'Ship It' by Britta Lundin

Ship It by Britta Lundin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

All the Destiel feels.

Forest and Rico are the Jensen and Misha of this fictional universe. (Supernatural exists in this universe, but we don't have time to unpack all of that). They're on the first season of a show called Demon Heart.

We alternate between the point of view of Forest and of high school junior Claire Strupke, who ships their characters HARD. Claire asks Forest about her OTP, SmokeHeart, at a fan conference and then things get...awkward.

No characters in this book are on their best behavior, but that's ok, because they grow as people over the course of the book. Claire learns a lot, including some lessons she needed to learn about understanding herself, and her own sexuality, better. She meets a talented artist named Tess and goes on a maybe-date with her. Forest ships it. All ends well because, well, the characters grow, making this an enjoyable, if somewhat fluffy, YA read.

I checked this ebook out from my local library using the Axis 360 app and wasn't obligated to review it in any way.

'You Add the Rainbow' Adult Coloring Book Flipthrough and Review

Book Review: 'Landline' by Rainbow Rowell

Landline by Rainbow Rowell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is cute, romantic, and funny. It's almost everything I've ever wanted from a Rainbow Rowell novel, except Tyrannus Basilton Pitch and Simon Snow. I really loved Carry On. Like, a lot. And before that, I fangirled extensively over Fangirl. This isn't quite as much fun as those, perhaps because I can't quite identify with Georgie McCool as much as I can with Cath Avery. I don't have two young daughters, or any children at all.

But I still enjoyed listening to the audiobook. I love little Noomi, and how she pretends to be a green kitty, punctuating all her speech with meows. I love Georgie and Neal together. I love Seth's Sethness and Scottie's Scottiness. I love the guy at the Halloween party who randomly decided to dress up as Maggie Simpson.

I think my favorite side character, though --this is a minor spoiler, so look away if you must -- is Alison, the "pizza guy" who turns out to be a pizza gal. I love that in Rainbow Rowell's world, attraction between two women doesn't end in death and heartbreak (The Night Circus, I'm looking at you) but in sweet hand-holding and intense eye contact following a triumphant puppy birth. With sympathetic family members, even! See, film industry, how it is possible to write lesbians/queer women without writing tragedy?

I tried mentally casting a movie version of Landline, but it's tough to come up with a Georgie. She's a beautiful, funny blonde, but less of a Kate Hudson body type and more of an Amy Schumer body type. The material isn't raunchy like Schumer's usual films, though. I also thought of another funny blonde with a curvy figure, Rebel Wilson, but this isn't as slapstick as her usual fare. Let me think about this one some more.

I like Jason Sudeikis (the lovely Olivia Wilde's partner IRL) for Neal, Danny Pudi for Scottie, and Neil Patrick Harris for Seth. I would like to see NPH with chestnut hair for a change.

I purchased this audiobook with my own funds at a library used media sale and was not obligated in any way to review it.

Book Review: 'The Big Short' by Michael Lewis

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this book because I was listening to public radio on my way home from work one evening and heard an interview with the director of the movie based on it. The director talked about some of the real people Lewis wrote about.

The "character" who stood out in my mind was Michael Burry, who was played in the film by Christian Bale. I have a longstanding interest in Christian Bale. Bale had to learn to play heavy-metal drums to take on the character, the director said, because Burry has some distinctive mannerisms and habits. He's on the autism spectrum, with the characteristics typical of Asperger's.

I thought this sounded interesting enough that I wanted to read the book before I saw the movie. I couldn't understand all of Lewis's more technical points about the bond market. This made the first chapters of the book slow reading for me. I think I caught the gist of it, though: Many, if not most, of the people on Wall Street - less so in the stock market, more so in the bond market - have no idea what products they're actually selling. This was particularly true in the 2000s, before the awful housing market collapse of 2007-2008. But, Lewis would have us know, there hasn't been any real effort to fix the underlying problems.

Some of Lewis's conclusions seem to support those of Barbara Ehrenreich in her book Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America. In my review (here) of that book, I wrote, "The thesis of Bright-Sided is the U.S. residents tend, as a people, to subscribe to an optimistic outlook on life that isn’t so much based in fact as it is in wishful thinking." A few individuals, such as Burry, foresaw that the U.S. subprime mortgage market could collapse, and they made their investors tremendous sums of money when it did. The majority, however, refused to believe that the collapse could ever happen in the way that it did. The bond market put more faith in itself and its regulators than either deserved.

The U.S. financial market was, and remains, fraught with what Lewis refers to as "bombs." They're not the exact same subprime mortgage bombs, since banking regulations have tightened around that particular market. However, these large financial institutions remain able to create markets out of thin air and trade on derivatives and other financial products so arcane, only tiny numbers of people who, like Mike Burry, possess unusual skill sets can actually understand them and their risks.

By the way, Burry never actually plays the drums in the book. He does take up the guitar and develop a passion to learn everything about guitars. Maybe the screenwriter had to change guitars to drums because that was easier to teach a non-musical actor. (I think it's fair to call Christian Bale non-musical, although we all know he did, in fact, sing and dance in the musical Newsies. But that was 20 years ago.)

I checked this book out from my local public library and was not obligated in any way to review it.

Review of 'Mama's Baby, Daddy's Maybe'

Mama's Baby, Daddy's Maybe: The Novel by Johnnie Griffin

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Full disclosure: I met Johnnie Griffin at the St. Joseph County Public Library in my birthplace of South Bend, Indiana, in or around the year 2007. I believe she was a professor at Indiana University South Bend at the time. She gave me advice on self-publishing at that time as part of an author event being sponsored by the library that day.

My copy of her book is a withdrawn copy from the St. Joe Library. I bought it with my own funds at a library used book sale and was not obligated in any way to review it. She neither asked me to review it nor compensated me for this review in any way.

