November 2016 Review Issue
From
Blue Ribbon to Code Blue
Jennifer Miller Field with Joanne Field
Grove Street Books
978-194193-403-6
$24.95
www.grovestreetbooks.com
At age seventeen, author Jennifer Field was a typical horse-crazy girl, but with a difference: her talents and focus had her on track for the Olympics with an eye to riding on the equestrian team. Under different circumstances, From Blue Ribbon to Code Blue could easily have documented her rise to success; but life has a way of changing course, and a near-fatal auto accident moved Jennifer from an up-and-coming Olympics rider to a brain-damaged, comatose patient with a poor prognosis for recovery.
Again, under different circumstances the resulting story could have been about recovery and re-learning; but in fact From Blue Ribbon to Code Blue is so much more, and will delight readers of survival narratives with its intense saga of going for gold in a whole new way.
As chapters move from the fast track to success to a basic struggle to survive, readers are treated to the progressive story of restarting a life under vastly changed conditions, finding new purpose and determination from habits that formerly centered on equestrian achievement.
From the beginning, From Blue Ribbon to Code Blue charts this sense of determination and how it evolved and changed. From the initial impetus of translating riding ability to a purposeful goal to its evolutionary process as Jennifer is challenged to apply these skills to a completely revised life, changed relationships and life-or-death confrontations are told not just from Jennifer's viewpoint, but include observations from those who surrounded and supported her throughout her ordeal.
These first-person accounts juxtapose neatly with the author's story through the use of italics, highlighted sidebars, and descriptions which flow smoothly and clarify who the narrator is, leaving little possibility of confusion as Jennifer's story is related from different perspectives.
Jennifer's poems pair well with a peppering of color photos throughout to add life and personality to her narrative, which documents both her daily struggle to adapt and some of the hard realizations which come with newfound disability: "In the end, it didn’t matter how supportive and encouraging people were, or whether my mom said she could see the old rider that I had been. Once I was back on a horse, I couldn’t feel it. I had no sensory memory, no knowledge of how to control the huge animal using my arms and legs. My reaction time was slow and my legs were too weak to grip Swanny’s sides."
Few narratives can so clearly document this step-by-step healing process; but From Blue Ribbon to Code Blue is as precise in its approach and experiences as it is candid about the many hurdles that must be jumped, both alone and with the help of others, in such a recovery.
Readers of true-life, near-death experiences and stories of survival will relish the lessons and life-affirming experiences Jennifer imparts, and will find her story one of the top leaders in literature about the healing process: "Ironically, it’s human nature not to appreciate something until it’s gone, or, in my case, taken away. Simple things like breathing, eating, sleeping, walking, enjoying a cup of great coffee, or sharing laughter with friends and family—these are all fundamental things I’ve learned not to take for granted." Very highly recommended as a riveting read that, once begun, is hard to put down!
From Blue Ribbon to Code Blue
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With
Ballet in My Soul
Eva Maze
Moonstone Press, LLC
9780983498384
$24.95
www.moonstonepress.net
With Ballet in My Soul: Adventures of a Globetrotting Impresario begins with a young Rumanian girl's dreams of entering ballet and explores what happens when her initial dream of dancing leads her to instead become one of the most successful theatrical impresarios in Europe.
Many memoirs document lives that experience some of the worlds Eva Maze encounters in the course of her long journey; but the special pleasure in With Ballet in My Soul lies in its winding ride through social, political, and personal upheavals as Eva earns a name for herself in unexpected ways.
From dance schools and theater groups to programs and personalities who moved between these European worlds in the 1940s to the 1960s, With Ballet in My Soul offers a sweeping journey that takes many turns to bring readers into the birth and evolution of new opportunities in theater and life.
Maze finds newfound purpose in a life forged abroad, has romantic involvements with men from other countries, serves a stint in India as a successful radio show host, and encounters forces that led her to stumble into what would be her lifelong achievement. Throughout this entire process, Maze's memoir is direct, powerful, and filled with vivid insights: "My career as an impresario began with this friendly request. Up until that moment, I had never considered the profession of impresario (a.k.a. producer, manager of performing artists, touring manager, booking agent, etc.) – and a female one at that. Neither did I ever dream of following some day in the footsteps of the most famous Russian-born American impresario of the day, Sol Hurok."
Black and white and color snapshots (over two hundred) liberally pepper the story and highlight her heady life with visual embellishments that capture whirlwind productions, people in her life, and other countries. Readers should also expect a healthy dose of historical background which blends in social and political observation: something else that's missing from many memoirs.
The result excels in exploring not just Eva Maze's life and many experiences; but the forces at work during her lifetime and her tours and interactions with professional performers and artists from different walks of life.
Lively, educational, and a fun romp through Europe's professional circles, With Ballet in My Soul blends the artistry of performance and visual enhancements with an adventurer's heart to provide a heady mix of travelogue, career journey and personal odyssey that's hard to put down. With Ballet in My Soul is one of those rare gems that provide an outstanding performance, documenting the rich worlds of professional theater and dance alongside the author's life and interactions as her experiences become memories to treasure and share.
With Ballet in My Soul
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B.S.,
Incorporated
Jennifer Rock and Michael Voss
Wise Ink Creative Publishing
Paperback ISBN
978-1-63489-905-5 $10.50
eISBN
978-1-63489-904-8
www.wiseinkpub.com
www.itascabooks.com
B.S., Incorporated is a work of fiction born in a bar after another day of corporate business shenanigans, and thus it's firmly rooted in the business environment even as it uses its fictional cloak of anonymity to explore the ironies and inconsistencies of that world.
Business Solutions, Inc. is falling apart: its lower-level employees are using business hours for their own dubious personal purposes even as upper management is busy hiring consultants to solve problems even they don't understand. Typical dysfunctional corporate activities, right?
But wait: B.S., Incorporated ups the ante through the character of manager Will, tasked with carrying out consultant changes he can't possibly understand; and by having him interact more closely than he expected with the ambitious cutthroat Anna, who cares for neither corporate goals nor individuals' jobs in her relentless fight to get to the top of what she perceives as a winning game.
Caught up in a maelstrom of change that sweeps from corporate realms into their personal lives, Anna and Will are collateral damage in a process that actually makes as little sense as the business' dysfunctional structure. Can (and should) Will pair up with his worst enemy to save the business (and, ultimately, themselves) and help return B.S., Incorporated to the position of being named one of the '100 Best Companies to Work For'?
B.S. Incorporated stands with some of the best business novels in its genre, adding whimsy and humor into the serious mix of rolling dice, rattling cages, and revealing characters who either drive business success or teeter it on the brink of bankruptcy.
At the cutting edge of its humor is a grim sense of reality: "TK stood nearby, repeatedly poking the thermostat button. “You know that doesn’t work.” Anna walked into the aisle. “It’s hotter than an Ecuadorian cooking class in here. I turned it down to sixty-three.” Anna reached past him and plucked the box from the wall, revealing no wires curled inside, just a battery for the digital readout on the front. “What? It’s not even connected to anything,” TK gasped. “Of course not.” Anna snapped the box back into place. “It’s the illusion of environmental control. Employees complain less and work more when they think they can adjust the temp. I learned it at an architecture firm I worked for. It’s a productivity ploy.”
The mix of real-world inspiration and situations and a cast of fictional characters who interact within this world and carve their own form of business sanity from the milieu of a fading great structure make for lively reading - but that's what the best business novels should do. They can take the dry figures and processes of the corporate world and translate them to human endeavors, emotions, and emotionally-driven returns on investments: "She wanted to pump her fist in the air—like a rom-com’s plucky heroine. But she’d only gotten in the door, and she didn’t have a trite-but-heartwarming script to tell her what to do next. She couldn’t extrapolate life wisdom from ’70s-era sitcoms like Judd."
Anyone who enjoys the business novel genre will find many riches embedded in this treasure trove tale of how a business is turned around and how its diverse movers and shakers adopt new strategies that spill into their psyches and lives to ultimately outline a bold new initiative with its own haunting connections to the past.
B.S., Incorporated
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The
Filmmaker's Journey: Or What Nobody Tells You About the Industry
Chris Esper
CreateSpace
ASIN: B01F6J3W5O
$1.99
http://a.co/3w5EXp9
Chris Esper has been making films for six years, and reveals the first part of these experiences in a book directed to fellow filmmakers who would learn more about the process from the industry experiences of one who's been there. But be forewarned: readers shouldn't expect a treatise on how to make a good film; nor does it provide a formula for success.
Instead, The Filmmaker's Journey is about the process of growth and how an eighteen-year-old who understood his career aspirations while still young succeeded in making a place for himself in that world.
Chapters thus assume the form of an autobiography as they probe Esper's route through the industry, peppering his story of his career's evolution with insights on how others evolved and achieved, from a Sundance Film Festival winner whose video was shot entirely on an iPhone to how the crux of success can be as simple as making exceptional movies with whatever equipment is available.
It's not about attending the best film school or affording the most expensive, advanced equipment: success in the film industry lies in the creative talent involved in making a production and the artistry refined during a lifelong learning process.
Esper's industry experiences blend with his personal observations and feelings and moves between advice for other aspiring filmmakers to what he felt about and experienced in the industry. From how to handle a bad review and use feedback and criticism to one's professional advantage to assessing distribution companies for one's short and understanding that a film career is not a linear path, but holds many detours along the way, Esper's story is compelling on both a personal and business level, excelling in a blend of emotion and insights not usually present in the typical filmmaking advice guide.
The result is a powerful series of industry insights that Chris Esper had to learn the hard way. With the publication of his book, peers don't have to take this hard route, and can more effectively navigate the pitfalls and successes of their own personal filmmaking odyssey.
Highly recommended as an accessible, involving, and candid collection of experiences and tips from a filmmaker who is still traveling the road of filmmaking success.
The Filmmaker's Journey: Or What Nobody Tells You About the Industry
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Mantra
Design: Innovate, Buy, or Die!
Dana A. Oliver
Xlibris
Hardcover
978-1-5144-1584-9
Softcover
978-1-5144-1583-2
eBook
978-1-5144-1579-5
$3.99
http://a.co/dj3oeEl
Many books discuss innovations in business structure and product design, promising readers revolutionary results if they would just adapt and apply these philosophies to their business pursuits. Few come backed with the authority of Dana A. Oliver, whose endeavors include growing Medtronic’s Surgical Technologies ENT/NT division from $100 million to approximately $2 billion in annual revenues over fourteen years.
This, plus some 30 years of experience, makes Dana Oliver an impressive figure whose concept of "mantra design" should be considered by any serious innovator and business manager. But what is "mantra design"? Quite simply, it's a process of uncovering one's customer's unmet needs and organizing a business structure to fill those needs through innovative, profitable pursuits.
Chapters offer lessons for all kinds of businesses and leadership approaches, linking these lessons to strategies designed to build flexibility and creativity into business pursuits. This is accomplished through a blend of anecdotal case histories and Oliver's own experiences at Medtronic, and it's imparted in an approach that outlines common misperceptions and keys to overcoming hurdles.
Of necessity, at times the language is detailed and complex as it reviews common obstacles to business and business organizational challenges; but it also is quite clear in describing its processes: "Every simulated laboratory I have ever participated in resulted in learning something new and was advantageous for either the product or its promotion. Given this time-consuming and evolving new product convergence process, there are three key product development strategies to aid in reaching a commercially successful design freeze: don’t obsess on hitting a bull’s eye; collect product feedback from friends, foes, and average Joes; and aspire to share your latest concept with customers at least twelve to twenty times."
From recognizing "game-changing difference makers" when designing new products to the goals and cautions involved in recognizing that new products and innovations are the lifeblood of any organization, chapters discuss the logic involved in acknowledging and using creativity, consider the partnerships between creative design and marketing and research processes, and discuss rules of thumb for innovation leaders.
The result is a powerful discussion that bases its innovation ideas on real-world scenarios, backed by the experience and savvy of a man who has a proven track record in his industry. Business leaders will want to consider his discussions of applied innovation and the processes that lead to success.
Mantra Design: Innovate, Buy, or Die!
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Ave,
Caesarion
Deborah L. Davitt
CreateSpace
978-0-9860916-2-9
https://www.amazon.com/dp/
www.edda-earth.com
Ave, Caesarion is Book 1 in 'The Rise of Caesarion's Rome', and opens with a simple premise: what kind of world would evolve if Rome had never fallen? While Davitt's theme is part of her "Edda-Earth" series as a whole, it's particularly powerful in this book, where Caesar's survival and his son by Cleopatra has created an uncertain dynasty, a powerful political and psychic connection between Egypt and Rome, and two young people tasked with either supporting their world or challenging it.
