Coal Dust on Purple Asters

Coal Dust on Purple Asters by Jeffrey L. Carrier

Reviewed by Matthew McCarty

Appalachia is a wonderful place. The stories, legends, and myths of this American region are fascinating. Appalachian literature is about faith, family, hard work, and the extended kin networks that meld the dark hollows (pronounced “hollers” in the mountains) into a wonderful tapestry of what the world really should be like. Author Jeffrey L. Carrier, in his short story collection Coal Dust on Purple Asters, has added a new depth to the characteristics mentioned above that make Appalachian literature truly an inspiration. This short story collection is an easy read, but contains powerful and identifiable emotions such as poverty coupled with home, that many Appalachians know all too well.  Purchase Here.

Coal Dust on Purple Asters is the multi-generational story of the fictional Gibson clan and their relatives in Burfield county, an idyllic locale that could be any real county in Eastern Kentucky. Each of the stories shares the struggles, dreams, and sadness that make the Gibson family so relatable to Appalachians everywhere. Every Appalachian has heard the accounts of working in the coal mines, farming on the hillsides, natural disasters, and emotional turmoil that have made this region home. The Gibsons are not any different. Their stories are true tales from the mountains.

Carrier uses Appalachian language and dialect skillfully throughout the stories. Each story ties into the next with a fluidity that leaves the reader wanting to find out what happens when the page is turned. Accurate and appropriate Appalachian dialogue is hard to create. Carrier seems to be able to craft the words of the family in each story with ease. This helps the reader to visualize the world of the Gibsons and other families in Burfield county. This world is still very much alive in the hollows and hills of the Appalachians.

Coal Dust on Purple Asters is an excellent little volume. It is a book that one can read on a weekend. It is also a road map for Appalachians who have moved to every corner of the United States and who seek some semblance of a home that is unlike anywhere else. This reviewer grew up in the Appalachian mountains, in the heart of the Southwest Virginia coalfields, spent a great deal of time in Eastern Kentucky, and enjoyed the glimpses of home that this collection inspired. Carrier has written a wonderful collection of stories. Any reader who is interested in Appalachia, its history and literature, would do well to make this collection a prominent part of their spring reading.

 

 

 

 

Destroy All Monsters

Holiday Spirit Book Two: Destroy All Monsters by John DeGuire

Reviewed by Daniel Ryan Johnson

Holiday Spirit Book Two: Destroy All Monsters brings us a cast of familiar literary characters brought into the modern world with a new twist. From Frankenstein to Dracula to the Hunchback of Notre Dame, author John DeGuire takes these famous characters and puts his own spin on their personalities and history.  Purchase Here.

The book is fast-paced with short action-packed chapters throughout, making it a quick read that can be hard to put down. With a large cast of characters, we bounce around from one storyline to another until they begin to inevitably intersect. With most of the action of the book taking place in Paris, the reader is treated to a madcap adventure in the City of Lights.

DeGuire has a playful style to his writing, often employing alliteration, words with multiple meanings, and other quirks of language to accentuate passages of frivolity and farce and alleviate the mood in moments of morbidity.

Destroy All Monsters is not for readers looking for a peaceful and PG-rated read. There is plenty of gore, violence, mayhem, and foul language throughout, but the author does a fine job of keeping the book from crossing over to the point where it is overly obscene for a more squeamish reader looking for a book with adult themes.

Beyond telling the story of forces looking to destroy the well-known monsters of literary legend, the book contains many references to the modern world and explores the many problems that face the world today, including climate change, the global rise of authoritarianism, mob mentality, and the pervasive distrust and hatred of people who are different. At times, author John DeGuire addresses these issues head-on, while at other points in the text, they are referenced more subtly.

Holiday Spirit Book Two: Destroy All Monsters is a rollercoaster ride with far more screaming drops than anticipatory climbs. The action never lets up for long as our heroes face one challenge after another in a world that seems determined to destroy all monsters, but can’t seem to properly identify the true monsters that need to be stopped.

 

 

 

 

 

Poison Pill book cover with patient image.

Poison Pill by Anthony Lee

Reviewed by Lily Andrews

“Poison Pill” by Anthony Lee is a gripping medical thriller that plunges readers into the murky intersection of modern healthcare, corporate influence, and the greedy human desire for a quick fix. Told through Dr. Mark Lin, who speaks in the first person, it constructs an intelligent narrative that is not only suspenseful fiction but also a sharp critique of systemic failures within contemporary medicine and wellness culture.  Purchase Here.

