Blog Archives
The Wall
The Wall, written and illustrated by Natalia Morris, is a thoughtful and emotionally engaging children’s book about sensory overwhelm, social anxiety, and the longing to belong. The story follows a young girl who finds comfort in quiet, familiar activities but struggles when faced with the unpredictable sights, sounds, and interactions of a busy playground. What seems like an ordinary outing becomes an emotionally complicated experience as she navigates her desire to connect with other children and the overwhelming feelings that make doing so difficult. Morris approaches these experiences with sensitivity, creating a story that encourages readers to consider how differently children can experience the same environment. At its heart, this is a book about wanting to participate in the world while learning to manage the challenges that come with it.
After a brief introduction, Morris allows the illustrations to carry nearly the entire narrative. The wall itself serves as a powerful visual representation of the barriers that can arise between a child and the social world around them. Its imposing presence makes an internal struggle visible and understandable, even for younger readers who may have difficulty articulating similar emotions. The book also incorporates sign language, facial expressions, and body language as meaningful forms of communication. This approach gives the story a distinctive rhythm, inviting readers to slow down, observe the characters, and consider what their gestures and expressions reveal.
Morris uses a combination of vibrant colors, soft watercolor-like textures, and expressive character drawings to create an atmosphere that shifts with the protagonist’s experiences. The girl’s bright yellow coat and patterned boots make her immediately recognizable, while the reddish brick wall provides a striking visual contrast. Particularly effective are the illustrations showing the girl curled up beside the wall, where her small posture conveys a powerful sense of vulnerability. Other images capture the energy of children playing, with colorful playground equipment, changing seasons, and lively movement. These details give the illustrations warmth and personality while helping readers understand the emotional distance the protagonist sometimes feels.
What makes The Wall especially meaningful for me is the personal experience behind its creation. In an author’s letter, Morris explains that her daughter’s experiences with autism, language impairment, and sensory overload inspired the story. That perspective gives the book an authenticity that comes through in its attention to emotional challenges and the importance of patience. Morris recognizes that connection can require considerable effort and that every child’s progress follows a different path. The book offers families an opportunity to talk about neurodivergence, empathy, inclusion, and the many ways children communicate their needs. With its expressive artwork, gentle storytelling, and compassionate understanding of childhood experiences, The Wall is a touching book that encourages readers to look more closely at the feelings and experiences of those around them.
Pages: 49 | ASIN : B0HKGGKVSD
I Wanted To Taker Her Home
The Fortress of Us follows a grieving father and his eight-year-old daughter who are attempting to rebuild their lives after suffering an unimaginable loss in coastal South Australia. What inspired you to write this novel, and how did the idea of a grieving young girl becoming the protector of another vulnerable child first develop?
The story was inspired by an event from my childhood that had a profound impact on me. When I was eight years old my family visited relatives in Queens, New York where I met a little girl who didn’t speak and was clearly neglected. I wanted to take her home with us, but of course my parents said no. When we got in our car to leave however, the little girl tried to get in with me, and when we drove off, she ran down the street after our car, trying to reach me. I never saw the girl again and always wondered what became of her. As I got older and had first children and then grandchildren, I found the image of that little girl chasing after us, arms outstretched, kept coming back to me more and more. To the point I began to imagine a series of follow-on events that would give me some closure on the matter. That string of events turned into a story, and that story became The Fortress of Us.
How did you approach developing Kelsey as a neurodivergent child whose emotional experiences and understanding of the world influence her decisions?
I suffered from learning disabilities as a child including dyslexia, ADHD and hypersensitivity. In creating the character Kelsey I drew on my memories of how these conditions effected me. Through Kelsey’s experience in the story I tried to relate the physical sensations associated with these conditions, as well as the resulting behavioural struggles and difficulties with learning and relating to others.
How do the relationships among Kelsey, Molly, Ryan, and Shannon explore the different ways people can support one another while struggling with their own losses?
Molly is the sister Kelsey never had and always wanted. But as a much younger, more vulnerable child, she arouses Kelsey’s protective instincts to the point she becomes almost a mother to Molly, the very person she herself has lost. Shannon sees in the bond between them her own relationship with her sister whose death she feels responsible for. And Ryan must set aside his grief to help Kelsey deal with her won. As each character helps the others they come to see that life after loss is still worth living.
What do you hope readers take away from the novel’s examination of resilience, family bonds, and the unexpected relationships that help people recover from loss?
