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Books, Crime, Dee Rommel Mysteries, Mystery, New Releases, Noir, novel, suspense, Thriller

The Countdown Continues: A New Mystery to Solve But Only 8 DAYS to Do It

Description:

Sometimes it’s unclear who deserves a favor…

Despite her life-changing injury, Dee Rommel is as determined and scrappy as ever. Still adjusting to her new life working for her godfather, private investigator Gordy Greer, Dee is ready to try out her hi-tech running blade, returning to the annual 10K competition.

A mysterious car crashes and burns in the middle of Portland, Maine’s Casco Bay Bridge. A young, once-sex-trafficked woman is killed and Dee finds herself protecting orphaned Yuusuf, a high school valedictorian who may be able to point to the murderer.

When a toxic web of crime is revealed, both traditional and extended family dynamics are in play, as well as greed and ambition. Old relationships haunt Dee when nothing or no one is as they seem. She has only 8 days to keep her pursuit of justice in play, fighting for her allies and her own life.

My Take:

Welcome back, Dee Rommel. It’s a bit like getting back together with some dear, old friends to catch up on things as she has continued to regain important parts of her life before her accident. In some way, the 10K race Dee participates in is symbolic of her enduring drive to overcome her challenges, both personal and professional. But it doesn’t take long for another complicated situation to present itself.

A tragic traffic accident on an iconic bridge turns into a mystery as Dee is drawn into an ever-evolving tangle of intrigue, corruption, and exploitation. 8 DAYS is a fast-paced, thrilling, page-turner Selbo skillfully reveals the key elements of the crime mystery for our tenacious, justice-seeking, badass, sleuth to unravel.

8 DAYS is the latest installment in the award-winning, crime, procedural, mystery, noir, suspense, and thriller series that includes 9 DAYS and 10 DAYS. Once again. Dee has one less day to figure out what’s going on in her fair city and break open a case that involves a disgusting ring of unsavory characters whose greed exceeds any glimmer of their remaining humanity.

With each installment of this compelling series, Selbo adroitly fashions a vivid tapestry of the scenic wonders of coastal Maine and the city she loves as a backdrop for the nefarious actions of criminals who infest Portland. Dee is a fascinatingly complex, richly developed, flawed protagonist who we cannot help but admire. We pull for her to overcome adversity and frustration in sleuthing out the truth in solving the mystery, and despite the complexities of the knotted mess Selbo presents for her to resolve, we are never disappointed. And that is why this series is a must-read for lovers of crime mysteries.

Author Bio:

Jule Selbo grew up in Fargo, North Dakota. She is a novelist, playwright, screenwriter, and academic in film history. Her mystery/romance FIND ME IN FLORENCE (Pandamoon Publishing, Fall 2019), inspired by the art, beauty, romance, and history of Florence, Italy was written while working with students in Florence, Italy, and was awarded FIRST PLACE in the Chatelaine Awards for best women’s fiction/romance. Her book BREAKING BARRIERS, based on the life of 18th-century scientist Laura Bassi was released in April 2020 and is a finalist for the Goethe Award. Her historical fiction book, DREAMS OF DISCOVERY – BASED ON THE LIFE OF JOHN CABOT, was released Fall of 2018 by Mentoris/Barbera Publishing. She is an award-winning American screenwriter and playwright with work in feature film, television, and animation. She has worked with filmmakers and producers such as George Lucas, Michael Newell, Aaron Spelling, and Roland Joffe as well as with all the major Hollywood studios; produced credits include projects for Disney, Columbia Pictures, Paramount, and Universal.

She has also written for theater, with productions in New York and regional theaters around the United States).

As an academic, she has contributed to numerous journals with essays on the History of Screenwriters, her book (co-written/edited with Jill Nelmes) WOMEN SCREENWRITERS, AN INTERNATIONAL GUIDE delineates the rich past of female screenwriters from the 1890s to today. Jule was co-editor for eight years of the successful “Journal of Screenwriting” (Intellect Press) and has written extensively on film history, screenwriting, and film genre. She holds writing seminars around the world and is a script consultant for production companies and writers in Hollywood. As a professor in the Cinema and TV Arts Department at California State University, Fullerton, she has written two books on Screenwriting Structure that include information on the business of screenwriting: SCREENPLAY: BUILDING STORY THROUGH CHARACTER (Routledge) and REWRITE: FIRST DRAFT TO MARKETPLACE (Gardner); her book is FILM GENRE FOR THE SCREENWRITER (Routledge) explores all the main film genres, their components and uses for film narratives. She has been an invited guest lecturer on film genre and screenwriting at New York University, Moscow’s film school VGIK, Oxford Bridges University in Oxford, England, Bournemouth University in the UK, Disney Writers Program, Emerson College in Boston, and other venues and is a member of Screenwriters Research Network. She has earned her Ph.D. with her work in Film Genre, its historical components, and how a knowledge of film genre can be used by the screenwriter in the constructive stages of a screenplay.

