Joey Madia, New Mystics Reviews

  (Maitland, FL: Mill City Press, 2024). ISBN: 979-8-8685-0229-3 I’m going to start this review with a question. How secure is humankind’s accumulated knowledge? Take a moment to think about it—the oldest known cuneiform tablets are approximately 5400 years old. The cave paintings in Lascaux might be as old as 22,000 years old. Yet, for all of our supposed technological sophistication, VHS tapes and audio cassettes degrade after 30 years, a DVD may last a century (we won’t know until we know), and floppy disks only last 15 years (although they are useless unless you collect and have the expertise to maintain older computers and disk drives). Consider as well that digital files are susceptible to corruption, being accidentally deleted, or being made obsolete by new software. In the case of a massive solar flare, a great deal could be lost in the blink of an eye. These sobering facts and more are the core subjects of Jack Bialik’s impressively and expansively researched book on...

 (Self-published, 2022). ISBN: 978-1-387-73383-5 A novel is a cannon, a short story is a rifle . —Edgar Allan Poe, “The Philosophy of Composition” Short story writing is no easy task. I don’t want to overwhelm this review with quotes, but writing short stories is a bit like what Mark Twain famously said in a letter: “I apologize for such a long letter—I didn't have time to write a short one.” Unity of action—another contribution from Poe—is key. A singular focus, be it thematic, place-based, or on the psychology and actions of a single character, drives the narrative, giving it the power and precision of the rifle rather than the broad field of play of the cannon. I have written 19 books, more than 20 plays, thousands of poems, and eight screenplays, yet I have only written four short stories. Those writers who made it their stock in trade—Nathaniel Hawthorne, Washington Irving, O Henry, Ambrose Bierce, and of course, Edgar Allan Poe—have my utter admiration. Many (many) of the...

 (Jr Publishing, 2025). ISBN: 9798992173307 I received this book as an ARC and first reviewed it for Reedsy Discovery. The Anvil's Whisper is the story of a humble blacksmith and swordsmith named Yordan whose life is turned upside down through a serious of visions and mysterious encounters that lead him into exploration of his spiritual beliefs as mirrored and amplified by myriad religions and spiritual systems that come into conflict in the world in which he lives. The book employs all of the best fantasy tropes, from the blacksmith as metaphor to symbolic beasts, to ideas of fate and destiny and the juxtaposition of authoritarian rule and the life of the simple farmer and artisan in traditional fantasy times. There’s a spoiled prince, alluring peasant girls and warrior women, and a cast of interesting characters from a broad economic and cultural spectrum. There are scenes of violence and torture and moments of deep philosophy and contemplation and plenty of symbolism enrichi...

  Oftentimes, when an author finds success in a particular genre, style of writing, or “voice,” they are content to remain in that level of craft that they have worked so hard to achieve. This is understandable. There are benefits to having your growing and loyal audience know exactly what they are getting when they open one of your books. Many bestselling authors have followed this formula and found it satisfying, lucrative, and essential to their longevity. Lucky for the readers of Mike Cobb’s historical fiction, the author of Dead Beckoning , The Devil You Knew , and You Will Know Me By My Deeds has, with his latest offering (a novella), adjusted ever so slightly, but meaningfully, both his voice and writing style. This cues to his growing audience that there is plenty more to come from this gifted craftsman and storyteller. In interviews with me, and elsewhere, Cobb has stated he primarily follows his characters when deciding where to take the story, without doing a larg...

  (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 a...

  (Roundfire Books, 2024). ISBN: 978 1 80341 569 7 Penelope Holt’s new novel, The Angel Scroll , proves that the history meets mystery (or theological-thriller) genre popularized by the likes of Dan Brown, Barbara Wood, Paul Christopher, and Katherine Neville can have at its core a genuine humanness and examination of personal loss without sacrificing the searing pace, relentless intrigue, and globetrotting action its readers love and expect. The Angel Scroll is replete with the requisite cast of professors, artists, clergy, doctors, researchers, and rare manuscript and documents dealers and collectors that readers of the theological-thriller genre have come to expect and love. The main villain is suitably dark as well, with proclivities that should bring a considerable chill to your spine. This well-funded, well-connected cast of characters moves between Manhattan, Jerusalem, London, Rome, Milan, Northern France, and other intriguing, exotic locales in search of three paint...

  (Precocity Press, 2024). ISBN: 979-8-9892043-7-3 From Waffle House waitress to millionaire investment professional (achieved by the age of 40), Stephanie Geller is a modern success story. Throughout this series of anecdotes that travel back and forth through time, grouped thematically with section titles such as “Work Hard, Play Hard” and “Not Everyone Gets a Trophy,” Geller proves that Authenticity is key and, if you prefer high heels, your footwear never has to change as you go from rags to riches. From its short, sharp, whimsically rendered sentences to its road-less-traveled humor and celebrations of victory in loss, You Can’t Make This Sh!t Up: Stories of a Badass Life is proof positive that how we choose to live and tell our story truly matters. There are divorces, deaths, and more than a few debacles in both her childhood and adulthood (with an adolescence that plays as pure cinematic 1980s teen dramedy). Through it all, Geller is never afraid to embark on the Hero’s ...

