Review: LOVE IN THE TIME OF APOCALYPSE by T. E. Mark

LOVE IN THE TIME OF APOCALYPSE by T. E. Mark is a wonderfully hilarious tale that kept me not only entertained, but also entirely engrossed from beginning to end. Creative, and original, this story flows smoothly and quickly, has many twists, turns and surprises, brilliant characters, laugh-out-loud moments and more.

Whether or not Mr. Mark intended this tale to be more than truly fun, romantic story, it nevertheless poses some thought provoking subjects and ideas. Quite enough, in fact, to keep any serious literature class or book club happily engaged in discussion and/or debate for many hours.

Several prominent points, Mr. Mark made very clear, are that in spite of all of humanity’s great advances in knowledge and technology, when it comes down to it, we are mostly unchanged from our tribal hunter roots regarding war and violence. We still engage in in-group, out-group behavior, and we still insist on following a leader, rather than running things by group consensus.

The things I enjoyed most in this story were the omnipotent beings, the sheep, the renaming of Earth, and the protagonist’s, Perry Brambles, three sons, all named Fred.

I highly recommend LOVE IN THE TIME OF APOCALYPSE .

Dear Maude By Denise Liebig

DEAR MAUDE by Denise Liebig is the most compelling and original story I’ve read in a long time, and it’s this author’s debut novel no less! I simply could not put it down! The writing is superb, and the characters are realistic. The story itself kept me utterly enthralled with so many twists and turns my head was in a spin, but pleasantly so.This fascinating tale is full of romance, suspense and mystery with enough time-travel paradoxes to make any scifi aficionado purr in delight.

I can’t wait to read the rest of this amazing series, and I also look forward to many more great reads from Ms Liebig in the future. I most highly recommend DEAR MAUDE!

Spitemorta Loves Gwaelian Hand Gonnes

The great hall had smartly dressed military men standing about everywhere. Spitemorta was ushered past the grand dining table, steaming with roasted hogs and geese, to a chair beside Demonica on the balcony, overlooking a broad jousting field below. Drummers and bagpipers marched around the outside of the field. In the middle of the field stood a full suit of armor, stuffed with sacks of flour on a block of wood. Two rods in front of it stood twenty-one pairs of soldiers. Each pair were readying some sort of iron staff. At a command, the bagpipers stopped, and one from each pair of soldiers pointed his staff at the armor. At the command: “Loose!” the other one from each pair applied a smoldering match to the staff. Each of the twenty-one staves went off with a rolling boom, sending the armor tumbling off the block as thick clouds of blue-white smoke curled into the air.

Spitemorta leant forward, enthralled. Directly, four soldiers tramped through the dining hall to the balcony bearing the armor and one of the iron staves. “What is this thing?” she said.

“This, Your Majesty, is a hand gonne,” said Vortergern, beaming. “It casts these gonne stones, lead balls, six to the pound, faster than the eye can see. Please look at this breastplate, gorget, hauberk and back plate.” The soldiers turned the riddled armor all about so that she could clearly see that the balls had all gone clean through both sides.

“I assume by your demonstration, King Vortigern, that you will be supplying hand gonnes to the troops you are sending me?”

“Your Majesty, all twenty-one hand gonnes are amongst the thirty-six going with your troops.”

Spitemorta gave a nonchalant nod and turned away to look out over the jousting field again. She was dancing inside. She loved this Gwaelic magic.

Ch 28, The Burgeoning.

Carol Marrs Phipps and Tom Phipps

Herio is Knighted

Minuet fought back the urge to take Herio into her arms and beg him to change his mind. “You, my valiant guardian, are to come back to me unharmed,” she said fiercely.

“I will, my Queen,” said Herio solemnly as he bowed low.

When he stood, Minuet embraced him and kissed him on both cheeks. “You are a right brave young man, but you sally forth on a knight’s errand,” she said. “Therefore, you must bear with you a knight’s title. Kneel before me, Herio.”

Astonishment flickered in his eyes as he knelt at once.

Minuet drew Hebraun’s sword, raised it before her and kissed the blade. She smiled, eyes brimming with tears as she placed the blade on first one, then the other of his shoulders. “Ymladd yn erbyn drwg…Ymladd dros Niarg…Ymladd dros rhinwedd, marchog,” she proclaimed. “Thou a royal knight of Niarg ybeoth. Ryst up, Sir Herio.”

Herio stood at once. “You have honored me beyond my wildest dreams,” he said, looking at her in wonder. “I will not disappoint you.”

“I know,” she said as she took Razzmorten’s arm. “Now Father, please change Hubba Hubba so that these two brave souls may be on their way.”

“Are you ready, Hubba Hubba?” he said.

“You got it, Wiz,” said the satin crow looking up from amidst the scrambling brood and Pebbles. Suddenly all eyes went wide as Hubba Hubba ran his ebony beak down some flight feathers and gave himself a thorough shake. “Thanks, Wiz. Ready Sir Herio?”

