Virtual Realities
Neelum Saran Gour
Penguin Books, India
11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi 110 017, India.
ISBN 0-14-302806-5, Price - Rs.250, First published 2002, Pages - 241.
Devanshu Gour
Reviewer
Reading this novel makes it amply clear that the author belongs to a class by herself. Anyone
familiar with the Indian literary scene knows that Indian writers belong to two camps- those who
write in English and those writing in one of the many Indian languages . The much hyped festival
of
international Indian writers organised by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations witnessed
rancorous exchanges between members on both sides of this great Indian literary divide. Indian
writers writing in English were critiqued as being mere elitist observers of Indian reality, seldom
in
close touch with living roots, while those writing in Indian languages were described as bound by
choice and situation to confined cultural circuits and though animated by a vital contact with an
essential and active Indian tradition, excluded from reaching a large global audience.
Virtual Realities defies categorization because it handles in English the theme of a Hindi writer's
adventures with imagination ,thus straddling conventional divisions between 'regional' and
English
writing. Neelum Saran Gour is best described as a regional English writer, an author whose voice
emerges from the authentic heart of a culture in a medium that is global in its range. Living and
working outside the elitist boundaries and deeply rooted in Indian reality, Gour writes a flawless,
flexible English. Yet her concerns in this, her fourth work of fiction, are universal ones, plainly
relevant in any creative context. Virtual Realities is an absorbing novel about two obsessive
storytellers, one a professional writer, the other a carefree chatterbox. Sravan and Buddhoo,
though very different in temperament and lifestyle, are old friends who have just one thing in
common. Each enriches his life by creating a fictional reality.
The novel relates their adventures with their imaginary worlds, shifting constantly between
folksy-earthy boisterous humour and searching dead-earnest reflections, never overbalancing,
making the reader think even as he smiles. Sravan finds surreal events emerging straight out of
his
book into his real life world while Buddhoo creates a hilarious hotch-potch of Indian philosophy,
mythology, personal buffoonery and outrageous yarn. Supporting these two central characters
are
others, all of them creating ingenious narratives of their own. Virtual Realities addresses the
universal human need to script a favourite narrative about oneself and the ways in which the
creative imagination preserves, enhances and destroys us. An unputdownable and stimulating
novel,
rich, funny, empathetic, thoughtful.
If there is a flaw it lies in the fact that this is not an event-grounded novel. Its forward movement
relies heavily on cranky dialogue or intensive thought centred round a basically abstract inquiry.
Although it strives to couch its philosophic content in racy banter and multiple culture-specific
narratives, there are times when the creative issues addressed may be impenetrable to the average
reader looking for a good story. To readers who have watched Gour's progress in her last three
books, this novel marks a breaking away in a new direction quite removed from her earlier
tradition-leavened tales of a multilayered India. Whether this growth is in tune with current
reading
tastes remains to be seen.
Creating And Dominating New Markets
Peter Meyer
Amacom Books
1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019
ISBN 0-8144-0678-5, $27.95, Hardcover, 241 pages, 1-800-250-5308,
www.amazon.com
Roger Herman
Reviewer
So, you're sitting in your office thinking about your business. Or the business you'd like to start.
Building a business is a daunting proposition, not for the weak of heart-or weak of wallet. The
key is
to discover something different that will grab attention. What's the old saw: Find a need and fill
it?
Peter Meyer, principal of a California (where else) consulting firm that specializes in the subject of
this book, suggests a different approach. Instead of competing with everyone else, create a new
market. Makes sense. As Meyer points out, it's exciting, fun, and profitable. New markets are
forgiving and, without rivals you don't have to worry about competitive pricing. Can it be this
easy?
Meyer lays it out in Chapter One: The Mystique and Challenges of New Markets. Prepare to have
your mind opened, your thoughts stimulated, your imagination titillated.
The first part of this highly readable book (type size and leading enables this book to be easily
read
on trains and airplanes) addresses strategies. The second part with application of the strategies.
Good model for this highly practical book.
The other chapters of the first section deliver ideas, perspective, and examples of how the
strategies
have been used. Balancing Your Resources and Opportunities. It's the Problem That Matters.
Choosing the Best Risk. What New Markets are Available to You? Are you beginning to get a
sense of the depth of content of this book?
The book is written in relatively short sections, so the reader never seems overburdened by the
volume of text. I kept slowing down because I was thinking about what Meyer said. Then I found
myself taking notes, like I
was starting to write a business plan. See what I mean? I predict that you'll read this book at least
twice: once for a quick overview, then at least one more time (with Peter Meyer at your elbow)
thinking, talking to yourself (and others), and constructing ideas that may drive your future.
Charts sprinkled throughout the book will guide in your understanding of the message. So will the
questions tossed out by the author. There are many paths to take in creating, exploring,
exploiting,
and dominating new
markets. Each alternative approach has its advantages and disadvantages. Your strength will come
from understanding what's involved in your journey, and that power will come from this
book.
Section Two concentrates on the application of the strategies. Funding the New Market Effort.
What Role Does the Customer Play? Building and Dominating Markets Through Involvement.
What
is the Role of Information
Technology. Using Credibility in Creating and Dominating Markets. What's Next? And the book
closes with a good index to help you find what you want on your second and third readings.
This is the new frontier. You can be on the leading edge. It's a different world, as Meyer warns. If
you think you're up for it-and the book will help you determine that readiness, this book will be
your
guide.
Now my review is done. I'm going back for my second helping!
Never Fade Away
William Hart
Fithian Press
c/o Daniel & Daniel, Publishers
PO Box 1525, Santa Barbara, CA 93102
1564743861 $12.95 www.amazon.com
Helen Heightsman Gordon
http://www.anacade.com
Bill Hart's characters go straight to the heart. Tina Le is a Vietnamese refugee determined to
master
English as her second language and to pass two required English courses at a California state
college. Her teacher and mentor, John Goddard, is a Vietnam War veteran still suffering from
nightmares in the mid-1980's. Both of them keep journals. Through their journal entries we read
Tina's perceptive observations (in endearingly imperfect English), and see Goddard's blend of
worldly cynicism and determination to fight for his students. Survivors, both, of life-and-death
situations -- but they are being thwarted in peacetime USA by a coterie of English teachers who
seem to take sinister pleasure in controlling the fate of their underlings.
If such teachers seem unlikely candidates for villains, I assure you they exist. I've taught
alongside
them, heard them complain in department meetings. This situation will seem familiar in many
colleges where English teachers, after being trained only to teach the finer points of literature,
are
frustrated by having to work with ESL and remedial students. The students, in turn, become
frustrated and bewildered, feeling doomed to flail and fail. Some become bitter; some
contemplate
suicide; some give up in despair.
Goddard sees the quality of mind inTina's papers; the other teachers see only flaws in usage and
grammar. When assigned an inappropriate topic on an important departmental competency test,
two
of Goddard's best students fail. Averaging that grade with their classwork, he assigns them
passing
grades for the course. Having bucked the system, he is judged insubordinate, a threat to the
"standards" of the department. Now they are out to get him -- along with any students they think
he
may have "coached" into navigating through the land mines they have set. The story is sprinkled
with humor and satire. Tina's roommate, Rayneece, contrasts amusingly with the shy and
studious
Tina, providing opportunities for Tina to comment in her journal about American attitudes,
male-female relationships, and interracial dating. A delicious irony occurs when Tina's next
English
teacher tries to teach her about irony using Swift's "Modest Proposal." Tina doesn't like Swift's
suggestions about eating babies, and Goddard encourages her to write her honest opinion. She
does, but there is a price to pay for honesty.
After some misunderstandings, Goddard and Tina begin to help each other heal their emotional
wounds. Having passed through the teacher-student and employer-employee relationships, they
have become friends. They might have a future together if they allow each other enough time to
learn to love and trust again.
Someone will probably make a movie out of this book, and that would be unfortunate. Bill Hart's
prose is snappy and incisive; his deft turns of phrase provide a treat even apart from the story. I
would have liked to see more improvement in Tina's journal entries as the story unfolds, making
Goddard's influence on her writing apparent. But her writing charms me with her insights,
sensitivity, and integrity, so I'll draw on my willing suspension of disbelief and just enjoy her. I
would have preferred a livelier title for the book -- one that suggests the dynamics of the
relationships and the "wars" that siphon off the lifeblood and the talents of soldiers, teachers, and
students. This is Hart's first novel, but his poetic artistry serves him well in fiction.
Already he has me looking forward to the next one.
Jusu And Mother Earth
Sharon Ervin
AmErica House Publishing
PO Box 151, Frederick, MD 21705-0151
1893162877 $19.95 www.amazon.com
Priscilla A. Maine
Reviewer
After five months of grieving the loss of her beloved husband Ruth Pedigo determines to dedicate
herself to the service of others. Putting away any expectation for personal happiness, she packs
her
bags, waves aside the objections of her children, dispels the concerns of her friends, and sets of
for
Bwana, Uganda. Even as she assures everyone she is quite capable of this undertaking, she hasn't
convinced herself. After all, her husband Mickey had sheltered and protected her for the past
twenty-nine years this was a new experience for her. She set her course and refused to be swayed
from it even when she encountered the first of many obstacles in her path.
A primitive clinic in the African wilderness, where he treats the local natives, is Dr. Jack
Standish's
private passion and one he indulges annually. Established in his medical practice, respected by his
peers, and financially secure, he is bored by the continual parade of females vying for his attention.
Yet Jack is intrigued by the lovely lady traveling alone. She is obviously overwhelmed and a bit
intimidated by her surroundings. When a fellow traveler make advances toward her Jack
intervenes
and is even more fascinated when she evades his questions, but not his offer of help.
Fate throws the pair together just long enough to tease and tantalize the "what-ifs" in Ruth's
female
vanity, even against her better judgment. Then, just as quickly, they are separated and she is left
with
troubling dreams and the memory of a haunting smile.
The African bush is a world removed from her native Oklahoma but she blooms in her newfound
independence though she often falters on the cultural differences, especially the practice of
witchcraft. But with the aid of a young orphaned boy, Ruth quickly adapts to life at the mission.
The
mission priest and the members of his congregation take to Ruth immediately, calling her "Mother
Earth" even as they whisper behind her back about Jusu, the magician. Political intrigue, jealousy,
and illness throw Ruth and Jack together again with an unpredictable outcome.
Jusu And Mother Earth is written with a masterful voice, an intriguing plot, and vivacious
characters. A delightful read.
A Wanton Gyre
Christopher WunderLee
Writer's Club Press
910 East Hamilton, Suite 100, Campbell, California 95006
ISBN: 0595197272, $20.95, September 2001, 405 pp., www.amazon.com
Miriam Sante
mirsane@yahoo.com
Imagine if the Marquis de Sade and Thomas Jefferson collaborated on a novel, imagine a book
that
balances a hedonistic banquet of images and words with a treatise on endangered civil liberties
and
contemporary biases. A Wanton Gyre is a breath-taking foray into a fictional future that is all
together so real current events seem to be mimicking its contents. The world of A Wanton Gyre
is
uncertain, an ambitious senator has alleged that subversives have infiltrated key positions in
government & industry, causing a witch-hunt to ensue, and a special congressional committee has
been instituted to investigate the allegations. What Christopher WunderLee has dubbed 'a blue
scare' sweeps across the national and several citizens and organizations are accused of
un-American
activities.
WunderLee captures this rampant social fear by focusing on one man's plight amidst the scare and
with fictional newspaper articles at the end of each chapter that detail the greater social
ramifications. The novel opens in a gallop, as the protagonist, Maxwell Taylor, is arrested and
dragged away to prison by the special congressional committee's police agency. The reader
follows
Taylor as he faces arrest and interrogation without knowing what he's accused of; we are guided
into his confusion by a masterfully woven plot and a battery of his memories.
In Maxwell Taylor, Christopher WunderLee has constructed a striking anti-hero and set him
within a
string of events that highlights both his inadequacies and his beauty. Taylor is a former college
professor with a jaded past, he lost his job because he blackmailed a student into trading sexual
favors for grades. Taylor is a figure imbued with contradictions, he is a hedonist and a libertine, a
man well educated enough to quote Descartes or Socrates but so reliant on sensuality his reason
is
over-powered by his lust. Like many great protagonists, Maxwell Taylor is a brand new
archetype
so well constructed that his personality and character saturate the reader's imagination. We are
disgusted by him while at the same time, we can't help but be intrigued by his individuality.
On the opposing side of the conflict, Mary Lazarus is an assistant to the special prosecutor's office
in
charge of trying Taylor's case. She personifies the average citizen: scared, responsive to the
government's efforts to cleanse society of subversion, offended by Maxwell Taylor's lifestyle and
political views, hypocritical, and willing to remain ignorant. However, like the reader of the
novel,
Mary is also uncomfortably curious about Taylor. She struggles with her own aversion to his
lifestyle and an intense interest in learning more.
Mary Lazarus, along with the special prosecutor in charge of the case, stand on the opposing side
of
Taylor, and this differing ethical position forces the reader to take sides and review their own
beliefs.
Is speech dangerous? Should we be reigning in individuals and groups who have differing
political
views? During turmoil, should civil liberties be restricted? WunderLee's characters offer very
different answers to these questions.
And that, if anything else, is the beauty of the novel. When Maxwell Taylor's trial begins, the
tempo
of the novel changes, it becomes a dialogue between the author and the reader concerning the
First
Amendment. We suddenly realize the devices employed to construct such memorable characters
were done for the specific purpose of turning the book itself into the subject of the debate.
Maxwell
Taylor's sexual exploits are presented not only as plot material, but also to make A Wanton Gyre
itself a questionable piece of literature. The trial that so aptly brings a climax to the story, works
as
the novels own thesis and antithesis, it condemns as well as defends its own content.
There is no confusion on which side WunderLee is concerning the debate and there are parts of
the
novel that are flawed. At times, the rhythm of the prose is interrupted with too much digression,
there appears to have been multiple editors who worked on the novel, as choices differ on the
structure of the content, and the spiraling plot of the first section of the book can be a little
repetitious. Concerning its erotic content, A Wanton Gyre is more Tropic of Cancer than Lady
Chatterley's Lover and some parts may be too much for some readers. But, all in all, A Wanton
Gyre is an incredible accomplishment. You won't find a better discussion of civil liberties in any
other piece of contemporary literature. The novel belongs beside great works like Fahrenheit
451,
Kafka's The Trial (of which it was obviously influenced), and 1984.
With precise words, a rhythmic cadence, and one of the most memorable protagonists ever
prepared, Christopher WunderLee has developed an erotic thriller so complete it literally
challenges
the reader to investigate their own prejudices and rethink their social values. A Wanton Gyre is a
book that would make the Marquis de Sade smile and Thomas Jefferson reflective. For that, I say
it
deserves our respect.
Change Of Heart
Jack Allen
Burping Frog Publishing
6654 Harding, Taylor, Michigan 48180
ISBN: 0-7388-6730-6, price: $16, date: 2001, page count: 318
Jan McDaniel
Reviewer
When the stakes are high and the reading gripping, count on Josh McGowan to balance action
with
fascinating detail. Author Jack Allen created this character to lead the way through a world
studded
with international intrigue and heartbreaking emotion, both tinged with the taste of vengeance.
Allen's carefully planned and certainly human portrayal of McGowan moves this hero smoothly
through whatever situations he must face--from accessing his stakeout partner's true strengths and
weaknesses to changing survival tactics at a moment's notice. Josh's strength, in fact, is his
resourcefulness.
That strength is put to the test when a young woman named Valeria, who has a complicated
agenda
of her own, becomes more than an assignment. Stopping the next cold war is now a guessing
game.
In an around-the-world dash to get the answers to match up correctly, Josh puts everything on the
line . . . his career, his life . . . and even those may not be enough.
Not every man will do such work. When Valeria asks Josh why he does it, he is hard-pressed to
come up with the answer, even in his most private thoughts: "It wasn't for the money; they didn't
pay him enough. Patriotism? He believed in his country as much as anyone else, but he didn't
wrap
himself in the flag. So what was it? The killing? He shuddered. He hated to think he did this job
because it gave him an opportunity to kill. That would make him a blood-thirsty murderer.
"No, he did it because it had to be done."
Fortunately, Burping Frog Publishing plans to release several other titles in this series. A bright
new
talent on the Suspense Thriller scene, Jack Allen leaves his readers wanting more.
"TO ALL VICTIMS OF ABUSE -- for their fear, suffering, and hopelessness; their hope,
strength
and courage, their escape, recovery and renewal; their challenge to change society."
It is customary to begin a review with a representative quote or two from the book in question.
This
amiable convention is deemed to provide the prospective reader with a taste of the book
unseasoned
by the reviewer's peppery opinions and prejudices. Of equal but less-widely understood
importance,
it also affords the self-aggrandizing reviewer the opportunity to select quotes that support those
soon-to-be-unleashed prejudices and opinions. The above passage, from Nora Penia's sturdy first
novel, Invisible Chains, duly serves both these functions. What makes it noteworthy as well as
quoteworthy is that it comes not from the text, but from the dedication page of this psychological
drama cum mystery. You've gotta admire a writer who can stake out her territory, define her
terms,
and announce her intentions all before page one. It only remains to add that the abuse in question
is
spousal, both emotional and physical, and you've got your bearings.
Maddy Tyler is the director of Face to Face, a small agency (besides Maddy there is
fellow-counselor Darcy, and Anne, the idiosyncratic secretary) set up to provide counseling
services
to (mostly) women in abusive relationships. The story centers around Maddy, who is being
stalked
by the aggrieved husband of one of her clients, and two of those clients, Gillian and Laura, both
trying to figure out how to deal with their abuse (one physical, one emotional). Penia's
understated
style is immediately accessible and well fitted to her serious subject matter. The reader enters into
the crisis counselor_s world from the first sentence, and from there it is an easy step off the curb
into
the no-traffic-signs world of the abused women themselves. The building blocks of Penia's
narrative
are the group session, the crisis call, the anecdotal reminiscence and the sudden, wholly
non-gratuitous violence that is all the more shocking because it is so clearly inevitable. You know
what the book is about; you know the author's style is rigorously realistic, you know it's coming,
but
still you can't quite believe it when it does. It seems absurd to talk about "gritty realism" in what is
so unabashedly a "women's book", but there it is--no frills, no romance, no punches pulled.
The stresses of working as a counselor are portrayed with equal, if less-gut-wrenching realism.
Sentimentality is just not a color in Penia's pencil case. There is no glamour in being the director
of
Face to Face, with its one-window offices in a Florida strip mall. Both Maddy and Darcy are
stressed out before the story begins, and have few illusions about the day-to-day struggle and
depressingly low success rate. "I knew I would probably never hear from her again," is Maddy's
refrain after another crisis caller shies away from the truth--her way of acknowledging the cold
reality while at the same time reminding herself not to get too emotionally involved. At first
Maddy
refuses to take her stalker seriously--until she gets a dose of her own medicine from the appealing
Detective Connor, who provides police support as well as a genial romantic interest. In an ironic
twist, Maddy realizes that by denying the seriousness of the threatening letters she is making the
same mistake her clients do when they deny the seriousness of their abusive relationships. No one
is
immune, Penia seems to be saying--nobody wants to believe it is happening to them. Maddy is a
low-key heroine, but she is a heroine indeed, and quickly steels herself to face the truth. Together,
she and Connor come up with a plan to entice the stalker into a trap--although, in series of
hair-raising scenes, things don't go exactly as planned.
The stalker plot provides a nice framework, and will satisfy the mystery lovers' passion for
detection,
but it never threatens to overrun the author's main battlefield--the misery of abuse and the need to
end it. As promised, I point to the dedication to affirm that this book was clearly written for
abused
women, not only to tell their stories, but to encourage women still in abusive relationships to seek
help. For this reason, much of the book is given over to descriptions of what it is like to be in an
abusive relationship. We get Gillian's and Laura's stories in full detail, and representative
snapshots
of the lives of half a dozen others (including one man). Penia's unemotional style nonetheless
imbues
every word her characters speak with emotional truth.
Curiously, this emotional truth does not always translate into the most life-like of characters.
Anecdotal storytelling, though it serves the purpose Penia uses it for (accurate and honest
description), leads to a stilted view of the characters. We know what happened to them, but we
have
little sense of their personality, of whether or not we would actually like them if we were sitting
next
to them on an airplane. It's a trade off I'm sure Penia made gladly; her choice to focus on the
problem rather than the person. It's not like she can't do solid characterization: Maddy and Darcy,
whom we see struggling with the day-to-day problems of job, family, and future, are well-drawn
and
three-dimensional.
If there is any unexpected weakness in Invisible Chains, it is perhaps that the anecdotes becomes
repetitive--not in terms of their specifics, but in terms of their tone. After a while, the submissive
attitudes of the abused women, and the rationalizations they fall back on, begin to grate on the
nerves, especially because they are not explained. Again and again, the abused spouses fail to
stand
up for themselves; they allow their husbands to dictate whether they will go to work, go to
school,
make a phone call, or watch TV. Although it is hard to admit, in the face of Penia's earnest
attention
to detail, this leads to a lack of interest in the characters. One understands that the psychological
pressures--the invisible chains--placed by the abuser around the abused over time, along with
constant compromise, can wreck havoc on a person's judgement and identity. Maddy herself
provides the lone example of what a woman "should" do when confronted by an abusive spouse.
Her first husband was abusive--once. When he assaulted her, she left--pregnant and penniless and
powerless though she was. While Maddy's actions somewhat offset the inaction of the others, still
there is no explanation of what caused her to go one way, and those others to go another. Of
course,
once again Penia provides her answer early on--this time in the title of her book. But the fact that
the
characters themselves don't know how it happened does not remove the reader's desire for
enlightenment. Those invisible chains needed to be a little more corporeal for the average
reader.
That said, there can be little doubt that Penia made a conscious choice to avoid excess discussion
of
"why" and "how," for such discussion would have led to an analysis of social morays, sexual
politics
and the like, which would have taken the focus off the women themselves. As it is, her message
remains clear--abusive relationships are bad, they are the fault of the abuser, not the abused, and
they should be ended. Worthy issues such as what the abused spouse could have or should have
done, how abusers play on social conventions that allow men to be jealous, aggressive, and
dominant, and how women are raised to believe that any man is better than none, are not even
hinted
at. Penia is not writing about causes, remember, but about symptoms, writing a book for abused
women in the hope that some of them will read it, see themselves or their spouses, and take steps
to
get out.
Penia, a writer who lives in southern Florida, has many years of working with abused spouses
under
her belt, and boy does it show. Invisible Chains is a do-it-yourself diagnostic tool for abusive
relationships. It_s also a well-paced and frequently riveting story for the more casual reader. Don't
let this reviewer's interest in and admiration of the author's mission scare you off. Penia
understands
the difference between proselytizing and shining a spotlight on a dark area of human experience.
Her
sense of moral responsibility only makes Invisible Chains all the more satisfying.
Ellen Larson, Reviewer, http://www.enkidu.info/reviews
Brenda's Bookshelf
Halfway To Forever
Karen Kingsbury
Multnomah Publishers
PO Box 1720, Sisters, Oregon 97759
ISBN 157673899X $11.99 www.amazon.com 1-800-929-0910
Two families - four friends - hoping for a miracle.
Matt and Hannah Bronzan knew heartache for Hannah had just laid to rest her husband and oldest
child some four years ago. Now after much soul-searching and prayers, they were ready to add to
their family. They were ready to move forward. To take the step that would forever change their
lives when they adopt a little girl who gets shifted back to her grandma before the adoption is
legalized. Heartbroken, Hannah struggles with her anger and her belief in God. While she
struggles
with her inner turmoil, a miracle is ready to take place.
Jade and Tanner Eastman fell in love years ago. Fate kept them apart for over a decade. Although
they each survived, Tanner resented not knowing his son or being there for his early years so
when
they once again found each other, they believed things were finally working out for them. Now
Jade
is pregnant. Everything seems to be going right when the terrible news hits - Jade has cancer. Due
to
the pregnancy, the cancer is spreading at a rapid rate. Only a miracle can save both Jade and the
unborn child.
Get the tissues out. Halfway To Forever is a tear-jerker. Each of Kingsbury's characters have their
own inner struggles grounded deep with love for the Savior. Yet each has their own doubts.
Wondering why bad things happen to good people. Together, the Bronzan's and Eastman's forge
a
lasting bond showing the true colors of friendship. Remember, in life, and in fiction, anything is
possible.
Day Of Reckoning: The Baxter Series, Book Two
Kathy Herman
Multnomah Publishers
PO Box 1720, Sisters, Oregon 97759
ISBN 1576738965, $11.99, www.amazon.com 1-800-929-0910
He wanted attention. -- He definitely got it.
One man's anger grew until it festered. Boiling. Waiting to be released. Nothing would stop his
revenge against the man who killed his father. He - Wayne Purdy - would be in the spotlight
finally
putting the might G.R. Logan in his place. Making him feel as helpless as Wayne did when his
father
was out of work. When his father died. When Wayne quit school to put food on the table for his
mother and sister.
In his revenge, his anger attacks two innocent children, Taylor Logan and Sherri Kennsington.
With
them missing and perhaps even dead, the entire town of Baxter prays for their safe return while
the
FBI struggles to bring the girls home unharmed. Throw in the visit of Wayne's sister who finds
out
the truth behind the headlines but at the same time she's too scared to go to the authorities. Then
she
makes her move. Will it be too late for all the girls?
From anger to acceptance to forgiveness, Herman has created characters that are human, not
perfect, and certainly willing to show their love of Christ even through they too were wronged by
one man caught in the middle. Happiness. Sadness. Glowing acceptance. Turning to Christ.
Knowing He is the One who made the plan. Numerous themes abound in Day Of Reckoning
while
the suspense builds and the anger ebbs. It is definite that one of the themes is sure to touch the
heart
of Herman's readers.
Brenda Ramsbacher
Reviewer
Peter's Bookshelf
Marketing And Promoting Your Own Seminars And Workshops
Fred Gleeck
Fast Forward Press
209 Horizon Peak Drive, Henderson, NV 89012
ISBN 0936965088, $14.95, 1-800-FGLEECK (345-3325), www.seminarexpert.com,
www.amazon.com
If you want to learn how to make money by holding seminars, workshops, or bootcamps, you'll
want
to get a copy of Marketing And Promoting Your Own Seminars And Workshops by Fred
Gleeck.
Drawing upon his vast experience in holding over 1,300 one-day seminars (and flying over two
million miles to provide them) over the last fifteen years, Gleeck provides a readable introduction
to
getting started in the seminar business. Even if you have experience hosting seminars or in public
speaking, you'll probably find Marketing And Promoting Your Own Seminars And Workshops a
good read.
Gleeck says the business of providing seminars has the potential to earn an individual several
hundred thousand dollars a year or even upwards of a million dollars a year. He says that the
seminar
business also provides the opportunity to learn new things, meet interesting people, travel, and be
an
onstage ham, if you want.
Why ham-it-up a bit during a seminar? After surveying thousands of individuals about the
characteristics great public speakers have, Gleeck found three dominant results: Great speakers
are
sincere, knowledgeable, and humorous.
How do you know if you're humorous? Gleeck writes: "It's only funny if they laugh. The
definition
of funny must come from the people receiving the message. I don't care if you think a joke is
funny.
I don't care if your family thinks it is funny. It is not funny if people don't laugh."
That's a truism many people outside the entertainment field don't contemplate. Two individuals
could sit around all day debating the quality of a dramatic feature film--one person arguing the
film
is high quality and the other arguing it's horrible. But, there isn't much to debate with comedy. Go
ahead and try to convince people that There's Something About Mary isn't a funny film!
In addition to liking humor because we know whether or not it's working, Gleeck likes
measurable
business results. Gleeck discusses setting measurable goals for your events.
Gleeck writes: "I have three goals when I give a seminar. First, I want to get great evaluations.
Second, I want to sell a lot of product. Third, I want to achieve both of these goals in such a way
that people will enthusiastically want to do business with me again. ... All three of these can be
measured."
Gleeck goes on to suggest revenue per person (attending the seminar) per minute (of time
invested
in presenting the seminar) as a yardstick of a financially successful seminar. Gleeck also discusses
price testing of your seminars to maximize profitability.
Gleeck is a strong proponent of the back-end profitability of seminars. Rather than just
maximizing
the seminar registration revenue, Gleeck suggests that the key to seminar success is maximizing
the
total revenue that the seminar generates for you.
Gleeck expresses this as: TR = SR + PS + CB, which says that the total revenue generated by a
seminar is the sum of the seminar registration fees plus the product sales generated during the
seminar plus the consulting business generated by the seminar. (In fact, Gleeck point out that
seminars are a great way to generate business if you are a consultant)
To be able to maximize seminar profitability, Gleeck suggests calculating the lifetime value of
your
seminar customers. Then, you know how much you can spend on marketing to acquire new
customers.
Gleeck also says that you should record your seminars. In addition to allowing you to critique
your
performance, Gleeck writes: "... you may capture a 'magic moment' on tape. What is a magic
moment? This is where you do or say something to your audience that brings the house down.
They
either laugh or cry or explode with applause and adulation. You want to have this on tape. Take
all
of the magic moments and cut them together and you will have a phenomenal demo video or
audio
that you can use to promote yourself as a speaker and seminar leader."
Gleeck is also a strong supporter of recording your seminars to sell audio tapes to people who
want
to hear the seminar but were not be able to attend. At $197 a pop, it's easy to see how selling
seminar tapes can add to the bottom line. Gleeck says successful seminar promoters often
generate
50% or more of their profits from the sales of tapes, videos, books, and other products.
What about people who don't want to sell products at their seminars? Gleeck tells them to get
over
it. He says selling products is too profitable to pass up. Gleeck suggests creating products at many
different price points and upselling to generate more revenue. Gleeck says leave your books at
home--they just aren't profitable enough.
Gleeck also says that your seminar products must not only be good, they must be great (and, of
course, he has a way to measure this--rates of return and rates of customer repeat business).
Gleeck
also points out that withholding valuable information in an attempt to upsell customers to
higher-priced products is a failing strategy. Rather, Gleeck argues that you want to make your
information so useful that customers want more.
Marketing And Promoting Your Own Seminars And Workshops also provides some great advice
about marketing seminars (in particular, writing direct mail promotions for your seminars), hotel
coffee, psyching yourself up for a speech or seminar, keeping audience attention, hiring other
presenters, 1-800 numbers, and many other topics.
Overall, I don't know if any audio tape is worth $197, but at $14.95, if you are thinking of getting
into the seminar business, Fred Gleeck's book, Marketing And Promoting Your Own Seminars
And
Workshops, represents a tremendous value.
Peter Hupalo
Reviewer
Rob's Bookshelf
The Treatment: The Story Of Those Who Died In The Cincinnati Radiation Tests
Martha Stephens
Duke University Press
P.O. Box 90660 Durham, NC 27708
ISBN 0822328119, $28.95, hardback, www.amazon.com
In 1971, Martha Stephens was a junior level English professor at the University of Cincinnati and
probably one of the most unlikely people to uncover and later expose a government project
designed to test the effects of radiation sickness on human subjects.
It was in that year a chance encounter with a colleague led her to a small article in The Village
Voice which had established a link between a program underwritten by the Department of
Defense
and research carried out in secret at the universitys General Hospital.
A simple request to the hospital for information led to a stunning disclosure of what was taking
place inside a specially designed basement chamber. Beginning in 1960, cancer patients, the
majority being black or working poor, were being irradiated over their entire bodies in an effort
to
simulate the exposure a soldier might experience in a nuclear war.
She found that very few of the 86 known patients showed signs of acute illness at the time of
testing. None were informed or consented to the tests. Most died shortly thereafter.
The experiments were made public by Stephens and a number of faculty members and, after a
brief
flurry of media attention, a deal was made between state and federal governments to stop the
testing in exchange for an agreed silence on the identities of researchers and victims.
The incident would be quickly forgotten in the ongoing social and political unrest and it was not
until 1994 that the author is contacted by a Cincinnati television reporter seeking to re-open the
investigation. Once ignored by the local press, the story is made into front page news and
prompts
a congressional inquiry and federal lawsuit filed on behalf of the victims families.
Like similar stories of medical research run amok, this shameful episode makes for both
fascinating
and troubling reading. With an English instructors love of language, Stephens recounts her
tireless
efforts to bring those responsible before the public, as well as restoring the names and
personalities
to victims known in hospital documents by a clinical code number.
However, readers will quickly discover a text hampered by the authors annoying habit of
including
people and events that are unrelated and unnecessary.
"Few of us today - perhaps tomorrow will be different - feel we can do much to challenge the
forces in control." Thats Stephens philosophizing not about the far-reaching nature of the
scandal,
but the 1984 elections in Nicaragua which, obviously, have nothing to do with the books subject
matter.
We also go on vacations with the author to San Jose and Costa Rica, attend a 1992 peace march
in
Washington and review capital punishment as it is practiced in Ohio without any explanation as
to
their relevancy.
Likewise, her tendency to view the experiments in light of the citys social and political
conservatism
rather than in the context of the human radiation tests that had occurred nation-wide since 1945,
under the auspices of the countrys nuclear weapons program, makes for a less than even-handed
view and leaves certain sections sounding conspiratorial in tone.
More judicious editing would have trimmed the extraneous features from the book and eliminated
some of the confusion. Still, "The Treatment," along with James Howard Jones "Bad Blood: The
Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment" and "The Plutonium Files" by Eileen Welsome, belongs on the
desk
of every legislator, university president and research scientist in the country. It stands as another
stark reminder of the harm that can be wrought in the interest of national security or in the name
of
medical science.
In The Forest: A Novel
Edna O'Brien
Houghton Mifflin
215 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10003
ISBN 0618197303, $24.00, hardback, www.amazon.com
Until recently, Ireland was viewed by many as a carefree, bucolic retreat, economically
under-developed, but somehow free of contemporary problems.
The notion was never really true, of course, but made more apparent during the spring of 1994 in
County Clare when a mentally and socially dispersed drifter named Brendan O'Donnell killed a
single mother, Imelda Riney, her son Liam and Father Joseph Walshe shortly after being paroled
from a British jail.
It was the type of bewildering brutality that forever changed village life in Ireland and one
regularly
cited by commentators throughout the United Kingdom when discussing a loss of national
innocence.
While not a murder story in any sense, In The Forest is a fictionalized account of an act which
O'Brien, herself a native of County Clare, sees as symbolizing the tragedy of her time, and also
another sign of a society at the point of imminent breakdown.
Outwardly, what she attempts is nothing new for someone whose previous works have
successfully
intertwined the violence of ordinary life with a peculiar brand of Irishness that characterizes the
rural western part of the country. Likewise, the narrative structure employed here is time-tested,
presenting the personal stories of victim and perpetrator side by side before a terrible symmetry
of
circumstance binds them together.
In this case, the life of Michen O'Kane (O'Donnell), an unmanageable reprobate nicknamed
"Kinderschreck," or one who scares children, parallels that of Eily Ryan (Riney), an artist and
free
soul who, through sheer fate, moves into his former house.
We follow O'Kane from the brutal criminal justice system where he spends most of his youth to
the
town of Cloosh, a place bitterly called home. Months earlier, Ryan has left the city for the
relative
safety of the countryside and spends only a short time there with her son until they are last seen
together with the Kinderschreck in a car headed for the woods.
Widely regarded as a novelist dedicated more to evoking feeling than one to experiment with
form,
O'Brien uses a variety of prose to further develop the psychological complexities of each
character.
O'Kanes extreme mental state is rendered in a nonsensical chattering short-hand, "Why do I go to
this trouble haul this stuff this gear flowers music beef or salmon, madam?" he rattles to a
fearful
townsperson. Ryans final days are told with a tone of childlike innocence while Father John
Fitzgerald (Walshe) tells of his own fate in a brief, naively pious first person account.
The same attention which she gives to the human condition is applied to setting as well. The
town, a
seemingly mediaeval backwater, is populated by helpless villagers moving at a dilatory pace, its
woodland undergoes a transformation from a "drowsy corpus of green" to "a rust-brown carnage
of
old dead leaves" where rescuers eventually recover the bodies.
In many ways, In The Forest captures the human toll of this horrific crime better than any effort
in
non-fiction. The literary flourish O'Brien brings to the story is to be appreciated, her larger
statement on what constitutes tragedy and grief in modern-day Ireland is not to be overlooked.
Arafats Elephant
Jonathan Tel
Counterpoint Press
P.O. Box 65793 Washington D.C. 20035
ISBN 1582431833, $14.00, paperback, www.amazon.com
Jonathan Tels debut collection resists any easy labeling. Each of the 17 stories are independent
pieces with the only noticeable thread connecting them being their Jerusalem setting.
Even more confusing, in a region where people have come to define themselves through rivalry,
be
it religious, territorial or political, Tels characters seem to be free from many of these traditional
burdens. Instead, their ordeals lie in the everyday, a scenario that invites the author to freely
interject his own brand of the unexpected and absurd.
Happiness never really flourishes here: a prospective bride shamed by a random sexual encounter
in
"Beautiful, Strong, and Modest" while in "Alte Zakhen" a UN representative is kidnapped from a
bathroom, "Spleen; or, The Goys Tale" follows an orthodox rabbi who discovers he has Gentile
blood, and there is no room at the inn for the founder of modern Zionism in "Shaking Hands
With
Theodor Herzl."
By far, the volumes strongest entry, "A Story About a Bomb," is one in which the intifada is
brought to a momentary halt by busy traffic. To tell the tale, an unidentified narrator recounts an
almost playful story he read about a hapless suicide bomber who cant seem to cross the road to
reach his intended target, a crowded bus stop. "He stepped out one centimeter into the road -
and
a great Coca-Cola truck went roaring past. He retreated. He strode forth. A Subaru blurted its
horn at him."
After making it to the other side, the bomber is again stopped short of martyrdom by two tourists
who ask to have their picture taken. Although we are told that the story is over when his finger
presses down on the button, readers are left to wonder for several more pages before the author
reveals whether that button was wired to a camera or an explosive.
"Bomb" is a perfect example of Tels technique, which is carefully restrained, sometimes
inconclusive, but with a prose style that always lends to the story an element of distorted
reality.
Another, "I May Be a Ghost but Im Not a Slut," is a barroom conversation between an
ambulance
driver and a young girl who he does not realize is dead. The daily proximity to death has left the
driver immune to the girls ghastly features and incessant talk of suicide. Painfully conspicuous
dialogue, however, derails the story before the reader can first appreciate its conceit.
Tels most effective stories capitalize on their brevity. The role reversal "Ibrahim Kuttab is
Innocent," another nesting of a story within a story, follows the actions of a young
Hebrew-speaking Israeli whose obvious masquerade as an Arab is transparent to everyone but
the
authorities who beat him to get at the truth.
Less effective are his moments of whimsy. "Did Moshe Dayan Have a Glass Eye?" five pages of
arch, disposable fragments, offers nothing beyond its memorable title. Likewise the title piece, a
parable about a cumbersome gift that has present-day implications, ends the collection on a less
than
striking note.
Taken together, Tels stories provide a view of Jerusalem as a city of individuals who, in addition
to
enduring the daily routine of horrors that is the Middle East, verge on surrendering to the
disorder
of their personal lives as well. And while he may sometimes appear obsessed with this trauma, it
is
an obsession that reminds us that suffering in all its forms is easily found in such a tumultuous
part
of the world.
Rob Stout
Reviewer
Shannon's Bookshelf
Finding Ian
Stella Cameron
Zebra Books/Kensington Publishing Corp.
