalists,
racists, and QANON followers"?
This
and other social and political quandaries are explored as the
fundamental
beliefs and connections within the terrorist group come to light.
Michael
Santino intersects a host of characters to create a compelling story
depicted
from both sides of the struggle. He spices the fast pace of the tale
with
believable characters and supports this with dialogue designed to
intrigue and
captivate, adding depth to a blend of mystery and political and social
inspection.
Those
interested in stories that reflect modern American concerns, who do not
have
the time or attention span for a full-length thriller, will find this
serial
format sacrifices nothing in its choice of form and, indeed, will
appeal to
those who like their action hot, their characters three-dimensional,
and their
dilemmas firmly rooted in modern questions and times.
Return to Index
Jack of
Spades
David Lucero
Your Book Angel
9781735664859
$14.99
https://www.Amazon.com/author/davidlucero
When Jack
Ruggero was
drafted into the army during World War II in Jack
of Spades, he had only one priority: his personal survival.
The story
opens not
with Jack's entry into combat but in 1942 North Africa, where a siege
at the
Libyan port of Tobruk, a key acquisition for either side which could
win the
war, is on the verge of either collapse or stalemate.
Rommel,
South African
Major-General Hendrik Balzazar Klopper, Sergeant-Major Binns, and
others
introduce the background of this particular battle experience and its
strategic
and political impact as a savvy poker player becomes caught up in a web
of
conflict that precedes his entry into the war.
Jack's
unusual
firsthand knowledge makes him a pawn in this game, but he wants more.
His
approach to strategic planning, his position, and his abilities hold
important
keys to changing the outcome of events, as Jack finds himself operating
behind
the scenes in a manner he'd never predicted from his involuntary
military duty.
Lucero does
a fine
job of contrasting Rommel's moves and focus with Jack's experiences and
struggles. The personal insights and details are part of what makes Jack of Spades more than the
dispassionate series of battle encounters that one might expect from
the usual
World War II piece. This approach sets it apart from others by
injecting a
level of understanding about the major players in that war, and their
motivations and perceptions of the struggle: "Rommel
took a cup of soapy water, lifted it over his near-bald
head and poured it over himself. How good this feels, he told himself.
He
relished the relaxation he seldom enjoyed, and believed in experiencing
similar
privations his men endured. It was another example why his men admired
him as a
leader. He did not dwell on this moment for he was a military man right
down to
his socks. No sooner had he poured another cup of water over himself
was his
mind back on the war. What else will the English do? he wondered."
World War II
novel
readers will thus find Jack of Spades
a solid study in psychological as well as military and political
tension,
charting the course of the war through very different perspectives by
contrasting characters with very different objectives.
Fast-paced,
involving, and spiced with the kind of interpersonal insights that make
the
major players feel human and understandable, Jack
of Spades is recommended not so much for those seeking vivid
battle scenes, but for readers looking for depth and complexity that
creates a
standout probe of choices, consequences, and ultimate strategic
maneuvering.
Return to Index
Only Angels Gaze Toward
Heaven
John Molik
Independently Published
978-0-473-56972-3
$11.95
Paper/$2.95 Kindle
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Only-Angels-Gaze-Toward-Heaven-ebook/dp/B091DCSBYR
Author website: https://www.facebook.com/WriterJOHN/
Only
Angels Gaze
Toward Heaven opens with Jordan Del Cielo's life in a Mexican
orphanage, La
Casa de Santa Filomena. Replete in poverty and murky family memories,
Jordan is
rescued by the return of his father, who brings him to America. Armed
with
Christian faith and a resolution to help others, Jordan becomes
involved in
Doctors Without Borders and finds his love in Miriam, building a life
far from
his childhood angst.
It's all perfect until it's
not. As Jordan inadvertently
becomes involved in international technology smuggling, fueled by
threats to
his newfound family happiness and adopted son, he and Miriam face
moral,
ethical, and spiritual challenges that threaten to tear apart
everything they
have so methodically built on the foundations of their faith and
convictions.
Readers who choose Only
Angels Gaze Toward Heaven thinking it will be a religious
novel about
family ties will find that John Molik is just as adept at injecting
thriller
and suspense elements into this story as he is in presenting the
evolving
portrait of a family challenged both from within and by outside forces.
His focus on following
Jordan from his youth to the
promise of his journey to America and the unexpected forces that both
bring him
a soul mate, then threaten to drive them apart, creates a story line
that is
filled with satisfyingly unexpected twists and turns.
As soon as readers begin to
identify a specific focus or
genre (romance, coming of age story, or inspection of beliefs and
morals), the
plot injects another surprise to keep them involved and guessing about
the
outcome, which always seems to skirt the edge of tragedy.
From the politics of the DEA
and Border Patrol and a
criminal conspiracy that embraces everything Jordan loves to Saul
Darthe and a
cast of characters who harbor their own struggles and special
interests, Molik
crafts a multifaceted story that will especially appeal to thriller
readers
looking for complex plots and subplots that defy predictable
conclusions.
Keeping all these changing
characters and perspectives
logical is no light feat, but Molik accomplishes this and more as he
embeds a
sense of purpose, faith, and conviction into the story lines of many
different
characters.
The result is a fast-paced
romp through a man's changing
world that will especially delight Christian readers looking for an
intersection between faith, love, and the influences of a big, bad
world.
Return to Index
OOF: An
Online
Outrage Fiesta for the Ages
Strobe Witherspoon
Marginal Books
978-0-578-86310-8
$3.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/OOF-Strobe-Witherspoon-ebook/dp/B091D9BX4D
OOF combines satire and serious social
inspection in a novel format
that will intrigue literary, political, and social issues readers
alike, and
represents a unique inspection that is both fun and sad at the same
time.
The story
opens with
a preface by a FLOTUS who remarks on her role and the irony and insults
of
those who commented on it: "People
always ask me how he smelled. It’s an invasive question. And insulting.
As if
he smelled really bad, and that was evidence I was just with him for
the
money...Everyone responded to his charm. Even when he was making people
do
things they didn’t want to do. “It’s gonna be so good for you. So stop
with the
hemming, the hawing, and approve da project already,” he told people
over meals
of steak and cake. “Weren’t you just arm candy?” people ask."
This special
brand of
the satirical inspection of modern-day events will especially intrigue
literary
readers who like various representational devices wound into their
stories.
These
include Twitter
feed comments on social and political ironies and outrageous acts ("Finally!!!!!!! someone took on the
important task of representing the struggles of a Slovakian supermodel
and her
sketchy ass parents as they game the immigration system for their own
benefit.
That fixes everything. #sarcasm"), articles by followers of
the
Hellfire Prophecy and the author himself, the certainty that worlds are
ending
and new ones being re-envisioned, and letters and notes.
Witherspoon
includes
his own observations and progressions within the course of a spicy
story
replete in angst, sales pitches, revelations about the foundations of
tyranny,
and truth in propaganda.
Many of the
story's
contentions are disturbing as well as eye-opening. If one reads
closely, the
roots of personal and social survival are also embedded in these
attacks and
ideas: "I can use that sadness to
open up new networks of discovery within myself, which will open me up
to
others and close me off to the negativity that modern society has
brought upon
us, with the bureaucrats, the plutocrats, and the kleptocrats, all the
crats
that have been nibbling away at our essences over time, creating a
vicious
circle of corruption, deception, and despair."
Readers of
social and
political satirical literature will appreciate OOF
for its full-flavored inspection of social assaults by media
and political entities alike.
The fact
that these
comments are well couched in the media devices of modern times makes
them even
harder hitting and more absorbing, both mirroring real life and moving
into
realms of hope and despair. That the author weaves his own saga into
his Book of Strobe adds a
delightful tone of
inspection and tongue-in-cheek intersection between the personal, the
literary,
and the political in a story that is not linear, but always
entertaining and
thought-provoking.
Return to Index
People
of
Struggles
Tibor Gergely
Independently
Published
979-8652903718
$5.63 Paper/$5.65 Kindle
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/People-struggles-Mr-Tibor-Gergely/dp/B089TT3W8W
Website: https://www.heroesfromthepast.com/people-of-struggles/
People of Struggles is an epic historical/fiction piece set in 1992
Hungary, where two
terrorist groups are at work to instigate chaos and destruction, and in
1552,
in a parallel universe.
The
siege of
Eger Castle in 1552 was one of the greatest victories in Hungarian
history.
István
Dobó, the
chief captain of the Eger castle, and barely two thousand men, women
and
children faced the most powerful army of the greatest empire. Their
patriotism,
courage and self-sacrifice forced the 100,000 soldiers of the Turkish
imperial
army to retreat. This story was born in honor of this two
thousand
Hungarians, and documents how these ordinary men exhibited a patriotism
and
courage that could not stave off disaster in other nations.
First
Lieutenant
Gregory stands at the heart of these storms, representing the forces
that
attack and change the face of a nation and its choices, both ancient
and
modern.
Tibor
Gergely's
language reveals that English is not his native tongue, and at times
requires
some degree of contemplation and interpretation on the part of the
reader: "It
occurred in the year 1976. I was wearing just my age of ten and thanks
for the
enthusiastic support from my friends, this wearing has grown to a
spectacular
extent. Just in those days, cherry was ripening, so we were found on a
neighbouring cherry tree in one of the afternoons by the owner of the
tree, who
didn’t take kindly to our chewing of all his cherries."
He crafted
his novel
to include historical events that are are authentically captured.
Additional
data rounds out the story based on current knowledge of events.
Mr Pirovich, the
interpreter, faced a huge challenge in translating this piece for
English
speakers without sacrificing the nuances of the Hungarian language in
the
process. Some names also have special meanings in the novel, which
would not
have made sense in English, so in the end all the names had to be
translated.
The
tone,
however, flavors stories that captures past and present experience by
capturing
a sense of atmosphere and culture that better English, though more
polished,
might have failed to adequately represent. The translator does a good
job of
capturing the feelings and history of the events and peoples of the
times.
The
descriptions
and language even out as the novel progresses (or, perhaps the reader,
absorbed
in the action that follows, merely becomes more inured to the
unfamiliar
nuances of usage) and the magic of Gergely's world comes to life: "Reaching
the Shrine Bastion, I found men on the wall struck dumb in amazement.
At first,
I thought that the victims’ sudden death gave rise to this amazement,
but
seeing what they watch, the magical sight enchanted even me. We gazed
in
amazement as suddenly, a gap opened in the thick blanket of clouds that
spread
over the sky and through this opening, unearthly light of golden rays
of the
sun flooded the hilltop with the nine bodies hanging on stake, as if
the light
rays would show their tormented souls the way to the kingdom of heaven."
From
interactions with village children to determinations to stave off
disaster, the
characters interact with one another in a realistic, compelling manner,
involving readers in the evolution of not just a story, but a struggle
that
will ultimately define Hungary and the psyche of its peoples.
By
maintaining
the focus on Hungary's disparate forces and the ordinary man's
experiences of
invasion, confrontation, survival, and courage, Tibor Gergely crafts a
story
that is compelling and hard to put down: a slice of life and courage
from the
Hungarian history front.
Return to Index
Peril.
Chistopher Meerage
Independently Published
978-1-304-25905-9
$2.99
https://books.apple.com/us/book/peril/id690294350?fbclid=IwAR2pc8H1LKk1PBJoRKp444X0cMm9xIHnTukVasePvwZBqoKHXrqTKUqEK-Q
When Tom and his
colleague Kurt move away from their comfort zones into a strange world
affected
by an unusual drug, everything changes, in Peril.
The two are used to business challenges and Tom even finds himself
bored
and frustrated by some customers and transactions, but when things
begin to
change, Tom finds that his relationship not just with Kurt but with the
world
are on the line.
Chistopher Meerage provides
a satisfying romp through
business and social worlds. He does a fine job of documenting Tom and
Kurt's
tour de farce as they navigate new waters with resulting conundrums
that
challenge their everyday lives: "He
had extricated himself for the time being, but as he walked to the
bathroom to
adjust contacts that didn’t exist he could not deny the fact that he
had no
second act."
Tom faces changing
relationships with coworkers, his wife
Gina, and the careful life he's built for himself over the years.
From anonymous phone calls
accusing him of infidelity to
unexplained disappearances that get him in trouble on the job and at
home, Tom
finds his predictable, staid, if not somewhat boring life has become a
roller
coaster of adventure that brings readers along for the ride.
Meerage provides all the
nuts and bolts for a ribald journey
through an awakening mind. Does Tom really care about anything he's
built? Does
he have the will to fight for it? As his world splits between choices
made by
Old Tom and New Tom, boundaries continue to shift.
When choices lead to an
unexpected result, Tom is given
the kind of reprise he needs to revamp his life into something very
different...a form others might deem as unacceptable as Old Tom would
have once
thought.
Peril.
excels
in dark humor, conundrums, and challenges to the status quo. It also
stand outs
in following Tom's psychological shifts as he re-examines his life,
relationships, and choices, too often banging his head against the
proverbial
wall of change: "He knew that it all
had to be related but the frustration of not being able to tie it
together left
him on the verge of tears. His mind danced fruitlessly around a mosaic
held
together by an unseen thread that alluded to its presence only by
virtue of the
fact that the patchwork was joined."
The result is a story of a
journey both gone awry and
headed in a better direction—one which offers readers a chance to
immerse
themselves in the unexpected connections between Kurt, Tom, and the
worlds they
build and challenge.
Business fiction readers, in
particular, are in for a
treat!
Return to Index
Sandstorm
Joyce Yarrow
D. X. Varos, Ltd.
978-1-955065-00-9
$18.95 Paper/$4.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Sandstorm-Joyce-Yarrow-ebook/dp/B091JGLSR5
Sandstorm tells of a train wreck in the making and
opens with an encounter with stranger Leon, in which the young narrator
lies
and tells him she is eighteen. She's really fifteen. As Sandie Donovan
fills
his mind with more falsehoods about her destination and life and
accepts his offer
of sex, she finds herself both disappointed on some levels and engaging
with
him on an unexpectedly honest one: "Honesty was not a habit
with me but
neither was sharing a narrow bed on a train. Maybe that’s why I gave in
and
told Leon how my father—who since I was old enough to talk had insisted
I call
him Frank—was really a child himself." These choices will
follow her
as she rides into her new life as a makeup artist with a talent for
making over
her own life as much as the appearances of others.
Joyce Yarrow
paints
an engaging portrait of a teen left to her own devices by her mother's
death
and her father's inability to parent her. When her father leaves her to
start a
new life, she's effectively abandoned and left to build her own life as
she
will.
Readers
follow Sandie's
evolution from child to adult and come to root for this flawed
character, whose
early independence didn't include the kind of lessons that would keep
her from
making bad decisions in life.
As she
cultivates a
special brand of appeal and savvy to gain money to stay in a hostel and
survive
New York City's challenges, Sandie experiences her first grown-up
relationship and
at times confronts her own broken psyche in unexpected ways: “Do you believe?” he asked. “In what?”
“Anything, I guess.” “I don’t think about it. The here and now takes up
most of
my time, although tonight…” “What?” “Nothing.” “You seem so —
self-sufficient,
Sandie.” He may have meant this as a compliment, but for the second
time since
we’d met at the party, tears loomed."
