Journey To Red Dawn: The Torch Of Life by Cagla Meydan was so much more than I expected. I think Altan, a Wall Street broker, was going through a midlife crisis. He is a mountain climber, and when he heard that Mount Evolution had grown taller, he embarked on a journey of self discovery by climbing to the top. He is seeking answers to some age old questions like: Why am I here? What is my purpose?
Altan is married and, though he doesn’t know it, his wife Ruby is pregnant. She never loses faith, believing, no matter what, Altan will return to her. The journey is brutal. Many of those who began the journey with him, will never return home and it looked like he wouldn’t either. He won’t leave his new friend, and it will mean his death, also.
I liked the thought that everything is connected. Their psyche as a whole would affect the climb. When they dwelled in doom and gloom, the weather darkened and storm arose. The earth shifted, making itself known.
Journey To Red Dawn by Cagla Meydan is one of the most thoughtprovoking novels I have read in a long time. The book is an oversized paperback, heavy in weight, and 403 pages of unputdownable deliciousness. The Epilogue is short and sweet and I loved it.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Despite his success as a Wall Street broker, a loving family, and a life others would envy, Altan is haunted by a recurring dream—one that tragically came true. On the brink of abandoning everything, he receives an unusual gift for his fortieth a veiled storybook. Drawn to its pages, he hopes to find solace and some answers, unaware that it’s an invitation to the mystical realm of existence. Propelled by a series of strange events, Altan embarks on a breathtaking journey to the heart of Anatolia, following the threads of a supernatural mystery. What begins as a search for answers unravels into an odyssey beyond imagination—filled with peril, wonder, and revelations about humanity and creation itself. As he ascends through hidden dimensions of consciousness, courage, love, faith, and unyielding resilience guide him toward an awe-inspiring truth waiting at the journey’s end. Journey to Red Dawn is an allegorical epic of the universal ‘Human’ story—a timeless pilgrimage back to the essence, where all faiths and quests for meaning converge. Join Altan as he uncovers the secrets of life, death, and beyond. Through his eyes, witness a world where every step is a leap towards the truth, and every dawn brings new hope and understanding. Are you ready to let the sun rise within you? Let your journey begin… ‘Questions that have found their answers are the ship’s final arrival to harbor.’
First off, don’t let the cover of Muzzle The Black Dog by Mike Cobb fool you. The story is about Jack and his journey of self discovery and redemption.
We start with an isolated cabin…isn’t that a great place to start? Then, we have a mysterious stranger…it’s getting better.
Muzzle The Black Dog may be a quick read, but that doesn’t take away from the mystery that lingers on the pages. The fires…who is setting them and why kept me flipping through the pages. Mike Cobb did a great job of making me question what I thought was happening. The plot is more complex that I anticipated and that was a pleasant surprise.
4 Stars
SYNOPSIS
After a mysterious stranger appears at his isolated cabin door, Jack’s life is forever changed. The stranger’s cryptic message sets off a chain of events that lead Jack on a harrowing journey to uncover the true meaning of his own existence.
As a series of unexplained fires threaten to consume everything he holds dear, Jack is forced to confront his deepest fears and question everything he thought he knew about himself.
Set in the aftermath of the Centennial Olympic Park bombing, Jack’s search for the truth takes him to the edge of sanity and puts him on a collision course with a dark and powerful force that has been lurking in the shadows.
Join Jack on a gripping and thought-provoking quest for answers in this thrilling and suspenseful tale of self-discovery and redemption.
