BG's Reads

November 26, 2024

The Princess of Thornwood Drive by Khalia Moreau

This title, The Princess of Thornwood Drive by Khalia Moreau, was brought to my attention by a cousin of mine living in Trinidad. The author, the daughter of my cousin’s close friend, was born in the United States and moved to Trinidad for part of her primary and high school years and is now a medical doctor living in the States. This title is also the Editor’s Pick for best science fiction and fantasy at Amazon Books. Honestly, I really enjoyed this read.

This creative, moving and sometimes suspenseful novel deals with loss, love and family ties. The bond between two sisters, 22-year-old Laine and 18-year-old Alyssa, is explored, tested and stressed as they occupy different realities after a tragic car accident. Each chapter alternates between these realities, one modern-day and the other a parallel magical, fantasy world.

Twenty-two year-old Laine is left alone with the responsibility of caring for her disabled sister and trying to keep the family home. She had to leave college, works in a coffee shop and also gives horse riding lessons part-time. Unbeknownst to Laine, Alyssa, who is confined to a wheel chair and non-verbal, is in fact functioning in an alter realty, a place called Mirendal, where she and her family are royalty. In Mirendal, Laine and Alyssa’s parents, the King and Queen, are in danger in the Dark Forest after an attack (the accident). Alyssa, cursed as a changel, is trying to find her parents and also warn her sister of the danger they are all in.

Now, while reading I’m thinking that Alyssa is immobile and non-verbal, but is this where her mind is, in this world of Mirendal? She goes to a daycare facility daily and the caretakers drug the patients when they become violent or troublesome. When she is drugged, Alyssa goes further into different planes/realities of this magical world. Here in other planes, she meets creatures that help in her search for her parents. She can communicate with the other disabled, non-verbal patients in this fantasy world as well – they are also cursed changels. This is Alyssa’s reality while locked in a non-functioning body.

To complicate things, Laine meets two men who may be interested in her – a doctor who frequents the coffee shop where she works and a therapist from the daycare Alyssa attends. From contact with the therapist at the daycare, Alyssa is convinced that this therapist is dangerous, means her and Laine harm, so she believe she must find a way to warn her sister.

While spending time with the therapist, however, Laine does find out that he may be dangerous and that he may have abused her sister at the facility – he takes trinkets from patients. She found something of Alyssa’s in his apartment. This therapist, Laine fears, is using the facility as cover to abuse the vulnerable and she has to find a way to stop him.

The bond between Laine and Alyssa is quite strong, very moving. The author, through her life experiences, personal and professional, gives the reader her own perspective of what brings family together through love and loss and also of patient care, physical and mental – I suggest you read the author’s note. The fantasy, alter-reality elements of this novel are captivating, as well as emotional and incorporate some elements of Trinidad folklore – nice to read for a change.

In my view, reading The Princess of Thornwood Lane may lead you to ask the questions – What is happening, if anything, when you can’t reach a person by communicating – is the person active in any way? Are they aware of you trying to reach them and unable to respond, basically trapped in their non-functioning body? Again, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel by talented author, Khalia Moreau. I hope you pick up a copy and give The Princess of Thornwood Lane a read.

October 30, 2024

Dear Hanna by Zoje Stage

My October 2021 Halloween post, Baby Teeth, about the very disturbed, homicidal 7-year-old Hanna, who tried on more than one occasion to kill her mother, is now 25 years old in the novel Dear Hanna by Zoje Stage. This sequel puts us in the passenger seat of Hanna’s disturbed mind as a grown-up trying to keep the family that she’s built.

The novel is told through Hanna’s narrative and her thoughts. She actually still blames her parents for sending her to the institute for disturbed children and blames her mother for her father turning away from her. The few years at the institute has taught Hanna how to hide her violent urges from people better, and she still has them. She doesn’t believe anything she’s done is wrong and still believes her mother is the main problem, not her. Surprisingly, Hanna still lived with her parents, although estranged, until she moved out to live with and then marry her husband, Jacob.

One positive person in Hanna’s life seems to be her younger 13-year-old brother, Goose, who is away at a boarding school. They write letters to each other, where they disclose their inner thoughts and work out their daily life problems. Several short chapters are devoted to these letters, which offers a good look into the mind of Hanna and you realize she hasn’t really changed at all.

