Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Grand Prize Winner

SOLSTICE SHADOWS: A VanOps Thriller, Book 2 by Avanti Centrae – Espionage Thriller/Suspense, Historical Thriller,

Something really nasty is afoot in the world as the Russians attempt to build a super quantum computer so powerful that it will be able to hack into America’s computer capabilities, bypassing even our most advanced protection and control or shut down every computer in the U.S.

As we find out about halfway through Solstice Shadows: A VanOps Thriller, the second book in Avanti Centrae’s VanOps thriller series, they’ve run a test of their capabilities by using a prototype to shut down Manila in the Philippines, a city of nearly 14 million people. The test shuts off its electrical power, lights, traffic signals and causes its citizens to tear the city apart. A fine test case for its potential impact on the USA.

All they need to complete their evil system is some rare superconductivity material that appears to have come from a meteorite that allegedly landed on Earth at roughly the same time as Moses led his people out of Egypt. The clue to its location is an ancient star map dating back to those times now in the possession of Maddy Marshall, the heroine of the VanOps’ first book. Also in her possession are slivers of the actual meteorite that she can activate with her mind, giving her the ability to meld with the ancient material and hurl deadly fireballs at an enemy.

It’s a breathless chase across the world as Maddie, her twin brother Will, Maddie’s boyfriend Bear, and a female operative named Jag use the resources of VanOps, shorthand for Vanguard Operations, a secretive CIA unit to uncover the secrets of the star chart and discover whether the meteor even existed and if so where it might be located.

Not only do the four have to constantly fight an assassin from Russia who mysteriously seems to show up wherever the quartet shows up, whether they’re in Egypt, Mexico, Morocco, and a host of other countries, but they have to deal with their own personal struggles. Maddie, for example, vacillates between attaching herself to both Bear and an ex-boyfriend. While Bear must handle his jealousy over Maddie’s attachment to her former boyfriend, Vincent. Will, Maddie’s twin brother, has to deal with the death of his wife while also being attracted to Jag who seems not at all interested in him.

Aside from the fast-paced action, which shares some of Steven Spielberg’s “Indiana Jones” DNA through its chapter-ending cliffhangers and international intrigue, Solstice Shadows features some impressive research into extinct civilizations’ insights into astronomy and structures they built to track the movement of the stars. Be prepared for a physics lesson or two as well as some deep dives into the archeology of pyramids in Mexico and Egypt.

Tying it all together is the not-improbable cyber-attack Russia could launch against the U.S. in the real world. The urgency of trying to find the superconductivity material to thwart a Christmas day attack provides the velocity of this smart, fast International thriller.

Solstice Shadows: A VanOps Thriller won Grand Prize in the 2019 CIBA Global Thrillers Awards for high-stakes thrillers. Find out more about the first book in the VanOps series, The Lost Power, here.

November 1, 2020
MANUFACTURED WITCHES by Michelle Rene – Teen & Y/A LGBT Fiction, Teen & Y/A Wizards & Witches Fantasy Fiction, Teen & Y/A Sword & Sorcery Fantasy Books

Sixteen-year-old Nat is a boxcar kid. It’s the Dust Bowl era, and Nat has lost everything: his grandmother, his family home, and a sense of belonging. He hops trains across Texas in search of a place for himself amid so much loss. Outside of Amarillo, Nat feels a peculiar sensation, a tug from destiny, that pulls him toward the small town of Tanglewood. However, instead of finding a job and some much-needed food, he discovers Polly Jones, a teenager like himself, chained to a post with a sign above her reading, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch.”

Nat can’t bring himself to abandon her to the small-minded, fearful townsfolk and immediately becomes her protector until the arrival of Camille Renoir Lavendou, a local woman who operates Miss Camille’s Home for Wayward Children. No one dares stop Camille from releasing Polly and taking both teens with her because Camille is reputed to be in the “witchin’ business” herself. Nat’s excitement at the prospect of food and a place to stay quickly turns to disbelief and wariness when he steps inside Camille’s sanctuary. What he thought was a ploy on Camille’s part to keep the nosey townsfolk at bay doesn’t seem to be a trick at all when he meets those who are under Camille’s care.

