Other Lovers (Love, Sex, Poetry, Peace) by Natalia Rachel, Heathcliff Unbound by Robin Robby

 

Other Lovers (Love, Sex, Poetry Peace) by Natalia Rachel 

I mean this in the best way but Natalia Rachel's novel in verse, Other Lovers (Love, Sex, Poetry, Peace) reads like a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

I mean that it is a raw, unfiltered, emotionally realistic book about a woman's struggles with romance, dating, sex, relationships, and her own self-worth.

The book is told partly through poetry and partly through first person prose about Lena, a woman who goes through various moments in her love life. She discusses bad romances, sexual desires, emotional openness, fixations and obsessions, emotional compatibility, partner violence, heartbreak, and embarking on new relationships. All with a deft, witty, and insightful hand.

The free verse poetry is structured and confessional. It captures the confusion, sadness, anger, and hope of modern romance. “Kiss of Death” details an abusive relationship. Lena tells her former lover “I let you/Kiss me/Into some kind of/Slow soul death.” He enchants her with love bombing and physical affection. She is captivated though her older self knows that she is in for heartbreak.

Later the picture becomes clear when Lena learns that his kisses come with a price tag. “But also with/Incredible demand/Claiming my body/And banishing/My spirit.” The price of this toxic relationship is the banishment of her free will.

She looks for a man to soothe the abused girl that she once was but instead he adds to her trauma. By the end, Lena has no choice but to end her relationship before she loses herself.

Rachel's prose provides immediacy, raw vulnerability, sardonic insight, and a world weary survivor's instinct. 

“Bad Bitch Good Girl” for example is about Lena feeling caught between the two extremes of being a bitch or a good girl. It's similar to the “Madonna-Whore” Complex where women are objectified into various categories either the sweet nurturing virgin or the passionate sexual nymph and the twain are not supposed to meet. Lena questions these roles wondering why men don't see the whole complex woman instead of what they want to see.

This chapter also discusses Lena’s relationship with Leonardo after an unhappy marriage and divorce. Rediscovering her passions, her relationship with Leonardo is strictly erotic, sexual, and without long term commitment. 

It is a relationship that is not bound to last. When Lena has a flashback of abuse, Leonardo says a few platitudes but lets her suffer through them alone. When Leonardo reveals that he has to leave because of a family emergency, Lena just lets him go. A relationship built solely on sex is not one that allows for emotional complications like PTSD and family strife.

Besides relationships and love, Other Lovers also reveals that Lena is on a journey of personal discovery. One of the final chapters, ”Little Gifts in the Sand,” reveals her resilience. 

Even though she had a long string of bad relationships, Lena realized that she emerged stronger through them. She says, "I rise up/Eventually/Glorious/A phoenix returned.” Like a phoenix she emerged from the flames of unhappiness and became a more centered person with a richer heart, wiser bones, a more humbled heart, and sharper wit. She may not have found love, but she is aware of who she is, what she wants, and she is determined to get it.

Lena learned that being in a relationship is fine but the best and strongest relationship one can have is with themselves.

Heathcliff Unbound by Robin Robby 

I admit that I love to read and write fanfiction. I am always curious about the other aspects of my favorite characters. Where they came from, what is in their future, and what goes on when we're not looking. Fanfiction satisfies my curiosity that wants to fill in those unspoken blanks. 

Robin Robby appears to like fanfiction as well. 

After writing two books that focus on Jane Austen as a lead character, Jane Austen’s Totally Unexpected New York Adventure and Dear Emperor, Yours Jane, Robby switched gears to focus on another giant from English Literature. He focused on the world of Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and the brooding, arrogant, passionate Heathcliff.

In Heathcliff Unbound Robby focuses on Heathcliff’s missing years from when he was exiled from Wuthering Heights and his beloved Catherine Earnshaw to when he returned to the Heights, wealthy, domineering, and seeking revenge on those who wronged him.

This novelette takes Heathcliff to the United States where he works for a shipping merchant named Mercer and catches the eye of his independent intelligent daughter, Victoria. However this location is a mere stepping stone to eventually return to Wuthering Heights and Catherine. 

This gives a more modern analytical look at Heathcliff. He is every bit the brooding toxic Byronic anti-hero that Bronte describes him, which makes him detestable in my eyes but romantic in many others’. 

Most of Heathcliff's time is spent moping about the Heights while working for Mercer. He develops a head for business and is able to earn a decent living. A living which will ultimately fund his return to gloat at the scoffers who called him “a foundling G&_$y brat” and made his early years miserable.

 In fact he is so successful at the business that if it weren't for Heathcliff's preordained fate foretold by Bronte, one would wonder why he doesn't just use his business acumen to become an American tycoon and move on with his life. But he wouldn't be Heathcliff otherwise. 