Dr. Lin, a hospital-based internist at Ivory Memorial, encounters two medical cases that initially appear unrelated but later converge into a single investigative arc. The first involves a twenty-four-year-old male, Hector, who has been diagnosed with severe renal failure, where the arteries going into both kidneys are abnormally narrowed, almost blocked off. The second case involves a thirty-one-year-old male, Robbie, who has progressive respiratory failure. Both cases take Dr. Lin by surprise, not just because of the patients’ relatively young age, but also because neither condition has an immediately clear cause. As he investigates further, he discovers that both patients have a troubling pattern. They have been using weight-loss substances and energy boosters- a herbal supplement in Hector’s case and a pharmaceutical medication in Robbie’s case. What initially appears coincidental gradually evolves into suspicion, then into a clinical concern. Beginning with Hector’s case, his online search initially reveals nothing linking the supplement to renal failure. On the contrary, websites present the supplement as safe and beneficial. This absence of evidence just deepens his concern, pushing him to expand his search to the second case. He, however, is unaware that at this point he is no longer investigating an illness, but that he is approaching a system that will not merely resist exposure, but will respond with force, secrecy, and a craving for blood.

Dr. Lin’s as the narrator and protagonist, serves as the perfect anchor for this medical thriller. What’s most remarkable about him is how his determination is fueled not by hunger for ‘glory’ but by a relentless need to know and to help. His language is professional even when he is emotionally exhausted, and doesn’t overwhelm the reader or his distressed patients. One feels that he is not just eager to treat diseases but also the people, through ways that sometimes blur professional boundaries and place his career at risk. The supporting characters have been well crafted, each contributing in distinct ways to his mission. They include Dr. Carlos Chavez who helps Dr. Lin unfold a system that often treats symptoms, not mysteries, Ethan Harrington and Jennifer Brinks who personify the aggressive marketing machine, Alfonso Romano who offers a surprise, critical plot twist and Harold Lin, Dr. Lin’s father who becomes the protagonist’s emotional catalyst, and whose actions and moral stance propel his son into a visceral, deeply personal crusade.

“Poison Pill” by Anthony Lee is without a doubt a rare medical thriller that transcends genre through its portrayal of an industry where good intentions, financial survival, and greed often become dangerously intertwined. Its title functions as a metaphor, symbolizing toxic substances, poisoned systems, and the often invisible yet dangerously consequential forms of manufactured harm. Undoubtedly, it is a timely read, offered to the world at a time when wellness influencers are dominantly taking over digital spaces, and when the line between ‘well’ and ‘woo’ is getting more blurred by the hour through slick marketing. I believe that its clarion call is loud enough to have readers look twice at what they consume, what they trust, and what they believe.

 

 

 

 

Horror book cover with ominous figures.

Holiday Spirit Book 3: Monsters Arising by John DeGuire

Reviewed by Ephantus Gold

“Holiday Spirit Book 3: Monsters Arise!’ by John DeGuire is a book that will give you friends in beings you never imagined or expected. These are characters you will be surprised how quickly you get drawn and attached to, and how strongly you will want them safe as they unravel a world that feels increasingly fragile with each new page in the hands of individuals who pose the question of who the real monsters really are.  Purchase Here.

The tale takes us right to the edge of the world – the Arctic, where the main character, Count Dracula, who is described as a peripatetic figure, appears as a hidden traveler moving through the storm. He is riding a resurrected woolly mammoth, accompanied by a saber-toothed tiger. They are planning a rescue that feels as emotional as it is dangerous for his friend, Captain Saul Frankenstein. Saul was kidnapped for his unique monstrous biology under the orders of Dr. Moreau and Professor Moriarty. One is a scientist and the other a criminal mastermind, both of whom intend to exploit him for their experiments. Dracula himself had also earlier been captured and surgically given a human heart transplant by the duo. They had subjected him to the procedure, hoping to study his hybrid vampiric physiology and use their findings to unlock secrets to prolonged life for specific human elites. As for Saul, it turns out that he was found near death by a female Yeti who took him home, nursed him back to life, and later became his wife according to the Yeti customs. He is now the Yeti’s king and has adapted to their brutal ways. He also oversees their gladiatorial ice battles.

