Short Stories Book Reviews

Reviewing self-published fiction can sometimes feel like a thankless task, even when you’re being paid for it. You can find yourself slogging through a book so woeful that you wonder how the author could possibly think it was ready for publication. Other times, you’ll be excited by a premise or intrigued by a character, but ultimately disappointed because the book doesn’t quite reach its mark. Then, there are those rare occasions when you find yourself in the hands of an author so unarguably gifted that your critical faculties are temporarily cut off. Within pages, you’ve slipped into the experience that […]

Short stories seem to be on the upturn in self-publishing and I am beginning to warm to the genre when I get to read something as original as this collection, “Beauty And The Singularities” by John Waite.

So what are the singularities of beauty? The development of knowledge of some other kind of beauty, maybe, beauty in the soul or in a memory, or maybe how one small happening can relate to another quite by accident and yet cause an event that is very much on purpose. This is the theme here, and with eight stories that somehow feel connected […]

Nine Princesses: Tales of Love and Romance by Sheela Word brought back to life a time long gone. In each story, a princess has an impediment blocking her path to happiness. How each one overcomes their obstacle makes for some entertaining reading.

Normally I like to give a brief synopsis of a novel before giving my thoughts. However, since this collection contains nine different stories, I find that going right to my commentary makes it easier. One of the enjoyable aspects about reading is visiting new worlds, or in this case, a different time period. These stories transported me back […]

It is not often that I pick up a book of short stories with a song in my heart because the genre is just so damn difficult to get right – and when a writer succeeds he then has to stand against the greats such as H.P. Lovecraft, Saki, Angela Carter, Roald Dahl. Why do I mention these names? Because Sean Manseau, the author of You Are Not A Planet could easily line up against them.

Bijoux grotesques flank classic modern Gothic and stripped fairytale prose to reveal a universe not content to exist, but to thrive with crafted language […]

In life, Hanna Singer, protagonist of this unique fantasy, was a rare individual: a medieval atheist. After she dies, she finds out just how wrong she was. As it turns out, the Christian villagers who had tried so hard to convert her didn’t have it quite right either.

In the afterlife, Hannah becomes a Celestial Advocate, someone who argues the cases of souls petitioning for admittance to Heaven. The concept alone is falling-off-the-chair funny, and the book lives up to that promise, with slapstick, puns, and wry cultural references scattered throughout. The Archangel St. Michael is a delightful trickster, with […]

Much of this collection, a trio of short stories and extra material to boot, features characters with previous appearances in the short fiction of Carolyn Moncel. Following the three stories there is an Epilogue, a Mini-Interview of the author, some handy Book Club questions, an excerpt from Carolyn’s forthcoming novel Geneva Nights, and blurbs for Carolyn’s two previous publications Encounters in Paris and 5 Ways to Leave a Lover.

The setting for the three stories in Railway Confessions is a train ride from Paris to Geneva, during which three pairs of strangers share intimate details of their lives […]

In Set Yourself Free Ellery, Ellery Roulet is an American with a career in Paris and she has made an emotionally crushing discovery.  It threatens her marriage to Julien and the life she knows as a mother to twins Evie and Maddie.  The story is told from Ellery’s point of view as well as that of Julien and his lover, Katrine.  Carolyn Moncel presents a compelling story and in fifty pages conveys the hopes and angst of all three.

While Ellery’s struggle is perhaps the most developed, Julien and Katrine weigh their choices with equal depth of feeling.  Moncel […]

According to The American Heritage Dictionary, hypocrisy is defined as “the practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold up or possess; insincerity.”  Most people abhor hypocrisy, and yet many are guilty of it as well.  After all, we are human and intrinsically flawed.  Diane Dunning’s ebook, The River Secrets, delves into this issue.  Are there levels to hypocrisy?  And better yet are there levels to sin?   Does your notion of sin depend on the identity of the sinner?

The River Secrets centers on two lovers: Anthony and Francis.  Anthony is a nun living in […]