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Volume 2, Number 6 June 2003 Home | MBW Index

Table of Contents

Shelley's Bookshelf Shirley's Bookshelf Laurel's Bookshelf
Kaveny's Bookshelf Cindy Penn's Bookshelf Klausner's Bookshelf
Donovan's Bookshelf    

Shelley's Bookshelf

Secret of the Scroll
Chester D. Campbell
Durban House Publishing Company, Inc.
7502 Greenville Ave., Suite 500, Dallas, TX 75231
ISBN: 1930754248, $15.95

Chester D. Campbell attended the University of Tennessee and edited a local magazine. He has written speeches, worked in advertising and public relations, and management. He served in the Army Air Corps in WW II, was an Air Force intelligence officer in Korea, and retired from the Air Force Reserve as a lieutenant colonel. He presently lives in Madison, Tennessee with his wife.

Retired Colonel Greg McKenzie and his wife, Jill, are enjoying a trip to the Holy Land, when an insistent vendor sells them a jar filled with what turns out to be an ancient papyrus which contains directions for items that could cause World War III in the region. When McKenzie's wife disappears, he decides his background in intelligence might be of more use than the local police who have an axe to grind with him, and that axe has a long reach:

"'That's for sure. The reason for my call, I wondered if you know a patrol sergeant named Christie?' 'Gerald Christie?' 'Short guy, fortyish, short brown hair.' 'That's Gerald. You run into him?' 'Yes. Unfortunately.' 'I can imagine. He's Mark Tremaine's brother-in-law.' I winced. If that was the luck of the draw, my luck wasn't worth two cents."

McKenzie splits his time negotiating with two opposing groups, who want the artifact, and consulting experts to determine just what he has in his possession. When one of the experts is killed, McKenzie swings into high gear to get his wife back.

Secret of the Scroll is a thriller in every sense of the word. Written post 9/11, Campbell brings a wealth of information into play in the person of Greg McKenzie. He simplifies the age-old conflict for the reader, all the while setting up cliff-hanging situations designed to keep the reader glued to his book. I couldn't put it down! His writing style is as full of energy as his characters. Campbell makes McKenzie into a 65 year old rebel who is irresistible and appealing. Great!

Southern Justice Lisa York and Terri Avery
McIntosh Press
450E Country Club Dr., Simi Valley, CA 93065
PH: 805-796-8618
E-mail: Averyyork@southernjustice.org
ISBN: 0971231303 $12.95 Southernjustice.org

Lisa York and Terri Avery have gotten together on the premise that women should be able to be good friends and work together without constantly harpooning one another. Lisa York is an executive manager who has also had a career with the Navy. Terry Avery is a successful writer, businesswoman, and world traveler.

Detective Lane O'Shay had a terrible experience of rape and being brutally beaten and left for dead. When she is called upon to solve a similar case involving a mysterious woman named True, she finds herself not only embarking upon a journey of self-healing, but a path that will lead to a playa in Mexico, remembrance of past history, and a new life for both herself and True, as True finds her missing family:

"'Your father's father was named Don Felipe Martine. When he learned that your father had a gringo mistress and two mixed-blood children, he sent his drug lords into the village.' Joy Wren's voice grew smaller and quieter as she continued. 'They took what they wanted, and then they killed, burned or destroyed what was left. All were fleeing for their lives. Don Felipe had planned the raid while your father was on business in Belize, so that he would not be there to protect us...'"

Southern Justice is one of the most passionate, gut-wrenching, and thoroughly satisfying novels this reviewer has read in a long time. The sensitivity of the two writers shines through on every page. Although the authors claim to have no writing degrees, it is evident that their skills are very well honed. I couldn't put the book down, and found myself crying along with the characters as they picked their way through problems that were so real and easy to relate to for women that it is hard to see why women don't understand each other better.

Southern Justice is a wonderful book that is a real page-turner. There is a murder mystery, but the greater mystery lies in the character's search for healing and self-realization. It is a psychological masterpiece, and is a beacon for any women who have been hurt by others.

Encore to Murder
Bill Stackhouse
iUniverse
ISBN: 0595256244 $17.95 US, $29.95 CAN 14.99 (GBP) U.K.

The various and sundry ways that people find to put their writing talents to work is fascinating. Bill Stackhouse has a plethora of writing talents, as a mystery writer, playwright, and scriptwriter for a production firm. He has penned seven plays, four of which have won awards. He has written promotional videos for NASA, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Army Aviation & Missile Command. Encore to Murder is his third novel, following up Stream of Death and Hickory, Dickory.

Former homicide captain Ed McAvoy thinks he is in semi-retirement as Police Chief of Peekamoose Heights, in the New York Catskills. He is in the bosom of family and friends, from the loud mouthed sister-in-law, Lucille and his nephew, Larry, his partner and protege, to the local watering hole called the "Plough and Whistle Pub," a cozy bar with its welcoming roaring fire. His direction of the play "Match Point" is the closest to murder he thinks he will get until a body is discovered in a sports car that has apparently missed the bend up at Ashokan Pass. But was it an accident?

"Ben's mind returned to his suite where he sat at the desk with the telephone receiver in his hand. 'Forgive me, Deanna, for sounding so dense, but are you saying that she was wearing contact lenses?' 'Yes, but it's no big deal. I'll just...' 'I'll be right over.'"

Bill Stackhouse does a great job of combining his talents in the area of the stage with his prowess as a mystery writer to create the "perfect investigation." Usually we as readers are watching as the killer tries to outwit the police, but Stackhouse flip-flops that idea to create an intriguing story that keeps the pages turning and the reader guessing. Ed McAvoy is a lovable, and obviously handsome, ex-Detroit cop who still remembers the death of his partner, Kaz, in bittersweet flashes that come at the most unexpected times. But he is rock-solid as an investigator, and his support system enables him to come up with some innovative and unusual detecting devices that are most interest and entertaining. This is a great read from an author who has the ability to make us feel good even as we are reading about the death of a gorgeous model and businesswoman.

Woman, Divided
Melody M. Suppes
XLIBRIS.com
29707 Island View Drive, Palos Verdes, CA 90275
phone: (310) 544-2493 fax: (310) 544-8664
ISBN: 0738852597 $24.99

Melody Suppes is a Palos Verdes, California resident. She is a screenwriter and novelist. This is her first Detective Herman Grabfelder mystery, the second being in production and tentatively entitled Banana Bubblegum.

Detective Herman Grabfelder is definitely one of a kind. Looming large in the world, with blue eyes which switch from the remorse and anguish he feels over his wife's suicide to the lasers of a man to be reckoned with, "Hermie" is adorable in the old dog or teddy bear way. He has hosts of admirers and people around him who are too scared to tell him how much they care, except his cat, Eleanor, who knows his secrets, and his car, Roberta, who serves him loyally...bullet holes and all. But it takes his human friends, Gordie (who looks like an African-American Tom Selleck) and Claire (his new boss at a substation), plus the intelligent and wounded Nell, his new secretary and soon-to-be admirer to pull him out of the doldrums when he meets and loses the ethereal Helen, bigamist and murder victim:

"And so he was helpless and stood stock still while she studied his face with both curiosity and certainty, as if she'd always know him and was taking her time refreshing her memory. 'Yes...' she mused, 'I think it would be hard to tell... at first. Until I figured out how to look and what to look for.'"

Helen, of course, turns up dead. So Hermie takes his famous nose, which drives him crazy in any public place because it is autistic and can't block out ANY smells, his internal wounds, and his genius, and puts them to work trying to avenge Helen's death. He also has a serial murderer on his plate who leaves no trace for forensics other than a certain pattern of stab wounds. Hermie himself is on the verge of death, but dutifully begins a workout and diet which saves his life. He then finds himself strong enough to deal with both killers. Being L.A., every day police work is enough to put anyone under. But Hermie continues doggedly, much to the reader's delight.

Melody Suppes has created characters that are not only larger than life, but are absolutely convincing and fascinating. Hermie is a sweetie whom the readers will want more of. Great!

The Mystery at Orchard House
Joan Coggin
The Rue Morgue Press
PO Box 4119, Boulder, CO 80306
Tel: 800-699-6214 Fax: 303-443-4010
ISBN: 0915230542 $14.95

Joan Coggin wrote her mysteries between 1935 and 1949, which included the Lady Lupin Quartet and six girls' books under the pseudonym Joanna Lloyd. Coggin was born in 1898 in Lemsford, Hertfordshire, the granddaughter of Edward Lloyd of "Lloyd's Weekly London Newspaper." Coggin lost her mother at age eight, and moved to Eastbourne on the Eastern edge of Britain. She graduated from Wycombe Abbey in 1916 and spent some time as a nurse at an Eastbourne hospital. She began writing in 1930 and stopped in 1949. She died in 1980 at age 82.

Lady Lupin Lorrimer Hastings is an attractive, albeit scatterbrained, wife of an older husband who happens to be a minister. Her husband, Andrew, is the vicar at St. Marks Parish. Lady Lupin is off for a rest cure, after a case of influenza, leaving Andrew and her two year old toddler for a country hotel called "Orchard House" owned by her friend Diana Turner. But from the first evening there, it is evident that Lady Lupin is going to do anything but rest:

"And a good idea of hers, too. I had scarcely got into bed before someone came in to say that her mother was having a fit and could I lend her some sal volatile. In the end she went away with the brandy, and by the way, Staines, you'd better get some more, we'll never see that again and it was in my silver flask, too. Then someone else came in to say that she couldn't sleep with her husband and what had she better do, then she disappeared, I don't know where, and still another woman took her place and said that she'd lost her child. Naturally I was upset about that. Suppose it had been Peter! So I tried to organize a search party and would you believe it, in the middle, after I had woken everyone up and sent them out into the grounds, the child turned out to be some moldy old manuscript and I might just as well have stayed in bed."

But possessions continue disappearing, and there are two car accidents. Lady Lupin has to take over managing the hotel when one accident lays Diana Turner low, and that's when things start to get really interesting. Written as a complete cozy, Joan Coggin mesmerizes the reader with the enchanting Lady Lupin and her well-meaning ways. A delightful rainy day read.

Shelley Glodowski
Reviewer

Shirley's Bookshelf

A Savior Worth Having
E.V. Hill
Moody Press
820 North Lasalle Drive, Chicago, IL 60610
ISBN# 0802431291, 174 pages, $17.99, 1-800-621-5111, http://www.moodypress.com

Although it saddens my heart to say that this old world no longer has this excellent author among us, I rejoice for the joy that surely he must be experiencing. The book "A Savior Worth Having", that he has left with us, is a touching, loving drawing card for mankind to understand the saving grace of Jesus Christ. His stories are told in a down to earth, simple way, holding no bars and pulling no punches, he shares his faith, his experiences, and his decision in accepting Jesus. His reasons for not wanting to go to hell are clear cut and eye opening! I laughed and I cried reading this outstanding book by E.V. Hill. An encourager for the faithful and a thought provoking book for the seeker.

Jessie Captures A Star
Tara Panrucker
ISBN# 1553131762
Adventure Book Publishers
http://www.puzzlesbyshar/adventurebooks.com
Adventure@puzzlesbyshar.com 23 pages $3.99 Download

Jessie is a pretty little 7 year old girl who is struggling with being jealous. Why she is jealous of her best friends two new dollies, and she is even jealous of her brother's birthday presents. Poor Jessie! Jessie wants something of her very own and decides she wants a star. She closes her eyes and makes a wish but whenshe wakes up the next morning, no star is there? Jessie is sad! So, she rides her bike up on the hill, hoping being closer to the sky and making her wish there, it just might come true. However, the only thing Jessie gets is to go to bed without her bedtime story. Poor Jessie! Finally Jessie tells Mom what is troubling her and that she really would like to own a star. Jessie's Mom, full of wisdom took Jessie to an internet site called "International Star Registry", where people can buy their very own star and even name it. Now Jessie was happy, but she still had to raise the money to buy her star. This is a great little story, showing that children struggle with different emotions as we do. Once Jessie confronted her emotions, she was able to turn things around. Jessie even named her star after her best friend Natalie. A good little tale!

