Cedar Mills By Dylan James - Old Tropes With A Modern Treatment

Cedar Mills by Dylan James

This is a good one! It is a story that utilizes some old tropes, but that doesn't take away from the quality a reader will encounter when they pick this one up. It is most certainly appropriate for the season (Halloween). I would recommend this book for those who enjoy horror, science fiction, and government conspiracy tales. There are also other elements to this such as a strong young adult feel.

While there are plenty of twists and turns, I have to admit the ending was completely unexpected for me and had me smiling for days after I read it.

Mainly, I just found this to be a very captivating story that included great character development. The world-building was great, and I was deeply engaged all the way to the end.

The sleepy little town of Cedar Mills is like many Midwest towns. It has a high school where kids contemplate their futures and prepare for post-high school plans like going to college or entering the workforce. But the town also has a history, and it is a dark history. When one young man strikes out on his own to investigate an old building buried deep in the woods, he doesn't make it out of the woods. Local law enforcement is not allowed to investigate, so the task of getting answers falls to the boy's best friends and a demoralized ex-cop. What they find is a bottomless pit of horror and a decades-old government cover-up that has been under the noses of the people of Cedar Mills the whole time.

One of the main strengths of Cedar Mills is the great characters we get to know as the tale unfolds. They are all believable people in an unbelievable situation. The point of view in the story switches from character to character where their back stories unfold.

High school student Jake Evans is the best friend of the deceased teenager. He has a plan to go to college, and he should be a successful student. He is loaded with tenacity, and he's pretty smart. But he needs more professional help to solve the mystery. That is where Tom Dalton comes in. Tom is an ex-cop turned private investigator. He looks like an old hippie and is often underestimated. He knows how to get the job done.

There are other supporting characters in Cedar Mills, some of whom provide the main characters’ motivation for their actions.

Then there are the evil and scary characters. One such is a monster that can dismember people with almost no effort!

My favorite plot point and a main theme in this tale is how long the conspiracy has been going on and how oblivious everyone seems to be until the death of the young man who wants to do an interesting story for his school newspaper. Even after the boy's brutalized body is found, it takes Jake, Tom, and the other kids to form a kind of new family. Jake blames himself for the tragedy and is driven by his need for retribution and to provide closure to those suffering losses.

What I take away from Cedar Mills is to remember that everything should be questioned, no matter how unpleasant the answers may be. The real monster in this story is that people were willing to just move on instead of learning where it all began.

Cedar Mills is a great sci-fi/horror story that will chill the reader to the bone. It is also simply a fun story written with traditional tropes with an updated style. The author does a great job creating visuals with words. The woods on the outskirts of town are spooky enough without the roaming monster, but the horror really ramps up when the entity makes an appearance. There are some trigger warnings to be considered before picking up this book. There are scenes of extreme gore and graphic violence. There are also graphic descriptions of murders and children's deaths. With those things in mind, I would recommend this to those readers who enjoy a story that is built around suspense and horror with an element of sci-fi.

Oh, and did I mention an incredible (at least for me) plot twist at the end? Yeah, there's that too.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Dylan James is the author of a dozen-plus short stories and poetry publications, appearing in Horror Tree's Trembling With Fear, Moria Literary Magazine, and more. His non-fiction novel, BROTHERS, peaked at #3 on the Barnes & Noble's History Bestsellers.

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Grave Chronicles Series By Shannon Knight - Epic Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Grave Chronicles Series by Shannon Knight

Just a short post here to spread the word about a great series by my friend, and extraordinary author, Shannon Knight. I've received copies of all three books for free and am writing this review voluntarily.

The Grave Chronicles series is a sci-fi/ fantasy series set in the future. 

It is important to note that these books are not standalone stories. I urge readers to read the series in order to get the full effect of the story.

The first book of the series is Grave Cold. In it, the reader is introduced to some characters appearing throughout the series. The blurb on the back of the book will give one a sense of what to expect...

