Book Reviews
Most Famous Short Film of All Time
Tucker Lieberman
(Reviewed: February, 2023)
This insightful, multilayered hybrid challenges genre and narrative in its meditations on literature, philosophy, pop culture, trauma, gender, being, and the nature of time.
In a fictional narrative spanning 2010 to 2016, Lev Ockenshaw is ditched on a date by a terrible boy, argues and makes up with his friend Stanley, fields an email threat […]
The Prophet and the Warrior: A Fictional History of Moses and Joshua
Richard H. Grabmeier
(Reviewed: February, 2023)
Most people, even those who aren’t religious, are familiar with Moses and the parting of the Red Sea. Moses’ successor Joshua is known for the Battle of Jericho and how the walls came tumbling down. Richard H. Grabmeier’s curiosity about these pivotal biblical figures led him to write The Prophet and The Warrior, a work […]
The Best Laid Traps
Philip La Croix
(Reviewed: February, 2023)
In this action/adventure/thriller, a young man spends years planning revenge on three high school bullies, only to question the real price of such a pursuit.
As an overweight teenager, Edward “Eddie” Dalton must endure the taunts of the high school’s toughest bullies: Zack Roe, Brent Wheaton, and Cory Mar. When a “cool” girl invites Eddie […]
Vampiro Trilogy: Volume III: Brotherhood of the Bat
Dr. Don W. Hill, M.D. and Tom Cavaretta
(Reviewed: February, 2023)
A toothsome blend of speculative fiction, Mesoamerican myth, and horror, the third and concluding installment of Dr. Don W. Hill and Tom Cavaretta’s Vampiro trilogy wraps up this grand-scale narrative of a vampire outbreak in the Southwest and its potential connections to ancient civilizations.
Set in the 1980s, the narrative is essentially numerous intertwined storylines. […]
No Lookin’ Back: A True-to-Life Western Story
Ted and Linda Riddle
(Reviewed: February, 2023)
While No Lookin’ Back’s whimsical cover, with its Old West fonts and cartoon-looking cowboy, implies a lighthearted narrative, nothing could be further from the truth. The tale is rife with the horrors of war, murder, rape, violent revenge and “frontier justice,” and its Byronic hero is an army deserter.
In her Introduction, Linda Riddle, the […]
My Life In Colors: Embrace the Rainbow
Roberto Jimenez
(Reviewed: February, 2023)
Roberto Jimenez’s memoir traces his journey to gain self-confidence and acceptance as a gay man.
Jimenez, a 48-year-old psychotherapist, was born in the Dominican Republic and grew up Catholic. His family led a comfortable life, but he didn’t fit in easily. “I was often punished at school for acting ‘too feminine,’” he writes. By eighth […]
The Demon Hunter
Aya
(Reviewed: February, 2023)
For all of the fantastical elements at play in The Demon Hunter, author Aya offers readers a surprisingly down-to-earth central conflict.
The book’s protagonist is Ayanoor, a retired government worker now specializing in herbalism and social justice while enjoying the rewards of being a beloved grandmother. Ayanoor also happens to be a Demon Hunter sent […]
Existential Ruminations
Gentry Thomason
(Reviewed: February, 2023)
Gentry Thomason’s Existential Ruminations is a collection of “poemographs,” which he explains are “attempts to articulate my thoughts in some rhythmical manner that approximate [sic] recognizable ordinary speech.” He shares that he does not “typically employ poetic artifice in these poemographs” and that they are 14 lines long, a container which he “absorbed from the […]
Inherit the Earth
Barbara G Louise
(Reviewed: February, 2023)
Barbara G Louise’s fourth and concluding installment in her Rabble and the Rich tetralogy (all of which can be read as standalone novels) chronicles the consequences of an anti-capitalist revolution on an alternate Earth that spreads across America—and the world.
Set initially in the mid 21st century, the story follows Sally Solley, a nearly 60-year […]
The Terrorist Who Fell in Love
John Livingston
(Reviewed: February, 2023)
John Livingston’s voluminous, multi-layered novel plays out against the backdrops of Valdosta, Georgia; Italy; and conflicts in the Middle East as the passions of love and war grip characters who must choose between life and death, love, loyalty, and vengeance.
The lone survivor of a family devastated by war, Palestinian George Safadi volunteers for a […]