Is There A Wrong Time to Read Certain Books? Talking Books In Today's Crazy Mess... Spotlight on Award-Winning Top Writer Sharon Sala

 

This book originally came out in 2013. An updated book was published in 2021. After the Takeover of the Haves... When people are identified by loyalty to one political party and one conman.... And Havenots do not matter.

They think...

This trilogy offers the extremely tight copyright coverage  now being used to protect authors and publishers. I've spent the last hour trying to pull up the covers for the three-book trilogy by Sharon Sala

I finally submitted a curt response to a survey on the Author's Page on Amazon. As shared below.

I am more and more dissatisfied with Amazon... But books is being discussed today. I'm looking for a trilogy. This series is not here, on the Amazon's Author Page. I also cannot easily find it on my desktop library. I also cannot easily find it here on the main site... I found the first one. In the past, a trilogy or series would have been shown as a possible purchase on the main page of the first book. Instead it is filled with many other books that have no relevance to the author in question. I have found that computer systems people do not think as a user of products, thus changes are made without regard to how the user will search for them... Or, they just don't care... I have blogged successfully for 20 years using Amazon as my primary source of books. Right now, it disturbs me that everybody is interested in providing so much information that I cannot FIND ANYTHING. For instance, the desk top file does not allow a search by author... A search by title means that you have to know the exact title and, sometimes subtitle, it is inconsistent it seems. If an author doesn't use the same exact name on each book, then we can't find it. There is absolutely no ability to, as in the past, search key words... And when I attempted to ask a question with the latest "bot", it brought up a different book on the left side of the screen from the picture on the right. AI can only do what people have created. AI is not ready for true book selling and maintaining a library. I have thousands of books. You cannot remove books that have been read from the library and perhaps archive them. Finding a book is torture now!

I could have gone on but the survey space was linear, one line...and it scrolls to the right, meaning they really didn't expect any responses to the survey...

But Gabby is Talking Now. I stopped buying anything else on Amazon for one reason only. Delivery. Amazon takes NO responsibility of the companies they sub-contract to. I have lost money--considerable--due to carelessness of the delivery people. In my opinion, Amazon is the seller. That should include accountability for actual mail delivery. They do not, I no longer buy, except for e-bo0ks... But recently I was told that they had withdrawn coverage of all but my Fire reader and my desktop library. Three readers that I can no longer enter new books into...Thrown away for a reason they didn't feel I needed to know... Amazon is Not OK. Reduced in rank to 1 out of a 1-10 rank...

In addition to the copyright, these books also disavow that any character, or how they are presented, can be construed to be anything but from the mind of the writer (my words). I can see why, in this environment, a publisher and writer must cover themselves legally...

