www.phirpublishing.com
9781736908129 $19.99
https://johnjcasey.com/order
Evolution is the second book in The Devolution Trilogy and will especially be appreciated by prior fans who will find that this sequel (which takes place two years after original events) offers a satisfying continuation of Michael Dolan's exploits.
A prologue, 'What Came Before', recaps the characters, premise, and past experiences to bring newcomers up to date. Dolan has been recovering from his trials during Operation EXCISE. It's time for him to return to the job of thwarting terrorists.
They've already launched a deadly bioweapon in the Middle East with a virus attack that is running rampant, but Dolan is determined that his sacrifices in Berlin won't have been in vain. In that mission, the CIA's plan required him to exploit past associations that were rooted in personal tragedy - resulting in a mind-bending tangle of treacherous but ultimately successful efforts to take out a terrorist cell bent on murdering thousands of Americans with a horrifying weapon of mass destruction.
This time, he's ready for action in a different way. As thriller readers enjoy his exploits in the international arena, Dolan and the SCALPEL team return to take on a significantly more lethal and complex threat. Same players, different game.
The first thing to note about Evolution is that it lives up to its title. Not only has Dolan healed and evolved, but so has his team...and his enemies.
As he and his black ops unit are briefed about the Marburg virus (which is 90 percent lethal), Dolan finds out that one of the terrorists may be targeting him specifically. In this, John Casey creates a dilemma which is absorbingly immediate even as it links past trauma to the latest unfolding threat: "Dolan felt a chill as well, and not from the breeze off the water. Just as he'd found balance in life and some semblance of peace, disquieting vestiges of his past he thought he'd reconciled long ago came roaring back."
The terrorist peril juxtaposes nicely with Dolan's efforts to carve a different kind of life for himself, avoiding past mistakes even as his skill set leads him deeper into ongoing danger.
The blend of psychological insights combines with a spy story that keeps readers tense and wondering, delighting thriller fans who want more than nonstop action or political drama in their reads.
Dolan's growth processes, his determination to craft a different outcome that doesn't come with such a heavy price, and the requirement that he set aside his blossoming academic career for something for more challenging (and dangerous) creates a compelling story.
Newcomers receive easy access to the tale via a recap prologue that won't spoil Devolution for those who read Evolution first, while those who have finished Devolution will find Evolution just as, or even more gripping than its prequel.
Evolution is a riveting story that pits a powerful and ruthless international enemy against a small team of CIA field operatives, and in the end it is Dolan's talents and determination that prove to be the difference between success and failure. Evolution deserves top billing in any thriller or espionage fiction collection.
Clouds Above
Michael Hicks Thompson
www.michaelthompsonauthor.com
Shepherd King Publishing LLC
9780997655605, $30.00
As the world faces a water shortage like no other in history, will Dr. Grayson Fields' science skills and determination make it possible for her to bring rain to a parched world?
Readers quickly become involved in a realistic scenario that traverses the planet from D.C. to India and the Himalayas with hidden experiments, security secrets, and dangers that affect the world's water supply.
Thompson brings to life this plausible world in such a way that readers will not only be engrossed in the outcome of an elaborate situation but will find the science of climate manipulation thoroughly intriguing - even vital to our survival.
Rites & Wrongs
Holly Harrison
http://hollyharrisonwriter.com
Golden Word Books
9781948749732, $14.95 Paper/$9.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Rites-Wrongs-Holly-Harrison/dp/1948749734
What is a top-notch investigator to do with his career when he's already solved a high-profile mystery? In Rites & Wrongs, Santa Fe police detective Pascal Ruiz is tired of his return to routine investigations. When his captain asks him to undertake a private investigation involving the disappearance of his niece's boyfriend, this feels far more exciting than the daily rituals of police work. Complicating matters, he's not only tired of his job, but his New Mexico home.
Holly Harrison's ability to capture a sense of place and atmosphere during the story brings many subtle nuances to life, making Pascal's investigation as much one of personal direction as a story of intrigue: "Pascal hated the winds. He had suffered them most of his life, but each spring, he swore it would be his last. The winds clogged his head and dried his nose until it bled. His lips cracked painfully no matter how much balm he used. His eyes stung as if packed with tiny particles of glass."
Employing his astute abilities, Pascal quickly finds the missing young man...alone and unconscious in a pueblo, dressed like Jesus and tied to a cross. As Bobby's girlfriend was attempting to write an expose on the religious cult, the Penitentes, before his abduction, the cult is a prime suspect. But, as the crime has taken place on Indian reservation land, tribal police take over the case.
As Harrison's investigation evolves into a political cat-and-mouse game between vying jurisdictions, he arrives closer to a strange truth. This pits him against San Felipe tribal investigator Ortiz, who is just beginning to prefer the challenges of a job that takes him away from his usual desk work and into the field of new possibilities and problem-solving techniques...that is, before he runs afoul of the perps and is shot and left for dead.
As his friend Gillian becomes involved in an increasingly explosive situation, events heat up in a series of encounters not only between law enforcement agencies, but a group that has nefarious intentions beyond a simple kidnapping.
Holly Harrison's ability to bring New Mexico's culture and landscapes to life lends the added value of a realistic background to her story.
Fans of mysteries that look beyond swift action for three-dimensional characters with lives and concerns beyond police routines alone will find Rites & Wrongs a compelling story of jurisdictions that clash in the name of justice and criminal investigations.
The Man Who Beat Death Valley
Deborah A. Fox
Independently Published
www.debfoxdesign.com
9780578720227, $19.99
https://www.amazon.com/Death-Valley-Based-STORY-William/dp/0578720221
The Man Who Beat Death Valley's full-color graphic novel format will appeal to teen and adult audiences interested in historical fiction. The tale is based on the true story of William Lewis Manly, who helped rescue two families from the Death Valley desert, journeying through the treacherous valley three times on his missions of mercy.
In 1849-50, it took Manly and his friend over a month to lead four adults and four children out of the notorious desert.
Deborah A. Fox's colorful illustrations bring this story to life in a way printed words alone could not have achieved.
The combination of astute history, drama, and vivid images highlights the real strength of the graphic novel in this genre, especially, bringing history to life in a dramatic, compelling manner.
The dialogue is replete with action-packed words ("Roarrr! "Look OUT! Get to shore QUICKLY!"), assuring that action isn't just visual alone, but is reinforced by language that captures the adventure and drama of constant challenges to surviving the Death Valley desert.
Recommended for young adult to adult history readers, especially those who like true adventure and California settings, The Man Who Beat Death Valley is a top recommendation not just for graphic novel collections, but libraries and educators interested in visually enhanced historical fiction for all ages.
The Tree of Knowledge
Daniel G. Miller
https://danielmillerbooks.com
Houndstooth Books
9780578753201, $3.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Tree-Knowledge-Daniel-G-Miller-ebook/dp/B08SQ6KKZF
Albert Puddles isn't a criminal investigator. He's a mathematics professor - and the last person who would likely be involved in solving a murder mystery. The Tree of Knowledge places not only this tenured Princeton University professor but his colleagues in the hot seat of problem-solving beyond the classroom when his knowledge of order and method becomes key to solving a campus murder.
Readers who like their investigators to come from other than law enforcement circles will appreciate the links between the math professor's psyche, methodology, and knowledge. The involvement of colleagues and campus personalities who also lie far outside the usual detective's milieu add an extra dimension of intrigue to the plot.
The Tree of Knowledge relies on all kinds of knowledge bases coming together in a conflict of ideas and discoveries. These include the Book Club, which has worked with esteemed cryptologist Professor Turner, a Princeton savant, to develop the Tree of Knowledge that is key to solving this impossible situation in a premise that has turned deadly: "...life is nothing but a series of goals and actions, and so if you can understand those goals and anticipate the actions of individuals, then you can manipulate them."
As math and ulterior motives combine and bona-fide detectives find their best efforts thwarted, Daniel G. Miller builds a riveting story. Professor Puddles moves out of the classroom and world of theories and into bars and the consequences of applying these theories to real-world scenarios involving women, booze, and murder.
As it becomes apparent that anyone who has even glimpsed the Tree is in danger from Turner and his disciples, Christina, Eva, and a wide circle of characters find themselves not in supportive roles, but in deadly danger.
The Tree of Knowledge is a thoroughly engrossing story of power gone awry. It is compelling and unpredictable right up to the end. This special brand of suspense lends to its recommendation for men who look for clean action, suspense, and thought-provoking Christian themes surrounding knowledge, politics, and evolving new causes.
The Place Beyond Her Dreams
Oby Aligwekwe
www.obyaligwekwe.com
Eclat Books Ca.
9781775106449, $14.99 Paper/$5.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Place-Beyond-Her-Dreams/dp/1775106446
When Ona's grandfather suddenly dies, Ona finds herself journeying to the land of Luenah; there to discover her powers as an Eri, tasked with a mission beyond personal desire in The Place Beyond Her Dreams.
Young adults who choose Ona's adventure for its foray into magical realms will find its theme of personal empowerment an added bonus to an adventure story that follows Ona's exploration of her abilities and place in the world.
Ona finds herself in the middle of a war, where palaces and kings enter into her worldview of her place in a greater scheme of things. As The Place Beyond Her Dreams evolves, young readers will find that Ona's true destiny lies beyond political conflict and blossoming abilities, affecting her perceptions of her future course.
Set to marry Albert, Ona finds that her real task lies elsewhere. Even though her safety and that of her family lies in making these ties, there is a greater purpose at large which changes her destiny. Ona's actions may have created a mess, but she's determined not to involve her family more than they already are, and thinks she can fix things herself. But, can she?
The Place Beyond Her Dreams blends magic with real-world issues of cultural interactions, abuse, and tragedy. It will attract both fantasy and contemporary readers by blending these two scenarios, adding Ona's first-person perceptions about her changed circumstances and her role in transforming them: "I now considered my life as being separated into two sections; life before Okem and life after Okem. Before Okem, was carefree, fun, and glorious. After Okem, was constrained, dreary, and violent."
The story's unique combination of forays into self and the wider world create compelling scenarios in which the determined young woman must achieve the impossible to set things right and regain her life.
Young adults ages 13 and up will find The Place Beyond Her Dreams an inviting, thought-provoking adventure that surveys family, communities, and the power and consequences of personal decisions.
The Dead Daughter
Thomas Fincham
Independently Published
9798588071208, $12.99 Paper/$3.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Daughter-Private-Investigator-Suspense/dp/B08RGZHB2S
The Dead Daughter is the first volume in the Lee Callaway series, which revolves around a character first introduced casually in The Rose Water. No prior familiarity with this book is needed because, here, Lee receives his own top billing in an adventure set to propel future books into the limelight of a P.I. mystery reader's world.
The story opens not with Lee but with Sharon Gardener's discovery of the bloody body of her daughter. The next chapter introduces Detective Gregory Holt, who is tasked with investigating the death, and who loves his job. When a husband falls under his inspecting eye, the case seems fairly straightforward, in some ways.
