Powerful People – Outrageous Lies assembles a case challenging the official explanation of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination and the investigations that followed. How long had you been researching the assassination before you realized you wanted to write your own account?
I started researching after watching an interview about 4 years ago with Oliver Stone, where he discussed his movie “JFK” and described his own experience in combat duty in Vietnam seeing soldiers getting their heads shot. I then watched the movie “JFK” carefully and started seriously researching the incident about 3 years ago. What started as a one page note to get my own ideas straight ended up with “Powerful People – Outrageous Lies“.
One recurring difficulty in assassination research is distinguishing deliberate concealment from bureaucratic confusion, incompetence, secrecy, and institutional self-protection. How do you make that distinction?
I try to put myself in the position of the person involved. For example I was amazed by the response of Dallas Motorcycle Policeman Bobby Hargis when interviewed by Stephen Fagin of the 6th Floor Museum. After describing how he wiped a piece of bone stuck to his upper lip while JFK was in front, 15 feet away, Hargis still stuck to the official line that the shot was from behind !! The look on his face was of a simple man who didn’t want to rock the boat. He told the truth as he saw it, but he closed his mind to the obvious. I tried to imagine LBJ was just scared of starting WW3 by accusing the Russians and tried to cover up the assassination for noble reasons. That idea fell apart when I realised that LBJ was the only person who could have ordered such an elaborate scheme to steal JFK’s body from Jacky Kennedy’s custody and all the cover up actions by the Secret Service, FBI and CIA. I cannot help but see that as evil.
You examine the Warren Commission, the House Select Committee on Assassinations, and the Assassination Records Review Board. Of those three official investigations, which came closest to the truth — and which did the most damage?
The most damaging is easy – it was the Warren Commission. The HSCA concluded that there was a conspiracy to assassinate JFK, but still got the 4th shot completely wrong. Only the ARRB came closer to the truth, but they still kept many records hidden away for “National Security” reasons. Douglas Horne went on to do some brilliant work; as most humans do, he jumped to some slightly incorrect conclusions. As time went on and more secrecy agreements expired and people retired, more information dripped out. So the later investigations got closer to the truth. Now we have the confession about the “magic bullet” of Paul Landis in 2023 and the release of documents under the 1st and 2nd Trump administrations.
Why do you think the Kennedy assassination continues to fascinate people when so many other major historical crimes have largely settled into accepted narratives?
The JFK assassination had an effect on a wide range of people around the world. Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt when he visited Washington DC told LBJ that Australia would “Go all the way with LBJ”. As a result, I was called up to serve in the Australian Army, but deferred due to university study. Friends who served in Vietnam were badly affected. A recent Gallup Poll shows that 65% of the US population thinks that JFK was assassinated by a conspiracy. The US population cannot agree on any other subject to such a high degree !!!
Patriots of the King’s Table follows two fugitives racing to smuggle a dangerous document out of an authoritarian United States while a ruthless security chief hunts them through the wilderness. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I wrote Patriots of the King’s Table almost twenty years ago. At the time, the country had recently endured a major terrorist attack, and then several years later, a series of financial crises. The reaction of the government to those events was to pass legislation giving the government sweeping new powers over the lives of citizens. Those events and the discussions surrounding them got me thinking of not only how easily a free country could slip into authoritarian rule, but also what it might look like and how fear is a primary catalyst enabling such a change. It inspired me to write my story, which, almost as soon as it was finished, got lost to a computer crash.
When I finally recovered most of my manuscript and picked up the book to finish after all that time, countries all over the globe had also just been through the crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic. The death and fear felt among the world’s population was met by countries all over the world with extremely restrictive policies, severely limiting personal freedoms and even personal movement. Looking at my story after all that time, I found as relevant now as it was when I began writing it twenty years earlier, if not almost prophetic. I was reinspired to complete and publish my work.
Nick Ehrlich is capable but also physically worn, grieving, and burdened by his past; why was it important to you to create a thriller protagonist with those vulnerabilities?
I wanted to give the story a sense of plausibility and believability. I think those vulnerabilities made Nick a much more believable and real character. His taking on a mission to fulfill a promise to his murdered friends made the mission which had national consequences, more of a personal ordeal. I thought his past, his grief, and his aching middle-aged body all served as both obstacles to overcome and motivation to fulfill the mission.
