T.C. Marti's Blog, page 6

Richard Peck’s A Long Way from Chicago never fails to bring chills of nostalgia

One of my 2025 New Year’s Resolutions was to start building a list of books that are kid-friendly. My main motivation for doing this is to find ways to counter the sheer wokeness that’s plaguing schools all over the country and, by extension, the West.

Listen, I’m gonna be real: Kids don’t need to be reading about some of the absolute madness that’s being force-fed down their throats if their parents don’t deem them appropriate. And yes, I’ve seen quite a few titles that “make me half-sick,” and there are probably a whole lot more I’m not seeing.

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Take that how you will. But for parents who are reading this and wouldn’t mind snagging some ideas that they might like their kid reading, then they’re in the right place. Lately, I’ve dipped into my memory bank and started listing some books that I enjoyed between Grades 5 and 8 about a thousand years ago.

Hey, I’ll give credit where credit’s due: Government schooling may have been useless by many accounts. Trust me: I just read Tom DiLorenzo’s Axis of Evil: America’s Three Worst Presidents, and I’m still dumbfounded by the lies government school history teachers told me. But at least a few teachers knew how to pick out some interesting books. Among them were:

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

Great introduction to what life was like under Nazi control in Denmark

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

Maybe Tom Riddle should’ve picked it up

Nothing but the Truth by Avi

Written documentary-style, but gives us some low-level corruption

A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck

Today’s topic of discussion!

A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck

Sequel to today’s topic of discussion

Above are just a handful of works, and you may remember me talking about the final book on this list in a previous post. Yes, I’ll be reading A Year Down Yonder in 2025, as I promised. But why read it without checking out the prequel first, A Long Way from Chicago?

Not a novel: a short-story cycle

A Long Way from Chicago might look like a short novel, or maybe a novella is a more appropriate term. But you’re really reading a short-story cycle that contains a prologue, seven short stories, then an epilogue.

They’re easy to read, entertaining, and, best yet, told from the point of view of a memorable character, Joey Dowdel, who is a look-before-you-leap type. His sister, and the protagonist of A Year Down Yonder, Mary Alice, has a similar mindset.

But, unfortunately for this brother-sister duo, Grandma Dowdel, is rather sly, cunning, clever, and reckless. Yeah, you can already see the humor playing out, right?

How many of us had the exact opposite? Grandparents who were full of wisdom and probably knew what was best for you while you were the reckless one? Oh, I can already see the hands going up.

Yeah, and when I say reckless, there’s a story involved that’s called One-Woman Crime Wave, so Grandma isn’t afraid to bend the rules here. She’ll even tell “whoppers” if it means tipping the scales in her favor.

Uh, this book is child-friendly?

Right now, you might be thinking that Grandma would be a bad influence on your kids. Heck, Mary Alice even voiced those concerns to Joey in one of the stories. But here’s the kicker: Grandma is often leveraging things to get back at others.

For example, in the story The Mouse in the Milk, the Cowgill boys have been having a fun time blowing up “privys.” To the uninformed, a privy is an outhouse, and if the City of Weirton can’t solve its water crisis as I write this, everyone in town might just be resorting to one, and in 20-degree temperatures, might I add. I have a suggestion, but I’m sure the city wouldn’t like it very much. Lol.

Okay, I’m exaggerating, but anyway, Grandma hatches a plan to get back at the Cowgill boys. She happens to be a customer of their dairy products, so she lies to one of the boys delivering the milk, claiming she found a dead mouse in it.

After the boy denies this, and Grandma lets it “slip” that she, Joey, and Mary Alice won’t be home that night or the next day. She tells the Cowgill boy that she doesn’t want the milk delivered until she’s back, for obvious reasons.

All of this is a setup, as all four Cowgill boys, instead of blowing up the privy, think they have better ideas. Yep, they break into the home after Grandma, Mary Alice, and Joey shut off all the lights and pretend they’re away.

Earlier that day, Grandma literally put a dead mouse in one of the milk bottles, which she used as “evidence” to support her claim to the Cowgill boys’ parents after she caught them breaking in. Of course, if word got out about the dead mouse in the milk that came from the Cowgill’s farm, she’d put the entire family out of business. But, in the end, the Cowgill boys weren’t wreaking any more havoc in the town.

So, those are the kind of stories that are being told here. Grandma may be a little shady at times, but it’s rather in response to others trying to gain leverage in these situations.

Any libertarian lessons to be had?

In all of my reads, I go out of my way to find something that a libertarian can look fondly at and take away. This one gave me a challenge because, apart from some dialogue that Franklin D. Roosevelt (rightfully part of DiLorenzo’s Axis of Evil, by the way) married his cousin, there were very, very few politically and economically-driven comments.

But, Grandma happened to make one, and it went like this:

Mary Alice: Grandma, there aren’t such things as vampires, are there?

Grandma: Vampires? No. The only bloodsuckers is banks. Movies is all pretend. They’re made in California, you know? But they prove a point. Make something seem real, and people will believe it. The public will swallow everything.”

Ain’t that the truth? The latest audiobook I listened to on Spotify was called Enough Already: Time to End America’s War on Terrorism by Scott Horton. That book alone recounted how many Americans blindly bought into conflicts like Iraq War I, Iraq War II, and the War in Afghanistan, just to name three of the many America stuck its nose in through the first quarter of the 21st century.

I’m not old enough to remember Iraq War I, but I do know that a public relations firm called Hill and Knowlton was brought on to ‘sell’ the war to America - something Horton brings up in his book. And we all know that the events leading to Iraq War II was an outright lie, specifically the claim that Saddam Hussein had “weapons of mass destruction.”

But, if the legacy media drills something down our throats for a prolonged period, and if we’re hearing those same things they drill down our throats in government schools, the workplace, and even professional sports events—spoiler alert, I’m talking about DEI here—then the people will just buy into it without even remotely giving it a second thought.

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So, maybe Grandma Dowdel does have some wisdom between all those “whoppers” she loves to tell and going head-to-head with sworn enemies like Effie Wilcox and L.J. Weidenbach. And oh, she really gets the best of Weidenbach in that final story.

A Long Way from Chicago is a strong recommendation

This book still makes me laugh and it’s always a fast, entertaining read. But something changed since the last time I read it: The heart was rather heavy. I’m at the age now in which all of my grandparents are at least 85, and all are past their respective primes.

I lost my first grandparent on September 1st of this year, so that alone was a whirlwind in what I dubbed ‘the longest week.’ So, given the fact that this short-story cycle is really Joey, as an “old man,” recounting the times he spent with his grandmother, yeah, this one hit home differently.

While I conducted some background research for this book, it was first published, interestingly enough, on September 1st, 1998. I only uttered one word when I found that out: Wow.

6 books that helped inspire my dark paranormal fantasy

Recently, I got a draft of my cover for my upcoming dark paranormal fantasy, Cursed Mage. I loved the prototype cover right away, and it immediately reminded me of quite a few books that I’ve read in the past that helped inspire the work in one way, shape, or form.