Chilling Stories
Jesiah Adams
The Tale of Shillmore Mansion
Lisa Allen
ISBN# 155313265 50 pages Adventure Book Publishers http://www.puzzlesbyshar/aventurebooks.com
Download $3.99 adventures@puzzlesbyshar.com

Everybody needs a grandpa like 10 year old Roscoe has. Jesiah Adams, the local storyteller and Roscoe's grandfather is every child's delight. When Grandpa Jesiah sits on his porch all the children of the neighborhood gather around, because his stories are made of the fiber that tickles the imagination of every young heart. Shillmore Mansion, a forbidden place in their world, was such a mystery to the children that they were delighted to hear Grandpa begin the story of two young friends Rob and Christina, who would do anything on a bet, even visit Shillmore Mansion! Grandpa tells how the bully of the neighborhood, Cramer, bet the two that they would not spend 3 hours in the mysterious abandoned Shillmore mansion. Rob and Christina had never turned down a bet, so the children made their way to the mansion and the adventure began. This tale was delightful, as Rob and Christina begin their journey inside the massive mansion. Who were these strange women they saw doing a weird dance in a circle? Were they truly floating off the ground? The pair really didn't want to know! Ah! Hidden passageways bring more adventure as the children barely escape being cornered by a woman, who certainly has all the characteristics of, well shall we say a witch? But who could tell? Finding a crystal ball that glowed at the onsite of danger was the highlight for young Christina and meeting the delightful Mr. Peabody who helped the children find their way out of the mansion before harm came to them, was a very good turn of events. How long had Mr. Peabody lived there anyway? There certainly were a lot of occupants in what was suppose to be a deserted mansion! Chilling Stories is a light whimsical read that adults and children will enjoy. I hope they go back to Shillmore Mansion and do some more investigating, I'd like to know what else is in there, or who else is in there, and just what they are all doing! Another story? I hope so! A good read!

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INTERVIEW WITH CHAS. S. ELINSKY - Author of "MEISAS" Mr. Elinsky, I want to thank you for allowing me to do this interview with you. Please tell our readers something about yourself.

ELINSKY: I was in banking and finance for over 40 years prior to retirement as a senior bank officer. I also served as president of several banking organizations because no one else wanted the jobs! In addition, I was the general manager of the Cleveland Jewish News, a successful local community newspaper.

SPJ: Mr. Elinsky, is "Meisas" your first published work?

ELINSKY: Meisas is my one and only published book although I am working on a second effort with a similar format.

SPJ: I am very interested in knowing how you obtained the idea for your work, would you share that with us please?

ELINSKY: Being advanced in age and with several serious indispositions and being a widower, I am left with writing as an only alternative to going batty. I have been a storyteller and unofficial entertainer all my life and many have told me to put my stories in book form.

SPJ: I love your use of humor in your work, and I can tell by Emailing you that you are a great upbeat person. It's nice to meet someone like you, and I do appreciate you and your work. Tell us, why put Yiddish in your book? That is a different twist and a very welcome one, I might add! I found learning what different words meant a lot of fun and learning about Jewish traditions was very insightful for me.

ELINSKY: Yiddish was the home language of my youth and it bears considerable nostalgia for me. While Yiddish is a declining language, I found it very useful in communicating with immigrants whom I taught English (volunteer) as a second language. It permitted me to teach successfully.

SPJ: Mr. Elinsky, how long did it take you to complete your work?

ELINSKY: From eight to ten weeks. Being retired, I was able to devote time to complete concentration. Much of the material was from personal life and simple to replicate.

SPJ: You do a wonderful job, may I ask you how long you have been writing?

ELINSKY: I earned a degree in English Literature many years ago. I found the academics helpful in writing bank reports,effective collection letters and excuses for personal defaults.

SPJ: Many of the authors I hear from have a very hard time finding a publisher. How was your experience in this area?

ELINSKY: No problem. This new digital printing process enabled me to have my book published fairly easily and rapidly.

SPJ: Mr. Elinsky, are any of the people in your stories, people you know? Are these stories based on truth?

ELINSKY: The part of the book which deals with my youth and army experience is true.

SPJ: What did you find was the hardest part in writing "Meisas?"

ELINSKY: Researching the facts to ascertain accuracy of events and biblical references. The joyful part was presenting partial test manuscripts to a select audience and receiving their approval. Finding a heterogeneous group to test the material objectively was time consuming and difficult.

SPJ: I have heard often about the dreaded "writer's block", did you experience this at all?

ELINSKY: I did not experience any because I have been entertaining without notes for years and pretended I was entertaining an audience.

SPJ: Well, you certainly did a wonderful job! How much research went into your book?

ELINSKY: All biblical references and holiday events were double checked for accuracy.

SPJ: You say you are working on another book, would you tell us a little about this work please?

ELINSKY: I am currently involved in writing somewhat of a sequel. The format is slightly different. It deals with historical immigration into the United States with factual material followed by whimsical matched anecdotes.

SPJ: When do you feel your second book will be ready for release?

ELINSKY: I am about one-third through. I do not intend to publish until my first book is on the way to reasonable sales. All things being normal, I would guess about nine months to one year - G-d willing.

SPJ: I look forward to reading that work when it is complete. Mr. Elinsky, I have one spot that I am most comfortable writing at, do you also have a creative spot?

ELINSKY: My computer chair is my one and only writing spot.

SPJ: Thank you! Let me ask you this, did writing this book change you in anyway?

ELINSKY: I realized how little I know and need to increase my efforts in seeking more knowledge.

SPJ: Don't we all! Mr. Elinsky, what do you hope readers will take away with them after reading your book?

ELINSKY: I delight in hearing them say, "It was a fun read. I had a good laugh throughout." The feeling of making readers enjoy and relax during these perilous times because of my personal contribution is one of tremendous achievement.

SPJ: I will say, it was a fun read! What was your favorite part of the book?

ELINSKY: The introduction as it recalls youth and family.

SPJ: Tell me please, what advice would you give to other authors seeking publication?

ELINSKY: Understand that publishing is easy. Marketing the book is usually very difficult and is expensive.

SPJ: Please tell us about marketing your book.

ELINSKY: Because of "on-demand" printing making publishing easy, anyone with a manuscript and some cash can create a book. Creating public demand for that book is key. Contacting book stores and allowing them to inventory your effort is insufficient. One needs to advertise the book through promotions, signings, media book reviews and etc. It takes time, money and lots of effort. It soon becomes evident that a publisher who can afford these things be solicited to produce your book. Best bet for this, of course, is a professional literary agent.

SPJ: One last question please. Was there anyone who gave you the most encouragement in your writing?

ELINSKY: Because of my G-d given talent to tell anecdotes (usually on demand), many have inspired me to put those stories in a book. If the number of people who motivated me to write a book would buy the book they inspired, I'd be a rich man!!!!!!

SPJ: Mr. Elinsky, please use this space for any thoughts you would like to leave with our readers.

ELINSKY: I wrote this book at the advanced age of 78 which, of course, means that age is insignificant when desire is there. I am hooked on to oxygen for emphysema with myriad physical problems with heart surgery, colon removal, prostate cancer and hearing loss. Authoring this book forces me to think of humor rather than moan over my physical limitations.

Grandma Moses painted successfully at an advanced age. Consider me a Grandpa Moses (Moshie) in Yiddish. SPJ: Mr. Elinsky, you are a gem and I thank you for allowing me to do this interview with you. I have enjoyed getting to know you and I truly enjoyed reading your work " Meisas". I look forward to your sequel. I wish you the best in the future in all you do. Shalom!

CONTACT INFORMATION: Email: MrE313@aol.com
Book Purchase Information: http://www.1stbooks.com

================================

Meisas
Chas. S. Elinsky
1stBooks
http://www.1stbooks.com
Ebook $3.95 Paperback $9.50 109 pages
ISBN# 1403315043
ISBN# 1403315051 $18.50
ISBN# 1-4033-1506-X

How often do you read a book that you can learn something and chuckle at the same time? Mr. Elinsky has achieved this in his work Meisas! A light hearted compilation of jokes, anecdotes and absolutely delightful tales, all threaded together for the readers pure enjoyment. Have you ever wondered about certain Jewish traditions? You'll find out what they are about in this enlightening read. I found myself saying, "Ah, so that is why they do that! Now I understand." Outstanding information, and written in such a fun way! The author also includes a few tid-bits that will make you wonder, such as, the information given of the theory that the Native North American's ancestry is traced to a supposed Israelite migration of the Lost Tribe. Quite intriguing! Could it be so? Certainly gave me something to ponder, I like that!

I also enjoyed learning some of the Yiddish language, and I liked the listing in the back of the book.I told my grandchildren that I was their Bubbie. They didn't really say much, but then again, I think they may call me many names behind my back; they'll just add this one to their list! "Oy Veh!" Now, if I hear a word, say in a movie, I can look it up and know what they are talking about! Great idea! All in all, this was both an educational and a fun read. I believe anyone who would like a good chuckle and a learning experience in Judaism should grab up this treasure and enjoy! Thank you Mr. Elinsky! Mazel Tov!

RB-The Game
C.C. Colee
http://www.publishamerica.com
PO Box 151, Frederick, Maryland 21705
ISBN# 1592861350 $24.95 397 pages

Finally, I sat down with the final book in this delightful trilogy; I was excited! I have become totally involved with the characters and was delighted to see how Aubrey blossomed into a full fledged woman and a true pirate! I loved the way the authors developed this character, from a meek young girl, into a powerful woman! The authors do not let you down in this final work, as they take you from adventure to adventure. Battles with other pirates, mutiny and near death for our beloved main characters fill the pages. Captain Black main quest throughout this work is to find his true love Mala, who has been kidnapped by the notorious British Captain Alexander. More evil than any pirate could be, you only wish for this man to have many life's so he can have them ended time and time again. Although I did smile at his final demise! I loved the way the authors take you to the Island home of Mala and bring a personal touch into the story, allowing you to meet her father and brothers and hear delightful tales of her younger days. I giggled at the antics of Aubrey as the Chief longed to make her one of his many wifes. I don't think he would have enjoyed the spice and vinegar he would have found she was made of. You will cringe when Aubrey's uncle Jonathan Hacker comes on the scene and does all in his power to take control of Aubrey and bring to an end the life she has learned to love. Excellent twist of events ladies! And yes, again, I did smile at his final outcome! I have to admit the only thing I wanted to see happen, which did not, was for Aubrey to realize she loved Morgan. Alright, it's true, Jean Luc truly does love her, but Morgan would have been my choice, had I been Aubrey! What can I say? I thought Morgan was number one from the beginning! Again readers, there is so much in this wonderful adventure, that I could never bring all of it to light in one short review. However, let me say this, you will not be disappointed in the final episode of this trilogy. It is packed full of love, hate, adventure, mystery and yes, finally deep happiness for the characters we have grown to love. Great job ladies! Where are we going now? This will be hard to beat! Shirley Johnson/Reviewer

More Than Magick
Mary Taffs
ISBN# 1587493764
Download $4.75 Diskette $8.99 18 Chapters
AweStruck Ebooks
http://www.awe-struck.net

Mary Taffs does it again in her novel "More Than Magick". Continuing the story of Diana and Win she immediately thrust you into their world of magic and adventure. What a writer! Win finally has his dream job as Guardian and Diana is being forced to accept her destiny or perhaps lose more then she ever imagined. This second book of Mary's Magick Trilogy is packed full of twists and turns that will keep you in high gear throughout the read. The ending made my heart race and I loved every minute of it. Mary how will you ever top this one? Excellent! A read you don't want to miss.

Shirley Johnson/Reviewer

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INTERVIEW WITH MARY TAFFS - AUTHOR OF NUMEROUS WORKS

SHIRLEY: I enjoyed reading Mary's two books in her Trilogy "Magick", and I look forward to the final work, in that series. I like Mary and wanted to interview her and allow her to tell you her views and ideas on writing and publisher. I believe you will enjoy this interview and I thank you Mary for allowing me to do this with you. Let's begin!

Mary, please tell us how long you have been writing.

MARY: I've always wanted to be a writer, and have been seriously pursuing the craft since 1994.

SPJ: Mary, how many hours a day do you devote to your writing?

MARY: It varies considerably, depending on what stage I am in my current book. I spend at least a couple of hours writing nearly every day.

SPJ: I really enjoyed reading "Magick" and "More Than Magick." How long did it take you to complete the first two books of Magick? and what inspired you to write in this genre? How did you come up with the storyline?

MARY: Each of those books took me a year to write. Some of that time was spent doing research, but most of it was actual writing.

I've always loved stories involving magickal abilities, and I much prefer them to take place in the world we live in today. When I read The Wizard of Seattle by Kay Hooper, I thought, "Oh, I'd LOVE to write something like this someday!" But it was still a "someday" in my mind, and no story ideas came to me as a result of that book.

Then, a couple of years ago, I decided I wanted to try something different than straight contemporary romance. I started playing with story germs (little snippets that had come to me and never fit into a book before), trying to turn them into a real story.

One germ had to do with the hero forcing (not persuading) the heroine to go on a trip with him, and I was wondering how to do that without the hero instantly becoming a bad guy. I realized maybe he was protecting her without her knowledge, but then why didn't he just TELL her what was going on? Well, maybe she wouldn't BELIEVE him...

From that germ, I could have ended up with a romantic suspense story (and someday soon, I intend to venture into that genre, too). But my desire to write something along the line of paranormal and/or fantasy popped into my mind, and I was off and running!