850 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022
ISBN: 0821770829, $6.99, 384 pp., www.kensingtonbooks.com, www.amazon.com
Thirteen years ago, Byron, in the throes of grief after the death of his young wife in childbirth,
does
what he thinks is best and gives his son up for adoption. It was the only way he could imagine his
child would have a happy life. But, as Byron continues on with his education and begins his
career,
and ultimately becomes famous in his field of work, he always keeps track of where young Ian is.
As long as Ian is happy, Byron is content to leave things as is. But when Byron discovers that
Ian's
adoptive parents have both died and the boy has been sent to relatives in England, Byron decides
to
go see for himself whether Ian is happy and well-cared for.
There will be little, if any, disruption to his own life, he assures himself.
But things aren't that simple. Ian might not be happy with these virtual strangers, in a country so
different from America, so before he knows it, Byron is much more involved with Ian's life than
he
planned. Not only that, but Ian's beautiful cousin, Jade, manages to turn Byron's life completely
upside down, and things are no longer simple at all.
Stella Cameron handles the plot line of Finding Ian with sensitivity. Lives are merged and joined
in a
way no one expected, leaving Byron to make some very difficult decisions about what is most
important in his life and that of his son's. You'll enjoy this book and watching the characters grow
and come together.
Free Stuff For Kids, 2002 Edition
The Free Stuff Editors
Meadowbrook Press/Simon and Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
ISBN: 0881664014, $5.99, 102 pp., www.meadowbrookpress.com
Got bored kids? Free Stuff For Kids (2002 Edition) is the perfect remedy to that.
Packed with hundreds of free and "up-to-a-dollar" stuff to order by mail, there's something for
every
kid. From sports cards to toys, stickers, tattoos and school supplies, kids may actually a hard time
choosing - so it's a good thing the offers are good for the entire year of 2002!
I found the book is also a good learning tool. The beginning of the book gives detailed
instructions,
written in easy-to-follow language, to help kids send postcards and letters for the offers, send any
money necessary for items, and even a checklist to follow, preventing mistakes that might keep
kids
from getting their stuff.
A parent might like to teach their kids a bit about the money they spend on the items, help them
with
their penmanship skills and keep track of what they order and when it comes in.
Also included are internet addresses where kids can check out more free stuff. Free Stuff For
Kids,
2002 Edition, promises hours of fun and excitement, especially as the treasures start arriving in
the
mail!
Passing Through Paradise
Susan Wiggs
Warner Books
1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
ISBN: 044661078X, $6.99, paperback, 419 pp., www.amazon.com
Sandra Babcock's life was full of shame and loneliness... until Victor Winslow came along. He
was
her best friend and then her husband, and Sandra's lonely past fell behind her as the beloved wife
of
the adored politician.
But now the town of Paradise is anything but paradise, as Sandra faces the accusatory stares and
disapproval of Victor's constituents, who call her the Black Widow, believing she caused Victor's
violent and untimely death.
Despite exoneration by the courts, Sandra realizes she will always remain suspect in the eyes of
Victor's friends and family. Her only choice is to renovate her broken-down family home, find a
buyer, and get the heck out of Paradise.
When Mike Malloy comes into Sandra's life, he fixes more than her home. He fixes her life and
mends her broken heart. In turn, she fills the void in his life as a devoted single dad, who sees his
children not nearly enough for his liking.
But, will the dark secrets Sandra keeps about the night of her husband's death keep Mike from
every
fully loving and trusting her? Will Sandra give up any chance of happiness to keep from admitting
the truth?
Of all Susan Wiggs' books I've read, I found Passing Through Paradise the most poignant - the
most
graceful story of committed love. Sandra's despair and resignation to do the right thing, balanced
with Mike's wanting the best for his family, and for Sandra, is a deeply felt thread throughout the
book. Trust and obligation - to others and to themselves - make Sandra and Mike real and
likeable.
With a climax sure to surprise, Passing Through Paradise is a definite winner.
Shannon Cave
Reviewer
Judy's Bookshelf
Championship Writing - 50 Ways To Improve Your Writing
Paula La Roque
Success Press
Marion Street Press
http://www.marionstreetpress.com/
ISBN: 0966517636, $18.95 US Softcover 206 pages
Who would think a book on grammar and composition could be interesting and entertaining? This
one is. "Championship Writing" is filled with tips for using language properly and it is easy to see
that Paula La Roque loves words and language - this is a woman who reads dictionaries for fun.
From Ambrose Briece on words, to Zimmerman's leads, there is something here for all writers
interested in perfecting their craft. Non-fiction writers, especially, will benefit from the practical
advice in this useful book.
Paula La Roque believes the relationship between writer and reader is based on trust: "We don't
trust 'experts' who can't use their tools, and language is the only tool the writer has."
Ms. La Roque certainly qualifies as a writing expert who has earned the trust of professional
writers
all over the continent. Her experience includes four years as writing consultant for the Associated
Press Washington Bureau, she is on the AP Managing Editors executive board and will serve as
President of the association in 2004. Her list of credits is impressive and too extensive to mention
here. This book is a collection of fifty columns originally written for the Society of Professional
Journalists' "Quill Magazine."
I had the urge to dig out everything I have ever written to see if I had fallen prey to the "don't
dos"
mentioned in each chapter. So often when writing about what "not to do," authors neglect to
explain
how to do it effectively. This book sets out examples of ineffective writing and then offers good
examples of how to turn them into writing that has clarity and power. The chapters on writing
"leads" are especially informative. The all- important first lines of a story, whether fiction or news,
are of concern to every writer.
Columns 12 & 13, "Rethinking Headlines," contain numerous examples of "deadend" headlines
that
fail to draw the reader into a piece along with examples of how to rewrite them to provoke the
reader's curiosity.
La Roque shows you how to write with clarity and beauty in mind. Word lovers will particularly
enjoy the column, "Solving the Ambrose Briece Mystery," which touches on the evolution of the
English language. "Notes on Usage" is another good one wherein common words and phrases
that
are often misused are defined.
Most concepts will be familiar to professional writers, though it is surprising that the book fails to
address the new medium of Internet writing. In the forward to the book, Ms. La Roque mentions
workplace writing. Increasingly, workplace writing is making the transition from print to HTML
(hypertext markup language). There is a vast new audience of readers who do not read
newspapers,
they may not watch television, but they are online avidly reading and seeking new content
everyday.
The principles outlined in this book are appropriate for anyone, and writers in new media could
greatly improve their web copy by applying them.
Ms. La Roque's "secret" for good writing appears on page 34: "Memorable writing is usually
simplified language. It emulates speech at its best and is immediate in its clarity and beauty. If it's
also 'informal,' so much the better."
The last chapter is for the writing teacher or editor, there is nothing new here, but some editors I
know could benefit from adopting the respectful attitude that Ms. La Roque encourages. I would
have liked to have seen some transition between the columns, but the informative index briefly
defines each chapter, and provides a concise, handy reference for the working writer or writing
teacher. Highly recommended.
How You Can Be Your Own Publisher
Judy Meininger
Success Press
l12A -10616 Mellow Meadows Drive, Austin, Texas 78750
Format: Ebook (PDF version)
ISBN 0-9675958-3-5 (59 p) Price: $14.95, 1-512-401-4905
http://www.unconventionalwisdom.com/
How You Can Be Your Own Publisher will be of interest to anyone who wants to know more
about the administrative details of setting up a self-publishing business. This 103-page ebook has
a
good index for quick reference to the material, a bonus section with a tips on marketing and leads
to some commercial resources as well. The extensive 45 page appendix lists full contact details
for
International ISBN agents throughout the world.
The author touches on what needs to be considered when starting up: naming and registering
your
business, where to find information on collecting sales tax and what equipment you need to get
started. There are some good tips and advice on how to save money while setting up and
equipping
your office like: shopping the classifieds, bartering and attending auctions.
Meininger has done a good job gathering information to explain the basics of copyright, ISBN
numbers, bar codes and wholesalers, all important considerations for the self-publisher. The
reader
will find more information on each item by following the clickable links to other online resources
concerning these concepts.
A freelance writer and self-publisher since 1992, Meininger's articles have appeared in national
and
international magazines and business publications. A business/paralegal graduate of Huntingdon
College in Montgomery, Alabama, Meininger has 15-plus years working with both start-up and
established businesses. She has helped more than 200 authors develop business, marketing and
publicity plans for books and articles.
This ebook answers most of the basic questions those new to the business of self-publishing will
need to consider as they take those first steps towards establishing their own business. An
updated,
revised paperback version of How You Can Be Your Own Publisher, based on feedback from the
ebook, will be available September 2002.
Something Like A House
Sid Smith
Picador, Macmillan
0330480871, A$21.00 (paperback), 227 pages
"He was the only round-eye on board, but nobody noticed".
Nobody noticed, partly because this Westerner had lived long enough amongst Chinese peasants
to
have become like them in his manners, his movements, even his thoughts. We are told, in the first
pages, that his name is Jim Fraser, but almost everything else we learn about him is learned
through
his actions and the reactions of others. He remains almost faceless - an odd, small figure, in a
culture to which he is alien and in which he is just one more insignificant speck in the flow of
history.
We see that history - thirty-five years of the vast cultural changes which took place in China after
the Korean War - only as it affects the people of the small Miao village where Fraser eventually
comes to live after deserting from the UN army at the end of that war. Eighteen-years old, he hid
in
the fields and surrendered to the Chinese soldiers, became sick, was imprisoned in a clinic near
the
Miao village and, when he recovered, was surprisingly released to live with two of the
villagers.
This remarkable book tells his story in a spare, blunt style which draws you into a history which
is
human and compelling. One of the great strengths of this book is that Smith allows the reader to
experience the village and its people with Fraser, to see odd things happen without
understanding
them or being able to ask, and to know about the changes happening in the rest of China only in
the
random, fragmentary way that people in a remote, mostly illiterate, minority group would know
of
them.
As the events of the Cultural Revolution affect the nearest town, young people wearing red
armbands begin to appear in the area. And as Party policies are implemented, the traditional
farming
life of the villagers becomes more difficult. The book is not focused on history but on the few
villagers Fraser becomes close to. Their lives and his change as their world changes; as political
unrest grows; and as they become more and more involved with things outside the village.
Eventually, Fraser find himself fighting again - this time with a group of Red Guards.
What comes through most strongly in this book, is the strength of the will to survive. The horrors
which the Cultural Revolution brings to the ordinary people are simply endured or participated in,
according to circumstances. They are part of the need to survive and there is little choice.
Culture,
custom and superstitious belief are shown to lie behind some of the most horrific acts, but there is
no moralizing or comment - just bare descriptions, which are no less horrific for that.
Only towards the end of the book are some things explained and, were it not for Smith's
'Afterword', the underlying theme of germ-warfare and genetic experimentation which then
becomes
apparent might be dismissed as too fanciful to be frightening. Smith's narrative shows the actions
of
people from both Western and Eastern cultures. His 'Afterword' outlines the research he
undertook
and the facts on which some of the things in this book were based and they are what makes
Fraser's
story terrifyingly relevant to our own lives.
This is a beautifully written, sensitive, powerful and unusual book, for which Smith deservedly
won
the Whitbread First Novel Award in 2001.
Julian Barnes was not always a Francophile. When he first went to France with his parents, at the
age of thirteen, he found it a "monstrous experience". And French food, as he tells us in the first
essay in this book, seemed formidably eccentric: he disliked the unsalted butter, the bloody meat
and the "foul" vinaigrette sauces. Only fruit seemed reliable. And the French? They "liked onions
far
too much" and "brushed their teeth with garlic paste".
This essay is delightful but it is untypical of the essays and reviews in the rest of the book.
Certainly,
there are other humorous, light-hearted delights, especially in Barnes's easy, inventive prose, but
most of the pieces are more serious, in-depth discussions about French writers, musicians,
film-makers and other things French. Most were originally published in The New Yorker, The
New
York Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement or The London Review of Books: if you
read these publications, you will know the sort of excellence they demand and the sort of long,
informed pieces they like to publish.
Barnes is familiar enough with French literature to discuss it with authority and his work has won
him recognition and reverence from the French literary establishment. Yet, I take pleasure in the
fact that he presents himself more as the Ultimate Peasant (who figures in a couple of pieces in
this
book) than as the Modern French Literary Critic. His style is closer to that of Samuel Johnson
than
to that of Derrida or Lacan. And praise be for that!
There are surprises, too, in this book. There is a wonderfully funny picture of Barnes trying out
and
Elizabeth David recipe and honouring her special flair as the doyenne of food writing. One essay
deals with an English historian, Richard Cobb, who first went to France in 1935, adopted it as
his
country, became the Revolution's historian and was awarded the L‚gion d'Honneur. Another with
the Tour de France 2000, and with the world of competitive cycling. Edith Warton figures in
several of the essays, most particularly as she motor-tours through France in 1906-7 with her
husband Teddy and with Henry James as a passenger. And there is an essay which begins by
discussing three singers who were popular when Barnes taught "English conversation and
English
civilization" at a French Catholic school from 1966-7 and which takes flight into reminiscences
about some of the Catholic Fathers with whom he worked.
Readers unfamiliar with France and with things French may not share Barnes's enthusiasms and
may
often find his subject matter, here, too French for their taste, but his writing always reflects a
lively,
humorous and worldly mind. Readers who share his Francophilia, and especially those who share
his taste in French literature, will revel in the fact that most often in these essays Barnes is
discussing the lives and work of French writers like Mallarm‚, Baudelaire, Sartre and, of course,
Flaubert.
Barnes is infatuated with Flaubert: his work, his life, his loves, his hates, his friends and his
enemies.
"I wish he'd SHUT UP about Flaubert", Kingsley Amies is reported to have said. "Fat chance!",
is
Barnes's reply and in much of this book he indulges himself in the "necessary pleasure" of Not
Shutting Up About Flaubert.
Ann Skea, Reviewer
http://ann.skea.com
Hodgins' Bookshelf
The Course Of Honour
Lindsey Davis
Century/Random House
ISBN 0712677240, 296 pages, UK pounds 15.99
Mysterious Press
ISBN 0892966742, 336 pages, $22.00, www.amazon.com
It's ancient Rome again, "Commencing in the autumn of AD 31, when the Caesar was Tiberius."
This time author Davis doesn't write about her favourite fictional detective, Didius Falco, but
perhaps her research for the Falco series both inspired and facilitated this "extra" work.
The apparently - at first - fictional protagonist is Caenis, a highly intelligent, educated slave girl to
the (historical) dowager Empress Antonia, who later grants her freedom before dying.
By standards of the British throne, where George III reigned 60 years, Victoria 64 years, and
Elizabeth II now at 50 years, the somewhat rapid turnover rate of Roman emperors through
whose
reigns Caenis lived wasn't half quick enough for the good of their subjects. Their qualities on
average had sadly deteriorated after Augustus; for these men held absolute power and, as the wise
Lord Acton (1843-1902) much later stated, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts
absolutely." Aside from other corruptions, these rulers in several cases were terrorists enthroned,
who thought nothing of murder or ordering suicides.
As the story opens, the now corrupt - certainly in Davis's account - Emperor Tiberius (who had
however begun pretty well, according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica) was nominally on the
throne,
but actually hanging out - again, in Davis's account - with disreputable cronies on Capri in the Bay
of Naples area.
The encyclopaedia tasks Tiberius chiefly with being unloving and unlovable, and eventually with
becoming cynical about bloodshed. Such rule might not greatly affect a minor citizen living in,
say,
Gaul, but Caenis is a Roman court personality whose lover (introduced below) will himself
become
Emperor; compared to the general run of a figurative forest, they are high trees who catch more
than
their share of any wind.
A young man of good but impoverished family, the future (again, historical) emperor Vespasian
has
taken notice of a pair of slave girls and becomes enamoured, not of the exquisite and hedonistic
foil
Veronica, but of the plainer but far deeper Caenis - a name from Greek legend, but not mentioned
in
the Encyclopaedia in connection with Vespasian. A note at the book's end, though, suggests that
Caenis was real.
In a middle passage, Davis will also say that the historian Suetonius mentions Antonia Caenis in
an
essay on the Caesars. If this book were "real fiction" one couldn't even be certain that such an
essay
ever existed, but my money is on factuality; for one gets a strong feeling that the fictional content
of
this book goes not much farther than to patch into the historical record a welter of obviously
unrecorded but at least plausible dialogue and events, and possibly the entire, rather minor
Veronica
character.
Writing such a book strikes me as parallel to completing a large, complex, highly demanding
paint-by-numbers kit in which an evidently exact skeleton-sketch is provided - by recorded
history,
for a book - and in which the blank areas are painted in with more or less vivid colours, by the
artist.
In such an analogy, a dedicated history would consist of as complete and orderly a skeleton
sketch
as possible; at the opposite extreme, a science fiction story set in a different world having no
recognizable frame of human or earthly reference would be an abstract or other free-form
painting,
with no predetermined skeleton at all; and other novel genres would tend to use minimal skeletal
sketching, adorned with plenty of imaginative brushwork.
Vespasian's regard is returned by Caenis, it seems, but there is no question of eventual marriage
between their disparate castes. Although Davis allows that Caenis has been pursued by men
before,
evidently with occasional success, the slave holds Vespasian off for years. (The closest to a
rationale
for her to do so is that she isn't HIS slave, but someone else's; it is not however an issue that has
safeguarded her virginity hitherto, if I understand Davis's subtle hints. Nor is there ever a mention
of
her pregnancy.)
In ancient Rome, a rather formalized development programme for young men of high
expectations
existed; the Encyclopaedia states in the case of Tiberius that he "passed through the list of state
offices in the usual princely fashion, beginning with the quaestorship ..." It is from that custom
that
this book's title, "The Course of Honour", clearly is drawn. Accordingly, during the years-long
delay
to a logical consummation of the loving pair's relationship, Vespasian is sent abroad on that
typical
round of official positions.
Consider now the risk Caenis runs as she almost thrusts Vespasian away from her own arms and,
in
effect, into those of other woman in Crete and elsewhere! You may perhaps understand Caenis in
this matter, but not I - although there is a familiar, lamentable female behavioural pattern ...
Even Caenis's becoming a freedwoman - accompanied by her receiving her employer's forename,
Antonia - will not allow her marriage to Vespasian, as she appears to have been aware all along.
Her
freedom does however meet some obscure requirement letting her become his mistress for a few
years.
Yet it is no secret that eventually she will be cast aside to let him marry someone "more suitable";
she seems to expect that event more than he does, but to fear it less.
That turn of events will in fact occur. Yet it develops that the woman who marries Vespasian is
no
paragon, either, but a different man's (a cipher named Capella's) ex-mistress. "The other woman"
is
nonetheless good enough to give Vespasian a favourable and dutiful "family man" image to
support
his long range political ambitions.
Considering the anguish it involved, that switch of partners must have been very difficult to
justify.
The real problem however is that whereas a good logic does exist, the book hides it entirely too
long; for an explanation only emerges in the volume's Part Three, subtitled "When the Caesars
were
Caligula and Claudius", Chapter XVII, page 108. Forlorn after the supposed final departure of
Vespasian from her life, Caenis "could in fact marry anyone in the Empire she liked, except the six
hundred men [such as Vespasian] who were members of the Senate. Augustus had debarred those
from marrying freedwomen [such as Caenis] ..."
As we ancient Romans like to say, "Lux venit" - "Comes the dawn!" It's late to learn that,
though.
The tone of the book abruptly changes with the marriage of Vespasian, and a 20-year hiatus in his
relationship with Caenis begins until his wife ultimately dies. During this long period, the story
occupies itself with Roman politics at the hands of omnipotent, often bloodyminded Roman
emperors including Caligula, Claudius (hands-down the best of this series, but derided for being
lame, in his time), and Nero. Although people and events are portrayed from Caenis's imagined
personal perspective, this period is in essence a straight recitation of history.
Again the tone changes when Vespasian becomes a widower. Although initially Caenis rejects his
advances, it isn't very long before they're happily reunited in her bed, and making plans for a
future
together. He assures her he would have married her years earlier, but for Augustus's
prohibitionary
law. As to that, they still can't marry on the very same grounds, for Vespasian remains a senator.
However, in all other respects Caenis becomes a member of Vespasian's family.
Whether by her infertility (Vespasian had had children by his wife) or by some other miracle,
Caenis
still avoids pregnancy.
Meantime the menace posed by Nero's accession to unlimited power must surely have remained
present, but in Davis's telling it fades into the background almost to the point of oblivion - until
Rome catches fire and Nero makes a scapegoat of the Christian faction of Roman society.
Then, too, there are Nero's family murders, such as that of his younger relative Britannicus, a very
and likeable promising lad whose very existence had threatened the awful (in every sense)
Emperor.
After some years, a now somewhat elderly Vespasian, as really the only man left to do a necessary
job, draws another foreign assignment, now together with his son Titus. They are posted to the
war
zone of Judaea, to quell a serious Jewish uprising. That would, as we know, prove a terrible
disaster
for the Jews, but Davis's book doesn't dwell on it except in exploring the impact of Vespasian's
further lengthy absence upon his lonely mistress, who remains in Rome.
Nero was at last himself murdered, and the infamous "year of four emperors" began - Nero,
Galba,
Otho, Vitellius, and then, after the year was up, finally Vespasian himself to make a fifth in 1 1/2
years' time.
At the end of the upheaval, the hero was back in Rome to begin a goodly reign that was to heal
many wounds the old city and her empire had suffered. It took some astute and patient
manoeuvring
on his part, Davis tells us, but the new Emperor even got his Caenis to move in with him ...
although
nothing, it seemed, could undo the Gordian anti-marriage knot Augustus had tied.
Thus the "girl meets boy, girl loses boy, girl gets boy back" scenario of the typical romance is
played
out more than once in this book, for the former couple has become estranged by three long
separations, each time followed by an almost-new "girl meets boy" episode. The girl (or rather
woman on the second and third go-arounds) manages to be a prickly character on every such
occasion, but the guy is her true and perfect lover, and he wins her again and again.
"And they lived happily ever after," to quote a famous line. Yet not only romantics will enjoy this
tale. "The Course of Honour" comes too near nonfiction to fail to please fans of ancient history,
as
well.
Batavia's Graveyard: The True Story Of The Mad Heretic Who Led History's Bloodiest Mutiny
Mike Dash
Crown Books
c/o The Crown Publishing Group
299 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10171
ISBN 0609607669, 381 pages; U.S.$25, Can.$38, www.amazon.com
The "Batavia" was a capacious wooden sailing cargo ship of the Dutch United East India
Company,
or "VOC" using the Dutch initials of an organization known also as "Jan Company". The vessel
was
newly built, although from our perspective she was of very oldfashioned design, with low bows
and
a far higher stern - a style typical of the 17th century but abandoned in/by the 18th.
Her captain was a tough and much experienced sea officer, but rather overbearing, touchy, and
too
self-assured or status-proud to divert the ship's course even slightly, when the lookout one fateful
moonlit night reported possible rocks lying in wait, dead ahead.
To all appearances, then, the captain was solely responsible for the great vessel's grounding and
destruction on a coral reef in the Houtman['s] Abrolhos archipelago, some 40 miles off Australia's
only vaguely known west coast and two hundred-odd miles north of what is now Perth. (The
Dutch
were exploiting the riches of the East before having fully explored the zone's sea lanes, and in this
case ran off too much easting. The "Batavia" might a few hours later that night even have beached
herself on the mainland, had she not first struck on Morning Reef among a scattering of barren
islets.) Thus did the disasters begin unfolding, already in the book's Prologue.
A shortcoming of the "Batavia", usual in all shipping until, at last, the 1912 disaster to the RMS
"Titanic" put an end to it, was a lack of adequate lifeboat or even liferaft capacity to take off
anything near the ship's full company. At the voyage's outset there were over 330 people aboard
the
great ship, but she carried only two boats - they luckily survived the crash - between them capable
of
carrying 60 people at most, per trip. The only hope for those who had not already perished was
that
sufficient time and energy could be found to move them all, in trip after trip, first to some nearby
dry
but uninhabitable rocks, then onward to more promising islands which lay several miles father
away.
Whether or not the mariners realized they were so close to a mainland, their miserable two boats
could not have carried everyone there, given that supplies, especially drinking water, were now in
critically short supply.
Despite the huge difficulties so occasioned, the book's subtitle makes no bones about informing us
that things were to grow worse yet, involving what author Mike Dash labels "History's Bloodiest
Mutiny". An error at a book's start tends to create confusion, pause for checking and analysis,
and
at last a disappointment lowering overall reader expectations. A frontispiece map of much of the
world, titled "Route of the Batavia", shows a dashed line tracing a path quite at variance with that
verbally described near the bottom of page 2. At no point does the map show the ship
approaching
the South American coast nearer than, at a half-educated guess, a thousand miles; yet pg. 2 states
that the vessel "... swung west on passing Sierra Leone" - the map shows her jinking a bit, then
steering south-southeast - "and crossing the equator headed for Brazil;" whereas the map shows
the
ship then heading more for South Africa! ... although in the South Atlantic the dashed line does at
last depict a southwesterly swing, parallel to but far off the Brazilian coast.
"Off the coast of South America ..." is NOT how a sailor would describe a Midatlantic
course.
Again it will be revealed in Chapter 3, "The Tavern of the Ocean" (referring to the predecessor of
Cape Town) - this chapter reviews the voyage's Atlantic portion, from its outset - that the
squadron
of ships including the "Batavia" put into port, contrary to company rules, at Sierra Leone. This
diversion represents the already mentioned "jink" in the course sailed, but as the line on the map
does not touch land, the graphical representation once more fails to match the written
account.
Moreover, the sailing instructions' prescribed route between two "wagenspoor" or "cart-tracks",
delineating a sailor's fairway, run on the map approximately northwest-to-southeast; whereas at
the
top of page 78 the text defines the "wagenspoor" as "two parallel lines crossing the ocean from
northeast to southwest". Thus these two version run at roughly right angles to one another.
Incredible!
Yet the work gets really fascinating and far less trouble-prone, elsewhere. It's unfortunate that a
"navigational error" so blatantly gives a poor impression, but the harm may be mended by other
good work.
That same map, one of four at various scales, must be credited with our enlightenment about the
existence of the Mogul (Mughal) Empire which covered all but the southern part of the Indian
subcontinent at the time of the "Batavia"'s voyage, in 1628-29. It seems the Empire lasted until
the
Third Battle of Panipat, in 1761 - centuries later than you may have supposed, given that "the
Mongol Empire" sounds so mediaeval.
The book is also valuable for its introductions to many other topics of historical interest, such as
the
merger of many competing, city-based East India trading companies into the United East-Indian
Company or, in Dutch, de Verenigde Oost-indische Compagnie, or VOC; and such as an outline
of
the history of mutiny in VOC ships. Perhaps the surviving records of the "Batavia"'s disasters are
rather thin, but Dash has scraped together a fine collection of essentially background facts and
other
insights, providing both education and entertainment to the reader, above and beyond the core
episode the author sets out to tell.
The climactic wreck of the ship on her maiden voyage having been described in the "Prologue:
Morning Reef" section, Chapters 1 & following provide background analyses and a flashback to
the
voyage prior to the great crash; for in due course at least a second climax will be reached.
Chapter 1 informs us at considerable length about the subtitle's "Mad Heretic", who was to play
the
pivotal role indicated there. His is a most interesting tale - and don't forget that Dash claims all to
be
true, although he does go in for important speculations on various issues, such as those
connecting
the man to his presumed sources of inspiration.
Thus we learn, as background, about Anabaptists, Mennonites, and Rosicrucians, among other
formative matters. One might gladly study such groups in any case, but the setting in Dash's book
makes the reading quite gripping.
The heretic in question was a VOC commercial (as opposed to nautical) officer whom we may
call
the Assistant Supercargo. His direct superior, the Cargo Superintendent or "Supercargo" was,
surprisingly, ranked highest among the ship's officers; for the Captain was responsible, and
entitled,
only to sail the ship wherever the Supercargo might decide on Jan Company's (VOC's)
behalf.
That relationship is reminiscent, but an inversion, of one among The Captain of a British Royal
Navy
warship in Napoleonic times - his was the ultimate responsibility in all matters; the Sailing Master,
who was delegated chief responsibility for navigational matters; and a Lieutenant (meaning "place
holder"), an assistant to the Captain. That is to say, in a VOC ship the Supercargo was, like the
RN
Captain, the supreme boss over all matters; the VOC Captain and the RN Sailing Master were
subordinate navigational specialists; and a VOC Assistant Supercargo, like a RN Lieutenant, came
out as a rough equivalent to the Captain in the former case, and to a Sailing Master in the latter.
(As,
in the RN, a lieutenant held a King's commission whereas a Sailing Master was "merely" a warrant
officer, in theory the lieutenant was superior but in practice a master could enjoy great respect, so
that the two might stand quite evenly.)
Thus a VOC Captain was a flunkey to another man on board "his" ship, commercial matters being
held paramount. It was a situation that no doubt rankled for a proud nautical specialist, and
aboard
the "Batavia", once the Captain and his much resented commercial superior had quarrelled, it
made
the Captain a natural ally of the covertly heretical Assistant Supercargo who, moreover, possessed
as a personal attribute the glibness and address needed, but lacked, by the Captain.
This heretic had over the years seized upon certain religious teachings which, if taken out of
context
and juxtaposed in particular ways, could effectively reverse the positions of right and wrong. In
fact
the original Anabaptist idea had rather done so, setting the ball rolling in this man's mind so to
speak.
However, until events at the Cape of Good Hope brought the Captain and the heretic together,
the
latter could do nothing to seize control of the ship because he lacked all nautical skill.
Fundamentally, Anabaptists didn't believe in the efficacy of infant baptism because babies and
small
children cannot be expected to understand the significance of the rite. They went on, though, to
believe they were commissioned by God to carry out the apocalyptic visions of the Book of
Revelations, and here they opened a hornet's nest by attempting to seize European cities and enact
God's word - by violent means, if need be.
Such actions turned everyone else against them. In consequence the movement was largely
destroyed, driven underground, or converted to benign Mennonitism. However, the old ideas
could
not be entirely erased at the snap of one's fingers, or easily forgotten by this tale's character.
The following specific rationale doesn't seem to have been used by that fellow, but it does provide
a
simple picture of how such a mind may have operated: "Thy will be done," Christians often pray
to
God - and, as God is omnipotent, obviously (goes the cant) His will IS done, despite all else. That
being so, even if our man had committed the most heinous and dastardly acts, God's will was
done,
and no crime had been committed. Thus the person holding such notions felt that he could excuse
himself any crime or cruelty - and, moreover, God (whose will it supposedly was) would excuse
him, too. This is, by inspection, a specious and, yes, heretical argument, but it is one that is
difficult
to confute, in logic.
Author Mike Dash holds our attention also as he traces much of the history and traditions of VOC
-
the Dutch East India Company or, more familiarly, Jan Company. What we need chiefly to know,
though, is that there existed a huge if figurative gap between the privileged men and (a few)
women
living abaft the mainmast in VOC as well as other ships, on one hand; and the miserable paupers
such as Jan Company's sailors and soldiers, crammed together forward, on the other.
That psychological and status gap was to last until the need for huge crews as well as for
mainmasts
disappeared with the coming of steam power; for instance, American author and erstwhile
Harvard
law student Richard Henry Dana named an autobiographical account "Two Years Before the
Mast"
in describing his experiences as a paid hand in the brig "Pilgrim" of Boston, Mass., in 1834-36,
i.e.,
over two centuries after the "Batavia". "Before the Mast" still indicated, to the knowledgeable,
Dana's relatively menial status and living conditions while aboard, although he was later to
achieve
considerable personal distinction.
In discussing those two major classes within the ship's company, Dash among other things states
that
only four organized toilets were provided, two for the few people aft, and two also for the
multitude
forward, many of whom had to relieve themselves onto the stone or gravel ballast beneath the
hold.
Doing so created a rotting, stinking hell in even such a new ship's bowels, before her maiden
voyage
had proceeded far; as may be imagined, it was particularly noisome while passing through
equatorial
heat and heavy storms requiring the blocking of ventilation.
Toilets aboard ships are still called "heads" because, after perhaps the mid-17th century or earlier,
and until the age of clipper ships in the 19th, the forward "seats of ease" were on the headrails, in
the
bows below the bowsprit - and these generally allowed four closely packed men to hang their
buttocks outboard along either side, for a total of eight users at a time, not just two. Even prior to
that period, old paintings show a long, narrow, gallery-like deck with castellated bulwarks in the
same position and probably used in much the same way to give seated latrine space. One suspects
the headrails were adopted to keep men from being as easily pitched into the sea, and perhaps also
to improve ships' aesthetics by hiding uninvolved parts of the men from outboard view.
In either case - and one can't be sure which school of "head" design the "Batavia" followed, for
we
are provided with no picture or diagram of the ship - although such facilities were without privacy
or
comfort, particularly in adverse weather, and were in minimal supply, they almost certainly were
not
as few as Dash suggests. The undoubted use of the hold is more likely to have resulted from poor
discipline and a human preference for being in out of the weather, sunburn too having become a
literally sore trial to those aboard.
Something probably still worse than the foregoing was the ship's infestation with lice, bedbugs,
cockroaches, rats, biscuit weevils, and other vermin. As to that, nutrition aboard was poor; before
the VOC squadron had reached the Cape of Good Hope, many were ill with scurvy (vitamin C
deficiency); some had died of it, to be buried at sea.
Still, a greater problem in the end was the heretical Assistant Supercargo, working on the mind of
his friend, the Captain, to get him to join in a mutiny chiefly against the ship's top officer, the
Supercargo. As already mentioned, the skipper was a touchy cuss; he had got drunk at the Cape,
and had put on a disgraceful display leaving the Supercargo, as the skipper's superior, no choice
but
to reprimand him - resulting in the sailor's level of unforgiving resentment being intolerably raised.
It seems most unlikely that the skipper thereafter ran his ship purposely onto Morning Reef, but
his
judgement was surely impaired. The ship shouldn't even have been in that part of the ocean and,
his
navigation having gone wrong, the skipper should never have adopted a half arrogant, half
reckless,
press-on-regardless attitude after the lookout had meekly reported his (correct) belief that he saw
breakers ahead.
With the Captain gone bad, what more could anyone do? Even the Supercargo would have had to
defer to him in navigational matters, and in any case the crisis probably arose too quickly on that
fateful night for anyone in authority but the Captain, who had been on deck for some time, to
arrive
by his side, size up the situation, and issue orders that might still have saved the ship and cargo, as
well as many lives.
Was the VOC presence aboard this ship, and numerous others, so structured as to have created an
event comparable to the loss of the "Batavia", in some ship, at some time, and in some location or
other? Perhaps so, to judge by the many times author Dash alludes to the excess of profit
motivation
- very well, let us call it simply greed - exhibited by the consortium of merchants making up and
determining the policies and practices of Jan Company. Dash also tells us about various other
revolts
or mutinies against the VOC's authority and management; their ways of governing were clearly a
source of trouble.
Let's stop now, before spilling the beans left and right - or, if you prefer, before prematurely
telling
more than ought to be told in a review, as such. Reverting to only general commentary, Mr. Dash
spins as fine an historical yarn as the surviving records may allow, although he does so in none too
consecutive style, what with the shipwreck already described (no doubt for its reading-hooking
"impact") in the Prologue, before the ship and her consorts even leave their Texel anchorage in
the
Netherlands, as described in Chapter 3.
Before the book's midpoint, unfortunately, the subject matter becomes exceedingly violent and
filled
with ghastly cruel deeds committed upon men, women, even children. Thus, no matter how well
the
tale is told, I consider it to be one instance that could well justify censorship; some of its content
will
appeal only to perverted, sadistic minds, and it may perhaps produce evil influences in better
balanced ones, too.
Yet for those who have the decency and sense to stop reading at, say, page 122 of this work,
there
remains a last point whose omission you might never forgive: a passenger living among the
watchful
officers in the "Batavia" is a beautiful, appealing, patrician, but forlorn widow. To understand
some
of the crusty skipper's failings, cherchez la femme!
Pete Hodgins
Reviewer
Sullivan's Bookshelf
Papal Sin: Structures Of Deceit
Garry Wills
Doubleday
1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036
0385494106 $25.00 1-800-726-0600, www.amazon.com
Wills, a Roman Catholic, bravely criticizes his church not at the parish but at the papal level. A
wide
range of today's problems within the church, shortages of priests and nuns, the whole pro-life
stance,
divorce and annulment, procreation and sexuality, and more, as they have been and are affecting
the
clergy and laity are discussed in depth.
Several popes are studied. Their deviousness and/or total lack of sensitivity are explored. Pope
Pius
IX, with a few others, is singled out. It was he who, according to the author, snookered, in so
many
words, Roman Catholic bishops when called to confer on various church topics. They hadn't been
told they'd soon be voting for the pope to be considered 'infallible' when he was speaking or
writing
ex cathedra on doctrinal matters of faith and morals.
Railed against, too, in the book are the outmoded, Biblically unjustified, and morally nonrelated
reasons given by the papacy for its continued refusal to change. So, for example, popes still will
not
allow married priests, female priests, and contraception, except for the terribly flawed and
unpredictable Rhythm method.
Also delved into is Pope Pius XII's not speaking out against the Nazi directed Holocaust. The
pontiff's reasoning, according to some sources printed in the book, was that the church was more
afraid of Godless Communism than of Nazism, which, after all, didn't condemn all religions.
The author's frequent reflections on the early church fathers, Peter, Paul, Augustine, and Jerome,
and famous Roman Catholic writers, such as Lord Action and John Henry Newman, are
enlightening.
This book is already controversial amongst Roman Catholic scholars. Even before this reviewer
turned a page, negative comments were heard emanating from a prominent Roman Catholic
university indicating that the author's words were unfair, unbalanced, and just plain wrong. This
reviewer, however, raised in the same faith, found Wills to be quite the opposite, balanced,
reasoned, and thoughtful. Each reader will have to decide for him or herself.
Wills writes: "Most people are familiar with [Lord] Acton's famous axiom, 'Power tends to
corrupt,
and absolute power corrupts absolutely.' Fewer people remember that he was speaking of papal
absolutism - more specifically, he was condemning a fellow historian's books on Renaissance
Popes
for letting them literally get away with murder."
Perhaps the most controversial subjects covered in the book are that of how Mary, mother of
Jesus,
almost unheard of until the Middle Ages, has, since then, risen in prestige and adoration to the
point
where she's nearly co-equal with Jesus. And the popes can be thanked or condemned for that. A
close second in sensitive issues discussed in the book is the documented high percentage of
homosexuals currently filling the priestly ranks of the church.
Wills has taught history at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He has also written
numerous books, including "John Wayne's America," "A Necessary Evil: A History of American
Distrust of Government," and "Lincoln at Gettysburg," for which he won a Pulitzer Prize.
Roman Catholics, members of other denominations and religions, and nonbelievers all will gain
much from a read of this courageously written, easy to read, informative, and interesting tome. It's
highly recommended.
A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among The Baboons
Robert M. Sapolsky
Scribner
1230 Avenue of the Americas, 14th fl., New York, NY 10020
0743202473 $25.00 1-800-223-2336 www.amazon.com
The author tells of his twenty years' experience, a la Jane Goodall and her gorillas, as a young
scientist observing and taking fluid and tissue samples from baboons in the wilds of Kenya, Africa.
He also tells us his unrelated traveling and visiting on the cheap other parts of Africa.
His stories run the gamut from humorous to bizarre and from frightening to depressing. All his
tales,
however, are interesting, entertaining, and well written. Many are profound. They mostly concern
how baboons live. Their society is so similar to humans that it's easy comparing one's own life to
that of these primates.
