Shadows Present, Shadows Past

J.H. Sanderson
iUniverse, (paperback) $13.95, 9780595398737
(Reviewed: December, 2013)

A quick, easy read, Shadows Present, Shadows Past is the ghost story equivalent of a “cozy” mystery, in which the characters may be discussing a grisly murder, but they do it at teatime while buttering their scones. In this case, the subject is a haunted house, debated over a breakfast of farm-fresh eggs and milk. Still, the result is the same: an entertaining tale whose underlying mystery is almost coincidental.

J.H. Sanderson’s novel has all the elements of a traditional ghost story. The Evans sisters inherit a neighbor’s long-abandoned home, a dream come true that is fast becoming a nightmare. Starting on moving-in day, the house comes alive with phantom footsteps, unexplained door-banging, and sudden cold chills.

It’s pretty standard fare, and the ghost elements are rarely the most engaging parts of the story. Instead of deeply exploring the paranormal, Sanderson turns to character development, and the mind of Colleen Evans as she tries to sort out which shadows are real and which are her own creations. Colleen’s investigation brings out not only her complex character, but also a rich a sense of place: In this small town, the librarian knows all of the gossip, and Colleen’s high school sweetheart is still pining away for her on his farm. Generations of family feuds alternately reveal and obscure the truth as the rural history unfolds.

Shadows Present, Shadows Past is written in an accessible, easy-to-read style; it’s a book you can devour in one or two sittings. You’ll enjoy it if you can forgive the occasional typographical error and a complicated conclusion that draws together a startling number of threads. Instead, concentrate on the old-fashioned story of one woman overcoming her fears with the help of her family. In this, you’ll find a satisfying tale.

Also available as an ebook.

Author’s Current Residence
Madison, New Hampshire

Source: BlueInk Reviews

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Looking into the Revelation: The Countdown to Christ's Return

Dr. Boyd O. Gray
iUniverse, 542 pages, (paperback) $31.95, 9781491704264
(Reviewed: December, 2013)

A recurring theme in Dr. Boyd O. Gray’s lengthy book, Looking into the Revelation, is that mankind has lost sight of its first love, God. This is an idea that permeates the controversial book of Revelation, the last book in the Christian Bible. The author, a pastor for over 30 years, knows Revelation well, and in the course of over 500 pages unpacks the scripture line-by-line and chapter-by-chapter.

One must imagine that this was a daunting task, and Gray’s commitment to the text and his desire to reveal the enigmatic messaging in John’s Apocalypse is apparent. Moreover, there is a strong pastoral quality to the book to help lead people to a change of heart: “The only time Christians have unlimited power of the Holy Spirit at their disposal is when they are obedient to the will of God,“ he writes. “When they break their alliance with God and make their alliance with the world they are entering into a powerless state that will ruin them in effectiveness.”

Though the book could use editing to condense ideas and tighten lines, Boyd is a clear and articulate writer. He makes what is an extremely dense biblical work accessible to the general reader. The problem — and its one the author acknowledges in part in his foreword — is that there is no footnoting so it’s difficult to know exactly which are Boyd’s idea and which are the thoughts of those that have come before him. To be fair, the book is not written for academics, but this lack of citation can leave readers questioning the authority of the writing.

Nonetheless, Looking into the Revelation provides a useful jumping-off point for church groups looking for insight into a book that still perplexes people today.

Also available in hardcover and ebook.

Author’s Hometown
Saint James, Missouri

Author’s Current Residence
St. James, Missouri

Source: BlueInk Reviews

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Transgressions and Other Stories

Hilary Orbach
iUniverse, 239 pages, (paperback) $16.95, 9781475980455
(Reviewed: December, 2013)

The work of a New York City psychotherapist, these 14 precisely-written stories deal with the kinds of problems their author is likely to hear about every day at the office: grief, rage, betrayal, family dysfunction, loneliness, sexual awakening, the discontents of modern life.

Hilary Orbach's characters can seem a bit overcivilized (the story is replete with Grahams, Adeles, Trevors and Elyses) and, for their unlikely coincidences, her plots can feel as calculated as blueprints. But the author has her finger squarely on the pulse of the human animal as it lurches out of the long night of existence into the half-light of morning. She is an observant writer.

In “Jeopardy,” a needy neighbor suffering from AIDS undermines the tenuous relationship of two young lovers living in a cramped Manhattan apartment. Having alienated his beloved, the uncertain narrator concludes: “Sometimes I think our only safety lies in not really knowing each other.”

That theme recurs in the Cheever-esque “Transgressions,” wherein an adulterous couple ruins two suburban families. The couple ultimately winds up estranged because “you can't ever be sure you really know the other.” In “Touch,” a young widow who sells psychotropic pharmaceuticals tries—and fails—to love a blind guidance counselor, and in “Becoming Mira,” a teenager realizes she's a lesbian just before finding her troubled father in the arms of the older woman she's fallen for.

Taking stock, perhaps, of her own profession, Orbach glimpses an unsettled Manhattan psychiatrist in “Verona Waits for You.” In the end, the shrink and a rough-hewn New Jersey divorcee set out as “a pair of hopeful messengers through the darkness.”

