Book Review: Milk and Oranges by Charlene Wexler

Hello Everyone,

The Global E-Book Awards are over and the winners announced! I'd like to say congratulations to you all and it was an honor to be a judge for this awards ceremony. Having said that, let the reviews follow.

This week I am reviewing Milk and Oranges by Charlene Wexler. This a collection of short stories. Most, if not all, are from the author's own life. There were two stories that really got me. The fist was called "The Cruel Club". It was an amazing short that made me cry (yes, this guy does that once in a while). It dealt with grief and loss, more specifically mothers who have lost a child. In this case it was related to cancer. I found the emotional part of it gripping, to say the least.

The other story was entitled "Motorcycles are Dangerous". It is somewhat related to "The Cruel Club". It's about her dying son (leukemia), who wants a motorcycle. It's a very short bit, but the emotion is again raw and I found it interesting.

Unfortunately these are the only good stories from this book. For me, the remaining thirty-three stories were not good. I found many of them to be poorly written, and not because of poor editing (editing was good) or poor command of the English language. It was just that the stories were relatively boring. If there was something special about these stories they were lost on me. Maybe "I had to be there", or something like that. I find it somewhat difficult to say that an author should have gotten more in depth when it comes to short stories, but a little more wouldn't have hurt. If Wexler wants to make these more interesting to the reader, they need a little more punch or something. I just wasn't seeing it. There was also a slight hint of "holier than thou" attitude in some of the stories. It wasn't present in all of them, for sure. But it reminded me of one of my aunt-in laws and how she is always keeping up appearances. It's weird, but it didn't sit right with me. It actually made me kind of dislike the author.

I wish I could give this book more than two stars, but I can't. That's where it is. If "The Cruel Club" and "Motorcycles are Dangerous" were their own book apart from the other thirty plus stories, I'd give it four stars. So if you really want to read those two stories, I'd say go get her e-book. I believe it is available at most online e-book retailers. Otherwise, if your reading tastes are anything like mine, good luck.

Until next time,

R. M.

Book Review: Red Leaves and the Living Token - Benjamin David Burrell

Hello Everyone,

I had the opportunity to review the story Red Leaves and the Living Token, by Benjamin David Burrell.  It's a good story with a lot of potential. It is the first in what appears to be a series of three.

The story is a about a man named Raj, and his son, Emret, who is in a hospital for a disease that is threatening his life. It's much like you would see with young cancer patients in our world. In this world, there are three main races of people, the Petra, Zo, and the Botan. It seems to be like our modern world in many ways. Then again it seems old fashioned at times as well. Emret is desperate to find a cure, and will do anything to find it. Raj, on the other hand, is a very protective parent in hopes of a medical breakthrough. When Emret disappears from the hospital with his favorite nurse in search of a legendary cure, Raj is out of his mind in order to get his dying son back safely. In the interest of not spoiling the story, I will stop there.

As I said before, this story has a lot of potential. Unfortunately, it didn't quite live up to it. From a fantasy aspect, it's nothing I would call typical, which is a good thing. The bad thing was how underdeveloped the setting was and the background aspect of things. I'm not sure if that is coming across correctly. What I mean is how the three main races were never really described at all, and I felt as if I was imagining the characters incorrectly. Correction, I was. I found myself picturing them as regular humans. A little more background information and/or description of them would have helped considerably.

Another detriment to the book was the obvious lack of editing. I often found spelling and grammar mistakes. Some were so obvious that I wasn't sure if it was edited at all. I find this to be a common theme among indie authors, and I assume it's mostly caused by financial restraint or just knowing someone who is qualified to lend a hand in proofreading. However, there is no need for it to be as bad as it was in this story. I can understand some things being overlooked, but contend that standards still need to be met by indie authors.

What the author did do very well was getting into the emotions of the main characters, especially Raj, Emret, and Rinacht. There were some points in the story where I expected him to delve a little deeper and he didn't, yet then he would go further in unexpected spots which rounded it out nicely. To me this is one of the author's stronger aspects in his writing, and that kept me going through the book.

