Review: NEW CAVIAR by Stephany Brandt 5

5 Stars

NEW CAVIAR  is a thought-provoking speculative near-future  tale, whose conclusions and denouement truly made my blood run cold and my spine chill. Narrated  without violence  nor gore, nonetheless  it is terrifying.  The characterizations  are immensely well-defined. The plot, rather unexpectedly, is realistic; and approached so subtly that the  reader is caught  up  in the unfolding.  A story quite difficult to forget.

Review: ITSY BITSY by John Ajvide Lindqvist

4 Stars

ITSY BITSY is a very short story loaded with the unexpected twistiness  I've come to expect from this author, who certainly imagines the world in ways very different from Consensus Reality. (If you'd like an example, try his recent novel I AM BEHIND YOU.) 

I sympathized with the feckless protagonist, a down-and-outer who just wants a break. Eventually he finds all of his problems solved, but in the worst way. 

The ebook edition I read contains previews of two of his novels, HANDLING THE UNDEAD and HARBOR. 

Review: ASSUNTA by Michael Greco

3 Stars

Modern society may not consider 14th-century Dante's Divina Comedia "comic" in today's sense, nor find the apocalyptic novel ASSUNTA comic. However, as the author notes, in Medieval times "Comedy" was simply diametric to "Tragedy": or, "not everyone dies at the end." ASSUNTA follows this precept as a brilliant scientist seeks to overturn a plague caused by an Act of Nature.

Review: CHRISTMAS EVE IN THE MULTIVERSE

5 Multiversal Stars!

I adore Lovecraftiana, Cosmic Horror, anything involving Quantum Physics, so CHRISTMAS EVE IN THE MULTIVERSE proved exactly what I wanted. No, not horror; but quantum physics, history, tongue-in-cheek subtle humour, and exemplary characterizations. What a riot! Must read more!

Review: AIN'T NO MESSIAH by Mark Tullius

4 Stars
Speculative Fiction

A childhood of terrific abuse--physical, psychological, emotional, religious; and a lifetime of near-fatal/should have been fatal "accidents":  is it coincidence or divine miracle? Is Joshua just "lucky" or is he indestructible?

A roiling exposure of religious mania and peeling off layers of psychopathological child abuse spirals into an explosive heartstopping conclusion.

Review: BREACH OF FAITH by Daniel Gibbs (Breach of Faith Book 2)

5 Stars!!

BREACH OF FAITH is Book 2 in Daniel Gibbs' newest series, BREACH OF FAITH. [Book 1 is BREACH OF PEACE; BOOK 3 will be BREACH OF DUTY, in January 2020..]

Commitment to the ideology  of Individualism battles commitment to the ideology of Society driving the worlds-dominating League of Sol. A spacer captain of integrity and his eclectic crew rescue an agent with essential intelligence, face planetside danger, then escape to rally the most extreme individualists: pirates and privateers. Heart-in-mouth non-stop action, politics and political terrorism, and religious conflicts fuel another 

exciting and thought-provoking Science Fiction Space Opera Adventure from expert author Daniel Gibbs.

Review: SMOKE AND DAGGER by Douglas Wynne_Spectra Files Prequel

5 Starry Wisdom Stars!

Prequel to the SPECTRA FILES, a series I could hope will continue unto the End of Time...what is more adventurous than hard-core Lovecraftiana? 1948--in the post-WWII era, a young Barnard College anthropology  student on her own search for truth is recruited into a secret wisdom society to spy on a West Coast rocket engineer, a sort of California version of Aleister Crowley, determined on opening a portal to the Great Old Ones. He must be stopped, before the end of the world As We Know It...

Douglas Wynne again delivers a story I can't put down. Just ponder "What If?"

Review: AMIDST ALIEN STARS by Clayton Graham (Milijun #2)

5 Stars!

Admirable world-building and the unsurpassable, indefatigable, drive of the human Spirit to not just survive, but to thrive, power this engrossing sequel to the author's debut science fiction, MILIJUN. On an orbiting compound above a vastly alien planet, abducted humans must discern with the old X-FILES precept: "Trust No One."