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From Paperback to the Big Screen

Thursday, June 1st, 2023

Greetings from the Wizarding World! I am one of Beaufort’s new interns, DumBEAUledore, here to make sure that your summer is filled with well-written books, a little bit of magic, and a whole lot of fun. And, I promise, I will try to keep the Harry Potter puns to a minimum. 

I am a rising junior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, majoring in English/Comparative Literature and American Studies. I am also minoring in Creative Writing, so interning at Beaufort is right up my (Diagon) alley! When I’m not in Chapel Hill, I’m at my family farm in the middle-of-nowhere-North-Carolina, where we raise cattle and grow watermelons. I have a meticulously organized bookshelf and a dog that drives me crazy. And, of course, the fun fact that everyone is on the edge of their seats waiting for: I am a Slytherin. I know. Apologies in advance. 

Now, I’m sure that you all have heard about the new Harry Potter TV series. And, based on my name, you can probably tell that I have quite a few opinions on it. Alas, that will have to be saved for another blog post. However, in honor of this new series, today I will be going through a few books that I think deserve to have movie or TV adaptations.


Cover of Fairy Tale by Stephen King

Fairy Tale by Stephen King

I just finished reading this book and think that the main character, Charlie Raede, and his loveable dog, Radar, are the perfect coming-of-age duo that everyone expects from King’s novels. With a spellbinding and dark twist on the fairy tales we all grew up with, Fairy Tale’s fantastical scenery and enchanting characters would glow on the big screen.


Cover of Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

As a UNC student, I can’t help but be drawn to books that are set there, and Legendborn is no exception. A UNC alumnus herself, Deonn uses both the lore and layout of the campus in a way that grabs readers’ attention and refuses to let go. If you love Authurian legend and magic, I think that you can agree this modern-day twist on a well-loved classic would make an amazing TV series.


Cover of Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Now, I know, this book technically already has a TV show based on it. Don’t get me wrong, Shadow and Bone is an amazing series (I have personally binge-watched all of it). But, I think that the Crows deserve their own TV show! With two books— Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom— to work with, I think that there is plenty of material for at least two seasons of a TV series.


Cover of The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

A friend gave me a copy of this book back in December, and it quickly became one of my favorites. With a charming cast of side characters and an adorable love story, this book is fuzzy all the way around. My personal favorite character is a young boy named Lucy (short for Lucifer, of course). If this ever gets turned into a movie (fingers crossed), I will be first in line at the theater. 


Cover of Illusions of Camelot by Peter Boal

Illusions of Camelot by Peter Boal

I must admit, I am always a sucker for a movie about ballet, and I know that this book would make an amazing one. Boal’s journey from Bedford, New York to principal dancer for the New York City Ballet is the exact type of coming-of-age memoir that would shine on the big screen. By exploring topics such as sexuality, alcoholism, morality, and race, Boal doesn’t shy away from the hard parts of life.


Savushun by Simin Daneshvar

This book is, in my opinion, a quintessential piece of Persian literature. Set in Iran during World War II, Daneshvar captures the day-to-day life of a young mother trying to protect her family. With a scalding critique on the occupation of Iran, this book combines history, folk tradition, and feminism in a way that demands for readers to pay attention. Additionally, the ending of this book is one of the best I have ever read.


If you haven’t read these books yet, I highly recommend it. You never know, they may be the next big thing. 

Until next time, 

DumBEAUledore

Books That Should be Trending

Wednesday, September 21st, 2022

New blogger coming at you under the pen name, The BEAUpire Diaries. I am one of three interns at Beaufort Books this Fall 2022 and I will be starting my first blog post off by talking about what’s trending, what I’m loving after reading what’s been trending, and what should have gotten more attention as trends have passed along. 

