Many thanks to the kind folks at BookDNA.com for inviting me back to review my favorite three reads of 2025!
Click here or on any of the images below to check it out.
All posts by philgiunta@ptd.net
Book Review: The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis
A humanoid alien crash lands on Earth, adopts the name Thomas Jerome Newton, and sets about using his vast scientific and engineering knowledge to invent new technologies, gain patents, and start a corporation.
Before leaving his war-ravaged planet, Anthea, Newton gained most of his knowledge about Earth culture from our television transmissions, but soon realizes that his education was insufficient. Nevertheless, he adapts as necessary and amasses a fortune, allowing him to build a ship that can return to Anthea and transport his people to Earth. However, it isn’t long before his true identity is discovered.
While the plot is simple and straightforward, Tevis presents a sympathetic character in Newton and some of the allies he picks up during his journey. Experiencing Newton’s physical frailties as he deals with Earth’s gravity, his loneliness, his self-imposed isolation, the taste he develops for gin, and eventually questioning his mission, make him more human than alien.
Smashwords End of Year Sale!
As always, I’m excited to participate in the Smashwords eBook End of Year Sale starting on December 8, 2025 and running until January 1, 2026.
My novels Testing the Prisoner and By Your Side will be 50% off ($1.49 each) during the sale. Thank you for supporting independent and small press authors!
Book Review: The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
Ben Reich, CEO of Monarch Industries, has been unsuccessful in persuading his rival, Craye D’Courtney, to agree to a merger. Frustrated, Reich corners old man D’Courtney alone during a party at the mansion of a mutual friend and kills him. However, D’Courtney’s daughter witnesses the crime and manages to escape with the murder weapon. Thus begins a cat and mouse game of tracking her down while the investigating detective, Lincoln Powell, is forced to refrain from using his telepathic abilities to “peep” into Reich’s mind. Powell is certain that Reich is the murderer, but needs hard evidence. Reich hires other telepaths to run interference for him all the while experiencing horrible nightmares about being hunted by a man without a face.
First published in Galaxy Science Fiction magazine in 1953, it’s easy to see why The Demolished Man was the first book to win the Hugo Award. Bester presents an engaging thriller in which a crime is committed in a world where telepaths occupy all levels of society. Watching Reich evade capture—and a punishment known as Demolition—with the top telepathic investigator hot on his trail makes for a captivating read.
Joe Knedlhans 1952 – 2025
Perhaps this post should have been written sooner, but I’ve been traveling over the past week and I needed time to process one of the most painful losses I’ve ever endured.
On October 10, 2025, one of the longest running friendships in my life ended with the death of Joe Knedlhans. A retired NYC police officer, Joe was owner and curator of the Toy Robot Museum in Adamstown, Pennsylvania, otherwise known as the antiques capital of U.S.A. His shop and museum, filled with 3,000 toy robots from the past 60 years, was part of the original Stoudtburg Village nestled among eight miles of antique shops along Route 272.
After retiring from the NYC police department, Joe and his wife Margo Moore, a former Hollywood actress, moved to Adamstown in 2000. They had often visited the town to go antiquing and it was there that Margo bought Joe a toy robot as a gift. She gave him another for his birthday and again at Christmas. Three toy robots grew into nearly 3,000. They purchased a home in the Stoudtburg Village with their shop and museum on the first floor.
As Margo collected toy pigs and piggy banks, their business was initially called The Toy Robot and Pig Museum. After Margo died later in 2000, Joe changed the name to the Toy Robot Museum, but it would be another two years before he removed the pigs and filled in the last display cases with more robots.
My wife and I met Joe on a blistering day in August of 2002. Although I had been to Adamstown before, the Stoudtburg Village was new to me. All of the buildings were constructed in the style of of an old, quaint German village complete with center courtyard and fountain. It was at this fountain where a middle-aged was sweeping up with this back to us. He was the only other soul in sight.
My wife and I compared the experience to the classic TV series, The Prisoner, starring Patrick McGoohan. We continued walking until we found the Toy Robot Museum at building #9 in the plaza. No sooner did we enter than the middle-aged man with the broom followed us and introduced himself as the curator of the museum, thus beginning a 22-year-long friendship.
The museum was a sight to behold. It was not a massive place, but Joe knew how to take advantage of space and filled the first floor with IKEA display cases with robots tastefully displayed and on some of the cases, playback devices mounted on the door would allow you to hear the original TV commercials for some of the toys with the press of a button. The museum also included a robot pinball machine and arcade game and even a few classic toys that visitors could play with including good ol’ Rock ‘Em Sock’Em robots.
Check out this thorough video tour of Joe’s museum from 2024.
In this video, Joe talks about the origins of his museum compliments of his wife, Margo.
And this one is from 2008 where a much younger Joe is interviewed about the museum.
You can Google the Toy Robot Museum and find dozens of videos about it.
In the early 2000s, Joe hosted annual gatherings of toy robot collectors. These events were called BotStock. People flew in from all over the country as well as Canada and Europe to attend the event and visit the antique shops along the “strip” looking for treasures. The group would gather for dinner, trading and buying robots from one another, and donating items to be raffled off as well as bringing swag items for everyone.
