The most obvious question, even to the author, is, “Why the obtuse title?” Kenneth Symington answers this in his Introduction: it means a book of notes or memories, or, in this case, a collection of short essays and poems ranging from fables and mythology to stories about his ancestors and erotic fantasy. A chemical engineer […]

Even though it features the traditional 19th century romantic duo of a rakish viscount and a beautiful Spanish maiden, Labyrinth of Passions is definitely not your great-grandmother’s, let alone your mother’s, romance.

First of all, there are the sex scenes, which are so graphic they could serve as a how-to manual. That’s not to say […]

In The Invisible Struggle, Faye Farnsworth uses fantasy tropes to tell a story of the battle between good and evil in the lives of contemporary teens. At the same time, she tries to reconcile God’s seeming indifference to the horrors that take place in the lives of innocent people.

High school sophomores, Larry and Dave, […]

Mark Alexander Smith’s bio notes that he is a writer and educator who has taught all over the world. Considering Smith’s professional achievements, his debut novel, The Yoder incident, is a surprising disappointment. His story is filled with implausible plot twists and other storytelling distractions.

Jaegan Yoder is a high school English teacher in Saskatoon, […]

Despite its title, Ken Austin’s Murder By Accident downplays murder and instead focuses on two families in the wake of a fateful car accident. There is a murder — an innocent woman is killed instead of an intended target — and there is a tragic death from the accident — the daughter of the main […]

Bill Thomas was ten years old when he suffered a traumatic head injury causing severe brain damage. His teachers and friends began teasing him as learning and memory difficulties overwhelmed him. Billy Jo and the Monsters of the Moat is based on Thomas’ real life experience.

The main character, also named Billy, is friendly until […]

Although appealing to mainstream fiction readers, Katherine Whitley’s Society trilogy (Society Rules, Knights of Redemption, and the recently released Hand of the Omega) is a subtle fusion of many genre fiction elements: paranormal romance, allegorical fantasy, science fiction, and apocalyptic thriller. The character-driven storyline — which revolves around a quartet of thoroughly developed and endearing […]

The cover on Of Smiles and Tears depicts the title in literal terms, which signals the simplicity of the poems inside. This volume by Robert J. Singleton consists of 142 pages of brief prose with poetic interludes.

The subject of most of Singleton’s work here is love and the “lady” who is the object of […]

In Society: The Invisible Giant, Warren K. Eister, a former engineer at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, offers a look at the structures and dynamics of society as they relate to the various organizational frameworks we all fit in, with the “Invisible Giant” of society being the over-arching blanket of humanity. As he describes his […]

Author George Lysloff is a thoughtful man who misses his wife who has passed away; loves his children; has dreams and thoughts he wants to share with the world. He is, in his own words, “one of those that [sic] will try to cultivate familial relationships, possible with exaggerated persistence or assiduity, maybe for the […]