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California Bookwatch
Table of Contents
Reviewer's Choice
Venice of America and the Art of Transformation
Jodi and Cecil Campanaro
https://www.jodicampanaro.com
Precocity Press
https://www.precocitypress.com
c/o Over and Above Creative
9780997107760, $150.00
Authors' Website
https://www.jodicampanaro.com/venice-of-america
Precocity Press
https://www.precocitypress.com/portfolio-item/venice-of-america
Venice of America and The Art of Transformation is an art book by siblings who capture the vibrant tensions, urban delights and challenges, and layered culture of their hometown of Venice, California. The two artists use photographs embellished with mixed media collage to capture the various voices and presences of Venice through richly textured, visually immersive compositions.
Students of art and urban landscapes will be particularly interested in how Venice of America applies and marries not just photography and collage, but graffiti and edgy overlays to capture different aspects of Venice's social milieu with sophistication and depth. Buildings represented by artistic snapshots range from small markets and empty structures to dynamic pairings of advertising that reflect flavors of changing times, transforming everyday storefronts into compelling architectural studies. Rarely are people portrayed (though there are a few appearances), leaving the structures and written word to carry the emotional weight and create striking contrasts, as in the photo of a building whose awning advertises two businesses: The Sidewalk Cafe and Bar and Small World Books.
In taking human activity and portraits out of the majority of photographic renderings, Jodi and Cecil Campanaro successfully reflect the cultural tapestry and messages of Venice, often leaving to the viewer's eye and sentiments any underlying translation of meaning and insights, resulting in images that feel contemplative, cinematic, and open to interpretation. Libraries and readers with a special interest in urban portraits of local flavor, or in Southern California in particular, will find Venice of America's ability to contrast shifting images of place, an approach that offers an extraordinary representation of urban transformation and discovery - both an artistic achievement and a cultural document.
Venice of America ideally will appear not only in art collections or libraries interested in Southern California's small-town culture, but also among collectors and circles with an interest in urban art, landscapes of change, and shifting kaleidoscopes of movement that leave behind the physical relics of humanity as testimony to what used to be. This makes it especially suited for galleries, institutions, and beautifully curated coffee tables.
The Biography/Memoir Shelf
Inner Ember
Mark Sangster
https://www.inneremberbook.com
GFB
www.girlfridayproductions.com
9781964721743, $17.95 Paperback/$7.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GHZGXJ29
Inner Ember: Five Days Alone in Death Valley in Search of My Authentic Self is a contemporary wilderness quest where author Mark Sangster recounts a journey of self-realization which turns into a battle for survival when he is injured.
Alone in Death Valley, Sangster contemplates not just his mortality, but his life and sometimes-harrowing childhood experiences. These assume the form of visions which remind him of battles that hurt all family members, and the choices which kept he and his brother apart in adulthood: "My skewed sense of object permanence placed my brother back in the beaker when I was away. I did not consciously think he stopped existing when I was gone, but I assumed his life was somehow less fulfilling. I did not consider that we were flowing like the two rivers of my poem, sometimes close and sometimes far apart."
As Sangster confronts his past decisions and present-day actions, the possibility of rescue versus death, and the implications of undertaking a modern vision quest, many issues and insights are revealed which move from personal to social and political realms: "While this has been criticized as appropriating Indigenous tradition, many people who go on quests seeking spiritual medicine for a disorder or injury, myself included, intend only to honor this ceremony. I wasn't partaking in a vision quest for profit, at least not in economic terms. I hoped to learn and grow personally. I expected to heal my wounds. It was medicine to me. It was therapy in a language that resonated with my soul."
Ultimately, Inner Ember is about stoking that fire of healing, possibility, and hard truths. These lead to genuine change and a confrontation with emotional "sins" that have guided, however subconsciously, harmful choices of the past. As other travelers on similar wilderness journeys swap stories about their discoveries, readers gain a sense of how a desert sojourn can pave the way to many new opportunities and choices.
Libraries and readers seeking a story of life inspection, healing, and discovery will welcome how Inner Ember candidly and astutely peels back the layers of personality and experience to delve into the heart of family relationships, self-identity, and change. Vivid in its inspections of past, present, and future, Inner Ember ultimately offers hope, a wilderness encounter, and a series of revelations that send the author and his readers in new directions. Few memoirs hold such powerful examples of transformative healing in all of its facets, making Inner Ember a standout.
The General Fiction Shelf
Everything's Under Control: A Novel
Roger Mills
https://rmillsmd.com
Bancroft Press
https://bancroftpress.com
9781610887021, $TBA
Author's Website
https://rmillsmd.com/books-and-writing
Everything's Under Control opens with first-person narrator father Dr. Luke Mallory facing an unexpected meeting with his adult children, who have an agenda for his future: "You really shouldn't be living alone at your age. It's not easy to reach you."
The kids have cooked up a plan to have Dad move in to Brookfields, where his first wife resides, so that their care and aging will all take place neatly under one roof. There's only one problem. Dad has an active life between work and a place he likes to live, and he has no intention of moving - even though their idea makes sense.