Pages: 1 2

August 5, 2024

The Guest by Alan Nayes

I love science fiction. Whether it’s a subject that expands or is based on an existing premise or theory, or something that’s completely fabricated, as long as the author makes it fly off the page as believable while reading. I’ll get on that ride till the end. Love sic-fi. This title, The Guest by Alan Nayes is a great read!

This is based on an existing premise, with a twist of what if. The Voyager I probe, launched in September of 1977, has spent over 45 years in space. Mentioned in my December 2021 post, Fire & Ice by Natalie Starkey, Voyager I was sent to explore the outer planets, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. Voyager is now currently continuing its journey beyond our planets and the outer limits of the Sun’s sphere of influence, sending back images as it travels. So, when I became aware of this title, I had to give it a read.

As the novel begins, it’s late evening at NASA Voyager Control Center, when an anomaly is noticed by a doctorate candidate, Aarush Patel and the head of the Center, Dr Kayla Storm. Voyager I, now in interstellar space, beyond the gravitational pull of the sun, had started to decelerate, and had doubled in weight – how was this possible. Then the sensors showed Voyager was beginning to alter its course, again how was this possible? Voyager I, a body travelling at constant speed in a straight line would continue to do so unless disturbed by an outside force – they needed more data of Voyager’s surroundings. Then they lost contact.

Voyager begins transmitting again a few days later. It turned around, heading back on the exact path it took, at an alarming speed, thousands of miles per second, while maintaining its structural integrity. The scientists at the control center didn’t know how this was possible. An astrobiologist attending the control center’s media briefing raises a theory – Voyager has encountered and has been taken over by an alien species and the Voyager has been altered somehow – its components changed to withstand the journey back to Earth in days rather than years – changed to a strange and unfamiliar molecular combination of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen.

Many groups were involved with monitoring Voyager at this point, with these new developments, the press, global scientists, the United Nations, and the military. They were all monitoring Voyager’s path that took decades to accomplish, being spanned in a matter of weeks. The once sleepy and dull Voyager project spanning decades in length, now became very interesting and perplexing. Indeed, when Voyager finally lands back on Earth, in the deserts of Arizona, the astrobiologist’s theory proves right, the probe did have an alien presence on board.

This alien had plans for the planet that did not include its current inhabitants. With its advanced technology, it begins transforming the planet into an ecosystem (atmosphere and temperature) that can support its alien life and is deadly to Earth lifeforms. The military and scientists try everything in their present arsenals to combat this alien but are unsuccessful. Their military force and technologies are completely inferior to the alien that seems unstoppable. Thier only hope is to figure out the base carbon-oxygen-hydrogen formula of their technology and then counter it.

This novel was really an interesting, thriller of a sci-fi. The conflict between the military and the science community with the impending, looming threat was intense. It really makes you think about this home of ours, the lands we have invaded in the past and if we have a right to this planet at all – if might is right and to the victor the spoils. And Voyager I? Where is it right now? Both probes are still out there travelling through the vastness of interstellar space in communication with Earth. You can track both Voyager I and II here Voyager – Mission Status (nasa.gov) and I hope you give The Guest by Alan Nayes a read!

May 31, 2024

Children Of The Sun by Heru Ptah

Children Of The Sun by Heru Ptah, is an action-packed adventure tale that visits the ancient cultures and civilizations of those that are not always read about in our history books. Two children, empowered by their grandmother, and their neighborhood friend travel back in time to different eras of ancient history to retrieve parts of a supernatural being in order to bring balance back to the Earth. During these travels ancient civilizations are revealed, a great history lesson for kids and all, while the protagonists are on an adventure. There are thirteen pieces, located in different times and places, that have to be found

Pages: 1 2

March 24, 2024

NEVER CAUGHT -The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar

For Women’s History Month, here’s a title, Never Caught by Erica Armstrong Dunbar, about a runaway enslaved woman, owned by George Washington’s family. It’s the year 1796. The first president of the United States and his wife, slave owners from Virginia, are living in the country’s capital, Philadelphia Pennsylvania. Ona Judge, owned by the president and his wife, first went with the family in 1789 to the capital, New York, and then on to Philadelphia, when the capital was moved in 1790. There she was exposed to a city with a community of free blacks and organizations that helped enslaved people. She experienced more freedoms in the North than on the Washington plantation in Virginia.

