The Skeletons of Birkbury. Dana J. Febry, author. For a first novel, this is very entertaining…and it’s one of my favorite subgenres, British mysteries. I suppose it’s self-published—the copyright doesn’t even have a date on it. Come to think of it, I won’t put dates on books I review anymore. Unlike many people, I don’t neglect “evergreen books,” and this certainly falls into that class of books that are always current and entertaining. As for the myth about all those self-published books with editing errors, I’ve seen more in a Big Five ebook, so how this evergreen book was published is also irrelevant.

This is about a cold case that becomes hot as a young girl’s body is found when a tree topples over in a storm. You’ve seen pics recently of how the tree’s root system excavates an area around the tree when it goes over. I’m assuming that’s what happened in the story, but it’s not completely clear.

The plot is familiar in the sense that the detective here has a jerk as boss and some family problems he’s handling, so he struggles to concentrate on the cold case. The reader gets to follow the clues along with the detective and his assistant. Characters from the Birkbury area, good and bad alike, are skillfully drawn, complex, and cover a wide range of human behavior. There’s a bit of class tension too, which can always occur within Great Britain’s social structure.

This one has some meat to it—it’s not a cozy mystery. My only problem was that the ending was a wee bit unclear and rushed, but overall the novel is an interesting read. I’ll try to remember to purchase other books in the series.

Trilisk Ruins. Michael McCloskey, author. This is the case of an author giving away the first book in a series to get readers to buy the rest. Marketing gurus recommend this practice—I deplore it. The reasons are simple: (1) An author should get better with each succeeding book in a series, so maybe the last book is the best one to read first. (When that doesn’t happen, something’s wrong.) (2) Each book in a series should be an independent read. In other words, readers should be able to jump into a series at the end or the middle and not have to read the books in order.

I guess I got what I paid for, though. This book was free, and there’s something a bit off with this novel. Maybe the fault lies with my sensing that the writing style is a bit pedantic and academic as if the author were trying to impress. When I need to consult a dictionary, that observation always occurs. The characters are a bit wooden and stereotypical too—beautiful kick-ass female meets Rambo-style macho man so they can kick ass together and become romantically involved. I don’t mind that if the rest of the plot is good. This one is not that great.

Ruins from ancient civilizations are a common theme in sci-fi (I’ve even used that in some of my sci-fi stories), but as a plot device it’s all in how it’s handled. The author ruins things (pun intended) by making the novel a space opera that’s too long. The relic seekers are smugglers. In space opera, there’s usually an evil corporation or government too. In this case, it’s the UN Space Force, which is essentially that evil government—no black UN helicopters, though, just nasty starships, but the author is maybe appealing to that meme?

I’ll admit that the story captivated me for a while. It became very boring when the author went into excruciating detail about the Trilisk base the smugglers are exploring. How it all worked was never explained to my satisfaction either. Not a bad story, though, if you flip through the boring pages fast enough. I won’t be buying the next books in the series, though.

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Comments are always welcome.

Mind Games. “I was fixated on one goal: determine who killed Ferdie and punish them. If I could find out how they killed him, all the better, but that one goal was essential.” Androids with ESP? What could go wrong? Find out as a young girl searches for her adopted father’s killer in A.B. Carolan’s new addition to the “ABC Sci-Fi Mysteries.” Available in print and ebook format on Amazon and in ebook format on Smashwords and all its affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.)

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

A Matter of Trust. Nancy Hughes, author (Black Opal Books, 2017). Kingsley’s husband goes farther than his usual trip to the convenience store and ends up in a horrible accident. She moves away from where they were living to take a job in a different bank. There she meets Todd, another new employee who’s a VIP. As head of the commercial loans department, she comes across some strange loans and wonders what’s afoot. He sleuthing becomes dangerous for her health.

Kingsley is a strong, smart female, the kind of character I like to read and write about. She takes too many chances, though, playing against her position as a staid bank-manager type. Romantic interest Todd, who has his own history along with Kingsley’s causing the romance to move forward by fits and starts, isn’t a strong character. I’m not surprised when he’s essentially absent from the story’s denouement. Kingsley’s two female friends she makes among the bank’s staff are wonderful characters on the other hand, and they join Kingsley in her sleuthing to make three musketeers who fight crime.

To limit calling the plot a classical mystery/crime story would be doing a disservice to it. I’ve never come across a similar one in my reading, it’s so original. Even with her husband’s death, it begins peacefully but builds up to a resounding climax like Ravel’s “Bolero” where this reader couldn’t flip the pages fast enough on his Kindle.