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While I’m revealing nothing until the finished product arrives, I wanted to share six books with you that had a direct impact on my own, what they’re about, and some quick hits of what I think of them.

And we’re starting with a ‘leadoff batter’ that inspired my work in about seven-plus ways. No kidding. Note, not all of them contain that libertarian twist since they don’t all contain a political subplot or takeaways. But nevertheless, they were inspirational reads.

Spirit Legacy by E.E. Holmes

Probably the biggest influence for Cursed Mage and one of those books I never get tired of reading. Don’t you just love it when you open a book you’ve read about a dozen times and are still every bit as eager to devour it again?

I remember the exact reason I crossed what I’m calling an instant classic in the first place. It was October 2020, and I wanted something rather paranormal to dig into. The good old Amazon search engine pointed me to Spirit Legacy and it took me about five seconds to get hooked. Like, no exaggeration.

But, little did I know, and I’m not even sure if the author knew because I’ve never bothered to ask, that its sequels gave us some libertarian-leaning concepts. Not all, unfortunately, but let’s just say one of Holmes’ later books featuring the same characters, Soul of the Sentinel, drops a bombshell on just how far a corrupt government will go to conceal a lie.

The Minority Report by Philip K. Dick

I think that, whether they know it or not, authors whose work contains dystopian concepts focused on so-called “safety and security” got at least some inspiration from Philip K. Dick’s classic novella. And yeah, in case you never knew it, that movie Steven Spielberg directed back in the early 2000s when Yours Truly was in grade school, was adapted from this work.

While Cursed Mage is technically a dark paranormal fantasy with some thriller concepts, the addition of The Minority Report is a clear-cut sign that ‘political thriller concepts’ may be more appropriate.

Secret Legacy by Carissa Andrews

This book and its three sequels also planted an idea in my head for a book series that would involve a protagonist who’s the daughter of the Germanic God Tyr. Yeah, I haven’t concocted even an iota of its first draft, but since it’s mentioned in this listicle, it also gave me some ideas behind Cursed Mage, plus another one of my books, Tarja Titan.

What I love about Secret Legacy is the mystery surrounding Autumn Blackwood and the uncomfortable feeling that something rather disturbing happened to her. Yeah, Andrews didn’t disappoint here, and to this day, my stomach does an outright backflip when my mind wanders to this story.

This book contains a lot of shock value, and when I first read it back in 2021, it was one of those works that didn’t take me long to reach the finish line.

Alchemist Academy by Matt Ryan

Books with a false sense of security draw me in more than anything else. And Alchemist Academy by Matt Ryan did just that. While I felt the entire concept was rushed and rather clunky, the overall story itself was a fun read but one that would be an outright horror-fest if it happened to me in real life.

Basically, these alchemists masquerade as good people until they lure teenagers with such an ability into their “school.” Then, it’s not just an outright kidnapping; they use divide-and-conquer tactics to keep their “student body” at each other’s throats.

Yep, it’s the House of Red vs. the House of Blue here—wonder where we’ve seen that one play out before? Oh, wait…yeah, I think you get the concept of this book rather well.

Alone by Robert J. Crane

This wasn’t my favorite book, but it’s also Book I of like a 40-plus book series or something crazy like that. Anyway, it had a bit of a Norse/Viking spin, so that alone put it in my good graces.

There was also a lot of mystery behind it, especially given what our main character, Serena, went through. Her mother literally locked her in a box for days on end, not even letting her out to use the bathroom. Hence the series name, Girl in a Box.

My 2025 TBR might not give me room to add any of the work’s sequels to it. But as you can tell, the story stuck with me enough to where I added some of its influences into Cursed Mage, so it nevertheless captured my attention.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

I loved the book but never liked the film. The former was so dark that you just knew something bad was going to happen while the latter made me think I was watching a comedy. Well, except for the scene when Bellatrix Lestrange and Fenrir Greyback set the Burrow on fire, something the film added.

Anyway, something else that I loved about HBP was how interconnected it was to one of its prequels, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. For example, the opal necklace that cursed Katie Bell made its first appearance in CoS when Harry saw it in passing.

Ditto for the vanishing cabinet, and we even saw our first Horcrux, which was Tom Riddle’s Diary. Yeah, it’s just a nod to Rowling, given her ability to plot a seven-part series so well, and one that’s about to get its own TV show…let’s just hope it respects the source material.

Not a book, but…The Fast and the Furious

Ah yes, The Fast and the Furious. First introduced to me back in 2015, it’s since become one of my favorite flicks. And yeah, before you unleash the jokes, I know, I know, the original film was released in 2001. Actually, while I researched this article, that movie was a remake, something I learned at 33 years and nearly eight months old.

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Anyway, Cursed Mage isn’t the first book The Fast and the Furious inspired, as Civil War contained some high-octane action. Ditto for its sequel, BattleFront, albeit in a more collected manner.

Official Breakdown and Review: Education Without the State by Tom Woods - Part I

Education Without the State. Those four words can sum up my upcoming book slated to be released in late 2025, The Arcane Prophecy, its free prequel novella entitled Arcane Awakenings, and the entire Arcane Elemental Academy Series.

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Of course, Dr. Robert Murphy’s work, Chaos Theory, will also deserve a look. But with Aurora Village and the Northern Region in the nation of Etharia serving as background info for Book I, I wanted to start this journey of nonfiction influences to the series with what has become my open opposition to state-funded education.

Now, before I go any further, I’d like to at least give the naysayers something to think about. Every time one opposes something that the welfare state “provides,” like education, the erroneous claim that we don’t give a (fill in the blank with whatever word or phrase you’d like) about kids. Or at least, we don’t care about the poor receiving their “right” to an education, or something similar.

That said, check out what the great Frederic Bastiat has to say about the issue:

“...every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all. We disapprove of state education. Then the socialists say that we are opposed to any education. We object to a state religion. Then the socialists say that we want no religion at all. We object to a state-enforced equality. Then they say that we are against equality. And so on, and so on. It is as if the socialists were to accuse us of not wanting persons to eat because we do not want the state to raise grain.”

If anything, you can argue those who say the state should stop intervening in education care more about it. And it’s what Tom Woods’ Education Without the State drives home. This book is actually a transcript that starts with Episode 62 of the Tom Woods Show, so it was more than a minute before I started listening to the podcast.

But reading the transcript as opposed to listening to it will let me review and break down the work a little deeper than if I tried to retain it. Because I’ll be real: Listening to something is great, but I got one notorious tendency for letting something enter one ear and leave the other.

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Anyway, enough chatter. Let’s get started with Chapters 1 and 2 in this three-part series.

Education Without the State? - Chapter 1Separating School and State

The first chapter involved Tom Woods interviewing and playing devil’s advocate against Sheldon Richman. The following quick bullet points provide a full summary of what Woods and Richman discussed. Again, Woods is the devil’s advocate and Richman is debunking what’s thrown at him.