Elsewhere, Dracula’s wife, Aoife, learns, much to her shock, that her husband is alive. We first meet her mourning for her kidnapped twins, newborns who Dracula himself didn’t know were born. The news gives her much-needed hope and renewed determination to fight on against Moreau’s network, alongside Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, and the invisible Dr. Ralph Ellison, forming an unlikely alliance between humans and monsters, united by a shared longing for survival and redemption. As you follow their planning, several questions arise, chief among them whether Dracula’s heart will survive the cold weather in the Arctic let alone the journey ahead to find his family, whether his departure from the Yetis land will be seamless, whether Saul, who is living his best life as a king will accept to join him and lastly, what exactly Moreau and Moriarty are really building, a plan so dire that they are willing to weaponize monsters to achieve it.

This tale wields great characters who smoothly propel the plot, such as Dracula, whose health and unknown fatherhood create urgency and tension, Aoife, the Werewolf Contessa who embodies maternal ferocity and the moral heart of the human-monster alliance, Saul who embodies adaptation and redemption, The Invisible Man who bridges science and monstrosity, Holmes who offers the logical, deductive lens through which the conspiracy gets uncovered, Annie, Emma, and Pete who represent innocence caught in the crossfire, reminding us of the cost to the next generation, among others. It uses turns and twists but leans heavily on heightened drama and emotional tropes, with most chapters ending in emotional uncertainty, not in what will happen next but in how it will feel. The author is brilliant enough to use dual narration that provides the long read with emotional contrast and deep sensory immersion, where the environment feels like a living character and classic characters such as Dracula and Holmes become modern archetypes.

“Holiday Spirit Book 3: Monsters Arise!’ by John DeGuire is bound to leave you richly entertained even if you are not a fan of classic monster lore, precisely so because it just doesn’t tell a story but rather makes you see a beautiful but broken world, where the greatest fear comes not from a literal monster but from the coldness and greed of the human heart. With lessons such as ‘a family is chosen, not given’ and ‘survival requiring adaptability, not just strength,’ this is a book that will leave you looking at love, the past, grief, and power differently, as fuel, not for destruction but for transformation.

 

 

 

Book cover: woman by pond, framed painting.

Framed in Love by Clifton Wilcox

Reviewed by Diana Coyle

In “Framed In Love” by Clifton Wilcox, we are introduced to character David Cross, who is struck by lightning while he is painting the twisted oak tree he has in his backyard during a bad summer storm. From that moment forward, his life seems to change drastically. He realizes that he sees things differently than he did only minutes earlier, before being struck by lightning. Everything is crisper and more detailed to him. As he returns to his attic room, he passes the dusty antique painting his grandmother had passed down to him. It is a landscape painting depicting a Victorian park. He is strongly drawn to it this time, unlike when he has looked at it before. Although this time, when he looks at it, he’s actually transported into the painting. Realizing this can’t be happening, he looks around and locks eyes with the most beautiful woman sitting in the park that’s not in the original painting. From this moment forward, their lives will change forever.

I truly loved the entire concept of David being transported into the painting and meeting Abby, who had been waiting for his arrival for some time. As Clifton Wilcox slowly unfolded his story and showed the characters getting to know one another, I felt the spark between David and Abby. I had hoped that maybe, against the odds of the entire situation, some spark could happen between them, even though she was locked in the painting. The whole idea of her painting an interpretation of another artist’s version of this painting, then being transported into the scene, and then locked into the painting, just made my mind truly believe that this was happening. I loved how Abby explained that, over time, the painting would start to disappear, as if it had never existed in the first place. In turn, she would eventually disappear as well.

I enjoy stories that have a strong setting for the characters to exist in, and “Framed In Love” didn’t disappoint. The idea that the setting of this story had two settings, David’s real world and the painted landscapes, made this a unique story to watch unfold as I turned the pages. I loved that the majority of the story happened in a painting. This idea truly blew my mind because it was never something I would have thought of before Wilcox did it in this story.

Clifton Wilcox is an award-winning author, a retired federal employee, and a college professor. He spends his time writing and traveling with his wife and children.

Overall, “Framed In Love” by Clifton Wilcox is one story that will grab readers’ attention and hold it until the very last words are read. It has an intriguing storyline, well-developed characters, and the idea that love may very well overcome any obstacles one faces, including trying to save someone who exists in a painting. Well done, Mr. Wilcox!

 

 

 

Book cover: "The Myth of Aging.

The Myth of Aging: A Prescription for Emotional and Physical Well-Being by Arnold Gilberg, M.D. with Jon Land

Reviewed by Russell Ilg

The title of renowned psychiatrist Arnold Gilberg’s debut prescriptive book for a happier and more fulfilling life is a bit of misnomer.  Aging, after all, is hardly a myth.  Purchase Here. 