When Polly, too, begins to exhibit extraordinary abilities, Nat begins to feel like an outsider. Despite his limitations, Nat’s intense loyalty quickly leads him into a much more dangerous situation, where his very life may lay in the balance.

For lovers of the paranormal, this novel will be a special treat. Miss Camille’s Home for Wayward Children is a delight in every room. From books that magically fill with stories for a specific reader, to rooms with waterfalls and koi ponds, this realm of possibilities will leave the reader clambering for more and wanting to explore right along with Nat. Although the book would benefit from another round of editing, it is perhaps one of the most compelling novels we’ve read lately. The delight of discovery and fantastic description within the novel will inspire the many magical possibilities that await. While the surface of the plot is innocent, the theme beneath will undoubtedly satisfy.

Nat’s story is one of belonging. Throughout his journey, he has the innate, human need for acceptance and home, not just a physical place to lay his head, but the real need for family and kinship. The Dust Bowl setting plays such an intricate role in this theme because so many Americans searched for what nature and man took from them, their place in the universe. Nat’s story, though fictional, was played out in real-time for millions of people. He has lost everything, his family, his home, his identity. His search and subsequent finding of his place lead to a discovery of himself. Though he often feels he doesn’t belong anywhere ─ not the boxcar, nor the tramp world, nor Camille’s menagerie of unique people ─ Nat comes to see exactly who he is and of what he is capable. Although facing the potential of great danger, Camille, an African American, creates a home for all. She is warned multiple times that she cannot take in white children. Her love for all her “children” is colorblind. Her home is a haven and a place to discover their true identity. Acceptance takes center stage in this novel and leaves the reader wrapped in a cozy hug of belonging.

Manufactured Witches took home the Grand Prize in the 2019 CIBAs in the OZMA Awards for the Best Fantasy Fiction, and First in Category in the Dante Rossetti Awards the same year.

October 29, 2020
WHISPERS by Lynn Yvonne Moon – Family Drama, Teen & Y/A Physical & Emotional Abuse, Teen & Y/A Sexual Abuse

Whispers by Lynn Yvonne Moon explores the issue of incest through the life of twelve-year-old Musetta, whose father has just died. We meet Musetta at her father’s funeral and realize that this girl is dealing with serious issues. Still, more than grief, she’s filled with rage – and relief. And we cannot blame her. Whispers is filled with enough intrigue and family secrets to glue readers’ eyeballs to the page and hug their parents when they reach the end of the tale.

Musetta can’t get the attention of her grieving mother, and she’s not sure who she can turn to for help. Who will believe her story? But she knows what happened to her. After her father’s funeral, she believes the Friday night ritual of rape is over and that the molestation will stop. However, it’s not quite that easy.

First off, there are voices in her bedroom walls – and worse, the molestation continues. Is it her father’s ghost? She can’t go to her mother for help, and she won’t go to the law unless her mother is by her side. Who would believe her over her late father’s reputation as an upstanding citizen and the favorite local judge?

But Musetta isn’t alone. Her friends hear the ghostly voices and soon believe her. As they band together, taking on the role of detectives, they have no way of knowing how much danger lies ahead. But when one of her friends is abducted, then another, it will take all the courage and resourcefulness she has to continue on and to discover precisely who is behind the creepy whispers and the horrible abuse before it’s too late.

Lynn Yvonne Moon develops a protagonist who will search for the truth no matter where it leads, and no matter what, she discovers about her family. Soon, she uncovers the lies of her grandparents.

Her father was a twin? It takes several more visits with her grandparents and a box filled with photos and papers before Musetta has the proof she needs. But will it only get her into more trouble? Of course.

