Blog Archives
Dissonance Volume Zero: Revelation
In Dissonance, Volume Zero: Revelation, author Aaron Ryan introduces us to the seemingly idyllic life of Andrew Dylan Shipley, a man whose world is on the brink of drastic change. When alien creatures arrive on Earth in massive numbers, they initially lie dormant, sparking global anxiety and uncertainty. Andrew, along with his wife Melissa and their children Cameron “Jet,” Wyatt “Rutty,” and Adelynn “Sissy,” anxiously await the moment the aliens will reveal their true intentions. Surprisingly, the aliens remain inactive, leaving humanity in suspense. In response, governments worldwide take precautionary measures, building bunkers for a worst-case scenario—a decision that proves pivotal for the Shipley family. But as they soon discover, life underground presents its own set of challenges, testing their health, faith, and family bonds in ways they never anticipated.
As a prequel to Ryan’s Dissonance trilogy, Revelation stands on its own, requiring no prior knowledge of the series. However, for those familiar with the trilogy, there are moments that will enhance the emotional impact of the story. The novel is rich with tense, emotional scenes as the Shipley family confronts the reality of their situation. Andrew’s primary concern is the safety of his family, but he finds it impossible to shield his young children from the harsh truths of their new reality. One of the novel’s strengths is its portrayal of how these experiences profoundly affect the children. Their development is depicted organically through Andrew’s perspective, a father keenly aware of the subtle changes in his children’s behavior. This adds a deep emotional resonance to the story, making the characters’ growth both believable and impactful. The plot starts at a measured pace, allowing readers to become fully immersed in the Shipley family’s serene life before it takes a dark turn. This deliberate pacing serves to heighten the contrast between their past and the intense, fast-paced events of the latter half of the novel. As the story accelerates, it aligns seamlessly with the tone and direction of the main Dissonance trilogy, leaving readers with tantalizing hints and unanswered questions about the mysterious aliens.
Dissonance, Volume Zero: Revelation is a compelling and emotionally charged prequel that sets the stage for the rest of the trilogy. Ryan expertly balances the tension and development of his characters, making this a must-read for both newcomers and fans of the series alike. If you enjoy science fiction with strong character development and a gripping plot, this book will not disappoint.
Pages: 308 | ASIN : B0CTHT94R7
The Teetotaler’s Bar
Carolyn Summer Quinn’s The Teetotaler’s Bar is a delightful, quirky mystery that blends humor, intrigue, and a bit of heartfelt reflection. The story follows Jazz Kenneally, a young, health-conscious teetotaler who unexpectedly inherits a bar and a fortune from her estranged, half-aunt Lysandra Somersby. However, this isn’t just any bar; it’s a murder scene. Lysandra was shot in cold blood, and Jazz finds herself in the middle of a puzzling whodunit, surrounded by an eclectic cast of characters who each add their own flair to the unfolding mystery.
One of the most engaging aspects of Quinn’s writing is her ability to create a vivid, immersive atmosphere. From the bright, airy bar that defies Jazz’s expectations to the Art Deco elegance of the inherited apartment, every setting is described with such detail that it feels like a character in its own right. The juxtaposition of Jazz’s distaste for alcohol with her new role as a bar owner adds a layer of irony and humor that keeps the narrative lively. Jazz is a relatable protagonist, navigating the unexpected inheritance with a mix of pragmatism and bewilderment. The supporting characters, from the loyal but quirky bar staff to the eccentric tenants of the inherited building, are well-drawn and contribute significantly to the story’s charm. Quinn’s exploration of themes like family estrangement, responsibility, and the dangers of assumptions gives the book a thoughtful edge. Jazz’s reflections on her relationship with her late aunt and the moral dilemmas she faces as a sudden heiress add depth to what could easily have been a light, breezy mystery.
The Teetotaler’s Bar is a charming, offbeat mystery that will appeal to readers who enjoy character-driven stories with a mix of humor and suspense. It’s particularly well-suited for those who appreciate a cozy mystery with a modern twist, where the protagonist’s journey is as important as the mystery itself. This is a delightful read for a relaxed afternoon, offering both laughs and a few thoughtful moments along the way.