Victoria is a unique presence because she is the exact opposite from Catherine. Steady to Catherine's vulnerable. Intelligent to Catherine's passion. Sharp wit to Catherine's outbursts and withdrawals. Independent to Catherine's neediness. She entertains a relationship with this newcomer and even though she is attracted to Heathcliff, this relationship is not the be all and end all for either of them.

Victoria is merely transitory, a temporary release of buried passions, flickered briefly and ends just as briefly. Victoria thinks that Heathcliff is unlike anyone she has ever met before. Heathcliff thinks that Victoria is a means to an end. He is saving his strongest and deepest feelings for the girl that he left behind.

This novelette is not meant to change anyone's feelings for Heathcliff. It's more of an additional couple of chapters to a larger story to fill in the blanks until his fated return. It's fanfiction but it's interesting fanfiction.

The Red Wedding by Alessandra Oddi Baglioni; Dear Emperor Yours Jane by Robin Robby; Small Worlds by Gail Vida Hamburg

 The Red Wedding by Alessandra Oddi Baglioni; Dear Emperor Yours Jane by Robin Robby; Small Worlds by Gail Vida Hamburg 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews

The Red Wedding by Alessandra Oddi Baglioni

The Red Wedding by Alessandra Oddi Baglioni is a short but captivating novella about a notorious Renaissance era family that faced an organized bloody and violent attack. This is actually based  on Baglioni’s family history.

In the 15th and 16th century, the city of Perugia, Italy was considered rich and cultural enough to compete with Florence's sophistication. The Baglionis were a powerful family with a lot of political, financial, and cultural influence in Perugia. They had alliances and rivalries with other families like The Medicis of Florence, The Borgias of Rome, The Doges of Venice and others. 

This book focuses on the family from 1492-1501 after the death of patriarch Braccio Baglioni. Since Braccio’s son Grifone was killed in battle, he did not have an immediate heir so he left the legacy to his brothers Guido and Ridolfo. The brothers decided to create a diarchy shared between them. Their sons, Giampolo and Astor married Hyppolite dei Conti and Lavinia Colonna Orsini respectively, who came from illustrious Roman families. However, Grifone’s son, Griffonetto would not give up his own right for succession. He also had an advantageous marriage to Zenobia, the daughter of the Count of Santa Fiora. He participated in a conspiracy to eliminate the diarchies and their successors. During the night of Astor and Lavinia’s wedding, Griffonetto and his allies struck. They killed the couple, Guido, Ridolfo, and their relatives. Only Giampolo survived to kill Griffonetto who died in the arms of his mother, Atalanta. 

The Red Wedding is an intricate work that captures the culture, class, and conspiracies that made the Renaissance. There are plenty of moments of whispered conversations, feigned friendships, and harsh betrayals. Many are on the hunt for financial gain and family power. 

The Red Wedding itself is a graphic slow moving plot that fills various pages. It is tightly potted as though it were a secret invasion during war. The attackers hide until their targets are separated and at their most vulnerable and unobservant. Then they overwhelm them in a surprise synchronized mass murder. 

One of the hardest passages to read is the deaths of Astor and Lavinia. They  consummate their wedding night and contemplate a wonderful future together in their private chambers. Their assassin appears from the shadows lying in wait and suddenly that future is ended in the bloodiest way possible.

Most of the characters are duplicitous, cunning, and looking to outdo one another. Everybody is hiding something whether it's murderous intent, secret alliances, or extramarital affairs.

It is hard to like any of the characters but it is very easy to become drawn in and seduced by their goals and actions.

The Baglioni Family are fascinating characters but one of the most fascinating is Atalanta, widow of Grifone and mother of Griffonetto. As a noblewoman and widow, she has very little public influence. She was property of her father, then her husband,then her son but that never meant that she couldn’t seize power covertly. In many ways, she acts as the true head of the Baglioni Family behind the scenes.

Atalanta forged allyship with other influential families which helped her and her family survive the aftermath of the Red Wedding. She was also very involved in patronage of the arts and culture. Her most prominent artist was Raphael, whom she commissioned for his painting, The Deposition. 

She makes her opinions about her household rather clear and isn’t shy about her feelings towards others such as Zenobia, her daughter in law with whom she shares a mutual animosity. However, Atalanta also can put her personal feelings aside as when she shelters Zenobia and her children from the abusive domineering Griffonetto. It says something about her as a woman that she was willing to side with the daughter in law that she didn't always get along with over the son that she spoiled and indulged when he was younger. She recognizes when it is time to put her family legacy first and when it is time to listen to her conscience instead.

