Spies Among Us An Alex Boyd Thriller by Mel Harrison; The Warrior Strong Manifesto by Karen Bentley; Flamingo Express by Kenneth D. Michaels

 

Spies Among Us (An Alex Boyd Thriller) by Mel Harrison; The Warrior Strong Manifesto: The Path to Power Based on The Ancient Shamanic Strategy of Life Energy Conservation by Karen Bentley 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spies Among Us (An Alex Boyd Thriller) by Mel Harrison 

This review is a summary. The full review is on LitPick. 

Spies Among Us is a tight well constructed spy thriller with fascinating characters, particularly the main protagonists and antagonists. It's great for readers who are looking for an action novel to keep their blood pumping in suspense during hot summer days.

Alex Boyd, senior special agent with the Diplomatic Security Service and his wife Rachel Smith are assigned to London because of her job as a political officer with the State Department and the U.S. Embassy. Unfortunately, all is not well as anomalies, misinformation, inconsistencies, and leaked news occur. 

Alex and Rachel believe that an insider is passing highly confidential information to Russian spies. However their investigations reveal that the informants and the spies are closer than they thought and those revelations could put them in danger.

The main spy thriller plot is well organized and carries the usual transfer of information, secret messages, surprise allegiances, dubious identities, plot twists, deception, cliffhangers, dangerous situations, betrayal, and fractured relationships when the truth is found out. 

This is a two character narrative. Alex and Rachel are a happily married couple that use their intelligence and expertise in Special Services and the State Department to solve this crisis.Their contributions to different facets of the case are augmented by their repartee and romantic life. 

 Thanks to the characters' relationship, Spies Among Us is both an action thriller and a love story. 

The WarriorSTRONG Manifesto: The Path to Power Based on The Ancient Lost Shamanic Strategy of Life Energy Conservation by Karen Bentley 

Karen Bentley’s personal development book is a written declaration to create strategic beliefs and life force energy-saving principles exclusive to warriors. This approach is so readers can find their own inner strength and fight their personal struggles by unleashing their inner warrior.

The book encourages readers to open up the warrior's strategy by saving life energy and opening up personal power. Bentley provides tips on how one can discover and use their personal power through actions like journaling, maintaining awareness, and developing inner, emotional, and physical/nutritional strengths. 

Chapters include information on the Warrior's Strategy, Mission, and Mindset, The WarriorSTRONG Advantage, Stop Wasting Your Life, Become Harmless, Calm Yourself Down, Eliminate What You Don't Want, Solve Your Problem, Ask For It, A New Forgiveness, Use the Warriorsdailycode to Discipline Yourself, and Do You Hear The Warrior's Call?

This book emphasizes taking action, living in moderation, being in emotional control, facing adversity and hardships, opening communication, atoning for mistakes, making clear plans, and having the determination and fortitude to succeed. 

Flamingo Express (A Nick and Norm Gay Detective Series Book) by Kenneth D. Michaels

This is a summary. The entire review is on Reader Views.

If ever there was a book written this year that is more perfect for summertime beach reading than Kenneth D. Michaels’ Flamingo Express, part of his Nick and Norm Gay Detective Series, then they had better have the sun shining from every page. 

Nick and Norm, detective partners, are recovering from their last case. They go to visit their friends, Jojo and Lola, in Key West, Florida. They are recruited to solve a string of fentanyl overdose deaths and the kidnapping of two flamingos, Lucy and Desi who are the star attractions at The Bird House.

The book has many excellent qualities and one of them is the Key West setting. Like authors of other murder mysteries where the protagonists are in a new location, Michaels takes great care in turning Key West into a character itself.

The setting isn't the only bright spot in the book. The mystery plot is pretty straightforward with the usual clues, interviews with witnesses and suspects, cliffhangers, suspense, plot twists, and resolution. 

The book sparkles with plenty of wit and charm from the cast of characters. Nick and Norm are more than just dedicated mystery solvers and a witty comedy duo. They are loyal friends. Nick has a serious subplot which involves trauma from previous cases and Norm tries to help him through.

Flamingo Express is perfect for adult mystery fans to read during hot summer nights, in airplanes, in hotels and vacation spots, or just sitting at home in an air conditioned house. It's witty, comical, warm, touching, suspenseful, and has plenty of fun and sunshine. 