Every few years, the book community seems to change what genre/theme of books is trending amongst readers. There is no predicting what those books will be, but once they’re trending they are suddenly everywhere until we’re all sick of them and onto the next “new” thing. In the early 2000s, vampire/supernatural books were the thing with Twilight, The Vampire Diaries, The Vampire Academy, Vampire Kisses, Eighth Grade Bites, and so many more. It then trends moved on to dystopian novels for a bit with some iconic movies following like The Hunger Games, Divergent, and The Maze Runner. As much as we would love to bring all those books back for the sake of nostalgia, they are (for now) meant to be left in the past. 

What I am really seeing as a trend in books nowadays is the cheesy rom-com with bright and colorful cartoon covers that all kind of look the same. However, I like others have yet again fallen for the trends and am loving and buying all the romance. 

Below you’ll find all books that I have loved reading, featuring a little bit of all the trendiest genres/themes — a few have done pretty well in the market, and there are some that deserve to do even better, but enjoy.


Lacie’s Secrets by Teresa Sorkin and Tullan Holmqvist

In no way am I biased by adding this book to what I’m loving, but one of our books, Lacie’s Secrets is one of the best spooky fall time reads to have on hand during these upcoming months of gloom. For readers and fans of Big Little Lies and The Haunting of Hill House, Lacie’s Secrets is a psychological thriller that takes place on the coast of Maine, when Kate’s sister disappears 18 years ago, and in the present time, her mother suddenly dies inheriting their estate motivating Kate’s return and the unraveling of secrets begins.

Alienated by Melissa Landers

Somewhere after the boom of dystopian titles, the sci-fi genre attempted to be the next big trend. The 5th Wave did well, but the others that followed lagged behind. Alienated by Melissa Landers was a book that I loved years ago romanticizing life living alongside aliens when Cara Sweeney falls for the first alien exchange student, Aelyx.

Bad Romeo by Leisa Rayven

With all of the swoon-worthy, new adult romance going around, I am surprised that this book hasn’t received its moment in the spotlight yet. This was the first adult romance book that I had read back when I was a senior in high school (six years ago) and I was so obsessed with it that I had my own fan cast. Bad Romeo follows the good girl meets bad boy trope when Cassie Taylor meets Ethan Holt while in acting school and they are cast to play Romeo and Juliet together.

Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood

One of the most recently published and trending books that I wanted to feature is Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood. This is also an example of one of those iconic cartoon romance covers, but I guess they beat the romance covers that have shirtless, hairy men. Ali Hazelwood is well-known for her book, The Love Hypothesis, and a few others. I have yet to read this book, but I did buy it when it came out to add to my neverending TBR stack. Love on the Brain follows the enemies-to-lovers trope when Bee is offered her dream position with NASA the only setback being she is partnered with Levi Ward who has made it clear in grad school his feelings toward Bee.


I am looking forward to continuing to work with Beaufort Books for the Fall 2022 term and writing more wildly interesting and creative blogs. The romance genre has always been a favorite of mine, so the blogs may lean heavier that way, but nevertheless. 

Sincerely,

The BEAUpire Diaries

Greetings From Woods Beyond

Thursday, September 8th, 2022

Hello to you all! My name is Kaliisha. I have just begun my senior year of college. My school journey is almost at a close, but like most great books, the story is never truly over once you reach “The End.” A little bit more about me is that I adore Young Adult books of any genre. Some of my favorites are And They Lived by Steven Salvatore, Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim, and Anger is a Gift by Mark Oshiro! However, my all time favorite book/ book series of all time is The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani! Fun fact: I actually got to meet the School Master in person this year (which you can see in the image)!

I thought that for my first post I would recommend some titles that are fairly similar to my favorite series!

  1. Almost Magic by Kathleen Bullock (Spencer Hill Press)

Ever since she turned twelve, Apple Bramblewood’s life has been plagued by visits from weird creatures from the magical realms.

It seems she is a rare Attractor, a Wizard whose sole talent is solving the clamorous demands of very odd beings, usually in the most unorthodox, haphazard, and klutzy ways. Apple doesn’t want to be an Attractor; her most passionate goal is to attend the ordinary high school with ordinary kids where her perfect older sister, Cornelia, is allowed to go. Her parents have no doubts about Cornelia’s magical prowess, but Apple seems destined to be home-schooled forever if she can’t pass the entrance exam and perfect at least one magical enchantment.

