psychological fiction

Third Wheel by Richard R. Becker

Third Wheel is an exhilarating coming-of-age thriller about belonging, betrayal, and breaking away. It is the story of a boy trying to find his identity without the benefit of clear role models. He takes chances on random and fragile relationships forged in the pre-boom hours of Las Vegas, 1982.

Brady Wilks is remarkable as a transformative protagonist. He must make tough decisions as his friends try to navigate a dangerous path selling cartel-supplied drugs.

Four-time award-winning author Richard R. Becker once again shares his unique insight into the human condition. Desolate and gritty, Third Wheel is a triumphant debut novel.

The Oldest Word by Johnny Firic

By Book Lovers Magazine

The Oldest Word by Johnny Firic

The story opens with the discovery of a mysterious box from the distant past. Its makers are five orphaned friends who hope to help civilizational knowledge survive disruptive climate change centuries in the future: the ending of the Ice Age. The bar is continuously raised as the box traverses more than a dozen settings to the present day. Readers are tacitly encouraged to partner with the author and fill in the blanks by considering their metaphorical boxes, lessons for the future from their past.

Exchanges between cultures and generations highlight human transience. Adoption is the preeminent motif, many characters being orphaned, or having adopted, or both. Nature’s agency is felt throughout the story, with animals, plants and landscapes presented as respected partners rather than resources to be exploited. Nothing can fully reconcile human contradictions, and true equilibrium must come from a transcendent perspective. Plural identity followed by association with all humans, past, present and future, is only a good start. Can we progress beyond all life forms? The book ends on the question: what can you do but hope?

The Oldest Word by Johnny Firic

By Book Lovers Magazine

The Oldest Word by Johnny Firic

“Plural identity is where respectful practice begins.”
Who are you? Just the one body and mind? Does your story begin with your birth? Or how far back would you go?

The Oldest Word spans ten thousand years and more than a dozen settings. Human contradictions are reconciled time and again, with tragedy and humor feeding off each other. From the twin mirror mazes of history and psychology, amid ever-shifting social and natural landscapes, enduring patterns emerge.

The story opens with the discovery of a mysterious box from the distant past. Its makers are five orphaned friends who hope to help civilizational knowledge survive disruptive climate change centuries in the future: the ending of the Ice Age. The bar is continuously raised as the box travels through space and time to the present day. Readers are tacitly encouraged to partner with the author and fill in the blanks by considering their metaphorical boxes, lessons for the future from their past.

Shared Madness by Rick Moskovitz

By Book Lovers Magazine

Shared Madness by Rick Moskovitz

A psychiatrist treating a psychotic patient descends into madness and finds himself at the nexus of a deadly plot. Can he trust anyone in his struggle for survival and his quest to regain his sanity? Can you guess who murdered his patient and what drove him mad? Share his hallucinations and terror through his eyes and try to unravel the mystery.