Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves by Author: Anonymous and Albert Seligman (Editor)

February 25, 2026 By 3 Comments


Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves by Author: Anonymous and Albert Seligman (Editor)
Publisher: Dulacebooks
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Historical
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

The story is about two brothers whose father died and left them little. Ali Baba married a poor woman and lived frugally, but Cassim married a woman who soon inherited a fortune and lived in luxury. One day while Ali Baba was in the forest cutting wood to sell he saw a great cloud of dust approaching and the sound of many riders. He feared for his life, so he hid his three donkeys and hid himself in a tree. The band of forty riders and their leader stopped in front of a cave. When the leader said “ Open Sesame” the door of the cave magically opened. The whole troop went inside while Ali Baba stayed hidden. When he was sure they had gone, he approached the cave door and said “ Open Sesame” himself as the cave door magically opened to his command. Inside the cave he saw vast riches and golden coins, which he liberally took for himself and returned home with his donkeys, remembering to properly close the cave door with the “Shut Sesame “ command.

His wife was astonished at all the gold coins he brought home and wanted to count them before Ali buried them in his yard. As there were too many to count, she borrowed a measuring cup from her sister-in-law. She was curious as to what they might have to measure something, so she cleverly put some suet on the bottom to see what would stick. After the cup was returned with a gold coin stuck to the bottom, she called her husband Cassim to tell him what happened.

Cassim went to Ali’s house and demanded to know how he got a gold coin, and Ali told him everything, including the magic password. Cassim was very greedy, so the next day he set out with many donkeys to find the cave and removed as much treasure for himself as possible. In his haste, he forgot the magic words to open the cave and was trapped inside when the robbers returned. They killed him and cut his body in pieces.

When Cassim didn’t return, Ali feared the worst and returned to the cave to find him. He found his brother’s body and returned to town. He knew the robbers would find out if anyone had been murdered in such a fashion, so they sewed Cassim’s body back together and pretended he died a natural death.

The robbers sent scouts to town to determine if anyone had died and discovered Ali Baba’s house. The captain of the robbers disguised himself as an oil merchant and hid his band in leather jars planning to murder all the household. When Morgiana, Ali Baba’s clever slave girl discovers the ruse, she murders all the robbers. The captain flees, but soon returns in another disguise to take his revenge. Again she discovers him, plunges a dagger into his heart and saves her master.

Moderation is the key to survival.

I once again loved the way this tale transported me to a time and place in the past that I would otherwise know very little about. This is part of the reason why I continue to give new instalments in this series such high ratings. It’s not always easy to make a reader feel immersed in what they’re reading, much less give them a taste of what life was like for some people in the far east over eleven hundred years ago, but Mr. Seligman had all sorts of intriguing ways to close that gap for his modern audience that new fans should discover for themselves.

Many old legends are sanitized for modern audiences, so I appreciated the fact that not every character remained safe from harm and that there were choices made here that are less common in modern adaptations. That is to say, this is something I’d particularly recommend to readers who enjoyed the older versions of fairy tales before The Brothers Grimm began collecting and softening up their sharp edges for younger audiences.

It’s not necessary to know anything about the plot in advance, but readers who do might notice some interesting twists that often seem to be left out of more recent translations of Ali Baba’s life. I thought I knew exactly what to expect going in, but I was still pleasantly surprised by a few things I didn’t realize were part of this universe in at least some retellings. The editor excels at this sort of thing which is yet another reason why I try to read as much of his work as I possibly can. There’s nothing like learning new facets of old favorites thanks to fairly recently uncovered versions of them.

This is part of a series that does not have to be read in any particular order.

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves was a fantastic and beautifully illustrated adventure.

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , ,

Stained With Blood by MS Morris

February 24, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Stained With Blood by MS Morris
Publisher: Landmark Media
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Fern

A battle. A killing. An echo of history.
Scarborough Castle, high on the headland, is the picturesque backdrop for an English Civil War re-enactment. But the day takes a sinister turn when the town’s MP is shot and killed in broad daylight. DCI Tom Raven is quickly on the scene, but the investigation is soon commandeered by a senior officer from Counter Terrorism, leaving Raven sidelined.

When cryptic letters are received, taunting the police, it becomes clear that democracy itself may be the target. The MP had received a number of credible death threats and suspicion quickly falls on a Russian tycoon with interests in the town. But the murdered man had many enemies, and the list of people wanting him dead quickly grows longer.

As more lives are claimed by a ruthless mastermind driving the narrative, only Raven stands between justice and an outcome stained with blood.

