Tag: Book Reviews

Do You Hate Cliffhangers?

Posted on by Marcha's Two-Cents Worth in Book Status, Native American history, Native American Prophecy, Native Americans, Northern Cheyenne culture, Uncategorized

Are you a reader like my daughter who avoids serials* until all volumes have been released?

Like the Curse of Dead Horse Canyon trilogy?

Sorry about the wait, folks. Two factors slowed down the saga’s completion: Disruptions to both authors’ lives and research.

Especially research!

If you’ve been waiting, (even though book 3 came out awhile back), your patience is about to pay off.

All three novels will be released as a single mega boxset ebook on April 18!

Preorder now to reserve your copy at a bargain price of $9.99 with the ebook delivered electronically as soon as its released. All three books are complete and unabridged, 2266 pages worth plus an addendum not found anywhere else.

See? Good things come to those who wait.

Assuming you haven’t read book 3, “The Revenge of Dead Horse Canyon: Sweet Medicine Spirits – Novavose,” you’ll find it has a different pace than the others, especially once Charlie embarks on his ceremonial four-day fast.

Be prepared for a deep dive into Cheyenne history, culture, and ceremonies seldom represented in fiction! Those of you who relish immersion in anthropology through fictitious characters and situations imbued with historical truth will treasure these chapters.

Not so much if you’re looking for wham-bang suspense with no other substance.

I must warn you, however, if you’re tempted to skip the fasting sequence, be aware it’s the most consequential part, not only of the third book, but the entire saga. Consider that it drove the title as well as the picture of the Sacred Mountain on the original cover. The ending has far less meaning without that context, as one disgruntled reader expressed in a very nasty review.

Readers’ Favorite, however, gave it 5-stars and a glowing review that among other complimentary things states, “Stands out for its sharp writing and complete ability to immerse readers, especially in Charlie’s spiritual transformation. [His] heritage is painted from the sky to the smallest pebble and the fire burning in between. This finale succeeds with a perfect 10 landing. Very, very highly recommended.”

The cover for the ebook trilogy is a bit different than the others. Not only does it feature “AI Charlie,” whom you may have already met in the trailer video, but blatantly captures the saga’s overall theme. The trilogy’s description has a different spin when viewed from the ten-thousand foot level. Same novels, but the collective vibe is slightly different. Furthermore, upon request, a glossary of Native American words and phrases has been added along with a closer look at the Earth Giving Ceremony too detailed to include in the story.

 Its online description states:

The Curse of Dead Horse Trilogy ebook includes all three books of this multi-award winning saga! If you hate cliffhangers and waited until it was complete, this is what you’ve been waiting for. Furthermore, the addendum includes a glossary as well as additional information on Cheyenne practices with a comprehensive look at their Earth Giving Ceremony.

Order your copy now and prepare to be consumed by a story that brings a vast government conspiracy face-to-face with Cheyenne history, prophesy, and ceremony. After centuries of lies, oppression and broken treaties will justice be served at last?

You can preorder your copy here.

I hope you enjoy the completion of this saga. I must admit that I knew exactly how it was going to end from the first book, but didn’t know how it would transpire until Charlie’s fast. The research was worth its weight in gold showing how the ending was not so much of a stretch after all. Prophesy tends to be fulfilled, sooner or later.

*Per Google AI, “While both “serial” and “series” refer to a sequence of things, “series” generally describes a collection of related items or events, while “serial” specifically implies a story or narrative told in installments, often with an ongoing plot.”

Review of “Memories of MK-ULTRA: Journey of Discovery from Darkness to Deliverance” by Bill Yarborough

Posted on by Marcha's Two-Cents Worth in Book Reviews, conspiracies, Genocide, Uncategorized, US History

This book deserves to be a Best Seller for more reasons than I can count. For one thing, it’s informative. If you’ve never heard of MK-ULTRA, this will give you a close-up-and-personal view of what it was about.  If you’re naive or unaware of some of the things that the U.S. Government has done, then it’s going to enlighten you in that area, also.

Indigenous people were not the only people the government lied to and abused. Many of their own natural-born citizens were used in experiments, often without their knowledge, much less consent.