One might expect that such a theme would of necessity require a strong background in history and research. Davitt undertook this challenge with the help of historians who guided her through the literature of ancient Rome with an eye to building a concrete, realistic portrait of the times.
Be advised that this is a work of fantasy - an alternate timeline of a possible Rome that never was - so though the story line is steeped in historically accurate research and references, it also diverges at a number of points, keeping readers on their toes. Readers of historical fiction will want to take note that this fantasy element's diversions are satisfyingly thought-provoking features of an alternate reality and not reflective of a true historical piece.
That caution aside, Ave, Caesarion is a fantastically complex, evocative and involving story that moves through its world from the viewpoints and perspectives of characters young and old who experience every nuance of the social, spiritual and political world of their times.
Deborah Davitt employs a deft hand to recreate a sense of ancient Rome ("In the last light of sunset, five cohorts of legionnaires marched along the Via Flaminia towards the gates of Rome, accompanying two young men on horseback. The dirt and dust on their uniforms suggested a long journey, conducted rapidly. The senior centurion and all the men on foot were hardened soldiers in their thirties, members of the Legio X Equestris—the first legion levied by Julius Caesar.") and thus her settings and characters are strikingly realistic and well-drawn, adding complexity and depth to a story line that's more than a cursory adventure.
This depth is reflected in encounters between characters that explain and explore their psyches and motivations: "Sorry,” Alexander apologized immediately. “I thought I’d be down here quietly taking notes for the next three hours.” He smiled merrily in Caesarion’s direction. “My brother has just revealed that under the stern façade of the stoic soldier, he actually has a romantic soul.” “I do not,” Caesarion replied in a repressive tone. “I simply can’t reconcile an arranged marriage to someone I don’t know with the words of the wedding ceremony. Mother certainly seemed to mean them today. I’d like . . . to mean them, too.” So late at night, it seemed a good time for confessions. If nothing else, I might sleep better if my head stops spinning."
The roles of men, women, and new adults entering into their special powers are all well-done and designed to draw readers into this world ("Eurydice concentrated on keeping her balance in the saddle. Her reins were tied to Caesarion’s saddle, so she didn’t have to divide her attention three ways. Because now that they were on land, her responsibilities were clear, if exhausting—don’t fall off the horse, and keep a constant vigil from the air, looking for ambushes set up along their route north. The native population was agitated, and might well see an opportunity to throw off Rome’s yoke entirely, while its forces were divided, after all."), while the inclusion of powerful women who fully participate in Roman society create satisfying scenarios of confrontation and force.
That Eurydice often comes across as powerfully as the lead protagonist Caesarion is testimony to a wide-ranging attention to detail and psychological depth where individuals and society are well-drawn and their lives and influences much discussed.
Readers who enjoy alternate reality historical fantasies in general and depictions of early societies in particular will find Ave, Caesarion as gripping, involving, and as real as today's modern world.
Ave, Caesarion
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Eye
of the Storm
Frank Cavallo
Ravenswood Publishing
978-1535327077
$18.99
www.ravenswoodpublishing.com
Readers who anticipate an action mystery from the initial premise of a former Navy SEAL and a doctor who are caught in a storm during a research mission to a remote area will find that the adventure quickly turns into a dark fantasy survival saga when the two are flung into a rift in space and time and transported to and marooned on another world.
No ordinary environment awaits them, for there a wizard and his undead army battle an Amazon-type queen and her Neanderthal horde. The treasure at stake is not land or conquest, but a treasure with the power to re-open the portal between Eric Slade and Dr. Anna Fayne's world.
This alternate universe is satisfyingly different from most fantasy creations, blending paranormal and fantasy worlds with a deft attention to creating an action-packed story that is hard to predict and replete with fresh, original scenarios.
The main characters are described in just enough detail and depth to prove inviting and intriguing ("At forty-three, Eric Slade carried himself with a trademarked eccentricity. He dressed more like a European cinema auteur than either a former soldier or professional fighter, though his sun-narrowed eyes were unmistakably hawkish."), and although it could be said that the depth of their motivations and emotions is not as thoroughly developed as they could have been, Eye of the Storm still stands above others in the fantasy/alternate universe genre for its original story line and unpredictable twists.
Action-oriented readers who prefer a focus on building environment and believable, detailed fantasy will be fine with Frank Cavallo's approach, which assumes the trappings of an Indiana Jones-type thriller without the intrusion of too much psychological detail and complexity. And if the drama appears heavy-handed at times, it only serves to thicken the plot with dramatic encounters and confrontations: "The denizens of the mad city sprang from every corner of the ruins. They pounced like rabid dogs, armed with woodaxes, pitchforks and scythes. Screaming waifs charged from every direction, hacking and slashing. The human paroxysm surged, trampling over each other in a frenzy. Slade didn’t waste an instant. He bounded into the fray, twin swords in hand. The crowd swarmed. Drooling savages clawed at him."
As the story evolves, Eric and Anna come to realize that they are tasked with more than finding their way home or saving their world from invasion. At stake is the fate of two worlds and the forces that keep them separated, as well as control of the powerful Eye of the Storm and its ability to reveal fates and futures and allow them to witness the mysteries of all eternity on a cosmic scale.
Are there any real choices being offered to Eric and Anna in the face of their world-changing mission? And even if they achieve these greater goals, can they still go home? Nobody escapes the Eye of the Storm unscathed. Happily, readers looking for uncommon adventure and plots will find in Eye of the Storm a leisure read that's hard to put down, fueled not by overly complicated psychology but by the simple desires of lives interrupted and under siege.
Eye of the Storm
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History's
Prisoners: Invasion
James Garmisch
Smashwords
9781370789801 $2.99
https://www.smashwords.com/
www.jamesgarmischbooks.com
Huan has long known his ultimate fate will be execution. The time has come, dreams of the utopian society are crashing around him, and his only concern is for his children's future without his place in it as their protector. As a high member of the failing Western Global Alliance, Huan was supposed to be immune from execution and imprisonment; but in the tide of chaos that accompanies social collapse, all bets are off.
It's the cusp of his death - but also the moment of his rebirth, when he's given another chance at a very different scenario and purpose - that will take his careful course in life and completely turn it around.
History's Prisoners: Invasion is military and political sci-fi reading at its best, backed by social changes and the collapse of a dysfunctional utopian society that brings Huan to his knees and alters everything he's believed in. His only choice for survival is to become something he's never been, a soldier and a spy, infiltrating the resistance movement on a mission that seems to have no good outcome.
But his world isn't the only one collapsing, and he isn't the only main character struggling against vast changes. Ava is a young woman who lives in a city where the average age is seventy-nine. Like many her age, she's narcissistic, oblivious to the world, and a product of her job and her connections to the underworld.
Doon, her brother, is another battle survivor, more experienced with the "outside" and fighting with the Rangers, even though he and his comrades don't really understand the politics of what they're involved in.
Take a former member of the upper echelons of society, place him in the unfamiliar role of a special agent, introduce him to facets of a world he barely knew existed, and mix with military muscles and special forces for the essence of a story that pits two worlds against one another before introducing surprises that rest as much upon dreams of home, peace, and stability as they do upon struggles to survive.
Action is swift and while military and political factions and descriptions are present throughout, there's also a solid attention to building believable, compelling characters who interact with each other and their changed environments to the best of their abilities.
As Doon faces a terrible truth and all characters are forced to consider what they most value in life, readers are drawn into a struggle that takes place on not just a military or political level, but on a moral and ethical stage, as well.
The result is a story that's complex, involving, and hard to put down; recommended for all sci-fi fans.
History's Prisoners: Invasion
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Red
Death
Jeff Altabef
Evolved Publishing
978-1-62253-319-0
Paperback = $17.95 List
Hardcover = $30.95 List
eBook = $3.99
www.JeffAltabef.com
Book 1 of Red Death opens with a colorful map, reference to a "cast of characters" section at the back of the sweeping story, and the introduction of seventeen-year-old Aaliss, a trained Guardian charged with protecting her world of Eden from the dangers outside it.
Eden isn't perfect. It suffers from a plague, the Red Death, which affects many children, so when her younger brother discovers a cure, Aaliss expects that the priests of Eden will celebrate his discovery as a miracle.
Instead, mysteriously, they decide to condemn Aaliss and her brother, and both are forced to flee into the deadly world outside of Eden in a struggle to survive that brings with it a more critical examination of everything Aaliss has believed in her life.
Young adult to adult readers of dystopian fiction will find Red Death a powerful, if not complex, read that takes the familiar saga of siblings at odds with their evolving world and gives it a special twist.
The importance of souls and their purposes and preservation, the threats inherent in a Witches' Wood which offers an unexpected miracle, the impact of a potentially society-changing cure on friends, family and associates of the two ("Being branded the brother of two traitors made Piers notorious, dangerous even, as if traitorous behavior flowed in his blood and could be transmitted as easily as the Red Death. The other novices seemed to have decided on silence and space as the best ways to deal with him."), and the lasting impact of a journey into an outside world long perceived as deadly introduces not just a wide cast of characters, but diverse belief systems.
While this translates to a complex dystopian story recommended for older teens, its ultimate impact and winding, engrossing story will be welcomed and relished by not only this audience but new adult readers who appreciate the complex worlds and feisty protagonists of The Hunger Games and similar dystopian novels.
In the end, it's more than just a story of teens surviving of their world; but a thought-provoking saga about belief systems and religion, courage, adaptability, greed and goals of ruling humanity, and a seemingly-unstoppable juggernaut of change that rolls over everyone in its path.
Red Death is ultimately about revolution, the kernel of which begins here, in a gripping story of two talented and determined siblings who reach out to connect with and embrace their world.
Red Death
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Ah,
Men
Nancy Scott
Aldrich Press
9780692671375 $17.00
www.kelsaybooks.com
Ah, Men: New and Selected Poems is a collection centered around poet Nancy Scott's encounters with men from childhood through adulthood, and its unusual and specific focus allows for a sweeping series of observations that examine not just relationships, but the male psyche.
The collection's chronological arrangement allows for a sense of growth and maturity as the first section provides a poignant series of friendships and shared experiences from childhood and then moves to blossoming relationships and different kinds of encounters.
Each poem holds the microcosm of change within its grasp as readers follow associations from fathers and daughters and childhood friends to a father's love for beauty; all presented in various forms. As the progression continues, a daughter realizes the impact of her parents' separation, comes to know her father's affection for cars and his love of life, and at sixteen she is shyly smitten by a sailor on the eve of his shipping out and later in college explores interracial dating in the Jim Crow period.
With every section comes growth and insights that lead to different perceptions of men, love, relationships, and self. The poems themselves are packed with vivid imagery and emotion ("A buzz-cut guy in chinos leaned across/the front seat and smiled, Do you need help?/ I shook my head./I'm Army; he said. I'm perfectly safe./So began the saga of the rest of my life."), carrying readers on a tide of exploration and discovery that will provoke thoughts about males, females, and the ties that bind them.
In some ways Ah, Men is an autobiographical piece; but in others it's a wider-ranging survey of the state of relationship-building in general and the nuances, both subtle and overt, of men as they dance around women's attractions and lives like butterflies.
Passages of prose that explore pivotal moments form the basis of sections which serve as points of relief and insight to keep Ah, Men's changing perspectives on track. This book will especially delight poetry readers fond of personal touches and inspections of the male/female condition, and is highly recommended for this audience.
Ah, Men
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Butterflies
and Bullets
Trisha Sugarek
Writer at Play
978-1450591942
$7.99
www.writeratplay.com
Butterflies and Bullets, a curious title for a book of poetry, delivers what its title implies: an interplay between nature and emotional inspection. Its free verse observational approach captures the intersection between environmental and human affairs.
Poetry readers should anticipate ethereal pieces that capture a wide range of sensations. From the smells and feel of the world in 'Fragrance of Life' ("Sultry air twines itself through the/Quarter, crushed sugar, wet/pavement, yeasty bouquet of/hot beignet. Warm beer,/praline sweet, heady grape/Old river water slugs along.") to the cry of self-inflicted pain in 'Song of Agony' ("Steel scores cold, thin lines/ice and fire/Swiftly, thin red lines follow/warm and wet/First the/burning, the/shame, the self-disgust./Then sweet relief/The little suicide."), these are pieces that cry, ache, observe, and immerse the reader in emotional responses to life's beauty and treachery.
Joy and anguish, pleasure and pain … concurrent tides of diverse expressions run through these pieces to profile the intricacies and nuances of life. When paired with evocative illustrations, it's a dance of life that flies and falls through experience with a poet and observer's astute, deft touch.
Poetry fans will find these works accessible; and though they may seem deceptively simple at first, their lasting impact lies in their thought-provoking, descriptive moments.
