Good or Bad? We Choose Good!

An author's nightmare - a bad book review. But praise in between the lines? That's icing on the Devil's-food cake. All in all, not bad!

See Bookstooge's backhanded review that praises AMERICA'S GALACTIC FOREIGN LEGION...

http://bookstooge.booklikes.com/post/1219617/feeling-lucky-america-s-galactic-foreign-legion-1

Review for ... ZOMBIE MISSOURI by Walter Knight

www.zombiebookblog.com was kind enough to post a review for Walter Knight's ZOMBIE MISSOURI...

Here's a short summary of the book followed by the review:

ZOMBIE MISSOURI
Walter Knight
SciFi Humor

Teenage loser Lenny Dreckle of Johnson City, Missouri, is finally a winner – in the zombie lotto. About to be shot by robbers at the Taco Bell after hours, Lenny’s saved by a bright light that scares the robbers away. Unfortunately, the world as Lenny knows it is fast coming to an end. An unknown disaster kills ninety percent of the human population, turning them into flesh-eating zombies.

Teaming up with other survivors and armed with cans of cat food to distract the zombies, Lenny embarks on a bizarre odyssey to find the cause of the zombie apocalypse and to take back the world one town at a time, starting with Johnson City. The question is, can Lenny keep his hands off the lovely zombie Andrea and avoid being devoured or infected by her? Loser that Lenny is, his fate hangs in the balance.

=================================

I’m not quite sure where to start with Zombie, Missouri. To be honest, I read the first few chapters of this book and put it down, relatively sure I wasn’t going to finish it. I’d make my apologies to the author who requested the review and be done with it. However, the guy spent his time asking for the review and, as your ever faithful Head Zombie, I always strive to do what I say I’m going to do… so I soldiered on.

I love hilarious zombie tales. Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland are in my top five favorite ZA movies of all time. I also love books that go against the grain and blow up zombie lore as we know it – writers get points from me for not following the rules which is exactly why I’m not going to trash Zombie, Missouri. It takes balls to pull off something like this. Make no mistake, however – those of you who are zombie purists will not enjoy this book AT ALL.

The main character is a stoner teenager named Lenny Dreckle whose primary objective, even in the ZA, is to lose his virginity. He teams up with a woman named Kansas (who has no intention of giving him any play at all) and together they must somehow fend off the zombies (and the aliens and maybe even the Chinese – those bastards) with or without the help of a weird, pill popping mad scientist sort named Oz. Dreckle may have a chance of getting some from his girlfriend Andrea, if he can keep the zombie hoochie from eating his brains.

The problem, in my opinion, with Zombie, Missouri is that it’s like getting on the tilt-a-whirl at the carnival right after you’ve finished with your cherry milkshake, your cherry corndog and your chicken cherry-yaki but before you’ve taken a good, stiff swig of your cherry Pepto Bismol. It’s everywhere at once and you just don’t know where to look as you’re getting tossed around and praying you don’t have to revisit your carnie cherry goodness.

Not to completely mislead you – this book is totally, freaking gut-bustingly funny in parts. At times I think I may have laughed so hard I peed a little. The characters do make you want to care for them and you do hope they make it so at least you’ll get to see what wacky and unpredictable thing they’ll do next. This book is like the ZA hopped up on meth or at least five or six shots of Five Hour Energy.
Walter Knight gets an A for originality and cojones, but Zombie, Missouri gets THREE out of FIVE ZOMBIE HEADS.

BOOK REVIEW CORNER – American Warrior

Guest blogger and Penumbra Publishing author Natasha Larry (DARWIN’S CHILDREN series) reviews Vietnam-era memoir/autobiography AMERICAN WARRIOR by John C. Bahnsen, Jr. with Wess Roberts...