Something strange is happening in the District of Portland (DP). As a result, a biting cold is spreading out from the city, expanding into the far wilderness, acting as a beacon for ravens. Most people don’t know that when someone dies, they remain trapped within their bodies until a raven, a long-lived person with a duty to the dead, releases them. For some reason, the cold call of death has expanded so far as to reach Nyle, a raven who hasn’t stepped foot into a city for centuries.

Cait, a beautician in DP with a mysterious problem of her own, has been unable to sleep due to the dead invading her dreams. She decides to camp outside the city walls and meets Nyle, who recognizes her as a necromancer and convinces her to smuggle him in. Together, they discover that the dead of DP are being used as an energy source. They must protect the dead and stop the technology from spreading before the abuse of the dead becomes a worldwide menace and they themselves end up on a laboratory table or trapped in a machine.

In the second book, we are introduced to more characters, and ones we already know are greatly developed. For me, the main theme in Death Rights is fighting for justice in a society stripped of the rights of the living and the dead.

In the final book of the series, Memento Mori Station, the reader moves a thousand years into the future. The raven, Nile, still lives and learns there is a place where he must go to help his friend, and correct a mistake he made. It will take a twenty-year space voyage to complete the tasks, but then, what's two decades for someone who has lived for as long as he has? This one is a space opera the likes of which I found to be marvelous!

Shannon's storytelling defies being placed into a single category and should appeal to a wide range of readers. The Grave Chronicles are loaded with allegory, speaking to moral, ethical, and political issues of the past and present, and hopefully, will speak to the future.

Series Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Shannon Knight lives in the Pacific Northwest with her faithful feline, the best cat on this planet. Their adventurous lives include coffee, reading, ribbon games, and K-dramas.

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Guilty But Aberrant: Hard-Boiled Sci-Fi by Michael Listen - A Must Read Novel Of Horror, Noir Crime Drama, and Humor!

Guilty but Aberrant: Hard-Boiled Sci-Fi by Michael Listen

I received a copy of this book for free and am leaving this review voluntarily.

Guilty but Aberrant is the third full-length novel by Oklahoma based author, Michael Listen. This story covers a wide range of subgenres under Science Fiction, including Noir, Horror, Crime Drama, and Humor. All of these combine to make what I found to be an amazing work of fiction that jumped off the pages and seized my attention from the first paragraph. In his two previous novels, and one novella, I have come to look forward to Michael's work as I eagerly await his next effort. Guilty but Aberrant is an excellently crafted story about a pair of detectives who go in search of suspects with seemingly supernatural abilities that are both horrific and deadly to those who come into contact with them. This story will always have the reader guessing what will happen next. Then there's the plot twist near the end! It blew my mind and left me wanting more! This book is a masterpiece, and it's only this author's third novel!

Detectives Costal Crux and his young, energetic partner, Leanna Daylee of the Aberrant Crime Unit, are charged with tracking down and apprehending Displacers - rare young people who have a dangerous ability to manipulate any material or substance they touch. They can touch an object and mutate it into other shapes, or they can touch flesh and cause bizarre changes in people, usually resulting in debilitating injuries or death. They are outcasts who are subjected to life in a "rehabilitation" facility that usually becomes a life sentence. 

Together, Costal and Leanna work in and around Crescent City where they discover crimes that will make the reader shiver as they pursue a string of murders committed by perps who can perform seemingly impossible feats. One has to wonder if they haven't bitten off more than they can chew.

The characters in Guilty but Aberrant are among some of the best developed I have ever read! Their backgrounds are woven into the story and revealed over time, giving the reader a sense of getting to know and care about them over time. Even the antagonists have backstory to help the reader not only loathe their activity, but to also understand what made them how they are. Character development is one of the major strengths Michael displays as he spins this tale.

Costal and Leanna are complete opposites in their approaches to solving the mysteries presented in this story. Costal is an old-fashioned kind of gumshoe detective in the noir style. He likes to plod along, gathering information as he gets it to track his progress, bringing him closer to a conclusion. His methods are proven to be tried and true, and they work well for him. On the other hand, Leanna relies heavily on technology and her idealism to get results. While they are both excellent at their jobs separately, their skills mesh well, even when their personalities don't.