But there was no way, I was able to do that, as a reader who connects...

~~~~~

Crime followed chaos, and it had been that way since the world began.--Sala. Sharon. Going Once: A Compelling Romantic Suspense Novel Featuring FBI Agents and a Serial Killer (Forces of Nature Book 1, MIRA Books. Kindle Edition

 As announced, I will be talking about books rather than GABixler as the professional reviewer. I acknowledge that I am Not Ok as long as the federal government is out of control and I have to watch as the world is being devastated and changed for the worse... I have no qualms speaking my Truth, as I did professionally. My reviews (in the right column) have shown that writers have appreciated my style of creating reviews. I now must include about what is being done which has brought all of the United States--and the world--into peril...

Through reading this trilogy, my mind became clear about a number of things. Based on the characters alone, I was either involved with three romances which were wonderfully created as only a wonderful author can do. I will be talking about the total trilogy rather than three different stories, however. The difference is that each book focuses on one of three different FBI team members as they meet their future wives. Each story is totally different. Each story pulls readers into the lives of these six people and I was enjoying the books totally.

He watched everyone sleep and thought how strange it was that life could be this way. One person’s world was crashing, one was being stalked by a serial killer, and everyone else went on as if nothing was wrong.--Ibid...

Except I recognized the villain comparable to one man in particular... Or, perhaps, all evil men have the same mental characteristics?

It was an easy connection in one way. One of the FBI agents was the team profiler. Sala turned out to be an individual who apparently takes the time to understand what her characters do professionally. Her descriptive coverage of the serial killer was sufficient enough that I soon had difficulty dealing with those parts of the book. Think Criminal Minds, the TV program. I've stopped watching it because the graphic descriptions of the murders proved too much for me. Watching that type of detail of what goes through the mind of an individual who has become mentally unbalanced, is not something I wanted to face on an ongoing basis.

“I can’t believe that all this started because of a flood,” she muttered. “Actually, it began in Iowa, because of a tornado,” Tate said.  Ibid.

Her overwhelming fear of showing weakness was a holdover from her days as a rookie with the Bureau. If you were tough, they called you a bitch. If you had a pretty face or showed weakness, then you couldn’t possibly do a good job. Ibid

I realized in the past that I actually enjoyed the good guy winning over the evil villain. Recently I've wondered about something that has developed due to the history of America. Our forefathers have taught us that they wanted what they wanted, whether there was peace or not...

Take for instance, the historical shows about "cowboys and indians..." You know what I mean, don't you... We learned about the white people going across the lands, establishing homesteads near water, perhaps... If they had to kill some i"njuns" to do that, well, they did... And stories were shared as news or later in books... I can remember only one early television show that changed that plot... The Lone Ranger had Tonto, as his partner in fighting crime... What culturally evolved was that white men won and pushed Native Americans who were not slaughtered in battle, into set areas of the country on which they had roamed freely before then. Peace was not sought then. Nor had it been sought in the old country where world wars and smaller wars were fought for power, land ownership, or, even, to try to "spread christianity" through violence... Remember the Crusades? One of the books I've read was when people in Spain were being attacked and forced to become christian, or else... This has been occurring for thousands of years that can be easily found in historical records... Yet we continue to sing...

I remember it was my brother who wanted to watch all of the cowboys that were being shown many years ago... Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and so many more. I finally found one that I chose as a favorite. Paladin

I liked the idea of a man traveling the globe fighting for justice, and, yes, carrying a gun to kill the bad guys... The thing is that over the years, writers got bloodier and more sensational in their death scenes... And thus we learned to enjoy watching violence and pain being forced onto who was "supposed" to be our brothers...

I could always differentiate. In those days, the good guys wore white hats and the bad guys black...LOL  In any event it was a story, a book, showing what really happened in history. It was white people who were the attackers having come into North America and taking what they wanted. My memory says that it was the Quakers only who made friends with the natives, according to history... But then there were the witch trials... but I digress...

My point in all this, is that we have learned about history, written about history, and now know who was the bad guys and who was the good guys. Through news, books, and movies. Some were true; Some were not.

But now, with the Internet and the full breadth of potential entertainment toys, we also see the Truth of the world as it really is played out by humans...And we have learned just how deadly, selfish, and willing to kill our supposed brothers as they can be...on a daily basis...Right onT our streets...

***

Let me proceed, then, to talk about Sala's villain. As was created for a trilogy based on natural disasters... What we call, Acts of God because nobody is to blame... 

Wrong...

That phrase would not have included a certain death during Katrina when during the high waters, a couple had climbed to their roof to escape the high waters that were destroying homes all along the river. The wife was a diabetic; during the time on the roof she had no access to her insulin. She died in the night and slipped off the roof into the waters...

Her husband had a mental breakdown from which he later recovered. But...

He was now blaming everybody involved with the disaster and wanted retribution... and that was the first connection made to today's world. Connecting the villain with this administration was super easy...

Retribution is the major activity of the Trump administration, of course.

Climate Control is unrecognized by this administration, as witness lack of support for, say, fires in California... or emergencies in any blue state... Withholding of funds for nature's devastation... We first see that in a significant disaster, in Puerto Rico