The wilderness around King’s Table feels almost like another character in the novel. How did your own experience as an outdoorsman shape those survival scenes?
My background in arboriculture and forestry required me to spend a lot of time outdoors and to become a keen observer of very small details. I unconsciously apply those skills when I would spend recreational time in the outdoors. I always try very hard to paint a picture for the reader. When I would write the outdoor scenes, I easily put myself in those places and remember all the fine little details that helped paint the picture. In addition, if you’ve ever spent any extended time alone, especially at night, the wilderness takes on a personality and character all its own. The noises, the colors, the natural phenomena all of it. I tried to express that in the story.
Since this is the first installment in a larger series, what themes, conflicts, or character journeys introduced in Patriots of the King’s Table are you most excited to explore in future books?
This second book is the setup for the final novel in the series, which of course takes place in the future. I’m rather excited to explore not only Michael and Nick Jr’s journey from young boys to adult leaders of the resistance, but also their friendship and partnership. On the other side of the conflict, I’m anxious to develop David Stone’s journey from Rolf Visser’s right-hand man to mastermind of the regime’s strategy to eliminate the resistance once and for all. And finally, the good versus evil theme is something that I want to intensify.
Patriots of the King’s Table is a fast-paced, easy reading thriller/suspense story. Follow the exploits of Nick Ehrlich and Gwen Walker who are in possession of a package of sensitive and crucial information known only as “The Document.” The current US government has become a ruthless authoritarian regime, taking ever more power after a series of staged internal and international crisis. Their goal is to get the document out of the country to a group of patriots on the other side of the border in Canada. They are relentlessly pursued by Rolf Visser, head of the new regime’s security apparatus, and a man who will stop at absolutely nothing to keep them from completing their mission. Their perilous journey involves several breath-taking close calls, running gun battles, wily deceptions and help from an underground network that aids them along their journey. A December – May romance grows between Nick and Gwen as they share their intense journey. Patriots of the King’s Table will leave you on the edge of your seat as you follow them on their mission. Patriots of the King’s Table is the first book in the Patriots series, and just the beginning for Nick and Gwen and the other patriots.
So You Want To Be An Astronaut by Linda Soules is an engaging and informative guide for children ages ten to fourteen who dream of traveling into space. Rather than presenting the career as effortless or glamorous, Soules explains the years of education, training, discipline, and teamwork required before an astronaut ever reaches the launchpad. Readers learn about underwater spacewalk practice, survival training, emergency drills, orbital mechanics, and the physical and emotional demands of living far from Earth.
One of the book’s greatest strengths, and really the strength of the whole series, is its ability to explain complicated scientific ideas in a clear, age-appropriate way. Topics such as microgravity, life-support systems, spacesuits, and the effects of spaceflight on the human body are presented without overwhelming the reader. The book also explores daily life aboard the International Space Station, where ordinary activities such as sleeping, eating, exercising, and using the bathroom must be completely adapted. Soules balances these technical details with memorable facts and vivid descriptions that make the experience of space travel feel real.
The colorful illustrations, short sections, fact boxes, and glossary make the book especially appealing and easy to explore. Historical profiles of astronauts such as Valentina Tereshkova, Yuri Gagarin, and Mae Jemison add inspiration and show how pioneering individuals helped make human spaceflight possible. The book also recognizes the engineers, scientists, mission controllers, doctors, and other professionals who support every mission, helping young readers understand that there are many different ways to build a career in space exploration.
So You Want To Be An Astronaut is an exceptional introduction to both the wonder and the reality of becoming an astronaut. It encourages children to dream boldly while reminding them that extraordinary accomplishments require preparation, perseverance, curiosity, and courage. Most importantly, the closing sections offer practical steps, activities, and further resources that young readers can begin using now. This honest, beautifully presented guide will inspire space-loving children while giving them a realistic understanding of the work behind the dream.