These
glimpses of her
growth process and coming of age juxtapose with her survival tactics
and tough
exterior and lies as the consequences of her actions keep becoming
apparent,
from her relationship with Ben and a painting that may have been stolen
because
of her carelessness to her blossoming acknowledgement of responsibility
for her
choices and their consequences: "I
didn’t know what upset me most—that Ben’s troubles had become my own or
knowing
that I was responsible for them in the first place. That I didn’t set
him up on
purpose was no excuse. This was my fault."
When the
story opens,
Sandie is a train wreck that is taking people around her for a ride. As
it
progresses, she slowly develops the kinds of insights that lead to
mature
thinking. As she dabbles in the game of life and finds that it leads to
more
than a theft, Sandie becomes proactive rather than reactive.
Yarrow's
ability to
picture a flawed but likeable young character who is capable of
developing her
own leaps of faith, self-confidence, and world-wise savvy engages
readers with
a story that is realistic and evolutionary. Sandie makes the move from
child to
adult in unexpected ways, bringing readers along for a rollercoaster
ride
through others' changed lives because of her choices.
Readers
seeking solid
urban fiction settings and the spunky but struggling character of a
young adult
who changes immensely through her experiences and choices will find Sandstorm the worthy and intriguing
journey of a daughter who moves beyond subliminally seeking her absent
parent's
approval, and into the adult world.
Return to Index
Starlight in
the Dawn
Naveen Sridhar
Independently
Published
ASIN
: B093QFL75B
$10.99
Print/$.99 ebook
Website: www.naveensridhar.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B093QFL75B
Starlight in the Dawn opens in 2286 BCE,
when teen Ninlil leaves
her uncle's pottery shop in the city of Ur on the Euphrates River to
observe a
stranger heading straight for her. Beshi has a gift for Ninlil's
employer, High
Priestess Enheduanna. It's a gift that will change everything.
Further
visits from
strangers and those intent on changing their society illustrate the
story of a
city posed on the edge of spiritual and social change and a high
priestess whose
literary prowess reflects these moments.
As city
politicians
and rivals vie for power, the roles of many are set to change, from the
highest
levels to a father of four Obares, whose life has long been rooted in
the under
society of Ur, where "The whole decrepit locality was shunned by the
sophisticated citizens of Ur". As events unfold, Obares becomes a force
to
reckon with: "Obares had to consolidate
his position, like repairing and reinforcing a fortress in times of
peace. His
next move had to be defensive and preventive, discrediting Atrahasis.
Given the
reputation the old man had, that would be a difficult task and could
not be
done overnight. As an alternative, well, Atrahasis was old, and
anything could
happen."
Beshi
evolves to
command troops that help foster in a new, independent Ur, though
political
fallout roots him in one place and keeps him from his former
world-hopping
routines. Just in time, because he was tiring of his choices, and ready
to
settle down.
High
Priestess
Enheduanna ("Hedu") is a pivot point in this story of political and
social overthrows and change. Promises made between herself and Beshi
are
sorely tested by their changing roles as events unfold.
Naveen
Sridhar
provides a powerful story of social change, with several key characters
coming
together in an effort to change their destinies, relationships, and
futures.
The story of
Ur's
evolutionary process, the clash between its religious and political
forces, and
the evolution of characters who operate on both sides is well done and
nicely
captured in a story that is replete with action, psychological
transformation,
and challenges to belief systems alike: "God has his own
designs. How could
man ever understand what all this is meant to be? God’s ways and means
are
inscrutable for the mortal. A mortal will not know the reason for God’s
moves,
not at the moment he wants to know, maybe never in his lifetime. All
you can do
is ask for help. Dengir may grant you the boon precisely as you
imagined,
immediately, with delay, or in a different fashion… We cannot expect,
influence, or demand; we can only pray, trust, and believe—come what
may."
Time is
taken to
build not just one central character, but men and women who operate in
different circles, employing powerful forces in new ways. These
discussions
contribute to a story that is engrossing and filled with different
kinds of
insights, with romance added to the backdrop for further impact and
human
interest.
Perhaps part
of this tale's
allure lies in the fact that Sridhar's story is based on the real
historical
figure of high priestess Enheduanna, the first literary author on
record. Her
highly popular hymns and poems were widely influential and were read
for
centuries. The life events she captured in them form the basis for this
story.
Readers of
historical
fiction who look for engrossing tales with compelling protagonists will
find
this story of ancient Ur and a high priestess's changing commitments is
hard to
put down.
Return to Index
A Time to Forget in East
Berlin
C.G. Fewston
Independently Published
979-8731925242
$8.99
Print/$1.99 ebook
https://cgfewston.me/a-time-to-forget-in-east-berlin/
A
Time to Forget in
East Berlin is the second book in three novels of
interrelated characters
and themes and focuses on ex-CIA officer John Lockwood, who is living a
new
life under an assumed name in 1970s East Berlin, when the Ministry for
State
Security recruits him for another job.
From this plot outline,
newcomers might expect a thriller
or political inspection holding the usual outlines of an adventure or
intrigue
piece, but one of C.G. Fewston's talents is an ability to employ the
first
person usage and lively inspections to bring the story to life: "Beyond a birch tree in a courtyard,
the sun rose in the east to a young woman at a window facing the Wall.
When I
imagine her there by the window in the morning, it’s as though I
conjure her
from a dream I once had as a child. Her name is Nina, and her love had
a
strange Germanic power that held the fulness of hope, as swift and as
fair as
time. And in that dream, she was my Brunhilda and I her Sigurd. She was
my air
and I her fire."
Readers who enjoy poetic
prose and descriptions that go
beyond an action-oriented or political inspection focus will relish
this
story—which means that it will reach beyond the usual audience of war
fiction
epic readers to tug at the hearts of those who may not have anticipated
such a
compelling blend of descriptive prose and psychological inspection.
When John opens his story,
he's on the cusp of giving up
his focus on the Heads of Leonidas — the covert organization he's been
tracking
since his last mission in Tehran. His life in East Berlin has led him
to feel
isolated and alone in his pursuits and double life, and he has become
stuck in
an approach he once felt comfortable in, which analyzes everyone around
him as
a possible threat or person of interest.
Nina changes all that. His
relationship with her begins
with an unexpected connection that he thought long gone from his life: "When she spoke, I saw her. I mean I
could see her and all that
she
was worth. I felt myself stretching into forever. The ice floes of my
soul
melting beneath the blazing sun of Her. My arms, my legs, my face
spread thin
across the decades, centuries, millennia. I was gone but not forgotten.
I
sensed my essence, as thin as a cloud, over all history and time."
And then everything changes,
once more. How can he
reconcile the love and life that Nina has introduced to his new persona
Jacob,
while accepting a job that will draw him back into the situations that
had
alienated him from that life?
Nina teaches him more than
love. She holds a special key
to survival that holds intense ramifications for his dual identities
and
approaches to life and missions: "‘If
you stay in a place long enough, everything changes anyway.’ I knew
then, right
there among the dead and lost and forgotten — all those anachronisms —
that if
I ever lost Nina it would be like small deaths for every day without
her."
Through John and Nina's
interactions and perspectives,
the history and conundrums of East and West Berlin during the 1970s
comes to
life in a way that few thriller or political explorations can match: "West Berlin was gradually turning into
a retirement colony with nearly thirty percent of its citizens being
over
sixty-five. West Berlin, more a provincial city than what it had been
in the
fifties and sixties, seemed to Nina to be going backwards because of
the city’s
growing number of elderly pensioners. Meanwhile, in East Germany,
especially in
East Berlin, a stunted but determined form of hope — a hope,
nonetheless — had
swelled and filled the hearts and minds of the younger generation with
a firm
resolution of upward mobility."
There is no better way for
readers interested in
Germany's history and the dilemma and cultures of the two Berlins to
absorb
this information than in a novel such as this, which captures the
microcosm of
two individuals' love, relationship, and options and expands them
against the
blossoming dilemmas of a nation divided.
As Italian Silvio Amedeo
Modigliani observes to
John: ‘The world don’t matter when the
two of you are together. Politics don’t matter. Culture don’t matter.
Borders
don’t matter. Even the past don’t matter so much when she looks at you.’
John is supposed to be
retired. But he can't retire from
love, and he can't turn his back on the storm which rises to embrace
them both.
Fewston injects literary,
philosophical, psychological,
political, and social inspections into the story to add further depth;
from
references to Faust and Proust to concerns about the Stasi who might
quell the
one light he's been able to follow in this dark time.
The story is replete with
the phrases and flavors of
European culture, which are nicely mixed with the self-inspection John
undertakes in the course of his changing relationship with Nina and
Germany: "Shame stinks, and the stench is a
signal to the world to remind everyone what you’ve done and of who you
are. No,
you cannot burn memories as easily as burning books. No, you cannot
forget
because shame won’t allow it. No, you have to accept the shame as part
of your
own troubling history and pray to the high heavens that one day people
will
forgive you. But no, people don’t forget. They forgive, sometimes, yes.
Other
times, they don’t, they cannot. Accountability can be as light as a
kiss or as
heavy as a guillotine. Shame wasn’t so much a curse as it was a stigmata."
Readers who seek
multifaceted, compelling stories steeped
in social and political inspection and grounded by personal growth will
find
there is no need to have a prior familiarity with either John's
experience in
his Tehran book or with Germany's history. This stand-alone story is
both a
powerful compliment to its predecessor and a testimony to the strength
of a
writer who allows the personal and the political to intersect along the
road of
life in delightful, refreshingly evocative ways recommended for
literary,
historical fiction and novel readers alike.
Return to Index
The
View from My Window
Patricia J. Gallegos
Atmosphere Press
978-1637529669
$21.99 Paper
https://www.amazon.com/View-My-Window-Patricia-Gallegos/dp/163752966X
Shaman
Willow is only twenty years old, but the world around her has changed
in The
View from My Window. Her nomadic clan is broken and
scattered, threats and
violence limit trade and travel, and her focus on healing and daily
dreams has
undergone a radical transformation during the summer.
Patricia
J. Gallegos describes this in moving detail in the first few paragraphs
of the
story: "As a nomad, the view from my window changed daily. My
life was
governed by my apprenticeship as a shaman. While others in my clan
recalled
particular villages and hamlets because of the trading they had done
and the
friends they had made, I remembered the villages for the medicinal
plants that
grew nearby, the illnesses I had treated and the babies I had helped to
deliver."
The
threat to their nomadic existence comes from the fact that their
tribe's moving
caravan places them in jeopardy as traveling targets of violence and
hate. And
so, one by one, they are either killed or find villages to settle
in—places
where they can blend in, feel safer, and weather the storm of prejudice
and
conflict overtaking their world.
Willow
is tired of loss and change, but as the story progresses and she
strikes a root
that leads her to become a healer to the Queen in a bargain to save her
remaining loved ones, she becomes part of a life that successfully
misses all
the key pivot points of her growth: "I wept silently. The
waves of
grief that swept through me shook my body. My breathing was ragged as
though
someone had torn my chest open and left a jagged wound. I had not
realized that
I had graduated. I had not realized that I was emancipated. How had I
missed
it? Did the whole rest of the world see this and I was the only soul
who had
not? How could I be so bright and miss the thing in front of me? Life
had
changed for me the night I injured my foot. It was as if when I struck
that
root, a giant wheel began to turn, setting others in motion."
Perhaps
The View from My Window could have been published at
no better time,
because readers affected by Covid and overnight changes will readily
relate to
Willow's too-sudden transformation from a comfortable, familiar
lifestyle to
one in which the future is frightening, uncertain, and misses the
touchstones
of life's celebratory moments.
Thrust
into the position of being both a lead healer and the savior of her
people,
Willow grieves for her lost past and faces an uncertain future. The
story's
surprises include a romance that also will threaten any hopes of the
life she
once called her own.
Patricia
J. Gallegos provides a moving first-person saga of a young woman facing
not
just personal transformation, but vast changes to the fabric of life
and her
perceived role in it. From her healing abilities to the possibility of
love,
her choices hold consequences that will further affect everything
around her.
Covid
readers who have experienced these world-changing paradigms themselves
will
even more readily relate to Willow's thoughts and feelings than in the
pre-Covid environment this book was likely written in.
Willow's
process of experiencing broken connections, then re-connecting to her
powers
and new relationships is cemented by an attention to detail and
description
that is a particularly powerful comment on women's' strengths: "We
all
sat back and admired the quilt we had just completed together. Every
stitch
made the quilt stronger. Every story bound us together more securely as
a
family. Stitch by stitch, we sewed our way through lifetimes of love
and
relationships."
The View from My Window's message
of coming of age in a
fantasy world where instability becomes the norm and new relationships
are forged
both for survival and under duress makes for a story that is
hard-hitting,
involving, and hard to put down.
Return to Index
Where No Man Pursueth
Michael E. Jimerson
Atmosphere Press
978-1649218667
$15.77
Paper/$4.99 Kindle
www.atmospherepress.com
Where
No Man
Pursueth is a novel of Civil Rights struggles, coming of age,
and social
and political change. It follows the life of Ray Elliott, who grows up
to
become a Texas Ranger on the side of a law which is influenced by Jim
Crow
prejudices and attitudes.
It opens with a child's
nightmares and a decision about
truth and consequences, then evolves into an adult's perspective on
lynching,
justice, and the wellsprings of prejudice reflected in a seemingly
upstanding
community: "Ray Elliott had heard
racial slurs yelled out in anger. Although he didn’t use such language,
it was
commonplace. Why did the words take him aback today? It was the source.
The
source seemed so unlikely. The offending speaker was a handsome man
wearing a
blue suit and a high starched collar with a matching tie."
The plot development,
characterization, mystery, and
compelling images of East Texas culture and evolution are nicely done.
Strong juxtapositions
between a child's perception and an
adult's interpretation of matters also provide satisfying insights into
the
development of not just individual characters, but the community and
environment around and influencing them: "Spring
was being heralded by the white flowers of the spindly dogwood trees
blooming.
He was taught the Cross at Calvary was made of dogwood and ever after
the tree
was reduced to spindly branches incapable of providing the implement of
crucifixion ever again. He stopped long enough to touch the soft
pedals. He
remembered he was also taught every time he lied it was as if Christ
was
crucified all over again. The silly things they tell children."
A murder mystery and
investigation fuels the plot and
brings character insights and conflicts to life both within the
courtroom and
in the homes and lives of participants. The fact that the central
character and
'hero' of the story is as flawed as many around him lends a realistic,
engrossing touch as these characters, each damaged in their own unique
ways by
life circumstances and social influence, try to evolve beyond their
upbringings
and environment.
Should those with moral
foundations help those without?
Can lies ever be justified for the sake of a greater purpose?
These and other questions
permeate a story that is much
more than a murder mystery, social statement, or civil rights
inspection. It
develops all three facets under the flag of a community and individuals
changed
and challenged by its own ideals and perceptions as Ray faces an
invasion not
just of other forces, but an assault on his ideals.
