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Able Greenspan's Bookshelf
Missouri Railroads: A Modern Crossroads 1921-2023
Don L. Hofsommer, author
Carlos Arnaldo Schwantes, author
Indiana University Press
https://iupress.org
9780253072856, $55.00, HC, 310pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Missouri-Railroads-Crossroads-1921-2023-Present/dp/0253072859
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/missouri-railroads-don-l-hofsommer/1146027507
Synopsis: Co-authored by Don L. Hofsommer and Carlos Arnaldo Schwantes, "Missouri Railroads: A Modern Crossroads 1921-2023" delves into the rich history of Missouri's railroads during their second century. From the roaring 1920s, when opulent "Limited" passenger trains crisscrossed the state, to the tumultuous times of the Great Depression and World War II, this exceptional study fully captures the essence of an era.
As the postwar years unfolded, Missouri's railroads faced realignments and challenges. The mid-twentieth century witnessed shifts in routes, technologies, and passenger preferences. Against this backdrop, "Missouri Railroads" explores how the railroads adapted in the face of uncertainty. Stunning historical images (over 100 in color) visualize this transformative period and bring this railroading history to the present day.
"Missouri Railroads" goes beyond the history of a single state and its railroads to illustrate Missouri's vital role in shaping American railroading. These railroad companies mirrored national trends, yet each twist and turn carries a distinct local flavor. Co-authors Don L. Hofsommer and Carlos A. Schwantes ably weave a captivating narrative that celebrates Missouri's contribution to the broader American story.
Critique: This large format (7.37 x 0.98 x 10.19 inches, 2.32 pounds) hardcover edition of "Missouri Railroads: A Modern Crossroads 1921-2023" is informatively enhanced for the readers benefit with the inclusion of a fourteen page Introduction, twelve pages of Notes, a four page Selected Bibliography, and a five page Index. Profusely illustrated throughout with full page reproduced train themed images in support of a deftly written text that is thoroughly 'reader friend' in organization and presentation, "Missouri Railroads: A Modern Crossroads 1921-2023" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, community, and college/university library American Railroading History collections. It should be noted for dedicated railroad history fans that this hardcover edition of "Missouri Railroads: A Modern Crossroads
1921-2023" from the Indiana University Press is also readily available in digital book format (Kindle, $41.84).
Editorial Note #1: Don L. Hofsommer is the author of numerous books and articles on railroads. Among his many titles are several books on the railroads of Iowa including Iowa's Railroads. (https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/815533.Don_L_Hofsommer)
Editorial Note #2: Carlos A. Schwantes is the author or editor of twenty books and numerous journal articles. During his fifty-year career in the classroom, he frequently taught classes on Missouri as the Gateway to the West and on the railroads of the United States. His books are listed online at https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/524120.Carlos_A_Schwantes
Able Greenspan
Reviewer
Diane Donovan's Bookshelf
Welcome to Fabulous Angeles
Richard A. Lefkowitz
Gilded Coast Press
www.gildedcoastpress.com
9781966403098, $18.95
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Welcome-Fabulous-Angeles-Adventures-Westside/dp/1966403097
Welcome to Fabulous Angeles: The Rock 'n' Roll Adventures of a Wayward Westside Teen is a memoir of Los Angeles during the 1970s that embraces music, celebrities, and mayhem. It does more than tell a story - Richard A. Lefkowitz embraces the times with a voice that will draw future generations into a "you are here" experience of a bygone era:
Moxie heard a noise and peered through the peephole. "Check out this fox." I slid over to view a ravishing beauty with blond hair flowing over her shoulders. Moxie pulled on the knob. Like a figure popping out of a jack-in-the-box, a preppy dude who'd accompanied the woman sprang to life. I thought, my God, David Bowie. My gaze settled on the sexy girl, but I'd misidentified the man with the rolled-up sleeves. Her escort? Michael Philip Jagger.
Los Angeles culture and personal experience entwine in a story that is vivid and personal. Lefkowitz traverses the city's counterculture and the process of coming of age with equal vividness, drawing readers into explosive realizations and interactions whether he's dealing with friends, family, or the greater culture and world of Southern California:
I slammed my door and heard her replay her greatest hits: "Like talking to the wall. In one ear, out the other." She poured these invectives into the foundation of our home and primed them with a toxic coat. The truth ventured into sunlight only on special occasions, like a trip to an isolated condo we'd visited on vacation. In Momland, I possessed no independent reality. I was a sort of thing in her dream. If she woke up, I'd go out - bang - like a candle.
From loves and loss to careening up the canyons of the city in "erratic directions," Welcome to Fabulous Angeles imparts a rare feeling of free styling through the forces of new adulthood with shifting purposes and perspectives.
Lefkowitz captures this milieu, juxtaposing it with his personal life challenges of "riding conversational waves," "toasting the moment," and building new relationships and pathways that forge into adulthood with as much subtlety as a hammer.
Readers familiar with Los Angeles will find his descriptions particularly insightful:
Cars whooshed up and down Reseda Boulevard and made me wonder: how the hell did I end up in the vile San Fernando Valley?
Libraries interested in memoirs of California's 1970s era which are steeped in music, culture, and coming-of-age experiences will relish how vividly Welcome to Fabulous Angeles captures and contrasts both a sense of the times and a new adult's growth processes.
From stormy relationships that evolve into better choices and lessons about life to music-and-girl infused experiences that portend new beginnings, Welcome to Fabulous Angeles is a memoir filled with excitement and personal experience. It will simply delight readers seeking to understand 1970s Los Angeles's many influences.
Hudson's Monarch Nursery
Laurie Sharp
lmsharpbooks.com
Mascot Kids!/ Amplify Publishing Group
https://mascotbooks.com
9798891382749, $19.95
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Hudsons-Monarch-Nursery-Laurie-Sharp/dp/B0FC1X5PXV
Hudson's Monarch Nursery is a celebration of butterflies that goes beyond the usual identification and field guide for picture book readers. It explores a young boy's mandate to collect monarch eggs and caterpillars not for display, but preservation.
Rachel Novel provides good-sized illustrations to accompany the tale of how Hudson and his mother become involved with monarchs, learning about their natural history and preservation requirements.
One of the most powerful messages in his adventure, however, is Hudson's acknowledgement that:
I take it to heart that I am responsible for caring for its every need. It's counting on me to now do for it what it would have been doing on its own before I removed it from its natural environment.
This goes beyond the usual natural history focus to add enlightenment and importance to the choices, decisions, and support systems kids and adults participate in as they study and support nature and its environments. It's a lesson that most adults need to know, as well.
How Hudson works with his mom to identify monarch needs, set up a "critter carrier," and embrace bigger-picture thinking about their project translates to an exceptional celebration of nature:
I am thrilled to happily watch my caterpillars munching away. Because I know that I am part of something so much bigger than me, and next year, I will be hopefully raising these caterpillars' great-great-grandchildren. I can't wait to see and share this amazing, wondrous circle of life!
Libraries and read-aloud adults seeking a butterfly story that flies far from the crowd will welcome the many topics supporting Hudson's Monarch Nursery, from monarch natural history to the reasons how and why young people can and need to become more cognizant about natural processes and supporting nature.
The Snake Handler's Wife
Sue Hinkin
Literary Wanderlust
www.literarywanderlust.com
9781956615548, $18.99 Paperback/$6.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Snake-Handlers-Wife-Middleton-Novel/dp/195661554
The Snake Handler's Wife is the 6th and final book in the Vega & Middleton suspense series, but newcomers will find the story just as accessible as will Sue Hinkin's prior fans.
The story opens, perhaps predictably, with snakes. A mysterious man holds a "sacred ambition" that leads him to release snakes in a horse stall before vanishing into the dawn.
Photojournalist Lucy Vega, meanwhile, is at home fielding a difficult Zoom call with network war correspondent partner and love Michael Burleson, during which she learns he is not returning home to his family but has been assigned to Iraq, about as far from their California home as one could get. It's the chance of a lifetime for him, requiring her move to the Middle East.
From this, readers will anticipate that the action takes place overseas, but in reality struggle literally drops on Lucy's doorstep and into her home when Michael's unstable daughter shows up to become one of the family, introducing deadly dangers Lucy doesn't see coming.
Snake handlers, cults, detective investigations into a dangerous operations, and more bury Lucy and her family in a series of incidents that edge ever closer to a startling reality about family and belief. This threatens everything she and Michael have built.
Intrigue turns up in droves as Lucy struggles to educate young Jamie about misguided loyalties and adult scenarios of struggle and threat:
"Cult? No, it's just a conservative religious community."
"Led by a charming sociopath with little conscience, who demands total loyalty, hates questions because he's always right, gaslights like hell, and isolates you. Any of this sound familiar?"
Readers will especially appreciate the realistic portraits of characters who think they well know about the world, only to find its undercurrents introduce new challenges that test not just their problem-solving skills and survival abilities, but perceptions of life.
Libraries seeking vivid suspense stories that simmer with the impact of an attractive cult following will find The Snake Handler's Wife nicely detailed, replete with tension and a blend of believable characters whose lives dovetail in unexpected ways.
Suspense readers seeking an immersive story that portrays chaos, monsters, just desserts, and unexpected twists will find The Snake Handler's Wife holds everything needed for a powerfully alluring delivery with a satisfyingly unexpected conclusion.
The Everling and the Acid King
J. Christie
Wastrel Books
wastrelbooks.com
9781969056017, $17.99
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FHVRDTDQ
Avid readers of sci-fi and fantasy well know that, for the most part, hard science has fallen by the wayside and the boundaries that separate sci-fi from fantasy have evolved into a wall. All three features are returned to proper strength and exploration in The Everling and the Acid King, however, which is why this compelling saga will appeal to YA and adult sci-fi AND fantasy audiences who like their stories packed with science and emotional connection.
The story opens with a compelling earthquake:
The house shook. The trembling was frightful such that the old, floral walls threatened to buckle and fold, the faded wallpaper twisting off in places and dust raining down, turning the air thick. Voices echoed up from the stories below and into the attic above. The calls grew louder and louder as the jolts that shook the house grew more frequent by the moment. Win turned his head just as a wall split ceiling to floor, and there he glimpsed the barest bit of true sky beyond.
Familiar trappings of a YA magic school may at first portend that the story will rehash Harry Potter - but that's far from what it evolves into, happily for its readers.
Winnifred Baker's awakening to disaster sets the stage for more adventure to come as he faces the reality that defenses have crumbed, as well as walls, and there's no holding back the forces which are invading his life, which include droids and robots.
Sounds like a video game? In some ways it is as Win, in short order, saves a baby, faces a manticore, pops in and out of various worlds, and searches for a refuge before alighting at Wutherford Home spent, ill, and mourning the death of his friends.
Mature YA readers will quickly come to see that the emotional draw of this tale operates on an adult level, but holds the nonstop action of a good YA story. These devices keep them engaged and wondering as Win's choices give the rescued baby a new home starts his journey into this conflicted world.
And thus Chester Nithercot ("Chezzy") begins his life as an orphaned everling, traversing a world where magic infuses every shop and step. Descriptions of this milieu are as evocative as the journey Chezzy undertakes towards adulthood:
He passed a shop that boasted a whole crowd of children clambering around, despite the occasional shockwaves that rolled out from the store, blowing dust on the passersby. One blast shucked the man of much foam, but he went on, indifferently. Chezzy squinted through the gritty air and spied the sign above the store, My Minerocket and Me. Another middle aged man, who glowed a soft, blue light, brushed the dust and foam off of him with an annoyed look before hurrying away. But the everling was watching a third man that rose into the air nearby and popped out of existence amongst a crackle of green electricity.
As he moves through a school that sports a Showing to assess student abilities, encounters strange and marvelous wonders, and adopts a perspective of the world and his place in it that is bigger than his heritage or immediate concerns, Chezzy comes to know who the elusive cauldron-contributing Acid King is...which is dangerous knowledge, indeed.
His one task? Find the Acid King.
Because of all the action, well-developed tension, and compelling characters and atmosphere that swirl around Chezzy's life and world, The Everling and the Acid King stands out from the crowd. It features a group of students whose objectives coalesce in usual ways in a magical school that may prove the death of them. Learn or die.
Christie's story is satisfyingly difficult to predict; but more importantly, it's filled with surprising images, confrontations, and interpersonal connections that provide a powerful emotional draw to keep YAs and adult readers thoroughly engaged.
Libraries seeking a blend of hard science, fantasy, sci-fi, and quest saga will find The Everling and the Acid King easy to recommend - especially to book clubs seeking unique themes and approaches in contrast to the popular 'magic school' scenario of competing stories.
Replete with the unexpected, delightful in its psychological connections, and atmospheric in its descriptions of a world these young adults must navigate with new insights, The Everling and the Acid King is an adventure that is hard to put down.
Another Body in Brooklyn
David Goldstein
Crime in Progress Press
9798999411204, $18.95 Paperback /$8.99 eBook
Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn is under siege in Another Body in Brooklyn. The story opens in 2014, with a NYPD police sergeant's drive-around after his first New Year's off in nine years. Josh Rothchild has finally come to realize that the fling he had with Melanie will go nowhere, and he is standing at a crossroads over the rest of his life when, once again, everything changes.
On the cusp of considering leaving the force for a lucrative supervisor job at a private security company, the first homicide of the New Year draws Sarge into a case that seems almost impossible to solve, as the victim is an ex-con that no one cares much about.
David Goldstein pulls together the disparate lives and purposes not just of Sarge, but the NYPD police force as a whole and the Brooklyn milieu they operate in, with all of its delicate ethnic and social fluctuations.
Perspectives shift between Rothschild, Officer Courtney Jones, and some of the other cops in his squad, creating interplays between intrigue and precinct politics that move from first person to third person, solidifying these changing points of view and experience. Chapter headings also assure that readers don't become lost between the characters and their different observations of the same world.
As the thirty-one-year-old sergeant navigates the routines of daily policing and slowly narrows perps and possibilities, readers will walk the streets of Brooklyn alongside him as he also navigates his personal life's romantic and professional possibilities, developing a sense of who he is and where he'll go in the future.
Libraries seeking a whodunit that focuses as much on the disparate interests within the NYPD police force as in the case of another dead body in Brooklyn will find the added value of these interactions and differences create an intriguing story attractive to readers of police procedurals and crime fiction.
The characterization is well done, the intrigue difficult to predict, and the ethnic interplays between Jewish, black, and other groups are intriguing and realistic.
Libraries and readers seeking stories of police investigations that operate beyond the focus of perps and procedurals will welcome Another Body in Brooklyn's astute, compelling, realistic examination of urban policing, racism, bullying, and bravery which follows one policeman's evolution.
Misfit 4
Mister John
www.misterjohn.me
Yak Publishing
www.yakpublishing.com
9798999220516, $24.99 Hardcover/$14.99 Paperback/$6.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/MISFIT-4-MISTER-JOHN-ebook/dp/B0FRP6FVNS
Misfit 4: Stories from a Life Unexpected follows the escapades of Mister John and opens with a familiar scenario: an 18-year-old narrator daydreaming in math class. His reflection on daydreaming, distractions, safe zones afforded by blank walls, and, later, television and serious reflection examines a life finely examined.
From girls and jobs to his experiences with Sue, who "drove around the United Arab Emirates topless" in her Jeep, these journeys are anything but typical. They put down roots in high school culture before blossoming into the greater world of Palestine, Iran, and other locales.
The narrator learned to appreciate desert environments from living "on the edge of the Empty Quarter on the Arabian Peninsula for nearly 15 years," from encountering women and students from different cultures, and from the contrast between his upbringing and the rest of the world:
"Having seen the extremes - bikini-clad students at the University of Florida and students covered head to toe in black in the UAE..."
His humorous, thought-provoking, absorbing adventures and reflections feature a special brand of personal, political, and cultural inspection that brings readers into a wild ride through life.
From paying debts in the UAE and dealing with uninsulated homes to fielding university experiences in England, these stories are vibrant, filled with life and humor, and engaging.
Libraries seeking a memoir of life adventures that holds both entertainment and reflective value will find Misfit 4 a wonderful acquisition. It can be highly recommended to general-interest readers looking for a bit of vicarious adventure and more than a dash of humor.
Funny, revealing, and intriguing in its diverse cultural encounters, Misfit 4 is a fine read pairing teachable moments with intriguing inspections of educational institutions and other countries.
Can Pandas Be Koalas Too?
Jane Xu
Accidental Press House
www.canpandasbekoalastoo.com
9780646715797, $24.99 Hardcover/$12.99 Paper
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Can-Pandas-Koalas-Too-Self-Acceptance/dp/0646715798
Can Pandas Be Koalas Too? A Story About Identity, Belonging and Self-Acceptance tells of a koala/panda mix who feels like neither. Pandy's curious background sets her apart from anyone she knows, making her question where she really belongs.
Jane Xu's lovely picture book is enhanced by illustrations by Sang Oh which bring to life the dilemma of a little bear who identifies as a koala and has a circle of koala support and friends, but can't quite deny her inner panda.
Her favorite snack, bamboo, tells her leaf-eating companions that she's not like them, but Pandy has many more adjustments and self-inspections to make before ferreting out her real personality so she can develop a better sense of belonging and cultivate friends who accept her for who she is.
Jane Xu outlines all kinds of challenges that Pandy faces during this process, from not being able to speak proper Panda to the fact that she seems to fit into her Koala identity much more than a panda.
Adults who choose Can Pandas Be Koalas Too? for interactive education will especially appreciate the opportunity to discuss broader issues with the very young. These move from self-identity and mixed race issues to the bigger picture of getting along, making friends, and fitting in.
Libraries will find Can Pandas Be Koalas Too? the perfect choice for encouraging dialogue and bridging gaps in a child's identity. It also reviews methods for interacting with social groups and making friends, offering some practical applications that move beyond entertainment value alone.
Can Pandas Be Koalas Too?'s bigger-picture thinking sets it apart from books about either friendship or identity snafus, making it a winner and a standout.
Republic of Forge and Grace
Daniel Rirdan
www.danielrirdan.com
Corino Press
9798992609011, $24.95 Hardcover/$15.95 Paperback/$8.95 eBook/$17.95 audio
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Republic-Forge-Grace-Parallel-Universe-America-ebook/dp/B0FFK2LMSX
Republic of Forge and Grace is a parallel universe America novel that pairs alternative history with high adventure. 24-year-old Chris Walden just wants to have fun as he ponders his next big life move after being stationed in Iraq, when he stumbles into the alternate world of Americana.
