Book Review: Future Boy

In early 1985, Michael J. Fox was one of the biggest stars on television. His world was about to get even bigger, but only if he could survive the kind of double duty unheard of in Hollywood. Fox's days were already dedicated to rehearsing and taping the hit sitcom Family Ties, but then the chance of a lifetime came his way. Soon, he committed his nights to a new time-travel adventure film being directed by Robert Zemeckis and produced by Steven Spielberg, Back to the Future. Sitcom during the day, movie at night - day after day, for months.

Fox's nightly commute from a soundstage at Paramount to the back lot at Universal Studios, from one dream job to another, would become his own space-time continuum. It was in this time portal that Alex P. Keaton handed the baton to Marty McFly while Michael J. Fox tried to catch a few minutes of sleep. Alex's bravado, Marty's flair, and Fox's comedic virtuosity all swirled together to create something truly special.

Book Review: Pretty Girls

More than twenty years ago, Claire and Lydia's teenaged sister Julia vanished without a trace. The two women have not spoken since, and now their lives could not be more different. Claire is the glamorous trophy wife of an Atlanta millionaire. Lydia, a single mother, dates an ex-con and struggles to make ends meet. But neither has recovered from the horror and heartbreak of their shared loss—a devastating wound that's cruelly ripped open when Claire's husband is killed.

The disappearance of a teenage girl and the murder of a middle-aged man, almost a quarter-century apart: what could connect them? Forming a wary truce, the surviving sisters look to the past to find the truth, unearthing the secrets that destroyed their family all those years ago and uncovering the possibility of redemption, and revenge, where they least expect it.

Book Review: Prompt Me to Write

With rich story ideas, advice on pitfalls to avoid, and examples and quotes from the great writers of today and the legends of the literary world, Prompt Me to Write stands out from other books of writing prompts. Each prompt and exercise is designed to both spark ideas and help you develop your writing. It includes:

• • Original and varied writing prompts, with a final section where best-selling authors each contribute their own story ideas.
• • Full-page writing exercises to help you build worlds, craft fascinating characters, and develop page-turning plots.
• • Photos and illustrations by Vocal Vagabond that add extra inspiration and help clarify complex points. These are full colour in the hardback and black and white in the paperback.

Every chapter includes bite-sized theory so, with a little persistence, you will master the craft and create a collection of stories or a finished novel even if you only have a few minutes a day.

Book Review: The Twilight Cap

Hank and Lucy Dewitt are new arrivals in Jemison, Wisconsin. It is a rural town, and home to a brand-new species of mushroom, one that glows in the night, and is the subject of Lucy’s research. Settled in and ready to start a family, the couple begins searching for a place to call their own, but the town is overtaken by a high-powered land developer, who buys everything in sight, prepared to transform it into a corporate community.

As they lose house after house to the firm, they feel as though home ownership is out of their reach, until the mushrooms call Hank into the woods, where he stumbles upon an abandoned home, surrounded by the strange, glowing fungi. With a promise to the owner to never open the locked door in the basement, the home becomes theirs, to the dismay of the developer, who thought the land was already his. Moved in and ready to turn the page, they think the battle with the corporation is over, but the mushrooms appear to be more than just a simple fungus, and the developer is just getting started.

Book Review: Retro

When Ash spots an ad for Retro during a depressing Instagram scroll, she’s surprised the algorithm sent it her way. She’s heard of recreational time travel, but it’s way out of her budget. Then she sees the caption: "Come away with us! We’re hiring." So begins Ash’s life as a Time Travel Agent, leading wealthy tourists on vacations to historical hotspots.

She takes bachelorette parties to live out their cowboy-romance fantasies in the Old West; she chaperones “’20s for your twenties” birthday excursions to speakeasies; she smiles politely as rich Wall Street guys give prospecting a shot during the Gold Rush. It’s all thrilling, outrageous, and totally surreal. Bygone America is just a Retro Metro ride away.

Despite Ash’s tendency toward cynicism, she finds herself swept up in her dazzling new job. Sure, Ash isn’t the actress she’d always dreamed she’d be. But isn’t this so much better? It’s like Ash’s life is a movie, complete with an impossible love triangle. But as her trips threaten to unravel her real life, she confronts an unsettling truth: Escaping into the past was never really an escape at all.

Book Review: The Disco at the End of the World

In 1977 - a world in which America launched its space program shortly after WWII - Mitch Ward followed Flynn, the lost love of his youth, into the US Spaceguard. Now, he’s stuck on a backwater moon base with his only friend, Gloria, watching every shuttle in the hope Flynn will be on it.

After an inexplicable encounter with a strange, euphoric being, Mitch and Gloria find themselves dishonourably discharged, and stuck in a USA rapidly sliding into fascism with no plans and no future. There’s nothing for it but to move to Los Angeles to chase their dreams, and find their people in the discos of the city.

But when Flynn crashes back into their lives, claiming to be the host for an emissary of a utopian civilization approaching Earth, he offers Mitch the power to protect himself and friends across the queer community, so they never have to live in the shadows or face oppression again. With the world on the brink of cataclysm, and Mitch and his friends being squeezed out of every space, it’s down to this community of disco-loving outcasts to stand up for what is beautiful and right.

Book Review: Kill All Wizards

Gotchimus the barbarian traveled far to consult the wizards of the empire. Instead of lending their aid, they ensorcelled him, exploited his strength, and stole his sword. They should not have done that.

Now the barbarian plans to kill every wizard who wronged him, even if that means blending in with their vile society: dressing in finery, taking tea in exclusive clubs, and reserving the best box at the theater.

Oh, he hates it all with the fiery passion of his savage heart, but not as much as he hates these wizards.