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Weight of Shadows

Weight of Shadows ISBN: 9781733563123 Mystful Press copyright and written by Ana Domini.

This Dark fantasy is set in a post-Apocalyptic era following a world encompassing pandemic that wiped out an entire generation. Those who survived are immune, sterile and immortal to a degree. A particular group of survivors have been segregated in a large pharmaceutical compound, Wyrmwood Place, some distance outside Washington, D.C. It is the headquarters of the company that was able to manufacture the required vaccine. The compound contains all of the necessary laboratories, professional and support personnel and additional guards, fencing and other necessary features for security. Numbered among the inhabitants are 13 surviving children and 2 women who were discovered to be fertile. This is the story of the children, of Mantis, so named by his ‘friend’ Atticus, and other inhabitants and/or otherwise encountered persons discovered with the help of a fantasy figure as the story unfolds. The plot basically is a fantasy/mystery with psychological undertones that takes many twists and turns.

Discussion: The tale appears to be the product of a somewhat reclusive mystery (?), fantasy (?) author who has presented a rather complicated well-written story that moves at a good pace. The characters are well developed within the context and scenes often sufficiently detailed and well described to offer empathetic credibility. Interesting thoughts, even somewhat emphasized by the characters as set forth by the author, include the fact that death sometimes is a good thing in that it eliminates sadness, fear and pain for those who have lost everything, but that on the other side of grief there are strength and forgiveness, A tangential point offered  is the constant presence of greed and the potential harm it can cause.

Summary: From this reader’s perspective, an interesting, well- written/paced tale regrettably offered at this exact time of today’s unemployment, shortages and controlled social environment resulting from a still uncontrolled world viral situation. Thus, if you are a reader looking for enjoyment or relaxation, this book is NOT for you.

3* 5* well written/paced story; -2* at least for enjoyment/relaxation.

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After Olympus

AFTER OLYMPUS ISBN: 9781733801713 Lone Think Press copyright by Desmond Mascarenhas written by Santiago Xaman.

Description/Discussion: Pragmatically, and referred to by the author as “pseudo-fiction”, this most unusual book follows a rambling plot following the lives of three men besides the story teller and their wives or significant others as their lives play out after discovery of a hitherto unknown/unreported Russian Space craft of unusual components and containment. The tale is a tumultuous mixture of mystery and mythology with overtones of mysticism (?), occult (?), history spread over a wide section of the world ranging from Guatemala to Russia, the Serengeti and other parts of Africa, India, throughout much of the U. S. and Europe. The four protagonists all are exceedingly well educated and from backgrounds (families/cultures/traumatic occurrences) that make them prone to a somewhat different manner of living, employment and in their reactions to these matters. The pages are replete with thought provoking messages on such matters as the fact that every subject deserves empirical, intuitive and pragmatic contemplation; everything good grows from the bottom up (plants, trees, cultures?); everything projected from the top down is bad – organized religions, governments et al. – these latter often ‘dodge’ by forming protocols that ‘adapt’. Good comes from people thinking alone; e.g. Plato, Einstein; bad from organizational groups at the top claiming from their collective decision that they are right and everybody else wrong. And unfortunately, even authenticity is vulnerable if railed against at a high level maintained for a sufficiently long time. The author seems most interesting, but who is the author? The book includes a previously published “Opinion Piece” of interest in itself, as is another “Rebuilding the House” that discusses replacing organized religions, governments, corporations “with better versions of themselves”. Also some notes About the Author are quite fascinating when contemplating the entire book and the thoughts that arise from the ‘experience’ of reading this book.

5* Unusual, divertingly intriguing experience for certain readers.

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Slater’s Vendetta

Slater’s Vendetta Book 4 of 4 in the Slater Mystery series, assumed published, copyright and written by T. J. Jones.

