Review by Tyler R. Tichelaar Sara Maurer’s debut novel, A Good Animal, perfectly reflects a writer following the advice of writing what you know, and what Maurer knows is something many of us will find unfamiliar and yet fascinating. In its barebone structure, the novel presents us with a fairly…
Review by Jon C. Stott In the early 1960s, Bob (“R.H.”) Miller, an instructor in the English Department of Michigan Tech, discovered the joys of fly fishing in the Upper Peninsula’s many trout streams. Now, his fishing days over, he has delved into what he calls a “creel full of…
Reviewer: Sharon Brunner Jim Bolone’s Zombie Seagulls: And 13 Other Bite-Sized Nightmares! offers spooky tales that will have any reader bracing for ultimate suspense and surprise. This book was meant for young readers. This collection of horror stories prepares even the less avid readers to embrace the written word, with…
Reviewer: Sharon Brunner Out of the Darkness: Classic Short Fiction from Sweden offers a splendid view of refuge, psychological mysteries and explores what makes life meaningful. The stories take place in Sweden, and authors from the 1880s to the 1950s tell a variety of stories. Some of the authors were…
Review by Mack Hassler “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve ofthem,whom he also designated apostles [special messengers]” Luke 6:12-13 I particularly like reading nonfiction storytelling…
Reviewer: Sharon Brunner Nathan Shore’s “The New King” offers a view of an extremely dangerous and corrupt organization hidden under the guise of a benevolent religious cult. A couple of wealthy parents from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (U.P) hired a disbarred lawyer to find their daughter. Hirsch found their…
Reviewer: Sharon Brunner Helen Mitsios’ (Editor) “Out of the Blue: New Short Fiction from Iceland” offers a variety of the island’s personal realities concerning life, love, and family. Twenty Icelandic Authors wrote the stories, which are filled with mystery and culture. The stories took place in Iceland and other parts…
Review by Deborah K Frontiera Edd Tury has been writing short stories for many years, published in several different anthologies, but until now, not collected in one volume. The Boy Who Growled at Thunder has two sections, The Big Woods, and Urban Legends, each reflecting the setting of the stories…
Review by Mack Hassler “Special Agent Gracie Hart … is eager to be the next Miss United States … Sandra Bullock stars as an [undercover] operative posing as a contestant In order to ferret out a terrorist targeting the event” — Product information for the film, “Miss Congeniality” (DVD 2000)…
Review by Mack Hassler “…In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Fourth Gospel, by Saint John, 1:1 I have…
Review by Mack Hassler A beautifully-designed chapbook by Amy Hansen, Superior Stories is the product of workshopping for creative writers and chosen by chief judge Brian Gruley as the latest of this long series of chapbook winners. I have not reviewed any of the series previously, but the work of…
Reviewer: Sharon Brunner Dylan Bolander’s Until We Meow Again spun a web of supernatural heroism. The story took place in Texas, New Jersey, Marquette, Michigan, an Upper Peninsula of Michigan city (U.P.), rainbow bridges, and various realms outside of the Earth’s plane. In the story there was more than one…
Reviewer: Sharon Brunner Terri Martin’s Straw Horse was filled with intrigue, suspense and humor coupled with a blooming romance. The story took place in the Northwoods at a fictional town called Peshekee located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (U.P.). The main characters in the book were Kat, Nikko, Sheriff…
Review by Mack Hassler One of my great literary heroes is Samuel Johnson, “…the style of a man who thinks with rigorous clarity and as the author of a dictionary has the whole language at his command.” (from the Preface to Johnson’s The History of Ressalas by Michael Lewis, professor…
Review by Mack Hassler Scott Fitzgerald published and sold to mass-market and glossy magazines that paid well in order to maintain the expensive life style that his debutante wife Zelda expected. As a major American fiction writer, he also published four financially successful novels. This substantial collection gathers 43 of…
Review by John Austin The extraordinary core of People of the Dune—a blistering, elaborate, and meticulous interrogation of the tension between modern property rights on the one hand and the obligations we owe to sacred places and the common good on the other—comes in the form of an unorthodox legal…
Review by Mack Hassler “ … upon this rock I will build my Church…. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Wharever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on on earth shall…
Reviewer Sharon Brunner Joshua Veith’s Dark Straits (Sudden Quiet: Book II) offered a haunting view of survival while various groups battle for regional control. The outbreak of deadly diseases led to the collapse of societal law and order. The various groups involved in the story were Rangers, Indigenous, Eco-elves, and…