One thing they do have in common is things that happened in their pasts haunting them. Neither one wants to revisit the events that cause them pain, but the nature of their job often takes them back to recall painful memories, but those memories also spur them to continue on.

One plot point that stands out to me is the humor in the story. It often gives some comic relief to the otherwise gruesome aspects of the narrative. Costal and Leanna are partners, and as such, they get to know each other than most people in a typical workplace. Their situation also makes room for them to get on each other's nerves occasionally. In the story, they exchange a lot of friendly as well as not so friendly barbs back and forth. There were numerous times in the story I found myself laughing out loud at their clever remarks, but I also felt a lot of tension between them, mostly on a philosophical level. It was fun to read their exchanges, which added to their depth as people.

There are numerous pop-culture references in the narrative that caused me amusement as well.

Another aspect standing out for me were the descriptions of the crime activity. It was detailed and quite macabre at times, and some readers who don't care for graphic scenes depicting violence might take warning. At no time were any of those violent scenes or descriptions of crime scenes gratuitous, nor did I think they didn't add a feeling of horror to the narrative.

The theme of friendship was the most palpable to me in this tale. The two principal characters are friends who agree, disagree, and show a lot of tolerance for one another, but they also genuinely care about one another. 

There is also a thematic aspect of what causes someone to behave in ways they do. While that cannot be an excuse for someone to do harm to others, it can help with understanding, and perhaps intervention. All the principal characters in this story appear to suffer from some level of PTSD, and there are different ways each deals with their trauma.

My takeaway from Guilty but Aberrant is to remember that what we see in a person at the superficial level isn't that person's entire story. Everyone carries some level of baggage from their past. Some a lot more than others.

I give Guilty but Aberrant my highest recommendation for a stupendous Sci-Fi novel that will keep the reader on the edge of their seat with the action. The characters are marvelously developed and jump off the page feeling like one is reading about real people. It is a complex story so masterfully written that it flows into the mind like a movie. The scene descriptions are vivid and clear and provide an excellent backdrop for the characters to play in.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I should also point out, there is a novella written in this universe one should read. It introduces the characters and gives one an insight into what to expect going forward. It is entitled Displacer: A Novella From The World Of Guilty But Aberrant. You can find more information on the novella from Michael's website, or on Amazon and Goodreads.

Michael Listen lives in Oklahoma with his wife and two children. After his time in the Navy, he moved into the Information Technology profession. However, Michael has always had a passion for art and creativity. He enjoys crafting stories for role-playing sessions with friends or writing short stories for his wife. His first full-length published book was a two-part science fiction space opera titled Echo.

You can connect with Michael at https://authormichaelliste.wixsite.com/authormlisten, or on Facebook, Goodreads, and Amazon.

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The Controlled by P.J. Willett - What Happens When Schools Go Corporate? Find Out In This Great Debut Novel!

The Controlled by P.J. Willett

I received a copy of this book for free and am leaving this review voluntarily.

Now and then, one reads a book that delves into their very being and creates nightmares. The Controlled is one of those books. This one gets me on two levels. First, as a sci-fi reader, I found this a terrifying story where technology goes wrong and creates a group of relentless monsters who unwillingly want to destroy everything and everyone in their path. However, as a teacher in a public school, it hit me on a different level. This tale is a metaphor for the direction I see education taking; instead of letting those of us who are trained to teach do our jobs, it is the oversight of school boards, parents, and legislatures who want it done their way, even though most haven't even been in a classroom since they graduated from high school.

Now I must apologize because I digress. My view on schools is a subject for another time and place.

This tale definitely scared me as an educator because there is nothing more frightening to a teacher than the concept of the inmates taking charge of the asylum.

From the opening line, I was hooked on this story, not just because it involved my chosen profession, but because it is a well-written story full of swerves and one never knows what will happen on the turn of the next page. It is gritty and graphic; descriptions of violence and its aftermath are plainly shown in the prose and, in themselves, are disturbing.

Be warned, even though this story is about high school-aged students, it is NOT a young adult novel.

Welcome to Rego Ed Site 102 operated by the Rego Corporation.

