The Creator of the Skunk Works!

Dean, Josh.  The Impossible Factory: The Remarkable True Story of Kelly Johnson and the 

        Lockheed Skunk Works, America's Innovation Machine.  New York: Dutton, 2026.  

        ISBN: 9781524745516 

 

So how much do you know of aviation history?  Can you name any American airplanes form the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, or any recent ones?  Have you heard of "The Skunk Works" and do you know where the term originated?  Even if you can name the airplane, can you name the aircraft designer?  If any of this catches your eye, pick up and read Josh Dean's The Impossible Factory which tells the story of Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, a poor boy from Michigan who fulfilled his dream of creating and building iconic airplanes!

Kelly Johnson was an iconic airplane engineer who graduated from the University of Michigan and moved out to California to work for Lockeed in 1933 and helped launch the Lockheed Electra.  During this time Kelly Johnson helped build planes for Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh, Wiley Post, and Amelia Earhart.  He also worked with Howard Hughes to build the Constellation passenger plane for TWA which was used as the C-69 by the Army Air Corp during WWII.  Then England came calling and Kelly Johnson sold them the Hudson anti-sub/bomber plane which he redesigned over a weekend. This achievement was followed by the P-38 Lightning - a twin-engine design that was a radical departure from current aircraft, but was a great fighter plane that made history, especially in the Pacific campaigns.  And the Skunk Works was born when Kelly Johnson got the go-ahead to create the first American jet fighter in  June 1943 and the prototype flew in January 1944 as Lulu Belle (aka P-80 Shooting Star).  In 1953, Kelly Johnson and Lockheed built the F-104 Starfighter for the US Air Force.  Then in 1954, Lockheed and Kelly Johnson got involved in creating spy planes.  They did the U-2, then in 1961, the A-12 Blackbird which morphed into the SR-71.  The final project that Kelly Johnson was involved with at Lockheed was another secret project - the F-117  - a design he did not like it could fly but worked due to its mathematically created shape.  Josh Dean includes the interesting details that bring the stories he tells to life.

 

In The Impossible Factory, Josh Dean provides a look into aviation design history embodied in one man, Clarence "Kelly" Johnson who helped shape some of the most iconic aircraft for the United States and Lockheed!  Read and enjoy! 

Where is a David When You Need One?

Kemp, Luke.  Goliath's Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse.  New York: Alfred A. 

        Knopf, 2025.  ISBN: 9780593321355

 

Are you ready for another book about how civilizations collapsed in the past?  Maybe you are ready to move beyond Jared Diamond's Germs, Guns, and Steel.  If so, Luke Kemp has a tome to weigh down your reading pile in Goliath's Curse.  

 

Luke Kemp opens with in into to terms - a Goliath is used as a synonym for civilization and just as we use civilization to mean specific cultures and the concept of culture, Kemp does the same with"Goliath."  Next Kemp gets into a disagreement with Thomas Hobbes and his "social contract" theory of government followed by a number of chapters dealing with how early hunter-gathers and early farmers dealt with authority figures.  Then Kemp spends several chapters looking at various "Goliaths" such as China, Rome, Greece, Egypt, and the like.  Kemp then moves into the endgame where we dwell and looks at how we have to deal with a global goliath that may or may not spell the end of civilization as we know it when it collapses.  But he does end with some hopeful scenarios.  We will just have to see if he is overly optimistic.

 

So if you are in the mood for some heavy reading that presents a different light on the past, pick up Luke Kemp's Goliath's Curse and settle in. 

Just Read the Title - Hollywood vs Nazis!

Benson, Michael.  Hollywood vs Nazis: How the Movie Studios Took on Nazis Infiltrating Los Angeles.  New York: Citadel Press, 2026.  ISBN: 9780806544786

 

Welcome to the land of greed and glitter where the dream factories reside - AKA Hollywood!  In the 1930s, the movie studios were very big in Hollywood making pictures that were shown world wide.  Hitler and the Nazis wanted into that action so they sent folks over to California to infiltrate the movie studios and shift their focus to movies more to their liking.  Michael Benson takes the reader along for the ride into this bit of little-known history in Hollywood vs Nazis!

 

In twenty-four chapters, an epilogue, and an interesting appendix, Michael Benson sets the stage of Los Angeles in the 1930s where corruption, oil, and movies ruled.  When Goebbels sent folks to America they did not quite know the ground rules in play.  The Friends of New Germany started meeting in 1933 and opposition to these meeting started soon after.  In Hollywood, a Jewish lawyer named Leon Lewis started an organization to infiltrate the infiltrators and spy out their secrets to be revealed at an opportune time.  Lewis also got together with Jewish organizations and various movie moguls such at the Warner Brothers who provided monetary support for the spies.  Lewis's organization uncovered Nazis plans for harassment, armed uprisings, and general mayhem.  At various times the organization worked with the LA cops, the California government, and occasionally the U.S. House UnAmerican Activities Committee to thwart the Nazis plans and derail various white supremacist organizations as well.  In the end, Hollywood won and the Nazis never did get the foothold they wanted in California.

 

So, if you are interested in a popular telling of the little known history of Hollywood during the 1930s to early 1940s, pick up Michael Benson's Hollywood vs Nazis and be entertained while learning.

 

 

 

Two Authors Talking Science Fiction and Fantatsy

Walton, Jo, and Ada Palmer.  Trace Elements: Conversations on the Project of Science Fiction and 

         Fantasy.  New York: Tor Publishing, 2026.  ISBN: 9781250372604

 

Take two award winning authors who are friends and turn them loose on the broad definition of science fiction and fantasy (SF&F).  What comes out is Trace Elements - a compilation of previously published and newly written essays, genre reflections, poems, and biography that lets the reader peek behind the curtain and watch a bit of sausage-making.

