Set in an imagined version of Britain that feels entirely, and chillingly, plausible in our age of escalating natural disasters, JE Broom’s The Locust Tide is a compelling blend of thought-provoking climate fiction and family drama. Readers are thrust into this dystopian new world through the sharply-focussed lens of 24-year-old Elouise, whose involving first-person narrative drives much of the novel. Following the death of her mother, Elouise is all-but alone in the world. Relocated to Newtown, a town for the “climate-displaced” that’s been hailed “an ecological masterpiece”, she refers to the place ... View Full Review
High-stakes fantasy in genre, and emotionally earthy in style, Matt Starostka’s Resonance, the first in a series, boasts a richly-evoked setting, dynamic characters, and a well-paced plot that’s driven by a classic conflict-ridden quest. The book begins with a dream. Now a young man, in his dream Vir is transported back to the time his sister Irina was seized, when her eyes held his gaze “as if trying to tell him something she couldn’t say aloud”. Though twelve years have passed since that fateful day, Vir still feels helpless, wracked by guilt ... View Full Review
With a gripping dual narrative, Sheena Billett’s Always Us sets out to answer the big question as to whether friendship really can weather any storm and last a lifetime. Essentially a female-fronted domestic thriller, the novel is suspenseful and shot-through with several shocking twists, and all underpinned by its characters’ resilience and capacity to forgive even unimaginably traumatic events. The novel begins with Patsy, a successful illustrator of children’s books, having treatment in a chemotherapy suite, wondering whether her estranged friend Anna, a well-known writer, is aware she has cancer. As Patsy begins to share ... View Full Review
This young adult fantasy crawled under my skin and lingered in my thoughts between reading. A compelling story with great characters and a magical twist on our world. Diving straight into the action without delay, much like Quinn’s late term arrival to the classified Yoden College for the Bleeding Bear, the reader must get their footing while on the move. A magical college filled with knowledge of beasts, plants and titans it’s sworn to protect. Quinn is a loner, his lack of family connection to the school or prestige setting him apart on top of his ... View Full Review
Having previously read I Didn’t Know What to Say, so I Just Said Thanks and I Wanted to be a Bluesman, I am already familiar with David Joseph’s concise writing style. While previous collections have had a theme running like a connecting thread though each piece (location of Spain and Portugal or the impact of Blues music) this collection is far more broad in its offering. Focusing on capturing literary portraits, People I Know shows personal, relatable snapshots of human experience. From falling in love to losing parents, key objects from childhood to encounters with strangers. ... View Full Review
The first part of this introspective memoir, Confessions of Schizoid Man, takes the reader into the mind of someone with a Borderline Personality Disorder struggling to find himself and his place in a world that was confusing to him. We begin Demagnetizing the Marmalade after the author left his church, family and university to move to Greece in the hopes of discovering his lost inner self. Where Confessions of Schizoid Man reflects the disconnect between the author and the world around him, Demagnetizing the Marmalade sees more of a connection. We see pieces slotting into place as he reaches out ... View Full Review
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Two brothers born identical but their lives diverge significantly in adulthood. Where one works to change the world the other goes off grid, with no official record made of him again. Told abstractly in the form of reports is a story calling into question life. In all its messy, unquantifiable, ambiguous, open-to-interpretation ways. And with every word that can be misused taken out of the lexicon, the questions it asks can’t be answered cleanly within the book. Thus leaving the reader contemplating the true story and meaning from the negative space of what is presented.&... View Full Review
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Max Murphy is building a reputation for being the one to call in a crisis on humanitarian missions across the world’s most dangerous conflict zones. With this book set in the 20th Century we his narratives take us into historical crises such as the Rwandan genocide, the siege of Sarajevo. Meanwhile Dr. Jigme Mangyal uses his work in psychiatry to develop ways of helping those with PTSD and slowly expanding to support more complex mental health issues through in-person appointments and more far reaching hypnotic cassettes. Together they build their connection pushing their abilities further ... View Full Review
Available from Iniverse Authors
Available from Amazon
Griotgnosis is a lyrically written piece of narrative non-fiction, an exploration and search for self and meaning. Travelling “from beaches, to temples, to rivers”, to advice found at home, discoveries found through meditation and plant medicine, and overcoming Lust and Sloth to reach your goals. The focus on the journey makes this book open to exploration, it encourages the reader to think about the times they may have been lost, clouded by guilt, paranoia or short term pleasures that stopped you from reaching your ultimate goals. I also liked the writing ... View Full Review
An interesting and easy to follow history of the emergence of Christianity from a marginal faith to the public religion of the state under the Roman Empire. In just under 90 pages Ferdinando Emilio Abbate walks us through the relatively brief time that saw the rise of Christianity. From 311 to 394 Christianity went from being tolerated by emperors, to adopted by them. The writing is clear and concise as it recounts the key dates, figures and facts for how each emperor and their leaders legislated in regards to those that held the faith. From believers facing religious persecution to Theodosius publicly declaring ... View Full Review
A multifaceted exploration of the tensions that can tear apart a family. From the outside, Claire and Jon’s marriage of fifteen years is stable but not without challenges. Parents, their teen daughter Kat and an autistic son Thomas, it’s a tightrope balance to manage busy family life and stay connected. Throughout this multi-narrative book we see the complexities of life and relationships unfold. From Kat’s coming of age eagerness for maturity and sex, to Jon battling his demons with alcohol and his mother Joan’s manipulation compensating for her own insecurity. We see ... View Full Review
Nuanced and intriguing, this is a complex story of power, ambition and obsession. Named for the character in Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca, Marie Danvers, Danny to her friends, is a streetwise grifter, with an ambiguous history. She inserts herself into the lives of the wealthy as housekeeper to await an opportunity for exploitation. She seems to find herself drawn in deeper with the rebellious bride-to-be Calista, before finding herself in LA caught in a storm of power, lust and obsession while working for Bebe Patten. There’s a simmering tension that underlies the entire book, suspense as ... View Full Review
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