99¢ BOOK OF THE WEEK

The TRIUMVIRATE - Love for Power, Love of Power, the Power of Love.

A story about love and loyalty, politics and power, sacrifice and survival

taken from tomorrow’s headlines.

Till Oct. 6 at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU

When terrorists kill Shyloh’s mother, he dedicates his life to making a better world. He recruits his childhood friends Aiya and Judith. With their intimate bond, exceptional talents and singular determination they become a formidable team.

He chose them, nurtured them, advised them, and, in no small way, is responsible for who and what they've become.

Judith, the warrior and pragmatist who believes in law and order, is the commander of the new country's military.

Aiya, the theologian and advocate for justice and morality, is leader of the Cascadia's largest faith-based organization.

In the past, when dissension, disagreement, and at times hostility threatened to destroy their triumvirate, Shyloh, the idealist and politician, was able to harness the heat and energy generated from this polarity and craft a consensus, identify a goal, and create a process to get there. Together they’ve been responsible for Cascadia’s survival amid the chaos and carnage that accompanied the collapse of civilization.

But now, negotiating this dichotomy of will and passion is like being between two powerful magnets, crushed when as opposite poles they collide, and at risk of disintegrating when as similar ones they repulse each other.

The unraveling of civilization caused by climate change has brought unique challenges. For  each of them the goal has begun to take on different meaning. In the end, there can only be one better world, but whose will be best?

    ...a GREAT choice for a bookclub to read and discuss.

"This book traces Shyloh's efforts to make a better world of our present social, economic, and environmental crisis through creating a team of three unbiased leaders (The Triumvirate). The problems they address are real and will be known to the reader. They are today's headlines and, being unbiased, these three are revolutionaries in their own time. It is fast paced, a good story, and an easy read.
    - Clark Wilkins, Author of A Compelling Unknown Force

If you enjoy fiction/sci-fi, climate change and politics this could be a book for you.

I enjoyed the futuristic portrayals of Canada because of the connection with the many pressing social issues in our country's politics.

Touches on many divisive social issues of today (immigration, virus, climatechange, federal/provincial strain) and provides a unique perspective. The take on the Canadian confederation was particularly interesting to me because of the current issues in Alberta.

- Tom Urac, Author of Spartan Revolt

    "...unflinchingly stares down some of today's most contentious issues, whether they are of a socioeconomic, environmental, racial, or political nature.

"...sure to spark discussion amongst intellectuals and casual readers alike, ... highly recommend it as a selection for a reading group.
-- Jonathan Walter, Contributing author to THE DEVIL'S DOORBELL, GHOSTLIGHT, and DARK DOSSIER anthologies; and columnist for UXmatters Web magazine

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO TRAILER

https://animoto.com/play/i6nvYHpYQl6oukfFzCfryg

FREE E-BOOK

The TRIUMVIRATE 

Love for Power, Love of Power, the Power of Love

June 17-21

Download your copy now at

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU

When terrorists kill Shyloh’s mother, he dedicates his life to making a better world. He recruits his childhood friends Aiya and Judith. With their intimate bond, exceptional talents and singular determination they become a formidable team as they grow to be leaders in their chosen fields of politics, religion and the military.

The unraveling of civilization caused by climate change brings unique challenges, and for each of them the goal begins to take on different meaning.

Whose better world will be best?

"This book traces Shyloh's efforts to make a better world of our present social, economic, and environmental crisis through creating a team of three unbiased leaders (The Triumvirate). The problems they address are real and will be known to the reader. They are today's headlines and, being unbiased, these three are revolutionaries in their own time. It is fast paced, a good story, and an easy read.

    This would be a GREAT choice for a bookclub to read and discuss. How can Shyloh relate to the world but not to his own neighbors? Why is Shyloh so helpless without women? Do the two women love him and, if so, why? Would not the two women have gone on to do the same things without him? And what about their politics? Are they right or wrong?"
    - Clark Wilkins, Author of A Compelling Unknown Force

"If you enjoy fiction/sci-fi, climate change and politics this could be a book for you.

I enjoyed the futuristic portrayals of Canada because of the connection with the many pressingsocial issues in our country's politics.

Touches on many divisive social issues of today (immigration, virus, climatechange, federal/provincial strain) and provides a unique perspective. The take on the Canadian confederation was particularly interesting to me because of the current issues in Alberta."

- Tom Urac, Author of Spartan Revolt

    "...unflinchingly stares down some of today's most contentious issues, whether they are of a socioeconomic, environmental, racial, or political nature.

"...sure to spark discussion amongst intellectuals and casual readers alike, ... highly recommend it as a selection for a reading group."
-- Jonathan Walter, Contributing author to THE DEVIL'S DOORBELL, GHOSTLIGHT, and DARK DOSSIER anthologies; and columnist for UXmatters Web magazine

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE PROMO VIDEO

https://animoto.com/play/i6nvYHpYQl6oukfFzCfryg

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Penelope is a young woman ready to start college, and falling in love with her best friend, Summer. The story is largely a continuous cycle of Penelope’s angst over being emotionally manipulated by her unavailable best friend. Penelope is finding herself, learning about asexuality, and meeting new friends.

