Fit Lit Christian Brown

FIT LIT

Body, Mind and Quill

ABOUT THE COLUMNIST

Quadragenarian fitness model, lifestyle coach and bestselling author of the critically acclaimed Feast of Fates, Christian A. Brown received a Kirkus star in 2014 for the first novel in his genrechanging Four Feasts till Darkness series. He has appeared on Newstalk 1010, AM640, Daytime Rogers, and Get Bold Today with LeGrande Green. He actively writes and speaks about his mother’s journey with cancer and on gender issues in the media.

Summer Reads.

BY CHRISTIAN ADRIAN BROWN

Summer is here, and with restrictions finally lifting in Canada, I intend to enjoy it. In addition to getting outside more, to stretching my legs and filling my lungs with the hazy, sweet breath of the season, I intend to revisit the habit of finding a quiet, shady tree and settling down for an afternoon read. The droning summer buzz lends itself to somnolence and meditative quiet. And in our shaded nooks, burrowed like happy animals, we can escape into otherworlds more perilous and exciting than our own.

Escapism is an essential activity in a Covid/ postCovid world. Our societies have been decimated, our economies hemorrhaging and on life-support buoyed by trillions of dollars in monopoly money that one day, our generation or likely the ones following will have to reimburse. No one can reasonably be expected to soak in the magnitude of what we’ve collectively experienced and maintain a healthy and intact mind afterwards. We need to escape the media hamster-wheel-from-Hell of repeated soundbites and fearmongering playing ad infinitum. For the sake of their mental health, I’ve encouraged my friends to limit their social media and media exposure, as each of these platforms can hook us into an adversedopamine loop of addiction. As a trainer, I regularly prescribe books in addition to physical routines.

uncertainty and doubt, to inspire hope, than to visit fantastical persons facing world-ending catastrophes and who survive through pluck, wit and daring? Heroic fantasy is particularly effective in this regard: painting desolate lands ruled by a Dark Lord or Lovecraftian forces that are no doubt saved from damnation through the combined efforts of a few, determined souls. Dark fantasy (my genre) takes us to an even deeper level of despair, before— hopefully—bringing us upwards and into the light. I prefer this genre the most as it allows for a tremendous degree of abstraction (and still familiarity, if framed correctly) while giving us a delirious emotional high from the eventual upswing; assuming there is one, but I don’t read the unrelenting darkness kind of books, I need my happy/ melancholy ending.

If fiction isn’t your cup of tea, and you need “real life” inspirations, there are as many biographies to check out as there are accomplished people in the world. Reading about another person’s success can often be the catalyst in helping us define how ours will manifest. After all, we can, and should, learn not only from our own mistakes but from mistakes in general. We can learn, too, from the historical information presented in such books. As with fantasy, biographies are often tales of rags to riches, obscurity to fame, sickness to health, paperboy to the president, and likewise motivate us to greatness or movement in our lives. Forward motion. Impetus. Drive. Indeed, and with the state of the world being so broken, we should each be working on ourselves with this “pause” from the life we’ve been given. We should take the interruption to our routines as the necessary chaos for which we’ve been waiting to re-evaluate our goals, priorities and responsibilities. What better way to fix a society than to create an army of well-minded, well-balanced and happy individuals who are capable of rebuilding the world? Now go find that shaded tree in a quiet park and start dreaming, healing and rebuilding one story at a time.

—C 

BOOKS IN REVIEW

BR

SHELF UNBOUND’S Books In Review

Self-Published & Small Press Book Reviews

SPONSORED BY

Clean Sweep.

BY E. B. LEE

Adult

PUBLISHER: LITTLE BROWN DOG PRESS Clean Sweep brings the plight of the homeless to light through the eyes of Carli Morris, who initially volunteers with a church organization and later joins an outreach program. Thus begins her evolution from a passerby who ignores street people in need to an active participant involved in generating change.

Carli is recruited for the outreach organization by Grant, someone who knows and is known by many living on the streets. There’s something familiar to Carli about Grant, and her exposure to the homeless evokes memories of her brother, Henry, who years ago lost touch with his family despite efforts to locate him.

While set in New York City, the story could take place anywhere in the country. Ill health, extreme weather conditions, alcoholism and fear of losing one’s independence are among the problems faced by those Carli and Grant try to help. The results of their efforts are as varied as those they meet.

Carli, a newly retired advertising exec looking forward to traveling, is also a painter preparing for an upcoming exhibit. These plans lose their priority the more involved she is with the homeless and with Grant, who she begins to suspect might be Henry. Just as Carli’s perspectives change, so does Grant’s personality, which leads to some harsh realizations: Even those who help need assistance.