When he encounters the richness of a nuclear family that lives in an America rooted in sustainability, craftsmanship, and civic trust, Chris finds himself looking at his own version of America with not only a much more critical eye, but revised ideals of what life should be and his place in the world.
As Chris absorbs the wonders of this strange new world (such as a water treatment facility that looks like a tropical paradise) and the allure of Sandra and others who form an odd and compelling kind of chosen family, he begins to understand not only the new opportunities in this alternate version of America, but some underlying threats.
Daniel Rirdan creates a thoroughly compelling, completely absorbing portrait of possibility and realization which operates nicely on both entertainment and philosophical levels.
The characters are multifaceted and well-developed, Chris's persona is realistic as he confronts and absorbs the world around him, and the cooperative institutions which support this different vision are intricately detailed and thought-provoking:
In Americana, traditional banks were a thing of the past. Chris learned that people relied on peer-to-peer lending. Another common approach involved mutual societies. These societies, akin to a hybrid of insurance companies and community banks, provided loans and support to their members, with nearly every household belonging to one.
Libraries ordering this from Ingram who seek alternate histories that pair fast-paced action with social and political intrigue bonded by a sense of purpose, connection, and intrigue will welcome Republic of Forge and Grace into their collections. It's an opportunity to introduce new ideas to readers who may be unused to the alternative history genre.
Reading clubs, too, will find Republic of Forge and Grace an enchanting way of entering into another world in which Chris finds his values tested in extraordinary ways. This will promote and enhance many a book club discussion.
Able and the Great Escape
Sonja Hall
Independently Published
9798991255813, $19.50 Hardcover/$12.99 Paperback/$3.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Able-Great-Escape-Sonja-Hall/dp/B0DG5TXVXS
Able and the Great Escape is an enchanting picture book story of a bunny that excels in escape and is narrated from the point of view of Able, who masterminds plots to stay out all night to force his owner to look for him.
Able is three rabbit years old, and believes he is more than capable of exploring the great outdoors. Too bad his mother doesn't think so, because she has her hands full trying to keep him safe and rein in his desire to explore the great outdoors.
Sonja Hall creates a cunning, realistic story, made all the more unusual for its basis in real events, in which Able tests his mother, his world, and himself in unusual ways.
Read-aloud adults will find it easy to incorporate its insights on safety, responsibility, and caring for a pet into bigger-picture thinking that encourages dialogues and better insights about life and facing challenges.
Also attractive are the colorful illustrations that accompany a rollicking adventure that ultimately informs ages 5-10 about how to keep a pet (as well as themselves) safe.
Libraries that choose Able and the Great Escape for elementary-level collections will find it attractive to a wide audience, from young bunny fans to read-aloud adults interested in fostering opportunities for better understanding. This young rabbit's adventure and perspective operates on many different levels of education and entertainment.
Forgiven: A Novel
Bruce J. Berger
Black Rose Writing
https://www.blackrosewriting.com
9781685136734, $22.95
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Forgiven-Covo-Family-Bruce-Berger/dp/1685136737
Forgiven: A Novel is the fourth book in the Covo family saga series. Author Bruce J. Berger continues to explore the story of Nicky, a Brooklyn psychiatrist whose life's passion is buffeted by threats from a malpractice suit and family tribulations. At the heart of these trials lies the ongoing impact of the Holocaust on survivors as generations pass. Berger creates powerful link between past and present that offers much food for thought about the long-term, inter-generational impact of suffering, faith, and Jewish identity.
Helen Blanco Covo, Nicky's wife, confronts a daughter dying of cancer even as Nicky's daughter, Kayla, a gifted musician, sees her inspiration dying.
Each member of the Covo family faces a different form of anguish as issues of family connection and identity evolve new challenges, from an Orthodox Jewish son who secretly harbors an icon of Jesus to the family's sojourn to Greece where they reconnect with another branch of the family that was severed when the world changed.
Bruce J. Berger crafts powerful insights on both individual and familial levels, weaving the Holocaust's impact into modern lives in a manner which astutely considers the ongoing ripples of change the Holocaust created.
Powerful questions and insights permeate each character's confrontation with themselves and the outside world. Here is the voice of Nicky's sister, the Orthodox nun Sister Theodora, who still struggles to express herself in English:
"You thought all was stable in your faith, but then there was trouble with Jackie and his father. You feared you would lose him. You could not understand how Hashem might let that to occur, to lose your dear son. And your stable... stability... begins to fall. I mean... Excuse me... begins to fail. If you are not safe from that, then how is your God protecting you and what is the point of making new music? This is what you are asking yourself. To almost lose Jackie is getting in the way. And you are blaming Hashem."
Kayla nibbled briefly on her right thumbnail as she thought, uncertain, yet troubled. She was deeply unsettled by the truth in Theodora's observations. "There were many artists whose lives were in turmoil. And they still created great art. Chopin, for one. Mozart, fighting poverty."
The meat of the story (and what makes it a special recommendation to Jewish readers) lies in how the Holocaust's backdrop continues to affect and infect the future and how different generations handle both their heritage and their determination to be more than just survivors bearing the burdens of their ancestors' experiences.
Astute, engrossing analysis of these intersecting lives and pain makes for a story that is thought-provoking, realistic, and hard to put down.
Libraries interested in Holocaust novels that focus on intergenerational impacts will find Forgiven: A Novel highly recommendable not just to individuals interested in the subject, but to book clubs and reading groups.
Filled with enlightenment and characters who struggle to redefine family, heritage, and self, Forgiven: A Novel is a jewel of a read that will add riches to those seeking powerful stories of Jewish family dynamics.
Deadly Dungeon: Madcap Adventures
Rene Vecka
www.renevecka.com
RV A&E LLC
9781958049181, $16.99 Paperback/$4.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Dungeon-Adventures-Rene-Vecka/dp/1958049182
Deadly Dungeon: Madcap Adventures embraces mystery, fantasy, and adventure in a genre-busting story designed to attract a wide audience seeking a rollicking, action-packed foray into a unique world.
A quest drives the plot and its characters, who search out the possible resting places of a magical heirloom. From tunnels under mansions to monsters and thieves, Rory and Ingefaer confront scenarios that grow in imagination and complexity, and at times even they can't believe their own eyes. They delve ever deeper into a mystery that turns out to have its roots in the impossible.
Rene Vecka embeds his story with insights into "a life of thievery" and influences which impact the futures of all who become involved with the magical heirloom. He develops rich characters whose lives unfold via the first person, shifting perspectives between Rory and Ingefær in a satisfying manner supported by clear chapter identifications so readers don't get lost.
Vecka is particularly talented at weaving spells, animal confrontations, caves, and magic into the plot to keep it fast-paced, unpredictable, and thoroughly engrossing. The inclusion of Norse myths and sword and sorcery action keeps the plot fast-paced.
Libraries that choose Deadly Dungeon: Madcap Adventures for their collections will find it easy to recommend within and beyond the fantasy genre to readers attracted to stories that are hard to easily define or predict.
Filled with unexpected encounters and backed by a quest that is truly a madcap experience, Deadly Dungeon: Madcap Adventures lives up to its subtitle by creating a journey that is a dungeon-crawling winner.
Miscalculated Risks
Michael Cooper
https://michaelcooperadventurer.com
Larrea Press
https://soloist.ai/larreapress
9798998909504, $18.99 Paperback/$13.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Miscalculated-Risks-Attacked-Paralyzed-Unconscious/dp/B0FSH2W6SV
Miscalculated Risks: Attacked, Crippled, Paralyzed, Drowning, Unconscious and Freezing in The Wild (Just Not All at Once) is an outdoors adventure memoir packed with hair-raising encounters, gripping moments of life-or-death, and confrontations with nature that will leave readers on the edges of their seats.
Its observations bring readers right into the moment from the story's opening lines:
It was supposed to be a leisurely vacation, a meditative six-day solo backpack on easy trails in Oregon's luxuriant Cascade Range. Nothing like the alpine mountaineering and hardcore cross-country desert expeditions I usually did. No, this trip was meant to coddle and relax me after four months of enduring grueling ninety-five-hour workweeks at my business, a commercial recording studio in Eugene... I should've stayed home.
With this vivid beginning, readers are carried into a series of gripping scenarios in which the wilderness comes alive while almost taking Michael Cooper's life. But spinning a hair-raising tale of survival is not the only objective of the story.
Within these encounters are nuggets of life revelations, survival tactics, and epic adventures with friends and romantic partners which continually push the boundaries and test Cooper's ability to adapt.
Black and white photos accompany forays into the wilderness as Cooper handles yellow jackets, business success and conundrums, long hikes into the wild which hold make-or-break moments, and snafus and successes in remote areas far off the beaten path.
As he pairs outdoors adventures with revised approaches to life, readers enjoy the dual benefits of gripping adventure and thought-provoking reflections which take place during action-packed descriptions of alpine and desert hiking.
Libraries seeking adventure stories of mountaineering and outdoors encounters will want to add Miscalculated Risks to their collections. It can be highly recommended to outdoors enthusiasts interested in undertaking remarkable journeys from the comfort of home, as well as to those planning their own course through the wilderness of life.
Filled with reflections and encounters that are nothing short of remarkable and immediate, Miscalculated Risks is a journey well worth taking that celebrates love, life, and health.
Saying Goodbye to Thomas
Lenora Rain-Lee Good
Finishing Line Press
www.finishinglinepress.com
9798899900365, $27.99 Hardcover/$17.99 Paperback
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Saying-Goodbye-Thomas-Lenora-Rain-Lee/dp/B0FGC3T76X
Saying Goodbye to Thomas is a poetry collection written during Thomas Hubbard's last year and immediately after his death, which celebrates his life. It captures, in evocative free verse, the nuances of his poetic life and world and comes from a relationship that the participants decided was that of "Elder Brother of Choice (EBOC) and Younger Sister of Choice (YSOC)."
The collection opens with "Dance of the Pink Moon," in which: Grandmother Moon, your fullness/so bright, you burned a hole/through Grandfather Sky last night./Or, it looks that way in my photos.
The joy that this April pink moon brings to them both portends a time when it will "dance him to the stars," a proposition Good hopes will not come soon.
Each poem connects individual lives to the wider world, whether surveying Thomas's world or Good's own. Each offers vivid reflections on life and death which may prove challenging to sensitive readers, but ultimately heals with pathways between life and death that will help readers navigate their own grief and loss:
I watch him die in increments and wonder if I/would have such bearing?/I watch and learn/so, when my time comes, I will do him proud.
The result is a collection that operates on different levels, allowing libraries to recommend it to readers of Native American literature, poetry enthusiasts, and individuals seeking literary explorations of life, death, grief, and recovery.
Its connections to life are just as powerful as its descriptions of Thomas's end time, making Saying Goodbye to Thomas a powerful study in contrasts and love.
Different Values
Kay Elksong
Independently Published
9780692038246, $10.95 eBook/$14.95 print at: www.Barnes&Noble.com
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Different-Values-Cultural-Covid-19-Mideast/dp/0692038246
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/different-values-kay-elksong/1148290958
Different Values: Cultural Shifts in America: From Covid to War in the Mideast is a survey of transformation that tackles big questions about how social values in America have changed since the pandemic.
Dr. Kay Elksong addresses all kinds of issues, from what happens when AI replaces the ability to think critically to how political normalcy has shifted and how environmental changes have forced people to adapt in unexpected ways.
From who addresses the anxiety and trauma of young people growing up in this milieu to problems that come from the evolution of global technology and connections, a myriad of topics coalesce in a survey that will attract both college-level and general-interest readers.
Of special interest is how critical thinking has developed in the past, in contrast to how it is changing now. Chapters merge social, political, and psychological topics, drawing together subjects about truth, trust, and the values and roles people play in society.
The toll on democratic processes, hearts and minds, spiritual and social connections and institutions are analyzed with astute reflections about how creative change takes place and the costs of setting aside one value system for another.
While Different Values sounds like a weighty read, it offers much food for thought and insights about the kinds of connections key to understanding extremist attitudes and proposals, offering instead more independent analyses of issues and voting.
Packed with powerful reflection points adding value to its intersections of historical and social analysis, Different Values should be part of any book club discussion about social change in America. It will also reach many a classroom group with its inspection of the foundations of American ideals, processes of critical thinking, and how these are likely to shift in the future.
Librarians seeking a scholarly survey of all of these cultural shifts and their impacts will want to acquire and recommend Different Values to audiences interested in better understanding the connections between evolving social and political milieus, gun violence, work habits, positive changes, and the role and evolution of critical thinking and cultural shifts in America's future.
We Are All of Us Left Behind
Bradley Somer
https://bradleysomer.com
Freehand Books
9781990601927, $24.95
Bookshop.org https://bookshop.org/p/books/we-are-all-of-us-left-behind-bradley-somer/22409037
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/We-Are-All-Left-Behind/dp/1990601928
We Are All of Us Left Behind opens in 2005 with an unnamed protagonist posing as fourteen-year-old Molly, thanking his computer chat connection for engaging in an online conversation. Out of three initial lines of greeting, however, only one statement is true. Readers are compelled to find out which one, as the story progresses to reveal that Molly is not anything he initially appears to be.
The chat with the stranger continues to create lies which are actually justifiable given the online circumstances. "Molly" continues to inform readers that "Only one of these is true, which is okay."
Lies go easy to strangers, our young central character observes. But lies don't work as well with those who know him. And so this coming-of-age story evolves with many surprises that will engage both adult and teen readers with its perspective, raw honesty, and candid observational style that brings them into the protagonist's world and its issues of family, queer identity, and truth.
From its opening pages, the character comes across as realistic and compelling. The concerns and insights are sometimes spot-on for his age and, at other moments, appear mature beyond his years. As this world expands beyond the borders of the familiar, readers encounter other characters - chat room personality Mr. Langman; fellow vagabonds Sam and Maria, and Gio, whose possible impacts are questionable ("I didn't know yet which of them were bad for me, or which were good. I wasn't yet scared of the cops watching the tourists."); and a host of others who join this heady journey through life and other countries.
The protagonist's search for family, an answer, and connections makes for a thoroughly engrossing journey that carries readers through many questions about choice, connection, and survival.
Libraries seeking a crossover title, from adult to young adult, a coming-of-age saga replete with truths, lies, and the realities that reside somewhere in between, will welcome We Are All of Us Left Behind for its hard-hitting, poignant, and realistic character whose spunky attitude embraces a wide range of social and psychological conundrums.
This protagonist is a powerful force, and his story will prove an equally formidable attraction to both adult and young adult readers who choose this novel for its appealing, thought-provoking journey:
My lies have run out and I can't even think to keep the ones I've told straight, them that are so many I don't know what's true from what's not now. I want to tell her it would be great if she would forgive me everything, but I know it's not for her to do. I want her to know exactly who I am, but the problem is I don't even know. I can't ask her to know all of this and still like me after and that's what I want, the impossible.
The Architecture of the Bight of Biafra: Spatial Entanglements
Joseph Godlewski
https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/591109/the-architecture-of-the-bight-of-biafra
Routledge
https://www.routledge.com
9781032708256, $151.00 Hardback/$45.59 eBook
Routledge https://www.routledge.com/The-Architecture-of-the-Bight-of-Biafra-Spatial-Entanglements/Godlewski/p/book/9781032704043
The Architecture of the Bight of Biafra: Spatial Entanglements is recommended for a scholarly audience of college-level students, professors, and researchers interested in the long history of architectural and spatial productions in West Africa. It embraces the history of Bight of Biafra's decentralized political arrangements and intricate trading networks, considering how its merchants both participated in early slave trade and resisted components of its reach. It also provides readers of African history with specific scholarly references following the region's evolutionary process from the early modern period to contemporary times.
Joseph Godlewski researches surviving source materials, from travelers' accounts and slave traders' diaries to missionary memoirs and oral histories. He heavily footnotes these references in a manner scholars will thoroughly appreciate but which general-interest readers may find a visual disruption to the story's narrative smoothness.
From shifting worldviews and influences to the problems involved in conducting scholarship when major references are missing, Godlewski creates an intricate, interlinked series of journeys through the past that pauses, at times, to admit scholarly challenges:
The few publications which address Old Calabar's urban and architectural heritage often discuss the Old Residency in isolation, without the support of documentary and visual evidence.
At this point, one might wonder at The Architecture of the Bight of Biafra's relevance to a less scholarly audience. Those interested in in-depth African studies receive plenty of accessible insights key to better understanding the continent as a whole as well as the forces buffeting it:
One can acknowledge the harm racialized conceptions of space have had and recognize the contributions of previously marginalized peoples in the historical record. These spaces were not basic acts of survivalist accommodation or unique lateral offshoots of the conduits of universal capital but artfully crafted expressions of self determination and belonging central to the creation of the modern world. This study has uncovered the diverse ways people have creatively adapted and modified their environments despite unfathomable, and often violent, constraints.
This is why, despite its weighty-sounding title, apparently narrow focus, and heavily researched contents, The Architecture of the Bight of Biafra should be considered for inclusion in general-interest collections. Readers interested in African history in general and a narrowed inspection of the Biafran region of Nigeria, one of the principal export areas of the transatlantic slave trade, in particular will find it an attraction.
Librarians can see that The Architecture of the Bight of Biafra represents weighty reading, as it's packed with maps and scholarly references. But it also offers unique perspectives and well-reasoned insights, alongside black and white photos, that emerge like gems rewarding any extra effort made to pour through the references and footnotes liberally embedded in this study.
Powerful in its researched history and intriguing in its concepts and interpretations, The Architecture of the Bight of Biafra is recommended for college students and scholars, and as a side dish of historical enlightenment for readers interested in Nigeria's historical and symbolic architecture.
The Witch's Apprentice and Other Stories
Ekta R. Garg
Atmosphere Press
www.atmospherepress.com
9798891327405, $12.95 Paperback/$6.95 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Witchs-Apprentice-Other-Stories/dp/B0FGFK498B
The Witch's Apprentice and Other Stories presents short stories that take well-known classic fairy tales and turn them on end for a different perspective on how their characters and conundrums evolved in the first place.
Take 'The Wizard of Oz,' for example. Readers well know how Dorothy's house fell upon the witch as Dorothy opened her front door to step into another world. But, consider Ekta R. Garg's underlying story of what that witch was doing standing in the road in the first place, when disaster struck:
It's my fault the house fell on the witch in the first place.
She was there, in the middle of the road, because we were arguing. And we were arguing because I was asking - no, that's not right. I was demanding to be freed from the Spell of Inhibition so I could complete my apprenticeship.
