"A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver." Proverbs 25:11
Showing posts with label Cliff Ball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cliff Ball. Show all posts

Monday, June 24, 2013

TIMES OF TURMOIL: The End Times Saga by Cliff Ball






ABOUT THE BOOK

In this prequel to Times of Trouble and Times of Trial, we follow how the Evans family gained their riches and eventually their power to influence events in the United States. We see important events that the Evans family gets themselves involved in: such as the return of the Israelites to Israel, the assassination of President Kennedy, the terrorism of 9/11, and eventually events that lead to gun control and other types of government tyranny in the United States.

The novel also follows the Atwood family, starting with the Great-Grandfather of Brian, Charles, as he fights in World War Two and ends up helping liberate Buchenwald shortly near the end of the war. Charles returns to the States and gets married to the love of his life, Betty. Eventually, the family ends up in Delaney, Nebraska, where we watch Aaron, the father of Brian, join the Army to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan after 9/11. Later on, we get to see how Brian and Lynda finally get together and get married.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Picture of Cliff Ball

 
Cliff Ball was born in Arizona, but has lived in Texas for most of his life, and currently resides outside of that massive sprawl known as the Metroplex. He became a born again Christian at the age of five, and is a member of his local Baptist church. Cliff is also a Conservative and rejects both National Parties. Cliff has two Bachelor’s of Arts: one in English and the other in History, and a Technical Writing Certificate from the University of North Texas.  Cliff felt the call to be a writer when he was ten years old and first became published in high school in the early 90′s through his Creative Writing class when he won third in a young adult Methodist magazine for a short story he wrote called “Role Reversal.”
 
Even though he wrote a lot during the intervening years, and submitted to various contests such as the Writer’s of the Future and the Star Trek New Wolds contests, Cliff didn’t publish anything again until he went online and it enabled him to self-publish through Kindle in 2008 and subsequently to other platforms later. His first novel was Out of Time, and since 2008, Cliff has published nine novels and two short stories. Cliff’s genres are varied, he has written science fiction/alternate history/time travel, political and End Times thrillers, and even a western short story. His novels are clean reads and can be read by anyone.
 
Cliff’s life verse is from Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not into thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

MY REVIEW

What can I say, I am a Cliff Ball fan for life. His End Times Saga has entertained me, caused me to think, and look deeper at what is happening around the world and even around my own small place in it.

Times of Turmoil is Cliff's prequel to the End Times Saga. It was real interesting in reading about how his main characters came to be. In reading Times of Turmoil, I gained a much better understanding of how Evans and the Atwoods paths crossed and the reasons for Evans hatred of the Atwoods and all they represented. 

Cliff took many of the historical events, past and present, and wove them through this third book. It certainly makes a person take another look at what is happening around them. 

There is a real force of evil at work in this world. At the same time, there is the real work of God's grace at work. We can look at the Atwood family and can come away with the knowledge that God is Sovereign and nothing happens that He isn't aware of, including the work of the evil one. God's grace and mercy sustains us in these difficult times. 

Many thanks to Cliff Ball for writing this book along with his other works. He made this review possible by providing me with a free review copy.

Keep writing Cliff, and I will keep reading!


  

Monday, February 11, 2013

TIMES OF TRIAL: An End TImes Novel #2 by Cliff Ball


ABOUT THE BOOK

This novel is a parallel novel to Times of Trouble and can be read as a stand-alone novel.

Three Christian families suffer from persecution as the President declares himself dictator, implements something called Order 21, and begins targeting his political and spiritual enemies. Meanwhile, tensions between Israel and Iran intensifies as the End Times approach.  


This book can be purchased at www.amazon.com

ABOUT CLIFF IN HIS OWN WORDS!

 

Hi, I'm Cliff Ball. I'm a born again Christian, saved at the age of five years old, and I'm an Independent Baptist. I have two BA's, and a Technical Writing Certificate from the University of North Texas.

I published my first short story in 1992 through a high school Creative Writing Class and then didn't publish anything else until 2008, with my first novella, Out of Time: a Time Travel novel

CHECK OUT HIS WEBSITES:




MY REVIEW

Times of Trial can be read as a stand-alone or with Times of Trouble. Like Times of Trouble, Times of Trial is about the end-times and persecution of Christians in the United States. 