SPJ: What you are doing is certainly working for you Mary! Let me ask you this, are your characters based on people that you know, or have known? (I'd sure like to think there was a man like Win around! :0)

MARY: My characters aren't ever based on real people. (Too bad, I'd love to run into MOST of my heroes in real life!) I know each of them very well, and I understand them better than I do most real people.

At the beginning of Magick, Win is brash, young, and sure of himself. He's excelled at his training and is sure that he'll do just as well, now that he's on his first assignment. But "real life" is never quite as easy as we think it will be. Many readers will remember their own younger days and identify with him.

Diana is his opposite, to some extent. Her life has taught her that she's not good enough, yet she's had it with allowing people to trample all over her. I imagine that most women can find a bit of Diana hidden somewhere, deep inside themselves.

SPJ: I'm still going to believe there is a man like Win out there somewhere! Let me ask you this, what do you want your readers to walk away with after reading your books?

MARY: I hope to brighten my readers' lives. So many people view the world today negatively and find it very depressing. Yes, many awful things happen every day - but many wonderful things happen each day, too. By enjoying and savoring the wonderful things and not letting the bad things get us down, our lives can be happier and more fulfilling.

SPJ: Mary, I certainly enjoyed reading your works and they left me feeling good inside. Do you think writing these books changed you in anyway and if so how?

MARY: They've helped me to become a better writer, for one thing. I've also done more thinking about philosophy and religion over the past couple of years than I have in a long time!

SPJ: Are you working on the last book yet? If so, can you give us any hints of what is in it?

MARY: Yes, I'm currently writing the first draft of Healing Magick, the third book in the Magick series. It will be out in May 2004. Win's sister, Sulis, is the heroine of this book. Win and Diana are in it, but they're secondary characters. Sulis is a Healer, and she had a very traumatic experience during More Than Magick, the second Magick book. She needs to Heal emotionally - so of course, I'm throwing her straight into an adventure with a Mage she doesn't much like! To give you a hint about the story, chapter one of my draft ends with Diana receiving this message from a Bedrock - Help. Send Healer.

SPJ: It sounds like another winner Mary, I look forward to reading it. Do you have any other works going at this time and if so what genre are they in?

MARY: I just finished a contemporary romance novella for Christmas 2003, and I'm playing with plot ideas for a romance with some suspense for late 2004 or early 2005.

SPJ: Did you find it difficult to find a publisher and how long did it take you?

MARY: My contemporary romances don't fit any of the print publishers - they have elements that aren't allowed in series romances and are too short for single-titles. I tried submitting them to single-title publishers a couple of times, but got form letter rejections. I kept working to improve my writing, and then in late 1998, I decided to try submitting to e-publishers. I got a couple of rejections over the next six months, and then in late June 1999, Kathryn Struck of Awe-Struck said she wanted to publish Martha's Madness. I was ecstatic!

SPJ: We thank Kathryn as well for bringing to us a super author! What would you like to tell the publishers out there concerning first time authors trying to get their books published?

MARY: Be courteous, but PLEASE give the author some feedback on what you like or don't like! It's very difficult to improve in a vacuum!

SPJ: Very good advice! Publishers! What advice would you give to the authors for getting their books published?

MARY: Write a wonderful book! That's the real secret. CARE about your story. LIVE through the story with your characters. Don't neglect punctuation, spelling, and grammar - they're usually easy to fix and will result in a much more professional-appearing story. Don't be afraid to throw away thousands of words - or hundreds of pages - of your writing. The important thing is to create a compelling story and then tell it so that your readers will be on the edge of their seats waiting to see what happens.

SPJ: Let me ask you a question about promoting. Do you have to promote your own work and if so do you have any tips for our readers in this area?

MARY: Yes, I promote my books constantly. The most basic thing to do is to create a website, using your writing name as the domain name if possible. Include your book covers, snippets of reviews, excerpts from your books, and anything else that will attract readers. I run contests every month and every quarter at my website, for example. Because my contests are listed on various contest websites, they bring in people who've never before heard of me.

SPJ: Do you ever experience writer's block and if you do, how do you overcome it?

MARY: Not often. I've found that I get writer's block primarily if I'm trying to make the wrong thing happen in a story. For example, one of my friends was trying to write the first love scene between her characters in her current book. She set up a situation where they were alone overnight and would have to sleep in the same bed to stay warm. The characters were very attracted to each other. They would start to kiss or touch, and something would happen and they would back off. This happened two or three times! Finally, my friend realized they weren't quite ready. She let them give up - and the next night, WOW!

I have a rule now - if I'm not making progress in my story, I stop and think about what's happening. Is it the right thing for the CHARACTERS at this point in time? If not, can I change the situation to make it work? What else might work instead?

SPJ: Thank you Mary, you have some good ideas there! Let me ask you this, where do you see yourself in your writing 5 years from now and what are you doing to accomplish that goal?

MARY: I'd like to be writing both romantic suspense and paranormal/fantasy romance, and I'd like to publish two books a year. To get to that goal, I'm trying to increase my writing output by tracking my progress and not taking a chunk of time off in between books, as I sometimes have. As I mentioned earlier, I'm planning to make my next novel contemporary romance with suspense elements. After that, I think I'll switch back and forth between genres.

I would also love to be published in mass-market paperback within the next 5 years. To try to make that goal achievable, I'm continuing to work on my writing skills.

SPJ: On a more personal note, do you have the support of family and friends in your writing and how important do you feel this is.

MARY: Yes, absolutely, I have their support. My almost-90-yr-old mom has been my first reader since almost the beginning, and my writing career is nearly as important to her as it is to me. Various other family members are also very supportive, and I have a number of good writing friends. I also have one friend who doesn't write, but is a big fan and absolutely loves to brainstorm plots with me.

I think it's really important to have the support of those closest to you, since being a writer has many ups and downs. Also, speaking just for myself, being a writer is such a large part of who I am that if someone couldn't or wouldn't accept that part of me, I'd have to wonder about how good a friend they possibly could be.

SPJ: Those words were full of heart and wisdom. Thank you Mary for sharing that with us. Do you have an agent and if not do you plan on pursing one?

MARY: No, I don't have an agent currently. I toy with the idea from time to time, but I haven't done anything active about it for years. I have all I can do to deliver the books I have scheduled with Awe-Struck!

SPJ: It certainly seems you are doing quite well on your own! Do you read other author's books and if so what genre interests you?

MARY: I read about 90 books in 2002, and would read more if I had more time. My reading is all fiction, except for an occasional writing book or other research material. The majority of my reading is in the general romance genre, primarily paranormal, contemporary, and romantic suspense, with a few historicals by favorite authors thrown in.

I also read mysteries, typically long-running series like Robert B.Parker's Spenser, Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone, and Lilian Jackson Braun's The Cat Who. I've been reading a little straight fantasy, since my Magick series is fantasy romance, but I find I miss the romance and that I really prefer stories to take place in a "modern" society that uses technology.

SPJ: Mary, please use this space for any closing statement that you would like to leave with our readers. Perhaps on your life, your works, or publishing in general.

MARY: I've wanted to write books since before I was old enough to read them, so having the opportunity to do this full-time is a dream come true. It's an amazing thrill each time I find a reader who has enjoyed one of my books.

Thanks for the opportunity to be interviewed. It's been great!

SPJ: Thank you Mary for the opportunity of reading and reviewing your books. They are very good and I recommend them to our readers. (please see review in this column) Thank you also, for allowing me to do this interview with you and for all the wonderful advice you have shared with us. I believe you have a great future ahead of you, and will be looking forward to reviewing your next work. God's blessings!

MARY TAFFS'S WORKS:

All of my books are available from Awe-Struck E-Books. My first five books are contemporary romances: the Second Chances Trilogy (Celtic Knot, Martha's Madness, and Hot Fudge and Peppermint), Stitches from the Heart, and Welcome to Nash's. My most recent books are fantasy romances. Magick is out now and More Than Magick will be out in May 2003. I'll also be having a contemporary romance novella, A Ring for Christmas, in an anthology coming out from Awe-Struck in November 2003.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Mary Taffs
Website: http://www.marytaffs.com
Email: mary_taffs@yahoo.com
Books: Awe-struck Ebooks, Website: http://www.awe-struck.net

================================

INTERVIEW WITH NOLAN RADKE, EXECUTIVE EDITOR HOT JAVA PRODUCTIONS

Turn Off the TV Turn On A Book!

Before we begin, I want to thank Nolan for taking the time to speak with me. It was a lot of fun learning about a new company that has so much potential and so many possibilities for you, the author. I hope you enjoy reading this interview as much as I enjoyed doing it. Thank you Nolan!

Shirley: Nolan, please tell us a little of the beginnings of "Hot Java Productions."

Nolan: Hot Java was an Ad Agency that was founded about 4 years ago by Alan Freeman, who was a cinematographer and Dave Miller, who was a broadcaster. Alan was working on a movie here in Seattle and liked it so well that he ended up staying and started this business instead of going back to California. Alan Freeman and Dave Miller put this together. They were doing commercials, instruction videos and training videos and came up with the idea for Digital Binding, which is putting books on DVD. It took two years to come up with the technology that is needed for the length of a novel to be put on DVD; the process of Digital Binding is patent pending. In October, we started soliciting manuscripts and now we are getting ready to produce them.

Shirley: Thank you Nolan, that was very interesting. You are the Executive Editor, would you tell us how you became part of "Hot Java Productions" and what your job entails?

Nolan: The owner read Nancy's book, she was published by "LionHearted", he contacted her about the job and asked if I would like to work with him as well. That is how we became part of "Hot Java Productions." I also write, so we know what it is like for authors,we understand their concerns. As Executive Editor, I look at the manuscripts, I look over submissions and determine which ones I would like to see in full manuscript. I oversee the editors and place books with them when we have decided to publish that book. I help them get in touch with the authors. I also send manuscripts to readers, who give me feedback on the read, but I make the final decision on which books are going to be published.

Shirley: Let me ask you about submissions to "Hot Java", are you open to all genres?

Nolan: Yes we are, but what we produce is going to be along the readers market out there. We are not worrying about people fitting a formula, like other publishers. Writers need to write their own story as opposed to writing a story for us, that is what we are looking for.As far as what genre we publish in, well we publish them in a percentage of how they are read in the market. I believe romance is about 60% of the market, so about 60% of the books we publish will be romance books. However, we are open to other genres as well.

Shirley: Do you accept simultaneous submissions?

Nolan: Yes, we do! The name of the game is to get published.

Shirley: Nolan, what do you look for in a submission? You have already said you do not want them to follow a formula, but can you give us an idea of what would catch your eye? And would you tell us about how long an author would have to wait to know your decision on their manuscript.

Nolan: When we get a book we look at a few things. One is, does the person know how to write and second is the story itself. We are not interested in formula books, we will tell an author that sends in a formula book that it is too predictable. Write your own story, not one that fits a formula. Right now for submissions the author should know within a month if we are interested, for manuscripts, it is taking about 6 months.

Shirley: I am sure you have received tons of submissions, is there still a chance for new authors to send their work in to you for consideration?

Nolan: What happened, we had a big rush right at the start; so what we have now is more books then we can produce for the size that we are. We are planning however, by the end of next May to be able to produce 500 books a year, so in which case there will be plenty of opportunity for new authors, but I can see it taking us maybe 4 months to get the books out that we have already agreed to do. That is one of the reasons it is taking us about 6 months to respond to manuscripts that we plan to accept.

Shirley: You mentioned sending manuscripts to readers. Would you elaborate on that please?

Nolan: Yes, I have put together a questioner for the readers, which is kind of broad. They are to fill these out and if the book comes back with a definite 100% yes, I would tell all my friends about this book, I then look at it and determine by what I read in different chapters if I feel this reader is right. If so, it goes in the yes pile, at which time we have to look at the percentage of what type of books we are going to publish in that genre as I explained before. If the book comes back with a definite no, I do the same thing. I want to know why they didn't like it, so I look at several chapters. Perhaps the reader says it was good at first and good at the end but it was dead in the middle, I want to see if it was dead in the middle. If I agree with them, I send it back to the author and tell them why it was rejected. If the mark is somewhere in-between from the reader, I will send it out to a second or third reader to get another opinion on it. Sometimes a certain genre is not that readers taste, maybe they could not handle that style or type of book. We try not to let any slip through the cracks, but it happens sometimes.

Shirley: That sounds extremely fair Nolan. As an author I am pleased to hear that you give each manuscript so much attention.

Nolan: If we can't publish a work we try to let them know fairly quickly. The ones that we are actually considering publishing take longer because we have to look at how many other books are in that genre and whether or not it is as good as those and we need to make sure that publishing another one will not off-set our percentage of what readers actually read out there.

