Review: A New Birth of Freedom: The Visitor

A New Birth of Freedom: The Visitor
By: Robert G. Pielke
ISBN: 978-1936021239
Series: A New Birth of Freedom

1. The Visitor
2. The Translator
3. The Historian

Summary:
It has taken centuries to recognize that all humans possess certain unalienable rights. There will come a time when we have to consider whether others deserve those rights as well.

That time will come on July 3, 1863.

When a stranger carrying a shiny, metallic valise steps aboard a train carrying Abraham Lincoln home from a two year stint in Congress, everyone stares, wondering about the stranger's odd clothing and strange footwear with the word Nike emblazoned on them.

When the strange man shows up in Lincoln's office at the White house 14 years later, still wearing the same clothes, carrying the same valise and looking not a day older, the president and his staff know something is odd.

But when Edwin Blair opens his valise and projects a 3D image of the Earth on Lincoln's wall, then proceeds to tell a fanciful tale about time traveling aliens preparing to land at Gettysburg on July 3rd, they are sure they've met a lunatic.

Unfortunately for them, they're wrong.

Review:
A New Birth of Freedom is a science fiction that throws history through a loop. We follow Edwin Blair back in time to the Civil War era where he meets some of history's leading gentlemen of the day. What is unique about our Mr. Blair is that he isn't an adventurer or a scientist, he is a history professor on a mission to save the world in his time.

In Mr. Blair's time aliens have descended on the planet and have wiped out our resources. These Pests (the aliens) are almost impossible to beat because they can travel in time and have devastating weapons. Their only recourse was to send them back in time to a place they are unfamiliar with and thus they came to the Civil War era.

This adventure through time is extremely interesting and exciting. I love the historical anecdotes that we get through out the story which really brought the historical characters to life. I love how Lincoln's character is displayed as an extremely clever and humorous man who is also down-to-earth. General Lee is also seen as the perfect southern gentleman who is also very sharp witted. The story itself is very intriguing and I couldn't stop reading it, one thing after another kept happening and adding another layer to the story. This is definitely one of the better historical fictions out there. One of the ways I judge a book is whether or not I would add it to my permanent collection which in this case is a resounding yes. I happily give this book a five and look forward to the next chapter for like most good books this one ended our characters in quite a predicament.

Robert G. Pielke's Bio:
Robert G. Pielke, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, now lives in Claremont, California. He earned a B.A. in History at the University of Maryland, an M. Div. in Systematic Theology at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, and a Ph.D. in Social Ethics from the Claremont Graduate School.

He taught on ground and online for countless years at George Mason University in Virginia, El Camino College in California and online for the University of Phoenix. Now happily retired from “the job,” he is doing what he always wanted to do since he wrote his first novel at ten in elementary school. It was one paragraph, three pages long and, although he didn’t know it at the time, it was alternate history.

His academic writings have been in the area of ethics, including a boring academic treatise called Critiquing Moral Arguments, logic, and popular culture. Included in the latter is an analysis of rock music entitled You Say You Want a Revolution: Rock Music in American Culture. He has also published short stories, feature articles, film and restaurant reviews. His novels include a savagely satirical novel on America and its foibles, proclivities and propensities, Hitler the Cat Goes West, and an alternate history, science fiction novel, The Mission.

Most recently, he has updated and revised his book on rock music, which is being republished by McFarland & Co.

He swims daily, skis occasionally, cooks as an avocation, watches innumerable movies, collects rock and roll concert films, is an avid devotee of Maryland crabs and maintains a rarely visited blog filled with his social and political ravings. His favorite film is the original Hairspray; his favorite song is “A Day in the Life”; his favorite pizza is from the original Ledo Restaurant in College Park, MD; and he is a firm believer in the efficacy of “sex, drugs and rock and roll.” Somehow his family and friends put up with him.

Review: A Blood Moon

A Blood Moon
By: Bitten Twice
ASIN: B0047T7D96

Summary via Author's Website:
Hiding his private life in the public eye, vampire Alexander Macedo, goes to hell and back in a race against time to save the one woman he would die again for and the other he could spend an eternity with. A rogue vampire threatens the balance of power. Bred for strategy but torn between his want for love and his need for companionship, Alex battles to save all he holds dear.

Review:
A Blood Moon constantly pushes and pulls through out the entire book which is interesting and keeps us on our toes. Most of the characters are facing life threatening situations or major changes which is both believable and yet almost too fantastic at times.

I really enjoyed the main characters because of the unique way the author melded history into their backgrounds. However, due to the turbulent nature of this book many times the characters turned out to be one dimensional when they could have been so much better.

The best part of this book is the second half when we really start to see what is really going on with the first half. You see in the first section of this book we have many different stories and points of view that it makes this book almost like a short story book. When they finally all come together its quite beautiful.

She has the beginnings of a great book but the constant motion which is enjoyable but at the same time chops the story up so it seems like you have three books in one. I would have liked a little more solidarity in the story but that didn't take away my enjoyment. I would recommend this book to someone who enjoys paranormal or urban fantasy and likes a little twist in the history department. The book gets a high two and I look forward to the next book.

