Trust by David Moody

☆☆☆☆This review contains spoilers☆☆☆☆

The story, created by David Moody, compares to a train moving away from a station platform. At first, a person could run alongside the track easily, though as the train speeds up, there comes a moment that the runner anticipates the futility of persevering, and as the cars rush forward, the person inevitably slows down, or at the last moment a decision emerges to jump on for the ride.
I was that runner, easily bored at the beginning of the book--my mind outracing the slowness of the words, but approaching the finish line, my every thought fixated on this speeding target, and the ride arrived in a blur of insanity.

The destruction of mankind achieved by the resolute desire of alien's to take over our beautiful planet isn't an original concept. The total annihilation of the human race asserts an expectation both implausible and infuriatingly frightening--how can one's mind begin to perceive the idea of humans never existing again on our planet, the Milky Way Galaxy or the known universe?

In our seeking of amusement, the question we must ask ourselves--how does our story play out? Would a realistic ending achieve the favored results, or a breathtaking climax featuring humans kicking ET's butt, as in the movie Independence Day or Wells theory that humans commit to remaining alive until an earthly virus attacks the invaders, and abruptly we're impervious to their onslaught? This leaves us finishing a book or movie perceiving humans as invincible and pitying those fools from space who think they could win a war with us.

The probable truth tells a diverse story of alien victory. They possess the technology to travel copious light years (one can travel six trillion miles at the speed of light in one year) to commence their battle, and earth owns a space station and a few exhausted space shuttles providing meager protection.

The intelligence of invading aliens would eclipse the beings in Signs (one of my favorite movies) who can't open doors, traveled a prodigious distance while forgetting to bring along catastrophic weapons to kill the pesky humans and arrived on a planet that's seventy percent water which contains their deadly kryptonite. Just as the witch said in The Wizard Of Oz, "it burns, oh how it burns," the aliens knew of what she spoke of.

Unfortunately, they could produce a hostile takeover without excessive effort on their part, in the same manner the aliens in Trust conquer earth. The brilliantly planned strategy never had a chance of failure, since the adjustment of the human brain proved quite effortless.

When Tom confronts the alien, whom his brother called a friend, he asserts, "we aren't going to relinquish the earth easily." The alien proclaims, "look around Tom, we've already taken over," he spoke the truth, but the sad earthling wasn't equipped to comprehend the reality.
The alien explains that people are guilty of committing the same actions as the ones wrestling away the human's grasp of our world. Throughout history, people with power attain land through their might, uncaring of the rightful inhabitants.
His alien sensibility hasn't an ounce of empathy concerning the fate of humans, and even though it's a drop of water in a universe of oceans, I'm happy that Tom killed him.

Greed in aliens and humans surface abundantly, and the number one rule of the universe--if you're in possession of a substantial commodity, then quite possibly someone bigger and stronger will eventually attain it for themselves

I experienced two problems with Trust--one is the sexual content, which in this age of sex tortured to the point of wanting its mommy, implies that innumerous readers will consider it quite mild.
The second shows my complete lack of self-control, as I had trouble turning my Kindle off, and finished in the wee hours. Subsequently, my mind became a whirlwind of alien thoughts, which finally faded as sleep approached.

David Moody has developed into one of my favorite writers. His book Autumn revealed an amazing truth--I could love zombies, and my fear of Night of the Living Dead proved a terror of the past and vanquished from the present.
Though Trust isn't my favorite by Moody, my thoughts surrounded it for days, and that is a mark of a great book.

In the Days of the Comet by H.G. Wells

☆☆☆☆This review contains spoilers☆☆☆☆

When I discovered my love for reading, as a young teenager, I found myself skipping over paragraphs that I found boring. Over time, I realized the words I threw away contained crucial information to the story line, which subsequently stopped the habit, until now. I caught myself leaping over paragraphs to lessen my burden of the wrath contained within along with the boredom it produced.

On opening the pages, words viciously tumbled out, forcing an aspiration to seek safety from the onslaught. Seventy-five percent of the book dwells with the dreadful conditions preceding the comet, followed by the final words telling the story after the comet passes the earth, yet continues to cast dispersions concerning the past.
Dude, we get it and it was bad.

The leading character isn't a man that's easy to respect. He thinks too highly of himself, blames other people for his problems, has a disastrous slow boiling temper and makes terrible decisions while disrespecting essentially everyone, including his hard-working poor mother. Though, after the transformation, there emerges a tenderness for his mother, which creates a happiness that she richly deserves.

