Berlin 1945: The Final Days of Hitler’s Third Reich

berlin_1945I was happy to learn of Philip Gibson’s Berlin 1945: The Final Days of Hitler’s Third Reich, given that I had rave-blurbed Robert K. Blechman’s Executive Severance, a mystery novel written in real-time tweets, back in 2011.   Amazingly and ironically, Executive Severance has not yet been published as a Kindle – it’s available only in paperback – but is delightful nonetheless.

Berlin 1945 is available as a Kindle ebook, is also written in tweets, and is also delightful – as well as historically informative, making the brutally true story that it covers a pleasure to read.   Unlike Executive Severance, the tweets that comprise Berlin 1945 were never posted on Twitter, and in fact are in the mouths – or from the fingertips – of leading historical figures who presided over the fall of the Third Reich, ranging from Hitler himself to his top aids and clerical assistants to allied leaders in the United States, England, and the Soviet Union.   As such, Berlin 1945 constitutes an alternate history of sorts – what would have been tweeted in 1945 in those finals days of the Third Reich had all the major parties Twitter accounts and used them as you and I – but not yet Presidents and military leaders – use them today.  Thus, we really get a double alternate history in this fast-paced volume – the general alternate history of Twitter in 1945, and the more specific alternate history of leaders often obsessively tweeting.

One opportunity that may have been missed in this book is the major and minor players responding to each other’s tweets – or at least RTing and Favoriting tweets.   The narrative instead consists of tweets largely uniformed by the tweets of others in the book, though because the tweeters are often talking about the same events – Hitler and his minions about the Russian approach to Berlin – the tweets are often connected in theme.

The history is well-researched and accurate.   The only slightly misleading phrase I noticed was in this background blurb about Stalin – “After entering into a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany, from 1941 to 1945 he oversaw the defense of the Soviet Union” – which would have been clearer as “After entering into a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany, dissolved by Hitler in 1941, Stalin from then to 1945 oversaw the defense of the Soviet Union” – but that’s a minor quibble.

The voices of the tweeters – or, better, tweeting styles – all ring true, as do the psychological tensions and chess games that we know from history, such as the mutual exasperation between Hitler and his generals in the last days of the war.   Gibson also works in some good narrative connectors, such as Hitler ordering the flooding of the Berlin subway system to slow the Russian advance, after Joseph Goebbel’s wife separately muses about a bathtub in the bunker.

I was bound to really enjoy this book, being a fan of alternate history, having written extensively about Twitter in New New Media, and being a World War II history buff to boot.  But you’ll love this book if you’re any one of those, and maybe even if you’re not at all.  Berlin 1945 is part of a growing series of books like this by Gibson (“hashtag histories”)  – including a presciently written one about the Cuban Missile Crisis in tweets – and I expect I’ll be reading all of them sooner or later.  In even shorter than a tweet, I can say:  Gibson has given us a compelling way to witness history.

About The Reviewer

PaulLevinsonPaul Levinson, PhD, is Professor of Communication & Media Studies at Fordham University in NYC. His science fiction novels include The Silk Code (winner of Locus Award for Best First Science Fiction Novel of 1999), Borrowed Tides (2001), The Consciousness Plague (2002), The Pixel Eye (2003), The Plot To Save Socrates (2006), Unburning Alexandria (2013), and Chronica (2014) – the last three of which are also known as the Sierra Waters trilogy, and are historical fiction as well as science fiction. His stories and novels have been nominated for Hugo, Nebula, Sturgeon, Edgar, Prometheus, and Audie Awards. His nonfiction books, including The Soft Edge (1997), Digital McLuhan (1999), Realspace (2003), Cellphone (2004), and New New Media (2009; 2nd edition, 2012), have been translated into twelve languages. He appears on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, the History Channel, NPR, and numerous TV and radio programs. His 1972 LP, Twice Upon a Rhyme, was re-issued in 2010. He was President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, 1998-2001. He reviews television in his InfiniteRegress.tv blog, and was listed in The Chronicle of Higher Education’s “Top 10 Academic Twitterers” in 2009.

Find out more about Paul and his work at http://paullevinson.blogspot.com/

Chimeras

chimerasChimeras by E.E. Giorgi is an engaging detective story with a noir tone, set in Los Angeles at its grittiest.

Track Perseus is a policeman, but his “nose” for clues is a little more literal than most. He’s a chimera, with the vision and sense of smell of a predator. It puts him an interesting position where he knows things that can’t be ascertained by the court-admissible evidence and has to find back-up to prove the facts to his partner and the department. Whether you are a detective story fan or intrigued by the possibilities of science and genetic engineering, there’s something here for you. Track is hard-boiled in that tradition of noir detectives, troubled and dangerous both in love and work, but with a solid center of righteousness.

There’s plenty of intrigue and his own past and personal issues intermix with the case in a complicated and fascinating mess.

