Author: ekkarn

Assassin’s Code – Ward Larsen – Slaton v. Terrorists – in France

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Assassin’s Code -Ward Larsen (David Slaton #4)

The other day Assassin’s Code by Ward Larsen became the 59th book I have read this year. That leaves only one more book to read before the end of the year to reach my goal of 60 books read!  It is also the third David Slaton novel I have read this year. Previously, I read Assassin’s Game and Assassin’s Silence in February and March respectively. All three have been terrific reads.

About David Slaton and Assassin’s Code

David Slaton is a retired kidon or an assassin. He worked for Mossad. After his last to adventures David along with his wife Catherine and their son Davy was living on a catamaran in the islands off of the Philippines.

One day his wife received a request for David to search for her missing husband. He had left on a fishing trip and not returned home.  It had been reported that his ship had been seen tied to the abandoned ship, Esperanza When he finds and boards the Esperanza, he encounters four men who have apprently been sent to kill him.

Slatin escapes leaving the men wounded or dead. He takes with him a memory stick with the name Slaton written on the side. Among the files on the memory stick is a picture of a man. It is the terrorist Ali Samir, who Slaton had assassinated  fifteen years earlier!

Meanwhile in France terrorists have struck again a bomb has rocked Grenoble. It has set France’s counterterrorist unit into action. The investigation into the bombing is led  by rising-star Zavier Baland. It is Baland who bears an uncanny resemblance to the terrorist Slaton had executed.

Hold on, could it be a terrorist long thought dead is now one step away from heading France’s  DGSI? More importantly what can David Slaton do to stop him?

My Thoughts about David Slaton and Assassin’s Code 

In David Slaton Ward Larsen has created one terrific character. David is an extraordinary assassin.  But he is also a husband and father and he  knows his work puts his family in danger. (See Assassin’s Silence) At least twice he has retired and gone off the grid to keep them safe. However, his sense of duty keeps drawing him back into service.

In Assassin’s Code that duty is to prevent a terrorist from ascending to the top of France’s counterterrorist unit.

Ward Larsen has created a fine character in David Slaton. In Assassin’s Code, he has also created two great characters: Zavier Baland and the assassin turned terrorist Malika.

Assassin’s Code plot twists and turns with the final answers to a myriad of questions are not revealed until the final pages.

When reading Assassin’s Code the reader can’t help but relate the actions and attack’s in the book to the current situation in France and Syria.

Bottom line :

Great read! So check it out! And also check out Assassin’s Silence and Assassin’s Game

Goodreads Rating: 4.38.    My Rating 4.5.

Links for the Further Exploration of the Books of Ward Larsen

Author’s Website
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads
Amazon

 

Finding Gobi – Dion Leonard – A Wonderful Tale

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Finding Gobi: The true story of a little dog and an incredible journey – Dion Leonard

Dion Leonard and GobiDion Leonard’s  Finding Gobi is the typical boy finds dog, boy loses dog, boy searches for dog, ultimately finds him and brings him home. Only the boy is an ultra- marathoner who races in some of the most grueling races around the globe. And it was at one of those races that Leonard found Gobi. The race was a grueling seven-day 155 mile run that crosses the China’s Gobi Desert.

Gobi and Dion Leonard Meet

Actually, I guess it’s more correct to say Gobi found Leonard. That’s because at the start of the initial stage of the race, little Gobi started attacking The shoe covers Leonard had on his running shoes. The covers were in place because during the first part of the race,  the runners would be going up a sand dune! Anyway, as the race started Gobi started running too and stayed by Leonard’s side through the whole 26.2 miles! That night Gobi slept in Leonard’s tent.

The following morning Leonard and Gobi set off again on the next leg of the race. All and all Gobi stayed by Leonard’s side through three marathons! Of course there were a couple of times that   Dion had to carry Gobi.

When it came to cross the scorching black sands of the desert, which was virtually devoid of life, Leonard knew that he could risk allowing Gobi to run. So Gobi moved ahead with the race official and met Leonard at the finish line.

Bringing Gobi Home

When  the race ended Leonard couldn’t imagine leaving Gobi behind. But bringing a dog out of China and into the United Kingdom (the Leonards live in Edinburgh, Scotland) proved to be quite a challenge. The cost in money and time was going to be much higher than anticipated. Ultimately  bringing Gobi home would require crowdfunding and a six month sabbatical for Leonard.