For more information visit www.juleselbo.com

Purchase your copies of 8 DAYS,  9 DAYS, 10 DAYS, and FIND ME IN FLORENCE

book review, Books, Crime, Mystery, New Releases, novel, Spy Thriller, suspense, Technology, Thriller

Book Review: THE TOKYO DIVERSION by Tony Ollivier

Description:

David Knight is still having a rough time…

Having survived the implanting of another man’s memories, ballet dancer David Knight is struggling to adjust. He has been hunted, attacked, and almost killed because a TV minister wanted the acquired memories destroyed; injuring his best friend. The memories are gone a year later, but his life will never be the same.

He’s fired because of anger issues while trying to find his new normal in Canada’s premier dance company and living a pauper’s life. But when friend and aging spymaster Asher Fitzsimmons offers him a three-day contract for some light surveillance of one of the world’s largest security software companies, he jumps at it. However, David is soon embroiled in a corporate conspiracy that drags him to Japan to save the life of a billionaire’s daughter and uncover the greatest sleight of hand in history.

Will David Knight survive The Tokyo Diversion?

My Take:

What if you combine the physique of a skilled ballet dancer with the muscle memory and experiences of a highly trained spy? With that premise, Tony Ollivier conceived The David Knight Series. The Tokyo Diversion is Book Two of the series and what starts out as a quick and seemingly easy way of earning some much-needed money leads to a complicated, globetrotting, genre-bending thriller chock full of the same level of adrenaline-pumping, non-stop action as its award-winning predecessor.

David becomes entangled in an intricate web of deceit and misdirection that spans the Pacific, taking him from Seattle to Japan. To save the autistic daughter of a billionaire while also unraveling the complicated, frustrating, life-threatening mystery. The wild adventure-laced puzzles to be solved depend on David integrating his acquired memories and skills and fusing them with his own experiences leading to a conclusion that is both satisfying and portends the direction of the series in the future.    

Tony Ollivier’s “day” job requires a lot of travel taking him to the exotic settings that his novels skillfully describe where his fertile creativity fabricates tense, life-threatening situations that perhaps only David Knight’s peculiarly blended skill set could resolve.

The result is an outstanding sequel that will leave you wanting to read the next. What new international setting and intrigue will next confront David? I hope it won’t take long to find out.         

About the Author:

Tony Ollivier is the author of the multiple award-winning David Knight Series of high-concept thrillers with THE AMSTERDAM DECEPTION launched in March 2020, and the sequel THE TOKYO DIVERSION launched in August 2023.

Born in Canada, Tony lives in Vancouver with his wife and two teenagers and works in Competitive Intelligence at a software company based in Portugal. His high-tech career included stints at Xerox, Apple, IBM, and Microsoft. Prior to joining the corporate and writing world, Tony worked as a bartender, a DJ, and a tobacco picker!

book review, Books, DNA, dystopian, Future, Genetics, Mystery, New Releases, novel, Publishing, Science Fiction, suspense, Technology, Thriller

Book Review: HUMANITY: DEVOLVED by Greyson Ferguson

Description:

Nobody knows your DNA like your government.

Routine DNA scans flag individuals with genetic mutations. To systematically purge humanity of corrupt genetics, authorities pluck them from society, never to be seen or heard from again. This is done on a global scale.

Kyla Thomas, a nurse technician who already lost her husband to these removals, does everything in her power to protect Sam, her cancer-ridden son. Using illegal methods to scrub his DNA samples, she manages to hide him in plain sight until an accident at school reveals his secret. Although temporarily able to fight off capture, the government’s relentless pursuit of the fugitives rips Sam from Kyla’s grasp and jails her.

But few things can prevent a desperate mother’s search for her son, and in the process, Kyla begins to uncover government secrets only a select few were ever meant to know.

My Take:

This dystopian masterpiece has a disturbing quality given our recent shared human experience with battling the ravages of disease. It is significant that it was written well before any of that, though. And if that doesn’t give you an Orwellian chill, it may already be too late to warn you of the excesses to which an unbridled government may go in their desire to ensure public safety, even to the sacrifice of personal liberty and basic human rights. It is an important topic for thought and discussion, and this novel does a fantastic job of shining a light on the darker aspects of government control without being preachy or political.

What is most disturbing of all is that there is nothing far-fetched about this story. That’s the value of great science fiction, that it doesn’t get too caught up in the gee-whiz aspects of the future. Humanity: Devolved is told from a personal perspective, the human tragedy of someone caught up in the bureaucratic mess borne of good intentions. We struggle alongside the well-developed characters and feel for their situation because it is all so very plausible. And I promise you, when you reach the finale, you’ll be as surprised as I was.