I’d call this an “evergreen” book—it will always be current. I hope other readers enjoy it as much as I did, and I’m looking forward to reading other books in the series.

Hunter’s Force. Val Penny, author (Crooked Cat Books, 2019). I’ve called Val Penny’s books the “economical Ian Rankin.” (She shouldn’t be confused with Louise Penny. Val’s inspector is Hunter Wilson; Louise’s is Gamache. Val’s stories take place in Edinburgh; Louise’s in Quebec.) First, they also take place in Edinburgh where Rankin’s Inspector Rebus hangs out. Second, they’re both mysteries and police procedurals. And third, I can’t afford Rankin (or Louise Penny, for that matter), but I can afford Val Penny. Unfortunately this third book in the series isn’t as good as the first two.

A Ukrainian crime boss’ daughter ends up living in Hunter’s son’s flat, and then she ends up dead there. The father learned American English, not British, so he mixed up the floor numbers (Americans say ground level is the first floor while Brits just call it the ground floor, with American’s number two being the Brits’ number one, etc.)

There are multiple subplots weaving in and around the main one of finding who killed the daughter—the mobster’s business interests in Edinburgh, and the continuing sagas of coppers and lowlifes from previous books. Somehow the author is losing the grittiness that made me compare her writing favorably with Rankin’s. I hope she recovers that.

Hunter’s force is the group of coppers who set out to solve the crime, led by Hunter Wilson. They have to work within a new system now because the Scots integrated all the police forces. It’s a bit like the NYPD being a local group that’s part of the FBI, ATF, and so forth. I wonder how Rankin deals with this.

This is still a fun read, though, that gave me an acceptable fix in my addiction to Brit-style crime mysteries. It’s also gritty enough not to be on Hallmark or PBS.

Landfall. John McWilliams, author (John McWilliams, 2015). I found this one night searching for “space opera” on Amazon. It’s a lot of fun, but you might guess it’s not great sci-fi—no reasonable extrapolations o current technology here (but believers in the power of crystals might love it).

Jan Lee is a scientist-industrialist (channeling Elon Musk?) in the near future—rich, brilliant, and the main character, in that near future and thirty years later. He comes up with a theory that uses both advanced and retarded waves (yep, you can describe any electromagnetic wave as a superposition of them) to send messages between the present and the future.  He even designs an experiment to test the theory. The story is about the experiment, which becomes very complicated.

Surprise! Both the Americans and Russians want this technology and the experimental results—the Message—believing that it will allow them to download advance tech from the future and rule the world. Of course, in the past, that near future, Jan Lee must fight them. He’s a martial arts expert as well as a scientist-industrialist (Bruce Lee in space? Iron Man?). He blows up the International Space Station so neither Americans nor Russians can have the tech.

Thirty years in the future from that near future, Lauren and Ellis, two FBI agents, are on a special mission to find the reentry vehicle that Jan Lee made his escape in. Is Jan Lee alive? The agents and readers will ask that.

Ignoring the advanced/retarded wave nonsense and the Monty Hall references, there are many things wrong with this story. First, Amazon can’t decide whether it’s sci-fi or a thriller—there’s nothing wrong with the combo, but it isn’t the definition of “space opera” (Amazon strikes again?). Second, the jumping back and forth between near and far future is a bit confusing. The near-future part is written in the present tense and the far-future part is written in the past tense. Third, the time-travel paradoxes aren’t avoided here. Finally, the ending isn’t done well—the author essentially creates a cliff-hanger so readers will buy the books that follow (that doesn’t work with me).

If you can live with all this, have at it.

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Comments are always welcome.

The Last Humans. “I found it amazing how many murderers think weighing a body in deep water or tossing a murder weapon there will hide their nefarious deeds. Not if Penny can help it!” Ex-USN Search and Rescue and current LA County Sheriff’s Department diver Penny Castro goes on a forensics dive off SoCal shores and surfaces to find herself in a post-apocalyptic world. A bioengineered and airborne contagion has been delivered to the West Coast and will be carried around the world, killing billions. Her adventures trying to survive in this new world will make you ask, “Could this really happen?” Published by Black Opal Books, this post-apocalyptic thriller is available in ebook and print format from Amazon and as an ebook version from Smashwords and its affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.) Also available from the publisher or your local bookstore (if they don’t have it, ask for it). A sequel is coming.

