“Extraordinary Voyages” by Steven Paul Leiva

This book consists of multiple parts, all of which I found very entertaining. The first is a novella entitled “Made on the Moon.” The second is a number of poems written by the main character in the first story. The third part is a short story. And after that are some insights and information about the author. All of which I would recommend reading.

The easiest way for me to describe the first part of this book, is to ask a question. If you had always dreamed of going to the moon, even before anyone had ever thought it possible, what would you do to make your dream a reality? This story tells the tale of one man and his lifelong dream of going to the moon. There are some very interesting twists in this story, as parts of it touch on real life historical events, though others are purely fictional. And following this story are a number of poems written by the main character during his lifelong quest to visit the moon.

Following those two items is a short story involving Cyrano de Bergerac and Baron Munchausen travelling to Mars. It’s a fun little story that I found quite amusing. I think others will too.

But I almost think that my favorite part of this book was the two sections about the author that followed the fictional stories. Those two segments gave me an interesting and very entertaining look behind the curtain at the author and his life. If you read this book, I would urge you to not skip reading the author's history & bio at the end of the book. For me, they were every bit as entertaining & interesting as the fictional tales he has provided for us within these pages.

"One Can Heal" by Clara C. Johnson

I’m not usually much of a reader of poetry, but this was an emotional collection of poems that seem to highlight the high and low points of the author’s life. Some of the poems shared with us here really spoke to me and held great meaning, while others I wasn’t really certain what to make of them. As I mentioned, I don’t tend to read very much poetry and have never attempted to write a poem myself. As such, I have a hard time putting into words a review of a collection of poems.

I did enjoy reading the poems as well as the insight into the author’s life that they gave, but I suspect that those who regularly read poetry will find even greater meaning and understanding in this collection than I did. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy reading this collection, (Believe me, I did enjoy it), only that poetry isn’t something that I often tend to reach for when looking for a book to read.

I believe that those who are more familiar with poetry collections than I usually am will find even greater meaning and enjoyment in this collection of very emotionally charged poems, but even if not, I do think there is something within this collection for anyone looking to find a poem that resonates with something in their own lives.