About The Author:

Greyson Ferguson was born and raised in East Lansing, Michigan. A lover of all things creative, he eventually went on to attend the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia. After graduating with a degree in film and television he worked as a video producer for the New York Times before moving to Tucson, Arizona, where he turned his sights to writing. Focusing on relationships and travel, Greyson often intertwines personal own experiences into his own work. When not writing, Greyson is often traveling with his two dogs, one of which has been to 48 states and four countries.

book review, Books, Historical Fiction, Mystery, New Releases, novel, Publishing, suspense, Thriller

Book Review: LAMA WITH A GUN by Seth Augenstein

Description:

MONGOLIA: THE LAND OF GODS, MEN…AND BEASTS.

The legend lives: that a reincarnated Buddhist leader would once again drag the peoples of Mongolia to their feet, those once and future conquerors of the world.

Ja Lama is, for some, the answer and savior – a reincarnation from the revered lineage of Genghis Khan. Born into a group of exiled Mongols in southern Russia in the 19th century, his parents whisk him back toward the homeland for formal training as a Buddhist monk. His boyhood dreams are of a strong and united Mongolia… and reaching the promised land, the golden subterranean city of Agharti. But death dogs his every step, from the Tibetan monastery to battles with the hated Russians and the Chinese. He collects followers like the crusty sidekick Jimbe and thousands of other hardened nomadic peoples on the wide-open steppes. Ja Lama seizes the reins of power across the widest expanses of wildest western Mongolia, using his powers of will and a superhuman ability to survive the wounds of war. The strong and hopeful of Asia alike rally to the side of the monk with Colt revolvers under his robes.

The world closes in. There are too many enemies, and too many empires teetering close to collapse all around him as the evils of the 20th century marshal their forces. Can the feared and revered “Lama with a Gun” overcome the wounds of soul and body to unite his peoples for one last drive across Asia?

My Take:

LAMA WITH A GUN by Seth Augenstein is the story of Ja Lama, a man who would lead Mongolia in rebellion, but is he out of his time or out of his mind? What I can say is that you’ve never read anything like it.

Writing historical fiction is a unique challenge in many ways. The process requires the same level of meticulous research as non-fiction, but a good bit of creative storytelling is necessary to bridge the gaps in the official record. The title character lived from the late 19th thru early 20th Century in a region of the world that is as strange as it is exotic to most Westerners. The value of a human life is different in Mongolia where geographic coincidence as well as historical circumstance has embattled and oppressed the land for centuries. Life is harsh on the steppes, surrounded by the mountains at the top of the world.

From a young monk in a monastery to a prisoner in Russia, Ja Lama suffers from his belief that he is the reincarnation of a warrior prince with certain magical abilities that influence the will of humans. There are many surprises ahead on the journey of an unexpected holy man who seeks righteous vengeance against those who have imposed their will by force against his people. The result is a believable, violent, and distressing tale that if it isn’t entirely true, it probably should be.

LAMA WITH A GUN is available at AMAZON and directly from Pandamoon Publishing.

About The Author:

Seth Augenstein is a writer of fiction and non-fiction. His debut novel, Project 137, emerged in 2019 from Pandamoon Publishing and was what Kirkus Reviews called “an involving, tense and visceral near-future thriller.” His short stories have appeared in more than a dozen magazines and fiction podcasts. He spent a decade writing for New Jersey newspapers, most recently at The Star-Ledger. He picked up some state journalism awards, over the course of talking to people at crime scenes, hospital operating rooms, natural disasters, funerals, and quiet homes. He was also the editor of Forensic Magazine, a tour guide at the James Joyce Centre, and a student in Saul Bellow’s final class. Now he lives on a rocky ridge in New Jersey with his wife, daughters, dog named Mishima, and cats.

For more information, visit www.sethaugenstein.com

Blog, book review, Books, Fantasy, Magic, New Releases, novel, Publishing, Writing

Book Review: Reign and Ruin – The Faie King’s Mortal Book 3 by Devon Atwood

Description:

Anwen is the Faie Queen.

Armed with the shared power of Moros and married to the Faie King, she has narrowly escaped a gruesome fate at the hands of Erinyes, and has managed to trap two of the three sisters. But their trials are far from over. In a mountain far away, her brother, King Matth, languishes in mysterious agony. Close to her home, Ruin threatens to break free of the magical barrier that protects the humans and Faie refugees, but Anwen and Evander have no hope of trapping the vengeful sister without fulfilling the prophecy given to Anwen at her birth.

When the famed Iron Vice shows up at her gates, fully intending to save Anwen from the Faie he believes have invaded their vale, Anwen finds herself at the center of an ageless dispute between humans and Faie that could prove fatal to the war against Ruin. Desperate to save both people, Anwen and Evander discover that the answer to their salvation can only be found in the Pantheon of the Gods. That is, if they can live long enough to escape it.

Either Anwen will reign, or Ruin will burn them all.

My Take:

Reign and Ruin is the third and concluding part of The Faie King’s Mortal trilogy by Devon Atwood. For my past reviews go here: Bonds and Envy (Book 1) and Faie and Fury (Book 2). The previous books in the series established an evil, mysterious, magical villain that is actually three parts of a singular entity called Erinyes. And thus far in the series, Anwen, a human princess who is the story’s heroine, has faced the first two parts, imperiling her life each time. And so, in the third installment, it is time she faces the third part.

If you thought Envy and Fury were bad, wait until you get a load of Ruin.

There is a lot of action throughout the series, and it hasn’t been limited to the ongoing conflict with the evil villain. Anwen begins as a young woman who has been duped into falling for a charlatan who in truth is her soon-to-be arch nemesis. When she discovers the deception, she runs away into a nearby forest called Faievale where she first meets Evander, a faie who would be king. As a fish out of water, we see the fantastic world teeming with magic through Anwen’s wide eyes. A well-constructed fantasy ensues as while Atwood presents her amazing world to us she reveals nuggets of the underlying mystery. Although there is romantic tension between Anwen and Evander, the first two books are more about their developing relationship which, even though they have strong feelings for one another, is complicated by their obligations and a prophetic riddle they need to resolve. At the conclusion of Book 2, Anwen and Evander are married.

The romance theme may not dominate Book 3, but it is definitely more prevalent than it has been in the previous two storylines. But, the drama surrounding the prophecy and the main story arc that challenges the main characters’ events forward is. Anwen must find her brother and to do so she must confront the gods on their own turf. In the process, tension builds toward the final confrontation that threatens everything Anwen cares about, and also her life.

This is an imaginative, well-written series from start to finish, and I promise the ending is satisfying, though it will lead us to discover a new series that promises to further expand our knowledge of this amazing world. You can get it now at Amazon.


About The Author:

Devon is a published author who lives in the mountains of Wyoming with her husband, their seven children, and a menagerie of animals. Devon’s favorite thing is writing in silence with a good playlist on in the background, but she will settle for her usual ambiance of bickering children, barking dogs, and cheerio crumbs under her butt.

​She has a Bachelors of Science from Brigham Young University-Idaho, and her currently published works include Lunula, Inito, and K-Love.

Uncategorized

Live Review: The Warning – ‘Error’ World Tour; O2 Academy Islington, London (26.06.23)

I’ve seen fan-shot videos of the concert, which are always a treat but don’t do the live performance true justice. Wish I could have been there. It looked like everyone was having a great time.

Epitome of Epic

The Warning have been keeping pretty busy as of late, these past couple of months seeing the Villarreal sisters from Monterrey, Mexico embarking on their first ever European tour. This saw them supporting the likes of Muse and Royal Blood, play festival slots, as well as playing their own headlining shows – this leg of the tour concluding with an evening at O2 Academy Islington in London. Having caught the trio’s set at Download Festival, I already knew to expect great things. However, whilst they won a lot of favour from the crowd (and no doubt gained a legion of new fans), a mere 25 minutes on stage simply wasn’t enough to show The Warning’s full capabilities. Needless to say, that would be unlocked on this occasion, and I don’t think I was quite prepared for what was about to transpire…

Prior to this show, The Warning were set…

View original post 1,393 more words

book review, Fantasy, hijinx, humor, Magic

Phaethon Series Conclusion, PHANTASMA by Rachel Sharp is a Satisfying Riot!

Description:

Hackers, Faeries, Nefarious Cloven-Hooved Bimbos

Jack and Rosie need a vacation. They’ve spent years fighting the malicious fae, befriending the friendly ones, and dancing on the edge of getting eaten. Now their chaotic fae friend Calthine has made them famous for it. In search of a break, they skip town for rural Vermont, where they hope to pick some apples and wait for the spotlight Calthine put on them to dim.

Instead, they get tipped from their relaxing getaway directly into Underhill, where fae run wild and humans are an invasive species. The flow of time seems to have gone crooked on them. Lassie, their brownie roommate, is lost in the woods. They try to find her and escape from Underhill only to learn that the fae are forbidden to help them by order of the Faerie Queen. Instead of Jack and Rosie finding a way out, their friends Zelda and Sarah find a way in…but in Underhill, away from all the technology that has helped them survive, it’s a handful of humans against the preternatural wilderness…

My Take:

From the first page of PHAETHON to the last page of PHANTASMA, I have enjoyed the Phaethon Series. It’s a fundamentally different take on traditional faerie fantasy at many levels. First, the characters are diverse, inclusive, and relatable – even more so because the story expands the myriad possibilities of direct interactions between faeries and humans. Faeries are not all cute and playful as other stories told to us in childhood might have led us to believe. In fact, most fae are hostile toward humans and have historically only given people room in the world we share begrudgingly. Throughout the series, the iron faeries are the least tolerant and dare I say most evil. Though in each of the books they appear to have been dealt with once and for all, there just never seems to be an end to their kind or their plans to rid the world of humankind.

In Phaethon, book one of the trilogy, a high-tech smartphone company appears on the radar of Jack and Rosie, a savvy hacker couple. Because of the manufacturer’s outrageous claims of impossible features well beyond the cutting edge of the competition, they set out to get their hands on one of the marvelous phones to take it apart and figure it out. Once inside, what they discover is an exotic power source, an enslaved brownie. Just wait, the story takes off from there.

And if Phaethon wasn’t dark enough with its sarcastic humor, Pharos, book two of the series, finds our intrepid hackers under direct attack, seemingly from every fae imaginable. They are flown at high speed only to be dumped into the ocean and saved by mermaid-like selkies, one of whom falls in love with Zelda, Jack and Rosie’s psychobilly actress/next-door neighbor. Did you expect anything less than pandemonium?

So, we have come to the grand finale, Phantasma. What kind of conclusion does Rachel Sharp have in mind? She has set a high bar for herself in pushing the envelope of creativity. And, without revealing any spoilers for this delightful capstone, what she delivers is a master class in going for the extremes of possibilities with a completely unexpected twist at the end.

The book is set in rural Vermont, likely somewhere near where Sharp now calls home. Jack and Rosie escape for a respite from press harassment after one of the recurring and perhaps most annoying characters, a raccoon-like bogle named Calthine, has outed them on national network television for their knowledge of and interactions with fae of all kinds. But instead of finding rest and relaxation, they meet up with a nefarious fawn-like fae who has been instructed by the Fae Queen to bring them to Underhill, the clandestine kingdom of all fae-kind. What ensues is something between utter chaos and suspenseful adventure seasoned with the characteristic snarky humor we’ve come to expect from the series.

Although as a story Phantasma stands alone well, I highly recommend strapping in and starting at the beginning to enjoy every word of this trilogy in release order. There is special pricing on the first two books of the series (Kindle version) making the ticket for your full exploration of this fantastic world under $8 US.

Print book is available (6.21.23)

eBook (Kindle) launches 6.28.23

About the Author:



After a decade of touring the country, Rachel Sharp now lives in Vermont with several plants and her questionable sense of humor.

At the time of writing, she is working on entirely too many projects. The previous statement will be true regardless of the time of reading.

She also lives with chronic illness, plays ukulele, and tries to save the planet.

New Music, Rock Music, Rock'n'Roll, Villarreal Sisters

Who is The Warning?

You’ll undoubtedly be hearing a lot about The Warning in the coming days, weeks, and months – and not just from me. Who are they? Well here’s some basic information about them just to get you up to speed, but there is always more to learn.

They are a post-grunge, hard rock band from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico consisting of three sisters who are bilingual, fluent in both Spanish and English. Although they compose their music primarily in English, they have two Spanish language songs, and both are crowd favorites no matter where they play them.

Left to right: Alejandra (Ale) – bass guitar & backing vocals, Paulina (Pau) – drums, lead & backing vocals, and Daniela (Dany) – lead guitar, lead & backing vocals.

This power trio band consists of Dany (Daniela) Villarreal Velez who is 23 y/o on lead guitar and vocals, and her sisters, Pau (Paulina) who is 21 y/o on drums and vocals, and Ale (Alejandra) who is 18 y/o on bass guitar and backing vocals. All three are classically-trained pianists. Although they have yet to use the instrument for any of their compositions, both Dany and Ale also play the saxophone. Clearly, they are musical prodigies.

They fell in love with Rock music at an early age through watching concert videos of such bands as Queen, Pink Floyd, and AC/DC that their parents played for them. Also, their parents bought them the game Rockband which Dany and Pau loved playing even when Ale was 3 y/o and too young to join in. Note: later versions of the game include songs by The Warning. Ale loved watching her sisters play. Luis and Monica, their parents, noticed how skilled Dany was playing the mock guitar at age 7 and how coordinated Pau was on the mock drums at age 5 and asked them if they wanted to try learning the real instruments. They hooked them up with instruments and professional lessons.

Dany suffered through the sore fingertips that come with learning to play the guitar, but her love of the instrument never failed. Pau loved hitting things, so it was natural that she become a drummer, even though she had difficulty finding anyone who wanted to teach her because she was barely bigger than a toddler, and being a girl playing a traditionally male instrument didn’t help either. But before long, her tenacity impressed a professional drummer enough that he took her under his wing to turn her raw talent and coordination into skill. When Ale was old enough, she wanted to play an instrument as well and fell in love with the bass guitar, even if the half-scale bass she started out on was as big as she was. When they realized that the instruments they were learning to play formed the basis of a rock band, they started learning to play them together.

They officially formed a Rock band in 2012 when they were 12, 10, and 7 and like most bands, they started out playing covers of their favorite songs. They recorded their mini-shows to share with their grandparents and other relatives. But, since the videos were too big to send via email, they created a YouTube channel and uploaded their videos. Eventually, strangers started to watch their videos as well and word began to spread about the three sisters from Mexico who played Rock music.

In 2014, a cover of Metallica’s Enter Sandman went viral with millions of views, and the rest is, as they say, history. Based on their new-found fame, they ended up the subject of interviews on local TV shows due largely to the novelty of being a Rock band at their ages, but also how well they played. In the US, they appeared on The Ellen Show. Ellen, along with Target, sponsored them to attend the summer session of Berklee College of Music in Boston where they expanded their knowledge of music theory, song composition, etc.

Ale’s bass teacher was also instrumental in encouraging all of them to compose their own music. So, each of them has written complete songs although over the years they have arrived at a system for writing their original music. Pau starts off a song with a basic beat, the main riff, and some lyrics. She usually does this on a piano at home or on a midi keyboard plugged into her laptop computer. When she has the basic structure of a song, she demos it to her sisters and the three of them decide whether to continue work on the song or to nix it altogether with a simple vote of 2 out of 3 majority rules. Although they are sisters and of course have sibling squabbles from time to time, they usually argue the most in the process of composing their music. Their first songs explored their range of interests and musical influences as they searched for a sound and genre they wanted to pursue. They compiled an EP of their early music titled Escape the Mind. Though they didn’t initially intend to release it publicly, their growing following persuaded them otherwise.

Their first full album was released in 2017, titled XXI Century Blood. The album also contains some of their earliest compositions and the process of recording helped solidify their sound and musical direction showing a great deal of maturity for their ages. Several of the songs have become fan favorites and still appear on their concert setlists.

Their second album was released in 2018, titled Queen of the Murder Scene. It is an ambitious undertaking, essentially a Rock novel about a girl falling into love unrequited, eventually stalking and murdering the object of her obsession, and subsequently, her descent into self-destructive madness. It was during the composition of this album that the three truly arrived at their present system for creating their music as a team. Several of the songs presented unique challenges for them as they continued to expand their knowledge of music and experimented with key changes and varying tempos. They learned that working together was often the best way to resolve the problems they faced in creating their music.

Over the years, Dany, Pau, and Ale were approached by several labels and production companies wanting to sign them to a contract. But each time, the outsiders wanted to change their look, their music, or both. Even Disney approached them about creating a series based on their lives. But The Warning refused to change what they envisioned for themselves, and they stayed true to their musical dream and ambitions. Late in 2019, they were first approached by Lava/Republic Records. And, for the first time, a label was interested in them for who they are and their music for what it is. After several months of negotiation, they signed a five-album deal becoming the first Latin American band signed directly to a major US label.

They had also planned a major tour of the US for 2020, which was cut short by the Pandemic, but it also afforded them plenty of time to produce their third album, to be called Error. It was recorded in the fall and winter of 2020 in New Jersey with award-winning producer, David Bendeth. They began releasing singles from the recording session in mid-2021 with the intention of supporting their releases with an extensive tour. But because of the continuing uncertainty of the Pandemic, those tour dates kept being pushed back and the plans for their album’s release were also impacted. As they had released several singles already, and their fans clamored for more, they issued an EP consisting of six tracks, including the singles from their upcoming album, titling the collection Mayday.

With the relaxing of restrictions on touring, The Warning started appearing live again in early 2022 as part of their Mayday tour with shows in Mexico and Las Vegas before opening in Mexico City for the Foo Fighters. In Mid-2022, they released the full album titled Error, consisting of 14 tracks, 8 new tracks added to the six previously released on the Mayday EP.

Over the course of the past year, in addition to touring the US as a headliner, they have played at several festivals and have also opened for Mammoth WVH, Halestorm, Stone Temple Pilots, Three Days Grace, and in early 2023 they opened four shows in Mexico for their Rock heroes and musical influence Muse. During May 2023, they also supported GodSmack in the US. They have also been working on new material in songwriting sessions with several songwriters and producers since December while also planning their first European tour, during which they are already scheduled to open several more shows for Muse and Jinjer (in Zürich).

In October 2023, they are scheduled to perform a major show at the Pepsi Center in Mexico City during the F1 race.

Blog, book review, Books, Crime, Fantasy, humor, Investment, Mystery, New Releases, Noir, novel, Publishing, Science Fiction, Start up, Start up, suspense, Technology, Thriller

New Book Review: TO KILL A UNICORN by DC Palter

Description:

At this Silicon Valley startup, murder is a feature, not a bug…


A mystery/thriller set in Silicon Valley’s Japantown, To Kill a Unicorn is a crazy ride through the world of high-tech startups.

SüprDüpr is the hottest startup in Silicon Valley since Theranos. But when the company’s chief scientist disappears, his friend, the hacker, Ted Hara, sets out to find him.

Led by a glamorous young scientist and funded by billionaire crypto investors, SüprDüpr promises to revolutionize transportation. But as Ted investigates the secretive company, nothing is what it seems.

Are the millions the company is spending on homeless shelters truly corporate philanthropy? As the homeless residents of San Jose begin disappearing, something sinister appears to be happening downtown. 

Together with his friend’s sister, Sumire, they have to uncover what is happening inside the company, but their history makes it difficult for them to trust each other.

Days away from the technology unveiling that will confer unimaginable riches on investors, Ted becomes trapped in a web of corruption protecting the company. While hiding from the police, he has to find out why people are disappearing before it’s too late.

My Take:

TO KILL A UNICORN bravely goes where few mysteries tread, the super paranoid and highly secretive world of northern California’s Silicon Valley. You may be unaware of the term “Unicorn” as used in the venture capital industry to describe a privately held startup company with a value of over $1 billion, but after reading DC Palter’s new novel, you might better understand the insanity and wild speculation that has driven the tech industry for decades.

Taking inspiration from recent scandals in what must be considered one of the most important sectors of the US economy, Palter’s personal experience working with high-flying startups fills in lots of gaps in the arcane knowledge of bringing far-fetched ideas to market as tech marvels. Beneath the compelling murder mystery, we’re exposed to the sinister underbelly of a new company that’s the current darling of investors. Courting the fat cats prior to an Initial Public Offering (IPO) is an obsession where the unscrupulous gamble on the viability of their fledgling dream children forms the ultimate aim of amassing obscene fortunes for themselves.

Like Lewis Carroll made Wonderland on the other side of the Looking Glass, Palter slowly peels back the multilayered masks of greed, envy, and subterfuge behind our computer screens. Everything appears tainted by the utter corruption that chases enormous wealth and power. The dark satire storyline under the guise of a modern noir detective story follows a somewhat less than hard-boiled main character who sips sake instead of guzzling whiskey. In truth, he’s a Japanese-American hacker who just wants to find out what happened to a dear friend.

TO KILL A UNICORN is a marvelous experience. Part mystery, part science fiction, part fantasy, it is a weirdly embellished, whimsical tale seasoned with heartbreaking empathy making this one of the most unique and memorable stories you’ll read this year.

Coming 2.1.23 from Pandamoon Publishing.

Author Bio:

DC Palter is a startup founder and CEO, with twenty-five years of experience leading tech companies. As a venture investor and startup advisor, he’s guided dozens more. PitchingAngels.com, his blog on business strategy and venture capital is a popular resource for founders.

Starting his career as a research engineer in Japan, DC developed a deep appreciation for the Japanese language and culture. He’s the editor-in-chief of Japonica, a daily journal of Japanese culture, and the author of Colloquial Kansai Japanese, a guide to the Osaka-Kyoto dialect beloved by a generation of language learners. He’s also published two textbooks on satellite communications. To Kill a Unicorn is his first novel.

DC holds an MFA in creative writing along with degrees in engineering, marketing, and law. He currently resides in the Silicon Beach area of Los Angeles together with his wife.

book review, Books, Crime, Mystery, New Releases, Noir, novel, suspense, Thriller

It’s Getting Creepy Out There – Review: MILE MARKER ZERO by Benny Sims

There’s a thin line of desperation between fame and infamy, where being a number turns deadly.

Description:

Tired of never achieving his goals, an aging blue-collar worker’s rage at the world reaches a boiling point. After a lifetime of failures, disappointments, and shattered dreams, his job has proved a fast track to nowhere. His wife left him for a younger man and his emotionally distant son has disappeared from his life. What’s left of his life has been hollowed out leaving him invisible, forgotten, and unimportant in a world where the American dream is on life support if it ever existed at all.

Tired of never achieving much of anything, he’s determined to change all that, taking charge of what’s left of his life. He sets an ambitious goal and develops a clear plan to achieve it. For the next year, he will kill one person a week, becoming the world’s greatest serial killer.

His morbid adventure zigzags across the country conjuring emotions ranging from happiness to heartache, to physical pain, to fear, and to anger. Week by week, as the highway miles mount and the body count of unsuspecting souls rises, he gets closer to his goal, but circumstances threaten to halt his progress. Will you be this week’s victim before the road ends at mile marker zero?