Almost Magic is Apple’s first-person account of that magic summer between childhood and adolescence and, in Apple’s case, one filled with the most amazing, hilarious, and often dangerous events.

Buy Almost Magic Now!

2. Wildseed Witch by Marti Dumas (Abrams Books)

Hasani’s post-seventh-grade summer to-do list is pretty simple: get a bigger following for her makeup YouTube channel and figure out how to get her parents back together. What she does NOT expect is that an emotional outburst will spark a latent magical ability in her. Or that the magic will be strong enough to attract the attention of witches. Or that before she can say #BlackGirlMagic, she’ll be shipped off on a scholarship to a fancy finishing school for talented young ladies.

Les Belles Demoiselles is a literal charm school. Here, generations of young ladies from old-money witch families have learned to harness their magic, and alumnae grow to become some of the most powerful women across industries, including politicians, philanthropists, CEOs, entrepreneurs—and yes, even social media influencers. Needless to say, admission to the school is highly coveted, very exclusive . . . and Hasani sticks out like a weed in a rose bouquet.

While the other girls have always known they were destined to be witches, Hasani is a Wildseed––a stray witch from a family of non-witches, with no background knowledge, no way to control her magic, and a lot to catch up on. “Wildseed” may be an insult that the other girls throw at her, but Wildseeds are more powerful than they know. And Hasani will learn that there are ways to use magic and thrive that can never be taught in a classroom.

Buy Wildseed Witch Now!

3. Kingston and The Magician’s Lost and Found by Rucker Moses and Theo Gangi (Penguin Random House)

Twelve-year-old Kingston has just moved from the suburbs back to Echo City, Brooklyn—the last place his father was seen alive. Kingston’s father was King Preston, one of the world’s greatest magicians. Until one trick went wrong and he disappeared. Now that Kingston is back in Echo City, he’s determined to find his father.

Somehow, though, when his father disappeared, he took all of Echo City’s magic with him. Now Echo City—a ghost of its past—is living up to its name. With no magic left, the magicians have packed up and left town and those who’ve stayed behind don’t look too kindly on any who reminds them of what they once had.

When Kingston finds a magic box his father left behind as a clue, Kingston knows there’s more to his father’s disappearance than meets the eye. He’ll have to keep it a secret—that is, until he can restore magic to Echo City. With his cousin Veronica and childhood friend Too Tall Eddie, Kingston works to solve the clues, but one wrong move and his father might not be the only one who goes missing.

Buy Kingston and The Magician’s Lost and Found Now!

I am so excited to be able to work with Beaufort Books and Spencer Hill Press for this fall season. I love books, but I also just love talking about them, too! 

Sincerely,

Kaliisha of Woods BEAUyond

A Sizzling Summer Reading Recommendation

Monday, June 27th, 2022

Bilbeau Baggins here, coming to you from The Shire where the heat index is 100 degrees. Summer is upon us and things are heating up. What better way to kick off the season than with a hot new book?

Fever, which was released last week, follows protagonist Sid as she navigates the complex world of infectious disease. A renowned scientist, Sid leaves home for Brazil to find a cure for an insidious new fever that has already taken the lives of several children. Along the way, things in Sid’s personal life are heating up as well…

The second novel from author Janet Gilsdorf, a scientist and Pediatric infectious disease expert, this is a story not to be missed.

Are you suffering from a summer reading slump? Let us help cure it with Fever, a high stakes, emotional page-turner. Order now!

Empowered Women Empower Women

Tuesday, March 1st, 2022

“Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women.” – Maya Angelou 

Happy March, readers! Before we get further, I wanted to acknowledge the distress in the world right now. Be strong, and safe, wherever you are. 

