100 Unfortunate Days - Review

Review of

100 Unfortunate Days

Written by Penelope Crowe    

Reviewed by R. Murry

When reading Ms. Crowe’s Days, Salvador Dali’s name came to mind.  He always haunts me every once in a while.  Dali’s painting The Persistence of Memory, an omnipotence of a dream and an unconscious, shows in oil what Penelope demonstrates in her writing.

She writes with a natural surrealistic aptitude that reminds me of Dali’s paintings.  Example of this is in her don’t likes list: I don’t like Yeast infections…or…American Idol, said in the same breath.  Ms. Crowe does this with a smile in her presentation, knowing she'll hit a nerve in someone’s mind.

Her Days, 100 of them, represent many attitudes, one of which is the theme of Self Reliance.  Ralph Waldo Emerson and his Transcendentalists would be proud of her.  Faith in God or the after-life is not all that is needed to survive underlines her episodes with religion.  I posed the question: Is Penelope a Gnostic?

100 Unfortunate Days is not for the faint of heart, overly religious, or weak minded person.  One must have an open mind to read each individual Day.  She doesn’t hole back any punches on any of the subjects to the point you may feel insulted.  Just forget about it and more on to the next Day.  It’s worth it and you’ll be intellectually stimulated on another Day.

I paid $.99 for a read that I will remember.  Penelope Crowe, whatever her real name is, will haunt me, as Dali has since the Sixties.  I paid a dollar for a haunt - What a deal?!

Ms. Crowe links are attached to her interview below:

                   

Voices in my Head

VOICES IN MY HEAD        

Poems by Cindy Smith

Reviewed by R. Murry

Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood was T.S. Eliot’s motto for writing.   His name and motto I picked as a stepping stone because of his American fame and the appropriateness of using his motto in referring to Ms. Smith’s style, which is clear and comprehensible – no mental gymnastics required in reading her poems

I give you a microcosm of her writing technique:

From poem:  OLD MAN        (My note: Man looking back on life.)

…You are thinking of your children

    They are all full grown

    “Where are they? How are they?

    Why have they left me alone?”…

From poem:  NEW LIFE        (My note: Pregnant woman talking to unborn child.)

…I will try to show you

   The best way that I can

   How to love and respect

   The whole family of man…

Cindy Smith writes from the heart.  She, as in the poems OLD MAN, NEW LIFE, and the others in this collection of poetry, communicates in an understanding way that we all can relate to.  I am happy to say that her poems meet T.S. Eliot’s motto’s criteria for being genuine poems.

Being an old man and a father, 65 years old with two adult sons, LOL, I connected right away with these two poems.  I read them a number of times because of their theme and the easy flow of the thoughtful words.

I recommend that you purchase VOICES IN MY HEAD for your bookcase.  Take it out every once in awhile and quietly read a good-heart word or two.  These poems will take you away from your everyday life and make you feel good about yourself, or not.

Purchase at:

Amazon Paperback: http://amzn.to/1m2lRGp

Barnes and Noble:  http://tinyurl.com/cu4q7c8

Review of If Love was Enough

Two Short Stories by                  

Regina Puckett                        

If Love was Enough

            And

   Balloon Wishes
(Angel Collection, 
     Book 1&2)

Reviewed by R. Murry

I took note of what an actor on the TV program Bones said the other day.  Yes, TV.  “God gave us words, so we could put wings on them.” Profound.

Ms. Puckett has put wings on her words in her two short stories that I recommend to be read one after the other, because of a common theme.  However, each holds its own as an inspirational motivator.

I’m a fan of Og Mandino, a Christian inspirational writer of the first caliber.  Regina Puckett’s stories are close to that degree of excellence. 

She takes a simple occurrence that has happened to everyone in the world – the death of a loved one and turns it into a faith changing event.  Her words - those of her characters figuratively speaking - sail into heaven.  One must have faith to believe this to occur.

Ms. Puckett’s main characters question their beliefs and are not always answered in the way one may understand, but they are answered.  These answers Ms. Puckett poses are faith based, but don’t impose a religion on the reader.

She uses Love as her main theme, which motivates us all to do what is right for ourselves.  Ms. Puckett conveys this well in her prose.

For two dollars, I believe, you will be pleased with yourself after reading these two well written Faith Builders.

All of her novels and short stories are on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=regina+puckett

     

   

Heroes and Lovers Review

Review of                           

Heroes and Lovers

By Wayne Zurl

Reviewed by R. Murry

My uncle Lou used the word spiffy to infer that an individual had class, was cool, and had his act together.  Yes, the 60’s.  I’m dating myself again.  I don’t think spiffy is a real word, but it describes Mr. Zurl’s character Sam Jenkins and spell check didn’t put a red line under spiffy.  Sam is a hero with style.

Wayne’s characters come alive in a small Southern State in the United States of America where the day to day life of a relocated New York gray haired detective is accounted for.  Criminal events happen that must be rectified.  Mr. Zurl goes into some detail in his interview below.  I won’t.

What I’ll say is the character Sam is the center of resolving crimes against his town where he is the Chief of Police. The whole story revolves around how he intellectually finds clues that others don’t see.  Not because he is such a brain, but because of his investigative street smarts that they don’t have in the Smokies.

