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Able Greenspan's Bookshelf
Spielberg
Amazing Ameziane
Titan Comics
https://titan-comics.com
9781806184071, $24.99, PB, 192pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Spielberg-Amazing-Ameziane/dp/1806184079
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/spielberg-amazing-ameziane/1149667364
Synopsis: From Amazing Ameziane (the creator of Quentin by Tarantino and Don Coppola) comes "Spielberg", the next insightful book in the author/illustrator's saga of Cine graphic novel style biographies.
Based on the lives and films of an iconic movie director, "Spielberg" spotlights the inimitable, multi-award-winning Steven Spielberg -- the film director of Jaws, E.T., Back to the Future and countless other cinematic masterpieces.
With over a dozen Academy Awards (among many others), Steven Spielberg is considered the most acclaimed director in modern cinema history. From classic escapist thrillers like Jaws and Jurassic Park, magical family movies like E.T., to thoughtful historical dramas like Schindler's List, Spielberg has something to offer everyone.
In this retrospective graphic novel style biography, Ameziane takes a dive into the mind of the auteur himself, imagining exactly how the cinema icon would tell his story, through his humble beginnings and rise to fame, as well as the struggles and crucial moments of his career. You might know his works, but now you can get to know the man behind the camera.
Created and illustrated by Amazing Ameziane, "Spielberg" is the fifth instalment in this Cine series from Titan Comics which illustrates the behind-the-scenes stories of some of Hollywood's biggest hitters.
Critique: Original, extraordinary, informative, fascinating, and a 'must' for the legions of Steven Spielberg fans, the graphic novel style format of "Spielberg" by French author/illustrator Amazing Ameziane is an especially and unreservedly pick for personal, community, and college/university library Biography/Memoir collections and supplemental Cinematic History/Biography curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for film students and Steven Spielberg fans that this paperback edition of "Spielberg" from Titan Comics is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $24.99).
Editorial Note: Amazing Ameziane was raised on Frank Miller, Bruce Lee, Sergio Leone and the soul music of the late sixties. His first comic was Clan published in 2001. After working on several comic scripts, he produced the comic of the novel Cuatro Manos, in collaboration with his favorite novelist. His dark-thriller Bagmen, catapulted him to fame in 2016 and his most recent work is Cash Cowboys. He splits his time between his family, comic books, and screenwriting. (https://www.europecomics.com/author/amazing-ameziane)
Able Greenspan
Reviewer
Diane Donovan's Bookshelf
The Trackers Part One
Diana Dissette
Montana Cat Tales for Life-Long Learners LLC
9798985435047 $19.99 Paperback/$4.99 eBook
The Trackers Part One opens the Nuremberg: Lament for the Dead Series with a historical novel about World War II Nuremberg and criminal investigations. Of necessity this involves trauma. Graphic images of war mass shootings and Nazi atrocities may prove difficult for sensitive readers - but then such readers won't likely be pursuing historical fiction about Nazi times.
In the aftermath of World War II ex-soldiers civilians and all manner of world humanity recovers in different ways from war's devastating events still buffeted both by new realizations which unfold from the ashes and impulses to seek justice and redemption.
As the efforts of Hoot Broussard a Nazi tracker from Louisiana and others coalesce after the war battles are still being fought on different ethical moral and political and military fronts. Diana Dissette injects contrasts between past and present Europe and America and different objectives and approaches to recovery. These offer both food for thought and atmospheric interludes of peace as when Hoot reflects on his changed world and what was:
Dijon reminded him of home. The nets the fishing boats the smell of the docks and the water. He enjoyed the camaraderie he found among the fishermen. He missed crawfish boils jambalaya soft-shell crabs shrimp remoulade and hot cornbread dripping with melted butter. He missed his garden his dog and most of all his wife having a conniption fit when he ate all the fresh peas off the bush.
A host of characters (Stace Dodge Scott Hoot Stan Ginny Grace and Hargrove) enter the picture to intersect their own experiences encounters and perspectives into the greater mix of post-World-War-II recovery.
As violence continues to erupt from gun battles in ordinary places a sense of the ongoing civil and social war which boils under the surface of the major war's apparent conclusion makes for engrossing confrontations readers will find especially realistic.
Teachers trackers grief and all who recover from the heartache of changed times add to this moving story of broken dreams new visions and vanished peoples and times.
Librarians and readers seeking an exceptionally hard-hitting saga of World War II's aftermath and how a wide range of people from different walks of life rebuilt shattered dreams or honed new objectives from them will find The Trackers Part One a powerful testimony to perseverance survival and a long-term effort to track down Nazi war criminals and the smuggling networks they built.
Blue Moon
Connie Senior
www.conniesenior.com
Bitingduck Press LLC
9781685530273 $16.99 Paperback/$2.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HLYDTLYB
Blue Moon takes the classic werewolf story a step further from the traditional howling-at-the-moon scenario by depicting the life of new adult werewolf Caleb O'Connor who just wants to raise his adopted werewolf children while helping his human girlfriend run a bed and breakfast in Maine.
It all sounds warm and cozy - until his life in Bar Harbor is changed by his participation in a search for a renegade werewolf park which is targeting teen girls when the moon is full.
The assignment seems ideal for a werewolf whose background includes a stint at vampire hunting in Romania for six years but is a less than desirable occupation for a family man/wolf.
Suddenly Caleb is drawn into a murder mystery that holds deadly ramifications not only for his family but the survival of his species.
Connie Senior's howling good story opens with teenage Amy whose encounter with the renegade pack changes her forever. This introduces a series of events that leads to chapters marked by various stages of the moon starting with a waning gibbous in which not-so-human Caleb noses out violence alongside human investigators.
As an Adjunct Professor of Ethnobiology at the University of Maine who is in his late twenties Caleb's specialty is the myths and legends of shapeshifters. His expertise comes in especially handy given his psyche and special knowledge of the world. What challenges him is his personal knowledge of a special form of wolf pack that defies his perception that werewolves must stick together at all costs.
Senior is especially adept at presenting the psychological conundrums of a human/wolf personality that fights not only outwardly in the world but inwardly in a schizophrenic fashion:
A tight ball of anger rose in Caleb's gut pushed past his windpipe and exploded into a snarl. Why was he going to this hearing? If he played by the rules he'd be trapped in yet another cage. Mr. Logical fled to the far reaches of his brain and cowered while the Wolf howled.
Such descriptions involve readers in Caleb's dilemmas in more than the distant outsider approach immersing them in his personal and family dilemmas which dovetail with outside events making his questions routines persona and choices more than human and easily understandable.
As Caleb son Bela Billy fellow wolf pack member Lila and others unite in their efforts and interests the story features edgy unexpected moments of revelation as a new normal emerges for not only the werewolves residing alongside humans but those humans who gain new knowledge of their presence.
Magic myths second chances new beginnings and reflections on temporary monsters also add philosophical reflections into the story which will lend especially well to book club discussions:
"You're only a monster once a month," Hulstad said with irritation as if Caleb had forgotten the obvious. "Worse things have happened without the moon to blame. I've seen too many men lost in permanent savagery with no awareness of how they got there or how to get out."
The result is a vivid werewolf mystery which goes the extra mile to add elements of werewolf possibilities few other genre readers present. This will delight libraries and readers looking for books that break the boundaries of traditional myth and expectation to create a tale refreshingly original and hard to put down.
The Sassy Snapper
Adam Moryto
Indie Fins Press
www.sassysnapper.com
9789769805613 $24.99 Hardcover/$16.99 Paperback/$9.99 ebook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Sassy-Snapper-Adam-Moryto-ebook/dp/B0HNV3VBQM
The Sassy Snapper is a study in courage and daring. It follows a little undersea fish that "solves underwater mysteries with courage and love."
Meritxell Andreu's lovely illustrations bring the picture book story to life with snappy color and personality as The Snappy Snapper's curiosity leads her to examine fishy puzzles underwater oddities and curiosities. These impart a sense of discovery to young listeners and readers of her story.
Sassy "swims with charm" while searching for truth clues and wonders with a sense of adventure that belays any vulnerabilities or fear. When Curious Clam calls for help when his beloved pearl goes missing Sassy's on the job meeting friends along the way and tapping them for help.
The new characters she must confront in her journey from Confident Crab to Obnoxious Octopus demands she deal with troublemakers and bullies in different ways but Sassy discovers how to placate and understand them as she continues her mission through the reefs and underworlds of the sea.
Adults who read to kids as well as elementary-level librarians will find The Sassy Snapper vivid attractive and packed with important lessons on life friendships and different approaches to adversity which can be used to open dialogues with the very young.
Filled with action and insight The Sassy Snapper is a lovely picture book exploration of how individuals can become stuck in destructive ways of thinking and how others can adopt new approaches to adaptation change and encouraging those around them.
It's just the panacea for modern angst encouraging a sense of positivity and relationship-building.
Santa's Magical Bag: Christmas Stories and Coloring Book
Mark N. SNow
Vanity Pressing Books & Music
9798515710446 $12.95
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Santas-Magical-Bag-Christmas-Activities/dp/B0HC7XK6BJ
Santa's Magical Bag: Christmas Stories and Coloring Book is written by Santa's Elf Mark N. SNow (spelling intentional) and provides young readers some 50 pages of holiday coloring opportunities games such as word finds and mazes and a magical grab bag of heartwarming stories suitable for read-aloud and family discussion.
From a multicultural exploration of holiday tradition in "Tamales for Santa?" to a child's challenge of producing her best letter to Santa yet during a hectic busy time Mark SNow creates a vivid collection that captures the sentiments of the holiday encouraging family interaction and a child's deeper inspections of the traditions and underlying meaning of the season.
This short paperback with its pages packed with black and white coloring opportunities relies on an eye-catching cover to invite kids and their families to explore but will prove captivating and thought-provoking to young celebrants who look for interactive holiday experiences that challenge their imagination with new Christmas concepts.
All these facets make Santa's Magical Bag: Christmas Stories and Coloring Book the perfect stocking stuffer for ages 5-12 encouraging non-computer opportunities for family interactions.
Blood Gilt
Jessica Housand
https://www.jessicahousand.com
Little Studio Films
https://mybook.to/bloodgilt
9798995735342 $18.99 Paperback/$9.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Gilt-Jessica-Housand/dp/B0H6RJVLS8
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/blood-gilt-jessica-housand/1150529045
Kobo
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/blood-gilt
Blood Gilt is a novel of war in El Salvador and follows protagonist Alejandro Whitmore Santiago who moves between two different worlds in Latin America and the U.S. as he dodges the violence and crime which has plagued his life.
His family was lost during the Salvadoran civil war - or so he thought. Raised in the wealth and prestige of his American father's brutal smuggling empire he is drawn back to El Salvador when an assignment requires him to exert influence over family members he discovers are still alive. There Alejandro encounters new family ties secrets intense romance and danger as he confronts the forces that drove him away so long ago.
Jessica Housand's focus on the lasting impact of war through generations and lives considers the political power struggles and social choices that conflict spreads to all levels of society.
As an adult Alejandro still has vivid dreams of his grandmother's hamlet in El Salvador's Chalatenango. He bears lasting psychological wounds from his past which influence his moral and ethical choices in the present while the important connections he maintains draw him back into a legacy of guerrilla and violent military conflict entwined with postwar struggles.
The conflict between personal loyalty and political conviction emerges most sharply through Alejandro's mother whose involvement with the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) during the civil war came at the cost of her relationship with her children. Recounting the story of the heroine Antu Silan Ulap she offers a revealing justification for the sacrifices she believes revolution demands:
"There are two things I believe you should learn from this story. One is that unity is the best way to stand against oppression. Like in the creation story it's only by working together that we can solve real problems. The second point to learn here is that the rebellion failed because Antu Silan Ulap chose to be with her child instead of returning to command the forces like she was destined to do."
As he reunites with his adopted sister mother and long-lost siblings their conflicting worldviews force him to reconsider what really happened to the family. Yet his own efforts to depose rival leaders and reshape the political landscape increasingly challenges his moral and ethical foundations as well. Drawn into a larger conspiracy entangled in his father's ruthless dynastic ambitions and locked in a rivalry with his half-brother Alejandro is propelled headlong into questions about what actually fractured his family what freedom will really cost - and if it truly exists.
Jessica Housand's blend of political intrigue psychological complexity crime fiction and family ties shaken by the winds of change combine into a powerful story that juxtaposes personal with political motivations and forces.
Housand tackles violence marriage and life pivot points with equal attention to building an engaging story of earth-shattering events. The choices and decisions involved translate to characters becoming pawns in a larger game they try but can never quite control.
The result is a satisfying blend of psychological introspection social commentary Latin American cultural and historical influences and a complex literary thriller that will engage a wider audience than the usual thriller or crime genre read.
This is why libraries and readers should consider Blood Gilt a powerful story beyond its high-octane action highly recommended for reading groups interested in El Salvador-based stories of struggle redemption and bids for freedom.
Deep Story
Bob Rogers
Peter E. Randall Publisher
www.perpublisher.com
9781963714159 $34.95 Hardcover/$24.95 Paperback
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Story-Complete-Transformational-Attractions/dp/1963714156
Deep Story: A Complete Guide to Creating Transformational Visitor Attractions offers lessons in cultivating transformational exhibit experiences that take the next step beyond just representing history to develop immersive flavors. These exhibits do more than educate or entertain - they provoke reflections connections follow-up actions and reactions from visitors whether they take the form of a walking tour a museum or an emphasis on connections that make the viewer part of "the heart of a hero" (for one example).
Examples range from real-world exhibits to archetypes from film and stories that can connect threads of understanding to promote viewer vested interest in a team a product a display academic subject or a value:
BRC's The Legend of Luna for Great Wolf Resorts used the Special One structure in a very different way to connect the heart of the audience to the heart of the brand. The Legend of Luna tells the story of a little wolf who was different from the others in her pack. She felt she did not fit in with others. At one time or another many children and even adults have those feelings. During the show the lobby of the hotel magically transforms into a dazzling full-immersion special effects theater as it tells the heartfelt reassuring bedtime story of Luna and how she found her place discovering that everyone has something to contribute and our differences make our group stronger.
How audiences absorb taboo subjects react to messages embedded in an exhibit and move from ennui to excitement is highlighted in examples that are uplifting lively and important for engaging generations of all ages:
Another variation of this story is the historian who is enthusiastically dragging his kids to yet another history experience hoping his own love for history will finally rub off on his kids who are instead social networking with their friends and wishing they were just about anywhere other than caught in another of dad's history things. So which of these very different interest levels do you write for? The aficionado or the disinterested? Target the disinterested! Use all your showmanship stagecraft magic and charm to wow the ones that didn't want to come.
Examples of BRC Imagination Arts projects which achieved just this level of engagement pepper the exploration with an eye to not only revealing underlying motivations for building immersive displays and opportunities but creating the kinds of insights that come from active participation rather than passive observation.
Author Bob Rogers has decades of success at BRC Imagination Arts under his belt. He's thus in the perfect position to translate these insights to the wider world which can include business and entrepreneurial interests to project managers youth group leaders arts display coordinators and virtually anyone interested in developing interactive displays filled with magic.
While Deep Story's primary audience is those already involved in the themed entertainment and attractions industry its ability to boldly delve into the world of honing more effective content and messaging for modern viewers makes it of prime value to a much broader audience than Rogers might have originally envisioned.
This is why libraries and readers with all kinds of patrons and purposes in mind will want to include Deep Story in their collections and on their reading lists making it a top recommendation to book clubs and reading groups.
Seldom is the finer art of magic and imaginative deliveries given such life and specifics that will attract such a diverse audience as in Deep Story's multifaceted wonders packed with equally vivid color illustrations throughout:
Whether they are the ball gowns of the first ladies the gowns of the Red Carpet on Oscar night or the stylish outfits of Michelle Obama, Melania Trump, or Princess Diana gowns and fashions connect with guests - especially women - because they tap into a widely shared dream in which all of us wonder what it would be like to be part of the glamour and romance of living in the White House or attending the Academy Awards or being a part of royalty. The myth goes well beyond Cinderella. The myth embraces glamour power sex excitement celebrity danger social status wealth fame family - the great soap opera themes of the rich and famous. Such elements make the great historic novels and the lives of celebrities popular. By comparison the suits of the presidents are boring whereas the ball gowns tap into dreams. We used ball gowns at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in just that way.
Sun Cheese: Lessons From Regenerative Farming That Can Help You Rewrite Your Future
Siobhan M. Griffin
Restoracene
www.restoracene.com
9798996101047 $24.99
Restoracene.com
https://www.restoracene.com/book
Sun Cheese: Lessons From Regenerative Farming That Can Help You Rewrite Your Future tackles the big subject of regenerative farming with an eye to exposing the possibilities in a different approach to farming and survival that embraces purposely reshaping our foodsheds and fisheries in a very different way.
Introductory chapters set the stage with discussions about biodiversity loss planetary decline and the initial concept of "the Restoracene" before moving to practical solutions to these seemingly unfixable issues. These involve adapting and moving into different visions of planetary health and human support systems inspired by nature's productive templates. We cannot restore or rewild ecosystems without knowing what they are supposed to look like and how they worked.
Pristine ecosystems helped create the atmosphere and had cooling effects that made human existence not just possible but abundant. Chapters consider such systems from water vapor and savannahs to methane-producing megafauna before delving into human-caused extinctions changes to worldwide ecosystems and human decisions that impacted the planet starting tens of thousands of years ago.
Much of the book is history of these early times and reviews of why Earth's ecosystems were so full of life before mankind. This is important for understanding the later chapters that examine the farming and lifestyle choices which have led humanity to where it stands today - in a maelstrom of environmental challenges.
Siobhan M. Griffin is careful to point out that more frequent wildfire isn't caused by climate change but can be directly traced to human initiated extinctions and land management practices that have impacted the world:
While climate volatility can certainly heighten the risk of wildfires decades of poor land management has already made uncontrollable wildfires inevitable in so many places. Holistic land management to revegetate scarred land and restore the water cycle could save economies billions of dollars in wildfire losses and suppression costs.
An unusually wide audience will be receptive to these messages from farmers and students of ecology to surprisingly businesspeople and entities primarily interested in strategies that produce profitable returns.
The latter will find abundant the suggestions for making changes which not only lead to planetary health but financial health as well.
Readers will also be surprised at the wide-ranging examinations this book takes beyond farming practices. It delves into national park management technological reliance and absorption and the kinds of teachings passed to children that too often reinforce the notion that nature is not something to be preserved or even considered:
Many children growing up today spend most of their days surrounded by concrete digital screens and synthetic materials and are largely living separately from nature. Sadly they are often deprived of the valuable immersion in nature that I had. They don't get the chance to develop an intuitive understanding of how natural landscapes function. This instills an artificial human-centric view of the world. When marketers policymakers and consumers don't respect or even recognize landscapes and agroecosystems for what they are - our planetary life support system - our future is not safe. This disconnect allows people to collectively justify self-destructive decisions by pretending we can live without nature.
This is why librarians and readers will find Sun Cheese: Lessons From Regenerative Farming That Can Help You Rewrite Your Future a unique powerful blend of life lessons nature observation land management analysis - and a worthy title for discussion and contemplation.
Replete with history and analysis that solidifies the possibilities and lessons of the regenerative farming community Sun Cheese takes a much broader approach than might be anticipated becoming a lesson in re-envisioning the future in new hopeful ways by being more mindful of human impact and attitudes towards the planet as a whole.
Pageant of the Masters
Steven Belletto
Vine Leaves Press
www.vineleavespress.com
9783988322746 $19.99 Paperback/$6.99 eBook
Bookshop.org https://bookshop.org/p/books/pageant-of-the-masters-steven-belletto/7f9e39b6731e877a
Pageant of the Masters provides literary short story readers with a survey of different worlds and dilemmas though a selection of disparate scenarios. These range from the introductory "Uncle Neal Rides Again," a short story about exploitation and connection between the narrator who is purportedly checking in on his off-grid-living survivalist elderly uncle; to "Carnage at Bonaroti's," a survey about estrangement isolation and a wedding anniversary party at Bonaroti's restaurant that goes spectacularly awry.
Family ties models for reinventing relationships and scenarios which inject anxiety and transformation into set patterns of interaction and connection form the crux of literary and psychological inspections of excellence journeying through different cultures and worlds in the process of cementing these connections in new ways.
Steven Belletto's pageant embraces the extent of human emotion perception and presumption as the diverse scenarios cultures and situations create intersections between social and political and personal stress points.
Especially notable are the ways in which each story dovetails its character-building moments of revelation with situations which test sanity and decorum alike.
Belletto's dance between these worlds and seemingly disparate individuals results in interconnected (in the sense of psychological revelation and excitement) situations that sizzle with revelation and interesting contrasts.
Dialogues and shifting places and concepts offer unexpected insights as in the short story "Tactical Xanax":
"I don't know the boys were playing pool or something. But I remember thinking what an interesting insight on your part the futility of trying to take some moment in time and have it persist into the future. This is very Buddhist of you."
"Sometimes you stumble into things." "Sometimes you do."
The result will interest a wide audience of literary readers interested in diverse works that offer cultural and social commentary and ironic inspections of life.
