Writer and Editor C.B. Calsing/ G.G. Royale

Claudia Gray’s “The X-Files: Perihelion” adds another adventure to the lives of Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. I’m a huge X-Files fan, having watched the entire series two or three times straight through, seen the movies multiple time, and read a couple of other books from different authors as well. I really looked forward to this read.  Now working for an independent genetics clinic that helps children, Scully finds she is pregnant again. She and Mulder move in together in an effort to finally create a normal family. Both are still mourning the loss of their first son, and Mulder is somewhat adrift when it comes to his career. When a mysterious assassin, who can disappear in a cloud of smoke, attracts the attention of the FBI, Mulder and Scully are called back to the agency. At the same time, however, a serial killer is brutally murdering pregnant women, and Scully has caught his attention. While torn between tracking down the two killers, Mulder and Scully also must address t...

Props to this cover artist. Excellent and evocative. Yolanda Sfetsos's "Wings of Sorrow" is a modern take on a more classic gothic novel, based in myth and set on an appropriately windswept cliff, complete with anachronistic manor and neighboring lighthouse. Thera inherits her aunt’s house, and she decides to go clean it out before listing it. Hector, her horror-writing husband, comes along for the potential inspiration. The house immediately draws him in and the words begin to flow. Thera, however, is battling the ghost of her aunt and her ominous warning that nothing good will come of Thera and Hector staying at the house. The premise of this story is intriguing with the genders sort of swapped from the more traditional tellings. The why of things, which we learn from the ghost and Thera’s forgotten memories, are equally fascinating. The delivery, however, left something to be desired. The truth comes out in a lot of exposition where I would have liked to see more myst...

Genoveva Dimova’s “Foul Days” is a fun paranormal mystery suitable for fans of Van Helsing and similar monster-story revisions.  Kosara is a witch who, one fateful night, must trade her shadow in order to escape from her former demon (dragon?) lover, Zmey the Tsar of Monsters. With the help of a copper from the other side of the wall, she must recover her shadow before she fades away completely. Together, they battle various monsters as they run to ground the clues to help save themselves and the city of Chemograd.  I really enjoyed this story. It was fun, action-filled, and the world-building was spot on. It felt like a soviet-era spy novel, but with witches, ghosts, and other ghouls. I would absolutely read any follow-ups.  The narrator, Zura Johnson, did an excellent job with the different characters’ voices and the emotion needed to tell this story.   I definitely recommend this book. It’s a fun summer read or listen and kept me engage from page one. I recei...