Ballpark 2 Ballpark

Rabbit Hole Reviews has a special affection for minor league baseball, so the story behind John and Vicki Hoppin’s Ballpark 2 Ballpark hooked us right away. In June of 2012, the couple decided to take a motorhome tour of the country. At first, Vicki was more enthused about the pending adventure. With a mind toward getting him to share her excitement, she suggested that they explore baseball parks along the way. (John was more excited about baseball than Vicki.) Having found a way to stoke each other’s dreams, they took the project one step further. John was a writer. Vicki was a photographer. Why collaborate on a book?

Ballpark 2 Ballpark celebrates minor league ballparks in the U.S. and Canada. John’s anecdotal approach makes for a wonderful, wandering sort of trek. My favorite section of the book is about “The Staff,” the people who run the ballparks. The staff’s ongoing labor of love has much to do with the fan experience.

Vicki’s photos are terrific. She has an eye for both the big picture and details (one favorite is a shot of a chow-mein stuffed pineapple served by the concessions team in Akron, Ohio!)

Part nostalgia, part slice of middle America, the book is like minor league baseball itself—quirky, irreverent and fun. (Four stars out of five)

Note: A second volume is on the way. I will be buying a copy!

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The Secrets of Daeya

Davkaleon, the hero of Tetyana Butler’s Twierks fantasy series, is ready for the Military School, but is the school ready for him? His missteps with instructors, students from privileged families, and uncertain social conventions land him in the dungeon—and his troubles are just beginning!

Meanwhile, the mysteries of Twierks are beginning to reveal themselves in surprising fashion. Could magic be science that we don’t yet understand? What if the tricks of mages were based on the fantastic technologies of instantaneous movement and materialization? What if artificial intelligence took the form of a talking temple? Davkaleon will face great danger—but he has a secret weapon. His best friend Chapius is an Adoleeseet. Their friendship must remain a secret, though, because Adolees and Daeya are sworn enemies…

The joy of The Secrets of Daeya stems from Davkaleon himself—at turns kind and brutal, boastful and loyal, impetuous and clever. Unlike the linear progression of so many fantasy novels, the plot of the novel unfolds organically. Many of the lead character’s wounds are self-inflicted, and this reader found himself simultaneously cheering for Davkaleon and wanting to give him a swift kick in the backside.

Butler threads her story with logic, math concepts and an overarching mystery that helps propel the story beyond the usual “hardy band of misfits” trope that often dominates the fantasy genre. The Secrets of Daeya is the second book in the series (the first is Adventures of the Little Adoleeseet), but the book works as a stand-alone. I truly enjoyed the protagonist and his character arc (mild spoiler—he finishes the tale in his room, doing the unthinkable—studying!) Five stars out of five

FIRST FULL MOON

Michelle Alstead’s First Full Moon is a supernatural YA thriller with some familiar elements. Candy McGregor is a well-to-do teen who’s trying to please. Her family’s pharmaceutical empire, which enables the McGregors to own most of Sequim Falls, feels like a bit of a curse—plenty of expectations and obligations. Candy longs to be on her own, away from familial pressures.

But the family has dark secrets, and the hidden curse that Candy faces is far more catastrophic than she imagines. Turning sixteen, she inherits the ability to do magic—and the fear of what she’ll turn into at the next full moon. The McGregors are werewolves. If she can break the spell that created the curse, she’ll keep her magic and save her family. If she fails, she’ll lose her powers and spend the rest of her life dreading each and every full moon.

Candy’s internal conflicts aren’t her only obstacle—not everyone shares her aversion to lycanthropy.

Alstead’s prose is clean and uncluttered, and her sense of voice is spot-on, a welcome gateway to her characters. Though elements of the book have a surface familiarity, the author’s deft weave of the supernatural with universal coming-of-age themes is extraordinary. The meaning of family, love, and responsibility are examined through a plot that never slows down, from the opening horror show to the brutal climax.

