Directive Detectives: The Freedom Trail Directive
Directive Detectives: The Freedom Trail Directive, by G. Savo, is a middle-grade mystery adventure built around a clever idea: four friends discover a forgotten room inside the Boston Public Library and find an unfinished “Directive” left behind by an earlier group of young detectives. Maddy, Evelyn, Darnel, and Jin soon realize the clues point toward real locations along Boston’s Freedom Trail, turning an ordinary Friday into a citywide puzzle. The setup works especially well because the mystery grows out of Maddy’s natural curiosity. She notices buildings, patterns, and details other people pass without a second thought, so the hidden room feels like exactly the kind of discovery she would make. From there, the book quickly establishes its blend of children’s mystery, historical fiction, and educational adventure, with the Directive challenging the kids to see Boston as a connected story.
What gives this historical mystery for kids its personality is the group itself. Each friend approaches problems differently: Maddy notices connections, Evelyn looks for patterns, Darnel understands history through people and their choices, and Jin would rather test an idea than spend forever discussing it. Their teasing feels comfortable and familiar, and those differences become useful as the clues grow more complicated. The mystery takes them through Boston Common, the Massachusetts State House, Old South Meeting House, the Paul Revere House, Old North Church, Copp’s Hill, Bunker Hill, and the USS Constitution. Along the way, historical information usually arrives because the characters need it to solve something. That keeps much of the history attached to a question, a discovery, or one of Darnel’s enthusiastic explanations instead of leaving it disconnected from the adventure. The book’s central idea is spelled out early by the original Directive Detectives: the Directives were created to help students explore places, their history, and the people who shaped them.
The strongest element of the book is the way the puzzle gradually changes shape. At first, the kids think they’re solving a sequence of location clues. As they move through Boston, they realize the real puzzle is about connections between people, places, ideas, communication, and what communities build together. Paul Revere becomes much more than the familiar rider from a history lesson. His work, relationships, metalworking, messaging, and connections to several sites create a thread through the larger story. The original Directive Detectives also become increasingly important as Maddy and her friends encounter traces of their adult lives and discover that their old adventure continued to matter decades later. That gives this middle-grade adventure an unexpectedly warm emotional center. Curiosity may start the story, but friendship, collaboration, and the idea of leaving something worthwhile for the next group are what give it weight.
By the time the four friends return to the Boston Public Library, the ending feels less like the completion of a scavenger hunt and more like the beginning of a bigger way of looking at the world. They’ve learned that history lives in ordinary streets, buildings, decisions, conversations, and people, and that a place becomes more interesting once you start asking why it’s there and who came before you. The final discovery of “Directive 002,” with its wonderfully simple clue pointing toward Salem, also makes this feel like the opening installment of a engaging middle-grade mystery series. The Freedom Trail Directive should appeal especially to young readers who enjoy historical mysteries, puzzle adventures, and educational middle-grade fiction. It’s a book about four curious kids following clues, but underneath that adventure is an inviting message: your own city may be full of stories, and finding them can start simply by paying attention.
Pages: 179 | ASIN : B0H5R87F3W
The King Beneath the World
Andrew Houlston’s The King Beneath the World is a large-scale science fiction fantasy novel built around a surprisingly personal question: what does a civilization do after survival has become a way of life? The Patronese have spent two thousand years beneath the surface of Pagalan, protected from a world devastated by war and kept alive by ancient technology, rigid social systems, and traditions that have gradually hardened into rules. King Mandrake Martelismore begins to wonder whether safety has become confinement, especially as the surface heals and his people continue living beneath artificial skies. His friend Borliac puts the idea neatly when he says, “But survival cannot be the only purpose of a civilisation.” That thought becomes the book’s foundation, and the story keeps returning to it in political, social, technological, and deeply personal ways.
Mandrake is the character who holds the novel together. He’s a king, but Houlston spends a lot of time showing the man underneath the title. He can make mistakes, worry himself into terrible decisions, apologize when he’s wrong, and struggle with the knowledge that every choice he makes may affect generations he’ll never meet. His relationship with Queen Tabatha gives the book much of its warmth. Her pregnancy changes the stakes because Mandrake’s questions about the future suddenly stop being theoretical. Their child will actually have to live in whatever world he leaves behind. Tabatha also develops into one of the book’s strongest voices, especially when the ancient gates begin responding to the child’s bloodline. Her declaration, “You may hear us. You may remember us. But you do not own us,” captures the novel’s resistance to letting history dictate the lives of the people who inherit it.