Butterflies and Bullets
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On
Love
Vatsal Surti
Amazon Digital Services
ASIN: B01LWCXI8Q
$2.99
https://www.amazon.com/dp/
On Love is a collection of short stories and prose poems designed to capture, in quick staccato sentences and descriptions that blossom in complexity and content, the essence of love.
These depictions of romance are diverse creations that reflect more than infatuation: they also examine connections and distance, the ebb and flow of attraction, the sadness of separation, and the angst of evolution and change.
Each of the six pieces contains a sense of heartfelt relationships juxtaposed by loneliness; the ache of surrender and loss coupled with the ecstasy of discovery and deep communications.
People leave love in an effort to know who they are outside of it. They reject growing together in favor of achieving a sense of individuality and self before returning to the fold, ready for more love. And in the process of separation and pain, they discover (or rediscover) the forces that keep love a vibrant, alive, and committed process.
On Love's protagonists find out all this and more as they move through experiences and grow from the challenges to what they've build together.
Sometimes the perspective (and tense) changes, as in 'Seasons': "Time keeps moving and nothing stays the same. Either the people outside us change or we change inside…They gave each other their whole, and became empty. The last word−march! It is not in our hand to love. It is not we who begin it, so it cannot be us ending. You are a fate that was brought to me…"
While the back-and-forth changing viewpoints in the same story, from an outside observer to a first-person experience, can be confusing at points, ultimately it's a strong part of the ebb and flow structure that pulls love apart, examines it, then pieces it back together from a different perspective.
Readers looking for short, contemplative pieces that explore the spaces and links between two people will find much food for thought in On Love: not always as easily digested as some of the short staccato writing promises; but always compelling.
On Love
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31
Ghost Novels to Read Before You Die What
are ghosts? Surely they're not the things that haunt the horror genre
these
days, which focuses on other facets than specters waylaid by death and
left to
wander among the living, unacknowledged and unseen. And these kinds of
ghost
stories seem less evident than ever before; replaced by buckets of
blood and
terror that are the hallmarks of the harder-hitting horror
genre. So
it's a special pleasure to find 31 Ghost
Novels to Read Before You Die, an
acknowledgement of and throwback
to the old-fashioned ghost story: the one where ghosts are
lost, loving,
observational guests who just happen to be stuck in the wrong place or
time;
but who don't foster ill will towards the living. What
do ghosts do? What do they want? Deb Atwood presents thirty-one tales
of
haunting, from Simone St. James' The
Haunting of Maddy Clare to Richard Matheson's A Stir of Echoes.
Each profile receives a
plot synopsis and a "What I Thought" section that reviews the story
and critically assesses its ghostly devices ("So, if you like your fog thick,
your winds howling, your marches
amorphous, your pauses pregnant; in short, your atmosphere atmospheric,
you
will enjoy the novella Woman in Black.") In
the course of reading these reviews, readers are not only inspired to
return to
a fading genre of genuinely ghostly encounters and read (or re-read)
for
themselves their diverse approaches, but receive publisher information
that
makes the books easy to locate. It's
been a long time since this reviewer indulged in a good ghost story. 31 Ghost Novels to Read Before
You Die is
the perfect place to begin, to read old classics and learn about some
exciting
new writers who stay true to their ghostly genre without spilling over
into
today's more common (and less ghostly) horror approaches. Beyond
the Tiger Mom Maya
Thiagarajan is a mother and teacher who has lived and worked in both
the United
States and Asia. Her background lends to a close analysis of the best
of both
worlds as she interviews Asian parents about their parenting
approaches,
values, and goals and incorporates them into a wider-ranging survey of
global
pressures and technological advancements and their influence on
parenting
techniques and their outcomes. Beyond
the Tiger Mom: East-West Parenting for the Global Age
may deserve a place on parents' shelves, but it's anything but the
usual guide
on how to raise a child. Embedded in its pages is the concept of the
'tiger
mom' and the stereotypes revolving around Asian parenting and
child-rearing,
and as chapters probe not only these images but their effects on Asian
households, values systems, and interactions with the world, they craft
the
bigger picture of Asian parenting choices' lasting influences and the
realities
and illusions which drive them. Chapters
assume some intriguing formats as they explore specific myths, from why
"All the Asian Kids Are on the Math Team" and how math importance and
education is taught in home and school and reinforced by parenting
expectation
and training processes to why Asians excel in memorization techniques
to ace
tests, how parents and children adapt to and modify Western educational
trends,
how Asian mothers view play and leisure time. Because
this focus on East-West parenting techniques reaches heavily into
educational
processes, standards, and options, many a teacher or student of social
science
or education will find it captivating reading, moving neatly beyond the
boundaries of a parenting guide to consider issues of educational
approaches
and differences in East-West values systems. There
are many concerns raised when considering the duality of parenting and
educational pursuits. Among these are the challenge of rearing
resilient and
flexible kids where happiness is part of the achievement equation; the
family
relationships (both inherited and perceived) which provide foundations
of
belief and support for a child; and the global challenges of taking
metaphors
and myths and recognizing their underlying purposes, applications, and
possibilities for transformation. At
every step of the process, discussions offer parents specific options
for
change: "While
some American education
experts may say that all learning should be fun, I personally believe
that the
word “fun” is the wrong word to use. Learning should be challenging,
meaningful, rigorous, engrossing, interesting, and satisfying. It does
not need
to be a game or a party. If your child attends a school that is focused
on
“fun,” encourage serious learning activities at home to show him that
earnest
academic engagement can be pleasurable and satisfying." Maya
Thiagarajan's candid assessments of generational differences are
strikingly
revealing and offers much food for thought: "When I spoke with Indian and
Chinese parents about their expectations
of their children, most of the mothers said, “If we take care of our
parents
well and do our duty, then hopefully our children will learn that this
is the
right thing to do.” While I fully understand how central the ideas of
filial
piety and family loyalty are to Asian societies, I also wonder whether
these
parents are right in assuming that their children will, in fact, do for
them
what they have done for the older generation." The
result is a frank discussion that pulls no punches, offers many
alternative
ideas, and is very highly recommended not just for parents and anyone
working
with kids, but for educators and those looking to build a better global
community. It's an exciting discourse no parent or educator should be
without. Diet
Slave No More! Diet
Slave No More!: A Fun Literary Journey into Your Self
is an unexpected journey in that it's not another book on "how to
diet". Instead, its holistic approach combines the medical traditions
of
East and West as it considers the fact that typical dieting strategies
just
don't work, and it reviews a new idea that offers better balance and
insights. Where
most diet books advocate a singular program that can be followed by
all, Diet
Slave No More maintains that in order
to achieve lasting results, diet efforts must be customized and
tailored to and
by the individual dieter. This
is further emphasized by the fact that ninety-seven percent of those
who lost
weight gained all of it back within a few years, neatly demonstrating
that artificial
weight loss efforts not backed by deeply life-changing strategies are
likely
only temporary achievements. One
of the purposes of Diet
Slave No More is
to provide medical insights into weight gain and loss and what occurs
on a
metabolic and physical level when one's diet changes.
Discussions move to
a cellular level as they probe how food is digested and absorbed into
the
system. A
touch of metaphysical insight adds to Dr. Kogan's approach, as well: "By coming to understand that
your Cells are highly
intelligent by design, you are not committing to any religion or a
cult. You
are simply coming to terms with why you were born perfect and why you
are such
a mess today. And what’s more: you are learning to tap into your
birthright—your cellular integrity, to recreate your perfection." Specifics
of emotional ties to food are revealed ("Just
like a positive emotion, like hearing your beloved calling you with a
cup of
coffee, can strengthen your positive perception of an object, in this
case
coffee, the negative emotion will cause predictable results. Even if
only one
of the five senses is suddenly conveying an unpleasant emotion, the
overall
perception of an object will be affected dramatically. A cup of coffee
offered
by someone you resent will make this beverage tough to swallow. So,
emotions
are always there, accompanying our five senses, feeding into them, and
getting
nourished by them."), backed by the latest
research, the
author's case history examples, and discussions of how perception and
taste play
a part in food choices. Part
of the book promotes an accompanying app of the same name - Diet Slave No More!
- as part of a plan to
link outside world experiences with reinforcements for habit change,
which can
be as basic as eating healthy at home before an event or outing to
adopting a
slower pace of life and an organic, non-GMO-based diet. The
result advocates not one approach, but a series of psychological,
physical, and
spiritual insights into the mechanics of eating, diets, and
decision-making and
choices that will help readers realize and define a better path for
overall
health. Serial dieters will be surprised and delighted with a book that
doesn't
advocate yet another regimen, and which blends science with anecdotes
and
examples from real-life situations. Finding
Ourselves in Venice, Florence, Rome & Barcelona Finding
Ourselves in Venice, Florence, Rome & Barcelona:
Aging Adventurers Discover the Power of Place While Exploring
Fascinating
Cities at Their own Relaxing Pace
combines a memoir and
armchair travel read with a survey that gives the older adventurer hope
that
travel may be accessible despite their special requirements, and is a
top
recommendation for any older person who longs to see Europe. Images
in color (available on Kindle and e-reader devices; the paperback
version does
not have color photos) accompany the authors' journeys along Venice's
Grand
Canal, the Accademia in Florence, the lanes and neighborhoods of
Barcelona, and
more. It
should be mentioned that Al & Sunny Lockwood may be older
travelers, but
they aren't disabled. Although stairs and walking are not major
challenges to
them (as they might be for some older travelers), their travel choices
do need
to be adjusted to their energy levels and abilities. Readers looking
for
"how to travel with a disability" guides thus won't find such advice
here. What
will be found is a candid assessment of tour pros and cons, snafus and
satisfyingly amazing sights and scenery, descriptions of classic sites
such as
Rome's Colosseum and Florence's Duomo cathedral, the fourth largest
church in
the world, and personal encounters and tips as they travel
Europe. Finding
Ourselves can be used in one of
two ways: as an armchair travel guide that promises hours of "you are
there" reading by pairing a chatty autobiographical tone with close
inspections of sights, sounds, and close encounters with the peoples
and places
of four areas; and as a tip guide that includes recommendations that
aren't
usually a part of more specific "where to go, stay, and eat" travel
guides: "My
reason for choosing lodging
as close to major monuments as possible is three-fold. First, if we
don't have
the energy to do everything, we'll at least see the most important
sight of
each city. Second, if we get lost or if we just "run out of steam" a
long way from our room, we don't have to remember our address. We can
simply
tell the taxi or bus driver to drop us off at the monument. Third, we
will not
spend our precious time traveling to and from these major monuments." Aging
would-be adventurers who dream of touring the major cities of Europe
and seeing
some of their best monuments will find Finding
Ourselves a rich memoir pairing personal
experience with practical
travel savvy adjusted for arthritic knees and aging spirits. In
the Moment There
are so many actor's guides on the market today that it may be hard to
see the
need for yet another; but sometimes a truly original approach is
provided that
links real-world experience with tips essential to acting success. Such
a book
is In the
Moment, an audition
workbook directed not to novices but to the trained actor. Since
many other acting books assume no prior knowledge of the industry, it's
refreshing to see a guide that intermediate actors can use. Other books
often
come from fellow actors who have enjoyed some measure of achievement;
but Gerry
Cousins is a teacher who founded a successful school in Studio City,
California
teaching on-camera audition technique to “trained” actors, so her
entire
approach is different. The
focus on auditioning for film and television roles uses a workbook
format to
present the author's specific strategies and classroom teachings and
methods
which can be applied to virtually any role or acting endeavor. Her
guide is different because "The trick
to getting the part is winning the audition. By and large, acting
classes are
about theater—scene study and performance. Preparation includes the
luxury of
time, memorized lines, rehearsals, blocking, costumes, and sets.
Film/television, however, while taking that training into account, is a
whole
other skill set. Auditioning for a part in this genre has its own rules
and
conventions." In
the Moment refines not just a
technique, but a purpose. It captures the essence of "living in the
moment" and shows how to translate this feel to an audition, and it
emphasizes that in order to achieve success, actors have to consider
their
audition as not just reading a scene, but immersing themselves in a situation. Exercises
take sample audition readings and break them down to explore underlying
character traits, how to score a script to identify transition moments
and
emotional emphasis, and how to avoid the common tendency to
over-complicate
characters in the interests of dramatic effect. Nuggets
of information pepper each moment and sample audition, always returning
to the
heart of the matter: the process of capturing, translating, and living
in the
moment for maximum impact: "Auditioning
is a real skill and is learned by doing over time. Don’t go cerebral.
The
moment you start judging every little thing you do and try to squeeze
it all
in, you’re done! Do your homework thoroughly and then let it go. Work
in the
moment." It
sounds so simple and so basic; and yet this objective and its process
are often
missed by aspiring, seasoned, and too-intense would-be actors alike.