In the spring of 1796, Ona Judge received devastating news – she was to return to the southern state of Virginia to be gifted to Martha Washington’s recently married granddaughter. Judge decided to make a bold move, in May 1796, while the family was having dinner, she walked out of the Washington home in Philadelphia and never returned. The author became aware of Judge while researching another project. Decades after her escape, Judge gave two interviews describing her story that appeared in abolitionist newspapers in the 1840’s.

Pages: 1 2

February 29, 2024

Aftermath by Levar Burton

It’s 2024. For this year’s Black History Month, the theme is African Americans and the Arts. So, I thought I’d write a little something to pay respect to the actor Levar Burton, best known for his roles as Kunta Kinte in Roots, Lt Commander Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: Next Generations and host of the Reading Rainbow. For decades, Mr Burton has been a promoter of literacy and reading, the main reason I am a big fan. For years, he’s been a positive force in the industry of the arts and media.

Burton is also an author, and his novel was cited last year by portalist.com in their article 10 Adult Sci-Fi Books That Grown-Up Readers Won’t Be Able to Put Down – very impressive. Honestly, I was not aware of this title or that Burton authored a novel, until I read this article. Being a fan, I got the title and read it immediately and wasn’t disappointed. The novel, Aftermath, first published in 1997, is an alternate history science fiction that takes place in the 2010’s and concentrates on four characters, strangers of different backgrounds, from different locations, that are brought together by circumstance and a vision of the future.

The novel begins in 2010, when the first black president of the United States is elected and then assassinated soon after, triggering violence and civil race-war that tears apart society to dystopian levels. Our first character, Leon Cane, lives in Atlanta and once worked for NASA as a scientist. Unfortunate turn of events and tragedy, leads him to lose his job and family, and is he now homeless, living on the streets. On his way to his hideout one evening, he runs into a woman being chased in an alley. She slips something to him, and tells him to run, before she is caught and carried away.

Dr Rene Reynolds, also from Atlanta, is a research scientist. Her Neuro-Enhancer treatment not only cures Parkinson’s disease but also helps the body fight and eliminate cancers by enhancing brain activity. She’s looking for funding to expand her project. After sharing the promising aspects of her research with the science community and possible investors, she is kidnapped by unknown assailants and brought to Chicago. She runs into Leon, a total stranger, before being taken and slips him vital micro computer chips for her research. (One thing she keeps secret from everyone – prolonged use of the enhancer produces the side effect of telepathic abilities in some individuals – her for one) Using her power, she mentally calls for help.

Amy Ladue lost her family when the city of St Louis was destroyed in a devastating earthquake caused by the shift of the New Madrid fault. She does not remember her past and lives on what’s left of the devastated streets of St Louis. Amy believes her mother is still alive and tries to find her after hearing her distant cries.

The fourth character in the chain of the story is Lakota Medicine Man, Jacob Fire Cloud, who sits atop a hill in South Dakota praying for guidance for his people, the nation and the world. He receives a vision and knows what he has to do – go to Chicago to help the White Buffalo Woman, a legend to his people.

Driven by instinct, circumstances and a voice that means something different to each stranger, these four people are brought together. When they meet, their purpose for themselves and the future of humanity becomes clear. What develops and unfolds is a powerful, disturbing and thrilling read, with a thoughtful moral message.

The fact that Aftermath was published in 1997 and Burton presents a near-future United States in the 2010’s with the first elected Black president, was just prophetic. This science fiction was a great read from beginning to end, with well woven storylines and relatable characters. I’m surprised Burton hasn’t published more. The good news – Burton recently announced that he will be publishing a memoir in 2026 and a book on the importance of reading in 2028. In the meantime, give this title, Aftermath by Levar Burton, a read and check out his podcast, Levar Burton Reads, where he reads short stories.

Levar Burton has influenced so many and children and young people over the years and has inspired and made me proud to be an avid reader. The way he talks about literacy, reading and the written word with such enthusiasm and excitement is infectious. Language arts rocks guys – Thanks in part to Levar Burton’s contribution!!

December 13, 2023

Searching For Happy by Venus Knight

Searching For Happy by Venus Knight is the author’s debut novel. This would be a great gift for someone or yourself for the holidays. It was simply a wonderful page-turner. Ms. Knight is Brooklyn, NY based and is a childhood friend of my sister. This talented writer has been writing short stories and poems for years, so of course, I had to get a copy and give it a read. It deals with the everyday struggles of a young woman, her mental instability, the causes, her crushing, emotionally and physically paralyzing symptoms and the brave steps she takes to find peace and help herself. And it was great reading a realistic book that takes place in Brooklyn, from an author that knows – Brooklyn!

