September 2015 Review Issue
The
Everywhere House
Sherry Lincoln
Goldminds Publishing, LLC.
1050 Glenbrook
Way, Suite 480
Hendersonville, TN 37075
978-1-930584-32-5
www.goldmindspub.com
The author's childhood home was next to the town library: a fortuitous circumstance because, over the years, she could view her house every time she went to the library. When she observed construction going on she presumed the house was being remodeled, only to find it was being torn apart to make way for the library's expansion.
Imagine her surprise when she discovered that almost every piece of the house's structure would be repurposed by Habitat for Humanity and, upon visiting them and finding pieces of her past in their habitat ReStore, she'd embark on a trip down memory lane to relive her fondest memories of growing up in the 50s and 60s.
From her parents' move to the house they would come to call home to how various house parts evoke philosophical reflections, as in a memory of torn screens ("…there are times in our lives when a “screen” is torn and something we care about simply vanishes through it. Sometimes the very best thing we can do is just let it go and hope that it finds a good place…Screens are a kind of shield, aren’t they? They are designed, in part, to keep what should be inside, inside, and what should be outside, outside."), the everywhere house is firmly rooted in autobiography but, like the author's house, expands this concept outwardly.
In creating a memorial for her bygone house, Sherry Lincoln has move past the typical boundaries of autobiographical writing to provide something different than either a 'this old house' survey or a story of her childhood; it's an examination of roots, ties, and what happens when a house is 'deconstructed' and moves away from these root bound plots.
In taking Thomas Wolfe's famous concept of 'You Can't Go Home Again' to another level, The Everywhere House is a recommendation for anyone whose memories and dreams are no longer bound to a sense of place and continuity, and will appeal to a wide audience from autobiography readers to those whose fond recollections of the past lie directly in the present path of progress.
The Everywhere HouseReturn to Index
I
Thought He Would Be in Jail
Captain Steve Taylor
Stevetaylorbooks, Publisher
1546 Fiddlers
Den Ct.
Mt. Pleasant SC
29464
978-0-578-16366-6
$TBA
www.stevetaylorbooks.com
Few authors can craft an autobiography from a single comment; but Captain Steve Taylor holds such an ability as he tells of the origin of his book's name: "The book title is a remark made by a surprised classmate of my older sister when he discovered I had become an international airline captain: “I thought he would be in jail.”
Like his prior, hilarious Wheels Up, readers are thus off and running into a zany coming-of-age story that winds its way through the 1950s and 60s to explore the author's family influences which emphasized he could do anything, despite an unassuming early proclivity to not exceed expectations. More so than most, Taylor is able to capture these early encouragements that so often mean the difference between an expectation of failure or success: "Some would say I was spoiled, and they are probably right, but until I began to be tempered by the reality of the outside world I enjoyed the power, the confidence, and the invincibility this created. I woke up in the morning with a huge plus on my ledger, and after doing much bad throughout the day, I still went to bed with a plus."
As Taylor evolves, his family evolves along with him, accepting the inevitability of changes and moving along a trajectory that is amazingly flexible and well-reasoned: "The best thing that happened to me, other than my new job, was the final failure of the farm as our family livelihood. Dad decided it was too small and poorly equipped to make the income we needed. He took a job working as a fuel oil deliveryman in the daytime while operating the projection booth at night in the Mt. Pleasant theater. Now our farm became just my playground— no more picking beans, no more working on the tractor all day, and no more feeding thousands of chickens. All I had to do was make money at my summer movie job, take care of my show animals, milk the cow, and play."
By incorporating this sense of ongoing changes, positive responses to them, and a sense of satisfaction at each adjustment, Taylor succeeds in doing what few autobiographies achieve: nailing down the origins of work ethic, a positive attitude, and ultimately, satisfaction in life: "I loved my job, and it taught me that the priorities I placed on the components of work greatly affected the benefits. I determined that the more skill brought to a job and the more fun I had doing it, the more pay and respect it produced."
It's a combination of luck, the ability to forecast and ride with change, and a feeling of mischief and fun that makes I Thought He Would Be in Jail a satisfying read; not quite as shocking in its moments of risqué behavior as in Wheels Up, but just as satisfying.
Readers of autobiography, coming-of-age stories, and particularly, of Taylor's prior Wheels Up (about his airline mishaps and hijinks) will find this story offers many insights into his family, background, friendships, and a rich family heritage which has made him the Captain he is today.
I Thought He Would Be in JailReturn to Index
Letter
from Alabama: The
Inspiring True Story of Strangers Who Saved a Child and Changed a
Family
Forever
David L. Workman
David L. Workman, Publisher
ASIN: B00VQIIODK
http://www.amazon.com/dp/
Letter from Alabama is a powerful memoir of the author's life, and documents what happened when, as an infant, his mother dies and his father later abandons him at a young age, leaving him with an Alabama woman who, desperate to find any relatives, takes a big leap of faith in mailing a letter to a newspaper in a distant state asking for help in locating the family.
The leap paid off, relatives emerged, and thus little David's life was diverted from its dangerous trajectory into a life where half-brothers and other family stepped in to raise him.
More than just an autobiography of survival, Letter from Alabama offers up family history and a social history of the 20th century, blends in insights into family connections and the process of accepting and rearing a wayward child, and maintains a steady combination of historical review juxtaposed with personal revelation in the course of considering blended families, broken homes, and choices.
Make no mistake: all this is relayed in the context of a family history; so readers who want the history without the intimacy should look elsewhere. Letter from Alabama is a study in miracles and circumstance: as much as it adds intriguing elements about small-town color, it's ultimately about how a young boy emerges from uncertain roots to become a successful man. Readers interested in blended family interactions and a successful emergence from a broken home situation will relish Workman's vivid writing and experiences.
Letter from Alabama: The Inspiring True Story of Strangers Who Saved a Child and Changed a Family ForeverReturn to Index
Mo(u)rning
Joy
Kalan Chapman Lloyd
Lloyd Words
5906 S.
Knoxville Ave
Tulsa, OK 74135
978-1-312-93528-0/978-1-312-
$13.99/$4.99
www.kalanchapmanlloyd.com
Be forewarned: Mo(u)rning Joy: A Memoir is about death: specifically, a baby's death and a mother's mourning process. Any who anticipate this to be other than an emotionally wrenching saga should look elsewhere, because Kalan Chapman Lloyd doesn't sugarcoat anything and, as a result, readers become immersed in her saga of pregnancy, the death of her unborn baby, and its aftermath.
Many memoirs have been written about losing a child: what places Mo(u)rning Joy more than a cut above the rest is an attention to one simple story and how to keep going in the face of tragedy. With a key admonition from a friend inspiring her to this goal ("I don’t want this to define our family: this tragedy.”), Lloyd found a way to move through mourning - and so will the reader following her saga.
Like all pregnant mothers, Lloyd had a birth plan that did not involve a baby who had been dead inside her for at least two weeks before labor was induced. Striking, pointed insights throughout capture each moment of the experience as though it were part of the 'now': "Our dream, our expectation, our hopes that we’d wrapped into a tiny little person too small to even be able to live up to all those plans, was gone."
From handling pity to lacking memories that would have made their child more 'real' and better-formed, Lloyd tackles the highs and lows of mourning with an immediacy and skill that brings readers not just into her life, but into her mind and emotions. Faith, pain, and everything in between are charged with heady experience, growing wisdom, and not a few obstacles along the journey. The result is a vivid, candid, and hard-hitting story speaking to the heart of pain and re-living life, recommended for those who have loved and lost and mothers who never even got the chance to hold their child.
Mo(u)rning JoyReturn to Index
My Ship Has Sails
Margie Mack
CreateSpace
978-1514172209
$14.95
http://www.amazon.com/My-Ship-
My Ship Has Sails continues an autobiography begun in Through the Woods, is especially recommended for prior readers (who will gain a deeper set of insights into Mack's early years), and begins with a young girl who moves from a quiet rural life with her grandparents to an uncertain new world living in Chicago with busy entertainer parents who are away most nights.
It was a move that was to bring her into adolescence in the big city with parents who were nearly strangers to her - and a move that would shape the rest of her life.
But My Ship Has Sails isn't so much about the destination as it is about the journey, and it recounts the surging culture of 1960s America and its effects on her coming of age with the precision and immediacy of one whose love of music changed her life. Mack's gift as a wordsmith and musician shine in passages that capture the subtler nuances of both worlds: "They say that music is the strongest form of magic, that it is the language of the soul bringing people who would ordinarily be at odds into unison. That is what happened to us that night. There was no color, no status, no age. Just human beings having the gift of pleasure, which human nature cannot do without, showing us that where words leave off, the music begins."
From a supportive stepfather and parents who instilled in her the forces that would define and direct her life to the re-emergence of a biological father who would challenge her perceptions, Mack's ability to bring readers along for a rollicking ride through her youth and its defining moments makes for a sparkling, vivid autobiography that recreates not only her world, but that of coming of age in the 1960s: a time of great change and promise. Against such a backdrop, even the nature of 'family' is closely examined and ultimately transformed, making My Ship Has Sails a top recommendation for any who would enter another's life and understand it's most intimate, defining moments.
My Ship Has SailsReturn to Index
William
The Conqueror Vs King Harold
Jesse Lee Vint
Wolf's Eye Books
6704 NE 14th
Avenue
North Charleston, NC
9781507524138
$14.50
Paper $5.99 Kindle
www.jesseleevint.com
It should first be mentioned that William The Conquerer Vs King Harold began as a screenplay and only converted to novel form after the screenplay lost its investors - but maybe that's a good thing; because the story line in novel form is a vivid read entwined with concepts that would have proven difficult to fully translate into film. It's these facets that make for a novel that is everything historical fiction should be (and too often is not): gripping, replete with psychological as well as historical insights, and perfectly tuned to the reader's emotions, tweaking them like a guitar string through the course of events.
All begins with a shipwreck and evolves from there, with knights struggling with issues of honor, supporting characters questioning the schemes of their lives and their place in the world, and outside events affecting them all.