The political side of the story gives that family drama a wider frame. Yamanie Vorchester believes deeply in efficiency, hierarchy, and controlled order, while Mandrake gradually comes to see how those values have reduced the Low Orders to functions within a system. Gideon Soulestor is more difficult to read, which makes his place within the Council interesting because his loyalties and convictions develop. Borliac, meanwhile, brings a more practical moral sense to the story. He has seen the people who keep Tramstell functioning, and he understands the difference between authority that protects and authority that simply controls. The struggle over education, labor, political power, and access to opportunity gives the underground civilization real social texture. Even relatively small reforms matter because they challenge assumptions that have existed for centuries.
The novel becomes increasingly strange and ambitious as its ancient gates, the green gem, the Benefactor obelisks, old bloodlines, and fractured time begin intersecting. What starts as a debate over returning to the surface eventually becomes a confrontation with something that can use memory, identity, grief, and even a person’s name as a path. Houlston makes those ideas work best when the enormous mythology stays connected to recognizable emotions. The birth of Mandrake and Tabatha’s son is powerful because the scene is allowed to be about exhausted parents and a crying baby before it becomes about succession or destiny. The later chapters carry that same idea into much darker territory. By the climax, Mandrake’s most important decisions aren’t really about preserving a crown. They’re about giving his son the chance to become a person before history decides what he’s supposed to be. The obelisks and temporal fractures provide the spectacle, but love, grief, friendship, and sacrifice give that spectacle its meaning.
That becomes especially clear in the epilogue, which connects the events beneath Denesthear to Morganuke Beldere’s ordinary childhood on Banton Island. The royal child is protected not simply by technology or secrecy but by being given a new name, a family, and a life removed from the machinery that once tried to claim him. Plarem and Stovin Beldere accept him because a helpless child needs them, and that simple act becomes one of the most important choices in the whole story. It’s a fitting conclusion for a book so concerned with inheritance. The King Beneath the World is an expansive story about a buried civilization coming to terms with its past, but its strongest idea is intimate: the future becomes possible when people stop treating history as a command and start deciding what deserves to be carried forward. By the final pages, the mysteries of Pagalan feel larger, but Mandrake, Tabatha, Borliac, and the child at the center of it all give those mysteries a human weight that stays with you.
Pages: 616 | ASIN : B0H7N7RKWB
Six Weeks: A Literary Memoir
William Ledbetter’s Six Weeks is an emotionally stirring memoir about caring for his older sister, Nancy, during the final six weeks of her life. The story begins with a promise he made to become her caretaker, then reaches backward through their family history to show how the two siblings developed their different but complementary ways of handling trouble. Ledbetter is the planner and problem-solver, while Nancy brings patience, faith, and an instinctive concern for other people. Their shared humor keeps the book grounded, even as hospice care, cancer, financial strain, and inherited family wounds move to the foreground.
The memoir’s four sections, “The Promise,” “The Dawn,” “The Afternoon,” and “The Night,” give Nancy’s last days the shape of a single life moving toward evening. Within that framework, Ledbetter shifts between the hospice room and earlier generations, tracing how poverty, institutional cruelty, difficult marriages, illness, and family expectations shaped Nancy and him. An old clock, a cup of rice pudding, a crooked coal-town house, a set of keys, and a carefully assembled funeral binder become more than remembered objects. They carry the history of people who learned to survive through work, thrift, routine, and dry humor.
The author is especially effective when he stays close to ordinary physical details. Hospital corridors, unfinished meals, medication syringes, financial paperwork, fast-food breakfasts, and quiet conversations reveal what caregiving actually feels like from hour to hour. The book treats love as something practical: making calls, keeping records, moving furniture, finding money, telling an old joke, or simply staying awake nearby. Its recurring reflections on inheritance and responsibility give the narrative a steady refrain. The directness feels consistent with Ledbetter’s character and with the promise at the heart of the memoir.
I’d recommend Six Weeks most strongly to readers who appreciate family memoirs centered on caregiving, sibling devotion, and the complicated work of making peace with the past. It’ll also speak to anyone who has managed hospice care or watched a family member’s final illness turn love into a long list of necessary tasks. Readers looking for an honest account of grief shaped by humor, faith, duty, and reconciliation will find plenty to sit with here. The closing letter from Nancy gives the book an intimate final note, confirming that all the organizing, remembering, and showing up was understood as the love it had always been.
