​Well respected high school educator and football coach, Ken LaVigne introduces us to his story of working with high school students and athletes, Coach the Soul:
Today’s children, especially teenagers, live in a world that is much different than the one that existed just twenty years ago. A drastically changed family dynamic and the advent of social media have forced young people to grow up in a more fragile environment, one without the stability they need and with the constant pressure of scrutiny from peers and others they don’t even know. The effects of these factors have led to suicide becoming the second leading cause of death in teenagers in America! Circumstance has deprived these kids of the stability and perspective that they so desperately need. This is a crossroads moment.
 Coach the Soul is the first book that addresses these issues with real answers. It was born in Ken LaVigne’s classroom and on the football field during over thirty years as a high school teacher and coach. Its epiphany is just as unexpected as the dire circumstances in the lives of so many students. Coach the Soul sheds light on what today’s young people really need.
(Ken LaVigne)

​This is an amazing book on multiple levels. I don’t pretend to be qualified to analyze Ken’s writing from all angles. That being said, I loved this book! Inspirational stories about helping teens overcome difficult circumstances hits a lot of my hot buttons. Most of the chapters focus on a student’s experience in Ken’s class or as their football coach. These chapters also highlight a particular virtue or trait of personality. There are so many ways that children suffer as a result of the choices parents and others make. The destruction of the family unit has been going on for a long time and there is no easy answer. But Ken, and educators like him, demonstrate a method that works and helps these kids get on the right track. It takes a lot of work and that builds character for those who complete the plan Ken lays out.
I award 5 stars for “Coach the Soul”!

​You can buy this book:
https://rdrpublishers.com/products/coach-the-soul-by-ken-lavigne
https://www.amazon.com/Coach-Soul-Ken-LaVigne
https://www.goodreads.com/-coach-the-soul
You can follow the author:
https://twitter.com/coachthesoul
http://www.coachthesoul.net
https://www.facebook.com/coachthesoul
Tags: teaching, counseling, at-risk, memoir, biography
Copyright 2019 Mark Schultz

Multi-volume author, Travis Borne introduces us to his second volume in the Lenders series, Lenders II: The Time Tribulations:
No hot-salsa competitions this time, but there’s more tacos and tequila. And guess who’s in the kitchen! Head back to Old Town, even Club Subterranean, and to the pushing, most pressing limits of existence itself, where there can be no escape. The system has you, it has, your mind. And seemingly forever: The Time Tribulations!

Proofreading for Lenders provided by expert “Word Refiner,” Mark Schultz, who reads more than 60 books a year. Mark said, “This sci-fi story is a sweeping and epic tale! Can we call it sweepic?”
Mark Schultz is not hard to find in the world of books! Read his entire review and interview of author Travis Borne. 

Travis Borne says, “Now, let’s dive back into LENDERS, saga number two!”

A skin-striping, pillory-clamping, mind-twisting dive into the bowels of Hell. There’s Jewel City and the all-new, prismatically colorful, Midtown. And the punishing Underworld, brimming with beasts unimaginable, and little ones, red ones, hairy ones and blobs. Workers, officers, humans and beasts.

And back to Vallecito, Colorado, the bunker, with all-new characters, against-all-odds rescues of some very special old ones, and adrenaline-surging, 90-mph rides in “Esperanza,” across the desert again with ol’ Felix. And glimmering bottles of Mezcal with the little gusanos traveling into throats like fingernails.

Rico, Jim—and I mustn’t spoil the “who else”—again embark on their most tumultuous, skull-splitting, light-speed adventures. If you made it through Lenders I intact, and if you can stomach it, and if you are emotionally and mentally stable enough to endure it, then… No, Lenders II will still send your subconsciousness into perdition. Read only if you dare!

There’s heat. There’re slabs of carne del puerco and blistering desert days. And you’ll never guess who’s servin’ the meat this time! Old Town Mexico and raging transformations that rip at the fabric of reality. An absorbing of souls, and cold steel stabbing hearts. And monumental plumes of dust. Legs burning, pushing, bulging, the enraged one speeding across the desert at sonic speeds!
He’s back…

The terrible machine city, green and purple haze and drones numbering in the billions, more. Surfing music and daring escapes from other dimensions, and otherworldly realms ruled by the mind. Omnipotent spheres in heads, inchoate wizards and mystical, virtual, dragon-like creatures. Plans gone awry and rides into space—and deep dives into the ocean. The Marianas Trench and hidden, secret cities. Arcs and slaughtered elephants, plesiosaurs and megalodons and giant jellyfish. Dinosaurs and old, three-legged sex-bots from Meddlinn, and almighty seaweed-green ones. Hyper-Millennials and reinvigorated minds. heli-jets, hover-jets, space-jets. Crazy old ladies, piloting, soaring, plummeting: Nanny, and Fran, yep, they’re back!