At first there was a lighter declaration of how he viewed dealing with disasters--a lack of knowledge especially, declaring that raking forests was the best way to prevent any further fires... or throwing paper towers when there was no electricity available for the people of Puerto Rico...

The difference in Sala's villain, though, was that he was smart, a master of disguise, and kept his desire for retribution through his actions as opposed to creating a public spectacle...

But as the books progressed, it was clear to the reader that at some point, his motive changed. He became proud of his actions. He did want retribution; however, Sala placed a supernatural character, that was constantly screaming at the villain. His wife had been a follower of God and she began by pointing out that killing people was a sin. That he should not be killing on her behalf, and her attempts to stop him grew in proportion to the loss of any emotional feelings of empathy or awareness that the workers who were trying to help the people who were affected or lost in the storms could not be considered to have caused the many deaths in a natural disaster...

The news reps had soon given him a name: The StormChaser... Because what he had begun, after his wife died, due to loss of access to her medicine... the Stormchaser had begun traveling across the land, killing victims who had "lived" while his wife had died... In fact, blaming those also affected by the storm is how the man was initially identified. He had been seen by a woman who, in losing her house completely by the river, she had run, found a high tree and began climbing... And she would climb upward each time the water reached a higher level. It was at that height, she had watched as a family was on their roof, hoping and praying for air support to find them... But what she saw was a man who purposely, upon discovering the family, had murdered each of the family members, ensured they were in the water to later be found, and then walked away, passing along the tree where she had tied herself to a strong limb to ensure she would not be washed away if she would fall to sleep...

He could always go to Mexico and disappear, but that felt too much like running away. If he did that, it would mean they’d won, and that didn’t set well. Ibid

I'll just end that character analysis by pointing out that as he traveled to each emergency site, he would often join the organizations such as The Red Cross, who routinely established support and help for survivors or the families who were trying to find members of their families who lived in the area. Readers will learn much about that entire major support activity where housing/cots, food, and volunteers who did the searches were coordinated.

But what is the most devastating of the trilogy books was that the husband who had lost his wife and wanted to make somebody pay for his loss, actually became more and more violent. He began using multiple types of weapons, and even began dreaming and planning for trying, for instance, a hanging for the next individual discovered...

By the third book in the trilogy, he was selecting people, based upon where their homes were in relation to his final victim...He was totally involved in the thrill and power he now had to be able just to kill because he wanted to... You know, something like starting a war with a country for no reason other than seeking power and wanting to play with weapons of death and retribution...

WOW~

I Kid You Not...

At noon the sky turned dark and stayed that way until three o'clock. Then about that time Jesus shouted, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you deserted me?” Some of the people standing there heard Jesus and said, “He's calling for Elijah.” One of them at once ran and grabbed a sponge. He soaked it in wine, then put it on a stick and held it up to Jesus. Others said, “Wait! Let's see if Elijah will come and save him.” Once again Jesus shouted, and then he died. At once the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, and rocks split apart. Graves opened, and many of God's people were raised to life.

!!!!!

I hasdstopped for lunch. When I came back, what I had written including the loss of my first book cover Going Once. was gone...

I had used multiple word phrases under that picture. Apparently the software hadn't know how to handle what was essentially a straight typing... Who knows?

In any event, When I opened my article this morning. All that was gone...

My caretaker had cancelled my day to go get groceries, explaining that a storm was projected... Fine... I would begin this article... 

I was in the midst of trying to salvage the pic/underwriting... I was not succeeding. Suddenly the power went out. It was growing dark. I could not see so I stopped to find my extra lighting and ensured the batteries still worked. It slowed down and my satellite was still lit, so I tried to continue to redo what had gone wrong... Lightning struck louder... I reluctantly turned off the computer. And continued to read the ending of the trilogy. Yes, I had begun without continuing more reading about what happened to the serial killer...

At noon the sky turned dark and stayed that way until three o'clock. Then about that time Jesus shouted, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you deserted me?” Some of the people standing there heard Jesus and said, “He's calling for Elijah.” One of them at once ran and grabbed a sponge. He soaked it in wine, then put it on a stick and held it up to Jesus. Others said, “Wait! Let's see if Elijah will come and save him.” Once again Jesus shouted, and then he died. At once the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, and rocks split apart. Graves opened, and many of God's people were raised to life.

Yes, This had become a God Incident

And I actually had reposted the scripture of how the sky changed

instead of the picture I had wanted to use... Left it...

Jesus is laughing ... At US... And I started laughing and listened...

For I really needed to wait for the end of the story before I concluded yesterday's article...

WOW!

You see, there was a very special character that had been literally haunting me. It was the villain's wife who had died from diabetes.

She would talk to her husband throughout each book and, yes, the same villain played the bad guy in each book... No new cases. FBI was failing...

We would hear her talking to her husband, oftentimes screaming. Why? Was she a new part of him? I use the old definition of Split Personality diagnosis... Had his mind split? Or, Was it her spirit not leaving earth like the show about a ghost whisperer? 

Or was it God speaking to a sinner??? Murderer??? But now, after all that happened, I remembered that, often, she would include the statement. That her husband was NOT to use her name as a reason for mass killings...

Just like our government is now doing...

