Spycraft: Essentials by Bayard and Holmes

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MWSA Review

For nearly six decades Mad Magazine featured “Spy V. Spy” as a popular feature. Piper Bayard and Jay Holmes bring these fictional antics into real life. As a source for spy novel writers, Spycraft: Essentials, reveals the not so humorous, but “real stuff” antics of spying. Backgrounds on various intelligence agencies and their interactions, along with insider-revealed unknowns are divulged. Knowledge from an experienced operative with over forty years inside is shared (but not the spy-writer’s real name) in this 276-page book. Revealed are tradecraft techniques; information about who spies and spooks are as people; the life they may lead depending on their roles and tools of the trade; and how they live (or die) in some incredibly special circumstances.

Writers wanting help with their characters and actions—even including details on weapons and their use—may want to refer to this book. Sidebars include: Conflict Alert, Side Notes, Bottom Line, Writing Tips, Pro Tips, and astute quotes by co-author, Jay Holmes. One of the two Mad Magazine cartoon characters, according to the authors’ definition, would appropriately be called a “spook.” The spook, of course, being on the good side. Spycraft: Essentials is an interesting read, churning ideas in the espionage-genre writer’s mind for their next (or first) spy story.

Review by Tom Beard (May 2020)

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Author's Synopsis

What do the main intelligence agencies do and where do they operate? How do they recruit personnel? What are real life honey pots and sleeper agents? What about truth serums and enhanced interrogations? And what are the most common foibles of popular spy fiction?

With the voice of over forty years of experience in the Intelligence Community, Bayard & Holmes answer these questions and share information on espionage history, firearms of spycraft, tradecraft techniques, and the personalities and personal challenges of the men and women behind the myths.

Though crafted with advice and specific tips for writers, Spycraft: Essentials is for anyone who wants to learn more about the inner workings of the Shadow World.

“Bayard & Holmes have done readers and writers of the espionage genre a great service. . . . From novices to experts, I suspect everyone will find something in this book that they did not know before.”

~ Doug Patteson
Film Technical Advisor and Former CIA Operations Officer

"Bayard and Holmes have done the unprecedented: crafted a fully informative, while wholly unclassified, overview on American spycraft with a special focus on preparing novelists for realistic scene writing. Spycraft: Essentials delivers solid, valuable information as a comprehensive primer on how the Intelligence Community really operates. It is a must-read for all involved Americans."

~ Rob DuBois
Retired US Navy SEAL and NSA Collector

“As a writer, I’m always looking for those books that open my eyes to the shadowy ways the world truly works. I found just such a resource in the insightful, well-researched, and oftentimes humorous book by Bayard and Holmes, Spycraft: Essentials. For any author, this is the new bible for crafting stories of espionage. It’s also perfect for anyone who wants to know the lengths nations will go to keep or steal secrets and the methods they will use to do so. This is a bombshell of a book.”

~ James Rollins
New York Times Bestselling Author of The Last Odyssey

ISBN/ASIN: 978-0991569212, 978-0991569250
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle, ePub/iBook
Review Genre: Nonfiction—Reference
Number of Pages: 300

Obsessed by Joseph Badal

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MWSA Review

Obsessed by Joe Badal is an apt title for this rip-roaring second book in the Curtis Chronicles series. It is a perfect one-word adjective for the main “bad guy” who was introduced in book one of the Curtis Chronicles. But the adjective might also apply to more than one of the other fascinating characters you’ll meet in this book.

Taking up where we left off in The Motive, we are reacquainted with Lonnie Jackson, a truly evil person, who will stop at nothing to get his revenge. However, in Obsessed, there is more than one person obsessed to some degree about killing one or more of the other characters.  In fact, more than once, killers find themselves waiting in line for their turn to rid themselves of their adversaries. 

Badal carefully crafts an ever-increasing level of suspense leading up to an abrupt surprise ending. There are plenty of bodies strewn across the pages of Badal’s latest thriller, but they probably won’t end up being the bodies the reader or the book’s players might have expected. To find out what it all means, you’ll have to pick up your own copy of Obsessed and see how obsessively you’ll flip the pages and then anxiously wait for the next installment.

Review by John Cathcart (May 2020) 

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Author's Synopsis

A world-class thriller with non-stop, heart-pounding tension and action, “Obsessed” brings back Matt Curtis and Renee Drummond and their villainous nemesis, Lonnie Jackson. This second installment in Joseph Badal’s The Curtis Chronicles takes the reader from Rio de Janeiro to the mountains of New Mexico to the Mexico/United States border, following a crazed Jackson on his single-minded quest for revenge against the two people he blames for the deaths of his mother and brother and for the destruction of his criminal empire in Hawaii.

ISBN/ASIN: ISBN 978-1987559354, ASIN B07BRFQ9QT
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle
Review Genre: Fiction—Mystery/Thriller
Number of Pages: 373

Dark Angel by Joseph Badal

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MWSA Review

The dynamic duo returns in Dark Angel, Joseph Badal’s latest book in his Lassiter/Martinez Case Files series, and they do not disappoint.

Barbara Lassiter and Susan Martinez, having been promoted to detective sergeant rank in the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department of Violent Crimes/Homicide Squad, are handed a mysterious murder case. A child killer with a long record, released because of a corrupted chain of evidence, is discovered dead—stripped naked with a 14-inch tent peg embedded in his chest. No fingerprints, no body fluids, no hair, no evidence of the assailant are found at the crime scene, and to make circumstances more unusual, the cause of death was not the tent peg. And, so it begins.

