New Book Alert: Die For Her (Steele Raiders MC) by R.B. Hilliard; Modern Day Western Replaces Horses With Motorcycles, But Still Retains Old Western Values and Characters

New BookAlert: Die For Her (Steele Raiders MC) by R.B. Hilliard; Modern Day Western Replaces Horses With Motorcycles, But Still Retains Old Western Values and Characters

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

PopSugar Reading Challenge: A Western

Spoilers: It's amazing when I come across several books with the same subjects and themes. It seems that "World Author Headquarters" often presents one person saying, "I am going to write about X." Then another author says, "Hold my beer" and vows to write a better one. I'm not accusing anyone of copying and plagiarism. Ideas float along in the air. Sometimes they hit more than one person and trends are born.

This year alone I have seen: Young people of color developing superhero and magical powers (Joshua N'Gon Last Prince of Alkebulahn by Anthony Hewitt, Djinn by Sang Kromah, Heck I will throw in last year's Sapphire and Planet Zero by Christina Blake), superheroes using their powers for mundane things not just saving lives (Joshua N'Gon, A Bounty With Strings by Markus' Matthews), fantasies which subvert light equalling good and dark equalling evil (The Other Magic by Derrick Smythe, The Unholy by Paul DeBlassie III, Empire Paladin Realm of Dead by M.S. Valdez), Children's books with an adult edge and sentimentality (The Voyages of Gethsarade by MG Claybrook, A Kite at the Edge of the World by Katy Grant), murders and kidnappings on island locations (Saint X by Alexis Schiatkin, On The Backs of Waves by Chiara Kelly), murder and kidnapping of young children (Saint X, On The Backs of Waves, Shove by Sarah Ciacia), the training of assassins (Blood of the Assassins by Bill Brewer, Loose Threads Cool Assasins by J.O. Quantaman), faerie creatures adjusting to the modern world (To Carry the Horn by Karen Meyers, Djinn),  and books about the terrifying future-though that's not a surprise (The Girl Who Found The Sun by Matthew S. Cox, Pandemic Aftermath How Coronavirus Changes Global Society by Trond Undheim, Altered Helix by Stephanie Hansen).

Another trend we can add are books about motorcycles and motorcycle enthusiasts, including gangs and clubs. First, I reviewed Lawless Justice by Karina Kantas, a psychological thriller about a gang of female vigilantes who ride their bikes to take vengeance against abusive lovers and white supremacists. Then, I reviewed Sleeping Around in America Revisiting the Roadside Motel, Andrew Beattie's photographic travelogue about visiting America's strangest motels via motorcycle. The third book about the love affair with getting the motor running and heading out on the highway is Die For Her by R.B. Hilliard, the latest in her Steele Raiders MC series.

Think of the Steele Raiders as the male counterparts to Karina Kantas' Kittnz, though with slight differences in writing and characterization. Whereas, Kantas treated her Lawless Justice protagonists like a team of female superheroes, or specifically a team of female super-antiheroes, Die For Her seems to borrow from another, earlier genre.

Die For Her is reminiscent of a modern Western with motorcycles replacing horses, as the noble steeds of choice. You have the club of good men, particularly their stalwart good hearted but gruff leader who make their own laws and are none too shy about enforcing them. You have the gentle good-hearted lady (who believe it or not yes works at a school though, not a teacher, a counselor) who is in a whole heap of trouble with some sinister bad men and needs to be protected by the good men. There are the bad girls with hearts of gold, though they are biker's girlfriends, called Ol' Ladies, not hookers, who hang out and service the fellas. There are the clear bad men who make things worse by selling drugs and murdering eyewitnesses. There are also the ineffectual lawmen who exist in these books solely to hide behind their badges and get in the way of our good hearted noble gang of vigilantes.

This motorcycle club of mostly good men are the Steele Raiders, a club once headed by Grizz Steele. Well, Grizz has gone off to that motorcycle clubhouse in the sky and his role as club president has been taken over by his son, Arlan. In fact, Grizz's death has left a huge gaping hole in the club and has made them enemies with local drug dealers. Arlan is trying to hold onto his legacy of the Raiders but still has to deal with competition within the club members for leadership positions, fights with the Ol' Ladies for the attention of the men, and the disgust of his brother, Carver, a police officer.

Arlan is introduced by family friends to Luciana "Lulu" Ferina. A bit too quickly, the two become lovers. Three months later, Lulu visits a troubled student and witnesses a murder. She first goes to the police, but just as quickly sneaks away when she realizes that one of the assassins is a cop. So with no other alternative, she calls Arlan and hides out at the Raiders' clubhouse. While at the clubhouse, she gets to know more about Arlan, the Raiders, the Ol' Ladies, and their friends and enemies.

While Lawless Justice looks at its gang with equal parts admiration for their feminism and independence and criticism for their extremely violent natures, Die For Her is clearly on the side of the Raiders. 

There isn't much gray area with their antagonists. The dealers are pure evil. The law enforcement are either corrupt or ineffectual. The Raiders are on the side of right and do their best to protect those they care about. Even if it means to commit bloody ends, particularly to characters, that as far as the book is concerned, deserve it.

I am not kidding when I compare Arlan Steele to a cowboy. He is like a character played by Gary Cooper, John Wayne, Kevin Costner, or Viggo Mortenson: a real manly man who doesn't speak much but when he does, it's important. He's not a toxic male, in that he has a sensitive side that is very protective of Lulu and others. But he would definitely be at home posing for a Harley or Marlboro ad. 

While Hilliard shows praise to the Raiders, she does on occasion reveal a dark side to the life of one completely involved with the motorcycle clubs. Arlan's widowed mother despairs that for her late husband, the club was the most important thing in his life and it's members were above her in importance. She fears that the same thing will happen with her son as well. 

There is also tremendous rivalry within and outside the gang. One member goes to great lengths to vie against another when Arlan declares him as vice president. Carver becomes a police officer partly to break away from the closeness shared between Grizz and Arlan in which he felt left out. One member turns traitor for the almighty dollar and and two others hide gambling and drug addictions to keep up with the fast life.

The female characters are unfortunately very undeveloped. They are either damsels in distress like Lulu, mothers, or biker girls. The Ol' Ladies and younger ones, called The Girls, appear to have very little to do but sleep with the male bikers, possibly get married, and gossip about Lulu, the new woman in their midst. They are the biker equivalent of rock and roll groupies, there to make the men feel good with little reason of their own. There is even a line where one of the Raiders dismisses the idea of female club members that are bikers, rather than just hangers-on. This Reader gets a hilarious delight imagining the Steele Raiders going up against the Kittnz of Karina Kantas' Lawless Justice. That would be a very interesting and entertaining battle of the sexes. 

Despite the modern milieu and motorcycles, there is something old fashioned about Die For Her that many Readers will like. It conjures up a simple of time of good vs. evil, where the lines are clearly drawn and good people will do anything for the ones that they love and swear to protect.

New Book Alert: Altered Helix (Book 1 in the Altered Helix Series) by Stephanie Hansen; Science Fiction Novella Has Intriguing Setting and Premise, But Slow Beginning

New Book Alert: Altered Helix (Book One of The Altered Helix Series) by Stephanie Hansen; Science Fiction Has Intriguing Premise and Setting, But Slow Beginning

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: It always fascinates me when one book that I am reading compliments or serves as a commentary to another, even if they are unrelated. Of course, nowadays it's not that hard to think that more than one author, either fiction or nonfiction, would be thinking about the future for obvious reasons.

The latest book that I am reviewing, Altered Helix by Stephanie Hansen, could be the case study of Trond Undheim's Pandemic Aftermath How Coronavirus Changes Global Society. In his book, Undheim pictures various scenarios of the future: one is Two Worlds in which the rich one percenters live in an isolated sterile clean existence from the rest of the world. Another is Hobbesian Chaos in which governments have collapsed and survival of the fittest is the rule of the day.