Readers interested in
stories about the South facing
internal and external struggles will relish the Texas culture and the
impact of
social changes presented in this compelling story.
Return to Index
Badass
Pix with
a Cheap-Ass Camera
Annie Mack
Cresting Wave
Publishing
978-1735413525
$22.95
Paperback, $19.95 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Badass-Cheap-Ass-Camera-Annie-Mack/dp/1735413526
There are many, many
photography guides for all levels of
aspiring picture-taker, but few adopt the candid tone and perspective
of Badass
Pix with a Cheap-Ass Camera,
which
cuts to the chase with a specific discussion of how to produce superior
photos
on a beer budget.
The
focus of
this book is not just on taking pictures; but producing 'badass pix'.
In order
to understand what this is, it's important to know what it is not.
Annie Mack
defines these boundaries in a fine introduction: "Photography
can be a
lot of things. The things it usually is, without splitting the entire
discipline down to the molecular level, are photojournalism, scenic
photography, and portraiture...Photojournalism is freezing a real
moment in
time that is a piece of a larger story...Scenic photography means going
to an
exceptionally gorgeous place with unbelievable natural features or
architecture
and recording the image to bring it back to the unlucky people who
aren’t
there...Portraiture is making an image of a person or people who likely
has/have
paid the camera operator to make him/her/them look handsome or pretty,
even if
it involves manipulation to the point of being unrecognizable...Then,
there are
Badass Pix."
This introduction compels aspiring photographers to continue reading.
The term is not only defined, but heavily illustrated in a book that takes the time to define what makes a badass photographer an artist rather than a mere picture-taker.
The proof of the pudding of
success lies not just in
taking outstanding photos, but the choices in interpreting and
presenting them.
This covers subjects most other photography books omit, such as doing a
badass
picture justice by displaying it in an attention-getting, supportive
manner: "Whether it’s printing, matting,
mounting,
dangling, projecting, cyber sharing, or putting your work on coffee
cups.
Presentation can be the difference between enchanting the audience or
turning
them off with shoddy appearances. Again, you don’t need to buy
overpriced
genuine-wood-look frames, but maybe you want to respect your work more
than to
tack a crumpled sheet of posterboard to the bathroom door. Just sayin’."
The proof of the power photo
also lies in its artistry,
and Mack uses her own self-defined badass pics as examples throughout
to
illustrate all the concepts she presents. And, exceptional they truly
are.
From selfies to reflective
landscapes and images that
push standard boundaries, this guide is simply packed with examples of
how to
take the generic and standard approach and give it not just a gentle
push, but
a shove into the extraordinary.
Plenty of how-to guides
teach how to produce acceptable,
predictable photos. Many rely on expensive equipment and standard
techniques.
By introducing the idea that an inexpensive camera and minimum of
expertise and
equipment can create eye-catching images that pop with creative
originality,
Mack succeeds in teaching the most important photography lesson of all:
that
creativity does not need a hefty bank account to prove successful.
Want to produce images that
are outside the box and
amazing? All that's needed is a cheap camera and the boundary-busting
examples
in Badass Pix with a Cheap-Ass Camera, which should be on the radars of any college
student or aspiring art
photographer.
Return to Index
Business Basics for Authors
Hank Quense
Strange Worlds Publishing
9780985779153
$4.99
ebook
http://hankquense.org
Business
Basics for
Authors emphasizes to authors that they aren't just creative
spirits by
being writers—they are actually running a business that requires the
business
sense provided in this how-to guide.
The purpose of this book is
to review the basics in a
user-friendly manner that will appeal to writers who have little
economic or
business backgrounds.
Hank Quense cultivates a
non-technical, almost chatty
tone as he explains why so many authors fail to see their books get
attention: "I believe a major reason that
authors
fail to sell books is because they don't think like a business owner.
Businesses use highly developed marketing plans to introduce a new
product to
the public. These businesses do that because it has been proven to
work. Many
inexperienced authors use a shotgun approach to marketing (when they do
any
marketing!). Their efforts are without a focus and are piecemeal
instead of
continuous. In other words, the marketing proceeds without a plan to
direct the
activities. Most often, the author business, too, will be without a
plan."
The focus is on the business
of making a book accessible,
gaining publicity for it, and handling the basics of keeping track of
business
income, expenses, and goals.
Chapters do more than
generalize about these facets. They
provide specific references to computer programs, organizational
techniques,
marketing strategies, and methods of business promotion and management
which
offer the nuts and bolts of success.
From identifying customers
and competitors and handling
both to assessing business resources and even starting one's own
publishing
company, all the basics are provided for marketing both author and book.
Another added benefit to
this discourse is that it
doesn't just stem from Hank Quense's own experiences. Other authors
were
consulted on how they managed their book business, what were the most
important
challenges they faced during the process, and their successes and
failures at
being an author.
Their answers, combined with
Quense's advice, makes for a
how-to guide that will help budding authors navigate the process of
turning a
book into a business pursuit, avoiding many common pitfalls along the
way.
Business
Basics for
Authors is highly recommended reading for any writer new to
the business,
or who faces a wall of problems getting their work into print and on
the
public's radar.
Return to Index
Changing the
Game
Craig J. Tomsky
Izzard Ink Publishing
9781642280470
$37.95 Hardcover
www.izzardink.com
Many who think of
'game' usually add a 'y' to the mental idea of consuming game dishes,
but Changing
the Game: Your Guide for Transforming Wild Game into Game-Changing Meals fosters the idea that game cookery need not
involve flavors that are challenging for everyday eaters.
Indeed, this cookbook and
discussion adds an element of
gourmet to the game equation, discussing the basics of how to pair
game's
unique flavor with embellishments that make it not just palatable, but
preferable.
The key involves 'unlocking
flavor' and knowing how to
prepare and spice different game meats to make the most of their unique
qualities, while making the resulting flavor palatable for all.
Chapters review this
process, discussing spices, herbs,
marinades, and other ways of altering or enhancing the underlying
qualities of
game meat.
Many recipes, such as that
for Savory Breakfast Sausage,
are introduced by Craig J. Tomsky's reflections on experiments
conducted to
arrive at the finished recipe: "I
don’t even want to tell you how many times I attempted to get a
“traditional”
breakfast sausage flavor using mostly wild game meat. Lots of venison
went into
the multiple gyrations that got this recipe to where I wanted it. You
can also
substitute 7 pounds wild boar meat and 3 pounds fatty pork shoulder in
this
recipe."
Recipes run the gamut from
gourmet (Twice-Cooked Goose
Jerky, Waterfowler's Gumbo, or Smoked Breast of Wild Turkey made with
Sweet
Ginger and Mary Ann Rub) to everyday fare, such as a Sweet Italian
Sausage made
with venison or large game.
All that's required for
success is access to fresh game
and a new attitude towards cooking it for optimum crowd-pleasing
results. Changing the Game provides
the
rest...the ingredients and flavors which promise perfection, finished
with side
dish suggestions and wine pairings for added attraction.
Return to Index
The Classic
Orthodox
Bible
CJS Hayward, Compiler
CJS Hayward Publications
978-1-0878-6882-0
$99
Translation Website: classicorthodoxbible.com
Author Website: www.cjshayward.com/books
Ordering: cjshayward.com/cob
The Classic Orthodox Bible is compiled
and revised from Sir
Lancelot Brenton’s public domain translation of the Greek Old Testament
and the
public domain King James Version of the New Testament, with the
intention of
producing a Bible true to the original word, yet accessible to modern
audiences
via the King James style of interpretative language.
The front
matter is
aimed to orient the reader with regard to Bibles, and includes a short
story
(really an essay in the form of a story) of a man who finds a heavy
tome with
letters inscribed on its cover:
COMMENTARY
ON THE OLD AND NEW
TESTAMENTS
IN ONE VOLUME
CONTAINING A
CAREFUL ANALYSIS OF ALL CULTURAL ISSUES
NEEDFUL TO UNDERSTAND THE BIBLE
AS DID ITS FIRST READERS
This version
is "is much what the King James Version of
the Bible would have been if the translators had been working from the
Orthodox
Church’s Greek Old Testament." As such, it provides a
literal, more
demanding version that scholars, particularly, will find thoroughly
engrossing,
especially when considered side-by-side with some of the other versions
of the
Bible.
Here resides
the
classic translation of the entire authentic Septuagint, plus the
classic King
James New Testament. There have been comments about the print version's
appearance, but this reviewer works from an ebook, and
this Bible, at
standard letter page size and 1200 expansive, beautiful pages
represents a
format that would grace a gift to a friend or loved one.
The size, additionally,
works well to provide readers with a book easily digestible and
followed.
In
comparison with
other versions, this Bible's language is intriguingly different from
the start:
"The Creation,
Genesis 1. In the beginning God made the Heaven
and the earth. But
the earth was unsightly and
unfurnished, and darkness was over the deep, and the Spirit of God
moved over
the water. And
God said, “Let there be light,” and
there was light. And
God saw the light that it was good,
and God divided between the light and the darkness.
And God called the light “Day,” and the darkness he called
“Night,” and there was evening and there was morning, the first day."
References
for
practically every line allow for further research, while Old and New
Testament
sections are provided in different font sizes to allow for easy
delineation
between the different parts of the Bible with an emphatic
crescendo rising
in sections of the Bible that are closest to the Orthodox heart.
Anyone who
has
pursued King James and other versions will find much more content,
different
references, and expanded Biblical events and descriptions in this
Orthodox
version. The cultural references, history, religious inspections, and
Orthodox
belief system are well-presented and will prove a treasure;
particularly to the
English-speaking Orthodox Christian community, who will find the depth,
detail,
and presentation lends to study and scholarly interpretation as well as
new
opportunities for religious insights and inspections.
The extent
of work
that went into this version is evident in every single passage.
Orthodox
Christian readers interested in more than the usual translation and who
want to
take the next step into understanding Bible version relationships to
belief and
God's word will find The Classic Orthodox
Bible an indispensable volume that deserves a place in any
serious
Christian's collection.
Readers who
appreciate this work may want to explore some of CJS Hayward's own
writing,
such as his autobiography Orthodox Theology and
Technology (cjshayward.com/ott)
or, for a deeper dive, The Luddite's Guide to Technology (cjshayward.com/lgt).
Return to Index
A Collection of US Army Unit
Crests
SFC William E. Cotter, Ret.
Independently Published
9780578783529
$149
+ $20.00 shipping
https://www.facebook.com/usarmyunitcrests
Email: cffdrnkr@yahoo.com
If one should wonder at the
hefty price tag of A Collection of US Army
Unit Crests, it
should be pointed out that this reference is well worth the cost, and
should be
considered an essential acquisition for any military library or
collectors who
have more than casual occasion to look up Army unit crests.
Over 13,000 unit crests
appear in full color and embrace
the range of crests, from authorized to unauthorized, beercan, and
never-issued
crests, as well as those strays that don't fit into any neat category.
Furthermore, the crests are
presented in branch order and
pages are marked by branches, allowing researchers to easily locate the
appropriate crest by branch and cross-reference that crest to other
units that
also used it.
It only takes a comparison
between SFC William E.
Cotter's approach and the few other competing books on the subject to
see the
clear difference as to why this reference is so essential. Others are
in black
and white, or narrow the crest focus to specific branches. Some make it
difficult to understand the particular nature of a crest which can be
assigned
to more than one area.
The last reference that
claimed to be somewhat
authoritative only covered 3,200 crests. With over 13,000 here, there
is simply
no comparison (or competitor) to this manual, which adds ROTC and JROTC
unit
crests to expand a collection that includes crests from artillery
units,
military intelligence, schools, ordinance, and others in chapters that
make it
a snap to locate a specific image.
The images of each crest are
small, allowing for 30
crests to appear on a given page, max; but are large enough to allow
for
detail.
While the most likely reader
of A Collection of US Army Unit Crests will
be the military reference
student, it also lends to leisure browsing
by collectors, historians, and anybody who holds a special
interest in
military crest development. This reference is worth every penny,
offering a
format and scope unprecedented in military crest references and
creating a key
compilation that should be in all military libraries and on many a
personal
collector's reference bookshelf.
Return to Index
Evil Robots, Killer
Computers, and Other Myths
Steven Shwartz
Fast Company Press
978-1-7354245-3-8
$19.95 Paper/$9.99 Kindle
www.fastcompanypress.com
Evil Robots, Killer
Computers, and Other Myths offers
a rebuttal to those convinced that
AI developments are bad, and that human-built artificial minds will
take over
the world to eliminate the human race. It's a reasoned argument that
considers
why this can't happen, making a case for the presence of robots,
computers, and
higher intelligence developments that can aid humankind.
In
order to
refute these fears, AI researcher and investor Dr. Shwartz presents
insights
into the latest technology and developments, syncing these scientific
studies
with the myths that have derived from alternate visions of their
applications.
From
self-driving cars to computer neural networks and prediction analysis,
Dr.
Shwartz provides many cautionary notes about AI developments and their
pros and
cons which are realistic and do not involve dominating or replacing
human
beings: "We need to educate people about the need to avoid
data
fundamentalism. Computers are not always right, and their output can be
wrong
for many opaque reasons. Before we act on an answer or recommendation
from a
computer system, it is often prudent to investigate how the computer
system
arrived at the answer. If we are to accept answers and recommendations
from
deep learning systems that lack interpretability, we at least need
guidelines
from the vendor on how to evaluate reliability. Another issue is that
some
predictive algorithms must remain secret."
We
are already
seeing some of these problems today, as people turn over tasks to
automated
systems without fully understanding or assessing their output using
human
analytical abilities.
Discussions
eschew the hype and drama of the usual AI environment to consider
issues of
data bias; strategies for imbuing AI systems with thinking and
reasoning
capabilities akin to but not the same as human common sense; and
understanding
the limits and possibilities of machine learning.
Also
included
are discussions of new legal and social processes that must be put into
place
to adapt to the presence and possibilities of AI in human society.
The result is a fine introduction to modern AI potential and research which substitutes common sense, history, and science for the hype and drama which normally is injected into AI discussions. Its survey of both narrow AI and artificial general intelligence (AGI) should be required reading as a basic primer for any science and technology student interested in AI development and history.
Evil Robots, Killer Computers, and Other MythsReturn to Index
Exploring Other
Lifetimes
Patty Paul
IMdex Publishing
9780964272706
$16.99
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Exploring-Other-Lifetimes-Memoir-Journey-ebook/dp/B08Z7SF478
Website: www.23brightfuture.wixsite.com/patty-paul
Exploring
Other
Lifetimes: Memoir of a Soul's Journey
presents some thirty of Patty Paul's other lifetimes, which
she visited in
self-guided meditations in order to understand how they connect with
her
current incarnation. Paul is especially astute at describing what she
discovered and experienced and how it impacts her present-day world.
If this
sounds like
just another past life or reincarnation approach, be advised that Patty
Paul's
perspective is very different. It is based on the premise that these
other
lifetimes are all happening at once, at various levels of
consciousness, and
have influence on her current life for specific reasons.
As they
simultaneously unfold and intersect, they hold lessons, spiritual
relationships, and opportunities for self-discovery that are accessible
through
meditation and other techniques, which Paul describes at the end of her
book.