Lassiter and Martinez follow the breadcrumbs, and the trail leads to similar unsolved cases. Soon, they realize that a vigilante-style serial killer is on the loose—the victims all outsmarted the legal system and avoided punishment. The plot becomes more complicated when they stumble onto an active FBI investigation.

Badal’s tale has all the essentials: suspense, tension, and excitement. The language is colorful and details vivid. His memorable characters are well developed, sympathetic, complex, and credible.

Dark Angel will keep readers “on the edge of their seats,” devouring page after page until the end.

Review by Sandi Cathcart (June 2020)

 Author's Synopsis

In “Dark Angel,” the second in the Lassiter/Martinez Case Files series, Detectives Barbara Lassiter and Susan Martinez pick up where they left off in “Borderline.” Assigned to a murder case, they discover that their suspect is much more than a one-off killer. In fact, the murderer appears to be a vigilante hell-bent on taking revenge against career criminals who the criminal justice system has failed to punish.

But Lassiter and Martinez are soon caught up in the middle of an FBI investigation of a monstrous home invasion gang that has murdered dozens of innocent victims across the United States. When they discover a link between their vigilante killer and the home invasion crew, they come into conflict with powerful men in the FBI who are motivated more by career self-preservation than by bringing justice to innocent victims.

ISBN/ASIN: ISBN 978-1542366595, ASIN B01NCQBZ93, Audio B07W6J3CQ3, Audio/CD ISBN-13 978-1094068671
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle, Audiobook
Review Genre: Fiction—Mystery/Thriller
Number of Pages: 340

Grandman Dean goes Big Shopping by Warren Martin, and Star Huddleston - Illustrator, Karen Tucker - Editor

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MWSA Review

Grandman Dean Goes Big Shopping by Warren Martin is a lovely story about a grandfather who loves to spend time shopping with his grandson. The adventures are made special by the names they have for each other and for their adventurous outings. The book is completed with a companion coloring book, a wonderful opportunity for a child to work with pictures, colors, and numbers. The illustrations in both books are charming and appealing to old and young alike.  

Review by Nancy Panko (April 2020)

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Author's Synopsis

Join Pop Pop and his Grandman Dean as they spend the day together and go Big Shopping.

ISBN/ASIN: ISBN 978-0-9854727-4-0    ASIN: B084DKMB36
Book Format(s): Soft cover
Review Genre: Children & Young Adult—Picture Book
Number of Pages: 34

Enchantment Book 3 in the Maagy Series by Virginia Stringer

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MWSA Review

Author Virginia Burton Stringer has spun a fascinating story for the young adult reader in her book Enchantment, Book 3 of the Maagy Series. This book starts off on Princess Maagy's sixteenth birthday, the day Maagy's father, the king, can finally tell her the truth behind her mother's murder years earlier. On this day, Maagy also learns of her true heritage and the dangerous destiny in front of her. She is bewildered and upset with the knowledge but soon realizes the path she needs to follow. She and friend Mary apply to the Academy to become knights, and the two are the first females to be accepted into it. The Academy tests their strength, knowledge, and determination. In her struggles, she realizes that she is developing into a young woman with emotions and a temper that she will have to better control. No challenge, however, is greater than the one she faces when her father is kidnapped. I recommend this book.

Review by Bob Doerr (June 2020)

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Author's Synopsis

Princess Maagy has had some great adventures and a few harrowing moments in her life, but none compares to what King Henry reveals to her in the forbidden east tower on her sixteenth birthday. The greatest unknown in Maagy’s life has been her mother Queen Melania, but her father’s refusal to talk about his wife has left Maagy with a growing rage. Now, to find out the truth about what really happened to Queen Melania brings that anger to the surface causing a rift in the idyllic father/daughter relationship. Maagy’s rebellion turns her stubborn determination toward becoming a soldier against King Henry’s strong objections. Maagy has always been intrigued by her own striking resemblance to the warrior woman in a portrait at Whitmore Estate, but no one seems to know her identity. However, it is obvious to Maagy that she is an ancestor. Little does Maagy know the significance of the portrait, the woman in it, or how her life will change when she takes hold of the mysterious blue crystal and discovers she is the Chosen One. Once again, Maagy’s life is cast into turmoil, as her path twists and turns in directions neither she nor King Henry could predict. Maagy’s destiny was sealed centuries before her birth with foreboding incantations and curses spoken out of revenge. A sapphire amulet, glowing rubies, and the Sword of Aradin are her inheritance from the past and are the keys to her future.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1-4808-4911-2
Book Format(s): Soft cover, ePub/iBook
Review Genre: Children & Young Adult—Young Adult (fiction or non-fiction)
Number of Pages: 421

Combat To College by John Davis

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MWSA Review

There are many issues that veterans have when they leave the military and decide to go forward and pursue higher education. Combat to College is the perfect companion to take with you to assist you in that learning journey. I could relate to some of those many issues because I went back to college when I got out of the Army, was married, and had two children. Even though this book is aimed at today's veterans, I still could relate, decades later!