Overall, I am giving Red Leaves and the Living Token 3 stars. I found the story to be 'ok', everything considered. I am still undecided on whether or not to continue reading this series. However, if I do, it will be because of my curiosity about the fantasy aspect of the story, and whether or not the author improves on it. 

For those of you who wish to take a look at this book for yourselves, it can be found on several ebook websites, including Smashwords.com, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon. There is also his website www.benburrell.com if you would like to learn more about the author himself.

Until next time,

R. M.

Book Review - The Grimoire: Lichgates by S. M. Boyce

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12900806-the-grimoire

Hello Everyone,

Another book read, and time for another review. The book is The Grimoire: Lichgates, by author S. M. Boyce. Here's a description from the book's page on goodreads.com.

"The Grimoire turns its own pages and can answer any question asked of it, and Kara Magari is its next target. She has no idea what she's getting herself into when she stumbles across the old book while hiking a hidden trail. Once she opens it, she's thrown into Ourea: a beautiful world full of terrifying things that all want the Grimoire's secrets. Everyone in this new world is trying to find her, and most want to control her.

Braeden Drakonin grew up in Ourea, and all he’s ever known of life is lying. The Grimoire is his one chance at redemption, and it lands in his lap when Kara Magari comes into his life. He has one question to ask the book – one question that can fix everything in his broken life – and he’s not letting Kara out of his sight until he gets an answer.

There’s no escaping Ourea. There’s no going back now."

Ok. So here's what I think of the book. It left me feeling a bit bipolar, so bear with me cause it will get better. 

The title and genre got me excited. I love fantasy books about magic and medieval stuff, different worlds, all of that is great. I was incredibly let down by the beginning of the book. To be completely honest, if I was not reading this book to give the author a review, I don't believe I would have gotten through the beginning. For me, it was that bad. It took no time whatsoever for Kara to find herself in the midst of all the action. I'll admit that sometimes action happening right away in a story is good, and that could have happened here, too, if the author had expanded on Kara's background more. Here was someone who was obviously the main character of the story, and before I could create any bond with her, she fell through the lichgate and into the new world of Ourea, and became the Vagabond. On top of that the author's descriptives in the story were just kind of 'blah' and not really polished. What I really wanted was to know more about her troubled past and how it affected her. I never got a real sense of that in the beginning of the book, and it left me not wanting to root for her right away. Another way I can describe it is by the movie Labyrinth, starring Jennifer Connelly and David Bowie. I love Jim Henson stuff and I expect it to not get too crazy into a plot line. Connelly is thrown into the mix right away as a result, which works for the movie, but not in a book. At least not for me, anyway.


So leave that aside, because I did continue on. As the book went forward the world of Ourea opened up to me. I liked a lot of it, and it was enough that I was able to ignore the author's use of descriptives and sometimes cheesy dialogue (kind of like what you would hear on Hercules or Xena). The blood loyalty within the races of Yakona was something I found fascinating. A lot can be done with that, and my mind wandered as I explored all the possibilities. Along the way the author finally expanded on Kara's background and how the loss of her mother affected her. If more had been done on that at the beginning of the book, I would have liked it. So now I get to know her more, and now i want to root for her. 

The Drenowith, or Muses, were a fairly cool addition to the world as well, and their importance in the story is evident from the moment they were introduced. That being said, I felt there were some other areas that could have been stronger. The story lacked some minor details in the lands where Kara visited. All of them had a decent start to help my imagination out, but a little more time on it could have made it a lot better. Her storyline of the impending war was great for me, and I have to admit the book began to grow on me without me realizing it. I even noticed as I was reading towards the end of the book that the writing style I did not like in the beginning had changed into something stronger. It was slight, but it was there, and I can say now that I will read the next book in the series. It's almost as if I was witnessing the author mature as a writer with each chapter. I am glad I stuck it out to the end.

