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Articles by Michele Sharpe
Story of the Universe
Yan Gertsoyg Archway (148pp) 978-1-66575-229-9 Clarion Rating: 3 out of 5 The ambitious collection Story of the Universe takes on the demanding work of translating science into poetry. Yan Gertsoyg’s luminous poetry collection Story of the Universe imagines the sequence of the Big Bang with secular reverence and gorgeous imagery.
Pawn Shop of Coincidence
Andrea L. Fry Grolier Poetry Press (106pp) 979-899430431-0 Clarion Rating: 4 out of 5 Observant and confessional, the poems in Pawn Shop of Coincidence employ wry humor and linguistic twists to illuminate various, often quirky, situations. Andrea L. Fry’s irresistible poetry collection Pawn Shop of Coincidence intertwines the sacred and the profane to illuminate subjects as ranging as family love and insect life.
Review of Pulse
Maria Nazos Omnidawn (100pp) 978-1-63243-216-2 Clarion Rating: 4 out of 5 Representing a wide range of emotions, the evocative poems collected in Pulse gather power, page by page. Maria Nazos’s inventive poetry collection Pulse measures the pressures of complex human relationships with precision and musicality. The book’s early poems focus on the speaker’s mistakes and heartbreaks, with plenty of sex, drugs, and rock and roll.
Review of Carbon Zero
An AI Dystopia Novel Craig W. Stanfill Bad Rooster Press (464pp) 978-1-63877-839-4 Clarion Rating: 3 out of 5 An unleashed AI is the catalyst for overdue power clashes in the intriguing dystopian novel Carbon Zero. In Craig W. Stanfill’s startling science fiction novel Carbon Zero, a rogue artificial intelligence takes humanity’s problems more seriously than humans do. In the near future, Abigail is an ambitious technology firm intern living just outside Boston.
Review of Dancing Through Seafoam
Poetic Reflections on the Circle of Life Diane Skye Gropper Indigo River Publishing (107pp) 978-1-969935-07-7 Clarion Rating: 3 out of 5 A stylistically diverse poetry collection, Dancing Through Seafoam concerns spirituality, human interconnections, planetary responsibilities, and love. Diane Skye Gropper’s musing poetry collection Dancing Through Seafoam is about human love, spiritual journeying, and global destruction.
At the Heart of It
The Rhythm of Reflection and Activism Arif Ahmad Mountain Aura Publishing (226pp) 978-1-73739-293-4 Clarion Rating: 4 out of 5 Embodying an international and interfaith outlook while emphasizing mutual respect and cooperation, At the Heart of It is a thoughtful and musing collection of essays and poems. Arif Ahmad’s emotive literary collection At the Heart of It advocates for a new commitment to tolerance in personal and public affairs.
Review of Confined Space
Jonathan L. Snare XlibrisUS (336pp) 979-836945375-9 Clarion Rating: 4 out of 5 Part piquing character study, part corporate investigation, Confined Space is an exciting off-planet thriller. In Jonathan L. Snare’s thrilling science fiction novel Confined Space, investigators risk their lives to determine the cause of mining accidents on Mars. On twenty-third-century Mars, Courtney leads an investigation into an underground beryllium mine explosion that killed sixteen workers.
Review of Menticulous
James Te Ronde Mindshaft Publishing Softcover $16.95 (424pp) 979-899612250-9 Clarion Rating: 4 out of 5 Human greed and integrity are revealed as a new technology’s true capacity is explored in the exciting science fiction novel Menticulous. In James Te Ronde’s dynamic science fiction novel Menticulous, a virtual world’s dangerous elements leak into reality.
A Life to Die For
J.G. Graham FriesenPress (300pp) 978-1-03-832636-2 Clarion Rating: 3 out of 5 Part body horror, part tragedy, A Life to Die For is a postapocalyptic novel about a lonely man who’s surrounded by zombies. In J. G. Graham’s thought-provoking, tragic horror novel A Life to Die For, a lone plague survivor manipulates zombies to endure his terrible loneliness.
Review of Marble
Taylor Catalana Modern Artist Press (Sep 29, 2026) Softcover $18.95 (392pp) 978-1-964403-09-0 Taylor Catalana’s luminous historical novel Marble reimagines the early life of Maryam, the Galilean who would become known as the Virgin Mary. Maryam is a dynamic narrator. Headstrong and often disliked by those around her, she lands in the middle of conflicts that must be resolved.