The world of Altered Helix seems to be a composite of Undheim's Two Worlds and Hobbesian Chaos. While no mention of Coronavirus is present, it isn't hard to presume the world suffered without it in this book. Hansen describes a world where the United States government collapses and states rule their areas. Homelessness is omnipresent with more people on the streets than live in homes. People get kidnapped from the streets and find themselves on the operating table with mysterious medical professionals who want to study their DNA.

One of those people with unusual DNA is Austria, a young woman mourning the death of her father. One day while involved in a group project where she and other kids, particularly Street Kids, put together a haunted house, she is drugged. When she wakes up, she learns that her DNA gives her amazing healing abilities. Not only that, she inherited the DNA from her father, an Olympian with tremendous strength. (The governments fell apart, but they still have the Olympics?)

While Austria lives in a house with her mother, she is not too proud to live like her homeless peers and spends time sleeping on the streets and accompanying them to their less than reputable hangouts. However, she finds them a more likeable friendlier bunch than the so-called Frat Kids, bullying rich kids. In fact she even contemplates a romance with one, Josh, and treats another one, Jack, like the kid brother that she never had.

The world building is amazing. It is rather unfortunate that most of it is relegated to the background or thrown together in the final chapters. The majority of the action revolves around the cliques and construction of a haunted house.

This presents huge plot points. In a world of a declining government and real fear, haunted attractions would lose their luster. The world would be more like The Hunger Games and less Disney's Haunted Mansion.

The construction chapters take most of the book and are really only interesting because it allows Austria to interact with the street kids and begin relationships with them. Mostly, it's the traditional teen angst and creative disagreements that occur when putting together a project. Cliched in a book set in a modern time period. Unnecessary in a book that is set in the future with a background that suggests more important life threatening problems than where to put a special effect monster.

However, there are some bits that are interesting about the haunted house chapters. The setting of the book is frightening but the the behavior of the characters suggest that they are so numb and used to it, that they go on with their lives and do regular things like building a haunted attraction.

Another point is equal parts disturbing, but thought provoking the more that one considers. In one of the rooms, Austria and her crew reenact the Jonestown Mass Suicide in their attraction. Nowadays, it would be shocking and forbidden to imagine anyone thinking of putting that in a haunted attraction. In the future where real fear runs rampant, things like "inappropriate" are no longer considered.

However, once they get past the teen dilemmas and the haunted house, Altered Helix is an interesting book. Underneath the seeming normalcy, there is a darkness that is waiting to explode. A darkness that reveals itself in the last few pages that opens up for another book that hopefully puts this world in the forefront.

Weekly Reader: Djinn by Sang Kromah; Modern Fantasy Enchants With Interesting Twists On Magical Creatures and Characters

Weekly Reader: Djinn by Sang Kromah; Modern Fantasy Enchants With Interesting Twists On Magical Creatures and Characters

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews




PopSugar Reading Challenge: A book written by a WOC


Spoilers: Of the magical fantasy creatures, the djinn are among the ones with the least amount of pop culture attention in the Western world. When they are shown, they are usually restricted in one form: as the magical wish granting genies. One of the most popular images are Barbara Eden, as the curvaceous beauty (but no visible navel) found inside a bottle, that served Major Tony Nelson (Larry Hagman) in the sitcom, I Dream of Jeannie. Another is Robin Williams as the lovable big blue Genie, the creature of a thousand laughs and even more impressions from Disney's Aladdin franchise.


However, in legend the djinn are a lot more fascinating, powerful, and sometimes terrifying than their Hollywoodized images suggest. These magical creatures originated in legends from pre-Islamic Arabian countries. They were portrayed as elemental spirits and shapeshifters, very powerful beings. They were technically immortal, but could be killed in combat. However, it is very difficult to catch one, especially when they are invisible. Like their Western counterparts, the faeries, the djinn were often blamed for physical and mental illnesses. However, they could be reasoned with and become powerful allies.

When Muhammad established the Islamic religion, he integrated the folklore of the djinn into the Qaran. Muhammad was seen as a prophet to both human and djinn communities. King Solomon reportedly had the ability to control the djinn and the Queen of Sheba was believed to have djinn ancestry. With the religion of Islam, the djinn's status was downgraded from nature spirits to demons in league with the Devil.


Sang Kromah's enchanting fantasy, Djinn aims and succeeds in freeing the djinn from their demonized reputations and Hollywood images. This brilliant fantasy focuses on a teen girl whose peculiarities and strange abilities add up to one thing: she is in fact a djinn.


Bijou "Jewels" Fitzroy, a biracial 16-year-old girl has led an increasingly bizarre life. She never knew her father and her mother died in childbirth. She has been raised by her beautiful, but at times rigid grandmother, Gigi on the run, never staying in one place long, and constantly being homeschooled. She has some strange abilities that she can't explain. She can sense the emotions of some people that she calls Typicals, sometimes looking into their eyes and seeing their deepest secrets. Then there are other people, that she calls The Others, people that she can't see their emotions but sees their strange, hidden, and ethereal often beautiful appearances.

She also sees strange creatures such as a faceless boy, who may only exist in her dreams, but has been her playmate since she was a kid. She also sees a terrifying hooded man that fills her with an intense sense of evil and terror. To block out these emotions and images, Bijou shuffles a deck of playing cards as a coping mechanism.


Despite the past weirdness in her life, Bijou longs for a life of normalcy so when she and Gigi move to Sykesville, Maryland, Bijou finally convinces her grandmother to let her go to a regular public school, to make friends and have a social life, like other teenagers. On her first day, she catches the suspicion of Mythology and Folklore Teacher, Mr. Jennings, the ire of local mean girl, Mandy DeVoe and her Girl Squad, and the friendship of Sebastian and Amina Sinjin, a pair of twins relocated from Australia.

Bijou hopes to live a typical teenage life, but her new life is far from typical. Her empathic abilities are heightened especially when she is around the twins. The twins can also see the dangerous hooded man and know that he's trouble.

Bijou discovers new talents such as breathing underwater and the ability to swim fast, even though she has never taken a lesson. A local eccentric recognizes her, even though Bijou has never seen her before in her life. Then there are the matter of six girls who have gone missing, all around the same age and all have the same birthday, June 21st, the same birthday as Bijou's. Also what's the deal with Gigi? She has been acting strange. One minute aloof and suspicious of everyone around her and the next welcoming people that she says are distant relatives that Bijou has never met before. Everything is weird lately and seems to be getting weirder.

Bijou ultimately discovers the truth that she is a djinn, and not just any djinn: she is the daughter of two powerful djinn who were members of royalty and her birth was heralded in prophecy. Kromah does some interesting things with her magical characters that play in, wink at, and sometimes dismiss the regular known fantastic lore associated with such creatures.

First off, fairies, elves, gnomes etc. were the names humans gave them. Their names always were the djinn, thereby restoring the pre-Islamic Arabian folklore back into prominence when referring to these fascinating creatures.

Just like their legendary original versions, the djinn in this book are capable of doing elemental magic. Two djinns that serve as Bijou's protectors demonstrate tremendous aptitude in fire and water magic.

Kromah also has fun playing on existing myths and legends by including them in her world building. Such figures as changelings (human babies swapped for djinn babies), Lilith (the demon from Hebrew lore who kills newborn babies), and The Fairy King and Queen make appearances in unique and startling ways that update them to the current Readership while staying true to their mythological roots.

One fairy literature that takes an interesting path in this book is A Midummer Night's Dream. The Shakespeare play of fairies and mismatchmaking becomes a lot darker. The argument between Oberon and Titania in the play becomes a divorce between Alieu and Lilith (the real names of the djinn king and queen in this book). The divorce spills into a war between the djinn and causes dissension and natural catastrophe in the human world as well. Puck, the mischievous but harmless Trickster from the Shakespeare play and seen as a charming antihero in other portrayals since (notably in Disney's animated series, Gargoyles), is a terrifying demonic creature here who seems to like bringing about destruction and chaos for their own sake.


Bijou is also a brilliant lead in this strange tale. She discovers the origins of her abilities and as the book continues, her powers grow exponentially to almost terrifying proportions.

