Wildly Crafty

Protagonist Ginger Walsh is a forty-something, single woman who finds herself living in her parents F.R.O.G (Finished Room Over the Garage).  She’s got a boyfriend with commitment issues, an artistic cat semi-sarcastically named Boyfriend, and she is working on a half-hearted attempt at a career making jewelry out of beach glass.  Her aging hippie mother wants to sell the house and move to a retirement community but her dad is determined to stay right where they are.

Proclaiming herself childfree by choice, Ginger nevertheless spends much of her time babysitting for her sister Geri’s kids.  So it just seems natural for her to shepherd nephew Riley out to Cape Cod when he gets a small part in a B-movie.   On the set she meets a handsome gaffer and succumbs to his charms just a little, which leads to insinuations by the other mothers on just how Riley got his part. Sister Geri is so wrapped up in her upcoming 50th birthday that she can’t focus on anything else, unless of course it’s berating Ginger about her poor life choices.

This is one of those books that makes for the perfect beach read.  It’s not too long, not too intellectually demanding, and yet the characters are engaging and funny and just a little over-the-top.   A warm and witty romantic comedy with just the right amount of serious relationship insight.   Sisters will recognize each other in these pages, as they watch Geri and Ginger find themselves and each other.

Twilight of the Past is the first in a  science-fiction series by debut author Michael Parziale.  In it he introduces the reader to the world of Aldurea, which is embroiled in an ongoing and epic battle between two major powers.  The protagonist, Newl Rift, is the leader of the Guntra De who is at war with the Spero.  The war has been going on long enough that new technologies have emerged, including fabulous communications and anti-missile systems.
 
With very little preparation Newl sets off on a quest to discover the truth about himself and the truth about the war. In a typical boy meets girl story, the second half of the book consists of Newl attempting to save his love interest from certain death at the hands of the Spero, all the while fighting off doubts about the trustworthiness of his lady love.
 
This book reads like a computer game.  Newl sets off on random quests for no apparent reason; other than perhaps a mysterious stranger says that he should. He conveniently suffers from amnesia so there is no real explanation of his past.  The narrative isn’t very cohesive, the author jumps between present and past tense often in the same paragraph.  The ending is left completely on a cliffhanger with only the promise of book two.
 
This book suffers from one of the latest trends in publishing – where an unfinished story is marketed as book one of a trilogy or series.  It used to be that books were released as series’ when they were simply too huge to be a single novel (i.e. Robert Jordan “The Wheel of Time”, J.R.R Tolkien “The Lord of the Rings”) now publishers are cutting stand-alone novels into parts and calling them trilogies.  Twilight of the Past at only 224 pages is certainly not huge and it leaves the reader wondering just how many $15 episodes they are going to be forced to purchase to find out what happens next.

The protagonist of this story, Rona Shively, bears a superficial resemblance to Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum.  Both are sassy, loudmouthed single gals, living alone with their pet for company.  Both drive crappy cars, both are short and too pretty to be taken seriously in their chosen line of work, and both like to eat greasy food.   The author was obviously inspired by Evanovich’s success but chose to take her mysteries in a different direction.  Instead of writing fluffy slapstick Benston takes on a darker subject.

As a struggling private detective Rona Shively has seen a lot of strange things in her day, but Gilbert Delvecchio is definitely a first.  He needs her to find his missing ex-wife.  The ex is now remarried and living under a different name but they have still remained friends and Gil is worried.

The case turns out to be much more complex than Rona anticipated.  One of her contacts is murdered and she becomes afraid the same fate will befall anyone she lets into her confidence.  This leaves her working alone without a safety net.  Her paranoia follows her into her personal life where she pushes away her suitors.  Rona is determined to not ask for help from anyone, not even if she really needs it.

At just under one hundred pages, this book is more of a novella than a novel.  For such a thin volume it is surprising just how much plot is crammed into the pages.  Rebecca Benston doesn’t waste any words.  She uses the flow of the narrative to fill us in on Rona’s back-story and motivation while still keeping the action moving along to the inevitable conclusion.  

This series should be popular with readers who enjoy tough, out-spoken female leads.

IM By Rick R. Reed
Published by Quest

“Instant Message or Instant Murder?”

The Internet is the new meat market for gay men.  It’s easy and anonymous to hop online, browse a website and pick out a partner.  So what if the descriptions are misleading and the pictures are ten years out of date, as long as the sex is hard and hot?
 
Then a predator starts using Men4HookUpNow.com as his hunting grounds.  Chameleon-like he knows how to seduce his prey by becoming any man’s fantasy.  They invite him over, let him in, and wish they hadn’t when the blood starts flowing as he satisfies his own dark and depraved lust.
 
After the first killing, openly gay Chicago Police officer Ed Comparetto is called in to investigate.   He is well aware the opportunity is less about his skill as a detective and more because he’d publicly outed himself.  Maybe his homosexuality could somehow help him to figure out why a young man is dead, the victim of a brutal murder.  Even after two years on the force, it was difficult for Ed to remain composed when confronted by the bloodied corpse floating in its bathtub of gore. His mind busy cataloging the gruesome details, the missing fingers, the phone cord wrapped tightly around the corpse’s neck, the severed penis inserted into the victim’s rectum.  Finally after taking in all that he still has to interview Timothy Bright, the dead man’s best friend and the one who reported the crime.  What leads will Timothy give him to help him catch the killer?
 
The following day Ed gets yet another early morning phone call from his boss.  This time it’s his day off, and he’s being called into the supervisor’s office.  Ed knows it’s going to be bad, but doesn’t realize just how bad.  He’s off the case, but not just the case; he’s off the force.  Fired!  For fabricating witness statements! It seems that Timothy Bright doesn’t exist, or rather he doesn’t exist anymore.  Timothy Bright has been dead and buried for two years.  Ed knows he didn’t interview a ghost or fabricate anything, but he has to prove it if he wants his job back.
 
The hunt is on.  Will Ed figure out the truth in time?  How many more men will be savagely murdered before the killer is caught?  Ed is on his own, the Chicago PD isn’t interested in his “crazy theories.”  It’s a non-stop race to catch the killer before Ed loses everything, his boyfriend, his career, his life itself.
 
If you like page-turning psychological thrillers with clever dialogue, you’ll probably like IM.  An intense read, not for the faint of heart.  Plenty of gory details to excite the most jaded aficionado.  There are a few minor flaws, a few mistakes that have been overlooked in the editing, and the ending was a touch anticlimactic, but otherwise it’s one hell of a ride.
 
In their October 2006 issue, Unzipped magazine said about Rick R. Reed: “You could call him the Stephen King of gay horror.”  Rick R. Reed is also the author of the novels Obsessed, Penance, and In the Blood. Most recently his short story collection, Twisted: Tales of Obsession and Terror was published in 2006.