This is an excellent story - masterfully written. Imagine Earth in the not too distant future, where religious fundamentalism has divided the camps between deep-faithed Christians and Muslim followers, and those who adhere to no particular faith at all. It is a fractured world, mankind is severed by fear, suspicion and racism. In this hotbed, weapons of mass destruction are still flaunted by questionably sane governments and corporate avarice that fuels division and hatred to fill their accounts. Three humans find themselves approached by an alien visitor who has come to Earth to convince them to return to his world and plead on behalf of the human race to the Council of Seven Worlds. Mankind's obsession with war and self-destruction, and the fact that Earth is on the cusp of jumping into interstellar space travel, is perceived by the Council of Seven as a threat to their existence, and because of humanity's historically tragic history of murder and mayhem, it has been decided that Earth must either be destroyed or subjugated before they can assault other worlds with their destructive forces. Aidan, Michael and Peebles, three humans, must endure a life-threatening journey through a quantum loop in order to stand before the Council of Seven Worlds and convince them that destroying Earth, or invading it, will not accomplish the end they seek. This is an excellent tale, one which puts the human race on trial, showing the good, the bad and the very ugly, and to the last page, one wonders how these three ambassadors can possibly avert what seems to be the inevitable. More than science fiction - Witches' Gambit is a preview of where our world is heading if fundamentalist religion and corrupt politicians continue to divide the human race into illusory camps; and corporate greed continues to fuel a military establishment, a world where fear dominates and where logic, love and science have taken the backseat.
Review by International Writers Inspiring Change
About Charles Freedom Long
Charles Freedom Long writes science fiction about what might be. Psionics, multi-sensory human beings, telepathy, telekinesis, precognition, clairsentience, energy medicine, awareness and ongoing communication between the living and the dead as a fact of daily life, and how that might affect the life and philosophy of a world.
A psychologist who is also a medium, he talks with deceased people all the time. So, with the help of some friends on both sides of the veil called death, he began writing science fiction from a spiritualist point of view.
He has lived and worked in the U.S, Canada, England and Africa, and seen how what we might think is “the way things are” is not necessarily the way other people see it. He’s now happily living the life of a hermit in the boonies of Western New York, with his wife and three Maltese dogs. And finally getting the time to write and read all those books he said he would.