Additionally, after Leonard returned home to begin the arrangements for bringing Gobi to Scotland Gobi went missing. So Leonard went back to China to join in the search!

Bottom Line

Finding  Gobi is a great book on many levels. If you are a runner you can enjoy Leonard’s description of the Gobi Desert race,as well as, past races. However, Finding Gobi is also about the impact that an animal  can have on a person‘s life

At first saving a little orphaned dog he had named Gobi seemed like the right thing to do for Gobi. But eventually it was an even better thing to do for Dion Leonard.

So check it out!

Goodreads Rating:4.11. My Rating : 4.0*

*Really,really liked it!

Links for the Further Exploration of Gobi

Wikipedia
FindingGobi.com
Facebook: Dion Leonard
Facebook
Goodreads

Book 57 on a goal of 60 books read in 2017!

 

DNA and Ancestry.com Help Uncover Ashton Ancestors

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The longer I go without writing a new post the harder it becomes to write one. One reason is that so much has been happening I really don’t know where to start.so at e I’ll just start where I left off.

 My last post was about my family genealogy. At the end of the last post I wrote that I would tell you how DNA helped me discover some new cousins. So here goes…

DNA and the Daughters of John Sherrington Ashton and Mary Warwick

My great-grandfather John Sherrington Ashton III married Mary E Warwick in April of 1881. For many years, I thought that they had five children. Recently, though I discovered they actually had six!

Mary Catherine Ashton was their first child. She was born in 1882. Son Edward was born in 1883, he was followed by William in 1884. Blanche was born in 1886 and Horace in 1889.

Those were the five children that I had discovered  through my genealogy research. My mother only knew William or “Uncle Bill” as she knew him. She often would tell my that he lived out in Pennsylvania near the Devon horse show.

Alice Matilda Ashton

John and Mary’s last child was Alice Matilda who was born in 1890. While I knew about Mary and had her listed in my tree, I did not know about Alice until I was notified of an extremely high 3rd to 4th cousin match with a James Smith from New York.

When my wife and I looked at his tree we saw his grandmothers maiden name was Alice Ashton and she was born in 1891. The first place we looked for Alice was the 1900 census. We found a nine-year old Alice Ashton living with a Danse family in Monroe Township in Middlesex County New Jersey. She was listed as a servant!

Alice  Matilda Smith

We then went back and searched birth records for an Alice Ashton born in New Jersey in 1891. What we found was an unnamed female born on March 7, 1891 to John and Mary Ashton. So we returned to the 1900 census. Luckily the 1900 census lists not only birth years but months. Alice was listed as being born in March of 1891. Bingo!

Alice married twice. Her second husband was Sydney Andrew Smith. Sydney and Alice had six children. Their third child Daniel Howard Smith was born in 1914 and was James Smith’s (my match) grandfather.!

Alice died in 1932 at the age of 41. Her father John Sherrington did not pass away until six years later in 1938.

Mary Catherine Ashton 

As I wrote earlier while I know of the existence of Mary Catherine Ashton I didn’t know what ever happened to her.  The  lack of an 1890 census creates one of the great black holes in genealogical research. There was an 1890 census but  it was destroyed by a fire. The problem that’s created can be seen in the case of Mary Catherine.

Typically the first thing you do when you establish someone’s birthday you look for that person in the next census. The child is usually recorded in that census with their parents. As such, since Mary Catherine was born in 1882 the first place you would look for her would be in the 1890 census. But like I wrote that census is gone. The next place would be in the 1900 census.. sometimes children born early in the decade have already left the family which was Mary’s case.

Anyway, there is no Mary Ashton in the 1900 census that I had come across so all that was in my tree was her birthday and mother and father.

A High DNA Match Helps Find Mary Catherine

That was the case until I got a very high 4 to 6th cousin match on Ancestry DNA with a glgottlieb1. Initially, when I saw the name Gottlieb I thought the connection would be through my father’s side of the family both his sides of the family have German  roots. But when I looked at the tree for the person in question the first name I saw was Mary Catherine Ashton.

