Lon E Varnadore was awarded the 2020 Irwin Award for Best Science-Fiction Series. Photo: amazon
Long Beach resident and acclaimed author Lon E. Varnadore is the winner of the 2020 Irwin Award for the Best Science-Fiction Series for his Junker Blues Series. The announcement was made during the 26th Annual Book Publicists of Southern California Awards, a virtual event held earlier in December. (Black Château, 2020)
The Book Publicists of Southern California award began in 1995 and is named after Irwin Zucker, a legend in the book publicity and promotions industry, and founder of the BPSC.
Lon E. Varnadore has been a self-published author since 2015 with the sci-fi noir “Mostly Human.” He continues working on his award-winning space opera series Junker Blues, a sword-and-planet series called the Known World Series, and additional 4Pollack novels. His other works include urban fantasy noir with “Janus City,” space Opera with “Blood for the Empress” and even military sci-fi with “I.S.S. Starkiller.”
The Junker Blues Series is a thrilling space opera set against the background of stunningly detailed universes and built around gruff heroes. In “Mars,” the first book in the series, Marcus Redding, a bold junkologist, is forced to flee trouble and flies straight into the crosshairs of the Martian Defense Force’s artillery. Crashing hard on the sandstorm-ravaged Red Planet, Marcus fights for survival alongside the mind-penetrating co-pilot he is still not sure he can trust. In the second book, “The Belt,” Marcus is challenged to use his skills and intuition to navigate not only the space but also the threats posed by new acquaintances and old friends.
“I am thrilled and honored to receive the 2020 Irwin Award for the Best Science-Fiction Series. I’ve always been a fan of science fiction, and getting recognition in the genre I adore makes it even more special. I’d like to thank Irwin Zucker and the competition judges for making me this honor and congratulate the other winners.” – Lon E. Varnadore.
‘The Mystery of Mrs. Christie’ by Marie Benedict is out today. Photo: amazon
Marie Benedict is a lawyer with more than ten years’ experience as a litigator at two of the country’s premier law firms, who found her calling unearthing the hidden stories of women. Her mission is to unearth the most important, complex, and fascinating women of history and bring them to present day to unlock the depth of their contributions. She is the best-selling author of “The Other Einstein,” “Carnegie’s Maid,” “The Only Woman in the Room,” and “Lady Clementine.” Her new book “The Mystery of Mrs. Christie” is out today and reconstructs one of the most notorious events in literary history: Agatha Christie’s mysterious 11-day disappearance in 1926. (amazon, 2020)
After Agatha Christie disappears, investigators find her empty car on the edge of a deep, gloomy pond. The only clues include tire tracks nearby and a fur coat left in the car — strange for a frigid night. Her World War I veteran husband and her daughter have no knowledge of her whereabouts and England unleashes an unprecedented manhunt to find the up-and-coming mystery author. Eleven days later, she reappears, just as mysteriously as she disappeared, claiming amnesia and providing no explanations for her time away. The puzzle of those missing eleven days has persisted. In “The Mystery of Mrs. Christie,” with her trademark historical fiction exploration into the shadows of the past, acclaimed author Marie Benedict brings readers into the world of Agatha Christie, imagining why such a brilliant woman would find herself at the center of such murky historical mysteries. What is real and what is mystery? What role did her unfaithful husband play and what was he not telling investigators?
‘Greatest Love’ by Dr. & Master Zhi Gang Sha with Master Maya Mackie.
Dr. and Master Zhi Gang Sha is a world-renowned healer, Tao Grandmaster, philanthropist, humanitarian, creator of Tao Calligraphy and an eleven-time The New York Times bestselling author. In 2016 Master Sha received rare and prestigious appointments as Shu Fa Jia (National Chinese Calligrapher Master) and Yan Jiu Yuan (Honorable Researcher Professor), the highest titles a Chinese calligrapher can receive, by the State Ethnic of Academy of Painting in China. A Master Teacher personally trained by Master Sha, Master Maya Mackieis dedicated to empowering humanity. As one of the top trainers at the Tao Academy, Master Maya teaches people how to apply soul power to every aspect of life, including health, relationships, finances, business, pets, and more. In “Greatest Love: Unblock Your Life in 30 Minutes a Day with the Power of Unconditional Love,” they show readers how to use unconditional love to receive blessings and melt all blockages to enrichen their lives.