The Neon City (In The Gutter Looking At The Stars Book 1) by Sean O'Leary; Female Led Hard Boiled Neo Noir is Among O’Leary’s Best

 

The Neon City (In The Gutter Looking At The Stars Book 1) by Sean O'Leary; Female Led Hard Boiled Neo Noir is Among O’Leary’s Best

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Last year, I became acquainted with the Mystery novels of Sean O’Leary through the novel, The Bangkok Girl. It was a modern hard-boiled noir novel with all of the usual trappings of the subgenre: a dark sinister urban setting, cynical detective, innocent victims, organized crime, inept or corrupt officials, and just a genuinely pessimistic feeling overall. It was a throwback to an old genre but it also had the psychological depth of current postmodern literature. 

Now, O’Leary is at it again with his latest series, In The Gutter Looking At the Stars (such a poetic name) and its first volume, The Neon City. Similar to its predecessor, it takes a postmodern attempt at a familiar and deeply respected subgenre. 

O’Leary excels at that. In The Bangkok Girl, his lead detective, Lee Jensen had all of the usual traits associated with such a protagonist: hardened outlook, teeth-grinding mist trust and grudging respect with local law enforcement, empathy for the victims, and hatred for the people who get rich and profit out of others’ misery and a system that allows this exploitation of misery to continue. However what set Lee apart from his literary ancestors was his health. Lee had Schizophrenia and required medication. The book reveals this dark cynical urban world seen through the perspective of a disabled character and how his condition limits and aids him in his investigations.

The Neon City also gives a fresh perspective but not on ability. The perspective is one of gender and sexual orientation. This book features two memorable female lead characters: a sharp cynical PI and a damaged trafficked young woman forced into sex work.

Candy Wong is a Hong Kong based PI who is hired to look for Maye, a girl who disappeared after accepting a suspicious housekeeping position. We get the story from both Candy's and Maye’s points of view, from the detective and the victim.

The dual narration is the strongest highlight of this book. O’Leary captures the deuteragonists’ individual voices, experiences, attitudes, personalities, and behaviors. They have very few moments together, so their individual stories are separated by proximity but are equal in impact and storytelling. 

Candy is both a tough talker and nervous newcomer. She isn't above mouthing off to supervisors, clients, or colleagues. (When she is first introduced to the case by her boss and mentor, her first questions are “Who's paying me and how much?”). Her insatiable curiosity, rapid fire sharp tongue, and athletic energy give her the mental and physical advantage to excel at her job.

 She is similar to the wisecracking heroines from Old Hollywood films usually played by the likes of Barbara Stanwyck, Eve Arden, Rosalind Russell, or Katharine Hepburn. She is the tough talking gal who can outsmart those around her and still display some vulnerability.

Candy’s vulnerability manifests itself into her romantic life and uncertainty about her profession. Candy is a lesbian and has an on-off relationship with her girlfriend, Odesa. During the case, the two have a passionate mostly sexual relationship which they contemplate taking further.

It's interesting to feature a queer character whose sexuality is not the main focus of the book. It is a subplot like other Mystery novels where the detective has to juggle professional and personal conflicts. Candy and Odesa’s relationship could move forward but it could also end rather abruptly. The subplot doesn't overpower the book, but allows Candy the freedom and breathing space to reveal her more emotional moments.

 Another moment that reveals Candy's vulnerability is when she admits her own deficiencies in investigation. When she hits a stumbling block, she hits social media and chats with the experts: her fellow private investigators. 

One of them is our old friend Lee Jensen. The siblings from another father/author compare notes about recent investigations and provide advice about present cases. 

Even though I only read The Bangkok Girl previously, I do know that this is O’Leary’s 14th book. So I wonder if the other characters are also protagonists in O’Leary's books. If so, that's a humorous prospect imagining all of the main characters gathering together to mention their confusion about the plot holes or narrative blocks that take the form of investigation conflicts. It would be hilarious to also picture them talking smack about that weird guy that keeps writing about everything that they do and say. 

The other point of view character in the book is Maye. Her trajectory is by far the most emotional and intense in the book. She begins as a terrified and frightened girl then transforms into a traumatized hardened woman.

When we are first introduced to Maye, she is running from the housekeeping position when she realizes that it is a front for a human trafficking ring. Her tension is palpable as she tries to enter a safe space only to encounter rejection and betrayal that returns her to where she started.

This lesson reveals a hard bitter truth that the world can be cruel and doesn't care about what happens to her. Now in captivity and forced into sex work, Maye is left with nothing. She moves and works physically alive but figuratively dead, playing the part of a beautiful object of desire while her independence, self-reliance, and emotional strength are crushed from within.

The traffickers use various means to control. They drug Maye to lower her inhibitions and change her name and appearance. This is a tactic that is often used on trafficking victims. It is their captors’ way of saying, “We own you. You are whoever we say you are. Your old self is dead now.” It has a psychological effect on Maye as she falls into and wearily accepts the identity that they give her. 