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

You Say Goodbye. Keith Steinbaum, author (Black Opal Books, 2019). I’ve always appreciated a good murder mystery, and this one met my expectations. Lots of possible suspects, lots of clues and misdirects, and some interesting themes weaving in and around the plot, all making a complete whodunit tapestry.

One theme is music. The victim’s boyfriend, Sean Hightower, is an aging one-hit-wonder rock musician who spends his days selling cars and has nights performing gigs where annoying night clubbers always ask for his famous song, “Looking Glass.” This is a neutral role for music, even though Sean wants to rekindle his fame.

But music plays an evil and good role too. First the good: the little girl next door, Kayleigh, has cancer, and music permits the two to develop a bond. Sean first meets his little friend when she interrupts his plans for suicide, driven to that state by his girlfriend’s death. That first meeting leads to an enduring relationship.

Now for music’s bad role: The girlfriend’s murderer is a serial killer, known as the Beatles’ Song Murderer, who has been terrorizing the area. Detective Ray Maldonado knows this from the “Hello, Goodbye” messages taped to a wall in the victim’s apartment. Ray’s convinced the killer is someone Sean knows and recruits the musician to help him solve the crime. Tension builds as Sean battles his personal demons and plays amateur detective. And the murderer is observing it all.

Those who love the mystery genre will love this tale. ‘Nough said.

Kilts and Catnip. Zoe Tasia, author (Black Opal Books, 2019). When Rebecca lost her husband, she moved to Scotland—not as big a change as you might think because she’d lived there before. With her two daughters, Jess and Tate, she returns to teaching. And, during the summer vacation, she rents a small cottage on the Shrouded Isle.

Thus begins a tale full of fantasy, thrills, and mystery. A strange man helps Becca and her children in some strange situations that are often weird and threatening. And other weird events occur too. Becca discovers her neighbor is a shapeshifter who can become a cat. The grocer and his nephew can become wolves. All three aren’t really threatening, though. But other magical beings appear who are, and that strange man, Greg Gillie, seems to be involved with all of them.

Becca seems to take this all in stride, maybe too much. Most people would be at their wit’s end, but she plods on like Miss Marple in a fantasy world, trying to figure out what’s going on. I want to emphasize that mystery aspect here, especially considering the first book reviewed above—a reader can find mystery and suspense in fantasy too. Becca receives many clues on her strange journey of discovering who Greg Gillie really is. There is also a wee bit of romance as her relationship with Greg matures, but these multi-genre descriptions only illustrate the complexity of this novel.

I’m not much of a fantasy fan, but I’m a sucker for Celtic legends and myths involving the fae and other magical creatures. This is a fascinating tale that kept me reading, weird in a great way. Because it’s “Book 1,” I’m hoping for a sequel. More mischief from the fae?

[Note from Steve: Please read yesterday’s interview for more information about the author.]

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Comments are always welcome.

“Mary Jo Melendez Mysteries.” Who are the MECHs? Find out in this trilogy featuring the novels Muddlin’ Through, Silicon Slummin’…and Just Gettin’ By, and Goin’ the Extra Mile. These action-packed stories of mystery, thrills, and suspense will provide hours of reading pleasure. Available on Amazon and Smashwords and at the latter’s affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, Walmart, etc.).

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

[Note from Steve: While these reviews are often lengthier than what you’ll find on Amazon, they’re shorter than those I’ve written for Bookpleasures or archived in the “Book Reviews” category of this blog, so please also refer there for reviews of books you might want to read.]

Pure Gold. Theodore P. Durch, author. (Black Opal Books, 2018.) Joe Gold is an ex-cop turned PI. Here the reader can follow three successive cases as he morphs from a deadbeat to a famous PI, accompanied by Jenny, a Della Street for his Perry Mason (or pick your own PI/platonic-or-not-so-much-girlfriend combo). These three hard-boiled stories are novellas in a sense, but they really form parts of a novel that is both in the hard-boiled tradition and entertaining for mystery and crime enthusiasts.

In the first case, Gold’s ex-squeeze is murdered—she make the mayor a widower, but Gold thinks the mayor’s involved—and his daughter with that ex is kidnapped. The mayor hires Gold to find the daughter. Plenty of interesting twists here.

Satanical rites almost make Gold’s second case into a paranormal mystery. Insane fanaticism is the general theme. Hard-boiled creepiness, let’s say. Gold’s cop friend and mentor when Gold was on the force begins to play a more important role.

