Julie Sara Porter, Bookworm Reviews

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Ismene and The Voice by Juniper Calle; Fanciful and Profound Fantasy About A Mysterious Library and The Woman Who Loves It

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: It's been awhile since I completely identified with a book character and now, I have found one. She is Ismene, the protagonist of Ismene and The Voice by Juniper Calle, an Epic Fantasy novel about a fracturing kingdom, a wide and sentient library, and a woman whose power comes from reading and sharing knowledge and wisdom with others.

Ismene is one of three characters who explore The Castle, a mysterious building which houses The Library, a collection that contains most of their world's knowledge. The other two characters are Lady Harmonia, Ismene's wealthy, spoiled employer and the daughter of the most powerful man in their lands and Eryx, a scholar whom Harmonia’s family sponsors and is a secret activist. Each woman has her own reasons for going on this journey. Harmonia wants to find and research texts and statistics that portray her lineage in a good light. Eryx wants to find forbidden knowledge and share it with fellow rebels that challenge Harmonia's family’s rule. Ismene wants to collect and share information with others. In other words, Ismene wants to be a part of The Library.

Calle superbly balances the setting and characters by giving us a fanciful and profound location and engaging and brilliant characters who are affected by it. Of course the most important setting is The Castle and Calle is not sparse with the details.

The Castle is described as remote and intimidating. It must be crossed by climbing a very steep mountain. If it takes a struggle to reach it, then you know it must have something greatly valuable within. The remoteness is the point as The Castle is a mere observer to the political struggles, familial conflicts, and wars underneath, neither good nor evil. It is merely a neutral force that records and keeps information, leaving the people down below to decide what to do with the information that they are given.

One of the most intriguing aspects of The Castle is that it's alive. It is often personified as a living creature that breathes, listens, and thinks. Books immediately appear at request and words light up on the pages so the Reader can locate the right information and sources.Many characters like Ismene speak to it like penitents to a divine being, something powerful and worthy of respect even worship.

There are also servants called The Hands that attend to visitors' needs like giving them books, fixing their beds, and delivering food and messages. They appear in and out of the walls and shadows as though they are automatons that are physically attached to the Castle and operate only when needed.

By far the most intriguing aspect of The Castle is The Voice, the Castle’s spokesfigure. They are completely covered by androgynous clothing and veils. No one knows who they are, their real name, appearance, gender, age, even whether or not they are human. All that is known is that they live at The Castle and are its Head Librarian. They control who enters the library and who has access to the Library’s knowledge. They seem to be mentally and emotionally connected to the Castle even to the point of feeling its illness and pain.

One can say if The Castle is a computer the hardware of monitor, screen, keyboard, and endless indecipherable streams of data, then The Voice is The Central Processing Unit (CPU) that runs the software, directs and interprets the flow and transfer of data, and coordinates the information process. They are connected to The Castle and retain all of the Library’s knowledge in their head. They have no identity except they are The Library.

The Library and its surrounding Castle is a curious and imposing setting but it retains probably the largest and most valuable treasure in the land. Nothing is more important than information and knowledge and an educated and knowledgeable population is not an easy one to control.

Harmonia and her family understand this. She borrows and presents books that offer positive opinions about her family. She doesn't want to keep the people ignorant. In fact, she makes a big show of encouraging education and patronizing scholars and academics. But she does want to control what they read and how they interpret what they read.

If books are negative, critical, or question her family’s authority they are banned and the people are denied access. Since information can only be obtained by going to The Castle, this leaves out critical thought and independent research. If they are not told about any problems, then they won't be aware that they exist and will obey Harmonia's family without question.

Harmonia is similar to political, government, and religious authority figures. They want to restrict certain types of books under the guise of “age appropriateness” and control what people read rather than interfere with the act of reading itself. People can learn to read but these censors will tell them what they can read and learn. They can't question the norm if they are never told what the alternatives to the norm are. For Harmonia The Library is a means of control.

Harmonia is an authority figure that represents the system that Eryx and Ismene fight against in their own way. Eryx is the fiery rebel. She is grateful for the scholarship gift that Harmonia has given her but she is not blind to the limitations, flaws, illegal actions, and misdeeds that people like her and her power thirsty father do.

Eryx is idealistic and passionate about her causes and wants to educate the people to act. She borrows forbidden books and shares them with peasants, servants, and resistance cells. She is a member of a Scholars Guild and organizes resistance movements through that.