Pages: 248 | ASIN : B0H2QHTJN4
Talent and Determination
A Life of Impact explores the career of transplant pioneer Samuel L. Kountz, MD, whose work advanced kidney transplantation, while his commitment to mentorship, education, and underserved patients pushed medical progress beyond technical innovation alone. What did you discover about your father during your research that you hadn’t fully understood while he was alive?
Perhaps the greatest discovery was the full magnitude of what my father had accomplished. I knew him first as my father, not as Samuel L. Kountz, the pioneering transplant surgeon. I understood that he was an accomplished physician and scientist, but I was young when he was at the height of his career and did not fully appreciate the barriers he had overcome or the breadth of his influence. Researching the book allowed me to see him through the eyes of his colleagues, trainees, patients, and the historical record. I came to understand more clearly how remarkable his journey was—from growing up in a small, segregated town in Arkansas to becoming an internationally recognized transplant surgeon. I was also struck by how consistently people remembered his generosity, optimism, and willingness to create opportunities for others. Writing the book allowed me to meet my father again, this time as an adult and as a physician myself.
Mentorship plays an important role throughout his story. Who were some of the people who helped make his path possible?
My father’s career is a wonderful example of what can happen when talent and determination encounter people willing to open doors. Senator J. William Fulbright helped make it possible for him to attend the University of Arkansas, where faculty members also recognized and nurtured his potential. Later, Dr. Roy Cohn became an important mentor and helped develop his interest in transplantation, while Dr. Norman Shumway, another giant in the field, was an important influence during those formative years.
One lesson I took from researching his life was how consequential mentorship can be. My father never forgot the people who helped him, and he spent much of his own career doing the same for students and young physicians, particularly those who might otherwise have been overlooked. Mentorship wasn’t simply something he benefited from; it became something he felt obligated to pass along.
What lessons from his career remain relevant to current conversations about health disparities and representation in medicine?
Unfortunately, many of the issues my father confronted remain with us. He entered medicine when opportunities for African Americans were severely limited, yet he refused to allow those limitations to define what he could accomplish. His concern about inequity also extended beyond his own career. He understood that advances in medicine have limited meaning if the people who need them cannot benefit from them.
His life reminds us that representation matters, but opportunity matters just as much. It is not enough to encourage talented young people from historically underrepresented backgrounds to pursue medicine. We also need mentors, institutions, and leaders willing to recognize their potential and create pathways for them to succeed. My father’s career demonstrates what can happen when those opportunities are provided—and how many patients and future physicians can ultimately benefit.
What do you hope medical students and young physicians learn from his combination of scientific ambition, service, and mentorship?
I hope they understand that these qualities do not have to compete with one another. My father was extraordinarily ambitious scientifically. He wanted to solve difficult problems, advance transplantation, and improve outcomes for patients. But he also believed that professional success carried an obligation to serve others.
For young physicians, his life offers a broader definition of impact. A successful career is not measured only by publications, titles, discoveries, or positions. It is also measured by the patients whose lives you improve, the people you mentor, the opportunities you create for others, and whether the work you began continues after you are gone. That, ultimately, is why I called the book A Life of Impact.
Author Links: GoodReads | Amazon
A Life of Impact: A Biography of Samuel L. Kountz, MD is a powerful and deeply human portrait of one of the most influential pioneers in transplant surgery. Spanning from the segregated cotton fields of rural Arkansas to the forefront of global medical innovation, this biography captures not only a scientific journey, but a story of resilience, courage, and transformation.
Born into a world shaped by racial inequality and limited opportunity, Samuel L. Kountz refused to be defined by circumstance. Through determination, intellect, and an unwavering commitment to healing, he rose to become a groundbreaking surgeon whose work helped reshape the future of kidney transplantation.
This book traces his early life in the American South, his education under systemic barriers, and the mentors and communities that shaped his path. It explores his entry into medicine during a period of scientific uncertainty, when transplant surgery was still experimental, risky, and often controversial. Against this backdrop, Kountz emerged as a leader who pushed the boundaries of what medicine could achieve.
More than a clinical biography, this work also examines the human dimensions of his journey. It delves into the emotional and ethical challenges of early transplantation, the realities of discrimination in medical institutions, and the burden of responsibility carried by those who pioneer life-saving procedures. It highlights his advocacy for equity in healthcare, his dedication to underserved communities, and his lasting influence on medical education and transplant ethics.
Through detailed narrative and historical depth, A Life of Impact presents a vivid account of a man whose legacy continues to shape modern medicine. It is a story of ambition forged through adversity, of science driven by compassion, and of a life devoted to expanding the limits of what is possible.
