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Review by S. Joan Popek
Highly Recommended
 

Tarrant has created a world that I believe could be.  I'm not sure if this book is science fiction, fantasy, adventure or all three, but whichever it is, it rocks!

I was hooked with the first sentence and didn't put the book down until I turned the last page.  This is a poignant story of a present day society, high-tech man finding his roots and his future in a most surprising place and time.

The author's fast paced style, yet down-to-earth language, leaves no room for slacking.  You rush from one page to the next breathlessly to see what happens next.  Tarrant writes "too" you, not "at" you.

I was impressed with the underlying message of how our society treats those "different" from the norm without preaching or pontificating.  He leaves you with a feeling of satisfaction and a real desire to be more accepting of our fellow human beings, no matter what their heritage or appearance might be.

This adventure hits you in the gut and then twists your heart as you follow young John Hunter through his very believable and often difficult path from his high-tech existence and values to the most primitive world he could imagine with a whole new set of ideals.  He is forced to take a real "Reality Check" on his entire life.

I highly recommend this book to lovers of adventure, lovers of science fiction and lovers of just plain good writing.  Buy this book.  You won't be sorry.
 
 

VOCATION
By Megan Powell
$4.99 USD
eBook 141 Pages (April 2002)
Publisher: Double Dragon eBooks
ISBN: 1-894841-39-5

Reviewed by Peggy J. Shumate, Editorial Reviewer DDP

GREAT fantasy storytellers are hard to come by these days.  Megan Powell has brought to the fantasy
genre something that has been lacking despite the fact that interest is strong in that field.  She spins a tale
revolving around fascinating characters, picturesque scenes, and intriguing plots.

Georg becomes informed of the tragic news that his brother has died and he is to replace him at the
Veneficus Domas.  [The school of Wizards]  However, other pertinent particulars weigh in while he
endeavors to discover the cause of his brother’s untimely death.  Could it be due to an ancient artifact or a
magic spell going awry? Understanding his new found powers of magic with the stolen Scepter; Georg
must face a ominous situation to save his own son.

Megan has brought to the fantasy realm of make-believe a very charming world of mystery and magic in
her riveting tale VOCATION.  I highly recommend this fable to anyone that has a high regard for magical
related fiction doused with just enough whimsical witty dialogue interrelated with some driving sinister
encounters to charm even the most cynical connoisseur.  This story is very gripping and full of
wonderment the reader is never left in a dull moment of lull.  You care about Georg and his
determination of finding out his birthright, what and how he is to attain it, and you are enthralled with the
magical emphatic high points in the story of VOCATION.  The author did an outstanding piece of work
in this fanciful captivating mystery that revolves around a very important legacy.

Guarder Lore by Shawn P. Madison
NBI Inc.
Paperback: 207 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.52 x 7.94 x 5.54
Publisher: NovelBooks, Inc.; (March 2002)
ISBN: 193169673X
Price:   $15.95

© Review by: Brutal Dreamer
April 10, 2002
~Brutal Dreamer Rating: five out of five Grape Tootsie Pops!~

As an avid reader, I have indulged my ravenous feeding upon Shawn P. Madison’s work for quite a
while now.  His genre is absolutely overflowing with his unique vernacular.  He creates worlds and
characters that are realistic and convincing.  In Shawn’s novel, Guarder Lore you can see his imagination
and his intelligence both caressing the story and the readers attention while grasping a whole new world
he constructs.

You get no spoilers from The Brutal Dreamer, but you may be wondering what Guarder Lore is about.
This highly explosive novel is based upon an elite militaristic soldiers of the galaxy and the leader of the
Guarder Squadron is Frank “Buzzer” Buzzito. Buzzer has always proven to be the best guarder in all
venues of their missions.  This military is the most secretive of squadrons that have been sanctioned by
the United Earthian Nations (U.E.N.) to fight the Soviets; a hard-core communistic Super Power.  These
enormously formidable military guarders are appointed by this U.E.N. Judiciary Board to defend their
interests at all costs. There are no tasks too difficult or no odds too great for these warriors. They are
greatly feared for their brutal combatant skills by their foes. The Guarders do the dirty work no one dares
discuss, and no one dares to think about.  And they do it with no conscious, and no remorse, they do it
out of duty.