Eryx is reminiscent of activists, warriors, protestors, and revolutionaries. They are people who use that information to support their causes. They check and research laws and statistics to support their claims so they can make crucial arguments and presentations. It's not a matter of just acting by committing random acts of violence or quoting generalities. It's finding solutions to the problem of an autocratic society and possibly the means of creating a more egalitarian society in its place. For Eryx, The Library is a means for change.

While Eryx uses The Castle’s knowledge to spread revolutionary ideals that Harmonia wants to suppress, Ismene believes that the very actions of giving information is revolutionary in and of itself. She isn't as outwardly rebellious as Eryx but she fights in her own way by keeping information and spreading it herself. When Eryx shows her that she borrowed forbidden books, Ismene shows her stacks of several books that she kept over the years.

That's why I find her so relatable and consequently she is my favorite character. Knowledge is what's most important to her, not the results of power. She lives in a world of books and reading. She, like the Castle, is an outsider and observer of all around her. But unlike The Castle and The Voice who are neutral, Ismene has her opinions about the world around her. She just prefers to fight smarter and quieter than people like Eryx and Harmonia.

While Ismene considers Eryx a friend and at one time respected Harmonia, she has no romantic interest and is possibly Asexual. She loves The Library and books the way other people love their families, lovers, friends, their country, or power. It holds her strongest emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual connection.

Ismene reads, keeps the knowledge in her head, and shares it with others. As she learns more, the information is stored in her mind and brings her closer to becoming a part of the Library. She is practically a Priestess and The Library is her deity.

Ismene is like many people whose loyalties lie in her chosen form of expression and wisdom. The educators, the creatives, the artists, the thinkers, the philosophers, the journalists, the writers, the researchers, the academics, and intellectuals. Those who autocrats often go after and arrest first because they know the truth.

These deep thinkers can find the pertinent knowledge in that endless stream of information and empower people around them to act on that knowledge. In doing so, they become empowered by the wisdom and truth that they hold, learn, and share. For Harmonia and Eryx The Castle is a means to achieve their goals. For Ismene The Castle is the goal. For her, The Castle is.

Wednesday, June 4, 2025

Silver Echoes: A Gold Digger Novel by Rebecca Rosenberg; The Adventures of Baby Doe Tabor’s Wild Thrill Seeking Daughter

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: When I read about Rose Mary Echo Silver Dollar Tabor (1889-1925) on Wikipedia and in the epilogue in Rebecca Rosenberg’s Historical Fiction novel, Gold Digger: The Remarkable Baby Doe Tabor, I knew that she would be an interesting person to read about. I was not wrong.

Of course that is to be expected. Rosenberg's Historical Fiction novels are about remarkable outstanding and highly interesting women and her latest, Silver Echoes: A Gold Digger Novel is no exception. Two novels, Champagne Widows and Madame Pommery, were about Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin and Jeanne Alexandrine Louise Melin Pommery respectively entrepreneurs and vintners who made the French wine industry what it is today. Her previous book, Gold Digger was about Elizabeth McCourt “Baby Doe” Tabor and her rise from mine owner and worker to Denver socialite and her fall after Horace Tabor, her politician husband, died and the Panic of 1893 wiped out her family fortune.

This time Baby Doe’s younger daughter, Silver Dollar takes the lead and she is every bit her mother's daughter in her desire to stand out and her ability to draw controversy and scandal like a magnet.

The novel covers about twenty years and alternates between Silver Dollar and Baby Doe’s points of view. Silver Dollar's perspective is set in the 1910’s-20’s as she embarks on an entertainment career, unpredictable romances with dangerous men, and potentially undiagnosed mental illness. Baby Doe's is set in 1932 after Silver Dollar’s death is reported. Baby Doe is trying to get her Matchless Mine running again while giving background information on a biopic about her and her late husband.

As with many Historical Fiction novels, we get not only the main story of the protagonist’s life but the impact that their lives had on those who outlived and learned from them. In this case, both mother and daughter are well written formidable presences with captivating stories that draw in the Readers.

If Baby Doe embodies the spirit of the Gilded Age with her self-made entrepreneurship, sudden glamorous affluence, and the ability to talk tough while dressing classy, then Silver Dollar embodies the Roaring 20’s with her effervescent joie de vivre, her constant mobility, and modern independent spirit.