Another way
in which
Paul's book diverges from the new age norm is its ability to provide
not just
reviews of these other lives, but summations of their impact, like this
one in
Chapter 6: "This is the bigger
picture of Mignon's lifetime: Mignon's is a beautiful and powerful key
lifetime. It is another moment in the continuum of spiritual growth
that began
with Maya's first directional lifetime—the one in which certain primary
positive and negative influences were established which are present, to
one
degree or another, in all my lifetimes."
From various
issues
such as trust, leadership, and decision-making to how learning about
these
lifetimes changed her reality, Paul provides readers with a unique
memoir that
is as much a path to personal empowerment as it is an exploration of
her
individual soul's journey.
Her ability
to be
specific about these lifetimes and their lessons sets this book apart
from
others, offering a vivid memoir filled with thought-provoking insights
and
opportunities for transformation, growth, and a revised purpose in
considering
life's spiritual roots and choices.
While new
age readers
will be the most likely audience willing to pick up and absorb Exploring Other Lifetimes, ideally it
will also be found in spirituality and self-help libraries, offering
open-minded, growth-oriented self-help readers an unusual blueprint to
a
realizing a revised, more perceptive and effective life.
Return to Index
Free Will, Do You Have It?
Albertus Kral
Tellwell Talent
978-0-2288-3711-4
$24.99 Hardcover/$15.99 Paper/$3.99 Kindle
www.tellwell.ca
Modern
philosophy readers interested in the ongoing
debate over free will and determinism receive not only much food for
thought,
but much fodder for debate in Free Will,
Do You Have It?
Philosophy-minded readers
who anticipate the usual
discussion will find the first surprise in the introduction, which
defines
parameters for this consideration which are much broader than the
traditional
debate over free will and choice. It's about human behavior patterns
and
influencers; good and bad choices and what drives them; and the
rationales used
to justify each of these choices.
Albertus Kral maintains: "No choice is made without a reason, influence or
other stimuli,
whether it is known or unknown to us, whether it takes place at the
conscious
or subconscious level." This thought, in turn, ties directly
into the
free will question by then addressing those influencers which shape
choice and
the idea of free will. Thus, readers receive a good degree of added
psychological insight to flavor their philosophical reflection, which
will
satisfy those interested in exploring and revealing all the roots of
free will.
This book holds its origins
in a simple experience in
which the author, having engaged in a lively conversation, had to leave
to buy
groceries: "Right after I said I had to leave, someone asked whether I
knew why. Of course I know that, I thought, Otherwise
I would not
have said that I had to leave. So I responded, “Yeah, I have
to buy some
groceries and finish some work at home.” ...He said, “You have to leave
because
there is nothing else you can do. Do you believe that you have free
will?” Ah,
I thought, that is too easy and I am not falling for this.
So I replied,
“OK, I will not leave but stay.” Looking back, I realize now that my
reaction
was one of ignorance as I had helped prove a point that I will use
often in my
concept. After I left, that question would not leave me alone. Every
time I
decided to do something, it would pop up. I began asking myself whether
I did
have free will. I almost felt embarrassed because it was not imaginable
that I
couldn’t choose whatever I wanted. For days on end I asked myself, Why
do I
do what I do? Why do I make the choices I make?"
Free
Will, Do You
Have It? considers this question and more, examining the
links between
choices and reasons, the logic and progression of producing rationales
supporting each, and whether or not behavior is a choice or a process,
among
other questions. It posits a third option in the free will debate,
"Procirclism," which embraces the science of human behavior.
From ego, awareness, and how
stimulus is processed and
manifested to neuroscience's brain research and its impact on the
concept of
free will (which may be an impossibility to define or defend), Free Will, Do You Have It? offers modern
thinkers an exciting science-based blend of philosophy and psychology
that is
perfect for classroom discussion: "If
we agree that we are subject to influences and agree that we are not
always
aware of all the factors that influence us, then we understand that we
relinquish some control over the consequences. If we agree that those
influences—as part of the brain processes—play a role in our brain,
then we may
also conclude that unless we have control over the working of our
brain, we
have little control over the outcomes of the processes. Most of us have
looked
at the pros and cons before making a decision. At that time, we did not
feel
that we were not in control. We felt we could make any decision we
wanted to.
No argument here. But that does not mean it happens like that just
because it
feels that way to us."
It's rare to find such a mix
philosophy and science-based
study that intersects on many different levels, yet remains accessible
to
philosophers and non-philosophers alike. Those interested in the
discipline in
general and the basic tenants of free will, will find Free
Will, Do You Have It? a lively blend of self-inspection and
science-based analysis that will spark many a discussion in philosophy
circles
and other disciplines.
Free
Will, Do You
Have It? is very highly recommended for its special
attention to making
science and philosophy easily accessible to all, relating both to daily
experiences and events in a way that is fresh, original, and inviting.
Return to Index
Gaslighting
Recovery Workbook
Tara
Wilson
Vox
Publishing House
979-8730697584
$11.99 Paper/$2.99 ebook
https://www.facebook.com/voxpublishinghouse
The term 'gaslighting' has only relatively recently made its way into
modern
language and onto the radars of everyday people, but has quickly
evolved to
become a better-known facet of emotional trauma in interpersonal
relationships.
Still,
most books on the subject either embrace this in a larger context of
abuse, or
focus on defining circumstances of gaslighting without providing the
keys to
not just identifying, but overcoming it. Because those adept at
gaslighting
often impart ideas and subtle messages that might not be picked up by
those
around them, it's especially critical that everyone receive the message
in this
book about what constitutes gaslighting and, more importantly, how to
cultivate
a 'gaslight-proof' approach to life, to avoid toxic relationships.
That's
why Gaslighting Recovery Workbook is such an
essential publication,
highly recommended for any authoritative collection on mental health
and
self-help.
It
opens with a definition of gaslighting, a review of the type of
personality who
employs it, and a survey of different strategies that gaslighters use.
Many
will likely recognize someone in their lives who does these things.
Next,
chapters get to the heart of the matter—what to do about gaslighting.
From
setting boundaries and rebuilding self-esteem to acknowledging
responsibility
and being pro-active in the process, Tara Wilson goes beyond 'victim
mentality'
to explain how those being gaslighted can take charge of their lives
and
relationships: "You have had your self-confidence and
self-esteem
shattered and then controlled by your abuser. Those are delicate things
for
anyone, but they are so important if you are going to be successful in
recovery. You have to own who you are, what you are, and what you want
moving
forward."
Because
this is presented in workbook form, readers need to be prepared to not
just
absorb new concepts, but review the questions and answers that will
help them
identify and adjust their own attitudes and relationship approaches.
Exercises
cover the basics of building self-identity and using the day's end to
review
all relationship interactions for a better, healthier approach. Why?
Wilson
advises: "Put your ideas into action because it will show
those around
you that you are assertive and in control of what goes on in your life,
especially in your emotions."
Gaslighting Recovery Workbook isn't
just a guide for victims. It's a
tool for creating self-empowerment, and should be a part of any
self-help,
psychology, or general lending collection where self improvement is of
interest. It's designed to be a toolkit for everyday life that can be
carried
not just into a love relationship, but all kinds of social situations.
Return to Index
A
Handbook for
Bullying Victims
Bruce Sherman
Independently Published
979-8672980706
$9.99
www.amazon.com
Given
all the publicity
around bullying, these days, it's
notable that of all the strategies designed to address it, the majority
fall on
the shoulders of adults, gatekeepers, and institutions to enact. Few
are
addressed to those who are potential victims; much less offer a fresh
viewpoint
on how to empower and protect them, starting from within.
A
Handbook for
Bullying Victims achieves its goal by outlining a program
Bruce Sherman
names the 'International Bully Patrol', emphasizing its world-wide
applicability.
The
book opens with a
personal story of the author's
childhood experiences with a bully. It's a familiar tale of ongoing
abuse and
victimization. While his solution resorted to violence to quell the
attitude of
a bully who terrorized not only him but his entire class, Sherman
admonishes
that violence, though one option, is indeed a last resort.
His
book covers all the
choices for handling bullying in
various ways, combining advice and insights with a treasure trove of
online
references vetted by effectiveness and organized by subjects that range
from
ethnic bullying and cyberbullying to police misconduct, elder abuse,
workplace
issues, prejudice, and more.
The
specific chapter
headings allow readers to skip
through the manual, if they desire, to locate a particular area of
interest;
while the subjects include overviews and list enough information about
each
article link to give readers an idea of its appropriateness and content
before
they clink on the reference.
Take
the 'Muslim Bullying'
section, for example. Here,
readers will find vetted references addressing such diverse subtopics
as
'Supporting Muslim Teens in Face of Islamophobia — in Their Own
Schools'; a
2019
Bullying
Report by the
Council on American-Islamic
Relations; a CBS news story 'We're called terrorists:' HWDSB
anti-bullying
session hears from Muslim community'; and the thought-provoking
article,
'Singled Out: Islamophobia in the Classroom and the Impact of
Discrimination on
Muslims'.
Each
article brings a
different focus, study, approach,
and real-world statistics and insights to explore the broader nature of
the
bullying problem. Each provides solutions. More importantly, each has
been
vetted by Bruce Sherman, in comparison to the multitude of other
writings on
the subject, bringing the cream of the crop to the top and saving
readers many
hours of searching.
With
its wide-ranging focus
through all age groups (from
children to elder adults), all ethnicities, and legal and social
platforms of
discussion, A Handbook for Bullying
Victims lives up to its promise to deliver a powerful tool
for resolution
to all interested in the subject of bullying and how to identify,
understand,
and resolve it.
There's
nothing quite like
it on the market. Reference
libraries, in particular, will find A
Handbook for Bullying Victims a top acquisition.
Return to Index
Love
in a Suitcase
Thomas Schwendler
Independently Published
978-1-7368130-0-3
$8.95-print,
$1.99 e-book
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Love-Suitcase-Relationship-Analog-Digital/dp/1736813021
Website: revtomschwendler.com
Love
in a Suitcase:
Relationship Notes from an Analog Time for Our Digital World is
a
discourse about faith, family, and relationship-building in modern
times. It
comes from a reverend whose rediscovery of hundreds of his uncle's love
letters
in an old suitcase led to better understand his Uncle Bill and Aunt
Anne's
three-year courtship and wedding.
The
insights unpacked from
this suitcase helped
Schwendler in his premarital consults with young folk on their own
journeys to
marriage and, ultimately, led to writing this book, which offers the
same
nuggets of wisdom to its readers.
These
revolve around the
spiritual and cathartic act of
using writing to form connections, clarify points, and ultimately
reinforce
growing relationships. Modern readers who question the old-fashioned
art of
putting pen to paper receive clear advice on why and how this differs
from
Tweets or email: "There’s some kind
of alchemy going on when your thoughts move from your mind to your
hands to a
piece of paper. Because it’s slower than a keystroke and takes more
effort,
your thoughts can be deeper than those expressed in a text message or a
social
media post."
The
alchemy of
relationship-building thus is created by
the time and care taken to formulate the right words, revising,
editing, and
ultimately sending a series of gifts that, when properly done, can
serve as
reflective guideposts not just for that moment of love, but for the
rest of a
couple's life.
Rev.
Schwendler didn't
expect to uncover the best
marriage advice he'd ever heard in that abandoned suitcase. But as he
took the
time (sparked by Covid's isolation) to read through all these letters,
he
discovered a treasure trove of practical insights on everything from
handling
in-laws and conflicts to cultivating honest exchanges replete with not
just
interpersonal connections, but self-examination: "if all I was
thinking
of was getting you as a husband, I could tell you all that confusion
and what
have you didn’t bother me in the least, that I could like to live in
the Ross
home – just to get you and then after we are married turn the tables
with a lot
of arguing and fault finding with your family which would eventually
lead to a
feud. I believe in reasonably talking things over and trying to smooth
things
out before we get married."
He's
published pieces of
this sage advice and added his
own insights and reflections to create a book that should be not only
an
engagement gift for any would-be couple, but a road map for any couple
seeking
a deeper, more harmonious relationship.
Replete
in life insights
usually gained mostly from the
School of Hard Knocks, Love in a Suitcase
is filled with riches the author chose to share with the world. It
deserves a
place in any Christian or general-interest collection strong in life
lessons.
Return to Index
Mafia
International
John Alite (as told to Louis Romano)
Vecchia Publishing
978-1-944906-35-1
$24.99
Author Websites: www.JohnAlite.com
and www.LouisRomanoAuthor.com
Few
books chart the journey
into the crime world as
powerfully John Alite's Mafia
International. Perhaps this is because of Alite's high-level
involvement in
the Mafia. He was also known as Johnny Alletto, an
Albanian-American
former Gambino crime family associate who made the decision to testify
against
his 'family' after being charged with murders, international drug
dealing, and having
learned he had been betrayed by the Gottis and the leadership of
captains while
Alite was in Brazilian jails, having been captured while on the run. As
an
Albanian, they thought they could all point at him. Once
released, he publicly denounced organized
crime and became a motivational speaker on the subject of how to avoid
crime.
As
Alite confesses in the
opening paragraphs of his book:
"I immersed myself further and
further into the matrix of the mafia and beyond. I extended my
relationships
with other mafia factions across the United States and constructed my
own
international drug connections. I had associations with drug cartels in
over
ten countries and a vast network of buyers and sellers across the
globe. It was
unheard of for one man in the criminal underworld to garner such a
complex
network, but I did it. And I loved it."
How
he become connected to
this world in the first place
and found himself digging ever deeper into the quagmire of organized
crime
makes for a riveting memoir and true crime story that should be on the
shelves
of any collection strong in Mafia exposés.
This
is no quick overview of
this world, as are many
books written by journalists and other outsiders on the subject. Author
Louis
Romano, who chronicled numerous in-person interviews, does an excellent
job
guiding us through a “day in the life” of a cold-blooded killer.
Alite's
intimate relationship to not just criminals but the economic and
political
extent of their activities traces the building blocks of his criminal
involvements
in explicit detail: "By the early
nineties, this very drug ring I established and ran would earn the
Gambino
family almost a million dollars a month and sometimes more. This type
of
generated income allowed me not only move in and among higher circles,
but I
became privy to so much. The fact that I grew up and was friends with
many sons
whose fathers held high positions within the mafia worked to my
advantage as
well."
From
his considerations of
power plays and deceit that
operated both above-board and underlay many of these relationships to
his crime
partners, friendships, and the perceptions of Mafia members who ran in
these
circles, his story embraces different people, circumstances, and
experiences: "There was a fine line between
bravery
and stupidity and I knew what side of the line Gene (Gotti) was
thinking from.
He thought he was untouchable because of his name, but he would be
wrong."
Alite's
clashes,
realizations, and moves from the crime
world to international operations and then prison is especially
intriguing
because he operates in no singular circle, and holds the ability to not
just
move into Mafia operations and murder, but to ultimately use his
experiences as
growth opportunities to change, even as the Mafia embraces overseas
operations.