The dialogue overall isn’t bad, but there are quite a few times characters speak like clinical psychologists instead of 19 year old college students. It could get quite mechanical and not particularly believable. The book is primarily about Penelope learning more about who she is, but everything about her feels more like a reaction to everyone else. She tends to move forward as a reaction against something, as opposed to an indicator of any personal growth until the very end. Secondary characters use emotional manipulation at some/many points in the book, which got tiring, particularly how quickly Penelope forgave them their transgressions. Additionally, there are some fairly drastic personality changes involving Summer and Penelope’s mother. It didn’t feel believable, as I didn’t get to watch any of their personal growth until they were suddenly very different people.

By the end, I felt very little empathy for any of the characters. Although at the beginning I did like Penelope (and her friends Alyssa and Nate), the ease with which she felt into the same trap over and over made me lose my patience with her. I think the general idea of the book was interesting and I was excited to read a book with an asexual character, although the execution of it was lacking.

For fans of Stephanie Perkins, Meg Cabot, and Glee comes a hilarious, romantic, whip smart young adult novel about your best friend finding love before you do, and the lines you'll cross to stay part of her life.
When her best friend Hannah comes out the day before junior year, Daisy is all set to let her ally flag fly. Before you can spell LGBTQIA, she's leading the charge to end their school's antiquated ban on same-sex dates at dances—starting with homecoming. And if people assume Daisy herself is gay? Meh, so what. It's all for Hannah, right? It's all for the cause. What Daisy doesn't expect is for “the cause” to blow up—thanks to Adam, the cute college journalist whose interview with Daisy for his college newspaper goes viral, catching fire in the national media. With the story spinning out of control, protesters gathering, Hannah left in the dust of Daisy's good intentions, and Daisy's attraction to Adam practically written in lights, Daisy finds herself caught between her bold plans, her bad decisions, and her big fat mouth.
A Clueless or Emma for the modern age, this is a breezy, charming, incisive tale of growing up, getting wise, and realizing every story needs a hero—sometimes it's just not you.

 
Overall, this book was a well-intentioned read that raised interesting topics, but my dislike of Daisy and her portrayal of asexuality made it hard for me to really enjoy it.

I really can't get over the portrayal of asexuality in this story. This is a very personal problem as I myself am asexual and am crazy about awareness; as such, I expect that most others wouldn't notice that anything was at fault and would enjoy the book nonetheless. However, a very 2D portrayal of asexuality was made, and the main character at some points pretends to be asexual. At another point, she admits that she is crushing on a boy and apologises to asexual community for appropriating their title. This is a complete misportrayal. She was claiming to be /asexual/ not /aromantic./ Contrary to popular belief, it's entirely possible for asexuals to be heteroromantic (or homoromantic or panromantic or anything) and her complete dismissal and her complete lack of desire to even learn about what the identity meant just really angered me. She uses the label for her own good without even thinking about the challenges that asexuals might face or what it would mean to be ace. I'm sure this is unintentional and maybe the author is unaware of the extent of the asexual spectrum, but I detest the information this could spread and wish that she had taken a few paragraphs to clear it up.

Other than that, the author did a good job of having Daisy clear up most of the appropriation she did. I really appreciated that there was a bit of talk about privilege and how even without realising it, people may have privileges they're unaware of or take for granted. I also adored Daisy's dad, and the theme of not having to be the hero of a story. I loved Daisy's friends and the members of the Alliance at her school--from a wannabe lawyer to a sweet girl who has trouble expressing anger, they were a bundle of delight to read about. I wanted to hear more about Adam, his experiences moving from New York to down south, and why the hell he was hanging around a high school junior and not out socialising with his new college friends.

I mainly didn't like Daisy. At all. She irked me entirely for many reasons. She has commitment issues and is horrible at following through, which just makes me antsy. She's assumptive and kind of imposes her visions of people onto them. And she doesn't stop to ask others what they think. Maybe without these traits there wouldn't have been a story; however, by the end I was ready to punch her.

I also felt like the plot, especially the ending, was really hard to buy into. This is set in South Carolina, which is one of many states known for being more conservative, so I doubt the whole entire country would get really enthused about one alternate homecoming when it's something very common across the country. The ending--well, I won't spoil it, but I don't buy it.

The topic dealt with was a very important one--a lot of people struggle with how to act as an ally and even if they're completely okay with someone belong to the "quiltbag" as Daisy's friends put it they want to express that they're okay with it and really prove it. I also found Hannah to be a really believable character in that she just wanted to be normal, something that resonated to past personal experiences.

There was a lot of high school drama in this book and I think if you're willing to put aside political correctness and suspend your disbelief, this could be an enjoyable read.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"Archie Comic Reveals Jughead Is Asexual":

I have little-to-no interest in Archie Comics, and this doesn't really change that. Still, interesting news.

Less Than Three Press will soon have 21 works with asexual characters in its catalog:

I would be so much more excited about this if the one Less Than Three Press work I read (Wings of Destruction, the last one on the list) hadn't been overpriced and in desperate need of a complete overhaul. Still, 21 items means lots of choices, and I'm cautiously (very cautiously) optimistic about a couple of the sci-fi and fantasy ones.