Cases #1 and #2 establish the PI’s rep, but he’s still a johnny-do-good who takes on a case where Jenny’s cousin says someone’s trying to murder him. His demise confirms those suspicions. The cousin is a physicist (as an ex-physicist I can relate to this story!), and the internet (invented by physicists!) plays a role. Lots of surprises, and the media steps forward now that Gold is famous.

I grew up reading hard-boiled mysteries and crime stories and sci-fi that was also hard-boiled in style (ever read Asimov’s Caves of Steel or The Naked Sun?). Given that background, readers of this blog can understand why I thoroughly enjoyed this book. You will too, if you’re a fan of mystery and crime stories.

Get 1000 Readers for Your Self-Published Book. X, author. Like many authors, I’m always looking for new ways to reach out to readers and let them know about my books. It has nothing to do with whether a book is self-published or traditionally published because both forms require marketing efforts by the authors (unless they’re someone like Stephen King).

Guess what? Authors will rarely find these new ways in the many books written on the subject. Writers of these marketing books claim to offer great ideas—“Just use my methods to make your book a success!” (some of these books cost $10 or more!)—but they don’t, only repeats, so don’t waste your time or money. (If you’re a newbie to book marketing, just get Mark Coker’s Book Marketing Guide and/or Penny Sansevieri’s 52 Ways to Sell More Books—last time I looked, they’re free on Amazon! You can also download my free PDF “Writing Fiction” that also contains marketing advice—see the “Free Stuff & Contest” web page at this website.)

This book is also the right price—it’s free, so I downloaded it. But it’s a complete waste. Don’t spend your time downloading it! I didn’t even include the author’s name or link to the book for this reason—he should be embarrassed, and I’m not giving him any free name recognition. [Spoiler Alert] What’s his ONE special secret for book marketing success? Write something of value. Duh! The laugh is on this joker, though: he violated his own principle! This marketing book has no value, price-wise or content-wise. And Amazon should be ashamed of themselves for publishing it!

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Comments are always welcome!

“The Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series.” I never write about all the detectives’ cases because many Castilblanco tells me about are very procedural, but the ones in this series of hard-boiled mystery/thriller novels are more interesting for their characters, themes, action, and settings. For the latter, most start in NYC but some become national and international. And almost all of them are still current, if not more so than when they were written, and can be read in any order. Subscribers to my email newsletter have access to a Smashwords sale, but all readers will find the ebooks reasonably priced and available on Amazon, Smashwords, and all the latter’s affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc).

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

Denali Deception. Ernest Dempsey, author (Enclave Publishing, 2017). Why did I keep seeing Nicholas Cage playing main character Sean Wyatt while I read this book? Ah, yes, because of the parallels with that crazy movie National Treasure, one of most disorganized cinematic experiences I’ve ever had! Maybe this tale is more believable than that movie at the beginning if you accept an archaeological organization run by James Bond types, but the ending was absolutely unbelievable and inexplicable, archaeologically speaking or otherwise.

The notes at the end show the author has done his history homework, yet he ruins the historical basis of his story because he doesn’t follow Clancy’s maxim: fiction has to seem real, whether real history is intertwined or not. That maxim is important, even in fantasy writing (within the rules of the fantasy world the author creates).

Nonsensical fun at least? Maybe for one book’s worth. If you like it, there’s a whole series—14 more books! If you compare the series to Sue Grafton’s, there’s nothing wrong with that, but I don’t think I could take Sean Wyatt for another thirteen stories. With National Treasure, we only had to endure Nicholas Cage’s character twice. With Sean, I’ll stick with just one book, thank you, even though it was a lot of fun if only for the history. Lincoln and Seward and an unbelievable conspiracy? A U.S. president who leads his own SWAT? And I didn’t even have any Jameson, let alone popcorn, like I did for the movie!

Fringe Runner. Rachel Aukes, author (Waypoint Books, 2016). Authors derive their plots from many sources—history, imagination, casual observation, and so forth. For this space opera, the author turned to the American Revolution, at least for how it began, because “the revolution” here continues after this first book in a series.

We have the Collective playing the role of the British, and we have the colonists who hate the Collective because they’ve had enough of their exploitation. Slavery plays a role too, softened by the use of “indentured” in place of the more common word. I haven’t quite figured out who plays Paul Revere, but Captain Reyne rides around space a lot, shouting the “Myrads are coming!” (they’re part of the Collective).

This is sci-fi so bad (in many ways) that it’s rollicking fun—much better than Star Wars. Caveat emptor, though: Like that movie franchise, hard sci-fi it’s not. And you might prefer The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

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Comments are always welcome.

