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#BookReview: Kingdom Of Pirates by David Wood

Indiana Jones And The Pirates’ Superweapon. Part of the appeal of Woods’ Dane Maddock adventure series, of which this is the latest book at the time I write this review, has always been that he puts more (and more believable) action into Indiana Jones-type archeological/ mythological based adventure tales, and this is one of the books in the series where this becomes even more pronounced than some others in the series. Which Wood uses to great effect here, and which could actually draw in new readers to this series.

Dane Maddock and his friend and business partner Uriah ‘Bones’ Bonebrake’ are former Navy SEALs (whose adventures began even back then, in prior stories in this universe) and at this point in our overall universe, they’ve been around the block more than a few times and yet are still going quite strong indeed. But because they’ve been around the block more than a few times, their world has expanded quite a bit, and yes, a few prior players – both friend and foe – resurface in this adventure. So for those readers who absolutely can not have any spoilers ever, start with the earliest Maddock books (by publication date) and work your way up to this one. For everyone else, Woods does a solid job characterizing these characters within this book and explaining the relevant prior connections that you’re still going to be able to enjoy this book, just perhaps without some of the foreshadowing certain names will evoke in readers who have read more in this series.

And oh, yeah, the pirates. Duh. This tale is solidly pirate and solidly New Orleans and Louisiana Bayou, as Maddock and Bonebrake find themselves on the hunt for a long-lost pirate treasure while investigating in – and being chased through – large swaths of the city and region. Along the way, we get everything from fist fights to deceptions to gun battles and, yes, even some sword play. In a tale set in roughly our world and time. 😀

Seriously, long time fans of either Maddock or pirate lore generally are going to love this book, and those new to either will likely find themselves drawn into this web. Even as one of the longer books in the series at approaching 400 pages, it never really feels like it is anywhere near that long. Everything here feels both earned and necessary, and the pacing is such that the reader is always invested in seeing what happens next.

Overall a solidly fun action/ adventure tale in that exact Indiana Jones vein that has been so popular for so long (including long before Indy was a thing himself), this is one of those longer tales where you can just sit back, turn off your brain, and have some fun.

Very much recommended.

This review of Kingdom of Pirates by David Wood was originally written on March 12, 2026.

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#BookReview: Sisters Of Mercy by Yuval Kordov

Interesting, Short, And Dark. This is one of those novellas that you can read in a couple of hours – I did. And yet there is also *so much* within this particular one. For those who try to claim that sub-100 page tales can’t really do much… this one proves you wrong. 😉

Now, I picked it up because of some controversy on Twitter wherein a couple of judges for some random “contest” got all up in arms and claimed they couldn’t handle the “zealous” religious talk or praying or even mechs in this tale. And I’m going to get to that in a moment.

But for exactly what this book is in and of itself, outside of what anyone else says about it, it really is damn solid. It thrusts you straight into its post apocalyptic world the way few books do – Jeremy Robinson’s UNITY (which, full disclosure, I literally have a tattoo of a version of the symbol that plays a major role in that particular tale) is one of few I can think of off the top of my head that do *this* good a job of putting you *right there*, *right now*. And again, given the sub-100 page nature of this book… it doesn’t have much choice there. 😉 And yet even after that introduction, Kordov manages to layer *so very much* into this tale, and in the end… well, there may yet be a dusty room or two. 😉

Now, getting back to what brought me here (and I’ll put a brief yet relevant bio as a post script to this review for those unfamiliar with me)… yes, this book has a *lot* of directly religious language. Hell, there’s more prayer in this novella than a lot of *Christian Fiction novels* I’ve read over the years! In that regard, it is quite similar to how prayer and religious language are used in other post-apocalyptic scifi IPs such as Handmaid’s Tale, Doom, or Fallout New Vegas’s Honest Hearts DLC. Which, obviously, are some quite highly praised properties!

Thus, yes, if you have a problem with religious language generally… this tale really isn’t going to be one for you. Just leave it be. There is no need for you to read it and severely mischaracterize pretty well everything about it because *you* have a problem with religious language.

