u/codejockblue5

Book number one of a three book science fiction dark fantasy series. I read the well printed and well bound MMPB published by Baen in 2026 that I bought from Amazon in 2025. I am eagerly awaiting the second MMPB book that comes out in September 2026. And the third book in hardback will be out soon also.

Michael Edwards is 13 year old 5'10" genius white guy who grew up in Baltimore's ghetto with a Black 6'4" trans mother prostitute after his real mother was brutally murdered in an alley. He and the MS-13 gang are having running gun battles after he supposedly slighted them. When the MS-13 tried to murder him, he became one of Earth's 300+ Super Heroes with invulnerability and an Earth mover. But, Michael is just not that kind of a good guy. He lives by the motto: "Big boys don't cry, don't snitch, and always get revenge." Michael also views himself as a warrior for God and gets frequent help and direction from the secret Gondola society whose mission is to destroy child trafficking across the entire world.

I loved this book. It pushes many of my buttons and beliefs. And the Super Heroes are fairly goofy and hard not to like. And the villains, of whom there are many, are disgusting and easy to dislike. And I like the fact that Michael is part Native American since my wife is part Cherokee.

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars (1,239 reviews)

https://www.amazon.com/That-Kind-Good-Shadows-Path/dp/1668073390

Lynn

A standalone science fiction novella book. I read the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform in 2017 that I bought in 2023. I have a couple of other books by the author that I plan to read in the near future.

On a remote colony planet far away, several generations of colonists have started populating the planet in a crater. But the terraforming equipment is not working anymore and the planet is reverting to its original ice-ball status. Some of the colonists are trying to install weather stations high on the crater rim to predict the frequent and deadly snow storms.

I really liked the detail of the colonization effort and the reality that lots of colonists mean lots of conflicts, some of them very desperate. In fact, this book quite reminds me of the style of writing by Andre Norton, one of my favorite all time authors. I still have about 30+ of her books in my collection.

The author's husband has a very active website where he promotes his books and her books at:
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.6 stars out of 5 stars (455 reviews)
https://www.amazon.com/Scaling-Rim-Dorothy-Grant/dp/1544293356

Lynn

Book number four of a six book science fiction fantasy series. I read the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback self published by the author in 2019 that I bought new from Amazon in 2026. I have bought the following two books in the series and plan to read them soon.

Chief Warrant Officer T was serving in Afghanistan as a squad leader for foot patrols. However, T was never trained as an Army officer, he is the product of a failed CIA Black Project to develop telepaths for insertion around the planet. The strong telepaths can read anyone's mind who is close to them. T is a weak telepath, he can only converse with other telepaths, but distance does not matter. And T is a strong telekinetic and a weak precognitive. T and a telepathic Army nurse officer, Shezzie, left their duty post in Afghanistan and returned to the USA. And the former CIA black project group head was killing all of the telepaths to hide the project.

T and the other talents are now meeting more and more people with various talents. It turns out that just being around people with talents is causing people with latent talents to start manifesting their talents to their surprise.

T's friend Shorty had a heart attack and was in the hospital getting treatment when his daughter was notified in Houston. Her ten year old daughter subsequently teleported from Houston to New Mexico to see her beloved grandfather. But she did not arrive at the same time, instead she arrived in New Mexico in the middle 1800s. T and Ray take off, trying to find her, and get lost themselves in time.

I liked the excursion into the middle 1800s American West and the encounter with the Paiute native Americans that shows them in a favorable view. My wife is half Cherokee so I like stories with Native Americans involved.

My rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.2 out of 5 stars (91 reviews)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1097964698

Lynn

A standalone, no prequel, no sequel, book about a financial apocalypse in the USA starting in 2029.  I read the well printed and well bound 400 page trade paperback published by Harper Perennial in 2017.  BTW, this book is labeled as dystopian fiction by Amazon and others.  I doubt that there will be any future prequels or sequels for the book as the author does not seem to go that way.