About The Reviewer:

BRYANT-CroppedSamantha Bryant is a middle school Spanish teacher by day and a mom and novelist by night. That makes her a superhero all the time. Her debut novel, Going Through the Change: A Menopausal Superhero Novel is now for sale by Curiosity Quills.

Learn more about Samantha and her work at http://samanthadunawaybryant.blogspot.com/

The Hitler Dececption

hitler-deceptionTracie Tanner ‘Bulldog’ CIA operative doesn’t understand the word impossible.

Another exciting Tracie Tanner thriller, where the plot keeps rolling into another dimension of impossible, keeping the strong heroine, Tracie Tanner CIA secret operative, working through dilemmas, which she must overcome to survive. She is quick to assess her surroundings and the situations she finds herself in by her resourcefulness. The other characters in the story also have deep roots and feel real, giving the book great dimension.

As always dealing with her boss, CIA Aaron Stallings is problematic. Worse, her new assignment in Wuppertal, West Germany has pitfalls from the start. She is thrown into a situation where Intel is sketchy, there’s no time for even minimal planning, and reconnaissance is nonexistent. Tanner relies on her instincts to get the job done, but with her skills, that’s enough.

Her new partner, Matthias Gruber, is an unknown in the deal, but they decide to work together, both dedicated to get the job done**spoiler alert**—Eliminate Hitler.

Even more surprises arise, and the mission keeps morphing into something new to overcome, right until the very end.

It is evident that the author researched which adds to the validity. The outrageous claims seem imaginable, once the story unfolds. The tension is well paced throughout and hooks along the way, keeping the reader riveted to the pages. There are many punches enacted in these action scenes, but still with a reverence for saving innocent lives whenever possible, which I applaud. I recommend this story for those who enjoy action-packed thrillers.

About The Reviewer

elizabeth_zgutaElisabeth Zguta is an advocate for Independent authors and publishers and encourages all writers to learn the skills needed for today’s book markets and to keep in touch with the new technologies.

​She is curious ​and always wants to know more about everything, and her attention goes to many places and topics. She considers herself a life learner, not only because of the courses she takes but also from the knowledge gained through life experiences. Nothing brings her more satisfaction than reading something new that sparks her imagination or connecting with other people regarding a topic. She is an Indie Author of supernatural, thriller suspense novels and writes blog posts.

Learn more about Elisabeth and her work at http://ezindiepublishing.com/

Murder Out Of The Blue

Murder-Blue-cover-213x300If you can’t put up with a story that doesn’t start with a bang and careens forward without letting you catch your breath, you might not deem Steve Turnbull’s Murder out of the Blue worth the trouble. You might start on the first few pages and think nothing is happening. Except something is. The rich, descriptive prose is immersing—or rather, permeating—you, into a Steampunk journey that will feel very British Empire and Orient Express, with a Faraday device thrown in.

By the time the body drops on or about the second chapter, not only are you flying along in partial weightlessness in Turnbull’s world, but you have achieved empathy with his lead character, Maliha. Her in-between half-Indian, half-Scott cultural plight has become yours. Her insight and intelligence as she conducts her unofficial, but rather more efficient, sleuthing draws you along as well. In particular you appreciate her sensitivity to the personal situations surrounding the case, and how in many ways, they mirror her own station in life.

I won’t say much more for fear of spoiling the tale. Suffice it to say at its core, this story is a murder mystery embedded in a Steampunk setting. One might be tempted to claim the Steampunk elements are quite beside the point, perhaps artificially injected. I would disagree. In the hands of an able writer such as Turnbull, they lend a certain surreal, other-worldly ethos to the story that serves to at once separate us from historical reality, and to view it in a different, thought-provoking light.

Murder out of the Blue is a short work, of novelette to novella length. It is a completely resolved story that yet supports the full plot arc subsequent stories in the series promise to reveal. Don’t be put off or fooled by the short length either. It packs quite the punch. If nothing else, read it for the way characters interact and converse without any wood in their words. That alone is worth the price of admission. And getting an introduction to an alternative world full of possibilities? That is the prize for the taking.

About The Reviewer

Eduardo_SuasteguiIt took Eduardo Suastegui a while to discover he was an artist trapped in an engineer’s body. With formal education in math and science, affirmed through hands-on engineering experience in designing, building, and integrating gadgets of varying complexity, he always kept daydreaming. Throughout his life, that daydreaming fed technological innovation.

More recently, that daydreaming has engendered stories about hackers, rogue AIs, and space travel, with more than a few stories about a dog trainer and her K9s sprinkled in. Eduardo loves to dive into fast-flowing, character-driven stories. With each of the books he reads or writes, he hopes to continue that adventure.

More than anything, through his writing, he hopes to connect with readers. He seeks to share a piece of himself with those who pick up and delve into his work.