Author John Davis gives many personal examples of how he felt and, more importantly, how he handled it. He shares his feelings about professors/teachers who have a different view of the world and life than veterans may have. I felt that he realistically covered that issue and others with sound intelligent advice.

If one is looking for a guidebook for transitioning to college, then this is your needed how-to-do-it manual. It will prepare you emotionally and aid your college experience. I recommend this book as a great gift to yourself—or others who are going from combat to college! Great reference book!

 Review by Bill McDonald (April 2020)

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Author's Synopsis

Combat To College is the book for veterans who want to win the college battle. Veterans must utilize the unique skills and discipline gained in the military to succeed in higher education. Your experiences make you capable of not only graduating but creating the life you want after military service. When veterans get out of the military, their plan of action often determines whether they live out their dreams or their nightmares. How well you do in college often dictates how well you do in life. Rise up to your potential and navigate college with these straightforward lessons. Maintain your military bearing, confidence and unwavering determination into your next chapter. Make your college success non-negotiable, you earned your GI Bill and it's time to grit your teeth and use it.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-0-578-66338-8
Book Format(s): Softcover, Kindle
Review Genre: Nonfiction—Reference
Number of Pages: 149

The Hidden Sphinx: A Tale of World War II Egypt by Zita Steele

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MWSA Review

Author Zita Steele has given us a delightful story of suspense and romance in her book, The Hidden Sphinx, A Tale of World War II Egypt. Steele sets the story in and around Cairo during the early part of the war, and effectively weaves into her book the ancient history and landmarks of the region. The story's two protagonists meet in Cairo: Major Frost, the no-nonsense British Army investigator, and Eve Weathers, an American journalist. The two work together to find the murderer of a British officer. The trail leads them throughout the Egyptian desert, in and out of several ruins, and has them on a hunt, not only for the murderer, but also for a cursed, ancient embalming knife. Their chase takes them into conflict with German soldiers, various tomb raiders, and deserters from both sides of the conflict. With wisps of the supernatural always dancing around the edges of the story, Eve and Frost still find time to fall in love. The question is, will either survive to the end of the story? I recommend this book. 

Review by Bob Doerr (April 2020)

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Author's Synopsis

Egypt, 1942. War rages in the Western Desert. As a series of murders and tomb robberies plague the British Army, ruthless and daring Major Desmond Frost is called to investigate. His path leads him straight into the arms of fiery young American woman Eve, who captures his heart as he unlocks a mystery surrounding tomb raids, an ancient haunted dagger, and a renegade German Afrika Korps ranger. The darkness pits him against a Nazi spree killer and the East London leader of “Commando Group Sphinx,” elite Special Forces troopers gone rogue.

ISBN/ASIN: B07YS2SMCQ, 1941184294, 978-1941184295
Book Format(s): Kindle
Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 351

Micah by Glenn Starkey

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MWSA Review

Micah, by Glenn Starkey is a novel based on the history of human/ape experiments in the Soviet Union in the early decades of the 1900s. Yuri Grechiko, a member of the state secret police—roughly equivalent to the SS in Nazi Germany—provided his sperm to the scientist who wanted to “mix” it with sperm from a great ape, and then impregnate slave-labor woman with the concoction…all geared to creating a super-race of warriors for Stalin.

After the scientist artificially inseminates women, Yuri has a change of heart and leads them out of bondage. He lives with two of them in the mountains, and each one gives birth to a human/ape hybrid. One female child (Alexsa) and one male (Micah). Yuri is their father, at least in part, though their mothers were different.

Both Alexsa and Micah are half-siblings but maintain a marital relationship. They live in a cave, sequestered from humans. Their father made sure they were educated, and most of the time they behave as humans, although they look like apes. Both Micah and Alexsa struggle with being neither fully ape nor completely human.

The story focuses mostly on the relationship between Micah and his father, Yuri, and reaches a climax when an encroaching secret police patrol with a butchering leader destroys their anonymity. Then, a terrible injustice is committed. Micah decides the only way to avenge the injustice is to allow his animal side to dominate him.

There are some scenes of extreme violence, including rape.

Many chapters alternate between the years the experiments were conducted in the 1920s and the years when Micha and Alexa have grown up in the 1940s. It is a nice way to handle the past as it relates to the present within the story.

It’s an interesting read, with the main character—Micah—struggling to exist in two worlds. The reader will come to love him.

Glenn Starkey writes in an easy-to-read style. Short chapters, with thoughtful or cliff-hanger endings, invite the reader to turn the page.

Review by Patricia Walkow (April 2020)

Author's Synopsis

1926, Russia. Red Terror has reigned for years with secret police, forced labor camps, and executions now a part of everyday life. Dr. Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov is obsessed with creating a human-ape hybrid and it drives him to horrific ends. Stalin's support and desire for inhuman super soldiers provides fuel for Ivanov's shocking experiments. When Yuri Grechiko, a member of the state secret police, falls in love with Sonia, a human experiment from a labor camp, he risks it all by fleeing with her and others to freedom on the Ural Mountains. There a boy and girl are born, neither human nor ape. An experiment that the mad scientist Ivanov never knew had succeeded. But Yuri's past returns to haunt him. As Stalin's secret police climb the mountains Yuri's world is brutally shattered. From the horror of shocking experiments and devastating civil wars comes Micah, a gentle forest giant. The mountains will tremble as he seeks his retribution.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1-54399-576-3, 978-1-54399-577-0
Book Format(s): Soft cover
Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 202

Still Come Home by Katey Schultz

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MWSA Review

Katey Schultz weaves a story of three people's lives using an Afghanistan War thread. The reader finds Aaseya, Nathan, and Rahim not happy with their circumstances. It's easy to understand Aaseya's dismay after all members of her family are murdered. Forced at fourteen years old to marry Rahim, she is unable to have children. She is shamed by Rahim's family and villagers. Prevented from completing her education, her life is at a dead end.