Or, take 'The Pied Piper of Hamlin.' What did the parents do after their children were spirited away, leaving an unfathomable loss behind ("The adults live in a town bereft of hope.")?
Each well-known classic enjoys a satisfying twist that encourages readers to think about choices, consequences, and long-term impacts.
Each offers a vivid recap of the original tale's perspective through fresh eyes, adding philosophical and social reflections designed to spark interest and, especially, reader group discussions.
Librarians attracted to fable retellings will find added value in how Garg approaches these questions in different ways, creating a collection unified by its classical connections as well as its diverse approaches to literary reinterpretation.
Readers looking for adult twists on well-known tales that involves re-imagining possibilities and impacts will find The Witch's Apprentice and Other Stories exceptional. It's perfect thought-provoking reading that is entertaining and enlightening, all in one.
When the Angel of Death Tells Bedtime Stories
Sabine Meyer
Independently Published
9798999343017, $16.99 Paperback/$6.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Angel-Death-Tells-Bedtime-Stories/dp/B0FFNKY62V
When the Angel of Death Tells Bedtime Stories is presented in several parts, offering rich reading for teens ages 13-18 who like elements of oddity in their adventure reading, adults, and families who seek thought-provoking (if not sometimes peculiar) scenarios which encourage discussion.
Sabine Meyer tackles heady subjects of dragons, angels, terror, darkness, and life possibilities that are recommended for mature or maturing readers.
The first section, "Bedtime Stories of Fanny," presents age-appropriate stories for a five-year-old that tells of a visit from the angel Michael, his loneliness and the one extravagance he allows himself (relationship-wise), and his story-telling attraction for little Fanny, who receives his tale of a little dog who becomes a volcano in the first anecdote in this anthology.
Michael knows many possibilities, and so his second story about a dragon offers a very different perspective to young Fanny as he weaves in possibilities that challenge her perception of life and reality.
Each story in this collection is embedded with curses, empowerment possibilities, insights on courage and good and evil choices, and more.
The collection embarks on a spooky journey into life and death that deserves discussion and family interaction to achieve its brightest possibility as a series of lessons about life, death, and what lies in-between.
Readers who witness the Angel of Death's attempts to explain and explore his specialty through evocative, vivid stories will also appreciate how the book's different sections dovetail. They move from Michael the Storyteller to Michael the Character in His Own Story to a third section exploring how Fanny and her family are connected to Michael in unexpected ways.
The result will delight libraries looking for thought-provoking reads the older teens can enjoy as well as reader seeking magical encounters that require no linear reading or understanding, but delve neatly into the magic, intrigue, and mystery of life and death as Michael fulfills his own destiny:
"You will be stewards for the most marvelous of all my species. It's a new ape called a human. Humans have what no other animal has: imagination, storytelling, and most importantly, souls."
Son of the Borderlands
Joseph Sterk
Starwolf Press LLC
www.starwolfpress.com
9781967432011, $24.99 Hardcover/$16.99 Paperback/$8.99 eBook/$24.99 Audio
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Son-Borderlands-Rise-Dragonlands-Book-ebook/dp/B0FM53CHGW
It's not often that epic fantasy intersects with intrigue and a form of suspense more often regulated to the thriller genre, but Son of the Borderlands achieves all this and more. It outlines a milieu in which Agni Kazirian, a character born long ago of Joseph Sterk's involvement in a message board of fanfiction roleplaying, expands his boundaries to embrace the world beyond the simmering anger which propels him to reflect his pain into the world around him.
As Agni's character took on depth and morphed into something more complex, so Sterk found himself world-building. His effort thankfully led to creating Son of the Borderlands and a universe in which a young abused child becomes a warrior who combats his dark side - and the influence of an ancestor's spirit - as much as the world around him.
Sterk builds upon Agni's influences to craft a compelling character whose early survival tactics result in a flawed personality even as it presents a facade of genius and ability to the world.
Sterk's clear descriptions of these choices make for a fantasy rich in temperament, choice, and possibility
For example, could he sacrifice his honor to drug the truth out of a noblewoman?
Agni's world continually shifts, both with the Ancient's presence and forces that influence and guide him in different directions:
"You needed no god of fate to bring this upon yourself, young one."
Dragons, sacred oaths broken, despair and surrender, and struggle come to life not only through Agni's eyes, but equally powerful individuals around him who find their own perspectives and powers challenged.
Libraries seeking a sweeping epic that paints the world in rich emotional layers of discovery and choice will welcome the opportunity to add Son of the Borderlands to their collections.
On par with the inviting world of Patrick Rothfus and other epic fantasy creators, Son of the Borderlands cements action with moral, ethical, and psychological conundrums to keep the story fast-paced, the protagonist's evolution believable and wondrous, and the results unpredictable and thoroughly immersive.
Reach for Hope (Dare to Dream Series Book 2)
Amanda LaPera
Adamo Press
https://books2read.com/reachforhope2
9781965660027, $19.99
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0FPCGSHQB
Although Reach for Hope is the second book in the YA Desert of Dreams series, it operates as a standalone story that will attract new audiences as well as prior fans who enjoyed Kiara's previous experiences of small town life.
This story opens in 1985 in Southern California, where Caroline reflects that she:
...was taught to fear God, but the only being she ever feared was her dad.
As the protector of her younger brothers in a chaotic household, Carolyn has long learned how to field her volatile father's violence. Her military mother finds ways to semi-smooth things over, but without the support and affection a mother usually gives to her children.
As she encounters Kiara, an unhappy girl from the summer program, their lives dovetail (for past readers) while receiving thorough explanation (for newcomers to this series), making for an easy introduction to interconnected lives and different experiences as the plot unfolds.
Amanda LaPera is especially adept at portraying how these seemingly disparate young lives and experiences mingle and influence one other against the backdrop of community, religion, and budding friendship.
Her juxtaposition of different personalities, families, and experiences creates an engaging set of conundrums and encounters that YAs will find compelling, realistic, and thought-provoking.
Librarians seeking series titles that compliment one other without requiring prior familiarity will find Reach for Hope an exceptional draw that outlines new growth experiences from interpersonal connections:
Trevor asked nothing of her but to tell him about herself. The more she told him, the more he wanted to know. No one had ever been so intensely curious about who she was as a person, what things mattered to her, and what events and experiences shaped her into the person she had become.
YAs seeking evocative, compelling reading will find Carolyn's story thoroughly absorbing.
Wethersfield Road
Anna Binder Reardon
https://www.anna-writes.com
Trampoline Press
9798992419870, $18.00
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FJQJZJ6V
Wethersfield Road is a novel about a woman who seemingly has everything money can buy, but is an addict nonetheless. Amelia Glickman's prosperity belays a loneliness and frustration with life that turns her riches into a self-imposed jail cell of wealthy isolation.
Anna Binder Reardon isn't content to let her character repose or wallow in discontent, however. Underneath this facade of riches and despair lies a powerful force of recovery and change which wells up like tears to transform Amelia's life in unexpected ways, despite her proclivity for self-destruction.
From the story's opening lines, thought-provoking insights about such tendencies reinforce social and psychological perceptions about chaos and disaster:
The thing about illness and car wrecks is that victimhood's a part of the package deal. "How could this happen to you?" and "No one deserves this less," would both fall off the tongues of suddenly interested acquaintances, the illusion of importance quenching her thirst for relevance and adoration. But what about the kind of trauma where you set the drama in motion? What about intricately tracing your path back to every poor decision and every red flag that you so fiercely painted green?
The darkness that emerges so realistically in Amelia's life is juxtaposed by moments of realization, discovery, and enlightenment that send her into unexpected new directions and into positive ways of approaching life:
Happy New Year! Everything exploded in the best way. Sometimes, making it through a year as a human being is the hardest thing you could possibly do. It was worth celebrating.
As Amelia encounters Hope and learns new facets of survival and life, she begins to make the kinds of decisions that change her world.
Libraries seeking an evocative novel about riches, transformation, and self-defeating manners will appreciate how astutely Reardon paints the life of a woman who simultaneously has everything and nothing.
Filled with reflective moments that offer hope and joy in a world of riches and despair, Wethersfield Road takes a walk on the rich side of life to examine wealth from a myriad of different directions. Readers will find Amelia's story compelling, realistic, and thought-provoking, all in one.
The Lost Seigneur
David Loux
Wire Gate Press
www.wiregatepress.com
9781954065048, $17.99 print/$9.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Seigneur-Chateau-Laux-Odyssey/dp/1954065043
The Lost Seigneur is a historical novel set in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Its protagonist, Jean-Pierre du Laux, is a French nobleman wrongfully imprisoned during a time of religious intolerance who struggles to return to his family against all odds.
The Papacy's inquisition against the Cathar faith forms the backdrop for a vivid story of incarceration and intolerance. David Loux brings the history of these times to life, from farm work and manor residences to the lingering results of battles:
The frontier skirmishes seemed to have quieted down since the end of Queen Anne's War. In fairness, however, it should be said that in the backcountry, where news traveled slowly, battles were often fought long after an armistice was reached.
From vengeance and violence to the changing lives of Jean-Pierre du Laux and Magdalena, the story provides a vivid sequel to Loux's Chateau Laux. While this story can stand on its own for newcomers, it is best absorbed in conjunction with Chateau Laux. Prior fans will especially appreciate its vivid portrait of evolving, interconnected events which dovetails nicely with the first book.
Libraries seeking historical fiction about the 17th and 18th centuries where daily lives, belief systems, faith, and revenge dovetail in characters' worlds in a realistic manner will find The Lost Seigneur a powerful portrait of the ongoing evolution of the du Laux family's confrontation with religious strife.
Filled with exciting moments of realization and transformation while spiced with descriptions of environment and daily experience, the story is rich in detail and atmosphere:
Thinking of John made Magdalena realize how little she knew her husband's friend, even though he had lived on the estate for many years now. The shadow of the forest fell upon them and the woods echoed with the knocking of a woodpecker. Rarely had she ventured past the meadow, and the smell of moss and rotting wood loam clung to her nostrils. Her skin crawled.
Readers will find The Lost Seigneur easy to delve into, hard to put down, and thoroughly absorbing as the decades unfold, rooted in an uncommon history that here receives the details and depth it deserves.
Resonant Blue and Other Stories
Mary Vensel White
Type Eighteen Books
www.typeeighteenbooks.com
9798992040579, $18.99 Paperback/$9.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Resonant-Other-Stories-Vensel-White/dp/B0FBZ921MF
Resonant Blue and Other Stories gathers stories about survival, endurance, escape, and reinvention, examining twelve characters whose lives reflect efforts to strive for something better (and, hopefully, different).
The collection opens with "Griffin," which explores Nora's uncertainties about her adult daughter's return home and her husband's certainty that the privileged life he's provided comes at the cost of his own freedom.
The "maelstrom at home" unfolds in quiet bursts of attempts to control, evade, or tread carefully through emotional bombshells, like walking on eggs.
"Dear Rebecca," in contrast, is a letter to a long-standing relationship that survives time and change, with its author reflecting:
Remember when my first poem was to be published, and we spent a week's salary on a dinner out, that extravagant wine? I sometimes wonder if losing your encouragement was the reason I stopped, or whether I was ever meant for it. Everything in my life is divided into two sections: before and after you.
The emotional considerations aren't all storms. Sometimes they are delivered in a wisp of windy portents of change or realizations. Other times, the stories are hard-hitting examinations of the undercurrents of change that surface in unexpected ways.
Libraries seeking short story collections filled with psychological connection, insights, solid characterization, and haunting inspections of quiet, desperate transformations will welcome the disparate lives represented in this collection.
Resonant Blue and Other Stories holds moments of discovery that also will appeal to book clubs and women's reading groups, revealing emotional ties that bind and growth processes that propel the characters towards new beginnings.
Lessons in Hope: A New Era for Maasai Women in Tanzania
Juliet Cutler
www.julietcutler.com
She Writes Press
https://shewritespress.com
9781647429584, $26.99 Paperback/$39.99 Hardcover/$12.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1647429587
Juliet Cutler works with contributors Esuvat Lucumay, Lameck Tryphone Mutta, and Aron Williams to create a powerful dialogue about change and possibility in Africa in Lessons in Hope: A New Era for Maasai Women in Tanzania. The survey covers the nuts and bolts of cultural and community change in action.
Why should Western readers in general and Americans in particular partake of these experiences of far-away Maasai women in Tanzania? Because within these kernels of discovery and change lay insights on the lasting impact of education that hold special meaning for anyone reflecting on how education can change lives in many different ways.
Unlike most Americans, many Maasai women face chronic food insecurity, economic hardship, and limited opportunities for education. Violence against women is engrained into some cultural practices and attitudes in different ways than Westerners experience, but the impact is quite similar. How can education effect change?
These stories capture exactly how this happens, featuring women in a variety of jobs made possible by their educations. They work to effect change on many levels, from a doctor specializing in pediatrics who was influenced by her own hospital experience with her child to Agness Joseph Porokwa, who works with a nonprofit to combat energy poverty in Tanzania and other African nations by promoting solar energy.
The insights are spirited, revealing, and thought-provoking. Each woman introduces passion to her subject and responds candidly and insightfully to the interviewer's queries:
"I hear a lot of stories from my friends about the work they are doing in different Maasai communities," she says with energy. "We are activists, teachers, nurses... we are changing history. In the past, the Maasai community had to rely on people from the outside who would come in and work in our communities. Now, we have our own people, and their understanding of cultural context has changed a lot of things. The MGLSS graduates are a big part of this."
Librarians seeking accounts of grassroots activity, insights about women in Africa that can translate to virtually any project or culture in the world, and collections that are uplifting with realized hopes and dreams will want to welcome Lessons in Hope: A New Era for Maasai Women in Tanzania into their collections.
Filled with lively stories of not just ideals but real change, Lessons in Hope: A New Era for Maasai Women in Tanzania is proof positive that connections between education and achievement are not just dreams, but a reality changing women's lives.
A Nest of Magic
Kate Moseman
https://www.katemoseman.com
Fortunella Press
9781957320298, $15.99
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Nest-Magic-Sapphic-Cozy-Fantasy-ebook/dp/B0F63WVDZM
A Nest of Magic: A Sapphic Cozy Fantasy introduces a staid librarian who lives a quiet life in a town where nothing extraordinary happens. There're no surprises, no magic, and certainly there's no cause to believe that anything will ever change.
Corinthia has everything she needs for a satisfyingly quiet life. But life doesn't tend to remain the same, and what seems like a simple bet with a friend to explore something different soon turns into an impossible encounter with other realities, belying the opening thought that this is a town where nothing ever happens.
As she encounters authors' lives and renames them, from Ms. Romance and Ms. Mystery to Mr. Thriller, Corinthia finds that their works all too strangely mirror new possibilities in her world as she navigates dual worlds of books and fantasy.
A wry sense of humor embedded even into descriptions of food leave readers chuckling, but the real attraction to this story lies in how it traverses matters of the heart, revealing LGBTQ connections in the course of sending Corinthia on a mission to expand her life, heart, and perspectives.
Women who like fantasies firmly rooted in changing minds and lives will welcome how A Nest of Magic evolves a cozy countenance while creating delicious references to chocolate, birdcalls, friendships, and a Refuge which introduces many extraordinary facets to life.
The discoveries and revelations are quietly compelling as the journey unfolds:
Corinthia turned and looked down a path. It was one she had been down before, but now she saw it differently.
Librarians seeking a tale of magic, friendships, new perspectives, and new life possibilities will find A Nest of Magic wonderfully revealing and delightfully warm in its adventure.
Readers seeking compelling reads receive a story that revolves around a librarian's transformative experiences that prompt her to re-envision everything she'd thought possible about her world and life. They will find A Nest of Magic a delight.
The Past That Made Us
Kelly Marks
Atmosphere Press
www.atmospherepress.com
9798891327665, $25.99 Hardcover/$16.99 Paperback/$7.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Past-That-Made-Us/dp/B0FHXHFGGL
The Past That Made Us is a novel about controlling the world (at least, one's own personal part of it). It follows Millie Carpenter's confrontation with cancer, which rips apart every notion she had of overseeing her fate and being in charge.
The story begins with Millie's latest visit to the ER, in which she reinforces that she doesn't need drugs, but lasting answers that will address her ongoing stomach pain. In short order, Millie discovers that the cause is not something easily cured, forcing her to return to her home town of St. Bell, Maine to accept help from her mother despite their stormy relationship.
Millie is used to demanding situations:
Demanding is an understatement. I'm one of the youngest senior managers in history at McCarthy, Gudenack, and Young - or MG&Y - and I've had to bust my ass twice as hard as my male counterparts to get where I am.
What she isn't familiar with is the type of adaptation she'll have to undertake in order to confront her past and the relationships she left behind:
I was seventeen the last time the blockhouse was "our spot." A lot is different now. We're different. Still, I hold only good memories of the old building, so I agree and let Cal lead me through the trees. I inhale the distinct, sharp smell of surrounding firs and bask in the nostalgia of my childhood.
Kelly Marks crafts an evocative story that is realistic, engaging, and hard to put down. Many women will recognize Millie's courage and determination in themselves, as well as situations where Millie's stubbornness does not well serve her.
The story is not all about cancer and chemo treatments, but returning home to revitalize and change relationships and right wrongs that can only be identified as such through the progression of time and the safety of distance.
Libraries seeking women's reads for group discussion or beach reading that blends thought-provoking revelations with growth insights will find The Past That Made Us an excellent recommendation for patrons who like evocative, transformative stories about life changes.
This audience will appreciate the strength of Millie's character, the logic of her perceptions, and the special challenge involved in returning to the past to craft a new future. The opportunity to absorb all of these features in a story that is compelling and inviting makes The Past That Made Us a provocative, engaging recommendation that will reach a wide audience.
A Journey into Manhood from the Path of an Idiot
Carandus Brown
Wasteland Press
www.wastelandpress.net
9781681116082, $18.99 Paperback/$9.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Journey-into-Manhood-Path-Idiot/dp/1681116081
A Journey into Manhood from the Path of an Idiot is an African American memoir that chronicles some angry, astute, and hard-hitting realities that Carandus Brown confronts. It's not an easy read, not a story light in inquiry, and not a reflection to be taken outside of the foundations of Carandus Brown's life, but surveys the kinds of choices this man faces that prove pivot points in his life.
As such, the journey is compelling, frightening, thought-provoking, and enlightening, all in one.
