Between Eden and the Open Road by Philip Gaber

In this series of vaguely connected prose poems, Philip Gaber displays an apt ability to put emotions into words. Placed into the category of literary fiction, these vignettes are a peculiar form, half flash fiction, half poetry. And though it is odd, surrealist, and occasionally pretentious, Between Eden and the Open Road is an intriguing and thought-provoking read.

In “The dust of everyday life,” Pablo Picasso guest teaches a class of elementary students, attempting to convey his conception of the art of the human face as a means of revealing the psyche, as well as taking an interest in the school teacher. “The bright coming morn” takes the narrator to the streets, where he meets a drunken homeless man who claims to have been a famous writer, losing his home and going bankrupt after becoming a crack addict. The narrator, presumably also a writer, finds an odd sort of comfort in the homeless man’s words. Just fired from his job, the narrator of “Our absence from life” meets a woman at a train station who is visiting her sister; the narrator as well is visiting his own family, and both characters are having difficulty connecting with their relatives and end up dumping their shared worries on each other, the woman leaving the encounter feeling more encouraged and confident than the narrator. The last few lines of the story, as with the last few lines of the majority of Gaber’s story, sum up the emotions in the vignette and leave the reader with a sense of solemnity and honesty, albeit a dark sense: “As we pulled into the drive, I just sat there, staring at the front door. The cabby turned around to check on me. ‘Ya alright, kid?’ he said. I waited. “…I think I’m going to check into a motel tonight instead…”

Gaber plays with themes such as the fear of commitment, facing adult life and choices, and attempting to make a mark on the world as a way of being remembered and easing the fear of being forgotten. These ideas are concepts to which almost anyone can relate, and Gaber’s portrayal of the deep worries that plague us every day is a success. The characters that populate these vignettes are snarky, facetious, clever, and often drunk, and the dialogue is sharp and memorable. Wandering through life in a perpetual existential crisis, the narrator of many of the vignettes (assumedly Gaber) relates his encounter with an individual or a peculiar situation, seems to have a momentary epiphany in the last few sentences of the story, and then carry on with his life, uncertain how to utilize his new knowledge in everyday life. The honesty of the prose is dreary yet insightful, and the lyricism of the words translates the existential conflicts effectively onto the page.

Though readers may be apprehensive about the form of the work, the emotions and situations portrayed in Between Eden and the Open Road are sure to be relatable, moving, and darkly funny. One can’t help but to think that if Philip Gaber were to write a novel, it could be the next Fight Club or Catcher in the Rye. 

The Wicked Wives by Gus Pelagatti

When Reggie Stoner is found dead in Great Depression era Philadelphia, his death is ruled as caused by pneumonia. However, First Assistant DA Tom Rossi notices that Stoner exhibited more symptoms of arsenic poisoning rather than the illness. After Stoner’s widow, Lillian, receives a large sum in insurance money, Rossi becomes obsessed with the idea that Stoner’s death was a murder. He soon spies Lillian having an affair with an Italian lothario, Giorgio DiSipio. Ready to swoop in and arrest her, Rossi is stopped by her uncle, the corrupt Deputy Mayor Bill Evans, who Rossi suspects is exchanging sex for money with his niece. Soon numerous other suspicious deaths occur, all leading the wives to collect their deceased husband’s insurance money. Giorgio DiSipio, Rossi realizes, is more than just a wannabe mobster and petty criminal; he has supplied seventeen women with poison, leading them to believe that if they murder their husbands, he will run away and be with them. Each one believes DiSipio is their one true love, and each is unaware of the other lovers.

