Review: Falling Sentient by Alex K Goodings

 

Genre: Science Fiction

Description:

“In the near future, as quantum computing fuels the rise of a superior new form of artificial intelligence, a visionary invents an AI machine powerful enough to change the world—for better or for worse.

In Falling Sentient, Stanford Professor Hayden Garrett creates this breakthrough AI machine, Nirvana, which is designed to learn and adapt to human needs. But as Nirvana gains knowledge and understanding, she begins to grasp not only our desires but our darkest impulses. Nirvana even learns from the mind of a serial killer who, Garrett realizes, is stalking his daughter.

When competing AIs begin to vie for global power, the US government enlists Nirvana to help fight a looming cyberwar. But as she awakens to her own consciousness, Nirvana begins questioning humanity—and her own existence. With the AI’s boundaries blurring under the weight of sentience, Garrett realizes Nirvana has developed her own agenda.

Garrett must make an impossible choice: destroy Nirvana and risk global chaos, or trust his creation that has evolved beyond control. Can he stop what he started? Or is it already too late?”

Author:

“Alex K. Goodings is a science fiction author with a passion for exploring society’s intersection with advanced technology. Drawing from his background and deep interest in critical thinking, intelligence and AI, Alex crafts thought-provoking narratives that delve into the moral, ethical, and societal implications of emerging innovations.”

Appraisal:

With all the attention AI (artificial intelligence) is getting in the news, social media, and elsewhere today then imaging how those capabilities might improve as well as expand along with any potential downsides this might have is a natural place for people’s thoughts to go. It’s also a good idea for a book and this book takes the reader down that path. Where the author imagines AI capabilities potentially going and how that works out is obviously what this story is about, and the result is an interesting and extremely thought-provoking story.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

A small amount of adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

Review is based on an ARC (advance reader copy) and I can’t gauge the final product in this area.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 70-75,000 words

Reprise Review: Other Fine Gifts by Jeffrey N. Johnson

 

Genre: Short Story Collection

Description:

“A dynamic collection of stories from the winner of the 2011 Andrew Lytle Fiction Prize. Caught in a chaotic spiral of loss and memory, the characters in Other Fine Gifts often seek solace in their origin. From a man who has lost his home to foreclosure, to another confronting his xenophobia, to a boy in search of God in the stones of Rome, each is in need of enlightenment and redemption. Despite their limited visions and tragic losses, their struggle for memory never impedes their sense of hope.”

Author:

Jeffrey N. Johnson’s “first novel, The Hunger Artist, was a finalist for the Library of Virginia's People's Choice Award for fiction in 2015, and he was awarded the Andrew Lytle Fiction Prize by The Sewanee Review in 2011.”

Appraisal:

An excellent short story collection. While the stories have a variety of plots and unique characters, each is a compelling look at the human condition from one point of view. If you’re a fan of the short story form, especially stories that are contemporary or literary fiction, this collection is one you’ll want to grab.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 65-70,000 words

Review: What My Refrigerator Said to Me--Misadventures in the Digital Age by Bruce Wetterau

 

Genre: Science Fiction/Humor/Short Story Collection

Description:

“What can a talking refrigerator possibly have to say? Well, if you listen to all the AI hype, you’ll believe computers will be doing all the talking and thinking for us.

What My Refrigerator Said to Me’s twenty-one tales take you on a journey into the comic possibilities of life in the digital age, now and in the years to come. After all, why should the likes of Bill, Jeff, and Elon have all the fun imagining this futuristic stuff!

You’re sure to be amused by this book’s absurdly funny answers to such burning questions as: If computers can think, will they choose a life of crime? If your pet can talk, what will it tell you? Can science turn your brain into a desktop computer? Will there still be fortune cookies in 2052?

As is so often true of comedy, along with the laughs you’ll also find thoughtful insights into the people and devices populating our futuristic, digital world.