That's why
the actor with some experience under his belt needs the program
specifics of In
the Moment. Drama book stores
and most especially academic drama programs will find the
attention to
audition techniques to be invaluable, and an important difference
between this
and other drama instructionals. "Preparation
is foremost" - and the neo-professional will be
better prepared
with the help of this specific program. Revisioning
Activism Revisioning
Activism: Bringing Depth, Dialogue, and
Diversity to Individual and Social Change
comes from an
author with ten years in law practice and twenty years counseling
individuals
and organizations, and envisions a new brand of activism and a
different type
of dialogue surrounding it. David
Bedrick's definition of this activism is different than the usual
perceptions
of protest, resistance, and political strategies in that it embraces a
form of
connection and association that defies the usual disconnection,
distance, and
resistance associated with activism and its actions. Essays
focus on that point where individual lives and political and social
presence
meet, adding a psychologist's eye to clarify different levels of
conversation
and encounter, such as that surrounding race, where personal engagement
usually
overlays conversations about incidents and observations. Bedrick
uses case history examples from his practice to consider such
wide-ranging
topics as the deprivation of diet programs and the challenge of weight
loss,
repairing trust to build lasting sustainable relationships, and why
people feel
compelled (and find it a futile task) to argue others out of set
patterns and
positions about social issues such as gun control. Each
essay begins with a topic that may seem far from the book's focus on
'activism'
in the usual sense; but winds into it the experiences of different
people,
their perspectives, and how the process of meaningful engagement can
prove a
transformative experience, thus falling neatly into the underlying
definition
of activism and working for change. Denial,
divergence, separation, dialogue, debate, and ultimately, coming
together are
all part of this process. It's the latter which truly constitutes
activism in
its best sense; and these essays present a sampling of the tough issues
of
society with an eye to demonstrating the many ways in which social
disturbance
touches personal lives, and can provide the impetus for
change. Readers
of social science, civil rights, activism, and psychology will equally
find Revisioning
Activism a powerful and
different approach to the subject. What
to Expect When Adopting a Dog Barnes
and Noble: http://www. Families
who want to adopt a dog and need a little extra knowledge to make this
process
a success shouldn't start at the animal shelter, but with Diane
Rose-Solomon's What
to Expect When Adopting a Dog.
There's a wealth of information presented here, from assessing one's
resources
and ability to care for a dog's needs to finding out the physical and
psychological traits of an ideal adoptee and understanding options on
where to
locate and adopt. All
these may appear to be basic first steps; but in advocating advance
planning
and a basic understanding of the various options and routes to animal
adoption,
Diane Rose-Solomon takes in a bigger picture which includes such
concerns as
how to integrate a new pet into a household with kids and other animals
(including tips on introducing dogs and cats), fostering safe kid and
pet
interactions, and traveling with a pet's needs in mind. Statistics
and guidelines from research and professional sources are peppered
throughout
the account, supporting tips on handling pet separation anxiety,
training, and
handling fleas and physical ailments. It's important to note that this
book
leaves nothing left to wonder about: there are over 100 links to these
articles
and products. Case
histories, reports, tip sheets, and information packs her account,
making What to
Expect When Adopting a Dog the
item of choice and the first line of reason for anyone considering
adding a dog
to an existing family of people and pets.
Deb Atwood
New Potato Press
978-0-9857038-2-0
$1.99
https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-
31
Ghost Novels to Read Before You Die
Return
to Index
Maya Thiagarajan
Tuttle Publishing
978-0-8048-4602-8
$18.95
www.tuttlepublishing.com
Beyond
the Tiger Mom
Return
to Index
Svetlana Kogan, MD
Svetlana Kogan, M.D, Publisher
9780692753071
$19.99
https://amzn.com/0692753079
Diet
Slave No More!
Return
to Index
Al & Sunny Lockwood
Front Porch Publishing
978-0692599907
$11.99
http://a.co/aqGbRZT
Finding
Ourselves in Venice, Florence, Rome & Barcelona
Return
to Index
Gerry Cousins
Strategic Book Publishing and Rights Agency
978-1-68181-307-3
$19.50
http://sbprabooks.com/
In
the Moment
Return
to Index
David Bedrick, J.D.
Belly Song Press
9780985266783 $19.95
www.BellySongPress.com
Revisioning
Activism
Return
to Index
Diane Rose-Solomon
SOP3 Publishing
Paperback: 978-0-9857690-4-8 $14.99
Digital: 978-0-9857690-5-5
$ 4.99
Website: www.dianerosesolomon.com
What
to Expect When Adopting a Dog
Return
to Index
UFOs
and God
Michael R. Lane
Bare Bones Press
978-1-63491-712-4
$16.95
www.michaelrlane.com
The
short stories in UFOs
and God are
fictional works, but aside from the title piece, anyone who anticipates
that
this book will be centered around UFOs should be advised that there are
bigger
scenarios at stake, here; and these involve belief, perseverence,
determination
and survival.
At
the pivot point of many of these stories are basic, gritty assessments
of life
and why it's worth living, while others support the themes of visionary
belief
systems, hope, and newfound revelation.
'Locusts',
for example, takes readers on a winding journey through a desolate
wilderness
brought about by the greed of mankind as it follows the thoughts and
trajectory
of Thurgood Boyd, a farmer and environmentalist who views "evidence of
the
same shortsighted deeds" everywhere in his world, and who (perhaps
naively) anticipates a positive outcome even as his grandparents
struggle to
hold on to the family farm.
'Crossing
the Burnside Bridge' contrasts the broken life of an engineer whose
divorce
sparks a deeper questioning of love as he faces his conflicted desire
to both
love and leave an upcoming family matter.
Michael R. Lane's various characters stand at
different crossroads in
their lives: some brought about by their individual choices and their
consequences; others forced upon them by the outside world and life's
twisting
changes.
The
questioning process, the juxtaposition of past and present lives, and
the ways
in which people disappoint, say goodbye, or welcome new opportunities
lie at
the crux of many of the pieces in UFOs and
God.
So
if it's alien or religious stories that are anticipated or desired;
look
elsewhere. UFOs
and God is much
more: it's a closer examination of succinct moments in life where
people get
the opportunity to look back, look ahead, or take a close look at the
world;
and each piece is carefully crafted to support a reader's perceptions
of their
own 'aha' moments in life.
Short
story readers who relish philosophical and psychological introspection
in a
diverse array of characters and life-changing yet small events will
find this
collection thought-provoking in nature and satisfyingly diverse in
scope.
UFOs
and God
Return
to Index
Michael R. Lane
Bare Bones Press
978-1-63491-712-4 $16.95
www.michaelrlane.com
Brain
Damage
Freida McFadden
Hollywood
Upstairs Publishing
978-1532902949
$9.99
http://a.co/228IKEK
Dr. Charly McKenna is a successful dermatologist who has the perfect life - a successful career, a fine lawyer husband - until she's shot and her brain injury causes her to lose everything she's achieved. Faced with the challenge of recovering from brain damage, she comes to find that the truth about her injury lies in the damaged parts of her memory; and so begins a quest to not only rebuild her life, but to rebuild the memories that could hold the answer about why she was shot.
Brain Damage opens with a particularly powerful bang: "If someone had asked me before this happened if it would hurt to be shot in the head, I would have most certainly answered yes. Of course, yes…I remember staring at the gun, not really believing that it would go off, not believing that this could happen to me…The truth is, I didn't feel it at all. What hurt is everything that came after."
With this life-changing opener, Brain Damage is off and running into a dangerous world where a high-end doctor is shot for no apparent reason, where threats to her world continue on many levels, and where everything familiar becomes alien and must be rediscovered.
One important feature of the story is the experience of recovering from brain injury. From Charlotte's early struggles with the taste of food, her sense of identity, and re-learning the most basic things in life to the painful evolution of higher-level thinking, her recovery from brain trauma is intricately and realistically portrayed.
Chapters covering time frames prior to her injury impart a sense of events leading up to the shooting for a fine juxtaposition with the current situation, where Charlotte's struggles with her changed condition involve everyone around her ("There are good days and bad days…sometimes Charlotte seems almost back like her usual self, and is sharp as a tack. But other times, she hardly talks at all and doesn't even seem to know who I am.").
The result is a satisfying interplay between recovery and intrigue, drawing readers into all facets of Charlotte's life before and after and building suspense as readers learn more about her seemingly-perfect marriage, her uncertainties about her life, and the series of events immediately after which hinge on her recovery process and her ability to identify the man who shot her. One doesn't expect shots of wry humor to permeate the story line (or the romance that evolves); but, they're subtle and satisfyingly surprising.
The new compromises she must make to stay married, her different reactions to situations, and her very psyche all are damaged, and the choices she makes now often aren't related to those the "old Charlotte" would have considered, and provide realistic scenarios that feel true to life and individual struggle.
In blending a recovery process with a story of attempted murder and intrigue, Freida McFadden has created an engrossing saga with plenty of twists and turns, highly recommended for medical thrillers readers who look for realistic, compelling writing.
Brain Damage
Return to Index
The
Chinese Shadow Game
Stuart Craigie
BookBaby
ASIN: B01J471EE0
$3.99
http://a.co/7hcVEfl
The Chinese Shadow Game is Stuart Craigie's third espionage novel; all of which are centered on world terrorist networks and the secret efforts of the American CIA and British M16 forces against them. This latest is set in North Korea, where agent Roger Jones's discovery of an illicit and dangerous Chinese/North Korean military alliance has resulted in his capture and torture.
But this is only the opening to the story as Americans, British, and German forces combine efforts to learn what Jones was only able to hint at before he vanished.
With North Korea in the news with its latest nuclear detonation, the premises and action in The Chinese Shadow Game should prove especially realistic as the story follows a dangerous alliance and the efforts of global forces to stop it.
Stuart Craigie's ability to deftly portray the undercover efforts of spies and agents, the political masterminds and military forces at work on all sides, and most of all, the cat-and-mouse games that take place as attacks, counterattacks, and subterfuge remain under the radar contributes to a thriller that provides tense, gripping moments in every chapter.
Recurring nightmares from past experiences and future possibilities, illegal deals traced from China to America's Silicon Valley, a rescue mission involving a veteran traumatized agent's journey to the mysterious and threatening world of China, and informants, subterfuge, and a secret Chinese organization all create plots, subplots, and a diverse cast of characters who keep special interests and deep secrets close to their hearts.
Craigie takes the time to develop these characters, including a cast of agents and special interests, from MI6 agent Mike Sanders, who has trained recruits in Afghanistan, to Li Zhi-fu, the leader of a secret world wide Chinese clan who is overseeing a new border crossing detection system designed to catch North Korean refugees slipping over the Chinese border.
Yet, Craigie never lets their development get in the way of action and intrigue, which drives the story line and keeps readers immersed in a tale with no easy answers and many unpredictable moments. But Craigie's real talent lies in taking readers right up to the line of predictability, whether it is a spy operation or a firing squad, and turning the tables at the last second to turn events in a new direction.
Given that approach, The Chinese Shadow Game becomes more than just another military spy thriller. It's a powerful, highly recommended tale of a dangerous deadlocks, kidnapping, and impossible choices which even the most seasoned thriller reader will find satisfyingly unpredictable and engrossing.
The Chinese Shadow Game
Return to Index
Echoes
of Atlantis: Crones, Templars and the Lost Continent
David S. Brody
Eyes That See Publishing
978-0-9907413-2-9
$14.95 print version; $4.74 Kindle and Nook versions
www.DavidBrodyBooks.com
Echoes of Atlantis: Crones, Templars and the Lost Continent is the sixth thriller novel in a series; but it should be noted that the special pleasure of David S. Brody's approach is that each book is a stand-alone creation. This means that newcomers can pick up any book and begin reading without prior familiarity with Brody's writings or the series.
In the case of Echoes of Atlantis, this is a big plus, as the action literally opens with a bang with a barking dog who alerts Amanda that a mysterious shoebox has been left at her door without any trace of its deliverer. Its contents are just as mysterious as its delivery mode: a necklace and a note indicating that it's a family relic that comes with "a blessing and a curse" attached.
Can an inanimate object breathe life? Can it contain the connections to a broken family past, and can it threaten Amanda's future?
As Amanda and Cam investigate odd relics, strange circumstances, and odder worlds, a great deal of Templar and archaeological history adds to the mystery. Readers who relish detailed descriptions that ultimately build background and intrigue will be pleased that David S. Brody takes the time to craft a story line backed by real-world facts (even if they are presented in great detail, at times).