The reader is not told why—after six years in the Army National Guard and completing his fourth deployment—Nathan remains a second lieutenant. He loves leading his men. His men are loyal to him. The mission is paramount. Nathan's unhappiness stems from following orders which he does not fully understand. Lamenting the loss of his men haunts Nathan as he questions his actions in combat. Nathan's battlefield focus is interrupted with thoughts of home and family.

Rahim presents himself as a brick maker. He is paid by the Taliban warlords for his services. He resents Aaseya's independence and yearns for a family. He does not like the Taliban but enjoys the money working with them brings. There are no other opportunities for Rahim in his village.

Supporting characters bring Schultz's story to life. Rahim's sidekick Badria believes he is a worthy warrior and wants to please the Taliban. Rahim's sister Shanaz is scornful of Aaseya and was instrumental in Aaseya's family being targeted by the Taliban.

Nathan's men, each quirky in their own way, have their own problems to overcome. Nathan's wife Tenley and daughter Cissy move in and out of the story, letting Nathan explore the love of what he does on the battlefield and the love he craves at home.

Ghazel, age six, a mute unkempt street urchin, gives hope to Aaseya. Aaseya sees a way out of her miserable life by adopting Ghazel. Ghazel is the glue that brings Aaseya and Rahim together. This family unit allows Nathan to do something he feels good about in his quest to find meaning on the battlefield. Helping Aaseya's family escape to a better life brings purpose to Nathan's life. Nathan returns home and finds the love that is waiting for him.

 Review by Frank Taylor (May 2020)

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Author's Synopsis

When the odds are stacked against you, doing everything right still might not be enough to protect yourself and the ones you love. The three characters in Katey Schultz’s novel are each searching for the best way to be, the best way to live—all the while fighting cultural, societal, and political forces far beyond their control. As their paths intersect over the span of three days, Still Come Home explores how their decisions will forever alter each other’s lives.

 Aaseya, an ambitious, educated Afghan girl, struggles to walk the line between social disgrace and faith that her hometown of Imar can unharden and heal. Though she cannot bear her older husband, Rahim, a child, and she suspects her sister-in-law played a part in her family’s murder, Aaseya maintains self-reliance and dignity by rebelling against the misogyny and violence surrounding her.

Second Lieutenant Nathan Miller blames himself for the death of a soldier under his command and worries that his constant absence from his North Carolina home has permanently damaged his marriage. 

When Rahim learns that the Taliban, whom he reluctantly works for, are hatching a violent plan, conflicting loyalties to country, to enduring peace, and to his young wife take all three down a road that will change their lives forever.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1627202312
Book Format(s): Hard cover, Soft cover, Kindle, ePub/iBook
Review Genre: Fiction—Literary Fiction
Number of Pages: 250

Under Fire with ARVN Infantry by Bob Worthington

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MWSA Review

Bob Worthington’s Under Fire with ARVN Infantry: Memoir of a Combat Advisor in Vietnam 196 – 1967 is a must-read memoir for those seeking to understand America’s involvement with the Army of the Republic of Vietnam at the tactical level during the early war years. Written with humility, honesty, and keen self-reflection, Worthington’s writing is absent much of the bravado or exaggeration found in many military memoirs. Instead, readers will find an honest assessment of American and South Vietnamese soldiers as Worthington saw them at the company and battalion level. His later life as a psychologist and journalism professor is evident in the writing and analysis present.  

Review by Tim Heck (May 2020)

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Author's Synopsis

From 1945 to 1973, more than 100,000 members of the US military were advisors in Vietnam. Worthington's first tour (1966-67) as a combat advisor began with training at the US Army Special Warfare School and then the Defense Language Institute for Vietnamese. In Vietnam he served as the senior advisor to Vietnamese infantry defense forces securing the city of DaNang and then an Army of the Republic of Vietnam infantry mobile reaction battalion. He worked alongside ARVN forces staging combat operations against Viet Cong and regular North Vietnamese units. He depicts an 8-day battle when his unit of 320 men made a night helicopter assault into a 1200-man NVA regiment. The NVA unit was destroyed but the ARVN suffered 45% casualties. Another night the Viet Cong stopped fighting so Worthington could arrange for a US helicopter medevac for a wounded VC baby. Training and fighting with ARVN Infantry are described as his combat advisors lived and fought with their Vietnamese counterparts.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1-4766-7436-0, 978-1-4766-3444-9
Book Format(s): Soft cover, ePub/iBook
Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography
Number of Pages: 232

A Lion's Share by Brad Graft

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MWSA Review

A Lion’s Share, Brotherhood of the Mamluks, Book Two by Brad Graft is a well written story of 13th Century Middle East warriors who are developed from abducted and enslaved nomadic youth into well trained and highly prized military units. The book is set during the 7th Crusade and is told from the perspective of three warriors who operate at different levels of the Egyptian Sultan’s army. Each man’s security is dependent upon the ability and the survival of the Sultan, for when one Sultan dies, his troops must find another home. There is much royal family in-fighting, which complicates the lives of their men. The Mamluks are well trained in the weaponry of their era as well as military tactics. The main characters are well developed and illuminate the world at the top, the middle, and the lower level of leadership. Weak leaders place not only themselves but also their troops in mortal danger. Rewards given by one Sultan may be taken away by a subsequent Sultan. With the death of a Sultan, rivalries between units cause further danger.

