Wayfarers Highway by Peter Petrack
The most interesting element in Wayfarers Highway is […]
Review: Kingdom’s End by Charles D. Blanchard
★★★★ 
Anthropomorphizing animals in literature is a long and proud tradition, ranging from Watership Down and Animal Farm to the Redwall novels of Brian Jacques, and many others. That being said, it is also very difficult to create an engaging novel based purely on the perspective of animals, and most attempts at this are relegated to the realm of children’s books. In Kingdom’s End, however, the second novel from Charles Blanchard, readers are given an intimate look at the complex social hierarchy, unique philosophy and variable personalities within a veritable kingdom of rats.
Using a population of animals that […]
Bright Moon Ridge: A Search in China by Linus Treefoot
It’s […]
Review: The Adversary’s Good News by Israfel Sivad
★★★★ 
The Adversary’s Good News Israfel Sivad is a surreal, philosophical novel about Christian Michael Anderson who decides to end his life. He’s got the noose ready and aims to go through with it until he has a change of heart at the last minute. Fortunately, he’s rescued from his attempt by a mysterious stranger named Evius, who informs him that he has, in fact, died.
This leads Christian on an odyssey through the underworld, where he meets gargoyles, demons, a drug-dealing Tinkerbell, but most of all begins to confront the demons within himself.
Sivad is an erudite and ingenious […]
Review: Myxocene by Troy Ernest Hill
★★★★½ 
Sarah Bennett is many things: a writer, a scientist, and a mother. Her day job freelancing as a science writer has her meeting with the pioneers of future knowledge, although she doesn’t always find herself toward the cutting edge. When she interviews one Dr. Ronald Keating on the subject of the Chernobyl disaster, Sarah unwittingly enters a whole new world of scientific discovery in viewing an eccentric plan to combat global warming and promote better living through chemistry. As she comes face-to-face with hard questions of morality, ethics, emotional turmoil, and perhaps the safety of her family, Sarah must […]
Review: Kai by Derek Vasconi ★★★★★
The disconcerting tale of Kai by Derek Vasconi follows the harbored Satsuki Takamoto, a girl living through a downward spiral of social exclusion, universal envy and ever-deepening depression; in comparison, Seul Bi Rissiello – a resident of Evanston, Illinois – is caring for the mentally ill as she strives for meaning in her life after the brutal loss of her parents in gruesome circumstance. Although unaware of each others existences, both girls live a seemingly poetic tandem of suffering as an unexpected thread ties their tortures together.
This book is quite an eloquent, yet biting read: the slow, creeping, eventually […]
Warning’s Wane by Jaclyn Little
Poetic and supremely well-written, this is the type of self-published book there should be more of: literary, but also with a compelling high-concept idea at its core. At times, the narrative is a […]
Review: Angels Play Pianos by Pat Estelle
★★★½ 
Angels Play Pianos by Pat Estelle tells the story of Jimmy, a child prodigy who is able to play Beethoven flawlessly at the age of five. Tragically, the book begins with his death, but the novel tells the tale of hope among the hardship of a troubled family.
The prose in Angels Play Pianos has a quiet grace – especially when describing the abusive father and husband, Edward. He’s truly infuriating and frustrating, but Estelle’s reserve in describing him manages to make him seem more menacing. There’s no anger or vitriol thrown his way; it’s a subtle take-down of […]