This award-winning, page-turner of a novel reveals the reality that generational secrets have power. Secrets that put Musetta and all of her friends in great peril. Musetta’s determination to put the pieces of her family puzzle together led her further along the path to her family’s undoing. Because what she uncovers will have readers blood running cold.

Lynn Yvonne Moon unravels her complicated plot on this sensitive topic with a deft hand. Careful readers will pick up tiny clues that will keep them turning pages as we root for Musetta in this hair-raising tale of family intrigue and abuse.

Whispers won the CIBA 2018 DANTE ROSSETTI Award for Young Adult fiction novels.

October 22, 2020
The MADWOMAN of PREACHER’S COVE by Joy Ross Davis – Paranormal Ghost Thrillers, Occult Fiction, Witch/Wizard Thrillers

Award-winning author, Joy Ross Davis’ latest work, The Madwoman of Preacher’s Cove, ventures beyond the paranormal into the surreal. Like Medusa on a bad hair day, the lives of characters are intertwined and twisted in a snaky snarl of conflicting human desires, terrifying inexplicable events, and the lingering afterlives of ancient, supernatural beings.

Davis gifts us with a 21st-century legend, replete with mythological themes and creatures, and snippets of folklore and superstition melded with documented vagaries of weather, obscure herpetology, and creates a mystical potion worthy of Circe. In other words, Davis gives us a thrilling read!

Rumors about suspicious deaths have put Preacher’s Cove, Alabama, a small, historic town notorious for powerful, killer storms, on the map. Hap Murray, Huntsville’s Channel 12 field reporter, with family ties to the Cove, arrives in town on assignment, armed with only limited knowledge of the town’s history of inexplicable deaths. The rumors speculate that the local pastor may be involved.

Hap meets the beautiful, provocative owner of Cove’s Inn, Libby Arbuckle, when he first arrives. She is a woman with many secrets—a woman with a history. When Libby, along with Chief of Police Riggs, join Hap in the search for the truth, their ensuing relationship proves integral to Hap’s investigation.

During his stay, Hap experiences supernatural events that sometimes make him question his sanity, and he already has issues. Like PTSD, he is plagued by periodic, severe headaches accompanied by fragmented, bizarre visual and auditory hallucinations along with phatomasia, he smells things that are not there, which renders him anxious, fearful, and confused. These are never far from his mind, along with the guilt he feels over losing the love of his life and their child through his own failure to act.

Little does Hap know that the affliction and emotional angst he experiences are pieces of the puzzle he’s challenged to solve. Or, that when Preacher’s Cove welcomes him, a chain of events are triggered that change the shape of residents’ lives forever, in ways that no one could ever predict.

Joy Ross Davis has crafted an eerie, twisted plot where reality is warped—slightly out of focus, keeping the reader off-balance and engaged. The Madwoman of Preacher’s Cove satisfies dreamers’ needs for a taste of magic, the desire for good to triumph over evil, and the reassurance of a benevolent all-powerful being that is always available.

The Madwoman of Preacher’s Cove won Grand Prize in the CIBAs for Paranormal Fiction.

October 20, 2020
The SKEPTICAL PHYSICK (The Stockbridge Series, Book 2) by Gail Avery Halverson – Historical Romance, Romantic Suspense, Renaissance Literary Criticism

In the second in a series by author Halverson, an aristocratic, intellectually curious young woman has fallen in love with a young physician, a commoner whose radical experimentations have jeopardized his reputation. The couple is just recovering from the professional and personal rigors of dealing with London’s plague victims when the city is overwhelmed by fire. Their services are needed now more than ever.

Supported by mentor hospital administrator Father Hardwicke in his medical endeavors, Simon McKensie is finally on the verge of marrying the woman he adores, Catherine Abbott. Even the wealthy, protective Aunt Viola has come to terms with the fact that, though she might not approve the match on social grounds, she sees that Catherine will be happy with Simon.