The author says, "Baboons live in big, complex social groups, and the population I went to study
lived like kings. Great ecosystem, the Serengeti. Grass and trees and animals forever, Markin
Perkins country. The baboons work maybe four hours a day to feed themselves; hardly anyone is
likely to eat them. Basically, baboons have about a half dozen solid hours of sunlight a day to
devote
to being rotten to each other. Just like our society - few of us are getting hypertensive from
physical
stressors, none of us are worrying about famines or locust plagues or the ax fight we're going to
have with the boss out in the parking lot at five o'clock. We live well enough to have the luxury to
get ourselves sick with purely social, psychological stress. Just like these baboons."
Much of Sapolsky's book covers baboon group leadership. The alpha male and female, but
particularly the former, are watched quite closely over the years. And the group's leadership
changes
are very much like those of mankind.
The author comes to know all the baboon individuals by sight. And he thinks of, and treats, them
like his fellow villagers. Though a nonpracticing Jew, he gives them Biblical names.
Many human Africans and their tribes come in for praise. But Sapolsky comes down hard on the
Masai, tall and fierce with spears, for being troublemakers. The author backhands Kenya,
too.
Today, and for several years, the author works as a full-fledged scientist teaching biology and
neurology at Stanford University. And he is still involved with various Kenyan scientific
institutions.
A great read and highly recommended!
Sapolsky has written "Why Zebras Don't get Ulcers," among his other books. He also contributes
articles to "Discover" and "The Sciences" magazines. His home is in San Francisco.
Jim Sullivan
Reviewer
Harwood's Bookshelf
No Man Knows My History: The Life Of Joseph Smith
Fawn Brodie
Vintage House
280 Park Avenue, 8th floor, New York, NY 10017
ISBN 0679730540, $18.00, 520 pp, 1-800-726-0600, www.amazon.com
"The Book of Mormon was a plagiarism of an old manuscript written by one Solomon Spaulding,
which Sidney Rigdon, had somehow secured from a printing house in Pittsburgh. After adding
much religious matter to the story, Rigdon determined to publish it as a newly discovered history
of
the American Indian. Hearing of the young necromancer Joseph Smith ... he visited him secretly
and
persuaded him to enact a fraudulent representation of its discovery." (p. 68)
After reporting that reasonably accurate account of the Book of Mormon's true origin, Brodie
then
goes on to say, "Through the years the 'Spaulding theory' collected supporting affidavits as a ship
does barnacles, until it became so laden with evidence that the casual reader was overwhelmed by
the sheer magnitude of the accumulation. The theory requires a careful analysis, because it has
been
so widely accepted." (p. 68) She then concludes, ""When heaped together without regard for
chronology ... and without any consideration of the character of either Joseph Smith or Sidney
Rigdon, they seem impressive." (p. 442) In other words, the character of the perpetrator of the
"Book of Abraham" hoax, a pretended translation (upside down!) of hieroglyphic funerary scrolls,
and of the "Kinderhook plates" hoax, in which Smith promulgated a translation of
pseudo-hieroglyphs created to expose him, was incompatible with his being a barefaced liar.
Sure.
And Santa Claus comes down the chimney on Mithra's birthday.
In fairness to Brodie, who updated her 1945 book in 1971, and died before the publication of two
1985 books that revealed twelve pages of the Book of Mormon to be in Solomon Spaulding's
handwriting, her conclusion that Smith was not a plagiarist was less absurd in 1971 than it was in
1995 when her publisher decided to republish her by then totally discredited interpretation in
paperback. The very fact that Brodie discussed the B of M's Spaulding genesis and rejected it
makes her biography particularly welcome to hardcore Mormons who think that truth is whatever
the marks will swallow. And even since the publication of Joseph Smith and the Origins of the
Book
of Mormon by D. Persuitte (Prometheus, 1985), and Trouble Enough: Joseph Smith and the
Book
of Mormon by E. H. Taves (Prometheus, 1985), Brodie's gullible account continues to be cited as
the definitive biography of the founder of a scam as blatant and consciously fraudulent as
Scientology and televangelism.
Again in fairness to Brodie, she did not suppress any of the negative evidence, and her book is
indeed a useful account of the Book of Mormon's origins as a fictionalization of such evidence as
came to the (true) author's attention in the early nineteenth century. Even someone who accepts
Smith as its author cannot read this book and continue to believe that Smith was anything but an
imaginative fantasizer-unless of course the reader is a Mormon, in which case rationalizing away
the
evidence is no more difficult than rationalizing away the reality that the biblical god's official
biography portrays him as the most sadistic, evil, megalomaniac serial killer in all fiction. To
someone who can read a bible and see "God" as a good guy, reading No Man Knows My History
and seeing Joseph Smith as a good guy is not a big step.
Jews Without Judaism: Conversations With An Unconventional Rabbi
Rabbi Daniel Friedman
Prometheus Books
59 John Glenn Drive, Amherst, NY 14228
ISBN 1573929247, 108 pp., ppb, $20.00, 1-800-421-0351, www.amazon.com
"Today more Jews are secular than religious. They may 'observe' a few of the rituals of Judaism,
celebrating, albeit in the most minimal fashion, a Jewish holiday here and there, perhaps lighting
Chanukah candles and participating in a seder at Passover. They may even belong to synagogues
and temples, enroll their children in religious schools, celebrate a bar or bat mitzvah, engage
rabbis
to officiate at their weddings and funerals. But in their daily lives, the beliefs and requirements of
Judaism have no bearing upon their decisions." (p. 12)
In other words, by any legitimate definition, Jews are typical Americans.
And yet in an economic and social sense, Jews are not typical Americans. Despite constituting
2.3
percent of the American population, "Jews comprise over a third of the billionaires in this country,
over a quarter of the multi-millionaires, and between a third and a half of the elite professionals in
law, in journalism, in medicine, and in academia. More than one-third of America's Nobel Prize
winners have been Jews. Jews occupy a disproportionate number of seats in Congress (37) and
on
the Supreme Court (2)." (p.13)
So in case anyone thinks Jews are still an oppressed minority, even a rabbi agrees that they are
not.
Friedman states (p. 20), "American Jews know (even though they are hesitant to admit it) that
their
values and ideals are defined not by Judaism but by American liberalism; Judaism provides only an
ethnic vocabulary for expressing the values they have already adopted. In the end, that renders
Judaism irrelevant."
Friedman gives no indication of being a biblical scholar, and does not openly acknowledge that
henotheists who had no belief in an afterlife wrote the Torah. But he is clearly aware of that
reality,
for, after describing rituals imposed on Jews by the Torah, he writes (p. 16), "The rabbis added
bodily resurrection and life in the world to come as God's most precious gift to his loyal and
obedient servants." (emphasis added) Jews Without Judaism, and particularly the chapter on
intermarriage, does illustrate one significant difference between humanistic Judaism and America's
largest single religious sect. In his fictionalized interview with a couple planning a mixed
marriage,
Friedman nowhere implies that "My god can lick your god," or that one religion is more valid than
another. I have yet to encounter a Catholic priest capable of such ecumenism.
In contrast, the religious Judaism that Friedman rejects and the redneck Christian Right follow
identical practices in one significant element of observable behavior (p. 42): "This amounts to
deciding what is true and then looking for evidence that God agrees. Whereas values that are
actually demanded by the Bible are conveniently ignored."
Friedman's delineation of how he can be a Jew and a rabbi without believing in an imaginary
playmate willing to grant him eternal life without passing GO and without collecting $200 is
summarized in his answer to an addict's question, "Why do you call yourself a rabbi if you don't
believe in God?" (p. 56): "As I understand Jewish experience, it is impossible to believe that an
omnipotent and omnibenevolent God has been in charge of our destiny. Where was He during the
Crusades? Where was He during the Inquisition? Where was He during the Holocaust?" (p. 57)
Any incurable godworshipper, Jewish, Christian, Muslim or other, who can rationalize a reason
for
an omnipotent, omnibenevolent Master of the Universe to countenance such atrocities, in order to
retain belief in such a creature's existence, is one sick puppy.
Sweet Jesus: Straight-Shooting Scriptural Studies Scrutinizing The Savior
A. J. Mattill, Jr.
The Flatwoods Free Press
750 Lum Fife Road, Gordo, AL 35466-3357
No ISBN, 2002, 117 pages, spiral bound, paper, $6.50
Sweet Jesus is a collection of articles recently published in American Rationalist, Freethought
Perspective and Soar, modified where necessary to take into consideration more recent
conclusions.
Mattill spells out his approach in the words (p. 3), "We shall assume ... that Jesus did exist and
that
the four Gospels ... do give us an accurate account of his words and deeds." In other words, the
subject of Mattill's scrutiny is the Jesus portrayed in his official biographies, not (necessarily) the
Jesus of history.
Since it is the Jesus of literature whom brain-dead fundamentalists (tautology) such as Gee Dubya
Shrub view as their greatest hero, and whom Mattill hopes to set straight, that is a logical
approach.
Mattill's paraphrasing of some gospel myths probably strays no further from a literal translation
than
some of the recent modern language bibles. But because Mattill is not motivated to put the best
possible spin on stories that, when read by anyone with a functioning human brain, reveal Jesus to
be
less than heroic, his loose translations convey the depravity of king Jesus' alleged teachings as
Authorized translations do not.
Mattill shows the biblical Jesus to have been a liar; a thief; a fanatic who hated his family for
recognizing him as a madman; a xenophobe who equated non-Jews with "dogs," an idiom
comparable in Jesus' time with the modern German invective, schweinhund; a consummate curser;
a
prototype Sheridan Whiteside whose abuse of his gracious hosts left much to be desired; a
wandering parasite (as a rich benefactor said of Gandhi (p. 10): "It takes a lot of money to keep
Gandhi poor"); a sadist and a masochist; a hypocrite who, like Jimmy Swaggert and others, failed
to
practise what he preached; and a raving lunatic. He does so by the simple expedient of quoting
gospel passages that portray him as exactly that.
Mattill draws attention to Jesus' teachings on the virtue of communism and the necessity of
disposing of all personal property (and turning the proceeds over to the commune's treasury,
although A. J. does not go into that aspect), that Christian churches tend to sweep under the rug,
since only a capitalist society can keep the church hierarchy in the comfort to which they have
become accustomed.
Mattill reaches the conclusion that the reason Jesus urged his followers to free themselves of
sexual
desire by castrating themselves is that that is what he had done. I disagree. Jesus' official
biographers showed him constantly surrounded by hookers. And a Gnostic gospel author (Gospel
of Philip) wrote, "The Liberator's hetaira (companion/concubine) is Maria the prostitute. And
Messiah loved her more than all of the students, and used to kiss her often on the mouth." The
Gnostic gospel can be disconsidered, since it was written at a time when Jesus was already being
credited with fathering an heir who later evolved from sang real (royal blood) into san greal (holy
grail). But the canonical authors are unlikely to have shown their ultimate hero's constant
companion as a lady for rent, unless they were stuck with the reality that that's the way it was.
And
Jesus is unlikely to have consorted with hookers unless they provided him with regular
freebies.
Since "Sweet Jesus" was a castrato, Mattill sees no reason to consider the theory that he was
homosexual. He does not quote the passage (Matthew 26:50) where Jesus addresses his
apprentice
Judas the Daggerman as hetaire, a word with decidedly male-lover connotations. On Jesus' innate
heterosexuality, we are in agreement, since I see hetaire as a clumsy Greek translation of an
Aramaic
word with no such connotations.
Sweet Jesus is an evaluation of the morality and justice of the Jesus of the bible rather than the
Jesus
of history. On that basis it achieves its objective in spades. For anyone who thinks Jesus was a
nice
guy, it should be mandatory reading.
William Harwood
Reviewer
Terry's Bookshelf
Open Season On Lawyers
Taffy Cannon
Perseverance Press
c/o Daniel & Daniel, Publishers
PO Box 1525, Santa Barbara, CA 93102
1880284510, 284 pages, $13.95, 1-800-662-8351
What do you call 100,000 attorneys at the bottom of the ocean? A good start! -- or.....so the old
joke goes.
The beginning paragraph of Open Season On Lawyers starts like this:
"Somebody was killing the sleazy lawyers in Los Angeles. In the beginning, hardly anybody even
noticed."
Taffy Cannon's new series starring tough-gal Detective Joanna Davis, is a great tour-de-force of
police work, even if the victims are less than sympathetic.
Cannon has an ear for dialogue and she's a cracker jack storyteller. I read the book in one sitting
and
was never quite sure of how it was going end. Cannon doesn't telegraph action, she allows it to
unfold as it might in real life.
The villain in Open Season On Lawyers is a doozie..crafty, clever and well-financed...and
determined to rid the world of ambulance chasing slime balls who prey upon the legal system.
I'll be reading whatever Cannon writes. And, I'm a fan of her heroine Joanna Davis..she's tough
and
she's had her share of hard knocks, but she's a survivor with enough determination to 'stay on the
trail' until the killer is found!
Enjoy!
The English Assassin
Daniel Silva
G. P. Putnam's Sons
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
ISBN: 0399148515, 381 pages, $25.95, 1-800-847-5515, www.amazon.com
This is my first Daniel Silva novel, but it will not be my last. I was a loyal Ludlum fan and
mourned
his declining craft long before I mourned his death. I liked Follett in the beginning, but he, too has
pandered to the masses, leaving his skills on the word processor.
The English Assassin is Daniel Silva's fourth book and a page-turner from start to finish. While his
body count rivals that of early Ludlum, Silva is a more polished story teller.
The English Assassin begins with the death of Augustus Rolfe, an elderly Swiss banker who
collaborated with the Nazis (no new territory here) to acquire numerous pieces of art during
World
War II. At the end of his life, Herr Rolfe decides to atone for his sins and return the paintings to
the
heirs of their original owners, thus exposing the dirty little secret all Swiss fear. Publicity of this
kind
just won't do, so Herr Rolfe is killed.
Gabriel Allon, Jewish intelligence agent/art restorer who is set to receive the paintings, finds Herr
Rolfe's body and thus the chase begins for the real killer and the enormous power behind the
Swiss
conspiracy of silence.
While I'm a little tired of the Nazi 'rape of the art world' story, I'm glad to have found someone
who
writes solid spy stories. I look forward to more work from Silva. As they say in show business,
he's
got the 'legs' to last a long time.
Enjoy!
The Big Book Of Misunderstanding
Jim Gladstone
The Haworth Press, Inc.
10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580
ISBN 1560233826 - 239 pages - $27.95, 1-800-429-6784, www.amazon.com
Although bullied by his father into rough and tumble games and some rather cruel scenarios,
Joshua
Royalton grew up in a caring environment where he was allowed to live in his own interior dream
world. Growing up in the Royalton household wasn't easy, nor was it uncomplicated, but his
parents
must have done something right, for when Josh chooses to 'come out' to them during his
sophomore
year of college, they accept his homosexuality with grace and understanding.
What struck me about this book was that, unlike his gay fiction-writing contemporaries, this
author's
ultimate message was one of hope and acceptance of one's family, one's choices and ultimately,
one's
self.
After reading The Snow Garden and some other recent gay fiction, I found the landscape to be
bleak
and so terribly devoid of hope.
The Big Book Of Misunderstanding seems to work through all the messy trial and tribulations of
growing up gay and its hero comes out on the other side with hope and a peace rarely seen in
other
stories.
Kudos to Jim Gladstone for giving other gay teens a ray of hope. While it must be incredibly
difficult
to grow up knowing you're outside society's boundaries of 'normalcy,'Gladstone shows his readers
that there is life after out there ....and it's up to you to become part of it.....gay or not!
Enjoy!
Terry Mathews
Reviewer
Fantina's Bookshelf
Commies
Ronald Radosh
University of Chicago Press
5801 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637-1496
0226044378 $20.00 1-800-621-2736 www.amazon.com
Ronald Radosh was born to proud communist parents. He attended red elementary and high
schools
(whose curriculum could match any modern day college campus) and even spent his childhood
summers at socialist camp. His life story reads like the perfect description to yield a grown-up
replication of Hillary Clinton or Bella Abzug. But something went right along the way.
From a very young age, he embodied a devotion to the truth (or at least, like his parents, what he
honestly believed was valid), and this veracity eventually lead him astray (or home depending
upon
one's point of view.) Ironically, the term "fellow travelers" has become cliche in communist
circles,
and Mr. Radosh uses it generously throughout this work, but he, the ex-communist, is the one
who
"traveled" away from a dead-end philosophy, while the so-called "travelers" continued to ram into
brick walls, getting nowhere at all.
The drive to satisfy his inquisitive nature lead to many disappoints with communist ideals, but
three
incidents seemed to cement his conversion from the failed mindset. Along with a select ruck of
fellow travelers he was invited to spend a month in Cuba--an offer he joyously accepted.
However,
touring the island prison, he painfully learned that the Cuban reality was a far cry from the
communist lure. Despite communism's promise of complete equality, he encountered a nation
where
the ruling class lived like kings while the working class, lived in hopeless squalor and dissenters
and
eccentrics were subject to arbitrary institutionalization, torture, and execution. Touring a mental
hospital where innocent dissidents routinely underwent lobotomies tore Mr. Radosh's heart.
However, his reaction was not shared by Castro's other American toadies; one of whom dismissed
the author's concerns with the seriously spoken statement, "We have to understand that there are
differences between capitalist lobotomies and socialist lobotomies."
A second transmogrifying occurrence, that pays loud testimony to Mr. Radosh's integrity, was his
undertaking the writing of what would become the definitive biography of the Rosenbergs. As a
teenager, he had protested the spy couple's execution, fully convinced that they were innocent
scapegoats murdered by a tyrannical government who had framed them for a false crime. He
knew
the Rosenberg sons, and in his circle Julius and Ethel were icons of unsurpassed stature. Upon
the
government's release of all documentation regarding the espionage case, Mr. Radosh determined
to
provide the martyred Rosenbergs posthumous exoneration. He was cataclysmically dismayed
when
the evidence conclusively proved that they were indeed guilty as charged. Many people with such
strongly held convictions would have abandoned the project rather than publish a book that
thoroughly refuted them. It speaks volumes about his character that he concluded his work
despite
having to change the thesis 180 degrees. Yet this honest trait was not seen admirably by much of
the left. "The Rosenberg Files" author earned widespread ostracization by his leftist peers, even
many of those who agreed with its verisimilitude. Too many felt that the myth of the Rosenberg
image should maintain its luster to sustain the cause--regardless of what the facts stated.
The third and final disillusioning upheaval he experienced happened during Nicaragua's Civil War.
Like all good leftists, he supported the Sandinista regime, and all like all good truth-seekers, he
wanted to comprehensively investigate the issues involved. Embarking on a hegira to the
Sandinista
camps during the war, he was shocked by abundant human rights abuses in stark contrast to all
the
agitprop the regime's liberation. Mingling with a veritable who's who of leftism, he humorously
relates his meetings with Bianca Jagger. The internationally renowned airhead seemed especially
defensive of one particularly brutal Sandinista general. The origin of her support soon became
obvious, as he regularly arrived at the motel late at night and disappeared into her suite until the
wee
hours of the morning. Appalling many of his fellow traveling ideologues, by agreeing to venture
someplace they would never go--The Contras' Camps, he was again rattled to see
humanitarianism
and a thrust for democracy and fairness. Publicly siding with the freedom-fighting contras once
again earned him the wrath of his fellow travelers, but this time he moved on leaving them all
behind.
Ironically, it was the aimless fellow travelers who have repeatedly sacrificed their ideals to
maintain
allegiance to a cause whose bankruptcy constantly reveals itself. Ronald Radosh was the one who
remained true to his principles--human rights, equality, fairness, and openness. He may have the
liked platitudinous rhythms of socialism, but like anyone secure in his beliefs felt that further
investigation is always beneficial. Although he bravely confesses that his misguided actions were
extremely negative, he is correct in acknowledging that now "the capacity for harm is diminished
because so many stood solidly behind America while we tried to bring it down. The country is
stronger for having encountered and withstood us." Interestingly, while Mr. Radosh eventually
found a rich sense of inner peace and self-respect, his adherence to ideals--rather than
ideology--stands as a bold example that all of us, fellow travelers as well as those who never
boarded, should emulate.
Making Patriots
Walter Berns
University of Chicago Press
5801 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637-1496
ISBN 0-226-04437-8 $20.00 1-800-621-2736 www.amazon.com
In his short collection of essays, Walter Berns explores the history of patriotism and identifies why
it
has achieved such a unique plateau here in the United States. Occasionally, bordering on the
esoteric due to its advanced discussion of ancient Sparta and more-than-passing mentions of some
other abstruse historical topics, certain sections of the treatise may overwhelm some readers. Still
those who must plod through the first few chapters will be handsomely rewarded with the book's
later essays. The testimonials to Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas alone make it a
beneficial
read. In these two sections, Bern's ideas illuminate and his prose soars. Of our 16th president he
rhapsodically ponders, "what Lincoln did at Gettysburg was to create new mystic chords,
stretching
from a new battlefield to new graves, to our hearts and hearthstones, all over this broad land,
South
as well as North, reminding us of the cause written in our book, the Declaration of
Independence."
Analyzing Frederick Douglas' life and the impact he left behind, Mr. Berns offers some notions
that
defy longstanding, putative preconceptions. Mr. Douglas, himself rattles the established elite
thinking when he is quoted as saying, "the federal Government was never in its essence anything
but
anti-slavery...If in its origin, slavery had any relation to the government, it was only as the
scaffolding to the magnificent structure, to be removed as soon as the building was completed."
Mr.
Berns may not employ such majestic imagery but is nearly as profound when he deftly delves into
present day race relations. Contrasting today's military with modern college life, he challengingly
notes that "enlisted men--blacks and whites live in the same barracks, eat in the same mess halls,
an
although not required frequently at the same table--something rarely encountered in universities."
Interestingly, interracial harmony is found in the one environment where everyone is treated as an
individual, while the debatably well intentioned "diversity" dictates of the other often lead to an
unspoken, rigid separatism.
The final chapter, "The Patriot's Flag" presents genuinely stimulating insights on the First
Amendment--so skillfully abused over the past fifty years. The very term "speech" has somehow
been contorted into meaning a hodgepodge of nonverbal activities. Mr. Berns thoroughly
appraises
the Supreme Court's outrageous decision legalizing flag burning and successfully shows the
sophistry of its ruling. Supporters of this spurious ruling may bristle when he writes "the First
Amendment protects freedom of speech not expression, and whereas all speech may be expression
not all expression is speech" because his reasoning is as sublime as it is succinct. He suggests that
spray painting graffiti on the Lincoln Memorial is not likely to be allowed under a torturous
stretch
of freedom of speech and wisely concludes, "there is something about the memorial that forbids
its
desecration, and because it, too causes us to remember, the same ought to be true of the
flag."
At times his arguments become a trifle too abstract and the book's pace may hesitate occasionally,
but several nuggets of wisdom can be gleaned from these pages. It sets forth many concepts that
every Americans should contemplate and summons us all to evaluate whether or not we are taking
our American birthright for granted.
Steven Fantina
Reviewer
Emily's Bookshelf
Where's Your Smile, Crocodile?
Claire Freedman, Illustrated by Sean Julian
Peachtree Publishers Ltd.
1700 Chattahoochee Ave., Atlanta, GA 30318-2112
ISBN: 1561452513, 2001, $16.95, Ages 2-6, www.amazon.com
One morning Kyle the Crocodile wakes up grumpy. Mom suggests that going out to play may
help
him retrieve his smile. Alas, none of his friends can brighten him. Not Parrot with silly noises,
not
Orange Monkey with funny faces, not even Elephant with nose-hose squirting.
Then Kyle bumps into Little Lion Club, who has lost his way home. Kyle pulls out his bag of
tricks
to cheer up Cub as he leads him back to his den. Along the way, Kyle somehow finds what he has
been missing.
The story subtly points out that helping others can help us forget our own problems. This book's
extra-large, extra-bright format and its antic animals are sure to plant smiles on young children's
faces.
Owen's Marshmallow Chick.
Kevin Henkes
Greenwillow Books
c/o HarperCollins General Books Group
10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022
ISBN: 0060010126, 2002, $6.95, Ages 1-3, www.amazon.com
Many board books bedazzle young ones (or the adults who purchase them) with bells and
whistles,
pull tabs, touch-and-feel, open-the-doors and other gimmicks. Not many have a grabbing story
line.
Henkes, however, pulls off a minor coup by building a fun and meaningful story within the many
constraints of a board book. On Easter morning, Owen (a mouse) finds a basketful of tempting
candies. All suffer the same fate, except a yellow marshmallow chick who escapes Owen's sweet
tooth. Young children will love knowing the sweet reason for this.
Crocodile Listens
Pulley Sayre, Illustrated by JoEllen McAllister Stammen
Greenwillow Books
c/o HarperCollins General Books Group
10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022
ISBN: 0688165044, $15.95, Ages 4 up, www.amazon.com
All around the Nile River, animals are busy. Elephants trumpet. Baboons file by. Giraffes gallop.
Warthogs trot. But for weeks now, Mother Crocodile has not moved, not even to find a meal.
All
she does is listen.
At last she hears the "beeeeyo, beeeeyo, beeeeyo!" of baby crocodiles hatching underground. The
new mother spends the night digging her babies out of the sand. Once free, she must guard them
from hungry predators. What can she use as a "safe-keeper"? You guessed it! Her mouth
becomes
a "jail," her teeth the bars.
Stammer's drawings are so finely rendered that some could be mistaken for photos. Several
appear
as though photographed with a long lens, the animals in the foreground in sharp focus and the
background hazy.
"Crocodile Listens" shares the little-known story of the birth and care of baby crocodiles. A full
end-page provides additional details for readers "chomping" for more.
Crocodile: Disappearing Dragon
Jonathon London, Illustrated by Paul Morin
Candlewick Press
2067 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02140
ISBN: 1564026345, 2001, $15.99, Ages 5-8, www.amazon.com
Like Crocodile Listens, this book hones in on female crocodiles and their care of offspring but,
rather than their African cousins, it has to do with the 400 to 500 American crocodiles still
remaining in south Florida's swamps and canals.
Why have American crocodiles been brought to the brink of extinction in the last hundred years?
The author provides one reason--hunters who arrive in the deep of night.
In an explanatory end page, London also explains that shy, reclusive crocodiles are more sensitive
to
environmental changes than their more numerous kin, the alligators.
"Without our protection, American crocodiles may, like their ancestors the dinosaurs, disappear
forever," he warns.
The book's text is clean and colorful, and the impressionistic illustrations are lustrous and
evocative.
Do Like A Duck Does!
Judy Hidley, Illustrated by Ivan Bates
Candlewick Press
2067 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02140
ISBN: 0763616680, 2002, $14.99, Ages 3-6, www.amazon.com
Plucky Mama Duck outsmarts a wily fox in this rhyming romp, illustrated with large, humorous,
highly expressive watercolors.
When a fox tails Mama and her five ducklings, Mama confronts him with a Marine sergeant's
glare:
"Stop! Do you think you're a duck?"
"'But of course!' says the stranger, with a waddle and a strut. 'That's just what I am a big, brown
duck.'"
If this hairy creature says he's a duck, he had better act like one, Mama commands. The fox
gives it
a good try, but finally forgets the juicy ducklings in his haste to escape Mama Duck's "quacker
bootcamp."
Very Boring Alligator
Jean Gralley
Henry Holt and Company
115 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011
ISBN: 0805063285, 2001, $15.95, Ages 3 to 7, www.amazon.com
Not only is Alligator boring, he's a downright boor. You know the kind. The type that slouches
on
your couch, and never stops blah, blah, blabbing, despite having nothing new to jabber about.
That's the predicament facing a little red-haired girl. Even her best attempts fail: "I huffed and I
sighed. I made heebie-jeebie eyes. But that Boring Alligator, he just WOULDN'T GO
AWAY."
The resourceful girl calls the Gator Cops, but they only add to her troubles. Finally she decides to
simply speak her mind. And Alligator finally gets it! The little girl has set limits,
and--surprise!--her
friendship with Alligator doesn't suffer.
The author is staff artist for "Cricket" magazine, but her writing is as rollicking as her
renderings.
Vero And Philippe.
Caroline Hatton, Illustrated by Preston McDaniels
Front Street/Cricket Books
332 S. Michigan Avenue, Suite 1100, Chicago, Illinois 60604.
ISBN: 081262940X, 2001, $14.95, Ages 8-12, www.amazon.com
This peppy story, which takes place in Paris in 1964, stars 9-year-old Vero and her 12-year-old
brother, Philippe. They are children of Vietnamese immigrants; the family recently moved from
Normandy to the big city for Philippe's schooling.
The siblings love one another deep down, so deep down that it's barely noticeable, what with all
their bickering and squabbling. When Vero adopts a large snail as a pet, for instance, Philippe
teases
her by claiming it's nothing but a "gourmet appetizer," while showing her a recipe for
escargot.
Real problems begin for the family when Mother, who angers quickly and sometimes overreacts,
fires the family's young maid. Mother insists they can manage the household chores by
themselves.
Mother and father put in long hours at their pharmacy, however, and the cooking and
housecleaning
begin to take their toll. One of the "highlights" occurs when father decides to prepare a French
dinner of cooked chicken with homemade mayonnaise. He uses his chemistry background to help
figure out how to hold the egg yolks and oil together in an emulsion, with uncommon results.
Will Mother finally relent and allow the children's beloved nanny/housekeeper to return?
Vero And Philippe is one of Front Street/Cricket Books' kick-off titles and with it the publisher,
known for its many children's magazines, scores a touchdown. The textured black-and-white line
drawings magically conjure up this enchanting story's mood and tone.
Crocodile And Hen: A Bakongo Folktale.
Joan M. Lexau, Illustrated by Doug Cushman
HarperCollins Children's Books
1350 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019
ISBN: 0060284862, 2001, $14.95, Ages 4 to 8, www.amazon.com
None of the zest of this cherished African tale is lost in this adaptation to an "I Can Read" format
for
just-learning readers.
Crocodile would relish eating fat, juicy-looking Hen. But whenever he has the opportunity to do
so,
Hen's unflustered manner and calm retorts throw Crocodile completely off guard. Why,
Crocodile
puzzles, does Hen keep calling him "brother"?
This humorous story, from the Bakongo people (also known as Kakongo or Fjort) of the
Republic
of the Congo, has tickled funny bones worldwide. The comical illustrations in this edition assist in
bringing it home to your child.
Weird Friends: Unlikely Allies In The Animal Kingdom
Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey
Harcourt
525 B Street, San Diego, CA 92101
ISBN: 0152021280, 2002, $16.00, Ages 4-10, www.amazon.com
There's not a lot of text in this colorful picture book, but it is so fascinating that it will appeal to
all
ages, and may reach reluctant readers who enjoy nature.
The jacket cover sums up the book beautifully: "Relationships in the animal kingdom can seem
very
strange, because the most unlikely creatures do wonderful things to help each other survive.
Some
act as bodyguards or booby traps, others as hairdressers or housekeepers."
We're not yet talking lions and lambs sitting side by side, but take the case of the ostrich and the
zebra, for instance. Ostriches have keen eyesight, and zebras, keen hearing. They often graze the
savanna together, one or the other being the first to detect a nearby predator, perhaps a lion, and
warn the others to skedaddle.
This writing/illustrating team provides 13 other examples of intriguing animal partnerships.
Pearl's Passover
Jane Breskin Zalben
Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas, 4th floor New York, NY 10020
ISBN: 0689814879, 2002, $16.00, Ages 4-10, www.amazon.com
Pearl's Passover is a mini-encyclopedia about this Judaic religious holiday. The subtitle says it
best:
"A Family Celebration through Stories, Recipes, Crafts, and Songs."
The author links the activities and background information to the story of a family readying for
Passover, thus personalizing it for children. But people of all ages and interests can enjoy this
compendium.
For the cook, there are recipes for yummy sounding cookies called "mandlebrot," and two types
of
fruit-nut mixtures called "haroset."
For the historian/theologian, there's the complete story of the Hebrew people's exodus from
Egypt.
For those who enjoy crafts there are instructions for making placemats illustrating possible routes
taken by the just-freed Jewish slaves, finger puppets for re-enacting the story, and other crafts
easy
enough for children.
For the linguist, there are various Hebrew translations, both in Latin and Hebrew scripts. And for
the
musician, there are three songs with both lyrics and score.
At $16.00, this 48-page book is a gold mine for those planning a Passover celebration or those
wanting to learn more about this special occasion.
Emily S. Wills
Reviewer
Shelley's Bookshelf
Full Circle
Pat Browning
Writers Club Press/iUniverse.com, Inc.
5220 S. 16th, Ste. 200, Lincoln, NC 68512
ISBN: 0595197752, $14.95 U.S./$24.95 CAN, www.amazon.com
Currently a resident of California's Central San Joaquin Valley, Pat Browning is a former school
teacher and award-winning journalist. Full Circle, her debut novel, is a cozy written in a small
town
setting that is her familiar backdrop.
In Full Circle we are introduced to thirty-something veteran small town reporter, Penny
Mackenzie.
Penny and her friend and co-reporter, Maxie, are beginning to think that life is pretty dull in
Pearl,
California, until they stumble across a skeleton in the middle of Digger Pott's cotton field. Maxie
sees the discovery as a career move; Penny isn't too sure:
"Maxie blew out her breath, panting like a dog. Aren't you even curious?' It's a job for the cops.
I
just want a bubble bath and my bed.' Sheesh...come on, Cinderella, let's see how fast this pumpkin
will go.' She spun the Saturn off the gravel shoulder onto the road and turned it toward town. As
we sped through darkened, tree-lined streets, I closed my eyes and let my thoughts drift to
headlines. REPORTERS TELL BIZARRE TALE...nah... COTTON FIELD GIVES UP
SKELETON, GOLD NUGGETS...POLICE BAFFLED...big deal."
Pat Browning paces this comfortable, character-driven cozy as skillfully as any writer around.
Penny Mackenzie is self-deprecating and likeable, as well as intelligent and humorous. Her
amateur
sleuth work is at once logical and totally entertaining, even as she rekindles the love of her life, in
the person of Watt Collins, dream guy extraordinaire.
Browning reminds us that there is more to character than a pretty exterior, and makes us laugh
while she delivers an updated cozy that is as believable as it is whimsical. In Browning's world,
life
imitates art, and good guys do sometimes finish first. Browning's writing is a welcome addition
to
the world of mystery cozies fans love to read. She is romantic, funny, and very clever. Her
characters are easy for the reader to bond with. Even her most diabolical villains possess earthy
hobbies, which directly contribute to the plot. A delightful read.
Too Dead To Swing
Hal Glatzer
Perseverance Press
c/o Daniel & Daniel, Publishers
PO Box 21922, Santa Barbara, CA 93121
ISBN: 1880284537, $13.95, www.danielpublishing.com/perseverance, www.amazon.com
Hal Glatzer is a writer, with three prior books to his credit: Kamehameha County, The Trapdoor,
and Massively Parallel Murder. His diverse vocations include directing the Art Deco Society,
playing swing guitar, and an interest in the arts and culture of the 1930's and 1940's.
In Too Dead To Swing, Glatzer asserts that he has reproduced a manuscript written by a Hannah
Dobryn, ghostwriter of girl-detective stories. Mr. Glatzer met Ms. Dobryn in the 1970's in
Honolulu, and was gifted with her Katy Green manuscripts. Thus the reader is primed for the
view
of the 1930's and 1940's swing era straight from the horse's mouth.
Katy Green, daughter of a doctor who possesses an uncanny sense of people and events, is a
working musician on the sax and violin. She meets up with a former beau just about the time
when
she desperately needs a gig and a paycheck, in the form of Ted Nywatt, band leader, writer, and
ladies' man. Katy agrees to go "on the road" with Ted's all-girl band, the "Ultra Belles", after
their
violinist Lois meets with a bizarre accident. Katy signs on, but doesn't realize that the travelling
band is a hotbed of conflict, bickering, and murder:
"The blonde in the compoartment opened her door, tiptoed into range, and squinted up the aisle
to
see what the fuss was about. But as soon as she saw, she screeched and ran back inside,
throwing
her door shut with a bang. From right across the aisle and high up, I had the best view. Suzanne
lay
on her back. Her eyes were wide open. Half of her face was covered with blood that had seeped
out of her nose and mouth in a long, dark red stain that extended down past her ear and her
cheek,
along the pillow and onto the sheets."
Katy Green is a clever and resourceful amateur sleuth, who also is well developed as the
mouthpiece for Glatzer's racy and entertaining tale. Immediately the reader is drawn into Katy's
world, and the antics of the Ultra Belles add spice and mirth to a fairly complicated murder
plot.
The reader is so drawn into their escapades that Glatzer's murderer is nicely hidden. Great
story!
Murder At The Panionic Games
Michael B. Edwards
Academy Chicago Publishers
363 West Erie Street, Chicago, IL 60610
ISBN: 0897335007, $23.50, www.amazon.com
Michael Edwards presently teaches at Garinger High School in Charlotte, North Carolina. He
was
a career officer and retired as a Army Lieutenant Colonel. He traveled widely, thus inspiring this
mystery written about the Ionic League. Murder At The Panionic Games is his debut mystery
novel.
Set in Priene, Greece in 650 B.C., Murder at the Panionic Games opens with Bias, a minor priest
assigned to solve a murder that is shadowing the Panionic Games and casting what is called a
"miasma of death" on the proceedings. Priene's best athlete has been poisoned and died in Bias'
arms. Because he touched the unfortunate man, it is up to Bias to set things straight. Having no
investigative abilities, Bias decides to use his best tool...his logic. But he doesn't have much time,
and other than a warrant to give him authority, he doesn't have backup:
"It is not whether you will obtain answers, but rather whether you will even be allowed to ask
questions in many cases! Even with your so-called warrant, the citizens of this and the other
League cities are under no obligation to cooperate with you.' He paused, and added quietly, All
I
am saying is that you need to conduct your inquiries in such a manner that the possible witnesses
or
suspects will either want to cooperate or will feel obligated to, at the very least.'"
Edwards uses Bias' point of view to share the world of ancient Greece to the reader. We are
treated to a collection of sights and sounds which make up Bias' world, even as he works his way
through his first investigative assignment...an assignment in which he must not fail, for the sake
of
his family and his standing in society. Edwards develops Bias' character in a subtle, understated
way which speaks volumes in a society in which stronger men are sacrificed in silly games for the
sake of pride and vanity.
The murder itself turns into a perplexing tangle of possibilities, with fair maidens who may not be
so
fair or innocent as they seem at first glance. Edwards succeeds in covering the trail until the final
explosive chapter, which is an inversion of the first chapter. Murder At The Panionic Games is a
historical delight and a great whodunit. Bias is a lovable, clever detective.
The Last Autopsy
Norbert Zaenglein
Night Howl Productions
112 S. Clay, Clay Center, NE 68933
ISBN: 0970217609, $12.00, www.amazon.com
Norbert Zaenglein presents his first novel for the mystery reader's delight, in what promises on
the
cover notes to be "original, defiant, preternatural..."
The Last Autopsy conjures up a bizarre string of events in the life of retired coroner Bill Henley.
Known for his daring and resolve in solving a murder mystery while in medical school, Dr.