As with all my stories, I hope readers come away from Fortress feeling uplifted. I hope the experience of Kelsey, Molly, Ryan and Shannon leaves them with a stronger belief in people’s willingness to help one another even when recovering from loss themselves.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website
Eight year old Kelsey once believed her father could do anything, an illusion shattered the day he failed to save the woman at the centre of her world. As a neurodivergent, Kelsey struggles to process her grief and instead begins to slowly withdraw. Until she meets a girl with no name and vows to protect her against the deadly threat surrounding her.
In the year since his wife’s passing, Ryan has watched his beloved only daughter slip further and further away from him. Desperate to save what remains of his family, he moves them from Adelaide to Port Lincoln, leaving behind the house where Kelsey’s mother died.
Through the bond she forms with their new neighbour, Shannon, Kelsey seems to find what she needs to finally overcome her loss and Ryan rejoices in the change he sees in her. Until he learns the true reason for his daughter’s recovery is her caring for the neglected runaway she’s been hiding up in her tree house. The object of a madman’s search whose aim is to silence both girls forever.
The Area Could Use A Good Murder
A Child’s Guillotine follows a Tennessee detective in 1982 who is investigating a young girl’s murder that is connected to a Croatian immigrant and horrors from WWII. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I’ve long felt that WWII was a worldwide trauma that has left its mark well into the 21st century. People don’t talk about it, but those who experienced its horror will never forget. Unfortunately, there are very few of those people left and the rest of us need to be reminded that this is what can happen if we let our guard down. Croatia and the Balkan states were a theater of the war that has still not been fully analyzed or understood. The hatred goes back centuries, and no one knows why. I lived in Tennessee for a year and it’s a very beautiful and peaceful place. I thought the area could use a good murder.
What interested you about exploring the ways historical atrocities can influence individuals and communities decades after the original events?
What are we but for our history? We all scurry like rats hiding our secrets and our pasts, but when we admit to the worst of our past, we become more strongly committed to change, where cruelty and violence might just become a thing of the past.
How does Morris’s struggle with alcohol and personal regret contribute to his character development throughout the investigation?
Morris is your typical tough guy with a heart. His character evolved as I wrote. I realized that if I had seen what he saw in Detroit, I’d be drinking up a storm. I tried to make his character less stereotypical and more human. His city lifestyle smashing up against good country folk was my attempt at humor, and I do believe it helped round out his character. I didn’t want to minimize his struggle. Too many stories or movies have a heavy drinker who quits, wins a big victory, and then has a drink to celebrate. That’s not how it works.
What were the greatest challenges of balancing the novel’s murder mystery with its extensive historical and psychological themes?
I didn’t really think of this as a murder mystery until about halfway through writing it. When I realized I had created a whodunit, I knew I needed a twist, so I came up with the commandant of the concentration camp, which was exactly what I wanted to write about in the first place. “Who are these people?” “How could they do such a thing?” These are the questions I wanted readers to ask. The challenge is in making ethical self-examination entertaining. If I succeeded in doing that, then I have done a good thing.
Tossed Into A Powder Keg
“Shadows of the Past” follows a disillusioned soldier and a radio engineer as they uncover dangerous secrets in an alternate WWI shaped by humanity’s survival of a Martian invasion and its dependence on alien technology. What inspired you to explore the aftermath of H.G. Wells’s Martian invasion?
Back in 2019, I was researching my grandfather’s story. The short version is that he was a reluctant hero on the German side of World War I, clashed with proto-Nazis during the turbulent Weimar period after the war, and eventually fled to the U.S. after an attempt on his life. He even had a couple of violent encounters with the Bund in New York City. His story turned out to be way too important and just plain much for a first book.
But I spent a lot of time thinking about World War I while I was doing my research. We generally think of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand as “starting” the war, but that event was a more like a match carelessly tossed into a powder keg than an inciting event. If Gavrilo Princip hadn’t killed the Archduke, something else would have set it off.
At some point while I was reading about the Somme, I came across a worn copy of the War of the Worlds. What would you get if you crossed the Martian Walkers with the trenches of World War I?
Suddenly I had to answer that question.
I reread the original story and doing that raised another question. The story ends with the Martians dying on the battlefield because of Earth’s microbes. What happened to all that alien hardware? How did the invasion, combined with a windfall of new technology, change history?
How did you approach blending authentic World War I military history with salvaged Martian technology while keeping the altered world believable?
I have a background in technology, and that came in handy. I enlisted in the Army after high school and served as a radar repairman for two enlistments in the 1980s. When I started training in 1982, the radars still used technology from the 1950s, like vacuum tubes, analog spectrum analyzers, ferrite core memory. Then, after I was deployed to Germany the Army deployed newer versions that introduced microprocessors, solid state power supplies, and a host of other improvements. I was lucky enough to learn about technology from two very different eras.
