Scott Skipper

Scott Skipper is a California fiction writer with a broad range of interests, including history, genealogy, travel, science and current events. His wry outlook on life infects his novels with biting sarcasm. Prisoners are never taken. Political correctness is taboo. His work includes historical fiction, alternative history, novelized biography, science fiction and political satire. He is a voracious reader and habitual and highly opinionated reviewer.

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Website: http://www.ScottSkipper.com
Twitter: @SSkipperAuthor
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• Mars is a Bummer, Man on July 05, 2011
  
  More than a great short story, Mars is a Bummer is a potent social commentary. The genre being secondary to the message, this novella will be enjoyed even by readers who never consider reading sci-fi. The writing is first class and technically excellent. I look forward to more offerings from Frank Severino.
  
• From the Shores of Morar to the Estrella on Aug. 11, 2011
  
  In spite of what was said by a self righteous woman in Scotland whose own work is syrupy with unreadable metaphors, I found "From Morar to Estrella" to be a delightful genealogy of the Mc Donalds who emigrated from the Scottish highlands to Nova Scotia and then to Central California. Bill Norin has invested years in combing period newspapers for anecdotal information that not only brings his ancestors to life but illuminates the times and places while revealing his ancestors as saloon keepers, sheep ranchers, wheat farmers and aiders and abettors of the Dalton gang.
  
• Secrets of the Golden Gate Bridge on Sep. 06, 2011
  
  Fact, fiction, humor, nonsense, curiosity, whimsy and scandal in all the right proportion is what you get from The Secrets of the Golden Gate. Knapp has compiled years of serious research and included the craziness he unearthed along the way. An excellent read—you'll be sorry when construction is finished.
  
• The Figures on Sep. 28, 2011
  (no rating)
  At least it was brief.
  
• The Ultimate Guide to Distinguish a Canadian from an American on Sep. 30, 2011
  
  Great little piece of work! I didn't know about the clothesline to Russia but I've been to Canada many times and swear the rest is true.
  
• Center Fire on March 04, 2012
  
  Astounding! One of the best stories I've read in years. It's in league with Daniel Silva and Nelson DeMille. Chris Mason has scored an extraordinary coup with his first offering. I can't wait to read his next. Center Fire is a highly polished spy thriller of mind boggling complexity, flawlessly delivered and as sophisticated as any I've ever read. If spies are your genre, get Center Fire now.
  
• Jazzberry and Fidget on March 10, 2012
  
  Chris Mason is brilliant. Jazzberry and Fidget is more than a children's story, it's a delightful little allegory about the shortsightedness of man that will appeal to anyone with a brain, a heart and a sense of humor. Mason's first offering was one of the best spy stories I ever read and this is the best fairytale. Please keep them coming.
  
• Castle in the Clouds on March 19, 2012
  
  A well crafted book with good character development especially a villainous sister of the main character. It's rather like an episode of Masterpiece Theatre. Having said that, I didn't finish it. It's simply not my style but those who gravitate to this genre should not be disappointed.
  
• The Keeper on March 26, 2012
  
  The Keeper is a haunting tale of Indian mysticism, impossible love, dark secrets and transcendence on the rock face. Written in a telegraphic style it pulls one across a wide terrain of emotional landscapes. When an author knows the reader well enough to make him squirm he has truly found his voice. John Kalnay tells a very potent story.
  
• Havana's Secret on April 07, 2012
  
  Mr. Goncarovs has a first class piece of work on his hands. Havana’s Secret weaves seemingly unrelated events into a convincing explanation of a century old mystery. The veracity of the narrative is uncanny. The reader becomes convinced that he is reading an eyewitness account of the outbreak of the Spanish American War. If historical fiction is your genre Havana’s Secret is for you.
  
• Once More, From the Beginning on April 14, 2012
  
  The Old Testament defined from a feminist viewpoint. I loved every irreverent minute of it. Ms. Bertsch has plenty of wit and a pointed explanation for all those odd passages that you previously had to take on faith.
  
• Convergence of Valor on April 18, 2012
  
  A stunning piece of work. Mr. Goncarovs displays three great gifts: a talent for meticulous research, a fluid, original style and the ability to recreate a period and place. The H.L. Hunley was the first submarine successfully used in war time. It has only recently been recovered from the bottom Charleston Bay, and as one who has seen the wreckage, I can say that I learned more about that bold Confederate experiment from Convergence of Valor than I did from examining the original artifact. As a writer of historical fiction Guntis Goncarovs is first class.
  
• Caumsett on April 22, 2012
  
  J.T. Kalnay has the eerie ability to put names and faces on the demons wailing in our souls. Then he dredges them from the murky past and installs them on Long Island. This paranormal tale pits an very ordinary man against a ghost driven by hundred year old remorse over lost love and betrayal, demonic possession, accelerated aging and his wife. The cards are certainly stacked against Bill Jones. This is an astonishing story that keeps you guessing until the end.
  
• Wild Sands on April 30, 2012
  
  Chris Mason seems to be able to write anything. Wild Sands is his fourth offering none which bear the least resemblance to one another. This is a relationship story wherein we are forced to deal with a single workaholic male who inexplicably refuses to sleep with a gorgeous woman who throws herself at him. Even his father pronounced him crazy. The problem is that he is creeping along the precipice with two women who run a bed and breakfast inn—one beautiful and outlandish, the other introspective and demure. The double bind is delicious. Poor Jason is just not equipped to deal with it.
  
• Scoundrel! on May 10, 2012
  
  “Scoundrel” is the American Revolution through the eyes of the most amoral, self serving, duplicitous, lying, cheating, thieving, ass licking miscreant in American History. General James Wilkinson narrates the war from an insider’s candid perspective. He reveals every wart, defect and wild hair residing on the lily white hides of our Revolutionary heroes, including his own. The story is clever, irreverent, humorous and convincing as it follows the career of a relatively obscure player in the revolutionary drama. You will find “Scoundrel” in the vein of Rousseau’s “Confessions” and Casanova’s autobiography but infinitely more readable. I might go so far as to call it the “Catch 22” of the revolutionary period. It’s a great piece of historical fiction that, were Stanley Kubrick still alive, would look great on the screen. I got a surprise at the end when I read Keith Thompson's bio and realized that he probably based his Wilkinson character on himself.
  
• The Pattern on May 18, 2012
  
  Can a video game hijack an airplane? Slightly juvenile programming genius, Craig Walsh knows it can and he knows he's responsible. What he doesn't know is how he's going to purge the virus from the autopilot software on every plane in the world. The Pattern is a brilliant piece of techno-sleuth drama with a perfectly balanced love angle. Mr. Kalnay has excelled with his character development in this 1990's period piece that is an ominous omen of the 9/11 attack. Once I took the hook I couldn't put it down.
  
• Dodging Shells on May 25, 2012
  
  There will probably never be a better war story than All Quiet on the Western Front, but Dodging Shells deserves to be on the same shelf. Ms. Bertsch has produced an extraordinary piece of work with this WWII tale told as a series of letters from a Canadian soldier to his twin sister. It’s a poignant, funny, honest and brilliant way to tell the story of the author’s father’s experiences as he and his Canadian comrades in arms fought their way from Sicily to northern Italy. Sometimes Corporal, sometimes Private Tommy Smith had a checkered military career fraught with chronic hunger, discomfort, disasters and constant danger which he candidly shares with sis. This isn’t just a war story, it’s a human story, and a world class piece of literature.
  
• STOLEN IN PARIS: The Lost Chronicles of Young Ernest Hemingway: The Indian Girl He Couldn't Forget on June 02, 2012
  
  This is the only book I ever bought for the cover. I was browsing for something to read and saw the same Indian maiden that I used on the cover of Family Traits. Figuring that we had something in common, I downloaded the sample, liked it and returned to buy the whole book. Imagine my consternation to see that the cover had been changed. Nevertheless, it’s an intriguing story, ostensibly the first person account of a summer spent with his family on the Michigan Upper Peninsula. I do think that Mr. Wyant has captured the voice of adolescent Hemingway. The Lost Chronicles has the same feel as the short stories he wrote that were set in the same area. Young Ernest has several rites of passage: first drink of whiskey, first shave, first Indian girl. I came away wishing for more of Prudence, the Indian girl, but that may just be my prurient nature. This quirky little tale will appeal to all Hemingway fans as well as fans of juvenile trysts with Indian maidens.
  
• Rebel Gray, Mountain Green on July 01, 2012
  
  It Can't Happen Here! Imagine a raid on a bucolic Vermont town by a wayward squad of Confederate Cavalry. Imagine "The Mouse That Roared" and "The Russians and Coming..." Imagine what it might look like if General Sherman invested Mayberry and Andy and Barney's great-grandfathers held him at bay with pitchforks. Absurdity is the beauty of this fictionalized account of a true event wherein a band of seasoned Rebel soldiers, at the instigation of John Wilkes Booth no less, capture a small town near the Canadian border and are resisted by carpenters, hostlers, bankers and boys. Rebel Gray, Mountain Green is a fabulous tale written in a superb clean and honest style, meticulously researched and richly illustrated with period images. Peter McKenna excels in character development and dialect. This is a story after my own heart and I'm green with envy that I didn't write it.
  