As with any historical novel, the real 'meat' lies not so much in accurate historical background (although this is important, and William the Conqueror vs. King Harold holds plenty of facts to support its action), but in protagonist choices in reacting to events. Where others might fail - especially in capturing the subtler nuances of the Dark Ages' times and culture - William the Conqueror vs. King Harold succeeds in depicting the roots of concepts of courage and bravery against the human backdrop of choices influencing how life is lived.
It's this human element, often difficult to capture in historical novels or screen reproductions (the latter of which often center more on action and light characterization than probing underlying currents of influence and emotion), that sets this story apart from competing Dark Ages accounts and makes it a vivid, engrossing read, recommended for fans of historical fiction and those who only lightly touch upon the genre or know relatively little about the times.
William The Conqueror Vs King HaroldReturn to Index
With New Eyes:
The Power of Perspective
Heidi Siefkas
Wheatmark®
1760 East River
Road, Suite 145
Tucson, Arizona 85718
ISBN:
978-1-62787-260-7
(paperback)
ISBN: 978-1-62787-261-4 (ebook)
www.wheatmark.com
Heidi Siefkas opens her memoir by throwing herself out of a plane. It's her first parachute jump and she approaches it with an uncommon fearlessness that leads her tandem partner to believe she's done it before; but in comparison to the year prior (during which she recovered from a broken neck and got a divorce), this free fall seems nothing. And that's the opening draw of With New Eyes, an autobiography which is (using Siefkas' own words in describing her first parachute jump) 'simply awesome'.
Against the backdrop of tragedy, new life is born. Before her free flight into change, the author was happily married; juggling home with an active career and physically fit lifestyle, and seemed to have everything. The balls of health, marriage and career were perfectly juggled. Then came the freak accident, traumatic injury, and recovery already detailed in her prior When All Balls Drop, and life changed in an instant.
With New Eyes picks up where that account left off, but new readers needn't have prior familiarity with the story in order to begin here. It's recommended for a seamless continuation, while prior fans will find much more depth and insight about the post-disaster recovery and newfound attitude that Siefkas cultivates as a result of her life-changing experiences.
In some ways this makes With New Eyes the stronger read for newcomers, who will readily absorb the processes of reinventing oneself. Within this process lies transformation, hard lessons, new perspectives, and newfound openness to experiences. Called back to her childhood home as part of this pilgrimage of self-discovery, Siefkas delves into the dating scene, naming her dates for her experiences ('Mr. Got Away', 'Mr. Con Man') and offering insights revolving around trying not only new relationships and men, but new experiences. Each one broadens her horizons and changes her perspective.
With New Eyes is recommended for readers of inspirational autobiography and memoirs who want insights into the process of self-discovery and creating a new life. Feisty and thought-provoking, it's a saga that starts from the point of losing everything and rebuilds a life, taking its readers along for an exhilarating ride in the process!
With New Eyes: The Power of PerspectiveReturn to Index
Fantasy & Sci Fi
Aquarius
Rising Book 2: Blood Tide
Brian Burt
Double Dragon Publishing
P.O. Box 54016
1-5762 Highway 7
East
Markham Ontario L3P 7Y4 Canada
9781771152549
eBook(MSRP): $5.99 Paperback (MSRP): $16.99
http://www.double-dragon-
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Blood-
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.
Apple iBooks: http://itunes.apple.com/CA/
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/
Double Dragon Publishing site: http://www.double-dragon-
Book Two of the 'Aquarius Rising' trilogy shows that in a truly superior trilogy, the second book may hold an ability to stand alone but ideally will be chosen after the first is digested, only because the characters, setting, and crisis so exquisitely portrayed in In the Tears of God are smoothly continued here, with such a background.
Here the ruined reef cities of Book One are being rebuilt in the aftermath of the deadly Medusa Plague that threatened to turn all creatures to stone, and the grief felt by the survivors has taken a deadly turn as insanity threatens Megalops, whose wife and daughter have become statues in a grim Aquarian memorial to the victims of Medusa.
With any deliberate act of destruction there arises the potential for revenge and further chaos - and so a retaliatory virus aimed at the humans who nearly destroyed their world promises a massive devastation in return. In such a scenario, adaptation embraces not just survival but the impetus for revenge and so it appears that reef and human worlds alike are poised for a final blow that will make the rise of the oceans seem like an inconvenience in comparison.
Protagonists from Book One are rapidly re-introduced here in an approach that will especially, immediately engross prior readers with familiar characters. From the strategy of using a civil war to an opponent's advantage to psychic battles for control, the characters in Blood Tide are facing some of their greatest challenges to survival yet - from one of their own.
Readers should anticipate a heady combination of action and intrigue based on the events of Book One, in a post-apocalyptic setting that questions heroes, leaders, and a looming war between Mother Earth and Mother Ocean. Based in a world that's survived climate change, the impact of loneliness, life-or-death decision-making processes, and the effects of ongoing conflict illustrate the very different challenges of handling interactions between two worlds almost inhabiting the same body of Earth, making Blood Tide a top recommendation for readers who like 'climate change' dystopian stories with more than a dose of philosophical reflection paired with nonstop crisis mode style action.
Aquarius Rising Book 2: Blood TideReturn to Index
Gift
of the Blood God – Drawn
Sydney Whyte
Amazon Digital Services
9780473319960
$2.99 Kindle
http://SydneyWhyteauthor.
Gift of the Blood God – Drawn is Book One of the 'Faelings Doom' series, and is recommended for readers who like their romances juxtaposed with a bit of paranormal mystery, fantasy, and tension.
In a world where magic lingers, adult twins Melory and Lorrie deftly navigate their lives and careers - until a storm drives them into another world where their experiences, talents, and prowess don't match well with the new challenges that surround them.
Before one is even a chapter into Gift of the Blood God, graphic sexual scenes and experiences are presented: it should be cautioned that readers should not be younger teens; but preferably young adults and adults, who will find the inclusion of candid sexual events an unusual (but intriguing) addition to the plot.
This audience will find the scenes of sex and swearing are not overdone, but add a compelling and realistic feel when presented in the wider context of very real characters facing the demands of the unknown. References to sexual encounters with other creatures are clearly described and intriguing: "Never mind the old tales; never mind the myths that the Priesthood of Ancient times could call the Faeling forth; summon them as shadow creatures from their incarceration in stones of the earth… who in their right mind would want to do that anyway, sucked on by a creature that weren’t even human. It was disgusting!"
But sex and swearing is by no means what Gift of the Blood God is all about; these are just devices within the greater saga of twins trapped in another world where romance and death, revenge and intimacy, and love and danger are too closely related for comfort.
Move a cast of well-drawn characters into this backdrop and the ultimate result is a story line that is satisfyingly unpredictable and set in a world that is well developed, with protagonists that include priestesses and gods struggling with the sexual ties that bind.
Gift of the Blood God – DrawnReturn to Index
The
Goddess Embraced
Deborah L. Davitt
Amazon Digital Services
978-0-9860916-1-2
$5.99 Kindle
www.edda-earth.com
http://www.amazon.com/Goddess-
The Valkyrie set this series in motion with a hard-hitting fantasy involving the modern Roman empire, a sorceress, murders of gods and mortals alike, and a plot that stretched through time to pit human people against the powers of the gods.
The Goddess Denied continued the saga.
And now, there's The Goddess Embraced - a fiery saga of gods at war with one another, humans serving as collateral damage, and a struggle to avert the end of the world. With a large cast of characters, plenty of prior history, and a powerful story that picks up ten years after the last book ended, fantasy readers are in for an action-packed treat.
From powerful spirit-children and curses to the unexpected specter of Loki trying to avert Ragnarok (an event he's long awaited), The Goddess Embraced presents another satisfyingly complex and winding tale that is hard to put down, replete with mystery, romance, and fantasy.
From musings about individual powers and roles in what is destined to come ("Your sister sees a deterministic future, shaped by Apollo of Delphi’s memories. The fact that she does not remember seeing me, may mean that Apollo will never know that I exist once more. I am thus an outlying factor in all my own calculations.") to mad godlings, the entwining of powers, bodies, and spirits, and the flow of memories between beings, the story is supercharged with constant contact and change - and, therefore, is fluid in its approach to drama.
While newcomers may want to pursue the prior books to more easily absorb characters, atmosphere, and history, those with such a background will find The Goddess Embraced represents a powerful fantasy that uses Norse runes and other symbols to differentiate between the constantly-evolving points of view.
Complex? Yes: casual readers need not apply. Accessible, satisfying, and thoroughly engrossing? Absolutely! Fantasy readers who like their stories wide-ranging, their protagonists numerous, and their fantasy worlds gripping and realistic will find The Goddess Embraced the perfect read.
The Goddess EmbracedReturn to Index
Skinshifter
Alycia Christine
Purple Thorn Press
3514 Bobtown
Road, #203
Garland, TX 75043
$3.99 Amazon
Kindle edition:
978-1-941588-27-7 (release date: September 25, 2015, pre-order
available now)
$15.99 Trade paperback print edition: 978-1-941588-28-4 (release date:
September 25, 2015, no pre-order available)
$3.99 Smashwords edition: 978-1-941588-29-1 (release date: December 24,
2015,
pre-order available now)
Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/
Smashwords page: https://www.smashwords.
Author site: http://www.alyciachristine.com
Publisher site: http://www.purplethornpress.
Skinshifter is Book One of the Sylvan Cycle series, and explores a magical metamorphosis centered around the re-emergence of previously-defeated Asheken deadwalkers who return to power with vengeance in mind seeking to not just vanquish the enemy who once conquered them, but to enslave them.
Thus werecat Katja faces the sudden destruction of her clan and an effort that represents a struggle against everything she knows in her world - including her well-kept secret of being a 'skinshifter'. Katja has lived with her siblings since their parents died, so she's known no other life and no other home. All this changes as she's thrust into the world with no family support systems, forced to personally refute the notion that skinshifters in her world are a curse. Ironically, her abilities are one thing that may save the world.