Beau Weasley here, encouraging you all to enjoy the spring and recognize the wonders of women this Women’s History Month. Here’s a compilation of memoirs about empowered women, written by empowering women:

After graduating from college, Jennifer isn’t sure what she wants to do with her life. She is drawn to the Appalachian Trail, a 2175-mile footpath that stretches from Georgia to Maine. Though her friends and family think she’s crazy, she sets out alone to hike the trail, hoping it will give her time to think about what she wants to do next. With every step she takes, Jennifer transitions from an over-confident college graduate to a student of the trail, braving situations she never imagined before her thru-hike. The trail is full of unexpected kindness, generosity, and humor. And when tragedy strikes, she learns that she can depend on other people to help her in times of need.

*SA trigger warning

Known as Emily Doe to the world, Chanel Miller reclaims her identity to tell her story of trauma, transcendence, and the power of words. Know My Name will forever transform the way we think about sexual assault, challenging our beliefs about what is acceptable and speaking truth to the tumultuous reality of healing. Entwining pain, resilience, and humor, this memoir will stand as a modern classic.

The remarkable first-hand account of Margret Wittmer, who settled the island of Floreana in the Galapagos—600 miles from the mainland of Ecuador. It took Wittmer and her family weeks to travel to the island in 1932; they battled with the ties for three full days before they could land. Five months pregnant when she arrived, Wittmer found the beauty of the tropical island constantly tempered by the traumas of attempting everyday life in a wild and lonely spot. From the mysterious disappearance of a stranger linked to another recluse on the island, to a missed opportunity to meet President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 56 years recalled in this memoir are full of exotic adventures and the joys and tragedies of a lifetime.

Eighteen months before Kathryn Schulz’s beloved father died, she met the woman she would marry. In Lost & Found, she weaves the stories of those relationships into a brilliant exploration of how all our lives are shaped by loss and discovery—from the maddening disappearance of everyday objects to the sweeping devastations of war, pandemic, and natural disaster; from finding new planets to falling in love. The resulting book is part memoir, part guidebook to living in a world that is simultaneously full of wonder and joy and wretchedness and suffering—a world that always demands both our gratitude and our grief.

In 2011, Jennifer Pharr Davis became the overall record holder on the Appalachian Trail. By hiking 2,181 miles in 46 days – an average of 47 miles per day – she became the first female to ever set that mark. But this is not a book about records or numbers; this is a book about endurance and faith, and most of all love.  The most amazing part of this story is not found at the finish, but is discovered through the many challenges, lessons and relationships that present themselves along the trail. This is Jennifer’s story, in her own words, about how she started this journey with a love for hiking and more significantly a love for her husband Brew. By completing this extraordinary amateur feat, Jennifer rose above the culture of multi-million dollar sports contracts that is marked by shortcuts and steroids. This is the story of a real person doing something remarkable. Jennifer Pharr Davis is a modern role-model for women – and men. She is an authentic hero.

When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education. On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, when she was fifteen, she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school, and few expected her to survive. I AM MALALA is the remarkable tale of a family uprooted by global terrorism, of the fight for girls’ education, and of brave parents who have a fierce love for their daughter in a society that prizes sons. I AM MALALA will make you believe in the power of one person’s voice to inspire change in the world.

On a cold winter night in February of 1967, a large rock shattered a bedroom window in Virginia Walden Ford’s home in Little Rock, Arkansas, landing in her baby sister’s crib. Outside, members of the Ku Klux Klan burned a cross on her family’s lawn. Faceless bigots were terrorizing Virginia, her parents, and her sisters–all because her father, Harry Fowler, dared to take a job as the assistant superintendent of personnel for the Little Rock School District. He was more than qualified, but he was Black. In her searing new memoir, legendary school choice advocate Virginia Walden Ford recounts the lessons she learned as a child in the segregated south. School Choice: A Legacy to Keep, tells the dramatic true story of how poor D.C. parents, with the support of unlikely allies, faced off against some of America’s most prominent politicians—and won a better future for children.

Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right. Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide.

While these books are representative, they are not all-encompassing. I encourage you, reader, to utilize Women’s History Month and reflect–on often overlooked accomplishments, on women’s empowerment, and reflect on how you can be the change you want to see in the world.

