Reviewed by Author C.V. Hunt

4 out of 5

ABOUT:

Britannia, 61 A.D. For ten years, Taras has lived in the young city of Londinium, feeding off the city’s underbelly. But now Theron, his old enemy, has come looking for revenge, and Taras’ nights of living in relative peace are about to end.

Yet not even Theron can slip into town unnoticed, and the Council of Thirteen sends Ramah to deal with the two renegades once and for all. But unknown to the Council, a much older enemy is also in Londinium, and this time even the great Ramah might not be safe.

Set against the backdrop of the Iceni uprising in Roman-era Britannia, 61 A.D. continues the story of Taras, Theron, and Ramah, as they fight their way through history.

REVIEW:

61 A.D. is the sequel to 31 A.D. and is written by David McAfee. I found the first book very inventive and well researched, and I was gladly given the chance to read the sequel.

The Iceni and Trinovante tribes have band together in an attempt to overthrow the Romans for transgressions they’ve suffered. Their plan is to destroy all the Romans in a coordinated a siege on the city of Londinium. This all happened in the year 61 A.D., and thus is the backdrop for this book.

Taras, a Roman, was accidentally turned into a Bachiyr (the term for vampire used through this series), and Theron has vowed to hunt him down to kill him. Taras’ transformation was a mistake, and it has cost Theron dearly. Theron is no longer in the good graces of The Counsel of Thirteen, and has become what he always sought to slaughter – a renegade vampire.

Now Ramah, the Blood Letter, and second in command of The Counsel of Thirteen, is sent to hunt down Theron and being him back alive for his punishment. Theron is chasing Taras, and Ramah is chasing Theron, and now Ramah is being chased by a phantom that the Counsel has long sought after. All of this is happening amongst the slaughter of Londinium.

The conspiracy still lingers in the world of vampires, and no one can be trusted.

FROM THE BOOK:

“I should like to know what I am agreeing to before I agree to it.”

“That is not the deal,” she said, jangling the keys for effect. “Agree to my terms or die with the sun. You choose.”

The Bachiyr turned his head toward the eastern horizon. The sky had begun to lighten slightly. It had not turned pink yet, but the black of night no longer reached the ground. Sunrise was an hour away at most. He turned his face back to her, his thin lips tightened into a grin.

“It would seem I have little choice,” he said.

The story of David McAfee’s vampires is well written. The research is phenomenal in order to place the vampires in a race across time. I love how David has brought the vampire back to his basics – being a monster. This book was good compilation to first book, but I found some of the backstory slightly repetitive. Overall I would definitely recommend this series for the reader that’s looking for murderous vampires.

The story of two twins,  Emma and Ethan, their friend Zak and their supervisor Dr Currant. They live in the year 2028, a sterile world where EVERYTHING is monitored and watched. The cold hearted and ever alert governors of the USA are known as MOM. MOM has even gone as far as to put implants into children under the guise of vaccinations. History has been skimmed of anything that doesn’t fit MOM’s desires.

Processed and patched up, the results have been published as an official document: “The History: Our Past”. Doubted by many but not said public. MOM doesn’t like ‘heresy’ or rebellion. As a consequence time travel is banned. This is where our four conspirators come in.

They believe that the reason that their rights are put aside and their opinions crushed began with the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy,  the thirty fifth president of the United States. His assassination is shrouded in mystery. Supposedly killed by ex-marine Thomas Vallee in Chicago in November 1963.

Dr Currant  doesn’t have his prefix for an obscure reason. He’s clever enough to of built a time travel machine, illegal on all fronts and therefore hidden underground. Nicknamed timetravelle , the machine is the key to changing the present.

Under the façade of three harmless school students come down on a field trip with their bumbling supervisor they go into the murky depths of the past to discover what really happened and perhaps ultimately change history. With the threat of the so called ‘time cops’ on their tails, people employed by MOM to apprehend trespassers of the past and bring them back to 2028 for more than a slap on the wrist, they must make their move within twenty eight days of being in 1963 so as not to cause to much of an impact for the time cops to notice.

First things first, the title could be a little less indicative. It makes it sound like general trash fiction and to be honest the book doesn’t focus as much on the twins as the title suggests.  Simply ‘Saving JFK’ would have got me hooked. But I suppose ‘Time Travel Twins’ leaves it open for more books of the same series to be created, perhaps of different historical conspiracies. However, the disappointment stretches only so far is mostly overshadowed by the content.