As to how the religious aspects are used within the text here, again, it is more generic scifi than anything remotely real world. The closest it gets to “real world” is that after a sufficient amount of time has passed after a World War III event and human knowledge has sufficiently regressed, yes, such a society likely would return to exactly this kind of religious language to explain things that they’ve now long lost the ability to speak to more scientifically. This isn’t some crusade to “cleanse” anything remotely like our world. This isn’t a Brave New World allegory of the previous’ centuries Western European global expansion. It is a story of mechs and demons and symbiotes in a far future world and the potential for even man made creations whose explicit purpose is to kill may find that there may be things they haven’t been told about.

And again, Kordov does a truly excellent job of telling his story his way. If that way isn’t something you can stomach, well, there are other stories for you. Be well and have a nice day!

Ultimately an interesting story that serves as a seemingly solid and even tantalizing taste of Kordov’s style and this particular world (apparently this novella is set in the world of a trilogy Kordov wrote) that could well entice readers to experience the larger trilogy.

Very much recommended.

Post Script Brief Bio: I was raised in the Southern Baptist Convention, though I left it over 20 yrs ago now and now the closest religious tradition to my own specific views are some incarnations of the Anabaptists. My earliest exposures to scifi reading were actually largely Christian scifi, such as Josh McDowell’s Powerlink Chronicles and the works of Frank Peretti and Bill Myers. I became such a fan of Robinson that I eventually got a tatoo inspired by his work specifically due to his ability (displayed more earlier in his writing career than more recently) to bury deep and thought provoking allegories underneath what are ostensibily kickass scifi action tales. Indeed, Unity itself is just such an allegory, in this case of the Triune God. I also happened to grow up in the town where Lottie Moon, one of the SBC’s earliest missionaries and the person whom its annual Christmas fundraiser (“missions offering”) is named after, once lived a little over a century before my birth. My dad was a deacon for many years, and my last Pastor when I was still in the SBC eventually became a President of the Georgia Baptist Convention. My Christian education – even just via going to church at this particular church for so long, without ever having actually been to a religious-based school – was such that when Robinson first announced one cover of one book several years ago now, I immediately messaged him and told him what the allegory of that particular book was, given its title and that cover. He quickly changed the cover to make it less obvious. 😉 All that to say… yeah, religious language in a book doesn’t scare me. At all. 😉

This review of Sisters Of Mercy by Yuval Kordov was originally written on March 11, 2026.

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#BookReview: 4.4.68 by Desmond T. Lewis

Interesting Scifi Alt History With An Atypical Subject. I’ve read a couple of truly phenomenal alt-history/ time travel books over the years where someone in the present (or in this case, future) is sent back in time to one specific era or event to try to save someone or stop someone else who is trying to harm that person. Specifically, books like Randall Ingermanson’s City of God trilogy (wherein time travel is developed in an attempt to go back and murder the Apostle Paul before he can begin his missionary journeys that ultimately spread Christianity beyond the Israel/ Palestine region) and Jeremy Robinson’s The Didymus Contingency (wherein time travel is developed specifically to attempt to disprove the Gospels and which was the very first book from Robinson I ever read and created a lifelong fan that has now followed him for nearly 100 books). Also TV shows that tend to get cancelled far too early such as *UPN*’s (now we’re getting *really* old!) 7 Days or the more recent Timeless from NBC. (Though the TV shows, by their very nature, were less focused on a specific person or event in the past.)

So those references, assuming you’ve ever heard of them (and most likely, sadly, you haven’t), give you an idea of what to expect here. Here, time travel has been developed and is apparently being used for at least some other purposes at times, but the specific mission of the book is singular: Prevent Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination that in our world happened on the titular date.

The scifi elements of a future near dystopian state are done well, as are the later similar elements I’ll not discuss because they veer more into spoiler territory. Similarly, the alt history elements here really bring the real historical elements to life in ways that those who still remember this era will likely appreciate. This is the point where this book is *most* similar to Ingermanson and Robinson’s works, as this is also where those books truly shine.

The difference here, particularly as a native of the borderlands between Appalachia and Atlanta who was born several years after the real-world assassination of King but even whose parents remember it, is that there are many people with actual living memories of the period in question and even at least some who were either directly there or nearby at that moment. Such people could speak to how this book handles that era even better than I can, but again, from my own perspective, this book really does bring its subject period and the real-world people it tells fictional tales of to light in ways that the actual factual historical books never quite can.