Eric Slater again is the protagonist. He is a quite sizeable, muscular but remarkably supple, relatively handsome guy with a good sense of humor, honor and a huge heart. He is a former Marine with Special Operations as well as Military Police training. In this volume he again is functioning in a couple of his ‘jack-of-all-trades’ roles. He is performing in his PI job investigating a couple of identity authenticity cases, while supervising his construction workers remodeling the homes he then turns over to his real estate agent to sell. The situation becomes totally muddled quite quickly, however. A quite vicious gang begins to invade the neighborhood, he makes friends with a young boy roaming the streets at night. He learns why and decides to do something about it. His PI, building business and live-in partner, lovely but Black Belt qualified Maggie, agrees since she also has a couple of similar friends resultant of the same ‘soft-heart syndrome’. All components of the situations escalate when their real estate agent is murdered with a tool belonging to Slater, causing him, as well as Maggie, to be suspects. Members of the agency he employs, as well as of the company for which he is remodeling houses also become ‘persons of interest’ and one is charged with the murder.

Discussion: This book is another written by an author whose growing number of books invade Mystery, Romance and Fantasy genres. His forte appears to be in producing well-portrayed individuals in character driven plots. The protagonists here are appealing on many levels with abundantly soft hearts. The results are positive and the reader enjoys inclusion of an interesting mystery/detective story within an often amusing modern romance that maintains some of the old, solid components.

5* Mystery/detective/romance highly recommended as described.

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OM: Life’s Gentle Reminders

OM: Life’s Gentle Reminders ISBN: 9781951943028 WSA Publishing copyright and written by Kamini Wood,

This interesting little book’s title is a simple reminder for persons to look at the simplest and most mundane things and ‘happenings’ of life and recognize what lessons they might provide. Each short discussion is titled simply as ‘what it is’ and opens with a pertinent quote followed in turn by a short discussion of what thoughts it may bring to mind. For example, “What my Morning Traffic Jam Taught Me” discusses passing a scene of cars piling up in the opposite lane as the result of two stopped blocking any forward movement. The thought came to mind of how similar this was to “what happens when I get down on myself about something”. At such times when something does not go as planned, it is the only thing on which she can focus. So many others are similar. “Such negative thoughts can paralyze us, much like those cars being stopped in the travel lane paralyzed any other vehicles from moving forward.” The obvious answer simply is to acknowledge the negative thought, and like the offending cars, move them to the side of the road. Another is “Toy Story 4” which opens with a quote from Herbert Bayard Swope; “I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure – which: Try to please everybody.” The pertinent discussion follows. Another, “To Each Shell Her Own” that admonishes not to be concentrated upon personal perfection, but to take time to look at what is available and possible with a little more self-compassion, who you are and where you are in life and what possibilities exist from this perspective. Another, “Over the Rainbow” with a quote from Dolly Parton: “The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.” The author follows with the astute observation that a rainbow consists of a mixture of the darkness of the departing clouds and the advancing sun’s rays, an admixture of light and dark bouncing off the raindrops to produce the beautiful structure. So “what if just for now, we started recognizing that our darker moments mixed with our lighter ones makes us us? And what if we start seeing ourselves as the amazing, smile inducing humans we are?” The book continues providing numerous simple little “gentle reminders” of the constantly encountered situations in daily life from which only the slightest deviation in thought direction can produce a worthwhile lesson to be learned. Thus, as a professional coach in personal aspects of living, the author states “based on the concept of realigning with and rediscovering your authentic self…hence the term I created: AuthenticMe.” And “Because of the prevalence of buzzwords today, the words themselves get tired and overused – in essence they lose some of their impact and meaning.” Here, she proceeds to quote Brené Brown with ““Letting go of who we think we are supposed to be” hits it on the head for me.”” She includes a discussion of this feature among her other offerings at a point approximately sixty per cent of the way through her little book. Directly thereafter in the section entitled PIV…OOOT she quotes Winston Churchill’s statement “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often” and poses a tantalizing question. Another providing a simple, but really necessary subject for thought is “What Does the End Say” that opens with a quote from Aristotle; “Happiness depends upon ourselves”. Still others follow that allow the mind to reach an entirely new plateau of understanding some other facet of living.

Conclusion: An interesting and simply provided collection of discussions of thoughts generated from and/or provided by, daily mundane ‘happenings’ for the reader to review, consider and adopt.

5* “Gentle Reminders” for easy, amusingly worthwhile contemplation.

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Stars on the Oriental Corridor

STARS on the Oriental Corridor ISBN: 9781733957144 Seacoast Press copyright and written by Young-Tae Kim.

