November's Reading List

 

 November's List

Okay I achieved most of the backup from September's issues but I'm still a bit behind.

I still am looking forward to reading and reviewing projects and even a large editing project! So look forward to some November fun from the ol' Bookworm!

The Mysteries Inside My Head by Lawrence J. Epstein

Dead Winner by Kevin G. Chapman 

The Descendants by Destiny Hawkins

Cleopatra's Vendetta by Avanti Centrae

Desire's End (The Desire Card Book 5) by Lee Matthew Goldberg

Life Between Seconds by Douglas Weissman

The Adventures of Ruby Pi and The Geometry Girls/The Adventures of Ruby Pi and The Math Girls by Tom Durwood 

Merchants of Knowledge and Magic (The Pentagonal Dominion) by Erika McCorkle

Slipstream by Alice Godwyn

vVilrRuUsS/Rose/Hollow by Jazzlyn

Augmented Lean by Trond Arne Undheim

Glitches and Stitches by Nicole Givens Kurtz

Cloud Cover by Jeffrey Sotto

A Kelly Society Christmas by S.K. Andrews

Vorodin's Lair (Book Two of the Warminster Series) by J.V. Hilliard

The White Pavilion by Ruth Fox

Plus I will be understanding a large editing and proofreading project for for a client, Waseem Akbar. I will be very busy.

If  you have a book that you would like me to review, beta read, edit, proofread, or write, please contact me at the following:

LinkedIn: 

Facebook: 

Twitter

Upwork 

Reedsy Discovery 

Email: juliesaraporter@gmail.com

Prices are as follows:

Beta Read: $15-20.0

Review: $25-50.00**

Copy/Content Edit: $75-300.00

Proofread: $75-300.00

Research & Citation: $100-400.00

Ghostwrite/Co-Write:$100-400.00

**Exceptions are books provided by Henry Roi PR, Coffee and Thorn Book Group, BookTasters, Reedsy, Online Book Club, and other noted book groups 

All prices are negotiable and are subject to change depending on project size.

Payments can be made to my PayPal account at juliesaraporter@gmail.com

Well that's it. Thanks and as always, Happy Reading!

Weekly Reader: Racism is Real by Clive Henry; Personal Story of Encountering Racism and Turning to Activism

 

Weekly Reader: Racism is Real by Clive Henry; Personal Story of Encountering Racism and Turning to Activism

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

Some books that strike against racism take the historical or sociopolitical approach. They look at the whole picture of racism in the historical context describing such events as slavery and segregation and also current issues such as police racial profiling and redlining. It defined what racism is, how it was used throughout history, how it can still be recognized, and what can be done to end its still tremendous hold.

Other books are more personal. They discuss the individual experience with this harmful and ultimately destructive belief. How this person encountered racism and was then motivated to act against it. 

Clive Henry's Racism is Real takes the individual personal approach to prejudice. It is a wonderful powerful book that deals with Henry's experiences with institutional racism and how it affected his personal and professional life.

While racism is an important factor to Henry's book, it is not the only aspect to the book. Before he encounters the bigotry that made his adult life very difficult, Henry describes a happy childhood in Nottingham, England (home of Robin Hood) with loving parents, five siblings, and a love of comedy tv shows, 70's soul music, and movies by Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas. 

That idyllic youth ended with the death of Henry's father in 1983. The shift from childhood innocence to maturity coinciding with the death of a parent is heartfelt and recognizable. Familial roles shift and young people have to prepare themselves for a harder, tougher world that they are uncertain they are prepared for.

As Henry matured, his world became more complex. He eventually worked in retail, collecting data and managing stock levels. He embraced the New Jack Swing style of the mid-90's, partied, and had many romantic relationships. He also faced fatherhood at a young age, maintaining close relationships with his son and the boy's mother, Henry's former girlfriend turned close friend, Vanessa. He subsequently became the father of three other children. He also had to face the illnesses of his mother and sister.

In these chapters, we see not a perfect man but one who faces early adulthood with wild abandon and ultimately maturity and acceptance of adult responsibilities.

There were two major events that brought Henry face to face with racism. The first happened while Henry worked in the UPS Customer Service. After a great presentation, he was promoted to the Sales Department. He was excellent in making queries and practicing sales techniques, so much that he earned praise from his colleagues. He eventually became Inside Sales Executive for the Nottingham branch.

In 2008, ten years after he started working at UPS, he was put on a Performance Improvement Plan to evaluate his productivity and regain lost sales. This occurred when lynx accounts converted to UPS which Henry helped with. The results were 95% effective. Henry managed 30 staff members and collated the information. 