Henley
has had a fulfilling and illustrious career. Until he is called upon to do an autopsy on the body of
Heather Sinclair. Heather's body had been found in a ditch, and her apparent death increased the
fears of the already skittish residents of Glen Hollow, where a number of unexplained deaths had
people on edge. Fueled by the nervousness, Dr. Henley hastens to do an autopsy on Heather,
only
to discover halfway through the autopsy that she might not be dead after all:
"Henley moved to the end of the autopsy table. His fingers parted Heather's red hair. He was
about to make an incision from one ear to the other. Before he did, he picked up the Stryker saw
for a test. That's when something startled him. He reached down and grasped the large flap of
flesh by Heather's belly. The flesh had the weight, thickness and consistency of a warm corned
beef
brisket. In an instant, a cold rush of terror ripped through Henley's veins. His face turned pale,
his
extremities numbed, his heart pounded like a jackhammer."
The Last Autopsy isn't really a murder mystery, as such. It is more of a dark Stephen King type
novel disguised as a murder mystery. Zaenglein has created a new path for himself with this
story.
He is probably less concerned with probability and logic than he is with entertaining and startling
the reader. If one is interested in the macabre murder and an accompanying maelstrom of events
that spiral out of control, then The Last Autopsy is for you. Zaenglein isn't afraid to take on
moral
complexities and brutish human nature in his storytelling. The reader needs a strong stomach for
this story, but the questions involved can be interesting. The Last Autopsy is sort of an H.P.
Lovecraft meets middle class American values, and Zaenglein seems to enjoy the clash. It makes
for a bizarre story where the murder line is almost secondary.
The Nine Giants
Edward Marston
Poisoned Pen Press
6962 E. First Ave., Ste. 103, Scottsdale, AZ 85251
ISBN: 1-890208-68-X, $13.95, www.poisonedpenpress.com
Edward Marston, a native of Wales and present resident of Kent, attended school at Oxford,
where
he studied modern history. He has had a varied career in theater, television, radio, and at the
University as a lecturer. He has been a writer, actor, teacher, director, and dramatist. His novel
THE ROARING BOY was nominated for a 1996 Edgar Allan Poe Award.
Originally published in 1991, The Nine Giants is the fourth in a series published by Poisoned Pen
Press of The Queen's Head, The Merry Devils, and The Trip To Jerusalem. Set in London during
the period of romance and swashbuckling, The Nine Giants is a story of love, murder, the stage,
and
politics all rolled into one. Westfield's Menis a theater group sparked by the genius of the
handsome
and naughty Laurence Firethorn, whotranslates his enthusiastic performances to trysts with select
female admirers, whether marriedor no. It is up to his book keeper, Nicholas Bracewell, to keep
everything afloat. But whena body washes up on the Thames, and Nick's girlfriend Ann Hendrik's
house and life is threatened, that Nick actually swings into high gear:
"As Nicholas was prodded by the dagger again, he reacted with sudden urgency. His free arm
struck
out at the canopy of a market stall while a heel was jabbed hard into the shin of his captor.
Wrenching his other arm away at the same time, he lurched forward a few paces then swung
around
to confront the man who was now hopping on one leg and trying to disentangle himself from the
canopy while being abused by the stallholder. Nicholas had only a few seconds to study the
swarthy,
bearded face before the bull-like frame came hurtling angrily at him."
Not only does Nicholas minister to the needs of the fickle actors around him, he also discoversthe
rather elaborate plot hatched by a greedy politician, involving murder, intrigue, and conspiracy.
The
Nine Giants is a witty and ribald frolic, with the intensity of murderous greed at its core.
Marston's
characters are hilarious, the action is non-stop, and his use of language is pure bliss to the reader's
inner eye. Elizabethan London resembles the political intrigues of today's world. This is a
delightful
read, with constant action and entertaining insights.
The Killing Cards
Lou Campanozzi
Americana Publishing, Inc.
303 San Mateo, Blvd. NE, Suite 104A, Albuquerque, NM 87108
ISBN: 1589430131, $14.95 (Abridged Audiocassette) www.amazon.com
Hollis Books/Hollis Americana
ISBN: 1928781489, $20.00 (Hardcover) www.amazon.com
As a Rochester, New York cop for twenty-two years, Lou Campanozzi worked undercover in
narcotics, commanded robbery and homicide squads, and rose in rank to a Captain after serving
as
District Commander on Rochester's west side. Lou and his wife Nancy presently are retired in
Albuquerque, New Mexico, where Lou presently serves as a Police Chief on an Indian
Reservation.
The Killing Cards is the winner of the 2001 Audie Award, for Best New Audiobook
Publisher.
When Ace Amato is called to the murder scene of Frankie "Ten Times" Lanovara on February
2nd,
he thinks it might be a mob hit. Ace is a Lieutenant on the Rochester Police Department, has
twenty-five years in, and sometimes thinks that he should retire. He is tough, resilient, is a Viet
Nam vet, and has, as one of his worst enemies, his Chief of Police, Westfield. Ace talks to his
contact, one "Fast Eddie," who swears this isn't a mob hit. Furthermore, most mob hits don't
leave
playing cards on bodies as clues. Even Ace's superior officer, Charles Novitski, is stunned when
Westfield demands briefings every day from Ace. Something is up:
"You know the story about me and him, boss. He hates me and I wouldn't give a fat rat's ass for
him. Our feeling go way back. You know better than anybody what that's all about.' I do,'
Charles
Novitski said. Than he paused and looked down at the seat of his chair, as if he would find the
words he needed there. He usually wants nothing to do with you, and he's one for sticking to
the
chain of command. Now out of the blue, he wants you to go directly to him every single day. It
don't make sense to me, Mike.'"
In this gritty tale, Campanozzi writes a powerful, riveting story about a maniac committing serial
murders and the effect this type of stress has on actual police officers and detectives.
Campanozzi
presents a reality package in this story that goes far beyond a normal police procedural.
The sub-title of Hidden Secrets is 'A complete history of espionage and the technology used to
support it'. Well that's an exaggeration. No book on espionage or the technology used to
capture
information can ever be said to be complete. So this is a compilation of well-known, and not so
well
known, intelligence gathering, espionage and deception stories culled from the public domain.
And
there are differences between these activities. Some are more or less legitimate and some involve
the use of agents or spies.
Hidden Secrets is divided into five sections. There is HUMINT or the collection and collation of
intelligence, gathered legitimately or by the use of spies. SIGINT is the monitoring and analysis
of
transmitted information, usually encoded. This information may be collected from the airwaves or
by eavesdropping on telephone and data lines or by reading mail. Then there is ELINT or the
analysis of the frequencies, durations and locations of the various electronic systems used by
potential adversaries. There is also IMINT or imagery intelligence; that is, the analysis of
photographs and other image data collected by spy planes and satellites. And lastly there is false
intelligence that is deliberate deceptions set up to confuse an adversary about ones true
intentions.
In each section of the book there is a broad discussion of the techniques pertaining to its section
followed by a number of 'case studies' meant to reinforce the text. These are brief one or two
pages
that outline a particular event. Covered in these case histories are the coded letters to Mary
Queen
of Scots which led to her execution, the story of Operation Mincemeat, a deception to plant false
data on the German High Command during the second world war, and breaking the naval
Enigma
code. The book is copiously illustrated, although many of the pictures are of a general nature
and
not really pertinent to the stories.
All in all Hidden Secrets is fairly light reading. It adds little to the knowledge of the professional
intelligence officer or dedicated amateur but, for others, it could be a basic introduction to the
world of intelligence gathering.
Our Cosmic Habitat
Martin Rees
Weidenfeld & Nicolson
0297829017, A$39.95, 205 pages
Princeton University Press
0691089264 $22.50 www.amazon.com, 240 pages
Our Cosmic Habitat is the written text of a Martin Rees lecture given at the first Scribner
Lectures,
co-sponsored by Princeton University and Princeton University Press. The lecture was aimed to
the
non-specialist and is a very broad look at 'where we live'. In the lecture Rees stated that, "the
occupational risk for any researcher is that, through a narrow focus on tractable bite sized
problems,
one loses the broader perspective. That is why in their own interests professional scientists
should
try to convey their work to non-specialists". This is one reason for Rees writing Our Cosmic
Habitat.
Writing for non-specialists can be very difficult. What is very simple or obvious to one person can
be difficult to understand and take a lot of explanation for another. Fortunately Rees has an easy
style and is able to get his concepts across without losing either reader.
Our Cosmic Habitat opens with the questions 'Could God have made the world any differently?
Was the outcome "natural" or should we be surprised at what happened? And could there be
other
universes?' Rees states that these questions, formerly in the realm of speculation, are now being
addressed by scientists.
One may ask "Can these questions be answered in a scientific manner?" The pre-eminent mystery
is
why anything exists at all, a question that belongs more to philosophers and theologians.
However,
Rees believes that the technical advances of the later decades of the 20th century have enriched
our
perspective of our cosmic habitat to the extent that they can now be addressed.
In order to answer these questions the reader needs to be aware of some of the basic concepts
now
accepted by cosmologists. The first part of the book therefore is an introduction to present day
cosmological thought from the Big Bang to Biospheres. Here Rees explores areas such as the
planets and stars, life and intelligence, pregalactic history and black holes and time machines. This
is
followed by speculation into the mechanisms behind the 'Beginning and the End' which covers
how
things began and the long-range future. All of these ideas are explained without the use of
complicated mathematics.
The last part of the book, 'Fundamentals and Conjectures' looks at the way cosmic research is
heading and ends with speculation about the existence of parallel universes or 'multiverses', of
which
ours is just one, a concept
that Rees evidently prefers. Rees does give a 'health warning' that the concept is highly
speculative
and, in our present state of knowledge, no more than a hunch. This is, to me, the most interesting
part of the book.
Overall I enjoyed reading this book, and will no doubt read it again, but I have to admit that I was
somewhat disappointed by the lack of further reading list. Rees does say that Our Cosmic
Habitatk
is a broad approach for non-specialists and such a reading list may be just too deep to appeal to
the
non-specialist. To be honest I found Rees' earlier book, Just Six Numbers, a more satisfying read
and it is recommended to those who find the treatment of the topics in this book too broad.
David Skea
Reviewer
Sandra's Bookshelf
Buddhist Acts Of Compassion
Pamela Bloom, edited
Conari Press
2550 Ninth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710
ISBN: 1573245232, Soft Cover, 193 pp., $11.95, www.conari.com, www.amazon.com,
1-800-685-9595
Buddhist Acts Of Compassion is the latest book from Pamela Bloom, an award-winning writer,
journalist, minister, and spiritual counselor. In it, she has collected inspiring stories from such
luminaries as Pema Chodron, the Dalai Lama, and Thich Nhat Hanh, as well as from numerous
others involved in spiritual growth.
Bloom says that "compassion is universal," and not a religious practice, but adds that "for most
people, however, the development of compassion must necessarily start small, and the various
Buddhist traditions have a richness of methods to cultivate loving-kindness in even the most
intransigent of beings."
The stories she has included all serve to illustrate how compassion can change lives, including
those
of jailers engaging in torture, thieves, and ordinary people facing the stresses of daily life.
Bloom includes directions for two special meditation practices. The first is "Metta," or loving-
kindness, which focuses on becoming calm, centered, and connected. The second is a powerful
practice named "Tonglen," in which meditators "breathe in" the sufferings of others, and "breathe
out" healing and love. Both are extremely effective in developing compassion.
Buddhist Acts Of Compassion is small enough to fit into a purse or briefcase, so that it may be
easily
carried. Each story stands alone, allowing readers to open it to any page and find inspiration.
Bloom's desire is that her book provide "a boat, a bridge, a passage . . . for those seeking to
relieve
suffering and develop the ultimate source of healing within." Readers will find that she has
provided
the understanding they need in order to begin practicing their own acts of compassion.
Longevity: An Alternative Medicine Definitive Guide
W. Lee Cowden, M.D.; Ferre Akbarpour, M.D.; Russ DiCarlo; Burton Goldberg
AlternativeMedicine.com, Inc.
1650 Tiburon Blvd., Tiburon, CA 94920
ISBN: 1887299289, Soft Cover., 441 pp., $14.95 , www.alternativemedicine.com,
www.amazon.com
We don't have to develop diseases or lose our mental faculties as we age. Deterioration is not
inevitable, according to W. Lee Cowden, M.D., Ferre Akbarpour, M.D., Russ DiCarlo, and
Burton
Goldberg. They explain why in Longevity: An Alternative Medicine Definitive Guide.
They maintain that many conditions connected with old age are the cumulative effects of lifestyle
habits rather than a natural part of aging. Their emphasis is on the quality of later years and
continuing good health, rather than in merely increasing the number of years lived. Their goal is
to
"show you how to 'age well' using safe, noninvasive alternative therapies."
Aging well involves "improving nutrition, reducing stress, detoxifying the body, boosting immune
function, balancing hormones, and rebuilding brain power." These are all practices that improve
health regardless of age, but are of particular importance as the body grows older.
The authors begin by explaining the changes the body and mind undergo as the years pass. They
then detail how readers can develop their own longevity program, customized to their individual
body chemistry. Following that is an extensive discussion of the aging factors and how to modify
lifestyle habits to minimize the effects of each.
Many pages have "quick definitions" in boxes, so that readers don't have to interrupt their reading
to
looking up the meanings of specialized terms. Whenever a particular test or medical procedure is
mentioned, contact sources are provided in the margins. Cross references are also provided when
a
subject is discussed elsewhere in the book.
Longevity shows "you how to develop your own personalized longevity program, one which
takes
into account your biochemical uniqueness and goals [and] help you develop an 'owner's manual'
for
your body, allowing you to slow the aging process, to increase your life expectancy, your health
span, and your quality of life." Readers interested in avoiding deteriorating health in their golden
years will find it an essential reference.
The Power Of Sound
Joshua Leeds
Healing Arts Press/Inner Traditions
One Park Street, Rochester, VT 05767
ISBN: 0892817682, Soft Cover, 325 pp., $25.00, www.InnerTraditions.com,
www.amazon.com
Psychoacoustics is the study of how sound affects the human nervous system. One of the pioneer
researchers in this exciting new field is Joshua Leeds, a composer, writer, and consultant. He has
analyzed and compiled the studies and known data in The Power Of Sound, his latest book.
His work is based on the premise that sound is a nutrient for the nervous system. Thus different
sounds have varying effects on listeners. Although music is sound, not all sound is music. He
discusses exactly what sound is, what it does to us, and what it can do for us. He emphasizes that
we need to develop "sonic responsibility," that is, an awareness of the sounds continually
bombarding us and taking steps to protect ourselves from harmful noises.
Leeds says that "Sound, like other elements, can fuel or deplete us," adding that "increasing noise
pollution affects the planet's citizenry physiologically and psychologically."
He explains vibration, resonance, and entrainment, and how those can have a negative or positive
effect on people. He then discusses therapeutic uses of sound, and includes a section detailing
how
to select particular sounds to accomplish certain goals. For example, high sounds will "charge"
the
system and increase activity, while bass sounds can "discharge" the system and decrease activity.
He
also includes information for health practitioners for use in correcting various conditions, such as
learning disabilities, relaxation techniques, and reduction of medications.
Extensive appendices provide additional information on music, sound and music therapy, and
resources. Leeds also includes a CD with specially orchestrated music designed for motivation,
relaxation, learning, inspiration, productivity, and concentration.
Leeds says that "we have come to understand the extraordinary power of the ear. In addition to
its
critical functions of communication and balance, the ear's primary purpose is to recycle sound and
so
recharge our inner batteries." Readers will find that The Power Of Sound gives them all the
information and techniques they need to use their own marvelous ears and sound to enhance their
lives.
The Love Song Of The Universe
Mary Sparrowdancer
Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc.
1125 Stoney Ridge Road, Charlottesville, VA 22902
ISBN: 1-57174-210-7. Soft cover. 238 pp. $13.95, www.hrpub.com 1-800-766-8009
Mary Sparrowdancer was living a typical suburban life--wife, mother, socialite--when "the Indian"
began leaving little artifacts, like stones, shells and broken pottery pieces, for her. Then she began
dreamwalking, receiving "visitors," and undergoing various other encounters with the spirit world.
These culminated in contact with a "Light Being," who taught her many things and gave her a
message to relay to the world. When she was ready, the Light Being revealed his true identity to
her.
The Love Song Of The Universe is Sparrowdancer's account of all that happened to her, from the
first white stones left on her doorstep to the final stunning revelations of the Light Being.
She learned "that there was more to the universe than what my beliefs or disbeliefs allowed, and
that
the other world existed whether I personally believed in it or not." She grew from feeling great
fear
to a deep love and understanding. The Light Being explained to her how Earth is being destroyed
by wasteful and careless practices and offered a solution for healing the destruction.
When she tried to follow the instructions given to her and tell others of the message entrusted to
her,
she was ridiculed. Some accused her of consorting with the devil. Her marriage disintegrated
and
her young children experienced confusion. Yet she persevered.
Do you want to know where God is hiding? Sparrowdancer knows, and she's provided a map for
you in her book. Do you want to know what you can do to fill your life with joy as you help to
heal
the Earth? She tells you how simple it can be.
"In The Love Song Of The Universe, Mary Sparrowdancer combines personal experience and
fascinating imagery to explore the divine interrelationship between all living things." . . . [it's] a
remarkable journey of healing, acceptance, and discovery for anyone who seeks a path from tears
to
transformation and beyond."
Smile For No Good Reason
Lee L. Jampolsky, Ph.D.
Walsch Books/Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc.
1125 Stoney Ridge Road, Charlottesville, VA 22902
ISBN: 1571741984, Hard Cover, 228 pp., $18.95
www.hrpub.com, www.amazon.com, 1-800-766-8009
Attitudinal Healing is a philosophy based on the idea that "nothing needs to change in your life
situation or the world in order for you to have peace of mind." In Smile For No Good Reason,
Lee
L. Jampolsky, Ph.D., psychologist, author, and consultant, offers simple and practical advice for
creating happiness without doing anything except changing how we look at life.
Smile For No Good Reason is divided into twelve sections, one for each of the principles of
Attitudinal Healing. Within each section are several vignettes illustrating how the principles can
be
applied in everyday life. Most vignettes are only a page, making them easy to read and
understand.
The principles are based on the ideas that love and fear are the only two emotions, that the only
problem is a feeling of separation, and that the solution is discovering that the essence of your
being
is love. Each section of the book is filled with stories and sayings that illustrate how to trade in
fear
for love.
Overcoming separation and discovering love requires changing fear-based attitudes, such as anger
and guilt. Dr. Jampolsky says that "your attitude in solving any problem is far more important
than
the particular action you might take." He reminds us that the key is recognizing that "you're not
upset because of what occurred, you are upset because of how you perceive the situation." He
offers a huge variety of suggestions for changing perceptions and creating happiness.
He says we can start with a simple action like smiling, even if we don't think we have anything to
smile about. Just that one little act will make a huge difference in how we look at our problems
and
how we interact with others. And when others smile back, suddenly we do have something to be
happy about.
Dr. Jampolsky also emphasizes that healing comes from letting go of old hurts and
resentments.
Smile For No Good Reason "presents clear and concise ways that you can begin right now to
begin
living a happier and more meaningful life. You will learn how to feel more peaceful and be more
productive by replacing the automatic ways you react from fear with new perceptions of yourself
and the world." It's a book you can pick up often and find guidance, no matter which page you
open
it to.
When out with her mother, young Heather Bock, Olympian dreamer, notices a few magazines
with
several pages full of overly thin models. It stays with her throughout most of the day, and she
doesn't think much about it until she sees a publicity photo, for ice-skating, of her and her brother.
She starts to think that maybe she could afford to lose a few pounds.
When her brother drops her during practice and comments about her being too heavy, she then
decides to do something about it.
Not able to keep her non-eating habit from her family members, and friends, they soon begin to
worry.
When Heather becomes interested in modeling for a local department store, she quickly grows
more
determined in losing weight and soon finds herself on dangerous grounds.
Does Heather ruin her dreams of someday entering the Olympics? Is she able to control her rapid
weight loss before it's too late?
Beverly Lewis' book Photo Perfect is a superb method of addressing the harsh issue of anorexia,
commonly found in today's teenage girls.
Beverly, a full-time writer, is a former school teacher and author with over 50 books. She is a
regular on the bestseller list. Mrs. Lewis resides in Colorado with her husband. Her all around
well-written book will certainly delight you. I enjoyed reading this book and I look forward to
more
of Mrs. Lewis' books.
The Nightmare Club #1: The Headless Paperboy
Howard Hopkins
Atlantic Bridge
ISBN: 1-931761-24-8 Price: $5.95 PDF, HTML, MS LIT, PalmOS or $8.95 CD
Formats: Download: PDF, HTML, MS LIT, PalmOS, CD
http://members.aol.com/Hhopk15447/page1.htm http://www.atlanticbridge.net
October Williams is a young boy who starts his first day in a new town with unforgettable
horror.
Immediately, October hears of the town's ghost who appears every Halloween.
While tossing newspapers, and riding a bike over twenty years ago, the headless paperboy chases
and captures three children searching for his missing head. He only needs one more and October
is
his new victim. To make matters worse, a class bully wants to help the terrifying paperboy get
October.
With a few friends, and a pot-belly pig named Barnabos, October is determined to find the
headless
paperboy's head and put it back with his body before it's too late.
Hopkins's writing skills are superb. His characters are real-life with dialogue to match. I found his
work impressive and I look forward to reading more of his work.
Howard Hopkins lives in a Maine, a seacoast town. He has published seventeen westerns, twelve
of
which have gone to large print editions under the pen name Lance Howard. He is an Active
member
of the Western Writers of America and a member of EPIC. He plays mandolin, alto sax, electric
and
acoustic guitar and paints e-book covers, as well as print.
Mary begins her young adult novel Rosemount with conflict between Leslie and her dad. She
doesn't
want to go to a far-off academy, because her home and the ranch is her security. Her dad, on the
other hand, feels that sending his daughter, Leslie, to Rosemount Academy is best for her and that
ends the discussion, except that doesn't end if for Leslie. She isn't involved in the final decision,
and
this angers her.
Because of this, Leslie decides to start making her own decisions, starting with giving up the
piano
and cutting her long hair. But in the end, she's punishing herself and not the one it's intended to
hurt-her dad.
Her rebellious attitude increases when she meets her father's new girlfriend, Lilith, and her
daughter,
Roxanne. All the while Leslie is planning her revenge. On the first day at Rosemount Academy,
with
her new fake I.D., Leslie runs away.
Mary's story engages the reader as Leslie's family searches for her. Leslie is finding out the hard
way,
just how challenging living on your own can be. Luckily, Leslie has a brother, Wade, to confide
in.
Suspense and what-ifs envelope each page as the reader starts to feel for the main character and
her
not-so-good decision.
Mary's characters are well defined and the realistic dialogue improves the character's personalities,
and their roles in Rosemount.
In reading Rosemount, I found myself remembering my own teenage revengeful days and like
Leslie,
I found that my decisions weren't always great ones. However, as a grown-up, I realize that by
learning from my mistakes, I am the person I am today.
To find out if Leslie learns the same in her own life, read Mary E. Trimble's book Rosemount.
You
will be completely satisfied feeling sympathy for the character and hoping for her safe return.
Highly recommended!
Author, Mary E. Trimble lives in Camano Island, Washington with her husband. Mary is a
multi-published author who writes from personal experiences. She is an active member of the
American Red Cross, Women Writing the West, Society of Children's Book Writers and
Illustrators,
The Authors Guild, Electronically Published Internet Connection, and Pacific Northwest Writers
Association.
Three No Trumps
Raj Supe
Pushpa Prakashan Limited
New Ajanta Avenue, Flat No. 7 2nd Floor, Wing A-1, Bldg,3-C, Paud Road, Kothrud, Pune -29,
India
ISBN: 81-7448-085-4, Price: $8.50 US 6.50 Brit. pounds UK , Format: Soft Cover,
http://www.pplbooks.com http://www.amazon.com
Three No Trumps depicts the life of Brian D'Souza, representing the earth, Tejas Maurya,
representing fire, Shanti Sagar Nair, representing water, and Prajapti Upadhyay, representing
windthey are the players in a book with reference to the Indian spirit. Brian's objective in the book
is
to rise above the void experienced with Christ.
Mr. Supe's book covers religion on four different levels, told from the earth, fire, water, and
winds
point-of-view. I appreciate that it doesn't come across as preachy or in-your-face. I thoroughly
enjoyed reading this book of faith.
This is a book beautifully written using extraordinary dialogue.
The author, Raj Supe is a writer who divides his time between literature and religion. Most of his
work is categorized as serious fiction in spiritual idiom. Raj Supe lives in Mumbai, Delphi Pune
and
Rishikesh.
The Last Of The Wanderers
Sanjay Sonawani
Pushpa Prakashan Limited
New Ajanta Avenue, Flat No. 7 2nd Floor, Wing A-1, Bldg,3-C, Paud Road, Kothrud, Pune -29,
India
ISBN: 8174480323, Price: $6.50 US, 5.00 Brit. pounds, Formats: Soft Cover
http://www.pplbooks.com http://www.amazon.com
The Last Of The Wanderers is a moving portrayal of the hardships and struggles of aggressive
neighbors, hostile circumstances in a ghastly environment, while trying to continue to exist in a
world where man is the minority, and strength is the main criteria to survive.
Set at the beginning of the first century, the Kushan tribe finds a place to call home at Hindustan,
a
civilization where there's currently no leader. The Last Of The Wanderers is the story bringing
man
against man, tribe against tribe, and where wandering souls search to form a society w here
savages
rule.
As every book should make you feel, I found myself thinking about this book and it is superbly
written characters after putting the book down. Read Mr. Sonawani's book The Last Of The
Wanderers and soon you'll be pondering questions, such as "How did savage men progress to give
us the world as we know it today?"
Sanjay Sonawani is a writer and entrepreneur, who started to write in English so he could reach a
larger audience. Writing his first novel when he was only twenty years old, Mr. Sonawani has
since
written thirty-two novels, four full-length plays, and three anthologies. (Applauding)
Mr. Sonawani's writing falls in the genres of political thriller, mystery, mythological fictions, and
social and philosophical reflections. Mr. Sonawani lives in Pune.
I highly recommend this thought-provoking book by a talented author.
On The Brink Of Death
Sanjay Sonawani
Pushpa Prakashan Limted
New Ajanta Avenue, Flat No. 7 2nd Floor, Wing A-1, Bldg,3-C, Paud Road, Kothrud, Pune -29,
India
ISBN: 8174480277 Price: $9.50 US 7.00 Brit. pounds UK
http://www.pplbooks.com http://www.amazon.com
When Venugopal, t he main character, is asked by his agent, Thyagarajan, to visit with a man
named
Varadarajan, so he can deliver an urgent parcel, he then finds out just what this scandalous and
risky
task involves.
Too late to back out, he carries out his mission, only to get deeper and deeper into the twisted
and
demented activities of LTTE.
On The Brink Of Death is a thrilling, fast-moving book based on Indian politics, depicting
deplorable
schemes of human determination, faith, political playoffs, and man's wills to survive when faced
with
death.
This first-ever Indian political thriller has it all--danger, tragedy, religion, death, vengeance,
racism,
and human persistence. ON The Brink Of Death tells of the life of the innocent and how they are
made to do things against their own will-power against the powerless.
Mr. Sonawani is an author who writes realistic characters, thought-provoking scenes and realistic
dialogue. He is thought of as a rare Indian author, writing about all aspects of Indian life, and one
who doesn't strictly portray the dark side of India.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading his book and I look forward to reading more of his work.
Sanjay Sonawani is a writer and entrepreneur, who started to write in English so he could reach a
larger audience. Writing his first novel when he was only twenty years old, Mr. Sonawani has
since
written thirty-two novels, four full-length plays, and three anthologies. (Applauding)
Mr. Sonawani's writing falls in the genres of political thriller, mystery, mythological fictions, and
social and philosophical reflections. Mr. Sonawani lives in Pune.
How I Find Her: A Mother's Dying, A Daughter's Life
Genie Zieger
Sherman Asher Publishing
PO Box 2853 Santa Fe, NM 87504
ISBN: 1890932167 Price: $15.00, http://www.shermanasher.com http://www.amazon.com
Ms. Zieger's book How I Find Her is a heartwarming tale depicting the relationship between a
mother and a daughter. Zieger takes the reader on a heartbreaking journey as a daughter deals
with
the decline of her beloved mother health who has Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's-related
dementia.
As a daughter, I think of my own mother's health, and thank the Lord that she has lived over fifty
years illness free. As a mother, I think about my own health, and wonder if I will be that fortunate.
Thoughts of our mother's dying never really enter our thoughts until we are actually faced with
the
dilemma, and then it saddens us when we see our once lively and independent mothers slowly fall
apart.
You will laugh, as you share in her childhood memories, and you will cry hearing of her moments
of
mourning.
Zieger has captured the beauty of emotions and sentiment between a mother and a daughter, as
well
as capturing the hardships of bereavement.
Zieger's words of getting on with your life after a tremendous loss are sure to give support to
those
who are suffering.
Genie Zieger lives in Shelburne, Massachusetts, where she has led creative writing workshops and
poetry classes for over a decade. Ms. Zieger is a former psychotherapist and crisis clinician at a
mental health center; she has an M.Ed. in Counseling Education from the University of
Massachusetts and an MFA in writing from Vermont College.
I highly recommend Ms. Zieger's book, How I Find Her.
Bone Walk
Kevin Howe
Firelight Publishing Inc.
P.O. Box 444, Sublimity, OR 97385-0444
ISBN: 0970720629 Price: $15.50, http://www.firelightpublishing.com
http://www.amazon.com
Kevin Howe's stunning first novel is surely a sign that his future works will be even more
unforgettable. His characters such as the Tree Walkers and Bone Eaters are straight from a
creative
mind. Tension explodes from the very first page, and the reader is able to become familiar with
the
conflict between the characters.
Main character, Thomas Shepard is a reserved warehouse keeper in a small, overlooked medieval
village. His life changes when beautiful mysterious things start to emerge in his village, and at the
same time as villagers vanish or end up dead.
Thrilling suspense engulfs each page as the reader learns of a book that is hard to decipher and
that
the book has landed in the hands of Bone Walk's villain, Varden. Varden is the high Lord's
counsel,
annoyed by the incompetence of three previous messengers.
Immediately, he influences his master into choosing Thomas Shepard as the next man to enter the
Western Wood, where danger lurks, and he is to bring back answers that will ultimately decide
what
happens to his village. Thomas and two dubious cohorts do just as they are told and head toward
the
Western Wood, and soon find themselves surrounded by danger, and the unknown, which in the
end
leads to horror.
What will happen to Thomas's village? Does he find the answers he is sent to search for? Kevin
Howe's book is one I will never forget. His plot-driven characters and down-to-earth dialogue
enhances the storyline, giving the reader a more pleasurable fantasy read.
Mr. Howe lives in Iowa with his wife and two daughters. Reading books and storytelling is a few
of
this corporate attorney's passions. He is currently writing the sequel to Bone Walk.
I highly recommend Kevin Howe's gripping book Bone Walk.
Laugh Out Loud For Moms
Robin Helene Vogel, Illustrated by Caroline Christian
Writers-Exchange EPublishing
ISBN: 1 876962 54 2 Price: $4.95 electronic, $9.95 CD
Formats: e-Book, Download, CD, PDF, HTML, RTF, LIT
www.writers-exchange.com/epublishing/humour.htm &
www.writers-exchange.com/epublishing
Laugh Out Loud For Moms is an hysterically illustrated book told in rhyme. Named
appropriately,
you will definitely drop to the floor; roll around, while holding your sides as you laugh hysterically
by the time you get to the last page. Caroline Christian illustrates Mrs. Vogel's delightful book;
her
artwork is first-rate, giving the books poems a quirky touch.
Mothers and parents everywhere will be able to relate to Mrs. Vogel's book, which filled with
hilarious one-liners, zany verses, and full-length poems that address the downfalls and the
joyfulness
of parenting. You will definitely be thinking, "I remember doing that," or "I thought I was the
only
one."
Read Ms. Vogel's book and get swept back in time to changing stinky diapers, to staring at your
used-to-be figure in the dreadful mirror, to the first haircut, and to the wondrous sound of sibling
rivalry.
All of Robin's short tales of parenthood made me laugh out loud, but I was able to completely
relate
with the one titled "You're Trusting Me With This Brand-New Human?" I thought this same exact
question when they handed me my first-born son, ten and a half years ago.
Author, Robin Helene Vogel started writing at the age of six. She used to copy chapters from her
favorite Bobbsey Twin novels and sold them door-to-door for a penny. From them on out she
knew
she wanted to write, and write she did. She is a multi-published author.
Mrs. Vogel is married to Dan, and she is a mother to Brad. Both are diabetics and most of Robin's
time is spent trying to find a cure and writing articles on the subject that she knows so well. She
hopes to have a cure for her family in the near future.
I highly recommend Laugh Out Loud For Moms by Robin Helene Vogel. This book should not be
missed!
Jennifer LB Leese, Reviewer
http://www.geocities.com/ladyjiraff/aswbr.html
Leonhardt's Bookshelf
Night Crimes
Judith Woolcock Colombo
America House Book Publishers
PO Box 1109 Frederick, Maryland
ISBN: 158851174X, $24.95 800-444-3333, www.ericahouse.com www.amazon.com
When it's hard to tell the difference between the psychotic killers and the cops, and when one
psycho
stalks another, you know you have a plot to leave even the best detective befuddled. But in Night
Crimes, you are the best detective there is. Judith Woolcock Colombo has crafted a thriller that
somehow leads us to discover the mysteries slowly until we realize that we know (and have
known)
whodunit even though we didn't know at the time that we knew.
Set in New York City, and including a chase in upstate New York, Lara finds herself stalker by a
psychotic killer. Or are there more? The Jamaican-born artist and her husband, Italian-American
Tony Bello, have to sort out the mess before Lara gets killed. The mystery grows increasingly
difficult to unravel as people close to the family one by one get involved in the story.
The reader also gets a long, hard look into the mind of the psychotic killer (killers?). One of them
talks extensively to the reader: "I have never intended to harm anyone. I am not cruel. I befriend
the hopeless and get to know them before I make my offer. Even after I have put them to rest, I
still
see to their well-being."
The characters are semi-autobiographical, living in a similar brownstone house to the author, with
the same ethnic backgrounds and some of the same occupations. As many authors do, Woolcock
Colombo built a story on the environment she knows well and on a great pile of
imagination.
Night Crimes plays the suspense card over and over to the maximum. Woolcock Colombo is
masterful at weaving several tales together and letting the reader savor the taste of discovery right
to
the very end. I give this novel ten out of ten.
The Year Of The Rat
Lucille Bellucci
iUniverse.com, Inc.
5220 S 16th , Suite 200, Lincoln, NE, 68512
ISBN: 0595148956, $21.95, www.iuniverse.com www.amazon.com
There's a fine line between an epic and a very long story, and The Year Of The Rat has one foot
firmly planted on each side. At 440 pages, I almost gave up before I started, but the book is
engaging enough that I read all the way to the 440th page.
Why did Lucille Bellucci write such a long novel? Two reasons. First, she spread the story over
a
long period, well before the Communist invasion of Shanghai, just before, during the take-over,
and
after the Communist victory was complete. The effect is like a boat that cruises gently on the lake
at
some points, then speeds up and bounces on the water at others. There are large gaps that span
several months, particularly in the final third of the book, which gives it that epic feel.
The second reason the novel is so long is because of the minute detail Bellucci describes, both
about
her characters and about Shanghai of 1948-49. If her research into the lifestyle and implements
are
accurate (and I know some are) she has done a fabulous job of bringing that era to life. She
describes in equal detail the tribulations of her many tragic characters, who also come to life on
the
pages.
Typical of Bellucci's descriptions is this passage about the West Lake Crab: "The West Lake crab,
the doo zah har, is so famous throughout the land that rich men as far away as Hong Kong will
contrive to have quantities shipped to them. Its consumption always engenders merriment and
messiness, for one has to roll up sleeves and wear aprons, and there is much teasing about who
ate
the most and who took more than his share of the females."
What I liked best about the novel is how Bellucci treats a touchy political issue through the
disinterested eyes of a foreign national in Shanghai. Mary Conti, her semi-autobiographical
principle
character, is part Chinese, part Italian, tied by fate to the proverbial railroad tracks as an
unstoppable
train slowly rolls her way. The train is not good, nor is it bad, it is just getting ominously closer
as
each character faces her personal fears.
What doesn't work well are the few passages that recount history on the larger plane. The Year
Of
The Rat is a very intimate story of the day-to-day lives of a small enclave of resident foreigners in
Shanghai. To be suddenly transported to the world stage elsewhere in China feels very much out
of
place, breaking up the story the way a commercial breaks up a movie on television.
Overall, the book is well-written, but it is long, and in places seems out of place. If China or
Chinese history fascinates you and you enjoy epic tragedy, this is the book for you.
David Leonhardt, Reviewer
http://www.leonhardtonline.com
Gorden's Bookshelf
Finnish Magic: A Nation Of Wizards A World Of Spirits
Robert Nelson, Ph.D.
Llewellyn Publications
P.O. Box 64383, Dept. K489-8, St. Paul, MN 55164-0383
1567184898, $7.95, 171 pages, www.amazon.com
Nelson has written a beginner's text on shamanism in general with Finnish wizardry in particular.
To do this he has to briefly cover the history and culture of Finland. Nelson's review of history is
colored by his emphasis on shamanism and Finnish mages. Most of the problems this view has
with
traditional histories and linguistics are minor except for Nelson's attempt to bring a greater
historical
prominence to the Finnish deity, Jumala. Overall, the different perspective on Finnish history and
culture is refreshing and offers new insights into the past.
Finnish Magic is written not as a uniform text. It starts with a general overview of the Finnish
culture and history. After the introduction, 'Finnish Magic' becomes a series of lessons on Finnish
shamanism. Each lesson is written in a repetitive manner so a reader can skip one lesson and still
understand the next. This might be a good plan for teaching shaman magic but it makes for a
slow
reading and repetitive book.
Finnish Magic is the only individual book I found that has an in-depth look at the Finnish mythos
of
wizardry and shamanism. For students of Finnish history and cultural, it offers significant insight
on
the complex nature of the Finnish people. It also is a guide to shamanistic practices across the
world and can be used to understand Native American and Asian belief systems. The only real
contextual problem with the book is Nelson's tendency to claim more factual details than what is
known about ancient Finnish history.
Kingdoms Of Light
Alan Dean Foster
Warner Books, Inc.
1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
0446610615, $6.99, 384 pages, www.amazon.com
Alan Dean Foster is a writer on the edge. He pushes the envelope on what kind of story to tell.
His
science fiction and paranormal horror novels are on the boundary but still hold to familiar themes.
But with his pure fantasy, his mind is delightfully twisted. The best way to explain Foster's
fantasy
tale is to put yourself in the place of a parent with five children. The house is filled with animals
and you are lucky if you get three hours of uninterrupted sleep per night. Before putting your
youngest into bed, you read to her a story about magical creatures. Your middle child is talking
about Tolkien's 'The Lord of the Rings.' Two of the remaining children are tucked into bed --
one
with a stuffed koala bear and the other with the family dog -- and your oldest asks for help with
his
physics. You get to bed after midnight with your wife already asleep and just before you drift
into
unconsciousness one of your cats jumps from the nightstand to the middle of your stomach.
When
you wake to the screaming of children and the morning rush, you lock yourself in your den and
write down what you dreamt before it becomes lost in the hazy reality of the day. Kingdoms Of
Light is such a dream.