The president of the United States is a hater of Christians and Jews and will stop at nothing to make sure he remains the president. He and his equally power hungry goons implement Agenda 21. (Now if you don't know anything about Agenda 21 - which is very real check it out here. There are also lots of other listings about it.)

Cliff has again written a very insightful novel involving end-time prophecy and current events. This is a very easy book to read but don't let the ease of it detract you from the reality of what could actually take place.

All right, now I have a couple of critiques... though Cliff has done better in filling in the plot with detail, his dialog is still a bit choppy and stilted. I only say this, because I know how difficult it is to write dialog. So Cliff, this is just to encourage you to write your dialog more fluidly. That is probably the only thing I can think of that may be a distraction for the reader. 

I appreciate Cliff's dedication to get his work out for the public to read. Since he is a self-publisher, it can be a bit harder to get the word out. So I am more than thrilled to review for him. 

Thank you Cliff for providing me with a free ebook copy for me to review.    

  
 

Thursday, March 22, 2012

TIMES OF TROUBLE by Cliff Ball






The back of the book says:

In the near future, the U.S. government has turned into a tyranny as the government agencies known as the EPA and TSA grow with ever more power, taking away the liberty many Americans had known for over two hundred years. They're joined by a government agency, the Health Administration, which was put together in the mid-2010's to regulate healthcare.

Told in first person point of view, Brian Atwood, our main character, is a field agent for the FBI in Omaha. His work involves mostly cyber terrorism and actual cases of potential real world terrorism. Eventually his wife gives birth to their third child, who has Down's Syndrome, which does not please the Health Administration because there are rules and regulations set up in cases like these to prevent "genetic freaks" as they like to call them, from sucking up a lot of Health Admin money. Because the Atwoods are born again Christians, they never considered aborting the baby, so now the Health people have to take him away to deal with the problem later.

 Meanwhile, the Secret Service decides to recruit Brian to be the personal agent of POTUS due to his great work involving a case that dealt with terrorism that would've involved Offutt Air Force Base. Brian's faith is tested every day as he deals with a man that has no morals from what Brian can see, and is tested even more when his wife finds out she is dying from a fast growing form of breast cancer. Trouble in the rest of the world occurs as Iran attempts to nuke Israel, which fails spectacularly, so Israel takes care of the problem. This brings condemnation from everyone, including the US, which takes the side of Iran.

 There is more to the back of the book, but this gives you an idea of what it is about.


Now my review of the book...


Though I found the book easy to read, I thought it could have used some more fleshing out. It's a short book that can be easily read in a couple of hours. Cliff Ball has a writing style that works for him in writing first person point of view. That's not an easy way to write. But, I would have liked to have seen more detail, filling in of spaces.


Now the great thing about the story is how current events actually play a part in the plot. If you read any news articles or watch the news on TV, other than the tripe you hear on the major networks, then what you will read in Times of Trouble is disturbingly prophetic. This isn't just near in the future but some of it is already taking place!


I had just read an article on NewsWithViews.com before I had read Cliff Ball's book. All I can say is Cliff Ball is either working with those folks at NewsWithViews or they are on the same wave length with God. This book looks at America and her citizens in a way that will either have you saying, "No way, that can't happen," or "Oh wow, this is fiction turning into reality."


It is definitely not a book for the faint of heart, but for those who trust in Jesus Christ, it is a book that will encourage every reader to trust even more in Him. 


Fast paced, short chapters, strong characters, Times of Trouble is worth reading. 


This book was graciously provided freely for the purpose of review, by Cliff Ball.



Here's a bit about the author:


Lives in Texas, born in Arizona, is a Christian and is Baptist. Has a BA in English & History, pursuing a Certificate in Technical Communications. Has published 6 novels and 3 short stories. Won 3rd in high school for a short story I wrote in Creative Writing class for a young adult magazine. As a Christian, Cliff writes with his worldview in mind, so there's some conservative or Christian themes in his novels/short stories.

In order of original publication:
Out of Time - 2008
Don't Mess With Earth - 2009
The Usurper - 2010
Shattered Earth - 2010
Voyager and the Aliens - 2011
Dust Storm - 2011
New Frontier - 2011
Times of Trouble - 2012

www.cliffball.net
Blog: http://cliffballauthor.wordpress.com
Follow me on Twitter: @cliff_ball
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cliff.ball.author
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1309948.Cliff_Ball