Title: Days Without Number
Author: Robert Goddard
Website: http://www.robertgoddardbooks.co.uk/author.html
ASIN: B004071TB8
General Fiction
Originally reviewd for Amazon by Rosanne Dingli
Robert Goddard's latest thriller seems to be written within the mould this perspicacious author has set himself. Perspicacious? Yes, well - Goddard is the kind of author who does tend to use archaic words, sending one scrabbling for a dictionary older than your average Macquarie or Oxford. You won't find ‘phocine’ in any recent one, that's for sure.
Will the hooked reader waste time searching for rare words? Perhaps not: these thrillers of Goddard’s have the ability to keep one engaged, despite twists and turns that have the mind simultaneously wanting more and wondering how on earth it's all going to tie up in the end. The curlicues and hairpin bends in this particular novel are of fine calibre: history, accuracy in props and language, archaeological detail the like of which will set even the most demanding reader's hair on end.
Nick Paleologus (yes, even the names have that unlikely ring to them) is the son of a retired archaeologist, with a family of siblings whose closet of skeletons is not exactly run of the mill suburban fare. Is it important that his family name is linked to the Emperors of Byzantium? Suspension of disbelief is necessary in most novels; here one widens the eyes and pleads for more.
He has an irascible father, something many can relate to, seeing the comparatively recent time in which the novel is set. Irascible fathers were the order of the day then, and not only in England. The reader understands the cynical bent, the sardonic remarks, the pointed self-absorption that erases all else. The siblings too, are admirably drawn, especially the female ones and their sad choices in spouses, their mistakes with raising children, and bewilderment when faced with their own adolescent escapades coming home to roost.
What draws and amazes most in this book, however, is the history, and the weave of known events into a convoluted story that impresses not only with its ability to thrill and make one turn pages, but especially with its ability to make one conjure and devise possible explanations. What a writer it takes to manage to persuade a reader of a possible historic explanation that sits there, dangling its possibilities under one's nose, swinging and tempting with seduction. What a way to devise a red herring.
This method of charming an audience is perhaps foolproof, because it uses the reader's own bank of general knowledge. Who would not be persuaded to stay on to find out if their educated guess is right?
Educated: the operative word here, because these novels of Goddard's, and Days Without Number in particular, appeal to readers with a considerable bank of general knowledge, with a considerable love of those facts and figures, those nuggets of trivia, garnered over the years and necessary only - these days - when it comes to the vicarious pleasure of watching quiz shows. So one reads with pleasure, recalling stuff considered redundant, and taking pleasure in the fact someone has taken the time to write it all into a means of entertainment.
There is a persecutor here: a villain bent on torturing the protagonist and his family members. The identity of this vulture is withheld, until it is rendered quite skilfully and all too clearly plain. But that is not nearly enough: there is a larger all-encompassing and all meaningful mystery that hangs until the very last pages, and that is the big ‘what if’ question the author sets the reader. Exactly how skilfully this matter is tackled needs to be examined by the individual reader. Only those who enjoy intellectually driven novels will enjoy this kind of ploy. A philosophical question of judgement, of morality, of consequences and resolution is set to readers, who find out more about themselves than they think they would at the outset.
Relating to a protagonist - or two - as they set out towards the proverbial blue yonder at the end – can make or break a novel. Here, as usual, the reader must decide, teased towards the conclusion with even the titles of chapters!
In Days Without Number, we do not have the expected protagonist turned sleuth, an archetype expected in much modern fiction. Instead, we are given an entire family whose distance and cordiality developed over time is erased with a kind of sticky intimacy one associates with infancy. Once more, brothers and sisters are forced to ‘hold hands’. They rediscover personality traits in their siblings they thought they could hold at arm's length, disassociate from their own bank of quirks. Escapades and exploits of parents and avuncular relatives are once more brought to the surface and examined for kinks, with the result that modern motives become clearer and more rabid: more mercenary.
The pursuit of happiness becomes confused with the pursuit of comfort and financial ease. Who today would not relate to that? The solution of a historical mystery is bound up with personal dilemmas the like of which we all nurse. What if? The reader is set a perplexing puzzle ensconced within locations, historic settings and very plausible details, so that one asks oneself the very personal and pertinent question: what would I do in such a situation?
One also asks the question: would I be so gullible, given such a strange set of circumstances? The answer is not always clear, because fathers and siblings are not easy to deal with, even in the best of families. Emotional motives, sticks and carrots, abound. The bones of family skeletons are not hollow, nor are they light. Relating to the disclosure of a fictional history brings one close to considering one's own: what stories did our parents tell us? And with what motives?
~Reviewer Rosanne Dingli blogs at http://rosannedingli.blogspot.com/. She is she is the author of According to Luke, Death in Malta,Vision or Delusion, A Great Intimacy, Counting Churches - The Malta Stories,The Astronomer's Pig, and All the Wrong Places. Learn more at http://www.rosannedingli.com/ .
Reviewer: Rosanne Dingli
Website: http://www.rosannedingli.com
Blog: http://rosannedingli.blogspot.com
General fiction
This review first appeared on Amazon.co.uk – January 11, 2004
90% helpful votes (50/58)
Intellectual dilemma - literary or personal?