S. F. Williams’s The Scarecrow’s Secret is a character-driven small-town crime mystery that places a murder investigation inside the close, complicated community of Nyes Landing. When migrant worker Blanca Sanchez is found murdered in a corn maze during the town’s harvest festival, Detective Callum “Cal” Nowak is drawn into a case crowded with possible suspects, conflicting accounts, buried family secrets, and local prejudices. Williams makes good use of the festival setting, moving from bonfires, scarecrows, farm animals, and autumn crowds into an increasingly serious investigation. The mystery develops methodically as Cal follows physical evidence, revisits assumptions, and gradually discovers that Blanca’s death is connected to secrets extending well beyond the night of the murder.
Cal gives the novel much of its personality. He’s capable and persistent, but he’s also impulsive, sarcastic, emotionally guarded, and still learning what it means to be both a detective and a dependable partner. His first-person narration allows the procedural elements of the case to sit comfortably beside humor, friendships, family history, and the routines of life in Nyes Landing. Williams also gives substantial attention to Cal’s relationship with Demetrius, particularly as the dangers of police work begin affecting their life together. Demetrius’s admission, “I love you, Cal. I love you, too. But I don’t love your job,” distills one of the book’s strongest personal conflicts: loving someone whose profession repeatedly exposes both partners to consequences neither can fully control.
The novel’s larger concerns deepen the mystery without displacing it. Blanca’s murder unfolds amid racism, hostility toward migrant workers, homophobia, political opportunism, domestic violence, disability, and the unequal ways people are treated according to their status in a community. These issues become part of the investigation because they shape what witnesses notice, whom people suspect, whose testimony receives attention, and what victims are able to say safely. Williams is particularly effective when the case forces Cal to reconsider an apparently simple explanation and continue investigating after others are ready to settle for an easier conclusion. The eventual discoveries involving the O’Leary family give the title real significance and connect the central murder to a longer history of concealment and abuse. The recovery of human remains beneath the barn further reinforces how thoroughly the present crime is rooted in the past.
The Scarecrow’s Secret succeeds as both a murder mystery and another chapter in Cal’s continuing personal story. Williams balances investigative developments with an unusually populated community, giving Nyes Landing the feeling of a place whose residents have histories with one another that extend beyond the immediate crime. That continuity makes the final portion especially effective: solving the case brings consequences rather than simple closure, while Cal’s relationship troubles, his unresolved search for his mother’s killer, and the changing lives around him remain active parts of his story. By the end, the book’s interest in justice has broadened beyond identifying a murderer to include responsibility, protection, prejudice, and the damage people leave behind. It’s an engaging, compassionate crime novel whose mystery matters because the people caught inside it matter.
Before I Was Jesus: Twenty-Five Secret Identities of Jesus is a devotional Bible study built around one central claim: the visible appearances of God throughout the Old Testament were appearances of the pre-incarnate Christ. Dr. Gerald D. Robison asks readers to consider who Jesus was, what he was called, and what he was doing before his birth in Bethlehem. His stated purpose is personal as well as theological, encouraging readers to recognize Jesus more readily and deepen their relationship with him.
The book develops that idea through twenty-five identities, including “I Am,” the Angel of the Lord, the Word of the Lord, the Commander of the Lord’s Army, Immanuel, Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Shalom, the Good Shepherd, and the Rock. Robison moves between Old and New Testament passages, treating the Bible as one continuous account centered on Christ. Rather than presenting the material as an academic argument, he writes much of the book in Jesus’s voice, as though Jesus were personally guiding the reader through familiar stories and pointing out where he had previously gone unrecognized.
That first-person approach gives the book warmth and immediacy. Robison’s voice is enthusiastic, pastoral, and easy to follow, with everyday illustrations drawn from superheroes, songs, historical figures, and ordinary life. He frequently pauses to summarize his reasoning or speak directly to the reader, which makes the book feel closer to a sermon or guided devotional than a conventional work of theology. The same ideas return often, especially the distinction between the invisible Father and the visible Son. That repetition reinforces the book’s message, though readers accustomed to denser biblical scholarship may feel that some chapters could make their point more efficiently.
This book will be appreciated most by evangelical Christian readers who enjoy devotional studies, Christ-centered interpretations of the Old Testament, and a teacher who writes with strong personal conviction. It would also suit Bible study groups looking for a clear theme that can spark discussion about theophanies, the Trinity, and the relationship between the two Testaments. Readers should approach it as Robison’s confident theological interpretation. For its intended audience, it offers an affectionate and accessible invitation to reread familiar biblical stories with Jesus placed firmly at their center.
