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Donovan's Bookshelf

September 2023 Review Issue


Table Of Contents

Prime Picks
Fantasy & Sci Fi
Literature
Biography & Autobiography
Mystery & Thrillers
Novels
Reviewer's Choice
Young Adult/Childrens


Fantasy & Sci Fi

Ferren and the Angel
Richard Harland
IFWG Publishing International 
978-1-922856-29-6         $16.99 Paper/$5.99 ebook
Website: https://www.ferren.com.au 
Ordering: www.amazon.com 

Ferren and the Angel is the first fantasy book in The Ferren Trilogy, following the outcome and adventure of what happens when angel Miriael crashes to Earth during the long battle between Heaven and the Humen. The premise is intriguing: set in the far future when human scientists discovered and proved Heaven and then humanity did what it does best—instigated a war with Heaven itself—the story sports both an original, creative premise and dilemmas which come embedded with sound effects and visceral observations from its opening lines:

"Strange and fearful noises in the night. Daroom! Daroom! Daroom!—a deep-down thunder like an endless drum. Then a sharp splitting sound like the crack of a whip: Kratt! Kratt! Kratt! The noises throbbed through the earth and echoed across the sky. There were voices too. Eeeeeeeyah! A high-pitched scream passed over from horizon to horizon. Then laughter broke out in hoots and whoops. And away in the distance, grave booming words of incomprehensible giant speech..." 

The angel's participation and downfall grounds her in a physical environment that challenges her status and her perceptions: 

"She couldn’t fly, she couldn’t summon help from Heaven, she had no power to destroy with a flash of light...Again her eye fell upon the food bag and water bowl…and a strange sensation came over her. The impulse that made her take Heavenly manna into her mouth was a spiritual need, but this was a need she’d never experienced before. A bodily craving, low down and visceral, an actual physical hunger." 

Tribesman Ferren comes upon this fallen Angel, but instead of destroying her, his curiosity and pity overcome his inclination to be merciless. The hard lessons of his upbringing fly out the window as he becomes involved in her life and absorbs new truths about the war that has been part of his world since birth. 

Richard Harland's approach to entwining the perceptions, lives, and clashes between very different peoples is thoroughly engrossing. From Hypers and Residuals and pale threatening ghosts to mechanical actions that happen all by themselves with no humans at the helm, Ferren's journey introduces him to realizations that he never saw coming. 

What if the angel is wrong about some of her facts? What if his sister Shanna becomes a slave as a result of his ignorance or actions? What if the light that beautiful tribal daughter Zonda and others introduce into the battle assumes more promise and opportunity than expected? 

“Our Light in the Darkness!” she cried. “See our Light in the Darkness!” Everyone hushed and gazed in awe. The lighter flame meant much more than illumination; it meant the Ancestors, it meant the Good Times, and now it meant the powers they’d inherited in themselves." 

Pair spiritual, philosophical, and social struggles with the unusual friendship that rises between an angel and a human of opposing forces, add sound effects and clashes that challenge their roles and perceptions, and build a firm relationship from a shaky foundation of mistrust for a sense of the powerful and disparate forces contrasted and profiled in Ferren and the Angel. 

Its powerful, unpredictable brand of fantasy is highly recommended for young adult to adult readers and for libraries seeking something refreshingly new in the fantasy genre. 

Ferren and the Angel

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Nova Roma: De Itinere in Occasum
Anderson Gentry
Crimson Dragon Publishing
978-1-944644-07-9         $16.99 Paper/$8.99 ebook
https://crimsondragonpublishing.com/product/nova-roma-de-itinere-in-occasum/ 

The first book of the series, Nova Roma: De Itinere in Occasum, provides a different slant on ancient Rome by delving into the genre of alternative history. This approach lends a creative edge to a subject which, otherwise, has almost been overdone in fictional circles, positing a situation which changes both Rome's second civil war and the wide-ranging impact it holds on a changed world. 

While readers need not have prior knowledge of ancient Rome, a basic background in traditional history and some analysis of events will lend to an even deeper appreciation of the historical accuracy and unusual extrapolations Anderson Gentry has created in a story that moves into a different outcome and world from a single twist in fate. 

Of particular strength and note is how Gentry weaves actual history with alternative history. Also unusually strong is an introduction which sets the stage for even those with light knowledge of the times to appreciate how Gentry introduces these changes based on real events. 

Imagine, for example, a Roman Republic in the New World, albeit without Caesar as leader. Imagine an empire that never falls, a Dark Ages that never happens, and a powerful light that never fails. 

These are but a few of the facets of this vastly revised world that are explored in detail in the Nova Roma series, introduced here in De Itinere in Occasum.       

The story opens with a "you are here" prologue that captures the setting and atmosphere: 

"It was a lovely late winter evening, with the cool mild air typical of Rome at that time of year. The show in Theatrum Pompeium was entertaining; the actors were portraying some event that had taken place during a trial of an accused murderer several days earlier. Despite the best efforts of the actors and their outrageous antics, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, commonly known as Pompey Magnus, general of the Roman Army and former consul of Rome, was not amused. The news from the north was too dire."

Soon this old world and Pompey's place it in will shift as a freak storm blows his ship into unknown territory, where he encounters strange new worlds and resolves to build his own Roman Republic, eventually to defy Caesar, and despite the natives' ideas of what they want their world to look like. 

Touches of humor add spice to the tale as Pompey encounters the Novans, punctuated by interpersonal encounters between Romans and Novans that capture compassion and attempts at understanding: 

"Cornelia scowled at Four Bears. “What is this savage thinking, leaving this poor thing all alone with strangers? Look at her—she’s terrified!” Cornelia went to Adsila and knelt beside her. “You will stay with me. Do you understand? I will care for you,” she told the girl, punctuating her remarks with gestures. Impulsively, she hugged the girl.

Adsila smiled tentatively. She put a hand on the Roman woman’s robe, amazed at the fine cloth. For a painful moment Pompey was reminded of his daughter, left behind in Rome." 

Another powerful facet of the story is an attention to building perceptions and understanding from different perspectives as Romans and tribes encounter one another: 

“You are right,” Owl continued, “to see an opportunity. Look at how the Romans work together. They think they came to our lands by accident, but I think they must have been sent here by powerful gods, and we would do well to understand them, their ways, and even their gods. What have we to compare with their ships? We have turkeys and dogs, but they have the great beasts they call horses—have you ever before seen men riding on the back of an animal? They think differently than we do, and the Red Blanket soldiers think that we should fight them because of that. But who is to say that we should not instead learn their ways?" 

These create thought-provoking scenes of not just physical clashes, but psychological and social conflicts as the different peoples vie for control of their lives and futures, and the societies they will build. 

Gentry is particularly adept at contrasting these peoples and their ideals through a blend of exciting action and thought-provoking approaches to culture-blending that reflects the thinking and methodology of Roman and tribal worlds alike. 

Most alternative histories offer but trappings of possibility based on the melding of history and fantasy. Gentry goes beyond the usual one-dimensional approach to portraying conflicts and emphasizing differences to reveal the heart of what makes disparate peoples join, survive, and adapt to the realities of their very different worlds. 

Perhaps this story is also influenced by the author's background, which includes military service and a rural Iowan upbringing, which introduced him to camping and the wilderness. Both facets are incorporated into a history that comes alive under his hand, offering many surprising twists that keep readers thinking. 

As in the unusually revealing introduction that covers traditional and alternative history choices, Gentry creates an intriguing Postscript to his story that further covers the choices he had and made in tailoring the outcome of this plot. 

The result is a vivid saga that will draw thinking readers through a finely balanced art of conflict, psychological tension, and social and political reflection. 

Ideally, Nova Roma: De Itinere in Occasum will be chosen not just for libraries interested in history and alternative history renditions, but by book clubs interested in a story that goes beyond the physical trappings of historical differences to probe the mindsets and shifts that lead to different outcomes. 

Nova Roma: De Itinere in Occasum

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Nova Roma 2: Quaestu pro Nova Terra
Anderson Gentry
Crimson Dragon Publishing
978-1-944644-39-0         $18.99 Paper/$8.99 ebook
https://crimsondragonpublishing.com/product/nova-roma-quaestu-pro-nova-terra/ 

Readers of the first alternative history story in Nova Roma (De Itinere in Occasum) will find this second book follows the new Republic-building challenges and processes more thoroughly, continuing the story set in the foundations of the New World with the meeting of minds between the merchant-oriented Roman world and the Native American cultures it encounters in Nova Roma. 

Here, the next steps in the saga play out against a changed geographical setting which influences how the Romans will enter and conquer the vast lands of the West. 

The clashes between the handful of Caesarian loyalists, who followed the emigrants fleeing the Roman Civil War, play out on a larger landscape of ideology and physical might as new forces (the Maya) enter the picture. This introduces further challenges and changes to the cultures intent upon building a new nation in a new world. 

The conquest of the American West thus assumes a cloak of many differences as events play out and explorers and natives consider their choices. 

"Even the gods change in time." 

But, the wisdom and differences between peoples introduces elements of choice and perception into the story which are thought-provoking and intriguing: 

“You are people of towns, people of farms, and people of trade. For many generations you have come west to trade with the peoples of the plains, and we have both grown richer from the trade. We know these things. Our people, though, we are not people of towns or farms. We live on the prairie. We follow the game in summer, and live along the river in winter. We have no reason to join with these Romans. You Tsalee will become Romans, and that may be a good thing for you. It will be a good thing for us to remain as we are.” 

Vivid battle scenes embrace Roman attackers and Novan world-building forces as Legionaries, Centurions, and other disparate forces struggle to wield and reinforce their visions of what this new world can bring in terms of riches and nation-building efforts. 

Gentry is particularly adept at using these physical clashes to illustrate the evolving and changing ideology of different peoples as they play out their ideals and consider which political and social forces to maintain and which are worth jettisoning. This sets the entire series well apart from books that claim alternative history status, but operate on one-dimension levels of physical battles alone. 

Nova Roma 2: Quaestu pro Nova Terra and its predecessor is clearly a very different kind of alternate history that demands of its reader a series of thought-provoking revelations about nation-building ideals and how cultures not just clash, but integrate. 

Libraries, readers, and book clubs seeking exciting, fresh, original historical and alternate history insights will find both books powerful standouts from the crowd, highly recommended for their unique blend of creative extrapolation and real history contrasts. 

Nova Roma 2: Quaestu pro Nova Terra

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The Queen of Pohjola
David Allen Schlaefer
DartFrog Plus
978-1-953910-81-3         $4.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Queen-Pohjola-David-Allen-Schlaefer-ebook/dp/B0C8BVHCFS 

The Queen of Pohjola, the third and final book in the Far Northern Land Saga, is an epic fantasy about wizards, witches, and power struggles set in the semi-mythical world of Iron Age Finland and inspired by Finnish folklore. Familiarity with the prior books (The Mark of the Bear Clan and The Heir of Lemminkäinen) would be optimal for a seamless appreciation of the setting and characters David Allen Schlaefer developed previously, although recaps of both books are included to help newcomers enter this latest adventure. 

As Ulla's power continues to grow against all odds and oppressors, she and the famous wizard Väinämöinen embark on a spirit journey to hell itself in search of tools to kill the relentless Witch Löhi. This leads them to Pohjola, Löhi’s dismal realm, as their quest forces them into impossible circumstances and confrontations not only with good and evil forces, but their own hearts. 

Schlaefer cultivates a fine blend of psychological depth and action that creates a powerful interplay between nonstop twists and turns that lead the characters to question their choices and outcomes: 

“We have but two choices: to go back and seek the Marches before winter closes in or to go forward, no matter the risk. When we reach Pohjola—if we reach Pohjola—we must improvise. Most likely, we would have done so, in any case.”
No one said a word. The fire crackled. Finally, Ulla broke the silence.
“This time you are wrong, Väinämöinen. There is only one choice. What good is there in returning? Better to die in the wilderness if die we must.” 

As trials of mortals, survivors, healing, and spectacles of death confront the journeyers, readers receive an engaging, heartfelt saga that builds on previous books with new action and conundrums and represents a rare instance where the trilogy’s final installment is as compelling as its first. 

Schlaefer is at his most powerful when crafting descriptions that embed poetic drama and life into their words: 

"The old man could feel the change happening everywhere in the Far Northern Land. It ran through the cold rivers as they rushed down to the lakes and sea. It ran through the forests as green leaves opened beneath the gentle sun. The wind sang a new song, a song the Vanhalaiset prepared for the newcomers. Ulla would sing that song, and little Egan when he came to manhood, but not old Väinämöinen. A new age had come to the North, an age that the Erilaiset could never fully know." 

While The Queen of Pohjola may be considered by libraries that don't have the previous books and new readers who haven't read them, it's best consumed as part of the entire trilogy. Fantasy fans will find the ongoing epic quest, intricately-detailed world building, and Finnish-based mythology to be compellingly hard to put down. This audience will especially appreciate the special blend of classic mythology and traditional characters with new original characters like Ulla that bring this story to life. 

The Queen of Pohjola

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Sentient Rising
Jay VanLandingham
Climb That Mountain Press
979-8-9852515-7-9         $2.99 EBook/$19.99 Paperback
www.jayvanlandingham.com 

Sentient Rising is the second book of a trilogy set in 2040 revolving around Bray Hoffman and her special ability to feel the pain of animals. She's spent much of her life in institutions and her friends Alice and Elliott are gone, leaving her entirely alone. Or, is she? 

Surrounding her is an sanctuary run by Ethan, who escaped FBI arrest and is maintaining an environment in which six activists have been hiding for the past twenty years, until Bray and Lana come into the picture. 

Former yoga teacher Emily also finds a home in this place populated by animal rights activists, and as a group forms, Emily, Kage and Bray are caught up in an evolving plan and conflict that will once again change their worlds. 

The process of formulating these new connections and revised responses to adversity forces Bray to overcome her grief and losses and realize new support systems and strategies for regaining her strength: "Bray was tired, wired and also moved by what she was about to do. She needed meditation, and she needed to get Emily’s support." 

Emily shows Bray how to receive more support as Elliott's return mitigates her ongoing shame of not being the greatest kind of friend to him. Bray's revised interactions with Elliott embrace events of the past (when Alice died and Bray saved the sows) and set the stage for moving forward into a revised relationship as their latest encounters with Kage and his animal rights activists influences outcomes and perspectives alike. 

Bertan Duarte also wants to dismantle the corporation, and has risked his job at the slaughterhouse and his life to support Bray's cause. His practical pursuits run into Bray's special talents as an animal empath and add to the group's disparate makeup as their diverse interests and talents clash with forces beyond their control. 

Bertan's access to the Kill Floor and his participation in the struggle that leads to his disappearance are emphasized in changing viewpoints that move chapters between Bertan, Bray, average citizens, and those who would build a formidable resistance against all odds. 

Jay VanLandingham builds on the prior book Sentient in a manner that will prove especially inviting to fans of that story, but provides enough background about Bray and her companions that newcomers won't be lost. 

Teens who enjoy dystopian settings that come with social conflict and interactions that force peers to step up into new roles and realizations will find Sentient Rising not only a powerful adjunct to the events of the first book, but a notable contribution to dystopian literature which bring Bray full circle into family connections she's never realized before. 

Libraries and readers seeking dystopian teen fiction powered by a blend of discovery and bigger-picture thinking will find Sentient Rising compelling: 

"Far worse things had happened to her, things that brought her beyond death to places her mother knew nothing of. Places that made her who she was." 

Sentient Rising

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An Unexpected Ally
Sophia Kouidou-Giles
She Writes Press
978-1-64742-555-5         $17.95 Paper/$8.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Unexpected-Ally-Greek-Revenge-Redemption/dp/1647425557 

An Unexpected Ally: A Greek Tale of Love, Revenge, and Redemption is a novel of fantasy and mythological extrapolation that focuses on Circe, daughter of the sun-god Helios. She sees one love depart from her life, only to cultivate new relationships that travel in a different direction entirely. 

Heeding her mother's encouragement to journey to Delos, Circe finds there not only new adventures and encounters, but attractions that eventually cast her in the role of savior over lover. This forces her to step out of her lovelorn life experiences and into a position that tests her knowledge not only of those she loves, but the choices she makes by loving them. 

Immortal Circe has a lot to learn about a subject she thinks represents all of her strengths, and readers walk (and swim) alongside her as she enters situations that continually test her abilities, inclinations, and perceptions of her role in the world. 

Sophia Kouidou-Giles paints a compelling portrait of a mythological goddess who sets out to conquer others in matters of love and power, but who finds her course challenging her own perceptions of both as she tracks life beyond her island home and considers methods of enchanting and confronting all kinds of forces. 

Between her relationships with her parents, who are attempting to forge new alliances while growing increasingly distant and at odds with one another, and her infatuation with rebuilding broken connections and exposing lies, Circe's many struggles as an immortal goddess are exposed with a delicate eye to interweaving myth with extrapolations. These both personalize Circe's nature and make her efforts, exploits, and influences understandable to those who may only distantly recall her from their mythological studies of years past. 