• Wild Bill Hickok; The True Story Of His Last Six Weeks on July 24, 2012
  
  I'm sorry to say that I had to put this one down. This book is ostensibly based on a journal kept by a young fan of Wild Bill when he traveled to Deadwood to meet his idle. The journal is claimed to be written in old west dialect. I'll take that on faith, but I've never heard anyone talk the way this dialect reads. That's what put me off. The jargon is too heavy and the pace dies with the Hickok fan's girl friend (and she came on to him a little too boldly for credibility) trying to improve his manner of speaking. I wish Mr. Goldstein would redo this book and tweak the dialog. I'd love to give it a second chance.
  
• No Plans for Love on July 27, 2012
  
  Sherry Winette is a young woman who has a difficult life and is overly fond of potato chips. Being raised by a dysfunctional, unwed mother and never knowing who her father was has made her supremely independent—perhaps too independent for her own good. Then, out of the blue, her beloved but estranged grandmother dies and leaves Sherry the house where she lived until she was hauled away by her mother to avoid a threat of molestation. At nineteen she is finally free of her mother’s hellish grasp and ready to start a meticulously planned future in her own, completely empty house. Enter handsome Mark and wealthy Elena—Mark instantly falls in love with Sherry and Elena tries to kill her, her parasitic mother reappears and those plans crash all about her. No Plans for Love is a well designed story full of suspense and emotion. It’s more mystery than romance and more general interest than chick lit. It got me hooked and I’m a crusty old man.
  
• Two Matadors on July 31, 2012
  
  Brilliant! Antonio Castañeda de Castilla knows everything there is to know about bulls and women. As had been foretold by his gypsy wife, he meets a young American in the bull ring at Sevilla who he persuades—with copious amounts of rare wine—to record his biography. In the course of one night the old matador relates to his mesmerized chronicler the story of a remarkable life—a life of love lost, regained and lost again. He tells of a life brimming with lust, danger, and circuitous twists of fate and faith. Antonio is a twin, an indomitable spirit, a hero, a betrayer, a victim, an adventurer and a tireless voluptuary. This story has shades of Death in the Afternoon, Prince and the Pauper, and Amor en el Tiempo de Colera. Marcus McGee's prose is phenomenal. I was hooked in the first paragraph.
  
• The Weeping Empress on Aug. 03, 2012
  
  Imagine a modern housewife and mother wakes under strange skies, the last thing she remembers is having a glass of wine while she loads the dishwasher. When she is fully awake she finds that she is in the midst of a battle. Two samurai warriors are attempting to save a cluster of refugees from a larger band of warriors. What else can she do? She joins the fight. Chiyo discovers that she is in Dashkalil, which is curiously similar to feudal Japan. The two samurai conduct the refugees and Chiyo to “safety” and along the way they develop a bond with the mysterious foreign woman. They train her in the use of the sword and as word of her mercenary exploits spread it is rumored that she is fulfilling a prophesy of the Sacerdotisa cult. Sadie S. Forsythe has created an extraordinarily imaginative story and executed it masterfully. It has shades Edgar Rice Burroughs' Martian series, Poe's Tale of the Ragged Mountains and even The Twilight Zone. It is reminiscent of the work of Robert Heinlein and Ursula K. LeGuin. The Weeping Empress challenges categorization. It is certainly action and adventure. It’s perhaps science fiction and might be thought of as fantasy. It even hints of historical fiction and psychological thriller. I can’t praise it enough. It’s simply brilliant.
  
• Legitimate Issues on Aug. 07, 2012
  
  Legitimate Issues is a slick story set in contemporary London. A pair of identical twins complicate a hit man's job. A greedy lawyer is sucked into the web of intrigue cast by a ruthless tycoon and Chuckles, the dog, makes a new friend. This is fast paced, light and funny. Cassandra DeBrown has a gift for characters and felonious machinations.
  
• The Point on Sep. 18, 2012
  
  Multifaceted Intrigue The Point has as many facets as the amazing lighthouse lens which is one of the several illustrations in this irresistible tale. Sierra is the winsome, beautiful, slightly spinsterish keeper of a hundred and fifty year old lighthouse on a remote piece of the fog bound California coast. Charles Ginetti is a rich, somewhat nerdy Silicon Valley entrepreneur and definitely not a sailor. However, when his father dies leaving his beloved sailboat and ship's logs, something powerful compels Charles to sail alone from Santa Cruz to San Francisco. A Pacific storm wrecks him at the Pigeon Point lighthouse which is completely isolated from civilization as much by its remoteness as the stormed damaged road. Sierra and the Portuguese couple who assist her reluctantly give him shelter until he can find a way back to reality. But does he want to go? The events that carry The Point to its stunning conclusion are a brilliant meld of romance, adventure, loss, redemption, wit and the paranormal. JT Kalnay has outdone himself. Do not miss this one.
  
• The Undeclared War on Sep. 24, 2012
  
  Police chief, Jonas Petraitis desperately tries to protect his family, friends and all the peaceful citizens of Kaunas, Lithuania, from the rape and plunder of Stalin's Red Army. Meanwhile, partisans hide in the forest committing acts of sabotage as their meager arms allow. Many people would be hard pressed to name the Baltic States and some would assume Lithuania was always one of the Soviet Republics, but that's not the case. Lithuania is an ancient kingdom and was an autonomous republic at the outbreak of World War II. That came to a tragic end when Hitler and Stalin conspired to divide Eastern Europe between their spheres of influence. This chilling account of the Soviet occupation of the Lithuania reads as if an eyewitness was telling it. Barry Flanagan has captured not only the terror of the occupied citizens and the brutality of the marauding Soviets; he also transports us to the place where it happened. The imagery, the detail, the street names, the descriptions of the buildings fools the reader into believing he has seen the places where the story unfolds, and the characters are flesh and blood people who might just knock on the door at any time to share a glass of vodka. The Undeclared War is a masterwork that ranks with the historical fiction of Jeff Shaara and Ken Follet.
  
• Heroin Guns on Oct. 13, 2012
  
  Vince and Cat are under deep cover in Afghanistan. Vince's persona is Kochi, a humble Pashto speaking Muslim with a switchblade in his turban. Cat finds a burqa the perfect disguise that can even conceal an AK47 when necessary. Vince is haunted by the terrible role that heroin played in his childhood. Cat is the quintessential heroine who can cut a mujahidin's throat, hack a computer and fix tea without breaking a sweat. So when a tribal warlord plots to topple the Afghan government and frame the American president, this unlikely husband and wife team is dispatched by the ultra secret PSF to thwart the scheme. Since drug money finances the plan, Vince's moral outrage is making him reckless. Fortunately, Cat has his back. Heroin Guns is slick and gritty at the same time. The characters are engaging. Action leaps from every page leaving the reader anxious for more.
  
• Telmenu Saimnieks - The Lord of Telmeni on Oct. 21, 2012
  
  Telmenu Saimnieks - The Lord of Telmeni has four things that appeal to me. The first is the work of Guntis Goncarovs, the second is historical fiction, third is genealogy and since reading Norman Davies' massive Vanished Kingdoms, I've been intrigued by the teetering fate of the Balkans. This story compiled of family lore and personal exploration tells of the shameful treatment of Latvia at the hands of the Germans and the Russians around the time of the First World War. Mr. Goncarovs' handling of the matter is intensely personal. His characters thread their way through the dichotomy of shifting alliances balancing loyalty and survival with duty and independence. The fate of the three small and fiercely proud countries that were trapped for decades between the maws of their bellicose and voracious neighbors is a compelling story for anyone with a fondness for history. This tale of the struggles of the Vechi family during a time of crisis is not only moving and unforgettable, it's a fast paced and powerful war story. has four things that appeal to me. The first is the work of Guntis Goncarovs, the second is historical fiction, third is genealogy and since reading Norman Davies' massive Vanished Kingdoms, I've been intrigued by the teetering fate of the Balkans. This story compiled of family lore and personal exploration tells of the shameful treatment of Latvia at the hands of the Germans and the Russians around the time of the First World War. Mr. Goncarovs' handling of the matter is intensely personal. His characters thread their way through the dichotomy of shifting alliances balancing loyalty and survival with duty and independence. The fate of the three small and fiercely proud countries that were trapped for decades between the maws of their bellicose and voracious neighbors is a compelling story for anyone with a fondness for history. This tale of the struggles of the Vechi family during a time of crisis is not only moving and unforgettable, it's a fast paced and powerful war story.
  
• The War Widow on Nov. 23, 2012
  
  A masterful piece of work! The War Widow is the story of the Nuremburg trails so one wouldn't expect the ending to be a surprise, but it is. Mr. Durham has woven multiple threads of intrigue into his finely executed version of a familiar piece of history. His knowledge and expression of military life propels the reader right into the scene and the character development is top notch from his handling of Herrmann Goering to the despicable Colonel Gaffner. The reader feels as though he's known these people all his life. The prose is compelling, the pace brisk and, as I said, the ending jerks the rug out from under you.
  
• Charleston Murders on Dec. 04, 2012
  
  Meet Alexis Dorchester, Charleston socialite, heiress and pampered Southern Belle. Her husband is gay, the love of her life is a black eunuch, her son is a mulatto, her father is a murderous bigot and her servants are her stepsiblings—certainly colorful living arrangements. Charleston Murders is a tale of segregation, treachery and mayhem that covers the time period from the 1920's to present. It is told in the form of a deathbed confession and it's rather long, so it was surely a slow painful death. The narration is a folksy southern dialect which initially put me off, but in very few pages it began to speak to my inner redneck. I continued avidly to the climax of the story then I began to hope for a merciful death. It's a very good book until the aforementioned climax, then its voice changes and it becomes somewhat maudlin and self-indulgent. In my frank opinion it would be improved were it pruned by about twenty-five percent.
  