This is beautifully written and important book, and I wish it was more widely known and read than it currently is. It deals in a fictionalized way with the impact of being born to an unmarried teenage mother on a woman's life. The heroine, Janie Snow, deals from childhood on with the effects of her father Amos's decision to seduce teenage virgin Ira Snow with no intent of continuing a relationship with her, much less concern over fathering Janie. Janie becomes the first of Ira's five children with five different fathers as Ira tries fruitlessly to recapture the first blush of love she'd so briefly known with Amos.

This book is the most sympathetic, least judgmental thing you're ever likely to read on the subject of social issues such as the generational cycle of poverty and the resentment between parents and their children. Griffin isn't out to blame anyone with her novel, but rather to get into their heads and try to understand how people sometimes seem to casually make decisions that cause difficult problems for their supposed loved ones.

Social workers and others who work closely with indigent individuals and families should read this book. For those who have similar birth circumstances, this novel may hit very close to home, and so it may be a difficult read, but at the same time it may help some readers come to terms with hard-to-face facts in their own lives.

I hope there are still more copies to check out in this library and in others, because it's a book well worth reading, and more people should pick it up.

#BookReview: 'Consequences' by Aleatha Romig - Suspense

Consequences by Aleatha Romig

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Consequences is an elegant tale of suspense. It hooks you from the very first chapter. You read it and wonder, "How and why did all of this happen?" As the story unfolded, I couldn't help but anticipate a major plot twist at any time - surely things couldn't be exactly as they seemed. The "kicker" comes late in the novel, but oh, what a kicker it is! Clues are present throughout the novel in the form of short chapters set in the 1980s, while the main action takes place in the present.

Claire Nichols, the heroine, is a bit hard to identify with at times, because she comes to accept a lifestyle that seems so completely unacceptable, even though she seems to be a rather strong woman in general. She's treated horribly, and by the end of the novel she's forced to use every ounce of her strength to keep from falling apart. Will she able to hold herself together? Truth, the second book in the series, will tell.

Even though she's a damsel in severe distress, and I tend to avoid this type of suspense novel because I find them a bit unsettling, I came to like Claire as a character. She really does try her best to survive in some very harsh psychological conditions. I hope she triumphs in the second book.

Disclosure: I received an e-book copy from the author in exchange for an honest review. It took me an embarrassingly long time to read and review this book - Aleatha, I'm so sorry. This review represents my own opinion, and I received no compensation other than the book itself.

View all my reviews on Goodreads



Social Media, Writing, and Editing Services I Offer - Erin O'Riordan

David Ewald's Clever Take on "Historical" Fiction, 'He Who Shall Remain Shameless'

How could this tale fail to fascinate? The protagonist is David Ewald - not the author, but a fictional character with the same name as the author - and he's on a mission to protect some of history's noteworthy, yet relatively obscure, from being erased from memory forever. Ewald is, in a very literal sense, accompanied by the Internet as a companion. This is fresh, unexpected writing, with a little bit of everything: an action-adventure tale, a paranormal mystery, occasional flashes of romance, and ultimately a message that makes the reader question the very meaning of existence. It's a dark, heavy novel that never feels too heavy. Lovers of cerebral metafiction will delight in it.

I purchased this as a Nook e-book from Barnes and Noble. I was not asked to write this review, nor was I compensated for it in any way. 

I first learned of this book in 2011, and I believe it was through the Coffin Hop. It's been on my to-read list for years. (Lots of things are. If you're expecting a review from me, you'll have to be very patient.) I couldn't get it completely out of my mind because the cast of characters includes many based on real people, now deceased, who were famous or infamous in their time, had a brush with history, or should be more well-known. What most of these real-life stories have in common is that it's hard to find information about them, even in the Internet age. Part of the fun of this novel is that it encourages the reader to interact, to look these people up and test how famous or obscure they really are. 

Congressman Leo J. Ryan, 1973 - official Congressional photo. Public domain image

Probably the most famous of these characters is Leo Ryan, the U.S. Representative who was murdered by followers of Jim Jones at Jonestown, Guyana, in 1978. Ryan is actually quite an interesting person, because he liked to experience things firsthand. When he was a California assemblyman, he once booked himself into Folsom Prison for ten days so he could experience prison conditions while he was working on prison reform. He went to Newfoundland to investigate inhumane seal hunting. When concerned relatives of Jonestown cult members came to Ryan, he went to Jonestown to investigate. He became the only member of the U.S. legislature ever to be killed in the line of duty. Ryan isn't obscure; you can find out lots of things about him on the Internet. It's just that his story is rather overshadowed by that of Jim Jones, the cult leader. 

The northern Aegean Sea, in an image by Andrew Dalby. Creative Commons image. 

Another figure who doesn't quite count as "obscure" is Aegeus, the figure from Greek mythology for whom the Aegean Sea is named. The legendary Athenian king was the father of Theseus, who slew the Minotaur. Mistakenly believing Theseus had been killed by the monster, Aegeus killed himself. In He Who Shall Remain Shameless, the narrator David manages to communicate to the ancient warrior-king that Theseus was still alive. 

One of the more interesting characters is Christine Chubbuck, a woman much more famous for her death than for her life. She was a news reporter, first in Cleveland and then in St. Petersburg, Florida. She struggled with depression through most of her life. Supposedly, she got into an argument with the news director because he cut one of her reports to cover a shooting, complying with directions from the station manager to concentrate on "blood and guts." Three days later, during a live broadcast of the digest news program on which she appeared, Chubbuck pulled a loaded handgun from her purse, placed it behind her left ear, and shot herself in the head. She died in the hospital fourteen hours later. Her family got a court order to keep the tape of the broadcast from ever being aired again. 