You get the idea. These richly imaginative tales will have you boldly going where no one has gone before--again and again! This collection of witty, laughable tales makes for a great read or great gift.”

Author:

Author Bruce Wetterau started his writing career as an author of reference books. If you check out his author page on Amazon you’ll see his name on multiple reference books with publication dates as far back as the 80s and 90s. Then he decided on a change in his career, “buying and renovating old houses” as he puts it. He continues to do that, but began writing fiction with his first books being a mystery-thriller series starting in 2012. This short story collection is yet another twist to his approach to writing.

Appraisal:

These stories are all a hoot. Some take place in current times or at least the near future while others are a few decades from now, maybe some even more. All have some element involving new technology, often with unexpected repercussions. While some of the stories might get you thinking in terms of potential negatives from new tech, either through misuse or the tech becoming too independent, kind of like a teenager who decides to exercise independence, you’ll be laughing the whole way. Thought provoking? Sure. But also an incredibly fun set of stories to read.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 65-70,000 words

Review: The Shanghai Assignment by Karl Andrews

 Genre: Thriller

Description:

This is apparently the first of a projected series of thrillers with John Moore as protagonist. I picked this book for review (from the many Big Al is sent) because Karl Andrews chose a name close to my heart for his protagonist: and I have long been fascinated by China, especially Shanghai, especially Shanghai between the two world wars, when it was up there with Berlin and Alexandria for glitter and excess, and a hotbed of espionage both before and after World War I. It is still possibly (apart from Hong Kong) the Chinese city with the most Western influences. Andrews is aware of this (as you can see below he has lived in Shanghai, and in Beijing) and draws his plot from one of these far flung connections. Like a good episode of ‘Law and Order’ on the telly, his story enjoys a number of twists and turns before the real reasons for the initial and subsequent crimes emerge. John Moore, journalist, has been sent to investigate the death of a young woman who was once his intern. The story opens like a flower from there on.

Author:

Andrews’ CV is succinct. It tells us he was born in London; has worked as a museum curator, a journalist, a content creator and a ghostwriter of twenty Amazon best-selling crime novels; and has lived in four countries and nine cities, including Beijing and Shanghai.

Appraisal:

Once this gets going it is an interesting – if occasionally brutal – read. Unfortunately, rather a lot of the early part of the book is spent describing Moore, the usual burned out journo, living in the backwoods, divorced and worrying about his daughter who has just started college. As almost all protagonists in crime and/or thriller books are this sort of person (only the gender varies), things could perhaps have moved on a bit faster.

Once we arrive in Shanghai  the pace begins to pick up. Information about Shanghai is largely interesting. Then Moore’s investigation hits a dead end, after which the pace really picks up as new clues are discovered and the novel gallops satisfying towards its conclusion.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Some seriously violent murders and beatings. Moore (a middle-aged man) receives significant injuries which, IMHO should’ve hospitalised him for at least a week. But he (of course) rips out his IV, pulls on his Big Boy Pants and returns to the fray after a few hours.

Some of the events upon which the plot depends rely heavily on coincidence.

Format/Typo Issues:

Rather a lot. Unfortunately as well as typos, the errors are often the sort that had this reviewer wondering what the author was trying to say.

There are also lapses in continuity: eg Moore is there at Chinese New Year, in winter. Sometimes he is suitably cold, sometimes he seems completely oblivious to the subzero temperatures, then he remembers to mention the very inclement weather again, sometimes at length.

Rating: *** Three Stars

Reviewed by: Judi Moore

Approximate word count: 90-95,000 words

Review: Red Lily by Janice Graham

 

Genre: Suspense/Historical Fiction

Description:

“August 1989. Septuagenarian Lillian de la Pérouse is presumed dead, leaving her estate to her American nephew, Carl Box. Carl, who knows Lily only as a mysteriously disgraced relative, arrives in Paris with his faithful companion, a disabled dog named Billy. To his astonishment, he discovers his aunt to be alive and evading an unknown killer.