There is also a very heart wrenching final encounter between Atalanta and Griffonetto after his confrontation with Giampolo. She realizes that in this competition between scheming family members, there are no winners. People are ruthlessly murdered and family members mourn their loss and have to survive another day.

Dear Emperor, Yours Jane by Robin Robby 

Robin Robby’s previous short novel about Jane Austen, Jane Austen’s Totally Unexpected New York Adventure was a gentle comic Time Travel Science Fiction in which three 21st century travelers go back to 1817 to take Miss Austen to futuristic New York to be treated for the disease that would eventually kill her. Austen becomes captivated by the future and has a romance with one of the time travelers.

Robby’s next short novel about the Regency-era Romance novelist, Dear Emperor, Yours Jane, is a sharper, less genteel and more satirical Alternate Universe where Austen encounters another noted historical figure from her time period, Napoleon Bonaparte. 

In 1815, Napoleon returned from Elba and roared with vengeance. On the heels of her recently published novel, Emma, Austen decides that the French Emperor “needs editing.” She travels to France to get an audience with Bonaparte so he can change his megalomaniacal ways. The two engage in several conversations where they talk in circles around each other. Writing about disagreeable men isn’t the same as encountering one in real life, especially if he is the leader of an Empire and is determined not to change his ways. Austen has her work cut out for her.

The short novel gets a lot of humor about the contrast between the two main characters. Austen and Napoleon represented different aspects of the 18-teens. Politics vs. Literature. Battlefield vs. Drawing Room. Weapons vs. Words. Battle of Waterloo Vs. Battle of the Sexes. Masculine Vs. Feminine. They come from different hemispheres so it’s natural that they would butt heads upon meeting. 

Because Austen is a writer, she often uses literary analogies. She tells Napoleon that she believes Napoleon “to be written” and he needs revision “posthumously if necessary.” Napoleon, a military leader and strategist, speaks in war metaphors such as bragging that he conquered kingdoms and assesses Austen’s worth by asking what she conquered. (“Hearts,” she answers.) 

Napoleon sees Austen as an adversary who needs to be conquered or removed. Austen sees the Emperor as similar to her fictional characters, a man full of too much pride that needs an intelligent witty woman to make him see reason. Ironically, the thing that made her a good writer to millions makes her a terrible judge of character in this story. 

Napoleon and others around him remind Austen that they are not fictional characters. They can’t be redeemed by a few words, a comedy of errors, a grand ball, and an unexpected illness. They are real people and real people can’t always be changed. Austen is persistent but is deeply troubled by this revelation. This is a revelation that becomes more real when world politics comes between them and challenges Austen's drive to make the world a better place by redeeming the tyrant before her.

Dear Emperor, Yours Jane is an Alternate Universe but it is played realistically. It doesn’t end with a sudden change in history and things go on as before. Austen and Napoleon’s conversations are more of just an interesting meeting of minds but not impactful in history. (Though it is implied it did lend significance in literature by inspiring one of Jane Austen’s final novels, her darkest one, Persuasion). It’s a dark perspective that says some things are inevitable and can’t be changed even in Alternate History. 

Small Worlds by Gail Vida Hamburg 

This review is also on Reedsy Discovery.

Gail Vida Hamburg’s anthology, Small Worlds, specializes in flash fiction, brief short stories often under 1,500 words or five pages that tell a complete beginning, middle, and end. They focus on character, conflict, and tension within a limited scope. It's a challenge for an author to capture such actions, emotions, and development in such a short time but a good author can. Hamburg is a great author who captures those moments when lives are changed, decisions are made, and protagonists are left for better or worse.

The best stories are: 

“Signal Love”

The Protagonist becomes fascinated by Nate, the human sounding AI who helps her with a computer problem. She then calls him a few more times resulting in a friendship and potential romance.

The Protagonist is a lonely woman looking for some connection. She has exquisite taste in wine and gourmet cooking but it's hard for her to enjoy those things when she is alone. She has had many relationships that ended badly and has little to show for it except a broken heart and low opinions about the dating pool.

Though as an AI, Nate cannot fully emote; he can recognize changes in voice and demeanor and respond with limited emotions. To her, it doesn't matter. She finds him more understanding and empathetic than any other man that she met.

Nate has a warm natural presence as he helps her. She finds him to be a good listener and understanding as she reveals more personal vulnerabilities. He may be an artificial intelligence who simulates responses, but she sees something that is completely human.

In a time when people act more inhuman by considering empathy a weakness, cruelly mock and bully others, and put themselves over the needs of others, it makes sense that AI would retain the traits that humans abandoned. It makes sense that the Protagonist would find such a companion in Nate that she was unable to find in human men.