Shirley: Will the books ever be printed in trade paperback?

Nolan: We won't do that, but it may happen. We have been contacted by a major publisher that would like to swap books with us, by that I mean, take some from our list and publish them as a trade paperback and give us some from their list and put them on DVD.

Shirley: That would be added opportunity for the authors as well, that's great! Can you tell us a little about your contract with authors?

Nolan: I can tell you that we are still working on our contract. Every time we get it back there is something that we see that we can make better. We have a different contract because digital binding is brand new, so instead of paperback rights or hardback rights being primary rights, the digital binding is the primary right and the trade back and all the other things are secondary; but it is still a Literary contract.

Shirley: Thank you Nolan. I know that you take children's books, would you tell us a little something about that?

Nolan: We are still working on the Children's Department. Because of the cost involved in doing DVD's we can't do the really short books. We have a few prolific authors that have sent us quite a few children's stories that would make up an hours' worth of DVD time and that's about what we need cost wise. We will be doing works like the children's Bible and children's readers. I worked with literature all my life, but not on the children's department end of it. I have a reader who reads the children's books, and for now any that may be accepted are being put to the side until we finalize that department.

Shirley: I have seen the preview of the children's Bible and it is outstanding. I know adults and children will truly enjoy that work. The illustrations are wonderful, speaking of which, how do you decide how many illustrations to provide per book?

Nolan: The illustrations are totally unique to each book, no set rule or number of illustrations.

Shirley: If a author sends in a children's book should they also send in illustrations?

Nolan: We would like to see their illustrations. What it does is allow our illustrators to see what the author was thinking. Say you get a book about a dog named Quito, he is a fluffy white puppy. Well, what kind of a puppy is he? If the author sends us an illustration of Quito and his owner, we can get an idea of what kind of dog they are talking about and the age of the child. One of the things we are going to request as far as novel type authors is that they send a few pictures if there book is set in a certain location. This would be after contracts are signed. Here is an example of what I am referring to. If they have a storyline of someone leaving a port like Cabo and taking a boat to Seattle, we would like a couple of pictures of the port down there in Cobo. The reason we want things along those lines is to help our illustrators out. We are more open to visual aids than I think other places would be. Many times, especially with children's books, the publishers never talk to the authors and the illustrations come out totally different than the author's idea for the characters.

Shirley: I loved the illustrations that I have previewed for the children's Bible. Colorful and very pleasing to the eye. I know children will love them.

Nolan: The one thing I have had trouble explaining to people when they are viewing the previews on the internet is that they do not have the entire soundtrack with them, they only have the voice over. Take the children's Bible; you cannot hear the crickets or the lion roar. the internet takes up a lot of time that we don't have to give it. There is a lot more that we could put on there, but to be time wise we have to judge how much benefit we would get out of that time, so there are things that we must leave off.

Shirley: I would love to hear the animals and soundtrack, I'm sure it is wonderful! Tell me, once a book is accepted how much promotion would you require from the author and how much does Hot Java do?

Nolan: We don't require anything from the author. We will offer them certain promotion opportunities that they can do. One of the things we are looking at is having them sign the first group of DVD's that come out. Another thing we are looking at is TV spots and a few spots on QVC.

Shirley: That sounds great!

Nolan: Most advertising that we are going to do will be Company name recognition to start with.

Shirley: Your website states that your DVD's will be in stores from coast to coast, would you elaborate on what stores you are talking about?

Nolan: I can a little bit. We are doing some test marketing in certain stores, I do not want to mention names as deals are not final yet, where these stores have electronic sections. You have seen where you go in and they are playing the newest kids video on the TV since they are trying to sell that video. So, we are doing something like that; also the Internet Coffee Houses, where they have the internet system set up and are putting DVD players in as well. This way people can drink their coffee and view demos of products, even purchase them right there. With the background of an AD Agency, we have a big head start in the marketing and what we are doing is connecting a lot of things that are already being done out there. Remember, our slogan is "Turn off the TV and turn on a book."

Shirley: Thank you Nolan. Would you tell us when we will see you list of new titles coming out and about how many will you be producing at first?

Nolan: We are planning for October with hope of having 20 released, but at least 13 and by December 20 new titles. Of the first 20 books released only 4 of those books are previously published authors, all the rest are new authors.

Shirley: One final question please. Where do you hope Hot Java will be in, say, 3 years from now?

Nolan: For the future, we are shooting at having 500 books a year published and worldwide marketing. We will have books in several languages. People will be able to read in whatever language they want, and you know not just for enjoyment of reading and the pleasure of having the book, but we think it will also help people who are learning a second language.They will be able to read a book they know well, like Treasure Island in English and then buy the French version, watch it and bone up on their French.

Shirley: That gives all the new authors out there a lot of hope. Thank you! Nolan would you please give us a final statement?

Nolan: Yes, this company will open up a new market to authors, this is an author thing. There are, I guess we would call them non-readers that buy about one book a year; and there are people that have very poor reading skills. The National Literacy Survey has stated that 90 million adult people 60 or over lack the basic skills needed to fill out a job application in the US. They can read enough to get by, but they don't read well enough to be functionally literate, so this will open books up to these people. And then World Wide Unicef has stated there are one out of every six males and two out of every three females that are illerate. That means they can't even sign their name, so when we hit the world market, that is in the multi-languages, that will greatly increase the market for the authors as well. The illustrations increase reading comprehension, so you have the written word, the spoken word and the illustrations which will help the people to understand the words they are seeing. I believe we have a bigger market than most publishing houses would have.

Shirley: Thank you Nolan for a great interview and for being so open with us about "Hot Java Productions." I look forward to seeing what is ahead for your company and wish you and all your authors the best of luck. We'll be keeping an eye out for your titles and I'm sure they will be a pleasure to read. Thank you again.

Shirley Johnson, Reviewer
http://www.hotjavaproductions.com

Laurel's Bookshelf

Ghostholders Know
Ford Swetnam
Blue Scarab Press
243 So. 8th Ave., Pocatello ID 83201
ISBN 0937179132, 104 pages at 12.50 paperback

It's a frustrating job, reviewing a poet posthumously. I can't contact the poet and say, "What did you mean by this?" or, "I really like what you did with this one." Ford Swetnam is gone, but his poetry lives on in Ghosholders Know. The title poem is his haunting tribute to another poet who died too soon, Bruce Embree, who took his own life:

Ghostholders know
What Jimmy Reed means:
"About to do a bad thing;"
All the maybes gone.
A bad thing feels
Like the moment before
The start of a long fall.

Some bad things are rifles
Aimed to shoot the body
Off a ghost.

Ford Swetnam writes of his travels, nature, love, social interaction, and the ever-present railroad tracks and noises near his home. One of my favorite poems about the railroad was "Eighty four forty four:"

We know it's a widowmaker.
I grew up on the Norfolk and Western,
The last railway to run on steam,
And love it I did though I knew
It daily killed miners
Long since scoliotic
From digging enough coal
To kill firemen.

Some of his poems rhyme - such as "Lemon Creek Prison - Juneau". Most are free form. All tell a story in distinct and revealing style. Sometimes two brief lines reveal a man and his quiet thoughts, such as in "Residents, Visitors, Occasionals:"

Too fragile today, unwitting,
Talked better than I listened.

There is stark poignancy, such as in "Sick Friend" and "Pahandlers' and delightful social commentary as in "301", about a group of men playing darts:

You've got to remember that
This is a dart game here,
Taking place in a bar

In Pocatello, Idaho, Pinto City
In the Appaloosa State,
Which the railroad put up in five years,

And which the wind is still
Taking down, sometimes
With the railroad's help.

Ford Swetnam's work had its own following when he lived. I'm hoping that following will increase - despite his death - because somehow I think that he will know.

A Calendar of Crows
Michael Sowder
New Michigan Press
51 Cedar Crest, Tuscaloosa AL 35401
ISBN 0-9725095-0-X, 27 pages chapbook at $5 plus $1 s and h, www.newmichiganpress.com

Michael Sowder's credentials support his abilities, or vice versa. He teaches creative writing and American Literature at Idaho State University, acts as faculty advisor for ISU's Black Rock & Sage, and is a multi published poet and essayist. A Calendar of Crows won the New Michigan Press contest

His first poem, July's "Watching Crows" has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. I quote here an excerpt from that poem:

At dawn, they're in the trees
outside my tent, anxious for my camp to clear.
I hike out, and they come down yelling,
landing with wings unfurled behind them,
walking around stiff-kneed and haughty,
lords of the forgotten and discarded.

Each poem is rooted in reality, shot through with whimsy or regret borne on the glossy wings of crows. Consider September's "Monica", in which the author contemplates a youthful affair and the part crows played in the parting:

The coffee is good under cedars in the sun.
The crows are squawking, preening in the whitening
air, unmindful of history, memory, regret.
Their quills hold a message we will never
understand. Autumn is the time of gathering together
in roosts of thousands. feasting
in fields of withered corn.

Like the Cherokee before him, Mr. Sowder honors the crow spirit in life as well as death. I found particularly touching January's "Epiphany", where he buries a dead crow found in the road:

Behind the house I knelt on sunny grass
and unwrapped the bundle of glinting feathers.
Blackness spilled over my hands,
drinking every color. Soft down
covered its head and breast, and talons
hard and strangely large hang from its body.
Eyes brown like acorns.

I held it and spoke to it,
imagining aloud its life, the roost
it must have flown early from, its flight
as if loosed from a bow.
I praised the life of a fallen crow
and with shameless hands
pulled feathers from its left, unbroken wing.

I'm not certain if it is my love of nature, the author's artistry in creating word pictures, or both that enhanced this book's appeal. Whatever the cause, I thought A Calendar of Crows was extraordinary.

Black Rock & Sage
Campus Box 8056, Idaho State University, Pocatello ID 83209
no ISBN, 100 pages at $5 paperback plus s & h

At this time, Black Rock & Sage is not available nationally, except through the university. That's why it does not have an ISBN. I'm happy to report that in the near future, this publication will go national. Remember the name. If the content of this 2003 edition is any indication, readers will not be disappointed.

Reviewing a compilation of such quality is no simple task. This edition begins with an interview with Rick Ardinger of Limberlost Press. Almost everyone who values poetry knows of Limberlost Press. His interview alone was worth the price. Mr. Ardinger's insights into the days of Ginsberg and Kerouac were priceless.

Following that interview, you will find black and white photographs and artwork of stunning composition. Poems in every style from free form to sonnets provoke a laugh, a tear, a pause to think beyond the obvious. Poetry contributors range from nationally recognized, long-published poets to young and talented beginners.

I was pleased to find two short stories in this edition. Novelist Michael Corrigan contributes a story with his trademark ending that leaves readers wishing there was more. And Rachel Lloyd's poignant prose is outstanding. All contributors lend excellence, but are too many to name each one individually.

Again, I encourage you to remember the name Black Rock & Sage. It's a high quality presentation with wonder between its covers.

Autumn Sonnets
Tom Eagan
Aran Press
1036 S. 5th Street, Louisville KY 40203
ISBN 0-9661588-6-5, 120 pages at 14.95 paperback

It's been many a year since I've read sonnets. I remember Shakespeare of course, and Ms. Browning. Both were favorites. A disclaimer at the front of Autumn Sonnets warns that not everyone has a taste for sonnets. It further states that reading too many sonnets at one time may produce palpitations, swooning, nausea and vomiting. I must confess to swooning once or twice because these are LOVE sonnets. The author calls himself the hackmeister of the Midwest. I beg to differ.

Mr. Eagan writes of unrequited love in the modern sense, for an imaginary woman. When this woman loved for decades slams the door on their relationship, no asps or poisons take him out of pain's way. He simply copes, struggles through each day. Sonnet 39 expresses well his struggle.

I'm lucky today if I remember how to tie my shoe.
What was it like before you? -- You who threw
a hand-grenade into my psyche's circuitry!

I found Sonnet 46 to be particularly poignant, as he dreams of spending precious time with his beloved.

I'd love to sit out some summer night with you
and look up at the stars and marvel at
the universe, as other couples do.

Mr. Eagan's sonnets take us through shock, denial, anger, despair and finally an uneasy acceptance. That acceptance comes complete with a shredded heart encased in stone. Sonnet 83 says it well.

For nothing will I ever again reach.
I will be a silent stone,
under sun and stars on an empty beach.

The author gives us 108 sonnets to consider. I savored every one. If you love poetry in any form, give Autumn Sonnets a try.

