Upcoming Book Reviews
Currently reading…
Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a graduate student in Vermont when he discovers a mysterious book hidden in the stacks. As he turns the pages, entranced by tales of lovelorn prisoners, key collectors, and nameless acolytes, he reads something strange: a story from his own childhood. Bewildered by this inexplicable book and desperate to make sense of how his own life came to be recorded, Zachary uncovers a series of clues—a bee, a key, and a sword—that lead him to a masquerade party in New York, to a secret club, and through a doorway to an ancient library hidden far below the surface of the earth. What Zachary finds in this curious place is more than just a buried home for books and their guardians—it is a place of lost cities and seas, lovers who pass notes under doors and across time, and of stories whispered by the dead. Zachary learns of those who have sacrificed much to protect this realm, relinquishing their sight and their tongues to preserve this archive, and also of those who are intent on its destruction. Together with Mirabel, a fierce, pink-haired protector of the place, and Dorian, a handsome, barefoot man with shifting alliances, Zachary travels the twisting tunnels, darkened stairwells, crowded ballrooms, and sweetly soaked shores of this magical world, discovering his purpose—in both the mysterious book and in his own life.
Currently reading…
Jellyfish have been swimming in our oceans for well over half a billion years, longer than any other animal that lives on the planet. They make a venom so toxic it can kill a human in three minutes. Their sting—microscopic spears that pierce with five million times the acceleration of gravity—is the fastest known motion in the animal kingdom. Made of roughly 95 percent water, some jellies are barely perceptible virtuosos of disguise, while others glow with a luminescence that has revolutionized biotechnology. Yet until recently, jellyfish were largely ignored by science, and they remain among the most poorly understood of ocean dwellers.
More than a decade ago, Juli Berwald left a career in ocean science to raise a family in landlocked Austin, Texas, but jellyfish drew her back to the sea. Recent, massive blooms of billions of jellyfish have clogged power plants, decimated fisheries, and caused millions of dollars of damage. Driven by questions about how overfishing, coastal development, and climate change were contributing to a jellyfish population explosion, Juli embarked on a scientific odyssey. She traveled the globe to meet the biologists who devote their careers to jellies, hitched rides on Japanese fishing boats to see giant jellyfish in the wild, raised jellyfish in her dining room, and throughout it all marveled at the complexity of these alluring and ominous biological wonders.
Gracefully blending personal memoir with crystal-clear distillations of science, Spineless is the story of how Juli learned to navigate and ultimately embrace her ambition, her curiosity, and her passion for the natural world. She discovers that jellyfish science is more than just a quest for answers. It’s a call to realize our collective responsibility for the planet we share.
Personal Writing
Below are story ideas I’ve been musing over and will post updates about as my ADD brain works on them.
- Do You Remember?
- Creative nonfiction about caring for my mother with Alzheimer’s
- Cuba*
- Spanish colonization in Cuba and the efforts for freedom.
- LA & German Shepherd*
- The struggles of a boy and his German Shepherd growing up in 1990’s LA.
- Romeo & Juliette*
- Retelling of Romeo and Juliette in the corporate world of fair Vienna
- Scary Story*
- A woman and her husband move to an inherited mansion in Charlottesville, VA. Are the ghosts tied to the property or her past?
- WW2 Plane Crash*
- Two enemy bombers crash into the Atlantic and end up on a deserted island where they must put aside their differences and learn to work together to survive
- Dystopian Future on Space Station*
- Earth has finally reached sustainability but in order to keep it that way people who are “bad” are moved to an orbiting space station
- Mona Lisa*
- History grad student gets sent back in time and is found by Da Vinci
- How Does That Make You Feel?
- Your therapist might know too much
- Wine & Climate Change*
- One VA wineries efforts to stay afloat amid changing landscape
- Children’s Story*
- A child who is going through hardship makes a wish that they didn’t have any problems ever. In the end they realize how boring life would be and that it’s better to solve your problems and learn from them than to have none at all.
- Fantasy Series- Fairies*
- A new world where fairies get different types of wings when they reach adulthood that determine what their class is. The daughter of the current king inherits royal wings instead of her brothers.
- Blood is Thicker Than Water
- Fantasy Series- Retelling of Gemini about twin brother and sister are more than they seem but they don’t even know it yet.
* I don’t have an official title yet
E.J. Inkmire 