When BotStock faded away, my wife and I still visited Joe two to three times each year, especially for his birthday and around Christmas. We settled into a routine of stopping at Joe’s museum first in the morning to chat and drop off a little gift that sometimes included a toy robot as well as a signed copy of my latest book, and chocolates. After chatting with Joe for an hour or so, my wife and I would browse the antique shops then return just before closing to drive Joe to dinner. Sometimes we covered the meal, but most of the time, Joe treated us. He was generous that way, often declining payment when we wanted to buy something from his shop.
In May 2025, I emailed Joe to let him know that I would be passing Adamstown on my way to Maryland for an annual SF convention called Shore Leave. He replied that he was available that day and would be happy to see me. However, a month later, he followed up with sad news that his sister was in hospice in NYC and was declining quickly. I told him to contact me if there was anything he needed.
A few more weeks passed before he replied that she had died and as her executor, he would be overwhelmed for a while. Again, I offered assistance but never heard back. My next email to him in August just to check on him also went unanswered. Finally, in early October, I checked the Stoudtburg Village website on a whim and read a notice that the Toy Robot Museum was permanently closed.
I then checked Alphadrome, the online toy robot collectors’ forum and found no news about Joe. However, when I went back to the site over a week later, there was a long discussion thread about Joe’s death, which my wife and I confirmed when we found his obituary. I left a remembrance on the funeral home website as well as Alphadrome.
I was packing for a trip to western PA that week, but cleared my schedule for the Sunday after I returned. My wife and I agreed to drive out to Adamstown to check on the museum and see if we could learn how Joe had passed. Another member from Alphadrome met us out there and later in the day, the three of us went to dinner at Zia Maria’s Italian Restaurant at about the same time Joe would close his shop and go to dinner with my wife and me.
I tried to take some solace in the gorgeous autumn weather as my wife and I stood outside Joe’s dark and locked shop on Sunday morning instead of being inside laughing and chatting with him and deciding on where to go for dinner after he closed. But that solace wasn’t enough to compensate for the loss of our wonderful friend.
After inquiring with a few neighboring shopkeepers, we learned from Janet, the owner of Plum Pudding Antiques, that Joe had taken ill in early October and died in the hospital in Adamstown. She and her husband Tom were named as his executors.
More than once I had remarked to Joe that visiting him, his museum, the village, and Adamstown in general took me away from whatever stresses I was facing in my life and brought me peace and joy. That’s all lost now and it will be a while before I accept that. However, I am grateful to have known Joe and all the wonderful moments and memories that I’ll carry with me for the rest of my days. He brought enormous fun and friendship to all who knew him.
Mindful Writers Retreat Recap – Autumn 2025
One of the highlights of my year is attending the five-day Mindful Writers Retreat in Ligonier, PA with a stellar group of writers that I’ve had the honor to call friends for the past seven years. Our retreat takes place at the Ligonier Camp and Conference Center (LCCC) nestled in the Laurel Highlands region of the Allegheny Mountains of western Pennsylvania.
LCCC is a kids’ camp during the summer. Off-season, they rent out their facilities to various groups. Each room at the Lamont Lodge has three sets of bunk beds. In years past, I enjoyed sleeping on the top bunk but on this occasion, the ceiling fan was a bit too close for comfort when climbing atop any of the three bunks so I took the lower bed this time.
As I’ve written in years past, everything about our retreat is magical from the location to the hours of quiet writing time to the fun and camaraderie we share during our five days together. Attending the Mindful Writers Retreat for the first time in 2018 was one of my best life decisions for my soul as well as my writing career.
The first two days were sunny and clear. Clouds and rain rolled in for Wednesday and Thursday, but my sunrise walk through woods and along the mountain on Tuesday offered an opportunity for spectacular views, as always.
As for writing, my goal for the retreat was to finish the outline for the sword and sorcery story and write at least the first two or three scenes.
Also, I wanted to take at least a half day to review a paranormal mystery novella that I started in 2022 and worked on sporadically for about a year in between short story projects. I picked it up again last year’s Mindful Writers Retreat and had not looked at it since. It needed more work than I could give it in the few days at the retreat so I turned my attention back to the S&S story and wrote 2,100 words. The limit is 5,000 per the publisher’s submission requirements. Once I finish this story, I plan to turn my attention back to the novella and finish it by summer 2026.
It has long become tradition for many of the writers to gather by the fire and chat on Thursday evenings as it is our final night together. We do have social time during lunch and dinner, but many of us only see one another once or twice a year at the retreat so the fireside chats permit us more time to catch up.
After our 9AM brunch on Friday, it was time for final hugs and goodbyes. This a group of writers I’ve have come to miss when we’re apart but fortunately, I will see three of them in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware in a few weeks as we gather at Browseabout Books on Saturday, November 8 from 11AM to 1PM to sign copies of our Mindful Writers anthologies.
On my way from the retreat, I visited the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, PA. Every autumn, when I drive Route 30 on my way to or from Ligonier, I consider stopping here and never do. Friday was a damp, cold, windy day but nevertheless, I was determined to visit the memorial. Although the visitor center was closed due to the government shutdown, I walked to the overlook and then drove around to the Wall of Names. My last stop was the Tower of Voices, a 93-foot tall wind chime near the entrance and exit. All told, a sobering experience and reminder of how much we should cherish our friends and loved ones.