Willie's fury awakens a destructive force from within, which pushes him "to the dark side," creating a wish to destroy the woman responsible for breaking his heart.
He comprehends a true love existing between Nellie and himself, though he's rarely declared his love in person, as there's significant mileage separating the two.
His enhanced feelings find writing a torrent of letters outweigh his anticipation of the letters he receives (the British postal system became the basis for their entire relationship). As all pretentious and self-righteous people believe, he acknowledges there's more for him to teach than to learn.

There's more than one villain in the book, as Nellie deserves limited respect--running off with a rich man that will one day cast her aside when he's through with her. Strict conformity of class conscience permeates society well into the twentieth century.  A rich man who married a poor woman would be an outcast, since polite society would never receive him in their midst.
Women who made this decision, during that time period, left chaos and shame for her family to bear alone. Their selfish act would leave behind a decreased standing in the community, reflecting on younger siblings future prospects.

Willie buys a gun and hunts down the two lovers. At the moment he shoots, the effects of the comet create an unconscious state for the entire human race, or both would assuredly felt the sting of a bullet, if not for such perfect timing.

After the comet, all hatred ceased, as humans care for one another in extraordinary ways never imagined before. The wealthy destroy the class system, inviting the poor to live in the empty rooms of their mansions.
The thirst of knowledge  accelerates with a fervor, newly born in the heart of humanity. The destruction of tenements and other unsightly buildings brings forth the construction of extensive buildings, comparable to a communal persuasion, built with beauty and grace. Humanity strives for the happiness of the entire race, and not the select few.

While reading of the new love, I imagined the comet happening today, racists, gang members, mobsters, evil regimes and the greedy rich would vanish. Judging and hating others would cease, leaving only feelings of kindness, respect and love would prevail.
To think of the end of hunger, poverty, war, murder, rape exchanged for the beginning of  healthcare, food and lovely accommodations for the entire world--the visions of dreams becoming reality.
At what cost to us, would we lose that unique spark that makes us human, or become bored with all the love permeating the air we breathe?


Would horror movies or detective TV shows become artifacts from the past? The thought of a world tuning in every night to the Hallmark channel inspires the feeling of nausea, or conceivably TV and movies would become redundant, leaving the world forever.
What about rock music, car racing, hamburgers, fatty sweet desserts, roller coasters, Star Wars, wine, Las Vegas, partying, video games, lazy weekends, The Walking Dead, vacations, competitive sports, Starbucks.....I presume we'll never experience the true feelings of modern humanity, as it's very doubtful the events in the book will ever occur in our reality.

Though the book has serious flaws, I would still recommend it for the unique idea of a comet spreading love throughout the land. I guess the Beatles were right, "All You Need Is Love!"

The Darkness by W.J. Lundy

☆☆☆☆This review contains spoilers☆☆☆☆

Running, running, running, running, sprinkled with finite altercations against zombie aliens, could sum up the entire book, and complete my review.

I wanted to love this book, all the elements are in place to create a forceful story, aliens who find a way to "zombiefy" humans, and force them fight against us, a man desperately looking for his family and the human will to fight against all odds, yet there's a missing factor composing any enthusiasm for their welfare.

Jacob falls in with a small group of soldiers and civilians trying to reach safety, while trying to stay alive, and that's when the running comes into play. I would correctly surmise this book to be 80% running to and from danger, and 15% fighting and dabs of worry for his wife and child.

There isn't a cohesive bond present that guides the book into an acceptable story. The characters in Jurassic Park move about constantly, but the story emerged perfectly written, without boredom permeating the hours spent lost in the world of dinosaurs. In fact, we want the characters to succeed in Crichton's books, yet I found myself not caring if Jacob fell to the enemy. If a defection to the dark side had occurred, my interest would have peaked substantially.

The lowest depth, the book achieves, occurs during the reuniting with his family. Tears, happiness, and joyful words, would not appear amiss, in his reaction on perceiving his family, in his hospital bed.
The aloof reaction he portrayed emanated milk warm at best, and bordered on a greeting to a mere acquaintance, and not a beloved family member. 

I yearned for the hospital scene to be a farce in which two possible outcomes could transpire:
(1) He concludes his family and hospital workers are actually alien zombies, controlled by the aliens. The use of subterfuge, by the infiltrators, to discover military's plans of defense would be brilliant.
(2) His family's happiness turns to horror when they discover he's an alien zombie. Their loathing turns into panic, when he systematically destroys every human in the room.

Instead, the book ends with a soldier informing him that it's time to join the military "for reals." This implies the second book will also contain running and fighting, which brings about my decision to quit at the first book and not proceed further in the series. 