From religious connections between Templars, Christians and Jewish people to Cam's study of ancient maps that give further clues to Atlantis' fate, a woman's military assignment to infiltrate the Knights Templar, and Amanda's journey to South America in search of answers, Echoes of Atlantis toes the line between a thriller and an international espionage piece.
As circumstances place the Templars on the cusp of discovering an ancient and powerful force, political tensions rise. And as Amanda and Cam experience their own discoveries and miracles in the course of journeys far from home, readers are swept into a current of history, philosophy and adventure that offers many riveting moments: "She felt like she did after seeing a rainbow or watching a puppy play or witnessing a great magic trick. Of all the evidence Meryn had presented in favor of Atlantis, nothing spoke quite so loudly as the ability—apparently passed down through hundreds of generations of Abraham’s family—to turn a hunk of rock into gold. It was the thing of fairy tales, yet she had seen it with her own eyes."
At some point, people outgrow their fairy tales. They either prove or disprove impossible dreams, and life moves on. In the case of Echoes of Atlantis, a mysterious spiral necklace with strange powers brings with it some dangerous choices, and Amanda and Cam find their abilities tested with past and present on a collision course, based on their decisions: "…perhaps the wiser play would be to use the spiral to prove Atlantis rather than disprove it. There is much in the true story of Atlantis that undermines another fairy tale: That of the right of modern Jews to rule Israel.”
Can a simple yet powerful artifact lead to the discovery of a lost Atlantis colony whose presence will change the world? And will Cam and Amanda's search for the truth uncover a hornet's nest of historical conflict that will change the world forever?
Readers receive much more than an action thriller in Echoes of Atlantis. The wealth of historical information (which permeates the story line and provides much detail), archaeological findings, and more than a light dose of world political encounters and intrigue make for a saga that is unexpectedly rich in scope and vividly engrossing in its presentation.
Echoes of Atlantis: Crones, Templars and the Lost Continent
Return to Index
Melissa's
Locket
Judith Iverson
CreateSpace
978-1537280233
$10.50
https://amzn.com/1537280236
A woman left for dead, half-buried in a log at a campground by an angry would-be murderer and fellow churchgoer, a faithful dog who follows his beloved mistress to what could have been her final resting place, and a lovely locket that holds the key to this mystery … all these open the intense Melissa's Locket, a compelling story of survival and discovery.
Readers follow Dayle's journey as she survives her ordeal, faces many unanswered questions, and follows the clues that point in directions she never could have envisioned for her life.
One point of surprise (that a church leader would not only attempt murder, but would be involved in a human trafficking scheme) is revealed early on in the story; but it turns out that this is only the tip of the iceberg as Dayle's account unfolds to reveal her own intimate involvement with the church's leader as one of many of his women, and her addiction.
Readers might not expect a story of addiction to evolve from a church member's brush with death; but Dayle's experience embraces descent, redemption, new beginnings and dangerous associations from the start in a process that only becomes more mercurial and complex as her tale evolves.
As an investigation into Melissa's death draws Dayle into deeper questions and conundrums, the mysteries surrounding Melissa's life and fate begin to hold ramifications for Dayle's own choices and their consequences.
Steeped in church encounters, self-inspection, mystery, and danger, Melissa's Locket is about more than one woman's struggles to survive on many levels. Ultimately it's about faith and the process of finding serenity and trust in a chaotic world fraught with danger. Dayle's life is a ticking time bomb with plenty of hints that things are about to explode. Will a savvy investigator and Dayle get to the truth behind kidnapping, murder, and mega-church operations before it's too late?
Mystery fans will find plenty to like in a story that poses no easy answers and creates memorable protagonists who find that the key to almost everything lies in a single locket and their ability to uncover its secrets.
Melissa's Locket
Return to Index
Mojo
for Murder
Carolyn Marie Wilkins
Pen-L Publishing
978-1-68313-035-2
$3.97
www.pen-L.com
Mojo for Murder adds another book to the Bertie Bigelow mystery series as it tells of a Jamaican woman's hex, a gullible woman's belief in its powers, and a husband's decision to hire investigator Bertie Bigelow to prove the witchy woman is a phony.
Bertie, however, is already overwhelmed by her personal life and her professional jobs; all of which have gone on overdrive. Is something terrible about to happen, and are the psychic's powers real?
As Bertie becomes immersed in a series of high-voltage encounters while juggling a major concert's organizational demands, she still has room for a murder investigation despite her longing for "A life that did not involve Mabel Howard, policemen, psychics, or murder."
With its numerous subthemes of intrigue, romance, career decisions and murderous intentions, Mojo for Murder is a spicy and absorbing read made personal by Bertie's conundrums and angst over too many choices.
Scams, allegations, the wonder of a life suddenly too full of options ("In the past ten days, she had been kissed by three different men—a thing that in and of itself was a source of considerable wonder."), and sagas of bureaucrats with secret identities and purposes all spice a vivid story that's fueled as much by Bertie's life and its evolving purposes as it is by death and its evolving mystery.
Murder mystery fans need not hold a prior familiarity with Bertie's escapades in Melody for Murder (though newcomers will likely want to imbibe) to find this exciting, and can anticipate that an engrossing read is in the cards.
Mojo for Murder
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A
Plague in Venice
Michael E. Henderson
CreateSpace
978-1535182607
$5.99
http://
Venice, during the plague of 1576, is a burning land of burials, mourning, death, and threats; and while Michael E. Henderson's story includes all of these facets, it more startlingly opens with two strange men who rescue a living girl from a muddy grave. As the second startling revelation to appear in two pages emerges (the men were responsible for introducing the plague) readers are drawn to a thriller revolving around 'shroud eaters' and the intervention of immortals' purposes in human affairs.
Not your typical or anticipated story, whether a plague saga or a thriller; and this plethora of surprises continues as readers discover that a twenty-six-year-old Venetian artist on the cusp of success finds himself confronting a deadly ghoul from the grave who was responsible for the past plague in Venice and, newly freed, threatens the world again with a far deadlier danger than before.
William never expected to travel through time. The present has been challenging enough. But that's just what he does, in the company of his patron, Lorenzo Zorzi, who leads him into a world he'd never have believed in, had he not seen it with his own eyes: "I know what you are thinking,” Zorzi said. “This is the Renaissance, not the twenty-first century. It can’t happen to us. We have technology and advanced medical science. But let me tell you, your society hangs by a thread. I have seen it many times. Take away your electricity, clean water, communications, and transportation, and what do you have? You have 1576. “What do you think would happen to your society if people began to die at this rate? Half the population in a matter of weeks or months. What you see here is Venice and all the world as it will be if Gregor is not stopped. And why? Because he will survive it to rule the world, and because he prefers the taste of the flesh of plague victims."
As William faces truths about a past that no historian could have imagined, so he struggles with a gripping discovery about his newfound role in the world above and beyond his artistic endeavors, and embarks on a desperate, impossible mission to prevent the Venetian plague (and something even more dangerous) from re-emerging.
A Plague in Venice holds just the right touch of horror and fantasy elements, but keeps its plot firmly rooted in the juxtaposition of past and present dilemmas. Protagonist William moves reluctantly and realistically from his present concerns and reality to embrace a wider-ranging vision of the truth that takes him away from his world and his place in it, bringing readers along for a powerful tightrope walk through death.
As clues mount and murder touches William's life, tension mounts in an exquisitely twisting fashion even the astute thriller reader won't always predict.
The result is a tense and powerful realization that "innocent things can be quite deadly" and that an innocent bystander can make the difference between apocalypse and salvation, possibly even stumbling into love in the process of an epic struggle for survival. Thriller readers who enjoy history, horror, and a dash of fantasy will find these exceptional facets of how A Plague in Venice unwinds its story.
A Plague in Venice
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Fast
Track To Glory
Tomasz Chrusciel
Agato House
Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9929574-3-8 $11.99
E-book ISBN:
978-0-9929574-2-1
$ 2.99
http://a.co/j9B9hA7
Nina Monte is a young Italian professor who has established her reputation for research at a very early age; but her youth doesn't prepare her for the opportunity which falls into her lap when she's called upon to work with an ancient artifact, only to find that it unleashes a maelstrom of adventure and mystery reaching far beyond her professional prowess.
If the plot of Fast Track to Glory sounds like a thriller styled after Indiana Jones or Laura Croft (or even Dan Brown), readers should be forewarned that all these elements are present, spicing a fast-paced sense of adventure that takes discoveries, actions, and consequences and pairs them with gripping encounters and events for an unusually compelling read.
And yet, there's an attention to detail that belays a hasty romp through Europe and a focus on nonstop action that may give pause to action-centered readers who expect light description and an emphasis on adventure. This attention separates Fast Track to Glory from stories that are more cursory and casual, forcing many readers to adapt to a somewhat slower than anticipated pace which rewards its audience with an attention to complexity and detail not usually seen in the typical thriller action read.
This attention to detail can be as specific as Nina's questioning why she's been chosen above others for her professional knowledge, or her growing involvement in a series of encounters that lead her through Europe on a treasure hunt she never anticipated, facing a myriad of plots and special interests along the way.
Tomasz Chrusciel's attention to describing these places employs a tone of immediacy with exquisite descriptions of Nina's observations and journeys ("She walked into Duomo di Milano. It was quiet and pleasantly warm inside. Among the smell of flowers and candles, she inhaled a faint scent of incense used by priests during a mass. Daylight slipped through vibrant religious scenes depicted on the stained glass of huge Gothic windows. Forty twenty-five-metre-high columns supported the ornamented ceiling of a stunning structure able to accommodate forty thousand worshippers. Every square metre of the church was decorated with something."). This adds to the compelling richness of a saga that brings readers along for the ride.
With so much action and so many subplots, it could be easy to become lost in details and possibilities. Fast Track to Glory does require an astute reader's attention. It's entertaining, but not light or quick reading. Thriller fans who relish international intrigue and settings won't want the story line to end any time soon; for it embraces nightmares and dreams, confrontations with the possibility of immortality and terrorist factions, and a mystery that's every bit as captivating as the best Laura Croft adventure. Those who bask in complex and thoroughly engrossing reads will find Fast Track to Glory an outstanding choice.
Fast Track To Glory
Return to Index
Paladine
Kenneth Eade
Times Square Publishing
978-1537554044
https://amzn.com/1537554042
Thriller readers who enjoy novels that revolve around terrorist struggles will relish Paladine's special brand of excitement; for here the action and interplays focus on an ex-military man who becomes a CIA assassin and then retires, only to find his inadvertent killing of a terrorist, saving dozens of lives, sends him on another career path where he specializes in killing other terrorists.
In his new alter ego persona of 'Paladine', Robert's nearly-supernatural killing prowess is unequalled and his life and purposes expand far beyond the character's initial introduction in Eade's prior Beyond All Recognition.
It is a logical transition for Robert because retirement after an active military career and professional killing assignments has never seemed a satisfying goal for the rest of his life. Fueled with a new vision backed by a sense of righteousness and justice, he's now in the perfect position to expand the talents and purposes honed in his prior careers.
One of the devices Kenneth Eade consistently employs that sets his writing apart from others is a solid attention to not only developing protagonists and following their most minute motivations and influences, lending authenticity and real feeling to their encounters and choices; but his ability to provide a deeper focus on juxtaposing their individual interests against a wider world view.
In this case, Robert's choice leads to the creation of not just a new career, but an urban legend, and his newfound persona is perfectly captured in a gripping description that's one of the hallmarks of Eade's compelling style: "The attempted “McDonald’s massacre” had been foiled by a miracle man, a lone, armed soldier who had somehow spotted the 22-year-old terrorist, neutralized him before he could deliver his deadly payload, and slipped away like a super hero without claiming any of the accolades. Internet reports melded with eyewitness accounts on Instagram and with social media gossip. The man was hailed as a hero, a paladin in the urban folklore culture of the Millennials, whose minds infused what most people knew as real with the virtual reality of video gaming."
This trademark approach embeds Paladine with a sense of purpose and realism that embrace sub-themes of honor, redemption, military precision, and a host of attitudes and insights that ultimately create a professional killer fueled with new social perspective on a never-ending mission to keep his life meaningful and super-charged with cat-and-mouse encounters.
To say that Paladine is a typical thriller about terrorism or hit men or even lone wolves is to over-simplify its complexity, which has its strength in layers of meaning. Each chapter thus not only expands Robert's encounters and reactions, but adds yet another piece to the puzzle of his transformative new life and career.
The result is a satisfyingly original, compelling piece that moves well beyond genre writing and into the realm of military precision, insight, and adventure, linking action with modern-day pursuits and concerns with the precision of a surgeon.
Paladine is very highly recommended reading for anyone looking for a story that goes the extra mile and then keeps on running, following an urban legend's ever-elusive dash towards the finish line of his life.