Robert Goddard's latest thriller seems to be written within the mould this perspicacious author has set himself. Perspicacious? Yes, well - Goddard is the kind of author who does tend to use archaic words, sending one scrabbling for a dictionary older than your average Macquarie or Oxford. You won't find ‘phocine’ in any recent one, that's for sure.
Will the hooked reader waste time searching for rare words? Perhaps not: these thrillers of Goddard’s have the ability to keep one engaged, despite twists and turns that have the mind simultaneously wanting more and wondering how on earth it's all going to tie up in the end. The curlicues and hairpin bends in this particular novel are of fine calibre: history, accuracy in props and language, archaeological detail the like of which will set even the most demanding reader's hair on end.
Nick Paleologus (yes, even the names have that unlikely ring to them) is the son of a retired archaeologist, with a family of siblings whose closet of skeletons is not exactly run of the mill suburban fare. Is it important that his family name is linked to the Emperors of Byzantium? Suspension of disbelief is necessary in most novels; here one widens the eyes and pleads for more.
He has an irascible father, something many can relate to, seeing the comparatively recent time in which the novel is set. Irascible fathers were the order of the day then, and not only in England. The reader understands the cynical bent, the sardonic remarks, the pointed self-absorption that erases all else. The siblings too, are admirably drawn, especially the female ones and their sad choices in spouses, their mistakes with raising children, and bewilderment when faced with their own adolescent escapades coming home to roost.
What draws and amazes most in this book, however, is the history, and the weave of known events into a convoluted story that impresses not only with its ability to thrill and make one turn pages, but especially with its ability to make one conjure and devise possible explanations. What a writer it takes to manage to persuade a reader of a possible historic explanation that sits there, dangling its possibilities under one's nose, swinging and tempting with seduction. What a way to devise a red herring.
This method of charming an audience is perhaps foolproof, because it uses the reader's own bank of general knowledge. Who would not be persuaded to stay on to find out if their educated guess is right?
Educated: the operative word here, because these novels of Goddard's, and Days Without Number in particular, appeal to readers with a considerable bank of general knowledge, with a considerable love of those facts and figures, those nuggets of trivia, garnered over the years and necessary only - these days - when it comes to the vicarious pleasure of watching quiz shows. So one reads with pleasure, recalling stuff considered redundant, and taking pleasure in the fact someone has taken the time to write it all into a means of entertainment.
There is a persecutor here: a villain bent on torturing the protagonist and his family members. The identity of this vulture is withheld, until it is rendered quite skilfully and all too clearly plain. But that is not nearly enough: there is a larger all-encompassing and all meaningful mystery that hangs until the very last pages, and that is the big ‘what if’ question the author sets the reader. Exactly how skilfully this matter is tackled needs to be examined by the individual reader. Only those who enjoy intellectually driven novels will enjoy this kind of ploy. A philosophical question of judgement, of morality, of consequences and resolution is set to readers, who find out more about themselves than they think they would at the outset.
Relating to a protagonist - or two - as they set out towards the proverbial blue yonder at the end – can make or break a novel. Here, as usual, the reader must decide, teased towards the conclusion with even the titles of chapters!
In Days Without Number, we do not have the expected protagonist turned sleuth, an archetype expected in much modern fiction. Instead, we are given an entire family whose distance and cordiality developed over time is erased with a kind of sticky intimacy one associates with infancy. Once more, brothers and sisters are forced to ‘hold hands’. They rediscover personality traits in their siblings they thought they could hold at arm's length, disassociate from their own bank of quirks. Escapades and exploits of parents and avuncular relatives are once more brought to the surface and examined for kinks, with the result that modern motives become clearer and more rabid: more mercenary.
The pursuit of happiness becomes confused with the pursuit of comfort and financial ease. Who today would not relate to that? The solution of a historical mystery is bound up with personal dilemmas the like of which we all nurse. What if? The reader is set a perplexing puzzle ensconced within locations, historic settings and very plausible details, so that one asks oneself the very personal and pertinent question: what would I do in such a situation?
One also asks the question: would I be so gullible, given such a strange set of circumstances? The answer is not always clear, because fathers and siblings are not easy to deal with, even in the best of families. Emotional motives, sticks and carrots, abound. The bones of family skeletons are not hollow, nor are they light. Relating to the disclosure of a fictional history brings one close to considering one's own: what stories did our parents tell us? And with what motives?