If winning her aunt’s approval and administering aid to plague victims wasn’t enough, just days before their planned nuptials, a fire breaks out that threatens to delay them yet again. Worse, Catherine sustains a severe injury on her way to the hospital to help Simon treat burn victims. It seems that there may not be a wedding. But Simon acts quickly and effectively to save the life of his beloved, exchanging wedding vows with her even as she is barely recuperating from her accident.

The couple enjoys a short respite of marital bliss until their world comes crashing down again as Simon, experimenting with the new innovative field of blood transfusion, is accused of the murder of one of his patients. It will take all of Catherine’s energy and ingenuity to try to save him from the gallows, as enemies who have long despised his radical approaches rush forward to heap accusations on him.

Halverson follows the storyline begun in her earlier novel, The Boundary Stone. She has built and now sustains the romance between Catherine and Simon – emphasizing his scientific daring and her unusual willingness to step outside the expected role of women of her time and class – against a background of chaos, terror, and death. The author has drawn heavily on factual material about the horrendous fire that began in a little London bakery and destroyed thousands of houses and churches, including St. Paul’s Cathedral, leaving up to 70,000 homeless. Aggravating factors depicted included the Lord Mayor’s selfish unwillingness to act to contain the fire in its early hours, while in contrast, the rather flippant, fun-loving King Charles II steps in once the true extent of the damage becomes evident. Both these real people are characters in the narrative, along with Lady Wilbraham, a brilliant but unsung female architect, but will she be able to save McKensie from the gallows? Halverson brings many nameless figures in history to life to create a vibrant reality and a dynamic plot. Something all historical fiction fans crave.

With a loving and highly adventurous duo, readers will be looking for Part 3 of this impressive saga.

The Skeptical Physick won the CIBA 2019 Grand Prize in the CHATELAINE Book Awards for romantic fiction.

October 16, 2020
TEN THINGS EVERY CHILD WITH AUTISM WISHES YOU KNEW by Ellen Notbohm – Autism, Children’s Health, Parenting Hyperactive Children & Children with Disabilities

Renowned author and mother of a son with autism, Ellen Notbohm here writes from both a personal and a studied viewpoint.

Not so long ago, autism was considered incurable, hopeless, a sort of dead-end diagnosis. But with time and attention to real people on the spectrum, we know now that children with autism can become positive, productive adults. The author’s son, Bryce, decided early on to “be happy” despite his differentness. For parents initially facing the diagnosis, there will undoubtedly be challenges, often on a daily, hourly basis, but Notbohm’s diligent exploration assures us that “autism is not awful.”

The ten messages from your child are 1. “I am a whole child.” My autism is part of me. Even the word “autistic” can classify me negatively. 2. “My senses are out of sync.” I may have heightened, sometimes terrifying sensations that keep me from engaging in ordinary activities. 3. “Distinguish between won’t and can’t.” Just because I balk at a new task, even something simple like riding a bus, doesn’t mean I’m defiant – maybe just scared. 4. “I am a concrete thinker, I interpret language literally.” Don’t speak to me in roundabout ways; just tell me what to do plainly. 5. “Listen to all the ways I’m trying to communicate.” My communication barriers make it hard for me to learn to socialize. Study my body language. 6. “Picture this! I am visually oriented.” Visual cueing really helps. 7. “Focus and build on what I can do rather than what I can’t do.” Watch what I do well; encourage my neatness, my ability to occupy myself without outside stimulation. 8. “Help me with social interactions.” Recognize that sociability will be one of my toughest challenges. 9. “Identify what triggers my meltdowns.” Yes, I may explode sometimes; you can help. 10. “Love me unconditionally.” Don’t base approval on an “if.”