AMERICAN WARRIOR

John C. Bahnsen, Jr. with Wess Roberts, Citadel, 2007
Military Memoir
Reviewed by Natasha Larry, Penumbra Publishing author and blogger at ParanormalWire.blogspot.com
Available in paperback and ebook on Amazon and other retailers

AMERICAN WARRIOR has been called ‘one of the best books on the Vietnam War.’ After reading it, my inner history nerd has to agree. Now, I won’t lie, I’m totally biased when it comes to this title. Not only do I know, and have interviewed the author, ‘Doc’ Bahnsen, but my grandfather is in this book, which is why I used it for my graduate thesis.

Just in case you were unaware, my grandfather is retired CSM A. C. Cotton, the first African American to serve as CSM (command sergeant major) of the 1^st Cavalry Division. Yes, he’s kind of bad@ss. One of my favorite quotes is about him. Doc refers to Cotton as ‘...top of the line. A big, tall, imposing soldier the troops listened to and respected. He was a cavalryman and fighter first and foremost.’ So, yes, I loved the book.

My bias aside, it is a great book. The reason I think it stands out as a Vietnam combat memoir is because it follows the activity of the 11^th ACR (armored cavalry regiment), better known as the ‘Blackhorse Regiment.’ For non-history geeks, this regiment was America’s best hope for winning the Vietnam War. The reason historians make this claim is because the soldiers of the 11th ARC were willing to do what most others weren’t by following one of the most important rules of warfare. They adopted the enemy’s fighting methods, especially search and destroy. In fact, their fight slogan was ‘find the bastards and pile on!’

AMERICAN WARRIOR is written with rare candor I’ve never seen in any account of the Vietnam War. The story is riveting, raw, and unforgettable. It’s so fast-paced, readers will forget they are reading a non-fiction account of a controversial war. In fact, I don’t think one has to be a military history nerd to enjoy this book. As far as bad@ss goes, these soldiers were it.

BOOK REVIEW CORNER – Starfire Angels Book 1

STARFIRE ANGELS (DARK ANGEL CHRONICLES BOOK 1)
Melanie Nilles, Prairie Star Publishing
Young Adult Paranormal Romance
Free Kindle edition
Reviewed by Willa Kaye Danes, author at Penumbra Publishing

I always begin a new book with great hope and expectation. The premise of this story – that angels are here on Earth, but they’re aliens, complete with impressive wings – is an interesting one that I hoped would be done well. However, the author delved into it with a heaping helping of teen angst – symptomatic of many young-adult novels that sacrifice story for the constant banter over ‘he loves me, he loves me not.’ That’s not to say the romantic aspects of the story weren’t engaging, because they were. But there were other issues with the story that caused me not to enjoy it nearly as much as I’d hoped.

The story opens with seventeen-year-old Raea Dahlrich, a senior in small-town North Dakota, trying to fit in with her friends and be ‘normal,’ despite the constant teasing she gets from bullying schoolmates who make fun of the bizarre turquoise gem-like shards imbedded in her hands. Amazingly (and I use this adverb to express my utter astonishment at how this whole aspect of the story is presented and accepted by all the characters without question), Raea has never had this disfigurement checked into by a doctor. In fact she has never seen the inside of a doctor’s office her whole life. Which begs the question ... how did she get the necessary inoculations to be admitted to public school?

Anyway, her aunt and uncle have raised her since her mother and stepdad mysteriously died in a tornado. Her geeky friend Josh is obsessed with reports of a ‘Dark Angel’ who, over the last several months, has been rescuing people in the area. Now a nosey reporter is on the story – just when Raea wakes up from a bizarre dream about her late mother flying – and finds that she herself has sprouted a huge set of wings during the night. Elis, the foreign-refugee(?) student that lives with the old lady next door creeps her out – until she realizes he’s really, really foreign and can sprout wings like hers. And her aunt is in on this secret the whole time, but (again, amazingly) never bothered to tell her any of this. Without giving away the whole story, suffice it to say there is a whole lot of stuff going on in this story. There’s an offworld war being waged to protect/steal the crystal shards that have a telepathic effect on the ‘keepers’ of the crystals. Raea must learn to use her powers as a keeper of the crystal to prevent the bad guys from stealing it.

