Seraphim Press

Seraphim Press is a collaborative publisher of fine non-fiction and fiction books. We also provide consulting services related to intellectual property related legal issues.

Website: http://www.seraphim-press.com
Facebook: Facebook profile

Anna Erishkigal

Anna T. Merrill, Esq.

Ourania Lee

Back to profile overview

alimony    angels and demons    arabic    archangel michael    child advocacy    child custody    child support    christian divorce    custody disputes    divorce    fallen angels    family law    free angel romance    free epic fantasy novel    free space opera    gothic    lucifer    mesopotamia    metaphysical    military    moloch    multicultural    myth    mythology and legend    new adult    racism    restraining orders    second chances    spousal abuse    time travel   

• Stoneweaver on June 22, 2012
  
  Classic fantasy at its very best. Three main character points of view lead us through a strange world where water has covered the Earth, what's left of humanity huddles on floating cities worrying about when the next 'cleansing' will occur to reduce excess citizens the cities can no longer support and sell them into slavery for a mysterious despot, and gemstones can help certain wielders called Stoneweavers animate the element they're attuned with to act as avatars. The system of magic is well thought out, the three main characters credible and believable, and the way the three pathways converge page-turning. Language is kept basically 'clean' and there's lots of magical duals, so would be safe and interesting for a YA reader as well as adults. I'll be looking into Mr. Lewis's next book!
  
• Coral Throne on July 21, 2012
  
  This fantasy tale reads like a historical tale of England during the time of Henry VIII. Petty city-states with limited resources vie for position. Dictators who will smile as they stick a knife in their allies back. Mercenaries, thieves, and privateers doing the dirty work that cannot be done officially. A champion forced to assume the title of unwilling leader. His close circle of friends, not one of them particularly anxious to assume the power that has been thrust upon them. And of course an assassination attempt by an usurper. Plenty of intrigues in this tale of floating cities in a world that has been covered by floodwater for many generations ... and for the first time has hope as the waters begin to recede. The system of magic is logical, and is expanded upon in an interesting way from Book 1 of the series. The magical duals continue, but take a back seat to the intrigues of kings ... and our champions dislike of being forced to fight his opponents behind-their-back instead of head-on like a true champion should. The research into what must be done to manage a world where newly emerged land must be tended and planted, but the flood waters are receding too slow to satisfy a desperate populace, is credible. My only complaint was the secondary antagonist's motivation. I wasn't sure whether to simply dislike him, or love to dislike him. Simple dislike is when you say 'this is the bad guy' and then every time he slithers into the room, the audience hisses. But when you love to dislike a character, it's like JR Ewing in the original Dallas. He's a snake. But he's so darned fascinating because a lot of the time he makes the most sense. I didn't 'love to hate' the secondary antagonist, and the primary antagonist was always so shadowy that I didn't get a chance to hate him. In the end, the REAL antagonist was the snails pace at which the waters were receding and how difficult it was for the hero to keep things together in light of human nature. Therefore, I'm giving this book four stars. And looking for the next installment in this series.
  
• Reckless Nights in Rome on March 13, 2013
  
  Nico is so hot I think my Nook left singe-marks on my lap where it rested while I was reading this book. Good thing e-readers come with ubiquitous covers so the other mommy's at the gymnastics lessons couldn't tell the reason I was squirming in my seat and biting my hand was because I was on fire! I loved how three-dimensional the characters were in this story and the way that it grabbed you and dragged you kicking and screaming (or in this case, hot, sweaty, and screaming Oh! My!) through the entire book. If I had to make one complaint, Nico came on a bit strong for me at first (if it had been me, I would have drop-kicked him in the crotch the first three chapters ... but I'm a martial artist). It had a plot, too. And believable, well-rounded secondary characters. And ... cake. Yes, this book even had cake! Can't wait to read the next book in the series.
  
• Children of the Plague on April 03, 2013
  
  In a fascinating twist on the usual post-apocalyptic or fantasy novel which features zombies or magic, Children of the Plague creates a world where aliens unleash a nano-particle plague (the Con) which overcomes humanity by altering humanities genetic structure. Depending upon which program-variation of the virus you have been infected with, either you are vulnerable to having your consciousness 'drained' by another human infected with the Con (hosts), you limp along surviving not knowing when you'll be turned or eaten, or you keep your faculties because mysteriously the consciousness's of other humans who have been taken are downloaded into your mind (exterminators) and it gives you the ability to harness the nanoparticles to use as a quasi-electrical/quasi-magic power. The alien intelligence directing this invasion remains largely unseen in this novel as humans fight to survive (barely) thanks to Lanni and a kind of partial immunity she has to being seized, but you have to question why the two variations of abilities? (and I won't say more because it's a potential spoiler). It's a fascinating world Greg Carrico paints and as the book ends, I hope there will soon be another installment so we can learn what happens next.
  
• Apocalypstick on April 19, 2013
  
  This is a collection of two post-apocalyptic short stories that have an unusual slant on the usual feast of rotting flesh and brain-sucking undead. COULD you be merciless if it meant it might save the world? What if you needed to do it to someone you loved? Want to know more ... then read them! I enjoyed the plot twists.
  
• Smashwords Style Guide on June 09, 2013
  (no rating)
  You may curse and stomp and rip out your hair at all the tedious little steps it takes to pre-format your document to upload to meatgrinder, but Mark Coker leads you step-by-step (with pictures) through the process and, even without meatgrinder, you'd be paying some ebook formatter big bucks to make these changes FOR you so you might as well learn now and avoid those bugaboos in the future. Easy enough for even the technologically incompetent (like me) to understand.
  
• A Stormy Spring on June 17, 2013
  
  I wanted a hot romance, and once again C.C. MacKenzie delivered. This book started where many romance novels leave off, and then moved to back off (with all of the attendant angst) and then moved where you wanted to go. Nice description of the high-stakes world of choreography. Shared this book with a friend whose daughter is a dancer.
  
• The Teacher's Billionaire on Oct. 03, 2013
  
  This was a well-written, fast-paced contemporary romance. The way the teacher-heroine ended up suddenly thrust into a family of billionaires, a presidential election, and in the eye of a wealthy male love interest was believable despite the tight page-count of less than 200 pages. The sex was only touched upon lightly and not too graphic. The peripheral characters were sympathetic and I am curious to find out what happens to the younger brother, the sister, and of course the best friend. Exactly what I was hankering for when I picked up this contemporary romance. Cleanly edited ... there were no formatting or grammatical errors that I noticed. I would definitely consider future titles by this author. This book was purchased from Smashwords.
  
• Hidden Betrayal (A Jade O'Reilly Mystery) on Oct. 19, 2013
  
  It's been quite a while since I dove into a contemporary mystery novel. The plot about the stolen artwork was believable and, until the end, I was convinced one person was behind the theft and surprised it was somebody else (though in retrospect the clues had been there all along). There were enough red herrings to keep me guessing and on my toes. Overall ... enjoyed it!
  
• Ayla Speaks to Dolphins - Book 1 - Dolphin Dreams on Jan. 22, 2014
  
  I downloaded this ebook to fill my 12-year-old daughter's Christmas Nook. Since she is quite articulate, I will let her post her OWN review below: *********** Hello!!! I overall liked that I could picture what was happening in my mind. A work of art!!! (view spoiler) I think that the author could've done something in a certian part... but i loved it!!! I'm reading the next book on my Nook... its good so far. -Catherine
  
• Polly!: A Comic Novel of Hope and Blasphemy on April 10, 2014
  
  I find organized religion to be deeply offensive to what I *KNOW*. Polly, however, tickled my funnybone, with a deeply irreverent take on God not seen since Alanis Morrissette played god in the movie Dogma. This story was like reading one of those funny, feel-good stories you find in Guideposts magazine, only instead of scripture, this story is hilariously blasphemous to the teeny-tiny confines organized religion has tried to place around so vast a being as God. I can't tell you how many times I giggled as the protagonist (Herodotus ... or 'Hero') navigates his way out of personal tragedy into a Kafhaesque situation where you ask yourself if he died and went to heaven, hell, or some purgatory deeply reminiscent of the Twilight Zone. Polly is irrational and funny, and as she drags Hero in and out of various situations, it will lead you to a much more empowered viewpoint of the Dude Upstairs. If you are a religious person who believes that God truly makes wagers with the devil and tells people to go slit their son's throats to make burnt offerings, then is not the book for you. 4 Perfect Points
  
• The Eternity Brigade on June 07, 2014
  
  I originally read this book back when I was in high school, not so long after the Vietnam war that people still questioned why wars were even being fought. Even back then this story stuck with me, and was my first real introduction to the sub-genre of military science fiction. What happens when killing doesn't matter, death doesn't matter, all that matters is to complete the mission, with no understanding of WHY you are fighting the war or killing the guy in the blue armband, only to be put to sleep when it's all said and done and woken up when the next war rolls around to kill again. Now, upon re-reading the updated edition in 2014, it strikes me how well this book brings you into the psyche of a 'career soldier' caught in this hellish merry-go-round as he is resurrected to fight in wars again and again. It was disturbing when I read this story back in the early 1980's, and it's even MORE disturbing now as we are not yet extricated from Afghanistan (which at least STARTED with a purpose) and Iraq (which is like ... WTF???) and already there are hawkish clamorings to 'help' Ukraine or 'help' Syria. War is dehumanizing, and while some wars can't be avoided, this book highlights that soldiers are not some fungible commodity to be shuffled form war to war. Great read! 5-stars.
  
• Tsar Wars: Agents of ISIS, Book 1 on June 28, 2014
  
  I'm a sucker for a massive, galactic-spanning space opera that has everything but the kitchen sink in it (Star Wars anyone?), so when the tongue-in-cheek Tsar Wars came across my recommendation list, it was a given I'd snap it up. I enjoyed this book far more than perhaps I should have. Galactic empires, political back-stabbing, genetically engineered secret agents, a princess-in-peril, and ... circus performers? Including a cameo with some otherworldly jaguar-like antagonists? Oooh! Yeah. This book hit a sweet spot that ain't been hit since Princess Leah kissed Luke Skywalker just before swinging across that yawning chasm and said 'good luck!' Since when did it become not okay to just plain have FUN reading a book? With a happy ending? Why has everything become about some dark, tortured anti-hero? Can't heroes just be heroic because it's the right thing to do? If you enjoyed the light-hearted feel of the first three Star Wars movies (IV-VI)and lamented the loss of both characterization and feel-goodedness (is that even a word?) from the latter three prequels (I-III), then you'll enjoy this book immensely. And oh, goody ... there are several more books in this series.... 5 lightly-leaping space-faring circus tigers
  
• Dead Lily Blooms on July 03, 2014
  
  A vampiress who suddenly discovers there is more to existence than simply being immortal and powerful. And I can't say much more than that because it would create spoilers. :-) Story was just the right length for sitting on the sidelines during one of those kiddie sports lessons
  
• The Gift: A Family Holiday Story on Dec. 18, 2014
  
  Dad steps up to the plate! I read this short story as part of a winter-themed box set. As a mom myself, I always wonder what would happen if I ever 'ran away from home' and left my husband to take care of the holiday hassle, the gift-shopping and the kids. Mom gets even! Well, when Robert Chalmers wife gets called away a few weeks for Christmas to care for her sick mother, all of a sudden Robert has to deal with just that, along with his cute daughter Amanda, though I thought Robert handled it a lot better than -my- husband would and Amanda was a lot better behaved. MOSTLY better behaved... At about 45 minutes to read, this story was just the right length to give me a nice little warm fuzzy feeling while waiting for my kids gymnastics lesson.
  
• The Caliban Program on July 04, 2015
  
  Super spooky spy thriller... This was an interesting short story just the right length to kill an hour while waiting for a connecting flight. The pacing was good, the story line gripping, but what struck me as most interesting was the way the protagonist Ritter got sucked into this super-spooky agency which is almost as bad as the terrorists hunt down. There was a clever plot twist about how Ritter tracks down the bad guy. I won't say more so I don't spoil it :-) I see there is a next-book which I've already downloaded, but in no way did this story make me feel it was one of those nasty teaser-trailers with a cliffhanger that I hate.
  
• The Complete Parsina Saga on Dec. 09, 2015
  
  Wow! Just one more chapter… As a child, I loved the Tales of the Arabian Nights, of djinns and wizards, clever thieves and maidens-in-peril. The Parsina Saga has that same feel of exotic landscapes and ordinary people caught up in the clash between ancient good vs. evil. I could smell the spices and feel their exhaustion as they stumbled through desert heat, cheered for the characters who jumped right off the page, and found myself staying up late into the night to read 'just one more chapter' like Sheherezade's mad sultan. What was most interesting about this series is the fact it's not your same old boring re-hash of Lord of the Rings (which, let's face it, while we all love it, does every … single … epic fantasy series really need to be set in a medieval world?) I found myself running to the computer to google exotic words such as caravansary which, while I understood perfectly in context of the story was a camel-stable, I just -had- to find out if such a thing existed in real life (they did). Of course then I fell down the Wikipedia rabbit hole to learn about djinns and the ancient caravan routes. Some of the ruins of these caravan-cities were beautiful (google Qalaat al-Madiq). After reading this series, I could picture what they must have looked like in their heyday. While the length and worldbuilding in this series was excellent for a hard-core epic fantasy doorstopper fan like me, I would feel very comfortable giving these books to my teenage daughters to read. Fingers crossed: maybe THEY will fall down the Wikipedia rabbit hole as well. There is a nice blend of characters of different ages, genders, backgrounds and personalities that there is something for everybody. I think I learned more about the history and geography of the Middle East than in two semesters of World History classes. My only criticism is the first chapter starts out with an 'old style' history of the city from an omniscient narrator. I'm an action-oriented reader, so I was a lot happier once I got into the head of the characters and started seeing the city through their eyes. Once there, I was absolutely hooked through the next 1,000+ pages of epic goodness.