This father is very savvy about his adult children. He suspects that under their proposition and apparent altruism lays a different motivation: "Who are these people? I used to know them. But now? They live with other people, in other places. They go to work, come home, laugh or cry about things I don't know about. And they want something from me. Fair enough, I want something from them. They came to make a deal. The problem is, they haven't told me what's in it for them. That's what comes next."
But even stubborn determination cannot stave off the ravages of aging, and soon this independent father finds himself joining his friends in hoping for "a few better days" from life, accepting new moves that portend transformation and new challenges. His move, intended to help his children Megan and Colby with Sam and an unsettled estate, turns out to have unexpected consequences, forcing him to face his need to fix everything and everyone around him: "Listen, Luke, be serious. Are you ever going to realize you can't fix the world all by yourself? You want to scrub in and pick up your scalpel, or gallop in with your six-gun blazing. You think you should fix everything. You can't. You stitched those ideas together out of an unhappy childhood and old western movies."
As Dr. Mallory wields the axe of change and aging with the intention of repairing, saving, and piecing together new relationships and a new life, readers become absorbed in the cast of characters which support and change him. As a drive-by shooting and other events challenge his new position and efforts, readers become absorbed in the milieu of an effective, strong, elderly man taking control of what few things remain worthwhile in his life.
Readers will especially appreciate the insights on how proactive and savvy Dr. Mallory can be in the face of a series of events that involve law enforcement, lies, shootings, and confrontations.
Librarians seeking stories that first build a foundation of aging and change, and then injects intrigue and unexpected confrontations into the mix will find Everything's Under Control a lively, immersive, involving story of one elderly man's venture into unexpected territory in more ways than one. Replete with family relationships, challenges, and fights, Everything's Under Control is a thought-provoking romp through aging and being effective in one's later years, and is a thoroughly absorbing story.
The Model
A.J. Orson
Independently Published
9798267478618, $13.99 Paperback/$4.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Model-J-Orson/dp/B0FV97JZX8
The Model is a novel of success and failure that opens with Chance Lestrange's sale of his business for over a million dollars - a success by anyone's book. However, this financial feather in the hat of achievement doesn't make Chance happy as his endeavors proceed to fail one by one, from his marriage and sexual performance to his friends and a failed attempt at being a writer. In fact, he's only won at one thing - business. So, by returning to work, undertaking a new business venture in Australia, Chance hopes to achieve the pinnacle of success that marked his first endeavor. However, this job, too, seems doomed to failure as he faces financial forces beyond his control.
Thirty-eight-year-old Chance's journey into a "rip-roaring adventure" leads him into unexpected paths and encounters with strangers as he sojourns far from the familiar and tries to leave his mark on the world - and his wife Karen. A.J. Orson intersects intriguing characters, dialogues, and a sense of discovery into Chance's choices. This creates thought-provoking moments of eroticism, realization, and interactions that also embed a wry tone of humor into stark, dark revelations. This approach cultivates a sense of surprise tempered by Chance's self-analysis of his reactions to challenges - which often involve drawing back into ennui and non-stressful situations:
"The speed of the collapse left me temporarily stunned and incapable of doing anything unless it was both passive and pleasurable. Enjoying Karen's cooking. Playing with the kids. Watching movies. Basically anything that didn't involve me engaging with the severity of our situation."
The blend of psychological and sexual realizations that permeate the plot provide many moments of discovery that readers will find both entertaining and thought-provoking. Libraries that add The Model to their collections will find it easy to recommend to patrons who are seeking ironic humor, life observations, and stark forays into life choices and how messy they can become. Filled with the musings of an essentially flawed personality unafraid to self-assess and find reasons to go on living, The Model is a portrait of a gritty, raw analysis of self, relationships, and choices that will keep readers immersed to the end. Unsettling, at times? Yes. Filled with gritty moments of discovery? That's what makes The Model a standout.
The Historical Fiction Shelf
Mud Men
J.A. Nunn
https://janunnauthor.com
GFB
www.girlfridayproductions.com
9781967510238, $7.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Mud-Men-Novel-America-War/dp/1967510237
Mud Men is a novel set in the Jim Crow South of 1942. It follows Mervyn Gower, a young California army draftee who is determined to build a reputation as a superior fighter. Unfortunately, youth and idealism leads him into a drunken brawl, after which his "punishment" is to take the unwanted, unappealing job of leading a squad of Black recruits.
The convergence of Black and white worlds on Southern training fields during World War II translates to an encounter that will change not only Mervyn's life, but those he is tasked with leading to victory. J.A. Nunn exposes and personalizes the heart of prejudice in the military, painting a powerful portrait of motivation and individuals from vastly different backgrounds who must learn to work together for the war effort:
"Raised in a home so British he thought it ought to be knighted, Gower had hoped service in the Army could remake him as red, white, and blue as any Yankee Doodle Dogface. He was already at long odds to fire a single shot in defense of his adoptive nation. Recent events - admittedly including his own screw-ups - forced him further down the tote board."
