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All Night by the Rose on May 29, 2011

This book looked like a good way to continue my recent forays into the world of short stories. I don't often use the product description in my reviews but as the author has done so it will help illustrate the range of stories within this book. "A brief synopses of each story: City on a Hill This city is like your own in a time period reminiscent of the 20th century. It is filled with gleeful hedonists out in an urban landscape celebrating ‘Merry Day’. Its narrative is experimental and filled with sharp observations as the characters go about their constant partying lives. I was trying to channel Allen Ginsberg and Dr. Seuss at the same time. Heartbreaker The protagonist of this story is a misanthrope out to teach a lesson to a prior lover of his ex-girlfriend. This is an experiment in language. I wrote it after reading ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and wanted to try my hand at non-colloquial vernacular. Since I’m not a linguistic scholar, I chose a language that has been bouncing around in my head. I’d like to imagine that I’m an expert in the linguistic choice within my own mind. Down with Me This story takes place at a mental institution and is a slice-of-life narrative. The protagonist and his friend have disorders in which things that cannot be there are for them. It’s an experiment in meta-fiction. Pave the Planet This story takes place in the outdoor break area at Honda Manufacturing in Alliston, Ontario. The main characters spend their brief lunch period gossiping while the protagonist compares two time-periods in his life. It’s an experiment of flashbacks and description. Red Backed Betty The protagonist of this story is out clubbing. When he meets a beautiful girl, he spends the rest of his night wooing her. How he’s wooing her is reminiscent of the Red Backed Spider with metaphorically similar results. This is an experiment in theme. Life and Times of 34 Empire Path The protagonist of this story is a building located at the titled address. The eras span six decades and within the context of these decades a narrative is weaved throughout. It’s an experiment with time. He’s Really my Brother In this tale, the protagonist deals with the poor showing he made of being a good brother to a child adopted by his family. It’s a straight-forward story, although it plays with flashbacks and timing. Kissing Eleanor This is a modern-day romance between childhood sweethearts. It’s a pretty straight-forward love story, but as with most of what I write, it doesn’t really end up where Hollywood expects it to. The Great Fall of a Mediocre Man A Love story: kind of the opposite of Kissing Eleanor in that it doesn’t begin as you’d expect it, but it has a feel-good ending. Saskatchewan Boulevard The protagonist reminisces about his childhood friend when he drives by his old house and then imagines what his friend is up to in Afghanistan. Of course, his imagination runs rampant and the reader ends up with a tale of eastern fantasy. Nabakan and Benikhir This was written as a counterpoint to the standard western fantasy. It’s set in a fantasy world that is reminiscent of the Middle-East. Nabakan and Benikhir must save the people from the tyrant Po. Janey Chu This is a children’s story and a study of theology from that perspective. It’s representative of society and it’s fantastic. Star Trek: White Trash This is satire aimed directly at space opera. Captain Hicks and his crew of misfits deal with a new Vulcan communications officer and at the same time, trouble in the Neutral Zone." I found the stories so varied there should be something for everyone within this book. While those with a sci-fi and fantasy bent weren't quite my taste I loved Kissing Eleanor and Life and Times of 34 Empire Path, which I thought was particularly clever. Many of the stories are vignettes and I liked the scope this leaves the reader to work out or assume more about the characters and the situations. Some of them have a gritty urban feel while others are more about the emotions and the backdrop feels less important. The author has used a wide range of styles and narrative voices and I thought there was some very effective use of different literary techniques. There was also some beautiful prose employed. In places it maybe got a little overly wordy though. As an e-book it is largely well formatted, although a few little typos had crept in. All in all this book made for an engrossing read that should have time taken over it in order to be fully appreciated, it doesn't deserve to be a quick easy read. With such a wide range of styles included I imagine a lot of people wouldn't love all of them but that's not really a negative when the writing is so interesting. In his descriptions of the stories the author mentions them being experiments in different ways, and I'd say they are largely successful experiments.