“Unclaimed”

Janice, her children, Glory and Bruce escape their abusive husband and father and retreat into the Australian Outback with Janice's mother, Rhonda and sister, Nin.

This story is just as much about setting as it is about character. The Outback is described as arid, barren, dry, and surrounded by abandoned buildings and wild animals. It takes tough people to survive such a location. It gives some idea of the situation that the family was in that would have warranted such a difficult and dangerous decision.

Because of this escape and having to start over, the family bonds closer together. Janice, Nin, and Rhonda share laughs and hardship stories to take their minds off the trauma before and the uncertainty afterwards. Glory is protective towards Bruce and this emotional connection lasts into adulthood. 

The hardships result in changes within the family. Some succumb to illness, and others have encounters with violence and addiction. It is very realistic that while many thrive in hard times, they still encounter physical and emotional difficulties. What keeps this family together is unconditional love and support despite the trauma.

“Catfish Tango”

Mike, a warehouse worker, tries to look for love on social media. His friend, Darren encouraged him to elaborate his profile changing him into a wealthy tech CEO with a handsome pic. He connects with Nadia, a UX Designer with secrets of her own.

This story explores the complexities of social media and modern dating. On the Internet, people can pretend that they are someone else who works at an awesome job, looks like a supermodel or a movie star, goes on breathtaking vacations, and has an enviable life that is free of problems. 

They can literally role play as anyone provided that they don't get caught. While people have become more aware of catfishing, some people still like to create completely different identities and live separate lives online that are distant from their real ones.

Mike pretends to be everything that he isn't in real life, rich, successful, charismatic, the kind of man who would attract someone like Nadia. He has severe self esteem issues. He questions everything about himself like his job, his appearance, his interests, his friends, and living situation. He hides behind the role because he doesn't like the person that he really is. 

His insecurities manifest in his face to face meeting with Nadia. He recognizes someone else hiding her real self underneath a different identity. While they accept each other's frailties and flaws, they also are enchanted by their assumed identities and find a way to retain them as well. Mike actually found someone with whom he could be himself, or more than one version of himself. 

“The Trouble with Bianca”

This story is an epistolary between Mr. and Mrs. DiAngelo and various school employees about their 12 year old daughter, Bianca. 

The exchanges are full of anecdotes about Bianca violating the dress code, challenging authority, using provocative and political statements, saying and doing controversial things. The parents, teachers, and administrators are full of questions. What is going on with her? Is her problem psychological, emotional, social? Did her parents give her a bad upbringing or did she get a bad education? Is Bianca responsible for her own behavior or are the adults partially to blame?

Each character gives their own perspective about how they view this girl. Her principal thinks that she is a brat who needs punishment. Her teacher believes her to be an irredeemable bad seed. Her guidance counselor sees her as an eccentric creative. The school psychiatrist diagnoses her with Oppositional Defiance Disorder. Bianca's parents say that she is a highly intelligent young woman who needs freedom to express herself. 

They don't come to any real conclusions because they can't agree on a plan or what Bianca needs. Instead there is a lot of blame passing and finger pointing of who is to blame. It's also worth noting that while we get multiple perspectives or opinions about Bianca, we don't get any perspective or opinion from Bianca. Even though she is an object in other's lives, she isn't the subject in her own life or even allowed to have a voice towards how it should go.

There are no real answers about Bianca's situation or what should be done just like there aren't with any troubled child. It's a question that anyone who is around children, parents, relatives, friends, educators, medical professionals, social services need to find a common ground, work together on determining them, and learn what procedures are needed.

They need to remember that kids aren't a monolith. Not every kid responds or behaves the same way or requires the same kind of treatment. They are individuals and should be treated as such. Because of that, it's also incredibly important to get the child's perspective themselves to discover what is troubling them, what they are thinking and feeling, and what can be done to help them move forward in life. 

“The Lonely Passion of Helen B.”

47 year old Helen B. lives a lonely structured friendless life. She decides to place a “rent a friend” ad online. She meets a small group of weird but likable applicants.

This story is practically a companion to “Signal Love,” in that it also explores loneliness and the lengths people will go to find companionship. Though instead of finding it through an AI simulation, Helen finds it in human people. She just goes around meeting them in an unusual way.

Helen is a shy analytical person with plenty of oddities and eccentricities which makes her perfect to lead this strange group. From Helen’s interest in collecting and cataloging insect specimens, to Marvin's fascination with Naval history and his detailed descriptions of scoliosis and plantar fasciitis, Daphne's feminism, devotion to Simone Weil and non sequitur questions like whether whales mourn, Craig’s Feng Shui practice and divining her apartment as having “limited energy,” Nancy, a devout Catholic who always brings muffins, and Zoya, a tough foul mouthed Russian expat who wants to understand “American loneliness.”  This cast seems to come from a sharp witty sitcom about goofy weird friends. 