Rosanne Dingli
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ROSANNE DINGLI
Author of According to Luke, Death in Malta,
Vision or Delusion, A Great Intimacy,
Counting Churches - The Malta Stories,
The Astronomer's Pig, and All the Wrong Places
http://www.rosannedingli.com
http://rosannedingli.blogspot.com
----- The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :
This blog, #TheNewBookReview, is "new" because it eschews #bookbigotry. It lets readers, reviewers, authors, and publishers expand the exposure of their favorite reviews, FREE. Info for submissions is in the "Send Me Your Fav Book Review" circle icon in the right column below. Find resources to help your career using the mini search engine below. #TheNewBookReview is a multi-award-winning blog including a MastersInEnglish.org recommendation.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Memoir Combines Feminism, Science and Family
Title: Breaking Through the Spiral Ceiling: An American Woman Becomes a DNA Scientist
Author: Laura L Mays Hoopes
Websites: http://www.lauralmayshoopes.com/
Blog: http://www.westcoastwriters.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.nature.com/scitable/forums/women0in-science
Genre/category: memoirs and biographies
ISBN-10: 0557923204
ISBN-13: 978-0557923205
Originally reviewed by Elizabeth (Libby) Grandy for Amazon
Laura L. Mays Hoopes has written a memoir that gives a personal face to the struggles of women in the world of science. Although Breaking Through the Spiral Ceiling is a serious study of the inequities of the sexes, Hoopes writes about her life as a scientist and professor with good-natured humor.For example, during her sophomore year at college, one of her part-time jobs was beheading frozen fruit flies. Hoopes writes, "I must admit, at times, when I was frustrated, I dubbed these flies with the names of certain professors, just before relieving them of their heads."
Hoopes scientific journey is fascinating, but her personal journey is just as inspirational. Her first husband died at the age of forty-three, leaving her with a four-year-old son to raise alone. To fill the void in her life and support her son, she focused on her scientific career and wrote a genetics textbook published by Macmillan in 1981. When she met her present husband, he supported her passion for science, and they shared a love of Celtic culture, music, and literature. A daughter born several years later completed their family.
Hoopes is a pathfinder for all those young women who choose science as their professional career. This absorbing, honest memoir chronicles a balanced, successful life.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :
Author: Laura L Mays Hoopes
Websites: http://www.lauralmayshoopes.com/
Blog: http://www.westcoastwriters.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.nature.com/scitable/forums/women0in-science
Genre/category: memoirs and biographies
ISBN-10: 0557923204
ISBN-13: 978-0557923205
Originally reviewed by Elizabeth (Libby) Grandy for Amazon
Laura L. Mays Hoopes has written a memoir that gives a personal face to the struggles of women in the world of science. Although Breaking Through the Spiral Ceiling is a serious study of the inequities of the sexes, Hoopes writes about her life as a scientist and professor with good-natured humor.For example, during her sophomore year at college, one of her part-time jobs was beheading frozen fruit flies. Hoopes writes, "I must admit, at times, when I was frustrated, I dubbed these flies with the names of certain professors, just before relieving them of their heads."
Hoopes scientific journey is fascinating, but her personal journey is just as inspirational. Her first husband died at the age of forty-three, leaving her with a four-year-old son to raise alone. To fill the void in her life and support her son, she focused on her scientific career and wrote a genetics textbook published by Macmillan in 1981. When she met her present husband, he supported her passion for science, and they shared a love of Celtic culture, music, and literature. A daughter born several years later completed their family.
Hoopes is a pathfinder for all those young women who choose science as their professional career. This absorbing, honest memoir chronicles a balanced, successful life.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :
Christian Nonfiction Reviewed by Author of Fiction
A Place of Healing: Wrestling with the Mysteries of Suffering, Pain and God’s Sovereignty
by Joni Earkeckson Tada
ISBN 978-1596443501
Nonfiction: Christianity
Publisher christianaudio, nonfiction
Originally reviews for Amazon by Holly Weiss, author of Crestmont
Why does God allow pain? Is God concerned with suffering and involved in it? Plato, C.S. Lewis, Rabbi Harold Kushner, Henri Nouwen, the apostle Paul and others have all addressed these age-old questions.
Instead of focusing on how God is involved in the problem of pain, Joni Eareckson Tada chooses instead in her book, A Place of Healing: Wrestling with the Mysteries of Suffering, Pain and God’s Sovereignty, to examine how God can use pain to draw her closer to Himself and lift her above her human sufferings.
Joni, left a quadriplegic from a diving accident four decades ago, is the author of over fifty books and founder of Joni and Friends, an organization devoted to accelerating Christian outreach among those with disabilities. She will serve as the Honorary Chairman of the 2011 National Day of Prayer, held on the First Thursday of May. In addition to coping with the struggles of living from a wheelchair, Joni now has new challenges. She is assaulted with unrelenting, chronic pain and has been diagnosed with cancer.
Her reactions? “Suffering may be a part of God’s…mysterious plan, but God’s intention is always to demonstrate compassion and unfailing love.” Joni illustrates over and over in her book how powerfully God’s love touches her at her deepest point of need.
Her chapter headings ask difficult questions:
• What Benefit is there to My Pain?
• How Can I Go On Like This?
• How Can I Bring Him Glory?
• How Do I Regain My Perspective?
This devout, genuine woman answers each question with tender, heartfelt examples from her walk in faith. Suffering can make us bitter or compassionate. Suffering can drive us away from God or make us fly into His arms. A Place of Healing is her testament to the restorative power of loving, committed service to God, no matter what our circumstances. She rejoices in the fact that God had plans for her life much wider, higher and more profound than she ever could imagine. Her last chapter entitled, “Thank you, God, for this Wheelchair” demonstrates that because of her circumstances, not in spite of them, she is happier as a child of God than she ever dreamed possible.
