"Hannah's Heirloom Trilogy" by Rosie Chapel – A Double Life 2000 Years Apart

The Rosie Chapel History Tour

Time travel is a concept that has been approached from many different angles by countless authors, each one trying to accomplish something specific, to materialize their concrete view of the concept's realization.

While some like to get down into the details, there are others for whom it's really more of a way to transport the reader into an unfamiliar setting while sticking with a familiar type of character, sometimes even being a stand-in for the audience.

"Provenance" by Ann Leckie – A Political Coming-of-Age

Ann Leckie has presented us with one of the most unforgettable science-fiction worlds in the Imperial Radch trilogy, and in her new novel Provenance she takes us right back to it, albeit to tell a different story.

This time around, we are following a young woman by the name of Ingray who must rescue her charge from an infamous prison planet, which only proves to be the beginning of her turmoil.

On her home planet, a very real political strife is evolving, pitting human and alien governments against each other... will she be able to navigate the turbulence and find her way?

"Home" by Harlan Coben – Bring the Boys Back Home!

Harlan Coben's Take on Hope

Hope is a rather funny concept, for on one hand it can give us the will to live, to continue fighting and enduring, while on the other hand, it can deceptively lead us from the frying pan into the fire as it becomes an obsession and an inability to accept reality.

Luckily for us though, literary characters are fortunate enough not having to contend with such frustrating real-life dilemmas. For them, hope is without a question the path (and literary device) to follow and cling to, as Win Lockwood does for over a decade in Harlan Coben's Home.

"Midnight on Mars" by M.C. Glan - The Many Faces of Fear

M.C. Glan's Fading Humanity

The idea that one day we'll be forced to leave Earth and look for a shelter elsewhere is certainly not without foundation.

With each and every second we are further exhausting the non-renewable resources that make our civilization turn round, and even if we manage to move on to completely recyclable energy and solve all the critical worldly issues (such as hunger and diseases), we'll still have to deal with a dying sun.

“What the Hell Did I Just Read” by David Wong – The Unreliable Narrators

Into David Wong's Absurdity

David Wong is a writer that doesn't need much of an introduction for those who are into horror comedies.

His John Dies at the End and This Book is Full of Spiders have catapulted him into relative stardom, demonstrating his capability of bringing something original and hilarious to the genre.

“The Idea of You” by Amanda Prowse – The Loss of Motherhood

Amanda Prowse Explores the Mother

Being a parent is one of those aspirations that transcends race, gender, culture, nationality and whatever else you may have. It's a biological, cultural and psychological yearning that governs the grand majority of us, to the point where many people don't even need to have a debate with themselves as to whether or not they want children.

Unfortunately, nature and genetics are cruel and unforgiving, making it extremely challenging, if not impossible for certain people to conceive.

“The Sudden Appearance of Hope” by Claire North - The Hopeless Grasp for Identity

Being Invisible with Claire North

The question of man's identity is one that has preoccupied philosophers throughout the ages, with there being many disagreeing schools of thought as to what makes us who we are.

Some argue that we are how others perceive is, others think that our memories make the core of our identities, not to mention all the theories revolving around biology and spirituality.

“Times of Victory” by Pedro Luis Adames Valdez – A Place Under God's Wing

The Meditations of Pedro Luis Adames Valdez

The topic of religion is one that's becoming increasingly contested with the advent of globalization as it became apparent that there are many more faiths out there than meet the eye.

Each and every one has its own belief system and designations, with a few being much more heavily-proliferated and discussed than others, namely Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

“The Boy Who Saw” by Simon Toyne – Putting the Ghosts of War to Rest

Simon Toyne and the Lost Identity

Compelling characters that consistently stimulate our desire to discover them across multiple books are few and drastically far in-between, with virtually ninety-nine percent of protagonists being throwaway vehicles used to conduct a single story.

Even when it comes to book series it is rare for an author to truly capture our interest with the same person one novel after the next... and I would argue that Solomon Creed, created by Simon Toyne, accomplishes that to perfection.

“The Almost Sisters” by Joshilyn Jackson – The Racist Charm of the South

Joshilyn Jackson Ventures to the Middle of Nowhere

The Southern United States, though plastered with stereotypes and generalizations, is a complicated and unique enough place on this Earth with its own sort of internal system that has remained the same throughout the years, even as one government took over after another.

Joshilyn Jackson, like a few other authors, has used the South as a setting for her stories on more than one occasion, being perfect for family dramas and sagas because of the traditions found in it. In The Almost Sisters she takes us into a little town located in Alabama, one that personifies what that part of the world is all about.

"The Thirst" by Jo Nesbo – Hunting on the Tinder Grounds

The Hunt for Lonely Hearts with Jo Nesbo

The idea of seeking out complete strangers to date through various mediums certainly isn't anything new.