One beef I had with the story was the peculiar formatting or sometimes lack thereof, that ran paragraphs together and didn’t differentiate between internal thoughts and regular narrative, making it extremely hard to follow – especially when Raea’s stream-of-consciousness arguments with herself over which boy she likes seemed a bit psychotic. Especially hard to reconcile was the peculiar way the author decided to denote conversations in the alien language of the Inari (winged people). Also confusing was why the Inari would have any conceivable reason to be able to retract their wings at will. Presumably that ability would have been an evolutionary development arising from some survival need. But on their home world, everyone has wings, so ... I am stumped for an answer. I can only assume that this ability arose by design because the author needed to invent a way for the main character and other Inari hiding out on Earth to ‘blend’ with the human population.

But these complaints are all minor when compared to the one detracting issue near the end that I found really disappointing. It stretched the believability factor to the breaking point and totally ruined the story for me.

WARNING – POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT

Bad things happen to people all the time in real life. And sometimes it’s necessary for an author to have bad things happen to characters, even main characters in a story, in order to have the characters deal with those issues. Sexual abuse is one of the issues I feel does not belong in a young adult novel unless that issue is a main component of the overall story with a necessity for it to be included in the story. To add a rape – or even the question of it – into a story as a device to provide an anger quotient high enough to prod another character into enacting violence against the perpetrator when the death of one’s parents wasn’t enough to enrage him ... well, what can I say? It was really hard to swallow. There was no ‘on-scene’ violence against the victim, but there was a lot of angsting about ‘did he or didn’t he.’ And that’s where the author totally lost me.

Okay, come on now. Really? A seventeen-year-old girl who presumably hasn’t ever had sex before, and is uneasy even holding hands with a boy, is sexually violated while unconscious and of course doesn’t remember any of the atrocity. But later on, when she regains consciousness, she has no idea anything has been done to her. Like ... immaculate consexion? Rape with no sexual side-effects is pretty unbelievable, especially when the victim was a virgin. Granted, she’s not exactly human. But she is close enough to pass as human, and her mother married a human. So it would be safe to assume that anatomically she is similar to human – at least as far as sexual activity is concerned. And yet she has no idea whether anything untoward happened. So, not only does she wonder if the boy she likes actually likes her, she wonders if the boy she used to like actually violated her. That just boggles the mind. My only assumption was that her rapist wasn’t exactly ‘up to the task.’

All snide kidding aside, this kind of treatment of a serious issue sends an unrealistic and confusing and inappropriate message to teen readers – that sex has no other side-effect but guilt and shame. What about the physical evidence? What happened to it? Sure, this is fiction, but since when is that an excuse to just ignore reality and pretend that readers won’t notice?

Adding this kind of cringing emotional issue to the end of a story that, up until that point, had no hint of sexual attraction beyond ‘oh, he’s so cute,’ just totally unbalanced the story and ruined it. All for the sake of giving someone the final justification for killing the bad guy. If the author had thought about it, I bet she could have come up with some other scenario that worked much better than pulling out the ol’ rape card. I was so disappointed in this story that, despite its okay beginning and some suspenseful moments and an enjoyable budding relationship, I gave it a ‘2’ for effort. It would have gotten a ‘3’ except for the last part that totally ruined it for me. Seriously, I would not recommend this book to anyone and won’t be reading the rest of the series. Read it if you want to waste your time and end up feeling uncomfortable and a bit angry afterward.