Do you have a friend or relative struggling with grief, financial loss, health issues or physical pain?
Give them a copy of A Place of Healing. May they find comfort in the profound testimony of someone who treads where they walk, albeit, in a wheelchair.
~The reviewer is Holly Weiss, author of Crestomont. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HWeissauthor.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :
by Joni Earkeckson Tada
ISBN 978-1596443501
Nonfiction: Christianity
Publisher christianaudio, nonfiction
Originally reviews for Amazon by Holly Weiss, author of Crestmont
Why does God allow pain? Is God concerned with suffering and involved in it? Plato, C.S. Lewis, Rabbi Harold Kushner, Henri Nouwen, the apostle Paul and others have all addressed these age-old questions.
Instead of focusing on how God is involved in the problem of pain, Joni Eareckson Tada chooses instead in her book, A Place of Healing: Wrestling with the Mysteries of Suffering, Pain and God’s Sovereignty, to examine how God can use pain to draw her closer to Himself and lift her above her human sufferings.
Joni, left a quadriplegic from a diving accident four decades ago, is the author of over fifty books and founder of Joni and Friends, an organization devoted to accelerating Christian outreach among those with disabilities. She will serve as the Honorary Chairman of the 2011 National Day of Prayer, held on the First Thursday of May. In addition to coping with the struggles of living from a wheelchair, Joni now has new challenges. She is assaulted with unrelenting, chronic pain and has been diagnosed with cancer.
Her reactions? “Suffering may be a part of God’s…mysterious plan, but God’s intention is always to demonstrate compassion and unfailing love.” Joni illustrates over and over in her book how powerfully God’s love touches her at her deepest point of need.
Her chapter headings ask difficult questions:
• What Benefit is there to My Pain?
• How Can I Go On Like This?
• How Can I Bring Him Glory?
• How Do I Regain My Perspective?
This devout, genuine woman answers each question with tender, heartfelt examples from her walk in faith. Suffering can make us bitter or compassionate. Suffering can drive us away from God or make us fly into His arms. A Place of Healing is her testament to the restorative power of loving, committed service to God, no matter what our circumstances. She rejoices in the fact that God had plans for her life much wider, higher and more profound than she ever could imagine. Her last chapter entitled, “Thank you, God, for this Wheelchair” demonstrates that because of her circumstances, not in spite of them, she is happier as a child of God than she ever dreamed possible.
Do you have a friend or relative struggling with grief, financial loss, health issues or physical pain?
Give them a copy of A Place of Healing. May they find comfort in the profound testimony of someone who treads where they walk, albeit, in a wheelchair.
~The reviewer is Holly Weiss, author of Crestomont. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HWeissauthor.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Noir Short Stories Reviewed: Move Over Stephen King
Title: Bloodstains On The Wall / Three Stories From The Dark Side
Author: Mike Dennis
Author's website link: http://mikedennisnoir.com/
Genre: Noir
ISBN-13: 978-0615455389
ISBN-10: 0615455387
Originally reviewed by Walter Schmida for Amazon
Rating: ***** (five stars)
Enter the 'noir' mind of Mike Dennis and you're in another zone, an area where you suspend disbelief. These three entertaining short stories are eerie in inspiration, spare and terse in their language,and brilliantly original in concept. "Block" especially blew my mind. While fresh and original, it had a Rod Serling feel to it that had me humming the theme from The Twilight Zone. I can't wait to read more stories quarried from the dark side of this guy's mind. Move over Stephen King.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :
Author: Mike Dennis
Author's website link: http://mikedennisnoir.com/
Genre: Noir
ISBN-13: 978-0615455389
ISBN-10: 0615455387
Originally reviewed by Walter Schmida for Amazon
Rating: ***** (five stars)
Enter the 'noir' mind of Mike Dennis and you're in another zone, an area where you suspend disbelief. These three entertaining short stories are eerie in inspiration, spare and terse in their language,and brilliantly original in concept. "Block" especially blew my mind. While fresh and original, it had a Rod Serling feel to it that had me humming the theme from The Twilight Zone. I can't wait to read more stories quarried from the dark side of this guy's mind. Move over Stephen King.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Todd Rutherford Reviews Business Book
Title - Escaping Oz: Protecting your wealth during the financial crisis
Author – Jim Mosquera
Website – http://www.escapingoz.com/
BISAC – Business & Economics / Investments & Securities
ISBN (13) - Print: 978-1453891216
ePUB: 978-0983296683
Kindle: 978-0983296607
Originally reviewed by Publishing Guru Todd Rutherford for Amazon.com
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jim Mosquera's Escaping Oz: Protecting your wealth during the financial crisis is an intriguing read that delves into questions about why our economy is in such chaos and confusion. The book, using The Wizard of Oz as a metaphor, encourages citizens to understand what they can do to protect their assets and help eradicate the economic mess plaguing our country. More importantly, Mosquera poses critical questions about our country's political and economic future, detailing precisely how we got to be in this position, and how we're going to get out. There is no "wizard" that's going to come to the rescue and the path this economy is following is certainly not the yellow brick road.