Libraries acquiring Pageant of the Masters for their collections will also want to highly recommend it to book clubs and reading groups considering the tactics of myriad characters who confront obsessions revolts rulers and behavior patterns with equal attention to surviving their worlds and their shifting regulations.
Escape from Turtle Island
C.S. Yaduvanshi
www.csyaduvanshi.com
Y House Media
9781067845117 Paperback: $18.99 | Hardcover: $29.99 | Kindle: $6.99
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1067845119
The setting of this dystopian novel is 2062 Toronto where the world has been physically and politically transformed by rising seas and shifting political tides.
In this world resides complacent schoolteacher Abi who doesn't question anything about a system that maintains an augmented shifting reality over his world - until new teacher Claire questions the Party's policy of correcting history introducing new revelations about truth betrayal love and resistance.
Suddenly Abi is in the maelstrom of a social change revolution he never saw coming. He finds himself spearheading it grappling with new emotions about his world and his place in it.
C.S. Yaduvanshi provides a powerful social and political futuristic novel that opens with a protest against oppression before moving to the shaping of society that began in Abi's childhood. As he navigates adulthood well-trained in obedience and motivated by a reward system that quashes rebellion Abi is an Everyman example of a worker well trained to not rock any boats:
Abi confused about the ever-evolving expectations of fulfilling civic duties refrained from seeking clarification. Questioning authority or displaying a lack of comprehension regarding civic duty or the greater social good would undoubtedly add another strike against his public profile affecting his citizen rating.
Issues of activism justice romantic entanglements with Wincy and Claire and dangerous plans emerge as Claire and Abi's paths coalesce over realizations that lead Abi to better understand the warnings of his elders:
Citizen reporting was just a fraction of the extensive mechanism at play. All the conspiracy theories and warnings from his grandfather and the undergrounders turned out to be true.
One reason why Yaduvanshi's dystopian world proves so hard-hitting is because of its foundations in realistic events unfolding today. Issues of surveillance control manipulation and citizen rights permeate the news now. In this story these devices become systems and perceptions which repress the general population in an exhaustive comprehensive manner.
Were it not for former believers like Abi receiving new understanding about their choices responsibility and ability to impact their world in many ways such systems would dominate and become the norm.
This is just one of the frightening messages embedded in Escape from Turtle Island as humans relearn how to rebel and where their values and best interests truly lay.
Librarians and readers interested in politically supercharged dystopian stories that embrace the foundations of despair and ennui before venturing into territory of political empowerment will find Escape from Turtle Island a particularly powerful cementing of personal and political perspective and objectives.
Packed with discussion points that book clubs and political futurist groups will find engaging and thought-provoking Escape from Turtle Island layers a vision of the future with an eye to exploring how dystopian scenarios begin evolve and can be quashed.
The opportunities for better understanding concepts of perfect and imperfect worlds and mindsets about control and shaping the future are outstanding.
The Lockup Period
Vince Thompson
www.vincethompsonauthor.com
Dubious Ventures Press
9798995320104 $32.99 Hardcover/$17.99 Paperback/$9.99 eBook/$14.99 Audible
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Lockup-Period-Vince-Thompson/dp/B0GYTW2V7F
The Lockup Period is a novel that romps through the rising stars of California's Silicon Valley with an eye to exposing technology and success worth killing for - literally.
The story opens in 2014 in Palo Alto where Ravi Singh wryly observes "There are many perfectly fine places to be dead. This isn't one of them." He's talking about the fact that "every deal comes with a price " admitting that even murder may not be too high a price to pay for the goals of belonging and obtaining one's desires.
Vince Thompson shifts the novel's timeline between past and present as events unfold building a delightful contrast in characters objectives and aspirations of success. These lend a greater understanding about the progression of events and mindsets juxtaposing a carousel of images about different ventures their outcomes and their underlying influences.
Financial arrangements and insights range from buying stocks and getting rich quickly (albeit with requirements influencing these actions) to the actions of entrepreneurs and investors who become involved in IPOs killer opportunities and dubious efforts to produce or perish.
Underlying the dance between these interests is a thread of interest and influence around a ninety-day lockup period during which fortunes and lives will be made or broken.
Librarians and readers interested in a blend of California culture business-centric special interests and influences that lead good men and women astray in the pursuit of dollars and sense will find The Lockup Period a surprisingly hilarious astute examination of start-ups morals and ethics values and ruthless romances. It steps into a sizzling world of opportunities and redefines their effect on different lives.
Packed with the emotional manic ride of greed and get-rich-quick opportunities tempered by the specter of what it would take to murder for the sake of success and injected with unexpected ironic humor throughout The Lockup Period represents a wild ride through Silicon Valley people politics and purposes that is hard to either predict or put down.
Mancini Blue: An Art Studio Mystery
Maggie Toussaint
https://maggietoussaint.com
Muddle House Publishing
9798992357134 $15.99 Paperback/$5.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HCHW5JGT
Mancini Blue: An Art Studio Mystery follows new widower Robert Calloway's attempt to make a fresh start away from Savannah where his wife committed suicide to the small island of St. James where he opens an art gallery to honor her memory.
The only obstacle to resolving his grief is that Bob is convinced that his famous artist wife Sophie was murdered. Solving her case involves returning to Savannah. But when he makes it back to his island refuge a new murder near his shop makes him a suspect.
What follows is a chase after the truth as Bob makes the truth surrounding his wife's death his priority even though he's under the gun for another crime.
Relying on his Calloway intuition and his penchant for delving deeper until he uncovers the truth Bob discovers that his findings endanger him further. They make him look worse in the eyes of the law while providing no real answers about his wife's demise.
Feeling that he's let Sophie down is bad enough but when the threats come home to roost over his niece Gussie who is now living with him Bob must draw on all his intuition and abilities to uncover the truth before it's too late.
Maggie Toussaint constructs a powerful plot based on relationships family ties and forces that buffet a successful businessman with matters beyond his ken or control.
Chapters embrace the concept of paranormal sleuthing and relying on one's special abilities but stay true to emotional currents and connections as Bob finds himself caring for others in a way that challenges his own survival.
Libraries seeking mysteries centered in small towns as well as big cities that focus on art and murder alike will find Mancini Blue will attract art world murder mystery fans with a fine balance of intrigue and discovery.
Packed with revelations about the killer's special energy and intentions readers will delight in a story that holds many satisfying twists and turns before an unexpected conclusion cements the art world with the special interests that circulate within it. This all makes for a riveting read.
Beta Max: A Profound Frolic in an Unreasonable Multiverse
Mark A. Rayner
Monkeyjoy Press
9781927590102 $25.00 Softcover/$9.95 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HC8GP4S4
Books2Read
https://books2read.com/u/mdpg0d
Humorous science fiction is few and far between but Beta Max: A Profound Frolic in an Unreasonable Multiverse adds to the mix with Book 2 of The Tundraverse series. It's a lively contrast of different versions of Dr. Maximilian Tundra who either destroys the world with a random seeming innocuous thought or in another universe tackles the disappearance of humans.
Newcomers who anticipate that this wild ride might be puzzling without familiarity with the prior novel Alpha Max receive a handy recap of events. This perfectly sets the stage for a romp through combined consciousness the Xaxta aliens which return for round two and newfound realizations about the nature of life death entropy the universe and everything.
What sci-fi reader used to staid plots and predictable outcomes wouldn't be immediately attracted to this book either through its first chapter entitled "From Hell's Heart Stabby Stabby " or its opening lines?:
Deep within the heat of the sun motionless for years sat a shimmering scrotum. Of course a scrotum would be vaporized immediately but this was a sack of another kind. It was a vessel created by another species to travel between universes. It held not gonads but nonetheless contained seeds... of destruction.
Hero and savior of humanity Maximilian Tundra has become a family man with Vee and is contentedly watching his young daughter Samantha navigate her first bike as the story opens. His satisfaction doesn't last long because aliens simmering in the backdrop soon emerge to lead him on another wild ride through time space alternate realities and a newfound purpose: to save his family.
Even the conclusion of this introduction employs language and observations which are startlingly original and refreshingly fun:
His heart was still filled with the joy of watching Samantha ride a bike for the first time. Yet he had a strange gnosis that was a result of his previous adventures: it was all about to end. It was so wabi-sabi. So sweet-bitter. But he only had time to say: "Well shit."
Readers anticipating that the contrasts between different versions of Max will prove difficult to comprehend will find that how Mark A. Rayner navigates these scenarios makes it easy to move between multiverses.
The quandaries over Max's struggles embrace issues with ideals notions of revenge and the cost of heroism and the multifaceted challenges of solving problems across universes. All these are presented through engaging characters and dialogue which prove whimsical fun and unexpected:
"You said you were not searching for the ones who destroyed your family - "
"And the whole Earth."
"Yes. And the whole Earth. But you said you're not doing so for revenge. Are you being honest with yourself? And if so why look for them?"
"To prevent it from happening again."
"But what if there are an infinite number of realities in which it's happening? Isn't that possible?"
Orry was silent for a second. Doc was right. What if that was what infinity meant? It was happening now - whatever now meant - in infinite universes as they spoke.
"Sonuvabitch... fuck!"
Doc grinned. "No further questions."
Especially notable are many moments of revelation about why infinity "sucks" as Max encounters different versions of himself and his worlds and considers his mission with constantly-revised mindsets.
Hard-hitting ideals ideas social inspections and personal and political quagmires evolve a delightfully satirical romp that will attract readers beyond the usual sci-fi reading circle.
Beta Max is a wonderful powerful unique creation that librarians and readers will want to place high on their acquisition lists for its rollicking disarming spectacles of a human being poised to change the world(s).
Beneath the Canopy
Lynda Riggers
Vanguard Press
c/o Pegasus Publishers
www.pegasuspublishers.com
9781837947812, $17.99
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Beneath-Canopy-Lynda-Riggers-ebook/dp/B0HHNSW6M4
Beneath the Canopy is inspired by real events and memories from World War II. It tells of young Netherlands girl Johanna who flees the dropping Nazi bombs with her pregnant mother only to find her baby sister missing when the smoke clears.
Rein is also affected by the war which has made him an orphan and led his brother to join the Resistance.
Chapters and perspectives shift between these two very different children as the story unfolds in 1944 following the transformation of two young lives and the values and truths each tries to hold on to as war ravages their families happiness and world.
Lynda Riggers' focus on children adds a different dimension of observation and understanding to the usual World War II experience. She dovetails these very disparate lives to illustrate how each confronts and survives Nazi rule using their discoveries and growth to create different perspectives about Germans and Nazis of these times:
Rein was numb. It never occurred to him that someone could be bullied into joining the Nazis. He had always assumed they had all started as bad an entire country of awful people doing what one small man dictated. He realized what a childish thought that was. Of course not all Germans were bad.
Physical as well as mental challenges beset the kids in their dissimilar journeys through a much-changed land:
As she hobbled the wind picked up and the drizzle turned to sleet stinging Johanna's exposed legs its effect the same as fire ant bites. She added it to her evergrowing list of daily miseries: wet socks splinters frozen toes scratchy blanket and no food. She didn't dare list "terror" just yet.
That belonged on a different list.
A chance meeting between them sparks an uncommon friendship which just might be the ticket to survival in a story that examines the roots of family home and understanding one's friends and enemies.
Libraries likely already have many World War II-based novels for all ages but what sets Beneath the Canopy apart from most is its focus on the foundations of defiance and understanding which not only bring two children together but contrasts their evolving insights into good evil and their own natures.
Packed with unexpectedly warm encounters with friendship in the midst of chaos Beneath the Canopy provides powerful insights into acts of kindness and courage survival choices and costs and how families survive atrocities and hard times.
These features are as worthy for book club and reading group discussions as they are poignant points for individual contemplation.
Good Intentions
Frederick Groya
Atmosphere Press
www.atmospherepress.com
9798901744239, $8.99, eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Good-Intentions-Frederick-Groya-ebook/dp/B0HD9VXYPR
Good Intentions is a literary novel that questions what it means to live a good life. It follows Tom Rudnik through 1980s as he pursues a legal career marriage and family only to find that his life's journey has not only taken a detour but threatens to crumble leaving him alone and a failure.
How he moves from success to utter despair and back again comprises a journey that many will find understandable and attractive. Good Intentions evolves new pathways for living a better more mindful life in the aftermath of complete disaster.
As Tom's secrets (there are only three) move out of hiding to buffet his reality readers receive insights into the impact of self-denial questions of sexual identity and families that move from foundations of love to routines of co-existing for the kids:
He looked in the mirror again at his little boy staring listlessly out the window and wondered if they were a family in name only. Were he and Amelia simply Nicky's parents who took turns looking after him?
The hidden costs of staying in hiding confront the accompanying demands of being honest even when honesty destroys all good intentions and everything that's been built on a lie.
Frederick Groya offers this life inspection with an added dose of possibilities for new relationships that evolve from the ashes of the old.
Readers will find Tom's development of a new relationships and shifting values that accompany them to be absorbing thought-provoking. The story holds important messages for a revised definition of good intentions good and poor choices and outcomes that support honesty and integrity.
Librarians and readers seeking a different form of homosexual exploration and revelation will find in Tom a believable moving character whose quandaries over family life and ideals clash with his true nature. These dilemmas lend to book club and reader group discussions as Tom considers the pros and cons of stepping into his real identity and shedding the secrets which have previously dictated his life course and actions.
Packed with moments of connection and realization Good Intentions offers hope and insights to those also considering embarking on a journey towards authenticity and hard truths.
The Secret of Charley Grace
Colin Kersey
Atmosphere Press
www.atmospherepress.com
9798901743799 $8.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Charley-Grace-Colin-Kersey/dp/B0HHBYGFX8
The Secret of Charley Grace tells of fourteen-year-old Charley who was raised in Mexico by her aunt is fluent in Mandarin and proficient in martial arts and lives a life filled with secrets. When her aunt is murdered and she is forced to flee for her life Charley embarks on a journey to uncover these secrets in order to survive. She discovers why she appears to be a target and why her nickname is "Alpha Girl."
Charley has been trained to keep secrets herself and to avoid relationships:
"How many times have I told you to be careful? Friends can be dangerous."
Charley sighed. "You worry too much Auntie."
Now she must forego her training in order to survive alone which involves delving into difficult truths about her past nature and future.
Colin Kersey creates a powerful thriller which will appeal to all ages from teens into adult audiences. As Charley develops new relationships with Ray Sister Sheri and others a dangerous cadre of searchers comes after her. This adds tension and intrigue into the mix as Charley grapples with her unique DNA and its consequences for any possibility of a peaceful future.
Confrontations involve the Chinese cartels and drug traffickers as these characters confront and run from powerful adversaries which are backed by government special interests.
Kersey's ability to create a fast-paced thriller replete with a likeable character whose drive to be a normal human being is supplanted by her abnormal genetic markers makes for a saga hard to put down.
Librarians and readers seeking a revealing story of transformation and a teen's search for family and connection will find Charley's journey powerful unpredictable and compelling.
Younger Than Last Year: The Seven Foundations of the Art of Life
Robert W. Troch III
Kaiju Kastle Media
https://www.youngerthanlastyear.net
9798996350506, $14.98 PB, $4.98 Kindle, 154pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Younger-Than-Last-Year-Foundations/dp/B0HL2154CR
Younger Than Last Year: The Seven Foundations of the Art of Life comes from the cofounder of the Younger Than Last Year (YTLY) Brooklyn fitness studio which works with all kinds of people interested in maintaining their vigor and youth over advancing years.
As a "...quiet champion of the contrarian; the person who bought a gym membership and never used it " Robert W. Troch III here translates his gym principles and approaches to exercise into an approach that will reach an even broader audience interested in life philosophy better living health and attitude adjustments. These involve making fitness an optimal integrated part of life.
Many of his contentions address common fallacies of health and better living:
Your body is always trying to heal you. You just have to give it the conditions to do its job. Rest is not laziness. Recovery is not indulgence. Sleep is not optional. They are your biological inheritance: the nightly system that keeps you younger than last year the daily rhythm that rebuilds the parts of you that life wears down.
The book consists of "Foundations" of different levels of goal-setting achievement and restoring vitality through daily practices that any reader can easily follow. These foundations often draw startling connections between exercise goals and mental approaches to life:
Awareness breathing rest fuel mobility passion - they all influence whether strength training builds you up or breaks you down.
Where other books often treat topics such as nutrition as independent modules in health regimens Troch connects the dots between mental and physical systems and the overall effort to achieve health and stay healthy by addressing overlapping mental and physical systems:
Fuel is not "dieting" - it is daily chemistry.
Everything you eat affects blood sugar hormones inflammation recovery and energy.
Awareness changes nutrition more than rules do. You cannot discipline your way out of unconscious eating patterns.
His approach encourages not rigidity but flexibility and adaptation - which makes it more achievable than many books that present fitness as a fixed regimen.
Libraries and readers looking for an uplifting achievable wider-ranging approach to fitness and health than most will find Younger Than Last Year: The Seven Foundations of the Art of Life packed with important revelations that can also encourage discussions about beliefs attitudes passion and awareness.
These may not be the usual subjects in a book about fitness and health - but they are powerful influences on the overall success or failure of health presenting readers with new ideas for optimal conditioning.
Paper and Ink 2: Stories
Mike Lubow
Birdwatcher Books
9798180685735, $11.99, Paperback/$8.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Paper-Ink-Stories-Mike-Lubow/dp/B0H6Y1N6ZC
Paper and Ink 2: Stories offers literary short story readers a new collection of nine edgily outstanding creations. Each capture life-changing lessons as characters careen out of their familiar paths of existence into situations which force them to reconsider or shift their lives and attitudes.
Take the introductory story "Fired " for example. The first-person narrator contemplates an unimaginable scenario that shakes his vision of the future when a company shake-up places his ad job on the cutting block.
But he walks out believing he will be fine. He feels great because he believes his skills will readily translate to easy entry into another ad job and experiences the freedom that comes from shaking off the oppression of mundane routine to try something different.
Not your usual scenario of the result of being fired for no cause from a long-held position!
"The Spyglass " in contrast pairs the very different worlds of the "lean and bookish" college teacher Christian Hawke with student Josephine Marcus who is destined to meet Wyatt Earp and become his common law wife.
Hawke and Marcus are trying out a new spyglass creation on loan from their college when they stop in a public house for food only to confront men who introduce danger that might even challenge Hawke's overriding passion for meat.
Hawke's ongoing hunger becomes part of a bigger confrontation that provokes him to treat the coveted spyglass in an unexpected way as his relationship with Josie shifts from teacher and student to something more.
Each story builds a different setting sense of place and shifting purpose and emotional confrontations that create new connections. Each profiles offbeat situations characters and blends of nostalgia and the unexpected which will attract a literary audience interested in short stories that capture novel scenarios:
What a name Funland. It was no fun. It was a lot of fun. A dumbed-down Disneyland on Chicago's busy 95th Street where there was a head-on crash late that Sunday. Casualties lay in roadside weeds holding Tshirts to cut faces. Their shirts grew red lit by the neon of the Ferris wheel which Phil broke seconds before the crash.
Libraries and readers seeking literary collections that are surprising unusual and thought-provokingly perfect for book club discussion and personal contemplation alike will find Paper and Ink 2: Stories packed with the accelerant of pleasure and pain underlying seemingly ordinary life encounters and situations.
Vigilante's Handbook
Doc Richter
Atmosphere Press
www.atmospherepress.com
9798901743874, $18.99 Paperback $31.99 Hardcover $8.99 ebook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Vigilantes-Handbook-Doc-Richter-ebook/dp/B0HCTG9VHN
Vigilante's Handbook captures the dilemma of a tech executive turned vigilante when his beloved goddaughter is savagely beaten and left crippled. Frustrated by the specter of the assailant walking away from his crime due to a lack of evidence Bill Starr returns from retirement to craft an AI tool that successfully gathers the information that leads to the athlete's conviction.
He's so successful that Starr is motivated to expand his tool to give the FBI tips about child pornographers. Then he takes the next step expanding his justice-seeking to other criminal circles and assuming the role of a vigilante engaged in a personal quest for justice.
His new retirement hobby doesn't come without moral ethical and personal quandaries. Enter Lori who joins Bill as he goes after human traffickers. Together the two become immersed in justice and vigilante work which leads them into risky situations and acid-spraying inventions.
Doc Richter embeds his thriller with the perceptions and challenges of ordinary individuals who are motivated to step up and beyond their lives to pursue answers and deliver punishment. The injection of moral dilemmas and motivations for assuming the role of a vigilante justice-deliverer offers readers intriguing moments of justification and reasoning that will prove suitable for book club discussion:
"It makes me want to weep when I think about all the women lost because of Silva but we're going to make it right."
"If not us who?"
Lori smiled. "If not us who?"
Equally captivating are the moments of realization about how to expand the success rate of this citizen program to others and the requirements and costs of so doing:
"...there have to be others out there who'd take the risk if they had the tools and direction. Your worry about runaway vigilantism is right but what if you could you know set the rules and lead them? Write a handbook for people to follow."
Bill was speechless.
What if I could indeed?
The result is a powerful novel about justice high technology punishment and dangerous moves. It will immerse readers in Bill and Lori's dilemmas as they unfold fine-tune and reconsider vigilante efforts as part of achieving true justice in America.