From rumors of "lawless coloreds" and renegade tank battalions to harsh confrontations between military men over the integration and training of Blacks even when they may prove superior fighters, Nunn captures the circumstances of military men who arrive on the battlefield with their own prejudices firmly in place:
"I don't know what you're up to, Gower," Mennur at last started in, "but we can't have your squad of trained baboons outperforming their white contre parties. Mai non. That would look bad for us."
Dialogue embraces colloquial slang, injecting notes of realistic encounters between these disparate groups. Nunn outlines different circumstances of prejudice and acceptance via an overwhelmingly attractive set of characters whose interactions and backgrounds both clash and result in new understandings between many of the groups. The backdrop of military training experience is captured nicely, bringing the entire milieu to life:
"The second half of the day went about the same as the first - waiting around, fighting off boredom and mosquitoes instead of pretending to fight off Nazis or Japs. Again, they heard occasional catcalls, every third one or so laced with a racial slur - unnecessary reminders that some of the white soldiers surrounding them resented their presence at field maneuvers, if not their existence on the face of the Earth."
The result is a compelling, realistic, extraordinary story of a young man coming of age in different ways, of an army adjusting to the prejudices and backgrounds of its disparate members, and of different forms of adaptation and quasi-acceptance. Based on research and real-life stories, this sequel to The Stuff What Actually Is both furthers the original tale of racial conflict and growth and works nicely as a standalone read.
Libraries and readers seeking stories about the 1940s South in general and the experiences of Blacks in the army during those times in particular will find Mud Men evocative, realistic, and thoroughly thought-provoking. Its assignment and use in all kinds of classes, from students of World War II history to those studying the Jim Crow South, will make Mud Men even more valuable by tapping into its opportunity to provoke important debates and discussions.
Judgment Tree
Gary E. Parker, Ph.D.
Bancroft Press
https://bancroftpress.com
9781610886970, $TBA
Author's Website
https://authorgaryparker.blogspot.com
Judgment Tree is a Civil War story based on true events that will appeal to readers who enjoy realistic places, characters, and outcomes nicely developed within the dramatic flair of fiction.
From involvements in war that prove different for the rich versus the poor to issues of integrity, Confederate Colonel Axel Strong's mandate and shifting realizations, and deserters who hang from the Judgment Tree, the novel evolves on a landscape of war and ethical considerations that will keep readers not just fully engaged, but thinking. Judicial proceedings, Confederate law, the difference between executions and justice, and the search for a missing general keep the story filled with satisfying twists.
Real Civil War history and a host of characters on all sides are featured whose decisions, quandaries, and choices intersect in unexpected ways. Gary E. Parker's masterful connection between fiction and history creates a plot driven by perception, beliefs, and challenges to convention. This will especially attract book clubs interested in historical fiction set in Civil War times which sizzle with action and surprises.
Replete with battles, choices to desert or fight, African-American participation in war, and abolitionist movements, Judgment Tree will be thoroughly enjoyed by Civil War fans who will find its twists and character transformations immersive.
Librarians seeking to expand their Civil War novel holdings would do well to add Judgment Tree to the mix. Its dual consideration of racial issues and riots and Union activities and efforts makes it a winner.
The Flowers of Trauma
Ron Morin
www.ronmorinauthor.com
Independently Published
9798274088947, $18.00 Paperback/$5.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Flowers-Trauma-Ron-Morin/dp/B0G1Y2CDLB
In his profound and intricately woven novel, The Flowers of Trauma, Ron Morin presents an exploration of grief that is as harrowing as it is hopeful. By juxtaposing six interconnected lives touched by vastly different forms of loss (from Holocaust survival to the AIDS crisis to prison violence) Morin constructs a powerful testament to the universal architecture of sorrow.
At the heart of this tapestry is Sarah, a woman whose lifelong dream of teaching shatters when she is confronted with the raw, self-doubting traumas of her students. Her collapse is a pivotal moment illustrating the book's core thesis: that healing stems not from the avoidance of pain, but from its direct confrontation. As Sarah's carefully constructed foundation of "shoulds" washes away, what emerges is something more authentic - a lesson in "the humility of not knowing, the grace of asking for help."
Morin's strength lies in his character-driven approach. Each narrative thread follows an individual as they identify, reconsider, and ultimately come to terms with a revised meaning for their life. The novel shifts the focus from mere survival to the harder, work of thriving again. Through literary allusion and spiritual reflection, Morin suggests that love and forgiveness are active processes of rewriting our own histories.
One of the novel's most striking passages encapsulates this transformative spirit: "Your sister made her horrifying experience beautiful through the enchantment of her personality... She was a poem to tragedy!" Here, as throughout the book, there is the assertion that even the deepest wounds can be woven into something new and meaningful.
Packed with poignant moments of discovery, The Flowers of Trauma is a challenging but essential read. Sensitive readers will find themselves moved to tears and deep consideration, potentially reawakening them to their own journeys. It is a book especially needed in difficult times, laying bare the vulnerabilities of the human heart while steadfastly affirming its resilience.