Beau Weasley, signing off!

HIDDEN FALLS News!

Wednesday, July 29th, 2020

Hidden Falls Book Review on Rose City Reader

Kevin Myers’ new novel, Hidden Falls, follows protagonist Michael Quinn back to Massachusetts following the unexpected death of his father. Middle-aged, single, in a strained relationship with his own kid, and at the peak of a dead-end job in print journalism, Michael is on the brink of a classic mid-life crisis. What he gets instead is a real-life crisis when he discovers his father was involved with organized crime and Michael lands in the middle of a criminal conspiracy.

Although it starts with a bang, literally, the first chapter is just a teaser, before the story starts for real “a few weeks before.” Then the first quarter of the book is about Michael’s workaday life in Portland. He’s a columnist for the Portland Daily newspaper, waiting to be downsized out of a job in the next round of layoffs. He’s divorced, with a son just starting college, and is trying to navigate the stormy waters of middle-aged dating. One amusing subplot has Michael following the “Missed Connections” listings on Craigslist, convinced a younger co-worker is flirting with him.

Michael carries his everyday concerns with him to New Bedford when he returns for his father’s funeral. These concerns don’t go away – especially when his ex-wife, son, and potential girlfriend show up for the funeral – but Michael’s perception changes as he falls deeper into the realities of his family’s life in New Bedford. Those realities are exciting enough, with gamblers, gangsters, and crooked cops to spare. Tensions are high, tempers run hot, and Michael is right in the middle of it. It’s a good yarn.

To read the rest of the review, click here.

To learn more about Hidden Falls, click here.

To learn more about Kevin Myers, click here.

Holiday Gift Guide 2019!

Thursday, November 28th, 2019

Holiday Gift Guide 2019!

The most wonderful time of the year is here once more! It’s around this time that we all begin rushing around town, shelling out too much money for gifts that will inevitably end up re-gifted. With all the decorating, shopping, and parties, the magic of the holidays gets lost behind sky-high price tags and busy schedules. This year, Beaufort wants to make your holidays a little more magical by recommending gifts for everyone on your list! Here you’ll find books that will satisfy even the most obscure tastes and interests. Not to mention, they’ll look stellar wrapped up under the tree or displayed on the shelf. Now order these finds online and get to sippin’ that eggnog by the fire!

For the Dedicated Churchgoer:

The Lord is My Strength by Eric Kampmann

In his introduction to The Lord Is My Strength, Eric Kampmann places the Psalms at the epicenter of the biblical narrative. Implicitly, the psalms weave all the way back to the creation story, forward to the advent of Jesus, and beyond to the end of times. And within this epic scope, the psalms tell the story of each one of us, our hopes, our dreams, our fears and conflicts in a way that ignites our imagination, providing a full and deep picture of who we are as we live day to day in our own time and place. The Lord Is My Strength was originally envisioned as a book of morning prayers posted on social media sites. But it quickly became more than that when Kampmann began posting a photograph and a short commentary along with the passage from the psalms. The result is a new book that will speak through words and pictures of the beauty, harmony and mystery that has been gifted to everyone who has the desire to see where they stand in God’s story.


For the Curious Middle-schooler:

The Adventures of Bubba Jones Series by Jeff Alt

The Adventures of Bubba Jones: Time Traveling Through the Great Smoky Mountains is the first book in the series.

Tommy “Bubba Jones” and his sister Jenny “Hug-a-Bug” learn more about the Great Smoky Mountain National Park than they ever thought they would when Papa Lewis lets them in on a family secret: The family has legendary time traveling skills! With these abilities, Bubba Jones and Hug-a-Bug travel back in time and meet the park’s founders, its earliest settlers, native Cherokee Indians, wild animals, extinct creatures, and what the park was like millions of years ago.

With this time traveling ability also comes a family mystery, but the only person who can help solve the mystery is a long lost relative who lives somewhere in the park.  Explore the Smokies with Bubba Jones and family in a whole new way.


