Abigail and Sega's Magical Train Ride

Abigail and Sego’s Magical Train Ride by J.A. Kundert

Book reviewed by Teri Takle

The year 2026 is almost upon us.  What does that mean?   That will be the 250th birthday of our country.

What could prepare you for this event?

A unique book about the 200th birthday with a multitude of historical events which strongly shaped our country and culture would be perfect.

It is 1976 in Chicago.   Eleven-year-old Abigail Stromberg has a challenging Bicentennial Assignment for school.   The project focuses on how her ancestors contributed to the country between 1776 and 1976.   For Abigail, her father’s Swedish ancestry is clear and straightforward.  Abigail has straight dark hair and does not resemble her father.   Why won’t her mother talk about her past?  However, her mother is evasive about her background.  What secrets is she withholding?

How can Abigail complete the assignment with only one side of her family?  Purchase Here.

Abigail and Sego’s Magical Train Ride is a time warp story roller-coasting throughout the Transcontinental Railroad to the present time of 1976 while intermixing lifestyles, events, and influential people of both times.  Adding supernatural assistance helps to explain the past in their current time while fulfilling a family’s lifelong dreams.

Abigail and Sego’s Magical Train Ride is a delightful romp for those of us over the half-century mark.   Numerous references to people and events of a prior time are enjoyable to remember, such as Nancy Drew books, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Polar Express Line, Ted Nugent, Moon River, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and many references to our country’s western expansion.

The reading level of this book is perfect for tweens, and I highly recommend they make a list of references they don’t understand and either research them or discuss them with an older adult.

Abigail and Sego’s Magical Train Ride is a perfect intergenerational story for a family to share.   There is a multitude of historical references to both people and places that require a little background for most teenagers.   As a stand-alone novel, the author could also add author notes explaining the importance of these people and places.    Also helpful would be a preface explaining life in Chicago during 1976 explaining the Navy Pier, the Gold Coast, and places unique to the area, including the Chicago L train.

All in all, Abigail and Sego’s Magical Train Ride is an enjoyable romp through time.

 

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Two for the Show: A Maximo Morgan Mystery By: William LeRoy

Book Reviewed by Douglas R. Cobb

Two for the Show: A Maximo Morgan Mystery, by the talented author, William LeRoy, combines the best of two literary genres, detective mysteries and satire, into one thoroughly enjoyable and page-turning read that is sure to please fans of both genres. Borrowing its title from a poker term, Two for the Show features Maximo Morgan as its main character. Hopefully, there will be many more of them to come.   Click Here to Purchase

What does Maximo know about poker? Very little, to nothing; but, that does not deter him from taking a case involving said game when he is approached by a dame in distress, Leona Morris, who hires him to use all of his deductive powers to figure out what (and who) put her husband, Buckley, into the hospital, with a blow to his head he received either before or after what appeared to be a hit-and-run accident. Though Buckley had been in a jogging suit, he had also been wearing a black ski mask and had black shoe polish on his face. 

Besides these irregularities, the dame, Leona, also wants Morgan to get to the bottom of why the other regular pokers players who are Buckley’s friends (the so-called “Motley Crew”) so strongly desire to continue playing poker in her basement, even though Buckley is recovering from his injuries and is unable to join them.

The Motley Crew, who Buckley refers to as the “Losers’ Club,” because they consistently lose to him whenever they meet together and play in his basement, claim that Buckley would want them to continue playing, but Leona is convinced that they have an ulterior motive other than the bond of friendship and soon, Morgan is soon hot on the case. He and his smart-aleck also overweight protégé, who is quick to remind Max of the detective’s vast ignorance of poker, are influenced by the cases of famous detectives, most especially those of Brad “The Fatman” Runyon, as they attempt to solve the Case of Rats in a Basement.

Morgan has a lot on his plate, so to speak, in Two for the Show. Besides various complications that arise, such as Morgan’s discovery that the Motley Crew has been possibly digging a tunnel under Buckley’s basement or through a basement wall, a femme fatale, Billie Jean Biggs, seems to have revenge on her mind against the members of the Motley Crew. The big-breasted beauty, who has a somewhat peculiar “beauty mark,” in the form of a mole between her eyebrows, adds both to the sly sense of humor that pervades Two for the Show and to Morgan’s solving the rather odd case.

Anyone who enjoys reading mysteries with a blend of satire thrown in for good measure will get a kick out of checking out Two for the Show by William LeRoy. Split up into sections over a period of four days, Thursday, September 29, through Sunday, October 2, of 2022, Two for the Show is a page-turning book that is sure to tickle your funnybone. I highly recommend it, and with any luck, we’ll see many further Maximo Morgan Mysteries in the near future!

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Please Feel Bad I’m Dead by M. Price

Reviewed by Timea Barabas

Please Feel Bad I’m Dead by M. Price is not your typical pleasant and easy read, but it is a memorable one. This satirical take on the absurdity of life and modern society aptly mirrors a shattered mind. The substance of the book can easily seep between the reader’s fingers as they are distracted by the author’s entrancing stylistic dance.  Click Here to Purchase

It all begins with Jhaegar Holdburn, a teenager living on the border, but where does it end? Jhaegar is a social outcast exploring the border regions of society, drifting through the incoherent flow of life. Even when he’s caught amid the action, he is enveloped by a sense of dissociation, drifting away on a self-reflexive cloud.

The book is a whirlwind experience of an imploding mind. Readers experience the nearly 300 pages of the book, from the mindset of Jhaegar, as an often incoherent, cinematic, and disruptive ride. Thus, the author aptly embodies mental illness in the form of Please Feel Bad I’m Dead. This chaotic narrative kidnaps readers and takes them on a surprise journey of self-destruction.