Kouidou-Giles creates an unexpectedly vivid, moving story of clashes between titans and the disparate forces around them. This lends a flavor of epic fantasy adventure to the read that will draw audiences from mythology, fantasy, and fiction genres alike. 

Libraries and readers seeking evocative, compelling stories about new alliances and power plays will find An Unexpected Ally builds on Greek myth and psychological insights to create a story that is thought-provoking and thoroughly engrossing on many different levels. 

Suitable for book club discussion in not just fantasy circles but women's fiction audiences, An Unexpected Ally is a top recommendation for its equally unexpected lure that will prove just as powerful as any scrying mirror Circe could employ. Its sequel, Perse, will be coming out in November 2025. 

An Unexpected Ally

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Xenome
Vivek Pravat
Independently Published

979-8394611148            $15.99 Paper/$4.99 ebook          
Website: www.vivekpravat.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CD13DDY3 

Xenome represents sci-fi thriller writing in its most vivid incarnation, and is set on a South Sea island where genetic engineering has produced a marvel (and, no, it's not the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park, but goes one step beyond). 

Biologist Holly Truong is on the island to pursue her dreams, but a nightmare evolves instead when she stumbles onto an experiment involving creating organisms from the genetic code of a different, alien species. 

Holly's avian research flies in a different direction upon her discovery of a form of biology she'd never dreamed would be turned into a real threat. She and fellow researcher David step out of their worlds and into a milieu of deadly experiments and equally threatening danger as an impossible series of truths come to light. 

People are being killed to keep this secret. Holly and David, despite their scientific prowess, are not immune to the lure of new discoveries, or to the consequences of learning too much information about past history and present-day opportunities to manipulate genetic species beyond the ken of humanity. 

Vivek Pravat embeds his story with plenty of tension, surprises, shifting revelations, and encounters that keep Holly on her toes scientifically and professionally as she struggles to both survive and understand what is going on. 

"No one is getting off this ride, whether you like it or not." 

While this is made as a personal threat to her, it applies equally to humanity's fate, which hangs in the balance of decisions most people don't even know are being made. 

Pravat's ability to blend scientific inquiry and discoveries with speculative sci-fi scenarios and all the tension and developments of a thriller makes for a story every bit as well-written and compelling as any Michael Crichton could have done. The thriller component is well-developed as the story shifts through endgames and strategies. The science embracing the xeno organisms is very well written, logical, and frighteningly realistic. 

With its many tense confrontations, its unexpected realizations, and its strong characterization as circumstances demand that Holly step away from her specialty's narrow focus to embrace bigger-picture thinking, Xenome is quite simply a supercharged, jaw-dropping adventure. It will keep its readers thoroughly engrossed up to an unexpected conclusion which challenges any conventional vision of alien first contact. 

Libraries and readers looking for biotech thrillers and alien stories that hold a delightful twist and many thought-provoking moments of action and reaction will find Xenome a worthy pursuit. 

Xenome

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Literature

Beautiful Son
Ken Buhr
Garden Oak Press
979-8-9879532-2-8                $15.00
www.gardenoakpress.com 

Beautiful Son is a tribute collection of poems about and dedicated to Ken Buhr's 42-year-old son Gabe, written during the year when Gabe became seriously ill with cancer and died. 

The experience of helplessness, grief, and struggle mingles with the admiration and celebration Buhr feels towards his son and puts to paper, creating this tribute. 

From the first poem in the collection, the fits and starts of medical dilemma are juxtaposed with questions and anguish that bring son and father's experiences to life: 

"This train we’re on moves fast—
passing signs cannot be read.
We suffer flashes of who are we?
where are we? who is with us?
how far might we have to go?"
 

Another reason for writing (and reading) this kind of tribute, with its raw pain and experiences, is that it serves as a touch point for others who are on the same journey: 

"Death in prime years
raises havoc.
From others’ lives
and from their words.
we can derive guiding strength
an anchor for the heart."

As this 'anchor for the heart' unfolds, readers who are survivors (as well as those in the throes of a battle with cancer) receive enlightening, surprisingly hope and thought-provoking chronicles of the chaos and possibilities in a journey that manages to celebrate and acknowledge beauty even after life ends: 

"The world goes on . . . without you,
My world now—dismal—
thrashing without purpose,
floundering in murk.
Or do I stand with you on a summit
amid vistas clear and far?
Wherever you breathed and worked
you brought vision.
You were responsible . . . and beautiful,
not possible to understate how beautiful!"
 

Libraries and readers seeking memorable, literary accounts of a year of cancer struggle and the aftermath of survival will find Beautiful Son a wrenchingly enlightening tribute. 

Beautiful Son

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A Canticle to Holy, Blessed Solipsism
CJS Hayward
CJS Hayward Publications

979-8393853952            $5.99 Paper/$2.99 ebook
Website:
https://cjshayward.com/books/
Ordering: https://cjshayward.com/chbs 

A Canticle to Holy, Blessed Solipsism: A Selection of Poems is a selection of poems chosen by CJS Hayward from his "Best Works" series. It will particularly appeal to spiritual-minded thinkers who appreciate reflections centered on "embracing heaven and earth." 

This gathering of forces invites a form of spiritual inspection that reflects a quest for God and connections to religious service and perspectives: 

"...my Root is Simple:
God Himself,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
The Triune Pattern after which each man is made,
And I reverence each man as God after God:
To do less is to fail to grasp the One God, Who transcends
His Own Transcendence..."

Hayward's quest embraces the fallacies and possibilities of spiritual thinking, and will prove both thought-provoking and controversial in many of its contentions and observations: 

"the poisoning of our spiritual diet
has moved us
from knowing the mind as the heart that meets God
to growing and over-growing that which reasons,
so that it is at the heart of our lives,
in Christians as much as the atheist..."
 

From better understanding how frustration leads to spiritual revelation to receiving works that assume the perspective of God in interpreting spiritual roots and questions, Hayward's diverse canticles and free-spirited poems offer the rare opportunity to delve into the intersection of God and humanity to better understand the processes, paths, and promises of both. 

Religious and spiritual thinkers interested in literary expressions of the search for God, understanding, and the greater gifts of God will find A Canticle to Holy, Blessed Solipsism both resonates in the soul and should be elevated to greater reflective discussion in book clubs and spiritual literary circles. Its inclusion as a mainstay in a Christian thinker's library would be appropriate and important. 

A Canticle to Holy, Blessed Solipsism

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Dancehall
Tim Stobierski
Antrim House Books
9798986552262             $18.00
Website: https://timstobierski.com/
Ordering:
 https://www.amazon.com/Dancehall-Tim-Stobierski/dp/B0C88H588J/ 

Dancehall features sixty poems of a "queer love story" that takes place through a series of 'acts,' as if in a play. It evolves its probe of love before, during, and after the event with an astute eye to both poetic incarnation and insights and feelings about same-sex love. 

Readers might expect these descriptions to be graphic or limited to understanding by LGBTQ+ audiences alone, but one of Dancehall's main attractions lies in its ability to reach a universal audience no matter their gender or sexual orientation. 

Like any good poet, Tim Stobierski's words, experiences, and choices reflect many universal feelings and themes that all audiences can appreciate, as in 'If this is it': 

"If this is it
rest your head upon my chest
one last time,
and I will run my fingers
through the soft hairs
at the nape of your neck."
 

The dancehall of life and love—and the moves lovers bring to the table, sample, lose, and grow from—create poetry which moves on literary and psychological levels alike. 

From the recipe for falling in love to powerfully atmospheric accounts of passion and place ("Night, and olive-black./Our bedroom fan sits idle,/its steady whir replaced/by the cat’s lowercase snore./Occasionally, the house groans/like an old man stretching his legs."), the incarnation of love in Dancehall is like any fine wine: complex, rich, nicely aged, and widely appealing. 

Libraries seeking LGBTQ+ literature in general and poetry in particular will find Dancehall a compelling read both for its prowess in evocative emotional and atmospheric descriptions and for its celebration of love. 

Dancehall

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Goes On, Without the World's Understanding
Thomas Westerfield
Rattling Good Yarns Press
978-1-955826-36-5                $15.95 Paper/$6.99 ebook
Website:
thomaswesterfieldwriter.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Without-Worlds-Understanding-Thomas-Westerfield/dp/1955826404 

In addition to an exceptionally intriguing and creative title, Goes On, Without the World's Understanding draws the reader in with a powerful collection of short stories that probe humanity and experience of LGBTQ+ characters, primarily gay men. Each encourages understanding and deeper thinking. 

If there's one thing that can be said about this collection as a precursor to imbibing, it's "expect the unexpected." 

Take the first story, 'Thoughts,' for example. Here, profound and pointed observations embrace a "you are here" feel of a chaotic ambulance rescue attempt juxtaposed with underlying observations of a family's poverty and angst: 

"You race to the door, then help push old, faded furniture out of the way so the ambulance people can get a stretcher inside the small living room that announces your family’s poverty. A slender, dainty glass flower holder with three snow-white daisies—your mother’s attempt towards beauty, a touch of pride—is knocked over on the cheap forest-green carpet, always rough and wiry under your bare feet.

"Blood leaping. Jetting! Kind of like come when you jerk off.
Why am I thinking that?

You are shouting, directing them down a thin, tight hallway wallpapered with something that may have once been pretty, even delicate, if one took time to really look." 

The bludgeoning reality of the narrator, who presents the police with the version of what happened to his parents, creates a staccato of contrasting thoughts and realities that concludes with a twisting surprise to keep readers not just engaged, but reflecting. 

Contrast this with the first-person bark and bite of 'Obituaries,' where the narrator reads of a childhood bully's death as an adult and experiences raw memories of the violence and confrontations that marked his coming of age: 

"Besides hitting me with solid striking blows up against my head, slapping me angrily and repeatedly across my face, slamming me up against brick walls, choking me, and spitting on me while contemptuously mocking me as “sissy,” “faggot,” and “queer,” he once punched me in the balls with his full-force fist. I nearly vomited on the spot in the boys’ locker room, where both he and I were naked. No, his dick was not some tiny piece, nor was it a huge wonder. It was average; in fact, pretty much the exact same size as mine. I don’t know why, but in my teenage closeted homo mind this made the whole experience all the more shaming." 

Within each vignette, the lives, fears, and confrontations of gay male youth and adults (and in the story 'Today's Agenda,' a Black lesbian) come to light and life in a manner that few other writings achieve. The end result of sending such experience into the wider world beyond LGBTQ readers is to impart a sense of experience, understanding, and realizations that invite dialogue and change on the part of the observer/reader. 

From the experiences of 'The Boy in the Audience,' exploring the perceptions of a high school boy who has snuck into a theater to see "The Boys in the Band" as part of his self-education on homosexuality, to the explorations in 'Mr. Sissy in Sin City,' which presents an encounter between a newly-21-year-old and an older gay man, the reflections arrive with a voice of experience and growth that encourages conversation and thought: 

“Playing the odds in a manner of speaking. It’s still a matter of luck and chance. It always is,” Mr. Sissy emphasized. He became curiously serious, wanting to ensure the young man grasped the essential point. “Always remember that whatever the game you play or how much you bet. You can play smart and strategic with a recognition of the odds. But, ultimately, it always, always, comes down to luck and chance.” 

Thomas Westerfield's journeys through shame, healing, and understanding create a powerful set of observations in Goes On, Without the World's Understanding. These ideally will not only be chosen by libraries interested in powerful literary short stories that capture the LGBTQ+ experience, but by book clubs interested in contemporary works that reveal the underlying culture, motivations, and experiences of this community. 

Goes On, Without the World's Understanding

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Missing Possibilities
Jaime Balboa
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-855-9         $17.00
www.atmospherepress.com 

Missing Possibilities offers a mix of short stories that vary widely in theme and impact, contrasting encounters with fear and darkness with the sense of hope, survival, and healing that can evolve from adversity. 

The title story, 'Missing Possibilities', tells of teen Emma's search for a missing friend she's known since birth. Their families are so close that they are quasi-relatives, and so Emma notices many alarming indicators, early on, that all is not well with Jeremy. Little things like "The happiness leaking from his smile. The snide remarks masquerading as humor from her auntie. The booze on her uncle’s breath."

As "What frail bit of solace his home provides will all fall apart" and Emma learns truths even she didn't know about Jeremy's world, his flight begins to make more sense. 

As her search for answers leads to this promising honor student's own flight, Jaime Balboa paints an engrossing portrait of interconnected worlds that come apart, including an alternate ending for an incomplete journey that offers no predictable or firm resolution. 

Contrast this tale with the very different perspective and tone of 'Lazarus Wept.' Here, use of the first person lends an inspective approach to life that embraces a spiritual component to its observations: 

"I know the place where everything flows into one...In that place, that beautiful, wide open place, we recognized in each other our common bond, our shared connection. The place is teaming with souls, divergent, interwoven souls." 

As a powerful rendition of the Lazarus legend unfolds, readers familiar with Biblical narrative and interpretations will find both startling and rich the interpretation Balboa lends to the circumstances surrounding Lazarus: 

"I was brought back. Sand in my teeth, crick in my neck, I was back. Blistered skin, stench in my nose, and hunger in my stomach, I was back. My heart sank deep into my chest, burdened with a weighty despair. What could be worth this price? He was my friend, and I was his follower. But grit in my eyes and gnat in my ear, I was back, I was back, I was back." 

The entire collection is a treasure box of surprises that holds a single unified wellspring of thematic impact: connections. 

Libraries and readers seeking literary short stories that excel in diversity, scope, and subject will find the unpredictable, creative voice of Jaime Balboa in Missing Possibilities a force to be not only reckoned with, but discussed and included in lending collections and book club circles. 

Missing Possibilities

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Odes to the Ordinary
Emily Benson-Scott
Green Writers Press
‎979-8987663103            $15.95
www.greenwriterspress.com 

Odes to the Ordinary: Poems is a tribute to everyday life and the wonder of ordinary living. It cultivates an atmosphere of appreciation and observation that reveals both the truths in ordinary wonder and the fallacies that lie in expectations of extraordinary circumstances. 

'The Problem with Paradise' offers one outline of the issues involved in anticipating that an exceptional world will unfold from a change of place: 

"From Key Largo, we drive down the great white spine/of the Overseas Highway, the ocean a gelatinous expanse/of turquoise, too improbable to be real, lucid and orderly/as an in-ground swimming pool./Even the pelicans seem/disappointed, their long faces exhausted/by so many graceless landings as they fumble through the air/with the disastrous flair/of malfunctioning aircrafts." 

Poetic descriptions promote a newfound appreciation for the ordinary, a more empathic response to the life around us, and the underlying beauty of the most mundane of life experiences and events. Black and white watercolor art peppered throughout further enhances the detail and nature of these works. 

Emily Benson-Scott's free verse is especially adept at juxtaposing the personal with environmental influences, as in 'Writer's Block': 

"The mind can be a backyard in winter, buried beneath blankets of/forgetful white, a place full of frozen/potential, shrubs saddened beneath the burden of snow, forgetting/the latent inspiration of spring./You could always just give up .../but the neighbor’s field, gone to seed will always haunt, with its/skeleton stalks of corn—shadows/of ideas both rotting and remaining, still/taunting you with their presence..." 

Whether describing images from history in 'After Pompeii' or reflecting on strong women in pieces such as 'Ode to a Topless Woman in France,' these poems assume the form of celebrations of nature, travel, and small moments of observational experience that translate to bigger insights on relationships between self and the world. 

Odes to the Ordinary: Poems will prove especially delightful for creative writing classes considering the ode format, and is highly recommended for literary libraries and readers of modern poems who would better understand and appreciate the incarnations of ordinary life via poetic reflections. 

Odes to the Ordinary

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Sonnets of Love and Joy
Paul Buchheit
Kelsay Books
978-1-63980-363-7         $23.00
https://booksbypaulb.com/purchase.htm 

The art of writing sonnets has largely been a favored effort of yesteryear, replaced by the undemanding free verse format which appears in so many variations that there's barely an art involved in poetry writing, any longer. 

Paul Buchheit returns that art to modern times and demonstrates its contemporary prowess in Sonnets of Love and Joy, a collection that is a welcome uplift for these troubled times, when the effort to capture joy and love is too often replaced by angst and a sense of doom. 

Here lies respite from the modern crisis that provides existential relief and a sense of well-being. Here, too, is relief from the less seasoned free verse format, returning stricter rules to the poetic effort while demonstrating that it can remain accessible to contemporary audiences. 

With a bow to historic expressions of love, Buchheit captures these flavors and nuances in written expression and artistic color images throughout which celebrates the heights (and sometimes plumbs the depths) of the human experience. 