And others hanging on for dear life, or lending in the deepest, darkest, hottest depths of the system—pitfalls of the mind! Lunacy and haunting screams, insanity and no way out! Lenders II has all of this and infinitely more. Buckle in, because if you thought Lenders I was a rush, well, you haven’t experienced anything yet!

​Travis is right, Lenders II is a phenomenal extension of the story from Lenders I!
This new book has not just blown me out of the water, it sent me over the mountain as well! This is some of the finest sci-fi writing that I have read in a very long time. Everything about this book is so good! Scene setting, dialogue, action, in-depth descriptions; because of the length the level of detail is wonderful!
If you love rock-solid science fiction, with some grit, hair-raising action and great dialogue, then this book is made for you! I do recommend you get and read the newly revised, third edition of Lenders I first, only available in Kindle format at this time.
Lenders II gets a score of 5.1 stars! It’s that good!

You can buy this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Lenders-II-Time-Tribulations-Saga-ebook
https://www.goodreads.com/-lenders-2-time-tribulations
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lenders-II-Time-Tribulations-Saga-ebook
You can follow Travis Borne:
https://twitter.com/Travis_Borne
http://travisborne.com
https://www.facebook.com/Lenders
https://www.facebook.com/borneworlds
 
Tags: dystopian, drones, killer drones, worm-hole, artificial intelligence, lucid dreams
Copyright 2019 Mark Schultz

Multi-volume author, Thomas S. Flowers, introduces us to his first vampire novel, “The last Hellfighter”:

Ben Harker, Harlem native. WWI veteran. Vampire slayer.

In the year 2044, reporters from the Public Relations Ministry gather at the home of Benjamin Harker, the last surviving member of the Harlem Hellfighters. At the age of 144, he is the oldest recorded man alive.

Hidden among them, Clyde Bruner is looking for a different kind of story. Across the United States, despite the Great Walls and patrol drones built to keep America secure, something has found its way in. And now towns are vanishing during the night. Entire populations, gone. Only to return after the sun sets, changed, unholy, and lethal. And whatever this evil is, it’s spreading west.

According to a bedtime story Bruner’s grandfather told him when he was a boy, Benjamin Harker has seen this before. He’s faced this scourge. Fought this evil. Survived them. Killed them. From the trenches of the Great War to the jungles of Vietnam to the sands of Iraq, Harker will search his past to save our future.

But as each city light extinguishes across the country, is there no time left to stop what’s coming? 

This is quite a powerful story; the writing will move you, it’s so beautiful. It fits well into the Horror genre without being overly gross most of the time. I am not into gross. The story really captivated me. The last vampire book I read was Stoker's "Dracula" and I enjoyed this so much more!
I enjoyed the rhythm developed in the story. Ben’s need for music to trigger his memories was very realistic. The plot had moments of terror preceded by excellent scene-setting. A welcome chance to catch my breath.
I relished the variety of complex characters a great deal. The dialogue was excellent. The book has received many 5-star reviews.
I award “The Last Hellfighter” 3.4 stars. I was repeatedly stopped in my tracks by several handfuls of spelling errors and spacing issues. Without these encumbrances to a smooth read, this would have been an easy five-star rating.

​You can buy this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Last-Hellfighter-Thomas-S-Flowers
https://www.goodreads.com/-the-last-hellfighter
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Hellfighter-Thomas-S-Flowers-ebook
You can follow the author:
https://twitter.com/ThomasSFlowers
http://www.thomassflowers.com
https://www.goodreads.com/author/Thomas_S_Flowers
https://www.facebook.com/ThomasSFlowers
https://machinemean.us11.list-manage.com/subscribe
Tags: African American, historical fiction, vampire, vampires, military, war
Copyright 2019 Mark L. Schultz

​Multi-volume, multi-genre author, Ed Benjamin introduces us to his short fiction story, Melanie: A tale of Wonder:
    “In this Flash Fiction story, a 60-year-old hitchhiker gets hit by a car in Wichita Falls, Texas in July 1995.  After receiving treatment in the local hospital, he decides to enter a talent contest to help out a ten-year-old girl, Melanie, when he learns her father is dying. What happens next has the town and the media buzzing.”
“If you like alternative fiction, you will enjoy this short-short story.”