Those
who believe there is
no future beyond organized
crime once one assumes a high-level Mafia position will find many
surprises in
a gripping story that reads like a blend of novel, with interpersonal
clashes
and action, and memoir, which offers insights not to be found in other
Mafia
and organized crime stories.
Any
collection strong in
true crime reads must add Mafia International
to their holdings. It
is a standout in the literature.
Return to Index
The
Meal Deal
Lisa Kiersky Schreiber
BookLogix
978-1-61005-974-9
$14.99
Paper/$7.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Meal-Deal-Healthier-Eating-Lifestyle/dp/1610059743
First,
to be clear: The
Meal Deal: Blaze Your Own Trail to a Healthier Eating Lifestyle isn't
another diet book. It's a success story based on making a lifestyle
change
which is more wide-ranging and self-supporting than any diet plan, and
thus
requires of its readers more of a commitment than eliminating or
choosing
particular foods.
Readers
are required to
assess their habits and make
changes accordingly...changes meant to be life-lasting; not quick and
temporary
solutions to achieve a given weight goal.
Herein
lies the difference
between The Meal Deal and many
other books on the market that incorporate
lifestyle change into their nutrition advice, because this book tackles
the
harder question of how to identify and change the types of habits that
lead to
ill health and poor nutrition choices.
The
strategies embrace
redoing one's kitchen to make it
easy to find healthy food and difficult to turn to less
health-supporting
alternatives. Lisa Kiersky Schreiber advises readers on how to create
their own
health cookbooks filled with successful new recipes, and she reviews
the kinds
of food prep and grocery list planning that lend to better choices and
make it
easy to go for the gold.
At
each step, readers are
provided with basic advice
that, unlike competing titles, assumes no prior savvy or knowledge
about the process.
It's easy to advise switching ingredients or recipes, for example; but
how,
exactly, does one locate and identify a healthier recipe? And what are
the
parameters for assessing its nutritional value?
Schreiber
leaves nothing to
wonder, and that's the glory
of her lifestyle change book. Each step is designed to reformulate and
support
new habits that are easy to understand and follow. Each section in her
book
includes checklists, habit-reinforcing exercises, and new ideas that
streamline
every part of the process.
For
example: the section on
how to stock a pantry covers
'red light', 'yellow light', 'compromise', and 'green light' coverage
of
desirable and less desirable choices, and includes a 'warning' on what
happens
when too much vigorous enthusiasm early on results in an
impossible-to-follow
approach: "Many of us have an
emotional attachment to certain foods in our pantries. For me, that
includes
chocolate. For my husband, it’s potato chips. If you find you’re
hesitant to
ditch something, or just not sure you’re ready to do without it yet, it
is
imperative that you go easy on yourself. Judgment and self-criticism
should not
be part of this process, because self-condemning thoughts can lead to
shame
and, ultimately, binging. You can always revisit problematic items
later.
There’s no point in making yourself feel bad over food. It doesn’t lead
to
anything productive. The most important thing is that you’re adding
more
nutritious items. Doing that alone can lead to healthier habits down
the line."
Though
readers will likely
find The Meal Deal shelved in the
diet section of a given library, to
call it a 'diet book' alone would be to do it a disservice. It's a
cookbook,
it's a lifestyle change planning guide, and it's a supportive review of
the
tricks and traps involved in a lifelong process of achieving and
maintaining
good health, and should be part of any health-conscious reader's
formula for a
better life.
Return to Index
The
Prologue
Alexander V. Mirtchev
Post Hill Press
978-1-64293-553-0
$35.00
Hardcover/$9.99 Kindle
www.posthillpress.com
Policymakers,
scholars, and
students of international
business and energy management will find The
Prologue: The Alternative Energy
Megatrend in the Age of Great Power Competition an in-depth
survey of
alternative energy's role in what Alexander V. Mirtchev identifies here
as The
Grand Energy Game. This is highly recommended reading for anyone who
would
better understand the trends that lead to political, social, economic,
and
scientific change.
Alternative
energy's rise in
the past, its impact on
current affairs, and its projected future role is analyzed in far more
detail
than the usual alternative energy discussion. Added value to the
insights are
provided by reviews of international security concerns, surveys of the
impact
and definition of a 'megatrend', and the evolving geopolitical power
changes
affected by the drive to create and distribute alternative sources of
energy.
From
different variables
that influence megatrends in general
and alternative energy in particular to understanding changing power
structures
in the face of these developments around the world, The
Alternative Energy Megatrend in the Age of Great Power Competition creates
and encourages discussion points that go beyond the usual approach to
the
historic developments of trends around the world.
As
balances change and
science intersects with political
structures to project and manage power usage, the broadening scope of
energy
security concerns, management, and development process portend a ripple
effect
across societies and between different cultures and countries.
Understanding
these
influences is no mean feat. It
requires a better understanding of not just alternative energy's
promises and
pitfalls, but the social and political actions and reactions to
megatrends, in
general.
The
many possibilities are
reviewed and analyzed in a
survey that especially lends to college-level classroom discussions: "...the megatrend could encourage the
creation of new forms of economic cooperation with our allies and
partners that
alleviate economic instability. Alternative energy developments fuel a
growing
perception that renewables could help revamp the energy
consumers-suppliers
equation, resulting in the disappearance of old markets and the
formation of
new ones. This would mirror the transformational effects of information
technologies
and add a new impetus for geo-economic cooperation. Thus, the growth of
alternative energy as part of the energy portfolio and new grid and
distributed
storage technologies will prompt changes to the electric utility
business model
and creation of the new types of energy markets."
No
collection strong in
alternative energy discussions
will be complete without the broader view taken by and presented
in The Alternative
Energy Megatrend in the Age of Great Power Competition's
consideration of
the changing power structures within and between nations.
Return to Index
Reed’s
Homophones: A
Comprehensive Book of Sound-alike
Words, 4th Edition
A. D. Reed
Pisgah Press, LLC
978-1942016427
$14.95 Paper/$2.99 ebook/$19.95 Hardcover
www.pisgahpress.com
Reed’s
Homophones:
A Comprehensive Book of Sound-alike Words should be in any
collection
strong in English language explorations, literature, and wordsmithing,
whether
for school-age readers in high school to college, or general-interest
collections appealing to writers and authors.
It
provides a quick
reference for those who would quickly
locate a homophone in a resource that complements a dictionary or
thesaurus
while imparting a sense of humor about what is included in the
homophone
collection: "...(including some
borrowed from other tongues, and a few that aren’t quite homophonic,
but are
awfully close) as well as frequent misspellings, mispronunciations,
misused
word pairs, schizophrenic antonyms, and a few pet peeves."
The
wellspring of a
reference designed to thwart common
word misuse came from a series of 2007 newspaper articles that sparked "...a short list of common homophones
that seem to attract newspaper reporters as honey does flies. Houses
are
“raised” by fires; actors demonstrate real “flare” on stage; people
wait with
“baited” breath; the view through the picture window is a “site” to
behold;
witnesses are rarely “fazed” but often “phased.” Et cetera."
As
the word rebuttal
expanded to book length, A. D. Reed
crafted a writer's guide to popular word pairs that should ideally be
unpaired.
An A-Z dictionary identifies such homophones as "access – a way in;
axis –
line on a grid" and other common follies of language misuse.
While
reading a dictionary
might not be everyone's cup of
tea, Reed’s Homophones serves as
both
an at-a-glance desk reference for writers and as a word nerd's browsing
delight, offering definitions and insights that tackle and correct
too-common
instances of misuse, as in "segue – seamless transition" versus
"Segway® – one-axled, two-wheeled, gyroscopic self-propelled scooter."
Reed’s
Homophones is
an important guide for writers who adhere to literary correctness, who
will
want to double-check their reports and literary productions with this
book.
Reference
collections strong
in writer's guides should
consider Reed’s Homophones a key
acquisition.
Return to Index
Sacred
Life: Healing from
the Virus in Consciousness
Bedri Cag Cetin, Ph.D.
Independently Published
979-8584936259
$9.95 Kindle; $15.00 Paperback
Website link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08THF64VF
Sacred
Life:
Healing from the Virus in Consciousness covers the
intersection between
miracles and science, giving readers the opportunity to heal not just
through
discussions of spirituality and consciousness, but through an
autobiographical
journey that follows Dr. Bedri Cag Cetin's own experiences.
In
this case study of
consciousness, Cetin juxtaposes
notes about the ego and psychological inspection with a spiritual
overlay of
reflection that has its roots in the pandemic and its threats.
These
connections between
world experience and threat and
the teachings of a spiritual path which encourage adaptation, healing,
and
revised insights about the world creates a dialogue that draws readers
into the
possibilities inherent in this approach: "Contrary
to my perception at that time, the first dream suggested that all the
valuable
things I thought I had lost were actually kept safe for me. And the
second
dream emphasized the importance of keeping my faith in my inner
guidance along
the lines of what my spiritual teacher had taught me many times."
Even
readers relatively less
informed about enlightenment
and spiritual self-analysis will be able to access these concepts via
the clear
instructions and reflections Cetin provides: "Conflict
is a sign that you have chosen the ego as your guide,
which then dictates your thoughts, decisions, and actions. On the other
hand,
peace is a sign that you are in the company and supervision of your
Inner
Guide."
His
focus on separating ego
and spiritual interests and
how to make the kinds of choices that lead to and support a sacred life
independent of ego provides the specifics lacking in similar-sounding
discussions, documenting the promise, process, and pitfalls of
learning, using
Cetin's experiences and life as a blueprint.
The
blend of autobiography
and teacher's wisdom is nicely
balanced. It provides a simple spiritual message that will reach
everyone
willing to listen.
Powerful,
instructional, and
healing, Sacred Life: Healing from the Virus
in
Consciousness uses the pandemic experience as a starting
point for
effecting a process of inner transformation that is specific. It's
grounded not
just in new ideas for personal change, but ultimately the opening
approach to creating
a "new mind era" that ideally will lead to a shift in consciousness.
Cetin
is at the forefront of
this movement with a title
that outlines a course any open-minded (and especially new age) reader
can
follow to envision and tap into their own sacred life.
Return to Index
The Way of
Miracles
Mark D. Mincolla, PhD
Beyond Words
9781582708287
$21.00
www.beyondword.com
The Way of Miracles:
Accessing Your Superconscious
comes from a
holistic practitioner who maintains that we create miracles via our
super
conscious minds, and that developing that mind and its spiritual
connections is
what generates the miracle itself.
Documented
research
into health 'miracles' (including his own self-cure of a
life-threatening
illness), consciousness-raising exercises to strengthen self-healing
capabilities, and discussions of the science and energy of the human
brain and
mind power a title which will especially appeal to readers interested
in
health, new age, and self-healing.
His survey
also adds
philosophical insights into the mix: "We
know that stress triggers emotional tension, which causes dis-ease and
ultimately disease. This is a sequence of events evolving from energy
to
manifest as matter. It is our tendency to see life solely from a
matter-based
perspective; thus, our current Newtonian understanding of medicine is,
for the
most part, based on our knowledge of cells, tissues, organs, and
organisms.
Moreover, here in the West, when it comes to establishing the causal
root of
disease, the prospect of energy remains curiously absent."
As Dr.
Mincolla
shares his experiences, techniques, and insights, practitioners and
patients
alike receive the rare opportunity to understand how applied self-help
and
healing techniques alter the body and mind.
More than
many other
books about healing energy, self-help, and transcendence, The Way of Miracles combines insights on
empowerment and
enlightenment with the mental and physical energy that accompanies
chosen paths
to health.
It's highly
recommended
for new age, spirituality, philosophy, and health readers alike, and is
strengthened by a blend of science and applied new age thinking that
stands out
from the crowd.
Return to Index
The
Baby with Three
Families, Two Countries, and
One Promise
Julie Gianelloni Connor
Bayou City Press, LLC
978-1-951-331-04-7
$16.99 Hardcover/$9.99 Paper/$3.99 Kindle
www.bayoucitypress.com
The
Baby with Three
Families, Two Countries, and One Promise: An International Adoption
Story
adds to children's picture book literature about adoption by covering
the
special challenge of adopting a baby from another country, using the
"once
upon a time" fable format to draw readers into how Jeanette and Jeff
fall
in love, marry, finish school, then try to have a child.
They
"wait and wait" for a
child, but after two
tries in which Jeanette "gets sick" and there is no baby, they are
presented with an alternative.
The
story becomes one of
three people connected by
circumstance. Luz is pregnant and alone in another country and knows
she cannot
help a child, while Jeanette and Jeff learn that their best option lies
in an
overseas adoption.
At
this point, it should be
noted that Saman Chinthaka
Weerasinghe's compelling, large-size, realistic illustrations do an
exceptional
job of capturing the emotional state of a couple who wants a baby more
than
anything, and a young woman in another country who wants her baby to
have a
home. These evocative drawings are above and beyond most other
children's book
illustrations, successfully depicting the characters' expressions and
personalizing the story and their experiences in a realistic,
compelling
manner. This successfully reinforces Julie Gianelloni Connor's focus on
the
range of emotions which drives both sides.
More
so than most children's
picture books about
adoption, The Baby with Three Families,
Two Countries, and One Promise takes its time to explain and
explore the
emotional nuances involved.
Also
notable is the focus on
the process of international
adoption, from a foreign country's social service agency's efforts and
foster
care to how baby James has to get his visa for the United States.
International
adoption is a
complex topic, but under the
dual, in-depth focus of author Julie Gianelloni Connor and illustrator
Saman
Chinthaka Weerasinghe, the story comes to life to teach all ages about
the
emotional and organizational process involved in joining a child to new
parents.
The
Baby with Three
Families, Two Countries, and One Promise is an exceptional
stand-out in the
literature of children's picture books covering adoption in general and
international processes in particular; highly recommended for any
collection
strong in representing different kinds of family relationships.
One Promise
Return to Index
Bobos
Babes Adventures: The
Case of the Giggles
Karen M. Bobos
PlayPen Publishing
978-1-7343610-9-4
$17.99
Hardcover; $12.99 Paper
www.PlayPenPublishing.com
Bobos
Babes
Adventures: The Case of the Giggles introduces picture book
readers and
their read-aloud parents to the magical world of the Bobos Babes:
sisters who
live in a magical land and share a closeness of love and loyalty
despite their
differences. Scarlett is a delicate angel; Cora is an enchanted fairy;
and
middle child Daphne is a beautiful princess.
They
enjoy each others'
company and have fun until a
sudden and unwelcome case of the giggles plagues Princess Daphne and
just won't
stop.
What
begins with a sneeze
leads to a quest to find a way
to stop these unrelenting giggles as the trio journey through the
kingdom
seeking wisdom and solutions to a problem that won't go away.
Brittany
Roberson's bright,
engaging illustrations
throughout bring the story to life and capture the colorful kingdom and
its
inhabitants.
The
two-line rhymes
throughout are lilting, fun, and feel
fresh and flowing; not forced, like too many rhyming stories that
present up to
seven rhyming pieces per page.
As
a host of kingdom
characters try to help the sisters
resolve their problem, a fun tale evolves that parents will find
perfect for
read-aloud and entertainment. Its original, unexpected dilemma will
leave
youngsters listening and laughing, as well as learning about
relationships,
problem-solving approaches, and the best ways of enjoying life to its
fullest.
