What made Mexico so evil back in the 1840s, well before our Civil War, is that slavery is illegal there. Remember the Alamo? With that war we were making California our own, and a lot of other people and properties, and doing it as though butchering Mexican soldiers who were only defending their homeland against invaders wasn’t murder.—Kurt Vonnegut

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Action on the southern border! No, it’s not Trump beginning the construction of The Wall. It’s Chen and Castilblanco fighting terrorists, a cartel, and neo-Nazi militias. In Angels Need Not Apply, this deadly duo from the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series” go undercover to fight crime as part of a national task force. On sale now at Smashwords until March 31—use coupon # KL38P on checkout. You can also purchase there the recently published 7^th book in the series, Gaia and the Goliaths. The entire series is available in all ebook formats on Smashwords, and you can also find the ebooks on all the sites of its associated retailers (Apple, B&N, Kobo, etc) and lenders (Overdrive, etc). You can also find all the ebooks on Amazon.

In libris libertas!

Social Security can pay every penny owed for the next 18 years. Lift the cap on taxable income and it’ll be solvent for decades.—Bernie Sanders

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The entire “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series” is now available on Smashwords in all ebook formats, with #7, Gaia and the Goliaths, the most recent addition. #2, Angels Need Not Apply, will be on sale there starting March 1. Of course, the entire ebook series is also available on Amazon. Don’t miss the adventures of these crime-fighting cops. (Reviewers can read individual novels for free in return for an honest review.)

In libris libertas!

The United States is the only major nation in the industrialized world that does not guarantee health care as a right for its people.—Bernie Sanders

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It’s Presidents’ Day—let’s remember some big-league presidents who made this country great, but let’s not forget that the position is far more important than any position-holder, especially those who embarrass us by not respecting it and not doing their job well.

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Did you know the complete “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series” is now available on Smashwords in all ebook formats, and at all its affiliated retailers (Apple, B&N, Kobo, and so forth) and lenders (Overdrive, for example). The first book in the series is on sale at Smashwords until March 1. Of course, the entire series is also available on Amazon in .mobi (Kindle) format.

In libris libertas.

People who, like us, live in a dying civilization have three choices. We can attempt to avert the decline as a child builds a sand-castle on the edge of the advancing tide. We can ignore the death of beauty, of scholarship, of art, of intellectual integrity, finding solace in our own consolations. Thirdly, we can join the barbarians and take our share of the spoils.—mystery author P. D. James

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Gaia and the Goliaths. An environmental activist is murdered on a street in Manhattan after a protest. NYPD homicide Detectives Chen and Castilblanco get the case. While pursuing the clues to find those responsible, they discover the activist’s boyfriend is in danger because he has key information that will expose an international conspiracy involving Europe, Russia, and the U.S. As the tangled web unravels, an old nemesis of the detectives makes his appearance. #7 in the detectives’ series. Available on Amazon in .mobi (Kindle) format and on Smashwords in all ebook formats, and all the latter’s affiliated retailers (Apple, B&N, Kobo, etc) and lenders (Overdrive, etc). #1, The Midas Bomb, is on sale on Smashwords until March 1: use coupon code PV57D. The whole series is now available on Amazon and Smashwords.

In libris libertas!

We will not close our minds. We will open our hearts.—Canadian PM Trudeau

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The Midas Bomb (2^nd ed). If you are waiting to get started on the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series,” this first book in the series about the crime-fighting duo’s first case is on sale at Smashwords until March 1 for $0.99, a 67% discount from the original price—in all ebook formats, including .mobi (Kindle): use the Smashwords coupon code PV57D. Of course, it’s also available on Amazon as a .mobi ebook or print book (the ebook isn’t for sale there, though). All books in this series are complete and independent stories, and you can read them in any order. #7, Gaia and the Goliaths, will be out soon.

In libris libertas!

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free…and I’ll detain them, persecute them, and send them back to die.”–Lady Liberty’s new slogan.

Vladimir Putin is a strong leader in the same way arsenic is a strong drink.—Gary Kasparov

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Coming soon! Gaia and the Goliaths. Climate control and environmental issues are on everyone’s mind right now. They’re on Chen and Castilblanco’s minds too when they’re called in to solve the murder of an environmental activist. A Big Apple case soon becomes national and international, though, with Russia and an old nemesis of the detectives become involved in a multi-country hunt for the activist’s boyfriend. This is #7 in the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series.” It will be available in all ebook formats, as are the first six books in the series. Don’t miss it.

In libris libertas!

Let’s all work for a colorblind America and its extensions–racial, religious, health, and other rights must not take steps backward in these troubled times.  On a lighter note:

I think that novels that leave out technology misrepresent life as badly as Victorians misrepresented life by leaving out sex.—Kurt Vonnegut

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Silicon Slummin’…and Just Gettin’ By.  The Silicon Valley hasn’t seen anyone like Mary Jo Melendez, ex-USN Master-at-Arms, and she’s not sure she wants to stay there either. Readers met the MECHs (Mechanically Enhanced Cybernetic Humans) in Muddlin’ Through. Russia and the U.S. still want them and think Mary Jo knows where they are. But they have to compete with Mary Jo’s stalker. Unlike the first book in the series, this one doesn’t travel around the world, but the dangers for her might be worse. This mystery/suspense/thriller novel is available in all ebook formats.

In libris libertas!

…if you actually are an educated, thinking person, you will not be welcome in Washington, D.C. I know a couple of bright seventh graders who would not be welcome in Washington, D.C.—Kurt Vonnegut

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Muddlin’ Through. Mary Jo Melendez is an ex-USN Master-at-Arms who is ready to start her new civilian life as a security guard. She is framed for her sister and brother-in-law’s murders. This mystery/suspense/thriller novel describes how she works to clear her name and pay back the group that framed her. In the process, she discovers the MECHs, Mechanically Enhanced Cybernetic Humans, and an intense romance as she runs around the U.S., South America, and Europe. Available in all ebook formats through Amazon and Smashwords and its retailers.

In libris libertas!

No, I’m not channeling Salvador Dali. I’m referring to what I remember about a book I’ve read. I’m familiar with my own, of course, but it’s interesting how I remember others. Or don’t.

Have you ever started reading a book only to remember you’ve already read it? Sometimes I get fifty pages or more into a book when some part of it stimulates that realization. Other times it hits me in just a few pages. When that book is a used one I just happened to buy off a bargain cart, I don’t feel so bad compared to a hardbound someone paid good money for (not me these days—I’m way past $100 textbooks and even ebooks more than $5).

This persistence of memory is tricky. I remember books I disliked as well as ones I liked, maybe even more so. I remember negatives just as well as positives (Harry Potter was entertaining but Rowling is verbose; The Martian was clever but the details about potato farming dull and boring; and so forth). I remember antagonists as well as protagonists (Voldemort in Harry Potter; the mission manager in The Martian). I remember venues and situations (Harry Potter underwater; an impossible windstorm on Mars). And, of course, I remember clever plots and terrible ones.

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