Ron Cutler has received a Edgar Allan Poe Award nomination for his novel The Seventh Sacrament, and a Progy Award for The Firstborn, an occult thriller. His screenplay Article 99 starred Kiefer Sutherland and Ray Liotta. Past lifetime occupations include law and teaching. The Ides Of March is his ninth novel.

There is nothing like chemical warfare, also known as bio-terrorism, to make a reader sit up and take notice. Cutler's hero McCord is a National Security Agency operative, James Bondian in his loneliness and single-minded approach to his job:

"McCord was an alien species among the bishops and queens of Intelligence who prowled their dark corridors of secrecy and whose world was anonymous and imprecise. McCord had too many times violated their rules of misdirection and innuendo. There was something too laser like, too narrow and precise in McCord's definition of moral certitude. So they steered clear of him, when what he presented to them required a force of will they were unwilling or unable to muster. But they drew him close again, when that force became necessary, and too often called upon him to provide it."

When people in a small Ugandan community start dying mysteriously, the agency suspects Russian black market tactics of some strange bio killer. McCord is sent in to investigate. Dr. Kate Atwood, a bio weapons researcher teams up with McCord, and what they uncover is a substance that is not of this earth. It is McCord's job to find out whodunit, but not to embarrass anyone in the government. That proves to be a little hard to accomplish, since their foe turns out to be a renegade British agent.

Cutler's new novel is an intriguing page-turner whose subject matter is so horrific that the reader is sure to be engrossed by page two. Cutler correctly pricks a theoretical hole in America's defenses, thereby setting himself up as one of the top authors of scientific intrigue. The Ides Of March has it all: a great love story; crisis pacing; and an evil that is hard to fathom. The ending will have the reader ignoring all worldly machinations to remain glued to the book.

Shelley Glodowski, Reviewer

Cutler writes in fiction's grandest tradition: the one that says a story should grab the reader by the throat, throw 'em against the wall and dare 'em to flinch. He uses the increasingly real threat of biological terrorism, a cast of unforgettable characters, and--an Edgar-nominee--a proven writer's sure hand. The protagonist's pursuit through the sketchy groups of the world's terrorist underground will ultimately satisfy the reader, even if it leaves him permanently worried about the loonies that lurk there.

McCord is an experienced intelligence officer with the National Security Agency. He is sent to the border of Ugandan and discovers an empty camp of what used to be a top secret camp full of Russian scientists. They had been testing and monitoring the experimental use of a new bio-weapon called the SV Strain. But terrorists had attacked the camp shortly before McCord arrived and stole the aluminum canisters containing the weapon. One case was blown open during the theft. The SV Strain had been released. All died instantly, except Kiernan. Kiernan became a carrier of a plague for which there was no cure!

Dr. Kate Atwood, of the Army's special biological unit, joins McCord and they begin to track Kiernan by the bodies of people infected with the plague. But Kiernan is a highly trained intelligence officer with extensive field experience that was thought to be under deep cover. He had been, but not any longer! Kiernan knew he was dying. He intended to take the plague within himself, along with the two other canisters containing the SV Strain, to New York City. He would have revenge on a small group of people there, killing millions in the biggest holocaust of all time!

***** W-O-W! I am having trouble shaking this one off! I keep telling myself that this is a work of fiction. The scary thing is, the chances are high that something similar to the SV Strain is already out there and only an elite group working on it know!

A well written story with a strong plot. There was bad editing in my copy, but it may be a "review copy", I can't tell. The story is fast paced and held my attention from the first page until the climactic ending. Highly recommended! *****

If you don't have a business degree and as a business owner or potential business owner are looking for more knowledge on how to understand the books then get this book. If you do have a degree in Business then you need not spend your money here. Take the 14.95 you would pay for this book, invest it in a high yield stock or bond and wait 50 years and you may have about a thousand bucks or so.

If I was a small business owner (or even a nonfinancial manager in the corporate world) I'd break my neck to get my hands on this book. If there was a rating beyond 5 stars, I'd give it. A must have!

