You can tell which book I’m currently reading by the Goodreads widget in the sidebar.
I’m all about Kindle e-books. I’m a hard core e-book reader. I haven’t read an actual book in quite a long time and I find that when I hold an actual book, it feels large and clunky. I much prefer my Kindle e-reader than an actual book. With that said, I get all of my books from Kindle Unlimited – I rarely, if ever, spend money on a book – it all goes into the $10 dollars a month I pay for Kindle Unlimited.
So, if you’re interested in reading lesser known authors and want to save a ton of money in books, join me!
I rarely read anything lower than a four-star review on Goodreads – I’ve come to trust the reviews of Goodreads readers. I stopped reading for a long time simply because every book I read was stupid, or disappointing and ultimately, a waste of time. (I feel the same with movies – haven’t watched movies, or TV, in about a year). I’ve had great luck sticking to this philosophy and most of the books I read are pretty good.
I apologize in advance but I talk, non-stop, about COVID hesitancy in this podcast and I list 20 reasons why I’m hesitating on taking the jab. It’s all I can think about, largely because it will change the course of my life and my career. I’m torn – I know I need to leave the medical field but there are almost too many options out there for jobs and then there’s the timing of quitting and finding a job. I am trying to make the best decision for both me, and my employer, whom I like and respect. It TEARS me up inside that I’ve been forced to make this decision and I RESENT the hell out of these vaccine mandates. I’ve been forced into a corner and like a cornered animal, I’m lashing out and very, very angry. I have so many thoughts … take a listen.
Is anyone surprised by this? I mean, not only the stress of COVID and being segregated into categories, the vaccinated versus the unvaccinated, (i.e. people who are killing others), which is stupid and dangerous and we NEED TO STOP DOING THAT. We’re all humans, respect individual decisions – what others do is none of your business, but the fact that I’m not sure if I will have a job from day-to-day – yeah, that’s stressful. (I talk more about that in my podcasts and you’ll read more in my monthly reflections wrap-up post coming the end of July).
I’ve been listening to soothing music when I go to sleep but the problem with that is, it either continues to play all night long, or, the loud ads wake me up.
So I started listening to podcasts. But the subject matter is so interesting that it only serves to keep me awake, not put me to sleep.
But then I found “Get Sleepy.” (I sound like a damn infomercial. And this is not sponsored, by the way).
Get Sleepy is a twice weekly story-telling podcast with the goal of helping you get a great night’s rest. In reviews, listeners have described the podcast as “Life changing”.
Behind the podcast is a small creative team of writers, voice-over artists, and meditation experts. Together, with the guidance of leading sleep experts, our goal is to create the best podcast to help you fall asleep.
I have really enjoyed this podcast. It starts out with breathing exercises and then starts a calm, boring story that is meant to put you to sleep. Nothing exciting, nothing that will startle you awake. And you can set a timer for it to shut off after 30 minutes, 45 minutes, whatever. It has really been great and I highly recommend you try it.
I know I haven’t been around much lately, you can hear what is going on in my podcasts, but I’ve been highly distracted and worried about my next work move. I miss writing but I just haven’t had the mental space to tackle my creative side lately.
I hope you’re doing well. Don’t let the news media scare you and stress you out. Again, I talk about all of this stuff in my podcasts as I feel it’s important to know what’s going on but also to stay objective and realistic about what you’re hearing.
I’m pretty active on Twitter if you want to follow me there. Otherwise, my podcast is really the best place to catch up on my thoughts and life.
Here’s an interesting experiment: Open a different browser window – type in antifa.com and see where it takes you. Are you surprised?? I was SHOCKED. The CEO of my hospital did it again – he claimed that “less educated” people didn’t fully understand the benefits of the “vaccine.” In essence, he called all of his employees that weren’t a doctor, “stupid.” He’s such a swell guy, isn’t he?? White House calls on Facebook to ax free speech from individuals that are spreading “misinformation.” According to who? White House dictators?? French could face up to six months in jail if they go to a bar or restaurant WITHOUT a COVID pass – there are now THOUSANDS of French protestors in the streets. Is the U.S. next? Cuba shuts down the Internet – again, is the U.S. next? Are you paying attention? There are a lot of crazy things happening in our world.
A competing hospital in my town announced they have until September 30th to get the vaccine or get the ax – my hospital hasn’t mandated the vaccine – yet – but I’m preparing for my next move on this chessboard of life. Also – if social media hasn’t suppressed the conversation on alterative medications to treat COVID-19, would it have saved thousands, maybe millions, of people? Be careful who you open the door to – it could be the government pushing “vaccine education” on you. Biden’s response to higher gas prices? Raise taxes on oil companies – yep, that will fix it. (Spoiler alert: it will make it worse).