The novel opens with a prologue called Mr. Charlie. A nice man, a veteran, married, living an ordinary, routine life, witnesses something he decides he has to make right. Mr. Charlie murders his coworker. Ok, so it starts off with a bang. Now as a reader, when I finish reading a prologue, it leaves me wondering about the story that follows, how the event fits into the rest of the plot. Right? So definitely, approaching chapter one, you’ll want to keep reading.

The main character, Happy Williams, a high school teacher, who is not doing well mentally, struggles to get through her daily routine. She lacks the drive to get out of bed in the morning, has panic attacks and self-worth issues. Having an abusive adoptive mother, in addition to being in a relationship with a married man, isn’t a help to Happy’s well-being. Happy knows that she isn’t alright. She knows she could be in a better place mentally. But how can she get there?

She doesn’t know the exact steps to take, but she follows her instincts, step by step. First a road trip to connect with her family, possibly to find answers about her past. And through this journey, things begin to unravel and fall into place for her. Throughout Happy’s trials and experiences, the author through her storytelling delves into what a person may experience with mental illness. This was woven into the story with humor and thoughtfulness. While reading, you are literally laughing out loud at some points and tearing up at others.

And oh, the prologue. It has the novel kicking off with a great exciting start and we know it is linked to the story in some way – but how? It begins to unfold with matching names, family history and revealed secrets. So, while you are enjoying and being moved by Happy’s journey, you have to pay attention as the answers unfold – I enjoyed that and it was well done. It all comes together, giving the reader closure. I’m not giving details on purpose, because I don’t want to spoil the read for you!

This book was just wonderfully written. It was funny, moving, relatable, and a page-turner. It’s not just the story that’s good – it’s just a nice literary ride! The language, the poetry – brilliantly done! Searching For Happy is a great debut from this author! Venus Knight definitely should write many more novels – can’t wait to read her next one!! Congratulations Venus!

October 29, 2023

Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu

BG’s Copy First Published 1872, Published by Pushkin Press 2020

It’s Halloween month and I recently went to see the play Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors, a spoof of Bram Stoker’s Dracula that was first published in 1897. The production was very entertaining and extremely funny. They even had Bram Stoker’s book on sale. But was anyone aware that there was a vampire story published by another Irish author in 1872? I wasn’t, until I found this title while browsing in the Posman Books store in Chelsea Market. Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu was published more than 25 years before Stoker’s novel.

Pages: 1 2

August 30, 2023

Drowning by T. J. Newman

Drowning written by author T J Newman, is an ex-flight attendant, so she really knows what the responsibilities and capabilities of flight attendants are. She brought them to the forefront of this story and gave them authentic power and relevance.

Crashed and submerged in the ocean, passengers aboard a commercial airplane come together to survive. The author educates us about the dynamics of the ocean, diving to its depths, and capabilities of underwater rescue. There are ten people aboard the submerged plane.

Will Kent and his eleven-year-old daughter, Shannon, are aboard a flight between Honolulu and his daughter’s summer camp in California. Minutes after take-off, one of the engines burst into flames, followed by system failures of the aircraft, forcing the crew to land on open water. They did not have the capability to turn around or reach anywhere else on land. Air traffic control is aware of their situation and approximate location, by way of the crew’s last communications. The crew has informed them they have to land on the ocean below them.

Will, an oil rig engineer is familiar with the environment and conditions of the ocean, and advises the surviving crew not to leave the cabin of the plane, which sounds crazy to the other passengers, who believe it’s the obvious course of action to go out to the open water away from the plane to be picked up by responding rescue crews. But Will explains that the engulfing fires outside combined with the trade winds over the open water, a slow-moving emergency raft or a person swimming, could not outmaneuver the unpredictable moving bodies of flames. Anyone going outside would eventually be burned alive. Some take his advice, some don’t. A short time after most of the passengers leave the plane, the engine explodes and the plane sinks to the ocean floor with the remaining passengers inside and the inferno above with the other passengers, with the rescue teams on their way.