• Memoirs of a Reluctant Archaeologist: A Novel on Dec. 30, 2012
  
  Elise Marquette, archeologist/anthropologist, with a passion for human bones, is stuck in a "go nowhere" job doing archeological assessments for oil companies and the military. Her days are spent mired in conflict with workmates, bureaucrats safety managers and the myriad of regulations that kill productivity in twenty-first century industry and degrades the quality of life itself. Elise's dysfunctional family rates twelve on a scale of ten and she has resigned herself to a life of lonely celibacy—and then there's that comfort food thing. It looks like Elise will being spending all of her days trudging around with the mosquitoes under the blazing sun on the prairies and through the muskegs of western Canada, forever, wearing a day glow vest, hardhat and steel toed boots while lugging a ream of safety forms. Then she spends a single afternoon in Galway with an Irish archeologist named Gavin. This is not a romance. I don't read romance. It is frankly a memoir, fictionalized I presume, and I surprised myself by becoming engrossed so early in the story, but then again, it has many things I like: archeology, wit, government bashing, and bears. Memoirs are by definition a first person narrative and it is the strength of Elise's character that makes this book irresistible. She is a cynical, foulmouthed, girl-next-door that the reader, of either gender, simply wants to get to know. For those who have tried to do business in the brave new world of over-regulation, Elise is a kindred spirit. For those who haven't had the pleasure, this is an insight into the absurdity of modern society. Everyone will relate to her trials with co-workers and family. It's a quirky story that's well worth the price of admission.
  
• Obsession For Vengeance on Jan. 28, 2013
  
  JT Kalnay is such a romantic guy that in one of his books even dead people fell in love. Imagine my surprise to find that he wrote a book about pure evil! Meet Hank Adams, perfect psychopath. He is a serial rapist, mass murderer, computer hacker and domestic terrorist. With his partner, Elsa—big breasted blond nymphomaniac—he commits a series of terrorist attacks that are eerily prognostic of the 9/11 attack. Obsession for Vengeance was written in the early nineties, but describes more than one event similar to things that actually happened in the years between then and now. The depth of JT's military knowledge lends credibility to this tale of one maniac's obsession for vengeance against society and a woman. It also serves to demonstrate some rather gaping flaws in our military and political thinking. If you like a little apocalypse now and then, Obsession for Vengeance is a sure bet.
  
• Hitler Stopped by Franco on March 05, 2013
  
  Nothing Less Than Superb Burt Boyar and his late wife had extraordinary access to intimate details of an obscure piece of World War II history. Most Americans' view of Generalísimo Franco is of an implacable Fascist dictator who ran Spain with an iron hand for nearly forty years. That may be true enough, but "Hitler Stopped by Franco" shows us that he had another facet. Imagine being the supreme leader of civil war torn, impoverished and helpless Spain with divisions of Wehrmacht amour parked on your border and Hitler continually whining, cajoling and demanding access to Gibraltar through your sovereign territory. With Spain totally defenseless, Franco had to play the ultimate cat and mouse game. He had to convince Hitler of his friendship, and that he would join the Axis 'any day now' while he kept relief coming from the Allies with assurances of maintaining strict neutrality. For three years he managed to walk this tightrope. The Boyars were able to interview actual players in this tableau who were present at high-stakes meetings with the world's most dangerous men. The depth of the research behind this story is uncanny. Written in the form of historical fiction, this fascinating history reads like a suspense novel. The characterization of Franco will give the reader a new perspective of the man who saved Spain twice. I cannot give this book enough praise.
  
• Blessed on March 13, 2013
  
  "Blessed" is the memoir of a truly remarkable person. Burt Boyar has led an enviable life. After serendipitously becoming close friends with Sammy Davis, Jr., Burt abandoned a successful career as a Broadway columnist to form a three-way collaboration with his wife, Jane, and the ground-breaking entertainer, the fruit of which was the autobiography of Sammy Davis, Jr. Horror stories of five years of toil and more years of editorial battles sent chills through this writer's veins, but eventually, the result was a bestseller, "Yes, I Can". Then a nine-month sojourn in the south of Spain to research a new book led the Boyars into the bizarre coincidence of having the daughter of the fascist dictator, Franco, for their landlady. Spain captured their hearts, as it does to so many, and nine months turned into twenty-eight years, the product of which was a novel about Franco putting a stop to Hitler's designs on Spain and Gibraltar. The source of the material for "Hitler Stopped by Franco" came from the extraordinary access that the Boyars had with the Franco family—talk about luck! As an afterward, "Blessed" ends with a posthumous letter to Sammy in heaven wherein Burt details the frustrations he is experiencing in his attempt to turn "Yes, I Can" into a major motion picture. Again my blood ran cold. Memoirs seldom grab my interest, but "Blessed" tells a great story. I had the enormous good fortune to meet Burt when he graciously received my wife and me in his West LA home. Rarely have I had the opportunity to meet a person so full of wit and charm. He shared anecdotes from his amazing life with us for a fascinating hour, at the end of which it wasn't Burt who rushed us to the door, like fools, we had to be elsewhere. "Blessed" brims with joy, frustration, a little sadness, humility, warmth and all of the heavy hitters of the post-war era. I got to meet Burt in the flesh. Now, I invite everyone to meet him in "Blessed"
  
• I Took Panama: The Story of Philippe Bunau-Varilla on March 27, 2013
  
  A feisty little French engineer named Philippe Bunau-Varilla inspired by the enormous success and prestige derived from the recently completed Suez Canal, became obsessed with the building of the Panama Canal. Obsessed to the point of fomenting the Panamanian rebellion against Columbia and financing it with his personal fortune—a fortune made in the failed attempt by France to dig the canal. This examination of the building of the canal is seen from a unique point of view. Bunau-Varilla's audacity, determination and ingenuity is a lesson in perseverance, without which the Panama Canal could very well have been German. Consider the ramifications of that!
  
• Yo Tomé Panamá on March 27, 2013
  
  Un ingeniero francés, pequeño y belicoso, llamado Philippe Bunau-Varilla, inspirado por el enorme éxito y el prestigio derivado del recientemente completado canal de Suéz, se obsesionó por la idea de construir el canal de Panamá hasta el punto de fomentar la revolución independista contra Columbia (financiándola con su fortuna personal—fortuna ganada durante el intento fallido francés de excavar el canal). El análisis sobre la construcción del canal se hace desde un punto de vista distinto. La audacia, determinación y habilidad de Bunau-Varilla es una verdedera lección de perseverancia sin la cual posiblemente el canal panameño hubiera sido controlado por Alemania. ¡Considérense las ramificaciones de esa posibilidad!
  
• Uncontrollable on April 15, 2013
  
  Buenaventura García, 101-year-old Spanish anarchist, narrates his life story to his great-grandson. Forced into exile by the Spanish Civil War, he begins a journey that lands him in nearly every prison and labor camp in Europe and Asia. The story reaches its climax in a metaphysical experience induced by hallucinogenic mares' milk offered by a Siberian shaman with whom he was having a sexual liaison in the Soviet Gulag. "Uncontrollable" and I developed a love-hate relationship. It is an intriguing tale, well paced, and Buenaventura García offers the reader a highly engaging narrative. It is, however, told with a British accent where one would expect the voice to be Spanish. From a personal viewpoint my inner anarchist could only bond with part of Buenaventura's politics. He longs to exist in a Utopian sort of workers' paradise free of government, free of capitalism, free of property, free of religion and never questions the validity of the concept despite witnessing firsthand the abject failure of the Stalinist model. Late in life he survives on reparations from both the Spanish and German governments but apparently sees no hypocrisy in this. The book ends with a series of bizarre twists that leave the reader's head spinning and wondering if somehow he had ingested some of the shaman's mares' milk.
  
• Invisible Scars on May 09, 2013
  
  A beautiful Texas oil heiress, a Spanish Duke, an inconvenient relationship, the emotional damage of the Civil War; Invisible Scars weaves a spellbinding web of binds and double binds, loss, redemption, fabulous wealth and anarchy. America Harvey makes a big mistake by marrying her childhood sweetheart, the result of which is the loss of her only child. She flees with her despair all the way to the south of Spain where she and el Duque del Castillo de Tarifa fall irreconcilably in love despite his wife, eight children and unwavering, divorce forbidding Catholicism. This is the story of a remarkable heroine who endures adversity, is left bereft and ultimately triumphs. The story is complex and encompasses the time from the Spanish Civil War to the post-Franco era. Besides being a love story and a war story, it offers a window into Spanish culture, going as far as to present the dialogue with the idiomatic flavor of the Spanish language. Burt Boyer had intimate access to Spanish nobility and he comes to this extraordinary piece of work with impeccable credentials. Invisible Scars is a brilliantly conceived and executed tale of epic proportions.
  
