Eden by Martin Roy Hill

"If this is Paradise, how bad could Hell be?"

A sandstorm uncovers a long buried secret in the Iraqi desert, an ancient Sumerian temple dating back at least 6,000 years to the beginning of civilization. An American army patrol sent to investigate the ruins is trapped inside the temple’s eroded walls, first by an insurgent ambush then by another, even more powerful sandstorm. When an enemy mortar shell blasts an opening into a hidden burial chamber, Captain Adam Cadman and his soldiers take refuge deep in the ruins. What they find hidden inside threatens to destroy every belief about the beginnings of mankind—as well as modern civilization as we know it.

Eden plays in a sandbox whose basic foundation is similar to the one that the Stargate movie and TV spinoff shows played in. Both were inspired by Von Däniken's controversial theory that Earth was visited in the distant past by aliens who helped shaped our early history. Whether or not you believe that, I find that in the right human hands it can make for entertaining stories. In the wrong hands, you get the slop put out by the History Channel (but that's a discussion to be had elsewhere). Fortunately, Hill belongs to the former group.

The army patrol is headed by an archeologist, Cadman. His is the level-headed response to the discovery in the ruins. Most of his team, while alarmed by what they've found, respect the chain of command and trust Cadman to do the right thing. One member, Thomas, does not. He's a literalist when it comes to interpreting the Bible. Cadman isn't necessarily an atheist, but when the evidence before him challenges his beliefs, he takes a rational approach.

From the outset of Eden, Cadman and Thomas clash. But Cadman knows the Bible better than Thomas and uses it, along with the chain of command, to keep Thomas in line. But the discovery in the ruins slams the walls of Thomas's belief system, and he's ill-equipped to deal with it. I know guys like Cadman, and I know guys like Thomas. I found them to be solid characters.

A good deal of the story is told through flashbacks. We're taken back to the ancient civilization that built the temple. Hill switches back and forth from showing and telling what happened. I think it would've worked better if he'd spent the whole time showing. Eden is listed as a novella (109 pages), so there was plenty of space to devote to further development of the flashback part of the story: flesh out the setting a bit more, maybe develop some characters from that time period, see things from their perspective.

Eden is a solid sci-fi story that entertains yet carries a message. While there are soldiers and there is action, this is more of a philosophical engagement than a militaristic one. The cultural differences between Cadman and Thomas struck me as being just as great as those between human and alien. Until we can overcome those differences without resorting to bashing in each other's skulls, we won't be ready for the treasures awaiting us in the cosmos.

Eden is available from Amazon. To learn more about Martin Roy Hill or his other books, please visit his website.

Digger's Bones by Paul Mansfield Keefe

Newspaper reporter Angie Cooper has a past filled with regrets. She was once an up and coming archeologist, but it all came to an end when she rushed to publish findings that later turned out to be false. Not only did she lose her career, but she lost the respect of her close colleagues and her boyfriend at the time, Jack Reilly. Only her friend Terek “Digger” Rashid stuck by her side and defended her through the scientific firestorm.

So when Angie receives a frantic phone call from Digger pleading for her help with an explosive archeological find, she doesn't hesitate – she hops on the next flight to Washington DC to help her best friend. But then Digger is murdered before her eyes, forcing Angie to race from Washington DC to Israel to Germany trying to find an ancient set of bones that could overturn two thousand years of theology. Angie faces professional hit men, murderous religious zealots, and a powerful politician who will stop at nothing to ensure she does not bring the truth to light.

Paul Mansfield Keefe's Diggers Bones is professionally written and fast-paced, evoking the thrills and conspiracy theories of Dan Brown. Keefe does a good job spacing out the clues to the mystery of Digger's bones, keeping the reader guessing as to where the next clue will lead Angie. He also throws in several plot twists that turn the story in a completely different direction. I can't get into the twists here without giving them away, but the stakes exponentially rise with each new revelation.

Digger's Bones is a commendable effort, but it falls short in ways that keep it from rising above the other religious conspiracy thrillers on the market.

For example, an “every woman” like Angie Cooper manages to elude or fight off supposedly professional hit men way too often. There were so many scenes like this that I expected another attempt on her life – and escape – every time she walked out the door. The deus ex machina got very thick at times.

And while Angie is a sympathetic character and heroic in many ways, her story motivations seemed confused. One moment she “swoons” over old boyfriend Jack Reilly and wants “nothing more” than to be his wife, but in the next she wants “nothing more” than to find Digger's bones, even though Jack threatens to break up with her over her dangerous quest. It's not made clear why she wants so badly to be with a man who won't support her in something she feels is so important. Or why she's willing to lose the man she loves to pursue this quest.

But these issues aside, Digger's Bones is a good first effort by Keefe. The quality of his writing and the scope of his story are at a professional level. If he keeps in mind the lessons he learned in this first book, I have no doubt his Angie Cooper Series will take off.

You can find Digger's Bones on Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, and in the Apple iBook Store. Find out more about Paul Mansfield Keefe at his web site.