“The myth,” Gilberg writes, “lies in how we age from decade to decade, through the milestones of our lives, however we define them for ourselves. No stage of our lives comes without obstacles, setbacks, and challenges, and this book will offer some prescriptions to help you negotiate them so they don’t trip you up.”

Those prescriptions are spread over seven sections and forty-three topics, ranging from Grief and Loneliness, to Finding Love Again or being a Single Parent. A scintillating smorgasbord that smoothly and seamlessly curates an encyclopedic collection of life lessons aimed at improving our mental, physical and emotional health. For Gilberg, those are intrinsically connected which is why exercise and good eating habits show up several times in the prescriptive recommendations that close each chapter.

The amazing thing here isn’t just that Gilberg includes so many subjects, but also how expertly he covers them, often citing relevant statistics and quoting experts other than himself. THE MYTH OF AGING, after all, encapsulates more than a half century of experience treating patients. I’m not sure any reader will find all of the topics relevant to their lives, but everyone is almost sure to find any number that are. In the chapter covering “Losing a Loved One Unexpectedly,” for example, he includes prescriptions like being patient with yourself, being strong for others, and sticking to a routine, remedies culled from common sense as much as treatment protocols.

Based in Los Angeles, Gilberg cut his teeth studying under Franz Alexander, the last disciple of none other than Sigmund Freud. More than sixty years later, at the tender age of 89, he’s still seeing patients, and decided to write THE MYTH OF AGING “to give me the opportunity tohelp those I couldn’t see in a lifetime of office visits.”

Gilberg’s wise counsel proves to be a breath of fresh air in an age where many practitioners never saw a problem they couldn’t prescribe a pill for.

“Always remember,” he concludes, “that life is neither a sprint nor a marathon. It’s a roller coaster, with a mix of dips and darts, highs and lows, hits and misses, and wins that can make the losses pale by comparison. My final prescription for you is to strap yourself in and enjoy the ride.” ​

Just as you are certain to enjoy THE MYTH OF AGING, a seminal masterpiece of extraordinarily accessible, sage self-help sure to revisited time and time again. In an era sickened by division, dysfunction and disdain, it’s just what the doctor ordered.

 

 

Horror book cover with giant skull.

Monster Hunting in Newtonville by Viktor Csák

Reviewed by Daniel Ryan Johnson

The postapocalyptic world created by Viktor Csák is vast. Even if you are unaware that Monster Hunting in Newtonville is a follow-up to his novel Welcome to the Silent Zone, it is quickly clear that there is a much bigger story out there than the snapshot we see in this book. At the same time, readers new to the universe can dive right in without feeling lost.  Purchase Here.

Csák does a great job of building suspense throughout the novel, and the end of each chapter makes you eager to start the next. While there is not too much time devoted to character building, the cast of the story is still compelling, and the reader is drawn into their story. Despite not being a direct sequel, Monster Hunting in Newtonville does feature a brief appearance by the main characters of the original novel as they pass through town, hinting that their story will continue to be told in further works.

Throughout the story, the main character, John Debenham, is focused on his plan to earn a ride off the continent so he can find his wife and daughter, who escaped at the beginning of the pandemic. However, it is almost immediately clear that this plan will not go smoothly, and throughout the book, one thing after another goes wrong. One of the most intriguing aspects of the story is how John adapts to these setbacks and continues to find ways to work toward his ultimate goal.

Monster Hunting in Newtonville is more than a horror-thriller. It is also a commentary on our modern world. The story depicts a brutal world that, aside from the horrors of a zombie-like apocalypse, is not unlike our own. Even while North America has fallen to this infection, the world moves on. The tragedy and destruction that have become a part of the everyday lives of the survivors captivate the world for a time, but then other disasters and conflicts elsewhere begin to draw the rest of the world’s attention away. This reflects many of the current wars and conflicts around the world, where support for those suffering through these tragedies begins to falter as new problems arise elsewhere that draw global attention away.

 

Silhouetted figures outside eerie academy building.

Aura’ah Academy : Whispers of the Iron Door by Aditya Elango

Reviewed by Reyan Mishra

Two ingredients that readers look for in a mystery thriller are constant suspense and a fitting ending. The book we are reviewing today, Aura’ah Academy, offers readers exactly that, along with a lot of adventurous elements.  Purchase Here.