Kingdoms Of Light begins when the pastoral kingdom of Gowdlands is attacked and overrun by
a
horde led by evil, sadistic, and just badly socialized goblins. The greatest wizard of Gowdlands is
killed in the horde's attack. But the wizard's death unleashes a spell that transforms his
pets--three
cats, a dog, a snake, and a canary--into human forms. The goblins have used their magic and
taken
the color from Gowdlands and the pets/humans are given the obligation of bring color back to
the
world. They have to travel through the kingdoms of light to find and bring the color back.
If you want to read something other than the standard fantasy tale about swords and sorcerers,
Kingdoms Of Light will more than satisfy your desires. The extreme mix of children's fairy tales
and adult dreams makes for a powerful story. If you can let your imagination go, you can fall
into
a story land that compels the hazy reality of day to fade into the background. Kingdoms Of Light
is
on the edge. The reader will either love it or hate it. There is no middle ground.
The Sixth Fleet Tomcat
David E. Meadows
The Berkley Publishing Group
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
0425183793, $6.99, 293 pages, www.amazon.com
The Sixth Fleet Tomcat is a light military novel. It doesn't have the technical legs or the in-depth
characters of a Clancy or Bond novel. It is a small novel fit for an afternoon reading.
'Tomcat' starts out with a marine rescue mission gone bad. Algeria has suffered a fundamentalist
takeover and a marine team was sent in to pull out an American oil drilling crew deep in the
Sahara
desert. The marine helicopters are destroyed when the oil compound is attacked and the marines
have to hike out of the desert with the oil crew. How this main storyline fits with the title
'Tomcat'
is anyone's guess?
There are multiple story threads about the Sixth Fleet's actions and command structure during
this
crisis. It is soon obvious that the background story is ongoing from the first three novels in the
series and will continue at the end of this novel. Continuing storylines are common with the
average military novel. Most authors will end a novel with all of the story threads coming to
satisfactory conclusions. With 'Tomcat,' only the main storyline ends. The others only take a
long
enough pause for the next novel in the series to come out.
'Tomcat' is a good novel for someone who needs a break and likes military novels. For readers
who
are only occasionally interested in military writing there are stronger novels that do not ask you
to
invest the time to read an ongoing series. The Sixth Fleet Tomcat is a typical action/adventure
story and if you start the book with that knowledge you will not be disappointed.
A New Brand World: 8 Principles For Achieving Brand Leadership In The 21st Century
Scott Bedbury with Stephen Fenichell
Viking Books
c/o Penguin Putnam Inc.
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
ISBN 0670030767, 220 pp, $24.95, www.amazon.com, 1-800-847-5515
Consultant Bedbury distills his brand-building experiences at Nike and Starbucks into eight
principles and seven core values. The result is the book of the month -- a practical and engaging
read
that defines brands, explores the elements that make them work, and advises how to build,
maintain,
and reinvent them.
Total Access:, Giving Customers What They Want In An Anytime, Anywhere World
Regis McKenna
Harvard Business School Press
60 Harvard Way , Boston, MA 02163
ISBN 1578512441, 236 pp, $27.50, www.amazon.com, 1-800-668-6780
"Marketing as we know it is disappearing," claims high-tech marketing guru McKenna. His latest
vision of the discipline is an IT-based network capable of dealing with customers on demand and
integrating the business around customers' needs. The goal is to create a "persistent presence" that
enables total access and sustains customer relationships.
Cultivating Communities Of Practice: A Guide To Managing Knowledge
Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott & William Snyder
Harvard Business School Press
60 Harvard Way , Boston, MA 02163
ISBN 1578513308, 274 pp, $29.95, www.amazon.com, 1-800-668-6780
"Communities of practice" - informal groups created around shared interests, problems, and
passions
- are emerging as an effective way to manage and access organizational knowledge. This author
team describes how communities of practice operate, their key structural elements, their five
stages
of growth, and offers seven principles for founding and cultivating them.
New Ideas About New Ideas: Insights On Creativity From The World's Leading Innovators
Shira White with G. Patton Wright
Perseus
c/o Perseus Books Group
Eleven Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142
ISBN 0738205354, 317 pp, $26, www.amazon.com, 1-800-242-7737
New product consultant White employs a wide variety of guides, ranging from managers to
artists,
musicians, and architects, in this readable tour of the creativity process. In doing so, she creates a
new lexicon for creativity that includes concepts such as spark soup and bubbling, and generates a
host of ideas for enhancing personal and corporate creativity.
Making Sense Of Strategy
Tony Manning
Amacom Books
1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019
ISBN 0814471560, 98 pp, $19.95, www.amazon.com, 1-800-250-5308
"Strategy is not rocket science," proclaims South African consultant Manning in this
three-chapter,
one-hour guide to the context, concepts and process of strategy. The author shows how to build
your strategy using a five-step questioning process that flows from purpose definition to a
"strategic
conversation" with stakeholders that enables implementation.
First Among Equals: How To Manage A Group Of Professionals
Patrick McKenna and David Maister
The Free Press
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
ISBN 0743225511, 290 pp, $26, www.amazon.com, 1-800-223-2336
Consultants McKenna and Maister take on the challenge of leadership in professional service
firms
in this text. Aimed at turning groups of talented individuals into coherent teams, the book
explores
the leadership role, the support and development of individual employees, coaching the group as a
whole, and ensuring the longevity of a successful team.
Throwing The Elephant: Zen And The Art Of Managing Up
Stanley Bing
HarperBusiness
c/o HarperCollins Publishers
10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022-5299
ISBN 0060188618, 201 pp, $20.95, www.amazon.com, 1-800-242-7737
Fortune humorist Bing takes on the Zen-In-Business school with the story of young "Sid Arthur."
Sid searches the business world for the answer to the suffering caused by bosses (elephants) to
finally realize: "There is no boss. There is no reporting structure. All that is an illusion."
China Dawn: The Story Of A Technology And Business Revolution
David Sheff
HarperBusiness
c/o HarperCollins Publishers
10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022-5299
ISBN 0060005998, 301 pp, $26.95, www.amazon.com, 1-800-242-7737
Journalist Sheff shares his ringside seat at the emergence of the Internet Age in China. He
introduces
the reader to the entrepreneurs who are leading the charge, a government that is encouraging
technological progress in order to enhance its own power, and the 1.2 billion people who
comprise
the largest market in history.
Business The Sun Way: Secrets Of A New Economy Megabrand
David Stauffer
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
605 Third Avenue, 4th floor, New York, NY 10158-0012
ISBN 1841121525, 178 pp, $19. 95, www.amazon.com, 1-800-225-5945
This fast-reading paperback is a fine introduction to Sun Microsystems, its history, management,
major innovations and products. Business writer Stauffer organized the presentation around "10
secrets" - lessons drawn from the strategies and philosophies that have enabled the company to
grow
to $18 billion in annual sales over 20 years.
Seeing The Whole: Mapping The Extended Value Stream
Dan Jones and Jim Womack
Lean Enterprise Institute
P.O. Box 9, Brookline, MA 02446
ISBN 0966784359, 96 pp, $75, http://www.lean.org/ info@lean.org 1-617 713-2900
This spiral-bound workbook offers a mapping methodology for lean process development in
manufacturing. The authors show how to diagram and analyze existing value streams, how to
create
future streams in which flow is first smoothed within facilities and then, between facilities, and
how
to envision and pursue an ideal state featuring zero waste.
Executive Coaching: Practices & Perspectives
Catherine Fitzgerald and Jennifer Garvey, Berger, editors
Davies-Black Publishing
3803 East Bayshore Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303
ISBN 0891061614, 368 pp, $49.95, www.amazon.com, 1-800-624-1765
This text includes sixteen chapter-length contributions from twenty executive coaching pros.
Organized into five sections, they explore coaching models and perspectives, best practices,
managing coaching in organizations, and special issues and situations, such as coaching across
cultures.
The Solutions Focus: The Simple Way To Positive Change
Paul Jackson and Mark McKergow
Nicholas Brealey Publishing
1163 East Ogden Avenue, #705, Naperville, IL 60563-8535
ISBN 1857882709, 208 pp, $24.95, www.amazon.com, 1-888-273-2539
Change is more palatable when we focus on its positive aspects, say the authors. They offer a
change management strategy based on the acronym SIMPLE: Solutions, not problems; Inbetween
-the action is in the interaction; Make use of what's there, not what isn't; Possibilities - past,
present
and future; Language - simply said; and, Every case is different.
The Randori Principles: The Path Of Effortless Leadership
David Baum and Jim Hassinger
Dearborn Trade
155 North Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL 60606-1719
ISBN 0793148626, 250 pp, $22.00, www.amazon.com, 1-800-621-9621
Borrowed from Japanese martial art of aikido, randori means to be in the right place, with the
right
technique, at the right time, with the right level of power. Apply the lessons of randori to
corporate
management and this author team says it yields a "path of effortless leadership that can create
extraordinary results."
Power Tools For Women: Plugging Into The Essential Skills For Work And Life
Joni Daniels
Three Rivers Press
c/o Random House, Inc.
280 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
ISBN 0609809555, 302 pp, $14.00, www.amazon.com, 1-800-726-0600
Based on Daniels' management workshops, this book presents a skillset designed to improve
personal performance at work and in life. The author's toolbox includes eleven tools, including:
Safety Goggles, for creating a clear vision; Power Drill, to get more information; Soldering Iron,
to
build relationships; Duct Tape, to be prepared for emergencies; etc.
John Kelly
John Kelly
Aperture
20 East 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010
ISBN 089381962X, LCC 2001089140, $40.00, www.aperture.org, www.amazon.com
PR blurbs can make a book sound horridly stilted, in this case even provincial, in a with-it New
York
kind of way. Phrases like "contextualizes Kelly and his work, illuminating the artist's processes
while
simultaneously sketching a portrait of the rich and varied social terrain from which Kelly hails"
divert
attention from what was a fascinating time-the 1980s New York experimental-theater community,
much of which was performed in East Village clubs, the gay and drag world during the early days
when AIDS was being realized for the horror it became. And more: these as a microcosm of life
on
the outer boundaries of art and self-identity as defined by the mainstream, yet the most interesting
lives of all as defined by the history of art.
How better to see it than through the eyes and voice of someone who epitomized the effrontery
and
fear in a time-the Reagan years-when self expression, especially by gays, was viewed by the
well-washed masses as little short of treason. In our hindsight over that era today, the mainstream
was greasy fast food compared with the feasts of soul served up by people like John Kelly.
Quintessential tightwire walker over an abyss of slop, his story is told so well in this book that it is
foppery to try to write a review when he does so much better with the acts and words of his life.
So
let's turn the idea of a book review upside down, shake out its pockets, and see the life the man as
it
actually was.
P. 34: "In the early 1970s, while a sophomore in high school, my best friend Billy Jarecki and I
went
with a patchouli- soaked older friend on the PATH train [from Jersey City] to Manhattan, to the
Anderson Theater on East 4th Street, in what seemed then the very dark East Village. We were
going to a performance of the Cockettes, a theater troupe from San Francisco. On this night, in a
huge theater less than a quarter full of glam rock and drag devotees, a man sauntered downstage
wearing a long, blue silk thirties sheath, obviously deprived of undergarments, and sang "Shanghai
Lil" while standing perfectly still in a pin spot. Whammy. In the second act, a large man danced
"The
Dying Swan" beautifully in a white tutu and point shoes. A second whammy. Live irreverent art.
Now Jersey became the abstraction warranting retirement."
P. 37: "As my lens and appetite expanded, I traveled from the uptown ballet academies to the
modern dance lofts downtown.... Somewhere in there I quit art school. A shy kind of fellow, I
realized that I had 'presence.' Mysteriously, I hit my stride in the strange void in front of a room
full
of onlookers."
P. 41: "I really didn't know opera at all at that point, but this voice, this singing, this sound, was
altogether something else-it touched me deep inside, got my spirit to soar, and I had no idea why.
The music was 'The Art of Maria Callas', a stereo recording made late in her career. This LP
introduced me to the music, language and emotion of opera-the sound conjuring feelings of time
and
place, both lost and uncharted, vast and yet familiar, like some kind of spirit guide, as if all my
past
lives were suddenly converging and clamoring for my attention. I fell in love with opera. I painted
and drew to Callas, her voice filling the room like an inevitable force of human nature. I was
learning
about art from an artist who was utterly committed and essential, as in essence."
P. 45: "One night, tripping alone in my apartment, I sat on the floor in front of a mirror and
watched
myself lip-synching to Callas singing an aria from 'Orphee et Eurydice'. I completely mesmerized
myself In that moment, I saw that I could achieve this incredible visual illusion. It felt like I was
breathing in the soul of another. It was performance, it was playing a role. Color the self. Define
who you can be. Paint became makeup and found its way onto my skin. On went green fingernail
polish, an homage to Sally Bowles. The color of strange, of sinister, the painted nails, normally
the
parameters of woman. Eyes-the black sockets of chronic fatigue, of silent screen beauty, of
aggressive menace, a look to be registered from a distance; remnants still visible the day after,
stains
on the pillow. Hair-lightened or darkened, the look of the aftermath of an opened safety pin stuck
into a wall outlet. And amazing how color to the lips became the real gender-leap-the 'O' of
orifice,
the stain of ripe fruit."
Same page: "Painting this new canvas, my skin. Small hits of Black Beauties by day and nocturnal
acid romps, oblivious to any peril to this passion. I was a conjurer, a magician, a siren. This
creature
stepped out of the canvas and onto the street. Dagmar, the love child of Maria Callas and
Aristotle
Onassis. Dagmar, angry and defiant, stale vestiges of polish and kohl left on during the daylight
hours, working on hidden statements in my studio, venturing out again at night, pallet restored,
smeared deliberately. Black eyes, teased out red hair, torn stockings and dangerous footwear, an
embroidered Vietnam bomber jacket. An incendiary creature-raw and punk, socially annoying,
balanced on the fence, vacillating between the gender divide, deliberately provoking response,
observing reactions.
Still the same page: "I wasn't really your typical transvestite. It was theater. I was exploring my
female side, yeah. I was saying fuck you to parts of my upbringing, abandoning the code of what
it is
to be an American male, inventing my own version. But it was also a way for me to sneak back on
stage-because it wasn't me on stage, it was a character. I embraced Dagmar as I swallowed her
whole, this being of the night, this living sculpture, a response to my hero ... this alter ego, this
liberation and guise, wailed and roamed the empty halls, smoky bars and crowded streets of
Alphabet City with so much more to say."
P. 49: "Rent remained a constant problem, rolling around as dreaded, making for some pretty
hairy
scrambles. Luxury items like health insurance and dental care were neglected altogether. Cheap
Polish food went down my throat. Ideas may have been simmering for months or even years, but
active work on my five- to ten-minute performances often began just a few days before.
Discarded
treasures found in the trash often inspired the next show."
P. 50: "Club performance should be in the curriculum of schools that teach performance art. It
should be a required course in acting academies. There is nothing like performing for a crowd at
two
in the morning, a crowd that is more there to dance and drink than to watch a performance, let
alone
a performance by a banshee who is not doing what drag queens usually do, who is using opera
and
collaged classical music-what is this now.? A skinny dude in a weird costume or nearly naked
except
for a pound of makeup, contorting his body in front of painted seamless paper backdrops,
spewing
stage blood, igniting flash paper."
Same page: "This was no sanctified tower of high art. It was in your face. To come up with the
goods for such a crowd, you have to grab them by the throats and take them on an unanticipated
journey. Focus on your destination-what are you trying to say, what are you trying to say, you
better
get to the point pretty quickly or they will ... talk. The worst. To have a room full of people talk
while you are spilling out your ideas and your guts. But then to see those rows of faces,
absolutely
rapt with attention, the contagion of their regard permeating the room and transforming the
experience. Silence. A shift in the night by way of this shared encounter, this common and perfect
moment, on and at this stage, in this frontier, all of us, performer and spectator together fostering
and witnessing a new and different equation, a communal roar, here on Avenue A, behind these
walls of oh-so-lucky and soon-to-be-torn-down sorcery."
P. 55: "Drag has never been about confusion, gender or otherwise.... It has always functioned as a
sublimely specific vehicle for expression, a beautiful surprise, a red scarf waved in the face of a
bullish society unwilling to witness the values between the black and the white."
P. 59: "Perhaps I am both an exhibitionist and a chameleon. Or perhaps just an introspective man
fond of exploring himself in an external manner. I don't understand this impulse, but I trust
it."
P. 97: "Barcelona, Spain 8/9/89 From this worn-out and lovelorn place, this august Spanish
town
where I have had perhaps my final innocent ardency, I will soon leave, get on a crowded plane to
journey back to New York. I will make an appointment to have a needle shoved in my vein to
retrieve some blood-my pick of the hat, my scrawl on a sweepstakes form, my time for this
lottery. I
will then sit in the office of medicine and open my ears as they tell me of my fate, my future, that
thing that I have been avoiding for so long, that source of terror and complaint, curiosity and
dread.
My H.I.V. status. Tell me, tell me tell me now which camp I am in which brick do I hurl it
doesn't matter I have no sins to confess from these blocks I've been around. No guilt No glee
But this, tell me, I want to know. I'm ready."
P. 131: From his 1995 performance piece "Constant Stranger":
SWAN BOY: Just tell me one thing. Is there a Hell? THE VOICE: There is no Hell... Let me
rephrase that... I would say that you are in hell right now. Just look at your bedsheets. (The boy
looks at his sheets, which are painted with random tally marks, four vertical lines with the fifth
line
slashed through.) And I would say that the life of a choreographer/performer, in the not-for-profit
world, in the United States, IS hell. It's all in the title: NOT FOR PROFIT. MUCH pain, little
gain."
Forget what anyone says about this book. It stands by itself and must be experienced only on its
own
terms. There is a touching foreword by 2wiceArts Foundation director Patsy Tarr, and a splendid
introduction by Philip Yamawine which fills in the few blanks Mr. Kelly leaves. The Aperture
Foundation has done its usual no-holds-barred job with design and photo production. But these,
good as they are, are just the house lights before the curtain goes up and the music starts to play.
So skip the reviews. Buy a ticket to this performance in the form of a visit to the bookstore or one
of the online usuals. It is the richest performance about performance you will probably find all this
year.
Redheads
Paul Spencer Sochaczewski
Sid Harta Publishers (Australia)
P.O. Box 1102, Hartwell, Victoria 3125, Australia
ISBN 0958744890, $9.95, http://www.sidharta.com.au http://www.amazon.com
In the hands of a good author, a novel about ideals gone awry is usually a fascinating read
because
we see so much of what we like and dislike within our own society splayed across the words and
characters of others. Paul Spencer Sochaczewski is such an author and his book Redheads is such
a
novel. The title comes from the coppery-earth color of the hair of the orangutan, the Southeast
Asian jungle primate so like humans its Malay name literally means people of the forest. People
who
live around monkeys dont get all wrapped around the axle over creationism.
Redheads is, in a nutshell, a fast, rollicking read about a complex subject in which a bad problem
is
made worse by short-sighted self-interest (oxymoron, yes, but it never hurts to reinforce the truth)
that add up to few answers and little hope. The subject is the destruction of the Southeast Asian
primordial jungle habitat to feed the pulp mills and construction sites of Malaysia, Singapore,
Indonesia, China, and most of all Japan. Insert Brazil, British Colombia, or the Tongass National
Forest in Alaska and you have the makings of essentially the same novel. Unbeknownst to many
who
havent lined up on a globe the Tongass forest of Alaska with the forests of Indonesia and
Malaysia,
Japan is smack in the middle. Conveniently so, from the Ministry of Technology and Industrys
point
of view, because Japan is the most prodigious waster of timber in the world, just go visit a
construction site and gaze upon cubic yard after cubic yard of plywood and timbers going up in
flames after having been used just once to line a concrete pour. In a bitter twist on the market
economy ideal, it is more efficient to buy and burn than to wash and reuse.
Redheads pace is so brisk it easily fought off drowsiness on the seven-and-a-half hour flight from
Seoul to Jakarta on which I read it. I was rewarded by passing directly over the part of Borneo in
which the story is set. The reward was literally ashes because I looked down on the octopus of
forest roads and clear-cuts, the embrace of whose tentacles inland the story so vividly describes.
Redheads is about environmental activism. Virtually nobody looks good except the natives in the
jungles who have accommodated to nature by trying to improve on neither it nor themselves. Plus
a
single Westernerbased on an actual personwho has lived so long with them he is in effect part of
the
junglescape, long since removed from the Western Intellectual Tradition. Fiction takes a few
liberties
with this fellow, casting him as an earnest but flawed hero fated for tragic demise. The real-life
counterpart left his wife, his child, and the tribe to their fate as he went back to comfy Switzerland
to make himself famous with an account of life with the natives.
Everyone else in the novelas indeed in the real world of deforested Asiasees nature as a vanity or
income enhancer. The predictable hacks of humanity are there: The landed sultans so intent on
building mini-Brunei palaces for themselves (making sure to lengthen the runway for the new
Boeing
737) they sell the forests and animals with the same impunity that feudal landlords sold serfs. The
secretive patriarchs of Chinese family-owned conglomerates who take their greatest pride in
causing
things to be done through shell companies so discreetly they are not seen as the cause (so
secretive,
in fact, they dont appear in this novel although they own the shell companies that own the timber
companies whose names the novel only lightly shades from the real ones). And, sigh, the coarse,
guttural, brutal, weapon-wielding, vacuum-brained camp managers and loggers who are the only
known twigs on the human tree to be less attractive than a drill sergeant.
Thats on the baddies side. The good folks are masks over personality types commonly found in
the
environmental and other change-the-world movements, who, good as their intentions may be,
convert ideals to personal agendas the same way the greedy land-strippers do but without being
so
candid about it. There is Doctor Gilda, who arrived a decade ago with a grant to teach great apes
the American Sign Language used by the deaf. Her success with signage was not matched by
diligence with record-keeping, and as the story unfolds one subplot finds her confronting a nosy
young thing named B.B. from the International Nature Federation who says things like we like to
think were creating a new frontier in conservation fundraising while simultaneously fending off
exploratory ape sniffs at her crotch and Gildas efforts to conceal that she has precious little on
paper
to show for her efforts. B.B.s with-it wordspinning is honeyed poison to the environmental
movement and neither knows it.
Sex, ever the plot-thickener, turns the diverse subplots involving Gilda into something of a
compote
with too many gratuitous references to Gildas hydraulic libido which do little to advance the plot
or
shed light on her psyche. However, they do explain why she continues to get one-year visas from
the
Yale-educated, Glenfiddich-sipping Minister of the Environment whose idea of an environment is
looking down on a jungle from a first-class 747 seat on his way to an international conference.
More
solitary in his sexual pursuits is Gerry, one of those lost waifs in the Ph.D.-candidate world whose
research is taking longer than hed like and indeed may never get done. One reason is his frequent
retreats from Gildas ape-research camp to Nirvana, a hideaway near a waterfall where he can
bathe,
smoke dope, and look at girlie magazines while he fancies himself in the place of Gildas lover
Bujang, a native who Gilda wants to marry because she will automatically become a local citizen
and
can let the INF go hang. She is not a complex personality.
In Nirvana Gerry meets Urs, the Swiss idealist who has lived with the simple Penan peoples for so
long he is now one of them. Timber cutters are bulldozing their way into the ancestral Penan
burial
grounds and Urs decides this must stop. Armed only poison-dart blowguns his little group
eventually
stymies a massive array of enemiesheedless timber company owners, corrupt government officials,
the ancient landed aristocracy, even the environmentalists, who are miffed because theyre not the
center of the action.
Who wins? I looked down from my airliner window upon vast swatches of ripped brown earth.
Hundreds of miles of it. Thats who.
Mr. Sochaczewskis book is an eco-thriller of the best kind. In the process of enthralling with a
page-turning plot and piquantoften hilariouscharacter sketches, he unveils the masks of real
people
with thinly masked motives, and shows those faces to be as stupid and vain as they really are in
the
jungled politics of deforestation. It is a complicated, messy plot in equally the novel and in real
life;
in both there are few untainted motives and very little hope. To paint the consequences as they
exist
today, here is a verbatim quote from an email sent to me from Kuala Lumpur on 21 March
2002:
As you look out over your garden to enjoy the view, kindly transport yourself to Malaysia to
imagine what it would be like here. First, it is hot, as in real hot (even by local reckoning), so you
turn on the showers to cool yourself only to find the water coming out in trickles because there is
water shortage (officially we are still under a dry spell as the downpours we have had of late have
poured over the downstream areas instead of the catchment areas where the dams are). Then as
you
turn your gaze outside to comfort yourself with the lush scenery, you find the haze is everywhere,
making you feel gloomy and morose. Still, I should not complain. Other places are worse off.
It is hard to imagine what worse might be, save perhaps for the Aral Sea. The haze that forms a
dome over the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and Java is smoke from burning forests. Some is set
alight
by slash-and-burn farmers so poor they must survive on half an acre or so of millet for at most
three
years before the soil depletes and they must find another half acre and burn that. Most, though,
comes from timber companies burning slashings from their clear-cuts so politically connected
companies can lay claim to and plant another palm-oil plantation. The foliage of the oil palm is so
dense very little can grow beneath it, and its productive life is 95 years. Voila, a green desert that
yields a cooking oil with one of the highest LDL cholesterol contents.
Hints of ecological disaster have been looming above Asia for years. The land around Nong Khai
in
Thailand is barren, mostly untilled, unbearably hot. Just across the Mekong in Laos the land is
covered with fertile jungle. About ten years ago politically blessed timber companies arrived and
felled the Thai forests. That done, they moved on, and are now felling what little forest Cambodia
still has, leaving the farmers behind, like those of Nong Khai, to poke sticks into the dead earth
and
wonder what they can do with the rest of their lives. To make ends meet they sell their spare
daughters into the brothel trade, which is run, invisibly, by military officers.
Seven years ago I was in Cameron Highlands in Malaysia, one of the old British hill stations, to
which they repaired during the hot season. Night after night at around 3 in the morning there
would
rise a great roar, and down from the forests of the Losing (pron. Loh-sing) Highlands in nearby
Kelantan province came truck after truck hauling giant logs, so large only two or three could be
chained to the stakebeds. Not a few trucks, not a few dozen, but several hours of themI would
stop
counting at a hundred and still they came. Why at that hour? Because they left the Losing
Highlands
around ten at night in order to arrive and vanish behind the corrugated sheetmetal fences of
coastal
plywood makers and pulp chipping mills before the morning motorists could see them. Some
years
later there was a brief flurry of articles in the Malaysian press that the Losing Highlands was now
a
wasteland and no one seemed to know where the timber went or who took it away.
To be sure, the press skirted around the subject of who made the real pile off this. The Sultan of
Kelantan, like many of Malaysias sultans, lives off selling land-use rights to Chinese timber
companies. He wanted a Boeing 737 and a new palace. For that a wasteland was made. To be
sure
the characters involved were not so colorful as those in Paul Sochaczewskis novel, but the ruin his
novel predicts has come true all across the broad quarter-moon from Western Sumatra through
Java
and up to Borneo and Sulawesi.
It is interesting to compare what the Malays and Chinese are doing to these forests with what
British
and Dutch did with the forests of India, Sri Lanka, and part of Malaya. They cut down vast
stretches
of silkwood, satinwood, ironwood, mahogany, ebony, teaka litany of the worlds most gorgeous
woodsbut they planted tea and rubber plantations in their stead. Today these are major segments
of
their national export economies.
The Malay sultans, by compare, have done absolutely nothing to turn their lands to productive
use.
The Chinese towkays (very wealthy men) have planted palm-oil plantations on the less hilly bits
near
roads. But for the most part they choose to cut and move on, in the most short-sighted and
destructive business model the world has ever known.
And for what?
It would be convenient at this point to wring ones hands and write another check to an
ad-splashing
environmentalist group or go paint signs for the anti-globalization cause. Not so fast. It is rapidly
becoming evident that bitching about symptoms is fixing no causes. Lamenting Borneos lost
forests
does not address the fact that sixty percent of Indonesias labor force is unemployed. Dithering
over
the influx of pre-teens into brothels does not address the fact that local moneylenders charge
upward
of 40 percent per month, and how else can an impoverished paddy owner scrape together enough
money to buy seed grain for the next rice planting or a fisher to repair the broken outrigger on his
catamaran? The tourist postcards dont show these things.
Time-honed social mechanisms are breaking down not because of land grabbing or the market
mechanism or globalization, but because a mix of population and prosperity has given exploiters a
powerful tool with which to divide and conquer to their advantage. There are glimpses of hope at
the local level with ideas like the mini-loans of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, a group in India
teaching mothers how to buy their daughters out of debt bondage, and a trend in India of rural
Indian women having fewer babies. But these are glimmers in a glooming sky of intellectual
property
rights falling increasingly to the advantage of remote corporate entities responsible only to even
more remote moneyed interests. Non-governmental organizations preoccupied with grabbing and
holding turf end up focusing on the means to the neglect of the ends. Most of all, those who
complain loudest also tend to innovate the least.
For some time the 800-lb gorilla in the global closet has been that the Western Intellectual
Tradition
has slipped over the line dividing purpose and narcissism. Howsoever the American politicians
phrase their ideals, their realities are grabbing, carving, weaponry, coercion, and hypocrisy. Once
a
wellspring of original thinking, the Western academic community increasingly flounders in
incestuousnessa recent book by a famous university press whose subtitle was grandly stated as
Global Ethics in a New Century contained fourteen essays by professors from obscure campuses
in
England, Wales, the USA, and Canada, but not a single contribution from the Confucian, Hindu,
Buddhist, Muslim, business, investment, environmental, or scientific communities. Americans are
unaware that the most significant threat to their hegemony over the next twenty-five years is not
brewing in the Middle East or the Southern Tier countries, but in the heads of young Asians.
Except for the last sentence above, we all know all this. Why paste it on the end of a review of a
book whose purpose was not intended to address these things?
Because writers like Paul Sochaczewski are who we need most right now. Not academics. Not
literary-circle darlings. Not trendgrabbing scribblers. Not opportunists who will write anything so
long as a film option is likely to come out of it. Mr. Sochaczewski has the talent to create a
plausible
story based on realities only locals know, characters who move the plot along, and a point of view
forged from the pain of innocents. One prays that publishers like Sid Harta in Australia continue
to
support him and writers like him, because the bar-code blinkers of the American publishing and
bookselling establishments will not.
Can we ask them, though, to raise the bar higher than storytelling? For two centuries novels about
ideas set the standards for fiction we all hearken to today. Authors were promulgated because
publishers felt they and writers had a duty to society. Now most publishers feel their duty is to
shareholders, and a good deal of the fiction they support is TV printed on paper. It so happens
that
most of todays truly original thinking is outside the media mainstream. If ever there existed a time
to
think in 50- to 100-year spans instead of till the next quarterly financial report, this is the time; and
if
ever there was an occasion to address the future we face using fiction to shape it, September 11
was
the day it started.
Fiction has so many fruits yet unplucked. From New Age thinking come the ideas of the unity of
history and that oversouls inhabit ideas. The former holds that history is neither linear nor cyclic
but
a group of behaviors that flux in and out of social need irrespective of time. Oversouls are
behavior
forms that envelope idea forms; for example, they are why fundamentalism and saintliness behave
the same way in no matter in which ethos they occur. The message of these is to not look
backward
as we move forward. What does that mean for the most backward-looking institution of
humankind,
namely religion?
From Islam comes ideas such as: the states primary duty is to raise the poor from their poverty
while
encouraging the wealthy to create more of it; economics and ethics are optimal when at one with
each other; the best-yielding business contract links self-interest with social advance; a market
economy is a lowest-common-denominator economy but a market society is a courtyard which
embraces the four main constituencies of culture: the social, the civil, the devotional, and the
economic.
These are but two things I know well. There are myriads I know not, though others do. Mr.
Sochaczewski is an entertaining and incisive writer with a point to make. Redheads make it well. I
hope he goes on to explore the byways of mind thus far untrod, and of those inform us as well as
this.
A Word About the Publisher
Sid Harta Publishers is an Australian house that specializes in books by Australian authors, or
books
set in or near Australia. Their representative Andrew Karam describes their interest in Redheads
thus:
Sid Harta became interested in Pauls book because it tells a story that needs to be toldsome of the
realities behind the international environmental movement as understood by a member of this
group.
Paul does an excellent job of pointing out the necessity of this movement, the importance of the
research performed, while also tipping from the pedestal the many environmental activists who
tend
to place themselves there. By describing how scientists, activists, natives, governments, and
funding
organizations interact with one another, Redheads helps the reader to understand that everyone
engaged in environmental activism, whether "pro" or "anti", is a person with some sort of
expectations and agenda.
On the one hand, this does show that all sides abuse the system to some extent. On the other,
showing the participants to be human makes it a lot easier for the reader to empathize with them
and
to see the environmental movement as a human endeavor that we can all aspire to join and make a
contribution. It is much more refreshing to read about real people than idealized people, they are
much more interesting and immediate.
Mao, Marx, And The Market: Capitalist Adventures In Russia And China
Dean LeBaron, with Donna Carpenter
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158-0012,
ISBN 047115315X, $27.95 LIC CP data, Hardcover, 6 x 9, 336 pages,
http://www.wiley.com
Imagine a mystery thriller whose corpse is an idea and whose mystery is not whodunit but who
didnt
(clue: millions of hyphenated apparatchikscard-carrying, chair-warming, and self-serving). Then
add
to these (a) who will take the recently vacated warm chairs, and (b) what will they most likely
do?
For further details, read this book.
Its not news that ideas have lives, too. Most follow the bell-curve of civilization and life itself,
from
exploring toddlerhood to brash adolescence to productive maturity to declining vigor, and in a
few
cases, to the fear-based hostility of old-farthood. Some expire quietly with at most a whimper.
Others go out leaving a godawful mess.
Dean LeBaron, private eye wearing the cloak of an investment banker, has two mysteries on his
hands in this book. One is how China has managed with such a minimum of fuss its transition
from
fanatic Sinic communism to frantic Sinic capitalism. The other is why Russia has had such a devil
of
a time reinventing itself as a modern state after its Slavonic version of communism put a gun to its
head in 1991.
These issues have been addressed before, but (a) not from the perspective of someone personally
involved in both transitions, (b) without the wealth of astute judgment Mr. LeBaron draws out of
otherwise trivial or tangential observation, and (c) most definitely not so well written. It is hard to
say whose eye is the most observant in this regard, Mr. LeBarons or his not-so-ghostly co-author
Ms. Donna Carpenter, but the result is a book that tells us things that no other book does, and
does
so entertainingly.
Take an example from page 183, Mr. LeBaron describes a visit to the Palace of Children in
Shanghai
where the children in his group are introduced to some Chinese girls dressed like ballerinas. It was
clearly a friendly gesture, and I was pleased to see that our hosts were trying hard to impress
foreigners.
Many visitors to China have experienced cultural outreach like this in one form or another. Most
dismiss it as pious propaganda. Mr. LeBaron draws the true lesson from these tots in tutus: The
message of this display was that the Chinese valued their children, and at the same time, valued
Western culture ... [they] wanted us to know how much and how well they cared for their
children;
in other words, they cared how we regarded them.
There are hundreds of piquant observations in his book. Where else, for example, have you read
that
Deng Xiaoping was shorter than Napoleon? Where, too, could you find the Soviet Union so aptly
summarized as motivated more by fear of loss and blame than by succeed and gain? The common
thread throughout is that Mr. LeBaron understands how to interpret a cultural statement as well
as
he does a financial statement. For example, on one of his trips to Russia during the Gorbachev
years
an earnest young fellow tells him, Just tell us what we have to do to do business with the West,
and
we will do it. Mr. LeBaron makes no cultural judgment but rather observes, ... the Russians didnt
follow through, the Chinese did.
The fatal phrase was Just tell us. Mr. LeBarons experiences in China revealed no such waiting for
the instruction manual to arrive. Their eagerness to do things their own way is a river of
dynamism
coursing through China, and is amply illustrated in this book. Perhaps Chinese self-reliance is just
as
well, since the advice being dispensed by the West is not always so apt. At a Russian conference
on
converting former military installations to civilian uses, he points out, ... some American speakers
argued against converting military plants, maintaining that it could not be done for several
reasons,
one of which was that unions would not agree to the necessary changes in job descriptions and
pay
scales. The Soviet speakers, by contrast, tended to ask, Why not? If the world wants fewer
weapons
and more consumer goods, lets oblige.
American advisers and consultants tend to pronounce on matters over which they are either
poorly
informedsuch as what union members think without ever having attended a union meeting. They
often dont grasp or simply ride roughshod over deep-seated cultural underpinnings. This is a
much
larger obstacle to Western interests than most American media (to say nothing of consultancies)
are
willing to admit. The Russians were as confused by the mixed signals they got from American
advisers as the Chinese and Southeast Asians. Then came the economic crisis of 199798. The
patently counterproductive mandates from the IMF, World Bank, and the Western financial
community convinced Asians that, given their cultural patterns, Western advice was often the
exact
opposite of what was needed. They responded accordingly by embracing Western technological
means but taking its social ideas with a grain of salt. The result has been culturally directed
economic advance. China is now the fastest-growing investor in Southeast Asia, and Asians from
Japan to Indonesia are quietly forming an economic bloc that will rival the EU in size and exceed
it
in self-discipline.
The implications are, from the Western point of view, upsetting. The Western concept of social
stability is based in part on the view that a person has no meaning or dignity without a strong
measure of individual liberty. The Western concept of economic stability is relentless growth
come
what may. The Asian pattern, Mr. LeBaron points out, is substantively different: Through the
centuries the Chinese frame of mind was formed around the idea of balancea dynamic equilibrium
...
China knows what must be balancedthe rich and poor, efficiency and unemployment, growth and
inflation, stability and liberty. If the Chinese can synthesize these opposites, they will have
accomplished one of the great feats of modern history. For now, my money is on China.
Co-author Donna Carpenter has a sharp eye for detail and how to extract the valuable insight out
of
random personal experience. Under her guidance, Mr. LeBaron turns the turgid jargons of most
business and academic books into anecdotes of real people signaling with actions today how they
will likely act in the future. Chapter 15 is a gold mine in this regard, for here are summed up in
megatrends style the primal cultural underpinnings that yield the deeply ingrained responses of
todays behavior, and will no doubt continue to do in the future. For example, The Chinese learned
from the Great Leap Forward to take small and steady leaps. The Russians were addicted to
grand
gestures, which have ultimately led to epic ruin. ... Russia will remain the Sick Man of the World,
dangerous because it is weak, disoriented, subject to spasm. ... The Chinese may adopt democracy
so gradually that no one will notice.
Mr. LeBaron does something few experts ever do. He splashes through the muddy roads of reality
on his way to the gilt corridors of power. Most consultants never venture out of their five-star
hotels. The result is a meticulous and perceptive dissection of the psychological mechanics of
economic planning. There are times when so much went awry that the sole shred of optimism in
him
was that of someone who has no clothes, one apple to eat, and still insists he is in paradise. Deng
Xiaoping surely experienced the same feeling, for his notion of reform was, as Mr. LeBaron
suggests, a bottom-up onebuild an economy by building a large buyer base, which in time
becomes a
middle-class society. In other words, a consumer economy, which, from the non-Western point of
view, has the happy property of enabling prosperity without requiring a specific idea of
polity.
The resulting value-adding ladder system of recently-well-off community investing in less-well-off
community is the fundamental basis of Asias economic rise to stardom between 1970 and the
present, and is a hitherto ignored argument why globalization does more good than harm over the
long term. Anti-globalists who criticize greedy capitalism miss the point. The negative effects of
international trade derive from the mindset that flourishes when institutions become too powerful
to
be challenged, and to arrogant to restrain themselves. Since that description most accurately
applies
to the Western corporate structure, it makes for salutary reading to delve into Mr. LeBaron and
Ms.
