The book I am reviewing in this post is Autumn's Flame by Denise Domney which is a very good book which I bought from kindle. This is historical fiction, seems well researched and is part of the Seasons series of novels. It's set in Britain in 1194 and Lord Choudray has killed his worst enemy and taken his wife as his own. A problem is she is pregnant by her previous partner and he can't kill the baby as that would be murder. He decides to give the midwife a herbal concoction to give her that will induce a miscarriage. The midwife however is on his wives side. This is at a time when most of the gentry are norman and are detested by the peasants. His wife is having an affair with a peasant and when everyone is on a hunt he tries to send her suitor into the undergrowth to flush out the wild boar in the hope he will come to harm. He fails and the boar comes charging out where it's savaged by the dogs. When she has the baby Choudray decides to look after it as if it's his son. Then though another lord knowing that there is an illegitimate heir to his title lays seige to his castle. Choudray then has to get help. Apparently Denise got the idea for this book in a dream she had. 

The book I am reviewing in this post is The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown which is an excellent thriller which I bought from a carboot sale. A while back I saw a tv programme which looked at what evidence there was to back up the claims that the rituals used in the book are genuine. I think it has a lot to do with free speech that the book can make inaccurate claims like that and get away with it. I think the organizations mentioned in the book are genuine. A lot of the stuff in the book is sensationalized to make a story and it would make a good film. The main theme is Washington DC & the freemasons who Brown claims drink wine out of skulls. There's no mention that in fact the skulls are plastic. I daresay masonic memberships will soar in the wake of this book. Dan follows a long tradition of fiction writing that can be traced back several centuries where authors write religious stories that make outrageous claims ie The Da Vinci Code, to be honest it's just entertainment but obviously a few nutters will take it seriously. I think the Da Vinci Code is the biggest selling novel in Britain of all time. He tries to claim that the freemasons are protecting forbidden knowledge which is just nonsense. I read Freemasons for Dummies a while back and did a post on the subject at my history blog at

http://scratbagdave.com

I think most people would find the freemasons boring and apart from charity work, a lot of what they do is go to a restaurant, have dinner and talk about a lot of mundane things. They do have certain traditions but that's all they are. This book also claims that the architecture in Washington DC is masonic and that it is possible to see masonic shapes in the street patterns. The lead character in this book also features in quite a few of Brown's books in this he is a freemason expert called on to do a talk on freemasonry for some freemasons. I don't want to sound like I'm having a go at the book which is great entertainment.

I have reviewed the thriller Worst Case by James Patterson on my blog at http://oldscratbag.livejournal.com

You're all welcome to have a look.

I have done a post based on the book How to Draw Anything by Mark Linley which is at http://oldscratbag.blog.com

You're welcome to have a look.

I have just been reading Practical Reptile Keeping magazine so I can do this post on it. Apparently a new family of millipedes has been discovered in Australia and as you probably know a lot of this country is remote. The family name is pygrodesmidae and it was discovered among fauna brought back from the east coast at Queensland museum. Also this time in the USA a new species of spider has been discovered called trogloraptor or cave robber it's rather embarrassing the fact that it is quite plentiful although it lives in caves and has remained under the radar this long. It's found in the western United States. It has bent claws on each leg and has a diameter of 1 1/2 inches. A disease which affects pythons called Inclusion Body Disease has had both viruses isolated, it appears it's 2 diseases. It's almost always fatal with no cure and apparently it's a close relative to the hot house virus Ebola. They hope to develop a vaccine soon. There is claims there is a crowing crested cobra which lives in Africa and is extremely poisonous and grows to 20 feet making it bigger than the king cobra. One theory is that it's a black mamba which hasn't shed all its skin giving the effect of a crest. Apparently some reptiles can navigate on an unconscious level guided by the stars or sun. They appear to use the angle of the sun and if they confuse the animal as to what time of day it is, they can't navigate. Some reptiles like alligators can navigate by the stars and as long as it's dark it doesn't matter what time it is, but it's unknown how it works.

The book I read to research this post was How to Stain Concrete Floors by Chris Dreyer which is an excellent book which I bought from kindle. No two stained concrete floors are exactly the same and although the results can be unpredictable there is a certain exclusive quality to it. Also it doesn't cost that much and a lot of the stuff needed you probably already own. First of all you need goggles to protect your eyes after all it's acid you will be using. Then you need some old overalls, you want some boots, steel toe caps aren't essential and you need gloves to protect your hands. The equipment you need is a broom without any metal parts as these can react with the acid, a hose pipe with spray nozzle, a chisel for removing any excess concrete, wd-40 for cleaning the concrete, the acid stainer although some people prefer to use a water based stainer, the sealant and plenty of old cloths for cleaning the concrete. 

