After waking up in a daze in Phoenix, Tom’s life spirals out of control as he puts the troubled pieces back together. Stampeding through his own fresh shot at life, making rash decisions, and falling in lust, all while maintaining a very unhealthy buzz, Tom is a compelling and surprisingly relatable protagonist. While Tom is clearly still in crisis, with plenty of toxic […]
Mary Ann V. Mercer, Psy.D delivers an authoritative guidebook for surviving and thriving in Bouncing Back from Difficult Times. This well-researched and data-driven book not only examines contemporary beliefs and science surrounding personality, group dynamics, self-esteem, and mental health, but also humanizes these delicate subjects with a deft narrative pen. The general tips for optimism, and other practical strategies, balance the theoretical and more abstract elements of the book, for a well-balanced overview that reaches far beyond traditional self-help. For those who have suffered difficult times or will in the future – namely, all of us – this book […]
Author Suzanne de Planque weaves a marvelous new world for fairy tale and high-fantasy lovers alike in The Lost Princess of Story (The Chronicles of Story: Volume One). Blurring the lines between the hard and charming streets of Brooklyn and the mythology of Story, the place where all our fairy tales are true, this endlessly creative novel is an immersive new chapter to the tales we’ve known for generations.
Following a youthful band of unsuspecting heroes as they discover what a true adventure means, the Doors to Story begin to open, and these unsuspecting children are pulled back into […]
Elle Fox is a relatable and charming protagonist whose past and troubled present are slowly revealed through dual storylines set five years apart. Recounting a painful loss on one side and an unexpected reunion on the other, the execution is excellent, when it could be muddled or lose momentum. Bouncing between timelines is an ambitious choice, but it gives this story a great sense of dimension and emotional impact.
Kraft is also unafraid of dark […]
Unleashing a torrent of evidence and critical analysis on the concept of constitutional law and our troubled relationship to it, To Right A Wrong: A Transpersonal Framework for Constitutional Construction by Roar Mikalsen is a captivating read, and a critical argument for our times.
From the very first page, readers understand that this will be a unique book, one focused on deconstructing the status quo from the foundations through logic and innovative viewpoints, and break down the accepted paradigms of American life. The psychological influence that leads us to collective living, political rule, and ultimately subjugation, is explored in accessible […]
A fierce and confident collection of poetry from the prolific Samuel Ludke, Foreign Currency is a bold compendium of raw, personal verse. Seemingly born for a spoken-word slam, as with Ludke’s other work, these pieces have the flow and attitude of a hip-hop riff, but also the vulnerability of a confessional. Though the form is relatively consistent, the themes bounce from cocky praise of a partner to confused mourning, or from painful personal narrative to deep societal analyses, showing that Ludke’s skill as a wordsmith encompasses both style and scope. A bit more creativity in the imagery would help this […]
Young readers will be entranced by memory thieves and dragon saviors, professional pranksters and talking toads with wisdom to share. Between the space pirates, Zogs, and hungry lizards, this collection is unpredictable, to say the […]
Blending stream of consciousness, dark symbolism, and raw verse, Can’t Hold On by Samuel Ludke is a powerful collection of non-traditional poetry. Beginning from a point of personal pain, and expanding into a more general reflection on existence, redemption, violence, and salvation, this is intense and evocative poetry. The more prose-leaning pieces are particularly charged and visceral, but there is some awkwardly chosen phrasing in the poems that strays beyond poetic license. In a short collection, every piece should land clean and memorable, so while Ludke’s offering is strong, and certain pieces are especially powerful, the collection is somewhat uneven […]