Today, Feathered Quill reviewer Barbara Bamberger Scott is talking with Glenn Reschke, author of Something Went Cold.

FQ: What single piece of advice would you give to a person preparing to read your work regarding your unusual take on the afterlife?

RESCHKE: An interesting question. I would say, “Enjoy the ride.” My faith and its tenets obviously influence my writing of the story, The Afterlife of Adolf Hitler. However, I have read a few books that detail after-death experiences including Life Everlasting and Dr. George G. Ritchie’s book, Return from Tomorrow. In Ritchie’s book, he chronicled where he “died” and was given a tour of the afterlife by what a voice told him was “The Son of God.” Some of the things he experienced, I incorporated into the story. The same with people’s accounts as chronicled in Life Everlasting. I’m not obliquely or overtly evangelizing my worldview, philosophy, and/or religion. I was simply seeking to write an engaging, unique story that went beyond the normal day-to-day experiences. As Shakespeare wrote, “The story’s the thing...” I believe he was right.

FQ: Do you have a favorite historical character, either positive or negative, among the ones you depict here?

RESCHKE: I’m a baseball fan and as such, it was fun writing about a fictional universe where a cryogenically frozen Ted Williams is brought back to life. It was cathartic in a way to write about his second chance at life so that he could undo mistakes and correct some character flaws. I think that attitude is something we all think about from time to time.

I enjoyed writing the Hitler story, too. However, for absolute clarity, I loathe Hitler and the things he did. I’m not a Nazi sympathizer. I simply thought it would be a fun story to write. And I thought it would be very unique as well. I like watching documentaries and after watching one on Hitler that ended with his death, it occurred to me that the story is really just beginning for him – that his mortal death was not the end. Obviously, an afterlife is not something many believe in. I get it – and I respect people’s differing opinions. But in a world of fiction, anything goes, so I explored that to my heart’s content. But, again, I was simply seeking to write a story that was unique, engaging, and thought-provoking – but most of all enjoyable to read. I believe I succeeded judging from some of the feedback, both personal and professional, that I’ve received.

FQ: Does positing and writing about oppression and revenge give you a sense of inner satisfaction that you wish to impart to your readers?

Author Glenn Reschke

RESCHKE: No. Fundamentally, I wasn’t trying to grind an axe regarding thoughts on oppression and revenge. I just wanted to tell a compelling story that jolted the reader. Writers should seek to write unique stories, shouldn’t they? There’s no fun in writing stories that have been told repeatedly. One of the best short stories I’ve ever read was Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado. It’s short, impactful, and leaves the reader with a jolt, a shock. It’s also a revenge story. Those are the kind of stories I like – not revenge stories per se – but stories that give the reader an experience out of the ordinary. Each of my stories was meant to be a The Twilight Zone type of story in that each story is unique and has its own plot, characters, theme, and eventual payoff. That was my goal and hope when I wrote the stories contained within Something Went Cold.

FQ: Do you anticipate writing becoming your primary profession?

RESCHKE: No, I don’t. Not that it wouldn’t be great if that happened. I do believe I have as much talent as other published writers I’ve read – and certainly Hollywood writers. I’m not trying to be vain or arrogant here; I’m honestly trying to be objective. Most writers don’t write something that’s truly compelling, where the reader becomes invested emotionally. Very few movies and television shows meet that criterion. And that explains why Hollywood steals ideas, options books, and rehashes old stories. There is a dearth of compelling stories that move the watcher or reader. It may be prideful, but I feel like I can identify and write a good, compelling story. Still, as it’s so competitive out there, I doubt I’d ever have writing become my primary profession. I’m simply being realistic.

FQ: Your stories, focusing on a world in which science and religion are both visible, but through an etheric screen, express essential hope. Is that part of your wider understanding/belief system?

RESCHKE: Yes. There’s an old Arabian proverb about hope: “He who has health has hope. And he who has hope has everything.” I do believe in the eventual exaltation of man, but it will probably only come after a lot of suffering. I believe in both science and spirituality. And I believe in the potential of humankind. So, yes, I do have an undercurrent of hope that threads its way through, in particular, the stories “The Afterlife of Adolf Hitler” and “The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived.”

FQ: What writer or creative exemplar influenced you most in the composition of this series?

