Robert Masello

A wonderful idea wonderfully executed. Masello artfully brings together science and religion exploring common themes between physics and faith. Masello has done his research exploring the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton and including two of its most prominent members: Einstein and Kurt Godel. I, personally, have always been fascinated by Godel's discussions of the possibilities that a unified field theory must include an intuitive process to account for spirituality and spiritual show more activity - a theme that Masello explores as part of the novel. But having said that, this book is not a dry compendium of intellectual arguments - it is a page turner with plenty of action and like life itself we find evil embedded with good and we often find that the tools with which we hope to do good may, in fact, be of evil origin. Can we make good from something evil? Does the end justify the means? Can we, humanity, find the way to a new Paradise or are we doomed to universal death? "The Einstein Prophecy" is a genuine page turner and well worth the read! show less

All writers can use a boost of inspiration at times and that's what this book does. It's a list of 111 rules that may create some "uh-huh" reactions to what Robert Masello has to say. He has spent a lifetime writing and it shows with all kinds of useful tips and approaches that works for him -- and maybe you too.

Some of the rules are simple: get a pen pal or someone you can trust to review what you've written. Throw out the thesaurus and use words you speak with. Write whatever kind of book show more that interests you the most and keeps readers on the edge.

Yet, there are some remarks that can only be found in this book like zip and lip -- meaning keep your thoughts on your book to yourself. Skip Starbucks. And it's okay to start a sentence with "and" or "but." Plus, he admits that sex sells. "These days readers don't want to be cheated out of some erotic thrills."

Reading this book is like being at a gathering with this author listening to his personal stories and explanations. The author has a flair for writing and understands the business. These are rules that can become someone's best comfort and resource. This book is not just for writers. It can be a great benefit for book reviewers and anyone curious as well.

My thanks to Robert Masello, Allworth Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read this copy with an expected release date of September 21, 2021. show less

December 28, 1856, in the Southern Ocean very close to Antarctica, the captain and crew of the Brig Coventry throw two of their passengers, husband and wife, overboard into the frigid black water.

In the present day Michael Wilde photographic journalist is given a commission to write a feature about the work being done at Point Adelie in the Antarctic. On his first diving expedition in Antarctic waters he discovers frozen bodies trapped in an underwater glacier. What he doesn't expect is that show more they will wake.

I've seen BLOOD & ICE categorised as suspense, thriller, fantasy, horror, and it certainly is a little outside my usual crime fiction fare. Certainly there is mystery, and there is murder, but Masello goes well beyond that in the themes that hold the plot together. Be prepared to have your credulity challenged. One reviewer wrote: riotous mix of history, cryogenics, vampirism, and a chilling adventure and he is not far wrong.

BLOOD & ICE took me a little beyond my comfort zone, but I liked the strong evidence of research that underlies the book, whether it is of the historical period surrounding the Crimean War in the 1850s, or life in an Antarctic research station. The writing is very polished and the stories intertwine well. The character of Michael Wilde is further fleshed out with the story of his girlfriend Kristin existing on a life support machine, after a climbing accident. show less

This is my third book by Masello and I have now become a fan. While I still think "Einstein's Prophecy" is the best of the ones I've read, this one is an extremely close second. As a historian and a history teacher I appreciate Masellos' impeccable historical research and how seamlessly he blends fictional characters and events into a flow with the historical ones. His plots are always well thought and well developed and executed in such a way that it is sometimes difficult to see where the show more fiction ends and the history begins. But it is his characters that truly define his work, in my opinion. His characters are captivating and always fully fleshed out and again the fictional ones engage the historical without any gaps. And even the historical figures, while accurately being reproduced, are rounded out in ways that one could just imagine that that was their actual personality. In this story Bram Stoker, author of "Dracula" pursues some real life evil that steals life from others. With Mina Harcourt, the two strive to bring an end to the evil ways of Bartholomew and Winifred Thorne. Believing they have succeeded they discover rather that the Thornes have eluded them and now have a precious Egyptian artifact that was stolen from Mina that has further enhanced their power. Discovering, years later, that the Thornes are still alive, Mina and Stoker pledge to pursue them - either to their deaths or the Thones'. This one is a page turner and will keep the reader enthralled to the very end. show less