And it sunk in this morning after finishing the book yesterday. In fact, it made perfect sense... Do you see? Was the author sending her readers a message... Revenge is not a reason for murder. Maybe even since the latest version came out, it was happening in today's world... I don't profess to know what was in Sala's mind as she created a ghost for a character, or whatever she intended. What I do  know that, for me, it was the solution to my WHY? 

For surely, there are many in today's world who have forgotten what God sent a climate message to show His anger, His misery, His grief to see that His Son had indeed been murdered for no reason other than to respond to those who CHOSE a criminal/criminality instead of the New Water, New Life, New Peace, New Love that Jesus had brought to the earth to All of His Children...

All without vengeance, retribution, or violence/death... 

And this trilogy ended as only a messenger of God could end it...

It was the frustration, the anger of God, that so many of us are feeling right now, today, in the world... I did not know that there was even a group called USAID until the present president had it demolished. My not knowing, for me, is understandable. I was like the Havenots. I was still in most ways, working to continue to succeed. I was even scared because it was my mother who kept pushing that her last child have a real home... I needed money to do that. I was satisfied living in a mobile home. It was for my mother that I, though scared,that I wouldn't be able to make the payments, bought my first home. A Condo which I later had to sell after I was no longer working...

Even at that point, when God knew that my mother had always worked to ensure that her four children was to have a better life than she had, God supported what occurred, due to powerful men, and provided a new life in my small home in the woods...

Are We All Like Sheep Gone Astray?

Even Though The Good Shepherd has promised to walk with Us Each Day?

Gabby is... now...OK...

Are You?

These Words came...

God works in mysterious ways; His Wonders to Perform

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Trad / Eric Wyse

God Moves in a Mysterious Way lyrics © Vine Ridge Music, Love Your Enemies Publishing, Common Hymnal Publishing

Thou Shalt Not Take The Lord's Name in Vain...

Epic Science Fiction, New Continent by Michael Millasseau Speaks to America/World of Today! "One Day This Won't be Science Fiction, Anymore!"

 

"A few hours ago, we intercepted a signal on the 1420.4 megahertz radio frequency. At first glance, it was of no acoustic interest. All the facts are on your tablets. The server immediately started a recording. There are long and short beeps that resemble binary language. As it stands," Preston mechanically raised his wrist "it's just a string of 1s and 0s. We didn't notice any significant sequence to it." 

"Forgive me for interrupting you, Commander Preston," Henry Verdier called out, glancing at his tablet where the binary suite stretched. At the other end of the table, Ilyana displayed a strained smile. This intervention did not surprise her. "This signal... How did you spot it, exactly? Was there a frequency sweep?" 

Preston was about to answer. However, Ilyana made him understand she was going to take over. "No, there was no sweep. You are aware certain frequencies are constantly monitored by the on-board computer, starting automatic recordings as soon as it detects something. In this case, the frequency corresponds to the wavelength of hydrogen's radiation," she explained to President Verdier. "This gas is the most common element in the universe. We presume that if an advanced civilization wanted, like us, to contact another intelligent lifeform, it would use this frequency as a reference." 

Lips pursed, Verdier assessed the woman with his brown eyes which contrasted with the white of his crew cut. He knew all about it. Everyone knew that. Yet, it surprised no one that nothing ever came of their attempts at communication. "Indeed," he finally conceded.

"Now that this point is clarified, I will resume our presentation," Ilyana Ferguson said. "Four hours and thirty-two minutes after the signal came in, the radio broadcast was interrupted. The source was located at around fifty-six astronomical units, close to the orbital planes of the planets that we have spotted in the solar system. Commander Kellerman thinks the loss of the signal might be explained if it was sent from a planet that has moved behind its star. This, of course, does not exclude a transmission of natural origin."

Henry Verdier listened without flinching. He didn't look away from Ilyana Ferguson. She breathed in before resuming. "In the light of our past experiences, it is highly likely that the study of the recording we made will amount to nothing. But we have to check. In the absence of other elements, I gave the order, a few minutes ago, to steer the New Continent to the coordinates this transmission came from." 

"How long will it take to arrive at our destination?" Verdier asked.

"A little over twenty-two cycles," navigator Judith Kellerman replied. Day and night did not exist in the darkness of space. There was no external marker to measure the passing of time. Only hours were left to measure what a day was, its twenty-four hours adding up to a cycle. 

"Captain Ferguson," the President of the Council kept on. "When we decided a year ago, to enter into the deceleration stage, were you aware of the existence of this signal?" 

"No. As Commander Preston said, we only started receiving it a few hours ago. This region is saturated with radio waves from surrounding stars. They cover a wide range of frequency bands which can interfere with other less important transmissions." "And within these few hours, you changed course without notifying the Council?" 

"I'm not obligated to do so. You have now been informed." Ilyana had never lacked vigor, but Verdier had known her to be less sassy. The man rubbed his forehead with his fingertips before answering. "You've presented me with a fait accompli." "We had to explore the planets of this system out of necessity anyway," Doctor Valentin said. "It's been eleven years since we've seen anything interesting. We have exhausted our reserves. The food the factory provides us with is only an alternative. We need to restock with fresh produce as soon as possible." 

Ilyana's intercom beeped. A man's hologram appeared, standing in the center of the oval table. Franck Johnson, the XO, seemed to look at her straight in the eye. He addressed her without paying attention to the rest of the assembly. "Captain, the terminals and the servers are reacting strangely on the bridge. We have no visual and nothing on our radar. No alerts either." The audience's eyes turned in unison to the barely translucent hologram. 

"When did this begin?" Ferguson inquired. "Just over six minutes ago. We've started a routine diagnostic." 

"I'm on my way."