How can one not be uplifted by the evocative visuals in the sonnet 'Exquisiteness', for example: "The earthen scent of dewy spruce at dawn/unmasks the stormy hours of night. A burst/of citrus misty sun arrives to spawn/the nursling greenery, and soon the first/of purple, pink, and milky spangles blink/beneath the golden haze. A harmony/seduces me..." 

Pleas for connection and understanding in joy, love, and friendships permeate many of the works, adding a depth of inspection that reaches out much as some of the pieces reach to the loved one for response and understanding. Such is 'To a Friend Most Dear': "Abandoned not am I in bully winds/that slap in broken rhythms at my face;/nor cast to sea, where sulking origins/of primal darkness gather to embrace/departing souls; nor muted and forlorn/upon the spinning bluish desert heat." 

As nature (and emotion) oriented as these works may be, each poem contains a grounding in landscape and a heart throb of emotional connection that inspects the various facets and incarnations of love and joy in the world. 

The traditional sonnet has strict rules for its form: "14 lines that are typically 5-foot iambics rhyming according to a prescribed scheme." 

A double challenge is created by both adhering to these rules and adopting a contemporary flavor accessible to a wider audience than those with literary backgrounds. 

Sonnets of Love and Joy's diverse, spirited life connections reach out to readers to capture and describe moments of harmony, awakening, and interconnectedness with life and nature. 

Libraries interested in contemporary poetry that exhibits the poetic form and rigors of wordsmiths of the past while remaining true to the modern worlds of schoolyards, family, friends, and moments of connection to life will find Sonnets of Love and Joy the perfect example of how poetry's forms and rules remain relevant to modern living.

Sonnets of Love and Joy

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Biography & Autobiography

Fix My Face
Carolyn V. Hamilton
Swift House Press

979-8986754116            $12.95
www.carolynvhamilton.com  

Fix My Face: My World-class Cosmetic Surgery in Safe, Affordable Ecuador follows Carolyn V. Hamilton's investigation and undertaking of cosmetic surgery in Ecuador after she moved to that country from Seattle. 

It's as much a commentary about the medical system and processes in Ecuador as it is about her surgical experience and the surprising discoveries that came from her encounters with Cuenca’s medical services, and offers a contrast with U.S. systems which is both eye-opening and important. 

From the beginning, Hamilton cultivates an investigative tone that brings readers into Ecuador's world, revealing a culture and medical system that reviews quite favorably in comparison with modern American medicine. Imagine a world in which doctors personally follow up and make impromptu house calls! In America, this action was regulated to bygone years. In modern times, it's still alive and working well as a commonplace occurrence in Ecuador. 

It's the reader especially interested in overseas cosmetic surgery who will gain the most from this book. Hamilton provides wealth of practical information, from how to assess foreign systems and operations to costs, procedures, and navigating the alien affordable world of 'medical tourism.' 

Because she undertook the journey, Hamilton is in the perfect position to speak not from research, but personal experience. In addition, she gathers the insights of others to add to the mix of considerations and analysis. 

Interviews with physicians also supplement her story, providing further advice on doctor/patient interactions that will prove more fruitful than many in the U.S.: 

"Dr. Anthony recommends at least three consultations for international patients: a combination of telephone, video, and in-person sessions and holistic medical exams. He says, 'This allows our team to build a relationship of trust with the patient, and make certain that patients are 100 percent sure we can meet their expectations.'” 

Between the personal decisions she made to foster healing and support her surgery to the outcome of navigating Ecuador's medical systems, Hamilton provides a practical, inviting account that will attract readers interested in both cosmetic surgery and overseas medical system savvy. 

Libraries and readers interested in not just research on such systems, but personal experience filled with lively encounters and practical tips for cosmetic surgery undertaking and optimum healing will find Fix My Face a practical guide as well as an engrossing personal saga. 

Fix My Face

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Mom's Search for Meaning
Melissa M. Monroe

Monarch Books
979-8987152805            $17.99 Paper/$9.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Moms-Search-Meaning-Grief-Growth/dp/B0BZ324QLL 

Mom's Search for Meaning: Grief and Growth After Child Loss captures the heady grief and PTSD that follows a 2-year-old daughter who dies in her sleep of unknown causes. In contrast to many of the memoirs about child death and grieving, it tackles the challenge of overcoming a grief loop through methods of acknowledging, celebrating, and capturing a child's short life, injecting these memories with the special salve of healing and recovery. 

The moments and weeks after her child's death play out with a steady determination to survive a healing process that was anything but predictable. That Melissa M. Monroe took notes during this process that translate here to a blueprint others can follow to better understand their own psychic turmoil is testimony not to a 'one size fits all' approach, but to a process that assumes different forms in its efforts towards life. 

Monroe's reflections are vivid: "I released the crib that day. I released the notion that my child's death date should follow mine. I released more control than I thought was possible. Loss upon loss led me to collapse into the arms of so many of my beautiful friends and family, and for once, I didn't feel guilty about it. I knew it was all I could manage." 

The key question she considers is: "...how am I supposed to live as long as I've already lived, feeling like I do now?" As she reflects on her own lifespan and reasons for forging on, readers will find her candid, raw reflections brazen, comforting, and challenging all at once. 

"With child loss, you are never the same." 

The process of healing and reclaiming life after a child's death receives vivid and personal exploration here that will serve as a trigger to those in similar circumstances, as well as a promise that things can eventually change for the better. 

Libraries and readers will find this memoir, more than others, opens floodgates of emotional responses and discussion points that ideally will attract book clubs, recovery groups, and psychology participants in a dialogue about motherhood, grief, validation and support systems, and, most of all, that "thing with wings," hope. 

Mom's Search for Meaning

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Parish the Thought Too
John Ruane
Roswell Press
ASIN: ‎B0C9BJR9Y4             $7.95 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Parish-Thought-Too-Untold-Stories-ebook/dp/B0C9BJR9Y4 

Parish the Thought Too: The Lost & Untold Stories continues the coming-of-age tales begun in John Ruane's memoir Parish the Thought. It follows his life in Chicago in the 1960s and the pivot points that affected not only his growth, but his community and neighborhood as a whole. 

From snowstorms and even a tornado that struck the city to the ice cream truck's neighborhood attraction, high school dances, and cultivating friendships, Ruane's memoir carries readers through sports, family interactions, and the flavor and feel of years which are gone, but not forgotten thanks to this memoir's personal reflections: 

"I had promised my dad I would be safe, so I made sure that as I crawled onto and across the snow- and ice-filled roof with a forty-mile-an-hour wind whipping against me, I did it very safely. Then, this brilliant ten-year-old stood and walked to the edge of the roof, looking down at that beautiful drift. Wow, I thought. I’ll bet every kid in the neighborhood would love to be in my position, standing on the edge of their snow-covered roof, ready to jump forty feet down into the snow." 

The "you are here" feel can't be beat. Ruane carries readers into the sights, smells, and thoughts of the times, neatly recreating an atmosphere where athletics took center stage and brought together families and players in a team effort. 

Blue-collar experiences in Chicago come to life in a play-by-play series of memories that are supplemented by black and white photos. 

From absorbing hockey skills in high school and translating them to college-bound efforts to jobs that tapped sports experiences, Ruane's story melds the personal with bigger-picture thinking about career, life, and managing new encounters in different aspects of life: 

"The pretty wild child took my hand and walked me out on the floor… She was energetic and a very good dancer. I really didn’t belong on the same floor with her. She had dance moves which probably would have received an “R” rating back then. The adult chaperones started to send concerned looks in our direction." 

Libraries and readers new to Ruane's story as well as fans of his prior book will find Parish the Thought Too: The Lost & Untold Stories an excellent slice-of-life memoir that brings the 1960s and student sports efforts to vivid life. 

Parish the Thought Too

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Mystery & Thrillers

Chasing Money
Michael Balter
Mission Point Press
978-1958363966     
Paperback: $15.99/ Hardcover: $24.95 /E-Book: $9.99
Website: mbalter.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Money-Marty-Bo-Thriller/dp/1958363960/ 

"There’s a line in a country song that goes, 'Chase after the dream, don’t chase after the money.'
Well, I’m here to tell you that’s wrong.
Fuck the dream.
Chase the money.
Always chase the money."
 

This opening salvo of the thriller Chasing Money portends a powerfully compelling read with a murder scenario that evolves from an investment pitch made by entrepreneurs Marty and Bo. This event draws them into an investigation that holds frightening prospects for their future, leading them away from the path they've been cultivating for years (identifying and tapping the resources of "someone kind, generous, greedy, or stupid to fund your ambition to become rich."). 

Raising capital has always been a "soul-destroying" venture, but now it's become a challenge to life itself as Marty and Bo find themselves kidnapped, tied up, and facing the possible end of their efforts and days. 

Michael Balter writes with a hand heavy in descriptive tension, which brings the events to life from the story's opening paragraphs: 

"'Jesus Christ,' Nico cried for the third time after the fat guy finished taping him to the chair. In response to Nico, the guy holding the Beretta barked back, in a thick Irish brogue, 'Shut it!' and then, 'One more word and this baby goes off in the mouth that speaks!' He shook the 9mm in case we didn’t understand what “this baby” referenced. He took a giant step back as he spoke, moving past what I guessed he calculated was the periphery of any potential blood spatter. I couldn’t take my eyes off him or the gun." 

These grim circumstances come with a history that unfolds in a compelling manner as readers learn about the Russian mob which threatens Bo and Marty, leading them into unfamiliar minefields where a wrong step can detonate their lives and loved ones. 

Their search for venture capitalists has brought them to this point, but Bo and Marty are well-versed in both landing in trouble and getting out of it. They will need all their cleverness to escape from Nico's killer and navigate the dangerous environment where life and death decisions must be made almost daily. 

Readers who look for well-developed tension and characters whose lives sparkle with realistic and unpredictable twists will find these qualities in droves in Chasing Money; but perhaps its greatest asset comes from the tone of the first-person narrator's experiences and shifting viewpoint. 

The gritty descriptions, simmering realizations about threats and their origins, and wry sense of humor that permeate many encounters contribute to a countdown to disaster. Marty and Bo search for $10 million and a missing masterpiece, navigating a financial and political milieu which draws them into increasingly dangerous, unfamiliar associations. 

Libraries and readers looking for absorbing thrillers that are delivered from the main character's perspective to embrace thoughts about his choices and ideas of the world and his place in it will find Chasing Money exceptionally clever and compelling in its financial and crime world developments. 

Book clubs that often choose thrillers will find that Chasing Money stands out from the crowd largely due to its compelling narrator's personality, the historical backdrop that surrounds missing masterpiece paintings of World War II, and an unwitting investigator's foray into deadly Russian affairs. 

Will Marty make a deal with the devil? 

Chasing Money follows the bucks into a world of hurt, possibilities, and how money can make or break lives—whether legally or illegally gained. 

Chasing Money

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Codename: Parsifal
Martin Roy Hill
32-32 North, Publisher
979-8-218-182496                 $3.99 ebook
www.martinroyhill.com 

Codename: Parsifal is a World War II thriller that operates on the stage of religious destiny and historical events. It revolves around the legendary Spear of Destiny, the Roman Legionnaire’s lance that pierced Christ’s body as he hung on the cross. The holder of this spear is said to be destined to become a great conqueror. But lose it, and all achievements and life will be lost. 

Prior to World War II, Hitler stole that spear. Just before his defeat, he lost it. Its promise and power is such that three competing teams struggle to unearth it and wield its powers, but before they achieve their goals, the world will change yet again. 

Martin Roy Hill employs a fine blend of military clashes and ideological challenges in his story, injecting revealing emotional facets into real-life characters to heighten the sense of both intrigue and discovery: 

"All his life, Himmler felt inadequate. His size, his looks, his poor eyesight, his lack of experience with women. And despite having enlisted in the German Army during the last war, he remained in a reserve unit that never saw action, unlike the Führer, or Göring, or even that scar-faced sybarite Ernst Röhm, head of the Brown Shirts. But now he sensed a confidence. He was the new man of destiny —he felt that now in his heart, felt it in his veins where the blood of Christ flowed with his own. His destiny was now foretold, and he knew he would stand among the other greats who held the spear—Constantine, Charlemagne, and others." 

The process of retrieving this legendary spear is also made more compellingly realistic by the real history that is presented alongside the thriller components and fictional overlay: 

"Himmler frowned. “One would think a senior SS officer would at least be familiar with the Führer’s favorite Wagner opera.”
“My apologies, Reichsführer,” Steiner said. “I am afraid I’m not musically inclined. Which opera is that?”
“Parsifal,” Himmler said. “It is the telling of the Spear of Destiny legend.” He took the display box from Steiner’s hand and studied it. “It is said whoever holds the spear holds his own destiny in his hands,” he said. “The destiny of a great conqueror. But if he loses the spear …” He let the box drop onto his desk. “He loses all he once won.”
 

From the back-and-forth movements and potential of the elusive and powerful spear to SS interactions and military operations, the thriller component is thoroughly embedded in a fluctuating story of evil, the occult, and true believers. 

Readers who like their thrillers steeped in the overlay of real World War II events will find the intersection of fiction and nonfiction to be compelling components in this story of fiery confrontations, changing battles, and ideologies that promote powerful new alliances and perceptions. 

Hill is especially adept at capturing the cultural clashes between Germans, Russians, and people who find not only their lives, but their political alliances on the line. 

The result is a gripping story that is vivid in its presentation, fast-paced in its action, impossible to predict, and hard to put down. 

Libraries and readers seeking military intrigue and thriller encounters that are supercharged with action and satisfying twists and turns will find Codename: Parsifal just the ticket for those seeking a thoroughly forceful read. (Note: no prior World War II history is required in order to enjoy this heart-stopping, action-packed story.) 

Codename: Parsifal

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The Deadly Deal
J. Lee
Moonshine Cove Publishing
9781952439582             $19.00 paperback/$6.99 Kindle 
Author Website: www.jleethrillers.com 
https://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Deal-J-Lee/dp/1952439582 

Some people will do anything to benefit from innovation. 

The Deadly Deal is a thriller that builds tension over a wonder drug's development; Director of Business Development David Centrelli, who is charged with seeing the novel drug to profitable distribution; and the conflicts between a devout man to whom "efficiency is a religion" and one whose mission is derailed by the sudden death of his best friend. 

Perhaps predictably, the new drug Previséo's possibilities for changing the world and making its developers rich beyond relief results in the kind of crime that too often is not fully explained by front-page headlines. The behind-the-scenes action that takes place moves readers into another world as David makes threats, enters increasingly dangerous territory replete with moral and ethical conundrums, and finds himself struggling with hard evidence and impossible truths along the way. 

Readers who look for medical thrillers will find far more intrigue and cat-and-mouse developments in this story, which is really about the fortunes and greed of industries and individuals, and the kinds of changes that send David and Anne on the run, facing charges of wrongdoing that keep piling up. 

Where most medical thrillers focus on the medical milieu, David moves through different territory as he finds himself on the lam from his own government and wondering about his place in the world.   

Some people will do anything to benefit from innovation. They would even kill for the opportunity David is presented with and winds up struggling to grasp. 

The Deadly Deal evolves superb characterization, satisfying twists of plot, and a focus that will keep even seasoned thriller readers guessing about its outcome. The real perps aren't obvious or just among David's circles, but reach into the highest levels of government. 

Libraries looking for suspenseful stories that are well-written and packed with intrigue and action will find The Deadly Deal just the ticket for reaching a wider audience than the usual thriller. 

The Deadly Deal

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A Divisive Storm
David E. Feldman
Independently Published
ASIN: ‎B0BF1FKNVV            $3.99 ebook

https://www.amazon.com/Divisive-Storm-Gripping-Mystery-Thriller-ebook/dp/B0BF1FKNVV/ 


Fans of LGBTQ+ backgrounds and mysteries as well as prior readers of David E. Feldman's previous five Dora Ellison stories will find A Divisive Storm both a powerful series addition and a stand-alone attention-grabber for newcomers. 

Dora Ellison and sidekick Missy Winters, of Geller Investigations, have a new case involving a seemingly random murder in a parking lot. As Dora and Missy investigate, they spark not only another killing, but evidence that these murders are linked to an unsolved crime that took place five years earlier. 

The one link between the victims is actually a situation that involves Dora and Missy in a racist club's deadly operations, bringing up questions of moral and immoral behaviors, justice and vigilante efforts, and Dora and Missy's own efforts to identify and stop the murderers. 

David E. Feldman does more than craft another whodunit. He introduces elements of social inspection, presenting the scenario and killer with an exceptional powerful prologue that draws the reader instantly into a killer's mind: 

"And there he was. I knew where he’d be. I knew of several places he would be and times he would be at those places. I had all the information. All I had to do was wait for the right opportunity. An empty parking lot or a busy street. Either might do, if they were right. I’d know. I had lived for this." 

Terror is a big reason for the killer's particular modus operandi. That, and justice. The satisfaction that comes from killing also enters the bigger picture to paint a personal vendetta with the red-hot colors of not just senseless crime, but a cold purpose that saturates the story with blood and contrasting belief systems from the start. 