RESCHKE: My book, Something Went Cold, was never meant to be a series but a collection of unique short stories.

To directly answer the question, honestly...no one. I didn’t try to emulate anyone. I do admire great writers, but there’s a difference between trying to model or imitate a writer and admiring them. I’m trying to have my own voice. Among my favorite writers are Truman Capote, Michael Crichton, Dan Brown, Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, and Isaac Asimov. That said, and again, though, I don’t try to imitate anyone.

I wrote stories that I thought I’d like reading. I didn’t worry about length either. I wanted stories that were full figured without worrying about an arbitrary word limit. I wanted the story to carry the day and take its own course, if you will. As mentioned, stories like Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado are what I like: stories that are written well, have a main character that has a clear motivation, and an emotional payoff of some kind that gets the reader thinking. I think people enjoy those kinds of stories. Asimov’s The Bicentennial Man is another such story.

FQ: You must surely have a favorite character in Something Went Cold, someone you identify closely with – who would that be?

RESCHKE: Actor Spencer Tracy once said he put Spencer Tracy into every acting role he ever had. There is something of me in every character I wrote in Something Went Cold – with the exception of Hitler. He was a monster, a murderer, and a deceiver. I’m none of those things. I wrote that story because I thought it would be a compelling and jolting ride.

I was bullied in school but not to the extent the character King Billy was. So, yes, I can identify with the despair and pain that character felt. I can also identify with the frustration the character Burke Norman felt, too. And the unresolved pain and disappointment that Ted Williams felt – yeah, I can identify with that too.

The young girl in “#MeToo” is someone I closely identify with maybe more than any other character in the book. I let my imagination run wild with that story but to be absolutely clear, she is a fictional character from bow to stern. It’s a figment of my imagination from beginning to end. The grief, pain, and wounds that character felt I could definitely identify with as I had lousy biological parents, too. I deliberately left her unnamed so people could identify with her. In our culture it’s come out as to how predatory many Hollywood powerbrokers are not to mention scores of politicians. The #MeToo movement was long overdue and I tried to tap into that zeitgeist deliberately by crafting a unique story where, perhaps for once, a woman gets some revenge.

I will say this: I can most definitely identify with the vengeful feelings the girl had. (Not that I’ve ever done anything remotely like what I have her doing in the story.) The deceased management consultant Stephen R. Covey once wrote, “Unexpressed feelings never die, they’re simply buried alive.” I was trying to tap into that kind of emotional thread with the #MeToo story as many feel a desire for justice upon those who hurt them so gratuitously. The truth is, in this world, many wicked people get away with their crimes ALL...THE...TIME. So, in the story, I wanted that to not be the case, and I thought that would make for some compelling drama.

FQ: Do you have plans for more writing of a similar nature?

RESCHKE: Yes and no. I have lots of ideas for short stories and a goodly number of ideas for novels. Currently I’m starting work on my first novel and I’ve just finished my first non-fiction book. So, I have plenty of ideas to keep me busy for the next 20-30 years.

As mentioned earlier, my fundamental linchpin or touchstone that I start from is to write unique stories that are fun to read, that are an experience.

#BookReview - My Name On A Grain of Rice by Richard Voigt

Today, Feathered Quill reviewer Ellen Feld is talking with Richard Voigt, author of My Name on a Grain of Rice.

FQ: Have you always enjoyed writing or is it something you’ve discovered recently?

VOIGT: Although I have been writing for a long time (legal arguments and opinions along with fiction), I cannot say that I always “enjoyed it.” Some days “yes”; some days “no.” When I was writing my novel, my response to the enterprise depended on what the characters were saying; what was happening in the plot; how well I thought I was finding the right words and phrases; whether I was developing solutions to problems I had identified in the text. Some days the words were there; the pieces seemed to fit; I was totally absorbed in the effort and took pleasure in the focus. On other days, I was struggling; it was hard work and something other than fun, but I knew that I had to grind through the difficulties so that on another day I could rediscover the pleasure of writing and actually finish the project.

FQ: What was the impetus for writing your book?