Aside from the main plot I like the fact that the author, W.Green, had time to weave in some character side stories that lead to some nice surprises at the end. The author seems to be a great fan of the 1960′s or if not, at least done extensive research. I don’t think I’ve read a historical fiction book with as much intricate detail as this one. The names of comics, sweet brands and baseball players are thrown around in excess.

The main plot it self is enough to get any reader hooked. If time travel, assassination, history and conspiracies don’t get you hooked then I honestly don’t know what will. It would be nice to see this book gain some recognition and perhaps a sequel.

A long read, perhaps unnecessarily padded out with extra detail, but I personally think that’s what gives it character. If historical fiction is your thing, you looking for a good cheap book and the tagline ‘cheaper than a cup of coffee and more exciting than an impure thought’ interests you then get this book!

You might look at the words “Historical Fiction” and “Young Adult” and decide to pass on The Raven Girl by Kathy Cecala. I almost did, there are other reviewers who typically review the young adult titles and historical fiction isn’t necessarily my thing. I’m glad I didn’t though, because it turned out to be a delightful book; very hard to put down and a quick but interesting read.

The Raven Girl is set in Ireland circa 1488. A strange girl washes ashore on a small island near Galway. Her skin and hair are dark and around her neck is a large pearl from a far-away sea. She is rescued by a young boy, the son of the local priest, who hides her away knowing that the villagers would probably kill her out of superstition. He names her ‘Marra’ meaning ‘of the sea’ and tends to her needs. She convalesces but has brought with her a fever that quickly spreads throughout the village.

Meanwhile, in a small church in the city, a young man named Aedan studies for the priesthood. He is the son of a Spanish wine merchant who had an affair with a woman from the town where Marra has appeared. The woman died in childbirth and Aedan was brought to live with the priests. Although he has recently come to know his real father, he feels closest to the priest who took him under his wing when he arrived at the church.

While Aedan tries to be a dedicated student, his heart calls him to adventure and discovery. When word of the maiden reaches him, he sets off with his priestly ‘father’ to disprove that she is a witch or a mermaid and perhaps to convert her to Christianity. He does find her, and with her the trouble that follows her everywhere. Together they must fend off the pirates from whose vessel she escaped, Aedan’s biological father who would sell her to be a slave, and the villagers who are sure that she is a witch.

In her query, Kathy Cecala mentions that she tutors English classes, and her mastery of the language is evident in this book. While it is clear that she researched the book extensively, she weaves the historical details into the book subtly, not making them the central point of the story, just the colorful backdrop. At its heart The Raven Girl is a good story. As readers, we connect with the characters and cheer them on. Here, Marra explains a bit of her story to Aedan:

She told him of how she had been a pearl-fisher with her father, of her gentle little lagoon and her gentle people, but also of the fierce tribes who lived south, the tribes who killed her mother and brothers. She told him of her father, who she had loved so much, and how he taught her many things. How she and her father had been fishing together far out in the ocean beyond their lagoon, too far, and how Urraco’s ship had come from nowhere, dragging them up out of their canoe. How Urraco killed her father, so quickly. And then the terrible voyage, and the drift of the ship into ice. The fever that had raged aboard the ship. But also, how she had learned Basque, by carefully listening to the sailors.

While this book will appeal to older teens because of the young main characters who persevere against tall odds, it might be disturbing for younger readers due to some depictions of violence and death. The technical details of the book are top notch, I didn’t find a typo until page 85 and that may be a record for the self published books I’ve read.

You won’t know you’re reading a self published book. You won’t know you’re reading a young adult book. You won’t know you’re reading an historical fiction book. All you’ll know as you read The Raven Girl is that you’re reading a good book.

When Dan Morgan (code name Cobra), a former Black Ops contractor, is asked to come out of retirement to help the CIA with a mission, he is hesitant at first.  But when he learns a former comrade (code name Cougar) has been killed and has left a coded message that only Cobra can decipher, he jumps on board.

Like all Black Ops, Morgan has to leave his family behind and cannot give them any information on where he is going or what operation he’s involved in. Not only is his life at stake, but the long term consequences could be detrimental to our country’s freedom and thousands of Americans.

Morgan, and the reader, soon finds themselves in Afghanistan wrapped up in numerous missions of spying and espionage from hostage rescue to counter terrorism. Set across three continents and spanning the late 1960s through 2001, readers are in for quite a thrill ride.