His work was practically flawless. He was given important managerial responsibilities and handled the merger successfully. There was no lost business. In fact, business had increased.

So why was he put under orders for improvement and why did Human Resources not sign off on it?

Those questions are merely rhetorical. There is one obvious reason especially when upon investigation, Henry realized that only he was singled out for this PIP and no one else, none of the white employees were. Henry filed an appeal and was told that "he was making a mountain out of a molehill." 

 During the appeals process, Henry received no support from his employers. He later left his job at UPS and found work as a taxi driver.

Henry's case was taken to court and made public all the way to the European Commission of Human Rights and Court of Appeal. When Henry's case went viral, he received support from many, some who have been in the same position in which he found himself.

Henry's second major encounter with racism occurred after the end of his relationship with Debbie, a woman with whom he had two children but was diagnosed bipolar. She charged Henry with rape. After Henry was out on bail, he collected information about Debbie's unstable behavior including stalking messages that she sent after Henry had been charged.

Once again Henry found himself in another court case that revealed the many cracks in the justice system, especially towards people of color. He revealed that neither Crown Protective Services (CPS) nor his solicitor sent important documentation regarding Debbie's health status in enough time to help with Henry's defense. Another barrister represented him and he was able to achieve a court victory. 

Some Readers may assume that what happened to Henry was an isolated incident of one individual. Unfortunately, there are many that share similar stories of workplace discrimination, harassment, and challenges when trying to oppose them. They happen too often for them to be seen as "just incidents." It is time for many institutions to look hard at themselves and the people who work within and require their goods and services and whether they are truly helping all people equally and fairly.

The institutional racism that Henry faced when his manager singled him out, his solicitor ignored him, and then when UPS and CPS refused to aid him reveals a harsh reality that many people of color face. They can follow all rules, obey the law, work as hard as they want, become an honest citizen and loving spouse and parent, and be considered a model employee. That doesn't always matter.

If an individual manager doesn't like them because of their skin color and that institution protects the racist manager over the employee, then yes that is institutional racism and they should be called out on it. If a person doesn't receive the proper assistance that they are legally allowed to have, then that service needs to be closely examined for their negligent treatment towards people of color.

Individuals, business, programs, and institutions need to be questioned, called out, and challenged. If a person can't treat everyone who walks through their business or governmental doors with the same care and helpfulness no matter what they look like, that person's behavior needs to be examined and they need to be removed.

Policies need to be changed to benefit all and everyone. It's not dismantling a system. It's asking it to be changed and live up to the promises of true equality, justice, fairness, and accountability 

That is true equity and equality.

Weekly Reader: Kaleidoscopic Shades Within Black Eternity by Dave A. Neuman; A Surreal Bizarre Fantastic Trip Through Nightmares, Bad Memories, and Other Strangeness

 

Weekly Reader: Kaleidoscopic Shades Within Black Eternity by Dave A. Neuman; A Surreal Bizarre Fantastic Trip Through Nightmares, Bad Memories, and Other Strangeness 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Dave A. Neuman's Kaleidoscopic Shades Within Black Eternity is one of those types of books that is almost too surreal to be believed. There are moments that seem so disconnected from the reality of the pages of a book that I wasn't sure whether they were actually in the book itself or I dreamt it as being part of the book. 

It's a strange bizarre trip of a narrative but it is impossible to forget once it's over. It's one of those types of books that you will mull about for days wondering about the various moments and what they meant.

In 2011, solar flares drove South Australia, particularly the town of Adelaide into near chaos. Communication was down, electricity was erratic, and strange almost supernatural things happened. Among the people who lived through that strange event are Bob and Sue Triplow. 

After the weirdness passes, the two move to Corona, California, have a son named Joshua, and become regular members of the community. Twelve years  after the solar flares, weirdness follows the Triplows and everyone else, I mean everyone around the world. 

This introduction is fascinating as it draws from many unexplained phenomena stories that suggest that the solar flare encounter and what happens in the book are only the latest events in a long string of things that happened over time that are somehow linked together. 

Before we read about the Adelaide Solar Flares, we are told about a man in the Victorian Era who stepped back into Medieval Europe. It makes one wonder if in this Universe, many of these phenomena are part of this situation. Can we attribute the Bermuda Triangle, creatures like Bigfoot, Time Slips, UFOs, alien abductions, and ghost sightings to these events? The plot widens the scope and gives reason to the strange bizarreness, making these seemingly random global events not so random.

