How do I describe this absolute madness? As I scratch my head and look for the answer, it’s plain as day in the title of the book, like author Jeff Pearson is giving me a smirk and a wink as the penny drops: Welcome to...

Recruited by an evil entity to spend a hundred days at an academy for hand-picked students, a teenage boy faces odd and life-threatening circumstances that affect his future in the young adult fantasy novel Wisdom of the Ages by Robert Bernardo. Bombarding unsuspecting people with...

Wrapped in Quotations: One Gay Guy's Commonplace Book by Tom Beattie is a collection work by the self-described “quotophile”. The anthology has stories of different lengths, primarily flash fiction, with several that are lyrical and wonderfully poetic. Each piece revolves around a quote or ten,...

Life’s greatest questions need not all be grand cosmic imponderables. Sometimes they are seemingly mundane queries such as “Why is a poodle in the bathroom?” or “Why is the TV so darn loud?” Brad Graber tackles these mind-benders and others in his aptly titled What’s...

Why Me? Chimeras, Conundrums and Dead Goldfish by Charlotte Stuart has an unusual title and an equally unusual and interesting murder/mystery to go along with it. Bryn, an attractive, young, single, successful consultant from Seattle is enjoying her dream holiday of hiking the highland trails...

Not that author Nadia Gilkes is preoccupied with death as much as Woody Allen, but something in Woke Up Dead will make us ponder on the lessons of dying that will make us appreciate life more. This lighthearted novella is not a zombie story, but...

I like Waking Up in Vegas. I like the way it is told. I give a lot of credit to Gabrielle Dorian for the imaginative beginning. It is a text message from a drunk mother, on vacation in Las Vegas, to her son back in...

Dr Fergus Girvan is your archetypal British university professor; learned, scholarly, loves the young girls and his many bottles of good plonk. In Wonders Will Never Cease by Judi Moore, we meet Fergus, who is suffering a bit of a mid to late life crisis...

Warped by Svingen and Pedersen is a short, zany story set on board a spaceship called Agatha X, which is stuck in a wormhole inside a wormhole. Trouble is afoot and Captain Lisa Henderson must take whatever action is needed to get herself, the crew...

Susanna Janssen is a foreign language educator who lives and teaches in Northern California. Thanks to Wordstruck!, we all can now enjoy the words of humor and learning that have benefited the readers of her column, A Word in Edgewise, published by the Ukiah Daily...