Librarians and booksellers would do well to highly recommend this novel not only to those navigating grief, but to anyone seeking to understand the arduous, transformative path from loss to renewal. Ron Morin has crafted a work of significant insight, reminding us that even in the aftermath of the storm, growth remains possible.
Miriam in the Shadows
John Winn Miller
www.johnwinnmiller.com
Bancroft Press
https://bancroftpress.com
9781610887120, $TBA
Author's Website
www.johnwinnmiller.com
Miriam in the Shadows combines a World War II setting with a tale of subterfuge, Nazi resistance fighters, and the forces that coalesce to drive a young mother to accept dangerous undercover work that leads her to be tortured by Nazis.
Miriam Maduro may be the only person able to thwart a secret Nazi program to develop radioactive V-2 rockets capable of wiping out London. As a mother, she's motivated by the urge to protect her son - but her reasons for becoming a British spy are deeper than family ties, with love and vengeance also providing reasons for becoming an active combatant in the war. Her lover Jake is also involved in dangerous anti-Nazi operations, with a decoy mission involving a deadly series of encounters he may not survive. At the center of the battle is Miriam's love for Jake and her son, with questions about whether this love can survive undercover operations that probe the heart of danger.
John Winn Miller bases his fictional characters on real events and people. This lends his novel an atmosphere that is unusually immediate and vivid as he places real-world historical figures into fictional situations.
A second strength to this work lies in how it marries the action and draw of fictional action-packed drama with nonfiction's attention to detail. The latter is represented in appendices and bibliographic source materials which range from memoirs, history books, biographies, government files, archives, and blogs by historical societies to academic papers, museum and foundation websites, films, and documentaries. A sense of immediacy and action is evident from the novel's opening descriptions:
"With only seconds to go before slamming into the unforgiving ground, she tugged and twisted the two risers connecting the harness to her parachute's rigging lines, struggling to fix the Roman Candle, the dreaded part of a parachute canopy that had failed to open properly above her."
Also worthy of mention is how well-developed the characters are and how absorbing their moral and ethical considerations as events challenge not just their ability to survive, but their feelings about that survival:
"I'm so ashamed." Miriam buried her head in her hands and wept, shaking uncontrollably.
Rogers wrapped her in his arms and stroked her hair. "Ashamed? Of what?"
"I don't understand why I am still alive. Why was I spared when so many others, more deserving than me, were not?"
"But you did everything you could."
"I should have done more to save them."
The result is thoroughly absorbing, realistic, and packed with insights about World War II that readers will find engaging and thought-provoking. This is why Miriam in the Shadows is highly recommended for libraries and readers seeking authentic, gripping World War II and Jewish survivor experiences. The story's ability to delve into the mechanics of motivation, survival, love, and ethical responses to adversity will also make it a draw for book clubs.
Operation Texas
Anita Lampel
https://anitalampel.com
DartFrog Books
www.DartFrogBooks.com
9781965253748, $19.99 Hardcover/$15.99 Paperback/$5.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Operation-Texas-Anita-Lampel/dp/1965253741
Operation Texas is a novel set in 1938 that tells of Rosalind, whose skills in German and Slavic languages are perfect for the job of undertaking a hazardous trip to Poland to smooth her Congressman's friend's journey. On the trip to Poland Rosalind encounters German spies returning from New York with secret documents, a British undercover agent, and those who are trapped in Poland and seeking a way out. She expected support in her duties from the Embassy, which seems the logical force to assist her in tackling evolving dilemmas outside her job description - but instead she finds herself operating on her own as everything shifts around her.
Rosalind's original mandate to observe and assist turns into a mission to not just survive, but confront social and political issues engulfing not just Poland, but the world. Thriller components of tension, fast-paced action, and international intrigue compliment the novel's historical foundations and its strong female protagonist. Anita Lampel builds a tale replete with thought-provoking moments of discovery, revealing pre-World War II insights about the clandestine effort to secure US visas for Polish Jews before the Nazi invasion. As Rosalind finds her assignment shifting in radical ways, she steps up to an invitation to not only gain further information, but participate a developing romance:
"Why don't we pretend I've taken a shine to you and vice versa? Happens between crew and tourist-class passengers all the time. Then I can seek you outside and even slip in here. I also need to emphasize that you are just to observe carefully and report to me. Same at the embassy - observe, report. You're not - under any circumstances - to play Nancy Drew, girl detective, sneaking around everywhere and following your own hunches."
Operation Texas marries a historical novel with a thriller overtone via the rich insights of a proactive female who finds her special skills put to the test in a dangerous, unfamiliar environment. Librarians and readers seeking a different kind of action story that has its roots in World War II events, its attraction in a female protagonist who is well equipped to handle the foreign demands of a changing world, and a mission that turns into something dangerously challenging will find Operation Texas enlightening and captivating. It's highly recommendable to readers who enjoy superior characterization and compelling World War II stories.