Fantasy readers will need to cultivate several things to appreciate this book's focus and direction: an affinity for third-person, limited point-of-view storytelling and an ability to accept an intelligent animal's world, replete with werewolves, humans, mages, elves, and more. The fantasy is well drawn and those familiar with genre reads will have no trouble readily accepting and absorbing a scenario in which dream premonitions and friendships between trolls and intelligent animals (among other encounters) are not just possible, but common.
Action is well done, tension is wonderfully detailed and maintained throughout, and fantasy readers will find in Katja an appealing, believable character whose quest and concerns drive a story line that is vivid, accessible, and involving; making it a special recommendation for readers of animal-based fantasy worlds where anything is possible.
SkinshifterReturn to Index
Steel,
Blood & Fire
Allan
Batchelder
CreateSpace
ASIN:
B00AW53RMQ $3.99
Kindle
978-1491091753
$17.29 Paper
www.immortaltreachery.com
Steel, Blood & Fire represents Book One of a series which is recommended for readers seeking an ongoing saga spread out over several (forthcoming) books. Those with an appreciation for stories that include satisfyingly complicated protagonists, action and confrontation and high drama in a dilemma faced by a notoriously great warrior who loses his abilities just when his skills are most needed by the world will find the story a gem.
What would such a warrior do, when confronted by a simmering disaster that only his recently-lost powers can prevent? How far would such a fighter go to regain his abilities? As a soldier used to winning by sword and violence, Tarmun considers transforming his very being through an unholy alliance with a sorceress, if that's what it takes to return to the fighting field.
Besides the surprising series mention, one thing to note about Steel, Blood & Fire is that it lives up to its title: its fantasy is tightly wound up in battles, blood, and confrontations which use action to its best advantage and hones motivation until it's an unpredictable and fine art.
It should be forewarned that there are gruesome scenes right from the start, juxtaposed with many unexpected moments that keep the action both soaked in blood and intriguing even to the most seasoned fantasy or warrior saga reader.
What other fantasy would include gigolos, autistic characters, and supernatural terrors alike? Because Steel, Blood & Fire takes its time (as it should) to build up complex, believable, and engrossing characters, it needs more books: a requirement that will delight fans of the epic fantasy/supernatural chronicle, who will appreciate the story's unexpected twists, thoroughly-developed characters, and engrossing dilemmas.
Steel, Blood & FireReturn to Index
History Lessons
MYTHOS
And COSMOS: Mind and Meaning in the Oral Age
John Knight Lundwall, PhD
No ISBN, Publisher, Price
Pre-Publication manuscript: ETA Fall 2015
Email: knightjl7@msn.com
There are some philosophical and 'new age' books intended for the general-interest reader that are suitable for skimming and easy reflection; and then there are writings such as MYTHOS And COSMOS: Mind and Meaning in the Oral Age which are directed to those interested in more of a historical, analytical approach. Designed to challenge popular thinking rather than placate the unexamined mind, MYTHOS And COSMOS makes an unusual case for the early intellectual prowess of ancient man.
If this sounds like another new age read on ancient civilization superpowers, think again: chapters focus on why scientific process has presented ancient man either as a mindless primate or an alien-inspired genius, instead considering how the process of evolution indicates that early man likely had many of modern man's strengths. Gaps in recorded information aren't due to alien intervention or nonexistent skills so much as the ravages of time on recorded signs of intelligence.
MYTHOS And COSMOS represents the work of a scholar with a life-long commitment to examining ancient myth more closely. He completed his doctorate in comparative myth studies; then applied it to his continuing education. Jungian psychology, he maintains, lends a more accurate thought; that "…our conception of history is often the product of the ego" - and with this in mind, he selects and tackles points in history that have remained incongruous over the centuries.
From what constitutes a 'literate person' and his observations, recordings and psyche to the evolution of cosmological thinking, how narratives often cross the boundary from historical fact into mythos, and how knowledge is fragmented and distorted over time, MYTHOS And COSMOS surveys a range of evidence - written, oral, and artifacts alike - to reveal the assumptions underlying broken, fragmented evidence.
In the process of piecing together possibilities, Dr. Lundwall does more than recreate history: he considers the processes, influences, and politics involved in assigning direction and meaning to ancient data.
Are
ancient thinkers primitives? Does modern technology provide the
illusion of
intelligence through comparative analytical processes? And are the
foundations
by which we compare and assign judgments uncertain, in and of
themselves? These
questions and more are contained in a scholarly yet accessible
examination of
historical, archaeological, and psychological evidence ancient and
modern,
recommended for readers seeking history, science, psychology and
philosophy all
wrapped up in a quest for what truly constitutes the realities of
ancient
cultures, considering how modern investigators organize and analyze
historical
record as well as the evolution of the processes and patterns leading
to
understanding.
MYTHOS
And COSMOS: Mind and Meaning in the Oral Age
Return
to Index
Am
I The Killer? Plenty
of 'whodunnit' mysteries revolve around locating the perp. The majority
of them
feature the investigator's viewpoint and readers either know the
identity of
the killer or follow the leader in uncovering it. True
to its intriguing title, however, Am I The
Killer? offers a different perspective: one in
which the
first-person protagonist admits he could
be the killer - but really doesn't know if he's guilty or not. Thus
begins a
yarn of not just discovery but self-discovery as an ex-soldier with
memory
issues faces the possibility that he could have beaten to death a guy
he never
liked. Peter's
always tried to do the right thing, but life has dealt him some hard
blows; and
it seems that no matter how much he tries, his choices just lead to
trouble.
Now he's in the biggest trouble of all - and this saga begins with his
arrest
and works backward and forward in recounting the circumstances that led
to and
from this point. The big question is: what's he going to do
now? The
answer involves a quest to remember; one which moves through drug
treatments,
memory tests, and Peter's dreams and revelations to lend clues about
who he
really is: "Vinny
trudged up the stairs
just when Billy Wyatt got slammed on the head. Was I dreaming or in
another
trance? This time the episode was really vivid. Details of Wyatt’s
house were
exactly as they were. It felt so real that I began to panic. It
couldn’t be a
dream, could it? Holy shit, was it really me who hit him? I struggled
to pull
off my sweat-soaked shirt, and I hit the ground with a thud." Witch
hunts, police seizures, closed cases, open hearts… as events swirl
around
Peter's struggle to discover himself, readers are treated to a vivid
series of
insights surrounding evidence and puzzles. "Sometimes you solve a case but
never know what
actually happened." The juxtaposition of Peter's
first-person
world with a third-person investigator's efforts creates a satisfyingly
multi-faceted, well-rounded story that grabs readers from the first few
paragraphs
and doesn't let go until its unexpected end. Readers of detective
fiction will
find the psychological depth and detail of Am
I The Killer? simply sterling. Beneath
the Bridge of Murder Beneath
the Bridge of Murder (Book 6 in
the 'World of Murder' series) just goes to prove several things: that a
series
of murder mysteries can each successfully hone very different settings,
characters, and circumstances that join neatly together under a
universal
theme; and that an ability to build tight, unpredictable characters is
possible
across a number of series titles, if the author is as skilled as Trisha
Sugarek. This
mystery opens on the seedier side of life, with a homeless man who
approaches
an affluent couple on the streets of New York and a Civilian Militia
Company
member who rescues them from his unwanted attentions. A
prelude to the story then changes in the first chapter, which presents
a closer
inspection of homeless life under a bridge; a setting which quickly
evolves to
a senseless murder that's tied to the prologue. Enter
detectives O'Roarke and Garcia (prior fans will recall them from the
earlier
books): cops called upon to investigate the murder of a homeless man.
So far,
nothing new or surprising here … that evolves later, as the two find
that a
missing man was beloved, that the encampment is filled with
personalities and motivations,
and that what seems a simple death is actually something far more
complicated. Beneath
the Bridge of Murder uses many of
the satisfying devices of Trisha Sugarek's previous murder mysteries:
solid
characters, twisting stories, motivations that are anything but
cut-and-dried,
and a plot that, here, involves vigilante purposes and homeless
issues. From
a military man's flashbacks and ability to escape the fate of other
homeless
individuals to an organization run with military-style precision and
relentless
in its purposes and its insistence that its own members toe the line
(even when
that line crosses into ethical conflict) Beneath
the Bridge of Murder is a powerful mystery that
creates many
disparate threads at first, but succeeds in weaving them together with
the
story of detectives O'Rorke and Garcia's personal lives and
concerns. The
series just keeps evolving and, cemented by these detectives'
personalities and
approaches, keeps on getting better and better. It's not easy creating
book
after book that both stand alone and interact well as a series. The
'World of
Murder' series does just that, and its latest addition is a winning
recommendation for both newcomers and prior Sugarek fans. A
Book About a Film A
Book About a Film actually isn't
exactly
a book about a film - not if you're expecting a nonfiction exploration
of how a
production is created, and not if you're looking for any insights on
independent filmmaking. It's actually a true-life thriller that
revolves around
a film's production, though, and it novelizes the
lost/incomplete/controversial
film 'The Cornfield People' while considering its gripping story of
life,
death, and everything that lies between. We're
not talking a big film, here: few people have had access to or watched
the
movie - which means the majority of readers of A
Book About a Film will find themselves on equal
footing, new to the
subject under discussion. While many maintain the film actually doesn't
exist,
its status as a cult classic implies otherwise. The
story that revolves around this film's rumors and mystery is vivid,
taking
readers away from the reality of The Cornfield People's possibilities
and into
a world of secret societies, ulterior forces, tangled webs, and complex
twists
that at times adds a wry touch of irony to the discussion. No
light pursuit, the read includes: acronyms, cinematic terminology,
quasi-terrorism, debates about life and death, and a narrative
surrounding the
evolution of an urban legend. Money, an intriguing story, the Periodic
Table of
Elements, production analysis and director choices: all these are wound
into a
saga that is heavily footnoted and researched. There's
nothing simple about 'The Cornfield People' (even some of the actors
have no
clue of its intentions) - and nothing easy about reading through its
evolution
in A Book
About a Film, but
readers interested in cult classic film mysteries in general and this
hidden
gem in particular will find C. W. Schultz's narrative to be complex,
gripping,
and ultimately hard to put down - even if you've never seen or heard
about 'The
Cornfield People' before. Gravity
Games The
first thing to note about Gravity
Games: A
Nathan Sherlock Foodie Thriller is its attention
to descriptive
detail, which takes the finer music of depth and tunes it to a new
level
recommended not for mystery readers who want quick and casual
descriptions, but
for those who appreciate detail: "For
an instant, Nathan tried to ignore it, wanted to ignore it. A couple
dozen
steps, a mere twist of a filigreed brass door knob and wave after wave
of the
airborne emissaries of Norwegian Tilsit, cabbage rolls, and thin merlot
will
muddle the nasal topography. But it won’t mask the memory, the piercing
stench,
nor his duty. Nathan detected not only murder, but very recent murder,
perhaps
murder in progress." Can
Nathan smell not only food, but murder? And what does this special
ability hold
for new circumstances that tweak not just his olfactory senses, but his
ability
to solve crimes? Readers are about to find out; in the process learning
of one
investigator's strange ability and how it led him to a life of crime
problem-solving that operates on a different level than most
detectives: "By
literally smelling death, his life intersected
with police starting at age 14. On his way home from school, his nose
detected,
and he dutifully reported, a woman’s death." Delightfully
different in its approach, even Nathan's nose for trouble is challenged
in Gravity
Games, which winds science into
the mix and invites mystery fans to investigate realms that usually lie
outside
the typical genre read. It
would have been all too possible for such a talent to turn one's life
upside
down, but Nathan has a formula for keeping his personal world on track,
and
it's never failed him before - until now. He's a famous food and wine
personality
and his skills in this arena compliment his other unique abilities.