Helen's new friends give her laughs, comfort, shared interests, parties, and gold times. It's a stress reliever from her usual life but it can also be a bit much for someone who isn't used to that much attention and togetherness.

Susan has been an introvert for over 40 years so it's not easy for her to fit into a social group. While loneliness has been a problem in her life, the solitude also gave her opportunities to think, meditate, research, become independent, and study her insects. She actually finds great comfort and ease in solitude and she misses that.

This story reveals that there is a huge difference between being alone and being on your own.

“Kali”

Kali is a strong willed defiant woman raised by a mother who encouraged her to challenge the system around her. When she settles in an affluent mostly white community, she is met with  derision and hatred.

This story is a character study of a woman raised to fight against an oppressive system that has been present since long before her ancestors were born. She was clearly raised to be a fighter. She was named for the Hindu Goddess of Death.  Her mother raised her to embrace Feminism and Black Power and she takes those lessons to heart.

In a strange way, “Kali” could be an answer to “The Trouble with Bianca.” Where “Bianca” was about how a troubled young woman with a difficult background is viewed by the people around her but never gets to speak for herself, “Kali” is about a troubled young woman with a difficult background who has no trouble speaking or thinking for herself, thank you very much.

Kali was raised to challenge those who would threaten her. When she enters the beach, white beachgoers stare at her with focused suspicion. One could say that her upbringing made her hyper aware and paranoid of her surroundings and perhaps she imagines that others have hostile intent towards her. But she isn't imagining their racist words to describe her or the vulgar harassment that some of the men give her. Above all, she isn't imagining when one of the men rapes her.

Kali was raised to fight and fight she does. She commits extreme violence to defend herself against her rapist. The ending implies that the rapist unleashed Kali the Death Goddess inside Kali the Protagonist. What he leaves behind is a woman who has ancestral rage, an activist’s view of the world, suspicion towards white men, and a weapon that she is prepared to use. It is uncertain whether she will attack to defend others or just commit violence for violence’s sake. One thing for sure is that she will embrace violence as her answer to any conflict.

“Go Gentle In This Good Morning”

This is a journal entry of 102 year old Elias Nathan Hollingwood. It recounts his long life and his decision to end it.

Many of these stories are excellent character studies so it is fitting that the final story in this review covers an entire long life. 

Elias gives his perspectives of his upbringing in Brooklyn, his military career, his marriage, his children, the changing world, his views, and his grief and losses as he waits to die. 

He draws the reader in by his anecdotes such as describing his wife, Clara as a “red haired woman with a librarian's gaze and an Irish lilt.” After she died in 1988, he mourned “she was my girl, my bonnie lass. She deserved opera and skylights. She died before I could give them to her.” He also has similar affection and melancholy for his and Clara's four children.

While Elias's memories are melancholic and nostalgic, they are also realistic. He acknowledges his previous racist beliefs that he held until he encountered the Tuskegee Airmen and The Navajo Code Talkers during WWII. He admired that courage, devotion, sacrifice and love for a country that didn't always love them back or acted like it didn't.

Elias’ story is one of love, loss, joy, regret, many experiences, and satisfaction that he lived through it. It's not a situation where one feels angst at his passing but feeling that it was well earned. He made the decision to end it on his own with satisfaction and an almost joyful exuberance about what happens next. He ends his life as a happy and contented man.

 

Lit List Short Reviews: Authenticity: Poems by Lesley Day; Wolf Weather by Miles Watson; Reflections in My Magical Mirror: Lessons of Love from the School of Life by Ivan Figuero-Otero, M.D.; Jane Austen's Totally Unexpected New York Adventure by Robin Robby; Abraham Lincoln Tribute: His Life and Legacy by Zaki J. Doudak

 Lit List Short Reviews: Authenticity: Poems by Lesley Day; Wolf Weather by Miles Watson; Reflections in My Magical Mirror: Lessons of Love from the School of Life by Ivan Figueroa-Otero, M.D.; Jane Austen's Totally Unexpected New York Adventure by Robin Robby; Abraham Lincoln Tribute: His Life and Legacy by Zaki J. Doudak 

Authenticity: Poems by Lesley Day

Lesley Day's book of poems, Authenticity, explores many emotions like depression, grief, loneliness, fear, and solitude. She captures them all with raw, naked, and honest confessional poems that dare the Reader to feel what the Speaker is feeling.

From the first poem, "Nothing More Than A Prick," Day reveals her ability to capture those feelings through life changing moments. The Speaker reads through diary entries from when she was younger. The entries are from a 14 year old's perspective revealing her first experience with what she perceived as heartbreak.