Lawrence Emil Gottlieb was the father of the person tested. Lawrence was born in Philadelphia in 1908.  In the Gottlieb tree, Lawrence’s mother is Mary Catherine Ashton and his father is Jacob Emil Gottlieb.  Checking the 1910 census. In the 1910 census I found a Mary Gottlieb married to a Jacob Emil. Mary’s birth year was listed as 1882 and her place of birth was New Jersey. Mary and Emil have three children Francis, Clarence, and Lawrence. So far it’s the right family.

The Trail to John Sherrington Gottlieb

In the 1920 census the family had moved to Baltimore. They now had five children Catherine and John S. Catherine was born around 1911 and John S in 1917. Soon my wife found John S’s death date and confirmation that his name was in fact John Sherrington Gottlieb! The name and the high DNA match is enough for me to declare John’s mother Mary Ashton the daughter of my great-grandfather John Sherrington Ashton III!

As I was writing this post, I realized that I did not have a death date for Mary Catherine. A search at Ancestry.com resulted in finding the death of a Mary Gottlieb who was born in 1882 in 1920. This has to be Mary Ashton but I will need to do a little more research to confirm it.

The one thing that struck me was that both of the daughters of John Sherrington III and Mary Warwick died before John. And since they were both in different states, did he even know of their passing?

 

A Fine Morning Meditation, A Good Run, Then the Fall….

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And I Don’t Mean the Season…..

Morning Meditation Music

Yesterday morning I started my day with a 30-minute meditation. The soundtrack for the meditation was Weightless (Ambient Transmissions Vol 2) from the Ambient New Age band Marconi Union. According to their website Marconi Union….

…… were asked to write a piece of relaxing music in consultation with Lyz Cooper, the UK’s leading sound therapist and founder of the British Academy of Sound Therapy. During the process of recording the track, a number of musical ideas captured their imagination. Unable to explore them all in a one piece but keen to work further on them, it soon became apparent that this was turning into an album-length work. Feeling like this was a natural follow-up to Beautifully Falling Apart (Ambient Transmissions Vol.1), it was decided that this album should become part of their Ambient Transmissions series.

Weightless (Ambient Transmissions Vol.2) comprises of six tracks, simply entitled Part 1 to Part 6. The tracks are minimal, combining warm drones and drifting sounds with occasional sparse rhythms.

About Weightless Part 1

Part 1 is the original commissioned track which has been hailed as ‘the world’s most relaxing song’. Created instinctively and intuitively by Marconi Union it has been claimed by others to have therapeutic properties in the way the track almost appears to have a heartbeat running through it which slows down very gently throughout the piece, encouraging a deep sense of relaxation in the body. Its use of specific rhythms, deep bass tones, frequencies and intervals induce an almost trance like state in the listener. It has already attracted over 12 million worldwide views on YouTube and over 4 million followers on Soundcloud.

Basically, the reason that I used the album was because of the highlighted statement…..how can you NOT meditate to the world’s most relaxing song!! Anyway the meditation was relaxing and after a short yoga routine with lots of stretching of my legs I was ready for my run.

The Run’s Soundtrack – Spotify Cardio Playlist

When I thought about the soundtrack for the run, I decided to do something different. I decided to use a playlist instead of a full album. So I went to Spotify and downloaded the Cardio playlist. Now there’s no question that the music contained in this playlist is not the music that is typically in my music rotation! The reason that I went with the playlist was that I knew it would contain music with a strong driving beat that would keep me moving!!

The Run

So I was off on a four-mile run. I chose one of my newer courses. (Click here to see route) The course is fairly flat and has a good amount of shade. And while it was a fairly cool morning the sun was bright and that usually causes may sweat glands to start working!

My pace was under 10:30, 1027 to be exact. and while I slowed down a little over the third mile, I still crossed the 5K mark at 32:55 which was not bad. After that I was hot and tired and I still had almost a mile to go. Since I had modified the run from the original course I have aid out for that course I needed to just add a few turns to make up the necessary distance.

Then it happened I was probably less than a quarter-mile from finishing, when I tripped on the sidewalk and went down! Luckily, I only received scrapes on my hand, elbow and knee. And the Speck case on my iPhone 7S+ did its job and kept my phone screen in tact!! So I got up and completed the run very slowly and today I feel fine!! Anyway, here are the results.