A Path to Utopia by Jacqueline Druga

👽Spoiler Alert👽

Oh, dystopian books, how I love you, and Jacqueline Druga is my go to dystopian dealer to feed my need for this genre in my life.

Druga resides in the realm amid my favorite authors, though occasionally there exists a modest dissatisfaction displayed in her writing--her characters may emit the feelings of meeting old friends, then the realization occurs--they may be a rehash of recycled individuals.
A Path To Utopia features Robi, a clone of Brett in Torn who's a clone of  Ellen in Beginnings. Druga should abandon this blueprint, and start over fresh--possibly the correct answer is quality instead of quantity.
Though there's one aspect I admire in her female characters--they posses strength, they fight hard and they never surrender to failure. In a disaster, I'd happily join their team to struggle through each hazardous day with them.

Twenty-five percent of the population survives a worldwide catastrophic event, in which the majority of people die, collapsing to the ground, leaving the survivors alone with their fears.
The concept of standing amid a dead populated planet isn't an original idea, though usually the populace finishes an illness to produce the same result as in The Stand by Stephen King. Autumn by David Moody also has the majority of the world drop to their deaths simultaneously, though they eventually rise as zombies. However it happens, the fear would intensify with the supplemented horrors of evil, zombies or aliens, pushing the sanest person to lunacy.

It's amusing to watch the progress of the characters, the clueless creatures struggling to detect the truth. We (the reader) initially perceived the accuracy of the story--patience is required while waiting for their eureka moment.
The same formula happens in horror movies, when a young woman decides to walk up the stairs (or a room, house or the woods) alone. The audience grasps the truth of imminent death, though the women are so young, so innocent and shortly so dead.
Obviously, aliens attacked the earth, yet our group believes it's world war III, though one person, an elderly doctor they travel with, has ascertained the truth. When they realize he's not senile, he relishes his "I told you so" moment.
Mas and Sam, are two unequaled beings in our diminutive group, who can create walkies out of baby jar lids, yet display extreme excitement for a trip to a mall. They're beings from a world that isn't our own, though they wish to assist in our fight. The Calvary travels from their planet to ours, though they will not arrive for one Earth year.

It's my belief that all stories may be enhanced with a few zombies thrown in, though it didn't fit in the story line, Druga threw in a scene with a mob of walkers which created a warm and fuzzy feeling inside my heart.
All in all, a satisfying book, though distinct components appear crude, rehashed, and predictable, I loved it, and recommend it to all dystopian lovers.

Even in Death by Jason D. Morrow

☆☆☆☆This review contains spoilers☆☆☆☆
Even In Death is the final book of the Starborn Saga  trilogy, and I have finally accomplished the feat of reading all three books. This was not always a painless task, and though I liked the books, at times they were tedious, and the complaint my mind produced over and over again-- how drawn out the story grew, especially in the third book.

Are all current books treated with more words than necessary to preoccupy the pages with meaningless filler of thoughts and platitudes? This only brings bouts of boredom (begging it to end) and forced reading, which doesn't speak well for the book.

The author gave an interesting idea of knowing who created the zombies, how he's still alive and evil, years later and controls the known world, and the fact mutants with superpowers live, who must battle zombies while laboring to find a way to kill the Screven leader for the betterment of mankind.

There's considerable excitement and compelling situations, and the book is not always boring. Numerous moments are stuffed with strongly written story telling, plus there's zombies, which is always a plus.
The conclusion of the story pleased me greatly as I'm a sucker for a happy ending.

There's  another trilogy to the story, and that's called The Starborn Ascension, which I'm having a debate with myself whether I will read it or not.
Though the beginning of the end is revealed in Starborn Saga, Starborn Ascension delves  intensely into the story and Evelyn (a key Starborn) is featured in the early telling.
Hopefully, one day I will derive the bravery need to start again.

Pines by Blake Crouch

My first indication that Wayward Pines existed became apparent when the current television show of the same name launched on Hulu. Matt Dillon stars as Ethan, the main character (and he's the actor my son Dillon is named after). 

There's a modern Twilight Zone twist to this story of a man waking up in a small town where no one can escape and no one is allowed to talk about their past lives. 

I love books where I can't comprehend absolutely what's happening, and the entire time I'm working on understanding the underlying reality, yet when I feel I'm close, I realize that I'm not approaching the truth at all. 

If a citizen can't pretend or tries to escape--a fete (or a Reckoning on the TV show) is called forth. This event allows the phones to ring in their homes, which brings out all the inhabitants to murder the offender. 

In the story, everyone participates which brings to mind the book called The Lottery, where a name is selected every year, and the townspeople stone the chosen one in the town square. The Lottery has an ulterior motive of keeping the earth satisfied for the continuation of abundant crops will persevere every year. 