The Temple at Sunset
Karin Ciholas
Atmosphere Press
www.atmospherepress.com
9798891328853, $33.99 Hardcover/$19.99 Paperback/$9.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Temple-Sunset-Cyrenian-Trilogy/dp/B0G27KZKFT
The Temple at Sunset is a historical novel that focuses on a time when the Christian faith was spreading and both Christians and Jews were colliding with the power of Rome.
The story opens with Simon tending to the wounds of a fellow Jew who has been viciously stabbed, "another victim of violent hatred that exploded in waves in Alexandria, the city that was called the jewel of the Roman Empire, the queen of cities."
Simon's family is divided, their futures are uncertain, and the waves of political and religious beliefs that are overtaking their lives threaten further division and danger to everyone as Rome remakes its society and the Jews struggle for religious and social freedom. Karin Ciholas injects magic and revolutionary zest into her story, capturing its characters and the tides and trends of change with vivid imagery and confrontations to bring these times to life:
"Petrus's last words were drowned out by a rhythmic chant that started near the Augustan forum and rose to a frenetic pitch as arms stretched to the sky.
"Simon Magus, fly to heaven! Simon Magus, fly to heaven! Simon Magus, fly to heaven!"
Alexander gaped up at Simon Magus in horror. All around them, the people had shifted their faith to the magus. On top of the roof, the magician's assistant blew the shofar again in cadence with the chant, and the magus flapped his giant wings and stepped off the platform."
From issues of the power of love and risk-taking to individuals driven to enact social and political changes whatever their costs, The Temple at Sunset builds vivid scenarios and dialogues that many contemporary readers will find reflective of modern thinking:
"Justice? What justice do you propose with such violence?"
"The poor will have bread. The rich will be punished. The powerful priests and tax collectors will no longer rule and extort taxes from the poor. We will kill them all."
"Who is going to rule the new kingdom you want to establish?"
"Simon. That is Simon bar Giora."
"When you have completed your revolt, what will be the result?"
"Justice for all."
Packed with insights on all sides that range from the personal lives shaken by ideological forces within their own homes to people on the streets (Jews and Romans alike), The Temple at Sunset is especially notable for its powerful character interactions, political shifts, and spiritual reflections as this third book, the last book in The Cyrenian Trilogy, unfolds.
Libraries seeing popularity with the prior Cyrenian Trilogy titles will want to make acquisition of The Temple at Sunset a priority, though it is possible to enter into this story with no prior familiarity with its predecessors. Readers interested in Christian historical fiction that personalizes events, characters, and conflicts of the times will find The Temple at Sunset also lends nicely to Christian reading group discussions. Packed with scenarios of ordinary people stepping up to support their beliefs in extraordinary times, The Temple at Sunset will find a welcome home in any Christian historical fiction collection.
The Mystery/Suspense Shelf
Dawn Before Darkness
Liz Lazarus
www.dawnbeforedarkness.com
Mitchell Cove Publishing LLC
https://mitchellcovepublishing.com
9780990937470, $14.95 print / $5.95 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Dawn-Before-Darkness-Liz-Lazarus-ebook/dp/B0GJ32W13S
What happens when your stalker can't touch you? -- Your family becomes a target.
Dawn Before Darkness is the hard-hitting thriller story of a vet tech facing an enemy who is truly ruthless in his threats, which hold no boundaries or any consideration for the elderly. Dawn has gotten herself into a bad situation. When she tries to break up with her lover, life moves from bad to worse when he refuses to accept her declaration that their relationship is over. The chills he's been giving her all along turn into a relentless retribution as the relationship she entered into too quickly portends that she may not have jumped out of it as quickly as she needed. How can he convince her otherwise? If love won't work, maybe threats will.
Liz Lazarus may tweak more sensitive readers with scenarios that hit too close to home, but readers will appreciate the superb tension development, revelations, and conundrum Dawn faces as she tries to extricate herself from a series of increasingly perilous encounters. Lazarus does more than broach the subject of a relationship gone awry. She mirrors Dawn's discovery of new attitudes in the animals she cares for and their human guardians, who may neglect their pets due to their own sociopathic approaches to life.
Veterinary experiences with animals and humans round out personal dilemmas with important insights and circumstances that readers will find especially thought-provoking as Dawn's decision to end things translates to choices about how best to survive her mandate not to be overwhelmed and made powerless by abusive people on any level, personal or professional.
While this decision is delivered early on in the story ("She'd reached the limit of what she could tolerate, and bending the rules was the only way to keep her sanity."), its consequences and enactment form the heart of a gripping, dark story of terror and maneuvers to outsmart those who would control Dawn. As she begins taking time off from her career to deal with many blows to her personal life, Dawn struggles with family conflict, elder abuse and needs, accusations about her moral and ethical foundations, legal snafus, and people who more than bend the rules to treat unsuspecting elderly folk unnecessarily.