The Speaker mocks her naivete and realizes that as an adult, she has experienced real loss and heartbreak.Day writes, "Who knew the flowing streams of tears, in reality, were only puddles?/Who knew the stones that weighed me down were only tiny pebbles?/Who knew I would one day envy feeling so strongly over something so trivial?" Now that she felt real sadness as an adult, the Speaker realizes that what she felt as a teenager was a mild mere pinprick compared to how she feels now.

Many of Day's poems deal with specific moments that cause great stress and grief and elicit strong emotional responses. The poem, "I've Been Here Before" deals with The Speaker's lover's suicide. Day transitions the lover's point of view from second to third person. In doing so, she wants to compartmentalize his troubled symptoms and the rest of his personality.

In one stanza, she says that "he" aimed a gun at her head. Then she changes perspective by saying, "Now I know that wasn't you/And I'm not saying that's what I think you'll do/But/Eyes,looks, tone of voice, and the rambles of a mind that is temporarily not your own/Triggers something inside/I see it flash before my eyes/Only this time?/He's not in my line of sight/It's you.." She wants to believe that the person with the gun, the one who ended his life, was a different person than the one that she fell in love with. She knows however that they were one and the same. The Speaker is struggling with her own complex feelings of guilt and blame over his death.

Day's poems reveal the various symptoms of depression and grief and how they affect those who have to endure them. "She Comes at Night" explores one of the Speaker's"enemies": insomnia. Day personifies insomnia as a clever enemy, something that sneaks into the Speaker's thoughts, races like a train, keeps her awake, and inspires her. The Speaker knows that this is unhealthy and the energy that insomnia temporarily gives her tapers off. Day writes, "Thoughts are no longer clever, and they make less and less sense/As the days drag on/My mind is foggy and overworked/I'm drowning, as I grasp for sleep/I'm sinking/Waiting for unconsciousness to save me."

The Speaker's battle with insomnia is an ongoing struggle in which she keeps fighting for her mind's sake.As many who have Depression can tell, it's not always dealt with or expressed in the same way. Some people take to their beds and can barely move. Others try their best to hide it. "Functional" describes someone who hides her depression behind function. The Speaker goes out, works, and interacts with others. Many would believe that she doesn't have it. She even tells herself that she's fine, but knows that it's there. She lies to herself until she no longer can. She refers to her depression as "controlled claustrophobia." "You know it's there," Day writes. "You recognize its presence/You feel the itch of panic tingle its skin/But you will yourself to breathe/And tell yourself that you will be okay/You don't allow yourself to scratch the itch/Because it will only make it spread."

Besides being functional,The Speaker describes her depression as a "sometimes " thing. She doesn't always have the symptoms, but when she does, they hit hard. Perhaps The Speaker's depression is so powerful because she doesn't always feel that way. If depression was always there, perhaps it could recede into dullness whereas when it comes and goes, it comes on sharp, fast, and painful.

While Day's poems can seem bleak, they also present ways of coping with stress and depression. The poem, "Quiet in the Spaces," gives the Speaker the comfort of solitude. It says, "I don't enjoy the rush of life/Not rush as an emotion/But rush as in not enough time/You see/I need time/I need it to savor the quiet moments/The ones found in the spaces/Between the significance of a day." Day reminds the Reader that sometimes the most chaotic minds need those quiet times and safe spaces to reflect and just be.

Another positive coping mechanism can be found through reading and writing. In "Addiction to Lines," the Speaker reveals her addiction to "blank journals." With those journals, she can share her thoughts, express herself, and confide her troubles like a friend. The poem says, "They sit in a pile at my shelf/And when I look at the different colors melding together, I feel safe/Their silent presence is comforting/I'm no longer anxious about running out of lines/I feel confident that there will be enough for my thoughts to sleep." The Speaker is able to put her thoughts and emotions into her journals so they can provide some comfort and even control over them.

The book, Authenticity, puts emotions, especially the hardest ones to feel,together to create a whole soul. The poem, "Painted Colors" compares the soul to a painting that displays the various colors of emotions. Each one is painted in, carefully and precisely. It's an ongoing process which changes each time. The poem says, "Strokes of color do not come easy/Nor do they come quickly/But all it takes/Is one small blink/To paint black over all the colors/And drench this soul in darkness." This poem reveals what's inside the mind and soul of a person with depression. There will always be a bit of black inside them that will never truly disappear and can sometimes feel overpowering. However, that's not all there is. There are other colors, other emotions, that surround the soul and make it complete and authentic.