VOIGT: There was no single impetus for writing the book. However, there were several things that got me to thinking about taking on the project. Although the plot of the book is a complete invention, several fatality cases I litigated as an attorney introduced me to the rigors and dangers of heavy construction work. I thought that this world should receive more attention by fiction writers. I also thought that more attention should be paid to “ordinary” people struggling to “solve the problem” of their lives; that there was a significance to these struggles even though they might not have involved overcoming drug addiction, sexual abuse, poverty, or other daunting challenges which have rightly been the subjects of many fine novels. The challenge, which pulled me forward, was to create a story which captured some of this drama and the significance which flowed from it.

FQ: Please give our readers a little insight into your writing process. Do you set aside a certain time each day to write, only write when the desire to write surfaces, or ?

VOIGT: There has been nothing “systematic” about my writing. The main problem I faced was the need to support a family, which dictated that my writing of fiction had to be subordinated to other demands on my time. So it was not possible to write every day at a preferred time; it was not always possible to write when I was in the mood or felt a certain creative energy. Basically, I just hoped that the spare time I would be able to find would line up with me being in the mood to write and having some ideas in my head.

FQ: What was the hardest part of writing your book? That first chapter, the last paragraph, or ?

VOIGT: There was no single “hardest part” of writing the book. Hard parts appeared at various locations in the text and when they appeared, at that moment, they were the “hardest part” of writing the book. Nevertheless, I can say that it was much harder writing a first draft than editing and revising that draft. When editing and revising, I had something to work with. Even if the first draft was disappointing, it provided me with an initial starting point for the next writing session’s efforts. Existing text invited me to continue to write with the hope of improvement. I also can say that writing the first chapter was not the hardest part of the process. In fact, if it had not been comparatively easy to write the first pages of the novel (the beginning had been rattling around in my head before I touched the keys), I am not sure that I would have ever started the book, because I would not have known where to begin.

FQ: What is your all-time favorite book? Why? And did this book/author have any influence over your decision to become an author?

VOIGT: This question is impossible to answer. There have been many, many excellent books, both fiction and non-fiction, which have impacted me. I cannot single out one of them as my all-time favorite. This conclusion is reinforced by my awareness that some books which knocked my socks off when I was younger may not have the same effect on me now. I am simply grateful that I continue to encounter well-written books which, perhaps at the time that I am reading them, are my “favorite.” Did any of the excellent books which I have read influence my decision to become an author? Yes, but it was not to inspire me to write a novel. More like the opposite. The beautiful, clever language, plotting and character development of these excellent books were intimidating, discouraging. “Damn,” I would say to myself. “That is really good writing. I’ll never be able to write like that. No way am I going to write a novel. Better stick to writing legal arguments.” But then I would read a novel which, in my opinion, was really bad, and I would say to myself “I could write at least as well as that, maybe even a little better. Why not give it a shot?”

FQ: If you were to teach a class on the art of writing, what is the one item you would be sure to share with your students and how would you inspire them to get started?

VOIGT: I can identify two interrelated points which, knowing myself, I would probably repeat multiple times. First, at the risk of contradicting my comments to previous question, I would say: “Don’t be afraid of getting started just because you are worried that your first draft will not be very good.” Someone once told me that anything worth doing is worth doing badly. In fact, there is a very real probability that your first draft or maybe even your first three drafts will not be very good. No doubt, that would be a problem if you stopped there. Which brings me to my second point: be prepared to revise what you are writing over and over. Don’t worry about the first draft (other than creating one) because it is not going to be your last draft. The hope is that with each revision, the text will get better until you are finally seeing something that is very good, or at least, gives you the satisfaction of having said what you want to say. Of course, to get started you need to have something you want to say. If my experience is any teacher, you don’t have know everything you want to say, but you need to have some idea of where you want to go. Then you get started and see what develops, cutting yourself some slack along the way, knowing that if you keep coming back to it, you can and hopefully will tighten things up.

FQ: Did the story change as you wrote the book?

VOIGT: Absolutely. Many changes were made, particularly in how the characters were developed. But the basic arc of the story remained the same, because, in my judgment (rightly or wrongly), it had to stay intact to protect the “point” of the story.

FQ: Are any of the characters based on real people you know? If so, how closely does your character mimic the real person?

VOIGT: None of the characters are based on real people whom I have known. I have known people with attributes somewhat similar to those assigned to characters but none of those people come close to the actual characters in the story. The need to invent characters was one of the things that drew me to writing the novel.