Shawn’s creativity flows well in this Scientific saga filled with clever one liners, incredible and believable
characters, and enough vivid details that paints a picture for a bookworm to bask in.  His Science Fiction
scruples are ingenious as he adds a splash of gore and horror to the already powerful scenes he has set
up.

An awesomely creative Sci-Fi Horrific story by an extremely talented author.
 

Crystal Treasure by Atk Butterfly
CD-ROM: 80 pages
Publisher: Silver Lake Publishing; (December 23, 2000)
ISBN: 1931095086

Reviewed by Brutal Dreamer
~Brutal rating system: Five out of five Grape Tootsie Pops!~

Crystal Treasure is indeed a treasure in itself. If you enjoy a good female lead and will let her take you
aboard a spaceship meeting up with a lot of twists and turns... and ALIENS then you will not be
disappointed.

The story is much deeper than all that and is laced with much darker sides of the Captain, Her
Grandfather had been a Captain involved in a questionable disaster aboard his tug. He couldn’t prove his
innocence due to the missing box. Now it is up to his Granddaughter Celeste Crystal to redeem her
Grandfather’s honor by finding the black box while she is on other duties.

Captian Crystal is on her first command of Claudine and likened to Star Ship Enterprise the ship Claudine
is the oldest ship yet is the one called in for action. Captain Celeste Crystal has other "treasure" motives
but wages war upon the enemy using her very capable crew.

Science Fiction writer, Atk Butterfly has proven to be lead in his vision of a good space opera and this
story CRYSTAL TREASURE is one of his many filled with lively characters, abounding in believable
dialogue, and just enough action not to overtake the plot.

I highly recommend this book “Crystal Treasure” for any sci-fi buff or one that likes a great female lead.
 

FAIRY TALES WITH A FREUDIAN FLAIR
A Collection of Frivolous Fallacies
By S. Joan Popek
Genre: Fantasy/humor
Atlantic Bridge Publishing http://www.atlanticbridge.net
ISBN 1-931761-63-1
E-Book: Available in PDF, HTML, LIT and
PalmOS by download ($4.00)

Reviewed by: Brutal Dreamer
Very Highly Recommended

Award winning author, S. Joan Popek, has given me the honor and adventure of taking me on her enchanted journey through the magical lands of "happily ever afters" and "once upon a times" of a Joan Popek kind. To read her witty, clever tales and reasoning, one must wonder if her Freudian outlook on fairytales is indisputable.

I read this book in one sitting this morning; I nearly blew chunks of laughter, snickering at some of the analogies Joan made from timeless classics such as: Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Goldie Locks, and many other renowned characters that have shaped our childhood.

In today’s society, I have heard the protests and bellyaching about Harry Potter and many other modern-day fantasy tales.  What I find ironic is, most these complainers adored the good ol' fashioned fairytales. You know: Mother Goose Stories and even Disney fairytales.  I agree with Joan Popek’s assertions of these little rhyming dementias. I must ask, what is up with the, "Rub-a-Dub-Dub-Three-Men-in-a-Tub" ditty? Now, I’d hate to have to figure that one out much else have to explain that little scene to a tyke.

Joan Popek has given some hilarious but insightful input on Jack and Jill's romp down the hill together, Georgie Porgie, Jack the Nimble (who appears to be a pyromaniac), Snow White living in a one bedroom home with seven little men. Ahem, Joan’s right, that sure leaves a lot to wonder about, but let’s not! And doesn’t anyone find it odd, a Prince kissing a corpse?  Watch out for Princes if you come across them in a cemetery, is all I can say.

After reflecting back on the many demented and abnormal fairytales and Mother Goose rhymes, Joan Popek offers her own dementia to the asinine concoction of fantasy brew.

Now that your kiddies have been properly primed by fairytales and the
rhymes of old -- Joan will finish their little minds off with her zany tales.