~~~

"You must come back," Sami continued, ignoring Nicolaï. "This man plays at the despot. He is taking control of operations and questions everything you have done. He's freaking me out. He scares all of us on the bridge!" Silence fell sharply. 

"Sami, you said what you had to say," the old man wanted to conclude. "Trust your Captain and let's leave her alone." The young liaison sought to catch Ferguson's gaze. Nicolaï led him to the exit. Sami let himself be guided without putting up any resistance, puzzled. Ferguson had betrayed his trust. 

"How long before the engine is operational?" she simply asked. The question suddenly awoke the Lieutenant's interest. He freed himself from Nicolaï's grip. "Eighty minutes. No less!" That Verdier did everything to get the consent of public opinion hardly surprised her. If Johnson did not obey him blindly, he would feel pressured by the demands of the passengers alarmed by the events anyway. 

Ilyana knew that the President would not hesitate to make human sacrifices in order to maintain the terror necessary to achieve his goals. She also knew that if Verdier hit a wall too fast, he would panic. He lacked the perspective necessary to think of getting around it. The President would lose his means as soon as the situation escaped him. Just like during their last game, she'd remembered, when fixing the holographic chess board on the coffee table. Once the New Continent is engaged in a new battle, the chances of escaping unscathed would fly away at the rate of the crossfire. She feared that Verdier would lose control. And if it occurred to him to flee before the reactor reached its standby temperature, he would snatch any hope of survival from the passengers. 

"Nicolaï, I need to speak to Lieutenant Campbell," she finally said. 

"I already failed in my principles by having the doors opened for Sami. You know my position Ilyana. I do not take sides." 

"Now is the time to take sides, Nicolaï! I'm not asking you to choose between me or the President. You know most of the people on this ship. They were your children. Their own children are your students today. I'm asking you to think of them."

 "Then you must find another way. I don't think the Lieutenant will speak to you. The Vice President's death shocked more than one and you know Franz Campbell doesn't really like you."

"Only he can understand that Verdier is wrong. If I can at least make him doubt, he will help me." 

"Help us," Sami corrected for Nicolaï. 

The old man with the white beard nodded almost too easily, which Ilyana noted with amazement. Something was disturbing Nicolaï. "I promise you nothing, Ilyana," he conceded after a moment. 