Carpenters book. There you will see how two polities with vastly different cultural roots are
applying the best of the West while ignoring the rest.
Dana De Zoysa
Reviewer
Mary's Bookshelf
The Aliens Of Transylvania County
Patrick Bone
Silver Dagger Mysteries
c/o Overmountain Press
PO Box 1261, Johnson City, TN 37605
ISBN 1570721742; Hc. $23.95, ISBN 1570721750; Tpb. $13.95, 153 pages,
www.amazon.com
What do you get when you mix history, mystery, and good old-fashioned science fiction in the
same
book? Nothing less than a rip-roaring adventure for young adults if the author is storyteller
extraordinaire Patrick Bone. Following up on the success of Melungeon Winter, Bone once again
takes readers to the Appalachian Mountain countryside of the 1950s where ancient folk legends
compete with sci-fi movies in the "Scariest Story" category of childhood memories.
For the young people of North Carolina's Transylvania County, it's simply no contest. The legend
of
Devil's Mountain is as old as the hill itself, a tale that even grownups take seriously on nights
when a
full moon shines. These back-country folk know the land of their birth. They know that when the
night sky's silvery orb is at its brightest, kids who venture up on Devil's Mountain simply vanish
like
shooting stars, leaving no trace for the bloodhounds to follow. If any child dares to doubt the
story,
all they have to do is visit Momma Opalona, the old black storyteller who lives down in the cove
past Robert E. Lee Grade School.
When high school newcomer John Croshaw declares his intention to visit the mountain,
classmates
Chess Cumberland and Hannah Jane Goins go to Momma Oplalona for advice. What she tells
them
is enough to scare most folks away from Devil's Mountain, but Hannah has a crush on John, and
Chess has a crush on Hannah. Where John Croshaw goes, the other two will undoubtedly follow.
Several nights later, with a hunter's moon riding high in the sky, the three adventurers set out to
climb the mountain. It doesn't take long before they realize they're in trouble. Someone is stalking
them, and the only path to safety lies up the steep hillside. The trio becomes separated, and when
Chess next lays eyes on Hannah, she's been captured by strange figures wearing long black robes.
Oddly enough, John Croshaw seems to be their friend. Accompanying the figures are dozens of
children, all of them quietly obedient to their cloaked leaders. Chess miraculously escapes capture,
but once home again, no one will believe his story.
With John and Hannah missing, the sheriff sends Chess to the North Carolina Reformatory in
hopes
that a stay in prison will make him change his story. Weeks drag by, but Chess refuses to confess
to
harming the two missing teens. His only friend in the reformatory is Gary Wayne, a young man
imprisoned on a false accusation. When Gary decides to escape, Chess agrees to go with him.
Chess
is determined to find Hannah, and he knows that the only way to do that is to return to Devil's
Mountain. His discovery that John Croshaw is alive and stalking him only adds to his resolve.
Before
he can save his friend, though, Chess has some growing up to do. He accomplishes that with the
help of Owen P. Duffy and Owen's granddaughter, Julie. The Duffies are mountain dwellers who
welcome Chess and Wayne into their home after they escape from jail. The two boys work for
Owen, and only leave when the old man dies. With no family left for either of them, Julie and
Wayne
accompany Chess on his fateful journey back to Devil's Mountain.
Patrick Bone has taken the ingredients of every youngster's fantasy and brewed a tale of friendship
and loyalty refined by the fires of adversity. He's enriched this concoction by adding a dollop of
history to the mix, describing life in Appalachia as it was some fifty years ago. Young readers will
experience the hill country from the perspective of those who lived there at a time when the poor
and uneducated had few opportunities or rights under the law. They will also view the beauty of
the
mountains and the simplicity of a lifestyle dependent on the bounty of the land. Bone shares none
of
this background in a heavy-handed way. Like any good storyteller, he relies on adventure to draw
in
his readers, and in this case, the adventure is as imaginative as they come. The sci-fi aspect of the
story may seem humorous to adults, but any 12-year-old who's seen "ET" will think twice before
dismissing the thought of aliens invading Earth. This is a great read for boys and girls alike, and
highly recommended by this reviewer.
Death Of A Hoosier Schoolmaster
Marlis Day
SterlingHouse Publisher, Inc.
440 Friday Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15209
ISBN 1563152886, Tpb., $11.95, 190 pages, 1-888-542-2665, www.amazon.com
It's an early June day in southern Indiana, and language arts teacher Margo Brown is enjoying a
well-deserved respite from her duties at Riley Middle School. Hard at work in the garden, she's
busy
setting in tomato seedlings when suddenly a rusted handgun pops out of the dirt. Encrusted with
clay, the pistol appears old to both Margo and her husband. Dew Brown decides to take it to a
gun
collector for dating. First, though, he shows it to his father. Ambrose Brown had once owned the
land where Margo and Dew's house now stands. When Margo learns that Ambrose bought the
eighty acres from Gus Steiner, and sometime later Gus died in a strange accident, her imagination
begins to run wild. She decides to visit the library and look up the details of Gus' death.
Word travels fast in a small community, and before long, Margo's neighbors are all aware of her
find. They also know she's digging into the past, and not everyone is happy about it. When Margo
receives a message warning her to leave well enough alone, it only spurs her on to greater action.
By
now she's discovered that Gus died of a gunshot wound, and after a brief investigation, his two
sons
were indicted for murder. Neither Hugh nor Leroy was convicted, but according to the older
residents of the town, everyone knew they were guilty. Everyone also knew that Gus Steiner, a
stern
schoolmaster and sheep farmer, was a wealthy but stingy old cuss who worked his sons
unmercifully
and was cruel to his family. Tragedy stalked the family even before Gus' death. Steiner's wife left
him, taking their 13-year-old daughter with her. Hugh's daughter died young, as did his son, an
alcoholic. Leroy's daughter left town soon after her grandfather's murder, as did the brothers'
wives.
Hugh and Leroy both died before their time, as did a deaf cousin who was suspected of having a
hand in Gus' murder.
When Margo learns that the cousin had a brother who served in WWI, and the gun she found
dates
from that time, she's sure she's discovered evidence that could reopen the case. But she's still
being
warned off by someone intent on stopping her investigation. A push into the river during a
fireworks
display on the Fourth of July leaves Margo not only wet and filthy, but also mad. She vows to
learn
the truth about Gus Steiner's death no matter what the cost.
Marlis Day gives us another delightful look into the workings of a small town in Death of a
Hoosier
Schoolmaster. Secrets abound in Calmuck, Indiana, and skeletons rattle in the most unlikely
closets.
The intrepid Margo Brown is as witty as her creator as she ponders the mysteries of children
("Just
when I figured it was safe to write a check again, college started."), teaching 7th graders ("I
sincerely hope his parents find counseling for himor maybe a lobotomy."), marriage to Dew ("An
early riser, he has the metabolism of a canary in the morning."), and dieting with a friend. ("Roxie
and I were both suffering from the slower metabolism that plagues the middle-aged, making us a
little too short on the weight/height charts.") Written in a casual, chitchat-over-the-back-fence
sort
of way, the book sometimes wanders down paths that lead nowhere, as when Roxie confides to
Margo that a ghost is inhabiting her house. Day fails to tie up that loose end, leaving the reader
grasping for plausible answers to doorknobs that rattle on their own and mysterious hand-prints
on
mirrors. And while Margo's adventures in cooking are mouth-watering, her frequent side trips
into
the kitchen occasionally slow the pace of the action. Nevertheless, the plot is sufficiently puzzling
to
hold the reader's interest, and the twist ending brings a satisfying conclusion to the story. For
those
who enjoy witty dialogue and the coziness of a small town mystery, Death Of A Hoosier
Schoolmaster makes for a pleasant read on a lazy afternoon.
Death Is A Cabaret
Deborah Morgan
Berkley Prime Crime
c/o The Berkley Publishing Group
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
ISBN 0-425-18202-9, $5.99 US; $8.99 CAN., 226 pages, 1-800-847-5515,
www.amazon.com
Jeff Talbot was once a desk jockey for the FBI. Now he jockeys a pristine 1948 Chevy woodie
over
the highways and byways of Seattle in search of antiques. As a professional picker, Jeff's job is to
find and buy unusual items, then resell them to Blanche Appeby, owner of All Things Old, the
city's
largest antique shop. Blanche is not only a sharp businesswoman but also a lady with a dream. Her
family had once owned a priceless cabaret set, a porcelain coffee server originally purchased by
Napoleon for his wife, the Empress Josephine. The set had been sold soon after the death of
Blanche's mother, and Blanche has been searching for it ever since. Unknown to her, the cabaret
set
is up for auction at the Annual Antiques Festival on Michigan's Mackinac Island. Jeff Talbot will
be
attending the Festival held at the island's Grand Hotel, and come hell or high water, he intends to
get
the set back for Blanche.
But Jeff isn't the only one after the Napoleonic treasure. Frank Hamilton, an obnoxious picker and
Talbot's main competitor in the trade, shows up at the Festival as well. Jeff knows that Hamilton's
presence means trouble, but he doesn't realize how much trouble until his rival turns up dead in
the
hotel's fountain. The murder casts a pall over the proceedings, and Jeff finds himself wondering
who
hated Frank enough to kill him. When a second death occurs on the island, Jeff is drawn deeper
into
the investigation by Mackinac Detective Cal Brookner. He quickly turns to his wife for help when
he
discovers a possible clue. An agoraphobic, Sheila Talbot no longer ventures outside her Seattle
home, but she's an expert at surfing the Internet. While Sheila researches the clue on her
computer,
Jeff delves into the personal lives of the other auction attendees in hopes of discovering a motive
for
the killings. What he eventually learns comes as a surprise to both Jeff and the reader.
Proving that old hatreds are the worst kind, Deborah Morgan brews a tale of deceit amid
grandeur
as she introduces readers to the intriguing world of antique collecting in Death Is A Cabaret. Jeff
and Sheila Talbot are refreshingly different characters with a unique perspective on the institute of
marriage. Their ability to accept and deal with the limitations imposed on them by Sheila's illness
strengthens their relationship and gives readers a pair of protagonists worth emulating. Morgan's
descriptions of Mackinac and the Grand Hotel are equally pleasing for those who have visited the
island and those who only dream of doing so. The author's knowledge of antiques is evident in the
book, and as an added plus, she ends her story with "Recommendations from Jeff Talbot", a brief
epilogue offering books of interest to antique collectors, coffee lovers, and fan of the cinema.
Sheila's webliography is also included in this chapter.
Death Is A Cabaret is a satisfying first novel that wets the reader's appetite for more Jeff Talbot
adventures. Hopefully we won't have to wait long for another mystery by the talented Deborah
Morgan.
A Favor For Zodiac
J. Michael Blue
HandHeldCrime/Coffee Cup Press
ISBN 0971366004, $3.50, http://www.handheldcrime.com/ebooks/
Sometimes it just doesn't pay to help a relative. Female PI Micki Garrity learns this lesson the
hard
way in J. Michael Blue's latest novel, A Favor For Zodiac. When Tim Carniston suddenly shows
up
in the parking garage of Micki's office building and takes a headlong dive into the back seat of her
car, it doesn't take long for the PI to discover that her cousin is in trouble -- again. A small-time
loser who prefers the moniker "Zodiac" to his birth name, bad boy Tim has seen the inside of a
prison more than once. Unfortunately, he never seems to learn from the experience.
Tim's current scam involves stealing from his boss, a local Florida mobster. As a "smurf", Tim's
job
is to deposit drug money in various banks throughout the county, always in amounts less than
what
needs to be reported to the Feds. Tim does his work well until the day he meets another scam
artist
selling diamonds. Thinking he can make a killing on the deal, Tim skims some loot from the
laundry
bag of small bills to buy the stones. He tells Micki he intended to repay the money before his
employer discovered the loss, but now the drug lord is on to him and out for revenge. Tim
convinces
Micki to act as a go-between in a settlement attempt with his boss.
Driven by family loyalty, Micki takes on the job. Her efforts are thwarted, though, when a body
shows up and Tim disappears with both the money and the diamonds. When a second PI enters
the
scene, things become even more complicated. Tony Smith is a "take-it-into-your-own-hands" sort
of
guy who is after Tim's boss due to his side business of selling weapons to Third World countries.
His
offer to team up with Micki arouses her suspicions, but in the end, she has no choice but to
cooperate with Smith in an attempt to save Tim's life.
Micki Garrity is a tough character who endures a good bit of physical punishment in this
semi-hardboiled PI novel by J. Michael Blue. Blue is an award-winning short fiction writer with
75
stories and one previously published novel to his credit. In A Favor For Zodiac, he does a good
job
of depicting the current state of the drug business in America and the people who profit from the
trade. His characters are believable, his writing precise, and his settings well described. I'd
recommend this book for those who enjoy PI mysteries and don't mind their female characters
getting roughed up in the course of the action.
Shop Talk
Carolyn Haines writing as Lizzie Hart
KaliOka Press
ISBN 0-9663954-0-9, Trp., $12.95, 290 pages, http://www.kaliokapress.com/
Carolyn Haines needs no introduction. Her "Bones" series featuring Southern sleuth Sarah Booth
Delaney and the irrepressible nanny/ghost Jitty has delighted an ever-growing audience of mystery
fans since its inception in 1999. What few readers know, though, is that Them Bones is not Ms.
Haines' first published mystery. That honor goes to Shop Talk, a screwball comedy of mischief
and
misadventure penned under the pseudonym Lizzie Hart and published by Ms. Haines' own
company,
KaliOka Press.
Released in 1998, Shop Talk is the story of six eccentric females who have little in common with
each other except for a burning desire to pen a bestseller. Known as Women of Mississippi
Books,
or WOMB for short, the six wannabe writers meet once a week for critique sessions in the
shadowed environs of Bo's Electonics, a TV repair shop owned by WOMB member Lucille Hare's
long-suffering older brother. Lucille has lofty ambitions as the author of a Western romance
starring
Slade, a poetry-spouting cowboy who herds his cows across several states while trying to win the
hand of his lady love, Clara. Slade's poetry is pretty poor, as is the rest of his creator's writing, but
Bo and his movie-loving wife Iris grudgingly support Lucille's efforts when she joins WOMB.
The two are not so supportive of the other women in the group, though. Mona d'la Quirt is
penning
an S&M novel called "Leather and Chains", but seems more taken with research on the subject
than
with writing. Andromeda Ripley is obsessed with aliens, and sometimes looks like one as she
speeds
through town on her motorcycle dressed in a black helmet and matching leather ensemble. Jazz
Dixon is a no-nonsense librarian with a beehive hairdo and a penchant for Scottish historicals,
while
Coco Frappe's efforts center around the production of a cheesecake cookbook entitled
"De-Lush-Ous". Last but not least, Dallas Dior is into romance, although she's finding little of that
at
the moment with her high tech husband, the famous scientist Dr. Robert Beaudreaux. Having
relegated him to a makeshift bedroom in the garage, Dallas is currently punishing Robert by
maxing
out their credit cards on clothes and perfume.
The mission of WOMB seems clear enough, but the group turns to other pursuits besides writing
when two strangers come to town. Marvin Lovelace is an ex-CIA agent with long yellow teeth, a
rotten disposition, and an inordinate interest in the Hare family history. Driskell LaMont is the
opposite of Lovelace in age and attitude, but he looks like Dracula himself with his long black
cape
and cranberry stained red lips. Having answered an ad recruiting secret agents for the
government,
Driskell is now working nights in Bo's shop and, like Lovelace, keeping a watchful eye on the
Hares.
Both men come to the attention of the WOMB members when Dr. Beaudreaux is mysteriously
kidnapped, a bomb is placed in Lucille's apartment, and the Hare's long-lost evil Uncle Peter
unexpectedly shows up on Bo's doorstep. What follows reads like a Mad Hatter's list of zany and
unpredictable happenings, each adventure funnier than the last and drawing the ladies of WOMB
deeper and deeper into a web of unimaginable skullduggery.
For a downright comical mystery, Shop Talk wins hands down over all competitors. Lucille's
naivet‚
and unpretentious nature make her an appealing character, and her relationship with the oddly
lovable Driskell is a plus from the start. Backing up these main protagonists, Bo and Iris are a riot
as
they waltz down romance lane to the beat of sound bites from old movies. The other ladies of
WOMB are just as memorable in their own peculiar ways. The plot is as crazy as they come, but it
hangs together in the capable hands of the author.
It's obvious that "Lizzie Hart" enjoyed writing this book. Not only did she target her family and
friends for a little down-home ribbing -- she dedicated the book to her brother and sister-in-law
and
fellow members of the Deep South Writers Salon -- but she also poked fun at herself in the
process.
"I'd like to thank Carolyn Haines, who has supported me in my quest to get this book published. I
couldn't have done it without her."
I'd like to thank Carolyn Haines also. Lucille Hare and her cohorts in crime tickled my funnybone
and left me chuckling long after I finished Shop Talk. Like red cherry wine, it left an aftertaste
that
was sweet indeed.
Mahogany Row
Wayne J. Keeley
The Fiction Works
PO Box 1066, Corvallis, OR 97339-1066
ISBN 1-58124-671-4, 216 pages; $6.95, http://www.fictionworks.com/
"Mahogany Row" refers to the wing housing the offices of the senior partners of Ashley, Stepford
&
Simpson, Attorneys at Law. When a naked Jonathan Simpson is found murdered in the office of
underling Mark McCoy, the junior lawyer's first thought is to lug the body back to Mahogany
Row
and leave it there to be discovered by someone else. But his discovery doesn't go unnoticed by
others in the company. Within minutes, police are swarming through the building, intent on
building
a quick case against McCoy. The young attorney is baffled as to their reasoning until he learns
that
the day before he died, Simpson had written a memo turning down McCoy's request for
partnership,
a move that puts a decided end to McCoy's career with the company.
Astonished that after eight years of loyal service he's been relegated to starting over again, McCoy
is
noticeably shaken and withdraws to the law library to think over his future. Not only is he upset
by
both the attitude of his employers, but he's also afraid that the police will pin the murder on him.
In
an attempt to clear himself, he enlists the aid of co-worker Sherry Rainey, a pleasant young
woman
forever relegated to the typing pool due to a past affair with a married partner in the business.
Together, the two dig into past law cases handled by Simpson and come up with evidence that
implicates the company is some very questionable activities.
Wayne J. Keeley uses his background as an attorney to weave a tale of intrigue and deception
involving law firms and insurance scams. The plot is an interesting one, convoluted enough to
keep
the reader guessing, but the characters fall a little flat. McCoy's first thought is to move the body.
When he can't do that due to the appearance of another senior partner in the room, he simply
shrugs
off the murder, picks up some files, and calmly goes off to another office to do case billing. He
doesn't appear to be moved by the sight of a naked dead man sitting there with his throat slit ear
to
ear, something I find remarkable even for a lawyer. Keeley's policeman, Detective McGuire, is
equally odd in that he picks on McCoy as a suspect even though the crime appears sexual in
nature
and there is little evidence besides the memo that points to McCoy.
For a first effort, Mahogany Row shows promise. McCoy becomes a more sympathetic
protagonist
as the story evolves, but his cool detachment at the start of the book may turn off readers who
seek
more realistic emotions in their characters.
Mary V. Welk
Reviewer
Harold's Bookshelf
Confirmation: The Spiritual Wisdom That Has Shaped Our Lives
Khephra Burns (Editor), Susan L. Taylor
Anchor Books
c/o Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.
1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036
0385483783 $14.00 320 pages www.amazon.com
It is unfortunate that the authors chose to name the book Confirmation. It immediately draws up
images of religious indoctrination into one or another particular religious group. If that is what
you
are looking for in this book then you will be very disappointed. Instead it is a recounting of the
spiritual growth of the authors as well as their collection of inspirational writings from around the
world. The inspirational passages represent the wisdom and deep understanding of many cultures
and are hard to read without some sort of emotional stirrings. Well selected to be appropriate to
the
section, it is not indoctrination designed to lead you to confirmation in a particular religion but
inspiration designed to lead you into your own personal confirmation. A great book for keeping a
healthy and positive perspective in life.
Yankee Magazine's Practical Problem Solver: 1,001 Ingenious Solutions to Everyday
Dilemmas
Galahad Books
386 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016
Authors: Earl Proulx, Sharon Smith
1578661218 $9.99 392 pages www.amazon.com
Earl Proulux is famous for his fascinating and useful column in Yankee Magazine. Don't have
time
to search over hundreds of past issues to try to solve a problem? Yankee Magazine's Practical
Problem Solver is a compilation of helpful advice from the master of ingenious answers. It is
divided into appropriate sections such as cleaning, animal pests, cooking, household repairs and
many others. Each section can be an interesting read in itself but it is also useful as a reference
since
it has a thorough index to quickly locate the solution to any problem. Whether it is getting rid of
an
odor, cleaning an unusual stain or fixing a creaking floorboard, there are simple solutions here for
almost any problem. Some will leave you wondering who tried it first and why (like rubbing table
salt and a piece aluminum flatware in your hand to remove onion and garlic odors from your
hands),
but the end result is the same, it works. Get the book and keep it someplace where you can grab
it
in a hurry, you never know when you will need it.
Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing
Harry Beckwith
Warner Books
1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
0446520942 $21.95 252 pages www.amazon.com
In a world where companies tout their product's features and expect consumers to beat a path to
their door based on what those features, it comes as a surprise that products with fewer features
often sell better. Likewise, sometimes an inferior service ends up with many more customers.
Why
is this the case? Consumers want to feel connected to products in some way; they want a
relationship with the product and/or the company that produces, markets or sells the product.
Beckwith does an excellent job of presenting his case in a concise manner and gives many, many
detailed examples to illustrate his points. The chapters are small and can easily be read in a fifteen
or
twenty minute break. This combined with its small size makes it especially useful since it can
easily
be carried in a purse or briefcase where you can pull it out and read, re-read or refresh your
memory
on a regular basis. Whether you are selling a product or a service, this book is required reading. I
spent several years as a top salesman with a close rate much higher than the average for my
industry
and product. (A product that requires after sales service.) Selling the Invisible includes many of
the
techniques that I used to build client relationships. If you don't pick it up, read it, and use it then
you had better be thinking strategically about how you are going to compete with the person who
does because they will become a problem for you.
Heavenly Powers : Unraveling the Secret of the Kabbalah
Neil Asher Silberman
Book Sales
c/o Castle Books
114 Northfield Avenue, Edison, NJ 08837
0785813241 $7.99 272 pages www.amazon.com
In recent years it seems that most books on the Kabbalah seem to concentrate on the mystical
aspects. Especially with it's growing popularity with various New Age movements. Silberman
takes
a different direction and concentrates on the historical and political factors that influenced the
development of the Kabbalah and it's rituals. He takes the reader back to the beginnings or many
of
the rituals and discussed the political and historical influences of that time and how they worked
together to weave a rich tapestry of religious tradition. He has a remarkable ability to take a
complex subject and put it into a readable style as he takes the reader on a journey from the
Babylonian empire through the Roman and Byzantine empires, through Europe and to Israel. For
the new age reader who is more interested in the rituals and methods of the Kabbalah this will
probably not be their favorite book, but for those desiring an understanding of the roots of the
religious tradition this is an excellent book with a perspective that others do not offer. A
recommended read for any student of history, religion, or political sciences or others who just
want
to understand such things.
The Personal Efficiency Program: How to Get Organized to Do More Work in Less Time
Kerry Gleeson
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158-0012
0471362794 $16.95 240 pages www.amazon.com
The Personal Efficiency Program is exactly that, a program to help you get organized and stay
organized so that you can get more done in less time. The overriding theme is to do things now
and
don't put them off. The book covers all the bases for organization from developing a routine,
planning processes, following through, managing and maintaining. The area that it does not cover
is
the psychological factors in getting things done. For example, one of the books that I read noted
that one of the problems with a "to-do" type list is that we tend to look at it and do the easiest or
most fun things first. So, as a result our reward for completing one of the items on our "to-do"
list
is that we get a less desireable and more difficult task to do next. Rearranging the "to-do" list so
that you do the most difficult and least fun things first you set yourself up for success because as a
reward for doing the difficult item you get a less difficult item or more fun item to do. I know it is
just playing games, but it does affect how well people get their "to-do" list completed. I wish that
he had included research like that in the book in addition to all of the good ideas for organizing
and
keeping track of things. This book is designed solely for the work environment and getting things
organized and done at work. Still many of the items can be applied at home too. The Personal
Efficiency Program is a good book and a good read with a program that works if you implement
and practice it.
Harold McFarland
Reviewer
Kaveny's Bookshelf
Transformational Magick
This Month's Kaveny's bookshelf will concentrate on events that took place and the paper I
presented at The International Conference on the Fantastic and the arts. The theme of this year's
conference that was attended by about 300 academics (but which also included, writers,
publishers,
editors, and media producers) was as follows:
Fantastic Visions: Re-Presenting the Unreal and the Fantastic in Children's and Young Adult
Literature and Art
Guest of Honor: Joan Aiken
Guest Scholar: Roderick McGillis
Special Guest Writer: Molly Gloss
Permanent Special Guest: Brian Aldiss
March 20-24, 2002 Ft. Lauderdale Airport Hilton at Boca Raton, Fla. March 20-24, 2002. For
those
of you who want more information about the conference or perhaps might wish to join the
association I have included the URL as follows. http://www.iafa.org/
In an attempt to make my paper fit with the thematic thread of the conference I presented a paper
on
J.R.R Tolkien (1892-1973) and I entitled it "Oh Bilbo its Wide World". I have included just a bit
of
the abstract to give you an idea of my intent:
Abstract
"... You are a fine person Mr. Baggins and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little
fellow in a wide world...." (Gandalf to Bilbo The Hobbit Page 255)
This paper will concentrate the evolution Tolkien's presentation of the concept of evil as it unfolds
in
the Hobbit and is fully realized in the Lord of The Rings" It will be argued that the link between
the
two texts as established through several of the recurring characters is stronger than some have
suggested. Further, it will be argued that the gulf that separates The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings
is
more perceived than real, since both texts may be read on the either the level of unelaborated or
elaborated register, depending on what level of skills the reader takes to the texts. (Hope there is
at
least one of you out there that remembers the Cat Stevens 1971 hit song "Oh baby it's a Wide
World
", which inspired my paper title.
This was perhaps the strangest paper I have given in the last twenty years because it took on a life
of
its own almost like a piece of creative writing rather than an attempt at literary scholarship. It was
my intent to revise and up date a graduate paper I had written six years ago and also presented at
the
1995 Mythopoeic Society Conference in San Francisco in 1995. For those of you who wish to
know
more about Mythopoeic Society, you might want check out this website
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~d-lena/BirdnBab.html for more information about this wonderful
organization.
To put it simply when I tried to go back to what I had written six years ago it seemed fragmented
discursive and perhaps even out of control as the conference loomed up I gave serious
consideration
to simply withdrawing my paper and hanging out with my friends in the Florida. I asked myself
the
question had I really given fifty papers over the last twenty some years or had I given the same
paper
fifty times. It was not like I had not concentrated my efforts as you might note from last months
Kaveny's Bookshelf I had re-read a great deal of the major works by and About J.R.R Tolkien
which
started to turn some wheels in the back of my mind, Then it hit me what I needed to do. Was
draw
from "The Phenomenology of the Fantastic", a bibliographic essay in tribute to Kurt Vonnegut
Junior 1922- to the present which I presented as the November 2001 "Kaveny's Bookshelf.
A phenomenological approach allows one to strip away many of the filters which have been
placed
between you and the object of you study so that you might interact with your senses with that in
mind I set out to speak about "The Tolkien Phenomena", and the problem of Evil for The
Younger
Reader in The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings. Interestingly enough I made this decision right before
lunch and suddenly over sixty single space pages of papers became a one and a half page outline
hand written on the back of a hotel menu. Then I proceeded to give the "paper rather than duck
out
the back door.
What is it I mean by "The Tolkien Phenomena"? It takes the form of a question How is it that two
books written by a brilliant but some what weird Oxford Don, (The Hobbit Published in 1937),
and
(The Lord of the Rings published in three volumes 1954-1955), come to have nearly a dominant
literary cultural and most important publishing presence in the second half of the 20th Century.
Selling tens of millions of copies, and having been translated into the language of every major
culture on this and perhaps some other planets.
This is even more remarkable when you reduce the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings to their
essential "aboutness". The Hobbit is story about Bilbo Baggins a comfortable well off middle aged
little chap (with furry feet) who hates adventures and loves good living with all of its creature
comforts. Bilbo falls with a bad crowd including an old wizard and some dwarves becomes a
burglar
and gets away with it, and in the process picks up a really neat magical ring and a bullet proof vest
and writes a story about it called there and back again.
The Lord of The Rings is really even a simpler story than the Hobbit, but four times as long in
three
volumes which are really six books which total over 1400 pages depending on the edition you
chose.
It is a story about a bunch of idiots who volunteer for a suicide mission, which only succeeds
because some one loses their balance and falls into a volcano. Some may take issue with my
definition of "The Fellowship of the Rings a bunch of idiots. But they are so by logical necessity
because of the simple fact that they have volunteered. According to no less of an authority than
my
85 years father in law who is a World War Two Vet. Joe Bogstad and every other GI vet I have
ever
spoken to says only idiots volunteer for any kind of mission at all.
So how is it that these two books have been raised to the status of high art filled with mythic
power
and enough complexity to inspire a thousand academic articles paper books and dissertations.
How
is it that these two books together can have sold over 100 million copies as popular literature, and
inspired the production of the most costly three movies ever. And last lastly why can these books
inspire a question from a beautiful five year old girl that I later had answered by a world famous
geologist Dr. William Sargent who was also quite interested in the color of one of the major
characters who had key roles in both books.
Strangely enough, the answers to these questions about "The Tolkien Phenomena", lies in the
author
himself and is drawn from a the authorized biography of J.R.R. Tolkien (entitled as one might
expect). J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter Paperback - 304 pages (June 2000)
Houghton Mifflin Co; ISBN: 0618057021 At I first when read this book 20 years ago in its first
edition I did not realize what an important and in fact understated book it was. I even perhaps
resented just a little bit that it was the only authorized Tolkien biography available. Now as I
announced. At the start of my presentation which only lasted fourteen minutes I was glad for it
because Carpenter did have access to those who were close and loved Tolkien when the stories
and
memories about him and those who remembered them were still alive.
One of the stories that Carpenter relates from those who knew Tolkien is how most of the time he
spoke quickly and some what indistinctly running words together without much emphasis, and
how
Tolkien himself in his demeanor almost defined the caricature of an Oxford Don. But, when he
chose
to J.R.R Tolkien could transform himself into an Anglo-Saxon Bard, His lecture hall into a Mead
hall and his audience along with him. I have no doubts I have heard tapes of him lecture. The
magic
he achieves is transformational in nature, and works as well with his printed as spoken word, if we
are not too jaded to let it happen.
For any of you who have been following this I also have found what I think is the key issue for
Tolkien in dealing with evil in both The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Evil lies in the logical
conclusion to the doctrine of pragmatism which drove some much of the force of the last Century.
The last Century by my count lasted 86 years from the "Guns of August 1914 " which announced
the out break of WWI to Sept 11 2001 defined the end of that same Century I believed imbedded
in
both the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings is a rejection in its most extreme sense that a good end
justifies any means. Becoming evil cannot defeat evil. That is the great caution of Tolkien's two
major works. We must contest evil
without surrendering to its means
Rather stopping at the end of my pontification about evil I want to talk a bit more about my
emerging concept of Transformational Magic as I participated and watched it
Performed in a room party at the same conference. It was performed uplifting art and craft by Dr.
Verlyn Flieger (one the real intellectual heavyweights I have ever met though I doubt if she
weighs
112 pounds soaking wet,). DR. Verlyn Flieger took a medieval poem that befuddled me and
adapted
and presented it in a mode I despise (amateur play reading), tricked me into a part and in the
process
made me desperate to read the original, and wondering when we could take it on the road, and
present it in prime time..
Her adaptation would make either a great horror movie. Big Green guy seven feet tall with an ax
demands you hit him with it, then carries his own talking head out of King Arthur Hall by the hair
telling you he will take his own turn in a year. Or as a romantic comedy between Sir Gawain and
Mrs. Green Knight as she test his honor and chastity. Or as a profoundly religious work about the
tension between the old Celtic Religions and Christianity, and the divine mercy expressed through
The Virgin Mary. See the thing is that this Transformational Magic thing takes place between the
audience, the creator and the work of art which if worth its salt has a will of its own for good or
ill.
This is DR. Verlyn Flieger website http://mythus.com/ If you have any interest at all in Myth art
or
fantasy you must check it out. Please next month stay tuned for more examples of
transformational
magic and remember you heard it from me.
Philip E. Kaveny
Literary Editor
Cindy's Bookshelf
Lords Of The White Castle
Elizabeth Chadwick
St. Martin's Press
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
ISBN 0312288271, Hardcover, 608 pages, $19.57
Fifteen year old Fulke FitzWairin was sent to court to serve as a companion to King Henry II's
youngest son, Prince John, in hopes of ultimately regaining Whittington Castle. Prince John treats
Fulke poorly, deriding him as a country bumpkin because he heralds from the Welsh marshes. His
father's lessons in honor have not prepared Fulke for the deceptions and cruelty of court, making
him a frequent target of Prince John's ire, culminating in the day the prince breaks a chessboard
across Fulke's nose. When the dust settles, the prince looked much worse. A lifetime of bitter
rivalry
has begun. Fulke leaves Prince John's service to become a squire to Lord Theobald Walter.
Theobald proves himself to be a caring mentor of true honor. A chance game of ball among his
younger brothers results in Fulke meeting the twelve year old Maude le Vavasour, who later weds
Theobald. While Fulke eventually come to recognize the possibilities of passion between himself
and
Maude, neither wish to compromise the love and trust of Theobald, a man they both love.
Eventually destiny takes a hand as Prince John's machinations make Fulke an outlaw and he
threaten
to marry the newly widowed Maude off to one of his court cronies. Award winning author
Elizabeth Chadwick captures the true essence of historical fiction in Lords Of The White Castle.
The
challenges and triumphs of Fulke FitzWairin come alive on the pages from the ecstasy of marriage
to
his heart's desire to the agony of wounds both physical and mental. His king and his destiny
challenge his ethics and beliefs even as Fulke remains a man of honor and valor. Although Fulke is
a
flawed hero, readers will adore his dedication to family and honor. Likewise, Maude presents a
remarkable heroine with an impetuous spirit and fierce independence. As skilled with a bow as she
is
with her children, Maude sharply contrasts the typically meek and yielding women of her time.
Yet
Chadwick still adheres to the conventions of historical accuracy, for example, women marrying
young and being left beind for safety's sake. In addition, Fulke and Maude share a passion that
make
the pages sizzle, and binds them even as it tears their hearts in two. Their wedding night is
absolutely
beautiful with fanciful touches and burning desire. Chadwick is a remarkably gifted storyteller.
Although the book numbers more than 600 pages, it reads quickly, fascinating the reader with the
medieval period. Chadwick's admitted love for medieval reenacting gives her prose the ring of
authenticity that will enthralls.
Used-To-Be Lovers
Linda Lael Miller
Mira
225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9
1551668963, Mass Market Paperback, 250 pages, $6.99
Sharon Harrison and Tony Morelli married after a whirlwind courtship. Sharon took Tony's infant
daughter to her heart, raising the child as her own just like the son they also share. Unfortunately,
Tony did not take the time to mourn his first wife properly before beginning their relationship, a
fact
that seemed to overshadow their years together. Eleven years and a divorce later, only joint
custody
keeps them bound in an unorthodox custody arrangement that insures close contact. Currently,
Tony heads a thriving family owned construction firm. His success makes Sharon feel the slow
growth of her lingerie store Teddy Bares even more. Tony had never understood her need for
independence and the success of her store. Sharon never acknowledged the difficulty his first
wife's
shadow presented. Despite their divorce, these emotional issues and more still overshadow their
lives as they work together to raise their children. Linda Lael Miller pens a beautiful tale of
second
chances in Used-To-Be Lovers. Miller has a gift for creating a powerful, character driven
romance
complete with wonderful children and well-meaning family members. Used-To-Be Lovers
explores
the delicate balance of love and communication, and what happens when communication fails.
With
a divorce and child-rearing issues creating turmoil, their struggles to balance their emotions and
their
desires becomes quite entertaining as they confront daily living issues such as spoiled shopping
trips
and broken plumbing. While Sharon and Tony obviously still love one another, their inability to
risk
vulnerability allows them both to make foolish choices. A tender exploration of rekindled love,
Used-To-Be Lovers comes highly recommended.
Blossom Tales: Flower Stories Of Many Folk
Patricia HruPowell, Sarah Dillard (Illustrator)
Moon Mountain Publishing
80 Peachtree Road, North Kingstown, RI 02852
0967792983, Ages 4-8, Hardcover, 32 pages, $12.76
A collection of 14 folktales from across the globe, Blossom Tales relates wondrous legends about
flowers. These tales relate the origin of flowers, or how and why they are used as they are.
Always
respectful of the culture they describe, the tales are filled with magic and whimsy. Author Patricia
HruPowell is an award-winning storyteller and community arts specialist, bringing her love of
drama
and storytelling to the written page in this collection that children will ask to be read again and
again. This is illustrator Sarah Dillard's first children's book, but the beauty of the illustrations will
leave readers hoping to see more of her marvelous talent. Dragons, dwarves, soldiers and fairies
bring a touch of the unexpected to Blossom Tales, resulting in tales that will delight young
readers
with its evocative stories. Parents will enjoy the flow of the narrative that makes for perfect
reading
aloud before bedtime. A collection that will delight flower lovers of all ages, Blossom Tales
comes
very highly recommended.
Aphrodite's Passion
Julie Kenner
Leisure Love Spell
Dorchester Publishing, 276 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10001
0505524740, Mass Market Paperback, 384 pages, $5.99
Superhero Hale uses his modeling career to hide right out in the open -- on romance novel covers.
Despite his attraction to mortals, Hale believes mortal-Protector relationships almost never last.
He
flits from one liaison under the covers to another, leaving his women satisfied and not expecting
commitments. But his carefree style seems to have slowed since his half-sister Zoe married a
mortal.
Now his invisibility gets him out of compromising situations instead of adding erotic appeal to
sensual situations. His gift with women logically leads to his new assignment of retrieving
Aphrodite's girdle from a mortal and turning it over to the Council of Protectors. Then he meets
the
very ordinary Tracy Tannin, who seems to have an extraordinary effect on this superhero's libido.
An
animal trainer, Tracy seems to disappear on the fancy Hollywood sets. She regrets not inheriting
her
grandmother's charisma and sexy looks. She spends her rare free moments fantasizing about a
romance cover model. Following a really rotten, no good day, she sifts through boxes of her
grandmother's possessions when she discovers a gold belt. When she wears it, she suddenly goes
from invisible to irresistible. Then she meets the man of her fantasies, and her life takes a sudden
turn
toward excitement and desirability. Unfortunately, Hale's assignment requires that he get the belt
from her. Worse, little does Tracy suspect the belt's effect on others, or the danger it places her in.