In the near future, schools will be turned over to corporations and trusted to clean up the mess schools are supposedly in everywhere. Schools are referred to as "sites," and students have become "clients" to receive a much trimmed down curriculum of English, Math, Fundamental Values, and Occupational Preparation. Clients are not divided by grade level, but by how well they perform in school in four levels. There are high, medium, and low performers and at the lowest level are the "subs." Subs are the ones who are incorrigible. They are lacking in respect for any system, and they have deep-seated behavioral problems. Subs are, in a word, rebellious.

Rego's solution to helping the suns integrate into society as useful, contributing citizens is the creation of an app (called CTRL) designed to modify behaviors through a device called a "Halo." The Halo is a VR headset that is used to pacify clients with video such as "The Woodland Parable," an animated depiction of pleasant, calming woodland creatures going about their daily lives. Site directors claim they have had much success with this method of training, but that is the company line all employees (a.k.a. teachers/administrators) are required to repeat of asked.

At some point, something goes wrong with the app and clients go on a rampage of behaviors above and beyond what they have displayed before, and are powerless to stop themselves when in the grips of the app.

The story unfolds through following several principal characters. We get snapshots of their personal lives and then we see how their strengths, or weaknesses, fit into the big picture. Each character has his/her own quirks and things they need to suppress when on the job, which is difficult for some.

Dickie is the CEO (superintendent) of the site. His job is to deal directly with Rego and see to daily operations. He is a nervous sort that no one seems to take seriously. He is arrogant and condescending and is completely out of touch with what is happening on his site.

Sophie is the General Manager (principal) of the site and oversees the teachers and discipline issues. She has a bad home life, but is genuinely wanting to educate clients, but she isn't happy about the way it is currently being handled.

Tom is a teacher who has been traumatized and is returning to work after a long period of recovery from an incident that threatened his career. He is unsure of himself and nervous about the new teaching methods.

Dean and Ren are two clients who are considered subs, but they are not under the control of the CTRL app or have the ability to not be affected by it as others are. They like each other, but Dean has relationship problems. As you read, you will get to know these characters best.

Each character has their own chapter to make their acquaintance and better understand how they think and act.

My favorite point of plot for The Controlled is the focus on each character in their own chapter. Each one is a nearly complete picture of their lives outside of the site and who they are as real people. This technique of writing is one of my favorites because we get a lot of backstory in a small space, and the other chapters allow the author to tell the rest of the story using the unique points of view of the people involved.

Another plot point I enjoyed was the spiraling down into the depths. When I first started reading, I thought I was reading a comedy. I love British humor and the opening chapters struck me as having a tongue-in-cheek feel to them. As the prose moved along, it gradually became darker, with each scene revealing just how serious the whole affair was.

One thing I also noted was how the author focused more on the characters than the sci-fi elements. There isn't a lot of jargon to get through and the purity of the tale is preserved.

My takeaway from this story is to think one can control others are in for a huge disappointment, especially if one is trying to modify behaviors. Education has tried for decades to modify undesirable behaviors and have tried nearly everything, including drugs, with some, but limited success. Perhaps the focus on engaging students by taking the individual into account might be more successful.

Another takeaway is that education should be left to the professionals. Those with the training and understanding might do a better job if they are supported and trusted to do so.

Even though it was a terrifying story to me, I enjoyed it immensely. It is a real page turner that includes a plethora of plot twists and turns that were a delight. The Controlled is a great first novel and I look forward to further work from this author. Again, I will say that this story is not for youngsters. It is full of graphic scenes of violence and injuries to characters. The characters use a lot of language that many will consider inappropriate. None of those points are gratuitous in nature, they are necessary for illustrating the attitudes of the characters. If you can handle those sorts of things, I think one will enjoy this book.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

P.J. Willett is a British born author based in Birmingham. He's been a teacher of Drama, English, and Mats for fifteen years and has written columns for a variety of sports publications for a number of years.

The Controlled is his debut novel - inspired by his years attending and teaching in depraved schools, and his love for science fiction and horror.