A touch of humor here and there might color up these dark tales about unhappy people. But as visions of the untidy mind, the troubled conscience, and the doomed soul seeking redemption, they largely succeed, adding up to a collection that’s well worth a look.

Also available in hardcover and ebook

Author’s Current Residence
New York, New York

Source: BlueInk Reviews

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Fire From the Sky

Ron Greer and Mike Wicks
iUniverse, 272 pages, (paperback) $18.95, 9781475997132
(Reviewed: December, 2013)

A valuable contribution to the history of WWII, this in-depth memoir chronicles the air war over Japan. More than a narrative of one man’s harrowing experiences during his 28 bombing missions on a B29 Superfortress, it contains a wealth of essential information about the military operation that decimated Japan’s war arsenal and defenses.

Staff Sergeant Herbert Greer was a 23-year-old, newly married, “frightened boy” from a little town in the Pacific Northwest when he was stationed on Guam. His diary of his service as the radio operator on bombing flights is precisely detailed, also augmented and enriched by his recollections six decades later, as spoken to his son, Ron Greer. Co-author Mike Wicks shows a fine editorial hand in stitching those strands together to provide background to the wartime events that Greer witnessed.

Military buffs will be interested in the development of Boeing’s fabled aircraft, since its enhanced ability in range and bomb capacity made a crucial difference in the war’s course. Even general readers will be impressed by the levels of training the flight crew of the City of Monroe Superfortress maintained.

The crew endured 14-hour flights in excruciatingly tight quarters, often encountering severe weather fronts, before reaching their destination. Once they arrived, they were in extreme peril from flak, fighter and suicide planes, and firestorms that arose and engulfed the plane from the havoc they had created below. Greer recalls “the remarkable stench… the smell of burning flesh” that rose and permeated the plane after a bombing. Equally horrifying was the Japanese military’s practice of summarily beheading captured Allied soldiers, a fact that haunted airmen who faced the option of parachuting from a disabled aircraft.

Greer’s recollections and insights about the members of his squadron and their tight camaraderie add considerable dramatic suspense to this compelling narrative. The book will hold great appeal for WWII veterans and their descendants, as well as general readers with an interest in this fearsome war.

BlueInk Heads-Up: Those interested in military history of any epoch will also find much to intrigue them here, especially since the text includes black and white archival photos and a bibliography of 47 web sites.

Also available in hardcover and ebook.

Author’s Current Residence
Cabot, Arizona

Source: BlueInk Reviews

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Box 731

Paul McKellips
iUniverse, 320 pages, (paperback) $19.95, 9781491702802
(Reviewed: November, 2013)

A modern-day anthrax attack rooted in the horrors of World War II-era germ warfare and human experimentation is at the heart of Box 731, a thriller featuring the protagonists from Paul McKellips' previous two novels, Uncaged and Jericho 3.

Box 731 opens with U.S. Navy Capt. Seabury "Camp" Campbell surviving a near-death experience, having been shot accidentally by his beloved, Lt. Col. Leslie Raines, as they stopped a suicide bomber from setting off an explosive vest. Camp doesn't waste much time recuperating, however, as he's soon jetting off to Israel to reunite with Raines and then to Syria for a rescue mission.

Camp isn't just bigger than life; he's bigger than several lives. Our hero is a Navy SEAL turned trauma surgeon, which comes in handy when he takes down a terrorist by leaping six feet through the air to stab the enemy – and immediately thereafter saves several injured people in surgery. This all occurs just a couple of months after Camp's heart stopped on the operating table following the accidental shooting, edging past creative license and into the comic-book realm.

The action scenes in Box 731 are well constructed, and McKellips keeps the narrative moving quickly, though a tangential storyline about wedding plans would have been better off excised. The dialogue also is uneven, with some lines better suited to a romance novel: "You’re my soul mate, Leslie Raines, you – and only you – you are the only reason I came back. And I won’t leave this world again unless you’re in my arms."

Those issues and some overly broad characters keep Box 731 from really hitting its stride, but overall, it's a serviceable thriller with some energetic scenes and suspenseful moments that many readers will enjoy.

Also available in hardcover and ebook.

Author’s Current Residence
Washington, D.C.

Source: BlueInk Reviews

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Spiritual Wisdom

Ramesh Malhotra
iUniverse, 352 pages, (paperback) $23.95, 9781475992892
(Reviewed: November, 2013)

What began as author Ramesh Malhotra’s personal spiritual journey evolved into a comprehensive, years-long investigation into the “secrets of eternal wisdom”: the hidden, spiritual knowledge contained within the Bhagavad Gita and other holy scriptures from civilizations around the world and across time.

Spiritual Wisdom is the result, and it is nothing less than a modern-day sacred text that skillfully guides readers through understanding and attainment of eternal principles of spiritual wisdom. Simultaneously, and complementarily, the author documents the spiritual evolutionary process, both from a historical perspective and as a body of knowledge.