There are lonely hearts advertisements, dating clubs, a whole array of websites dedicated to specific demographics, and more recently phone applications. Upon hearing those words you're most likely thinking of the one everyone has been using lately: Tinder.

“Time Travel: A History” by James Gleick – The Birth of the Human Obsession

James Gleick Asks the Pertinent Questions

To go back or forth in time, travel the fourth dimension, to wind the clock whichever way we want it to... that's one of the many seemingly unachievable wishes all of humanity shares.

Mastering our movement through time would definitely make life much easier, but of course, that's a concept that comes with many paradoxes that raise valid questions about its viability.

“Kill Process” by William Hertling – Angie and the Electronic Goliath

An Accelerated Evolution

A mere few years ago the term social networks wasn't even a thing because there was really only one, MySpace, and the relative few who used it (at least in comparison to today's social networkers) didn't give it all that much thought or importance.

However, fast forward to today and it's impossible to imagine a world that isn't dominated by Facebook feeds, Twitter posts, Instagram snaps and whatever else we may have.

“A Climbing Stock” by Andrew Hiller – A Deal with the Green Devil

The Power of Desperation

Most of us like to believe that we have enough integrity not to make any deals with the devil should the opportunity present itself, no matter what offers may be put on the table.

Desperation, however, has the power to drastically change our minds and priorities, and it is quite likely that there is a right set of circumstances in which every single person on Earth would sell their soul to the devil.

“Fields of Fire” by Marko Kloos –The Iron Fist of Humanity Strikes Back

Marko Kloos has dazzled us time and time again with his Frontlines series, and to the great joy and relief of his fans all over the world the latest chapter in that saga was published recently: Fields of Fire.

In this one, we follow Andrew and Halley once again as they find themselves at the forefront of the desperate human attempt to recapture Mars from the Lankies, more than a year after its conquest.

“The Mistress” by Danielle Steel –A Triangle of Obsessions

Danielle Steel Tackles a Dangerous Romance

The subject of forbidden love is about as old as humanity itself as we have always managed to find factors by which divide ourselves, including skin colour, ethnic origin, religious adherence, social standing, wealth... it's the kind of list that inexhaustibly goes on and on.

Nevertheless, it hasn't stopped countless people from trying to jump over those barriers and go for the life they believed fate had planned for them all along.

“The Food of Love” by Amanda Prowse – How to Disappear Into Nothingness

Amanda Prowse's Deep Understanding

The fight against bad food and obesity has been raging in the United States and certain parts of the world for decades now, with seemingly more and more people being afflicted every single year.

We've devoted countless resources to this fight, with oh so many trying to push their supplements, diets and exercise plans that promise to be the ultimate solution we've all been waiting for.

“The Secret Wife” by Gill Paul – A Pendant of Revelations

A Royal Family in Royal Peril

The early 20th century was a period of great turbulence in many places around the world, and Russia was certainly one of the more prominent ones with a countrywide revolution taking place in 1917. It was a period of terror, death and chaos, one where many prominent people met their maker at the hands of the Bolsheviks.

“Something Wicked This Way Comes” by Ray Bradbury – Carnival of Darkness

The Power of Melancholy

Nostalgia is a feeling that comes us over every single one of us at some point or another, whether we're simply lost in the carefree days of our childhood or just daydreaming of a time when things were better.

For the most part, we can only experience that feeling in relation to our own past; after all, how can one feel nostalgic for something they never had? Nevertheless, that's exactly what Ray Bradbury does to us in his classic novel Something Wicked This Way Comes: he makes us yearn for a time and a life we've never lived.

“The House by the Lake” by Ella Carey - The Memento of a Bygone Life

Ella Carey invites us on a road towards a past filled with questions as we follow a young woman, Anna, who was recently tasked by her grandfather to go back to Germany and retrieve a priceless family heirloom after revealing to her the family's secret aristocratic origins.

What at first seems like the sentimentality of an old man quickly turns into a mystery with more questions than answers.

“The Blood Mirror” by Brent Weeks – Save the Rotten Empire

Brent Weeks Powers On

Brent Weeks brought us the Lightbringer series a few years ago, and at the start it was supposed to be a trilogy.

However, as is likely to happen with successful science-fiction series, Weeks chose to extend the story beyond what he had originally planned, and at the moment there are supposed to be five books to it... until further notice, of course.

“Killing the Rising Sun” by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard – Triumph of the American Eagle

The Second World War is one of those historical periods that will undoubtedly be studied over and over again for decades, if not centuries to come.

Even with all the memories and records that were lost to war and destruction we are still digging up more and more information to fill our textbooks and libraries with.