Joey Madia, New Mystics Reviews

  “Uncertain Magic”: A Review of Dawn of the Construct (Book 1 of the Soul Machine Saga), by Eric Lard (Winchester, UK and Washington, USA: Cosmic Egg Books, 2022). ISBN: 978 1 80341 079 1. Although one could lump Dawn of the Construct into the fantasy/sci-fi hybrid that coopts much of its monsters, characters, and content from Tolkien, Martin, and D&D , that would be doing Eric Lard’s opening book in what promises to be an action-packed saga a disservice. Two things set it apart, which I will focus on here. First, the narrative happens in three timelines. One is Earth, centering on the war in Afghanistan. Another is sci-fi and futuristic, taking place on a forbidding planet. The third—where most of the story unfolds—is a fantasy/ D&D world where goblins and orcs menace the simple folk just trying to survive. Enhancing this triple-timeline structure is the literary device of “constructing the team.” Because the three heroes representing the timelines come from other...

   (Kempton, IL: Adventures Unlimited Press, 2019). ISBN: 978-1-948803-10-6 In the world of ufology, as well as in the even murkier world of fringe and conspiracy theories, there are few subjects as complex and controversial as those concerning our Moon. From its age, to its origins; from its composition (is it hollow?) to its mysterious “Dark Side”; from rumors of astronaut encounters and scrubbed NASA photos; and perhaps most intriguing and likely to get you punched in the mouth by Buzz Aldrin is the accusation that the United States faked the historic moon landing because of Cold War pressures. There is at least one interview with the enigmatic filmmaker Stanley Kubrick where he comes tantalizingly close to admitting he shot the phony footage, even saying that Neil Armstrong’s famous “One small step for man…” line was not as Kubrick had delivered it (more on this video later). The investigative team I cofounded in early 2021, the Red Thread Collective, did an episode of...

   (2021). ISBN: 9798534419412 There’s been increasing mainstream coverage of supposed UAP “disclosure” in the past 5 years, beginning with the New York Times “leak” about the Pentagon’s AATIP program, followed by former government insiders joining To the Stars Academy and promising significant revelations that never came—insiders who have since gone back to the Beltway. The DoD release of US Navy footage of UAPs also happened at this time. Chairman Marco Rubio of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence then requested a report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. When that much-anticipated report’s unclassified version arrived in June 2021, it was nine pages of denials and calls for increased defense funding. This past April, 1,500 pages of declassified material requested through FOIA by The Sun were released. Aside from some data on physical evidence and possible abductions, there was nothing really new, and no one’s talked much about them. For t...