(Darden North, Wiggle Room, Sartoris Literary Group, 2013, ISBN 978-0-9889474-7-4)

This thriller is full of oddities, but in the positive sense.  I often said to myself, “Sure, why not?” when they popped up, as the author takes us from the Iraq War battlefields to Mississippi.  Even that’s an oddity.  Iraq is not needed.  Except for a few regional meals, the rest of the book could take place anywhere in the U.S., so Mississippi is not needed either.

The plot is simple: good (blanks) discover bad (blank) among their midst.  There are thrillers where (blank) is cop or lawyer, but here (blank) is filled in with doctor.  Nevertheless, the book is fun and maybe just what you need for your summer reading.  I finished it over the Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of summer in the U.S. but officially a time to honor our war dead.

Another oddity: Major Brad Cummins, an Air Force surgeon, is nominally the main character.  The story begins with his failing to save GI Giles while saving an Iraqi instead, both wounded in the same IED explosion.  Good and bad nurses and docs meet up in that battlefield operating room.  But Brad turns out to be mentally challenged (his twin brother sounds like the better half of the egg, but he becomes a victim—one of the first of many).  Dr. Diana Bratton, nominally the protagonist’s love interest, comes into the story late back in the U.S., but is more essential to the plot.

I didn’t need the Iraqi terrorist.  You can safely ignore him.  He only provides a contrived twist as the reader is misdirected to think that all the violence is about him.  He’s also a stereotype.  This book is not about terrorism and efforts to deal with it, although I’m terrified to think some of this stuff is going on in my local hospital.

The nurses are a nice touch.  Elizabeth Cossar and Stacy Lane are nurses in that same battlefield operating center.  The first has Cummins’ back, although he often seems too dumb to know it, and some mystery surrounds her as the story unwinds.  Stacy Lane, GI Giles’ love interest, is manipulated by both the Iraqi and a bad doctor, in different ways.

Another oddity:  This is not a medical thriller, but a conventional thriller about some medical professionals.  There are a few technical terms and Michael Jackson’s favorite sleep-aid plays a role, but you’ll find enough action and suspense to forget what kind of work these people do.  Or, you’ll want to forget—NIMBY, please.

The final oddity:  In spite of the ones mentioned above, I liked the book.  Most people will get past the oddities.  Bratton and Cossar are strong, intelligent, and interesting women.  The men in this story suffer in comparison, especially Cummins.  This is Diana Bratton’s story, in fact.  She can be my surgeon any day.

(I was provided an ARC for this review, which was written for Book Pleasures.)

In libris libertas….

(If you enjoyed this post, support this blog: please buy, read, and review some of my books.)

You win a few and lose a few in this life—and you just hope by the end the balance is positive.  I’ve always felt this wonder about life and the universe around me.  If you haven’t looked in the mirror in the morning and asked “Why am I here?” something is terribly wrong with you.  My “why?” was often projected outwards, a pitiful soliloquy to an unresponding Universe that seemed to pose great mysteries I must strive to solve, a scientific sleuth tracking down answers.  I did my small part and relished the successes of others.  I’ve never stopped wondering.

I was an avid reader from the time I discovered comic books at age four—or was it three?  I wanted to fill in my own balloons and make my own comics.  My mother helped me.  My love of reading was helped along by an older brother who joined a sci-fi book club.  Writing and wonder made for a heady mixed drink that addicted me to both science and the written word.  You might know me for the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series” (my interest in mysteries and thrillers came later) or “The Clones and Mutants Series” (futuristic or techno-thrillers), but “The Chaos Chronicles Trilogy,” my Foundation series, is more closely related to those early days spent reading books from my brother’s collection (Isaac Asimov’s Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun were my introduction to the mystery genre).  By the time I ended junior high, I had forsaken those comic books and perused all the sci-fi books in our public library…and decided I wanted to be a writer.

Read the rest of this entry »

Whether good or bad, our economy depends on consumers.  When young people have to enter the working force with tens of thousands of dollars in loans, it’s a drag on the economy and detrimental to their future security.  How can we attack the problem?