The claim schools “have been deprived of funds.”

How working families can afford tuition.

The potential lack of compulsory attendance laws in a libertarian society.

The issue with vouchers.

Issues with the approach taken in the K-12 environment.

Arguably my favorite part of the book.

Overall, Sheldon Richman did a fantastic job of debunking some of the more common arguments and issues shown in the bulleted list above. It also enticed me to add his book, Separating School and State to my TBR for a deeper overview of these issues.

Parents who would undoubtedly be concerned with what a society would look like without the State “providing” education would get a sound overview in Chapter 1. Chances are, this chapter alone would at least quell some fears.

Chapter 2Low-Cost Private Schools in the Developing World

Moving onto Chapter 2, this discussion occurred in Episode 71, shortly after Woods’ talk with Richman. It involved Pauline Dixon, who discussed the issue of “Low-Cost Private Schools in the Developing World.”

This was an interesting chapter, especially since we’re getting one’s personal experience in the matter, mainly in India and Africa. Pauline will show the reader shortcomings in government-provided education, such as teacher no-shows and the curriculum confining itself to teaching just one language as opposed to what the low-cost private model offered.

Pauline also drove one point home and it’s the primary takeaway here: That yes, private education can and does thrive in low-income or developing countries. And that says a lot. The best example laid out discussed Kibera after the introduction of government schooling.

Despite what you may have thought, the private schools ultimately won out thanks to two factors that jumped out at me: Accountability, and the fact that the teaching staff and its entrepreneurs had come from within the community. That said, they understood the students’ needs better than the government schools, whose incoming staff didn’t recognize those needs with the same kind of urgency.

Tom did raise an objection (again, devil’s advocate) here, asking whether Pauline could “qualitatively compare” these private schools to the government ones.

It was good to see that Pauline was ready for this one, and her team did their jobs, which comprised conducting the following:

Talking to parents

Survey of inputs in each school

Survey of achievement

Data on family background

Multilevel modeling analysis

Thorough, right?

Overall Thoughts

This one is off to a great start, both in addressing concerns parents may have regarding alternatives to government schooling, plus data derived from the third world on the overall benefits and achievements those attending small private schools had over their government counterparts.

Official Review: Recruitment: A Dystopian Novel by K.A. Riley

Tonight, I have an old book review for you, and it’s one that made its way first onto my first book review blog, Action-Packed Book Reviews before I shifted it over to my official author site. When I decided to take the blog off of that site and instead use it only as a place for my numerous books and series, my most popular post had then gone to the wayside.

So, I thought to myself, why not dig it up and put it here? To this day Recruitment by K.A. Riley remains one of the more popular first-in-series on Amazon, and it can resonate well with libertarians. The rest of the trilogy may not resonate to the same extent, but it doesn’t mean I won’t at least recommend this work.

What you’re about to read is a slightly updated version of the 2021 review….

Imagine, if you will…You're turning six tomorrow. And life has never been better. The late-summer sky is a crystal-clear blue. There are no clouds to be seen for miles, and the humidity most know your region for has dissipated. You couldn't ask for a better birthday.

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Mom and Dad have invited all your friends to celebrate the occasion. And you know your sixteen-year-old brother is about to surprise you with your first bicycle because you overheard your best friend telling their older sister about your big birthday present.

Then the earth quakes. Billows of smoke black out the sky. And in the distance, you hear what sounds like distant explosions. Only it's drawing nearer. Within the hour, the ear-splitting blasts reach your neighborhood. Mom and Dad throw you and your brother into the basement as an explosion tears your home from its foundation. But they were too late to save themselves.

The next day, a group of burly army recruiters take your brother and others between the ages of sixteen and eighteen away in military trucks. They're conscripted into fighting a notorious invading force that has dubbed itself as the Eastern Order. And the day you turn of age, the army will return and recruit you into their ranks.

But until then, you and the rest of the kids and surviving adults must somehow rebuild society from the rubble the Eastern Order left behind.

You vow to avenge your parents' deaths when your army recruits you. But what happens when you eventually discover there's more to this war than meets the eye?

A Quick Look at Recruitment: A Dystopian Novel

As of December 2nd, 2021, it has generated 701 global reviews and holds a solid 4.3 out of 5 stars on Amazon. The book also features a strong cast and is told in first-person, present-tense point of view of our main character, Kress.

Recruitment is also part of a trilogy called The Resistance, not to be refused with Tracy Lawson's Resistance Series. Though the latter serves as one heck of a comp title featuring similar themes. And it's a series I had a blast reading in January 2021.

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K.A. Riley has Recruitment available in four formats, including Kindle, audio, hardcover, and paperback. That allows you to enjoy the work regardless of whether you're cool with today's popular e-reader format or if you're old school and love the feel only a physical copy can bring. Remember, I’m old school these days!

If you are a fan of The Hunger Games and Divergent, as it says on the sales page, you will love Recruitment. I have read The Hunger Games in the past and I can see the similarities. Kress isn't necessarily Katniss Everdeen, but the deadly task(s) she faces with her team will bring you some Hunger Games nostalgia.

What I Liked About Recruitment

For one, I'm a sucker for all things dystopian, especially involving the tyrannical government trope. So, it was natural for Recruitment to pique my interest upon seeing it as a recommendation, thanks to Amazon's (sometimes sleazy) algorithms.

For another, I loved the way Kress and the other seven main characters came together. They had their differences, and at times, they were islands. But at the end of the day, they put their differences aside, became a team, and uncovered an inconvenient truth. One that left a few of them with their jaws hanging open.

The character development also impressed me. Kress found herself throughout the novel, while another character became a significant contributor to the group. Three went from falling for the soon-to-be-revealed lies to becoming solid team players - though I also saw some problems with this. And one reminded me of a teenage Jack Shepherd (Lost), but with far more common sense.

What I Didn't Like

I found Recruitment to be clunky at times. Some reviewers on Amazon complained it could be "cheesy," and a few claimed to have found minor plot holes. I didn't necessarily find any, though I saw many abrupt transitions, especially before the climax.

I also didn't feel Riley explained one particular character's ability well. I'm not going to name-drop the character to avoid spoilers for obvious reasons. You only need to know their ability was abrupt, even if their arc was spot on.

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Ditto for when Kress revealed her alarming concerns in the pre-climax. It didn't seem like she needed to spend time convincing three characters (names also withheld) regarding these concerns. They just seemed to go with the flow, which until that point, was unlike any of their personalities.

Would I Recommend Recruitment?

Overall, given the trope and the fast-paced storytelling, I highly recommend Recruitment to all readers. I breathed a massive sigh of relief when I realized Riley did not need to beat around the bush and overly explain things. Although they could have been more specific at times, as mentioned in the above section.

I will be reading Book II, entitled Render. In many trilogies I read, Book II is often the make-it-or-break-it book. One recent trilogy I had high hopes for (whose first book I loved) crashed at around the 35% mark. Note: This series was actually Beyond by Kate L. Mary, which I ultimately gave another shot in 2023 and ended up loving.