The *one* problem someone with a fairly balanced view of history will have, that others may not share depending on their particular circumstances, is that MLK is pretty heavily deified in this book, actively proclaiming him as the most important figure in US history. I’m not going to downplay his significance at all – he truly was *a* great and important figure in US history. But he was also a human, and all humans are ultimately flawed creatures that make greater and lesser mistakes. Here, the book could likely have been at least a touch stronger had it deified King less and humanized him more, similar to its treatment of King’s close friend Ralph David Abernathy – who plays at least as large a role in this tale as MLK himself does.

Ultimately though, this is truly a strong tale of its type, one that works well in pretty well all facets of the tale. While I suspect it could be one that becomes perennially discussed more in February (Black History Month) than year round, I could absolutely see it being discussed then the way David McAfee’s vampire books (beginning with 33AD and being another scifi/ alt history, but without the time travel element) are so perennially mentioned (by me at least 😉 ) around Halloween.

Very much recommended.

This review of 4.4.68 by Desmond T. Lewis was originally written on March 10, 2026.

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#BookReview: Once And Again by Rebecca Serle

Not The Easiest Read, For A Lot Of Reasons. Read It Anyway. This is one of those books that a lot of people are going to have a lot of problems with from a variety of angles… and yet is actually *stronger* because of all the so-called “problems” or “difficulties”.

A lot of the “problems” get deep into spoiler territory, so I’m going to cover here what I can without going there:

1) Yes, this is a time travel book where it isn’t always as crystal clear as other tales where exactly you are within the timeline. However, the characters each have a sufficiently distinct “voice” such that after a bit, you can begin to identify which of our three main ladies we are with in any given section and that alone helps make the narrative quite a bit more clear.

2) The family dynamics here are quite atypical… and yet this is actually one of the strongest points of the book. This *family* is atypical, for reasons we’ll get to momentarily, and how they each struggle to handle the thing that makes their family atypical actually works quite well to explore how different generations may interact with each other given this particular thing.

3) The magical realism is very nearly a McGuffin here. If you’re looking for a book with spells or magic on every page… this aint that. At all. But the magical realism is actually used *better* in its scarcity than it would have been had it been so prevalent in this particular tale. To the level that it is nearly a Sword of Damocles hanging over an entirely family… and the story is told with barely any mention of the sword or how it got there at all. It is absolutely used, but it is used *in service to* the story being told, and not *as* the story itself.

4) The romance/ second chance romance journey is perhaps actually the strongest element of this book… *because* of exactly how it is played and plays out. As someone who has experienced a version of this story from the guy’s side, this was one element where I could *absolutely* identify with the husband because in at least a thing or two that happens here, I’ve actually had nearly word for word conversations in real life with my own wife. So seeing how that particular relationship plays out and how Serle weaves this story in and around it is truly one of the stronger parts of the tale, because it is all too real.

5) The secrets. Every family has them, and in this case they are both used and revealed in truly stunning fashion. There were absolutely some dusty rooms at times in this tale, particularly late, and again with the “Magneto moves the satellite dish” moment from XMen: First Class, once the revelations come, it makes the story that much more powerful in so many intricately layered ways.

Overall, this truly is not an easy book. It reads like a beach read, yet it packs such a mental and emotional punch that you’re not really going to want to actually read it at a beach. And it *does* have a lot of things that a lot of readers are going to find quite challenging indeed. But this is absolutely one of the better books I’ve read so far in 2026 *specifically because* of all the things that make it so challenging and “messy”.

Very much recommended.

This review of Once And Again by Rebecca Serle was originally written on March 9, 2026.

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#BookReview: Strangers In The Villa by Robyn Harding

Twisty Destination Thriller. This is one of those destination thrillers where you think you know what is happening… and then suddenly you realize how wrong you were. Yet also one where virtually no one is overly “likeable”, so if you’re a reader where you have to have *someone* that is truly pure of heart or perfectly aligns with your every belief or however else you define “likeable”… know going in that this isn’t that kind of tale. And that you should read it anyway.