The book covers four generations of a family in the near future.  The family consists of about twenty people of whom I mostly did not like due to their overall craziness and attitudes about life.  If there was anyone who came close, it was Florence Mandible who even as a single mother managed to buy a house in East Flatbush, NYC on a low income salary.  But even she makes a lot of bad decisions that lead to a tough life.  And I mostly liked Enola Mandible who was a successful author living in Europe but evacuated back to the USA due to supposed discrimination in Paris.  Plus I liked Jarred Mandible who managed to get his patriarch grandfather to give him the money to buy a small farm in upper state New York.

The conditions leading up to the beginning of the financial apocalypse in the USA in 2029 had their roots in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, basically the Great Society federal and state programs.  And in the continual wars and police actions started or participating in by the USA from WWI onward.  One might exempt WWII from that list as WWII was supposedly actually good for the economics of the country but I have not researched that accepted fact for truthfulness.

In 2029, the rest of the world changes from using the USA Dollar as the world reserve currency to the new Bancor, a basket of world currencies. The USA Treasury Bills, of which there are $40 trillion outstanding, immediately double their interest rates in the next sale.  The USA President and Congress pass legislation that holding Bancors is illegal for any USA citizen.  Under further financial pressure, the USA repudiates the entire $40 trillion debt and starts seizing all the gold across the country from both citizens and businesses.  Even gold wedding rings are seized as China has demanded that their tbills be redeemed immediately with non USA Dollars.

The patriarch of the Mandible family is a 97 year man with a fortune inherited from his grandparents who owned a steel mill. The patriarch has his fortune invested in gold stocks, stocks of gold bullion in central repositories, tbills, and the stock market.  With the crash of the stock market, seizure of gold, and repudiation of all tbills, he is wiped out and he and his Alzheimer afflicted second wife move in with his son and his wife.  And then the entire family ends up moving in with Florence in her tiny three bedroom house.  But that quickly goes away also as the remaining family members are soon homeless and living in a park.

The author freely acknowledges that in choosing paths for the family and the nation, she always chose the bad results path.  She thinks that her book takes an optimistic view of the coming financial apocalypse which I find amazing.

One thing that just blew me away.  By 2042, the government required all workers to have a chip embedded at the base of their skull that reported all income and expenditures instantly.  The chip reported all data to the government computers using satellites which was immediately taxed using government based checking accounts.  No private banks allowed.

Starlink anyone ?

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.2 out of 5 stars (4,704 ratings)
https://www.amazon.com/MANDIBLES-FAMILY-2029-47_PB-171-POCHE/dp/000756077X/

Lynn

A standalone, no prequel, no sequel, book about a financial apocalypse in the USA starting in 2029. I reread the well printed and well bound 400 page trade paperback published by Harper Perennial in 2017 that I bought from Amazon in 2021. BTW, this book is labeled as dystopian fiction by Amazon and others. I doubt that there will be any future prequels or sequels for the book as the author does not seem to go that way.

The book covers four generations of a family in the near future. The family consists of about twenty people of whom I mostly did not like due to their overall craziness and attitudes about life. If there was anyone who came close, it was Florence Mandible who even as a single mother managed to buy a house in East Flatbush, NYC on a low income salary. But even she makes a lot of bad decisions that lead to a tough life. And I mostly liked Enola Mandible who was a successful author living in Europe but evacuated back to the USA due to supposed discrimination in Paris. Plus I liked Jarred Mandible who managed to get his patriarch grandfather to give him the money to buy a small farm in upper state New York.

The conditions leading up to the beginning of the financial apocalypse in the USA in 2029 had their roots in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, basically the Great Society federal and state programs. And in the continual wars and police actions started or participating in by the USA from WWI onward. One might exempt WWII from that list as WWII was supposedly actually good for the economics of the country but I have not researched that accepted fact for truthfulness.