However, Maye is not completely helpless. She tries to survive and even thrive in her new surroundings. She cultivates alliances with some of her captors and her clients. It is a survival instinct but it also creates conflict among her assailants so their ties are weakened. 

If they want her to be the helpless victim, she will be the helpless victim. If they want her to be the seductive siren, well place her in water and point her to the sailor's direction. Because she is ready to pleasure, ready to seduce, and ready to fight by submission.

Maye does what her captors want and plays on their expectations. She can use their weaknesses against them so she can either escape or failing that ascend within the organization to a position where she is no longer the injured victim.

With Candy and Maye, this is a strong female led mystery novel. It tells an engaging case from the victim and their potential rescuer and makes them both fascinating characters surviving in the intense hardened cynical dark urban nourish world.

Dance of Demons (Poison and Opium Book 1)by Alyssa Lauseng; Japanese Inspired Setting, Labyrinthine Plot, and Diametrical Duo Accentuate Dark Fantasy

 

Dance of Demons (Poison and Opium Book 1)by Alyssa Lauseng; Japanese Inspired Setting, Labyrinthine Plot, and Diametrical Duo Accentuate Dark Fantasy 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

 Spoilers: Alyssa Lauseng’s Fantasy novel, Dance of Demons has a lot of positive attributes that keep it fresh and unique in a subgenre that can get repetitive with its tropes. It has a magnificent detailed setting inspired by Japanese culture, a labyrinthine plot that engages the Reader with its multiple perspectives and points of view, and it has deutragonists that are diverse in background and worldviews but make a convincing team and are on their way to becoming a charming gay couple. 

In the land of Okara during the time of the Ghiatian Empire, Daisuke, a young slave boy, seizes an opportunity to escape to freedom.  When a military recruiter arrives, Daisuke enlists and heads to Perena where he tries to adjust to a foot soldier’s life. Meanwhile Obito, a member of the Omnito, Imperial Intelligence, is stricken by a devastating loss when Itsuki, his partner in work and life, dies after they uncover a potential conspiracy involving members of Obito’s wealthy and influential family. Obito is partnerless and wouldn’t you know there is a young ex-slave and soldier who rose through the ranks to become an Omnito and is looking for a partner himself. Meanwhile, Lady Shadow, an enigmatic cult leader bonds with Kanashimi, a ruthless demon, to search for magical talismans which will empower her to defeat the Emperor.

One of the most outstanding attributes is Lauseng’s attention to the Japanese inspired setting. Many Epic Fantasies still have their toes in a Eurocentric old world and use European, largely Celtic and Norse, inspired Medieval settings and characters. After a while it gets old, cliched, repetitive, and even slightly xenophobic when authors rely on these tropes. Within the past 40 or so years thanks to the rise of diversity, there are finally Science Fiction and Fantasy novels that aren’t solely bound to European history and literature. Afrofuturism for example is inspired by lore, history, and aesthetics from African countries such as works by Octavia Butler and Nnedi Okorafor. There are many otaku fans of manga and anime all over the world that produce Asian inspired speculative fiction, one of the most prominent being Avatar: the Last Airbender. 

Dance of Demons is set in a fictional world but it is greatly inspired by Japanese culture. The social hierarchy is based on the Feudal era with its imperial court and divine influence of the Emperor. There is a rigid structure which is practically impossible to break from but not unheard of. The Empeor’s rule is total and somewhat suffocating. The imperial court lives an opulent existence that is far away from the people down below so it’s very easy for corrupt officials and abusive slavers to gain prominence and power.

Their deities have names like Hikari (light) and Kuro (black) though have a remote standoffish approach to the mortals underneath, not unlike the human rulers. Characters like Daisuke even question their existence. Then you have those like Lady Shadow that are fanatic in their devotion.

Everything from costuming, art, culture, food, ceremonies, names, and mythology adheres to this certain time and place. While there is no known connection to Earth like in most Epic Fantasy novels, one could be led to believe that a team of Japanese astronauts may have found their way to Perena and took their history and culture with them so their descendents followed that progression. Lauseng is able to simultaneously capture a specific Earth culture and build a fictional world around it.  

The plot is wound by various characters and their motivations. Chief among them are the motives of Lady Shadow. She is an intriguing character driven to near insanity and obsession by power and a desire to rid her world of the Emperor. Her drive to destroy the Emperor comes from a specific place of abuse, degradation, and powerlessness. We get hints of the ruined girl that became the unhinged woman.