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Riebeckite: Bruised Moon Sequence Book One by O.R. Lea - Great Sci-Fi Thrller Well Worth The Time

Riebeckite: Bruised Moon Sequence Book One by O.R. Lea

It's always a good day when I receive an email from an author who has discovered this blog and offers me the opportunity to read and comment on his/her new book. Such is the case with this tale by O.R. Lea. After reading the blub, I knew I had to read this because of its unique setting of near future events in the Persian Gulf.

I downloaded a copy of Riebeckite from Kindle Unlimited and am leaving this review voluntarily.

Overall, I found Rebeckite to be a well told great story. It features well-defined characters set in a world where there are those who would exploit a disaster for greed and power. I enjoyed the location setting of the story; I've never read a sci-fi story set in the Middle East as far as I can remember. I found it refreshing the people depicted were mostly just regular people trying to go about their lives as best they can. It was fun getting a brief view of culture I feel is often misunderstood by many in western culture.

Rebeckite is a sci-fi thriller with political and scientific intrigue. It is well paced with characters who are well developed and that a reader can care about. The principal human antagonists are developed through the story and their true motivations are revealed slowly. The non-human antagonist is terrifying, leading to some rather graphic descriptions of death and dismemberment, but I would not label the gory scenes as gratuitous. There are some small bits of humor added to the tale that made me laugh; most of those were between the two principal characters.

In 2027, the Earth's moon is struck by an asteroid named Riebecki. The impact kicked up enough material to form a ghostly blue ring around the satellite. While it is a breath-taking site for those on the planet, Earth's gravity is also pulling a steady stream of material into the atmosphere. The material sprinkling into the air is harmful to life on the land, so a series of giant scrubbers are built to remove the material, dubbed riebeckite, from the atmosphere and deposited into the sea. As a result, fisheries are suffering. The company in charge of the scrubbers employ Dr. Tahira Piriyeva to study the effects of the blue dust on the ocean around the island of Qeshm. When one of her colleagues is injured, she begins a journey of discovery that leads to a deadly realization.

Further investigation shows that the danger from the material streaming from the moon is being exploited by greedy, power-hungry individuals whose self-interest could put millions of lives in jeopardy. 

When Tahira is reunited with a childhood friend, Zareen Isfahani, it is a race for survival and to expose those who would put the world's population in harm's way to protect the secret of the Riebeckites and gain fortune.

This tale has a lot of great characters at both ends of the spectrum. My favorite characters in this story are the dynamic duo of Tahira and Zareen. Together, they are an unstoppable force with Tahira as the brains, and Zareen as the muscle. The pair are from different sides of the tracks, with Tahira on the island because of the annexation by Azerbaijan. Zareen is a native of Iran and is part of the resistance to the annexation of Qeshm. They are friends when they are young but wound up getting separated during an uprising. When they are reunited, they have changed, but it doesn't take them long to remember their friendship and how much they care for each other.

Both are strong female characters, and it isn't hard to find them as people one can care about. The author did a great job creating characters with such complementary strengths, and their ability to fill in the gaps in each other’s weaknesses.

My favorite point of plot is the development of the principal characters, but at the same time, I enjoyed the development of the tale's main antagonist; the beings that arise because of the material streaming to the Earth from the moon. Without getting specific, I will say that the development of the monsters is slow and enhances development of the plot. For a lot of the story, I was wondering what would eventually come from this part. I was not disappointed. I will also say that what came of the material is terrifying, and difficult to defeat.

My takeaway from Riebeckites is how people from diametrically different cultures can find a bridge of friendship, overcome their differences, and work together for a common goal. I also appreciated a look into cultures I normally read little about.

I found Riebeckites a refreshing thrill-a-minute rollercoaster ride full if twists and turns. This tale should appeal to any sci-fi fan who enjoys an action-packed story with some terrifying moments, suspense, and great character development. The highest recommendations for this brilliantly written tale.

