The Edge of Over There by Shawn Smucker

This review is based on an Advance Reading Copy (ARC)
by Shawn Smucker

Book 2 of The Day the Angels Fell Book Series. 

I am very taken with this book, totally unexpected, vibrating with intensity, and a fascinating story. Even from the beginning you know this is going to be an interesting book. I get the feeling that had I read the previous book "The Day the Angels Fell," it would have amplified everything I read in this book. But perhaps this book was already amplified from the beginning. Not having read the previous book may not have clarified this one. All I know for sure is The Edge is what is important. I am in awe with what the author has portrayed with the characters and the landscape.

There is so much going on in this book. Family relations, heroic children, the ocean that takes you Over There, the Tree of Life, the realities and the possibilities. As mentioned, the book I am reviewing here is an Advance Reading Copy. I can't help but wonder at what may appear in the final version. I expect the characters will become full-grown, and many questions will be answered.

The Last Librarian (The Justar Journal Book One) by Brandt Legg

An AOI Thriller
reviewed from Kindle

Be afraid, be very afraid. If the future is Utopia, who is allowed in? This book by Brandt Legg is scary, but interesting. Some of our past generations may have been a warning. Think of the Spanish Flu and earlier the Bubonic Plague, a terrible pandemic at the time, then multiply it. Think of Fahrenheit 451 and multiply it. Is this our future? Is there a future? The present in this book is worldwide peace, but is it really? Is the current peace a reality...or an impossibility. Already in our world much of the story-line is already spoken of by conspiracy theorists. Interesting. The mantra of the world leaders is "Peace prevails, always." Even in the face of murders and rebellion it seems.

Going back in my mind to the Spanish Flu, one wonders if this was a naturally occuring flu or something more sinister. Regardless, the outcome was horrific, as was the outcome of a different pandemic in this book. This is a great story of what could happen, what might happen, what has happened on a smaller scale. It is a story of people who care about the past and even the present, the last library is destined for destruction by the billionaire and trillionaire world rulers. Will the last library and librarian survive the destruction? They say history repeats itself, a line that has been quoted historically for centuries. Is this a repetition, a blip or is this the end of civilization? Civilization is not the only thing that dies on our planet. This book covers a lot of ground both in a past much like we currently live in and in the future as described with far more and better technology than we have at this moment in the pre-history of what may come. It seems timing is a major concern of when, where and if, and timing appears to have arrived. Surprisingly, one woman stands in the way of the rulers of Aylantik, one of the divisions of earth's power rulers. As in our WWI, the war to end all wars and again WWII, the war to end all wars these two factors are on their way to annihilation of the current status. Can this woman turn it around? An excellent read!

The Incidental Spy - a Novella by Libby Fischer Hellman

 Reviewed from ebook

This novella starts at the beginning of the end, with nothing given away; then it quickly reverts to the beginning...a unique method that really pulls the reader into the book. The story takes place in a time I can remember and as such I can honestly say that Libby Fischer Hellman has absolutely captured the feelings and fears of that time of world war, as well as delving into the pressure cooker of the beginnings of the atomic bomb. Nuclear physics was at its highest priority, and Lena, a German Jew living in America, has already suffered the probable loss of her family to the concentration camps, and has just lost her husband, father of her young son. After this loss, and to support her son and herself, she finds herself back in the Physics Dept. of the university where she had worked prior to her son's birth, busily occupied with the humdrum portion, the paperwork. Now she works with famous scientists and government workers, albeit as a secretary. Everything in her life seems to have begun to return to some type of normal...or has it?

At this point, tension in the story takes a full swing into terror and brings the reader with it.Yet, though the tension builds, it all seems plausible. Once again, a time in my memory is revived when the world lived in fear, especially North America. What can one do in the situation Lena finds herself? The story is a classic good versus evil, but where and how will Lena be able to reconcile her thoughts, her shame and the trap she has set herself? This book pulsates with a life of its own, believable, memorable and deadly. The author has an amazing way with words and is exceptional at toying with our minds if we set to wondering "What would we do in Lena's situation?" I read this one straight through at one sitting, with the story still reverberating in my mind.

What Fears Become: An Anthology from The Horror Zine edited by Jeani Rector

Published by Imajin Books

What a variety of short stories! All of them within the horror or paranormal genres, every story completely different. This great collection comes from some newer authors, and several well-known authors. Jeani Rector has collected from among the best of the contributions of stories, poems and artwork from The Horror Zine. Some are just plain scary, some are psychological, some feature ghosts, monsters, werewolves, vampires, all the favourite demons of our nightmares and stories to be told around a campfire or at Hallowe'en. An anthology to bring shivers and have us listening to bumps in the night. Some even come with a bit of humour... ghoulish humour.

Reviewing an anthology is always somewhat difficult. Do I review them individually? Group them? Authors have contributed over 30 short stories, 18 poets contributing one or more poems each and 9 artists contributing. I think I will just say that this book will entertain the deepest fears hidden in the corners of the psyche. Great tales to tweak the imagination, make us feel something is watching, digging into our souls, acquainting us all with what fears become. Is your heart pounding and your spine tingling yet?