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Welcome!! My name is Paul Lappen. I am in my early 60s, single, and live in Connecticut USA. This blog will consist of book reviews, written by me, on a wide variety of subjects. I specialize, as much as possible, in small press and self-published books, to give them whatever tiny bit of publicity help that I can. Other than that, I am willing to review nearly any genre, except poetry, romance, elementary-school children's books and (really bloody) horror.

I have another 800 reviews at my archive blog: http://www.deadtreesreviewarchive.blogspot.com (please visit).

I post my reviews to:

booklore.co.uk
midwestbookreview.com
Amazon and B&N (of course)
Librarything.com
Goodreads.com
Books-a-million.com
Reviewcentre.com
Pinterest.com
and on Twitter

I am always looking for more places to post my reviews.

Sunday, February 17, 2019

The Memory of Lost Dreams

The Memory of Lost Dreams, Davon M Custis, CreateSpace, 2016

Set several hundred years from now, this novel is about a young man named Malik. Leaving his village, He finds a huge cavern containing an abandoned city. It is full of leaning skyscrapers and debris all over the streets. He comes across a machine called REQUIEM, which transports him back to when this city, Imperia, was alive and full of people. He is also brainwashed to forget his life in the village; he has lived here for his entire life. Imperia, part of the People's Republic of Amerika, is a place of total government control of the people.

There is a good story here; this book just needs a trip to a professional editor to help get it out. Much of the writing is. . . overdone. The society-building is probably the best part of the story. In its present form, this book gets 3.5 to 4 stars.

Sunday, February 10, 2019

Twilight's Last Glory

Twilight's Last Glory, Stephen C Perkins, Star Born Publishing LLC, 2018

This near-future novel is about the future of American football.

In the 2030's, football has gone global. The NFL has just merged with a world football league. It is worth hundreds of millions of dollars in TV revenuer, merchandising and season ticket sales to a sport that is totally corrupt.

Everyone is in on it: the referees, the media and some of the players. A man named Gigi Salerno controls all East Coast entertainment, including football, and Las Vegas, for an ultra-secret group called The Octagonal, based in London. Salerno is not totally cruel and heartless. Living in Boston, he has a soft spot for Michelle O'Hara, an old high school crush who has fallen a long way from her beauty queen days.

The book focuses on two teams, the New England Rebels and the London Lightning. The General Manager of the Rebels, Preston Billings, is a member of The Octagonal. Zachary, his son, is the team doctor. The Octagonal. which also controls the police, is looking for an excuse to impose martial law in America. How about to stop a race war started by a couple of popular football players (who know that they are acting for the media)? There is also a crusading sports writer who is starting to put it all together.

It had been previously decided, by The Octagonal, that the Rebels and the Lightning would play for the Summit Cup at Wembley Stadium in London. It is interesting to read British commentators attempting to call an American football game. Meantime, The Octagonal has decided that Salerno is now a liability.

This is a very good, but very dystopian, novel. All football fans should read it, if only to get an idea of the future of their sport.