My Take:

Mile Marker Zero by the award-winning mystery/ suspense/ thriller author Benny Sims is a perfect book for the Halloween season. It checks both the creepy and disturbing boxes, guaranteeing a skin-crawling experience. But it’s not because it’s populated by ghosts, witches, werewolves, vampires, or zombies. Instead, the main character is a monster in the guise of an easily ignored retiree. It will leave you to wonder about the strangers who pass you on the sidewalk or in the supermarket aisles. Could the guy that follows you, maybe a bit too closely, harbor some unknown evil inside? What about that strange-looking character sitting across the aisle on the city bus or commuter train? The car behind you, the headlights you see in your rearview mirror, is someone waiting for you to exit so they can take advantage of you while you top off your tank?

Mile Marker Zero is about a goal-oriented serial killer. How’s that for words you don’t usually use together? The main character’s self-appointed mission is separating countless, nameless, undeserving innocents from those who happen to cross his path, sneaking up on them when their only mistake was being at the wrong place at the wrong time. He has prepared in advance, learning the best techniques to make it quick and bloodless – because he hates the sight of blood. He carries a calendar with him to keep track of his adventures, creating a weekly ritual around his Sunday morning breakfast and a cup of coffee at whatever diner he comes to in his latest theater of operations. Always before, he has been the perennial loser but as a retirement gift to himself, he decides to spend what money he has saved accomplishing something for once: killing one person each week for an entire year while crisscrossing the country to perplex and evade any authority that might have picked up his scent.     

I don’t know if you can read this book without shedding some tears, whether for the numerous innocent victims or the plight of those in the peripheries who suffer the consequences of the main character’s methodical carnage. We learn something about his past, his family, who, and what was important. And this is what makes Sims’ achievement singular in my estimation. Not only are we seeing events through the eyes of a deeply disturbed individual but also, at times we find we share some common ground. And that is what is most disturbing. Could there be a monster within each of us that, given the right circumstances and conditions, might appear in a moment of greatest weakness?  You have a cold-blooded killer who can be completely relatable in an eerie way that might remind you of someone’s grandfather – or yourself. What’s worse is he offs a few people that maybe deserve it. If you can maintain detachment from the lack of humanity contained in his acts of murder, he serves as an anti-hero with some odd standards but standards, nonetheless.

Certainly, there is commentary lurking in the background of this story about how screwed up our modern world has become and how unimportant other people can become to us, making them completely disposable in lieu of serving some overall mission. It begs to ask whether we should be less isolated and more aware of what is going on in the lives of those around us? After reading Mile Marker Zero you will consider what goes on in the minds of those we’d rather ignore? How often do we encounter a potential serial killer while never once suspecting? All it takes is for someone or something to flick the invisible switch that unleashes the unimaginable. How many of us have unwittingly had a brush with death courtesy of some interruption that distracted some self-made grim reaper?

When you turn the final page of this one, with the story concluded, you wonder if the main character ever put even half of his effort and focus on other pursuits over his sad lifetime, perhaps he wouldn’t have adopted such a psychotic plan.

The book releases worldwide on 10.19.22. Pre-orders are available from Amazon.

About the Author:

Benny Sims has always loved the art of storytelling. He can trace that fondness to reading Jack London’s “The Call Of The Wild” when he was in the second grade and listening to his great uncle tell war stories from his time as an artillery cannoneer in North Africa and Italy during World War II.

He was born and grew up in middle Tennessee, but his family moved to Benton, Illinois when he was fourteen years old. It was there that his teachers noticed his aptitude for writing, and encouraged him to pursue it. He attended college at Murray State University in Kentucky, where he studied journalism. His Journalism 101 professor saw his ability and affection for writing and fine-tuned his ability to tell a story. This ability helped him serve as a writer for the university’s newspaper and yearbook.

After college, he landed a job as a sports writer and editor with a small newspaper near his hometown in Tennessee. After a couple of years there, he accepted a job with the aerospace industry in nearby Huntsville, Alabama. He recently retired and moved to Foley, Alabama.

Thanks to a large family that threatened to disown him if he didn’t develop a well-rounded sense of humor, he intentionally puts something funny in most aspects of his life, whether it’s writing a blog post about how comedians were his heroes as he grew up, or by giving his niece a high school graduation gift of a check for $114.64.

As a former athlete, he’s a fan of most sports. But since he lives in Alabama, he has to declare a love for college football or risk getting kicked out of the state. He considers himself a bit of a trivia nerd with a weird ability to remember the names of obscure musicians and songs from decades ago. One of the greatest mysteries of his life is how this ability hasn’t enabled him to land a high-paying job as the host of Jeopardy.

Among his favorite accomplishments in life, aside from getting “Code Gray” published, is teaching himself to play the guitar and attaining the rank of second-degree black belt in karate. He likes to warn people not to antagonize him because he knows karate, jujitsu, judo, and several other Japanese words.

Along with his novel and blog posts, his writing credits include a self-published novel titled “The Protester,” and a short story that was published on the Huffington Post. His hobbies include traveling, fishing, reading, going to the beach, and writing…preferably at the beach.

Learn more about Benny Sims and his writing on his website.