Brown writes with a literary, reflective hand capable of drawing in readers from his story's opening lines:
The journey to discovering the true essence of manhood didn't come to me in a moment of wisdom or quiet reflection. It began on a day that came crashing down like a violent storm, tearing through everything I thought I knew. Since that day, my life has spiraled on an uncontrollable rollercoaster of anger, sadness, and failure, but nothing - nothing - prepared me for that day, June 29, 1996.
Fate, spirituality, choices and their heavy consequences, and discoveries permeate a life that takes the time to stop and reflect on the impact of underlying assumptions and influences:
Through every mistake I've made in love, I've come to understand a painful truth - having someone beside you doesn't magically make you whole. It doesn't erase the wounds from the past or transform you into the man you're meant to be. For years, I chased love like it was a lifeline, believing that if someone could just love me enough, it would drown out the emptiness I carried. But love doesn't work like that.
As interwoven experiences emerge like puzzle pieces to connect this singular life, readers begin to appreciate the bigger picture of the attitudes and actions that made Brown who he is today.
A Journey into Manhood from the Path of an Idiot is the kind of memoir that should be especially important for young black men on their own journeys to self-realization and growth.
It's a book librarians will want to add to their collections as a heady example and influential note of growth possibilities in pain and resilience. Ideally, it won't be digested in a singular fashion, but will be recommended for book club and reading group discussions.
Pointed and powerful, A Journey into Manhood from the Path of an Idiot is a top recommendation for reading groups, libraries, and individuals looking for strong examples of African American lives, writing, and transformative potential.
Mathey Girls: A Novel
Melody Chu
Redleaves Books
9798998774805, $15.99 Paperback/$5.99 eBook
https://a.co/d/hUSWEoN
Mathey Girls reviews the midlife crisis of Esther Hsu, who could be seen as a successful professional or an aimless drifter, depending on personal perception versus outward appearance.
Esther's oldest group of Princeton friends, the Mathey Girls, supports her vision of a successful past until one dies in childbirth, leading Esther to step up to help a grieving husband and a child left behind. She becomes entwined not just in present-day dilemmas, but an unresolved issue from the past that continues to influence her decisions and life.
Melody Chu roots her story in the post-pandemic era, reviewing the lasting impact of being shut down and considering how this group of close friends has changed their values and responses to life because of it:
The past two years had unmoored everyone, making it painfully clear that life had changed, was changing, would change, and they needed to celebrate while they could.
Even more importantly, Chu explores how an unplanned pregnancy later in life affects not only the prospective mother, but her circle of friends; each of whom have built lives and relationships that still can be affected by the winds that buffet their friendship.
Chu also brings to life Chinese influences, culture, lives, and the intersection of Chinese and American affairs as Hannah, Esther, and their circle of friends grows and changes.
This gives the story an authentic, rich aura as it explores Asian American experience, friendships, and shifting life patterns with equal strength.
Librarians seeking a story of women's relationships, responsibilities, and Asian American lives will find Mathey Girls an uplifting exploration of friendships and life possibilities that will lend especially well to book club recommendation and discussions.
Filled with eye-opening reflections and moments of realization and growth, Mathey Girls is an unforgettable story filled with poignant revelations and cross-cultural inspections:
"The thing is, strong women like us, we can't get bogged down with impostor syndrome and all that nonsense. It's so easy to take on that mantle, you know? Especially Asian women. We're brought up to be successful and competent, but at the same time demure and obedient, and where does that leave us? We don't allow ourselves to be proud of our achievements, our skills."
Captain Death
Jurgen Vsych
Wroughten Books
www.TheCaptainDeath.com
9780974987941, $23.45 Hardcover/$17.00 Paperback/$9.95 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Captain-Death-Jurgen-Vsych/dp/B0F92KD8XY
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/captain-death-jurgen-vsych/1123265704
Captain Death is historical satire at its best, imparting chuckles even with chapter headings such as 'Clancy is Hung... or Hanged' or 'Clancy Gets Himself to a Nunnery.' These display a humor that grows as this swashbuckling pirate comedy of errors evolves to juxtapose a pirate's confrontations with life and a home life in which piracy sits on the back burner of family:
Clancy's four-year-old twin daughter and son screamed, leapt from the table, and ran to Daddy. Clancy knelt and handed his daughter the doll, and his son the toy cannon. Clancy bellowed the piratical laugh he knew they loved, "HA HA HA! These be my children!" and then turned serious. "These are my children. Always use correct grammar, my dears; people will think you a lady and gentleman, and you'll get away with murder, just like your grandfather."
As Captain William Death leads Clancy North into trouble and hilarious maritime mishaps evolve under their association, readers are treated to a series of military and personal clashes. These are further enhanced by black and white illustrations from museums around the world, bringing the history and times to life with the added value of fun brought about by an ex-pirate who finds he hasn't quite left his past behind.
As he confronts history, the past, and the realities of survival under impossible conditions and questionable associations, Clancy's rollicking story embraces both history and humor in a fresh, original manner that will delight even non-pirate history readers.
Libraries seeking examples of historical fiction that reach beyond genre boundaries and audiences to attract and delight novel readers looking for something refreshingly different will find the adventure and political struggles of Captain Death to be just the ticket for a powerful good time and read.
Filled with delightful, wry observations of the political, social, and military battles of the day, Captain Death is a story hard to put down and delightfully unexpected in its characters, directions, and outcomes.
The Retreat: A Kepos Novel
Liz Ussery
www.lizusseryauthor.com
Independently Published
9798289052612, $12.99 Paperback/$4.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Retreat-Kepos-Novel-Files/dp/B0FF583DWQ
The Retreat is Book 1 of The Kepos Files series and tells of Cassie Vale, who joins the Kepos Retreat with one goal in mind - to forget trauma and heal by moving forward. She well knows that the program and offerings of this retreat will involve some degree of confrontation and discomfort, but what she doesn't expect is to find surveillance and secrets further impacting her every move.
Handler Jude, who has been assigned to her case, reflects on Cassie's dilemma from the start:
She wasn't just a patient. She was a test. "She's the anomaly," they told him in the briefing. "We don't expect her to integrate. But we want to know why." His role was simple. Monitor. Report. No intervention. No engagement. "And if she breaks?" he'd asked. "Then we learn from it."
As their relationship evolves and truths bubble to the surface, emotional connections and choices begin to raise new questions both between them and separately as intrigue and danger build a powerful psychological thriller:
"I don't know who to trust anymore." Jude hesitated, then finally reached for her hand. He didn't grip it tightly, just enough to ground them both. "Then don't trust me," he said. "Watch me. And decide." It wasn't reassurance, it was surrender. A quiet invitation to damn him if she needed to.
Liz Ussery does more than build scenes with character tension. She creates a virtual world of possibility and mystery that brings readers into issues of trauma, salvation, redemption, and dawning horror as new realizations emerge about both of their lives, connections, and future.
She excels in creating the kinds of surprises that lead both main characters to new developments and growth. As the story reveals unexpected truths, Ussery engages her readers in the process of not just problem-solving and confrontation, but healing and growth.
Libraries will find The Retreat a special choice because of its simmering relationship quandaries, slowly emerging horror, satisfying twists and turns of plot, and, most of all, its realistic, engaging characters.
Readers who choose The Retreat for all these qualities and for its lasting force and impact will find it a novel hard to put down.
Pivot Point
Tess Manchester
www.TessManchester.com
Shotover Press
9781966920021, $12.99 Paperback/$.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Pivot-Point-True-Time-Manchester/dp/1966920024
Pivot Point blends the genres of time travel novel and true crime story, creating a suspense piece somewhat indefinable in its genre but open to attracting interest not just from a singular direction, but a wide audience.
Against the backdrop of a storm, a fugitive engages a U.S. Marshall in a challenging manner that tests not only her aptitude for tracking down perps, but her moral and ethical character and ability to adapt to novel circumstances well beyond her experience.
A devastating flood impacting a town would be enough to handle, but Blake Everhart also faces a criminal world that lies deep under the surface of community propriety as well as a new romantic interest with local physician Naomi Preston.
Small town personalities, fun and games, and quirky encounters intersect with powerful forces as Blake pursues truths and possibilities well outside of her comfort zone.
Past and present-day catastrophes propel her in different directions, but Tess Manchester doesn't overlook the minutiae of experience in favor of big scenarios, allowing readers entry into Blake's surveillance and world with a fine attention to detail and immediacy:
Blake sends a message from her phone for the task force to move in. She draws her service weapon and remains kneeling behind the bench. Sixty seconds. One extra minute.
Canton could slip through her fingers with each second she waits behind the bench. Time creeps by at a snail's pace...
Events unfold, splinter into different directions, and, as is so often true of life, evolve into something entirely different. These avenues make Pivot Point an exceptional study in possibility and growth as well as tension and intrigue.
Libraries seeking forays into the past which lead into present-day dilemmas and choices will find Pivot Point just the ticket to recommend to suspense and thriller readers seeking an injection of LGBTQ+ inspections and developments.
Filled with fast-paced actions involving helicopters, snipers, forays into bygone worlds, and realizations about the criminal intentions underlying them, Pivot Point will attract those seeking superior stories of survival, transformation, and resiliency.
"Beyond Expectations"
Paul Fuller
Independently Published
9798319128997, $22.50 Paperback/$11.25 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Expectations-Achievements-Contributions-Morristown/dp/B0F844B2PF
"Beyond Expectations": Achievements & Contributions of Various Morristown College Alumni to Society is a sequel to Paul Fuller's popular discussion of Morristown College, The Mighty Red Knights, and is especially recommended for alumni, students, and prior fans of the college's history and culture.
Profiles of notable instructors, Morristown grads who are active community members, activists, and achievers, and a wide swath of individuals whose Morristown roots have contributed to the greater good of the world around them creates a powerful listing of achievements and contributions which can be connected to its college programs and higher education.
This cementing of connections between community and college furthers the idea of how institutions of higher learning produce educated community assets that operate to make the world a better place.
Readers with a prior interest in Morristown will especially appreciate how these biographies intersect individual, college, and community lives, offering wider-ranging perspectives on outlooks and society as a whole.
Black and white and color photos throughout bring these people and places to life, crafting a survey that is engaging and revealing.
Librarians holding a prior and special interest in Morristown College, as well as its alumni and culture, will find "Beyond Expectations" a notable acquisition certain to receive circulating interest not just among alumni, but any would-be college student considering the greater impact of higher education in general and Morristown College in particular.
The Alzheimer's Cure
Peter Van Oossanen
Atmosphere Press
www.atmospherepress.com
9798891327818, $21.99 paperback, $9.99 ebook, $42.99 hardcover
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Alzheimers-Cure-Peter-van-Oossanen/dp/B0FKL8BSGC
Readers anticipating a medical story from the book's title may be surprised to learn that The Alzheimer's Cure is actually a thriller. It involves protagonist Lucy Lassiter in a world-changing chase to recover stolen research on an Alzheimer's cure developed by her parents' company.
Russian special interests and personal ambition collide in a vivid chase through nations and medical rights issues that thriller audiences will relish.
Peter Van Oossanen's story is loosely based on real facts, but holds no predictable approaches to the cure or its embattled status. The plot builds strong interpersonal relationships as well as fast-paced action, evolving interactions between Oliver, Sasha, Lucy, and a host of supporting characters whose interests dovetail over the cure and its future.
The interpersonal conflicts that evolve between characters during the course of the adventure lend discovery and psychological depth to its plot:
"I need to see everything that has happened differently," Lucy protested. "I'm aware that you see your decision to not consider my needs on that fateful day when I left you as wrong. But I should have been strong and fought for us. I didn't, and I allowed myself to fall in with the wrong people again and become addicted to alcohol. I feel very guilty about that, and each time I hear you say everything is your fault, that feeling of guilt consumes me."
Also notable are the connections to real-world ethical and social dilemmas which test each personality in a different manner, giving rise to thought-provoking moments as the action unfolds.
Libraries seeking thrillers that operate on international shores, reveal heady confrontations and unexpected impacts of decisions, survey the impact of a medical breakthrough on relationships and society as a whole, and contain kidnappings, espionage, and romance will find The Alzheimer's Cure an excellent recommendation for patrons interested in romantic suspense stories.
Filled with delightfully unexpected twists, The Alzheimer's Cure is a drama that is vigorous, invigorating, and hard to put down.
Wednesday, After
Richard Sherry
Independently Published
9798283566740, $14.99
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Wednesday-After-Mischief-Richard-Sherry/dp/B0FBM42KFQ
Wednesday, After is the fourth book in the BakerMischief thriller series. It takes place after the 2024 presidential election when a conservative Republic and principled leader grapples with forces that try to manipulate him behind the scenes.
Political science professor Ed Baker is good at ferreting out objectives, hidden agendas, and underlying influences. His dedication leads him to become involved in matters that push the boundaries of his political education and savvy, leading him into dangerous new territory and situations.
His wife Melody adds her own astute insights to these scenarios:
"Be prepared for contrary winds and tides. The sociologist may have a different perspective than the political scientist."
Moral, ethical, and social inspections emerge from a variety of sources, from religious pulpits to everyday life:
"'The moral test of our society is how we treat our most vulnerable.' The refugee. The addict. The abandoned single mother. The emotionally or physically or psychologically damaged. What do we, corporately, owe each of them, in light of that?
"One much later in the list, because we are where we are, in the seat of government: 'The state has a positive moral function to promote human dignity, protect human rights and build the common good.' What ought we to do, from neighborhood up through the nation, in light of that?"
From issues surrounding vulnerable, easy targets to playbooks that threaten the politics and processes of world power balances, Wednesday, After addresses many political issues familiar to modern times, but dresses them with the bright, compelling personal touch of individuals caught up in ideals and realities.
This is where Richard Sherry's strong characterization dovetails neatly with social inspection and elements of suspense. He encourages readers to probe the underbelly of political manipulation and influences, which will lend to many a thought-provoking book club discussion.
Libraries will find the combination of thriller and modern political inspection results in a compelling read. Wednesday, After can be very highly recommended to fiction readers seeking insights that are delivered through a riveting foray into partisan politics.
Those who like their political inspections rooted in personalities and relationships that are buffeted by intrigue and examination alike will find Wednesday, After a powerfully thought-provoking story that's hard to put down. It will be delightful to discuss with fellow readers or political personalities interested in America's future direction.
Inside the Insurance Industry - Fourth Edition
Kevin L. Glaser
Right Side Creations LLC
9780991038886, $39.58 Hardcover/$29.95 Paperback/$19.95 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Insurance-Industry-Individuals-Businesses/dp/0991038886?s=books
The fourth updated edition of Inside the Insurance Industry: Insurance Help for Individuals and Businesses assures that its messages and insights about how the insurance industry operates remains relevant to modern readers.
Its update is needed (and libraries should replace prior editions with this latest) because so much about the insurance industry has and continues to change, making Kevin L. Glaser's information and guidance a fluctuating, growing set of insights that require periodic adjustment to reflect new industry trends and rules.
Expanded sections covering the latest rules, claims processes, insurance deals and pitfalls, and risk management assure that a wide range of readers receive the latest information. This audience will range from business owners and students to attorneys, insurance professionals, and anyone conducting operations affected by insurance decisions.
From changes in loss calculations and risk to new financing changes such as Parametric Insurance, consumers and professionals alike need to know these details because they impact how they are likely to rate the need for, acquire, and understand insurance.
Glaser's position as an insurance industry insider lends to many observations and notes on routines and perceptions that will prove invaluable to those who buy insurance, but may have little idea of how it actually operates.
From reading and understanding policies of all kinds to what happens when insurance matters go to court, this edition of Inside the Insurance Industry is essential for understanding the latest processes, insurance logic and business decisions, and how these impact consumers and professionals who buy insurance.
Libraries will want to continue to recommend this latest edition as an important, essential review of insurance industry processes. Inside the Insurance Industry - Fourth Edition is a basic primer for understanding how insurance operates - a knowledge base that, Glaser maintains, most people really don't comprehend.
His experience and insights provide an invaluable series of educational moments suitable not only for business professional and consumer consultation, but for business book club and reading groups where insurance industry operations are of interest.
Rose Hope
Barb Greenberg
Kirk House Publishers
www.kirkhousepublishers.com
9781959681915, $26.95 Hardcover/$17.95 Paperback/$4.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Rose-Hope-Barb-Greenberg/dp/1959681915
When Rosie decides to attend a bridal shower luncheon in the middle of her divorce, it may not be the best decision she's ever made. However, maybe it is. Rose Hope outlines the results of despair and new beginnings as Rosie confronts her changed circumstances with optimistic hope for new beginnings.
Rosie's emotional ups and downs are nicely charted by Barb Greenberg as Rosie encounters novel situations and adjusts her persona accordingly:
Rosie put her head on the table, cradled by her arms, wondering how she could get that nice girl inside of her to shut up. But it wasn't just the nice girl anymore. She was now joined by the lost girl.
From how she relies on female friends to bridge the gap ("marriage is over pizza") to pressures surrounding forgiveness and acknowledgements of how kindness can change the world (hers in particular), Rosie's journeys through life will appeal to many a women walking her own divergent path through life.
Greenberg's careful crafting of various personalities and perspectives lends an evocative, compelling feel to Rosie's story that will attract a wide audience and prove equally suitable for women's reading groups.
Libraries acquiring Rose Hope will want to recommend it to women exploring their own grief, life changes, and emotional connections, as well as to book clubs interested in moving stories of transformation.
Those who partake of Rose Hope will find Rosie's story ultimately uplifting, encouraging, thought-provoking, and a source of inspiration much needed in these modern divided times.
How to Surf a Hurricane
Todd Medema
Atmosphere Press
www.atmospherepress.com
9798891327931, $29.99 Hardcover/$17.99 Paperback/$9.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/How-Surf-Hurricane-Todd-Medema/dp/B0FJH1SP33
How to Surf a Hurricane is a novel about an engineer who develops a revolutionary new battery that will change the world, the corporate quash of his project, and his battle to see his invention to fruition against all odds.
Moro Petroff never envisioned himself as a fighter. He's a family businessman whose predicament is made all the worse for the fact that his project's demise comes from family edict. Uncle Dmitri has cut his funding after seeing no working batteries from Moro's proposal and dreams.
A perfect storm emerges between one who has his head in the clouds over future energy possibilities and the scruples of a business committed to profit over possibility. The resulting deluge consumes Moro and his family, drawing in outside forces outside to battle on both sides as he brings a hurricane surfer, an Alaskan oil worker, and a French salt farmer onto the high seas in a daring heist filled with danger.
From adapting to rough seas and witnesses who prove unlikely heroes to rogue waves both physical and mental, How to Surf a Hurricane is a powerfully engaging story of struggle that juxtaposes disparate forces of special interest. Each inject elements of psychological and moral and ethical drama into the fight.