After the introduction, we get the first strange event in the narrative proper. Joshua and several of his schoolmates have tense nightmares of a strange man in a dark suit observing them. The nightmares are so prevalent that Joshua and his peers suffer through the day. They move sluggishly, are afflicted with dark circles under their eyes, and have no energy. They look and act like they went several rounds with Freddy Krueger during the night.

What is particularly compelling about these nightmares is that the mysterious man in black never does anything physical to these kids. He never even talks to them (except Josh begins to hear taunting in his head that might be from this nightmarish apparition). He sits next to them and takes notes as though he is studying and observing them for some unknown reason.

His presence is just enough to terrify them. It's sort of like the child who swears that the Boogeyman is in their room. Then Mom and Dad come in and say no that's just a pile of clothes, but he's not convinced

Only in this book's case, the pile of clothes really is a terrifying monster.

This by any means isn't the only strange thing that is happening. As the book continues, we are subjected to a lot of weird incidents around the world that seem unconnected but we later find out really are.

An Englishwoman spontaneously combusts. A township in Brazil just vanished. A house with a strange old man with a love of Louis Armstrong appears and disappears in California. An old man is mysteriously flattened to death. Around the world, people see these strange balloons and hear the sound of bells. Bob is tortured by memories of his abused childhood that seem to become real.

It gets to the point where while reading each page, the Reader is just waiting for the next strange thing to happen. It's like a surreal journey into a dream which starts normal and gets progressively weirder the deeper into sleep you go. Kaleidoscopic Shades Within Black Eternity is one of those works that isn't so much a book as it is an experience. You have to dive right in and immerse yourself into what is going on.

Eventually, an explanation is given that is compelling and opens up other possibilities about alternate worlds, alien species, and science experiments gone awry. However, the explanation does little to help those that have to live with these disturbing events. 

Bob and Joshua in particular find themselves surrounded by a world that becomes so strange and nightmarish that it's hard to tell what is real and what isn't. 

Neuman deserves high praise for taking his Readers on this surreal journey that confuses and disturbs them almost as much as the characters. It's completely unforgettable and is one of the best books of 2022.

New Book Alert: Where the Witches Dwell (Everlan Book One) by Conor Jest; Effective Epic Fantasy with Great Characters, Intriguing Plot, and a New Imaginative World

 

New Book Alert: Where the Witches Dwell (Everlan Book One) by Conor Jest; Effective Epic Fantasy with Great Characters, Intriguing Plot, and a New Imaginative World

 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Conor Jest's Where The Witches Dwell is an effective and enchanting epic fantasy with many brilliant characters, intriguing plot angles, and enough unique angles to create an excellent imaginative world.

Roulic is part of a race called the Ancient Ones. Roulic is on a mission to look for his missing family and to help residents of the Kingdom of Doth to prepare for war against the neighboring kingdom of Dandoorthose. While helping some old friends, Roulic is drawn to a mysterious forest where a family of witches dwell who offer their assistance if he will help them.

Where the Witches Dwell has some memorable characters and events that pay tribute to epic fantasy tropes but also are able to make the book its own instead of relying on cliches. The very concept of Roulic and the Witches belonging to a group called the Ancient Ones is brilliant. They aren't completely human, but not elven either. Instead, they are long lived and eternally youthful in appearance. They also seem to be intuitive and are skilled in sorcery. They are separate from humans dubbed, "Mortalkind." The witches for example live apart from Mortalkind in the woods and most fear and avoid them.

Other Ancient Ones adapt. Because Roulic is youthful in appearance, he has voluntarily lived with different families over the years as an unofficial adopted son and worker. After a few years, when Roulic's family ages and he doesn't, he moves on. He doesn't have any long term living arrangements but because of this nomadic lifestyle had plenty of surrogate family members.

Many of the tasks that Roulic faces are well written. Roulic first meets witch and future love interest, Ravenna when he rescues her from a curse in which her hair is intertwined with the ropes of a bridge, thereby becoming a part of the bridge herself.

Another task involves Roulic visiting a kingdom of gnomes. It is nice to see gnomes take an active role in this fantasy series, when they are often nonexistent in other works unlike elves and dwarves who are everywhere in fantasy.

Characterization is strong particularly with Roulic and the Witches. Roulic is the type of hero that we expect from the genre: brave, honest, courageous, and empathetic towards others. He has many mortal friends and tries to help them with their struggles while dealing with his own. He has some great moments, particularly with Ravenna when they fall in love. He also has a dark past in which he has to face up to.

In contrast to the affable and empathetic Roulic, the witch siblings live apart from Mortalkind and mostly interact with each other. They clearly care about each other as when some are put in danger, the others will aid them. They also recognize the larger picture of what will affect everyone else, eventually will affect them. So they offer as much magical assistance as they can to Roulic, but in a standoffish way.