Previous to reading this story I knew the basics of this program, specifically that it involved the CIA following up on work in mind-control techniques conducted by the Nazis during WWII. That alone, much less being highly classified, should be enough to demonstrate it was nothing short of evil.  

I happened upon this book at an opportune time. Based on what I knew, I used MK-ULTRA as a backstory for a character in my latest book, “Revenge of Dead Horse Canyon: Sweet Medicine Spirits – Novavose.”

Oddly enough, while writing the story, MK-ULTRA arrived at my muse’s bidding and I wondered if it was a credible explanation for one of the character’s idiosyncrasies. My research seemed to validate it, but it was gratifying when nothing in this story contradicted what I’d assumed. Numerous scenarios in this book fit my character’s odd traits perfectly.  Synchronicity, perhaps?

Actually, I have some very sharp muses who lead me to all sorts of things that turn out to be accurate and a perfect fit for the plot. Which is what I love about writing fiction.

The fact that the author is an MK-ULTRA survivor says it all. While written as a novel, the level of detail is such that its reality is inescapable. It pulls you right in, moving along at a fast pace and alternating between Tommy Matthews’ life after being subject to their experiments and flashbacks indicating what was done to him to motivate it.

While all the antagonists in the story are certainly evil, some are darker than others. From the purely scientific side, understanding how the brain and memory work is fascinating, useful data. It helps psychiatrists understand and help their patients. But when it turns to controlling another person’s life by programming them as an innocent child to pursue a malevolent destiny it’s another story. Using torture such as isolation, hallucinatory drugs, electric shock, and ritual sexual abuse to achieve it definitely treads on criminal as well as unethical ground.

Preventing this sort of thing is what the post-WWII Nuremburg Trials were all about!

It was fascinating to read of Tommy’s perceptions, then learn how that particular impression was programmed into him in the next chapter. One question that ran in the back of my mind was how on earth could responsible parents subject their children to such experiments? This was clarified by the end, which made it even more tragic. Some people simply should not be allowed to have children.

Yet who is qualified to define the criteria? Years ago, Indigenous people were subjected to forced sterilization as a means of genocide. Again, by the U.S. Government. See what I mean? Who decides who’s qualified to be a proper parent? Certainly not the government!

If brain research tell us anything, it’s that there are other realities outside the corporeal world and that “consciousness” goes beyond what is visible with our natural eyes. Aliens, UFOs, remote viewing, prophecy, shamanism, near-death experiences (NDEs), and everything else defined as “paranormal” are elusive when it comes to scientific investigation. Thus, closed-minded people dismiss them as hoaxes, imagination, superstitions, and so forth.

While this story did not emphasize the paranormal, there were enough references to sense its presence, which gave it all the more interest. My jaw literally dropped when I read the last sentence in Chapter 76.

When the three children grow up and start to remember and compare notes, it’s impossible to put the book down. I’m not a fan of “horror stories” and elements in this story fall into that realm, some downright gruesome, cruel, and heartbreaking. While it’s shocking that these innocent children and numerous others were subjected to these horrific experiments, the author presented them in an objective, journalistic way rather than exploit them in a graphic, gratuitous manner. Nonetheless, you cannot “unsee” what was revealed.

Anyone who doesn’t believe that a battle for the minds and souls of men has existed for millennia  needs to read this book. If you know nothing about MK-ULTRA you are likely to be shocked. But being blind to unpleasant realities is what allows evil to persist, often right beneath our noses.

You can get a copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Memories-MK-Ultra-Discovery-Darkness-Deliverance/dp/1963844262/

Review of “Skinwalkers” by Tony Hillerman

Posted on by Marcha's Two-Cents Worth in Book Reviews, Native Americans

After binge watching the first two seasons of Dark Winds with my granddaughter, I wanted to see what the Hillerman books are like. I chose this one hoping for the mystery and intrigue seen in the TV rendition of another novel in the series, “Listening Woman,” which comprised the basis for the first season.

The story centers around three murders that Navajo Tribal Police Lieutenant, Joe Leaphorn, is trying to connect and solve. Someone has also tried to kill Officer Jim Chee by firing a shotgun into his trailer. Strange bone beads are found in the victims, one of which is also found in Chee’s trailer, which are what introduces the possibility of witchcraft into the story.

