Nursery rhymes are famous for their hidden political commentary, so making parodies of them would seem to be a fine source for ironic humour. Enter the Post-Trump World. This looks like a kid’s book of rhymes, and the best part of it is the polished, professional and creative artwork. The best use of parody is […]
“A Lullaby in the Desert” by Mojgan Azar
For those of us used to the story of Middle Eastern refugees when they arrive in Europe and the problems they experience and cause, this story is fascinating because it shows the opposite end of the story: where they started. This novel is at its best in its description of the life of a displaced […]
“The Smuggler’s Daughter” by Claire Matturro
There are two kinds of detective novels. The first is a detective novel that gives us a bit of the soap opera of the detective’s life to add flavour to the story. The second is a soap opera that uses the detective story for the same purpose. This book is a strange combination of the […]
“Rise of Anowen” by Renee Peters
This is an interesting take on the whole vampire genre, pushing the languid, luxurious experience of eternal life to an extreme. The whole book plays like a scene from a Felini movie; the various members of the king’s family circle around him in a stately pavanne. There are no other characters as such, just hazily sketched […]
“The Epiphany Club” by Andrew Knighton
Whooda thunk it? Steampunk fantasy with depth. I kid you not. What starts out to be just another hi-jinx adventure with turn-of-the-century (19thto 20th, that is) steam-powered sci-fi and stereotypical characters, turns quickly into something more interesting. Oh, don’t worry. The tales are still full of the whole shooting match of far-fetched action sequences, mutated […]
“Madame Tulip and the Serpent’s Tree” by David Ahern
In the “Madame Tulip” universe, this story’s a winner. Ahern’s comedy writing is becoming more polished and creative. Not a hilarious, gut-wrenching-laugh-type comedy. Just a constant feeding of clever and original Irish-style wit, often tossed off as setting or character description, that adds to the entertainment of the read. The entertainment value of this writing […]
“Miscreants, Murderers, and Thieves!” by Samuel W. Reed
This is a short story anthology with a slightly misleading title, especially the exclamation mark. Some of the characters portrayed in these stories fall under those categories but many do not. In any case, most of them are entertaining, emotion producing or thought provoking. If there is any exclamation as you read, it is […]
“Get That Job!” by Christine Reidhead
This is one of those self-help books that everyone should check out, no matter how prepared you are for whatever it is you are trying to do. Even if you have a pretty good idea how to go about it, there is always some detail you might miss, some new twist you’re not aware of, […]
“The Reilly Thanksgiving Invitational Story” by Brent Parrott and Bryan Renfro
I am doing something I rarely do: I am reviewing a work I did not read all the way through. However, I think the book deserves comment, so here goes. If anyone should be attracted to this book it’s an ageing middle-class white male weekend warrior finding it difficult to keep up any more in […]
“Master of Malice” Box Set by Cas Peace
The final trilogy in the sweeping “Artesans” Epic Fantasy Well, we can’t say we didn’t see it coming. Those of us who have been following this series have noted the occasional dip into the more horrific side of human nature. At the end of the last trilogy we could see a new villain, Baron Reen, […]