Boulevard of Broken Dreams: Christine Chubbuck from ten100 on Vimeo.

Chubbuck's dramatic on-air suicide and the cynical decision that escalated it were, according to pop cultural legend, some of the inspiration for Paddy Chayefsky when he wrote the screenplay for Network. If you're interested in the weird world of Chayefsky, Network, and his other film Altered States, you may read "Paddy Chayefsky and the Wonders of the Invisible World" by VISUP. It's a fascinating article, the first in a series, with references to Baal, Hecate, Kali, and Robin Goodfellow/Puck/A Midsummer Night's Dream. But I digress. 

That the fictional Chubbuck appears to the fictional Ewald in a post-suicide, ghostly state is one of the reasons this book fits into the paranormal/borderline horror - but clearly speculative - genre. Another character who fascinates because of the horror of his real-life story is Andrew Kehoe. 

Andrew Kehoe circa 1920. Public domain image.

Kehoe was the perpetrator of the worst act of school violence in U.S. history on May 18, 1927. He killed 38 schoolchildren using explosives. He also murdered his wife, killed five other adults, and committed suicide. An additional 58 people were wounded. Kehoe detonated a bomb at the Bath Consolidated School in Bath, Michigan. When rescue trucks arrived on the scene, Kehoe drove up in a vehicle rigged with explosives, killing himself and bystanders. Apparently he became upset with the town of Bath after he wasn't re-elected as the township clerk, and his farm was in the process of being foreclosed on. 

The fictional Kehoe in Ewald's novel is described as being remorseful for his actions. 

Almost all the characters based on real-life people died in some violent or tragic way, some of them from illnesses. Linda Gary, a cartoon voice-over artist, died from a brain tumor. Her voice would have been well-known to '80s kids like me because her credits included the Masters of the Universe and She-Ra cartoons - special favorites of my brother and me. She has an IMDB page and, of course, a Wikipedia page, but it's hard to find much more about her. 

But she, like all of the characters in the novel, gets a little extension on her fame when you read the book. You'll have to decide for yourself whether or not these people deserve to be included in the story. One might argue that some people, like Kehoe, deserve to stay buried in the past, because evil actions don't deserve any extra notoriety. Others would say that if we don't remember the past, we'll only be doomed to repeat it. Maybe there's something about mass violence that Kehoe's example can teach us even today. This book will make you think about things like that. It's dark, but very interesting. 

#YA #BookReview The Lost Sun by Tessa Gratton #NorseMyth

The ending is sad (but since this is only the first book in the series, I'm not TOO worried about that), but otherwise, this book is kind of perfect. By that I mean Tessa Gratton - a scholar of Old English who previously translated 'Beowulf' - does a really wonderful job of weaving Norse mythology and Anglo-Saxon saga tradition into a young adult novel set in the contemporary world, tweaked with Germanic folkways. And - oh, yeah - the Norse gods are real.

The plot draws heavily on the Norse myth of the death of Baldur, traditionally the most beloved son of Odin. Yet Baldur is a secondary character to Soren Bearskin (that's Bears' Kin rather than Bear Skin), the mortal son of Berserker who went TOO berserk, filled with his own dawning battle-rage and destined to be like his father, yet not like him.

Soren is just beginning to realize how deeply he loves his friend Astrid, the daughter of a famous fortune-teller and a fortune-teller herself, when Baldur fails to make his annual return from the land of death. Baldur, who represents the sun, is sort of like a phoenix, who dies and then rises from his own ashes - at least, he has until now. Soren and Astrid set off on an adventure, guided by fate and joined by a new friend, the strange Loki's Kin girl named Vider. There are trolls, but just little ones. Their goal is to find the apple orchard of Idun, the keeper of youth and immortality, and when they get there, nothing is as it seems.



One of the really brilliant things about this book is the nature of reality in it: the gods are real and interact with mortals (Vider, it turns out, knows Loki personally, and Soren meets Loki's daughter Fenris Wolf), but are also spoken of in myths, and there are different versions. The gods could tell mortals their own true histories, but they choose to let the mortals create their own versions, because even the gods have agendas, and it wouldn't suit their ends to have their full stories known. The gods are mysterious, and even Astrid's foresight can't reveal everything about the journey she and Soren will make...

Resulting in a sad ending. I hope the next book in the series makes right what was "wrong" with the ending. I also hope Loki gets to play a bigger role in the next book. When he appears, it's as a sullen teenage boy. The myths about him make him the mother of Fenris (he became a female wolf and lived among a pack of wild wolves; all were slaughtered except Loki, and he then discovered his belly swollen with Fenris), but she calls him "Father." I would like Tessa Gratton to tell me more about Loki.

Gratton's conception of Freya is very interesting as well. Most of what I've read associated the queen of the Valkyries with the All-Mother Frigg. I've never read anything else that associated Freya with Hel, the queen of the world of the dead. Hel is usually called Loki's daughter, along with Fenris and the Midgard Serpent (Loki's three children with his frost giant mistress). I like this twist, making the goddess of love and war Freya one with the death-goddess.



The Goddess who embraces the souls of warriors at death should be the one who watches over their shades - which is part of the traditional mythology, that dead warriors feast with Freya and become her lovers. Hel is usually thought of more of ruling over the souls of dead mortals, I think, but I think this is a really interesting twist. Maybe Freya, Frigg, and Hel are the trinity or triple goddess in Norse mythology, equivalent to Persephone-Demeter-Hecate in Greek mythology and the triple goddess The Morrigan in Irish mythology?

If I lived in this universe, which god would I choose to follow? I'd probably belong to Freya, like Astrid does. Either Freya or Frigg, although the temptation to belong to Loki would be there as well.

It's really different from any other YA novel I've read before. It's fascinating. So other than wanting more, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I look forward to the next one, The Strange Maid. It won't be out until June 10, 2014, but you can preorder it now.