Review of Resonance
A Novel Michael S. Tobin Daniel S. Chertoff Subplot (Oct 13, 2026) Softcover $19.95 (336pp) 979-890026177-5 Michael Tobin and Daniel Chertoff’s shining historical novel Resonance pairs two timelines, each about a young and ambitious woman. In 1971, Sophie is a chaos-driven Lebanese American trading her family’s dysfunction and a shocking college experience for a year in Paris.
Review of Alston Moor
Anne Charnock Goldsmiths Press (Sep 1, 2026) Softcover $12.95 (260pp) 978-1-915983-55-8 Set in the peatlands of northern England across two timelines, Anne Charnock’s profound historical novel Alston Moor is about what it means to unearth the past. Impulses and veneration link the alternating chapters, which are narrated from a collection of perspectives spanning over five hundred years.
Review of Stolen Inheritance
How the Vulnerable Lose Their Estates—and What Families Can Do Michael Hackard Elder Legacy Press (160pp) 979-899493604-7 Clarion Rating: 3 out of 5 A revealing book that aims to help family members protect their vulnerable loved ones, in particular in California, Stolen Inheritance is an insightful legal guide. Michael Hackard’s disquieting legal guide Stolen Inheritance addresses the principles and implications of California’s elder laws.
Review of The Fourth Footprint
Tsung-Long Wu AmazonKDP (May 30, 2026) Hardcover $4.99 (258pp) 979-819933933-9 Clarion Rating: 4 out of 5 An introspective dystopian novel, The Fourth Footprint focuses on a family facing apocalyptic changes with aplomb. In Tsung-Long Wu’s haunting science fiction novel The Fourth Footprint, a surgeon’s enduring loss coincides with the opening of a seam in the universe.
Review of The Human Rubric
A Memoir of Life in a Neurotypical World James P. Manning Ridgeman Mental Health Books (255pp) 978-1-917369-58-9 Clarion Rating: 4 out of 5 A memoir about living with autism that’s filled with psychological insights, The Human Rubric is penetrating and revealing. James P. Manning’s revelatory memoir The Human Rubric is about being a psychologist with autism.
Review of The War Wedding
And Other Poems F.R. Foksal The Nonconformist Press (147pp) 978-839650066-3 Clarion Rating: 4 out of 5 Bringing opposing elements into intimate contact, The War Wedding is an engaging poetry collection. F. R. Foksal’s haunting poetry collection The War Wedding makes fascinating connections between apparent opposites, including people’s political and personal lives. Throughout the collection, opposing elements are brought into intimate contact.
Review of Unicursal
Redemption in the Age of Nuclear Annihilation Chuck Powell Subplot (329pp) 979-889138733-1 Clarion Rating: 3 out of 5 Centered by attempts to correct bad past decisions for the good of all, Unicursal is a musing speculative novel. Chuck Powell’s intense speculative novel Unicursal blends history and time travel in a quest to prevent the end of life on Earth. In 1809 in South America, a Franciscan friar chronicles a Mapuche warrior’s story in a book with an orange leather cover.
Review of Good Damage
Tragedy, Lightly Polished with a Side of Optimism Trey Toler Ripples Media (290pp) 978-1-971718-24-8 Clarion Rating: 4 out of 5 Trey Toler’s laugh-out-loud memoir Good Damage leans into the power of human connections. Trey Toler’s charming memoir Good Damage is about becoming a comic and coming out as gay.
The Price of Forgiveness
Debt, Bankruptcy, and the Future of Fairness in America Sarah Sharer Curley Intrepid Publishing (288pp) 978-1-972992-00-5 Clarion Rating: 3 out of 5 The Price of Forgiveness is an edifying personalized history of the bankruptcy court system in the US. Former bankruptcy attorney and judge Sarah Sharer Curley’s authoritative legal survey The Price of Forgiveness examines the United States’ bankruptcy system from a personal perspective, working toward advocacy for equitable reforms.
Review of These Balmy Days
Rich Shapero TooFar Media (303pp) 979-899014043-1 Clarion Rating: 3 out of 5 A man near the end of his life cherishes the simple pleasures of traveling with his granddaughter in the musing novel These Balmy Days. In Rich Shapero’s poetic novel These Balmy Days, a man vacations with his five-year-old granddaughter in Portugal.
Review of REAL Confidence
A Simple Guide to Go from Unsure to Unshakeable Simone Knego Copper Books (Feb 17, 2026) $27.99 (368pp) 979-899126749-6 Clarion Rating: 3 out of 5 A warm healing and personal development guide for women, REAL Confidence illustrates ways to claim self-worth and achieve success. Simone Knego’s practical self-help book REAL Confidence argues that actionable tasks are the key to self-improvement.
