Book Brouhaha

Summary: The beginning of the End starts now. For some of us, Life can be cruel, dealing us a losing hand and for Matthew Radley, a young Wiccan practitioner that is exactly what he got. After a lifetime of chaos, pain and losing himself, he finally got everything he wanted, the woman he loved, the future he desired and a reason to live, but in a single moment he lost it all. Unable to take the pain and no longer desire to live, Matthew takes the one thing he has left, his own life. For Matthew, his story has to end, in order for it to begin, his story has no happy ending, for his is a life of Love, Magick, Corruption, & Death and only asks for understanding. Review: The title page of this short story makes it abundantly clear that it is part of a larger series.  When a story is labeled as such I try not to think if it makes a good "standalone" but rather "would I read the other books in the series." Unfortunately  Dead on the Floor  simply has ...

Summary: In this collection of rare, hard-to-find, and often too-short short "stories", Guy J. Jackson wields his not particularly helpful but still relatively charming (at least compared to being chased) worldview in order to pretty much study and correct all of humanity's foibles, or at least the ones that need correcting by the end of this year. Also, if you read these "stories" at the rate of one per day, you'll feel Zen for however many days that there are "stories", or so claimed Roundfire Books' late editorial assistant, Nils Samuels Chastain, even though it wasn't his place to decide that. Review: One word came to mind as I read "Argentina": rambling.  The entire story consists of a protagonist lamenting over the general ban the world has placed on smoking with a small side order of remorse about his misspent twenties. Too be fair, I'm not a huge fan of the rambling style.  I know it works for a lot of reader...

Summary: Canan Jones turns twenty-five and wants nothing more than to bury his painful past and enjoy his birthday celebrations. But when Canan receives an intimidating phone call from a man who knows his secret demanding he work for an underground government agency in Sydney, Canan fears his skill will be exploited. Canan has the ability to tune into the emotions of other people and his skill increases in strength daily. Initially refusing to accept the job offer, Canan realises it may be the only chance he has to obtain answers to his past. To what lengths will Canan go to to piece together the fragments of his traumatic childhood? Tuning In can be read as a standalone short story or as a precursor to Intuition (Book One of the Elite Series). Review: This story introduced an interesting concept but failed to deliver.  It reads like a prologue to a larger work more than a standalone story.  There's a cast of characters introduced, a problem presented and the...

Summary: After narrowly escaping a deadly plane crash, David King now finds himself stranded in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. With no way to call for help, David's only hope is to brave the elements and somehow find land. But what David doesn't know is that he is at the mercy of the mysterious forces that lurk beneath the waves. Thoughts: Everything about this story is simple.  Don't get me wrong, simple can be good.  I like a good action movie with a straightforward plot.  Or a romance with a predictable ending.  There's comfort in that. This story was just a little too  simple.  It's a classic man vs. nature tale.  However this type of motif is metaphorical for man vs. himself.  "Adrift" had none of that.  Our main character, David, lacks a discernible personality which makes the action feel stagnated.  I never felt connected to his plight and I didn't care one way or the other if he survived. With some polish ...

Summary: No matter how hard she tries life never seems to go quite right for Gnipper Tallhat, an eight-year-old Gnome determined to receive the recognition her intelligence deserves. This time, however, she's got it all figured out. Finally, her father will have to be proud of her accomplishments...provided he manages to live through them. Thoughts: I felt like this story completely missed the mark given the target audience.  There is one point I would like to make clear before I go on: Lantz can  write.  This story was polished and read smoothly.  My issues are with the content and plot. "Gnit-wit Gnipper" is a child's story.  My guess is that Lantz was trying to go for more of a Grimm's fairy tale approach rather than Disney.  There's a dark humor to the story which is not necessarily a bad thing if done correctly. I'm a teacher and I work with children ages three through teenager on a daily basis.  I'm not one for talking down to...

Summary: Mandy 22, breaks the news to her mother that a Muslim from Pakistan has asked her to marry him. Carol, 46, is a strong Baptist woman who has raised Mandy by herself, after her husband's untimely death. She is dead against the idea of her only daughter marrying a Muzlim man. She tells Mandy to stay away from those terrorist Muzlims. Zafar's family also opposes the match, since his mother had already chosen a bride for him in Pakistan. Mandy and Zafar met during college in her home state of Texas, where he had come to study from Pakistan. The two get married, ignoring their families protests. When both set of parents meet for the first time, it leads to surprising discoveries for everyone. Review: This is the second story I have reviewed for this author.  Both times I read her work I was left with a feeling that the story was unpolished and and possibly unfinished. Anjum's clear strength as an author is presenting compelling protagonist concep...

