Review Tales
Trusted Reviews and Author Features Since 2016
An Unexpected Novel – AFTERMATH BOY by Robert E. Honig
For twenty years, I’d stayed away from the Washington, D.C. Holocaust Museum. Their repository of SHOAH Foundation testimonies and video recordings of survivor interviews included contributions by my two surviving aunts. Their older sister, my mother, had died at age 53 when I was a young man. Forty years later, this survivor’s only child, a transfer trauma recipient with history engrained in my DNA, had finally prepared himself to discover what the whispers of childhood were all about. Of course, I already knew quite a bit, whispered references to Dachau, Bergen Belsen, and ‘death marches’ peppered my ears when I eavesdropped from the top of the stairs in my childhood home.
Read MoreInterview with Ellis Shuman
Iva Dimitrova is author of this interview. Here is a link to the review of her book. Click here.
- In June of this year, you published your short story collection Rakia, which is set in Bulgaria. However, this isn’t the first time you’ve chosen my homeland as the backdrop for your stories. I’m referring to The Burgas Affair, which was also published in Bulgarian in 2016. What is it about my country that has held your interest for so long? Why is it special to you?
As part of my efforts to market my new book, Rakiya – Stories of Bulgaria – I ask people ‘When was the last time you read a book set in Bulgaria?’ The response is nearly unanimous – they have not read any books using Bulgaria as a setting. Add to this the fact that very little Bulgarian literature has been translated into English. The exception to this is the novel Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov, which won the 2023 International Booker Prize, but even with that award, not too many people have read anything remotely connected to Bulgaria.
Read MoreThe Eye of Winter – More than a Hero’s Journey by Jaques Smit
In 2009, I was going through a tough time in my life. I felt trapped and isolated. Then a friend gave me The Magician by Raymond E. Feist. I vanished into its pages and blasted through the Riftwar Saga. Soon I learned Feist based these books on his D&D character, and suddenly, I was reminded of my passion for writing. As a teen, I wrote poetry and loved storytelling, especially in games. More often than not, I was the Dungeon Master among my friends.
Read MoreI Didn’t Mean To, But… by Iva Dimitrova (Book Review #1944)
I Didn’t Mean To, But…by Iva Dimitrova is a riveting psychological thriller that masterfully explores the fragile nature of decision-making and the often unpredictable consequences of even the smallest choices. This novel delves deep into the psyche of its characters, revealing how moral dilemmas and past secrets shape their fates in profound and often tragic ways.
Read MoreThe Journey Behind “Unknown Soldier: World War 1” by David L. Preston
The seed for my debut novel, “Unknown Soldier: World War 1,” was planted during a visit to Arlington National Cemetery when I was just a child. Standing before the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, I was struck by a profound question: What were the lives of these men like before they became unknowns? This question lingered in my mind, sparking a lifelong curiosity about the stories of the soldiers who rest there in anonymity.
Read MoreBeware the Bonding by Robb White
Of all the genres I’ve published in, I enjoy hardboiled crime/noir the most. It used to be axiomatic that a writer had the sole right to choose his or her subject. To say there’s nothing sacred involved might be a stretch, but the boundaries of fiction aren’t easily constrained by any era’s ideology or predominant tastes. That principle had never troubled me as either a reader or writer until recently.
This week, I received similar responses to submissions in close proximity from two different publishers of short fiction. Both stories would fall under the rubric of hardboiled crime, or at the very least, a generic label such as “dark fiction.” One story was accepted; one was rejected. But the reasons were remarkably similar. The publisher of Story #1 rejected because he found my male protagonist, a thoroughly corrupt politician, despicable, a man who reveled in his misdeeds, which included solicitation to commit murder and embezzlement: “It’s like a lengthy harangue against a fictitious person who does only bad and enjoys it and succeeds.” True (I won’t quibble with the term harangue here).
Story #2 garnered a longer response with the editor/publisher tentatively accepting it pending revision. This editor found my female protagonist impossible to bond with, her actions against the antagonists (a family of cretins trying to ruin her) in excess of their own misdeeds, particularly the paterfamilias, whose “horrendous end” was “unjustified.” Besides my lead character not being “very likeable,” she resisted a reader’s willingness to “buy into her” on the basis of her actions. “Readers,” the editor explained in her critique, “don’t want to root for a murderer.”
I’ve heard it all before, and it comes down to the need to bond with the protagonist. I aver a difference that matters whether victims (fictional, of course) need to be deserving of their ends before readers will stand behind the murderer. It isn’t about rooting for the murderer; it’s about verisimilitude in a putrid, evil landscape (call it aberrant psychology, if that helps). As lawyers say, crimes committed in hell don’t have angels for witnesses. Neither should dark fiction.
Author Bio:
Robert White lives in Northeastern Ohio. He has published many crime, horror, and mainstream stories in various magazines and anthologies. He’s been nominated for a Derringer for his crime fiction. Most of his novels feature private investigators Thomas Haftmann or Raimo Jarvi. Jarvi’s third outing in the Northtown trilogy is Northtown Angelus (Grand Mal, 2024). Betray Me Not, a collection of revenge tales, was selected for distinction by the Independent Fiction Alliance in 2022. Find him at: https://tomhaftmann.wixsite.com/robbtwhite
Sun Tzu’s Café by Eric Bornstein (Book Review #1865)
“Sun Tzu’s Café” by Eric Bornstein is a thrilling contemporary novel that delves into a chilling plot involving the exploitation of America’s brightest minds under the guise of an upscale café chain. In a world where marijuana is legalized, the story ingeniously intertwines the legacies of ancient Chinese military strategies with the sinister modern-day espionage tactics of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The novel cleverly uses synthetic hallucinogens and THC compounds as tools for espionage, echoing the infamous CIA Project MKULTRA experiments from the Cold War.
Read MoreThis is how we heal from painful childhoods by Ernest Ellender, PhD (Book Review #1864)
Ernest Ellender, PhD, brings his extensive experience as a trauma therapist and Jiu-jitsu black belt instructor to the forefront in his transformative book, “This is How We Heal from Painful Childhoods.” The book serves as a comprehensive guide for individuals looking to overcome the residual effects of childhood adversity and establish a thriving adult life.
Read MoreUniverse of Lost Messages by Janet Stilson (Book Review #1863)
Janet Stilson returns with “Universe of Lost Messages,” a stand-alone sequel that promises to captivate both dedicated fans and newcomers. This sci-fi thriller dives into the lives of Izzie and Tristan, two Charismites endowed with almost god-like powers of magnetism, which make them targets for a nefarious political group known as The Fist. Stilson crafts a narrative rich in complexity, weaving together themes of power, freedom, and the relentless pursuit of truth.
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