New Book Alert: Immoral Origins (The Desire Card Book 1) by Lee Matthew Goldberg;. Suspenseful Crime Thriller About the Hidden Cost of Desire and Success

 

New Book Alert: Immoral Origins (The Desire Card Book 1) by Lee Matthew Goldberg;. Suspenseful Crime Thriller About the Hidden Cost of Desire and Success

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: What's on your reading list?

What if you had a card that would give you anything that you desired and removed any obstacle to obtain it? How satisfied would you be or would you want more? What if in obtaining your heart's desire, it involved the deaths of people? Maybe people you don't know, maybe a rival, but it could just as easily involve the death of a friend or family member? After all, the cost of this card is only your soul. Now would you do it?

This premise is explored in Lee Matthew Goldberg's The Desire Card series and particularly its first volume, Immoral Origins. As with his previous novels, Slow Down and Orange City, Goldberg shows the perils of cold blooded pure unadulterated naked ambition and its effect on a small time guy who is playing in bigger more dangerous leagues.

Jake Barnum, our protagonist, is a petty crook going nowhere fast. He just got out of prison and is left homeless and unemployable. He then moves back in with his parents and his mentally challenged brother, Emile. He is subjected to his parent's poverty which is revealed by the frequent visits to the hospital and medical bills to diagnose Emile's condition and his father working two jobs and getting only two hours of sleep per day. Jake's relationship with his girlfriend, Cheryl is coming to an end. (After stealing her a tennis bracelet from Tiffany's, Jake finds out that she is seeing someone else.) His childhood friend, Maggs introduces him to his boss, Georgie who wants him to do "pick ups and deliveries" and not ask questions. In Hell's Kitchen New York in 1978, that type of job can only mean one thing and they aren't mail carriers.

One Halloween night, Jake, dressed as Erroll Flynn's Robin Hood, encounters a woman dressed as Marilyn Monroe and only answers to that name. Marilyn informs Jake that she works for a company that grants wishes, with the Desire Card. It's everywhere you want to be….whether you like it or not. 

Marilyn introduces Jake to her boss, an enigmatic man known only as Clark Gable because like Marilyn, he wears costumes and a mask resembling the Hollywood actor. In fact all of the Desire Card employees and elite guests dress up in the masks and costumes of old Hollywood stars. There is Bette Davis typing away every conversation in front of her, even small talk. Gregory Peck is ruthless in the job and in his relationship with Marilyn. Spencer Tracy is Gable's informant.  Katharine Hepburn and Laurence Olivier  run the European branch. Now Jake has a new identity as Erroll Flynn. Marilyn says that it's a disguise to hide who the people really are from the outside world and themselves. Your Hollywood mask, don't leave home without it.

The Desire Card is meant to fulfill the holder's wishes whether it's to get more money, a promotion at work, or in Jake's family's case top notch medical care for a loved one. Gable and his operatives do anything to make those wishes come true. However, the means are less like Santa Claus and more like Al Capone or Jimmy Savile. They resort to kidnapping, theft, sexual assault, and murder to get the job done. They are also expanding their services into drugs and other extra "benefits" that come with having the card. The more that Jake profits from his time with the Desire Card, the greedier and more addicted he gets to power and success. After all, doing illegal deeds to meet one's desire: Expensive. Murdering other people: Costly. Selling one's soul: Priceless.

In this book, Goldberg does what he does best: shows how power and ambition could be an addiction and how often these little guys become swept in and end up becoming the deadliest force of all. Jake is like the petty crook in gangster films who robs stores and takes drugs thinking that makes him tough. Then he gets involved with a much bigger and deadlier group. Amidst the wild parties, frequent sex, and nights out in fancy restaurants, he realizes the darker side of his new friend and now that darker side is turned towards him. In the grand scheme of criminal activity, Jake is a small dog, a Yorkie, yipping at the heels of a pack of dobermans and acts surprised when they snarl their teeth and shed blood on him.

He enjoys the protection that they give him and the treatment that Emile receives. He also likes the flash and glamor that he is exposed to as he ascends higher in the organization. 

Jake at first has few moral concerns. As long as he's getting everything that he wants, he doesn't question the things that he has to do. Even after he expresses qualms about killing for the first job, he ends up becoming okay with it later-as long as the people he goes after are enemies or strangers. It's when they go after friends and family, that Jake questions his new life. Jak is an extremely egocentric selfish creep of a weak willed character who only has moral qualms when it personally involves him. That makes him the perfect victim for the people behind the card.

The Desire Card employees are an intriguing bunch because they are so mysterious. Their only identities are their Hollywood names and characters. I suppose we could infer from their chosen identities who they might have been. Maybe Bette was a tough gal who liked to be a Jezebel. Perhaps, Katharine came from a wealthy Connecticut background and Olivier might be a devotee of Shakespeare.

We learn a bit about Marilyn and everything about her backstory is similar to her character: the lost lonely young girl, the attraction to powerful dangerous men, the sadness hidden behind a glamorous facade. But the Reader only learns a little bit about her. She loves her identity as Marilyn so she insists that's all there is. Part of working for the Desire Card is to become their deepest desire.