Sam’s wit is sometimes over bearing, but enjoyable to the reader. Not so for the other characters he is surrounded with.  To them, he comes across as not being sensitive enough at times.  He feels he is and can’t understand why they don’t get it.

Here’s where the love comes in.  Three women love him: his wife, a reporter, and his police desk sergeant.  They’re all in love with him on different levels.  Fair to say, this presents some uneasiness for Sam, who tries to understand the why.  

Even though he jokes about these subconscious affairs going on, they pop up to the surface.  Sam is oblivious to the underlining affect.  All the three women try to explain with some break through.

The adventures in this light crime chronicle are appealing to the reader who wants to enjoy a read that is not over bearing with a blood and guts story.  Heroes and Lovers is a fun read with some frills attached. 

Buy at amazon:  http://amzn.to/1IuSeYr
  

     

Becoming Mona Lisa

Becoming Mona Lisa

      Written by Cat Holden Robinson

Reviewed by R. Murry

Developing characters is an art and takes time to bring them alive on the written page.  Ms. Robinson was able to bring alive her main protagonist Mona Lisa Siggs from the dead, figuratively speaking.  Mona and her husband Tom for years have drifted apart, loosing whatever connection they had when they courted and wed.

Here is where Holden Robinson begins a story that will have you crying and laughing at the same time.  The Siggs’ battle among themselves to return to the love they once had; they battle with Mother Nature; and they battle an antagonist who is out of his mind with loneliness.

After looking in the mirror, Mona makes a decision to get back her life that has been declining for years.  Living with a husband who she has lost verbal contact with, she probes him into active reaction by getting a makeover.  It works and the characters come out of their cocoons of living daily boring lives.

From here on in, this novel has you hoping for the best for this couple.  As they move into loving reconciliation, their relationship is hit with situations that are comical, heart breaking, life changing, and dramatic in nature.  The twists and turns will keep you reading, wanting to know what else could get in their way from getting back to that loving feeling they yearn for.

This romantic comedy will keep your eyes pegged to the page; and you may reminisce into how your relationship developed and flourished.   Ms. Robinson wrote a creditable story that one would believe that it really happened to the Siggs’ family.  Or, did this happen to you?

I know you romantics will love this read, as I did.  Publisher Black Rose Writing found another fine writer, as they did with me.  LOL!  Have a good read! 

Cat's fans can reach me through my website at http://www.holdenrobinsonproductions.com/,  

YOU WISH

YOU WISH

      By Terry Tyler

Reviewed by R. Murry             

Her main character Ruth tells the stories, including her own, about the desire of having something the easy way by wishing for it.  This is where the human imagination kicks in – one believes what one cares to believe.  And we attach the notion that it is some universal circumstance that we put in motion because we wish for it, using a conduit albeit a cross, a candle lit in a church, or a stone.

Ms. Tyler takes us through encounters with fate that keeps the reader engaged to find out what happens right to the end.  The people come alive trying to change their personal situations – love of a particular individual, being the right size, or possessing something that hard work can only attain.

There were no lulls in any of the situations Terry introduces.  She has you thinking from the first plot – why would anyone believe that?  The truth be known, we all might fall into the traps of life that Ms. Tyler puts her characters through.  We all want to be loved.  We all want to be the right shape.  And we all want to say the right thing at the right moment, but we always don’t, like the people in her book. 

I give thumbs up to this novel that gets into what motivates the human mind in such a clear and precise way. 

    

The Highlander

The Highlander, The Rise of the Aztecs Series,      Book 1

        Author Zoe Saadia

Reviewed by R. Murry

      The Highlander is a well thought out historical novel that portrays real people doing what their nation-tribes have done for years.  The main characters are young leaders breaking out into their own predetermined   adventures.

     The elders are determined to control their situations in the world.  The young people (Coyotl, Kuini, and Izrac) rebel that world in their own way to change it for others and themselves.

     Ms. Saadia brings this out in detailed conversations and confrontations that propels this intriguing developed story forward, keeping the reader’s attention.  The reader will not be bored with historical data. 

    The young people are the future and the only names that are important: Coyotle, the emperor’s first born son, wants to change the way things are done – social reform.  Kuini, the great warlord’s son, wants to change breakdown bearers between peoples.  Iztac, the princess, wants to liberate herself and others from their bondage to the way men think.

     Zoe Saadia makes their points clear, using well developed conversations.  Although these young people are not Aztecs, they see common ground in others, where the elders don’t.  Especially Kuini, The Highlander, in his confrontations and communal exchanges with the only Aztec – The Aztec Warlord.  To a point, the Aztec influences Kuini’s decisions. Against the Aztec and his father’s wishes, Kuini becomes a warrior in Coyotl’s father’s army – their enemy.

     In this end is a new beginning for Coyotl and Kuini, which may include princess Iztac. Fate will determine that end.

     Saadia’s novel is an excellent lead in to the next chapter of the lives of these three young leaders.  I for one will continue to read the series, because of the enjoyable read of book #1.  Will you?     

Purchase at http://www.amazon.com/Highlander-Rise-Aztecs-book-ebook/dp/B009CCBCU4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398682876&sr=1-1&keywords=the+highlander