Lady Shadow is controlled by Kanashimi but still has enough foresight and manipulation to sway human forces in her favor. This isn’t a case where the demon has more power and is in complete control. It’s more like he has a worthy partner that is his match in cunning and ruthless efficiency plus the ability to gain allies and conspirators in a variety of places. 

There are conspiracies within conspiracies and sometimes it’s hard to find out who is allied with who and how wide these forces are. It becomes clear that Daisuke and Obito are being swayed by forces outside themselves. No matter where they turn, they may end up as pawns in someone else’s design. 

Daisuke and Obito are commendable protagonists as individuals and as a duo. Because of his slave background, Daisuke gains an angry negative view of the world. This view is channeled by his fighting skills that he learned from the military and he brings a street tough don’t mess with me attitude to the Omnito as a spy and assassin. One that suspects everyone but is able to excel in self defense and defense of his colleagues. He is able to discern ulterior motives and has the discipline to know when to fight and when not to. 

Obito is his diametric counterpart in background and experience but similar in goals and motives in making himself an independent mark. Through his family, he had the material goods that Daisuke did not but he is no stranger to being abused and dominated by others. Various family members connive and conspire against one another so Obito doesn’t feel safe around them. 

Unlike Daisuke, Obito keeps his emotions inward and shows an air of quiet indifference. His real emotions for Itsuki are only felt when alone. He is aware of the higher political games that Daisuke is not. He has those airs of suspicion but is strategic and analytical about when he addresses and uses them. 

Like many partnerships, Obito and Daisuke bring out each other’s better qualities. Obito is able to do his part to educate Daisuke in poison making and also in political structure to make him a consummate spy and assassin, while Daisuke frees the emotions that boil up inside Obito so he can actually act on them and become a protective fighting force. The two emerge as partners, best friends, and dance towards an intimate closer relationship.

Dance of Demons is a perfect dance of detail, intrigue, and richness that will please any Fantasy fan. 

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

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

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Mantis Variant Book 1 in The Mantis Gland Series by Adam Andrews Johnson; Lunar Naturals: Alpha Squad by V.S. Hall; Two Allegorical Satirical and Topical Science Fiction Novels About People With Special Abilities

 

The Mantis Variant Book 1 in The Mantis Gland Series by Adam Andrews Johnson; Lunar Naturals: Alpha Squad by V.S. Hall; Two Allegorical Satirical and Topical Science Fiction Novels About People With Special Abilities 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: The Mantis Variant Book 1 in The Mantis Gland Series by Adam Andrews Johnson and Lunar Naturals: Alpha Squad by V.S. Hall are two novels that combine two frequent tropes found in Science Fiction: the existence of people with unusual abilities and an allegorical storytelling style that comments on the fictional world in the book and the real world surrounding the Reader. It is how the two works are approached in content, style, storytelling, and inspiration where the differences lie.

The Mantis Variant is an empowering novel that uses special abilities to comment on marginalized communities and the control that religious institutions have on the people underneath. 

The Mantis Variant focuses on three women who represent different statuses in futuristic Teshon City. Agrell is a member of the Messiahs, a cult that controls the city around them and has brutal means of enforcing that control. During a ritual, Agrell becomes sickened and runs away. Dozi is a street smart thief living by her wits and wants to be a Demifae, a mystic with special powers. Ilya is a Shift who has the ability of flight and has to take cover as her commune of Shifts is destroyed. The three women meet and become involved in the larger struggle between the Messiahs and those that they want to crush like the Shifts and Demifae.

The Mantis Variant touches on many current issues that exist in this fictional environment. The most prominent issues concern the stranglehold and fear mongering that groups like the Messiahs have over the people. They use their narrow minded world-view as a means to control and gain dominance over others, particularly marginalized people like the Shifts. The Messiahs’ influence is vast as Shifts are treated as second class citizens and either huddle up in homeless enclaves or are rounded up to serve their purposes.

 However, it's not enough for the Messiahs to have complete control over their people. They want the Mantis Glands, the glands that give Shifts their powers. Despite fearing the Shifts’ abilities, the Messiahs want to swallow those glands so that they can obtain power. That's what causes Agrell to run away. This inhuman process of not only denying a people's rights to live but to eat them like they were cattle is too far for her.

While the Messiahs represent the upper class in power, the Shifts stand for every minority, immigrant, LGBT person, person with disabilities, anyone who is considered an outsider or the “other.” The Shifts look different because some of their abilities manifest themselves in physical abnormalities. Their thought processes alter so they have highly elevated perspectives. Above all, they are often loyal to each other forming surrogate families to survive this oppression. 