The most mysterious of all is their leader, Gable. Everything that we learn about him is repeatedly proven or disproven. Does he have a family or doesn't he? How long has he been doing this? How does he find out everyone's desires and secrets? Is he just really good at obtaining informants or is there something else? Is there something supernatural at work here? After all, doesn't the Desire Card sound an awful lot like a deal with the devil? We learn nothing and see nothing except what Gable wants us to see.  It will be interesting to see how Gable and his subordinates continue to play out this mystery in the rest of the series.

Immoral Origins is great at dissecting what the hidden cost is obtaining power and success without a conscience. There are some books that explore this theme without success. For everything else, there's Immoral Origins.

Weekly Reader: Alternate Warriors Edited by Mike Resnick; Alternate Universe Anthology Creates Interesting and Violent Scenarios

Weekly Reader: Alternate Warriors Edited by Mike Resnick; Alternate Universe Anthology Creates Interesting and Violent Scenarios

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


PopSugar Reading Challenge: An anthology

Spoilers: Alternate histories are fun to speculate upon wondering if something had been ever so slightly altered, could things have been different? Many books are written about the possibilities of the Nazis winning WWII or the Confederate states remaining separated from the Union after the Civil War. So many possibilities can be entertained. What if Lee Harvey Oswald missed? What if the Manson Family knocked on the wrong door instead of Sharon Tate's home? What if The Beatles never formed? What if Princess Diana lived to see her sons get married? What if Hilary Clinton never married Bill or won the last election? What if any other President had won instead of the ones that did?


Science Fiction authors have entertained various possibilities in this genre and the projected time streams are as varied as the divergant points in history. Science Fiction author and editor, Mike Resnick, edited a series of anthologies that offer these intriguing possibilities. The first (and best) Alternate Presidents gives various failed candidates a chance to grace the walls of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Another book in the series is Alternate Warriors. The premise is that various figures known for their pacificism, or nonviolent displays of civil disobedience now stop turning the other cheek and instead start picking up guns and swords. These characters embrace more violent natures in stories that open up very dark, violent, fascinating possibilities in history.


The best stories are:


"Because Thou Lovest a Burning Ground" by Michael P. Kube-McDowell- Alternate warrior: Mohandas K. Mahatma Gandhi

In our timeline, Gandhi was known for his pacifistic nature and acts of civil disobedience against English colonialism. This story suggests what would have happened if he had a different guide in his path: Kali, the Hindu Goddess of Death and Retribution. The plot supposed that Gandhi, a young medical student is mentored by Jafir, the remnant of the Thuggee cult that worshipped Kali. Gandhi is enticed by the Thuggees's violent nature to strangle their enemies without remorse. He is also driven by an India in which natives are forced to be educated in English, refused admission to certain studies, and villages are destroyed by English soldiers for the slightest provocation. While the Thuggee are written as a violent bunch, it is easy to see why Gandhi would use violence against violence. Using his leadership skills and cult of personality, the story ends on a bone chilling note when Gandhi is surrounded by hundreds of Thuggee followers ready to meet bloodshed with bloodshed.


"Extreme Feminism" by Nicholas DiChario-Alternate warrior: Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Victoria Woodhull

A common thread in these stories are that as bad as the situations are in reality, the stories are far worse. Certain groups are treated even worse (if such a thing could be possible) causing those who speak out with little choice but to react with violence, creating an even worse cycle of violence in which history can never climb out from. This story presents the possibility of how women's status was changed if Abraham Lincoln was assassinated not by John Wilkes Booth but by Mary E. Surratt (in reality, the owner of boarding house in which Booth stayed. She was the only female conspirator in the Lincoln assassination that was executed. This story implies that Surratt acted alone.) Since it was a woman that assassinated the President, the men in charge of law and politics decided that all women must be punished. They are forced by law to wear constricting bodices, petticoats, corsets and bonnets that cover all parts of the body and limit movement and breathing. ("A comfortable woman is a dangerous woman," they reason.) They are unable to purchase anything including guns without written consent from their husbands. As for the right to vote, well that's never going to happen.

Besides the conflicts between the feminists like Susan B. Anthony and the male dominated society, there is also conflict between the feminists themselves. There are the older ones like Anthony who prefer to fight with words and harmless stunts to get attention, like women firing guns into the air after Anthony makes a speech. Then there are the younger ones like Victoria Woodhull, who call themselves "Extreme Feminists" and prefer to commit violent acts like shooting and kidnapping male soldiers. The violent and nonviolent approaches go beyond either Anthony or Woodhull's expectations when a shootout ends on a bloody note for the feminists but gives Anthony the chance to unleash the power she longs for and as the narration tells us: "what no woman ever had a choice."