Rembrandt’s Angel. Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot in their 21^st century reincarnations Esther Brookstone and Bastiann van Coevorden are the main characters in this mystery/thriller novel. Esther works for Scotland Yard in the Art and Antiques Division; Bastiann, her paramour, is an Interpol agent. Esther becomes obsessed with recovering “An Angel with Titus’ Features,” a Rembrandt painting stolen by the Nazis in World War Two. Bastiann tries mightily to keep her on an even keel and keep her safe. Together they move around Europe and South America as the story goes far beyond a search for the painting. Available in ebook format on Amazon and Smashwords and all the latter’s retail affiliates (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc) and in print format on Amazon or at your favorite bookstore (if they don’t have it, ask for it).

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

The Hellfire Club. Jake Tapper, author (Little, Brown, and Company, 2018). Political thriller? Historical fiction? You decide. A good and interesting read, but probably not as good as the sycophants’ endorsements on the back cover would have you believe, many of them well known authors.

I often watch Jake’s CNN show “The Lead”; he’s one of my favorite pundits. When he started pimping this book on his show, I became concerned. Celeb books and I don’t mix well, no matter who the celeb is. I like Jake. He has everything a first-time novelist needs: plenty of name recognition. But I digress. What about the book? Can he write fiction?

The dark novel starts out slowly if you ignore the flash-forward at the beginning that is finally revisited on p. 154. Turns out that the scene is inconsequential in the grand scheme of the plot. I get it: with his ponderous initial narrative, the author wants to establish that 1950’s D.C. was also a huge political swamp, with Joe McCarthy being the main swamp creature.

World War Two veteran Charlie is a newbie at being a congressional representative of a Manhattan district. Governor Tom Dewey wants him to replace another GOP congressman who had committed suicide under suspicious circumstances. Yes, from the second chapter on, there’s a mix of real people and fictional characters that’s very confusing unless you keep referring to the author’s sources section (helps some, but probably not enough for the average reader).

There’s too much historical narrative at the beginning and not enough time spent on important plot elements at the rushed end. Not bad for a first novel, though, and a good handful of twists in the final pages.

Dead Shrinks Don’t Talk. Sandra Gardner, author (Black Opal Books, 2018). On a lighter note, we have a mystery that’s also a comedy. I was a bit leery of this novel, a murder mystery with the sleuth’s mother as a ghost? I was pleasantly surprised, though. It a good mystery with comedic commentaries about current culture, and the tongue-in-cheek style reminds me of some of Hiaasen’s work.

Marabella Vinegar (the last name is an INS construct, ICE’s predecessor) belongs to a therapy group, and their shrink is murdered. Because Marabella discovers the body, she’s the cops’ first suspect (the inept lead detective takes the easy way out). When she discovers body #2, a member of the therapy group, she goes to jail. There are some laughable scenes where our protagonist gets to know her fellow female inmates better.

On the sleuthing side, Marabella and her mother pursue the case, doing the inept detective’s work for him. This unfolds like a modern, lighter, and happier version of tales from Dame Agatha’s oeuvre; Miss Marple is even mentioned on occasion, although the deceased mom earns that description, not Marabella (the detective is no Hercule Poirot—if anything, he’s more like Inspector Clouseau).

I only have two nitpicks about this novel. First, Marabella’s romance with a veterinarian never gets resolved. Second, the author’s denouement is lacking compared to Dame Agatha’s—the ending seems a bit too abrupt for this reader who doesn’t want the fun to end.

This is entertaining mystery and comedy writing, and it was great fun.

[Note: I interviewed this author on September 5, 2018. You can find that interview and others in the blog category “Interviews.”]

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Comments are always welcome.

Rembrandt’s Angel. Miss Marple + Hercule Poirot = A-team! 21^st versions of Dame Agatha’s sleuths, that is. Pursuing a missing Rembrandt leads to uncovering a neo-Nazi conspiracy that threatens Europe in this mystery/thriller novel. Esther Brookstone, Scotland Yard Inspector in the Art and Antiques Division, becomes obsessed with the painting. Bastiann van Coevorden, Interpol agent and Esther’s paramour, tries to keep Esther out of trouble. Join them on a chase around Europe and South America. Available in ebook format at Amazon and Smashwords and all the latter’s affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc) and in print format at Amazon or at your local bookstore (if it doesn’t have it, ask for it). “I recommend this book; it was one of the best efforts from the author.”—Debra Miller, in her Amazon review

In libris libertas!  

