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Darude Meets Eminem. In this tale, the New God of Science Fiction gets more overtly political than in any other book I've ever read from him - and I met the guy back in *MySpace* back when he had just two books available (both via Print On Demand in the pre-Kindle era before this was anywhere near as common as it is now), so I've read them *all*. And yet he gets political in ways that I had to point blank ask him "Is this characterization based on *me*?", as in the very first scene where the politics is directly introduced, the character espousing it is said to be a former Southern Baptist from Georgia who now more wrestles with their faith, but the exact topics discussed here are things that I *know* I have openly discussed a few times over the years in arenas where Rob...

Powerful. Controversial. Desperately Needed. This is one of those books where "Preacher" is stepping on *everyone's* toes (while aiming for their hearts, as the old joke goes). Left. Right. Woke. Based. Southern Baptist. Cooperative Baptist. Andrew Tate. Elliot (fka Ellen) Page. Don't matter. Wagner openly proclaims you're all wrong, and here's why. Yet even while doing this in a fairly direct, uncompromising manner... he also has (and shows within the text here) quite a bit of heart and compassion for everyone, no matter where they happen to currently find themselves in this particular discussion.

As one example that particularly stood out, at one point Wagner proclaims (apparently quoting someone else?) "A Christian is someone who is always more willing to die than to kill.", when speaking to Jesus' pacifism.

But this is truly the heart of the book, from the introduction:

"This book is not a call for us to take back the cult...

Part Memoir. Part Travelogue. All Too Real. This is one of those books where even as McCarthy himself is traveling across the country to meet up with friends from much earlier in his life who he has lost contact with, I find myself reading it as a 43yo man and thinking of my own similar friendships. Specifically Mike, the guy I once worked with in the computer lab at Kennesaw State University where we bonded over playing Halo in the back room between the labs when neither of us had any students to work with, and Sean, the SQL guru who was once essential both in getting me hired at one job and in being a close partner and friend at that job, neither of whom I've seen in 10 or even 20 yrs now.

Thus, as McCarthy talks about how much these guys meant to him and how much he misses them... yeah, that absolutely *hits*... and I suspect it will with most guys, because most of us (particularly these days) *all* have these types of friendship...

For this blog tour, we're looking at a solid book for its genre. For this blog tour, we're looking at My Husband's Stalker by Natali Simmonds.

First, the review I posted to the book sites (BookHype.com / Goodreads.com / TheStoryGraph.com), YouTube, and Substack:

Genre Fans Will Enjoy Yet Will Be Problematic For Some. As a generic domestic thriller/ suspense, this book has a lot of things going for it in that it hits pretty well every genre expectation and hits them all in the exact expected order and even within the bounds of a nearly MadLibbed version of so many books within this genre. To the point that yes, this book could well be programmed - it is *that* level of algorithmic. (To be clear, I am in no way saying it *was*, simply that it is so formulaic that a program *could* create it.) Which is *AWESOME* for those who love this genre the way Hallmarkies love their small town romances. You know *exactly* w...

Well Documented Examination Of Space Tech Beyond Musk and Bezos. At least in the US (where both Ariosto and I are based), if you're talking space these days you're generally talking NASA, Elon Musk (SpaceX), or Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin). This book goes into the details of where space science and tech are *beyond* just those three entities, traveling all over the world showing how different people in different areas are contributing to pushing humanity beyond our home world - and why. While there are a lot of details here, including how nativist US policies ultimately both created China's space...

For this blog tour, we're looking at a truly great finale to an amazing series. For this blog tour, we're looking at The Last Daughter by Soraya Lane.

First, the review I posted to the book sites (BookHype.com / Goodreads.com / TheStoryGraph.com), YouTube, and Substack:

What. A. Finale. This is the book that has had 7 books before it to hint at and build up to. The book whose story actually begins the entire event. The book that fans who have been following this series all along have been waiting for... and it absolutely delivers.

Make sure you read the seven books before this one before you read this one. They lay the groundwork and build the anticipation well in telling their own stories while revealing bits and hints of this one, and most all of the ladies from the contemporary side of those stories show up in some fashion here. Even while these stories are all ultimately romances, there are also enough women's fiction elements to all of these stories (contemporary and historical) that there are indeed some spoilers to some of those stories within this story... which isn't an issue if you read them first. ;)

Jeremy Robinson likes to tell people that they can read his book Prime, about the origins of one of his teams and written after several of the books featurin...

Dense Academic Treatise With Not Quite Enough Bibliography. The singular most important thing you need to know about this book is that it is very much written in a dry, academic, very much textbook tone. There is a *lot* of seemingly fairly comprehensive history of birding from the beginning of European settlement in the area now known as the United States - with a brief touch on histories before that period - basically up to Silent Spring. Yes, given the eras this covers, particularly in the 19th century and earlier, this means that for nature lovers in particular it may be a doubly difficult book as it goes into details about the wholesale slaughte...

Interesting Storytelling Mechanism Could Be Difficult For Some Readers Yet Works Perfectly For Story Here. Ok, so the title of this review really is exactly what you need to know about it. It is going to be challenging for some readers in the way that it presents the story, as a sequence of nine short stories - complete with their own internal chapters and only a few bare "notes" between them - that seem disjointed but let's just say to stick with it and all will be revealed. In the particular case of how the larger story is built here, this format actually works quite well indeed for the overall story while also giving readers who may not ...

Suspense Filled Tale Filled With Pervasive Social Commentary Ends Explosively. This is one of those tales that is going to keep you on the edge of your seat with sheer suspense for almost the entirely of the tale... before ending in one of the more explosive endings I've ever seen in any book, particularly in any of Bratt's books. But with this entire series, you really need to start at the beginning (Hart's Ridge) and work your way to this one, as Bratt has truly mastered over the last few books in particular telling a singular complete tale per book yet having that singular tale both spring from the prior tale and explicitly set up the next.

There are a few different social commentaries in the book, including one in th...

Indiana Jones And The Pirates' Superweapon. Part of the appeal of Woods' Dane Maddock adventure series, of which this is the latest book at the time I write this review, has always been that he puts more (and more believable) action into Indiana Jones-type archeological/ mythological based adventure tales, and this is one of the books in the series where this becomes even more pronounced than some others in the series. Which Wood uses to great effect here, and which could actually draw in new readers to this series.

Dane Maddock and his friend and business partner Uriah 'Bones' Bonebrake' are former Navy SEALs (whose adventures began even back then, in prior stories in this universe) and at this point in our overall universe, they've been around ...