This is Maloney’s first book, and much of it is based on actual eye-witness accounts that took place while the author served in the army in 1966.  He was recruited by a special U.S. agency to receive highly specialized Black Ops training. He left his career in 2001 and after sharing some of his experiences (although some are still too top secret to be discussed) with friends and loved ones, he was encouraged to write this book.

Termination Orders is indeed fiction, but the story lines are based on real life, first hand experiences from Maloney’s past.  If you’ve ever wondered about those secret government operations that keep conspiracy theorists guessing and occasionally stir up the headlines, then this book will feed your curiosity a five course meal.

There is very little in the military genre that I will pick up and read.  It does not hold my attention at all.  However, I gave Maloney’s book a try simply because it was a fictional account based on real stories.  I was not disappointed.  There’s enough history and war here to satisfy military buffs, and enough action and adventure and intrigue for the rest of us.

The Noble Pirates
By R. L. Jean
Copyright © 2010
220 pages
$2.99 Kindle at Amazon.com

Just as Sabrina Grainger falls off a party boat into the Caribbean in 2009, so the reader is dropped right into the action of The Noble Pirates, and R. L. Jean (a.k.a. Fiction Chick) makes the reader and her protagonist fend for themselves. Much easier for the reader who is aided by the accomplished storytelling than for poor Sabrina Grainger—a mother, wife, and attorney—whose plunge sinks her nearly three centuries into the world of pirates. None other than the infamous Edward England and his crew of sea rovers fish her out of the sea. At first she believes it all to be a hoax, that her awful smelling rescuers are actors in some kind of role-play. But she finds them as bewildered by her as she is by them.

But she’s the one who must adapt and she does, in highly entertaining fashion, for a good 200 pages or so. Only the time travel resolution at the end offers any disappointment in its incongruity to all that comes before. On its own, the ending is fine, it just lacks the energy of the rest.

And the rest is very good.

England humors her claims to be from the future and takes her to Nassau. However, the Nassau of 1718 does not view women the same way as that of 2009, and Sabrina struggles in her efforts to reverse her situation. Nothing presents itself and so, seeing no alternative, Sabrina lobbies England to let her join him on a pirating venture to Africa. She develops some affection for England but he finds her a nuisance. He hands her over to the honest Captain of a slaver ship, Howel Davis, with whom Sabrina spends most of the rest of the story and for whom she develops a stronger attraction.

Two subordinates, Blain and Taylor, betray Davis and have him jailed for mutiny, leaving Sabrina on her own. When Davis is freed due to a lack of evidence, he is a bitter man and determines he’d be better off, “on the account,” and heads to Nassau to begin his notorious pirating career. Sabrina signs on with a sister ship, follows him to Nassau, and from there doggedly clings to Davis because by now she’s in love with the man. Not only that, she hopes to save his life, which she knows will end in a matter of months.

For when she fell in, Sabrina had a backpack that contained two books, a pirate romance and a history of pirates entitled, Rovers of the Sea. The latter includes biographies of England, Davis, and others she meets. It also tells the time and place of Davis’s death. Even at the risk of affecting the future, she wants to save him from that. Her persistence pays off when he incorporates her into his pillaging and plundering. She apprises him of what she knows—and he believes her story—but that still can’t stop him from captaining his ship toward his place of recorded death. They encounter Blain and Taylor again—another event foretold in the history book—but now Sabrina knows more about how she can get back to 2009. At this point she faces some difficult choices.

The first-person narrative of a modern woman in 1718 justifies the use of idioms from today’s culture, allowing for less self-conscious writing. It also minimizes the danger of anachronisms. This is a clever thing to do, from an author’s standpoint, as it subtly avoids another danger, that of the material becoming dated. More importantly, the blend pays off in both humor and clarity, as in the following:

The first-person narrative of a modern woman in 1718 justifies the use of idioms from today’s culture, allowing for less self-conscious writing. It also minimizes the danger of anachronisms. This is a clever thing to do, from an author’s standpoint, as it subtly avoids another danger, that of the material becoming dated. More importantly, the blend pays off in both humor and clarity, as in the following:England set his pipe down carefully, knitting his brow. “Because we found this floating with ye.” From beneath the table, the captain withdrew my backpack. As I gasped, he continued, “I didn’t let anyone look inside, save myself and my quartermaster, Jameson… It made him mighty wary of ye, lass, and angry with me when I protected ye.”