Thankfully, Bijou is not a perfect heroine of infinite goodness. She has a bad temper and is often prone to impulsive acts, such as accidentally revealing too much about herself and her powers during fights. Because of her isolated and homeschooled background, she is incredibly socially awkward when she talks to people, such as making up stories about her former best friend, "Willow" obviously referring to the character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer not thinking that anyone would notice.

When she finds out the true scope of her abilities and what she is supposed to do, like many teenagers considers running from her responsibilities. However her good heart reins in and when it comes time to choosing between flight or fight, she chooses fight.


There are moments of betrayal and double cross. By the end of the book, no one is who they say they are. They practice the djinn ability of shapeshifting to perfection to fool Bijou and just about everyone else including the Reader. By the end the Reader, suspects every character of being something that they are not. (Which would make a sequel highly entertaining as the Reader will expect and look for betrayal and shapeshifters in every character. They will expect twists when there isn't one.)

The real identities and allegiances between characters are fascinating, but kind of confusing. It takes a few rereadings of the chapters to get right who is who, what their abilities are, who they work for, and where they fall in Bijou's life and the prophecy.

Djinn is a memorable magical book that focuses on some magical creatures that do more than pop out of lamps and bottles and grant wishes. Much more.

New Book Alert: A Kite at The Edge of The World by Katy Grant; Moving, Beautiful, and Lyrical Juvenile Book About Youth, Death, and Summer Days That Never End

New Book Alert: A Kite at The Edge of The World by Katy Grant; Moving, Beautiful, and Lyrical Juvenile Book About Youth, Death, and Summer Days That Never End

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews



PopSugar Reading Challenge: A bildungsroman




Spoilers: We all remember when we were kids. The best friends that we made just by being at the right place at the right time, on the swing set at the playground, in line on the first day at school, or sitting next to you in class. We remember the summer days that seemed to never end. When life was all about the next game, the next imaginative adventure, the next trip to the movies or the library, or the next ice cream cone or frozen popsicle. The sun seemed brighter, the sky seemed bluer, and the days always seemed better. Nothing could bother us and we could live forever.


That magic is captured in A Kite at the Edge of the World, Katy Grant's beautiful and lyrical juvenile novel about those days. It's a simple story about two young boys meeting during a summer vacation and spending their days having fun, going to the beach, and flying kites. Children, about ages 8-12 will love the kids and their friendship and adventures and how they use their imagination to have fun and get out of trouble (As a bonus, the book includes instructions, so children will learn how to make a kite.)

But there is a sad wistfulness throughout the writing that adults will understand. Similar to another children's book that I reviewed, The Voyage of Gethsarade by M.G. Claybrook, this could almost be considered a children's book with an adult audience in mind. However, unlike Gethsarade which is an edgy satire of heroification, what will appeal to the adults in this book is the longing nostalgia of those days. The desire of the narrator to relive those days and bottle them up now that he is older and weighed down with maturity. The children reading the book haven't yet reached that longing (one hopes) but the adults reading it to them have.


The unnamed Narrator is an old man who is nearing the end of his life and thinks back to the best day of his life. It happened when he was a boy and on holiday with his parents. Grant's lyrical description gives her writing an almost poetic feel, as though describing an Impressionist seascape painting. As an old man, The Narrator recalls the sights and sounds of that beach: "Rows of little wooden cottages painted white with roofs with red shingles. A great many wooden boardwalks. The lovely thumping sound they made under bare feet-despite the very real danger of splinters. Along the boardwalks, decks with wooden chairs, also white. Tables shaded by blue striped umbrellas. An occasional gazebo.

But mostly sea, and sky, and sand. The turquoise sea, the azure sky, the buff sand. The salty taste of the breeze. And the smell of fish, not unpleasant in the sea air. Dots of white on the ocean where the waves peaked. The sky-a blue suffused with sunlight-expansive, endless. Sands glittering white at noon, tawny at sunset, shapeshifting. Sea and sky and sand all meeting at the confluence of that little white seaside village."


While playing on the seashore, The Narrator makes a new friend Ilio. Ilio is brave, adventurous….and dying. Ilio is very ill and it is clear that his illness is taking its toll on his body, but he is determined to make the most of the little time that he has and that includes receiving a new best friend.


The first item on the friendship itinerary is to fly a kite. The Narrator has a book that gives detailed instructions on how to make a kite, unfortunately they don't have the money to purchase some of the things that are needed. No matter, the ever resourceful Ilio says, we'll find some. So the Dynamic Duo go through the seaside town looking for loose change under the boardwalk, inside the Penny Arcade, and a water fountain. (They make sure that when they take the coins from the fountain, they make a wish that the person's wish will come true so they don't deprive anyone of a wish.) During their journey to get money and to buy supplies, Ilio shows off a feisty charming nature. He is feisty when he is ready to fight a bully for their money and charming when he shares details of their adventures to sympathetic adults. His exuberant mental state belies his physical weakened body, which is revealed whenever he has to stop for a breather.


When the two finally get their kite in the air, it is a sight to behold, a splash of various colors in the blue sky. The moment enchants the adults on the beach as they watch the kite dance along the air. The boys imagine what it would be like to let it go and allow it to fly forever into the sky. The boy's musings contemplate the existence of many things. The Narrator wonders: "If all the words that had ever been spoken by all the people who had ever lived were floating around the Earth above us. If that was true, was there some way to hear them? Like the way Ilio imagined others might see our kite? Once a thing like a kite or a word was gone from you, was that the end of it? Or was it a part of you forever?

.....I felt like the kite was a part of me, and it was there, but here I was, far below it, standing on the beach. Only this string from the general store kept us together.

And yet-how could that be? Was I the kite? Was the kite me? And what about Ilio? Was he the kite, too? We're he and I connected forever?"

These words suggest the transience of things how objects like kites as well as people don't last forever. Like that beautiful kite in the air or words like "I love you" or "You are my best friend" can disappear and float along. Eventually, they disappear. Objects get destroyed. Words are said and forgotten. Bodies die. But our memories are what last. Those things are still there as long as we are there to think about them and remember how they made us feel.

The kite flying ends what The Narrator describes as the best day of his life. His friendship continues even as Ilio's health gets progressively worse. The two still spend time together, building a sand castle that they know won't last and swimming just so Ilio can exert himself. (In his cheeky way, when an observer points out Ilio could have drowned, he answers "But I didn't.")

A particularly touching moment occurs when The Narrator tells a bed-ridden Ilio a story from his own imagination. With Ilio's prodding, The Narrator tells his friend a story about a boy's adventure at sea. Through his words, he gives his best friend an adventure that he can experience in his imagination, if not in reality. (The Narrator's recall of every detail of this story suggests that he too never got to have his adventures either, but his gift for imagination continued into old age and remains a soothing balm through an adult life of responsibility, stability, sameness, and tedium.)


A Kite at the Edge of the World is a true tear jerker and even the hardest of hearts will sniffle a little by the end. The Narrator realizes that even though Ilio did not live long, he left an impact on his life that allowed him to examine love and life and to be grateful for those moments even if they last only for a little while.

New Book Alert: Pandemic Aftermath: How Coronavirus Changes Global Society by Trond Undheim; Thought Provoking Book Presents Various Intriguing and Frightening Future Scenarios

New Book Alert: Pandemic Aftermath: How Coronavirus Changes Global Society by Trond Undheim; Thought Provoking Book Presents Various Intriguing and Frightening Alternate Future Scenarios




By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


If 2020 will be remembered for anything (and there is a lot of competition for news this year), it will be as the year that the entire world was stopped by a pandemic. The Coronavirus pandemic will be talked about for years to come and may change the world as we know it, forever.


In his book, Pandemic Aftermath: How Coronavirus Changes Global Society, Trond Undheim, discusses the pandemic and how it could affect our future. His book is thought provoking and even frightening as he offers different potential scenarios that could be our future from here on out.

In the first couple of chapters, Undheim offers some historical background on how previous pandemics changed the societies in which they were encountered. For example, The Black Plague led to an increase in Anti-Semitism (because the Jewish neighborhoods had less casualties because of their isolation and cleanliness rituals), increased workload but less people to do it, and more violence as weapons like the longbow, crossbow, and chainmail were in use.