Lee Callaway doesn't appear until the fourth chapter, but he's not the savvy, successful P.I. one might expect. He's an investigator who is down on his luck until he lands a case that may be his ticket to better fortune.
It turns out that Lee was at the residence the night of the murder, tailing Sharon, who was having an affair. His inadvertent involvement in this murder case brings him into conflict with evidence that seems cut and dried as he probes the case despite its apparently clear conclusions.
As Lee becomes involved in a puzzle with many pieces, some of them begin to come together. Others remain elusive, even though they are right under his nose. His probe of Kayla's life and secrets become a matter of life and death as he fights to reveal the truth despite the fact that he is not a cop, and his connection to the case keeps changing.
Lee's long had a reputation for being unlucky, in many ways. His luck is about to change - but only if his persistence can remain unshaken by perps and fellow investigators alike.
The Dead Daughter provides an excellent story that draws its strength from both an unusual case and an unusual hero determined to prove the innocence of a father who seems irrefutably guilty. As his investigations lead into political circles, readers receive many surprises about the characters, their motivations, and the ultimate outcome of Lee's efforts.
Mystery readers who enjoy good P.I. procedurals with satisfying twists and turns will find Lee Callaway a likeable character, the case intriguing, and the results unexpected in a story that stands out from the P.I. novel crowd.
Black & White: Healing Racial Divide
C. L. Holley
Independently Published
9798677373954, $8.99 Paper/$2.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Q26U7V8
https://books2read.com/u/4XLxxg
Black & White: Healing Racial Divide delivers an assessment of racial strife in America which moves from a history of changing racial issues (from Jim Crow experiences to modern times) to a survey of insights and solutions focused on reuniting a deeply divided country. In the process, it explores facets of the divide that rarely receive attention in similar-sounding approaches, such as Biblical references, discussions of assimilation approaches and underlying attitudes, bias, and more.
The story opens with a family picture of the author with his two high school teachers and leads to what looks to be a memoir reflecting on the birth of his daughter. This becomes a reflection on George Floyd's murder and why African Americans remain disenfranchised and at high risk in American society: "Truthfully, the breathlessness of African Americans is not a new phenomenon. Their four-hundred-year struggle to breathe began during the middle passage, increased during slavery, extended beyond post-civil war reconstruction, and remains even until the writing of this book in 2020. Obstructions to African American airways now take the form of white supremacy, systemic racism, bias, injustice, unequal treatment, and lack of access to products, services, and resources."
While he admits that every problem in the community isn't due to racism, C. L. Holley's discussion traces many facets of seemingly diverse issues to not just racist attitudes, but issues of guilt and lasting resentments, which stymie any possibility of a healing conversation.
As chapters consider the inherent racism and repression in everything from housing and communities to economic opportunities, they draw together statistics, studies, and researched information to support observations about the many faces of repression in American society: "Where a person lives and the condition in which he or she lives can determine the health and wellbeing of not only that individual but other members of the family. And those effects can linger from generation to generation."
Unlike other discussions, both black and white barriers to change receive the laser beam of Holley's attention and contentions. The new foundations of racial healing opportunities receive close inspection as he draws together possibilities for both sides to meet - but only after considering their own inherited attitudes towards race, communication, and attitudes, which erect walls on both sides.
Anyone interested in how all races can participate in the broader win-win effort of defeating racism will find Black & White: Healing Racial Divide an excellent starting point for discussion and change. It's highly recommended reading not just for collections already profiling racial issues, but high school to adult classrooms who might consider debating and absorbing its lessons, which offer opportunities for re-envisioning America and the values about equality which this nation purports to hold.
Caroline & Mordecai the Gand
Jeff Gunhus
www.JeffGunhus.com
Seven Guns Press
B08GKYJ426, $3.99, Ebook
9798593036094, $9.95, Paperback
https://www.amazon.com/Caroline-Mordecai-Gand-Fantasy-Novella-ebook/dp/B08GKYJ426
Caroline & Mordecai the Gand provides ages 8 and older with a fantasy novella about grief, recovery, and amazing journeys as it focuses on young Caroline, who has recently lost her father in a car accident.
A year after her father's death, she's still struggling, until she discovers a mysterious window in a lake, which leads her into another world inhabited by Mordecai the Gand, a traveler who promises to help her get home.
Caroline has never been good about decisions. They always seem to lead her into trouble. This time, however, she embarks on a journey that adds new possibilities to her life as she considers her impact on those around her and how this different focus can pull her out of the despair and trouble she's fallen into.
Does she really want to return home to a life of sadness, or should she stay in a world where she now has a purpose in life? Caroline has never been good about making the right decision - and this one will change everything.
In the guise of a light fantasy for young readers, Jeff Gunhus crafts a lovely story of moving forward and discovering one's purpose in life.
Caroline has many adventures that involve dragons, new threats, and evolving the courage to make better decisions. These experiences change her perspective and broaden her realizations about the world and her place in it: "For the first time in her life, she considered, truly considered, that she might not live. That all the tomorrow's she'd imagined for herself would be gone. That places she wanted to go would go unseen. The things she wanted to do would go undone. The people she wanted to see again would be out of reach. Forever."
Readers of all ages who look for ethereal, haunting stories of recovery and courage will find Caroline & Mordecai the Gand may hold the trappings of a fantasy adventure; but inside there is so much more. Make the right decision, to read this!
Does Grandma Remember Me?
Evita Sherman
www.evitasherman.com
Mascot Books
620 Herndon Parkway, #320, Herndon, VA 20170
http://mascotbooks.com
9781645435297, $15.95
https://www.amazon.com/Does-Grandma-Remember-Evita-Sherman/dp/1645435296
Does Grandma Remember Me? comes from the observations and perspective of a little girl who reviews her grandmother's many skills (such as cooking a dish from memory, without a recipe). Perhaps the greatest of all is her devotion to her granddaughter and her ability to make the young narrator feel special: "When she smiles back at me, Grandma makes me feel like I'm the only little girl on Earth. Grandma is proud of me for everything, even when I do something small."
But, something has changed. Her grandmother is confused, sad, and sometimes angry and desperate. Worst of all...the narrator suspects that sometimes her grandmother doesn't even remember who she is.
Grandma has dementia. Even though she was informed about this medical condition, the young narrator can't quite comprehend why her beloved grandmother has changed so much, and why their connection now seems so tenuous.
What can a granddaughter do? Evita Sherman shows kids how to step out of their own disappointments and fears to craft a giving response even while facing adversity.
Where other picture books might focus on defining dementia, Does Grandma Remember Me? provides an emphasis on the opportunity to be strong, giving, and redefine the grandmother/granddaughter relationship.
With so many families and children facing similar diagnosis and dilemmas, Does Grandma Remember Me? assumes an even greater importance in showing youngsters not just how to accept or understand, but how to change their responses to regain connections and love that appear to be lost. This teaches kids about empowerment, choice, and opportunities to be found even under adversarial circumstances.
The approach not only sets Does Grandma Remember Me? apart from the usual children's book on the subject, but makes it a positive, unique, highly recommended choice over others.
Punk
Amy Q. Barker
Independently Published
www.amyqbarker.com
9781735358116, $11.99 Paper/$2.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Punk-Amy-Q-Barker/dp/1735358118
Punk blends women's literature with a coming-of-age story about Delia Elliott, a junior in high school who explains how she came to travel back in time to 1932 with the aid of a family member's diary. These circumstances connect her fumbling, short life with her great-grandmother Didi's failed romance and her own mother's struggle with being a single mother in a relationship.
Barred from all connections with friends, Delia's discovery of the diary unlocks not only the past, but keys to making better decisions in the present as she absorbs her family's hidden heritage and comes to understand its impact on her own choices.
Narrated in the first person for young adult readers, Punk assumes an air of rebellion and confession as it adopts a tone that will prove immediately accessible to young readers. It blends a sarcastic, witty view of Delia's mother's approaches to life and child-rearing with insights on her life and its trajectory.
"I'm thinking how great you've been lately - sort of on a roll. I mean, you've managed to finish your junior year with halfway decent grades, you're finally done with that boy, not to mention the fallout from the incident with that boy. You haven't snuck out of the house in at least, let's see, three weeks. You haven't stolen cash out of my wallet (as far as I know). You haven't been wearing my clothes - although that is my T-shirt if I'm not mistaken - please put that back! And you haven't broken curfew. I was beginning to think things were looking up." She paused for effect and concluded with, "But I should have known better, shouldn't I have?"
As she was getting more animated, I noticed the most fascinating thing - this vein in her neck grew large and throbbed, almost as if some type of alien lived there. I began to imagine it would pop its head out and start talking to me. "Hello, Delia. I'm the alien living in your mom's jugular. I come in peace. Please feed me."
It's this spunky, sassy tone which offers both a unique voice and a major draw into the events that unfold as Delia puts together the pieces of three generation of women who face similar dilemmas in very different eras.
Young adults may read other books that attempt to appeal to their age group, but few stories pull off the spunky tone and feel of Delia, whose frustrations over her life will mirror many a teen's relationship with their family.
Under Amy Q. Barker's hand, both parents and kids hold their own very different perspectives, which appear in diary form and in the way Delia begins to understand her own situation (and her mother's) in a different way. The diary entries that hold a different tone are just as compelling as Delia's own first-person insights: "He was trying to be kind (and firm) with me and said, "Didi, I want you to make your own life, and if it can't happen with this boy, we'd rather you be on your own, living with us, until the right boy comes along." I cried a little and told him I didn't want another boy. Sometimes life is so hard. I tried to explain Paul's circumstances - not having a father and relying on his mother's initiative to keep the family afloat. He said, "Yes, this is noble and worthy of praise. She must be a strong woman to manage that counter and raise those two boys on her own, but acknowledging that, we must also look at the big picture."
The changing perspectives and narrators could prove a bit confusing, at first, even though Barker does clarify these changes in the first paragraphs of each chapter. Chapter headings defining these might have clarified the mercurial narrators.
Another strength to the story is that the different insights of each generation are covered in detail, cemented by life experience and descriptions that don't 'talk down' to young adults: "Sometimes I wondered if many of Delia's troubles stemmed from the di-vorce. It had been seven years since Johnston and I had split up, but I still had a lot of guilt, and I also realized that no matter how good or bad any divorce is, these type of childhood traumas tend to linger. She was seventeen now, and I foolishly thought with maturity would come a sort of grace and understanding, but that was naive of me. I think those feelings of confusion, abandonment, and displacement never truly go away. I should know."
Though Punk will gain its major audience from teens, it will also reach adult readers interested in an absorbing contrast between three generations of women, and shouldn't be limited to young adults alone.
Its insights on divorce, the impact of decisions, and the long-term ramifications of family patterns is absorbing and involving, and will please women's fiction readers and young adults alike.