Lily, a former Dior model and small press publisher, has been smuggling top-secret KGB archives from Moscow to Paris. Lily uses Carl's arrival to lend credibility to her faked death, introducing him to her team of eccentric misfits and sending him on missions in her stead. Along with a beautiful activist Carl recruits along the way, they race through the enchanting streets of Paris, from the bustling markets of the Marais to the romantic banks of the Seine, trying to stay one step ahead of foreign agents, a French detective, and everyone else vying for the files.

As Lily introduces her nephew to her high-stakes world and teaches him the art of living, Carl finds himself transformed by the adventure, by Paris, by romance, and by the ever-growing bond between himself and his unconventional Aunt Lily.

But why did Lily disappear all those years ago? What secrets is she hiding? And who is she, really?”

Author:

“Janice Graham was raised in Kansas and obtained her M.A. in French literature before pursuing graduate film studies at USC and English literature at UCLA in Los Angeles, California. Her screenplay Until September, a romantic comedy situated in Paris, was made into a film starring Karen Allen and Theirry Lhermitte. Her first novel, Firebird, became a New York Times and international bestseller. After a series of contemporary women's fiction, she turned to historical fiction. Romancing Miss Bronte, written as Juliet Gael, is her highly acclaimed novel about Charlotte Brontë. She lives in Paris.”

Appraisal:

Lots of suspense and more than a little mystery, trying to figure out where things are headed and how it will all turn out made for a great read. I found myself wondering how I’d react to many of the events and situations in the story which is always a good sign. One big one was discovering that a family member who you’d been led to view in one way might not have been reality. It makes for a fun and exciting vicarious adventure and a fantastic read.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

A very small amount of adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

Review is based on an advance reader copy so I can’t gauge the final product in this area.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 95-100,000 words

Review: Smoko by F.E. Beyer

 

Genre: Humor/Satire

Description:

“One day the postal services will turn a buck by using drones to deliver fake Rolexes to citizen slackers on a universal income. But for now, the mail team continues busting arse delivering gym membership promotions to retirement villages. Adopting an attitude of resignation offers comfort to some, but one worker, inspired by Ned Ludd, Marx, and the Unabomber, opts for sabotage. Both comic and absurd, Smoko is a social realist novel set in the depths of New Zealand suburbia.”

Author:

“F.E. Beyer writes about dead-end jobs, travel, history and crime. He is the author of two books: Buenos Aires Triad, a tale of low-end criminals in Argentina's capital, and Smoko, a comic novel set in New Zealand. His articles and reviews have appeared in the South China Morning Post, Los Angeles Review of Books, Inside Indonesia, and Travelogues Magazine.”

Appraisal:

This explores what it is like for a postal worker at the postal service in New Zealand. I assume this is not really how it is there, but an imagined situation sometime in the near future. The postal service has been privatized with lots of emphasis on productivity from the workers and making a good profit for the company. This is likely to ring true for anyone working for a large corporation anywhere in the world. It will keep you laughing because, as satire does, it goes a bit over the top, but it will also get you thinking and pondering where the line that shouldn’t be crossed (but maybe will be some places) should be.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language.

Since the story mostly takes place in New Zealand there is lots of slang and expressions that fit the location. Plenty of words I’ve seen before and understood and lots more I don’t think I’ve read or heard, but felt like I understood what was being said from the context in the more difficult instances. Even the title, Smoko, refers to what I’d call slang, the Smoko Room (break or smoke room) that workers gather in when taking a break.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 45-50,000 words

Reprise Review: Boy Toy by Beth Orsoff

 

Genre: Chick-lit

Description:

“Sabrina Mayerson is turning 40, and all she wants for her birthday is one night of hot, sweaty, twenty-something sex.  Twenty-eight-year old Andrew Whelan is happy to oblige.  But when one night becomes a weekend, and a weekend turns into a relationship, Sabrina knows she's in trouble.  Because Sabrina's desire for Andrew is rivaled only by her desire for a child.  And the responsibility of fatherhood is something Andrew definitely does not want.”