Pages: 167 | ASIN : B0DBFYD5LD
Penelope’s Peace Place
Penelope’s Peace Place is an adorable and heartwarming children’s book that tells the story of a young prairie dog named Penelope who lives in the bustling grasslands of central Wyoming. Penelope dreams of finding a quiet place to think her big thoughts away from her large and lively family. Her quest for peace takes her on a charming adventure that ultimately leads her to a surprising realization about the true nature of peace.
First off, Monroe’s writing is delightfully engaging and accessible for young readers. The vivid descriptions of Penelope’s busy Prairie Dog Town, filled with squeaks, chirps, and digging, bring the setting to life. The repetitive phrasing, like “Not today, no time to play!” effectively captures Penelope’s determination to find some quiet time, making it a fun read-aloud experience. One part I really liked was when Penelope finally finds a peaceful spot, only to have it quickly invaded by her sleepy little cousins. This scene humorously illustrates the challenges of finding solitude in a large family and adds a relatable touch for children with similar experiences.
The illustrations by the team from ‘Draw & Care’ are nothing short of fantastic. Their vibrant and expressive artwork complements the story perfectly. The details really bring out the characters’ expressions and make each page a visual treat. I especially loved the image of her younger sister Patty climbing on her, capturing the playful chaos of their daily lives.
Monroe’s story also carries a beautiful and important message about the value of sharing peace with others. Penelope’s journey of seeking solitude only to realize that peace is more meaningful when shared is a great lesson for children. The turning point in the story, where Penelope understands that the peace she found should be shared with her family, underscores the theme of community and togetherness.
Penelope’s Peace Place is a delightful picture book that I highly recommend for young children, especially those who enjoy stories about animals and family life. With its soothing narrative and charming illustrations, it’s perfect for bedtime reading.
Pages: 28 | ASIN : B0D7CWFPL1
Princess Iridescent and the Cloudy Day
Princess Iridescent and the Cloudy Day by Hope LaVelle is a captivating children’s book that transports readers to a vibrant world filled with color and light. The story unfolds in the idyllic kingdom of Prismatica, where everything is bright and beautiful. However, the tranquility of the kingdom is disrupted when King Cloudius arrives with a dark plan to steal all the colors, plunging Prismatica into a dull, lifeless state. The task of restoring the kingdom falls on the young Princess Iridescent, who understands that the true power of color and beauty comes from kindness and compassion.
Through a cleverly crafted rhyming narrative, Princess Iridescent embarks on a journey to teach King Cloudius that the most brilliant colors are those that are kindled by kindness. Along the way, readers are introduced to a host of charming creatures and enchanted elements that bring the kingdom to life. The story is a feast for the imagination and a gentle lesson in conflict resolution, showing that even the meanest of characters can be transformed through acts of kindness.
Princess Iridescent and the Cloudy Day is a delightful and enchanting read, perfect for young children and their parents alike. The rhyming text adds a rhythmic charm that makes the story enjoyable to read aloud, and the beautifully crafted illustrations bring the kingdom and its inhabitants to life in a magical and memorable way. One of the standout features of this book is its underlying message. In a world where children are often exposed to negativity and conflict, Princess Iridescent’s approach to dealing with King Cloudius serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of empathy and kindness. The story skillfully conveys that kindness is not a weakness but a strength that can overcome even the darkest of intentions. The character of Princess Iridescent is a wonderful role model for young readers. She embodies qualities such as bravery, compassion, and wisdom, showing that true leadership is about guiding others with a gentle heart. Including adorable creatures and magical elements adds an extra layer of charm that will undoubtedly capture any child’s imagination.
Princess Iridescent and the Cloudy Day is more than just a beautifully illustrated children’s book; it’s a valuable tool for teaching important life lessons in a fun and engaging way. Whether read at bedtime or during storytime, this book is sure to become a cherished favorite in any child’s library.