Fans of Julie Kenner's Aphrodite's Kiss will delight in this sequel, Aphrodite's Passion. With a
ferret
that threatens to upstage superheroes and mortals alike, these characterizations will delight
readers
with a combination of sassy verve and humorous one liners. Favorite characters from Aphrodite's
Kiss make wonderful but unobtrusive contributions, giving lending the novel updates and a sense
of
continuance. With plenty of plot twists and wonderfully believable characterizations, Aphrodite's
Passion is terrific reading written an author whose star shines all ove the literary sky. As each
book
sparkles even brighter, it will prove impossible to wait for Kenner's next book to be released.
Exciting and witty, Aphrodite's Passion comes very highly recommended.
If I Were An Eagle
D. L. Hale
Publisher Direct/American Publisher
325 East 2400 South, Salt Lake City, Utah 84115
1930586450, Paperback, 199 pages, $18.00
The first installment of a trilogy, If I Were An Eagle tells the story of Karen Quincy. A vivacious,
attractive young lady, Karen yearns for popularity and love, filling her needs in the arms of her
boyfriend. She uses friends, lies and opportunity to escape her strict home and spend time with
Hank. But when he goes off to college, Karen finds herself left behind. Karen's family reflects the
strict morality and staunch religious fervor of her era. Dancing, dating, and especially public
shows
of affection are forbidden. Karen's rebelliousness leads to a break with her family when they learn
of
her pregnancy. Hank has disappeared from her life, leaving her to face devastation alone. She
decides upon an abortion during a time when it was both illegal and very dangerous. Following
her
doctor's referral, Karen makes the arrangements. Since the novel begins with her labor, she
obviously has second thoughts. Author David Hale enriches the background and people of If I
Were
An Eagle with his own intimate knowledge of the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains of East
Tennessee. With the crispness and clarity of a snapshot he captures the attitudes and the nuances
indicative of this novel's time and place, especially the deep spirituality governing the attitudes of
Karen's family. Karen's rebelliousness is aptly portrayed not as a deliberate flaunting of her
family's
morality, but as restlessness and sincere for something "more" that allows the novel to speak to
the
universal truths that drive some children away from their families even as others remain close
under
the same circumstances. Hale's crisp writing style and complexity of characterization promises
great
things ahead for this talented author.
A Walk In Harm's Way
Charles Coker
Xlibiris
436 Walnut St., 11th Floor, The Independence Building, Philadelphia, PA 19106
140102999X, Hardback, 348 pages, $32.99
A killer stalks the innocent, leaving a note left in the victim's hand that reads, "There are those
who
deserve to die." The obtuse note leaves investigators baffled, especially when the killer links the
second killer to the name of the detective on the first case. But killer's second victim
coincidentally is
the brother of retired government agent Maxwell Harmon, nicknamed Harm, drawing him out of
his
peaceful retirement in Costa Rica. For years BobMathison's father gave the warning they were
"walking in harm's way," as he would begin another abusive spree. Following his mother's death,
Boband his younger sister were left in their father's care even as his alcoholism worsened. When
he
was fourteen, Bobkills his sister and then disappears, assuming a new identity. As his story
unfolds,
Bobbecomes a surprisingly sympathetic character with a dangerous political agenda. But he's
walking in harm's way once again when he directly challenges "Harm" in this deadly game.
Charles
Coker brings an insider's knowledge to A Walk In Harm's Way, making it a highly detailed,
riveting
novel. Coker's background as an Intelligence Analyst for the National Security Agency and his
current career as a licensed private investigator enriches this novel as he carefully describes the
investigation and motivation of this serial killer. While the narrative describes such gruesome
details
as autopsies and crime scenes, the humane tone, especially of the Coroner, lightens the reading.
As
the killer's life unfolds in chapters interspersing the killings and investigation, the reader comes to
understand how such a demon is created, admiring his survival of horrible circumstances despite
his
cruel killing spree. An intense, gripping novel, A Walk In Harm's Way comes very highly
recommended.
Whirlpool
Lorena McCourtney
Fleming H. Revell
PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49516
0800757769, Mass Market Paperback, 314 pages, $10.39
Arson investigator Ryan Harrison recalls his childhood friend Stefanie Canfield's glint of mischief
and rebelliousness with affection. But that look has been replaced shadows and disillusionment
because she has lost faith in her God, in marriage, and in herself. He returns to the small town of
Julesburg to investigate the suspicious burning of the town's plywood mill. Proving arson would
earn him a nice promotion. Ryan had no idea that his childhood friend in an equal partner in the
company. Now duty must come before friendship, even if the investigation opens a chasm
between
them that friendship can scarcely span. Stefanie's marriage resembled a business merger more than
it
did a union of hearts. Hunter's initial displays of interest stunned the "Porky Princess", despite her
subsequent weight loss. Now the owner of the Fit 'n' Fun health club, this svelte divorcee still
bears
the scars of her marriage, her husband's cheating with Trish, and her rejection in favor of the
"other
woman". With her ex-husband's carefully constructed alibi in place, suspicion falls on Stefanie
when
arson is proven at the plywood mill. The financial problems surrounding the mill provide adequate
motivation, and a lack of an alibi provides opportunity. Stephanie endears the false accusations of
arson even when the insurance investigator turns out to be her childhood friend. But when her
nemesis appears in public wearing her mother's necklace, Stefanie reacts. Unfortunately, stress
brings about blackouts and Stephanie does not remember trying to snatch the necklace from
Trish's
neck. Witnesses recall every detail, however, when Trish later turns up dead. Stephanie believes
she
left Trish alive, but with her blackout episodes, even she is not absolutely certain of her innocence.
Stephanie's struggle to prove her innocence and to recover her spiritual beliefs provides a
refreshingly human heroine in Whirlpool, the first of The Julesburg Mysteries series. Stephanie
could
have too easily fallen into the trap of martyrdom given her ex-husbands treatment and the loss of
her
mother to cancer. Instead, she proves herself to be tenacious yet spiritually disillusioned, strong
yet
capable of foolish choices. With maturity and insight, Stephanie confronts the challenges of
struggling with injustice and self-doubt. Moreover, author Lorena McCourtney includes
inspirational
touches and spiritual struggles without a heavy hand that could detract from the narrative; instead,
the inspirational passages move the plot along as well as deepen the characterizations. Whirlpool
is a
satisfying read appropriate for inspirational as well as mainstream readers, coming very highly
recommended.
Honky-Tonk Cinderella: Intimate Moments No 1120
Karen Templeton
Silhouette Books
300 East 42nd Street, New York, New York, 10017
0373271905, Mass Market Paperback, 248 pages, $4.50
A night of magic brought a stranger and truck-stop waitress Luanne Evans together. He thought
he
had been careful, but he unknowingly left Luanne pregnant. Without knowing his true identity,
Luanne could not contact her baby's father, so she married her "best friend," Jeff Henderson. Jeff
raised Luanne's son Chase as his own and pursued a career racing cars. A year and half after the
stranger left Luanne behind, he returned to the states to put a racing team together. Luanne's
stranger, Prince Alek of Carpathia, was stunned to learn his future driver Jeff had married Luanne
and they had a son. Ten years later Jeff dies in a tragic racetrack accident, leaving Luanne seven
months pregnant. Chase blames his mother and Alek for his father's death, as grief replaces the
child's once sunny disposition. Alek persuades Luanne and Chase to accompany him home to
Carpathia for two weeks. After all, the child is heir to his fortune and his throne. Chase quickly
adjusts to life in the palace. Meanwhile, Alek's grandmother encourages him to marry Luanne and
publicly declare Chase his heir. But complications with her pregnancy lead Luanne to return to the
United States. Author Karen Templeton brings a fresh perspective to this Cinderella tale in
Honky-Tonk Cinderella. Her characters are believable, flawed and human with the expected
misgivings and insecurities that make them sympathetic. Rather than the classically beautiful
Cinderella beneath the grime and overwork, Laura is pregnant, unwieldy, and resentful.
Conversely,
Alek transforms over the years, forsaking his Peter Pan/playboy existence for responsibilities and
maturity. Further, as in Plain-Jane Princess, Templeton captures that surely kid attitude in all its
nuances, making her young character sparkle as he struggles with grief and new beginnings.
Indeed,
Templeton once again masterfully makes royalty and happily-ever-after-ending believable without
dodging painful emotional terrain. Consequently, Templeton's trademark balance of convincing
romance, well-developed chaacters and a healthy dose of humor makes Honky-Tonk Cinderella
very
highly recommended.
Taming Jesse James: Intimate Moments No 1139
RaeAnne Thayne
Silhouette Books
300 East 42nd Street, New York, New York, 10017
037327209X, Mass Market Paperback, 250 pages, $4.50
The Hartes of the Diamond Harte ranch, consisting of two brothers and a sister, are about to find
love in the miniseries Outlaw Hartes. Their father was a descendant of Matt Warner, one of the
original members of Butch Cassidy's gang, and was so enamored with outlaws that he named his
children after them: Matthew Warner Harte, Jesse James Harte and Cassidy Harte. In Taming
Jesse
James, Jesse James Harte will find healing and love in the most unexpected arms. Even more than
a
year after the hospitals, the surgeries, and the bruises have faded, fourth grade teacher Sarah
McKenzie still bears the deep-seated psychological wounds of her beating. She doubts that a
sensual, sexy man like officer Jesse James Harte could find a mousy, wounded woman like herself
attractive. After all, virtually all the women in town pant after him. Jesse radiates strength and
power-exactly what she needs, but she doesn't feel worthy of such strength. Yet Sarah
underestimates her own strength. She once stood up for what she believed in with debilitating
personal consequences. Moreover, she does not hesitate to do so again, putting herself in danger
while standing up for a child that she suspects has been abused. Jesse James Harte lives up to his
namesake, having always been a hell-raiser. The only difference between now and his teen years is
that now he does it from the right side of the law. Consequently, he does not believe such an
innocent woman as Sarah could want a somewhat reformed troublemaker. Still, he wants to know
what put the shadows in Sarah's eyes, and where she earned her slight limp. He views her limp as
a
badge of honor: a proof of her ability to survive overwhelming odds. When Sarah reports her
suspicions regarding one of her students, Jesse cannot help identifying the youngster that Sarah
suspects has been abused. Little does he suspect the series of events that will subsequently
transpire
that will put Sarah at desperate risk. Author Raeanne Thayne deftly captures the fears, the needs,
and the desires of a woman recoverng from the devastating psychological effects of a brutal
beating
and rape in Taming Jesse James. The story behind her beating is both unexpected and plausible,
lending a powerful strength to the narrative. Conversely, Jesse is every heroine's bad boy dream:
the
outlaw cop. Yet he underestimates himself, as does Sarah underestimate herself, therecreating
both
empathy and compassion in the reader. Favorite characters from the previous book of the series
put
in their appearance, especially Jesse's delightful nieces. Their bout of chicken pox and
manipulation
of their uncle's heart will keep readers smiling. Jesse's sister Cassie likewise appears, whetting the
reader's appetite for the final book of the series, Cassidy Harte And The Comeback Kid. Overall,
Thayne magically balances suspense, danger and love in the perfect mix, firmly placing Taming
Jesse
James on the keeper shelf. Very highly recommended.
Trouble In Texas: Superromance No 1031
Eve Gaddy
Harlequin Retail Inc
PO Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269
0373710313, Mass Market Paperback, 298 pages, $4.99
Fish and Wildlife Service Agent Mark Kincaid temporarily relocates to the Texas coast to recover
from a gunshot wound and to renovate the house he inherited. He does not know that his
neighbor
keeps an aviary until he is awakened after only four hours of sleep to the screams of birds. His
curvaceous neighbor fails to curb his outrage, however, until she makes amends with lasagna.
Suddenly, much against his better judgment, Mark finds himself irresistibly drawn to Cat
Randolph,
aviary keeper and accountant. Cat kisses Mark in an effort to discourage an overzealous,
would-be
suitor, and receives a shock. Her irritable neighbors can create the most delicious tingles with only
a
kiss. But Cat does not know that Mark is more than a just a game warden. Mark tracks illegal
smugglers of animals, which is how he received his injury. Now a tip leads to reactivation of duty
with Cat's brother as a primary suspect. Author Eve Gaddy brings her marvelous story telling gift
to
Trouble In Texas. The primary plot provides steamy romance, crisp dialogue, and a dash of
humor.
The secondary plot, animal abuse smugglers, gives the novel a decided punch as she delicately
exposes the seamier side of greed and avarice. The balance of the romance and drama keeps the
novel smartly moving along, building toward a terrific conclusion. Mark becomes an especially
endearing hero as he is forced to choose between loyalty to Cat and duty to his job. Cat likewise
endears conflict that makes her character both believable and sympathetic. A terrific read, Trouble
In
Texas comes highly recommended.
Risky Moves: Temptation No 869
Carrie Alexander
Harlequin Retail Inc
PO Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269
0373259697, Mass Market Paperback, 219 pages, $3.99
Everyone knows Julia Knox keeps both feet planted firmly on the ground. Friends describe her as
safe, settled, and careful. She owns her own business and her own home with a hefty retirement
and
savings plan. In fact, Julia is just too cautious to commit herself to someone like dangerous,
adrenaline hooked Adam Brody. So despite their one wild night of passion when she replaced
caution with impetuous sensuality, Julia has lived the rules. But now, after ten years, Julia is tired
of
playing it safe. She certainly means her request that Adam teach her skydiving and rock climbing.
Together they are wild and brazen. But even after ten years Adam feels incredibly guilty for the
one
night they spent together. That night Julia had intended to seduce his brother, and got the second
brother instead. Adam has been running from the memory of their passion ever since. He cannot
help
believing that it is better for him to stay away from Julia than to pursue the possibilities with what
would likely be disastrous results. Besides, for Adam to have a relationship with Julia, there is
someone who deserves the truth of his actions ten years ago. And he does not know how to tell
his
brother that he cheated with his girlfriend. Author Carrie Alexander once again demonstrates her
consummate skill for warm, engaging characters combined with sizzling sexual tension in Risky
Moves. A spin-off from Smooth Moves, Risky Moves unobtrusively returns favorite characters
while furthering the plot of past secrets and current revelations. Alexander especially traverses the
delicate ground of infidelity with skill and grace. Risky Moves is a fast paced read, vividly realized
and marvelously seductive. Indeed, Risky Moves goes to the keeper shelf! Very highly
recommended.
The Pregnant Bride: Special Edition No 1437
Patricia Kay
Harlequin Retail Inc.
PO Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269
0373244401, Mass Market Paperback, 248 pages
Meggie Thorton's tumultuous life struggles against the flow of the morally judgmental town of
Kane's Crossing. As a child, with her wild hair and gypsy skirts, Meggie had been nicknamed the
town witch. Now an unwed mother who refuses to reveal the baby's paternity, Meggie defies the
collective judgmental eyes. When Nick Cassidy enters her bakery looking for his childhood
nemesis
Chad Spencer, Meggie does not initially recognize her childhood friend. As fourteen year old boy,
Nick Cassidy was labeled a criminal and thrown out of town for bombing Chaney's drugstore. He
hates to think of his childhood friend as Chad's castoff. Now a successful entrepreneur Nick
returns
to Kane's Crossing seeking to clear his name. Chad had set the bomb then accused Nick, and no
one
would believe the bad-boy foster child over the town's golden child. But the site of Meggie makes
him long for the memory of summer rain and hidden caves rather than retribution. What better
way
to have both than to marry Meggie, who is pregnant with Chad's child? Author Crystal Green
pens a
poignant tale of redemption and healing in The Pregnant Bride. Although the pacing is a bit
uneven,
the rich characterizations provide delightful reading. As Nick's bitterness gives way to softer
emotions, the emotional complexities reveal a tangle of motivations. Meggie likewise needs the
healing and acceptance Nick craves, uniting them and setting them crossways at the same time. In
addition, the dash of whimsy provided Meggie's baking skills, eat a bacake and you are pregnant
within a month, for example, adds a special taste to the brew. The Pregnant Bride comes
recommended.
A Wicked Seduction: Blaze 33
Janelle Denison
Harlequin Retail Inc
PO Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269
0373790376, Mass Market Paperback, 250 pages, $4.50
Ex-cop, bounty hunter Joelle Sommers thrives on the thrills of her job. She pursues missing
people,
especially abducted children. It salves her conscious to save children, allowing her to live with the
memory of her failure to save her partner's life. Her over protective brothers try to prevent Joelle
from bringing in their latest skip, but her determination wins the assignment. Joelle knows the
location of Dean Colter, reputably arrested with a half a dozen vehicles headed for a chop shop.
Dean will receive a lightened sentence in return for his testimony against the crime ring. Three
years
of constant devotion to his father's business leaves Dean burnt out, questioning his purpose and
motivation. His father had been a workaholic, sacrificing his family to the business. Now Dean has
fallen into the same trap, with nothing but a broken engagement and more work to show for his
success. He plans a vacation in a secluded retreat to rethink his life direction. As he prepares to
depart, a sexy woman with handcuffs lures him into an unexpected adventure. He initially believes
his best friend sent the woman to offer sensual titillation. After the handcuffs are on, Dean realizes
she is serious. Handcuffs, boldness and presumption lead to a fabulous adventure that will hold
readers spellbound in Janelle Denison's sassy, dazzling romance A Wicked Seduction. Denison has
a
gift for delivering steamy romance with a fresh style, snappy dialogue, and emotional complexity.
The sensual interludes sizzle, leaving the characters to struggle with incredible emotional
repercussions of connecting so profoundly on a physical level. Further, Joelle's struggle to reclaim
her faith in herself gives her surprising vulnerability in a business that only allows the toughest to
survive. Dean accommodates her struggles and his own mistaken identity with a charming attitude
that makes him a wonderful hero. As a result, Denison's characters tug the reader's heartstrings in
this first rate, scorching romance that comes very highly recommended.
Cinderella's Shoe Size: American Romance No 904
Kathleen Webb
Harlequin Retail Inc
PO Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269
0373169043, Mass Market Paperback, 248 pages, $4.50
Cindy Rawlins works two jobs, selling shoes during the day and serving for a catering service in
the
evenings, hoping to save enough money to put herself through veterinary school. She recently
borrowed a pair of three-hundred-dollar pumps from the store for a wheelchair bound friend, and
lost the left one. The cost of the shoe equals two weeks' salary, and Cindy cannot afford to
replace
it. So she places a personal ad in the paper for a red pump, size eight narrow. Although many
responses arrive, none have found the missing shoe. In addition to her weakness for aiding
wounded
friends, Cindy also has a perchance for lending aid to wounded animals. Unfortunately, landlords
frown upon her endeavors and frequently demand that she move. Now that she has been evicted
again, she reluctantly accepts a friend's offer to help her move. Her friend brings along a burly guy
with a truck one Parker Davis, to whom she recently sold two pairs of shoes. With an instant
attraction between them, Parker had been eager to see Cindy again. But Parker has his job cut out
to
convince Cindy that it is okay to need someone. Perky dialogue and sympathy to the working
class
make Cinderella's Shoe Size a dynamic read. While she attempts to cover a bit too much territory
in
this multifaceted tale, author Kathleen Webb does avoid the typical clich‚s that often weaken a
modern fairy tale. Comedic moments, unexpected opportunity and the clash of opposites keep the
plot interesting as Cindy learns to accept Parker's help. Parker is everything that hero should be,
wealthy, sexy and charismatic, but he is also realistic, seeing beneath Cindy's desperate need for
independence and recognizing her hidden vulnerabilities. Complete with a happily-ever-after
romance lovers expect in a modern fairy tale come true, Cinderella's Shoe Size comes
recommended.
Just Watch Me...: Harlequin Blaze No 29
Julie Elizabeth Leto
Harlequin Retail Inc
PO Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269
0373790333, Mass Market Paperback, 248 pages, $4.50
Jillian Hennessy has dreamed of succeeding her uncle as CEO in the Hennessey Group, a private
investigative firm, since she was twelve. This stakeout is Jillian's opportunity to prove her skills,
but
instead of watching the bespectacled weasel that won two million dollars of the taxpayers' money
in
fraudulent claim, Jillian's eyes are increasingly drawn to the hunky guy across the street. Then she
realizes that her team wired the wrong house. Instead of watching the weasel, she has an up close
and personal view of her neighbor exercising, eating donuts, and showering. The view kicks her
lurid fantasies into overtime! Benched during a routine investigation following a shooting,
detective
Cade Lawrence accepts the stakeout in lieu of a boring desk job. His department took a lot of
heat
when the jury awarded the scoundrel Stanley Davidson money, and now more scam artists are
lining
up hoping to collect, too. Years of working undercover have virtually robbed Cade of his identity,
making him feel like a chameleon. But his increasing attraction to Jillian has unexpected results. In
getting to know her, he rediscovers himself. Unfortunately, the few relationships Cade has
indulged
have been doomed since they were always based on a false identity, and even though he
inadvertently revealed his true name, he fears the falsehoods will have the same effect on Jillian.
Yet
he just cannot take his eyes off her, in the pool, at dinner, or in his bed. Just Watch Me... reveals
Julie Elizabeth Leto daring style at its' best. Voyeurism and self-discovery work together to create
a
novel as sensual as it is memorable. Who among us as not dreamed of that forbidden glimpse
behind
closed doors, or longed to feel the freedom to display oneself in an erotic interlude of passion and
desire? Leto capitalizes on those forbidden fantasies and then adds complexities of work and goals
that allow these characters to sizzle. Heated and bold, Just Watch Me... will keep your eyes glued
to
the page. Very highly recommended.
Just Watch Me...: Harlequin Blaze No 29
Julie Elizabeth Leto
Harlequin Retail Inc
PO Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269
0373790333, Mass Market Paperback, 248 pages, $4.50
Jillian Hennessy has dreamed of succeeding her uncle as CEO in the Hennessey Group, a private
investigative firm, since she was twelve. This stakeout is Jillian's opportunity to prove her skills,
but
instead of watching the bespectacled weasel that won two million dollars of the taxpayers' money
in
fraudulent claim, Jillian's eyes are increasingly drawn to the hunky guy across the street. Then she
realizes that her team wired the wrong house. Instead of watching the weasel, she has an up close
and personal view of her neighbor exercising, eating donuts, and showering. The view kicks her
lurid fantasies into overtime! Benched during a routine investigation following a shooting,
detective
Cade Lawrence accepts the stakeout in lieu of a boring desk job. His department took a lot of
heat
when the jury awarded the scoundrel Stanley Davidson money, and now more scam artists are
lining
up hoping to collect, too. Years of working undercover have virtually robbed Cade of his identity,
making him feel like a chameleon. But his increasing attraction to Jillian has unexpected results. In
getting to know her, he rediscovers himself. Unfortunately, the few relationships Cade has
indulged
have been doomed since they were always based on a false identity, and even though he
inadvertently revealed his true name, he fears the falsehoods will have the same effect on Jillian.
Yet
he just cannot take his eyes off her, in the pool, at dinner, or in his bed. Just Watch Me... reveals
Julie Elizabeth Leto daring style at its' best. Voyeurism and self-discovery work together to create
a
novel as sensual as it is memorable. Who among us as not dreamed of that forbidden glimpse
behind
closed doors, or longed to feel the freedom to display oneself in an erotic interlude of passion and
desire? Leto capitalizes on those forbidden fantasies and then adds complexities of work and goals
that allow these characters to sizzle. Heated and bold, Just Watch Me... will keep your eyes glued
to
the page. Very highly recommended.
Just A Small-Town Girl: Special Edition No 1437
Patricia Kay
Harlequin Retail Inc.
PO Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269
0373244371, Mass Market Paperback, 248 pages, $4.50
Maggie's brownstone on West 69th street near Central Park West is a long way from Rainbow's
End, Texas in ways even more significant than geography. She only returns home for brief visits,
devoting her time to her literary agency and a string of pleasant, if emotionally unattached, men.
Then her mother's stroke compels a longer return home and suddenly Maggie discovers a secret
longing for things she has never had, and fierce desire for the one man who got away who really
mattered. Sheriff Zach Tate refused to leave the small town of his youth even for the love of his
life.
Twenty years quickly dissolve when he sees Maggie again, and his desire for her burns as strongly
as
when they were teens. He had planned to lay old ghosts to rest; instead, he is flooded with a need
for her. Unfortunately, she has a comfortable life and successful career in New York that she will
return to; conversely, he is the father of three teens and strongly rooted in Rainbow's End. The
distances between them feel insurmountable. In book three of the Callahans & Kin series, author
Patricia Kay pens a moving romance with Just A Small-town Girl. Three delightful teens make
this
tale especially endearing with a conclusion that will delight romance lovers. Maggie and Zach and
likewise memorable, as they are near forty, with the careers and maturity that makes falling in love
a
rather complicated addition to their lives. Indeed, Kay has a gift for capturing the very essence of
romance, lending her characters the strength of passion and depths of emotion that makes her
novel
memorable. Very highly recommended.
The Last Chance Cafe
Linda Lael Miller
Pocket Books
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
0671042505, Hardback, 288 pages, $16.80
Stunned the death of her beloved stepfather Lou, Hallie St. George desperately grieves her loss.
Lou
had been shot in the chest five times. While investigators dismiss his death as a burglary, Hallie
has
her own suspicions, confirmed when a friend passes her a key that unlocks the truth regarding
corruption and drug dealing. When her ex-husband discovers her with the incriminating evidence,
Hallie immediately flees with her young twins in a battered pickup truck, leaving behind bank
accounts, her business, and her home. Living out of a plastic suitcase and cheap clothes does not
frighten Hallie. But her inability to care for her children and keep them safe does. While Hallie is
long accustomed to independence, the danger threatening her and her children leaves her
profoundly
alone and vulnerable. When her truck breaks down in a snowstorm, however, misfortune leads her
to a community where she will find love and acceptance, and a handsome man the name of
Chance
Qualtrough. Chance immediately suspects that Hallie is on the run. When she refuses charity,
Chance suggests a place she can housesit and the waitress of The Last Chance Caf‚ offers her a
job.
Waitressing is a long way from being the chef of her own restaurant, but Hallie gratefully accepts.
Soon her heart longs to put down roots in Primrose Creek, but with a vindictive ex-husband
determined to find her, Hallie cannot trust her newfound friends with the truth, because the truth
could get them all killed. The Last Chance Caf‚ becomes a place of redemption and new
beginnings
with Linda Lael Miller's powerful pen. The vivid characterizations fill the novel with warmth, wit,
and sensitivity. Hallie's need for community and connectedness makes her both believable and
endearing. Chance gives the novel a deep tie to community and heritage, providing Hallie with the
very things that were previously lacking in her life. In addition, Miller's talent excels with the
seven
year old twins. Whether they are petulant, sassy or charming, they are fully rounded characters.
econdary characters likewise sparkle, especially the wonderful romance between Jesse and the
town
vet -- a romance they thought they had concealed for thirty years. I confess to being a new fan of
Miller's work, and although The Last Chance Caf‚ is part of an ongoing series, I delighted in
reading
it as a standalone. Very highly recommended.
Springwater Wedding
Linda Lael Miller
Pocket Books
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
0671042491, Mass Market Paperback, 353 pages, $7.99
Both Maggie McCaffey and J.T. Wainright return to Springwater, Montana to find healing and
new
beginnings in Linda Lael Miller's Springwater Wedding. Maggie descends from founders
June-Bug
and Jacob McCaffrey. Leaving behind an ex-husband and broken dreams, Maggie plans to
renovate
a 19th century stagecoach inn and turn it into a bed and breakfast. She does not anticipate the
love
of her life, J.T., returning to Springwater at the same time she does. Despite his overtures, she
desperately tries to resist him and her well-meaning, matchmaking friends. J.T. leaves behind the
death of his partner, a gunshot wound, and a divorce to become a rancher. His attempts to make
the
family ranch a paying proposition are threatened, however, someone poisoning neighboring herds,
cattle rustlers, and murder. His attempts at rekindling a romance with Maggie seem a bit more
productive, but other issues seem to keep him frequently sidetracked. Indeed, while aiding local
law
enforcement, J.T. soon learns that the current crime spree leads to the town's past and includes his
father's murder. Springwater Wedding is the seventh book in the Springwater series, providing a
contemporary conclusion. The hero and heroine are descendants of the original cast,
thereproviding
the novel with deep roots. But do not let that dissuade new readers who want to read Springwater
Wedding as a standalone. The novel works beautifully as an independent read as well, though
readers may quickly find their way to the bookstore for the remaining books of the series. Author
Linda Lael Miller excels at creating novels with a strong sense of community and ancestry, as
Springwater Wedding dazzlingly demonstrates. Further, Jacob is the wounded hero at his best,
with
challenges and weaknesses that make him immensely appealing. Maggie years for community and
family, yet fears the risk such goals require. While the reader knows that, of course, they will find
up
together, the journey is both pleasurable and endearing, especially with the remarkable secondary
charactes give the novel an added richness. Very highly recommended.
Hill Games
Charles J. Cronin
AmErica House
PO Box 1109, Frederick, MD 21702
1588511588, Paperback, 190 pages, $19.95
Hill Games begins with the funeral of Aloysius Flynn, and then moves back in time to follow the
chain of events leading to his death. Told from the perspective of Chris Johns, Al and his cohort
Fiddler Guitry "had never encountered a scruple they couldn't swallow or a principle that they
wouldn't compromise." To reach his goals, Al never hesitated to use booze, broads, boy toys and
blackmail to bring sufficient pressure to bear on the members of Capitol Hill. As a part of the
Industry Council for Peace through Strength, Chris had hired Al as the man with the knowledge
to
control the movers and shakers of Capitol Hill and expedite a change in legislation. Chris seeks to
level the playing field for American business trying to win foreign contracts for defense equipment
in
the international market against competitors from Britain, France, and a host of other companies.
Current legislation forbids the bribing or "sweetening" of deals to benefit those who aid the deal
making in their countries. The bottom line is that the US looses out at the bargaining table
because
American business cannot offer the same deals as foreign competitors, despite a better product.
Chris wants to legalize "incentive fees" to foreign agents to pave the way for successful business.
Author Charles Cronin brings his professional background as independent consultant to the
aerospace industry, as well management positions in the several major aerospace corporations to
bear in Hill Games. With an insider's knowledge of the power plays and deft manipulations that
our
nation's leaders indulge, Cronin exposes the amoral and illegal implications of such games. The
result is a scathing indictment of the highest offices of our land and those who manipulate the
legislative process for their own profit. With a fast paced plot, terrific characterizations, and a
convincing narrative voice, Hill Games comes very highly recommended.
Never Fade Away: A Novel
William Hart
Fithian Press
c/o Daniel and Daniel, Publishers, Inc.
PO Box 1525, Santa Barbara, CA 93102
1564743861, Paperback, 208 pages, $12.95
On the Cal State campus, administrators in the Department of English use the English as a Second
Language program to boost class enrollment and dollars in their coffers while setting impossibly
high
standards for their students. Consequently, most ESL students flunk out after two tries, loosing
their
opportunity to pursue their studies at the university despite their grades in other classes. Only one
professor takes a stand against such a practice. Professor John Goddard feels a profound
connection
to his ESL students following his service in the Vietnam War, from which he still bears deep
emotional scars. In counterpoint to Goddard's journal written in first person, Tina Le also records
a
journal written in first person. Her English is not perfect as she struggles to learn proper
punctuation
and verb tenses, but her emotions are powerfully portrayed. She describes her efforts to
understand
her ESL assignments and to fill her teacher's expectations even when directions seem confusing
and
ill explained. As her narrative unfolds, we come to understand how this Vietnamese student came
to
the United States and the wretched struggles she has endured. Despite imperfect English, Tina has
a
gift for storytelling, which her teacher recognizes and rewards. It is an unfortunate fact that many
academic decisions are determined politics and money. Certainly my own collegiate experience
bears
first hand testimony to "gate classes" designed to wash out many freshmen with a specific
academic
weakness even while they excel in every other subject area. Despite the unfairness of such
practice,
it persists on many college campuses, but never have I seen a story reveal this travesty with such a
compelling narrative as William Hart's Never Fade Away. This storyline, combined with the
evocative background of two souls badly wounded their experiences in Vietnam, results in one of
the most powerful tale of our time. Richly created and brilliantly executed, with each voice
carefully
crafted, Never Fade Away will linger in the reader's meory long after the last page is turned.
Retribution
J. C. Wilder
LTDBooks
200 North Service Rd W., Unit 1, Suite 301, Oakville, Ontario, Canada L6M 2Y1
Disk 155316072X, Rocket 1553169301, eBook/Multiple Formats, Download $5.00, Disk $6.00
Ten years after the conclusion of One With Hunger, the elder vampire Miranda lies bound and
dying
in the subbasement of elder vampire Mikhail's home. A revenant, Jennifer Beaumont returns to her
maker to confront him regarding this wrongful imprisonment. Mikhail claims to have imprisoned
Miranda in an effort to seek retribution from Val, the sexy vampire hero of One With Hunger.
Val,
Mikhail's creator, knows how dangerously insane Mikhail has become. Knowing that one of his
loved ones are safe until Mikhail is stopped, Val vows to kill Mikhail, with or without the
Council's
approval. If he acts without the council's approval, however, his own life will forfeit. Val turns to
long time friend Conor MacNaugten to liberate Miranda, while he meets with the Council of
Elders
attempting to secure approval for Mikhail's death. Little does Val suspect that Mikhail's
motivations
run even deeper than simple retribution against him. Conor's willingness to help Val puts him on a
collision course with Jennifer, the only woman he ever loved. Once they shared an extraordinary
passion, until she left him for Mikhail. Conor never knew that Val's leaving him was actually
motivated a desperate need to protect his life from Mikhail. After all, Mikhail never gives up his
possessions lightly. Coming together again provides closure to the past and answers beyond either
of
their wildest imagining. A darkly sensual novel of preternatural love, Retribution delves into the
most dangerous of emotional depths. Mikhail's desire for revenge and retribution exact a high
price,
reaching far deeper than just vengeance against Val. While this is essentially Conor and Jennifer's
tale, other characters play sufficiently into the narrative to further unifying plot elements of the
series, providing updates on Val and Shai as well as tweaking the reader's interest in future novels
of
the series. Conor is an especially fascinating hero, wounded the loss of any memory before the
eleventh century. Jennifer demonstrates remarkable strength with her initialwillingness to confront
her maker despite the risk to herself. Indeed, her selflessness cost her Conor once, and puts them
at
risk yet again. A richly textured novel with a fast paced plot certain to delight vampire lovers,
Retribution comes very highly recommended.
Redemption
J. C. Wilder
LTDBooks
200 North Service Rd W., Unit 1, Suite 301, Oakville, Ontario, Canada L6M 2Y1
Disk 1553160800, Rocket 1553169190, eBook/Multiple Formats, Download $5.00, Disk $6.00
For readers keeping up with this series, Elder vampire Mikhail no longer holds the position of one
the most powerful vampires in the vampire world after his failed attempt to take over the Council
of
Elders. His consort Gabriel seeks a new alliance, with the witch Mortianna, rumored to be the
most
powerful witch on earth. Mortianna has her own agenda, however, seeking retribution against the
vampire Sinjin, who she blames for the death of her daughter. Mortianna intends to use Quinn, the
son she rejected at birth, to exact her revenge on Sinjin. For the last ten years, Maeve has lived for
revenge, following the death of her twin. Her sister Rebecca was Mikhail's last victim of a killing
spree. Made a revenant against her will, Maeve not only lost her sister, but she also lost her family
who could not cope with her changes. For the last year she has been a guest in Sinjin's Scottish
castle shielded from the possibility of Mikhail taking revenge upon her. In Sinjin's library Maeve
discovers in a book with indicating that the only way for her to kill an elder vampire of Mikhail's
strength is magic. She needs a special binding spell usually only handed down among very
powerful
witches orally. Maeve's investigation into the spell is interrupted, however, the arrival of
Mortianna's
minions. Mortianna orders Maeve's death, which Quinn cannot tolerate. A powerful witch as well,
Quinn helps her escape. Redemption is the forth of JC Wilder's Shadowdweller series. Once again
Wilder combines love, revenge, hatred, and sensuality in a blend of light and shadow. Quinn is a
fascinating hero who must choose between the mother he has never known and his own ethical
beliefs. A male witch of considerable power, Quinn represents the best of white magic and ethics.
Contrasting his light is not just his mother's shadow, but also Maeve, a woman driven revenge and
hatred. New readers will find that Redemption works well as a stand-alone, but is truly enriched
when read as part of the series. This fast paced supernatural romance comes vey highly
recommended.
The Black Dragon: Book I Of The Rhine Lord Series
Patrick Constable
LTDBooks
200 North Service Rd W., Unit 1, Suite 301, Oakville, Ontario, Canada L6M 2Y1
Disk 1553160495, Rocket 1553169538, eBook/Multiple Formats, Download $5.00, Disk $6.00
In 436 AD Rome decays from within while outwardly fighting the Huns. Few recognize the most
dangerous aggressors of all, however. In ancient times others than man ruled these lands, and a
resurgence is likely as they bring their considerable power, and gold, to bear. Now their leader, an
ancient Mage, orders Flavius, a half-German Imperial Officer, to kill Rome's chief ally, Gunther,
King of the Burgundians. While Flavius wishes to defy his orders, the Mage's supernatural gifts
make it almost impossible. The Mage gives Flavius gold and a poison for Gunther. Each time
Flavius
casts either aside, they mysteriously shows up in his possession again. His moral conundrum, to
kill
a man he swears to serve, seems terribly misplaced given Flavius' dark history, yet he resists the
Mage command. As Flavius becomes a part of Gunther's elite war band, he quickly learns that
none
in the court can be trusted, including himself as desire overrides good sense. Author Patrick
Constable creates a masterful retelling of the Sigfried Myth in Black Dragon. This epic tale
initially
presents a fairly unlikable hero who ultimately proves that all is not what it seems. The strong
mythological foundation lends the novel a marvelously fantastic element, capturing the essence of
the supernatural in everyday surroundings. Further, bloodlust and battle interspersed with strong
fantasy elements keep the plot moving briskly along. This cross-genre novel includes elements of
horror, fantasy, adventure, and mystery, thereappealing to a broad audience. Fans of J. R. R.
Tolkien's will especially find Black Dragon appealing. Highly recommended.
A Still Point In Time
Marsha Briscoe
RFI West
#431 5515 N 7th Street, Suite 5, Phoenix AZ 85014
eBook/Multiple Formats, e-book 1586971565 $4.95, Trade Paperback 158697825X
When her best friend convinces her to attend a Speaker's Forum, Laura Bouvoire little expects a
life
altering experience. The forum centers on the poetry and art of Dylan Leone Gordon. A slide of a
woman stuns Laura. The face seemed familiar, and a brooch worn around the neck captures her
attention. But Laura dismisses the incident as she leaves the forum for her doctor's appointment.
At
age forty-three, Laura intends to undergo in vitro fertilization with sperm from an anonymous
donor.
An English professor, Laura also looks forward to when she is approved for tenure, which will
assure a secure income to support her child. Laura has an extraordinarily promising student in one
of
her classes. Dante L. Giovanni, thirty and single, attends night school in quest of an engineering
degree while working fulltime during the day repairing computers. His mother's death left him and
his two siblings with crippling financial debt, and he sees a degree as the solution to his financial
woes. Laura's encouragement quickly improves his writing, and Dante soon discovers his silver
penned gift. But he resents her suggestions that he forsake his practical goals for a dreamy world
of
writing. Dante spends his sparse free time in a big brother program to a child that has been victim
to
child abuse. His devote religious opinions, however, make it difficult to accept Laura's decision to
undergo in vitro fertilization. Shortly after meeting Dante, Laura visits a jewelry story where an
antique amethyst broach is displayed. Soon she realizes it is the same broach worn the model in
the
paintings Dylan Leone Gordon. As events unfold, Laura links her present life experiences to a
past
life experience that bound her through eternity to Dylan, who now is Dante. But Dante's
skepticism
does not leave room for reincarnation. Worse, someone else knows of their connection and
profoundly resents it. His motivations of jealousy and revenge posed a threat to Laura then and
continues to endanger her now. I have my reservations about how the plot plays ut in dealing with
a
teacher becoming romantically involved with a student. I'm entirely dissatisfied with the ethical
dilemma presented dating a student whose papers you must grade. At no point does Laura say to
Dante that she cannot become involved because it endangers her job and her prospects for tenure,
yet a faculty meeting early in the book explicitly forbids relationships between teachers and
students.