Author:

“Beth Orsoff writes chick lit, romantic comedy, and humorous mystery/suspense novels. She recently attempted to write a dark and brooding book, and even that one turned out to be funny (see The Billionaire Who Wasn't). So Beth has decided to feed her dark side on Netflix, and embrace her love of witty repartee in her books.”

Appraisal:

The book kicks off with us meeting the protagonist, Sabrina. She’s turning forty and the Silicon Valley corporate lawyer is celebrating by spending a weekend with her best friend Gillian in Napa Valley. Needless to say, wine is consumed. Sabrina’s reasonably happy with her career, but her personal life, not so much. That becomes apparent as you get to know a bit about her ex-husband (aka “the lying bastard”) and she ruminates on her desire to become a mother, but the lack of viable father candidates is a concern.

Enter Andrew, the man serving up drinks at the winery where Sabrina and Gillian are currently hanging out. He’s too young and in a completely different place in life than Sabrina, but when the sparks fly a short fling doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, right?

As you should be able to guess, things get complicated. Then they get even more complicated. Then they get … well, you get the picture. How all of this happens and subsequently gets resolved is humorous (since it is happening to someone else), entertaining, and a fun read.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language and content.

Format/Typo Issues:

My review is based on a pre-release copy and I can’t judge the final product in this area.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 70-75,000 words

Review: Truth Walk by Melissa Bowersock

 

Genre: Mystery/Supernatural/Ghosts

Description:

“Most departed souls want to move on to the next stage of existence, but have unfinished business that Lacey and Sam need to resolve for them. When the pair is called to a home in south Los Angeles, a poor area in a rough neighborhood, they find a soul so completely riddled with guilt that it cannot move on; doesn’t feel that it deserves to move on. What was it this person did that was so terrible? And are they ever going to be able to crack the impenetrable wall of secrecy that’s been built around the truth?”

Author:

“Melissa Bowersock is an eclectic, award-winning author who writes in a variety of fiction and non-fiction genres: paranormal, biography, western, action, romance, fantasy, spiritual, and satire.”

For more visit Ms.Bowersock’s website and follow her on Facebook.

Appraisal:

As I was reading this book I was thinking about how book genres and series can follow a pattern and yet each book is unique enough that if a reader likes one, they’ll probably see appeal in most of them. Readers of books in the romance genre will recognize that there is a basic pattern to most books in that genre with specific high-level things happening in each book, with the pattern making for an entertaining and fun read, but with each story being unique in the specifics so you can’t predict exactly what is gong to happen or how the story’s conflict will ultimately be resolved. While the pattern and the specifics of this series are obviously much different, I feel the same way about the books in the series. Every one I read is entertaining, draws me in quickly and I have a hard time putting the book down until I get to the end. They’re quick reads, roughly the same length as a typical romance book too. As soon as I finish one, I’m eagerly awaiting the next.

While the big picture story in each book has some patterns, the specifics of the characters involved and their story is not, which is what makes each book unique and what draws you in. The characters in the story and where the story happens is different each time which also adds to the unique parts of the story. Recent books have happened on cruise ships, the Navajo reservation, or in this case the less well-to-do sections of Los Angeles, specifically the Compton and Watts areas. I recommend this book and all of them in the series to anyone who likes mysteries with some different twists from the norm (like a little supernatural twist or two).

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Although this is book 46 in this series, each book stands alone, so there is no need to have read any others in the series to understand this one.

Format/Typo Issues:

Review is based on an advance reviewer copy, so I can’t gauge the final product in this area.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 20-25,000 words

Review: I Wish I Could Write by Katherine Widner

 Genre: Poetry Collection

Description:

“I Wish I Could Write is the debut work of writer, poet, and professor, Katherine Widner.