I took the backpack eagerly from him, bubbling with excitement. Something from my life, something from the sane world… I unzipped it – it had definitely seen better days – and immediately began fishing for my Blackberry. I pulled it out joyfully, and on a whim tried to turn it on. Nice try, Sabrina. Then I went through the other items quickly: my iPod, also shot to hell; a blister pack of Dramamine for motion sickness (it sure would have been nice to have this a little while ago); my friend Tanya’s makeup bag, most of the items inside in good condition, including three multi-colored, ribbed condoms (Christ, what had Captain England thought of that? At least they were still in their packaging); Sky’s romance, most of it water-logged and illegible (thank God); another of Sky’s books, Rovers of the Sea, still fairly legible since it was still wrapped in a Barnes & Noble bag; a couple bikinis and cover-ups; and finally, our wallets. I tore mine open, pulling out a picture of Sophie and clutching it tightly, the tears starting to well up.

Sabrina carries the narrative well, eschewing sentimentality for a gritty, realistic portrayal of the pirate era she’s landed in. I particularly liked how, soon after this passage, Sabrina casts off her friend’s pirate romance as useless, as if giving a cue to the reader saying, no, this story isn’t going to be like one of those. However, Sabrina Grainger is not just a keen observer with a captivating voice. “I did not know what those choices were, and I could not let that stop me from doing something,” she states at one point. The mantra of the quintessential protagonist.

The supporting characters are great too, capable of cheerful surprises and nasty whims. Whenever one is tempted to view Howel Davis as a Jack Sparrow, he does something cruel and un-Disney-ish. Eventually, I associated him more with Odysseus for his cunning and elaborate schemes.

What should not go unappreciated in the enjoyment of the story is the depth of research. The casual lightness of the prose could make that happen in that the products of the research are neatly woven into the story. It’s clear great effort and care has gone into making The Noble Pirates as accurate and realistic as possible. Therefore one easily forgives the plot devices and grants suspension of disbelief in exchange for sharing Sabrina Grainger’s plunge.

Well done.

Review 169: The Purples by W. K. Berger
By Peter Hassebroek on November 1, 2010
The Purples
By W. K. Berger
Published by Ringer Books
Copyright © 2010
318 pages
$15.99 Paperback at Amazon.com

The cover quote from Michael Balkind says, “Fast moving and funny, The Purples has a hard edge, a soft heart, and an original voice.”  I’ve never read a more apt blurb.

The first page hooked me with the image of a bored gangster creating an igloo out of sugar cubes.  A house of sugar.  The builder is part of the notorious Sugar House gang. A symbol?  Maybe. Because when his hand crushes his little project from shock at seeing Joe Bernstein—previously believed killed by other Sugar House members—it seems a portent of the violent end of the Sugar House gang and the ascendancy of the Purples. Symbol or not, the image remained with me until the end.

Four years earlier, nineteen-year-old Joe Bernstein’s rash attempts to free his girlfriend, Rachel Roth, from a mental hospital land him in big trouble. First with the police, and then with the Sugar House gang who ambush him by the Detroit River.  They cut him up severely, leave him to die.

Fortunately, Joe’s close friend and eventual major-domo, Abie, is there to save him and take him to the house of another friend, the vicious and semi-psychotic Grabowski, to recuperate and nurse his need for revenge, not to mention an obsessive hatred for Henry Ford and his anti-Semitism.  During this period, Joe schemes to crush the Sugar House gang and replace it with his own, The Purples.  He capitalizes on the Sugar House gang’s complacency. A series of murders and betrayals later and Joe is ready to make his aforementioned resurrectional reappearance.  He completes his coup successfully and The Purples quickly get down to business exploiting on prohibition-era Detroit.The gang’s criminal activities are richly described, particularly the bootlegging between Windsor and Detroit that provides the greatest revenue.  The professional side of the enterprise comes relatively easy.

The personal side is another matter.  Joe’s friends who help run The Purples are extremely loyal to Joe but their tendencies for unilateral, violent action, makes them hard to control.  Not only that, he must deal with his obsession over “Heinrich” Ford, denying his brother’s questionable sexuality, and the probing of his nemesis, Harry Riley. The same guy who, using conventional means, successfully arranged Rachel’s release. Then there’s the neurotic Rachel herself, who gets depressed, takes drugs, and eventually returns to the mental hospital with Joe’s blessing.