The CEO at the hospital where I work actually tweeted to shut up – not exactly CEO behavior, not to mention, don’t tell me to shut up when I have legitimate questions about what you’re trying to inject into my body. Have you read the White Papers on the American Frontline Doctors’ website? Highly recommend. Christmas is six months away but you might want to shop early – there may be a shortage of things to buy. Democrats are worried Kamala Harris can’t win 2024 – you’re right. Have you been exposed to “right-wing” extremism? Don’t worry! Facebook is here to save you from yourself!
Astronaut David Dixon’s first mission to space goes horribly wrong when shots are fired on a Russian space station. He finds himself making an emergency landing from orbit and becomes the most wanted man on Earth.
Desperate to unravel the plot he’s found himself in, he takes his pursuers on a wild chase from space to the backstreets of Rio and beyond. Dixon’s survival relies on his skills as a pilot and willingness to do whatever it takes – crashing a passenger jet into the Mexican desert to pulling off an incredible heist in Low Earth Orbit.
If space doesn’t kill David Dixon, Earth will.
I really enjoy Andrew Mayne books. He has a way of sucking me into his stories and his humor is OFF the charts. I found myself actually laughing out loud a few times.
I felt I was holding my breath this whole story. There was something exciting happening nearly every page. In fact, it was almost too much at times and the character kept finding himself in more and more impossible situations. In fact, there were times I was like, there is no way this character is getting out of this and Mayne proved me wrong by finding a unique and fun way to release the character back into the wild.
So, David Dixon is a bit of a geek. Mayne doesn’t really describe what he looks like, or if he did, I missed it because I was too distracted trying to figure out how the character was going to escape his latest trap, but I imagined David being attractive, but not overly so, more like a charming geek. He doesn’t exactly turn women’s heads but he’s attractive enough that women are not immediately turned off by him.
David is a hard-core geek. He’s always wanted to be an astronaut and he has to jump through several hoops for that to finally happen. And when it finally happens, it’s by accident. David is an understudy, for lack of a better term, a back up plan in case something happens to the astronaut that the big dudes picked for the job. And that’s exactly what happens, the astronaut that was supposed to have gone on the mission gets food poisoning the night before the launch and David is called in to replace him. While getting ready, David spots his superior and hero stuffing a gun into his gear. David is pretty sure that’s not part of the approved items for the mission but he doesn’t say anything because he doesn’t want to get this guy he looks up to into trouble and he doesn’t want to jeopardize his first mission. He’s also wondering, did this mission just get dangerous?
The crazy starts after getting into outer space and they run into some trouble and are not going to be able to dock with the original space station and instead, have to dock at the Russian station or there is a good possibility they will die. After docking to the Russian station, David is asked (forced) to stay on the rocket while his two comrades step foot onto the station to try and see how they can get back to Earth. Not long after his comrades have been on the station, shots ring out and the woman comes stumbling back to the ship, gives David a microchip and tells him to leave and go back to Earth. He doesn’t want to leave without her or his hero boss but he realizes that if he doesn’t leave, he will die and he detaches from the Russian space station.
He barely makes it back to Earth and crash lands in Rio. His landing is publicized so his enemies know where he is and immediately begins chasing him. David asks some kids to help him escape from the people hunting him and he heads to the stadium based on a mysterious message he received on the rocket before he landed. Only, when he gets there, he can’t tell if the person he’s supposed to meet is friend or foe.
Turns out he’s foe.
Once David has eluded the people who’s chasing him, for the moment, he contacts a Senator that he knows backed the space program that he participated in. He finds out that the chip that the woman handed him back on the Russian space station is a “key” of sorts that will unlock nuclear weapons trained on the US. After the Senator promises to help him get the chip into the right hands, because you can’t trust anyone in the government, they are all corrupt, (sounds familiar), he feels relieved and hopeful that his nightmare journey is over.
Only, the Senator gets killed and he’s back on the run. He turns to a reporter that is a thorn in the US space program’s side and together they form an alliance to try and find a man who basically helped create the space program and who is not only an insider, but a powerful insider.
The whole story was one exciting adventure after another and it was interesting and fun to see David think quick on his feet and MacGyver his way out of situations. It was always clever and somewhat believable but then again, I’m not a bit science fiction reader so it may not have been believable to readers that actually knew what they were reading.
I love these types of stories but there is no way I could write something like this. I’m not imaginative enough to wiggle my character out of a seemingly impossible situation. I don’t have the problem-solving skills to make it not only feasible but plausible. Mayne does a good job of not only helping his character to escape but to make it plausible enough for me NOT to roll my eyes at the creative solution. I envy this type of writing as I think it’s exciting and fun and it’s entertaining to see Mayne torment his characters so much.
Though this was a plot-driven story, Mayne does a good job of hinting at a love interest with the super smart reporter and I’m looking forward to reading the second book in this series to see if, or how, that relationship develops. But this story is more action and adventure focused so if you’re looking for a fun, fast, exciting read, this is the book for you.
And if you’re a science fiction geek, this book is outta of this world – give it a read.
Write From Karen 