Flash Point is a great late Summer Read from Thomas Locke

Have you ever had a dream where you were just flying across the sky, unhindered by anything physical? Well, ok, so maybe I am the only one who has ever had a dream like that. That’s sort of what I imagine the characters in Thomas Locke’s newest work Flash Point experience when they “ascend”. Only they are not even limited by time and space in their journey.

Flash Point continues the story from Trial Run which was published last year but you don’t have to have read that book in order to enjoy the new one. Enough of the back story is included so that the reader will not be lost as to why the characters are important in the current volume. But for those who read the first installment in the series, you’ll recognize several prominent characters. Brett Riffkind, Charlie Hazard, and Reese Clawson are all intertwined again in the drama and espionage that unfold in this story. We are also introduced to some new characters with the lead being Lena Fennan who is drawn into a series of events that change her world forever.

The pace of the story is fast. The reader is drawn into the next chapter naturally and most will find it hard to put the book down or to stop swiping the page of your kindle reader once you meet Lena in her New York City cubicle. The settings are realistic and as usual well described so that you can see the action as it is happening. There is intrigue, romance, tension, danger, sadness, and joy to be found in the reading of Flash Point. It has all the marks of a great science fiction work but maintains the tether to the real world enough that you start to believe this thing just might exist in some lab somewhere.

I really enjoyed reading this volume in the series. I hope there is more to come. I can’t wait to see where the story leads next as the possibilities are truly endless. What would you do if you had access to any information and I do mean any from the future or the past or the present? That’s the ethical question that the characters face in this series. As the series moves forward, where will they end up. If only we had one of the nets for real we could already know!

I give this book a five star rating. It’s entertaining, engaging, and is well written as usual. The characters are realistically portrayed as are the settings for the action. The technology is probable and the use is definitely believable if it were real. This series will make a great movie plot someday.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell in exchange for my honest review.

About Thomas Locke

Thomas Locke is an award-winning novelist with total worldwide sales of seven million copies.

His work has been published in twenty languages, and critical acclaim includes four Christy Awards for excellence in fiction and his 2014 induction into the Christy Hall of Fame.

Thomas divides his time between Florida and England, where he serves as Writer In Residence at Regent’s Park College at The University of Oxford. Visit Thomas at http://tlocke.com.

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It's a sad week for America!

This is a sad week in America. It should have been a happy week. It should have been a week of celebration but instead it is a week of mourning. My Facebook wall has been deluged with so many conflicting thoughts from my friends. I’ve said it before; I have a diverse group of friends on most issues. I don’t believe this is an issue that can be addressed in 140 characters or maybe even 140 years!

First, I’m not a black or dark skinned individual. I have no way or no right to tell others how they should feel. You feel how you feel; whether I think it’s right or wrong doesn’t matter. If I don’t feel the same on that issue, that shouldn’t force me to negate your feelings. I can stand with you even if I don’t have the experiences to be at the same place as you are. I’ve never been scared that I was going to be shot by a police officer. But I have been asked to step out of my car when a police officer had his gun drawn and pointed directly at me, but that’s a story for another time. My experiences led me to trust that the officer would understand I wasn’t the one he was after. Had I been black my experience might have led me to a different conclusion. I’ll never know because I am not black. So let’s stop telling black people how to feel unless we’ve been there ourselves.

Yet, I do think we can work on the way we think. And I think that’s the real issue with what’s going on in our country this week. So let me help you think through some things that I have been thinking through in light of all that’s happened this week. And whether we are black or white, whether we think all cops are great or all cops are evil, whether we think the system is rigged or completely fair, we all can benefit from thinking the issues through before we react.

Justice is not completely blind in America. It never has been. There have always been privileged individuals and classes and races of people in our country. We still have a long way to go to provide equal justice for all. My family members who are poor and white don’t get the same representation as someone who is rich and white, or rich and black for that matter. If you “know” the right people, you can sometimes get things done that you couldn’t otherwise. But, this country is better than most on the matter of civil rights and working toward the ideal of justice for all. At least we have the ideal before us and the freedom to protest when we feel that we are not getting treated justly.