Return to Index
Bobos
Babes Adventures: The
Missing Egg
Karen M. Bobos
PlayPen Publishing
978-1-954529-07-6
$17.99
www.PlayPenPublishing.com
Bobos
Babes
Adventures: The Missing Egg is a colorful picture book
adventure story
illustrated by Emily Hercock, who provides engaging drawings to attract
young
readers to the story of three lovely sisters (an angel, a princess, and
a
fairy) who lived on a charmed island.
A
kind, helpful swan has a
dilemma, and the Bobos Babes
want to help despite his protests that nothing can be done. His need
for a rest
from his egg-sitting duties has resulted in a quandary; especially
since a
passion for chocolate cake was involved.
Now
the precious egg is
missing. How can the Bobos Babes
help?
Two-line
rhyming verse
captures the problem and lends
especially well to read-aloud. Parents who choose this adventure story
for the
very young will find its colorful drawings a major draw as the feisty
young problem-solvers
tackle a real mystery and try to help their friend.
The
result is a magical
journey that embraces animal
friends, people, perplexities, and insights on life, from 'guy codes'
of
communication to well-meaning guests who would visit the busy parents
of
newborns.
The
Missing Egg's
mystery, lesson in problem-solving, insights into interpersonal
relationships,
and just plain fun will appeal to read-aloud parents and young readers
alike.
Return to Index
Ecomasters:
A Planet in
Peril Book One: The Pathfinder
Donna L. Goodman
Isabella Media Inc.
9781735725611
$16.99
www.booksbyisabella.com/books/ecomasters-a-planet-in-peril-book-one-pathfinder
Ecomasters:
A Planet
in Peril Book One: The Pathfinder gives young adult sci-fi
fans a
satisfyingly engrossing read and revolves around thirteen-year-old New
York
City girl Coral, who faces difficulties to her young life on many
levels.
The
city's water supply may
be contaminated and has
caused her best friend Jasper to become ill, her mother has vanished,
her
father is involved in questionable business activities, and Coral is
just tired
of it all.
When
she stumbles on an
opportunity to travel through
time with her dog Peeve with other girls who also hold special
abilities, Coral
finds herself challenged in a different way.
One
approach which makes
this story a standout is Donna
L. Goodman's use of the first-person and her attention to reinforcing
Coral's
character, determination, and observations: "When
I get back to the building, Mr. Dobbins eyes me like a puppy who just
peed in
the house again. I start to lower my head, and then realize I don't
care what
he thinks. I have important things to do, too important to waste time
feeling
bad."
From
her goal of getting to
Illuminada to interacting
with peers and the Ecomasters who will play a big role in the future of
humanity, Coral adopts a proactive approach to life that embraces not
just
successes, but failures as she learns about different cultures, new
forms of
interaction, and the importance of using role models to learn new
skills.
Under
Goodman's hand,
climate change issues assume both a
fantasy element and a personal connection that places Coral and friend
Miriam in
surprisingly key roles usually reserved for adults.
The
result is a story that
is multifaceted and
engrossing. It's as much a tale of assuming responsibility and learning
from
new life circumstances as it is a tale of one girl's newfound mission
to heal
both the world and her life in an unusual way.
Teen
readers looking for
action, adventure, and a sense
of growth and social responsibility will find Ecomasters:
A Planet in Peril Book One: The Pathfinder just the
ticket for a thought-provoking read that operates on more than one
level.
Return to Index
Frankenbots:
Sunken
City of Scraps
Michael Ferrone
Independently
Published
978-1734947557
$13.99
https://www.amazon.com/Frankenbots-Sunken-Scraps-Michael-Ferrone/dp/1734947551
Frankenbots: Sunken City
of Scraps is a
fun fantasy picture book
story that opens with Stu and the Frankenbots reviewing the many
different
invaders, human and alien, that Earth has experienced over the eons.
Stu and his
force are
tired of being the sole defenders of the planet...and so they post a
town hall
meeting notice to invite other mechanical Frankenbots to "learn the
nuts
and bolts" of beating galactic invaders.
The problem
with
collaborative thinking is that everyone has a different idea of how
best to
fight; from force fields and dynamite to lasers. All the ideas have
pros and
cons and cause the Frankenbots to battle among themselves instead of
joining
together.
When a
rumbling noise
leads them to investigate an underground legend, things begin to change.
Michael
Ferrone's
whimsical attitude about a tired mechanical army, the power of Sunken
City, and
revelations about how to work together imparts a fine message embedded
in a
robot-packed story that kids will find intriguingly different and fun.
The main
message ("They were there to work as one/But
disagreeable bots can get nothing done.") is imparted through
a
quirky, fun exploration that will delight the very young and read-aloud
parents
alike.
Adults
looking for
robot stories that first attract young leisure readers, and then
imparts an
essential message about tackling life's problems, will find the simple
yet
powerful story perfect for accomplishing two goals: leisure reading,
and understanding
the power of cooperative thinking.
Return to Index
Good Night
Phobos,
Good Night Deimos
Tim Baird
Independently
Published
9781087948935
$9.99
Author Site: www.timbaird.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1087948932/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i4
Good Night Phobos, Good
Night Deimos
celebrates a child's
space-roving imagination with a bedtime story that surveys an
astronaut's
habitat and the process of bidding goodnight to the devices and
atmosphere of a
world in which Phobos and Deimos occupy the night sky.
Lovely
illustrations
by Jamie Noble Frier accompany a fun survey of these items, from an
airlock and
'meat' which is a reconstituted square to a "little tardigrade" under
a looking glass, an astronaut who "still measures in feet," and the
sprockets
and rockets that occupy a bedroom.
Space-loving
children
with active imaginations about the planets who would imagine how an
astronaut
goes to bed in Mars will relish this story, as will read-aloud adults
who join
them in an exploration that, at times, will require word definitions;
but which
rewards young nighttime explorers with a very different world of
possibilities
than the usual bedtime tale offers.
Its fantasy
and
science blend proves a very satisfying adjunct to read-aloud bedtime
books rooted
in Earthbound scenarios.
Return to Index
Henry and
the Gym
Monster
Ben Lancour
Ben Lancour Books
978-1-7367166-0-1
$3.99 ebook; 12.99
Paper; $16.99 Hardback
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Henry-Gym-Monster-Childrens-Responsibility-ebook/dp/B08YM1RMSX
Website: benlancourbooks.com
Kids who
enjoy
physical education will find much familiar in Henry
and the Gym Monster, where young Henry confronts a PE teacher
and a monster who have different ideas about the importance of physical
education class.
Good reading
skills
will lend further appreciation to the story, which receives creative
and
colorful illustrations by Emily Bennett as it surveys Henry's
confrontation
with Manny the Monster, who cannot be seen by the strict gym teacher
who
penalizes Henry for shouting, ignoring directions, and bullying...all
ideas
that this evil Monster has given him.
Regulated to
the
sidelines, Henry struggles with a monster that grows larger the more
Henry
blames Manny for his choices. How can Henry vanquish an enemy who has
grown too
large to handle, created through Henry's own choices to do the wrong
things?
Ben Lancour
creates a
fine story in which the traditional monster does not come from an
outside
threat, but from within. The monster action takes place not at night,
but in
broad daylight. And Henry's problem-solving efforts and final solution
are
unexpected, fun events that are unpredictable and appealing.
The sense of
humor
and pleasing action assure that picture book readers receive a lesson
that is
as inviting a leisure read as it is an educational lesson about
following one's
heart and vanquishing inner monsters by choosing the right thing (kindness).
Adults
seeking to
teach kids about the effects of good and bad choices will find Henry and the Gym Monster offers an
excellent lesson on perspective and individual choice.
Return to Index
The Journey to
Max – An Adoption Story
Christopher
& Alejandro Garcia-Halenar
XanMaxBooks
978-1-7326044-3-8
$9.99
Website: www.xanmaxbooks.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Journey-Max-Adoption-Story/dp/1732604436
Young
picture
book readers interested in the subject of adoption will find The
Journey to
Max – An Adoption Story a lovely journey narrated by Xander,
whose little
brother Max did not arrive to the family via the usual delivery vehicle.
Max
was adopted;
and finding him was an arduous affair. Xander and his two dads embark
on
cross-country road trips to meet potential surrogates and birth mothers
who
might be willing to add to their family, but are faced with
disappointment each
time.
This
lively
picture book story chronicles that journey from Xander's perspective,
charting
the course between their family's heart (which "never reached a full
beat" without a sibling) to a young woman determined to find a family
"who would love Max as much as she did."
These
heartfelt
moments inject emotion and caring into the journey and celebrate not
only the
new bonds created by the adoption, but the expansion of love into their
extended family, including Max's birth mother.
The
Journey to Max is a lovely
adoption chronicle that stands out from
other picture books
on the subject. It embraces the journey, the results, and the wider
range of
love that evolves from the quest, as well as the loving relationship
between
two men and their children.
Lovely
illustrations by Lea
Embeli
color the journey and create a memorable, involving tale highly
recommended for
picture book readers and adults seeking wider-ranging, positive stories
of
diverse family choices and relationships.
Return to Index
The
Legend of Hobart
Heather Mullaly
Favored Oak Press
978-1-7364773-8-0
$16.99 Hardback/$7.99 Paper/$3.99 ebook
https://www.heathermullaly.com/the-legend-of-hobart
Children's
book readers are
in for a treat with The Legend of Hobart,
which introduces a
twelve-year-old's intention to become a hero to earn his place at
Knight
School. Hobart has the will to succeed, but finds out that he needs
much more.
Among
the requirements he
doesn't have is an ability to
identify a situation in which his actions are meaningful, effective,
and even
wanted.
As
Hobart narrates the story
of his first quest, his
first duel, and his first encounters not just with adversity but his
own
magical abilities, he grows into his desire for bravery as he stumbles
into a
series of mishaps that test his vision of what it means to be
courageous.
Heather
Mullaly's choice of
presenting Hobart's trials in
the first person is gives this story its humor via quirky
self-inspection. Both
will be a draw to young fantasy readers who will appreciate not just
the action
throughout, but Hobart's astute analysis of his position in the world
and his
thoughts on how to change it: "If I
still wanted to make it into knight school after this latest debacle,
there was
only one possibility left. I was going to have to slay a dragon. It was
risky,
I know. But I saw no other choice. I was desperate. (When minstrels
tell their
tales, they always seem to dwell on heroes’ sense of duty. They
completely
overlook the equally powerful driving force called desperation.)"
The
stuttering young hero
encounters damsel Hero in the
course of his journey, and is filled with wonder at her name and the
slightly
unfair association it has with what he is trying so desperately to
become. He
also builds his own character through these unexpected confrontations
with
life, which introduce elements of social inspection to blur the lines
between
good guys, bad guys, and the foundations of good and bad choices alike:
“We never meant to be bandits!” the man
cried. “We’re respectable men.” “Respectable, my foot,” Hero snapped.
“No,
really,” he said, as his friend tried to nod and ended up looking
dizzy. “We
were farmers until the crops failed. We never would have stooped to
stealing if
there were any other way to feed our families. Our whole village is
starving.”
These
inspections of self
and world fuel an especially
inviting story that embraces humorous mishaps, thought-provoking
revelations,
and the kinds of choices that truly lead one to be considered
courageous.
Advanced
elementary to
middle grade readers receive a
winning combination of fantasy action and self-inspection. The overlay
of humor
and social insight keep this quest story vivid through and through. The Legend of Hobart is highly
recommended as a standout over competing one-dimensional quest tales
for this
age group.
Return to Index
Life
and Other Complications
Heather Mullaly
Favored Oak Press
978-1-7364773-4-2
$24.99 Hardcover/$12.99 Paper/$5.99 Kindle
Author Website: www.heathermullaly.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Life-Other-Complications-Heather-Mullaly-ebook/dp/B091FVTRP1
Mature
young adult readers
looking for a realistic story
of a girl living with HIV and a secret will find Life
and Other Complications an involving story. It revolves
around
truth, lies, and difficult decisions that seem to hold no positive
course of
action no matter what choice Aly Bennet makes.
She's
been lying to her
mother and the boy she loves for
a very long time. So long, that she no longer knows how to tell her
very best
friends the truth, much less her family. It's a devastating truth that
is
certain to change everything; not the least of which is her love for
Luke,
which is just entering a newly intense phase.
But
if she doesn't tell the
truth, she'll be an
accomplice in letting a man go free who changed her life forever.
Heather
Mullaly excels at
describing the tidal flow of
relationships which move back and forth between layers of friendship
and
something more, setting these forces against the backdrop of a secret
that
seems to be growing heavier by the day. Her presentation of Aly's story
in the
first person cements these emotional currents: "What
does HIV matter when you’re already running out of time? I
was desperately trying to convince myself that no one could ever want
me like
that. That I’m too filthy and broken. But that caused a stab of pain to
mix in
with my panic. Either Luke wants to have sex with me, which is
horrifying. Or
he doesn’t, because I’m dirty and contaminated, and that’s crushing. I
am in so
far over my head."
Aly
isn't ready to lose
Luke. She's only just begun, even
though years have passed. And yet, circumstances are driving them apart
in more
than one way; both internal and external.
Mullaly
provides an
especially powerful, poignant story
that feels firmly rooted in the dilemmas many urban teens face in
modern times.
Accounts of violation, lasting health issues, teen support groups and
the firm
bonds of friendship that evolve to relationships from them, and trauma
and fear
accompany life- and psyche-threatening situations that drive Aly and
Luke
together as much as they threaten to part them.
The
result is a mercurial,
satisfyingly complex story
that interacts with young readers on many different levels.
Life
and Other
Complications is an engrossing embrace of many mature themes
which pulls no
punches in its descriptions of love, longing, lies, and redemption.
It's highly
recommended reading for those who like their characters firmly rooted
in the
realities of modern society.
Return to Index
Little
Mouse Adventures:
Yoga at the Museum
Teresa Anne Power
Stafford House Books
978-1734478655
$16.95
hardcover/$6.99 ebook
www.staffordhousebooks.com
Little
Mouse
Adventures: Yoga at the Museum is the third title in a
picture book series
of adventures of a little mouse who likes to draw and daydream.
As
the story opens, he's
stuck doing math homework and is
doodling when his wise mother finds him and suggests doing some mindful
breathing to help him relax and focus. This allows him to finish a
difficult
task, and to visit his best cat friend Mr. Opus and his human family.
A
visit to the local art
museum is being planned by the
humans, so Little Mouse and Mr. Opus decide to join them. They view
splendid
artwork, which serves as an inspiration for Little Mouse to connect his
yoga
experiences with the pieces on display.
Young
readers receive an
inviting introduction to both
art and yoga principles as the story evolves, embracing both in a
delightful
presentation that illustrates different yoga poses and their names
through
Little Mouse's demonstrations.
At
home, he finds himself
once again stuck on math
homework. This time, he has a different option for success.
Emma
Allen's inviting,
whimsical drawings are wonderful
embellishments to a story line parents will chose to help the very
young begin
to understand the poses and principles of yoga.
