Editorial Reviews

Full of razor-sharp wit and driven by a hyper-contemporary voice, Junk Sale by Patrick Lombardi is a wickedly smart and hilarious collection of short stories and essays. From a casual thief who gets the tables turned on him to a scathing hot take of modern job interviews, these brief tales capture a collective disdain for modern life, a dissatisfaction with normality, and the essential role that humor plays in our survival. The dialogue feels ripped from real life, despite their clever articulation, and each story is tightly edited and polished. Highlighting the painful isolation of our internal monologues, and what […]

A dazzling opening salvo in The Queen of the Witches Trilogy, The Witch’s Song by J. Lyndon Hickman is a magical work of fantasy, resonating with contemporary lessons and classic adventure. Stirring the waters of gender dynamics and calling into question humanity’s destructive fascination with technological advancement, the prose is impactful, but just as easily lighthearted. This broad emotional range, buttressed by a pair of unique protagonists, makes this a gripping read from start to finish. The revelatory progress from normal life to a magic-infused existence is exhilarating and immersive; Hickman has crafted a gem of a read with […]

A sprawling and majestic epic start to a fantasy new series, Rand by Silvia Shaw is an empowering and timely piece of fantasy fiction, bridging two worlds with grace and a whip-smart pen. Readers are drawn into a brilliant world with a detailed history that is unlike so many other carbon-copy realms in the genre. Driven by an intrepid protagonist imbued with the mind of an academic and the courage of a warrior queen, this read populates these pages with a pantheon of unique female characters, and cleverly ties off loose ends. From backstabbing court drama and savage magical battles […]

An allegorical work of fiction that feels very close to home, Zombie by Clifford Benjamin is a controversial landmine of a novel, parodying deadly political villains and many of America’s recent woes. A vile, racist, and power-hungry POTUS flexes his cruelty across his people and the world in this dystopian reimagining of societal and political collapse. While the story is gripping and graphic, some of the formatting and technical details need improvement, including inconsistent capitalizations, a multitude of misspelled words, and other grammatical issues. With so many rough edges, Benjamin’s powerful and timely commentary loses a fair degree of impact, […]

An intensely suspenseful thriller centering around the investigation of the brutal murder of two young women by a serial killer, Sons of Brutality is decidedly dark but gripping. Plumbing the seamy depths, the novel goes underground to find snuff clubs, drug-addled Satanists, occult murder, and the mob. A strong central detective is key to the genre, and Jeudy brilliantly sketches veteran detective Addison Mowbray, who believes in liquor and loyalty above all else. If you like your thrillers with a true sense of dark realism, Sons of Brutality is an expertly written and page-turning thriller that has all the makings […]

A newly forged legend and an uncertain leader work to overcome their own guilt and dark shadows in Vale of Darkness by T.C. Elofson, the second installment of the Waterbringer Series. Deepening this masterfully crafted world with even more lore and legend – and an even greater evil that threatens a nascent empire – the author defies stereotypes in the genre, blending cultural traditions from fantasy and historical realms alike. With lyrical precision in scene-building, and an ominous blanket of suspense over much of the prose, this richly imagined adventure is exhilarating, and delivered with a savvy pen.

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A thoughtful and emotional collection of short fiction, POMSILv2 by Sheldon Charles is a captivating and unpredictable group of stories. From young lovers finding connection on a dance floor to Covid-inspired casino drama, future fiction about terraforming, and hard-hitting reflections on military legacy and PTSD, Charles once again proves his versatility in subject, mood, and execution. Some of the narration suffers from telling, rather than showing, but the pace of the stories is consistent, and the characters are cleverly crafted. With an ear for authentic emotions and an eye for both contemporary and classic themes, this collection is in turns […]

Elizabeth Buchmann combines evocative photography and equally compelling poetry in her innovative and immersive collection The Meticulous Unveiling: A Visit to the Mind. In nine diverse sections that evoke both a sense of openness to the world and pensive self-reflection, Buchmann explores such concepts as freedom, love, instinct, ego, pain, natural healing, and happiness. There is sometimes an incongruity in the language between verses, giving some poems a halted feeling, but overall, this collection is impressive for its erudition and success in navigating two separate mediums; it’s somber, at times, but also playful in the placement and quality of […]