Books having to do with the Middle East always interest me, and especially those set in Iraq. This is a region that the author says is “older than the flood.” It is a land that has been ruled at one time or another by the...

Taco: A Brooklyn Tale is a young adult coming of age novel written by John E. DeJesus. Taco and his family moved to Brooklyn, New York, just before he began first grade. His real name was Juan Ortega, but Percy, a class clown, promptly named...

I had the great privilege to review Theodore Jerome Cohen’s Book 2 of The Road Less Taken, and I mentioned there the primary descriptive word for his great skill at short story writing: Gripping. Actually, I may have said: Utterly Gripping. Having the honor then...

The Other La Bohème by Yorker Keith is aptly labeled literary fiction, an interesting story that explores the life and career of the Dolci Quattro. After their breathtaking performance of Puccini’s well-known opera, La Bohème, during their graduation, four friends form a band called the...

Threshold by Susan Feathers is a compelling novel with a powerful prophetic message, a story that is purpose-driven and that should speak to contemporary readers with an irresistible eloquence. It’s a story set in the near future, a story about a city that is rapidly...

One perfect word quickly comes to mind when trying to distill the effect of Theodore Jerome Cohen’s collection of short (truly short) stories in The Road Less Taken. The word is: Gripping. And I do not use that word lightly. I mean, utterly, sometimes devastatingly,...

The Masterminds is the second book in The Masterful series by Olivia Wildenstein. The story’s plot and four main characters - Joshua Cooper, Ivy and Aster Redd (twins), and Brook Jackson - revolve around a competitive art reality show with numerous intertwining plots to present...

The Greenlee Project by Amanda thrasher is a brilliantly written story about a selected few students who are considered to be the B.P. (Beautiful People) who truly believe that it is they who run the high school that they attend in today's electronic society. The...

One never knows how our lives will turn out. Nor what it takes to walk into the path of our destiny. The New Jerusalem by Yerusalem Work is a short story about life, choices, and destiny. Jerusalem, a beautiful young Ethiopian librarian, attended a second...

The Statement by Albert Stark is about the life of the Gold family. As 15-year-old Lester Gold was sweeping at Gold’s Kosher Cuts, his father, Julius Menachem Gold, was shot in the back and killed. This is the day that changed Lester’s life forever. Lester...