Review of The Missing Baroness
The Inconvenient Heirs Series Bianca M. Schwarz Central Avenue Publishing (Jun 16, 2026) Softcover $19.00 (256pp) 978-1-77168-451-4 Greed, violence, and true love fuel Bianca M. Schwarz’s lively historical novel The Missing Baroness. After a decade of hiding in the country from her murderous uncle, orphaned Georgina learns that he plans to have her pronounced dead in the courts and claim the baronetcy for himself.
Review of Stride
How I Walked Away from Trauma Toward Healing Avra Wing GFB (226pp) 978-1-967510-60-3 Clarion Rating: 4 out of 5 An activist’s enlightening memoir, Stride is about navigating life with a new disability. Avra Wing’s affecting memoir Stride is about the pain, shame, and self-awareness that followed from losing her leg. In 1990, a few months before the United States enacted the Americans with Disabilities Act, an out-of-control sedan smashed into Wing on a Brooklyn sidewalk.
Review of Collateral Dreams
Jeff Ingber Atmosphere Press (368pp) 979-890174191-7 Clarion Rating: 4 out of 5 Financial industry insiders experience personal tumult in the wake of the Great Recession in the illuminating historical novel Collateral Dreams. Set during the Great Recession, Jeff Ingber’s historical novel Collateral Dreams is gripping and humane. Everett and Joel, who have been friends since college, work at Empire Bank. Everett is in sales, and Joel is in risk management.
New to the Game
Mark Schoedl Amazon KDP (183pp) 979-871956713-6 Clarion Rating: 2 out of 5 Modern men search for personal meaning in the musing short story collection New to the Game. In Mark Schoedel’s quirky, ambitious short story collection New to the Game, men talk about their injuries, their families, and baseball. The characters herein challenge versions of the status quo.
From Dumpster to Doctor
A True Story of Perseverance from Fear to Freedom Keith L. Marshall Dorrance Publishing (150pp) 979-889649466-9 Clarion Rating: 3 out of 5 Extending empathy to others who have been through trauma and addiction, From Dumpster to Doctor is a testimonial memoir about recovery. Keith L. Marshall’s poignant memoir From Dumpster to Doctor is about recovering from childhood trauma and a long-term drug addiction.
Review of Making My Way
A Story of Grit and Grace Damaris Melo-Gyasi Journeyline Publishing (336pp) 979-821887849-8 Clarion Rating: 5 out of 5 A story about maintaining personal integrity in strange and hostile surroundings in order to succeed, Making My Way is a compelling memoir. In Damaris Melo-Gyasi’s powerful memoir Making My Way is about how her girlhood dream of becoming an architect came true. This story of determination begins in São Paulo, Brazil.
A Soft, Stunned Silence
David Moore FriesenPress (78pp) 978-1-03-835268-2 Clarion Rating: 3 out of 5 Sound’s absence is lauded as powerful in the musing poetry collection A Soft, Stunned Silence. David Moore’s contemplative poetry collection A Soft, Stunned Silence is about the relationships between sounds and shadows. Logical and dialectic, these poems investigate the opposing abstractions of silence versus shadow and silence versus sound, sometimes personifying such notions.
Review of Purgatoire
Liz Prato Forest Avenue Press (Apr 7, 2026) Softcover $18.00 (252pp) 978-1-942436-69-0 Family secrets have an outsized spiritual influence in Liz Prato’s virtuoso historical novel Purgatoire. Near the Purgatoire River in Colorado at the turn of the century, mining industries start up, attracting European immigrants. Sabé, a young Italian mother, leaves her home in accordance with a long-held plan to reunite with her husband, Tobia, who works in the Colorado coal mines.
Review of Bloodletting a Butterfly
Poems Alec B. Hood Feather Hazel (Illustrator) Atmosphere Press (Oct 14, 2025) (124pp) 979-889132826-6 Clarion Rating: 4 out of 5 Bloodletting a Butterfly is an intricate narrative poetry collection that speaks to the trauma of witnessing human pain. Alec B. Hood’s gothic poetry collection Bloodletting a Butterfly probes experiences of trauma.
Review of Hydroponics for Home and School Gardens
Laurie F. Ruberg Dorrance Publishing (Sep 4, 2025) Softcover $56.00 (208pp) 979-889127675-8 Clarion Rating: 4 out of 5 An edifying gardening guide, Hydroponics for Home and School Gardens sets forth persuasive arguments in favor of the more widespread use of hydroponics. Laurie F. Ruberg’s meticulous gardening and sustainable living guide Hydroponics for Home and School Gardens encompasses applications ranging from small containers to indoor acreage and outer space.