"Thank you." Sami followed Father Nicolaï's step toward the exit. 

~~~

I must admit that I was a little bit intimidated as I began to read the New Continent by Michael Millasseau. I was once a Trekkie as they called fans when all of the Star Trek shows were in

movie theaters and on television. Soon, I realized that it was a lot easier to watch this type of movie rather than read the book! You know, on television, you'd see the individual locations within the Starship, see the captain and his first-line officers sitting side by side and then see the communication officer, Lt. Uhura, played by Nichelle Nichols, as she connects to "Earth" or wherever they needed to reach. 

(As an aside, I wanted to include recognition of our loss of Nichelle Nichols, who broke barriers for Black women in Hollywood as communications officer Lt. Uhura on the original “Star Trek” television series. She died on July 30th at the age of 89. She was certainly a woman and role model we all recognized as having "made it" during those years! She will be missed by Star Trek fans...)

Then we'd watch going into engineering and to other areas of the Star Trek, even in that magic area where those on the Enterprise would be able to create an imaginary scene of our own making or travel into past histories where we could pretend to live in those times... I loved it and decided I was really living in the wrong period of time! Especially, having a cup of tea, or whatever, magically appear on the push of a button! Sooo cool! 

New Continent is the actual name of the ship where almost all of the book is set... To capture what was happening, a lot of technical terms related to the ship were used... many I had no idea what was meant... and I became hesitant... But, I was very happy to have the book in ebook format, so that I could look up the words in the Kindle dictionary, so that I knew exactly what was happening.  Once I got acclimated to reading about the ship and its "parts," I began to feel more comfortable. After all, most books are character driven and it wasn't hard to get into the "political environment" even if New Continent was flying through space!

I agree with the author, this story is quite unique--different from the usual sci fi thriller... For one, it is also a mystery! A whodunit that keeps readers wondering just who killed the vice-president!

In this book, the president and vice-president are part of the council representing all passengers on the ship.  New Continent has been moving from one planet to another, trying to find a home. They have been traveling for over 700 years! It is not totally known just why leaving earth had been required those many years ago. But all individuals on New Continent were aware that all other ships had been lost for one reason or another. New Continent housed the last citizens of the planet called Earth!

One of the intriguing aspects of the book is that it is conducted as if an ongoing investigation is taking place. Indeed the first chapter immediately sets the stage... It is a message coming in from outer space... in binary code... But who is sending it, and where is it coming from?! Of course, I had no desire to try to decode--I was always more interested in the outcome of what a computer can produce--even with the author giving us the challenge at the end to determine what was being sent through the airwaves... LOL

Both the Starship Captain as well as the President seem a paradox and what you would not expect for individuals in these two positions. The Captain primary goes "by the gut," even though she is the daughter of the former Captain... While, for me, I found the President too much like our US former president to have too much sympathy for him. On the whole, however, I felt that both represented the personality actions that would be appropriate within what we might call a disaster flick! For surely, after 700 years of domestic calm, as much as possible, for living in and on a starship, I don't think we should be surprised that these two major characters just might have gotten a little complacent... Myself, of course, I'd be sticking with following the female Starship Captain since she had the experience of running the ship which the President would not have been qualified to do (sound familiar? LOL).

It soon became possible--just possible--that they had finally reached Planet Earth. The Captain put together the first team to visit the planet, to determine whether, and just how much, of a danger it would be to stay on the planet... But, nobody could have planned on what, and who, they encountered! 

With no information why it had been decided so long ago to leave Earth, it was not surprising to those few who first landed on what was, essentially, a dead planet. Buildings were slowly falling down, absolutely no plant life could be seen. But one building was in fairly good shape and upon entering, the team discovered that it was, a museum--so fascinating that those in the building had to be pulled out from their wandering exploration, so that they could proceed with their mission. Stop to imagine just what a museum could hold, items that had never been seen by the earth citizens who had been living only on a starship for 700 years! The thoughts and emotional response to all that the world offered in the past must have been truly mind-blowing!

Except in the distance, a number of high-rise buildings seemed to be in better shape. How were these newer buildings created? Soon, portions of the signal coming through space began to be decoded... Whoever created the message spoke of the monsters who had taken over earth, destroying so much that there was no option but to leave...

So I was getting quite involved, when the President had the Ship's Captain arrested and removed the authority of her office! Could this actually be permitted?! No matter...it was happening!

Battles soon started...Attacks are made on those individuals who have landed but attacks on New Continent also began. Could New continent make it through these attacks? Would anybody survive?! And could the President actually deal with the catastrophic events that were destroying New Continent...piece by piece...?

The Environment - One Day This Won't be Science Fiction!

I would love to see this book made into a movie! It is one way to illustrate how we could be forced to leave Planet Earth! The message is so important! We who are living here now, must learn of what monsters had taken over the planet and work to eliminate them!

As explained by the author, his purpose, his goal for his book was to point out exactly what could happen to our home planet...And then also points out that, though many other planets had been explored, there were none that could meet the needs of the human race.

The writing is excellent and the story, with several plots moves forward for readers, so much so that it becomes a page-turner after a certain point... The story is exhilarating in responding to its primary goal... Simply, AWESOME!

Debut Novel by Mary Helen Specht, Migratory Animals

She and Kunle waited at the bottom of the tree, and
when the tapper touched down, Kunle gave him some
naira in exchange for the fresh palm wine. They
drank from little plastic cups with tin lids to keep the
flies out. Flannery imagined she and Kunle were
bound in the pages of The Palm-Wine Drinkard and
that sitting and drinking was the only job they had in
the world.
~~~

What Flannery first noticed when she arrived in Nigeria were the towering palm trees. It was like walking off the airplane into a land of giants. The next morning, Flannery, barefoot, crossed her new front yard and stood beneath one of the sturdy palms, her shoulder blades pressing into the grooved trunk. She tilted her chin to look up at the canopy when, suddenly, the tree shook its head at her. A flock of birds swept from the branches, crackling the leaves.
Flannery was on the lam. Ever since her mother's death when she was in college, she'd let graduate school and then various research grants in climate science take her farther and farther from Texas: Wisconsin, Juneau, the Klondike, West Africa. Sometimes she imagined herself as a spider spinning an enormous web, swinging from one corner of the globe to the other, and like the spider, Flannery didn't know exactly what she wanted--until she caught it.