While certainly not the cause of the unrest, the unfettered access to social media is like a hand grenade in a dynamite factory. It has the capacity to make things explode quickly! We rush to judgment before the facts of the matter are even known based on what we see on our feeds and apps. The news reports are quick to post the videos not wanting to be scooped by the other sources. Sometimes our rushed judgments are correct in the end, but other times there is more to the story than we see at first. Some people are happy that the rush to judgment over Hillary Clinton’s email policy was proven at least by the FBI to be much ado about nothing. Yet we are quick to judge every police officer and post our convictions about his or her motive based on a video uploaded from a cell phone. The court of public opinion has never had more sway than in our day and age. If we want justice, let’s let that play out in the due process guaranteed under our way of law. If that doesn’t come out the way it should, then we can protest, then we can work toward changing the system. I don’t know who’s right in the deaths filmed this week. Time will tell. But this much I know, I don’t know all the facts of any of the cases.

It’s a tragedy anytime someone has to or chooses to take another life. It hurts my heart that my friends feel afraid of being stopped by a cop because they are black. It hurts my heart that my friends who are cops feel afraid to do their job for fear of being shot in the process or having to take another person’s life in the line of duty. I’m not choosing sides because I don’t have the courage to do so, but because I think I have to choose both sides. The truth is that all lives matter to me because they matter to my God.

There are many other factors but let me stop for today with this thought. When you remove the foundation for the Declaration of Independence and subsequent governing documents, that all men are created equal and endowed with certain rights by their Creator, you begin to have serious issues as a nation. We have taught our young men and women that they are no different than the animals for years now. We have continually spread the word that there is nothing special in mankind, nothing sacred, nothing of worth and value through the idea that we have evolved. We have not valued every life, only those that are convenient and wanted. We have created a society that does not have a reason to value another life whether it is black or white. We have said that all that matters for a police officer is to come home to his or her family because the only life that matters to him or her is their own. We have reared generations that continues to become more self-concerned and self-absorbed through the years, including my own.

The church has allowed our message to be blocked out because we have refused to stand in the marketplace of ideas and argue our cause on the merits of truth itself. We have undercut the power of the gospel by our refusal to live out the principles of it when it costs us part of the American dream. By failing to demonstrate that Jesus is real in our lives, we have made His claims untrue in the eyes of our neighbors and friends.

There is much talk about love today and will be for a period of time. But love devoid of source of truth is mere sentimentality. And sentiments change over time. We need to teach the truth of God’s word, so that we may truly know what love is. We need to return to teaching our children to value life because every human being is made in the image of God. We need to teach them that their Creator both loves them and has a plan for their lives. We need to emphasize that the “Imagio Dei” found in everyone should cause us to value their life and work toward the best life possible for every human being. We need to teach them that God’s love for them is what led and kept Jesus on the cross as He died as a sacrifice for all our sins and the way back to a right relationship with our Creator God. This shouldn’t start in the White House but in my house and your house. It shouldn’t have to be legislated but lived out. We need to help our children learn the Golden Rule not as a philosophy of life but as a truth to be lived because it was taught by our Creator for our good. We need to re-think the idea that survival of the fittest is the way life is or should be. We are proving that Hosea 8:7 is true, “They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.” We won’t change our world via a Facebook post or even a blog like this. We’ll change our world when we pray and seek God’s face and then love our neighbor as we love ourselves. All of our neighbors regardless of color of skin or profession.

National Signing Day 2016

National Signing Day has become a certified “thing”. Heck it even has it’s own hastag, #NSD16 or #NationalSigningDay. I’m sure most teams have their own version like #16ATORS from Coach McElwain.

High school phenoms who have matured faster than their peers or possess more talent, or maybe have worked harder than the others hold fan bases at bay as they go on ESPN to tease with elaborate stage productions in front of cheering friends and potential entourage members as they tell us who they will grace with their talent for the next three years. Because we all know if you have a presser there’s no way you’re going to stay for four years and graduate before you bounce to the NFL and the money!

Since so many people ask me what I think about the Gator’s signing class each year and my response usually startles them when I say I really don’t care, I thought I’d take a chance to elaborate on why I don’t get caught up in NSD. Now, I love College Football and I’m passionate about Gator football in particular and the SEC in general. Just check back with me in August if you doubt.