Despite the book's four star ending, the beginning nearly ruined the whole thing for me. I cannot in good conscience give this book even three and a half stars. It has to be three stars, which is 'ok' in my book. I do want to give it a little plus beyond the three - a kind of footnote that reads, "I believe this series is going to be way better than my rating of this first book would indicate." 

So there you have it, 3+ (the plus is not a half a star) stars for The Grimoire: Lichgates. S. M. Boyce, towards the end of the book you showed a lot more focus and it pulled me in. I have a positive feeling in my gut that you will not disappoint in the upcoming sequel. I will be waiting.

Click the captioned link under the picture above to find the book's page on Goodreads.com. From there you should be able to find out how to obtain your own copy. Happy reading everyone!

Until next time, 

R. M.

Lair of the White Wyrm Review/Lea Ryan Author Interview

A little while ago I finished reading the book "Lair of the White Wyrm" by Lea Ryan.  I decided I wanted to give it a review, as I think her writing shows some promise. Before I do that, however, let me give a short description of the book. Let's see if I can do this without giving anything away.

The story is about a young recovering drug addict named Eric, who just lost his best friend to the same addiction. In an attempt to get his life together so he can start down a decent path, he has enrolled into a college photography program and moved in with his uncle, Nate. Nate gives him room and board at Ducat Tower in exchange for maintenance help. Ducat Tower itself overlooks an old closed down mine that operated decades earlier. Nate introduces him to Chelsea, another resident of the tower.

Ducat Tower and its mine hold some paranormal mysteries that Eric and Chelsea soon discover, and everything goes a bit crazy from there. With the help of a psychic and an unlikely ally, Eric must find a way to save his own life.

That's the best description I have right now, without giving away too much of the story, anyway. While reading "Lair of the White Wyrm", it was easy to picture this as one of the latest movies on the Scy Fy channel, or as an hour long Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Tales from the Darkside, or Twilight Zone prodigy. It's not bad if you like that sort of thing. The story itself, although not short, was significantly shorter than your average length novel. Is that the criteria for a novella? Who knows? This amateur doesn't, for sure.

I enjoyed the way in which Lea Ryan dug into the character of Eric. It really felt as though it was going in the right direction, but it still left me wanting to know a little bit more about him. As for the other characters, their smaller bits of development suffice for the length of the story, though I cannot help but wonder if a little more time devoted to some of them would help round the tale out a bit more.

As for the storyline itself, I found it to be somewhat predictable. Early on in the book I found myself saying, "I know how this subplot is going to turn out", and I was right more often than not. The ending itself, however, was not so easily predicted, though I thought it would be. Some of it I nailed, while the rest was actually a scenario I had not thought of, and that made it just a bit more satisfactory for me, and worth the read.

As I understand it, Lea Ryan has written just three books, which makes me believe that her future writings have a lot of promise, as I mentioned earlier. I like her taste for science fiction, and how she used a modern setting. I am now interested in reading more of her works. For me, I save a 5 star rating for only the books that can blow me away. Those are pretty rare to find. If I give a 4 star, it means I really thought it was good. If it's 3 stars, I'd say it was just ok. For Lea Ryan, I am giving this 3 and a half. It was definitely better than ok, and that's not a bad thing for a relatively new author.

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Lea Ryan Interview

I had the opportunity to ask some questions of Lea Ryan, and here's what she had to say.

1)    Q: How many books have you published so far and what are their names?

A: I’ve published three books so far. Babylon Dragon was my first book. I spent four years writing it and rewriting it. The story is about a Babylonian daemon who seeks revenge on God and humans. A warrior in Purgatory has to stop her from ripping away the boundaries between the mortal world, Purgatory, and Heaven.

My second book was Destined for Darkness. It’s a paranormal romance about a young woman who inherits a Victorian mansion from her grandmother. She finds out that she’s a witch, specifically a ‘Fate’, which means that she’s able to influence destiny. She falls in love with her mentors’ adopted son who she has known for years without really knowing him, if that makes sense.