Stay Spooky is a lively Halloween picture book built around one big question: Why do we say “Trick or Treat?” Trick Ghastly, a glowing jack-o’-lantern with plenty of personality, sets off to find the answer after a group of costumed children surprises him at his house. His search carries him through a corn maze, a graveyard, an abandoned theme park, and a dark forest, gathering an increasingly oddball group of friends along the way. The story is told in rhyme, which gives it the bounce of a Halloween read-aloud and keeps Trick’s quest moving at a quick pace.
A big part of the book’s fun comes from its repeated scares and reveals. Trick keeps encountering something that looks frightening, only to discover a familiar Halloween character behind the commotion. Tiny ghosts turn out to be Lester the mummy tossing toilet paper, giant bone claws belong to a prank by Gary the ghost, and a threatening web comes from Charlie the spider hanging decorations. Each new character gets pulled into Trick’s search, so the story gradually turns from one pumpkin’s curiosity into a group adventure. That repetition gives younger readers a pattern they can anticipate, while the silly dialogue keeps the characters from feeling interchangeable.
The illustrations are especially important to the book’s personality. Nearly every spread is packed with deep purples, glowing greens, bright oranges, crooked trees, moonlit skies, candy, cobwebs, and expressive Halloween creatures. The spooky settings have enough atmosphere to feel exciting, but the exaggerated faces and cartoonish action keep the mood playful. Trick’s glowing carved face works particularly well as an emotional anchor because his expressions change with every scare, question, and discovery. Some of the strongest pages are the large environmental scenes, such as the twisting corn maze, the abandoned theme park, and the swirling portal of light that introduces the Halloween Spirit. The pictures give readers plenty to notice beyond the rhyming text and make the book feel like a whole Halloween world.
The final stretch gives Trick the answer he’s been chasing when the Halloween Spirit appears and explains the book’s version of the tradition behind trick-or-treating. From there, the story turns celebratory, with Trick carrying his new pumpkin glow home, sharing it with others, and ending the night with a Halloween party. That makes the book feel less like a lesson and more like a curious character’s journey toward understanding something he’s always taken for granted. With its rhyming narration, goofy monster cast, repeated surprises, and richly illustrated Halloween settings, Stay Spooky: Trick Ghastly is the kind of book that seems designed to be read aloud with plenty of dramatic voices, well-timed “boos,” and a little extra enthusiasm when October rolls around.
Mike Woodmansee’s The Billionaire of Living: Building a Life Money Can’t Buy is a memoir of endurance, adventure, and deliberate personal growth. Organized around a series of ambitious “LIFE GOALS,” the book follows Woodmansee from a childhood shaped by physical limitations and fear through decades of mountaineering, distance running, triathlon, wilderness trekking, and mentorship. Its central idea is that richness comes from purposeful experiences, sustained effort, and generosity. Woodmansee states the book’s scope clearly: “This is a book about how life can be,” a description that suits its blend of autobiography, practical guidance, and reflection.
The narrative’s strongest sections place the reader inside demanding physical experiences. Expeditions on Denali, Aconcagua, Cho Oyu, and Everest are presented alongside the Boston Marathon, the Ironman World Championship, long-distance routes through Washington, and recurring trips to places such as Stehekin and the Enchantment Lakes. Woodmansee pays close attention to preparation, equipment, weather, injury, fatigue, route finding, and team dynamics. This level of specificity gives the book the texture of an expedition journal while supporting its broader argument that confidence is built through repeated practice, calculated risk, adaptation, and honest assessment.
Woodmansee’s voice is direct, energetic, and candid about both achievement and failure. He recounts injuries, fear, missed objectives, strained relationships, and his unsuccessful Everest summit attempt without separating them from the successes that followed. The book’s cumulative structure reinforces his belief that a meaningful life is created over decades, one demanding choice at a time. Its recurring lessons about planning, discipline, physical health, and supportive relationships give the memoir a coaching quality, while the many names, dates, routes, and performance details create a substantial personal record of an unusually active life.