BOOK REVIEW CORNER – The Hunger Games

THE HUNGER GAMES

Suzanne Collins

Young Adult Futuristic Dystopian

Paperback version reviewed

Review by Willa Kaye Danes, author at Penumbra Publishing

I had heard many wonderful things about this book, but avoided for a long time reading it because of the subject matter, thinking that it certainly wouldn’t end well. When I finally did get the opportunity to read THE HUNGER GAMES, after having read many short and rather ho-hum, even disappointing novels billed as young-adult, I found it difficult to believe THE HUNGER GAMES is a young-adult novel. It certainly doesn’t fit in the category of ‘ho-hum,’ and it doesn’t rely on paranormal or supernatural bells and whistles as a crutch to build character and suspense. Told in first-person present tense through the female protagonist Katniss Everdeen, THE HUNGER GAMES made an immediate and lasting impression. Upon reading the first couple pages, I devoured this book (pun intended). And my eagerness to finish it in no way was diminished by the knowledge that it would have to end, because the ending held up to my best expectations, even though it certainly paved the way for the sequel.

In case you haven’t read the more than 4,000 customer reviews on Amazon (the majority of them glowing), I will briefly summarize the plot. However much I wish it to be true, this review can in no way give proper praise to this book.

In the not-too-distant future, sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen lives with her mother and twelve-year-old sister Prim in District 12, what was once part of Appalachia in former United States of America, but is now one of the cordoned-off and policed areas of Panem, carved out after a quashed rebellion. In this future, people in outlying districts don’t fare too well. Food is rationed and scarce for the outlying districts, and only the relatively well-to-do can afford heat and food enough to ward off Mr. Death. People are afraid to speak their mind for fear of being overheard by those evil bastards in Capital City.

In Capital City, the streets might as well be paved with gold when compared to the living arrangements of Kat and her family and most others in the outer districts. But after her father dies in a coal mining accident, Kat carries on the illegal task of ‘poaching’ – hunting in the unfenced forest outside the district to bring game home for trade and to feed her family. She and her hunting partner, an eighteen-year-old boy named Gale, have forged an alliance that benefits almost everyone in the district with extra food, and profitable trading eases the rules that would otherwise be imposed by the resident Peacekeepers.

Once a year, Capital City ‘reminds’ the other districts of their transgression of failed rebellion with the hugely promoted fanfare of The Hunger Games. Each district is required to furnish one girl and one boy between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the survival game, which is to the death, with only one winner. That victory ensures the winner of an easy life and benefits of more food and other extras for the winner’s district. Kat has put in extra entries for herself in the lottery in exchange for extra portions of food and heating fuel for her family throughout the year. She waits tensely to see whose name is chosen for this year’s games. When her sister’s name is called, she immediately volunteers to go in her place.

Words fail me in trying to describe how absolutely perfect this story is. It is not simply the story itself, but the unique blend of plot, character development, and beautiful economy of words that all worked wonderfully together to make this an entirely believable and absorbing read. Many an author gets blinded by the light of a well-turned phrase, but Ms. Collins stays true to her writing task in that the writing skill remains invisible so the reading pleasure can be fully realized.

It has been, as I stated before, a very long time since I have read a young-adult novel-length story that was so emotionally moving without being over-dramatic or maudlin. Kat is the perfect heroine – tough and emotionally distant, yet in her own way caring and respectful of life. The way her attitudes and beliefs are pitted against the very fabric of the opulently excessive society that created the situation certain to cause her death is a stroke of writing genius. I am eager to see it repeated in the next installment of this trilogy, and can’t wait to get my hands on the rest of this series. Also I will be standing in line to see the movie version of this story and compare it to the graceful success of this book.

This is the kind of story that any author would be grateful and proud to have written, and it is an excellent example of superb writing. I have no idea how much careful and judicious editing was involved to create the final product, but for any author hoping to write well, no matter what the genre, I offer this book as a learning experience and enthusiastically recommend it to all readers. This is how it’s done!

BOOK REVIEW CORNER - 'Bound' by Kira Saito

BOUND
(Book 1 of the Arelia LaRue series)
by Kira Sato
YA Paranormal Romance
Reviewed by Willa K. Danes, author at Penumbra Publishing
$0.99 Kindle ebook

When I first heard about this book through an author interview talking about voodoo, I was excited to read the book. I liked the cover and was curious to find out more about the mysterious topic of voodoo and to read about budding New Orleans voodoo queen, Arelia LaRue. On the topic of voodoo, the author did explain the basics through her main character Arelia, who does not want to be a voodoo queen but was blessed by a powerful spirit and so cannot really avoid it.