While I enjoyed it, it lacked the creepy sense of magic I expected. It had plenty of plot twists and the usual suspense regarding “whodunnit” but didn’t quite measure up to what I was hoping for, especially with such an intriguing title. Very little was mentioned about those entities, much less sorcery and the dark side of the Navajo culture, other than in a vague, informative way. All it touched on was the belief that such existed and that it may have been behind the murders. Needless to say, this is something that Navajos don’t like to talk about, but makes fascinating stories.

There were a few good tidbits about the Navajo culture, however, such as not mentioning the name of the deceased and “wearing out their name.” The significance of the bone beads was likewise fascinating, but not as creepy or scary with paranormal implications as they could have been described.

No doubt the TV show “The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch” on the History Channel, which is indeed fascinating, gripping, and usually creepier and scarier than this book, is going to send readers to this series and more specifically this particular book. If that’s your motivation, be warned you are likely to be disappointed, as I was.

I may try another book in the series, perhaps a newer one written by Anne Hillerman, Tony’s daughter, who assumed writing the series upon her father’s passing. Far be it from me as a fellow author to criticize books that are best sellers, but as a reader it did not measure up to what I expected. (The problem with being an author yourself is you’re not an unbiased reader anymore, but part editor and part critic.)

This book was written in 1986 and they’ve updated the cover, but I don’t know if they’ve also reprinted it. The hardcover copy I received from an Amazon vendor was clearly used and had a pricetag on it from Goodwill for $4.99 while I paid $17.62.

You can pick up a copy on Amazon here:

or try https://www.bookfinder.com for a better deal on books that are out of print or been around for awhile.

Review of Nancy Red Star’s “Star Ancestors: Extraterrestrial Contact in the Native American Tradition

Posted on by Marcha's Two-Cents Worth in Book Reviews, Indigenous wisdom, Native American history, Native Americans, spirituality, Uncategorized

This book is a masterful work of art in addition to containing a collection of personal experiences from members of several different tribes. These include Navajo, Mi’kmaq, Abenaki, Seneca, Cherokee, Tarahumara, Maya, Olmec, Yaqui, Creek, and Choctaw.

Though testimonials about UFO encounters are included, the majority of the book is on a more spiritual level, dealing with other types of connections with the Star People. These include the importance of ceremony, previous lost civilizations from millennia ago, high technology in the distant past, the origin of indigenous people, and prophecies of the future, which is upon us now.

The book has been around a while, the original copyright in 2000, then renewed in 2012. In today’s world that’s a long time and many things prophesied that may not yet have occurred by either of those dates have by now.

I think my favorite section was “We Wander This World with a Purpose” by Mali Keating. She spoke of the Hopi, where they came from, and their numerous prophecies. Here’s an excerpt of one section that explained so much about our modern world.

“The Anasazi were a people left over from the migration. The people were told they must never stop and build cities, but of course some did…. Cities make people crazy, as we all know. People become greedy and lose the ability to work together.”

Here’s another, that may not have been as apparent when this book was first released as it is now:

“The Hopi said that they would know that the end is coming when roads crisscrossed this continent like the web of a spider–those are the vapor trails of airplanes. You can see vapor trails like the webs of spiders in the sky.”

Actually, roads on which we drive crisscross the continent, too. Those trails in the sky,  however, are not vapor trails, they are called chemtrails. Vapor trails are condensation from normal airplanes whereas chemtrails are chemicals such as barium and aluminum being deliberately sprayed in the atmosphere to supposedly combat climate change. This, like so much else out there today, is a lie. If anything, they are causing the climate to go crazy by facilitating weather manipulation.

There are numerous photos of indigenous art and the layout of the book itself is genius, between Nancy Red Star’s commentaries before each entry to her free verse poetry at the conclusion. Reading these stories is not just informative, it’s an experience of another realm beyond what meets the eyes.

A realm that Native Americans and all indigenous people understand.

May we all learn from their ancient wisdom before it’s too late.

5-stars, Highly Recommended

Available from Amazon and InnerTraditions.com