Summary: A London bus driver runs into a gang of youths who begin a campaign of terror in London. Will these reeling events take more than the streets? Review: Though never flat out stated, this short story references the riots that took place in London a few months back.  As far as I remember, the youth of London were upset about the lack of jobs.  Or something along those lines.  Which leads to problem I had with this story... While Ward's writing is solid and engaging, much of the impact a piece like this could have is lost due to my lack of knowledge of the events taking place.  Our protagonist is is a normal-guy-turned-hero that has the unfortunate luck to just be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  However, if the reader is not up-to-date on current events, they would have no idea as what is going on in the story. I get that Ward was trying to convey "the untold story."  When the real life events w...

Summary: It's true that few of us would choose the life of a zombie, mindlessly consuming every moving thing in sight as we rot and shrivel with decay. It's also true that few of us would choose to become a ghost, dolefully watching the comings and goings of the living, unable to touch, to breathe, to feel them in a physical way. But, if given the chance to become a vampire, I think most of us would bite. Vampires make our pulses quicken: whether they are the velveteen figures of Anne Rice or Bram Stoker, or the violent monsters of Stephen King, we don't care. Not the hunters. Not the hopefuls. The real, blood-drinking, neck-biting fiends. Vampires are timeless because they are immortal. And the vampires in these pages may just come back to bite you in the end. These are stories you can really sink your teeth into. Promise. Review: In “State of Grace,” Tara Fox Hall writes about a rebel vampire and his human compatriot as they rail against the practices of the...

Summary: The Short, the Long, and the Tall is a collection of 34 stories published during the last 10 years, many of the stories sections that follow on from one another to constitute single narratives. The recurrent metaphorical theme of the collection is armed conflict, and the question of civilization, presented against contemporary events and the repetition of history. War and the military are associated with barbarity yet, in order to survive, a civilized state needs a strong armed force. How this force is used in harmony with our ethics is the test we face. Set in jungles and third world cities, the stories feature hard-bitten, thoroughly disillusioned Westerners enduring far from home, struggling against insurgencies, and confronting this paradox. Review: The stories contained in this collection are more flash fiction style rather than short story; most of them clock in around 500 words.  Overall I feel that if McIntyre could tighten up his presentation just a ...

Summary: The true short story of one family, one critter, and one month's worth of problems. A comedic look at the travails of being a homeowner and dealing with the occasional uninvited houseguest. Review: In this story, homeowners do battle with a very determined rat who has moved into their home. Having an older home myself that seems to be prone to critter invasions, I fully appreciate everything the author and his family went through. Picturing Birdsell catching mice with a colander and chasing rats with a golf club reminded me of my own adventures: trapping mice in tupperware and driving to the park in my pajamas to release them, using a tennis racket to scoot a possum out from behind the dryer, etc. As Birdsell points out, many people have similar stories of critter or bug invasions. If the individual is a good storyteller, as Birdsell clearly is, such tales are tailor made for amusing blog posts or a comedically dramatic retelling...

Summary: New student Claude Williams is the talk of the school. Girls would love to go out with him, but the rumor is he's married! Can this be true? What is it he's hiding? Meanwhile, students have been disappearing all over campus, and no one has any clue as to their whereabouts. Natalie Jenson, the school snoop, is determined to get to the bottom of things, no matter what it takes. Review: ** May Contain Spoilers** For better or worse, this story reads like one of those Lifetime movies you see on TV.  It's light, moves along at a good pace and has scenery descriptions that sometimes feel more like a script rather than a story. I found myself interested in the plot from beginning to end but the writing style was a little awkward. The dialog was sometimes redundant and the ending, though neatly tied up, seemed to come out of left field.  The villain ended up being someone who was never even mentioned earlier in the story.  So while our main chara...

Summary: A dirty old man gets more than he bargains for when he uses a very special escort service. Review: This was an engaging story though somewhat clumsily executed.  The typos and grammar issues are numerous enough to where it does start to distract from the story.  It felt like I was reading a first draft of something rather than a polished work. While the cover and summary seem to tell their own story, the actual one written down could best be classified as horror/thriller.  It's about a scam artist with a vendetta.  Without giving too much away, the scam artist trains young girls to take the money but not exactly provide the "escort service" I did enjoy the plot.  The story has a sort of grim humor to it with an ever so slight nasty twist at the end.  While the premise of "The Tool" is easily understood, there were many instances where the writing just felt unpracticed.  The concepts where all good but maybe not portray...