Many technical advances like metal cookware and the printing press can be traced to aftereffects of the plague as labor saving devices.

Undheim also writes about how past pandemics were passed. For example, with the 1918 Influenza pandemic, he offers various reasons why the illness spread as it did. Scientifically, it was a newly discovered infectious stream that caused the immune system to turn in on itself. Politically, it began during WWI and officials were afraid of bringing public attention to influenza in fear it would bring down support for the war effort. Logistically, more nurses were needed on the front so there was a nursing shortage on the home front. Psychologically, officials refused to account for a second wave, feeling that it had been beaten, so let their guards down when it came through. Geographically, because of increased industrialization and urban density. (Sound familiar, almost spookily familiar? It should.)


Undheim also gives us a timeline of the Coronavirus pandemic from Covid-19's discovery in Wuhan Province, China in December, 2019 to the almost complete shutdown of the entire world by late April-early May with worldwide cases reaching 2 million with the death toll reaching 125,000 by mid-April. (The number is now 7,931,193 diagnosed cases with 433,655 confirmed deaths according to the Coronavirus Update statistics) Even though, we just lived through it, it is still mind boggling to read how quickly this virus spread from one person to 2 million worldwide in less than four months. It's one of those events that future generations would have a hard time processing and believing that it could have happened. But it has happened and is still happening. (There is also a strong possibility that it will continue to happen with a second wave hitting various countries in Asia and Europe, with the U.S. maybe getting hit before the first wave is even finished.)


Superspreaders also led to the virus getting out of control. The official definition is "a person infected with a virus, bacterium, other microorganism who transmits it to an unusually large number of other people." Undheim cites several examples such as a religious gathering of over 1,000 people in South Korea, the Champions League Soccer Match in Italy, the Biogen management meeting in Boston, New York City commuters, and a wedding in Uruguay in which 44 people were infected, as early cases of superspreaders. At the time this book went to publication, certain current events hadn't yet happened. It would be interesting and horrifying how recent events like the relaxing of Covid-19 guidelines, people openly defying the guidelines by going to places like the Florida beaches and Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks, the Black Lives Matter Protests, and Trump's June rally and West Point Graduation Speech, will affect the overall total of cases. (In fact many of the states which saw defiant beachgoers have already reported an increase of cases by the time of this review.)

While many claim that Covid-19 was an unforeseen event, many futurists warned in advance that such a pandemic was likely. As early as 2005, the WHO/European Workshop said that "a pandemic level alert was 6", suggesting that a worldwide pandemic was likely. In 2006, the UK Office of Science and Innovation (OSI) wrote a government scenario report on infectious diseases and said that one could occur "within 10-25 years in the future." (14 years, right on schedule!)

After the H1N1 epidemic, many scientists and researchers and others issued dire warnings about the likelihood of another pandemic. From the Rand Company, to the EU's health department, to Bill Gates said that a pandemic could come "in the foreseeable future." Even the New York Times issued a warning on the 100th anniversary of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic that "we are not ready for the next one."

Undheim also offers fictional and nonfiction books and films that dealt with possible outbreaks. The idea of a world wide pandemic was far from unheard of. (Indeed this Reader even remembers a Top Ten YouTube List from 2015 as well as an episode of Adam Ruins Everything from 2018 which discussed illnesses. Both mentioned the chilling possibility of a supervirus that currently known antibiotics, vaccinations, and medicines would not be able to stop.)

However, the majority of these scenarios were criticized as smaller in scope mostly affecting the immediate area and not the world at large and with only a few tactical challenges that didn't cover every scenario. Undheim believes that we "failed to see the scale and impact of this pandemic-all of us collectively failed."

He cites ways that could be improved to prevent, track, and recover from outbreaks including shared information between governments and a more informed populace that is better prepared.


The highlights (if such can be described about a book discussing such a grim topic) of this book is the possible scenarios that Undheim envisions for the world within ten years. They are almost science fiction scenarios because they require speculative thought. All of these scenarios have both good and bad aspects to them. The five possibilities are:


The Borderless World-In which world leaders achieve full true globalization. The world has one government based on the United States and United Nations(with six branches: judicial, executive, legislative, scientific, environment, and religion), one country, and no borders. Technology, science and innovation are widely accessible to the point that children admire these innovators. Vaccinations improve life and air purification systems and synthetic crops improve the environment. A global medical ethics committee helps challenge medical restrictions from before, so healthcare and medicine are available to everybody. (In fact life expectancy increases to 120.)Education is available online so college is affordable.

Consolidation helps improve the world economy. Various industries are improved upon because borderless travel makes an easy spread of goods and commodities. Food and Retail service workers are looked upon admirably (Being an essential workers definitely deserves praise). Media and Communications are available through neural links.

Hygenic rituals are practically required and people are spread out so cities aren't as large. Many work from home and no one takes public transportation. Physical touch is forbidden and large groups are outlawed. Movies and sports are only available online, but do not reflect different places (there was even a sports void for three years. Imagine, quel horreur!). There are also huge infringements on civil liberties and individuality. Most sinisterly, population control is implemented and experts are finding ways to get the lifespan lowered to 100 or 70.


Nation-State Renewal-The opposite of a borderless world is one where there are tighter restrictions between borders, countries, and nations. Borders are closed and people stop traveling long distances. Contact with more than 50 people is forbidden or outlawed.

By 2030, 8G mobile broadband makes work and entertainment from home necessary and preferred. Healthcare and other basic services are also delivered to doors within minutes. Since flying is restricted and autonomous driving is a thing, augmented reality is how people visit friends and family. Augmented reality allows people to attend sports virtually, until people can attend again in person in the late '20's. Block chain is used for investor trading and personal shopping.

Cyber security is a problem, because international distrust is at an all-time high. Some countries are also holding on to certain technologies like precision medicine, nanotechnology, and others in exchange for larger pieces. In fact, tighter borders keep technologies from reaching certain countries.

Many countries fall in the years after the crisis. The United States goes bankrupt, because of the absence of public based health insurance. China is the main world power and they help rebuild many of the African countries, making them powerful as well. Scandanavian countries went through a depression, but secure individual rights and liberties towards their citizens and prosperity has slowly returned by the later decade.

Because of increased borders, nationalism is high. Germany has a return to such a government (who do not wish to be called Nazis because they believe that they are different-for reasons) and has emerged as another global superpower alongside China. Smaller nations have also broken from larger nations: Catalonia from Spain, Walloon from Belgium, Northern Italy from the South, Siberia from Russia, Guangdong from China, Kashmir from India, Hokkaido from Japan, Khmers from Vietnam, Asir from Saudi Arabia, and Bali from Indonesia.

Travel is such a difficulty and so restricted that people only congregate with locals causing nationalism to be a big issue (and racism, Antisemitism, and other prejudices no doubt). Finance is restricted, so larger countries have more than smaller ones. Education took a downslide because not every country is able to practice educational reform. Commodities and services are localized and nationalized. Government services are relied upon, but mocked. Some manufacturers from wealthy countries stockpile goods, so they build underground or under ocean storages to keep them(rather than share them other countries). Larger countries saw the control of oligarchies. Defense has increased because each nation assumes the others want what they have


Two Worlds Apart-This scenario separates rich from poor. The top 0.01% live in separate cities and existences from the lower 99%. The rich live in their own sterilized communities called Clean World away from the Dirty World, where everyone else lives. Not the old wealthy places like Beverly Hills, Gagnam, Kensington, or the Upper East Side. No, no those are for the upper-middle class and former upper class. The super elite wealthy live in their own enclaves and their own world apart from everyone else.

It began (surprise, surprise) in the United States when the government puts procedures to protect members of Congress, the Senate, Supreme Court, and the White House. They are put in a quarantined area around D.C. to work from home with hotels and apartments changed into living quarters. They build a wall around the enclave. (Hey, Trump got his wall!) They grow their own crops and cattle and keep services inside. Other governments are so pleased with this experiment that they follow suit. All government and financial centers wall themselves in.