Silver Dollar begins her journey as a bit player for a photoplay company to support herself and her mother after Horace dies, they are left destitute by the Economic Panic, and their older daughter and sister, Lily abandons them. While her work is for survival and she sends money to her mother, Silver Dollar is not unaware what it could mean for her so she creates lavish stunts like the Slide of Life, to be noticed and recognized. This is where she slides, rather than walks, across a high wire over a large lake.

This opening gives us a taste of the setting and Silver Dollar’s character. This is when movies were in their infancy, not every home had a radio so people found entertainment wherever they could. That often included people going to great extremes to get the audience’s attention. Remember this was the time when Harry Houdini wowed audiences with his escape attempts. When vaudeville houses dotted even small towns so people could pay a few cents to see singers, dancers, jugglers, acrobats, comedians, animal trainers. Many of the vaudevillians would move on to long and successful careers on film, radio, and television. It's the right time for someone bold, daring, and thirsting for adventure and recognition like Silver Dollar.

While Slide of Life gives her the much needed praise and notoriety, it doesn't last. An envious colleague frames her for theft and she is sexually assaulted by a long time family friend so she goes on the run. This happens a lot in the book. She finds some semblance of fame, excitement, and wealth. A place and position that can give her prominence and stability. Then, something happens that causes her to end that and leave for her next adventure.

She becomes an actress, dancer, singer, animal tamer among others and meets an array of film stars, mobsters, and other celebrities of the early 20th century. It's a dizzying colorful ride, but it can't be accused of being boring.

Eventually Silver Dollar finds fame as a tiger tamer. Her interactions with the tigers consist of patience, trust, strength, courage, and determination. It makes sense that someone who is wild and reckless would tame animals as wild and reckless as she is. She sees kindred spirits in her tigers and they see a human that loves and understands them while being a dominant and authority figure.

There is a darker edge to this novel that is found within Silver Dollar herself. While she gives off a fearless personality, inwardly she is insecure, uncertain, and is always questioning herself. She has moments of doubt, reason, and conscience that put a stop to more dangerous and violent actions. However there is a darker side to her personality, literally.

In the Afterward, Rosenberg stated that there is some evidence, albeit circumstantial and never outright acknowledged, that Silver Dollar had Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Rosenberg took that theory to its fullest fruition by giving Silver Dollar an alter, Echo LaVode, which was a name that the real Silver Dollar sometimes used during her professional career.

Echo is the darker aspect of Silver Dollar’s extroverted nature. She has no fail safes, reservations, or blockers that impair her actions. She acts without thinking and when she is in charge she puts herself and Silver into dangerous situations like drinking, taking drugs, visiting speakeasies, and flirting with dangerous men who are violent and unpredictable. Since Echo parties at night and Silver Dollar works during the day, Silver Dollar herself gets little sleep. Therefore, her body goes through physical changes that weaken her host and leaves the alter to be in control more times than she should. This control leaves Silver Dollar helpless and vulnerable, a victim of Echo’s unpredictable tendencies.

However, Echo occasionally shows a softer side. She emerges when Silver Dollar needs physical protection. She is horrified when she witnesses African-Americans being lynched by KKK members suggesting that there are actions that are abhorrent even to her. She is also clever enough that if Silver Dollar can't think of an escape plan, she can. Even though Echo is an alternate personality, she is every bit as multifaceted as her host.

Silver Dollar’s story is one of instability, going from place to place, and living fast and hard. It's about using life to take as much as you can. By contrast, Baby Doe's story is about being sedentary, restoring home and professions to their former glory, and becoming the holder of wonderful and painful memories.

In 1932, Baby Doe is trying her damnedest to honor Horace's final wish to hold onto the Matchless Mine and living in denial that her daughter has died (She believes that Silver Dollar was sent to a convent). She tells her memories of her Leadville home and family to filmmaker, Carl Erickson who was involved with Silver Dollar and tried to be a steady solid presence in her life.

As with her portrayal in Gold Digger, Baby Doe hovers between a tough talking frontierswoman and a society matron. She is ready with a shotgun if she feels threatened and when Carl wants to understand her, she takes him to the Matchless Mine. She is ready with a sharp comment and matter of fact nature so Carl knows who's really in charge and he does not dream of making the script too sentimental or frilly. Even in old age and after she has lost nearly everything and everyone important to her, she still is a force to be reckoned with.

The movie's Denver premiere gives Baby Doe some of the glamor that she once had. Gone is the tough gal with a dilapidated mine and a shotgun and instead she is once again a lady in an elegant gown and a central figure in Denver’s social set. Her good carefree days are back at least briefly.

