THE MONOCLE, A WILDLY FUN, SMART AND EXCITING YA SCI-FI ADVENTURE

TITLE OF YOUR BOOK: THE MONOCLE

AUTHOR’S NAME: Mark Cavanagh

NME OF BOOK SERIES: The Monocle Trilogy

AUTHOR'S EMAIL ADDRESS   markcavanagh2014@gmail.com

 _x_ Yes, I have received permission from the reviewer to reprint their review in its entirety

REVIEWER’S BYLINE: Christine Rodriguez, Fiction Addicted – Reading Books and Exploring Worlds. She is a prime reviewer for Reedsy, having authored 1203 reviews. This review originally published in Reedsy Discovery.

AUTHOR'S FAVORITE SALES LINKS:  

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Monocle-Mark-Cavanagh/dp/B092P6WTDR 

Must read 🏆 

Two teens find a mysterious monocle that bends reality—but they're not the only ones after it. Secrets, danger, and adventure await! 

SYNOPSIS 

In the quiet corners of a mundane 1960s town, two curious teenagers are about to trade the hum of their bicycle wheels for the crackle of cosmic energy… and unknowingly change their lives forever.

When best friends Viv and Mick stumble upon an alien artifact and a notebook of secret code, they unlock a strange new world where space folds and time travel is possible. As the adventurous teens master the powers of the extra-terrestrial monocle, friendship takes on new dimensions as they attempt to outrun federal agents and face fearsome creatures torn from the very fabric of nightmares! 

As they grapple with the unfathomable supernatural powers that they unlock from the monocle, Viv and Mick must decide whether they want to make the ultimate gamble – venture further into the unknown… and risk losing not just each other, but their very lives.

Will their friendship withstand the trials of this spectral journey or will the very forces that brought them together tear them apart?

REVIEW 

Some books hook you with action, others with mystery. The Monocle by Mark Cavanagh grabs you with pure wonder—that feeling of being a kid again, discovering something strange and incredible, and knowing that nothing will ever be the same. This YA adventure delivers a thrilling mix of nostalgia, mystery, and mind-bending science fiction, making it a must-read for fans of Stranger Things, A Wrinkle in Time, and The Goonies.

The Monocle is a coming-of-age adventure with a twist. Mick Sullivan and Viv Oulette, two curious and fearless teens, stumble upon an alien artifact—a mysterious monocle hidden inside a metallic clam-shaped shell. At first, it seems like a weird trinket. Still, when they unlock its abilities—seeing other dimensions, teleportation, even weaponized energy beams—it quickly becomes apparent that they've found something way bigger than themselves. And they're not the only ones interested. Enter Agent Flanders, a shadowy government official who wants the monocle for his own agenda, and suddenly, Mick and Viv are in a game much bigger (and far more dangerous) than they ever imagined.

What makes this book shine? For starters, Mick and Viv are fantastic protagonists. Their friendship feels genuine, fun, and full of personality—Their sharp, witty, and natural dialogue makes them feel like real teens rather than just "characters in a book." The Monocle is also an intriguing mystery. It slowly unravels the secrets of the monocle, blending sci-fi elements with a classic small-town adventure feel. Every discovery brings more questions, making it impossible to put down.

Mark Cavanagh has also given us a really strong sci-fi concept. The monocle itself isn't just a gimmick—it's an artifact with fascinating, reality-bending properties, and how the book explores its power is genuinely exciting. The blend of hard and soft sci-fi elements makes it feel both grounded and fantastical at the same time. I also loved the tense government conspiracy angle. It's not just a story about cool powers—there's a sense that something massive is at play, and Mick and Viv are in way over their heads.

The Monocle is a wildly fun, smart, and exciting YA sci-fi adventure that blends mystery, government intrigue, and coming-of-age friendship perfectly. If you love books that capture that nostalgic sense of discovery while keeping you on the edge of your seat, this one's for you. A great YA read for young and old alike!

REVIEWED BY

Christine Rodriguez 

Following

Christine is a 7-12th grade English teacher, a library assistant, and a bookworm with a passion for good literature. She has a keen eye for good literature and reads books across genres. Her favorites are dystopian lit, sci-fi, fantasy, and contemporary literature. 

Christine Rodriguez links: https://fictionaddicted.com https://www.instagram.com/chrisofcourse2025 https://x.com/csrodriguez1970

 AUTHOR BIO.  Mark Cavanagh, author of The Monocle Trilogy, Big Blue Society, The Zen of Laundry and RV Time Machine, lives with his wife by the Dark Swamp in northwestern Rhode Island where H.P. Lovecraft searched for the legendary IT. He co-wrote and produced Zombie Dearest, a feature film, and directed the award-winning Youth Vision program, recipient of the Action for Children’s Television Award. 