Various vaccines have failed during their trial runs, so the elite create their own enclaves in resort areas and real estate properties where the wealthy live and run their business ("It's a hybrid of Disney World and Martha's Vineyard," Undheim predicts). AIs determine intelligence, education, and beauty to determine who can get into these enclaves. Naturally, objections particularly from human rights protestors and people who were wealthy but not enough are raised.

Coronavirus waves spread through Dirty World as many of the working class, minorities, those in poor health, those that live in urban areas, and the impoverished are almost wiped out by the third wave. Rural communities by the fourth wave.

The wealthy enclaves have the latest in technology like 3D printers, while the poorer ones have to make do with sharing devices like one printer in a neighborhood. Forget about poorer areas having good data capacity, only business districts have that. However those in Dirty World have access to a Corona Update App to tell them when the next outbreak and lockdown will occur. Augmented reality, Blockchain, Nanotechnology, quantum computing, and autonomous driving are realities in Clean World. CRISPR gene splicing keeps children from catching Coronavirus or other viruses. While Clean World keeps the technology to themselves, secret scientists and tech experts are sharing it with the Dirty World residents to give them a chance of advancement and survival.

All industries have to serve two entirely different groups of people and have to adjust accordingly. Healthcare services have to serve people who get advanced medicine and gene editing and another requires public health services. Finance is concentrated on Clean World, but the good news is that credit histories in Dirty World are gone. Higher education is of course only restricted to Clean World. Personalized medicine under development are unknowingly tested on residents of Dirty World. Travel and transportation are not big because people stay in their worlds. Commodities are largely owned by Clean World and dispersed sparingly in Dirty World. Government is efficient in Clean World, but run like a bureaucracy in Dirty World, which tries to help as many people as they can. Nonprofits no longer exist because they can't afford to help Dirty World and most of Clean World doesn't care. Staying alive is the main concern.

Dirty World doesn't have a lot of resources. They live in the abandoned houses but are little more than house sitters with nothing of theirs to put in. Many academic and cultural people still live in Dirty World, but are exploited and treated poorly. Some innovators still exist and stronger friendships are maintained on Dirty World. There is free will, but protesting bigger issues isn't as important as staying alive. Dirty World is a struggle, but Clean World is sterilized to the point of apathy and ignorance.


Hobbesian Chaos-Survival of the fittest at its worst. Besides the Coronavirus, similar related and unrelated events happen including wars, invasions, famines, and environmental disasters that led to further problems. Rule of law ceases to exist and clans and ideological movements fall in its place as people fight for resources. The world governances have collapsed. Local warlords and organized crime loot the still wealthy neutral countries like Switzerland.

Various tumultuous events happened at once to contribute to the chaos along with Covid-19: A hurricane called Armageddon in the U.S. and restricted ways to restore things because of, you guessed it, Coronavirus, a resurgence of Ebola in West Africa that made its way to France, grasshopper storms in East Africa that created famine, an overall World Food Bank shortage, the weakened ozone layer spreading to Argentina, Chile, Brazil, and Australia, and the Mafia and other organized crime outfits returning and becoming one large international supergroup.

Technology was severely limited only to the elites. Many couldn't keep up with the faster data connection upgrades. Avatars are used for escapism and for online voting. Falling states couldn't stop voter fraud, identify theft, or other cybercrime. Failed infrastructure could not admit autonomous driving. Blockchain only stalled the inevitable economic collapse. CRISPR was only used for criminal families. Nearly everybody had to commit some form of cybercrime to survive.

Theoretical research for quantum computing and nanotechnology is postponed to focus on immediate survival. Robotics took over some jobs, so some people have attacked technology blaming it for the massive unemployment. All synthetic biology is put off to study vaccines and investors lost interest.

Exhaustion and depression characterize the first three years with people becoming numb to the increased death tolls and bad news. Protests are muted (in this scenario, obviously not in reality). Many dictatorships falter by keeping statistics down on Coronavirus or in denial that it existed. Many failed states and central governments that had problems to begin with are exacerbated by the crises. By 2023, the Fragile States Index spreads to 100 people.

The Wall Street markets never recover from the economic crisis. Oil prices are extremely volatile going up and down from $50 to $15 back up to $50 a barrel. Regional terrorist groups including a re formed Al Qaeda in the Middle East, Boko Haram in Nigeria, and the Real Texans in Texas seized control of the oil reserves. Oil pipelines have been under attack or taken over by different bodies.

Religion lost hold because of being unable to meet in gatherings but schisms continue. Hate speech against Muslims in particular continues. Small revolutions spring up against government bodies that were no longer trusted, if they ever were. Germany's far right government took control over the EU market. The former Christian Democrat government is compared to the failed Weimar Republic before the Nazis. The U.S. economy falls after a ship which was used to control the Strait of Hormuz was shelled, but not before the crew fell victim to Coronavirus. Coronavirus death tolls increase with Africa getting 30%. Boko Haram has a lock on South Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Other terrorist and regional breakout groups weaponized and seized power.

Healthcare was brought down because of the warlord infighting that made getting medicine difficult. Bigger countries managed to weather the crisis financially in some cases. Most colleges went broke because of low endowment and declining enrollment numbers. Warlords control many of the local schools and use them to educate children under their agendas. Travel became a necessity but was harder because of the competing areas. Air travel is no longer in use because of frequent attacks. Commodities markets aren't traded except from the barter economies of cartels. Wars over resources are fought and consumer confidence is at an all-time low. Services are no longer done. If you wanted it done, do it yourself. Communication is also limited. Manufacturing survived but quality control is non-existent. Media is strictly local. Food is eaten solely for survival. Conglomerates are controlled by warlords. Nonprofits exist to help people outside of the warlords' control.

Resorts, monuments, and scenic places are gone so tourism is as well. Warlords build their own defense. Technology has some pockets of innovation, but it is wide spread and not in wide use. The Internet is down so mass communication is lost.


Status Quo- This offers little change and that things will go on as always.

Vaccines developed 18 months after the virus was identified. The worldwide population either became immune or became vaccinated.

Governments are the same, still fighting and still jockeying for position. Only by 2023 did countries like Russia, Britain, and Germany get an increase in population. Science has gone up with life sciences and medicine but others have not fared as well, carrying many of the same innovations from the past decade. Governments put tighter surveillance to monitor Coronavirus.

Many technologies just improved or enhanced older technologies such as the 3D printer, but 6G has been delayed until 2035. Augmented reality helps online education. Autonomous driving is readily in use by 2030. Over 500 provided CRISPR services help with genetic editing and increasing longevity. Governments mandate cyber security enhancements by 2029. Robotics have maintained some services, but personal robots are declined. Virus work uniforms roll out by 2027. Synthetic biology is mostly kept in the U.S. VR games is used in flight simulators, construction projects, and games.

Many lost their jobs after the pandemic ended, never to return. Some never returned to the workforce because of changed jobs, PTSD, illness, and death. The transfer of the virus crystalizes the difference between rich and poor as poor people were more likely to get it. Start up companies become popular because they help people work in small groups.

Travel bans kept the virus from spreading in large numbers. They were so successful, that they were implemented until 2024.

Social distancing is still in wide use and lockdowns are frequent from mandatory to voluntary. That uncertainty has impacted insurance companies and consumer confidence, severity of other diseases, and stress.

Commuter restrictions and reduced hours help lessen the spread on public transportation. City wide stay at home orders and curfews are implemented. New York even implements an alphabetical commuter list. (Names starting with A-H can enter during certain hours and so on.)

Rules changed for every day life. Parties lessen only to a few intimate friends and family members. Some people begin to feel uncomfortable in a crowd and never return to social activity. Anxieties have increased because of the fear and uncertainty on multiple levels.

People have a new found respect for carers, health and service professionals. Sporting events remained restrict for years afterwards and media is solely consumed online. Online church services make worship possible.

A Corona passport is created for people to travel. Certain countries are put on permanent travel bans. Social inequalities continue. Human psychology stays the same. People want things to go the way they were before. Healthcare got a boost and stockpiling medical supplies are important. Financial industry bounced back after a consumer demand has increased.