Agrell, Ilya, and Dozi are taken in by Mystic and his husband,Theolon, a pair of Demifae who give them unconditional support and a plan for the future. They are part of a resistance against the current government and for the first time in a long time or ever, the trio are able to visualize a life without their oppressors. They also have another reason to bond with the young women. The couple’s Shift daughter, Lahari is missing and they need the trio’s help to find her.

Agrell, Ilya, and Dozi form a formidable trio that aids the resistance, their new friends, and each other. They begin to see the larger picture of fighting for others rather than their survival as individuals.

They also learn to adapt to their surroundings and evolve as characters. Ilya has felt cast aside, ignored, and hated by others, particularly her family. Now with her new allies, she accepts her abilities and finds a new family that understands her. 

Agrell was ashamed of her past and what her people did, often hiding much of herself like an empathetic nature or the extent of her powers. With her new friends and partners, she accepts those parts of her nature and personality that have been hidden because of prejudice. 

Unlike the others, Dozi doesn't have any special abilities and actually wants them. She feels insignificant and unimportant surrounded by people who do amazing things. Her evolution comes when she realizes that her street smart intelligence, physical dexterity, and survival instincts are valuable and no less important because she was trained to use them rather than being born with them. 

The Mantis Variant is a brilliant novel that reminds us that there are people who gain control by spreading fear and ignorance. But there are other people who counter that by accepting, understanding, and learning about others and fighting alongside them.

Lunar Naturals: Alpha Squad is definitely inspired by anime with its characters with wide ranging abilities, multiple action plots, and themes of young people rebelling against a tyrannical system.

Vin Sylo is a refugee from Earth and has pyrokinesis. After a fight in which his powers are revealed, Vin is recruited by Roy, the leader of Lunar, an organization inside a space colony dedicated to ensuring peace despite the violent terrorist factions and dictatorial governments that exist. Vin meets his future compatriots: Lae, who is an expert markswoman,  Kyo, who can control darkness, and Kaz, who has extra fast reflexes and movement.

Fans of manga and anime will especially love this book which is a love letter to the Japanese born art form. Many of the situations, characters, and plot points aren't too dissimilar from works like Rurouni Kenshin, Yu Yu Hakusho, The Gundam franchise, Dragonball, Get Backers, and Naruto. It is flashy, exciting, deep, and filled with tension and drama just like its film, television, and literary predecessors.

Vin is the archetypal lead in such works. He is a young hot head who had to get by his wits. Since he's been independent for so long, he isn't used to working with a team. Recognizing other's strengths, weaknesses, and his role within a group setting are the first tests that he must pass.

Most of the book is spent on Vin’s training which involves strategy and combat techniques. He learns to harness and increase his powers. He also learns when to attack, when to defend, and when to retreat. 

One of the best fighting chapters details a match between Vin and Kyo when both of their dark natures are unleashed. Watching the release of Kyo’s alternate demonic personality unnerves Vin but also pushes him to release the physical and psychological toll that his friend had been suppressing. He empathizes with his friend's plight and also recognizes the parallels between Kyo and himself with his own unchecked powers.

He has a similar situation with Lae when he is sent on assignment with the rest of his crew, Alpha Squad. At first he minimized Lae’s contribution and abilities while at the same time becoming attracted to her. When she takes their enemies down, he recognizes the full extent of her abilities and that she in many ways is Vin’s equal even superior in leadership and is able to even out some of the rougher edges of Vin’s personality as he does for her.

Anime fans in particular will love Lunar Naturals: Alpha Squad. But anyone looking for a good Science Fiction novel that explores young people discovering their own power against oppression will also enjoy it too.

New Book Alert: The Covenant Sacrifice by Lee Allan Howard; Metaphorical But Also Timely Supernatural Horror About The Dangers of Religion, Self-Righteousness, and Passing Judgment

 New Book Alert: The Covenant Sacrifice by Lee Allen Howard; Metaphorical But Also Timely Supernatural Horror About The Dangers of Religion, Self-Righteousness, and Passing Judgment 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Can't imagine why a supernatural horror in which a religious cult kidnaps and kills LGBT people to appease what they see as evil is so relevant. End sarcasm. But that is the premise behind Lee Allen Howard's metaphorical but oddly timely horror novel The Covenant Sacrifice.

Strange happenings befell Anastasis Creek, Pennsylvania during the same time that the cicadas called. People disappeared or mysteriously died only to reappear as undead zombie-like creatures. There were whispers of a demon lurking around and taking souls. Pastor Uriah Zalmon of the Deliverance Tabernacle Church believed that it was a curse brought on by local witch, Agatha Abbott. The only way to end the curse was to sacrifice Kara McPherson, a young woman, whom they consider an "unrepentant sinner" for being a lesbian.