The trick was to show how access to martian technology would have changed the past without info dumping or boring the average reader. My initial draft had a lot more detail on the tech, especially in the chapters with James. I ended up cutting a bit after receiving feedback from people less interested in tech than I am.
Emil becomes increasingly frustrated by humanity’s use of alien weapons; how does his experience with the original invasion shape his understanding of war and loyalty?
As much as I am a tech and science fiction fan, it was always apparent to me that the emotional impact of the invasion was the most important part of the story. Emil lost a lot during the first invasion, and it colors how he sees the world. But, he was also a draft age man when the war broke out, so he had to either go to war or face prison or execution. This led to an inevitable conflict between his beliefs and his duties.
The German Army’s war crimes in Belgium during World War I are very well-documented. So, having them use the Black Smoke on the battlefield with no regard for who it kills was hardly a stretch. Emil experiences this firsthand and his response gets him in big trouble with his military leadership, and he comes very close to being executed anyway.
James’s work with Thomas Edison places him at the intersection of scientific discovery and political intrigue; what did you want his storyline to reveal about technological progress and responsibility?
Scientist and engineers want to view their work as this isolated, morally neutral thing. But it never is, not when political and economic forces inevitably end up in charge. James is shocked and resentful when he sees what the Marines did with “his” radio station. But it never was his. It was Edison’s, until the government decided it was theirs. Neither of them had any input into how the government decided to use it.
And of course, the government didn’t have much control over it either.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website
It’s 1915, and the trenches of the Somme are already hell for German soldier Emil Zimmerman. But when the familiar, terrifying howl of a Martian Wanderer sounds across the battlefield, he knows the true war has just begun. The invaders have returned, adapted to Earth’s environment, and this time they have help.
Across the German lines, Emil discovers a treasonous conspiracy: a rogue General is hoarding alien weaponry, and negotiating a dark alliance with the enemy. Now, Emil must lead a mutiny and turn the enemy’s own heat rays against them before Europe burns.
Meanwhile, in America, James Brogan, a brilliant engineer at Edison Laboratories, uncovers a silent invasion on his own soil. When transatlantic radios go dark and a massive explosion rocks Coney Island, James realizes German spies and Martian sympathizers are blinding the United States to the coming slaughter. Forced to step out from behind his workbench, James must expose a high-ranking traitor and restore the Planetary Warning System before the invasion reaches New York.
Twenty years ago, humanity only survived the first Martian invasion because Earth’s microbes decimated the invaders. Now, the Great War rages on, fueled by scavenged alien technology—fearsome heat rays and deadly canisters of Black Smoke—which the Martians now wield with ruthless efficiency.
From the burning ruins of Reims to the bustling streets of Manhattan, the Great War of the Worlds has begun.
Mostly, it changed how I see my past.
It Happened. Make of It What You Will is a witty, heartfelt memoir about travel, independence, and the wonderfully unpredictable moments that make life memorable. How did writing the book change the way you think about the seemingly ordinary incidents that become lasting memories?
Mostly, it changed how I see my past. I was surprised which moments I remembered as if they happened yesterday, and which were simply gone. Memory works like a scattered jigsaw puzzle. You look for the edges first, and then the rest starts to fit.
My trip around the Iberian Peninsula was the edge. It could just as well have been something else. That’s why I don’t see the book as a memoir or a travel journal. The journey is only the frame. The picture is made of everything that fell into place around it.
How has traveling independently influenced your understanding of yourself and your ability to adapt to unfamiliar situations?
I had travelled alone before, and I’d be lying if I said it’s easy. It isn’t. You put a few things on the scales. On one side, dealing with everything by yourself, with no support. On the other, time for attention, and seeing everything around you with your own eyes. Every journey makes me feel more capable, and more sensitive to the world.
Your stories often find humor in frustrating or unpredictable situations. How has humor influenced the way you respond to life’s challenges?
Humour is a shield and a life support at the same time. The alternative is negative feelings, and those destroy. I prefer to build.
What do you hope readers discover about the value of curiosity and paying attention to the details of everyday life?
Not what they discover, but whether they discover it at all. At the pace we live now, we don’t stop anymore. Attention is fading, and it is the essence of life.
Author Links: GoodReads | Website
In these pages, a white peacock crosses a country road, passengers refuse to cooperate at a toll gate, a flamenco dancer seems to set the floor on fire, a dinner arrives under a glass cloud of smoke, a raft built from logs claims the Pacific, a castle wakes the desire to draw again, a night in the Basque hills turns every breath into a negotiation, and a man stops breathing exactly at four in the morning.