In technical terms, Escaping Oz discusses the number one problem in today's economy: "Our economy became overly dependent on lending and borrowing." However, both lending and borrowing are based on confidence from both sides. In other words, the lender has confidence that the borrower will have the means and sources by which to repay the amount of the loan, and of course, the borrower is confident in his/her ability to repay the loan. Right now, confidence is dragging, to put it nicely.
Jim describes how money has been perceived throughout history, from money in the Americas, to money during the Colonial era, and finally the value of money during the War for Independence. The fact is that money is constantly evolving with respect to its value and its use, both at home and abroad.
More than anything else, however, the book revolves around two concepts familiar to the masses: debt and credit. Jim Mosquera poses a number of eye-opening questions and even bolder statements. For example, he states that today, the evolution of money has taken the form of credit. More specifically, he writes, "As of June 2010, there is approximately $13.8 trillion of credit extended to the United States Government." Interestingly, the deficit facing the government is simply the difference between the revenue accrued and the credit amount allotted to the United States.
Two underlying questions that should set off mental alarms far and wide: if the government could eliminate its entire deficit through taxation alone, why isn't it doing it? Why is it widening the deficit gap by tacking on more credit?
Overall, the parallels between The Wizard of Oz and the wizard known as the United States government make this book an informative and enjoyable read. While there is extensive information on government strategies, there is an entire section (Part III) dedicated to the individual's own business model. Jim Mosquera presents his audience with strategies pertaining to bank, real estate, and stock investing, including managing one's portfolio and planning for the future.
Escaping Oz is a must read! And once you have a copy, you should stand up tall, close your eyes and click your heels together, saying, "There's nothing like being debt free, there's nothing like being debt free, there's nothing like . . ."
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :
Author – Jim Mosquera
Website – http://www.escapingoz.com/
BISAC – Business & Economics / Investments & Securities
ISBN (13) - Print: 978-1453891216
ePUB: 978-0983296683
Kindle: 978-0983296607
Originally reviewed by Publishing Guru Todd Rutherford for Amazon.com
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jim Mosquera's Escaping Oz: Protecting your wealth during the financial crisis is an intriguing read that delves into questions about why our economy is in such chaos and confusion. The book, using The Wizard of Oz as a metaphor, encourages citizens to understand what they can do to protect their assets and help eradicate the economic mess plaguing our country. More importantly, Mosquera poses critical questions about our country's political and economic future, detailing precisely how we got to be in this position, and how we're going to get out. There is no "wizard" that's going to come to the rescue and the path this economy is following is certainly not the yellow brick road.
In technical terms, Escaping Oz discusses the number one problem in today's economy: "Our economy became overly dependent on lending and borrowing." However, both lending and borrowing are based on confidence from both sides. In other words, the lender has confidence that the borrower will have the means and sources by which to repay the amount of the loan, and of course, the borrower is confident in his/her ability to repay the loan. Right now, confidence is dragging, to put it nicely.
Jim describes how money has been perceived throughout history, from money in the Americas, to money during the Colonial era, and finally the value of money during the War for Independence. The fact is that money is constantly evolving with respect to its value and its use, both at home and abroad.
More than anything else, however, the book revolves around two concepts familiar to the masses: debt and credit. Jim Mosquera poses a number of eye-opening questions and even bolder statements. For example, he states that today, the evolution of money has taken the form of credit. More specifically, he writes, "As of June 2010, there is approximately $13.8 trillion of credit extended to the United States Government." Interestingly, the deficit facing the government is simply the difference between the revenue accrued and the credit amount allotted to the United States.
Two underlying questions that should set off mental alarms far and wide: if the government could eliminate its entire deficit through taxation alone, why isn't it doing it? Why is it widening the deficit gap by tacking on more credit?
Overall, the parallels between The Wizard of Oz and the wizard known as the United States government make this book an informative and enjoyable read. While there is extensive information on government strategies, there is an entire section (Part III) dedicated to the individual's own business model. Jim Mosquera presents his audience with strategies pertaining to bank, real estate, and stock investing, including managing one's portfolio and planning for the future.
Escaping Oz is a must read! And once you have a copy, you should stand up tall, close your eyes and click your heels together, saying, "There's nothing like being debt free, there's nothing like being debt free, there's nothing like . . ."
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :
Monday, March 14, 2011
Publisher Reviews Sci-Fi by Doc Meisenheimer
Title: The Immune
Author: Doc Lucky Meisenheimer
Web site: http://www.theimmune.com/
Publisher's Web site: http://www.ljsspublishing.com/
Genre/Category: Science Fiction
ISBN: 978-0-9667612-2-1
Reviewed by: Victoria Andrew
The paintbrush I use is history, and history paints the same picture repeatedly. Large centralized governments always cause internal collapse and ultimately destruction of the masses. All governmental evils are justified and rationalized, as necessary, to maintain the all-powerful, all-knowing, current leaders for the good of society. – Doc Lucky Meisenheimer, The Immune
Doc Lucky Meisenheimer’s science fiction debut is being hailed as a prospective masterpiece of American fiction. Meisenheimer has fashioned a capacious yet intricately ordered narrative that in its majestic sweep seems to capture multiple themes executed in a fast-paced, action/adventure plot. Furiously ingenious at this stage in his writing career, Meisenheimer has achieved an incredible feat of imagination, intellect, and matchless writing talent within The Immune, which is sure to engender fiery debate, strong opinions, and much rhapsodizing over his shocking plot twists and turns.