More
so than most other
titles on the subject of yoga for
this age group (and, they are rare indeed), Little
Mouse Adventures: Yoga at the Museum gives a fine opportunity
to teach
balance, methods for achieving calmness, and creative problem-solving
skills
for a younger age than is usually given yoga teachings.
The
blend of mindfulness
training and artistic
appreciation offers many opportunities for parent/child read-aloud
enjoyment
and enlightenment in a picture book story that is also whimsically fun.
Parents
seeking to impart
the basics of yoga and art
appreciation alike will find Little Mouse
Adventures: Yoga at the Museum an exceptionally accessible
and attractive
presentation.
Return to Index
Magical Mia
–
Kindness is Contagious
Julie Cassetta
Grow Good Publishing
978-1-7364208-1-2
$11.99 Paper; $18.95
Hardback; $4.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Magical-Mia-Contagious-Julie-Cassetta-ebook/dp/B08XG3Z3YG
Magical Mia – Kindness is
Contagious
presents a picture book recipe
for kindness and joy with the life perspective of Mia, who maintains
that magic
lies within, and in one's choices about reacting to new things: "Magic isn’t something outside of
yourself./Look at that girl sitting all by herself./Sometimes I get
scared to
meet someone new./But I trust the magic, and she looks scared too."
When one
puts oneself
into the world in an enthusiastic, accepting manner by taking risks,
"the
magic begins." In this case, it revolves around a new friend and Mia's
act
of kindness, which builds bridges instead of barriers.
Elena
Taranenko's
appealing drawing captures this blossoming friendship, illustrating how
the
magic Mia begins spreads from friend to friend, with new opportunities
and
positive results.
However,
giving is a
two-way street. When Mia encounters difficulty in math, her friend's
help adds
another building block to this special magic: "Noah’s
magic grew bigger that day,/because he cared enough to
show me the way."
Kids and
read-aloud
adults will delight in an uplifting story of the real magic of kindness
and how
it spreads, and will appreciate the opportunity to relate this
perspective and
its lessons to daily life events. Magical
Mia – Kindness is Contagious is highly recommended reading as
an early
formula for success.
Return to Index
The Starry Labors of
Nick
Amy Wolf
Lone Wolf Press Ltd.
979-8201666910
$8.99
https://amy-wolf.com
Book 3 of
the Mythos
Universe series will especially delight prior fans of Nick, who has
hated being
different without fully realizing that his heritage isn't entirely
human. In
prior books, his father returned to his life to not only impart an
impossible
truth, but provide him with a dangerous mission—to complete the 12
Labors of
Hercules and save the world of Mythos.
Nick is
attending the
strangest wedding of his life when the story opens: one between his
dad, the centaur
Chiron; and Helen, his new wife. It takes place on Mount Olympus, where
he's
surrounded by friends who are constellations, mermen, and other
creatures.
Amy
Wolf's sense of
humor is present from the start as Nick interacts in this environment: "Nick
couldn’t believe it! The room,
which
moments before had been hushed, now looked like . . . a
club, with small round tables, nymphs serving drinks, and
disco lights blinking above. “OMG!” Nick cried. “It’s so totally
retro!” Before
he could strike a pose like Travolta, his
friend Herc strode over. “Nick!” roared
the Hero. “Finally, you do
the
deed! What took you so long?” “Oh, I don’t know,” Nick said. “Guess it
was all
the monsters and gods trying to kill me.”
Young adults
who have
either experienced Nick's wry observations of his much-changed life and
its
intersection with fantasy, or who appreciate humor, will find Wolf's
ongoing
fun powers an adventure that is unique and always unexpected.
The
observations are astute
throughout as Nick adopts a jaunty view of this world and its oddities,
injecting a whimsical note which keeps the action and dialogue
unexpected: "What
were they doing? he wondered. Praying
for rain? “Yo, Heph,” Nick said, addressing the bronze in
the beanie.
“You around?” He heard a voice in his head. “Of
course!” spat the god. “It’s my
temple, isn’t it?”
From Nick's
confrontation with his centaur and human heritage and his changing
position on
where he draws his strengths to fight the battles that emerge to his
determination to follow through on a task that looks impossible, he is
supported by Helen and aided by Mythicals who often harbor their own
agendas.
Young adults
looking
for a fantasy that is sassy, unpredictable, funny, and filled with
adventure
will find the action and confrontations a cut above the ordinary as
Nick
continues to grow, accepts his role as a son of Chiron and a hero in
his own
right, and becomes even more immersed in his father and stepmother's
lives in
Mythos.
While
newcomers will
find this latest adventure accessible, those with prior familiarity
with and
affection for Nick and his unique challenges will best appreciate this
ongoing
expansion of the Mythos world and Nick's search for his place and
strengths in
it.
The
Starry Labors
of Nick is refreshingly
original
and a rollicking good teen read.
Return to Index
Stone
Soup for a
Sustainable World: Life Changing Stories of Young Heroes
Marianne Larned
Stone Soup Leadership Institute, Inc.
978-0-578-89380-8
$29.95
Book/$2.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B092Z6LF1M
Reading
the average news
coverage of sustainability, it's
evident that a number of people are working to change attitudes about
the
environment and influence its preservation; but too often the
individual stories
of these successes become buried in overviews of the issues.
That's
why Stone
Soup for a Sustainable World: Life
Changing Stories of Young Heroes is so important for
young people
concerned about the environment and its preservation. It returns the
human
factor to the cause and effect picture by profiling the efforts of
young people
who are actively making a difference, serving as an inspiration and
role model
for others who would take up the reins of enacting positive change in
the
world.
This
collection of 100
stories demonstrates that young
people from around the world are taking
action...and are being
successful. Each story offers a glimpse into the process of changing
lives,
minds, and taking action. Each profiles a climate change
trailblazer.
Examples
include Seattle's
Jamie Margolin, who became a
climate justice activist when she observed a beach sign about seal pups
and
realized she'd never seen a seal pup on that beach; then saw another
sign about
whales and porpoises...another group of creatures she'd never observed
there.
Why put up a sign for animals that weren't around?
As
Jamie investigated
further, she uncovered a disconnect
between what used to be and what exists now. At age 14 she was prompted
to
research the dilemma, and after the 2016 elections, she decided to
become
politically active, joining the climate change advocacy group
Plant-for-the-Planet and growing her political savvy and mission of
promoting
environmental justice.
Growing
up in Mumbai, India,
Aadya Joshi walked
by a garbage dump every day
on her way to school. She asked local police if she could organize a
drive to
plant an urban garden in its place, and in doing so, she learned about
the
importance of native plants for local wildlife. She realized that most
of the trees
she saw were non-native and therefore didn’t support local
biodiversity. She
founded an organization called The Right Green, started educational
workshops
in a local nature park, and has built a database of local plant species
and the
insects and birds they support.
Particular
attention is
given to telling the stories of
marginalized people and their concerns and efforts. This will show
young people
from a variety of backgrounds that advocacy need not be limited or
linked to
privileged groups.
These
stories also
incorporate advice for fellow would-be
environmental activists: "For youth who want to get
further
involved in a community, Jamie’s message is kind, and encouraging.
“Growing up
is hard,” she says. “Sometimes it’s hard to know your place in the
world. So
take something you are passionate about–whether that is art,
performing,
cooking, or robotics – and apply that same passion to a movement.”
These
young people are
working at all levels of
organizations and communities, organizing workshops, creating databases
of
information, working with bridge-building groups and mentors, and
learning a
variety of approaches, techniques, and tools for effecting positive
change: Some
of the most valuable lessons Vincent Kimura of SmartYields learned
along his
own journey he learned by getting involved with local civic
groups.“Right out
of college, I went into Rotary Youth Leadership training. There, I
learned how
to manage insecurities and ego. Every journey can be fraught with
mental health
challenges. Burnout. Depression. Countless other things. Entrepreneurs
need to
understand this early on. When they see the signs of these things, they
should
take a step back,” he says. “We need to be taught about these things to
be able
to recognize them.”
This
is one of the most
important books that a children's
library or environmental leader can pass on to future
generations. Stone
Soup for a Sustainable World provides a tool kit of
inspiration that
uses the positive, effective experiences of ordinary young people to
provide a
message of how making a difference is important, and shows the steps
along the
way to actually achieving these goals.
Return to Index
When
the Earth Slept
Jillian Arena
Isabella Media Inc.
9781735725697
$16.99
www.isabella.media/books/when-the-earth-slept
When
the Earth
Slept is a children's picture book recommended for youngsters
with good
reading skills or read-aloud adults. It promotes environmental
awareness in the
young through the fantasy story of an Earth that becomes ill from the
effort to
support all forms of life.
Wildfires
are Earth's fever,
earthquakes spark from her
chills, and coughs become tornadoes. What can the Earth do to heal
herself?
Really, she needs a timeout from work.
And
so she asks the human
race to give her this break,
and let her sleep. They do so, but become worried that she will never
wake up.
How can humanity reawaken (and re-energize) the planet?
When
the Earth
Slept features lovely, colorful illustrations by Melissa
Wooten that spice
this story. Another big plus is Jillian Arena's accompanying, vivid
descriptions: "The people, lost in
their exhilaration, had stopped thinking about their stores and their
bowling
alleys and their money and their vacations. She noticed that they were
remembering, instead, their deep connection to each other, to her, and
to all
the ways that she supported them."
When
the Earth
Slept is a rich and lovely fable perfect for imparting a
sense of
environmental consciousness to the very young. The story is highly
recommended
as a read-aloud and discussion point for adults who would teach kids to
celebrate and respect the planet.
Return to Index
As
Breaks the Wave
Upon the Sea
Robert Wallace
Main Street Rag Publishing Company
978-1-59948-856-1
$16.95
Ordering: https://mainstreetragbookstore.com/product/as-breaks-the-wave-upon-the-sea-robert-wallace/
Website: www.robertwallaceauthor.com
As Breaks the Wave Upon
the Sea gives
literary readers short
stories featuring characters whose pivot points revolve around moments
of
heightened self-awareness, exploring relationships, transformation, and
the
processes which affect both.
The opening
story,
'The Science of Air', outlines a relationship between Adriane and her
aging
father. She is his best friend...and maybe his only friend. Family ties
come to
life as she reflects on the two most important relationships in her
life and
how vastly they differ: "There is a
question I often ask myself. How often do I think of my father? I think
of him
all the time. He moves in my mind and memory like a permanent apology.
But
where am I in his thoughts? I think my father’s thoughts are not empty.
He
thinks of brush, apples, plums, cherries, sun, and rain. He thinks of
earth. He
thinks of enzymes, mold, beetles, worms, diesel fuel. Tractors, tires,
sprayers. He thinks of birds, fleeting and raucous, large nests in
crooks of
trees. Little birds’ nests on the ends of branches. My father’s head is
full of
these things. It is my mother’s head that I can’t fathom. I don’t know
what is
in there. Sometimes she just goes missing."
As the bond
between
Adriane and her orchard farmer father is explored through vignettes of
their
interactions, the rest of the family injects their own perspectives: “Where’s my father?” I ask Aunt Mary. “Out
in the orchard somewhere I imagine Adriane. You know your father; he
communicates with those trees better than he does his own family.” “He
talks to
me,” I say. “Yes, he talks. Communication isn’t just talk.”
When the
truth emerges
about why her mother feels so mentally and physically distant, readers
begin to
understand the forces affecting her closeness with her father as
Adriane almost
instinctively learns how to reach her distant mother.
Each short
story
embraces a very different viewpoint and life with insights that keep
readers
emotionally engaged in the characters and their perceptions of change.
Each
comes embedded in a sense of place, whether it is on a farm, in Ohio,
or
paddling on an eleven-mile journey in North Carolina.
Bound by the
water
and the rhythms of often-spontaneous decisions as routines of life and
death
change each character, these stories are satisfyingly diverse slices of
life
that capture the hidden purposes, passions, and personas of those who
move through
it.
Each
character brings
the reader into his world. Robert
Wallace opens up moments that transform with words that ebb, flow, and
pull
like the tides: "Some people felt a
pull for the water. Any water would do. The sea especially had its
converts.
Winsome had never felt that mystery. Except for walking unfamiliar
streets,
mystery had never mattered to him, and he wondered if that was a
failing in
him. Kayaking had changed everything he felt about water."
As
Breaks the Wave Upon the Sea is highly
recommended reading for literature readers who enjoy psychological
inspection thoroughly grounded in the elements and routines of daily
living.
Return to Index
A Child's
Bucket of
Lives
John P. Boyle
Independently
Published
9781693222801
$5.95 Paper/$2.03 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Childs-Bucket-Lives-John-Boyle/dp/1693222809
A Child's Bucket of Lives
is an
intriguing collection of past life
recollections made by a child, and presents short vignettes of
disparate
experiences/memories made by this youngster.
Marie's
recollection
of her previous lives embraces a host of experiences that read like
short
stories, but are diverse representations of memories. They emerge as
Marie
interacts with her family and brings forth perceptions she could not
have
experienced or read about.
From being a
19-year-old Chinese immigrant doctor to America to the logic behind
believing
in magical results from a wish, Marie demonstrates a maturity and
insights far
beyond her years.
These offer
lessons
to readers, whether they believe in reincarnation before picking up
this book
or not.
Their
narration is
succinct and compelling as the adults around Marie begin to wonder
about the
source of this knowledge: "Johnny
sat at the computer, wondering if Marie's tale of a lost child who
lived near a
great pyramid was a childlike fantasy or if she was able to tap into
fragments
of fleeting knowledge from a previous experience in a far-away land."
These
captured moments
of wisdom that stem from past life experiences invites readers to not
only
contemplate the concept of reincarnation, but enjoy the special brand
of
appreciation, faith, and knowledge Marie brings to everyone around her.
It's a
thought-provoking collection that is easy on the eye and, in only 56
pages,
succeeds in providing words of wisdom that are hard-hitting because of
their
origin and depth.
Readers of
reincarnation literature will find this little book a gem.
Return to Index
A Collection
of Words
Sea Gudinski
Art of Telling Publications
978-1-7348447-0-2
$10.00
Website: seagudinski.com
Ordering: www.amazon.com
A
Collection of
Words gathers
poetry and
short prose representing the extent of Sea Gudinski's literary career,
and is
loosely arranged by the themes of birth, death, and
rejuvenation.
Poetry and
prose are
presented in separate sections—an excellent way for literary readers to
absorb
each in their turn, allowing for an
immersive experience unsullied by having to move in and out of very
different
literary forms presented back-to-back.
Poetry opens
this
collection with the title poem 'A Collection of Words', which reflects
on the
intention of the written word and its impact on a reader. Closely
following
this free verse assessment is 'Words and Their Worth', which considers
why word
choices and language can be fluid and meaningful between readers, and
how they
can lend to a "scintillating life."
As the
subjects and
poems progress, it's evident that this collection, more so than other
poetry
books, encourages a literary dance between reader and writer. The stage
is set
for new doors of perception to open as Gudinski examines the reckless
joys of
music, love, life, and, eventually, decline and death.