What Poetry is All About
Greg Kuzma
Blue Scarab Press
243 So. 8th Ave., Pocatello ID 83201
ISBN 0937179124, 245 pages at 15.00 plus s & h

Greg Kuzma is professor of writing in the English Department at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. Along with those credentials, he has had more than twenty books of poetry published, writes screenplays, reviews and critiques the work of others. I hesitated at first to say he seemed like a Renaissance man to me, until I learned he also created the words and music to an operetta. I can use that designation now without hesitation. What Poetry is All About is a compilation of essays that reflect his gift for words. I expected this to be a college textbook - dry and tedious - but found it helpful, humorous, sensible, nonsensical in places, and an all around enjoyable experience.

Regarding American poetry, the author states it "speaks where it might have sung." He also laments that poets are not heard, except by each other. Regrettably, that may be true. He asks the reader, "Who if not you will read, or hear, and love and know these lonely inadvertent cries?"

Kuzma defines poetry as, "A disease. A fever which while it wastes and dissipates fulfills. The opiate of the bored and intellectual. A sullen art. A lonely business. Suicide with a hairbrush." I'm sure most poets would relate, especially the hairbrush part.

The author shares why editors reject or accept manuscripts, how to win readers, and what the poet's job entails. He also spells out clearly what he looks for when he reads, reviews, or critiques poetry: a dancing grace; a leisurely pace; insightful purpose; words spelled right; to be surprised a little at a time.

In the essay on publishers, even his tongue in cheek wit could not disguise the truth. Ditto his essay on careers in poetry. His hard won truths can be boiled down to few words: You won't win prestigious awards and monied prizes so don't count on it.

A man who knows, understands, and loves the written word authored this book. Even the humor was well-crafted. Poet Song was my favorite essay. Greg Kuzma is a wordsmith.

All Mine
Bruce Embree
Blue Scarab Press
P.O. Box 4966, Pocatello ID 83205-4966
ISBN 0-937179-14-0, 176 pages at 19.05 plus s & h

All Mine represents the lion's share of Bruce Embree's life and views of his world. Before reading word one, I knew that the author died by his own hand in 1996. I was curious about the man and his work. While reading his words, I wished more than once that I'd had the privilege of knowing him in life.

Poetry is a very personal thing. Bruce Embree imitated no one I had ever read before. Hints of what I was in for hit me in the heart on page 15, a poem titled "Must Have Been Here Before Lines".

Must have been here before lines
that form and die too quick for the hand
Happens sometimes because of selfishness
but it's only because things are like 1967
and I don't care any more who was hip in '65
Because all the gentleness and fun
have somehow gone out of it nowadays.

As I continued reading, his poems lulled me into a false sense of security. There were his often hilarious and more often hard and humdrum days at work. He described in profane detail the weariness of getting wild drunk and chasing after women in his younger days. And then in the midst of much explosive wit and prankstering, there would be this:

looking
Christ still looking for the place I'm supposed to
have in this world.

Embree portrayed himself as common clay, but he was anything but common. I had the sense that the words he had inside his head eventually burnt him up alive. He raged against the neverending injustices that allow the rich and powerful to overrun honest laborers. He searched for warmth and acceptance in hopes such miracles could be found. He expressed himself in the vernacular, with humor and often bitter irony. And he spoke of his own failures and mortality with characteristic grace:

Trees didn't sniffle and blow their noses
when the dinosuars bit the big one either.

My review of this poet and his written reality is inadequate and far from learned, but his poems told me all I need to know about the man. He worked at hard physical labor under hot sun and in freezing cold. He loved his wife as best he could, and adored his daughter. He had a penchant for the underdog and downtrodden. And he drank too much to ease life's pains. His poems made me laugh out loud and, through it all, they broke my heart. Bruce Embree should have been a contender for the prize that stayed just out of his reach in life. You'll have to read All Mine to understand.

This book contains strong language and subject matter and should not be read by children.

Mickey's Loft
Michael Corrigan
Aran Press
1036 S. 5th Str., Louisville KY 40203
a one act play at $2.00

This play is copyrighted. A royalty must be paid in advance of any performance, amateur or professional.

The place is L.A., the setting a trashed loft where Mickey works to write the great American novel. Loft furnishings are meager and have seen better days. Mickey is in his twenties, struggling to relate to the trivialization of modern fiction Through dialog that provokes the imagination, we know that a long line of women have come and gone from Mickey's life. He's still recuperating from his last romantic break up when the play begins and a woman named Carol uses her key to enter the loft.

Carol is a pretty, small town girl whose life has not been easy in L.A. She and Mickey share a "history". He still cares about her and senses she's in some kind of trouble. Carol has been involved in a dysfunctional lesbian relationship, complete with overuse of drugs and alcohol. During an argument, her lover falls from a balcony and dies. The trouble she hopes Mickey can help her with is a vindictive gang of ladies out to get revenge.

Dialog is spare but provocative. Well timed pauses and expressive nuances tell as much or more than spoken words. Mickey's Loft is a succinct slice of life commentary that worked quite well in print. I feel certain that its power would be enhanced by actors on a stage.

Jake
Michael Corrigan
Aran Press
1036 S 5th Str., Louisville KY 40203
a three act play at $3.50

This play is copyrighted. A royalty must be paid in advance of any performance, amateur or professional.

The place is Hollywood. Jake Gilmore is a 50-year old writer and former actor. With better days behind him, Jake tries desperately to hold on to a more glorious past as he struggles for a comeback. He hopes the catalyst for that comeback will be Marshall Goldman. Marshall is a young idealistic writer with a fresh perspective, eager to make it big in Hollywood. His ethical outlook on life is a rare commodity in Jake's world.

Jake lives with Sandra, a 20-year old groupie. Their relationship is anything but solid. Jake is an inveterate womanizer, not above seeking solace in other women, and Sandra would forsake him in a heartbeat if she could find a more successful man.

Thrown into this mix is Peter Picklesimer. Peter is a producer who does business on the shady side and is on the make in more ways than one. That the innocent Marshall would do business with this shark comes as a shock to Jake.

Michael Corrigan's gift is creating realistic characters and turning them loose in their own milieu. Such interactions are presented with humor and stark honesty, profanity and pathos. All this is present in Jake, as dysfunctional lives unravel and, in the end, repair themselves. This play made for enticing reading. With the proper direction and intuitive actors, it could sizzle on the boards.

================================

In recent weeks, I read and reviewed three books published by Blue Scarab Press, located in Pocatello, Idaho. I liked the content of these books, the look and feel as I held them in my hands, and was curious about the man behind them. Harald Wyndham is that man.

LJ for MBR: To begin with, tell us when Blue Scarab Press was founded and what is your philosophy as a publisher?

HARALD: Blue Scarab Press was "founded" in 1984 with the publication of the first of two poetry books about Ohio (where I grew up), a book titled Homeland. The second book, published the next year, was Ohio Gothic. Prior to 1984 I had published eight books of poetry and songs without a press imprint. As it appeared I was going to continue publishing books of my work and also of other people's, it seemed to make sense to form a small business and give it a name. The Blue Scarab name originated in an artifact -- a paperweight in the form of a scarab beetle which I had filched from Great Aunt Jesse's travel trunk as a young man and had on my desk for years. I knew that scarabs were symbols of rebirth for Egyptians as they seemed to appear out of nowhere (in manure piles, as it turned out, which is also symbolic). The name seemed apt for a small press venture which suddenly appears out of nowhere, lives for awhile, disappears, comes into being again, always on a shoestring, always rolling its little ball of highly important b.s. toward some 'overwhelming question.' So I created a stylized scarab logo and launched into the publishing world.

My philosophy as a publisher is to publish work that interests me personally, which NEEDS to be published and which seems to have a hard time finding a publisher. Of course, I use Blue Scarab as a vehicle to publish my own writing, since most of the writing I do seems to be patently non-commercial. With the exception of two small chapbooks done by other presses, I have self-published eighteen books since 1970, the last eight being done under the Blue Scarab imprint. In addition, I have published seven books by other writers. Most of these books are poetry. Most of the writers live in Southeast Idaho. All are writers whose work I knew and admired for some time before suggesting we do a book. And all of them somehow "needed" to be done. I believe that small presses occupy a crucial place in writing communities in America, by encouraging writing that otherwise may not find an outlet. Small press is an expression of the First Amendment and as such exemplifies our rights as Americans to make our thoughts public. And since we are "small" and can only do a few projects, there need to be many small presses to service the many wonderful talents that flourish in each community.

LJ for MBR: You made the comment that you are a rather old fashioned publisher and not very modern. What did you mean by that?

HARALD: Well -- I don't yet have a webpage. My bookkeeping is done by hand in a ledger, not on a computer. I don't have the energy or budget to engage the world of distributors and bookstores, advertising, marketing, etc. I accept the limitations of the writing community I am part of -- the southeast Idaho writers centered around Pocatello -- as a viable and sufficient community for support of the writers I publish. My press runs are generally small. I work with a local printer rather than get into true desktop publishing. My enjoyment of publishing was formed in the 70's when I got ink under my fingers learning the printing trade. Even though it has advanced, my enjoyment is rooted in older ways of doing the business. I don't even have a business card. Once in awhile I will publish a brochure or catalog, but I haven't done this in over 10 years. I use flyers to advertise new books, for the most part, and word of mouth, and local readings. And I accept the financial liability this way of doing business brings with it. I pay my bills and carry the debt (and the unsold inventories). Small press publishing is my sailboat, my snow machine, my mid-life crisis sportscar. As long as I have pleasure in the experience, I consider it to be a success.

LJ for MBR: How many books do you publish a year or a season?

HARALD: If I am lucky, one book. Sometimes none. Over the past nineteen years, Blue Scarab Press has published eighteen books. This year we will do two books, the Bruce Embree book and a ten-year gathering of my own poetry, titled The Little House of Poetry, due out in November. We also just launched a chapbook series called Pocatello Blend, which features two Pocatello writers, 5 pages each. The plan is to put out two or three chapbooks each year, in editions limited to 100 copies -- then, after we have ten or more of these, publish selections in a book-sized edition with the same title. We are inviting writers to be involved in the process of publishing these chapbooks, thus getting ink under their fingers as well and perhaps launching the next generation of small press publishers.

LJ for MBR: Tell our readers how you decide whether to publish a particular manuscript or not. By that I mean, share your personal guidelines as a publisher.

HARALD: Blue Scarab Press does not consider or accept unsolicited manuscripts. I don't read manuscripts, I 'read' writers -- by listening to them read their work over the years and eventually being compelled by something in their work that makes me invite them to do a book together. It is very personal and it happens over a long period of time. I am not in the business of publishing books. I am in the business of bringing "dreams" to life. Often the books I want to do are books many other presses have refused -- but which are somehow compelling to me personally. Since I generally have one or two projects planned for the future at all times, it is unfair to even think of reading manuscripts, since I could not consider committing to a publication for several years -- even if I felt the work to be worthy and compelling. I don't want to string writers out for four or five years -- and I don't want to obligate myself that far into the future. Next year I hope to publish a mystery novel by Frederick Zackel -- a writer I have admired for over thirty years. After that? Well, at my age, I probably shouldn't plan more than one year at a time.

LJ for MBR: The poets whose books I reviewed - Bruce Embree, Ford Swetnam, Greg Kuzma - have either national or regional prominence. Tell our readers what work by other authors might be available through Blue Scarab Press.

HARALD: Blue Scarab Press has published books by writers such as Edson Fichter, Steven Puglisi, Leslie Leek, Janne Goldbeck, Greg Kuzma, Ford Swetnam and Bruce Embree. Additionally, we have published two collections, including Famous Potatoes, Southeast Idaho Poetry, in 1986, which launched many of the writers whose works subsequently became Blue Scarab books. Many of these books remain in print. Two have gone into second printings.

LJ for MBR: As a writer of poetry yourself, do you participate as either a publisher or poet in poetry readings or writers' festivals?

HARALD: My 'vocation' is to be a writer and a publisher. That is what I do to stay alive. What I do to make a living, however, takes most of the time in the workweek and prevents me from participating in much of the 'poetry scene.' I have taken active part in poetry readings and festivals in Idaho and Pocatello as much as I can over the past thirty years, instigating some readings and supporting as many as I can. Blue Scarab Press sponsors a poetry prize for high school writers in the Idaho State University Poetry magazine, Black Rock and Sage. And I depend on a few book fairs and arts fairs as a venue for selling Blue Scarab books. Otherwise, there is definite limit to the time I can devote to the 'po biz.' Of course, as a writer, I always have some irons in the fire and some projects of my own cooking away.

LJ for MBR: What do you enjoy most about being a publisher?

HARALD: Getting work off my desk. And being able to bring interesting and unique work by other writers into the light. The most recent project, Bruce Embree's new and selected poems, titled All Mine, is a good example. After Bruce's untimely death, I felt a strong compulsion to do this book, so that the self-published folio editions he so faithfully created over twenty-six years with tireless and hopeless energy would not just disappear into a back alley of anecdotal history. Like so many other people, I felt something very real in Bruce's poems, and in his life, and over the years felt strongly that a 'definitive' Bruce Embree book must appear. When we brought All Mine at the Rocky Mountain Poetry Festival this April, and were able to have Bruce read his own poems on videotape (from the Famous Potatoes reading in 1986) so that a whole new generation of young poets could see him and hear his voice -- that was very exciting and fulfilling.