Everything else about the book just sort of fell away like rotting flesh from a zombie. It's not that the book was bad so much as it required some TLC to lift it from confusing and annoying to something special and memorable. The story line and the execution just weren't enough to perform that needed magic to make this book good.

Arelia as a main character was understandably not perfect, but by the end of the story, she hadn't seemed to grow very much from the rude and inconsistent sixteen-year-old that she started out as. And her friend Sabrina was just plain vacuous and annoying. She didn't get any better by the end of the book either. I seriously wondered why Arelia would want to be friends with her, except that she didn't appear to have any other friends.

The real puzzler was Lucas LaPlante, son of the owners of the plantation where Sabrina and Arelia are invited to work for the summer. Genteel and oddly out of touch with everything contemporary, Lucas nevertheless seems smitten by Arelia despite her often scathing attitude. Rich and pampered Sabrina certainly doesn't need a job, but she accepts the summer position strictly to fulfill her mission to attract a wealthy husband - and she has set her sights on Lucas. Arelia, on the other hand, desperately needs the money, but finds out the job is not what it seems, nor is the reason for her being invited to the plantation as a tourist assistant.

Sadly I was disappointed by the shallow inconsistencies of all the characters and the lack of believability in the story line and a lot of the behavior of the various characters. That could be expected and excused where minor background characters were concerned, but the unevenness of the main characters was quite disturbing at times, especially when Arelia could't seem to make up her mind from one second to the next whether or not she wanted to acknowledge the spirits who visited her and whether or not she liked or didn't like 'Shirtless Guy' - Lucas, her boss of sorts. And then there was very strange and confusing Ivan, whose bizarre knowlege about Arelia and her gift was never explained in the book at all.

I realize that this story is designed to be part of an ongoing series, but rules of fiction dictate that each story should be a complete story within itself. The problem is, this story stops abruptly, leaving too many unanswered loose ends. One of the main loose ends is how Lucas LaPlante could possibly be attracted to waffling and recalcitrant Arelia LaRue, whose character seems weak and cowardly most of the time, despite the persistent reminders of everyone around her, telling her how strong and important she is. But ultimately, pretty just isn't enough to make her rise from inconsistent unbelievability to achieve the strength a real heroine needs to carry a series. Add to that a serious lack of consistent and correct punctuation in the story mechanics, and you have a simmering cauldron of mediocre reading.

I really was looking forward to reading this story and tried very hard to like it, but that was difficult, given what was there to work with. Sadly I cannot recommend this book except as a brief introduction to the voodoo arts. As for the romance and the story delivery, I've read better and will keep looking for more of that elsewhere.

BOOK REVIEW CORNER – The Silence of Trees (Lupescu)

THE SILENCE OF TREES

By Valya Dudycz Lupescu
Women’s Fiction
Reviewed by Willa Kaye Danes, author at Penumbra Publishing
99-cent Kindle ebook edition

The first thing I must say is ... I loved this story. It is one of the best stories I have read in a very long time. It is emotional and magical and mystical and truthful, full of secrets and regrets and fears and, finally, courage – courage to speak. This is a story about women, their voices, their pain, their connection to each other, and their love of family. Although it focuses on Ukrainian culture, it is a story that is so beautifully written, it can resonate with anyone of any nationality and of any age. It is perfect for a book club, to be shared and discussed.

The main character, Nadya, is a 70-year-old native of the Ukraine who emigrated to the US (Chicago) as a young wife and mother shortly after World War II. Her story is told in flashbacks and recollections that skip around in a non-chronological fashion that, rather than becoming a confusing mess, creates a carefully woven tapestry of emotional truths with threads of cultural heritage richly highlighting every part of the story. It explains the gap of generations so wonderfully, it should be required reading for every person under the age of 30. While there are references to war’s atrocities, these references lend a realistic perspective to the reflections and attitudes of the characters to further help explain why oftentimes people are reluctant, even afraid, to speak up.