Destined for Darkness is the first book in my Fate Binds trilogy. The second book, Devil in the Branch, will come out this summer.

And, of course, Lair of the White Wyrm just came out.

2)    Q: Have you always been into the sci-fi genre?

A: My dad was always into sci-fi, movies and TV shows, which is what got me interested in it. I can remember watching Planet of the Apes with him and Star Wars, of course. Our whole family had a routine of ordering pizza and watching Star Trek Next Gen. Sci-fi has always been present in my life. I recently started watching Doctor Who and have worked through all of the David Tenant years.

3)    Q: What other genres of books do you like to read, and what authors have inspired you the most to create your own works?

A: I read the same kinds of books I write, usually. I have authors I think of as my unwitting mentors: Stephen King, Anne Rice, and Dean Koontz all make me strive to be better. They’re amazing.

James Patterson and Janet Evanovich remind me to be entertaining and not take every little piece of the writing so seriously.

4)    Q: I assume that gaining new readers and fans are one of your goals for this blog tour, but what else do you hope to gain from it?

A: Yes, new readers and fans are very important. But I have also met some really nice bloggers. There seems to be a real sense of community among independent authors who blog. We all sort of prop each other up, I think, by passing on hints and guest posts, etc.  

5)    Q: As for Lair of the White Wyrm, I liked the fact that I could see this as a modern Twilight Zone or Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode. Is that how you envisioned it or was it something altogether different?

A: Thanks! I didn’t envision it quite that way, but what you said does make sense. When I look back at the story and all the psychological weirdness going on, I do see the similarities. I grew up on Twilight Zone and Hitchcock, so it wouldn’t surprise me that some of that influence filtered through. I’m quite happy about that, actually.

6)    Q: Reading Lair of the White Wyrm has interested me in your other books. What can I expect to find when I read them?

A: I hope you find compelling stories with colorful characters, and I hope that you’re entertained.

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"Sometimes when you run from your problems, they follow you."

The book is "Lair of the White Wyrm" by Lea Ryan. Please go check it out! The links are below and the book cover image at the bottom of this page will link you to Lea's book page on Smashwords.com.

R. M.

Available on:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Lair-White-Wyrm-ebook/dp/B007BMQ8L0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329868137&sr=8-1

Smashwords:  http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/134968

Limited Print Edition on Lulu:  http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/lair-of-the-white-wyrm/18905414

Allesandra's Bequest Gets Reviewed / Lea Ryan Interview coming March 12!

Hello to everyone. I am very excited that Allesandra's Bequest was reviewed by Charina SM on her blog. I am very encouraged to see such a positive review, and it reassures me that creating this short story narrative wrap around the lyrics was the correct way to go. Here's what she wrote;

BITTERSWEET SURPRISE

Allesandra is a woman that takes her own life at a very desperate moment. Throughout the book we get to see what drove her to that point and the struggles that she and her husband went through. We also get to see what happens to the ones left behind after a tragedy. This book deals with a lot of strong topics. It talks about child abuse, domestic violence, rape, depression, and suicide.

        When I first started reading this book I didn’t know what to expect. I was very nervous because not only was I stepping away from my reading comfort zone; I also never read anything by R. M. Fraser before. I had a bittersweet surprise. Bitter, because the book was so sad that it made me cry near the end. Sweet, because I loved the way it was written. To be honest I didn’t expected to like it this much.

        The book has very little dialogue. You can probably find about five lines or less during the whole book. But to make up for the missing dialogue, the book has these beautiful lyrics in between the paragraphs on each chapter. I never read anything like it before. I was very surprise that I understood every word without problem. I usually have a hard time with poems when they are in English.

        I really like this book. It is a very sad, very strong book, from the beginning. But I loved the way the lyrics told the story so well. I made me think of what music is really about. Music tells a story. Music shows someone’s feelings. If the author made a CD with all the songs from the book, I’ll buy it. I can honestly say that R. M. Fraser just won a new fan.