Review of Beneath the Verdant Veil
Liminal Loves Book #1 Veronica Thorne Mythglow Books (295pp) 979-899416260-6 Clarion Rating: 4 out of 5 Concerned with the tension between belief and evidence, Beneath the Verdant Veil is an intriguing speculative novel. In Veronica Thorne’s thrilling science fiction novel Beneath the Verdant Veil, a tropical basin’s unusual geometry attracts curious scientists and corporate greed. Aerial footage captures intentional patterns in the Escondido Basin’s dense forest, perhaps a living architecture.
Review of You'll Never Walk Alone
A Hiker's Memoir of Adventure, Tragedy, and Defying the Odds Jo Giese Amplify Publishing (241pp) 979-889138691-4 Clarion Rating: 4 out of 5 You’ll Never Walk Alone is a surprising memoir about hiking, hurt, and healing. Jo Giese’s conversational memoir You’ll Never Walk Alone is part travelogue, part recovery story, and all adventure. Giese, an avid international hiker, records her experiences of hiking to waterfalls in places including Chilean Patagonia, Ousel Falls in Montana, and New Zealand.
Review of Seven and Deadly
Vice and Virtue Behind the Veil M. A. Molani River Grove Books (120pp) 978-1-966629-93-1 Clarion Rating: 5 out of 5 The experiences of professional women and women of color are highlighted in this searing kaleidoscopic poetry collection. Its sections inspired by the seven deadly sins, M. A. Molani’s striking poetry collection Seven and Deadly celebrates science and feminism. These poems challenge assumptions about women’s lives, declaring new truths and questioning old ones.
Review of Conjuring the Hurricane
The Best Way to Save Your Life is Any Way You Can Sarah Hanson Inked Elephant Publishing House (130pp) 978-1-959694-16-8 Clarion Rating: 4 out of 5 Reflecting on suffering and healing within relationships, Conjuring the Hurricane is a revealing poetry collection. Sarah Hanson’s moving poetry collection Conjuring the Hurricane cleaves personal suffering from political suffering and then puts them back together.
Review of Drummer Girl
A Story of Life After Death Sally Dukes Köehler Books (Mar 17, 2026) Softcover (120pp) 979-889747054-9 Clarion Rating: 4 out of 5 Drummer Girl is a thoughtful memoir about unwinding inner turmoil and uncovering “answers to the numinous” through meditation. Sally Dukes’s mystical memoir Drummer Girl interrogates the fallout of the open-heart surgery she underwent in her childhood. In the 1950s, when cardiac surgery was in its infancy, Dukes was a toddler with a congenital heart defect.
Review of Thirty-Two Words for Field
Lost Words of the Irish Landscape Manchán Magan Chelsea Green (Feb 24, 2026) Softcover $19.95 (256pp) 978-1-64502-376-0 Manchán Magan’s profound yet playful book Thirty-Two Words for Field is part memoir, part history, and part ecology.
Review of The Community Solution
The Power of Radical Cooperation in Higher Education Michael Horowitz Forbes Books (192pp) 979-888750365-3 Clarion Rating: 3 out of 5 Encouraging the industry-wide embrace of collaboration, The Community Solution is an illustrative higher-education guide. Leading by example, Michael Horowitz’s educator’s guide The Community Solution analyzes a strategic collaboration between six institutions of higher education.
Review of Quinto’s Challenge
Dawn of Immortality Book 1 Peter McChesney Vivimus Press (439pp) 979-899338031-5 Clarion Rating: 4 out of 5 A neurodivergent scientist takes up the challenge to defy death in the intricate science fiction novel Quinto’s Challenge. In Peter McChesney’s sweeping science fiction novel Quinto’s Challenge, a brilliant young outsider’s theories change the trajectories of physics and philosophy.
Review of The Thorn Key
Fairy Tales in Verse Jeana Jorgensen Fox Folk Press (Feb 7, 2025) $14.99 (166pp) 979-898515929-5 Clarion Rating: 4 out of 5 Romance and intimacy are not pathways to anyone’s happily-ever-after in the poems of The Thorn Key, whose entries are seamless in reimagining fairy tales in the context of feminist values. Folklorist Jeana Jorgensen’s muscular poetry collection The Thorn Key entwines fairy tales and contemporary women’s lives in sophisticated free-verse poems.
Review of Feel Me
Aily Carranza Golden Butterfly Press (144pp) 978-1-953258-09-0 Clarion Rating: 2 out of 5 Feel Me is a quite personal collection of poetry and art that records steps toward healing from trauma. In Aily Carranza’s exuberant poetry collection Feel Me, poems and artwork are therapeutic modalities for healing.