“Greatest Love” begins with an Introduction that explains the purpose of the book: “to share with you sacred wisdom and powerful yet simple practices that can empower you to help your loved ones, humanity, and Mother Earth through this challenging period of time.” These include simple ancient techniques such as chanting powerful mantras and revolutionary new techniques using Tao Source Calligraphies to empower readers to enhance and transform all life. Chapter 1 defines greatest love as unlimited and unconditional. The top ten qualifies of this love are ‘greatest’: love, forgiveness, compassion, light, humility, harmony, flourishing, gratitude, service, and enlightenment. Chapters include: The Power and Significance of Greatest Love (Da Ai), What is Tao Source Calligraphy?, Apply Tao Source Calligraphy to Enrich and Bless Your Life, and Chant and Trace Tao Calligraphy to Serve Humanity and Mother Earth.
One school of thought states that we create our own karma, whether good or bad, depending on our actions. “Greatest Love” makes that point when describing “Shen,” which includes the soul, heart, and mind, which can become polluted or blocked. Simply put, bad karma blocks the soul, good karma unblocks it: “Karma is the root cause of success and failure in every aspect of life.” This is the underlying message that the authors successfully are putting out there and the exercises, chants and meditation techniques all strive to help create good karma and positive flow to help readers change their lives. It is a small book, made to be carried everywhere as a source of constant enrichment. The language is simple to understand and whenever necessary, the terms and practices used are defined, since it references spiritualism and Taoist philosophy. “Greatest Love” contains positive messages of self-healing and improvement and is recommended for readers who appreciate alternative methods of self-help and spiritual guidance.
“Currently, Heaven and human beings are not joined as one. They are not in alignment. We believe this is why we are seeing so many natural disasters, economic and political challenges, war, diseases, and more.”
*The author received a copy of this book for an honest review. The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to her.
The US version of ‘The Commander’ by Kevin Groh releases on Tuesday, January 5, 2021. Photo: amazon
Kevin Groh is an author born and raised in Hesse, Germany who has been imagining stories and other worlds since early childhood. He visited the United States often and fell in love with the openness of Americans and the non-judgmental environment that accepted him for who he was — a gamer and a nerd. Passionate about the English language, Kevin mastered it by reading, watching movies, playing video games, and traveling. He holds a bachelor’s degree as an industrial engineer with a focus on electrical engineering but by his early 20s, became a sensation in the German sci-fi market with his highly imaginative stories. His Omni Legends book series includes the best-selling subseries, “The Commander,” “The Black Wanderer,” and “The Shadow Guard.” Kevin was an Amazon Kindle Select All-Star in sales every month from August to December in 2019. The young author is now ready to entertain a US readership looking for its next page-turner as the first book in the series, “The Commander” is releasing in the United States on January 5, 2021. It is young adult fiction for young men and sci-fi lovers filled with adventure, suspense, and action and now available for pre-order on Amazon. (Black Château, 2020)
“The Commander – Guardian of Utopia” is the first book in the US version of the epic New Adult military sci-fi fantasy Omni Legends series. Welcome to Utopia-humanity’s second home for over two centuries. It is a world controlled by the military and corporations, waging war with advanced alien races, but 18-year-old Carter Sanders is about to change the rules of the game. Freshly recruited into boot camp, he needs all his brains and ability to survive skirmishes and develop allies among his fellow-recruits who resent his privilege. Training exercises in weaponry, close-quarter combat, strategy and tactics, and missions test his bravery, while female recruits test his moral fiber in close situations. When bionic upgrades for soldiers become mandatory, Carter feels he needs to take a stand. Can he and his mismatched fellow-recruits get their message about preserving morale through to the top brass? Will they survive sadistic drill sergeant Banes before they are sent off to battle giant, scaled Lorgans on unknown worlds?
‘Act of Revenge’ is the third book in the Doc Brady series. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
John Bishop M.D. is an orthopedic surgeon, keyboard musician and author of the beloved Doc Brady mystery series. The series includes “Act of Murder,” “Act of Deception,” “Act of Revenge,” “Act of Negligence,” “Act of Fate” and “Act of Atonement.” Jim Bob Brady, the protagonist, is an accomplished orthopedic surgeon with a talent for solving medical mysteries who also moonlights as a blues musician. The series is set in the 1990s and features Houston and Galveston locales. In “Act of Revenge,” Jim Bob Brady is once again helping in an investigation, this time in regards to Lou Edwards, one of his colleagues, who is the prime suspect in the murder of Paul Thompson, the CEO of an insurance company.