The citizens (though not all) murdering in Wayward Pines yearn to kill for pleasure, and frequently dress in elaborate costumes for the event. The disregard for human life forms the shadows of our past--enjoying the slaughter of thousands in the colosseum, the beheadings and hanging in subsequent years.

Today, we feel above such depravity, though on reflection, the fear of how quickly humans may fall back into vast savagery if forced into certain situations brings about uneasiness.

With the revelation of the truth, I felt happiness and pity for the residents of this meager town. This isn't your mama's Mayberry, and the scary monsters outside the walls aren't Yankees.

The Martian by Andy Weir

By now, The Martian has thousands of reviews from mere bloggers to the "experts." Goodreads alone has twenty thousand, and that is a trivial amount compared to the entire internet.
I  will add my soulful few words, struggling to find a place, in this swirling mass of thoughts and feelings in hopes that it will coalesce effectively with the throng.

Boredom, anxiety, humor and intrigue describe the story of one man isolated on Mars, and how his innovated mind constructs solutions for the pervasive obstacles he encounters. His technical knowledge  makes him one of the smartest humans in our solar system--this advances a few problems in the story line for me. He's just too smart (he can create water) and the detailed work involved has the capability of generating boredom.

Humor permeates throughout  showing a wonderful dry sense of humor that made me laugh out loud often. What a pleasant surprise, as I thought his struggle to survive each day would constitute a story of dire seriousness. Several reviewers have called his humor juvenile, but I don't think they understand that in it's simplicity is it's genius.  I could sympathize with his hardship of watching Dukes of Hazzard and other minimal 70's TV shows. This is all that's available to him, not to mention 70's disco music. How he kept his sanity, let alone his sense of humor, is a mystery.

Anxiety is another aspect of the story transfused constantly with every catastrophe that he overcomes. I knew that he must persevere to the end yet there were moments so intense, that often I put down the book, and had to come back to it at a later time.

Not many people could survive in complete isolation of the only human on a planet--he never gives up and he never surrenders (oh, that's another movie).
When he arrives home, he'll be the most famous man in the past or future history, and I wonder if that would make him isolate himself on a  farm somewhere out in Idaho, or sign up to live forever on Mars out of the limelight. Elvis could handle this type of fan worship, but mere mortals might find it hard to cope with.

I could not afford this book, so I put my name down on the library waiting list on March 31. It was a long interval, but worth the long patience, and now it's time to wait for the movie.

Cry by Jacqueline Druga

☆☆☆☆This review contains spoilers☆☆☆☆

Outer Limits meets War Of The Worlds meets The Twilight Zone in this novel of alien suspense.This book has elements of all three--Outer Limits for gore, War Of The Worlds for alien terra-forming the earth and Twilight Zone for the surprise finale.

In War Of The Worlds, it's the germy atmosphere that killed the aliens--human patience would be our greatest quality while waiting for the microbes to perform their job. In Day Of The Triffids, salt water killed the evil, poison plants, though plain water accomplished the trick in Signs. Numerous times exceptional old fashion warfare provides optimal results, though frequently we lose.

The people in Cry don't have a magic solution against the invaders, though they're able to find something the aliens avoid and that's liquor.
This makes a pleasant day for alcoholics! Drink and earn a pass over on one of the alien's drive by searches, stay sober and turn into a disgusting blob.

If aliens destroyed our world by terra-forming and changed the entire ecosystem where the world is imperceptible to humans  and there isn't a large amount of oxygen left for the few survivors--extreme sadness would permeate all humans. Then to find out that the aliens turned our bodies into a bloody mess to fertilize their plants--extreme agonizing anger would infuse our souls as we helplessly watched from hiding places.

The ending arranged a cruel shock for me as I held out hope the aliens demonstrated feelings of remorse. They started taking humans instead of killing them, and I hoped they'd realized too late we're sentient beings.
Correcting their mistake would establish a habitat where humanity could hope to augment an appearance of accustomed existence.
Yes, we would be in a large see-through dome, and yes the aliens would watch us from platforms....wait a minute, I observed this same set up at the zoo in a large gorilla habitat.

Parts of this book are slow and disjointed, occasionally copious amounts of  info appear that we don't need, and regularly there's not enough. I still highly recommend the book--since it took a lengthy amount of time for the entire story to become clear.
You may hear the Leave It To Beaver theme song in your mind while reading the end.

The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin

☆☆☆☆This review contains spoilers☆☆☆☆

The Boys From Brazil is a phenomenal film from the early eighties, and now to find the movie is based on a book by the notable author Ira Levin surprised me immensely.