 

Well there you have it. I read through some of her other reviews, and she is a very good critic. Charina isn't afraid to say what needs to be said. I think that's a service to every writer out there because honesty can only make us better writers. If you would like to read her reviews, or follow her blog for yourself, here is the link;

http://thebookkeepersblog.blogspot.com/

In more news, I am happy to announce that Lea Ryan, author of Lair of the White Wyrm, will be the subject of my next blog post on Monday, March 12 (Will be posted either late that Sunday night, or Monday evening). I have reviewed the book, and will give that along with an interview with Lea Ryan herself. This is all part of her blog tour, and I am happy to be a part of it myself. Until then, everyone have a good week. And please don't forget to go to Smashwords.com during "Read an E-Book Week" (March 4-10). There are some great deals to be had. So far, I think I have downloaded 13 new ebooks that I can't wait to get into.

R. M.

Fraser Reviews JJF

Recently I was at a show at the Precinct in Somerville, Massachussets. ELF and I were there to see the Froggy and the Friendship, formerly known as just the Frog. It’s nice to see the backing band has a name for itself now. Their set was great, as I knew it would be. It was off the wall, silly, and it rocked. No surprise to me there, really. The real surprise was the following act, JJF.

JJF is friends with Froggy and the Friendship, having been featured in a song on the album, T3RD. I knew of them through that, but not for their own music. What I heard was good alternative rock, and watching the three piece band play, I could easily tell they were enjoying themselves and not being too serious. Good on you, JJF, good on you. Before I had left I mentioned to Froggy that I wanted to review the band on the blog. It was a few weeks later that I received a copy of JJF’s album. After having listened to it a few times, here’s what I have to say;

The Jimmy Johnson Files, otherwise known as JJF, comprise of Dan Goldberg on drums, Scooba Dooba on bass/vocals, and Dv L Baronson on guitar/vocals. Normally a three piece alternative rock band sounds very rough live. Think about all the “grunge” bands you may have heard in years past, even their studio stuff was rough, and that was the style. Nothing but raw rock. Live, JJF was no different. Raw music, and a lot of fun.

Listening to the studio recording still had a bit of a raw feel, but what a difference from them live. Maybe it was the acoustics in the club, or something else I cannot pin down, but in the studio there is a lot more polish, and it absolutely 100% works. Give credit to Sean Cahalin for mixing it down, and Nick Dragoni to the mastering. I heard so much more in the guitar work than when live, and that was a pleasant surprise.

JJF is definitely not a band that takes lyrics too seriously. They do what works, and what is fun for them. It fits in great to what they do musically, and is so much more different than a lot of bands that come to mind. Fun is fun, and the energy it creates live is even better. The track “Beer & Cigarettes” mentions that ‘yogurt is nutritious’ and makes it work wonderfully. I actually laughed the first time I heard the line, and immediately thought of songs like “Chic n Stu” by System of a Down, and the old Roger Miller (points for you if you know who he is) song that mentions ‘maple syrple’ (rhymes with purple). I laughed the first time I heard Sirge sing about ‘pizza pizza pie’, too. Anyone that can do that is awesome in my book, and I don’t care if its country music, either.

Tracks like “FuckShit” and “Two Chords” poke fun in their own way. They are also a tribute to what can be done with so little in terms of music and lyrics. It’s the fun behind it that drives these tracks, as it seems to do on several others. Look at their NWO style shirts. How can you take a bunch of guys who love wrestling that much so seriously? I get the feeling that any day with JJF is a good time. Who can’t love that?

So what do you get when you take solid alternative rock, fun lyrics, and a good time? Three letters, J – J – F. Go see them live and get their album. Even if their genre isn’t tops on your list of favorites to listen to, they are too much fun to miss live, and it spills over into their album, too. Their picture is on this page above the Frog's, so click it to find their Facebook page. Also visit www.youtube.com/yakbardar for JJF video clips. It's got some other good stuff on there too. Listening to JJF is like drinking a bottle of good. Pop the top and chug it.

R. M.