 Those of you who read my book reviews know that many of them are written for the magazine Bewildering Stories. Recently, I read Gary Inbinder's new mystery The Man Upon the Stair. In the process of writing the review, I had a very fascinating conversation with the managing editor of Bewildering, Don Webb, who had great insight on the time period in which the book is set. In the course of our discussion, we decided to do a conversation-style joint book review, which was published today. You can read the full review here.
Overall, I thought it was a very fun and fascinating book, with an amazing level of detail about late nineteenth-century France. The characters are interesting, and the writing style was compelling. I got caught up in the mystery and couldn't stop turning the page in search of the next piece of the puzzle. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did!  I’m always excited to pick up a new collection of poetry by Gary Beck, because his work challenges the status quo and our preconceptions, examining issues both universal and personal. His new work, Perturbations, is no exception.
Sometimes morose, sometimes with brief glimmerings of hope, it explores a variety of themes, some new to Mr. Beck’s repertoire and some revisted. For my full review of the book, you can find it here on Bewildering Stories. If you'd like to learn more about Gary, I also had a great chat with him about his writing, which you can find on my blog here. I really enjoyed reading Perturbations, and I hope you will, also.  I’m not always the biggest fan of starting in the middle of a series; I usually like to go on the ride with the character from the very beginning of their journey. But I had no problem adjusting to Tara Sharp’s world of combating crime with her psychic powers, living the high life, and trying to juggle a bevy of men in Marianne Delacourt's Book Four of the series, Sharp Edge.
For my full review of the book, check it out here at Bewildering Stories. Overall, the book is a fun, light read, perfect for when you have a free afternoon and perhaps a mimosa or two waiting. Tara Sharp is a likeable and flawed character who is struggling to figure out her personal life as much as she is struggling to solve crimes. Even if, like me, you’re not starting out with Book One, I hope you enjoy the ride.  Free Ferry by Ann Cefola is a work of poetry that recalls post-war prosperity with an air of wistfulness. It contrasts the innocence of childhood and family with the harsh realities of world politics but still retains the double-edged sword of science versus emotion, knowledge versus love.
I thought this was a very wonderful work that combines a sense of world history with personal history. You can read a full review of the book at Bewildering Stories by clicking here. If you'd like to learn more about Ann, I also had a lovely chat with her about her book and writing in general, which you can find on my blog here. I really enjoyed reading Free Ferry, and I hope you will, also.  I tend to pick up any genre that catches my interest, which is pretty much any genre. But I like to dissect the reasons behind the popularity of each genre, and the motivations of why characters act a certain way
Enter Dr. Fred Nour's book True Love: How to use science to understand love. It looks into ways to explain the medical science behind romance. This interested both the science geek in me and the reader/writer of romance. I have a full review of the book posted at Bewildering Stories, so I hope you check it out here. Enjoy!  For those of you who've been reading my book reviews over the years, you might notice that I'm a fan of Gary Beck's poetry. He's a prolific writer and he tackles the most relevant social and political issues facing us today. His new collection of poems, Virtual Living, is no exception, although it does take a new slant for its overarching theme: it explores technology and how it impacts society and the natural world. That's not to say the collection shies away from Mr. Beck's usual themes tackling politics and the modern world, but it does so through the lens of technology and how it impacts people. It was interesting to see Mr. Beck's take on tech as a force for change in all walks of life, big and small.
If you'd like to know more, you can read a full review of Mr. Beck's collection here at Bewildering Stories. I hope you enjoy reading Mr. Beck's collection as much as I did.  One of my greatest joys about being a book reviewer is finding writers who are new to me. John Reinhart is a poet whose work is fun and funny, in addition to being serious and thoughtful. His writing mixes the speculative genre with literary, humor with pathos.
I read Mr. Reinhart's latest collection of poetry, broken bottle of time, and enjoyed it immensely. The full review of it was published today at Bewildering Stories, and you can read it here, along with some excerpts from Mr. Reinhart's work.. I hope you enjoy reading broken bottle of time as much as I did!   Mithila Review is a beautiful journal that celebrates international speculative fiction. Printed quarterly, it's based in Asia, and it has quickly gained a reputation as a leading voice in Asian science fiction and fantasy. It has been noticed by such publications as Wired, Strange Horizons and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association, including one of its published poems being nominated for a Rhysling Award.
This latest issue of Mithila features women of color in science fiction, so it's definitely a great issue to check out. While you can subscribe, it's also free to read online. I am thrilled to have a book review included in Issue # 9 of Mithila Review. I reviewed Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia E. Butler, edited by Alexandra Pierce and Mimi Mondal. This one was near and dear to me, as I have been a lifelong fan of Ms. Butler and it was wonderful to read how many others have been touched by her work and continue to be to this day. So please check out this wonderful magazine, read my review of a work honoring Ms. Butler if you feel so inclined, and take a look at Luminescent Threads, a truly inspiring book.
 Although I always try to pay special attention to the writing of local authors, my love of Kristan Higgins' work predates my move to Connecticut. I don't remember exactly when I started reading her books, though. How long has she been writing?
Needless to say, I am very familiar with her work - if having read all of her books constitutes familiarity. She writes down-to-earth characters who are easy for the reader to relate to. They are often working men and women, friendly and silly and completely human. Her settings are so detailed that it feels like you could walk down the street. And the voice/comedy of the situations are often cringeworthy good. In Your Dreams is no exception - it's a great book with great characters If you'd like to know more about it, please check out my full review here at Bewildering Stories. Enjoy! |