Summaries: What To Change: Doug Patterson is nearing 30 and feels his life has been one mistake after the other. A mysterious professor sends him a letter, offering him the chance to go back in time to change his life. Will Doug take that chance? If he does, what will he change? A Stop At Stanford: Doug Nyren makes videos. He wants to move to a place where the other artists aren’t snobs and his neighbors won’t try to push him to be a sell-out. He visits the tiny town of Stanford on the planet Gypsum. He meets some interesting people there, but will Stanford be the new home he’s looking for? Review: In “What to Change” and “A Stop at Stanford,” Robert Collins combines science fiction with realism, exploring the banality of everyday life through the lens of time and space travel. In both stories the main character is named Doug, despite the fact they don’t seem to be the same character. Apparently Collins just loves the name Doug. Although it is refreshing t...

Summary: Thirteen short stories including tales of early American history, of American soldiers and the effects of war, along with stories of nature and the wild ... all memorable stories stemming from the experiences and imagination of a man who lives in the great northwest and travels the USA in an eighteen wheeler. Edd Voss is a family man who loves horses and photography. A man who writes from the heart. Table of Contents: WELCOME HOME THEIR FIRST HUNT CHRISTMAS ON THE MESA JO ANNA AIRBORNE: ONE MAN’S JOURNEY APACHE TEARS THE GHOST OF HI JOLLY BLIND? SHADE STORM DREAMING OF A WARM PLACE TYLER’S COURAGE GOING HOME Review: This review covers five of Edd Voss’s works, including three shorter pieces and two slightly longer stories. Several of these works are period pieces, including “Dreaming of a Warm Place” and “Storm,” or are based in part on historical fact, as in “The Ghost of Hi Jolly.” In each case, the author capitalizes well on the enduring...

Summary : Leonardo da Vinci must solve a locked room murder to save the city of Florence from certain destruction. Review: I must admit that had I worked out this “perfect murder” well before Leonardo da Vinci revealed the brilliant solution, and I suspect that other readers will as well. The author has hit upon a clever and unusual method for disposing of a political enemy in this engaging short story, but his presentation of the facts of the case makes the outcome a little too predictable for this reviewer. With tweaking, this storyline could give And Then There Were None a run for its money, but in the meantime it reads like an Italian version of Encyclopedia Brown. The disparity is frustrating because the potential is there. 2.5/5 stars Reviewed by Purity Jones

Summary: A collection of stories in the series called "This Small French Town." Review: In this series of five short stories, the author shares her experiences as an American living in a small French town. The pieces alternate between heartwarming, funny, and just plain entertaining. However, the stories are poorly edited. Punctuation and spelling problems, run-on sentences and a generally clumsy writing style make the collection difficult to read, even confusing at times. Several of the pieces, most notably “How to Kill a Guineahen,” feel more like school reports than short stories. “The Wifebeater” is particularly disjointed, sprinkled with off topic and unnecessary paragraphs that make this reviewer wonder if the author was attempting, but not quite succeeding at, a stream-of-consciousness piece. Of the five, my favorite is “The Green Chair.” It has all the potential to be a great story, but again the execution leaves something to be de...

Summary: THE FINAL SHOWDOWN! Intergalactic bounty hunter Zyra Zanr engages the ruthless criminal Molly Black in a battle to the death, knowing that if she fails to seize control of the powerful Gaia, an unspeakable wave of terror and destruction will be unleashed on the galaxy. Book 3 of 3. Review: **This review may contain spoilers** So we finally come to part 3 of 3 in this short story trilogy.  Stylistically, everything remains status quo.  So if you've liked how the other two stories flowed up until this point, the third fulfills expectations. I have to say that I am slightly disappointed with how this trilogy ended.  There were several intriguing mysteries introduced that the author just simply chose not to answer.  For example, the origins and powers of "gaia" are glanced over.  I would try and explain what "gaia" is for the sake of clarity in this review, but that word is literally all I know about it by the end of the series.  I have no idea i...

Summary: Three heart-wrenching short stories. In "Handi-Cure," Elisa is a widow looking for acceptance in the world. She tries to find it in men but, after an unusual experience in a nail salon, she makes personal changes. “Urine Trouble Now” is about a young couple and their overly anxious cat. The cat pees on the floor, which brings up details about the couple's relationship. In “Lemonade Nights,” after Marco's father dies, he burns down the backyard shed in a fit of rage. Feeling guilty, he decides to rebuild the shed. His wife, Emma, likes having a husband who is good with his hands, but soon feels lonely as Marco spends more and more time on his project. Review: This review is of Against Her Fading Hour, a three story collection by Sweeney. Warning: These  reviews may contain spoilers. As a whole, the collection is original, well edited and very well written. Sweeney has a genuine  talent for writing dialogue and pacing his stories to keep the reade...