I will give you a snippet of her tales, but to really get the punch and the irony, you must read these enchanting tales yourself. Each story listed below is from her collection of frivolous fallacies.

       About the stories in FAIRY TALES WITH A FREUDIAN FLAIR: A Collection of frivolous fallacies

Bigger than Both of Us:
What could possibly be more mean and bigger than an Ogre? You are about to find out in this hair-raiser tale about an Ogre who sits on a rock and knits while telling a Knight his life story. You be the judge after reading this tale: should a knitting Ogre put down the needles and rape, pillage, and plunder?

The Pie-eyed Piper:
You are told the tale of the Piper’s son, Tom - who stole a pig and away he run in the most daring way.  The Piper is enjoying some suds at the bar, crying in his beer to the Barkeeper about his thieving son. Parenting skills and discipline are brought into this little fable.

Just One Little Finger:
When a sorcerer needs a dragon claw to finish her spell - she goes to Derwood the Dragon to plead for his claw. She needs this "finger" to finish her potion, and since the Princess made it illegal to kill dragons, she feels it is Derwood's responsibility to provide the final ingredient. She ends up slashing off the Dragon’s finger without his permission. The dialogue in this tale is incredible and will leave you in belly-roars.

Dragon Tales:
A spicy wench is gone in a flash. Well, at least munched. Do dragons really desire virgins?

Little Boy Blue's Done Growed Up:
Little Boy Blue under a haystack fast asleep: Little Boy Blue’s father is not happy; he needs Blue to blow the horn because the sheep is in the meadow and the cows have broken down a fence and are in the corn. I wonder why Little Boy Blue hasn’t been watching those animals, don’t you?  Could it be, he’s been keeping company with Mary Quite Contrary and her pretty maids? Blue thinks his mother would be thrilled to know how his father knows so much about Mary.  His father feels that scardy-cat Miss Muffet is more of a catch for Blue. When that fatherly advice doesn’t encourage Blue, his father discusses Mary (the one who had a little lamb). Blue is not amused - explaining how
everyone laughs at her. You are going to enjoy this tale very much. You will be snickering throughout. His father realizes his son could be a lot worse, if Blue was to be more like his strange cousin.

Hard Times:
It is said: The Prince must rescue a Princess and make her his bride.  Nothing promises the Princess he will be a dashing, good looking, Prince. But this hideous Prince with a lop-sided nose, was destined to find his Princess and live happily ever after. Times were hard for this con-artist and pick-pocket. The Princess was kidnaped from the
Kingdom--sending the King into a tizzy, even killing off staff. The reward of finding the Princess would be her hand in marriage and all the gold. Pete Prince , our hideous Prince was eager to get his grubby hands on this venture. He sold the wannabe rescuers all sorts of defective weaponry and made a killing off them. An excellent tale of acquiring a
Princess with the help of a Fairy God Mother’s help - with a final twist.

Going to Granny's House:
Well, you all know the story of “Little Red Riding Hood” and her devotion to her Granny - this tale has a new scheme for this little fable. What in the world does Red see in these long tongued wolves, hmm? It’s enough to leave a bartender blushing.

Princess Penelope and the Cook:
I have heard, “a way to a mans heart is through his belly” but this has a new twist on that belief. A Princess falls in love with the staff cook, but her royal father won’t hear of it. What happens when a cook falls in love with a Princess? Well, Princess Penelope Puffy, Penny for short, is kidnaped, and the king decrees if anyone can bring her back, they can have her hand in marriage. The cook concocts a plan and sure enough he saves his damsel.

The Stepmom Syndrome:
Cinderella thought her step-mother was evil but she couldn’t hold a candle to Goldie’s experience as a Step-Mother. While the two discuss their experiences you are hurled into a world of hilarity and madcap. If you want to really know about Hansel and Gretel, those two little darlings -- read on and you will pity poor Goldie. Cindy has come to realize her psychiatrist and Goldie are right -- her step-mother could have been a lot worse, and step-mothers do get a bad rap in fairytales.

