The Lightness Of Being in Stephen King’s Elevation As A Reversal of Dorian Gray

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Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258

Blog Address: http://newsciencefictionandfantasyreviews.blogspot.com/

November 10, 2018

The Lightness Of Being in Stephen King’s Elevation As A Reversal of Dorian Gray

     In this, his  latest, book King’s main character begins to lose weight, which can be measured by his scale, BUT there is no change whatever in the appearance of his body.  This is the exact reversal of what happens in Dorian Gray, where his portrait changes its appearance as he degenerates but his body appears unaffected.

     At the end of King’s book, the character finally gets down to total weightlessness and then ascends (probably to Heaven).  In Dorian Gray’s case, however, he finally becomes so evil that he dies.

     At first it looks like King’s book is in line with Christian theology because the loss of weight by the protagonist is caused by a repentance in his life.  Now he does become a better person as a result, BUT the story makes it appear that matter is evil and spirit is good.

     Well, read it for yourself and let me know what you think.

Forrest Schultz

Super Strange Villain in Dean Koontz's Fourth Jane Hawk Novel

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Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258

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September 18, 2018

Super- Strange  Villain  In 

Dean  Koontz’s  Fourth  Jane  Hawk  Novel

A Review of

Dean Koontz The Forbidden Door: A Jane Hawk Novel (Bantam Books, 2018)

            436 pp   $28.00   ISBN 978-0-48370-0

Reviewer:  Forrest W. Schultz 

     The character Egon Gottfrey in Dean Koontz’s fourth Jane Hawk novel, The Forbidden Door is one of the strangest villains I have ever come across in the thousands of books I have read. On pp. 8-11 Gottfrey is described as a radical philosophical nihilist who contends that there is no objective truth.  He says of himself that he thinks, therefore he exists, but his body, life, and the whole world and its history is a delusion, a stage production for an unknowable audience, as if he is an actor in a drama for which he has never seen the script; and that the world is caused by an Unknown Playwright, who wants us to believe we and the world are real.  On pp. 21 and 30f Gottfrey claims that only his mind exists, and that nothing else is real. Everything else, he says, is an illusion, including his body.  He is very serious about this, but sometimes the result is very funny, as in his statement (p. 103) that he would hate Texans if they really existed, and that if he believed Texas was a real place he would never go there.  This notion is similar to that of a character in a place called “The Lost Land” in Susan Cooper’s Silver On The Tree,  who claims that “we are all actors in a play which nobody wrote and nobody will see.”  (A very stark contrast to that of Tolkien’s Hobbit character Sam who expresses delight at “being inside a poem”.)  I am wondering whether Koontz chose the last name of his character, Gottfrey, because in German it would mean being free from God (Gott is the German word for God; and "frei" is the German word for "free".  Anyway, this is what really stands out in this novel -- the rest of it is composed of elements which are familiar in crime novels, especially those with a science fiction element involving a horrendous invention. 

Escape From The Pirates -- A Review of Richard Garcia Morgan's "The Falls Of Mysterion"

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Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258

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June 5, 2018

ESCAPE  FROM  THE  PIRATES

A Review of

Richard Garcia Morgan The Falls Of Mysterion (Waystone, 2017)

                      186 pp  $8.99 ISBN: 978-1-7750695-3-9

Reviewer:  Forrest W. Schultz

     A runaway girl becomes a pirate, which soon threatens her with more danger than that from which she had escaped.  With luck plus intelligence plus courage she is saved from the fate that had been awaiting her.  This is a young adult fantasy which will be enjoyed even more by adults than teens.

     This book is the second in the author's Tales From Mysterion series.  His third book will be published later this year. I learned of this author from my friend Nicky Kotar, who runs the Waystone Publishing Co.

     For info on the author, visit www.richardgarciamorgan.com. 