The ending is a bit of wish fulfillment that veers towards speculation and alternate universes. It gives a finality to the mother and daughter's stories and reminds us that these were two strong fascinating women with a bond that was never broken but changed. Mother and daughter learned from and loved each other.

Monday, June 2, 2025

Bomber Jackets by Rob Santana; An Insightful, Witty, and Sincere Queer Romance in 1970’s New York

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: I suppose that it's fitting that I would review Rob Santana’s latest novel during Pride Month. As many long time Readers of this blog know that Rob Santana is a long time favorite of mine because Readers don't know what to expect when reading his novels except that it will be unexpected. What you read at the beginning of the book is not the same book when the final page is read.

The Oscar Goes To deals with the glamor and gossip of Hollywood and becomes a tragic story about the mental breakdown of an abused starlet who commits suicide live on air. Little Blue Eyes starts as a heartwarming family drama about a single woman finding an abandoned baby and transforms into a heady custody battle and savage indictment of racism, class struggles, and addiction. Freeze Frame evolves from a quirky romance between two eccentric characters into an emotional crime drama as a murder is accidentally captured on film and various characters are destroyed by it. Not to mention the short works in which Jane Austen and Adolf Hitler are written in different ways.

Santana's latest and very timely book, Bomber Jackets also creates various tones into one text. It starts out as a desolate Crime Mystery as Patrick Madden, a landlord/building super, is interrogated by a police officer about a murder in which he was either a witness or a participant with his fellow gang members cousin Junior and friends, Frank Rapallo and Bambi. It then turns into a witty Queer Romance between Patrick and Erica Velez, a saucy and delightful transvestite tenant. Finally, it becomes an insightful and sincere Bildungsroman as Patrick finds his life irrevocably changed by the tug of war between his gang and his love interest, his loyalties between who he was to who he could be.

The darker aspects of the book’s Crime Mystery beginning are augmented by its setting and tone. It's probably no coincidence that Santana chose this particular time and place. As many know, New York City was in a severe economic crisis in the 1970’s. Well the whole country was but NYC’s situation was so bad that it faced near bankruptcy in 1975. This led to the infamous New York Times headline “Ford to City: Drop Dead” when the President refused to bail out the city though he later relented. There was massive unemployment, cuts in municipal services, declines in the subway system, and the so-called “white flight” when middle class families fled to the suburbs creating a larger racial and class divide. A city wide blackout in 1977, increased crime in places like the South Bronx, Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, and Times Square, and the Son of Sam killing spree only increased the anxiety and uncertainty.

On the positive side there was an explosive rise in arts and culture much of which is still recognized today. Graffiti art and hip hop were created specifically because of this economic crisis. (Hip hop actually benefited from it by performers hosting street parties and using used technology, second hand clothing, scratched records, and inexpensive items to create the sound and aesthetic). Disco offered escapist entertainment as many danced their troubles away, did drugs, and traded partners. Along with disco was a rise in Queer culture as many LGBT+ people came out and wrote, sang, performed, painted, and possibly for the first time felt free to live their truths.

The New Hollywood filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Walter Hill, and Sidney Lumet, and television shows like All In the Family, Kojak, Taxi, Rhoda, and Barney Miller addressed the times head on. Authors, poets, and musicians like Lawrence Block, Judy Blume, Peter Maas, Don DeLillo, Donald Westlake, Alice Childless, Frank O'Hara, Audre Lorde, Patti Smith, Lou Reed, John Kander, and Billy Joel captured that gritty time with their words and music. This is the milieu in which Patrick lives.

Patrick lives in a dilapidated apartment building with his stepmother, Yanna as his mother drifts from parental responsibilities and his father is in a coma. He collects rent and makes repairs or contacts other people to make those repairs. He has to face many complaining and threatening financially struggling tenants who need roofs over their heads but aren't looking forward to paying for them. Outside is pure kill or be killed Social Darwinism. If one doesn't get mugged, held up, raped, shot, or stabbed, there is always the fear that they will run into Son of Sam lurking in the shadows waiting for another victim. It's a desperate, bitter, and anxious existence.

Patrick is part of a mini-gang called the Bomber Jackets with Rapallo, Junior, and Bambi. His pals are also on the lower rungs of the economic ladder and work in dead end jobs, have unhappy marriages, and boast of criminal reputations. They endlessly mock each other with sarcastic quips and playful threats towards one another and those outside their circle. It's a means to vent out their frustrations, cover up their emotions, face their own insecurities by needling others for their weaknesses. Their antics start out mostly harmless but with a sardonic sharp edge that hints at darker intentions.