Joanna Potepa, a Polish visual artist, writes in still frames: short, precise, open scenes where ordinary life changes angle without asking permission. Her gaze does not chase morals or neat explanations. It observes roads, rooms, animals, objects, losses, accidents and absurdities with the attention of someone who knows a life can transform in silence.
Moving between Spain, the United Kingdom and Poland, this book draws an intimate map of motion, memory and attention.
It is what happened. Geometry of almost.
Collin O’Daurc
Some books invite you into another world, while others grab you by the collar and drag you into one before you’ve figured out what’s happening. C. S. Walkingheart’s Collin O’Daurc belongs firmly in the second category. This wildly imaginative fantasy adventure follows Collin, a British hairstylist living in America whose increasingly frustrating life takes an extraordinary turn after he suffers a stroke. He awakens in a strange version of Tahiti, where history has gone delightfully sideways, familiar rules no longer apply, and an eccentric painter named Paolo Gauguin claims to be the twin brother of the famous artist Paul Gauguin. What begins as a bewildering encounter with an impossible reality grows into a sprawling adventure filled with colorful personalities, unexpected dangers, and questions about identity, friendship, and the nature of existence.
Collin is sarcastic, opinionated, occasionally self-absorbed, and wonderfully aware of how ridiculous his circumstances have become. His narration feels like listening to an entertaining friend recount the strangest experience of his life, complete with tangents, complaints, and observations that make even the most bizarre situations feel oddly relatable. Walkingheart gives Collin a distinctive personality that carries the story through its increasingly unpredictable developments. The supporting characters are equally memorable, particularly the irascible Paolo Gauguin, whose artistic temperament and outrageous behavior provide plenty of comic friction. There’s also Jaune, Paolo’s spirited daughter, and Tully, an extraordinary primate whose personality, loyalty, and unexpected charm make him especially entertaining. Their relationships give the adventure an emotional center that becomes increasingly important as the story progresses.
Readers familiar with Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy will recognize a similar fondness for absurd situations, eccentric companions, and humor that emerges from the collision between ordinary expectations and impossible circumstances. Like Adams, Walkingheart enjoys taking an outrageous premise and following it wherever imagination leads. His approach, however, has a distinctly painterly quality. Landscapes shift, colors seem almost alive, and the boundaries separating dreams, history, and physical reality become wonderfully unpredictable. Walkingheart’s background as an artist is evident in his descriptive passages, which frequently resemble elaborate paintings translated into prose. The book’s illustrations reinforce that visual personality, giving the entire experience the feeling of wandering through an unusually adventurous art gallery.
Beneath the comedy and fantastical scenery, Collin O’Daurc explores some surprisingly thoughtful territory. Questions about personal freedom, faith, cultural assumptions, creativity, and human connection appear throughout the journey, often emerging during conversations that begin with something completely ridiculous. Walkingheart also displays an interest in history, especially the lives of artists and the complicated relationship between individuals and the societies around them. The storytelling is exuberant and frequently digressive, with extended conversations, elaborate descriptions, and enough imaginative detours to fill several smaller novels. At times, that abundance slows the momentum, particularly when philosophical discussions interrupt the action. Still, the leisurely passages contribute to the book’s unusual personality, allowing its characters and strange environments to develop beyond the immediate demands of the adventure.
I think what makes Collin O’Daurc particularly engaging is the affection Walkingheart develops for his characters, even when they’re behaving outrageously. For all its strange creatures, impossible landscapes, shifting realities, and irreverent jokes, this is a deeply personal story about finding direction and discovering meaningful connections in unexpected places. Its humor can be bawdy, its imagination wonderfully unruly, and its emotional moments genuinely affecting. Readers who enjoy unconventional fantasy, literary absurdity, eccentric characters, and adventurous storytelling with a philosophical streak will find plenty to appreciate. Walkingheart has created a curious, crowded, frequently hilarious fictional universe that feels unmistakably his own. Collin O’Daurc is an ambitious, heartfelt adventure that rewards readers willing to surrender to its peculiar logic and enjoy the journey.
Pages: 314 | ASIN : B012YMFYJS
Some Patterns Transcend Time
The Enigma, A Triquetra Chronicle follows a woman who, after a reunion in Scotland, awakens a connection to the past, linking her life to a young woman trapped by society’s expectations in 1911 England. What first drew you to the themes of reincarnation, soul connections, and the possibility that memories or relationships can transcend time?