Because of their mostly isolated nature, the moments where the Witches interact with other characters outside of their family are made even more heartfelt. The Mortalkind outside the woods originally were distrustful towards them and now are welcoming because of their assistance. A slow burning romance develops between Jillian, a witch and Callian, a mortal showing how both sides accept and adapt to each other. 

Where the Witches Dwell is an enchanting beginning to a hopefully magical series.

Weekly Reader: Moon Deeds (Book One of The Star Children Saga) by Palmer Pickering; Alien Invasion Science Fiction/Fantasy Has Strong Start on Earth But Gets Lost on The Moon

 

Weekly Reader: Moon Deeds (Book One of The Star Children Saga) by Palmer Pickering; Alien Invasion Science Fiction/Fantasy Has Strong Start on Earth But Gets Lost on The Moon

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Palmer Pickering's Moon Deeds features an alien invasion, a nice mixture of fantasy and science fiction, and a pair of twins who travel from Earth to the Moon to fulfill their destiny in a chosen ones prophecy. It has a strong start while the characters are on Earth but it kind of loses something when they get to the Moon.

We get a fairly decent exposition introduction to explain the history of what happens in the book. It's a very intriguing back story and says a lot about human nature and how we would act during an alien invasion. Some would welcome. Some would fear. Many would defend themselves with weapons or words when things go bad.

In 2038, a race of aliens called the Ceph arrived on Earth. The Earthlings were impressed by their advanced technology and willingness to share resources so they formed an alliance. Things went well at first. Cephs began working on Earth and integrated into Earth society. Children who were half Earthling and half Ceph were born.

One half-Earthling and half-Ceph, Djedefptah (Jed) Tegea, known for his military strategy and conquests, went to war against Earth mercenary leader, Jared Metolius. The two eventually formed a Global Alliance to unite the world under one government. They combined their armies to form one in which the soldiers were called "Tegs."

Various Earthlings have formed a resistance against the Global Alliance.

For example, the Free States of North America remained neutral until Pensacola, Florida was bombed. The Free States government surrendered but various state militias formed Gaia United.

This exposition is not only fascinating but is in such detail that Pickering could write another series. It would be interesting to get a first hand account of the Cephs arrival, the life of Tegea, and the formation of the Tegs.

What is particularly remarkable about this conquest is that Earthlings not only use technology and science to fight the Tegs, but magic, making the book take a slight detour from science fiction into fantasy. It makes sense. Many believe that science and magic use the same types of energy and may just be different terms to describe the same things. It's also telling that if the new scientific means cannot be used as safeguards and protection, many will turn to the old cultural ways. 

 The British Isles created a shield called The Druid's Mist. While in the country formerly known as the United States, the Shasta Shamans, a religious sect from Northern California, created the Shaman Shield as protection against the Tegs.

It's ironic in these cultures that races, ethnicities, and religions of people that had been almost wiped from existence because of colonization, genocide, the rise of Christianity, and laws forbidding these practices end up being the ones to help save the Earth's inhabitants from  extinction. (There should be a mass and smug "we told you so" along with a sardonic "you're welcome" from the Pagan and Native American communities after this.)

Most of the action is set in 2090 and involves twins, Cassidy and Torr Dagda. With the two main characters, we get an interesting outlook at the various ways in which people survive in this environment.

Cassidy and Torr were raised under the Shaman Shield by their devoted parents. Their mother and grandmother were once members of the Shasta Shamans, though their mother cut ties with them. Because of this, both twins have intuitive clairvoyant abilities.

Torr is fighting with Gaia United in a losing battle against the Tegs. While he had some prophetic dreams, he lives in reality.

He is part of Gaia United and is a ground soldier fighting the Teg Army.  He and his fellow soldiers are given the choice to become Tegs or go to a work camp. Instead, Torr and a few others take a third option: resist and get the Hell out of there as fast as they can.

Some of the most gripping passages are when Torr and his regiment are fighting and running for their lives against the Tegs. A particular moment in which Torr and his friends escape by boat reveals them using their strength, wits, skill with weapons, and subterfuge to evade capture and head for familiar territory.

Meanwhile, Cassidy is studying many of her family's shamanic practices such as herbology and having visions. She studies the various plants in her grandmother's studies and even has some fascinating visions of the souls that inhabit them. Through Cassidy, the old magical spiritual ways are not dead but continue to thrive. 

 Though she is not at the forefront of encountering the Tegs, Cassidy is in as much danger as Torr. One frightening scene depicts this as the Dagdas spend the night in a treehouse to hide from the approaching Tegs. Their encounters with them create important sacrifices and decisions from them..As the Tegs are getting closer, the Dagda family has to  contemplate a move. 