Overall, I often make it to Book III about half the time when I read a three-book series, so I'll soon discover whether The Resistance joins the Book III Club.

Conclusion

Recruitment is an excellent read for anyone looking for a fast-paced dystopian novel featuring a young adult cast. There are some cool sci-fi concepts involved, such as Kress's connection with her raven, Render, along with the advanced military training base she's about to enter.

While the work has its flaws, it could be nothing more than Riley's minimalist writing style taken to the extreme. And while I'm a fan of minimalism, authors such as myself who engage in the practice run the risk of explaining too little. Something I need to get better at, myself.

If Riley adds just a little more detail to Render, it will be a novel that boasts few, if any, flaws. Another Note: Wow, that was one rough review that had me laughing at my former writing style.

Originally published at Action-Packed Book Reviews and TC Marti.com.

Quick-hit libertarian themes in the late-2024 and early-2025 reading list

I recently “conned” my parents into giving me a Christmas gift that came in the form of a book early. Now, I’ll be reading Spirit Legacy by E.E. Holmes in paperback for the first time ever, even if I’ve read it plenty of times in e-book and audio.

But I’m going “old school,” you see? That said, every book that I enjoy, even modestly, is coming to me in a physical copy no matter what so I can further build up the dream library. It also means I’ll be buying Scott Horton’s Enough Already: Time to End America’s War on Terror after I finish giving it a listen or two on Spotify.

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And speaking of which, just when I thought I knew about all the lies coming in from Washington, I’m sad to admit I was wrong. Yeah, if only I paid more attention to alternative media back when I was in middle and high school. Better late than never, I guess, right?

I can also credit Tom Woods’ podcast, which recently hosted Horton, for letting me know the best there ever was on foreign policy has another book out called Provoked: How Washington Started the New Cold War in Russia and the Catastrophe in Ukraine. Yeah, that one sounds interesting, too, I think.,

Anyway, let’s jump off the nonfiction train for a minute and talk a little about some libertarian themes in my upcoming TBR list. One that really comprises books I’ve read years ago (or annually), but wanted to give them another in-depth review as they pertain to my favorite niche.

Spirit Legacy by E.E. Holmes

What’s funny here is that our main character, Jess Ballard, is a progressive feminist. Or, at least that’s the way I’ve always seen her. That said, it’s not long until Jess finds out that a pure Matriarchy isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be, and it’s something she discovers more in-depth in Spirit Legacy’s sequels, Spirit Prophecy and Spirit Ascendency.

Still, the foreshadowing’s there in Spirit Legacy. While some readers might see the ‘foreshadowing’ more as a complete “information dump” than something Jess organically stumbles upon, rest assured that she finds all of this out late in the book when some good old telling is more than fine.

Plus, Holmes drops a lot of hints in this one, including why nearly every member of the Durupinen sisterhood seem to resemble supermodels. Oh, and don’t even get me started on how corrupt that Council is, something that’s also hinted at in Spirit Legacy before it hits Jess like a tidal wave in later books.

Counteract by Tracy Lawson

You might recall me mentioning that I had Counteract on my dystopian TBR list a while ago, and it’s great to be getting around to it shortly. Another book I’ve read multiple times in e-book and listened to in audio, going “old school” for 2025 will also make this one seem like a first-time read.

Anyway, I’m not sure if Anthony Fauci read this book shortly before the You Know What hit a few years back or if Tracy Lawson is just a prophet, but wow, the similarities are scary.

The only difference is that there isn’t a pandemic going on. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t a ton of societal restrictions headed up by…you guessed it…a corrupt public health official.

Beyond the Wall by Kate L. Mary

This book features one of those ‘would you rather’ scenarios. Would you rather live in a society that gave you everything you needed, literally granting you the “right” to food, water, shelter, clothing, and anything else it told you was essential?

Sounds like it’s an easy choice, right? But what if you realized you were only granted those “rights” at the expense of your inalienable right to self-ownership? Oh, and if you showed any signs of dissent like, I don’t know, asking a question, you might just put a target on your back.

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Drea Young faces a nice, little internal struggle here. And while it’s easy for us libertarians to say we’d forgo all of this, the situation would be a little scarier in real life.

That said, the right not only to self-ownership resides as a strong theme in this one, but also, making a tough decision to resist tyranny, even if it meant the possible death of your parents as the Society’s way of exerting revenge if you left.

Six Days of the Condor by James Grady

Okay, so this is the one book I’ve never read. Anyway, this one talks about one of the favorite topics of all libertarians: Corruption in America’s most well-known intelligence agency! Yeah, so it was easy for me to make the decision that I’d be diving deeply into this one.

I’ve read about the work though, and I know how it ends. That said, I was basically 33-and-a-half years old when I found out that the hit TV show Seinfeld referenced this one in The Junk Mail.

Just in case you’ve never seen it, the video below will show you some of that episode’s finer points.

Fate of Crowns by Rebecca Garcia

Another one from that listicle article linked above from a couple months back, Fate of Crowns will challenge you with another would you rather moment. Another e-book read from 2021, I cannot, for the life of me, remember the protagonist’s name.

Anyway, the burning question here is a simple one: Would you rather let your corrupt father continue to lie, cheat, and steal, knowing it's wrong, or would you rather put an end to his reign of terror? Yep, this one features a main character who might just become a queen someday.

Stick to the duty your tyrannical family has outlined for you and become the Queen of Everything, albeit a corrupt one? Or, become the Princess of Nothing if you refuse those duties? The ultimate internal struggle, right?

And again, if we were all faced with that choice, it might just challenge the libertarian in all of us.

Other Works

I’ll have The Giver coming up at some point as well, especially when I start diving into more children’s and middle-grade fiction. The opening to Book II is especially enthralling, and it’s one I’ll have to break down here because, as I mentioned with Lawson, Lois Lowry may have had some Nostradamus in her, too. And keep in mind, Lowry concocted that opening back in like 2000, if I’m not mistaken.

The Tuttle Twins is also on deck, as it’s a staple for every libertarian whose kids are grade-school-aged, right? Oh, if you’ve never heard of them, trust me, it’s well worth it.

And, as always, Harry Potter is never off the TBR, especially when we talk about Order of the Phoenix. Oh, and I can’t help but credit the YouTube channel MovieFlame, a primarily Harry Potter-based outlet that just gave me an outstanding idea about Dolores Umbridge when I was watching one of his videos.

Yeah, it’s gonna be one action-packed year and it can’t come fast enough.

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How to “con” your parents into “giving” you an early Christmas present…of books

For me, and I’m sure for many of you, Christmas is full of nostalgia and it hits me like a freight train every year. Flashbacks to when I was young, and the “Holiday Tradition” consisted of a visit to my great-grandparents’ home. It was nothing more than a five-room trailer and, somehow, about sixty of us fit in the living room and kitchen.