For the Drama Lover:

The Woman in the Park by Teresa Sorkin and Tullan Holmqvist

When Manhattanite Sarah Rock meets a mysterious and handsome stranger in the park, she is drawn to him. Sarah wants to get away from her daily routine, her cheating husband and his crazy mistress, her frequent sessions with her heartless therapist, and her moody children.

But nothing is as it seems. Her life begins to unravel when a woman from the park goes missing and Sarah becomes the prime suspect in the woman’s disappearance. Her lover is nowhere to be found, her husband is suspicious of her, and her therapist is talking to the police.

With no one to trust, Sarah must face her inner demons and uncover the truth to prove her innocence.

A thriller that questions what is real-with its shocking twists, secrets, and lies—The Woman in the Park will leave readers breathless.


For the Person Who Love Jane Austen:

The North of the Tension Line Series by J.F. Riordan

North of the Tension Line is the first book in the series

Fiona Campbell is a newcomer to tiny Ephraim, Wisconsin. Populated with artists and summer tourists, Ephraim has just enough going on to satisfy her city tastes. But she is fascinated and repelled by the furthest tip of Door County peninsula, Washington Island, utterly removed from the hubbub of modern life. Fiona’s visits there leave her refreshed in spirit, but convinced that only lunatics and hermits could survive a winter in its frigid isolation.

In a moment of weakness, Fiona is goaded into accepting a dare that she cannot survive the winter on the island in a decrepit, old house. Armed with some very fine single malt scotch and a copy of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, Fiona sets out to win the dare, and discovers that small town life is not nearly as dull as she had foreseen. Abandoning the things she has always thought important, she encounters the vicious politics of small town life, a ruthless neighbor, persistent animals, a haunted ferry captain, and the peculiar spiritual renewal of life “north of the tension line.”


For the Thrill Seeker:

The Jack Patterson Series by Webb Hubbell

When Men Betray is the first book in the series.

Why would Woody Cole, a peaceful, caring man, shoot a US Senator in cold blood on live television? That’s the mystery facing attorney Jack Patterson as he returns to Little Rock, Arkansas, a town he swore he would never step foot in again.

When Men Betray is the first book of fiction from author, lecturer, and political insider Webb Hubbell. A departure from his previous book, Friends in High Places, an account of his rise and fall in Little Rock, Hubbell crafts a deft narrative of mystery and political intrigue. Set in a fictionalized version of his home town of Little Rock, Arkansas, readers will be immersed into the steamy world behind the southern BBQ and antebellum facade—a seedy underbelly of secrets and betrayals. Clever readers may recognize the colorful personalities and locales of the Arkansas political scene.

Jack is supported by a motley but able crew; loyal assistant Maggie, college-aged daughter Beth, feisty lawyer Micki, and his bodyguard Clovis. Together, Jack and his rag-tag team are in a race against time to discover Woody’s hidden motive. All he has is a series of strange clues, hired thugs gunning for him, and the one man who knows everything isn’t talking. Alliances are tested, buried tensions surface, and painful memories are relived as he tries to clear the name of his old college friend. Jack Patterson will find that even the oldest friendships can be quickly destroyed when men betray.


For the Person Who Loves True Stories:

School Choice: A Legacy to Keep by Virginia Walden Ford

On a cold winter night in February of 1967, a large rock shattered a bedroom window in Virginia Walden Ford’s home in Little Rock, Arkansas, landing in her baby sister’s crib. Outside, members of the Ku Klux Klan burned a cross on her family’s lawn. Faceless bigots were terrorizing Virginia, her parents, and her sisters–all because her father, Harry Fowler, dared to take a job as the assistant superintendent of personnel for the Little Rock School District. He was more than qualified, but he was black.

In her searing new memoir, legendary school choice advocate Virginia Walden Ford recounts the lessons she learned as a child in the segregated south. She drew on those experiences—and the legacies handed to her by her parents and ancestors—thirty years later, when she built an army of parents to fight for school choice in our nation’s capital. School Choice: A Legacy to Keep, tells the dramatic true story of how poor D.C. parents, with the support of unlikely allies, faced off against some of America’s most prominent politicians—and won a better future for children.