Cassidy and Torr inherited a deed to properties on the Moon so it's about time that they used them. Cassidy is also hearing whispers about a prophecy of a pair of twins called the Star Children. Could she and Torr be them?

The majority of Moon Deeds is set on Earth and these are the strongest chapters. Torr and Cassidy see the world that they once knew slowly change and die right in front of them and have to go to a new world to start over. They have to live every day with courage, survival, and sacrifice. Perhaps the prophecy of the Star Children gives them something to hope for, that things will change and that in the end they are destined for something greater.

The book is not as good however when the setting shifts to the Moon. There are some interesting clever touches that Pickering provides. The Moon is almost like a futuristic Western in which property is claimed, people work hard to build a new life, prospectors get rich from the resources, and women from the World's Oldest Profession obtain power. It's very well detailed particularly how the twins feel the intense culture shock and discomfort of being separated from family in a new place without the things that they once held dear.

However, there are some concepts and characters that probably should have been saved for the next book. There is a group of women who are interested in Cassidy and might be a cult or a coven of witches. There are members of various alien species, besides the Ceph, that their presences are brushed aside. 

There is also a mysterious character who could be a charming con artist/antihero or a full on villain ready to take all that he can get. Unfortunately, these characters are introduced too late to fill their fullest potential in this book. It's almost as though once things on the Moon got interesting, Pickering decided to end Book One when it would have been better to end Book One with their arrival on the Moon.

However, there is enough interest in the setting and characters of the Moon to make Book 2, a potentially good, possibly better, follow up to its predecessor.

New Book Alert: Vicious Ripples (The Desire Card Book Four) by Lee Matthew Goldberg; Fourth Desire Card Book Brings Things to the Falling Action Act

 

New Book Alert: Vicious Ripples (The Desire Card Book Four) by Lee Matthew Goldberg; Fourth Desire Card Book Brings Things to the Falling Action Act

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Stop! Before you read this review, I must give you a homework assignment. Please read either the previous books or my reviews for the other books in the Desire Card Series: Immoral Origins, Prey No More, and All Sins Fulfilled. I am going to reveal some important things in this review and I do not want any Reader to go in unprepared. Needless to say this review contains MAJOR HEAVY DUTY SPOILERS!!!!!

You back and prepped? Okay good, on we go.

Any follower of Shakespeare's plays knows that each play follows a basic five act structure. Act 1 is the introduction, Act 2 is the rising action, Act 3 is the climax, Act 4 is the falling action, and Act 5 is the resolution.

Lee Matthew Goldberg's five volume The Desire Card Series is Shakespearean in structure (and come to think of it in theme and characterization as well).

The first volume Immoral Origins was the Introduction. It introduced us to the Desire Card organization and their beginnings in the 1970's as they grant the wishes of the wealthy for a price. We meet the employees operating in disguise as Hollywood stars such as newcomer Erroll Flynn and the Card's enigmatic founder, Clark Gable. We see the rivalry formed between Gable and head of the European branch, Sir Laurence Olivier and what happens when Flynn tries to get away and revert back to his original identity of petty thief, Jake Barnum.

The second volume, Prey No More is the rising action, set forty years later when the Desire Card has gained power and influence in various business and political circles. They have operators all over the world and one of them, J.D. Storm AKA James Dean, goes on the lam. This results in lots of murders and J.D.'s hatred and thirst for revenge against the card and the people behind it.

All Sins Fulfilled the third book is the climax when well to do, Harrison Stockton needs a liver transplant and solicits a certain card to fill that request. This ends in some major revelations that reveal the people behind the masks, particularly Gable who is much closer than Harrison had previously been aware. It also culminates in J.D.'s act of revenge against Gable, the Card, and all it stands for.

The fourth volume, Vicious Ripples, is the falling action demonstrating what happens after the earth shattering revelations from All Sins Fulfilled are revealed.(The next volume, Desire's End appears to be the resolution where the Card and its treacherous founder come to their long overdue finish.)

Vicious Ripples is set immediately after J.D. Storm, now using the name Marcus Edmonton, has kidnapped 10 year old Gracie Stockton, the daughter of Harrison Stockton and his ex-wife, Helene Howell. Besides combining the protagonists from the previous two volumes, the kidnapping is for a darker and more serious reason. 

Gracie is the granddaughter of Jay Howell, businessman and multi billionaire. Oh yeah and Howell has another important distinction, a side hustle if you will. He is the creator and founder of the organization behind a certain card that we have been familiar with for the past year.

