Arthur M. Doweyko

Captain Arnold
By Arthur M. Doweyko
2021
Reviewed by Angie Mangino
Rating: 4 stars

This collection of 17 stories presents to readers a variety to catch their fancy. Not limited to a central theme, each story offers a distinct stand-alone experience, one or more of which will speak to you. Here’s a taste of three of the stories.

Captain Arnold and the Zantharian Invasion, published in 2020 in ANKH Magazine, Cherry House is the first offering in the collection. A handicapped eight-year-old boy escapes ridicule with his connection to his robot nanny.

“‘That's quite alright. Accidents happen. Now, go to your bathroom. Nina will see to you and help you clean up.’

It was a mantra Arnold heard almost every day, and it invariably ended the same way. Nina, Model N for Nanny, would give him a lecture, or a wash in the tub, or both. She held his hand as they toddled out of the dining room.”

Further along readers meet Apple in “Guardian Angel,” published in 2011 in Christmas Angels.

“Applegate Bogdanski was born in the Aldershot military camp in England in 1947…. In 1951, the Bogdanskis moved to New Jersey, where Apple, as he is known to his friends, began his schooling at Saint James in Newark. …

‘Do you remember what we went over in yesterday’s Catechism lesson?’

Apple thought back, his mind suddenly blank. After a moment, his face lit up.

“Yes. It was about guardian angels, and how each of us has one to look after us.”

“And what is it they look after, exactly?”

The pointer moved a little closer.

Adam knew that the correct answer was that they looked after each child’s spiritual welfare. But today there was a different answer.

‘I think my guardian angel saved my life this morning,’ he said in a whisper.”

The collection concludes with “Five Reasons to Wonder,” a Writer’s Digest Essay Award winner in 2019 which delves into the meaning of our existence.

“The Ohio paper, The Morrisonville Times, June 11, 1891, featured a small column describing 'Gold Chain Found Inside Coal.' Mrs. S. W. Culp shoveled coal into her kitchen stove when a large lump broke and out fell a gold chain. The coal came from the Pennsylvania era, which suggested that it could have been over one hundred million years old.

Welcome to the thin line between what we know and what we don't.”

Each unique tale will challenge the reader with different characters, settings, tones, and perspectives. Some will resonate with them more strongly than others, but all will make them stop after each one to ponder the message portrayed.

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Angie Mangino currently works as a freelance journalist, author, and book reviewer, additionally offering authors personalized critique service and copyediting of unpublished manuscripts. www.AngieMangino.com… (plus d'informations)

SciFi Action with Meaning on Several Levels

When the reader first meets Applegate “Apple” Bogdanski, he is “…looking forward to nothing and hoping it will arrive soon,” as the author’s synopsis puts it. But then, he and two other reluctant heroes become involved in a battle with an alien race for no less than the survival of humanity. Despite how trite that may sound, As Wings Unfurl has enough action, differing themes, and twists in the nature of the combatants to make it an interesting read.

As Wings Unfurl is on the high end of the action-and-pacing scale. From the first scenes in which Apple stops a mugging, only to wake up later to be hailed as a hero, the fights come fast and frequent. And they’re battles that can be viewed from multiple perspectives – as a war between good and evil, including some with religious overtones; a battle between humanity and aliens; a fight within a person for self-respect; and a battle to prove that mankind can evolve to something worth saving. The last battle ground, in particular, is mentioned frequently and started to feel a bit overworked by the end. There is also the issue that the physical battle left casualties, but too often, these dead returned to fight again. That type of misdirection is better not repeated as often as it was in this book.

Part of the pace of the book is driven by changes in setting, with the story taking place in New York, Tibet, and London. But while the author does an admirable job of crafting vivid descriptions of each locale, the movement often seemed abrupt and haphazard. When flashbacks to other areas, e.g., Vietnam, were added, shifts in the setting became difficult to follow and on occasion, jarring.

The characters were developed gradually throughout the story, and Apple becomes fairly well-defined as the war hero who can’t accept his failures along with his valor. Other supporting characters – Shilog, Yowl, and Angela – are less well developed, perhaps in part because they represent cultures/species with which most readers will be less familiar. This fact may also be partially responsible for why the attraction between Apple and Angela felt rushed and poorly founded. But whatever the reason, it felt underdeveloped.

So, for a SciFi tale with lots of actions and some interesting twists on the characters involved and the nature of the battle, As Wings Unfurl makes an enjoyable read.… (plus d'informations)

Set in the mid-1970's, this story is about Apple (short for Applegate) Bogdanski, who has just returned from Vietnam, minus part of one leg. Working in a local used bookstore, he comes across a couple of blurry photographs, which other people want very much.

A woman named Angela suddenly appears. like a guardian angel, and gets Apple out of several tight spots. He finds himself in the middle of a war, with the survival of humanity hanging in the balance. Mankind was seeded on Earth several thousand, not several million, years ago. Some, led by an angel named Dane, want to terminate the "experiment" and give Earth back to its original inhabitants, represented by a yeti from Tibet named Yowl. Angela, another angel, has fallen for Apple, and wants to leave humanity on Earth. Who will prevail at the end?

This is a really good novel that will keep the reader interested. It almost, but not quite, reaches the level of being an excellent novel. It is still very much worth checking out.… (plus d'informations)