by Daniel Hall Rating: ***** Born in Dagenham, East London in 1958, Edward “Eddy” Turner is expected to follow his father, Lenny, into factory work and football hooliganism. But no matter how hard Eddy tries to gain his father’s approval, it becomes clear he isn’t cut out for the hard-drinking, violent working-class community that Lenny is a stalwart of. Eddy is a thoughtful, compassionate, and clever young man who is also gay. It Was a Riot takes Eddy from the mean streets

by Thurdy Rating: **** Oddities is an aptly named collection of eleven weird and quirky short stories that fall under the speculative fiction umbrella as they mash up and/or move broadly between horror, sci-fiction, and fantasy. However, this description is rather too simplistic, frankly, Oddities , is a mixed bag of downright surrealism. There is a seam of subtle cynical humor through most tales, some are fairly similar in theme and a couple carry motifs from others. All,

by Yvonne Osborne Rating: ***** Trying to cope with the recent loss of her mother, Sadie Wixom is immersing herself in the rural Michigan farmstead she shares with her father and Grandfather. When her aunt temporarily houses an Indigenous family from Saskatchewan, Canada, Sadie is intrigued, especially by the son, Stefan. Both free-spirits, damaged, and impacted by loss, Stefan and Sadie forge a connection. But, as racial bigotry in the local town escalates, and Stefan’s eld

by Chet Nairene Rating: ***** Thirty-six-year-old tech wizard, Lew Clarke is about to ascend to god-like status at the corporate behemoth he has worked for since leaving Harvard. Accolades, and more importantly to Lew, eye-watering levels of financial recompense are raining down on him. But when a minor, forgotten issue floats shockingly to the surface, Lew’s gold-plated, superficial existence implodes. After licking his wounds, Lew embarks on a new business venture, import

by George Veck Rating: ***** Twenty-five-year-old cue hustler, Alfie “ Whack a Tenner on ” Fenner has exhausted the Gwynedd pool and snooker small-time money matches and tested the patience of a few old faces. It's time to aim big, Cardiff no less. Wangling a place on a Sports psychology degree course and with his student loan tucked away, Alfie plans to set the City alight with his cueing prowess and take full advantage of the fame and fortune that will surely follow… Rough

by Mathias B. Freese Rating: ***** In the Throes introduces the reader to “ Gruff ”, a colossal, grotesquely-rendered, primitive creature who exists in a dystopian toxic hellscape. Gruff develops awareness, linguistics, and the capability for artistic expression through an anomalous evolutionary quirk. He can communicate with humankind, who have always been his prey, and the relationships he forms with them have profound consequences for both species. In the Throes was draf

by Gail Ward Olmsted Rating: ***** Olmsted’s delightful novel is inspired by Katharine Prescott Wormeley, an independent trailblazer of a woman born in 1830 who became a Civil War nurse and a highly sought-after translator of French literature among many other pursuits, the majority of which were pragmatic and philanthropic. She never married although she had meaningful relationships, one being with a distant relation of the author’s husband. Raised in England, her family emi

by R. David Fulcher Rating: **** The Pumpkin King and Other Tales of Terror is a concise collection of twenty horror shorts, some only a few pages, and all subtly different in form, perspective, and tone. There is a reassuringly classic feel to Fulcher’s horror anthology which opens with “ Eulogy to E.A. Poe ”. Overall, the tales are traditionally spooky, with a couple of exceptions, and combined with Fulcher’s measured yet descriptive prose provide spine-tinglingly creepy r

by John A. Heldt Rating: ***** Duties and Dreams , the last installment in Heldt’s Second Chance series * finds the extended family of the Carpenters and Lees with new additions, aspirations, and ambitions. Life is good for the blended Carpenter-Lee clan, living together in Hermosa Beach, Southern California, 1918. But the three time-traveling siblings, Bill, Annie, and Paul, know the storm clouds of World War I are far from lifting and there is also the small matter of a S

by J. T. Baroni Rating: *** When sports journalist Christian Kane misses out on a promotion that he assumed would be his, he is stunned and resigns from The Pittsburgh Post Gazette in disgust. Despite his wife Shelby’s reservations, the Kanes move to the country where Christian intends to spend his days writing a novel. When he comes across a solitary gravestone on the boundary of their new estate, once known as “Tremont Farm”, he is fascinated, even more so when the inscrip