I am truly excited, and the image above is a picture of my head exploding! Diane Donovan of Donovan’s Literary Services and the Midwest Book Review has just sent me her review of Before Our House Fell into the Ocean, and it’s so amazing I have to post the whole thing here. Here’s what she had to say:

Before Our House Fell Into the Ocean: Stories of Love and Death is a literary collection of short works that each center on a bizarre character’s dilemma. It is highly recommended for literature readers seeking outside-the-box representations and scenarios.

Take “Bad Seed,” for example. Here, a depressed husband faces a fed-up wife who is tired of his attitude and ongoing regrets over “the biggest failure of his life,” and who walks away from the seminary and the priesthood to become a psychotherapist and husband.

What she doesn’t know is that the demons of the past and the decision that causes him to hear voices and suffer are alive and well in the present. A visit to the source of this haunting reveals its roots. It also provides the narrator with a different choice.

William J. Cook writes these descriptive lives with an attention to description and detail that draws readers into each life: “The dragon cannot be slain, only kept at bay. A deep weariness washes over my body and soul, like a receding tide sweeping debris from the beach.”

Belief, vows, faith, and Church enter many of these works, which also offer astute psychological inspections from diverse perspectives. One example lies in “Coffee,” in which a zombie longs not for flesh, but coffee made by the “sorceress of coffee” barista Suzie, who has a special gift. The sense of humor over Joey’s dilemmas as a zombie comes to life: “Nobody wants to date a zombie. And nobody wants to stay married to one, either. Righteous types call us the New Lepers.”

The ironies of experiences which move into the territories of acquittal, social dilemma, and psychological transformation contribute to writings which are compellingly unique.

Before Our House Fell Into the Ocean is a collection designed for the literary thinker.

Its inspections and haunting stories of souls on fire in different ways will find a home in any literary collection, and in the hearts and minds of readers who enjoy twists of plot that leave them thinking.