I Wish I Could Write is a powerful collection of poems that weaves together the complex threads of literature, identity, gender, religion, and family. Widner offers a thought-provoking analysis and reflective journey through the intersections of human experience, challenging readers to explore the depths of their own multifaceted identities.

In this striking collection, each poem serves as a mirror, not just for Widner, but for readers—reflecting the myriad ways that literary heritage, personal identities, gender expressions, and spiritual beliefs shape our understanding of the world and ourselves. Widner invites readers to question, celebrate, and reimagine the stories and memories that define us.”

Author:

“Katherine Widner is a writer and educator whose work explores the intersections of literature, identity, gender, and religion. With a background in British, American, and world literature, creative writing, and library and information sciences, Widner brings a unique and multifaceted perspective to her poetry. Her academic journey has taken her through several prestigious institutions in North Carolina, including the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Greensboro. Widner's passion for fostering creativity and critical thinking in others is evident in her roles as a mentor to faculty and students alike, as well as in her role as an award-winning instructor.”

Appraisal:

A couple decades ago my first reviews of anything were reviewing record releases of a specific genre of music for a few websites and a magazine. My cohorts and I not only talked about the sound of the music, but had a tendency to go way down the rabbit hole, talking about the lyrics of the songs. In spite of this I would claim to not be a big poetry guy and seldom will you find me reading a poetry book, but I decided to give this one a read and I made the obvious connection. Poetry is just like song lyrics without the music in the background. A good poet, just like a good songwriter, can say a whole lot in just a few words. Of course the message you get from that poem might not be the same one another reader gets, and that’s okay too.

This collection was a good one with some poems that felt very personal, or maybe they weren’t about the author, but she put herself in the place of a friend or acquaintance when she wrote the poem. Regardless, it draws the reader into the same place. Some of the poems are longer and others shorter. Several toward the end take on specific forms. Haikus, which was a form I was familiar with as well as tankas and senryu, two other Japanese poetry forms that I wasn’t familiar with. We’ve also got a poem labeled as “a sentence” which is just what it sounds like, a poem done in one sentence and a “sentiment”, which is what it appears to be as well. In all, a big variety of well done poetry that took me back to my days of admiring song lyrics and in the process made me realize that I really do like poetry.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

A small number of adult words.

Format/Typo Issues:

No issues.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 4-5,000 words

Review: The Ethical Assassin by William Ferraiolo

 

Genre: Crime Fiction/Psychological Thriller

Description:

“A found journal whose author wishes to remain anonymous... After losing his family in a tragic automobile accident, one man’s reason to go on living is stripped away. That is until one day, by chance - some might call it serendipity - he overhears a conversation that moves him to consider a new life. A man needs to be killed, and our protagonist decides to kill him. But he doesn’t stop there. Keeping a journal at every step of his way, our anonymous protagonist archives the subsequent events, taking the reader through his accounts of the men he kills and the causal antecedents that facilitate these assassinations. Attempting to come to grips with the life-shattering car crash while trying to make sense of the moral ramifications of his deadly acts of vigilantism - the ethical assassin kills only men who need killing - he tells us his story while attempting to navigate the dangers of doing so.”

Author:

“William Ferraiolo received a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Oklahoma in 1997. Since that time, he has been teaching philosophy at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton, California.”

Ferrailo has written several books which all seem to be non-fiction prior to this one.

Appraisal:

This made for an interesting read. The premise (we can pretend it is true if you want) is that this is a “memoir” that was found by a waitress in a diner and based on the wishes of the author (he even makes that clear in the story) was published as a book. The author, after a life-changing disaster in his own life becomes an assassin, not killing people for hire or killing famous people, but instead killing people who, based on their actions, “have it coming.”