• The Flats on July 07, 2013
  
  A loner, not good in relationships, has his life complicated by larger than life events completely beyond his control. He retreats to the derelict confluence of the Cuyahoga River and Lake Erie in the heart of decaying Cleveland. There he insulates himself for eighteen years until the world begins to creep into his rustbelt fortress. The Flats is a story of wrestling with demons both internal and external and how one engaging survivalist deals with them. Written in a bold, multi-viewpoint style, The Flats jumps off the starting line and never looks back. This may be JT Kalnay's best to date and that is a pretty big statement.
  
• When The Fox Dies Even The Rabbit Weeps on July 10, 2013
  
  A wise-ass Italian-Jew detective from Chicago on temporary assignment in Shanghai in 1930 witnesses the kidnapping of a blue-eyed Chinese girl on his way to work—then the story really gets exotic. "When the Fox Dies Even the Rabbit Weeps" is one of those character driven mysteries that you fall in love with in the first five pages. Detective Jake Puccini has four days left in his unprecedented, and unwanted, detective exchange between the Chicago and Shanghai police—four days to solve a serial murder case, a faked suicide and the aforementioned kidnapping. His savvy and irreverent voice engages the reader and never lets go. Edgar Bailitis has concocted a tale on par with "Chinatown" and if we could resurrect John Huston I'd stand in line to see the movie. This enormously complex plot is kept orderly by a constant banter from the protagonist with the reader. Jake never lets us lose track of a single red herring or shady character as he races to untangle his conundrum while the clock ticks on the term of his unpleasant exile in the multinational protectorate of Shanghai during the inter-war era. This book is for fans of mysteries, detectives, spies, miscreants, gangsters, and of course, history.
  
• To the Shores of Tripoli on July 15, 2013
  
  Face it! The United States is at war with Islam and has been since 1802. That was when Thomas Jefferson sent the Marines to Tripoli to put a stop to the depredations of the Barbary Pirates. I would like to thank Colonel Jonathan Brazee, USMC (Ret.) for illuminating a little known piece of American history. Most of us are vaguely aware that this distant war was the genesis of the U.S. Navy and the Marine Corps but what actually happened is usually left unsaid. The depth of Colonel Brazee’s research is evident from the first page. He describes in convincing detail the campaigns of the war through the eyes of three fictional characters and a narrator. Each player has a unique voice rich with period dialect, which admittedly is a bit thick at times, but nevertheless adds much early nineteenth century nuance. (I even learned some new words.) The pace is excellent and I was frankly glued to the narrative. I appreciate the history lesson and highly recommend it.
  
• If the South Won Gettysburg on July 30, 2013
  
  "If the South Won Gettysburg" is a fascinating tale in three parts. It begins as a meticulous retelling of the beginning of the battle then turns into a highly plausible description of how events might have developed had Lee listened to Longstreet’s suggestion of a flanking maneuver. The resulting invented troop movements and skirmishes read like truth. The outcome as told by Mark Nesbitt appears to be precisely how things would have been if one decision by Lee were taken differently. The third part of the story is a rapid narration of subsequent worldwide reaction to a Confederate victory. All speculation feels reasonable and logical. This is the type of cerebral exercise that history enthusiasts will find intriguing and amusing. Plus, there is a message that twenty-first century readers would be remiss to ignore.
  
• Yes I Can: the story of Sammy Davis Jr on Oct. 03, 2013
  
  Yes I Can is, first, the story of a remarkable entertainer as told to his close friends, Jane and Burt Boyar, in the 1960’s. It is also a frank, painful and intimate exposé of racism as it existed during the lifetime of Sammy Davis, Jr. as well as an insider’s look at the day-to-day lives of the brightest luminaries in show business. The twenty-first century reader who is sufficiently padded with years will recall with dismay the days of institutionalized segregation. Although it has diminished, racism has by no means vanished and it may well be resurging in our society that is increasingly diverse and polarized. Sammy Davis speaks personally and honestly of the racial attacks coming at him from both white and black societies, beginning with his childhood in Harlem through the Civil Rights era when he was one of the most loved and highest paid entertainers in the world. Burt Boyar’s uncanny excellence as a writer leaves one marveling at how any author is able to capture such depth of emotion using another man’s voice. Yes I Can is told as much in Sammy Davis’ hip lingo of the Jazz Era as in his extremely articulate English that belies his total lack of formal education. This is a fast-paced story that takes no prisoners and challenges the reader to keep up as the pages fly and insights unfold into the life of a performer without equal.
  
• Angels in the Darkness: A Family's Triumph over Hitler and World War II Berlin, 1935-1949 on Oct. 19, 2013
  
  Angels in the Darkness is a stunning achievement resulting from felicitous access to remarkable primary source material. This is the memoir of a woman who was ten years old in 1939 and living in Berlin. The Bolle family was wealthy, well-known and respected, living in the prestigious suburb of Dahlem from whence Jewish families began to flee after the Kristallnacht, and into those derelict houses first came high-ranking Nazis, and later American officers. Jutta Bolle went to school with Himmler’s daughter and Field Marshall Keitel lived around the corner! The insight Jutta shares about the family’s fear of the Nazis, the terror of the bombing and the arrival of the Russians is both warm and chilling. Her voice is real and carries the reader right into the events that she witnessed with her description of daily life in wartime Germany. She is both engaging and appealing, and her narrative strips bare many popularly held ideas of this formative period of human disaster. Lisa Farringer Parker’s masterpiece will engross history buffs, war story aficionados, and human-interest fans equally. It’s an unforgettable read!
  
• Lena's Bequest on Jan. 03, 2014
  
  Gardening was all that Lena had in mind when she rented an isolated house in the empty flatland of Northwestern Ohio. That changed abruptly the day an elderly stranger with an eastern European accent startled her while she was tilling the soil. That unnerving event set in motion a deadly treasure hunt populated hick sheriffs, a Russian mobster and his rapine grandsons, spies, refugees and the specter of her absent father. Karl, the mysterious stranger, fed Lena, in tidbits, a story of her late father’s astounding life and unlikely bequest. Lena is a very capable young woman with street smarts who never really trusts Karl, as well she shouldn’t, but the lure of a treasure hunt and the credibility lent to it by the attention of mobsters tempts her to go along. Karl insists that the search must begin in New York City where Lena is stunned to learn that she owns healthy bank accounts and a midtown apartment. Then the trail gets hot. Lena’s Bequest is told in flashbacks to Stalin’s purges in the Ukraine. The story of her father’s escape from murder, starvation, deportation and his eventual flight to the west is a disturbingly truthful look at the conditions in, and as a result of, the Gulag. How the atrocities of those decades of institutionalized starvation, slavery, torture and murder might impact a modern woman grappling with life in twenty-first century America is a highly plausible and fascinating tale. Paul Ross has an extremely well written and researched book that will appeal to history lovers, fans of action and suspense as well as readers who like a strong female lead character.
  
• The End of Texas on March 20, 2014
  
  This is not really a novel. It is a philippic written by a far left radical who quotes history selectively to further his agenda. Juan Batista is a pseudonym and I for one think that if you write something intentionally inflammatory, you ought to put your own name on it. When the book finally devolves into its alternative history aspect it is a worst case of a story being told not shown. The writing is conversational, in fact preaching. In its context, it is well written with relatively few errors although the eBook edition has many formatting issues. The content, however, insults the intelligence of the reader. The author states en clair that if you are born white you are a racist. He proudly asserts that his ancestors resided in the territory that became Texas before Sam Houston and Stephen Austin arrived. If that is so, why does he still insist that he is a Mexican after correctly proclaiming that Mexican is not a race but a nationality? My ancestors were Indians who joined the mainstream and became unhyphenated Americans. The writer wails endlessly over how poorly minorities are treated in the United States but cannot embrace the simple truth of join the mainstream or self-marginalize. He further asserts that all who disapprove of the government are traitors, but as a self-proclaimed expert in history ignores that band of traitors who founded this country. I laughed aloud when I read his statement that nobody manages health care better than the government. But the most contemptible, mindboggling contention made by a seemingly intelligent and educated—if myopic—individual is that somehow the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution is not a guarantee of states’ and individuals’ rights, but is a license to expand the federal government. I recommend everyone read this book to understand more fully the real threat today to the American way of life.
  
• Hitler's Children on May 10, 2014
  
  When Carlos the Jackal joins forces with the Red Army Faction (RAF) with the intention of toppling the West German government, Inspector Rainer Lombach of the Anti-Terrorist Task Force is stretched to the breaking point. He is forced to deal with two murders, a high profile kidnapping and a hijacked airliner while balancing reconciliation with his estranged wife. Then Carlos and his multinational gang plot the coup de grâce. Hitler’s Children is a true to life tale of terrorist activities in Europe during the seventies. The realism of Ralph Young’s story shows tremendous depth of knowledge of the topic and the setting. The characters and the plot are richly developed making this is a first class detective story. The prose is excellent and flows beautifully, there is however, just too much of it. My personal taste tends toward fast-paced fiction and there were times when I became impatient reading details that I believe were not necessary to advance the story. Those who love to be drawn into the scene by intimate description will be delighted with the sumptuous minutiae. Hitler’s Children is a very interesting read no matter your pace preference.
  