“The process of spiritual evolution starts with humanity cultivating a quest to know the Creator,” Malhotra states, and then identifies four distinct categories and stages of spiritual development: mythological wisdom (the origins of faith), inspirational wisdom, transcendental wisdom, and ultimately, Absolute Truth: “the union of individual living spirit with the eternal soul.” Each stage contains both “lower and higher” spiritual knowledge according to the Vedas. Lower knowledge contains five main elements: faith, covenants, dogma, omnipotence, and encirclement; the five higher knowledge elements are primordial force, living force, living spirit, the Trinity, and tranquility.

Although this book is not light reading, Malhotra has done the heavy lifting for readers in distilling the complexities of these and other spiritual stages and elements, as well as the barriers to attaining them, into clear and concise language and signposts.

As with any investigation into sacred writings, there are layers of truth to be gleaned, and the unfolding of realization is subjective and progressive and can take years to come to fruition. Humanity has come a long way toward knowing the truth, says Malhotra, but “the unveiling has just begun and it has millions of years to go.”

Spiritual Wisdom is a significant resource for navigating the long road ahead.

Also available in hardcover and ebook.

Author’s Current Residence
Cincinnati, Ohio

Source: BlueInk Reviews

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Anvil of God

J. Boyce Gleason
iUniverse, 420 pages, (paperback) $23.95, 9781475990195
(Reviewed: November, 2013)

J. Boyce Gleason’s stellar debut novel—which chronicles the chaos that ensues shortly after Frankish leader Charles Martel’s death in 741—is meticulously researched, vividly imagined, and literally unputdownable: a labyrinthinely plotted work of historical fiction that is just as good as anything written by literary giants such as Ken Follett, Bernard Cornwell, Philippa Gregory, and Stephen R. Lawhead.

Charles the Hammer has done much to strengthen Francia during his de facto rule. A devout Christian and patron to Bishop Boniface, he has subjugated Bavaria, vanquished the pagan Saxons, and halted the expansion of Islam into Western Europe. But now he is dying, and he has decided to divide Francia between his sons Carloman, Pippin, and his youngest son Gripho, whose mother is the Bavarian princess Sunni. But even before Charles is buried, the scheming begins.

The pagan Gripho defiles a church in his new territory, and Carloman, a fanatical Christian, becomes a pawn for Boniface and the Church’s ambitions. The two are soon pitted against one another in a bloody conflict as their sister Trudi, betrothed to a man for political purposes, attempts to flee to the one she loves — with disastrous consequences.

While there are so many exceptional elements to this novel, character development has to be one of the strongest. The central characters are all extraordinarily layered. Trudi, in particular, is a wonderfully complex figure; she’s a warrioress, courageous, empowered and in many ways the linchpin to the entire kingdom, but also vulnerable and naïve to the machinations around her.

The first installment of Gleason’s Carolingian Chronicles, this debut is a “must-read” for anyone who enjoys historical fiction. A rich and evocative writing style, profound character development, relentless pacing, powerful themes (politics, religion, love, betrayal, etc.), and stunning cover art make this a reading experience that fans of historical fiction will not soon forget. A towering, breathtaking work of fiction.

Also available in hardcover and ebook.

Author’s Current Residence
Clifton, Virginia

Source: BlueInk Reviews

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Marybell's Story

Roselys Polanco
iUniverse, 54 pages, (paperback) $8.95, 9780595355778
(Reviewed: November, 2013)

In Roselys Polanco's coming-of-age novel, 15-year-old Marybell is trying to cope with her troublesome and turbulent life.

Removed from her parents' custody because of her father's abhorrent abuse and adopted by Jenny and Allan—her "so-called" mom and dad— Marybell "was forced to grow up at an early age" and keep a dark secret. She finds comfort in writing, and she's composed this story—her story—for "you[,] dear reader to figure out who the real victim is, who Marybell truly is, what she's truly about. How much pain she is really feeling. And if she truly does care."

This is a heavy and peculiar directive with which to begin the book, given that Marybell's emotional state is never explicitly described and the majority of the book's action is a rundown of Marybell's exploits with her boyfriend, Angel, and her day-to-day arguments with Jenny. However, it's not a failed technique. Polanco makes a clever switch in point of view by the book's end, thereby bolstering the effect of the direct address and shrouding the cheeky conclusion in mystery.

Regrettably though, this 54-page debut is flawed by a lack of punctuation, awkward transitions between scenes and chapters, and inconsistencies in word usage (i.e. "ok," "okay," and "O.K."). Spelling mistakes also detract from the book's enjoyment: Polanco uses "except" for “accept”; "brake up" for “break up”; and "baby's" for “babies.” Choppy prose, such as, "Yes ok what ever you want baby, lets just leave now and then we have more time together..." thwarts readers' engagement. And, a free-form structure confounds: The book concludes with an entry from Marybell's journal and seven poems written presumably by Marybell.

An extensive edit of Polanco's tale prior to publication would have corrected these missteps and allowed its worthy themes of surviving abuse, transition, and self-awareness to emerge. As it stands, the book's mechanical errors are likely to overpower any reader's attachment to the story.

Also available in ebook.

Author’s Current Residence
New York, New York

Source: BlueInk Reviews

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