Pages: 32 | ASIN : B0CWKHKR66
Lizard Larson and the Time Keeper
Lizard Larson and the Time Keeper by Gary Natoli offers a refreshing blend of humor and adventure, centered around an ordinary yet captivating teen girl named Lizard. Her life takes a dramatic turn when, without warning, her parents pull her out of school, thrusting her into a whirlwind of events that challenge the very fabric of time itself. As Lizard navigates this new reality, she discovers that her parents’ mysterious creation has far-reaching consequences, beyond what anyone could imagine. This sets her on a thrilling race against time to save the universe from a catastrophic collapse.
This novel is an engaging read for all ages, but it particularly resonates with young adult and late middle-grade readers. Natoli’s imaginative storytelling is evident in the plot, which is rich with creative twists and suspenseful build-ups. The story draws readers in from the start, as Lizard’s daily life and unique personality are depicted with a simplicity that gradually unfolds into a complex, time-bending adventure. Natoli’s skill in foreshadowing and use of similes, especially in the early chapters, adds depth to the narrative, keeping readers, especially younger ones, eagerly turning the pages to uncover what happens next. The plot is undeniably captivating, and there’s a strong foundation in the writing that holds great potential. The story is clear and easy to follow, with Lizard’s emotions expressed in a straightforward manner. There’s an opportunity to enhance the narrative even further by adding more descriptive language, which could bring even greater vividness to moments like Lizard’s anxiety. With a bit more “showing” rather than “telling,” the emotional depth of the story could resonate even more powerfully with readers.
Lizard Larson and the Time Keeper is an enjoyable read, brimming with the magic of middle-grade fantasy and science fiction. Gary Natoli’s creative narrative will undoubtedly captivate younger readers, offering them an exciting journey through time that they won’t soon forget.
Pages: 408 | ASIN : B0D2Y4G416
Life is the Ultimate Wild Card
A Voice at the Table shares your story of overcoming adversities while growing up and learning to find your voice; it also teaches others to understand and empathize with people, encouraging self-awareness, kindness, and compassion for all. Why was this an important book for you to write?
I felt it was important to share that we all are going through something or dealing with things in life. Life is the ultimate wild card and keeps us on our toes. But, when we can be vulnerable and set egos aside we can share our challenges and learn from them. For me, I’ve been through a lot, it’s made me who I am and I wanted to share this story. Hopefully it will inspire others and motivate them to do something and not let adverse circumstances be a permanent road block.
Your book is more than a memoir; it is a call to action for leaders. What ideas were important for you to share in this book?
I’ve had the privilege and honor of being in various roles in my life, to include some leadership roles. In those roles I learned to empower all my team members to share their experiences. Whether it is in work or life itself, we can learn from more voices that share. Then together we are darn near unstoppable. We see and hear too many examples of bad leadership in the news and on social media these days. The majority of people are good and need to hear some positivity, they need to see the good out here. When we work together, regardless of political affiliation, religious beliefs, poor or rich, or the color of our skin, we can do some wonderful things. This makes an organization better and its team members. That bleeds over to our communities and little by little things improve. It’s work though and requires commitment.
I appreciated the candid nature with which you told your story. What was the hardest thing for you to write about?
It felt good to write and let my ideas and memories flow. As a recovering perfectionist, reliving some of those moments in my mind was frustrating. I made mistakes and missed some opportunities. But, even those moments were an opportunity to learn. Being able to take a step back and look at what I was able to put together was fulfilling and rewarding. Being vulnerable and having a willingness to share the dark events in life is tough. However, if it helps someone else to share and not be a victim of past event, then rock on.
What do you hope is one thing readers take away from your story?
We are all in this together and together we can do some amazing things.
