admin

A well-researched portrait of artist Billie Lawless and his controversial sculpture “Green Lightning” is revealed in Michael F. Rizzo’s Fifteen Minutes: Bamboozled in Buffalo. Rizzo analyses the process by which the infamously lascivious sculpture was mistakenly commissioned by Buffalo city officials who were offended by the finished product, and swiftly ordered it to be dismantled, resulting in a court case that Lawless eventually won. Revealing in part the conventionality of the staid art establishment, as well as Lawless’s singular vision, this book not only exposes how an artist tricked a powerful clique of public art commissioners, but also […]

Adrian Green, an American software engineer, plans to “free himself from the endless noise of the States,” in Michael R. French’s eclectic and engaging Ghost with Two Hearts. Having relocated to Japan, Adrian indulges in a tantalizing romance with a resident ghost, and attempts to reconcile past wrongs by returning the Samurai sword his grandfather stole from a Japanese officer during WW2. Throughout the story, French seamlessly weaves fascinating facts about Japanese culture and Shintoism into his insightful and original narrative. A novel that is both character-rich and page-turning, this story will have readers yearning to explore and discover […]

A recently jilted designer wakes up confused and covered in her best friend’s blood in Reasonable by K.T. Carlisle, a dark and dramatic first installment of the What Happened to Mia Davis? series. The lives of four friends who were rocked by collegiate tragedy and then bound by a joint business make for an interesting emotional foundation, and their explosive dynamics are the driving force of the plot, which moves forward at a quick pace. Leaping forward and back in time, this character- and dialogue-driven drama will keep readers guessing as the full sinister scope is revealed. Unreliable narrators, spectral […]

Part social commentary and part motivational manifesto, Cloak of the Living Dead by Ernest Johnson demands the reader to look at the world and decide if they are simply going through the motions of existence or actually living their lives to their fullest potential. By discussing his own life’s tribulations and experiences, Johnson aims to show the reader how to be “alive” and aware rather than “dead” and oblivious to the world around us, pointing out the many deadening aspects of life that keep us down – bad relationships, pointless jobs, unhealthy diets, and more. At times difficult to follow […]

A clever dystopian novel with a big splash of humor, The Odyssey of Fletcher by Erik Dargitz is a satirical novel about a socially-awkward young man who finds himself to be the last man on Earth when a global pandemic wipes out the rest of the male population. As he ventures out of his basement sanctuary, Fletcher discovers that the world has changed dramatically, and he is the focus – some women want to worship him, some want to study him, and others want him dead. While this premise could lend itself to insensitivity in the wrong hands, Fletcher is […]

A haunting and heavy anthology of emotionally driven poems, Marching with a Broken Shadow by Dyson Russell is a wide-ranging collection that tackles romantic ironies, universal agonies, and the simple pleasures of existence. The diversity of the poems’ subject matter, length, and tone keeps the reading experience dynamic, making it easy to read dozens of pieces in a single sitting. Russell has a uniquely experimental voice that will make readers sit up and take note, revealing a consistent, critical, and deeply creative mind, for a powerful and relatably personal collection of verse.

 […]

Summoning the nightmare of fascist oppression in a chilling near-future prophecy, The First State by Tshekedi Wallace is a prescient international thriller of rebellion and resistance. Despite the novel being set five decades in the future, the existential threats of autocratic dictators, police state propaganda, and financial oppression feel all too timely for contemporary readers. Thematically, it is impossible to separate the core of the plot from all too familiar crises, for a dramatic allegory that every reader will find recognizable. Wallace’s sprawling imagination tells a story that is not just darkly entertaining, but necessary.

 […]