All these events and more, personal and professional, create a complex story.  But the weaving is so precise, one never feels lost and there are no loose ends.  It all culminates in a tense, exciting, and extremely satisfying climax with the Collingwood apartment massacre.  Other than date and setting, it bears only a vague resemblance to the actual event, but is gripping nonetheless.

Throughout Joe Bernstein is a highly subjective narrator, but a reliable one in terms of the actual events.  His voice is simple and intimate, befitting a reflective gangster.  The consistent use of “whilst” for while seemed a tic at first but when read aloud effectively enhances the voice without resorting to odd, phonetic spellings.

Take, for instance, the scenes to which he is not a direct witness and which he must imagine from second-hand reports at the time, or revelations from letters and testimonials many years later.  In those scenes, Joe drops the first-person pronouns and one tends to forget it is Joe talking.  A reminder will come, jarring at times, to set things aright in the reader’s mind.  This worked for me in that it made Joe a more credible and vulnerable narrator. His telling of the story is as rewarding as the content.  This is most evident when dealing with the District Attorney, Harry Riley, and Nan, Riley’s wife.

In Joe’s eyes, the relationship between Riley and Nan is idyllic, and sugar-sweet.  The passages on them are somewhat sentimental and involved, unlike comparable scenes with Rachel, a girl for whom he almost died.  When read ironically, though, these passages offer a sad revelation about the Joe who is telling the story years on, a bitter man perhaps, but certainly one envious of what Riley was and had.

When Riley finished his swim they came in from the dock together, their arms wrapped around each other.  They went into the little cabin and he lit a fire whilst she cooked fish in a pan on the stove.  They ate side by side in front of the fire, with their feet out and their toes curled to the heat.  After that, they sat at the table to play cards, never once talking about Baird’s visit.  Then they got into their pajamas and snuggled up together in their little bed, and after a while she sat on top of him, with the blanket pulled up over her shoulders, covering them like a tent.  Her body moved up and down just a little and very quietly, whilst they looked each other in the eyes.

And the whole time, Solly Levine was watching through the cabin window.

Solly Levine, one of the Purples sent by Joe to spy on Riley, would never have reported what he saw in such detail, let alone using such language.  Why would Joe prettify the scene then?

Indeed, Joe spends an inordinate amount of detailed narrative on the passionate aspects of that relationship and so little on his own with his girlfriend, Rachel.  Joe also refers to Riley, with his war record and one leg, as the “supposed hero.” Joe Bernstein is a complicated guy; he has issues; he has a heart.  This elevates The Purples beyond a well-told gangster story.

Make no mistake though; Joe Bernstein is a gangster through and through.  Violence is his first resort to get his way and he is ruthlessly Machiavellian in taking action.  Referring to the need to deal with the remnants of the Sugar House gang he says, “As for the ones getting killed, that was hard luck and I won’t deny it.”  And there’s always something in his way because he’s always going after something.  This is no indecisive, passive protagonist.

Joe Bernstein, Max Bernstein, Abie Zussman, Grabowski and his half-dog half-wolf enforcer pets, Solly, and the rest of The Purples in this novel are all fictional characters.  The Purples gang was real though, even led by a Bernstein.  The Sugar House gang was real.  So were some of the other characters, although their names were changed.  The major events—the Palmer raids, the cleaners and dyers war, the murders of the police officer and a small boy, the Collingwood Massacre, and of course the prohibition—actually occurred.

Their representations in this novel, however, are fictional and all the names changed.  It’s an interesting intertwining of truth and invention.  I found it best to defer my curiosity about discerning between fact and fiction until I’d finished reading the book.  There’s a wealth of material on the delightful website for this book.  The contents are in the voice of the narrator, Joe Bernstein, too.

The writing, editing, marketing, and all aspects of The Purples are all polished; there is nothing to mark this as a self-published work.  Given W. K. Berger’s writing credentials—he’s an award-winning journalist who has published non-fiction books with Penguin and Random House—this comes as no surprise.  One would assume he knows how to put a professional book together.

In the end, the publishing status is irrelevant because the result is so well executed and the appeal of The Purples is universal.  Lucky for me he did self-publish; otherwise this terrific book might not have come my way.

At less than 200 pages, you’d think I could get through Cheryl Anne Gardner’s latest book in a day.  Having read and reviewed her two previous novellas, I knew I better clear at least a week from my reading schedule to devote my time and attention to her work.