There are two more books coming in this tale. Book two is titled Torpor's End due out in November, 2022, and Camp Chelovek to be released in March, 2023.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Raised and educated in North Wales, Oliver spent his early 20s working for a theatre-in-education music troupe for as long as it took to feel like his GCSE in Welsh language had provided its money's worth. Since then, he's lived in Portsmouth and currently works as a laboratory analyst. His biggest failure as a writer has been in his attempts to settle on a genre, having written about Middle Eastern vampires, African mercenaries, and supernatural Welsh murderers. His first 'properly' published novel, "Riebeckite", is a near-future speculative fiction story set in the Persian Gulf.

He is @orleaauthor on Twitter and Instagram, and his website is orlea.co.uk.

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Alien Isolation (Audiobook) by Keith R.A. Decandido - A Complete Package Of Great Story, Characters, And Narration!

Alien Isolation (Audiobook) by Keith R.A. Decandido

In preparation for a day trip to Kansas City, Missouri, to attend Planet Comicon, I downloaded Alien: Isolation to accompany me on the drive. I found this a great choice for an audiobook for both content and narration. Keith is one of my favorite authors, mostly for his work in the Star Trek sandbox, and particularly for his portrayal of Klingons in his work. Knowing the quality of his work in the Trek universe, I was not surprised to find the same level of quality in this story from the Alien franchise. Overall, I found Alien: Isolation a refreshing diversion from the monotony of cross-country driving.

This story is based on the video game of the same title as the book. (I've never played the video game, nor did I know anything about it before I looked it up.) This is the tale of Amanda Ripley, daughter of Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley of the ill-fated cargo ship, Nostromo. Apparently, Ripley revealed she had a daughter back on Earth during the Aliens film in a scene that was cut from the original movie. This story fleshes out Amanda's plight using flashback scenes to give us some insight into the principal character, and the main story of Amanda's struggle to learn Ellen's fate and her struggle to survive encounters with the xenomorphs.

Keith's story is fast-paced and was well balanced between the flashbacks and the principal story. The descriptions of the settings were easy to visualize, and the characters were excellently developed and read as believable living people. The narration by Sarah Mollo-Christensen was also outstanding and further brought the action and characters to life.

Ellen Ripley departed on the Nostromo after promising her young daughter, Amanda, she would return in time for her eleventh birthday. As Amanda awaited her mother's return, she only finds deep disappointment when she is informed Ellen will not return because the Nostromo was mysteriously destroyed en route returning to Earth, and that her mother's fate is not known.

Amanda, who is being raised by her alcoholic stepfather, has a rough life. Her ambition is to attend school, learn all she can, and learn of her mother's fate. After following several false leads, she finally receives word that the Nostromo's flight recorder has been recovered and is on a deep-space station.

When arriving at the station, her ship and crew find themselves in a desperate fight for survival against the very creatures that ravaged the Nostromo's crew. Amanda must use all her knowledge and wits to escape death and find out if she will ever see her mother again.

Amanda Ripley is not Ellen Ripley, at least not right away. She is smart and learns fast. Her intention was to become a certified engineer. While she did become an engineer of sorts, the certification eluded her for many reasons. Chief among those was her stepfather who, while capable, had a lot of problems with alcohol, and by extension, holding a job. So instead of being able to pursue her ambition, she had to work to support herself and her often unemployed stepdad to survive and avoid being taken into the system.

Those of us who have followed Ellen's exploits through the Alien franchise admire her as a tough, yet compassionate, and heroic character. Amanda has these same traits as she goes about the business of seeking hope her mother somehow survived the Nostromo disaster. Aboard the space station, there are dangers everywhere. Yes, there is the monster, but at the same time there are numerous system failures she must keep repairing, and, she has to deal with the personnel issues as the crew also breaks down and enters an ‘everyone-for-themselves’ survival mode. In the end, Amanda is every bit the hero as her mother.

As always, there seems to be another enemy to fight who never shows its face. Readers/listeners probably will not be surprised at the reveal who the hidden enemy is.

My favorite point of plot for Isolation is how well Amanda's character is fleshed out to become someone a reader can care about. Without this aspect in the story, this tale wouldn't have been extraordinary. I felt so bad for this brilliant little girl and absolutely wanted her to be successful in achieving her goals. It was sad that at every turn; she was thwarted and forced to serve in a menial role so far below her intellect. It is my hope that Keith may tell more of this tale outside of the novelization of the video game. He just knows how to spin a great yarn, and I know his treatment would be a satisfying story. 