The three main characters are Leander, a former French Crusader with unusual linguistic skills; Cenk, a combat veteran who becomes adviser to the Mamluk Sultan who succeeds the beloved Sultan as-Salih; and Ox, a soldier who is often passed over for promotion. Viewing the events through each of the eyes offers a well-developed story.

Book Two includes not only wonderful maps of the region but also a striking cover that clearly shows the uniforms of the Crusaders and the Mamluks and Leander’s two military careers.

Those who have lived through basic training and the rigors of military life will relate to the experiences of these characters. All readers will enjoy a well told story.

Review by Nancy Kauffman (June 2020)

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 Author's Synopsis

A Lion's Share is the second book in the Brotherhood of the Mamluks trilogy. The story is set in the 13th Century Middle East, during the Seventh Crusade. Told from the Egyptian perspective, it is a rare view of life among the Mamluks--elite Muslim warriors largely unheralded in the West--whose ranks ousted the Crusaders and Mongols from the Levant, preserving Islam.

On the eve of a historic battle, Leander, a disenchanted Crusader, surrenders to Muslim amirs with the intent of joining the revered Bahri Mamluks. His move seems fated. The young Frenchman avoids the mass slaughter suffered by the Christian alliance and earns himself a place with the elite cavalry regiment, serving the Sultan of Egypt. Yet once King Louis IX of France seeks vengeance and sets Cairo as the objective of his campaign, Leander is faced with warfare against his native people as he defends his new home, comrades, and religion.

When the Bahri's adored sultan dies and Leander becomes tangled in forbidden love with an Egyptian woman, his world unravels further. As the Mamluks seize rule for themselves, a rivalry between opposing regiments turns bloody and the newly-formed Mamluk Sultanate tumbles into chaos, with Leander and his mates scrambling not only for position within the realigned empire, but also for their lives.

ISBN/ASIN: 13: 978-1-950154-05-0, 10:1-950154-05-x
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle
Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 335

The Hope of the South by Bruce Thomas

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Author's Synopsis

Wyoming, 1863: Colonel Augusta Smith has been given a secret mission—to hide an immense treasure for the South that will allow the Confederate government to fund a rebirth after the end of the Civil War. Colonel Smith must pick the men and secure a location to hide the treasure, and he must survive the war.

Colorado, Present Day: The Special Project Unit (SPU)—a clandestine organization that operates outside the normal US government bureaucracy—has been tasked with helping the government determine who is behind a terrorist event that could leave the eastern United States without electrical power…and plunge the entire government into chaos.

From secret offices deep below the Denver International Airport, SPU Director William “Wild Bill” Eddy and Special Project Officer Mark “Vector” Jones race to collect the information needed to stop the next terrorist act. And two eras collide when a chance encounter results in Wild Bill discovering a secret letter that connects his current situation with that of his great-great-grandfather, Colonel Augusta Smith.

As Air Force Academy graduates, Wild Bill and Mark have a bond that transcends work. But will they be able to stop the madman from Europe before all hell breaks loose?

Bruce Thomas is a retired US Air Force fighter pilot and a current captain with a major US airline. A graduate of the US Air Force Academy in 1980, he is the father of five children and nine grandchildren, and lives in Overland Park, Kansas, with his wife, Vivian. The Hope of the South is the first book in the Special Project Unit series.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1-9772-0525-4
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle, ePub/iBook
Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 324

Haboob Wind by Tommy Anderson

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MWSA Review

Haboob Wind is a thriller depicting a scenario where terrorist groups come together to destroy the United States of America. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), North Korea, Iran, and even Mexican drug cartels join forces bringing different capabilities to the fight against a common enemy: freedom. The rogue coalition exploits the U.S. dependence on technology and strikes that weakness fast and hard. Employing sleeper agents, domestic terrorism, cyber attacks, U.S. politics, and long-term planning, the terrorists deliver one massive blow known as the “Haboob Wind.”

Author Tommy Anderson’s knowledge of both the military and law enforcement allowed him to create scenes that put the reader at the characters’ sides. Besides describing the tactical details with precision and accurate language, Anderson shows the turf battles often present between Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and military authorities, even under dire circumstances. Anderson shares with readers the camaraderie among National Guard units built through fighting together overseas among fellow neighbors, coworkers, and family, all returning to the same hometowns. He crafted a story of hope of so many Americans coming together when all odds were against them.

After the terrorists take out all U.S. communications and electronic with an Electronic Pulse Weapon (EPW), America is left blind, deaf, and dumb against their unknown enemy. The three main characters, military veterans, come up with a plan to use vintage aircraft that do not rely on modern communications systems to fight back, looking to the past to save the future. An FBI team comprised largely of military veterans joins the task force and all-American ingenuity and military planning finds a way to save the country. But will they win? Has the global dependence on technology created a weakness for the enemy too powerful to overcome? You will have to read the book to find the answer to that question.

