Reviews:

"SCRYING GLASS is a fun book that can be read in a sitting or two. Not because it's short, but because it draws a reader in and won't let go. It's kind of Stephen King by way of Douglas Adams: a lot of horror that goes really weird. Brad is an Everyman kind of hero that a reader can easily identify with who ends up taking a second trip through high school (a hell that really shouldn't be repeated). Once he's back there with the teachers and fellow students, still with his 30-year old faculties (see? a pun!), things really start to go awry. A fun, fast-paced book by a first-time writer." 

-- Reviewed by Mel Odom on Amazon.

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"I generally avoid reading science fiction; so when J.D. Stiver's SCRYING GLASS was recommended to me by a dear friend, I characteristically hesitated. This work, which I understand is Stiver's first, may have changed my mind about the value of the sci-fi genre. I found the novel to be an easy and comfortable read; yet, it was exciting, entertaining, and thought provoking as was the hero of this piece, Brad Anderson. Brad, a 30 year old writer, unwittingly enters into another dimension where he is forced to relive part of his adolescence. Here, with the experience of an adult, he is able to thoughtfully change the course of events, correct moral errors of his youth, and make peace with his past. The supernatural forces and characters that work for and against him (the stuff I try to avoid) create confusion, turmoil, and violence, that draw the reader in to anticipate the action. The author intermittently explains enough to get the reader to the next juncture, using both physics and metaphysics, sometimes with a dry humor, and in a way that makes the sequence of events almost plausible. Through Brad's philosophical comments and musings we're given insight into his character, his perceptions, and his motivation as he tries to understand and manage the remarkable situations that unfold around him. The story essentially tells how one individual might come to affect the scheme of the universe."  

-- Reviewed by Jo Ann Yano on Amazon.

J. D. Stiver is a former journalist for The Norman Transcript, a daily newspaper in Norman, Okla., and has also worked for various other community newspapers in the Oklahoma City area. 

His style of story-telling blends humor with dark subject matter, but Stiver emphasizes that the very first rule of writing is this: It HAS TO BE READABLE, and in fiction, it has to entertain. SCRYING GLASS  is his first novel, and he was offered a contract with the first publishing company that he submitted it to, Publish America, a company that caters specifically to new writers. In their annual report, Publish America stated that it receives approximately 30,000 manuscripts a year and chooses to publish only 6,000 (one in six). Scrying Glass was among them. 

Stiver has also won various awards for both fiction and journalism, including the Sam Slade Memorial Journalism Writing Competition and the James Axley Merit Award for Fiction through Rose State College. He has also won awards through the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Media Association, the Oklahoma Intercollegiate Press Association and the Oklahoma Collegiate Media Association. He has been a resident of California, Pennsylvania, and Oklahoma. 

While attending high school in Pennsylvania, he met local artist, Steve Klinger, and the two became fast friends. They vowed to work together someday, and Scrying Glass provided the first real opportunity when Klinger designed the "Scrying Glass portal," which was used in the book cover's design.