It’s something I’ve always been drawn to from other stories I’ve seen growing up to going through my own spiritual awakening and learning about all the possibilities.
How do Sophia and Josephine’s different circumstances reveal similarities in their struggles with love, identity, and personal freedom?
Some patterns transcend time and keep coming back as lessons until they are learned…usually the hard way.
How does the novel examine the difference between a powerful romantic attraction and a relationship that genuinely supports personal growth?
I hadn’t thought of it in those terms, but I suppose that it is part of the larger lesson of learning to love self and one’s own needs so they are the foundation for growth and not stemming from someone else.
As readers continue through The Triquetra Chronicles, what larger questions about love, identity, memory, and the connections between lifetimes do you hope they will continue exploring?
My hope is that they are open to the possibilities and if they resonate, take the time to explore what that means for themselves.
Author Links: GoodReads | Instagram | Facebook | Website
Sophia is in Scotland, finally at peace, no longer haunted by the dream that consumed her in The Harbinger. But when her soul sisters arrive and a Friday the 13th, and Summer Solstice draw near…something stirs beneath the surface of their reunion.
In 1911 England, Josephine Findley is a guest in a house that feels more like a cage. Counting the days until her freedom, she finds an unexpected connection; one that history, propriety, and forces beyond her control are determined to sever.
Two women. Two centuries. A truth threading between them that will not stay forgotten.
The Enigma, A Triquetra Chronicle, is the second book in The Triquetra Chronicles. For readers who have already begun the journey with The Harbinger, and for those who are finding the series for the first time. Each book introduces a new past timeline while continuing the present-day journey of Sophia and her circle.
For the woman who knows the past isn’t finished with her.
For readers of The Distant Hours, A Discovery of Witches, and The Memory Painter.
A True, Monstrous Werewolf
The Dancing Wolfeman follows a high school music teacher and DJ whose transformation into a werewolf forces him to navigate dangerous instincts, unexpected romance, and supernatural threats while fighting for his humanity. What inspired the setup of your story?
From a memory way back in 1998 – driving at night on a country road that looked eerie and ominous. Perfect setting for a werewolf ambush. This memory stayed with me, and in December of 2024 it came back to me very vividly, and it stayed with me. I decided to do something about it, so hence my book.
How did you develop the connection between his musical instincts and supernatural transformation?
My son was learning to play the Trombone when I was outlining the book, and I saw his trombone case everyday, and walla – I decided to make my story completely different and make music the anchor that prevents Titus from becoming a true, monstrous werewolf.
Titus struggles with loneliness and emotional disconnection before his transformation. How does becoming a werewolf reshape his understanding of identity and belonging?
It’s all about music, and how it’s shaped his life. If it was wasn’t for the music, it would be just another werewolf tale.
As The Dancing Wolfeman launches a supernatural fiction series, which aspects of Titus’s transformation and relationships offer the greatest opportunities for future exploration?
The relationships with both Nicole and Everett, as all three are interconnected with whatever outcomes I write.
Author Links: GoodReads | X | Facebook | Website
Titus Wolfe never expected his life to change in the blink of an eye. By day, he’s a respected teacher. By night, a DJ who spins vinyl to escape the monotony of his reality, but one fateful night in the foggy woods of Sonoma County, everything shifts. When a terrifying creature attacks, Titus is left with more than just a wound. He’s bitten, and the curse of transformation into a werewolf now looms over him.
As the full moon rises, Titus’s world crumbles. No longer just a man, he feels the primal urges of the werewolf fiction coming to life within him. The transformation is agonizing, leaving him questioning who he really is. The terrifying call of the wild pulls at his very soul, and with every passing night, he grows stronger, faster, and more dangerous.
In this paranormal romance, Titus struggles to hold onto his humanity as he navigates the brutal reality of his new existence. He’s caught in a shapeshifter story where every moment is a battle against the beast inside. His life becomes a journey of survival. As his transformation deepens, he discovers his own strength and a dark side he’s terrified of unleashing.
It’s not just the supernatural thriller he has to face. The people around him notice the change. His relationship with the world and the woman he loves teeters on the brink. Will love save him, or will the monster take over? The lines between human and dark fantasy werewolf blur as he tries to keep his terrifying secret from consuming him.
As a coming-of-age supernatural tale, The Dancing Wolfeman is more than just a werewolf story. It’s about mystery thriller with werewolves, the fantasy horror werewolf lurking in the shadows of our hearts, and the fight to reconcile the person we want to be with the monster we fear we might become. In this urban fantasy werewolf romance and coming-of-age supernatural, the stakes are high, and fighting for control might just mean losing everything.
