The Last Nuclear War By Hazem Abdelmowla - A Good But Challenging Book

The Last Nuclear War by Hazem Abdelmowla

When I see a title like The Last Nuclear War, I expect to read an account of death and destruction on a massive scale. However, that is not the case for this tale by Hazem Abdelmowla. Instead, this book is written to be a lifetime collection of entries in the principal character's diary. For me, it was a little difficult to get into at the beginning, but once I figured out that this one must be read slowly, as the author suggests. So, as one reads, one must forgive the grammar and punctuation. Those "errors" are not there by accident. For me, I accepted the writing style to illustrate the cultural background of Mousa, the principal character, and also considering he is writing in a diary chronicling his thoughts and experiences over a long period of time.

My overall experience reading The Last Nuclear War was that it is a good story that deals with some painful realities, including bigotry, injustice, inequality, and cruelty. But there is also the pursuit of knowledge, empathy and understanding, hope for positive change, and work toward improving conditions for all humanity.

The story opens in the year 2110 in a world that has been ravaged by pandemics and severe resource depletion. The geopolitical landscape finds the planet divided into four quadrants. Each quadrant has its own characteristics. The North is the most powerful region. Mousa, the point of view character, is from the Eastern region.

Mousa is an intelligent young man who loves to learn. He also has a dream of preventing war, investigating how to produce abundant energy, and improving life for everyone on a global scale. As he grows and learns, Mousa attends a university where he meets other intelligent people and learns physics. He creates and obtains funding for his projects to achieve his goals.

Unfortunately, the lust for wealth and power is as alive as ever, and Mousa, who would rather work toward his goals, also has to navigate an often hostile political landscape.

Mousa is a great character who questions everything. He is a driven humanitarian who devotes his life to making the world a better, safer place for everyone. He doesn't understand the prejudices he encounters in his younger life because he believes all people are equal. Mousa doesn't care about wealth or accolades unless they advance his pursuits. Despite discouraging situations, he never quits and endures numerous hardships along the way. Mousa befriends Zed, a Northerner who has overcome the prejudices of Northern societal norms. He is very supportive of Mousa and encourages him often. Mousa's mother is the most influential to him, and thanks to her encouragement, Mousa can achieve at the highest levels of his science.

One of my favorite plot points in The Last Nuclear War is the emphasis on the importance of education in a person's growth. Mousa's education includes pure science that is not influenced by dogma; however, his experiences in life outside of academic pursuits teach him how to recognize those things that differentiate belief from fact.

Another plot point I appreciate is the handling of science in the story. While it is not the central focus of the book, it is an element that is presented very well, and in a way that makes it easy to understand. While some of the newly discovered elements go beyond the periodic table, the author assures the reader that he has done his research and apologizes in advance for any blatant inaccuracies.

The theme that stands out to me the most is how needed change can happen when people come together for a common cause. In the world Hazem created, if humankind is to survive, change is necessary. Mousa is the person who can bring people together to help make a better world. In the case of this story, there are leaders who are afraid of losing the reins of power, and that is a difficult thing to overcome.

My takeaway from The Last Nuclear War: one person can be the spark of change and inspire others to follow.

The Last Nuclear War is not a military sci-fi novel. If you're seeking an apocalyptic story, this is not the book you are looking for. It is a thoughtful look into the human condition with an emphasis on social interactions of people with varied backgrounds. This one will make the reader think and perhaps cause some to look inside themselves and re-evaluate one's own intrinsic biases. I would recommend this story for those readers who don't mind a slower-paced book. I enjoyed the book because of the message I took from it, and because of the characters we get to know as the story unfolds. In a word, I would say this book is challenging.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Hazem Abdelmowla is a dental surgeon, an entrepreneur and a writer who simply dreams of a better world.

Well, there it is...

Qapla!

A World Apart By Alan M. Weber - The Aliens Have Landed And Promise To Make Things Interesting

A World Apart by Alan M. Weber

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

This story is not like anything I have read before. Oh, I've read political thrillers, colonization sci-fi, and first-contact alien stories frequently, but in my personal recollection, nothing like A World Apart. I found it mesmerizing. And I loved everything about it.

Weber presents his tale at an easily digestible pace that goes by very quickly. I found it so engaging I probably could have read all 188 pages in one sitting, but one has to sleep sometime. The prose is also very accessible to those who are not fans of sci-fi full of technical jargon and complicated ideas. It is a character driven tale with people that are real in all the ways that count. The dialog between the characters advances the story without having to explain a lot of the plot in info-dumps.

Much of the time while I read this book, I saw shades of the movie, The Day the Earth Stood Still (the 1951 film directed by Robert Wise) and also could hear strains of John Lennon's song, Imagine. 

A World Apart opens with a scene between two neighbors, formerly friends, who are verbally bashing each other over their political philosophical differences. This scene really hit home as being very realistic, and not atypical of what might actually happen in any neighborhood. That scene is followed by other snapshots of life in today's social climate. Other than expressing anger and hate, the three scenes all have something else in common: no one notices the UFO's streaking overhead.