I got this book free in exchange for a review through Amazon Vine. I was not otherwise compensated for this review, which represents my own honest opinion.

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Mystery/Thriller: Antonello Fiore's 'Killer Rumors'

Killer Rumors by Antonello Fiore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For Philadelphia detective Frank Rinelli, life is good. He's got a loving relationship with his sister, her husband, and their lovely daughters. His work partner is Nick Lorenzzo, who happens to have been Frank's best friend since they were schoolboys. But even seasoned detective Frank is rattled when he's called upon to solve the vicious murders of two beloved Catholic priests, found with strange clues on their bodies. The priests are not the only ones to fall victim to what appears to be the evil work of two men. The detectives quickly hit upon a suspect: Tom Branchard, a defrocked former Catholic priest who fell from grace when he was convicted of horrendous crimes against his parish's young children. But what was the connection between Branchard and the two priests found murdered? And who will be the next victim?

This briskly-paced crime thriller has enough action and surprising twists to keep the reader guessing. I'm not a high-volume reader of the mystery/thriller genre, but when I do read one, I expect certain elements, including a protagonist who's likable and competent, but not a cartoonish superhero type, and Frank Rinelli is that.

By the way, if this series ever becomes a movie or a TV series, I want David Valcin from Person of Interest to play Frank.



Frank, as a narrator, is not vain enough to say, "Hey, I'm really good-looking," but you just know that he is. This novel delivers all the elements I would expect, but contains enough surprises to avoid becoming a paint-by-numbers police procedural.

Another thing this novel does really well is give us just enough of a glimpse inside the villain's head to make his motivation believable. In this case, there are two antagonists with two very different motivations - and then there's a shocker of a twist that connects them. I won't say anything else about the plot to avoid giving away any spoilers.

If you don't mind some intense action and a few gruesome crime scenes, and you're looking for a page-flipper to occupy an afternoon, give this one a chance. Do be aware that, while nothing explicit is described in the novel, mention is made of the abuse of young children, and sensitive readers may find that aspect of the story disturbing.

I received a copy of this book from the author at no cost in exchange for an honest review.

View all my reviews on Goodreads

How to Be a Book Reviewer - Tips and Tricks - Guest Post

The winner of the e-book copy of Summer Spirit by G. Jay is...the blogger known as The Eye Wit, a.k.a. author/actor/musician Mark Woodland. Congratulations, Mark! And now, a guest post. 

I don’t know if you noticed, but there was an explosion of books in the last few years and it might feel like you are lost in a pile of books you want to read. It feels like there are far too many books to read and too little time. There needs to be someone to sort through this mess and help readers decide what to choose. The answers is book reviewers. You can be a book reviewer to help sort through the pile, but there are some things you need to know.

If you want to be a book reviewer to help people choose the best books to read I think I can give you some advice. It is easier than ever to be a book reviewer, but it is also harder than ever to be a good book reviewer. There is a growing need for them, but it is becoming harder to be found on the internet. Take a look at my tips and tricks of being a book reviewer and they will let you find your path.

1.      Find a Home and Choose Carefully

You need a home to be a book reviewer; a nice warm place where everyone feels welcome. Having a clean and easy to read layout is important, but also figuring out your long-term goals now is important. Don’t focus on this year; think about 3 years away (at least). Where do you want to be? Now you need to think about the path. Do you want your own site? Your own blog? Or just working on someone else’s site? Each is up to you, but most people do a combination of two. They have their site and also write on another. I think it is best to have your own site because it lets you control your work. If you write on another site, they control your work (which is not good long-term).

For your own book review site you need to decide if you want complete control (your own URL and Webhost) or if you want to be a book reviewer on typepad.com, blogger.com, or wordpress.com (they technically control your content). Controlling your book reviews lets you decide to change formats, grow, or change topics easier than the other sites, but it is more expensive and time consuming in setting it up. That’s why you need to look longer term and decide how often you will write and if there will be other writers eventually. For control of your blog check out wordpress.org (not .com, they are different). It is really hard to change from one to the other, so choose carefully. If you do change you might lose lots of links from other sites and you’ll see a huge drop in traffic (plus angry readers looking for your great book reviews).

2.      Decide on a Name and a Genre

You need a great name that fits the genre you will review. I still love www.rabidreads.ca that reviews science fiction. Also, look up some great information about choosing a blog name. It isn’t easy and once you choose there is no turning back, it is permanent. A name usually defines the content and your style. I would rather read a site called Bookdwarf than a site called John Does Book Reviews, unless John Does has a really unique name or nickname.

3.      Realize the Responsibility

When you choose to be a book reviewer you are taking on a huge responsibility. Something you may not realize. You might just start doing it as a hobby, but your writing affects people around you. It affects readers and authors. You write a bad review authors can be angry because people don’t buy the book. You write a great review and readers will be upset if they don’t like the book. You influence buying decisions and both your reviews will change people’s minds. Think about creating review guidelines so people know how you review and why you review in a certain way. You can have them in an area on the site for everyone to see. Then when you receive negative reviews you can mention the guidelines and clear up any misunderstandings.

4.      Be Honest and Objective

Once you realize the responsibility you probably realize that being honest and objective book reviewer is really important. You need to protect the authors and the reader, while providing them with useful information. This doesn’t mean that you should give everything 3 stars, far from it. It just means you need to justify yourself in the book review you wrote. Don’t sell yourself out for paid reviews, but do it honestly. Be objective, but still emotional.

5.      Connect with the Reader

The reader wants to connect with the book reviewer despite it being an honest and objective review following the guidelines. You need to be able to paint a picture when you are a book reviewer. This will help you connect with the reader and have them coming back. Try to engage them on the site with questions, polls, and other information. If you have the time you can also create content that is not book reviews, but opinions. Giving them more information will bring them back more often.