Feldman's ability to juxtapose the killer's ideals and motives with the equally determined force of those who hold a different interpretation of justice provides just the right balance of gritty moral inspection and intrigue to keep murder mystery readers on edge and guessing. 

All the characters are strong, not just the investigators. This lends an aura of believability to the plot that not only engages the mind, but challenges the hearts of readers who expected a casual murder scenario, only to find themselves rethinking their own ideals of law and justice. 

The human aspects of these engagements emerge from a variety of characters and scenarios, with dialogue reinforcing the stands and choices people take and make in order to survive: 

“… you want her to fit in, to be normal. It’s what I would want. And yet—”
“And yet, what?” C3’s voice was low with growing fury.
“I’ve just gotta say, son. She,” he shrugged, “looks like a retarded kid.” He held out a palm. “There’s things you can do about that. Why wouldn’t you cover all your bases?”
C3’s answer came out as a snarl. “Because your granddaughter isn’t a base. And she’s not a retarded kid.”
 

If one thing can be said about A Divisive Storm, it's "expect the unexpected." There is nothing singular about its plot, nothing predictable about the outcomes, and little set in stone along the way. 

Feldman's ability to craft a hard-boiled noir atmosphere in Dora's world, supercharged with further elements of personal and social inspection, creates a story highly recommended not just for libraries and readers seeking compelling mysteries, but book clubs looking for genre reads that provoke discussions and debates about larger moral and social issues.

A Divisive Storm

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Parallel Secrets
ML Barrs
The Wild Rose Press
978-1-5092-4978-7         Paperback $18.99/E-book $3.99
https://amzn.to/44H9TYx 

When solving a present-day mystery involves delving into one's own past and traumas, investigators can face challenges not only in their professional pursuits, but their personal lives. Such is the case in Parallel Secrets, when a kidnapped child introduces eerie specters of past experience for a TV journalist who finds herself too close to the case for comfort. 

Can there be opportunity for growth in reporting a kidnapping? Vicky Robeson thinks so. The story opens with this perception, but it evolves surprising pathways to realization and redemption as Vicky follows the clues that lead her ever deeper into facing an old conundrum she never quite resolved. 

The impact of such an investigation spreads from its point of origin to those around Vicky—in this case, Pete, who has become the kind of supportive friend who proves understanding even in the worst of situations. But, everyone has their limits. Will Pete continue his reputation for staying alongside Vicky as she tries to discover what happened to lively child Rose Wildwood? 

Rose actually holds one of the leading roles in this mystery, and the story opens with a child at play who is captured from the safe circle of her Aunt Sara's home by a stranger who has stalked her and made the grab. 

Vicky hears the report of a kidnapped child from Walkers Corner, Missouri—a place she never wanted to see again, which has long colored her nightmares. Her personal motivation for following up on this news alert is clear: "She might not be able to undo the past, but this time she would do everything she could to help save the child." 

Redemption is a funny thing. It often arrives in the guise of promise, evolves into complex confrontations that introduce anguish and challenge, and complete with resolutions that are unexpected. In Vicky's case, her personal past struggle combines with a present-day mystery to re-introduce her to choices and consequences she'd long delegated to the irresolvable past. 

As ML Barrs unfolds a gripping saga of investigation and personal realizations, the story presents not one pursuit, but a series of angles that involves returning to a familiar place to confront not just the demons of what was left undone, but those who were left behind: 

“Did you ever catch yourself in a mirror when you aren’t expecting to? When I look back at how I left here, it’s like I saw myself from a different angle, and it wasn’t pretty.” 

Vicky's journey of recovery and self-discovery embraces Vicky's journalistic drive to write a compelling story with a clear ending and her equally powerful personal motivation to lay her past to rest. 

Barrs crafts psychological insights that take place both within Vicky and in those who swirl around her, whether they are characters from her past or loved ones who support and struggle with her present-day endeavors. 

These strong characters and their own special interests dovetail nicely in a vivid story that pursues the truth and matters of the heart with equal strength and many satisfying twists and turns. 

Libraries and readers seeking mysteries that represent more than a whodunit, but embrace the challenge of returning to a familiar milieu and dilemma to face old patterns and new perceptions will find Parallel Secrets a compelling, solid study in not just intrigue, but psychological transformations that include a determined probe into family and self. The story is not only hard to put down, but thought-provoking beyond its investigative elements. 

Parallel Secrets

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Novels

Amsterdam Ascendant
Judith W. Richards
Aries Books
978-0-9845410-8-9  
$14.99 Print/ $11.99 E-book               
www.AriesBooks.com 

Amsterdam Ascendant will delight historical novel readers interested in European tales. Set in the Netherlands in 1572, it follows various members of the Van der Voort family as they struggle against political and social strife, taking risks that pit them against the Spanish rulers of their world. 

As the author says from the start, "The story is fictional but the history is true." A timeline of events, maps, and an opening introduction to this era assures that those unfamiliar with the politics and events of the times will not be lost. 

Judith W. Richards acknowledges that she's taken some liberties with language and history for the sake of succinct description, and that this might annoy Netherlanders fixated on historical accuracy in representation and language; but these adjustments result in a smoother-flowing story that is inviting and rich in its action and details. 

The tale opens with a sea venture that represents the first salvo in the van der Voort's battle against Spanish oppressors: "Dutch sea captain Maarten van der Voort stood on the deck of his merchant ship, the Dirck, and watched his men, looking ghostlike in the dense fog, go over the side and into the waiting longboat. It was a cold March night and three in the morning, yet sweat beaded on his brow, for he knew he was taking a calculated risk with their lives. They were going to attack a Spanish ship before it attacked them." 

A vivid "you are here" feel brings the times to life, whether events take place on land or sea. As the efforts of the Sea Beggers wind into the special interests of a broad audience of Netherlanders, the story traverses social and political perspectives on different sides. 

There is no clear guiding light to battles for change, and so the competing visions and experiences of a variety of characters create an especially realistic tone as events unfold. Whether describing the plundering of monasteries or the expansion of maps that place Amsterdam in perspective with the rest of the 1500s world, Richards employs an evocative, descriptive voice to bring these times and families to life. 

This contrast between the microcosm of local society and the greater picture of the world is vivid as the characters grow and expand their own boundaries: 

“That’s odd,” Catrijn commented. “Where’s the land and sea?”
“It’s a celestial globe, not a terrestrial globe.”
“Hmm.” Not sure what he meant, Catrijn examined its surface.
“They’re constellations!” she declared, delighted by her discovery and realization that the globe depicted what a person saw looking up at the sky—a celestial view—not looking down at the earth, a terrestrial view."
 

Amsterdam Ascendant's ability to capture the engrossing, turbulent social and political landscape of the 1500s makes it a top recommendation for libraries and readers who look to be immersed in the times and the people whose lives were changed by nautical endeavors and political transformations. 

Amsterdam Ascendant

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Beasts of the Field
Alex Webb Wilson
Kelp Books, LLC
979-8-9869462-6-9         $22.00
kelpjournal.com/books 

Beasts of the Field is powerful novel packed with images and photographic references. It opens with a grisly murder and a terrible package of evidence sent to a father, moving into the image-driven world of photographer Robert Ellis, who is in Central America, documenting life: 

"Images passed through his mind, photos he had taken and photos he imagined—a car burning in a broken street, a soldier kneeling in a field of poppies. The compositions shifted, one into another, as he lay in the unfamiliar house by the ocean." 

It's not enough that, at age twenty-eight, he was the youngest photographer on his company's masthead. Robert feels like something is missing from his endeavors: "He had looked at his G5 hard drive, his color-calibrated monitor, his Canon lenses and Hasselblad, and admitted that he might be searching for some concept of success forever, and never find it..." 

The truths he discovers by challenging himself go further and deeper than anything he's attempted before, sending him on missions around the world that capture matters of the heart and also land him in the heart of danger. 

Alex Webb Wilson crafts a powerful story that casts a deep lens of inspection on Robert's attempts to document how much has changed in America since 9/11, and in the world he attempts to capture on film: 

"...he’s tried to document how much has changed since then. To him the solider is about the small things they’ve lost—with his rifle and gas mask in the subway. Maybe small isn’t the right word, he thinks. Maybe there is no single word for it." 

From self-portraits to sons and strangers caught up in struggle and violence, Robert's profession and perspective moves readers to consider the transition points of life experience that often prove elusive in the moment, but later come back, captured as if on film, to haunt and change the world. 

From Central American cartels and murder to connections back in the U.S., Wilson moves the story into uncharted territory as Robert and those he loves become caught up in social and political struggles they never saw coming, from earthquake aftermaths to murders and kidnappings. 

The rich inspection of reporters on assignment who move between very different worlds, toeing the line of discovery and danger, receives steady and thoroughly engrossing attention in a novel which reflects on the politics, work, and decisions of individuals under fire and in combat in many different ways. 

Libraries and readers seeking vivid stories about individuals who find their lives challenged and changed, from documenting life to navigating and reporting the outcomes of its violent struggles, will find Beasts of the Field a powerful study. It should also reach into book club audiences interested in gripping stories of transition, danger, and survival.

Beasts of the Field

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The Blue Iris
Rachel Stone
Koehler Books
979-8-88824-093-9     
$30.95 Hardcover/$22.95 Softcover/$7.99 ebook    
Website: www.rachelstoneauthor.com

Ordering:
https://a.co/d/95wwTOW

The Blue Iris is a novel that follows six individuals whose lives converge at the Blue Iris Flower Market, there to experience new options and divergent paths that challenge their seemingly set perceptions and choices. 

Themes of love, family, and rooted belief systems come to life as each of the characters is forced to consider their life trajectories and the choices that brought them to this moment in time. 

Rachel Stone creates a series of inspections that contrast these lives in satisfying ways. Readers seeking a story that comes steeped in the disparate pasts of characters struggling with life losses and new possibilities receive these elements in droves in The Blue Iris. 

From Tessa's longing to capture elements of her mother Beth's life (lost to her when the magic died via a drunken driver when Tessa was only eleven) to the realization of dreams past and present that are connected by the flower market's atmosphere and allure, each character finds their life transformed by their venture into new territory. 

Love isn't the only thing driving these realizations. Each relationship features a very different motivation and incarnation that will resonate with readers, powered by a complexity that is alluring in its review of opportunities for transformation and realization: "The same part of her Sam had ruined beyond repair, barring her from properly moving forward, became the reason she couldn’t go back." 

The events that both flaw and free the characters and the flower market connections that mean something different to each come to life in a jigsaw puzzle of disparate influences and choices that proves hard to put down. 

Readers and libraries looking for literary, accessible stories of the shifting, disparate lives of men and women who encounter magic in their perspectives and changing objectives will find The Blue Iris an evocative, compelling read that is alternately quiet in its countenance and reflective of the adage that "still waters run deep." Each character's depth is nicely probed in a story steeped in life and growth. 

The Blue Iris

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The Corey Effect
Casey Dembowski
Red Adept Publishing
978-1948051972            $13.95 Paper
https://caseydembowski.com 

The Corey Effect tells of a woman's second chance at love when she returns home after her father's death to encounter the ghosts of her past. This includes Corey Johnson, the "boy who got away." In reality, they both escaped the ghosts of their past in different ways—Andi by physically leaving, and Corey by forging business success in Fairford in a manner Andi never knew about (until now). 

Corey's ongoing allure is just one of the forces that rock Andi's life, proving that the past is not as distant as she'd imagined, attractions don't always fade away over time, and new connections can be forged despite underlying secrets that influence everything. 

Casey Dembowski crafts an appealing story of first love revisited and revised, taking the time to inject a sense of place, changes, and transition points into the relationship to give it a full-bodied appeal. Timelines that shift between past and present develop both characters and the circumstances that brought them together and then drove them apart. 

Corey invites Andi to stay in town and resume a relationship with new opportunities, but Andi isn't interested in repeating the same mistakes of the past. As confusion evolves over her father's desires, her ex's inclinations, and her present-day identity, Andi's struggles come to life: 

"And there was so much—want and desire and hurt and forgiveness and giving in and letting go. I pulled him closer, and the years separating us didn’t matter. We were together now, and in his arms, I knew exactly who I was meant to be." 

Readers who choose The Corey Effect for its promise of romance and realization won't be disappointed to learn there is also a strong component of growth and discovery wound into the tale. Elements of surprise keep readers and characters on their toes and contribute to an evolutionary process of new realizations. 

As misperceptions of the past evolve into new understandings that could result in a different outcome, readers will find satisfyingly revealing the course of Andi's discoveries not only about Corey and her past, but her perceptions of what romance could be. 

Libraries and readers seeking a warm romance of returning home to old patterns only to discovery new truths will find the psychology of relationship-building (and destruction) compelling and moving in The Corey Effect. 

The Corey Effect

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A Delicate Marriage
Margarita Barresi
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-930-3         $17.99 Paper/$27.99 Hardcover
www.atmospherepress.com 

A Delicate Marriage is a historical novel set in Puerto Rico forty years after it became a U.S. colony and centers on wealthy Isabella "Isa" Soto, whose initial ambitions are thwarted by her love of and marriage to poor man Marco Rios. 

As a child facing his first hurricane in 1928, Marco is charged with caring for his mother and siblings when his father vanishes at the height of the storm. Determined to fulfill his promise to his father to become the man of the family, he embarks on a mission to improve both their lives and the broader world of Puerto Ricans who live on the poverty line. 

Isa harbors her own feelings of abandonment and pain from her father's choices, rebelling against his admonition that she should not marry Marco for various reasons: 

“Is that why you left me with Abuela while you traveled all over the world? You know, the girls at school made up stories about me.” Isa wrung her hands at the memory. “They said my mother had been a witch, that you’d stolen me from the Amazon jungle, and even that I was really Abuela’s daughter.” 

As she faces life with Marco, including a terrible truth from childbirth and his lack of skills in either satisfying her or maintaining his moral balance, Isa experiences a series of revelations about life, good and bad choices, and the influences of her country's values and politics under American rule. These change her perceptions of her relationships. 

When reporter Antonio Badilla further changes and challenges her ideals, Isa finds herself responding to his seductive ideas and offer as Marco finds himself in the center of a whirlwind of cultural, social, and political change in Puerto Rico. 

A winning combination of personal experience and research lends a realistic, warm overlay to the true foundations of the events portrayed in A Delicate Marriage, bringing the nation and its people to life. 

The intimate "you are here" feel of the story represents a powerful inspection of poverty, politics, and personal connections that requires little prior knowledge of Puerto Rico in order to prove accessible. 

Driven by fictional characters that look to grasp unprecedented opportunities for their island nation, A Delicate Marriage examines the delicate nature of all kinds of relationships and peels away layers of historical and cultural influence to illustrate how change trickles down from political events and connections into personal lives and psychology. 

Libraries and readers interested in either Puerto Rico or a winning story of a couple buffeted by the winds and tides of political change will find A Delicate Marriage compelling, revealing, and thought-provoking. At its conclusion, they will know far more about Puerto Rico's vivid history on a level that embraces personal struggles and growth. 

A Delicate Marriage

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Five Wishes
Karin M. Gertsch
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-791-0         $18.95 Paper/$8.95 Kindle

www.ingramcontent.com  

Five Wishes is a debut novel that takes place in the New England small town of Hamlet, where Delbert MacInnes experiences contentment with his place in this world even as wife Matilda seems to be similarly happy with her life, but harbors a big secret her family doesn't know. 

Now she not only stands on the threshold of achieving the dream of a vacation (something husband Bertie has long resisted), but is on the edge of revealing long-held secrets and defying silences which have served her well into older age. Her family history and inspections sweep readers into a saga that gives voice to undercurrents of freedom, control, and life choices in romance and connection. 

Karin M. Gertsch builds a powerful story in Five Wishes that revolves around a prediction, realistic life assessments, and new experiences that carry readers and characters into unfamiliar territory. 

The prospect of travels also introduces changes as long-held dreams confront difficult realities, bringing characters and readers into new realizations that affect and change their dreams and assumptions. 

An unexpected event, pilgrimages, and revised understandings about family legacy in Clan MacInnes and the roots that both hold them and define their lives lends to a story that embraces history, family connections, and new realizations. The result is a story that is revealing, thought-provoking, and absorbing. 

Five Wishes is recommended for libraries and readers seeking literary explorations of family, history, and the legacy of secrets and attitudes on heritage and future goals. Opportunities lost and found are the hallmarks of a story that ultimately maintains there is no time like the present for making dreams and wishes come true. 

Five Wishes

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I, Lloyd Stollman
Rob Sullivan, PhD
Black Heron Press
‎9781936364404             $15.99
https://www.amazon.com/Lloyd-Stollman-Rob-Sullivan-PhD/dp/1936364409 

Schizophrenia never looked so good. Well ... assuming an alter ego isn't exactly mental illness, and until one's fictional personality takes the reins and commits murder. 