Everything
is about to change, all spiced with an unexpected dose of humor
throughout
("Agent
Cheeseburger was about to make
another point when a striking blonde stepped from behind his broad back.")
to provide a comic relief not usually seen in murder
mysteries. As
far as the case itself, suffice it to say that one scientist's
discovery could
change the world; so when he's kidnapped, Nathan is tapped to use his
special
skills to save him. Terrorism and food usually don't mix; but here they
are
explored in exquisite passages that keep readers guessing and involved.
The
hallmark of a solid mystery read is its ability to captivate even the
most avid
of genre readers: Gravity
Games
doesn't just involve; it immerses
readers in the finer details of the story. Highly
recommended for any mystery fan who also happens to cultivate an
affection for
food and special problem-solving abilities. Shards
of Reality Shards
of Reality is Book 4 in the 'Seams
of Reality' series, represents the final book in the saga, and features
a group
of watchful sorcerers who look out for humanity in an uncertain
alliance with
the human race. Somewhat predictably, humanity is leery of their
superpowers
(especially after a mess was made of things earlier) and questions the
notion
that these paranormal forces are being used for good purposes: thus the
sorcerers are being tracked and watched by the FBI and others. Everyone's
waiting for the group to make a final mistake that will land them in
prison,
and some of the strongest political forces in the country want to see
sorcery
banished, whether or not it's being used for good or evil. At
the heart of this latest conflict is mankind's uncertainty, a top
leader that
believes in using murder and torture to achieve his aims, and a force
that is
tasked with staying together as a community while considering fresh
starts for
all of them. Siegel
deftly sums up the group's key members, history, and purposes in the
very first
chapter so newcomers to the series won't find themselves lost in what
actually
is quite a complex blend of paranormal abilities, spiritual overtones,
and
political interactions. While prior familiarity with the previous books
in the
series is recommended to flush out protagonists and events, it's not an
absolute necessity in order to enjoy the events that follow - and for
Book Four
of a series, that's a notable achievement. Sorcery
is all about imposing will on the world; but it's also about honing
abilities,
understanding their place in the world, and considering the elements
that
constitute true justice. Also be advised that there are spiritual
references
throughout, which makes this more than a secular thriller/paranormal
novel and
lends it a depth usually not seen in the genre. Where can the greatest
warriors
in the universe find a peaceful place to rest? The answer is a
surprise. Connections
both telepathic and physical, murders and unexpected journeys, and a
final,
unexpected twist that will delight even avid followers of the 'Seams of
Reality' series makes for a powerful crescendo of action, faith, and
struggle
that will captivate newcomers and prior fans with something
refreshingly
different - and, sadly, conclusive of this series. Vortex Zach
Turner is home from Afghanistan
and the horrors of war; but getting away from conflict just isn't on
his
horizon. While all he wishes to do is forget the past, it's right on
his tail
in the form of a speeding red Camero operated by a former best friend
who
accuses Zach of betrayal and treachery. In
a chase scene typical of the classic detective/noir thriller style,
Zach races
through L.A.
with a hapless girlfriend at his side: "At
some point we’d have to cut inland. Checked the rearview, hoping we’d
lost
them. Clear. If we were lucky maybe they crashed and burned. Yeah, it’s
not
good to wish that on people, especially your friends. I was brought up
right.
But what the hell, I’d just come from a fucking war zone. And now I
felt like
I’d never left it." And
that's just the opening salvo in a nonstop staccato action noir fiction
story
that, in less than two hundred pages, packs in a mystery/thriller that
can't be
beat. From
the dry, dusty L.A.
basin atmosphere to the perceptions of a wounded veteran whose combat
doesn't
end with service, events of the war return to haunt Zach's life at
home. It's
not easy to capture and build atmosphere while crafting a complex noir
plot
using a limited number of words; but what might take other writers
hundreds
more pages to spin, Paul D. Marks creates with just a few deft swipes
of his
pen: "We
strolled—yes strolled, it just
seems like the right word—down the rough-hewn planks of the Santa
Monica Pier.
Ocean waves crashing a few yards away. And just like everything in
L.A.,
the pier was the star of movies and TV, The Sting and Forrest Gump,
Iron Man
and even Hannah Montana. We bought smoothies and walked to the end of
the pier,
past Bubba Gump Shrimp with its fake fish shanty look. Leave it to
Hollywood
to turn a make-believe soldier’s dream into a reality." A
superior writer can create believable protagonists, settings, and
inject a
smoky, fast-paced mystery into everything using a minimum of words to
describe
and capture experiences. Vortex
lives up to its name, quickly creating a maelstrom of action and
purpose to
draw readers into a whirlpool of intrigue and mystery centered on a
believable
protagonist and his dilemmas. Noir
detective readers looking for a short work that is immediately gripping
and
well-written will find the perfect item of choice in Vortex,
but be forewarned: once picked up, it's nearly
impossible to put down before the end.
Dan Petrosini
Dan Petrosini, Publisher
16715
Pistoia Way
Naples, FL
34110
978-1-1515004622
$2.99
http://www.amazon.com/Am-I-
Return
to Index
Trisha Sugarek
Writer at Play
978-1503099135 $TBA
Prepublication Manuscript: Pub date: September 2015
www.writeratplay.com
Return
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C. W. Schultz
CreateSpace
978-1508595939 Price: $13.40,
£8.68, €11.82
http://www.cwschultz.com/a-
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John R. Matsui
Poison Pine Books
101
Wortley Road,
London Ontario Canada
N6C 3P1
ISBN: ebook:
9780993754814
ISBN: paper: 9780993754838
Price:
$14.95 USD
Website: johnmatsui.com
Ordering
link: http://www.amazon.com/
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to Index
Alex Siegel
Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
ASIN: B010H402M4
$2.99
http://www.amazon.com/dp/
Return
to Index
Paul D. Marks
Timeless Skies Publishing
Trade Paperback (Distributed through IngramSpark and
CreateSpace)
ISBN: 978-0-9914735-5-7, Trim size: 5.5 X 8.5, Retail
Price: $10.95
Kindle Edition: ISBN: 978-0-9914735-4-0, Retail Price
$2.99
EPub Edition: ISBN: 978-0-9914735-6-4, Retail Price
$2.99
www.PaulDMarks.com
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to Index
At
the Death At
first glance one would think that a soccer-oriented book about playing
the game
would require of its readers a prior affection for soccer; but in
actuality At
the Death is so much more, embracing
spirituality, coming of age, and the game of life itself - and because
of all
this, At the
Death is recommended
not just for avid soccer fans, but for any who would absorb a saga of
striving,
success and failure, not only in this life, but in the
afterlife as
well. First
of all, there are strong young players who have more on their minds and
in
their hearts than soccer: "If
her teen
years had taught her anything, it was most roadblocks were only
temporary, as
long as you never gave up on your dreams. That belief defined her as an
overachiever, in everything she did." Secondly,
perspectives and motives on how to live life come not just from players
of
soccer, but from those who interact with the game in other ways: "He failed, he felt it deeply, he
learned from it, and
he grew. That’s why I coach." Third
(and perhaps best), At
the Death
takes all this, wraps the trappings of soccer in a series of life
lessons, and
cultivates an approach that, is both solidly based in the game and
embraces the
wider perspectives of life well-lived and death well-received. All
this is couched in vivid game plays that soccer fans will find true to
the
sport and its competitive challenges, bringing the game to life and the
strategies and plays of soccer from field to reader attention. The
goal? It's elusive and challenging as players navigate the fields of
their
lives, intersect with opposing forces, and find themselves on quite a
different
playing field in the afterlife where unfair advantage and uncertain
competition
brings with it new rules and requirements: "Your intimate thoughts and all
of your actions are known to
many.” “Yeah, but it’s different if you don’t know that anyone
else knows,”
Brady said. “There are advantages to being dumb and happy.” If
life is about how the game is played and how new, changing rules are
absorbed,
then At the
Death reflects this.