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Squeezed like sardines, we were, but they’re memories I’ll cherish forever. Fast-forward to 1998, and my great-grandfather passed in August of that year. So we all shifted gears in tiny Toronto, Ohio, and set up shop in the mill row, where my great-uncle lived at the time.

Those Christmas Eve nights may have held some of the fondest memories. Mainly because we had a blast heading into my cousin’s room and playing his Nintendo 64 for about five hours straight between massive helpings of Christmas cookies. This was back when I still ate them.

And it was during that era, which lasted from 1998 through 2019, when the rather deviant teenage TC Marti emerged. I’d say he officially burst onto the scene in 2004. You know, the type that started snooping around his parents’ house for the stash of gifts he’d receive on the 25th.

Alright, now let’s fast-forward to 2024, a time of change and facing fears in the way of massive upheaval. It’d been a year of triumph and loss, with the passing of my grandmother this past September, which ended another era. I don’t think a day passes that I don’t think of what I’ve dubbed the longest week, which lasted from September 1st through September 5th.

Mainly, I’ve flashed back to her funeral service, a vivid memory for obvious reasons, but it was also the first I’d ever attended in my life. Yeah, thanks to a series of (rather) fortunate and unfortunate events since 2017, it took until I was roughly 33-and-a-half years old before I’d experienced one.

But, something the pastor said jumped out at me. Which is weird, because I should’ve known it was coming.

My grandmother was a rather cunning human being

See, he told the story about how my grandfather (still living) refused to play cards and board games if my grandmother was playing. The reason? Oh, she liked to cheat to gain an advantage, and it was a trait she passed on to Yours Truly.

Yeah, the Sorting Hat put me in Ravenclaw over at what I think is now called HarryPotter.Com, but I’ve often wondered how I never made it into Slytherin, my favorite House. For the record, I love Ravenclaw, but I’ve been attracted to the Emerald and Silver since I first picked up a Harry Potter book.

Then again, my grandmother would cheat in any game but would do so in a clever way, so I guess she’d have been something in between a Slytherin and Ravenclaw. I followed in that endeavor, and considering my reputation of being rather sneaky myself to this day (the ‘T’ in my name does stand for Tod, which means ‘fox’ in case you’re wondering), I’m often left to ask myself what else did she do to gain an advantage?

Maybe she’ll return as a Force Ghost someday and teach me the ways, right? But, considering my own deviance to this day, I have a general idea. And this ties into the whole ‘getting books for Christmas’ from Mom and Dad, but not waiting until December 25th to enjoy one of them.

Yep, I’m teaching you all how to show some gamesmanship here, and to do it well.

The Strategy

This past October, my brother married his girlfriend/fiancée of four years, and the day before the wedding made for rather good timing to send my mother an email of the good old Christmas list. Hey, don’t judge the fact that I’ll be 34 in April and am still sending full lists—every year I insist I don’t want (or need) anything, but if that happened, I’d probably end up with $1,000 worth of random items.

So, after they prod me, my brother, and who is now my brother’s wife starting in about July, the three of us relent and say, “You know what, screw it. If you want to treat us all like overgrown children, then that’s your decision, not ours.”

Hence came a list of paperback books worth $200, to which my mother replied, “That’s it?” Yeah, for real…

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Anyway, after she talked me into letting her invest in a blender and, sigh, I’m sure a few more random items for me, I was sure she’d tell me to handle part of that 2025 TBR list and order it myself. So, I did just that and had it delivered to my place because, you know, I also had to buy for them so I could even the score.

Yeah, a couple of fandom collectibles or whatever catches my attention, and we’d be square. But, don’t think for a single second I wasn’t making sure I’d ‘steal’ a book when the package arrived at my door. You know, so I could ‘take out’ any of my parents’ gifts that also arrived in the same package.

And Bingo! What arrived were quite a few works that I’ll be sharing with you because they tie in well with this blog, including the Resistance Series by Tracy Lawson, Beyond by Kate L. Mary, and the Gateway Trilogy by E.E. Holmes. Yup, that last one is a good old paranormal occult fantasy.

Getting a head start on my fiction 2025 TBR list

Of course, I’ll be starting with the latter, entitled Spirit Legacy. March 3rd, 2025 would have been my grandmother’s 83rd birthday. And I’m also in the stages of launching a book called Cursed Mage, which Spirit Legacy heavily influenced.

So, this Christmas, I thought to myself, why not start with Spirit Legacy, Book I in the Gateway Trilogy? Why not read it, give it a review, and remind myself why it’s, to this day, one of my favorite books outside of anything not named Harry Potter.

It’s a work I’ve read via Kindle several times and listened to on Audible several more times. But, I’ve never read it in paperback, so this is, in a way, a new endeavor.

Anyway, if you’re feeling rather deviant this time of the year and you’d like to get a present or two (in the form of books) early from your family if the opportunity presents itself, you make the order for them, get it delivered to your home, and bam! You got your early Christmas present. Just make sure they don’t remember everything they ordered for you. Or, better yet, they told you to order for yourself. Ha!

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Official Review: Shadow Runner by K.J. Fieler is another one that MUST transform into a series

Have you ever come across a sub-genre within your favorite genre of fiction and loved it right away, literally to the point that you want to put down every project you got, confine yourself to a closet with your laptop, and just write? Or, perhaps a mechanical typewriter would be more sufficient when it comes to Gaslamp Fantasy; at least that’s what it’s labeled on the Zon.

Some reviewers have also called Shadow Runner by K.J. Fieler ‘steampunk,’ and I find it curious. One reason is that an old friend told me about an eon ago that I’d be a fan of the genre. So, maybe the work is a bit of both, which technically tosses it into the genre-fusion category. And you all know how much I like my genre-fusion.

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But, if you toss it into a rather dark setting, oh, then it’s no wonder why I’ve been sleeping so little after I’m finished writing, editing, working out for a couple of hours, and building my own brand (or at least attempting to) for the day.

Yeah, I couldn’t get enough of this one, and it started in what I thought was typical 19th-century England with some fantasy involved. Historical Fantasy, in other words. While I think I was right in that notion, Shadow Runner was so much more.

Character transformations rocked and rolled

There are two types of massive transformations I look forward to, and they don’t involve the stereotypical rags to riches. It’s overdone, and I’m likely to put a book down unless the author gives me a valid reason to keep going.

Nope, it doesn’t happen often. Instead, give me a story about either an ordinary Average Joe or Plain Jane doing something extraordinary. Or, give me a rich kid and throw them into the worst possible situation out there.

For Ada, it was the latter, and wow, what a character transformation. A young girl who was born into money and couldn’t even perform a single push-up shortly after she was kidnapped, or at least that was kind of the case until further revelations imply otherwise, Ada transformed into one of the more likable protagonists I’ve had the pleasure to meet.

