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From the blurb of Sophie’s Key, I don’t know why I expected this novel to be a PG-rated Time-Traveler’s-Wife-type adventure. This novel is strong on romance, light on time travel, and just the right amount of action. Sophie Sanders is a woman looking for a new start. After inheriting a […]
The French Powder Mystery is a golden age novel “authored by” Ellery Queen who is also the protagonist. The true authors were cousins Frederic Dannay and Manfred Lee who collaborated on many of this celebrated sleuth’s mysteries. The first eight published are known as the international series because they have […]
Another outstanding illustration by Daniel Johnson, this depiction of the witches of Deliver Us delivers all the salient details of our three main villains. Pictured left to right is Picana, Mya, and Tomana. Picana uses lightning to torture her victims. Insane Mya’s go to method is poison. Tomana is the […]
Full disclosure that I have a story in this anthology. I will only be reviewing the rest of the stories. All remarks below exclude my own story, including the count—twelve stories exist in this anthology. The fairy tale of Red Riding Hood is a cautionary tale in the category of […]
Looking at my last name and the last name of the author of Seeing Red, you’ll understand why this isn’t a review. My brother is author T. M. Doran. As such, this posting is not a proper review of this novel, it won’t receive a rating, and it won’t be […]
I read Dead Leaves by Kealan Patrick Burke and added Dead of Winter immediately to the list. Dead Leaves is a great novel to read at Halloween and during autumn. Dead of Winter, which targets Christmas and wintertime, is not quite at the level as its cousin collection. A sample […]
If I asked “what are the elements that make up a story,” how would you respond? Characters, plot, theme, mood. All correct answers—full points. But most people forget the one element of writing that distinguishes some writers from others. It’s the writing itself. Many, if not all, writers are readers. […]
Sweet Remembrance by Emily Anne Putzke is a hidden treasure and one of the best retellings or interpretations I’ve read of any fairytale. This is a tall claim, but I’ll stick by it. “The Little Match Girl” by Hans Christian Andersen is a short story meant to both challenge and […]
In my Kingdom series, I’ve taken the main character of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Match Girl” and put her into a fantasy epic as a queen. If you’ve read “The Little Match Girl,” this may seem like an odd choice. Yet, Andersen’s short story is a fairy tale, and […]
I created this page for “Tell a Fairy Tale Day” in 2024 (February 26, 2024, to be exact). In 2022, I did something similar for Snow White, see The Snow White Read-Off. This page will be a little different in that it will be a collection of all things “The […]