This book will appeal to readers interested in medical history, biographies of influential figures, healthcare ethics, and stories of perseverance against systemic barriers.
Knowledge Is Power
Thiaoouba Prophecy blends cosmic travelogue and spiritual inquiry to share your account of traveling to an advanced extraterrestrial world and returning with an alternative vision of human history, consciousness, and our place in the universe. How did you approach translating such an extraordinary experience into a narrative readers could follow?
While some readers may see the book as a work of science fiction, it is not, according to the author, Michel Desmarquet. While writing Thiaoouba Prophecy, Michel documented his journey, focusing on clarity, directness, and chronological honesty rather than embellishment. Many of the details were later downloaded to him while writing this book. The purpose is to complete the book as a precise witness account of what happened to him, using straightforward, unpretentious language so that readers can digest complex cosmic concepts following the author’s journey.
Higher consciousness is one of the book’s central ideas. What does higher consciousness mean within the worldview you present?
Humans are composed of a physical body and an astral body, which is also connected to the source, the Great Ether. Higher consciousness involves detaching from material obsessions, tuning into universal laws and following nature as closely as possible, elevating one’s spirituality, and recognizing that physical existence is merely a tool for spiritual growth.
Thiaoouba Prophecy presents alternative interpretations of Atlantis, Mu, Egypt, Easter Island, and other ancient mysteries. What first sparked your interest in humanity’s forgotten past, and why is recovering humanity’s true origins important to the spiritual message you hope readers understand?
Advanced civilizations existed on Earth, such as the one that existed on Lemuria, where people lived in harmony with each other without the need for money. We can also learn from the failures of other ancient civilizations, as “those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.”
The book warns about materialism, environmental destruction, violence, drugs, political power, and other threats to humanity’s development. Which concerns do you consider most urgent, and what can readers start doing now to change the course we are on?
Knowledge is power. With the right knowledge, one can make the right choices in the future. The most urgent concern is the disbursement of knowledge. This is why Thiaoouba Prophecy is an important book, as it contains knowledge that can really benefit its readers. It brings value to the readers by providing them with the insights they need to improve their personal finance, health, and relationships. In essence, readers will gain insights by changing their daily priorities – moving away from superficial consumption, cultivating empathy, and seeking genuine self-knowledge – which will, in turn, help them cultivate spirituality.
Author Links: GoodReads | X (Twitter) | Facebook | Website | Amazon
• Recounts the author’s abduction and journey to the planet Thiaoouba, and the revelations provided by his extraterrestrial guide
• Considers Earth’s deep history and mysteries, looking at stories of ancient Egypt, Mu, and Atlantis, the true origins of Moses’s and Jesus’s messages, and explores reincarnation, astral travel, and telepathy
• Offers a spiritual message with guidance on how to advance into the higher consciousness that is necessary to avoid a global catastrophe
After emigrating to Australia in 1972, French-born Michel Desmarquet was contacted one night by an extraterrestrial being named Thao, who took him via spaceship to the distant planet of Thiaoouba. Serving as his guide, the androgynous being described our planet’s prospects for the future and revealed esoteric truths that continue to challenge humankind.
Desmarquet reveals the true purpose of the Great Pyramid, the source of the Bible’s revelations, and the history of life on Mars. He explains who created the statues on Easter Island, the truth behind lost continents such as Atlantis and Mu, and what accounts for the strange happenings in the Bermuda Triangle. He also elaborates on mysterious psychic and spiritual phenomena, including telepathy, the significance of auras, levitation, space travel, and the inner workings of the universe.
Ultimately, the message Thao shares with Desmarquet is spiritual in nature. Only by evolving to a higher level of consciousness can humanity avoid global catastrophe, a tragic fate that has befallen other galactic civilizations.
Little Bear Betty
Little Bear Betty by Betty Pasghetti is a sweet and energetic children’s book about a little bear who loves spaghetti but has trouble saying the word correctly. Betty’s family even calls her “Betty Pasghetti” because of the way she pronounces her favorite food. What begins as a playful family joke turns into a small but meaningful challenge for Betty when she decides she really wants to learn how to say “spaghetti.” The book keeps that goal simple and easy for young children to follow, while giving Betty plenty of personality along the way.