  (Prince George, BC, Canada: Dimensionfold Publishing, 2021). ISBN: 9781989940020 We live in an increasingly humorless world, where language is increasingly regulated (and manipulated) and, should you say what is deemed by a certain sector to be the wrong thing , you might just be “canceled” by the swiping, judgmental (read righteous) left thumb of the judgers on social media. In such a sensitive, unsophisticated world, novels such as Munchausen by Proxy for Fun and Profit —written by a father and son—are essential reading. They take on serious subjects (in this case, the illegal sale of prescription drugs) and invite us to see them in a different, nuanced way—through the motivations of the often simple-minded everyday people who deem these courses of action as their only means to participating in Rabid Capitalism. A Cash-Grab Extravaganza from which they imagine everyone else on the planet but them is benefiting. In “real life,” if these dreaming schemers’ stories are inte...

 (Alien Buddha Press, 2022). ISBN: 9798416501051 Just prior to this review, I reviewed another, much different book on the misconceptions and myths surrounding the survival of consciousness after the death of the physical body. Dr. Terry Gordon’s No Beginning… No End is written from the point of view of a crisis cardiologist with a highly spiritual focus. Anthony David Vernon’s The Assumption of Death , while also highly spiritual, is written by a poet. In place of case studies, we have meditations on classic works on death. Instead of a physician’s scalpel, we have a poet’s. Together, the two books prove that, from numerous angles, death as conceived and sold by religion and the medical field is by and large a lie and, in the words of Ram Dass, “Dying is perfectly safe.” The poems in this collection vary in length from a few lines to several pages of poetic prose. These longer poems are sometimes presented as parables. The opening poem is in many ways representative both str...

   (Ptolemaios Publishing and Entertainment LLC, 2021). ISBN: 978-0-09892584-8-7 It’s always interesting to read the end of a main character’s arc, rather than its start (David Chase’s The Sopranos ). We meet in Immortal Alexandros an Alexander the Great whose cumulative battle wounds (including numerous blows to the head) lead him to paranoia, violence with staff, and a relentless march to the Mediterranean over seven years. As age, disease, harsh environments, and constant battles decimate his army, I reflected on the “Myth of the Great Man” that’s caused suffering and death throughout human history. Immortal Alexandros presents a historically accurate physical world, with immersive descriptions of open-air markets, harems, battlefields, the Hindu Kush, and other locations. Equally immersive are descriptions of Zoroastrianism, military tactics, and medicinal techniques. Like William Hurt’s accent in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village , I found the language at first to ...

   (HRPR Blackberry Publishing, 2021). ASIN: B09FKTCVZP When I was a boy, I was lucky enough to have a giant finished basement in which to play. My grandfather, a talented wood-worker, made my brother and me a big toy box (you had to be careful, because if you didn’t lock the hinges, the heavy lid came down on your head while you were digging to the bottom for some action figure you needed RIGHT NOW). After a long day of active imagination and deep-immersion play (which I never outgrew: I am a writer, actor, and content creator), it was then time to clean up. Uh-oh! What a mess! Hundreds of toys spread throughout the room and my Dad on his way home from another long, frustrating day at work. Suddenly, it was a shift from the free-reign of imagination to the discipline of having to follow the rules in a hurry. My solution? I would take two of my father’s barstools (the cool kind, with circular seats that swiveled) and drag them over to the toy box. Instant garbage truck! ...

 (2021). ISBN: 9798720143657 What if a shooting star sprinkled stardust on ten little frogs, sitting on a log, and each one got their wish? This is the premise of this delightful homage to the “10 Little…” stories on which so many of us grew up. They combine repetition (which allows for reader participation), math, fun adventures, and a little bit of mystery—all core elements of the best books for children. What I love most about 10 Little Frogs is that it lends itself to creative dramatics, a subfield of theatre focusing on bringing books to life with young audiences. As a creative dramatist for the past thirty years, this is exactly the kind of book that I love. One by one, as the frogs leave their log to live their wish, the audience—through the full-paged illustrations about which I will talk more soon—gets to see a different adventure or bit of creative expression. There is outdoor adventure (swimming, dog-walking, snake rodeo-riding, picnicking, sky diving, rose-smelling...

“For the Page as well as the Stage”: A Review of The Blood of Squirrels , a play by Gabriel Rosenstock (Dublin: Original Writing Ltd, 2012), ISBN: 978-1-909007-12-3 Some days, it is splendid to be a reviewer. Most days, honestly. But the days when a little gift is delivered to my email in-box in the form of a book—or a play—that is in need of some attention, some publicity… those are the best for me. Of the nearly 200 reviews I have written, roughly 180 of them are of fiction and nonfiction books. I have also reviewed music and videos. And also some plays. Plays are interesting to review. An argument is often made that teaching Shakespeare as literature instead of theatre is detrimental. Well, of course you are missing the performance element, which is what the plays were expressly written for… but more people have probably read those plays than seen them, so overall it’s been helpful. And here we are, five months into the pandemic, with Broadway shut down until a...

 (Burdett, NY: Larson Publications, 2007 [Orig. 1936, E.P. Dutton]). ISBN 978-0-943914-98-5 Paul Brunton, perhaps best known for his Short Path to Enlightenment and theories about the Oversoul, was an explorer, spiritualist, and thinker in the great tradition of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As humankind grappled with the Industrial Revolution and the question of the moral validity of Empire, Brunton and others like him sought to understand the varied religious, historical, and political systems of the world by experiencing them firsthand. Prior to going to Egypt, he traveled to India, writing the precursor to this volume. As Timothy J. Smith writes in the introduction, this journal is not only outward but an “inward journey of initiation.” When I first received it I anticipated a travelogue with valuable information about Egypt and its wonders through the lens of the 1930s. Although it is certainly that, detailed in its descriptions of buildings a...