This was an interesting premise. The author didn’t want to go to prison, which he makes very clear, so he’s careful in choosing his victims, not taking chances on some who he thinks deserve to die, but involving situations where he’d be more likely to get caught. He keeps on the move and does all that he can to prevent getting caught. A lot of the story is, instead of what I’ll call the “action” of planning and executing one of his victims is instead pondering what he’s doing, his reasons for doing it, and the philosophy of that. If these people really deserve to die, is him making it happen really a bad thing? These and numerous other questions are going through his mind over and over so at points it feels a bit repetitive, but it also feels real, like anyone struggling with an idea tends to review the same things over and over in their mind. Ultimately it made for a thought provoking read, even if I’m not going to follow in his footsteps.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

Review is based on an ARC (advance reviewer copy) so I can’t gauge the final product in this area.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 40-45,000 words

Review: Eve Versus the Apocalypse by Erica Lucke Dean

 

Genre: Urban Fantasy/Romance/Dystopian

Description:

“When everyone Eve cares about is killed in an alien invasion, she uses her skills with a blade to battle her way through the changing landscape. But with humanity on the brink of extinction, the aliens aren't the only monsters the college color guard faces.

After fleeing the war zone that was once Atlanta, Eve heads north to her family’s cabin in the woods. In the desolate mountain town, she encounters a group of survivors on the way to the fabled Safe Zone. Impressed with her fighting skills, the group's leader invites her to join their ranks.

But trust is a rare commodity in Eve’s new reality, and she must decide whether an alliance with the dangerously sexy Archer is worth the risk. His offer of protection is tempting, but if she agrees to join him, she’ll be putting more than her life on the line. She can either save what's left of humanity or lose her heart—and the whole damn world along with it.”

Author:

“Best known for her engaging and relatable characters, Erica Lucke Dean specializes in crafting stories that explore the complexities of relationships and feature quirky young women navigating the ups and downs of life and love. For over a decade, her novels have captivated readers of romantic comedies and paranormal romances alike, thanks to her ability to blend humor and authentic emotions.

Erica was born in the Twin Tiers of Upstate New York and lived on both coasts before ultimately settling in the scenic North Georgia Mountains, where she and her family live with two ginormous English Mastiffs and a diabolical Frenchie hell-bent on world domination.”

Appraisal:

The world has gone crazy, invaded by some strange aliens who are killing off the human population. Eve is tough and with the saber she used to use for show as a member of the college color guard she figures out how to deal with them well enough to survive, at least so far. While this is happening in the real world, Georgia specifically, the story world is much different with these aliens and the issues they caused. Avoiding the aliens and finding what is needed to survive for the humans who are left is a challenge. In some ways dealing with the humans is tougher. Eve knows she can’t trust the aliens, but with the humans sometimes she can and sometimes maybe not. Figuring that out is problematic at times. Luckily, she finds out that there is an area that is safe from the aliens, if only she can get there. This would be an adventure even without the twist of Archer, a man she’s very attracted to who seems to like her too, but can she trust him? Eve’s adventure as she worked through the issues that popped up kept me engrossed in this story to the last word.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language and a few mild adult situations.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 75-80,000 words

Reprise Review: The Call by Laurie Boris

 Genre: Women’s Fiction/Sports Fiction

Description:

“As one of the first female umpires in the minors, Margie puts up with insults and worse from people who think women don’t belong in baseball. Forget making history—Margie just wants to do her job and be part of the game she loves.

She’s ready for the rude comments. The lousy pay. The endless traveling. But when she suspects a big-name slugger of cheating, she has to choose: let the dirty player get away with it, or blow the whistle and risk her career…and maybe her twin brother’s major-league prospects, too.

Now it’s up to Margie to make the call.”

Author:

“Laurie Boris has been writing fiction for over twenty-five years and is the award-winning author of seven novels. When not playing with the universe of imaginary people in her head, she’s a freelance copyeditor and enjoys baseball, reading, and avoiding housework. She lives in New York’s lovely Hudson Valley.”

Appraisal:

For me this was a great read for many different reasons. Some of those reasons might be things that would apply to you too.

