Joey Madia, New Mystics Reviews

  (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...

    (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...

  (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...

  “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...

  (MG Cobb Books LLC, 2022). ISBN: 978-0-578-33988-7 Every so often, a novel comes along that is so well researched, so well written, with such compelling characters and attention to detail that it deserves more than five stars. Dead Beckoning by Mike Cobb is one of those novels. This exquisite work of historical fiction, set in 1895 in Atlanta, Georgia, during the Cotton States and International Exhibition, easily holds its place on the bookshelf next to Caleb Carr’s Alienist books. Yes. It is that good . As my readers know, I am also a writer of historical fiction, as well as a historical education teaching-artist, performer/Chautauquan, and history-based immersive experience/Escape Room designer. Through those experiences, I have come to understand not only the countless hours of work that go into research for a novel with this level of authenticity and detail, but the challenges that come with integrating the gathered data into the story without resorting to “info du...

    (Self-published, 2023). ISBN: 9798861535755 Dominion Lost is one of the most compelling, convincing narratives of ET abduction that I have ever read. This is no small compliment: over the past 15 years, after my own experience with missing time and probable ET abduction, I have studied this field intensively, reading many books, interviewing dozens of abductees and contactees, and carefully considering the evidence. Although UFOlogists lament the lack of attention paid to your “everyday person,” and I have long been skeptical of the assumption that being a police officer or airline pilot makes that individual’s report of an experience more accurate and credible, there is something encouraging about the increasing numbers of medical professionals and scientists taking a serious look at UFOlogy. Dr. John Mack, Pulitzer Prize–winning Harvard psychiatrist, nearly lost his position in the university medical school because of his study of abductees. Since that time, other p...