There is so much substance in this story, a mere few paragraphs cannot do it justice. Normally I don’t expect much from a 99-cent book, but I was joyfully overwhelmed by the quality and beauty of this story. If you haven’t read this book, you should do it now!

Willa Kaye Danes, author at Penumbra Publishing

BOOK REVIEW CORNER – Forbidden Mind (Kinrade)

FORBIDDEN MIND
By Kimberly Kinrade
Young Adult Paranormal Fantasy
(Ebook provided by the author for review)
Reviewed by Willa Kaye Danes, author at Penumbra Publishing

Sam is approaching her eighteenth birthday and looking forward to finally being able to live a normal life, go to college, and be on her own. But Sam is not ‘normal.’ She reads minds. This makes her a valuable asset to her employer she and her friends jokingly call Rent-A-Kid. The organization’s huge campus has every convenience to support its charges – including a high-security fence around the property. Sam’s only ventures outside the compound consist of her assignments where she is sent all over the world with bodyguards to do undercover work for people who pay handsomely for her unique skill as a mind-reader. But when she turns eighteen, she can stop working and get her earnings kept in a trust fund by Rent-A-Kid. At least, that’s what she’s been told for as long as she can remember. When Sam detects the mind of a boy on campus who is not one of the Rent-A-Kids, but has been kidnapped and drugged, she realizes everything she’s been told by Rent-A-Kid is a lie. She must escape and help her friends and Drake, but she’s unprepared to launch a coordinated escape plan by herself. Will Drake’s and her powers be enough to get the job done?

I really enjoyed this book. On the surface it may have seemed a bit short and a tad simplistic because it was easy to read and consisted of a lot of really short chapters. However, it was well written, fast-paced, and suspenseful as the kids try to find answers to nagging questions about their past and what is really going on at Rent-A-Kid. The characters were all well defined and individual enough to be believable. There was just enough romance to make it interesting, but the romance wasn’t the only focus of the story, as there was a sense of danger that affected all the characters. The concept of the Rent-A-Kid corporation was a cool idea, and reminded me a bit of Josh Whedon’s ‘Doll House’ TV series. There are some brief and vague references to child exploitation, and an issue with pregnancy; however these are handled quite well with no objectionable or graphic descriptions. This story is a good selection for older teen readers who like a bit of paranormal and a bit of romantic suspense, but can also be enjoyed by adults.

I give this a solid 4, preferably 4.5 out of 5.0 (reserving 5.0 for OMG this was fantastic), but since there are no half-point increments at most rating sites, I’ll leave it at 4.0 and recommend it, as I did enjoy it quite a bit. This book is obviously the first installment of a planned series.

BOOK REVIEW CORNER - The Devil's Game (Pierce/Kaye)

BOOK REVIEW CORNER

From time to time, various folks at Penumbra Publishing read books (that we didn't publish!), and are happy to post reviews. Sometimes these books are provided by the authors requesting reviews, and sometimes they are free or 99-cent downloads, and sometimes they are books purchased for personal reading. When possible, the reviewer will note the source and format. Reviews are strictly the opinion of the individual reviewer.

THE DEVIL’S GAME

By S.L. Pierce & Maren Kaye

Psychological Thriller

(Ebook provided by the author as a contest prize)

Review by Willa Kaye Danes, author at Penumbra Publishing

This story about a girl and her stalker – and her stalker’s stalker intent on ending things badly – was highly suspenseful and kept me guessing to the end regarding the real culprit. A well written psychological thriller with great characterization and pacing, The Devil’s Game switches scenes from an ambition-driven psychiatrist and her patient (Patient X), obsessed with following stalkers, to the rather hapless but likeable victim, Rachel, alone in the big city, and not sure who she can trust to turn to for help when mysterious gifts begin appearing inside her apartment. Later, the gifts are accompanied by threatening messages, but poor Rachel is at a loss to figure out how the culprit is gaining access to her apartment. There are plenty of suspects to choose from, and some deliberate misdirection that makes it continually impossible to figure out who the real stalker is. It is intense reading, and the characters are all very believable and well drawn. The dialog is crisp and realistic, and I found myself instantly drawn into Rachel’s world of worry and woe.