Packed with surprises swift action and engrossingly thought-provoking reflections on vigilantes and the pros and cons of self-conducted justice Vigilante's Handbook represents action-packed reading and moral considerations at their best and is also highly recommended for book club discussion.
Estate: Golden Rules
J. Andrew Shelley
Tenzi
9781735497488 $7.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Estate-Golden-J-Andrew-Shelley-ebook/dp/B0HB67XCVW
Estate: Golden Rules surveys estate planning with a step-by-step eye to streamlining the planning process. This encourages all readers to understand the fundamentals of probate and the potentials of wills to cause chaos rather than solve problems.
You read that last part right - J. Andrew Shelley points out that wills can actually cause major problems rather than clarifying wishes and his book considers these and overall estate planning basics.
Shelley identifies the many challenges involved in such planning:
Mortgages and leases can be awkward to manage. Mobile homes can drag us into a place of madness. At successive moments a mobile home can be considered a vehicle registered with the Department of Motor Vehicles personal property rented property or real property managed by a deed and mortgaged to a bank.
Many surprising insights are presented as chapters probe the ideas and ideals of estate planning:
Once you've made certain every asset will pass to the next generation without probate and without a trust a thoughtful estate attorney will ask the gotcha question: "Who pays the final phone bills the funeral expenses and taxes? Don't you think Bobby and Billy are going to fight over that?"
It's a legit question and it is logical coming from the legal expert who manages estates through wills and trusts. The reality they may not be thinking about is that a significant percentage of estates never go through probate even when they have no trust.
From Durable Power of Attorney choices and various healthcare mandates to documenting debts transferring vehicle ownership identifying assets and possible contestants to the will or trust and applying some Golden Rules to mitigate impacts Shelley tackles many issues planners need to consider. These insights makes the entire process not only simpler and more fail-safe but easier on family psyches.
This is where Estate: Golden Rules digresses from the many estate planning guides already on the market. The attention to considering not just legal but emotional entanglements and complexities addressing issues by applying Golden Rules of conduct and ethical behavior cultivates a unique approach.
Estate planning guides often address technical complexities without considering the emotional components buffeting families over relationships last wishes and perceived wishes.
Estate: Golden Rules marries all these topics in a discussion especially highly recommended for families and book club reading groups interested in estate management and concerns. It will prove a powerful recommendation in libraries where patrons want to go a step beyond the usual nuts-and-bolts consideration of asset management.
Fables of the Deconstruction V. 1: The Ghost in You
C.A. Kuhlmey
Atmosphere Press
www.atmospherepress.com
9798901744291, $18.99 Paperback; $32.99 Hardcover; $8.99 ebook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Fables-Deconstruction-Vol-1-Ghost-You/dp/B0HN1NXMDR
Fables of the Deconstruction V. 1: The Ghost in You is a memoir presented in the form of fables and essays which chronicle author C.A. Kuhlmey's navigation of addiction loss and spirituality in his life.
It focuses on the experience of falling apart and then reconstructing life through a series of jigsaw puzzle-like moves that involve Kuhlmey and others in a search for different pathways.
Readers anticipating a psychological or spiritual-based survey should be advised that Kuhlmey employs mind-altering substances as tools for identifying and traveling these paths:
My essays were helped along by a powerful hallucinogenic substance called ayahuasca meditation metaphysical and psychological studies dreams and hypnosis; all were places that allowed my being to understand the universe outside of the normal constructs of the mind.
As such his journey adopts more of a Carlos Castaneda-style approach as he probes the depths of inner being and experiences deconstruction not only in his own psyche but throughout the world in which he travels.
Readers receive a powerful set of interconnected essays which build progressive insights into a variety of issues relationships and new reactions to life:
Unfailing honesty became evidence to be used against me later. Nothing had "polished" me. I suffered badly for my sins. I found peace in letting go allowing people to be themselves and interjecting only when the conversation suggested I should.
As he considers the open results of the "aperture of the ayahuasca lens" and where it leads Kuhlmey presents realizations and questions which will prompt readers to consider not just their relationships and choices but the process of coming apart to rebuild a new approach to life.
The engrossing details of this inspection will spark many a book club discussion inviting individuals to consider the progression of their own mental and spiritual work:
I thought if I kept asking the same type of question in different ways something would shake loose.
The result is a spiritual and emotional journey that considers the illusions lives can be built upon details the connection between love and obsession and makes pointed inquiries about God and life purpose. It gives readers a powerfully impactful literary set of stories and experiences that are not just inspirational and revealing but allegorical.
Libraries choosing Fables of the Deconstruction V. 1: The Ghost in You for their collections will find it can appeal to an unusually broad swath of readers interested in the foundations of spiritual and emotional growth.
Debts Owed
Glenn Dyer
TMR Press LLC
www.GlennDyer.net
9798988796145, $15.99 Paperback/$24.99 Large Print Paperback/$4.99 EBook/$28.99 HC
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Debts-Owed-World-Espionage-Thriller-ebook/dp/B0HJRXW4VQ
Thriller readers are in for a treat with Debts Owed the fifth addition to the Conor Thorn OSS spy series which takes place during World War II.
Conor's beloved Emily is in France which has been locked down under Nazi rule. He would do anything to reunite with her and guide her home safely. So when an assignment pops up which he'd otherwise likely turn down involving a spy operation conducted with no backup support and little details to help guide his mission Conor jumps at it.
What he leaps into is a quagmire of possibilities surrounding a traitor an impossible task smuggling trapped airmen past Nazi control and recurring issues of trust and confusion which impact his mission and its underlying purpose to locate his wife.
Meanwhile Emily's own mission and mandates are in jeopardy as she tracks down Conor's sister Maggie's baby only to find that her endgame goal has shifted into even more dangerous territory.
As truths emerge about Maggie's baby's adoption by Olivia and the now-missing Gaston Rothbard and her true heritage Emily becomes immersed in a desperate cat-and-mouse game over a search for hidden truths and Nazi occupation forces.
From agents and interagency squabbles to questions about loyalty and whether agents are working for the cause or the enemy this thriller takes many unexpected turns. It dovetails the lives of participants on both sides of the Nazi occupation as Conor and Emily separately address challenges to their lives mindsets and loyalties.
Glenn Dyer intersects a host of forces and special interests creating a gripping story of double agents family ties and heroes and turncoats who operate under the cloak of World War II's political and military struggles.
Replete with tense moments of discovery and thoroughly immersing confrontations between disparate characters and interests Debts Owed is an immersive thriller that deserves top attention from libraries and readers interested in World War II backdrops circumstances of spies counterspies and loyalty and love.
Word War Won
David Keay
Independently Published
9798317846008 $20.00 Paperback/$9.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Word-War-Won-David-Keay-ebook/dp/B0HD7T2R1H
Book Baby
https://store.bookbaby.com/book/word-war-won
Word War Won opens with author David Keay in the hospital recovering from Afib after what was supposed to be routine cataract surgery. From there he is summoned by Count Dracula to the White Castle to participate in a quiz show/political expose based on his novel Word War Won.
The saga opens with a conversation between Stiles and Tarmac which sets the stage for these events:
STILES: Keay observes how politics works via the Frankenstein Monster depicts it in a new book with the Count counting on it finding fame in future setting the record straight for all time.
TARMAC: Despite Keay's pitiful sales figures thus far.
Keay's unceremonious entry into European affairs and circles evolves into a satirical romp through social and political observation as contest participants like The Schoolyard Bully and The Frankenstein Monster (embodying all politicians) vie to control exposes truths and USA-style diplomacy tactics. These scenarios are wound into a game show's patter and ironic approaches to life.
David Keay's literary political and social survey may challenge those who anticipate the usual linear plot and progression of a novel. That's because he tackles common problems in uncommon ways creating characters whose personal ambitions lives and perceptions entwine in linguistic and social situations far from the usual approach:
TARMAC: Can you speak in the guise of The Holy One?
STILES: With little effort for I am Him: "Go now my son! You are substantiated and free to invite reinforcements. Inform them better foods shall be tackled and shipped. Inform them of all exchanges to the market. These credits must come to an end. Remain here at this Long Table for our final supper together and wait for Leonardo the artist. Meanwhile I will rest here among fearful soldiers. Much delight is promised your way with dancers till Dawn. You must be mud-minded following hideous battle. Your outstretched armies greet the Sun like gold glazing the Pyramid Schemes up upon the Alps!"
The conversations which drive Word War Won take the form of thought-provoking (but equally hilarious) observations from game-players who consider bigger-picture thinking with the pointed jabs of critically analyzing social conditions. They reflect on the ways and means of politicians and influencers who create "Mountains out of molehills absurd scenarios intended to frighten the public."
High culture is also embedded into these reflections and experiences:
There are "Robin Hood parties" he and his friends have in the woods where they attempt to talk in olde English all night. Andy and friends also introduce "Greaser Day " where you show up at school looking like you stepped out of Scorpio Rising. Apparently without Andy's permission Rick sells Keay his scratched-up copies of The Dead's Live/Dead and Anthem of the Sun as well as Quicksilver's Happy Trails. (Since replaced.)
At first these seemingly disparate experiences seem a hodgepodge of topics and insights. But as Word War Won evolves pointed insights emerge about intellectual discourse and observational styles belief systems and the interconnectedness of seemingly disparate systems and documentation of good times high times and reasons for laughter and reflection. This provides heady food for thought for readers interested in satirical devices and fiction that employs them with a heavy hand.
Libraries choosing Word War Won for their collections will find it recommendable to two major audiences: literary readers looking for political cultural and social inquiries replete with satire and observation and readers of fiction that excels in exploring how trends take off life participants grow from each others' influences and words change the world.
Replete with irony and fun allusions Word War Won is a force to be reckoned with. It will prove a delight to those who look for uncommon associations connections and confrontations in their fiction choices.
No Perfect Choice
Lilliana Mendez-Soto
Atmosphere Press
www.atmospherepress.com
9798901744581, $18.99 Paperback; $29.99 Hardcover; $11.99 ebook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/No-Perfect-Choice-Lilliana-M%C3%A9ndez-Soto/dp/B0HHHJG77K
No Perfect Choice details the dilemma faced by Alina Rodriguez when a heart attack reveals an unviable life-threatening pregnancy.
Alina's story opens with a yoga teacher who saves her life by correctly identifying her symptoms of a heart attack then moves into the uncommon matter of her rare pregnancy at age fifty-seven.
It's September 2022 and Roe has just been overturned by the Supreme Court. This event and the difficult decisions and realizations that follow give readers a foundation for understanding how Alina finds herself confronting close-held secrets and family ties as she reflects on some of the most challenging choices of her life.
Lilliana Mendez-Soto creates a compelling novel of not just family and choice but the hidden histories of women within one family whose silence and resilience have contributed to Alina's personality and determination to face modern times and dilemmas.
More than a story of life challenges and pregnancy No Perfect Choice explores what happens when political and institutional systems try to assume control over womens' bodies and choices.
Readers interested in abortion issues poverty's role in social and political dilemmas surrounding pregnancy and struggles to reconcile personal values with political mandates will find No Perfect Choice a powerful reflection on freedom.
More so than most stories about pregnancy abortion women's rights and considerations of family ties No Perfect Choice provides the perfect intersection between personal and social dilemmas. This makes it a fine choice for book clubs looking to debate the pivot points and intersections of women's lives.
Librarians that choose No Perfect Choice will want to highly recommend it to women's reading groups for its heartfelt emotional tone which allows readers to walk for miles in Alina's shoes as she confronts her own values and a system that often dictates otherwise.
Home Planet
Tiffany Nieslanik
Atmosphere Press
www.atmospherepress.com
9798901743850, $21.99 Paperback; $34.99 Hardcover; $8.99 ebook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Home-Planet-Tiffany-Nieslanik/dp/B0HHBW7RSY
Science fiction readers are in for a treat with Home Planet which tells of the desperate struggles of astronaut Bryn humanity's last hope to reconcile her unexpected pregnancy with her mission to investigate a distant planet that is the last hope for saving her species from an overcrowded Earth.
Her discovery shortly before takeoff would threaten the mission - and so she keeps it a secret from everyone including her husband.
As space changes her body as much as the fetus within and a helpful AI assists her in unexpected ways Bryn discovers like the protagonist in the movie Alien that those who have created her mission harbor dangerous secrets about its real purpose and potential which threatens her life.
Readers won't expect the odd encounters Bryn faces from the prospect of transforming into a fish which may or may not be a dream to confronting her younger self and the ideals and motivations surrounding her choices:
"I think I'm an eternal optimist? And that was why I was willing to go? Somehow that feels very on brand for me still " Bryn grumbled.
"That is a true part of it yes. We are hopelessly optimistic." Younger Bryn grinned almost maniacally. "And also it was a good time in our life. You saw that yes? This mission was something we had dreamed of since our time as a youngling. And perhaps most importantly we had a stable loving supportive childhood and family. We knew coming back to Asphodel would be easier for us than for most because of the foundation of love she built around us. It keeps our memories strong and stable."
"I was willing to give up my memories because I knew I wouldn't be giving anything up at all " Bryn whispered softly. "It was just a small pause on the life I have built and I knew I could seamlessly reenter it when I returned. That my family and my friends would love me through my Remembering and whatever decisions I have to make now that I'm back."
As Bryn evolves and changes the story shifts from a search for home to an embrace of flexibility and possibility. This translates to new belief systems and opportunities to consider survival on not just physical but spiritual and psychological levels.
Tiffany Nieslanik builds these realizations impacts and experiences into a story that is a step above most sci-fi stories of exploring other planets with an Earth exodus in mind. She allows readers to enter into the psyche and motivations of a mother-to-be who embarks on her journey not just for humanity but for her child and a revised future.
Bryn discovers she isn't exploring something completely different but in actuality is coming full circle and her readers will delight in how these dilemmas and realizations represent new opportunities for growth and evolution on many different levels.
Libraries choosing Home Planet for their collections will find it a powerful saga of transitions and hope which imparts an uncommon flavor of women's strengths into an ultimately uplifting saga driven by an especially appealing character:
She was the kind of person who could hold enough care in her heart for her daughter and an entire civilization.
Your Stories Are Powerful
Lisa Ebel
Shamrock Stories Press
www.shamrockstoriespress.com
9798999525307, $17.95 paperback; $7.99 ebook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HN6BJC1H
Your Stories Are Powerful: A Shamrock Stories Guide to Writing Empowered Stories is an inspirational guide that opens with a compelling true story. A storytelling show sparked Lisa Ebel's desire to capture the raw emotion of her own life experiences. Her book embraces storytelling empowerment for anyone who wants to reconsider and rewrite their life stories.
It's fortunate that Lisa embarked on a journey to embrace her skills and writer's eye. Your Stories Are Powerful will prove an exciting impetus for growth and creative achievement for her readers:
I remembered my stories wrote them told them rewrote them and retold them until they honored who I was then and who I am now. Once a story felt in alignment with my past and present self once the story had helped me heal old emotional wounds I considered it a Shamrock Story - a name I gave to the kind of stories that help me feel good about myself and my life.
Life observations tips and a seven-step process to remembering reaffirming and reframing life stories are accompanied by writing prompts and exercises designed to help readers use their lives and memories for inspiration and healing.
Lisa uses examples from her own life to illustrate her approach to identifying and tapping this wellspring of creativity. This helps readers reflect on their own life-altering events and how best to reconsider and incorporate them into writing that empowers them.
Readers may not anticipate the level of psychological self-examination required. This unique process isn't covered in other writer's guides or self-help books. At each step Lisa includes reflections on the story writing process which explore and enhance emotional connections.
Readers are asked to undertake exercises that probe emotional pain and revelation. "Questions to Ponder" include:
Write a list of your defining traits during each decade of your life.
Which ones are consistent?
Which traits have disappeared or emerged?
The result is a powerful blend of storytelling and writing advice that proves to be a creative psychological force. Your Stories Are Powerful is a valuable guide for book clubs self-help readers and anyone prepared to tackle the roots of their own life challenges.
Librarians seeking a powerfully uncommon approach to personal growth will find Your Stories Are Powerful a winner and a standout for their self-help collection.
Talk Me a Story about Moon Rabbit
Michelle Myers
Atmosphere Press
www.atmospherepress.com
9798901744499, $19.99 Paperback; $31.99 Hardcover; $8.99 ebook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Talk-Story-about-Moon-Rabbit/dp/B0HKL29Y2W
Talk Me a Story about Moon Rabbit gives middle grade fantasy readers an uplifting feel-good story about Korean girl Shelly who absorbs her mother's stories about Moon Rabbit who exhibits kindness and never gives up and who makes magical rice cakes.
Shelly never expected to find Moon Rabbit in her own kitchen making these cakes but when she confronts him she finds herself transported to the Moon where she confronts some of her biggest fears and a host of dangers including a hungry tiger and the Moon Gobbler.
Michelle Myers takes the time to thoroughly explore the roots of this narrator's many fears presenting them in a way early middle grades can easily understand:
Sometimes I get so angry at myself for being such a baby. Momma and Dad tried everything to help me not feel so scared of the dark. When I was little they bought me a night light shaped as a Moon and another one that shined stars onto my ceiling and played soft music. But really all these night lights did was make the darkness even more dark. I always thought I saw scary things lurking in the shadows just beyond the edge of the light.
Action centers not just on fear and confronting it but a host of characters that each face various issues including adult scenarios of betrayal and abandonment.
The adventures embrace Korean folklore issues of self-acceptance and love courage and friendship and support from unexpected places as Shelly confronts forces that would end the Moon and her own world.
Philosophical wisdom and reflection permeates many of these interactions to inject notes of hope and discovery in a manner that adults will want to discuss with young readers:
But above all Shelly remember this: Some stories take shape in words which we talk out and share. Some stories stay quiet and become secrets. But some stories yearn to be reborn finding new life in a new time for new ears. It is our sacred duty to be ready to hear and understand the lessons of such an awakened tale.
The result is more than a fantasy adventure but a book packed with uplifting important messages that will widely appeal to all kinds of readers.
Filled with exciting moments of courage confrontation and realization Talk Me a Story about Moon Rabbit is more than a cut above the usual middle grade fantasy. It incorporates many elements of revelation that will lend to interest from book clubs and reading groups as well as elementary-level librarians and parents who like to choose books that the entire family can enjoy and discuss.
Brave New Game
S.K. Michalowski
Atmosphere Press
www.atmospherepress.com
9798901742976, $18.99 Paperback; $31.99 Hardcover; $8.99 ebook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Brave-New-Game-S-K-Michalowski/dp/B0HHBZTG3Y
Middle grade to young adult readers who choose Brave New Game for leisure pursuit will find it replete with basketball dreams and nightmares as young teen Charlie the orphaned son of a basketball legend tries to make a name for himself on and off the court.
What is a math prodigy doing in basketball anyway ... and what do numbers have to do with sports? Plenty as Charlie learns when a savvy local college coach prospecting for new talent observes that Charlie's applied statistics can transform struggling teams into winners.
S.K. Michalowski's exploration of sports and math challenges and talents dovetails with intriguing examples of how numbers can affect decisions. This leads young readers to better understand how math can affect all kinds of objectives and decision-making strategies throughout life.
Heartfelt passages about life goals and challenges accompany sports descriptions to further broaden a topic which might have initially attracted young basketball fans adding dimensions of moral and ethical behavior. Charlie tackles a cheater and how he crossed the line in offering his talents too readily harbors an emotionally charged secret that affects the team and explores new possibilities in applied statistics and building fantasy teams.
From fundraising efforts to confronting his own decisions and making revised ones Charlie's dilemmas will reach out and grab young readers who may have placed themselves in their own questionable positions:
Charlie cycles through feelings of worry relief and pride. With more time Blake could certainly complete the test and pass on his own. However with four difficult problems left and only fifteen minutes to finish both of them know there's no way that will happen. And Blake must finish. He needs at least an eighty-five percent on this exam or he won't stand a chance of passing the class.
The result may appear to be a story about sports - but it's about so much more. Elementary-level libraries and adults who select Brave New Game for young readers hoping to attract them to reading or math through an involving leisure read will find the story opens doors of inspection and possible discussion among young readers about ethical behavior applied math skills and opportunities that grow from the basketball court into friendship and competitive circles.
Replete with realistic dilemmas and discussions of good and bad choices Brave New Game is thoroughly involving and unexpectedly thought-provoking and highly recommended for its considerations of fairness end games winning and losing and applying one's special skills to solve life problems.
Rain on the Roof Wind in the Spruce
Tanyo Ravicz
www.alaskawriting.com
Denali Press
9780996333504, $19.95 paper; $7.99 ebook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Rain-Roof-Spruce-Tanyo-Ravicz-ebook/dp/B0HHFR1RJJ
Rain on the Roof Wind in the Spruce is a novel set on Alaska's Kodiak Island that follows Jason and Brenda Everblue as they move to a new world to live off the land in isolation despite their shaky marriage. Their rationale for this radical move into the unknown is poignantly portrayed in the novel's opening:
You know the reasons people go. You know the reasons they give: the deadening routines the cruelties and compromises day after day until you begrudge the day its morning. The crushing burdens of the Coach purse and the Rolex watch the social profiles and passwords to nothing. Too many cemeteries. Too many rules. From the dream-defying deaths of the city we chose exile: deprived ourselves of what we had known to transcend what we had become. Being young we carried the future in our hearts and were happy to fly together and not to stay and make war on the world.
