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I have been reading Ken La Salle’s books for some time now. He possesses a vivid imagination and his stories make for some fabulous reading. Here’s his take on his latest novel, The Death & Life Of Arturo Delgado.

Hi Ken. It’s good to have you here today.

There comes this moment in the career of many authors. That last pitch.

I was working with an agent I respected but my book just wasn’t selling. I needed something new and hot and I came up with… werewolves? Werewolves taking over San Francisco? I don’t even like werewolves; they’re terrible on toast.

The pitch was a disaster, of course, and the agent and I parted ways amicably.

As my fiftieth birthday approached, however, I looked back on that pitch. Hidden away, beneath the werewolves and the fur and the werewolf chow were some very odd ideas. As an author, I live for odd ideas, ideas that stand out so far they pierce the veil of my worst ideas.

One such idea was my usual out of time and out of place character but with such a rough edge that it took years for me to put it into words. This is what authors do, though. They find an idea and they work it from odd, from rough, to undeniable.

That idea was: James Bond meets The Lord of The Rings.

Not literally, though. Strip away the Intellectual Property, the IP. I was more interested in deconstructing and merging the genres. So, on my fiftieth birthday, I made myself a promise, to write a nine-part space opera called The BreakThrough.

In the universe of The BreakThrough, the biggest question revolves around energy, as it always does. Those with the most power hold the most energy and understand how to travel faster than the speed of light. The lesser civilizations can only hope to travel that fast, the cost being so great you might as well acquire magic. As you might expect, our planet intersects there.

An unwell-kempt detective, Max Dedge stumbles upon a vast mystery of assassins plunging from San Francisco rooftops, a beautiful wizard who can control fire with a thought, and something called The Time of The Uniborg where all magics come together. There’s also this crystal that can either take him to new worlds or destroy this one; he’s not sure.

Single mother and restauranteur, Sue Jorgensen (the Queen of Space), tracks down the only man who can step between worlds, Max Dedge. She knows where the Earth fits in this galactic quest for magic and will use this knowledge and anything she must to save her son who is lost in a galaxy of enslaved Dreamers.

Neither of them will be safe without Arturo Delgado, however. They need the thief with the heart of a safe cracker, the only one who can be totally honest with them, the only one who can tell them exactly what they need to know. Sadly, he dies in his first book.

The BreakThrough is a gurgling, spicy stew of alien invaders, epic fantasy, social satire, romance, fun, and stand up and cheer kind of excitement that has only begun. No werewolves required.

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, Ken.

Amazon / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

Arturo Delgado is a jack of all (illegal) trades and a master of none. He thought of Max Dedge as a one trick pony. Since meeting Max, he has learned there is more than what meets the eye in this world. There’s aliens, magic, crystals that allow you to travel through the universe and worlds that could never be dreamed of.

In The Death And Life Of Arturo Delgado, the band gets back together again. Arturo, Max and Sue Jorgensen. Sue is looking for her son, who is still lost in the universe. Even worse, aliens are coming to take over the world. We are just pesky little critters that are in their way.

Ken La Salle has a wildly creative imagination that makes for entertaining reading. His stories are unpredictable, making each event a surprise. Half the time I don’t know whether to laugh or cry or shout at the characters. Sure makes for some fantastic reading and I always look forward to the next story.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos — 4 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

A suitcase full of alien diamonds…

It’s everything Arturo Delgado has always wanted.

And it didn’t come cheap.

Art had once been the proprietor of one of Mexico’s hottest up and coming bars until Max Dedge had flown in with some beautiful wizard and burned the place to the ground. Art’s only option had been to follow Max from nation to nation, from world to world, until the debt was paid.

And did Max pay it? No. He was off on some adventure to another world, a world with magic and aliens and a cave full of diamonds, which Max Dedge refused to share. The only alternative left to Art was to steal the diamonds for himself and run before Max Dedge could find him.

Now, he’s looking for a way to sell a suitcase full of alien diamonds and doing his best not to be traced. In Washington State, he stops at a little restaurant owned by Sue Jorgensen (future Queen of Space) and devises a plan that will leave him rich for life and show the great Max Dedge who came out on top.

That’s all that matters. Not the eggplant aliens coming to destroy the world. Not the pasty slaves who sound like they came out of a 1970s sitcom. Not the Queen of Space.

All that matters now is a suitcase full of alien diamonds… and making Max Dedge pay.

Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Science Fiction
288 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 28, 2025
Series: The Breakthrough #3

ABOUT KEN LA SALLE

Born on an 18th century mining ship, Ken La Salle is not his name. He just likes it. He writes about whatever he damn well pleases, hoping to build more of a cult following than a readership just for a cut on the robes. Looking for the mainstream but sticking to the shore, you can find out more about Ken La Salle at the imaginatively named www.kenlasalle.com.

MY KEN LA SALLE REVIEWS

False Starts
Cookies: Sluts of the Snack World
Heaven Enough
Heaven Denied
Heaven For Now
Wormfood Island
Work of Art
Work of Art II
Climbing Maya
Max Dedge in the Time of the Uniborg (The Breakthrough)
Sue Jorgensen (The Breakthrough)
Little Mike

GIVEAWAY

Ken La Salle is offering a digital copy of The Death And Life Of Arturo Delgado to two lucky winners.

What is your favorite thing about science fiction novels? Do you like the quirky characters? The novel planets and spaceships? The situations an author puts their characters in?

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