6.      Write and Rewrite

Every time you write it is never perfect. Therefore, rewrite it and make it better. Make a review and check it the day after. Make adjustments and then publish it. Be a book reviewer who cares about his content. 

7.      Promote Like Never Before

Promotion is probably the hardest part of being a book reviewer. There is so much that needs to be written and then you also need to get people to come see it. Where do these people come from? How do they find you? Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, and other social media are good starts, but not the be all and end all. They are good for finding a few people and keeping them engaged. The best promotion comes from hard work. You need to be in the book blog network to be a book reviewer with readers. When you write a review tell the author, tell your friends, tell other blogs who reviewed the same book about it (in the comments), and anyone who will listen. Ask other blogs to guest review on their sites. Ask other people to guest post on your site. Reciprocate and share link love. Link love makes the internet go around.

And for every post you need to be doing this. Remember the secret to being a book reviewer: read, write, promote, rinse, and repeat. That is the key to success for every post.

Advanced: It is also good to learn the basics of SEO (search engine optimization) in order to get Google working on your side: SEO for Beginner Bloggers.

8.      Don’t Accept Every Free Book

Only accept the ones you like. Read what you love and the reviews will be better. Sometimes give other books a shot, but it is better to choose something you thought you would love over something you took a risk reading. Risks do have rewards, but being consistent may be more important. There is no reason not to try it once or twice and then decide if it is for you.

9.      Have Fun

Have fun. The moment you feel like you need to get the next book review out because you readers are expecting it and you are stressed out means your writing is going to suffer. You need a break at this point. Write about something else besides book reviews or write a blog post about how you are taking a week off. You need a fun and happy blog to be a book reviewer who has great reviews.

With Barnes and Noble closing its brick and mortar every other day, people will move online more to find books they want to read. This is a great chance to be a book reviewer, create a following, and learn more about books. You can get free books and once your following is big enough you can maybe put some ads up and be a book reviewer who makes money. Good luck.

About the Author

William Yatscoff is the founder and marketing manager of both Bookkaholic Magazine and Bookkus Publishing. Bookkaholic is launching in February 2013 and Bookkus launched in September 2012. Bookkus is continuously looking for readers to be book reviewers and writers wanting to improve their manuscripts. William is an avid readers and a manager of book reviewers on the site.

Review of 'The Package' by Nobilis Reed

Many elements of this brief, but thoroughly enjoyable, short piece of erotic fiction by Nobilis Reed make it read like the perfect fantasy. There's the element of mystery - who is the masked lover? Is the masked lover a man or a woman? It's not a scary kind of suspense; we're sure the narrator, known as Rose Tattoo, is safe and playing willingly. It's the kind of suspense that keeps the reader on the edge of her seat, eager for what comes next.

The surprises that await Rose Tattoo are the other delightful elements, and they lead to a satisfying (literary) climax. At the low price of this e-book (as of this writing, $0.99), no one will be disappointed they took the time to read this one.

This book is also available on Smashwords.

You can find Nobilis Reed at his website, Nobilis Erotica.

Image: Markbritton

Reviews – and Why They're Always Valuable - Guest Post by Chaz Wood

Every writer needs reviews. That's a fact. Not every writer is great at going out there and soliciting total strangers to read their books and write about them, but unless you are a neo-Renaissance artiste who has devoted their remaining days to starving to death in a garret while penning poems of unrequited love with their own blood, then you will want some written publicity for your works. Most of what follows is written with the online world in mind, but the basics can be applied to any body or individual who review books, poetry or stories.

I won't go too far into the hows and whys of getting reviewed – except to say that I have never paid a penny for a review, nor will I ever. No offence to those who do, or who offer such services, but that's simply not my style. I would take an honest 2.5/5 score any day over a gushing 5/5 from someone who treats book reviewing as a business and who, having cashed my cheque, may feel duty-bound to sing my praises from the belltower. Good for the ego, not so good for sales.

While I've never had a truly bad review (yet!) I've had some that were better than others. Some reviewers have honestly admitted that a certain work simply wasn't 'their thing', which is as much my fault for not thoroughly checking out the reviewer's website or personal tastes beforehand. It probably goes without saying (says he, proceeding to say it anyway) that a little homework can help avoid the worst possible reviews. Don't send your sexy splatter-filled Satanic horror tale to a middle-aged Christian mother of nine, whose favourite book is Wind in the Willows. Try to pinpoint reviewers who operate within a certain genre - say, dark fantasy and sci-fi, or thrillers - as specialist reviewers will have a better grasp of the conventions and minutiae of the genre, which a general reader may not 'get', or comment negatively upon.

Having convinced someone to read your work, you need to prepare yourself for the result. Don't assume that a chatty, friendly email conversation will necessarily result in an awesome write-up at the end of it. Don't be cynical, but don't expect drooling adoration either. Aim for somewhere in the middle when it comes to how you take a review on board.

Don't let great reviews go to your head - it's only one person's opinion. However, enjoy the lift and the encouragement that those kind, glowing words give you - feel vindicated that all of your hard work has succeeded in making someone else happy. I remember when I got my first 5-star review on Amazon, I was genuinely moved that a random reader had cared enough about my work to post her thoughts online. Straight away, I left her a comment, thanking her for her kindness.

Similarly, don't let negative ones get you down - again, it's only one person's opinion. Take from them anything positive that you can, and don't instantly consign your manuscript to the fire because of it. Obviously, if five reviewers from completely different backgrounds all say the same things, then there is likely some truth in the criticisms - in which case, accentuate the positive and look closely at your work and how you can correct those issues in future to avoid a sixth kick in the teeth.