The setting in coastal Spain is used quite well both for creating tension in our primary couple and in setting up some truly stunning set pieces for our drama and different elements of our thriller. And it is absolutely *perfect* in setting in motion one particular literary technique, but naming the technique becomes a bit of a spoiler for the instant it is set in motion – so I won’t name it here. Just know that its use is one of the finer parts of this particular tale, showing true craftsmanship on the part of Harding (and, perhaps, her editors). And even with this technique, when you think you know where it is ultimately heading… no, no you do not. Because Harding is going to twist everything ten ways to Sunday in a manner that is perfectly logical for these characters…. once everything is revealed. But the revelations continue until almost literally the last word of the tale…

There *is* a touch of jalapeno ish spice, and there *are* some LGBT… let’s say “explorations”… here – just so those readers who care about the presence of these things (either direction, no judgement from me either way) are aware. Enough to piss off readers more ardent in their views either direction, for differing reasons, but also light enough that more moderate/ truly tolerant readers shouldn’t really have any real issues with.

Overall this is a fun and average-ish length tale of its type. One that won’t necessarily win any converts to the genre (though possible), but one which existing fans of the genre will absolutely enjoy. And which could in fact bring new readers to the author herself.

Very much recommended.

This review of Strangers In The Villa by Robyn Harding was originally written on March 9, 2026.

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#BookReview: Ruby Falls by Gin Phillips

Locked Room Mystery More On Women’s Fiction End Than Horror End. Growing up at the border of Appalachia and Atlanta, halfway between Chattanooga and Atlanta, I saw the “See Rock City” signs – mostly barns – quite frequently. Have even been out there both on school field trips and with my family, and indeed my youngest brother actually proposed to his now wife on top of Lookout Mountain. In other words, I know the modern version of the mountain – and the caves – fairly well. (Though to be clear, I haven’t seen the 2020s era updates.) Thus, you, oh reader of my review, can easily see why a book about the modern origins of the tourist attraction known as Ruby Falls would entice me to read it.

The tale itself is a locked room mystery yet is more women’s fiction than horror, though those with any hint of actual claustrophobia are going to find certain scenes here (at minimum) quite difficult to read. Probably even *worse* than *that* scene in Lee Child’s Die Trying, the Reacher story that finds even Reacher crawling through a cave at one point. The use of the cave as the “locked room” is done quite excellently, as are the basic cave survival aspects, all in service to the actual story being told.

But we *are* getting a lot more relational drama than the straight up terror from a tale such as Greig Beck’s Beneath The Dark Ice, even as a murder mystery unfolds deep underground. This is the Great Depression and this is still the age of people claiming to be clairvoyant… many of whom turn out to be hucksters… but not all. The era when the caves – and the Falls – were first discovered by modern man nearly a century ago as this book is released in March 2026, and we do in fact get to hear about the moment of their discovery as part of this story.

For those looking for a women’s fiction tale with a bit more kick, or perhaps a locked room murder mystery a touch more on the relational side than the terror side, this book is going to be pretty close to exactly what you’re looking for. Those looking for a more pure survival or horror tale… not so much.

Ultimately though this is truly a great tale of its form that does great service to its real world subject even as it creates a fictional story around the real-world history. For the millions… and millions! (cheap pop!)… who have been to Ruby Falls or who live in the surrounding regions or who enjoy these types of tales, this is absolutely going to be a book you’re going to want to pick up.

Very much recommended.

This review of Ruby Falls by Gin Phillips was originally written on March 6, 2026.

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#BookReview: Sing Down The Moon by Robert Gwaltney

Strong Tale Will Expose What Kind Of Reader You Are. In Gwaltney’s debut, The Cicada Tree, you got a tale that could work commercially, but was never really going to be a *huge* hit in the most general circles – it was great, but there was enough there that would throw off more casual readers that are the bread and butter of the industry as a whole.

This book is that to a whole new level. It will expose you as a reader.

Here’s what I mean by that last: This is a “LITERATURE” book, the kind of book that is destined to be in the “Best Georgia Books of the 2020s” if not “Best American Books of the 21st Century” conversations among the New York Times book critics, librarians, English teachers, professors… that crowd. The one that likes high discussions with a bottle of wine. The crowd that debates to this day the intricacies of Fitzgerald and Hemingway and Steinbeck. The crowd that praises Cormac McCarthy as among the greatest writers of the early 21st century. The crowd that debates every single word choice, that finds significance in every rain drop, in every leaf placement. That crowd is going to DEVOUR this book.