Truth of the Python on June 17, 2011

This book is described as a literary thriller, and with the book having a historical element it caught my attention. Set in Vancouver in the early 1990s hypnotherapist Philip Dozier is treating university student Greg Brodie for an embarrassing personal problem. During the course of their sessions Greg regresses 25 centuries and it seems in a previous life he was Greek philosopher Pythagoras. He also acts a channel for a being that knows Philip's secrets. Both men become obsessed with the past, Greg convinced he is on earth to continue Pythagoras' work and Philip concerned about his historical connection with Greg and repaying karmic debts. This is a well written book that covers some very interesting territory. I particularly liked a lot of the parts set around 500BC, reading about the different civilisations, their religious beliefs and the life of Pythagoras. I also found the present narratives enjoyable, and felt a degree of concern for Greg. However I found it hard to warm to therapist Philip, especially as his behaviour became less moral, and although she wasn't a major character I felt more empathy for his wife. While I was keen to read on to find out how the men were linked, and to discover more about the entity Greg channels there were parts that were overly philosophical for me. It's not a topic I know a great deal about, I found myself a bit out of my depth and those parts dragged a little for me. I was happier once I got back to the more straightforward accounts of the past and present. Overall though the style, while it had a literary bent, didn't make for a hard read. This was a thought-provoking story with an element of suspense, and although it didn't hook me in quite the same way as other thrillers, it was a good read that has been well edited with no noticeable typos.

I see... Savannah — Your Baby, Binoculars, and African Animals on June 28, 2011

This is a lovely little book, just the right sort of length for a little one, with sweet illustrations and a nice range of vocab. I particularly like the view of parts then revealing the whole animal.

The Wrinkly on Aug. 21, 2011

I like a good comedy, and I've seen one or two communities in Florida that have quite frankly scared me with their perfect appearances and promises of idyll, so this seemed like a good read for me. Mike Lewis is 39, sells TV advertising slots & dates younger women. On a trip to Florida for a conference he discovers a community with wonderful leisure facilities and every class going to enrich a life. All the people he sees look happy. Returning home he checks into his financial affairs and decides to move there, announcing at his 40th birthday party that he's taking early retirement. It's only after he's paid the deposit on a rental home that he realises it's for the over 60s only. He's so sold on the way of life that he decides drastic action is necessary to blag his way in. Once there he finds himself playing plenty of golf, and meeting attractive women of various ages. However keeping up the facade provides good comedy material. While trying to adopt the gait, voice and habits of a man 20 years older he still finds himself fending of advances, ends up in a very confusing romantic situation and finds the golf club is being used by drug dealers. The basic premise is a bit far-fetched, and at the start I didn't understand why Mike was so easily hooked on the idea of moving to Goldenville, but if you get past that and enjoy the ride there's some good humour to be had from the situation. The author also makes his motivation for the move a little clearer later on in the book. Many of the characters are larger than life and although Mike felt like the only fully developed one the ensemble cast helped make the book. The plot is pretty simple and provides some nice humour. This wasn't a particularly long book, and it was a nice, easy fun read that left me in a good mood. If I was the sort of person who kept a pile of books for summer/holiday reading this would sit nicely in that pile.

An Epitaph for Coyote: A Novel on Sep. 15, 2011

Henry Pluck is a dream employee, devoted to his job, always early and never one to indulge in chit chat with his colleagues. His home is spartan and orderly, his diet predictable and his leisure time unusual for a young single man - he visits a nursing home. He is living the dream, and remembering his mum's pearls of wisdom to make his way in the world. That is until his world collides with that of bug exterminator Rosa Santana. He's attracted by her manner from the word go, but as he gets to know her realises she is a free spirit who thinks way outside the corporate box. She's firmly in the driving seat in their relationship and introduces him to a world he had never really stopped to take time to appreciate. Until they met he hadn't paid any really attention to the desert surrounding Las Vegas, the moon or the impact of urban sprawl. Henry starts to question what he is doing with his life and how to make it better. At the start of the book Henry was presented as a deeply unsympathetic character, a man whose life is so regulated and perfect I couldn't see myself liking him. However Rosa makes him take a good look at himself and he grows a lot in the course of the book, and also reveals a sense of humour and compassion on the way. Rather than being dull and overly perfectionist he becomes quirky and caring. Rosa is completely off the wall compared to Henry, has a real sense of fun yet is serious and has much wider world view than he does. I liked her immediately and found that she retained a degree of mystery that made her intriguing. This is a story of human nature and the quest for meaning among other things. It presents a different side of Las Vegas to the one we see so often. It is beautifully written and I loved the amazing imagery the author uses. His descriptions of many things rang so true I could see those things right before my eyes. His observations and way of putting them into words were just spot on and often beautiful. The only negative I could come up with was the small number of typos including the repeated use of queue rather than cue. However it was a minor issue in the grand scheme of things. I'd love to read more from this author.