In 2029, the rest of the world changes from using the USA Dollar as the world reserve currency to the new Bancor, a basket of world currencies. The USA Treasury Bills, of which there are $40 trillion outstanding, immediately double their interest rates in the next sale. The USA President and Congress pass legislation that holding Bancors is illegal for any USA citizen. Under further financial pressure, the USA repudiates the entire $40 trillion debt and starts seizing all the gold across the country from both citizens and businesses. Even gold wedding rings are seized as China has demanded that their tbills be redeemed immediately with non USA Dollars.

The patriarch of the Mandible family is a 97 year man with a fortune inherited from his grandparents who owned a steel mill. The patriarch has his fortune invested in gold stocks, stocks of gold bullion in central repositories, tbills, and the stock market. With the crash of the stock market, seizure of gold, and repudiation of all tbills, he is wiped out and he and his Alzheimer afflicted second wife move in with his son and his wife. And then the entire family ends up moving in with Florence in her tiny three bedroom house. But that quickly goes away also as the remaining family members are soon homeless and living in a park.

The author freely acknowledges that in choosing paths for the family and the nation, she always chose the bad results path. She thinks that her book takes an optimistic view of the coming financial apocalypse which I find amazing.

One thing that just blew me away. By 2042, the government required all workers to have a chip embedded at the base of their skull that reported all income and expenditures instantly. The chip reported all data to the government computers using satellites which was immediately taxed using government based checking accounts. No private banks allowed.

Starlink anyone ?

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.2 out of 5 stars (4,704 ratings)

https://www.amazon.com/MANDIBLES-FAMILY-2029-47_PB-171-POCHE/dp/000756077X/

Lynn

A novella added to the ten book Iron Druid fantasy series.  There are several other novellas for the series also.  I read the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback published by Horned Lark Press in 2024 that I bought in 2026.  I own one of the other novellas and plan to read it soon.

The Iron Druid Series starts with "Hounded" released in 2011:
   https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0051XU2PE

Atticus O'Sullivan is a 2,000+ year old Druid living peacefully in Arizona, USA in modern times.  His Irish Wolfhound Oberon is also many decades old due to Atticus's special teas.  They are in a dog park one day and pick up that several prize winning dogs are missing.  Atticus and Oberon decide to investigate the mystery.

I really enjoy the humor, interaction, and telepathic talking between Atticus and his dog Oberon. Being a dog person, I often wonder what my dog would say when I walk with her every afternoon. Probably how she really wants to chase the squirrels and rabbits in our country area. I also enjoy the constant thoughts about different kinds of sausages and gravy from Oberon. I was also surprised that Oberon cannot telepathically talk to other dogs without Atticus being around.

The author has a website at:
   https://kevinhearne.com/

My rating:  4.6 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating:  4.6 out of 5 stars (2,667 reviews)

https://www.amazon.com/Purloined-Poodle-Kevin-Hearne/dp/1738279243

Lynn

A novella added to the ten book Iron Druid fantasy series.  There are several other novellas for the series also.  I read the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback published by Horned Lark Press in 2024 that I bought in 2026.  I own one of the other novellas and plan to read it soon.

The Iron Druid Series starts with "Hounded" released in 2011:
   https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0051XU2PE

Atticus O'Sullivan is a 2,000+ year old Druid living peacefully in Arizona, USA in modern times.  His Irish Wolfhound Oberon is also many decades old due to Atticus's special teas.  They are in a dog park one day and pick up that several prize winning dogs are missing.  Atticus and Oberon decide to investigate the mystery.

The author has a website at:
   https://kevinhearne.com/

My rating:  4.6 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating:  4.6 out of 5 stars (2,667 reviews)

https://www.amazon.com/Purloined-Poodle-Kevin-Hearne/dp/1738279243

Lynn

Book number seven of a twenty-one science fiction and paranormal fantasy series. There is also an eleven book follow on series and several other books related to the The Kurtherian Gambit Universe, over 200 books in total. I read the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback self published by the author in 2016 that I bought new on Amazon in 2026. I own the next book in the series already. The related series are listed at:
https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?46598

The series is a cross between science fiction and paranormal fantasy. A thousand plus years ago, an alien space ship crash landed in the Baltics. A man, Michael, found the space ship, went inside, and was forever changed into the first vampire using alien nanocytes. However, there were werewolves and werebears already existing on Earth and they still exist.

