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.

I recently finished reading The Black Tide: Rebellion (Tides of Blood, Book 2) by Baileigh Higgins.  I did a full review of Book 1: Remnants at Bewildering Stories, which you can read here. I was also so excited by the first book that I asked Ms. Higgins if she'd do an interview with me, and she was kind enough to agree.  You can read the full interview with her here.

Now, let's dive into Book 2 of the series.  Almost everyone else is gone after a deadly disease called The Black Tide has swept across the world.  In the first book, the disease was passed manually from victim to victim when in close proximity to someone who was sick - sort of like the flu.  The way to avoid contagion was wearing a mask and avoiding contact with bodily fluids.  But the first book closes on a horrible mutation of the sickness, which makes it airborne.  The survival strategies of hiding from the disease become useless, and the second wave of The Black Tide wipes out nearly everyone.

Ava, her younger sister Lexi, and two acquaintances of theirs are four Immunes, who remain untouched by the disease.  But with death surrounding them, they flee their hometown of Riebeeckstad to a remote cabin owned by her ex-boyfriend's family.  Ava's still in love with Brian, her ex-boyfriend.  They had a brief romance during the first phase of the disease, but he's a soldier, and he was sent to guard the border of South Africa before the second wave hit.  Yet she still hopes against hope to see him again, although she knows it's highly unlikely he survived.  Immunes are fairly rare.

Yet in Book 2, the reader anticipates a reunion between the two of them.  Brian does survive the second outbreak, and he is traveling back from the border with two fellow soldiers, everyone else having perished.  His only mission is to find Ava again.

Ava, meanwhile, is just trying to survive.  She meets four other Immunes when she makes a supply run to the nearby town, and she's unsure whether she can trust them or not.  Her decision could be the turning point of her life, and might lose her the hard-won peace that she's found with her friends and family at the cabin.

Although Book 2 is a bit slower, action-wise, than the first book, I really enjoyed the slow build of tension.  As a reader, you just know something's about to hit the fan.  And the ending of the book doesn't disappoint, being as much of a cliffhanger as Book 1.  I went to turn the page and - darn it! - there wasn't any more.

Book 3: Vanquish will be available in October - and I can't wait to see what happens next (although I'll have to!).  If you're a fan of apocalyptic fiction, this is a great series to pick up.  I'd definitely recommend it.

Although I've been reading this genre all my life, it wasn't until recently that I heard the term "science fantasy,"  which is the mashup of science fiction and fantasy.  So think magic and machines, unicorns and space ships.  It can be a lot of fun to cross the boundary that separates the two, since I feel that science and magic should, actually, be similar.  Just like science follows rules, magic should have rules, too.  I'm not a big fan of: "And then there was magic, so it solved everything!"  Nope.  Not for me.

But I digress.  If you want to take a look at a fun new science fantasy mashup, turn to Skin by K.A. Krake.  Although it's the fourth book in the series, I didn't feel like I was deprived by jumping right in.  You can read a full review of it here at Bewildering Stories.  I hope you enjoy reading Ms. Krake's impressive world building as much as I did.