Education continues online and in person. Snow days no longer exists because learning continues online. Travel is having difficulties because people are confused about which places are restricted. Staff also does temperature and wellness checks before travelers board their flights. Even though service workers were praised, their lifestyles didn't change and they remain low paid.

Commuter travel ended so remote work has increased. Real estate changed because people are uncertain about moving to rural areas with fewer hospitals. Manufacturing has rebounded as demand increases. Food services became more home focused since many restaurants closed. Defense continues as before as many countries still distrust each other.


The scenarios offer many interesting possibilities to the future (looking forward to that 3D printer, augmented reality, and 8G.) Some are more likely than others. If nothing else, the current fight over Confederate flags and statues, a Confederacy that no longer exists, mind you, with people bellowing "Southern Pride" and "Our History," tells us that not many would be willing to accept a Borderless World. Others such as Nation-State Renewal, Status Quo and Two Worlds are closer to potentially happening in real life.

It is interesting to note that Undheim's suggestion for the Two Worlds scenario began with Washington's government putting a wall around itself when shortly after the book's publication, Trump indeed barricaded the White House. However, it was because of fear of BLM protestors not the Coronavirus.

Speaking of Black Lives Matter, since this book was published before the protests regarding the deaths of Ahmoud Arbery, Breona Taylor, and George Floyd, the book doesn't mention what impact they would have on the pandemic or specifically how they would play in the subsequent social conflcts. Would they fit in the Two Worlds, revealing the schism between races as well as social class, or would the results be something like Hobbesian Chaos, creating a chain reaction of further escalated violence?

Undheim does a commendable job of weighing the various options never saying which is preferred. (In fact all have good and bad points. Even the dystopia in Hobbesian Chaos suggests stronger individuality and closeness to friends and immediate family members.) Of course not all factors are revealed. For example, some mention the people openly defying regulations even calling the Spring Break foolishness "The Florida Massacre" in one possibility, but not how they effect many of these scenarios long term. These actions show more of a forced return to status quo to stabilize the economy and out of sheer frustration from people defying the regulations, rather than the gradual one envisioned in the Status Quo scenario in which people returned to normal after they were told and were still filled with anxiety afterwards.


Undheim occasionally stops his account of the scenarios to give us individuals that live within them including a scientist recognized for his work in the Borderless World, A woman in the Nation-State Renewal concentrating on her stolen childhood, a man from Clean World going slumming in Dirty World for fun, a Norwegian girl in Hobbesian Chaos freezing, hungry, and fearing the Russians who killed her father, and an announcement of the end of the WHO during Status Quo. Each one shows what it's like to live in these world, making the scenarios more personal. (In fact Undheim should consider a second career as a science fiction author.)


While Pandemic Aftermath offers tantalizing possibilities for the future, it is the present that is the book's real concern. All or none of these may come true depending on our actions today. The virus needs to be treated and people need to be medicated, but they also need to recognize their own involvement and responsibility in preventing its spread and saving our future.

Weekly Reader: A Knife's Edge: A Ronan McCullough Novel by Eliot Parker; Suspenseful Tense Mystery Shows Heroism, Justice, and Most Of All A Loving Same-Sex Family

Weekly Reader: A Knife's Edge: A Ronan McCullough Novel by Eliot Parker; Suspenseful Tense Mystery Shows Heroism, Justice, and Most Of All, A Loving Same-Sex Family

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews




PopSugar Reading Challenge: A Medical Thriller


Spoilers: Eliot Parker's A Knife's Edge is another book that is the ultimate escape in the difference between fiction and reality. In reality, confidence in the police force is at an all time low and with good reason, as incidents of systemic racism have increased between police forces and black civilians. Cries of protest and defunding the police are at an all-time high.


In fiction, Ronan McCullough, a good heroic cop can wade through murdered bodies, starting with one inside a vehicle that plowed through a medical center, and baffling clues, like another body inside the trunk of the vehicle. All clues lead to a point, such as missing records of blood samples leading to evidence of a conspiracy. Suspenseful chases may end in injury, but still allow the protagonist to walk away, battered but alive. Heroes and villains are clearly defined as we root for Ronan to take on the drug dealers and crooked business people who order the murders and create a conspiracy that marks others for death. We can applaud Ronan as we question the behaviors and motivations of his real life counterparts and how they relate to the people that they are trained to protect and serve.


During Pride Month and on the anniversaries of the Pulse Nightclub Shooting and the Stonewall Riots, the Trump Administration scaled back protection for health services for transgender people. States are considering banning same sex marriage and adoption and protection for LGBT victims of hate crimes. Never have LGBT rights been more threatened since before the Obama Administration.


In fiction, we are shown Ronan at home with his loving boyfriend, Ty Andolino, who provides his emotional center. While the two keep their relationship a secret from homophobic eyes, they offer each other unconditional love and support. They also unofficially adopt Ronan's nephew Nick, becoming wise, but stern father figures to the teen.


If you can get past the real world that surrounds A Knife's Edge, you will find it an enjoyable read. It is suspenseful with leads and clues that make sense and plenty of moments when our heroes are in danger. The tension is tempered with sweet moments in the McCullough-Andolino household that offer a save haven from the dangers in the rest of the plot.


In fact as exciting as the mystery plot is, the real heart of the book lies in the relationships between Ronan, Ty, and Nick. There are many moments where Ronan tries his best to protect his boyfriend and nephew by warning them from becoming too involved in the case, especially when one of the murder victims was a friend of Ty's and Nick's girlfriend's aunt. Both of them have to remind Ronan that as long as they are in his life, they are involved and he can't get rid of them that easily.


Unlike many other detective-spouse relationships, Ronan and Ty's chapters don't fall into the tedium of the "lonely-cop-embittered-ex" cliche or the "why-aren't-you-home-more-often" arguments that are so predictable. They are a couple that I enjoy reading about as much as the mystery itself. In one moving moment, Ty, a nurse, expresses the worry that any loved one of a police officer would have, when he scans gurneys and stretchers and worries every time that he will see Ronan carried in on one.


Ronan is equally committed into his relationship with Ty. He keeps their sexuality a secret so they can avoid harassment. One of the more heart warming moments is when an antagonistic colleague not only reveals that he knows the two are lovers, but that he approves and almost envies their emotional connection. When he comes home, Ronan knows that Ty will be there with an understanding word, a shoulder to cry on, and a warm pair of lips just as he is for him.


The two also form a loving bond with Nick. The two lecture him when they find out that he has a girlfriend. They give him the safe sex talk. (and are pleased to learn that he hasn't slept with her yet.) They also are concerned when he appears to be in danger, becoming the loving parental figures that he needs. He also treats them like a sometimes exasperated, but always loyal son.


While the mystery is tight and suspenseful, it is the love between Ronan, Ty, and Nick that makes this story. It is nice to know that a loving family, any type of loving family, can shine during the darkest times in both fiction and reality.

New Book Alert: Voices of the 21st Century: Powerful, Passionate Women Who Make A Difference by Gail Watson; Inspirational and Heartwarming Stories By Great Wise Women

New Book Alert: Voices of the 21st Century: Powerful, Passionate Women Who Make A Difference by Gail Watson; Inspirational and Heartwarming Stories by Great Wise Women

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


In this time of great stress, anxiety, and depression when it seems like there is just one catastrophe and tragic event after another, we could all use some inspirational words of encouragement and some heartwarming stories about people who persevered despite insurmountable odds.


Fortunately, Gail Watson's book, Voices of the 21st Century: Powerful Passionate Women Who Make A Difference does just that. Watson, President and Founder of Women Speakers Association (WSA), a global community of women speakers, gathered 40 women to tell of their personal struggles and share advice for Readers who are going through their own struggles.


Some of the chapters are words of wisdom like guided meditations or visualizations. Watson's chapter, "Your Unique Message" suggests that the Reader can imagine their message to the world, their personal gift or talent, wrapped in their soul inside a ribbon and box waiting to be opened. She also offers plenty of advice like the advice a mentor gave her: the 20-20 rule. This rule suggests to have someone in life who is 20 years older and 20 years younger. The older one to offer guidance and wisdom and the younger one to keep us thinking fresh and learning new things.