Michael has sired vampires and they have sired vampires. But only one of the vampire "children" is a daywalker like Michael. And Michael enforces strict rules among the vampires and the weres, no blood drinking, no letting humans know of them, etc. Violators of Michael's rules face swift termination.

But it has been thousand years since Michael was changed and he now sleeps for years at a time. Michael's helpers found a young woman named Bethany Anne working for the USA government who is dying of a rare blood disease. Michael took her to the alien space ship to become the second first generation vampire on Earth. Bethany Anne's people have duplicated the anti-gravity drive from the alien space ship and built many small space ships. Now Bethany Anne is cleaning Earth of terrorists and getting ready to launch her Moon base.

This series is real pulp like old science fiction with lots of action and dialogue. I love it !

Warning: this series might be damaging to your savings account since there are so many books.

The author has a website at:
https://lmbpn.com/

My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars (4,489 reviews)
https://www.amazon.com/Kneel-Kurtherian-Gambit-Michael-Anderle/dp/B0CHL7R1DM

Lynn

Book number seven of a twenty-one science fiction and paranormal fantasy series. There is also an eleven book follow on series and several other books related to the The Kurtherian Gambit Universe, over 200 books in total. I read the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback self published by the author in 2016 that I bought new on Amazon in 2026. I own the next book in the series already. The related series are listed at:
https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?46598

The series is a cross between science fiction and paranormal fantasy. A thousand plus years ago, an alien space ship crash landed in the Baltics. A man, Michael, found the space ship, went inside, and was forever changed into the first vampire using alien nanocytes. However, there were werewolves and werebears already existing on Earth and they still exist.

Michael has sired vampires and they have sired vampires. But only one of the vampire "children" is a daywalker like Michael. And Michael enforces strict rules among the vampires and the weres, no blood drinking, no letting humans know of them, etc. Violators of Michael's rules face swift termination.

But it has been thousand years since Michael was changed and he now sleeps for years at a time. Michael's helpers found a young woman named Bethany Anne working for the USA government who is dying of a rare blood disease. Michael took her to the alien space ship to become the second first generation vampire on Earth. Bethany Anne's people have duplicated the anti-gravity drive from the alien space ship and built many small space ships. Now Bethany Anne is cleaning Earth of terrorists and getting ready to launch her Moon base.

This series is real pulp like old science fiction with lots of action and dialogue. I love it !

Warning: this series might be damaging to your savings account since there are so many books.

The author has a website at:
https://lmbpn.com/

My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars (4,489 reviews)
https://www.amazon.com/Kneel-Kurtherian-Gambit-Michael-Anderle/dp/B0CHL7R1DM

Lynn

Book number two of a two book science fiction series.  I read the well printed and well bound trade paperback published by Baen in 2026 that I bought new from Amazon in 2026.  I fully expect a third book in the series in 2027 or so.

This book is dedicated to "To Janet Cathryn Stirling, 1950 - 2021, dearest of all.".  Just like the first book.

In 2032 AD, a history professor who is a retired USA Army officer, and his four graduate students fly to Vienna, Austria, to see the new machine for artifact verification that the Professor's scientist friend had built.  However, the tensions between Russia and the European Union are at an extreme high.  As the scientist is showing them his new machine and apologizing for his deception, a large nuclear weapon explodes in the skies above Vienna.  In fact, hundreds of nuclear weapons are exploding across the European Union and Russia.  Right before the nuclear bomb explodes above Vienna, the scientist activated his new machine, a working time machine.  There was already a ton of materials ready in place for the journey back in time.  During the nuclear explosion the machine activates, sending the scientist, the professor, the four graduate students, and the ton of materials back to 165 AD in the Roman province of Pannonia Superior.  This is the first chapter in the book.