No matter the outcome, always be polite and don't argue with the reviewer once their words have been published. Thank them for their time - reading a full-length work of fiction, then writing about it, demands a serious commitment. If the review stinks, then accept it and move on. And don't make lame excuses either: “Oh, but it's still only a rough draft...”

Also, check previous reviews beforehand to ensure that the reviewer is at least competent. There are now insanely high numbers of book review blogs out there on the web, most of them very good indeed, but don't assume every reviewer with a free blog page is necessarily worth your time. If their own site is filled with typos, sloppy grammar and incoherent writing a la 'i likd it, it was funy' , then ignore them and find someone who actually seems to be literate. However, it's pretty unlikely that such reviewers would convince many readers anyway (such as those pointless 1-star reviews for products on Amazon which moan about totally irrelevant things, such as the packaging the item was posted in, or some problem with Amazon's delivery service or the order).

At the end of the day, if your review is worse than you could ever have feared, don't stress or get angry about it. To cheer yourself up, consider how many authors who are far more famous and rich than you have suffered rubbish reviews in the past, and in far bigger newspapers and journals than yours have appeared in. Of course, rich and famous authors will have their armies of fans who will purchase their works irrespective of reviews, but that doesn't change the words of negativity (nor did all rich and famous authors start out that way, either). Words may hurt, but they're still just words. Sometimes, a bitterly negative review can succeed in driving sales, by outlining things the reviewer disliked but which a passing reader may actually enjoy: for example, "...I hated it - filled with sex, swearing, and blood and guts..." could easily sell a work to those who enjoy that kind of thing, or who are not remotely offended by adult or extreme material.

For example, the first book in my 'Trinity Chronicles' series, Maranatha, opens with a rape and a double murder in a Serbian church, all within the first 5 pages. I had one would-be reviewer who couldn't get any further than that opening section, and I accepted her reasoning – I didn't press her into reading the rest “because it calms down after that.” If an individual finds something too disturbing, too dark or graphic, too silly, boring or confusing for them to cope with, then leave it be and chalk it up as an example of the old cliché about meat and poison.

Be judicious, too, in the excerpts of reviews that you choose to promote your work. An overall 2 or 3-star review may still contain some positive or colourful comments that look good on a back cover or a press release, and (assuming permission agreed beforehand with the reviewer) you'd be silly not to use them to your advantage. Try not to quote too heavily out of context, or cut and paste unrelated words and phrases to create something that was never said – that's only likely to get you into trouble with the reviewer, and a reputation for dishonesty. Ultimately, nothing is more important than your reputation. Be generous, professional and courteous at all times, with everyone and anyone in the industry (no matter how small – today's self-published blogger could be tomorrow's superstar) – you never know when you may meet them, or require their services, again.

Writer and illustrator Chaz Wood runs Fenriswulf Books, publishers of dark and quirky fiction, graphic novels, and more.

'Dream Lover' is a dream collection of paranormal erotica

Dream Lover (Cleis Press, May 2011), edited by Kristina Wright, is a collection of diverse, elegantly erotic tales of paranormal romance. It's my favorite genre, I can't get enough, and this collection is an especially sweet one. Its arrival on my doorstep made a perfect pre-Valentine's Day gift.

The anthology begins with "Love Resurrection" by Justine Elyot. In it, the ghost of a long-neglected Victorian poet haunts the academic who comes to his ancestral home to research him. The tale is perfectly imagined. A. D. R. Forte's "Rainmaker" is another well-crafted tale, so vividly so sensual it feels like the air before a thunderstorm. Kristina Lloyd contributes "Living Off Lovers," an atmospheric piece in which an apartment building becomes a character and a woman lusts for a man about whom she knows only a name, "Peter." Sacchi Green's "Freeing the Demon" is a startlingly beautiful gargoyle story.

Given my personal preference for wolf tales, it may come as no surprise my personal favorite in this collection is Alana Noel Voth's "Moongirl Meets the Wolf Man." It's always wonderful when a lone wolf meets her one true mate. The vampire tale, "Lust as Old as Us" by Madeline Moore, puts a fascinating twist on the teenage vampire genre.

These are only a few of the stories in Dream Lover. There's much, more more in its 240 pages.

The Giveaway: Open to residents of the U.S. ages 18 and up ONLY. One randomly chosen winner will receive EITHER my paperback Advance Reading Copy (ARC) of Dream Lover OR, because my copy is a little shopworn, the winner may instead choose one of these Cleis Press titles:

Best Women's Erotica 2011
Best Lesbian Erotica 2011
Best Bondage Erotica 2011
Hide and Seek: Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists
The Ultimate Guide to Cunnilingus

To enter, just leave a comment on this post. Make sure your comment links to a valid e-mail or that you give me your e-mail address in your comment so I can notify you if you win. You DO NOT need to leave your choice of book in your comment. Entries will be accepted through Friday, Feb. 11. The winner will be selected on Saturday, Feb. 12.

The author of this review received no compensation for it. She did receive a paperback ARC from the publisher.

'Joy in a Box' by Sally Hanan, Inspirational Flash Fiction

Texas author Sally Hanan is originally from Dublin. Perhaps that's why the soul-searching slices of life in her flash fiction collection Joy in a Box (2009, Smashwords, also available for Kindle) might remind you of a miniaturized Dubliners.

The stories range from bitter to sweet. A few are based on Bible stories or true events. Most are canny observations of how Christians do, should or shouldn't act. Yes, this Christian author pokes gentle fun at misplaced zeal. She turns the same lovingly, teasingly critical eye on us authors in "Writers Forum: Translation 101." Deep down, we all think we're William Shakespeare, don't we?

