''DEGREES OF C.J. HENDERSON''     by Raymond Dowaliby There are writers in this world whose fans always know what to expect from their work. These are comfortable author/reader relationships--familiar. Like old marriages, the pace is even, if perhaps somewhat stale, and often devoid of surprises.  "I hate to not have something new up my sleeve for my readers," said author C.J. Henderson. Stretched out comfortably in our offices, sipping ice tea, he did not look like what one would expect. "People who read me, they expect more than just the same old thing. Even one of my same old things. I’m telling you, it keeps you on your toes."  Although, come to think of it, what does one expect of the author when they read Henderson? Images flow, but the more one reads, the more those mental pictures begin to contradict one another. After all, could the person who penned a story such as "A Happy Mother Takes Away Pain," a tale of a daughter desperate to save her mother from a demon-induced disease possibly be the same one who wrote such mind-bogglingly twisted pieces like "The Gardener," or even worse, nightmares such as "The Soul’s Right Hand?" It’s sometimes hard to believe.

 After reading the latest collection of his work, I would have to agree. This is one tough horror writer--maybe the toughest. His new book, "Degrees of Fear & Others," a collection of twenty of his most fantastic stories--is impossible to label. There simply is no way to put them into any kind of category that could possibly do justice to them all. In one, he stages a showdown between a martial artist and a vampire. In another, a lone Viking warrior is left behind to stand off an entire army.

 Men battle monsters while striving to keep hold of their souls in some, while in others they struggle to find love in a modern world designed to effectively castrate their efforts at every turn. Throw in his latest tale featuring H.P. Lovecraft’s Herbert West: Reanimator, a brand new story which will mark the first appearance of Piers Knight, a bizarrely mysterious curator of the Brooklyn Museum and the star of his newest series, upcoming from Tor Books, as well as the wacky horror comedy, his award-winning story "A Forty Share in Innsmouth," and you have one of the most outstanding horror/fantasy collections ever put together.
 "I am really proud of this book," Henderson admits. "Dark Regions publisher/editor Joe Morey really worked hard on it. He put in a lot of time going through about a hundred, a hundred and fifty of my stories before he settled on the ones here. All in all, I think this one’s going to be a real crowd pleaser."

 The funny thing about Henderson is, he’s not talking about just his stories when he says nice things about "Degrees of Fear." Oddly enough, the more we pressed him to tell us about it, the more he wanted to discuss the book’s art rather than his efforts. Although, once one looks at even a few of the accompanying illustrations, it’s easy to see why.

 "I just love Ben’s work, and working with him. What can I tell you?"

 "Ben" refers to Ben Fogletto, a newspaper photographer by trade, but one of the most innovative and stylistically interesting artists working today. It doesn’t take viewing more than a few pieces of his strikingly different art to see why Henderson feels the way he does. In a world of painters slavishly adhering to commonplace, and to be honest, really, boring corporate standards, Fogletto is one artist who dares to follow his own vision. In a world of tedious, programmed art, he is a complete original.

 At this point Fogletto has done the cover artwork for six of Henderson’s novels and/or collections, including this one, and for a number of the anthologies in which his stories have appeared. Henderson is lavish in his praise of the artist, giving him perhaps more credit than he deserves for the author’s success.

 Then again, that seems to be one of the unusual things about this author. As we talked with him, a pattern of giving credit to everyone else involved emerged that we found not only surprising, but somewhat refreshing. If it wasn’t editor Joe Morey or artist Ben Fogletto he was praising, he would turn his sights to Vince Sneed, the designer of the popular "Die, Monster, Die" book line, and in Henderson’s estimation, the best layout man in the business.  "He’s a genius," he told us, a word he appears quite willing to toss in almost anyone’s direction but his own. Finding it hard to get the man to say anything bombastic about his own abilities, we decided to do a little research and find out what the rest of the world had to offer. We found scores of positive reviews of his work, and we found them everywhere.

 On his ability to write in a hardboiled manner, "New Mystery Magazine" said, "If, as some argue, the hardboiled private eye mystery story is a literary form on a par with the Japanese haiku or Irish ballad, then Mr. Henderson deserves the mantle of literary master."

 One of science fiction’s most well-respected review sources, "Locus," said of his seminal supernatural detective novel, "The Things That Are Not There," "It's a splashy, spectacular book with a near-apocalyptic climax and an immense body count. There's good characterization and real romance." They also called it “top flight entertainment,” as well.

     In the world of horror, the equally well-respected "Cemetery Dance" magazine said of one of his tales that "the consistently enjoyable C.J. Henderson delivers again."

 In Australia, "Mean Streets" magazine told the world, "Yes, Henderson is very, very good," and in Spain, critic Francisco José Suñer Iglesias said simply, "terrorifico!”