Mainstream readers will most likely deem The Immune as an entertaining, often humorous, and sometimes terrifying escapade of one man’s thirst for vengeance against the deadly stings of biogenetically manufactured creatures and their maniacal, Hilter-esqe inventor, Joseph Sengele. The politically astute will compare the work of Meisenheimer to Heinlein, as his story could be a manifesto advocating individual liberty, free will, and a lack of government regulation and oversight on matters of the economy. Literary academics will perceive it as a beacon lighting the way for a new kind of novel, as Meisenheimer has cracked open the opaque shell of postmodernism, tweezed out its tangled circuitry, and inserted in its place the warm, beating heart of authentic humanism. Like other great literary giants, Meisenheimer conveys the drama of his protagonist’s interior life while vividly conveying a world on the brink of total annihilation. As his contemporaries diminish the place of the single human being in complex plot conceptualizations, Meisenheimer has enlarged it while evoking empathy, excitement, revulsion, amusement, a thirst for justice, and sleepless nights of rapid page turning within his readers.
John Long, a distinguished physician and avid swimmer, and his fiancé, Cassandra, emerge from a romantic rendezvous in Grand Cayman only to discover the shocking news of massive deaths occurring across the world from the virulent, lethal stings of a biogenetically manufactured phenomenon named airwars. Such creatures resemble gargantuan Man O’ Wars which have gone airborne, mercilessly wounding and killing seemingly random, innocent souls. A rapidly formed world government, entitled the Airwar Scientific Council (consisting of scientists, politicians, and military members) emerges to disseminate world policy to all governments, resulting in the amelioration of free speech and calling for total gun confiscation.
John Long’s seemingly idyllic life and thriving practice in Orlando, FL come to a screeching halt with the disappearance and announced death of his fiancé in the midst of the chaos. Consumed with grief and burning rage, John confronts and surprisingly defeats his first airwar discovered when its monstrous self is siphoning water in Orlando’s Lake Eola. His murder of the first airwar by suffocation was impulsive, dangerous, and driven by reckless fury, earning him massive fame for being one of the rare, extraordinary individuals who are immune to the poisonous, paralyzing stings.
Much to our horror, readers discover that such “Immunes” are surreptitiously and forcefully sent to a processing plant owned and operated by the government, where they are tortured and skinned alive in order to extract proteins secreted from an Immune’s sebaceous glands used to manufacture aerosol sprays providing members of the Airwar Scientific Council protection from the deadly airwar stings.
However, John’s destiny is salvaged by the “ultimate PR genius of the world,” Admiral Beckwourth, who restores humanity’s faith in government intervention to the airwar crisis by formulating an “Immune Corp” attack force, with John Long as their leader. Readers will become immersed in Meisenheimer’s triumphs of characterizing the Immune Corp team members as they endeavor to kill and destroy as many airwars as possible. Meisenheimer paints one terrifying airwar attack scene after the other with vivid detail and enthralling description of the various types of airwars populating the sky, while instilling admiration for John’s bravery and catalyzing cathartic release with each successful airwar downing.
The plot thickens as we discover an advanced, alien race (referred to as Krones) have contacted prominent world leaders with promises of opportunities “beyond their wildest dreams” - including immortality - in return for their cooperation with their plot of selecting political leaders, key military personnel, scientists, and their families as “The Chosen.” Attitudes, intellect, political strength, compatibility, and one’s propensity for even treachery were considered behind their selection, thus reminiscent of Nazi endeavors to create an ideal, Aryan race.
We discover the Krones are the one who have actually created airwars as a diversion tactic in order to prepare the earth for their alien strike force involving 60-foot tsunamis (with the advanced application of force fields) to wipe out the majority of humanity in preparation for a Krone colonization of the earth, in which “The Chosen” are supposedly to be saved.
However, one intrepid and ingenious character, Admiral Beckwourth, cultivates a brilliant plot coined by Meisenheimer as an “FS Maneuver”, which is a keystone of public relations campaigns and “a deception hiding an underlying agenda.” With audacity and intrepid valor, Beckwourth endeavors to annihilate the greatest alien, military force in the history of the earth to save humanity from an apocalypse.
Does he succeed? We highly recommend you read the book now available for pre-sales at LJS&S Publishing http://www.immune.com/ and coming to a store near you on May 13, 2011.
