The Foreign Service Journal, November 2015

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2015 47 The Extraordinary Journey of Harry Forth Bruce K. Byers, AuthorHouse, 2014, $26.95/paperback; $3.99/Kindle, 552 pages. Inspired by his own life and experiences, author Bruce Byers tells the story of Harry Forth—a shy, fictional 17-year-old high school student who struggles to fit in with his peers, so he channels his energy toward school, church and after-school jobs. Longing for more, Harry applies for and is accepted into a student exchange program. He buys a transcon- tinental bus ticket to Montreal and embarks on his first Atlantic crossing and great adventure. Set in the summer of 1960, the hundreds of young Americans involved in the program were exceptional—most teenagers did not undertake transatlantic travel at the time. Once aboard the ship sailing toward his host family in Germany, Harry realizes he is on a much grander journey to see a more interesting world than he ever imagined. Readers will follow Harry through his seaboard travel and first steps on German soil, all while he navigates new relation- ships, new cultures and the murky waters of the dating world. “Harry’s story is a reflection of my personal experiences about intercultural relations and international diplomacy, based upon my 30 years in the Foreign Service,” says Byers in a post for PublicDiplomacy.org. Bruce K. Byers joined the Foreign Service in 1971 with the U.S. Information Agency. He served in South Asia, Europe and East Asia, retiring in 2000. After retirement he worked in the Office of International Visitors and published essays on foreign policy topics for The Foreign Service Journal and the e-zine AmericanDiplomacy.org. From 1995 to 1996, Byers served as AFSA’s USIA vice president. The Immortality Game Ted Cross, Breakwater Harbor Books, 2014, $13.99/paperback; $3.99/Kindle, 328 pages. It’s 2138, and Moscow is just recovering from the complete societal collapse of the 21st century in this science fiction thriller. No one is to be trusted in Ted Cross’ ver- sion of this cold, chaotic future. Times are tough, especially for the poor, and Zoya scrapes by working at a funeral home prepping corpses. Everything changes when she delivers a mysterious package to her brother and witnesses his murder. Inside that package, she finds two data cards that may hold the key to immortality. Now on the run frommobsters, Zoya is not the only one who knows about the cards. Enter Marcus, whose father is alive, but only in the digital world—the miraculous cards could be the key to bringing him back to life. The race is on as other factions get involved to claim the cards for themselves and their own agendas. More action and suspense abound in this gritty post-apoca- lyptic page-turner when entire nations scramble to procure the cards to be the first to reach New Eden—a possible Utopia. Ted Cross has spent the last two decades traveling the world as a diplomat. He has visited nearly 40 countries, witnessed coup attempts, and mafia and terrorist attacks. He is currently posted in Baku with his wife and two sons. He is also the author of The Shard and Lord Fish (see the following entries). The Shard: Chronicles of Xax Ted Cross, Breakwater Harbor Books, 2015, $13.99/paperback; $3.99/Kindle, 528 pages. The Shard opens with a dying king, a mys- terious invader and a seer’s vision: Find the lost shard from the Spire of Peace, or the realm will drown in blood. The story takes place in a world of elves, dwarves, wizards and humans. Following a devastating war hundreds of years ago, wizards created a tower with a beau- tiful crystal atop it to encourage peace. But the tower is long since destroyed, and the protagonists must search a dangerous dragon’s lair to find the sole remaining shard to defeat the new threat that has surfaced. Reluctantly leading the quest is the minor noble Midas, who is torn between his duty to the realm and the desire to protect his sons. An unlikely band of heroes emerges, including two elderly rangers, a young recruit and several dwarfs. While the quest to retrieve the shard makes up the central theme of the novel, it is the complexity and growth of the characters that keep readers invested. According to Bookworm Blues , a speculative fiction book review blog, The Shard ’s prose is “tight and flowing, the world is well realized, and the quest is absolutely addicting ... and fun in its own right.”