This is a wonderful and heartwarming piece of flash-fiction! It will take most people less than an hour to read. You will get a fun and interesting story about an aging singer that has a talent for impersonation that goes beyond the norm. 
The writing is quite delightful, the author has a marvelous talent for describing his characters, they seem very real and alive. The scene-setting is very satisfactory and enhances the characters. Action and dialogue help provide this story with a pleasing texture. Vivid pictures fill my mind throughout the story. 
I award 4.7 Stars to “Melanie: A Tale of Wonder”, the score would have been higher except that several spelling errors interrupted my reading pleasure. 

​Multi-volume, multi-genre, award-winning author, Veronica Tabares, introduces us to her sci-fi masterpiece, Time Without:
Vanessa is a strong, independent woman. Or she was, until she awoke in a world strangely changed. And when her husband and father of her children is in trouble, Vanessa realizes it is up to her to figure out what went so wrong in the world.

Vanessa’s journey takes her to the Department of Temporal Adjustment, the department tasked with handling all time travel, where she and her spunky kids go on a hilarious adventure through time—all while traveling incognito.

I will be quite frank. I am partial to sci-fi stories, I am very partial to stories about time travel.
I loved this story so much! Such good writing, I am surprised this has not won an award! It was more fun than a barrel of monkeys!
The story is full of humor and I laughed out loud multiple times. There is a great deal of dialogue. How could there not be, with four girls who are drawn out so well in the story. The characterizations are pretty well done, the action was quite good also.
Do Vanessa and her daughters set the world right? You will have to read the book and find out for yourself. You won’t be disappointed.
I award Time Without a score of 4.8 stars. The score would have been higher except for the handful of spelling errors I found.
The author has informed me the corrections are being applied to the e-book, so your reading experience should be all the better.

​You can buy this book:
https://www.amazon.com/time-without
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35966263-time-without
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/time-without-veronica-r-tabares
 
You can follow the author:
https://twitter.com/veronicatabares
http://veronicatabares.com
https://www.facebook.com/VeronicaRTabares
https://www.pinterest.com/tabares0420
https://plus.google.com/+VeronicaRTabares/posts
Tags: time travel, science fiction, adventure
Copyright 2018 by Mark Schultz

​These four writers have collaborated on a wonderful Christmas anthology and introduce us to Christmas in Jubilee:
Christmas in Jubilee--where life is a celebration!
The Best First Christmas by Melissa Klein
With a broken engagement and parents far away, Reverend Angie Duncan wants to skip all things red and green, Bethlehem and baby, merry and bright. Until...a man from the wrong side of Fancy Bluff Creek asks her to teach his nephew the true meaning of Christmas. Justin Brown and the boy could be her perfect holiday present.
Home For Christmas by Rachel W. Jones
New York newcomer Liz Marshall is torn about going home to houses aglow and a grand holiday table—but this Christmas won’t be the festive one she’s always known. And she can’t let her grieving mom down. After Mitchell Lang, her new boss, squelches her holiday plans, he transforms into her knight in jeans and a flannel shirt. Jubilee is the best place she could be on Christmas.
Christmas Present by Linda Joyce
Chelsea Cooper struggles to balance her pottery business with caring for her mother suffering from dementia. She doesn’t have time for parties, dates, and most of all falling in love—those are memories of holidays past. Celebrity chef Zachary Tanner is new in town and exploring his recently discovered roots. His interest in Chelsea isn’t whimsical, like some of his food. He’s determined to convince her that love is the best Christmas present.
A Farmhouse Noel by Leah Noel Sims
Tabby Larsen’s workload is longer than Santa’s “Nice” list. Devotion to her 200-year-old family farmhouse has driven her to the bottom of her bank account—and the end of her rope. She’s panicked about her family reuniting for the holidays…this could be the last one. Then her kooky neighbor—a perfect stranger—offers a helping hand. She finds a new beam of hope and maybe a lifetime of love with Kip Stewart.