Yeah, the girl became rough around the edges. But when you’re fighting to survive in a secret society in which tomorrow is never guaranteed? Hey, you gotta be rough. I also liked her straightforward personality, and she wasn’t afraid to butt heads with anyone, even if it meant risking some type of punishment.

While Ada referenced her family at times, her biological family, that is, her transformation ran so deep that I found myself forgetting that she had an old life. It was like the young girl we met in Act I of this book never existed, replaced by a self-sufficient, bold, daring, and cunning character.

Supporting Characters ran deep in Shadow Runner

It’s easy for supporting characters to lack depth, and while a cast of predominantly flat characters doesn’t break a story, it doesn’t add to it, either. Books like Spirit Legacy by E.E. Holmes, for example, had, for the most part, a rather flat cast, but it’s one of my all-time favorites. That said, it could’ve been even better.

As for Shadow Runner, that was hardly an issue, as Gilda, Nadine, and Dieb all drew my interest. Later, we met Aldrick, who I took to almost immediately, even if he reminded me in the strangest way of Percy Weasley from Harry Potter.

Yeah, call me out for my hypocrisy on the whole ‘rags-to-riches’ thing, given the main act’s backstory in that series. Anyway, my point is, if you’re looking for an outstanding read with an exceptional character arc and interesting cast, Shadow Runner is one you need to pick up.

Lessons learned lie with the characters

In a previous article that I linked above, I talked about how Ada managed to turn her dreary situation upside down and make it work. That was a lesson I took away, but I was also a huge fan of Dieb, known early on as Ratcatcher.

Dieb’s fighting spirit was on display early when, despite losing fight after fight for the right for a spot in this Shadow Society as opposed to getting forced out onto the streets, she managed to talk her way into sticking around and proving her worth.

The girl starved for a while, slept in her own waste, and often used the floor as a bed. Still, her outright toughness paid off, and she ultimately bested Ada. So, for this lesson, it was simple: Life can throw you some less-than-spectacular moments, especially when we’re forced to live in an unfree world whose superpowers and their cheerleaders lie and try to claim otherwise.

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We live in a world in which they tell us to kindly give up our civil liberties in exchange for safety, only to later find out that we’re less free and less safe. Not a fun realization, but the more one takes it upon oneself to improve their own situation even if the external forces out there work against us, we might be surprised with what we ultimately accomplish.

Ada taught us that early, but Dieb may have served as an even better example. A hard, smart worker, resourceful, willing to learn even if that wasn’t the case at first, the whole nine yards. And that was the most prominent message I got from this book.

Turn this one into a series, too

There are two books I read earlier this year that I’ve begged to turn into a series: John W. Whitehead’s The Erik Blair Diaries and Julane Fisher’s The Text. Both are works I’d read again in a heartbeat, especially if they had a sequel attached, even if The Text could use another round of editing.

Shadow Runner is in that same boat as Erik Blair and The Text, and the work is begging for a sequel. We’ll see what the future holds, but memorable characters drove this one home, and they’re a cast that I, for one, hope to meet again in a new, albeit dark, adventure in this awesome genre that I’ll certainly read more of.

Mid-December Mega Sale: Treat yourself to six free genre-fusion e-books

Before I begin, I want you to stay tuned, because I’m just now wrapping up Shadow Runner by K.J. Fieler, and wow, what a great read it was. You may remember that I spoke about how much I liked the main character, Ada, thanks to her ability to make the best out of some bad situations over the first half of the book. Yeah, that didn’t stop.

So, I can’t wait to share my final thoughts on Fieler’s work and yes, I’ll be urging you all to pick up a copy of this dark, coming-of-age fantasy. Speaking of coming-of-age work, I would have found it unfair if I left my blog readers in the dark about my own Mid-December Mega Sale featuring SIX free series starters in my Renegades Epic, a shared universe featuring quite a few different action-packed genre-fusion series.

I know a lot of readers tend to be on the fence about authors they’ve never heard of, and I find myself in the same boat. So, through December 15th, I went ahead and decided to make every single one of my series starters free on Amazon, Kobo, Nook, and Apple so you could get a taste of my work.

Best yet, I gave each of my books a facelift last week, putting them through spot edits and formatting. Yeah, it was a busy seven days for me, but it was well worth it. So, let me give you a rundown below. Simply click on the image of each book, and you’ll be taken to a universal book link where you can explore the work further.

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Note: Sometimes, Amazon likes to change its prices at random, so if that’s the case with any of the following books, don’t fear! If you look under each image, you’ll find an alternative link to each book’s landing page at Bookfunnel, where you can download each work for free until December 15th.

Wind Wielder

I concocted Wind Wielder during the You Know What back in 2020 and released it in 2022 while I was on a massive shoestring budget. This one is probably the most notorious genre-fusion work of them all, featuring a blend of typical fantasy and sci-fi tropes and plot elements.

Get Wind Wielder at Bookfunnel

Tarja Titan

Harry Potter vibes are how some early reviewers summed up Tarja Titan. Yeah, the correlations are definitely there, but this one also taps into small-town folklore. They say authors start to hate their work after so many reads, but this one has always entertained me.

Get Tarja Titan at Bookfunnel

Liza Fury

A short novelette that can be read alongside Tarja Titan. Liza Fury spent most of her youth and adolescence hiding her Fire Elemental ability from her father, who supposedly hates magic of all types. Once she escapes her dreary situation, the oft-insecure Liza finds out she’s much, much more than an ordinary Fire Elemental.

Get Liza Fury at Bookfunnel

Civil War

If you like dark sci-fi/fantasy, Civil War is for you. Some readers will find this one too disturbing, especially since Mina Hirai’s captors literally treat her like a caged animal about to be slaughtered early on. But, if Mina thought she had it bad, it’s not long until she figures out how wrong she is.

Get Civil War at Bookfunnel

The Rebellion Awakens

During my freelance writing days, I covered a lot of Star Wars lore, and I thought to myself, “Why not write my own trilogy inspired by its plot?” That’s what you’re getting with The Rebellion Awakens, featuring elemental magic, post-apocalyptic and dystopian science fiction, plus intense fight scenes as Sabre Kjaergaard learns the hard way that everything she’s been taught has been great about her totalitarian society is a lie.

Get The Rebellion Awakens at Bookfunnel

Spirit and Fire

A 600-year prequel to Wind Wielder, this was a book I wanted to set and forget about, but recent engagement has led me to rethink things. Unlike the works mentioned earlier, this one’s not as much genre-fusion as it is a rather mainstream epic dark fantasy. Our main act, Mali LaSalle, has a vendetta against Monarchs of all kinds. Or, at least she does until she crosses a runaway prince trying to escape a betrothal whose endgame is to unite two regional military powers.

Get Spirit and Fire at Bookfunnel

So, there you have it; all six series starters at online stores or Bookfunnel are absolutely free until December 15th. If you found any of these works enticing, do yourself a favor and add them to your TBR list, and I’ll be back with the official review of a book that kept me up long past my so-called bedtime.

