Kindle Edition Download to your Nook (eBook) Download from Apple iTunes (eBook) Amazon Category:  Science Fiction Publisher: Werewolf Publishing ISBN-10:  1483578623 Type: Fiction Pages: 314 Copyright: October 17, 2016 ISBN-13: 9781483578620 Price: $2.99 (eBook) During the liberation of Dachau, a WWll U.S. Army medic discovers a Nazi immortality formula. He traces its origin to a monastery in remote China where he encounters an ancient race of immortals planning world domination. On April 29, 1945, the U.S. 45th Thunderbird Division liberates the Nazi concentration camp in Dachau, Germany. Steven Ronson, a twenty-one-year-old American medic, numbly mingles among the emaciated prisoners and survivors of grotesque medical experiments that will soon see judgment at the Nuremberg Trials. But there is one experiment the world will never know. Safeguarded in this factory of death is an ancient immortality formula that was stolen by the Japanese in China and redesigned for Adolph Hitler so that he may live the entire length of his planned thousand-year Reich. The world will never know because Steven has discovered the formula and taken it with him. In his own personal revenge against death, Steven begins consuming the immortality formula and, after realizing that aging and death no longer control his life, returns home to travel to Manhattan and realize his childhood dream of becoming a jazz saxophonist on 52nd Street. The immortality formula gives him supernatural powers and fantastic musical abilities. His wild performance catches the attention of a disgraced British missionary and his adopted niece who knew the Buddhist monks in China that have guarded the original formula for thousands of years. After a series of disturbing and prophetic visions, Steven accepts an invitation from the ex-missionary to journey to Xian. In a mountain monastery outside of the city, Steven discovers the incredible truth about the formula and the monks, and the interstellar origins of Jesus Christ and the human race. But time is running out−the German occultists who helped bring Hitler to power in the 1930s have selected another Aryan messiah and he also has the formula. Steven cannot allow the nightmare he experienced in Germany to happen again and only he has the power to stop it.                Excerpt Death. I was so sick and tired of death. By April of 1945, I considered death, not the German Wehrmacht or the SS, to be my real enemy. I was a twenty-one-year old medic assigned to Rifle Company I, Third Battalion, 157th Regiment, 45th Division of the Seventh United States Army, and though it was obvious we were winning the war I did not count myself among its victors. My job was to save lives, not take them, and I failed many more times than I succeeded. On Saturday, April 28th, we were approximately thirty miles west of the Bavarian capitol of Munich. The Nazi war machine was convulsing in the final grip of its death throes and nearly every German man, woman, and child was fighting with suicidal desperation to defend what little was left of their precious Fatherland. And every day I bore witness to the desecration of one more law, ethic, or code of humanity as we journeyed one muddy step at a time into the depths of the abyss. That afternoon, the other company medic stumbled upon a wounded German boy. The child couldn’t have been more than twelve or thirteen and was huddled tightly on the frozen ground curled in the fetal position while clenching his stomach. This medic was fresh off an LST at Marseilles−six feet of smiling, buck-toothed, corn-fed Omaha farm boy. Full of idealistic fervor, he was quite vocal in his belief that we were all on a sacred crusade to save Europe from fascism. "There, there," the Nebraskan said tenderly, kneeling beside the boy and softly brushing his dusty hair off his mud caked forehead as if he were calming a newborn calf on his daddy’s farm. "You’ll see, we’re going to get you all fixed up in no time." I’d just stretched my legs and was walking over to assist him when I saw something that froze me in my tracks. There was a double black thunderbolt crudely sewn onto the boy’s upper right shirtsleeve. Up until to that point, I’d never suspected the Nazis would recruit children for combat, but all the Nebraskan medic saw was a wounded child writhing in unbearable agony. His senses were so consumed with seeking the source of the boy’s pain that he never noticed that the innocence naturally native to a child’s eyes had slowly transformed into a cold, calculating stare. And that stare was now fixed upon him with a boiling ferocity. He never heard the first word of my scream. In a flash of sweaty earthen gray wool, the German youth unleashed a pistol out of the waistband of his greasy pants and shot the unsuspecting medic point-blank through his freckled forehead. Blood, bone, and brain matter exploded out of the back of the Nebraskan’s skull and splattered the face of a curious corporal who’d been standing behind him. The child’s crooked smile of satisfaction was nothing less than demonic. As the corporal furiously wiped the human debris from his eyes, he began stomping the tiny SS warrior with his steel-toed boot, instantly transforming one of Hitler’s fearless youth into an ordinary little boy wailing for his mother. Boys. That day I tried to save, patch up or repair at least a dozen boys. Not men, boys. Boys with their intestines sliding out through their fingers, their flesh torn out in chunks, their limbs so shattered it was only a question of where to amputate. Do you know what the face of a nineteen-year-old boy looks like when he knows he’s about to die? It’s one of absolute disbelief. For regardless of the bullets whizzing by his ears, the mortars exploding around his head and the bombs shaking the ground beneath his feet, a nineteen-year-old truly believes he is invincible. He truly believes he is immortal. For youth is the great deceiver. And when one of those anonymous German projectiles found its fragile mark, when white-hot shrapnel ripped through tender flesh, the universal truth was finally revealed to him. The truth that just as surely as he was powerless to choose the day he entered this world he was just as powerless to determine the day he would leave it. And if he was an American soldier, and if that day came in the spring of 1945, it was someone like me who rushed pell-mell through the smoking haze of cordite to find him sprawled flat on his back with that twisted look of shock etched across his face. The rousing ideals that had previously sustained him, the siren’s song of patriotism, bravado and glory were now all cast aside in a desperate struggle to preserve what little life was pumping through his veins. And it was at that moment he would look up at me with the eyes of a lost and lonely child, and always whisper the same last word: "Please."