The Leprechaun and the Good Old Boy:
When Gordon confides in his wife that he had a flittering experience in the woods - she becomes irate and his family jewels aching, his wife leaves him, and he is seeing little green leprechauns. Aren’t little green leprechauns supposed to "bring" good luck? Too bad you can’t ask Babe Ruth! Gordon explained to his wife he had made it all up and promised his sweetie a new car, thanks to Alex his ornery leprechaun. Then Alex's wifey, like all the women of the world want a lock of Mel Gibson’s hair. How dreamy! What an outcome Gordon has when he tries to retrieve this lock of hair.

This is without a doubt, hands down, one of the best fantasy collections I have read - the satire of Joan Popek is uproarious and filled with clever innuendoes. I can’t recommend this book enough. I highly recommend this book!

THE JACOB THEORY
by Bonnie Mercure
Review by Dr. Bob Rich

This book will grab your heart. It grabbed mine, almost
against my will. Julie, the sixteen-year-old narrator, and her
twin brother Jacob, are the survivors of a horrendous home
situation. As the story gradually unfolds, we find out bit by bit
just how terrible it was, for example:

   "It would almost be better if we were still with Dad," Jacob
whispered. "At least then nothing was expected from us."

    Six months ago Dad had put Jacob in the emergency room,
almost ending my brother's life. Yes, Dad used Jacob as a
punching bag, thought of me as a surrogate wife, but there had
been lulls when he stopped drinking and became almost
tolerable. And in a strange way I agreed with Jacob. At least
with Dad we knew where we stood.

   Julie's strength of character, and her reaction to adversity,
reminded me of Bryce Courtenay's The Power of One. The
way the two youngsters are affected by abuse is absolutely
lifelike. As a psychologist, and the survivor of trauma myself, I
have recognized both Julie's resultant fighting spirit and the
determination not to be bowed, and Jacob's inner defeat, with
the outer signals of that defeat. And, as in real life, the
predators zero in on the victim of previous abuse.

   Julie and Jacob have a secret resource: they can leave their
bodies and fly, though they don't know that this is called astral
travel. They certainly need the temporary escape this provides
as they go from one betrayal to another.

   Despite their many misfortunes, this is not a heavy book.
Teenagers will be carried along by Julie's resilience, and the
way the author takes us into her inner world.

   Given its intended audience, the language of the book is
simple. This is good, but I thought it could have been more
colorful, with more vivid description. Characterization is
excellent. Perhaps paradoxically, the plot is both lifelike and
full of fantasy. The main point of possible improvement is in
the ending, which comes too suddenly.

   All in all, a very satisfying 'Young Adults' book that deserves
to do well.

This story is an extraordinary blend of adventure, Abominable Snowmen, nuclear disaster, love, despair and hope.  This alone is quite a combination, yet there is more.  Add in ethnic diversity, terrorism and various nations’ attitudes of “My dog is bigger than your dog,”  and you have a tale to remember.

You get inside the minds and hearts of leaders as they make world changing decisions.  You experience the fanatic psychology of terrorism. You travel with a troop of brave explorers searching for the legendary Yeti and their own brand of immortality.  Is the Yeti real?  What would you do if you found him?  If you are an adventurer who wants to know what makes humanity tick, you can't miss reading this book.

This is a story of mankind at its best and at its worst.  It is a story that makes you think--a story that forces you to take a look at humanity and decide if you like what you see.  The twists and surprises are as varied and winding as the mountain trails the small band of explorers travel as they search for the truth in legends.

What if you were dying but you had the chance to start a new chain of evolution?  Would you have the courage to do it?  Are our myths founded in reality?  Greek mythology tells us that Prometheus gave Man fire and set him on the road to civilization.  Because of this, the gods punished him throughout eternity.  Why?

Was it indeed the mastery of fire that set mankind apart from the animals and perhaps made them more like the gods?   Ludec, a major character in the expedition's search says, "That is one of the wonderful things about human nature...Men can not live without plans, and plans are the ultimate expression of faith in the future."  Is this what makes us unique?  Are we really so unique as we believe?