~Reviewer Victoria Andrew is owner and director of Words Prevail, LLC. Visit http://www.wordsprevail.com/ for more information. Their blog is at http://www.wordsprevail.wordpress.com/. For her articles on Career Transition, visit http://www.examiner.com/career-transition-in-orlando/victoria-andrew /
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :
Author: Doc Lucky Meisenheimer
Web site: http://www.theimmune.com/
Publisher's Web site: http://www.ljsspublishing.com/
Genre/Category: Science Fiction
ISBN: 978-0-9667612-2-1
Reviewed by: Victoria Andrew
The paintbrush I use is history, and history paints the same picture repeatedly. Large centralized governments always cause internal collapse and ultimately destruction of the masses. All governmental evils are justified and rationalized, as necessary, to maintain the all-powerful, all-knowing, current leaders for the good of society. – Doc Lucky Meisenheimer, The Immune
Doc Lucky Meisenheimer’s science fiction debut is being hailed as a prospective masterpiece of American fiction. Meisenheimer has fashioned a capacious yet intricately ordered narrative that in its majestic sweep seems to capture multiple themes executed in a fast-paced, action/adventure plot. Furiously ingenious at this stage in his writing career, Meisenheimer has achieved an incredible feat of imagination, intellect, and matchless writing talent within The Immune, which is sure to engender fiery debate, strong opinions, and much rhapsodizing over his shocking plot twists and turns.
Mainstream readers will most likely deem The Immune as an entertaining, often humorous, and sometimes terrifying escapade of one man’s thirst for vengeance against the deadly stings of biogenetically manufactured creatures and their maniacal, Hilter-esqe inventor, Joseph Sengele. The politically astute will compare the work of Meisenheimer to Heinlein, as his story could be a manifesto advocating individual liberty, free will, and a lack of government regulation and oversight on matters of the economy. Literary academics will perceive it as a beacon lighting the way for a new kind of novel, as Meisenheimer has cracked open the opaque shell of postmodernism, tweezed out its tangled circuitry, and inserted in its place the warm, beating heart of authentic humanism. Like other great literary giants, Meisenheimer conveys the drama of his protagonist’s interior life while vividly conveying a world on the brink of total annihilation. As his contemporaries diminish the place of the single human being in complex plot conceptualizations, Meisenheimer has enlarged it while evoking empathy, excitement, revulsion, amusement, a thirst for justice, and sleepless nights of rapid page turning within his readers.
John Long, a distinguished physician and avid swimmer, and his fiancé, Cassandra, emerge from a romantic rendezvous in Grand Cayman only to discover the shocking news of massive deaths occurring across the world from the virulent, lethal stings of a biogenetically manufactured phenomenon named airwars. Such creatures resemble gargantuan Man O’ Wars which have gone airborne, mercilessly wounding and killing seemingly random, innocent souls. A rapidly formed world government, entitled the Airwar Scientific Council (consisting of scientists, politicians, and military members) emerges to disseminate world policy to all governments, resulting in the amelioration of free speech and calling for total gun confiscation.
John Long’s seemingly idyllic life and thriving practice in Orlando, FL come to a screeching halt with the disappearance and announced death of his fiancé in the midst of the chaos. Consumed with grief and burning rage, John confronts and surprisingly defeats his first airwar discovered when its monstrous self is siphoning water in Orlando’s Lake Eola. His murder of the first airwar by suffocation was impulsive, dangerous, and driven by reckless fury, earning him massive fame for being one of the rare, extraordinary individuals who are immune to the poisonous, paralyzing stings.
Much to our horror, readers discover that such “Immunes” are surreptitiously and forcefully sent to a processing plant owned and operated by the government, where they are tortured and skinned alive in order to extract proteins secreted from an Immune’s sebaceous glands used to manufacture aerosol sprays providing members of the Airwar Scientific Council protection from the deadly airwar stings.
However, John’s destiny is salvaged by the “ultimate PR genius of the world,” Admiral Beckwourth, who restores humanity’s faith in government intervention to the airwar crisis by formulating an “Immune Corp” attack force, with John Long as their leader. Readers will become immersed in Meisenheimer’s triumphs of characterizing the Immune Corp team members as they endeavor to kill and destroy as many airwars as possible. Meisenheimer paints one terrifying airwar attack scene after the other with vivid detail and enthralling description of the various types of airwars populating the sky, while instilling admiration for John’s bravery and catalyzing cathartic release with each successful airwar downing.
The plot thickens as we discover an advanced, alien race (referred to as Krones) have contacted prominent world leaders with promises of opportunities “beyond their wildest dreams” - including immortality - in return for their cooperation with their plot of selecting political leaders, key military personnel, scientists, and their families as “The Chosen.” Attitudes, intellect, political strength, compatibility, and one’s propensity for even treachery were considered behind their selection, thus reminiscent of Nazi endeavors to create an ideal, Aryan race.
We discover the Krones are the one who have actually created airwars as a diversion tactic in order to prepare the earth for their alien strike force involving 60-foot tsunamis (with the advanced application of force fields) to wipe out the majority of humanity in preparation for a Krone colonization of the earth, in which “The Chosen” are supposedly to be saved.
However, one intrepid and ingenious character, Admiral Beckwourth, cultivates a brilliant plot coined by Meisenheimer as an “FS Maneuver”, which is a keystone of public relations campaigns and “a deception hiding an underlying agenda.” With audacity and intrepid valor, Beckwourth endeavors to annihilate the greatest alien, military force in the history of the earth to save humanity from an apocalypse.