The Results

Total Distance miles 4.0   Total Time: 43:20  Average Pace: 10:49 (m/m)

Mile Splits Mile 1: 10:23 m/m Mile 2 – 10:30 m/m   Mile 3 10:52 m/m Mile 4  11:31 m/m

Average Heart Rate ; 151 bpm Max Heart Rate 170 bpm

Calories Burned: 593 cals

Note that last mile! I’m just glad that I got up and could finish the run!! In closing I will say that the FALL wiped out any memories that I had about the soundtrack! I didn’t hate the music and at different times in the run I was able ti get my stride in rhythm with the music!! So maybe I’ll try other pop music soundtracks!! Or maybe an electronica or dance playlist!! Any suggestions????

Here’s is “Weightless Part 1” Is it the Most Relaxing Song ever? Check it Out!

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Where My September Reads Took Me – Part I

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Where My First Three Reads in September Took Me…..

Ok so now that we are eight days into October I think it’s about time that I took you on a little trip. On the trip we will visit the places I was taken by the books that t I read in September.

Night of the Living Demon Slayers - Angie Fox

New Orleans – Night of the Living Demon Slayer – Angie Fox

Our first stop is New Orleans, which was the location of  the seventh adventure of Demon Slayer Lizzie Brown chronicled in Night of the Living Demon Slayer. The adventure was put to paper by Angie Fox. In this adventure Lizzie’s is requested by a necromancer Evan Carpenter to go with him to New Orleans and aid in figuring out what voodoo bokor Osse Pade is up to. So because Lizzie owes Carpenter big-time she is off to New Orleans to face down Pade. And as always Lizzie’s grannie and her biker coven of witches go along to provide support. Lizzie also gets some aid from her shape-shifting husband, Dmitiri!  This is only the second book I have read from  Ms. Fox but they both have been a fun adventure!

Rating 3 stars out of 5. (Really liked it and I will read more when I need to escape from more grizzly adventures)

Paradise Valley - C J Box

The next stop on my month-long adventure was Paradise Valley, Montana where Cassie Dewell and the Lizard King face-off in Paradise Valley, the fourth book of C.J. Box’s Highway Quartet. Cassie has been chasing the Lizard King, a long-distance trucker and serial killer for three years. The Lizard King, was so named because he preys on prostitutes on the nation’s highways. The prostitutes are known as lot lizards.

Cassie almost caught The Lizard King once but he got away. Now working for the Bakken County, North Dakota sheriff’s department she thinks she has created the perfect trap to catch him.But when things go south Cassie loses her job. Meanwhile, Kyle Westergaard, a troubled teen and a friend have finally taken off down river on their great adventure. Soon Kyle turns up missing and Cassie sets out to find him. However, it soon appears that the trail to Kyle may also lead Cassie to the Lizard King and back to Paradise Valley where the hunt began!

C.J. Box is one of my must read authors. I usually am quick to read the latest Joe Pickett novel! My hope is that we will hear more about Cassie Dewell!

Rating: Four stars – (really, really liked it!!)

White Rage - Carol Anderson Ph.D tops on my September reading list

 

Across America – White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide, by Carol Anderson 

The next book White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide, by Carol Anderson Ph.D.was my first of four non-fiction books that I read in September. This short book took me around America in time and space. While it is a short book it packs a lot of punch! Ms. Anderson traces America;s racial divide from the south’s Reconstruction period though the Jim Crow years and the Great Migration right up to the current events that seem to have widen that divide. Along the way she presented to me many things about the black experience in America that I didn’t know , or knew and forgot. This is a book that should be read in every high school and college across America! And maybe then we can take a hard look at ourselves and all work towards narrowing that divide!!

Rating: Five Stars out of 5! That means it was an amazing book! Read it Damn It!

 

 

 

Three Great Books Ignite My September Reading!!

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A Demon Slayer, a Lizard King and White Rage Power the Start of My September Reading

Over the first eight days of September, I finished three books, bringing the total number of books I have read in 2017 to 41. Goodreads says that I am back on pace to read my projected goal of 60 books. The three books I finished are……

Night of the Living Demon Slayers - Angie Fox

The Night of the Living Demon Slayer by Angie Fox

Ok or it’s not War and Peace, but it’s more fun! I have never read War and Peace but I don’t think there are any necromancers, voodoo priestesses or granny motorcycle riding witches in it. So what fun is that!