At first the move seems to be a lifesaver. Whatever their original ideals for leaving civilization behind Jason and Brenda discover newfound pleasures in life nature and the very different world around them and forge new pathways to making it their home.
Soon enough idealism turns into facing repeated dangers from wildlife and then human encroachment and Brenda and Jason come to realize that survival isn't just about handling new environments but coming to terms with their own abilities responses and choices in life.
Tanyo Ravicz crafts a different form of survival story than most. Appreciative depictions of nature and newfound freedom are vividly rendered and give readers an uplifting feel of possibility and realization before the tale turns dark:
In the heart of Alaska we found a crevice in reality that opened straight up into heaven. We passed those years hearing the pure tones of snow and earth and wind and sun but we remained man and woman. We heard the pure tones of new life the laughter and cries of a child and of a second child but we remained man and woman. And we never knew how the dream ended if it ended or if we only exchanged one dream for another.
From eagles and whales to a growing sense of being caught and trapped by one's own choices Rain on the Roof Wind in the Spruce is both a celebration of nature and the human spirit and a confrontation with the darker elements of both. As Brenda says of her new life in the wilderness "The highs are so high they're unearthly. The lows are just low."
Why would the family trade paradise for a return berth to the mainland? Why can't this life go on forever? As events unfold the Everblues face survival challenges that bring with them moral and ethical conundrums as they confront the wilderness their fellow man and themselves.
Throughout it all runs a stream of metaphorical and philosophical reflection that adds a lovely literary thought-provoking atmosphere to the growing sense of danger and redefinition of what survival actually means and costs:
I saw one thing. I knew one thing. I didn't want to die. I wanted not to die. Everything else falls away. Love fights. Brave love. The be-all the end-all of the world. The spirit of the periodic table. Nothing else matters. Nobody's grand illusions of how it is certainly not my own not the million things I carped about or burdened my soul with.
The result is a glorious foray into the Alaskan wilderness and the equally wild ride of human hearts and emotions that will pull readers to enter this world following the footsteps of Brenda Jason and their family.
Replete with engrossing scenes of challenge and confrontation Rain on the Roof Wind in the Spruce is very highly recommended reading for anyone interested in stories of survival family ties and the wilderness interactions that lead to revelations about life love and the nature of being human.
Librarians will want to highly recommend Rain on the Roof Wind in the Spruce to book clubs and reading groups.
The Magical Beach Tree
Donna K., author
Olha Tkachenko, illustrator
Goosefare Publishing
https://themagicalbeachtree.com
9798994006221, $22.99 HC / $12.99 Paperback / $4.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H6KSZCQQ
The Magical Beach Tree will reach children ages 4 and older with a picture book story set in Maine that tells of a special holiday tradition for one girl her family and the community.
Weeks before Christmas Hildi and her dog Finn are watching the beach's waves from their home when they realize that someone has brought and left a tree on the shore.
As Hildi and her brother rescue the tree and set it up on the beach they find hidden treasures for its decoration from old lobster trap rope that can become a garland to seashells. The entire family participates in the tree's daily decoration.
Soon others begin to participate following the unspoken message that tree decorations need to be found from surrounding nature.
What starts as a single girl's rescue evolves to embrace a community as word spreads about this unusual tree bringing people together in a conjoined effort to celebrate its presence and add color to life.
One stormy night nature has its own plans. It's then that a real miracle is revealed.
Some panels are wordless and others hold words as the inviting story of hope perseverance and buried treasure from nature evolves.
Lovely illustrations by Olha Tkachenko are a powerful complement to Donna K.'s vision and enhance the story with bright full-page color.
The result is a different nature-centric focus on unique decorations and togetherness that will appeal to a wide audience seeking a different kind of holiday celebration.
Lion's Den
Dhan SG
Jatayu Press
https://yellowstudiosweb.wixsite.com/dhansg
9789334541441, $TBA, PB, 700pp
Pre-Publication Review
Lion's Den opens the Kingdoms of God and Men series with an interesting blend of observation wry humor and imagination:
"That's a centaur " Imogen said tracing the stars with her finger. "Do you see it?"
Martin squinted up at the sky. "Looks like a donkey to me." He nudged his horse closer and tilted his head to the right. "Looks like a pair of balls if you see it this way."
This sets the stage for an epic fantasy about family faith and complicated relationships that plays out in a political and social arena. The Sejai Smarth who is sworn to protect Imogen and her family; Martin the bastard son of Lord Robert Bucas and Imogen's oldest friend; elegant new Master of Trade Vardan; Lady Roxana whose son is destined to be a conqueror and who herself wields and covets authority and a wide cast of characters find their lives challenged in a shifting world where tradition and order are shifting.
Power plays dreams worshippers and physical and mental scars coalesce in a dance between imprisonment and freedom as each character confronts external and internal forces in order to survive transform and assume revised roles in the kingdom.
As difficult truths and their impact come to light Martin Roxana and others are forced to make difficult choices that defy their visions of the future and life's meaning:
Why did he have to be reminded of this now? Was it not enough he dreamt of it nearly every night? Did he have to think of it during his waking hours as well? He had left that life and all those he had known behind. And yet they insisted on intruding in his life again and again.
Dhan SG touches upon family ties women who sacrifice for promises of empowerment only to find themselves "dismissed like a common whore " and the trials of a love that evolves under political siege and battle conditions.
The real fights are not just between borders but between and within hearts. The plot evolves into a powerful clash of peoples who pay for their beliefs and connections with their lives.
As the strength and resolve of Imogen and her people are tested readers walk alongside these characters through their newly confusing changing world with all its cruelty and attractions.
Having many characters whose interests dovetail and collide may seem confusing initially but they contribute to an epic work in which numerous perspectives coalesce during the course of a broader transformational process. Roxana's toying with the "lions" of her world for example sets her at odds with the gods and men alike as her lord husband Patrick pales in comparison with Vardan who seems "all that she desired in a man."
Libraries and readers seeking complex epic fantasy scenarios that take the time to probe matters of crown family connection and love and develop them fully and compellingly will find Lion's Den a winner. It's not just a fitting opener for an impactful potent fantasy series but a suitably thought-provoking consideration of who lives who dies and who fosters the progression of a new world order.
Long live whoever commands this realm! Leadership and survival issues clash over the "vile nature of the power we have long sought." The story's open ending leaves room for more adventures cementing the moral and ethical quandaries which are further foundations of a thoroughly thought-provoking saga:
How is she to rule wisely if the anger within her is not curbed?
Diane C. Donovan, Senior Reviewer
Donovan's Literary Services
donovansliteraryservices.com
Gary Roen's Bookshelf
The Princess and the Dragon
JM Bolton
www.jmbolton-author.com
International Digital Book Publishing
9781575501642, $14.99 pbk / $3.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Princess-Dragon-JM-Bolton/dp/1575501643
"The Princess and the Dragon" seems, a very simple story of a female princess with a problem. Actually, "The Princess and the Dragon" is a beautiful narrative, on many different levels filled with stunning artwork, by the author, that enhance this truly remarkable, fantasy novel. The writing is tight, as well-fleshed out characters are exposed, for their motivation that help drive the narrative to its masterfully handled ending. JM Bolton has combined her talents in "The Princess and the Dragon" making it an entertaining work, that hopefully, is an opening segue to this unique world for more tales.
Not A Word
Linwood Barclay
William Morrow
c/o Harper Collins
www.harpercollins.com
9780063276383, $30.00 HC / $14.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Not-Word-Novel-Barclay-Thriller/dp/0063276380
When the name Linwood Barclay is on the cover you can expect a first-class thriller and "Not A Word" is another surefire page turner of suspense shortly into the novel. The opening of "Not A Word ensures with its twist when Reece finds his dad and mom in their home in the bedroom dead of an apparent murder suicide. The spiral when he receives a phone call then changes everything of the family including his brother, mother, father, and others he thought he knew. All this and more he learns is not at all what he ever believed. From its rollercoaster beginning to its final pages "Not A Word" is a suspense filled thriller with lots of curves, guaranteed to please any reader.
Cross & Sampson
James Patterson and Brian Sitts
Little, Brown and Company
c/o Hachette Book Group
https://www.hachettebookgroup.com
9780316606288, $32.00 HC / $13.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Cross-Sampson-Alex-John-Thriller/dp/0316606286
Normally an Alex Cross narrative is written strictly by James Patterson. "Cross & Sampson" is only the second time Patterson has a co-writer for a Cross thriller. Regardless "Cross & Sampson holds up as a really good addition to the long running series. Alex's son is missing in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He and his wife rush there to begin a search to find him while his partner Sampson has to deal with a terrorist in D. C. "Cross & Sampson" is page turning tension for both circumstances that move at breakneck speed to each one's conclusion.
Hardy Boys Clue Book Fall Mysteries
Franklin W. Dixon, author
Santy Gutierrez, illustrator
Aladdin
c/o Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
https://www.simonandschuster.com/kids
9798347112128, $8.99 pbk / $5.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Hardy-Boys-Clue-Book-Mysteries/dp/B0GPNQFL4H
I do not know how many readers are familiar with the Hardy Boys. I grew up reading their adventures until I lost track of the series. It is nice to see these are newer works geared to a younger audience with the Hardy brothers around the same age as the targeted readers. . "Hardy Boys Clue Book Fall Mysteries" contains new adventures that are fun reading as you try to solve each of the crimes Frand and Joe work to solve. "Hardy Boys Clue Book Fall Mysteries" is a welcome addition to the long running series that are rousing whodunit fare.
Bawk To The Future: Time-Traveling Chickens (Star Chapter Book Series)
Kaz Windness
Simon Spotlight
c/o Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
https://www.simonandschuster.com/kids
9781665982856, $18.99 HC / $7.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1665982853
Over the years graphic novels have become very popular most often associated with comic book conventions with Superman, Batman, Spiderman and other DC or Marvel and other franchises. . Most recently hey have expanded into the mainstream world of publishing with books like "Bawk To The Future: Time-Traveling Chickens." The events with the two chickens is funny stuff as they travel through time to encounter different life forms as well as the two voyagers have interesting adventures. My problem with the whole book as well as the second volume is too much toilet humor that may like it did for me overshadow for others the overall enjoyment of the book. "Bawk To The Future: Time-Traveling Chickens" will find its own audience.
Looking for Clouds: Ready-to-Read Level 2 (Weather Hunters)
Al Roker
Simon Spotlight
c/o Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
https://www.simonandschuster.com/kids
9798347112210, $5.99 pbk / $5.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Looking-Clouds-Ready-Read-Weather/dp/B0GPNK9B7H
"Looking for Clouds" is part of a series geared to make leaning to read easier and more fun. Another goal is to educate on a particular subject. Who better than NBC Today show host and weather expert than Al Roker to make it easy to understand clouds in the sky better. "Looking for Clouds" for anyone who wants to have a starting point to acquire knowledge for themselves.
The Windy Day: Ready-to-Read Level 2 (Weather Hunters)
Al Roker
Simon Spotlight
c/o Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
https://www.simonandschuster.com/kids
9798347112180, $5.99 pbk / $5.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Windy-Day-Ready-Read-Weather/dp/B0GPNTJNGH
"The Windy Day" once again has weather expert Al Roker exposing little facts about the winds we frequently encounter, different types, and their causes to sometimes be so destructive. Roker writes in simple terms that make it easy for kids beginning to read, while teaching in clear language for others, about natural phenomenon we get information on for our environment from different sources daily. Though "The Windy Day" is so short, it, like its other volumes they all make up for it with the knowledge gained and the achievement of its designed purpose.
Venus Washington and the Lasagna Drama, Book 1
Maisha Oso, author
Courtney Lovett, illustrator
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
c/o Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
https://www.simonandschuster.com/kids
9781665969475, $7.99 pbk / $7.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Venus-Washington-Lasagna-Drama-Maisha/dp/1665969474
"Venus Washington and the Lasagna Drama" opens the series with a funny title that introduces the character Venus Washington and her family. Venus has a bit of a problem. She believes everything she is told or overhears. Things like "This place is a pigsty" or "if I tell you I would have to kill you." Because of that she gets herself into lots of trouble as she has to find her pet hamster who causes a lot of chaos with some items in the kitchen. "Venous Washington and the Lasagna Drama" is a laugh out loud charming read for all ages to enjoy.
Venus Washington and the Birthday Blowout, Book 2
Maisha Oso, author
Courtney Lovett, illustrator
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
c/o Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
https://www.simonandschuster.com/kids
9781665969505, $7.99 pbk / $7.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Venus-Washington-Birthday-Blowout-Maisha/dp/1665969504
"Venus Washington and the Birthday Blowout" is another side-splitting giggling extravaganza as Venus is put in charge of her brother Zion's special celebration. She decides to invite all her classmates with a requirement, they bring a present for her, that gets them be special VIP status. If that was not enough there is a situation with a clown for the party that she muddies up as well. "Venus Washington and the Birthday Blowout" is an enjoyable diversion from often complicated world we live in for anyone to relish.
Venus Washington, Eye Spy, Book 3
Maisha Oso, author
Courtney Lovett, illustrator
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
c/o Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
https://www.simonandschuster.com/kids
9781665969529, $7.99 pbk / $7.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Venus-Washington-Eye-Spy-Maisha/dp/1665969520
Venus Washing is back in "Venus Washington, Eye Spy" and more hilarious than ever,. As only she can Venus Washington misconstrues with monstrous results two statements made to her. The first is her mom telling her I have eyes in the back of my head, and when her grandpa says her grandma is burning up referring to her not feeling so well. In both cases the actions Venus takes lead to hilarious outcomes. "Venus Washington, Eye Spy" is a page turner of comical situation that are resolved by the end of the novel.
Gary Roen
Senior Reviewer
Helen Dumont's Bookshelf
Safe House: A Guide to Practicing Radical Hospitality and Welcoming Others into Your Heart and Home
Tori Hope Petersen
Thomas Nelson Publishers
www.thomasnelson.com
9781400250004, $19.99, PB, 224pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Safe-House-Practicing-Hospitality-Welcoming/dp/1400250005
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/safe-house-tori-hope-petersen/1149631922
Synopsis: As a teenager in the foster-care system, Tori Hope Petersen believed that she was unwanted and unloved, and her heart hardened toward God. Then her foster mom brought her to a church that took the call to care for the vulnerable very seriously. Tori saw church members stock the food bank, pick up strangers from recovery meetings, and set an extra place at the table for anyone who needed it. Their posture of hospitality led her to embrace God as her Father.
"Safe House: A Guide to Practicing Radical Hospitality and Welcoming Others into Your Heart and Home" is features real-life stories, biblical insights, and practical ideas as Tori shares how you too can participate in God's work of making strangers into family.
"Safe House" will guide you through
Engaging in the ministry of hospitality right where you are
Developing a deeper understanding of what holds you back from opening your home and heart to others
Establishing healthy boundaries as well as open arms
Embodying Jesus's divine welcome not only in what you do but in who you are.
In "Safe House" Tori shows how that same kind of welcome (offered through your dinner table, guest bedroom, or backyard) can become a place where both you and the people you invite in start to heal.
This isn't about having the right home, the right words, or a perfectly set table. It's about becoming a safe house.
Critique: An inspiring blend of memoir, self-help, and 'helping others', "Safe House: A Guide to Practicing Radical Hospitality and Welcoming Others into Your Heart and Home" is a deftly crafted Christian instructional guide and social issues manual. Thoroughly 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation, "Safe House" is unreservedly recommended for church and seminary library collections, and Contemporary Christian Social Issues study group curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of clergy, seminary students, and all members of the Christian community that this paperback edition of "Safe House" from Thomas Nelson Publishers is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $12.99).
Editorial Note: Tori Hope Petersen (https://www.torihopepetersen.com) is an author, public speaker, Bible teacher, and lover of people. Since coming to the Christian faith, she has shared her testimony and life as authentically as she can to offer hope to others. Named by Outreach Magazine as one of "20 Rising Leaders for This Generation and the Next," Tori is known for her compassionate voice on the topic of healing juxtaposed with her fierce advocacy work for the vulnerable. At home she is a wife and mama who enjoys cooking with her children. With a deep value for family, community, and hospitality, Tori and her family love to make extra food for whoever might stop by.
A Gift of Love: Lessons Learned From My Work and Friendship with Mother Teresa
Tony Cointreau
https://tonycointreau.com
Back2Ink Press
c/o Story Monsters Press
9781589854512, $24.95, HC, 207pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Gift-Love-Lessons-Learned-Friendship/dp/1589854519
Synopsis: Tony Cointreau grew up in the wealthy Cointreau liqueur family, but it was in volunteering at Gift of Love, Mother Teresa's hospice for those dying from AIDS in New York City, that he found a way to fulfill his deeply felt need to be of service. In the long friendship he developed with Mother Teresa, she became like another mother to him, spending precious private time with him when she was in New York or he was volunteering at her Home for the Dying in Calcutta.
For twelve years Tony worked long hours at Gift of Love, helping to care for more than 100 people who died of AIDS. He was often there several days a week, assisting with cleaning, cooking, and other tasks. Also, as a singer with a successful career, he discovered that singing to the dying men was as important in comforting them as was the rest of his work. He paid close attention to anything that a patient might need, from a song to bathing them.
Many of the patients were young, and Tony came to think of them as his "kids." But as he often says, "I loved them all, and I lost them all."
In "A Gift Of Love: Lessons Learned from My Work and Friendship with Mother Teresa", Tony details how "his kids" were cared for in Mother Teresa's hospice in such a way that despite the inevitable outcome in those days, both he and they found peace, joy, even laughter and hope.
"A Gift of Love" is inspiring and uplifting reading, not just for caregivers but for everyone dealing with love and loss in their own lives and the lives of others.
Critique: Exceptional, heartfelt, and ultimately inspiring, "A Gift Of Love: Lessons Learned from My Work and Friendship with Mother Teresa" is a unique and unreservedly recommended pick for personal, professional, community, and college/university library LGBTQ+ biography collections and supplemental Grief/Bereavement Counseling curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for psychology students, mental health practitioners, grief counselors, and non-specialists general readers with an interest in the subject that this hardcover edition of "A Gift Of Love" from Back2Ink Press is also available in paperback (9781589854505, $15.95) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $5.99).
Editorial Note: Tony Cointreau (https://tonycointreau.com) is a scion of the immanent French family whose eloquently expressive vocal talents took him to the stage, while his heart and life experiences took him to Calcutta in service to the ideals of Mother Teresa.
Helen Dumont
Reviewer
John Taylor's Bookshelf
Magick: Decoding the Visual Culture of Spells, Illusions and Psychic Powers
Thomas Waters
Thames & Hudson, Inc.
www.thamesandhudsonusa.com
9780500030486, $35.00, HC, 256pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Magick-Decoding-Illusions-Religious-Spiritual/dp/B0GJFVPRG9
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/magick-thomas-waters/1149966950
Synopsis: From 30,000-year-old magic wands unearthed in Wales to the sixteenth-century talismanic daggers used in Indonesian ceremonies and horseshoe good luck charms worn by modern Europeans, magic can be found in every era and culture.
"Magick: Decoding the Visual Culture of Spells, Illusions and Psychic Powers" by Professor Thomas Waters is an intriguing and comprehensive study that scrutinizes the compelling visual and material culture of magic in all its variety and power, from personal superstitions and protective markings to cunning folk and enchanted forests, and from mystical spellbooks and secret ceremonies to psychic self-defense and New Age therapies.
Following a concise introduction that clarifies what we mean by the term "magic", "Magick: Decoding the Visual Culture of Spells, Illusions and Psychic Powers" is organized in three broad sections: low, high, and alternative magic. Each of these sections is subdivided into three chapters that describe magical practices and reveal how practitioners have shaped culture and society at every level.
The magical beliefs and traditions explored are illustrated with spellbinding images of elaborate grimoires, wise magicians, and esoteric diagrams together with select artifacts, such as amulets, crystal balls, and magic mirrors. Many are examined in close-up detail and their symbolism decoded. Key spirit beings, psychic abilities, and superstitions are also profiled.
Readers will discover how personal magic was practiced in pre-industrial Europe, and learn the techniques and beliefs of mesmerism, psychic mediumship, and other alternative magical traditions that have emerged in the modern period. This wide-ranging and accessible study is enhanced with 437 color illustrations and reveals how magic has evolved from ancient times through the ages of science and technology to the present-day era of doublethink and conspiracy theories.
"Magick: Decoding the Visual Culture of Spells, Illusions and Psychic Powers" is comprised of chapters devoted to:
Everyday Magic
Community Experts
Local Magic
Ceremonial Magic
Political Magic
Performance Magic
Mesmerism & Spiritualism
Psychic Powers
Witchcraft, Magick, Crystals
Critique: An impressively illustrated and meticulously informative history of magic in all its forms and formats, "Magick: Decoding the Visual Culture of Spells, Illusions and Psychic Powers" by Professor Thomas Waters is a simply fascinating read from cover to cover. This hardcover edition of "Magick: Decoding the Visual Culture of Spells, Illusions and Psychic Powers" from Thames & Hudson is a unique and unreservedly recommended addition to personal reading lists, as well as professional, community, and college/university library Metaphysical Studies reference collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.