Jade, cinnabar, ganoderma lucidum mushroom, shark liver extract - the recipe for the immortality formula.
Tennessee author David J Castello, originally from the Bronx, makes an auspicious debut with a novel so unique that the promise of an important author arises. David is the Editor-in-Chief and COO for the CCIN network where he has written hundreds of articles on a variety of topics for Nashville.com, Whisky.com, PalmSprings.com, Bullion.com, Traveler.com and more. Reportage plays a role in his fascinating tale – a factor that makes this fantasy novel seem credible.

Narrated in the first person David opens his novel with a near-memoir feeling – a quality of writing that is too seldom found in books of this genre: ‘Death. I was so sick and tired of death. By April of 1945, I considered death, not the German Wehrmacht or the SS, to be my real enemy. I was a twenty-one-year old medic assigned to Rifle Company I, Third Battalion, 157th Regiment, 45th Division of the Seventh United States Army, and though it was obvious we were winning the war I did not count myself among its victors. My job was to save lives, not take them, and I failed many more times than I succeeded. On Saturday, April 28th, we were approximately thirty miles west of the Bavarian capitol of Munich. The Nazi war machine was convulsing in the final grip of its death throes and nearly every German man, woman, and child was fighting with suicidal desperation to defend what little was left of their precious Fatherland. And every day I bore witness to the desecration of one more law, ethic, or code of humanity as we journeyed one muddy step at a time into the depths of the abyss. That afternoon, the other company medic stumbled upon a wounded German boy. The child couldn’t have been more than twelve or thirteen and was huddled tightly on the frozen ground curled in the fetal position while clenching his stomach. This medic was fresh off an LST at Marseilles − six feet of smiling, buck-toothed, corn-fed Omaha farm boy. Full of idealistic fervor, he was quite vocal in his belief that we were all on a sacred crusade to save Europe from fascism.’ Fact or fiction – it doesn’t matter when an author is able to plant the seeds of his strange journey so succinctly.

David provides a fine synopsis of this at times convoluted plot: ‘Twenty-one-year-old U.S. Army combat medic Steven Ronson, a man escapes the constant inundation and threat of death in World War Two after he discovers an immortality formula designed for Adolf Hitler during the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp in April of 1945. Steven begins consuming the immortality formula and, after realizing that aging and death no longer control his life, travels to Manhattan to realize his childhood dream of becoming a jazz saxophonist on 52nd Street. The immortality formula gives him supernatural powers and fantastic musical abilities. His performance catches the attention of a disgraced British missionary and his adopted niece who knew the Buddhist monks in China that have guarded the original formula for thousands of years. After a series of disturbing and prophetic visions, Steven accepts an invitation from the ex-missionary to journey to Xian. In a mountain monastery outside of the city, Steven discovers the incredible truth about the formula and the monks, and the interstellar origins of Jesus Christ and the human race. But time is running out − the German occultists who helped bring Hitler to power in the 1930s have selected another Aryan messiah, and this time he has the formula. Steven cannot allow the nightmare he experienced in Germany to happen again.’