17 years later, the cicadas call again and Roger McPherson, local farmer, is found dead under mysterious circumstances. Nurse Jarod Huntington leaves Pittsburgh to return to his hometown of Anastasis Creek to attend Roger's funeral and resolve unfinished business with his former best friend, Roger's son, Scotty. Then there are more deaths and returns of the undead. It isn't long before Zalmon and his closest followers are sharpening their knives for another sacrifice. 

The Covenant Sacrifice offers plenty of horror both of the supernatural and human variety. The creatures are a very terrifying demonic looking horde that first resemble someone that a person knows but something seems off about them.Then they build a chrysalis around them to eventually transform into a flying demon. 

In one of the scariest and saddest moments, a young girl named Madison goes through the kidnapping and transformation. She starts out as a sweet, active, trusting little girl, then turns into a violent, bloodthirsty, mindless creature. Her attacks climax when one of her relatives has to make the anguishing decision whether to kill her to save the town.

While the supernatural creatures are terrifying, and one in particular is enough to provide nightmares, there is also plenty of terror caused by human monsters, particularly Rev. Zalmon. His diary entries reveal a twisted tale of lust, self righteousness, and hypocrisy. He is a man with many secrets who chastises others for their sins and never acknowledges his own. 

Zalmon is willing to kill to protect his secrets and will get rid of those who he perceives as sinners. Not only that but Zalmon's cult-like followers are willing to go along with him. Agatha Abbott, the Baphomet worshiping town witch, arranges the events from Zalmon's past, but at times, she comes across as a better character than Zalmon. Not much, she's pretty manipulative, violent, and arrogant as well.

While the situation is a fantastic one, it is very easy to see that The Covenant Sacrifice is a sharp commentary about the cult mentality that many religious people, especially Conservatives, have when they are so bound to their own religious interpretation that they isolate and commit violence towards others who do not follow their standards.

However, there are many characters who are the exact opposite by showing kindness, goodness, and the ethics and morals that Zalmon and his ilk pay lip service to. There are many townspeople who spring to action to look for Madison when she goes missing. Twylah Sharpe is a spiritualist whose psychic abilities and magical skills counter Agatha's self-centered arrogant plans. Fanny Fassenden, a local recluse, doesn't have a large part but in one chapter, she demonstrates the difficulties that someone has in a small town when they are considered different from everyone else.

By far, the most heroic characters are Jarod and Scotty. They were once friends, but harbored secret crushes on each other. While acting on their feelings, they were caught by Roger, Scotty's father, and threatened to be ostracized. Jarod ended his friendship with Scotty and left for Pittsburgh. He tried to put his past behind him to start a nursing career and a relationship with Kelly. Unfortunately, he is hesitant to pursue his and Kelly's relationship further. He wants to start a family, but isn't sure if Kelly is the one that he wants to start it with.

Scotty meanwhile remained in Anastasis Creek and worked on the family farm. Now that his father is gone, he is considering selling the place and moving on. However, he never forgot Jarod and remained single.

Jarod and Scotty's journey in this book requires them to show courage and strength in protecting their families. However, they also have to be truthful and honest with each other and the rest of the town. Their love counters the hatred that Zalmon preaches.

The Covenant Sacrifice is a book that despite an unreal premise still resonates in real life with its themes of religious hypocrisy, equality, acceptance, honesty, and love.

New Book Alert: Fool, Anticipation by Robert Polakoski; Brilliant Historical Fiction About a Woman's Exploration of Her Talent and Sexuality

 New Book Alert: Fool, Anticipation by Robert Polakoski; Brilliant Historical Fiction About a Woman's Exploration of Her Talent and Sexuality 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: It doesn't need to be said how appropriate it is to review a historical fiction about a lesbian poet struggling against restrictive gender roles and the lack of understanding towards her sexuality. It doesn't need to be said how SCOTUS' boneheaded, archaic, self-serving, underhanded, homophobic and misogynistic decisions to overturn Roe Vs. Wade, protections towards same sex marriages and gender affirming care, and recently permission for people to use religious freedom as an excuse to deny services, goods, and care to LGBTQ+ people make a book like Robert Polakoski's Fool, Anticipation even more relevant. (And that ending Affirmative Action and not legacy acceptances and hiring practices shows their true racist colors, mostly white, as well). It doesn't need to be said that such rulings and laws created and encouraged by Conservatives, especially Fundamentalists, are set to roll back women and LGBT+ people's statuses and protection back several centuries (or worse forward to Handmaid's Tale's Gilead). None of that needs to be said but it's being said anyway. Fool, Anticipation by Robert Polakoski is a book with a character who says all of that and more. It is a brilliant historical fiction about a woman who explores her talent and sexuality to find her own voice and independence.