According to the author’s preface, this Book 1: Heaven, has resulted from a series of short stories written/published in Korean, rewritten and published in 2010 in six volumes, revised into two books in 2016 before rewriting and publishing in this English version in 2019. The stories detail the activities of heroes and heroines who led their countries in politics, war, fertile fields, religions, sciences, industries and arts. Certain of the tales also concentrate on the deities various tribes/small countries worshiped and the interrelationships among the various units as they continued to grow, inhabit and unify the Korean peninsula.

Discussion: Many of the stories have charming elements and are set forth in a rather quaint fashion especially when employing modern verbalization to describe activity. In Chapter 1, description is provided of two tribe/small country leaders engaging in individual combat as the designated leader of the people of their country, a sensible form of warfare often employed in earlier times that saved many lives. Chapter 2 follows these inhabitants after a successful period has followed the union and they became interested in perpetuating the dynasty. Thus the King’s advisor addresses him: “Your Majesty, now that our country has become stable all in out, people are each doing his or her role very well. We have no problem in our country except for one thing. As we do not have our queen to become mother of the country. It is imminent for Your Majesty to get married.” Other similarly quaint verbalization occurs throughout; e.g. “Give your order to me. I will accomplish your order doing my best.”

Other than these interesting and often amusing features, however, it is this reviewer’s thought that much of this book is directed toward, and will be enjoyed most, by Koreans and other Asian peoples as well as other historians who are interested in the years preceding the AD 7th century. It contains a plethora of material pertinent to through and down the Korean Peninsula. The manner of presentation, especially after that set forth in the introductory material described, makes the overall presentation seemingly somewhat complexly arranged. After the primary material follows an anticipated pattern. Directly thereafter, the reader is presented with “NINIGI-NO-MIKOTO AND PRINCESS OF GAYA (2nd volume of “Stars on the Oriental Corridor”)” divided into several chapters; These, in turn followed by “Gods of WA (Ancient Japan) (The 3rd volume of “Stars on the Oriental Corridor”)”; the 4th; 5th; 6th through 9th  – each similarly divided into several chapters and following the progress of other groups of Orientals. The book terminates with a relisting of the volume’s contents.

Summary: An interesting presentation of assumedly well assembled for those interested in early history of Asian people. Regrettably the seemingly dual explanations of its assembly was not particularly well-received by this reader. However the entire manuscript can be most enlightening for any reader with an interest in the subject matter.

3* 4* pre- 7th Century AD Asian History with quaint/charming areas; 3*- probably for most Americans.

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Plant Food Cookbook for Beginners

PLANT-BASED COOKBOOK FOR BEGINNERS assumed published, copyright and written by Jackie Collins.

Sub-titled 600 Quick & Delicious Vegan Recipes for Busy People on the Plant Based Diet, the book opens with an Introduction that explains the health aiding ability of this plant-based lifestyle in today’s era of busy schedules with concurrent occasionally frenetic periods and follows in a most simply, but amazingly direct and complete manner, to provide the Basic Ingredients required for each recipe, how to blend the ingredients, the time required to complete the item and how to serve and/or store the completed item(s). She supplies these details for Broths; Plant-based Cheese dishes; Breakfasts, including various toasts, twists, muffins, unusual breads; Omelets, e.g. Mushroom & Spinach Chickpea; Waffles, e.g. Lemon-Almond; Pancakes; Puddings and more; Numerous fabulous sounding Smoothies are added; additionally there is an interesting No-Bread Avocado Sandwich that can be very quickly prepared. Next is the section of recipes for Soups and Stews with another large number of individual recipes. Salads and Entrees follow, beginning with a quickly prepared and taste-appealing Greek salad, as well as providing another sixty plus recipes with some thought-producing ideas for seldom thought-of combination of ingredients such as oranges and kale, olives with cherries, millet with olives and cherries, carrots, cherries and pecans. Lunch Recipes consist of the same carefully maintained format of including ingredients, directions for preparation and time required with serving instructions. The section offers close to one hundred recipes that should present any number of tasty offerings for anyone looking for a ‘different’ lunch time repast. As an aside, this reader rarely indulges in midday food, but admittedly, a couple of the chili recipes, hot coconut beans and vegetables and the hot lentil and guacamole recipes appear quite tempting. Dinner Menus are the next and still once more offer another large selection of appetizing recipes. A delicious assortment of Snaks and Sides follow (with a most delicious recipe for Parmesan Broccoli Tots, Maple-Glazed Butternut Squash and one for Dijon Roasted Asparagus this reader tried the last three nights). Desserts & Sweet treats wrap up this incredibly complete collection of some relatively well known recipes, some that are better known but still offered with an unusual twist and/or use of ingredients that presents something ‘different’. AND even more new offerings are added to these selections.

