BOOK REVIEW – Inkling

by Kenneth Oppel (Author), Robbie Daymond (Narrator), Listening Library (Publisher) An Audiobook Review INKLING, by Kenneth Oppel, is a very creative, exciting, and touching story about a … okay, you guessed it, a spot, or splot, of ink.  But how can you make a story out of that?  Oppel does it very well, just as in his wonderful space odysseys. He…

BOOK REVIEW – Ghosts of War #2: Lost at Khe Sanh (Vietnam)

by Steve Watkins (Author) WOW!  This kid’s action and history book by Steve Watkins is fascinating, exciting, AND well-researched. I lived through the Vietnam War years, but even I learned things in this middle-grade book I’d only heard hinted at before. The three friends, Anderson, Greg, and Julie, have a musical band and practice in Anderson’s uncle’s basement.…

BOOK REVIEW – Golden Gate, Book 2 of City Spies

by James Ponti (Author), Lisa Flanagan (Narrator), Simon & Schuster Audio (Publisher) An Audiobook Review “This mission is hot! It’s a go!”    GOLDEN GATE is the second of the City Spies books I’ve read, and I love them!  Smart kids (I mean VERY smart kids), super-special skills (but natural, no hocus-pocus), wild adventure, world travel, secrets, villains, danger,   complex…

JUMP! – A short story

A Short Story by Jackie Houchin I’m standing on the edge of a lookout point on the rim of the Grand Canyon. It’s just before dawn. I can see the sky in the east becoming less black. I’ll have to do it soon. I don’t want to be a spectacle for curious eyes. I just…

THE PINK PILL(g) – A (Humorous) Short Story

By Jackie Houchin One thousand words, what a little thing. A one and three zeroes. Anyone could do that, right? Why I could talk that in about 10 minutes.  How fast are my fingers on the keys?  Well, I do think faster than I can type….acurately, that is.  Well, here goes. One thousand words, and…

BOOK REVIEW – The Book Swap (Tales of Meadley, 1)

by Liz Hedgecock (Author)  A Book review by Jackie Houchin  THE BOOK SWAP by Liz Hedgecock, is a fun, sweet, feel-good novella about a newly single mom who is very unsure of herself, and her little girl, who is not. Becca thinks she can make some friends at her daughter’s new school by joing the PTA. But…