Kotar's Third Raven Son Book Reviewed

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Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258

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June 4, 2018

SURPRISES  GALORE  IN  KOTAR’S  THIRD  RAVEN  SON  BOOK

A Review of

Nicholas Kotar The Heart Of The World (Waystone, 2018) 

                          427 pp    $13.99   ISBN: 978-0-9988479-5-5

Reviewer:  Forrest W. Schultz

       Winston Churchill aptly depicted Russia as “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”.  Therefore it is not surprising to find a lot of complexity, surprises, and strangeness in classical Russian literature and in the recently published Russian literature of Nicholas Kotar, who is an American of Russian descent.  In his most recent book, The Heart of the World,  one of the characters is called The Unknown Father, and the entire story is suffused with surprising and seemingly impossible things.

     One of these, the main one, is noted at the top of the rear cover:  “Can A Crippled Girl Heal The World?”.  It is interesting to observe that this question had already been answered by an Englishman, T. S. Eliot, in his Four Quartets poetry where he states that we can only be healed by the “Wounded Nurse” (meaning Christ).  So, Kotar’s Crippled Girl, is a Christ-figure in his story.  AND, since the salvific process takes a lot of time, Kotar’s story is quite lengthy!  (I figured that one out myself!).  QED and Amen !!

     

                          

Koontz Publishes Jane Hawk #3 - Review of his "The Crooked Staircase"

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Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258

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May 29, 2018

Koontz  Publishes  Jane  Hawk  #3

A Review of

Dean Koontz  The Crooked Staircase (Bantam Books, 2018)

             462 pp   $28.00  ISBN: 978-0-525-48342-7

Reviewer:  Forrest W. Schultz

     In this, his third Jane Hawk novel, Koontz, as in the first two, spends little time on the science fiction element, which, in my humble opinion, should be the emphasis.  This SF element is aptly and succinctly designated on page 154 as "nanotech brain implants", and its horrible effects on one of the characters in the story is discussed a little here and there, BUT almost all of the story is devoted to Jane Hawk's battle against the wicked cabal, which, for the most part is no different from your typical modern crime novel.  BUT, there is one huge difference, which is revealed near the end of the book, which Hawk discovers when she descends the really weird staircase referred to in the title.

     The next book in the series The Forbidden Door is expected to be published soon.

     Info on the author is available on his website,

www.DeanKoontz.com.  

Guess What Happened In The Forest!! -- Review of "Bigfoot CSI" by K. Osborn Sullivan

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Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258

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May 17, 2018

Guess  What  Happened  In  The  Forest !!

A Review of

K. Osborn Sullivan Bigfoot CSI (Kissing Frog Books, 2018)

                                  313 pp   $11.99   ISBN: 9781732152809

Reviewer:  Forrest W. Schultz

     Many are the stories in which strange things happen in forests.  I have read numerous such stories but none having a far-out event like the one which begins this tale, which radically changes the life of the girl to whom it happened.  This story is also interesting because it is set in the Coweta County town of Senoia, where the author lives.  This is appropriate because many strange and interesting things have happened here and elsewhere in Coweta County, for instance the Murder In Coweta County, which really happened and in many ways is stranger than fiction.

    Now, in re Bigfoot (alias Sasquatch alias The Abominable Snowman alias Yeti), this tale is suitable both for those who believe and for those who do not.  If you are a nonbeliever or a sceptic, please regard this tale as fantasy, which I am doing here (or else I would not be reviewing it under the auspices of my “New Science Fiction and Fantasy Reviews”) !!

     Information on the author is available on her website www.kosbornsullivan.com   

Diana Wynn Jones Creates New Genre: The Comic Witch Drama

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Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258

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June 20, 2017

Diana Wynn Jones Creates New Genre:  

The Comic Witch Drama !!

A Review of

Diana Wynn Jones Earwig and the Witch (Greenwillow, 2014

                                 $15.99   117pp   ISBN: 978-0-06-207511-6

Reviewer:  Forrest W. Schultz

     A close friend of mine a decade ago wrote, cast, and directed annual plays written in the genre he created -- the comic vampire drama genre.  In the book under review here Diana Wynne Jones has done a similar thing with witches, so that she can be regarded as the creator of the comic witch drama.  Just as my friend in his plays had fun with vampires, so Jones in her story has fun with witches.  If you read this story, which I encourage you to do, you will see what I mean.  By the way, there is also a very interesting cat in the story as well.

