Fact-Check the Universe

Oops. Riverside, California skydiving snafu:

Photo from foxnews.com.

Excerpt from a nypost.com editorial that shares the opinions of Matt Taibbi on the pandemic: “We ‘look like jerks pretending we can fact-check the universe. We’d do better admitting what we don’t know.’” Kudos.

From an op-ed piece at NYP by Kyle Smith, in my own words: Sadly, former pro wrestler turned actor John Cena, whose reputation as a good guy goes well beyond the mat, has become the latest celeb to kowtow to China. He apologized effusively for citing Taiwan as a country rather than a province of China. Very disappointing.

From an article at foxbusiness.com by Morgan Phillips on the insanity that is the political process, in my own words: Congress is working on another massive spending bill, this one worth $130 billion. $10 billion will go to Blue Origin, a space flight company located in the state of Washington, founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, whose wealth has grown $86 billion during the pandemic.

It is very rare for a self-published book to go big. Nicole Dweck accomplished that with The Debt of Tamar, which was picked up by an imprint of Macmillan in 2015. Two copies of the large paperback edition from Devon House Press, which I imagine was the first to issue the novel, list for $919 at Amazon. The story begins in Portugal in the era of The Inquisition. A Jewish family is threatened and emigrates to Turkey. There a young woman, the title character, falls in love with a Muslim and is sent away by her father. The narrative then fast forwards to Istanbul in 2002, where a descendant of the jilted lover has become a successful businessman. He eventually lands in New York and meets a female descendant of the Jewish family. The novel’s heart is always in the right place. Although tragedy often prevails, this is a tale for romantics, for those who believe — or want to believe — that there is sense to the universe. The writing is so-so, in need of tweaking, then again, that can be said about any book, mine included. The 288 pages of the hardcover edition read like considerably less given the many blanks between chapters. Of course, The Holocaust plays a part. Its main message is that secrets should not be kept between loved ones. 177 users at Amazon have rated The Debt…, forging to a consensus of 4.2 on a scale of five. I’ll go with three. It does not soar, although there are emotional moments. Curiously, Dweck has yet to publish another novel, although she has written articles for magazines. She earned a Master’s in Global Affairs from NYU and lives in NYC. She was inducted into the Brooklyn-Jewish Hall of fame, received a certificate of Congressional Recognition at the Brooklyn Historical Society, and has taught writing at her alma mater.

My thanks to the woman who donated a bunch of Russian DVDs, five of which Wolf bought. Thanks also to the couple who purchased The New Jerusalem Bible, and to the gentleman who took home a book in Russian; and to the young man who selected What Can the Bible Teach Us? by Watchtower, and The Prince of Beverly Hills, a crime novel by Stuart Woods.

My Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Vic-Fortezza/e/B002M4NLJE

FB: https://www.facebook.com/Vic-Fortezza-Author-118397641564801/?fref=ts

Read Vic’s Stories, free: http://fictionaut.com/users/vic-fortezza