Reprise Review: Schrodinger’s Telephone by @MarionStein

Genre: Speculative Fiction

Description:

“Lizzie Greene seems to have it all -- a great husband, a job she loves, a baby on the way, even a rent-stabilized two bedroom apartment on New York's Upper West Side. Then a random decision leads to a senseless act of violence, and it all disappears.

But what if things had been different? What if things are different? Could someone be both dead and not dead at the same time? Is it insanity to believe in mysteries that go beyond human understanding, in the evidence of things not seen?

Lizzie's sister, her best friend, and many others think she's lost her senses, but maybe she's gotten a glimpse of something most of us never get to see.

Schrodinger's Telephone is more for fans of The Twilight Zone than of Twilight.”

Author:

A native New Yorker, Marion Stein has two Masters Degrees, one in creative writing and the other in social work. She moved around the US and Mexico before returning to New York in September 2001. In addition to this novella, she has a novel, Loisaida, and another novella, The Death Trip, available.

For more, visit Stein’s blog.

Appraisal:

Speculative fiction is an umbrella that encompasses many subgenres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, dystopian, Horror, and Supernatural Fiction are just some. However, some speculative fiction doesn’t neatly fit into any of the subgenres, and Schrodinger’s Telephone is one of those. A case could be made that it is Supernatural Fiction, but that presupposes one specific interpretation of what happens to the protagonist, Lizzie, when there is at least one other possibility, that Lizzie is insane.

Regardless of what we call it or how we categorize it, Schrodinger’s Telephone is a quick and engrossing read that will exercise your mind. How would you react if someone you knew insisted that something impossible had happened?

What if that someone was you?

Buy now from:    Amazon US     Amazon UK

FYI: Added for Reprise Review: Schrodinger’s Telephone was a nominee in the Speculative Fiction (excluding fantasy) category for B&P 2014 Readers' Choice Awards. Original review ran March 3, 2013

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 25-30,000 words

Review: Shoot The Savage by LM Latham

I, ?wazithinkin, have made an executive decision to accept a Guest Review. I am honored to post BigAl’s Books and Pals first ever Guest Review from indie author, Marion Stein. Please check out BigAl’s reviews for her books: Schrodinger’s Telephone, Loisaida – A New York Story, and Blood Diva. You can read her snarky television reviews and recaps at Happy Nice Time People, and find her books on her Amazon author page.

Guest Review from Marion Stein: Shoot The Savage by LM Latham

Reviewed by: Marion Stein

Genre: Fiction/Historical Fiction

Author: LM Latham is a UK-based writer who made her literary debut with Shoot the Savage, which was recognized as a  “Self Published Book of the Month”  by The Guardian in September 2014. Latham has more recently published a second novel, Solitude of Night.

Description: 

Los Angeles, 1936, everyone wants to be in the movies. Handsome, young “shoeshine boy” Eli Samson gets his big break when he's plucked from the sidewalk to play a “native” in a Hollywood B picture. Eli is then cast in more roles, playing a succession of slaves, servants, and “savages.” While he enjoys the glamour and the easy money, he must eventually confront the limitations of segregation and the fact that his roles only perpetuate stereotypes. 

Appraisal:

There's much to admire in this Hollywood coming of age story. The novel is very well researched, and the writer made the setting and descriptions of African American life on the outskirts of Hollywood in 1936 feel authentic. The writing is consistently good, but never soars. While the setting is highly original, and the author seems to get so many details right, the plot itself is in many ways old-fashioned. It really is a coming into adulthood story with Eli growing considerably more worldly, and in some ways disillusioned in a short amount of time.  There's a romantic subplot involving his ambitious beautiful girlfriend, Belle, that feels predictable and clichéd. 

Exploring old Hollywood through African American eyes is a brilliant idea. I just wish the execution had been a little more exciting. Some of the characters are clearly based on real actors. There was an easily recognizable “political” Paul Robeson stand-in, and a highly successful at playing maids Hattie McDaniel type. While it's fun for old movie buffs to recognize the cameos, those characterizations lacked depth.  From the clever use of the word “shoot” in the title, I expected more irony and maybe surreal humor, but there's really little of that. Eli was almost too perfect, too likable, too nice, as were his mother and brother.

This is the only novel I can think of about this subject, and if you're interested in old Hollywood you'll probably like it. There's no profanity or graphic sex if those are things that offend you. The book manages to put Eli through a tough time, but it ends on an upbeat but not unrealistic note.

While it was entertaining, enlightening, and well-written, I just wish it had a little more depth. This is a case where I can imagine that if it had been picked up by a major publisher – which it should have been – the writer might have been pushed harder by an astute editor to go deeper and maybe even darker.

Availability:         Kindle US        Kindle UK

FYI: No profanity. No explicit sex. Very little violence. 

Format/Typo Issues: No significant issues.

Approximate page count: 263 print pages

Rating:  **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: Marion Stein