This book is an excellent choice for those who enjoy police, crime, and military novels and who like to sit on the edge of their seats wondering what might happen if such a scenario did take place. The tactical details made the book appear realistic and accurate. MWSA recommends professional editing to improve this important and impactful book.

Review by Valerie Ormond (June 2020)

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Author's Synopsis

A day of celebration and dedication to the heroes and survivors of 9/11 is suddenly disrupted by a long-planned terrorist attack. From the tumultuous battlefields of Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi deserts to the unsuspecting shores of the United States, Tommy Anderson brings to life an unsettling account of what could actually happen when thousands of sleeper warriors infiltrate the very fabric of American military and public safety agencies. Fueled by increasing acts of seemingly unrelated terrorism by ISIS militants, and unfettered over a couple decades of political unpreparedness, the Haboob Wind furiously builds to a suspenseful, violent climax. Don’t miss the page-turning, twist of events as three retired war buddies join forces to battle the storm.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1513634234
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle, ePub/iBook
Review Genre: Fiction—Mystery/Thriller
Number of Pages: 98

Taps: The Silent Victims of the Vietnam War - The Families Left Behind by George Motz

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MWSA Review Pending
 

Author's Synopsis

“Taps” tells the story of a young Army officer from New York assigned as the Casualty Notification and Survivors Assistance Officer for a large portion of South Carolina – rich and poor, black and white, inner-city and country, during the racially-charged, antiwar environment of the mid-1960’s.

ISBN/ASIN: 978109043489
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle
Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography
Number of Pages: 206

All Blood Runs Red by Phil Keith and Tom Clavin

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MWSA Review

In the biography of Eugene Bullard, All Blood Runs Red, authors Phil Keith and Tom Clavin give us an excellent glimpse into the life of a truly fascinating individual. At first glance, Bullard's life story seems to be more of what creates legends or movies than what a single person could experience. He may be one of the most important Americans who lived in the twentieth century, but most of us today have little or no knowledge of him.

Born in Georgia in 1895, the grandson of a slave and son of a laborer, Bullard ran away from home during his early teen years and somehow managed to work his way to France over the next couple of years. For the next forty years, he lived for the most part in Paris before returning to the United States. Bullard fought for the French in World War I, first in the infantry and then—after being injured—as a fighter pilot. Before and after that war, he was a boxer, a musician, and a night club owner. He became friends with a plethora of celebrities to include Hemmingway, Josephine Baker, Louis Armstrong, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Cole Porter, Fred Astaire, and more. As World War II approached, he spied on the Germans for the French intelligence service. When the Germans reached Paris, he returned to the front and fought again with the French infantry. Bullard received numerous French medals to include the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. This is a good book that I recommend you read.

Review by Bob Doerr (May 2020)

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Author's Synopsis

Eugene Bullard lived one of the most fascinating lives of the twentieth century. The son of a former slave and an indigenous Creek woman, Bullard fled home at the age of eleven to escape the racial hostility of his Georgia community. When his journey led him to Europe, he garnered worldwide fame as a boxer, and later as the first African American fighter pilot in history.

After the war, Bullard returned to Paris a celebrated hero. But little did he know that the dramatic, globe-spanning arc of his life had just begun.

All Blood Runs Red is the inspiring untold story of an American hero, a thought-provoking chronicle of the twentieth century and a portrait of a man who came from nothing and by his own courage, determination, gumption, intelligence and luck forged a legendary life.

ISBN/ASIN: ISBN-13: 978-1335005564, UNSPSC Code: 55111505, B07S39G478
Book Format(s): Hard cover, Kindle, Audiobook
Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography
Number of Pages: 352

Mongol Moon by Mark Sibley

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MWSA Review

Mark Sibley’s Mongol Moon is a scary but plausible scenario that sees several of America’s worst enemies team up to start World War III on our own soil.

China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea have all decided that their only way out of economic and agricultural decline is to seize the rich territory of the United States. Working together, they coordinate an attack that initially leaves us blind and unable to strike back. But the bad guys have forgotten how much the average American, when pushed, pushes back, and veterans and active duty alike come together to fight the invaders whenever and wherever they can. Will it be enough?

The author does an outstanding job of weaving together several seemingly unconnected story lines into a cohesive story, and while there is closure at the end of the book for those characters most thoroughly developed, there is an obvious intent to set up for numerous sequels. If they are all as exciting as this first installment, I’m looking forward to it.

Fans of Tom Clancy, Dale Brown, or MWSA’s own Dale Dye and Jeff Edwards will find a lot to like in this book. Fast-moving, exciting, and with a unique story line, action fans won’t be able to put this one down.

Review by Rob Ballister (April 2020)

MWSA's evaluation of this book found a number of technical problems--including some combination of misspellings, grammar, punctuation, or capitalization errors.

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Author's Synopsis

Mongol Moon, an apocalyptic thriller about a nuclear attack on the US and Europe, follows several heroic and desperate individuals as they all converge on Virginia—where their families live as well as where the enemy gathers.

When the war begins, Navy Commander Joey Washington is on the International Space Station. The last thing she observes before she and her fellow astronauts evacuate is North America and Europe plunged into pitch darkness and bright flashes blooming on the Indian sub-continent. Her family is in Virginia, but her landing zone is in Kazakhstan.