For the Professional or Entrepreneur:

Success Freak by Bruno Gralpois

Are you ready to get INSANELY MORE out of life? Success is acquired, not inherited. Take control of your destiny and join the “Success Freak 7-Day Challenge”: master 7 essential skills and transform your life in only one week. Combining helpful exercises and set-by-steps activities,Success Freak is a self-help book by French-American Entrepreneur Bruno Gralpois, that will show you how to unleash the amazing potential that, yes, already lies within you. You are about to become an unstoppable force of resolve and determination. Nothing short of the Success (Freak) you were always meant to be.


For the Skeptics and History Buffs:  

Occam’s Razor by T.R. Ryden

When ancient artifacts discovered in the Great Pyramid of Giza shed new light on a DNA pattern identified by a world-renowned molecular biologist, venture capitalist, James Anderson, is thrust into an action-packed road of scientific exploration and discovery. An unlikely participant in the events that begin to unfold, Anderson and his team, pursued by those who don’t want this new information out, realize they have stumbled upon the greatest and most terrifying cover-up in the history of the human race.

Occam’s Razor is a chilling speculative fiction thriller which ties together several well-known, and some not so famous controversial theories concerning alien visitation, human evolution, ancient legends, and the cosmos. The novel explains how it could be very plausible to imagine that the powers that be may already know about an impending disaster and caught between all this are the novel’s unfortunate characters as they struggle to figure out what to do in the face of unstoppable catastrophe.

Happy Holidays! May all your shopping be done early!

-Captain Beaumerica

Short Stories, Little Patience

Monday, August 19th, 2013

A Little Beau here! Mind blowing news update—I have actually kept my promise. If you read my last blog post, you might remember my tendency to buy books and then never read them. I vowed to pick up one of those poor, neglected books, and this morning I did! (To be honest, the real reason is that I finished book four of Game of Thrones and haven’t managed to pick up book five yet, but let’s focus on the positives here).

Here’s what I picked up:

nocturne

I bought this sometime around last January at Book Revue in Huntington. The book is a collection of short stories written by Connolly that share a common theme: they’re all somewhat on the other side of creepy. I’m only on the first story so far, entitled “The Cancer Cowboy Rides.” It’s about a man who has some sort of affliction (possibly an alien parasite? some kind of supernatural power?) that causes him to fill with a black cancer. The only way to rid himself of this is to touch others and cause them to fall prey to the black cancer. The story takes place in various locations of Small Town America and reminds me of The Twilight Zone. So far I’m very much enjoying it, though perhaps my decision to read it on the train in a dark tunnel wasn’t such a great idea. Will this stop me from doing it again tomorrow? Not a chance.

I can’t remember what exactly drew me to pick up the book but I know what caused me to buy it; I adore short stories. There’s just something about not having to be tied down to one story line and one cast of characters for 200 or so pages. With a collection of short stories you get just a taste of that world, discover the main conflict, and have it solved in just a few pages. And there’s always something left out in a short story—What happened to the main character after he got that job? What happened in her childhood that led this character to act out in that way? How did those characters manage to escape? A creative writing professor once told me that allowing your audience to interact with your book, by filling in some of the blanks or by leaving questions unanswered, makes for a gripping story. I’ve always found this to be true, and I think that’s something I love about short stories.

Speaking of that creative writing professor, here’s a book of short stories he assigned for our class that I loved:

left hand

This book is composed of very, very short stories. Often, the stories are no more than a page or two long. It’s a great way to pick up a book if you know you don’t have a lot of time to commit to it. I don’t think I can sum it up any better than this user review on the book’s Amazon page: “It’s like a big sampler box of chocolates, only there are no yucky ones, none of those jelly-centered losers.” Thanks, Lou Beach, I couldn’t have said it any better.

Do you have a favorite collection of short stories? Do you hate short stories with a burning passion? Post below in the comments!

-A Little Beau Told Me