Alvah’s Books

Life After 187
By Wade J. Halverson
Xlibris Publishing
236 pages
$19.99

Reviewed by Randall Radic

If you’re of a certain age, then you probably remember action-adventure writers such as Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Robert E. Howard, the creators of Tarzan and Bran Mak Morn, respectively.  Nowadays we turn to W.E.B Griffin and Vince Flynn for our adrenaline fixes. 

 There’s a new kid on the block.  His name is Wade J. Halverson.  And he’s a combination of Robert E. Howard and Vince Flynn blended together with what ESPN reported as the “world’s fastest growing sport” – Ultimate Fighting.  The result is action-adventure goosed up to maximum overdrive!  For Wade J. Halverson writes fight scenes like a large-scale gamma ray emitter on crystal-meth and fly agarics – potent and hallucinogenic.

In other words, Life After 187 – which is the penal code designation for murder – flat out ROCKS!  We are talking head-banging heavy metal.

The story is compact and fast-paced.  Wham!  Bam!  Slam!  There are good guys, bad guys, in-between guys, money, beautiful women, and lots of hand-to-hand combat.  The kind of combat where the only rule is that “there are no rules.”  Anything goes.

The gist of the story goes like this:  Kane Silver is a member of a special operations unit in the U.S. Army.  His wife is brutally raped and murdered.  Kane annihilates the men who killed her.  He simply kicks ass and doesn’t even think about taking names.  But as with most things in life, there are consequences.  He is sentenced to three consecutive life sentences in prison.  While in prison, Kane and two other inmates recruited by the warden to participate in ultimate fighting matches.  Kane and the other two fighters manage to escape and end up in Hong Kong, and then in Brazil, where they take on the drug cartels. 

It’s obvious from the fight scenes that Halverson knows whereof he writes.  This isn’t some nerd in a bow-tie sitting down at his computer terminal, faking it.  This is someone who’s been there and done that.  For the action flows fast and furious with ferocious authenticity.  Yet at the same time, the combatants, who are the products of the harsh precepts of training, contend not only with each other but also with their own impulses.  Impulses which could lead to mistakes, injury, defeat and death.

Indeed, the action is so absorbing that the reader doesn’t even notice the author’s style, which is simple yet very effective.  Short sentences full of strong verbs and just the right amount of description.  Which is what action writing is all about.  Halverson’s ‘voice’ is rich and forceful, exuding an almost palpable energy.  And his dialogue is short and sweet, crisp and clean.  Which is the way the reader would expect such characters to speak.

Speaking of characters, there is just enough information about each one to promote the reader’s identification with them, but not so much that the action starts to drag.  Which is the right balance for the action-adventure genre.  Too much characterization slows the story down, whereas too much action eventually begins to cloy.  Halverson carefully maintains the equilibrium:  the action keeps the reader engaged, while the characterization keeps the reader cheering for the good guy.

Beware, though.  This book will suck you in.  Once you begin reading it you won’t be able to put it down.  And gosh by golly, it would make one heck of a movie.  Maybe Jean Claude Van Damme could be persuaded to take a little human growth hormone, thus shedding ten years of age.  He’d be perfect for the role of Kane Silver.  Or maybe Jason Statham would do it

On the action-adventure Read-O-Meter, which ranges from one star (whimpy) to five stars (bad-ass to the max) Life After 187 commands a hypertrophied 5 stars.  Whatever you do, do not miss this one!

Musical Chairs
By Jen Knox
All Things That Matter Press 2009
176 pages
$15.95

Reviewed by Randall Radic

Book reviews are strange things.  Supposedly, they are a light critique with a recommendation tacked on at the end.  Or not.  But let’s face it.  What they really are, is one writer (or wanna’ be writer, who is toiling away on a novel) judging the literary outpourings of another writer.  Which means book reviews are very subjective.  Of course, none of the parties involved ever admits to this subjectivity, because reviewers are – ostensibly – objective, dispassionate monitors who make a virtue of inscrutability.  Indeed, reviewers are ascetic, austere, and devout to an astonishing degree.

Right?  Right?!

The present reviewer admits to being random, contradictory, biased, and quite frequently unable to integrate a proliferation of information.  Which in common parlance means he will not like some books – no matter how wonderful they really are – for any number of reasons, most of which he couldn’t articulate even if his life depended on it.  Why?  Because it’s an emotional thing.  It’s not intellectual. 

He is trying to make a point, so bear with him. 

