THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2026 47 decide whether to kill David to preserve control or use him to resurrect free will. This is the first book in the Sins of the Saviors series. Joe Relk served as a Foreign Service officer in Venezuela, Bolivia, Germany, Ecuador, Guatemala, Suriname, and Afghanistan. He is the author of Afghanistan Through the Humvee Window and the series prequel, The Network Apostate. Before joining the Foreign Service, he was a U.S. Army cryptology analyst, public relations specialist, journalist, talk show host, and photographer. Voices on the Wind—Assault: A Novel of Malta in WWII Helena P. Schrader, Cross Seas Press, 2026, $23.95/paperback, e-book available, 450 pages. In 1942, control of the Suez Canal and access to Middle East oil depend on the fate of an island just 17 miles long by 9 miles wide: Malta. Determined to destroy the British forces threatening Rommel’s supply lines, the Axis powers drop more bombs on Malta than were dropped on London throughout the Blitz. The population is forced underground, while the Royal Air Force struggles with inadequate resources to fend off defeat. Meanwhile, Britain’s Atlantic lifeline is fraying. Voices on the Wind tells the story of four of Malta’s defenders. Helena Schrader lived in Germany for 26 years, earning a PhD in history from the University of Hamburg before becoming a Foreign Service officer in 2005 and serving in Oslo, Lagos, Leipzig, and Addis Ababa. She retired from the Foreign Service in 2018 and now writes full-time from an island in Greece. Criminal Lu Yanshi Geling Yan, trans. Lawrence A. Walker, New Song Media GmbH, 2025, $32.99/paperback, e-book available, 536 pages. Twentieth-century Chinese intellectual Lu Yanshi, a prodigy from a wealthy Shanghai family, travels to the United States to earn a PhD and sow his wild oats, but cannot escape his stifling social milieu, an overbearing stepmother, and his forced marriage to her niece. As war and revolution engulf China, Lu Yanshi speaks out for intellectual integrity but pays the price for it in prison and labor camp. An extraordinary account of a man born and raised in Kansas who spent a lifetime in Africa, visiting all 54 countries. Readers will be interested to learn how the humble farm boy became a senior U.S. Foreign Service officer. Available on Amazon.com BORN IN KANSAS BUT MADE IN AFRICA An American Man’s Recollections of 50 Years In Africa Before I knew it, a half-century of living, eating, and dreaming about Africa had passed. —Mark G. Wentling “ ”
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