Let’s take a look at the 2012. The Gators had the #3 Athlon ranked class and the #4 ranked class by ESPN. They signed 23 players in that class with 6 early enrollees. The four years for that class has expired in terms of football years. Here’s the breakdown for that class.

4 players left last year for the NFL draft. D. J. Humphries, Dante Fowler and Matt Jones were drafted and made the rosters of NFL teams after their Junior season. Damien Jacobs left early, was a free agent signee for the Bills and was cut by the team. If the goal of a player as it is for most is to get to the NFL then three out of the four reached their dream and even Jacobs got the shot that most only dream about.

9 players from that class transferred. Some went the Juco route, some to other universities. I didn’t bother to look up all of them so it’s hard to say how many of them will be drafted this year.  That’s 39% of the class that transferred out. The change in coaching staff certainly had something to do with that, but truthfully you’d have to be a hardcore Gator football junkie to be able to name fore than three of the transfers. Try it without google and see if you succeed.

That leaves 10 players left on the roster this past fall for their fourth year on campus. 6 of them were Red-shirted at some point in their career.  4 of them will return for their redshirt senior seasons this fall and at least two of them will see significant time in Bryan Cox and Marcus Maye. Austin Hardin likely will only kick off if he maintains that job unless the unproven Pineiro can’t handle the pressure. The other returner, Raphael Andrades was not heavily counted on last season and shouldn’t expect more this season. Alex McCalister is trying his luck in the draft after injuries slowed him last year and Jeremi Powell is leaving football and moving on with life.

The four that completed their eligibility all were significant contributors the last couple of years. Antonio Morrison, Latroy Pittman, Brian Poole, and Jonathan Bullard will be missed. But that means that only 17% of that class finished in four years and only 26% of that class contributed significant time in their fourth year of eligibility counting those who red shirted.

               So if you want to know why I just don’t care about recruiting rankings, that’s why. Only a quarter of the class will matter in the end. Those who can play will make a difference, but it won’t be known until the fall at the earliest. So check back with me in August and then we can get the debate rolling about what kind of team Florida will have. Check back with me in four years and we can debate about the merits of the class signing today. If they have won championships, then it will be a great class. If they have competed in the SEC championships then it will be a good class. If more than half of them are still here or in the NFL from leaving early then it will have been a great recruiting effort by Coach McElwain and his staff. Until then, they only have potential. And we all know what Coach Dikta once famously said about potential. IF you don’t, google it!

Review of the Fragment by Davis Bunn

Davis Bunn has done it again. That seems to be the way that most of my reviews begin of his books. However it remains true. Every time I read one of his books, I am always amazed and entertained.

The Fragment is a stand-alone story in many ways, but to fully grasp the importance of the Fragment you need to read his other book, The Pilgrim, which was released in July. You can read my review of that book here. The reason I say it can stand alone is that if you didn’t read the first book, you still get enough of the story in the second book for the plot to make perfect sense.

The reader is transported back in time in The Fragment and we are introduced both to a historical period and some great new characters. My only experience in Paris was a layover in the airport but I feel as if I have been there after reading this book. The other section of the story happens in old Constantinople or Istanbul for the modern reader and the setting is the time when the nation of Turkey is being born.

Having been to Istanbul many times and toured some of the sites mentioned in the book, I can tell you that Bunn has done a marvelous job of describing the architecture and ethos of that wonderful city. You will know exactly what it looks like as you read the pages of this book.

The story is compelling and draws the reader into a world of intrigue, romance, adventure, and faith. It is not only believable but it makes you want to get to know the people involved in a deeper way. The historical side is accurate, the settings are true, and the characters are developed in the typical excellence style of Davis Bunn.

After getting started reading this work, I found myself reading non-stop. I didn’t want to put my ipad down. I read during football games and basketball games over the weekend. My only regret was reaching the last page. Perhaps there is another story in there that will link the ancient characters of the Pilgrim through the period characters of The Fragment and connect to the characters we met in The Patmos Deception!