Dawn Before Darkness thus moves beyond one stalker's impact to address all kinds of challenges to Dawn's intelligence and ethics, making for a powerful thriller augmented by bigger-picture thinking. Libraries and readers seeking thrillers which incorporate many themes, from elder abuse and stalking to animal rights and owner attitudes, will appreciate how finely Dawn Before Darkness winds through all these themes as it follows Dawn through not one, but a series of life- and attitude-changing dilemmas.
Replete with action, discovery, challenge, and tests of one woman's strengths and convictions about animals, people, and love, Dawn Before Darkness is an immersive thriller that creates opportunities for many powerful book club and women's reading group discussions as it navigates the fine lines between destruction and transformation.
Dying to Remember
Cristina LePort, MD
https://cristinaleport.com
Bancroft Press
https://bancroftpress.com
9781610886185, $TBA
Author's Website
https://cristinaleport.com
If the name of P.I. Kirk Miner sounds familiar to medical thriller readers, it's because Dr. Cristina LePort's "Miner and Mulville" series has already gained a wide audience of fans. Dying to Remember is a prequel that considers how Kirk married his medical expertise to his P.I. savvy.
The novel opens with a scene in which Kirk sits in the Brooklyn Medical Center's cafeteria speaking with a doctor who is hiring him to investigate his younger girlfriend's affairs. At stake is Dr. Ingalls' research, which involves reconnecting the central nervous system. If successful, his findings will revolutionize neurology.
The last thing Dr. Ingalls needs is a spy or malevolent force interrupting or compromising his study. Why would anyone oppose such a promising venture? Because: "The opposition fears it could pave the way for advanced cloning and brain transplants," the doctor explained. "In theory, you could clone yourself and transfer your brain to a younger body, potentially extending life significantly."
As events quickly progress from a physician investigating his girlfriend to a mandate to prevent his murder, Kirk finds himself appreciating the opportunity to get a break from his job in security to build his P.I. business. Accidents, secrets, and Catch-22 situations immerse Kirk in a series of events that challenge his ability to fully understand the depth and range of the special interests confronting Dr. Ingalls.
The purposes and mandate of the EcoCollective opposed to his research evolves many threads of possibility. These will delight readers interested in stories where the outcome and perp are not clear. The good doctor's depression grows as, on the cusp of a career-changing discovery, he comes to realize that his crowning achievement is about to be "snatched away" by "professional morons" who have their own agenda. Readers will not only be attracted to the mystery and P.I. investigations, but to the evolving medical and ethical conundrums that Kirk faces as he tries to assure the safety of Dr. Ingalls.
The plot is realistic, involves many medical system and community insights that Dr. LePort is well equipped to portray from her own background, and the story is fast-paced as social, legal, technological, and psychological influences come to light. All these factors make Dying to Remember a top-notch, action-packed medical thriller that librarians, readers, and book clubs will find vivid, memorable, and absolutely absorbing.
The Kill Code Collective
Julie Holmes, Rob Jung, et.al.
The Midwest Mystery Works
https://www.facebook.com/MidwestMysteryWorks
9781736610879, $16.99 Paperback/$7.99 eBook
Preorder Website
https://preview.mailerlite.io/preview/551600/sites/103514183816971723/zOjPFr
To create The Kill Code Collective, five authors took a character from one of their individual books and built a scenario around them for this story's plot, which opens with Minneapolis aircraft mechanic Sierra Bauer.
The collective collaborative roots of this medical thriller run deeper than most thrillers or conjoined efforts, resulting in a unique story that is as exceptional for its strong characters as for the situations they confront. In this introductory case, Sierra greets an arriving plane, only to find herself fighting to save the life of her friend Alice Holmgren, who collapses upon deplaning. The medical emergency expands to involve detective work, international plots revolving around offshore assets, characters such as Henri Hawke (renowned for solving sticky financial problems) and Stephen Harstburg (who is being extorted), and Matt Lanier, who joins Sierra in probing beyond heart matters to dive into dangerous patterns of sudden death and special interests that appear to be involved in targeting victims in an unusual manner.
Each well-developed character contributes new strengths, perspectives, and abilities to the medical thriller to create an eerie, frighteningly realistic series of events. Each interacts on a bigger playing field of who is pulling the strings and how a collective of powerful characters can prove a formidable force to confront a dangerous conspiracy. The investigators bring not just their individual personalities, but disparate strengths to the table as they tackle what is really going on between seeming unconnected medical crises.
Librarians and readers seeking a medical thriller mystery that rests on the shoulders of not just one, but many powerful characters, will welcome how The Kill Code Collective dovetails events, personalities, and conundrums to create a vivid probe into a defect which becomes a murder investigation. Packed with satisfying twists and collective strengths that prove especially engaging as the problem-solvers introduce different strengths towards a greater effort, The Kill Code Collective is a thoroughly absorbing, completely unpredictable story. It benefits from many contributors who spin a fine yarn to build an unforgettable story.
The Fantasy/SciFi Shelf
The Loudest Place on Earth
Ken Ziegler
https://www.kenziegler.org
GFB
www.girlfridayproductions.com
9781967510412, $18.95 Paperback/$9.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G5BFBRG8
The Loudest Place on Earth is a humorous fantasy novel whose satire paints a very different picture of the fairy world. Fairies in New York City opted for underground living quarters to escape the ongoing human noise from its greatest urban milieu.