Learn more about Eduardo and his work at http://eduardosuastegui.com/

The Last Of The Ageless

Last_Of_The_AgelessYou know how sometimes a book is long and it feels longer? This one was long, but flew by. Traci Loudin painted pictures in my mind of very different groups and tribes all co-existing in a post-apocalyptic world, some peacefully, some not.

I laughed when I read a conversation she had with someone at a faire, where she said it was a book with a bunch of assholes roaming around killing people. That description is more crude than the story is, but there is certainly one character that comes to mind who fits the bill.

Dalan’s tribe, capable of preserving extinct animals by taking their essences and transforming into the animals, is an interesting concept and well done. The Ancient teachings give the reader hope in dark times, and watching him struggle to apply those teachings to the outside world is both painful and rewarding.

There were plenty of twists and turns to keep things interesting. I never found myself guessing where the story was going to go next.

The ending was both satisfying, and left me wanting to read more. I was glad that it wrapped up nicely, and that there were still threads left open for future works.

Well written and engaging, I highly recommend this book, and look forward to more!

About the Reviewer

ToxopeusRyanmedHusband, father, and researcher, Ryan Toxopeus spends his free time working on his epic fantasy trilogy, Empire’s Foundation. He started writing the first book, A Noble’s Quest, in 2010 and fell in love with all aspects of storytelling. He focuses on fast paced, character driven plots. His motto: “If I’m bored writing it, others will be bored reading it.”

Learn more about Ryan and his work at https://prcreative.ca/ryan/

Waiting For Paint To Dry

waiting-for-paint-to-dry-by-lia-mackWaiting for Paint to Dry by Lia Mack is the story of a woman learning how to live again.

Matty Bell, artist, free spirit and Navy brat, had been a shell of herself for years, ever since she was raped as a teenager. She never told anyone and did a great job lying to herself about what had happened, to the point that she was living a stunted and lonely life. But finally, as an adult, she’s beginning to heal, through friendship, art, and love.

Though the subject matter is not light—in fact, it is at times raw and harrowing—the novel is uplifting and hopeful and I found myself cheering for the heroine as she found her way to a fuller and happier life. Her relationships with her sister, old friends, and the new love who comes into her life are nuanced and complex.

I recommend this book for readers who like inspiring stories that feel true to life.

About The Reviewer:

BRYANT-CroppedSamantha Bryant is a middle school Spanish teacher by day and a mom and novelist by night. That makes her a superhero all the time. Her debut novel, Going Through the Change: A Menopausal Superhero Novel is now for sale by Curiosity Quills.

Learn more about Samantha and her work at http://samanthadunawaybryant.blogspot.com/

Without Bloodshed

without_bloodshedThis is an excellent book, and I highly recommend it to anyone. The pace is quick, it’s full of intrigue, the plot is complex, and Claire might just be my favourite female character of all time. I’m not sure if I should characterize her as a major minor character, or a minor major character, because the cast is quite large. There are a lot of heads you’ll be in throughout the course of the story, and that can get a little confusing at points. It’s interesting seeing what everyone’s thinking/doing, but I think some of them might have been better left cut out to further increase tension for the reader (I found Chapter 1 killed what could have been a great surprise at the end). Furthermore, several characters go by more than one name, and they aren’t simple names. I’m still not sure I can tease them all apart.

The one thing that made the reading experience strange was all the references to movies/music from previous decades, considering this story takes place in the 2100’s. At first I thought perhaps it was a character or two who had a weird fixation with the distant past, but as more and more characters appeared to have knowledge of our own past (but apparently not our present), it felt more and more strange. Why would people have knowledge of an obscure bit of metal history, yet there is no mention of more modern day musicians? Perhaps because, ultimately, the repetitive nature of our current music industry is forgettable. Another thought hit me, and that was perhaps more modern movements were lost in Nationfall. But I couldn’t come up with a reasonable answer for why that would have happened. In the end, the question remains. How many people in our current decade have a working memory of art from 100 years ago? Very few, I’d wager. Perhaps this will be answered in future books, or maybe not.

Either way, I eagerly await the next book for the masterful way Matthew Graybosch weaves the lives and plots of the characters together.

About the Reviewer

ToxopeusRyanmedHusband, father, and researcher, Ryan Toxopeus spends his free time working on his epic fantasy trilogy, Empire’s Foundation. He started writing the first book, A Noble’s Quest, in 2010 and fell in love with all aspects of storytelling. He focuses on fast paced, character driven plots. His motto: “If I’m bored writing it, others will be bored reading it.”