Notbohm examines each of these simple revelations in fascinating and practical detail, using numerous examples and referencing many authorities, including autistic notable Dr. Temple Grandin. As part of her own mothering experience, Notbohm recalls a lovely, lively example of telling Bryce to “stick to his guns”- an idea that horrified his literal mind. Then he cleverly concludes that she must have meant “gum.”
Parents, educators, social and community workers should read this dynamic take on an often confusing and misunderstood aspect of human consciousness and development. Notbohm poses common viewpoints about autistic children and offers real strategies for improvement in the child’s outlook and abilities and the parent’s understanding and broader perspective.

Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew won GRAND PRIZE in the CIBA 2019 I & I Awards for Non-Fiction: Insight and Instruction books.

October 7, 2020
EXPLORE EUROPE on FOOT by Cassandra Overby – General Europe Travel Guide, Walking Guide, Mountain Climbing

Due to COVID-19 sweeping across continents, travel restrictions are at an all-time high. With the general population being placed on lockdown, the need for social distancing, and hunkering down moving towards an indefinite timeframe, some much-needed armchair travel adventures couldn’t come at a better time.

Here in Cassandra Overby’s encyclopedic guide Explore Europe On Foot, readers are taken through a step-by-step process of dreaming, planning, and hopefully soon experiencing memorable, slow travel ventures of a lifetime. Whether it’s choosing a route and destination, deciding what to pack, finding appropriate accommodations and food options, or dealing with inevitable challenges, Overby supplies a world of information in this colossal foot travelers’ bible.

A personalized introduction draws us into Overby’s early disillusionment with travel, and what she felt was its all-too-often focus on the inauthentic global itinerary. A 2015 extended European tour with her now-husband, Mac, soon changed her mind. The trip filled with long walks and opportunities to live like locals ultimately rekindled her traveling desires and made her realize this slower, off-the-beaten-path journey mode offered a much more genuine and rewarding experience, and truly “opens the door to trail magic.” Along with the best natural beauty a region has to offer, Overby showcases such travels as an opportunity to glimpse varied cultures up close and personal. Foot travel is a chance to learn the rhythm of a region’s daily life and participate in everything from the likes of a shared meal to chores on a farm, or sing-a-longs at the local watering hole.

The book includes specifics of 15 hand-picked walks from classics like the Tour du Mont Blanc in France and Italy, to lesser-known routes like King Ludwig’s Way in Germany and Portugal’s Rota Vicentina, as well as options for shorter wanderings. A planning section covers everything from travel companions and arranging transportation, to obtaining passports and plane tickets, to making reservations and buying travel insurance. Pre-trip exercises for both body and mind, along with detailed packing information offer shared knowledge for a positive travel experience. Beautiful interspersed photographs help take us around the globe. Whether the “meres” of England’s Lake District or the dunes of Eng Chebbi in the Sahara Desert, whirling dervishes in Turkey or a special message of “Joy” spelled out in stone along Scotland’s West Highland Way, all capture the heart of Overby’s enthusiasm.

The rich narrative is woven throughout with poetic descriptives. Consider the beauty of an Icelandic trek rendered as ” … intricate designs swirled in the earth by crawling and cooling lava, brave wildflowers that don’t mind a challenge.” Even a simple Spanish proverb of “On a long journey, even a straw weighs heavy”, highlights an important message about the need for light, versatile packing. Clearly the author’s smart advice about bringing home the best souvenir from a trip coincides with the less incumbrance sentiment in suggesting travelers return to their homeland with the practical nuance of a new custom or attitude, i.e. perhaps enjoying the lingering dinners practiced in France, or realizing the importance of family as viewed in the Italian culture.

Overby’s shared anecdotes and experiences provide a nice change-up amidst the facts and figures featured throughout the chapters, particularly if the book is read from start to finish. Readers will find the information overwhelmingly beneficial in terms of necessary specifics for trip planning. Also, the book’s easily followed design allows readers to meander through chapters and dream of where they will go when they can.