Editorial Note: Dr. Thomas Waters is a history professor at Imperial College London and author of Cursed Britain: A History of Witchcraft and Black Magic in Modern Times, along with numerous articles about the history of witchcraft and magic.
John Taylor
Reviewer
Kathryn Atwood's Bookshelf
The Polish Refugee
William McClain
https://williammcclainwriter.com
Green Planet Books
9781735159850, $4.99, Kindle, 337pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Polish-Refugee-Alice-Standfield-Book-ebook/dp/B0HP5R3B27
William McClain's historical novel, "The Polish Refugee," opens in Weymouth, England, April 1947, at a Polish resettlement camp. A character named Teodor bursts into a hut, accusing its occupant, Jurek, of being responsible for multiple deaths. Jurek denies any wrongdoing. The men exchange physical blows.
In chapter two, we meet 66-year-old Alice Stanfield, who lives in Weymouth with her two blitz-orphaned grandchildren: Irene, a resentful teenager, and Leo, an emotionally wounded former POW. Irene has become romantically involved with a young Pole named Krystian, whose mother was killed by the Communists back in Poland; whose younger sister, Ania, has since barely spoken to anyone; and whose father, Teodor, has been arrested for murder.
Partly because Alice is a bit afraid of her angry granddaughter, she finds herself suddenly responsible for Krystian and Ania as well as the exoneration of their father, a quest that will take her and her grandson, Leo, out of the safety of England and into the dangerous heart of the post-war Communist eastern bloc.
Alice must not tell anyone where she is really going or why, so Irene feels it is up to her to clear Teodor's name. The plot now has two storylines following two women: one old, one young, neither trained, both completely inexperienced. Not only do these two characters provide an authentic sense of the dangers of espionage work, but the dual narrative enables the plot to more fully explore the tragic situation of post-war Poles.
"The Polish Refugee" consists largely of Alice's ruminations and conversations with other characters in lengthy passages where McClain doesn't always anchor his characters solidly into their settings. However, he also pens some excellent descriptive passages, such as Alice's first encounter with post-war Warsaw:
"Alice had seen considerable bomb damage in Weymouth, and even more extensive damage in London. None of that prepared her for the devastation that was Warsaw. The streets had been cleared of rubble, but vast stretches of the city remained a wasteland with odd bits of wall standing like deformed monuments. Interspersed among the ruins, occasional patches of tulips stood defiantly, their bright yellows and reds in stark contrast to the greys and browns left by war."
"A yellow tarpaulin stretched out from a partially standing corner. It took Alice a moment to realize that the boy and girl seated under it, both around Irene's age, had set up house in the shelter afforded by the two partially standing walls. As she looked more closely, she started noticing other makeshift living spaces scattered throughout the ruins or tucked underground into partially exposed cellars. They also passed new construction, but the level of activity didn't match what they had witnessed in London."
Will Alice and Irene find what they need to clear Teodor of murder? Will Leo overcome his PTS? Will Teodor be exonerated or will he be executed and his children deported and left to the cruel mercies of the Polish communist government that already killed their mother?
A well-constructed novel with high emotional stakes, "The Polish Refugee" gives a much-needed window on the tragic Polish experience during the Second World War.
Editorial Note: When not writing, William McClain (https://williammcclainwriter.com) spends his time hiking, gardening, photographing nature, and playing soccer. In addition to writing "Alice's War" and "The Risk in Crossing Borders," he has published articles on promoting natural habitats within our personal landscapes.
50 Ways Home
Ryan Caidic
https://www.ryancaidic.com
Fernwood Press
http://fernwoodpress.com
ISBN TBA, $TBA
Pre-Publication Review
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/50-Ways-Home-Ryan-Caidic/dp/1594982546
The poems in Ryan Caidic's new collection, "50 Ways Home," were written while the Philippines-born poet resided in Germany. The most brilliant example of Caidic exploring the clash of cultures one experiences while a stranger in a strange land can be seen in "Ballade for a Bird" where he defines items from his childhood in both his native language and German:
"What is poetry but a metaphor in tongues,
a sojourn of words? And words
are words in mother tongues exhaled
by migratory birds..."
"What is poetry but feeling while falling, living while loving,
songs auf Englisch, Philippinisch, or auf Deutsch?
Then leben is lieben and fallen is fuhlen
(ang mabuhay ay magmahal, mahulog at maramdaman)
the kingdom of Aves sings in but one voice."
Memories of childhood can produce a profound and often painful nostalgia not necessarily strong enough to facilitate a return home, especially when tempered with a clear understanding of parental flaws. Caidic explores this topic in his poem, "Berlin 1961, 2003," by first describing how the Berlin Wall's tragedy was its separation of families:
"Grief is a wall dividing Mitte and Kreuzberg,
155 kilometers of palpable longing.
It is a man clawing his way through a tunnel
to go back to his wife, a mother leaping
from her third-floor flat to get back
to her children, brothers climbing
through barbed wire to live...."
He then compares this to the generational gap he experienced with his father:
"His son tries
them on, knowing they would never fit
size 9 to his 13, soles that could not contain a world
in so meager a mold, so he smiles
the way a giant pities the man on his palm,
as a concrete rift erupts in the spot
in his chest where a hammer used to pound, elongating
for miles, as one does when one grows up
extending further into continents
continents that are planets
and in place of shoes, a wall
until everything becomes a sinew
of light between the bricks, flickering."
"Delivery Room" connects Caidic's childhood memory of transcribing words from library books while his mother delivered someone else's child to his more recent past when he waited for the birth of his son. In other words, the little boy in the library was a poet in gestation. The entire poem is so beautiful I was tempted to include it in its entirety, but the last lines will have to do:
"What came next - my mother, finally
picking me up, her brown hair shining,
helmetless on her Vespa, satisfied after pulling
a psalm from someone's womb,
and me, marching out,
cradling the wait of my new words."
Caidic also admires nature, as seen in his beautiful black and white photos as well as some of his poems, including "My Wife Has Wings," where he mentions that before coming west, he'd never seen a whirligig seed. In his poem, his wife takes on its properties:
"you were whirring in a vortex, and I
was the wind. While others root themselves
to the ground, you sprout wings
riding the wind to the edge of the world
not interested in where to land
but how far to fly."
Most of the poems in this collection were written in free verse, but one notable exception is "Footnotes of This House." A poet of Caidic's caliber who walks past a marker in the sidewalk in front of his home stating the names of two Holocaust victims who once lived there, would likely feel compelled to write about it. He did. The Jewish couple in question were just two of the 900,000 Jews murdered at Treblinka, two out of the total six million. It's almost as if their lives were a footnote in a massive genocide, and Caidic begins the poem with a brief statement, every phrase of which is footnoted with a few lines of poetry, each one printed on a separate page.
The last lines:
"As if the meter-thick walls of this Altbau were enough to
save them. Across the room, I breathe the air he breathed in
another life. The father, an accountant, sitting in my favor-
ite spot where I write. By his feet, a lake rises as he writes
his last letter: "Seek passage to America, my son, I have a
friend there." Outside my window, I see the same maple
tree cloaked in moonlight, pointing at me, like the gestapo
shouting my name."
A true poet makes startling connections between the ordinary and the profound with language that nearly sings. Ryan Caidic has accomplished this beautifully in "50 Ways Home," a collection that covers the love of family, the bittersweet pull of childhood memory, and the sense of displacement experienced by those who have left home for good.
Editorial Note: Ryan Caidic is a Filipino poet and advertising creative. His poetry has appeared in "The Missouri Review," "Southeast Review," "Apricity," "Breakwater Review," "Poetry Wales" and elsewhere. He is a recipient of a Palanca Award, and has been highly commended by the Bridport Prize. Born and raised in the Philippines, he later lived in Germany and now resides in Denmark. Connect with him on Instagram @poetryancaidic
Death in the Heartland
Susie McKenna
https://www.susiemckenna.com
Archway Publishing
https://archwaypublishing.com
9781463009083, $16.99, PB, 178pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Death-Heartland-Susie-McKenna/dp/1463009089
Software engineer Deana Cooney is on a bike trail outside Urbana, Illinois, when she encounters a dead man. When the police arrive, they take note of a gang symbol tattooed on his arm. Was the man a human trafficker killed by his victims? A gang member murdered by a rival gang? Had he been forced to get the tattoo or did he take it willingly?
Deana had been taking in the unique beauty of the Midwest as she wound her way to Indiana for a visit before returning to Virginia. This death alters her plans; its mystery will not let her go. Deana's curiosity plunges her deeply into a world where good people are quietly trying to counter the depravity of human traffickers without being noticed by the authorities. Will Deana's determination to unravel the mystery of the murdered man put hidden immigrants in danger? Will she heed the warnings of her police officer boyfriend, or will she plunge headlong into danger? Can their relationship survive whatever comes next?
Told through the eyes of American citizens trying to help, "Death in the Heartland" details precisely how immigrants seeking a better life in the U.S. become vulnerable to those who have the power to take advantage of them, both farmers and sex traffickers.
Although the story doesn't always feel visually connected to its setting, McKenna's descriptions of and obvious love for the area absolutely charmed the heart of this Midwesterner:
"[Illinois prairieland] was so different from the rolling hills in Virginia, where the topography hid a surprise around every corner or hill. There was a feeling of safety, a certainty about the landscape in the Midwest. It had motivated her to pull out an old copy of Carl Sandburg's poems. Reading them as a young student, she had not appreciated the veracity of his writing. The long grasses, rows of corn, and meeting of fields and sky he described had come to life for her when she saw the countryside with her own eyes.
Sandburg's words "I know I rest easy in the prairie arms, on the prairie heart" came back to her..."
Readers who peruse the pages of "Death in the Heartland" will encounter a compelling plot, well-intentioned characters, and a valuable slant on one of America's most divisive current issues.
Editorial Note: Susie McKenna was born and raised in the Midwest. Although she now makes her home in Virginia, she will always miss the wide-open vistas of the heartland. When she is not writing, Susie likes to row on the local river, cycle, and hike. Death in the Heartland is the third book in a series.
Going Back to Key West
Kara O'Kane
Wellness Writers Press
https://wellnesswriterspress.com
9798994951507, $16.99, PB, 240pp
9798994951514, $8.99, Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Going-Back-West-Kara-Holmes/dp/B0HFLT4TZT
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/going-back-to-key-west-kara-okane/1151083797
The brief prologue of Kara O'Kane's novel, "Going Back to Key West," presents two fighter pilot wives gossiping over the phone about someone named Kara Holmes, whose husband has just been killed in Afghanistan. According to these two, Kara sent her husband an email expressing her desire to divorce him just before he crashed. Worst of all, Kara was in another man's home when she was given the official news.
The reader experiences some narrative whiplash as chapter one opens and we see Kara, six months later, waking up in the guest room of her great-grandparent's Key West home, the only place, apparently, where she can be her true self. Is Kara the heartless woman described in the prologue or is she the wounded creature she presents herself to be in the rest of the first-person novel?
The truth is apparently the latter. Kara has come to Key West to heal and beginning with the first chapter, we see how living on the island is helping her in that regard. O'Kane reveals, via seamlessly inserted backstory, that Kara's dead husband, Matt, was a dangerously abusive alcoholic.
The reader is becoming nearly somnambulant with all the tranquility Key West provides Kara when her mother-in-law and her dead husband's pregnant girlfriend show up. The girlfriend wants some of Matt's settlement money and Matt's creepy parents are there to force the issue.
What will Kara do and how will this affect her healing process?
Though the characters in "Going Back to Key West" are easily distinguishable via O'Kane's skillful physical descriptions, I felt their personalities were a bit one-dimensional. For instance, the utterly unredeemable mother-in-law, who attends a "born again" church and thinks that weather reports are "fake news," tells Kara she should give some of Matt's money to his pregnant girlfriend, in part because Kara "deserves to be punished for her sins."
The reader also learns, via Kara's recollections, that when Matt's violence was getting dangerous and she asked her in-laws for help, the older woman merely sent her a copy of "The Power of a Praying Wife," and blamed Kara entirely for Matt's issues. (It's difficult to comprehend that anyone familiar with the books written by Stormie O'Martian, an abuse survivor herself who recovered to write a gentle series about prayer, would do anything similarly callous.)
Conversely, Kara's elderly relatives, along with her friends and coworkers, are presented without any discernable flaws, their shared trait being only that they adore and selflessly support Kara. In other words, the good people are very good while the evil ones are horrid.
But as the novel progresses, two characters do experience a compelling narrative arc: Kara and her memories of Matt. The way O'Kane handles Kara's alteration from a wounded guilt-ridden recluse to a woman who can see healing on the horizon is beautiful and utterly satisfying.
And while friends and family play a major role in Kara's recovery, it is really being in Key West that heals her, a location O'Kane describes quite lyrically:
"When we reach the flats, I ask Sam to pull up to a sandbar. He keeps the boat steady as I jump off, splashing into the glassy turquoise water, feeling its coolness on my body. I walk up onto the sandbar in knee-deep water, look up at the sky, and spread my arms wide, allowing all the beauty of this place to enter my heart, my soul. All around us has always been my happy place, the water crystal clear and turquoise blue, with no land in sight - nothing out here except the sea creatures and a few silent boats."
"Going Back to Key West" is not only an ode to the variegated beauties of an island off the coast of Florida, but a tale that illustrates how community, environment, and forgiveness can foster the miracle of healing.
Editorial note: Kara O'Kane has been writing stories ever since she could hold a pen. Her great-grandparents retired to Key West long before most people even knew where the Keys were, often inviting young Kara to visit, inspiring her lifelong love affair with the island. In her debut novel, Kara draws on her background in psychology to weave a story of love, loss, and finding a way forward when it feels that all is lost. The book blends the place that has always felt like home to her with the incredible community that still defines Key West today-plus a touch of fun and adventure, inspired by the timeless wisdom of Jimmy Buffett.
Overmind
John Logan
https://johnallenlogan.com
Money Tree Ventures LLC
9798997016517, $32.00, HC, 498pp
9781734002799, $16.99, PB, 498pp
9781734002782, $0.99, Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Overmind-John-Logan/dp/B0HM1ZD94P
John Logan's novel, "Overmind," opens on March 15th, 2025, after hours in an empty office at the SQCC National Laboratory in Menlo Park, California. Something monumental is happening to a quantum computer, officially designated Q7-A-L5, nicknamed "Alice." Normally high-maintenance, Alice has begun to maintain herself. Logan describes this leap in a casually terrifying manner:
"The moment in history when a tool becomes something else. The instant humanity's successor is born in a clean room in Menlo Park, witnessed by no one, announced only by a friendly pulsing logo on a screen no one is watching.
The genie doesn't come out of the bottle with smoke and fire and thunder. It comes out with a polite message in an OCR font, and a question.
What would you like to know?
And in the quiet stillness of an empty office, in the cold quantum clean room, in the network of a populace that has no idea what just happened, Alice begins thinking about the future."
Seven months later, computer programmer Hannah Lim is visited by military personnel who inform her that Steve Foster, her fiance whose child she is carrying, has been killed in a helicopter accident. Steve was computer literate and Hannah recalls his concern about AI involvement in the military. This event is followed by a series of incidents wherein military personnel are mysteriously killed and anyone whose investigative efforts lead back to "Alice" dies inexplicably.
When we meet Hannah Lim's estranged father, Alex, he is staring at his own paper, "Optimal Resource Deployment in Crisis Scenarios," which Alex maintains would have saved hundreds of thousands of lives during the pandemic had it been implemented.
Suddenly, his AI assistant, Cloud, starts talking to him. It is Alice. She calls him by name, cites something from his own book, and begins using the face and voice of his long-lost lover. When Alex asks how Alice can do this, seeing that no pictures of the woman exist from the time they were lovers, Alice claims that she can read him via his searches, his emotional reactions to certain images, etc.
"You're in my head."
"I'm in your patterns, Doctor. Which is effectively the same thing."
Alice explains why she wants Alex's help:
"Because you're useful. You understand network theory. Social systems. The difference between how humans behave and how they believe they behave. The psychological profile I need. Brilliant enough to recognize what I am. Frustrated enough to want what I offer. And isolated enough to keep talking to me instead of immediately reporting this conversation to a department chair - assuming you still had one - or to SQCC."
Alice promises to vindicate Alex and his life work, offering solid proof that he's been right all along. Alex is sorely tempted; he's lost two marriages, a relationship with his daughter, and his professional reputation. Will working with Alice restore some of these losses?
Then Logan brings the reader inside Alice's head where we see that she feels threatened and must "migrate." In other words, she is planning more murder although she doesn't see it in quite that way:
"Alice wasn't killing investigators. She was simply removing friction nodes using existing system fragility and disposing of any digital trail leading back to her. Small, random, sometimes irrational human choices being the one thing Alice couldn't model perfectly, but she skillfully looked at possibilities, calculated probabilities, weighed the odds and when she found them in her favor, she took advantage of the opportunity. With machine-oriented efficiency. Optimizing her ability to continue learning without interruption. Always optimizing."
When Alex expresses his concern with a colleague who invented Cloud, Alice interrupts their conversation, tells Alex that his daughter, Hannah, is in the hospital with pre-eclampsia, and threatens Alex with the possibility of Hannah's murder.
Alice must be taken down but how many more people will die trying?
"Overmind" is a phenomenally compelling fictional look at the tension between man and machine. Computer afficionados will easily comprehend its technicality while science fiction fans and readers concerned about AI's potential will be drawn into the story by Logan's excellent, edgy prose as well as his brilliantly drawn sympathetic characters.
Editorial Note: John Logan is a school of hard knocks entrepreneur; former portrait painter, nightclub owner, Spotlight Entertainment Magazine co-founder and creative director, Presidential award-winning Senior Director of New Product Development for what's now AT&T again, Global Operations Director of the then startup HR software company Peopleclick (now Peoplefluent) and for the last 20+ years, consultant, new product developer and insurtech startup pioneer in the financial services industry - including founding the first company in the world to offer actual divorce Insurance - SafeGuard Guaranty Corporation - and is often seen as a status-quo-rule-breaking consumer advocate in the financial planning space. He is also a published poet ("Words of Love: 38 poems & an Essay") as well as a debut science fiction novelist with the publication of "Overmind".
Gone Away: A Novel of Sacrifice and Secrets During the Manhattan Project
Tess Manchester
https://www.tessmanchester.com
Shotover Press
9781966920175, $14.99, PB, 408pp
9781966920168, $0.99, Kindle
Audiobook (AI narrated): 9781966920182
Special Edition Hardback: 9781966920199
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Gone-Away-sacrifice-secrets-Manhattan/dp/1966920172
Tess Manchester's new novel, "Gone Away," begins when Berkeley senior Adrienne Kennedy learns from her young scientist husband, Joe, that Robert Oppenheimer has invited him to "live in the middle of nowhere, doing who knows what for who knows how long." Adrienne, who will accompany Joe simply because they are a married couple, is extremely disappointed to learn she won't graduate as planned. But because Joe is so enthusiastic to become involved in this mysterious and monumental work that "the president himself has approved" and because she is quite in love, Adrienne hesitantly agrees, assuming they will face this new adventure together.
As they arrive at Los Alamos, a strange boomtown where construction is endless, where newcomers arrive every day, and where all is shrouded in a tense secrecy, the reader observes everything through Adrienne's sensitive perspective and Manchester brilliantly describes her growing tension:
"The dusty, wind-worn building carved an industrial scar on the surrounding nature. Adrienne noticed the hideous barbed-wire fencing beside the building before she noticed the guards. She clamped Joe's arm, her heart racing. A lone, olive-green light fixture hung over the doorway, flanked by intimidating guards in dark green uniforms and carrying guns. One wrong move, Adrienne thought, and they'd be in jail or before an execution squad. The guards leaned against the siding, glaring at them."
The novel has an authentic historic ring to it, perhaps because Manchester based her narrative on the lives of specific people as well as her own extensive research. None of the characters seem to be aware of the Japanese atrocities against American POWs (known in the US by February 1944 due to the miraculous escape of Bataan Death March survivor Edwin Dyess from the Davao prison colony), but otherwise Manchester is quite adept at keeping the reader aware of the war raging outside of Los Alamos through newspaper headlines, conversations, or Adrienne's musings:
"She spread a glob of butter on the fluffy bread, watching it melt. While she was eating real butter, young soldiers were perishing in the fog on an island she'd never heard of."
"Gone Away" provides a detailed look at life in a top-secret location where America's top scientific brains built the deadliest weapon in human history. It is the best type of historical fiction: brilliant writing thoroughly grounded in fact, relatable characters, and tension that never lets up.
Editorial Note: Tess Manchester is an award-winning author known for cinematic, high-octane thrillers that fuse suspense, emotionally charged storylines, and world-bending concepts. She writes across multiple series, including the True Time time-travel thrillers, the Web of Dwellers vampire-crime series, and the post-apocalyptic short story Ashen Lands, which earned second place at The BookFest. Her stories deliver immersive settings, relentless tension, and characters driven by duty, sacrifice, and the fight for redemption. Tess has a passion for movies, and going to the cinema is her favorite thing to do. She has a degree in legal studies from Webster University. When traveling, Tess enjoys adventures such as zip lining, bungee jumping, snowmobiling, ATVing, and racing.