Red Rising. Pierce Brown, author. (Del Rey/Random House, 2014.) I don’t buy Big Five ebooks much anymore; they often cost as much as the print versions! I fell into a trap on this one, though. The publisher has learned to set the trap of offering the first book in a series at a very low price. Sometimes that works, and readers buy more books in the series, so the trap is good for the publisher, author, and readers. In this case, that trap didn’t work. Let me explain why.

The book is a mixed bag. At times it seems like alternate history, a sci-fi subgenre I detest for the most part (the only exception if memory serves is Hogan’s The Proteus Operation). Here the evil Roman Empire is alive and well and dominates our solar system. The novel is almost dystopian too, not necessarily a bad thing, but it doesn’t work here. The cruelty of the Golds, the rulers of this futuristic empire, seems worse than any oppressors’ in known history, primarily because they have some fancy tech to back up their oppression. And they have lied to the Reds, the Martian miners, and other low-colored castes so they will believe they are creating a new home for humans by terraforming Mars.

I don’t buy into the concept. It seems as unbelievable as the Hunger Games concept (but Hollywood’s idea of good, believable science fiction is often questionable). Clancy said fiction has to seem real, and this story fails that test. The sociological aspects just don’t make sense either. The author needs to understand that world building also requires creating an alien or futuristic society that makes sense. The Roman Empire lasted a long time because it had layers of complexity underneath the emperors and generals that supported the ruling classes. That’s missing here because the book features lots of blood, gore, and guts as if all of Mars is dominated by gladiator dominance.

Yes, there is a lot of fighting among these sci-fi Romans, and this narrative becomes old rather quickly because of it. Old Rome was filled with intrigue and murder, but readers who like that sort of thing should read historical chronicles about Caesar and Nero instead. I get tired of the blood and gore here. Moreover, the setting of a terraformed Mars is absolutely absurd—at 0.37g in the valley where a lot of action takes place (the Colloseum?), why does Mars now hold onto its atmosphere and have grasslands and forests? There’s not much science in this sci-fi, to say the least.

Yet you can’t help but be sympathetic to the main character Darrow, the ex-miner who watched the Golds murder his wife. Darrow is a Red who becomes a Gold to infiltrate that caste and bring it down. The transformation is accomplished via a painful body reconstruction. What happens after that could have made an interesting read if it weren’t so much about warring Romans who pit their children against each other. Darrow’s quest is lost. I won’t touch the other books in the series—Book Two is $9.99—because this one fails so miserably. And I’m glad I didn’t spend a lot of money on it! (Hey, Big Five staffers, an ebook is just a computer file. I won’t spend more than $6 on one! And this is probably one review I should repost to Amazon, but it would just be lost among all the readers who swallowed this drivel.)

Die 6. Scott Dyson, author (Deadlock Press, 2014). To end on a much more positive note, let me consider this collection of extremely interesting short stories—speculative fiction but not necessarily sci-fi, and a pleasant respite from the blood and gore of the novel above for the most part. Short fiction collections are becoming rarities, but writing short fiction represents interesting dashes and mid-distant races compared to the marathon of novel writing. As such, they’re often gems with the excitement of Usain Bolt in the hundred meters.

This little collection of six short stories is a good example of what I mean. The stories range from the humorous to the serious. In the first, a man is seduced by a digitized woman (OK, maybe that is sci-fi)—an unusual love story. In the second, a real psychic gives fake readings, and gets into a lot of trouble—very humorous. In #3, a real tooth fairy gets into trouble—fantasy, yes, but humorous and thought provoking. In #4, a fun house at a carnival is not so much fun—the author here is channeling Stephen King (It comes to mind in comparison, but the short story is more concise and frankly scarier, and that King novel proves the point I made above—the ebook version is $12.99 and the print version is $14.99!). The fifth story is a beautiful romance with a sad twist—a good time-travel tale that ably avoids the paradoxes (OK, that’s sci-fi too). And the sixth story, the longest, features an old train accident from the 19^th century and its effect on three kids from the 20^th, a powerful and cautionary tale about overpowering guilt.

Mr. Dyson’s breadth here is surprising—every story is interesting. I just wish he’d write more stories!

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Comments are always welcome.

More than Human: The Mensa Contagion. One reviewer compared this novel to Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars series. The first part is about how an ET virus creates homo sapiens version 2.0, though. The second is about how these new humans colonize Mars and discover a starship filled with the same ETs who sent the virus to Earth. The ebook is available on Amazon and Smashwords and all its affiliates.