DCI Raven is at the end of a well earned week off when at a local Civil War re-enactment the local MP is brazenly shot and killed. With questions of potential terrorism hovering DCI Raven is fine when a Super is brought in to lead the investigation, confident that his team is up for the challenge. Can they work out what was really going on behind the scenes?

I have been enjoying this British police procedural mystery series and found this to be a strong addition. I like how these books have a good balance between the murder mystery plot and movement in the main character’s private lives. As the series has moved along I also have appreciated that the authors somewhat highlight different team members through each of the stories so over time we readers get a better feel and connection to the characters.

While I feel this book absolutely progressed a number of the team members’ personal story arcs I didn’t feel this detracted from the main mystery in any way – the killing of a local MP at a community civil war re-enactment. The various layers of a small town overlapping also added what I thought was an interesting context in how everyone’s lives interweave together and how normal it was for people to simply know each other and have shared histories.

I’m very much enjoying the fairly recent addition of DCI Raven’s daughter – Hannah – to the mix and absolutely am hoping that she sticks around for at least a while. Her character in itself interests me, but I also admit to really enjoying that she brings out some of Raven’s better qualities and makes him more relatable to his colleagues. I see this as a very positive aspect to the story as a whole.

With a solid murder mystery and a number of interesting sub-plots that are slowly moving along I thoroughly enjoy this series and am looking forward to the next one coming.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Ghost Town by Dr. James R. Gregory

February 23, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Ghost Town by Dr. James R. Gregory
Publisher: Morgan James Fiction
Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Romance, Historical
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

In the isolated coal mining town of Sulphur Creek in the late 1800s, young Sammy Murphy’s world is a blend of shadowy tunnels and unspoken secrets. Born into solitude and pushed into reclusion, Sammy’s quiet life starkly contrasts with the booming industry that surrounds him. But as he searches for connection in an era of ruthless expansion, he finds himself at odds with forces far greater than he imagined.

Enter Barry Bacon, an ambitious industrialist who fancies himself a peer to magnates like Andrew Carnegie. Driven by unbridled ambition, Bacon’s dreams stretch far beyond the soot-covered rooftops of Sulphur Creek. But as the weight of his empire bears down, his unchecked arrogance threatens to unravel everything he’s built.

As Sammy faces an unexpected awakening brought forth by a fleeting love, and Bacon’s empire teeters on the brink of collapse, both men must face truths that transcend time—true love extends beyond mere attraction and real power is more than forceful arrogance.

A little intrigue goes a long way.

The strong, steady pacing kept my interest levels high from beginning to end, and this was accomplished while including characters who tended to have quiet, reflective personalities and a preference for avoiding conflict when possible. These are the sorts of folks I love to read about and don’t get to meet in fiction nearly as often as I’d prefer to. I appreciated the fact that the plot, while sometimes rightfully given precedence over character development in the most dramatic moments, never overshadowed the gentle souls who inhabited this world. Having such a natural ebb and flow to what or who was being described worked alongside the pacing even if some scenes did temporarily veer a little further into one direction or the other. As someone who has been writing book reviews for many years, this doesn’t happen as often as I’d like to see, and it’s made me incredibly curious to see what the author writes next.

There were a few memorable plot twists that kept me wondering what might happen next. I especially appreciated the fact that not every aspect of the storyline was tied up neatly by the final scene. There was enough of a resolution to make me feel comfortable saying goodbye to these characters while still having a few things left to mull over that could make for a reasonable starting point for a sequel if the author ever chooses to write one. I have no way of knowing if that will occur, of course, but I enjoy having that possibility, however faint, dangled in front of me all the same.

Dr. Gregory did an excellent job of balancing the thriller, romance, and historical fiction themes here. It isn’t necessarily easy to write something that includes multiple genres, especially with a plot that already filled with so many different types of conflict, from quiet internal struggles for some characters to life-threatening events such as natural disasters in other scenes. They were all blended together so seamlessly that I’d need to pause for a moment before deciding which genre to mention first while describing this tale to someone else. It truly was a little of everything in the best sense of that term.

Ghost Town made me feel as if I’d stepped into a time machine to visit the past. What a ride!

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , , ,

Movie Review: The Electric State

February 23, 2026 By Leave a Comment


The Electric State
Directed by: Anthony Russo and Joe Russo
Writers: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely, Simon Stålenhag
Starring: Chris Pratt, Millie Bobby Brown, Woody Harrelson
Distributed by: Netflix
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Action/Adventure
Rating: 4 Stars (8 Stars on IMDB)
Reviewed by Dicentra

An orphaned teen hits the road with a mysterious robot to find her long-lost brother, teaming up with a smuggler and his wisecracking sidekick.

