John Staughton, Senior Reviewer

Navigating psychological battlefields and exploring the long-lasting horror of PTSD, No Pistol Tastes the Same by Jacob Paul Patchen is a visceral novel of wartime, recovery, and healing. Both a slow burn and a grenade blast, the prose spills a relentless tale of hard choices, unforgiving duty, and the depths of utter desperation, even long after the bullets stopped flying. The author sets each chapter off with a tone-setting, thought-provoking poem, then dives back into the mud of war and the mess of domestic life; this palate-cleansing twist on classic military memoirs makes the story shine even brighter. At times […]

A philosophical exploration of existence, science, and humanity’s progression of awareness, The Full Extent by Richard Botelho is a heady blend of cutting-edge theory and timeless musing. Spiraling deeper into tangled studies of perception and spiritual reality, this is a cerebral, yet enjoyably dense read that should be savored slow, and mulled thoroughly. Some of the later chapters come off as personal philosophy, rather than a historically backed stream of progress, but the challenging conclusions about consciousness will stimulate even the least outside-the-box thinker. Cleanly edited and polished to an academic gleam, this epistemological thesis is a mind-expanding thrill.

 […]

Inspired by our recent societal shift to video calls and long-distance interaction, Video Conference Go Fish: The Rules and Procedures to Play on a Video Call with Real Playing Cards by Gerald Beaudry is a timely and creative guide for an on-screen card game. From a brief introduction of the concept and altered rules to gameplay examples and more complex variations, this quick read will allow you to easily translate this traditionally in-person game to the virtual realm. With such a small amount of purposeful text, every sentence should be as clear and simple as possible, and some instructions feel […]

A metaphysical vision of the afterlife, complete with divine tests and sage metaphors, A Trial of Rock and Rope by Nicholas Licalsi is a thought-provoking allegory with a healthy touch of mythology. After waking in an afterlife realm, Ferrun is tasked by the gods with a Sisyphean task, alongside other souls trying to drag their own rocks to the mountaintop. There is a surreal flourish to the prose and symbolism aplenty, nudging readers into commentaries on ambition, eternity, pride, purpose, and independence. Blurring the line between myth and philosophical treatise, this seemingly straightforward read is far deeper than might appear, […]