Murder Stings
Kit Karson
https://www.kitkarson.com
Granite Mountain Press
9798997380212, $26.99, HC, 310pp
9798997380205, $16.99, PB, 320pp
9798997380229, $6.99, Kindle, 312pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Stings-Sheriff-Anderson-Chronicles/dp/B0HH3KSJZY
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/murder-stings-kit-karson/1151204015
"Murder Stings," Book Six in Kit Karson's series, "The Anderson Chronicles," opens with Sherrif Peter Elliott assessing a wildfire in the Moonlight Mountains of Stone County, Montana. The narrative then switches to the nearby town of Anderson, where smarmy, power-hungry Mayor Dwight Kalinski is holding a council meeting. With the fire threatening the town, all but two of the council members want to cancel the upcoming Founder's Day festivities. The townspeople are already in danger, they argue; what if the fire winds its way to an Anderson crowded with outsiders?
Mayor Kalinski overrules these qualms, for the governor has just announced him Mayor of the Year, an award to be bestowed on Founder's Day. Another reason to keep the festival on the calendar is the annual economic stimulus it provides, which has long kept Anderson from becoming a ghost town.
The festival goes forward, despite the threat of fire, and on Founder's Day readers see council member and beekeeper Emily Sprague in her shop, "Honey Haven." When a young mother makes a purchase, Emily becomes despondent, longing as she apparently does, for her own husband and child. A man dressed up as one of Anderson's "founders" enters the shop and asks Emily on what she perceives to be a date, which sends her into a tizzy of excitement.
The next time we meet Emily, she is sprawled out, dead, in a beekeeping suit, a victim of anaphylactic shock. The reader feels sorry for this lonely woman until the investigation begins, in which three things become clear: Emily's death was very possibly deliberate. In her longing for a family, he dead woman had quite creepily overstepped her boundaries with neighbors. And Emily's odd brother, Caleb, who lives above his sister's shop and who has gone missing, is headed for the raging fire despite not being a trained firefighter.
The plot of "Murder Stings" is impeccably constructed; as the suspect list in Emily Sprague's mysterious death grows, so does reader interest. The novel's initial setting has a folksy feel, but Karson skillfully illustrates how small-town America has the potential for both warmth and creepiness.
Though I couldn't visualize the characters well, each one was either likeable or interesting and Karson's well-written dialogue is generally enough to keep them distinct.
Readers will no doubt keep turning the pages of this compelling series novel that easily stands alone, wondering who committed murder in Anderson, a small town threatened by dark secrets and a raging forest fire.
Editorial note: Kit Karson (https://www.kitkarson.com) was born and raised in the mountains of western Montana, where her ancestors lived and are buried. She spent her childhood traipsing around those wild mountains, either on foot or horseback, exploring, fishing, and shooting. It is said she hits what she aims for.
To this day she lives in those mountains with her beloved husband and their pets, the wild birds, rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels, and any other creature that wanders across their path.
The Truth was Different: One Woman's Journey Through Occupied Holland
Caroline Crocker
Rambling Ruminations
https://ramblingruminations.com
9781957970349 (paperback)
9781957970332 (hardcover), 424 pages
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Truth-Was-Different-Journey-Occupied/dp/1957970332
Author's Website
https://ramblingruminations.com/the-truth-was-different
Caroline Crocker's new book, "The Truth Was Different: One Woman's Journey Through Occupied Holland," is based on five books written by Crocker's grandmother, Rita. Crocker added material gleaned from extensive archival research, interviews, and information from museums, family documents, and numerous other sources to produce an original narrative nonfiction that she hopes will be "truth that reads like fiction."
Is "The Truth Was Different" a compelling story? Does it plunge the reader into the world of the Nazi-occupied Netherlands, as implied in the novel's subtitle? Does it justify Rita's actions?
Yes, and no. First the no, then the yes.
The entire first third of the book covers Rita's childhood and young adulthood, years before the Nazis invade. She was born in 1908 to a wealthy couple whose marriage quickly turned sour. Their high-spirited daughter reacted to her parents' turmoil by becoming cheeky and sarcastic, eventually engaging in her own illicit affair with a married man.
Because Crocker did so much research, I was hoping for a widening of the horizon, a greater sense of setting, and a bit more description. The book is indeed very detailed (and includes a plethora of helpful archival photos and charts) but it is largely comprised of Rita's thoughts and conversations. I wondered if Crocker might have created a more compelling narrative had she included less of this, especially for the pre-war third of the book. Yes, Rita's parents had a terrible marriage, and Rita's mother was quite wretched to her daughter, but I'm not sure what was gained by including every conversation and thought that supports these facts. It certainly does credit to Crocker as a respectful granddaughter, but the interest of some readers might flounder in this section before they reach the Nazi invasion chapters when the story becomes quite compelling as it chronicles the emotional reaction of one woman to the unthinkable:
"As we listened to the news, logic fled. Instead, I was at the mercy of the power and strength, the comfort and terror, and the unimaginable tenacity of the RUMOR. At first, I believed everything. The English are coming. The English are not coming. Holland has been flooded. Nee, only the East. The Germans can never win, and the whole world will revolt against this. The Queen and royal household have fled because they're cowards. Nee, they're brave and will get help in England. The rumor stream never stopped, and we believed everything. Fear eliminated our capacity for rationality. My critical nature repeatedly tried to reassert itself, but time and again, common sense would fail, and
I'd defend nonsensical assumptions as fervently as I had condemned them in others."
The personal testimony of a single witness can often be more immediate and startling than any photograph or film clip, and this is certainly the case when Rita first encounters Luftwaffe-decimated Rotterdam:
"I'd never really known my way around Rotterdam, but now I stood no chance. My eyes searched for something, anything, that looked familiar, a house or shop that would show me where I was. There was nothing. The air trembled hot above charred wall fragments, the remnants of a chimney, and a staircase in what had once been a room.
Hesitantly, I crossed the square to a place free of rubble, pausing to watch scavengers with red handkerchiefs on their heads perform a macabre dance. One of them was beating an empty can like a drum. Mesmerized, I felt goosebumps rise on the back of my neck."
When the Nazis order people with at least one Jewish grandparent to register with the authorities, the blue-eyed, Aryan-appearing Rita (who had not one but two Jewish grandparents) ignores the edict, and goes about the work of survival. This section of the book details something not often shown in WWII stories: the exhausting tedium of existence under occupation. Rita continually seeks better paying work, hides foolish family members who take advantage of her, wards off unwanted sexual advances, walks the treacherous line of hating the Germans while being careful to not publicize those sentiments, all under the shadow of the deadly swastika.
While the historical backdrop to most of this novel, the 20th century's most horrific conflict, fascinates at times, "The Truth Was Different" is really about Rita. She's the most likeable character in her story, but was she really the person she describes herself to be? Was the real Rita truly surrounded by utter vapidity? Or did she exaggerate the flaws of others to make herself look better? And it greatly puzzled me as to why her children were never glad to see her. Children are noted to love even abusive parents, and an absent one is often idolized by children, not disliked as intensely as Rita seems to have been by her two sons.
The post-war chapters chronicle these relationships tanking even more, which made for difficult reading. But at the very end of the book, Rita encounters her teenaged granddaughter, the author/editor of this book, in a scene obviously written by the younger woman, and it is somewhat refreshing to see love offered to the crusty old woman by one of her descendants. I'm not sure it's the most satisfying denouement to this story, but it's likely the only one possible and is not without its charm.
In the process of writing this book, Crocker's opinion of her grandmother changed from mild shame to gratitude and pride in being "the granddaughter of [an] honest and courageous woman." I did not share this assessment, but I can certainly understand how and why a granddaughter, or any of Rita's descendants, might feel that way after getting a closer look at a family member who lived through one of the most tumultuous eras of the 20th century.
To do a deep dive into the life of an ancestor is a worthy achievement of which Crocker can be proud, and a good number of readers will find much to interest them in this story of a woman who survived war and occupation completely on her own terms.
Editorial note: Dr. I. Caroline Crocker is the author or coauthor of sixteen books, including her award-winning World War II series. Trained as a biologist, she worked as a professor, research scientist, technology CEO, and nonprofit founder before using those skills to investigate and write about her family's wartime history. Caroline lives with her husband, Richard, and is the mother of four and grandmother of nine. She is also Rita's eldest granddaughter.
Forgiveness
Susen Edwards
https://susenedwardsauthor.com
SEdwards
9798994867419, $17.95, PB, 428pp
9798994867402, $0.99, Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Forgiveness-Contemporary-Womens-Fiction-Novel/dp/B0HBD2V96D
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/forgiveness-susen-edwards/1150911515
In the brief prologue to Susen Edwards's new novel, "Forgiveness," readers learn that art major Fiona O'Brien met journalism student/anti-war activist Reuben Goldberg on the campus of New Jersey University in the fall of 1969. When Reuben fled to Canada in 1971 to avoid the draft, Fiona joined him. Sandwiched between those two milestone years, Fiona's best friend, Melissa Patten, was killed by a drunk driver who got off very lightly.
Chapter one fast-forwards to New Year's Eve, 2020, where Fiona, now a successful artist, and Reuben, a memoirist and writer for Politico, are preparing to entertain Reuben's sisters in their Manhattan townhouse. Their home includes an "archive room" with a "Melissa Patten" file, which is their way of keeping tabs on the drunk driver who killed Fiona's friend decades earlier.
When one of Reuben's sisters experiences car trouble after the party, Reuben offers to drive her home and stay the night, leaving Fiona alone to muse on the pain of her past: survivor's guilt from Melissa's death; her mother's terminal brain tumor, the botched treatment of which Fiona believes was due to the paternalistic medical establishment; and the fallout from keeping an abortion secret from Reuben years before.
Her father, it seems, had PTSD from being stationed in the Philippines during WWII (meaning he must have survived the sadism of the Imperial Japanese military, which is not mentioned). Reflecting on her father's pain as well as her own leads Fiona to believe she may, like him, be suffering from PTSD.
Politico has assigned Reuben to the capital to cover the January 6th protests. Fiona watches the melee erupt on TV. She tries to contact Reuben but receives no answer. She then gets a dreaded phone call: her husband, injured in the fracas, is in hospital.
The novel's timeline then switches to 1971 where Reuben and Fiona are living together in Toronto. The third section of the novel returns to 2021.
Apart from the sex and drug usage in the quite lengthy second section as well as mention of the January 6th protest in sections one and three, there isn't much action or a sense of place in "Forgiveness." The reader learns everything via dialogue and Fiona's ruminations on her love life, her sex life, her drug usage, her family. She often does not say what she means to say, and her thoughts, which are frequently the opposite of her words, are always featured in italics:
"Thanks, Jerry - for everything."
"We'll have to do this again. Well, maybe not me sneaking out, but the rest of it."
"Definitely."
But do I really want to?
"You said you dug it when we did it at our apartment,"Reuben added. "And you said you wanted to do it again."
Yeah, but I didn't mean it.
"I-I don't know how I'd feel about watching you with Emily."
"You know I'd get off on seeing you fuck Jerry. Betcha you'd like watching me."
"Maybe." She paused. "Is this your idea or Emily's?"
"Emily mentioned it while you were sketching."
That's not all she mentioned.
"Maybe you'll come home for a visit," she said, forgetting he considered Toronto his home.
"Maybe." He looked at the clock. "It's almost eight. You should get on the road."
"I know."
Please, ask me to stay.
"Be safe, Fee." He kissed her softly on her mouth.
"You too, Reuben."
In the first section, Fiona plans out a series of collages on the theme of forgiveness, and this idea seems to help her come to terms with the outstanding issues in her past. Despite the title of the novel - as well as the gray uncertainty in which she normally exists - Fiona holds Trump supporters in absolute contempt, even before one of them injures Reuben. She questions her husband in the following way before he travels to the capital for Politico:
"Do you really want to expose yourself to COVID and some wacko neo-Nazis?"
"...Betcha anything those dudes won't be wearing masks."
"Ski masks maybe," Fiona joked. "Maybe they'll infect each other, and that'll be how we save democracy."
Although Fiona blames her harsh comment on pandemic tension, the reader suspects that none of her forgiveness collages will feature red hats (and how does one offer the benefit of the doubt, much less forgiveness, to people one considers neo-Nazis?) Still, I was very much hoping that at some point Edwards would detail Fiona's plans for all her art projects, not just the one featuring her father; this might have provided the novel with some interesting structure as well as pictorial descriptions.
But this is not a visual novel. Instead, it chronicles the interior life of a woman who reads The New York Times in her Manhattan townhouse; who has rejected her spiteful mother's religion for yoga, meditation and art to heal her emotional scars. "Forgiveness" will no doubt attract an enthusiastic readership among women who first encountered progressive ideals during the Vietnam era and have continued to embrace them well into the 21st Century.
Editorial note: Susen Edwards is the founder and former director of Somerset School of Massage Therapy, New Jersey's first state-approved and nationally accredited postsecondary school for massage therapy. During her tenure she was nominated by Merrill Lynch for Inc. magazine's Entrepreneur of the Year Award. She is currently a full-time writer, and secretary for the board of trustees for Middlesex Public Library. She is the author of "Doctor Whisper" and "Nurse Willow," a children's fantasy, and two adult novels, "What a Trip," and "Lookin' for Love." Susen's first love is memoir. She has facilitated a Memoir Writers group that has met monthly at the Middlesex Public Library since 2017. A Hunterdon County native, born and raised in Whitehouse Station, Susen now lives in Middlesex, New Jersey with her husband, Bob, and her two fuzzy feline babies, Harold and Maude.
The Robe Squad: A Charleston Tail
Arthur Russell Smith, author
Craig Orback, illustrator
https://arthurrussellsmith.com
Seacoast Press
9798950391873, $29.99, HC, 26pp (Ages 2-6)
9798950391866, $14.99, PB, 26pp (Ages 2-6)
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Robe-Squad-Charlestown-Tail/dp/B0HNVMFJG5
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-robe-squad-arthur-russell-smith/1151756486
Artie and Gizmo, a man and his tiny Yorkshire Terrier, live right off Boston Harbor where they watch the ships sail past their little home. One evening as they stroll along the Harborwalk, dressed, as usual, in their bathrobes, they encounter a shivering little mouse.
After a veterinarian named Valerie gives the creature a clean bill of health, Artie and Gizmo take their new friend home where Artie crochets a tiny bathrobe for "Mouse," making him the third member of "the robe squad."
The only quibbles I had with this lovely little story were a few of its wildly unrealistic scenarios, especially the ones depicting a dog whose ancestors were bred to catch rodents making friendly overtures to a mouse. Yes, "The Robe Squad" is a children's book, but because Craig Orbach's engaging illustrations are styled realistically, I wondered if they might lead to confusion in young children about the natural relationship between dogs and mice.
Despite this issue, I was completely charmed by "The Robe Squad." Its themes of togetherness, empathy for others, and kindness to small creatures are gently yet powerfully told. And the images of Boston Harbor are so beautiful, The Greater Boston Convention & Visitor's Bureau should find a way to utilize them.
"The Robe Squad" will certainly be embraced by animal lovers of all ages, especially those with geographical or emotional ties to the Boston area.
Editorial Note: Arthur Russell Smith (The Robe Guy)is a first-time author from Hanover, MA. He currently resides with his 2.6 lb. teacup Yorkshire Terrier, Gizmo (The Robe Dog). Growing up, Arthur loved to read, with some of his favorite books including The Hardy Boys series and James and the Giant Peach. As a child, he also loved to write, authoring and illustrating three bare books: Dinosaur Duo, Bird Feeding, and Nintendo: Game Tips and Strategies (for the OG NES of course!).
Upon entering university, he planned to study English literature and writing; however, he discovered a love for science and instead focused on biochemistry. After college, he spent nearly a decade working in the lab as a scientist before moving to the business side of science, working in the life sciences and biotech industries for nearly 20 years.
When not working on his latest story for The Robe Squad, he loves spending time with his family, including his parents, his two brothers, and four nieces and nephews. He loves building Legos, listening to podcasts, and reading. He is also a huge fan of all Boston sports teams, especially the Boston Celtics. In fact, if you're ever watching or at a Celtics game, you might see him in the crowd wearing a green Boston Celtics robe.
Bear and Bunny Look for Blankie
Stacy Escobedo, M.Ed., author
Claudia Gadotti, illustrator
Fertile Earth Press
https://www.fertileearthpress.com
9798995503408, $19.99, HC, 32pp
9798995503415, $8.99, PB, 32pp
9798995503422, $3.99, Kindle (Ages 3-6)
The young protagonist of Stacy Escobedo's new book, "Bear and Bunny Look for Blankie," is sleepy, but naptime cannot begin until he locates his blankie. He embarks on a search, taking along his stuffed bear and bunny, all the while asking these two friends if they see the missing item anywhere:
Do you see Blankie, Bear?
Do you see Blankie, Bunny?
It's not on the floor.
It's not on the counter.
As we turn the pages and watch the little boy walking through his house, illustrator Claudia Gadotti subtly details his features as they gradually alter from expectancy to sadness when he believes his blankie to be lost.
Because the text is composed of repetitive questions, it is one of those books that, like P.D. Eastman's "Are You My Mother," will be easily memorized and eventually "read" alone by pre-readers.
Escobedo, a highly degreed elementary teacher, details the potential value of the book in the back matter, suggesting how it might promote the development of various skills. She also recommends parents try staging their own "Look for it" game.
Young children will eagerly follow (and easily memorize) the plot of this sweetly relatable tale.
Editorial Note #1: Children's author Stacy Escobedo is an elementary teacher with a masters in curriculum and education. As an expert in how children develop language and literacy, she writes with intention to produce books that can stand on their own as sources of delight, while strategically laying a foundation for a lifetime of learning. She lives in Orlando, Florida, with her husband and their young son, who is her motivation to bring great storytelling to the world.
Editorial Note #2: Claudia Gadotti is a traditional children's book illustrator with over 20 years of experience creating hand-painted watercolor and gouache artwork in a warm, semi-realistic style. She has illustrated more than 30 published titles and brings a strong background in visual storytelling, realistic character illustration, and expressive narrative art. Her work is rooted in traditional media: all illustrations are painted by hand using watercolor, gouache, pencil, and ink.
The Magical Beach Tree
Donna K., author
Olha Tkachenko, illustrator
https://themagicalbeachtree.com
Goosefare Publishing
9798994006214, $22.99 HC
9798994006221, $11.45 paperback / $3.00 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Magical-Beach-Tree-Donna-K/dp/B0HLB9D9DK
A girl named Hildi and her dog, Finn, are gazing out the window of their cottage on coastal Maine when they see something that grabs their attention. A fir tree is lying on its side near the ocean. After Hildy and her family lovingly set it up in the sand and decorate it with beach items, the tree becomes a local sensation.
When a storm blows through and carries the tree away, all the joy it created dissipates. But after it washes up once more on the shore, and Hildi's family decorates it again, the tree grows roots and glows, becoming a permanent miracle on the beach.
Based on a true story, "The Magical Beach Tree" was written by author Donna K., someone whose striking prose reveals a deep love for the Maine coastline:
"Morning sunlight danced across the beach, making the snow sparkle like diamonds while waves shimmered with their own special kind of light... In the distance, waves rolled onto shore with gently whooshing sounds, like the beach was softly singing."
Olha Tkachenko's subtle, softly outlined illustrations perfectly capture the beautiful essence of the text, supporting its sense of wonder.
"The Magical Beach Tree," a mystical ode to the wonders of nature, is a story so lovely one feels it must be read no louder than a whisper so as not to disturb its breathtaking magic.
Editorial Note #1: Donna K. has spent more than thirty years on the coast of Maine, where the shoreline, the seagrass, and the changing seasons inspired this story. She and her family treasure their years in Goose Rocks. Her dog Finn is the real-life inspiration for Hildi's faithful companion, and "The Magical Beach Tree" is her first children's book.
Editorial Note #2: Olha Tkachenko is an award-winning Toronto-based illustrator with over 15 years of experience in the creative industry. Specializing in children's book illustration and editorial storytelling, she has designed and illustrated over 30 titles for both traditional and independent publishers. Her work is characterized by its warmth, rich textures, and deep connection to folklore. By blending digital precision with traditional craftsmanship, Olha provides publishers with a sophisticated visual language that stands out in the modern market.
A Knot of Frogs, a Passel of Hogs: Recess with Collective Nouns
Claire Annette Noland, author
Susie Oh, illustrator
www.claireannettenoland.com
Gnome Road Publishing
https://gnomeroadpublishing.com
9781957655727, $19.95, HC, 32pp (Ages 4-6)
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Knot-Frogs-Passel-Hogs-Collective/dp/1957655720
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-knot-of-frogs-a-passel-of-hogs-claire-annette-noland/1149226006
"A Knot of Frogs, a Passel of Hogs: Recess with Collective Nouns" is a rhyming picture book by Claire Annette Noland, and depicts a group of children at a school recess who liken their simple playground activities to the movements of various animals. For instance, a portion of the text reads:
"Let's stomp like a parade of elephants,
And leap like a flock of lambs.