Finally, a book that let's the rest of us in on the big secrets of financial reports and company financial numbers. This book tells you what numbers to look at, what each number means to your business, and how all of the numbers work together to build a financial picture. I thought that I knew what I was seeing when I ready my companies balance sheet, but I was wrong. As the owner of a small business, I wish that I would have had this book a month before I started my company.

The reading is light and quick with good examples to back up what the authors are teaching you. They start with a light base instruction on Balance Sheets, Profit and Loss, and Cash Reports. After explaining each report and showing an example from their fictional company, they build on that base to show you how to use those numbers to find problems and to answer questions about a company. By teaching you how the numbers relate between these reports and showing you exactly what effect each number has on your company, you will be able to see the big picture of what is going on.

This book was definitely written for the non-accountant person that needs things explained outside of the accounting language. This is a must have for anyone that owns their own business and is not a CPA.

This diverse collection of letters by Ron Owens to the church and various individuals and leaders of worship is challenging, gut-honest, and inspiring. Owens takes an honest look at worship in the church of America today and is calling the church to a higher standard. He helps us look beneath the surface issues of worship styles and music programs to the heart of worship.

Owen's fundamental starting points are that God alone is worthy of our worship, and that we were created to worship God. Worship begins and ends with the sovereign Lord. We must learn to come to God on his terms and embody this worship in our everyday lives.

While the letters in part one of this book address the church and its worship, the letters in part two are addressed to worship leaders. These letters take on a more practical tone and offer great wisdom regarding worship issues ranging from how we should understand and practice baptism and communion to the appropriate place of applause in worship.

This book is a wonderful resource for worship leaders not only for personal and professional challenge, but for use with worship boards, teams, and choirs. These letters are thought-provoking and convicting and could inspire tremendous change in the hearts of readers willing to make changes in their worship of God.

In "Return to Worship" Owens writes thirty-seven "letters" to the church, worship leaders, pastors, and ministers of music. The letters express a deep love and passion for worship and addresses concerns facing the church today in relation to worship. Owens' letter-writing style creates a sense of personal identification. It is as if the author addressed these letters to me! Owens calls the church to focus upon God and forms of worship must not cloud that focus. In fact, Owens confronts the issue of music in worship and says, "to many, worship is music, and music is worship, and many worship music" (1999:6).

Broad ranges of issues are addressed including music, audiovisuals, sacraments, applause in worship and many others. In addition to raising these practical concerns for worship Owens concludes with four helpful appendixes (a choir covenant, a checklist for worship leaders, twenty-four questions to ask yourself in preparation for the Lord's Supper, and an article entitled "When Church Was Just Church: Worship Center or Theatre?").

"Return to Worship" is a wonderfully practical book; a must-read for pastors and those responsible for providing worship leadership in the local church.

Convicting and prophetic, Ron Owens challenges pastors, worship leaders, choirs and congregations to ask hard questions about their worship. Owens writes thirty-seven "letters" addressing key issues facing worshippers today. Return to Worship is unashamedly biblical. Owens calls the reader to keep God absolutely central in worship. Here are some of his more convicting concepts. One of the root problems in worship is: "We don't know our God" (1999:9). "The church today is being shaped more by our culture than by the cross" (1999:21). "...How we respond to what comes to us each day most clearly reveals whether we are worshippers at heart" (1999:42). "There is no redemption without an attitude of worship" (1999:47). "We cannot claim for ourselves the glory that belongs to God alone and expect our worship to be acceptable to Him" (1999:54). "Some pastors view their responsibility as: "to keep everybody happy rather than pointing the people to God and teaching them to be holy" (1999:58). "No revival in history has begun with a self-satisfied people" (1999:68). "He who will not serve does not worship" (1999:71). "Research has shown that much of the growth of our larger churches has been at the expense of smaller churches" (1999:79). "Often the only scripture read during the gathering is the few verses read by a pastor before he preaches" (1999:99). "Use the choruses but don't deny this generation the riches of its past" (1999:107). "We are not called to be entertainers of the people; we are called to be ministers of the gospel" (1999:137). Additionally, in Appendix 3, Owens includes a 19th century list of 24 questions to ask in preparation for the Lord's Supper. This book brims full of wisdom and insight. I highly recommend it.