Those edges become larger and the intentions become more pronounced when a minority moves in and around Patrick's apartment, LGBT+ people. A presumed gay couple moves into the neighborhood. When Erica moves into Patrick's apartment, they are uncertain whether a man or a woman has moved in. (To answer the question, Erica identifies as female but sometimes wears her previous men’s clothing to avoid being harassed or when meeting her estranged family.)

As often happens (and we can certainly see now), when people are struggling, they will take their frustrations out on someone different, an other. So Patrick’s gang attacks the LGBT+ around them. They catcall them, insult them, stalk them, and play childish but harmful pranks like throwing bugs and roaches into their apartments. Those interactions become more volatile as the book goes on, particularly as Rapallo becomes more violent and unpredictable.

With the dark setting comes the Queer Romance between Patrick and Erica. Once Patrick gets over his confusion about Erica's gender identity, he becomes a close friend, which he admits to the police officers interrogating him. While Patrick questioned his friend's attacks on the LGBT+ community, he mostly remains neutral and inactive. He thinks that Rapallo and the others are idiots, but can't quite break away from them partly out of fear of what they will do, confusion about his own identity and sexuality, and misplaced loyalty to people he knew for most of his life.

It takes Erica to make Patrick look at himself and take some action. Erica is flashy, charming, flirtatious, witty, saucy, independent, and fearless, someone who draws Patrick in with her vitality and effervescence. Her clothing, wigs, and style show us a woman who could be a skilled performer and that life is her stage. She quips at Patrick with lines like “Look at me. This Uptown Girl aims to hit fast ‘cause I'm there to assassinate.”

Erica has flashes of being a Manic Pixy Dream Girl but she also has layers that keeps her from being just a stereotype or a tool that brings out Patrick’s better qualities with no story of her own. Even though she wants to go to Drag Balls, she suffers from insecurity and panic attacks when she's there. She longed to be with people like herself, but once she is, she is intimidated partly because she spent so much time in the closet that it has become her comfort zone. She is more comfortable being outrageous and standing out from people who are seemingly normal than she is with people who are like her. It's a struggle but she is willing to adapt and refocus herself, playing on those hidden character traits as well as her more public persona.

In fact the few times when Erica is in male clothing, and reverts back to her assigned gender identity at birth, Eric, is when she shows the most vulnerability. She is quiet, uncertain, shy, self-conscious, and clearly miserable. As Eric, she hides and stays invisible drifting into the crowd that she would have made them pay attention and look at her as Erica. She reverts to make her family happy and to stay safe but it takes a toll on her. As Patrick bonds with and falls in love with Erica, he sees that her female identity is her real identity and the male identity that she is forced to wear is the disguise.

As Patrick and Erica grow closer and accept each other, he begins to see his former friend's darker side and is less apathetic towards their actions. He has to make a choice between his old loyalties and new love. In doing so, like Erica he accepts and lives his own truth.

Sunday, June 1, 2025

Visage of Moros by Tamel Wino; Intense and Harrowing Contemporary Fiction Novel About Loss, Grief, and Vengeance

Visage of Moros by Tamel Wino; Intense and Harrowing Contemporary Fiction Novel About Loss, Grief, and Vengeance

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: On the surface Tamel Wino’s Visage of Moros couldn't be more different from his previous book, Dusk Upon Elysium if it tried. The former is a modern Contemporary Fiction novel about a father grieving the death of his daughter. The latter is a Science Fiction novel about a sentient AI that traps users in a paradise of their own design but where their former guilty secrets come back to haunt them. In style and genre they are different, but they have a lot in common thematically.

Both deal with memories of a pleasant paradise, almost a fantasy that is disrupted by a violent, bloody reality. What results is a destroyed protagonist forced to recognize his broken emotions, shattered dreams, and the darkness surrounding them. However, in Dusk Upon Elysium the idyllic fantasy is non-existent, a creation from AI to keep users complacent and lethargic. In Visage of Moros, the idyllic fantasy happened but it was in the past and haunts the protagonist as he deals with the intense grief that envelops his current present reality.