In “Act of Revenge,” Doc Brady and his wife Mary Louise are in Colorado for a combined continuing education conference and ski getaway when he crashes into another skier. That skier turns out to be Lou Edwards, a plastic surgeon from Houston and a colleague of Jim Bob Brady. Once back in Texas, Lou has knee surgery and while he is in the hospital, Mary Louise spends time with Mimi, Lou’s wife. As it turns out, Mimi has lupus along with other health issues brought on by leakage of her breast implants, which were inserted by Lou. Lou is being sued multiple times for other faulty silicone breast implants and because of that, his medical malpractice insurance has been cancelled. Days later, he shows up at a protest downtown at the office of that insurance company and while being interviewed, he threatens Paul Thompson live on the air. Later that same day, Paul is found murdered in his luxury penthouse and Lou, being the main suspect, disappears. Since he has successfully helped before, Jim Bob is brought into the investigation and with the help of his son J.J., he follows the paper trail to uncover the real killer.
In “Act of Revenge,” John Bishop M.D. once again takes his real-life knowledge as an orthopedic surgeon to give his writing an authentic voice even though the medical aspect of the story is not the mystery. Jim Bob Brady is once more lured into an investigation that puts him in the crosshairs and this time he is trying to find out who killed Paul Thompson. He is almost run off the road: “As I slammed on the brake and ducked down into the seat, the sound of a sonic explosion, followed by shattering glass, deafened me” and towards the end, he is held captive at gunpoint. Descriptions of the author’s native Texas are spot on, especially Houston and the characters are familiar, believable, and relatable. Except for the sections explaining plastic surgery and medical insurance, it is an easy read and the story is entertaining and light-hearted. The language is poetic at times: “The evening was spectacular, an unusually clear, starlit night with a half-moon shining through the cloudless sky” and acts as a transition between the dialogue. The extensive backstory on Felicia Edwards (Lou Edwards’ daughter) and Annie Harrison makes it seem it seem like revenge was a motive in Paul’s murder so the plot twist at the end came as a surprise. Even though this is the third in the Doc Brady series, it stands perfectly fine on its own and should not dissuade readers who have not read the previous books. A definite page-turner, “Act of Revenge” is a must-read for fans of murder mysteries who appreciate the intricacies of the medical profession as background and want to learn more about the different types of plastic surgeries.
*The author received a copy of this book for an honest review. The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to her.
Winner in the Fiction category: ‘The Midnight Library’ by Matt Haig. Photo: amazon
These are the winners of the 12th Annual Goodreads Choice Awards, the only major book awards decided by readers. Congratulations to the best books of the year. Winners in other categories include: Nonfiction: ‘Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You’ by Jason Reynolds, Ibram X. Kendi, Memoir & Autobiography: ‘A Promised Land’ by Barack Obama and History & Biography: ‘Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents’ by Isabel Wilkerson. The complete list of winners is available online.
Highlights include:
Fiction: ‘The Midnight Library’ by Matt Haig– Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?
Mystery & Thriller: ‘The Guest List’ by Lucy Foley– On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast. And then someone turns up dead.
Historical Fiction: ‘The Vanishing Half’ by Brit Bennett -The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it is not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it is everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Many years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation when their own daughters’ storylines intersect?
Fantasy: ‘House of Earth and Blood’ (Crescent City) by Sarah J. Maas – Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life―working hard all day and partying all night―until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She will do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths.
Romance: ‘From Blood and Ash’ by Jennifer L Armentrout– Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy’s life has never been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers.
Science Fiction: ‘To Sleep in a Sea of Stars’ by Christopher Paolini – During a routine survey mission on an uncolonized planet, Kira finds an alien relic. At first she is delighted, but elation turns to terror when the ancient dust around her begins to move. As war erupts among the stars, Kira is launched into a galaxy-spanning odyssey of discovery and transformation. First contact is not at all what she imagined, and events push her to the very limits of what it means to be human. While Kira faces her own horrors, Earth and its colonies stand upon the brink of annihilation.
Horror: ‘Mexican Gothic’ by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – After receiving a frantic letter from her newlywed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She is not sure what she will find; her cousin’s husband, a handsome Englishman, is a stranger, and Noemí knows little about the region. Mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, Noemí may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.
‘Dying With Ease’ by Jeff Spies, M.D. Photo: amazon
Jeff Spiess, M.D. has spent his medical career caring for those facing serious illness and death, first as an oncologist, then as a hospice physician. He is ‘mostly’ retired as associate medical director of Hospice of the Western Reserve and has been recognized as a leader in his field. Believing that death may be inevitable but fearing the end-of-life is avoidable, in his new book “Dying With Ease: A Compassionate Guide for Making Wiser End-of-Life Decisions,” he gives readers thorough information about advance care planning, hospice, palliative care, and ethical and legal issues surrounding dying in America to help them learn how to put their fear of their final days to rest.