Much of the story follows Betty as she runs through the forest to find Papa and her brother Teddy before dinner. Along the way, she stops to talk with friends and neighbors, and her mispronunciation keeps coming up in funny, affectionate ways. The turning point comes when Mr. Blandings, a wise old turtle, teaches her to break the word into smaller sounds and practice them slowly. That scene gives the story more substance than a simple joke about a funny word. Young readers see Betty struggle, practice, improve, and finally experience the excitement of getting something right after working at it. The lesson feels especially natural because it grows directly out of Betty’s adventure.
The illustrations by Sunkies Illustration are a major part of the book’s charm. Betty is drawn with big expressions that make her excitement, embarrassment, determination, and pride easy to understand even before the words are read aloud. The forest is bright and inviting, with soft greens, warm browns, sunny skies, flowers, winding paths, and friendly animal characters filling the pages. I especially liked the sequence on pages 16 through 18, where Betty and Mr. Blandings practice “spa,” “get,” and “tea.” The panel-style artwork makes the pronunciation exercise feel visual and playful. Later, when Betty finally shouts “SPAGHETTI!” on page 30, the oversized lettering, confetti, and her raised arms make the moment feel like the celebration it is.
What makes Little Bear Betty work well as a read-aloud is the combination of repetition, humor, family warmth, and a very relatable accomplishment. Kids often have words they can’t quite pronounce or skills that take several tries, so Betty’s victory is easy to understand. The ending brings everyone together around the dinner table, where her family cheers for her and Papa reminds her to keep trying and believe in herself. The book also includes a fun fact page about Blanding’s turtles and a coloring page, which extend the experience after the story ends. Overall, it’s a cheerful story about persistence, learning through practice, and the joy of finally mastering something that once felt difficult.
Pages: 36 | ASIN: B0HG25QT1J
Evolution and Biology
Shadow of the Sun follows humanity’s brutal war with the Shaksorians as soldiers, journalists, and aliens uncover unsettling truths that could transform mortal enemies into reluctant partners. What excited you about writing this book?
This book was inspired by the three novels written by different authors, Robert Heinlen’s Starship Troopers, Robert Buettner’s Orphanage series, and David Weber’s Honor Harrington series. The first two novels dealt with interstellar war between humans and aliens, and the third one told a tale of humanity’s war against itself, as multiple colonies, kingdoms and republics controlled entrie star systems, and were in conflict on economic, political and religious ground. I found the idea about humanity’s conflict with other species, because I believed it would make a good story if I presented it right from the point of view of both aliens and humans. This novel shows the war from both sides, without demonizing or favoring either. Wars are only just when you defend your home against brutal aggressor, threatening your family and your way of life. Shadow of the Sun is a cautionary morality tale, that clearly shows that when diplomacy fails, ears cannot hear words because of the sound of the cannons.
What inspired you to make the Shaksorians a crustacean species, and how did their biology influence the culture and technology you created for them?
On our planet Earth, according to the theory of evolution and biology, all life came from water. There were species living on our planet that had existed for hundreds of millions of years before the first humans evolved. Today, we are aware of many intelligent species living in the oceans, such as shales, orcas, dolphins and octopuses, who exhibit signs of intelligence, enabling them to survive and solve complex problems. As far as the alien civilization goes, I designed the Shaksorians to be similar to the Earth’s crustaceans, but possessing intelligence that resulted in them transforming from a purely aquatic species to amphibian. Such a species would be more adaptable to their environment, and I thought, why not make them be more than giant crabs and more like species who have developed deep curiosity about their world, a curiosity and the desire to explore not only their planet but other worlds as well. The Shaksorian technology is a unique fusion of inorganics and biology, enabling them to harness new forms of energy and materials that eventually opened for them a road to the stars. Their biotechnology is also vastly superior to humans, and used in the times of war and peace.
Ren Col Fer plays an important role in humanizing the Shaksorians. How did you approach writing an alien character who feels genuinely nonhuman while still being emotionally relatable?
I had a great time designing Ren Col Fer’s character for this story. He is a member of a unique and enigmatic species with their own language, customs, technology, morality and traditions. As intelligent beings able to travel between the stars, they had undergone a long and complex technological and biological evolution similar to that of the humans. Unlike the humans, the Shaksorians are not divided into nations or corporations. They are presented as one race that would unite against any existential threat. They are beings who, just like the humans, would defend their homes and protect their economic interests, and do it in such a way as not to waste resources to achieve the maximum effect. The true reason for the war between humans and the Shaksorians is not explained in the story. This is a deliberate move that would allow the readers to see between the lines and imagine their own reason why humans and aliens went to war. The moral of the story lies in understanding why species fight. Humans are the same species and yet they fight each other.