LJ for MBR: If book stores, libraries, or private buyers wish to order your books, what is the best way to do that?

HARALD: All the Blue Scarab Press books that are in print have an ISBN number and are listed in Books in Print webpage (I am at least that up to date). All the recent publications have bar-coded pricing as well. Books are best ordered through the mail at P.O. Box 4966, Pocatello, Idaho 83205. Many come from bookstores or library services, but many also come from individuals or libraries themselves. Blue Scarab Press offers a $1.00 discount off the retail price to libraries. And, of course, we offer standard discounts to bookstores and booksellers depending on volume. Our payment terms are 30 days net invoice. Please pay by check as we do not accept credit cards (here I am definitely not up to date).

LJ for MBR: Is there any other information you would like to share with our readers?

HARALD: Blue Scarab Press offers readers a selection of interesting, eclectic books by writers most have not heard of. We offer high literary value as well as books that are well manufactured and worth the paper they are printed on. I am sorry that we aren't that easy to get information on, but efforts made to acquire books by Blue Scarab writers will generate their own reward -- good reading! Thank you for this opportunity to present Blue Scarab Press to your readers.

Michael Corrigan is author, playwright, and university professor. I thought perhaps his perspectives on the writing life might be helpful and enlightening.

LJ for MBR: Good morning, Michael. Thanks for agreeing to this interview. To begin with, tell us a bit about your work at Idaho State University.

Michael: I teach English 101 and Speech 101.

LJ for MBR: Your creative style is distinct. Has your knowledge of English and composition helped or hindered your creativity as a writer?

Michael: English composition deals more with essay writing. I think creative writing classes help to a point. Writing groups and meeting other writers can stop you from inventing the wheel. I got my MA in English with a concentration in creative writing from San Francisco State, and I worked with a number of writers, including Wallace Markfield, a Jewish writer who was very influential. In fact, he once told me to write from an Irish American perspective and not a "like a Jew", since Jewish phrases were creeping into my prose. "Wally" appears in the memoir. He often laughed at sad passages and groaned at funny ones, but somehow I developed. I also studied my favorite writers and learned from them all. Eventually, one finds a voice or style. I think you learn to write by writing. That means a lot of bad novels before you find your voice and write a good one.

LJ for MBR: Your first published novel, Confessions of a Shanty Irishman, is a memoir. Subsequent as-yet-unpublished novels represent various genres, and your stage plays run the gamut from real life to fiction. Do you have a preferred medium or genre?

Michael: I guess I always wanted to be a playwright, though I started out in prose. There is nothing like the immediate feedback from a live theatre audience. Producing a play takes a lot of people whereas a novelist can write his or her book at home. I don't know if Confessions of a Shanty Irishman is a novel, but it does have some fictional elements for dramatic effect. Many of the events may have happened in a slightly different way. I love working in the theatre as a director and an occasional actor, but I suppose my main focus now is fiction. I did study screenwriting at the American Film Institute and that turned out to be a more difficult genre than I thought. A good screenplay is very tight. Do I have a preferred genre? Probably not, but I seem to be writing more prose. Hey, I'd also love to direct a film. Got any backers?

LJ for MBR: You have written three published stage plays thus far: Letters from Rebecca; Mickey's Loft; and Jake. If you could have your choice, which would you prefer - writing, directing, or acting - and why?

Michael: I will always be a writer. I wasn't bad as an actor in certain roles. My scrawny Andrew Aguecheek in tights was effective, but I was always aware of actors who were better, and I like that relationship between actor and director when the "shadow" play is discovered, the play beneath the play. Chekhov is the master of subtext, and directing Three Sisters was a wonderful experience. I'm a better director than an actor and since writing I can do alone, I write more than I'll ever direct. I have an unpublished unproduced play called In Sunshine or in Shadow that I'd like to see done. It covers some of the same material in the memoir. But to answer your question, I guess it would be writing. One lives in the story as one builds it, even if it's a bad story.

LJ for MBR: Your writing often mentions Hemingway and the actor James Dean. What do they represent to you?

Michael: Hemingway was very big for my father's generation as Bob Dylan is to mine, someone who was a major artist AND popular. I have always admired Hemingway and reading his Sun Also Rises at a very young age left a major impression. How could someone write so simply and move the reader so deeply? We went to Pamplona to watch the running of the bulls. Of course, I live in Hemingway territory. He's buried in the Ketchum cemetery, and the Sun Valley Lodge has the parlor suite #206 where he wrote much of For Whom the Bell Tolls. I also love Faulkner's work. As for Dean, he was part of that cultural explosion in the fifties with Brando and Elvis, who turned popular music into a wild celebration. The fifties seemed calm but there was a violent subtext and the actors and singers like Dean and Presley expressed all that tension. You had Ginsberg writing "Howl" and Kerouac writing On The Road. I still think Dean's work holds up even if the movies seem dated. Perhaps he played himself but he was so natural at playing the outsider that he has a timeless quality. Why else is the little Hoosier still around and on a stamp? I also had a best friend named James Dean and that seemed oddly coincidental, plus I've met people who knew Dean. I tried to adapt John Gilmore's book about James Dean to a stage play but the collaboration just didn't work. I think pop icons are more powerful than we imagine.

LJ for MBR: You plan a trip to Ireland in the future. Will another Michael Corrigan short story, novel, or play emerge from that trip?

Michael: I suspect one will. I hope to find the church where my grandmother was baptized, and I will track down two elderly female cousins. I'm sure the spirits of Ireland will inspire a book.

LJ for MBR: Are you working on or planning a new project now? If so, will you tell us about it?

Michael: I have been putting together a book of short stories, some of them outtakes from novels. It is interesting how a chapter will fit one book but not another, or it becomes a short story. I also have two books to revise for an agent. Revision is the key to good writing, I think, with all due respect to Kerouac. In the heat of creation, it's impossible to get it the first time around, unless you're Mozart.

LJ for MBR: Is there any question you wish I had asked, or any other information you would like to share with our readers?

Michael: Possibly you've covered what's important.T.S. Eliot has that great quote about how all we have is the work, and the rest is not our business. Writers should just write. I love Faulkner's take on Shakespeare's last great play, The Tempest, where the Bard comes to the final performance and says, "Hell, I don't know either" and breaks his pencil. Until that happens, write and find your voice.

LJ for MBR: Thank you for your time, Michael.

Michael: Thank you.

Interviewer note: Confessions of a Shanty Irishman is available through PublishAmerica, Amazon.com, and the Barnes and Noble website. The stage plays Letters from Rebecca; Mickey's Loft; and Jake are available through http://members.aye.net/~aranpres/index.html

Laurel Johnson
Senior Reviewer/Interviewer
Midwest Book Review

Kaveny's Bookshelf

(The Past is both a Near and Distant Thing)

As my wife Jan Bogstad and myself share our lives and travels we find that they never seem to be without adventure whether we look for it or not. Last month was no exception as our trip to the 38th International Medieval Congress held at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo Michigan May 8-11th 2003 was full of adventure both coming and going. Even though both domestic and international travel has dropped significantly since 9-11-01 the Kalamazoo Medieval Congress held steady with a membership of nearly 3000, and over sixty exhibitors making it the largest such event in the world. Most of us flew in to The Kalamazoo International Airport that still requires one to climb down a rather steep and slippery ladder as one de-planes (Hopefully not in a single step all at once). However much as I joke about this Northwest Airlines really went out of their way to get us home to Minneapolis in time to catch our last shuttle to our home Eau Claire WI 90 miles to the east. This involved a heroic effort since our outbound flight to Minneapolis was canceled and the next available fight to the Twin Cites was leaving from Detroit (Over 130 Miles away), later that evening.

Thank God for high-speed, late model Lincoln Limousines, and a driver named Leon who knew the ropes. Because, in little more than two hours we were transported between the two airports, and I also got a meal voucher from Northwest Airlines, which I used for a Double Whooper with Cheese Supersized with fries. I had it with no Mayo and a diet Coke since I am trying to get my weight down a bit for the sake of the person sitting next to me on the airplane.

Though I have been in and out of at least hundred airports in my life, the newly re-modeled Detroit International Airport took my breath away. I felt like I was in a 21st Century that looked like the set of a technologically optimistic Science Fiction movie of the early 1950s. A movie in which I was about to take the next shuttle to the moon after I took the high speed anti gravity train to the launch pad upon transferring from the inbound Mars Shuttle. I also felt for better our worse as if I was living at hub of a great empire, rather I liked it or not. In a sense I felt like the Romans citizens who, at the end of the Roman Republic, were told they had two choices: to cheer or not cheer. This is not the first time in the history of the world that something like this has happened. As a matter of fact I am holding the traces of one the last times in my hand, an item from nearly two millenniums before the present.

I am holding in my hand a treasure that I bought in the Exhibitor's room at the 38th International Medieval Congress held at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo Michigan May 8-11th 2003 where I exhibited as a bookseller and represented Midwest Book Review as its literary editor. For the paltry sum of $6.00, I purchased a bronze coin from the reign the Roman Emperor Constantius II (337-361 A.D. - pre-reform 337-348). It is small and about the size and shape of a piece of M&M Candy which was stepped on. Never the less it has a recognizable engraving of Constantius II on one side and the Roman Numerals and Letters VOT XX MVLT XXX on the other side. I suspect the numerals represent a date that I cannot readily determine. However, it is my understanding of Roman dating is that it ran from the founding of Rome on April 21, 753 BC, by Romulus, who killed in the process his twin brother named Remus. This Date was then referred to as the year of the city until the time Rome fell. This means that by the time my coin was minted Rome had existed for over 1100 years, approximately the first seven centuries as a republic and the next five centuries as an empire. In the year 337 A.D, when my Roman coin was minted the Roman empire still had nearly one hundred and fifty years to run, and its eastern portion centered around the great city Constantinople was not to fall until A.D 1453 and persisting nearly 1000 years more towards the present.

As I touch the time worn ragged edges of this coin with my fingertips I have a feeling that the past embodies a paradox, which makes it both a near and distant thing at the same time. The past is as near as this coin in my hand, yet as distant as the Roman Centurion whose salary it helped pay 1650 years ago as he stood at the edge of the Roman World at a hill fort on Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain, or kept peace in Roman Palestine 3000 miles away. Strange is it not that we have American Soldiers doing their duty and drawing there pay the same ways in the same parts of the world in the year 2003. I am sure they dream the same dreams of home and family as their Roman counterparts fifty generations before.

The past is both a near and distant thing, which scholars when working at their best efforts seek to re-embody and make accessible for the colleagues, students, and the rest of us who find their work fascinating. The focus of the rest of my feature will be to highlight efforts of one the groups working in this area. One of the high points of the conference was to meet Dr. Dorsey Armstrong, an English professor at Purdue University. Dorsey is also Marketing Director for the Journal Arthuriana - Official Journal of the International Arthuriana Society - North American Branch. She was promoting their journal with the help of several of her editorial assistants. This was very good for me because the Arthuriana exhibit was we call in the book trade a "Traffic Builder", which meant that some of their crowds of customers also became my customers as they bought books from me. And since we were located next to each other we sort of covered for each other as we took breaks.

My proximity to the Arthuriana people was good for me for a more important reason. In that it rekindled and interest in Arthurian Literature on my part which had lain doormat for almost 35 years, since I took a course on the Arthurian Literature from Eugene Vinaver (1899-1979). When Eugene Vinaver taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the late 60's, he was at the end of a brilliant career most of which was spent in the UK where he taught for most of his career at The University of Manchester. It is only nearly twenty years later that I found out that I literally slept at the feet of a Giant since the course was broadcast on University of Wisconsin-Madison college of the air. I listened to every lecture that was broadcast during my own personal dark ages when as a Vietnam protestor I had committed academic suicide as a graduate student by writing the F word on all my final exams, and then became a cynic professing to know the price of everything and the value of nothing. I expressed this protest by drinking three and sometimes for pitchers of beer a night and playing chess till four in the morning with a pack of advanced mathematics gradate students in the field of topology who I had fallen in with.

In 1968 I would wake up every afternoon with a hangover so large it felt like a plaited woodpecker was trying to peck his way out of my skull. I would wake up at two to hear these wonderful lectures on the College of the Air by Eugene Vinaver. He taught a course in the Arthurian Romance. And in the process I got hooked on a literature and a place so different from the modernity I was used to, a place where narrative could take many different forms and characters could die to only to move back into the story much later as if this never happened. It is hard to say how or what things changed my life. But I think these wonderful lectures about such a strange and different places were one of the things that kept me going until I sobered up from the bad dream of the late 60's until after 1971 (from that point I never to drink again). By the way, I let my chess playing buddies go, got an honest job, and met a graduate student in literature in 1972 who is now a full professor and my wife of 16 years. Strangely enough I did return to graduate school at University of Wisconsin Madison in 1990 to complete two advanced degrees in 1998.