I’ve always been a fan of Millie Bobby Brown’s work since she initially rose to fame as Eleven from Stranger Things, so getting to see her in another Netflix production where she teamed up with Chris Pratt and Woody Harrelson (among others) was a no brainer. Based on Simon Stalenag’s The Electric State book, Michelle (Brown) is an orphaned teen who refuses to buy into the mass technology usage that has swept across the world following a war between the robots and the humans. With robots being exiled into an ‘Exclusion Zone’ after losing the war, Michelle’s life is thrown into a chaos after a robot from her brother’s favorite cartoon shows up on her doorstep (claiming to know where her brother is). A cross country trek ensues, where they must fight off those from the mega corporation pursuing them as well as those tasked with the eradication of robots in human territory.

The cast of this movie is certainly stacked. Along with Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, and Woody Harrelson, there are some other major players like Giancarlo Esposito, Stanley Tucci, Ke Huy Quan and Anthony Mackie. It took me a second to recognize some of them as they are playing robots, and their voices were a little digitized at times but their mannerisms are definitely there (even in a metallic body). Admittedly, there were some moments where Chris Pratt’s character felt less like the rugged smuggler he was supposed to be and more like Starlord from Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (see the music included in the movie), but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the film.

While the plot of the movie isn’t that original (it reads like a much more dystopian version of Ready Player One), the emotion is. Chris Pratt’s comedic timing showed through in the movie, and helped lighten some of the more tense moments. And the way that Michelle and the Cosmo robot were able to connect with very few words was particularly impactful. I started crying during the last scene between Michelle and her brother Christopher (Woody Norman), with Ke Huy Quan’s character PC looking on.

Overall, this was a great movie and I was very entertained. I’m not sure why critics viewed it so negatively. It’s available through Netflix, and I recommend it to sci-fi movie fans who also enjoyed movies like Ready Player One.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings, Movie Review, Television Show Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Charlie-Man by Thomas Cullen

February 20, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Charlie-Man by Thomas Cullen
Publisher: Brandylane Publishing
Genre: Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Historical
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

It’s August 1994, and Charlie Stewart begins his final year at St. Mark’s Episcopal School, a prestigious all-boys school in Richmond, Virginia. Charlie, an undistinguished student by St. Mark’s standards, faces tough odds as he seeks to rekindle his relationship with Katy Hendricks, a beautiful tennis star, and gain admission to a highly selective state university.

Through it all, Charlie relies on Beau Miller, his best friend and the top student athlete in their class. Despite Beau’s movie-star looks and infectious charm, he has a darker side, which becomes more apparent as the year progresses.

Charlie endures his trials with wry determination and ultimately emerges with a renewed sense of purpose. This is a heartrending but hopeful story of one boy’s journey toward manhood in the American South.

Innocence never lasts forever.

Mr. Cullen had a smooth writing style that I deeply enjoyed reading. He seemed to intuitively know precisely how many details to share about a scene to make it come alive in my imagination without ever slowing down the pacing of the plot in the process. I especially enjoyed his descriptions of the various locations in Richmond, Virginia where Charlie and his friends experienced their final year of high school. They were as vivid as they were achingly honest.

One of the things that puzzled me about Charlie for the first half or so of this novel involved his muted reactions to things like his father’s death or his traumatic experiences at summer camp that I would have expected him to have much strong feelings about. Figuring out why these scenes were written this was what propelled this to a five-star read for me. The author knew exactly what he was doing here, and a few twists later on in the storyline not only explained why Charlie behaved the way he did but gave me an opportunity to get to know this character on a much deeper level than I previously had.

I also loved the complex friendship between Charlie and Beau, especially as it related to Beau’s character flaws impacted both of these teenagers. One of the most challenging parts of growing up can be seeing how childhood friendships permanently change as everyone involved in them transitions into adulthood and begins making choices that cannot always be undone. These were the moments that made me wonder if this was a memoir in disguise due to how skillfully Charlie’s mixed emotions about his oldest and closest friend were woven into the storyline. They genuinely felt real to me.

Charlie-Man made me yearn for more.

Filed Under: Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , ,

Death In The Long Walk by Hilary Pugh

February 19, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Death In The Long Walk by Hilary Pugh
Publisher: Housemouse Press
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Is it ever too late to be a detective?

