The "F" in Douglas F. Warrick tells you a lot about how this book is going to read. It was clearly written by someone who goes by Douglas, not Doug, and who would correct you if your forgot to include their middle initial in their name.

The prose is arch, affected, and in love with itself. It's impossible to separate reading these stories from feeling like Warwick is reading over one's shoulder with you, excited for you to get to his favourite turns of phrase. I knew I wasn't going to finish this book when I came across this particularly precious paragraph in "Funeral Song for a Ventriloquist":

A confession. This story began with a lie. This story wanted very much to end here. And so it spun a fabrication within its very second sentence. But this is not the end of this story, as ashamed as it may be to admit it. This is the rest of this story, told into the void as all stories are. Until their end. Whether they like it or not.

Godawful. I get that this is a young author, and I hope his style improves in his future work. I liked some of the ideas, especially in "Zen and the Art of Gordon Dratch's Damnation" (OMG that title though). I would bet that as he matures, Warrick will gain some confidence and step away from the wrought prose and let his stories stand on their ideas. I hope.

To quote from an Amazon reviewer named August, "The writing is very good. But I personally hated it." Not recommended.

'Warrick's Hope by Leilani Love is book Four in "The Dragon Ruby" Series. This is the story of Warrick and Hope. This can be a standalone book but I truly feel if you want to enjoy this book to the fullest you should read the previous books. This series so far as been really great so that in another reason to read the other books too.
Hope and Warrick are meant to be mates but they are having to mover past some harsh things that were done to Warrick by his twin brother Gabriel. In addition Hope is trying to come to terms with nothing that what she thought Warrick was guilty of all this time it was really his brother. To move forward they have taken to living together...granted they start out in separate rooms. But they slowly start to work things out and deal with the current issues they have.
If you have ever been reading a series were you stalk the author and keep a eye out for the next installment in a series then you will know how I feel about this book, series and author.
I quickly read though Ms. Love's book then I just can't wait for the next one to be published....so now I am doing the waiting and stalking game again!
Loved it!!
"My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read."
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In a far future, humanity is tightly controlled, and has been, for several generations. Many of these rules and cultural norms were put in place to ensure the  survival of the species. However, now may be the time to start a change and it starts by asking about the past, religion in general, and the long-extinct practice of Christmas.

Thomat and Draven are two young men, or at least considered young by their society’s standards. Humans life for many hundreds of years now in their little domed cities. Reproduction is tightly controlled through artificial births. Their world has plenty of logic and science but no religion to speak of. Yet when one of these men overhears and Elder speaking of some bit of arcane forbidden knowledge, he can’t help but want to follow up.

In this short piece, the author brings up several very interesting questions about religion and what it means to an individual versus to the masses. Christmas and Christianity is the starting point for Draven’s & Thomat’s exploration into the forbidden past but it doesn’t end there. Other religions are briefly touched upon.

The focus was more on the joint believe by many people and celebration of life, family, friends rather than any religious minutiae. I’m not a religious person myself so I really appreciated this aspect of the story. Since all births are basically carried out via machines, the world Thomat and Draven inhabit have lost the idea of family. You can easily see why they were fascinated by the topic of Christmas and were willing to risk the punishment of expulsion to dig up more info.

My one little quibble is that all the speaking roles are male characters. There are two female characters that are referred to but they have little if any weight in this story. Setting that aside, I really enjoyed this short tale. I will definitely be enjoying more stories from Julie Powell.

I received a copy of this audiobook at no cost from the author (via a post on Quiet Fury Books Blog) in exchange for an honest review.

Narration:  Don Warrick had a very nice voice and he did excellent in performing distinct voices for all the characters. I really enjoyed how he embued wonder in Thomat’s and Draven’s voices as they explored the forbidden knowledge. He also did a very elderly man quite well.

Book 8 - Blood & Circuses will be released July 1, 2015.  That's one month from today.

Preview chapter at http://www.casperianbooks.com/catalog/1-934081-49-3.html