Praise for MUZZLE THE BLACK DOG:
“Muzzle the Black Dog takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions and family secrets. The slow reveal is creepy many times but you still want to read page after page. I loved the combination of thriller, drama, history and mystery.” ~ Erik S. Meyers, author of The Sally Witherspoon Mystery Series
“A mystery whose plot will transfix you and whose finish will stun you, Muzzle the Black Dog is simply superb. A stranger enters narrator Jack Pate’s life and proceeds to upend it through his bizarrely intimate knowledge of Jack’s past. In determining the identity of the visitor, Jack solves a deeper mystery within himself, but doing so provokes demons in his soul, demons he’d been holding at since childhood. Author Mike Cobb provides that rare combination of masterly prose, passion, and insight, in an atmosphere dark and chilling as a Georgia winter.” ~ Charles Philipp Martin, author of the Inspector Lok novels Rented Grave and Neon Panic
“The pages just fly by in this quick-moving, compelling and stunningly unique psychological thriller about a man searching for answers to a deadly crime who uncovers long-buried secrets about himself and his own troubled past. Muzzle the Black Dog takes the reader on a wonderfully wild roller coaster of a ride filled with plenty of twists, thrills and tension. Mike Cobb has written a terrific book – read it!” ~ R.G. Belsky, author of the Clare Carlson mystery series
“Mike Cobb’s Muzzle The Black Dog, is a fast-paced, unputdownable thriller that will leave you guessing until the very end.” ~ Westley Smith, author of Some Kind of Truth and In The Pale Light
“Intriguing doesn’t begin to describe the appeal of this book’s premise: a mysterious stranger on the doorstep of recluse Jack Pate, offering friendship and help. Despite Jack’s surprise (he has no need of aid) and suspicion of the disheveled man—who looks more like a vagrant than any friend he would choose—Jack is fascinated. Who is this man, and how did he find Jack’s secluded cabin? And why does he seem to know things about Jack’s uneasy past?
Just as suddenly as the stranger appears, he vanishes, leading Jack on an odyssey, beginning as a physical search but quickly morphing into self-preservation as reports of heinous local crimes trickle in. Arson and murders begin to stain the remote countryside, and the suspects are few and far-between.
Sneaky clues, well-drawn characters, and swift plotting propel the story forward as the author deftly explores the many ways the past affects the present—and how it might endanger the future. I highly recommend this one.” ~ Jennifer Sadera, author of I Know She Was There
“A slow burn of a story revealing the power of deeply held secrets. Secrets so earthshaking that Jack Pate questions everything he believed when a mysterious stranger knows everything about him. Moody and atmospheric.” ~ James L’Etoile, award-winning author of River of Lies and the Detective Nathan Parker series
Book Details:
Genre: Crime, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction Published by: Waterside Productions Publication Date: April 15, 2025 Number of Pages: 184 Book Links:Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org | Goodreads
Read an excerpt:
Author Bio:
Mike’s body of literary work includes both fiction and nonfiction, short-form and long-form, as well as articles and blogs.
He is the author of three published novels, Dead Beckoning, The Devil You Knew, its sequel You Will Know Me by My Deeds, and Muzzle the Black Dog, a novella. He is also working on Kathleen, a fictionalized account of a cold case murder from 1970.
While he is comfortable playing across a broad range of topics, much of his focus is on true crime, crime fiction, and historical fiction. Rigorous research is foundational to his writing. He gets that honestly, having spent much of his professional career as a scientist.
A native of Atlanta, Mike splits his time between Midtown Atlanta and Blue Ridge, Georgia.
I love to give authors a podium and the freedom to share whatever they like. I found Vince’s Guest Post to be interesting and it got me thinking….
Guest Blog Post
Which two authors would I have dinner with?
Ernest Hemingway and Taylor Caldwell have been
known for their inspiring and exceptional writing. So, what would it be like to
have dinner with them?
Let the fantasy begin …
As we waited for our drinks, I leaned over to
Ernest. “Put that cigar away,” I whispered, to avoid embarrassment.
“It’s Papa,” he replied in his usual charismatic
tone. “I told you many times, call me Papa. And this is no ordinary cigar. It’s
a Cuban puro.”
“I know what it is,” I said as my eyes followed
the waft of smoke charging towards me like one of the bulls from his book, The
Sun Also Rises. I moved my head to the side and added, “This is not El
Floridity and it’s not 1952. It’s 2022 in Sotto Sotto, Toronto. You remember
Toronto, don’t you?”
“Of course,
I do,” Ernest said as he extinguished his cigar. “The Toronto Star. I started there
as a freelancer and eventually worked as a foreign correspondent in Europe
writing stories about post-WWI conditions.”
I looked over to Taylor. She wasn’t a bit annoyed.
The curl of her lip suggested she rather enjoyed the exchange and would have
also enjoyed a Cuban cigar.