For example, he thoroughly enjoyed the present book – Musical Chairs, by Jen Knox.  But he can’t really tell you – the all-important reader – why.  So he reverts to his usual deductions.  It’s well-written, which means Jen Knox knows how to string words together into comprehensible sentences.  And her ‘voice’ is honest, unapologetic and – vital! – likeable.  In other words, she’s like the Apostle Peter in the Bible.  She’s a weak, frail, vulnerable human being, who makes lots of mistakes.  Which means – thank God – that she is human.  Which means that despite all her flaws and failures, she is not a fraud or a charlatan.  She’s not pretending to be someone who has their ‘shit’ together. 

Jen and most of her family are gloriously dysfunctional – just like most families.  And they have a tendency toward mental illness.  And – shockingly – she talks about it.  Which is what makes her story and her book so wonderful.  It’s downright refreshing to read a book that acknowledges what most people know is true, but are afraid to confess:  Most people are one brick short of a load.  Which is what makes them and life so interesting.

Which means that on the reviewer’s Read-O-Meter, which ranges from one star (yucky) to five stars (a wonderment) Musical Chairs scores a 4 and a half in the mini-astral department. 

Now, you might be asking yourself ‘what happened to the last half-a-star?’  Subjectivity is what happened.  The reviewer – who has already admitted to being impulsively biased – does not like books that lack presentation.  In other words, the publisher did a lackadaisical job in designing the book.  The font is wrong.  And there’s not enough white space on the pages.  Books without white space remind the reviewer of all those boring textbooks he read in college.  Yuck.  The paragraph and line spacing is tight, which hurts the reviewer’s eyes and makes his brain go shhhhzzzzzz.  And the borders – the side margins – are way too small.  Which makes the reviewer feel confined.

These complaints – of course – are subjective.  But when the reviewer picks up a book the first thing he does is look at the cover.  Then he turns the book over and looks at the back cover and the photo of the author.  Sometimes he reads the author’s bio, sometimes he doesn’t.  The next step is the make or break step.  He flips through the book – randomly.  If the presentation of the text on the page looks good – and meets his subjective standards – he will consider buying the book.  Otherwise, if it doesn’t, it’s bye bye baby bye bye. 

Musical Chairs failed the subjective test.  The only reason the reviewer read the book was because he promised to review it.  And now – after the fact – he’s glad he did.  It’s an excellent book and deserves to be read by oodles of people.  So don’t let the physical parameters of the book dissuade you.  Buy it!  You’ll like it.

Publishers take note.  Books are like cars.  A pleasing arrangement provides the reader with the luxury of emotional commitment.  In other words, the symmetry of a Ferrari is much more appealing than the toadstool configuration of a 1998 Saab.     

The Cosmic Pulse of Life: The Revolutionary Biological Power Behind UFOs
By Trevor James Constable
The Book Tree 2008
346 pages
$29.95

Reviewed by Randall Radic

The ‘energy of life’ is a concept that has been around as long as mankind.  According to some, it’s even mentioned inn the Bible, where it is called ne shema, which is the “breath of life.”  Many scientists, doctors and writers have attempted to locate and harness this energy of life.  Dr. Albert Abrams, Dr. Ruth Drown, and Wilhelm Reich to name just a few.  Reich called the energy of life orgone.  And he constructed a machine, which amplified and emanated orgone energy.  Reich maintained his discovery could save humanity from the ravages of disease.

The powers that be considered Reich another nutcase, so they put him out of business and imprisoned him.

In the 1980s, a bestselling book about electromagnetic energy was written and published by a medical doctor.  It was called The Body Electric.  Was electromagnetic energy the energy of life?  The book never propounded a definite opinion.  What it did provide was food for thought.

And candidly, it is easy and fun to scoff at such theories.  But there are hordes of intelligent people who accept these theories as truth.  Just as there are hordes of people who actually believe in miracles and angels. 

Trevor James Constable wrote The Cosmic Pulse of Life, in which he expands on what he calls “etherian physics” and the invisibility of UFOs, which are “fundamentally bioenergetic manifestations.”  In the Preface to his book, Constable admits that he is rejected because he is “too far out” even within the ranks of UFO adherents. 

Constable discusses his ideas, his techniques for discerning bioenergetic manifestations – UFOs – and provides photographs to prove his case.  Which means that the book is an amalgamation of history, avant-garde science, an apologia and a call to arms.  In the end, Constable is asking for a respectful hearing rather than attempting to convert his readers.  

