new time travel and aliens from Max Wannow

Kill Tut

By Max Wannow

Audio version, read by Max Wannow

Time Travel

Near future dystopia

January 2019

99 cents eBook

$12.99 Print

$ Audible

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About the Book

Ancient Egyptians, aliens, Neanderthals. Kill Tut is a historical fiction sci-fi novel. For a secret government operation in the near future, a team of three is sent back in time to kidnap King Tutankhamun.

New York, New York: 2041. The American-Egyptian War continues as more Egyptian battalions invade the USA. With the purpose of bringing the war to an end, Operation Golden Ankh is a top-secret Delta Force mission that consists of sending a team of three back in time. Captain Jackson Martindale, Staff Sergeant Laiklyn Ladore, and CIA Officer Dana Villa have seven days to complete the mission in the Eighteenth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. To successfully complete the mission, the three must coerce King Tutankhamun to travel with them to the future. Forcibly kidnapping the pharaoh would lead to a domino-like disruption in the architecture of time. The three are quick to discover the past deviates from what history books provide. The ancient people of Thebes, Egypt resort to panic when their city is invaded by Neanderthal warriors; but when humanoid aliens with skin made of a malleable gold arrive, the Ancient Egyptians welcome them with open arms.

My Review

The author approached me for this review of the audio version of his novel Kill Tut. While I like near future dystopian time travel, I was somewhat puzzled about what kidnapping a child pharaoh would accomplish…but we learn history textbooks are not exactly correct. Set twenty years in the future, the US is at war with Egypt. Three members of different military and intelligence organizations are teamed up to return to ancient Egypt dressed as a Hittite priests and priestesses. The goal is to use the most famous boy Pharaoh, Tut, as bait to make Egypt stop their attack over a US missile crisis that inadvertently destroyed the Valley of the Kings during a period in which the Earth is off its natural orbit and it’s impossible to program missiles to hit specific targets. The team members are able to absorb and translate the language through a neural implant. Egyptian society is loose and sensual. Alcohol, drugs, and sex are used liberally. Inexplicably, a nearby colony of Neanderthals attack and kidnap several Egyptians, along with Laiklyn.

The author narrates his work using slightly different intonations to create the voice of a young Jackson, the hero, as a child, and again as female members of the team, Laiklyn and Dana, and in a deeper authoritative tone to represent older men. Otherwise his narrative is somewhat mechanical but clearly enunciated. The story involves a fair amount of research and creative speculation of ancient societies, language, worship practices, and evolution. It’s a good thing there’s plenty of good ancient beer, wine, and magical mushrooms available to quench thirst and fill in spaces between action. There is a good deal of gruesome warfare and sacrifice, especially toward the end.

Separated into several viewpoints and twining through time, Kill Tut is a creatively imagined story taking place mostly in speculative ancient Egypt using heavily described setting and character. We’re also apparently derived from intelligent creatures from Jupiter. Passive language with present tense and lots of explanation tends to slow the pace. While I want to give the story more than 3 stars, it’s a bit short of 4. I’m sure readers who like transformational time traveling aliens, guts, and spiked beer in ancient Egypt will get a kick out of Wannow’s tale.

About the Author

Max Wannow is an independent absurdist novelist, who describes his work to be thought-provoking and discomforting. Simply put, Max Wannow is not for everybody.

New Scottish Romance from Jennifer Trethewey

Saving the Scot

Book 4 of the Highlanders of Balfourss historical romance series

Jennifer Trethewey

Entangled books

March, 2019

$3.99 ebook

$18.99 print

$14.99 Audio

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About the Book:
Louisa Robertson’s father is furious when he finds her acting on stage. Now, she’s being shipped off to America to marry some stranger her father thinks will bring out the “lady” in her. Luckily, Louisa’s maid agrees to switch places with her! Her maid will marry the American and get the wealthy lifestyle she’s always wanted, and Louisa can do whatever she damn well pleases––for the first time in her life.

Highlander Ian Sinclair needs an army commission, and the only way he can get one is to safely deliver the general’s Daughter-from-Hell to her intended in America. Easy, right? It would be if the lady’s companion Louisa didn’t wear breeches and do everything the exact opposite of what he orders. It’ll be a miracle if the sparks flying between Ian and Louisa don’t set the bloody ship afire before they arrive in America.

But just when Louisa thinks her plan is going to give her the acting career she wants and a Highlander to boot...Ian discovers her secret.


My Review:
Saving the Scot is a hijinks tale of mistaken identity, secrets, and outright lies that make the reader wonder which Scot needs to be saved most. Louisa is the spoiled motherless little sister who terrorizes her father with her refusal to do anything conventional. Since he spends so much time away either on the battlefield or in military training, she’s been left to her own devices, which has led her to the debauched life of play-acting. On the public stage. Ian’s battle scars are more than skin deep, and after five years of attempting to heal as captain of a family merchant ship, he’s ready to leap back into the regimentation of military life. A major hitch in his plans arrives with the news of his fatherhood, a young lad being cared for by an ailing grandmother.

Framed by the false identities of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Trethewey, who’s an actress turned author, finally pens a story of what she knows best. Louisa lives as though she’s preparing for a role and uses the behavior as an excuse to cover her deepest fears of abandonment and closed-in spaces. When her father sends her away to marry her brother’s acquaintance in America, Ian is tasked with seeing her safely there. But Louisa has other plans and gets her maid to exchange identities. Feeling free to act on his attraction to the supposed lady’s maid, the two allow themselves to get carried away. Through various events involving pirates, thieves, sex traffickers, and another acquaintance with a false identity, the two sort out their future goals and wishes.

Although this story is part of a series of familial characters, it can be read on its own. Other characters are mentioned, and the allusion to the portent dream concluding the previous story, that of Ian marrying a woman in trousers, are the only ties to the other books. Told in opposing points of view from Louis and Ian, readers of romantic fiction will appreciate the research and attention to detail, along with the lusty relationship sparking the adventure.

About the Author:
Jennifer Trethewey is an actor-turned-writer who has moved her performances from the stage to

the page. In 2013 she traveled to Scotland for the first time, where she instantly fell for the language, humor, intense sense of pride, and breathtaking landscape. Her love for Scotland was translated into her first series of historical romance novels, the Highlanders of Balforss.

Trethewey’s primary experience in bringing the imaginary to life was working for one of the oldest women’s theaters in the nation, where she was the co-founder and co-artistic director. Today she continues to act, but writes contemporary and historical fiction full-time. Her other loves include dogs, movies, music and good wine. She lives in Milwaukee with her husband.