FQ: Tell us about your favorite character and why that person is your favorite.

VOIGT: Different characters were my “favorites” for different reasons at different times. One character was my “favorite” because I particularly enjoyed inventing him, even though he was not likeable. Another was my favorite for a time because the completed character entertained me through unpredictable behavior. Yet another character earned my prioritized attention because of an emotional connection between the two of us. And at times, Minnie Sollis went to the top of the list because she played the hand she was dealt with a calm confidence and no self-pity – qualities I admire.

FQ: How did you approach the need to keep readers engaged and tuned in to keep turning those pages?

VOIGT: The story is a circle. It starts with Harry Travers, the narrator, describing horrible fatalities. Then he goes back in time to explain how it was that he became involved in these tragic circumstances and how these events changed his life. While the plot is working its way back to where it started (to the deaths), the reader is aware that this is where things are headed, which was intended to create some tension underlying the unfolding events. In addition, Harry becomes involved with Minnie Sollis, who demands serious things of him. Whether Harry can meet these demands is not clear for much of the story, which is also intended to be a source of tension. Early in the story, Harry says that he wanted to make something out of nothing and that something would be himself. Essentially, the novel is an exploration of whether he succeeds. The hope was that the answering of this question would also hold the reader’s interest. In a very risky test of how I was doing, I used my own reaction to the writing. If I was interested in the narrative, I hoped that the reader would be too (a big risk); if I was losing interest, I had no hope that the reader would keep turning the pages and I needed to change direction (a smaller risk).

#BookReview - Flowers That Die by Gideon Helping

Flowers That Die

By: Gideon Halpin

Publisher: Atmosphere Press

Publication Date: December 2021

ISBN: 978-1639881604

Reviewed by: Barbara Bamberger Scott

Review Date: January 17, 2022

A poet with a wide range of life experience, a “veteran of spiritual warfare,” Gideon Halpin offers his debut collection centered on the reflections and perceptions of a character he calls “Sad Boy.”

The opening piece, “Mid-daydream,” finds Sad Boy wistfully strolling through a meadow and remembering a girl “who like the rainbow is gone,” leaving him adrift “as a leaf in a stream.” Many of these poetic vignettes are similarly emotive, gentle, full of natural wonder and dreamy speculation.

One of the few rhyming pieces, “Greenhouse,” compares a fire in the fireplace to “the sun in night” while concluding soberly:

life is a garden

in a greenhouse of glass

time seems forever

until it has passed

In “Prayer Flags,” the poet wonders if he’s the only one “torn between the shadow and seeing the sun.” The bitterness of “Serpent Heart” expresses his discomfort for eyes watching him as he bears up under his inner burdens:

I hate them all because

Something seeing me

Adds torment to misery

Though many of Sad Boy’s thoughts are centered on lost love and the futility of his very existence, some suggest a positive outcome, as in “Home,” in which he speaks of using a “trusted carpenter’s square passed from my fathers” to fashion lumber into rafters and shelves, creating the place where he and his woman will dwell. There are occasional sweet meetings with that woman, though some evanesce into clouds of memory only. So in the end, and as his title predicts, we are all flowers, and flowers must die. This spurs in him the resolution to dance “until my face is a crumpled napkin,” a cleverly amusing image of the aging of our flesh.

Halpin, who has led a venturesome life thus far, reveals that his thirst for writing came about owing to desperation. Yet it is clear that he has always possessed a sense of the best meaning of words, from their inner cores to their outer shells. Tied to this is his vivid observation of natural phenomena and the ability to convey those sights and sounds to his reader. The works presented here give a portrait of a real man with tough but touching feelings of love, sometimes presented, as in “Big Sur,” as real and happening, and then suddenly fading back to mere memory and painful longing. All readers will have shared such frustrations as well as some of the touchingly joyous events Halpin describes.

Quill says: This new poetic work is sure to garner a readership of real folks who, like its creator, enjoy re-imagining their own past loves and losses and will look for further outpourings from Gideon Halpin.

#BookReview - Knights of the Air, Book 1: Rage! by Iain Stewart

Knights of the Air, Book 1: Rage!