Overby’s own foot-travel enthusiasm ignited similar passions with family and friends, and ultimately became the impetus for a new life’s calling and writing this book. In the resulting Explore Europe On Foot, this walking aficionado now serves as both guide and inspirational cheerleader to help all wannabe hikers turn their dreams into reality someday.

Explore Europe On Foot won the CIBA 2018 GRAND PRIZE Insight & Instruction Awards and remains one of our favorites.

July 25, 2020
DHARMA, A REKHA RAO MYSTERY by Vee Kumari – Cozy Mystery, Female Sleuth, Multi-Cultural Mystery

A complex murder mystery always requires a little spice. In Dharma, A Rekha Rao Mystery, that extra seasoning is provided by the casting of an Indian American woman as the amateur sleuth, despite her realistic fears for her personal safety.

Professor Rekha Rao is no Bollywood Mighty Girl. She’s a whip-smart American-born 32-year-old college instructor who must deal with her own PTSD after the murder of her father and her unstoppable passion for releasing the man wrongly convicted of her father’s slaying. That obsession is the reason Rekha was dismissed from her old teaching position. The scene is set for deep, personal involvement in the murder of a colleague, a fellow professor who is killed. And a rare, centuries-old statue excavated from an archeological dig in India is the murder weapon.

When Rekha, an expert in the art of ancient India, is asked by the Pasadena police for some background on the statue of Durga, a well-known goddess in India’s rich religious tapestry, she’s not content to limit her investigation to the narrow role assigned to her. Despite the handsome police detective’s warning to not continue the investigation, she turns over every rock to look for answers. She soon uncovers a galaxy of possible suspects: friends, colleagues, and students – many of whom may have motives to see harm done to the seemingly beloved professor. Art theft, a closeted gay man, a hidden affair, and even a little cross-dressing make their way into the mountain of evidence as Rekha works through territory that the police have not yet uncovered.

Rekha Rao is a well-drawn character with many facets to her personality. Her Indian heritage is evident in her food tastes, decorations, and family values. Still, she is clearly a modern American woman making her way in a very different culture. Rekha sets out to solve the mystery despite the fear that someone is stalking her – even as she stalks them.

Dharma, A Rekha Rao Mystery will also provide readers with a glimpse into the religious history of India’s gods and rich mythology. This is one of the hidden treats that makes the novel an enjoyable read for mystery lovers everywhere.

Dharma, A Rekha Rao Mystery won the Grand Prize for Mystery & Mayhem in the 2019 CIBAs!

April 17, 2020
BLOOD MOON: A Captive’s Tale by Ruth Hull Chatlien – Native American Literature, U.S. Historical Fiction, Western Fiction

Ruth Hull Chatlien’s historical novel Blood Moon: A Captive’s Tale shines a light on two worlds trying to coexist in the 1860s Minnesota, that of Westward Expansion and white settlers, and that of the complex network of Sioux tribes dealing with starvation and disease. We follow her protagonist, Mrs. Sarah Wakefield, as she is thrust unwillingly into the midst of the Indian Wars.

Based loosely on the life of real captive, Sarah Wakefield, Chatlien explores both sides of this conflict, through the eyes of our terrified hero, who does what she must to save her life and the lives of her two small children. The first-person narrative in present tense places us in the thick of Wakefield’s narrow escapes, and the presence of the constant threats to her and her children.

Sarah Wakefield has one goal, to save her children, and if that means dressing like a Sioux and helping her captives gather water, forage and cook food, and set up the teepee, so be it. Her fellow captives, mostly women and children maintain their prejudiced and racist attitudes, but Wakefield does not. She sees her captives as human beings, not “savages,” who are trying to survive just as she is.

Chatlien expertly exposes the mindset between members of the Sioux tribe who had converted to Christianity and those who refused to convert. She exposes the injustices of an American Government that defaulted on treaty promises, causing starvation, illness, and death among the tribes, and the solution that many tribal warriors felt was their only recourse—war.

