MAD About the Trump Era – Various (Author, Illustrator)

(Reviewed by JD Jung) Are you looking for the perfect Mother’s Day gift for the mom who doesn’t think she’ll be able to stand one more day with this corrupt, narcissistic president? Is she depressed that her worst fears have been realized and there's more to come? That is,  we have a con man  running…

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Challenges of the Gods – C. Hofsetz

(Reviewed by Jeyran Main) Challenges of the Gods is a fictional story about Mike who somehow falls into a secondary world where it is neither heaven nor hell. There, he realizes that he has been chosen to destroy Earth. He is returned with a different body, meets a woman and that’s where the journey takes…

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Fight No More: Stories – Lydia Millet

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “South Africans were rumored to be rapists. The white ones especially.” Nina, a single real estate agent specializing in expensive Los Angeles homes was nervous about meeting a potential buyer. Little did she know that her life would change that day, but for totally different reasons. This opening piece, “Libertines” sets…

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Mr. Glamour – Richard Godwin

(Reviewed by Don Jung) This is a dark murder mystery based on the jet- set crowd of London. Two detectives assigned to the case have very demented and bizarre personal lives. Oddly enough, they’re after a serial killer who seeks out the rich and famous and is even more demented than they are. He kills…

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Blackwell: Prequel to the Magnus Blackwell Series – Alexandrea Weis, Lucas Astor

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “You have to fight to regain you soul. If you do not, you shall lose it forever.” It was the late 19th century and Magnus Blackwell resented his father but attended Harvard through his Boston blue-blood family name. While at the university he met Jacob O’Conner, who was orphaned at a…

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How to Remove a Brain: and other bizarre medical practices and procedures – David Haviland

(Reviewed by JD Jung) So why would anyone want to remove a brain? Author David Haviland answers the “why” and the “how” in this informative and entertaining book. Haviland also shares with us a gross method of contraception in ancient Egypt. What were condoms made of in the 16th century? Also did you know that…

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309 – Michael Shotter

(Reviewed by Jeyran Main) 309 is a science fiction novel written about Lisa Hudson, a journalist living in Pittsburgh. A disaster changes Lisa’s life, causing her to observe things she never thought were possible. She and a team have to work together to defeat aliens; the struggle to achieve peace is when the story becomes…

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The Sadness of Beautiful Things:Stories-Simon Van Booy

(Reviewed by JD Jung) The title, The Sadness of Beautiful Things, provides an accurate description as well as the essence of the stories in this short book. These eight tales take a somber look at life and memories and reveal the thin line between love and grief. They also show how love takes different forms,…

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Broken Humanity – Karine Vivier (Author), Kirsty Catriona Olivant (Translator)

(Reviewed by Heidi A. Swan) Reader beware: this story is about people involved in child kidnapping and child deaths. Wanting to turn away from such a topic, I was lured inside, like a child promised treats which can only be gotten in a nondescript, white van. Ms. Vivier gives a compelling opening of an abduction…

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The Riddle of the Sphinx – Alexandre Montagu

(Reviewed by JD Jung)   Eric (Keyvan) fled Iran as a child during the Islamic revolution and grew up in Paris. He later studied Comparative Literature at Princeton. That is one scenario. What would have happened if he was forced to stay in Iran? So much of one’s life (or death) is determined by a…

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