Cryptos Conundrum

Jonathan Chalmers fell on his head at age four.  The resulting brain injury turned him into a
savant who could read fifty pages per minute in multiple texts and instantly
recognize complicated mathematical patterns. 
In 1918 he is inexplicably rescued, wounded, from the trenches of Verdun
by a group of quasi-spiritual, quasi-extraterrestrial beings who make him whole
and instill his brain with some arcane cosmic knowledge.  This experience apparently also retards the
aging process.  As a result of his
youthful appearance he is able to again enlist in the army at the outbreak of
World War II but he is quickly snatched from basic training and recruited by
the OSS which segues into the CIA after the war.  This coincidentally is around the time of the
incident at Roswell so Chalmers finds himself in charge of the alien bodies
which resemble H.R. Giger’s alien from the movie of the same name rather than
the cute little gray guys with big heads we are used to associating with
Roswell.

The above only describes a fraction of this epic length
adventure into the bizarre life of a charter member of the CIA who behind the
scenes is responsible for the protection of everything and everyone.  It is in a word, weird.  At times it is painful.  There are numerous anachronisms and much
verbal gymnastics.  I would like to see
the editor tarred and feathered for allowing the phrase, “Chalmers knew...” to
be used forty-three times.  Seriously, it
annoyed me so much I counted.  That
ignores all the cases of, “He knew...” and when the point of view shifts to the
aliens—yes, even the aliens get a viewpoint—we are made to suffer with, “The
alien knew...”  The aliens’ names are
corny distortions of English words and part of the alien dialog is first given
in nonsensical characters before it is translated for us.  I read the whole thing and never stopped
asking myself why.

In fairness it has its moments of clever situations and
intriguing hypotheses.  Having said all
this, I probably should give some thought to the fact that the author is a
retired CIA spook who surely knows how to get even.

The English General by Lyn Alexander

Erich von Schellendorf, English born General in the German
Army, is conflicted in 1939.  Estranged
from his deeply troubled, baroness wife, immovably devoted to duty, filled with
hatred for Hitler and blackmailed by British Intelligence, he finds himself
smitten by a visiting Englishwoman.  In
the last days before the outbreak of war their impetuous affair is broadcast
across Berlin and to Heidelberg, his wife’s ancestral home, and does not escape
the attention of the SS.  When they are
inevitably separated by the war, Erich must lose himself in the enormity of the
quartermaster’s task of keeping the Wehrmacht supplied, all the while scheming
with the “Valkyrie” conspirators to kill Hitler and attempting to shorten the
war by providing intelligence to MI6 knowing that at any time the Gestapo might
put a bullet in his head.

Lyn Alexander’s third installment in the von Schellendorf
series is a pinnacle of complexity, tension, realism and emotion.  Her fortuitous background has given her
unique insight into wartime Germany and she displays it with masterly
skill.  The English General is the story
of one man’s tragedy told in the landscape of the most destructive war
humankind has inflicted upon itself.  It
is the tale of how a professional soldier battled to retain his sanity, and
indeed his life, in the midst of a world gone mad.  The depth of the bind into which Lyn
Alexander has placed her character is only rivaled by her astounding attention
to historical detail.  This is historical
fiction at its very best.

The English General is not available as a ebook as of March 2014.  You can find it at Barnes & Noble and Lyn tells me it will be available soon at Createspace.

Alt Clut: The Kingdom of the Rock by Tim Dalgleish

Legend and fact intertwine tantalizingly throughout the
history of what we now know as the British Isles.  The story of the Kingdom of Alt Clut, what
fragments survive, is populated by the likes of King Arthur, Saint Patrick, Macbeth
and Old King Cole, and it occupies a setting not far removed from Tolkien’s
Middle Earth.  Tim Dalgleish guides the
reader through the hazy genealogy of the kings of Alt Clut who waged their wars
across the highlands of what will become modern Scotland and he tells us how
they interacted with the more familiar players of the day.  One finds it remarkable that a kingdom
enduring for six or seven centuries, in part contemporaneously with the
obsessively preservationist Romans, could so completely sink beneath the shroud
of time.  Ancient Britain—more correctly,
what would become Britain—was rife with famous chroniclers such as the
Venerable Bede, Chaucer and Saint Patrick, but the sum of what can be known of
Alt Clut is well summarized in this thought provoking sixty-two-hundred word
essay.

Being a junkie for history, I could not resist
revisiting Alt Clut.  I first became
aware that this shadowy kingdom had existed from Norman Davies’ monumental
Vanished Kingdoms which Tim Dalgleish references among other unimpeachable
sources.  Mr. Dalgleish remixes the
sparse facts and presents them concisely and entertainingly.  He teases the reader with comparisons of the
facts of Alt Clut and their similarity to well known and cherished legends
giving the reader to wonder if the enigmatic Alt Clut was the birthplace of
those immortal tales.  I have only one
complaint, and I tell you with tongue in cheek, that no document comprised of
only sixty-two-hundred words should ever contain the word ‘subsumed’ twice.



I got this short essay from http://readersfavorite.com/ .  I don't know where else it is available or how much it cost.  I got it for free.