As its protagonists consider their options in confronting, as a team,
Heaven
itself, individual abilities merge into a group perspective that is
invitingly
philosophical and reflective, moving far beyond the sport to embrace
the
elements central to human growth and evolution. While
readers who hold an affinity for the sport will delight in the vivid
descriptions of soccer moves and shots on goal, those anticipating 'just a
soccer novel' will be rewarded with
so much more. Its value is much broader, examining life's purpose by
following
the inspirational motivation of eleven team members who ultimately
impart a
love of the sport, a reason for its importance, and lessons on how to
win in
more ways than one way, combining a soccer narrative with spiritual
encounters
as an intersection with life itself. Beneath
The Greater Sky Beneath
The Greater Sky provides a
gripping, intriguing story on more than one level not because its
protagonist
has lost a child, but because all events are told from a would-be
father's
perspective, and because they move neatly from personal tragedy to more
challenging experiences. It's
one thing for a man to face the death of his unborn child and the
dissolution
of his marriage and decide to undertake a journey as a kind of memorial
to what
was and what could have been. It's another to turn that journey itself
into an
unexpected saga not just of loss, divorce, and recovery; but of the
uncertain
world of frontier justice and another loss that he is accused of
bringing about. As
Ryan's world changes from a Chicago suburb to Wyoming, readers will
quickly
come to realize it poses not just a novel of personal experience but a
mystery,
as well; all fueled by powerful character development that is just one
of the
hallmarks that make Beneath
The Greater Sky
a superior read. Because
Ryan's thoughts and emotions are at the forefront of the story, readers
will
find it easy to enter, quick to read, and thoroughly engrossing.
Because
different and unexpected elements are added to the tale of mourning and
survival,
the account adopts a three-dimensional quality that is satisfying and
effective. And because it includes many of the elements of danger and
action
that thrillers utilize to best advantage, it's a well-rounded and
powerful
creation designed to appeal not just to men or women attracted to
stories of
recovery, but to a broader audience looking for a good, solid blend of
mystery,
adventure, a dash of romance, and much self-discovery. Dandelion
Angel On
the face of it, Dandelion
Angel
tells of undiagnosed borderline personality disorder in mothers and the
legacy
this hands down to their daughters who know nothing of psychological
interpretation but much about the impossibility of pleasing a demanding
parent.
In choosing this approach Dandelion
Angel
hits far closer to home than most stories in which families seem to
quickly
understand the intricacies of psychology, focusing on the heart of a
mysterious, unpredictable family structure that hands down far more
than love
for generations to contemplate. Ute,
one of the mothers featured in the novel, is impossible to please: she
is a
'hermit' whose heart is ruled by fear, with an uncommon ability to
tolerate
pain but hold it in places where pain usually releases. In
describing her world and her daughter Caren's own legacy, Calico's
words are
exquisitely sharp and precise in their vivid vision: "Every year, she hoped to
recapture the intense
excitement she used to feel as a girl; and every year, she was
disappointed
again, because Christmas seemed all about shopping after work, in
overcrowded
stores, with irritable sales clerks and too many hurried customers; and
with
endless, tedious preparation; and long hours of travel along busy, and
sometimes icy, highways. She hadn’t really felt anything in a long
time. There
was no connection to this beautiful house, which should have felt like
her
home, or to the tasteful decorations that she had busied herself with
for days,
or even to Tom, who was peacefully sleeping next door. She was alone.
And
there, suddenly, she felt like a child again—completely isolated, as if
living
under a thick glass dome, forever watching the world outside without
being a
part of it. She had carried this feeling with her all her life, and no
move, no
promotion, no amount of money or luxury, could take it away." As
readers follow generations who inherit Ute's legacy, they will find the
descriptions of family dynamics exquisitely wrought and pointed: "…she had meticulously planned the
Andalusia
trip, and—as usual—paid a fortune to please her mother. How could Ute
be so
cruel? And why did Caren try so hard? He had fallen in love with her
because of
her intelligence, her incredible sharpness. She could talk about
anything; she
was highly articulate and opinionated, could argue so convincingly and
forcefully she’d win any debate, any case in court. And yet, here she
was, at
her parents’ home—a dependent, frightened child desperate for
her
mother’s approval." Mothers
and daughters. Achievements and failures to communicate. A biography
project
that threatens much and promises newfound insights. Traumatic memories
from
war, repressed until they are discounted. All these facets weave a
powerful
saga that holds out the promise of new blossoms, spring, revival, and
how good
people emerge from traumatic situations. Any
novel reader who wants a story of women's family connections replete in
psychological depth that successfully shows (rather than telling) will
find
that Dandelion
Angel
eschews the usual distance of third-person observation by drawing key
connections between its protagonists. Can knowing and understanding
pain
alleviate its force? Dandelion Angel
offers many compelling insights that create much food for thought in a
vivid
psychological examination with an uncanny ability to hit close to home
- and
the heart. Developing
Minds: An American Ghost Story Developing
Minds: An American Ghost Story
follows a group of recent college grads through their first year of
teaching at
dysfunctional urban public schools - especially 24-year-old Luke, a
would-be
writer who finds that his creativity and passion for the written word
are
crushed by daily teaching disputes which are far from what he
anticipated in
the job. The
worst challenges in a career often take the form of a competition
before one is
even aware that a contest is taking place. Such is the case with Luke,
who
finds it a daily struggle to be a high school teacher in a process that
is
stifling his creativity and his real dreams. Therein
lies the crux of the issue: how to make a living while still being an
artist,
without crushing the very thing that lends meaning to life? Unexpectedly,
as the year moves on, Luke begins to see outside of his artistic focus
a little
more, to observe the roots of discontent in his young students' lives.
The more
he makes connections between their neglect and abuse and their actions,
the
more he is called upon to confront his own dark past. Unlike
most stories about public school teachers, there's more of an attention
to
realistic interactions, here. Luke isn't a savior: he's a young adult
on the
cusp of adulthood trying to find meaning in his own life. The students
aren't
inherently evil beings: they are confused and coming of age in a
turbulent
world and culture influenced by social and physiological changes
alike. Luke's
own struggles with drugs and mental illness, his interactions with
inner city
urban youth, and his growing angst are reinforced by events and
interactions
that are realistically, pointedly portrayed without the usual
over-dramatization seen in most stories of teachers and students: "I hoped they bought that I was
sick. I hoped they
couldn’t see the panic in my eyes. I hoped they didn’t realize that
even the
slightest of resistance would have sent me screaming through the door
and doing
snow angels under the GW sign out front. I hoped they’d for once just
be kind
to me. Why was that so difficult? Compassion. And as that bell rang, my
wish
had been answered. For whatever reason that day, there were no “She can
do
whatever she wants”s or “This is stupid”s. They opened their books and
got to
work." Sometimes
brilliance lies not in the overly dramatic, but in the ability to pick
subtle
interactions and inject gentle insights about their nature. Sometimes
the meat
of a title lies not in fire and flames, but in simmering passion. Such
is the
nature of the coming-of-age experiences depicted in Developing Minds,
which offers a multi-faceted exploration
of growth, maturity, and eventual transformation on the parts of all
involved. Instant
Mystic It's
fiction - but, it's delicious fiction. How
else can one describe chapter headings that assume the form of foods -
Mango
Lassi, Red Licorice, Crunchy PB&J, and more? And for those who
equate food
with angst, there's always 'Bad Egg' or 'Flaming Hot Cheetos'. What can
it all
mean? Take a big bite from Chapter One, to begin. In
just a few paragraphs, readers receive the
sense that food is magical, even for a protagonist who suffers from
finding
only dubious leftover takeout in his fridge: "He walked to his kitchen, opened
his small old refrigerator and looked
pensively inside, hoping a delicious breakfast might just await him. No
such
luck. Instead he grabbed a white paper carton seeping orange stains and
wolfed
down baingan barta leftover from Sunday night in Little India. The
curried
eggplant was slimy and unctuous. He should have thrown it out in this
morning’s
trash instead of making a garbage can of his stomach. Too late. He
gulped down
some mango lassi and hoped that the magical compensatory live yogurt
cultures
might kill whatever weird stuff was growing in the eggplant." At
first the story that evolves from this sensual
food feast seems to indicate this will be a short story collection with
each
chapter centered around a different protagonist; but in fact Instant Mystic's
charm lies in its ability
to create a host of characters and then weave their lives
together. Dev
has a flair for learning foreign languages.
Lupe's Café, his destination, also attracts another artist: Adrianna's
not a
wordsmith, but a painter. Jay (in the next chapter), in contrast, is a
fashionista who dresses in sharkskin, accepts translated documents from
his
friend Dev, and is a smuggler and a dandy. And Tara is making something
from
her former home, 'Gypsy Tart', and weeping for her past, present and
future: "Tara punctured the tin of evaporated
milk and poured it
over the dark muscavado sugar. She began to whip them together and to
weep. She
wept for herself and the harder she beat the mixture the harder she
cried." Amnesia.
Kidnapping. The illusions of food,
cross-cultural encounters, possible holy men, and holy hell. Love
explored as a
malady and as a promise. Food smells and culture permeate chapters that
take
all these loose ends and a disparate cast of characters and wind up
their
actions, interactions, beliefs, and symbols into a multi-faceted read
not for
the casual novel reader, but for those who like to think about
interplays
between personalities, belief systems, and cultures. Readers
who enjoy quasi-spiritual stories with a
healthy dose of ethnic foods and discovery (paired with some
thriller-type
action that challenges protagonists and keeps them ever-changing) will
find in Instant
Mystic a delicious recipe for
engagement and involvement. The food and cross-cultural themes that
power much
of the action and encounters is simply delightful, making it a top
recommendation for readers who enjoy ethnic foods and varied,
unpredictable
interactions. Into
the Hidden Valley Open
in India,
1910, where son Charles is reading a tombstone about his father's
untimely
death in an earthquake. It is only upon his father's demise that
Charles
realizes the role this civil servant played in Indian political
affairs, and
the dangerous legacy he's inherited as a son of British descent
struggling with
his country's worsening relationship with India. As
historical novels go, Into
the Hidden Valley
is a gem: it takes a relatively remote portion of India
and uses it as a microcosm of social, historical, and political
observation,
creating a valley as replete with secrets as the life that left
it. And
as Charles peels away these layers of mystery one by one, he comes to
realize
that his father, who is viewed as something of a hero because of his
ability to
crush Indian rebellion, is actually something more; revealed in a
notebook left
with his legacy. Readers
move into George's life thereafter, from the time he left England for
good as a
hermit set adrift from all roots to become an ICS officer, to his
increasing involvement
in punitive expeditions and uprisings quashed by British enforcement
efforts
and the Government of India. From
containment and control of frontier Tibetan borders to his
responsibility in
caring for his child, all facets of George's life are explored in a
series of
revelations that will change son Charles' world. Charles then embarks
on a
journey following his father's footsteps to meet a man who may well be
old and
gone, now - and as he follows the route his father has taken, Charles
comes to realize
just how foreign a world his father had traveled: "In a hidden valley halfway to
Tibet, he was an
uninvited visitor among people wearing tattoos and red-cane belts,
half-naked
and speaking a language of which he knew nothing." Stuart
Blackburn does an outstanding job of
pairing the history of Indian, British and Tibetan relationships with
the
personal story of a son's discoveries about his father's hidden
life. Which
of his father's expeditions are his true
successes? Decades of deception, cover-up, and acquiescence shake
Charles'
image of his father and negate the posthumous honors he receives. This
powerful
saga of British/Indian relationships as seen through the eyes,
decisions, and
choices of one British clerk makes for a riveting story that's hard to
put
down, bringing Indian and Tibetan history and culture to life.
