Joey Madia, New Mystics Reviews

   (prepublication version, 2023). An echo of the Absurdist English tradition, The Diner at the Dawn of the Universe is 1984 meets Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy , with a hint of Terry Pratchett and Robert Anton Wilson. Existing in an un-time at a 20th-century Americana diner of the mind (to borrow from Ferlinghetti), this fast-paced juke-ramble unfolds in a dystopian/symmetrian universe, somewhere between “the itch and the scratch.” Think Kerouac’s On the Road , Bukowski’s “Nirvana,” and apropos episodes of The Twilight Zone , and you are nearly there, with entropy and quanta juicing up the jazz. Our protagonist is Dave, who came to work at this patina-of-entropy diner and wound up running the show when the owner/caretaker stepped out and never returned. Don’t feel bad for Dave—the food is served by replicators, ala The Jetsons and Star Trek . Note the name Dave. Names are simple here… there are Dick and Jane. Names are all that’s simple… A quarter of the way into it, we

  “This Is Not a Myth, Part 1”: A Review of Enuma Elish: The Original Text With Brief Commentary by Ken Goudsward (Dimensionfold Publishing, 2021). ISBN: 978-1-989940-39-6 Several weeks ago, I wrote a review of The Atrahasis Epic , which is actually the sequel to Enuma Elish . Although there are subtle differences in how certain peoples and events are portrayed between the two creation stories, there is an overall coherent picture of ancient exopolitics, computer engineering, and impressive biotech. Some background to start us off. Enuma Elish , which comes to us from Mesopotamia, is also called The Seven Tablets of Creation and is translated as “When on High.” Goudsward, an accomplished systems analyst and researcher (and author in his own right), uses a translation by W. G. Lambert as his basis for his groundbreaking commentary. Goudsward gives us all the tools we need to engage with and understand this complicated work. He gives us a cast of characters at the onset and a summ

  (Dimensionfold Publishing, 2023). ISBN: 978-1-989940-84-6 As part of my decades-long research into both mythology and UFOlogy, I have long been interested in the Mesopotamian creation and flood stories, including the cultures of the Mesopotamian region—the Assyrians, Sumerians, Babylonians, and Akkadians that set them into stone. The theories of Zecharia Sitchin are particularly appealing, related as they are to The Epic of Gilgamesh and the idea of interstellar travelers called the Annunaki coming to Earth and being mistaken for gods. Instinctually, this has always felt “right” to me. As I have come to know the polymath Ken Goudsward over the past six months, I have an ever-increasing appreciation and respect for his scholarship and theories. He is a serious, dedicated researcher and author who tells it as he sees it, as demonstrated in his commentary for his book with Barbara M. DeLong, Before Roswell: The Secret History of UFOs , a reference guide I use at least once a week.