Review: The Secret Life Of Emily Dickinson

The Secret Life Of Emily Dickinson
By: Jerome Charyn
ISBN: 9780393339178

Summary via GoodReads:
What if the old maid of Amherst wasn’t an old maid at all? Her older brother, Austin, spoke of Emily as his “wild sister.” Jerome Charyn, continuing his exploration of American history through fiction, has written a startling novel about Emily Dickinson in her own voice, with all its characteristic modulations that he learned from her letters and poems. The poet dons a hundred veils, alternately playing wounded lover, penitent, and female devil. We meet the significant characters of her life, including her tempestuous sister-in-law, Susan Gilbert; her brooding father, Edward; and the Reverend Charles Wadsworth, who may have inspired some of her greatest letters and poems. Charyn has also invented characters, including an impoverished fellow student at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, who will betray her; and a handyman named Tom, who will obsess Emily throughout her life. Charyn has written an extraordinary adventure that will disturb and delight.

Review:
I simply adored this book almost as much as I adore Emily Dickinson's poems. Jerome Charyn really did a wonderful job capturing Ms. Dickinson as a bearer of many masks as her poems often suggest she was. This is not a fast paced book but at the same time its has a cadence that is steady and nice. I like how he went over her whole life and didn't try to paint her as a saint. Many times writers try to saint-ify classic writers rather than appreciate them with all their faults, for their faults are often how they came by their best work.

My only major dislike in this book is that included none of her works. Which I suppose was because he wanted to focus on her life not her work but still having that additional connection would have been lovely. Overall, I give this book a four due to the above reason. His separation of her life from her work was a poor choice because as the book says many times her work was a large part of her life and identity.

Jerome Charyn's Bio:
Jerome Charyn (born May 13, 1937) is an award-winning American author. With nearly 50 published works, Charyn has earned a long-standing reputation as an inventive and prolific chronicler of real and imagined American life. Michael Chabon calls him “one of the most important writers in American literature.”

New York Newsday hailed Charyn as “a contemporary American Balzac,” and the Los Angeles Times described him as “absolutely unique among American writers.”

Since the 1964 release of Charyn’s first novel, Once Upon a Droshky, he has published 30 novels, three memoirs, eight graphic novels, two books about film, short stories, plays and works of non-fiction. Two of his memoirs were named New York Times Book of the Year. Charyn has been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. He received the Rosenthal Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and has been named Commander of Arts and Letters by the French Minister of Culture.

Charyn was Distinguished Professor of Film Studies at the American University of Paris until he left teaching in 2009.

In addition to his writing and teaching, Charyn is a tournament table tennis player, once ranked in the top 10 percent of players in France. Noted novelist Don DeLillo called Charyn’s book on table tennis, Sizzling Chops and Devilish Spins, "The Sun Also Rises of ping-pong."

Charyn lives in Paris and New York City.
Awards: BookReporter.com's Top Books of 2010 (#52)

Review: The Shifters of 2040

The Shifters of 2040
By: Ami Rebecca Blackwelder
ISBN: 978-1453785133
Series: Shifter Evolutions

1. The Invasion of 2020
2. The SCM of 2030
3. The Shifters of 2040
4. The Hybrids of 2050
5. The Hunted of 2060
6. The Revolution of 2060

Summary via the e-book:
Set in Alaska in 2040, Melissa Marn and Bruce Wilder must work under the iron fist of the SCM, while still trying to maintain humanity. Discovering a world of shifters and hybrids, the scientists must struggle with human prejudice and betrayal. With the original ancestors, dubbed shifters, still living on earth, humans are in the midst of a fifteen year old war. As the eldest hybrids, Unseen and Diamond, learn about humans the hard way, with the loss of loved ones and sacrifices, love on planet earth proves challenging. With underlining themes of how prejudice breaks human connections and animal/wildlife conservation, this novel which has received rave reviews will leave the reader flipping through the pages.

Review:
Shifters of 2040 raises many questions that often are over looked. What does it means to be human? What rights are to be afforded to every living thing, regardless of their species classification? Are we willing to fight for our freedoms or will we bend to the will of another for our "safety"?

Shifters of 2040 is a wake up call in the guise of a piece of science fiction. This type of book I would say is most similar to George Orwell's Animal Farm which raised many similar questions in a different time. Ami Blackwelder manages to show this universe from various points of view through her variety of characters. Her main character is military scientist, Melissa Marn, whom has her world shaken by an encounter with a shifter (Brenden) and her interactions with her colleague, Bruce Wilder. This motley group of characters alone are but a mere piece of the complexity of this story.

All the conflicts faced within this book are shown through all the different sides of the characters: the scientist, the experiment, the soldier, the general, the hunter, the hunted, the lovers, etc. That Ami Blackwelder was able to show these characters and conflicts in such a way that it makes it real for any reader is a great feat. I for one, during reading much of this book my heart was in my throat every time the characters on both sides of the conflict were threatened with the exception of a certain general (who I would happily have seen killed).

This book is a solid three because the beginning of the book felt a little disconnected from the rest of the book due to the many, many descriptions that could have been left in the glossary. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to see the best and the worst in people as well as enjoy a little romance.