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

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

In 1856 the HM Brig Coventry, tossing in a wild maelstrom is thought to be cursed by two unwanted passengers. When an unusual bottle of wine is found by one of the crew members, the captain is hailed and warned that Mr. and Mrs. Copley are of evil nature. To save the ship from plummeting down to Davy Jones Locker, Sinclair and Eleanor Copley are bound in iron chains and with their sea chest of strange wine bottles, are tossed overboard to drown in icy seas.

In present day Antarctica young show more wilderness photographer Michael Wilde is on location to shoot some underwater photographs for Eco Travel magazine. He has a two month pass to work with researchers and scientists assisting with various projects of weather, wildlife and the natural habit conditions at the South Pole.

While diving beneath the polar ice cap with high hopes of stunning photographs, Michael unearths an antique bottle of what appears to be Madeira. Putting the old bottle in his scavenger sack and swimming further, he finds an entire sea chest of them, and nearby, within a sunken iceberg, the haunting face of a beautiful woman. Thinking his oxygen level must be affecting his coherency, he resurfaces topside to inform the crew of what he thinks he saw. Armed with ice cutting equipment and additional oxygen, Michael and another researcher dive again beneath the frigid waters and uncover the find of a lifetime. Two people, a man and a woman, frozen in time, enchained together in a block of ice for centuries. Cutting them free, hauling them above to safety, has the Antarctic team in awe and bewilderment at what they have found. Secrets are kept from the outside world, and decisions are made after careful contemplation on the best way to thaw these icy specters from the past without decomposition. The Victorian lovers are placed in a saltwater bath for what should be a slow and carefully timed melting process. But….while Michael and the team patiently wait, and do some lab tests on the wine bottle contents, Sinclair and Eleanor Copley not only defrost, but come…alive!

Robert Masello has penned a phenomenal suspense horror novel that I doubt any reader could contemplate putting down for one minute. His talent to slowly build the tension as he alternates the story from the Victorian past with Sinclair as a soldier in the 17th Lancers Division during the Crimean War, and Eleanor as a nurse working side by side with Florence Nightingale mending wounded soldiers, to the shocking and violent events in the present as the researchers at the South Pole are under attack and fight one nightmarish battle after another. As the famous Charge of the Light Brigade serves up a battlefield of dead and bloodied soldiers, a sinister entity feeds on the flesh and turn Eleanor and Sinclair into thirsty immortals damned for all eternity.

Two entwining stories chained together for a future revelation offer up a superb blend of history, romance, science, and horror. The way this story unravels, is not what you may think, it does not follow the usual rule of thumb, and what I really loved was that the author took an age old story we’ve all read before and spun a really cool new twist that ended in a most unique way. Robert Masello gives us a well written complex plot, wonderful endearing characters fully developed, and a suspenseful horror novel blended with a surprising integration of love and tenderness amidst the horrors of war and amongst the philosophies of what it means to be human. Where the dividing line between man and monster lies, is brilliantly found between the pages of Blood and Ice.

I LOVED this book !!!! show less