Keen characterizations with enough of the bizarre elements suggest this is fodder for a screenplay. A very fine debut from an obviously gifted new author.

Grady Harp, Hall Of Fame Top 100 Amazon Reviewer

The Diary Of An Immortal (1945-1959)
This book is going to ask you to stretch the limits of your understanding of history, religion and the origins of the human race. If you are willing to go along with that, you will be treated to a thrilling adventure with a relatable protagonist, plot twists, ethical quandaries, romance and an antagonist you will love to see punished.

Diary of an Immortal (1945 – 1959) is a mix of historical novel and magical realism. It starts out in the throes of World War II and introduces us to our protagonist who is a young, American soldier and military medic by the name of Steven Ronson. While freeing prisoners from a concentration camp, he comes across a batch of immortality pills. It turns out they were created by a German scientist, using an ancient Chinese formula as base and then perfecting it with western techniques to present it to Adolf Hitler. The pills never reach the Fuhrer, but instead end up in Steven’s hands. His hatred of death makes him start to take them and that changes not only his life, but his place in history as he becomes part of everything from the inner circles of the jazz scene in 1940’s New York to the Chinese Communist Revolution (also known as the 1949 Revolution.)

It leads to a winding, but never long-winded tale where Steven falls in love, gets drawn into conflicts, dies and gets brought back to life repeatedly. He also finds a foe that must be vanquished, has his beliefs altered, has his moral compass tested and obviously learns about life as an immortal.

I like historical novels, but must admit to being a bit weary of World War II themed books after reading far too many horrible accounts that plunged me into sadness for days. However, this one by author David J. Castello didn’t make me want to drown my sorrows in ice cream on page two, despite the dreadful events the book covers. The descriptions of war and of the characters encountered were so vivid that I was immediately captivated – a rare feat as I usually need a good fifty pages before I’m invested. In the first part of this book we get to see the horrors of war, but more importantly the horrors of death, setting up the love affair with immortality nicely.

The functionality of the immortality drug is described in a straight forward and surprisingly believable way and so is the overall concept of it. In general, this book seems to answer a lot of the questions that pop into your head while it lines up incredulous things. It deals with the morality and ethics that come with the decisions that Steven make and it needs to because the plot of this story takes us into murky and morally questionable places at times. Life, death, love, religion and science – everything gets put under the microscope as Steven decides to start taking the immortality pills and becomes a part of important historical events.

Not only does he become a part of key historical events, he also meets and talks to plenty of key historical people like for example Mao Tse-Tung and Dalai Lama. He also meets jazz royalty like Charlie Parker with cameos from Billie Holiday, Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughan for extra spice. You could imagine this becoming contrived and too clearly the daydreams of an author wishing his character to meet some of his own heroes, but it is dealt with in a surprisingly down to earth way. There is no sensationalism or obvious hero worship as far as I can see yet the real-life characters are still dealt with in a respectful way as to not upset anyone.

What might upset people isn’t the way the story takes liberties with history and famous figures, but how it deals with religion. Buddhism and Christianity get shaken about quite a bit yet other religions don’t get off shot-free either. If you are religious and don’t like the idea of having the basics and main figures of your religion tampered with, perhaps you should give this book a miss. I do hasten to add that no religion is slated or blamed for anything, they are just slightly…reimagined.

Additionally, the immortality formula that Steven takes leads to more than a longer life and a more prominent part in history. He can also open a portal into a sort of force/state of mind when he is unconscious and particularly when he is playing music. The book refers to this force that surrounds us as the “Akashic Records” and in it Steven can see visions of anyone who has ever lived. Anyone who has seen the movie Limitless will recognize the idea of expanding the human mind to see that there is more to this world than what we with our limited view can see and there were scenes in the book that certainly reminded me of the film.

