Stormview Book Reviews
Our staff of literary advisors, authors and poets are pleased to offer exclusive reviews for works by Writer's Guild members.
Emotional Fissures ~ Poetry
By John C. Winchell
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Review by Janet Doucette, Stormview Press
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In our culture, men are not encouraged to share the burden of their grief. Success, striving, achievement and displays of power are rewarded whilst silent despair is considered just that - silent.
Poet John Winchell offers a bittersweet taste of the real to a culture that thrives on the illusion of success without stark self- reflection.
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Click to learn more or buy: Emotional Fissures
Ace of Cups: Her First Time Out ~ Mystery
By Erica Shay
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Review by Janet Doucette, Stormview Press
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Ace of Cups is a fabulous new take on the "hard-boiled, gum shoe detective" trying to keep the office lights burning when the "drop-dead gorgeous widow" arrives and needs a private eye to investigate her husband's recent death. And she's conveniently willing to pay handsomely for it.
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The gum-shoe is ex-cop Marti O'Neal, who not only has precision skills in deductive reasoning, she uses a deck of Tarot cards to spice up the possibilities in crime detection. She knows how to tap into the psychic realms and doesn't hesitate to use all the tools in her investigatory arsenal.
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The damsel is Jayne Cullen, a wealthy socialite, who calls things like she sees them. She doesn't take "no" for an answer. Even though her marriage was a little lacking in the affection department, it doesn't stop her from wanting to find her husband's killer.
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When Marti's investigation proves Stephen Cullen's accidental death wasn't so accidental, her client becomes the police department's prime suspect. Now it's a murder case and Marti herself is in the crossfire trying to prove Jayne didn't off her husband for an insurance payoff.
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Marti and Jayne work overtime to narrow down the suspects before someone else dies when they discover a few things in common. It isn't just a mutual taste for sassafras tea or the delights of baklava. Romance, it seems, is in the cards.
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I loved Marti's witty sarcasm and critical self-appraisal. She sizes up situations in a heartbeat and takes action, even if it puts her own safety at risk. Jayne's innate confidence, upbeat attitude and forthright integrity run counterpoint to Marti's more pragmatic style. It's that very tension between the opposites that complements these two women and the discovery that they just might be meant for each other.
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Click to learn more or buy: Ace of Cups
A Convergence of Crows ~ Mystery
by Anneka Lowrie
Critic's Review: Booklife Prize​
A band of strong, capable women determined to take down a child sex trafficking ring with the aid of First Nations and other mystical wisdom is a powerful combination in this important story. Lowrie’s sweeping natural imagery gives space for readers to process difficult subject matter.
While sex trafficking is an oft-explored topic, a seldom celebrated, fierce female presence lights up this book—an antidote to its brutal truths. The infusion of spirituality and its intersection with the natural world provides an impactful additional layer of meaning.
Lowrie’s characters are vibrant and easy for readers to connect to, despite populating an uncommon, strikingly realized setting.
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Click to learn more or buy: A Convergence of Crows
Donald Trump is My Frickin' Guru ~ Self-Help
by A. Lady
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Review by Janet Doucette, Stormview Press
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There are those who cringe at the sound of his name. Like a fingernail screeching on a chalkboard, the sound of his voice sets off uncontrollable convulsions. The very thought of him makes their blood boil. The pseudonymous writer, A Lady, gently and provocatively guides the reader in taking mental actions that both preserve and restore one’s natural peace of mind.
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What shall we do, she ponders, now that he made good on his promise to run for President again?
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Her book “Donald Trump is My [frickin’] Guru is the ultimate in Buddhist mind training. For those of us perilously close to losing our minds in self-provoked agitation, A Lady points out the necessary mindset and vital practices with which one must engage in order to survive the anger, frustration, confusion and insanity of our current political playing field.
What if, she informs us, we free our minds instead of losing it altogether?
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Click to learn more or buy: Donald Trump ~ Guru
First Signs of April ~ Memoir
by Mary-Elizabeth Briscoe
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Review by Melanie Braverman / Author of East Justice & Red
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Reading First Signs of April is like sitting in front of a fire with an old friend: Briscoe starts telling her story and all of a sudden the sun is up and you feel as if you haven't blinked once. This book will become that friend who stays with you for life.
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Click to learn more or buy: First Signs of April
Inner Pathways ~ Poetry
by John C. Winchell
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Review by Janet Ware-Doucette
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One must read poetry out loud. The reader enters a hidden domain, gifting silent images with the shapes of sound. Like magical incantations, words have the power to evoke feelings, memories, and insight. When a poem is performed as spoken word, the reader mimes the poet in a rare choreography; an enchanting dance.
When reading poetry by John C. Winchell, one is immediately aware of the drum beating betwixt the brevity of words, decanting the images like fine wine. He is a master of concision, a style of creating whole thoughts with the barest minimum of words.
The staccato beat of Winchell’s word drum brings forth unforgettable scenes of “broken promises… ashen moors… rocky trails.. sacred mountains.. rushing rivers of thought… sacred flames in a starlit canyon..”
From beginning to end, from Kismet to Songbird, his precise phrasing occasionally punches, then longingly caresses and gently swirls one in a tender moment of joy, before dropping the reader into painfully percussive realizations. The soul is, after all, a solitary place of vivid awareness.
​“self-appointed heir to an empty fortune…”
“following crumbs of empathy on a once familiar road…”
​Winchell writes of loneliness and isolation crafted as “self-imposed penance” in which one seeks love yet struggles to withstand the burden of worthiness. Love requires him (and therefore, each one of us) to examine the hidden crevices of vulnerability that only our souls have the power to mend.
​“haunting me with visions of beauty and bliss…”
The poet is caught in his own snare; the stark necessity to be whole. As any man fractured by life must come to terms with prisons of their own making, Winchell unabashedly allows his defenses to melt. In order to let Her in, he must honor his individual sense of love and connection, devotion and integrity.
​Whilst:
“following her trail, I pause for years on end
only to rise again and travel toward a light
on the horizon…”
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The reader discovers there is no hope of authentic love without the willingness to give oneself entirely over to the task. It’s not a job for novices, he reminds us, for it demands nothing less than allowing oneself to be totally consumed within another.
​Winchell strikes at the center of selfishness, holding himself and the reader responsible for refusing to share mind and heart with an, as yet, unknown beloved. Fear cloaked as cynicism, he reveals, is the most unwieldy of defenses. While forgiveness is the shining arc of freedom.
​He offers the prize:
“and then you emerge from hiding
with a warm embrace
showing your true face(s)
seraphim of soulmates”
​Inner Pathways: A Poet’s Journey into the Soul is equal parts, pathos, passion, and purpose. Whether we intended to, or not, we are on this journey as well. Blindfolded and unwilling, we realize Winchell’s desire for wholeness is what we, too, have been seeking. And that, at the end of the journey, our fears of not being worthy of love were a mere facade for the necessity of becoming whole.
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Click to learn more or buy: Inner Pathways: A Poet's Journey into Soul.