By Miriam Raftery

Photo courtesy of Library Foundation San Diego

March 26, 2025 (San Diego) - On Friday, March 14, President Trump issued an Executive Order intended to drastically reduce funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the only federal agency dedicated to funding library services.

Brain Surgeon: A Doctor’s Inspiring Encounters with Mortality and Miracles, by Keith Black, MD (Wellness Books, trademark of Hatchette Book Group, Inc., New York, NY 2009, 226 pages).

Book Review by Dennis Moore

Novel by Mark O’Bannon

Reviewed by Pennell Paugh

January 19, 2025 (San Diego)—San Diego resident Mark O’Bannon has released a new science fiction romance, Touching Infinity  (Imperium Prequels).

In a society where arranged marriages are considered more sensible and enduring, Alastronia DeTroyes, a young planetary scientist, is excited to find herself traveling into a system that she has predicted will explode soon into a supernova.

Over the course of the novel, Alastriona corresponds with her sister, Julia.

Below is an excerpt from the novel:

Novel by Patricia Watts

Reviewed by Pennell Paugh

December 8, 2024 (San Diego) -- San Diego author Patricia Watts writes in her novel Paper Targets about Roanne, who never got angry — until the night she killed her ex-husband and herself.

Book by Alex A. Kecskes

Reviewed by Pennell Paugh

October 16, 2024 (San Diego) -- Alex A. Kecskes, a San Diego resident, has written a debut book that mixes science fiction and fantasy with romance. 

In 1888, Rene Sakin loses both her parents, falls into depression and is expelled from a prestigious medical college for laudanum abuse. Posing as a nurse, she leaves New York society determined to move medicine into the 20th century using herbs. She heads west to a Tennessee mining town where she meets a mysterious healer — Charles Noble.

By Mardie Schroeder

Reviewed by Pennell Paugh

September 1, 2024 (San Diego) -- Mardie Schroeder, resident of North Park in San Diego, wrote Go West for Luck, Go West for Love, a wonderful story that depicts the adventures of a family’s members over four generations.

Schroeder starts her story back in the old west. Benjamin Harrison Johnson leaves a town where he has been sheriff. Wherever he goes, he rescues and befriends people. A slick poker player, he wins a ramshackle homestead, the Six Bar Ranch and the owner’s son—Joseph, whom he adopts.

Discovering oil, having his house burned to the ground by outlaws, and inviting Indians to corral and train wild horses on his land start this fast-paced saga. Benjamin Harrison Johnson believes the ranch belongs to Joseph and gives it to his adopted son. We get to know Joseph and see him marry and make the ranch his own.

By Sandra Wenner Yeaman

Reviewed by Pennell Paugh

August 11, 2024 (El Cajon) -- Sandra Yeaman, a resident of El Cajon, CA, visited Iaşi, Romania in 1978. She was given a two-bedroom apartment with all the usual appliances found in U.S. apartments. She later found out her lifestyle was quite lush compared to local residents. However, on the downside she lived far from the school where she would be teaching English, and it wasn’t close to shopping.

The school at which she was a Fullbright English ­­­lecturer lacked a campus. In fact, the school only had one building. The instructors shared one room as an office and took turns acting as receptionists for the English department. When paid, the British English instructor and Yeaman were the first to be paid. Funds were passed around with the remaining funds. Yeaman and the British instructor made quite a bit more than the others.

The author only taught three days of the week. As a result, she regularly traveled to the Capitol, Bucharest, for weekend visits. Here’s an excerpt:

Author to hold local book signing Sept. 26

By David Madsen

Reviewed by Pennell Paugh

July 26, 2024 (San Diego) -- As a third generation Californian, David Madsen grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, one of the main settings for Under a Secret Sky. While researching the book, he traveled to the back gate of Area 51. Although he didn’t gain admittance, his license plate is no doubt in a secret database, which he accepts as a badge of honor. Today, the author lives in San Diego.

In the novel, Robert mysteriously disappears. His wife, Jean, and their precocious son, set out to find their missing family member. Threatened, then pursued by friends-turned-enemies, their search leads from their comfortable post-WWII suburban California life to a top-secret company town that invents a new way to win wars. 

Source: Joe Cabaniss press release

June 8,2024 (Alpine)-- In his debut story collection, Life Songs And Other Passages – San Diego Stories, native San Diegan Joe Cabaniss probes the spaces between youth and adulthood and explores a road paved with uncertainty, heartache and moral dilemmas. His characters strive to understand their lives and loves amid opposing forces that foster tension and uncertainty in an often unjust and unforgiving world.

Place figures strongly in these tales, set mostly in San Diego in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. Readers of a certain age may see something of themselves in these pages, while others may find universal truths that resonate. Long-time San Diegans may recognize neighborhoods where they lived or played, and surfers will note favorite beaches and recall how the sport/lifestyle taught them to embrace the Aloha spirit.

By Erik Christopher Martin

Reviewed by Pennell Paugh

May 19, 2024 (San Diego) –In San Diego author Erik Christopher Martin’s latest book, The Case of the Zombie Ninjas, the Sato Corporation moves to Elderton, Dotty Morgan’s home town. It also funds Waverly Perchance Memorial Garden, a project organized by 12-year-old Dotty.

Sato Corporation’s CEO, Mr. Sato, takes an interest in Dotty and helps her realize her dream of owning and operating a Supernatural Sleuthing Agency. However, there is a dark side to Mr. Sato’s generosity.

Below is an excerpt: