Whispers of Death (Alicia Rivoli) #update

Pages - 266 pages

Published - September 2015

Language - English

ISBN - 9781516806

Haunted by Death, Amelia's dreams feel ever so real with each passing night. Plagued by the sense of palpable fear, she continues forward with the demands of life at the forefront.

Death had been searching for just the right person that could help him regain his powers. After hundreds of years it seemed all hope was lost as those that died were now stuck in Limbo, forever suffering in pain and anguish. A ray of light appeared as a vision from a stranger led Death to Amelia, though making her a willing participant would prove to be difficult.

An endearing and supportive husband is something every woman would dream of and something Amelia has been blessed with, although nothing could have prepared them for what was about to take place. Their lives were turned upside down in the blink of an eye and their outlook of life, and death, forever changed.

A battle with Death can make one question even their most righteous desires, despite the fact that a common enemy had brought them together. Can Amelia ever find solace with her new knowledge or would death be the only thing that will bring her peace?

Journey on both sides of the veil as Amelia helps battle an evil that threatens to take away all that she has ever known and loved.

Paperback:

https://www.createspace.com/5664981

http://www.amazon.com/Whispers-Death-Alicia-R…/…/ref=sr_1_1…

Ebook:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/573541

The Nano Experiment (Wid Bastian, Ivan Castillo)

Pages - 206

Authors - Wid Bastian, Ivan Castillo
Published - January 2015

ISBN - 9781506021980

Genre - Science Fiction

In the twenty second century, total war is destroying the planet. In a desperate effort to defeat the enemy, the Western Alliance develops nano technology, tiny machines that are implanted into human beings to enhance their physiology. A few super soldiers are created from this nano technology, but the West has also unwittingly unleashed hell. Earth is ravaged by hideous abominations spawned from a global nano plague.

Decades later there is little of humanity left, except in small outposts in the Arctic. A very special boy is born in one of these Alaskan colonies. Perhaps he is the one humanity has been waiting for, the warrior who can destroy the nano monsters and save the last vestiges of the human race.

Book Update: Shanti and the Magic Mandala (F.T. Camargo)

Author - F.T. Camargo

Paperback, 366 pages

Published October 31st 2014 by Lodestone Books

ISBN 1782795006 (ISBN13: 9781782795001)

Shanti and the Magic Mandala is an adventure in which fantasy and reality are mingled. The book tells the story of six teenagers, from different religious and cultural origins and different parts of the world, who are mystically recruited to form two groups - one in the Northern Hemisphere, and one in the Southern. They eventually gather in Peru, and through a single alliance, begin a frantic chase for the sacred object that can stop the black magician's final plan.

Featured - Frozen to Life: A Personal Mortality Experiment

 Book Info

How far would you go to avoid death?

Frozen to Life is the true account of the author’s extraordinary answer to this question: If he cannot escape the constraints of a 'natural' lifespan, he will, upon his death, have his severed head preserved in a vat of liquid nitrogen in the Arizona desert.

This book illuminates the astonishing science behind his decision, and the transformative power of the patternist thinking that carried him to it. From the initial confusion and isolation of his upbringing on the Scottish islands of Benbecula and Skye comes a curious inkling that collides with dominant religious dogmas and alters relationships: What am I? What is a 'self'? Must selves die?

Neuroscience - including the latest theories about the way mind emerges from the architecture of the brain - interweaves with philosophy, Buddhism, and personal testimony to create a fascinating and emotionally-charged insight into the psyche of a 'cryonaut' in waiting.

Written with empathy, searing insight, and dark humour Frozen to Life is both cutting edge and bleeding heart: a postmodern experiment in falling in love with life while preparing for death, in ways we can change ourselves radically without losing our treasured humanity, and in coming to understand that neither life nor death is what we think it is.

"I don’t think I’ve read a better or more poetic exploration of what it means to be. Or indeed not to be, or only potentially to be."

–STEVE GRAND, roboticist and creator of the Creatures artificial life simulation

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                                                    Author - D.J. MacLennan

Paperback, 400 pages

Published August 31st 2015 by Anatta Books

New Release - Mechanica (Betsy Cornwell)

Kindle Edition, 304 pages

Published August 25th 2015 by Clarion Books

Nicolette’s awful stepsisters call her “Mechanica” to demean her, but the nickname fits: she learned to be an inventor at her mother’s knee. Her mom is gone now, though, and the Steps have turned her into a servant in her own home. 

But on her sixteenth birthday, Nicolette discovers a secret workshop in the cellar and begins to dare to imagine a new life for herself. Could the mysterious books and tools hidden there—and the mechanical menagerie, led by a tiny metal horse named Jules—be the key to escaping her dreary existence? With a technological exposition and royal ball on the horizon, the timing might just be perfect for Nicolette to earn her freedom at last.

Gorgeous prose and themes of social justice and family shine in this richly imagined Cinderella retelling about an indomitable inventor who finds her prince . . . but realizes she doesn't want a fairy tale happy ending after all.

Creating Monsters (Novel Review)

Intro

A psychedelic adventure set in a city on the verge of disaster.

In modern Philadelphia, where a deep economic depression has left the city near collapse and most of its inhabitants in gruesome poverty, Mitchell Gray, a twenty-year-old graduate student in a beleaguered university physics department, spends most of his time playing piano and touring the city’s worst slums in stolen cars. He is a technical virtuoso whose scientific ideas challenge the foundations of his field but he lives in hiding from one of the world's most powerful billionaires, a man obsessed with the quiet Mitchell and determined to capitalize on his strange inventions.

When Mitchell falls in love with an older woman, the wife of a wealthy pharmaceutical executive, their relationship inspires him with a mad plan use his creations to change the world. With the help of a brilliant and neurotic chemistry student named Charlie Nolan and technology so advanced that it resembles magic, Mitchell devises horrifying yet harmless schemes and supernatural hoaxes, causing an uproar in the city.

His nights as a modern day robin hood also raise the alarm of some of the real monsters in Philadelphia, including a mysterious child murderer rumored to possess supernatural powers, known only as "The Demon." Christopher Rankin's debut novel is a haunting story of love, friendship and survival in a world of revolution. 

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Review

A very dark, enigmatic story that explores the familiar themes of despair, anger, and revenge, Creating Monsters is a book that is hard to put down. If you had the intelligence and ability to exact revenge, would you? The main character is thoughtful and insightful, but allowed himself and his talents to be manipulated in ways he didn't approve. Along the way to revenge, monsters are created all around him: some by his doing, some by circumstance. In the end, when he steps back to view the whole picture, what has he really accomplished? 

The storytelling is exquisite. Word choices and ease of phrasing lull the reader into this dream-like world. The haze over the city is a great metaphor for the lack of clarity most of us have for what is happening around us. At times, imagery reminded me of the dark Batman movies. 

There are other common themes in this book: vigilantism, love, losing one's parents, young scientists in a lab... Many readers can enjoy this story because of their interests in similar genres.

The biggest problem I had with the book was the editing. Many issues of missing punctuation, missing words, incorrect pronouns, homonyms used, spelling errors were throughout the entire book. Normally, this would be quite upsetting to me. However, I enjoyed the story so much, I jumped right over the problems. This may not be the case for all readers. For this book to be great, it needs a thorough editing job. For now, it is very good.

If you are a reader who enjoys dark stories, who likes to read about characters exacting revenge, you enjoy comic book characters who create a new powerful persona to seek justice, or you enjoy futuristic fantasy, please check out this book. It's the author's debut novel, and I'm excited to read more from him! 

Rating - 4/5

Real Virtue (GR Review)

Author - Katy Lee

Published - April 2012 #Goodreads_Review

In a virtual reality game where she can fly, someone’s aiming to take her down.

Mel Mesini is a New York City restaurateur and an avid, virtual reality world traveler. But her successful life—both online and in reality—takes a swerve the night her father is seriously injured in a hit-and-run. To make matters worse, Officer Jeremy Stiles, the man who had once cut her deep with his harsh, rejecting words, is heading the investigation.

When Jeremy realizes Mel is the actual target, his plan is to protect her—whether she wants him to or not. What he wants is answers, especially about this online game she plays. Is it a harmless pastime as she says? Or is she using it to cover something up? As a faceless predator destroys the things that matter to her, Jeremy knows he’s running out of time before she loses the one thing that matters most—her real life.

Amazon link: http://tinyurl.com/cjtxzg5
BN link: http://tinyurl.com/bnjg5k5 

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Real Virtue is an engrossing story of a Mel, young woman who flees her past to recreate herself in a whole new image. The world she has made for herself—and thinks she controls—begins to unravel when her father is injured in a hit-and-run accident and Mel returns to the home she left many years before. Mel is forced to confront reality and fantasy on many levels: her own involvement with a video game, the mystery surrounding the attempts on her life, her mother’s schizophrenia, and the qualities of the man who once rejected her and is now trying to save her. This thriller kept me guessing until the end and was satisfying on many levels. The character of Mel I found to be very difficult to connect to because she basically lived in her own worlds where she saw negativity in every situation, even the most innocent. Jeremy on the other hand took everything so personally, as if he failed, and would preach about God and religion. I am not a terribly religious person so it was a little overwhelming to hear all of his speeches about his path and purpose. The progression of Mel’s understanding of the relationship she once fled from, contrasted with the world she created for herself was as intriguing as the stalker-mystery parts of the book. Real Virtue is a great read.