I am always searching for something, anything that will allow me to improve my techniques when it comes to fishing, I found it with this book. This book helped me to understand and build stronger casting techniques and now I feel a lot more comfortable surfcasting. I also had a lot of questions on what gear to use and this book includes a section with excellent examples of gear choices and how to set them and a real eye opener on how to tune your reels to keep their performance smooth.

The knowlege that Ron Arra has shared in this book will definitely increase your confidence and distance in the surf. Thank you Ron Arra and Curt Garfield for taking the time to introduce this great piece of work into the sportsmans world!

The Ultimate Guide to Surfcasting is a WINNER!

It is very informative and covers all aspects of surfcasting and much more! The illustrations and step-by-step photographs are extremely helpful and the Tips chapter is priceless. I also find the Stan Gibbs: Still the Master, Tune Up for More Distance, Taking Care of Your Gear and Yourself chapters good read and refreshing!

This is probably one of the best fishing books I've read in a long time and I highly recommend it for those who thinks know it all! Thank you Ron Arra and Curt Garfield for their dedication and knowledge sharing.

CONGRATULATIONS and GOOD FISHING!

Alberto Knie
aka: "Crazy" Alberto

As an avid surfcaster, this is a very informative book for both the novice and seasoned veteran, especially if you are interested in improving your overall casting distance. The illustrations detail different methods of attaining distance to where you can reach the fish. The book also tells you about how to set up your gear for this type of casting and how to maintain it so that it is working properly. I found it to be easy reading not technical to the point where it slowed you down, and with the soft cover version, you can take it down to the beach while you pratice, to make sure that you are doing everything in proper order so that you can get the distance you desire. Overall I felt this book to be outstanding and a must for every surf fishermans library.

Are you frustrated by your investment mistakes? Do you have very little confidence that you will know how to avoid the same mistakes in the future? Join the club!! Here is a book that explains why you feel so helpless, and offers, in my opinion, the only sensible way to invest. Understand this: the best you can hope for is to achieve market returns while managing risk. You will not beat the market, and all the hype of the talking heads and investment magazines is noise, not information. This is a wonderfully informative book that has helped me understand why I have made poor investment choices in the past, and given me a plan of action for the future. If you think you know how to invest and beat the market, lotsa luck. If you want to invest sensibly, read this remarkable book.

Note: this is not a book that appeals to your greed with a get rich quick philosophy. Quite the contrary. Dr. Ross takes you on a guided tour of how and why the markets work, why all the hype of Wall Street can be so misleading to investors, and how you can invest efficiently. And efficiency, as Dr. Ross explains, means avoiding waste - wasted money, wasted time, wasted aggrivation. Work smarter, not harder, as I like to say.

I am an author of three books on Modern Portfolio Theory and as the director of research for an investment advisory firm I read many books on investing every year---this is one of the best books I have read in recent years, doing a great job of explaining why the markets are efficient. Ron is an excellent teacher, using simple analogies to make often difficult concepts easy to understand.
Anyone interested in learning how the market really works, and not how Wall Street wants and needs you to believe it works, (and that should be everyone)should read this book

Are you a trader, or even a gambler, without knowing it? In The Unbeatable Market Ron Ross shows you how a person who intends to be an investor is usually hoodwinked by the financial world into putting his money at unnecessary risk while forgoing even an average rate of return. Just a few simple, but extremely important concepts (which Ross thoroughly explains in plain enjoyable English) woven together quite logically and well supported with facts, are enough to expose how the brokerage business and the mutual fund industry, through their own self-interest and without malice, tend to guide the investor away from successful investing. If you read this book you will see behind the illusion that has been created by marketing. Then, if you really want to be an investor, you will be able to see where the true course of successful investing lies, as distinguished from the disguised trading and/or gambling into which most would-be investors have been lured. This is the best book on investing I've ever read.