Javad works as chief spymaster for the feared Iranian Ministry of Intelligence. Over time, he has become angry and alone in the world, his loved ones dying at the hands of the same regime he’s served for nearly forty years. Darkness takes root in Javad’s mind as he concocts and nourishes an audacious plan against his enemies. His quest for vengeance, however, has put what remains of his family, now living in Virginia, in danger.

Gunnery Sergeant An Nguyen and his Marines are in a darkened Fort Knox, Kentucky, where he’s been ordered to D.C. to contact command authority. Nguyen and his men only have moments before the Christmas Eve power outage turns deadly. Fighting for their lives through a changed country with one of the only vehicles that still runs, a tank nicknamed Alice, his mind is on his parents and their home in Virginia.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1-7340771-0-0, 978-1-7340771-1-7, 978-1-7340771-2-4
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle
Review Genre: Fiction—Mystery/Thriller
Number of Pages: 306

Sirens: How to Pee Standing Up - An Alarming Memoir of Combat and Coming Back Home by Laura Colbert

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MWSA Review

Sirens: How to Pee Standing Up by Laura Colbert is an incredible true story of life during a military deployment. This should be required reading for every politician and higher-ranking officer who has forgotten what it’s like on the front line.

Colbert’s writing style takes you to Iraq, where you experience the discomfort, homesickness, and fear alongside her. Without bogging down on too much detail, she packs a lot of information into her description. Added photos bring her words to life.

I enjoyed and appreciated her honesty in portraying the good with the bad, the things she is proud of as well as the things she’s not so proud of.

I highly recommend Sirens to anyone who is considering joining the military, so they can go in with eyes wide open. I also recommend it to civilians who need to understand what military men and women give up to protect America’s freedoms that are so easily taken for granted.

Review by Dawn Brotherton (April 2020)

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Author's Synopsis

There's a steep learning curve for every American soldier who deploys to the Middle East war zone. Much of that involves culture shock, and the excitement and confusion also applies to female soldiers. And when that female soldier is also a Military Police Officer, the curve gets bent way out of shape. Laura Colbert was heartland-bred and tough enough when the Army sent her to an MP unit in Baghdad, but she quickly discovered soldiering in Iraq involved a lot more than she expected.

How to establish her military cop cred? How to deal with chauvinistic soldiers? How to deal with Iraqis--men who disrespected her and women who initially distrusted her? How much military law applied in a lawless land? And dealing with even the simplest things, like how to pee standing up. Laura managed it and survived, but the learning curve just bent in another direction when she came home from war suffering with stress and anxiety that eventually bloomed into Post-Traumatic Stress.

Reviews:
"...Since she got back, Naylor has been on a new mission, one she believes also serves her country: She shows...what the war is really like for the soldiers who have to fight it."
--Dee J. Hall, Wisconsin State Journal

"Colbert...has told her story...in the hopes of relating the reality of her war to people half a world away who experienced it only through increasingly small TV news clips and articles in print publications."
--Nathan Phelps, USA TODAY Network

About the Author:
As a daughter of a Vietnam War Military Police officer and a sister to an Army Infantry Medic, Laura joined the Army National Guard as a Military Police officer in 2001 during her freshman year of college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and received her Honorable Discharge in 2009. She served 16 months on active duty, spending over a year in Baghdad, Iraq. Laura's love of travel, living abroad, and serving others brought her to her current position as a middle-school principal. She treasures spending time with her husband and three children. Nature is her oasis. She also loves to read, socialize, remodel homes, and learn, as attested to in her two master's degrees: Experiential Education and Educational Leadership.

ISBN/ASIN: ASIN B07YZ75LQ9, ISBN-10: 1944353275, ISBN-13: 978-1944353278
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle
Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography
Number of Pages: 294

Branch Immaterial, A World War II Memoir by Wilfrid George Bonvouloir

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MWSA Review

Colonel W.G. Bonvolour has written a memoir that shares a part of military history from World War II that not many know about. Branch Immaterial is one of those wonderful family books that a grandfather writes for his children and grandchildren to share what he did in the war. It is told as if the author is talking to you in person, sharing a special and sacred time of his life. The colonel's meticulous notes make this a real work of history. It’s a good read for those interested in U.S. history and the creation of the U.S. Air Force, while still telling an entertaining story. The colonel's personality shines through, a true highlight of the book and a great slice of his life.

Since Colonel Bonvolour's writings are from an earlier time frame and taken from his diaries, readers can perhaps forgive the conversational tone and the writing that doesn't necessarily follow current rules of grammar and punctuation. However, there is much to learn from this personal snapshot of the author's military career. On a personal note, I enjoyed meeting this author on the pages of his memoir.  

Review by Rev. Bill McDonald (May 2020)

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 Author's Synopsis

W.G. Bonvouloir received greetings from the government in August 1941. He told his wife not to worry that he was 36, married with three children and was overweight. Surprise! They have raised the weight limit for 36 year olds. So begins his saga during the War. Here is the personal story about how the Army Air Corps went from about 15,000 men in 1941 to over a million by 1943. It is a stirring life diary about those who were asked to do great things when the chips were down and how they did something that would be impossible today. It is the story of men who were given a mission and how they accomplished it.