From Amazon….

Lizzie Brown is all for letting the good times roll…until a dark voodoo church rises up in the bayou outside of New Orleans. Now ritual fires are burning long into the night and the dead are having a hard time staying that way. 

Lizzie goes in undercover to put a stop to the madness. Good thing she can count on her sexy shape-shifter husband, as well as her Grandma’s gang of biker witches. Too bad nobody’s watching her trusty dog, Pirate, who has become way too friendly with the phantom haunting a long-forgotten Victorian séance room. 

Secrets and spirits abound. Nothing is what it seems. And when legions of the dead threaten the city, there may be no stopping them. 

Ok or it’s not War and Peace, but it’s more fun! I have never read War and Peace but I don’t think there are any necromancers, voodoo priestesses or granny motorcycle riding witches in it. So what fun is that!

Bottom line: Ratings Goodreads 4.3    A Sixties Man 3.5

I gave this book a rating of 3.5 out of 5. My reasoning is that while Angie Fox’s books are always filled with great dialogue and interesting characters. They aren’t War and Peace. i.e. while the books are great fun, they will never be mistaken for great literature. And actually that is not a bad thing!!

Author’s Website

Paradise Valley - C J Box

Paradise Valley – C J Box

Paradise Valley is the fourth book in The Highway Quartet from C.J.Box. The series started with Back of Beyond, where  readers met Cody Hoyt. Hoyt travels Back of Beyond to save his son from a killer who may be leading a multi-day wilderness horseback trip into the remote corners of Yellowstone National Park that his son is on. In this book the reader meets a young fourteen year-old girl Gracie Sullivan.

In book two of the series Cody has lost his job as a detective after falling off the wagon but he sets out to discover what happened to two young teenage girls who vanished on a lonely Montana highway. One of the girls is young Gracie Sullivan, Cody works with his old rookie partner Cassie Dewell to track down the girls The main suspect is a long-haul trucker who may have snatched the girls. And it may not have been his first kidnapping and he may not be working alone!

In book three Badlands, Cassie moves to North Dakota and again confronts the killer from The Highway now known as The Lizard King. The name comes from the many prostitutes he has killed on his long-hauls across the country.

Finally book four comes full circle and Cassie eventually follows the Lizard King to Paradise Valley for potentially a final confrontation.

Bottom Line:  Ratings Goodreads 4.3    A Sixties Man 4.5

As always C.J. Has written a page-turning story with great characters. I love the way Box connected the last book back to the first book.

While The Highway Quartet may conclude that quartet of books, I hope it is not the end of Cassie Dewell. Maybe the offer from “Bull”!Mitchell’s daughter who is a lawyer for Cassie to become an investigator for her opens a new avenue for Box to explore. Maybe Cassie can even join Joe Pickett for an adventure!  You can listen to C.J. Box talk about Paradise Valley here. In the interview CJ. discusses the possible future of Cassie Dewell

White Rage - Carol Anderson Ph.D.

White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide – Carol Anderson, Ph.D.

In the short and powerful White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide author Carol Anderson traces the racial divide in America from the end of the Civil War through the election of our first black president Barack Obama. While this book is quite short (164 pages) it is very powerful and super information Actually I would be hard pressed to list be the number of times I thought “I didn’t know that or that is unbelievable” while I was reading this book.

Natasha Trethewey, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Native Guard and two-time poet laureate of the United States wrote this about the book

” White Rage is a harrowing account of our national history during the century and a half since the Civil War. – even more troubling for what it exposes about our present, our deep and abiding racial divide. This is necessary reading for anyone interested in understanding and perfecting – our union.”

As I read White Rage I thought, this should be required reading in most High School classes and definitely in all college history or political science classes!

In the book Ms Anderson looks at the struggle for black equality and justice through Reconstruction, the Great Migration, and he aftermath of Brown vs  Board of Education. As well as, the Civil Rights movement and the rolling back of those Rights from Nixon to Reagan. Particularly disturbing was the section of Reagan and the creation of the crack epidemic!