Rue
Amy Q. Barker
Independently Published
www.amyqbarker.com
9781735358109, $11.99 Paper/$2.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Rue-Amy-Q-Barker-ebook/dp/B08DZZQTQ1
Readers of contemporary women's fiction will find Rue a compelling piece, indeed. It features an unusual protagonist in Rue Cavendish, a lounge singer who has been blind since birth, and who is singing in a San Francisco bar when she meets Josh.
Rue has always cultivated her independence against all odds. And she holds some decided feelings about the idea of romance and relationships: "She wondered absently what that must feel like - to be on the verge of something new, the precipice before you fall, the edge of a cliff - trying with all your might to put your best foot forward. And then she thought of the duplicity of people. Was it natural, an innate instinct, to put on that mask when you meet someone new? The facade: say the right things, listen politely, be interesting and interested. Then what happens later when you reveal your true self - the one with all its selfishness, inner demons, foibles, flaws?"
Rue has long prided herself on successfully navigating the sighted world, but in the process of cultivating her own life, she's fallen behind in exploring matters of the heart.
This changes as she not only becomes involved with Josh, but experiences further insights about couples and love through Kevin Warren and his wife Alyssa, who are experiencing many challenges in their marriage and perceptions of what they want both in life and from each other.
As Rue experiences passion, explores her sexuality and a new relationship, and lets down some of her barriers, she expresses many emotions women will readily relate to, as in this aftermath of intimacy: "She should have savored that moment. She should have sat there letting it sink in. She should have basked in the glory of what had just happened. But instead, the moment he stepped out of the bathroom, the full force of reality hit her like a ton of bricks. She began to cry uncontrollably. What had she done? What had they done? It was a marvel! But was it wrong? She hardly knew him! What must he think of her? What did she think of herself? Was she just like all of the other girls who came to him? How many others were there? Were they easy, vapid, unscrupulous? Was she? She felt cracked open like an egg, with no power to stop her insides from pouring out."
She wonders if Josh is nervous about including her in his world, and if he's really ready to date someone like Rue. She also wonders if she is ready for more than she's already carved out from life.
From taking risks to understanding differences between love and friendship and surviving emotional devastation when life goes awry, Rue grows emotionally throughout this story, carrying readers into both her life and the possibilities of women in and out of love.
Rue is a compelling novel of a blind woman who begins to see her life in a different way. Its tour of accountability, relationship-building, and changing perceptions not only invites readers into Rue's life, but adds the perspectives and objectives of others on their own paths to better seeing the opportunities and desires in their lives.
Women who like contemporary novels about already-strong women taking the next step in their evolution will find Rue realistic, absorbing, and packed with relationship insights.
Confessions of a CIA Spy - The Art of Human Hacking
Peter Warmka
Independently Published
9798554614545, $9.99 ebook; $14.99 Paper
https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-CIA-Spy-Human-Hacking-ebook/dp/B08QYZJ13K
Confessions of a CIA Spy - The Art of Human Hacking comes from a CIA career spy whose lifetime of experiences led him to form the Counterintelligence Institute, which addresses security and intelligence issues in individual and company lives.
As such, readers might expect a series of spy stories from this book, but it offers so much more. Herein lies the opportunity to understand the presence, effects, and processes of disinformation, hacking, and other intelligence hacks in daily citizens' lives. Confessions of a CIA Spy excels in identifying these problems and how to overcome them.
Information is a powerful tool. It can be successfully managed or artfully mismanaged, and the latter can be compromised more easily in this era than at any other point in human history.
Confessions of a CIA Spy reviews this process, and is especially powerful in its assessments of organizational security and implementing protections to address situations which at first might not seem to pose opportunities for disaster: "While an entity may aggressively use social media to help promote their products and services, an unintended consequence can be the leakage of information, which can be invaluable to social engineers. This exposure results in the creation of vulnerabilities for the organization. Company employees will often upload photos or videos of themselves in the workplace to social media sites, providing social engineers with insight into their physical workspaces."
The insights on how social engineers and information gatherers often don't even have to produce a bona fide hack to gain access to company data and details is positively frightening - as well as enlightening.
By understanding the extent and processes of hackers and how 'social engineers' manipulate both loopholes and emotions, companies and individuals who look to improve their security measures will find the many layers of hacking approaches intriguing. This will allow them to uncover gaps in company safety processes which they may not have considered previously, going beyond the usual emphasis on cybersecurity firewalls: "The social engineer may place pressure upon the target by implying that refusing to assist will be seen by others as socially unacceptable...These influence techniques can be used in a variety of situations, including brief one-time interactions with a target."
The wide-ranging, authority-backed discussions of various forms of hacking make Confessions of a CIA Spy - The Art of Human Hacking a key acquisition. While those who wanted true-life spy stories may be disappointed, ultimately, the focus on the extent of human hacking operations is both invaluable and intriguing, exposing scenarios of vulnerability that many will not have thought of before.
No cybersecurity or social issues collection should be without Confessions of a CIA Spy.
Daisy Moves to America
Elyssa Nicole Trust
Independently Published
https://www.elyssanicoletrust.com/writer#childrens-book
9781736354513, $12.99 Paper; $17.99 Hardcover; $6.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08W21DTJ3
Daisy Mae was born in the UK, and loves her life there with her family. But when her mom gets a good job in the US, the family moves. Daisy faces not just a new home, but a new culture in Daisy Moves to America.
Part of what makes this move seem both easier and more challenging, in comparison with other immigrant experiences, is that the UK and America share the same language (mostly), and many things...but, often with a difference.
Daisy's new class in Buffalo finds much to tease her about, from her British accent to how she pronounces words and how some of her words differ from American meanings (such as 'TV' versus 'telly').
As the land of opportunity becomes one of cruelty and teasing, Daisy is advised by her wise parents on how to adjust her approach and attitude to not blend in, but encourage others to help celebrate her differences.
Daisy Moves to America offers fine lessons on family support, assimilation, and confronting bullying. By making Daisy a character from a very similar yet singular country, Elyssa Nicole Trust explores a different facet of the immigrant experience than most picture books.
From mustering courage to cultivating a revised approach to life, Daisy Moves to America provides picture book readers with a different perspective on adaptation and meeting adversity and cruelty with a specific strategy for change.
Large, size, colorful drawings by Alvin Adhi complete the appeal of the story of how a little girl gains a spunky attitude about her differences. The story is highly recommended for any picture book collection about immigrant experience, assimilation, or better approaches to adversity.
Magicide
C. V. Hamilton
Swift House Press
https://swifthousepress.com
9780990966418, $17.95 Paper/$3.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Magicide-Carolyn-V-Hamilton-ebook/dp/B00HP40DA6
Magicide enters the world of magic tricks and entertainment with a bang when famous magician Maxwell Beacham-Jones is killed in a Las Vegas roller coaster escape stunt. At first this seems a predicable outcome for a new and dangerous trick, but Las Vegas Metro Police detective and single mom Cheri Raymer and her quirky vegetarian partner, Tony Pizzarelli, happen to realize that many a fellow magician has had it out for Maxwell.
Suspecting that the death was a murder, the two embark on an investigation that leads them into the underworld of the Vegas entertainment industry in a riveting thriller that takes magic to a new level.
From a DVD of Maxwell performing a magic ritual on Sunrise Mountain which may hold a clue the perp doesn't wish revealed to white magic, black magic, and hidden motivations, the investigation is intriguing and savvy. So are the forays into the world of magical performance: "Maxwell was a very knowledgeable magician. He studied the history of the magic arts in depth - white magic, black magic, but magic is a theatrical profession. We don't turn stones into gold."
C.V. Hamilton appears to well know the milieu of the Vegas entertainment industry, magic shows, and how to craft the special overlay of a murder mystery set in this environment. Her attention to weaving humor into the story of two savvy investigators who interact with a host of other characters with their own special interests creates a vivid murder mystery with many satisfying twists and turns.
The secrets revealed aren't always apparent, to even the seasoned mystery reader, which makes Magicide stand out from more predictable stories. Tight writing keeps readers both thoroughly engaged and happily off-balance about evolving relationships, motivations, and underlying angst.
Anyone who has been to Vegas or seen a magic show will be especially captivated by the realistic backdrops of both environments, and will find Magicide an engrossing mystery of discovery and deadly truths.
A Matter of Course
Jody Wenner
Independently Published
9798701211535, $4.99 ebook; $11.99 Print
https://www.amazon.com/Matter-Course-Jody-Wenner/dp/B08VBS3XRG
Marigold Winter is headed to a destination that she prefers not to think about. She's moved back home with her mother after her breakup with Pete because her once-strong mother Zi needs her. This destination may be their final journey together, but Mari soon discovers that when one door closes, another opens, as she encounters new possibilities for her life in the unlikeliest of places.
Mari's encounters on the train with Lark and old woman Norma leads her into Lark's artistic world, which in turn leads him to rethink the course of his own life.
There, she discovers new talents that her mother had tried to teach her, taking up the camera she'd once eschewed and literally walking in her mother's shoes into unexpected new adventures and perspectives. Her efforts involve not only a crash course in photography, but encounters with very different people as Mari's trajectory introduces Jeannie and husband Dean (who, like Mari, also likes to focus on the little details of life around him), who are both struggling with despised jobs and a rocky marriage.
Jody Wenner creates a gentle journey through disparate lives connected by chance and circumstance in A Matter of Course.
As the novel evolves, so do characters who refuse to give up. They confront the changes sparked by one man's discovery, which connects their disparate lives on the Orange Line they all rode at the same pivotal moment in their lives.
As the story moves between characters and from personal opportunities and transformations to slides and setbacks, Wenner creates a fascinating interplay between chance meetings and life-changing events for all the characters involved.
A number of characters' lives are explored and juxtaposed, as well, which could feel confusing to some were it not for the clear chapter titles which make it easy to move between the lives and perspectives of Mari, Lark, Jason, Ed Fleek, Robert Andrew Davis, and a host of others involved in making new discoveries about themselves and the world they want to live in.
Contemporary fiction readers looking for an intriguing story of disparate individuals will find A Matter of Course an excellent study in differences. It also blends a touch of romance and mystery into its strong story of life's ironic intersections.
As a piece especially suitable and recommended for fiction book club reader debate and discussion, A Matter of Course provides much food for thought.
E is for Elephant: An Animal Alphabet from A to Z
Kjersten Faseler
https://www.kjerstenfaseler.com
Little Beaver Publishing
9781734825626, $14.99 Hardcover/$9.99 Paper
https://www.amazon.com/Elephant-Animal-Alphabet-Z/dp/1734825626
Young picture book readers who love animals are in for an early learning treat with E is for Elephant: An Animal Alphabet from A to Z, by Kjersten Faseler. The primer uses a child's inherent love of colorful drawings and animals to reinforce alphabet basics.