Jonny Cardew is bored. He’s worked hard all his life at a financially rewarding but dull job when all he ever wanted to do was to solve murders. Now he has retired he has a chance to fulfil his ambition. A meeting over breakfast with three quirky characters and a dog in need of rehoming will change his life.

When a body is found at a nearby beauty spot the police believe it to be a case of death by natural causes. Jonny and his friends think differently and set out to discover the truth. On the way they meet some decidedly suspicious people all with motives to kill.

The Breakfast Cub detectives are on the case but will they solve it?

Jonny Cardew has worked his whole adult life in a financially stable and reliable job, but has been deadly bored. He’s always had a secret desire to solve a murder, and now he’s finally retired he’s eager to do so – just unsure how to go about it. When a body is found locally and the police think it’s natural causes, Jonny is determined to investigate. With some newly acquired friends and a bunch of enthusiasm, can Jonny and his Breakfast club friends really become detectives?

I’d never heard of this author nor the series, but it sounded deeply intriguing and so I bought this on a whim. I found the murder-mystery to be highly enjoyable with a strong cast of secondary characters and a realistic and relatable main character with Jonny. I thought this was a slower burn kind of mystery, while the plot and pacing was good it definitely wasn’t an action-oriented kind of story and readers should be happy to settle in for the gradual build up.

As the mystery unfolds there were a few good scenes where the action did move at a good clip, but overall, this had more the feel of “amateur sleuth’ rather than spy or espionage action heavy adventure. I thought the mystery itself was well plotted and I particularly enjoyed that there were a few red herrings – as Jonny and his crew tried to put everything together.

I found this to be an enjoyable and strongly relatable story about normal people working together and building friendships and coming together to solve a murder. A fun and well written story I’m eager to read the next in the series. Recommended.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Eden by Hadley Coull

February 18, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Eden by Hadley Coull
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

‘How can we build such an ugly world, when life is so beautiful?’

London, 2063. As the Earth burns, the wealthy retreat into Eden, a dazzling mixed-reality simulation.

Max Fisher lives in a world of beauty and possibility, where painful memories can be overwritten by code. But something falters. Fragments of another reality begin to seep through, and the stories he believes in begin to unravel.

Eden is a work of speculative fiction scribbled in grief and glow, a story of our descent into images, and a meditation on love and tenderness in a dying world.

Perfection always comes with a price.

My favorite scenes were the ones that explored the reality of relying so heavily on technology and what we would refer to as the Internet for entertainment and socialization purposes. This is one of those topics that can be approached from multiple perspectives, and the author did a good job of providing nuanced and fair arguments for what they appear to think about this issue. If this were something I was discussing in a book club, the way the various characters approached cyber life would be the first thing I’d want to bring up due to how differently they all thought about it and how those reactions affected the storyline later on. Kudos for providing so much food for thought!

I struggled with the slow pacing of this novel. The main characters spent a good deal of time talking about their feelings which, while of course vitally important for character development, sometimes got in the way of developing the plot just as thoroughly. It will be interesting to see if readers who are well-versed in literary fiction feel the same way as I know that’s a common writing style for that genre and do hope it encourages some of them to check out other science fiction tales as well if they don’t already do so. There is definitely something to be said for mixing genres like this, but I simply wish a little more attention had been played to fleshing out the plot as it didn’t always have sufficient space to grow in my opinion.

On a positive note, there was a plot twist later on that reframed many of the things I believed I knew about the characters. While I can’t go into detail about exactly what that surprise involved due to how massive it was, I loved the way the author revealed it and thought it added a great deal of depth to the protagonist’s life in particular.

Eden was thought provoking.

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , ,

The Foaming Deep by MS Morris

February 17, 2026 By Leave a Comment


The Foaming Deep by MS Morris
Publisher: Landmark Media
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

A hidden cove. A tangle of lies. A deeply buried secret.
When a young woman’s body is found at a cave entrance by the pretty fishing village of Robin Hood’s Bay, DCI Tom Raven is called to investigate. A trail of footprints leads from the body on the shore to the nearby youth hostel. But the killer’s identity is far from clear as the picturesque façade of Robin Hood’s Bay conceals more than it reveals.

Meanwhile, Raven has been given a tantalising clue to the truth behind his mother’s death at the hands of a hit-and-run driver over thirty years ago. As he works to untangle the facts, he discovers a secret far darker than anything he could have imagined and must battle the inner demons that threaten to destroy him and everything he holds dear.

