Book Brouhaha

Summary: With the Shanzi King's return to Mares looming on the horizon, ready to unleash an eternity of chaos, three of his most trusted and dangerous generals take to the World of Oceania to begin preparations for the return of Darkari, the Dark King of Death. Shaymon, bringer of diseases. Stavros, the always hungry wolf. Mongra, the maker of war. Each one desires nothing more than the total eradication of all humanity. But to do that, each must find a place in the world they seek to destroy. Review: While I could appreciate the concept behind this first installment along with the author’s budding writing style, this particular tale was unfortunately lacking in story arc. Short story authors have the freedom to explore a larger variety of story telling devices than novelists. If planned out, entire worlds can be explored snippets at a time and through the eyes of a multitude of characters. However, in order for this to be pulled off well, there still needs to be a larg...

Summary: Three stories all focusing on relationships and loss in different stages of life: A Broken Camera The most horrible events in our lives stick in our minds like images in a camera. But, what happens when the camera breaks? Lilies Do flowers respond to our feelings? The Waterfall Why is his father's nose crooked? Review: I hate to say it but there really wasn't much to this story.  Two people go out on a date and they didn't suit.  With no conflict, no character progression and no real sense of any emotions the end result was, unfortunately, boring.   The story came to its conclusion with the main character realizing that the flowers her date gave her wilted.  Was this supposed to be symbolic of something?  There was so much opportunity for plot subtleties that were missed out on.   2/5 stars Reviewed by Alain Gomez Buy this collection on Amazon .

Summary: The Cloud is dead. It's the age of quantum computing. Join insurance actuary Sharon Feldstein and her sidekick, Shabbetai Zvi, as they travel the multiverse to change the history of footwear. Review: I read this story.  And I have no idea what just happened.  By the end I got the gist of things.  There was a 40s-something woman who works with time travelers (some company named Earwig?).  Something about shoes too (changing who invented flats?). Cone does get points for her idea.  Like I could see where she was trying to draw out humorous elements.  The delivery, however, needs quite a bit of work.  Character after random character just gets thrown at the reader with no logical plot progression whatsoever.  Nothing was developed and there was zero character personality.  Granted, it is a short story.  But I still need to know enough to care about the fate of the characters. Definitely needs some work.  But with s...

Summary: Tuscany, Italy 1341. Have you ever wondered who first turned dancing with horses into a dressage competition? Or maybe how the arena letters got their order? This short story is an enchanting ride through history to a time and place where most men considered themselves experts in all things, they were harsh riders and considered horses as merely tools of transportation. In this time when women working with horses was frowned upon by society, will one young woman teach the men a thing or two about about True Equitation? Review: Without a doubt Santi has considerable knowledge in the equestrian area.  However, the historical value of this short story seems to stop there.  Not only is it completely implausible that a woman publicly display herself in such a fashion but even more unrealistic is the fact that the knights (men) would create a competition with such loose contestant rules. I get that it's supposed to have a fantasy feel. ...

Summary: A story of minstrels, mages, murderers and debt collectors! Carefree bard Crispin coming back home from his parsimonious uncle's funeral does not expect that soon he will be mixed up in a murky intrigue involving magic, fear and a dwarf working as a debt-collector. First book of the "Bard Crispin stories" series - a full of adventure, humour and mystery classic fantasy story. Review: This story was scattered.  It begins with a promising start by presenting a protagonist in the form of Crispin the Bard.  There is an engaging opening scene that involves Crispin meeting a halfling named Bibble.  This was pretty much the only part of the story that was really clear to me.   Crispin and Bibble travel to a city together and the story takes off... in every direction.  Bibble is arrested and then we never hear from him again.  Apparently they weren't the BFFs the author lead us to believe?  New characters start to be introduce...

Summary: Mars seems to be a dead planet to the first of Earth's astronauts to walk its red surface. Any signs of life appear to be long gone as the explorers search for evidence. But the possibilities for life are found with the evidence carefully sampled and taken with the space travelers back to Earth. What results from this journey will forever change both planets. Review: Grammatical accuracy and the beginnings of an interesting twist at the end are the two things this story has going for it.  Stylistically, it reads like a technical manual.  Much of the potential tension that could have occurred in the promising setting of exploring Mars is lost with action sequences such as these: "The touchdown on the Martian surface set both their hearts racing. Each had wondered about the feelings this moment would produce. In the end, pure awe was the product." Emotionless characters and virtually no dialog gives the reader very little to connect with.  I will ...