Author: John H Manhold

Posted on

Erasing the Past

Erasing the Past Assumed published, copyright and written by Geri L. Dreiling.     

There is a sub-title stating that this is “A novel about love, betrayal and second chances” and genre suggestions that include fiction, sci-fi, suspense and romance. Prologue opens in Forrest Park, St. Louis with the Art Museum setting atop the green hill that descends to an area providing a superb view of the Grand Basin. The day is beautiful, young lovers are strolling arm-in-arm with the occasional shy kiss and all appears to be well with the world, except for one old man with a badly affected left arm who disconsolately seats himself on a convenient bench. He opens a copy of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, spots a photograph of two people in the gossip column and begins to sob. A young woman asks if he is alright. He answers simply that he was alone, in his pain, his regret and his pain, but that was not always the way. Once upon a time he, and they, were happy but that all is changed. His “future has vanished, and the present laid waste; all because the past was erased”. The first chapter then opens in April of 2008, and thus begins a tale of seeming remorse by an old man who regrets his life-long self-centered activities and rigid thought patterns that have ruined his life and driven the love of his life into the arms of another man as well as ruining his career. His life possibly may not be as he believes at this point in time however, but providing further details of the story would be a huge disservice to potential readers.

Discussion: The author has set forth a story about a self-centered man with a deep love for a beautiful woman who basically and most unfortunately, places a great amount of emphasis on personal appearance although also with a driving internal need to have children. However, he is not without faults in that he is self-centered with a degree of paranoia and an underlying rigidity in the fundamental roles of the man and woman in a marital situation. These differences provide the basis of this well-written, only slightly flawed, tale of their impact upon an otherwise happy marriage of twenty plus years.

5* Interesting marital relationship the book’s subtitle well describes.

Posted on

One If

ONE IF, A Virago Fantasy. Metropolitan Publishing copyright and written by Carol B. Allen.

The story: A young teen-age Parker Kittredge is fascinated by a hummingbird that seemingly tries to get her attention through the window of her high-rise apartment. She opens the door onto the balcony where she slips and falls over the railing. She blanks out only to regain consciousness in a strange place in the sky where she meets Stefanos, a huge Eagle who is the Sky King, speaks perfect English and is introduced to the fact that she now is in Spyridon, a land like earth, in the same galaxy but on a different time line and unseen by planet earth. The inhabitants are like humans but because their planet is disintegrating they have had gradually to transform to this bird-like form to survive. She has been kidnapped because the country’s ruling body believed Earth children might be able to help them to survive. The children, after providing the help would be returned actually with no time lapse between leaving and returning because of the time difference. More children arrive but refuse to stay and help and are returned immediately except for Henley, a rather obnoxious girl about her own age and Edison, a dark skinned boy of similar age who seems attached to Henley. These three first are given a tour of the country by riding on the backs of severe-looking Falcons. First stop is Katamoor, the largest and last remaining real land mass on the continent on Spyridon and the most sacred place on their planet where the abundant and mangrove-like Virago trees house the ancestral spirits of these inhabitants of ‘the Upperworld’.

Next stop, the Citadel which is the Sky King’s Castle. Here Belliza, their kindly little hummingbird usual guide tells them they are to be introduced to the Great Onez, azzaviorz (apparently all s’s are z’s in her speech) of the planet. The celebration is the expected beginning of no shortage of clean water, food, etc. but rather a bright future because of arrival of the three children who would be able to solve why their water supply was turning bad and other problems.

At the celebration there is a big explosion with the deaths of a large number of the huge group of inhabitants that have gathered for the celebration. It is here the reader learns of the Underworld, a second part of the kingdom which lies beneath the Spyridon Sea. The underworld leaders are Empress Diadora and her brother Commanding General Pantione. They had fought a vicious war twenty years ago which the Upperworld had won, but supposedly both worlds wanted to keep the status quo. Though they had thought their water toxicity was just the environment, on testing they discovered traces of poison so they are suffering at the hands of a very clever and careful evil person. Stefanos depends upon his cousin, an old falcon named Vibius, who suspects the Underworld is beginning another war. The Earth children also meet

Great Cole, a young man who can live in both worlds (as can other earth people before they become adults). He came from earth as a child, is Parker’s age, blond, handsome and covered with soft golden feathers like a soft down and has wings that fit closely into his back. He tells Stefanos he doesn’t think the Underworld wants war but will discover the truth. The story continues with fast action portraying dystrophic results that can be avoided if there is a continuation of similar activities on Earth as a lesson that can be instilled in young minds. The climax is fascinating and could present many possibilities for future volumes.