Nifty Illustration provides a whimsical animal line-up to accompany each letter. 'A' features a smiling alligator, 'Q' shows Quincy the quail, and 'U' is for Uri the urchin, who lives in the sea.
Each one-line description describes a very basic setting or ability for each animal, while the range of birds, beasts, and sea life is satisfyingly diverse.
Read-aloud parents looking for large-size, bright drawings and a fun animal theme for basic alphabet learning will find E is for Elephant an inviting, easy approach.
Chokecherry Girl
Barbara Meyer Link
Acorn Publishing
https://www.acornpublishingllc.com
9781952112195, $12.99 Paper; $17.99 Hardcover; $7.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Chokecherry-Girl-Barbara-Meyer-Link/dp/1952112184
Life in a late 1950s small Montana community is anything but staid, as three females find through very different relationships with males and each other.
Bobbi is a teen who has a crush on an Indian basketball player. Patsy is attracted to Bobbi's father, even though he's married. And Mary Agnes is an alcoholic Indian woman who cleans houses and is estranged from her son.
These three disparate individuals find their lives joined not only by fate and their gender, but by the community's own growing pains in Chokecherry Girl. The story centers on Bobbi, but includes the lives of these two other adult women as influencers on her perceptions and choices.
Barbara Meyer Link's injection of local 1950s Indian women's lives and issues into the overall story of a white Montana community's evolution is nicely done. It's surprising because few novels about this era include Native American issues and community references in small-town explorations.
In a world where hidden desires become too possible, the events that transpire around a stolen car and illicit love juxtapose these very different women in unusual ways, making for a story that is satisfyingly involving and unexpected in its growth.
This is an environment where growing young women face challenges from adults, as in this scene, where young Patsy is accosted by a man she thinks could be the family's 'pretend dad': "Come on, young lady; no more bar for you." Audrey pushed Patsy out the door. "You're going home. And you're staying home." Patsy comes of age in a milieu where beer is "That great stuff that kept her parents away from home every night."
Patsy turns fourteen in the spring of 1944, a time when everything is changing, both personally and politically. Patsy feels stuck, with limited choices she doesn't want to consider. Mary Agnes, in contrast, is far more repressed.
Her situation evolves in quite a different (almost alien, in feel) milieu, reinforcing the idea that she is also stuck (but in a very different way) between the white man's world and her Indian ways.
Bobbi, the next generation, turns to Patsy. Her world, too, feels limiting and puzzling: "Her mom hadn't asked all the annoying questions. Where are you going? What time will you be home? And who is going with you? It was as if she was someone else's child. Everything felt weird today. Her stomach felt heavy, about to fall between her knees. She wanted so much to go to Williston and drive that bitchin' car, except she'd just die if she got found out."
From Mary Agnes's struggle to reclaim a lost son who considers another woman his mother to Patsy's reunion with Ord, who promises her something different than they'd struggled with in their past relationship, Link provides an evolving story of three very different lives that become caught up in a scandal that changes each.
Bobbi is challenged with revealing a difficult truth, and so readers of women's fiction will find this multi-leveled tale filled with insights about big dreams, coming of age, and evolving new realizations about tribal relationships and interactions with the white man.
Readers looking for an intriguing story of growth and self-realization will find in these three different lives much food for thought, focussing on growth in an era of both new possibilities and closing doors of familiar opportunity.
The Day I Lost My Wings
Litzi Y. Umana
BookBaby
9781736225608, $28.00 Hardcover/$9.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Day-Lost-My-Wings/dp/173622560X
Picture book readers ages 2-10, as well as read-aloud parents seeking a gentle story about perseverance, will find The Day I Lost My Wings an enchanting read that tells of Mochi, who comes from the stars to observe Earth; there to fall in love with its environment and people.
When Mochi lived in the stars, she was naughty and playful, even though she is a little angel. The more she learns about humans, the more she longs to be among them.
The Day I Lost My Wings holds appealing drawings and a perspective that is invitingly different, and is recommended for young picture book readers and read-aloud parents interested in stories of spunky, determined personalities.
SIS
Kelisha Lopez-Shealey
Independently Published
9780578590516, $5.99 Paper/$3.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/SIS-Mrs-Kelisha-Lopez-Shealey/dp/0578590514
SIS is a poetry collection directed to women connected by female perspectives on survival and life's meaning. It provides free verse inspections designed to appeal to those seeking inspirational admonitions.
SIS promotes self-love, the love of God, and provides a positive, achievement-oriented approach to life that acknowledges challenges and successes alike: "As soon as she was ready/to embrace change,/the fireworks of her soul/blazed throughout her/life and her dreams exploded/into her reality."
Readers who anticipate the usual poetic structure and flow will find that these pieces fall more into the inspirational side of the literary world than poetic forms per se.
Each provide succinct reflections designed to be both informational and uplifting, and each offers reflections on hope, courage, resilience, and some of the other cornerstones of not just survival, but building and reinforcing a positive mindset and approach to life.
At times, the works are not just prophetic or inspirational, but analytical and thought-provoking as they reveal why women, in particular, tend to become stuck: "You're suffering where you are sis/because you think making/a change will be painful./Taking a leap of faith won't hurt as/much as wallowing in that pit."
Women interested in fighting for themselves and their dreams will find these poetic admonitions to be inspiring, especially suitable for daily inspirational reading and reflection.
COVID 19...How to Overcome the Anxiety and Stress
Bruce Sherman
Independently Published
9781935821564 $9.99 www.amazon.com
Ever since Covid arrived to change the world, writers have been commenting on various aspects of these changes. The emotional/psychological impact from Covid is fast becoming more widespread than the pandemic itself. Even more importantly, the duration of the mental issues is predicted to survive even after the virus is brought under control. Although we are deluged day after day with statistics on deaths, new cases, hospital resources, vaccine progress...on and on...there has been little advice and counsel on how to cope with the fear, stress, anxiety and depression we’re experiencing.
Articles and reports offering ways to combat the negative emotions that are starting to appear. The problem is that one would need a long reading list to find them. To solve that concern, Bruce Sherman has done an exhaustive search to find material relevant to mental issues. From that list, he has selected over 70 pieces he considers the most valuable for inclusion as foundation references. In order to avoid violating the copyright law, the articles are listed using their titles...which aren’t covered by copyright law.
Bruce Sherman's booklet offers resource listings that range from CNN reports such as a lead, key article about kids in the pandemic world, 'Helping Your Child Manage The Emotional Impact Of Corona Virus' to the Stanford Center for Aging's article 'Taking Care of Your Emotional Wellbeing during a Pandemic.'
No website links are given, but this list of the article or report title and its originating source will allow readers to easily locate and absorb each piece. Some might think that it might have been easier to locate these pieces with one click had Sherman included website links, but too often, web links charge. By providing just the title and source, it's just as easy to cut-and-paste the reference into a browser to access the articles, videos, and presentations.
This is a diverse list of resources, from how humor can help alleviate pandemic fear to the different experiences and concerns of youth and the aged, and how to volunteer to help. Each resource offers a unique opportunity to grapple with larger issues in a personal manner that helps not only individual life, but holds potential to impact people outside one's bubble group or home.
A concluding collection of articles about 'Understanding the Dying' offers especially important, relevant tools for coping, understanding, and mental health during a period of time when there is so much loss taking place.
It's not impossible to locate articles about Covid—anyone with a computer can do so. What is special about this booklet is that Sherman has already done the legwork in selecting the most relevant, action-oriented, revealing works surrounding Covid, placing his bibliography in one document for easy access.
All the reader need do is select the title of interest and download it into tablet or computer to have access to the complete piece. This book belongs in everyone’s library...and in public libraries. The price is a lot more manageable than sessions with a psychiatrist!
Diane C. Donovan, Senior Reviewer
Donovan's Literary Services
www.donovansliteraryservices.com
Gary Roen's Bookshelf
The Best of Jerry Pournelle
Edited by John F. Carr
Baen Publishing Enterprises
www.baen.com
9781982125004, $8.99 pbk / $6.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Best-Jerry-Pournelle-John-Carr/dp/1982125004
"The Best of Jerry Pournelle" is a celebration of a major voice of science fiction, who was a key player for so long. Editor John F. Carr worked with Pournelle for many years now adds his perceptions as well as picks some of the defining pieces of fiction and nonfiction to feature. Other authors including Larry Niven, Steven Barnes, and David Gerrold highlight Jerry from a friend and collaborator view. Fans should snarf up "The Best of Jerry Pournelle" that is only a fraction tribute to a diverse, profoundly missed individual who helped shape the genre.
Raptor Bloom
Thomas Belisle
Luminare Press
www.luminarepress.com
9781643883236, $11.95 pbk / $7.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Raptor-Bloom-Thomas-Belisle/dp/1643883232
"Raptor Bloom" opens with a combat mission to end the rein of terror by a terrorist in the middle east. The sortie successful, prompts a series of events after a fighter pilot dies, as well as the target. Years later the sons of both men will confront each other first as acquaintances and later enemies. One has bitter held feelings for the United States and the other follows in his father's footsteps becoming a tactical aviator. "Raptor Bloom" though filled with techno jargon is a tense nail biting confrontation between nations as well as a character study of two men that is sure to please any fans of Tom Clancy.
The Detective Stories of Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Foreword by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Word Fire Press
www.wordfirepress.com
9781680571004, $19.99 print / $4.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Detective-Stories-Edgar-Allan-Poe-ebook/dp/B08J6Q36W4
When people think of horror fiction today, several names come to mind including Stephen King and Dean Koontz but there is another author who often has been called the "father of mystery and horror." His name is Edgar Allan Poe, and the collection "The Detective Stories of Edgar Allan Poe" solidifies his place in modern literature. The three tales possibly, his best known are as readable as ever. They are "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" "The Purloined Letter" and "The Mystery of Marie Roget" Rusch's foreword adds a new perception of the writer that enhances the enjoyment of these chilling tales. For so long Poe's works have been a part of school and college literature programs whereby students were graded down if they did not agree with the instructor or they had to read them to receive a grade. "The Detective Stories of Edgar Allan Poe" is to be savored and appreciated for their genius with no other curriculum than relish their brilliance.
Amid The Crowd of Stars
Stephen Leigh
DAW
www.dawbooks.com
9780756415693, $26.00 hc / $13.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Amid-Crowd-Stars-Stephen-Leigh-ebook/dp/B089G5XM2C
Alien contact novels usually depict the beings as hostile. "Amid The Crowd of Stars" examines the possibility that humanity in is quest to the stars actually is the threat to itself and other races. Are we invaders like viruses reeking all kinds of havoc on others, is one of the scenarios laid out by author Stephen Leigh. Many readers will think the work has something to do with Covid19 but, as Leigh comments that he began this novel in 2028 and that it really has nothing to do with the present menace to humanity "Amid The Crowd of Stars" is a very different tale of science fiction by a great voice in the genre.
