Hannah’s War

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“Now I am become Death, Destroyer of Worlds”

A review by Joey Madia

As one looks back on the many watershed moments in U.S. history—the result of decisions made by a small group of White men that cost at times millions of lives around the globe—the country’s role in World War II and its aftermath are perhaps the most hotly debated (with Vietnam an equally strong contender) because of the late-war actions of dropping the A-bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Operation Paperclip/the start of the Cold War. America and Russia bringing Nazi scientists—many of whom would not have faired well at Nuremberg—into the fold of the fledging military–industrial complex that Eisenhower and Kennedy tried so hard to forestall set a tone for immoral action on the global stage, the repercussions of which are still being felt.

Science, and scientists, are at the heart of Hannah’s War, which is A-list historical fiction centering on a Jewish Austrian scientist named Hannah Weiss, an analog for real-life scientist and discoverer of nuclear fission, Dr. Lise Meitner. Because she was female and Jewish, Meitner was omitted from the Nobel Prize given to her male, Gentile partner.

Weiss is working at Los Alamos under Robert Oppenheimer on the Manhattan Project, having escaped Germany in the early days of the rise of the Third Reich after doing the bulk of her foundational work at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute. “Jew Physics,” as termed by the Nazis, who saw it as illegitimate, led to an exodus from and then purging of the Institute, to the (thankful) detriment of the Reich’s science, especially when it came to the A-bomb, which they were (again thankfully) unable to develop. Continue reading →

Love, Dad: How My Father Died… Then Told Me He Didn’t

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“A Six-Year Journey to Belief in the Afterlife”

A review by Joey Madia

Let’s begin with a buyer beware, spoiler alert, and disclaimer. First, this isn’t a book written from the onset by a true believer, filled with anecdotes involving inspiring messages from the deceased. If you are looking for that type of book on the afterlife, they are abundant. So abundant, that is what I thought I was reviewing when I picked this one up.

Instead, it details the author’s six-year journey from near cynicism to a scientific skepticism where he spent a good deal of time and money, created or adapted protocols, and did all he could to debunk psychic mediumship, all while receiving what seemed to be messages from his recently deceased father.

Now, the spoiler alert: At the end of the six-year journey (on p. 286 of 305), the author writes: “[O]nce you have come to see this truth for yourself, and your personal universe expands, it is no longer so important to you that everyone else sees it.”

Which brings me to the disclaimer. I have taken the same journey as the author in terms of seeing the truth and now not being concerned if everyone else sees it. I arrived here on a different path, having married a psychic medium and certified hypnotist with a specialization in past life regression and soul contact and having had an experience with parallel dimensions, interdimensional beings, and possible alien contact/abduction in 2009 so profound that I have given increasingly greater time and devotion in my career over the past eleven years to being a rigorous paranormal investigator, researcher, author, lecturer, and weekly podcast host (the author will be on our show May 6). My wife and I have spoken in person and reached through the airwaves hundreds of thousands of people about consciousness surviving death. We have collected and analyzed dozens of cases, and are members of a respected research group doing the same. Continue reading →

Do Unto Earth: It’s Not Too Late

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“Divine Guidance from a Celestial Source”

A review by Joey Madia

You will have already noticed, from the bibliographic information, that this book is unlike others written by a single author, or even a team of authors. Not only is it channeled from a being calling itself Pax, the Divine Wisdom Source—Pax is the uncredited author of roughly half the text.

If you’re a cynic who doesn’t believe that it’s possible for a non-corporeal being to communicate with the living, you’ll still get a great deal from this book. The lead author is knowledgeable on a variety of important and sometimes complex subjects, such as alternative fuels, climate change, and nutrition.

Reading this book recalled a time when I was beginning my journey as a serious paranormal investigator. A colleague gave me a book by remote viewer Ingo Swann called Penetration. After reading it over the course of a few days, enrapt, I called my colleague and said, “Do you believe this is true? Because if I believe it, this will change everything.” I did, and it did.

Do Unto Earth, and two pocket-sized companion books about COVID-19 and other topics (The Likely Future, Vol. 1 and 2) that I also read, are similar to Penetration. If you start from the premise that Pax “exists”—and there’s a spectrum of explanations for how this material was delivered, from Pax being a celestial being (which I’m willing to accept), to it being a trickster calling itself Pax, to it being the higher consciousness of one or both of the two human authors—then the information will be value-added. Continue reading →

Babushka is Homesick

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“Returning to Her Homeland”

A review by Joey Madia

Babushka is Homesick is the sequel to Tell Me a Story, Babushka, which I recently reviewed (and loved!). Babushka, in the first book, tells her granddaughter Karina about how she came to America after escaping a camp in Siberia following the invasion and seizure of grain in Ukraine by the Russians.

In the sequel, Babushka decides to return to Ukraine—for the first time since she was taken from her home by the soldiers—on a trip sponsored by the Ukrainian Church.

While the first book centered solely on Babushka (which means “little grandmother”) and Karina, Babushka is Homesick reveals a house full of energetic grandchildren from a broad array of ethnicities and four of Babushka’s friends, who are all very unique in appearance and wonderfully, whimsically illustrated by Vinicius Melo.

Speaking of Melo’s illustrations, you will want to take your time with them, especially the opening one, which is filled with all kinds of elements that cue not only Ukrainian culture but daily life at Babushka’s. Another illustration, spread over two pages, on which you can spend a lot of time is on pages 18 and 19, when Babushka and friends first set out to explore the city. Celebration of diversity is everywhere in this book. Continue reading →

7 Days in Hell: A Halloween Vacation to Wake the Dead

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A review by Joey Madia

Right along with serial killers, Satanic cults are a cultural fascination. Going back to Hammer films like The Devil Rides Out and Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby and other demon films of the 1960s and 1970s, to the various versions of Wicker Man, to the tongue in cheek cult classic (pardon the pun) The Burbs, to last year’s very intense limited series The Third Day starring Jude Law, there is something about goat-heads, goblets full of blood, and campfire cannibalism that draws our attention and keeps it.

Inspired by a real-life vacation with her sister and dog, Iseult Murphy drills deeply into the core of this zeitgeist to deliver a novel structured according to the title—with chapters broken down by each of the seven days (plus a bonus eighth), along with an illustration for each by the author. If you are a fan of Secret Window, you might find the illustration of the screwdriver as ominous as I did.

The main characters are twin sisters, Irene and Vicky—one a button-down teacher, the other an adventurous university student with an eye for the guys; a priest (who, refreshingly, finds bravery in his faith, which is rare; usually priests are in some kind of crisis in the face of evil); a mysterious local family; and, in town, an interesting array of mechanics, tavern owners, police, and citizens. Continue reading →