Some offer bullet point or boldface type lists of ways Readers can help themselves and improve their lots in life. In her chapter, "Image 360", corporate image consultant, Karyn Wiles offers four points that she calls the "I-Box": Image, Etiquette, Soft Skills, and Personal Brand, then asks questions and offers suggestions that challenge us to assess how we view ourselves and what image that we convey. The Image point asks questions like "Do you feel confident and comfortable in your appearance?" The Etiquette point offers suggestions to improve interpersonal skills such as "Offer a handshake and make eye contact" and "Give cues that show that you are paying attention." The Soft Skills point feature those skills that are needed in every workplace and can be transferrable in career settings, things like "Collaboration," "Creativity", "Attention to Detail," and "Enthusiasm." The final point, Personal Branding is the way one presents their appearance, skills, talent, education, and experience, to the world. Wiles' I-Box offers good easy to follow advice on how Readers can improve their personal image.


The personal stories are very moving and effective as they remind us that many have been in the same situation that we have and emerged as stronger and better people. Some stories focus on careers. In her chapter "Uniquely You," Ulrika Battemark discusses how she left her job at a software tech company after 24 years when she realized that it wasn't the career that she was suited for. After much research, reading, studying, and inventorying her skills, interests, and experiences, she realized that she was meant to go into time management coaching. After training and moonlighting as a coach, at age 48 Battemark began her career as a time management coach, speaker, and leader.

In shaky economic times when many are worried about where their next paycheck is coming from, Battemark's story, and the stories of other women in this book who pursued their own interests into good lucrative careers, serve to remind us that we should never give up on our dreams and talents based on fear and doubt. The best career that fits is waiting for us if we put time in learning, studying, and training those talents.


Some of these women were affected by social issues like racism. In her chapter, "Working to End Racial Inequality," Verenice Gutierrez, PhD, Director of Educational Equity and Access wrote about her studies in racial equity and how her perspective changed over the years. In 2007, when she first began at the Portland Public School District she admits that she was very aggressive and militant in her behavior. While it drew many people's attention to racial inequality, Gutierrez says that her zeal turned her into "a reverse racist." In 2010, when she accepted her first principalship, she became more strategic and less confrontational.

By 2012, her school became the focus of her equity projects such as appointing a drum corps of mostly African-American and Hispanic-American boys. However, she received criticism from far right critics like Bill O'Reilly. In 2019, her sister and her sister's family were near the Wal Mart in El Paso during the mass shooting caused by a far right anti-immigrant supporter. These events remind Gutierrez, and the Readers, that racial equity is still important and can seem like a struggle to achieve, but must be pursued to build a better future.


Body image is still an issue in which many have struggled. Many women, and men too, are so uncomfortable in their own skin that they go to dangerous lengths to achieve what they believe is a perfect standard (but in reality doesn't exist.) Lisa Jane Nielson, founder of Art and Soul for Girls, a movement that encourages self-compassion through creativity, service, and artistic expression candidly reveals her own struggles with eating disorders in the chapter, "The Art and Soul of Overcoming." Nielson reveals that her struggles began at eight years old when she induced vomiting so she could feign illness rather than go to school and face her bullying classmates. In college, her drive for perfection, achievement, and desires to maintain a beautiful appearance hid a long history of anorexia and bulimia. Her eating disorders climaxed in a moment when she passed out alone in her dorm room and had no assistance. This scary encounter and her embracing a more creative side by exploring her talent through art allowed her to overcome her disorders and help other women with their emotional issues by using art and other creative outlets.


Health is also an area of concern for many people especially when they are diagnosed with a potentially fatal illness. This problem was faced by self-development teacher, Cornelia Steinberg in 2016 when she was diagnosed with a malignant tumor in her transverse colon. She got through the chemotherapy alright, but in 2018 the cancer returned and she was faced with a return to chemo and an even greater trauma (at least in her mind): hair loss!

In her surprisingly humorous story, Steinberg recounts how at first she struggled with the loss of her hair which she loved because it made her feel beautiful and feminine. ("Sure you might say that beauty is really on the inside, but when you are bald and skinny with cancer, it sounds like some idiot's bumper sticker," Steinberg admitted.) She discovered however some beautiful aspects in her new appearance such as her more highlighted eyes and that her hair darkened from blond-gray to brown when it grew back. Looking at her new appearance, Steinberg realized that she never lost herself, just her hair.

There is an added poignancy to this chapter learning about Steinberg's passing before the book was published, but this story revealed a woman who discovered humor and inner beauty in a very difficult time.


When we are busy running around looking after our jobs and our families, we don't always make time for self-care. Optimal Coach, May Wong realized this in her chapter "It Starts With You." In the middle of a busy day of a rushed session with a client and a missed party with her youngest child, Wong had a meltdown. She stopped when an email message appeared asking "What did you do for you today?" She realized that many women, like herself, were taught to put themselves last and to serve others even at the expense of one's own health and personal happiness. That often leaves women feeling exhausted and overwhelmed and unable to help anyone. Wong's time of meditation, alone time, prayer, fun, and play leave her feeling rejuvenated and allow her to be a better coach, mother, and person.


In each story, the women of Voices of the 21st Century offer their encouragement and inspiration to their Readers. In one voice, they seem to say, "You got this."

New Book Alert: Soldiers of Freedom: The WWII Story of Patton's Panthers and The Eidelweiss Pirates (Volume Five of The World War Two Series) by Samuel Marquis; Courageous and Valorous Novel of Some of WWII's Most Unsung Heroes

New Book Alert: Soldiers of Freedom: The WWII Story of Patton's Panthers and The Edelweiss Pirates (Volume Five of The World War Two Series) by Samuel Marquis; Courageous and Valorous Novel of Some of WWII's Most Unsung Heroes

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews




Spoilers: Remember when being Anti-Fascist was a good thing?

Samuel Marquis remembers.


He has written a series of books about World War II and its various battles, figures, and events from different sides.

The fifth book in this series captures two groups of unsung heroes that deserve some long overdue praise. This historical fiction novel which reveals great courage, valor, and sacrifice gives them the praise they deserved.

One group are Patton's Black Panthers, the all-black regiment of tank drivers which were led by General George S. "Old Blood and Guts" Patton himself. The other group are the Eidelweiss Pirates, a group of young German civilians who rebelled against the Nazis by openly defying laws and fighting against members of the Hitler Youth.


This book has three characters, two real one fictional but based on a real person, to divide the narrative into two different stories. Both stories cover many of the same themes of fighting against hatred and bigotry, particularly on one's home front, and come together in one exciting climactic moment.

Of the real life protagonists one is very well known and the other less so and it is the story of the lesser known person (as well as the fictional protagonist) that makes this book. The lesser known protagonist is William H. McBurney, an African-American New Yorker, the son of a WWI vet who cautions his son about enlisting in the war, that he will still face racial discrimination at home. In fact when he first walks into the recruitment office in 1942, the officer tells him that the Air Corps does not accept African-Americans, "It just ain't done," he says. Undaunted and determined to serve his country, McBurney signs up for the armed services tank corps.


McBurney's basic training is a real eye opening experience of what it's like to be an African-American enlisted man under mostly white commanding officers in the 1940's. He and his fellow trainees such as his eventual best friend, Leonard "Smitty" Smith are subjected to discrimination in the town and on base. Many of the white soldiers subject the black soldiers to humiliating actions like forcing them to get outside of a barely crowded bus and walk several miles back to base. In Fort Hood. Central Texas. Even German POW's are revealed to be treated better than the African-American soldiers and subject the black soldiers to abuse without any recriminations from their white captors.

It would make most people say "F$#@ it, these people aren't worth fighting or dying for." But that's what makes McBurney and the rest of the battalion's actions so courageous. They are willing to fight for their fellow Americans despite the cruelty and racism encountered on the home front. McBurney doesn't just want to make history, he wants to change it, so that people can really see what African-Americans can do.