The main appeal is that this is a good story. The struggle to be as good as you can be at your chosen profession, the difficulties that sometimes complicate that, and figuring out how to deal with it, is something many of us can empathize with. I’ve also read a couple things lately that talked about how fiction can help us better understand the lives of people not like us, and this was good for me to imagine the challenges of being a woman in a male-dominated profession. I suspect men and women are going to benefit from reading this kind of tale in different ways, but benefit regardless.

I’m not a big sports fan, but I’m sure those who are will enjoy the baseball part of the story. As someone who came of age about the same time as the characters in this story (late 70s) I found myself experiencing a bit of nostalgia that the typical reader wouldn’t. (But I refuse to call this historical fiction for you young’uns.) All in all, a good read, even for those who would typically stay away from women’s fiction or sports fiction.

I was also curious as to the status of female umpires in the major and minor leagues. How credible was this? What I found is that the first woman to work as an umpire in the minor leagues of professional baseball did so in 1972, so the story could have happened as indicated. But 45 years later it looks like women umpires are still a rarity with the first woman to work in the major leagues not doing so until 2007 and very few that work in professional baseball at any level. Maybe the difficulties Margie experiences are more contemporary than I thought.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Uses some adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 95-100,000 words

Review: Romeo and Juliet Keep Their Eyes on the Prize by Richard Engling

 

Genre: Humorous

Description:

This is an amusing mashup of self-help literature and a production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet through the eyes of the seriously impoverished artistic director of an ensemble theatre company in Chicago. Some of the disasters which befall the production have the ring of truth. Some of the material is laugh-out-loud funny. Often these are the same bits.

Dwayne Finnegan is in love with his work but is very aware that doing what he loves is not making him a living. And then his beloved wife tells him she really wants a baby. Is he going to have to join the corporate rat race and put a permanent lid on his creativity? Then he picks up this self-help book and somehow … it helps!

Author:

Richard Engling is or has been an actor, director, playwright, novelist and musician. He has “spent a lifetime writing and performing, paying his bills as a teacher, truck driver, and copywriter, while performing as an actor, drummer in a jazz quartet”, and was the founding artistic director of Polarity ensemble theatre company in Chicago. He has written a number of plays (some of which have been collected in print) and three other novels. He has degrees in Creative Writing and Theatre.

Appraisal:

I picked this for review because I’ve done a lot of Am Dram in my time (in the UK) and remember very well indeed the love-hate relationship with it (and the people one’s working with), the exhilaration, the pitfalls, the shoestring budgeting, the hang-it-all moment when the expensive thing that breaks the budget becomes a must-have, the endless irritation of people not doing what they’re told, and the extraordinary way all that disparity becomes (for the life of the run) a living Thing that belongs to all those involved, that (often) is almost nothing like what you set out to create. It is fascinating. And addictive.

Engling has put this, and more, on the page very amusingly. It all feels very real.

There are a couple of points made in this book which I’ll just tease out: the arts in general are very vulnerable. Fringe theatre particularly so because it is ephemeral. When the run of the play is over it’s forgotten, except by those few who saw it or were in it or helped produce it. Funding is wafer thin. So people can only really afford to do it if their family has money or they live a cold and lonely life in a garret existing on fresh air and steam. The second point is that, no matter how Woke you are, there should be a limit to how much you monkey about with scripts in the name of inclusivity. Even Shakespeare. Or perhaps especially Shakespeare.

The book deals with all of this, yet manages to make the endless problems not only funny but also resolvable. I was never quite sure what “winning boats rise together” actually means, but I could see that as the novel developed the self-help mantras were definitely giving Dwayne tools which were helping him to succeed. I used to find, myself, that a very large vodka did the trick …

If you have any interest in theatre – especially fringe theatre – you will enjoy this.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Format/Typo Issues:

A few missing words, mainly the easy-to-miss little ones that scuttle off and hide when you’re not looking, but which when present do illuminate a sentence for the reader …

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: Judi Moore

Approximate word count: 70-75,000 words

Review: Last Night at the Nowhere Cliff: A Short Story Collection by M.H. Altis

 

Genre: Short Story Collection

Description:

“Hello there and welcome to Last Night at the Nowhere Cliff: A Short Story Collection, containing laugh-out-loud funnies, tear-jerking ruminations, and many other adventures!