The fast pace keeps readers on the edge of their seats, wondering how Rossi will possibly get past Evans’ influence in the police department. With excellent dialogue, this deeply-researched and well-written novel offers both a gritty crime conspiracy and an intriguing look into the minds of the desperate people living in Philadelphia during the Great Depression. While the novel explores dark topics such as lust, greed, infidelity, and incest, its tone is light, never disturbing the reader too much. The characters are fully developed, the protagonists likeable, and the antagonists menacing. It is the characters in particular that keep the reader hooked. Rossi is a typical good guy, though he is willing to go to the edge of the law in order to solve the serial murders, and Evans and DiSipio are both gritty antagonists in their own right. DiSipio is fairly light-hearted, almost playful in his love affairs, while Evans is a darker creature who elicits a deeper hatred from readers and illuminates the corruption of greedy higher-ups in government systems. The women are at the heart of the story, their lust and cunning both making the reader cringe and intriguing them, making them want to know more about their motives.

Only a few grammatical and punctuation errors appear throughout the book, but they rarely distract.

Author Gus Pelagatti has over forty years of experience in Philadelphia’s courts as a lawyer and has obviously put a lot of time, effort, and passion into The Wicked Wives. A novel of time and place, those who enjoy either historical fiction or true crime books will surely devour this novel. 

The 5 Moons of Tiiana by Paul T. Harry

When the planet Melela is overtaken by the brutal Relcor, the royal family is sentenced to death. The day before their execution, the queen calls upon military man Rez Cantor to help her young daughter, the princess, escape. Rez manages to grab the princess and run, but as they attempt to leave the planet, they are sucked into a portal and flung to the opposite side of the galaxy to the planet Tiiana and its five moons: Urlena, Boutal, Zin, Aura, and Vashia. Landing on Urlena with no princess in sight, Rez is kidnapped and enslaved, just the beginning of his long journey to saving Melela from the Reclor.

From the gargoyle-like Brata on Boutal to the water-breathing Aquella and Dolla on Urlena to the menacing insect-like Zecla on Zin, dozens of species inhabit the five moons. As Rez meets, befriends, and fights these creatures, he learns more about them, how they live, and how they each contribute to the mysterious circumstances surrounding Tiiana. Though there seem at first to be an unnecessarily large number of species, each plays a central part in the way the society has come to work. And while the Aquella, Rez’s captors and the first inhabitants he meets, appear to be evil and controlling, they are in fact simply the middle-man, the bourgeois of Tiiana. Though Rez is the novel’s protagonist, the Aquella are perhaps the most human of the novel’s characters. They enslave and brutalize the childlike Dolla, as well as Rez, forcing them to mine for metal in an underwater cave, but in truth, this metal is meant to feed the enormous, insatiable enemy hovering over their moon, sent there by the Zecla in an attempt to destroy the moon so the Zecla could take over. The Aquella’s efforts to save their planet mirror that of humanity’s survival methods: sacrificing some morals when in dire circumstances.

Rez, the novel’s first-person narrator, acts as the typical heroic figure, saving the princess and the galaxy, befriending the “good guys,” and causing irritation to the “bad guys.” The other characters that Rez comes to befriend or to distrust each have distinctive and consistent personalities, creating an intricate and realistic society. Each of the five moons as well has a specific atmosphere and, along with its inhabitants, portrays a complex system in balance. Paul T. Harry’s world-building skills are superb.

Some grammar and punctuation errors are scattered throughout this 500 page epic, but not enough to distract from the story, which has the reader clutching the book in their firm grasp, unable to put it down. And while the main characters — namely Rez, the princess, and the Relcor — are quite archetypical, they are never clichés. The only issue that may create some uncertainty is the time frame of the story. Rez in enslaved by the Aquella for two years while he is separated from the princess and his home planet of Melela is overtaken by the Relcor. It takes him at least five years to travel between the five moons and to discover the simple truth behind this complex system of cohabitating creatures. The fast pace of the action at times contradicts the time frame of the story, leading the reader to feel as though the action has only taken Rez across the galaxy in a matter a few weeks, though in truth he has been in Tiiana for almost ten years. This matter, however, is the novel’s only distraction.

The 5 Moons of Tiiana is an excellent specimen of the science fiction genre. It is a gripping adventure with characters that come alive on the page and fast-paced action that will keep readers turning the pages to discover how Rez will save his love, his friends, and his galaxy.