Discussion: Briefly stated, this book is a fantastic presentation of recipes in a complete format not encountered in many years. A suggestion for the prospective book owner: be aware of the need to invest in a larger than normal selection of ingredients and because of the need to refer to the recipe while cooking, purchasing a hard copy as well as digital might be helpful, depending upon one’s construction of cooking facilities..

5* Highly recommended book for non-diet as well as dieters, as discussed.

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Future Proofing Cubed

FUTURE PROOFING CUBED ISBN: 9798638377168 Bookmark Publishing, Copyright Lcubed Consulting, Inc. written by Iisa L. Levy.

Subtitled Future Proofing Cubed the Definitive Guide to Increasing Productivity, Refining Processes and Bolstering Profitability, the book opens with a dedication; the usual disclaimer; a complementary forward; Introduction; Three sections: 1. Hybrid Consulting that contains two chapters -My Why: Enabling Corporate Success and Lcubed; 2. Future Proofing with five that define traditional consulting, initially describe Lcubed’s Adaptive Transformation, Solving recurrent problems, Desired results and Future Proofing; 3. Enabling Frameworks offers the last five, in turn discussing project management, process and performance management, internal controls, organizational change management, and chapter takeaways; Case Studies; References (16); Resources (4); and About the Author.

Discussion: Although the copyright is more stringent with respect to not allowing “any part of this book to be reproduced or transmitted in any form….”, this reader hopes that reprinting of the author’s ‘different’ and amusing Dedication will be overlooked. It reads “I’d like to dedicate this book to my friends and family who are always supportive of my choices even the ones they don’t understand. My hope is that this book will finally help explain to my parents what I do for a living.” Following this charming note of levity, the content of the volume explains her approach to teaching a business how to Future Proof itself against the ever-increasing number of changes they face as time evolves. The overall concept is to look at your business as a Rubik’s cube. You have all of the pieces and need only to position them to interface correctly. Use of the plan allows you to build a culture that embraces the enormous number of existing recent changes and will increase greatly in the business world as time advances. Granted, use of the Rubik’s cube analogy applies to medium sized businesses that have all of the pieces in place and functioning with a management team, money coming in, etc. With this understanding, she continues to explain that she had ‘spent her time in the trenches’ and gradually evolved her projected program after observing  the numerous types of quite disparate software with which companies were faced when attempting to accomplish the various tasks required simply to keep abreast of the changes in the business world as they developed. In fact, most of the time they had been able to assemble the required results only after the data collected were outdated. Thus from her repeated observation, the concept of “Adaptive Transformation” came to mind. The concept, although suddenly appearing to her, perhaps had been un-consciously stored in her mind in that she found a paper on the subject had been published by Stanford Professor Dr. Harold Leavitt in 1964. Regardless, the basis of the concept was to focus energy on building a new project rather than fighting the old, and it fitted well into her line of thinking wherein a series of activities could provide a means for an organization’s structure and culture to survive and advance even when facing tremendous elements of change. Eventually, the whole evolved into her epiphany moment and she decided to construct a software program that would encompass all of the disparate parts and meld them into one bundle.

Summary: The author, has presented details of the birth and evolution of her somewhat unique contribution – the structure, function and successes of a software program that combines and includes all of the usual features considered to be important components of building and maintaining a steady healthy business growth in times of change. There is much redundancy and substantial inclusion of material offered by others in the large number of books covering business maintenance and growth in the seemingly increasingly chaotic business world. However, Lcubed appears to be a knowledgeable organization, founded by a nationally recognized organizational change management authority, with a unique program that offers several advantages not previously made available.

5* Unique offering; -1 for redundancy,  not unusual for lecturers.

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A Kite at the Edge of the World

A Kite at the Edge of the World ISBN: 9781733080613 Yearning Press, copyright and written by Katy Grant.

