Little Starhorodivka, a village of three streets, lies in Ukraine’s Grey Zone, the no-man’s-land between loyalist and separatist forces. Thanks to the lukewarm war of sporadic violence and constant propaganda that has been dragging on for years, only two residents remain: retired safety inspector turned beekeeper Sergey Sergeyich and Pashka, […]
Read MoreFauna
How to Bury Your Dog, Eva Silverfine
Title: How to Bury Your Dog Author: © Eva Silverfine Type: Fiction Novel Publisher/Ordering: Black Rose Writing, Amazon, Barnes & Noble Publication Date: December 2, 2021 Author Links: Website, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Bookbub Reviews and Interviews: Kirkus Reviews, Midwest Book Review, Mixcloud, Karen E. Osborne Back to the Dragonfly […]
Read MoreThe Drowning Bay, Geoffrey Wells
The Drowning Bay, the third book in The Trilogy for Freedom, is about Allison’s quest for freedom after getting out of prison, which hinges on keeping a secret from an adopted refugee boy. His mother is missing, but with the hacking skills that sent her to prison, Allison discovers the […]
Read MoreKesterson, Craig Wilson
Is corporate greed powerful enough to coverup an environmental disaster of epic proportions? Probably not now but what about in the 1980’s. Kesterson is a fast paced environmental thriller that examines that question. The novel is a fictional account of the Kesterson Reservoir saga, a real life horror story involving […]
Read MoreThe Morning Star, Karl Ove Knausgård
Translated by Martin Aitken in 2021 and originally published in 2020, The Morning Star has received positive reviews in the media lately. From Penguin Random House: One long night in August, Arne and Tove are staying with their children in their summer house in southern Norway. Their friend Egil has […]
Read MoreStrange Beasts of China, Yan GE
The novel’s environmental ethos is also very much of the now, with numerous, vivid descriptions of urban decay competing with the natural world. As an example, there’s a wistful moment where the novelist sees a bird rise into the air with… “an elongated body and exquisite movements, feathers as pale […]
Read MoreIndie Corner – Emma Reynolds
Back to the Indie Corner series I was thrilled to talk with Emma Reynolds, author of the just-out children’s book Amara and the Bats, a beautifully written and illustrated story that reminds us of the determination of youth and the importance of bats. Emma Reynolds is an illustrator and author […]
Read MoreIndie Corner – Paul S. Piper
Back to the Indie Corner series I’m happy to have the chance to talk with Paul S. Piper, author of the novel The Wolves of Mirr (Book View Cafe, February 2021), which is set in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana. Paul has five published books of poetry, including Dogs and […]
Read MoreOnce There Were Wolves, Charlotte McConaghy
From bestselling author Charlotte McConaghy, Once There Were Wolves is a novel about a scientist reintroducing wolves to the Scottish Highlands, and the secrets that begin to catch up to her when a local farmer goes missing. Inti Flynn arrives in Scotland with a singular purpose: to reintroduce wolves into […]
Read MoreIndie Corner – Claire Datnow
Back to the Indie Corner series I’m delighted to present Claire Datnow as this month’s Indie Corner author. Claire was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, which ignited her love for the natural world and diverse cultures. Claire taught creative writing to gifted and talented students in the Birmingham, […]
Read MoreIndie Corner – Ryan Mizzen
Back to the Indie Corner series February’s Indie Corner looks at the amazing Ryan Mizzen and his children’s fiction Hedgey-A and the Honey Bees! Mary: Tell us about yourself–your life so far and how you got started in writing. What else have you written or published? Ryan: My childhood was […]
Read MoreDucks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann
LATTICING one cherry pie after another, an Ohio housewife tries to bridge the gaps between reality and the torrent of meaningless info that is the United States of America. She worries about her children, her dead parents, African elephants, the bedroom rituals of “happy couples”, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and […]
Read MoreRabbit Island, Elvira Navarro
Combining the gritty surrealism of David Lynch with the explosive interior meditations of Clarice Lispector, the stories in Elvira Navarro’s Rabbit Island traverse the fickle, often terrifying terrain between madness and freedom. In the title story, a so-called “non-inventor” conducts an experiment on an island inhabited exclusively by birds and […]
Read MoreStrange Birds, Celia C. Perez
Strange Birds: A Field Guide to Ruffling Feathers, Celia C. Perez Middle Grade Fiction Reviewed by Kimberly Christensen In Sabal Palms, Florida, many girls join the Floras, a service organization begun in the early 1900s by some of the founders of the city. Even though her grandmother was a proud […]
Read MoreForest World, Margarita Engle
Middle Grade Fiction Reviewed by Kimberly Christensen Edver and his mother left Cuba when he was just a baby. His father stayed behind and Edver hasn’t seen him since. But when relations between the United States and Cuba finally permit unrestricted travel between the two countries, Edver’s mom sends him […]
Read More