When the extraterrestrials land and introduce themselves, they have a bit of shocking news for the people of the Earth. They announce they are from a galactic organization that has been observing the planet since it came into being, and because of human short-sightedness, they have come to save us from ourselves because, by their estimation, we are on a path of extinction.

They explain they will "usurp" our autonomy and rid the world of those things that have "plagued" humans throughout our history and promise to do away with "increasing division, hatred, and ignorance." The manner they propose to use are set out in seven directives that will lead to sweeping changes designed to unify humans in a global population.

As one would expect, the proposals are met with various levels of acceptance or rejection. And the big question is, are they actually here with beneficial intentions, or are their reasons nefarious?

The principal character, Alan Zimmer, is a journalist of sorts. He had originally intended to be a serious journalist writing for a major newspaper, but when he needed a steady income, he began working for a tabloid, and had quite a bit of success. When he became popular, he lost his family and began a downward spiral into alcohol addiction.

Then, he was invited to become a human spokesperson for the aliens. His agreement to work with them came with changes to his life and he embraced the assignment with great vigor. But, along with a few successes came many failures, not on his part, but that of the people he needed to deliver the message to.

He is a good man who, while being accused of being a mere collaborator, stands by his convictions. Even when he is not sure of the purpose the aliens harbor, he follows through with his promise.

My favorite point of plot in this tale is the twist at the end. I'm going to leave this right here to avoid spoilers.

My takeaway is what I think is the purpose of the book is - Introspection. Alan Weber is challenging us to look inside ourselves for answers to the big questions. One might say the elephant in the room. Those things we deny are happening, or choose to ignore, or those things that cause us to be fearful of many things.

Alan is asking us to take a look inside ourselves for flaws and biases that may need to be resolved.

Beyond any message the author is challenging the reader with, it is just a great story I enjoyed reading. It is well written and easy to understand. There is plenty of action to hold one's attention, and every page-turn will spur the reader forward, wanting to know what happens next. There are a few social messages that one may derive from A World Apart, and they might cause some readers a little discomfort, but sometimes, change is drawn from a little discomfort. I didn't feel compelled to agree with any philosophical ideas in this tale, although there are points with which I agree strongly.

I would enjoy seeing this story being made into a film!

Along with the images I mentioned in the beginning (the film and the song I mentioned), I also felt as though I were reading something that might be a Twilight Zone episode. Realizing there is the famous episode of that series entitled To Serve Man (season 3, episode 24), the story in A World Apart is vaguely similar, but far different.

I recommend this story for both sci-fi fans and those who just want to read a good story.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Alan M. Weber was born in the Bronx, NY, and now lives in Woodstock, NY. He was always a would-be writer, having given poetry readings around Manhattan's Greenwich Village in his early twenties, until such time as he realized he wasn't a very good poet. Having spent most of his college days engaged in political activism rather than career planning, and seeing no practical avenue for a career in non-commercial writing, he followed his tertiary passion into the field of education. He spent forty-three years in the field, as an early childhood teacher, then administrator, and, ultimately, professor of Early Childhood Education at a community college. During all of that time, his writing was largely restricted to essays within his field, the most notable of which was a piece entitled "The Misdirection of Modern American Education," which appeared in the May, 2014 edition of The Education Digest.

Nearing his retirement, he embarked on a second career, completing and publishing his first novel, Integrating the Chapters of a Life, a memoir of sorts, which was published under a pseudonym given its revealing content. While still teaching, now as an adjunct rather than full-time, he wrote his first children's book, Not for Hurting, a picture book on the understanding and effects of war for young children. Once officially retired, he ventured into fiction, publishing a political novel, The Wedge, a somewhat prescient warning of what was to come in 2016. But it was with The Wedge that he discovered his love for fiction and, particularly, dialog. What followed were two short stories of a meta-psychological nature, which he decided to combine into his next published book, Meins of Existence. The first of the stories, "The Matter of Mind," remains particularly close to his heart.

Another children's book, What Kimi Discovered, came next. Its premise, offering an alternative to the stereotyping and otherwise inappropriate teaching about indigenous peoples all too common during the period from Columbus Day to Thanksgiving, was something he had long wanted to do. It is now part of his home school district's social studies curriculum, along with being promoted at local Pow Wow's and other venues. Then the pandemic came, and challenging himself to write a book of pure humor, an element otherwise common to his writing but never fully explored, he wrote The Mensch (having reached the age where all humor is Jewish). But there had always been the dream of writing a science fiction styled allegory, the ultimate expression of those political ideals that were born in college and had never left him. It seemed too difficult of an undertaking until a combination of experience, confidence, newfound skills and the encouragement by the writers' group he was now a part of made A World Apart possible. He considers this his "epic" work, and though he doesn't know what will follow, publishing this book has provided him with a sense of completion he has never before felt.

Well, there it is...

Qapla!