Like a couple other reviewers, I have worked with prison inmates
using this book. They make tremendous changes by studying this
material. One student told me that if he had been taught this
before, he never would have landed in prison. But it has also
helped me, because I have gone over and over the book in the process of instructing it, and have worked to put these ideas
to use in my own life, and it makes a huge difference. All of it is "common sense" but if it was so "common" and if we were all
living by this, we would not have the crime and other problems
that we are struggling with in our society.

This book is really wonderful, in that it provides what is lacking in today's nonreligious culture. This moral code is up-to-date, and the concepts will not become outdated. "Do not tell harmful lies", "be faithful to your sexual partner" and "try to treat others as you would like to be treated" are codes that we can live with, despite the culture we live in!

I recommend this book to anyone.

This little book gave me happiness about being a human being!

I would say that Dondiego is a writer with a burning ambition to write what he sees and experiences into his fiction. This is a dark novel if ever I've read one, and trust me I've read many. If you're into the strange, the twisted, the off-beat, and the horror of reality, than Dondiego's books will hold you spellbound. Yes, spellbound! Because his writing is powerful it can even overwhelm a reader. Emerson said, "Beware when God lets a thinker out in the world." I say, "Beware, Dondiego will throw your universe into question." And of course for certain readers that's a disturbing prospect. Read him if you dare!

"Ron Dondiego, a passionate writer, whose style is as unique as the stories he writes about...full of stark realism that home and has the power to jar a reader out of his/her complacency." (A direct quote from the "About The Author Section." I could not have discribed this writer or his style in writing any better myself!

"A Wicked Twist Of Fate," is a thrilling read, from cover-to-cover...following a man in his life's quest for power. The characters in this most enjoyable story are deep and compelling, the dialogue flows at a nice pace, and, the plot is interesting, a very appealing combination. Nice Job by this very fine writer!

John Savoy
Savoy International
Motion Pictures Inc.

I read a book of this author's short stories entitled "Fables and Other oddities of The Imagination." I enjoyed that collection of speculative short stories very much, so I went ahead and ordered this novel. Well, let me be the first to tell you that if you have a weak stomach, or if you're use to watered down commercial literature, don't read it! It has a shock ending if ever there was one. I read some of the other reviews here and couldn't help but smile. Dondiego is the kind of author who strikes a chord in a reader's mind well after the reading's done. And that's a good thing.

I don't know what the fuss is all about. I certainly won't sell my copy - it's POD right now. But I think this writer will be moving on to bigger and better things in the near future. But don't take my word for it. Buy a copy and find out for yourself.

When I picked up Jerry's book I had a hard time putting it down. I am a parent of an adolescent with AS and have been "winging it" for most of his life. No books for parents were ever written on the subject until 1999. I've relied on my own parenting experience of neurotypical children and professional autism journals to figure out what to do. Now that I'm preparing my child to be "launched" into college, having a life handbook that he can rely on is very important. Jerry's book is very concrete with common sense information, and an attitude about life that I hope my own son will adopt. I can recommend this book to any person on the spectrum, and also to parents of children age 11 to adulthood. Sometimes when you are feeling most challenged as a parent of an AS preteen or teen, it is very helpful to remind you where you are heading!

Jerry's book is a must read for everyone! His outlook on life is so honest and a tell it like it is experience. His sense of humor is on going all through the book, you can laugh with him and also feel his pain and frustration in some situations. I have been to a few of his lectures in the past, and I must say that he always receives a standing ovation. This book is another standing ovation for Jerry! Well done and very enjoyable to read. A book that is hard to put down.

Great job Jerry! This book is a wonderful insight of living life on the Autism Spectrum. Jerry tells of lots of lessons he has learned through his life for those on and off of the spectrum. The humor throughout the book just adds the "cherry on the sunday." Strongly recommended!!!