Now we learn that the Chinese had the same time machine and sent back a team to the 165 AD version China, the Han, also before they got nuked. The American team is working with the Romans to improve their war machines and the Chinese team is working with the Han to improve their war machines.  Iron cannons, ballistic rockets, and gunpowder are very effective against bows and iron swords.

I must admit that I enjoyed brushing up on my Latin while reading the book.  Salve, salve !  Ave Imperator ! ! !

The author has a website at:
   https://smstirling.com/

My rating:  5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating:  4.7 out of 5 stars (956 reviews)
https://www.amazon.com/Winds-Fate-Make-Darkness-Light/dp/1668073382

Lynn

I have a 2019 Ford F-150 4x4 3.5L Ecoboost with 63k miles that I bought new in 2019. The cold startup rattle that started at 40K miles or so is getting worse.

The rattling is usually just a few second at start on cold start. The other morning I got about 20 seconds of it.

My question is: do I NEED those cam phasers replaced or can I live with it (no potential problem down the road?)

I love this engine and transmission (10 speed). Great performance and 16 mpg in city, 22 mpg at 55 mph, 20 mpg at 65 mph, 18 mpg at 75+ mph here in Texas.

Book number four of a four book science fiction alien invasion series. I reread the well printed and well bound MMPB published by Bantam Spectra Books in 1992 that I bought new in 1993. I hope that more books will be published in the series but I doubt it.

The book is dedicated to "For Ben and Barbara Bova, with love." There is also a thank you list for several people including Robert and Ginny Heinlein, Jerry Pournelle, and Richard Fontana, I suspect alpha readers and discussion buddies.

This is very hard sci-fi. Do not pick up this book without having many hours available to you to finish it. Once started, the book sucks you in gradually so that you say, "just one more chapter". When you finish the book at 5:50 am the next morning, you will be exhausted as if you had just run a 10K. This also applies to the preceding and follow-on books.

I have read this book at least three times. Maybe four times. I lost count many years ago.

"First you die. Then they put you in a box and bury you. Then the worms eat you."
"Be glad it happens in that order."
"- Solomon Short"

The first book starts off with a series of plagues that devastate the human population across the Earth. Then the weird plants start growing everywhere. Then the huge one meter to five meter long alien carnivorous worms show up and starting eating people, cows, horses, etc. The worms are very difficult to destroy without a combat rated flamethrower.

In the second book, Jim McCarthy is now a lieutenant in the Army Special Forces. And things are getting worse. McCarthy and Duke are drafted into an expedition into northern California to investigate secondary and tertiary worm homes but their assault helicopter crashes when the Chtorran airborn plants cause the jet engines to fail. Then things get very tough when the bunny dogs riding the worms show up.

The third book is even worse. The subjects are horrible and not for the faint at heart or the squeamish. All of the States in the USA except Hawaii have worm infestations with worm huts all over the place. Various cults of worm worshipers have sprung up of people actually living with the worms and feeding their ... to the worms.

This book rolls things back and start talking about the conflicts between the old army and the new army. And then they move to Brazil in a very cool giant airship who has embraced the worms and the Chtorran ecology. Hundreds of thousands of the worms living in huge mandelas with people slaves. The sheer craziness is hard to comprehend.

Warning: this book ends on a cliffhanger. A subtle cliffhanger that is exposed in the beginning of book five.

Gerrold has claimed many times over the years that there will be a fifth book and a sixth book and a seventh book in the series. I will believe it when I see it. He stated once to us on his email list that book 5 is so insane that he just could not finish several chapters in the middle of the book. However, there is a taunting preview of book 5, "A Method for Madness", at:
https://web.archive.org/web/20060321170726/http://www.gerrold.com/ chtorr-5/page.htm

I am hoping that if Gerrold does not finish the books then his son will publish the books when he passes on. Who knows? Gerrold is very sensitive about people asking when he is going to publish the remaining books in the series.