Before launching myself into the horror I knew would be ahead of me, I contemplated on the quality of the storyteller, would I feel saddened by the inferiority of the book compared to the film or would I believe the book was at least equal or superior to the adaptation?

The film, starring Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier, brought the story of future Hitlers to the screen that is spellbinding. Except for a few editing problems and the obligatory sex scene, the story works in a way that is driven by dread in a delightful way.

The flow of the book is effortless, and I'm sure every writer would wish to possess the talent of Levin, who weaves a story that guides us where he wishes the reader to blindly follow, and we follow willingly. 

Cloning is a chilling prospect to think of, and consistent in books and movies, it's shown as someone's despair--frequently the cloned being whose body parts may be desired.

Levin chooses to make the cloned beings as living Gods to nazis and living monsters to the rest of the world. 

The thought of Mengele's success in cloning ninety-four Hitlers by his vile and inhuman experiments during WWII on innocent children creates a story filled with an unfairness that is hard to fathom.

The atrocities of Mengele and all the other monsters, from Hitler down to the lowest echelon, should be told. Every human on earth should know the stories of the innocent in hopes this will never happen again. I'm one of those persons that shy away from the stories of the horror-filled lives so many endured--the pain is too overwhelming sometimes to bear, especially when children are involved.

The Boys From Brazil tells the horror yet also tells an interesting tale of madness, that we feel safe in knowing will never come true. Though somewhere in a secret vault of evil beings, is there a vial of Hitler's DNA waiting patiently for science to catch up?

Torn by Jacqueline Druga

Snakes, giant roaches, giant ant piles so large a child could fall in and never recovered, rabid dogs, the black plague plus new viruses, planes falling from the sky, giant sunspots blasting the surface of the earth and a new ice age encroach upon the homo sapiens of the earth. That's the end of my review--enough said!

Perhaps there's a story, roaming around within all these catastrophes, though sadly the telling of this extensive adventure leaves an impressionable abyss of deficiencies. First the myth of the reversal of the poles, causing extreme harm to our ecosystem equals the myth of humans using a limited ten percent of our brains. Yes, there is a reversal of the poles towards the times of extreme millennia, though the damage will be minimum. This isn't the first time speculation of extreme devastation will occur, nor will it be the last, though if there was a remote possibility of this occurrence, Druga has covered all her bases.

Ellen Bret (Bret's character is a cheap knock off of Ellen) and Dare Dare are hardly likable as the leading love interests. Were there components of evident and legitimate feelings emanating from the characters? Me thinks not! Though each character speaks massive amounts of words, sentences and paragraphs-- an ample blank emits from their personalities.

Though her Beginning series can become rather tiresome, I love all of Druga's books. She has a way of showing the best of humanity through the most trying times. The people in this story are smart and witty, but not the compassionate beings they should be. When Darius and Bret are jumping off the plane (with parachutes) and he tells the flight attendant (who will momentarily die due to the plane crashing) a witty quip showing her near demise--I felt disgust for his lack of empathy.

The very ending, which occurs 1500 years into the future was quite funny. An artifact they believe was the ancient people's bible turned out to be The Stand by Stephen King. Through the humor presents the fact that bits and pieces of society from ancient times don't always tell the full story.
Plus there is a sadness that all the work completed to protect the future of humanity is lost, and no one will ever know the sadness and sacrifice the people in the book suffered through, it's all but a puff of smoke in the past.

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

We've all seen parents who are slightly abusive to their children in public settings--which always brings to mind how are these children treated in private?
In reality, essentially all parents love their children, even the abusive ones(their knowledge of parenting is nil) though they're  those few who don't care and would rather slap every time, and they never mete out a single hug.

That's exactly the premise of this story which transpires in the distant future. Every time a child cries, a slap will occur if the mother's nearby. Children aren't hugged or loved, and no one feels the need to reach out with tenderness or caring for others. This is a fascinating glimpse at a village, where every human is severely dysfunctional, resulting from the sick and defective parenting of each home.

The village offers no order or stability as when the men prepare for a hunt. All the spears are assembled rather hazardously, and the men fight for the best weapons, frequently men become injured before their quest has started.
The story of Kira shows what happens to a young crippled girl that was saved due to her mother's strength that fought off efforts to throw Kira into the field to die.
After her mother's death, her world becomes newly structured and she's sheltered in a way she only dreamed of before, but at what cost to Kira and two others she shares her life with?

Thank God that love still flows in our world, and humanity still possesses immense empathy for each other. Selfishness still exist, though we would never turn our heads away from the abuse of children or murder people for their defects.