Once submerged the author explains the dynamics of the ocean, how deep it is and the dangers of the pressure changes below. The ocean is broken into five zones, with the top five percent being the most inhabited sunlight zone. The remaining four were darker, colder, and subject to extreme pressure. Once the rescue teams arrived, they discovered that the plane was banked, nose down on the summit of a sunken volcano, that was now a broad shelf or cliff – they were within reach, 55 meters (180 ft) down. But how to get 10 people out of a sunken container without drowning them was the puzzle.

The co-protagonist in the novel is Will Kent’s wife, Chris, who is the owner of an underwater construction and rescue/recovery diving company. She is an expert diver and architect of new designs to fit unique situations that may arise in the marine environment. She believes her crew has the knowledge and capability to rescue the remaining crew and passengers of the submerged plane, however, being civilians among Navy and Coast Guard personnel, their expertise is sidelined and undermined, expending precious time and oxygen of the people below the surface. Not to mention failure could also mean compromising the vulnerable positioning of the submerged plane, sending it over the edge to the dark pressurized depths below.

The novel is fast paced, with technical mentions and explanations of the plane’s design, deep diving technique, and underwater rescue, which was interesting and intense. Relating this knowledge informed the reader just how dangerous and precarious the situation really was and that no one was safe, not the submerged passengers or those attempting rescue.

Simultaneously, on the emotional end, the experiences of the passengers and the plane’s crew are brought to life skillfully by the author, sometimes with tearjerking intensity. I loved the interactions between the passengers and the technical/rescue teams above, just great! Drowning by T J Newman is an action-packed thriller of a read, with tensions building right to the very end. I recommend this one for sure!

July 29, 2023

On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed

On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed, is part history and memoir by an insider, an African American’s prospective on Texas by a Texan. The author, Annette Gordon-Reed, is a proud Texan, because her family’s roots are in the state. It’s where her family has been for generations – It has been, and is, their home. But because of her family’s African heritage, she also is aware and mindful of the more layered history of the state of Texas and what was for generations an African American holiday in Texas, Juneteenth.

June 19th, 1865, shortened to Juneteenth, was the day that African Americans, held under the yoke of slavery, were told that they were free. It was two years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation (January 1865) and two months after the Confederate forces surrendered to the Union forces at Appomattox, Virginia. Major General Gordon Granger of the United States Army, arrived in Galveston Texas and issued General Order No. 3, which stated that all slaves were free with equality of personal and property rights and the relationship between master and slave was now employer and employee (do I have to tell you guys that the part in italics became a problem?)

The author relates the history of Texas and its racism toward people of color and especially those of African descent. Texas was formed by white settlers, who were originally welcomed by Mexican residents of the area (Tejanos) and the government of Mexico who wanted aid and protection against Native Americans. The white Texans, who embraced the enslavement of Africans and refused to end the practice, later fought against their Mexican allies to secede as an independent territory in 1836. This new Texan republic’s constitution welcomed all free white people with their slaves, said that all slaves would continue to be slaves in perpetuity, and excluded all free Africans and Indians from citizenship and privileges. Years later, in 1845, Texas would join the United States as a slave state and later, secede to form the Confederacy.

Put simply by the author, “Texas is a White Man”. They decided who claimed the country as their own and who had the right to be a citizen – they had the power and wrote the state’s constitution after all, solidifying their beliefs, enslaving others for generations. The author points out that General Order No. 3 was based on the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed slaves “in states rebelling against the Union”. So, it only affected states in the Confederacy – ten in all – South and North Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, Virginia, Arkansas, and Texas. Slavery was still legal in slave states that did not secede – Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri and Delaware! Slavery was not abolished in all states until the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified by the necessary number of states (be aware, not all states ratified this amendment originally). And may I point out, even this amendment had an exception – “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, EXCEPT as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the US, or place subject to their jurisdiction”. The 13th Amendment stands as is to this day.

So, given this history, it is no surprise that white Texans resisted freeing their slaves or treating the African with any type of respect or equality. They believed that the African was inferior, and being enslaved to the superior race was a natural condition. The free labor of Blacks was intertwined with the success of the white economy of Texas. The author gives a history of the violence and discrimination of Black people and her family’s in the state of Texas throughout the years and after slavery as common practice, and how the holiday of Juneteenth was celebrated among Black Texans for generations.

This book gives an informative, interesting, personal family account of the history of Juneteenth in Texas and Texas itself. There is definitely more than one version of history, depending on who is telling it. This book is filled with personal, family, and local narratives from the author that gives a truly valuable, interesting inside view of history. On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed is really an excellent read!