Author website: https://markcavanaghbooks.de  

The Monocle Book Trailer Links:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/62417144829536698/ 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/62417144829536709/

https://www.tiktok.com/@dorothysflyingmachine/video/7487626535676005674

https://youtu.be/Jd3efdBLsSQ

https://rumble.com/v6rgcat-the-monocle-the-monocle-trilogy.html

YOUR TWITTER (X) MONIKER: @CavanaghBooks

https://x.com/CavanaghBooks/status/1908148725349839061

A Seldom-Heard Voice of Autism Speaks

Title: Finally Autistic:

Subtitle: Finding My Autism Diagnosis as a Middle-Aged Female

Author: Theresa Werba

Publisher: Bardsinger Books, 

Genres: Nonfiction, Women;

Nonfiction Health;  Memoir

ISBN: 978-0-9656955-3-4

Released August 2024

$12.95 paperback

124 pages

Find it on Amazon 

 

Reviewed by Andrew Benson Brown 

 

Finally Autistic: Finding My Autism Diagnosis as a Middle-Aged Female is a revealing portrait of one woman’s lifelong struggle with autism.

As someone who worked in mental health for nearly a decade, I can testify that this memoir shows a level of insight and awareness that many people with mental health issues struggle to achieve, and never find. Werba herself groped towards awareness after being misdiagnosed for years, and admits to still struggling with the underlying emotional and behavioral issues that come with an Autism Level 1 diagnosis. As she put it, “Why, with grey hairs abounding, do I still have problems when people ask me, ‘How are you?’

Calling it a memoir is not entirely accurate. It is more of an autobiographical case study.
Werba’s personal reflections and anecdotes are firmly rooted in data: an autism assessment, school report cards that highlight her “unsatisfactory” levels of self-control, and even developmental reports from when she was in preschool (all reproduced in full within these pages). Her blending of subjective reflections with objective data points make this a unique work.

This is not Werba’s first go at autobiographical writing. She is also the author of Warning Signs of Abuse: Get Out Early and Stay Free Forever (2015), and When Adoption Fails: Abuse, Autism, and the Search for My Identity(2001). Even further back, as she tells us in the pages of this book, she wrote her first autobiography in second grade: “I was ‘a baby that cried a lot,’” she tells us.

Theresa Werba’s life story is fascinating in the worst possible way. “Childhood was difficult, challenging, painful, and even sad for me,” she writes. Born of a teenage sex worker, adopted by members of a religious cult who abused her, getting in constant trouble at school, self-harming as an adolescent, struggling to hold jobs as an adult, being disinherited by her adoptive mother, living in an abusive marriage to a drug addict: these experiences are superficially similar to those of many who end up on the wrong side of the criminal justice system, or in a psychiatric institution.

Somehow, though, Werba did not end up like so many others. Quite the opposite, in fact—she became a successful classical singer and poet. She had a litter of children, all of whom are successful today. In short, she beat the odds.

How? Well, as she described it, things got better for her “as I developed the ability to ‘mask’—the face I learned to put on when singing and in social activity.” Interestingly, she attributes her successful masking to her identity as an artist, since eccentric behavior is tolerated more in this social type. Her talent for singing music and performing poetry, she tells us, turned out to be her “saving grace.” It not only provided her with a creative outlet, but allowed her to communicate with an audience in socially acceptable ways.

My own familiarity with Werba, prior to reading this book, was through poetry. She is a widely acknowledged master of formal lyric verse, one of the best sonneteers writing today. Reading her published work or watching her perform, one would not have any idea that she struggles with neurodivergence, and most who know her from this world remain ignorant of the fact. I’ve known her for several years now myself and had no idea about any of this until a few months ago. Her masking, as she put it, has “led to many close friendships throughout my life, as well as more lovers and entanglements than I care to remember.”

I read this book in one sitting, unable to put it down. I think this, in part, has to do with humankind’s addiction to schadenfreude: while it is illuminating and usually sad, it is also entertaining in a tragicomic sort of way. Werba chronicles, in detail, all the jobs she was fired from for behavioral issues that affected her performance, as well as social situations that wrecked many of her personal relationships.

One disastrous social situation highlights the book’s instructive and entertaining aspects. Once while substitute teaching for a Kindergarten class, Werba decided to bring some historical context to a reading of “The Night Before Christmas.” Conditioned by her religious beliefs to believe that presenting fairy tales as truth was bad, she told the children about the real Saint Nicholas, saying that he died in the 4th century. This somehow turned into children going home and telling their parents that “Teacher said Santa Claus is dead,” which turned into a teacher’s visit to the principal’s office, which turned into an interview with a local news station. “I ended up getting hate mail from all over the country,” Werba said. This in addition to being fired from substitute teaching at that school.