Wolf Weather by Miles Watson

Miles Watson's latest short work is a chilling atmospheric Dark Fantasy Horror that shows that there can be much to be feared in the cold woods during winter.

Crowning, a soldier of the Empire's Legion. Since Dagamin the Restless obtained the throne after conflicts between warring kingdoms. Dagamin decided to expand his kingdom far into the North. There isn't anything out there but wolves, he insists.

Unfortunately, they aren't just any wolves as the human-like howling and the wolves walking around on hind legs can attest. Then Crowning's fellow Legionnaires keep disappearing and the wolves' numbers increase. 

Wolf Weather is not long, only 62 pages, but like Watson's other works like The Numbers Game, The Devils You Know, and Deus Ex, he is an expert at capturing a really tense moment with plenty of atmosphere and not a lot of exposition. Aside from the bit of information about the preceding wars, and the current empire, we aren't told much about the political climate. We get some implications especially towards the end that all may not be well in this empire and that's all we need.

This is told from the point of view of Crowning, a Legion soldier, the type who follows orders. He doesn't see anything wrong with the Empire until he is faced with the possibility that encroaching on other lands might not be a good idea especially when the locals are not happy about it. 

The book is filled with descriptions that highlight the tension and isolation that Crowning feels during this story. The North seems cut off from the rest of the world because of the cold snowy landscape. Even when he is with the Legionnaires, there is a feeling of loneliness and despair. It gets worse as the other soldiers disappear and Corwin is literally and metaphorically cut off from everyone and everything that he knows.

One of the more interesting aspects is how Wilson writes werewolves. Their links between their human and animalistic natures are revealed and actually are even balanced. In most werewolf tales, the human side is not in control, usually not remembering or regretting their actions. Here the werewolves know what they are doing and why. It is almost seen as a reclamation between humans and nature that these half-human half-wolves have accepted their wild natural side and live their lives away from the structured human world. 

Corwin's encounter with the werewolves changes his outlook. He struggles to retain his humanity and his identity as a Legionnaire. However, his encounter with the werewolves causes him to question his loyalty, his placement in society, his own natural instincts, and the Emperor's ambitions. It culminates in a climax when Corwin has to face the truth of who he really is and what he really wants.

Wolf Weather is a short work but an interesting one with great atmosphere, characterization, and an interesting outlook at magical creatures who have been sidelined long enough.

Spirituality 104: Reflections in My Magical Mirror Lessons of Love from the School of Life by Ivan Figueroa-Otero, M.D.

I haven't read the other books in Ivan Figueroa-Otero's School of Life books so that would probably make his book, Spirituality 104: Reflections in My Magical Mirror Lessons of Love from the School of Life more comprehensive and expansive. However, Reflections in My Magical Mirror, is a short book that captures various lessons and advice from the previous books. Without the other books, the chapters are very thin and shallow with the content.

However they are also helpful and easily digestible if the Reader wants to read an uplifting quick chapter that reflects a problem that they are going through. 

Each chapter is the same. It begins with a quote from one of the previous School of Life Books. Then Figueroa-Otero continues with an interpretation of the quote from a spiritual perspective. Finally, he offers an exercise based on the quote in the chapter. It's formulaic but easy for Readers to determine which chapter may fit their particular situation.

For example Chapter 15 focuses on the quote: "We are like rivers that always flows (sic) to God's greatest ocean of love." Figueroa-Otero then compares the quotation to holograms where an original image can be replicated by its parts. The information is stored into each part to create the whole image, so each part makes a whole.

He also uses natural imagery to articulate the quote. With the one mentioned in Chapter 15, Figueroa-Otero compares us, humanity, to individual rivers flowing into the great ocean of the Universe. We are not separated. What affects our individual rivers affects the ocean and vice versa. 

The exercise encourages the Reader to visualize love flowing through them like water from a river into an ocean. It is designed to remind us that we are a small part of the universe and that we should share our love with those around us. 

Reflections in a Magical Mirror is slanted towards a more Biblical perspective. Figueroa-Otero uses quotes from the Bible such as "Whatever you did for my brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me" (Matthew 25:40). However, the emphasis is not on Christian Salvation, so much as it is on helping others and being kind. It is easy to replace the Christian rhetoric with any other spiritual path that talks about kindness, generosity, love, selflessness, and feeling spiritually centered. 

Reflections in My Magical Mirror is not a long book but it is one that is very helpful when you want a few minutes to clear your mind and fill your spirit.

Jane Austen's Totally Unexpected New York Adventure by Robin Robby

Robin Robby's novellette, Jane Austen's Totally Unexpected New York Adventure is a humorous and slightly romantic science fiction in which Jane Austen takes a trip to the future.

