five stars
Einstein's Beach House

Einstein’s Beach House by Jacob M. Appel

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

  A couple adopt a depressed hedgehog; a mother is seduced by the father of her daughter’s imaginary friend; a man kidnap’s his ex-wife’s pet turtle. In eight tragi-comic stories, Einstein’s Beach House: Stories features ordinary men and women rising to life’s extraordinary challenges.

These are the kind of stories I can jive with. A collection of strange tales that border believably. Nothing too out there, nothing that couldn’t happen, but most certainly quirky. Appel has a sense of humor that resonates with me. As my wife so aptly put it, “I could be friends with this guy.”

The book had eight short stories, including one called Einstein’s Beach House, the namesake. Some of the stories were frightening in subtle ways, others were hilarious, and some made you think. I tend to like dark and gritty themes, and although not all the stories fit this description, I still loved them. However, The Rod of Asclepius certainly aligned with my tastes. It was like sipping that first bit of coffee in the morning. That sensation of, “Ah, so good.” If coffee isn’t your thing (you should get your head checked), think of it as getting your back massaged. That satisfying, relaxing feeling you . . . you get the point. I really like this story.

Go for it, take a plunge. The water’s fine!



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The Mummy (Ramses the Damned #1)The Mummy by Anne Rice
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Ramses awakens in 1914 in London, years after his previous awakening. When he had reigned over Egypt he learned the formula to make an elixir that made him not only immortal, but superhuman. He apparently is highly intelligent, reflected by learning English in record time. I personally wonder how intelligent he is, because some of the decisions he makes in the story aren’t the brightest. However, his poor decision making is what drives the plot.

Anne Rice loves her immortals. I think perhaps Ramses is my favorite type of immortality featured in her books. Unlike her vampires, Ramses doesn’t seem to have any flaws (Other than thinking with his little head), but seems to enjoy all the benefits of her older vampires. Although, I personally would prefer Ramses’ immortality, it doesn’t really do the book any favors. A good book needs flaws, and poor decision making doesn’t really do it for me.

All in all, I’ve always enjoyed Anne Rice, and I think this is a fine read, just not as good as some of her others.

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The Mummy by Anne Rice

If you are unaware of who Paul Burt is, you’re about to learn. How? Well, he narrates Assassin Marked. That’s how. Of course, you can also find out more about him at his website, or by clicking his name above or the image below.

Paul Burt
Paul Burt

If you’re wondering how I met Paul, it was on ACX, a website to help authors connect with voice actors. I auditioned a few voice actors, and I liked Paul’s reading the best out of the bunch. I feel he most accurately captured the noir style I was going for with Assassin Marked.

Those of you that have read Assassin Marked know that a good portion of the story is written from the point of view of the female protagonist, Victoria Maruska. I feel that, as a male, it is very difficult to portray a female’s voice when reading out loud. Many men give the female voice a high falsetto that is really awful to hear. Paul Burt managed to pull off Victoria without the falsetto, and it was pretty good. The only way it could be better would be if a woman had read it (but then Damian’s portion would have suffered, haha).

I’m really excited to see how well my readers like the audiobook. To get a copy of the audiobook, you can click here and sign up. Just think, now you can listen to Assassin Marked while driving or while waiting for an appointment! Even though the audiobook was only released this afternoon, people have already ordered it. I can’t wait to hear their feedback!

Here is a sample of Paul Burt reading the book:

Assassin Marked Audio

I hope you’re as excited as I am. If you get it, please let me know what you think in the comments below.

That’s all for now.

~Michael C. Sahd

Jeremy Bentham Portrait

I have been beating my head against a wall trying to come up with a reasonable goal for my antagonist in the sequel to “Assassin Marked.” So much so that I’ve taken to Google and started researching lawyers, the mafia, etc.

 

Jeremy-Bentham
“The power of the lawyer is in the uncertainty of the law.”
Jeremy Bentham

 

Back during the prime of my adolescence in New Mexico, I spent a lot of time climbing the cliffs and hills. For me, navigating the dangerous rocky cliffs up high offered the most fun during these excursions. Consequently, shuffling up the slopes of scree that hemmed the base of the cliffs deceptively seemed like they would be the easiest part of the excursion; however, the climb, although more frightening, proved much easier once I gained the courage to ascend. The scree, like the walls of an antlion’s den, would send you sliding back down as far, or further than where you had started, until you got a handle on how to step up it. For the more cowardly, it was great fun to just struggle up scree and then go sliding down to the bottom, ignoring the great unreachable cliffs above.

Image result for scree
Scree


These adventures in the mountains of New Mexico are much like a lawyer’s career. A good lawyer reaches the top of the mountain of integrity and justice, but they all start at the bottom, attached to a stereotype reserved to the most slimy and scuzzy of their ilk. We all think of lawyers as nasty, lying, cheating, money-grabbing individuals ready to make a buck by taking advantage of some poor schmuck, and the lawyers starting out in the career have a responsibility to break out of that mold, or to reach a peak, so to speak.

Some do not. Rather, they spend their entire career at the bottom, and I’m not saying they aren’t successful, but perhaps they are scared. Those who make it further up the mountain have further to fall, so rather than risk their livelihood on the constraints of morality, the majority stay at the bottom, enjoying the slide of deception and reaping all the benefits of a necessary profession.

But how can you tell the difference? Well, you can’t. Just like I can’t prove that I’ve climbed to the summit of most of those mountains.

Image result for Kirin Ichiban
Kirin Ichiban

 *Spoiler* Kirin Ichiban fits right in with these deceivers, and perhaps may be the best of his kind. He has one of the most successful law firms on Penelope. As we all know (or should know, if you’ve read Assassin Marked), he also has strong ties to the crime syndicate. It’s clear that he is motivated to amass power, but what is his ultimate goal?
If you were a power-hungry lawyer with the ability to read minds, what would your goal be in the United States? Any thoughts?