That's the dilemma of mild-mannered, isolated clerk retiree Lloyd, whose successful act of being a movie cowboy proves so empowering that he enters into other fictional personas that ultimately begin to take over. 

Suddenly, Lloyd has lost control of not just his life, but who he is. And in his advanced years, this translates to a loss of not just self, but life connection that drives him into new directions and dangerous curves in the road. 

The opening lines explaining Lloyd's initial foray into mental disintegration uses impeccable logic to enter his world: 

"I only started to feel right when I put on my first disguise. Before that, I had been a half-person, a shadow, a ghost, a nonentity, anonymous, dead. But once I put that disguise on, I felt like I fit in my own body, that I belonged, that I was part of society, like I had a place, like I was somebody." 

In fact, "It was such a relief. Not to have to be myself." 

As relief turns to dread and disaster, readers follow an intense story made all the more pointed and powerful by the use of the first person, which allows readers to enter into the logic and surprises that buffet an urban disguise artist's revised life trajectory. 

Rob Sullivan provides powerful images and insights throughout Lloyd's story, crafting a series of events that send him on expeditions through relationships, uncharted territory, and emotional responses that have not been a part of his prior life. 

The psychological and social revelations permeate a story so intensely revealing that even acts of cross-dressing are realistically presented and thought-provoking at every step of the way. 

Everyone harbors misconceptions and makes mistakes. As Lloyd observes that "if anyone’s totally capable of navigating the straits of life and never crashing into anything, I sure would like to meet them." 

In his case, the crash is almost surreal in its strength as Lloyd Stollman loses himself in Glenda and other personas and finds himself on the lam, immersed in counterculture, and skirting the edge of madness. 

Libraries and readers seeking powerful psychological novels of transitions and revelations will find I, Lloyd Stollman offers especially intriguing insights into the opportunities and dilemmas of juggling alternate personalities and possibilities. 

Even stronger are the insights suitable for psychology groups and book club circles that revolve around the assumption of not just new personalities, but responsibility for their incarnation, growth, and perhaps inevitable outcomes. 

I, Lloyd Stollman crafts a rare opportunity for a bird's-eye view of life through the changes a sixty-two-year-old man experiences through choices both of his own making and outside of his control. It's intense, riveting, and hard to put down. 

I, Lloyd Stollman

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Mortal Weather
KP McCarthy
Top Reads Publishing
978-1-970107-36-4
$28.00 Hardcover/$18.99 Paper/$9.99 ebook
www.kevinpatrickmccarthy.com 

Mortal Weather is a novel of magical realism, existential philosophical observation, and mystery that will attract a wide audience with its genre-hopping qualities and compelling attractions. 

It opens with a decidedly philosophical bent that invites readers and the narrator to consider ideals and new ways of approaching life: 

“There is only one reliable kind of prophecy, Stanhope: the self-fulfilling kind. Who do you think you are? That’s you. The world whispers, so listen. Imagine the dharma that approaches and prepare a welcome.” 

Hero stories and myths served as the initial inspiration for Mortal Weather, KP McCarthy reveals in his preface; but the proof of the pudding lies in its interpretation and presentation, which here assumes a thought-provoking romp through ideology and hope that can only come after tragedy. 

Stanhope (the characters are all aptly named, with a tongue-in-cheek humor reflected in such names as 'UpChuck') is actively seeking change after the death of his wife and his own near-fatal accident. But just because the scenario changes doesn't mean that Death's touch has been thwarted, as Stanhope finds when those around him begin to fall. 

This leads him to wonder about his ultimate power and impact on the world as his journeys carry him and his readers into magical realms he never thought possible before. 

Stanhope encounters a number of memorable characters who face their lives and losses, influencing his with equal passion. Readers will find themselves falling in love with more than one kind of character, but beware—death is often not far behind. 

There is comedy, there are reconnections which serve as "tonics" to the soul, and there are gifts of surreal art which promote healing and discovery in the face of the death of not only spirit, but imagination. 

At times, it's hard to see how uplifting possibilities and new beginnings can emerge from the ashes of death's touch, but McCarthy creates an ultimately hopeful story steeped in not just magical realism, but the power of relationships to transform and heal: 

The only way to be a superhero, I think, is to be super human—which means feeling uncertain. “I think sometimes we are strongest when we are weak. Then we must connect with one another.” 

The result is a study in relationship-building, transformation, and discovery that tackles the challenge of existential philosophy and spiritual components with the affectionate touch of new possibilities. 

Libraries, book clubs, and readers will find many thought-provoking moments in a mix of characters who each cultivate their own powers of hope, salvation, and growth. 

Mortal Weather

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The New Tenant
Allison G. Smith
Muse Literary
978-1-958714-39-3        
$24.99 Hardcover/$14.99 Paper/$4.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/New-Tenant-Allison-G-Smith/dp/1958714399 

The New Tenant tells of widow Angela Wilcox, who moved from riches to rags virtually overnight upon the death of her wealthy husband. 

Left not only bereaved, but penniless, Angela meets a new, vibrant tenant in the boarding house she now resides in. This leads her to confront not only the unusual nature of such a personality in a place where subdued resignation is more the norm, but the exceptional qualities of an individual who hasn't let life beat him down. 

Jack helps Angela by opening her eyes to new opportunities for service and interpersonal interaction in this world. Her appreciation of his gifts is evident as her story unfolds: "Being introduced to things she had never noticed even after living here for so long, she finds herself worrying less and less about her own circumstances." 

Jack's magic doesn't just stop with influencing Angela's trajectory. It spills into holiday celebrations and the lives of other tenants, changing their perceptive of opportunities and possibilities in their own worlds. 

As Angela begins to rely on Jack's magic more than she cares to admit, she also finds herself slipping in the area of reciprocating by asking more closely about Jack's own daily experiences and feelings. When the truth emerges about what someone like Jack is doing in this situation, Angela finds her assumptions shaken yet again. 

Allison G. Smith crafts a winning women's story in Angela's navigation of her revised life. From the consideration of the true nature of friendships and love to the experiences of those who swirl around Angela's world, Smith creates an interconnected jigsaw puzzle of personalities and purposes that leads to unexpected revelations and satisfying insights. 

Driven by strong characters who each face different adversities, The New Tenant focuses on lessons in kindness and adaptation that the world truly needs right now. 

Libraries and readers looking for uplifting stories of growth and giving will find The New Tenant replete with thought-provoking life lessons that will resonate and attract. 

The New Tenant

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Ragtown
Kelly Stone Gamble
Red Adept Publishing LLC
ASIN: B0CCF5PV4Y              Price: $9.99
https://RedAdeptPublishing.com/ 

Ragtown is a story of the Great Depression, parallel lives, and the process of diverting the courses of both individuals and the nation. Its prologue opens the story with an account of the brutal murder by a half-breed Indian in Nevada in 1910. This results in an unprecedented manhunt for a serial killer that goes on for thirty years. 

At this point, it's important to emphasize the historical backdrop and value of Kelly Stone Gamble's story: "Ragtown is set in the 1930s during the first phase of the building of the Hoover Dam: the diversion of the Colorado River. Many of the characters in this book are not wholly invented but come from actual dam workers and their families. Their circumstances and actual events were gleaned, in part, from interviews and recorded oral histories." 

The 1930s comes to life through the experiences of a determined young woman, Helen Carter, who finds herself alone with limited options for women in the shadow of the Hoover Dam's construction, and young dam worker Ezra Deal, who also unexpectedly finds himself alone. 

When he runs into Helen as she is running from legal issues and a gangster's attention, caught in the middle of an impossible dilemma, both their lives are changed, as well as their views of independence and connection. 

Gamble creates a compelling saga made all the more riveting for its foundations in historical fact. The astute reflections of each character cement a sense of the times which includes not just a taste of place and history, but the life lessons and conundrums which transfer between generations as well as between individuals: 

"I’d always thought my dad had planned for everything. Maybe that is what all little girls think about their fathers, because as I lay there, I realized that so many things couldn’t be planned for. When the mine closed in Kansas, for example, we ended up here. It wasn’t that he had ever planned for us to move to Nevada. We were in a bad situation, an opportunity presented itself, and he had to make a quick decision about our future. There weren’t many options available at the time, so even if moving to the middle of the desert wasn’t ideal, we made the best of it. He remained optimistic about better days ahead, and I believed him. I believed in him. Now I had to believe in myself." 

As the Wobblies and other social and political forces buffet Ezra and Helen, the points of view shift between chapters to illustrate the events, backdrops, and influences affecting each character. Chapter headings clarify these shifts, making it a snap for readers to absorb the divergent perspectives each individual harbors as they find their lives both connected and challenged. 

Gamble's recreation of the Depression years, Nevada, and two lives forced to be creative in their problem-solving drives a compelling saga that's hard to put down, complex in its associations and changing milieus, and attractive in its psychological depth and sense of place and purpose. 

Helen must undertake a divorce with few resources, buy off those who would pursue her, and make a life apart from those who would tie her down and thwart her dreams. Her reflections continue to power a story of a young proactive woman who refuses to bow to others' expectations or social norms, and whose reflections are astute and compelling: 

"Thinking back, I probably never should have waited so long to leave Cotton. I should have just left, taken what little I had at the time, and made my way out of town instead of waiting until things escalated. But looking back never seemed to do much good. I needed to focus on looking forward." 

These elements turn a 500+ page read into an unexpected attraction that will grasp and hold reader attention while injecting the necessary historical facts and influences that keep characters and readers on their toes, educated, and well able to field any transition points that introduce new challenges. 

From good intentions gone awry to the peppering of author notes as the story unfolds which explain character development challenges on the writer's part, Ragtown adopts a uniquely attractive countenance that holds equal prowess in entertaining and attracting its reader. 

The result is a vivid historical novel highly recommended for any library or reader seeking stories set in the Depression years which revolve around men and women who face their changed life trajectories with determination, courage, and not a small degree of personal growth. 

Book clubs focused on historical novels that are firmly steeped in a sense of time and place will also find Ragtown an engrossing read that promises the added value of much discussion and debate material. 

Ragtown

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Ravenbourne Slavery
Benjamin H. Barnette
Echo Books
979-8-9856948-0-2      $16.00
www.Benjaminhbarnette.com 

The Ravenbourne Warriors are the most feared warriors throughout the Empire which, in Ravenbourne Slavery, is a domineering, successful organization in effect before the Age of Iron, headed by the Lord of Ravenbourne. 

Fallen warrior Kaelin also falls into unusual fortune when he saves the Lord and is recruited from slavery to join the elite army of warriors, there to discover romance with an equally formidable woman (the beautiful Natasha, whose hidden powers create problems and attraction alike). 

As Benjamin H. Barnette leads readers through this vividly engrossing world, Kaelin and Natasha's evolving relationship influences a series of changes that move from the initial situation of the Opar warrior taken captive to Kaelin's entry into vastly unexpected, revised circumstances. 

Barnette adds a compelling, erotic element to the story which results in scenes of ménage a `trois affection, graphic sexual exploration, and romantic encounters. These add to the overall atmosphere of the kingdom's different layers of civility and incivility. Readers who eschew reads that include such graphic scenes may wish to look elsewhere, but they are in keeping with the full-bodied nature of the exploration of slavery and survival that is one of the many themes of the story. 

Kaelin's experiences and lectures about this survival process represent thought-provoking revelations of what it takes to evolve and survive such a world: 

"I was spared by the mercy of the god of war, taken to become a slave of the Empire.  I could not escape.  There was no place to run to—nowhere to hide—no way to vanish.  Disobedience brings only humiliating punishment.  I gained my freedom by obeying my master and mistress and pleasing them.  I told them that was the only way that they, too, could similarly gain their freedom.” 

Connections between sexual conquest, lessons of domination, and love are drawn which enhance the overall message and draw of the plot as disparate characters, from high priestess to warriors and slaves, interact. 

Ravenbourne Slavery's dual explorations of survival, adaptation, and sweeping passion make for a vivid story of clashing personalities, peoples, and status quos. 

Libraries and readers seeking an exceptionally vivid story of romance, power, and slavery's challenges will find Ravenbourne Slavery a heady read packed with opportunities for book club discussions about the kinds of relationships and power struggles that evolve between slaves, warriors, and ordinary men and women. 

Ravenbourne Slavery

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Sea Glass Memories
Anne Marie Bennett
KaleidoSoul Media
979-8-9860503-4-8         $12.00 Paper/$2.99 ebook
www.AnneMarieBennett.com 

Book 2 of the Seahaven Sunrise series, Sea Glass Memories, returns to the Maine environment featured in Feathers in the Sand to explore a new start. It focuses on Elena Jeffries's move from Boston to the small community of Seahaven, where she becomes involved in a class play, a local grief support group, and a touch of romance that leads her to think all may not be lost in her life. 

Grief is not only a changing state of being, but one which promises riches from its flux, as Elena finds by becoming involved in a world both unfamiliar to her and replete with new opportunities. 

Anne Marie Bennett deftly intersects past experience with present-day changes as Elena moves from her Boston past into a future that portends resolution and redemption in new ways. 

One satisfying feature of Elena's move is her realistic perspective about her life's new possibilities. These create a current of experience and acceptance that flows underneath any illusions of ideal life: 

"In the back of my mind, I know that Ryan isn’t going to stay in Seahaven. I have a feeling he is destined for bigger stages than ours. But I listen intently, absorbing the excitement in his voice, and I tell him some of my own stories. How I met Marc. How it rained on our wedding day and the rainbow that appeared as we were leaving the church. Some of the stories that students turned in about their fantasy summer vacations. A few plays I’d directed while teaching in Dorchester. I share a little more about how Marc died, but I don’t tell him everything. I don’t want to break the cheerful, intimate mood we’ve created here in this beautiful setting." 

Elena's pragmatic perspective spills into the Our Town play rehearsal, her encounters with others open new doors of possibility, and her musings about her choices in the matter reflect both the impact of grief recovery and the potential of forging a different life with new relationships at its core: 

"Do I have a choice? Yes, I guess I do. I can sit right here at this table and finish my coffee, then go home to my lonesome apartment and spend the night with Jezebel. Suddenly, that doesn’t seem like the better choice. What will happen if I do join Anna and Jonathan? Maybe I’ll get to know them better. Maybe I’ll find out what this Seahaven Scavenger Hunt is all about; every time I hear someone talk about it or see one of the many posters scattered around town, it sounds more and more like fun." 

The result is an intimate portrait of small-town Maine life, a big-city girl's sea changes, and the process by which she overcomes her own expectations and grief to enter into a milieu which promises many new treasures. 

Libraries and readers seeking a beach read replete with warmth and a sense of personal discovery and recovery will find Sea Glass Memories an alluring, evocative grief journey that carries Elena from the life she'd anticipated to one which is unpredictably promising. 

Sea Glass Memories

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Trigger Warning
Robert Klose
Open Books
978-1948598668            $17.95
https://www.open-bks.com/library/moderns/trigger-warning/about-book.html 

Trigger Warning is a novel that embraces university politics and procedures, focusing on Professor Tymoteusz Tarnaszewski ("T"), who finds himself resisting the administration's new requirement of inserting "trigger warnings" in all syllabi. As a Professor of Biology, this could limit or mitigate the impact of his teaching, T believes. 

And so he embarks on a resistance that leads to a charge of insubordination despite the fact that his teaching actually is more effective than that of most of his peers: 

"He was, in a word, superb at the task. His was the only class at Skowhegan where the students applauded the lectures. They applauded not only his style, his passion, and his uncanny narrative gifts—he spoke with a warmth and familiarity suggesting that he had actually known Charles Darwin—but the sense he generated that he cherished them. T had long ago learned that if the students knew that you cared about them, they would go to the ends of the earth for you." 

Just how far these students will support him is tested by his convictions, actions, and clash with administrative regulations. When he is betrayed by a student, new connections are made which challenge both his stand and his relative isolation as a beacon of leadership in his mind and in his students' lives. 

Robert Klose lays open the world of college encounters and politics with a steady hand to exploring one teacher's impact on his closed world and the situations which evolve from it that mitigate T's ongoing isolation and loneliness. 

By juxtaposing ideology, political correctness, and the motivations of teachers and students who break away from their self-imposed worlds to acknowledge the tides and trends of the greater world around them, Klose creates a thought-provoking milieu which should be of special interest to students and teachers who have long operated in institutions of higher learning: 

"T recalled Nan’s memorable quote from a past college president: An institution is incapable of showing gratitude. Because he knew this to be true, he was, in a way, prepared for this moment. And he pitied those colleagues who believed that, if they only joined one more committee, advised one more student, got one more grant, took on one more course, wrote one more forgettable paper, the school would come to view them as indispensable. But the dirty little truth was that no one was indispensable. It was a cold calculus, but T had never seen any evidence that contradicted it." 

The newfound contractions, contraindications, and changing triggers in their lives affect all the characters both within the system and outside of it, leading to confrontations and realizations that embrace not just political and social change, but personal growth. 