Our server came with our drinks. “Two daquiris,” he
said. Ernest smiled and tapped his finger on a space on the
table in front of him. “Martini for you, madam. And Negroni for you, sir.” We
toasted to friendship and writing and as the food and drinks came in plenty, so
did the conversation.
“Congratulations,” Taylor said, raising her glass
to me. “I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Final Crossing. Well done.”
“As did I,” Ernest said. I thanked them, smiled,
and took a sip of my Negroni.
Then Taylor turned to Ernest. “Papa, you should
have added more religious themes in your books.”
“You mean like your stories?”
“You know very well I have written on a broad range
of subjects, not just stories related to real historical events or persons. I
do not need to defend my work.”
Ernest smiled and raised his glass in tribute of her
accomplishments. It was probably more in his appreciation of a woman who
exemplified his own persona – strong-minded, adventurous, and passionate about her
craft. The wise fisherman was no match for this marlin, at least not this time.
“And don’t forget,” I said. “While you published The
Old Man and The Sea in 1952, for which you later won the Nobel Prize,
Taylor had written The Devil’s Advocate, set in
a dystopia where North America came under Communist rule.”
Ernest leaned back in his chair and took another sip of
his drink. Then he began to talk about his time in Cuba and in Paris and in
Spain. Taylor raised her hand. Ernest
stopped and remained
quiet. She then leaned forward towards him and said, “Don’t let the past steal
your present.”
The place fell in deafening silence as if everyone
had heard our conversation. I broke the stillness with my own curiosity about
their work.
“Papa, did writing come easy for you?” He shifted
in his seat and cleared his throat as if ready to respond in an interview with
a seasoned journalist.
“Writing is something that you can never do as well
as it can be done,” he said. “It is a perpetual challenge, and it is more
difficult than anything else that I have ever done—so I do it. And it makes me
happy when I do it well.”
Then I turned to Taylor. “You have always been
outspoken which is reflected in your intricately plotted, suspenseful stories
depicting family tensions. Much of this stemmed from your childhood. Would you
agree?”
“To some extent,” she replied. “As you know, I
emigrated to the U.S. with my parents and younger brother in 1907. Shortly
after my father died and the family struggled. I think I tapped into those
experiences and wrote them in my stories.”
“I believe you started to write at the age of eight
and wrote your first novel when you were twelve.”
She smiled. Then, as if the memories surfaced, her
smile faded. “My ill health prevented me from doing many things, except writing
of course. I buried myself in writing and the world knew little about me. Many
presumed I or rather the author, was a man. That was my first editor’s doing,
giving me a pen name. When my identity was eventually made known there was even
some public fuss over it.”
“Did that experience change how you thought about
people?”
“The nature of human beings never changes.
Political fads come and go; theories rise and fall; the scientific truth of
today becomes the discarded error of tomorrow. Man’s ideas change, but not his
inherent nature. That remains.”
My eyes darted towards Ernest who sat with his hand
on his chin, and I could tell he learned something new about Taylor.
“OK, now please humour me,” I said. I reached into
my pocket and pulled out three pens, one for each of us. I then took out a
piece of paper, ripped it in three and distributed them. I had obviously planned
for this moment.
I continued. “If we were stranded on an island and brought
with us only one book, what would it be? Write it down, fold the paper and pass
it to me.”
They were pensive at first. But then, in unison,
they wrote down their answer and handed it to me. I also wrote mine. I unfolded
each one and placed them on the table for us to see which book we would have had
brought with us.
Taylor wrote, The Old Man and The Sea. Ernest
wrote, The Devil’s Advocate. I wrote, The Final Crossing.
We laughed and laughed. We ate and drank. We
savoured the evening until the place had emptied, except for three revelling
authors.
And the fantasy ended.
What a fun post. I know I have read The Old Man and The Sea, but the others….I’ll be checking. I loved the post and you made it so enjoyable, Vince. Thank you very much.
The Final Crossing: A Tale of Self-Discovery and Adventure by Vince Santoro
GENRE: Historical Fiction
BLURB
In this tale of self-discovery and adventure,
we are connected with a history we’ve come to know as the cradle of
civilization.
Nenshi, an Egyptian house servant, raised in
nobility, is well-schooled, a master huntsman and hungers to be free. His
master agrees to grant his freedom but while the petition is set to be heard,
Nenshi’s indiscretion gets in the way. He is caught in a secret love affair
with a woman above his social status.