As characters, scenes, and settings keep changing at an increasing speed, Jhaegar seeks escape in death. Yet, the grand plan is met with a series of mishaps. When eventually he seems to find the coveted ending, he only finds a new beginning. The scenes and characters are mere shifting shadows of the others, acting out satirical chunks of life.

The narrative flow is often disrupted by sherds of screenplay and movie reviews that appear loosely connected to current events. But is there more to these deviations than meets the eye? Such breaks from the narrative invite the reader to reflect on meanings as a construct that subdue realities. Or the lack thereof.

What may initially seem like an egotistic narrative unravels into a critique of society. Whether or not the reader aligns with the character’s views seems of little relevance, as the book offers multiple planes of reading and interpretation. After peering into a feverish mind, readers are left grasping at a disjointed bundle of meaning.

Please Feel Bad I’m Dead by M. Price invites the reader to explore in-between spaces. The often blurred lines of sanity and illness, the void of daily dialogues, the societal gaps which engulf misfits, and whatever lies between life and death.

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Grasp: Poems, Prose, and Essays by David Yuen

Reviewed by Lisa Brown-Gilbert

A penetrating observation of life portrayed through the lens of an astutely perspective awareness, David Yuen’s Grasp offers a collection of his literary mentations through poems, prose, and essays.  Click Here to Purchase

The variety that author Yuen presents makes for a creative mixture of literate inserts flowing with emotions, life lessons, spirituality, and intelligent inspiration. Meanwhile, there is no particular order to the book as a whole, but the reading still flows well with each narrative in the book bringing forward engaging food for thought.

Initially, what captures the attention within this book is the demonstration of author Yuen’s engaging writing skills starting with “Grasp” a chronicle that flows well while vividly setting the thoughtful framework of the interconnected elements of life, both seen and unseen, for the remainder of the work. In total, this is a work rife with the spiritual and worldly complexities of living life in this modern world.  Flowing with insightful works like The Lessons So Far, as well as the emotionally inciting Death To Self, this is a book that is overall easily engaging and often keeps one rapt with intelligent dives into the light and dark aspects of being human in an often inhumane world leading to instances of quickly becoming disconnected from one another, as emphasized by his poetic excerpt of life in his poem-Rifts.

Moreover, exploring relationships, David Yuen’s essay An Aging Father’s Words To His Son, as well as the ensuing A Son’s Words To His Aging Father, are works that touch the heart of the necessity of communication in life in general; but especially in parent-child relationships.  If not, regrets could ensue.  Additionally, he touches on the spiritual relationship with several enjoyable renderings such as Saint Gregor and The Young Prince and The Outcast God.  As well, author Yuen touches on the humor that can be found in life with a humorous excerpt titled Ode To Professionalism which also happens to be one of my personal favorites. I Live (a poetic work) exemplifies living with faith. Ramming Fists Against Wall delves into perceptions of anger. He also waxes inspirationally with works like Master Thyself and Rise.

Generally, Grasp as a whole is an engaging read. I enjoyed sharing in author Yuen’s flow of consciousness which swelled with the intriguing elements and experiences that life does foster such as the kind of grasp that one may have when it comes to handling the trials and tribulations of life. Author Yuen does well at exemplifying the complex aspects of living life in a world of duality.  His written works often emphasize the contrast of duality in life; the light with the dark, the positive and the negative, and the humorous and the sad. Overall, each narrative brings into focus emotional food for thought which may incite one to experience deep thought and ensue personal revelations.   I do recommend this perceptive read.

Grind Slowly, Grind Small

Grind Slowly, Grind Small: A Big Ray Elmore Novel by Thomas Holland

Book Reviewed by Daniel Ryan Johnson

Grind Slowly, Grind Small is the second novel by Thomas D. Holland set around Big Ray Elmore, a small-town police chief from Split Tree, Arkansas. You don’t have to have read the previous novel in the series, Their Feet Run to Evil, in order to enjoy this gritty crime drama. However, once you have finished reading, don’t be surprised if you find yourself immediately looking to get more of Big Ray Elmore in your life. Purchase Here.

Grind Slowly, Grind Small primarily takes place in 1960 and focuses on the discovery of some old bones dug up during a construction project. The discovery leads Big Ray on a dark path to uncover the truth and bring justice to the long-dead victim. As one would imagine in a small-town murder case, Big Ray is tasked with investigating people he has known his entire life.

Thomas D. Holland does a superb job of making the reader feel like they are in the room with Big Ray every step of the way as he pursues answers about this mysterious skeleton. The picture painted of a small Arkansas town in 1960 is vivid, and the reader is transported back in time. The characters that Holland creates are well fleshed out and easy to visualize. You can almost feel the summer heat and taste the refreshing iced tea as sweat rolls down your cheek.

Big Ray Elmore seems to get his name both from his stature and his status. The town and nearly everyone who knows him revere him as a war hero for his actions in WWII. He commands great respect without asking for it. However, this small-town police chief is his own harshest critic. While others focus on his achievements, he struggles with his shortcomings. He is filled with regrets and caught in between his past and present.

Grind Slowly, Grind Small focuses a lot on the concept of justice. Chief Elmore knows that, sadly, the world is rarely a just place, and despite being an officer of the law, he understands that the system often fails to balance the scales. You will find yourself eagerly devouring this novel as Big Ray does what he can to even things out a bit in his little corner of the world.