I found that this part made the book lose some of its pragmatism that we had seen surrounding any supernatural elements before but that is a matter of taste. The Akashic Records play an important part in re-imagining how our world is built up so I understand its role in the narrative. There was obviously a lot of work put into that and a lot of research done. In general, no matter what you think of the way the author plays with history – real-life people and religions – you cannot help but be impressed with the amount of research that has gone into this project.

I was also impressed and happy to see the story deal with the east meets west aspect. Much of the book takes place in China and Tibet and the author seems to really want to be respectful of the non-American cultures portrayed in the book. Even through a 1940’s and 50’s point of view we see Castello’s characters point out that you cannot see the actions of a foreign culture through the glasses of your own, but must try to have an open mind and expand your worldview. We see Steven fall in love with much of China and it’s communist uprising, at least until things turn ugly.

I must confess to being less enthralled with the book’s female characters, who are only love interests and not very interesting ones at that. The book doesn’t pass the Bechdel Test (two female characters talking to each other about anything else than a man) and there is actually general lack of women in the storyline. I have to add that the author comes dangerously close to using the much-discussed trope of having a female character raped to further the male protagonists story.

Speaking of possibly triggering plot points, there is a lot of blood and gore in this book and if you cannot read about torture, genocide, rape and graphic violence – this is not the book for you. However, I hasten to add that a lot of books and media out there today is much more graphic and violence-romanticizing than this book is.

All in all, this is a very good read which pulls at the heartstrings and I know it will stay with me for quite a while. I admire the imagination, research and hard work that went into it. The prose was elegant and simple, making you forget that you were reading as you went along. I will remember Diary of an Immortal (1945 – 1959) for managing to be bloody and grim, but yet never make me so uncomfortable that I put the book down – a hard balance to achieve.

Emma Sterner-Radley, Starry Cosmopolitan Magazine

February 2017 Book Of The Month
The quest for immortality is a tale as old has time. Luckily, David Castello has put a new spin on this classic idea in The Diary of an Immortal (1945-1959). The novel is set during the time of Nazi rule, when inhumane experimentation of prisoners occurred all too often. Steven, a war medic for the United States Army, stumbles across immortality pills during the overthrow of the Dachau prison camp. The little pills take Steven on a wild ride from the jazz scene in New York City to the Buddhist monasteries of China and the mountains of Tibet. The Diary of an Immortal is an extravagant work of fantasy set against very real, historic events. Castello weaves a tale of love, magic, evil, and the perils of everlasting life in his debut novel.

The story is full of complex, likable characters. Steven, the narrator of the novel, struggles with life after serving his country in World War II. After seeing the most horrible of human acts, Steven only wishes to prolong his life in order to gain back the years of happiness and joy stolen by the war. On the contrary, Buddhist immortals teach that extending one’s life is actually a form of punishment. Throughout the novel, Steven internally struggles to understand the meaning of immortality and questions if everlasting life is actually a good thing. This ongoing battle results in Steven being a strong, well developed and empathetic character.

The most fascinating aspect of the novel is that the author delves into the dichotomy between the Buddhist and American cultures. In the Buddhist religion, the act of killing another being is not allowed. However, Chang Sou, an immortal Buddhist and the story’s antagonist, wants to use his powers to wreak havoc on the inhabitants of Earth. Chow Li, a rival immortal, cannot kill Chang Sou himself because of his Buddhist principals and thus relies on Steven to rid the world of the evil Chang Sou. These differing cultural stances make the reader question character motives as well as the premise of immortality.

Although I greatly enjoyed the author’s play on good versus evil, at times it felt a little over done and predictable. Similarly, there were certain religious elements thrown into the narrative, namely that Jesus Christ may not be from this planet, that did not seem relevant and that some readers may have trouble accepting.

The Diary of an Immortal (1945-1959) is an inventive fantasy story that is not only well written, but truly engrossing as well. The author superbly creates a fantastical story based on exciting historical events and also introduces interesting characters all while engaging the reader with thought provoking material. Though I had some minor criticisms of this book, I rate it 4 out of 4 stars and recommend it to fans of alternative history books as well as fans of the fantasy genre.

Official Review, The Online Book Club