That's right, Jay Howell is also known to the Readers as Clark Gable, the mysterious and sinister head of the Desire Card. 

J.D.'s demands are simple. He wants the Desire Card disbanded for good. Also, he's not the only one who is after Howell/Gable. 

Harrison has his own unresolved issues with his former father in law. Howell's European rival, Oliver AKA Sir Laurence  Olivier (wow original) wants to cut into the competition. Ambitious and driven, Detective Monica Bonner is overcoming her personal loss by investigating Gracie's kidnapping and some mysterious deaths connected to the card. Gee, it seems like creating an organization that thrives on theft, drug dealing, murder, and other illegal nefarious acts to fulfill other's darkest desires seems like a bad idea since in the end it creates so many enemies who would like to see one dead. Who would have thought?

Even though many things were revealed in the previous volume and this one, there are still enough twists and turns to make Volume Four a good read. In fact, it's better than All Sins Fulfilled because there aren't as many slow parts which bring down the protagonist until they discover the card and start using it. By this point, the Reader knows about the Card, how it's used, and who the players are. The question is what are they going to do as their world comes crashing down around them?

Of course if you are a Narcissistic master criminal like Howell, you are going to do one of two things: scheme against your enemies and get as much as you can or if you go down, you take everyone else with you. Either way, Howell is backed into a corner and is going to strike at his enemies.

His few remaining supporters are like the last survivors on the Titanic still clinging to their Hollywood identities: Audrey Hepburn, Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, Gary Cooper, Marlon Brando, Mae West, and a new James Dean. Many of them are freelancers who stick with Howell for financial gain. Others because they have nowhere else to go. Still others, namely Audrey and Dean, have personal reasons to stick close to their fearless leader. It is a sad pathetic group that remains, not like the far reaching, intimidating, glamorous, and hedonistic Desire Card operatives of the past.

It's also pretty clear that Howell uses these operatives like he uses everyone else. While he does have the capacity to care for certain people and is genuinely worried about Gracie, the narrative makes it clear that he values the Desire Card over everything else. 

Now that Howell's mask has been removed and his true self has been revealed, he is shown to be a self centered despicable creep who would sacrifice anyone to keep his operation running. (Not going to miss this guy once he's gone.)

It is interesting the various ways in which Howell's enemies go through to take him down, never actually combining their resources to fight the common enemy (Maybe that will be saved for Volume Five). Oliver uses his own card connections such as a couple of traitors in Howell's midst and his own operatives like Evchen, his second who assumes the identity of Marlene Dietrich. He fights duplicity with duplicity and strives to be every bit as cunning as his rival.

Monica uses the law and her own detective instincts. Because she also suffered the loss of a child, she relates to the Stocktons even though she is not in their socioeconomic class. She, like Helene, is a grieving mother and wants to relieve Gracie's parents of the burden of loss that she lives with every day. In a series full of criminals, illegal activity, and narcissists galore, Monica Bonner is the lone moral center.

While Harrison is out for the count through most of the book, he and Helene use their family connection and inside knowledge of Howell's home life and what he does when he's not in the mask. In fact, much of the intel is provided by overhearing conversations and searching through private files. It also opens up a lot of development for Helene who was once Daddy's Little Spoiled Pampered Princess and now has to face the truth about her father and where her rich life came from.

J.D.'s course of revenge is by far the strongest and most gripping. He was once a hitman with a heart of gold who walked out on the Desire Card when he began to question their methods. He had a chance to build a decent post-Desire life and then lost it all.

Now in Vicious Ripples, he has become everything that he once despised. A ruthless assassin with no conscience and is willing to hurt innocents to get his needs met. He is the final result of what the Desire Card turns people into: remorseless monsters with nothing left to lose.

Some of J.D.'s best moments are when he is with Gracie. The flickers of conscience still remain as he watches over the girl and tries to explain who her grandfather really is. He also watches in bemusement and horror as Gracie begins to accept her grandfather's identity and even absorbs some of the lessons that the adults around her are teaching. She learns them all too well in some very horrifying scenes that suggest that she too is the final result of the Desire Card's sinister dealings and Howell's insatiable avarice.

As great as this volume is, there are two rather questionable things. In one chapter during a confrontation between Howell and an enemy, something strange, sinister, and almost supernatural happens. It seems to come out of nowhere but perhaps it is an intentional callback to an earlier theory about the Card's origins. (Now with that scene, is the theory back on the table?)