"David Gerrold's Health and Leukemia Fundraiser". He is 82 and sadly recently diagnosed with HCL (Hairy Cell Leukemia).
https://www.gofundme.com/f/david-gerrolds-health-and-leukemia-fundraiser

He said he is going to try to finish book 5 of the Chtorr series. Who knows if he does, I kinda doubt it. I suspect that he is totally mentally blocked. He did provide his latest preview of "The War Against The Chtorr (Book five)", "A Nest For Nightmares":
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mFEhjdp_S_sJDhuFrRZfhhqRPp9ZeedY/view

BTW, he has expanded the Chtorr series to eight books now. The War Against The Chtorr:
A Matter For Men
A Day For Damnation
A Rage For Revenge
A Season For Slaughter
A Nest For Nightmares
A Method For Madness
A Time For Treason
A Case For Courage

There is better review by James Nicoll at:
https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/rose-garden-dreams

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars (54 reviews)
https://www.amazon.com/SEASON-SLAUGHTER-Against-Chtorr-Book/dp/0553289764

Lynn

A singular book, no prequel or sequel, about a financial apocalypse in the USA. I reread the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (Amazon) in 2015 that I bought from Amazon in 2016. This may be the third time that I have read this book. If there is a sequel published, I will purchase it for reading. In fact, if the author publishes anything else, I will purchase it.

Of all the apocalyptic scenarios facing the USA, I believe a financial apocalypse to be of the highest danger, going from a remote concern in 2017 to an almost certainty in five to ten years. The current debt of the USA, 39 trillion dollars, is just about one and a half times the USA GDP. I believe that as the debt of the USA approaches twice the GDP, the financial stability of the USA will significantly weaken and be subject to attacks.

The scenario in the book is that China and Japan own 25% of the USA treasury bills. In a unspecified future date, China decides to sell all of their USA bonds and notifies Japan that they are going to do so. The Japanese follow the Chinese and the interest rates for the USA bonds rise from 3% to 23% over a period of six weeks as the bond markets are flooded and the bond prices drop precipitously. The Dollar, the effective reserve currency of the world, also drops significantly in value compared to other currencies. The stock markets in the USA drop by 85%. The rest of the story is about our protagonists getting out of New York City and to their retreat in West Virginia.

My rating: 6 out of 5 stars
Amazon: 4.2 out of 5 stars (262 reviews)
https://www.amazon.com/Buck-Out-Ken-Benton/dp/1514666979/

Lynn

Book number six of a twenty-one science fiction and paranormal fantasy series. There is also an eleven book follow on series and several other books related to the The Kurtherian Gambit Universe, over 200 books in total. I read the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback self published by the author in 2016 that I bought new on Amazon in 2026. I own the next two books in the series already. The related series are listed at:
https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?46598

The series is a cross between science fiction and paranormal fantasy. A thousand plus years ago, an alien space ship crash landed in the Baltics. A man, Michael, found the space ship, went inside, and was forever changed into the first vampire using alien nanocytes. However, there were werewolves and werebears already existing on Earth and they still exist.

Michael has sired vampires and they have sired vampires. But only one of the vampire "children" is a daywalker like Michael. And Michael enforces strict rules among the vampires and the weres, no blood drinking, no letting humans know of them, etc. Violators of Michael's rules face swift termination.

But it has been thousand years since Michael was changed and he now sleeps for years at a time. Michael's helpers found a young woman named Bethany Anne working for the USA government who is dying of a rare blood disease. Michael took her to the alien space ship to become the second first generation vampire on Earth. Now Bethany Anne is cleaning Earth of the evil vampires and weres but, they are fighting back. Michael was missing for a while but Bethany Anne found him and freed him from his prison. And there is more cleaning to do.

This series is real pulp like old science fiction with lots of action and dialogue. I love it !

Warning: this series might be damaging to your savings account since there are so many books.

The author has a website at:
https://lmbpn.com/

My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars (4,277 reviews)
https://www.amazon.com/Under-My-Heel-Kurtherian-Gambit/dp/B0CHL96YD8

Lynn