Logos took two weeks, as I devoted one single evening to each chapter. Each page is packed with detailed prose, and poetry even, that reads like Psalms from the Bible. I believe her protaganist, Selena, says it best in the first chapter:

Sometimes you just have to have faith in that which you cannot explain, and sometimes, you just have to do what you are told to do. We work for the greater anarchy of the Universe. We answer to no one, and it doesn’t have to make sense.

That said, Gardner views her writing as artwork, and indeed it is. It is her heart and soul on paper.  She offers up no apologies, and you aren’t always going to understand it.  But as a whole, it’s hard not to walk away with the beauty and rage she intended you to feel and see by the time you finish the last page. I began by wanting to know what the hell “Logos” was. Our narrator explains early on:

The Aenid is an epic poem, glorifying the heroic greatness of Rome. This greatness, however it seemed to permeate every fiber of my life, was not was absorbed me so profoundly. What held my heart and mind in suspended animation was the Stoic philosophy imbued through its text – a philosophy which held that the Universe was deliberately patterned, and within that complex pattern of mystery, truth, and lies, there existed a secret balance between order and chaos. This balance had a larger purpose and meaning, so the Stoics called it logos, and it was believed that this Logos originated in the divine mind of the Universe.

And so Selena begins to obsess over all the answers to her questions which she believes can be found in the Logos, answers that can set her free.  It is here that our journey with her begins. She is a child of Rome, which is at war, and she becomes a slave to a family.  But her masters appreciate her thirst for education.  As she matures, she purges herself of the past.  Her birth name escapes her.

And at twenty, we find her working in a brothel and wooing the heart of a soldier from which she acquires a certain sword which she shall wield upon helpless souls for centuries to come.  She is indeed the fourth horseman, death, and she reaps souls for a thousand years until she finds herself in modern-day London and falling in love with an artist named Ian. Can love defeat death?  Or is it that love remains, even after death has come?  Gardner leaves that to the reader, and to Selena’s immortal soul, to decide.

With Selena’s immortality, Gardner transcends space and time, taking the reader on a bizarre journey where you witness Celt sacrifice and Pagan rituals, with death as your own personal tour guide.  Selena  pulls the trigger.  Selena slits the throat.  Selena lights the match. She takes life without mercy.  It is not her job to be merciful:

The years seemed endless. There was no afterlife for me, no rest, no divine transcendence, no dreams of eternal peace, nothing. Stumbling backwards and forwards, time had lost all significance or purpose. It taunted me with its irony, and I had only the power to remain still and watch and wait…wait for the change in seasons…wait for the stars to burn out in the sky.

Only love can end Selena’s own suffering, if you call it that. And boy does she suffer.  But until then…

Once a soul has surrendered to the urgings of their shadow, it takes a rare miracle indeed to bring them back. I was no such miracle. Yes, I answered their prayers – with deceit… Ritual. Living is a ritual, and so is dying.

Gardner does not romanticize death here. Logos is far from Victorian.  She does not baptize us with the story of Revelation either.  In a sense, she merely asks what if death was a woman?  And if so, how would death be different?  Selena may have harvested souls for centuries, she may have been witness to war and famine throughout history, but on the inside she still has a heart that yearns for more.

The history books don’t know her.  The Bible may have mentioned her.  But in the end, as Selena says, she is still the “sword in the shadows.”  And the pale horse riding off into the sunset doesn’t just happen in fairy tales.

As I previously stated, Logos is best read in small doses so that you can absorb each and every word. Gardner does not waste any.  Her prose are brilliant, and the imagery she paints will indeed haunt you. Part history, part religion, part supernatural horror, part romance, Gardner has written her best work yet. If Milton were alive today, he’d probably read this book and rededicate Paradise Lost to Cheryl Anne Gardner.

I was first introduced to Mark Zero when I read Blood and Chocolate, a book I found on Amazon by accident, but fell in love with and have suggested it to others ever since. I immediately wanted to read more from him and chose The Scarlet Dove next.

The story takes place in the small town of Tres Cruces in 1871 which has fallen victim to a horrible flood which has washed the ferry away and trapped everyone in town with limited supplies. It begins with your classic western poker game in the old tavern where tensions are high. Zero sets his plot in motion introducing a cast of traditional characters, leaving the reader wondering who is to be trusted. Meanwhile, the town prostitute, Diana, who lives above the tavern is approached by an odd gentleman who wants her to help him rob the town bank.