• Pirates or Patriots on June 08, 2014
  
  What if your uncle told you that he and your father killed Bonnie Parker? Jeb is naturally skeptical of this and some other tall tales about Jean Lafitte and Andrew Jackson, but he has been tasked with writing a book and he is a history professor, so he delves into these matters, if somewhat reluctantly. Well, it seems that three English brothers, left with no means of support, join the King’s infantry only to desert when faced with the prospect of fighting in the War of 1812. When privateers attack the ship on which they stowed away, they are faced with the prospect of hanging or joining the pirates. The choice is simple and they soon discover that being in the employ of Jean Lafitte is not a bad life. Enter Charlotte, down on her luck and destitute in New Orleans. Ephraim, spellbound by her beauty, literally bumps into her, but fails to prevent robbers from stealing all her possessions. Then the governor decides it is time to sweep the pirates from his state at the same time that the British attempt to enlist Lafitte’s assistance in their invasion of New Orleans, the loss of which threatens the entire Union. This complex and compelling story of a man discovering the astonishing truth about his ancestors, and a pivotal battle in the history of a young country that actually took place after the end of the war, is a masterwork of tension and suspense. L.D. Watson has brought the period to life and carries the reader to the French Quarter before there was a statue of Jackson in the square that bears his name. The prose is magnificent, the characters wonderfully developed, and the aforementioned tension, keeps the pages turning. I was hooked from page one, and happily, the ending makes it clear that there is sequel in the works.
  
• Mission to Morocco on June 12, 2014
  
  Sam Bradford joined the Army rather than wait to be drafted. It was 1944 and the draft was inevitable for able-bodied young men, but after enlisting, Sam got recruited by the newly formed intelligence agency, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). His first mission was to kidnap a Nazi collaborator code named the Viper from a sleepy seaside town in French Morocco. Arriving, curiously by blimp, Sam assumes his undercover persona and begins stalking his prey. On his first pass at identifying the Viper he encounters Mireille, a lovely and charming French Moroccan who engages him in a probing conversation. When Sam succeeds in snatching his quarry and spirits him off to London, he has good luck interrogating him and learns of a whole nest of informers in Port Lyautey. So back to Morocco he goes to nab the rest and perhaps the Gestapo colonel who runs them, all the while keeping Mireille in the back of his mind. If your taste runs to deep, rich descriptive writing that paints a mental picture of the setting and the detailed actions of the characters, then Mission to Morocco is for you. The plot is intriguing and realistic. JR Rogers depth of knowledge of the subject and the locale is clearly profound. The characters are well developed except, in this reader’s opinion, the main character, Sam. This juvenile James Bond lacks a personality. The bulk of his conversation is, “Yes, sir. No, sir. I won’t, sir.” A bit more dash and savoir-faire would have been helpful. The ending is true to life, but for a work of fiction, it is perhaps a little loose ended and unsatisfying. But I won’t reveal it, you will have to discover it for yourself.
  
• The Declaration: Tales From a Revolution - South-Carolina on July 23, 2014
  
  Katie Harris, near modern day Charleston, is helping her grandmother clear her house in preparation for moving into a nursing home. Starting in the attic Katie finds an ancient trunk bearing the name ‘Elizabeth Harris.’ Inside she finds letters and documents dating to the Revolutionary period. An historian from the university arrives to authenticate them and uncovers an even more earth-shattering and plan changing discovery. Nearly two-hundred and fifty years earlier Justin Harris ekes a living on his tobacco farm on the same piece of land that Katie’s Gram occupies today, however, his dreams of peace and prosperity are haunted by the growing rebellion. Risking all by joining the Whigs’ cause, Justin earns a commendation for his heroism in defense of Charles Town, but it comes with hefty price. This homey tale continues relating the stories of two generations of the Harris family separated by more than two centuries. Being a fan of both history and genealogy, this book had much appeal for me. I am also greatly enamored of Charleston and the Low Country in general, so all aspects of The Declaration were calling me. However, I must offer a constructive criticism: the dialogue is unconvincing. The characters never speak to one another without referring to each other by name. If a husband and wife are talking, how frequently do they call each other by their proper names? I was particularly bothered by the conversation of the slave, Terrance, who spoke like he had been educated at Eton and referred to Justin as “Mister Harris” instead of “Massa.” Ignoring the overly formal speech and the political correctness, Lar D.H. Hedbor’s Declaration is worthy of attention.
  
• Final Victory on Aug. 17, 2014
  
  Wade Brogan, Jr., hard-bitten San Francisco detective, suspects that dementia is the source of his failing father’s fanciful tales about his career in the Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps during the development of the atom bomb. Then a Russian derelict, well-padded with years, is found dead in a Tenderloin flophouse. His room is stacked with shoeboxes full of yellowed documents, many of which bear the fading red stamp, “Top Secret.” The shroud of skepticism drops from his father’s ramblings about his mother having been a Soviet spy. Over an evening of beers he shares with his fellow cops the story of how the Japanese and the Russians nearly vaporized the City by the Bay but for the frantic scrambling of Wade Brogan, Sr. It is a little known fact that the Manhattan Project assembled four nuclear weapons before the end of the Second World War. One, of course, was tested at Trinity Site, New Mexico, and one each were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as we all know. The last was held in secrecy for use in the event that Japan did not unconditionally surrender. Phillip Bosshardt postulates how close to catastrophe we might have come if the Russians and the Japanese had cooperated on information gleaned from the sieve-like security surrounding America’s mad dash to perfect an atom bomb. This epic length saga tells a chilling tale that rings true at each convolution of plot. The historical backdrop is expertly woven, the characters fully developed and the pace nearly perfect. All fans of historical fiction and alternative history are going to love Final Victory.
  
• A Dead-Game Sport on Dec. 19, 2014
  
  Riley Grannan was a bookie. He so excelled at his craft that he could earn a fortune in an afternoon, or lose one. Eleven-year-old Dayton Shannon was the motherless son of an abusive father until his Uncle Tom agreed to teach him the ropes of bookmaking. Dayton had a natural affinity and his uncle taught him well enough that the renowned Riley Grannan hired him to assist in his betting operation. At the age of twelve Day got to travel the racing circuit, see the world and earn more in a year than in a lifetime of shining shoes at the train station. This is the most peculiar book that I ever enjoyed. Many years ago I learned that horseracing is not only a beautiful spectacle, but it is a beautiful way to lose money. Since I shun the odds makers much of the bookmakers’ jargon was lost on me—I don’t even fully understand the title—and I can’t deny that one-hundred and twenty year old racing statistics are an arcane topic, but this story is irresistible. It is told from multiple viewpoints that at times made it hard to remember who was telling the story, and it is not conventionally edited, but none of that detracted from my enjoyment. The characters carry this tale of high stakes, fast living, corruption and redemption in the 1890’s. It is a nostalgic look at racing from the standpoint of that often-unsavory character, the bookie.
  
• Pursuit of Passy on Dec. 19, 2014
  
  Peter Claydon, Flight Lieutenant in the RAF, nearly walked in on an SS beating and murder of a British radar technician. A French Nazi collaborator with access to top secret radar technology and two German thugs were attempting to beat classified information from the hapless Englishman. Claydon stumbles upon the scene seconds after the shooting—nearly getting himself shot—and receives a message from the dying man. The message excites a great deal of interest in the intelligence community. Then, a week later, Claydon spots the same French turncoat in the background of a photograph taken from the body of a Luftwaffe pilot. Being the only person able to recognize this dangerous traitor, Claydon is assigned the task of assassinating M. Passy. He is then sent back to France in the company of the daring M. Carnac to locate and eliminate this threat to the secret of that vital new defensive weapon, radar. This extraordinary story has an equally extraordinary history. D.M. Crook was the grandfather of the modern day publisher of Pursuit of Passy. He has chosen to offer this magnificent book for free which deeply puzzles this reviewer. It is a noteworthy piece of fiction with intrinsic value and I would have been happy to pay for it. In league with Fredrick Forsythe and Ken Follet, Pursuit of Passy is a great book that deserves commensurate attention.
  
• The Marmo Method Modelbuilding Guide #4: How To Make Your Own Decals on May 11, 2015
  
  If you are a serious model builder, you need this book. You will benefit from it even if you only want to learn about tweaking and printing high quality images. Richard Marmo, professional model builder, also offers comparative insight into various types and printers and reveals a secret about how to save money on ink cartridges. There is also a brief Photoshop tutorial that taught me a thing or two. Make Your Own Decals is a very interesting and informative ‘how to’ book that is written in an engaging conversational style with warmth and humor. It offers a lot more than how to make your own decals, although the depth of that topic is vast.
  
• Flashman and Madison's War on July 02, 2015
  
  Captain Thomas Flashman was a self-confessed coward. He unwittingly found himself fighting the upstart Americans alongside of Iroquois warriors on the Canadian side of the Great Lakes during the war of 1812—Madison’s War. Although cowardly, Flashman was cunning and managed to present himself in a good light to superior officers. This has the unfortunate effect of keeping him on the front lines. While trying to prevent an enraged warrior from cleaving his skull with a tomahawk, he accidentally converts the savage Indian into a faithful friend who watches his back and spares him from numerous life threatening encounters. Simultaneously the tide of the war in America turned against the British and the European conflict with France suddenly ended. This happy news meant that Continental troops would soon relieve the beleaguered British forces in Canada. Flashman saw a route home to England. But his hopes were cruelly dashed and he returned to the solace of the Mennonite girl who he rescued from an abusive husband more than twice her age. Flashman and Madison’s War is an easygoing book that I originally branded as slow, but I persevered and soon fell into the story’s pace. The character Flashman is an engaging creation who will set his own hook in reader’s interest. His unabashed self-assessment that he is a cowardly lying opportunist who wants nothing more than to stay alive and enjoy living to the fullest, quickly endears him to the reader. Robert Brightwell has retold an obscure part of an obscure war from a British point of view with remarkable accuracy and detail through the eyes of a fictional character with real charm. This is the fifth installment in a series of Flashman’s memoirs. It stands alone but some may prefer to start at the beginning.
  