Author E.B. Lee writes in a straightforward way that’s vivid and authentic. Among the novel’s many strengths are the smart, relatable main characters. The homeless are portrayed as individuals not as a homogenous group. The issues associated with homelessness are addressed in a sensitive manner without judgment. Mental health, loss of loved ones and lifestyle changes are among the factors identified as contributing to the problem.

Tackling important, societal concerns in a well-written, finely-paced style, this novel provides a satisfying and engrossing read. 

Entitled.

BY COOKIE BOYLE

Adult

Cookie Boyle has written a smart, funny, and heartfelt novel that captures the unexpected adventures in the life of a book.

In this tale, the aforementioned Book is a character unto itself. The story within the Book’s pages, The Serendipity of Snow, explores the life of a young girl growing up in Minnesota in the late 1800s, where she struggles against society’s expectations and the world’s confines. While sitting on a shelf in a San Francisco bookstore waiting for her own journey to begin, the Book relates to her inner main character’s dilemma: “I guess I’m the same, dreaming about a life beyond this aisle.”

The Book is soon purchased by a nice woman as a book club read, only to later get placed in a makeshift coffee shop. Eventually, it lands with a French woman travelling back to Paris, but a series of mishaps and exchanges ultimately move it along to London, New York, and other U.S. cities.

From the hands of a struggling writer who spends a mere euro for the Book at a book stall along the Seine, to those of a film director and Midwestern studies teacher who work to bring its story to the screen, to its forever home with the Book’s own author, the Book is read, misplaced, loaned, and book-napped. Contemplating its own life, and that of its varied Readers, it experiences a revelation regarding the emotional highs and lows of love and heartbreak, apprehension, loneliness, and friendship.

Boyle’s charmingly anthropomorphized literary characters present astute and whimsical observations. Whether the Book faces the bluntness of a self-absorbed Dictionary or the flirtatious advances from a volume of French Poetry, the conversations are bright and engaging, and border notes provide an artful touch of commentary from the Readers who share the Book’s odyssey.

Told from its unique perspective, this is an imaginative, well-written narrative. For bibliophiles looking for a lighthearted, clever, and fun read, Entitled proves a perfect offering. 

PUBLISHER: BESPOKEN WORD PRESS

Born in Salt.

BY T. C. WEBER

Adult

PUBLISHER: FREEDOM THORN PRESS T.C. Weber’s Born in Salt chronicles the aftermath of an alternate history in which Charles Lindbergh fomented a coup against FDR, sided with the Nazis, shredded the U.S. Constitution, and ushered in an oppressive oligarchy. Set in 1983, eugenics are now the law of the land, corruption is rampant, and poverty is ubiquitous.

While the set-up is much like Philip Roth’s Plot Against America, this story takes up where Roth’s book left off, showing the long-term effect of Lindbergh’s ascent. In rural New Bethany, Illinois, Ben Adamson—young, white, and poor—is trying to help his dad hold onto the family farm. When Ben’s brother, Jake, is killed suspiciously while serving in the Army after trying to expose American imperialism in Cuba, Jake’s fiancée Rachel is haunted by the death. Ben, also devastated and rapidly falling for Rachel, joins in her obsession.

Feeling betrayed by the government, they’re easy recruits for Paul, his best friend Sarah’s mysterious revolutionary cousin. Unfortunately, before the resistance can begin, Rachel and Ben are arrested. Now Ben has one shot to escape his sadistic incarceration and earn Rachel’s freedom in the bargain: He must go undercover to betray the very revolutionaries he sought to join. But can Ben save Rachel without condemning Sarah and putting his father at risk?

Both cerebral dystopia and cat-and-mouse thriller, Born in Salt succeeds on every level. The political commentary is incisive but never bludgeoning, helped considerably by a relatable protagonist. Constantly faced with lesser-of-two-evils choices, Ben tries hard to do the right thing, nonetheless. Throughout, Weber expertly adds layers of suspicion and paranoia, complicating relationships and ratcheting up the tension.

Born in Salt is an indictment of far-right autocratic impulses, and like the best dystopias, it feels utterly relevant. But its appeal transcends any ideology, with a desperate story of love and conflicting loyalties that builds breathlessly to a satisfying reckoning certain to keep readers hooked to the final page. 

The World of Dew and Other Stories.

BY JULIAN MORTIMER SMITH

Adult

PUBLISHER: INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS Julian Mortimer Smith has hit it out of the park with this collection.

The World of Dew and Other Stories by Julian Mortimer Smith is a collection of science fiction short stories. This collection is reminiscent of popular television shows such as X-Files and Black Mirror in the way that Smith does a fantastic job of blurring the line between reality and make believe. Many of his stories will make you think these scenarios can happen in the not so distant future. With how technology advances and how we learn more and more about Earth and the Universe, the reader can really put themselves into each story.