Later
Stephen King
Hard Case Crime
c/o Titan Publishing Group Ltd
www.HardCaseCrime.com
9781789096491, $14.95 pbk / $9.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Later-Stephen-King/dp/1789096499
"Later" The newest Stephen King thriller is a page turner that shows why King is one of the masters of the genre. From an early age Jamie Conklin has a rare talent that he can see and talk to the dead. There are several positive benefits for Jamie, his mother and some friends. But there is are numerous negatives including one dead man who continually follows Jamie around. Some of the fun of this novel is to see the world of publishing through Jamie's mom who is a part of it as well as King referencing one of his own works. "Later" is a beautifully written chilling tale that slowly unfolds to its gripping ending.
Great Little Last-Minute Editing Tips For Writers
Carolyn Howard-Johnson
www.HowToDoItFrugally.com
Modern History Press
https://www.modernhistorypress.com
9781615995240, $9.95 pbk / $2.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Great-Little-Last-Minute-Editing-Writers-ebook/dp/B08DDJ7LZT
"Great Little Last-Minute Editing Tips For Writers" packs so much priceless information in a petite container that any writer should seriously consider using for everything they devise. She reveals the structure of certain words, differences in ones that look and sound the same, and when to use them. Told in easy-to-follow terms "Great Little Last-Minute Editing Tips For Writers" is a great guide to follow to create the best work you can.
The Great First Impression Book Proposal, second edition
Carolyn Howard-Johnson
www.HowToDoItFrugally.com
Modern History Press
https://www.modernhistorypress.com
9781615994816, $8.95 pbk / $2.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Great-First-Impression-Book-Proposal/dp/1615994815
"The Great First Impression Book Proposal" tells you everything you need to know in a short to the point approach to not make mistakes when attempting to get published. Carolyn Howard- Johnson gives useful tips like how to write a proposal, words to use that grab, others to not consider and ways to make the piece entice as well as other useful information for wordsmiths to use to achieve their goals. "The Great First Impression Book Proposal" is a valuable tool for anyone to use to get published.
God Sent Me A textbook case on evolution vs. creation
Jeffrey Selman
www.jeffreyselman.com
Blossom Press
9780578152554, $17.76 pbk / $2.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/God-Sent-Me-textbook-evolution/dp/057815255X
My initial reaction to "God Sent Me" spawned me to think it was related to the recent TV series "God Friended Me," Upon closer inspection I was delighted to see that it is so much more than I ever thought. "God Sent Me" details one man's fight to protect us all from zealot nuts who want to control things we see, read, think and do. Selman leaped into action after a local schoolboard in Georgia was considering tagging text books of a certain subject. What ensued has been challenged in county systems, courts throughout the land and exposed for what it is of one group trying to control everyone. Selman has endured death threats, hate mail and other vicious activity to fight for all of us to be free. "God Sent Me" shows how one person can make a difference no matter the issue.
Giving Grief Meaning
Lilly Dulan
Mango Publishing
www.mangopublishinggroup.com
9781642503135, $18.95 pbk / $11.49 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Giving-Grief-Meaning-Transforming-Suffering/dp/1642503134
"Giving Grief Meaning" details one woman's journey through one of the darkest times of her life. Lilly Dulan and her husband were the proud parents of a little girl who died of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death) Still today there is no explanation for why a perfectly healthy baby, in fact often stated super baby, dies. Dulan writes on the many ways she has coped with the progression of grief. Like many other people she has written "Giving Grief Meaning" to help others in similar situations. One missing element though is she barely touches on her husband and the way he has coped with the demise of their two-month daughter. "Giving Grief Meaning" fault does not change that it is a comforting book for others in comparable circumstances.
The Lion Queens of India
Jan Reynolds
Lee & Low Books Inc
www.leeandlow.com
9781643790510, $18.95
https://www.amazon.com/Lion-Queens-India-Jan-Reynolds/dp/164379051X
Until reading "The Lion Queens of India" I was not aware there are many diverse types of lions in different regions of the world. Jan Reynolds concentrates on a particular feline in the area of India. Rashila a forest guard functions as a protector of numerous lions. She reveals all kinds of interesting facts about the animals she safeguards. Filled with photographs, art and prose "The Lion Queens of India" is an educational work that all ages can experience.
Gary Roen
Senior Reviewer
Helen Dumont's Bookshelf
Women Surviving Apartheid's Prisons
Shanthini Naidoo
Just World Books
www.justworldbooks.com
9781682570975, $22.95, PB, 240pp
https://www.amazon.com/Surviving-Apartheids-Prisons-Shanthini-Naidoo/dp/1682570975
Synopsis: Apartheid was a system of institutionalized racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 until the early 1990s. Apartheid was characterized by an authoritarian political culture based on baasskap (white supremacy), which ensured that South Africa was dominated politically, socially, and economically by the nation's minority white population. According to this system of social stratification, white citizens had the highest status, followed by Asians and Coloureds, then black Africans. The economic legacy and social effects of apartheid continue to the present day. (Wikipedia)
In 1969, South Africa's apartheid government arrested anti-apartheid leaders and activists nationwide for a key planned show trial. Among them were seven women, three of whom (including Winnie Madikizela-Mandela) have since died. "Women Surviving Apartheid's Prisons" by South African journalist Shanthini Naidoo uses rich interview material to share the previously unknown stories of the four imprisoned women who are still living: Joyce Sikhakhane-Rankin, Rita Ndzanga, Shanthie Naidoo, and Nondwe Mankahla.
These four freedom fighters were held in solitary confinement for more than a year and subjected to brutal torture in a bid to force them to testify against their comrades. But they refused to do so, which forced the whole trial effort to collapse. "Women Surviving Apartheid's Prisons" explores how women from different oppressed communities in South Africa defied traditional gender expectations and played a key role in the overthrow of Apartheid.
Critique: An impressive, unique, and exceptional informative contribution to South African History and Women's Studies, "Women Surviving Apartheid's Prisons" is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to community, college, and university library collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of students, academia, political activists, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Women Surviving Apartheid's Prisons" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $15.99).
Editorial Note: Shanthini Naidoo is a former journalist on South Africa's Sunday Times. She has also worked for The TimesO magazine. Naidoo lives in Johannesburg with her husband and two daughters.
Victim 2 Victor
Anu Verma
Absolute Author Publishing House
https://absoluteauthor.com
9781649530950, $13.62, PB, 231pp
https://www.amazon.com/Victim-Victor-inspirational-struggle-overcoming/dp/1649530951
Synopsis: When childhood memories and events continue to haunt you, you may feel the best thing to do is to forget about it and move on -- but is there a better way? Facing the pain hurts, but hiding from it throughout adulthood is worse. Being a victim, it takes a great amount of strength and healing to break the pattern.
"Victim 2 Victor" by Anu Verma is inspiring and brutally honest memoir that details the struggle for survival, and the search for healing and happiness. Raised in abuse and navigating through consequences, this is the personal story of a young, broken soul who finds the strength to embark on a journey to reclaim her self-worth.
What kind of childhood is possible with sexual assault? Is there a way to escape from hurt? How do you shed the victim identity? "Victim 2 Victor" is gripping book that details the life of a first-generation girl who went through hell. Born in England in 1980 with mixed Asian Indian ancestry, she narrates her story of hardship and resistance. Dealing with deep traumas from sexual assault endured since the age of three, and the challenges of being a woman, this girl managed not to break. Her inspiring journey is a life-long struggle to find self-worth on the ruins of self-esteem.
Not only written as a dedicated memoir, "Victim 2 Victor" is also a valuable DIY guide and a toolkit with many self-help techniques for sufferers of abuse and trauma.
Critique: Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "Victim 2 Victor: An inspirational true story about a woman's struggle with sexual abuse and overcoming trauma" by Anu Verma is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended addition to community, college, and university library Abuse Recovery collections in general, and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder supplemental curriculum studies reading lists in particular. Invaluable reading for any woman having to deal with the stress of childhood (or adult) abuse, it should be noted that "Victim 2 Victor" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $5.11).
The Soul's Twins: Emancipate Your Feminine and Masculine Archetypes
Jean Benedict Raffa
Red Feather Mind
c/o Schiffer Publishing Ltd.
4880 Lower Valley Road, Atglen, PA 19310
www.schifferbooks.com
9780764360602, $19.99, HC, 208pp
https://www.amazon.com/Souls-Twins-Emancipate-Masculine-Archetypes/dp/0764360604
Synopsis: Humanity in this modern ages is plagued by a loss of meaning and alienation from self and others. The result is unprecedented levels of divorce, depression, anxiety, addictions, suicide, and crime. Because societal institutions have failed to resolve these and other everyday problems, it is now the task of each individual to heal and unite their divided self: body and spirit, conscious and unconscious, feminine and masculine.
Drawing on Jungian psychology and wisdom traditions from world religions, Dr. Raffa offers a self-guided journey to heightened self-awareness and compassion for oneself and others in the pages of "The Soul's Twins: Emancipate Your Feminine and Masculine Archetypes". A self-assessment tool called the Partnership Profile gives readers a personalized status report on their inner forces, including the maturity of four feminine archetypes, four masculine archetypes, and a newly emerging archetype of egalitarian partnership. This awareness, combined with suggested practices, empowers readers to address their imbalances and create the lives for which they yearn.
Critique: A unique and seminal approach to dealing with the stresses of modern life and offering invaluable insights into the human condition in general, and the reader in particular, "The Soul's Twins: Emancipate Your Feminine and Masculine Archetypes" is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended addition to professional, community, college, and university library Personal Transformation Self-Help/Self-Improvement collections in general, and the personal reading lists of the non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject.
Editorial Note: Jean Benedict Raffa is also the author of Healing the Sacred Divide: Making Peace with Ourselves, Each Other, and the World (2012), Dream Theatres of the Soul: Empowering the Feminine through Jungian Dream Work (1994), and The Bridge to Wholeness: A Feminine Alternative to the Hero Myth (1992).
Healing with Plants: The Chelsea Physic Garden Herbal
Chelsea Physic Garden
https://www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk
Aster
c/o Octopus Books
236 Park Avenue, New York NY 10017
www.octopusbooksusa.com
9781783253043, $19.99, HC, 256pp
https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Plants-Chelsea-Physic-Garden/dp/1783253045
Synopsis: Gardeners and practitioners of alternative medicine will enjoy discovering the healing powers of plants in "Healing with Plants: The Chelsea Physic Garden Herbal" a truly impressive, and definitive herbal guide from one of the oldest botanic gardens in the world -- the Chelsea Physic Garden, London, England.
From the common stinging nettle, which is more nutritious than all the vegetables in your local supermarket to incredible adaptogenic properties of ashwagandha, the plant world is the most incredible medicine cabinet we have and herbal healing has a rich and fascinating history.