“Not without us!” squeaked Chirp, winging into the room with Tweet and Squeak in a flurry of wings.

“At least for as far as we can make it by this evening,” tweeted Squeak.

“Why that makes my morning!” cawed Hubba Hubba with a shake of his black ruff. “Let’s go, shall we boys?”

“Just a moment before you leave,” said Razzmorten. “Herio, Hubba Hubba, Chirp, Tweet and Squeak, this is a little something to bear in mind for the sake of everyone while you’re off on this mission: no matter what happens, no matter how tempting, never ever peer into a skinweler.”

Ch. 9, The Burgeoning

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Carol Marrs Phipps & Tom Phipps

Review: MY FATHER”S MAGIC by Ingrid Foster

What a treat! My Father’s Magic is the first fantasy novel I have read by Author Ingrid Foster, but rest assured, it won’t be the last. Flawless writing, intriguing story-line and realistic characters that are easy to love, or hate, in some instances, are just a few of the reasons I adored this tale.

This book grabbed my attention from the start, held it in thrall to the very last page and then left me to anxiously anticipate the release of the next book in this addictive series. I can only say, “Ms Foster, please write quickly!”

Obviously, I highly recommend My Father’s Magic to anyone who loves fantasy, or who simply loves a great story.

As if You can Hear the Trees Scream

They arrived at the edge of Chokewoods just after sunset, feeling relief and dread at the sight of the looming trees. Everyone hesitated, not wanting to enter. Lukus slid off Spark, grabbing his head with a grimace when he lit. Rose dismounted and stood by his side, saying nothing. Lukus turned wide eyes to meet Rose’s barely perceptible nod. This was like it was the first time they arrived, in spite of it being a different part of the woods and a different time of day. “Well,” she said, jostling everyone by speaking. “Let’s get on with it, shall we?” She gave Lukus an abrupt shove and followed him through an opening in the tangle of brush and matted vines. Fuzz, Spark, and Lipperella came immediately behind.

In they went, straining from side to side in hopes of spying some sort of clearing or cave for a place to camp. “If you listen, it’s almost as if you can hear the trees scream,” said
Lipperella, in a whisper tinged with awe.

“We thought so the first time,” said Lukus. “It’s so eerie.”

“Indeed,” said Fuzz, “But the trees are in fact not screaming, and when their trunks look so grotesque, one’s imagination would understandably be thrall to suggestibility.”

“So you don’t hear anything then?” said Spark.

“I didn’t say that, “said Fuzz. “It sounds like far away moans and murmurs in some giant hall, but that must be the wind ‘way up in the trees, rather than the trees themselves.”

“Are you sure?” said Spark. “I’m not.”

“Well no, but it’s the simplest explanation, isn’t it?”

“Perhaps, but ‘simple’ doesn’t take Razzorbauch’s perversion of the place into account.”

“Good point,” said Fuzz, as everyone fell into a nervous silence.

“Hey,” said Lipperella. “Look up ahead. That could be a clearing.” It was. They made a hasty camp by doing little more than spreading out their blankets and deciding how
they would keep watch. Rose heard no owls at all, only the ghostly murmur and sighs
echoing from unimaginable reaches off in the timber.
Ch. 29, The Collector Witch

Carol Marrs Phipps and Tom Phipps

Review: Mall Hair Maladies By Kristy Volchko

MALL HAIR MALADIES is a hilarious coming of age tale, by Kristy Jo Volchko, about two teenage girls in the 1980’s. A time in history when “big hair” sprayed firmly enough to withstand a category 5 hurricane, jelly bracelets and finger-less gloves were in fashion.

Tanya Sheffield and Randi Gattano become best friends almost from the moment they meet. It seems almost fated, in fact, as they discover their common interests in most everything, especially when it comes to hair, fashion and their adoration of the current hot pop singer, Madonna.

One evening as Tanya and Randi are busily making hair ties and fingerless gloves from pairs of old pantyhose procured from Tanya’s mom, an announcement on the radio offering a free pair of tickets to the 10^th caller for a Madonna concert right there in their city of Pittsburg, sends the girls into overdrive with Madonna Fever. They immediately embark on a quest to win, beg, borrow or steal (well…at least find a way to earn the needed funds) the tickets to attend the concert and see their number 1 idol, an endeavor which produces some surprising and unexpected results.

MALL HAIR MALADIES is a quick, laugh-out-loud tale that I found impossible to put down until I had finished it. I recommend this thoroughly enjoyable book to all. Pick up a copy today!

Meri Greenwood Catches Wizard Razzmorten

It sounded as though the leaves had crunched just a heartbeat after his final footfall, but Razzmorten shook his head and went on.

“Good wizard…!” said a man with green hair, alabaster skin and pointed ears as he stepped directly into his path with a knapsack covered with leaves.

“Hoy!” cried Razzmorten, freezing in his tracks at once. “Meri Greenwood?” He steadied himself against a tree.