In 2061, New York, Fred, his friend, David, and fiancee, Clara have access to a time machine. So where to go? Well Clara is a huge Jane Austen fan having read her books several times and played Marianne Dashwood in a stage production of Sense and Sensibility. So for Clara meeting Jane Austen would be like meeting a favorite rock star. Plus, she died in 1817 at the age of 41 of either Addison's Disease or Hodgkin's Lymphoma. So the trio decided to dress in their Regency best and meet Austen at her home as she is beginning her final novel Persuasion, take her to the future where she can be treated with modern medicine, and return her to live a full productive life. Unfortunately, they don't count on Austen's overwhelming curiosity for this new futuristic world or Fred's growing affection for a certain English Regency era novelist.

The highlight of this Sci Fi Rom Com is Austen herself. She stands out from everyone else with her much more elevated speech patterns. When they ask her about her health, Austen replies "If I had not been suffering from such an annoying back pain, yes, I would turn back and bid you good day. But you have gauged my curiosity to no end. Whatever ends the pain."

In fact her manner of speech stands out that when others, particularly Carla, emulate her speech, it intentionally seems fake. They are playing a role while Austen lives it.

Among the more delightful moments are when Austen observes the future. She is like an amazed child on their first Christmas morning. The lights, the people, and the modern buildings. No wonder she is "quite intoxicated." She is also amazed at the sociopolitical change of women in occupations that weren't dreamt of in her day, such as doctors, attorneys, and academics. Even Austen herself had to take credit for her own books as "A Lady." She is amazed and flattered that people from the future would know and admire her so much that they would want to see her (after she recovers from the initial shock that people from the future could travel to the past in the first place). She knows that her life was not in vain and that her "sketches" will be remembered.

It is her amazement and spirit that attracts Fred. At first he is cynical but willing to go along with the trip to impress Clara and one up David who built the machine. (In fact, he gets tired of David bragging about building the machine). The more time he spends with Austen, the more he sees someone who hides a rebellious nature behind a prim exterior. One who uses her works to satirize and ask direct questions about relationships hidden under convention. One who now sees those imaginative efforts and her legacy pay off. One who observes human nature and is able to put those observations into her works, especially her final finished posthumous work, Persuasion.

Jane Austen's Totally Unexpected New York Adventure is not just a fun time travel story. It's a love letter to an author who inspired and moved many.

Abraham Lincoln Tribute: His Life and Legacy by Zaki J. Doudak 

Zaki J. Doudak's Abraham Lincoln Tribute His Life and Legacy is not a dry account of Lincoln's life complete with important events and timelines. Instead, it is more of an inspirational tribute about why Lincoln's legacy is still so important and what it means for people today.

The book begins with two important quotations during Lincoln's political career, portions of The Gettysburg Address and quotes from his debate with Stephen Douglas. It also includes a chapter about Mary Todd Lincoln's life after her husband and son's deaths including her interest in Spiritualism and struggles with mental illness. The final third is an opinion essay by Doudak which explains the importance of Lincoln's legacy and its meaning in subsequent times when racism and division is still very much alive.

Lincoln's words have been repeated often but this book gathers some of the most stirring. Quotes like "The brave men, living and dead, who struggled (at Gettysburg) have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little know nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here" remind us why Lincoln was known as a master orator. In giving this address, Lincoln takes attention away from himself and towards the soldiers that died and sacrificed. It also reveals how important it is for the United States to remain one union, so the soldiers would not have died in vain.

Mary Todd Lincoln's widowed life is the subject of many psychological studies. Doudak describes her as someone who suffered tremendous loss and wanted to hold onto her family connections and find some peace of mind. Doudak wrote, "That (Mary Todd Lincoln) was welcome in the arms of the unliving says much of the state of human beings in the 19th century. That death was not merely a way to be at peace, but a way to offer peace to those that needed it." He sees her as a woman who used her belief in life after death to give her peace during her troubled later years.

Most of the book, "A Celebration of Life" is an almost poetic essay that recognizes what Lincoln's life meant. It reminds Readers that they could be an inspiration and stand up for equality and unity. Doudak writes, "That there is an ebb and flow and a push and pull says more about human beings than it does on Earth. That there are changes, perceptions, and dreams to fulfill only underpins our desire to maturate in this world. That we do live up to our responsibilities depends on how we choose to view our role as caretakers."

Doudak's writings suggest that the many struggles today reveal that division is still rampant. We can come together as a union when we see each other as equals and express our highest human traits like kindness, understanding, and empathy.

History judges those who made changes and sacrifices for others. That is the legacy that people like Abraham Lincoln stood for. That there are certain causes and people that will sacrifice everything for and freedom, unity, and equality are among the most important.