 And we agree. No matter which genre he tackles, Henderson writes with a sharp, concise style. Filled with crisp dialogue, fantastic action sequences and amazing plot twists, his stories hold the attention of readers of all ages. Still, what others have to say on a subject only tells you what they think. Another’s opinion might not be your own.

 Which means, obviously, no matter how great we think C.J. Henderson is, the only way you’re ever going to know for sure is to go and read some Henderson for yourself. And, it isn’t like the author doesn’t make it easy to do so. There are always free short stories posted at his website which he told us are supposed to change every six weeks, although, as he put it;

 "That isn’t a guarantee, you understand."

 We do. Life gets tough in this world, and sometimes you just can’t get every "i" dotted or "t" crossed the way you might like. Still, if there is anything close to a guarantee in this world, it’s that C.J. Henderson is a damn fine writer, and that his latest book, "Degrees of Fear & Others" is one of the best collections you’re likely to find anywhere. For more details, head over to www.darkregions.com and check it out.

 And, while your at it, head over to www.cjhenderson.com and read whatever he’s got posted now. You just might find yourself with a new favorite author.

''The Bourne Sanction''   by Allen Jaffee ERIC VAN LUSTBADER is the author of twenty international bestselling thrillers including The Ninja and Black Heart. He is also the author of two successful and highly regarded series of fantasy novels, The Sunset Warrior Cycle and The Pearl Saga. Now he has picked up the banner of the late Robert Ludlum and produced another thrilling Jason Bourne thriller. Bourne is confortable in his Professor David Webb persona and is now teaching at Georgetown University when Moira Trevor visits and tries to draw him back into the field. The visit is well-timed bacuse Webb's conditioning as a spy is deep in his soul and the collegiate life bores him.   He informs his academic mentor Professor Dominic Specter only to see two thugs assault the man. Bourne rescues him and Specter explains his father died fighting the Eastern Brotherhood, a group of Muslims who claim since WWII  to want to fit in peacefully with the West, but who are terrorist known as the Black Legion. Specter asks Bourne to kill leader Semion Icoupov who has started a terrorist plot to devastate America that has begun the countdown with the murder of an associate Pyotr by Leonid Arkadin.  This is the sort of open door Webb/Bourne has been secretly wishing for. There is lots of action in Lustbader's novel and it's non-stop from start to showdown. There are lots of excitingloocations in Europe and we can only sit and wait unti the movie is on the big screen to fully enjoy this tantalizing can't put-it-down action thriller. The Bourne excitment and power flows and overflows from page to page as Bourne what he does best - destroying villains -to prevent a terrorist attack rightup to the eleventh hour as the clock ticks and an unknown assassin stalks him.

''Devil May Care''  by Allen Jaffee This is the forthcoming thirty-sixth James Bond novel. Written by Sebastian Faulks ("writing as Ian Fleming"), it will be published on 28 May 2008, the 100th anniversary of Bond creator Ian Fleming's birth.  The popular novelist, famous for Charlotte Gray and Birdsong, was selected by the estate of the late 007-author in 2006, though his identity was not revealed to the public until July 2007 when a publishing date for the work was officially announced along with its title. The novel is set in the Cold War in 1967 and in Ian Fleming's original continuity, following ''The Man With The Golden Gun'' and the action is played out "across two continents, exotic locations and some of the world's most thrilling cities". U.S. publisher Doubleday confirmed one of the locations will be Paris. Faulks' book is the first novel to focus on the adult James Bond, as conceived by Fleming, since 2002 and, as noted above, it takes place in the time-frame of Fleming's original novels, the first such book since Amis' Colonel Sun.  The jacket artwork features the model Tuuli Shipster, muse of the British photographer, Rankin. Tuuli said: "I was thrilled that Penguin chose me to be their Bond girl. It’s fantastic to be involved with something so iconic. “My novel is meant to stand in the line of Fleming’s own books, where the story is everything.” said Faulks, “In his house in Jamaica, Ian Fleming used to write a thousand words in the morning, then go snorkelling, have a cocktail, lunch on the terrace, more diving, another thousand words in late afternoon, then more Martinis and glamorous women. In my house in London, I followed this routine exactly, apart from the cocktails, the lunch and the snorkelling.” Picking up from where Fleming left off in 1966 with ''The Living Daylights / Octopussy'', Faulks has written the perfect continuation of the James Bond legacy. ''Devil May Care'' is set during the Cold War and features all the glamour, thrills and excitement that one would expect from any adventure involving Bond... James Bond. The cover photograph was taken by British photographer and commercials director, Kevin Summers. The jacket image was created by the design agency The Partners. ''Devil May Care'' will be published in hardback by Penguin Books in the UK and its territories (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India and Europe) and in Ireland. In the US it will be published by Doubleday. Many of the publishers will be using this jacket. Penguin are launching a brand new imprint – Penguin 007 – under which they will publish all their Bond titles, including ''Devil May Care''.