The only problem I have with this book is the ending, and I hope the third in the series will expand the story.

Walking in the Rain: Surviving the Fall by William Allen

Another "end of the world as we know it" book told from the perspective of a 16-year old who should have his own survival and wilderness show.

In fact, his vast knowledge of survival during the breakdown of the US, creates a belief in numerous people that he's much older than his years. Plus, his expertise concerning weapons is impressive--his dad's a marine who taught his little Padawan abundantly.

We meet him the moment he rescues a young girl from rape, for in this world the majority of men are rapist, murderers and cannibals, not necessarily in that order.

He decides to let her travel with him to his home, which he's diligently trying to reach.  Hopefully, he will make it back to his parents--there's nothing comparable to a little world-wide catastrophe to bring out the desire of seeing one's mommy.

Luke's that guy that anyone would aspire to have nearby while enduring the breakdown of society, but what are the odds that he would ever exist or be that perfect companion after the downfall. I would undoubtedly meet a computer nerd that never leaves his house, and doesn't know the first thing concerning survival. Murdered and served up as dinner for "Some Fine Young Cannibals" would be an appointment in our day planner

The biggest problem I have with the book is the lack of an ending--it just stops in the middle of nothing. Books should always leave us with absolute wonderment about what happens to our characters, or as in this case a hook to create a desire for the second book, and never to fizzle out into nothingness.

Even though there wasn't a hook, I want to learn what happens-- I will be reading the second book soon.

Who Goes There by John W. Campbell Jr.

From the moment I commenced reading this story, memories of another story stirred around in my brain.
Men living on a base in Antarctica and a being so evil that it can duplicate itself into any existing living cell structures.
Voila, I knew it appeared similar to the movie called The Thing, which is a terrifyingly wonderful movie starring Kurt Russel. In fact, the movie's based on the book.

Who Goes There was published in 1938. That boggles the mind to understand the mind of the man who had the intelligence to write such a brilliant book. Reading it today, I felt the concepts were way before their time in the same manner of Jules Verne or H. G. Wells. The story showed such insight that a movie made fifty years later would thrill audiences with anxiety filled horror.

Even though I liked the book, this is one of those instances where the film is superior. The book had several of the same elements, yet the movie took those elements to a higher playing field and added a fresh new story line causing more terror filled moments.

To be stuck in Antarctica with the "being" on the loose would be terrifying, and never knowing if a friend is still a human, would be agonizing. Plus they're in Antarctica with no place to run. The weather outside shows 40 below--until aid arrives, there's no place to hide.
There's also the added fear of spreading the evil off the base and into the world.

I still feel that feeling of wonderful creepiness rolling off my shoulders.

When The Ashes Fall by Jacqueline Druga

If by chance a major disaster wipes out a massive percentage of the population--the evil in countless humans will run rampant. Warlords will seize power resulting in endless beings suffering at their hands. People who were rather decent before the catastrophe will become savage with greed for themselves or their families. Kindness and honesty may be just words from our past, and instead of helping each other, humans will turn back time to the dark ages.

Knowing all of these predictions could come true, the cruelty in some books becomes troublesome, that's one reason Druga's books and I get along famously. She writes often regarding the exemplary behavior of people during dark periods of humankind's worst nightmares.

The story centers on a woman named Abby and her two daughters who travel to the city to have an amusing day. On the way home, she drives into a large tunnel when suddenly a nuclear bomb hits the city they just left. Several survivors find a smaller tunnel into a mountain that keeps them away from the fallout, and for a brief while they're safe.

They must leave the tunnel eventually, plus their hearts are yearning to travel to a husband and son still at home. Along the way, each person met shows compassion (except one unknown assailant in the story for just a few lines), now that's the world I would love to be in if events turn to devastation.

Druga's books are always effortless to read, and the only problem I find with them--they eventually must come to a conclusion.

The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin

☆☆☆☆This review contains spoilers☆☆☆☆

I've watched both Stepford Wives on film and wanted to know how skillful Levin wrote the book--was his writing as brilliant as the first movie or as dreadful as the second or somewhere in between.
Additionally, the first Stepford Wives show Joanna(Katherine Ross) strong to the finish, and the second one with Nicole Kidman was merely silly, but what about Joanna in the book?

She's precisely the same as the character in the first film except she wasn't as secure with herself at the end and starts to lose her hold on reality. An infinite number of women couldn't arrive near this portion of the story and still stay sane--perceiving their death is imminent and soon a robot will be their replacement.

To understand the book one must understand the age the book was published (1972). For the first time, women were actually gaining rights and receiving the respect due to them, though grudgingly by a substantial population of men.