Ultimately, Trigger Warning is about money, motivation, and moves that change everyone within the university system. In effect, its experiences, confrontations, and evolving challenges mirror events in the world outside the university's walls, providing many thought-provoking moments and surprises as these influences are uncovered: 

"You as a teacher speak about truth and facts and moral obligations to your students. But we”—thumbing his chest—“think only in terms of appearances and expediency. When you were directed to include trigger warnings, both of these considerations were on our minds, but mostly appearances. Trigger warnings made us look like we were current, and correct, and that we were giving students what they wanted. The public would, of course, approve. And the legislature, with the power of the purse, is part of the public.” 

The result is a superb political, social, and interpersonal assessment that is especially highly recommended for students, teachers, and supporters of higher learning. The ways in which teachers are constrained and guided will also provide delightful fodder for controversial discussions in book club circles and among readers that come from university-level settings. 

Trigger Warning

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The Unbroken Horizon
Jenny Brav
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-766-8         $17.99 Paper
www.jennybrav.com 

The Unbroken Horizon is a novel spanning a century of women's wounds and healing and contrasts the lives of two very different individuals: 1914 teen Maggie Burke, who flees her sharecropper life after she witnesses the lynching of her father and brother; and 2011 white humanitarian nurse Sarah Baum, whose strange recurrent nightmare intrudes on her present-day world and objectives. 

The content note which appears before the story opens advises of possible reader triggers as lynchings, sexual violence, and mental health struggles evolve against the backdrop of Black experience and women's struggles. 

The story opens with Sarah in the South Sudan in 2011, where she is engaged in helping the people who are experiencing their first life-sustaining rainstorm after five months of heat and dust. Sarah's appreciative response to the local delight in this event contrasts her different world views: 

"The nurse in me cringed—knowing all too intimately that mud is host to a cesspool of disease-carrying bacteria—and wanted to shout at them to go home. A dormant child part of me longed to join in. To be that carefree." 

Readers who anticipate that The Unbroken Horizon will be a time-travel type of story will be pleased to learn see that Jenny Brav is more interested in the contrast between disparate women's lives in different eras—in particular, how they are wounded, heal from their wounds, and create joy and growth in the process of learning new survival skills for navigating both their worlds and those to come. 

Particularly notable are the first-person reflections which capture both the new experiences of each character and the realizations they come to, for formulating new lives: "I sensed that I needed the joy he brought to my life much more than he needed the entertainment and novelty I brought to his." 

From feelings of powerlessness over life's circumstances and trials to evolving natures that grasp power in new ways, Brav's contrast in these women's worlds creates a story of new connections to family, secrets of the past, and choices that send each character in a different direction. 

"May you always know the depth of your love and power," a loving father writes to his baby Sarah. And, she does—but not before her revelations result in sorrow over missed opportunities and mistaken perceptions that created further pain instead of transformation: 

"As I touched the depths of pain and misery that had ricocheted from believing I was unlovable—including years of avoiding love altogether or seeking it from unavailable men—waves of sorrow crashed through my being followed by wordless rage. I’ve wasted SO much time! I thought as I flopped belly down on my bed and pounded my head on my pillow until the tears came crashing down on me." 

At first, readers might feel that the disparity of events in these very different lives belay any connections they might form with one another, but Brav interconnects these experiences with revelations and discoveries that drive Maggie and Sarah to find new pathways to healing in their lives. 

Their efforts change not only their lives, but resonate into future generations with connections to the past that forge new opportunities and realizations about the Black experience and the healing process alike. 

Libraries and readers seeking powerful novels contrasting past and present Black experience and routes to not just recovery, but empowerment, will find The Unbroken Horizon emotionally gripping and astute in its depictions of these very different worlds. 

Between the contrasts in experience and attitude and their shared heritage, these women are presented as inquiring, courageous, and ultimately self-reliant and pioneering, in their own different ways. The Unbroken Horizon is a winning story that ideally also will be chosen for book clubs interested in vivid literature that fully embraces emotional connections and processes of not just survival, but thriving against all odds and perceptions about what life is and should be. 

The Unbroken Horizon

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Year of the Puffin
Gregory Phipps
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-921-1         $18.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

Year of the Puffin isn't about (or for) the birds. It's about an Icelandic college football team, The Puffins, who are determined to win the championship in American college football despite harboring a ragtag group of misfits and misguided directors whose intentions often go awry. 

Though the international dovetailing of this story feels surprising, a prologue outlines how soldiers introduced American football to Iceland in the 1930s, when that country served as a base for American soldiers who played flag football during periods of waiting out winter storms. 

Readers who anticipate a sports-centric series of events will be surprised at the accompanying cultural contrasts that add value to the story. Gregory Phipps excels at injecting these seamlessly into the action: 

"He’d lived in Iceland for so long that he often forgot the North American capacity for enthusiasm." 

As unfolding events around various types of successes and failures embrace characters and their readers, a sense of Icelandic psyche begins to grow as issues of team playing, leadership, love, and adversity begin to emerge to form a bigger picture underlying the football team's efforts and impact. 

“You can be anything. You just have to prove it. Over and over again. For the rest of your life.” 

As beautifully graphic descriptions of Iceland unfold, readers will be drawn to this compelling story of its countryside, people, sports efforts, and individuals who face dangerous secrets, internal conflict, and the external pressures of international relationships and perceptions. 

To limit Year of the Puffin's audience to football enthusiasts alone would be to do it a grave disservice. It's a powerful story of plays made by individuals, nations, and competition that evolves many layers of attraction to make it the perfect item of choice not just for lending libraries, but book clubs looking for vivid discussion material about Iceland's people, culture, and worldwide sports. 

Year of the Puffin

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Reviewer's Choice

ACTing Now
Norman B. Schwartz
Worthy Reads/Cresting Wave Publishing
978-1-956048-17-9         $15.99 Paper/$2.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/ACTing-Now-Approach-Techniques-Acting/dp/1956048170 

ACTing Now: A New Approach to the Old Techniques of Acting should be on the shelves of any library interested in drama education and performing arts. It tackles the modern-day challenges of actors required to produce and pitch a self-marketing audition tape, pointing out that conventional (and long-held) strategies for acing auditions need vast revision in this milieu. 

In the past, acting techniques were loosely based on the Stanislavski System, which fostered methods that became the foundation of a new American approach to drama. This contrasted heavily (and controversially) with other notions of good acting, but came to be the norm in this country: 

"Their template was the actor’s learning to work on self to discover the inner life, the psychology of the character. To access emotions appropriate to the drama, the fundamental obstacle to overcome, as many of these teachers perceived it, was often the actors’ inhibitions: their fear of being emotionally naked in front of an audience. To be uninhibited—to scream and shout, pour out one’s guts, and cry unrestrainedly on cue—became the trademark of American-style acting. Not so in the rest of the world, where total emotional abandonment was never considered the hallmark of the actor’s art." 

Fast forward to modern times. Changes in stage, auditions, and screening require further changes in approaches to acting and definitions of what constitutes good acting choices—and this is where ACTing Now comes in. 

Certain to spark controversy over its sometimes-vastly revised approaches, ACTing Now features exercises and objectives that embrace intention, action, the actor's responsibility to adhere to the script, and inner and outer choices that support the best possible interpretations of a scriptwriter's intentions. 

Norman B. Schwartz tailors his advice to the self-taping effort that young actors are being asked to produce today. His solid advice is based on these new industry requirements and a better understanding how they translate to success or failure: 

"Even if you don’t give much thought to the DNA of its action (the character’s want, environment, approach, and the importance of getting the want), on the first reading, by the end of the paraphrasing process, you will have an excellent idea of what it is about...The viewer—the CD, the producer, or the director who will eventually watch your self-tape and decide if you are the one for the job—doesn’t know what you were thinking when you taped the sides, nor does that person care what the subtext is you invented below the words you speak. All the viewer and listener sees and hears is the fullness of emotion below and beyond the words on a page." 

The result is not just a deeper understanding of the actor's choices and intentions, but how these translate, in turn, to the self-taping process and the decisions of an invisible listener and judge. 

Any modern actor interested in probing the actor's underlying responsibility to self, script, and incarnation of his character will find these words especially thought-provoking and educational: 

"The actor can do so robotically. It’s not difficult to turn a head or walk a few steps.... the intelligent actor always finds a reason for doing it. That reason is called JUSTIFICATION. Action without reason is simply pointless movement, a lie that the best of all detectors, the camera, detects instantly. And which the movie or TV viewer will recognize just as quickly and find just as false." 

Libraries and would-be actors should place ACTing Now in a top role on their reading lists and recommendations. Ideally, its radical eye towards transforming the actor's intention and incarnation will prompt drama group discussions about better acting choices and the power of creative drama via a deeper understanding of techniques, choices, and fine art. 

ACTing Now

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The Blanchard Witches of Daihmler County (Audiobook)
Micah House
Kendrell Publishing
ASIN:  B0C5KDMDG5          $21.83 Audio
https://www.amazon.com/Blanchard-Witches-Daihmler-County-Book/dp/B0C5KDMDG5 

The audiobook version of The Blanchard Witches of Daihmler County provides a listening opportunity that profiles narrator Angela Clark's ability to clearly yet powerfully bring a story to vivid listening life. 

Readers of the print version will discover, in this audio, nuances that perhaps had been missed by the eye. This comes from Clark's ability to dramatize and emphasize passages to help them leap from any printed page and into the mind and visionary imagination of the listener.

"It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon. The 4,430-second Saturday afternoon." Clark's opening lines in the first chapter 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner' creates an evocative invitation to continue into Micah House's world, where 85-year-old Olympia Blanchard remains of sound mind and refuses to bow to her age.

Under Clark's voice, Alabama history and present-day complications come to life as a family of witches living under one roof find that modern times bring challenges they never foresaw. 

The quality of this audio is such that even prior print readers should ideally imbibe. The nuances of the story brought to life in audio demonstrate the power of the ear to better understand words and underlying meanings, while the listening experience will enhance any drive or efforts to better absorb the grief, investigative efforts, and pursuits of a clan of witches who become involved in catching a murderer. 

Nuances of Southern heritage, history, and culture; a murder mystery; and a band of witches who struggle to survive relationship and life changes come to life in the audio version in a manner that supports House's ability to weave a multifaceted plot of intrigue and psychological depth. 

Readers who may have balked at pronouncing some of the characters' names in print have no such limitations in audio, where Clark easily vocalizes the correct names in a clear voice that readers can equally easily understand. 

The result is unmitigated appreciation for the plot, character development, and psychological twists and turns of a novel replete with fantasy and emotional connections. 

Readers who typically eschew audio productions are missing something if they pass on the compelling, exceptionally well-done production of The Blanchard Witches of Daihmler County. Clark's ability to tailor her voice to capture the thoughts and approaches of the story's different characters is not only nicely achieved, but exceptional. 

The Blanchard Witches of Daihmler County (Audiobook)

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The Blessings of Disaster
Michel Bruneau
Prometheus Books
978-1-63388-823-4         $25.50 Hardcover/$21.49 ebook
www.rowman.com 

As the world struggles with increasing economic, environmental, and political uncertainty, the timing seems more than appropriate for the considerations in The Blessings of Disaster: The Lessons That Catastrophes Teach Us and Why Our Future Depends on It. Michel Bruneau considers the process of survival and evolution from a different vantage point that comes from a relatively unique perspective: that of a 'catastrophe engineer' whose work involves tackling extreme events and considering how these forces change humanity. 

One would think such a focus would be laden with portents of doom and extinction, but Michel Bruneau's book exhibits an ability to move beyond obvious disaster scenarios to consider outcomes more far-reaching and enlightening than the usual disaster movie, book, or scenario would envision. Chapters divided by possible disaster, as well as possible evolutionary processes derived from them, offer hope as well as management and recovery insights. 

Take the chapter on 'Technological Disasters.' This examines the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown, Japan's Fukushima disaster, and the wide-ranging domino effects of political and scientific snafus that led to changes in how the world not only viewed nuclear power, but obtained its reactors ("The downfall of German and Japanese nuclear plant builders following Fukushima opened up the world market to reactors manufactured by China and Russia."). 

"Eventually technology will fail." And when it does so on epic scales, changes inevitably follow—not just in ideologies, but in scientific and political pursuits and the economics of supply chains influenced by technology's failings. 

To err is human, and the human factors involved in many of these disasters cannot be ignored any more than the wisdom of better mitigating risk posed by infrastructure decision-making and management. 

The mentality in engineering philosophy is examined, its incarnation in the world considered, and the human component of creating or managing disasters is astutely presented in an astute blend of unexpected wry humor, unerring analysis, and thought-provoking presentations of engineers and scientists who work hand-in-hand to address disaster scenarios and outcomes. 

Surprisingly, the ultimate effect of The Blessings of Disaster is to offer hope and new considerations of the ultimate world-changing effects of disaster management. 

Libraries and readers interested in considering these perspectives in a lively history of hot spots and lethal subjects will find that The Blessings of Disaster offers plenty of solid science, engineering, and food for thought and debate. 

The Blessings of Disaster

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Box of Birds
Stephen Stowers M.D.
Independently Published
979-8-9871442-0-6                $15.99 Paper/$2.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Box-Birds-Zealand-practice-medicine/dp/B0CB9BBSWX 

Box of Birds comes from a New Zealand cardiologist who reflects on the nature of his work, its moral and ethical conundrums, and how medical work and visions have gone awry in the U.S., which led him to travel to New Zealand to a better vision of medical management and efforts. 

His journey from practicing in the U.S. medical system to New Zealand led to startling revelations—not the least of which is that New Zealand has better patient outcomes, yet spends less money on healthcare. 

The journey from education and internship to facing cardiology crises and learning from individual situations and corporate edicts makes for an especially intriguing memoir that delves into moral and ethical areas most physician memoirs skirt. 

His personal life encounters, including experiences of nature and its force, juxtapose nicely with the medical world he encounters in New Zealand to add depth to his story. While this might give pause for thought to readers interested in medical politics and issues alone, Box of Birds isn't just about the practice of medicine. It's about the practice of life. 

Especially eye-opening are revelations about medical management and physician and researcher freedoms which allow for a greater degree of creative problem-solving in New Zealand's atmosphere than in the U.S.: 

"Only by working in New Zealand, where I was given time to pursue original research and where I had the chance to work in a medical system that pri­oritized conservation of limited resources, was I able to contrib­ute to insights that would help change the field of cardiology." 

Box of Birds thus synthesizes the final points in life, medical treatments and systems, and physician and researcher edicts to operate on strong moral and ethical grounds. 

Libraries and readers interested in accounts of alternative medical systems in the world and how they compare to U.S. approaches to healthcare will find Box of Birds suitable for not just personal enlightenment, but discussion groups interested in debating medical community systems and real-world experiences that hold alternative, successful approaches. 

Box of Birds

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The Finer Things Club
Lauren Erickson
Muse Literary
978-1958714966
$24.99 Hardcover/$14.99 Paper/$4.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Finer-Things-Club-Yellowstone-Housekeeping/dp/1958714968 

The Finer Things Club: The Summertime Chronicles of a Yellowstone Housekeeping Employee is a memoir about self-discovery during two seasons of work in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. It outlines a journey that led the 20-year-old author to reconsider her future and the values she held in her life. 

This is a survey of wilderness influence that is akin to Thoreau in some ways as Lauren Erickson observes the nuances of nature, learns to journal her true feelings sans the overlay of civilization's influences and expectations, then shares these insights with others. Her two seasons of work in Yellowstone are the main highlight, so this book departs from the usual nature chronicle by including many interpersonal encounters and inspections that Erickson honed while working with the staff at Yellowstone National Park. 

At times, the tone of inspection and revelation are almost poetic: 

"I could feel my heart sigh—I didn’t realize it had been holding its breath. Finally being able to speak like a poet, like a writer, to another person held so much meaning for me. The only connections I ever felt were to the words in the pages of my books, spoken by brilliant authors, who knew what it meant to look at life up close and ask the deeper questions: What do you really want to say? What did that experience really mean for you? Who do you really want to say those things to?" 

From encounters with grizzlies and tourists to co-workers and shared experiences, Erickson moves through this world and revised life with insights and growth experiences that come from the duality of a manmade venture set within the boundless opportunities of a national park. 

Under her hand, the politics, psychology, and processes of maintaining a park for tourists and nature alike come to life as vividly as the relationships she cultivates both outside and within herself. 

Erickson is at her finest when revealing the deeper questions and answers that come from taking risks and navigating new territory without getting lost. 

Libraries and readers seeking powerfully-written memoirs about summer work in general and the processes of working in a national park in particular (an attractive option for many young adults) will find The Finer Things Club exposes the nitty-gritty of what can be experienced during temporary summer employment, and what happens when a young adult decides to walk out of a comfort zone and into a new environment. 

