“Ekemar is a prodigious wordsmith, and the collection’s descriptive narratives, fully developed characters and scenes, poetry, lively dialogue and wit exhibit his flair for expression and engaging prose while remaining true to the collection’s thematic thrust. The anthology’s first story, ‘Homage to a Man of Letters’, honors the literary legacy of the indomitable yet fictional English scholar and ‘wizard of words’ Zachariah Abercrombie. In 26 essays commemorating Abercrombie’s adoration of letters, the equally fictional contributors venerate his influence on their careers, personal lives and intellectualism. The homage is a stellar example of Ekemar’s own word wizardry. Eclectic and entertaining, this solid collection satisfies from beginning to end.”
– BlueInk Review
“Told in engaging, balanced prose, this is a collection of frank and unpretentious short fiction.”
– Amazon Editorial Reviews
“Ekemar offers a collection of twelve unique short stories that focus on the concept of control. The author employs a variety of themes, settings, and plots in these tales, which are about lost or exploited control. … The variety of stories guarantees that there will be something to everyone’s liking. Ekemar’s writing and plotting abilities are evident in the more traditional stories in historical settings, which display his skill at description. A winning compilation of tales.”
– Kirkus Reviews
“While the theme is consistent through every tale, the individual stories vary greatly in subject, and the stories also hopscotch across time and place. For example, “The Hawk and the Bull” explores undercover machinations in an advertising agency its employees call “alphabet soup,” a wry reference to such entities being identified by initials. Then in “Bargaining Chips,” two very different men undertake to trade their wives, the twist being that one lives in rigid, Catholic, conservative pre-Franco Spain while the other lives on the primitive isle of Papua. In another of the enticing stories, “Grapes of Greed,” a retired self-absorbed Swiss man buys a small French vineyard. That Swiss retiree, Johann Bordereau, proves to be a memorable character, one strong enough to carry a novel. Some of the stories happen long ago. Some arc toward the postmodern approach, especially in conclusion. Given that the stories cover a wide range of subjects, times, and places, any subconscious and inherent similarities in the writer’s voice isn’t evident. That’s well done, considering stories from different places in different time periods risk flatness of voice. The variety of settings and time periods makes the collection appealing. In fact, the twelve stories are distinctive because of nicely accomplished settings. Sure to appeal to those who appreciate literary fiction, Ekemar’s Destiny Comes with Strings Attached intriguingly collects twelve short stories on human beings trapped by destiny.”
– Foreword Clarion Reviews
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