Like with many Historical Fiction novels, we start with the protagonist, now older, looking back on their lives, perhaps writing or dictating their memoirs. In this case, poet Edna Rose Doyle is being interviewed by a reporter for a French publication. She gives some interesting hints that her life was a troubled one before we get to the narrative proper.

Rose Doyle was born in Jersey City to an Irish-American family given to abuse and alcoholism. To escape her unhappy home life, Rose turns to poetry, particularly that of Edna St. Vincent Millay. In fact, Millay becomes such an ideal that Rose calls herself Edna in the poet's honor. She wants to live her life the way Millay did, openly flaunting female lovers, writing frank and honest poems about sex, war, and social injustice, and living in Greenwich Village surrounded by other artists, writers, and intellectuals. 

Edna ends up working at Great Eastern Electric as a telephone tester during WWII. After the war ends, she and a few female friends go out for a few drinks when she encounters Tommy Prosky. Edna and Tommy have differing opinions about the war (Tommy was for, Edna against) but go on a second date. It is on this second date where Tommy rapes Edna, leaving her pregnant.

The pregnancy leaves Edna devastated and is left even more devastated when a doctor refuses to give her an abortion. She has a brief affair with another woman, Elle Rochfort before Edna returns to the reality of her situation and is forced to marry Tommy and endure an unhappy marriage rocked by abuse, addiction, and a mental breakdown.

Edna's intelligence and sardonic nature really shine through in her first person narration. I cannot stress this enough how well written this female perspective is, especially considering that Fool, Anticipation was written by a man. Polakoski captures the complexities of this character and makes her identifiable and understandable as she questions her life, sexuality, and place in the world as a woman of deep intellect and desires that society tells her that she should not have.

Edna has a definite idea of how she imagines her life. During adolescence, she stood outside the home of Millay, imagining herself as a poet surrounded by arty intellectuals, writing verses about how she really feels, and taking female lovers openly. However, the dreams are dashed by reality. She sends poems to publications that are rejected (though she admits that she is happy to even receive a rejection letter). At 19, she gets accepted to Vassar on a scholarship and saves money for the opportunity, but her rape, pregnancy, and quickie marriage end that plan.

On her jaunts to New York, Edna looked outside the Women's Literary Society,  longed to be a part of it, and also saw Elle looking at her through a window. She would have loved to enter the society and have a relationship with Elle but knew that society would never allow such a pairing. Ironically, during one of the lowest points of her life after her rape, Edna works up the courage to introduce herself to Elle. The two women have a very passionate and emotional night that could have meant that they were lovers and soulmates. Unfortunately, it only lasts for one night but sustains Edna through the loneliness of her marriage that she still thinks of and dreams about Elle.

Edna's sarcasm is never in doubt. When she compares herself to her female coworkers, she realizes how different her aspirations are from her friends. "It did bother me some that I wasn't like them," she said. "What they wanted was a man so simple and so obtainable. What I wanted-a woman-seemed so out of reach. I even confess to being a bit jealous on Monday morning, listening to (her other co-workers) discuss all the guys that they met while I spent my weekends staring furtively at women in storefront windows in Greenwich Village." Like Dorothy Parker, Edna uses her sarcasm, self -deprecating humor, and wisecracks to cover up her insecurities and vulnerabilities.

Sometimes Edna's narration shows an older woman discovering other things with the virtue of hindsight. For example, when she seeks the abortion she reflects that even though technically illegal, it was widely known and practiced in the 1930's. ("Everybody knew someone who could give one or knew someone who knew someone who could give one.") However, when Edna tries to get hers in 1945, she is a victim of the Baby Boom push.The goal of producing more babies to create good little Americans. Being someone who is fervently anti-war, Edna seethes at the hypocrisy of a government that didn't care if Japanese children were napalmed or atom bombed to death (and certainly didn't care enough about Jewish children to accept them into the country or African American children that they kept them separated from white children) and are now on their soapboxes about protecting the "Sanctity of Life." (It really makes you look at the Baby Boom differently). With a lifetime of reading and studying history, Edna understands the circumstances and far reaching regulations about why she was put in such situations that affected her individually.

That elderly voice also shows why the people around her acted the way that they did. She doesn't like them any better but she recognized people like her mother and Tommy had circumstances and standards that they had to live up to and led to the choices that they made for themselves and Edna. 