A young woman’s body is found on the beach at the entrance to a local cave. DCI Tom Raven and his team are called to investigate, but with a number of people upset at the returned local lady the case appears quite murky at first. When things begin to lead in a number of different directions Raven and his team need to keep a handle on a quickly escalating situation.

I have been enjoying this Yorkshire based British police procedural series and found this to be an excellent addition to it. There were a few sub-plots revolving around the main murder mystery and I thought this really helped keep the pace of the book feel like it was moving forward at a good clip. There was also progress on a few of the longer-term story arcs which I also thought were very well woven into the story.

Readers looking for a high action story might not find this book really suits those sorts of tastes. I enjoyed the smaller town feel and the fact that we had space to learn about the numerous secondary characters. The mystery is absolutely front and center here and I think more traditional mystery readers should feel this is a great book. I did think that readers should be able to pick this up as a standalone. While it’s well into the series aside from the background history between DCI Raven and his team all the plot really is well contained in this book, and I feel readers should be able to enjoy this without having read anything previously.

With well drawn characters and a multi layered mystery plot I found this to be a thoroughly enjoyable story and a great series.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

A Friend for Hope by Amie White

February 16, 2026 By Leave a Comment


A Friend for Hope by Amie White
Publisher: Noctilune Publishing
Genre: Children’s (0 – 6 y.o.), Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Nine-year-old Zoe Meadows is the new kid in Ivy Creek. For homeschooled Zoe, every day starts the same: breakfast, then to the living room where Miss Ellis awaits. Only today, Zoe can’t focus—not when she notices neighborhood children playing outside, children she’s yet to meet. Watching all this unfold, Zoe’s parents decide it’s time for a companion—the furry kind, to be precise.

Everything changes when Zoe meets Hope at the dog shelter for the first time. The two girls form an inseparable bond over the following months and find in each other the one thing they both craved for a long, long time: a forever friend.

Loneliness isn’t forever.

Zoe was a sweet and kind protagonist. Many of the picture books I’ve reviewed have focused on more extroverted and sometimes noisy children for a variety of reasons, so it was refreshing for me as a reader to have someone leading the storyline who was a gentle and quiet soul. There’s something to be said for including all sorts of different personality types in fiction, after all!

I did find myself wishing that the plot had explained why Zoe didn’t seem to spend much time with people her own age since homeschooled children can still participate in all sorts of classes and extracurricular activities that will introduce them to potential friends. My first thought was that maybe she was immunocompromised or had some other serious health problem that made socializing in large groups unsafe for her. While I don’t know if this is what the author was intending to hint at, I would have loved to know more about her backstory and would have chosen a full five-star rating if the narrator had told us why adopting a dog was a better option for the main character than socializing with other children.

With that being said, I thought the adoption of Zoe’s new pet was a heartwarming chapter in her life. I especially appreciated the fact that Hope needed some time to warm up to the family after the stress of being abandoned and living at the noisy animal shelter for so long. This was a great reminder that how a new pet behaves at the shelter or at home for the first little while isn’t always the same as how they’ll act once they feel safe and loved.

A Friend for Hope was charming.

Filed Under: Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , ,

Kuro by Ana Raine

February 13, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Kuro by Ana Raine
Publisher: Changeling Press
Genre: Contemporary, Erotic Romance, Holiday, LGBTQ, Paranormal
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

When Preston saves a black cat everything he knows about life and demons is going to be questioned.

While shopping for candy for his friend’s Halloween party, Preston saves a strange black cat from a group of teenage boys. Overcome with a desire entirely new to him, Preston takes the black cat home and discovers things are not always what they seem, especially on Halloween.

The cat, a demon named Caleb, has been searching for his mate for months and can’t help but be fascinated with sweet Preston. He’s determined to drag Preston down to his home in the underwater demon world.

Now Preston must choose between his mortal life, or one full of demons — and love.

Preston rescues a black cat from a group of teenage boys. Despite never wanting a cat, Preston decides to take the stray home – only to discover things are not always what they seem.

I found this to be a fun and sexy short story. Caleb and Preston certainly set the pages on fire between them, but I liked that even though Caleb was a demon he didn’t really use powers or magic to lure Preston or fake things between them.

Readers looking for an extended or slow drop into love should be aware that this simply isn’t possible with such a short page count. I thought the author did a good job showing the attraction and chemistry between Preston and Caleb give the quickness of the story and while I do feel readers will need to disconnect their brain a little I did find this a fun and enjoyable Halloween themed story.

With smoking heat between the two men and some sizzling scenes I enjoyed this short and erotic quick read.

Filed Under: Erotic Romance, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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