The obvious main theme of Isolation is a look at someone who survives against insurmountable odds. But my takeaway from this story goes a little deeper than Amanda versus the monster. It is more how Keith endows her with a strength of character that allows her to survive.

There is no quit in Amanda. She is going to persevere no matter what she is told or what obstacles are put in her way. It would have been so easy for her to just accept being told Ellen was dead and move on from there. She might have, but it was that tiny seed of doubt that drove her on to do whatever she had to do to uncover the truth. I admire her for this, and it is what kept me listening as I made my way home from Kansas City.

Alien: Isolation is a great audiobook and I highly recommend it to those who are fans of the franchise and are looking for more story. It moves at a great pace. There just isn't a dull moment or what one might think of as fluff. Everything is relevant to the story. The characters, along with Amanda, are great and help the listener/reader understand the principal character better. Even though the story is complete in itself, it still left me wanting more and it is my hope there will be more in the near future, especially if Keith DeCandido is tapped to be the author.

Novel Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Narration Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Keith R.A. DeCandido was born and raised in New York City to a family of librarians, which pretty much explains everything. He has written more than 50 novels, as well as short stories, nonfiction, eBooks, comic books, and blog entries, many of them in various media universes, among them Star Trek, Alien, Supernatural, World of Warcraft, StarCraft, Marvel Comics, Cars, Farscape, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Stargate, Serenity, Resident Evil, Kung Fu Panda, Doctor Who, Sleepy Hollow, Leverage, Orphan Black, and more. Among his many works of original fiction are the fantasy police procedural series of novels and short stories that started with Dragon Precinct, as well as a series of urban fantasy short stories set in Key West, Florida, many of which are in Ragnarok & Roll: Tales of Cassie Zukav, Weirdness Magnet, fiction about cops in a city filled with super heroes, and an urban fantasy series about a nice Jewish boy from the Bronx who hunts monsters, starting with the novel A Furnace Sealed. Keith is also an editor (having supervised several book lines and put together dozens of anthologies), musician (percussionist for the Don't Quit Your Day Job Players, the Boogie Knights, and others), pop culture commentator (he writes for both Tor.com and his own Patreon at patreon.com/krad) and a third-degree black belt in Kenshikai karate (he both trains and teaches). He still lives in New York City with various humans and animals.

Sarah Mollo-Christensen (Narrator): Sarah grew up riding horses outside Boston, and went to Dartmouth College, where she graduated magna cum laude with a BA in History. 

After a few years working in other industries, such as documentary production, book publishing, and law, she threw caution and financial responsibility to the winds, and decided to apprentice herself to a dog trainer and attend the Atlantic Acting School's two-year Conservatory. 

In the years since, Sarah has acted in New York and at wonderful regional theaters, including The Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C., where she spent a year in residence as an acting fellow.

When she's not in a theater or an audio booth, Sarah can be found resolving the behavior issues of New York City's dogs (and their owners).

The Rose: Volume 1: A Dystopian Sci-Fi Thriller by PD Alleva - Non-Stop Action!

The Rose: Volume 1: A Dystopian Science Fiction Thriller by PD Alleva

I received a review copy of this book for free and am leaving this review voluntarily.

The Rose Vol. 1 is the first in a series of dystopian sci-fi thrillers. The first thing that made me want to read this was mostly curiosity. A description of the book includes the end of a world war, alien vampires, gray aliens, enslaved humans, and human rebels. My question was, how is the author going to bring all these plot points together and make a cohesive story out of them? The answer is he did it masterfully. This story is packed with action set in a world where there seems to be little hope for humanity. Once one opens this book, it is difficult to set aside, and there is no end to the thrills, twists, and turns.

Well written and edited, if you enjoy sci-fi monster stories with vivid descriptions of brutality, this is a book you will really sink your teeth into.

Soon after World War III, people are gathered in "refugee camps," supposedly for their own safety. What they are is fodder for alien vampires for genetic experimentation and food.