Betty's wit, wisdom and reflections prove that there's a lot more to her than a pretty face and wise-cracks. Talent, sensitivity and grace make her a beautiful author with something important to say. Show business enthusiasts and historians alike will greatly enjoy her story. And, since her career is enjoying a recent resurgence, we can only hope she'll write a sequel, soon!

I have loved the movies of both Betty Garrett and Larry Parks for years, and now feel that I have read their love story. Betty's descriptions of her multi-faceted career and personal life were written with humor, warmth, and love. She and Larry endured the 'unofficial' blacklist and other obstacles together, and showed what "in good times and in bad" really meant. I admire and adore them both even more now. Her book is a wonderful read and her career isn't even over.

I like Betty Garrett very much! From Laverne & Shirley, All In The Family-very funny! I like that the book is her autobiography! I can't wait to read all about the life & times of the lovely Betty Garrett! I also have David L. Lander's autobiography & the unofficial Penny Marshall book! Any one who's a fan of "Laverne & Shirley" e-mail me @: tiff_lisatony7@yahoo.com. We can chat about Betty, Penny, David, Cindy, Michael, Phil, & evrything else related to "Laverne & Shirley".

"The Art of Chesley Bonestell" is an extremely high quality Science Fiction art collection that comes around once in a decade or two. The last Chesley Bonestell collection of this calibere, "Worlds Beyond: The Art of Chesley Bonestell", was published in 1983. Chesley Bonestell's art goes back to the golden age of Science Fiction of the late 1940's, 1950's and 1960's. His work was displayed on the covers of SF periodical magazines, SF paperback books, and Space Science books of that era. His style is realistic and his work is breathtaking! His concepts of other-worldly-visions are naturally realistic and have a Zen-like feeling of mystery to them. The color plates in this book are of awesome quality. I guarantee this book will increase in price, as the 1983 collection has. The 1983, "Worlds Beyond: The Art of Chesley Bonestell", sells for around $100 or more. Buy this 2001 book, "The Art of Chesley Bonestell" now, because it will only cost MUCH more after it goes out of print.

I bought this book for the space art but found out there are many other excellent paintings to go along with them. Bonestell's art makes you want to be at the places he's painted except for places like New York under nuclear attack and ancient Egypt being bombarded by comets. The space art is incredible. I only wish I could get large prints of some of the pictures to frame them. I'm even considering buying another book and cutting out some of the pictures that are barely large enough to frame.

I am among the hundreds of thousands -- perhaps millions -- of people who owe their lifelong interest in matters of astronomy and space science to a childhood discovery of the art of Chesley Bonestell. I remember vividly pawing through the pages of The Conquest of Space at the age of about ten, my mouth open as I saw the marvels of the universe displayed.

It was thus actually rather nerve-racking when I opened this new book for the first time. Could the reality of his art possibly match my childhood memories? Could all of that vividness and excitement have been magnified in my mind's eye over the succeeding decades? Was I in for a disappointment?

I most certainly was not. If anything, the fabulous art inspired and excited me even more than it had way back then.

And there's a lot of that art here -- a real feast of it, superbly reproduced. And I discovered as I kept turning the pages, hands quite literally trembling as I discovered treasure after treasure. Even more excitingly, I found that Bonestell had worked in areas of art I'd never suspected before: fabulous landscapes, stunning sketches ... I have perused many, many art books, but I've never before reacted quite as strongly as to this one.

And it gets better. There's a long, beautifully written and utterly fascinating illustrated biography of Bonestell written by Ron Miller. It's almost as if one's getting two books in one.

An earlier reviewer (who cannot spell "Chesley") talked of this as if it were an expanded version of The Conquest of Space. He was talking through his hat. This is a completely new book covering the entirety of Bonestell's career both visually and textually; it contains a big selection of illustrations from The Conquest of Space (all the best ones), but they form only a small part of the huge and sumptuous collection on display here.

This is a gorgeous book, and an extremely valuable piece of work -- the authors/compilers deserve the highest praise for having brought this treasure to us.