by Don Piper  with Cecil Murphey Published by Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Company         reviewed by Andrew Johnson

''90 Minutes in Heaven''   by Andrew Johnson This is one of the most uplifting books I’ve read in quite some time. For those, like myself, who believe in a beautiful afterlife after our life on earth is done, this tale of life and death concerning a minister reinforces all we’ve been taught and believe. And it’s also shown that the power of prayer can certainly move mountains.  This book, a New York Times bestseller, which sold over two million copies, tells the story of Pastor Don Piper, who, as he relates the events, died in a horrendous automobile crash, went to heaven and met all his loved ones who preceded him before, witnessed the glory and heavenly music, and was sent back. Once more alive, he suffered greatly in his recuperation in order to be an inspiration for those who had similar painful recoveries and prepared those to cross over from life to death, not in a fearful manner, but one in which the outcome would be an affirmative and gratifying experience in the afterlife.  Piper now fully realizes that he was sent back for a purpose, that of telling his story and being a help for those suffering and dying. His life was completely changed when, on the way home from a conference, he chose one of two routes and was crushed in his car by a huge truck on a two lane bridge. He died instantly, went to heaven, and was struck by its music and beauty.  His friend, another minister, prayed for him, and he came back to life, after having been officially pronounced dead at the scene by the EMT. His faith in God was put to the test as his recovery in extreme and constant pain taxed his mind. He, throughout, always wanted to return to the serenity of heaven rather than the grueling recovery he experienced with, among other things, a leg mechanism that was experimental at the time in fixing his mangled leg, a leg that was first deemed inoperable and set for amputation. He was told that this device might not even work, and though he went through constant pain, his leg might still have had to be amputated. What a test for him to endure! This death and life experience changed Piper’s life forever as it may well change your thinking to a positive one concerning the afterlife after reading this man’s experience.

 “Now I can speak authoritatively about heaven from firsthand knowledge.
 “Besides my own miraculous experience, four things stand out from my heavenly journey. First, I’m thoroughly convinced that God answers prayers. Answered prayer is why I’m still alive. Second, I have an unquestionable belief that God is still in the miracle business. Too many people read about the supernatural in the Bible and think, That’s the way it was in biblical times. I’m convinced that God continues to do the more-than-ordinary. Every day I thank God that I’m a living, walking, talking miracle.

 “Third, I want as many people as possible to go to heaven. I’ve always believed Christian theology that declares heaven is real and a place for God’s people. Since my own experience of having been there, I’ve felt a stronger sense of responsibility to make the way absolutely clear. Not only do I want people to go to heaven, I now feel an urgency about helping them open their lives so they can be assured that’s where they’ll go when they die.”

 Biblical quotes precede each chapter and are quite relevant to that which will be discussed. I was impressed with the use of  2Corinthians 5:1-4 which states:
 “For when we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down – when we die and leave these bodies – we will have a home in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long for the day when we will put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will not be spirits without bodies, but we will put on new heavenly bodies. Our dying bodies make us groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and have no bodies at all. We want to slip into our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by everlasting life.”

 Piper further states:
 “I had never really noticed it before, but twice Jesus used the word place – a location. Perhaps that may not stir most people, but I think about it often. It is a literal place, and I can testify that I know that place. I’ve been there. I know heaven is real.  Since my accident, I’ve felt more intensely and deeply than ever before. A year in a hospital bed can do that for anyone, but it was more than just that. Those ninety minutes in heaven left such an impression on me that I can never be the same person I was. I can never again be totally content here, because I live in anticipation.”

 As the cover of the book states: “A true story of death and life.” The pastor doesn’t concern himself if skeptics believe his visitation to be his brain waves firing off good thoughts of his past and the wishful thinking of the afterlife. He is convinced he was there and returned for the purpose of helping others survive pain while preparing others who were dying to realize the positive aspect of the Christian belief of the greater glory.

 Don Piper has been an ordained minister since 1985 (his accident took place in January of 1989). He has appeared on many TV and radio programs and writes a weekly newspaper column, also going to conferences (leading most) in this country and abroad. Not only is his experience with heaven and his return and recovery documented in this book, but also the circumstances of how he helped others and ministered to them in their darkest hours, similar to his own.

 This is a slightly over 200 page paperback that once you pick it up to read, you find it very hard to put it down, requiring you to read the whole thing in one sitting.