Review of Daughter of the Otherworld
Shauna Lawless Head of Zeus (Nov 11, 2025) Hardcover $29.99 (448pp) 978-1-03-591129-5 Mythical beings plot long-awaited revenge against each other in Shauna Lawless’s atmospheric fantasy novel Daughter of the Otherworld. The mythical Tuatha Dé Danann and their descendants have waited over one hundred years for their savior. At last, Isolde returns to Ireland from the Otherworld.
Review of What Was Forbidden
Jonathan Bockian Künraht Press (Oct 20, 2025) Softcover $17.99 (382pp) 979-821866793-1 In Jonathan Bockian’s captivating historical novel What Was Forbidden, a skeptic is murdered, his sister tries to bring his killer to justice, and a community is changed forever. In seventeenth-century Venice in the Jewish ghetto, smoke and shouts arise in the predawn. People rush outside, where Yehudit, a widow, learns that her brother, Mordechai, was set on fire in the public square like a sacrificial goat.
Review of Divergent Realms
Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories About Neurodivergence Riley Odell (Editor) Amazon KDP (Apr 23, 2024) Softcover $3.99 (204pp) 979-898606203-7 2024 INDIES Finalist Finalist, Science Fiction (Adult Fiction) 2024 INDIES Finalist Finalist, Anthologies (General) Clarion Rating: 5 out of 5 Neurodivergence helps when it comes to exploring liminal places in the diverse, wondrous short story anthology Divergent Realms.
Review of The Usefulness of Hippopotamus
A Humorous Chapbook for Trying Times Vincent J. Tomeo Bookside Press (May 7, 2024) (122pp) 978-1-77883-349-6 Clarion Rating: 3 out of 5 Its poems functioning as antidotes for trying times, The Usefulness of Hippopotamus is a good-natured collection. Vincent J. Tomeo’s quirky poetry collection The Usefulness of Hippopotamus confronts pandemic-era limitations with lightness. The short poems within include unusual imagery, wordplay, and a tendency toward mischief.
Review of My Cemetery Friends
A Garden of Encounters at Mount Saint Mary in Queens, New York Vincent J. Tomeo BookSide Press (May 13, 2024) Softcover $9.99 (80pp) 978-1-77883-352-6 Clarion Rating: 2 out of 5 A prolonged exercise in grief and respect for the dead, My Cemetery Friends gathers poetry and prose pieces that are rooted in a singular place. Set in a relaxing, green pedestrian refuge surrounded by a noisy urban environment, Vincent J.
Review of USA: Where Dogs Have More Rights Than You Do
A Hilarious and Eye-Opening Tour of America’s States — One Barking Mad, Bone- Laced, Paw-Approved Policy at a Time Robert Okine Fifty Options Press (235pp) 979-899865121-2 Clarion Rating: 4 out of 5 What dogs and their people can expect in particular states is made clear in the lively travel guide USA: Where Dogs Have More Rights Than You Do. USA: Where Dogs Have More Rights Than You Do, American immigrant Robert Okine’s humorous cultural survey, tracks dog culture across the United States.
Review of Proud Gods and Commodores
Volume II James McMillan XlibrisUS (Mar 26, 2023) (326pp) 978-1-66987-124-8 Clarion Rating: 3 out of 5 Rooted in twentieth-century American history, Greek mythology, and human anatomy, the prose and poems collected in Proud Gods and Commodores are connected by riotous linguistic flourishes. James McMillan’s personal anthology Proud Gods and Commodores contains poems, essays, and short stories about human experience.
Review of Maya Blue
A Memoir of Survival Brenda Coffee She Writes Press (May 20, 2025) $17.99 (256pp) 978-1-64742-906-5 Clarion Rating: 3 out of 5 Maya Blue is a startling memoir about the long road to recovery from trauma. Brenda Coffee’s gripping memoir Maya Blue is about being the wife of an addict and a survivor of kidnapping and sexual assault. Though the book is divided into three parts, its first part, “The Spy House on the Hill,” consumes most of its space.
Review of The Lotus Eater
And Other Poems Peter Dabbene Amazon KDP (Nov 14, 2024) Softcover $20.00 (75pp) 979-834586890-4 Original wordplay and quirky rhymes vivify the illuminating poetry collection The Lotus Eaters. Peter Dabbene’s musical poetry collection The Lotus Eaters clothes its sly cultural allusions in traditional literary techniques.
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