• City of the Saints on Sep. 06, 2015
  
  Captain Richard Burton, renowned English explorer and student of world religion, accepts an invitation from Brigham Young to travel by coach through Indian territory to visit Salt Lake City. Before he can depart Washington, DC, the British consul summons him to a meeting with the Secretary of State who convinces Burton to go via New Orleans and investigate rumors of a slave insurrection to be incited with the aim of triggering the Civil War. Naturally, the adventurer accepts. On arriving in the Crescent City he falls in with a trio of drinking buddies who style themselves the ‘Saints’ because their given names are Patrick, Louis and Augustus. Clearly saints they are not, but with their help and hindrance, Burton becomes embroiled in a murder, a voodoo ritual, a duel and indeed a plot to incite a slave uprising. In City of the Saints, Matt Isch weaves a tale as twisted as the delta, yet one that is closely aligned with actual events. The reversals, dead ends and red herrings keep the reader engaged, as does the witty first person narration. The Burton character is highly engaging and it is easy for the reader to identify with him. The setting is also delicious. One can see, feel and smell the Old Quarter as it was on the eve of the Civil War. The pace of this book is as languid as a bayou on a summer afternoon, which would usually turn me against it, but here it works and I found myself savoring the slow walk to the cool refuge of the barroom where the Saints plus Burton reviewed the revelations of the day. A final observation: some of the dialogue sounds a trifle too modern for the period, however, it can be forgiven and the story enjoyed for its pure goodness.
  
• Dawn of the Unthinkable on April 09, 2016
  
  An unremarkable creature of habit has his credit card refused at the convenience store on his way to work, and is forced to return home to get some cash so he can buy his daily Diet Dr. Pepper. He walks in on a home invasion in progress and witnesses his wife’s murder. Fast forward to his second marriage and routine life as a property manager for the government and a couple of part time jobs. Blaming money for his pathetic state, he decides to invent a social system without it. His Utopian essay fails to find a publisher or any interest from the dozens of dignitaries to whom he sent it. Finally a black political science professor and a Latino union organizer join him to promote the concept. This socialist’s wet dream is the second worst book I ever finished. Its pace is geological and I agonized for many days, skimming at times, to see if the author was going to say, “April Fools” at the end. He didn’t. One must conclude that James Concannon actually aspires to live in a communistic society where parasites are provided with a comfortable standard of living and productive people are rewarded by being able to choose an upgrade on their free vehicle. Of course, it is all made possible by robbing the rich. The book is free, so I presume it is meant as propaganda, however, when even the Soviet Union couldn’t make it happen, people should realize socialism is a futile philosophy. The prose is articulate, but the characters are bland to the point of being maudlin, and several of them play no part in the plot. I am not one of the point of view police, but the writer engages in the most egregious head hopping I’ve seen—often multiple times within a paragraph. The story ends without even telling the reader what happened after the plan was implemented. I guess we have to stand by for the sequels. I apologize to Mr. Concannon for writing such a negative review, but this book deserves it on multiple levels.
  
• Finding Billy Battles: An Account of Peril, Transgression and Redemption on June 18, 2016
  
  William Battles grew up fatherless in Lawrence, Kansas. At an early age he embarked on a career in journalism, which took him to Dodge City where he fell in with the likes of Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson. A chance encounter with a family of desperados earned him the enmity of one Nate Bledsoe for the accidental killing of his mother. Bledsoe and his gang haunt Billy Battles with murderous intent. After marrying and having a daughter, Battles’ familial bliss is unsettled by the blood feud with Bledsoe, culminating in a shootout at the homestead at Battles Gap, Kansas. The aftermath and subsequent adversity drive the tortured Battles to escape his past by fleeing to the Orient. This first installment of the life and times of Billy Battles, supposedly based on his own journals, is a first class tale of the late nineteenth century. The setting is convincing and clearly well researched. The historical characters speak in true to life voices and well-known events, such as the shootout at the OK Corral, are related with the verisimilitude of a firsthand account. The prose is also excellent as one would expect since the author tells us he is a professor of journalism. Therefore, this reader finds it baffling—nay, inconceivable—that the editorial style is so unorthodox. Having multiple speakers within the same paragraph caused much confusion. Mr. Yates must also hold a PhD in colloquialisms. Nowhere will you find more old-fashioned words and sayings as in Finding Billy Battles. Despite these peculiarities, it is quite a good story, although occasionally slowed by a slight excess of detail.
  
• Demonic on July 13, 2016
  
  Mild mannered Bill Watson, accountant, met a new workmate named Mary Stewart at a time when terrorists were bringing nuclear bombs across the Mexican border. The police issued an order to evacuate San Diego before a device detonated, which knowledge is never explained, nor why the terrorists didn’t push the button as soon as the order issued. Nevertheless, Bill and Mary, thrown together when her car breaks down, make it to the Salton sea before they see the mushroom cloud beyond the mountains. About that time they are attacked by a band of terrorists, and Bill, who has been hearing strange voices, transforms into a demon and slays the terrorist and Mary beheads them. Okay, I was ready to brand this the silliest piece of crap I ever encountered, but I had told the Rave Review Book Club that I would review it, so I soldiered onward through one more chapter. When an innocuous guy known as J.C. begs a ride to Las Vegas with Bill and Mary, who are on their way to Montana to find Bill’s family, insists that Bill meet his father, I began to see where this might be going. J.C.’s father, Dom Emmanuel, rents a penthouse above the Bellagio—a hundred miles above the Bellagio. At this point the story devolves into parallel universes, dimensional portals, doppelgangers, shapeshifters and myriads of monsters called enforcers. Demonic is a dark fantasy with a strong cosmological component that is set against a theological theme exploring the nature of God. I would rate it higher if I were into that. I am not, so this read was somewhat painful for me, although I pushed through to the end. The rationale of the multiple universes is thoughtfully constructed and the convolutions mind-twisting. Each character has hundreds of iterations, each universe has variations that make it hard to keep track of where we are, except for the mega-evil universe where Bill has assumed the role of the demonic Gaius Claudius Caesar who intends to crucify the entire population. Since the characters have so many incarnations, it is impossible to know which one we are following. Their names even change inexplicably—hell, everything is inexplicable in this book. Bill’s wife started as Audrey, but switched to Arlene about half way through, and I never did understand if that was intentional, or a mistake. One more quirk that baffles me. The first chapter seems to be part of another story. It ends with a character named Sam getting shot, but we never see Sam again. The writing is solid, if not really outstanding, but there are a dizzying number of viewpoint shifts, some quite jarring. Mr. Morgan’s book is a unique piece of work. If you don’t have a problem with characters flying through space and dispatching hordes of monsters and demons with mystical weapons, Demonic might be for you.
  
• The American Government, Inc., A Work of Fiction and Political Satire on Jan. 12, 2017
  
  This is an unconventional book, so I will write an unconventional review. I opted to read it because the description sounded like my own book, Capital Blues. The similarity ended there. First of all, George Abraham Lyndon is a pseudonym. The author tells us in the afterward that he chose the given names of the three presidents he admires most. One must worry about anyone who claims to admire Lyndon Johnson, the founder of the Great Society that still burdens us sixty years later. American Government, Inc. is a parody of a hypothetical Donald Trump presidency as viewed by a denizen of left. The story is told as pure narration by a researcher 130 years in the future, therefore, there is no dialogue nor developed characters. The characters are merely names that the narrator continually pummels. The only good guy is, not surprisingly, named Lincoln. The hypothetical president is named Powers and he runs a mega corporation that he uses to build all the projects he proposed in his campaign promises, such as the southern border wall and a myriad of infrastructure projects. Paradoxically, the infrastructure projects create plenty of jobs but the unemployment rate still rises. Naturally, Powers prospers personally from all this. On the first day of his presidency, he signs something 250 executive orders that the reader is expected to digest. This book was made for skimming. Of course they are all Donald Trump’s ideas and they are put forth with the implication that they lead to catastrophe. The catastrophe they incite is no less than civil war. American Government, Inc. is a short book and I guess the best thing I can say about it is that it’s priced right. It’s free.
  