Discussion: An interestingly written fantasy that should provide appealing thoughts for young minds developing in this period of extensive discussion on earth’s problems and the manner in which its inhabitants have, and are continuing to treat it.

5* Thoughtful lessons delivered for teens in a very enjoyable fantasy.

Posted on

The Big Tilt

THE BIG TILT ISBN: 9781733610360 Arjuna Books copyright and written by Dan Flanigan.

This is the second book in the Peter O’Keefe series and centers around the activities of this former Marine who finally, with help from a one-time almost inseparable friend, beats drug and alcohol dependency. He now is separated from his wife who went through the ordeal with him but still is close to his 11-year-old daughter, runs a PI business with 2 employees supported by his faithful now successful lawyer friend who is his best client. The story follows Peter as he becomes a target for elimination because he is coming too close in an investigation he is conducting involving characters going back to his high school days, many associated with a trial in which his lawyer/friend is involved. This he does not need, since he already has been targeted by one branch of a Mafioso group because he had been responsible for the incarceration of its Don who died in prison. The action accelerates gradually as the tale progresses and the targeting action is affected by troubles within the Mafioso group and somewhat complicated interwoven activity among the numerous characters from the same early school days.

Discussion: As a lawyer himself, the author is well qualified to present this story of intrigue involving legal complications. The tale’s earlier portions offer some confusion assumedly because much of the material is based upon the series’ first book. Once past this part, however, the story accelerates and the reader finds it intriguing to attempt to discover how Peter, as well as other empathetic figures, are going to make out.

4* 5* story; -1* as stand-alone; i.e. Book 1 required for easier understanding

Posted on

Fatal Decision

Fatal Decision ISBN: 9781735918204 WolfPrint Publishing and copyright written by T. K. Wolf.

Sam (antha) Harker is a seemingly cold-blooded killer with almost unbelievably developed skills required to function in her chosen field. Now in her twenties, her activities are the result of two closely associated factors. First, disruption of a happy childhood by the death of her mother and father, as well as almost deadly injuries to herself at sixteen years of age, by a drunken driver. Second, exoneration of the driver by legal counsel supplied by Delphi, a shadowy group involved in extensive unsavory performance and frequent murders as well as other deadly activity within the country and throughout the world. She finds a way to join the group, becomes an increasingly valuable asset until an opportunity arises for her to leave, an action literally considered a suicidal act, because to leave was to die because of their wide control of worldwide investigative elements as well as control of key personnel in all levels of government including law enforcement. After successfully accomplishing her disassociation with the organization she instigates disruptive activity costing them extensive loses while each time escaping with minimal personal damage. One evening she meets an attractive man who is a former medic serving with the U.S. Marine Corp. She continues the relationship, which unfortunately opens her to Delphi’s surveillance. They capture the two and use her feeling of responsibility for him by initiating his torture. Through intervention by another operative who was somewhat allied with her because of an equal desire to take down Delphi, an escape is provided. However, there are a number of conditions that must be met and the story continues to follow Sam as she wends her way through an involved series of treacherous acts, deceit, betrayals, and more involving numerous members of Delphi as well as companions of her supposed helper while feeling a total responsibility for ruining her lover’s life, although he also demonstrates an effectiveness on his own part.

Discussion: This is a wild ride with non-stop action while the protagonist performs incredible feats of ‘Deering-do’ as she struggles to survive, keep her lover alive and still continue her attempts to ruin Delphi. This is a high octane thriller for all readers who enjoy non-stop action.

5* High octane thriller for devotees of non-stop action.

Posted on

The Batter’s Box

The Batter’s Box ISBN: 9781944353230 Warriors Publishing Group Copyright and written by Andy Kutler.