Fey Girl on Oct. 12, 2011
(no rating)
I was intrigued by this book's description - "Jude Pender has troubles managing his emotions. Case in point: Cecile. He thinks he can bury his thoughts and that the rest of his neurons will naturally grow around them, leaving an obelisk that he can visit as if in a dream. And since he doesn't know when to give up, the result will be an explosive release after a series of betrayals." The cover also suggested something a bit different to me. Jude first meets Cecile while he is dating Terry, but notices she has an aura that draws people to her. After he splits with Terry he becomes close to Cecile and they start a complicated relationship. He tries to pretend he isn't attracted to her in order to stay friends but gradually becomes less happy with how they function together. The other complication in his life starts with some strange dreams. When he meets a new colleague who has been tasked with finding him, he ends up in the Fey World during the dreaming. It turns out he is an orcling and he has a part to play in saving that world, with Cecile involved in a round about way. I found the book a bit slow to get started, and got about a third of the way in wondering when things were going to start happening. Up to that point was primarily introducing Jude and his circle of friends. I liked Jude, especially as he became more assertive later in the book, and I felt I could associate with his crowd of mates. I didn't have to wait much longer though and soon found the story picking up pace and moving into Fey World and introducing a range of mythological characters. This was definitely the part that interested me, although the relationship between to two friends became more intense later in the book and the way things were left between them made for a good ending to that part of the story. The point at which the Fey story was left has me hanging and looking forward to more of the mythology in future books. This is the first book in a series of four (a tetralogy - love that word, you learn something new all the time) with a set of short stories due that provide more of the back story and mythology. In places the pacing felt a bit slow, and some of the philosophical debate between characters was a bit heavy for me but the world of the Fey and the promise of more in future installments will most likely draw me back.

Black Ops: Libya on Nov. 14, 2011

Libya, 2011. The regime of The Colonel is about to collapse. NATO's secretive Unit 5 sends in a team including former SAS man Alex and former Navy Seal Jack to retrieve a secret document that could cause problems for the UK & USA were it to fall into the wrong hands. This novella is so topical it sounded like a great read and for me this is one of the beauties of e-books, the speed with which an author can respond to world events and have a work published. The material, a black ops team sent into hostile territory then forsaken by their masters needing to cover up dubious politics, has been done before but I have no problem with variations on a theme when they are done well. Unfortunately, while there were some good action parts, had this been a full length novel I'm not sure I'd have persevered with it. There were issues with spelling, grammar and punctuation, and in places the narrative could do with some tweaking. I found myself getting really exasperated with basic errors like the use of "you're" rather than "your". I found myself wondering if proofreading was sacrificed in favour of making the book available as soon as possible. I didn't feel any connection with the main characters, and other than knowing that Unit 5 was made up of personnel who had been in some sort of trouble I didn't get any real feeling for who they were or what they looked like. Finally the ending seemed weak and wasn't particularly satisfying. I don't like to include spoilers in my reviews so it's hard to explain exactly why, but the bottom line was it didn't seem credible. As it was topical and had some nice action it wasn't a 1* book, but I'd struggle to say more than it was okay.

The Animals of Grandfather Mountain: An Animal Caretaker's Tales on Dec. 23, 2011
(no rating)
This is a short, non-fiction book written by a former keeper about the various characters and goings on at Grandfather Mountain. The animals include deers, bears, otters and eagles, each of whom have their own personalities. This is a book that will particularly appeal to animal lovers and younger readers. I'm a wildlife fan and found myself learning some new things reading this book. I particularly loved the descriptions of the otters playing in the snow. The individual stories are quite brief which makes it easy to pick up and put down, and there are some photos to illustrate. Most of the pictures have transferred quite well to the kindle, although it would be lovely to see them in colour too. The behind the scenes peek at the work of the staff caring for the animals was fun to behold, and I'm kind of envious of the jobs they have (at times) I found the description of the animal cast and how they came to be at Grandfather Mountain and got their names interesting, but as someone who had never heard of the place before would have liked more of an explanation about Grandfather Mountain somewhere in the Foreword or Preface. Being slightly picky I thought that it would have been preferable to put the information about the staff at the end as I was starting to get impatient to get to the actual stories. I found this a quick, enjoyable read that made me smile. If you like this sort of thing it's a bargain at 99c.

Enthralled on April 06, 2012
(no rating)
Annette has a chance encounter with a woman in a supermarket and their paths cross again shortly afterwards. This woman has powers Annette is firstly dubious about, but she changes her mind when she discovers a link with her strange dreams. The pair travel to a haunted manor to try and find out about its mysterious past. There they meet a real group of characters, and there is more to them than meets the eye. I quite liked the way the story was set up and thought it had good potential. I was expecting things along the lines of Scott Nicholson's Creative Spirit which I really enjoyed. However as the tale unfolded it moved further away from my comfort zone and became a bit predictable. I've never been shy about admitting I'm quite picky about fantasy, or that I'm not keen on books with certain types of fantasy creatures. As such it's probably a bit unfortunate that I didn't realise from the product description that this book would give me all my least favourite fantasy elements. I also found it hard to connect with any of the characters. Most of them were too under-developed and main character Annette felt like a mass of contradictions. As far as the writing, while it flowed nicely in places and I enjoyed the early part, there were too many grammar, punctuation and spelling errors, and in places it just didn't read well. I also thought that it lacked the necessary tension. I think the reader is meant to read the part set at the manor envisioning it in the grip of a storm almost throughout. In other books I have seen this setup create a hostile and oppressive environment but in this book it was more of a footnote. This is a book that has potential, especially if this sort of fantasy is your bag, and there were hints of a good read but has too many negatives for me to rate it higher

Enthralled on April 06, 2012

Annette has a chance encounter with a woman in a supermarket and their paths cross again shortly afterwards. This woman has powers Annette is firstly dubious about, but she changes her mind when she discovers a link with her strange dreams. The pair travel to a haunted manor to try and find out about its mysterious past. There they meet a real group of characters, and there is more to them than meets the eye. I quite liked the way the story was set up and thought it had good potential. I was expecting things along the lines of Scott Nicholson's Creative Spirit which I really enjoyed. However as the tale unfolded it moved further away from my comfort zone and became a bit predictable. I've never been shy about admitting I'm quite picky about fantasy, or that I'm not keen on books with certain types of fantasy creatures. As such it's probably a bit unfortunate that I didn't realise from the product description that this book would give me all my least favourite fantasy elements. I also found it hard to connect with any of the characters. Most of them were too under-developed and main character Annette felt like a mass of contradictions. As far as the writing, while it flowed nicely in places and I enjoyed the early part, there were too many grammar, punctuation and spelling errors, and in places it just didn't read well. I also thought that it lacked the necessary tension. I think the reader is meant to read the part set at the manor envisioning it in the grip of a storm almost throughout. In other books I have seen this setup create a hostile and oppressive environment but in this book it was more of a footnote. This is a book that has potential, especially if this sort of fantasy is your bag, and there were hints of a good read but has too many negatives for me to rate it any higher.

Infinite Sacrifice (Infinite Series, Book 1) on May 15, 2012

When Maya dies she finds herself in somewhere akin to heaven. She is keen to be reunited with others she has lost but instead finds herself at the start of a journey, lead by her spirit guide Zachariah. Before she is able to move on she has to review her past lives and show she understands the lessons each incarnation should have taught her. This is the start of a series and in this book Maya relives pasts as a High Priest in ancient Egypt, a Spartan mother hiding a secret, a young Irish boy captured by Vikings and a Doctor's wife in plague-ridden London. She must prove she has learnt one of the important lessons before experiencing more of her past lives. In each story there are other characters who re-appear, recognisable by minor physical characteristics. I have to admit I was both impressed and slightly concerned by the foreword. The author has a website which includes more detailed research about the facts behind the work, which I thought was a real positive, but it also mentioned that to prevent confusion from the intricate character histories there was a chart at the end of each life to help identify the characters. This sounded a bit disconcerting, being told up front I might struggle to keep up! As it happens I found that I was able to identify the main characters with no real problems and didn't need to keep trying to refer to the charts at all. I really enjoyed this book. I'm a fan of historical fiction anyway and the idea of reincarnation is of interest, so I found this an interesting meld of the two. By the time I got to the end I was so engrossed with the progress through history that I'd almost forgotten about the context holding the stories together. Each life was full of interesting little details and mostly I was able to identify approximately where and when the life was unfolding without too much prompting from the author. Some of Maya's incarnations are more likeable than others but each has a good story to tell. This was a very good read that made me think, and I thought the magical realism surrounding Maya's arrival in "heaven" and how the process she finds herself going through works was well handled where it could have been fudged. I would definitely read the next in the series, Infinite Devotion.

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