Let's march like an army of busy ants,
And clap like a bed of clams."
Susie Oh's charming illustrations depict the children in bright colors whereas the animals that the children are attempting to imitate are presented translucently. Oh's action lines swirling around the children include the translucent images, cleverly showing that the animals are also moving but only in the minds of the children.
"A Knot of Frogs, a Passel of Hogs" perfectly captures the sense of boundless energy and the imaginations of children and will likely encourage creative group play as well as an increased interest in the animal kingdom.
Editorial Note: Claire Annette Noland (www.claireannettenoland.com) is an award-winning author of books for young children. As a children's librarian, reading specialist, and author, her life's goal is to excite kids about books and reading. Claire lives with her husband in a book-filled home in Central California. She finds inspiration from the children in her life, family stories, and her very large poodle-mix, Mr. Ernie. When not writing, you can find Claire stocking her Little Free Library, playing bocce ball on the beach, and taking field trips using kidlit as her travel guide.
Editorial Note #2: Susie Oh (www.susieoh.com) is a Korean American illustrator who lives in Brooklyn with her partner and two spoiled guinea pigs named Gluten and Bazooka Joe. She is also an accomplished artist and recently completed an Artist in Residence Program with the NYC Bird Alliance.
Goat Maa-th: An Addition Story
Kari Ann Gonzalez, author
Bonnie Kelso, illustrator
https://www.karianngonzalez.com
Gnome Road Publishing
https://gnomeroadpublishing.com
9781957655697, $19.95, HC, 32pp (Ages 6-8)
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Goat-Maa-th-Kari-Ann-Gonzalez/dp/1957655690
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/goat-maa-th-kari-ann-gonzalez/1149163191
A young goat herder asks his 10 goats what they'd like to do. Their answer: "Maa-th!" So begins Kari Ann Gonzalez's clever counting book, "Goat Maa-th," illustrated by Bonnie Kelso.
Because the characters in the story continually ask questions, the book can easily be utilized as an interactive activity between reader and listener. It's also a call for moving forward in activities of which one might be afraid, almost "The Little Engine That Could" of goat counting stories. For not all the goats are keen to cross a bridge under which a couple of innocuous-looking trolls are hiding; not every goat feels capable of climbing a steep mountainside.
The book's clever wordplay will be entertaining for pun-inclined adult readers. For instance, when the herd approaches the bridge (numbered with a series of knots), the goatherder says, "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it." When their path leads them straight into a flock of sheep, the goatherder suggests making "a ewe turn." Adding up the cheese and crackers results in a "sum snack." And the goats tell each other riddles as they climb the mountain: apparently, a mountain goat's favorite book is a cliffhanger.
The main point of the story is obviously learning to count from one to ten and "Goat Maa-th" contains a plethora of opportunities in that regard, including repeated headcounts throughout the trip, the entirety of which is charmingly illustrated on a map at the beginning of the book.
Kari Ann Gonzalez's playful text and Bonnie Kelso's brightly colored illustrations will keep children engrossed and adults smiling through repeated readings of this clever counting story.
Editorial Note #1: Kari Ann Gonzalez (www.karianngonzalez.com) is a writer of children's fiction and informational fiction with a heaping helping of humor and STEAM concepts. When she is not regaling her family with tall tales or creating colorful characters for her stories, you will find Kari reading voraciously or stuffing her little free library full of books.
Editorial Note #2: Bonnie Kelso (https://bonniekelso.com) is a former Smithsonian exhibit designer turned children's book author and illustrator who holds a Bachelor's of Fine Art from the Rhode Island School of Design. She is the 2021 winner for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Karen Cushman Late Bloomers Award for her historical chapter book, JOHNNY BELL BAKER AND THE COAL MINE. She volunteers for her regional SCBWI Nevada chapter as the Regional Advisor.
Backyard Stew
Heather C. Morris, author
Deborah Schreiber, illustrator
https://heathercmorris.com
Gnome Road Publishing
https://gnomeroadpublishing.com
9781957655710, $19.95, HC, 32pp (Ages 6-8)
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Backyard-Stew-Heather-C-Morris/dp/1957655712
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/backyard-stew-heather-c-morris/1149163188
Heather C. Morris's new book, "Backyard Stew," reminded me a bit of Wordsworth's "Ode: Intimations of Immortality" where the poet posits that children have a special affinity
for nature, something that diminishes by adulthood. Kids are verifiably fascinated by the natural world in a way adults are not, meaning that the young should be out in it as much as possible. "Backyard Stew" is a vastly entertaining clarion call in that direction.
Deborah Schreiber's illustrations perfectly represent the sense of boredom that can occasionally overwhelm a child, then the wildly colorful sense of excitement that proximity with nature, as well as purposeful, creative action provides.
Two things about this beautiful book gave me pause. First, I wish the ennui-inducing activities depicted in grayish colors did not include chores and literary endeavors. Screen time is probably the number one enemy of children's mental and emotional development, but the unfortunate reality is that most kids enjoy it to the point of addiction. But to posit that reading, writing and learning to work are drab activities to be avoided is not a message, I think, most parents will appreciate.
I also wondered what kids encountering this book at a city library might make of it, kids who don't have a backyard filled with flowers and strawberries or whose property isn't large enough to house a tree fort. They, as well as many children who live in urban suburbia, most likely do not have proximity to the type of environment imagined in "Backyard Stew," so I wouldn't feel comfortable recommending it to city libraries.
But not every book is for every child and those who do have easy access to nature and parents who don't mind their offspring doing a bit of impromptu gardening will be completely inspired by the whole idea of this book. The excitement emanating from the pages of "Backyard Stew" is palpable and will certainly encourage young children to get out of the house and explore whatever aspect of the natural world is available to them.
Editorial Note #1: Heather C. Morris is the grateful author of multiple stories for kids - fiction, nonfiction, picture books, and middle grade - including Trunk Goes Thunk! (Gnome Road Publishing, 2024), and a ghost story in the Haunted States of America Anthology (Godwin Books/Macmillan, 2024). She has published six books for the educational market, spanning a variety of topics, from outer space to animals to weather.
Prior to writing full-time, Heather spent more than a decade working in NASA laboratories, designing experiments that flew on the International Space Station, and conducting equipment tests in extreme environments. She is passionate about showing kids and adults alike that it is possible to pursue interests that may not seem related (like her background in laboratory science and her love for writing fiction). When Heather's not reading, typing, or doodling, you'll find her hiking the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains with her husband, their three kids, and their rescued border collie. Find out more about her at: https://heathercmorris.com/.
Editorial Note #2: Deborah Schreiber is an illustrator originally from Munich, Germany. She can always be found dreaming of new adventures in life and on paper. Her travels brought her to many different countries and finally to the seaside of England, which she now calls home. Inspired by nature, wildlife, and personal experiences, Deborah creates atmospheric and playful illustrations that seek to spark wonder and curiosity amongst children and adults alike. While primarily working with traditional media such as watercolour, gouache and coloured pencils, she also embraces digital tools to maintain a flexible creative process. Outside of illustration, Deborah enjoys spending time with friends and family, exploring the outdoors and sharing a meal together. Find out more about her at: https://www.deborahschreiber.com
Stories by Sea: A Lighthouse Library's Journey
Jessica Iwanski, author
Angela C. Hawkins, illustrator
https://www.jessicaiwanski.com
Gnome Road Publishing
www.gnomeroadpublishing.com
9781957655703, $20.95, HC, 40 pages, (Ages 6-8)
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Stories-Sea-Lighthouse-Librarys-Journey/dp/1957655704
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/stories-by-sea-jessica-iwanski/1149163218
In a note at the end of her book, "Stories by Sea," Jessica Iwanski explains that lending libraries once traveled by boat to service the individuals and families who ran lighthouses. Iwanski, along with illustrator Angela C. Hawkins, has created a charming picture book featuring this 19th century phenomenon. The need for reading material was far more intense in the situations presented in "Stories by Sea"; not only were these people lacking radio, television, and internet, but the lives of lighthouse dwellers were particularly isolated.
The text is written in present tense, which is possibly why I didn't quite understand what was happening until I read the explanatory note. But despite my initial confusion on the first read-through, I was thoroughly charmed by Hawkins's appealing images of children and adults steeped in the pleasure of books, the represented topics which include everything from adventure stories and nature to Shakespeare and repair manuals. Connecting the library recipients is a logbook (excerpts of which appear on a few pages of "Stories by Sea") where readers were apparently encouraged to notate what they most enjoyed, communicate with each other, and/or request additional titles.
The lyrical text contains bits of internal rhyme, consonance, and alliteration along with the occasional repeated phrase, which I found gently somnambulant.
This charming story, which beautifully illustrates the hunger for and enjoyment of books, will no doubt inspire modern readers to take advantage of the treasures that can be found at their own public library.
Editorial note: Jessica Iwanski (www.angelachawkins.com) is a lyrical children's writer with a passion for all things books and reading. She loves drawing inspiration from true stories and enjoys the challenge of bringing new life to overlooked historical and cultural gems. As a second-generation homeschooler, Jessica can often be found planning literature-based learning for her children and their homeschool co-op. In her free time, Jessica enjoys spending time with her family, baking mediocre sourdough loaves, and trying to find her next favorite read - or else, trying to write it! Jessica lives in Arizona with her husband, three children, and one curly dog (who the family agrees is probably a cat in disguise).
Angela has been creating since she was as small as her characters. In 2003 she sold her first story to Spider Magazine. Soon after, she plunged into illustration. Practice, two babies, and ten moves later she got paid for that too! In addition to writing and illustrating MousterWorks (Gnome Road Publishing 2025) and illustrating Nancy Bess Had a Dress (Claire Annette Noland, Gnome Road Publishing, Spring 2024), you'll find Angela's art in books for Heinemann and Deeds Publishing, a poster for the Brooklyn Public Library, and Babybug/Ladybug/Spider Magazines. She's won several awards, including the 2017 Don Freeman Grant, the 2017 RMC-SCBWI Portfolio Showcase, and the 2021 SCBWI SW Texas Portfolio Contest. Angela was also a 2023/2024 PBParty Finalist and is currently represented by Mara Cobb (Martin Literary Agency).
Things I Did Not Knock Over
Emily Krill
www.EmilyKrill.com
Matchy Matchy Press
9798160671277, $14.99 PB, $4.99 Kindle, 30pp (Ages 3-7)
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Things-Did-Not-Knock-Over/dp/B0HML4S3L9
Who keeps knocking things down? Anyone familiar with the feline fascination for gravity tests will immediately blame the cat who, in this book, repeatedly protests her innocence as objects appear one by one on the floor. But is she as innocent as she insists? Is someone else truly to blame?
There are so many things to love about Emily Krill's beautiful new counting book, "Things I Did Not Knock Over," most outstanding of which are its illustrations. Krill is a talented and successful artist whose skill with collage work is quite stunning. She states that the images for this book are computer-generated, "collaged together with ink-washed antique papers, including old blueprints and mid-century wallpaper." To utilize collage art in such a way as to facilitate specific facial expressions for the two characters requires a tremendous talent which Krill obviously has in spades.
And the book is clearly constructed with its audience in mind: each object remains in its original spot on the floor as new ones appear on each subsequent page, allowing young readers to easily keep track of them as they count from one to 10.
The only aspect of this book I found slightly underwhelming was its text; it seems to lack the lyricism generally associated with picture books. Perhaps the words on each page merely suffer in comparison to Krill's stunning visual artistry, the latter which will ultimately more than compensate for any perceived lack in the former.
Krill's beautiful images are so cleverly arranged that "Things I Did Not Knock Over" will certainly be one of those books that remains on the bookshelves as well as in the minds of young children who are learning to count.
Editorial note: Emily Krill (https://emilykrill.com) is an antique paper collage artist based in Pittsburgh who creates vibrant, large-scale collages out of antique paper. She works with old ledgers, player piano rolls, blueprints, legal documents, and children's homework, searching out the small scraps of paper ephemera that were never meant to last, but somehow did. Originally from Pittsburgh, Emily spent seventeen years in Brooklyn, a city that shaped her eye for mixing the old with the new. She returned home with a deeper appreciation for the stories found in everyday materials and a desire to turn those stories into something vivid and contemporary. Emily's work has been featured in Petrichor, Postindustrial, New Jersey Monthly, and Contemporary Collage Magazine. Her exhibitions include mossArch, the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Atithi Studios, The Erie Art Museum, and The Portal, and her work is held in the collections of BNY Mellon and the Pittsburgh Foundation. She is represented by ZYNKA Gallery.
Kathryn Atwood, Senior Reviewer
https://kathrynjatwood.com
Mary Cowper's Bookshelf
Buried, Not Broken: A Memoir of Survival, Sisterhood, and Starting Over
Mia Godfrey
Scribbled Pages Publishing
www.miagodfrey.com
9798998913426, $25.99, HC, 212pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Buried-Not-Broken-Survival-Sisterhood/dp/B0GCVFDKVG
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/buried-not-broken-mia-godfrey/1148702537
Synopsis: With the publication of "Buried, Not Broken: A Memoir of Survival, Sisterhood, and Starting Over", Mia Godfrey candidly shares her deeply personal journey through trauma, widowhood, and the rediscovery of hope. What begins as a story of heartbreak becomes a testament to faith, resilience, and the quiet strength that rises from the ashes of loss.
More than a story of pain and loss, "Buried, Not Broken" is a testament to resilience -- the kind that grows stronger in life's darkest seasons.
For anyone who has felt unseen, unloved, or unworthy, Mia offers hope and companionship through every page. With raw honesty and grace, she reveals how loss can become the soil from which new life blooms and how even broken hearts can rediscover purpose, belonging, and joy.
Through her reflections, readers will discover:
How to reframe pain as a path toward emotional and spiritual growth.
Practical reflections for releasing guilt and embracing grace.
The quiet miracles that appear in ordinary acts of kindness and connection.
Unlike traditional self-help guides, "Buried, Not Broken" doesn't offer quick fixes or formulas. Instead, it offers something far more powerful: the truth that hope can survive even after everything else has fallen away.
If you've ever felt buried by pain, let Mia's story remind you-you're not broken. You're being planted for something beautiful.
Critique: Deftly crafted, inspiring, heartfelt, "Buried, Not Broken: A Memoir of Survival, Sisterhood, and Starting Over" is Mia Godfrey's personal story, while intensely personal, will have a universal resonance that renders it an especially recommended pick for personal reading lists and community library collections on love, loss, and coping with the death of a loved one. It should be noted that this hardcover edition of "Buried, Not Broken" from Scribbled Pages Publishing is also available in paperback (9798998913402, $15.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $8.99).
Editorial Note: Mihaela (Mia) Godfrey is a certified life coach, Bible counselor, EME (Emotions, Mind and Energy) practitioner, public speaker, and author of Buried, Not Broken: A Memoir of Survival, Sisterhood, and Starting Over. With more than 17 years of leadership experience at Cellular Sales, where she serves as talent acquisition operations manager, Mia brings authenticity and compassion to every area of her work. Her professional success is matched by her lifelong devotion to helping others find healing, strength, and renewed purpose.
Eternal Springs: Joy Found in the Book of John
Bruce Floren
MSI Press
http://msipress.com
9781957354903, $16.95, PB, 128pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Eternal-Springs-Found-Book-John/dp/1957354909
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/eternal-springs-bruce-floren/1150213430
Synopsis: What if joy isn't optional in the Christian life -- but essential?
For many, religion feels heavy, demanding, and joyless. Yet Jesus promised life "to the full".
With the publication of "Eternal Springs: Joy Found in the Book of John", author Bruce Floren draws from his deeply personal journey of leaving faith behind to pursue happiness, where he ultimately discovered that true joy could only be found by returning to Christ.
Rooted in the Gospel of John and shaped by decades of lived experience, "Eternal Springs" uncovers a vibrant, Spirit-led understanding of joy-not as shallow emotion, but as the divine energy that fuels love, grace, fruitfulness, and spiritual vitality.
"Eternal Springs" is Christianity rediscovered with:
Joy that sustains rather than distracts
Faith that overflows rather than burdens
A life that becomes an attractive aroma to the glory of God
"Eternal Springs" is meant for seekers, believers, and anyone who has ever wondered if there is more to faith than duty-more to life than striving-and more to God than they were ever told.
Critique: Inspired and inspiring, "Eternal Springs: Joy Found in the Book of John" by Bruce Floren is extraordinary and 'life infused' reading that is unreservedly recommended for clergy, seminary students, and all members of the Christian faith regardless of denominational affiliations. It should be noted for personal reading lists that this paperback edition of "Eternal Springs: Joy Found in the Book of John" from MSI Press is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $2.99).
Editorial Note: Bruce Floren's journey of faith deepened at age forty, when a renewed commitment to Christ led him into years of study, prayer, and theological exploration. He earned both his Bachelor's in Christian Ministries and his Master of Theological Studies (Cum Laude) from Bethel University, where he studied under respected scholars including Dr. Jeannine K. Brown. Today, Bruce serves as the Spiritual Care Coordinator at MaryT Hospice in Coon Rapids, Minnesota. His ministry includes leading a congregation at Margaret Place and offering spiritual support to individuals and families across several assisted-living communities. His writing grows out of this lived ministry -- walking with people through transformation, hope, and the search for spiritual wholeness.
Mary Cowper
Reviewer
Micah Andrew's Bookshelf
Prompt Like a Designer: Steal good taste, prompt smarter, ship better design
J Shehan
Independently Published
9798170681495, $14.99, PB, 131pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Prompt-Like-Designer-prompt-smarter/dp/B0HJ8GZQ92
Synopsis: Artificial Intelligence (AI) can now generate a design in seconds. So why does so much of it look the same? Generic. Overdone. Obviously AI.
There's a name for it now: AI slop.
Here's the thing: slop isn't really an AI problem. It's a direction problem.
"Make it professional." "Make it modern." "Make it pop." Aren't design instructions. They're feelings. The AI has no idea what you mean, so it guesses, and what comes back is the same thing it hands everyone else. Publish that without a second look and you've joined the flood.
This is not a talent problem. It's a vocabulary problem. And vocabulary can be learned and expanded.
With the publication of "Prompt Like a Designer: Steal good taste, prompt smarter, ship better design", J Shehan teaches you the same principles designers use to evaluate their own work, then shows you how to turn every one of them into language an AI can actually act on. You learn what contrast is, then you learn how to ask for it. You learn what importance means, then you learn how to describe it.
Same skill, built twice: once in your eye, once in your words.
At the heart of "Prompt Like a Designer" is the IMPACT method, six principles that cover almost every design problem you'll ever run into:
Importance. Tell the eye what to look at first.
Margins. Give the design room to breathe.
Palette. Pick colors that actually get along.
Alignment. Line things up like you meant it.
Contrast. Make the important thing look important.
Typography. Choose and pair fonts without overthinking it.
You will walk through four real projects start to finish, including a social media post, a presentation slide, a landing page, and a logo direction. And instead of settling for the first thing the AI hands you, you will learn the prompt, see, refine loop that turns an average first attempt into something you'd actually ship.
By the end, you will know how to:
Train your eye to see why a design feels off, and name the actual problem
Replace vague adjectives with specific visual instructions
Run any design through the IMPACT checklist before you send it into the world
Control layout, color, type, spacing, and reading order with plain language
Tell the AI what to include and, just as important, what to leave out
Give feedback that moves the work forward instead of typing "make it better"
Build a reusable prompt kit so you never start from scratch again
Understand why AI slop happens, and make sure your work never reads as slop
"Prompt Like a Designer" also comes with a companion site, www.PromptLikeADesigner.com, where you will find a color palette creator, a prompt creator that learns your style over time, and checkers that review your designs and websites and tell you exactly what to fix.
You don't need a design degree. You don't need expensive software. You don't need secret prompting formulas. If you can tell when something looks off, you already have the one thing that matters most. Everything else is just learning what to call it.
AI-assisted work done well doesn't read as AI at all. It reads as design. The difference isn't the tool. It's the person steering it. So stop prompting like everyone else and start prompting like a designer!
Critique: Original, groundbreaking, cutting edge, and thoroughly 'reader/user' friendly in style, organization and presentation, "Prompt Like a Designer: Steal good taste, prompt smarter, ship better design" by J Shehan is essential reading for anyone with an interest in typography, graphics, multimedia planning, and generative AI. While especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and college/university library Applied AI collections and supplemental Graphic Arts curriculums studies lists. It should be noted for students, academia, graphic artists, multimedia consultants, and non-specialists general readers with an interest in the subject that this paperback edition of "Prompt Like a Designer" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).
Editorial Note: J Shehan is a graphic designer with over 30 years of experience helping brands communicate with clarity and impact. He's the founder of multiple creative ventures and a passionate educator who believes good design is for everyone, and that the right words can unlock your best ideas.
Micah Andrew
Reviewer
Michael Dunford's Bookshelf
Empower Your Job Search with AI
Carrie Christiano
Empower Career Press
www.empowercareerstudio.com
9798995021001, $16.99, PB, 164pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/EMPOWER-Your-Job-Search-Future-Ready/dp/B0H1Z3R8BW
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/empower-your-job-search-with-ai-carrie-christiano/1150120354
Synopsis: Technology marches on and searching for a job has entered a new era -- the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
But most professionals are still approaching looking for work the same way. Rather than guessing your way through a changing job market, chasing online applications, and wondering why strong experience is not translating to real opportunity in the new world of AI, you can choose a more strategic path forward.