“Dying With Ease” begins with an Introduction where Jeff Spiess recounts the life of Socrates and how in his “seventy years of his life, he had killed no one, betrayed no one, robbed no one, lied to no one, yet he faced capital punishment.” His crime? In short, corrupting the youth by failing to adhere to the religious norms of the day because he admitted that death is a mystery – that one one knows what it is all about. After years of caring for terminally ill patients, the biggest lesson the author learned is that just like his patients, he will also one day die. Most Americans fail to accept death because conversations and decisions about the end-of-life topic are “unknown territory.” He quotes surgeon Atul Gawande, who in his book “Being Mortal,” writes “Death may be the enemy, but it is also the natural order of things.” Spiess’ focus is to present death as a personal process that everyone will experience eventually. The book is divided into nine chapters, including, among others, Dying in America, Suffering, and Envisioning Your Own Death. At the end, there are Notes and a Bibliography as well as a Discussion Questions section, by chapter, to help readers reflect on what they just read. For the braver ones, Chapter 7 contains a guided exercise to help them get an idea of what it may feel like to die; it may be too emotional for some. His hope is for everyone “to become more informed and at peace regarding your own dying.”
While most people agree that death is an inevitable part of life, not everyone has seriously thought about it, much less planned for it. It is a scary thought, but in “Dying With Ease,” Jeff Spiess attempts to arm readers with what they need to know about death, dying, and how to adequately prepare to lessen the pain and grief for themselves and for those who will be left behind. He successfully does this by using language that is easy to understand, the exception being Chapter 3: Hospice, but the material it contains is invaluable. The book is not too long and can easily be read within a couple of days and is also useful as a future reference guide. Some of the details of the case studies presented (like the infamous Terri Schiavo case) are heartbreaking but overall, it is a balanced work that includes examples of people who experienced death as well information on how to choose a hospice, religious/spiritual/cultural views regarding death and dying and what documents to have in place to prepare for the inevitable. Highlights include the three basic anxieties surrounding death: fear of what dying will be like, fear of loss and fear of the unknown; and Chapter 2: I’m Going to Die? What Can I Do? – an eye-opening account of what to expect when your health declines and how to plan for it. Chapter 4: Suffering contains options for how to deal with unbearable suffering: increased treatment intensity, palliative sedation, and voluntary shortening life, which includes Medical Aid in Dying. This highly practical guide is recommended for readers who appreciate a perspective on death from someone who has seen his share and therefore has the resources and credibility to educate others on the subject.
“…for the highest likelihood of your wishes being carried out, you should not only execute advance directive documents but also communicate their presence, location, and content to your family and friends, and care providers. A living will form lying in a file drawer with your other estate documents might get noticed, but most likely only when you are dead, and then it is too late.”
*The author received a copy of this book for an honest review. The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to her.
‘Here She Is’ by Hilary Levey Friedman. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
Hilary Levey Friedman is a sociologist at Brown University, where she has taught a popular course titled ‘Beauty Pageants in American Society.’ She is an expert on beauty pageants, childhood and parenting, competitive afterschool activities and popular culture. As a leading researcher in pageantry, she merges her mother’s past experiences as Miss America 1970 with her interests as a glitz-and glamour-loving sometime pageant judge. Friedman serves as the president of the Rhode Island chapter of the National Organization for Women and was a mentor to Miss America 2018. Her first book, “Playing to Win: Raising Children in a Competitive Culture” focused on children’s competitive afterschool activities. “Here She Is: The Complicated Reign of the Beauty Pageant in America” is her newest book and it uses beauty pageants to trace the arc of American feminism from the 1840s to the present.
“Here She Is” begins with the author admitting that she “can’t remember ever not knowing what a beauty pageant was.” In the Preface, she explains that as the only child of a divorced beauty queen, her mother is Miss America 1970, Pamela Eldred, her childhood was immersed in the beauty pageant world. Her home was filled with memorabilia and from a young age she instinctively knew that to win a pageant, women had to be beautiful and thin, aside from also being a good public speaker and performer. With this much firsthand knowledge of the beauty pageant world and through thorough research, she explains the history of beauty pageants and how they became acceptable and mainstream. This was due in part to P.T. Barnum’s baby shows, which he popularized at a time when women could not appear in public, but in his shows, they could take the stage while carrying said babies. The book is divided into three parts: Part I: The birth of American Pageantry and the Feminist Movement, Part II: The (Second) wave of Bras and Beliefs, and Part III: Tabloids, Trump, and tits. Her notes appear at the end of the book, which shows the amount of research that went into writing this book.