Now the first thing you do is check the concrete is porous which can be done by pouring some water on it and seeing if it absorbs it. It needs to be porous and contain lime for this to work. They do sell stuff that can remove various sealants if they have been used to make it porous. If there's no lime you will have to use a water based stain. You then need to make sure the concrete is clean and smooth. Then you clean it with STP powder mixed with water. You allow it to dry and then use the acid stain which has to be spread evenly. You let that dry for 8 hours and then seal it using the sealant. Incidently Amazon sell a broom specifically for use with acid, they also sell a staining kit called Rust-Oleum. You can use stencils for special effects and some people like the effect of brush marks. Obviously you leave the sealant to dry for a couple of days.

The book I am reviewing in this post is  Fade Away by Harlan Coben which is an excellent thriller which I bought from a carboot sale. This book is part of the Myron Bolitar, the sports agent who does a bit of private detective and this book was released in 2000. Incidently Harlan was the first writer to win all 3 major thriller writing awards. In this story Myron has to search for someone who used to be a rival in his amateur basketball days. Eleven years ago Myron had his knee shattered in an incident with Bert Wesson on the basketball court after being signed to New Jersey Dragons which ended his career. Now he gets the chance to play temporarily for the Dragons in his rivals position as long as he turns sleuth and tries to find him. He isn't much use on court but does eventually find Greg. Greg it appears has murdered someone who was blackmailing him. He also apparently owes the mob gambling debts but this turns out to be Bert Wesson who is also blackmailing him although about something else. Greg's wife who is divorcing him and used to be myron's old flame has accused her husband of child abuse. To get even Greg had her filmed having sex with someone else. Also his wife has left incriminating evidence linking him to the murder he committed but she in turn is being blackmailed about it. Myron gets well paid and Bert gets his comeuppance the ending is quite satisfying and leaves a lot to the imagination which makes it quite effective.

The book I am reviewing in this post is Play Dead by Harlan Coben which is an excellent thriller which I bought from a carboot sale. I noticed in the introduction Harlan says that this book was written long before he became famous and whilst he was in his 20's and it maybe isn't quite as polished as some of his later work. It does however have a good story which I think is the most important factor in writing fiction. The plot is a model called Laura & a famous NBA basketball player called Dave get married and whilst on their honeymoon her partner disappears. Also most of the money in the bank is transferred to another account and is impossible to trace. Now it turns out that Laura's mother had a meeting with him shortly before he disappeared. It also turns that they maybe half brother and sister because Laura's mother had an affair with David's dad. At around this time a new basketball player emerges who is really Dave after plastic surgery but anyhow he is playing in Dave's old position and for the Celtics, Dave's old club. Also his brother who owes a load of money to the mob & who Dave wanted nothing to do with has designs on Laura's money. It has a happy ending and it keeps you guessing until the end.

The book I read to research this post was Go! Go! Go! by Rusty Firmin et al which is an excellent book which I borrowed from the library. This is apparently the definitive book on the Iranian Embassy which happened in London in 1982 & Rusty was one of the SAS soldiers involved in the assault. One of the terrorists threw a hand grenade at Rusty but forgot to take the pin out. One of the hostages was very badly hurt and was lucky to recover. 55 men from the SAS were involved in the battle and it was the first time the SAS were used to deal with hijackers. The hijackers had all been horribly tortured by the Iranian regime and among their demands was that the region they came from in Iran be recognised as an independent state. When they hijacked the embassy which they had staked out for several days, the policeman had gone off to have a cup of iranian tea, so it was quite easy for them to get in. The on duty policeman did however press his panic button. The SAS were sent nearby quite quickly. They built a model of the embassy to familiarize the soldiers with it and the doors even opened the right way. Mi5 bugged the embassy as there were over 50 rooms and it looked like an assault would take place at some point it was essential they knew where the hijackers were. One of the hijackers found a hole made when a room was bugged and someone made out it was mice. When the assault took place they blew a large portion of the building out to gain access. All but two of the terrorists were killed, one escaped and is still at large, the other went to prison. The one who went to prison used to tell jokes and puzzles to the hostages and so was fairly popular. The one who escaped is wanted for 2 murders. It's thought Saddam Hussein was behind it and certainly a war started between Iran & Iraq soon after. 

I have done a review of the thriller novel Never Look Away by Linwood Barclay at http://oldscratbag.net

You're all welcome to have a look.