Find the answers to these questions and much more in this spellbinding adventure into one possible future.  I couldn't stop turning the pages until I finished the last one. It's that good.  PROMETHEUS is not your ordinary science fiction.  The authors have a special style that leaves you thinking about the book long after you close it.  I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys adventure, philosophy and just plain, entertaining fiction.

Just when I’d thought I’d heard all the theories possible about the Roswell UFO Incident, I read Ms. Pence’s book.  What fun!  A COOK IN TIME, is a rollicking good time and intriguing mystery.   The major question woven throughout the quest to create a “one of a kind” dinner party and incidently to solve the mystery of a series grotesque, seemingly unrelated murders is, “What do Aliens eat?”

Angie, the heroine, is starting her own business.  “Fantasy Dinners” is supposed to be the way to prove her ability to be a success to her family and the love of her life, Homicide Inspector Paavo Smith.  Her first client is an eccentric rich lady who wants to throw a very special dinner party for a strange organization she belongs to that is involved with ancient Egyptian Pyramids and UFO’s, particularly the Roswell Incident UFOs.  The only problem is that noone seems to know exactly what aliens eat.  Angie is a perfectionist so she sets out to find out all she can about UFOs and aliens.  She knows that this, her first assignment for “Fantasy Dinners,” can set her career in gear or brake it to a screeching halt.

Her search for just the right atmosphere and food leads her to an old boyfriend who was a NASA scientist and is now the leader of another group of UFO enthusiasts who are at war with the one she is to prepare the dinner party for.  She meets strange and sundry characters, most of whom seem to get killed off whenever she is around.  Her lover, the Homicide Detective, has his hands full trying to solve the murders and keep her out of trouble at the same time.

You will chuckle all the way through this mystery as the victim becomes the suspect and the suspect becomes the victim.  Who is doing all the killing?  Could it really be alien abductors from another planet?

The ending holds an unexpected answer, and Pence keeps you guessing through the whole, romping tale.  This book is indeed a good evening’s entertainment.

Review by Dr. Bob Rich

   I'd just finished reading a book by David Suzuki. This
famous geneticist and media figure has written a book of
warning, and yet of hope, focusing on the ways humanity is
currently destroying itself. Two of the chapters in this
wide-ranging work assessed the likely impacts of genetic
engineering, which after all is Suzuki's specialty. His
conclusion: it is as dangerous as all-out nuclear war.

   And then I received a science fiction book for review: Kate
Saundby's 'The Orion Property'. This is the seventh volume of
her 'Nublis Chronicles'.

   Orion, the hero of this story, is a genetically engineered
creation. He is a cloned and mechanically improved version of
a scientist who had sought immortality.

   Suzuki shows that meddling with the genes of plants and
animals is fraught with deadly danger. Saundby explores
dangers of a different kind. Her story is centered on the social
and personal consequences of attempts to improve humanity by
these means, the dangers facing us if genetic engineering
should prove to be as successful as its proponents hope.

   Not that 'The Orion Property' is heavy reading, far from it. It
is thankfully free of preaching and long tracts of
pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo. Instead, it is a lighthearted
romp through a world which is an intriguing mix of medieval
social organization, 19th Century customs, futuristic science
and magic.

   We follow the attractive and lovable hero through misfortune
and escape, and in the process, learn of some of the bad things
about having been created instead of born. We learn about the
effects of greed, that universal poison, and how it inevitably
transforms what should be a boon into a terrible problem.

   This was the first book in the 'Nublis Chronicles' that I have
read. No doubt fans of the series will be familiar with several
of the characters, but I found my introduction into the middle
of a sequence of books to be painless. Occasionally the author
was forced to insert a paragraph or two that was obviously the
summary of a previous book, and this interfered with my
immersion in the story, but apart from this, the writing is
excellent. Orion and several other characters will be loved by
all, the villains are delightfully mean and ruthless. This is an
enjoyable tale. And if it is the sugar coating around a serious
message, well, all the better. No-one has yet been damaged
from being confronted by questions of ethics, only from failing
to think about them.

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