Non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject, as well as medical students and health workers will be inspired by this beautiful guide that is intended to bring more plants into their lives for health, wellbeing and happiness. "Healing with Plants: The Chelsea Physic Garden Herbal" includes a fascinating and broad introduction to herbal traditions, how to make plant-based preparations, tells the stories of more than 140 herbs and plants, offers practical tips on growing these plants -- including recipes that anyone can try at home.
Critique; Eloquently illustrated throughout, "Healing with Plants: The Chelsea Physic Garden Herbal" is an extraordinary volume that will grace personal, professional, community, college, and university library collections in general, and Herb Gardening, Naturopathy Medicine, and Herb, Spice & Condiment Cooking studies lists in particular. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Healing with Plants: The Chelsea Physic Garden Herbal" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $18.99).
Editorial Note: Tucked away beside the River Thames, the Chelsea Physic Garden is a kind of living library that houses around 5,000 different medicinal, herbal, edible and useful plants. Medicinal plants have been grown at the Garden since the 17th century, a tradition continued in the present day with displays of medicinal and herbal species used globally in the past, present and potentially in the future. The Chelsea Physic Garden is also part of the long tradition of published herbals -- for example A Curious Herbal was written and illustrated by Elizabeth Blackwell using plant specimens from the Garden and was published in weekly parts between 1737-39. The Chelsea Physic Garden website is at https://www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk
Phenomenal Vision Eyesight to Life Sight
Leonidas A. Johnson, Optometrist
Christian Faith Publishing
832 Park Avenue, Meadville, PA 16335
https://www.christianfaithpublishing.com
9781098054465, $19.95, PB, 118pp
https://www.amazon.com/Phenomenal-Vision-Eyesight-Life-Sight/dp/1098054466
Synopsis: Vision is a physical, mental, and spiritual phenomena of enlightenment. "Phenomenal Vision: Eyesight to Life Sight" is an inherently intriguing and informative exploration based on the Rev. Dr. Leonidas A. Johnson's pioneering insight into the relationship between eyesight and the various ways we view and process information in life.
The aim of "Phenomenal Vision Eyesight to Life Sight" is not only to help teach how to process information about our world that encompasses a biblical world view but also to help develop a biblically sound decision-making strategy. According to Johnson, a licensed optometrist, "next to life itself, God's most precious gift is sight-the window to this thing called life."
Poor life sight is a preventable tragedy. Why view life through a dirty or fogged-up window? Poor life sight is correctable. Dr. Leonidas has spent a lifetime helping people to see. In these last days, the Rev. Dr. Johnson has written a kind of DIY instruction guide and manual to help you to see because: To live a phenomenal life, you must have phenomenal vision. To have phenomenal vision you must have phenomenal life sight.
How is your eyesight and more importantly how is your life sight? For an answer give a careful reading to "Phenomenal Vision Eyesight to Life Sight"!
Critique: Exceptionally well written, impressively organized, and thoroughly 'user friendly' in presentation, "Phenomenal Vision Eyesight to Life Sight" is unreservedly recommended for personal and professional reading lists, as well as community, college, and university library Self-Help/Self-Improvement collections.
Club 42: A Choose-Your-Own Erotic Fantasy
Joanna Angel
Cleis Press
101 Hudson Street, Suite 3705, Jersey City, New Jersey 07302
http://cleispress.com
9781627783064, $18.95, PB, 347pp
https://www.amazon.com/Club-42-Choose-Your-Own-Erotic-Fantasy/dp/1627783067
Synopsis: Naomi, a proud Brooklyn hipster, finds her life is forever changed when she gets fired from her barista job and wanders into a strip club called Club 42. On a whim, Naomi auditions to become a dancer and what happens next is entirely up to you, the reader, as the story proceeds in a kind of 'choose your own adventure format'!
Readers will enjoy joining Naomi as she works the day shift at a Manhattan club where patrons sip on carrot juice instead of beer. From learning the art of the lap dance to giving her ex the "extras" in the VIP room, there's more to learn here than she ever learned in college. Should she tell her partner (the dreamy, broke musician who is unofficially squatting in her apartment) about her job, or should she learn to lead a double life between two boroughs? Should she experiment with moonlighting as a Dominatrix, or stay in the strip club and submit to her newest crush, exploring her sexuality and her newfound love for exhibitionism as she twerks her way into a new tax bracket?
It's all up to you as the reader, so grab your stilettos, turn up the early-2000s dance hits, and guide Naomi through this nonstop naked adventure in the city that never sleeps!
Critique: A truly original and (more than once!) fun read, "Club 42: A Choose-Your-Own Erotic Fantasy" by Joanna Angel is especially and unreservedly recommended for mature readers who would enjoy a finely crafted DIY choose your own erotic adventure! It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Club 42: A Choose-Your-Own Erotic Fantasy" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $11.99).
Helen Dumont
Reviewer
John Taylor's Bookshelf
Will I Always Be A __ In America?: A Black Man's Reflections on Living in America
John A. Reaves
https://www.johnareaves.com
Canoe Tree Press
c/o DartFrog Books
https://dartfrogbooks.com
9781735703008, $9.99, PB, 72pp
https://www.amazon.com/Will-Always-Be-America-Reflections/dp/1735703001
Synopsis: Since its inception, America has struggled to find a solution as to how Black, Brown, and White people can peacefully coexist, leading one to ask: Does America truly wish to solve its racial inequality problem?
"Will I always be a __ in America?" is a question that most people of color (especially Black men) ask themselves as they attempt to navigate through daily life in America. "Will I Always Be A __ In America?: A Black Man's Reflections on Living in America" is a compilation of ten essays by John A. Reaves that provide reflections on issues regularly faced by people of color living in the United States, and includes the titles, "We Want to Live," "My First Confrontation with a Police Officer: Three Decades Later, I Cannot Forget It," and "The Neighborhoods I Live and Run Through: Are They a Symbol of Optimism or a Death Trap?" Each individual essay ends with a question that the reader is invited to answer.
Reaves' goal in "Will I Always Be A __ In America?: A Black Man's Reflections on Living in America" is to share his thoughts on and experiences with these issues and how they impact Black men, as well, in some instances, to provide recommendations on a path forward. The essays are designed to be a quick read with questions
Reaves hopes this elemental question can be answered and resolved before another century passes. Nonetheless, no person of color in 2020 should be asking themselves, "Will I always be a -- in America?"
Critique: Exceptional, powerful, eloquent, thoughtful and thought provoking, "Will I Always Be A __ In America?: A Black Man's Reflections on Living in America" is an extraordinary little volume and one that is both timely (in terms of today's mass movement for racial justice and equality) and timeless given the generations of black suppression that stretch back to the very founding of our country. While especially and unreservedly recommended for community, college, and university library Contemporary Social Issues collections in general, and Black Studies supplemental curriculum reading lists in particular, it should be noted for students, academia, social activists, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Will I Always Be A __ In America?: A Black Man's Reflections on Living in America" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $3.99).
Editorial Note: John A. Reaves is a Washington, DC native has lived and has worked in 8 states, and has been employed with several Fortune 100 Multinational companies. Reaves seeks to elevate the voices of people of color, Black men specifically, in sharing their stories and thoughts on racism in America. Reaves selects his essays in part due to their relevance, as every one of them discusses issues currently experienced by people of color on a daily basis.
Letters from Planet Corona
Chaya Passow
City of Gold Press
https://lettersfromplanetcorona.com
9789655994056, $14.99, PB, 239pp
https://www.amazon.com/Letters-Planet-Corona-Chaya-Passow/dp/9655994058
Synopsis: The Covid-19 epidemic exploded in Israel on the heels of the joyous Purim festival in mid-March 2020. Trying to make sense of the ensuing insanity, Chaya Passow, a resident of Jerusalem, soon began to share her thoughts and reflections with friends and family in the form of a letter from the new Planet Corona, formerly Planet Earth. What began as an attempt at personal catharsis grew to a collection of 70 letters describing seven tumultuous months in 2020 culminating in the Jewish High Holidays.
"Letters from Planet Corona" is unique, the result of an intelligent, strong feminine voice which combines witty, satirical, and humorous narratives with thought-provoking, uplifting, and inspirational insights. The author has an engaging style which makes her often penetrating and incisive observations accessible to all as she describes her personal journey from initial bewilderment and occasional despair to a deeper understanding of what it means to truly put your faith in God in the midst of a pandemic that tested human endurance. Reading "Letters from Planet Corona" will open your mind and touch your heart.
Critique: Timely in the context of the current pandemic, timeless in terms of the human condition when confronted by a global catastrophe previously represented by the Medieval Black Plague and two 20th Century World Wars, "Letters from Planet Corona" is an inherently absorbing, thoughtful and thought-provoking read from beginning to end. While especially and unreservedly recommended for community library collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Letters from Planet Corona" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $4.99).
John Taylor
Reviewer
Laurel Johnson's Bookshelf
Alex 'n Bender: Return to the Forest (The Adventures of Alex 'n Bender, Book 2 of 2)
C.H. Foertmeyer
Independently published
9798592710513, $8.99 pbk / $2.99 Kindle, 205 pp
https://www.amazon.com/Alex-Bender-Return-Forest-Adventures/dp/B08T4DD28N
At last, Foertmeyer is back with a new adventure with friends Alex Carey and Bender Baxter. Once again, their half Native American friend Jubel joins their quest as guide and mentor. This story is written for youth or young adults, but adults will enjoy it too. Foertmeyer wrote it for his grandson, who gave it a big thumbs up.
In the first book, teenagers Alex and Bender discovered a family of Sasquatch living in the primeval forest around Latoon, Oregon. The boys became friends with the rare human-like creatures - Bersh, Brish and Besh. This time around the boys are concerned about their forest-dwelling friends. Large groups of Bigfoot hunters are infiltrating the woods in hopes of filming, trapping or killing the Sasquatch family. The boys and Jubel set out to warn their friends but the mission is neither safe nor easy. As they trek deeper into the wilderness, what they find is mysterious, dangerous and even deadly. Bender falls over a cliff and disappears before he can be rescued. The boys and Jubel must out think and outsmart vicious humans and a new breed of aliens.
It's fun and exciting to follow these friends as they brave danger and unexpected mysteries, but I don't want to reveal too much of the plot. As always, Foertmeyer has woven an intriguing adventure that reveals human nature at its best and worst and includes life lessons for every reader. There are moments some readers may find frightening, but in the end good always overcomes evil in any Foertmeyer story. Highly recommended for youths or adults.
Laurel Johnson
Senior Reviewer
Mary Cowper's Bookshelf
The Girl Explorers
Jayne Zanglein
www.thegirlexplorers.com
Sourcebooks Inc.