Learn more about Ryan and his work at https://prcreative.ca/ryan/

Strictly Analog

Strictly-Analog-187x300In Richard Levesque’s Strictly Analog I was pleased to find an innovative story of provocative imagination. Set in not so distant future Los Angeles and Orange County, California, the story presents itself as a noir private investigator romp. Indeed, the beginning may seem to meander a bit to show us the main character doing his strictly analog shtick before the meat of the action drops on our table. But what we have experienced during the first course provides us with a seamless all-show-very-little-tell story that introduces us into quite a world.

Our protagonist has thus far managed to survive in a society where corporations run for elective office—governor even—everyone is interconnected through a myriad of electronic to human interfaces, which in turns means those who can tap all their data streams can see what they can. Who needs surveillance cameras if you can access what each person can see? But our gumshoe has made it his brand to avoid all that connectivity. How? By staying strictly analog. He doesn’t avail himself of all those wearable and built-in devices, which means he can stay off-grid, and his clients like it that way just fine.

Things would keep going that way if not for his daughter landing in jail for the murder of her secret police boyfriend. As her father does his level best to find evidence of her innocence before she’s deported out of California—and not to Mexico—he will have to navigate obstacles and dangers that challenge his ability to stay strictly analog.

For fear of spoiling the story, I’ll leave it there, going on to say, I loved this story. Told in first person, we get to know our protagonist from the inside out. He takes us along his journey with a wonderful, evocative voice that is just right—not over the top, but commanding our attention. The narrative paints this world he lives in with lively color and gritty texture. We also come across a supporting cast of characters that are real and distinct. Above all, though, through a compelling page-turner, we explore a world with many advances, and a lot of pain. Apparently technology doesn’t solve our innermost needs. We find a lot of angst here, a lot of loneliness, perhaps even despair, all of it interconnected at the speed of light.

If you were to strip this story of all its technological elements, you would be left with a pedestrian procedural. But that’s just it. You can’t do that. The case our protagonist solves inextricably intertwines and integrates with the technology of the day. You have to really sink into this world and its tech components to get this story. And that, perhaps more than anything, is why I loved this story.

Now… will there be a sequel?

About The Reviewer

Eduardo_SuasteguiIt took Eduardo Suastegui a while to discover he was an artist trapped in an engineer’s body. With formal education in math and science, affirmed through hands-on engineering experience in designing, building, and integrating gadgets of varying complexity, he always kept daydreaming. Throughout his life, that daydreaming fed technological innovation.

More recently, that daydreaming has engendered stories about hackers, rogue AIs, and space travel, with more than a few stories about a dog trainer and her K9s sprinkled in. Eduardo loves to dive into fast-flowing, character-driven stories. With each of the books he reads or writes, he hopes to continue that adventure.

More than anything, through his writing, he hopes to connect with readers. He seeks to share a piece of himself with those who pick up and delve into his work.

Learn more about Eduardo and his work at http://eduardosuastegui.com/

Ithaka Rising

ithaka_risingIthaka Rising by LJ Cohen is the second in the Halycone Space series. It can be read and enjoyed by readers who missed the first book (Derelict), but I recommend reading both books.

Ro Maldonado, a gifted engineer, is the kind of young woman people might describe as “difficult.” Certainly, her childhood as the daughter of a complicated father with unclear loyalties hasn’t made friendships or trust easy for her. But she’s learning and, now that she has friends, she would do anything to help them, including taking on a dangerous mission in a not-quite-fully-functional ship to rescue one of them.

I admire the realism of this story in that there are no easy answers to the complex problems the characters face. A great adventure story that left me both satisfied and anxious for a third book!

About The Reviewer:

BRYANT-CroppedSamantha Bryant is a middle school Spanish teacher by day and a mom and novelist by night. That makes her a superhero all the time. Her debut novel, Going Through the Change: A Menopausal Superhero Novel is now for sale by Curiosity Quills.

Learn more about Samantha and her work at http://samanthadunawaybryant.blogspot.com/

Crooks And Straights

crooks_straightsCrooks and Straights by Masha du Toit is a young adult novel centered around a teenaged girl.

Gia always knew there was magic, but she had no idea how entrenched in the magical world she really was. In South Africa, there are two types of people: crooks (magicals) and straights (non-magicals). Gia is a Straight, and she always thought the rest of her family was, too. But with the Purist movement taking over in government, someone she cares about catches the wrong sort of attention, and Gia makes a daring deal to save the ones she loves.

Crooks and Straights thrilled me by introducing me to new kinds of magical creatures I had never heard of before. I was fascinated by the world du Toit created, with its intermix of contemporary South Africa and magical mythologies. I recommend it for readers who like to explore cultures and magic through books.

About The Reviewer:

BRYANT-CroppedSamantha Bryant is a middle school Spanish teacher by day and a mom and novelist by night. That makes her a superhero all the time. Her debut novel, Going Through the Change: A Menopausal Superhero Novel is now for sale by Curiosity Quills.

Learn more about Samantha and her work at http://samanthadunawaybryant.blogspot.com/