The explanation she gives for her behaviors here could well stand in for every situation in the book: “I was rigid and inflexible when confronted with this dilemma and I could not see any nuanced resolution to my problem.” This is, in a nutshell, how people with Autism Level 1 deal with the world.

In uncovering the roots of her “rigid and inflexible” nature, Werba highlights the surprising connection between autism and religion. She partly attributes her early lack of proper diagnosis to living in a conservative Anabaptist community and the black-and-white thinking this engendered. “My one-minded obsessive thinking could be interpreted as religious fervor,” she writes, observing that people with autism are prone to being drawn towards fundamentalism, “and even cults.”

Werba does not go into much detail about her years in a fundamentalist religious community or her abusive marriage, events she has previously recorded in When Adoption Fails and Warning Signs of Abuse. While this would no doubt make for more fascinating reading, she stays focused on the topic of neurodivergence and only relates life events directly relevant to her autism.

A chapter that describes being wrongly classified as having bipolar disorder goes into the horrors of misdiagnosis. During a particularly difficult time when the responsibilities of life were overwhelming her, Werba’s psychiatrists placed her on a bevy of medications she shouldn’t have been on. She was largely bedridden for five years.

Werba remained misdiagnosed for three decades, into her early fifties. Eventually it was a relative, not a medical professional, who first noticed that Werba was probably not bipolar. After reading about autism in a psych 101 textbook, her daughter-in-law told her son, “this sounds like your mom.”

“Bulls**t,” said Theresa when her son brought it up. “I am bipolar with anxiety. I don’t have autism.”

She slowly came around to the idea, though, and “welled with tears” when receiving the results of her 2015 autism assessment. “I was glad and sad at the same time,” she writes.

The book ends on an inspiring note. Since being properly diagnosed, she has been living her best life: tracking down her Jewish biological father, studying Hebrew and exploring Judaism, publishing numerous books of poetry, and living independently.

Finally Autistic is good source for professionals researching this area. More generally, it is useful for anyone seeking to understand people with this diagnosis. Above all, it is a window into the mind of a great artist.

 

 

Andrew Benson Brown is Arts Columnist at The Epoch Times and author of Legends of Liberty.

 

Theresa Werba the author of eight books, four in poetry, including What Was and Is: Formal Poetry and Free Verse (Bardsinger Books, 2024). Her website is theresawerba.com and she can be found on social media @thesonnetqueen. She is frequently reviewed and reviews of her books appear often on this The New Book Review blog. She also frequently shares reviews of others’ books here have published several reviews of my books before in addition to books I have reviewed.

 

 

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 The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Authors, readers, publishers, and reviewers may republish their favorite reviews of books they want to share with others. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read and love. Please see submission guidelines in a tab at the top of this blog's home page or go directly to the submission guidelines at http://bit.ly/ThePlacetoRecycleBookReviews or to the guideline tab at the top of the home page of this blog. Authors and publishers who do not yet have reviews or want more may use Lois W. Stern's #AuthorsHelpingAuthors service for requesting reviews. Find her guidelines in the right column of this blog home page (a silver and gold badge and threee silver-gray circles beneath it. Carolyn Wilhelm is our IT expert, an award-winning author and veteran educator, she also contributes reviews and posts on other topics related to books. Reviews, interviews, and articles on this blog are indexed by genre, reviewers' names, and review sites so #TheNewBookReview may be used as a resource for most anyone in the publishing industry. As an example, writers will find this blog's search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. #TheFrugalbookPromoter, #CarolynHowardJohnson, #TheNewBookReview, #TheFrugalEditor, #SharingwithWriters, #reading #BookReviews #GreatBkReviews #BookMarketing HowToDoItFrugally http://bit.ly/ThePlacetoRecycleBookReviews. Pre-format the post editor for each new post. Cancel Save Post published

GREAT REVIEW FOR PUBLIC SPEAKING – Banish the Butterflies by JanHurst-Nicholson

TITLE OF YOUR BOOK: PUBLIC SPEAKING – Banish the Butterflies

 

AUTHOR OF BOOK's NAME: Jan Hurst-Nicholson

 

AUTHOR'S EMAIL ADDRESS jannev@mweb.co.za

 

AUTHOR'S FAVORITE LINKS: https://just4kix.jimdofree.com/

 

ADD THIS ASSURANCE TO SATISFY COPYRIGHT LAW: 

 _X_ Yes, I have received permission from the reviewer to reprint their review in its entirety. 