“By your aura I have you finally caught,” said Greenwood with a flicker of fury in his emerald eyes. “You know that you can not hide that from me. Now tell me at last, wizard, where have you my lover Celeste done hid? Where did you put the Guardians of the Woods?”

“You’ve given me a terrible start, but aren’t you indeed Meri Greenwood, Dyn Gwyrdd, as we once knew you?”

“As if you did not know…”

“Well I should of course, but I’d expect you to know me every bit as well…”

“And what deceit would you be now a-trying?”

“Well if you once knew me, I doubt that you’d think I had put the Guardians any place at all. I daresay that like most mortals, I’ve never so much as had the chance to meet them. Would this have something to do with my twin, Razzorbauch?”

Meri took a step forward in the leaves and looked closely at Razzmorten’s eyes. He took a step back and chewed for a moment. “Now, you are Razzmorten, ain’t ye?” he said, turning aside for a spit.

“Yes…”

“And you can certainly mark ye my word to be Meri Greenwood. And so you are here for to covet your brother’s handiwork?”

“Do you actually mean this woods? This was the Forest Primeval? Razzorbauch didn’t have nearly enough power to make such a change, the last I knew.”

“Then as hit thinks me, sitting over here you will need to be before to you the rest of hit I can for to tell,” said Meri as he sat on a nearby fallen tree and gave the trunk beside him a pat.

“Well these blue and yellow creatures,” said Razzmorten, taking his seat, “they shot me with a dart and brought me in here unconscious, or I wouldn’t be here at all…”

“Dorchadas, my good man, one of your dear brother’s enchantments they be, along with smallies and other such things.”

“Dorchadas? Are they indeed what they look like? Could they possibly be the giant lyoths from the Dark Continent?

“All but the great daggers for fangs they did have as cats.”

“Razzorbauch never had this kind of power. Are you sure Demonica had nothing to do with this?”

“Oh, but the power he now does have,” said Meri, “particularly since he not only to get his hands on the First Wizard’s Great Staff was able, but indeed on the very crystal Heart of the Great Stone Tree, which the First Wizard with the Staff did use.”

“So that’s where the Heart came from,” said Razzmorten as he stroked his beard. “And in the process, he’s kidnapped the Guardians?”

“Nacea, Alvita and Celeste, who was my very lover,” said Meri, looking very haunted.

“So you think he’s brought them here into the part of the woods which he’s changed?”

“I am sorry, but you do not quite see. Hit not just be this part of the woods. He has the whole Forest a-changed. And I must my lover for to find.”

“Oh my!” said Razzmorten. A breeze chased through the leaves up in the canopy, though not a breath stirred down where they were sitting. A great grey owl wailed, far, far away through the trees, though this time, he was not entirely convinced that it was an owl at all. “I swear I’d help you if I could,” but I’m in a desperate struggle to come up with a cure for the plague which is loose in Niarg and Far.”

“Alack!” said Meri.

“I was cutting Elven hyssop by the southernmost part of the Gulf of Orrin when I was taken by the Dorchadas. Do you know where that would be from here?”

“I do,” said Meri, springing to his feet, “and I would delighted to see ye there be, if you do not mind me for to have along.”

“Why, I’d be honored,” said Razzmorten as he rose and followed him at a brisk pace through the musty leaves. “Now, you’ve mentioned Celeste, Alvita and Nacea. Wasn’t there also supposed to be a Rodon amongst the Guardians?”

“Their brother…”

“Wasn’t he one of the Guardians?”

“Yep, save there be a good chance the smallies got him…”

“Smallies?”

“Oh yea. Of them I did mention. More of your brother’s work. Bright red nightmares that in the woods in swarms do run…”

Ch 4, Good Sister, Bad Sister

Carol Marrs Phipps and Tom Phipps

Swiftly Sharpens The Fang By Stuart Kenyon

Swiftly Sharpens The Fang, is the first book in what promises to be an exceptional new dystopian series by the highly talented author, Stuart Kenyon. The story is shockingly immediate and disturbingly realistic. It is impossible to read it and not consider that our current society has all the earmarks of being a dystopia this moment, rather than sometime in the far-distant future. It is a very sobering realization.

Our hero, i.e. the protagonist, Joe Travis, is a budding, if not full-blown alcoholic, with a number of mental issues. Throughout the story his values waffle back and forth, and he has great difficulty deciding which side to align himself with. But, I’ll not spoil the story for you by giving any further details here.

I will say that the plot and characterization of this story are excellent, and it flows smoothly and quickly. The ending made me most anxious for the quick release of the next book in the series. I am intensely curious to see where Kenyon will take this tale, and learn what he envisions the future is likely to bring as the tale unfolds. One can only hope that humankind and our humanity will eventually prevail.

I highly recommend Swiftly Sharpens The Fang to all fans of this genre and anyone who loves an intense, thought-provoking tale. Definitely 5*s!