I probably would not have gone into such turgid detail about my own life had not Dorsey Armstrong given me such wonderful items for review. And directed me to the Arthuriana http://www.smu.edu/arthuriana/ website where I spent several fascinating hours reading about Post-Roman Britain in electronic journals, downloading and printing four historical maps of 7th Century Britain. And I also signed up for the Arthuriana Internet discussion list. I have some expertise in Internet Resources for both popular and academic use and presented on the topic with my wife at the Leeds UK Medieval Congress in 1996-1997, and 1999, and I also worked in that area as part of my gradate research in Library and Information Studies at University of Wisconsin. Based on that experience I must say that the Authuriana website makes the best multi-purpose use of Internet resources of any site I visited in the last five years. This is particularly true in the areas of user interface design, speed of access, and scope of resources offered for a range of users which could extend from the bright middle-schooler, to the post doctoral fellow. I must also add that members Arthuriana Internet discussion list from all the world were willing to share their expertise answering a question about the role of labyrinths in Arthurian Literature. Their willingness to share their expertise will make a proposal by an Eau Claire, WI community group to create a labyrinth for spiritual reflection more in a local park more creditable.

But as much as Arthuriana Internet resources impressed me, I think of them as a means to an end. They were never intended to replace (nor can the every possibly replace), books or Journals much as certain tunnel vision academic administrators might want you to believe so. A good example of what I mean is

"On Arthurian Women: Essays in Memory of Maureen Fries"
Bonnie Wheeler (Editor), Fiona Tolhurst (Editor) hardcover 430 pages
Scriptorium Press
ISBN 0965187713 price $39.95.

There is a sensuous pleasure of the text that one feels as one handles this handsomely crafted volume in a sturdy library binding with painted boards in multiple burgundy and copper tones. But perhaps the most outstanding descriptive feature of this book is the hauntingly beautiful photograph of Maureen Fries as an enchantingly beautiful young woman in her early 20 on the backboards. It worth checking this book out on Amazon just to see what it looks like, but it is much better to touch it.

Of course only a fool judges a book by its cover. However I felt I had a winner as I read the introduction to this collection and worked through twenty-two new views of Arthurian women characters--from noble ladies too bad girls--as well as ten biographies of influential women by Arthurian Bonnie Wheeler who directs the Medieval Studies Program at Southern Methodist University. I laughed out loud at parts of Bonnie Wheeler's introduction and Tribute to Maureen Fries (1931-1999), "Arthurienne Extordinare." I laughed because of the humanity which came through. Of course I was inspired by the woman's success against all odds as an older academic woman starting out in the 1970. It was here that I realized that some had non-dischargeable -obligations unlike myself that did not allow them to take a several year's time out as some of us did in the sixties. In short, I felt like I was reading about someone who achieved a wonderful things in a lifetime while being pressed close to necessity all of her life.

All of the essays are well world reading but my deadline forces me to only highlight a few. I liked Dorsey Armstrong's "Malorey's Morgause" a great deal, because of her astute use of Levi-Straus. Her approach made me look at the whole Arthurian dynamic in a transactional sense which had previously escaped me. I thought her use of theory as a tool rather than as an end in itself was particularly effective. To say it yet another way, I felt as if I was drawn closer to rather than remove one from the text.

I also enjoy works that do limit themselves to text as information objects. For example, Alan Lupack's "Women Illustrators of Arthurian Legends," makes good use of black and white illustrations to suggest that certain women illustrators were not hampered by some of the same constraints as there male counter-parts.

As I worked through my sample issues of the journal Arthuriana I was so impressed with it that I became convinced that I would gift an academic institution or library with a one year institutional subscription and a run of the back issues if I can raise the funds to do so. I happen to have an institution picked out which is for self-serving reason located close to my home base.

The thing that held my attention most was that the journal Arthuriana seemed to work out the paradox which I mentioned earlier of the past being both a near and distant thing. We all have favorite scenes from King Arthur movies from the likes of Camelot, Excalibur, and even First night (guess which one I liked the best). What a thing to realize that these scenes were not invented by movie directors. But, in most cases, have literary warrant which reaches eight or nine centuries and first appeared in literary forms, which are for the most part in accessible to the modern reader. Yet the stories are alive to be shaped and reshaped. And I feel with some adaptation in a timeless sense to the Modern mind I think one of the best things this journal does is push the edge of the envelope of what is fascinating. It's hard to take just one article and let it speak for an entire Journal. However I thought that David F Johnson's. "Men hadde niet Arsatere vonden alsoe goet': Walewein as Healer in the Middle Dutch Arthurian Tradition" Arthuriana 11.4 (Winter 2001): 39-52. This essay would be as interesting to the director of a new version of Terminator IV for the medical practices it described as it would to a professional medievalist, or even a Science Fiction or Comic Book Fan. This keeps getting longer and longer but I feel compelled to mention a few more articles for example Jannia P Traxler's. "Once and Future Saxons: Nazis and Other Dark Forces in the Modern Arthurian Story" Arthuriana 11.4 (Winter 2001): 96-107, fit well with my observations as a Fantasy, Science Fiction and Tolkien Critic, as she effectively linked the medieval with the modern. But there are many, many more essays I could mention in just the four issues - imagine what one can find in the entire run of the magazine!

Philip Kaveny
Literary Editor
Midwest Book Review

Cindy Penn's Bookshelf

Last Breath
Rachel Lee
Warner Books
1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
ISBN 0446609919, 302 pages, $5.99

Recommended. At twenty, Steve King planned to become a priest. Then one night leaving the church, someone murdered him. Father Brendan Quinlan finds him crucified on Holy Saturday. Church members feel outraged by events, but none more than Chloe Ryder, especially when Father Brendan falls under suspicion. With a background as cop before becoming an attorney, Chloe knows how the system works once someone falls under suspicion. Detective Matthew Diel immediately recognizes Chloe when he arrives to investigate the murder. Their shared personal history results in an odd mix of attraction and distance, lending their interactions a biting edge. Chloe's Ice Queen persona does not discourage Matthew from agreeing to work with her to find answers. Soon Chloe and Matthew realize that Steve's death was not the target; rather, Father Brendan faces a deadly plan. The case proceeds slowly, with the careful orchestration of a well-concealed conspiracy. Author Rachel Lee introduces a powerful cast of characters in LAST BREATH. Chloe's painful past gives her a cold exterior that only rarely reveals her vulnerabilities. Matthew's role in her past is unexpected and believable. Father Brendan, however, absolutely dazzles with his devotion to his God and determination to perform his duty to his parishioners. While rich characterizations make LAST BREATH a rewarding reading experience, however, mystery lovers may be unsatisfied with the nebulous conclusion that leaves some questions unanswered. Readers who enjoy LAST BREATH certainly will be hoping for a sequel.

Some Girls Do
Leanne Banks
Warner Books
1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
ISBN 0446611727, 324 pages, $6.99

Perfect blend of fun and sensuality - Highly recommended. Katie Collins carefully conceals her good looks with dowdy clothes and heavy glasses, hoping to be judged by her ability and not her appearance. With a boss working on his fifth marriage, she certainly does not wish to draw the attention of an insecure woman-not with her family responsibilities and driving need to succeed. When her boss Ivan offers a hundred thousand dollars to find his unattractive daughter a husband, Katie accepts with the hope of finally assuring financial stability. Unfortunately, she shares responsibility for Wilhelmina with security specialist Michael Wingate. Michael likewise has a driving need to succeed. While Katie provides prospective candidates for Wilhelmina to marry, he must screen the candidates, ruling out ex-convicts, freeloaders, disease carriers, and rednecks. At the last minute, Ivan slipped his hairless cat's protection into the contract as well. So when both Wilhelmina and the cat disappear, it is up to Katie and Michael to work together to get them back before Katie looses his job and Michael looses his contract. Their adventure will lead them to Texas, where tall hair and tall hats mark a territory completely foreign to a man like Michael, but familiar to Katie in incredibly uncomfortable ways. Author Leanne Banks brings her characteristically succinct skill of penning lighthearted romps to her first full-length novel in SOME GIRLS DO. Dynamic characterizations spring to life, especially Katie who determinedly distances herself from her mother's image. Consequently, her transformation from prude to siren will have readers amused, particularly as it brings out the protective instincts of this marvelous hero. In fact, Michael and Katie share a determination to also overcome their parents' flaws, not to mention a scintillating chemistry that adds sensual texture to an otherwise amazingly playful read. The secondary plot likewise provides a wonderful storyline, especially with Wilhelmina's unlikely price charming and the world's ugliest cat. Katie's mother's words of wisdom likewise add a note of hilarity and levity readers will love. The result proves that fairy tales can come true when SOME GIRLS DO. The perfect blend between fun and sensuality, SOME GIRLS DO comes highly recommended.

Understudy
Carole Bellacera
Forge
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
ISBN 0765306557 384 pages $18.17

Impossible to put down! Very highly recommended. At a crossroads, Amy Shiley makes a life altering decision that resounds with profound ethical dilemmas. Unable to speak while lying in her hospital bed, Amy overhears news of the death of her best friend Robin Mulcahey. Amy had been driving the car when slick roads and too much alcohol resulted in a tragic accident. Because both women were severely facially damaged but shared a similar body build, and had exchanged personal items before getting in the car, a case of misidentification results in an extraordinary opportunity. Realizing that no one will mourn her, Amy assumes her best friend's life. It seems the perfect solution for a woman with no family. She continues the role of beloved daughter, filling the gap for Robin's family and sparing them tremendous grief. Although Amy is in love with Robin's brother Paul, it is not until a year and a half later that she learns she gave up his love with the identity switch. Further, the ideal impression she had of Robin's family does not bear up under reality. Amy's identity switch brings professional success, when she becomes a well-known soap opera star and marries a fellow actor. But as things come unraveled, she soon feels as though she is trapped in her own personal soap opera. Author Carole Bellacera pens an exhilarating romantic suspense with UNDERSTUDY. Switched identities may be a long favored plot device, but Bellacera finds a way to add her own exciting flair, resulting in tale that readers will find impossible to put down. Although Robin and Amy are complete opposites, Amy's transformation is incredibly believable. Further, the secrets of Robin's life become driving motivation for Amy to confront the truth of the past as well as her own personal truths. Secondary characterizations are likewise memorable, especially Bellacera's thoughtful and insightful handling of Amy's husband's complicated feelings toward her and his past. A novel rich with psychological insight, UNDERSTUDY comes very highly recommended.

Sweet Hush: A Novel
Deborah Smith
Little Brown & Company
1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
ISBN 0316806501 336 pages $16.77

Winner of the WordWeaving Award for Excellence. The fifth of her line, Hush McGillen Thackery believes people are born to be whoever they want to be. It is all in how they tell their story. Hush spins a tale of true love, of the perfect Harvard son and of a successful apple farm. But love was rotten to the core with a man who did not live up to revered image, but whose presence made it acceptable for a business woman to succeed. Now secrets from the past threaten to bring down Hush's idealist image and destroy all she holds dear when her son Davis brings the world's scrutiny because he brings home his secret bride--the president's daughter. The president and his wife are convinced that Hush has ulterior motives and that the marriage between their daughter Hush's son was somehow coerced. They vastly underestimate this Appalachian queen who rules her home, farm and county. When they send the president's cousin Nicholas Jacobek to bring the situation under control, Hush meets the only man in her life who can match her skill at charming bees. But Jacob's dark past conceals a man of kindness and of mercilessness who will do anything to protect family, even kill. Author Deborah Smith succinctly captures the flavor of the south and of powerful matriarchs in SWEET HUSH. Readers will find it impossible to forget these rich characterizations and mesmerizing prose. Hush is blunt, fierce and determined, deserving of a hard man like Jacob. The president's wife Edwina would be easy to hate except Smith carefully reveals her vulnerabilities, devotion and motivation in a way that not only makes her understandable, but likeable despite her bitchy ways. Readers will delight in the image of Hush and Edwina throwing rotten apples at each other in the White House. Easily followed shifting points of view provide interior views of complex motives and tantalizing possibilities. In all, three love stories wind their way around the reader's heart, resulting in a must read tale reader's won't want to miss. SWEET HUSH earns the WordWeaving Award for Excellence.