The other question is a missed opportunity, or rather a missing piece to the revenge puzzle. We have seen most of the previous protagonists take on the Desire Card save one, Jake Barnum, the main character in Immoral Origins. While yes his death at the ending of the first volume would mean he can't be there physically, it's upsetting that some plot threads in that book were left dangling and he isn't there in spirit.

Jake's former girlfriend, Desire operative Marilyn Monroe, was alive, well, and remained a Card operative at the end of Immoral Origins. That's the last we hear from her and she makes no reappearance nor is referred to in subsequent volumes. You think that since Jake couldn't be there, at least Marilyn or better yet a potential offspring of theirs, could be there to settle an old score. (Of course I may be getting ahead of myself. Desire's End may answer that question.)

Well, the only thing left is a resolution. It will be interesting to see what happens when Desire's End takes a pair of scissors and finally cuts the card.

New Book Alert: Hot Ash (An Angela Hardwicke Science Fiction Mystery) by Russ Colchamiro; Angela's As Awesome As Ever, But Young Partner Steals The Show

 

New Book Alert: Hot Ash (An Angela Hardwicke Science Fiction Mystery) by Russ Colchamiro; Angela's As Awesome As Ever, But Young Partner Steals The Show

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: In Hot Ash, the third installment to Russ Colchamiro's Angela Hardwicke's Science Fiction, Angela is her usual strong willed, fiery, courageous, troubled self wandering through the murkiness of Eternity, the center of the Cosmos. While she is in top form, it is actually her rookie partner, Eric Whistler, who steals the show from his cynical employer/friend.

Angela and Whistler seem to be living a surprisingly carefree existence. The Minders are together and running the Universe smoothly. Angela is still close to her son, Owen, who studies at a school to train young Patches, those who repair the tears in the Universe. He is taught by his father, who remains on amicable terms with Angela. She is also dating Darren, a drummer with a rock band.

Whistler's life has taken an upswing as well. Once Angela's sidekick and gofer, he is now her official partner. He even has a new badge which he loves to show off much to Angela's annoyance.

However, this being a mystery, the good carefree times never last for very long. Camille Engquist, the very wealthy "friend of a friend" hires Angela. Her late husband, Iggy, has died. While he had a long term illness, Camille is convinced something else must have happened to him. She also doesn't trust her stepchildren, Phil and Amara. In his original will, Iggy left his company to Camille. However, a new will has been made leaving everything to Phil and Amara. 

Camille is furious. She believes her step children may have killed Iggy and that they schemed their way into becoming CEO's. Angela and Whistler take the assignment and find themselves deep inside a case involving business corruption, drug dealing, slave trafficking, and a familial squabble in which no one comes out clean.

Unfortunately, the highlight of the previous books, the setting Eternity, is somewhat muted in this volume. It is mostly set in E-Town and the Arcasia System, a setting that is the opposite of Eternity in every way. 

Dark and somber where Eternity is mostly enlightening and wondrous. Filled with smog, the ugliness of industrialization, and a beaten hopeless slave population where Eternity has its problems but is filled with a populace from all walks of life who try to live in a cooperative existence (of course don't always succeed). The Arcasia System is the exact opposite of Eternity, perhaps the Hell to Eternity's Heaven.

What this book loses in setting, it makes up for in characterization. Many of the tropes such as families having inheritance disputes and a drug trade whose employees care more about profits than the lives lost and destroyed are nothing new. They can be found in most Earth bound murder mysteries. However, Colchamiro gives these plot angles enough of a science fiction twist to make them interesting.

However, this is where the team up of Angela Hardwicke and Eric Whistler really hits its stride. Angela starts out in a surprisingly good place considering how difficult her life was in the previous books. Since her personal problems are on the back burner, she is able to focus on her career. She has a very jaded cynical look as Whistler sees the private eye universe with newly professional eyes. She also has a bit of career envy mixed with big sisterly pride when Whistler notices a clue or gets information in a way that she did not.

Since Angela's role shifts from loner to mentor, more is expected from Whistler. He rises to the occasion by wanting to be the justice seeking idealist that the more pragmatic Angela no longer is. While investigating the Engquist murder, they come across another crime taking place. Whistler longs to help but Angela reminds him that they have a job to do and they can't save everyone.

Whistler and Angela's differing views come to a head in the Arcasia System when Whistler is more emotionally affected by the scene around them. He wants to do something permanent and long term to help stop slavery and create a better world for everyone.

 Angela, older and harder, knows that a better world does not exist. There will always be exploiters and the exploited. The only thing, the only real true thing that she can do is save the people that she is there to save.

Because of his journey from naive newbie to seasoned veteran, Whistler goes through a lot of character growth more so than in the previous books. This transformation greatly. changes his and Angela's relationship putting them on equal footing.

