This was an absolutely fascinating and extremely well researched story of The sinking of the S.S. Central America, which had been carrying five hundred passengers, many of them returning from the Gold Rush in California in 1857. The ship ran into trouble when a hurricane hit and the S.S Central America sank 200 miles of the Carolina coast.

The Ship was sailing from Panama to New York, It had been carrying 500 passengers and 20 tons of gold from the goldfields of California worth (at the time) 2 million dollars. (Over 50 million Dollars currents valuation). After 150 years of lying at the bottom of the sea, an engineer from Ohio by the name of tommy Thompson set out Along with the Columbus-America Discovery Group to find the Central America in eight thousand feet of water and try and make claim on the millions of Gold sitting at the bottom of the sea.

This book was written in 1998 and I obtained a used hard copy on Amazon as I had been fascinated when first leaning of this story. This is an extremely well written and researched Account firstly of the tragic sinking of the S.S Central America and her passengers and the first 150 pages of the book sets the scene and you become acquainted with Captain, crew and passengers of this ship. The story of the sinking is very well documented and you feel as if you are right there on the ship and feel the fear and the cold of the passengers. This was a heartbreaking story of the sinking and the Captain of the ship was hailed a hero by the surviving passengers which is well documented in this story.

When the story moves to the 1980s and Tommy Thompson’s quest to find the site of the S.S Central America the book becomes a lot more technical but is still fascinating to learn how deep-sea-robots were developed to perform heavy and complex work.

The third part of the story once again picks up pace and I read with baited breath to the end of this engrossing and captivating story. The author Gary Kindler has written a remarkable historical account of the sinking of S.S. Central as well as an entertaining adventure story.

When I finished this account I realized there had to be more to this story from when the book ended and after a little research online I was shocked and amazed at the happenings since. I wonder was Gary Kindler as amazed as me at what has taken place since he wrote this book and perhaps there is another book yet to be written

A fascinating tale of history, science and adventure, heavy on detail and quite complex but engrossing and unputdownable and a book I will certainly remember many years from now.

'Disavowed' by Tee O'Fallon is the story of Dom Carew and Daisy Fowler.
Dom is a detective who lives and breaths his job. Dom lost a women he loved in Afghanistan several years ago and never got over it. Dom has harden his heart to getting involved with a women again. But Daisy is someone that he is having a hard time fighting his feelings for. About a year ago he gave in to his desire for her and had a one night stand with her and left in the night without a word to her. But now a year later they both tried to avoid each other but their best friends are marring each other and they thrown back together for a short period of time.
In addition to being a second chance at love story it was also a exciting drama filled read.
"My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read."

"The two predominant factors that make me up, philosophy and criminality, when combined, when combined together on the block of ice hat serves me for a personality go to make up alchemy.”

 

In “Blue and Gold” by K. J. Parker

 

 

 

Beep.

 

Beep… -cking answering machines! Kevin… Kevin… Kevin, I know you’re there. With her probably, whoever she is – stupid cow. Listen Kevin, you actually love me really. You’re jus’ confuuuused, and I don’t blame you. But you better not do anything you’ll regret – and if you’re doing it now I will hunt you down and… and cut your goolies off… You see the thing is… the thing is… God, iss really ridiculous communicating like this. We’re human beings. Why don'sh you just pick up the phone and we’ll talk like grown-up adults. Hmm? Hmm KEVIN, PICK UP THE BLOODY PHO… Beep.

 

 

If you're into SF, read on.

In all honesty, it was difficult to make out how I felt about this book. The writing has a more juvenile feel, though it deals with incredibly heavy and triggering topics (tastefully so, I might add). I was compelled by the story, though considering it was told from three alternating points of view, I really wished those three stories had come together a lot more cohesively in the end. I was upset by how little they ended up connecting, because it seemed like I didn’t have much time to get to know each girl—Laiping, Sylvie, and Fiona—individually before moving onto the next point of view. That was my biggest issue with the book as a whole, and honestly, aside from that, I pretty much liked it all. That one thing just happened to be quite a sticking point for me.

 

As a note, I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone who is triggered by depictions of rape—some of the scenes here can be quite graphic, especially to anyone who is sensitive to the topic. An ARC of this book was provided to me by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

 

What I Liked: Spoilers!

Elizabeth Stewart’s Blue Gold shifts from North America and Fiona, to Africa and Sylvie, to Asia and Laiping. Although the subject matter is markedly different, questions of identity and complications uniquely rooted in these girls’ coming-of-age are prominent in all three narratives.

 

Laiping’s chronicle of life as a “factory girl” in Shenzeng, overtly addresses the question of being “good”, obedient and complicit, in a way which might be unfamiliar to many readers. But each of the girls struggles to meet expectations of authority figures in their lives, whether in a workplace, a home, or a refugee camp.

 

And although the penalties for behaving outside these guidelines are different for each girl, the constant threat and vulnerability is something that they share as each struggles to respond to situations in which they feel powerless.

 

Sylvie’s experiences after fleeing the Democratic Republic of the Congo, inhabiting a refugee camp, are most egregious. This is presented in vague terms initially.

 

“But nobody talked about what tragedies they had endured there. It was taken for granted that everyone in the camp had lost someone they loved—a child, a spouse, sometimes a whole family. Talking about it was too painful. It seemed to Sylvie that everyone here was waiting for pain to end and for life to begin again.”

 

But Sylvie shares more of her story when an aid worker gains her trust and in time readers hear those details too. This is difficult to read about, but readers are shielded because neither Sylvie nor her listener dare to delve too deeply into the young girl’s memories at that time (and, indeed, there are aspects of Sylvie’s experience which are not disclosed until near the end of the novel).

 

Sylvie’s narrative is vitally important because it provides the anchor for the other girls’ stories. Her homeland is the region which is being mined for “the blue-black nuggets of columbite-tantalite ore that was plentiful in the high-lands surrounding their valley…blue gold”.

 

The coltan is shipped to factories like the one in which Laiping works and is a vital component in the cell phones which play a significant role in fuelling the cyber-bullying which Fiona faces.

 

The link between the narratives is evident within a few chapters of the novel, but the threads are not overtly tied until specific plot events unfold and, even then, the web is not tightly drawn.

 

This is appropriate because although the connections are undeniably true, these are not ties which are immediately evident. The back of the book lists additional resources for readers whose curiosity about human rights violations and environmental stewardship has been piqued.

 

Katherine, Fiona, Sylvie and Laiping embody stories that many readers of all ages will find compelling.

 

I had more to say about this novel, here, on BuriedInPrint.