Sweet Hush: A Novel
Deborah Smith
Little Brown & Company
1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
ISBN 0316806501, 336 pages, $16.77

Winner of the WordWeaving Award for Excellence. The fifth of her line, Hush McGillen Thackery believes people are born to be whoever they want to be. It is all in how they tell their story. Hush spins a tale of true love, of the perfect Harvard son and of a successful apple farm. But love was rotten to the core with a man who did not live up to revered image, but whose presence made it acceptable for a business woman to succeed. Now secrets from the past threaten to bring down Hush's idealist image and destroy all she holds dear when her son Davis brings the world's scrutiny because he brings home his secret bride--the president's daughter. The president and his wife are convinced that Hush has ulterior motives and that the marriage between their daughter Hush's son was somehow coerced. They vastly underestimate this Appalachian queen who rules her home, farm and county. When they send the president's cousin Nicholas Jacobek to bring the situation under control, Hush meets the only man in her life who can match her skill at charming bees. But Jacob's dark past conceals a man of kindness and of mercilessness who will do anything to protect family, even kill. Author Deborah Smith succinctly captures the flavor of the south and of powerful matriarchs in SWEET HUSH. Readers will find it impossible to forget these rich characterizations and mesmerizing prose. Hush is blunt, fierce and determined, deserving of a hard man like Jacob. The president's wife Edwina would be easy to hate except Smith carefully reveals her vulnerabilities, devotion and motivation in a way that not only makes her understandable, but likeable despite her bitchy ways. Readers will delight in the image of Hush and Edwina throwing rotten apples at each other in the White House. Easily followed shifting points of view provide interior views of complex motives and tantalizing possibilities. In all, three love stories wind their way around the reader's heart, resulting in a must read tale reader's won't want to miss. SWEET HUSH earns the WordWeaving Award for Excellence.

Death's Domain Cassidy McCabe Mystery, 6th.
Alex Matthews
Intrigue Press
PO Box 102004 1310 S. Washington St., Denver, CO 80210
ISBN 1890768375, 370 pages, $16.77

Cassidy and Starshine return! Very highly recommended. Psychotherapist Cassidy McCabe faces the fear of losing that which she holds most dear when the past catches up to the present. For years Cassidy has blamed herself for Barbara's death. She had come home unexpectedly, finding her best friend inebriated and in bed with her first husband. Outraged, Cassidy kicked Barbara out. Unfortunately, the drunken Barbara died on the way home, leaving Cassidy with guilt and a disintegrating marriage. Years later, on the anniversary of Barbara's death, a stalker promises retribution. An obituary appears in the local paper featuring Cassidy. Soon the ominous tone of the obituary continues with threatening email and an attempt on husband Zach's life. Determined to find answers, Cassidy and her husband set out to uncover the secrets of the past who still holds Cassidy responsible for Barbara's unfortunate death. DEATH'S DOMAIN, the sixth Cassidy McCabe mystery, brings back a fabulous cast. Indeed, cozy mystery author Alex Matthews continues to dazzle readers with the irrepressible Cassidy, reporter husband Zach, and her mischievous calico Starshine. Cassidy's spunky grandmother and meddlesome mother likewise make their appearances, bringing wit and humor wherever they appear. As always, Mathews provides lots of action, a well-structured plot and plenty of twists to keep the pages turning. Although I enjoy hundreds of books a year, including many mysteries, Cassidy McCabe has managed to capture and hold my heart through the years like no other heroine. DEATH'S DOMAIN comes very highly recommended.

Catching Midnight Emma Holly
Jove Books
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
ISBN 0515135305, 310 pages, $5.50

Winner of the WordWeaving Award for Excellence. In 1349, Gillian is cast into the streets of London without even a crust of bread when her mother and her younger brother show symptoms of the plague. As the city lies dying, Gillian flees to the woods where members of an ancient race discover her. They force her to choose between Auriclus' ways of the forests and Nim Wei's dominance of the cities. Gillian chooses not to be a queen, but the ways of the forests. That choice will forge her destiny. In 1370 Gillian seeks her freedom, leaving behind the upyr and forging a bond with a peregrine falcon. Then Aimery Fitz Clare, second son to a noble house captures her. In his dreams, Gillian comes to him as a goddess, first to regain her sight which had been taken temporarily as a part of the falcon's training, and then fore more. Gillian decides that Aimery will be her guide back into the human world. But as their love grows, so does the dangerous jealousy from humans and upyr alike that threatens their every step. This is my first sojourn into the novels by Emma Holly, but having experienced her wonderful story telling ability, it will not be the last. CATCHING MIDNIGHT is a marvelously gripping mix of passion, sensuality, paranormal settings, betrayal and triumph. The exquisite detailing of the ancient upyr with their earthy sensuality and their ability to live only in the moment sharply contrasts Gillian's desire for knowledge that reaches beyond experience. Despite those heart felt needs, however, Gillian is also an earthy, sensual woman who fears releasing the animal within just as much as Aimery fears remembering the butchery of the battlefields. As alike as they are different, Gillian and Aimery face considerable challenges and extraordinary danger with grace. Secondary characters are likewise dazzling in their complexity and depth, lending the novel an incredible richness. A sensual feast that readers will want to add to their keeper shelf, CATCHING MIDNIGHT earns the WordWeaving Award for Excellence.

Impractical Magic
Karen Fox
Jove Books
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
ISBN 0515135364, $5.99

The magic continues! Highly recommended. Rarely does a child of mixed human and fae blood receive the gift of magic. Brandon Goodfellow should know; he has been compensating all his life by creating the world's greatest illusions all his life. But childhood friend Rose Thayer was an exception, and when she demonstrated magical talent at thirteen, their friendship ended. Thirteen-year-old Brandon felt betrayed and jealous because born with a gift he wanted. As adults, Brandon and Rose cross paths when she seeks him out for an expose. She has made it her career to expose the secrets of illusionists. While she truly does not want to harm her childhood friend's career, her own career is on the line if she does not heed her editor's demand. Once again Brandon feels angry and betrayed, but he takes the upper hand this time. He offers her an opportunity to accompany him on the road in exchange for a promise: Rose may work no magic. Neither realize that that when she does not use her magic, it "leaks". An unsuspecting human's wish will come true with magical results! Karen Fox once again lends her extraordinary talent to create a magical romance in IMPRACTICAL MAGIC. With a light touch of humor and sparkle, Fox casts a spell with a story filled with memorable characters and a delightful plot. The agreement to temporarily give up magic presents Rose with unexpected challenges. Secondary characters are also wonderfully realized as Rose's cousin Sequoia keeps away the Fae Queen by teaching her messenger about love. Readers who loved PRINCE OF CHARMING and BUTTERCUP BABY will adore IMPRACTICAL MAGIC, although it works just as well as a stand-alone. IMPRACTICAL MAGIC comes very highly recommended.

Perfect Together
Lisa Plumley
Zebra Books
850 Third Avenue, New York NY 10022
ISBN 0821774310 352 pages $6.50

An amusing summer read -- Very highly recommended. When his news station attempts to boost ratings by promoting him as super stud, sportscaster Jake Jarvis does not appreciate having his picture plastered across buses and billboards. Worse, now the news station insists that this single father Jake agree to participate as contestant on the Dream Date TV show. Jake believes that he and four-year-old Noah do not need a woman intruding in their games and clothing choices, and agrees only to assure food the table. Actress Marley Madison made herself famous for over two decades as a sultry, sassy southern belle. Now twenty-seven, Marley wants meatier roles than stilettos and a southern twang. Her agent suggests that she prove her acting ability by becoming a contestant on Dream Date. By transforming her Hollywood image into the girl next door, Marley hopes prove her talent on national television. When she meets Jake over coffee, however, their chemistry inspires the show's producer to pair them as a team with nothing in common and little chance of winning. But publicity becomes secondary when love adds its own unexpected chemistry. Author Lisa Plumley pens a delightful contemporary comedy in PERFECT TOGETHER. Plumley's prose sparkles with levity and wit as she adds a fresh twist to the classic prince and pauper switch. Marley's adoption of her sister's clothing, apartment and lifestyle provides amusing conundrums as she attempts to conceal her life as a starlet. Young Noah provides plenty of his own wonderful moments as Jake indulges outrageous clothing choices and lots of love. Readers will find themselves eagerly anticipating the sequel that promises Marley's sister's story as she samples glamour and privilege. The perfect amusing read for summer reading, PERFECT TOGETHER comes very highly recommended.


Private Maneuvers: Intimate Moments No 1226
Catherine Mann
Silhouette Books
300 East 42nd Street, New York, New York, 10017
ISBN 0373272960, 250 pages, $4.75

Underwater adventure -- Very highly recommended. Air Force co-pilot First Lieutenant Darcy "Wren" Renshaw is disgruntled at being reassigned to fly dolphins and Dr. Max Keagan to the South Pacific rather than flying a war mission; that is, until she gets a look at the good doctor. Tropical flower swim shorts and a five o'clock shadow do not detract from one hot professor. Perhaps this jig in Guam would not be so bad after all if not for haunting memories of her last stay in the island paradise. Then she had been a child held by kidnappers. Max's deep undercover CIA assignment is about to meet its conclusion. Two years ago his partner and lover Eva, pregnant with their child, died on a mission. The double agent has led Max to warm tropical waters and unexpected temptation. However, someone watches, and plans to use Max's new love interest to cause harm. Suddenly Darcy and Max's private maneuvers put her at risk, and tropical spiders and snakes are only beginning. Underwater adventure brings intrigue and love in Catherine Mann's PRIVATE MANEUVERS, the fourth of the "Wingman Warriors" series. Author Mann has made a reputation for delivering sexy, heart pounding action and PRIVATE MANEUVERS is no exception. A spirited heroine, Darcy does not let her fear stop her under the most frightening of circumstances. Determined to gain notice on her own merit, Darcy resents her General father's kindhearted manipulations. Also a military brat, hero Max is her perfect complement, she believes, until she realizes he is more than a simple professor. Rich with witty dialogue and subtle nuances, PRIVATE MANEUVERS delivers a masterful, intriguing romance readers will find impossible to put down. PRIVATE MANEUVERS comes very highly recommended.

Entrapment: Intimate Moments 1221
Kylie Brant
Silhouette Books
300 East 42nd Street, New York, New York, 10017
ISBN 037327291X $4.75

Stunning intensity - Very highly recommended. Only ten thieves in the world have the skills CIA agent Sam Tremaine needs. Only one regularly targets Oppenheimer, to the extent he has to buy an insurance agency in order to cover his own losses. Sam may not know the beautiful thief's agenda, but he is willing to do whatever it takes to bring down the international criminal Oppenheimer, even if he has to hire a thief. Juliette Morris has a plan to deprive Oppenheimer of all his treasures before fulfilling her ultimate goal of revenge. Sam's interference and identification of her only detours her plan, but nothing will make her give it up. When Sam kidnaps Juliette's grandmother to assure cooperation, the stakes escalate. Worse, both she and Sam are aware of the impossible nature of their attraction, yet denying it seems to only add fuel to the flames. An eloquent and fabulously realized romantic intrigue, ENTRAPMENT belongs on the reader's keeper shelf. Once again Kylie Brant brings her characteristic flair for creating memorable characters and a fast paced plot, as complex ethical issues lend a background of suspense and emotional depth that has become the author's trademark. Juliette takes pride in her unorthodox profession, financing her vendetta with stolen goods that are taken from her ultimate target. Sam's recent leg injury lends him just the right level of vulnerability to highlight Juliette's extraordinary strengths. If ever opposites attracted in an unorthodox mix readers will adore, it is here! ENTRAPMENT comes very highly recommended.

The Unexpected Wedding Guest: Special Edition No 1541
Patricia McLinn
Silhouette Books
300 East 42nd Street, New York, New York, 10017
ISBN 0373245416, 256 pages, $4.75

Wonderful sequel to the WEDDING OF THE CENTURY. For years Max Trevetti has treated his sister's friend Suzanna Grant as just another younger sister. But her return to Tobias, Wisconsin for his sister Annette's wedding leaves Max determined to fight his growing attraction. When a bit too much celebrating lowers inhibitions, Max suddenly sees Suz in her dynamite red dress. Suz does not leave town quickly, however, and Max soon finds himself confronting not only his feelings, but his own self-limitations. Suz and Max's sister Annette recently sold their joint business, leaving her life suddenly without direction. Unwilling to yield to family pressure to return to her hometown, Suz takes over Annette's responsibilities as Max's assistant while he is overseeing major renovations on a historical landmark. Yet her lack of self-confidence leaves Max determined to bolster her self-image. Neither Suz nor Max, however, are prepared for the consequences of their mutual concern for the other. New discoveries and life-altering decisions aid an growing romance in the "Something New" part of Patricia McLinn's wonderful miniseries. Once again McLinn demonstrates a dazzling gift for bringing together ordinary, and yet unforgettable characters in an endearing story readers will treasure. Picking up