In libris libertas!

Twisted Traffick. Geza Tetrallyay, author (Black Opal Books, 2017). Author/professor Greg Martens and his wife, ex-Interpol agent Anne Rossiter, are called back to Vienna to help find Julia Saparova, physicist and IAEA monitor, who is responsible for monitoring several sites in Russia. Trying to find her leads to an international gang of cutthroats that specialize in human trafficking and arms smuggling, including obtaining enriched uranium for terrorists.

The good: This book is well-plotted with well-drawn characters, on both the good and bad guys side. The action cycles between the young Russian women, the victims and their plight, and the bad guys’ techniques used to elude the authorities. Some history is included about the evil Beria, head of the Soviet Union’s secret police and second only to Stalin. Settings include one of my favorite cities, Vienna. This is a great book for these reasons and more.

The bad (but nothing serious): I think the author over-explains some things, especially toward the end, and under-explains other things, like how will the terrorists make bombs out of enriched uranium? Maybe dirty bombs? I would have liked to know more about the twins who lead the bad guys and their ascension in the criminal underworld (one is second-in-command of FSB, Russia’s equivalent of the FBI—they supposedly leave out-of-country assassinations to the SVR, but who knows?).

The ugly: In this case, there’s none. Of course, the bad guys are ugly monsters who don’t even deserve to be called human. There are no editing problems, and the cover is rich and attractive.

This is another example where I found a great read in a small publisher’s catalog. I thoroughly enjoyed this thriller and will try the author’s other books ASAP.

Last Gasp. Howard Levine, author (Black Opal Books, 2018). The disaster has occurred: thousands are gassed at a rock concert in the Bronx. Frank Tedeschi, owner of a hardware store who still fights his demons from ‘Nam, and his brother Rob, a cop who lost his daughter in the attack, don’t believe Islamic radicals are reponsible, primarily because Frank’s helper in the store talked about carrying out just such an attack. More motivation for their reaction comes from a fascism-trending regime run by a president who is not a champion of diversity, to say the least. His name is Flowers, and he uses the permanent campaign motto “Flower Power.”

What ensues is more a crime novel than a thriller. We know the perpetrator of the crime, so the only thing left for Frank, Rob, and FBI agent Fowlkes to do is apprehend the criminal (the FBI agent served in ‘Nam with Frank). Or is something else going on?…

Some side stories are interesting too. The Tedeschi family is torn apart by partisan differences, Frank is still fighting his Viet Nam devils, the U.S. is still embroiled in endless wars where politicians feel no remorse in sending others’ sons and daughters off to fight, and American Muslims are one step away from being put in concentration camps or kicked out of the country by Flowers and his cohorts.

It’s worth elaborating on Frank fighting his Vietnam devils. Vietnam tore the U.S. apart because the country’s leaders felt the need to pound rivals into the ground. Now similar leaders are tearing the country apart. The author creates parallels in his fictional setting that mirror our reality today. Tom Clancy would be proud: this fiction seems all too real.

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Quiet. Susan Cain, author. (Broadway Books, 2012, 2013.) Goodreads (AKA Amazon) offered this on sale, and I grabbed it. I’m glad I did. What it’s about in a nutshell is the quiet anti-social people who do the creative things in the world, the introverts, as opposed to the extroverts, those blustering, often narcissistic, and outgoing people who often do nothing creative, unless putting down the nerds and pounding their own chests can be called creative.

OK, I’m being excessive maybe, and certainly biased. I’ve led a creative life, whether in science or in my writing, and I felt vindicated while reading this. I also came to understand myself a lot better. Writers are introverts in general. We sit behind our laptops creating our prose and poetry, quietly persisting until the job is done—at least for that story or poem we’ve been working on. Then on to the next. It seems contradictory that nowadays we’re also expected to be extroverts, meeting and chatting with readers and marketing our books in book events and on social media. Maybe that’s why writers become neurotic.

Everyone should read this book, though. It’s enlightening and shows, for example, that our educational systems are completely crazy. I’m glad I read it!

The Legacy. S. P. Brown, author. (Black Opal Books, 2017.) This book illustrates S. P. Brown’s breadth for mystery/thriller/fantasy/paranormal/horror storytelling. I previously reviewed his Veiled Memory. While there are some similarities, this tale starts out more strangely and becomes weirder at a galloping rate.