Drystan Caine, a prestigious artist once had a beautiful halcyon family life with his wife, Sophie and their daughter, Alba. It was a life of serious and supportive conversations, family jokes, comfortable money and home, and memorable vacations. That life comes crashing down when Alba disappears one day. Her parent's anxiety turns into grief when the girl's body is found and it becomes clear that she has been murdered. Drystan and Sophie are devastated and their marriage implodes. Sophia takes small steps to move forward with her life, still hurting but willing to live. Drystan however retreats into himself as he becomes a recluse. The only emotions that Drystan feels are crippling depression and simmering rage ready to seek revenge on Alba’s killer if he can find them.

It's also worth noting that there is also a great deal in common between Visage of Moros and Michael J Bowler’s Losing Austin which I just reviewed in that both deal with a family suffering when a child goes missing. However, Austin provides a fanciful Science Fiction based path and resolution whereas Visage of Moros is all too real with Alba’s disappearance and her parent's, particularly Drystan's despair, depression, and rage.

The contrast between Drystan’s life before and after Alba’s death is extensive and deep. The more pleasant that Drystan describes his past, the more the anguish comes through as that past is cruelly ripped away. Wino is able to write those memories not as cloying and mawkish but as clear, matter of fact, and painful. His words are those of someone who has seen those days slip away. They are precious to him because his present life is so empty. It's hateful that Alba's murderers took not only Alba's life physically but Drystan's life which essentially ended when his daughter died.

Since the book is mostly told from Drystan's first person point of view, we are made to share his conflicting emotions and his transition between sadness and anger. He is completely isolated from everyone. He retreats to a cabin and becomes a recluse only leaving to shop for bare essentials. He can't stop thinking and talking about Alba or remembering that awful day.

He makes some effort to bond with Alba's former boyfriend and a female friend but these moments are brief. Even as he tries to find some semblance of life around him, something to assuage his grief, he always comes back to his sadness. It can be exhausting and draining to read about his grief especially if one has an empathetic response towards another's pain. This book does not keep the Reader at an emotional distance but instead pulls them in daring us to see the world through the eyes of someone whose world has essentially come to an end.

There are elements of Mystery or Thriller as Drystan investigates Alba's killer. It doesn't dwell much on the search so the mechanics of the plot aren't as important as how Drystan feels about it and how he pushes others away in his single-minded pursuit to find a resolution, a denouement to his pain.

Most of the action consists of Drystan getting lucky in finding a potential lead and stalking them in the pursuit of murdering them in retaliation. Frozen despair gives way to active aggression and it isn't any better for him. He wants to take this person's life since they took Alba's. Like before with his despair, there is no room left in his life for anything but vengeance.

Drystan's rage is understandable but it is also severe and uncompromising. In a strange way, while he drew us, the Readers in with his grief, he pushed us away with his rage. He's become someone else that even the Reader isn't sure that they recognize. He breaks his last tie and isolates himself, even from us.

Probably this self-imposed isolation is what is at play in one of the more questionable and puzzling aspects of the book. The final pages reveal a strange plot twist that came from nowhere and is not followed with any sort of resolution. It's possible that Wino wanted to throw in a final twist but there may be another reason.

It’s possible that Drystan missing the twist is the point. He is so consumed by grief and hatred, that he can't see what's literally in front of him. He is single minded that the person that he chose killed Alba is the one that he won't believe any different. That isolation drove him insane and he would rather continue down this trajectory than sooth it by admitting that he was wrong and moving on with his life.

The twist is the final note of isolation between protagonist and Reader. It's telling that it is one of the few times where Drystan's first person point of view is no longer present. The twist becomes omniscient, almost intrusive, and is in third person. Drystan is unaware of it. The Reader is and they can't say anything. Drystan wouldn't listen anyway. It's almost a tragic irony that the answer is right in front of him but not acknowledged by him but by us. He's lost his final link to the outside world and is left alone.

Visage of Moros is a heartfelt meditation on loss, grief, Depression, anger, and vengeance. It's harrowing, intense, and ultimately cathartic.

Friday, May 30, 2025

Cease to Exist (The Richard O'Brien Series Book 2) by Ian Rodney Lazarus; Brilliant Treacherous Duo and Transition Theme Steal Complex Plot About Genetic Engineering and Warring Countries

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: I'm beginning to sense a pattern in the Richard O'Brien books so far. While O’Brien is himself a compelling protagonist with his shaky love life, his brilliance combined with physical toughness, and his morally gray philosophical look at life, it's the antagonists who are some of the more captivating and stimulating parts of the books.