Readers who enjoy nautical dramas that include rescue, a love of the sea, and struggles over technology that influences the course of not just human lives, but the world's ecology, will find How to Surf a Hurricane thoroughly absorbing, packed with contemplative reflections:
What started as an escape from reality, clinging to the last threads of memories, quickly became so much more when she discovered windsurfing.
Libraries will want to recommend How to Surf a Hurricane to suspense readers for its intrigue and struggles, business readers for its messages about family interactions and financial realities, sci-fi readers of dystopian fiction who will appreciate its more uplifting approach than most genre reads, and general-interest readers seeking thought-provoking stories about futuristic ideals and realities.
Filled with interesting moments of inspection and confrontation, How to Surf a Hurricane delves into the intersection of business, personal, and technological transformation with an astute eye to revealing what happens when ideals clash and visions go awry, only to re-emerge in new directions.
Made for Me
Laura Ranger
Foundations Book Publishing
www.FoundationsBooks.net
9781645831525, $5.99 eBook
Made for Me is the YA sci-fi story of Sandi, who wants to be done with high school's cliques and games. She comes from a "long line of scientists" and can't wait to become one, herself. Perhaps this is why she is drawn into a dangerous experiment in which a basement lab becomes the birthplace of a deadly idea gone awry when she attempts to bring her father's abandoned experiment to fruition - and succeeds.
Can she really create a full body? As a young Frankenstein, Sandi pursues her questions and her dream, only to confront a result far beyond her expectations and way past her ability to control.
Laura Ranger crafts an appealing personality in the geeky Sandi, whose talents supersede her years and wisdom. YAs will particularly relate to Sandi's intentions in tackling the impossible:
It sure would be cool if she could make a person. She would make herself the man of her dreams. Well, at least a boyfriend good enough to make the kids at school stop looking at her like a loser.
The usual coming-of-age story takes a twist into adult concerns and reality as Sandi delves into boys, Max's creation and potential, and a strong father/daughter relationship which enters into the emotional fray to posit something totally unexpected.
As her father's love interest, Grace, enters their lives to smooth the relationship between them all, new possibilities emerge on different levels. This places Made for Me beyond the realm of a sci-fi Frankenstein creation story alone.
With its undercurrents of love, change, adaptation, and control, Made for Me is an evocative, compelling story of growth and discovery that will attract sci-fi enthusiasts and teens who like stories of evolving families as much as developing dilemmas.
Libraries that pick Made for Me for YA collections will want to highly recommend it to teens interested in emotional, involving stories that closely examine life connections, new beginnings, and old patterns of belief and interaction.
Its focus on a girl's growth and abilities and how she eventually falls into a situation that challenges the very love she longs for in her life creates a story that is hard to either predict or put down.
Savage Malice
Kit Karson
Granite Mountain Press
9798990056176, $26.99 Hardcover/$16.99 Paperback/$4.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Savage-Malice-Sheriff-Anderson-Chronicles/dp/B0FJRV181Q
Savage Malice is the fifth book in the Anderson Chronicles - but this doesn't mean that newcomers to Kit Karson's crime thriller genre will be lost. The story opens on the vast Anderson Ranch in Anderson, Montana where rancher Seth Geary comes upon not only slaughtered cows, but the body of his ranch hand.
Stone County Sheriff Peter Elliott begins his day with a typical morning that turns into anything but ordinary. Events force him to tackle a deadly conspiracy that envelopes his town, shadowing his investigation with UFO cults and murder.
From its opening lines, Karson crafts a tale that steadily builds intrigue and horror into what initially feels like ordinary mountain town life.
From dive bars like Rustler's Roost to local characters and small-town clashes, the ordinary milieu of Anderson runs headlong into the extraordinary circumstances of homegrown thugs and new gangs, death and taxes, and rural personalities which are quirky and stubborn.
Descriptions of this milieu capture the atmosphere in a succinct, hard-hitting way:
As Angus drove over rutted dirt roads watching for Luke's house, he could feel eyes on him. Makeshift curtains pulled to the side. An occasional resident glared from front porch steps. Angus could hear their voices in his head. We know nothing. We saw nothing. Nailed to a post pounded into the dirt in front of a decaying wooden shack, the sign didn't boost confidence. It declared 'Taxes Dun Cheep!' in dripping black paint.
The initial issue seems to be a cattle mutilator turned murderer of humans, but in fact, circumstances delve into deeper murky waters as issues of justice run headlong into those involving "the underworld of the underworld" and long-hidden purposes.
Karson's action-packed adventure will appeal to a wide audience, from those who like mysteries couched in small-town personalities and politics to thriller readers who prefer that the action expand into wider realms and unpredictable avenues of special interest.
The manner in which this story embraces a myriad of interests and concerns while revealing the interconnected lives of victims, perps, and conspirators alike makes for a fast-paced read delightful in its unexpected twists and turns.
Librarians seeking a mystery which embraces a Western atmosphere but goes the extra mile to include portraits of disparate people and various levels of struggle will find Savage Malice a winning recommendation.
Not only does it paint an uncommon portrait of ranchers and townspeople under siege from unusual sources, but it blends UFO concerns into the bigger picture for a delightful romp through possibility, reality, and truths about twisted angels, drugs, and money. Where's the beef? It's right there in Anderson, cooking with possibility and excitement.
Wrecked By You
Kate Sweden
www.kateswedenromance.com
Wild Magnolias Press
B0F2GRPBMX, $4.99 eBook/$13.99 Paperback
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F2GRPBMX
Wrecked By You is a modern romantic comedy that joins the Wilder Horizons series with a sexy, snappy, bantering tone between lovers and co-workers that will leave romance and humor readers laughing, engaged, and delighted.
From its opening lines, the story captures the first-person narrator's proclivity for getting into trouble. Rayann Wilder answers her older sister's summons, to discover that she's booked two feuding enemies into the same wedding venue on the Isle of Skye. There's nothing to be done but travel there to smooth out any possible confrontations - in the company of the exasperating, attractive security guard Max Harrington.
Predictable romance and storms arise between these two disparate personalities, introducing sexual and emotional tension into a situation already ripe for snafus.
Kate Sweden juxtaposes various tensions with sexual scenes that are steamy and authentic. A broom closet encounter is both titillating and hilarious as it graphically portrays the results of an attraction neither professional can ignore.
Readers who want the sexual build-up to culminate in satisfying results will find Wrecked By You provides a vivid, fast-paced story of confrontation, "growl-claims," passion, and relationship realization that is heady and absorbing, fueled by descriptions of encounters filled with exploration and action:
"You're fire," he said. "You're momentum. The spark boring people spend their whole lives chasing. You don't just dream. You pull people in. You give them the adventure they didn't even know they needed."
Libraries seeking a blend of steamy romance and the clash and union of two seemingly disparate but interconnected personalities will want to add Wrecked By You to their "chick lit" collections as a contemporary story of dissimilar personalities forced to learn how to appreciate one another.
Mature audiences will appreciate the psychological and sexual situations which emerge from this unexpected union, the wry sense of humor that follow them into surprising scenarios, and the spicy, realistic clash of a relationship that evolves from unexpected roots and unanticipated directions.
Delaware Behaving Badly
Dave Tabler
davetabler.com
Independently Published
9798992166729, $30.00
Delaware Behaving Badly joins the other books in Dave Tabler's Delaware history series, incorporating the same jovial blend of history and delightfully unusual facts that give Delaware's experiences the added edge of interest needed to attract non-Delawareans to its story.
The true crime focus of this guide outlines some magnificent events and circumstances that lend to its inclusion in any true crime library collection.
Take, for example, the 1690 story of "When Spells Become Criminal Acts." The saga considers Delaware's early supernatural accusations and prosecutions, which depart from the familiar early Salem witch trial history to enter into lesser-known territory surrounding the mixed beliefs of Anglicans, Quakers, Dutch Reformed Church members, Lutherans, and Mennonites who influenced supernatural pursuits in a different manner than the Puritan-rooted Massachusetts.
Here, the 1604 Act that shaped responses to accusations of sorcery involved attempting remedies for bewitchment that superseded legal punishment to enter into realms of not just medical cures, but preventative measures.
The history of these approaches provides intriguing forays into the racial and ethnic tensions in Delaware's urban centers, considering crime and solution in a much broader light than most early American histories.
Contrast this survey with the surprisingly violent clashes that emerged over oyster pirating in 1901. Yes, oysters. This problem enveloped New England, but Dave Tabler's contrast between different state reactions and operations creates a particularly intriguing history of cross-references that is enlightening and hard to put down:
The oyster piracy era drew to a close through a combination of technological advancement and biological calamity. State governments steadily tightened their grip on the industry, deploying armed patrols and motorized enforcement vessels that could effectively chase down poachers. Delaware and New Jersey strengthened their cooperation, creating a unified system of licenses and patrols that made it harder for pirates to exploit state-line jurisdictional gaps.
These examples and many more are the reason why the monikers "Delaware history" and "true crime" may attempt to identify the audience for this book, but in fact fall short of its possibility for an expansive appreciation by virtually anyone with any degree of interest in American history.
This is why librarians across the country should consider adding Delaware Behaving Badly to their collections... but they will want to take an active role in profiling it to assure it doesn't stay on the shelf, perceived as a read for Delaware-centric audiences only.
Delaware Behaving Badly deserves so much more, offering many political, cultural, social, and psychological insights into its history and disparate types of crime to make it a winner in many arenas of American history and experience.
Killer Personality
Steven Fisher
Atmosphere Press
www.atmospherepress.com
9798891327870, $31.99 Hardcover/$17.99 Paperback/$8.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Killer-Personality-Steven-Fisher/dp/B0FJWFX3F1
Happenstance is evident in Killer Personality when Kevin Mathers meets the alluring Olivia Sims in a bar and a spark flares between them. Soon he discovers that serendipity has nothing to do with it, for Olivia's beauty masks a dangerous personality that unfolds more and more deliberate, deadly intentions as Kevin becomes drawn deeper into her life and reality.
Initially more than open to a new relationship, Kevin comes to realize he also has made himself vulnerable to unfamiliar horrors. These challenge Kevin's growing love for Olivia, which continues despite the new discoveries that keep blindsiding him.
Steven Fisher regularly shifts perspectives between Olivia and Kevin, identifying these pivot points so that readers can easily flow between these disparate personalities and lives. He creates a bond that seems solid before bodies are unearthed and the horror begins to pile up, involving readers in Kevin's predicament as Olivia's allure is countered by his growing horror over her true nature.
Even more pointed and revealing are moments in which Olivia (aka Susan) presents the experiences of her past which impact her sense of choice, responsibility, and the emerging consequences of her attractions and actions:
All my life, it had felt like I had been on the run or ready to run. I had experienced no peace since I left the town where I had been born. I had lost my father and sister. I had lost every man I had tried to love. I suddenly realized that Eddie was the only man who had never left or disappointed me. But it was better this way.
As she becomes part of a team, seemingly falls into a better life, and navigates pitfalls and possibilities, Olivia's persona comes to light in deeper ways that belay any possibility of simply identifying her dangerous choices and ways of thinking:
They say that time flies when you're having fun. The next six months were the most fun of my adult life...I explored museums all over the city and felt like I was growing and learning every day. I lived in a cool apartment near to everything I needed. I even began to think about putting myself out there for a social life.
Readers might anticipate feeling more connection to Kevin than Olivia, but the real surprises are delivered through Olivia's shifting perspectives, which chart her growth and her failures alike:
Every person in my life I erased would be found. That didn't bother me. The world knows what I am, even if they don't know who I am and why. That Kevin! He had gotten under my skin, and I guess I did want him to know me.
Libraries interested in a tale of growth, revelation, and uncertain connections with love and life will find Killer Personality as alluring as its characters. It's filled with action, psychological inspection, and important points of discussion for book clubs and reading groups.
Audiences will appreciate how Fisher builds killer connections via a head-turner of a woman, a man who enters her odd, threatening world, and the makings of a persona whose outer appearance masks an inner danger that reaches out to touch another with unexpected results for them both.
Born of This Fire
Jeanne Gehret
https://JeanneGehretAuthor.com
Verbal Images Press
9781884281204, $16.99 Paperback/$4.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Born-This-Fire-Homefront-Dauntless-ebook/dp/B0FMJZQSF3
The Civil War, women's issues, and questions of passion and integrity coalesce in Born of This Fire, a novel about a war that affects not only a woman's life, but her belief system and values. Annie Osborn Anthony enters unfamiliar waters from her staid Martha's Vineyard home by journeying to Kansas, the state her husband Daniel fought to keep free for all.
The contrast between these two very different worlds captures a "you are here" feel from the start:
She wasn't on the road anymore. And yet, even as her limbs rested, her mind drifted eastward - back to the mercurial Atlantic Ocean, the salt air of Martha's Vineyard, the well-tended lanes and whitewashed fences. Everything she had once called home now seemed impossibly distant.
Annie faces many challenges in her new life, from armed civilians and Kansas politics to Daniel's wartime tactics and the rumors that haunt their marriage.
More than a story about war, pioneers, shifting politics, or changing attitudes, Born of This Fire captures the passion and purposes of the times. It contrasts alliances with underlying horrors, the impact of Susan B. Anthony's purpose and vision upon this changing environment, and Annie's own consideration of how conventions need be set aside in order to embrace new possibilities for the lives of women, enslaved people, and all manner of men.
Jeanne Gehret builds thought-provoking contrasts between the social mores and politics of these times, viewing events through the eyes of a married woman who becomes caught up in new ideas and ideals for her future and that of her children.
As the point of view shifts between Daniel and Annie, different perspectives are contrasted and influences become cemented in a growing series of confrontations that test the boundaries of guilt, innocence, and survival.
History melds nicely with emotional and political realizations as the lives of Annie and Daniel Read Anthony come to life, firmly rooted in the hopes and expectations of their times.
Librarians will recommend this book to patrons seeking books about strained marriages, women's courage in the face of loss, and the moral challenges of a divided nation. It lends especially well to book club discussions and reading circles seeking astute women's historical fiction.
With its sterling reflection of powerful personalities whose choices influenced the era, Born of This Fire is hopeful, invigorating, and hard to put down.
Birthday Bash
Blair Northen Williamson, author
Taylor Woolley, illustrator
The Little Press
9781956378337, $19.99
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Birthday-Bash-Blair-Northen-Williamson/dp/1956378332
Birthday Bash explores Kiko the Mouse's determination to host an unprecedented, successful birthday party for himself on his houseboat. He invites his two best friends, promising them his best, gooiest cupcakes. But when a pesky bug crashes the party, Kiko is forced to bring out the big guns to address a small, annoying problem.
Matters spiral downhill from there as Kiko finds the determined bug more than a match for his creative bug-ridding solutions.
Kids ages 4-8 will appreciate Taylor Woolley's whimsical illustrations as the ship flounders and Kiko discovers that his magnificent birthday bash is rapidly devolving into disaster.
It's a good thing he cultivates some creative friends who can help save the day.
Read-aloud parents will find the story loaded with sound effects, action, and hilarious moments as Kiko attempts to tackle a small issue that threatens his big dreams.
Sometimes the best events evolve not just from preparation, but from unexpected moments of conflict that provide the glue of friendship and bonding.
Elementary-level libraries and parents that choose Birthday Bash for its whimsical encounters will find much fun paired with thought-provoking reflections about over-reacting, creative problem-solving, and cooperative ventures, making this picture book a strong, colorful attraction.
Earth Rover
Taylor Woolley
Familius, LLC
https://familius.com
9781641708463, $17.99 Hardcover/$16.19 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Earth-Rover-Taylor-Woolley/dp/1641708468
In the picture book story Earth Rover, Rover the dog is convinced he's destined for interplanetary adventure. He's dreamed of going into space since he was a pup, even writing the human-owned NASA to convince them that his training and background makes him the perfect candidate for becoming a lunar rover.
After all: he's already spaceship-trained, much more adept than a robot, and has all the natural, built-in qualities to find minerals buried deep underground and handle "ruff" conditions.
Tongue-in-cheek humor permeates this fun story of a basset hound convinced he's the perfect dog for a lunar job.
Read-aloud parents will appreciate the whimsical logic of Rover's arguments, Taylor Woolley's equally captivating illustrations of Rover's imagination, and the subtle inclusion of female explorers as Rover dreams of "...what it would be like up on the moon together, an astronaut and her Rover."
The result is a whimsical review of canine abilities that might (or might not) translate to a space adventure, offering adults and young listeners a fine exploration of talents, possibilities, and novel new environments.
Elementary-level libraries will find it easy to recommend Earth Rover to young and old canine fans who will delight in Rover's imagination and positivity.
Little Gator's Morning Dash
Sheri Morris
Little Gator Publishing, LLC
9781606453735, $26.95 Hardcover/$12.99 Paperback/$5.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Little-Gators-Morning-Dash-Teaching/dp/1606453734
Little Gator's Morning Dash addresses a common problem parents have with kids: getting them up and going in the morning. Many books have tried to tackle this problem in a positive way, but Sheri Morris offers a different perspective by promoting a fun, easily-learned "Morning Dash" that encourages kids to get out of bed in the morning and perform their tasks.
Morning habits and routines involve quietly getting up so as not to disturb others, putting jammies in their proper place when getting dressed, and saying morning prayers. Each routine Little Gator experiences comes with insight, respect for others, and the physical and mental process of "getting ready for another wonderful day."
Read-aloud adults will especially appreciate the positivity and concern that Little Gator reflects as he goes through his morning routine, and the focus on consideration for and helping others that Little Gator cultivates through his choices.
Libraries and readers seeking positive choices for read-aloud, behavior modification efforts, and a fun read featuring the colorful Little Gator (which Tom Tolman's vivid, full-sized illustrations bring to life) will find Little Gator's Morning Dash just the ticket for teaching and encouraging the very young.
Emily's Adventure
David Peter Swan
www.davidswan.life
Swainwright
9781036924416, $10.99
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Emilys-Adventure-David-Swan/dp/1036924416
Young adult readers of paranormal adventure will welcome a story of grief, recovery, and powers that emerge when a parent's life ends that makes Emily's Adventure a standout in different ways.
Their practical father has prepared his family for his demise, but what he hasn't prepared Emily for is a gift that stems from his last mysterious words to her. These foster blossoming abilities that force Emily into new realizations about life's purpose and possibilities.