The novel raises questions about propaganda, profiteering, and who may have truly started the war. How important was it to you that the conflict remain morally complicated rather than having a clear villain?
I am a history buff, and as an amateur historian, I often asked myself, why do we fight? Why war became such an important part of our evolving civilization, and what conflicts could have been avoided if the leaders came together and talked it through. One of my very good friends, who also likes history, liked to say that all wars begin because of the bad leadership. I agree with his statement, but there are other things to consider: what makes nations of Earth, and in the case of my story, what makes intelligent, technologically advanced species fight for the planets for resources if there is so much unclaimed real estate lying around? The answer lies in the ability of both the humans and the Shaksorians to terraform planets to their liking, and change their environments and ecology to suit their colonization needs. The story deliberately does not have a clear villain, because its purpose is to show that war is a very expensive and very bloody business, that has winners and losers, and also those who will go to any length to start a conflict for profit. Our human history is full of examples where greed, religious fanaticism, and national desire to reshare the borders made wars that, in their majority, were totally unnecessary. In Robert Heinlein’s novel Starship Troopers, we can clearly see how humans view aliens. But no one asked how intelligent aliens see us.
Author Links: GoodReads | Amazon
The Lived And The Imagined
The Falls of Us explores what happens when women confronting faith, grief, family wounds, and oppressive systems can no longer keep their private burdens hidden. What inspired you to combine personal reflection, literary realism, psychological drama, and speculative fiction in a single collection?
I built this collection over the course of a few years, and I came to understand that the lived and the imagined can functionally coexist with one another. Some truths need the intimacy of ordinary details and specific memories. Others need the distance of an imagined world, where readers can step back and see familiar patterns more clearly.
Subjects like oppression, grief, and denial can become so common that we stop seeing them for what they really are. In realism, I wanted readers to sit inside an experience as it is endured. In speculative fiction, I wanted them to see the larger system around it, including the absurdity of the rules, expectations, and beliefs that can shape a person’s life.
I intertwined the lived and the imagined in a single collection because both types of stories are doing the same work. They are both asking the reader to look more closely at what happens when the world around them is asking too much of them.
How did you decide which experiences could be approached directly and which were better explored through dystopian or imagined worlds?
I usually know by the feeling of the story. Some experiences need to remain true to the details because distance would soften what they are trying to accomplish.
For instance, in “Let Go,” unless readers can ride along with me in the car and imagine their own demise as an eighteen-wheeler comes barreling toward us, it is merely a fantastical story. The truth matters because it allows the reader to feel the fear, the helplessness, and ultimately the real surrender of that moment.
But in “The Curse of Eve,” I need distance. By placing the story in an imagined world, I can push the logic of a misogynistic system further and see what it reveals. The world may be fictional, but the impulse to control women’s bodies, voices, choices, and freedom is not.
What did including author’s notes allow you to communicate that the stories alone could not?
I was inspired by the experience of reading Octavia Butler’s Bloodchild and Other Stories. Her afterwords made me feel as though she was letting me in on her secrets and experiences that led her to the page. I wanted to create that same sense of conversation in The Falls of Us.
The author’s notes give me that space to sit beside the reader and hold their hand after each story, a kind of “let’s talk about this” moment.
I want them to feel like it’s a friendly invitation rather than a straight explanation. Some readers may want to know what inspired a certain story or why I made a particular choice within it. Others may want to leave the story exactly as it is. The notes are there for readers who simply desire a little more context.
After readers finish The Falls of Us, what questions about faith, control, survival, or surrender do you hope remain with them?
If nothing else, I hope readers question the difference between faith and performance. Don’t get me wrong, faith should be visible. We are called to be a light, and light has to be seen in order to be recognized. But there is a difference between reflecting what we truly believe and performing belief for the approval of others. It should be revealed in how we treat people, how we carry hardship, and how we make room for grace. There is a simplicity in that, and far too often we overcomplicate it.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website
“Expiate” follows two strangers pulled into a ritual of public repentance where even small acts, like being asked to remove your shoes, become measures of guilt and worthiness. In “Cliffhangers,” a driving lesson gone wrong leaves an instructor and her student stranded on a literal ledge, forcing them to confront entitlement, generational survival, and the thin line between accident and consequence.
Blending literary prose with speculative twists, The Falls of Us is a collection of microfiction, flash, and full-length short stories for readers of literary, speculative, and socially conscious fiction.
