Decipher - Stel Pavlou

In this fascinating blend of science, mythology, and language, ancient monuments the world over are being awakened by a signal emanating from deep within the ice of Antarctica. The signal contains secrets that threaten to destroy the world. Atlantis has awoken. Ancient monuments all over the worlds from the Pyramids of Giza, to Mexico to the ancient sites of China are reacting to a brewing crisis not of this earth, but somewhere out in the solar system. Connecting to each other through the oceans. Using low frequency sound waves to create an ancient network. The earth is thrown into panic stations. For it seems that the signals emanating from Atlantis are a prelude to something much greater. Could it be that the entire city is in fact one giant ancient machine? What purpose would such a machine be built for, and who built it? It is the year 2012, the same year Mayan belief prophesized the end of the world. War for the control of the most potent force ever known to man has broken out, but what is war to the destruction of the entire race. There are secrets in Atlantis, secrets that are encoded in crystal shards retrieved from the sunken city. Secrets that Mankind has had twelve thousand years to decipher, but which will now destroy it within one week.
The mix of sciences, mythology and language are a great part of this book. Not one of them would have been able to solve the riddle of the sphinx, or translate the message left for us over 12,000 years ago. All had to work together to save mankind.
This was a great read. I am not a science person, but I do like hearing new theories in science, but this book is not just about science, it is about language; where it came from, how it evolved and how it relates to the legends and myths from around the world. I could not put this book down and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes to think outside the box.

Guns, Drugs and Monsters – by Steve Niles

A Cal McDonald mystery

This was a fun, quick read, only 196 pages, several of which are blank filler pages. The story, however, had a very noir feeling to it. There is the old, scarred detective, named Cal Mcdonald, living in a rat-hole of a place, where it always seems to be raining and working jobs no one else will touch. Just one thing though, he works cases that involve the supernatural. You know, things like vampires, warewolves, and pimple faced kids using black magic. He also has a partner that is a Ghoul, which for those of you that don’t know, is an undead person walking around. Cal doesn’t seem to mind though, ghouls are very passive and hard workers. They make great postal workers.

This story starts out with Cal receiving a head in the mail. It is an old friend of his from LA, and after the head explains how it got there, Cal decides to pack his bag and head over to help fix things.

This is definitely a bizarre trip through an America populated by monsters, freaks and ghouls. The book was printed in Canada and costs $16.99 but I found it at Borders. I loved reading it and I think anyone with a sense of humor and a fondness for the strange and unusual, will like it as well. You can read this book without reading any of the others, but I think I’m hooked and will be buying some of the other Cal McDonald mysteries, starting with Savage Membrane.

Jenn