Perhaps all men from this time period grew up with a mom who didn't work and had one specific job--to create comfort for their family, wait on their husbands as if they were children, and never have their own identity. They must even write their name as Mrs. John Doe, and never receive or send letters with their own name. They were lost even to themselves.

The seventies became a breakthrough for women's rights and we won though it was a struggle. Men wanted their maids and cooks back in the kitchen--not out in the workforce. So it's conceivable that a man would replace his wife with a robot to create a home exceptionally comfortable and to have a sandwich in his hand whenever desired.

Though it's ambitious to believe that an entire community of men could agree to mass murder. The book states that countless people left the community after the men's club formed, and the previous owners of Joanna's home stayed only two months, hopefully in this world, a favorable amount of men had a conscience.

I've often thought about the female children of these killers--would they be just as willing for them to die so their husbands could have the same setup? They're all murderers and butchers, I've come to the conclusion they might be willing--who could have a normal psyche after conducting or agreeing to such madness.

The book is wonderful, and Ira Levin is an incredible writer, though he must always throw in a spattering of extremely crude sexual references, which I (the prude) pass by quickly. Though I'm sure in this day and age readers will not mind his little expressions.
He's the author of one my top ten books called This Perfect Day, and his writing in that book is also genius. His books are slow and easy yet convey a powerful mix of controlled energy.

I found this book to read for free on the Open Library  site which I put to work on my Kindle. There are copious amounts of older books to read that commonly charge a considerable sum of money on my Kindle and the paper books are difficult to find--this site helps frequently with my reading "wants."

After The Event by T. A. Williams

This review contains spoilers.

Another book on the end of  life's existence for countless humans-- not that there is anything wrong with another story containing diseases, horrible lunatics, starvation, destruction and so much more fun.

Before the events of this book take place, there's an extensive amount of back story concerning the father, named Grant and his four children. Grant's past includes running out continuously on his family, addiction, selfishness and as his wife lay dying, he was somewhere else taking care of his own needs as usual.

As the world begins the downward journey of  human destruction, Grant takes his motherless children to his father's farm. His oldest son hates him and believes Grant will let them all down yet again, but Grant fights his addiction and continues to win.

They barely survive the winter when suddenly horror is thrust upon them. Modern day pirates, though land pirates, descend upon their farm and create havoc, kidnapping, and murder.

This is where the story turns to such sadness that I could hardly continue reading. Grants young son is killed by the bandits, and his daughter taken.

I know that children would die if this story came true, but reading such sadness is hard to bear. Children die all too often in the real world--why shouldn't they live in books. 

There could be a worldwide referendum to prevent the death of children until they are the age of 18 in all future books punishable by some horrendous sentence. 

I plan to read the next book in the series name Remnants though I'm sure it contains more sadness to be endured.

Call Me Joe by Poul Anderson

This review contains spoilers.

When I commenced reading this short story, I agreed with various other reviewers stating the book appeared similar to Avatar--as the story progressed--my mind began to waver on that point of view.

Joe, who's a man made being, lives on Jupiter controlled by a handicapped man named Ed, though there's a last name listed, I will call him "Ed."  Ed is a disabled man who must move around in a wheelchair, and his job keeps him hooked to the avatar, but that's where the similarity ends between this book and James Cameron's laughable movie.

Joe can live on his own, though Ed controls Joe using his brain power, exploring the environment through Joe's eyes. A problem arises with the machine-- a tube (those pesky tubes from the 1950's) continually dysfunctions. Another scientist believes that Ed's sick and tired of Joe, however that isn't the case at all--Ed loves being in Joe's body. Who could blame him--he can roam around, drinking methane and eating random animals raw that wander near him. He makes pet animals (his dogs) out of giant caterpillars, and he's free from constraints.

Eventually, Ed leaves his human body and Ed and Joe fuse into one being.

The similarity to Avatar ends early in the story, since there isn't dragon riding and becoming one with the dragon through Ed's ponytail, or an ancient tree, or other ridiculous storylines from Avatar. Yes, Ed stays in his avatar, but the avatar in the movie didn't have any type of mind of his own--plus there isn't a strong culture in place in the book.

Ultimately, the scientist on their little space station come up with a beneficial idea, bring up humans (with disabilities who wish to go)for the purpose of connecting  their brains with the dozen Jovians recently sent down to the planet's surface without human control.

They also discuss sending the elderly up, anticipating living an extra life before dying "for reals."

An interesting concept, and personally when I'm a hundred years old, I could stand a caterpillar or two as my special pets.