By: Iain Stewart

Publisher: Atmosphere Press

Publication Date: January 2022

ISBN: 978-1639881314

Reviewed by: Barbara Bamberger Scott

Review Date: November 23, 2021

When we first meet Lance Fitch in 1914, he is an English farmer and hunter who happens to live in what was once known as German East Africa. He has almost reached manhood with no idea what sort of trade he might pursue, his greatest skills being handling and shooting a rifle. When war breaks out in Europe, it will be the Germans against the English, as the local askaris (soldiers) are swift to demonstrate. Before long, they have taken Lance, his brother Francis, and their African companion, Hamisi, prisoner. Sadistic torture ensues. Lance will escape, cruelly wounded but wiser, obsessed with the need for blind revenge. He will get his chance and though it weighs upon him, he ensures that the German who caused such havoc will suffer and die.

The next natural step for Lance is to join the English armed forces, and the next year finds him on the war-ravaged Western Front, where he will see his second brother killed in battle. As battles take to the skies, Fitch, now part of the British Royal Flying Corps, is chosen as a cold-blooded artilleryman, perched in the front of a small aircraft, handling two machine guns, one to fire forward, the other, backwards. It is tough work, and the Germans have superior equipment. Nonetheless, Fitch is a deadeye shot and is soon identified as a good candidate to work in tandem with Major Arthur Wolsey, an aristocrat who bonds with the rough-cut young man from the bush when Fitch unerringly saves both their lives. Fitch will move upward in the hierarchy, forced to hobnob with the military elites. The technologies change swiftly, and Fitch seems as keen to improve the smallest technical glitches in the crafts he must fly as to socialize with the officers…until he meets Megan.

Author Stewart has based this tale, the first in a series, on hard facts drawn from the annals of the war and the technical development of warfare in the skies. There are real people woven into his plot and a chronology that roughly follows actual events. He, like Fitch, grew up in East Africa, with smatterings of Swahili and other touches adding authenticity to that portion of his story. Significantly, also, he obtained a pilot’s license as a teen. His book, while focused on manly deeds on earth and sky, also includes many references to classical literature, allowing Fitch to approach a coming battle with Tennyson on his mind: “Theirs but to do and die.” He offers Historical Notes for the reader to bind together the facts with his imaginative storytelling. By the end of Book One, Stewart shows Fitch as having integrated better than he could have anticipated with the brass, but still feeling the curse of killing, seeing “a lot of dead Huns” as his only legacy. The possibilities before him beg a sequel, foreseen and designed by the author.

Quill says: Wrapping World War I and aeronautic history around the personal struggles of some of the men who lived it up close, Iain Stewart has created a cinematic viewpoint as seen through the career of a dedicated, determined, vengeful loner.

For more information on Knights of the Air, Book 1: Rage!, please visit the book's GoodReads page https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59419957-rage

#AuthorInterview with Jana Eisenstein, author of Ghosted

Today, Feathered Quill reviewer Ellen Feld is talking with Jana Eisenstein, author of Ghosted: Dating & Other Paramoural Experiences .

FQ: Tell our readers a little about yourself. Your background, your interests, and how this led to writing a book?

EISENSTEIN: I’ve always loved writing. As a pretty introverted child, writing offered a way for me process my thoughts and feelings. At the time, those feelings were often along the lines of, “I just want to be left alone.” I wrote several stories of Cinderella eschewing her royal duties, in one instance fleeing a drunk and abusive prince, to make it on her own. So, it’s very possible that as a child I manifested the very independent life I currently live.

In college I very briefly, and sort of accidentally, became a humor columnist for our daily newspaper. I tried my best to emulate the satirical writers I had grown up on, but I found it difficult to churn out work I was excited about on a weekly basis. I ended up writing some pieces that elicited strong reactions – both positive and negative. It was more than my fragile teenage ego was prepared to handle and made me realize I don’t enjoy writing on a deadline or with the sole intention of pleasing others.

So, I left the paper and spent my college years quiet, dateless, and completely unnoticed – exactly the way I wanted it. After some unexpected drama at the end of senior year involving – what else – a guy, I moved from Boston to DC for grad school and decided to reinvent myself. It’s here where my book really starts – documenting my transformation from quiet young ingénue to uninhibited party girl. I made a lot of bad choices, often involving men, during those first years in DC. But in writing about my experiences, using humor to point out my own errors and deficits, I was able to transform my secret disappointments into entertainment for others.