Author Links: GoodReads | Website
We wacky humans are all wired differently. Our life, professional and educational experiences are all different and unique to us. We may have grown up in the same neighborhood, but our households were different. We can have the same degree, but our learning process and path are unique to us. Even our day in the same office is different, though we do the same thing. This is the magic of being human; we all have our own perspective and experiences. When we give each person a voice at the table we are harnessing the power of all that wonderful experience and knowledge. Readers at all professional levels will be able to understand how best to capture this helpful information and then learn from what we’ve done to improve what we do. You can reach out and connect with Brendan on Instagram @brendankellyaar.
Life Can Be Unpredictable
The Tales of Sophie Shenanigans: Sophie Takes a Trip follows a young rescue dog known for her playful antics who is embarking on a journey to her new home. What was the inspiration for your story?
The inspiration was quite literally Sophie herself. The main character in this book is based on my dog Sophie. And how I imagined what it was like for her to come to a new home from a completely different place. Sophie from my first memory of her, when she got off the plane, seemed calm and content. She’s a very happy, energetic and sassy dog. I remember walking her a couple of years ago thinking about what her life was like, what the whole process could have been like for her in having no say in moving and adapting to a completely new life. Also I’m also a Social Worker and I have worked with alot of people who not only don’t know how manage feelings of anxiety they don’t know what it is.
The art in this book is fantastic. What was the art collaboration process like with the illustrator Anniella Ragaza?
The art and illustrations really turned out exactly the way I wanted them to. It was such a fantastic and easy experience working with Anniella. I actually had to wait a little bit to get started, because I wanted to work with Anniella: she already had a couple of other authors she was working with, she is in high demand. But it was worth the short wait because I love the way she brings animals to life on paper. The process was actually quite easy and seamless; and that was partly because of my Project Manager Sem Delima; he was instrumental in keeping communication moving. And the interesting thing is, I’ve never actually met Anniella face to face, or even on ZOOM. Everything we did was online. In fact I live in Ontario Canada and she doesn’t. She seemed to be able to “get” Sophie, which was absolutely heartwarming to me. In fact just like Anniella had never met me, she’s never actually seen Sophie besides in pictures, not even video! She was able to see photos of Sophie and read my words and design what we have in the book. I was really fortunate that I had the opportunity to work with her.
What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?
There are a few really important ideas that I hope to get across with this book. One is the idea that life can be very unpredictable, we’ve all seen this in the last few years with the pandemic, sometimes we don’t have control over every aspect of our lives and if we can adapt, if we can manage our emotions, everything is a little easier, and definitely less anxiety provoking. I also wanted to get across the idea that sometimes, feelings like anxiety can be really scary and, for children but as well as adults if we’re able to recognize it, it’s easier to manage. I wanted readers to be able to empathize with Sophie, with what she was feeling, how she experienced anxiety and that it would help people recognize it in themselves. Lastly, the idea that it’s good to ask for support and ask for help. Sophie must leave the animal shelter and Ms. Jordan, and that’s difficult and I think we can all relate to that, sometimes, most times, something familiar feels safe. I wanted young readers to be able to understand that, sometimes when change happens we can manage it with the help of a friend, with the assistance of somebody who might know a little bit more about it than we do.
Is this the first book in the series? If so, when is the next book coming out, and what can your fans expect in the next story?
The Tales of Sophie Shenanigans is definitely the first book in a series! In the few years that I have had the opportunity to have Sophie in my life she’s already done so many things that are inspiring future books. My plan is that my next book will be out in the next year.
Sometimes life is scary, and it doesn’t work out exactly like we think it will. But Sophie meets a friend who helps her see things differently . . .
The Tales of Sophie Shenanigans: Sophie Takes a Trip normalizes anxiety and educates young readers that there are ways to feel better when feeling scared. It also helps readers understand how anxiety can make us feel, emotionally and physically. The target audience is children ages 4–8 who suffer from symptoms of anxiety, as well as children who are embarking on a new experience; for instance: moving, starting/changing schools.
It is loosely based on cognitive behavioral therapy, using the model in a child-friendly way.