First Full Moon is book one of a planned series. I can’t wait for the next installment. (Five stars out of five)

The Five Wishes of Mr. Murray McBride

His hundredth birthday finds Murray McBride without a reason to live. A chance encounter with a ten-year-old boy in the hospital changes everything. Jason Cashman has a terminal heart defect. When the boy leaves behind a wish list of five “impossible” things to do before he dies, Murray finds himself with a mission.

The plot of Joe Siple’s The Five Wishes of Mr. Murray McBride hinges on the clever—and sometimes heartbreaking—ways that Murray and Jason check off the list of wishes. But what really drives the novel is the relationship between the young boy and the old man. Tiegan, a young girl who accompanies the pair on their adventure, adds a wonderful dynamic. Siple pins the voice of his characters perfectly. (The email exchanges between Murray and Jason are laugh-out-loud funny.)

Terminal friendships can be familiar territory, but Siple has a way of making the familiar new again. One scene near the novel’s climax involving Murray and Tiegan left me in tears. Siple’s book is a wonderful, heartfelt read. My highest recommendation. (Five stars out of five)

UPON THE STAGE OF TIME

Four-year-old Maddie is dead—from sunburn. Her body is found in the front yard by her grandparents, Alton and Beatrice Miller. Their daughter, Casey, a beautiful but troubled meth addict, appears to be to blame. When detective A.J. Tillman shows up to investigate, Casey is all-too-eager to confess. But Tillman doesn’t buy her confession, and not just because he’s in love with her. When charges are filed, Tillman begins to dig, risking his reputation and his shaky marriage. Will he find the truth, or will Casey spend her life behind bars?

Kenneth Harmon’s Upon the Stage of Time is a claustrophobic little crime thriller set in a scorched East Texas town where everyone has secrets, including the ones they keep from themselves. Harmon’s characters are irreparably broken, and this tragic wreck of a story works on your heart from the first few pages until the last paragraph.

Harmon’s prose is deceptively simple, telling a fascinating story in a straight-forward fashion. The author lets tiny details mark the narrative like poetics. The cumulative effect is emotionally devastating. I was reminded of an old saying—children want justice, and adults want mercy. Suffice it to say that justice is done. My highest recommendation (five stars out of five).

 

THE PARANORMALIST

In Ken Harmon’s The Paranormalist, Quinn Westerly’s father, an FBI agent, dies in what is characterized as a murder/suicide involving immolation. She does not believe that her father could be part of such a horrible crime, but the agency considers the matter closed. Running out of options and determined to cover all bases, Quinn contacts Evan Cordell, a psychiatrist with a dark past who understands what Quinn is up against. He’d like to help her find answers, and he’d like to protect her. But Cordell the paranormalist knows the latter may be impossible. No one controls the dark side.

Ken Harmon writes magical realism, a difficult genre to pull off. Elements of whimsy (Lightfoot the ghost operates as a comic foil), naturalism (a detailed, realistic depiction of the world), and surrealism (dreamlike imagery), coupled with elements of horror. That’s a lot to juggle. Harmon pulls it off beautifully by focusing on his two lead characters—two flawed, damaged people struggling against the hidden world.

Harmon’s prose is straight-forward, firmly anchored in the real world, which draws the reader into his dark fantasy. The depiction of the shadow world is clever and consistent—Harmon is an expert at world-building. As for the ending, I’ll just say that the gruesome close was emotionally satisfying and worthy of the horror elements of the tale. The Paranormalist is satisfying on every level. (Five stars out of five)

We Should Have Left Well Enough Alone

Ronald Malfi’s We Should Have Left Well Enough Alone is an anthology of dark, short fiction. The author, who wrote last year’s masterful horror novel, Bone White, delivers in this fine collection. 20 stories run the gamut from psychological horror to the supernatural.

The first story, The Dinner Party, stuck with me for days. It’s hard to scare the adult reader. Most authors settle for related emotions, like revulsion (gore). The protagonist of Malfi’s lead story is a disturbed housewife suffering from disorientation and (possibly) paranoid delusions. The story draws the reader into an eerie, unsettling narrative that sets up a gut-punch ending that is genuinely frightening – a sense of horror that owes both to the emotional crafting and to the single, understated imagery that closes the tale.

Malfi is a horror master, and this collection is well worth your time. (Five stars out of five)