On a technical side, there were a few instances of point-of-view mixing I felt should not have been there, but they were unobtrusive enough not to mar the reading of the story. Another issue is that the authors give us snippets of almost everyone’s point of view, but conveniently leave out clues I felt should have been dealt with a little more fairly in the story. That is the main reason it was so hard to figure out who the stalker and the stalker-stalker were, because things were kept from the reader in such a way that it didn’t seem quite logical, given that we are seeing everyone’s thoughts. Overlooking this, one can still become quickly absorbed in the story and empathize with Rachel throughout the whole ordeal. The ending wraps up nicely, and overall the story is very entertaining and riveting.

I would rate it 5/5 but for the bit about the holding back of clues when in the POV of the ‘guilty parties.’ With that, it earns a 4.5. out of 5.0. Well done, and recommended.

Apex Review: Sandy Hyatt-James' PARALLEL REVIEW

Recently APEX REVIEWS reviewed Sandy Hyatt-James' science-fiction romance, PARALLEL TRIANGLE...

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Parallel Triangle
Sandy Hyatt-James
ISBN: 9781935563303
Penumbra Publishing

Reviewed By Chelsea Perry
Official Apex Reviews Rating: 5 stars

Bestowed with the gift of “The Sight,” young Englishwoman Elizabeth is subsequently charged with completing a crucial task by the leaders of Earthzad, an advanced civilization in a dimension hidden from the people of Earth; however, she soon finds herself falling head over heels for Orion, her handsome taskmaster, which has the potential to complicate her mission...meanwhile, Orion is motivated solely by his overpowering affection for Jocasta, the beautiful, intelligent ruler of his home region on Earthzad; unbeknownst to Orion, even though Jacosta feels just as strongly for him, she harbors a deep secret that prevents her from returning his affections...caught up in a monumental struggle for the peace and stability of the galaxy, Elizabeth, Orion, and Jacosta ultimately find themselves trapped not only within the throes of battle – but also of unrequited passion...

Parallel Triangle is nothing if not imaginative. In gripping fashion, author Sandy Hyatt-James has crafted a winding tale of action, drama, and suspense, featuring vivid, unique characters and cleverly intersecting plotlines. More than just a tale of brooding romantic tension, Parallel Triangle invites readers to travel to the nether regions of their imagination, incorporating impressive elements of fantasy and Sci-Fi while simultaneously exploring the visceral depths of emotional turmoil. Equally riveting and eye-opening, Hyatt-James’ debut offering is the strong introduction of a promising new literary voice. A thoroughly entertaining read.

PARALLEL TRIANGLE is available at Amazon in print and at special limited-time pricing in Kindle...

http://www.amazon.com/Parallel-Triangle-Sandy-Hyatt-James/dp/1935563300/ref=sr_1_1_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1290877567&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Parallel-Triangle-ebook/dp/B003XYFNEI/ref=sr_1_1_title_1_ke?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1290877567&sr=1-1

Apex Review: Robert J. Wetherall, LAST FLIGHT HOME

Recently APEX REVIEWS completed an excellent review for Robert J. Wetherall's LAST FLIGHT HOME...

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Last Flight Home
Robert Wetherall
ISBN: 9781935563280
Penumbra Publishing
Reviewed By Karynda Lewis
Official Apex Reviews Rating: 5 stars

Ever since she was a young teenager in Nebraska, Kelly Cavanaugh has known that she was destined for greatness; however, she likely didn’t realize the immensely difficult challenges she’d be forced to overcome in order to achieve it. As she rises to the top of the airline industry, she endures everything from heartbreak to tragedy to the throes of emotional trauma, but through the love of family and friends – as well as the unquenchable passion burning deep within her – she literally and figuratively flies over the worst that life has to offer on her way to fulfilling her destiny...