Humans are Living Mysteries
Scars of The Heart is an influential collection of short stories that delve into the profound impacts of physical war and the psychological impact of violence on humanity. What made you write a story about this topic? Was anything pulled from your life experiences?
I have been a travel writer from 1990 to 2003 and wrote New Journalism texts about conflict zones in the world (contributions that report on events taking place, but in a literary, subjective way). I visited Somalia, Liberia, Bosnia, Sudan, Gaza, Iran, Iraq, Mozambique, Kosovo, Lebanon, and Myanmar… to name a few. I got very close to the atrocities of war, its physical but also its mental consequences. I thought I could handle them, but these days I have PTSD symptoms. They have become more bearable with time, but I can’t forget people’s suffering in war circumstances. In my eyes, I was a “war tourist” who shared their life for a couple of weeks and disappeared again while they were doomed to stay in hellish places. My anger, my shame, remorse, sadness, and despair fuel my stories.
What are some things that you find interesting about the human condition that you think make for great fiction?
When you think about it, humans are living mysteries: contradictory, unpredictable, chaotic. Great fiction tries to create a holistic image of our ambiguity. I believe no other art form is more proficient for this task. Great fiction asks the reader to feel what is hidden between the words so that the voyage into the depths of our being – the maze in our souls, if you like – is an honest, compelling exploration for the reader and the writer. Therefore, great care must be given to the choice of words, their ambiguity, and the rhythm of the sentences. This mixture is called style, and it is necessary to pick up glimpses of the hermetic, sometimes angelic, sometimes demonical, poetry that drives our lives. Great literature is a mixture of empathy, relentless challenges, and mighty victories, yet already tainted with the treason of our egos.
What themes were important for you to explore in this book?
Although they take place in different eras and countries, the background of the stories deals with violence, greed, sexual conquest, and our amazing capability to lie to others and ourselves. Probably you’re thinking now: “And love? Where is love?” Oh, it’s there, sometimes at the brink of obsession or tragedy, sometimes fueling our inner loneliness and addiction to happy dreams and delusions. It is said that readers like happy endings. So sorry to disappoint: when I wrote this collection, the tragic and sad endings even took their toll on me, so I want to advise the reader to read each story at intervals and not right after each other.
What is the next book that you are working on, and when can your fans expect it to be out?
“The Firehand File,” my next book, is set in Berlin in 1921. Let me give you the blurb of the Dutch mother version of the novel so you have the broad outline.
1921. Berlin is a city of extremes. Political violence plagues the streets during the day. A serial killer whom the media call “The Skinner” roams the streets at night. It is suspected that he is a rabid World War I veteran, but he remains untraceable. In this human pressure cooker, the relationship between the famous Flemish DADA poet Paul Van Ostaijen and his impetuous girlfriend Emma Clément is on edge. Like hundreds of thousands of others in Berlin, they live in poverty and are addicted to cocaine and other drugs.
When Van Ostaijen, on a high whim, steals the Feuerhand Obsession file in the apartment of the spy Elise Kraiser, the poet sets in motion a series of dramatic events that shed surprising light on a politician who is rapidly gaining influence: Herr Adolf Hitler.
Carly Rheilan, my translator, scores a fantastic – and poetic! – job. However, the novel’s second part is hard to translate because I tried to use the same manner of Van Ostaijen’s spoken language, a mixture of Antwerp dialect from the twenties with French and German words. “The Firehand File” is a literary suspense novel but also a homage to Paul Van Ostaijen, who revolutionized poetry in the Roaring Twenties. We hope to have the translation finished at the end of this year so that the novel can come out in 2025.
Author Links: GoodReads | X | Facebook | Website
Through ten stories set in different countries and eras, Van Laerhoven takes us through the destructive consequences of our passions as a common thread, from contemporary Syria to Algeria in the 1950s, and the civil war in Liberia to the uprising in Belgian Congo in the 1960s.
The ten stories in SCARS OF THE HEART highlight the dark side of love, which fuels our violence, inner loneliness, and greedy egos.
LITERARY TITAN 