Ms Andersen also discusses the effect of the election of our first black president. And the Republican’s subsequent attempts and success at voter suppression. All aimed at disenfranchising black and Latino voters.l

Read More about Carol Anderson Ph. D.  here

Bottom Line:  Rating:  GoodReads 4.39   A Sixties Man : 4.75

Definitely required reading for all Americans who are concerned about the current racial divide in our country. It is a divide that must be closed. Particularly, if we as a nation want to live up to our national ideals. Especially the ideal -“that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”!

The Secrets She Keeps: A Stand-Out by Michael Robotham

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The Secrets She Keeps – Michael Robotham

Ever since I read Suspect book one in the Joe O’Loughlin series from Michael Robotham I have been a fan. The Secrets She Keeps Robotham’s fourth stand alone novel only increased my love for his books.  His three other stand alone books are The Night Ferry, Life or Death, and Bombproof. Bombproof is the only one of the four I have not read yet! Boo me!

About Michael Robotham’s Books

From Michael’s Website...

Michael’s novels have since been translated into 23 languages and have won or been shortlisted for numerous awards including:
The Crime Writer’s Association Gold Dagger (won) LIFE OR DEATH 2015 (shortlisted) SAY YOU’RE SORRY 2013.
The Crime Writer’s Association Steel Dagger (shortlisted) THE NIGHT FERRY and SHATTER.
The Ned Kelly Award for Best Novel (won 2005 and 2008) LOST and SHATTER.
The Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best Novel (shortlisted) 2016 LIFE OR DEATH Read More

 

But let’s get back to The Secrets She Keeps . In The Secrets She Keeps there are two shes. Agatha and Meghan, They come from different backgrounds but both are keeping big secrets, Robotham suspensively exposes those secrets, bit by bit, throughout the developing story.

On his website Robotham writes this about the book…..

THE SECRETS SHE KEEPS is seeded in a story that I covered as journalist many years ago, but I can’t reveal the details without giving too much of the plot away. I can tell you about the two narrators, who are both pregnant and expecting their children on the same day.

Meghan Shaughnessy was born into a comfortable middle-class family, went to private schools and university, worked for a magazine, and then met a handsome and successful man and married him. They five in a lovely house in a nice area of London and have two children, a boy and a girl.
Agatha Fyfle was abandoned by her father, raised by her mother, and spent time in foster care. She lives in a one-bedroom flat and works in a supermarket, stacking shelves and waiting for her boyfriend – the father of her child – to call her.

I have written both of these women in the first person because I think first-person narrators create an immediate intimacy with readers. You are watching the world through their eyes. They are not kick-ass heroines like Buffy or Lisbeth or Katniss or Arya Stark, nor are they damsels in distress. They are strong, vulnerable, intelligent, empathetic women, who both have a terrible secret.

Bottom Line

I have rated this book a strong 5 out of 5. The Secrets She Keeps has everything one wants in a psychological thriller. Two well-drawn characters whose lives and secrets are on a collision course. Along with a wild post-collision ride.

Along the way Robotham also develops strong secondary characters  in Meghan’s husband Jack and Agatha ‘s boyfriend/ fiancé Hayden.

Then there is just Michael Robotham’s fine writing. Several times I stopped and said to myself. I like that line.  That’s just nothing something I often do!

Here is my favorite

She says I should reach out and build bridges, but I think certain bridges are meant to burn and it’s a shame some people can’t be on them when it happens.

So The Secrets She Keeps s is one of my favorites of  2017 and could be one of yours, too. So check it out!

Oh, I did read on Michael’s website that there will be a new Joe O’Loughlin book release in 2018. I can’t wait.

There are eight books currently in the series so if you start now maybe you can read them all before the next one’s released. Believe me it’s worth it!

Links

Michael Robotham Website
Amazon
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads;

About Michael Robotham

Michael Robotham is an Australian crime fiction writer who has twice won the CWA Gold Dagger award for best novel and twice been shortlisted for the Edgar Award for best novel. His eldest child is Alexandra Hope Robotham, professionally known as Alex Hope, an Australian producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Wikipedia

Born: 1960 (age 64 years), Casino, Australia

Notable awards: The CWA Gold Dagger, 2015, 2020

Notable works: Life or Death

 

Winterlong – Mason Cross (Carter Blake # 3)

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A Wild Ride as Winterlong tries to Eliminate Carter Blake

Winterlong is the third installment of Mason Cross’s Carter Blake series. So after chasing down two serial killers who were part of Winterlong with the mysterious Mr Blake in this book Blake is targeted for elimination  by Winterlong.