First, let’s analyze the root of the problem: higher education in this country suffers from the same disease that the medical system does—the incorrect idea that colleges and universities have to make a profit.  Whoa! you say.  Aren’t they non-profit organizations?  Some of them say they are, but more and more are admitting their goal is to make money, especially online outfits and those “professional schools” who pay their professors very little and charge their students big dollars to “learn a trade.”

Even prestigious schools are in it for the money.  Harvard, for example, is connected to hospitals in Boston, MIT has its Lincoln Laboratory, Cal Tech its JPL, Berkeley its Lawrence Livermore, and so forth.  Institutes and national labs funnel taxpayers’ money into big universities, many of them private.  And these schools charge the most—obviously, prestige, earned or otherwise, is worth gold.  I’m not saying that a full professor at MIT or Harvard makes a hefty salary compared to a corporate CEO, but they’re both overpaid.  Academia also sports the tenure system—there’s a lot of deadwood among those tenured professors.

Read the rest of this entry »

Politician’s are known for irresponsible hyperbole—for example, Dubya’s famous “Mission accomplished.”  Now Obama is guilty of bowing to media pressure and ready to declare an end to the war on terrorism.  My distrust of politicians grows day-by-day.  While the public should never expect too much from people who are mostly failed lawyers, I’m amazed at how politicians are so accustomed to bend in the wind that they continue doing it when it’s no longer necessary.  Obama will not run for re-election.  So, why is he discontinuing one of the only successful policies that have taken the war on terrorism to the terrorists?

Much handwringing has been done about drone strikes.  C’mon!  There are no American casualties.  And the number of “innocent civilians” who are victims, the so-called collateral damage, is far less than the number of casualties involved in the boots-on-the-ground approach in Afghanistan and Iraq.  Moreover, terrorists are cowards who tend to hide behind their women and children, who, like bin Laden’s extended family, are too often willing participants in al Qaeda’s tactics.  The handwringing by the media and other mentally challenged people, who are aghast at the surgical lethality of the drones, is uncalled for and gives no rest to the victims of terrorist attacks and their families and friends.

Read the rest of this entry »

#268: Free ebook!  Over the U.S. Memorial Day weekend (May 24-28, 2013), I am offering my new release Teeter-Totter between Lust and Murder FOR FREE on Amazon.  Don’t miss this chance for some great summer reading.  It’s also a way to introduce yourself to my writing.  You only need a Kindle or the free Kindle app for your electronic device.  Download now before you forget.  The book will return to its released price of $4.99 come May 29.  Don’t miss out!

#269: Guest posts.  The second part of my “Targeting Specific Audiences” appeared in Writers on the Move on 5/17.  The third part, discussing metrics, will appear on 5/30.  “Between Writer and Reader” appeared on Karen Cioffi Writing and Marketing last week (5/15).  Although all these posts are more for writers, readers might find them entertaining if only to understand those strange people, the writers.

Read the rest of this entry »

Dennis Rodman made an ass of himself as an NBA player.  Now he’s playing diplomat—rather, Kim Jong Il’s favorite pal—and continuing to make an ass of himself.  There have been articles in our enlightened media on how this “basketball diplomacy” just might work.  BS!  That  theoretical flatulence has been quieted a bit after Rodman’s trip because the boy wonder of North Korea postures and threatens the West, testing missiles as a way to threaten South Korea and the U.S. in general and in their joint defense exercises.

Rodman must have had one too many blows to the head as other NBA players returned the hits from his flaying elbows.  He’s now certifiably crazy.  Or, completely naïve.  In any case, the North Korean dictator, in a fascistic variation of North Korea’s “three generation rule,” learned from granddaddy mostly because daddy was a moronic recluse.  Garcia-Marquez in his Autumn of the Patriarch painted a picture of the archetypical South American dictator.  Kim Jong Il makes Gabo’s dictator look like a choir boy.

Read the rest of this entry »

#264: Welcome!  I know there are some new readers visiting this blog.  If you’re one of them, welcome!  This post (it appears on most Fridays) is for writers and readers of books, but many come here more for the op-ed.  To the old-timers (I’ve probably never said it, but better late than never), welcome to you too!  There are many blogs on the internet, so I feel privileged that you have added mine to your reading list.  (If you have access to an RSS feed, you can RSS this blog.  I was surprised—it was the one thing that was easy to do on Goodreads.)