The Versailles Legacy

We first met Erich von Schellendorf, née Foster, in 1912 when estrangement from his overbearing father drives him to finish school, not at Cambridge as planned, but at his mother’s ancestral home of Heidelberg.  His love for the capricious daughter of a Prussian Baron and retired cavalry officer moves him to enlist in the military for a term that inescapably draws him into the war on the German side.  Fast forward to 1933 and we find Lieutenant Colonel von Schellendorf training a military equestrian team for the infamous 1936 Olympics that Hitler so badly wants to support his contention of Aryan supremacy.  Erich’s unswerving loyalties to both Germany and his wife are sorely tested by Hitler’s brutal fanaticism and Britt’s unresponsiveness.  Erich finds solace in horsemanship and the camaraderie of his team until a British spy and a honey trap threaten to unhinge his entire existence.

Through the lens of retrospection, the Treaty of Versailles could have led to only one outcome.  It, in essence, created Hitler and the Nazis.  Lyn Alexander’s sequel to The Officers’ Code offers an insightful look into the collective mind of a defeated power via the psyche of an eyewitness.  The emotional tension building within Erich von Schellendorf as the Nazis rise and his marriage sinks is shown to us with masterful style.  The brilliant character development of Britt, from the damaged victim of incest to a manipulative wife, in deep denial of fratricide, who uses the withholding of affection as a weapon, is as penetrating as any ever created by the likes of Hemingway.  Lyn Alexander knows Germany, horses and human emotion and she knows how to bring all that knowledge to the page.  The Versailles Legacy is a great sequel and a terrific standalone story.

Only available in paperback at this time, but I'm nagging Lyn to go digital.

Buy at Amazon

Lena's Bequest by Paul Ross

Gardening was all that Lena had in mind when she rented an isolated house in the empty flatland of Northwestern Ohio.  That changed abruptly the day an elderly stranger with an eastern European accent startled her while she was tilling the soil.  That unnerving event set in motion a deadly treasure hunt populated hick sheriffs, a Russian mobster and his rapine grandsons, spies, refugees and the specter of her absent father.  Karl, the mysterious stranger, fed Lena, in tidbits, a story of her late father’s astounding life and unlikely bequest.  Lena is a very capable young woman with street smarts who never really trusts Karl, as well she shouldn’t, but the lure of a treasure hunt and the credibility lent to it by the attention of mobsters tempts her to go along.  Karl insists that the search must begin in New York City where Lena is stunned to learn that she owns healthy bank accounts and a midtown apartment.  Then the trail gets hot.

Lena’s Bequest is told in flashbacks to Stalin’s purges in the Ukraine.  The story of her father’s escape from murder, starvation, deportation and his eventual flight to the west is a disturbingly truthful look at the conditions in, and as a result of, the Gulag.  How the atrocities of those decades of institutionalized starvation, slavery, torture and murder might impact a modern woman grappling with life in twenty-first century America is a highly plausible and fascinating tale.  Paul Ross has an extremely well written and researched book that will appeal to history lovers, fans of action and suspense as well as readers who like a strong female lead character.

Price: $4.99

112,860 Words

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Eight Days in August by Dana George

Annie Logan didn’t belong in the makeshift Union jail.  When they razed the building she fell unconscious to the street, potentially into the hands of rapacious soldiers.  Despite her peril, Annie is initially annoyed at being rescued by a shady pair of locals, Duncan and Tom.  Duncan is good-hearted, compassionate and married to a suspicious shrew.  Tom is disagreeable, cranky and nominated to give Annie a place of refuge until she can find her way home to the father Tom considers to be a dangerous enemy.  The story unfolds against the backdrop of atrocities perpetrated by both Union and Confederate militias on the civilian population of divided Kansas.  Spies, turncoats and despots who wreak havoc on the countryside overrun the state.  Annie’s plight is complicated by her father’s partisanship, her rescuers’ duplicitous natures and devotion to a mountainous woman who is Tom’s childhood friend.

Eight Days in August by Dana George is a classic Clint Eastwood style western interwoven with the complicated loyalties bred of the Civil War.  It offers the reader action, intrigue, romance and history.  The depth of Mrs. George’s characters draws the reader into a story that moves with an excellent pace toward a timeless and satisfying resolution.  The broad appeal of this book defies categorization.  Anyone looking for good, solid entertainment is going to enjoy Eight Days in August.

78,930 words

Price: $.99  (Well, worth a buck!)

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Hamfist Down by G. E. Nolly

Shot down on his final reconnaissance flight over Cambodia, Hamilton Hancock (Hamfist) hangs from his parachute harness in the canopy until daylight when he is able to find his way to the ground, then he has to evade the Viet Cong until Search and Rescue can extricate him.  He almost escapes unscathed.  A burgeoning romance with a Japanese-American beauty helps motivate Hamfist’s recovery and guides his military career decisions.  Then he has one more incident over the clandestine battleground during the illegal incursion into Cambodia and Laos during the Viet Nam War.

Hamfist Down is a gritty, true to life depiction of an airman’s experiences during that secretive and unpopular war.  George Nolly writes from experience in the jargon of the time and place.  Hamfist’s character development portrays him as both hardboiled and sensitive and one suspects that he is the author’s alter ego.  This fast paced, relatively short slice of history succeeds more with realism than drama.  It is an entertaining window into a period of American history that has not always been truthfully told.

37630 Words
Price $3.99

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