The Color of Our Names by Mahitab Mahmoud follows the lives of four characters trying to navigate identity, faith, and secrecy between Egypt and the United States. Fareed, a 34-year-old man still living with his conservative family in Alexandria, finds fragile moments of freedom at...

Keith Landry’s The Garden Detectives is set at Riverview condominium, where the annual rush for garden plots coincides with the arrival of Cletus Hughes, whose confident manner quickly secures him a place among the residents. Bridge nights, committee meetings, and seasonal gatherings knit the community...

In The Iron Tithe by Robert W. Riley, we meet Knight Commander Cedrik Theramond, who serves as the King’s Shield and has the grueling charge of collecting mandatory grain levies. The crux is that these come from famine-struck villages to supply the King's army of...

In Anthony Pond’s Conquistadors, Ryan Jordan joins a small expedition in central Mexico to climb three of the country’s highest volcanoes under the direction of their guide, Ricardo. After becoming ill at a mountain lodge following a meal in town, he chooses to continue with...

Wishes Gone Awry by M. Ainihi is a collection of short horror and dark fantasy stories. It focuses on people who wanted something, but their efforts in obtaining their desires ended in tragedy. In the first tale, Jimmy, a young man promised a share of...

Adrian Cox's The Fall follows Raymond Cutter, a former Los Angeles police detective in the 1920s. After being pushed out of the force because of his sexuality and buried in debt, his life falls apart. He ends up working as a private investigator, accepting rough...

It's a (Enter Difficulty Setting Here) Life by Anthony Moffett is a well-written book that enlightens readers on the importance of creating a balance in everything, even while indulging in hobbies and activities they are passionate about. Cody Redbond, a hardcore gamer, is beginning to...

Loner-Style Justice, a novella by Mike Marsbergen in the style of screwball comedy, hits all the right spots in delivering a great story. Joseph Tugger is an unusually big but gentle guy whose mission in life is to solve problems, especially the ones where he...

Clare’s Boutique: Three Stories and One Essay by Eric Giroux is a collection of moments of vulnerability, identity, and reckoning through the character Clare. In Ice Time, Clare and Jack O’Connor, once best kindergarten friends, reunite later under strained circumstances during a Scout troop trip...

Tristan Martin’s The Elements follows four young women in New York as they meet through Hip-Hop and its different forms: rapping, breakdancing, DJing, and graffiti. Natasha is a shy teenager who keeps her rhymes private and works up the nerve to perform on stage. Christina...