THE JOURNEY THROUGH ILLUSION by Glenn Willoughby

Aventine Press
San Diego, CA
Genre: Fiction/Mystery
Rating: Good
ISBN: 1593306636, $16.95, 287 pp.

Quoting from the back cover:

“Jamison Everett is an ex-cop struggling to put his life back together after a series of tragic events cost him his career. Drifting through life, he is hired by his late grandfather’s distribution company to locate Michael Reyes, a corporate analyst who has missed a crucial research deadline.

“At first, every lead appears to be a dead end, but it doesn’t take long for Jamie to spot a shadowy figure tracking his every move. Then Reyes’s research is linked to a possible cover-up within the company. With questions beginning to outnumber answers, and whispers of a connection to his grandfather’s untimely death beginning to swirl, Jamie vows to get to the truth no matter what the cost. But when a group of thugs try to take him out in a crowded mall parking lot, he realizes that the culprits will stop at nothing to keep things quiet.”

The Journey Through Illusion is a fast-moving, ex-cop/mystery read, well written and basically well edited. Author Glenn Willoughby is a consummate, creative writer and has done an excellent job. If you like mysteries with lots of descriptive detail and convolution, this might be a mystery for you.

Kaye Trout - July 26, 2010

MIND U by J.D. Guinness

Stories from a different school of thought
Outskirts Press, Inc.
Denver, CO
Genre: Fiction/General
ISBN: 9781432746357, $27.95, 553 pp.

Quoting from the back cover:

“MIND U is an anthology of adult humor, satire, fantasy, sex comedy, and sci-fi. Stories that take things to a higher intellectual plane; via celebrity gossip, slapstick humor, busty women, and action-packed, ridiculous detail. MIND U takes you to London, Paris, Hollywood, New York, Hawaii, Vancouver, and Winnipeg. Back to the beginning of time, then all the way forward to the end of time, and then back again to the present day. You’ll meet some very beautiful, amazing people and witness some very intimate, adult secrets. You’ll go places and have adventures that’ll get your blood going, your mouth laughing, and your heart singing. Buy the book, take a seat, open the book and prepared to enter...MIND U! WARNING: Some readers may find sections of the book offensive. Other readers may put these same sections on their ‘to-do’ list.”

I couldn’t have said it better or more succinctly. MIND U is an unforgettable read...lots of fun, craziness, and extreme imagination put together by the accomplished, intelligent, witty writer of The Famous Fakes, J.D. Guinness. If you like Kurt Vonnegut-type humor, you’ll love JD. Allow me to quote from the beginning:

“Welcome to Mind U: a different school of thought; a university of the mind, a place for contemplation of what might really be going on out there.

“I find contemplation of ‘what might really be going on’ very useful. After all, from the time we’re born we’ve got to decide what’s real and what isn’t.

“I’m middle-aged, and I still have trouble making that distinction. I mean, I basically understand how some things work, I just don’t understand why.

“To this day, nobody knows why we’re born, grow up, grow old, and die.

“What sets this journey going? Maybe it’s not so much a journey as a fall. That means we’re falling, vertically, through our lives, getting bumped and bruised on our long, long, way down, only to become a spread-eagled, lifeless bag of bones at the very end....

“The best way to deal with your fear of the unknown is to enroll in Mind U. Right now.”

Yes, I highly recommend MIND U for a unique, adult read and also, if you haven’t, The Famous Fakes which I reviewed March 2006.

Reviewer: Kaye Trout - July 12, 2010