How much trouble can one dog person get into? Like, all of it. Seriously. Naughty dog.

A dog-guy, space adventures, bubbly alcoholic drinks, and a jungle safari. This is a thing now.

We kick off our recommended reading list with two books about love and alcohol.

The fact that the prerequisite for reading Heathen City Volume 3: Joker to the Thief is to read the previous to volumes is reason enough for me to hesitate in suggesting it. The fact that the author hasn’t seemed to learn from the mistakes of the past two years is more than reason enough for me to recommend avoiding it altogether.

Even by themselves, the terms “amateur,” “adult,” and “furry” can all give one pause when it comes to fiction; when all three apply to the same work, there can be even more reason for hesitation. Still, when it’s only a mere ten bucks to see whether someone’s debut novella is any good, it can be worth it to gamble from time to time, and in this case, for the most part, that gamble has paid off.

The Cupcakes series are intended to be “short and sweet” novellas, and for better or worse, The Peculiar Quandary of Simon Artyle fits the bill.

I want to encourage amateur authors to make that leap into professional writing. God knows it’s hard to write a novel, and it takes a lot of guts to put it out there for everyone to read. This kind of thing should be encouraged. The world needs good writers and I want to find those people that have the talent and the drive to write great literature. As a critic it’s my job to not only praise the authors that produce quality work, but also to critique authors, in the hopes that they become better.

That said, Save the Day is not a good book.

After the first title in the Cupcakes brand, Kyell Gold’s Bridges, was published, we’ve been interested in finding out what the other two authors running this project were working on. Kevin “Rikoshi” Frane is up next with an as-yet-unnamed story set in a medieval fantasy world, and we’ve managed to squeeze a few details out him.

The best slice-of-life is supposed to take the ordinary and present it in a way that makes it fantastic. After leaving the quietly wonderful world of the story, you look around to find yours is that world. A good author leads you to find the extraordinary in your own existence. Unfortunately, Seeing Spots by Andres “Cyanni” Halden doesn’t manage that.

Bridges, Kyell Gold’s newest novel is a different, experimental story that breaks new ground for the author, including, but not limited to, having to write about girl sex (gasp!).