Self-obsessed comfort-seeker Ludwig stumbles upon this hidden fairy society beneath Times Square, where he meets a powerful fairy who is determined to dominate the upper world. She needs a go-between to do so - and who better than Ludwig? It seems that he can be bought just with the promise of becoming rich. A ruby-defecting piglet seems just the lure to entice him to help her.
Unfortunately, given Ludwig's proclivity for laziness, the piglet's riches only tie into his ennui, and so Ludwig eschews his new mission to bask in his newfound wealth. What's a fairy leader to do? More importantly, what will Ludwig do?
Plenty, as mayhem, spending sprees, and hilarious encounters with a wide cast of characters, fairy and undeniably human, result in observations and musings that are wry in tone and hilarious in result: "Those who had known him before his first visit to Broken Throat doubted his half-true story about falling down scaffolding. Being partly true should have made the lie more convincing, but a counternarrative emerged speculating that he was in trouble with whoever made him so rich. Lulu never said a word except to say she didn't believe the rumors. What good would it do? The checks were on time, and who would believe her own story about polka-dotted lightning and an enchantment placed on a ruby-shitting pig?"
Few writers can build a fairy fantasy that embarks on a hilarious romp between different worlds. Ludwig enters into a life that is packed with new realizations and encounters with the unexpected, leading his readers into the depths of New York's apartment buildings to encounter very different investment strategies that toe the line between insanity and practicality. As defiance, vengeance, and special interests evolve, the story of the fairies of Broken Throat and Ludwig's shifting purposes are an entertaining venture into enchantment, gifts that represent contempt, and the fate of fairy leader An Exalted Northwind.
Libraries seeking humorous fantasy stories rich in diverse characters, uncommon encounters, and romps through worlds that embrace rats and fortune will find The Loudest Place on Earth an outstanding contemporary fantasy that turns the urban fantasy genre upside down with its comical clashes.
Replete with the unexpected, The Loudest Place on Earth is a standout.
Enheduanna's Song from the Sands
Ellen Rachlin
Histria Books
www.histriabooks.com
9781592117543, $19.99
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Enheduannas-Song-Sands-Ellen-Rachlin/dp/1592117546
Enheduanna's Song from the Sands is an historical fantasy surrounding the life and actions of Enheduanna, the daughter of Sargon the Great and High Priestess of Ur, a powerful religious and business leader who lived approximately two-thousand years before Virgil.
Ellen Rachlin entwines her history with myth in a novel about the world's first named author, who finds herself the focal point of conflict, transformation, and choices surrounding an extraordinary power rising in ancient Mesopotamia.
From the start, the first-person story builds an evocative, compelling scenario that draws readers with passion and insight: "Inanna, supreme in Heaven and Earth, ruler over all gods, I beg of you: restore me to my temple, bring me home! In the ancient city of Ur, I no longer breathe the salty air, lift myself from the sacred bed or unravel Ningal's dreams for my followers. The southern stars have slipped away from me; Now I walk the thorny brush of the northern mountainside. As I sing your blessed song, I am dying."
A host of equally memorable characters enter Enheduanna's life and chambers, from Darda, the son of Purushanda's former king, to her mother and father, Sargon and Tashlultum, Uanna and Nidintu, women who are part of a core circle Enheduanna thinks she can trust, and others from different sides of an evolving rebellion. Enheduanna tries to fulfill her destiny, but often winds up feeling isolated and uncertain: "...in this forest of knowledge, the faces of some of my closest friends are becoming increasingly obscured."
As Enheduanna faces riots, rebels, and intrigue, her world comes to life with a host of social, political, and personal issues; all of which she navigates with authority and, sometimes, uncertainty: "I fear we're losing real ground to our enemy." Suffused with rage, she then documents the history of her world in vivid detail that readers will find engrossing and realistic.
Librarians and readers seeking a story of ancient history come to life will find Enheduanna's Song from the Sands rich with detail, personalized by the protagonist's reflections as she steps into her power and makes difficult choices. Filled with dramatic action and confrontations with self as well as the outside world, Enheduanna's Song from the Sands will appeal both to leisure readers and scholarly students of ancient times. The former will appreciate the high drama and personal touches; the latter the footnotes and references which cement events and fantasy in a layer of real history.
An important footnote by the author clarifies why this novel should be in any serious collection of women's history, as well as in fantasy and historical fiction holdings: "I stumbled across Enheduanna while researching Sargon the Great. No one I knew, including poets, had ever heard of her or her hymns. When I began to uncover what was more broadly known about Enheduanna, it astounded me that the first-named author in history was not only a virtual unknown, but a woman who lived in a male-dominated culture."