Paladine
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A
Pyre of Roses
Roland P. Joseph
CreateSpace
9781534966291
$12.00
http://a.co/6FlO0mC
Michael's past has always been a puzzle, but he never expected the mystery of his abandonment to lead to the murder of his wife and child in adulthood. Moreover, his exotic looks and mysterious background lead him further into danger when he marries a woman who seems to have ties to a past he never knew.
Perhaps it's his Caribbean island home that's bringing danger to his door - and so Michael flees a troubled past and an uncertain future, only to find that distance and flight are not the answers to his problems.
In this chaotic life, the confession of a regretful, dying priest poses a glimmer of hope for answers. In such a world, a conspiracy swirling around drugs, dynasties, and death provides just as many troubling conundrums as mystery. And to Michael's eyes, there's little hope of ever understanding his past unless he makes some very difficult and dangerous choices about his present and future.
This is the mercurial and powerful foundation of A Pyre of Roses, which takes readers on a whirlwind tour of Michael's life and his many struggles for identity. But Michael isn't the only one investigating his elusive past: so are others. It seems that everything's searching for the truth, and the first one to arrive at the complete picture may be in for some powerful revelations.
A Pyre of Roses is thriller writing at its best, creating a winding plot powered by the dual strengths of psychological examination, interpersonal relationships, and political struggles. Just as vividly drawn as Michael's life is that of Beatrice, who faces her own guilt, knowledge, and hopelessness in the maelstrom of Michael's life: "Beatrice felt unexpectedly relieved—as though she had confronted and rid herself of her demons. For once in her life she felt independent and free—no longer dependent on Michael or anyone to support her…Her past life seemed more distant and she no longer felt as emotionally attached to Michael. It was as though a burden had been lifted from her life."
The fate of an unborn child, a closely-held priest's secret, abandonment and alienation, and government and church special interests all coalesce to create a fast-paced, complex and riveting story that will immerse thriller readers in mystery right up to its surprisingly life-affirming conclusion, which takes the pervasive theme of grief and transforms it into a message of hope.
A Pyre of Roses
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Touching
Death
Becky Johnson
Amazon Digital Services LLC
ASIN: B01IJE2XY4
$2.99
https://www.amazon.com/
Rachel Angeletti's uncanny ability to know things with a single touch floods her with information. It's an ability which extends to inanimate objects, making her exceedingly good at her job as curator in a Chicago museum. The terrible truths it can reveal, however, means her gift is a liability in personal relationships, where her visions break down the usual barriers of choice and anonymity and lead to disasters. And in Touching Death, it can even uncover a murderer's heart.
Rachel was only eleven when she first "saw" someone die through her visions, one hot September day - the same day she was introduced to the museum's amazing exhibits and all their possibilities ("They were all so beautiful and fascinating. My imagination ran wild with stories and images. I imagined hands cupping a bowl or pulling a comb through a child’s hair. In my mind’s eye a thousand stories and possibilities ran wild."). In that instance, touching an artifact brings up a horror from the past.
But this is different: her latest encounter is from the present, and it holds much more impact than ancient history. The refuges of her tiny apartment and her work soon fall victim to the consequences of her gift as Rachel combs through everything she knows and discovers a deadly force that sweeps her along, compelling her to flee her safe havens and sanctuaries.
What happens when a killer meets a survivor? Both have gifts in different directions, and both have different objectives and focuses in their lives. Their clash results in a series of encounters involving a virtual dance of death as the fate of each becomes locked in the persona and perspectives of the other.
As Rachel reluctantly allows her self to dig deeper in an effort to gain freedom for herself and prevent a murder, her heart is wrung and challenged by her choices: "Every time I connected to the killer it took me further and deeper. I didn’t want to do it again. I didn’t want to get sucked into him. But I couldn’t just let it go either. I’d seen Christopher James die. How do you just walk away from that?"
All Rachel wants from life is to feel safe and loved. Her current journey embraces neither. When the truth comes out, Rachel comes to find she doesn't know everything - and that those she trusts the most may be the ones she should really fear. Insanity isn't always on the side of evil; nor is her gift's potential the sole barrier between life and death.
Murder mystery fans that look for a hint of the paranormal in their stories but require a plot steeped in good character development, swift action, and unexpected twists will find Touching Death is about a superpower gone awry and reveals stories of many compelling struggles.
Touching Death
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Transformed;
Paris
Suzanne Falter and Jack Harvey
New Heights Publishing
ASIN: B01K0T768E
http://a.co/8VrxGoC
Transformed; Paris is subtitled "A Quirky Queer Spy Novel" for a reason: its hero is transsexual man and spy Charley MacElroy, and its quirky brand of humor and character also embraces many social issues affecting modern Paris, as well.
Take Dickie's reflections on how her beloved Paris has changed, which appear only a few paragraphs into the story line, for one example. This provides a nice summation of some of the modern sentiments of European experience: "It seemed you couldn’t cross a street in Paris without running smack into yet another set of migrants. Migrants without money or much of anything, really. Migrants who cluttered up her beloved Paris with too much sweaty, smelly, foreign … humanity. Dickie remembered a time not too long ago when France was filled with French people and just a smattering of well-dressed tourists. That was when a baguette was baked by a master pastry chef with a degree in the craft. God knew who was doing all that kneading and rolling now."
One of the pleasures of Transformed; Paris lies in its ability to shift subjects with little warning. In one instance, Dickie and Electra seem to be hooking up in a styling salon. In another, Dickie is knee-deep in intrigue: "Dickie stood by her living room window, studying the shadows of Rue Jean de la Fontaine as the twilight deepened. At this exact moment her temples were pounding, her nerves were frazzled, and all she could think about was Cask’s insanity. Leaving the dirty bomb in plain view. What in God’s name was he thinking? All the housekeeper had to do was glance inside the rubbish bin, notice the curious ‘extra’ bag of trash, dig through it, and it was all over. God forbid she somehow set the bomb off."
As the plot thickens and Electra finds herself in trouble over her head, immersed in dangers she never could have envisioned from her Parisian sojourn, readers are treated to a story filled with quirky, feisty characters, intrigue, and an unusual bid for a more open relationship that leads Electra and Charley on whirlwind of romantic angst, connecting all to the cafes, passions, and challenges of a Parisian winter.
Readers who expect their thrillers to focus more on action than protagonist development, and who expect their protagonists to be walk more on the conservative side of life may wish to look elsewhere; because Transformed; Paris is anything but staid, predictable, or conventional in nature.
Just as its characters are cutting-edge representations of a different kind of social world, so are their personal transformations more than typical. Even when things go wrong, they often do so with a twist of underlying humor that's a refreshing balance to a serious saga: "The impatient knock sounded again at the door. “Please hurry up!” said an insistent voice on the other side. Cask ignored the knock and attempted to wash the blue from his hand, but it wouldn’t come out. Then he regarded himself in the mirror on the wall. He opened his mouth. His gums and his tongue were already starting to turn a brilliant shade of blue. Christ! Now he was not only half dead, he was blue. Eventually even his lips would be brilliant, unmistakable blue. This was getting worse and worse."
What evolves is a romp through Paris, alternative lifestyles, love challenges, and unfamiliar turf that in the end circles around to become familiar after all. Thoroughly steeped French atmosphere ("At the next table, a French father was serving up tête de veau to his family−calves head served country style in a large dish with boiled carrots, potato, and green onions."), Transformed; Paris is a dish best served hot: its action and very different, yet realistic, protagonists will delight thriller enthusiasts looking for cutting edge reading that offers more than light entertainment value.
Transformed; Paris
Return to Index
The
Bloodstone Ring
Barbara Taylor Sanders
Tate Publishing
978-1-68352-662-9
$19.99
www.tatepublishing.com
In the 1840s, love between a white woman and any man of color is verboten. The result of the union of an English noblewoman, Lady Carmen, and Jamaican man Jake thus leads to a love child who is banished without knowledge of her heritage, leading to a series of events that involves young Lily in kidnapping, the slave trade, and a mysterious and powerful Baroness who wears The Bloodstone Ring.
The stage is set for high drama and tension, and in this The Bloodstone Ring does not disappoint. It provides a whirlwind of adventure laced with social inspection as Lily traverses her world, faces abandonment and danger, and embarks on a long road to find home, her roots, and the truth about her heritage.
Unexpectedly, the heart of The Bloodstone Ring's story is actually synthesized in its introductory paragraph: "The ancient road crossed the entrance to her father’s brewery, taking a sharp turn to the south once it passed the massive stone buildings that produced England’s favorite ale. The road was well traveled. For centuries, neighboring Scotsmen used this trail since it was the easiest and shortest route to the mining town she was from. No one in Carmen Wright’s family considered the history of this matter, nor did one consider that notables of the highest court also once traveled the same path."
Historical precedent, well-worn paths chosen without regard for or knowledge of their past, and easy routes which turn into complex entanglements all permeate a story line replete with satisfyingly thought-provoking stories as a young girl's destiny turns out to reflect the greater social and political changes of her times.
The ideal reader of The Bloodstone Ring will appreciate the history dashed with fantasy in a rollicking read that features abolitionists, private detectives, Dutch slave traders, racial and social issues, Christian sentiment and spiritual determination, and more. Many candid, raw emotional moments are presented as Lily considers her world and its options, forging a path for survival against all odds and assessing the potential salvation of faith: "Lilly wished she had their enthusiasm for God. It seemed so genuine. There wasn’t anything fake about it because they seemed to have unfeigned faith in God. She sensed they loved Jesus with all their heart and soul. She admired such demonstration of happiness even though she felt very sad inside."
The result is not a singular focus or production, but a wider-ranging, sweeping blend of history, religion, and social issues in a coming of age story especially recommended for historical and religious fiction readers who like their novels complex, enlightening, and absorbing.
The Bloodstone Ring
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Cat
Born to the Purple
C. L. Francisco
CreateSpace
978-1537605562
Paperback -
$12.98
ebook - $5.99
http://clfrancisco.com/
Cat Born to the Purple is Book 4 in the Christian historical fantasy series 'Yeshua's Cat', which is set in Biblical times and follows the adventures of a wise cat who "…once traveled with Yeshua ben Yosef, the human known among cats as He Who Brings Life to the Earth, beloved of the One."
The cat narrators hold a noble cat lineage, a gift for storytelling, and a cat's curiosity about the human world that leads to having a paw in (or a cat's-eye view of) virtually everything that surrounds Yeshua ben Yosef, bringing events alive from a different perspective. This viewpoint is not your typical collection of retellings of legend, but represents a truly unique 'voice' that comments on decisions and interactions between spiritual and human forces: "Later that evening, Ben Adamah told me that Eliana just needed time, that once she realized her own strength, the memories would return. Until then, the One would hold them for her in a small pouch spun of spider’s silk. I think he might have been making up that last part. But he knew that I found Eliana’s lapse disturbing. She’d mislaid a chunk of her life, a part of who she was. What if she never got it back? Would her mind be pocked with empty holes where memories used to be? More than a few times while we were in Cana, I dreamed of walking through a wilderness riddled with black pits echoing with nothingness, waiting to swallow me up if I missed a step. Even cats have nightmares."
It successfully captures not only the social and political nuances of early times, but places them in a different context as a woman recovers from being stoned and interacts with cats and humans destined to form the nexus of Christianity.
It's rare to see a Christian story that remains attentive to Biblical history and gospel while providing a different, compelling set of insights on the words, actions, and choices of major Biblical figures as they impact human and cat's lives alike.
From a kitten named Purple, who is determined to tear things apart to see how threads fit together, to the awe-inspiring "son of Earth," with his power to heal and help thwart the evil forces of his times, dialogue is powerful and interactions enlighten readers with engrossing visions, questions, and encounters: "Who are you, that healing burns in your hands like light, and power flows through you like the ocean tides?” Aqhat pursued. “You hold the lives of the goddess’ sacred cats in your hands, and bend their wills to your own. Who are you, that you can take the crippling weight of years away and restore a blind woman’s sight? This I would know, Rabbi Yeshua ben Yosef.” …“I am who I am, my friend,” he replied. “I am who you see. I am my father’s son, and I come to offer your suffering world words of healing and love, calling them to turn again, and remember—like your cats, Aqhat—to remember that they are the beloved children of the One who created them, and that they are neither lost nor alone.”
Too many Christian historical novels are dry presentations, but Cat Born to the Purple's language and approach are so original and unexpected that the events of its times, even those well known by Christian readers, are eloquently presented with new twists and always with a cat's-eye take on matters.
Subtitles ("Cat tales and purple snails" and "Purple Gleaming in Shadow speaks") keep themes in perspective and eliminate confusion as they shift from cat contemplations, story events, and between different feline narrators. Poetic language, questions of healing, control, power, choice, and spiritual insights all contribute to one of the most powerful accounts of Biblical times in Christian literature.