Historical novel
enthusiasts will find it a solid, gripping chronicle. The
Maven Trap The
Maven Trap's first-person saga
begins
delicately, with a young boy's over-dependence on his mother and his
father's
sudden and confusing demise; after which his beloved mother "metamorphosed into a brutal
stranger."
The power and passion of this story line is excellent. The
Maven Trap may begin with a bang,
but
it concludes Lionel's childhood experiences of abuse, religion, and
uncertain
family relationships fairly quickly and moves into the adult realm of
thwarted
social encounters, a goal of becoming a scholar and author, and a
series of
mishaps that lead the damaged narrator to struggle with social
interactions and
professional goals alike. To
Lionel, everyone seems crazy and unsupportive; from his mother to his
property
manager and a series of girlfriends who each have their own issues and
reasons
for being unable to navigate their own worlds; much less his. As
he searches for things and people of value in his life, recurring
themes of
religion, abuse, insanity and instability seem to mark his every move,
leading
Lionel in and out of scenarios where goals are hard to set or achieve
and where
support is nearly non-existent. Used to structures under which he not
only
chafes but struggles to survive, Lionel is faced with re-creating his
adult
world using few tools. The
Maven Trap relates a host of
encounters and traps experienced by the hapless Lionel; not the least
of which
include experiments with Buddhism, attempts to live a life with less
material
needs, and an ongoing search for a life partner and romance. At each
step
Lionel grows - and with each encounter he finds meaning in his choices,
his
influence, his world and his possible futures. Against
the dual backdrops of Mobile, Alabama and Minneapolis, the story of a
man at
odds with his world and life makes for an involving saga of
self-discovery and
enlightenment, spiced with the gritty feel of everyday realities and
life and
infused with a feeling of quiet desperation. It's recommended for novel
readers
who enjoy a blend of self-examination and changing perspectives on
crime,
punishment, redemption, religion: the saga of a quietly desperate
individual
searching for transformation, forgiveness, and something more from
life.
Alex Phakos
Hampshire United Publishing
978-0-9961206-0-9 $8.99 Kindle
www.hampshireunited.com
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to Index
Andrew Voelker
Publisher: Andrew Voelker
978-0-9898024-0-6
$3.99
www.andrewvoelker.com
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to Index
C.B. Calico
4th Floor Press
139
25th Avenue NW
Calgary, Alberta
T2M 2A4
Canada
eISBN (Kindle,
mobi): 978-1-897530-66-5
eISBN (Kobo, epub): 978-1-897530-67-2
Price: $6.99 CAD ($5.42 USD)
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Jonathan LaPoma
Laughing Fire Press
978-0-9988403-6-9
$16.95
Publication Date: September 2015
www.amazon.com
www.jonlapoma.com
http://www.laughingfire.com www.facebook.com/jonlapoma
https://www.goodreads.com/
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Gail Gray Helm
Morning Glory Press
978-0-9964430-0-5
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Stuart Blackburn
Bygone Era Books, Ltd.
978-1-941072-25-7
$17.95 paperback/$4.99 ebook
www.BygoneEraBooks.com
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Billy McCoy
No Publisher, ISBN, $TBA
Prepublication Manuscript: ETA Fall 2015
Email: billyemccoy@gmail.com
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The
Fall of Icarus The
Fall of Icarus offers three
interlinked short stories sharing the locale, flavor, and focus of
Paris
and tells of falls, flights, and endurance in the lives of three very
different
individuals. All this is done in a production well below a hundred
pages: an
amazing achievement, given that so much is imparted using so little
space. In
'The Elevator', Ianos becomes trapped in a shabby, tiny old French
elevator and
when the doors finally open, something magical changes his life and
introduces
him to a Paris of loss and
possibility. How many times will he embark on that journey? A surreal
saga
captures reader interest. 'The
Fall of Icarus' is also about flights: this one injecting the allegory
of a
mythical son who ignored direction and traveled too close to the sun
into the
life of one who chose to "…follow
a
middle way—not too bright, not too foolish, and not too confident. I
succumbed,
and I did not excel in any way. Perhaps
without realizing it, I followed this path as a means of real escape
and not
the imagining of escape by taking flight." It,
too, is replete with the possibilities introduced by the unexpected
experience which
defies preset notions and logic. 'The
Girl' features a protagonist even more lost (she can't remember her own
name,
but she is immersed in recording the stories and words of others - to
the point
of lacking of her own life). Can an unexpected tale introduce her to
new
choices and experiences? All
three stories excel in a sense of wonder and feature delightful twists
and
contemplative scenarios all immersed in Parisian atmosphere and
powerfully
surreal moments. Readers with a special affinity for the short story
format who
want to see atmosphere and psychology works flavored with a tinge of
the eerie
will delight in these well-done literary pieces. Love
Letters and Other Passages of Darkness Love
Letters and Other Passages of Darkness
is short story writing at its strongest, and will appeal to readers who
require
diverse plots, compelling and sometimes eerie experiences, and strong
characters from their short story formats. The
unifying theme is simple: each protagonist is charged with facing a
dark force
in his life and reacting to or overcoming it. In some cases this means
submission; in some cases dominance - and in others, it's a twist of
the story
that leads readers in a satisfyingly unexpected direction
entirely. In
this process there are no other familiar guideposts or unifying
approaches: one
may just as easily experience a medieval castle as a fantasy world, or
step
into a haunted house from a shopping mall, for example. The changing
landscapes
are just one of the delights of a collection that succeeds in keeping
its
readers on their toes and poised for action. Take
the introductory 'Love of the Black Lady', for one example. Alan is
standing
alone on a balcony in the Virgin
Islands viewing what may prove his last extraordinary
sunset. What does one do, knowing it's the last day? A last supper? A
final
romantic fling? A review of the processes that have led to his
alienation from
the world so empty that there is nobody left to say "I'm sorry" to
for his choice and untimely demise? In
this case the darkness stems from his own soul and a life lived without
purpose, in relative isolation from his surroundings. Everything seems
to lead
up to this moment - until an unexpected, surreal lover takes
charge. From
a king tired of his responsibilities to his people to spirit wisdom, a
beautiful forest of confusion, and revenge in the workplace; these are
dark,
brooding pieces that incorporate violence both physical and mental and
take
readers to the outer limits of pain and pleasure. Short
story readers who appreciate slow build-ups, diverse themes and
settings, and
engrossing stories will find Love Letters
and Other Passages of Darkness a powerful
collection worthy of
attention.
N.R. Bates
978-0-9931905-7-5 (epub) $1.50
978-0-9931905-8-2 (print) $6.99
NR Bates Publishing
http://www.amazon.com/Fall-
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R. J. Erbacher
Infinity Publishing
1094 New DeHaven St.
Suite 100
West Conshohocken, PA 19428-2713
978-1-4958-0315-4
$19.95
info@buybooksontheweb.com
Goodreads link- https://www.goodreads.com/
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BetterNot!
And the Tale of Bratsville - Teaching Morals and Manners BetterNot!
And the Tale of Bratsville
opens unexpectedly, in a "small
town
with deep swamps all around…a strange, eerie place…"
: the
perfect introduction to invite kids ages 4-8 to embark on a journey
that pairs
a rollicking rhyme with the tale of a town where the kids are just out
of
control. Roderick
Fong's drawings add a realistic but fun touch to accompany the story of
a town
gone wild … as indicated by its name, Bratsville. Neither
threats nor punishment works with these kids: what will? Perhaps a
touch of
magic is needed! Teaching
basic morals and manners in a picture book is quite a trick if the end
result
is to be entertaining and thought-provoking to truly reach kids. The
tendency
in many picture books which attempt this goal is a preachy tone: but
not here. Under
Del Vecchio's hand the town comes to life, the dilemmas of frustrated
parents
are neatly charted, and the solution lies in an unexpected route
involving one
BetterNot. It's a challenge to take this message in a new direction;
but BetterNot!
And the Tale of Bratsville
succeeds by using a powerful blend of color illustration and written
word that
deftly hones in on unacceptable behaviors and extraordinary solutions.
Parents
using this for read-aloud will be equally delighted by the story's
fresh, vivid
approach which features many unexpected moments that makes it a top,
highly
recommended read! The
Boy Who Walked A
Way The
Boy Who Walked A Way is set in
2162,
where violence has left a young boy alone and embroiled in a war. His
life is
about to be changed, however, by an invisible benefactor who offers him
a path
away from the violence and adversity that dominate his world - and so
Jal
embarks on a journey that leads him to new experiences, new
friendships, and a
sense of salvation in a world gone mad. The
notion of a peaceful kingdom existing amid the confusion and chaos of
war is
not a new one. What is
refreshingly different in The
Boy Who Walked
A Way is the emergence of a gentle fantasy that
begins with the
trappings of a war-encrusted science fiction read but quickly develops
into
much more. As
Jal finds a way out of his crazed life, his journey of self-discovery
involves a
spiritual quest as well, offering young adult readers the vision and
promise of
a peaceful world even if one's surroundings are otherwise. Under
Janes' hand, daily encounters include new lessons on life within a
lyrical,
inspirational account that blends an allegory with humor and a host of
characters, different perspectives, and some unexpected
twists. In
one sense The
Boy Who Walked A Way
attempts quite a few messages and approaches, which may prove
challenging to
linear readers unused to underlying messages and spiritual concepts
embedded
into a fantasy setting. It all succeeds well, and ultimately reveals
God's
ability to protect and change not just Jal's life, but the wider world.