Diana was an orphan, raised by the other “scarlet doves” in town, and is a victim to abuse now that she is the only whore left reporting to Jonathan, the tavern owner. She contemplates the offer as being her best means of escape from the town, and begins to set her own plans in motion to rob the bank herself and escape.

As I have said before, Zero’s style is classic. He embraces the entire setting that revolves around this story. From the store, to the jail, to the bank, to the Notions Shop, he gives careful attention to each detail in the story so that nothing seems out of place or time. And he does the same for his characters…from the piano player in the tavern, to the barber/doctor; to Otis the Frogboy, the slow and odd kid in town that no one really seems to mind.

Diana is faced with a series of obstacles she must overcome to get her plan in place. Meanwhile, the entire town still faces the obstacle of the rain and floods taking place throughout the entire book, causing great conflict on top of the other odd scenarios set in motion to attract attention away from Diana’s plan. There’s not a lot of mystery and intrigue here that goes unsolved for very long or keeps you guessing. Zero moves the story along at a nice pace, but still gives the reader time to cheer for Diana and hope she gets away with it.

I have to admit, that while I kept guessing at how the story would end, I was a bit disappointed at the matter-of-fact ending that did take place. But after pondering it, I have to say that Zero stayed true to his characters through and through and did not build the reader up for false hope or an over-the-top dramatic climax.

If there is any lesson to learn here it’s that we should be careful what we wish for because we just might get it. And wishes coming true are a good thing, but may not always be as good as we’d hoped. We have to accept the circumstances if there are any and not look back. When the rain stops and the dust clears, if we still have life in front of us that is more important.

Zero really embraces character and setting here. It’s a book that echoes themes of Tennessee Williams or William Faulkner, that were they alive today, they’d probably be praising Zero’s work. I know I’ll be praising it for a long time to come! Well done!  It’s one book I can honestly say I wish I’d written.

Steve Anderson’s Ebook called Besserwisser reminded me of my favorite Sunday night show Amazing Race.  I love when an American couple shows their true U.S. arrogance and stupidity when they are having trouble navigating a foreign country and become upset when they can’t find anyone who “speaks English.”

In Besserwisser, self-described American slacker, and our protagonist, Gordy Ford ventures to Germany with hopes of becoming an expat writer.  Like many, Gordy is overcome with being in a new country and surrounded by new people who don’t know him or know anything about him.  But rather than appearing to be another dumb American,  he pretends to be someone else: a top Hitler scholar.

But Gordy’s “little fibs” don’t stop there.  He has to keep up his charade when he takes interest in a German woman, hoping to woo her.  But unfortunately he and his pal Tad also catch the interest of a Neo-Nazi and the Russian mafia when they encounter the truth behind a huge historical mystery that could change everything if Gordy is only willing to finally reveal the truth!

I thoroughly enjoyed going on this journey with Gordy and must say I liked Anderson’s light hearted approach. Think Toole’s Confederacy of Dunces but set against the backdrop of the fall of the Berlin Wall.  Besserwisser is a comical adventure that will keep you guessing, but all gets worked out nicely in the end when true identities – not just Gordy’s – are revealed.

Anderson’s good use of dialogue definitely helped to keep the story moving at a nice pace.  There’s enough humor – both dry at times and dark – to make you like these characters but a good dash of mystery and suspense to keep the plot rolling. Let’s not forget we’re in Germany too so beer gardens and oompah bands abound.  Although I’ve never been to Germany I think the author did a great job of building his setting, and at least convincing me that he knew what he was writing about.

Here’s a bit early on from the first chapter giving the reader a good feel for the characters and where Gordy begins to set his white lies in motion:

Sloane’s head snapped back, and he peered at Gordy. “What’s the K for? And where you from again?”

“What? Oh, Kirby. Portland — the city part.”

“School?”

“Told you — University of Oregon.” A good line, that one. Believable enough, but not prestigious enough that Sloane would know anyone there. Sloane was fishing, seeking a chink in Gordy’s armor. It was to be expected. Sloane only needed more detail. Gordy looked around, seeking more material. To his right sat a man grumbling in a Slavic language, hidden behind dark glasses and a mackintosh. To his left a man in a Tyrolean hat smoked from a cigarette holder as his bored, waifish Fräulein rested her head on his shoulder. Right then and there Gordy decided his story would be a mystery, if not a conspiracy, just like in all those hokey Nazi spy thrillers he’d read. So he leaned well forward, practically nuzzling at Sloane, and he whispered: “I’m telling you, I’m onto something big time. Bigger than the Hitler Diaries.”

