Literary Fiction

Review: McDowell by William H. Coles

In McDowell, tragedy and consequence lead an arrogant and narcissistic Dr. Hiram McDowell to examine his life and search for life’s meaning beyond winning and possessions.

Hiram is first glimpsed leaving his Mt. Everest climbing partner to die. If that’s not enough to establish his unreliability, he goes on to belittle his wife, trick a colleague and ignore his children. Hiram’s the quintessential egoist surgeon: busy, belligerent, brilliant, and self-absorbed.

Author William H. Coles paints a damning picture of the selfish Dr. McDowell. Married for the third time to Carole, he barely acknowledges her and openly cheats on her, […]

2019-01-22T10:34:18+02:00October 15th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: , |

Review: Some Rise (Furnass Towers Trilogy Book 2) by Richard Snodgrass

Some Rise (Furnass Towers Trilogy Book 2) by Richard Snodgrass

In the second installment of the Furnass Towers trilogy, Some Rise, Richard Snodgrass has again woven a complex family drama into a gripping work of literary fiction.

The novel focuses on the Sutcliff family: brothers Harry Todd and Dickie and their Mother Kittie. The fuse is lit when Harry Todd, after being away, comes back to town like the prodigal son to see Dickie and his mother. Although Harry’s return raises questions, they accept him at first – Dickie, however, keeps an ear to the ground, for what he knows about Harry’s past shades the present. Then, like a […]

2018-09-27T09:35:41+02:00August 1st, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: , , |

Review: Only Everything by Keith Martin-Smith

Only Everything by Keith Martin-Smith

Broken dreams shroud middle-aged Logan, once a promising novelist, as he stiffly settles himself into a nine-to-five corporate life. Logan marches forward with a beautiful and brightly positive fiancé. He writes marketing copy. He pays his bills. He lives in a well-appointed home. But Logan feels weighted by a past that might be an anchor or a lifeline.

Only Everything by Keith Martin-Smith is a profoundly affecting work of fiction that explores deep truths. With the narrative opening between the present and twenty-something Logan’s life in New York City as he writes his first novel, we get bright future and […]

Review: Chanting the Feminine Down by James C. McCullagh

Chanting the Feminine Down by James McCullagh

Religion and history are the driving forces behind Chanting the Feminine Down, a novel of psychological awakening by James McCullagh with Roy McCullagh.

Colette McGovern is an intelligent graduate student with a secret. She’s committed a mortal sin in the eyes of God and now she’s plagued by stark, dramatic and disturbing “tumbleweed dreams,” as she calls them. One of them, about the late Pope John Paul II, wearing lace – who slowly sinks into the ground, no less – is particularly powerful and vivid. Colette records all her dreams in her journal, even going so far as to […]

2018-07-05T11:52:57+02:00June 12th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: , |

Review: The Sow’s Ear Café by Holly Quan

The Sow’s Ear Café by Holly Quan

Ending up in Sweetgrass, Alberta, while on a drive to clear her head of thirty-nine years of bad decisions and emotional baggage, Lucie slowly finds love and acceptance in her new town. The Sow’s Ear Café by Holly Quan transports the tough and damaged Lucie from her shallow life in Vancouver to Sweetgrass’s potential for deeper human connections.

Staked to her journey by a friend, Lucie’s car breaks down in Sweetgrass. She soon finds herself renting a room from a goodhearted ranching couple, working as a waitress, and then dating Ray, the mysterious chef of the Sow’s Ears Café. The […]

2019-01-22T10:59:32+02:00May 11th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: , |

Review: The Building (Furnass Towers Trilogy Book 1) by Richard Snodgrass

The Building (Furnass Towers Trilogy Book 1)

The first book in Richard Snodgrass’ Furnass Towers Trilogy, The Building is an evocative work of literary fiction, in which the construction of an apartment tower acts as a pivot to unveil an eccentric cast of characters, allowing Snodgrass to deftly weave the stories of the people in this struggling mill town.

Usually, with a cast this big, it is possible to lose focus and drain tension. However, The Building works in the opposite direction: every point of view reveals a little bit more and every switch has the satisfaction of putting the right puzzle piece into place – slowly […]

2019-01-22T11:00:06+02:00April 13th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: , , |

Review: In Times of Silence by Merwyn Spears

In Times of Silence by Merwyn Spears

In Times of Silence by Merwyn Spears is a comforting and poignant work of literary fiction about looking back on times gone by when the present seems to be fading away.

The narrator of this short novel is the last survivor of a group of childhood friends with the recent death of Megan, the leader of their childhood group, and someone who has held a special place in his heart. As he ponders her funeral and carefully puts her obituary clipping into the folder where all the others are kept, he’s filled with a deep sense of regret over Megan’s […]

2018-04-17T07:33:27+02:00March 26th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: |

Review: The Freeze by Ron DeBoer

The Freeze by Ron Deboer

In The Freeze by Ron DeBoer, readers are given a glimpse not only into the author’s own life, but into a dynamic and challenging period of American history.

In New York City, the late 1950s and 1960s were a time of social revolution, alternative lifestyles, alcohol, drugs, music and cultural change. Growing up in that era, and in that place, represents a seminal experience in American life, and this novel is an evocative portrait of both time and place.

The Dunn family takes center stage in this novel, particularly Kate, an ambitious and bold young girl who doesn’t accept limitations, […]

2018-04-13T14:05:32+02:00March 20th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: , |
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