The Summer of 1957 by Judith E. Powell is a work of fiction that reads like a memoir. It uses as its core plot device the molestation of eight-year-old Penelope Evans by the grandfather of her childhood friend Elizabeth Werner. In 1993, Penelope is unhappily...

A Sporting Life by Robert E. Kearns is a touching short story about a young couple, Sarah and Thomas Woodford, who joined The Oregon Trail hoping to make a better life in the unfamiliar Midwest. The long, arduous journey took its toll on Thomas and...

The Essence of Nathan Biddle: A Novel by J. William Lewis is an engrossing coming-of-age story with an interesting protagonist. It has been a year since Nathan Biddle died, and life hasn’t been easy for young Kit Biddle, his cousin, who thinks the death was...

A collection of short stories by Matthew C. Woodruff, 26 Absurdities of Tragic Proportions explores the characters displayed in the illustrations by Edward Gorey. The chapters delve into the backstory behind each of the characters portrayed in The Gashlycrumb Tinies. Maria and her daughter move...

Imelda’s Secret by Liza Gino is a story of buried pain and suffering by the young women who were raped repeatedly by the Japanese invaders during WWII all over Asia. Euphemistically referred to as “comfort women”, these young Asian girls from China, Korea, the Philippines,...

Bride by Proxy by Lori Power takes us all the way back to 1798 where Captain Garrett McGuire is sailing the seas of the Caribbean and the newly minted United States of America, building a shipping dynasty for his father back in England. His father...

What happens when two people from two different timelines meet and fall in love? The Whirlpools of Time by Anna Belfrage offers a surprising answer to this question and transports readers on a romantic ride to strong moments in history. Duncan Melville’s life in 1715...

In Burying the Newspaper Man by Curtis Ippolito we meet Marcus Kemp, an ordinary police officer in San Diego, California. There is nothing special about him or his life - until he finds a body hidden in a stolen car. Not just any dead...

"Stan the bacteria man had a very bacteria plan, that man." This recurring sentence in Stephen M. A.'s novelette Stan, Stan, the Bacteria Man summarizes better than anything else the plot of the entire book. But what is Stan the Bacteria Man's plan? And will...

“This framework of bone protruded against his olive complexion like a demon attempting to escape its elastic cage.” This impeccably written simile demonstrates the incredible level of creative intelligence and literary skill one finds in the superb collection of short stories authored by James Musgrave...