The Cosmic Pulse of Life is an interesting book, which sounds like a cop-out.  But it is interesting, because it provides an overview of the research and the people involved in etherian physics.  The information presented about Dr. Ruth Drown, who was one of the foremost advocates of ‘radionics’ is worth the price of admission.  For Ruth Drown was either the sad victim of a modern witch-hunt or the greatest female huckster in the history of U.S. medicine. 

Admittedly, Constable’s book will probably be read only by those referred to as conspiracy theorists or New-Agers, which is a shame.  It deserves to be read by a much wider audience, who could then decide for themselves.

 Blood and Politics: The History of the White Nationalist Movement from the Margins to the Mainstream
By Leonard Zeskind
Farrar, Straus and Giroux  2009
645 pages
$37.50

Reviewed by Randall Radic  

Race, which is defined as “any of the major biological divisions of mankind, distinguished by color and texture of hair, color of skin and eyes, stature, bodily proportions, etc.:  many ethnologists now consider that there are only three primary divisions, the Caucasian (loosely, white race), Negroid (loosely, black race), and Mongoloid (loosely, yellow race), each with various subdivisions:  the term has acquired so many unscientific connotations that in this sense it is often replaced in scientific usage by ethnic stock or group.”

White was first used in the racial sense, as an adjective, in the year 1604.  Whoever it was that used it, did it like this:  “of those races (chiefly European or of European Extraction) characterized by light complexion.”  Certainly it was used prior to that, but this is the first recorded usage.  And it is assumed that this usage was quite common at that time, which shows how long ‘racism’ has been around.

William Perry, in 1676, distinguished between blacks and whites, calling blacks a totally different and separate species.  Blacks differed from Europeans not only in skin color “but also in natural manners and in the internal qualities of their minds.”  No one challenged Perry’s conclusions.  In fact, Europeans agreed.  There was nothing startling about these remarks.  It was common knowledge.

Of course, no one asked the blacks what they thought about it.  That would be like asking a two-year old toddler about the mathematics of infinity.

Then in 1708, William Tyson, who was a physical anatomist, discovered the evolutionary missing link.  He determined, scientifically of course, that it was the African Pygmy.  Whom Tyson called “wholly a brute,” halfway between an ape and a man. 

Ninety-one years later, in the year 1799, a medical doctor from Great Britain validated the superiority of whites.  His name was Charles White.  Dr. White published a profusely illustrated book in which he certified, without qualm and with meticulous decisiveness, that the white race is exalted over those of color.  Mostly, his proof consisted of pointing out the cosmetic refinement of white faces – their “rosy cheeks and coral lips.”  Again, no one argued with the incredible virtuosity of the doctor’s genius.  But it was nice to know that an expert confirmed what everyone already knew.

Following in Charles White’s ‘scientific’ footsteps was Robert Knox.  Knox, in his book The Races of Man declared it perfectly acceptable for whites to wipe out whole populations of blacks.  Because “the texture” of the black “brain is, I think, generally darker.”  And because there is “a physical and consequently, a psychological inferiority in the dark races generally.” 

Essentially, by dint of abstract reasoning, Knox arrived at these exaggerated, quaint and absurd conclusions.  Conclusions which Knox believed supported genocide.

Knox’s conclusions were supported by A.R. Wallace, the codiscoverer of the theory of evolution.  Put simply, Wallace explained that extermination of the colored races was nothing more than natural selection at work.  In other words, racial eradication was a self-acting, scientific law, nothing to be concerned about.  This was how the world worked.

Frederick Farrar took the idea of extermination even further, if possible.  Farrar divided the races of mankind into three distinct groups:  “savage, semi-civilized and civilized.”  And of all the races on the face of the earth, the Aryan and the Semitic were the only examples of civilized races.  There was only one semi-civilized race:  the Chinese, who, admittedly, were sliding down the slippery slope toward savage.  All other races were savage, and “irreclaimable,” because despite the whites’ superhuman efforts, the savage races were beyond hope.  They were “doomed.” 

Paul Rohrbach summed up the white man’s attitude toward the “rising tide of color” in his 1912 best-selling book German Thought in the World.  “Not until the native learns to produce anything of value in the service of the higher race, i.e., in the service of its and his own progress, does he gain any moral right to exist.”  Translation:  it is morally proper to wipe out the colored races.

What none of these esteemed white men bothered to mention, as they set forth their logical and scientific excuses for genocide, was the real reason for such European posturing:  real estate.  They wanted what the blacks had, land and natural resources.  In the end, then, the racism of some boiled down to money.  Others truly believed the colored races were of lesser value than whites.

And there were others who worried that white people would soon lose their majority status and become a minority.  Lothrop Stoddard summed this fear up in his astonishing The Rising Tide of Color, a virulently racist book that was accepted by the post-WWI world as “telling it like it is.”