With how short some of the stories can be, it is incredible how attached you instantly become to the characters and plot. With many story collections, you, as the reader, are plopped into the middle of a character’s life. You don’t always get to know a character’s life started or where it is going. That is a very endearing part of Smith’s writing. He knows how to get the reader to want to know more about a character and their life. When a story is done, you want to know more. Also, not having all the extra information you get with a traditional novel, keeps the air of mystery going throughout the entire collection.

This is a great collection of stories for people who love science fiction, fantasy, suspense, and among other genres. The stories are attention grabbing, and the characters are well developed for the amount of time you spend with them. 

The Secret of Rainy Days.

BY LESLIE HOOTON

Adult

PUBLISHER: KEYLIGHT BOOKS Nina “Little Bit” Barnes Enloe, the protagonist of Leslie Hooton’s The Secret of Rainy Days, has always held grand dreams, hoping to be anywhere but her hometown of Erob, Alabama. Years after she left her family and friends to become a lawyer in New York City, she even goes so far as to ignore the pleas of her brother, Haines, who calls to tell Nina that her larger-than-life grandmother, Nina “Biggie” Barnes Enloe, needs her. “Biggie is dying,” Haines says. “For real this time.” Nina’s response? “[Biggie] goes into the hospital to die twice a year like most of us go to the dentist for cleanings.” Then she grabs her boyfriend’s hand and attends her boss’s Christmas party.

But Biggie surprises them all; she dies and thrusts Nina into a role she doesn’t want—sole owner of Biggie’s house. “It is my hope,” reads a codicil in Biggie’s will, “that in this house [Little Bit] will find the love she has given me through the years. It is my hope she will marry and raise her own children and grandchildren in the house we both loved so much.”

That house, along with Biggie and Nina’s friends (Avery, Win, and Carter), is a focus of Part Two, which moves back in time to 2001 and provides backstory on Nina’s teenage years before transitioning to the present day again in Part Three.

Hooten utilizes vivid description, a strong sense of place, and unparalleled comparisons (“I unwrapped the carefully preserved memory the way a mother might take her wedding dress out of storage for her daughter”) to paint an accurate portrait of life in the South, both complex and multilayered. She captures the yearnings of a teenage girl looking for something more from life, love, and family and the disappointment of a young woman who isn’t quite content with what she has.

The Secret of Rainy Days is vast in scope and touches too briefly on heavier subjects like alcoholism and suicide, but it digs deeper into other universal themes such as friendship, grief, and fear. It reminds the reader that “No matter how far you run, you can never run away” and is a good read for those who appreciate family sagas with a Southern setting. 

Backstories.

BY SIMON VAN DER VELDE

Adult

In a world where social injustice and internal conflict is on every street corner, Backstories is on target. Van der Velde brings 14 characters to life in a way that allows the readers to sit behind the scenes with them. Behind the scenes of their thinking, their worldviews, and their circumstances. In a time where people may be content to see only the surface of chaos and conflict, Backstories invites readers to look beneath the tip of the iceberg.

Unlike a typical review, I can’t tell you about the main characters or their supportive sidekicks. To do so would take away the challenge that Van der Velde created for his readers. Think of it as a mystery read. The author provides the clues. You get the situation, the conflict, and the chaos, but not the character’s name, and you have to link them all together. That, you must intuit on your own. How well do you know history’s ensemble? Can you identify the boy and his mother in “Wicked Child”? Who is “The Voiceless Child”? Not sure? I wasn’t either, at first.

Read Backstories...it’s this year’s literary BuzzFeed quiz. For some, this book will be a twice read anthology in order to solve the mysteries within. How well will you do? 

PUBLISHER: SMOKE AND MIRRORS PRESS

Whisper Mama.

BY LINDA HAAS-MELCHERT

Adult

Whisper Mama is a 4-part novel based on a true story about a girl whose family dies in a train crash. The author doesn’t plunk the reader into the setting. Instead, she invites you to walk alongside the characters as they navigate life. Not all of the life events are good. In fact, many of the events are horrific. From the train crash to the violent family dynamics to the mama struggling with what appears to be mental illness, Whisper Mama will make you want to hug someone you love.

Although the book covers several family generations and seasons of life, summer always seems to be present. For a little while, the family lives near the Oregon Coast and Elin takes readers on tomboy adventures as she searches for a place to belong in the family home. In another part, Lu shares stories of her childhood outside turning cartwheels and running her paper route. Through it all, the reader is outside with the characters trying to find the peace the characters are searching for, because outside seems to be the safest place.

A single event is the catalyst for this family saga in the life of nineyear-old Evelyn, Whisper Mama takes readers on a journey through generations of tragedy, trial, and triumph. 

PUBLISHER: SELF PUBLISHED