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Oh, and every time I have a deeply discounted (or free) work or book series coming up, I’ll be sure to pass on the word to you. I love reading and reviewing books, which is the entire point behind this site. But, my own works that I share have either influenced my own work OR could qualify as comp titles.

Top reads from 2024 and the libertarian takeaways they feature

With just three weeks or so left in 2024, the time has come to take a look back at some of my favorite reads this year. A few of the books I’m about to talk about have been around forever, or so it seems. Others have only been on digital and brick-and-mortar shelves for a short time, but they deserve to be looked at as instant classics.

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While they vary in genre, from fantasy to political thrillers, they all feature libertarian takeaways that we’re about to discuss below. So, if you’re ready to rock, let’s get started and kick things off with a bang regarding a book you may have heard of or even read a time or two.

Or, maybe you just watched the movie because that book was too long. Hey, if you took the ‘easy way out,’ don’t fear, as they covered the essentials in that particular movie as they pertain to the source material better than I’d’ve thought.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

Seriously, part of me thinks that J.K. Rowling is a Seer, and she’s just throwing us off her scent by creating a (mostly) useless character named Sybil Trelawney. Hey, at least Trelawney made a couple of accurate predictions, but she’s got nothing on Rowling, whose classic Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix covered much of what we’ve seen come to the forefront in the 2020s.

Censorship

Legacy media and government ridiculing anything or anyone it doesn’t like

Legacy media and government accusing people of spreading ‘mis’ and ‘disinformation’

Government overstepping its bounds in a school

Government falsely accusing a man of trying to overthrow them

Government denying anything other than its own superficial narrative with support from legacy media cheerleaders

Are we having fun yet?

Yeah, if you’re wondering why I kicked off this blog with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, it’s all thanks to just how eerily similar things are here in the 2020s to what they were in 1995-96 Wizarding Britain.

I don’t know about you, but one character reminded multiple libertarian writers of a particular tyrant during the 2020s.

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

The absolute best first chapter of any book I’ve ever read came from John Steinbeck’s East of Eden. There’s a trilogy I’ve been working on in the dystopian/survival genre that I call Beyond the Lost, and the work’s prologue was a direct inspiration from Steinbeck’s classic when my main character, Quinn Cozens, reminisces about his time in the Upper Ohio Valley, namely the Wintersville/Steubenville area.

But my second favorite part is the first scene of Chapter 13, where Steinbeck talks about two things: creativity and innovation. While it was still relatively early in the book, it was this chapter that drove the work home because it praises the one thing that socialists and central planners of all stripes hate: Individualism.

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Take this quote from the book, if you will:

“And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual (emphasis mine). This is what I am about. I can understand why a system built on a pattern must try to destroy the free mind, for that is one thing which can by inspection destroy such a system. Surely I can understand this, and I hate it and I will fight against it to preserve the one thing that separates us from uncreative beasts. If the glory can be killed we are lost.”

I know some may find it curious that I’ve included a quote from Steinbeck’s work in this article, considering he was said to have had rather collectivist views. But then again, George Orwell was a socialist and neither myself nor many libertarians have a problem with that, so I’m not admitting guilt here.

There’s so much to talk about in this one small passage that I could write an entire article about it. Anyway, what I got from it is that we know what does destroy creativity and innovation. And it’s something we’d seen repeated throughout the 20th century—big government.

Heck, it’s something that persists to this day. As with Steinbeck, myself, and I’m sure I speak for plenty of libertarians out there, would always fight for “freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes.” Such a philosophy epitomizes creativity and innovation in my book, and it’s one of a few reasons I was a big fan of East of Eden.

The Erik Blair Diaries by John W. Whitehead

You know how many horror stories celebrities might tell their entourage about having an annoying fan? Yeah, for John W. Whitehead, I’m going to be that annoying fan until he writes me a sequel to this book. The Erik Blair Diaries, much like The Text by Julane Fisher (which I talk about in a later section) deals with mass surveillance, but at a level of epic proportions.

Imagine having a chip implanted into your brain where a single thought could warrant an arrest. Or, possessing a journal that a time-traveling ancestor gave you and having law enforcement on your tail for that. Yeah, that’s the horror seen in The Erik Blair Diaries.

Heck, John W. Whitehead does a darn good job writing horror-based content. Just check out the latest piece he spat out at the Ron Paul Institute. The scary part? This stuff ain’t science or dystopian fiction, people, but it’s as real as you and me.

Yeah, and that grim reality is on full display in The Erik Blair Diaries. So, say hello to the surveillance state. But if you check out this one, you also might want this lightning-fast read turned into a video game by the time you’ve finished it.

The Flight of the Barbarous Relic by George Ford Smith

I wrote three articles on The Flight of the Barbarous Relic, and this one was the king of all libertarian fiction I read. A political thriller, this book is more of an economics lesson than one that raises the stakes in some life-or-death situation like The Erik Blair Diaries.

But, it was still a fast-paced book that will teach readers about what fiat money really is: Nothing but trash at the end of the day, and why the gold standard will always reign supreme. And before you ask, yes, I collect precious metals that I’ll hopefully never need to use.

Considering George Ford Smith wrote this book in like 2008 around the time we had the Great Recession, things have mainly gone downhill from there for the fiat dollar. The You Know What hit in 2020, which did the dollar zero favors, and we’re still feeling the after-effects of that hike in inflation as we steamroll toward 2025.

Want an in-depth look at where Smith got his inspiration? What Has Government Done to Our Money by Murray N. Rothbard is a good place to start.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Do I really need to explain this one? I didn’t review Brave New World yet because it’s one of those books that deserves a deeper dive, given the punch Huxley packs in such a short read. But, it’s also one of the most messed up books I’ve ever read, and that should be a compliment to Huxley, given the society he created.

Cognitive conditioning in one’s sleep, mandatory drugs that get people so high they forget about life for a while and engage in odd activities, and intentionally creating a caste of worker drones are just a few things that scare the daylights out of me.

Yeah, I should’ve read this one closer to Halloween, as it makes for one heck of a horror story as opposed to dystopian fiction. And it’s a world I’d rather take a one-way ticket out of, much like one of the more compelling characters in the work.

The Text by Julane Fisher

The story was arguably the clunkiest one I’d read in a long time, and I’ve had self-edited works read better than it. Still, if Julane Fisher can retain full rights to this thing, give it a nice, little revamp from an editing standpoint (the story rocked and it’s one I wouldn’t mind reading again), The Text would be more than a best-seller.

Yeah, we’d have a trilogy on our hands, given the way this book ended. The takeaway? Here, we got an antagonist working in sync with the federal government regarding this mass surveillance program that we seem eerily close to here in 2024. Keep in mind that this book takes place in 2048, and it seems to be well ahead of its fictional timeline as I write this.

Anyway, the tyrant in the Oval Office decides to “help” our main character, Rami, escape this surveillance corporatist madman in cahoots with said tyrant. The plan? Oh, so Rami can “owe her life to that tyrant” or something like that, meaning she would, in turn, credit that same mass surveillance for saving her.