As punishment, he is exiled to labour in the Nubian
gold mines. His life turns upside down as he is thrust into a world for which
he had been ill prepared. He escapes from the mines and vows to return to
Thebes, but his attempts push him farther and farther away on a journey that
redefines him – a journey mired with cruelty, bloodshed, and the discovery of a
new deity.
In the end Nenshi learns his freedom has been
granted and must decide whether to return to his homeland or start a new life.
“I greatly enjoyed this well written story by
Vince Santoro. He takes us across the Ancient World
through the protagonist, Nenshi, an exiled Egyptian
servant who struggles with class structure, both around and within himself.
Santoro weaves a story of ideas – a sense of belonging, monotheism, and the
human soul – told through Nenshi’s rite of passage through to his final
crossing. The setting is visually evocative of “spirit of place” as
the novelist and travel writer Lawrence Durrell called it. It’s a story worth
reading.” – Terry Stanfill
Award winning historical fiction author of The Gift
from Fortuny, Realms of Gold, The Blood Remembers and other works.
“Vince Santoro is a gifted storyteller. I
found The Final Crossing difficult to put down because it is
well written. As an historian and author of
non-fiction books, I am impressed with the amount of research that Santoro has
done to prepare this story of adventure and romance set in the ancient Middle
East. The customs, the beliefs and even the character names are all authentic
to that region and era. With so many plot twists and turns, Santoro will keep
you guessing about what might happen next to the protagonist until the very
end!” – John Charles Corrigan
Author of The Red Knight and “Love
Always”
EXCERPT
Twilight was fast approaching, and they returned to the trail.
From a distance they saw an abundance of trees and vegetation that sprung from
the hard soil. Moments later, they heard rushing water. A twisting river
murmured. It called out and invited them to consume its wealth. Nenshi and
Aziza went to explore it.
Aziza stopped and kneeled to examine small flowers in bloom.
On the river’s edge Nenshi bent over and splashed water on his face. He cupped
his hands and drank its cool refreshing offering. Rocks jutted out from the
shallow water. He heard footsteps and threw a glance behind him. Aziza, ran
towards him, as free as the wind blew, eager to jump into the river. Nenshi
screamed from the top of his lungs to warn her.
“Aziza … Aziza … be careful, the water is shallow! There
are rocks!”
Her excitement muffled his warning. Nenshi then stood,
flapped his arms to get her attention. She pushed her legs hard against the
water to run faster until it was just deep enough to jump in.
“Aziza …. Aziza … stop …” Nenshi cried. Aziza took another
step but this time slipped and almost fell. She tried to regain balance and
continued moving forward. Nenshi gasped hoping she realized the danger and
would stop. But she didn’t and it was too late. She slipped again, fell and hit
a rock. Nenshi immediately ran to her, stepping and slipping on rocks that
almost caused him to lose balance. Babak who had heard Nenshi’s cries dashed to
the river. Nenshi crouched over the wet and motionless body.
“Help me get her out,” Nenshi cried out as he lifted her,
propped her head and shoulders in his arms. Blood, washed by the water, dripped
from her head.
AUTHOR Bio and Links
Vince is an Italian-born Canadian who grew up in Toronto,
Canada, and now lives in Pickering, a suburb of Toronto.
In his youth, education and sports became a priority. A private
boys’ school, St. Michael’s College in Toronto, provided the opportunity for
both. He graduated from York University, Toronto, with a degree in history and
a minor in behavioural science.
Vince was always up for new challenges. After completing his
studies, he set his eyes on Europe and played professional basketball in Italy.
When he returned home, he shifted gears and worked in the aerospace industry in
several capacities. The most rewarding was managing internal communications for
a large aircraft manufacturer. It was during this time he decided to hone his
writing skills by studying journalism at Ryerson University, Toronto, and he
had several articles published.
His career in communications along with studies in history and
journalism prepared him to take on his next challenge: to write a book. His
debut novel, The Final Crossing, has been a labour of love, one he worked on
for many years. It reflects life experiences, woven into a story that inspires
and entertains, and perhaps even show the world in a different way.