Carter Blake left Winterlong five years prior to the start of this tale. His deal with the then Director of the organization was – you leave me alone and I won’t tell what your operatives really do!  For five years that deal held but now there’s a new director and she wants to tie up any loose ends. Carter Blake is a loose end!

The hunt truly begins when the other Winterlong operative who is operating under the same deal as Blake is executed! Once Blake is confronted with the news of this execution he knows he is going to have a fight on his hands and he needs that information he has on Winterlong as a chip to bargain for his life. His only hope is to get that intell before Winterlong gets it.

Thoughts on Winterlong

I thought  The Killing Season was a very good debut novel. I liked book two The Samaritan a little  better. Finally after many weeks of sitting on my library books to  be read shelf I got to Winterlong. It was worth the wait. I believe that this is the best Carter Blake book yet. And I am not alone here are the ratings for the book at Goodreads The Killing Season (Book 1) 3.90, The Samaritan (Book 2) 3.93, Winterlong (Book 3) 4.27!

One of the aspects of a series book that I always think about is can the book be enjoyed without reading the other books. The answer is probably yes, But I do believe that you really need to read the first two books before diving into Winterlong. Books 1 and 2 in the series established several things. First, Blake is good at what he does (finds people who don’t want to be found). And secondly, some Winterlong operatives enjoyed the killing part of their job just a little too much.

The one thing that was not revealed in the first two books was what fully went on in Winterlong and why did Blake leave  The answers are revealed in Winterlong and they’re scary!

Bottom Line   Rating 4.5/5

This year has been a good year for me and thrillers. Among the 37 books that I have read this year I have met some great new characters. Cross’s Carter Blake is one of my favorites. Other characters who I discovered this year are Ward Larsen’s David Slaton and Chris Holm’s Michael Kendricks

Winterlong is presented in a variety of ways. First Carter Blake’s current trials are told in the first person. While the events that led him to leave Winterlong are told in third person flashbacks. The pace of the story is rapid, As such, the reader wants to keep reading page after page. So Check it out!!

Links for the Further Exploration of the Books of Mason Cross

Author’s Website
Goodreads
Twitter
Facebook
Amazon

 

Dick Gregory – The World Says “Thank-You and We’ll Miss You!”

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 R.I.P. – Dick Gregory (October 12, 1932 – August 19, 2017) 

 

Today we are celebrating the birthdays of Ginger Baker and Robert Plant. But  we are also mourning the loss of comedian and Civil Rights Activist Dick Gregory.

from the Associated Press – COMEDIAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST DICK GREGORY DIES AT 84 – DAISY NGUYEN

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dick Gregory, the comedian and activist and who broke racial barriers in the 1960s and used his humor to spread messages of social justice and nutritional health, has died. He was 84.

Gregory died late Saturday in Washington, D.C. after being hospitalized for about a week, his son Christian Gregory told The Associated Press. He had suffered a severe bacterial infection.

As one of the first black standup comedians to find success with white audiences, in the early 1960s, Gregory rose from an impoverished childhood in St. Louis to win a college track scholarship and become a celebrated satirist who deftly commented upon racial divisions at the dawn of the civil rights movement.

“Where else in the world but America,” he joked, “could I have lived in the worst neighborhoods, attended the worst schools, rode in the back of the bus, and get paid $5,000 a week just for talking about it?” Read More

 

Dick Gregory’s Humor

Like many I loved Dick Gregory’s humor. But I respected him more for his work as an advocate for Civil  Rights and Justice. I read his autobiography Nigger when I was in college and it certainly had an impact on the development of my political philosophy The one story that I love and remember from Nigger is the following…

 

Last time I was down South, I walked into this restaurant, and this white waitress came up to me and said, ‘We don’t serve colored people here.’
“I said, ‘That’s all right, I don’t eat colored people. Bring me a whole fried chicken.’