That might sound familiar to some of us here in late 2024.

Yeah, quite the setup, I know. If there’s a sequel to this one, let’s hope Rami does the right thing and sides with the Resistance. She faced quite an internal struggle after this revelation, and that’s what makes her such a compelling character.

Shadow Runner by K.J. Fieler

The newest member of the group, Shadow Runner by K.J. Fieler, doesn’t dive deeply into politics or anything close. For me, that was refreshing, since I don’t want blatant economics or politics thrown in my face at every turn when I sit down to read fiction.

But, one common denominator I’ve seen from libertarians involves looking inward, and that’s what I saw from our protagonist, Ada. She may have been frightened at her situation, as just about everyone in her position would be, but it didn’t stop her from adapting, growing, and bending it to her will.

It was something I noticed after reading the first half of the book, and it wasn’t long before I sacrificed sleep because I was raring to see how this one would end. Anyway, for libertarians looking around themselves and talking about how much the world sucks, Ada reminds us that we have the power to look inward and take action to better ourselves, which might help more than you may think.

A wise man once told me that the best way to ‘fight’ anything is to focus on self-improvement. Well, Ada certainly would have heeded to his advice, and she’s been enjoying some small victories.

One of the darkest reads this year may top my 2024 superlatives for the lesson it teaches

Despite the nature of this post, I’m starting this one off light-hearted. Note, that I put the word ‘superlative’ in the headline, and it was no mistake. Just yesterday, I got to see just how much Spotify let me know exactly how much time I put into listening to Yena, a K-pop idol whose music I’m more than fond of.

Anyway, she was my clear-cut No. 1, and I apparently listened to her two-dozenish songs for approximately 2,762 minutes, something that made even me go, “Whoa.” Yeah, she never fails to unleash epic mini-albums or whatever they’re called, just as one author I’ve come across didn’t fail to unleash an epic read that I picked up last month.

Yep, that little image is in Finnish, since I find the language fascinating and one of my life’s ambitions is to master it just for the sake of doing so. Anyway, let’s get to the real discussion.

K.J. Fieler’s Shadow Runner is a dark one, all right. It involves some kidnap and a lot of tough love, something our protagonist, Ada, isn’t used to. But don’t worry: Ada’s being trained as an assassin, and going from this soft, rich girl born in 19th century England, if I’m not mistaken, and growing into a feisty, hard-nosed, take-no-prisoners phenom has been fun to read about at the halfway mark.

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Again, this is a dark one, but if you like works that are rough around the edges and aren’t easily disturbed, oh, it’s an ideal read for you to indulge in. But, what I also like is, beneath the rough, tough fighter bent on surviving that Ada has become, she’s also remained true to herself, and that can teach us all a lesson.

Living free in an unfree situation shines in K.J. Fieler’s Shadow Runner at 50 percent

Something about Ada that I love is that this is a kid who couldn’t have been thrown into a worse situation. She’s born into privilege and is living a family-oriented life before tragedy strikes. Her mother dies shortly after giving birth to her brother, who, in turn, dies at birth. And it takes a toll on her father, who, the best way I can put it, suffers a mental breakdown.

Ada’s life is in shards, but then a mysterious woman kidnaps her, or an entity, really. And she’s forced to train to become an assassin for this woman’s secret society. Yeah, kind of a tough life, and it’s only akin to a parent dropping off an unruly kid at military school, or something in that regard.

Yet, Ada, still a child, by the way, knows how to play a good game of chess. And no, I’m not talking about literally playing the board game, even if she references it a time or two. She wheels and deals with her kidnapper, and even this society’s leader, this towering woman who everyone is afraid of.

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Ada uses her wit to rescue a feral girl who was chewed up, spat out, and left to die, even when nobody, not even the other captive mates, wanted anything to do with her. She took the lessons she learned from that chess game her father taught her before her kidnapping and got a little stronger and exercised more wit with each passing day since.

A lesson to be learned

Ada’s experience and the way she’s handled it is a lesson for all of us to absorb as I just now reached the halfway mark of this read. As a libertarian, it’s easy for me and like-minded people to realize that the world we live in isn’t a free one, even if the legacy media, schools, universities, and even pro athletes pretend otherwise.

Notice that I listed Spotify in the first couple of paragraphs and how much it knew exactly how much I was listening to Yena. Yeah, that’s rather creepy, and it’s something we’ve seen all the time from mainstream Big Tech, which knows everything about us.

The same Big Tech (like Facebook) that proved it had no problem bowing to that nasty, intimidating force that everyone seems to fear called the government during the COVID crisis. But, it’s characters like Ada whose book we can all take a page from, as we’re currently playing a game of chess, ourselves with the powers that be.

One of my favorite podcasts is Banish Big Brother, and I tune into each episode, as Spotify undoubtedly knows. Ditto for any entity that exists via coercion that may “request” that data. Anyway, where I’m going with this is that their hosts, Zach and Elizabeth, tell us to do one thing in nearly every episode: Stay a step or two ahead of the game (I’m paraphrasing, by the way).

Isn’t that the object in chess? Ada knows this, and despite the bleak situation she’s in, the girl still finds ways to live life on her own terms, or at least that’s somewhat the case. No, she can’t leave, and yeah, her captors know where she is at all times, and that hasn’t changed since Day 1.

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Still, she’s making the best of living free in her unfree world. Ada can’t control everything, but she stays true to herself and focuses on what she can control, and so can we.

Make the most of living in an unfree world

Here are some of the tips that I have, and these can be expanded upon as I’m sure to leave a few things out. Anyway, even if our civil liberties are growing null and void in the world to the point the government can shut down your operations at a whim, especially if it doesn’t like you. Scary, right?

Take this recent quote from Marc Andreessen in a recent appearance he made on Joe Rogan’s podcast.

“We just can't live in this world. We can't live in a world where someone starts a company that is a completely legal thing, and then they get sanctioned and embargoed by the United States government through a completely unaccountable [body] ... no due process. None of this is written down. There's no rules. There's no court. There's no decision process. There's no appeal. Who do you appeal to?"

Bleak, right? But here’s what that nasty entity that forces regular people to fork their bills that’s about $36 trillion in debt can’t take away from you, no matter how bad things can get.

Waking up each morning with a positive attitude

Go exercising - Trust me, it works

Consuming a nutrient-dense dietary regimen

Building your network - This one goes hand-in-hand with exercise for me since I’m well-known in the gym and members seek me out

Spend valuable time with those closest to you

Keep your home clean

Read, read, and read some more - The doors that open may seem endless

Take control of your privacy to the best of your ability

Focus on and appreciate what you have

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Overall, all of these recommendations point to one thing: Mastering oneself. While I haven’t read the second half of Shadow Runner just yet, I have a vibe, a gut feeling, that Ada’s character arc more than points in this direction. She’ll master herself and ultimately make the best of her situation.