Before he could finish the story,
Flannery reached her hand behind
his head, touching her lips to his.
It was dusk, and a shadow of bats
flew over them in search of insects.
"I can't stand this," he whispered into
her ear. She nuzzled him in agreement.
He squared himself in front of her.
"Let's get married."
I

She met Kunle at an outdoor canteen near the Nigerian university where she had been posted on what was supposed to be a brief data-collecting trip. Sitting at an adjacent table with a soda and a worn textbook, he leaned over to her and said, "You should try the palm wine." Kunle wore slacks and a blue button-down oxford, both ironed within an inch of their lives. Trim and preppy, he looked like one of those idealized husbands in films, the kind of man who kissed a beautiful wife before leaving for the office, the kind usually too straitlaced to be Flannery's type.
Flannery first thought to ignore him, remembering the U.S. security officer at the consulate who told her to avoid the mainland...sweeping his arm in a grandiose gesture across the map hanging on his wall, indicating the center of the country where she would be living and working, indicating all of Nigeria, except, of course, the two tiny islands where the consulate offices were located.

In the novel, the
protagonist's only
and entire job is to
drink palm wine...
When his tapper
dies falling from a
tree, the drunk
makes a perilous
journey to Dead
Town...
~~~

But Flannery was not built to be frightened of new things, certainly not this handsome man...sitting next to her at a crowded canteen. So she ordered a cup of the palm wine and changed her life.
Flan knew she was in love when, during a dinner at her house a few weeks later, Kunle received a poem he'd jotted down on a scrap of newspaper that ended with the line, "For winter must not steal a kiss." And then he kissed her, and as he did, he trembled. When she decided to stay in Nigeria and work full-time at the research outpost in Adamanta, Kunle made goat stew to celebrate and gave her a copy of The Palm-Wine Drinkard tied with a bow, saying that if she was going to be a white Yoruban, then she should understand her new history. He said, half joking, "This story will tie you to be forever."

~~~

Migratory Animals

By Mary Helen Specht

Flannery, the main character, had gone on the lam. Taking one research grant/job after another, she had become migratory and finally wound up in West Africa. After I read a little more, I wondered if she had decided to stay there because of a man she'd met--or merely to avoid going home... At the time she decided to stay, I'm not sure even she knew what her future held...

The drama that surrounds Flannery, her family, and her close friends from college is much like everybody's lives entail--only the particular stories and people are changed... I do think, however, that readers who have lived a "college life" will better relate to the book then people like me who immediately began working after high school and may have taken higher education courses on a part-time basis. The closeness of a diverse group of people apparently is easily formed through on-campus housing activities.

Some of those individuals married, some had moved on and were totally involved in their professional lives now. But, no matter what, they all have a personal history that affected their lives... This is their story. If you enjoy sitting back and sinking into the daily activities and drama of other people, then I think you will certainly enjoy this debut by Mary Helen Specht. Each time I start reading a literary novel, I find I must stop and adjust my own time with the book. There is no way I can read a drama without slowing the pace of my reading. You either immerse yourself or you miss the value of what the author is sharing... I admit I prefer page-turner thrillers, but that does not diminish the story being told by Specht.

One amazing thing for me was that, even though Flannery had been gone for five years, when she went home, there were some that expected her to pick up where she left off, while others had certainly moved on. Flannery's best friend during college, for instance, was deep into depression. While her husband knew she was having problems, it seemed clear that nobody really took the time to understand exactly where she was. It seemed Flannery didn't recognize anything changed, except from her perspective of not wanting to get back into her old life... Alyce, on the other hand, was the most real one to me--acknowledging her own issues, yet, later, able to do something that nobody else would have considered... She invited Flannery's sister to live with her...

Flannery had been the older sister and had watched her mother slowly dying from Huntington's disease. [A short vid is included for those not familiar with this disease and its consequences.]