There could be a good chance that Colchamiro may shift the series to feature both partners (Hardwicke and Whistler Science Fiction Mysteries) or eventually give Whistler his own spin off series. It's a strong possibility.

New Book Alert: Dusk Upon Elysium by Tamel Wino; The Trouble With Technology in Trying Times of Seclusion and Quarantine

 

New Book Alert: Dusk Upon Elysium by Tamel Wino; The Trouble With Technology in Trying Times of Seclusion and Quarantine 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Tamel Wino's Dusk Upon Elysium may take an alternative view from many of the other science fiction novels that I have been reading that are inspired by the recent global pandemic. However, it is no less thoughtful and provocative with its themes about isolation and technological dependency during times of forced quarantine.

Dusk Upon Elysium is set during a pandemic. No, a different one in the future (probably near future). Government regulations have become even stricter to the point of making people "disappear" if they try to visit sick family members and friends. In fact, people are being forced inside their homes in what the media calls The Migration and makes this house arrest seem like a good thing.

Now, I have my personal reason to disagree with the anti COVID and anti-vaxxers. I won't discuss it, but let's just say that I have personal experiences with the after effects of COVID and am more than aware that it is real and not a hoax. Because of that, I disagree with many of them wholeheartedly. 

However, as I mentioned with other books, I can enjoy a book even if I disagree with the position of the author as long as that position holds a gripping story.  (Of course, I have my limits. See my review of Alexandra Lane's The Prophecy Has Begun: Donum for my views).

 However, anybody could become a dictator in any situation, especially during troubled times. It's not a Party thing. It's a human thing. Our potential inner tyrant could come out if we aren't held back by our laws, the people around us, and our personal values and reasonable mind to keep us in check.

There are opportunists who will take advantage of any type of emergency and force people to act in contrast to their beliefs and surrender their freedoms. This book is a worst case scenario and regardless of what you believe in real life, it is a strong theme to consider and think about.

Anyway, being  under house arrest can get deathly boring. So there is a virtual reality program, called Paradiso which allows users to go on technological vacations, starting with a beach setting. Then they can eventually program any place that they want. This is being experienced by a team that includes Geoff, a researcher.

The descriptions of Paradiso are some of the highlights.

There are five stages so far for Paradiso: Visual, Auditory, Somatosensory, Olfactory/Gustatory and Memories. Other future levels include Multiplayer and Creating New Worlds and New Characters. It seems like fun and an interesting way to pass the time.

These are intentionally pleasant scenes and I am sure that I am not the only Reader who would like to go inside the VR system, despite the inevitable problems that would result. 

Unfortunately, Paradiso isn't as perfect as it sounds. It's Science Fiction. When in Science Fiction has any technology ever not had problems?

The problems bring out the characterization and deep guilt of those who experience them.

Geoff and a colleague, Dawn, encounter characters that resemble people in their lives who have died: Dawn's mother and Geoff's life partner, Tim.

At first it's good to see them to reminisce and share deep emotions. But then these simulated characters become possessive, even volatile, wanting Dawn and Geoff to stay in Paradiso with them forever. They also appear to know things that they wouldn't have known in real life.

The most emotional moments are when Dawn and Geoff confront these ghosts in their lives. 

In Dawn's time with her mother, she fails to recognize the shrill possessive banshee figure as the kind nurturing supportive woman who raised her and fell ill. Dawn knows that there is something wrong with this system, but the more the mother simulation berates her, the weaker and more troubled Dawn becomes Someone is using Dawn's bond with her mother against her and enjoys the torture and control that the distorted memories produce.

Geoff on the other hand enjoys his reunions with Tim. He is mostly as he remembers him until he starts getting possessive and controlling. He slowly turns into someone that is far from

the Tim that Geoff remembers. However, Geoff is filled with guilt over things that happened in their relationship and the guilt manifests during his reunion. It gets to the point where Geoff condones Tim's transformation because he thinks that it's the least that he deserves.

Geoff, Dawn, and their colleagues weigh several possibilities over what is happening and some theories are quite provocative.

Something is going on with the system but what? Is somebody changing the codes for personal gain? Are they being monitored and tricked by a far reaching government that is reaching even further? Is Paradiso, an AI program that is adapting and learning too much? Is there a glitch in the Matrix? Speaking of the Matrix, how do they know that Paradiso is the simulation and they live in reality?  Have they been in a simulation all along?

The theories are so fascinating that the actual resolution is somewhat disappointing in contrast. However, it reveals how dependent humans can get on technology and that sometimes what is considered human error is not really an error. It's a reminder that we are human.