It's rare to find the fourth book of the series just as gripping a read as its predecessors, and equally extraordinary to find such an addition both a stand-alone achievement and an impressive expansion of themes presented in prior books. The cat's involved yet observational position is exquisitely done and is the perfect device for exploring the strange world of humans and the guiding lights that lead them.
All faiths will find this story hard to put down: it's the language of Cat Born to the Purple, which seeps into one's mind and enlivens both the narrative and its underlying spiritual, ethical, and moral questions as they delve into basic issues of mercy, justice, and belief: "The son of Earth looked long and steadily at Chariton’s desperate face. “The only sacrifice the One asks of his children is the love of their hearts, freely and humbly given, Chariton. Can you offer that?” “How can I love what I have never known, Lord?” “Do you love the golden light on the mountain peaks at evening, Chariton? Their soft blush at morning? Does your memory float on fragile wings of delight at the sharp scent of mountain pines? Does your heart reach out to the silver flash of fish as they swim in the waters of your bay? Is the warm touch of a new-shorn sheep’s flank a blessing to your soul? When you look into Aeliana’s eyes, do untold wonders stir there? “Trust me, my friend, you know the One, for hers is the vision that brought all these things to birth."
Cat Born to the Purple
Return to Index
Children
of Italy
Christine Simolke
Hawkins Publishing Group
9780996214512
$13.95
www.hawkinspublishinggroup.com
Children of Italy: Love Secrets & Betrayal is set in 1924 and tells of an Italian immigrant who left his family in Italy over a decade earlier to become a coal miner in West Virginia, where he's been involved in an affair that has healed some of his loneliness and alienation.
Now it's time to end the relationship. His family is on the way to join him, and it's a day that his lover Isolde has long known and accepted would arrive - until, it does. But matters of the heart are not so easily loosed, and so Luigi Falconi struggles to regain control of not just his family and his life, but his heart.
In many ways, Children of Italy is a historical piece reflecting the experiences of Italian immigrants to this country and the heartbreaking decisions facing families separated and rejoined. Author Christine Simolke's story may be fiction, but it's based on the facts surrounding her family history. Their decisions and challenges were an intrinsic part of many early Italian immigrant experiences.
With all the changes and action that Luigi, Appelonia, and his family face, one might think the timeline of Children of Italy would be sweeping; but the fact is that all events take place in a four-year period. Vast changes take place in a relatively short period of time as the family faces some of the greatest challenges to its structure and purpose.
Family secrets, a daughter's first romance, a father's love, and a lover's obsession all serve as backdrops to a greater story of immigrant survival and experience that's told on more than a singular level.
The result is a gripping read that serves as a reflection of the Italian-American immigrant experience, creating an intense, realistic portrait that is a microcosm of how this country and its immigrant peoples evolved.
Children of Italy: Love Secrets & Betrayal
Return to Index
Don't
Go, Ramanya
Rush Leaming
Bridgewood Ent.
978-0692772881
$5.99
https://www.amazon.com/Dont-
Ramanya was a rebel soldier in his native Burma, but is now a Buddhist monk expat living in Thailand. He lost everything, including his family, when he fled his former home - or, has he? When a stranger visits him to let him know all is not lost, Ramanya faces a terrible decision between the new peaceful life he's forged in Thailand and returning to war-torn Burma in search of family and answers.
But all is not as it appears. Is Thailand really a peaceful haven, or Burma's dangerous neighbor, facing its own brand of terrorism and disruption? And is his family really alive; or is this a ruse to get him to return to a country where he can be captured and executed for treason?
Against the backdrop of a hostage situation placing Thailand and Burma at odds with one another and threatening to ignite the entire region, Ramanya faces his own challenges, from modern world to ancient conflicts, decisions made to flee his homeland and the impact they've had on his love and life, and a possible one-way ticket back to hell.
Don't Go, Ramanya is steeped in the sounds, flavors, and atmosphere of Asian experience, from urban and countryside scenes to train rides: "The outskirts of Bangkok stretched on for several more miles, crooked shantytowns planted on muddy roads, until at last city gave way to countryside. Michael pressed his head to the window and watched as rice paddies rolled by, their brilliant green shoots rising from shallow water; then came plantations of papaya trees, banana trees, sugarcane, and small farms of lychee trees, their plump red fruit looking like giant raspberries. Inside the train, the small fans pointing down from the ceiling did little to push away the stuffy mix of humidity and body heat that seemed to soak into the old worn walls."
Rush Leaming's careful attention to recreating the physical and social world of Thailand and Burma is part of why Ramanya's journey is so compelling, as it brings readers into the worlds of three men who find themselves on an incredible odyssey.
The intrigue, struggles, and nitty-gritty feel of the choices they make and the social and political lines they toe assumes no prior knowledge of Asian politics or scenes and provides all the information needed to place Michael, Ramanya and Bob's world in perspective.
Can a former rebel soldier turned monk, an American teacher, and a British priest sneak over a heavily-guarded border before it's closed, and can they survive their choices and confront secrets they'd thought were long buried in the past? And most of all: is there any recognizable home left to return to?
Don't Go, Ramanya is thriller reading at its best, cementing a turbulent political atmosphere with an overlay of diverse and realistic human concerns and endeavors that border on the extraordinary. Genre fans who seek atmosphere and description in their reads will find that Leaming doesn't sacrifice either psychological depth or evocative setting for the sake of fast-paced action, winding all into an emotionally and socially charged saga that's hard to put down.
Don't Go, Ramanya
Return to Index
For
Now and Forever (The Inn at Sunset Harbor—Book 1)
Sophie Love
Sophie Love, Publisher
9781632918161
$3.99
https://sophieloveauthor.com/
Emily Mitchell is at dinner on the seven-year anniversary of her relationship after a string of failed relationships - and she's nervous. She anticipates this dinner will bring with it an engagement ring; but when it brings something less important, Emily knows that once again, it's time for her to change course.
Sophie Love's ability to capture these turning points in life is demonstrated in the first few paragraphs of For Now and Forever, which provide clear insights on this particular pivot point in her life: "Emily was hit by a moment of clarity. She looked at him as though seeing him for the first time. Ben would never change. He would never commit. Her mother, Amy, they’d both been right. She’d spent years waiting for something that was so obviously never going to happen…"
When one feels stymied by life, the impulse is often to flee and return home - but Emily's mercurial experiences actually began with a tragic accident that shattered her family and sent her out into the world and into a series of failed connections. Can returning home heal what's gone wrong in her life?
For Now and Forever is about love and romance, but it's also about finding the kind of foundation that leads not to fantasy, but to lasting commitment. It also considers how a return to early illusions and comfort places can lead to new revelations. Even though the idea that "you can't go home again" is often unerringly accurate, in this case Emily finds new truths by revisiting old haunts and habits from a newfound perspective of maturity; and with these revised insight she discovers the power to move onward and upward.
The best romance novels are about more than surface experiences: they probe the rudiments of interpersonal relationships and changes, lead readers to question and re-look at their own expectations and objectives in life, and they use the trappings of an evolving romantic connection to consider wider issues of life goals, morals and ethics, and the key points of connection that lead to deeper relationships.
For Now and Forever falls into this category. Much more than a steamy love story typical of the genre , it's about Emily's evolutionary process and transformation as her dreams and hopes solidify and allow her to connect to real-world experiences and people.
In this scenario an old, abandoned house in Maine which was once an intrinsic part of a girl's magical childhood now offers hope and despair with the project of rebuilding of its shattered façade. It also adds a sense of mystery as Emily peels back layers of intrigue, expectation and hope in the house's countenance and her own psyche, aided by a secretive caretaker who encourages her to stay.
Lest this sound one-dimensional in any way, be advised that Sophie Love's ability to impart this magic to her readers is exquisitely wrought in powerfully evocative phrases and descriptions: "What she saw as she emerged on the other side made her breath catch in her lungs. Roses, in every conceivable color, were everywhere. Red, yellow, pink, white, even black. If stepping into the ballroom and seeing the light through the Tiffany glass had been awe-inspiring, this was even better. Emily twirled in a circle, feeling more alive and free than she had in years."
For Now and Forever is the perfect romance or beach read, with a difference: its enthusiasm and beautiful descriptions offer an unexpected attention to the complexity of not just evolving love, but evolving psyches. It's a delightful recommendation for romance readers looking for a touch more complexity from their romance reads.
For Now and Forever (The Inn at Sunset Harbor—Book 1)
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Khafa
The High Priestess
Lory La Selva Paduano
Elevation Book Publishing
978-1-943904-04-4
$14.95
www.elevationbookpublishing.co
Khafa The High Priestess is a novel of Egyptian heritage and modern concerns and revolves around the knowledge of an ancient race which is passed down from a grandmother to her only granddaughter. Many stories would use a fantasy or time-travel approach for this kind of theme; but the story's pleasure lies not in fantasy but in a past world's struggles and how they come alive for a present-day girl on her path to womanhood.
In many ways Khafa The High Priestess is about filling in historical blanks and applying ancient knowledge to modern living. As Elizabeth discovers how women in general (and high priestesses in particular) operated in Egyptian society, a girl who loves history and archaeology largely because of her loving grandmother's intense passion for the subjects finds her life changed because of this knowledge.
Chapters reveal the story of High Priestess Khafa and her world with an unusually precise attention to historical detail, a quality usually set aside in novel formats in the process of highlighting action and adventure. In this case, information about witches, spells, extraordinary powers, and equally strong competing forces fuel a plot that doesn't thicken with complexity but flows from interactive engagements between granddaughter and grandmother.
Contrasts between family stories and legends and archaeological discoveries focus on differences between two approaches to facts, and the conflicts this can provoke between generations ("It is important for Liz to know the facts.” Justin sat back down gathering his composure before Anta spoke in anger. “You, my own flesh and blood, wish to deny the stories and proof that our ancestors taught us?”)
Much detail embracing Egyptology, archaeological findings, conflicting theories, and modern perceptions of the past is incorporated into a lively survey of a feisty priestess and her far-ranging visions of change: "The conclusion was that pyramids would be built for light, having electricity all through the land powered by water underneath the pyramids! Construction was to commence before the future King was to arrive, right on the Giza strip and along the Nile for easy accessibility.” Liz stopped Grandma Anta’s story. “I knew it Grandma! This proves the Tesla theory all too well. He's the only one who got it right!” Grandma Anta said, “Yes, the only one, and yet, it was still considered a theory. The world couldn't be further from the mark!”
As Khafa's life comes to embrace intrigue, political and spiritual challenges, betrayal from the highest places and those she's loved and trusted (and, in the future, Liz's own growth, coming of age, and betrayals), their different stories dovetail and create parallels of circumstance and conflict.
While a proofreader's touch might have caught some minor glitches peppered throughout the story ("As she turned around, she wasn't shock one bit." and "They entered the tunnel and made their way into, what looked like a shrine …"), the tale still succeeds in presenting two vivid, engrossing timelines of events that weave two lives into one powerful historical tale of sweeping discoveries and far-reaching visions.
Khafa The High Priestess is especially recommended for historical fiction fans who like their settings thought-provoking and solidly linked to romance, intrigue, growth, and the passions of protagonists who journey through strange worlds of dynasties and rebels. Khafa's dreams for Egypt's future stand out as strongly as a grandmother's dreams for her granddaughter as she narrates a compelling story that follows and haunts Liz from childhood into adulthood. Vivid, engrossing reading makes for a story that will appeal to all ages.
Khafa The High Priestess
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Poet
of The Wrong Generation
Lonnie Ostrow
Harmony River Press
9780997404203
$15.99
www.harmonyriverpress.com
Poet of The Wrong Generation opens with a poet's lament: specifically, that of Johnny Elias, who faces disillusionment after a whirlwind of luck has propelled him from a life as a directionless poet to a megastar and back in the blink of two-years.
In 1991, Johnny is a Brooklyn college student in love and filled with big dreams for his future. He views the world (and his love) with rose-colored glasses; but her mother's pragmatic assessment of his pros and cons and ability to be the kind of partner she wishes for her daughter leads to some heartless decisions about their relationship which ironically spins Johnny into the very limelight he'd seemed destined to never reach.
As lovers and friends spiral around an elusive definition of success, the seeming pinnacles of achievement in life, and a meteoric rise and fall that will carry them both on a wave of many changes, Poet of The Wrong Generation brings its readers along for a roller coaster ride through poems and songs, successes and failures, and epic decisions that alter the course of life.
Plenty of stories revolve around success and failure; but few are able to capture the subtler nuances of life decisions and changes through the eyes of various protagonists who have different perspectives on life's wealth and how to grasp it.
