I don’t usually review poetry. There is something unique about an individual’s voice and how it comes out on the page. For this reason, I find it unsettling to critique someone’s feelings, someone’s voice, someone’s experiences and thought processes in the form of poetry. Each is so very unique. So again, I do not typically review poetry.
I met Justin through Twitter maybe about a year ago when I started re-tweeting a lot of his posts, which I found inspiring. When I saw the promotion of his new book, “We Could Be Heroes” the title intrigued me. I thought to myself, “Yea we could”. Then I went on about my business. It wasn’t until later that I noticed that it was a mixture of short fiction and poetry, which was different. Different in a good way. Different in that it’s something I have not seen much of. Different in that I’ve never read a combination of poetry and short fiction before. After mentioning how I’d love to get my hands on this book, I was excited to see a private message from Justin that he’d love it if I can review the book for him. Below is the review I posted to his amazon page:
Title: We Could Be Heroes
Author: Justin T. McCain
Paperback: 167 pages
Publisher: M3 Publishing Company LLC
Edition: First Edition
Published: February 27, 2016
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0692564160
ISBN-13: 978-0692564165
**I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review**
We Could Be Heroes is the inspiring work of Justin T. McCain and includes both poetry as well as short fiction. Let me start with the fiction. The story is about a young man named Bard and the legend of a Money Tree considered to be an object of good fortune to those who believe in such superstitions. Bard is preparing for graduation at the University when the sky darkens and he sees the legendary money tree. Shortly afterwards, he is witness to an accident in which he miraculously saves a young woman’s life. The woman’s name is Spirit and she and Bard begin a romantic relationship. However, when Bard finds the opportunity to possess some of the money from the money tree, although it makes him a rich man, things start to fall apart in his personal life. The financial value of the money didn’t make Bard’s life any easier than he’d anticipated. For a short story this book has a really good message.
“If you could heal the world, or have the world, which would you choose?”
Justin’s poetry is most excellent. I love how the poems were relatable to the title of the book and correlates well also with the story line. Speaking of the story, I anticipated short miniature stories to be sprinkled throughout the book and intermingled with poetry. What I got is something much more organized. Instead of having too much going on, Justin stuck to one story and divided this story into three parts and sprinkled the poems in-between. I loved this layout because the book came out to be very organized. The inspiration and the passion of Justin’s poetry is evident. My favorite poem has to be the books namesake “We Could Be Heroes”. The work is beautiful.
Rating: 5/5 Stars
We Could Be Heroes is Available now Online
in Paperback and Amazon Kindle
Click The Book Cover to Purchase
Visit Justin Online at:
http://www.justintmccain.com/
The wings are symbolic of freedom. To me writing is the most important kind of art because words live. To me, ink meets paper to create something spiritual. Not only can we see the beauty of words, but we can feel it. I would define my style of writing, poetry or otherwise, as poetic justice because I am always seeking to free people, to include myself, from the limited ways we tend to think and to feel. This is not always an easy task and so as I write, the keystrokes are heavy with the responsibility my purpose carries. The weight of the kinds of things that I write always looms in the background of the page as if daring me to go on. And this is always the moment when I know that I must.
The PBS Blog 