This is a historical novel described by the author as “A novel of baseball, war and love”. The story portrays the life of a young Midwesterner who attains star status as a major league baseball player who, at the top of his game, enlists in WWII shortly after the U.S. entered the war. It follows his experiences as he participates in some of the most vicious hand-to-hand combat in the ‘Battle of the Bulge’ that took place in defense of Bastogne and returned to regain his former baseball status only to be plagued by mental problems that only now many years later finally have been properly titled PTSD. During his baseball days he had met and retained a most unusual relationship with a beautiful young woman married to an abusive husband. Their meetings were intermittent because although immensely attracted, he would not admit he had met someone he truly could love deeply. However, during dark periods during lulls between vicious bouts of bloody hand-to-hand fighting, memories of her were the only thing that kept him wanting to survive. He does survive and returns to again attain his position of prominence in baseball, although greatly changed from the ‘nice’ person he had been. Plagued by nightmares and with his new confrontational attitude so prominent, his manager insists upon his seeing a psychiatrist. Unwillingly he does and receives advice that he ignores until once again he meets the woman whose thoughts kept him alive during some of his most desperate periods of combat and the tale progresses through confusing months for the two actual soul-mates as they attempt to reach some ultimate mutually rewarding goal.

Discussion: The author has set forth one of the finest books on the features leading up to development of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) this reviewer ever has read. Descriptions so graphically depicted that it may cause unwanted thoughts/images to recur in veterans with similar experiences. The baseball details will bring back many remembrances for those readers old enough to have known these days and provide many details about the game and those playing it at the time for younger readers. The love story is most thoughtfully included and poignant at times.

5* Must read for anyone interested in “baseball, war and/or love”.

Posted on

Independence

Independence ISBN: 9780998386782 Bryson Taylor Publishing copyright and written by Deb Landry,

This is a memoir by the author of remembrances over a considerable number of years of Secrets, Discovery & Forgiveness. It is a story not of physical abuse per se, but of a more subtle and damaging psychological or mental abuse applied to a growing child. It is one of constantly mixed messages of love and hate and shifting rules that offer no opportunity for the child to ‘gain a footing’ on this slippery footing. Generally the family situation appears to be one of normality but wherein ‘something is missing’ and they gradually lose any self-confidence they have been able to generate.  The child constantly believes he/she is wrong with attendant shame and greater desire to please the abuser, something that never can be done because the offending parent feasts upon the humility they cause and the dominence they possess that is an unrecognized need their twisted ego requires. The author certainly has provided an extensive list of offenses she had suffered that provide a complete picture of how such activities proceed and the subsequent effect. She also has set forth the superb manner in which she has ‘risen above’ the years of degradation and has acquired a position of importance that incidentally has derived from the long-standing period of degradation.

Discussion: Regrettably, as is the case with most severely abused children, physical removal from the situation offers little or no actual release. The author has demonstrated this fact with a plethora of examples. She can remember even small details of many features of the incidents she had suffered even in her earliest years.  It is only when the individual discovers some inner strength to face facts, a status usually acquired only with aid from a trained and understanding counselor, that healing can take place. And yet, as demonstrated here, the stories still remain to haunt, even after success and such a catharsis has been acquired.

4* Often sad, poignant, humorous, disturbing tale with ultimate victory.

Posted on

Zipacana’s Legacy

Zipacana’s Legacy Fifth Dimension Books, cover and Interior design by Rick Palmacci, copyright and written by Cindy Davis.

Jade French, a highly successful marketing specialist soon to be promoted to the top position in her California-based company, has received notice that she has inherited a ‘hotel’ in a small town in Mexico. Because she somehow feels that this is where her future lies, she resigns, permanently breaks off with her boyfriend and leaves with close friend Mari Anderson (a totally high maintenance city girl) to move to take possession of the property. They arrive and find the well-designed structure fronted by a large porch heavily overgrown with tangled vines, and other obvious signs of neglect as it has been empty since grandfather’s death. From this point on, the reader embarks upon an intriguing journey where Jade discovers that her birth name was not Jade French, but Jade Sacniete Waempo IX, that her grandfather had been a practitioner and teacher of a form of Shamanism, that her inheritance resulted from her grandfather’s recognition that she was a person with already developed, but unrecognized, understanding of many Shaman powers and that she had arrived to fulfil a predestined position as a prominent leader. The story is a fascinating unfolding of the manner in which Jade gradually learns of her legacy, the trials encountered as her new life gradually opens, her acquisition of new friends as well as inexplicable enemies and ultimate understanding of formerly unanswerable questions relevant to her mother and father.

