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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 Chapte
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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 cap
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“The Gold Standard in Historical Fiction”: A Review of Dead Beckoning by Mike Cobb

  (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 dumps.
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“The Science of Alien Abduction and Interference”: A Review of A Scientist’s Own Alien Abduction Encounters: Dominion Lost, UNABRIDGED by Bruce Rapuano

    (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 psychiatri
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“Rethinking What the Bible Tells Us”: A Review of The Nucleus: My Religion in the Rear View Mirror by W. Wallace Wagner, Jr.

  (Dimensionfold Publishing, 2024). ISBN: 978-1-998395-06-4 In the past 18 months, I have gotten to know W. Wallace Wagner, Jr., both as an author and as a two-time guest on my podcast. I have reviewed Crossing the Crevasse and Within Grasp , Wagner’s first two books, which I highly recommend to anyone seeking alternative interpretations of the Bible and other religious texts beyond organized religion, especially in the context of Off-World Intelligences and anomalous archaeological structures and other phenomena that defy an easy explanation when considered through the lens of traditional narratives. Of the three books, The Nucleus is the most intense, which makes sense given the author’s nearly decade-long journey through an evolving set of viewpoints concerning the accepted Word of God after his encounter with a Tic-Tac UAP in 2016—well before the government release of Navy footage of this type of craft. Since that time, Wagner has been a committed researcher, seeking out and f
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“Magical Realism in the Amazon”: A Review of Once an Amazonian by Jenelia Cyril

 It is always both a pleasure and a challenge to review a novelist’s debut creation. In the wise words of W. Somerset Maugham: “There are three rules for the writing of a novel. Unfortunately no one knows what they are.” The success of this young adult/teen fiction novel, which I believe seventh to ninth graders will best enjoy, hinges on the acceptance of Magical Realism as its dominant device. From the first appearance of a mysterious headdress to a series of dangerous and arguably should-be-fatal experiences the novel’s trio of heroes survive against the odds, to their encounters with Indigenous peoples in the Amazon, if one focuses on the adventure and the characters’ experience of it, and not the implausibility of individual events and circumstances, this debut novel succeeds. The central characters are 13-year-old middle school students Katelyn and Eva, who have been friends since the second grade. Like characters in a fairy tale, Cyril’s characters do not have a great deal o
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“The Malleability of Myths”: A Review of More Argonauts: Another Argonautica by Nicholas Pendleton

  (Self-published, 2024). ISBN: 978-1-304-32531-0 Let me be up front. I am a longtime fan of this gifted writer and artist. His comic strip about two Moai on Easter Island, Monumental , is exclusive to my art and literary site, New Mystics. Pendleton illustrated the covers of two of my novels, as well as doing many additional illustrations for them. I am honored to have his art throughout my home. A few decades ago, I was privileged to read some of his unpublished short stories, about false memories, among other provocative topics. One scene in particular, involving a man in a bar getting a full-body tattoo, has stayed with me as though I read it yesterday. But I am not doing this review to talk in depth about any of those projects. The subject matter at hand is his long-awaited novel, More Argonauts: Another Argonautica . If you like Greek—and many other—myths, then this is a book for you. By way of warning (and no reader really should be warned, nor any writer have to suffer the
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