“Stop, right there. Gord-on, the Hitler Diaries turned out a hoax.”

“Yes. That’s why this is bigger,” Gordy said.

“You keep saying that. Then throw me a bone. Jesus.”

“I told you. Have to protect my sources.”

“Sources,” Sloane snorted, nodding along. They had met the day before, in line at the American Express. Sloane was a PhD candidate from, as Sloane put it, the only university in Michigan that matters. Gordy nodded in confirmation, letting his silence hide that he wasn’t even sure where Michigan was exactly. North of Wisconsin? South of some Great Lake? As they stood in line Sloane had joked, with some bitterness, that he’d found Salvation in Academia — he welcomed the pressure to discover minor historical issues he would publish in complete obscurity. This inspired and terrified Gordy in equal parts, and yet something about it also hit home. He might have been a historian like Sloane had the chips fallen his way. So why not simply pretend that’s what he was? Believing was seeing. Besides, weren’t all people imposters to a degree? Happy lives were built on white lies, he told himself. It was better making friends this way than to go through life seething with envy.

Being an Ebook, I had no problems with the PDF.  After reading it, I even took a look at the sample over at Smashwords.  The author was also kind enough to update me on changes he’d made, sending me the updated PDF later on. To me, the lack of the right side justification still sticks out like a novice sore thumb, but I guess I should stop beating the dead horse, eh? I also really like the cover and the colors used and think this would transfer nicely to a 5 x 7 paperback with a bit of formatting to the manuscript.  Love the title too and the meaning behind it!  Wanna know what it is?  I’m not gonna tell you but I’m know where you can easily find out.

Mr. Anderson has generously given readers 50% of the book FREE as a sample at Smashwords!  Just click here. I’m sure you’ll front the awesome $1.99 price tag to find out how this German read ends!

I have to admit that I’m not usually a fan of historical fiction that takes place in time of war.  Battle scenes and descriptions of armory bore me, but I decided to give Luke Jackson’s book, The Wrong Choice, a read mainly because I’ve been researching the Civil War a lot lately for a project of my own.  I thought reading something else from that genre might help or inspire me.

The Wrong Choice centers around Jean-Pierre, a French Canadian student, who has agreed to spy for the Confederacy believing the Confederates will help free Quebéc from its English oppressors if the Confederate army wins the war. Posing as a reporter, Jean-Pierre witnesses a first hand account of what its like to be a Civil War Soldier.  Distraught by the everyday scene of death and destruction, he begins to question if he’s made the right choice or not.

This book is basically his reporting and presents a nice point of view from an outsider. Jean-Pierre becomes caught up in several small story lines which cause him to stray from his main goal, including a love interest in a Kentucky girl who he meets after following a Confederate deserter in the hills. Civil War buffs will enjoy following Jean-Pierre on his journey because Jackson has penned several historical locales into his book. From the Battle of Bull Run to Shiloh, to a raft trip down the Mississippi echoing the tales of Twain and then a trip through New Orleans on a steamboat, setting plays a huge part in this book as the war plays out. I was impressed with the lead character and not bored by his travels or descriptions of the war taking place before him, and felt the “coming of age” tone to Jean was well written.

However, that cannot be said for the physical book itself. It could use a complete overhaul as far as editing and formatting goes.  The front cover is a drab brown color and contains a grainy black and white picture of a solider camp. The blurb on the back cover is fuzzy and contains a red wavy line under one of the words from where Microsoft Word thought the word was misspelled.  There’s also a blue cursor that’s been captured in the text from where the blurb was probably copied and pasted as a picture. The first page of the book serves as a title page and copyright page, and also contains the word count.  There are no page numbers throughout the entire book.  And the right margin has not been justified.

Also, there are black and white images throughout the book which add a nice touch when they were used to introduce chapters and were high resolution.  There is a picture of barges on the river and of an old depot that I found to be mesmerizing and really set the tone for that part of the story.  However, there are also stock photos, probably from Word, such as cartoon images of arrows, music notes, and letters scattered in the text which feel like anomalies, serve no important purpose in the story, and only distract the reader.

Overall, I think The Wrong Choice is a good read, and just suffers from too many wrong choices as far as formatting and design goes.  With an extreme rework, new cover art, and good manuscript formatting, this book could have quite a “historical” impact.