Her mother for example was in an abusive marriage and after her death was unable to survive on her own, so retreated into drink. She also had a sister Flossie who, like Edna, was raped and left pregnant so she was sent to the Magdalene Laundries (a deplorable institution in which so-called "fallen women" prostitutes, women who were raped or victims of incest, or the mentally ill worked in laundry facilities for mere pennies and were subjected to torture and abuse). Edna's mother is told what women are supposed to do to maintain respectability and she forces that thinking on her daughter. However, her mother does show some maternal kindness with her grandson, Tommy Jr.bonding with him in a way that Edna is unable to.

Tommy is also seen as victimized by societal expectations of men. A childhood bout with polio left him disabled and unable to serve in the military. Because of this, he is desperate to prove his masculinity and virility. He deals with desperation by doing violent and unconscionable things. Shortly before he rapes Edna, soldiers make fun of his disability. He also tries to prove his status as a wage earner by not only being a police officer, but a corrupt police officer who is on the take so he can earn more money. He has been told what a man should be and has completely given into the toxic masculinity image (even before it was an actual thing). He later confesses to Edna that he likes seeing shopkeepers and citizens fear him when he takes their money.

Edna's emotions are expressed most thoroughly through her poetry. Throughout the plot, Edna offers a poem that expresses her inner thoughts and conflicts reflecting her real feelings for a situation contradicting how she outwardly behaved during that time. For example, during her wedding to Tommy, she daydreams stopping the show with a zinger and walking off leaving everyone stunned. Instead, she meekly acquiesces to this no-win situation.

However, her poem "The Prisoner" shows what she really thinks about this not so joyous occasion:

"So Tommy married me and,

Obliterated from history

Washed from the shores of time 

Like a tide, passing

No mention is made again 

Of his rape

Except by me…"

Edna's poetry is confessional, similar to the works of Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton. Edna's mental and emotional states become worse after her son, Tommy Jr. Is born. She doesn't feel bonded to him because he is the child of her rapist and keeps her attached to him. She is clearly suffering from postpartum depression and has no one to confide in except her poetry.

Shortly after Tommy Jr. is born, she writes "What Truth Gives" reflecting about how the truth is skewered about why children are born and how his birth makes her even more disconnected from life:

"What is lost

What is gained

When truth obscured

From view

Becomes a tool to use,

Or a drug to take

That makes

What a wish to see

Or hear,

Or know,

Go away…"

As her marriage and motherhood drags on and weighs her down, Edna's mental and emotional state continues to deteriorate. When she first discovers Tommy's kickback money she compulsively shops for things like wrapping paper, rubber bands, and other useless items. She has vivid frightening dreams like the Hiroshima bombing, being surrounded by American soldiers that congratulate her on adding to America's plan, and her father hovering over her like a specter. She gets pregnant a second time after having a terrifying flashback when Tommy startles her, reminding her of her rape. She miscarries and feels like she is being punished. 

All of these feelings are cast aside for the "new normal" of post-war prosperity. Edna is so disconnected from her life that she can't feel anything when her friend gets married to a nice guy. Not surprisingly, Edna falls right into the Feminine Mystique "Problem That Has No Name" that Betty Friedan spoke of. She is prescribed and becomes dependent on Oxycodone and later speed.The addiction only fuels her depression, loneliness, and paranoia. She hallucinates arguing with the housewives on TV and has continuous mood swings that last for days. She overdoses, eventually collapses, and is institutionalized.

Edna's institutionalization is terrifying as she is forced to recount many troubling aspects of her past like her rape and childhood trauma that finally resurfaces. However, it ends up helping her and becomes the first step of living a fulfilled life. She realizes that she is as much to blame as her mother and Tommy are for her mental state because she let her fears and insecurities get in the way of living a life for herself.

She is encouraged to write. In that time she realizes that she found her poetic voice. She writes the poem that becomes her greatest success, "Fool, Anticipation."

"Fears 

On a glacier or a tide

Ride away your dreams

They say goodbye

To the life you thought you'd lead

Fool, anticipation

Now there's only dreams

Of what there could have been 

Of what there might have been

And the fear and anger

All directed at him

You didn't get a chance…"

Even though she reunites with Elle before her hospitalization, Edna reconnects with her afterwards and allows herself to have a real relationship with her, one without her fears, emotional baggage, and societal standards getting in the way. She eventually finds the courage to make a clean break from her old life and make way for a new one.

Edna finally has the keys to change her life and become the person that she was meant to be: a talented and published poet, an intellectual surrounded by artists and freethinkers, a lesbian in a loving relationship, and an independent strong free spirited woman unafraid of life.