Middle
school readers and up will appreciate the quest, Jal's struggles, and
ultimately, a lyrical sense of purpose in life. Colors!
Take the Dog Out! Colors!
Take the Dog Out! also receives
Mandy Newham-Cobb's vibrant drawings, which lend interest to a simple
survey of
nine basic colors using the same 'search for the dog bone' additions
that made
the companion Numbers
title so
engaging. A
little dog, Coco,
asks: "Do you like colors?" and introduces a young girl picking
colorful flowers (and grass!) with a host of her friends. Each
alternating
panel includes the color's name - and when things move beyond flowers,
some
delightfully unexpected moments are introduced. Boys like baseball and
girls
prefer flowers … or, do they? Adventure
follows, dog bones are cleverly sprinkled throughout for kids to find,
and very
young readers will appreciate the progression of a story that takes a
few
unexpected (but simple) turns and holds the ability to both educate and
delight. Don't
Call Me Kit Kat Don't
Call Me Kit Kat offers many
predictable elements in its middle school story, and at first seems
unremarkable. Katie is at an age where appearances and associations
really
matter. She's conflicted at school (with its cliques, betrayals and
angst) and
at home (where her parents are divorcing), and Katie feels that her
world is
coming apart, leaving her powerless to effect any real change. The
subject may open with an approach similar to other middle school
stories; but
then its special strengths shine as strongly as its characters, because
Katie's
personality immerses readers not just in the events surrounding her
life, but
in her responses to them - and that makes for a compelling read that's
hard to
put down. Each
predictable facet is offset by an unpredictable series of revelations
as Katie
navigates the many obstacles that limit her happiness and ability to
feel
fulfilled. Readers will thrill with her successes, draw breath as she
heads
pell-mell into a dangerous choice, and will relate to many of her
emotions as
she interacts with her world: "…what am
I going through, exactly? Even I can’t explain it very well. I just
felt how I
felt and feel how I feel now. Sometimes I don’t even know how I feel
anymore,
because my mind has gotten so used to focusing on gorging myself and
then
getting rid of it all. Whatever feelings I happen to be ignoring at the
time
included." In
effect, Katie embarks on a journey down a dangerous rabbit hole to
another
world and back again. It's the journey, and her growth and revelations
about
places where she has choices and power in her life, that make Don't Call Me Kit Kat
such a compelling
read, recommended for middle school grade readers also struggling with
issues
of fitting in and standing apart from the crowd. Elizabeth's War Elizabeth's
War is set on a farm during
World War I and tells of how the war affects Elizabeth
at home when her father and brother are sent off to battle. Advanced
elementary
to early middle school readers will find it a short (but pointed) saga
of home
life during the war from an eleven-year-old's first-person impressions,
which
immediately presents a tragedy when the retiring Elizabeth
doesn't respond to her brother's pleas for help. How
can a girl not used to taking charge, and unable to handle emergencies,
be an
effective replacement for an authoritative leader on a farm? The story
moves
beyond portraying World War I's affects on those left behind to
investigate the
psychological profiles, challenges, and changes brought about by a
world's
transformation. Elizabeth
goes through the usual childhood experiences, from chicken pox to an
evolving,
more mature relationship with her mother and older sister. As the world
heats
up and suffrage movements, romance, and newfound dreams change her
family, Elizabeth
must accept a new place not only in her own previously-comfortable
surroundings, but in a wider changing world; and much as her family is
fighting
the war abroad, so she struggles with a less defined war right at
home. Her
realizations and growth power a compelling read highly recommended for
girls in
grades 4-6. Emma’s
Dilemma Emma’s
Dilemma provides a simple story for
ages 3-9, telling of a young school girl's dilemma over a
school-assigned
family tree project. As
she contemplates some fantastic solutions to her problem, Emma begins
to get a
real sense of what the project is actually all about - and an idea of
how to
handle it by applying some, simple out-of-the-box thinking. A
semi-rhyme structure juxtaposes colorful drawings with pages containing
no
words, breaking up the usual picture (or early chapter) book structure.
Young
readers receive all the possibilities in Emma's mind, from monkeys and
spaceships to royalty: but no matter how much she muses, she still
faces a
predicament. The
answer to her problems lies not in a fertile imagination alone; but in
the
application of healthy dose of reality: a process that will delight
young
readers with good fantasy but, in the end, brings it all home -
including
vocabulary material, discussion questions, a Chinese symbolism game,
and more. Heat http://www.amazon.com/Heat- Dan
and Lynn are two young adults who meet at a resort, are feeling
overpowered by
the heat of their environments and the passion of their individual
pain, and
find in each other a companion to share their worlds: but only if they
can
trust enough to reveal their common experiences and let go of some of
the angst. By
switching between third-person perspectives on Dan and Lynn,
readers are privy to not just their secrets, but their emotional
courses: a
good approach to understanding each protagonist's innermost
feelings. It
should be warned that action is slow to build: readers anticipating an
instant
understanding of events and a quick delivery system may be
disappointed. There
are hints along the way ("He
hated the
oppressive feeling, but not nearly as much as he hated the other
things. The
whispers of sympathy, or the way people seemed to tiptoe around him
when
dealing with him.") that Lucassen takes time to
develop his
story - and that's one of the strengths of Heat. Where
other novels would 'cut to the chase' in quick urgency to immerse
readers in
emotional secrets, Heat
takes its
time bringing out and building its protagonists. Where other young
adult
readers would simmer in an action-packed read unrelated to life's
actual progress,
Heat
attends to building
scenarios and situations to achieve more depth than most. And where
other
stories of love would take a near-instant attraction and build
individual
personalities around it, Heat
first focuses on building the bridges of emotional
understanding. While
this might translate to a lot more description and a slower pace than
most, Heat
is to be commended for an approach
that succeeds in creating a scenario that supports two damaged
individuals and
the healing process that goes on between them, creating a powerful read
recommended for those who don't need nonstop staccato action to
appreciate the
realities of life, love, and everything in between. Heat
eventually delivers its passion in a
logical fashion that truly evolves from what has gone on before: "You’re like a passenger trapped
in your own life,
headed for a future that others built for you. You’re not at the helm.
You’re
not holding the wheel. Someone else is. And no matter how loud you
scream that
you want to get out, or you want to take the exit, no one is listening.” Hope
for Garbage Trevor
McNulty is a seventeen-year-old living with an alcoholic uncle and
barely
getting by when he meets rich girl Bea, who is pretty, edgy, and just
the
shining beacon of hope he needs in a life reduced to picking through
garbage
for survival. Unfortunately,
Bea comes with her own family baggage which, when added to Trevor's
woes, prove
nearly overwhelming. Can his habit of turning trash into treasure be
translated
as neatly into relationships and life itself? At
first readers might believe Hope for Garbage
to be a predictable story of survival; but it's much more. Within the
saga of
Trevor's uncertain world and the forces that control and dictate it, is
a story
of boundaries, rules, dreams, and how the human spirit survives under
the
direst of conditions. Trevor
has been handed a lot of despair, and even the hope he cultivates for
something
good turns to an exploration of two very different worlds and their
unexpected
similarities. As Trevor matures and considers his options, readers are
right
there with him; and by the time he hits the wall, Alex Tully's
detail-oriented
focus has immersed the viewer in Trevor's world to the point that his
actions,
choices, and challenges become personal for readers, as well. Tully's
ability to thoroughly analyze Trevor's reactions and actions invite
readers
into not just an observational role, but an affection for a teen's
struggles:
"The look of
hurt on her face felt like
a punch in Trevor’s gut. He had never seen her like that before. He
wanted to
run to her and tell her it was all a big mistake. But he was frozen,
just like
in a dream. He kept his eyes on the floor and just prayed the nightmare
would
be over soon. He just wanted to get the hell out of there." Tully's
ability to build many questions and no easy answers means that Trevor's
life
and times prove especially realistic, eschewing the possibility of
predictability and venturing into the realm of uncertain results.
Readers of
young adult fiction will find much to relate to as Trevor navigates his
life,
trying to keep secrets, maintain a positive perspective, and build
something
different than what he's been raised with. Lily’s
Story In
Moore Township, Ontario Canada, in 1845, Lily is a pioneer girl whose
mother
hates Indians, and who faces a world rapidly changing from that of a
frontier
town to something much more; something that will force her to take her
family's
survival skills to a new level. Plenty
of novels have been written about frontier days and frontier gals; but Lily's Story
is different: it doesn't just
tell
her story; it immerses
readers in the sights, sounds, and sentiments of her times: "Many nights, curled in the straw
of her loft, she
heard the drumbeats come across the tree-tops from miles away and
settle into
their clearing as if they had been aimed there. They were not like her
heartbeat, back and forth, nor like the sprightly songs Mama sang in
her other
language when she was “feeling better” and sitting
before her
spinning wheel in the bright sun of the
garden she had helped to clear. It was a pounding, repetitive music
that set
her heart ajar, that made her dream of strange creatures who preferred
breathing in the dark, that made her long to know what words would be
sung to
such cadence, what dances would find their feet in such grooved frenzies." There's
a big difference between a novel that describes events and one that
plunges its
reader into its setting and world. Gutteridge holds the ability to
bring this
strange frontier world to life as readers absorb Lily's interests,
fascination
with the unknown, and reactions to how her parents settle the land.