Luckily, McBurney and co. have some very powerful allies in their corner. One is Lt. Col. Paul "Smooth" Bates, their commanding officer AKA, "The Great White Father." Bates is the head of the 761st Tank Battalion, "The Black Panthers." He defends his men from any racist shenanigans, including defending one of them, 2nd Lt. John "Jackie" Robinson (Yes, that Jackie Robinson) when he is set up in a sham court martial trial that is driven mostly by racism. Bates believes in the battalion and is a true father to his men.

The other ally is "Old Blood and Guts" Patton himself. When he asks for a tank battalion and gets the Black Panthers, he says "I don't care what color you are as long as you kill those K*&#t SOB's!" (Go ahead, picture the George C. Scott voice in your head. I know I did.) Patton gives the order and off the 761st go to make history and fight in the Battle of the Bulge and cross the Rhine into Germany.

Another character dealing with prejudice and hatred at home is Angela "Mucki" Lange. Angela is a fictionalized version of Gertrud "Mucki" Koch who was a real life Eidelweiss Pirate. Ever the stickler for historical accuracy, in his Afterwards, Marquis said that he chose a fictional version of Koch because many of the events in Koch's life did not correspond with the narrative of the book. Either way, the Eidelweiss Pirate's story is a great addition to this book of heroism and sacrifice from people with whom many Readers may not be familiar.


Angela is horrified by the actions as many of her fellow Germans join the Nazi Party and commit various atrocities against Jews and other minorities. She particularly despises the Hitler Youth, young boys and their female counterparts, The League of German Girls, children barely in their teens who attack others based on Hitler's teachings. The Pirates are organized according to region. Angela's division of the Eidelweiss Pirates, the Navajos of Cologne operate within the city of Cologne. She and the other Pirates spray paint anti-Nazi slogans on the walls, engage in protest rallies, and fight members of the Hitler Youth. They have code names and meet in secret meetings, boys and girls together (unlike the gender segregated Nazi groups), to sing protest songs and organize large resistance movements. The Pirates are so secretive that they don't know each other's real names nor who is in them unless they recognize their dress, the Eidelweiss symbol on their lapels, or their traditional greeting (which is the opposite of the Heil Hitler salute). This intense secrecy reveals how dangerous a fascist government is when a simple act like speaking out against it has to be so shrouded in secret because of potential arrest or execution.


Angela has good reason to be secretive. Her father Co. Gunther Lange is a widowed disabled former Wermacht colonel. While he hates the Nazis, he continues to serve on the Cologne home guard. He knows of his daughter's activities but turns a blind eye to them for the time being (though cautions her for her safety). The feisty Angela however is ashamed at the savagery and hateful brutality of her fellow countryman and what her country has been reduced to. She continues to fight despite her father's objections and the prying suspicious eyes around her, particularly from her father's army colleagues and the Cologne Gestapo which know of her through her father.

Both McBurney and Angela's stories have many thrilling detailed moments which are suspenseful and heartwrenching, revealing the reality of war. McBurney gets caught in the middle of several battles and loses many of his colleagues. One particular moment which features him suffering tremendous anguish over the loss of a fellow soldier hammers home the thought that the person that just a few minutes ago you were making plans to have a drink with after the war, could disappear just like that.

Always over McBurney's head lies the questions. Will the actions of the 761st Battalion change things for African-Americans at home? When they return to the United States, will they be subjected to the same prejudices? If they are, is America really a country worth fighting for if everyone isn't treated as equals by law or in the eyes of many? These are not easy questions to answer and McBurney tries to let his actions speak for himself revealing that courage and sacrifice are always worth it, even if you don't see the immediate results right away.


Angela's courage is also tested throughout the book. Many of her fellow Pirates, including one who becomes her lover, are tried and face public execution. In a tense moment, Angela has to decide to attend their execution and risk being exposed to the Nazis or staying home and grieve in private, keeping her identity a secret.

She is arrested a few times and brutally tortured to get her to admit being Mucki and revealing the names of the other Navajos of Cologne. Like McBurney, Angela faces these events with valor and bravery.

The book falters slightly when the narrative turns to the most, well, sung of the protagonists: Patton. If you are interested in military history, you might enjoy the confabs between the generals and dry discussions of strategy and battle. But if you are more interested in the personal stories, you might want to skim Patton's chapters. However, Marquis's portrayal of Patton is interesting when the book veers towards the general's quirks and eccentricities. For example he is shown a great believer in reincarnation and believed that he had been soldiers and warriors in all of his former lives such as a Roman legionnaire, a Viking berserker, and a cavalryman in Napoleon's army. (True story too. In fact, he attributed his past lives to his success as a general during WWII.)

He also is written as a blunt outspoken leader with a keen sense of military strategy and a very large ego. In the book, anyway, he has a tendency to turn every battle and meeting into another episode of "The General George S. Patton Show" with other generals, his army, and the enemy as special guest stars


Soldiers of Freedom tells the true story of the 761st Black Panthers Tank Battalion and the Eidelweiss Pirates and brings them to life. They were, as the title suggests soldiers of freedom and heroes who are finally getting the praise they deserved.

June's Reading Schedule

June Reading Schedule

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Mea culpa. I forgot to put May's schedule last month, but also because many of the books I read overlapped with April that there almost wasn't any point in putting a new schedule. Well it worked out pretty well. I read and reviewed a fine mixture of new and old books.

June also shows a lot of promise as well. I have some new clients to review for and some interesting varieties. Besides the usual excitement of New Book Alerts and Weekly Readers, starting this month I will do something special to celebrate not only America's Independence but the fact that Hamilton (one of the greatest musicals of all time) will be made available on Disney+. (If you're a fan go see it. If you haven't, you should. You will be in for a treat.) 

I am composing a series of reviews on historical books, four non fiction and one fiction that I call the Hamilton History Special Reviews. With so many books planned, there will no doubt be overlap between this month and July.

New Book Alert: Soldiers of Freedom: The WWII Story of Patton's Panthers and The Edelweiss Pirates Volume Five of the World War II by Samuel Marquis

New Book Alert: Voices of the 21st Century: Powerful Passionate Women Who Make a Difference by Gail Watson

New Book Alert: Van West: The Past (Book One of The Van West Series) by Kenneth Thompson

Weekly Reader: The Time Before The Moon by Kameron Williams

New Book Alert: Kite At The Edge of The World by Katy Grant

New Book Alert: Murder Under A Wolf Moon (A Mona Moon Mystery Book 5) by Abigail Mean

Weekly Reader: I Love You To Pieces by Lori Flynn

Weekly Reader: Melia in Foreverland by Thomas H. Milhorat

Weekly Reader: One Night in Paris by Juliette Sabonet

Weekly Reader: A Knife's Edge: A Ronan McCullough Novel by Eliot Parker (PopSugar Reading Challenge: A Medical Thriller)

New Book Alert: The Silver Suitcase by Terrie Todd (PopSugar Reading Challenge: A book with gold, silver, or bronze in the title)

Weekly Reader: Paper Roses by Amanda Cabot (, PopSugar Reading Challenge: A Western)

Hamilton History Special Review Classics Corner: Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen

Hamilton History Special Review Classics Corner: A People's History of the United States 1492-Present by Howard Zinn

Hamilton History Special Review Weekly Reader: New York by Edward Rutherfurd (PopSugar Reading Challenge: A Book with the same name as a movie or TV series but is unrelated to it-New York, New York)

Hamilton History Special Review Weekly Reader: 1776 by David McCullough (PopSugar Reading Challenge: A book with three words in the title)

Hamilton History Special Review Weekly Reader: Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

As always if you have a book that you would like to reviewed or edited, please let me know at 

Email: juliesaraporter@gmail.com

Twitter: @JulieSaraPorte1

Facebook: Julie Sara Porter

LinkedIn: Julie Sara Porter

Prices are as follows:

Reviews-$10-20.00 (except for arrangements with certain groups like BookTasters, Blackthorn Book Tours, and Netgalley)

Beta Reader-$10-20.00

Researcher-$50.-100.00

Editor (Copy and Content)-$100.-200.00

Proofreader-$100.-200.00

Payments can be made through PayPal at juliesaraporter@gmail.com. 

Thank you and as always, Happy Reading.