Facts unfold in the course of a journey through not just sorrow over losing her father, but different forms of grief, confrontation, and angst that lead her to hone abilities she'd never known she had:
The dream - or whatever it was - had shown her something new, something bigger than she had ever imagined. It wasn't just about her father or the strange bubbles, but about how everything was connected. How everything was made of energy and imagination. She took a deep breath and let the fresh air fill her lungs. The smell of the garden - earthy and clean - helped her feel like she was back. She looked at the trees once more, then closed her eyes, smiling softly. Boo had said, this whole universe is your mind. Maybe, just maybe, Emily thought, she was starting to understand.
YA readers will enjoy the inviting foray into worlds of witches and supernatural forces that comes with an undercurrent of discovery and spiritual and psychological survival, making Emily's character feel three-dimensional and thoroughly absorbing.
Many of these opportunities and insights will lend nicely to book club or group discussion, as well:
...as Alexis had pointed out, plenty of people believed in voices, in guardian angels, in unseen forces guiding them. Maybe it didn't matter if it was real or not. Maybe what mattered was how she chose to understand it.
From how demons become influenced to bigger issues of darkness versus light, Emily's Adventure demonstrates a powerful spiritual component that engages young adults with thought-provoking scenarios and unexpected questions.
Librarians seeking YA collection additions which lure with supernatural overtones but move far beyond the typical urban fantasy setting will appreciate the allure, complexity, and bigger-picture thinking that Emily's Adventure embraces.
Its special brand of action and discovery makes it a clear winner.
Seven Blackbirds
Helen Winslow Black
Four Elk Press
9798990418028, $18.99
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Blackbirds-Helen-Winslow-Black/dp/B0FP3ZF7GS
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/seven-blackbirds-helen-winslow-black/1008859573
Seven Blackbirds opens with a literal bang, portending a story of violence that may trigger readers sensitive to vivid domestic abuse descriptions, but which cements its events in realistic flavors:
I was in the bedroom when he did it. He swung his arm from the shoulder like a baseball bat, palm open, and hit me in the face. When my head came back down from wherever it got sent, I found myself quiet and still on the edge of the bed, watching while he began again with the other arm. He backed up, almost as though he were about to walk out, then circled, pulled in, let go, and slammed me again. The room was painted green, I'd done it myself, and the woodwork, white; thank God the shades were down. I was watching his arms the whole time, but the arms I felt were my own, cradling the baby nursing at my breast. Those were the only arms I knew because they held my child.
As the novel moves from this threatening introduction to explore Kim Baltakis's journey from being a young abused mother with few options to an independent woman with many, it embeds a flavor of discovery, recovery, and movement within its vivid saga, fostering hope as Kim's journey unfolds.
Seven Blackbirds embraces a powerful set of possibilities that will ultimately prove enlightening, encouraging, and practical to women confronting abuse in their own lives, despite the too-familiar turmoil of its opening lines.
Kim explores new options with a candid eye to self-analysis, considering how experiences of the past dovetail with her revised choices now:
I hadn't been able to allow myself a relationship with Morgan when I'd started over in Tulsa. Because I'd known him when I was married, known him when I was pregnant. Kissed him when I was pregnant. Now it was okay. I could cross that line now. I'd actually crossed it, I realized, the moment I stood on that row of red paving stones on Eleventh Street and invited him back to the hotel. What a lot of time I'd wasted obeying unwritten rules which had been stacked against me from the beginning, which Larry had disobeyed with impunity!
From the impact of relationships and supportive friends to her increased ability to confront the past's incarnation in her present-day revised life, Kim's experiences will draw, delight, and define women who are on their own paths to realization and healing.
Libraries seeking vivid novels about abuse, recovery, and discovery will find that Seven Blackbirds is packed with insights and explorations essential to fully understanding the abused woman's shifting role under different circumstances.
Filled with important notes about change, Seven Blackbirds is highly recommended reading for the very audience who will find it challenging - women's reading circles where abuse and growth are ongoing topics of discussion, and where the usual psychological analysis tends to fall short ... unlike Seven Blackbirds, which hits the nail on the head and sinks it firmly into women's realities.
Seizing Fate
Tracey Kyler
Atmosphere Press
www.atmospherepress.com
9798891328037, $30.99 Hardcover/$18.99 Paperback/$8.99 ebook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Seizing-Fate-Gargoyle-Order-Novel/dp/B0FM6944VL
Seizing Fate: A Gargoyle Order Novel opens with a portrait of rooftop stalker Arik Stanton tracking nervous woman Cora. She could be the perfect vulnerable prey for the Fallen One and other threats. He is secretly sworn to protect her, as a warrior of the secret Gargoyle Order - but she can never know this.
He's "been around for a long time, a very long time, and he'd seen a lot of things" in the course of carrying out his duties to protect the innocent, but Arik's pledge to protect others while preserving his secrecy is about to end in a situation where he can do neither.
Tracey Kyler creates a story steeped in emotional confrontations and perspectives that bring both Cora and Arik to life:
He knew she was crying, though to her ears, it would be silent. He could just picture her in there and his heart clenched. How could he not see what she was doing when they sat in that booth? How could he really believe that she wanted nothing to do with him? He'd been so stupid to believe one word of what she said.
Cora may be fragile, but she's not weak. Her strength may even be enough to support them both and change the world as events spiral out of Arik's usual control to introduce courage and even love into the bigger picture mix of their lives and connections.
Kyler drives her story with emotional twists and turns. This will delight fantasy readers who appreciate romance and growth in their tales. She embeds the two characters with tragedy, a sense of destiny and discovery, and realizations that lead them to step away from their familiar roles into extraordinary events.
Libraries interested in fantasy romances that involve characters whose engrained perceptions and personas are forced to change will find Seizing Fate an excellent recommendation for readers who like their stories action-packed and their characters nicely developed.
Filled with unexpected confrontations that test courage and connections alike, Seizing Fate is a fine drama that unfolds new avenues of hope and possibility for its characters, as well as for readers interested in tales of how individuals grow away from familiar patterns to move upward and onward in their lives.
Loading...
Cager Klarxon
https://cagerklarxon.com
Surrender Point Press
9798899655951, $15.99 Paperback/$31.99 Hardcover/$4.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Loading-Cager-Klarxon/dp/B0FNRX3VVP
Loading... will appeal to readers of horror and speculative fiction who accept elements of LGBTQ+ reflection and explicit language involving body parts. As such, the novella may not be for all readers, but will delight a special segment of horror readers by centering on challenging concepts of body, mind, propriety and social decorum. And, perhaps that's putting it lightly.
If Cager Klarxon knows anything, it's how to spin both a good yarn and thought-provoking insights that border on offense, but edge nicely into enlightening territory. His disclaimer about the novella's approach leaves readers an 'out' at the beginning, preparing them to delve into a world where "This is what crawls out when the screen gets a hard-on for your eyeballs. When the line between you and the filth blurs into a sticky mess."
That intersection between horror and disgust contains the ripe fruit of revelation, for Klarxon's raw mirror of a life program gone awry when college student Markus (now reinvented as 'Marshall') is caught shooting amateur porn in his dorm makes for a sordid and scenic drop into depravity and dream-chasing that offers much food for thought.
Markus/Marshall is not the only focus, here. The chapters "load" scenes that unfold a host of characters, from Kate's discovery of "Project Incarnation" in their father's notes, which gives her a clue as to her brother's experiments and condition, to ghosts of logic, encounters with an alien parasite entity that provokes Marshall's reinvention of body and soul, and viewers that add content to the horror that takes over his life.
These digital and interpersonal references are hard-hitting, moving Marshall from the relatively simple, elementary beginnings of porn film shots to deeper inspections of an unscheduled programming that begins to take over his body and life.
Klarxon is adept at injecting a stream of surprises into the story to keep readers on edge and continually thinking, horrified, and surprised. The nature and level of these very adult, involving introspections and experiences places Marshall on the cutting edge of transformation and hell, all in one.
Libraries unafraid of acquiring and including explicit horror works that stand out from the crowd so far that they are delivered in a class of their own will find Loading... an ultimately reflective read that can be recommended to literary speculative fiction audiences seeking something truly different.
Wrapped in the dual guise of horror and dismay, Loading...'s foray into a body and soul re-imagined is a powerful blend of technology, sex, and examining social, psychological and political boundaries. It ultimately demands of its readers that they, too, push the boundaries of propriety and horror to appreciate the nuggets of wisdom embedded in Marshall's download of what is, effectively, a terribly alluring foray into the root system of desire.
Mystery of the Missing Ball
Rahere and Zelie Amolo
Ollie and Louie Books
www.ollieandlouiebooks.com
9798228489518, $10.99
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FNLRLN5S
Mystery of the Missing Ball is an Ollie and Louie picture book rhyming adventure about Ollie's favorite green ball, which is just right in so many ways. He even loves to sleep with it at night.
It seems unlikely that Ollie could lose such a valued toy, but one morning his dog friend Louie is called over the fence when Ollie discovers his favorite ball has inexplicably gone missing overnight.
Louie tries to help her friend by reviewing some possibilities of where the ball could be ("Did it roll beneath the chair? Is it with your teddy bear?"), but Ollie maintains that "It just vanished in thin air! I've searched here, there, and everywhere!"
And, where's the joy in life if one's favorite toy is no longer part of it?
Parents who read this gentle dog story to the very young will find its large-sized, colorful dog pictures completely engaging, its premise realistic and thought-provoking, and the friendship between the two canines engaging.
When Louie comes up with a possible new friend in a "cyber-kitten" investigator, intrigue, fantasy, and action move in unexpected directions kids and adults won't see coming.
The joy of this book lies in how it embraces so many themes, from life goals and meaning to depression, friendship, problem-solving, and employing virtual systems to tackle big issues.
Libraries and adult readers seeking picture book stories that go beyond simple themes to address challenges to positivity that offer creative, understandable solutions will relish the unique, uplifting adventure of Mystery of the Missing Ball. It will resonate with a wide audience in many heartening ways.
Mystery of the Missing Squirrels
Rahere and Zelie Amolo
Ollie and Louie Books
www.ollieandlouiebooks.com
9798291491263, $10.99
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FNLR7XY4
Mystery of the Missing Squirrels, the second book in the Ollie and Louie Mysteries picture book series, once again pairs the dynamic dog duo with their new friend, AI kitten Aida, to tackle another puzzle.
This time the problem revolves around AI Aida, who is starting to hallucinate, seeing squirrels where there are none. Or, are there?
How can Ollie and Louie help her when clearly there is nothing to be found? Is the truth of the matter really as murky as it seems?
Parents who read this intriguing story to the very young will find within it important discussion points about truth and falsehood, the vulnerabilities of computers and AI which belays any notion that their information is always the truth, and the efforts of friends to help one another in the process of solving a mystery.
The story focuses on different levels of understanding and assistance ("We must explain what's false and true, But how to help her think it through?"), injecting a sense of purpose, perplexity, and gentle understanding into the tale as the always-wise Louie offers some insights to both of her friends.
Another underlying topic involves dealing with mental illness and tests of reality as kids learn better ways of accepting others and interacting with positivity and kindness.
Libraries seeking picture books which translate to fine read-alouds, operating as lessons in life, friendship, and problem-solving, will appreciate how the attractive mystery and animal components encourage bigger-picture thinking about others and life conundrums.
Replete with large-size, engaging illustrations and attractive drama, Mystery of the Missing Squirrels is especially strong and compelling for its multifaceted subjects and strong emotional insights and attractions.
M.E.N. Are the Causes of All Diseases
Dr. Sean McCaffrey
https://www.mccaffreyhealth.com
Independently Published
9798999113818, $24.99 Hardcopy $14.99 Paperback $7.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/N-Are-Cause-All-Disease/dp/B0FPBJWHTR
M.E.N. Are the Causes of All Diseases may sound like a feminist admonishment about males, but it holds a universal message about health and healing that makes its own radical contention: what if healing didn't require medication? That's a radical statement that may feel like new age thinking or a pipe dream, but it takes a physician (in this case, Dr. Sean McCaffrey) to review the connection between faith, healing, and medical science in a different light that readers would do well to absorb.
M.E.N. stands for Mechanical, Emotional and Nutritional stress factors. How these cause disease and dysfunction is key to understanding how different healing and lifestyle choices can affect the outcome of aging.
An open mind will be required in order to absorb how Dr. McCaffrey works. He uses acupuncture, moves energy fields within the body, and taps the patient's own unconscious mind for solutions, among other approaches. This may stretch the boundaries of logical thinking, but it also expands the possibilities of healing into new directions which adopt not one approach to healing, but integrates many.
Concrete examples of "extraordinary" healing situations stemming from this approach accompany medical history as such situations as cholesterol, plaque build-up, and heart attacks are tackled. Readers receive a thorough background in medicine's findings and approach to healing this condition before Dr. McCaffrey delves into extraordinary routes for healing.
History and statistics build the foundation for contentions about why and how conventional medicine has chosen certain pathways to treatment:
"...medicine is much more interested in giving medications to its patients than it is in recommending a change in nutrition or lifestyle that will genuinely prevent heart attacks. At this point in medical history, mainstream medicine is fixated on finding and prescribing medicines that will disrupt the biochemical reactions that bring a disease to life."
By now readers should realize that M.E.N. Are the Causes of All Diseases is not only about alternative medicine, but accepting a degree of responsibility that comes with medical empowerment and new possibilities for health.
From how bodily damage can be addressed differently to broader subjects such as reducing the cost of healthcare, Dr. McCaffrey makes a strong case for different forms of healing and approaches to lifestyle change. This both educates readers and asks them to think outside of the medical box of possibility and personal responsibility.
From the rigors of aging, which are often taken as inevitable impacts of growing old, to choices in lifestyle, food, and medical treatments, this book tackles many assumptions and injects new life into better understanding the science behind health and disfunction:
The IUP that we discussed in the previous chapter enables you to take the guesswork out of the nutrition side of the triangle. You no longer have to guess if you're using your carbohydrates, your proteins, or your fats. Are they being absorbed properly? Are your food choices moving through the body efficiently, getting digested, absorbed across the gut wall, and transported to the cell? Are they being utilized by the cell, and is their waste product efficiently being removed so it does not become a poison or a toxin to the rest of the system? The IUP answers all these questions quite convincingly.
The result is a powerful study in not just alternative health, but alternative thinking about how the body works (or doesn't), and what can be done about it.
Libraries will want to recommend M.E.N. Are the Causes of All Diseases above and beyond others that consider the underlying foundations of health and disease. Readers interested in active health maintenance, choices, and healing opportunities will find its blend of history, statistics, science, and healing options to be well-studied and thought-provoking.
Paris Locked
Jennifer Harris
https://www.jenniferharriswriter.com
Troubador
9781836284349, $19.99 Print/$7.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Paris-Locked-Jennifer-Harris/dp/1836284349
In Paris Locked, artist Marian and her husband Jason have just arrived in Paris - purportedly for her debut exhibition, but also to repair a damaged marriage following the discovery of Jason's infidelity. Paris may symbolize the City of Love, but it turns into a nightmare when their intention of affixing a lovelock to the Pont des Arts sparks another tragedy that impacts their lives even more than their grief over a lost child and their battered relationship.
A couple pushing fifty should not be facing a storm of public controversy that embroils them in immigrant issues, places them in the middle of a clash between Parisian left- and right-wing forces, and tests their moral and ethical responsibilities to themselves, each other, and the community. And yet, the couple's simple attempt at connection creates a broader backlash over choice and consequence that ultimately tests their connection on even deeper levels.
Jennifer Harris crafts a powerful story about accidental death, redemption, and ripples of effect that hold unintended results. As Rania, Todd, and a host of characters swirl around the couple, events involve them in the Parisian community's social issues and makeup in unexpected ways:
More Africans sold more giraffe bangles and carved elephants. French national glory survived despite the sale of 'trinkets' that angered inner city mayors. The unwanted persons who were historically locked out of the glory were still locked out.
Harris injects many emotional components into the story as she weaves in circumstances of French struggles within their own populations:
Rituals must be observed. In this case, they included confession. Like death, it too had finality. That was the point of confession. You could make the past die and give yourself a fresh beginning.
This entwining of personal and political angst results in a special blend of inspection as it considers issues of privilege, child-rearing, moral and ethical dilemmas, and impossible decisions:
It couldn't be true that the choice was to protect unknown people or their own children.
Readers interested in the landscape of battered marriages, Parisian affairs, or immigration will appreciate how Harris dovetails these issues to create a powerful interlocked inspection of intrigue and social reflection. The intersection of artistic and moral questions is nicely done, especially given their complexity.
Libraries interested in adding to their collections novels that defy pat categorization while providing much food for thought about contemporary social issues and the flux of personal lives alike will welcome Paris Locked. It sports the ability to consider how populations are locked out, locked in, or locked away by their own dreams, desires, and destructive and constructive options, from art to efforts to capture key moments in life that then take on new life themselves.
Diane C. Donovan, Senior Reviewer
Donovan's Literary Services
www.donovansliteraryservices.com
Gary Roen's Bookshelf
Stuart Woods Finders Keepers A Stone Barrington Novel
Brett Battles
Putnam
c/o Penguin Random House
www.penguinrandomhouse.com
9780593854716 $30.00 HC / $14.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Stuart-Woods-Finders-Keepers-Barrington/dp/0593854713
Stone Barrington is back in "Finders Keepers", another fantastic multi-layered thriller that has him involved in so many complicated situations. Two men are out to shut him down, as they are involved with someone Stone, has been asked, to help through a negative time in her life. As well, a man she was supposed to meet in a bar is attacked that brings Stone in contact to foil their assault. "Finders Keepers" continues the long running series with another sure fire, rapidly paced suspense tale to the very end.
The Manipulator A Tom Berte Legal Thriller
Dan Buzzetta
Severn River Publishing
https://severnriverbooks.com
9781648756337, $18.99 pbk, $4.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Manipulator-Legal-Thriller-Tom-Berte/dp/1648756336
"The Manipulator" is a rip roaring first of a series of legal thrillers that roars along to the last page. Thomas Berte is given a once in a lifetime opportunity to be a key figurehead in the United States Justice Department. Berte is an established lawyer at a very prestigious law firm in the New York office. He is summoned to the head of the firm with no idea why. When he is told he is under consideration for a federal position under the US Attorney General of the country he is bowled over. He is given time to consider the offer and told talk to his wife before he says yes or no. He and his wife discuss it to decide yes they will move to DC. Once there he begins working to investigate underworld mobster people with the whole department at his fingertips. As they begin their task things take many twists and turns that change his view of everything he has ever believed. "The Manipulator" is a masterfully crafted legal tale by a fresh new voice in legal fiction that ranks alongside Grisham.