A Thread of Waking Light
Jason Knightman
Current Words Publishing
9781957224633, $19.99 paperback; $5.99 digital (Kindle); Audio $TBA
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Thread-Waking-Light-Bonds-Faith/dp/1957224630
A Thread of Waking Light is an epic fantasy that opens with a prologue in the year 883, where Sorela is sick after viewing the cremation of her friend Faldana, who was only a few years younger. Both have endured years of captivity and abuse, and death seems the only escape from their pain. Years ago, wizard Mirinar's magical traps ensnared them, ending their dreams and replacing them with a living nightmare.
She has had ample opportunity to better understand her captor: "Over the nearly one and a half decades of imprisonment and abuse, she had come to know many things about Mirinar. He trucked with demons. He once demonstrated to her and a few other captives what they would face if they tried to escape; a demon devoured an unlucky, living prisoner who had tried doing so. He was careful to the last detail in all things. And his dominant goal, his one driving force for his perverted practices with his collection of concubines, was an heir."
Sorela is still spunky enough to determine not to remain a helpless victim, even given the force of Mirinar's magic and control. It's this will to survive that not only promises freedom, but a vastly revised life as Sorela succeeds in an impossible bid for control - and wins.
These events are just the opener to a vivid story that then moves to year 917, when a mother leaves her daughter to carry out a holy mission, then assigns her daughter a task with her last dying breath. Women casting spells, assuming positions of power as forces of change in their world, and the journeys and trials which result are recurring themes in the story as a cast of strong female characters represent different forces in this world. From Nirra (a daughter assigned to carry out her mother's task) to High Priestess Kirianne; Merelaine (originally Lady Merelaine Corson, the Baroness of Hargrave), who gave up her rank to join the order; and Yzandria, who questions her contributions and sacrifices ("Is it wrong for me to wish for just a moment that I'd raised a self-serving bastard? But no, I would do the same were I he."), the women are powerful characters who find ways of being forceful and effective as the world changes around them.
Demons, sacrifices, difficult journeys, and magical dangers permeate a plot packed not just with fast-paced action and adventure, but thought-provoking self-inspections. These elements contribute to a world-changing scenario in which the men and women of these times face visions, magic, difficult choices involving loyalty and sacrifice, and tests of faith.
Libraries and readers seeking epic quest adventures wrapped in the guise of fantasy world-building, but delivered with the added bonus of spiritual and psychological inspection will relish how A Thread of Waking Light creates compelling figures who share the limelight of achievement and adversity. Filled with unexpected twists and fast action, A Thread of Waking Light holds the ability to thoroughly engross while building a complex world that challenges its characters to step up and assume new roles in their lives, inviting readers to a ringside seat to experience the immersive action and results for themselves.
The Poetry Shelf
The Sigh and Flutter
Julie Ann Baker Brin
Anamcara Press LLC
https://anamcara-press.com
9781960462725, $19.99 Paperback/$9.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Sigh-Flutter-Julie-Baker-Brin/dp/1960462725
Poetry enthusiasts are in for a real treat with the succinct, atmospheric musings of The Sigh and Flutter; for these works represent a cautious optimism about the human condition and reflect on circumstances of being, wonder, and discovery with the studied hand of a wordsmith artist.
These processes are captured in vibrant works such as the early-appearing "We Are," which reflects that humans are: "light waves, slowed down/fossils, sped up/somewhere between/the stars/and the skeletons"
From the nature of time and dreaming to the poignant, candid self-assessment of "Brown Horse Red Car Blue Night" (You just had to remind me, didn't you I thought I could remind myself/ - a jar of broken glass/the windshields, windows, headlights,/the mirrors - driving home/the fragility of life/maybe I could throw it all away), each poem captures a sense of place and life meaning that moves from bigger-picture philosophical inspection to individual experience with the sashay of a literary dancer.
Replete within these notes of life inspection is the courage to analyze, reflect, and ultimately celebrate the moment. From connections to water and sunsets to the specter of broken relationships and missed connections, Julie Ann Baker Brin captures the rise and fall of life in poetic nuggets of wisdom that simmer, sometimes sharply and sometimes gently, with passion and wonder.
The Sigh and Flutter holds the capacity to remind its readers why they read poetry. Within its life experiences and broader inspections of life, the universe, and everything lay reflections which are moving, engaging, and wonderfully bright. And, as in the poem "Body Shop," every human being's life contains the drive to identify, connect, and ultimately fix what is broken, against all odds: "The broken gasket, such a delicate/part. Hours spent on the side/of the road: we can fix this, we will."
Libraries and readers seeking free verse that represents the best of literary prowess, philosophical reflection, and the intersection of science, nature, and human affairs will find in The Sigh and Flutter the very essence and heartbeat of meaning via poignant moments that are powerfully captivating reads.
James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive, Oregon, WI 53575-1129
phone: 1-608-835-7937
e-mail: mbr@execpc.com
e-mail: mwbookrevw@aol.com
www.midwestbookreview.com
Diane C. Donovan, Editor & Senior Reviewer
12424 Mill Street, Petaluma, CA 94952
phone: 1-707-795-4629
e-mail: donovan@sonic.net
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