TITLE: Uno Kudo: Naked
GENRE: Anthology, feminist literature

THE RUNDOWN

Uno Kudo is an anthology on its second year, a compilation of art and literature from all walks of life, with one common theme. The title, Naked, says it all. Risqe, heart-stopping, honest, but not always beautiful, each story and picture has some element of nakedness about it. The images and words within Naked are sometimes abstract and other times powerfully blunt. 

The literature in Uno Kudo: Naked ranges from poetry to short stories, and the quality of writing ranges from amateur to practiced prose. With a slightly feminist bent, most of the content embraces sexual expression, fear, or awakening. But other times, the theme of emotional nakedness takes place of the physical. With stories about prostitutes, suicide and loneliness, Uno Kudo isn’t the most uplifting collection of stories, but it is definitely thought-provoking.

Naked is, without a doubt, a coffee-table book. With large, striking images, professional-grade paintings and well-placed prose and poetry, the book is a piece of art in and of itself. And in that respect, the publication fell short. In order to truly allow Naked to shine, the editors needed to weed out some of the less professional contributions and the publishers needed to spend more time producing a quality piece of art. The cover needed to be hard-back, the binding spiral-bound, and the pages needed to be printed professionally in order to allow the art within to truly shine.

THE RECOMMENDATION

If you’re looking for a risqué coffee-table book that will entertain and possibly even shock your visiting guests, Uno Kudo is worth checking out. But you might want to skip Naked and wait until they release their next anthology. There were some gems within Uno Kudo: Naked, but overall the production needed a revamp, with more practiced authors and artists, and a professional printing process.

THE RATING

While some of the individual images and stories in Uno Kudo would have earned a higher rating, the overall production only earns 3 out of 4 stars.

THE LINKS

You can find Uno Kudo: Naked on Amazon here, Facebook here and the blog here. 

TITLE: Spoonful

AUTHOR: Chris Mendius

PUBLISHER: Anything Goes Publishing

GENRE: Urban Fiction

PAGES: 322


THE RUNDOWN

Laden with sex, drugs and violence, Spoonful is a look into the life of a heroin addict. The main character, Michael, is a low-life with potential, and I started the book with high hopes for redemption. While Chris Mendius’ writing did not captivate me, the dialogue was real and the scenes were almost too believable. At times funny and most of the time shocking, each chapter ended with a cliffhanger that goaded me to keep reading.

However, the cliffhangers were quick fixes: once the scene was resolved, another disconnected plot element sprung up. Halfway through the book, I began to get bored. Sure, the stories were entertaining, but it was the same thing over and over again. Although each chapter ended on a page turner, the plot simply did not develop.

That’s when it hit me: Spoonful is entirely too real. Being addicted to drugs isn’t a fantasy, it isn’t pretty, and it goes nowhere. It makes smart people act stupid and the only thing that matters is the next fix. The plot meandered similarly: all that mattered was the next chapter, not the overall plotline. The book was one long downward spiral. If that’s what Chris Mendius was going for, he succeeded.

Nevertheless, I found myself slightly disappointed when I finished the book. I wished that it had been shortened and condensed to portray a single plotline, and although I rooted for Michael throughout, I never completely connected with him.


THE RECOMMENDATION

If you’re ready for an intense trip that leaves you unsatisfied and asking for more, pick up Spoonful. Or, you could just shoot up and experience it for yourself. Spoonful might be the safer option, though. It goes without saying that this book isn’t suitable for a younger audience.


LINKS
Spoonful on Amazon
Anything Goes Publishing

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Overview of Relativity by Kimberly Shursen


                   Definition of RELATIVITY
              1a : the quality or state of being relative 
b : something that is relative: the state of being dependent for existence on or determined in nature, value, or quality by relation to something else 

    

In a breaking news report, Jack McCallin, the prominent Mayor of Boston, makes a statement that his daughter and granddaughter have been abducted. He knows the truth, however, and so does his twenty-four year old step-daughter Claire. 

Claire was four when the Mayor first molested her, warning his step-daughter that if she told the 'secret,' bad things would happen. Twenty years later when Claire discovers the Mayor standing over her three year old daughter's bed, there is nothing will stop her from protecting Lizzie. 

Claire has been totally dominated by the Mayor since he married Adrianna, McCallin's French born second wife, and adopted Claire at the age of two. Soon after Claire meets twenty-five year old Boston Globe reporter Matt Christenson, she enlists his help.

When McCallin orders Claire never to see Christenson again, Claire and Lizzie suddenly disappear. Claire has never told anyone, including her mother that McCallin is Lizzie's biological father. The only way Claire can prove that McCallin is a child molester and rapist is to have his DNA tested along with Lizzie's. But the evidence lies in the heavily guarded McCallin mansion and everyone in Boston is on the lookout for Claire and Matt. 

One person found brutally murdered, Claire left for dead when McCallin's lackeys run her off the road after locating McCallin's biological daughter to testify against him, Matt and Claire don't know who to trust. The one thing they do know is that Mayor Jack McCallin wants them dead before his empire comes tumbling down. 

In the vein of such thrillers as Alafair Burke’s 212 and John Grisham's gripping A Time To Kill, this edgy political thriller is a page turner until the final twist.