1935 Brookdale Road, #139, Naperville, IL 60563
www.sourcebooks.com
9781728215242, $25.99, HC, 416pp
https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Explorers-Untold-Globetrotting-Who-Trekked/dp/1728215242
Synopsis: In 1932, Roy Chapman Andrews, president of the men-only Explorers Club, boldly stated to hundreds of female students at Barnard College that "women are not adapted to exploration", and that women and exploration do not mix. He obviously didn't know a thing about either subject!
"The Girl Explorers: The Untold Story of the Globetrotting Women Who Trekked, Flew, and Fought Their Way Around the World " by Jayne Zanglein is the inspirational and untold story of the founding of the Society of Women Geographers (an organization of adventurous female world explorers) and how key members served as early advocates for human rights and paved the way for today's women scientists by scaling mountains, exploring the high seas, flying across the Atlantic, and recording the world through film, sculpture, and literature.
Today's readers will enjoy following in the footsteps of these rebellious women as they travel the globe in search of new species, widen the understanding of hidden cultures, and break records in spades. For these women dared to go where no woman (or man!) had gone before, achieving the unthinkable and breaking through barriers to allow future generations to carry on their important and inspiring work.
Critique: A truly inspiring and impressively informative examination of forgotten women from history, "The Girl Explorers: The Untold Story of the Globetrotting Women Who Trekked, Flew, and Fought Their Way Around the World" will prove to be a unique, welcome, timely, and greatly appreciated addition to community, college, and university library Women's History collections. A deftly written and detailed history, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "The Girl Explorers" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $10.99).
Fighting for Space: Two Pilots and Their Historic Battle for Female Spaceflight
Amy Shira Teitel
Grand Central Publishing
c/o Hachette Book Group
1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104
www.hachettebookgroup.com
9781538716045, $30.00, HC, 448pp
https://www.amazon.com/Fighting-Space-Pilots-Historic-Spaceflight/dp/1538716046
Synopsis: When the space age dawned in the late 1950s, Jackie Cochran held more propeller and jet flying records than any pilot of the twentieth century -- man or woman. She had led the Women's Auxiliary Service Pilots during the Second World War, was the first woman to break the sound barrier, ran her own luxury cosmetics company, and counted multiple presidents among her personal friends. She was more qualified than any woman in the world to make the leap from atmosphere to orbit. Yet it was Jerrie Cobb, twenty-five years Jackie's junior and a record-holding pilot in her own right, who finagled her way into taking the same medical tests as the Mercury astronauts. The prospect of flying in space quickly became her obsession.
While the American and international media spun the shocking story of a "woman astronaut" program, Jackie and Jerrie struggled to gain control of the narrative, each hoping to turn the rumored program into their own ideal reality -- an issue that ultimately went all the way to Congress.
Critique: "Fighting for Space: Two Pilots and Their Historic Battle for Female Spaceflight" by spaceflight historian, author, and public speaker Amy Shira Teitel is a deftly crafted and dual biography of two audacious aeronautical women trailblazers -- Jackie Cochran and Jerrie Cobb. "Fighting for Space" ably and informatively showcases this pair of inherently fascinating and absolutely fearless women using their life stories as guides through the every shifting social, political, and technical landscapes of their time. While absolutely and unreservedly recommended additions to community, college, and university library Contemporary American Biography and Women's Aviation History collections, it should be noted for the personal lists of students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Fighting for Space: Two Pilots and Their Historic Battle for Female Spaceflight" is also readily available in a paperback edition (9781538716052, $17.99), in a digital book format (Kindle, $13.99), and as a complete and unabridged audio book (9781549121005, $35.00, CD).
Hope When It's Hard: A 30-Day Devotional for Adoptive Parents
Jennifer Phillips
www.jenniferphillipsblog.com
New Hope Publishers
PO Box 830711, Birmingham, AL 35283-0711
www.newhopepublishers.com
9781563094200, $12.99, PB, 144pp
https://www.amazon.com/Hope-When-Its-Hard-Devotional/dp/1563094207
Synopsis: You finally surrendered. You opened your heart when you said, "Yes, God, I'll adopt." But now you've discovered that opening your heart to the idea of adoption is the easiest part of the journey. Now comes the emotional ups and downs that only another adoptive parent can understand.
"Hope When It's Hard: A 30-Day Devotional for Adoptive Parents" by Jennifer Phillips offers words of encouragement to help adoptive parents navigate the emotional ups and downs of adoption. Regardless of where you are in the process, whether just beginning or now living with the teenagers you adopted as infants, there are struggles unique to adoptive parenting. Weaving elements of her own journey through adoption, Jennifer helps you find hope as you begin to see God's adoptive heart toward you.
Critique: Expertly written and offering a wealth of practical insight, moral support, and life experience as an adoptive parent, "Hope When It's Hard: A 30-Day Devotional for Adoptive Parents" is an especially recommended addition to all community library Contemporary Parenting collections in general, and Adoptive Parenting supplemental reading lists in particular. It should be noted that "Hope When It's Hard: A 30-Day Devotional for Adoptive Parents" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).
Editorial Note: Jennifer Phillips, author of "Bringing Lucy Home", is an adoptive parent to a loving little girl she and her husband affectionately named Lucy. Actively involved in mentoring women, she is also a volunteer at her children's school. A psychology graduate of Samford University (Birmingham, Alabama), she served as executive director for the local Sav-A-Life, a national network of crisis pregnancy centers. She and her family moved back to Birmingham, Alabama, from Brisbane, Australia, where she now works with adoptive families. She maintains an informative blog at www.jenniferphillipsblog.com
Before and After
Judy Christie & Lisa Wingate
Ballantine Books
c/o The Random House Publishing Group
www.randomhouse.com
9780593156704, $16.99, PB, 320pp
https://www.amazon.com/Before-After-Incredible-Real-Life-Tennessee/dp/0593156706
Synopsis: From the 1920s to 1950, a woman by the name of Georgia Tann ran a black-market baby business at the Tennessee Children's Home Society in Memphis. She offered up more than 5,000 orphans tailored to the wish lists of eager parents -- all while hiding the fact that many weren't orphans at all, but stolen sons and daughters of poor families, desperate single mothers, and women told in maternity wards that their babies had died.
The publication of Lisa Wingate's revelatory novel "Before We Were Yours" (Ballantine Books, 9780425284704, $17.00 PB, $12.99 Kindle) brought new awareness of Tann's lucrative career in child trafficking. Adoptees who knew little about their pasts gained insight into the startling facts behind their family histories. Encouraged by their contact with Wingate and professional journalist Judy Christie, who documented the stories of fifteen adoptees in a new study "Before and After: The Incredible Real-Life Stories of Orphans Who Survived the Tennessee Children's Home Society", many determined Tann survivors set out to trace their roots and find their birth families.
"Before and After" includes moving and sometimes shocking accounts of the ways in which adoptees were separated from their first families. Often raised as only children, many have joyfully reunited with siblings in the final decades of their lives. Christie and Wingate tell of first meetings that are all the sweeter and more intense for time missed and of families from very different social backgrounds reaching out to embrace better-late-than-never brothers, sisters, and cousins. In a poignant culmination of art meeting life, many of the long-silent victims of the tragically corrupt system return to Memphis with the authors to reclaim their stories at a Tennessee Children's Home Society reunion -- with extraordinary results.
Critique: An inherently fascinating and detailed history of adoption corruption and its consequences, "Before and After: The Incredible Real-Life Stories of Orphans Who Survived the Tennessee Children's Home Society" is an absorbing read from first page to last. While also readily available for personal reading lists in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99), "Before and After" is especially and unreservedly recommended for community, college, and university library True Crime collections.
Editorial Note #1: Judy Christie is an award-winning journalist and the author of eighteen books of both fiction and nonfiction. A former editor at daily newspapers in Tennessee, Louisiana, Florida, and Indiana, she holds a master's degree in literature from Louisiana State University in Shreveport.
Editorial Note #2: Lisa Wingate is a former journalist, an inspirational speaker, and the author of numerous novels, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Before We Were Yours, which has sold more than 2.2 million copies. The co-author, with Judy Christie, of the nonfiction book, Before and After, Wingate is a two-time ACFW Carol Award winner, a Christy Award nominee, an Oklahoma Book Award finalist, and a Southern Book Prize winner.
Secret Sky
J. P. McLean
jpmcleanauthor.com
WindStorm Press
www.windstormpress.com
9781988125275, $15.99, PB, 322pp
https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Sky-Gift-Legacy-McLean/dp/1988125278
Synopsis: Emelynn Taylor's gift didn't come wrapped in pretty paper and tied with a bow, nor can it ever be returned. Now, it's taken over her life. It strikes without warning, strips her of gravity and sends her airborne, unchecked. Haunted by terrifying flights she can't control, Emelynn vows to take command of her dangerous gift. She returns to the seaside cottage where it all began. Here, she discovers an underground society whose members share her hidden ability, and a man who sends her heart soaring. But the deeper Emelynn gets pulled into this secret society, the more she questions their motives. Are they using the gift for good or for evil? Unraveling the truth will plunge Emelynn into a fight for her freedom -- and her life.
Critique: A deftly crafted, impressively original and inherently compelling read from first page to last, "Secret Sky" launches a new The Gift Legacy series by J. P. McLean. A fully entertaining, plot twisting novel that will leave its readers looking eagerly toward the next thrilling installment, "Secret Sky" is especially and unreservedly recommended for community library action/adventure, romance, and metaphysical fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Secret Sky" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $2.99).
Mary Cowper
Reviewer
Micah Andrew's Bookshelf
The Monocle Book of Gentle Living
Tyler Brule
Thames & Hudson, Inc.
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110-0017
www.thamesandhudsonusa.com
9780500971109, $50.00, HC, 288pp
https://www.amazon.com/Monocle-Book-Gentle-Living-enjoying/dp/0500971102
Synopsis: The publication, Monocle, has always been a champion of taking it slow. Past issues have encouraged readers to dive into a lake and go for a run. To sleep well. To eat food made with love. Even today, in a tense moment in history, the magazine has done its bit to argue for a new modern etiquette where communities are generous with their time, hospitality, and forgiveness. Now its editors and correspondents have brought all of this together into a single volume with the publication of "The Monocle Manifesto for a Gentler Life", a book that urges us all to slow down, reconnect, make good things, and think about the spaces we call home.
Some of the highlights of this profusely illustrated volume include: An illustrated guide to being nice, respecting your neighbors, and controlling your social media rants; practical tips on how to design a house that's good for you and your family; Q&As with the people who have decided to take a gentler approach to work and living; and a celebration of locally made food (with featured recipes) as well as the chefs that bring people together.
The helpful tips and insights in this guide make it the perfect handbook for anyone looking to slow down and enjoy life.
Critique: Timely and timeless, unique and universal, informed and informative, inspired and inspiring, "The Monocle Book of Gentle Living: A guide to slowing down, enjoying more and being happy" will prove to be an immediately welcome and enduringly popular addition to personal reading lists, as well as professional, community, college, and university library Lifestyle Photography and Self-Help/Self-Improvement collections.
Poo, Pee and Paper: Humanity's Relationship With Bodily Waste
Geoffrey Kirby
Independently Published
9798640896343, $10.00, PB, 211pp
https://www.amazon.com/Poo-Pee-Paper-Humanitys-Relationship/dp/B087SCDQ2Q
Synopsis: Defecating and urinating (known in polite company as pooing and peeing) is now something that we prefer to do in private and not give much thought to unless we are constipated or restricted to close proximity to a toilet due to over enthusiasm in the Indian restaurant the previous evening when drunkenly ordering "The hottest dish on the menu!".
"Poo, Pee and Paper: Humanity's Relationship With Bodily Waste" by Geoffrey Kirby is a fully illustrated study takes the reader on a fascinating five-thousand-year exploration of toilet history. This starts with the Neolithic flushed toilets in the Orkney Isles, to the sophisticated Minoan and Roman latrines, the inventions of Thomas Crapper and the widespread use of maize corn cobs before the invention of toilet paper which was comfortingly advertised as "guaranteed splinter free".
"Poo, Pee and Paper: Humanity's Relationship With Bodily Waste" finally takes us into space with the zero gravity contraptions used in the International Space Station. This story is a must to have on the toilet bookshelf to pass the time whilst waiting for nature to take its course!
Critique: An inherently fascinating and impressively informative history of how humans have handled (socially, culturally and physically) the elimination of their bodily wastes, "Poo, Pee and Paper: Humanity's Relationship With Bodily Waste" is an original, deftly written, inherently engaging, and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, college, and university library collections.
Micah Andrew
Reviewer
Michael Dunford's Bookshelf
Teacher Unions and Social Justice
Michael Charney, et al.
Rethinking Schools
https://rethinkingschools.org
9780942961096, $29.95, PB, 448pp
https://www.amazon.com/Teacher-Unions-Justice-Michael-Charney/dp/0942961099
Synopsis: "Teacher Unions and Social Justice: Organizing for the Schools and Communities Our Students Deserve" is an anthology of more than 60 articles documenting the history and the how-tos of social justice unionism. Together, they describe the growing movement to forge multiracial alliances with communities to defend and transform public education.
Critique: Collectively compiled and expertly co-edited by the team of Michael Charney, Jesse Hagopian, and Bob Peterson, "Teacher Unions and Social Justice: Organizing for the Schools and Communities Our Students Deserve" is an impressive compendium of erudite and thought-provoking articles by experts in their fields of study -- making "Teacher Unions and Social Justice" an especially timely and unreservedly recommended addition to community, school district, governmental, college, and university library Contemporary Social Issues collections in general, and Teacher Union Labor Relations supplemental curriculum studies reading lists in particular.
A Life of Extremes: The Life and Times of a Polar Filmmaker
Max Quinn
EK Books
c/o Exisle Publishing
www.exislepublishing.com.au
9781775594321, $35.99, HC, 272pp
https://www.amazon.com/Life-Extremes-Times-Polar-Filmmaker/dp/1775594327
Synopsis: Since 1991 when he spent 11 months filming the wildlife of Antarctica, Max Quinn has been the go-to film maker for documentaries such as Expedition Antarctica (2010), Hunting the Ice Whale (2013) and South America's Weirdest (2019).
"A Life of Extremes: The Life and Times of a Polar Filmmaker" tells the stories and shares the stunning images from Quinn's 20 years of adventures in polar climates. Be it traveling 80 kilometers over crevassed ice to a lonely colony of Emperor penguins, or figuring out how to keep cameras warm in the coldest places on earth, Quinn has a story to tell about it. Natural history fans will be enthralled by the rich and layered stories, while film buffs will marvel at techniques required to keep the camera rolling when pushed to the absolute limit of endurance.
"A Life of Extremes: The Life and Times of a Polar Filmmaker" is unique and colorfully illustrated book about what life is like behind the camera, beyond public transport and even human habitation. Readers will learn about dog sled racing, the last great ice age, penguin colonies, and everything else that happens in the immensely beautiful landscapes where the temperature is permanently below freezing.
Critique: An inherently fascinating and impressively informative read about an unusual life lived out under unusual circumstances, "A Life of Extremes: The Life and Times of a Polar Filmmaker" is especially and unreservedly recommended for community, college, and university library American Biography and American Cinematography collections. It should be noted for armchair travelers and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "A Life of Extremes: The Life and Times of a Polar Filmmaker" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $19.99).
Michael Dunford
Reviewer
Paul Vogel's Bookshelf
So to Speak: 11,000 Expressions That'll Knock Your Socks Off
Shirley Kobliner and Harold Kobliner, authors
Tiller Press
c/o Simon and Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas, 14th fl., New York, NY 10020
www.simonandschuster.com
9781982163761, $16.99, PB, 288pp
https://www.amazon.com/So-Speak-Expressions-Thatll-Knock/dp/1982163763
Synopsis: We use expressions all the time. When you feel sick, you're "under the weather." When you feel great, you're "on top of the world." You may be fine with "half a loaf," or you may insist on "the whole enchilada." But whether you're a "smart cookie" or a tough one, you (and almost everyone you know) have a veritable smorgasbord of expressions stored deep in your brain.
"So to Speak: 11,000 Expressions That'll Knock Your Socks Off" by the team of Shirley and Harold Kobliner is the largest collection of its kind. Thoughtfully divided into sixty-seven categories ranging from Animals to Food & Cooking, from Love to Politics, this is not your run-of-the-mill reference guide. Don't look for definitions and etymologies, because the book is just the beginning.
"So to Speak" is the launchpad for your lifelong journey to explore the universe of expressions. In fact, it's designed to get readers off the page -- and verbally engaging with each other. "So to Speak" spurs discussion, debate, and gameplay, while encouraging the art of listening and celebrating the joy of words.
Authors Shirley and Harold Kobliner spent more than half a century nurturing and teaching children. "So to Speak" is a reflection of their deeply held belief that regardless of a person's age, the most impactful learning happens when you're having fun. Whether it's grandparents teaching their favorite expressions to their grandkids, teens helping adults with the latest lingo, or millennials indulging in their love of wordplay and games, "So to Speak" is the ideal book for any lover of language.
Critique: Of immense and lasting interest to dedicated language enthusiasts, "So to Speak: 11,000 Expressions That'll Knock Your Socks Off " also serves as an excellent English language expression resource for writers, authors, and novelists. Unique, informative, and an inherently fascinating volume to simply browse through, "So to Speak" is especially and unreservedly recommended for community, college, and university library Slang, Idiom and Semantics Reference Book collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists of dedicated word smiths that "So to Speak" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $12.99).
God has Infinite Frequency: Aphorisms for Our Fractured Age
Jonathan Masters
Foundation for Inner Peace
http://www.godhasinfinitefrequency.org
9781735803708, $34.50, HC, 84pp
https://www.amazon.com/God-has-Infinite-Frequency-Aphorisms/dp/1735803707
Synopsis: Blending art and insight, "God has Infinite Frequency: Aphorisms for Our Fractured Age" by Jonathan Masters is penetrating, amusing, iconoclastic, provocative, thoughtful and thought-provoking as it takes the reader on a tour of many dearly and commonly held beliefs -- challenging them, and giving us the precious opportunity to reconsider, feel, and to see things anew. As our worlds break apart, and a new consciousness emerges, here is an invitation to explore, be inspired and reformulate.
Critique: Life embracing, visually reflective, thought provoking, spiritually inspiring, "God has Infinite Frequency: Aphorisms for Our Fractured Age" is especially recommended for personal, community, church, college, and university library Religion & Spirituality collections and reading lists.
Paul T. Vogel
Reviewer
S.A. Gorden's Bookshelf
Ghost Legion (Legionnaire Series Book 1)
Andreas Christensen
Amazon.com Services LLC
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
9781974569809, $12.99 pbk
B072M7PQJQ, $0.00 Kindle ($0.99 digital list price) 138 pages
https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Legion-Legionnaire-Andreas-Christensen/dp/1974569802
Ghost Legion is at its heart a contemporary remake of Heinlein's Starship Troopers. The book is a little too short and should have a bit more fleshing out but it has the all of the military action anyone could want. Heinlein's Troopers was written in the post WWII society. Legion is balance closer to today's society.
Ethan Wang was born on the day the earth was invaded by aliens. His parents were killed during the invasion. He is eighteen years old and graduating from high school with few options. Jobs are hard to find in post invasion earth and higher education is limited to only the best students. The war with the aliens is still going on in the solar system so the military is sometimes the only real option for students. Ethan decides to enlist in the military and finds himself in the ghost legion, the shock troops, for earth.
Ghost Legion is a solid military SF tale. It is idealized in a similar manner as Starship Troopers. The story is complete but it is obviously just an intro to a larger series of stories. Most readers will want to read more books in the series to fill in the glossed over details and world building left out of this introduction. It is too harsh and short to be recommended to a reader not into military tales as a standalone story. It is highly recommended for those who have read Starship Troopers and who want to see how the story can be updated for today's readers.
Free-Wrench
Joseph Lallo
https://www.bookofdeacon.com
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
9781505795073 $6.99 pbk
B00LULTSF6, $0.00 Kindle ($2.99 digital list price) 153 pages
https://www.amazon.com/Free-Wrench-1-Joseph-R-Lallo/dp/1505795079
Free-Wrench is a solid steampunk novel. It clicks all of the right boxes as a good steampunk novel. Many writers delve too far to the extreme with fantasy stories or get lost in world building but Lallo doesn't fall into any of these traps.
Amanita Graus, Nita to her friends, is known as a free-wrench at the local steam plant. A free-wrench is skilled at every job in the plant and fills in wherever there is a need. Nita's planet is similar to earth but has, in the past, experienced a toxic fog, or 'fug,' that has killed much of the world's population and changed the survivors. Nita lives on a chain of islands that have been bypassed by the world encompassing fug. They have blockaded their islands from the rest of the world to protect themselves from the depredations of the fug and the chaos caused by it. In isolation, they have developed a near idyllic society. The rest of the world survives by using lighter than air ships for travel above the fug and living on high plateaus and mountains.
A lighter than air smuggler's ship regularly moors on some off-shore rocks and exchanges smuggled goods between Rita's islands and the rest of the world. Rita, on a whim, decides to go to the trading site with a work friend. During the trading, she discovers that there might be a treatment to the degenerative disease that is slowly killing her mother. She decides to leave with the smugglers to try to find the cure. She has no idea how dangerous her decision is or how disruptive her presence on smuggler ship will be to the balance of power across her world.
Free-Wrench is an easy recommendation for first time readers in the steampunk genre or those who are aficionados of this type of storytelling. The book will hold less interest for those who, in the past, have just dabbled in the genre. It is the first book in a series and the story is well enough written that most will be tempted to read more in the series.
S.A. Gorden, Senior Reviewer
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