White Nationalism still exists.  Full-spectrum dominance is their goal.

Blood and Politics is Leonard Zeskind’s latest effort – and his magnum opus – relates the history of the white supremacist movement.  He shows how – over the past 30 years – the white power boys have evolved a philosophy that is now two-pronged.  One prong is called vanguardism.  This faction builds small and often secretive groups composed of dedicated fanatics, who, when push comes to shove, will rise up and take over.  They will establish a new all-white government. 

The other prong is more conventional.  This faction utilizes the mainstream to its advantage.  They play politics, attempting to appeal to the silent majority, who are both white and Christian. 

Zeskind focuses on Willis Carto, William Pierce and David Duke.  But he doesn’t neglect the skinheads, survivalists, tax protestors, anti-Semites, Ku Kluxers, Christian Identity disciples, Pat Buchanan or Pat Robertson.  For they are all racists, hate Jews, oppose abortion, despise homosexuals, and consider the IRS the most evil organization on the face of the earth.  They want a gun in every home and strict anti-immigration laws, along with a giant wall to span the U.S./Mexico border. 

On the surface, the White Nationalist movement appears to be nothing more than a bunch of disgruntled nutcases, who are too disorganized to achieve their goals.  But as Zeskind demonstrates, there is a scary coherence – suggestive of a deeper wisdom – to the white power movement.  Racism is a very powerful political force.  One that cannot be lightly dismissed.  

Zeskind’s research is meticulous, and his analysis of the information is breathtaking in its practicality.  And underneath there sleeps an apocalyptic portent, which could prophesy the rise and fall of modern civilization.  For Zeskind’s themes could predict the coming of a disastrous earthquake.

Don’t miss this epic historical interpretation.  This book is hecka good!

Sin: A History     
By Gary A. Anderson
Yale University Press 2009
272 pages
$30.00

Reviewed by Randall Radic

To say the least, the concept of sin is very interesting.  To some people – those called Christians – the subject of sin is vitally important.  Because they want to avoid it at all cost.  If they do, they get to go to Heaven.  If they don’t, they may end up in Hell.

When the reviewer was in seminary, he took a course called Hamartiology, which is a fancy theological term for ‘the study of sin.’  Unfortunately, it was not a hands-on course.  If it had been, the reviewer feels confident in saying he would have scored quite well.  No, the course was abstract and conceptual.  One of the abstractions studied was the Doctrine of Sin.  A small part of which is below.

A.  Definition and Classification.
     1.  Definition
           a.  Sin is a violation of the law or standards of God.  These divine standards are revealed in the Word of God.  Sin is also transgression against divine law.
           b.  The Westminster Catechism’s definition of sin:  “Sin is any want of conformity unto or transgression of any law of God given as a rule to a reasonable creature.”
          c.  Dr. L. S. Chafer’s definition of sin:  “Sin is that which proves unlike the character of God.”
          d.  The sinfulness of sin lies in the fact that it is against God even when the wrong we do is to others or ourselves.  The essence and law of God are perfectly harmonious.  Therefore, since God’s character and standards are perfect, anything that violates that has been defined in the Scripture as sin.

Pretty boring, huh?  And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.   The text goes on and on for another 10 pages.
         
Thank God for Gary Anderson’s new book, which is titled simply Sin:  A History.  It is not boring and it is not conceptual.  It’s just the opposite – delightfully quirky and very imaginative.  For it shows how the idea of sin, which was originally conceived of as a physical onus, changed.  Sin changed from being a load that each person bore into a debt that required payment.  In other words, sin went from being a personal burden to being an economic burden.  And this change had a dramatic impact on the history of the Church and its definition of sin. 

Once sin’s transformation is understood, the reader begins to understand why penance came into being, why charity entered the picture, and why salvation – according to some – can be bought and paid for, as if available at the local 7-11 convenience store.           

Professor Anderson is not your typical seminary professor.  For he has taken a remarkably dry subject and injected it with a vital energy.  In his delightful book, sin leaves the stodgy world of abstraction and becomes a commercial system of great reality.  If you owe, then you pay.       

Sin is an easy read because Professor Anderson abandons the usual scholastic style of writing – which is more often than not as boring as heck – and writes with elan, using brilliant allusions and turns of phrase just like a popular novelist.

On the Astral body rating system, where one star means ‘skip it’ and five stars means ‘race out an buy it,’ Sinrecieves 5 stars.  In fact, not reading this book probably constitutes a sin.