The Finer Things Club

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Hair Goes History
J.D. Taylor
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-896-2         $18.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

Hair Goes History: How Hair Enhancement Has Shaped the Arc and Trembling Hand of History should be considered general interest and cultural history collections. It creates a lively, uncommon link between hair and history that surveys the wide-ranging impact that hair, appearance, and augmentation efforts have had on key figures, decisions, and historical events. 

J.D. Taylor tends to make his wide-ranging survey even wider, at times, by including many damning insights about Trump, commenting on the politics and hairpieces of major influencers, writers, and movers and shakers, and incorporating hair themes into broader historical observations: 

"Sabato has authored over 20 books on political history; a quality volume on President John F. Kennedy, being one fairly recent tome. Sabato’s now graying-black left-parted, but brief hairpiece appears more authentic than in the past. His lavish black mustache is likewise a fixture of his persona." 

From military and sports hair to global crisis, Taylor propels his account with inspections of how hair has represented and influenced some of the major figures of human history. Initially inspired by the results of the 2016 election, Taylor moves his observation into wider-ranging territory:

"I witnessed a diabolical manifestation of a left-parted orange hairpiece surfacing as the next president (without savoir faire) of the United States. Then crashing reality set in: hair systems have had a momentous repercussion on the dawning of human history." 

Some might say Taylor's links between history and hair are tenuous, at times, with historical commentary assuming a larger proportion of time than the hair-related history links. 

However, Hair Goes History is recommended for readers interested in a wider-ranging discussion than most history books tackle. Where else can a reader receive insights into comic book heroes, aliens, splashy figures of myth and legend, and modern and historical political processes that are all linked by hair and appearance? 

Hair Goes History

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Herocrats: A Guide for Government Workers Leading Change 
Allison Bell 
WiseInk
978-1-63489-641-2                $17.95
www.wiseink.com 

Herocrats: A Guide for Government Workers Leading Change describes government workers on the cutting edge of radical approaches to government accountability and management processes. It offers a satisfying new alternative to the perception of government workers as being little more than bureaucrats looking out for their own special interests. 

Allison Bell encourages government employees to step up into their own "superpowers" no matter what their level of involvement in government, surveying the abilities such ordinary heroes could provide and promoting a different form of leadership by example that taps both personal values and the government's existing structure. 

From building relationships to shift power to identifying common "supertraps" that immerse workers in supporting systems that have little moral grounding, Bell creates and promotes ideas anyone at any level can employ: 

"In the last chapter, we discussed the importance of building and maintaining your herocrats network. Weaving the web is a light and easy form of that ... Weaving the web is about frequently and consistently making connec­tions. 

If "grassroots" were to be identified not ideologically, but in real-world operations, Herocrats would fit the bill for a step-by-step workbook on how to enact positive, ongoing change. Baby steps lead to bigger-picture transformations, Bell maintains as she links individual purpose, perspective, and actions to these government-changing efforts. 

Readers might believe that change comes primarily from strong connections, extraordinary efforts, and big drives for power and control. Bell here promotes a series of approaches that, together, build a network of actions that support positive visions of community and government empowerment. 

This notion is just what is needed in the milieu of modern times, where powerlessness keeps people from acting in personal, workplace, and political endeavors. 

Ideally, Herocrats: A Guide for Government Workers Leading Change will be part of any government worker's reading; included in all kinds of libraries interested in activism, change, and government processes; and, most of all, profiled in book club and debate and discussion groups interested in the nuts and bolts of enacting community- and then nation-wide change. 

"It can take courage in these environments to be vulnerable and place oneself in a learning position. But that is exactly what we need to do. We need to get over ourselves and our egos and listen to our community members without judgment or defensiveness. This is how we will learn, grow, and eventually put together solutions that create positive change in our communities." 

Herocrats: A Guide for Government Workers Leading Change 

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Please Write
Lynne M. Kolze
Beaver's Pond Press
978-1-64343-673-9
         $31.95 Hardcover/$9.99 ebook
Website: www.LynneMKolze.com
Ordering: https://bookshop.org/p/books/please-write-finding-joy-and-meaning-in-the-soulful-art-of-handwritten-letters-lynne-kolze/20034693?ean=9781643436739   

Please Write: Finding Joy and Meaning in the Soulful Art of Handwritten Letters makes a case for handwritten letters as an important source for communication even in a digital age, tapping personal experience, anecdotes, and the enthusiasm of avid fellow letter-writers to make its case. 

From why putting ink to page creates a different legacy and feel than a phone call or email to different kinds of writings that inspire not only connection, but art, Lynne M. Kolze reviews the history, methods, and purposes of effective letter-writing using a lively voice that will inspire readers to cultivate their own letter-writing skills and circles. 

Kolze makes a powerful case for choosing writing over dashing out an email: 

"Today, emails work well to convey one’s homesick feelings to those back home, yet something profound is missing when the recipient cannot touch or see the paper that tangibly holds those thoughts. Electronic messages give us little to hold on to—we cannot feel the paper that our loved ones held themselves or perhaps even kissed or cried over before sending them home. We can too easily lose the special flourishes, creativity, and soul of the writer when we convert our analog writing into digital communications. Thankfully, there are still letter enthusiasts and volunteers who put pen to paper for military men and women, bringing joy to homesick souls." 

Such writings can be embellished by cartoons, quotes, or even small pieces of nature tucked within their envelopes. 

From antique postcards and the works of postcard enthusiasts to seasonal letter-writing and tapping the wellsprings of written inspiration to inject self and a sense of place into the world, Kolze provides an inspirational blueprint for better understanding the power of the pen and why writing should remain relevant in these modern digital times. 

Libraries and readers interested in the history and incarnation of letter-writing efforts will find Please Write a passionate, lively celebration that will make one wish to run to the mailbox in hopes of discovering the joy of something handwritten and personal inside. 

Please Write

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Reflective Meditation: Cultivating Kindness and Curiosity in the Buddha’s Company 
Linda Modaro and Nelly Kaufer
Precocity Press
979-8-9877766-7-4         $15.95
https://www.amazon.com/Reflective-Meditation-Cultivating-Kindness-Curiosity/dp/B0C6BWWCCZ 

Reflective Meditation: Cultivating Kindness and Curiosity in the Buddha’s Company encourages and provokes conversation and reflective meditation. This offers a different perspective and approach to not just enlightened thinking and feeling, but dialogue. 

A fine prologue synthesizes the practice's results by narrating the experience of Kim Henderson, who observed her good friend (and founder of Sati Sangha) Linda Modaro's immersion in a practice she called ‘recollective awareness’. As Kim observed the impact and life-altering results of this meditative process, she was encouraged by her friend to pursue the practice through mentor Nelly Kaufer, a fellow recollective awareness meditation teacher and the founder of Pine Street Sangha in Portland, Oregon. 

The candid story of how this initial observation and interest turned into participation in an easy, yet life-changing experience, opens with an introduction that informs spiritual seekers about the opportunities and processes of a different form of meditation. 

The first unusual aspect of this approach is the authors' collaborative focus on the meditative experience. They gather the voices and insights of others around them, sharing collective wisdom in an accessible and lively manner: 

"We have ongoing conversations with meditators about their experiences. In our groups meditators get to listen to and learn from one another. Throughout this book we share these voices from our community, at times with a kind and curious response. This is how we interact when we teach." 

The dialogue portion of the practice is just as essential for understanding and success as the meditative process itself. Conversations about experience, intention, mindfulness, and more permeate insights about the bigger-picture thinking meditation can unfold in a dance of mental origami: 

"It takes courage to be self-honest, but in fact that is one of the main teachings. In Pāli a sappurisa is an honest person. Someone who is true to themselves, to others, authentic, and becomes comfortable in their own skin. Many of us don’t start with these characteristics; right off the bat we’re trying too hard to improve and not acknowledging our starting points. We’re under so much pressure to look good when we put ourselves out in the world, especially these days if we’re engaged in social media. It’s hard to be aware of and value our own self-honest experience in meditation when we’re always trying to change it, or others are telling us to change it, or when conditions get in the way." 

From considerations of Buddhist concepts of vulnerability and suffering to how meditators grapple with challenging characteristics of existence and experience, Linda Modaro and Nelly Kaufer craft a dialogue of possibilities that ultimately transcends much of the average reader's concepts of what meditative practices can reveal. 

Reflective Meditation is a powerful dialogue that, in turn, deserves not just library acquisition and individual thought, but hopefully results in conversations and interactions among different types of communities as thinkers, spiritual seekers, teachers, and ordinary people come together to explore elements of growth and kindness in their lives, and its incarnation in the world. 

Reflective Meditation: Cultivating Kindness and Curiosity in the Buddha’s Company 

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Work-Life Bloom: How to Nurture a Team That Flourishes
Dan Pontefract
Figure 1 Publishing
1773272225                   $24.95

https://www.amazon.com/Work-Life-Bloom-Nurture-Team-Flourishes/dp/1773272225 

Work-Life Bloom: How to Nurture a Team That Flourishes is a study in career moves, nurturing talent, and moving from individual to group achievement. It hones its examples through a combination of real-life case histories and surveys of how teams succeed and fail, offering a series of lessons no business reader should be without. 

The first strength to note in Work-Life Bloom is that its contentions rise above the usual 'blueprint for leadership' to address many of the underlying reasons of why teams often begin with great ideals, but fail to live up to their promise. 

Dan Pontefract speaks of many influencers to this process; not the least of which is attitude and the perception of team member potential: 

"It’s critical to remember that many great ideas are not necessarily great at first glance but, like Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, could be impactful over time. Your team members might not create something as noteworthy as a bestselling album, but if you value them, you appreciate and recognize their contributions and ideas. You value their input, extra effort, and desire for open conversations. No matter what people do at your organization, you must believe that they have something to contribute, and therefore they must be valued." 

Another big 'plus' that sets this book apart from the usual team-building title is its attention to linking individual psyches and experiences with group and business intention. In this environment, leadership can take a stand and make a difference not just in business but in personal life outcomes: 

"It is clear that social community has declined over the past several years. With that decline comes both concern and opportunity. You ought to be concerned, because a lonely person in life is likely to be a lonely worker. And, as we’ve discovered, loneliness is a costly expense. However, on the glass-half-full front, you can create the conditions at work that allow a team member to feel part of something." 

Pontefract connects important dots between life influence, personal experience, and business and team leadership challenges. The result is more multifaceted than most team-building business titles, offering solutions and observations that stem from acknowledging the interconnected opportunities and pitfalls that lie between individual members, leaders, and group efforts: 

"Agency arrives through autonomy when people are permitted to ideate and act, bolstered by their ability to make informed, uncoerced decisions. That’s why I’ve made it a life-factor. If we can apply agency in our lives—as we should—how do we use those same constructs of agency at work?" 

Business libraries and readers that choose Work-Life Bloom: How to Nurture a Team That Flourishes should look at its bigger picture promise; for it offers not just another treatise on team-building, but revised approaches for interacting with and supporting people through life. 

This earns the book not just high recommendation, but should propel it off library shelves and into the hands of readers and book clubs interested in vivid examples worthy of debate and discussion. 

Work-Life Bloom: How to Nurture a Team That Flourishes

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Young Adult/Childrens

Becky's Choice: A Ghost's Story
Diane Green
DCG Books
979-8-9865899-9-2         $12.95
Publisher: www.dcgbooks.com
Ordering:
amazon.com/dp/B0C97ZRWGB  

Becky's Choice: A Ghost's Story is another Becky Chalmers story for ages 13 and older. It promises a ghostly plot, but adds in unexpected romance and intrigue to embed Becky's story with many attractive elements. 

History and mystery collide when Becky, now fifteen, explores the New Jersey State Archives with her historian uncle, only to unearth a ghost haunting the annex's hallway. 

The ghost presents Becky with story embedded with a dilemma and tragedy, opening with a smooth recap of the six-member family's structure to set the stage for newcomers to Becky's world who may be unfamiliar with her prior exploits. 

At this point, it should be noted that this is a faith-based series that will especially interest Christian readers. References embrace this fact as Becky confronts not only revised reality, but her own fears: 

"Becky was home in Yardley. She was moved deeply by Lily’s story, and she slept restlessly. She was sweating in her bed. Becky dared not move. “I belong to Jesus Christ,” she whispered over and over again. Was it a witch, a werewolf, or Minnie’s ghost that was under her bed?" 

Its survey of life (and afterlife) challenges includes considerations of bigger-picture thinking about ethics and morals as Becky enters into unfamiliar territory that forces her to make some unusual choices. 

Another notable facet of the story is that intrigue and history are crafted in just under a hundred pages. This will especially draw reluctant readers who typically eschew complicated plots or long-winded descriptions, as well as modern generations attracted to shorter works that pack a punch. 

Becky's family interactions also take center stage, which creates a fuller-flavored story than most writings for this age group, which focus on young protagonists who seem to be alone in their quests for truth and their adventures. Family is not far in the background of Becky's world, here. 

The result is a compelling brand of entertainment and thought-provoking historical mystery that both adds to the Becky Chalmers experience (and series) and stands nicely alone for newcomers. 

Libraries and readers seeking a story that pulls through its vivid, realistic focus on problem-solving and achievement will find Becky's Choice: A Ghost's Story notable and worthy of pursuit. 

Becky's Choice: A Ghost's Story

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The Devil Particle
Kristin A. Oakley
Independently Published
979-8-9878703       Paperback - $15.99; EBook - $4.99
https://amzn.to/3qwWQtr 

The Devil Particle is a young adult dystopian survival story that presents a very different take on a new world order in which evil has not only been banished, but identified and contained. In this world, scientists have discovered a way of protecting humanity from imploding under its own violence—but this comes with a big price tag, requiring one individual to 'contain' all this violence within themselves. 

In this scenario, serving in such a role is not just desirable, but applauded. That's why teen Paul Salvage enters the competition to be The Devil Particle Vessel, and why he draws back when violence destroys his own family before he can compete in the Trials to become a world-saving hero. 

In a struggle reminiscent of The Hunger Games for its focus on a new world order and a competition which holds underlying forces and realizations a teen must uncover to survive, The Devil Particle performs a neat slight of hand. Paul's mission and those of teens around him become a journey of new realizations and shocking truths about good, evil, and options in the matter of world salvation. 

Kristin A. Oakley embeds her story with the particles of realization and moral and ethical quandary which bring Paul and his peers to life. Oakley is especially adept at portraying life-changing situations which demand extraordinary responses and choices from these young adults: 

"I look down at Rune dangling from my hand. Do I let her go? Could I? Would that save Jaelyn, Gaige, and me? I don’t know. But it might buy Jaelyn enough time to reach the twelfth floor. If I hang on to Rune, can we all make it? As if in answer, I hear loud pops as the ladder’s bolts give way. There isn’t much time. I’ve got to save Jaelyn. That’s all that matters. I have to let Rune go." 

The process of making hard decisions based on impossible circumstances that both test interpersonal connections and redefine good and evil intention results in a riveting story that is all the more powerfully displayed by its use of the first person to reveal Paul's thoughts. As Paul finds himself in competition with those he loves, he comes to realize the deeper impact of this effort to contain evil. 

As issues of personal and worldwide survival vie with questions of reality and perception, Oakley creates an action-packed story filled with higher-level thinking and messages that will lead young adult audiences to debate and consider their own impacts on life and the world around them. 

Libraries and readers interested in spirited, thought-provoking teen dystopian stories that hold the feel of The Hunger Games but notch up the ethical and moral dilemma factor will find The Devil Particle equally (perhaps even more) compelling. 

The Devil Particle

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The Extraordinary Adventures of an Ordinary Girl
E. Grayson
Many Realms Media
979-8360043393            $12.99 Paper/$3.99 ebook
Website: www.ManyRealmsMedia.com 
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Extraordinary-Adventures-Ordinary-Girl/dp/B0BW2GWG3F 

Middle grade readers who choose The Extraordinary Adventures of an Ordinary Girl for leisure reading are in for a treat, because Clara Frank's journal of her life-changing experiences entering middle school will mirror many of the hopes, expectations, and experiences of young readers in the same situation. 

Clara has read many books about middle school and the often-unwelcome changes it introduces. Her parents aren't helpful in reviewing their own memories—in fact, her father cautions that "high school will be worse," which does nothing to address the overwhelming feelings Clara is experiencing now. 

Her normally-wise mother holds the opinion that, somehow, Clara is extraordinary. How she grows into this promise, navigates middle school's challenges, and faces unpredictable and daunting adversities in everything that previously felt set in life (even her family) is the topic of compellingly rich, honest account cemented by the confessional tone of Clara's diary entries. 

E. Grayson creates a compelling portrait that reflects the increasingly jaded worldview of a girl whose life is buffeted by too many changes all at once. This leads to her candid reflection that "Life sucks and then you die, I guess." 