This year, America’s most popular beauty pageant celebrates its 100th anniversary. Due to ever changing attitudes and codes of morality, many people thought beauty pageants would eventually go away. While admitting that beauty pageants objectify women because they were first invented in 1921 by male businessmen to use women’s bodies to entice a crowd to stay longer in Atlantic City so that businesses could make more money, the author brings up the argument that they have helped bring women into the public sphere, helped them become leaders in business and politics and given them a path to higher education. Besides giving a background on beauty pageants, Hilary Levey Friedman provides historical tidbits including how Barbie came out in the 1950s, not coincidentally at the height of beauty pageants and how Girl Scouts, and beauty pageants, use sashes influenced by early suffragettes. Highlights include the idea that there are different pageants for different groups and ethnicities because when people feel excluded from pageants, they will make their own: pageants exist for Blacks, Asians, Latinas, Natives, disabled, petites, full figured women, seniors, etc. and that for the most part, conservative femininity is the dominant trait of pageants – they insist on a purity trait. The language is down to earth, making this an easy to read and hard to put down insight into pageants. “Here She Is” is not a how-to guide for becoming a pageant queen, nor is it a salacious behind-the-scenes look at beauty pageants. It is an impressively in-depth look at the positive and negative aspects of beauty pageants and is recommended for readers who want to learn about the historical background of pageants, including its controversies and dark past.
“Overall, it is neither an indictment of beauty pageants nor a paean instead showing that beauty pageants have never been all bad or all good – for participants, for women, or for feminism.”
*The author received a copy of this book for an honest review. The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to her.
The new adaptation of Stephen King’s enormously popular ‘The Stand’ premieres on CBS All Access on December 17. Photo: google
Stephen King is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. His books have sold more than 350 million copies, and many have been adapted into films, television series, miniseries and comic books. One of his most popular works, “The Stand” is a post-apocalyptic dark fantasy novel that centers around a pandemic of a weaponized strain of influenza that k8lls most of the world’s population. It was adapted into a miniseries in 1994 and a now a new miniseries will be released on CBS All Access starting Thursday December 17 with new episodes releasing weekly. Cast includes Whoopi Goldberg as Mother Abigail, Alexander Skargård as Randall Flagg and James Marsden as Stu Redman. (Wikipedia, 2020)
In “The Stand,” the lethal strain of influenza is accidentally released when there is a security breach in a secret U.S. Department of Defense laboratory in northern California. A security guard, Charles Campion, manages to escape the facility before it is locked down and takes his family out of the state. His car crashes in Texas and bystanders and ambulance workers become infected. The army tries to contain the virus by isolating the town, but it eventually spreads across the country and the global pandemic nearly kills everyone in a month’s time. The few survivors, united in groups, establish a new social system to adapt but eventual confrontations emerge.
‘Ready Player Two’ by Ernest Cline is now available everywhere books are sold. Photo: amazon
Ernest Cline is an internationally best-selling science fiction novelist, screenwriter, and poet. He is the author of the novels “Ready Player One” and “Armada” and co-screenwriter of the film adaptation of “Ready Player One,” directed by Steven Spielberg. His books have been published in over fifty countries and have spent more than 100 weeks on The New York Times Best Sellers list. His new novel, “Ready Player Two,” the highly anticipated sequel to the worldwide bestseller “Ready Player One,” is out today, Tuesday, November 24, 2020. It takes readers on another imaginative, fun, action-packed adventure through Ernest Cline’s beloved virtual universe, and jolts them thrillingly into the future once again.
In “Ready Player Two,” days after winning OASIS founder James Halliday’s contest, Wade Watts makes a discovery that changes everything. Hidden within Halliday’s vaults, waiting for his heir to find, lies a technological advancement that will once again change the world and make the OASIS a thousand times more wondrous, and addictive, than even Wade dreamed possible. With it comes a new riddle, and a new quest—a last Easter egg from Halliday, hinting at a mysterious prize. And an unexpected, impossibly powerful, and dangerous new rival awaits, one who will kill millions to get what he wants. Wade’s life and the future of the OASIS are again at stake, but this time the fate of humanity also hangs in the balance.
SA Examiner 