Editorial Reviews

Capturing the pastoral air of a classic murder mystery, The Concrete Vineyard by Cam Lang is a well-crafted whodunit with a colorful cast of suspects, and just as many red herrings. Boasting colloquial charm and an outlandish plot, this urban planning thriller carves out its own genre niche. The storytelling style is unexpected and engaging, placing a possibly untrustworthy narrator into a buddy cop framework, with Lang weaving the layers exceptionally well, given the story’s complexity. The murderous stakes feel high at times, but this detective story is a rare vintage – cleverly crafted to keep readers guessing, without taking […]

Author Stephen M.A. unleashes a shockingly creative sci-fi future in Tiny Planet Filled With Liars, roping readers into a savage space dystopia where military contractors rule over a crumbling empire of secrets. Brought to life with linguistic gymnastics and an impeccably sharp ear for dialogue, this is tech-heavy futurism for those who want to give their minds a workout, but the commitment is well worth the effort. Layering vivid history and mind-bending exposition between splashes of gritty action, acerbic wit, and experimental style choices, this nontraditional adventure is both challenging and thrilling.

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A poignantly penned and memorable tale of paternal love and struggle, Like No Other Boy by Larry Center is a heartfelt novel that honestly explores a complex and poorly understood condition. Showing the symptoms, scope, and unpredictability of autism through a father’s occasionally overwhelmed eyes helps this story hit home. This story also demonstrates the incredible power of animal interactions, and the unspoken peace they can bring to children, adults, and everyone in between. The prose is both authentic and educational, particularly for those readers without direct experience of developmental delays. With carefully chosen descriptive language, a clear foundation of […]

A poignant tale of family, hard times, and injustice born from our unprecedented modern world, A Divination of the Dog by A.M. Farrow is a sometimes-manic but uniquely strange delight. With multiple narrative perspectives and a time-jumping plot that gradually pieces together a mystery, this complex work is undeniably captivating. Touching on everything from police brutality and political incompetence to the importance of father figures and the value of psychiatry, this striking piece of fiction is timely, confident, and smart. The text needs a thorough edit to fix countless errors, formatting mistakes, and typos, but the prose itself is witty […]

Steeped in wartime drama and driven by storybook romance, The Secret of the Grand Hôtel du Lac by Kathryn Gauci is a riveting work of historical fiction. Peeling back the lore of the French resistance during World War II, this novel is both a gripping spy thriller and a deeply personal adventure of a dauntless rebel in uncharted territory. With a mesmerizing ability to transport readers into barrooms and battlefields as readily as quaint French towns and dense forest landscapes, Gauci weaves a rich, well-constructed tapestry of language, suspense, and history in this enthralling, page-turning read.

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A dark and ominous thriller, Rites and Wrongs by Holly Harrison is a deep dive into history, faith, and their occasionally violent intersection. With descriptive writing that brings southwestern landscapes and mysterious traditions to life, this book is research-rich, penned with confidence, and armed with a consistent narrative voice. Though the pace slows in some passages and chapters, this is a deeply engrossing read overall, backed up by exceptional storytelling chops, a strong ear for dialogue, and engagingly flawed characters that are hard to forget.

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A whimsical and wickedly fun read that leaps off the page in vivid and detailed illustrations, Badfreaky: The Meanest Witch is a wildly creative new children’s book by Konstantinos Adamopolous. Tracing the tangled tale of Meanloudmouth and Badfreaky, this book plunges young readers into a magical world of nasty witches, quirky characters, daring adventures, sinister schemes, and an upside-down town in desperate need of saving. Although some of the language feels stilted or awkward, possibly due to jumbled translation, the images are mesmerizing and this smile-inducing story is an unpredictable delight.

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Displaying the flexible mind of a scholar, artist, and mystic, Duncan Van Etten has built a profoundly good first-time collection of poetry in The New Orations: Vol. 1. Moving effortlessly between poetic forms of haiku, free verse, and sonnets, and dancing between complex subjects of jealousy, hope, nature, and even the futility of art, Van Etten demonstrates a versatile style, respect for tradition, and a mastery of language. Along with the more prose-leaning pieces often resembling lyrics or spoken-word improvisation, there are poems that will pique any reader’s interest, whether you love hip-hop, Shakespeare, or Ginsberg.

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