In the previous book, Con and Consequence, the genius con artist turned terrorist, Jelani captured Reader's interests with Jelani's arrogance at pulling a con job with many victims and his panic when he learned about his new organization's true goals and motives. His inscrutable handler, The Professor, also fascinated with their deceptive plays on all sides and the mystery of their real identity and loyalties.

The next book in Ian Rodney Lazarus’s stirring Political Thriller series, Cease to Exist gives us another pair of intriguing antagonists. The first is Emma Lee, a Chinese emigre who steals CRISPR samples from her work lab and also spies for various governments particularly China, North Korea, and the United States.

The other is Dennis Spence, secretive founder of the nonprofit Center for New Beginnings, a rehab center/mental hospital with a dubious reputation. He is also a trans male and recipient of the CRISPR samples that his partner, Emma stole.

Meanwhile, Richard O'Brien became an FBI special agent after he was removed from his former position as a linguist and translator. Reports of missing people with connections to The Center of New Beginnings puts Richard on the case and right in Emma and Dennis's path. The stolen CRISPR samples, missing people, and Emma, Dennis, and Richard’s exploits are revealed to be parts of larger stakes from bigger governments who have wider motives and uses for genetic engineering technology.

Similar to Con and Consequence, Cease to Exist shows the threads beginning with the sample theft and the missing persons cases. Then these threads grow larger and become more tangled with international plots in which the wealthy and powerful world leaders cause long term complications for their own personal gain.

The strongest theme in this volume is transition. Everyone is transitioning from one life to another. Their lives, jobs, roles, personalities, ideologies, and gender identities are in flux and require great thought, skill, patience, persistence, and acceptance. Once the book ends, it becomes clear that nobody is the same person that they were in the early chapters or the previous volume.

Richard goes from being a bright academic and translator to an active field agent. His first few chapters focus on his training and the lessons, such as memorizing code words while in captivity, become useful during his assignment. He becomes less cerebral and an outsider and more active and aggressive while on the inside.

His love life also goes through a change. In the previous volume, he was written as a callous womanizer with a long term girlfriend who took her own life. He ended the last book in a relationship with Special Agent Sarah Goodman. In this volume, he is involved with Sarah and while he strays or thinks of other women, he feels guilt for it and does everything that he can to patch things up with Sarah. While there are still problems in his personal life, Richard is veering towards taking things to another level and maturing.

He also has to play many parts while undercover. Once he impersonates a kidnap victim during an international prison exchange. One of the darkest creepiest sections occurs when he is institutionalized for a time after investigating a lead at The Center for New Beginnings. The gaslighting from Dennis and his staff is so effective that Richard doubts whether he really is an FBI agent or it was just a delusion.

Emma is another character who goes through many changes. One of the most interesting aspects to her character is her chameleon like way of adapting and changing herself to fit how others see her. While working in the genetic engineering, she takes on the role of an amusing geeky girl who watches Science Fiction films like Jurassic Park with her colleagues. She becomes a loyal and devoted friend and lover to Dennis even willing to break the law for him. In front of her handlers, she is cold blooded and methodical.

One of her most intriguing changes occurs later in the book when she acts as a honey trap in a game of seduction. She is dressed in a sexy gown, speaks in double entendre, and draws her target in with her allure and charisma. It's hard to believe that she is the same nerd applauding Jeff Goldblum’s speeches in Jurassic Park before stealing CRISPR samples but it shows her versatility and transformation in becoming the person others want to see in her.

Emma has a lot of layers that Lazarus expertly writes so it's hard to tell who the real Emma Lee is. After all, if she plays so many roles, how do we know where the real Emma begins and ends or if a real Emma exists at all.

Naturally, the biggest change occurs within Dennis Spence. Lazarus goes to great lengths to show us Dennis's background of abuse that he endured during his early years of his assigned female gender at birth when he lived under the name of Denise. It was a violent abusive past that Dennis had to run from. Despite being an antagonist, Lazarus writes Dennis with a lot of care so we can see a multifaceted person with a backstory that created the person that he became.

It's clear that Dennis has been hurt and chose to return that hurt to others. He sees the world as shallow and empty and people as mere playthings that can do whatever he wants. Similar to The Professor, he hides his true intentions and alliances. But unlike his predecessor who has the luxury of anonymity, Dennis hides his real nature and past behind a public philanthropic famous persona. He keeps up appearances while hiding a knife that will stab anyone who interferes.