 

REVIEWER’S BYLINE: (Karen Siddall, public speaker, originally reviewed on Amazon.com )

 

INCLUDE THE REVIEW ITSELF, of course! 

5.0 out of 5 stars 

MUST-READ FOR NEW PUBLIC SPEAKERS AND RENEWING FOR THOSE THAT HAVE BEEN DOING THAT FOR AWHILE

REVIEWED in the United States on Amazon.com

As a career public speaker, I can say that this book was an awesome little breath of inspiration and renewal. Good, common-sensical tips are presented in a practical way. Very helpful and refreshing and full of good ideas that I wish I’d had when I was just starting out. I especially enjoyed the asides of actual experiences “on the road.” I recommend this book especially to those that find themselves having to speak up and speak out at public gatherings of any kind! There is even a section regarding being chosen to say grace before a public meal.

  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR WHOSE BOOK IS BEING REVIEWED: 

Jan Hurst-Nicholson began her writing career over 40 years ago by penning “Letters to the Editor” (a good exercise in brevity, and winning letters can pay handsomely). She then went on to write magazine articles, short stories, humour, children’s and teen books, a variety of novels and non-fiction. After winning her first writing award 35 years ago and begging the MC not to ask her to give an acceptance speech she realised she needed to join a public speaking club. This gave her the self-confidence to promote her books by speaking at libraries, schools, clubs and various events (writers can become minor celebrities in their community) and she went on to become an educator in public speaking. In this book Jan shares her experiences as a public speaker hoping to encourage others to learn this life-changing skill.  She has also added some fun anecdotal stories from other speakers about the pitfalls and pratfalls they encountered. Jan originally lived in the UK but now resides in a retirement village in South Africa, where she finds plenty of ideas for another novel. Learn more about Jan’s writing on her website https://just4kix.jimdofree.com/

 

REVIEWER'S TWITTER MONIKER: https://twitter.com/just4kixbooks

 

Review of OF ASHES AND DUST, Finalist for the 2023 Chanticleer International Book Award (CIBA) for Global Thrillers

TITLE OF YOUR BOOK: OF ASHES AND DUST, Finalist for the 2023 Chanticleer International Book Award (CIBA) for Global Thrillers

AUTHOR OF BOOK: Ron Roman

AUTHOR'S EMAIL ADDRESS: ron_g_roman@hotmail.com 

AUTHOR'S FAVORITE LINKS: www.writerronroman.com

ASSURANCE TO SATISFY COPYRIGHT LAW: 

 _X_ Yes, I have received permission from the reviewer to reprint their review in its entirety. 

REVIEWER: Meryl Danziger

Meryl Danziger

REVIEWER’S BYLINE: Meryl Danziger author of Sing It!  A Biography of Pete Singer (2016 Seven Stories Press).  Cf. Her website: www.meryldanziger 

REVIEW:

Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2024

What a cool, wild adventure!

"This story, with its many moving parts, has an expertly-constructed arc that draws you in, holds you there and makes it easy to keep track of what’s what and who’s who. A gifted writer, the author uses his mastery of the language to make it seem as though he’s just chatting with the reader. I found myself quite liking the crusty, vulnerable, self-effacing protagonist. The author's hilarious, painfully accurate portrayal of stodgy college professors is just one of the many quirky side paths that keep this book highly entertaining."

MORE ABOUT THE REVIEWER: 

Meryl Danziger, AKA “The Music Genie,” is the Founder and Director of Music House. A published author, Meryl’s book Sing It! A Biography of Pete Seeger (Seven Stories Press, 2016) is the first biography of Pete Seeger for young readers. Meryl’s career has reached into every corner of music from performance to education to writing. A published songwriter, her original songs, stories and plays are regularly performed by children of all ages, and her articles on education and music education have appeared in NEA Today as well as in Homeschooling journals nationwide.

 Her book, Music House: Liberating the Music Lesson, will be available shortly.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR OF THE BOOK BEING REVIEWED: 

Ron Roman retired as Associate Professor from the University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC-Asia) in 2020.  He has written extensive travel, academic, and political articles for regional, national, and international publications. He studied writing (both fiction and creative) for his third graduate degree (Humanities) from Wesleyan University/Connecticut.  Currently he resides in South Korea with his wife where he works on US military installations assisting US military retirees and dependents.  He continues to write and has acted in numerous Korean TV dramas and motion pictures like Operation Chromite portraying Admiral Forrest Sherman opposite Liam Neeson as General Douglas MacArthur.  His alternate-history apocalyptic doomsday thriller Of Ashes and Dust was a November 2022 release by Histria Books.