Discussion/Summary: The author opens with an Author’s note telling the reader that “the spiritual situations that happen to Jade in the story are things that can happen to anyone, Telepathy and self-healing are not fantasies. They are available inside each of us.” She also explains that shamanism has existed for thousands of years and that ancient times the local Shaman was the physician, psychologist and Spiritual Healer to his community. Purportedly shaman are “connected to earth. They are healers of the earth and the human body; intermediaries between our world and the spirit world.” Further, this former 23-year editor and mystery writer, now has been “awakened” and with her “also reformed husband” Rick Palmacci, present “talks on positivity and spirituality” as well as providing “a bi-monthly blog and short stories featuring characters from the Jade series.” She also has provided a well-selected Bibliography of some publications pertinent to the basic subject of the mind/body/spirit and shamanism, Native American Religions of Central and South America and similar thought patterns. In Summary, a truly intriguing story providing captivating features of a subject rarely encountered when perusing reading choices.

5* Highly recommended read for all.

Posted on

7 Principles of Becoming a leader

7 Principles of Becoming a Leader assumed published, copyright and written by Riku Vuorenmaa.

Sub titled “The definitive guide for starting and building your management career”, the author has provided a Forward followed by his suggested 7 principles. In order: 1. Own your work and start to lead; 2. Know yourself: Master your inner game; 3. Know your company and industry; 4. Know the people you work with; 5. Know your opportunities and manage your career; 6. Prepare yourself; 7. Decide and commit, and a Conclusion.

In his Forward the author sets the stage for his quite lengthy discourse by stating this is “By no means a scientific book or research report” and acknowledges the fact that most of the large number of books on the subject of business leadership are written about the inspirations and actions of CEOs and founders of multi-million dollar companies. Instead here, he is concentrating on how to rise through the ranks in the company in which you are employed and that “It emphasizes career building, cultivating a high-performance mindset, and mastering your inner game, in addition to building a solid set of leadership skills.…if you can’t perform very well on a personal level and don’t know how to advance your career, you never will have any people to lead”. He presents further details describing why he has written a book like this, including a description and answers offering insights from his own career; from experience he has gathered from those with whom he has worked; from that of one who has been functioning in a position of leadership with his own employees; from that of a coach and mentor to others in careers not necessarily related to his work. He appears to have one distinct advantage and that is the fact that he admits to having absolute focus He had been a martial arts instructor who slipped a spinal lumbar disc and had to give up his passion of martial arts. However, his ability to focus helped him eventually to decide what he wanted and applied these same abilities. All the books he has read told people how to proceed once they had the job. Nobody said how to get the job in the first place. He admonishes that it is necessary to make a decision, plan your course and make necessary preparations and follow with steady execution and continuous learning. He further believes that external rewards that will accrue are fine, but the intrinsic ones gained are even more rewarding.

He then explains that one should read through the book, then stop to absorb Chapter or Principle One and put it into play. Then go on to #2, and #7 if you’re ready, and follow by using the other chapters again when you are ready; i.e. use the entire presentation as a reference book picking up what you need when you need it, returning over and over as required. “If you want the best results, this book should be read and thoroughly executed and then later used as a toolbox to pull out tools and strategies as you need them.”

Discussion: The author certainly has provided a volume far different, from the plethora of those presented by entrepreneurial CEOs and the like. Here the reader finds a large volume of material including often little thought-of details that describe how best to enter a work force and multi suggestions for advancement in position within that group. Many of the same principles exist – honesty, trust, respect, empathy and the rest in the books presented by the CEOs. However, this author describes not the entrepreneurial attempts that have been advanced in large numbers, but rather the more usual individual’s needs for self fulfilment and how to attain them.

5* Highly recommended read for those looking for personal job/life fulfilment.