"The Firebringers" by David Gerrold-Alternate warrior: Various Hollywood icons including Gregory Peck, Ronald Reagan, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Bob Hope, Van Johnson, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy

In the introduction, Resnick describes author, David Gerrold's career as a Hollywood screenwriter allowed him to think big. This story proves that. The basic premise is that the atomic bomb that the Americans sent is not dropped in Japan, but in Germany. Besides the change in direction, there is also a change in personnel. The flight crew on this fatal trip is comprised of Hollywood actors including Gregory Peck, Ronald Reagan, Humphrey Bogart, and James Cagney.

The characters are amalgams of their real selves and the characters that they played, the personas more known to the public. The story is littered with inside references making it one of the cleverest stories in the anthology. There are several references to their movies and lives. Bogart talks about returning to Morocco and reopen his cafe (referencing Casablanca). Lieutenants Laurel and Hardy were piano movers before the war (like in their Academy Award winning short, The Music Box). Cagney, the narrator writes in first person normally but his dialogue is punctuated "Oh..uh ah," and other fillers mimicking every comedian's impression of him ever.

By far the strongest characters are Colonals Gregory Peck and Ronald Reagan, also playing their types. Channeling his future (real life) career as President during the last days of the Cold War, Reagan describes the Germans as an "evil empire" and is in favor of bombing them sky high. Peck however, speaks in the voice of his character, Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird and tries to appeal to the crew's decency and basic humanity. This story is also one of the few in the anthology which doesn't end in violence, and insteads shows that cooler heads can prevail.



"The Cold Warrior" by Jack C. Haldeman II-Alternate warrior: Marilyn Monroe

Another Hollywood performer taking a violent turn in this anthology, is Marilyn Monroe. Though unlike the boys in "The Firebringers", she is acting by her lonesome self. This story reveals that this alternate Marilyn is more than capable of doing just that.

While she is still an actress in this story, Monroe has more important things in mind like revenge against Fidel Castro after a failed romance with Castro's partner, Che Guevera. Monroe uses her looks, charisma, and various other attributes to spy on such notables as Castro, Jimmy Hoffa, the Mafia, CIA, and just about anyone else in her way. The real Monroe was considered a soft spoken, troubled, insecure actress who had been victimized by a Hollywood patriarchal system, a drug addiction, and her own worries about her screen image. This Monroe is a hard edged, cynical, tough talking spy/assassin who uses any man in her way before shooting him. Like many other characters in these stories, this story opens up the dark side that Monroe may have unleashed if given the chance.


"One by One" by Beth Meacham-Alternate warrior: Tecumseh

Most of the stories feature the direct cause of the violence, the moment when the character embraces their dark sides. This story is the effect, what happens 200 years after Tecumseh, the Prophet's dream united the various tribes into the Shawnee Alliance and to fight a continuous war against their white invaders.

The world that is portrayed is the 1960's during this ongoing endless conflict when Walks Softly, a young woman seeking vengeance for the deaths of her father and brother, joins the terrorist organization that attacks the whites only towns. There are many moments of Native Americans striking back on their foes such as Ed Ames recreating the tomahawk throwing incident on the Tonight Show. However, the real life incident involved Ames throwing the tomahawk at a drawing's groin with some off-color harmless jokes from Carson. In this time stream, an angry Ames grieving over the death of his nephew, takes offense at Carson's humor and silences the talk show host but good, on live television.

This intense short story climaxes in a moment when Walks Softly has to make the decision to save a white childhood friend or to commit the violence that she is trained to do. The ending reveals the conditioning that this war has brought when people on both sides only see an enemy and not a human being and revenge and rage are all that they live for.


"Death of a Dream" by Jack C. Haldeman II-Alternate warrior: Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gets the focus of two stories. The first Lawrence Schimel's "Taking Action", shows King tortured by dreams but not his famous one of equality. Instead, they are prophetic dreams of the Anita Hill testimony before Congress and the Rodney King beating and various other scenes of racism. (One can only imagine that if the story were updated how many more dreams he would have including Travyon Martin, Michael Brown, Ahmoud Arbery, the South Carolina church shootings and so on.)

The better story is Haldeman's "Death of a Dream." This depicts a King still alive in 1975, but an embittered, angry King who is dying of cancer and is no longer the golden voiced idealist who united all people under his dream. Instead he never got to give his speech. In this version of events, he was openly denounced by J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI. Most of the co-leaders of the Civil Rights Movement withdrew their allegiances with King and Malcom X went to prison for successfully assasinating Alabama Gov. George Wallace Segregation continues and spreads throughout the entire United States. The Civil Rights bill is rejected. African-Americans are denied the right to vote and maybe forced to return to Africa.

This is the most pessimistic of the stories featuring a character with nothing left to lose. King knows he's going to die, so he is doing the only thing that he has left taking the President of the United States (former Chicago mayor), Richard J. Daley with him. Even though it's less than five pages, it shows what happens when the fight is gone and all the warrior has left is bitterness, exhaustion, and vengeance.


Alternate Warriors takes these characters down a dark side. While their motives are understandable, often driven by prejudice, hatred, or vengeance, these stories retroactively make their real life actions more admirable. They could have easily chosen violence and walked down these dark paths, but they didn't. Instead, they chose to fight with words, talents, resistance, and bloodless action. In doing so, they became the real heroes.