This juxtaposition of experience, tied to song lyrics and a struggle to represent the empowering language and experience of those in Johnny's life, makes for a compelling read filled with depth, music insights, nostalgia, and the motivations of lovers, parents, friends and all whose lives intersect in his journey.
Alluring and engrossing, Poet of the Wrong Generation's saga of the costs of achievement and the promises of love will attract and hold any fiction reader interested in more than a casual probe of love's evolution in the face of life's greatest obstacles and successes.
Poet of The Wrong Generation
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Red
Winter
Kyra Kaptzan Robinov
Dancing in the Dark Press
9781533393470
$11.90
KyraRobinov.com
Red Winter: One Woman's Struggle to Survive the Russian Revolution begins in 1920 in the remote Siberian town of Nikolaevsk-on-Amur, which has just been invaded in the frigid darkness of winter by Bolshevik revolutionaries who arrest most of the prominent citizens in town.
The map, cast of characters, author's historical note and glossary of terms that precede the story are ample indication that Red Winter won't be a light leisure pursuit, but is a serious novel of change based on the author's family history of struggle and survival. Her family was one of those 'bourgeoisie' identified as public enemies of the newfound revolution and slated for destruction, and Red Winter, albeit presented in novel form, is actually their story.
Imagine being an upper-middle-class citizen with all its privileges, only to discover overnight that status, wealth, and one's carefully-built achievements are all gone. Imagine being on the run from revolutionaries with four small children in a world where suddenly friends are enemies. And imagine Luba, a woman determined to salvage what remains of her family and her life against all odds, who runs through this altered world and its strange new rules, determined to survive.
All this forms the essence of Red Winter, a story made much more powerful by the facts of the author's family history which are woven into her grandmother Luba's first-person, fictionalized account.
A top feature of Red Winter lies in its ability to draw readers into the Russian landscapes and lives being presented: "The sky was striped with the pink of dawn when we awoke. The symphony of wildlife that announced daybreak was leveling off. Our carriage drove along the path that hemmed the river. The pulsing motion and the lull of the water flowing beside us was hypnotic. All was quiet except for the bells on the harnesses, the clopping of the horses’ hooves and Ivan’s deep baritone. As he crooned Russian folk tunes, I lost myself in the tranquility." This attention to detail extends from outside atmosphere to inner emotions, injecting the story line with a powerful sense of its times and the kinds of people Luba encounters in her journey.
As Luba gingerly interacts with her much-changed world, readers are swept along in a tide of emotions and incidents charged by these exact descriptions: "Our family wasn’t allowed to use the living and dining rooms, unless it was to set the table, empty ashtrays, sweep up or clear dishes. I felt as if I worked in a hotel. A rhinoceros of a man, his thick jowls laced with veins that made his skin seem like glazed pottery, spent hours reclining on the living room sofa. The scrawny soldier with the cobweb beard loved to sit at the piano any free moment he could. Whenever I was in the vicinity, he’d strike up a sentimental tune, as if to apologize for the behaviour of his comrades. The men leered at Nessia and me when we served their meals and their suggestive remarks made me shudder."
A privileged life made into a newly stark struggle for survival, imposed by revolutionaries whose ideals involve toppling not just regimes but individual lives, makes for a story line that captures the true essence of the Bolshevik upheaval in a gripping manner which no nonfiction approach could equal. By personalizing the politics of events, Kyra Kaptzan Robinov has taken a major step in capturing the emotions, motivations, and experiences of the Russian people at a pivotal point in their history, as well as taking the struggles of a specific family and turning it into a real, moving saga of an entire nation's social and political transformation.
Red Winter is thus more than a novel: it's a passionate, revealing memoir of a family's struggle to survival political change and oppression at the outskirts of Russian society in this isolated locale. Their perilous adventures reflect intricate details of that Red Winter which are largely unknown to the rest of the world, returning the "lost" city of Nikolaevsk-on-Amur to the map and making its tumultuous past a part of not just one family's world, but Russian history as a whole.
No reader of Russian history should be without this thoroughly engrossing, emotionally captivating work which uses the trappings of fiction to round out and emphasize very real events.
Red Winter
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The
Seventh Generation
Dave DiGrazie
No Frills Buffalo
ISBN: TBA
Price: TBA
www.nsbpublishing.com
The Seventh Generation is a novel about a fictional Buffalo, New York mayor in the 1960s and comes with a myriad of characters and themes that move it beyond a quasi-political representation into the realm of a city's evolution and struggles and the concurrent lives of its youth, who grow up in different ways thanks to the influences of adults around them.
As such, it's a powerful reflection that in some ways represents the coming of age of youngsters and America alike, charting these courses with an eye to revealing different ethnic group experiences, melting pot influences, and the experiences of a second-tier American city that comes of age politically, socially, and culturally.
Various characters introduce different backgrounds and influences ("Darcie wanted to believe that he's a good man. He was a Republican. She belonged to a Republican family in a Republican part of the country. Her dad liked Ike. She didn't think Barry Goldwater was off his rocker in 1964. She did vote for Humphrey in '68 and was sadder than ever when Bobby Kennedy's life was cut short. But that had to do with wanting to stop the war. Besides, her boss kept telling her that the Democrat is the figurehead of a political machine whose behavior over the years has been nothing short of criminal.") which are believable and recognizable as microcosms of American dreams.
Love, trust, brotherhood, and betrayal all become different facets of political and social encounters in adulthood as candidates running for election face off against the backdrop of a changing world.
In some ways the publication of The Seventh Generation is a 'typical American' type of timeless saga, but its appearance in this, an election year representing some of the greatest diversity in approaches in American history, lends it a powerful atmosphere that holds many messages for Americans who may wonder how we got to where we are today, in 2016.
The 'timeless' aspect comes into play when one considers that The Seventh Generation travels through various generational concerns to examine how these contribute to change. Championship games, increasingly fragile elders and political approaches, and a story that moves from the 1960s into the new century and carries readers along for a rollicking ride makes for a strong saga especially recommended for readers who relish novels examining American lives, perceptions, and evolutionary processes.
What is the true legacy of generations past? The Seventh Generation deftly charts the process of change, evolution, and growth through characters that move from childhood to adult concerns and the specter of a "New Buffalo".
The Seventh Generation
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These
Thy Gifts
Vincent Panettiere
CreateSpace
ASIN: B01L0CQTJ2
http://a.co/coYoUe8
These Thy Gifts is a love story with a difference. The difference lies not in the romance itself, but in the nature of the two individuals involved and the length of time that their love perseveres. One of the participants is a priest; the other the widow of a mobster. Set against the backdrop of vast changes in the Catholic Church, their deep connection is reflective of society's transformation as a whole; and so to call These Thy Gifts a 'romance' in the typical sense of a one-dimensional relationship exploration would not be adequately describing its wider-ranging prowess.
The world is changing, in 2006. The Church faces regular accusations and spiritual and moral trauma over charges of sexual abuse, social challenges to long-cemented doctrine are rampant, and Pastor Steven Trimboli finds that his own commitments and life challenges pose special conundrums about his faith that results in his close inspection of his life, motivations, and spirituality.
What makes his story so compelling is that romance is woven into these themes of a practicing Catholic's deeper commitments. Sins of pride and passion, continual self-inspections for moral transgressions, and a determination to expose those who would threaten the sanctity of everything he loves leads the Monsignor on a journey that is more than a struggle with judgment and sin. It's about the very survival of the church he loves.
Readers are swept through in an inspection of self and society that walks with the Monsignor through the very streets of his parish. The energy propelling a man approaching his seventieth year is as compelling as his blend of philosophical and spiritual observations of his world around him and his changing place in it.
As a result of a heavier hand on philosophical, spiritual and psychological development, readers are treated to far more than a casual romance story: the true nature of the epic presented lies in these societal and self-inspections as a love affair between priest Trimboli and Rosalie LaMarca evolves against all odds.
Passages replete with philosophical inspection ("…by now you should know I find life a difficult journey. We live on the edge of the knife, something I learned in double-you, double-you two."), New York culture and atmosphere, Mob and church operations and politics, and a host of equally-powerful characters makes for a story line that is as full-bodied and complex as a fine wine.
Blackmail, justice, revenge … one doesn't expect these elements of intrigue to enter into a romance read. But again, romance is just the tip of the iceberg in These Thy Gifts. A deeper, underlying theme of public prayers and private dreams delves into life choices that move far from the altar and into the changing world of 2006, crafting and fine-tuning a gripping saga that's hard to put down and whose taste will linger in the mind far after the complex meal is consumed.
These Thy Gifts
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Aunt
Betty Horns In Aunt
Betty Horns In is an intriguing
middle school read narrated in the first person from the perspective of
Emily,
a straight-A responsible girl who interacts with her quirky Aunt Betty
and her
companion Aunt Jane, who live in a swanky apartment and are lots of
fun,
compared to her staid mother. Aunt
Betty is a successful stockbroker (thus their swanky lifestyle). Aunt
Jane has
already made her money, so she stays home and harbors dreams of selling
a
screenplay to Hollywood.
Emily is learning some important lessons from her aunts - including how
to
dream. Fun
black and white drawings accent a story line which really takes off
when Emily
views a unicorn at a circus - something her parents think is an
impossibility -
and her savvy aunt takes her to a museum and discusses proof,
possibilities,
and different points of view: "Was that
a real unicorn in the circus?” I ask Aunt Betty. “It was an animal with
a horn
in the middle of its head, and that says it’s a unicorn to me if I
believe it
is, and I do. That unicorn made a lot of people happy, and if we
believe it’s
real, then why not? You catch my drift?” Aunt
Betty is always horning in on Emily's education, and the validity of
unicorns
is only one small example of perspectives that place her aunt at odds
with
Emily's family, leading Emily to know that her aunts are exceptional
beings who
view the world in quite a different way. Aunt
Betty champions individuality, dreams, and stubborn determination and
her
attitude is lovingly and lightly conveyed in a series of encounters
which are
hilarious and pointed, as one phone call demonstrates: "Hello, Betty, this is Peggy.
Now, Betty, we
want to clear up a little matter. You don’t really believe in unicorns,
do
you?” Peggy holds the phone so we all can hear. Aunt Betty says, “I
MOST
CERTAINLY DO, and you tell that crazy husband of yours to stop ‘raining
on
everyone’s parade.’" When
what begins as a different of opinion (or different perception of
reality)
evolves into something bigger, Emily must make her own decisions about
what's
important in life, what's more real, and what to fight for. A
whimsical, fun story evolves which embraces bad days at school, a
school
science project involving a frog that "Roams
the house at night and can open the refrigerator door. He also knows
how to use
the oven" and an attention-getting court
case. One
never quite knows where Aunt
Betty Horns In
will wind up - and that's the pleasure in a story highly recommended
for
elementary to early middle school readers looking for an adventurous
read about
family connections and differences which is entertaining, different,
and
thought-provokingly fun. Neuron
Galaxy What
do stars in the sky and brain cells have to do with one another? One
doesn't
expect this information to be present in a slim picture book format,
much less
prove appealing to a wide age range; but Neuron
Galaxy: A Story from Morphonix About Your Brain
is something special
in the realm of science reads and doesn't follow the usual pathways to
exploring brain science. For
one thing, it's backed by the knowledge of a team of consulting
neuroscience
advisors, including some conducting original research on how games can
be used
to alleviate cognitive deficits. The game approach is thus incorporated
into
the overall presentation, which at first reads like a picture book
story for
the very young ("When
you were very,
very little, a tiny baby neuron grew inside your head. The baby neuron
was
lonely. It wanted to connect to neuron friends."). Science-minded
youngsters who read beyond this very simple beginning will be surprised
to find
that discussions proceed relatively quickly to the evolution of neural
networks, scientific names and concepts such as dendrites and axons and
how
electrical messages are transmitted, and discussions of why neurons are
the
basic forces driving almost everything in human life; from the ability
to feel
joy and sadness to the ability to draw, play, and learn. The
journey moves from very simple, basic neuron science to consider the
wider
galaxy, noting that "You
have as many
neurons as there are stars in our galaxy."
Gorgeous full-page
color illustrations by Max Weinberg and Christine Gralapp help transmit
this
concept; offering kids an easy way of understanding the basics of
neurons and
their importance to the world. The
result is a unique and wide-ranging story that readers of all ages will
find
accessible and surprisingly easy to understand, highly recommended for
any
science collection for elementary-level readers.
Sally Sockwell
Mascot Books
978-1-63177-441-6
$9.99
www.mascotbooks.com
Aunt
Betty Horns In
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to Index
Jay Leibold
Morphonix
9781535252874
$9.99
www.morphonix.com
Neuron
Galaxy
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to Index