ISBN/ASIN: ISBN 978-1-64416-664-2 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-64416-665-9(digital)
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle, ePub/iBook
Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography
Number of Pages: 358

Katusha: Girl Soldier of the Great Patriotic War by Wayne Vansant

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MWSA Review

Wayne Vansant’s Katusha: Girl Soldier of the Great Patriotic War is as well written and exhaustively researched a graphic novel as you will find.

Ekaterina Andreaevna Tymoshenko, better known as Katusha, is a Ukrainian teenager just graduating secondary school as the Germans invade Russia. Her education has not prepared her for what she must do for her family and her country. Thankfully, her Uncle Taras is familiar with the ways of war and trains Katusha, her brother Vasily, and her adopted sister Milla to survive in the woods, first as refugees, then as partisans. As her skills grow and Russia recovers from the attack, Katusha and her sister are enlisted as tank crewmen in the Red Army, where they will fight in the huge tank clash of Kursk as well as make the drive to Berlin. Along the way, Katusha finds love, but is it enough to cover all that she has lost?

This book is a wonderful introduction to graphic novels if you are not familiar with the genre. Well-researched, the military illustrations, technology, and nomenclature are spot on, as is the history of the Eastern Front. I particularly liked how the author showed the human side of so many great battles; it is easy to research the strategy of a battle, but harder at times to grasp the feelings and emotions of the people that fought it. Vansant does an excellent job of developing characters, especially since compared to a novel he has limited text in which to do so. There are also a few actual photographs worked into the story, which are used to great impact.

If you enjoy military graphic novels, you will love this; if you are not familiar with graphic novels, this is a great place to start!

Review by Rob Ballister (May 2020)

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Author's Synopsis

This is a Historical Fiction story of a 16-year-old Ukrainian girl who graduates from the tenth and final year of school the night before the German Invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. The story follows her through the experiences of the German occupation, fleeing with her family to the forest, getting involved with partisan activity, joining the Red Army and finishing the war as first a tank driver, and then as a tank commander. Seen through Katusha's eyes, we experience the war as she does, covering the war in minute detail. Note: The name Katusha was a song during the war, as it is now.

ISBN/ASIN: Paperback::978-1-68247-425-9, Ebook: 978-1-68247-439-6
Book Format(s): Soft cover
Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 572

Full Mag: Veteran Stories Illustrated, Vol. 2 by August Uhl et. al.

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MWSA Review

FULL MAG: Veteran Stories Illustrated is an innovative blend of text and art in the style of classic Sgt Rock-style comic books, but raised to a level of accomplishment previously unseen. In nine stories told by the people who lived them, we read of military exploits from World War II to Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The stories are bridged by a rather mysterious Narrator who eases the transition between eras and introduces the succeeding stories.

In vividly rendered art, sometimes black and white, sometimes full color, FULL MAG's artists, letterers, and colorists reimagine the author's take in words and especially art to produce classic comic book-style panels bursting through their margins with colorful explosions, screaming soldiers, and roaring fighter jets—even those traditional sound effects (KA-BOOM!) as the bombs and IEDs go off.

As a retired Navy CPO, I was particularly drawn to “Seafloat,” the story of a Navy riverine boat crew in Vietnam. The artwork is superlative and drew me into the narrative, and it even included a photograph of the boat crewmen included in the story. As we say in the Navy, BZ—well done.

In that same story is a powerful, high-action rendering of F-4 Phantom II fighter-bombers pulling out of a bomb run after dropping napalm on enemy forces. You can almost smell the JP4 fumes from the howling engines and feel the concussion of the fiery explosions. This sort of kinetic engagement occurs throughout the magazine.

Though a graphic novel—a “comic book”—FULL MAG also addresses the very serious topics of PTSD and prospective veteran suicides in a story (“In a Baghdad Instant”) by a female vet. She discusses her struggles with PTSD and thoughts of self-destruction traced to a closed-head injury, and gives props to the VA for her treatment and eventual recovery.

FULL MAG is a terrific read, a terrific graphic novel, and a terrific tribute to the men and women of the armed forces. Strongly recommended.

Review by Daniel Charles Ross (April 2020)

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Author's Synopsis

Full Mag: Veteran Stories Illustrated, Vol. 2 is a unique veteran history project in graphic novel form. Full Mag presents the stories of our veterans in their own words with illustrations in sequential graphic art. Every story presented is the result of an interview by our team or the written contribution of the veteran specifically for Full Mag. This volume includes first-person accounts from Operation Market Garden and the Waal river crossing, the Battle of Okinawa, the liberation of the Philippines, stories from Vietnam include "Phu Bai Intersect", "Plain of Reeds", and "Seafloat" and stories from OEF/OIF include "In a Baghdad Instant" and the conclusion of "Hidden Valor". These are stories that can only be told by those who experienced the events themselves. The team of artists include both established pros and emerging talent and several of the artists are veterans themselves. Full Mag provides a unique platform for veterans to tell their stories while simultaneously allowing artists to honor these warriors through the application of their skills as cultures have done since the dawn of mankind. This 84-page perfect bound, magazine sized, graphic novel volume is a publication unlike any other. Printed in the USA on 80# high quality paper.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-0-578-43002-7
Book Format(s): Soft cover
Review Genre: Artistic—Graphical Novel/Comic Book
Number of Pages: 84