 

Jo and Ada divided Trace Elements into three sections.  Section 1: Genre, Or the Modern Proteus has thirteen essays and poems dealing with the contract between the author and reader,  the history of science fiction, definitions, why science fiction or fantasy might pretend to be the other genre, plus the role of robots, and the interaction of SF&F with romance, manga/anime, and mysteries.  

 

Section 2: Anyone Who Says Differently is Selling Something provides the reader a glimpse into how each author works and how they became the author that they are over the course of five essays.  

 

Section 3: Craft contains twelve essays and poems on the purpose of writing science fiction and/or fantasy, why reading, the necessity of diversity in protagonists, the issue of censorship and writing around it, and a very interesting look at The Princess Bride (both the book and the movie). 

 

So if you are looking for different approaches to science fiction/fantasy or you just enjoy reading well crafted essays on a variety of topics, do pick up this volume and delve into it yourself.  Your time will be well spent! 

Uncovering Hitler's New Friends and Fellow Travelers!

Mathias, Christopher.  To Catch a Fascist: The Fight to Expose the Radical Right.  New York: 

         Atria Books, 2026.  ISBN:  9781668034767

 

So how much do you know about various radical organizations in the United States?  You might have heard of the Proud Boys, or Aryan Nation.  Maybe the Ku Klux Klan or one of the host of white supremacist groups sprouting up like dandelions across America.  But how much do you know of the myriad groups that have sprung up in opposition to these radical right-wing mobs?  If you want to know more, then To Catch a Fascist is the book for you.

 

Christopher Mathias opens the book with his introduction to this conflict - the "Unite the Right" rally of 8/12/2017.   He lays out his experience that day and how that lead him to spend the next several year exploring and learning about the modern anti-fascists who courageously seek to lay bare the plans of a host of radical organizations and the people behind the masks.  He spends a decent amount of the book relating the tale of "Vincent" who infiltrated a West Coast white supremacist group.  Vincent managed to thwart a number of actions they were trying to take on the west coast and gathered information to identify the individuals in this local group.  He also managed to go from this group to a national group and was able to relay information on a Washington march to other anti-fascists that caused that march to be a bust that blew up and exposed a number of members to the public.  Besides Vincent,  Mathias also took the time and space to briefly discuss the history of anti-fascist and anti-white supremacy actions across American history while focusing on recent events.  

 

If you are looking for an exciting non-fiction read, Christopher Mathias's To Catch a Fascist will give you that!   

 

We Were There the Whole Time!

Stohl, Margaret, Jeanine Schaefer, & Judith Stephens.  Supe Visible: The Story of the Women of 

       Marvel Comics.  New York: Simon & Schuster, 2025.  ISBN: 9781982134617

Everyone knows (or at least has heard of) Marvel Comics!  Spider-Man, Captain America, The X-Men, She-Hulk, Black Widow, and The Mighty Avengers, right!? And of course Stan Lee!  But how much do you know of the writers, the colorists, the letters, the cover designers?  Pulling back part of the curtain on those unsung workers is what Super Visible does.

 

As the authors are quick to show, women were on scene and working at Marvel back in the 1960's and before.  Stan Lee would not have been able to function without Flo Stanberg among unnamed other women who inked the comics, did lettering, drew the art, and the like. And over the years as Marvel grew in size, so has the number of women involved and  so has has their impact on Marvel comics and the broader pop culture.   Super Visible is an outgrowth of the podcasts and panels that talk about the role of women in the Marvel Comic Universe - comics, books, movies, and television.  As they state at the beginning of the book, this is an examination of the role of women in the history of Marvel Comics told by the women in the room.  So there is straightforward narrative sections intermingled with oral history interviews.  Plus plenty of visual elements to highlight those present and bring the reader inside.

 

Super Visible provides a side of comic book history not often discussed with the story of women in comics being front and center.  If you want to explore Marvel Comics's full history, you will want to peruse this title! 

Multiple Reasons to be Reading!

Hwang Boreum.  Every Day I Read: 53 Ways to Get Closer to Books.  Tran. by Shanna Tan.  New 

         York: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2025.  ISBN: 9781639737796

 

 

Do you enjoy reading?  How often do you read?  Are you like me,Hwang Bo-reum asks, that you read every day?  Or would you like to read more but are not sure how to find the time and the space to do so.  No matter how you answered those questions, you might find answers here to assist your reading journey.

 

In Every Day I Read, Hwang Bo-reum provides both hear reasons why she reads, how she got in the habit of reading, and then provides 53 descriptive ways to choose what to read, when to read, and where to read.  She recommends reading a variety of types of books (novels, short story collections, poetry, non-fiction), locations (commuter train, car, on walks), and using different mediums (hard-copy, ebooks, audiobooks).  Other advice she gives includes always having a book or books with you, not having to finish every book, using a timer so that you focus on reading, and keeping a list of what you have read.  All seemingly mundane advice, but handy to have in one package.  

 

I had read Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop earlier this year so I was interested in this title when I saw that it was coming out in December.  It was interesting to find out that Hwang Bo-reum wrote this title before Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop.  Reflecting back on that title in light of what she writes in Every Day I Read, I can see how she used some of these ways for her characters to appreciate reading and make it a habit.  

 

In Every Day I Read, Hwang Bo-reun provides seemingly simple advice that can help  jump-start someone's reading journey and/or increase the pleasure in one's trip!