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Above Us Only Sky by Michele Young-Stone

BOOK REVIEW

Above Us Only Sky by Michele Young-Stone

Prudence Vilkas yearns to understand what it means to be born with wings and who she is in Michele Young-Stone's Above Us Only Sky. Although I love fantasy, I don't read much literary magical realism, but the idea of women born with wings intrigued me. Young-Stone weaves a tale told from multiple characters spanning from the 1800s to more modern times. The main character is Prudence, a woman born with wings, ones considered a birth defect and removed. My heart went out to her and the other characters. They all longed for what was taken for them, from wings, to family members, to their Lithuanian homeland during war. Like a bird, the story touches down into a current timeline to only fly off again into the past. Although a little confusing and slow at times, the plot ties up well, all the little pieces coming together into a beautiful story. I also thought the bird imagery was perfect. Above Us Only Sky by Michele Young Stone sends the reader's imagination flying and is the wonderful read for people who enjoy history (World Wars and Eastern European) and complex family relationships with a touch of fantasy.

COVER REVEAL

Title: A Change of Mind and Other Stories

Author: Nick Wilford

Genre: Contemporary speculative fiction

Cover Design: Rebekah Romani

Release Date: May 25, 2015

A Change of Mind and Other Stories consists of a novella, four short stories and one flash fiction piece. This collection puts the extremes of human behaviour under the microscope with the help of lashings of dark humour, and includes four pieces previously published in Writer’s Muse magazine.

In A Change of Mind, Reuben is an office worker so meek and mild he puts up with daily bullying from his boorish male colleagues as if it’s just a normal part of his day. But when a stranger points him in the direction of a surgeon offering a revolutionary new procedure, he can’t pass up the chance to turn his life around.

But this isn’t your average surgeon. For a start, he operates alone in a small room above a mechanic’s. And he promises to alter his patients’ personality so they can be anything they want to be…

In Marissa, a man who is determined to find evidence of his girlfriend’s infidelity ends up wondering if he should have left well alone.

The Dog God finds a chink in the armour of a man with a megalomaniacal desire to take over the world.

In The Insomniac, a man who leads an obsessively regimented lifestyle on one hour’s sleep a night finds a disruption to his routine doesn’t work for him.

Hole In One sees a dedicated golfer achieving a lifelong ambition.

The Loner ends the collection on a note of hope as two family members try to rebuild their lives after they are torn apart by jealousy.

Nick Wilford is a writer and stay-at-home dad. Once a journalist, he now makes use of those rare times when the house is quiet to explore the realms of fiction, with a little freelance editing and formatting thrown in. When not working, he can usually be found spending time with his family or cleaning something. Nick is also the editor of Overcoming Adversity: An Anthology for Andrew. You can find him hanging out on his blog or on Goodreads or Twitter.

Preorder Links: Amazon US, Amazon UK

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