Does he succeed? We highly recommend you read the book now available for pre-sales at LJS&S Publishing http://www.immune.com/ and coming to a store near you on May 13, 2011.
~Reviewer Victoria Andrew is owner and director of Words Prevail, LLC. Visit http://www.wordsprevail.com/ for more information. Their blog is at http://www.wordsprevail.wordpress.com/. For her articles on Career Transition, visit http://www.examiner.com/career-transition-in-orlando/victoria-andrew /
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Romance Author Reviews Short Story Collection
Title: Five Good Short Stories - Volume 1
Author: Sam E. Jones
Author's web link site: Http://amazon.com/dp/B004G5ZUHS
Genre or Category: Fiction, short stories
ISBN/ASBN: B004G5ZUHS
Reviewed by Anne Barbour
Sam E. Jones offers us a four-volume package of five short stories each. Following the review guidelines I’ll speak only of Vol. I. It is aptly entitled Five Good Short Stories, Vol. I. The stories are very short, and very, very good. He writes in a quirky, sort of avant garde style, which is not my favorite genre. Being a reader and writer of novels—frivolous novels, at that—I rarely read short stories.. However, when I was introduced to Mr. Jones’ work, I thought I’d avail myself of this reasonably priced ($4.99 per volume) opportunity to stretch my mind. To my surprise, I was delighted.
Mr. Jones, I think, is a born stretcher of minds. His writing consists of finely crafted slices of life, and he can produce more insight into the human condition in a few hundred words than most writers contrive in several thousand. He pulls us into little wedges of his protagonist’s time on this planet, thus leaving the reader feeling that he has turned over some of the many secrets that scurry in the darkness of our own souls. The results are at times exhilarating, painful at others, but always revealing.
Mr. Jones’ short stories are rare, individual treasures. I don’t mean precious jewels, though the comparison is appropriate. No, reading his tales is more like walking along an alien seashore—perhaps encountering small, exotic marine creatures, or a tiny windswept bird. I love the diversity he displays, pursuing in each story a different facet of what seems to the casual observer an ordinary person. With precision he peels away the layers, revealing fascinating bits of mind and soul. Some of the vignettes are charming, some poignant, and others are belly-tickling funny.
As I said, his style is unusual and difficult to describe. He often writes in the first person, which is uniquely suited to his custom of starting his stories off in the middle of a situation. Just as often, the situation is not resolved at the end of the story. We are left with a plateful of clues, and the compelling need to roll the plights of his people around in our minds in an effort to figure out what will come after we have turned the last page.
All in all, I do recommend the occasional mind-stretch, particularly when it comes in the form of such a pleasurable read. By me, Sam Jones is a real find, and I hope he will turn out many more of his explorations of the human scene.
~The reviewer is Anne Barbour, author of fourteen Regency Romance novels, published by NAL/Signet, a subsidiary of Penguin Putnam.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :
Author: Sam E. Jones
Author's web link site: Http://amazon.com/dp/B004G5ZUHS
Genre or Category: Fiction, short stories
ISBN/ASBN: B004G5ZUHS
Reviewed by Anne Barbour
Sam E. Jones offers us a four-volume package of five short stories each. Following the review guidelines I’ll speak only of Vol. I. It is aptly entitled Five Good Short Stories, Vol. I. The stories are very short, and very, very good. He writes in a quirky, sort of avant garde style, which is not my favorite genre. Being a reader and writer of novels—frivolous novels, at that—I rarely read short stories.. However, when I was introduced to Mr. Jones’ work, I thought I’d avail myself of this reasonably priced ($4.99 per volume) opportunity to stretch my mind. To my surprise, I was delighted.
Mr. Jones, I think, is a born stretcher of minds. His writing consists of finely crafted slices of life, and he can produce more insight into the human condition in a few hundred words than most writers contrive in several thousand. He pulls us into little wedges of his protagonist’s time on this planet, thus leaving the reader feeling that he has turned over some of the many secrets that scurry in the darkness of our own souls. The results are at times exhilarating, painful at others, but always revealing.
Mr. Jones’ short stories are rare, individual treasures. I don’t mean precious jewels, though the comparison is appropriate. No, reading his tales is more like walking along an alien seashore—perhaps encountering small, exotic marine creatures, or a tiny windswept bird. I love the diversity he displays, pursuing in each story a different facet of what seems to the casual observer an ordinary person. With precision he peels away the layers, revealing fascinating bits of mind and soul. Some of the vignettes are charming, some poignant, and others are belly-tickling funny.
As I said, his style is unusual and difficult to describe. He often writes in the first person, which is uniquely suited to his custom of starting his stories off in the middle of a situation. Just as often, the situation is not resolved at the end of the story. We are left with a plateful of clues, and the compelling need to roll the plights of his people around in our minds in an effort to figure out what will come after we have turned the last page.
All in all, I do recommend the occasional mind-stretch, particularly when it comes in the form of such a pleasurable read. By me, Sam Jones is a real find, and I hope he will turn out many more of his explorations of the human scene.
~The reviewer is Anne Barbour, author of fourteen Regency Romance novels, published by NAL/Signet, a subsidiary of Penguin Putnam.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :
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