Writing about my many failures has also helped me identify and change my unhealthy behavior patterns. For anyone struggling with personal issues, if you can’t afford therapy and are able to wait a decade for noticeable results, I highly suggest you write your own book.

FQ: What was the impetus for writing your book?

EISENSTEIN: Writing is therapy for me; I didn’t set out with the intention of writing a book. I just happened to have a bunch of bad dates and short-lived relationships that left me questioning my sanity. So, I wrote about them. Turns out, when you online date in a major metropolitan city, you end up with enough bad dates to fill a book. Once I had a reasonable collection of stories, I began to notice some themes – among them, that I consistently date men with whom I’m clearly incompatible. As I teased out those threads, they coalesced into a central arc, and I realized I had the makings of a book. Or, the manifesto of a sad, lonely lady.

FQ: Please give our readers a little insight into your writing process. Do you set aside a certain time each day to write, only write when the desire to write surfaces, or ?

EISENSTEIN: Since I didn’t initially set out to write a book, I mostly just wrote when I needed to sort through my thoughts and feelings about another date/relationship gone wrong. So, I wrote intermittently over the course of several years. Not to brag, but I have a lot of failed relationships.

Once I began the process of formalizing my stories as a book, the writing became more structured. I joined a writing critique group and also worked with editors, so I had deadlines and expectations to meet. While that took a lot of the fun out of the writing process, the collaborations and feedback made my work so much better.

Now that the book is done, it’s nice to be back in a mindset where I can sit down and write when I want, and not feel guilty if I don’t. And since I now have more time to date and be ghosted, I see more writing in my future.

FQ: Who are your favorite authors?

EISENSTEIN: My introduction to humor writing was Dave Barry. In the days before the internet, my mom used to clip his articles from the newspaper and share them with me. I subsequently read all his books. He wasn’t creating new stories or inventing characters; he was putting a hilarious spin on the real world. This was my first taste of satire, and I was hooked. Once I discovered this type of humor, I sought it out in everything. I devoured books by Nora Ephron and Joseph Heller. I used to watch The Simpsons with a notebook and pencil so I could write down the best lines or make note of the references I didn’t get so I could look them up and laugh at them later. Those writers were brilliant.

More recently, Tina Fey has emerged as one of my favorite writers. I loved her on SNL, but it was her work on 30 Rock that filled the satirical hole in my funny bone, or whatever part of the body satire comprises. The liver? I once had a date tell me I reminded him of Tina Fey, and it was one of the best compliments I’ve ever received. I still remember the compliment; can’t remember the dude’s name.

FQ: As an author/writer, what famous author (living or dead), would you like to have dinner with, and why?

EISENSTEIN: This may be cheating, since she’s credited as a writer rather than an author, but hands down it would be Tina Fey. She’s brilliantly witty; a talented writer, actor, comedian; and the characters she creates and portrays feel very real, which makes her humor so relatable. I would love to pick her brain about how she decided to pursue comedic writing, and how she found the strength to fight for her rightful spot in an industry dominated by men, and a world where many people think that women aren’t funny.

Although truthfully, I’m terrified of meeting anyone I hold in high esteem. I’m as charming as can be in low-pressure situations like first dates and dental visits. As soon as there’s a power imbalance, I’m a disaster. There’s a non-zero chance that I’ll slip on a banana peel, walk into an impeccably clean glass door, or otherwise embarrass myself and ruin any chance we otherwise would have had at being best friends. This was true when, as a child, I avoided all of my beloved characters at Disney World, and it holds true today. Sorry Tina, our friendship just wasn’t meant to be.

FQ: What is your all-time favorite book? Why? And did this book/author have any influence over your decision to become an author?

EISENSTEIN: I don’t have a favorite book. In fact, I don’t generally have a favorite anything. My tastes and interests are always in flux, which makes choosing security questions for online protection quite difficult.

Many books have impacted me in important ways, however. In high school I read Famous Crimes Revisited: From Sacco-Vanzetti to O. J. Simpson by Dr. Henry Lee and The Body Farm by Patricia Cornwell. These books acquainted me with the importance of forensic science in piecing together mysteries and are in large part why I majored in biology in college.

