The second book in the proposed trilogy of The Filey Chronicles continues the story begun in The Bridge and the Butterflies, which I read and reviewed after being introduced to the series by a writing friend.The story carries on the fast-moving, emotionally challenging trip of adventure combined with multiple life questions. Meg, the main player, …
Continue reading The Five Feathers (The Filey Chronicles, Book 2) by Janet Blackwell: #BookReview.
A YA Contemporary Fantasy novel packed with adventure, relationships, humour, tension and family matters. There’s some magic and alien science along the way, too. Meg, Mirabel and Will are characters easy to empathize with. We come across courage, angst, youthful certainty and doubt, and that wonderful teenage willingness to take risks. This bunch of kids …
I’ve had this book on my shelves for so long I’d forgotten it resided there. Curiosity made me pick up this ‘classic’ to discover what I could. There is much to learn here, if you have an interest in European history. However, it becomes clear that Plutarch was not a particularly reliable historian. His interest …
A thriller written by a master of the language. Not for the faint-hearted or those lacking in education, this story relates the series of events that lead up to the stalking of the main character by a seriously disturbed and potentially violent would-be lover. The stalker is obsessive and deluded and follows the pattern of …
Subtitled ‘1001 Things Everyone Should Know About RELIGION’, this is a piece of work, as the subtitle says, everyone should read.That it is a scholarly work is indicated by the comprehensive bibliography, index and accompanying notes, which take up around 28% of the publication. The author lightens a heavy subject by being occasionally a little …
Continue reading Mostly Harmful, by Michael Paulkovich: #BookReview.
176 pages.22 modern folk tales. Alan Rusbridger, former editor of The Guardian and now editor of Prospect magazine remarks, ‘These stories matter because they help us grasp a world that is seemingly out of control, and imagine what steps we can take to make things better.’ This anthology is subtitled ‘22 modern folk tales in …
Continue reading Contagious Tales, Edited by Andrew Simms: #BookReview.
This anthology from the respected Bridport Prize annual competitions presents the winners of the Poetry, Short Story, and Flash Fiction sections. Of the 35 pieces published here, I’m disappointed to report only one, Kerry Lyons’ ‘Seventeen Weeks’, really moved me. Many of the others struck me as pretentious, overly academic, self-absorbed, or simply incomprehensible. A …
Continue reading Bridport Prize 2022 Anthology: #BookReview.
Nine short stories from contributors to The Fiction Desk appear in this, the 14th anthology published by this independent publisher of short stories and edited by Rob Redman.This is an eclectic collection of tales on no particular theme or treatment. It seems unnecessary to individually review these stories, and to synopsise them would be to …
Continue reading Houses Borders Ghosts, from The Fiction Desk: #BookReview.
If you’re seeking an emotional see-saw you could no better than try this book. The ups and downs are so beautifully handled, and the characters so wonderfully drawn, I was engaged from the very beginning, and remained so to the end.On the surface, this is the story of a filmmaker, one of the ‘arty’ types, …
Continue reading Between Before and After, by Jessica Stilling: #BookReview.
And Not a Few Older Ones! Publisher, Fantastic Books Publishing, run by the inimitable Dan Grubb, hosted an online event for the month of October to launch several new books from his publishing house, and to bring to readers’ attention other books that had not had the coverage they deserved due to the Covid epidemic! …
A story employing themes of injustice, bullying, courage, the overwhelmingly destructive nature of power, prejudice, and the joys, pains, and potency of love. The Deadly Reckonings, although a complete story in itself, is clearly the first of a series set in this imagined world with its population of characters that merge humanity with animalistic properties.A …
Continue reading The Deadly Reckonings, by: Rebecca Heap & Victoria Heap. #BookReview.
379 pages.Science Fiction This story of a society that is such a contrast to the destructive one we currently have worldwide is full of hope. But, sneaking pervasively beneath the surface, lies a hint of threat, an unspecified suggestion that all may not be as it seems.We follow the eponymous Hope as she leads a …
Continue reading Awaking Hope, by Emily Renee Cunningham: #BookReview.
Subtitled ‘A Love Affair with Rome’, this short guide to the eternal city is a very personal view of a place very popular with tourists. Having visited as part of a short tour of Italy in September 2018, I was willing to read the book, which was sent to me by the author.I’m sure this …
Continue reading She Seduced Me, by Mark Tedesco: #BookReview.
Get the book here A Horror AnthologyThis charity anthology, the proceeds of which will go to Anti-Slavery International and Embrace the Middle East, encloses 25 horror tales between its covers.These are thoughtful, speculative tales to make your hair stand on end rather than blood and guts fiestas. These are stories that will play with your …
Continue reading Dread Cold, by Fantastic Books Publishing: #BookReview.
Set in prohibition America, around the start of WW1, this vampire novel has all the horror, tension, gore, and folklore lovers of the genre will desire from a story. But it has much more than these expected elements.We follow Ruby, somewhat of an enigma that, to avoid spoilers, I won’t explain, and the reluctant doctor, …
Continue reading The Wages of Dying, by Meghan Purvis: #BookReview.
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