The Shape of the Atmosphere, the excellent book written by a promising debut author, Jessica Dainty, is a story that I found very difficult to put down once I started reading it. Follow the story of young Gertie MacLarsen, a teenager who has felt ugly...

I had the great privilege to review Theodore Jerome Cohen’s Book 2 of The Road Less Taken, and I mentioned there the primary descriptive word for his great skill at short story writing: Gripping. Actually, I may have said: Utterly Gripping. Having the honor then...

One perfect word quickly comes to mind when trying to distill the effect of Theodore Jerome Cohen’s collection of short (truly short) stories in The Road Less Taken. The word is: Gripping. And I do not use that word lightly. I mean, utterly, sometimes devastatingly,...

The Harlem Renaissance Time Traveler’s Diary by Lashonda Beauregard is a thrilling little short story written to leave the reader guessing about many things, including the mode of time travel. The main protagonist, West Barrington, is one of the many Black musicians playing during the...

The Truth Lies: A Florida Saga by Cindy Foley is a historical novel that captures life on the ranch and develops around a huge conflict between two powerful families. The conflict that would define the hostility between the two families for generations started when an...

In The Timefarer by Harrison Becket, Jack is a young man living in mid-nineties Chicago. Jack hates everything about his life and struggles to understand the people of his time. All he sees is a deplorable mass of humanity bent on profiteering at all costs....

Thandi’s Love: Final Edition by Angel Strong is a love story set in the deep South of Newport, South Carolina, and spanning the mid-1800s. It is a time when masters controlled their slaves. Tom Lexington is the plantation owner, but also childhood playmates with Thandi...

Wow! Just, wow! That's exactly what I thought when I finished reading the debut book by author Gretchen Jeannette, The Devil Take Tomorrow. This book is a roller coaster ride of a read, full of action, adventure, historical intrigue, and yes, even a bit of...

To Never Know is a coming of age novel written by Thomas Duffy. Steven Lewis was adrift. A high school senior with little more than good grades to boast of, he had no prom prospects nor did he have a real grasp for what he...

Jim Blackburn is the founder of the Petroleum Consulting Group, a company which advises governments and corporations on the complex machinations of the world’s most traded commodity - oil. The Sacred Sands by Vahan Zanoyan launches us into this fast-moving world, opening with a 1980s...