The Ugly Little Boy by Isaac Asimov

Today, people's beliefs of Neanderthals have changed immensely. In the past, it was believed that these early humans were not too smart in the membrane, and lived without tools and were basically ignorant.

That belief has changed, and new findings show they were a smart people, and some believe they were humans, at any rate they eventually bred with humans. Neanderthal DNA can be found in homo sapiens today, and some have that look about them. 

These ancient people lived in caves or homes they made with mammoth bones, and were very careful about the way they kept their domiciles. Most could have made the cover of Neanderthal Home and Garden (sorry). They made tools, performed operations, and may have used language and created music.

This book is about a young Neanderthal brought to the future (the future of 1958 when the book was published) and the nurse who learns to love him even though he is an ugly little boy.

No one could say this story shows any signs of political correctness, and some of the words are quite offensive. Ape boy is what the media call him, and he is just a spectacle to be poked at and studied--no one cares that he is a scared little guy except his nurse, who names him Timmie and eventually she loves him dearly.

Ultimately, the company who brought him into the future is ready to send him back where he came from--they want to pull someone else out of time. It doesn't matter to them that he now wears clothes, reads, talks, uses utensils while eating and will be completely lost back in his original home.

It's heartbreaking to think they wouldn't care, but it's believable that corporations and some scientists care for nothing but money and fame, and what's one little boy's life in the shadow of their greatness.

The nurse wants desperately to sneak him out of the building to safety, but she's found out, and so her only recourse, which would be the same as most mothers frantically afraid for their child, is to go back in time with him, and try to keep him safe.

There are many conclusions my mind has created on what happens when they get back and I persist in my belief that she will help him be safe and he will grow to be a great man.

This is a wonderful story and Asimov felt it was one of his best.

Yesterday's Kin by Nancy Kress

May contain spoilers.
The worst element of Aliens landing on our Earth would be their intent of good or evil. Not everyone views good and evil as absolute, and in the beginning, the intentions of the aliens in this book are difficult to decipher.
The aliens, that land on our world, aren't complete strangers--they are part of our ancestors that somehow broke off and moved to a distant planet far, far away.
They tell a tale of a spore cloud coming our way within one Earth year, and will hit their planet within twenty-five years. The spores are deadly to the aliens and subsequently deadly to humans.
The aliens set up labs with all the top scientist of the world to find a cure for humans and the quasi-humans also.
One aspect of the story that I consider appealing portrays the primary character who's a middle-aged woman. She's a scientist at a leading university with three grown children. She doesn't have a man and doesn't seem to be looking for one. She threw out her alcoholic husband years earlier, and she concentrates on her work and occasionally her grown children.
Books rarely show a woman, moving up in years, worth anyone's scrutiny in this age of youth and beauty, so this is an immense credit to the writer.
As time moves on she becomes depressed when thinking back on the mother that worked too much, and the mother that couldn't find the secret formula to give her children what they needed.
As the book moves on, her regrets become  perceptible, which leads her down the path of anger, bitterness and regret. I recognize this woman since I have felt these same feelings towards my children, and I've spent copious amounts of sleepless nights contemplating my own maternal defects.
I wish in the end that she lost her frustratingly fatalistic perspective, and after learning a large percentage of the population on our planet will live, including her other two children and grandchild (left on earth), that she would have grasped onto happiness for the human race. Maybe, as time moves on and the pain of her loss diminishes, she will find the ample hope that she needs in her life.

Nightfall by Isaac Asimov

The thought of gazing upward to the stars driving any creature to complete madness is a difficult concept to fathom, nonetheless that's the driving force behind the story of Nightfall.

Picture a planet with six suns and no other way to light people's world. Every light they utilize, inside or out, comes from their suns. A few select scientist discovered there will be a total eclipse of all six suns and total darkness will ensue.

They're cognizant concerning the stars, though they're a bit shaky on what they may be. There are religious texts--thousands of years old-- explaining a well-known theory. The texts tell a tale of  catastrophes that happened when the world turned to darkness at a previous time. People burned their cities to light their world and set themselves back to their own dark ages. 

The primary component of the story presents dialog among a reporter and the scientist trying to record the event for future reference.

The dialog makes up 99% of the book, and the event of complete darkness occurs only on the last few pages. Asimov writes the amount of stars number 30,000 compared to the few thousand that inhabitants of Earth view during our nightly observations.

It's difficult to conceptualize the feelings except beauty from these pinpoints of lights, although to never observe a star and suddenly to be bombarded with thousands could jolt anyone's composure.

Even though the book feels especially long winded--the writing continues with Asimov's excellence and the story's interesting subject matter is definitely worth the reader's time.