Book 101 Review

My life was once a storm—addiction, reckless nights in Cairo, and love that left me shattered. I stood toe-to-toe with men most would fear, all while hiding a drug dependency that threatened to destroy me. But before the chaos, I was just a girl from Ukraine, desperate for a family I never had. That hunger led me down a path of devastation, forcing me to face the wreckage of my choices. What began as a mother’s fight for her child became a battle for my own survival and redemption. And when the Nile tried to claim me once again, I made the most daring and resilient choice of my life:  I kidnapped my daughter from Egypt.

Manhattan: The Rising War by Sal Cosenza. A surreal, genre-blending adventure in a reimagined “city that never sleeps…”Inspired by Sal Cosenza’s acclaimed painting series, as well as his decades-long fascination with the city’s landmarks and icons, Manhattan: The Rising War is an ambitious, otherworldly evocation of urban living, and what it means to be a part of it.Lady Liberty, that classic icon in the harbor, is born as a living, breathing building under the eye of eager spectators on a strange island called Manhattan. Before long, the colossal statue, whose very existence is an amazing feat of architectural magic, learns of her human creator’s desire to raise her based on life-giving ways of the ancient god, Schist. But her creator also warns of the rage-fueled deity called Pegmatite, even as Lady Liberty motivates humanity with a new wave of “towering giants'' that welcomes all and inspires the world with endless possibilities.

Moving From Idea to Finished Draft by Cat Rambo Writer Cat Rambo shows multiple ways to take a story idea and flesh it out into a complete draft, looking at different ways in which ideas may manifest, such as scenes, titles, prompts, and more.

Lost Seeds: The Beginning  “The engrossing first book of a series, Lost Seeds addresses various facets of historical racism and piques keen interest in the saga’s continuation.”—Clarion/Foreword ReviewA novel chronicling the strained relationship between two brothers born into the remnants of their parents’ former enslavement. One brother seems to overcome, while the other descends further into adversity. What happens when they are forced to face each other?Lost Seeds is the story of two brothers, Dublin and Timothy Brisco, born into poverty at the turn of the twentieth century to formerly enslaved parents. From birth, they witness firsthand the atrocities their parents had to endure and themselves experience the continued struggles of being Black in the South. Encounters with physical abuse, mental illness, and racism define the brothers’ lives, and despite their best efforts to survive, the seeds of slavery’s wickedness inevitably spawn and lead the two down separate paths. Dublin attempts to overcome his tragic past and hopes to elevate his place in life by escaping oppression and adapting to segregated societal life, while Timothy openly displays his wounds, attempts to reject his Black identity, and descends into a fog of mental illness. The two brothers never discuss their journeys, nor the lifetime of insecurity and violence they experienced, ultimately creating an impassable chasm in their relationship.Eventually, at the request of their mother, Dublin reluctantly permits Timothy to live on his family’s land in a one-room windowless shack. Although they are once again united on the same property, their feelings of indifference and the distance between the two persist.Will their relationship forever be lost to the traumas of their past, or will they be able to come together and be each other’s strength in the face of the cruelties of their world? Because no matter how much time or distance passes, the seeds of brotherhood never die.