The story opens with an eighty-plus-year-old man reminiscing on the same beach where he met his first childhood friend in a vacation resort town they visited every summer. He was five or six years old, rather reticent as the result of a rather overprotective mother and a strict nurse heavily occupied with his newly-born sister. Thus, he did not take to the other children because they were ‘too noisy’ but had noticed a young boy several times walking with his mother or an older woman. The boy appealed to him because he too seemed to walk quietly and seemed somewhat ‘reserved’. A few days later he saw him alone on the beach and they began talking. The boy, Ilio, was a little older and this was a first visit with a mother and father who wanted him to learn as much as possible. The reason for the visit, as he informed his new friend because he was dying. He explains that whatever it was it was incurable and he didn’t have very much time left. The plot follows the simple pleasures discovered by the two young boys as it advances during the summer through Ilio’s gradual decline and eventual death.

Discussion: In the closing pages, the author presents a summation by the old man telling the story “True Ilio’s life was short. There were many things he never experienced…Never looked back on a long life and wondered, bewildered, what he possibly had to show for it. Time was his enemy. Yet time has been my enemy too. I was once told years ago that nothing lasts. Not mountains, nor planets, nor stars. And yet, I have also been told that these three things abide – faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love. And now, all of the people I have loved in my life, more of them are dead than are living. Do they know we still love them? I am told that they still do. Perhaps that is the power of love. It endures.” And he continues his ruminations about the first young friend he had ever made. Obviously, the author has attempted to weave a poignant tale extolling the importance and everlasting effect of love and sets forth the story in a well-written manner amply providing thoughts, verbalization and actions of children of the age portrayed. Many readers may thoroughly embrace this story. Regrettably and apologetically to the author however from the perspective of this reviewer, a caveat is required. A story of ruminations by an old man about the death of a childhood friend, although such occurrence is readily acknowledged by all as simply a necessary part of living, is not a more usually preferred subject for selection.

3* 5* Well-written tale extolling the importance of love; -2 caveat as explained.

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Soldiers of Freedom

Soldiers of Freedom ISBN: 9781943593279 Mount Sopris Publishing copyright and written by Samuel Marquis.

  This is Volume five of the WW II series and a novel subtitled “Patton’s Panthers and the Edelweiss Pirates” and is dedicated to “The officers and enlisted men of the 761st Tank Battalion who triumphed on WW II battlefields, and to the German youth of the Edelweiss Pirates who fought against Nazi tyranny.” However, it is more than a story of these two entities in that it reaches beyond and within them. The 761st, also referred to as The, or Patton’s, Black Panthers and was the first Negro battalion, and specifically selected by Patton, for duty with his 3rd Army as they slugged their way across Europe to be the first unit to cross into Germany concluding that country’s final struggles. Their story is provided through the eyes of William McBurney, one of the first enlistees who, along with the others, distinguished themselves individually as well as that of a proud and closely knit unit who actually were compelled to fight on two fronts. They not only fought some remnants of Hitler’s finest units in the desperate Battle of the Bulge and beyond to the very end, but coincidentally were required to battle against their own white soldiers and their constant denigrating words and actions. The tale of the Edelweiss Pirates is based upon two members of the subversive group, Gertrude Koch and Jean Jülich, who were heavily and actively involved against the sadistic remnants of the Gestapo in the final days of the city of Cologne. A third feature of the book is the fictional but heavily researched discussions and planning sessions among Eisenhower, Bradley, Patton, Montgomery and the others that could have accompanied the concluding period on the War in Europe. Interesting reference even is made to episodes going back to the dessert fighting against Rommel and even bits from Eisenhower’s and Patton’s relationship going back to WW I.