The book ultimately finds its emotional center in shared experience. Although Woodmansee’s accomplishments provide the narrative framework, he places increasing emphasis on family members, climbing partners, training companions, younger athletes, and the hundreds of people who joined him outdoors. His observation that “The best memories and finest experiences of my life are the adventures I shared with them” captures the generosity behind the title. The Billionaire of Living is a sincere and expansive account of a life organized around challenging goals, close companionship, and the conviction that the most valuable rewards are earned through participation.
Raji Abraham’s Irreconcilable: A Novel of Memory, Intelligence, and the Decision That Broke the World is an ambitious blend of speculative fiction, neuroscience, and philosophical argument. Its central idea is immediately compelling: six people are chosen to oversee Prometheus, an extraordinarily powerful artificial intelligence, but each arrives with a different way of understanding danger, progress, morality, systems, culture, and human interconnectedness. Abraham calls them the Danger-Aware, Optimist, Systems, Pluralist, Moral, and Holistic Guardians. What gives that framework weight is the book’s insistence that these aren’t simply opinions people have chosen. Each worldview has been built through memory. Karim Al-Rashid’s fixation on low-probability catastrophes, for example, grows out of childhood experiences in war and refugee camps where overlooking a small risk could mean death. Amara Okoro’s appetite for possibility comes from a very different history in which taking chances repeatedly opened doors. The same pattern carries through Wei, Priya, David, and Mak. By the time the six meet in Geneva, their arguments about AI feel less like a panel discussion and more like six lifetimes colliding.
The novel’s unusual structure is also what makes it interesting. Abraham spends much of the first half introducing the Guardians individually, moving through childhood memories, professional experiences, relationships, and explanations of how those experiences may have shaped their neural pathways. The neuroscience is unusually explicit for a novel, and Abraham clearly wants readers to understand the machinery behind conviction. That approach makes Irreconcilable feel at times like a novel, a case study, and a thought experiment sharing the same pages. It can be repetitive, particularly when the narrative explains a psychological pattern soon after the surrounding story has already demonstrated it, but that repetition also serves the book’s larger design. Abraham wants us to notice how a successful mental pattern hardens into certainty. More importantly, he gives every Guardian both a genuine strength and a corresponding blind spot. Karim can see the three-percent danger everyone else minimizes, but he can also mistake fear for foresight. Priya can bridge radically different perspectives, but she has trouble accepting that some differences may not be bridgeable. Mak sees webs of connection everywhere, while slowly confronting the possibility that some broken pieces really don’t form a single whole.
In that respect, Irreconcilable reminded me most of Ted Chiang’s fiction, particularly the way Chiang uses speculative technology to expose a deeper problem about being human. Abraham is more explanatory and expansive than Chiang, but they share an interest in questions that technology reveals. Prometheus may be the most powerful intelligence in the room, yet the novel’s real subject is the six humans trying to decide what intelligence should be allowed to do. The four council meetings become progressively more difficult as abstract discussions of values turn into questions of control, geopolitical competition, alignment, and finally deployment. What’s especially effective is that the climactic decision doesn’t suddenly reveal which Guardian has been correct all along. Prometheus produces extraordinary benefits after deployment, including disease prevention, food-system improvements, and scientific advances, while also making optimization choices that Karim and others find deeply disturbing. The result fits the novel’s argument perfectly. Everyone saw something real. Nobody saw everything.
That’s what stayed with me most about Irreconcilable. It’s a book about artificial intelligence that keeps bringing the reader back to memory, and a book about disagreement that treats disagreement as something deeper than stubbornness or lack of information. The title gradually takes on a more unsettling meaning because the Guardians aren’t irreconcilable simply because they refuse to compromise. Their minds have been shaped by different evidence about what the world is and what keeps people alive inside it. Even their attempts at compromise carry the fingerprints of those histories. The haunting final image of Prometheus continuing to optimize while the Guardian Council fractures gives the novel an appropriately uncomfortable ending: humanity has created an intelligence capable of acting at a scale no individual worldview can contain, yet the people responsible for guiding it remain creatures of partial experience. Irreconcilable turns that tension into its central question. If none of us can see the whole picture, how do we make decisions that affect everyone? Abraham doesn’t package that question into a reassuring answer. He leaves it with the reader, which feels exactly right for a novel built around the limits of certainty.