Written by Indian author and former international badminton player, Aditya Elango, the book tells the story of a mysterious institution nestled under an ancient banyan tree. Behind an Iron Door is an important secret that must be guarded by the academy head, Drona.

As the world is faced with a silent danger, the academy’s existence is under threat. Everyone gives in except the academy students, Reyom and his friends, who are determined to bring order and save the school. The tools helping them are those they learned and developed in the academy – courage, resilience, patience, and some unusual skills.

Reyom is the one who stays calm during a storm and leads from the front, while his friends have a little loud way of getting around things.

Aura’ah Academy celebrates themes of courage, community, friendship, and inner strength. Speaking of the book, Aditya said, “At its heart, Aura’ah Academy is about facing the storms inside us before we face the ones outside. I hope young readers learn that courage isn’t the absence of fear — it’s the choice to move forward anyway, often with the quiet strength of friends beside them.”

It is a captivating, mind-bending thriller that doesn’t let the readers look away for a moment in the midst of danger that’s palpable. The author masterfully sets an eerie atmosphere in which the lead characters glow as a sign of hope. One more thing that stands out is the wonderful structure of the story that grows intense with every page.

Everything put together, the book is for everyone who is a mystery/thriller buff. We recommend giving this one a shot if you don’t have something on your reading list.

 

 

Stone statue with people in the background.

The Seven by Igor Stefanovic

Reviewed by Ephantus Gold

“The Seven” by Igor Stefanovic, a sweeping family saga, begins with the shocking decision by an aged father to send each of his children to different continents, with the intention of breaking them out of their insulated, privileged lives and having them learn what he couldn’t teach them himself. Abraham, an old man and patriarch of the Meyer dynasty, has never believed in privileges, but rather in hardship and struggle through which he has built an empire that includes Meyer Diamonds and International Hotels. The first pages show him as a regret-haunted man who sees happiness as a lie told to people to cover up the true nature of reality. He recently discovered that he has lung cancer, prompting him to summon his children and assign them to travel the world in search of seven sculptures that best portray the purity of love. However, only known to him, and to his friend and confidant, Obed, the task isn’t really about sculptures but about deeper, startling realities. Some of the children dismiss the request as an old man’s stubborn theatrics, while others see it as a distraction masking something secretive. None, however, surprisingly, has the guts to refuse out-rightly, especially after the old man warns of dire repercussions if any of them disobeys.  Purchase Here.

What follows is a journey that severely fractures the family across continents, with each child thrust into a world that doesn’t feel in the least fit for them. Talk of Asia, Africa, Europe, etc.; these destinations embody everything they had never dreamed of or predicted, from isolation, to what feels like stillness that demands honesty, to people unimpressed by wealth, to power that refuses to submit, to the impossibility of having it all without having a loss, and to environments where systems fail and others that do not obey or follow rational timelines. These realities force them to confront the emotional gaps they have long avoided, as well as the adult version of those gaps they have produced. They also establish the conditions for a reckoning in which identity, responsibility, and love move beyond theory and are tested through loss and severe discomfort.

In this book, the reader is allowed into the characters’ definitions of love through each of their journeys, revealing how love has been translated into different substitutes, including control, achievement, and independence. The very inviting thrill of finding sculptures that best portray the purity of love feels like a mirror one beholds as they delve deeper into the story, one that will help the reader gauge how much they are willing to relinquish, endure, and leave behind in lasting form. By framing the concept of love through a quest for the right sculpture, it feels like the novel is trying to suggest something life-changing – that love may not actually need to be proven through intensity or intention as widely believed, but through that which survives time, pressure, and at times, personal costs.

This story’s primary focus feels ancient in nature from the first page, yet modern in texture, which I believe makes it relatable rather than merely abstract. It’s remarkable how its strongest qualities get revealed through characterization rather than explanation- basically, what the characters do when under pressure, and through a father figure who comes out as more of a moral engine than he is a moral authority. I believe that sending the characters all over the world signals a global psychological exploration of its core themes. Lastly, its episodic, character-driven chapters capture each sibling’s arc, while keeping the subject-object at the center across the arcs, which, as a result, keeps the narrative unified. “The Seven” by Igor Stefanovic is a must-read for readers who love a story without a major protagonist, as well as those who ask big “life” questions, particularly about success, direction, and values. It is also that story which, instead of offering closure, invites reflection, asking readers to carry these questions beyond the last page.