In retired executive James R. Ament’s novel, Waiting for Zoe, a naive young student and a grieving retiree make parallel journeys of self-discovery in the wake of great loves, deeper tragedies, and the shadow of violence. Unfortunately, the startling, often over-the-top catastrophes that pepper the novel detract from its more subtle emotional narratives.

We first […]

A man, a woman, and a talking Martian plant walk into a bar…

OK, that doesn’t exactly happen in Falling into History–among other things, the plant doesn’t walk; it glides. However, Peter Fleming’s time-traveling tale is about a sentient, super-powered plant transporting itself and two human companions through time and space, and an eighteenth-century London […]

Coloring Our World: Look What We Can Do Together is the brainchild of Alberta Adams. Intended as an activity and coloring book to inspire very young children and their caregivers with a sense of equality, justice and the pure joy of play, the book was originally published in 1990 with grant support from AETNA Life […]

Assuming you still have money in these sour economic times, what are you to do with it? Veteran financial services professional Dean McLellan says you need to free yourself from “stuck and limiting thoughts you might have” and gain the wisdom and confidence in a stock market that cries for a descriptor stronger than “roller […]

Three Days to Die is a relentlessly paced page turner with a screenwriter’s visual sense and shoot-’em-up gore more typical of a videogame aesthetic than YA fiction. With taut, action-packed chapters and crisp dialogue, John Avery’s thriller keeps things moving at breath-taking speed. He has created a sort of “boy fantasyland” where nasty stepfathers are […]

The Heart is for Believing is a vibrantly illustrated picture book celebrating the native intelligence of all children. Author Rouzier Dorce, an education administrator originally from Haiti and now living in Georgia, makes the case that educators should always listen to children with open and curious hearts. When teachers and caregivers take the time and […]

Nel Rand’s debut novel is a picaresque tale that takes the reader down the Mississippi River and through the haunted past of its main character, Ellie. Ellie is recovering from divorce when her estranged father, Tiny Moon, a 300-pound gambler and eating contest champion, re-enters her life. Despite her efforts to remember her deep-seated anger […]

According to recent news reports, African Americans have the lowest marriage rate of any racial group in this country. Forty-three percent of black men and about 42 percent of black women have never been married. More than 70 percent of black children are now born to single mothers. From Bill Cosby to Tyler Perry to […]

Near the end of Jessie Sutherland’s historical romance novel, The Senators (sic) Daughter +/- 320 AD, the tension is palpable. Lovely Cyriaca, the niece of Emperor Constantine, has been kidnapped, separated from her husband Joshua, and sold into slavery. As Germanic tribes ravage villages, Joshua searches frantically for his pregnant wife. He is fearless, a […]

Michael Crabtree first put this story to paper in 1980. He then locked it away for three decades; his wife and children knew only fragments. Passage Rites, he says, is his way of telling the full story of how his life was shaped by events that occurred over a few short weeks in late 1978 […]