~ Michael C. Sahd

Dear Readers,

Today through Christmas, the Kindle edition of “Assassin Marked” is free on Amazon. My wife started the Amazon promotion this morning and by lunch, 11 copies had been purchased. Add it to your to-read list for some fun reading material to entertain you during your time off this Christmas. Feel free to leave a review, and be sure to let me know what you think!

Assassin-Marked
Assassin Marked

Happy Holidays!

~ Michael C. Sahd

Not all of you may know this, but I have a manager. My wife not only edits my work, but she has also been marketing for me like a beast. Hence, we have scheduled a book signing at our public library — the Brownwood Public Library, located at 600 Carnegie St. in Brownwood, TX to be precise. I plan to be there from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the 18th of November, and you can bring a book to be signed. If you don’t have a book yet, there will be plenty there for sale that I will also sign.

When I first discussed the book signing with the library, we had planned for the 11th of November; but alas, today we received an email stating that the library director had just learned that the library will be closed that day due to Veteran’s Day. Of course, my wife had already advertised for the 11th on several websites. Rather humorous.

Amazon Hot New Releases
Amazon Hot New Releases

At this time,  Assassin Marked is #10 on the Amazon Hot New Releases list in the 45-Minute Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Short Reads category.

Future book signing events are planned, and, if you are unable to make it to these book signing, you can also purchase a signed book from the Signed Bookstore on Authors Den.

If you haven’t read Assassin Marked yet, you’re missing out. Check it out on Amazon. There, you can buy the paperback or ebook version. If you have Kindle Unlimited, you can read it for free.

~ Michael C. Sahd

Wedding Wipeout book

Wedding Wipeout by Jacob M. Appel
My rating (on Goodreads): 4 out of 5 stars

The old rabbi who leads us by the hand through Wedding Wipeout wears many hats, posing at various times as an FBI agent (impersonating a federal agent much?), a police detective, and more. In this interesting religious twist on the classic mystery story, Jacob M. Appel takes a cue from both Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle, featuring an unusual detective (a rabbi, in this case), his somehow-less-worldly protégé, a complicated plot line, and alternating periods of action and reflection.

The story and characters in this book will keep you interested until the end (as long as you don’t mind familiarizing yourself with a bit of Jewish vocabulary/culture). If you enjoy a good mystery, give this book a read. Be sure to let me know what you think!

*** I received a review copy of this book; however, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

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~ Michael C. Sahd

Beloved
Beloved by Toni Morrison

Beloved by Toni Morrison
My rating (on Goodreads): 4 out of 5 stars

They say, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” and that definitely applies to Beloved! When I first saw the book, I thought, “Oh crap! A romance novel.” I was way off. In spite of its ambiguous cover, Beloved is actually a ghost story, resulting from the desperate actions of Sethe, an escaped female slave.

Readers may debate whether Sethe makes good decisions; however, regardless of right or wrong, her actions come back to haunt her, literally. I don’t want to give away the story to prospective readers, but I will say that this book isn’t for everyone. Filled with dream sequences, flashbacks, and memories Beloved flip flops through time in a manner reminiscent of William Faulkner or Virginia Woolf. Love it or hate it, don’t skip reading it.

On a side note: the movie is horrible. No Hollywood flick could ever encompass the grittiness and raw emotion captured by the book. But don’t take my word for it: Read it, watch it, rate it! Let me know what you think.

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~ Michael C. Sahd

NASA Ames Research Center

Today, 24 copies of “Assassin Marked” arrived in the mail. The paper copy turned out very nice. Looking the book over, my wife and I discussed the idea of turning the story into a graphic novel. I think it would be a very cool graphic novel; unfortunately, I am definitely not capable of illustrating anything myself. Finding someone to do the cover was well-nigh impossible. So maybe someday.

In “Assassin Marked, ” the locations are backdrops and not fully elaborated on in the story; however, in the DuFonte Chronicles setting, Arbona and Penelope are advanced O’Neill Cylinders. Gerard K. O’Neill, an American physicist, proposed the design of these Cylinders, as conceptualized below.

 

NASA Ames Research Center
NASA Ames Research Center
 

Image by Rick Guidice NASA Ames Research Center —  http://lifesci3.arc.nasa.gov/SpaceSettlement/70sArt/art.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=617874

If you’ve read “Assassin Marked,” would you be interested in seeing it in a graphic novel form? If so, let me know in the comments below. As always, your input is appreciated!

~ Michael C. Sahd

After a late night of last-minute editing and fussing with Amazon Direct Publishing, my first short story is published.

Assassin Marked
by Michael C. Sahd
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Assassin Marked tells a story of a man and his lover who work for the mafia in a futuristic setting. I believe it is an interesting read.

Although I have overcome a great hurdle, my nerves are twisting into a ghastly knot, much like a pile of unraveled yarn. The pressure to provide more stories to the public weighs heavy on my mind. The last thing I want to do is provide this one story and then not release anything again until years later.

Assassin Marked, which I began to write almost ten years ago, had sat complete and edited for almost a year now (maybe more). I’m really hoping that future stories will come more quickly.

Yet I’m not done with Damian. Already, work has begun on a larger story involving the assassin, and the addition of some new individuals.

Meanwhile, Balanced Tipped faces a serious revision, but I’m confident that I will turn it in to my editor, Laura Pruett, very soon. Incidentally, if any of you reading this article are in need of an editor, click on the link I provided. I know of no better editor than her.

Keep checking back here for more information on published works.