“About then these three cousins come in, you know the ones I mean, Klu, Klucks, and Klan, and they say ‘Boy, we’re giving you fair warning. Anything you do to that chicken, we’re going to do to you.’

So I put down my knife and fork, and I picked up that chicken and I kissed it.

Here a two more classic examples  of his humor….

Sometime early in the first Playboy show a heckler in the back yelled, “Nigger!” Greg said, “Say that again, please. My contract calls for fifty dollars every time that word is used.”

Once we decided on the title, Nigger, he held his ground against the publishing house. I loved his dedication: “Dear Momma — Wherever you are, if you ever hear the word ‘nigger’ again, remember they are advertising my book.”

The world will miss his wit and his compassion. Certainly, he should be remembered in these troubling times! So if you are not familiar with Dick Gregory take some time today to explore the life and work of this amazing humanitarian!

Links for the Further Exploration of the Life and Times of Dick Gregory

Dick Gregory Website
Twitter
Wikipedia
Facebook
Amazon

 

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A So-So Run Made Better By Age-Graded Running Times!

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Using An Age-Graded Running Calculator Helps Me Stay Positive…

 

So the only things that were rolling through my head this morning as I ran down Long Beach Boulevard on Long Beach Island were thoughts about the Robert Earl Keen song “The Road Goes on Forever”. And that’s what it seemed to do! The second part of that thought was  ” I haven’t seen a party yet!”  The run was a two-mile straight run from 7th street to 52nd street. At 52nd street, I made a right turn and went slightly uphill to Ocean Boulevard. There I turned and headed north back to my starting point. The total run was four miles. And while it wasn’t that warm out, it was very humid. As a result, I was drenched in sweat when I stopped!! But it was a good run overall!

The Results

Total Distance:4.1 miles    Total Time: 44:55 Average Pace: 10:56 (m/m)

Mile Splits Mile 1: 10:31 m/m Mile 2 – 11:02 m/m   Mile 3 11:00 m/m Mile 4 11:16 m/m   0.1- 10:27 m/m

Average Heart Rate ; 144 bpm Max Heart Rate 163 bpm

Calories Burned:  593 cals.

My New Obsession Age-Graded Running Times

So my new favorite thing is Age-Grading, which is a way…..

….of putting all race participants on a level playing field, regardless of age or gender. This age grade calculator lets you compare your race times to older and younger runners, as well as those of the opposite sex. Simply input your data and your age-graded score and age-graded time will appear automatically.

As an example, a 40-year-old man who runs a 3-hour marathon would earn an age-graded score of 70.24%. To find your score, input your data in the dropdowns above.

Your age-graded score is the ratio of the approximate world-record time for your age and gender divided by your actual time.

Your age-graded time is your finish time adjusted to that of an open division participant using a factor for age and gender. Thus, the times for women and older participants are adjusted downward, while the times for most open division participants (such as 25-year-old men) remain the same. Read More at  Runner’s World

My Age-Graded Time Makes Me Feel a Whole Lot Better!

 

So here’s how this makes me feel good about my slow plodding along. When I input my time (44:54) for this morning’s run into the age-graded calculator I get the following…..

Age-Graded Score: 48.35%
Age-Graded Time: 34:57

That gives me an age-graded mile pace of 8:44 minutes per mile. Which is a to about the pace I could maintain 5 to 6 years ago! Anyway knowing that I am maintaining an equivalent pace considering my age makes me feel better. Now that doesn’t mean that I don’t want to get my race time lower (remember this was just a training run) because I do want to and now I think maybe I can!!

So if you’re an older runner like me, after your next run put your time and age into this calculator and see if it makes you feel a little better and makes you want to go out and run again!!

The Soundtrack for the run was Monuments from EdGuy.They are a heavy metal band from Germany. From The Metal Music Archives…..

Edguy is a power metal band from Fulda, Germany formed in 1992 and is currently signed to Nuclear Blast. The current lineup features Tobias Sammet on vocals (and occasionally keyboard), Jens Ludwig and Dirk Sauer on guitar, Tobias Exxel on bass, and Felix Bohnke on drums. They released their first album, Savage Poetry, in 1995 (re-recorded in 2000), and followed up with Kingdom of Madness in 1997, both when all members were still in their teens. Read More