And then there is the more casual crowd. The crowd that just wants a fun beach read that doesn’t make them think at all. Where they can enjoy a fun romcom in the sun or maybe a pulse pounding action thriller where somehow John Rambo, Superman, a Predator, Wolverine, and Jack None Reacher are all fighting each other. The crowd that would rather drink a Budweiser at a local minor league baseball game (Go Jax Jumbo Shrimp!) than even think to recognize that a leaf placement in a book could be significant. That crowd… probably isn’t going to enjoy this book too much.

Me, I’ve always been a creature of two worlds, always trapped in both, never really fitting in within either – not fully.

So I can absolutely appreciate what Gwaltney has done here. As the wine-sippers will tell you, it truly is a magnificent story and is truly masterfully told. It is absolutely one that is going to have you thinking, that isn’t going to give its answers easily. One you’re going to have to sit and ponder and dream of and come up with your own interpretations that may or may not be what Gwaltney actually intended… but that very thinking is clearly *exactly* what he intended you to do.

And yet my other nature can absolutely tell you that if you’re looking for that more straightforward or simplistic tale – and there is *nothing* wrong with that, to be crystal clear – this really isn’t that kind of tale. At all. Indeed, it is more of a mindfuck than anything Fitzgerald or Hemingway or Steinbeck or even McCarthy ever wrote. It is like Thomas Kincaid painted a stunning lowcountry scene… and then Jackson Pollack, Dali, and Kre8 all interpreted that scene in succession, one after the other. You eventually get something that still is clearly this stunning lowcountry scene… in a very mind bending version of it that really makes you think hard and get a touch creative yourself to see what is really happening.

A truly stunning work for what it is, just make sure you as a reader are ready for the experience.

Very much recommended.

This review of Sing Down The Moon by Robert Gwaltney was originally written on March 2, 2026.

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#BookReview: Body Electric by Manoush Zomorodi

Clarion Call For Post-COVID Society To Move More. In this text – based on a 2023 podcast and experiment Zomorodi helped orchestrate – the central point could not be more clear: Virtually all of us, particularly among white collar workers, in this post-COVID age need to move more. A lot more. To the tune of 5 minutes every 30 minutes. Nothing overly stressful, a casual stroll or its equivalent is actually the recommendation. No or at least minimal sweat, just movement to get our body operating more efficiently than it does when we sit for hours on end.

This is actually a book that is hitting pretty damn hard personally, as I am now actively fighting health issues in my legs (and I’m actively getting various scans to identify exactly what is going on and where, but so far it seems limited to my legs) that this text actually directly addresses, such as lymphedema (which is specifically mentioned) and possible (in my case) chronic veinous insufficiency. This, from a man who a few yrs pre-COVID (within the absolute value from COVID that we now are after COVID) was walk/ running (13 min mile or so at my best) 1100 miles per year / 5K race every month and even did a pair of half marathons (PR: 3:09:12). And then COVID hit and I eventually got my dream job, fully remote and doing interesting work while getting to mentor colleagues newer to the field.

But now I sit. All. The. Time. And my legs in particular have begun to noticeably have ill effects. DDPYoga, particularly its programs starting you flat on your back on your bed and progressing to sitting in a chair and then (where I am now) using a chair for stability as you begin to stand through the workout, has helped in my case… but Zomorodi’s advice here may actually be even more beneficial to even more people than DDP has been. (Sorry, DDP – you’re awesome and I really can’t thank you enough for this program, but I stand behind my last statement.)

In conjunction with Rowan Jacobsen’s In Defense of Sunlight, releasing about six weeks after this book and which I read just a day or so before reading this book, what many of us need to do to begin both getting healthier and generally feeling better could not be more clear… or more basic. Get up. Get out. Move around more. Not enough to burn (either your skin or sweating), but enough to just *be*. According to the actual research using thousands of people Zomorodi describes in this text that she helped facilitate, it really is that simple and will provide a fair amount of quality of life benefits that will at minimum help your focus and emotional stability if nothing else.

Ultimately, and I can’t believe *I* am saying this, consult your physician for any problems you’re actually feeling. If you don’t have one, find one – even with my general anti-doc stance (and I have my reasons), quite simply (and this is the very thing that got me to finally go to them), they have instrumentation and thus information that you cannot possibly obtain on your own/ at home, including the scans I’ve already done and am doing over the next couple of weeks. But talk to them about Zomorodi’s ideas here in this text. Talk to them about Jacobsen’s ideas in his text. Ask them about DDPYoga if you think it may help you.