How Clara grows to realize there is more to living than survival alone makes for a story that is filled with questions, answers, and observations that lend to her growth in extraordinary ways. Couched in the pages of a personal story, Clara's progression is replete with psychological growth that starts and stops in fits of frustration and new realizations: 

"Maybe I'd misjudged them? Maybe they really did miss me and want to be my friend? Maybe they'd only been rude before because they were jealous...?" 

Clara's awakenings will serve as thought-provoking moments for many a middle grade reader, and also offer fodder for discussion groups as she tackles vastly revised life experiences. Her moves to attempting to be more grown-up in her perceptions dovetails nicely with the situations that force her to move forward with new reactions to her life. 

The result is a completely engrossing, memorable account of not one, but many life transitions affecting young Clara's world and its promise. 

Libraries and middle grade readers seeking an evocative, realistic survey to the tune of Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret and other fictional attractions will find the combination of strong characterization, an intimate diary format, and a series of changing situations to be compelling and revealing, making The Extraordinary Adventures of an Ordinary Girl a top recommendation for this age group. 

The Extraordinary Adventures of an Ordinary Girl

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Find Me in Time: Mission Apollo
L.T. Caton
Find Me In Time IP Holdings, LLC
978-8-9873961-3-1                $10.24
www.findmeintime.com 

The second book in the Find Me in Time series, Mission Apollo, brings middle grade readers to the Tree House Club's second adventure—following the moon landing via a personal experience of time travel. 

Aaron, Emma, Ashley, Keith, and Harry embark on a journey that brings them to Mission Control and the making of the Apollo mission, but spies and intrigue emerge to affect not only the moon landing effort, but the history and involvement of the kids. 

L.T. Caton contrasts real efforts made in the moon landing with a scenario in which five proactive children find themselves personally engaged in the making of history. 

The first-person story is replete with science, a "you are here" feel revolving around the Apollo mission, and the special abilities of savvy kids to observe things the adults around them tend to miss: 

"As I turned my head from the TV back to the big video screen in the control room, I noticed something strange. A man sitting right at the back of the room was pulling at his earlobe. Now, moving restlessly wouldn’t have been strange at all, but the way he was doing it caught my eye. You know when someone’s doing something they shouldn’t, but they’re trying to be super-casual about it? We’ve all done that ‘nothing to see here, folks’ act—I guess most adults wouldn’t notice it. Kids, though, are tuned in to that kind of behavior." 

From connections between Apollo and civil rights efforts to the milieu of the 60s and struggles for equality and achievement, many of the underlying social patterns of the past are also revealed as the kids observe and learn new things. 

Caton's ability to bring history to life through the young observers' eyes and experiences makes this second book in the time travel series just as compelling and educational as the first. 

Libraries and readers seeking time travel journeys that involve proactive kids of the future becoming actively involved in outcomes of the past will find Mission Apollo displays the mantle of a mystery, the power of history, and the emotional connections of kids who do more than quietly observe the past. They actively engage with it—thus participating in their futures. 

Find Me in Time: Mission Apollo

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Iora and the Realm of Legends
Arefa Tehsin
Crimson Dragon Publishing

978-1-644644-41-3                $14.99 Paper/$3.99 ebook
www.crimsondragonpublishing.com 

Young adult readers of epic fantasy and adventure who look for stories embedded with these elements and solid, compelling young characters will find Iora and the Realm of Legends a gripping read. 

It holds a simple query: what if an evil rainforest legend escapes into the real world? And what if a tag team of twelve-year-olds who have entered the arena of rainforest legends are the only force that can stop it? 

In this story, Iora, the Spirit of the Jungle, is called upon to help the Angels and force the evil to retreat. 

The tale opens with reflections on this evil force, then moves to Iora, Owlus, and Chinar, who are charged with thwarting its move into reality from the fantasy realm. 

The story's complex setting and contention might confuse kids at first, but Arefa Tehsin creates compelling characters whose special interests and force power through any initial complexity: 

“It’s a very rare happening, you know, to escape from a story. I couldn’t understand for a while how I had entered the real world. Luckily, I found a cave to hide in. To my surprise and terror, I saw Enchantra A, the story keeper witch. And, you know, it was just out of habit that I stole the root from her. I didn’t even know it was the key to the Realm of Legends until she caught me yesterday and …" 

Losing the battle would mean that the trio becomes trapped in this realm, to become legends themselves. 

As a series of encounters mingle to create avenues of confusion and new possibility for the trio, young readers will find the potentials and promises of this realm to be as inviting as considerations of its impact on the broader environment outside its borders. 

Tehsin creates an inviting fantasy journey through legends and lore that tests the three young characters as well as the Inventor's narrative. 

Iora and the Realm of Legends is Book 2 of the Iora’s Adventure Series (Book 1 is Iora and the Quest of Five). 

Libraries and middle school readers seeking a vivid fantasy that weaves adventure with insights about family and friendship connections will find the quest presented Iora and the Realm of Legends a captivating read that traverses new opportunities and perceptions of changing the world and confronting evil forces. 

Iora and the Realm of Legends

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Mother Nature Nursery Rhymes
Mindy Bingham, Penelope Colville Paine and Sandy Stryker
Paper Posie Publishing Company
978-0-9707944-9-9         $19.95 Hardcover/$14.95 Paper
Website: http://www.paperposie.com
Ordering: https://amzn.to/3qktPl1 

This picture book treasure of environmentally aware nursery rhymes originally appeared in 1990, but remains as relevant to young audiences of modern times as it did in the past. It's a delight to see it reincarnated in 2023 in a lovely presentation illustrated with equally compelling and timeless art by Itoko Maeno. 

The poetic approach to plants, animals, and the natural world brings each to life with a delicate twist of rhyme and insight that helps early learners absorb the basics about environmental importance and preservation. Today, more than ever, this inviting message needs to fall upon young ears; not deaf ones. 

Read-aloud adults will find these twists on familiar nursery rhymes to be enlightening and educational, as well. Take the classic 'Little Miss Muffet' for an idea of how nature, here, is represented as being appealing rather than threatening: 

"Little Miss Muffet
Sat on her tuffet
Eating a berry sorbet
Along came a spider
Who sat down beside her
To frighten the houseflies away."
 

Readers might initially question why such approaches are tailored to babies and the very young, who are hardly in the position of becoming even early advocates. The reason is: because these are the future stewards of the world. There is no inappropriate time for starting this education and appreciation, much less developing cognizance about the importance of the world beyond human use and intentions. 

This is why the compelling rhymes and focus of Mother Nature Nursery Rhymes not only needs, but deserves a place in any child's library. Its ability to gently instruct and cultivate a better attitude towards nature and its appreciation and preservation can't be introduced at a young enough age. 

Mother Nature Nursery Rhymes

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The New Lizard Queen
Mark M. Even
Cresting Wave Publishing
978-1-956048-21-6         $9.49 Paper/$1.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/New-Lizard-Queen-Dragonstone-Story/dp/1956048219 

The New Lizard Queen is the third book in the Dragonstone Story for advanced elementary to middle-grade fantasy readers. It continues the saga of Mandy Mandez and her cousins, who continue to employ their extraordinary abilities in unusual ways. Their ability to fight crime alongside the FBI returns them from Storyworld (where they honed their powers in previous books) to the real world, where they continue their education by using their powers in new ways. 

Overviews of events in the first two books lend to a feeling of continuity for previous readers and a foundation of knowledge for newcomers to better understand or recall Mandy's family and evolving strengths. 

The stage is nicely set for the confrontations they experience in The New Lizard Queen, where a concurrent series of crises, from the rise of terrorists led by an evil sorceress to astronauts trapped on the moon, challenge them to determine where and how their abilities will best be utilized. 

From the dragonstone's ability to help these young heroes transform to alter-egos to gun-smugglers and giant lizards, the wizards and witches that permeate this story are varied and many as Mandy and her cohorts face battles, magical forces, and the lasting impact of their efforts: 

"Everyone was wary of talking with her as she continued to answer with emotional outbursts each time someone mentioned the battle in Macau. Each night, Mandy would leave the family and return to Parasol. Sometimes, she would sit on the outer landing and watch the sunset in the west, causing colors of oranges and purples in the sky. But after nightfall, she would scan the stars above, looking for some sign of what was to become of her life." 

The New Lizard Queen's special brand of rollicking adventure is especially recommended for fantasy readers interested in a blend of epic confrontation and life-changing decisions that grow the participants in different ways. 

Libraries and readers seeking a series that sizzles with battles and magical insights into life's adversity will find The New Lizard Queen an attractive read that's hard to put down. 

The New Lizard Queen

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Nursery Rhymes for Kinder Times - Volume 1
Pam Gittleman
Mascot Kids
978-1637558010            $18.95
https://www.amazon.com/Nursery-Rhymes-Kinder-Times-1/dp/1637558015 

Nursery Rhymes for Kinder Times - Volume 1 reforms the classic blind mice rhyme into 'Three Kind Mice,' whose objective is to help others get cheese, say 'please', and identify their emotions, telling adults how they feel to mitigate negativity and encourage communications. 

In addition to Three Kind Mice, the book includes additional updated rhymes, allowing it to branch out and illustrate other acts of kindness, such as picking sweet roses for Grandma and Teacher in "Ring Around Sweet Roses." 

Other kids get into the mix as they help Humpty Dumpty and appreciate the artistic efforts of peers, with the introductory mice often coming out from hiding to present kids with find-the-mouse activity. 

A facing page of emojis to each story encourages kids to think about how they would react to others and how they can identify feelings and show appreciation and gratitude to others. 

The result is a fine collection that updates eight classic nursery rhymes to use the familiar to explore areas of kindness, empathy and gratitude for the very young. 

Educators and parents who choose Nursery Rhymes for Kinder Times - Volume 1 will find it attractive for its many opportunities to explore higher-level thinking about emotions and actions with preschoolers. 

Nursery Rhymes for Kinder Times - Volume 1

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Sammy & Scarlett's Coral Reef Adventure
Robert Andrew Provan
Archway Publishing
978-1-6657-3931-3
$30.95 Hardcover/$20.95 Paper/$2.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Sammy-Scarletts-Coral-Reef-Adventure/dp/1665739320 

Sammy & Scarlett's Coral Reef Adventure takes place in the Florida Keys and involves a visit to the barrier reefs that lie off Florida's Eastern coast. The perspective presented in this adventure comes not from human children, but from a fish duo who explore their water world with an eye to revealing its ecology, other underwater denizens, and its natural history. 

Robert Andrew Provan pairs an anthropomorphic perspective with nature facts to create an attractive story filled with natural history insights about the area. The fishy adventures and encounters come to life under illustrator Mary Wentzel's hand, adding colorful visual attraction to Sammy and Scarlett's encounters: 

"Always remember—late in the afternoon, when the sun is low in the sky, the barracudas and sharks begin feeding. You must always seek hiding places late in the day and at night, or you may be eaten.” 

Elementary-level readers will find that this survey of coral reefs offers a different, more intimate perspective about undersea life and human influences on its quality and nature. Provan injects ecological impact concerns seamlessly into the fish world, so the impact of plastic bags in the ocean (for one example) hits home harder than it would in a typically nonfictional survey of ocean life and ecology. 

By personalizing the coral reef world and presenting it through the eyes of a pair of fishy adventurers, Provan creates a compelling world that comes to life in a more personal way than most undersea natural histories allow. 

Libraries and educators will thus find that Sammy & Scarlett's Coral Reef Adventure embraces many themes of ecology and ocean preservation that will prove key to better understanding, couched in the form of an adventure tale that will widely appeal to young audiences. 

Sammy & Scarlett's Coral Reef Adventure

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Stars & Swashbucklers
Lilah Fitzgerald
DartFrog Books
978-1959096641           
$24.17 Hardcover/$15.99 Paper/$5.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Stars-Swashbucklers-Last-Montmorency-Saga/dp/1959096648 

Stars & Swashbucklers is a young adult steampunk story written by a teen who is largely involved in the world of professional dance. Her equal prowess at the written word and an exceptionally creative take on a futuristic scenario in which Earth has been broken up into space 'islands' makes for a compelling, visionary story that is a standout for not only its setting and action, but its humor. 

Lilah Fitzgerald exhibits this wry sense of humor from the start as she presents an alluring advertisement for the maiden space voyage of the starship Halthow, as narrated by 'average girl' Anya Marcox. She longs to be a privateer searching for Earth's relics from before The Breaking across space, but this is an extraordinarily dangerous profession which also attracts monsters—and one her brother would never allow. 

The island-hopping airship journey she is embarking on will bring her in direct conflict with this vision of being 'ordinary' and will also place her in a dangerous position of becoming an active participant in the greatest treasure hunt of all when an encounter with an alluring stranger draws her from her steerage passage into the heart of danger. 

Fitzgerald's first-person story represents a powerful foray into the unexpected as a four-hour journey that will lead to a new home turns into something very different. 

From the nightmares that haunt Anya's dreams to the reality that plagues her choices and footsteps, young adults will find themselves thoroughly and quickly immersed in a world supercharged not just by confrontations with monsters, but by new realizations about connections between upbringing and strengths. 

As Anya keeps new secrets, considers another's promise to keep her safe, and experiences sea changes in perceptions and involvements, readers will find her encounters and realizations breathtakingly captivating: 

"I know what kind of life Dax lives, what his role in the Cavil Bros. entails, but that doesn’t make it any less unsettling to hear it mentioned so casually. It’s so easy to forget that the boy in front of me could kill me in less than ten seconds if he felt like it. So easy to forget how wholly different from him I am." 

"Average lives for average girls." This thought powers the story and constantly reminds Anya of her initial lessons in life, but as she moves further and further away from their meaning, she discovers an impact and adventure she never could have foreseen for herself. 

Neither will readers—and the added value of this element of surprise and growth makes Stars & Swashbucklers a strong recommendation for libraries and young adult readers seeking exceptional pairings of action and self-realization in the sci-fi and steampunk worlds. 

Stars & Swashbucklers

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There Are Dinosaurs in the Library!
A.G. Allen
Independently Published
979-8-9882939-1-0         $18.95 Hardcover/$17.95 Paper
www.agallen.me 

There Are Dinosaurs in the Library! presents Library Day, which is a day young Alyssa particularly hates. But, how can you hate the library when there are dinosaurs in it? 

Wise teacher Mrs. Barker leads a very skeptical child to the library and introduces a dinosaur book, which doesn't impress Alyssa at all. Until a confused-looking stegosaurus leaps out of a book, leading a group of dinos to invade. 

Not one to let leadership assume responsibility, Alyssa makes her move, introducing disaster into the scenario. 

A.G. Allen creates a picture book story that is inviting and surprising on different levels as Alyssa receives some lessons on the library's attractions and Mrs. Barker's powers. 

Vivid, colorful illustrations by Octavio Cordova seals the deal with inviting spectacles that will earn the delight and attention of young picture book readers and read-aloud parents looking for whimsical, fun lessons about dinos and library attractions. 

With its very different form of magic, There Are Dinosaurs in the Library! stands out as a lovely adventure with several messages about adaptation, escapades, and the possibilities of entering a book's inviting world. 

There Are Dinosaurs in the Library!

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Vermilion Sunrise
Lydia P. Brownlow
Warren Publishing
978-1-960146-34-2      
$33.95 Hardcover/$20.99 Paper/$6.49 ebook
www.warrenpublishing.net 

Young adult readers seeking stories that embrace elements of sci-fi paired with thriller components will welcome the fast-paced action and intrigue that permeates seventeen-year-old Leigh's new world in Vermilion Sunrise. 

"She’d never wanted to leave Earth. And yet, here she was—ninety-nine trillion kilometers from home. Part of humanity’s initial settlement in a distant solar system, a colonization effort undertaken by teenagers because no one else could survive the cryosleep." 

The story opens with a compelling bang: Leigh awakens nauseous, covered in peach slime, and confused about her situation. She's in a cryorecovery room awakening from a long sleep, and has traveled ten light-years from home to be among the first colonists in a new world. She's been sleeping for thirteen years, and her memories have been stolen. All she knows is that she needs to go home... 

Lydia P. Brownlow embeds her story with mystery and discovery. These two components drive Leigh's life towards unexpected discoveries as she interacts with fellow teen colonists and redefines what "home" really means. 

The new world may not be as new and unsullied as they expected, however. It brings with it new discoveries, realizations about their past and future, and even new journeys washed by the possibility of memories that will fill in the blanks and reveal the truth of their mission and lives. 

Brownlow also injects philosophical, deeper-level thinking into the story which adds value with its thought-provoking insights: 

"She’d been the one to say, 'I think we should go,' but when she’d said it, she hadn’t thought about how going in search of one thing meant leaving something else behind. She still thought they should go. But it was harder to leave than she’d imagined." 

All these elements make Vermilion Sunrise a standout in teen sci-fi reading. As Leigh and Lex uncover their realities and destinies, young adults will find their saga compelling and hard to put down. 

Libraries seeking exceptionally powerful stories of new beginnings, new connections, and old truths will find Vermilion Sunrise a welcome collection addition.

Vermilion Sunrise

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