​Multi-volume author, Sara Allen Stewart, introduces us to her beautiful and heart-touching story Letters to Santa:
Christmas is a time of happiness and celebrations for many people, but that's not the case for 9-year old Kendall Knight. After losing his father in a car accident, at the age of seven, and struggling to adapt to his mother's new boyfriend, he is left feeling hopeless and lost. Can his best friends, James, Carlos, and Logan, help him believe in the magic of Christmas again before it's too late? Or will it take a higher power?

​This story really surprised me! The writing provoked such a depth of emotion in me that the last several chapters were hard to read, because I had so many tears flowing from my eyes. I went through several tissues.
No spoilers from me. But I will say the writing is brilliant, Sara captured the essence of family dynamics from so many angles perfectly, positive and negative; as well as the different points of view, kids and adults. She avoided a lot of wordiness; the writing is succinct and to the point.
There is an amazing amount of dialogue and possibly, the dialogue may well have crowded out some scene setting, but I loved what there was, and action was just enough. Sara did a marvelous job of keeping the story paced and focused on the interactions. I think it would have been easy for her to add a lot more material to make a bigger book, I am grateful she resisted that potential urge. The length of this book is very satisfying.
Letters to Santa gets a score of 4.9 stars. I wish I could award 5 stars, but I found a handful of spelling errors. Those errors have been corrected, the author informs me, so your reading will be all the smoother.

This is Houdini. Sara was in a fire a few months ago and is still recovering. He is standing in for Sara photographically.

​You can buy this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Letters-Santa-Sara-Allen-Stewart-ebook
https://www.goodreads.com/letters-to-santa
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Letters-to-Santa-Sara-Allen-Stewart
You can follow Sara:
https://twitter.com/winterschild11
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14567305.Sara_Allen_Stewart
https://winterchild111dotcom.wordpress.com
​
Note: there is no sex described, some violence is described and intense emotional issues. This is not kid-lit.

Tags: family dynamics, relationships, widow, single parent, extended family, fiction, contemporary fiction
Copyright 2018 Mark Schultz 

​Multi-volume author, Mercedes Rochelle, introduces us to the first volume in her series about ancient English kings more than a millennia ago:
Harold Godwineson, the Last Anglo-Saxon King, owed everything to his father. Who was this Godwine, first Earl of Wessex and known as the Kingmaker? Was he an unscrupulous schemer, using King and Witan to gain power? Or was he the greatest of all Saxon Earls, protector of the English against the hated Normans? The answer depends on who you ask. He was befriended by the Danes, raised up by Canute the Great, given an Earldom and a wife from the highest Danish ranks. He sired nine children, among them four Earls, a Queen and a future King. Along with his power came a struggle to keep his enemies at bay, and Godwine's best efforts were brought down by the misdeeds of his eldest son Swegn. Although he became father-in-law to a reluctant Edward the Confessor, his fortunes dwindled as the Normans gained prominence at court. Driven into exile, Godwine regathered his forces and came back even stronger, only to discover that his second son Harold was destined to surpass him in renown and glory.

​A good portion of my ancestry is found in the United Kingdom. The Magna Carta came out of England. The history of England and the UK is pretty important to me as a citizen of the US of A. I approached this book with high hopes of a relevant and exciting story.
I am not in the least bit disappointed! The writing is quite good. Mercedes’ scene setting is wonderful, I felt like I was right beside Godwine all the way. There were so many pivotal events in his life as pictured in this exciting historical fiction. There is dialogue and action aplenty! The complex characters stayed quite true to their roots in so many of the instances. The court intrigues in and out of the castles, the battles on land and sea. The brutal warfare and strategizing all contributed so much to an exciting piece of literature.
Mercedes’ research complements her fiction so well. I have no doubt the moves by major characters are very accurate.
I give Godwine Kingmaker a score of 4.7 stars, it would have been higher except for the handful of spelling errors and missing words I found. 

​You can buy this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Godwine-Kingmaker-Great-Saxon-Earls-ebook
https://www.goodreads.com/book/-godwine-kingmaker
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/godwine-kingmaker-mercedes-rochelle
You can follow the author:
http://www.twitter.com/AuthorRochelle
http://www.mercedesrochelle.com
http://www.mercedesrochelle.net
http://www.historicalbritainblog.com
Tags: Medieval, European, historical, history, King, Queen, royalty
Copyright 2018 Mark Schultz