Even as Zomorodi is discussing something she actively participated in and helped facilitate via her podcast, this book is still pretty well documented at 22% of the text of even the Advance Review Copy I read, with a forward from the doc whose research she had found and decided to help with. Which is perfectly in line with my usual expectations of 20-30% documentation.

Move more. 5 minutes every 30 minutes is ideal, according to Zomorodi, but even 5 minutes every hour or even 2 hours will provide at least some benefit. Just a casual stroll, in an office hallway, around your apartment, whatever space you may have. Just move. Frequently.

Very much recommended.

This review of Body Electric by Manoush Zomorodi was originally written on March 2, 2026.

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#BookReview: What If Jesus Is Right by Douglas Groothuis and Lindsey Medenwaldt

Routine Conservative Christian Apologetics. Two things up front: the single star deduction is for prootexting, which is far too common in books such as this and is an automatic star deduction for me every time I see it in a text. Second, I honestly fail to see why this particular book exists, as it offers nothing particularly new – not even a real discussion of more current social issues and an Apologetics-based response to them. Indeed, in quoting the legends of this field – C.S. Lewis and Lee Strobel – and especially in basing such a decent chunk of the text around Lewis’ “Liar, Lunatic, or LORD” argument… there isn’t really anything novel at all about this book. It is good enough for what it is, and for those unaware of Christian Apologetics as a field it is a pretty decent summary of a high level view of its arguments, but there’s no real “meat” here, and certainly nothing worthy of deep contemplation the way Lewis and Strobel achieved. Hell, I largely left Christian circles 20 ish yrs ago as my faith in Christ deepened while my faith in people faltered, and the arguments presented in this text are remarkably similar to ones that were even then at least a few years old.

So don’t get me wrong here, this book is in fact solid for what it is, and again, for those unfamiliar with the topic, it does indeed serve as a decent overview and introduction. Clocking in at 12% bibliography as judged by the Acknowledgements section after yet with documentation at the end of each chapter as well that seemingly bumps the actual total documentation to around the 15% or so I consider the bare minimum for a nonfiction text, there is nothing overly *wrong* here other than the prooftexting. I was just expecting *some* kind of new slant or potentially *some* level of new argumentation, and this book fell rather flat on those accounts.

Recommended, particularly for those who have never considered Christian Apologetics.

This review of What If Jesus Is Right by Douglas Groothuis and Lindsey Medenwaldt was originally written on March 1, 2026.

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#BookReview: In Defense Of Sunlight by Rowan Jacobsen

Short Yet Thoroughly Documented Clarion Call Inspired By Pollan’s In Defense Of Food. In this text, Jacobsen explicitly sets out to do for sunlight what Michael Pollan once did for “real food” several years ago… and largely nails it. The writing here is engaging and explains the science at a level that most will be able to understand it yet doesn’t shy away from the more complex areas of the science either. At just under 300 pages with just over a quarter of even that being documentation, this is an easy one day read for many people… and yet will also be one that many readers will want to sip and savor and perhaps spread out over a much longer reading period.

Perhaps, even, via reading it for a few minutes per day as the sun rises or sets… which is a particular period Jacobsen shows does quite a bit for the human body.

In all honesty, I read this book when I did – days before the dreaded “Spring Forward” of “Daylight Saving Time” – hoping for a much stronger anti-DST argument here, which isn’t as present as I had hoped… but that actually points to the actual strengths of the text, as Jacobsen is more concerned that you get outside at all than *when* you get outside, though he does indeed go into detail about what the sun’s light at different times of the day can do for you and does in fact make at least some case for the earlier sunrises of so-called “Standard” time, while also pointing out the science of living on the eastern vs western edges of a time zone, among many other topics.

Overall a very thorough text covering all aspects of the science of the interaction of the sun and the human body, this is absolutely one book everyone needs to read and make their own calls about… and perhaps even recommend it to your medical providers. I know I’ll be recommending my own docs read this.

Very much recommended.

This review of In Defense Of Sunlight by Rowan Jacobsen was originally written on February 27, 2026.