Posted on

Moraturi Lost

Moraturi Lost ISBN: 9781679850080 published, copyright SupRes, Inc. South Australia, written by Marti Ward.

This is the 2nd book in this author’s Lost Mission Series based upon a relatively large series of sci-fi stories about the Paradisi Project whose basics she describes again in detail so it is possible for this volume to ‘standalone’ without having read Casindra Lost, its predecessor. After Solar Horizons, the public face of the ten Founders has decided to ignore further messages from Casindra, they decide to send a second ship to establish the first colony on New Eden. The autocratic leader Henry Thorndike and his specialties ‘authorities’, Dr. Abramov, an AI specialist in charge of Solar System Security (CIA type), Dr. Aditya Ganesh, Intelligence systems, and Medical Authority Dr. Sabina Gunther call in Captain Michael Evans and give him command of the Spaceship Moraturi. They explain that the Casindra is being abandoned because, although Commander Sideris journey through the newly technologically developed wormhole had been successful, he had sustained severe injuries in subsequent encounters with severe storms in the new galaxy leaving a top level 3 AI in command. Messages sent by this AI made them believe that he had turned rogue because at this time the Founders group back home are facing unexpected difficulties with a strike by different levels of AI’s to which legally they must respond because of a legal snag. Thus, their action is to disregard further messages and dispatch another ship on the same journey.

This ship, the Moraturi and its journey, follows as the second book in this series. Captain Michael Evans as the commander of this new trip which advances to attempt actual colonization with 500 passengers, largely in various cryogenic states and, assumedly because of the problems in dealing with the disgruntled AIs, they provide him with a human crew, backed by mostly low level AIs. This journey also suffers severe consequences with damage to the ship besides injury and deaths to the entire crew, including Captain Evans. AND, these events occur before even reaching the galaxy. They are thrown out of the wormhole at a time now placing them more than thirty years from New Eden. There is no alternative other than for the passengers to step up, crew the ship, and attempt to figure out how they will run the ship and be able to extend the food, power and other supplies of necessities to allow them and their 500 passengers who must be brought out of their ‘sleep’ status in the very near future, to survive and safely arrive at their destination when the ship’s supplies had been arranged for less than a three year trip.

Discussion: This second volume perhaps is even more interesting than the first because of the interplay among the larger number of characters provided. It is aided also by the young ages of the principles and their abilities to grow rapidly with the situation. With inclusion of the quite lengthy description of the entire preceding events, this book, as stated earlier, can stand alone for new readers. However, actual reading of the first in the series before this one is enjoyable in itself and recommended,

5* Enjoyable new series for sci-fi devotees.

Posted on

The Timekeepers War

The Timekeepers War ISBN: 9781939065643 Bedlam Press, copyright and written by S. C. Jensen.

This is an unusual fanciful thriller with the protagonist known as the ‘Ghost’ in that she, in some unimagined manner can find anybody, or any type of individual requested, for a price. This is a most important function in the world in which she lives. Civil wars of long ago have left a stratified population spread through three levels, a city of rubble peopled by hungry, desperate and dangerous individuals, a relatively well-constructed underground development inhabited largely by fishing villages along the underground river, and an upper city inhabited by the wealthy, living in another ‘city’ constructed by inter-connecting bridges providing all of the upper floors of the high rise buildings to function as one. Their servants are members of the lower city sold by clandestine traders as slaves to be used as desired by this upper city’s population. The Ghost’s younger sister, she believes, may be one of these slaves captured when very young, but she can find no trace until she is approached by Lynch, the legendary terrorist who says he can lead her to her sister if she, with her unusual ability of knowing the citizens of the city and underground villages, will help him put together a group of individuals that he intends to use to overthrow the ruler of the upper ‘high-rise’ city. The tale is about their attempts to accomplish this feat and of the part played by the ‘Timekeepers’.

Discussion: The impression one gains in the tale’s opening is one of wonder at where it was heading. However, it soon settles into an unusual and rather intriguing post-apocalyptic psi-fi story with interesting characters and abundant action. It leaves the reader with no closure per se, but rather a lot of thoughts and questions as to where the author intends to go with the next volume which one is given to understand will follow.

5* Rapidly moving, interesting fanciful psi-fi post-apocalyptic tale.