Book Reviews

The Cultist’s Wife

1908, the height of the British Empire. Clara’s autonomy is shattered when her long-absent husband summons her to join him at his eerie sect’s headquarters, insulated on a sparsely inhabited island in the Bahamas.
After a harrowing sea voyage, Clara and her children disembark into an unfamiliar landscape and climate. The children explore the marvels and mysteries of Andros Island and develop friendships with a Bahamian family, while Clara struggles to find her place as a woman within the cult.
But what seems at first to be a spiritual haven for Clara reveals itself to be a monster-worshipping cult intent on draining her family of more than their fortune.
Clara must mesh her quest for independence with her need to protect her children from the cult’s depraved attempts to consume their life essence.
Can Clara escape the monsters of Andros island with her children and her sanity intact?

Book Reviews

Bleeding Hart

The city of angels is hiding a few demons.
At San Diego Comic-Con, Chris Hart wants nothing more than to meet his favorite actress, Marie LeBeau. But someone else wants her dead.
When Chris manages to stop an attack from what can only be described as a ninja, Marie finds herself impressed by his martial arts prowess and offers Chris a job on her personal security team. Little does he know she has ulterior motives for wanting him close and may not be the person he thinks she is.
Everything changes when people associated with Marie start turning up decapitated. While Chris finds himself more vulnerable to Marie’s charms than ever before, he realizes that being with her may not only put his life at risk, but his very humanity.
Bleeding Hart is a biting look at Hollywood that combines the quirkiness of Grady Hendrix with the hardboiled pulp of Mickey Spillane.

Book Reviews

Odd Devils

There once was an angel named Satan who’d lived as a simple mortal shepard, but died at the hands of a brutal fallen angel. His soul was remade into the cold-hearted, serpentine angel of the damned. He had no memory of his former humanity, and reigned over the abyss as the jailer of God for many centuries, until one day his icy heart was opened, and he had no choice but to leave Hell behind forever.
An evil wizard created an innocent child-like spirit in his own image. He mistreated the little boy made of stars, and forced the young entity to live on as a wicked copy of his own beastly self. The enslaved spirit fed on the wizard’s followers for many years, until fate intervened. Through the power of love and self-sacrifice the boy was released from the wizard’s influence, and able to finally gain his freedom.
A mortal woman fell in love with a dangerous demon, who came to love her in turn. They joined their souls together to become as one, but both died in the process, resulting in the birth of a terrifying new creation. The ravenous monster devoured so many before it was taken under Heaven’s wing, and transformed into the strange demonic angel of Satan’s orchard.
Angels, demons and humanity collide throughout the short stories of Odd Devils, weaving a tapestry of darkness and redemption, with the only certainty along the way being that love is as powerful a force as vile wickedness.

Book Reviews

Kakapo and the Fiery Sundown Case of the Berjudas Hellhole Triangle

An eccentric wild beast with a mysterious kaleidoscopic nature, camouflaged into endless skins by the braves who venture beyond its glorious thousand corners and the puniceous mist that befalls upon the verdant city.
A sci-fi novel, an operatic thriller, the Kakapo Sonata nº 2022 in 3 movements, a horror comedy (or a horror of a comedy), a silent movie where frames are wordy Time, a sensical nonsense, a parody, a mutant mimiambi, a baroque extravaganza hit by monsoons of ironies and rivalries, a friendships’ tale, a love story, a cosmic puzzle, a pulsing star, a booming wish, an epopee, an epic battle, a minutes burning survival race, a yearn for celebration, an unveiling, a whirlwind resurrection. An homage to the brilliance, beauty and imagination of life and nature, to the triumph of self-love and the love we have for whom and what surround us, to the challenges of being and (co)existing. A surreal shapeshifting creature. A fine brew. A chimera. A you. Kakapo.
So to you plucky kakapoan who enters with open heart this Time in space your beloved home, what else to say other than “what you do before the astronomical clock bangs the fateful midnight counts”. And remember. We are stronger united. For sublime 12 step into lucky 13, will Kakapo cross 24 to abundant 24 embrace? Let’s hope so. And many more. Raise your glass fellow life! We’re all stars! Chin, chin!

Book Reviews

Starlet

FAME. FORTUNE. JELLYFISH.
When an aspiring young actress accepts an invite to a fading A-lister’s home, she soon learns the terrifying secrets of the Hollywood Elite.

Book Reviews

Third Name’s a Charm: Tales of Trios & Triple Threats

All good things come in threes.
Once upon a time, a group of authors accepted the challenge from a fairy tale name generator. Not just once or twice, but thrice! Volume three of these quirky stories is a collection featuring trios and triple threats.
In this clean YA anthology, follow the fates of three begotten triplet princesses, be enlisted as the third lucky bodyguard to stave off monsters, see if the third wand works wonders for an unlucky mage, try to discover the true name of a unicorn prince, discover why magical artifacts come in threes, and climb towers with thieves to abduct well-known fairytale characters.
Don’t forget, with the rule of three, there are always exceptions. Venture into this collection of adventurous stories by award-winning and up-and-coming authors, and maybe you’ll be thrice enchanted.
All proceeds donated to a charity in support of reading and literacy.