The protagonist’s grandmother, the matriarch of a rich southern family, is dying, and she has some secrets she wants to share. At first, her grandson is only interested in his inheritance. He soon learns that his legacy goes far beyond material wealth as a centuries-old feud rears its ugly head and changes his life.

This book is the perfect example of how fiction, no matter how fantastic, must follow Clancy’s dictum: fiction must seem real. In sci-fi, fantasy, paranormal, and horror, world-building narrative must also establish a set of rules everyone has to play by. Here the rules are exposed during the tale, giving it the necessary air of mystery, but they’re logically consistent albeit fantastic.

I had a great time reading this book. Not for the squemish, but certainly a great read. Kudos to this author for bringing me back to genres and subgenres I’ve neglected in my reading. The plot is a wild ride, and the characters are complex and entertaining. Adult fiction at its best!

Rescue at Waverly. T. J. Mott, author. Time for some space opera? Except for the title that could signal one of Dame Agatha’s mysteries, this sci-fi story has a lot going for it. Thaddeus Marshall wants to find Earth. He’s from there, you see, was kidnapped there, wants to know why the galaxy was already filled with humans bent on enslaving Terrans, and how this came to pass. I would have liked this quest better if I knew more about it towards the beginning of the novel. Thad’s motivations alluded me until then.

The admiral was an engineer by training (i.e. back in the Sol system that’s lost in legend). Now he’s a renegade, mercenary, and pirate with his own fleets ready to plunder and kill to finance his obsession. In this novel, he learns to hate himself for that.

If that sounds bleak, it’s not. Thad’s a flawed protagonist, a complex but interesting and entertaining SOB. While this is space opera for the most part, most of the principal characters are as complex and interesting as the action is intense. I can imagine Matt Damon playing Thad; Jennifer Lawrence playing the Earth woman he saves from slavery, Adelia Devaux; and Ben Kingsley as Reynolds, the commander of Thad’s personal fleet that carries out the raid to save her. I’m not sure which actor I’d choose for the evil prince who’s put a huge bounty on Thad’s head that causes everyone else to pursue him. This prince is a narcissistic, deranged tyrant. While there’s someone everyone knows with these exact characteristics who could play the role because of his TV experience, he’s not available right now, so maybe Arnold would help out. Doesn’t he play that role in some computer game commercials?

I had great fun with this book. It’s not hard sci-fi, but maybe militaristic sci-fi in addition to space opera? (Of course, a lot of the former is the latter.) It’s not for the squeamish, by the way, and provides a glimpse of a galaxy wrecked by humans (isn’t Earth enough?). And where are the ETs?

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Comments are welcome!

The entire “Clones and Mutants Trilogy” is now on sale at Smashwords. Full Medical, Evil Agenda, and No Amber Waves of Grain are sci-fi thrillers featuring (surprise!) clones and mutants, heroic protagonists, and a criminal mastermind that’s as creepy as he is complex. These books are 50% off on Smashwords. Use the coupon codes for each book to get this discount.

In libris libertas….

[Note from Steve: I’ve augmented my book-buying algorithm. Yes, I still avoid a book’s reviews, especially those zero-content ones on Amazon. Yes, I will study the blurb and “peek inside” to see if the author can write. But now I also peruse small presses’ catalogs! The following three books I found doing just that for two small presses, Black Opal Books and EDGE Publishing. Try it. My algorithm now takes a bit longer, but it’s nice to weed out all the dregs on Amazon, so a lot of time is saved!]

Poseidon’s Eye. Trisha O’Keefe, author (Black Opal Books, 2016). Alex is a hot-shot Hispanic when all hell breaks loose after his bachelors’ party. He goes from being engage to the boss’ daughter to being a hunted man, framed for a murder he didn’t commit. He sets out to prove his innocence, not knowing Murray, a detective, already thinks he’s been framed. There’s a parallel story as she tries to prove that as well as prove herself to the men in her department.

Set in SoCal—Alex is from LA; Murray’s based in Bakersfield—the reader will get a glimpse of the Golden State’s area I grew up in, which stretches from the Sierra Nevada to the Pacific Ocean (the last action scene takes place on U.S. 101). The portrayal of the life of migrant workers is all too real, and the picture painted of actions taken against Hispanics and Native Americans by white haters and bigots is tragic.

The major theme here, though, is the duplicity at the highest levels of government and greedy corporate interests. Alex has to cover a lot of ground here to prove he’s innocent; dangerous roadblocks are in the way, as well as many twists and turns in the road.

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