What Hanan does exceedingly well is focus on relationships. Some of my favorites include "Roses Are Red," in which a widower must find a way to express his true feelings for the second love of his life. In "In the Orange-Sherbet Light," a middle-aged woman expresses gratitude to the aunt who adopted her many years before. Perhaps the best is "I Can Smell Him," a story of love and loyalty in which a married woman is tempted by an office romance.

There's also a touch of humor, as in "That Stalker Thing." Anyone who's ever had a celebrity crush should be able to relate to the hapless cocktail waitress's experience. Any author/edit whose other website is devoted to the fashion uses of duct tape [sorry, it's defunct now] must have a sense of humor.

Because it can be read in small chunks, this book is perfect for inspirational book clubs composed of busy members. If you loved Oliver Frances' book Heart and Souls, you'll also love this book.

Peter Joseph Swanson's Latest, 'Punk Minneapolis'

It's not exactly a hot tub time machine, but Peter Joseph Swanson's Punk Minneapolis will take you back to 1989. (I was 12 then.) Forget everything you've seen on I Love the '80s. That's all about corporate yuppie mall stuff that would make Raven, Becky, Sandra, Tope, and Bunny Umber want to puke. They're punkers, and their purpose in life is to rock out, drink beer, steal pizza and other essentials, and offend the yuppie world. Technically, Raven is a darksider, but he hangs out with the punk rockers and shares their philosophy.

Life isn't all pepperonis and salad bars, though. Strange things are happening, things that seem to center on the crazy nun who stalks the uptown Minneapolis pizza parlor (formerly a hair salon) where Raven, Becky, and Sandra work. Is that really her face Raven sees in his second-floor window at night? What is the K-Mart ouija board trying to say? Are there really space aliens in the walls, as Tope says?

Several bizarre accidents and cosmic revelations later, we arrive at the '90s. Punk is dead, and so are some of the characters. Others have moved on to become what they once feared and loathed. Only Raven has remained somewhat true to his artistic ideals, wondering how he can make a novel of the beer-soaked, pizza-greased, Plasmatic chaos that was 1989.

The weirdest part of all is that Peter Joseph Swanson's literary ouija board seems to have channeled some images straight out of my head. He writes about Gothic, a movie about Lord Byron and Percy and Mary Shelley I couldn't get out of my head only days before I read this book. I had also just finished watching The Prestige, which features David Bowie as Nikola Tesla. In the book, Tesla is one of Tope's fixations, even though Tope keeps calling him "Tescula." Peter Joseph Swanson, stay out of my brain.

If the epilogue of Punk Minneapolis puts you in the mood for a peek into the lives of Midwesterners in the 1990s, then follow it up with I Made Out With a Teenage Communist!

"The Accidental Healer" by Joshua Graham

"The Accidental Healer"
E-book By Joshua Graham
Published By Dawn Treader Press

Get the code for a free download, now through Sunday December 5, at Graham's official website

These days, a CEO might be the least sympathetic character in all of fiction...even if he has been laid off and his wife left with their two children and his beloved chocolate Lab. When we meet Dave, it seems we shouldn't bother to care about him, since he's on the verge of ending his life anyway. Yet even as he's about to leave the world, Dave finds his heart opening. A brave act of compassion sets the stage for Dave to care about other people in a way he never thought possible. Though short at only about 30 pages, this book packs a thought-provoking twist for readers to enjoy. It may even inspire some to think about their own lives and how much they are willing to give.

Going Down? II (Ladies' Night)

Here is where the blog takes a 180 degree turn, from two posts about children's books to one that's strictly for grown-ups.

In September I read Violet Blue's The Ultimate Guide to Fellatio:How to Go Down on a Man and Give Him Mind-Blowing Pleasure. The other day a little package arrived for me from Cleis Press. This time, it contained Blue's The Ultimate Guide to Cunnilingus: How to Go Down on a Woman and Give Her Exquisite Pleasure.

By the way, which is better--exquisite or mind-blowing?

The foreword by Margaret Cho begins with "Pussy is a wondrous mystery." Vaginas and vulvas are a mystery, but Violet Blue does her best to educate the carpet-licking public. Her introduction is as enlightening as her men's guide intro was. It's sad in a way that years after the first production of The Vagina Monologues, we're still living in a "pussyphobic" culture, but Blue is right.

As in the guide to men's pleasure, there are line drawings. They're fun, though they neglect genital piercings, unlike the male-centered guide. Neither illustrations nor text are heterosexist, so lesbian and bisexual women can enjoy it just as much as straight women. There is also a chapter for women with disabilities. Sidebars on how not to muss your lipstick and what to do with a tongue piercing are fun, and again, Alison Tyler contributes short erotic fantasies to the nonfiction.

The chapters are yummy and informative, but the best part may be the resource guide at the end, updated for the second edition. It tells you where to buy woman-positive and sex-friendly supplies in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

If you're a woman with a partner who's reluctant to go down on you, buy your boyfriend/girlfriend this little volume. It'll open up her/his eyes to the possibilities and deal with all the concerns people usually have about "going down there."

The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven

'The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven' is a dual memoir penned by Kevin Malarkey and his son Alex. In 2004, when Alex was only six, Kevin and Alex were in a terrible car accident. While Kevin escaped with only relatively minor, non-lingering injuries, Alex's condition was serious. Alex suffered an internal decapitation - his skull became detached from his spinal cord. In medical terms, this is not compatible with life. Alex should have died, yet thanks to the persistent prayers of the paramedics, bystanders and Alex's family, Alex lived.

He was in a coma and never expected to come out. Even if he did awaken from his coma, doctors told Kevin and Alex's mother, Beth, that Alex would have severe brain damage and never again be the same boy they knew. They were told he would never be able to speak or even to swallow food on his own. Remarkably, none of this was true. Alex emerged from a coma with his personality fully intact. He relearned how to speak and to eat. Alex and his family never lost hope and have faith that one day Alex will even walk again.

