The Emperor’s Edge by Lindsay Buroker

Buroker has the enviable distinction of being to evoke emotion.   Buroker has also crafted a strong, resourceful female protagonist.   The Emperor is a good soul surrounded by miscreants of the highest order.   A very rare female enforcer (street cop) finds herself immersed in high stakes political intrigue.  Imagine her surprise when she finds herself tied in with the Empires most wanted criminal.

Amaranthe’s has an uncanny ability to enlist the cooperation of an extremely diverse crew of flawed cohorts.  She finds unplumbed strengths and discovers internal fortitude she was unaware she possessed. 

The Emperor has noticed Amaranthe and these alone brands her as a threat to those plotting against the emperor.  

There is action galore to satisfy the most jaded of readers as well as a touch of magic and monsters to leaven the pot.

I really enjoyed this first book of a series and recommend it.    

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Funeral Games by Jay Allan

This book jumped to a new level.   I enjoyed Shadow of Empire and Enemy in the Dark.   I really enjoyed this book.  Blackhawk comes to grip with his alter ego or past history.   The emissary of the Emperor accelerates his plan to take over the planets of the Far Stars.

Blackhawk’s internal conflict plays a large part in this book.   Conflict rages as well as planetary wide conflicts.

A funeral plays a large part in the plot.   This is space opera at it’s best.

I recommend the book.

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

An Illiterate's Confession by William G. Bentrim

Kindle version FREE at Amazon October 8th up to and including October 12, 2019

Spotlight on MAD DOG by Kelly Watt

ABOUT THE BOOK: It's the summer of 1964 and the Supremes are the reigning queens of radio. Sheryl-Anne MacRae dreams of running away from her home on an apple orchard in southwestern Ontario to find her missing mother. But the teenager's plans are put on hold when her uncle and guardian, Fergus, the local pharmacist and an amateur photographer, brings home a handsome young hitchhiker. 

When Sheryl-Anne meets the guitar-toting Peter Lucas Angelo, she falls in love. But life in Eden Valley is not as idyllic as it seems. As the summer progresses, Peter is pulled deeper into Fergus' dangerous underworld – a world of sex, drugs, pornography and apocalyptic visions. 

Through the naïve eyes of the ethereal 14-year old Sheryl-Anne, Kelly Watt explores themes of child abuse and sexual deviance, and the secrets, dissociation and denial that allow it to flourish. 

A gothic tale told in vivid, often hallucinogenic prose, Mad Dog was a 2001 Globe and Mail notable book and Watt's first novel. The book has been republished with a U.S. publisher (an updated edition). 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kelly Watt’s award-winning short stories have been anthologized, published internationally and longlisted for the prestigious CBC Radio’s Short Fiction Contest twice (2017/2015). She is the author of two books—the travel companion Camino Meditations (2014), and the gothic novel Mad Dog (2019). Watt lives in the Ontario countryside with her husband, a miniature schnauzer and three diligent chickens. 

• MAD DOG:
• Author's Facebook: LINK 
• Amazon: LINK

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.