While an undergrad, Richard Preston’s books, The Cobra Event and The Hot Zone, and John M. Barry’s The Great Influenza (combined with my dislike of chemistry and physics) supplanted my desires to become a world-famous forensic pathologist, and led me to my master’s program in public health microbiology. I may not be studying Ebola in a BSL-4 lab or tracking the origin of deadly contagions, but the trajectory these books helped shape for me has allowed me to do some very interesting and rewarding work throughout my career.

As for my decision to become a writer, there was no one book or author who set me on this path. I’ve always loved writing, and have churned out humorous poems, miniseries, satirical teen ‘zines, and comics for friends and family throughout the years. I’m constantly trying to improve, and I really enjoy reading everything from YA and sci-fi to mysteries and biographies. I just love a good story. Good luck trying to hack my security questions with that.

FQ: What makes your book unique in memoir/dating books? Why should readers pick up your book over others in the field?

EISENSTEIN: If you’re a single adult, chances are you have a dating story or two; we all have them. The problem, I found, is that memoirs about dating tend to fall into one of two categories—the annoyingly optimistic If-You-Kiss-Enough-Frogs-You’ll-Eventually-Find-Your-Prince category, or the postfeminist You-Don’t-Need-a-Man-to-Be-Happy category.

Ghosted falls somewhere in between. It speaks to those who, like me, haven’t given up on finding love, but are coming to terms with the idea that a single, lasting relationship may not exist for them. It’s a story full of humor and heartbreak that will resonate with those who have been through the dating wringer and know that life doesn’t always deliver tidy resolutions or grand romantic payoffs. It’s a book for realists looking to laugh at themselves and commiserate with others, because although they may be lonely, they’re certainly not alone.

Also, in my completely unbiased opinion, it’s just a fun read. Regardless of your dating status, if you want a quick read that will make you laugh, give Ghosted a shot. And tell your friends.

FQ: What was the most difficult part of writing this book?

EISENSTEIN: Honestly, writing the book was easy. As I mentioned, writing is therapy for me and, well, I have a lot of issues. Putting all of my many (many) mistakes onto the page and crafting it in a way that made me laugh took the sting out of my failures.

The hard part was everything after the writing. Once I decided I wanted to create a book from my stories, I had to educate myself. I took writing classes, attended conferences to learn about the industry, began networking, started lurking in online writing forums. I had to throw myself into the soul-crushing world of pitching myself and my story to agents and publishers and people on the street who might be or know an agent or publisher. Fortunately, my disappointing dating life has fortified me against the barrage of rejections I received from the publishing industry. I stuck with it, and now I get to share this book that I’m insanely proud of with the world. Perhaps if I channeled all that energy into dating, I’d finally have my happy ending. Then again, I need more material if I’m going to write a second book.

For more information on Ghosted: Dating & Other Paramoural Experiences, please visit the author's website at janaeisenstein.com

#BookReview - Paradox Effect by Gabriel F.W. Koch

Paradox Effect: Time Travel and Purified DNA Merge to Halt the Collapse of Human Existence

By: Gabriel F.W. Koch

Publisher: Outskirts Press

Publication Date: September 2015

ISBN: 978-1478756224

Reviewed by: Kimberly Trix Lee

Date: January 10, 2022

The world is coming to an end and mankind has been on the pathway to impending doom set in motion many centuries ago. Can the past be changed to save the future? Let’s find out in Paradox Effect by Gabriel F.W. Koch.

The year was 1954 and Navy Intelligence agent Peter Hersh met and fell in love with Dannia Weston, a highly educated woman working on a classified project for the US government. Their romantic relationship developed and they eventually started having discussions about marriage. Soon after, Dannia began having severe headaches that knocked her unconscious. These headaches were also accompanied by visual and auditory hallucinations that made her question her own sanity. The hallucinations began as dreams about unfamiliar people in an equally unfamiliar environment talking about things that she could not comprehend. Subsequently, Dannia found out that she was pregnant and, as her pregnancy progressed, the hallucinations developed into daytime visions. To make matters worse, a man kept on chasing after them, claiming to need to take Dannia into custody for interrogation purposes about her activities in the recent war. With the pregnancy, the visions, and the man on their tail, Dannia’s desire to just marry Peter and live a quiet life did not seem feasible at all.