Many blogs are for-profit in the sense that you will see multitudes of ads floating on your screen cajoling you to be a good consumer.  That’s their choice, of course.  In my blog, I try to keep things non-commercial.  If it is commercial, and I mention it, it’s because they offer services to readers and writers I applaud—especially to indie authors and publishers.

That said, I do need your support.  My costs are minimal (generated by maintaining this website plus paying for ebook formatting and cover art), but I can’t operate at a loss.  So, please help!  Tell your friends about the website.  Read, buy, and review some of my books if you can spare a café latte or two and a wee bit o’ time.  Tell your friends to do the same.  And I’m just one indie author.  Try to help the others too—if you resonate with their writing.

#265: Prices for my ebooks.  Steve Jobs in an email to Harper Collins’ James Murdoch: “Throw in with Apple and see if we can all make a go of this to create a real mainstream e-books market at $12.99 and $14.99.”  Recall that the Big Five joined forces with Jobs in their attempt to fix ebook prices.  This was an attack on Amazon but the Justice Department brought a lawsuit against Apple et al, which they lost—an implicit win for Amazon.

Read the rest of this entry »

We’re heading into summer and we’re all looking for good books to read during those lazy R&R days of vacation and beach visits.  If you’re like me, you scan those free book promos on Amazon.  You also look for those bargain ebooks—not exactly free, but comparable in price to that special iced coffee you like to slurp while you read.  The majority of those bargain ebooks are released by indie authors and are exceptionally good entertainment for the price, if you choose wisely.

I’m an indie author.  Because this blog, and costs incurred in preparing my ebooks for release, are supported entirely by my book sales, I ask you to consider the following:

New release!  With Teeter-Totter between Lust and Murder, I continue the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series.”  The sleuths of The Midas Bomb and Angels Need Not Apply will embroil you in action and suspense yet again.  As a mystery novel, it is a dark probing into the nexus the crime underworld sometimes enjoys with the rich and powerful.  Chen is arrested for the murder of a senator in circumstances that seem to leave no doubt of her guilt, but Castilblanco helps prove her innocence.  With this new crime novel, I continue the saga of your two favorite detectives as they and their companions fight the corrupting influence of the illegal weapons trade.  Teeter-Totter between Lust and Murder, only $4.99 on Amazon.

Read the rest of this entry »

#258: New book release!  You’ve already seen the excerpt (last Monday).  Watch for the release—real soon now.  With Teeter-Totter between Lust and Murder, I continue the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series.”  The sleuths of The Midas Bomb and Angels Need Not Apply will embroil you in action and suspense yet again.  As a mystery novel (my first), it is a dark probing into the nexus the crime underworld sometimes enjoys with the rich and powerful.

Chen is arrested for the murder of a senator in circumstances that seem to leave no doubt of her guilt, but Castilblanco helps prove her innocence.  With this new crime novel, I continue the saga of your two favorite detectives as they and their companions fight the corrupting influence of the illegal weapons trade.  You can read this book for free (and its companion book, The Golden Years of Virginia Morgan, also a 2013 release) by offering to write an honest review of the book for Amazon (or anywhere else, for that matter—see the note on reviewers’ responsibilities below)—query through my contact form at this website.

Read the rest of this entry »

On Tuesday, I did a review of my limited experiences at the Montclair Film Festival.  One thing that I noticed, especially in Michael Moore’s discussion, was that film makers tend to consider TV negatively.  “Small wonder!” you might say.  But books certainly are transformed to TV as much or more than they are to the big screen.  If literature is an art form, are things derived from it also art forms?  Most people associated with the film industry would say films are an art form.  So, is TV an art form?

Michael Moore focused on the active-passive difference, claiming that TV is much more passive than cinema.  The latter has an audience that moves to some building, maybe miles away, buys their tickets, and sits down to enjoy a film (that’s a bit myopic, of course, in these days of Netflix).  TV takes away everything except maybe enjoying the film, but many of us watch anything to just be watching something.  I don’t buy the argument.  Both are passive and demand less mental interaction with their viewers than a good book demands of its reader.

Read the rest of this entry »