If you live to be 110, how would you look back at your life? With Fondness? With Regret? Missed Opportunities? Or At Peace? The protagonist of Denny S. Bryce's debut novel, Wild Women and the Blues, gets to answer that question. Honoree Dalcour is in mid-1920s...
Wisdom From Kammbia Story Review 3: Speech Sounds by Octavia E. Butler
by MHill | May 23, 2021 | Marion's All-Time Favorite Short Stories, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Octavia Butler, Short Story Review, Wisdom From Kammbia Column, Wisdom of Kammbia Story Review
What if you lived in a society where speaking is a threat to the social order? Octavia Butler speculated on the aforementioned question in her Hugo Award-winning short story, Speech Sounds. I came across this story when it was discussed on the Novel Pairing Podcast....
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 78: The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton
by MHill | Apr 24, 2021 | 2021 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Marion's All-Time Favorite Novels, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
"The easiest thing in the world is to be yourself. The hardest thing in the world is to be yourself." Those two sentences were appropriate for one of the two major characters, Opal Jewel, in Dawnie Walton's excellent debut novel, The Final Revival of Opal & Nev....
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 77: Joplin’s Ghost by Tananarive Due
by MHill | Apr 11, 2021 | 2021 Book Reviews, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
As a reader, you notice what kinds of books that you keep gravitating towards. Even though I'm an eclectic reader, I keep gravitating recently towards novels that are about the creative process (books, art, food, or music). Human creativity has always been...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 76: Mama Day by Gloria Naylor
by MHill | Mar 16, 2021 | 2021 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
I have always been more of a backlist reader than a new release reader. There are so many books published, and it is impossible to keep up as a reader. However, on social media and throughout the publishing world, the new release books especially in fiction are...
Icon #4
by MHill | Mar 4, 2021 | Marion's Favorites, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
Icon tells Rocket she is pregnant. Rocket can't believe it but decides to take an over-the-counter pregnancy test to make sure. As readers, we all know what the answer will be. Rocket sees her life flash before her eyes as she talks with her best friend about it how...
Icon #3
by MHill | Feb 28, 2021 | Marion's Favorites, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
Issue 3 continued from what happened in Issue 2. The Mayor of Dakota was held hostage by someone she had a connection too and the abductor wanted her to accept responsibility for causing an event to happen at a nearby island. Police stopped Icon and Rocket momentarily...
Icon #2
by MHill | Feb 21, 2021 | Black History Month, Marion's Favorites, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
The Mayor of Dakota, Thomasina Jefferson, is being held hostage at city hall. The police commissioner calls in S.H.R.E.D, the city's most elite police unit. They hold Icon and Rocket at gunpoint. Icon wants to comply with the police officers and Rocket reminds him...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 75: Invisible Men by Ken Quattro
by MHill | Feb 19, 2021 | 2021 Book Reviews, Black History Month, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
Black History Month is in full swing and I have seen many social media posts recognizing the achievements of African Americans throughout the nation's history. However, I have always wanted to find out something that does not get much recognition or overlooked during...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 74: Playing in the Dark by Toni Morrison
by MHill | Feb 18, 2021 | 2021 Book Reviews, Toni Morrison, Wisdom From Kammbia Column, Writing
I still consider realistic fiction the standard for American Literature. However, imaginative fiction has made significant strides in the past two decades to create its own place in American Literature. As one who prefers imaginative fiction over realistic fiction,...