• The Improbable Journeys of Billy Battles on April 09, 2017
  
  William Fitzroy Raglan Battles lost his wife at the end of Volume I. In despair, he voyages to the Orient to meet an old friend who lives in Saigon. En route, a shady German, who claims to be a Pinkerton’s detective, threatens a recently widowed German baroness. Katherina, who hails from Chicago, killed her husband in defense of her brother, Manfred, as the baron was in the process of beating him to death with a poker. Her well-connected father managed to divert the responsibility from his daughter; however, she felt it prudent to travel to Manila where Manfred operated a hardwood business. The baroness enlists the aid of Battles to protect her from the alleged detective who proves to be an agent for the German government. Through a series of convoluted machinations, Battles and Katherina manage to have their nemesis Shanghaied to Africa. End of phase one. In phase two, Battles settles in Saigon with his old friend, Signore Difranco, a wealthy pepper planter. While in Viet Nam, known then as Nam Ký, he is determined to find another old friend from his days in the American West, Giang Ba. Unfortunately, Ba has joined the resistance fighting to oust the French occupiers. This leads Battles into a heated battle on the side of the rebels. When Manfred and Katherina visit Saigon, Battles finds that he is increasingly smitten with the lovely baroness. There is another change of scene. The three return to Manila, from where, eventually, Battles accompanies Katherina back to the States, and they part company. During this interlude, the German agent, Oskar Eichel, reemerges and puts Battle’s family in peril. Then there comes the outbreak of the Spanish American War when Katherina urges Battles to travel to Manila to check on her brother’s wellbeing. End of phase two. Back in Manila, Battles watches as the Americans make short work of the Spanish, but he is dismayed when he realizes that the United States intends to occupy the archipelago. The Filipino resistance wants freedom from occupation and intends to fight. Reluctantly, Battles and Manfred accept brevet commissions as captains attached to the Kansas Volunteer Regiment. During his less than willing military career, Katherina arrives in the Philippines and voices strong objections to the two men in her life being involved with the army, and much more ensues. Billy Battles is an old Kansas sand cutter who hobnobs with the likes of Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson. This is the second installment of the Finding Billy Battles trilogy that I have read, and I am still not quite sure what a sand cutter is. Mr. Yates is a master of western jargon. He infuses The Improbable Journeys of Billy Battles with a plethora of colorful sayings and expressions that give the characters verisimilitude. This is a 160,000-word story that takes place in numerous exotic settings with ceaseless action. The characters are extremely well developed. The prose is fluid and the dialogue convincing. This reader and reviewer strongly recommends the Finding Billy Battles series to everyone who enjoys historical fiction or just likes to read about sand cutters.
  
• The Terra Debacle: Prisoners at Area 51 on May 30, 2017
  
  Get ready for Thyron. He is a peda flora telepathis; in other words a sentient, bipedal, telepathic plant. He not only communicates telepathically, he acquires knowledge remotely. While imprisoned at the infamous Area 51, he stumbled onto a treasure trove of information and overdosed himself by assimilating it, which caused him to lapse into a dormant state. This triggered a panic in Gabe Greenly, astrobotanist for NASA. Greenly nursed Thyron back to a healthy state and was rewarded with a handful of seedpods. Thyron’s vegetable chauvinism makes him highly opinionated. He bristles at the nature of paper, he thinks lumber is a crime against botany, vegetarians are serial murderers, and a harvester is a weapon of mass destruction. He cuts Gabe some slack since he is a fruitarian and can gain sustenance without killing the fruiting plant. This makes for a strange relationship, because Gabe is bound by his security agreement, which forbids abetting an escape, and Thyron’s goal is to get off the earth at all costs, along with an artificially intelligent robot—since disassembled—and a humanoid girl. Marcha Fox has not only created a phyla, she has invented multiple vocabularies. The psychic terminology is plain enough to understand, but you might want to read The Terra Debacle on an ereader with a built-in dictionary to help decipher the botanical terms. This is a brilliant story, extremely well written and with great character development. It is off-the-wall in a way that is similar to how Tom Robbins grabs the reader and shakes him. The research is profound and convincing. It is loosely aimed at the young adult audience, of which I am not a member; however, I recommend it for anyone who wants to venture into a leafy new world.
  
• The Merrell Saga: Based on a True Story from the Red Stick War of 1813-1814 on May 31, 2017
  
  At the time of the time of the War of 1812, wild Indians may have “raised commercial crops, owned slaves, and bred racing horses” but that did not make them less wild. Jack Merrell lived with his young wife and infant son on the fringe of the Creek Nation. Zealot, Josiah Francis, AKA The Profit, and William Weatherford, AKA Red Eagle, threatened war against the white settlers encroaching on their land. The threat posed by the warlike Creeks, known as Red Sticks, moved Jack to sign on for a six-month stint with the militia. While he languished idly in one of many hastily erected forts, the Red Sticks attacked his and the surrounding farms while most men were preoccupied with tending their fields. Women and children were clubbed and scalped by the murderous savages and left for dead. News of the massacre reached Jack by the slow and unreliable mail system of the time. He, naturally, lapsed into a deep depression, however, neither his wife, Sarah, nor his son, William, died. Both were slowly and painfully nursed back to health. Jack, on the other hand, threw himself into the quest for revenge with careless abandon. He sustained nearly mortal wounds in a desperate attempt to drive the Red Sticks out of Alabama, but he also did not succumb to his injuries. Just as in the case of her own near brush with death, Sarah only received word that he had died. Neither received what should have been the happy correction. What transpired over in the next few years was as tragic as the near mortal wounds themselves. The Merrell Saga is the novelized account of family history. Mr. Sowell did years of genealogical research before composing his excellent account of the disastrous chain of events that befell his ancestors. As a lover of historical fiction and family history, this book struck a sympathetic chord in me. If this story had not been true, one would be tempted to think that the unthinkably cruel coincidences that befell the characters were the result of the twisted imaginings of a deeply troubled author. The prose may lack a little sophistication, but it does not detract from an excellent, and moving, tale.
  
• The Asterisk on Nov. 20, 2017
  
  Two MIT nerds, while being handled—that is coerced—by the CIA develop software that scans images of Earth, made by the Kepler Deep Space Telescope, for deposits of precious metals. They are unable to debug the software and are frustrated for a couple of years. Then Jack Drago finds a debugging algorithm that was developed at Harvard. It solves the problem and he is able to print a plot of an area in the Bolivian Alto Plano showing deposits of gold, silver, uranium, and something else. The CIA immediately pulls the plug on their operation. Jack is warned of his eminent arrest by girlfriend Hanna, who is head of campus security. Jack and his cohort, Frannie, AKA Francis, are determined to go to Bolivia to discover what this anomaly might be, and to prevent the CIA from seizing it. That’s where this story unravels. The artifact is of extraterrestrial origin, and in fact the US military already has one that was discovered in Egypt during the First World War. They don’t know what it is or what to do with it. The reader never discovers why it’s a threat to mankind. However, the indigenous Bolivians know of it and revere it as something to be protected. The thing is just a little too bizarre and inexplicable be taken seriously. When the action starts, the story devolves into poor dialogue and improbable events by characters who aren’t very believable. I realize there is a reason we call this fiction, but one needs a shred of plausibility. It is as if this book were written by two people. The first half is concise and logical with good prose solid technology. Then something happens. This reader was severely let down by the second half of the book. And the ending? Well, I don’t know what the ending was, but it wasn’t very satisfying.
  
• A Soul Burned on Nov. 30, 2017
  
  James was a bomber pilot with twenty-plus missions over Germany. He was good at his job and was picked to lead the raid on Dresden in February, 1945. As he circled the target, pinpointing the places undamaged so other bombers could drop their loads wherever there were no flames. At the end of the mission, James makes it home safely, but not undamaged. Although due some leave, he is tasked with one more mission—a milk run over Denmark in the daylight—one more mission and then free time to spend with Colleen. But the unthinkable happens. The firebombing of Dresden was one of the most controversial raids perpetrated by the Allies during World War II. The wanton barbarism of annihilating an ancient city with no strategic value has been bemoaned ever since that day in 1945 when it was reduced to ashes. RJ Curtis has done a magnificent job of telling the story through the eyes of a participant. The emotional impact on the character, James, is told with great skill, and the subsequent tragedy that befell him is also related masterfully. There is additionally the viewpoint of young boy who survived the firestorm, and in a strange twist of fate, has an impact on James life years later. A Soul Burned is a fine piece of historical fiction.
  
• High Treason on Dec. 01, 2017
  
  Young, middle class Venezuelans study to get ahead in life in a country blessed with the largest oil reserve in the western hemisphere. Their future looks bright until socialism rears its ugly head. Hugo Chávez rises to the presidency. The once prosperous nation is plunged overnight into a state of famine, crime, and corruption. The streets are plagued with robbery, stabbings, and shootings. Property is seized and given to Chávez supporters. Finally, the small clique of school friends hatch a plot to assassinate the president. High Treason tells a tale of life in modern Venezuela that resonates everywhere. The impact that one poisonous leader can have on a country should open the eyes of all who vote. Chávez’ twisted ideology turned a free and prosperous nation into a communistic cesspool where no one is safe, and no one has enough to eat except the ruling elite. Ambard and Mondragón are both Venezuelan. They write with voice of authority from the safety of the United States. This is a very important book. It should be read and taken to heart by all who value their way of life. As an added bonus, it’s free.
  
• The President's Daughter on Jan. 06, 2018
  
  Hitman, Donovan Creed, finds the billion dollars in his Swiss bank account missing, and his wife tries to kill him. To add insult to injury, a mobster offers him $1500 to kill a dog that bit him. Eventually, the president’s chief of staff offers him eight million to kidnap president’s daughter. Well, a guy has to make a living, so he takes the job, only to discover that this has been in works for years, and a veritable troop of look-alikes and body doubles are on the government’s payroll. Creed’s overly complex plan evaporates when the president’s daughter voluntarily lets herself be kidnapped. Okay, it’s a silly story. Now, I’m not one to criticize a silly story. I may have been guilty of writing one or two myself. The President’s Daughter, however, is a bit much. Creed and his partner, Callie, have sex with and kill everyone they meet. The body count is astronomical, and I only recall disposing of two bodies, yet no one seems too concerned to arrest them. The wackiness aside, this book has some issues that don’t appeal to me. It bounces back and forth from past tense to present tense, and it shifts viewpoints from first person narration by the main character to third person narration by unimportant characters. It has its bright moments and a few flashes of humor. Mr. Locke is not shy about claiming some pretty impressive credentials, including million-seller status. This is apparently true. That worries me about the nature of the reading public, but I can’t fault his success.
  