Discussion: This is a most unusual book in numerous ways. Most prominently perhaps in its presentation in accurate detail the abominable treatment not only of black citizens, but even worse of those who had volunteered to risk their lives in fighting for a country who refused even to recognize these soldiers as human beings. It also presents in graphic detail the utterly inhuman activity presented by the gestapo, their members and underlings. But even worse, the thoughtlessness and/or disregard of the German people who allowed such depraved activity to begin, say nothing of allowing it to escalate to the despicable level finally reached. An action that should deeply be considered today by sections of the population of this country who are approaching an entrée level; e.g. refusal to believe the existence of the Holocaust? Racism? The Author then provides another fascinating thrust for the reader – the verbal intercourse and characterizations of the prominent WW II Generals presented in a manner quite succinctly explained in the final pages of his book. “Like Michael Shaara, (author of The Killer Angels Battle of Gettysburg) “”I have “not changed any fact” nor have I “knowingly violated any action.” Most scenes in the book are based on known events with specific historical figures present, but a minority are based on incidents that are generally accepted to have taken place but have unfortunately not been documented by history, or I believe happened under similar circumstances to those described in the book but for which there is no historical record. In these cases, the interpretations of character and motivation are mine alone. Thus, the book’s characters are ultimately a part of my overall imaginative landscape and are, therefore, the fictitious creations of the author, reflecting my personal research interests and biases.”

Summary: A tremendously well researched book with, from this reader’s perspective, totally credible author interpretations where required. There is a certain amount of redundancy, but acceptable and generally speaking, this is a tale most appreciated by history and war devotees, but an overall presentation that would provide a large amount of thought producing elements from which all readers could benefit, especially when considering the unconstitutional and unlawful attitudes and actions so abundantly extant today.

5* Thought-jolting historical tale highly recommended for ALL today’s readers.

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On the Backs of Waves

On the Backs of Waves ISBN: 9781076836984 Kindle direct publishing copyright and written by Chiara Kelly.

This book encompasses the strong emotions of several persons caught in life’s situations originating from basic physical emotions embodied within that are at war with seemingly equally powerful, more mentally based, self-fulfillment desires. Moriah, a former feature writer for a prominent New York magazine had downgraded to retain a part-time position when she married Miles, a struggling cartoonist. The union was highly satisfying and within a couple of years, she became mother to a son followed 2 years later by an adorable daughter. During this period, Miles had become a highly successful syndicated cartoonist and they had arrived at ‘the good life’ and were living in the Half Moon Bay community on the eastern shore. Unfortunately, Moriah now became acutely aware of her mundane activities as a dedicated mother and started to be a little resentful of her only part time mental activity producing material for her old employer. Thus, when a vacancy opened in her old office and her former boss thought she would be the perfect person to fill, she felt that she just had to accept the offer. During the discussion with Miles, she uttered her resentment that she had been the one in the family who had, of necessity, made all of the changes in her work life. Miles out of fairness but with some quiet reservations, agreed to her return to her earlier position and they began the search for a Nanny. Through neighbors, they found Laurel Mackintosh who was their Nanny but who would be available because they were moving away. Laura is a former Marine who had two children when raped by a Sargent who refused to marry her before being shipped to another assignment. Before delivering, she began hemorrhaging and the uterus had to be removed to save her. As fate would dictate, Virgil, the supportive medic who had assisted, later became a sailing instructor at the Yacht Basin where the Reeds and the other couple lived and a relationship was reestablished. From this somewhat entangling set of circumstances, a web of activity evolves where revelation of further details would be a definite disservice to the prospective reader.

Discussion: The actual story behind this book and the poignancy it generates is, at least for this reader, as fascinating as the tale itself. It is written by a former Marine, now married and living in Seoul, Korea with her thoughtful and supportive husband and their three sons. Most appealingly, perhaps, are in the short biographical details at the book’s conclusion where she offers: “And although unconventional, I want to thank my characters, through whom I was able to, in a sense, live vicariously through their diverse array of achievements, victories, loves, and losses. Some of which, I still long to realize myself.” She further expresses why she is grateful for each of her characters activities and especially she thanks “Laurel, as a fellow female Marine and Depression and PTSD survivor, whose loss and longing gave me a greater appreciation for my three sons, whom at times, I not only took for granted, but craved time away from in the quest for my own sanity.” Before even the book’s Prologue she has provided a most compelling description of the book’s story and combined with the short capsule of her life at the end of the story, produce a most memorable thought producing book. The opening quotes are Vincent Van Gogh’s “The heart of man is very much like the sea. It has its storms, it has its tides, And in its depths it has its pearls, too” which then are followed by the author’s dedication: “For my children, for whom no sacrifice is too great.” The two combined are predictive of the story that follows.

5* Absorbing, as explained in the discussion.