Sandy Cox is taken by the aliens and awakes in a lab tied to a table, and her unborn fetus has been taken from her for some nefarious purpose only known to the vampires. She makes it her sole mission to get her baby back while others work to rescue her and others from the horrors of the alien laboratory.

Phil, a freedom fighter, is armed with combat knowledge, and a pair of sacred alien blades, and a crew of rogue soldiers. He fights his way through the complex feverishly to free Sandy, her child, and others. All along the way, they run into vampires, grays, and genetically enhanced humans and monsters.

There isn't a lot of background on the war or the characters in this story, so there were none that really stood out to me except for Phil. He is a soldier who has seen a lot of combat with the aliens and knows how to kill them. But there are a lot of them to face and his success is not assured. He and his rag-tag bunch put up a gallant fight. There is never a dull moment in The Rose!

I would have liked to have a little more background on World War III and the factions involved. Apparently, the US has been invaded by both Russian and Chinese troops and there has been a hell of a fight which left the US vulnerable to the Alien invasion. It isn't clear if the alien invasion is an isolated thing, or a widespread problem. Perhaps these things will be covered in future installments of the story. While I would have liked more history, it didn't take away from my enjoyment of this imaginative and complex story told from the human point of view and the alien perspective.

The aliens in The Rose think pretty well as we do. They have their agenda and pursue it. What that agenda isn't completely clear, but it revolves around Sandy's baby and perhaps may be revealed in future volumes of the story.

My takeaway from The Rose is how humanity has to be ever vigilant. It would seem while people of the Earth were busy fighting each other, it left, at least the US, wide open for an even more horrible threat from extra-terrestrial beings who see people as a source to gain scientific knowledge.

For me, this was more of a Sci-Fi Horror story than anything else. It is an engaging and entertaining story that is full of blood and guts that some readers may find disturbing. Alleva's descriptions are quite vivid and detailed, adding to palpable visions of violence perpetrated against not only humans, but against aliens as well. If this story doesn't give one chills, it would make me wonder if the reader has no feelings at all.

I recommend The Rose Volume 1 for those who enjoy a story that moves at warp speed with twists all along the way. It is certainly a journey into the darkness that will thrill, and maybe even cause a few nightmares.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Born in Brooklyn, New York, raised in Westchester County, New York, living in South Florida since 1992. A child of the 90’s PD has coined a new genre, Alternative Fiction. Why? Because Multi-Genre Author sounds like you’ve got marbles between your cheeks. 

Horror, Sci-Fi, Dystopian, Supernatural, Dark Fiction, Thrillers and Mysteries, a little bit of sumpin sumpin for readers who enjoy intellectual and yet over the top lets blow our minds and rock out to amazing and extraordinary stories, heroes and villains. PD's latest release is The Rose Vol 1, a dystopian science fiction thriller, a series that features a sophisticated although primal and ravaging species of Alien Vampires living in hollow earth who have conspired with alien greys and elite humans in an attempt to subjugate the human population. Vol 1 was published on October 7, 2020 with Vol 2 slated for publication in early December 2021. PD will also publish his horror novel, Golem in early October 2021.

PD can best be described as a kind hearted, compassionate, hypnotizing, mesmerizing, do good save your life simpleton who would rather hang out all day with the characters in his books than venture too far away from home. A lover of isolation, meditating on the beach at sunrise, and howling at the moon after sunset, he’s either the life of the party or the oddball sitting alone in the corner with that really strange look in his eye as if he’s talking with people that are just not there, perhaps receiving a few concerned stares as he laughs at himself or maybe a funny joke one of those voices just told him. OH, All IS WELL ISN’T IT?

PD loves the creative process that comes with writing. From the spawning of a new idea to jotting down notes or sending a hurried email to himself even during the most off time to do so (the book always come first), to the artful craft of editing all the way to publication, there is nothing better than producing an exceptional book. 

An avid reader who loves to talk books, PD will write short reaction reviews for the books he has finished and has not one issue answering questions from readers as they come.

Well, there it is...

Qapla!