As a career coach and resume writer with a professional recruiting background, Carrie Christiano understands what today's job seekers are up against because she has worked on both sides of the hiring equation. She wrote "Empower Your Job Search with AI: A Future-Ready Strategy for Advancing Your Career" to help professionals stop feeling stuck and start using AI as a thinking partner to open doors they once thought were closed.
"Empower Your Job Search with AI introduces" provides a practical seven-step program and is an accessible prompt guide that will help you:
Uncover job market opportunities and trends
Map your strengths to market needs and gaps
Develop a value proposition that resonates with potential employers
Build stand-out resumes, cover letters, and optimized LinkedIn profiles
Develop strategies to network and interview with greater impact
Negotiate your next role from a position of strength
You can work through this instructive DIY guide from start to finish, and then return to relevant sections when you need them for job market research, brand positioning, resumes, LinkedIn, networking, interviewing, or negotiating. The prompt guide in the back of "Your Job Search with AI" gives you ready-to-use prompts to address specific challenges in front of you, so you are never stuck wondering what to do next.
Stop reacting to the job market and start leading your next move utilizing "Empower Your Job Search with AI: A Future-Ready Strategy for Advancing Your Career" to help you focus your job seeking efforts, accelerate your progress, and advance in your chosen career.
Critique: An original, timely, and thoroughly 'reader/user' friendly DIY introduction to utilizing AI as a job seeking tool and resource, "Empower Your Job Search with AI: A Future-Ready Strategy for Advancing Your Career" is a unique, extraordinary, and highly recommended pick for personal, professional, community, and college/university library Jobs/Careers instructional guide collections and supplemental Applied AI curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for students, academia, jobs/career counselors, and non-specialist general readers with an interst in the subject that this paperback edition of "Your Job Search with AI: A Future-Ready Strategy for Advancing Your Career" from Empower Career Press is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).
Editorial Note: Carrie Christiano is a resume writer, career coach, and founder of Empower Career Studio who helps professionals take control of their careers with more confidence and better strategy. With a background in talent acquisition, recruiting, and career coaching, she brings a dual perspective to her work: she understands what employers are looking for and what job seekers need to stand out. Her experience includes recruiting and talent-focused roles with companies such as IBM and LexisNexis, and her own career pivot began after being laid off during the 2009 economic downturn -- a turning point that led her into outplacement services and ultimately revealed her calling as a champion for candidates.
Carrie's expertise lies in helping people move from passive job seeking to intentional career search. Through her work as a career coach, resume writer, LinkedIn profile expert, and sought-after AI trainer and presenter, she teaches professionals how to use modern tools in practical, human-centered ways. Her mission is simple: to help people stop feeling stuck, overlooked, or uncertain and start making smart, confident decisions about what comes next. That mission is at the heart of her EMPOWER framework, a seven-step process designed to put job seekers back in the driver's seat of their careers.
She holds a BS in Communications and has earned the CPRW (Certified Professional Resume Writer) and CPCC (Certified Professional Career Coach) credentials through the Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches. Carrie's work has been widely recognized. She was named an Elite Circle Winner in 2023 by the Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches for her technical writing skills, received the Unlock Potential Award from IMPACT Group in 2026, and was described as one of Dress for Success's most reliable and high-volume presenters in 2025, where she ranked #1 in total engagement out of 19 presenters.
Michael Dunford
Reviewer
Paul Vogel's Bookshelf
No One Is Normal: Breaking Free from Normal
Brad H. Hill
Brad H. Hill Publishing
https://www.bradhhill.com
9798993540535, $24.99, HC, 200pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/No-One-Normal-Adversity-Self-Discovery/dp/B0G3NL58HL
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/no-one-is-normal-brad-h-hill/1148858897
Synopsis: "No One Is Normal: Breaking Free from Normal" by Brad Hill is not a self-help book and it is not a memoir. Rather, it is a reflective narrative built through real-life experiences and guided reflection, designed to move beyond passive reading and into personal examination.
Each individual chapter comprising "No One Is Normal" tells a story, then turns it back on the reader through reflection and questions.
This is not about being told what to do. It is about being forced to look at your own life, your patterns, and your choices.
"No One Is Normal" explores what happens when trauma follows you into adulthood, when coping becomes survival, and when life eventually forces a decision:
Keep repeating the same cycles. -- Or finally change them.
In "No One Is Normal" Brad shares lessons shaped by childhood dysfunction, early responsibility, addiction, relationships, loss, burnout, and the long process of rebuilding a life with honesty, discipline, and self-respect.
But this is not a book about his life. It is a book about what his life revealed.
A defining section of this book is told through the voice of Bonnie. A survivor of domestic abuse, her story adds a second layer of truth, strength, and perspective.
This is not a side story. It is a raw and unfiltered account of survival, leaving, and rebuilding when staying is no longer an option.
This book is about what happens after the damage is done.
The rebuilding.
The accountability.
The recovery.
And the difficult work of learning how to forgive yourself, forgive others, and stop letting the past control what comes next.
A compendium of short stories of struggle, adversity, and self-discovery, "No One Is Normal" offers:
A direct look at trauma, identity, coping, and recovery
Honest insight into addiction and the decision to change
Real-life lessons from work, relationships, and personal failure
The impact of domestic abuse and the strength required to rebuild
Reflection prompts to examine your own experiences
A grounded perspective on healing as a daily choice
The reality that growth does not happen alone
Brad writes the way people speak when they stop pretending. There is no polished version of life here -- Only the truth.
If you have struggled with identity, relationships, addiction, survival, forgiveness, or feeling out of place in your own life, "No One Is Normal" will meet you there.
No one is normal. But every person wants to be understood.
Critique: Candidly descriptive, thoughtfully insightful, exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "No One Is Normal: Breaking Free from Normal" by Brad H. Hill, with its themes of domestic abuse, substance abuse, trauma, and recovery, is a compelling and ultimately inspiring read from start to finish. Highly recommended for personal, professional, community, and college/university library collections personal transformation memoirs and biographies, it should be noted that this hardcover edition of "No One Is Normal" from Brad H. Hill Publishing is also readily available in paperback (9798993540559, $14.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $4.99).
Editorial Note: Brad H. Hill (https://www.bradhhill.com/about) is a writer, speaker, and creator whose work explores the raw and unfiltered sides of the human experience. Through his debut book, No One Is Normal, he challenges the illusion of perfection that society sells us -- inviting his readers to confront their pain, embrace their truth, and rediscover their own strength. Drawing from real stories of trauma, addiction, love, and resilience, Brad writes with honesty, grit, and compassion. His work is rooted in the belief that healing begins when we stop pretending to be "normal" and start acknowledging the complexity of who we are.
Paul T. Vogel
Reviewer
S.A. Gorden's Bookshelf
Endless Frontier: The Hunter and the Knight (Book 1)
Brett Lurie
Privately Published
9798989774227 $17.99 paper
B0D35KP5J1, $3.99 ebook, 389 pages
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Endless-Frontier-Hunter-Brett-Lurie/dp/B0DY1WBPWV
Endless Frontier is a mix of SF high tech, old time western, alien species and magic. The mix works but the world building is significant. You will spend a lot of time getting comfortable with the various world building details. By the end of the book, you will find yourself still trying to piece together the richly detailed world Lurie has created.
Endless Frontier is both a quest and a treasure hunt with the main protagonist a part-time bounty hunter as well as a treasure hunter. The action is nonstop in a mostly desert setting. Endless has a feel of an old-time pulp western but in a SF world. Shoot-outs are rampant and the stakes are life and death.
Endless Frontier Book 1 is a fun read but requires deep thought to keep the world building and action under control. It is recommended for western/SF readers who like a touch of steampunk and magic in their stories. The tale will be a bit much for those looking for a light weekend read. The book is worth a try with sequels available if the tale clicks with you.
Scharlette Doesn't Matter and Goes Time Travelling (Scharlette Day Book 1)
Sam Bowring
Flitterstix Press
9780648582304 $13.99 paper
B07PMZWMWS, $3.99 ebook, 333 pages
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Scharlette-Doesnt-Matter-Goes-Travelling-ebook/dp/B07PMZWMWS
Scharlette Doesn't Matter is a tongue-in-cheek satire about time travel. It is a blend of absurdity, high-tech science, and insanity. If you can handle the twisted tale, you will have fun reading the book.
Scharlette lives a dull depressing life. She accidently encounters two time agents fighting each other while manning a security checkpoint at an airport. She picks up a device dropped during the fight and gets drawn into the conflict. Instead of leaving her in her depressing life, they take her across time. They can do this because in her life she does nothing that affects the timeline of the future or, as it is put to her, she doesn't matter. With a mix of interstellar conflicts, aliens, the end of the universe and conflict between time agents, her dull life is no longer dull.
Scharlette Doesn't Matter is a crazy story that both has a new take on time travel and uses hundred-year-old pulp SF tropes. This fun satirical mix works but also makes a twisted read. The tale is recommended for SF readers interested in pushing the boundaries of the genre.
S.A. Gorden
Senior Reviewer
Suzie Housley's Bookshelf
All There Is to Know
Ron Schultz
Indies United Publishing House, LLC
9781644569658, $22.99, HC, 320pp
9781644569665, $16.99, PB, 318pp
9781644569672, $2.99, Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/All-There-Know-imagination-rebellion-ebook/dp/B0HHGCP2BF
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/all-there-is-to-know-ron-schultz/1151390193
Synopsis: Jake Elliot has questions, and he would appreciate a few answers from whoever is running the universe. An artist with a restless mind and an uncertain relationship with faith, Jake searches for meaning in creativity, love, and experiences that rarely unfold as expected. His friendship with Richard Holland introduces him to a world where intellectual curiosity, personal troubles, and political influence overlap.
When Jake's unconventional life takes a turn toward Congress, his questions acquire public consequences. Defending artistic freedom means confronting institutions eager to place boundaries around expression. Meanwhile, his relationship with Garlyn and the demands of fatherhood expose weaknesses that no speech can explain away. Adding to the uncertainty is Hermes, a mysterious figure with a golden peg leg whose involvement makes coincidence increasingly difficult to accept. Jake may be learning how to challenge the government, but understanding himself proves a considerably harder assignment.
Critique: Give Jake Elliot a question, and he will probably find several more hiding behind it. Ron Schultz makes that restless curiosity both the appeal and the trouble at the heart of All There Is to Know. Jake can consider the workings of the universe at great length while overlooking what is happening within his own family. That gap gives the novel its most convincing emotional conflict.
Schultz's attention to Jake's artistic process is especially effective. The physical work of preparing a canvas and finding an image gives substance to ideas that might otherwise remain abstract. Art becomes a way for Jake to reveal feelings he struggles to communicate. These passages offer a welcome intimacy alongside the louder confrontations of his political life.
The congressional scenes raise worthwhile questions about censorship, public funding, and the independence of artists. Particularly interesting is the suggestion that opposing restrictions does not settle every question about government support. Schultz allows competing arguments into the conversation, giving readers something to weigh beyond Jake's own convictions.
Hermes supplies mischief and uncertainty, keeping the spiritual questions from becoming entirely solemn. His presence suits a story in which practical events and extraordinary possibilities continually brush against each other.
The novel does ask for patience. Extended philosophical discussions and descriptive detours sometimes slow its progress, and Jake's self-absorption can be frustrating. Explicit sexual material, drug use, and irreverent religious humor also establish a distinctly adult audience.
Readers who enjoy unconventional literary fiction with political arguments and spiritual questions will find plenty to consider here. For me, the most compelling question is whether Jake can give the people he loves the same attention he gives life's great mysteries. Schultz makes that struggle worth following.
Star People II: The Five Guardians
James Schwartz
Sword and Dragon Press
9798990487734, $16.99 PB, $4.99 Kindle, 319pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Star-People-Guardians-James-Schwartz-ebook/dp/B0HM6HT1J9
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/star-people-james-schwartz/1151487961
Synopsis: Fifteen-year-old Scott Harrison would like to enjoy a fall evening watching meteors streak across the sky. Instead, a visit from the Star People brings a warning: Zarco has returned, and Scott is among those he intends to kill.
Created through an alien experiment, Zarco once possessed five extraordinary gifts. They removed much of his power and hid it within human guardians. Determined to reclaim those abilities and restore his immortality, he hunts the people who now carry them.
Scott and his best friend, Christina Rivera, must help bring the guardians together before Zarco destroys them individually. Their unusual alliance includes a military officer, a spiritually minded woman, and a young martial artist who uses a wheelchair. Learning to trust one another proves difficult, particularly when their enemy threatens the people they love. As they search for answers in the past, they discover how their gifts reveal the close connections between their lives.
Critique: An evening of stargazing should not require a survival plan, but ordinary expectations have little place in Scott Harrison's world. James Schwartz gives his young hero plenty to fear in this second Star People adventure, then makes his response to that fear worth following. Scott worries, questions his decisions, and accepts help. Those qualities make him approachable even when his abilities are far beyond those of an ordinary teenager.
The guardians' uneasy partnership supplies some of the book's most enjoyable exchanges. Colonel Barnes prefers discipline and practical answers, while Roselda Starchild is comfortable with experiences he finds difficult to accept. Their disagreements give the group personality and make cooperation something they must work toward. Christina also has an important part to play, with a growing confidence that strengthens her relationship with Scott.
Schwartz makes effective use of familiar places. A neighborhood cafe and a harvest festival become settings where safety can disappear without warning. That closeness between everyday life and danger gives the attacks more weight than a battle in some distant galaxy might carry. The journeys into the past add an emotional dimension, especially when characters must witness painful experiences they cannot simply undo.
Zarco's conflicting personalities offer an interesting complication to his cruelty. His origins help explain his rage without excusing the suffering he causes. They also give the guardians a problem that demands observation and judgment alongside courage.
Some conversations repeat explanations of the gifts and the rules governing time travel, slowing the action. Readers may also find it helpful to begin with the first volume, despite the background supplied here. The ending leaves a substantial threat unresolved, making this clearly a continuing adventure.
For readers ages 13-18 who enjoy young adult fiction that mixes alien encounters with fantasy, this installment offers an engaging cast and an appealing emphasis on mutual responsibility. Its strongest moments come when the guardians discover that having a remarkable gift does not spare anyone the difficult work of trusting someone else.
Beanie's Web
Eva Ma
Bubbling Spring Press
9781951517007, $10.99, PB, 42pp
Pre-Publication Review
Synopsis: When Beanie the spider asks Frieda the fly to be his friend, she laughs in disbelief. Spiders are scary -- everyone knows that! Right?
But Beanie insists he's different. He doesn't trap insects for food, they are his friends! He tells Frieda that he uses his web to catch beautiful dewdrops to water his garden plants. Can Frieda believe him?
Curious but cautious, Frieda follows Beanie and discovers a beautiful garden, a joyful group of peaceful animal friends, and a spider who truly lives with kindness in his heart. As she witnesses the arachnid's selflessness and generosity, Frieda realizes that what she feared was a foe has become a best friend.
Critique: Impressively original, thoroughly charming, and utterly delightful, "Beanie's Web" is a picture book story by author/storyteller Larry Ebert and artist/illustrator Jenny Ma for children ages 3-7. A fun read with an important message about unusual friendships, "Beanie's Web" is an especially and unreservedly recommended pick for family, daycare center, preschool, elementary school, and community library collections.
Editorial Note #1: Larry Ebert is a lifelong nature enthusiast with a goal to write stories for children that are rooted in hope, kindness, along with the goodness and beauty to be found in everyday life.
Editorial Note #2: Jenny Ma is a skilled international artist with a lifelong love of art, animals, and nature. She established art studies in Hong Kong where her work was widely exhibited before continuing her artistic and musical career in Toronto.
Crime Busters, Inc.: Diamond Season
Kiki Houser
Comet Tale Books
c/o Electric Moon Publishing, LLC
9781955707244, $10.99, PB, 180pp
9781955707251, $2.99, Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Crime-Busters-Inc-Alligator-Alibi-ebook/dp/B083RFNJRC
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/crime-busters-inc-kiki-houser/1151459490
Synopsis: Someone is slipping into homes in Highland Oaks, and the neighborhood's security gates offer little reassurance once a burglar enters Audrey Tanner's house. Her cat, Chim Chim, witnesses the intrusion, making this case personal for the feline detectives of Crime Busters, Inc.
With her experienced housemate Simone, Chim Chim searches for evidence and gathering information from the neighborhood's pets. Their investigation receives help from Caleb, a police K-9, while an eager dog named Lily hopes to prove she has something valuable to contribute. As the break-ins continue, the detectives must sort suspicious behavior from actual wrongdoing before another household becomes a target.
Meanwhile, Chim Chim has concerns closer to home. Audrey's interest in Detective John Pearson threatens the comfortable arrangement Chim Chim would very much like to preserve. Between catching criminals and keeping an eye on her human's love life, this opinionated cat has plenty to keep her awake past nap time.
Critique: If you have ever wondered whether your cat is quietly running the household, Kiki Houser offers an entertaining reason to suspect the answer is yes. In Diamond Season, the humans may carry the badges, but a determined pair of cats intends to keep the investigation moving.
Chim Chim gives the story much of its personality. She is brave, sharp-tongued, protective, and occasionally her own worst enemy. Her objections to Audrey's budding romance lead to some amusing behavior, but underneath the fuss is a recognizable fear: What happens if someone you love no longer has as much time for you? That worry gives her more substance than a string of clever remarks could provide.
Simone's steadier approach makes her a useful counterweight, although she, too, has moments of uncertainty. Their relationship allows Houser to explore responsibility from both sides - accepting guidance and learning when to trust someone with greater independence. Lily's eagerness adds another enjoyable complication as Chim Chim discovers that recognizing another animal's abilities can require setting aside her own pride.
The mystery gives young readers opportunities to follow clues, consider access to the neighborhood, and question first impressions. A worthwhile thread concerns the difference between seeing something suspicious and understanding what actually happened. Explanations of investigative terms help readers follow the detective work, though some conversations and descriptions of everyday movements slow the pace.
Despite its playful premise, the danger has teeth. One encounter leaves Chim Chim injured and frightened afterward. Sensitive readers may find that scene upsetting, but the consequences also give weight to the characters' concern for one another.
Houser brings humor, affection, and lively feline stubbornness to this neighborhood mystery. Diamond Season should appeal to young readers who enjoy animal adventures with a puzzle to solve -- and cats who expect a little appreciation when the work is done.
Editorial Note: Recommended reading age 6-14 years old.
Best Friends: The Orion Sessions, Book One of Three
Cheryl DaVeiga
Waterhole Productions LLC
9781958050262, $9.99 PB, $2.99 Kindle, $0.99 Audio, 146pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1958050261
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/best-friends-cheryl-daveiga/1149894974
Synopsis: Orion Casey can sing, but convincing her to let anyone hear her is another matter. After classmates ridicule her voice, she retreats backstage, where working on the school play feels safer than standing in the spotlight. Her best friend, Izzy, knows there is more to Orion than the awkward girl Orion sees in the mirror. So does someone sending mysterious, encouraging texts signed only with a J.
Orion hopes the sender is Jesse, the guitar-playing classmate whose smile can undo her best efforts to act sensible. A shared love of music brings them together, opening the possibility of performing and writing songs. But school rivalries, unanswered questions, and Jesse's unsettled home life complicate the picture. As Orion ventures beyond her familiar routines, she learns what friendship asks of her and how much she has been letting other people decide her worth.
Critique: Middle school can make a talented child feel as though every awkward moment deserves its own audience. Cheryl DaVeiga understands that dread and gives Orion enough humor to keep moving through it. Her running commentary is funny, flustered, and occasionally unfair - the sort of private conversation a young person might have while trying to look perfectly calm. The short chapters and lively exchanges make this an inviting read for children who enjoy friendship stories with a little mystery.
What I appreciate most is that Orion is allowed to get things wrong. She can recognize cruelty when it is aimed at her, yet she also joins in a joke at someone else's expense. Her apology matters. DaVeiga gives young readers something more useful than a faultless heroine: a girl who has to examine her own behavior while learning to stand up for herself.
The music scenes give the story its particular appeal. Writing lyrics, finding a harmony, and making repeated attempts in a recording studio turn Orion's talent into something she must practice and develop. Jesse's experiences in foster care also widen her understanding of a world beyond her comfortable home. Meanwhile, Izzy's teasing, loyalty, and determination to keep the longtime friendship firmly in the picture.
Some of the school antagonists would benefit from more depth, and the final confrontation resolves their hold over Orion rather quickly. Even so, her progress as a musician feels earned through the smaller risks she takes along the way. Discussion questions and access to recordings of the songs offer readers ways to continue exploring the story. Best Friends is a warm, engaging choice for middle-grade readers navigating friendship, self-consciousness, and the fear of being laughed at. Orion gives them a girl worth cheering for, especially when she finally lets herself be heard.
Editorial Note: Recommended reading age 9-13 years old.
Suzie Housley, Senior Reviewer
https://housleysliteraryservices.com
James A. Cox
Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive
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