Now, as she saw her sister for the first time, we immediately notices symptoms, which apparently had been ignored by everybody, including her father and her sister... Flannery was devastated, not knowing how she could manage going through that again and withdrew from much contact, knowing that Molly would expect her to be there for her. She, herself, had been tested years ago, wanting to know what her life would be if she had the potential of developing it, but her sister didn't want to know. Readers, I am sure, will have different feelings about how they might react. But since Flannery had initially gone "on the lam" after college, it wasn't hard to figure out what she wanted to do--immediately go back to Nigeria and Kunle.

Alyce also was working on a project, creating imagines of birds, but as her depression grew darker, she thought of death quite often and had decided she wanted something to give her sons that represented the people that had been in her life...A long tapestry that she became almost obsessive with as she worked... At that point Molly had moved into the farmhouse with her. Alyce had suggested that her husband and the boys move in with Santiago--who, incidentally, was still in love with Flannery and wished to continue and commit to their relationship...

Molly had only her husband and simply told him she needed time... Brandon had always been a dedicated researcher and was now working with Flannery on a project he had developed and which she had envisioned how it could be expanded.  They were both climate specialists... and it had been Brandon who had initially helped Flannery get her positions,

There are others who had been in that college group of friends...Now they were in their 30's, all of them caught, forced to consider their future... Two husbands were left doubting whether their wives would return to the marriage. One looking for a marriage commitment from Flannery that he knew was really unlikely...

I found the interpersonal relationships interesting--the additional work-related topics--climate change, weaving and snow--in my opinion, were allowed too dominant a role given the number of characters and what was happening to them. In fact, these side issues tended to detract from the characters, bogging them, and readers, down in more detail than was warranted for the impact within the book, since nothing significant evolved... For instance, the impact of Alyce's tapestry was quite different than this reader anticipated; her own depression ignored as before. At the same time, what was happening to Molly was barely addressed until an unexpected issue took the forefront for everybody.

The key issue addressed for me was how much each of us must consider as we make our personal life commitments. Do we have a responsibility to consider our family? Do friends play a part in personal decision-making? Do we respond to perceived responsibilities with guilt, not sure what to choose? This exploration was well done to the extent it went. 


I must admit that literary novels many times strike me as esoteric... Perhaps I have read too many novels about the realities of Africa. Then, too, the realities of real life, in my opinion, became minor, for some reason, to the supposed bigger issue of creating rain in Africa, but with no attempt at a satisfactory fictional conclusion...that is, it just ended... The attempt at a happy ending  left the lives of the others dangling, while they celebrated what could very well be a multiplication of the same past trauma for everybody. Unless there is a sequel planned, I felt that the characters in the novel deserved a better and adequate 
closure.

Please do check out other reviews on this one... As a debut, this author has certainly shown her writing expertise. Her character development might have hit too close to me for several characters; perhaps I expected too much...

And then Harry was gone. And Alyce was alone again, with what was left of the flock.
At that moment, Alyce could almost admit what would really happen: She would move into a duplex in Duvalier Place--a neighborhood more romantic-sounding than romantic. She would be a renter again. like when she was just our of college, someone else in charge of mowing the lawn and painting the walls and calling the plumber. Her life would become less cluttered. The boys would stay with her on weekends. She would watch the light change in the kitchen from morning to evening, autumn to spring, and she would notice it because she would be alone. She would go on living.
It was a step in her most important recovery. She was a mother, which was sometimes harder than eating and exercising and drinking less. One day at a time and all that. As her therapist had acknowledge, maybe Alyce wasn't one of those women who was better off with children than she was without them. But the only way to ever know something like that for sure was to live two lives. And Alyce barely had time and energy for this one.
Migratory Animals might have been the last real piece of art Alyce would ever make. Not because it was really so different in style or staidness than the William Morris Woodpeckers in an Orange Tree that had been her original plan. But just because it was hers. It was all of theirs. It was finished...





GABixlerReviews

Born and raised in Abilene, Texas, Mary Helen Specht has a B.A. in English from Rice University and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Emerson College, where she won the department’s fiction award. Her writing has been nominated for multiple Pushcart Prizes and has appeared in numerous publications, including: The New York Times; The Colorado Review; Prairie Schooner; Michigan Quarterly Review; The Southwest Review; Florida Review; Southwestern American Literature; World Literature Today; Blue Mesa; Hunger Mountain; Bookslut; The Texas Observer; and Night Train, where she won the Richard Yates Short Story Award. A past Fulbright Scholar to Nigeria and Dobie-Paisano Writing Fellow, Specht teaches creative writing at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas.