The Lightning Seed is the first book in the Messenger series by John Durant, set on the mechanical planet of Ma’a. Evl, a young boy living with his widowed mother, becomes the guardian of the mysterious Lightning Seed, an artifact of immense power. As they...

The Girl in the Toile Wallpaper by Mary K. Savarese is a most intriguing romance that includes time travel, adventures in both worlds, and the marrying of historical events to the present without drastically changing history as a whole. The characters in the story come...

The Rarkyn's Fall, the second book in The Rarkyn Trilogy by Nikky Lee, is an epic fantasy novel that follows Lyss as she grapples with uncontrollable, volatile magic that threatens her life. Outlawed and hunted, she journeys to Illredus, the capital of the Empire, in...

The Fly Who Knew Too Much is a satirical comedy by M. Taylor. The book follows the adventures of a mutant fly who finds himself in the company of a blonde actress from Malibu. Born in a dumpster behind Gelson's market in Calabasas, the fly...

This week I’ve been enjoying Cecilia Copeland’s science fiction novel Surviving The Gauntlet, which is the first entry in the Taltrix series. The story focuses on the journey of Redder Torch – a.k.a. RT – as she forges a path for herself in the...

Considering the lattice that connects in-between spaces, reconnecting shards of distant memory, or staring at a sidewalk sketch after a downpour are among ways of approaching The Sandpiper’s Spell, the stunning poetry compilation by Tom Pearson. Whether interpreting a languid moment or creating a narrative...

The Claíomh Solais by Declan Cosson is an epic fantasy set in early 20th-century Ireland. The story follows sixteen-year-old Damien O'Laoghaire, who, while working on an archaeological dig, discovers the legendary Claíomh Solais sword. Alongside his brother Seosamh and the enigmatic English archaeologist Eric Trent,...

The Black Dragon is the fourteenth book in The Executioner Knights series by Kathryn Le Veque, but it reads as a standalone story. Amid medieval England's tournaments, Addax, a skilled and wealthy knight, is torn between loyalty and duty. He came to England as a...

The Crispin Chronicles by Dawn Knox is simply a wonderfully humorous piece of escapist fun. Set in Her Ladyship’s fantastical magic garden, the story revolves around a collection of elves, gnomes, fairies, trolls, cherubs, slugs, and other amazing inhabitants of this arboreal wonderland. Told from...

The Third Traveler by Stephen L. Graf is a historical fiction novel that takes readers on an epic journey across three continents and four decades. The story begins in 1912 with Ciaran Creagh, a young explorer fighting for survival after a harrowing South Pole expedition....