American Blues may be the saddest book I’ve ever read. It’s also damned poetic. The overwhelming sense of stark, but understandable, tragedy in Evan Guilford-Blake’s short stories produce real emotion in a way that even most books written to encompass a certain emotional state rarely...

In A Lot of Life by Kyle Mathis, we learn that Caleb Aston spends his weekends watching movies like “Zoolander” or “Pulp Fiction,” followed by three tequila shots and a beer chaser. It’s been that way for a long time. The 30-year-old accountant lives in...

A Sting In The Tale by author Ted Tayler is a collection of short stories that introduce the reader to a world that has a little something for everyone: love, ghost stories, revenge tales, books and libraries, and a touch of humor that perfectly binds...

After Darkness Falls: Volume 2 by Matt Drabble is more proof – as if proof is needed – that Matt is a master of the short horror story. The ten tales in this collection offer a glimpse at the broad scope of Drabble’s imagination, as...

Graham Downs opens the door to a fantasy world in his short story, A Petition to Magic, a world of emotions, trust, self-searching and enchanted characters that will definitely leave readers wanting more. The fantasy tells the story of a wizard and his difficulties in...

A collection of 33 original short stories and 22 poems, David Podlipny’s A Basement: A Collection of Short Stories and Poems (Alphabet) is enjoyable yet partly a conundrum to me. The short stories are presented at the start of this collection, and I had to...

A.D. Trosper promises readers grand new adventures with her short story A New Beginning. The land of Galdrilene is a dangerous, yet magical land, but Emallya has simpler dreams for her life. She longs to have the domestic joys her mother has achieved: a husband...

Jacob Mendelsohn shines with his book of short stories. With themes ranging from leaving your past behind to redemption and the broken people on society's edges, All My Goodbyes is a real thought provoker. A boy is the only witness to a tragic crime and...

In An Honourable Man by Diana Hockley, Genevieve Holloway is a primary school teacher who dreams of meeting her soul mate. She has noticed Christopher “Christy” Fallon around the school where she works. She finds him attractive and intriguing. She soon begins to fantasize about...

Accursed Women, a collection of short stories by Luciana Cavallaro, is a unique and interesting take on Greek myths with five stories (each with 'curse' somewhere in the title) told from the perspective of five different women. You don't have to know much about Greek...