Once release is closer I will include links to the plot and character summaries provided by the publisher. But for now, this is a book you want to pre-order to read the day it becomes available. I think he has done it again and I can’t wait until the next release!

I received a free copy of the book from the publisher for my honest review and feedback!

Review of Thomas Locke's newest book, The Merchant of Alyss

If I were a mage and had an orb, I would point it at Thomas Locke and blast him right now half way across the world!

Not because I am disappointed in the writing of the second book in the series, The Merchant of Alyss, but simply because he hasn’t finished the last one yet and the ending of this one is just not right! I won’t give up the ending, but let me just say that I don’t think you will be happy either for the same reason. The anticipation is too much to endure. The story is too great, we must have the conclusion!

The Merchant of Alyss picks up the story of the hero Hyam after the conclusion of the first book Emissary. In the second book in the series the reader meets some new characters and continues to learn the stories of many of the characters in the debut book. As usual, those characters are well developed and contain complexities that make them lovable and intriguing. The plot is woven delicately through their stories or maybe the intersection of their life stories forms a perfect plot.

There is romance, adventure, magic, and intrigue to be found by the reader in The Merchant of Alyss. If you really engage in good fiction, then I doubt you will be able to put this book down for long. Each chapter leaves the reader longing for the next and to discover what is just around the next ridge or beyond the next vale in the journey.

The thing I like most about the writing style of Thomas Locke is that I don’t read the book, I imagine the story. I see the colors, feel the air, cower in fear, and relish in the life that is described on the pages. I read The Hobbit when I was in high school a long time ago and wondered if they could ever capture that on film. I was not disappointed when it finally was released. I feel the same way about the series being released by Locke. I know how I imagine the characters would look, but I hope one day that I will be able to compare my vision with the realized image on the big screen.

There is no need to read the first book in order to understand the journey the second takes the reader on, but if you haven’t read it, I think you will want to after completing The Merchant of Alyss. I would be willing to bet that if you read this one, you will be pre-ordering the third in the series as soon as you put down The Merchant of Alyss.

Oh, and Thomas if you don’t hurry, there might be more than one orb blast coming your way!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell in exchange for my honest review.

2015 Gator Football down the stretch

So as we move into November, it sure doesn’t feel like it here in Sunny Florida, let’s take a look at my football predictions for our Gators. Here’s what I wrote after the first four games as an update to what I wrote before the season.

But let’s look at the next four predictions. I said we would lose at home versus Ole Miss and I still stand by that prediction. I do think we have a better chance than I thought at the start of the season, but I don’t think our o-line can block well enough to give the run game any chance and Grier will have to be running for his life back there. Our only hope is that the young QB from Ole Miss will get rattled by the swamp and the hits from our defense and throw a couple of picks and maybe a pick-six!

The Missouri game is one that could change depending on the status of Maty Mauk. If he’s back from the suspension, it’s a toss-up and the loss on the road is still a definite chance. If he’s not, then I think the Gators will win that game and the chance for the magical season of 10-2 drastically increases. A lot hinges on what he did to get kicked out for one game!

Nothing has changed about my prediction for the LSU game. Well with the exception that unless #7 gets hurt, he’ll run for 200 yards against our weak Linebackers. They still win the game and now the next game against Georgia becomes huge!

I still think we can win against Georgia, but I must admit they are better than I thought they would be. However, they haven’t played the toughest of teams yet and this week we will know if they are for real or if they are the pretenders that they usually are. Also a tip of the cap needs to be given to the entire Georgia Athletic department for the class they have showed to the family of the young man injured in the game. They didn’t have to do what they have done, but they have demonstrated how to be a class organization for sure. With that being said, I still think they lose in Jacksonville.

So after the month of October I think the Gators will be 6-2 or 5-3 depending on the QB situation at Mizzou. That will mean the critical games for Coach Mac and the young Gators will be the ones in November. Fortunately three of those are at home. At 6-2 they will still be in the hunt for the SEC east but if they are 5-3 well then they are playing not to go back to the Birmingham Bowl. And that ought to be enough motivation to finish the season strong!