These
feelings are precisely captured in succinct, hard-hitting descriptions
("Lil’s bones
rang like tuning forks.")
filled with insights on the moments and seconds of Lily's experiences
of her
world. Readers
expecting staccato action and momentous events will find plenty of
tense
moments and unexpected twists; but it's really Lily's observations and
psyche
that fuel a story more notable for its intimate descriptions than for
unfettered drama. Gutteridge's ability to keep Lily's character vivid
and her
experiences as fast-paced as the romance and cultural and technological
changes
that drive her world, makes for exquisite reading: "Underneath the camouflage she
was sure she could hear
the water still moving, its voice faint, tinsel, palimsest – like a
dolphin’s
song from a distant sea. She heard the weasel’s ermine belly dragging
at the
burrow’s edge, felt his ferret’s glare on her heart. Then he was gone,
scrambling underground, his ears picking up the same sound that made
Lily leap
straight up and freeze." A
solid historical novel will impart this sense along with facts that
depict
bygone times and worlds. Lily's long life and many experiences take her
from
frontier times to the birth of a new village, a new home, and a new
world. That
she carries readers along for a heady ride through politics, sleigh
rides,
train rides, and the advent of World War I makes for a compelling read
hard to
put down and especially recommended for readers who want more than
'show and tell',
but a vivid saga that brings a woman's many years and transitions to
life
against the backdrop of astounding changes. Linked
Through Time Just
what a teen always wants: a summer spent in prison! At least, that's
what the
protagonist feels in the opening of Linked
Through Time, a debut novel in a series centered
around
fifteen-year-old Kate, adding to her ongoing time-travel experiences
(other
books in the series not seen by this reviewer) when a summer to be
spent with
grandparents in rural cow country Minnesota turns into an
ordeal. Kate
wakes up in the past - 1960, to be specific - living the life of the
aunt she
resembles but has never met. Now it's more than living at her
grandparents'
house without computer or cell; it's living a life of poverty in the
countryside, struggling with romance and the confusing results of her
time
traveling, and facing her new life with a terrible knowledge of the
future:
that her aunt drowned that same summer. As
events unfold, Kate discovers that not everything is known or
predictable, and
she faces some dilemmas about how - or if - she can (or should) change
the past
to get back to the world she was so set on rejecting. Timeslip
young adult books have been around for many decades now. New variations
on the
theme thus tend to assume a 'formula' feel - but Jessica Tornese's
focus on
more than just time-travel events, including the moral and social
questions they
bring up, sets her books apart from most past and present stories on
the theme. Kate's
dilemma comes to life, both her worlds feel realistic and engrossing,
and her
powerful desire to return home is reminiscent of Dorothy's newfound
appreciation of what 'home' actually comprises in The Wizard of Oz. As
with any timeslip story, it's the author's ability to bring events of
the past
to life and juxtapose them with present-day concerns that makes for a
compelling read: Linked
Through Time
packs in these qualities. It should be mentioned that, given that this
book is
part of a series, it ends with questions and possibilities. Readers
looking for
a neat wind-up conclusion won't find a cliffhanger here, exactly - but
Tornese does
leave the door wide open for more -
and that's a welcome approach for those who love Linked Through Time! Making
It Home Many
'timeslip' novels assume the similar formats begun so many years ago
and
presented by so many great authors: children stumble into the past,
learn to
cope with that era's atmosphere, and search for a way back home. And
given its
title, one would expect a similar approach from Roche in Making It Home
- but hers is quite a
different presentation and offers far more than most fantasy 'timeslip'
stories
by incorporating a focus on realistic historical events. Take
the opener, for example: "It's
the turn
of the twentieth century, and change is in the air—and over land and on
the
seas. Railroad tracks are being laid across countries like never
before, and
steam locomotives are taking people farther than they ever imagined.
Steamships
are replacing all the old sailing ships, and ocean travel is faster and
more
common now. You could say the modern world is chugging (or sailing)
along at a
brisk speed." This
provides a lively, specific foundation for the first chapter ('Max
unlocks the
past by mistake, and the children end up in 1892') and
allows for a true appreciation of historical setting
before opening with the character of teen Peregrine, who loves her
grandfather's unusual antique shop: "Inside,
relics from around the world hung from and overflowed every inch of
floor and
wall space. A heavy smell—some combination of furniture polish,
mothballs, and
musty leather—kept everyone but the most serious antique collectors away." This
quote is provided as just one example of how Suzanne W. Roche succeeds
in
creating atmosphere, drawing young readers into her story and injecting
it with
attention to real, lively historical events throughout: a strength that
creates
a particularly powerful atmosphere in Making
It Home. Where
other timeslip stories might provide a one-dimensional focus on the
protagonists and their efforts, Making It
Home excels in juxtaposing fiction with
historical facts, neatly
interchanging experience with atmosphere to bring both to
life. Add
an appendix of 'History in the Making', keys to reproducing antique
games and
recipes, and notes about 1900s life and you have a marvelous, unique
story line
that succeeds in marrying a fictional story to nonfiction reality:
something
rare in the world of not just 'timeslip' sagas, but middle school
fiction in
general. The result is a top recommendation for any who want to bring
history
alive for young readers. Numbers!
Take the Dog Out Addition
and subtraction are the foundation skills covered in a simple
introductory
reader illustrated by Mandy Newham-Cobb which encourages kids to count
from
0-10 and back down again. A very simple animal-illustrated format pairs
the
numbers and their addition and subtraction capabilities with a friendly
chase
scene involving hats, bones, animals and humans. As
Coco and her friends count from zero to ten and back, young readers
will enjoy
an easy adventure that begins simply, with one animal, and then gets
busier and
more action-oriented as each number is introduced. The
book is vibrant with color, satisfyingly simple as an introduction for
young
readers just learning numbers, and includes plenty of 'action scenes'
lending
to parental read-aloud and easy reader learning (including dog bones
scattered
in each picture for kids to easily find - and count!). The Secrets Of
Yashire The
Secrets of Yashire: Emerging from the Shadows
at first seems like another young adult fantasy genre read - until you
realize
that the action takes place in the protagonist's mind. Brianna is a
sixteen-year-old with an adult's perspective on life and who is
challenged with
a life out of control and an effort to reign in the destructive
impulses of her
world. She
seems the least likely person to fall into a fantasy realm that tests
her with
tasks that include bringing unconditional love back into a kingdom -
but this
is what evolves in an unexpected journey that slowly moves readers from
her
relationships and special challenges to something more: a higher
purpose, if
you will. Psychological
insights peppered throughout provide clues to Brianna's state of mind ("Why the hell do I do this crap?
I keep getting myself
into more and more trouble. I need to stop doing this. I’m starting to
hate
myself.") as they set the stage for her
philosophical,
psychological and spiritual journey. If
the 'meat' of a young adult piece lies in its ability to realistically
and
engrossingly chart the move of a young adult to adult, then The Secrets of Yashire
achieves this goal
and more. As Brianna moves into higher-level thought processes, so
readers
follow and note her evolutionary process. One might expect complexity
from this
approach; but in fact The
Secrets of Yashire
is an easy read which will appeal to young adult fantasy readers; but
delivers
more than expected with philosophical and spiritual messages embedded
into its
events. Don't
expect a fast pace, here: Lavendar takes time to build up protagonist
and
setting and while some may chafe at the lack of staccato action, used
to reads
that gloss over depth in favor of entertainment, the fact is that the
attention
to relationships and growth is every bit as important as the fantasy
that
unwinds. Pre-teens and young adults alike who don't need a rushed pace
will
find it a compelling saga of a teen's journey through both inner and
outer
worlds that concludes not with a neat or trite wrap-up, but with
further
possibilities.
Gene Del Vecchio
BetterNot! Enterprises, LLC
200
E. Del Mar Boulevard, Suite 304
Pasadena, Ca. 91105
978-0-692-471050
$15.99 Hardcover, $9.99 Paper, $5.99 ebook
http://www.amazon.com/
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Nancy Janes
CreateSpace
9781479139071
Kindle: $1.99 Paperback: $10.50 Audible:
$17.46
http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-
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Lynne Dempsey
Lynne Dempsey, Publisher
ASIN: B00VVT72DW
$1.99
Kindle $9.99 Paper
http://www.amazon.com/Colors-
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K. J. Farnham
CreateSpace
978-1500850333
Price: $13.95 (paperback) $2.99 (Kindle)
Website: http://kjfarnham.com/dont-
Ordering Links: Amazon.com:
Don't Call Me Kit Kat (9781500850333): K. J. Farnham: Books
(paperback)
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D.L. Finn
BookBaby
9780996258210 - Print $8.91
9780996258203 - eBook $2.99
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015911423
http://www.amazon.com/
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Molly McCluskey-Shipman
Goldminds Publishing
Prepublication Manuscript: ETA Fall 2015
http://www.goldmindspub.com/#!
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Lis Lucassen
Storm Publishers
978 94 92098 10
8 .99
Kindle
www.stormpublishers.com
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Alex Tully
Ann Tully Phillips, Publisher
978-0692024836
$2.99
Kindle $6.99 Paperback
http://www.amazon.com/Hope-
Website: www.alextullywriter.com
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Don Gutteridge
Bev Editions
978-0-9916798-9-8 $9.99
Kindle
978-1-77084-388-2 $32.95 paperback
www.smashwords.com
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Jessica Tornese
Solstice Publishing
614
Wal-mart Drive
Suite
#209
Farmington, Mo.
63640
1477570799
Price- $1.99
Kindle/ $10.99 print
My website: www.jessicatornese.com
Ordering link: http://www.amazon.com/Linked-
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Suzanne W. Roche
Oak Lei Press
978-0-9961484-6-7 $10.99
www.amazon.com
www.timetotimekids.com
Vintage
black and white and color illustrations throughout capture the times
well - as
in 'Roof with a View', which holds an intriguing shot of a small
rooftop
crowded with people and the caption "People
often slept on rooftops on hot summer nights."
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Lynne Dempsey
Lynne Dempsey, Publisher
978-0989787536 $9.75 paperback
http://www.amazon.com/Numbers-
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Diamante
Lavendar
CreateSpace
978-1493783762 $6.99
Ordering Links:
The
Secrets of Yashire: Emerging from the Shadows: Diamante Lavendar:
9781493783762: Amazon.com: Books
Smashwords: Smashwords – The Secrets
of Yashire - Emerging from the Shadows – a book by Diamante Lavendar
Website: Diamante
Lavendar - Author and Writer
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