Fox Sunlight Pictures. Mira Nair, director. Hilary Swank and Richard Gere lead actors. Ron Bass and Anna Hamilton Phelan screen-play writers. 111 minutes. 2009. So I’m tardy with this review. Not so. I published it in In Sync magazine in its January 2010 issue—shortly after I viewed this film. Now that my new social media […]
Author Archives: smartinshelton
International Brigades in Spain 1936-39 by Ken Bradley: A Book Review
The clue to the authors political bent is in his Dedication: “To the volunteers of the international brigades who gave all they had to oppose international fascism and to preserve a free Spain.” (My emphasis on “free.”) Republican Spain (again another euphemism) was anything but free or a republic. In 1936, when the Spanish Revolution […]
The Last Prophecy, Jon Land Book Review
I’ve seen this book many times past. Not exactly this one book but other books, films, and tales with the same basic plot: intrepid adventurers discover an ancient and secret writing or glyph well hidden in some exotic/dangerous/gruesome local. Only some obscure university professor/retired cryptographer/computer geek can decode this mysterious writing. Meantime, eeevil (keep “eeevil”) […]
Book Review: Engineers of Victory: The Problelm Solvers Who Turned the Tide in the Second World War
Engineers of Victory: The Problem Solvers Who Turned the Tide in the Second World War Paul Kennedy, Random House, New York, 2013, 438 pp., with maps and Tables, photographs, Notes, Bibliography, and Index. Kenny posits that there were five key tactics to the Allied victory in World War II. How to […]
Russian Julian Calendar
Imperial Russia used the “old style” Julian calendar that was seriously out of kilter with the solar seasons and religious holidays—in particular Christmas and Easter. The Russian Orthodox Church had political and religious issues with the Pope in Rome that dated back centuries, and refused to change to Pope Gregory XIII’s Gregorian reform calendar introduced […]
Meet Author, S. Martin Shelton
Thank you to Central Texas Authors for posting my guest blog. What compelled you to pen St. Catherine’s Crown, a historical novel about the Russian Revolution? I chose to write about the Russian Revolution—the overthrow of the monarchy and installation of an atheistic Communist regime—to refresh our minds of its monumental impact on world events for […]
Romanov Jewelry
Fabulous hardly describes the vast treasure of the Romanov jewelry cache. Below are a few samples of this vast collection. For those who have a keener interest I recommend the book titled Jewels of the Romanovs, Stefano Papi, Thames&Hudson, New York, 2010. Join the Czar’s1916 Christmas Ball in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg—formal […]
Catherine the Great
Catherine the Great of Russia, (1729 to 1796). Reigned from 9 July 1762 to 17 November 1796. Catherine became Czarina on the death of her husband, Czar Peter III. Her reign is a study in contrast. Legend has it that she organized a plot to have some of her sycophants murder Peter, and that her […]
Black Orchids
Black orchids with their luxurious beauty symbolize great power and authority. They are a very formal and sophisticated flower, and are the preference of the cognoscente. Some folks associate black orchids with mystery, witchcraft, and terrifying tales and myths. Black Orchids are members of the orchidaceous family. There are two primary types: those that grow […]
Trans-Siberian Railroad
The Trans-Siberian Railroad is the longest railway line in the world connecting Moscow to Vladivostok at 5,753 miles, and has branch lines to Ulan-Bator, Mongolia; Beijing, China, 4,888 miles; and Pyongyang, North Korea, 6,380 miles. This railroad spans seven times zones and takes eight days to complete the Moscow to Vladivostok trip. By the mid […]