     Information on the author is available on her

website www.dianawynnjones.com 

Richard Garcia Morgan Debuts With Great Fantasy -- Review of his "The Hidden Island"

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Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258

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March 6, 2018

Richard Garcia Morgan Debuts With Great Fantasy

A Review of

Richard Garcia Morgan The Hidden Island (Waystone, 2017)

                 153 pp   $8.99   ISBN: 978-1-7750695-0-8

Reviewer:  Forrest W. Schultz

     I shall begin by thanking Nicky Kotar for recommending this book, which is the first story in the Tales From Mysterion trilogy.  The Island referred to in the title is not hidden in the usual sense of the term: it is located in the fantasy realm called Mysterion, which can only be reached by fantasy transport procedures involving fantasy beings, which is not surprising because this story is a fantasy whose author seeks to follow in the footsteps of two great fantasy authors:  Michael Ende and C. S. Lewis.  These are worthy mentors, and I believe that Richard Garcia Morgan has shown that he has learned from them in this, his debut novel.

     Information on the author and publishing company is available on these websites: 

www.richardgarciamorgan.com and www.waystonepress.com.  

The Battle Against The Super-Evil Raven: A Review of Nicholas Kotar's "The Curse of The Raven

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Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258

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March 3, 2018

The  Battle  Against  The  Super-Evil  Raven

A Review Of

Nicholas Kotar The Curse Of The Raven: Book 2 of Raven Son(Waystone , 2017)

                      $10.99   77 pp   ISBN: 978-0-9988479-2-4

Reviewer:  Forrest Schultz

     The Raven in Nicholas Kotar's fantasy series is FAR MORE evil than the "Nevermore" Raven in that famous poem by Edgar Allen Poe!!  And the struggle against this Raven in this novella under review is extremely strenuous and involves fantastic elements, especially near its conclusion, in a quest for "living water".  The stakes are radically important, as this statement on page 26 makes clear:  "This isn't the battle for Vasyllia.  It's a battle for the soul of Vasyllia." And the heroic deed is very strange -- it is not a quest FOR a magical object; it is a blacksmith who has to MAKE the magical object!  AND, finally victory is achieved by means of a very strange ending.  I highly recommend reading this book as I have Kotar's first one.

    Information on the author is available on his website www.nicholaskotar.com.

Jordyn Redwood's Latest SF Thriller: Medicine, Espionage, Bio-Warfare, Romance: A Review of Her "Fugitive Spy

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Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258

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February 22, 2018

Jordyn  Redwood's  Latest  SF  Thriller:

Medicine, Espionage, Bio-Warfare, Romance

A Review of

Jordyn Redwood Fugitive Spy (Love Inspired Books, 2018)

                             217 pp  $5.99   ISBN: 978-1-335-49027-8

Reviewer:  Forrest W. Schultz

     This, the latest science fiction tale by Jordyn Redwood, involves secret medical research being conducted for the sake of developing a disease to be added to the Russian biological weapons arsenal.  The story is not only a very good read but is also relevant in bringing to light the Russian bio-warfare danger, which is being overlooked by the attention being focused on the matter of the Russian meddling in the 2016 American election.  Redwood in her note to the reader at the back of the book bases her belief in the Russian bio-weapons from the book by Ken Alibeck, titled Biohazard.  Well, whether what Alibeck says is true or not, one thing is certain, and that is that Redwood's story is well thought out and well told with dramatic characters.  And there are all kinds of surprises that develop, on which I shall not elaborate for the sake of not giving away the story.  If you liked Redwood's previous books, you will like this one also.  And, if you like this one, I encourage you to read her earlier ones, beginning with her Bloodline Trilogy (published in 2013 & 2013).  

     For further information, you can visit her website, www.jordynredwood.com.