Crop Burner: The Tale Of Fearn and The Deamhon
Gavin Black
https://gavinblackwrites.com
Global Book Publishing
https://www.globalbookpublishing.com
9781956193008, 13.95 pbk / $4.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Crop-Burner-Tale-Fearn-Deamhon/dp/1956193006
"Crop Burner: The Tale Of Fearn and the Deamhon" grabs the reader from the first pages till the very end with solid writing, deeply layered characters, many complicated twists and turns throughout that propel the novel along to its conclusion. The author fills the fantasy work with a very polished tale that has many dark and memorable scenes readers will remember long after the finish this polished imaginary. "Crop Burner" is also one man's journey of self-discovery who, what, and his future masterfully told. "Crop Burner" is a welcome addition to the field of illusion fiction.
Buck Rogers In The 25th Century: A TV Companion
Patrick Jankiewicz
Bear Manor Media
www.bearmanormedia.com
9781593931711, $38.00 pbk $9.95 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Buck-Rogers-25th-Century-Companion/dp/1593931719
If you are a Buck Rogers fan who owns the blu ray or DVD seasons or complete series, a title to enjoy the shows even more, is "Buck Rogers In The 25th Century: A TV Companion" The author takes everyone through the entire process of the progression of the program, from concept to being on the NBC network. He details why the second season was its last that was not even a full one. Lots of other things like the many famous guest stars that appeared through the two epic seasons and plenty of pictures that enhance appreciation for this remarkable series that holds up today even more because of the incredible breakthrough techno advancements in picture and sound. A bonus, on complete series discs are interviews with different people involved in some way with the production, as well as commentary by author Patrick Jankiewicz. "Buck Rogers In The 25th Century: A TV Companion" is something no true enthusiast of the show can afford to miss having to complement their enjoyment of this ground breaking excursion into another classic science fiction pleasurable universe.
Planet of the Apes
Pierre Boulle
A Del Rey Book
c/o Penguin Random House
www.penguinrandomhouse.com
9780345447982, $9.99 pbk / $.98 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Planet-Apes-Pierre-Boulle/dp/0345447980
Before Star Wars, ever hit a screen, Planet of The Apes changed many aspects of the movie world. The classic novel "Planet of the Apes" continues to find new readers who get to see where the unforgettable story all began. There are a few differences, but many other similarities. The fast-paced writing draws readers in to the very end that is very different from the film but both achieve the same concept. People who know the films should read the work to enjoy a master of the craft who created an ingenious concept, that lives on, with many different versions for both tv and film. "Planet of the Apes" is a treat for anyone who has not ever read the novel.
Planet of the Apes: Tales From the Forbidden Zone
Edited by Rich Handley and Jim Beard
Titan Books
www.titanbooks.com
9781785652684, $14.95 pbk / $7.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Planet-Apes-Tales-Forbidden-Zone/dp/1785652680
You want more fiction of the ape world? "Planet Of The Apes: Tales From The Forbidden Zone" does exactly that by some of the current voices of modern science fiction. Here are a few of the people who lend their talents to the wonderful ape planet: Jonathan Maberry, Kevin J. Anderson, Nancy Collins, Now the area we know as one that no one is supposed to be is exposed with so many creative voices as the delve into the planet that mystifies humanity. "Planet Of The Apes: Tales From The Forbidden Zone" is for all of us who love this great series.
The Unofficial Oral History of Planet of the Apes, Volume 1 1963-1973
Joe Russo, Larry Landsman & Edward Gross
Foreword by Charlton Heston
Bear Manor Media
www.BearManorMedia.com
9798887714851, $35.00 pbk / $9.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Unofficial-Oral-History-Planet-Apes/dp/B0D4VKZC1F
"The Unofficial Oral History of Planet Of The Apes, Volume 1 1963-1973" is the most detailed of any title about Planet of the Apes to ever be written. It covers so much more with a foreword by Charlton Heston who stared in two of the epic films. The authors take readers into many different aspects including interviews with 20th Century Fox executives, actors in all the films, writers directors, producers, makeup people, and so many more who contributed so much to the success of the groundbreaking series. "The Unofficial Oral History of Planet Of The Apes, Volume 1 1963-1973" is the mega giant expose of the first portion of the world of these fantastic films that should be resourced as you watch the restored editions that look better on Blu-ray and DVD than ever before.
Planet Of The Apes: The Complete History
Sean Egan
Applause Theatre & Cinema Books
c/o The Rowan Littlefield Publishing Group Inc
c/o Bloomsbury
https://www.bloomsbury.com
9781493057252, $26.95 pbk / $17.16 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Planet-Apes-Complete-Sean-Egan-ebook/dp/B09HGBXM32
Sean Egan in "Planet Of The Apes: The Complete History" takes readers all the way up to the most current film made a few years ago. Like other titles he starts with the original novel then moves through the first five movies. Later there is in depth information about the two tv shows live action and animated then movies from film to film of the more current ones rating everything all the way through. He also talks about the marketing campaigns including merchandise that changed everything about movies. "Planet Of The Apes: The Complete History" is another title, for collectors who want know everything about this long running series that keeps growing
Planet of the Apes: A Journey through the Original Saga (1968-1973)
Fernando Dominguez Crespo
Independently Published
9798884480179, $3.99 pbk / $1.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Planet-Apes-1968-1973-Cinematic-Chronicles/dp/B0CXPXVVKJ
"Planet of the Apes: A Journey through the Original Saga (1968-1973)" is a brief overview, of the five films that ran from 1968 to 1973. Its appearance is a comic book that actually takes each title with highlights about each one. It ends mentioning the tv show and says there might be another title to cover other aspects of the series. Though "Planet of the Apes: A Journey through the Original Saga (1968-1973)" is short, it is worth any fan's time to indulge to see what Fernando Dominguez Crespo has to say.
Planet Of The Apes: A Little Golden Book
Based on the screenplay by Michael Wilson and Rod Serling
Geof Smith, author
Patrick Spaziante, illustrator
Random House Children's Books
c/o Penguin Random House Children's Books
www.rhcbooks.com
9780736444804, $5.99 HC / $5.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0736444807
Not to be left out The Little Golden series has "Planet Of The Apes: A Little Golden Book" its own version from the original script of the first movie that is for younger readers. The story moves along with beautiful artwork that highlights the events as they unfolded in the film. Though the Geof Smith version of "Planet Of The Apes: A Little Golden Book" is geared toward adolescent kids, all ages can find something to enjoy in this fresh approach for people to enjoy while they watch the original movie.
Gary Roen
Senior Reviewer
Helen Dumont's Bookshelf
Wildcrafted Seeds and Grains
Pascal Baudar
Chelsea Green Publishing Company
www.chelseagreen.com
9781645022725, $34.95, PB, 304pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Wildcrafted-Seeds-Grains-Introduction-Extracting/dp/1645022722
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/wildcrafted-seeds-and-grains-pascal-baudar/1147168714
Synopsis: With the publication of "Wildcrafted Seeds and Grains: An Introduction to Extracting, Preparing, Storing, and Cooking with Common Wild Varieties", wild food expert and explorer Pascal Baudar introduces us to the most common edible wild seeds and grains around the world.
Ever on a mission to demystify foraging practices and processes, Pascal shares his time-tested methods for extraction, storage, handling, and preparation of seeds and grains for culinary use.
"Wildcrafted Seeds and Grains" also features 35 of Pascal's creative recipes, from salads and side dishes to condiments and ferments, crackers and breads to beverages and soups. Complete with Pascal's beautiful food photography, "Wildcrafted Seeds and Grains" is a valued source of information and inspiration for adventurous foragers and foodies who want to incorporate these more elusive wild ingredients into their cooking.
Critique: This large format (7.01 x 0.58 x 9.98 inches) paperback edition of "Wildcrafted Seeds and Grains: An Introduction to Extracting, Preparing, Storing, and Cooking with Common Wild Varieties" by Pascal Baudar is profusely illustrated in full color throughout. Original, unique, extraordinarily informative, and thoroughly 'reader/user friendly' in organization and presentation, "Wildcrafted Seeds and Grains" is the ideal DIY instructional guide that is enhanced with the inclusion of appetite satisfying, palate pleasing, health contributing recipes based on wild seeds and grains. While a an extraordinary and highly recommended pick for personal, professional, community, and college/university library collections, it should be noted that this paperback edition of "Wildcrafted Seeds and Grains" from Chelsea Green Publishing is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $24.99).
Editorial Note: Pascal Baudar (https://www.pascalbaudarceramics.com) is the author of four previous books: Wildcrafted Vinegars (2022), Wildcrafted Fermentation (2020), The Wildcrafting Brewer (2018), and The New Wildcrafted Cuisine (2016). A self-described "culinary alchemist," he leads classes in traditional food preservation techniques. Through his business, Urban Outdoor Skills, he has introduced thousands of home cooks, celebrity chefs, and foodies to the flavors offered by their wild landscapes. Baudar was named one of the most influential local tastemakers by Los Angeles Magazine.
Helen Dumont
Reviewer
John Taylor's Bookshelf
Marvel: The Art of Stormbreakers: The Next Generation of Elite Artists
Jim Viscardi, author
Mallory Murphy Viscardi, author
Insight Editions
www.insighteditions.com
9798886633979, $75.00, HC, 208pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Marvel-Stormbreakers-Generation-Elite-Artists/dp/B0DJKZLZVC
Barnes & Noble:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/marvel-jim-viscardi/1146384419
Synopsis: For twenty years, Marvel's Stormbreakers (formerly Young Guns) program has catapulted rising artists into comic book/graphic novel stardom. From Sara Pichelli's contributions in co-creating Miles Morales, to Adi Granov's highly influential work on The Invincible Iron Man's "Extremis" story arc, each class of creatives has gone on to become some of the most celebrated artists in the world. "Marvel: The Art of Stormbreakers: The Next Generation of Elite Artists" by Jim and Mallory Viscardi is deluxe coffee table style volume is a tribute to the artistry and legacy of the Stormbreakers program, putting the best comics art of the 21st century in your hands.
Marvel's Stormbreakers (formerly Young Guns) program showcases the best rising artists in the comic book industry, and this book is a celebration of their work. Twenty years after its debut, the Stormbreakers program has put a spotlight on fan-favorite artists including Daniel Acuņa, Simone Bianchi, Olivier Coipel, David Finch, Pepe Larraz, Steven McNiven, Peach Momoko, Mike Del Mundo, Ariel Olivetti, Leinil Francis Yu, and many more. Featuring artwork, artist profiles, and insight on breaking into the comic book industry, this deluxe book is a fitting tribute to some of the greatest artists in modern comics.
As an artist showcases, "Marvel: The Art of Stormbreakers: The Next Generation of Elite Artists" includes profiles and backgrounds on each featured artist, along with exclusive interviews that explore each artist's unique creative process. The artists also offer insight into how they broke into the comics industry.
"Marvel: The Art of Stormbreakers: The Next Generation of Elite Artists" is a magnificent compendium of the best artwork from each of the talented classes of Stormbreakers, including variant covers, posters, and sketches. And the book jacket art is reversible, folding out into a full 57-inch, collectible poster!
Critique: This large format (9.25 x 1.1 x 12.75 inches, 3.9 pounds) hardcover edition of "Marvel: The Art of Stormbreakers: The Next Generation of Elite Artists" by Jim and Mallory Viscardi is an impressively informative and unique visual treasure to browse through from start to finish. An original, unique, especially and unreservedly recommended pick for personal professional, community, art school, and college/university comic book/graphic novel illustration and design art collections, it should be noted for the legions of Marvel Fans, art students, aspiring illustrators, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that this hardcover edition of "Marvel: The Art of Stormbreakers: The Next Generation of Elite Artists" from Insight Editions is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $19.99).
Editorial Note #1: Jim Viscardi, a lifelong comic book fan, currently serves as the VP of Business Development at Image Comics. Before that, he helped launch ComicBook.com and served as the website's executive editor for ten years. But, his start in the industry began at Marvel Entertainment working in Sales & PR. There he got to witness firsthand what it was like to work with some of the biggest characters and creators in the business, launching some of the company's most successful publishing events like Secret Invasion, Avengers vs. X-Men, and Infinity.
Editorial Note #2: Mallory Murphy Viscardi grew up in Upstate New York before moving to NYC for college, where she went on one date with a cute guy who was VERY into comics. The rest is history. Her mild-mannered alter ego works as an elementary school counselor and she lives with that cute comic nerd and their comic nerd daughter outside of Nashville, Tennessee... but she's still a New Yorker at heart.
John Taylor
Reviewer
Mary Cowper's Bookshelf
Across Yosemite's Wilderness
Laurel Munson Boyers
Falcon Guides
c/o Globe Pequot Publishing Group
https://www.globepequot.com
9781493088706, $22.95, PB, 264pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Across-Yosemites-Wilderness-Trailblazing-Backcountry/dp/149308870X
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/across-yosemites-wilderness-laurel-munson-boyers/1145809507
Synopsis: Across Yosemite's Wilderness is a memoir about the life and career of Laurel Boyers - the first woman to serve as the Wilderness Manager in the park's history. Laurel also became the first woman to do full-time mounted backcountry patrol throughout the almost 95% of the park that is the Yosemite wilderness. This two-part memoir begins with a travelogue of her last mounted patrol of the park as a ranger. This section, a chapter for each day of the patrol, takes readers on a journey across the wild, roadless backcountry of the park. The narrative of the patrol is interspersed with park history, stories from her career, descriptions of the geography and vegetation, and Laurel's reflections on her over 30 years of service. This section immerses readers in the details of a backcountry patrol, introduces them to the park, and sets the stage for the chronological story of Laurel's life.
Part two tells her chronological story, beginning with deep roots. Her great grandfather ran a way station for early visitors to the park, welcoming Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir in 1903. She was born in Yosemite Valley in a little house near what is now Yosemite Village. She went on to join the Park Service in 1976. Her narrative is full of details on what life as a wilderness ranger is really like - stories of mules and helicopters, search and rescue operations, multi-day hikes, mounted patrols, and the challenges of managing the wilderness. It also describes unique connections she made throughout her life, from having known Ansel Adams personally (and having a polaroid he took of her) to leading former first lady Laura Bush on a weeklong backpacking trip through the park.
Through her career and experience, Laurel reflects on the global significance of Yosemite and the importance of effectively managing and protecting its iconic wilderness and other wild places across the world. This will be a window into Yosemite's history, the inner workings of the park, the life and career of a trailblazing wilderness ranger, and the most remote corners of the park. Laurel Boyers' perspective is an incredibly unique one, and few people have been lucky enough to live a life quite like hers.
The memoir contains original black-and-white drawings created by Lex Munson.
Critique: Laurel Munson Boyers' memoir, "Across Yosemite's Wilderness: A Trailblazing Woman's Career Protecting the Park's Backcountry" is enhanced for the reader with original black-and-white drawings created by Lex Munson. Informative, deftly written, a fun and fascinating read from start to finish, "Across Yosemite's Wilderness: A Trailblazing Woman's Career Protecting the Park's Backcountry" is set against America's oldest and iconic national parks where trailblazing female park ranger Laurel Boyers lived and worked, protecting and sharing its wild and wilderness wonders. Especially and unreservedly recommended for community and college/university library Contemporary American Women's Biographies/Memoirs and Yosemite Park History collections, it should be noted that this trade paperback edition of "Across Yosemite's Wilderness: A Trailblazing Woman's Career Protecting the Park's Backcountry" from Falcon Guides is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $21.15).
Editorial Note: Laurel Munson Boyers was born in Yosemite Valley and lives inside the park to this day. She joined the National Park Service in 1976, going on to become the first female Wilderness Manager in the history of Yosemite National Park. She spent 31 years protecting the wild parts of the park not often reached by visitors, which are so integral to the park's value. She was the recipient of the Park Service's most prestigious national wilderness management award (Director's Wilderness Management and Stewardship Award -- Wilderness Champion) as well as the notable Yosemite Award for the most significant contribution to the park. (https://www.nps.gov/subjects/oralhistory/podcasts-episode-3.htm)
Mary Cowper
Reviewer
Micah Andrew's Bookshelf
Telling Stories with Maps
Allen Carroll
ESRI Press
www.esri.com/esripress
9781589487970, $44.99, PB, 244pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Telling-Stories-Maps-Transforming-Engaging/dp/1589487974
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/telling-stories-with-maps-allen-carroll/1147021298
Synopsis: From scraping patterns in sand to drawing intricate lines on vellum and paper, to charting every place on the planet, humans have used maps as a powerful storytelling medium.
The present age of the digital map has revolutionized the creation, distribution, and consumption of maps. The web created enormous opportunities for storytelling, enabling maps to dance and weave, partnering with other multimedia elements (photos, video, audio, text) to tell countless tales about our world.
Featuring a foreword by renowned travel writer and cofounder of the Lonely Planet press, Tony Wheeler, "Telling Stories with Maps: Lessons from a Lifetime of Creating Place-Based Narratives" by Allen Carroll bridges both the analog and digital realms, showcasing how maps themselves tell stories and enrich narratives by providing context and insight. Richly illustrated with examples from traditional maps to the latest digital visualizations, this book is an essential guide for anyone interested in the powerful storytelling potential of maps.
"Telling Stories with Maps" covers:
How storytelling is fundamental to our humanity
Comparing and contrasting the use of words, images, and maps in storytelling
How maps help us tackle the who, what, when, where, why, and how
Considerations for the deep connection between maps and memory
How cartography and location-based storytelling have changed during the digital age
How the author and his collaborators refined storytelling techniques to create printed wall maps and atlas plates
The roles that maps play in narrative context
Also featured are:
15 approaches to storytelling and place-based topics
How exposure to maps and geography can change how we think
Storytelling approaches suited for digital media yet honoring the centuries-old conventions of cartography
How to develop multimedia stories with the ability to employ motion and interactivity for your audience
Practical features and functions of ArcGIS StoryMaps, Esri's storytelling platform, with insight and inspiration you can apply to your stories.
Author Allen Carroll brings his experience from both the National Geographic Society and Esri into his writing. Carroll spent more than a decade of his 27-year career at National Geographic Society as chief cartographer. In 2010, Caroll joined Esri and founded its ArcGIS StoryMaps team, which developed web tools that enabled hundreds of thousands of individuals and organizations to tell place-based stories combining interactive maps and multimedia content.
"Telling Stories with Maps" is a winding journey, from thoughts on how our brains process spatial information to practical tips on creating stories, that will guide and inspire you to create place-based narratives that intrigue readers.