I have never been so glad to be wrong, even if it is only by a game! But you have to give me credit for laying out the plan for the way the Rebels would lose to the Gators, scary how accurate that prediction was, isn’t it! And that is without knowing that Will Grier would make an unfortunate stop at GNC.

So let’s take a look at November and the end of the regular season.

Homecoming against Vanderbilt will be back to the game a few years ago. Back before Vanderbilt hired a good coach. It will be closer than many expect because I don’t think they will turn the ball over 5 times like they did last Saturday, but I expect the Gators to win this one by 21 with ease. That will mean that Gator fans can book their tickets to Atlanta for the SEC championship game. I sure didn’t see that one coming this year but I am so glad it might happen!

The Gators then travel to South Carolina. If the Old HBC was still there, I’d stick with my pick from earlier, but this is a bad Gamecock team right now and it’s going to get worse before it gets better for Cocky fans. The Gators need to pay attention but if they take care of business, they should win this game as well. However, watch out because this could be the infamous letdown game that will follow the clinching of the SEC East. Gators win going away late to wrap the SEC portion of the year up with just the one loss at LSU.

The annual sacrificial game in November with the FAU owls should see the Gators play a lot of second and third team guys. The goal of that game is to get ahead early, rest the starters and get ready for the big post turkey game with the college out west. Florida wins big and starts to move up the Playoff ladder.

The Game with the Clowns may be the biggest game of the year if they can get by Clemson this week. I don’t think they will but Clemson has a way of laying an egg every year and so far the clutch has been empty. If they do win at Clemson, then get ready for Gameday and the hype will be over the top. If they don’t, then they would like nothing better than to beat the Gators and kick them out of the Playoff discussion. I still think the Gators will win this game, but it would have been a lot easier without the GNC issue. Treon is an ok quarterback and a great athlete. His struggles against good defenses will continue and the Gators will win it late with a defense stand!

So my prediction is the Gators will be sitting at 11-1 going into the SEC championship game in Atlanta. The chance for the magical 12-2 season remains. Who knows, it might even be 14-1 and that would mean this generation of Gator fans could learn to experience the ultimate celebration in Title Town. Nobody's seen that in a while!

2015 Gator Football at the quarter pole

So let’s update the Gator football prediction through the first quarter of the seasons. To see the full blog, click here. So I predicted an easy win in game one, check. A tougher win but comfortable in game two, check. A close win on the road in Kentucky, check. And a very close win against the Vols, check again. That puts me four for four and I think I hurt my arm patting myself on the back!

But let’s look at the next four predictions. I said we would lose at home versus Ole Miss and I still stand by that prediction. I do think we have a better chance than I thought at the start of the season, but I don’t think our o-line can block well enough to give the run game any chance and Grier will have to be running for his life back there. Our only hope is that the young QB from Ole Miss will get rattled by the swamp and the hits from our defense and throw a couple of picks and maybe a pick-six!

The Missouri game is one that could change depending on the status of Maty Mauk. If he’s back from the suspension, it’s a toss-up and the loss on the road is still a definite chance. If he’s not, then I think the Gators will win that game and the chance for the magical season of 10-2 drastically increases. A lot hinges on what he did to get kicked out for one game!

Nothing has changed about my prediction for the LSU game. Well with the exception that unless #7 gets hurt, he’ll run for 200 yards against our weak Linebackers. They still win the game and now the next game against Georgia becomes huge!

I still think we can win against Georgia, but I must admit they are better than I thought they would be. However, they haven’t played the toughest of teams yet and this week we will know if they are for real or if they are the pretenders that they usually are. Also a tip of the cap needs to be given to the entire Georgia Athletic department for the class they have showed to the family of the young man injured in the game. They didn’t have to do what they have done, but they have demonstrated how to be a class organization for sure. With that being said, I still think they lose in Jacksonville.

So after the month of October I think the Gators will be 6-2 or 5-3 depending on the QB situation at Mizzou. That will mean the critical games for Coach Mac and the young Gators will be the ones in November. Fortunately three of those are at home. At 6-2 they will still be in the hunt for the SEC east but if they are 5-3 well then they are playing not to go back to the Birmingham Bowl. And that ought to be enough motivation to finish the season strong!