Wakefield sees the dichotomy of those warriors who want to fight and those who have converted to Christianity and become farmers. She feels the losses endured by those who didn’t want to fight because of their beliefs, but she realized that death would be their penalty if they refused.

The underlying themes in Chatlien’s novel provide us a complex and multidimensional read that captivates. Sarah is married. But her marriage is rocky—okay. Rumors of her past don’t help her present situation. But the woman she becomes as she survives her terror and provides for her children is a woman who will go to battle for a Sioux warrior in a court of law, even if it means losing her marriage and becoming a social pariah. At times readers may wonder if Wakefield might be an unreliable narrator suffering from “Stockholm Syndrome.” Nevertheless, she fights for the warrior who protected her and fights to save his life as he had saved hers.

The injustices Chatlien shines her fictional light on are bound to grate on the progressive-minded reader of 2020, and the conclusion to this narrative based on real events will undoubtedly leave us wondering how little has changed in race relations in the USA. Chatlien shows how simple gossip and the petty mindsets of the “normal” Christian women were as big a detriment to Wakefield’s survival in the Indian Wars.

Blood Moon: A Captive’s Tale won Grand Prize in the CIBA 2018 LARAMIE Awards for American Fiction.

April 3, 2020
The KORPES FILE (The Korpes Files Series Book 1) by J. I. Rogers – CyberPunk Sci-fi, Genetic Engineering Sci-fi, Dystopian, Space Opera

Set in a world that is ridden with lethal radiation from a cataclysmic event, J. I. Rogers’s debut novel and the first novel of her 942 series is a definitive addition to the science fiction genre.

Life in The Korpes File is lived almost entirely indoors and relies highly on the advancement of technology to support life on a planet that is no friend to the living. Technician Nash Korpes is a member of the Diasporan people, who face harsh discrimination from the Korlo people of Korlune, where this saga is set. Nash is a genetic anomaly that gives him the appearance of his ancestors long ago. Because of this, he is recruited as an official subject within the government research organization KMR & D.

Nash has his reasons for signing over his life; his mental state is deteriorating, and his growing medicine regime are becoming too much and even dangerous, he decides he has to find a way out.

Spanning ten years of rising tensions across Korlune and within Nash’s mind, The Korpes File is packed with a large cast of characters told from numerous points of view. The interlocking plotlines can be hard at times to keep track of, but Rogers kindly includes a handy character index and map for reference, and they’ll need it. Readers are immersed straight into Nash’s world of unquestioned conformity and strict societal expectations. Still, the story itself is unapologetic to readers and rarely takes the time to explain itself, which, in a way, is its defining quality.

The truth is hidden deep, and J. I. Rogers scatters little details calling back to earlier points that help to unravel the overarching mystery. In a way, there are two mysteries. One within Nash’s mind and the nature of his condition and subsequent treatment, whereas the other is of a resurfacing war of destruction that will change life in Korlune forever. For both these mysteries, Rogers’s narrative style involves abrupt changes throughout the novel that are frankly disruptive. Still, they are useful in creating a sense of chaos one would face in a world of rising tensions and competing realities.

When presented with a large number of characters, it may seem like a daunting task to achieve necessary amounts of character development, and Rogers does just that, again and again. Just as attachments begin to form, the chaos prevalent in the novel tears them away from the forefront. Nash himself is present throughout the story but becomes a very different person from the beginning of because of all the mental, emotional, and physical trails he goes through spanning the ten-year passage of time. The story is only just beginning, however, and Nash’s story is far from over.

The Korpes File is a dynamic debut from J. I. Rogers that is sure to delight any die-hard science fiction fan looking for something new. The second novel of the 942 series was published this past March and continues the trials and tribulations of Technician Nash Korpes trying to find his way in a turbulent and dangerous world.

The Korpes File won Grand Prize in the CIBA 2018 Cygnus Awards for Speculative Science Fiction.

January 15, 2020