• DECISIONS - Book 5 of Family Forever Series on July 12, 2018
  
  Franny’s husband, Harry, died a slow, miserable death from cancer. Then her mother, Isla, sank into the sad morass of dementia and had to be put into an assisted living center. It was not a happy task. At the same time, the lives of Franny’s twin daughters, Emma and Jani, are upset by a flurry of troubling pregnancies. Jani is expecting her third child and fears complications. Jenny, a distant acquaintance, arrives at Emma’s house and announces that she and her husband of two days need a place to stay. He splits before she knows that she is expecting. Alice, Jani’s nanny, realizes that she is pregnant and doesn’t know where the father is. While all these stressful events are unfolding, Fanny is being courted, maybe seduced is a better word, by her boss, Bryan. Emma and Jani are aghast, but none of them know that Bryan is damaged goods. Could it possibly end well? Tamara Miller is the queen of family drama. She brilliantly draws the reader into the landscape and time period of her stories, and, of course, into the joy and heartaches of her characters’ lives—Decisions having more heartaches than joys. Ms. Miller’s prose is clean and flowing. She illustrates her scenes with slices of real-life—kids squealing around the Christmas tree, the thrill of an illicit kiss, or the terror of contemplating an illegal abortion. Decisions is the fifth volume in her Family Forever series. She says it’s the last. We can hope that’s not true.
  
• False Steps: The Space Race as It Might Have Been on July 14, 2018
  
  The Nazis had a plan to put a huge mirror in orbit that could focus sunlight on military targets and boil ocean water to generate electricity in peaceful times. During the war, the Nazis also had plans for a space plane that they intended to use to bomb New York. In the fifties, the British had a space program that they abandoned. The US Army planned to build a base on the moon and keep a permanent detachment of soldiers there. Their launch site was to be on Christmas Island. The Soviets’ premier rocket designers worked from a forced labor camp. The Japanese had a space program. There was an American proposal to create a spacesuit that would allow stricken astronauts to parachute from orbit. As a precautionary measure for the Apollo moon landing, a design was proposed for stranded astronauts to blast off the moon’s surface in a rocket-powered chair. Paul Drye recounts over fifty space flight schemes that worked, failed, or were laughed off the drawing board. All of the spacefaring nations and some that you never expected to fall into that category are represented here. False Steps is an intriguing collection of space trivia that will fascinate space enthusiasts, engineers, and nerds in general. The remarkable depth of research the author has done is nothing less than astounding. I was delighted to learn that on a proposed long-term mission to Venus, astronauts were to be allowed to take two kilograms of movies and one and a half kilograms of recorded music. Using kilos as a unit of measure for music and movies had not previously occurred to me; although, in retrospect, I can think of plenty of music that ought to be judged in kilograms. Mr. Drye’s writing style is crisp and clear if necessarily burdened by acronyms and initials—he is, after all, recounting military and governmental jargon. False Steps captivated me from start to finish. Anyone interested in space and technology will love it.
  
• The Battles Of Hastings on Aug. 14, 2018
  
  Jane finds herself playing possum amid the dismembered carcasses on the field after the Battle of Hastings but which Battle of Hastings? A local in period garb is plundering the dead. When he approaches Jane, she grabs an abandoned bow and threatens to put an arrow through his genitals. As it happens, he is a fellow time traveler from an era farther in the future than Jane’s time. Alex reunites Jane with her team leader Darius, and introduces her to Catherine, a time traveler from yet another period. Each has a unique and conflicting opinion of the outcome of the Battle of Hastings. It seems there is someone tampering with history. The Battles of Hastings is a clever and intelligent novella. Ms. Bennion has an advanced understanding of the theory of the multiverse or parallel universes. Being a multiverse fan myself, I was delighted by this little tale of tinkering with the past. It is extremely well written and offers some of the science behind the real possibility of time travel. Do yourself a favor, spend an afternoon with Duke William at Hastings in 1066.
  
• All the Way with JFK: An Alternate History of 1964 on Nov. 14, 2018
  
  What if a tip to the Secret Service made Oswald’s bullet miss by inches? How would Kennedy have dealt with Castro in the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs? Would Johnson have ever been president? Could we have been spared the ‘Great Society’? These musings are adroitly explored in this intelligent and well-researched alternative history that covers the period from 1963 to 1999. What would the world look like today? All the Way with JFK is written in first person from the viewpoints of several fictional players. A Marine colonel advises Kennedy on how to deal with Castro. A Texas oilman promotes Barry Goldwater for president. A lobbyist tries to push the Civil Rights Act through Congress. A young Republican woman works on the Goldwater campaign. Each tells a piece of the story in his or her own voice. This is an interesting approach that Mr. Schaefer has made to work very well even though this reader thought the book would have been improved with a few less voices. I found that it took a few paragraphs to remember who was telling the story when a new chapter began. However, it’s the plausibility of the ‘what if’ is what makes this a great read.
  
• Noah's Wife on Nov. 14, 2018
  
  Na’amah is different from the others in the village. Her hearing is uniquely acute as is her memory, but she lacks womanly skills such as weaving and spinning. Noah is a bit of an odd duck who lives outside the village where it’s convenient to steal logs from the beavers with which to build boats. He sees Na’amah in the market and smitten by her beauty, so he asks her father for her hand and receives it with the understanding that he will wait three years to take his bride who was young even for those days. Na’amah’s older brother, Tubal, is an abusive bastard who resents the fact that their mother died giving birth to Na’amah. The one thing Na’amah loves to do is tend the sheep. She often shares the task with her childhood friend, Yanner, who develops a strong desire for her and conspires with Tubal to prevent her from marrying Noah. The plan is if she isn’t a virgin, Noah will reject her, so on the eve of the wedding, Tubal engineers for Yanner to forcibly rape her. For good measure, they also attack Noah and break his leg. Na’amah flees the village and is captured by slave traders before she reaches the sanctuary of the Mother Goddess’s cave. Noah’s Wife is an engaging story that put me in mind of The Clan of the Cave Bear. As historical fiction, it resonates with verisimilitude and is not a retelling of Genesis. An unusual dynamic among the characters permeates the story in a curious way. The setting and the customs of the people seem real enough. Na’amah is a convincing and likeable character. The prose is clean and flowing if a little flowery for this reader’s taste. Ms. Thorne is fond of using unconventional verbs to describe actions in nature and more metaphors than I prefer. Most readers will find her style lovely and descriptive. There are scenes that I thought went on a little longer than was needed, but it did not diminish my enjoyment of the book.
  
• Be Careful What You Wish For on Jan. 03, 2020
  
  Pamela Marie Stewart is proud that her initials are PMS. She is an unsuccessful writer of children’s book, and she has a mismatched assortment of friends, one of whom owns a park on Molokai. What starts as a hike to an idyllic beach in the aforementioned park turns deadly for Randy’s gay, Scandinavian boyfriend when a hawk attacks the procession on a narrow mountain trail. Because the belligerent bird attack precipitated a bit of a brawl, the survivors decide it would be in their best interest to hide the body and say nothing about it. When there is no backlash to the evil deed, Daggert, who owns the park, gets the idea that there is money to be made in disposing of undesirables in the same way. And then the story takes a turn for the bizarre. This whacky tale is just strange enough to be amusing. The reader is so charmed by the flow of the narrative that suspending disbelief is a pleasure. This is such a fun read the fact of dubious editing can be overlooked. I won’t give it away, but I for one did not see the ending coming.
  
• Auraria: A Novel on Aug. 26, 2020
  
  Holtzclaw was sent by his employer to buy every parcel of land around Auraria, in the mountains of Georgia, for the purpose of building a resort. He is very serious and businesslike, but he has a fondness for claret. His task becomes complicated when he finds the valley is inhabited by all manner of spirits, sprites, ghosts, and apparitions. The denizens are a little strange as well, and the river is tantalizingly speckled with gold dust. Most of the phantoms are benign, excepting Hulen, the headless plat-eye, who will try to steal your head to replace his. Some are helpful like the Princess Trahlyta and the druggist, Emmett, who extolls the virtues of Effervescent Brain Salts and Pharaoh’s Flour. Holtzclaw succeeds in acquiring enough of the valley to allow his employer to build his dam and hotel. Some of the spirits and the locals take jobs as chefs, waiters, and desk clerks. The clientele is as diverse as the inhabitants. But all is not well. Mr. Westover has created a strangely delightful world. Aauraria falls somewhere in the nexus of Lewis Carroll, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Tom Robbins. The time setting is left mysterious. They travel by stagecoach, but they have railroads and electricity. The dichotomy of the story is wonderfully entertaining. When Abigail quells the commotion in a pot of carnivorous potatoes by adding a tin of Pharaoh’s Flour, she says, “It’s been like this all day, Holtzclaw, all day.” Auraria is marvelously well written, and the reader will never know where he’s being taken next.