LJ Cohen

Where ordinary choices lead to extraordinary journeys

Highly Recommended

While I rarely write formal reviews, when I love a book, I become an evangelist of it and want everyone I know to read it.

What we love is highly subjective and I will never be insulted if you don't love what I love; however, these are the stories that have stayed with me long after I finished reading them. Perhaps they will speak to you, too.

Fantasy        Science Fiction        Other Fiction       Short Fiction


Fantasy

CROOKS AND STRAIGHTS
WOLF LOGIC

by Masha DuToit

These books remind me of what you might get if you mixed the coming of age essence of A WRINKLE IN TIME with the ethereal and painful beauty of PAN'S LABYRINTH.


MALUS DOMESTICA
by S.A. Hunt

If your taste runs more to urban fantasy/horror, this is your fix. A modern witch hunter who is a youtube sensation, returns to her home town to confront both her past and the witches who terrorize the town.


TILL HUMAN VOICES WAKE US
Victoria Goddard

A Lyrical Fantasy, in the tradition of Patricia McKillip. Goddard weaves the tale of Orpheus along with a hefty dose of Shakespeare and dangerous magic into a story of contemporary London. This is a dense book, written like the poetry its title is from.


Science Fiction


THE MINUS FACTION (A serial novel)
by Rick Wayne

I adore these books and I'm not someone who tends to read serial fiction. I'm too impatient and want the whole story. But, I'm willing to nibble at the crumbs, here, because they are so very tasty! Part superhero story, part thriller, part adventure, one hundred percent addictive. (Actually, read anything Rick writes. He is that good.)

TAKE BACK TOMORROW
by Richard Levesque

A fun take on time travel with a 1940s noir twist, I thoroughly enjoyed. Just a lovely romp through what I loved about golden age SF from my childhood.


IN ASHES BORN
by Nathan Lowell

If you enjoy a good space opera, you can't go wrong with a tale by Nathan Lowell! is the start of a new series in the universe of his Golden Age of the Solar Clipper series. And it's a great entry into his worlds, even if you haven't read the prior series.

WITHOUT BLOODSHED
Matthew Graybosch

Science Fantasy with a helping of heavy metal music and original world building. It's the kind of complex genre-busting novel that is rarely published in today's world of tightly defined markets, and that's a shame. Morgan Stormrider is The Phoenix Society's most successful enforcer. But he is also not quite human, and the parallel stories that twist through this novel showcase a writer with a strong grasp on building myth and driving a high-octane plot.


Other Fiction

THE MOON SISTERS
Therese Walsh

Jazz and Olivia Moon, each mourning their mother's recent death in very different ways, are searching, not for answers, but for resolution. For Olivia, the younger sister, cursed/blessed with synesthesia, that means traveling to the setting of her mother's unfinished novel. For Jazz, it means trying to force Olivia home so they can move on with their lives. As their journey unfolds and intersects with other travelers holding their own hurts and secrets, they may both discover what they didn't know they needed.


Short Fiction