There are other transformations which play into the plot and these changes affect the wider goals of government officials who want to perform their own transitions. They want to change the world around them so only they can benefit and others are destroyed. That's a transition which benefits no one. There are no winners, only dictators and those that they crush until they themselves are crushed by those who have had enough.

Wednesday, May 28, 2025

Losing Austin by Michael J. Bowler; Affecting, Poignant, and Transcendent Missing Child Novel

Losing Austin by Michael J. Bowler; Affecting, Poignant, and Transcendent Missing Child Novel

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Sherlock Holmes said it best, “Whenever you eliminate the improbable then all that remains no matter how impossible must be the truth.” Such is the case in Losing Austin. Michael J. Bowler’s novel about a missing child t is affecting, poignant, riveting, and ultimately otherworldly and transcendent.

Colton's nonverbal Autistic older brother Austin goes missing after Colton insults him. Colton and their parents go through an agonizing search. When they find no evidence that Austin either wandered off, got lost, or had been kidnapped, Colton looks for other possibilities. He remembers a brighter than usual rainbow and a strange unusual presence in the woods at the time and suspects that his brother was abducted by aliens. Other witnesses with similar stories corroborate this theory, a theory that looks more realistic when Austin reappears five years later completely unaged.

Losing Austin is a novel that veers between Crime Thriller and Science Fiction. Bowler produces a novel that is a mixture of the two subgenres and styles.

The book reveals the anguish when a child goes missing. Colton and his parents’ bond bends and threatens to break from the strain and there are hints that this fracture is permanent even after Austin returns. Colton and Austin’s father is so busy trying to be the stoic rock for the family that instead he becomes remote to them. Their depressed mother basically withdraws from everyone else and lives in her own private world of grief and despair. She barely acknowledges Colton’s presence except with occasional disdain and hovers in and out of life without any real involvement.

As for Colton, his emotions go from determination, to rage, to guilt. He searches the woods every day long after rescue teams have stopped looking for Austin. Once he admits his theory about alien abduction, he connects with people on social media who have similar experiences. He feels helpless that he couldn’t control what happened to Austin and despite his efforts can’t find him. To respond to that, he takes action so at least he can say that he did everything that he could.

With that helplessness comes rage and fury. He gets into fights with bullying classmates that make fun of Austin or spread rumors about him. While some want to help Colton, particularly a former bully turned friend, others use the opportunity to isolate him even further. Since Colton and his family have become public figures because of this tragedy, he is constantly aware that he is being watched and monitored by everyone else at school. The scrutiny is so intense that he is temporarily home schooled. This contributes to his loneliness and insecurity.

Above all, Colton feels tense guilty and remorse. He obsessively goes over Austin’s last day especially the harsh words that he said knowing that Austin would never retaliate. He acted on impulse, spoke without thinking, and was immediately remorseful afterwards. But what was said was said and it seared into him for a long time.

Colton reveals his pain and inner torment in an interview with Anderson Cooper (in one of the book’s lighter moments, Colton refers to Cooper as “CNN Dude,” a nickname that the news anchor graciously accepts). Colton bares all partly out of confession but also so people who are going through such grief, pain, and inner frustration can learn from his story.

The realistic situation that the family goes through weaves with the fantastic theories espoused by Colton and his new friends. One of Colton’s friends shares a similar story of a missing brother and believes that “the rain took him.”

After rational outcomes produce no results, it makes sense to look for the unusual. At first that seems to be what is at play here. The Reader doubts Colton’s narration but can’t deny that there are some strange things but it’s all understated. The nature around him like the bright rainbow, the rain occurring during disappearances, or the mysterious presence watching him are eerie but not unusual. The other witnesses could be just as confused or worse appealing to a grief stricken boy's anxieties. They could be straws that Colton is trying to grasp to find answers, calm his rage, and assuage his guilt.

However, when Austin returns unaged, the impossibility becomes almost confirmed. It puts the book into a different place than what was presented before where anything reasonable and logical turns into anything supernatural or otherworldly.

The final chapters open up another solution that wasn’t addressed before. It becomes jarring but it also transcends reality and expands the book’s insights about other worlds into a new direction. The ending is also explained in a way that makes sense despite the abruptness. It makes one curious if Bowler is planning on exploring this scenario in future installments.

Losing Austin captures the emotions of a Thriller, the themes of a Science Fiction, and the passage of a Coming of Age novel. It is a book that is worth finding.