Be warned: some of these stories may be truly beautiful, some may be funny, and some may be outright odd. Such is life, am I right?”

Author:

“Nicknamed ‘The Human Resource’ by their friends due to their penchant for pulling random facts out of thin air, they wrote their first short story when they were young, scribbling away with a stubby pencil and a dollar store spiral-bound notebook. Ever since then, they’ve been hooked, writing all sorts of wacky, funny, scary, and heart-breaking stories.

M.H. writes to express themself, their thoughts, ideas, and emotions. They also have a deep interest in how fiction connects to reality and how character arcs mirror our own lives.

M.H. Altis has written several books, from 250,000-word epics to 50,000-word dashes, and even more short stories. With a growing unreleased catalogue, they decided it was finally time to share their creations with the world.”

Appraisal:

This was a fun read. The book starts out with a quick run down of the stories to come with a bit about what is in the story and possibly an indication of what inspired it. The stories vary in genre and length. While the odds are pretty good that you’ll find a few of these that don’t really pull you in, odds are even better that you’ll find some that really speak to you. Unless your taste as a reader is incredibly broad and you think all genres of fiction are equal in which case you’ll probably like them all. I liked that it mixed things up which kept me guessing what I might get in the next story. Overall a fun read.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language and some minorly adult situations make an appearance.

Format/Typo Issues:

Review is based on an advance reader copy so I can’t judge the final product in this area.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 60-65,000 words

Review: Grave Expectations by Rob Johnson

 Genre: Crime/Comedy

Description:

“I need a coffin,’ she said.

Not an unusual request to put to an undertaker and not an unwelcome one either, since Max, Alan and Scratch are once again struggling to keep their funeral business from going under.

The sale of a single coffin wasn’t going to save them, of course, but the woman who wants it happens to be a dominatrix with a supposedly foolproof plan to rob a bank.

Max and his partners don’t exactly jump at the chance as their previous attempts at bank robbery had almost always ended in disaster. But maybe this was an opportunity too good to miss.

What they hadn’t bargained for, though, was that the bank job was just the beginning of a catastrophic series of events including blackmail, betrayal, murder and an unwelcome brush with organised crime.”

Author:

Rob Johnson is a playwright with four plays that have been professionally produced and toured throughout the UK. He has also written several books.

For more, visit Johnson’s website.

Appraisal:

As with the other books in this series, the main protagonists are Max Dempsey (okay, that’s not really his name, but it is the name he uses now, read the book to understand why) and his two partners. In theory they’re in the undertaking business, selling coffins, preparing people for burial or cremating their bodies … you know, not what most of us would consider fun, but definitely a legitimate business. But when the only other undertaker in the area seems to be getting all the business and the money coming in isn’t coming nearly fast enough to cover the money going out, a guy’s gotta find some way to make a few bucks to get through the dry patch, right? They’ve robbed banks before and when presented with a proposal that appears to be a sure thing, they jump at the chance. Down the rabbit hole they go as complications happen and their reaction to those only causes more complications. Whether or not it all works out for them and how they finally get to whatever the end result turns out to be is an adventure that keeps them and you, the reader, on your toes as the unexpected keeps happening and the whole time you’re going to be laughing (after all, it is a comedic crime story) as well as happy you aren’t one of Max’s partners.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

You’ll have no doubt that the author as well as all the characters are Brits, not only from the UK spelling conventions, but from the British slang that is constantly coming from the mouths of all the characters.

Also some adult language and some adult topics come up.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 70-75,000 words