If this wasn't remarkable enough, though, there is more to Alex's amazing story. As soon as he regained speech, Alex began telling his mother and father about what really happened when his body was so badly injured in the accident: Jesus took Alex's spirit to heaven. Ever wondered what heaven is really like? Alex knows. He's talked to Jesus and God the father, though he wasn't able to see God's face. Seeing angels became routine for Alex, even when his spirit and body were reunited. The struggle of Alex and his family to adapt to his painful new circumstances, Kevin came to realize, was a new battle in the age-old war between good and evil in the unseen spirit world.

Was Alex telling the truth, or did he simply have a very active imagination? Kevin Malarkey gives the various reasons why he doesn't think so. The Malarkeys are evangelical Christians, but they had never been the type of charismatic Christians who expected to have this personal type of supernatural experience. Even though Alex was only six when he had this experience, his description of heaven is completely consistent with the Bible.

Alex Malarkey is a humble survivor. Though he's shown incredible strength and resilience, he takes none of the credit. He gives God all the glory. He is truly a child readers will never forget.

Lovely, Romantic Russian-Inspired Fairy Tale

It’s been over a hundred years since one of my maternal great-great grandfathers left Russia to avoid serving in the Tzar’s army. I’m still fascinated with Russian, and indeed all of Eastern European folklore. Anna Kashina puts Russian folklore to excellent use in her romantic fantasy/epic novel Ivan and Marya (Drollerie Press, 2010).

It’s not an epic on the scale of Lord of the Rings, though like Tolkien did with Anglo-Saxon folklore in his novels, Kashina weaves the kind of tale my Russian ancestors would have told around their hearths. It’s more on the scale of The Hobbit, but while it may not be as sweeping as War and Peace, the fast-paced storytelling keeps the pages turning. I read it in one sitting.

Ivan and Marya is the classic hero’s journey. Ivan (nicknamed “The Fool”) is on a quest to fulfill a prophecy. He and his sponsor, Wolf, seek to bring an end to the human sacrifice perpetrated by the Tzar, Kashchey and his daughter Marya in the name of the god Kupalo.

Young Ivan (a stock character in Russian folk literature, though he never feels like it in Kashina’s telling) is the sort of everyman hero the reader can easily identify with. What makes this story so compelling is rooting for Ivan to complete his perilous, virtually impossible tasks.

Marya, though she is beautiful with her long black hair and pale skin, is compelled by being the priestess of Kupalo to be cold-hearted, incapable of love. Ivan isn’t sure if he wants her love. He wants to complete his task; the wildflower the peasants call Ivan and Marya is an omen to him, a symbol of hope.



The theme of the yearly human sacrifice is a common one in ancient Pagan storytelling. In the Celtic world (as in Mists of Avalon), the sacrifice is a young man who may father as many children as he likes before going to his noble death. In this version, the sacrifice must be a female and a virgin, recalling the Greco-Roman myth of Persephone/Proserpina. The virgin sacrifice is a close folkloric cousin of the straw effigy (sometimes named Marzana) that is, even today, “drowned” in Slavic countries as a rite of spring. The name of the death god in this novel, Kupalo, recalls the modern Slavic summer solstice holiday of Ivan Kupala…John the Baptist. The virgin sacrifice’s drowning in a sacrificial pool was replaced and Christianized with the rite of baptism.

Even if the ancient origins of the myths bore you, though, you’ll enjoy Anna Kashina’s storytelling. She makes it both fresh and exciting. There’s some adult content (this is a romance, after all), so this enchanting fairy tale is not for very young readers.

If you enjoy this book, you might also like Keith Miller’s The Book of Flying, Whispers in the Dark by Marisa Quinn, and The Raspberry Girl by VictoriaSelene Skye Deme.

Memoirs From the Asylum, a disturbing but powerful read

Chances are, you have a family member or an acquaintance who's been affected by a major mental illness. For many people, mental illnesses are very treatable. They will either recover or learn to manage their episodes of illness. For others, a mental illness does not respond to treatment and living in a therapeutic setting becomes an option. Of those whose illness leads to hospitalization, some are lucky enough to be able to afford private care. For others, there's the state hospital.

As Alice famously said to the Cheshire Cat, "I don't want to go among mad people," and any examination of the lives and thoughts of those living in the state hospital will not be a walk in the garden. Although 'Memoirs From the Asylum' by Kenneth Weene is fictional, those of us who have mentally ill friends and relatives or who have worked in mental health care settings will find it unsettlingly real.

Readers will no doubt find this book fascinating. It's like what medieval Christians used to call "the abominable fancy:" the saved glimpsing the suffering of those in Hell. The trouble is, as Weene's book makes clear, the line between the "sane" and the "insane" is a fine one. The "insane" are institutionalized by their own volition, but can declare "the vacation's over" and walk out to rejoin society at any moment. The staff are just as capable of abnormal thoughts and irrational behavior as the patients. It reminds me of a joke from an early season of 'The Simpsons,' when Homer found himself committed and asked the doctors how they could tell who was sane and who was insane. Simple, they tell him: everyone who's insane has his/her hand stamped "INSANE."

'Memoirs From the Asylum' is, at times, funny, sometimes unsettling, but largely tragic. It's a powerful book, but one worth reading. It's a plea for compassion and a disorganized rant as careening as the Jimi Hendrix solos that a patient named Jamul endlessly plays on his invisible guitar.

Funny thing about that: thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, the Navy record of the real Jimi Hendrix is now public, and it reveals he was once thought to have a mental illness. The real Hendrix seemed to be unable to concentrate on any work other than writing songs and playing his guitar! Perhaps Jamul was a misunderstood genius. Within the pages of 'Memoirs of the Asylum,' anything is possible.

This book is available from Amazon.