Critique: Original, informative, extraordinary, thought-provoking, deftly crafted, and thoroughly 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation, "Telling Stories with Maps: Lessons from a Lifetime of Creating Place-Based Narratives" by Allen Carroll is a unique and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, and college/university library Cartography History collections and supplemental Remote Sensing/Georgaphic Information Systems curriculum studies lists. It should be noted that this trade paperback edition of "Telling Stories with Maps: Lessons from a Lifetime of Creating Place-Based Narratives" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $32.48).
Editorial Note: During his 27-year career at the National Geographic Society, Allen Carroll (https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/author/allencarroll) designed scores of maps for its renowned magazine and other publications. Beginning his NGS career on the staff of the magazine's art department, he became its art director, designing diagrams, infographics, and historical reconstructions.
As the Society's chief cartographer from 1998 to 2010, he was deeply involved in the creation of the Society's renowned reference and wall maps, globes, and atlases, and oversaw creation of scores of page maps and large-format supplement maps for the magazine. He led the creation of the Seventh and Eighth editions of the World Atlas, incorporating satellite imagery and innovative thematic maps into the editions and integrating them for the first time with interactive Web resources. He spearheaded the publication of many new web resources and other special projects featuring biodiversity, conservation, and indigenous cultures.
After joining Esri in 2010, he founded its StoryMaps team, which developed web tools that enabled hundreds of thousands of individuals and organizations to tell place-based stories combining interactive maps and multimedia content. He continues to lead an editorial team that publishes ArcGIS StoryMaps and supports a global community of storytellers who have used StoryMaps to create millions of multimedia narratives.
Micah Andrew
Reviewer
Michael Dunford's Bookshelf
A Seat at the Table: The Making of Busboys and Poets
Andy Shallal
https://www.busboysandpoets.com/andy-shallal
OR Books
https://www.orbooks.com
9781682196380, $24.95, HC, 224pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Seat-Table-Making-Busboys-Poets/dp/1682196380
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-seat-at-the-table-andy-shallal/1146618379
Synopsis: "A Seat at the Table: The Making of Busboys and Poets" by Andy Shallal is a fast-paced, personal, and often humorous memoir in which we follow him from his teenage years on, helping out in his family's pizza business, changing his name, abandoning a career in medicine, working in some of the city's best restaurants, and eventually opening a restaurant of his own.
A rave review of Busboys & Poets by the legendary Washington Post food critic Phyllis Richman puts the new place on the map. Long lines formed outside. Andy witnessed the power of food to bring people together. He went on to create a meeting space and a bookshop upstairs. The idea of a restaurant as a social and political hub began to take shape.
In the pages of "A Seat at the Table", the reader will encounter a host of progressive authors and activists who have frequented Andy's restaurants ranging from Marion Barry and Jesse Jackson to Ralph Nader, Howard Zinn, Jerry Brown, Alice Walker, and Angela Davis.
Packed from cover to cover with tales of misadventures, unexpected triumphs, and insights on race, business and politics, "A Seat at the Table" also takes us on a kind of "How I Built This" journey that ends with the opening of the first Busboys and Poets, now just one of eight D.C. locations bearing the same name. Along the way, we get to savor the delicious cuisine and unique ethos for which Busboys and Poets has become famous.
Critique: Original, exceptional, informative, and a fun read from cover to cover, "A Seat at the Table: The Making of Busboys and Poets" deftly blends personal history with the creation of an iconic gathering place for intellectuals, political activists, literary lights, and societal influencers. While also readily available from OR Books in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99), this hardcover edition of Andy Shallal's "A Seat at the Table" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal reading lists with an interest in examples of successful entrepreneurship, as well as community and college/university library Contemporary American Biography/Memoir collections.
Editorial Note: Andy Shallal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Shallal) is an Iraqi born artist, activist and entrepreneur, best known as the founder and CEO of the Washington, D.C. area restaurant, bookstore, and performance venue Busboys and Poets.
Michael Dunford
Reviewer
Paul Vogel's Bookshelf
Ignaz Kolisch: The Life and Chess Career
Fabrizio Zavatarelli
McFarland & Company
https://mcfarlandbooks.com
9781476699431, $59.95, PB, 376pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Ignaz-Kolisch-Life-Chess-Career/dp/1476699437
McFarland & Company
https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/ignaz-kolisch-2
Synopsis: An enthusiastic verve marked both chess master Ignaz Kolisch's personality and his games. With the publication of "Ignaz Kolisch: The Life and Chess Career", Fabrizio Zavatarelli documents the life of the Hungarian chess champion (1837-1889) and successful financier, setting it in the cosmopolitan framework of mid-19th century Europe.
The text for "Ignaz Kolisch: The Life and Chess Career" is enriched by the inclusion of some 125 or so gleanings about the lives of his competitors (including Arnous de Riviere, Anderssen, Morphy, Mackenzie, Paulsen, Falkbeer, Rosenthal, Steinitz, Winawer).
More than 300 specimens of his play are presented (by far the largest collection ever) complete with sources and coeval annotations, translated from many languages. Several widespread and long-standing errors are corrected.
A work deeply researched among sources in many languages, "Ignaz Kolisch: The Life and Chess Career" aptly serves also as a record of European chess in the late 1850s through the 1880s.
Critique: This large format (8.5 x 0.75 x 11 inches, 1.94 pounds) paperback edition of "Ignaz Kolisch: The Life and Chess Career" by Fabrizio Zavatarelli is an extraordinary and invaluable contribution to the ever expanding library of Chess History and Chess Masters. Especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and college/university library Biography & Chess History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists, it should be noted for personal reading lists of dedicated chess fans, players, and librarians that "Ignaz Kolisch: The Life and Chess Career" from McFarland & Company is also readily available in a Library Binding format (9780786496907, $85.00, 2015).
Editorial Note: Fabrizio Zavatarelli is a teacher of applied mathematics and is also the author of several books and articles concerning chess history. He currently resides in Milan, Italy. (https://www.kwabc.org/en/zavatarelli-fabrizio.html)
Paul T. Vogel
Reviewer
S.A. Gorden's Bookshelf
Death's Intern (The Intern Diaries Book 1)
D. C. Gomez
https://dcgomez-author.com
Gomez Expeditions
9781977585349 $14.99
B077BHS5NM ebook price: $4.95, 248 pages
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Deaths-Intern-Diaries-1/dp/1977585345
Death's Intern is a fun read. For readers who have seen the TV series 'Dead Like Me,' it is a story with even more sarcastic wit and action. For those who haven't seen the TV series, it is a story about a troubled vet who accidently gets recruited into being an intern for Death or the Grim Reaper.
Isis Black, a troubled vet, accidently knocks Death's intern off a fire escape and becomes Death's new replacement intern. At first, she doesn't realize that she has been recruited but she soon realizes there is a supernatural world around her when Death first visits her. Death introduces her to a talking cat who is thousands of years old and a real boy genius to train her on her new duties. But there isn't time for training. A coven of rogue witches have decided to bypass the rules of the natural world and the supernatural and are killing people to do it. Isis has only a few days to stop the coven while not crossing the more powerful supernatural beings she didn't know existed just a few days before.
If you want a fun read, Death's Intern is an easy recommendation. The action and wit will keep you reading late into the night.
First Blood (The Risen Queen)
M.H. Johnson
Independent
B079P7P3J8 ebook price: $0.00, 206 pages
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/First-Blood-Risen-Queen-Book-ebook/dp/B079P7P3J8
First Blood is an adult coming of age sword and sorcerer tale. It is a nice change of pace from the typical young adult stories in this genre. The hard brutal story is more realistic than the watered-down young adult tales. Since it is a prequel, much of the story is left for the follow up books.
Jess is at a boarding school for the wealthy. The school is divided into two main sections. The first is an etiquette school focused training the wealthy for politics and the functioning of estates. The other half is a squire school focused on training shock troops.
Jess excels on the military training and tolerates the etiquette. An etiquette professor has taken it on herself to push Jess out of school and destroy the squire portion. The professor is willing to do whatever it takes to gain power - including murder. The political intrigue pushes Jess to choose between her family and the military. Jess' magical druid heritage and her friendship with the servants at the school help her survive the politics and push her to join the other squires on a vicious raid against slavers attacking the countryside.
First Blood is recommended for adult readers in the sword and sorcerer genre. It is a complex and fun tale but, since it is a prequel, only a few of the plotlines are completed. The layered storyline might also be a problem with the future stories in the series. The layers in this introduction are superficially detailed. A deeper world building is needed on the sequels.
S.A. Gorden
Senior Reviewer
Suzie Housley's Bookshelf
Love a Boll Weevil
Bonnye Matthews
Fathom Publishing Company
https://www.fathompublishing.com
9781954896291, $8.99 Kindle, 192 pages
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Love-Boll-Weevil-Lessons-Taught-ebook/dp/B0FHFFRFL3
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/love-a-boll-weevil-bonnye-matthews/1147824669
Synopsis: Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. -- 1 Kings 18:37 King James Version (KJV)
This captivating memoir chronicles the spiritual odyssey of a young girl whose communion with God began in her early years. By the tender age of three, she found it natural to converse with him, often receiving counsel and support through his voice. Despite her mother's disapproval of her prayerful hours, she heeded her faith - a decision she terms as an act of 'holy disobedience.'
As her life unfolded, she experienced the transformative power of God, witnessing her faith being rejuvenated, fortified, and deeply entrenched. One of the most poignant moments in her narrative is her comparing her life to the boll weevil - an often-misunderstood insect with a crucial role and concealed strength. Similarly, she unearthed her purpose and resilience through adversity.
Ultimately, God revealed her mission: to write this book and share her testimony with the world, offering a powerful account of walking in faith and praising him through every chapter of life.
And he said unto them, go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. -- Mark 16:15 King James Version (KJV)
Critique: Love a Boll Weevil is a moving testament to God's presence in the world and his guiding hand in the life of a young girl. Through his words of encouragement, he walked beside her throughout her life's journey, ultimately revealing his purpose in choosing her to share his message.
Bonnye Matthews' writing resonates with the clarity and authority of a divine voice. With each chapter, readers will feel the profound weight of heavenly truths etching themselves into their minds, a testament to the author's divine inspiration. This is a work rich in substance and purpose - one that the world is truly fortunate to receive.
This book has the power not only to strengthen a reader's faith in God but also to guide them toward him for the first time, providing a sense of guidance and support. Few books can touch both mind and heart so profoundly.
The Threads of Becoming: A Memoir In Poems
Tamara Hill
GFB
https://www.girlfridayproductions.com
9781967510726, $8.99 Kindle, $20.95 PB, 144 pages
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Threads-Becoming-Memoir-Poems/dp/1967510725
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-threads-of-becoming-tamara-hill/1147853674
Synopsis: Tamara Hill's story is a powerful reflection of resilience and transformation. As a devoted single woman, Tamara Hill's life proves that hardship can forge extraordinary strength. A single mother, entrepreneur, and world traveler, she has turned heartbreak, loss, and adversity into resilience, creativity, and self-discovery.
In The Threads of Becoming, Tamara shares her journey from surviving childhood neglect to embracing motherhood, navigating grief, and reclaiming her true self. Through lyrical, heartfelt poems, she captures the courage to heal, the tenderness to love again, and the clarity to choose oneself.
More than a memoir in verse, this collection is a rallying cry for women everywhere to step boldly into their own power. Tamara's story reminds us that every journey - whether across the globe or within the soul - shapes who we become.
Critique: In The Threads of Becoming, Tamara Hill bares her soul through poems that explore love, loss, healing, and self-discovery. Her voice is both a testament to resilience and a call for women to claim their truth with courage.
Tamara embodies grace, determination, and an unbreakable spirit. This collection is a celebration of a life deeply felt and fearlessly lived - capturing the bravery to heal, the tenderness to love again, and the freedom that comes from choosing oneself without apology.
Love and Other Incurable Ailments
Linda K. Sienkiewicz
https://lindaksienkiewicz.com
Regal House Publishing
https://regalhousepublishing.com
9781646037056, $19.95 PB, 262 pages
Synopsis: At thirty-two, Serenity Tomczyk's world has been in slow collapse ever since the COVID-19 pandemic. Balancing the strain of a global upheaval with the heartbreak of her mother's fight against cancer, she finds her emotional reserves nearly depleted. When her mother passes away, the loss leaves a hollow ache that nothing seems able to fill.
Instead of support, Serenity's fiance offers only control and criticism, further diminishing her confidence. Relief comes unexpectedly when her observant aunt invites her to work at Glorious Blooms, the family's flower shop. There, surrounded by vibrant colors and the quiet rhythm of floral work, Serenity pieces herself back together and glimpses the possibility of a renewed life.
Everything shifts when, during a routine trip to the trash bin, she notices a woman throwing away a sealed box. Curious - and worried - about its contents, Serenity opens it to find traces of a love affair cut short: letters, clothing, and tokens of devotion. The story the letters tell is bittersweet - a woman who chose the stability of marriage over the man she met on vacation, only to discover true love.
Pulled deeper by the mystery and by cryptic notes from someone known only as "Birdy," Serenity finds herself on the brink of wanting to piece together the pieces of the puzzle. But will she chase the truth about these long-separated lovers, or protect their secrets as her own?
Critique: Love and Other Incurable Ailments is a deeply emotional novel that skillfully intertwines personal transformation and romantic mystery. The author's authentic portrayal of the characters makes their joys and sorrows feel palpable, drawing readers into their world.
Linda K. Sienkiewicz avoids the cliches of formulaic romance, instead offering a nuanced exploration of healing, vulnerability, and the surprising ways love can surface later in life.
This book is a tender and layered story for readers who gravitate toward character-driven fiction steeped in emotion and human connection. It's a book that doesn't just entertain - it lingers.
The Central Park Irregulars
Paul Cicchini
One Knight Publishing
9798218685539, $11.99 PB, $2.99 Kindle, 135 pages
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Central-Park-Irregulars-Paul-Cicchini-ebook/dp/B0FHHZ7CZP
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-central-park-irregulars-paul-a-cicchini/1147428515
Synopsis: Life on the family farm changes dramatically for Harper Jensen when her mother accepts a curator position in Manhattan. Skyscrapers, bustling streets, and the sprawling paths of Central Park suddenly replaced the countryside of Devon. Adjusting isn't easy, especially since Harper's father stays behind to manage the farm.
But Central Park holds more than its picturesque scenery. On her first adventure there, Harper and a group of new friends uncover a mystery linked to a missing artifact - one that places her mother's career in jeopardy.
Banding together as The Central Park Irregulars, the kids set out on a thrilling quest through iconic landmarks, face down a schoolyard bully, and follow a trail of cryptic clues. Can they solve the mystery before time runs out and her mother's reputation is lost?
Critique: The Central Park Irregulars is an energetic and compelling mystery that will keep young readers turning the pages. The characters are vivid and relatable, each contributing to a story that blends humor, suspense, and heart.
Paul Cicchini skillfully portrays the excitement and challenges of adapting to a new city while weaving in themes of friendship, courage, and perseverance. This is an imaginative and memorable read that mystery lovers will treasure.
Editorial Note: Recommended for readers ages 9-14.
Carter Knox and The Lost Legacy
Dr. Michael J. Hockwater
NFB Publishing
https://www.nfbpublishing.com
9798999085177, $5.99 Kindle, $14.95 PB, 151 pages
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Carter-Knox-Legacy-Michael-Hockwater-ebook/dp/B0FJ8Y1X1B
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/carter-knox-and-the-lost-legacy-michael-j-hockwater/1147867479
Synopsis: In the blink of an eye, Carter Knox's world turns upside down when his mother disappears and restless ghosts invade his once-normal life. What begins as a desperate search for answers quickly transforms into an epic adventure when Carter learns the Egyptian god Osiris has chosen him to protect history itself.
With only a magical ankh, the loyalty of his best friends Charlotte and Lincoln, and sheer determination, Carter plunges into a high-stakes quest against the sinister Knowledge Keepers - a secret society willing to destroy anyone who threatens their control.
Will his powerful will and determination be enough to battle the Knowledge Keepers and find his mother? Or is he placing himself on a path of destruction?
Critique: Carter Knox and The Lost Legacy is a fast-paced, imaginative adventure layered with mystery and rich in atmosphere. From eerie museum halls to ancient ruins steeped in legend, the story sweeps readers into a world where history, myth, and danger collide. At its core, it's not only a race to preserve the past but also a journey of friendship, bravery, and self-discovery.
Dr. Michael J. Hockwater writes with the true heart of a storyteller, blending intrigue, emotional depth, and page-turning suspense. Both teens and adults will find themselves captivated by this tale - a story that lingers long after the last page. Carter emerges as an unforgettable hero, destined to capture the imagination of all who are brave enough to travel with him on his adventure.
Editorial Note: Recommended for readers ages 12-18 years old.
The Best Worst Christmas Ever
Thomas J. Thorson
Independently Published
9781735836690, Kindle $5.99, $13.99, HC, 164 pages
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Best-Worst-Christmas-Ever/dp/1735836699
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-best-worst-christmas-ever-thomas-j-thorson/1147825049
Synopsis: What if the worst Christmas ever... turned out to be the best?
The Best Worst Christmas Ever is a side-splitting and heartwarming holiday tale full of charm, chaos, and unexpected magic. When a surprise blizzard derails the Natale family's sunny Christmas vacation, they find themselves snowed in, powerless, and way off their original destination.
Amid the mayhem, something unexpectedly beautiful unfolds - laughter, love, and the rediscovery of what truly matters. With quirky humor, lovable characters, and just the right amount of holiday whimsy, Thorson captures the spirit of Christmas most unexpectedly.
Critique: The Best Worst Christmas Ever is a book that shines most in its subtle but powerful message: that the true spirit of Christmas lies not in picture-perfect plans or warm-weather escapes but in shared experiences - even (or especially) the chaotic, unplanned ones.
Thomas J. Thorson's signature quirky humor creates a thoroughly enjoyable reading experience. The Best Worst Christmas Ever is a warm, feel-good story that resonates with readers of all ages.
Thorson crafts a narrative that balances humor with heartfelt moments. The characters, with their relatable struggles and ultimate rediscovery of joy, are endearing and engaging. His writing style is crisp and charming, with just the right touch of whimsy to elevate the story beyond typical holiday fare.
Editorial Note: Recommended for readers ages 6-12 years old.
Suzie Housley, Senior Reviewer
https://housleysliteraryservices.com
James A. Cox
Editor-in-Chief
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