Last Flight Home is quite the emotionally satisfying read. In his stirring tale of personal triumph, author Robert Wetherall presents the reader with an encouraging reminder of the difficulties we all must face on the road to embracing our fate. Through the ups and downs of his courageous protagonist, Wetherall highlights the importance of remembering that life is a journey, not a destination, and that no matter how challenging our sojourns may be – the only way we ever lose is by failing to try. Highly recommended.

LAST FLIGHT HOME is available from Amazon in print, and at special limited-time sale pricing in Kindle...

http://www.amazon.com/Last-Flight-Home-Robert-Wetherall/dp/1935563289/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1290877072&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Last-Flight-Home-ebook/dp/B003TSEROA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=merchant-items&qid=1290877072&sr=1-1

Apex Review for Andrew Arrowsmith's REALMS OF BELIAR

Recently APEX REVIEWS reviewed Andrew Arrowsmith's high-fantasy adventure, The Realms of Beliar: The Sword Myndarit...

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The Realms Of Beliar: The Sword Myndarit
Andrew Arrowsmith
ISBN: 9781935563105
Penumbra Publishing
Reviewed By Chelsea Perry
Official Apex Reviews Rating: 4 stars

When the peace and stability of the longstanding Empire is threatened by the malevolent Alliance, an upstart group of bloodthirsty tyrants, the secure, prosperous life of old faces a tragic, abrupt end; however, four young, courageous heroes may just hold the key to preserving the Empire’s fate – but, in a world ruled by magic, only if they get a little help from a “higher” source...

Profoundly imaginative, The Realms Of Beliar: The Sword Myndarit is an enjoyable read. In the tradition of Tolkien, Herbert, and other Fantasy/Sci-Fi scribes, author Andrew Arrowsmith has crafted a compelling morality tale featuring unique characters and skillfully interwoven plotlines, all designed to captivate the readers’ interest as the all-engrossing suspense of the saga unfolds. By the end, you can’t help finding yourself inexorably drawn to the outcome of the heroes’ fate, as Arrowsmith proves quite adept at prolonging the much-anticipated climax of his winding tale. A recommended fantasy thriller.

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REVIEW: Stepping Out of My Grave

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Stepping Out Of My Grave
David Berardelli
ISBN: 9781935563174
Penumbra Publishing
Reviewed By Chelsea Perry
Official Apex Reviews Rating: 5/5 stars

While taking an innocent trip to the mailbox one day, Jake Mild’s existence is turned completely upside down: after being struck down by an out-of-control truck, he awakens – in spirit form – in an open grave. Unsure of what to do next, Jake begins to rush home – but on the way he crosses paths with Sierra, a young girl with a black eye, busted lip, and other signs of being beaten. Deciding to follow her home instead, Jake soon explores the depths of his surprising new spiritual powers – but will they be enough to help an innocent little girl in desperate need of protection…?

Stepping Out Of My Grave is an engaging, heartrending tale. Skillfully crafted by author David Berardelli, the paranormal suspense thriller/compelling human interest story tackles a range of different topics, chief among them the devastating effects of child abuse. Unfortunately, most – if not all – kids like Sierra don’t have the benefit of a “guardian angel” such as Jake to watch over and protect them from harm, but at the very least, Stepping Out Of My Grave successfully pushes the issue of abuse to the forefront, encouraging readers not to turn a blind eye if they – like Jake – happen to cross paths with a hapless bruised and battered child one day.

An entertaining mix of drama, action, and well-honed suspense, Stepping Out Of My Grave is a highly gratifying read. Kudos to Berardelli for crafting such a rewarding tale of the “better angels” of our nature.