Three hundred years later, in 2254, General Patrick Buckwalder sent agent 476 into the past on a mission to prevent a chain of events that had resulted in the end of the world. There were neural nets inside 476’s brain theoretically in place not only to block off her memories but also to reduce the desire for copulation and therefore minimize the likelihood of pregnancy. Given that 476 now appeared to be experiencing memory rebirth, General Buckwalder sent another agent to monitor her. Things became more complicated when they found out about 476’s pregnancy and, with this unprecedented situation that could potentially make or break the world quite literally, Buckwalder was faced with a dilemma that would test his moral compass. It all hit the proverbial fan when Buckwalder lost track of both his agents. With two time travel agents having gone rogue and a baby in the womb carrying DNA from both past and future, the fragile stability of the past, present, and future teeters on the precipice.

Paradox Effect by Gabriel F.W. Koch is a plot-driven science fiction novel that deals with time travel, the intricacies and challenges, and the potentially far-reaching and possibly catastrophic consequences of actions done by time travelers. This is a “what you do in the past can affect the future” kind of time travel story and it was interesting to see how psychology and moral issues came into play with such a high-stakes state of affairs - a mission to save (or destroy) the world. The pacing of the story was done well and the alternating perspectives of the characters in the past and those in the future helped sustain the pace. This was written with an omniscient narrator point of view and characters’ motivations and thoughts were shown through streams of consciousness. Having said that, the reactions and motivations of the major characters were realistic and grounded albeit frustratingly idealistic considering the grave situations they were all in. There is also romance in there which, fortunately, only existed in the background and did not take the focus away from the actual important events.

Quill says: Paradox Effect is an easy to read time travel story about a woman tasked to save the world and her subsequent falling in love which could literally ruin it all.

#BookReview - Rx: A Novel by Garin Cycholl

Rx: A Novel

By: Garin Cycholl

Published by: Atmosphere Press

Publication Date: February 2022

ISBN: 978-1639881444

Reviewed by: Lynette Latzko

Review Date: January 8, 2022

After witnessing the lengthy illness and death of his father, the somewhat despondent main character in the novel Rx, by Garin Cycholl, decides to leave his hometown and take to the open road with only some of his late father’s old medical possessions jammed in the trunk of his car, and most critically, his father’s identity, Doctor Rex Ayers.

Shortly after leaving his hometown, "Doctor Rex Ayers" decides to settle down in a remote part of rural, middle America, and surprisingly, is able to easily find employment as a medical professional. His original intention was to pose as a psychiatrist, believing it to be the easiest and most fun of specialties. However, it quickly becomes apparent that the town is in more of a dire need of a general practitioner because the infamous regular town doctor had recently left his practice, leaving the position vacant. Despite being wildly out of his league, and relying heavily upon foggy memories of his childhood, occasionally accompanying his father at work, as well as his father’s outdated medical textbooks (along with the previously fired addict nurse whom he rehired and is also having a personal relationship with), the new Dr. Rex Ayers manages to stumble his way through his workday seeing patients, and even gets a position at the local hospital.

Things begin to get a bit hairy and complicated when two ongoing critical events start occurring. First, one of “Dr Ayers’” patients, a man claiming to be a former military man in his sixties, comes in with some medical issues. Issues that don’t seem to be responding to the treatment that is being guessed at by the medical conman, and actually seem to be not only getting worse, but are oddly mimicking symptoms that could be related to unrest that is occurring throughout America. And secondly, the “doctor” is intermittently receiving mysterious letters claiming that the writer knows who he really is. But will this person reveal Dr Ayers’ true identity, or will his patient ultimately cause much more damage to the entire country?

Rx initially appears to be a good concept for a fictional, and well-written (not surprising considering it's penned by a literature professor) story about a conman impersonating a medical professional set in a time of American upheaval. However, the story is anything but light and easy (bordering on disturbing at times) and may be a bit of a challenge to read, partly because of the heavy literary prose filled with metaphor, historical reference, etc., that may be missed out on by some readers. The ending also leaves readers with a lot of unanswered questions, which is perhaps done purposely by the author to allow for a sequel. Overall, Garin Cycholl's Rx is a complex literary creation that will take readers on an interesting journey, if they're up for the task.

Quill says: If you're in search of an interesting read, consider Rx by Garin Cycholl. It will challenge you and keep you thinking.