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A Review of The Evolution of Life: Big Bang to Space Colonies by Richard M. Anderson

 (Precocity Press, 2022). ISBN: 979-8-9851494-6-3 A 2023 Nautilus Silver Award Winner, this ambitious text (apt that it is published by a press called Precocity) encapsulates the evolution of life from the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago to the present, before postulating at length about the possibilities and pitfalls of colonizing space, the Moon, and, far less likely, Mars. With Space X sending up another rocket as I write this review and Disclosure in the news cycle at an unprecedented, eye-opening level, coinciding with a UAP/drone mystery that held America enrapt through the holidays, the subject of colonizing space is certainly topical and worthy of our attention and consideration. After earning an MA in microbiology, Richard M. Anderson went on to a distinguished career as a clinical laboratory bioanalyst, and he brings considerable knowledge to bear over the course of 326 pages. Armed with Anderson’s table of extinction and evolution events (which has a companion tabl...
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“Beyond Historical Fiction”: A Review of You Will Know Me by My Deeds by Mike Cobb

 (Waterside Productions, 2024). ISBN: 978-1-234567-89-0 Ask anyone from Atlanta about Wayne Williams and the “Atlanta child murders” that claimed 28 lives (children, adolescents, and adults; July 1979 to May 1981) and you’re certain to receive strong responses of fear and uncertainty comparable to those from New Yorkers when asked about the yearlong Son(s) of Sam killings in New York City (July 1976 to July 1977). On the opposite coast, the Night Stalker/Richard Ramirez murders in Los Angeles and San Francisco (April 1984 to August 1985) evoke a similar response. In the latter two cases, it is clear that law enforcement apprehended the “right man” (although Maury Terry’s The Ultimate Evil makes a semi-compelling case that David Berkowitz was one of several Sons of Sam). The same is not the case regarding Wayne Williams. When it comes to the “Atlanta child murders,” there seems to be much we do not know. Enter Mike Cobb, a writer of historical fiction that I have publicly compa...
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Black Rose: A Midsummer Night's Chutzpah (Larkin's Barkin Book 1) by Pete Adams

 (Next Chapter 2021). ASIN: B08VH2Z8GK This is the third book I have reviewed from architect and author Pete Adams. The first two were Dead No More (Rhubarb Papers Book 1) in 2021 and Rite Judgement (DaDa Detective Agency Book 2) in 2022. Although all three books are situated in different series, they are united in a single, whimsical world (the 14-book Hegemon Chronicles, of which 11 are written) where multinational corporations, British police and intelligence agencies, and religious organizations come to brilliant life in Adams’s surrealist, socially conscious, quick-witted world. If you are interested in comparisons, Robert Anton Wilson, James Joyce, William S. Burroughs, and Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum and Baudolino immediately come to mind.  Like the authors mentioned above, Adams’s intelligence and facility with history, society, culture, politics, and economics are readily apparent, as is the transdisciplinary nature of his themes. For instance, Rite Judgement ha...
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“A Whimsical Tale both Traditional and Unique”: A Review of The Curious Adventures of Flossie the Cat (The Worley Village Mysteries, Book One) by Carole Elaine Borgens

  (Serene Publications, 2016). ISBN: 978-0-9949968-0-0 As a lifelong creative and professional storyteller, I have very fond memories of a whole host of animated, narrated stories that kept me enrapt as a child. There is Sebastian Cabot and the adventures of Winnie the Pooh and friends, the Rankin and Bass Christmas specials (with narrators like Fred Astaire and Burl Ives), the animated Tolkien adaptations, The Secret of NIMH , and my favorite, The Flight of Dragons . Their pacing, color palette, themes, music, tensions, and A-list voice talent all worked together to transport, educate, challenge, and comfort me. Perhaps most importantly, they inspired me to do the work to which I have devoted my life. Carole Elaine Borgens’s The Curious Adventures of Flossie the Cat , from its opening illustrations (by Ros Webb Design) and very first enticing words (“… And thus began the journey”), immediately brought me back to those days of my childhood and early teenage years. The Curious A...
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“Protect the Children from Harm”: A Review of The Devil You Knew by Mike Cobb

    (MG Cobb Books LLC, 2022). ISBN: 978-0-578-37143-6 A few months ago, I reviewed Mike Cobb’s exquisite work of historical fiction, Dead Beckoning , set in 1895 in Atlanta, Georgia, during the Cotton States and International Exhibition. In my review, I said, with no exaggeration, that it easily holds its place on the bookshelf next to Caleb Carr’s Alienist novels. When I learned that Cobb had also written a contemporary crime thriller (also with aspects of historical truth), and that another, connected novel, was due to be published in the next couple of months, I happily rearranged my schedule to read The Devil You Knew and write this review. It did not disappoint. As a matter of fact, its being in many ways distinct from, yet equally (if not more) impactful and emotion provoking than Dead Beckoning , cements my opinion that Mike Cobb is a writer fans of this genre should be reading. Taking place in 1963 before moving forward to 1980, The Devil You Knew centers o...
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“AI Warfare Imagined”: A Review of Arcfire of Antiquity (Book 1, The Incursion Chronicles) by Eric N. Lard

  (4 Horsemen Publications, 2024). ISBN: 979-8-8232-0432-3 In August of 2022, I was asked to review Eric N. Lard’s Dawn of the Construct , which uses narratives in a trio of timelines to give us a fantasy/sci-fi hybrid that evokes Tolkien, Dungeons and Dragons, and George R.R. Martin. Drawing its three heroes together over time and space, it also reminded me of Stephen King’s second book in the high-fantasy/sci-fi series The Dark Tower : The Drawing of the Three . Another innovative element that struck me in Dawn of the Construct is that all of the heroes were struggling with doubt. Lard continues this theme in Arcfire of Antiquity with Captain Cadian Galas. Arcfire of Antiquity begins a different series, which resides predominantly in the sci-fi genre, although elements of fantasy are also threaded through. Cadian Galas, who reminds me a little of Ripley in Aliens , has lost everything precious in her life—her family and hometown (as we watch unfold in the prologue, or Ch...
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“The Benefits of Writing (and Reading) a Series”: A Review of Double Takedown, by Kevin G. Chapman

  “The Benefits of Writing (and Reading) a Series”: A Review of Double Takedown , by Kevin G. Chapman (A Mike Stoneman Thriller, First Legacy Publishing, 2024). ISBN: 978-1-958339-21-3 In April 2022, I had the pleasure of reading and reviewing the first book in what is now a six-book series. Righteous Assassin , which introduced Manhattan detective Mike Stoneman, is a hard-hitting police procedural that employs all of the tropes one would expect in this popular genre. Stoneman himself is a trope—single, impatient, difficult to please, untrusting, and intensely hard on himself. His job is his life, and he takes it seriously (just consider his name: Stone man). Stoneman’s introduction is compounded by his being assigned a new partner, Jason Dickson—a fast-rising Black man, which leads to accusations of affirmative action over merit. Despite their lack of trust in each other (which creates a nice underlying tension in Righteous Assassin ), they manage to work well enough together to...
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