The prose
section
incorporates some of the heady rush of the poems, but adds more
philosophical
introspection and questions. It opens with 'Prometheus', a piece about
the rise
of man and his place in the universe, reflecting on "...this quaint
little Eden and the man who accidentally happened upon a chance to
possess the
divine..."
These aren't
just
philosophical/spiritual/ethereal observations, as is evident in 'A Curt
Rant
About the Evils of the World'. This piece, in contrast, rails against
the waste
of the limitless power modern man holds in his hand but ill- considers: "We’re
walking around with little Pandora’s Boxes in our pockets and we use
them to
entertain—and even worse— to control, to manipulate, and to bully one
another."
Each poem
and prose
piece is a succinct examination of life, man's place in it, and the
folly and
fancies of changing the world. Embedded with poetic flair (even the
prose
pieces) and a sense of irony as they examine man's meaning and
existence
against the backdrop of the universe, A Collection of Words will
especially delight philosophy and spirituality readers seeking more
than just
effervescent words from their literary works.
Return to Index
The
Doctor's Dilemma
Daly Walker
Grand Canyon Press
978-1-951479-56-5
www.grandcanyonpress.com
Short
story readers looking
for personality-driven works
that chart healing and change alike will find The
Doctor's Dilemma replete with thought-provoking pieces that
go
beyond the theme of doctoring to examine the process of healing and
recovery.
Take
'India's Passage', for
one example. Here, young
college student India Blue is having surgery to remove her gallbladder;
a
routine operation that goes awry and challenges her doctor when it
turns from a
"piece of cake" to a tragedy when a mistake is made.
With
India basically
existing in a state between life and
death, Conner must face the reality that he's made a formerly healthy
young
woman a vegetable and changed three lives by his actions, however
skilled or
well-intentioned he began. How can he find redemption under such
circumstances?
Another
thought-provoking
story is 'Jacob's Wall', in
which Walter Roberts, an aging doctor building a wall in Indiana,
reflects on
his retirement; the fact that he's found, in masonry, "the equal of
medicine"; and how a loner's stonebuilding efforts are changed by
helper
Jacob, Jacob is a kid forced upon him by Becky, a woman he'd like to
become closer
to, who becomes an unexpected force in his changing life.
Walter
faces aging
differently on several levels and
questions his newfound passion and its (and his life's) eventual
conclusion: "To Walter, like orthopedic
surgery,
there was something corporeal as well as spiritual about stonework. He
wondered
what he would do after the wall was built. It seemed as if his life was
all
memory and devoid of plans."
Life,
death, aging, and
everything in between are
captured in these short stories of quiet desperation and coming to
terms with
choices and their consequences.
This
is an exceptional
literary collection that will
delight anyone interested in the medical profession, in particular, and
the
routines, habits, and lessons of the healing process, which occurs on
many
different levels.
Return to Index
Kwansabas
and Other Poems
Steven C. Thedford
New World Press, Inc.
978-0-9759730-5-9
$14.99 Hardcover; $9.99 Paper; $2.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Kwansabas-Other-Poems-Steven-Thedford/dp/B08P63KLT9
The
Kwansaba style is a
fairly new and strict poetry form
that uses the number seven to create a poem of seven lines, with seven
words in
each line, written with no word exceeding seven letters. It
was
originally created in 1995 by Eugene B. Redmond, East St. Louis Poet
Laureate
and professor of English at Southern Illinois-East St. Louis, to
celebrate
Kwanzaa and African-American life.
Kwansabas
and Other
Poems represents Steven C. Thedford's interpretation of this
seldom-used
form and uses its structure to capture and interpret African-American
culture,
experience, and challenges. Some pieces adhere to the praise piece of
Redmond's
creation, while others diverge from it to follow the structural rules
sans the
praise portion.
The
collection is divided
into sections that begin with
'Black Girl Magic' and the poem 'Asya Danielle Branch: Miss
Mississippi', one
of seven women selected for poetic celebration.
This
poem encourages courage
and self-reflection: "Embrace your past, you
have no
say,/even if your parents are locked away/and your home was quickly
deemed
gray./Be strong, faithful, humble, and don’t delay."
The
diversity of options
within this structure is
illustrated as each poem unfolds very differently, as in the later poem
in this
section, 'Kaliegh Garris: Miss Teen USA': "We
are people 1st: young and old./We are people 1st: black and white."
As
different sections
continue to celebrate individuals,
events, and perceptions intrinsic to African-American history and
community,
the collection comes into its own through works that capture lives, as
in
'Aniah Blanchard: “Shades of Blue”': "On
your day azul filled the sky,/Blue, your rescue dog, did not cry./You
choose to
fight on, not die."
From
'Driving While Black'
to 'We Did Not Come Through
Ellis Island', these works transcend their heptastich forms to achieve
a sense
of history, connection, and black power that is especially highly
recommended
for literary readers in the black community.
The
pieces are powerful,
revealing, celebratory, angry,
and uplifting, all at once. They include notes of hope that should be
on the
radars of all African American readers seeking works of literary
empowerment: "I desire little command,/Only a
sound
destiny/To travel to an unknown land/Ruled by my love and me./We will
rule this
land as one/Over all the lovers there/Who have likewise come/To this
land with
us to share."
Return to Index
A Mother's
Tale &
Other Stories
Khanh Ha
C&R Press
978-1-949540-23-9
$18.00
https://www.crpress.org/shop/a-mothers-tale-other-stories/
A Mother's Tale &
Other Stories
provides tales that embrace the
beauty and chaos of Vietnam, and is a highly recommended literary work
for
those who seek fictional pieces embedded with the spirit and history of
the
Vietnam War and the nation.
Take the
opening
'Heartbreak Grass', for example. Here, a thirty-one-year-old villager
sent
South to fight the Americans returns home a blind quadruple amputee.
The young
narrator is eighteen and about to be drafted and faces following the
same fate
as the "Uncle" Chung, who returns home to live out his days as a
vastly crippled soul.
"What could
he
see now but his own memories?" the narrator wonders as he brings
medicine
to this survivor. He learns that the man, once a machine shop owner, is
now
controlled by a beautiful woman who oversees his entire life.
The survivor
prompts
the young man to consider his own path and life processes: "How would I carry on if I became like him? This
man seemed to
survive the way a creeper did, by latching on to living things nearby.
He
wanted to live."
From
surviving pain
to a toxic vine called 'heartbreak grass' that both heals and kills,
the story
moves into the narrator's own journey down the Ho Chí Minh Trail to
fight the
Americans, where the bitter lessons and message of this survivor hit
home in a
different way.
Each story
concludes
with a powerful revelation and punch after taking the time to build an
atmosphere and emotional connection with its reader.
Each takes a
microcosm of Vietnamese life and closely examines its foundations.
Under Ha's
pen, the steamy jungle world of Vietnam comes to life, in all its
beauty and
pain: "For days the rain came and
went. During the lulls the heat beat down on the forest and the forest
floor
steamed. While we lay the footpaths with wooden planks, the prisoners
were
taken to a distant grassland to cut buffalo grass and elephant grass,
bundle
them and carry them back to camp to thatch the roofs. I saw them
hauling back
large bundles of it. It was a sweltering day and the forest vapors
hazed the
air."
Readers
seeking
atmospheric reads about Vietnam that bring the country and its
peoples—survivors, healers, and villagers alike—to life will find the
landscapes and culture of a world wrecked by loss and war makes for
compelling
reading, indeed. This juxtaposition of pain and beauty runs through
every story
and makes them impossible to put down and hard to forget.
Literary
collections
strong in Asian cultural representation should consider A
Mother's Tale & Other Stories a key acquisition.
Return to Index
Stronghold
Kesha Bakunin
Atmosphere Press
978-1637529379
$23.99 paperback
Author Website: https://www.keshabakunin.com/
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Stronghold-Kesha-Bakunin/dp/1637529376
Readers of political
parables and fiction
that hold familiar settings and thought-provoking insights into the
origins of
repression and tyranny will find Stronghold a
frightening read. This is
even more significant because it was banned in Kesha Bakunin's home
country, a
Soviet satellite where Bakunin observed firsthand the fall of his
homeland into
dangerous patterns of authoritarianism, social conformity, and
religious
orthodoxy.
In this world, even a
cautionary tale can be
viewed as seditious and dangerous, and can be banned such as Stronghold
was. This fact makes Bakunin's determination to spend years seeing its
incarnation in English to warn the wider world even more admirable.
Stronghold
opens with Erik Mortensson's acceptance of
an orb that makes him a Keeper doomed to death by his obsessed cousin.
The next
scene moves to Lord Untu Va’aldek, a man of science in possession of
dangerous
information.
Nobody has
ever made
it into the Stronghold, which has existed as leaders and regimes rose
and fell.
Keepers and would-be claimants of its mysteries, whether they are
learned men
or tribal members, tend to die.
But as the
story
unfolds in all its complexity, the real truth and meaning of the
Stronghold and
its promises and challenges come to light.
It should be
noted
that despite its political power and ability to disturb, Stronghold
holds a mercurial, fluid story line with many changing
viewpoints, timelines, and social and political insights. Readers who
anticipate
a straightforward tale of repression or discovery may often find
themselves
lost and wondering as the story moves between past and present,
different
peoples and political systems, and stark contrasts between princesses,
judges,
astute observers of and participants in clashing political processes,
and more.
The language
is often
passionate, revealing, and filled with insights that embrace not just
political
and social strife but family relationships changed by them: "You describe my father as the basest
of scum. I’m afraid he is. Not only—and even not mainly—because of what
he did
to you. In his life, the man I’ve been calling the Seer hurt many
people. And
the fact that they—we, the Hounds—didn’t realize it, doesn’t change the
fact
that we’ve been wronged. He saved our lives but in return he took
ownership of
them. He taught us a lot, but in exchange we paid with our sight, that
strangest of powers I’ll never be able to understand which you all take
for
granted.”
The result
is both a
parable and a warning that demands from its readers an ability to be
both
intellectual and flexible as the fluid story line moves between
examples of
transformations both personal and political: "How
had he arrived to where he was now? He had turned into a
sectarian fanatic, falling prey to the same ideology he had intended to
use and
renounce. He’d lost his dazzling wife and acquired instead a pack of
submissive
underage slaves who—if he was being honest with himself—aroused in him
fewer
carnal desires than a writing desk. And finally, he had come to
fear—truly and
terribly—his ruler, the self-styled caliph. Duke Rur realized
that he had become everything he used to
despise."
This process
of how
systems and people move from ideals to become what they inherently
distrust is
one of the threads that make this novel so wrenching and idealistically
demanding.
Readers
interested in
a blend of fantasy and political and social inspection will find Stronghold no light discourse, but a
powerful statement that lingers in the mind long after its initial
reading,
demanding multiple rereads to reveal all the gems layered within its
complex
tale.
Return to Index
These
Americans
Jyotsna Sreenivasan
Minerva Rising Press
9781950811069
$17.00
www.minervarising.com
Readers
looking for
accessible short stories capturing
immigrant experiences and women's' lives will find These
Americans a study in contrasting cultures. It exposes the
rich vein of differences between Americans and those who arrive here
from other
countries. Most of the stories take place in the Midwest.
Take
the opening story
'Mirror', for one example. Here,
Prema Sridhar is giving birth in an American hospital. She reflects on
different experiences since she's come to America from India—how
Americans
"show teeth every time I appear," which causes her to believe they
are laughing at her Indian dress and ways; and how her concepts of
wealth and
poverty and her position in society are turned upside down by the
surprising
revelation that her doctor husband is not rich in America: "Before I arrived I thought, my husband is a
doctor, and we will
be going to the richest country in the world. I will live like a queen.
I
didn’t know the hospital did not pay residents well. I didn’t know we
would
have to live in a basement apartment with paint and everything falling
off the
ceiling. I didn’t know we would not be able to find basic Indian
groceries, not
even dal or ghee or yogurt. At home we have a cook and I never learned
to make
my own ghee or yogurt. Here I somehow make something or other using
split peas
and corn oil and sour cream. My mother sends me spices every so often,
sambar
powder and rasam powder, but I cannot find fresh chillies or coriander
leaves.
The only coconut in the store here is dried and sweetened, so I cannot
use it.
Imagine, eating South Indian food without coriander leaves or coconut!"
The
delivery reflects not
only Prema's revised role in
her new home, but the fact that she's giving birth to an American.
The
only novella in the
collection, 'Hawk', is about a
mother and daughter coming to terms with prejudice.
Daughter
Manisha lives in a
typical American home, has a
family herself, and has become a sixth grade teacher—much to her
mother's
disappointment, who thinks she should be teaching higher grades or
living on
her husband's benefits.
Her
mother has honed this
vision of her daughter's future
since Manisha was a child, reinforcing it in writings and teachings
designed to
craft her child into all she could be: "I
want you to do even better than we have done,” her mother had written.
“You
must stand on our shoulders and reach higher. You do not have to be
bound by
tradition. You can do anything you choose. The whole world is open to
you.
Thomas Jefferson said, ‘Nothing can stop the man with the right mental
attitude
from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the
wrong
mental attitude.’ You will have the right mental attitude. You were
born in the
land of freedom. No outdated traditions will stand in your way.”
Despite
her vision, Manisha
has made her own, different
choices in life.
As
the novella unfolds,
readers receive an inkling of how
disparate forces have affected and shaped an immigrant mother and her
daughter's experiences in America, and the future each has created from
these
influences.
Thought-provoking,
diverse,
yet interconnected by Indian
heritage, American experience, and women's' lives and concerns, These Americans offers a rich set of
insights especially recommended for women's literature collections in
general
and Indian immigrant readers in particular.
Return to Index
Where I Live
Some of
the Time
Barry Vitcov
Finishing Line Press
978-1-64662-433-1
$19.99
www.finishinglinepress.com
The poetry
in Where I Live Some of the Time is
about
life connections, aging, and change. It traces the evolution of poet
and
educator Barry Vitcov's life as he reviews the "predictive surprise"
life brings.
These are
evocative
free verse pieces often grounded in a sense of place and time, setting
the
stage for transformative moments as in 'Old Friend Calls': "No ocean view from this sprawling Carmel
house/Above the village
and below the highway/Situated like a bride’s maid/Waiting for
another’s
adventures to begin/Surrounded by art and randomness."
Vitcov seeks
to
"embrace the uncertainty and the burden/Of cyclical change
and expectation" and looks for surprise and insight even in the
weather,
captured in 'Sousa the March King': "March
arrived in late February/Snow softly tiptoeing like a sleepy
housecat/The wind
roaring like lions."
Under his
observational pen, even a dog walk is cause for reflection, as in
'Poodle
Walk': "Poodles never seem to
notice/The changes I observe/Empty houses where seniors once lived/Or
their own
mortality."
Pets,
people, and
portraits of angels and man permeate a fine gathering of life
reflections
highly recommended for poetry readers who look for free verse that
captures
both the moment, a sense of place, and a timeline of aging.
Where I Live Some of the
Time is a lovely
collection that lingers
in the mind longer after the last poem is imbibed.
Return to Index