Indeed, Dante has no business taking a second class from Laura given that their relationship
escalates during the intervening holidays. Worse, the administration apparently chooses to look
the
other way. I also expected the antagonist to take revenge using the relationship to jeopardize her
tenure, but it never happens. That issue aside, A Still Point In Time provides a marvelous read.
Author Marsha Briscoe displays a decided gift for fluidly moving between past and present,
weaving
a tale of emotional complexity and psychological depth. The past and present merge fluidly in a
tale
of destiny and desire that will delight paranormal romance lovers. Further, these characterizations
are absolutely memorable with their age difference and clash of goals. Dante's misgivings about
Laura's choice to undergo in vitro fertilization likewise present marvelous conflict. A Still Point In
Time comes recommended.
BlackWind
Charlotte Boyett-Compo
RFI West
#431 5515 N 7th Street, Suite 5, Phoenix AZ 85014
1586973894, serial $1.00 ea
First torn apart her parents, then a destiny they cannot control, Bronwyn McGregor and Sean
Cullin
face virtually insurmountable odds to find a life together. As young as eleven years, Sean would
have done anything, accepted any punishment, to protect Bronnie. Her parents hoped she and
Sean
would loose interest in one another; instead, their love only increased over time. She's the
daughter
of a doctor and well-respected family; he's the son of an alcoholic butcher known to beat his wife
and son. Then she turns sixteen, and he turns eighteen, and her father serves the ultimatum that
they
must not see one another. Despite his desire to be with Bronnie, destiny takes Sean overseas
where
he enters a dangerous world. Soon he learns he is a Reaper. His bond with Bronnie is eternal
because, like wolves, Reapers only bond once. As Sean struggles with the loss of the love of his
life,
Bronnie likewise mourns. Unknowingly, her grief calls a Nightwind. Bronnie is the last of the
McGregor women bound to the Nightwind grief and history. Now only fate and perseverance can
determine who will win Bronwyn McGregor. As painful and destructive events unfold, destiny
threatens to keep the Reaper and Bronnie apart forever. Unlike many of her novels, Charlotte
Boyett-Compo sets BlackWind firmly in the present, although it does have an unusual plot twist
firmly linking it to many years in the past. Fans of NightWind will recognize the mythological and
familial ties to BlackWind, and enjoy learning more of the Nightwinds. Fans of BloodWind and
DarkWind will likewise recognize reapers, and enjoy the historical explanation of what brought
Reapers to earth. Indeed, the blending of the two series, The Winddemon Trilogy and The
Hellwind
Trilogy , will not only earn Boyett-Compo new fans, but will deepen long-time fans' fascination
with
Boyett-Compo's work. All readers will find BlackWind both mesmerizing and spellbinding, with
stunning plot twists and fabulous characterizations that will leave readers desiring more.
Boyett-Compo's unique stle sparkles in the combined elements of the paranormal, including
demonology, witchcraft, and the supernatural. Indeed, BlackWind's conclusion is guaranteed to
leave readers both touched and breathless. A remarkable and memorable work.
The WindReaper: The Windlegends Saga Book V
Charlotte Boyett-Compo
RFI West
#431 5515 N 7th Street, Suite 5, Phoenix AZ 85014
1586973959, eBook/Multiple Formats $4.95, Paperback $15.95
Connor McGregor stands a man apart from all others. His ghastly abuse as a child at the hands of
Kaileel Tohre, leader of the Dominion, and the subsequent horrific incarceration in the Labyrinth
did
not dissuade his loyal followers. Now Connor returns to the land of his birth, but his crown and
his
soul mate Liza belong to his brother. His people believe Connor dead. Liza likewise believes his
death after viewing his body years ago in its coffin before Connor was shipped to the Labyrinth.
Now Connor returns to his homeland as the Dark Overlord of the Wind, a man transformed the
gods
to save his people from the evils of the Dominion. Unfortunately, becoming the Dark Overlord did
not relieve Connor of the burden of his losses nor destroy his emotions as Connor expected.
Years
ago, too protect her and Connor's unborn child, Liza married Connor's twin brother following
Connor's death. When he died, she was married again to Connor's brother Legion A'Lex, the
brother
with whom he has always been most competitive. When Connor learns of Liza's marriages, hurt
and
bitterness prevent his return to the land of his birth until Liza and Legion send word to the
NightWind that they need his help. Without knowing his true identity, they ask Connor to retrieve
their child from the clutches of Kaileel Tohre and the Dominion. Given his own past abuse,
Connor
agrees. He does not know he rescues his own son and sets the events into order that will reveal
his
identity. Connor McGregor reaps a bitter harvest resulting from years of horrific experiences in
the
fifth installment of the WindLegends Saga entitled The WindReaper. Dark psychological
overtones
lend the novel depth and complexity that makes this hero all too human and understandably
flawed.
Indeed, years of exile to the Labyrinth and extreme abuse only created a stronger man in Conar
McGregor. He successfully defied the odds, surviving events that would destroy any other man,
only
to allow his desire for revenge, to threaten to lead him down a path of destruction. Charlotte
oyett-Compo's masterful storytelling lends this novel a wonderful sense of power. Connor and
Liza's
story is so memorable, so haunting, and so tragic that readers will find a need for Kleenex and
missed sleep, only to be left wanting more.
Olivia deBaine writes Harrison Pell to ask that he investigate the two recent attempt on her
father's
life. The accidental death of her brother and the crippling of her mother years ago likewise lend an
air of menace to Chambercombe. She believes a malevolent spirit stalks the halls of her home,
where
the sounds of unusual wailing have been heard for hundreds of years. Harrison, from the Society
for
Psychical Research and with connections to Scotland, intends a careful, scientific investigation
and
expects a far more worldly answer. Olivia practices herbal healing on her father's land, seeking to
relieve the illness and squalor of the people eking out a meager living. Her compassion and
vivaciousness make her irresistible to Harrison, despite his predilection for clinging to only the
scientific method. She cautions him that his science "needs tempering with human feeling," but
when
he's in Olivia's presence, he finds its quite tempting to ignore the facts that cast Olivia under an
aura
of suspicion. Author Eleanor Sullo presents a fascinating historical romance with a touch of the
paranormal in Moonrakers. Sullo's flair for creating outstanding characterizations dazzles, from
the
strong heroine to the slimy anti-hero. The clash of contrasts between Olivia's intuitiveness and
Harrison's scientific fastidiousness gives the novel strong historical presence. With its strong
gothic
overtones, hidden treasure and hidden passageways, Moonrakers will appeal to wide audience.
Further, its fast paced plot and intriguing plot twists will keep the reader guessing. Indeed, Sullo
delivers romance with sweeping intensity and spell binding passion. Highly recommended.
The Moon Child
Alex Roces
Twilight Times Books
POB 3340, Kingsport TN 37664
1931201188, eBook/Multiple Formats, 300 pages, $TBA
The Witch of the Winds, Lucila, finds the infant Maria beneath a baleete tree. With no father or
mother, Maria is a child of the forest. The people of the local barrio believe her to be enchanted
and
not born of earthly flesh, greatly distrusting that which they do not understand. Lucila believes the
child to be a gift of the Divine Mother, and raises the babe as her own, early recognizing and
nurturing the child's gifts. Maria learns Lucila's healing gifts in addition to her own gift of
moonpower. Unlike his fellow villagers who either display unbridled jealousy or insatiable lust
toward Maria, Barrio Captain Arturo brings her gifts and the sincerity of his heart. Although the
people he leads may hate and curse Maria, Arturo loves Maria as she deserves to be loved. He
vows
to have her as his wife, gently pursuing Maria despite the fact that she discourages him. Just as he
wins Maria's love, however, another man comes that offers a gift of mystery and magic. Juanito,
Charmer of the Groves, seeks the woman who can complete his soul. He vows to win Maria
although she is pledged to another. With a gift of music he captivates the women of the barrio,
leading them into great danger. Only Maria tries to resist his power. He cares nothing for the
harm
and death he inflicts, only focusing on his desire. In addition, the people of the barrio still bear the
curse of Maya, a woman who violated the sanctity of the laws that preserve the order and
morality
of the barrio. Between Juanito and the curse, the people of the barrio are in great danger. Alex
Roces creates a remarkable literary work rich in mythos and spirituality in Moon Child. Like
Michiavelli's The Prince, Moon Child becomes a treatise on the truth about power, revealing the
difference between perceptions of one who holds power, and the truth of their nature. Like The
Celestine Prophesy, however, Roces also inspires improvement, growth, and honesty, in addition
to
examining the nature of truth and love. Specifically, Maria is misunderstood and underestimated.
Wit a sincere heart full of love, she stands misjudged the very people who need her most because
they fear her power. With these complex layers concealed beneath the deceptively simplistic
narrative, Moon Child reads like a fairy tale. Yet tales within the tale reveal observations and
teachings rich in meaning, as Roces brings a rich understanding of psychology and metaphysics to
the narrative. As a result, Moon Child achieves a complexity that will hold its readers mesmerized.
With an enthralling voice as lovely as the music that holds Juanito's listeners entranced, Moon
Child
comes very highly recommended.
In the hands of author Laszlo Horvath, a lookout becomes both a place and a person. With twenty
years experience in his observation post, this fire lookout records his observations and
introversions
in a narrative both succinct and profound. His observations of the forces of nature become a
mirror
for the humanity's interior: nature's multitude of expressions become metaphor for man's
expressions. With an eye always cast to the sky and watching for fire, Horvath casts a parallel
look
to mankind's most primitive of fears. In Horvath's words, "the wilderness experience may entail a
walk into our own inner landscape." Descriptions of isolation include the experience of meetings
oneself without the veneer of civilization. Silence and isolation result in profound self-honesty.
Some
do not survive such an experience, finding madness and death a valid alternative to looking
inward.
Yet for those lookouts that survive, and even thrive, upon the experience, the spiritual
ramifications
are profound. With the turning of the seasons comes a new understanding of the fantasy and the
reality that construct human existence. Wilderness Alchemy is one of those rare, wonderful books
that remain timeless, offering passage after passage one can scarcely wait to share with a friend.
Weaving a spell on the reader much like a meditation, Wilderness Alchemy inspires awareness of
the
beauties of this world and respect for its living beings. Through the eyes of the narrator, the
reader is
transported to a world of silent reflection where danger and awe merge in a world both savage
and
profound. In the theme of such works as Annie Dillard's Pilgrim At Tinker Creek or William Least
Heat Moon's Prairiyerth, Wilderness Alchemy is a must read for all of earth's children. Indeed, it is
a
triumph.
That Miracle Man
Marti Siddons
Awe-Struck E-Books
2458 Cherry Street, Dubuque, IA 52001
1928670822, 2000, eBook/Multiple Formats, $4.50
When Scott Turner walked out of Laura's life after only eighteen months of marriage, leaving her
pregnant, she did not grieve the end of her marriage. Instead, she felt an incredible sense of relief,
knowing she would no longer have to endure the disparaging comments about her paintings or
other
forms of verbal abuse. Even without child support, or even acknowledgement of paternity, Laura
was relieved to have such a disappointing man out of her child's life. Over the next six years,
Laura
builds her life around her daughter and her painting career. Then the man who always called her
peach, although she never knew why, reappears in her life. Jackson Miracle had not seen Laura
since
the day he served as best man at her wedding. He had waited too long to reveal his feelings to the
woman he named after the sweet fruit, and then it was too late. But in a climatic moment together
after the wedding, he had known how much he loved her. He just had not known how much he
was
going to miss her. Years of chasing oil and traveling the world had not blurred the memory of his
peach. Then a family emergency brings him home only to learn that Laura had been divorced for
years. While a shared history of childhood memories bind them to the past, after so many years
apart, Jackson will find himself severely challenged if he wants to bind Laura to him in the future.
Author Marti Siddons creates a tender, character driven romance in That Miracle Man. Laura and
Jackson are evenly balanced and equally deserving of a passionate, all encompassing love, yet life
seems to present tremendous challenge to reaching that gift. Laura's soft exterior conceals a
woman
of steal and unexplored passion that Jackson recognizes and respects. Jackson likewise conceals
unexplored depths that Laura seems to recognize almost intuitively. A richly textured, delightfully
fresh read that romance lovers will revel in, That Miracle Man comes highly recommended.
Eat First--You Don't Know What They'll Give You
Sonia Pressman Fuentes
SynergEbooks
1235 Flat Shoals Rd, King, NC 27021
ISBN: 0-7443-0231-5 (PDF), ISBN: 0-7443-0232-3 (HTML), ISBN: 0-7443-0238-2 (LIT)
Email Attachment $5.00, CD Rom: $7.00
As the first woman lawyer in the General Counsel's office at the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission in 1965, Sonia Pressman Fuentes always intended to write her life story. The tone
and
direction of her tale, however, shifted dramatically one day over coffee with another
author/editor.
Rather than the scholarly tome originally envisioned, the novel evolved to a humorous, personal
account of Fuentes' family, her life, and her place in history. Beginning with an account of her
father
running away from marriage, Eat First--You Don't Know What They'll Give You: The
Adventures
Of An Immigrant Family And Their Feminist Daughter follows her parents' marriage through the
difficult decision to leave their home and business in Germany as the events leading to the
Holocaust
began to unfold. Eventually coming to the United States, Fuentes describes herself as a
"bespectacled, asthmatic child of older, immigrant parents in a new country." Humor became a
coping device - a gift she has honed to a fine edge, providing the novel a light, entertaining tone
that
carries throughout the pages. Wonderful vignettes such as how her father earned a B+ for saving
her
sewing disaster and her mother's love of night school, but sacrificing that love for her family,
result
in a strong, compelling narrative. Following her high school graduation, Fuentes earns a
scholarship
to Cornell, despite her father's opinion that too much education can be a bad thing. As her family
pressured for marriage and children, Fuentes found her way to law school instead. Graduation
with a
law degree did not lead to a number of folks offering work, however, and the next few years
provided the impetus for Fuentes' involvement in women's issues. At the age of forty-two she
finally
fulfilled her family's dreams for her to be married, soon having a child as well. A later divorce in
no
way seems to have negated her family's approval to finally have her married, and her
determination
to have a child will keep readers entertained. Author Sonia Pressman Fuentes preents her
memoirs
in Eat First--You Don't Know What They'll Give You, The Adventures of an Immigrant Family
and
Their Feminist Daughter. With an intense awareness of her place in history, in terms of family
relations, career, and self-realization, Fuentes reveals her immigrant background, her involvement
in
Women's Rights, and her love for family. A woman who blazes her own unorthodox path, this
remarkably self-honest memoir is a must read for all. Her extraordinary gift for an enthralling
narrative and lively personality brings the text a life and vibrancy that will live in the reader's
memory
long after the last page is turned. Eat First--You Don't Know What They'll Give You belongs on
everyone's keeper shelf.
Cindy Penn, Reviewer
http://wordweaving.com
Klausner's Bookshelf
Killing Cousins
Rett MacPherson
St. Martin's Press
Mar 2002, $22.95, 240 pp., ISBN: 0312266898
Having just given birth to her third child, New Kassell, Missouri genealogist Torie O'Shea looks
forward to her new assignment. The Historical Society wants Torie to write the definitive
biography
of a local, 1930s popular local jazz singer Catherine Finch. Torie begins her usual methodical
research into her subject, but soon learns that someone abducted Catherine's infant son, who
never
returned home. While Torie ponders what happened, the mayor decides to bring in riverboat
gambling at the site of the Yates house over the protestations of many locals. However, the
project
is halted when the body of a former resident Patrick Ward and the skeletal remains of an infant are
found in the house. Torie begins investigating the connection between the two deceased people
and
easily finds links that reach into the governor's mansion. Killing Cousins is an engaging cozy that
is
fun to read though the waters of the plot never run deep. The story line engages the audience
through the actions of Torie and her cohorts who are a pert group. Rett MacPherson's tale is for
those readers who relish a spunky heroine starring in a vivacious tale that stretches the
imagination
once the clues leave New Kassell.
Deadly Affairs
Brenda Joyce
St. Martin's Press
April 2002, $6.99, 368 pp., ISBN 0312982623
Francesca Cahil, the twenty-year-old daughter of wealthy parents, lives in a posh New York City
neighborhood. In 1902, a young woman with her status should be going to society balls and
looking
for a rich husband, but she is hardly the typical debutante. She has enrolled in college, without her
parents' knowledge, is trying to earn money as a sleuth, and is madly in love with the police
commissioner, Rick Bragg. Although Rick returns her feelings he keeps their relationship on a
platonic level because he's married although he hasn't seen his wife for four years. The only part of
contact these star-crossed lovers have is when Francesca inserts herself into a police investigation.
While out on a case of her own, Francesca finds the dead body of a young Irish seamstress and
learns from Bragg that there was another murder identical to the one the beautiful bluestocking
discovered. Trying to keep their emotions in check, the two sleuths work together to uncover a
very
clever killer. Although Deadly Affairs is labeled a romance, it is really an amateur sleuth mystery.
Brenda Joyce writes a compelling tale filled with so many twists and turns that readers will never
be
able to discover who the killer is until the author is ready to reveal it. This is a series that will have
crossover appeal to romance and mainstream readers.
Lords Of The White Castle
Elizabeth Chadwick
St. Martin's Press
Apr 2002, $26.95, 614 pp., ISBN: 0312288271
In 1184 as a favor to the lad's powerful family, King Henry II allows fifteen year old Fulke
FitzWarin to join his teenage son Prince John's retinue as a squire. Coming from the Welsh
Marshes,
Fulke is considered a country bumpkin by the Prince. The eldest, Fulke must succeed if his family
is
to regain Whittington Castle lost generations ago, but still disputed. Fulke knows his tutor
Master
Glanville is the key for his family's plea, not the King. John forces Fulke to play a game of chess.
Planning to throw the game, Fulke gets caught up in the competition and checkmates John. The
Prince accuses Fulke of cheating and hits him with the chessboard. Fulke retaliates in self-defense
leading to John banging his head on the floor. A lifetime of bitter rivalry between John and Fulke
begins that leads the latter into becoming an outlaw when the former becomes King. Lords Of
The
White Castle is biographical fiction at its most exciting best. Using the little factual information
available about the real Fulke FitzWarin and the chronicle record written in his times, Elizabeth
Chadwick paints a vivid picture of the medieval era by cleverly filling in the gaps with depth while
staying true to what is considered authentic. The story line is loaded, cleverly designed, and never
slows down focusing the plot on the key cast members especially Fulke, his wife, and John. This
blend is a treat that historical fiction fans will want to read as the novel is sure to make everyone
short lists of sub-genre best books of the year.
Face Down Across The Western Sea
Kathy Lynn Emerson
St. Martin's Press
April 2002, $22.95, 240 pp., ISBN 0312288239
Sir Walter Pendennis is at Priory House in Cornwall on a mission for the queen. With him is
Susanna, Lady Appleton, the woman who turned down his marriage proposal s well as a host of
England's best scholars. Their job is to find England's claim, if any, to the New World and a faster
waterway to the Asian Markets. Susanna is glad to find something worthwhile to occupy her time
since her lover Nick Baldwin, a member of the Merchant's Adventures, is in Hamburg to advance
England's cause in that port. When one of the scholars explains to Susanna that one of the
documents is missing, she intends to help him look for it. She is distracted from her mission when
Sir
Walter's estranged wife arrives on the scene causing emotional turmoil. In the meantime, the
scholar
who lost the document has been killed and Sir Walter and Susanna must find out who did it since
England's interests are involved in the matter. When a second scholar disappears and is presumed
dead, Susanna is determined to find out what is going on. Every Susanna, Lady Appleton novel is
a
joy to read. In an era when a powerful queen ruled England, a widowed noblewoman has much
power, especially if she has enough money to back up her desires. Susanna is a person of sterling
character who wants to make the world a better place. That is why readers love her and the plot
of
her latest tale, Face Down Across The Western Sea, enhances her desire to leave a positive mark
while also enhancing the reputation of author Kathy Lynn Emerson
Every Move You Make
Jill Jones
St. Martin's Press
Mar 2002, $6.99, 320 pp., ISBN: 0312980973
Six months ago, her spouse Adam hit her with a nuclear bomb when he informed Regan that he
wanted a divorce. All the problems of their marriage he blamed on her including their inability to
have children even going so far as faulting her for his infidelities. Mentally battered, Regan
acquiesced to his demands and fled across the continent to start anew in San Francisco with her
sister Kat and her niece with little hope for her future. Though Regan and Kat have not dated in
seemingly eons, they agree to try places and events that draw males. However, unbeknownst to
the
siblings, a headliner serial killer the Dancemaster sees and begins stalking Regan, and starts killing
women who moderately look like her. Police profiling fails to provide much insight as if the killer
could magically hide in plain sight. The murderer audaciously sends email to Regan, which brings
in
FBI Agent Sam Sloan into her life who is near the obsession stage in his chase to end the deadly
choreography of the Dancemaster. Every Move You Make is an exciting psychological thriller
starring a strong heroine still recovering from a life shattering experience and a deeply caring Fed.
The support cast add depth so that the audience can understand Regan's grief over the death of
her
previous life and Sam's fixation to stop the serial killer. Though the characters are three-
dimensional, this taut thriller belongs to the killer who turns Jill Jones' tale into quite a chiller.
Murder In The Rough
J.S. Borthwick
St. Martin's Press
Mar 2002, $24.95, 366 pp., ISBN: 0312288298
Dr. Sarah Deane is between assignments. She just completed a substitute teaching job at a
Massachusetts girls' boarding school and has not yet started her English classes at Maine's
Bowmouth College. Her mother-in-law Elspeth has invited Sarah to come to their Maine home
for
several family celebrations. However, instead of an idyllic respite, Sarah arrives in time for
father-son homicides on the community golf course forcing the police to close the course as a
crime
scene. Sarah finds a third corpse that of her father-in-law's uncle and not long afterward observes
a
lad vanish. Sarah searches for the missing person only to be caught by the criminals. Unless she
escapes, Sarah could become part of the greens. Though Murder In The Rough is quite simplistic
especially the way everything falls into place for Sarah, readers will enjoy this sports amateur
sleuth
tale. The story line engages the audience as the eccentric cast makes for a fine coastal Maine tale
similar to the Murder She Wrote crowd. Sarah is a likable individual and her inquiries are fun to
follow. J.S. Borthwick avoids sand traps and the rough while shooting par.
Ash Child
Peter Bowen
St. Martin's Press
April 2002, $23.95,256 pp., ISBN 0312288506
Gabriel Du Pre is in the hospital recovering from a burst appendix when he hears the news that
somebody killed Maddy Collins. Somebody smashed her head in with a hatchet and left, leaving
the
front door open. There is no obvious motive for the seventy eight-year old woman's death since
she
was a bit of a recluse and never bothered anyone. When Du Pre leaves the hospital, he camps out
in
the back of Maddy's house, hoping that the perp will return to the scene of the crime. He doesn't
find
a killer but he does notice two seventeen year olds who are curious about the crime scenes. He
lets
them go and the next thing he knows he's back in the hospital because somebody banged him
pretty
badly on the head. Somebody burns down Maddy's house and the fire spreads to the nearby Wolf
Mountains where the bodies of the two teens seen at Maddy's now are discovered with bullets in
their bodies. Gabriel is determined to flush out the person who has wrecked such havoc on his
little
Montana town. Peter Bowen does for Montana what Tony Hillerman does for New Mexico. His
regional mysteries, starring the unique character Gabriel Du Pre, are picturesque, totally absorbing
and utterly charming. The author is so descriptive that one can picture the town of Toussaint in
the
mind's eye. Anyone who has not read a "Gabriel Do Pre mystery is missing out on something
special.
Blue Suede Clues
Daniel Klein
St. Martin's Press
Mar 2002, $22.95, 231 pp., ISBN: 0312262493
In 1963 on the last day of shooting of Kissin Cousins, Elvis feels embarrassed by the movie, his
dual
roles, and the inane songs. Adding to Elvis' feelings of helplessness is the media frenzy over his
romance with his co-star Ann Margaret and the left-handed comments of his current producer. At
a
press conference, Elvis makes it clear that with a good script he would provide a strong
performance. However, his angst-laden soliloquy backfires, as every lunatic sends in an "Oscar
winning" script. The deluge is just one more reason to escape the Colonel, Priscilla, and the
media.
Elvis chooses the only interesting item amidst the flood, the case of stuntman Freddy "Squirm"
Littlejon as his escape vehicle. Squirm is serving a life sentence for the 1960 Hollywood murder
of a
bit player, Holly McDougal. Squirm includes a picture of himself with Elvis in military uniforms.
Elvis takes on the case as a means of escaping his troubles and because he feels a special bond
with
stuntmen and veterans; Squirm is both. Elvis begins his second investigation (see Kill Me Tender
for
his first case). The premise of Blue Suede Clues is that a troubled Elvis turns to amateur sleuthing
for relief from his woes. The story line is fun for those readers who enjoy the mystery of sighting
Elvis in a mall, but the idiosyncrasies of the superstar never surface; the reason many will want to
read this novel. Instead Elvis could easily be John Doe, everyman amateur sleuth. The
investigation
is fun, but except for those in the audience who live Graceland, sub-genre readers will return to
author Daniel Klein disappointed.
Falling For You
Julie Ortolon
St. Martin's Press
Apr 2002, $6.50, 336 pp., ISBN: 0312978723
In Galveston Bay, Texas boat tour guide Aurora "Rory" St. Claire notices a "For Sale" sign on
the
Pearl Island property once owned by her ancestor. She wants the place to open up a bed and
breakfast. She asks the son of a local banker, Oliver "Chance" Chancellor, for information. He
tells
her that the national bank that bought out his father has foreclosed on the property. Rory tells
Chance about her dream. Feeling as if a whirlwind has engulfed him, Chance agrees to help her
though he worries over his feeling of lust for Rory as his family expects him to marry childhood
friend Paige Baxter. Rory enlists her siblings Adrian and Allison to join with her as their desires
can
be met too. Adrian can become his own person and Allison can work on decorating. Over the
next
few weeks, Rory and Chance work on her dream even as they fall in love. However, Chance has
always been the dutiful son and Rory is forbidden fruits. Paige is expected to be his wife even if
his
own mother demands he marry for love not a misguided obligation. Rory and Chance make
Falling
For You a lively delightful contemporary romance of two opposites falling in love. The story line
is
fun as the readers are caught up in the frantic activity led by Rory, a dynamic perpetual machine.
Though some of the secondary charcaters seem inconsistent, the fact that Paige is a nice person
not
a nasty witch adds depth to Julie Ortolon's charming vivacious tale.
The Marriage Masquerade
Cheryl Anne Porter
St. Martin's Press
Mar 2002, $6.50, 352 pp., ISBN: 0312978960
In 1876 Chicago, Allan Pinkerton worries about the safety of one of his best female operatives.
Too
many recent incidents in which the cover of Sarah "Yancey" Calhoun has been blown have
occurred.
Allan and Yancey consult and she explains to him about the letters from England and the death of
another Chicago resident with her name. Since all roads lead back across the Atlantic, Allan sends
Yancey to England to straighten out why someone wants her dead. Sarah journeys to the remote
estate of Lord Samuel Treyhorne, husband to her dead namesake and son to the letter writer.
Samuel distrusts Yancey especially when she claims his mother sent for her. As they struggle with
one another love blossoms between them, but a killer wants both of them dead. Unless they learn
to
trust one another, Sarah and Samuel may fulfill their unknown assailant's fondest wish. Fans of
Cheryl Anne Porter's western romances (see Wild Fire) need to understand that though the novel
starts in the 1870s the Pinkerton Office, the plot is a romantic Victorian mystery. The author
easily
transitions into the genre with this wonderfully written tale. The lead couple is dynamic, as the
aristocratic Samuel and the working class Yancey battles one another as much as they war with
their
enemy. The romance lightens yet embellishes the who-done-it of The Marriage Masquerade
because
the audience understands the lead couple so that their efforts make for a stronger story line. Ms.
Porter's current fans will want more novels like this one while a horde of new admirers should
surface.
A Death In The Venetian Quarter
Alan Gordon
St. Martin's Press
Mar 2002, $23.95, 288 pp., ISBN: 0312242670
In 1203, the two hundred plus Fourth Crusade ships anchor just off the walls of Constantinople
causing panic and concern among the residents. The Imperial Treasurer Philoxenites not only
worries about the horde of soldiers besieging his city, but the impact of a particular murder on
that
army. Someone killed Camilio Bastini, a silk merchant, in a locked room in the Venetian Quarter.
Philoxenites assigns Theophilos "Feste the Jester" to uncover the truth about this homicide that
could inflame the soldiers besetting the city into beginning the assault. Feste, accompanied by his
pregnant wife Aglaia, Rico the dwarf, and Plossus of the troupe of fools, quickly learns that the
deceased is more than just a merchant. Soon the troupe of sleuths begins to uncover spies in every
corner of the city representing numerous warring factions. The quartet concludes that even if they
solve the case of the locked room, they might not survive the intrigue swirling in and out of
Constantinople. Death In The Venetian Quarter is a humorous, often lewd tale filled with sharp
puns
and retorts, and a detailed description of the siege. Though historical mystery purists might
cringe,
Alan Gordon fills the story line with purposely placed anachronisms that enliven the narrative. The
characters (real and fiction) are fun to observe; the locked door who-done- it is cleverly devised;
and
a mini note further explains the genuine events of the Fourth Crusade. The unconcerned about
accuracy historical mystery reader will delight in this well written tale.
No Show Of Remorse
David J. Walker
St. Martin's Press
Apr 2002, $23.95, 304 pp., ISBN: 0312252404
Five years ago, the Illinois Supreme Court suspended Mal Foley's license to practice law when he
disobeyed a direct order from the court. Mal kept a promise to a client though the court ruled
against his claim of attorney- client privilege. Mal turned to sleuthing to earn a living, which was
not
that difficult of a change as he did much of his own investigations when he practiced law. Mal
seeks
reinstatement, but he struggles to behave with the bureaucracy even with his attorney pleading
with
him to show some respect or remain a private detective. However, Mal's petition takes an odd
turn
as someone does not want him reinstated and is willing to go great lengths to insure that he is not.
On the other hand, Mal finds himself with strange bedfellows as allies supporting his reinstatement
surface. Mal knows that the case that got him barred remains the focus of his current situation and
not just with the state government. Though his preference is to do nothing, Mal cannot sit idly by
especially when the opposition turns vicious. The Foley series is one of the stronger private
investigative collections on the market today because of the moral strengths (obsessive?) of the
lead
character. The current novel, No Show Of Remorse, is an enjoyable entry as the audience
observes
deep inside what makes the hero tick. Though the action is a shade less than the norm for a Foley
tale, David J. Walker entertains the troops with an engaging story that fans will want to read
because of the scrupulous star.
In The Bleak Midwinter
Julia Spencer-Fleming
St. Martin's Press
Mar 2002, $23.95, 308 pp., ISBN: 0312288476
Though no longer with the Army, Clare Fergusson knows as a former military pilot that one flies
straight to the target to get the job done. Now as the first female priest of the Millers Kill, New
York St. Mark's Episcopal Church she still flies straight to the target though this time it is
typically a
person in need. Between her gender as the first female priest and her no nonsense straightforward
demeanor, Clare annoys some of her congregation. Clare finds an abandoned infant on the
church's
step. The person who left the baby behind also provided a note requesting that the child be given
to
Geoffrey and Karen Burns, a local professional couple seeking an adoption. As the town's chief of
police Russ Van Alstyne searches for the parents, a murder occurs with the victim turning out to
be
the mother of the deserted baby. As Clare assists Russ on his investigation, an attraction springs
up
between them, but he is married and she is the new priest. The mystery of In The Bleak Midwinter
is
filled with many twists and turns (unlike Clare) that are not used to further the police
investigation.
Instead the subplots provide insight into the key two characters, which slows down the plot, but
enables the audience to appreciate Russ and Clare. Their first meeting in the hospital starts off
colder then the tundra, but thaws until heat begins to emanate. Fans of police procedural cozies
will
delight in Julia Spencer-Fleming's warm tale and look forward to more cases starring two
delightful
characters.
The Dead Survivors
K.J. Erickson
St. Martin's Press
Mar 2002, $24.95, 384 pp., ISBN: 0312266995
The case was as obvious as any facing the Minneapolis Police Department. Frank Beck lost his
electronics business, has been estranged from most of his family, and suffered from colon cancer.
So
when his son found him hanging, the official word is suicide. However, the officer on the scene
Danny Borg felt strongly that two things seemed out of character. First the noose was poster boy
perfect as if Frank was an expert, something no one collaborated. Then there was the weird
numbers
on his arm that mean nothing, at least to Borg. First Response Unit Detective Mars Bahr decides
to
look into Beck's demise. Soon other similar deaths follow. Subsequently Mars learns that the
digits
left on each victim's arm is tied back to a Civil War regiment whose descendants are marked for
murder. With the help of an army of genealogists, Mars tries to uncover the identity of a serial
killer.
The Dead Survivors is at its best when the story line glimpses into Mars' personal life such
especially
when he interacts with his son. That enables the audience to look deep inside the hero and see
what
he is made of. The sleuthing is fun however, several subplots not only fail to return to the prime
story line, but also are left dangling. Though not as good as Third Person Singular, K.J. Erickson
provides police procedural readers with a fine entry due to the likable lead character, but is he
enough to merit a trip to Mars?
Out Of The Blue
Katherine Deauxville
Lovespell
Feb 2002, $5.99, 346 pp., ISBN: 0505524694
Insanity is Maryellen Caswell's first reaction to the male voice suddenly speaking to her inside her
brain in what should have been an incoherent foreign language. Her sister's more plausible answer
is
Manhattan. However, the voice co-occupying her head belongs to a stunned Sub-Commander Ur
Targon. He knows something went wrong, probably sabotage, when he landed inside a live female
rather than a dying specimen as directed by the standing operating procedure. Ur believes that an
anti-government incident on Styrex Three will happen, but has no idea why this remote orb the
locals call Earth is the target. His first order of business is to escape his current host who is
driving
him crazy. However, the proximity between the two of them makes them even loonier as they
begin
to fall in love. However, can a body hopping alien and a grounded third rock from the sun local
form
a relationship outside her head? Ponder The Man with Two Brains merging with the Men In
Black
inside a romance to understand Katherine Deauxville's wacky, outrageous, and entertaining tale.
The
story line is amusing due to the witty dialogue between the charming lead characters as if Steve
Martin landed inside the head of Sigourney Weaver. This novel comes Out Of The Blue, but fans
of
jocular science fiction romance that satirizes the convergence of the two genres will wan to learn
if
Ur is a hunk or not?
Analisa Mathews knows that it is just a matter of a short time before she joins her family in death.
The disease has left her weak and the ailing woman welcomes her demise until the strange doctor
visits her and gives her a concoction. Her regular physician Dr. Martinson is shocked to see
Analisa
begin to recover her health. To Analisa's surprise Martinson cannot even see her enigmatic
medical
visitor that she observes in plain sight. After leaving the hospital fully and miraculously recovered,
Analisa learns the identity of her benefactor, Lord Alesandro de Avallone. She moves into his
castle
based on his note that she is welcome there while he is away. Analisa soon perceives the true
identity
of her benevolent host and falls in love with him in spite of knowing he is a vampire. He returns
her
feelings, but has placed her in danger from a deadly enemy. Though the good vs. evil is
over-pronounced, fans of vampire romances will want to read Midnight Embrace. The story line
contains two wonderful lead protagonists and an enlightening support cast especially Alesandro's
servants that enable the audience to better understand the era and the starring duet. Amanda
Ashley
provides her fans with an enticing supernatural love story.
Sacrament
Susan Squires
LoveSpell
Mar 2002, $5.99, ISBN: 0505524724
Lady Sarah Ashton loves her estate Clershing and would do just about anything to keep it.
However, her solicitor informs Sarah that Julien Davinoff has disputed ownership of the property.
Sarah is unable to produce the original deed to Clershing and no other proof has surfaced to
prove
she owns the estate. Desperate Sarah confronts Julien, who surprises himself by feeling empathy
towards her. This is astonishing because Julian is a vampire and has felt nothing but tedium for
what
seems as if forever. As Julien and Sarah become acquainted and begin to fall in love, her friend
Corina makes it clear she wants him and will do whatever it takes including abduction to attain
her
desire. Fans of vampire romances will enjoy Susan Squires' supernatural historical tale starring
two
strong lead characters. Julien is a brooding hunk while Sarah is a caring individual who gains not
only the vampire's admiration but also that of the reader. Though Corina makes a poor egomaniac
villainess with no redeeming qualities, the story line of star- crossed lovers moves forward at a
rapid
pace. Though not quite as powerful as Danegeld, Sacrament will entertain the audience due to the
lead couple starring in a lively tale.
The Shadowing
Joan Overfield
Lovespell
Feb 2002, $5.99, 346 pp., ISBN: 0505524694
In 1851 Anne Garthwicke accompanies her father to Castle MacCairn in Scotland so they can
examine, appraise, and catalogue the edifice's contents. Anne's first reaction to the foreboding
castle
is a combination of d‚j… vu with a strong sense of evil and power. When Anne meets the owner
Ruairdh MacCairn, she feels empathy and more misfortune. Ruairdh wants to sell the castle so
that
he can use the money to help his tenants before the four centuries old curse placed on his family
by a
monk disables and ultimately kills him. Though they avoid each other, Anne and Ruairdh feel
strongly attracted to one another. As Ruairdh steps closer to insanity, Anne becomes his last
thread
of normalcy as love blossoms between them. Regency author Joan Overfield provides readers
with
an exciting gothic romance that includes a foreboding castle, a brooding hero, an innocent
woman,
and a nasty curse. The lead couple makes the tale interesting as well as fun because readers will
empathize with both of them. Ruairdh's last grasp is his love for Anne while she struggles with
mourning the death of her father and helplessly observing her beloved going insane. Gothic
romance
readers will thrill to The Shadowing.
Deirdre
Linda Windsor
Multnomah
Mar 2002, $11.99, 350 pp., ISBN: 1576738914
In the seventh century in Ireland, Alric the pirate does not believe in a Christian God though his
deceased Irish mother was a very pious individual. Instead more of a heathen, Alric captures a
ship
containing Princess Deirdre and a large booty intended to ransom her brother. Though he dislikes
his
prisoner, a religious student, at first sight, Alric keeps her near him for her safety. As Alric and
Deirdre become acquainted they begin to see another side of the other person and quickly fall in
love. However, she is a pawn in her in-law's grab for power and he is an outlaw heathen. This
makes
any relationship between the seafaring pirate and the landlubber seemingly impossible, but love
has
caused stranger combinations than this one. Deirdre is an exciting early medieval inspirational
romance that readers will enjoy. The story line is loaded with action and the religious message is
augments the tale not batters the reader. Though Deirdre seems to resemble the female stars of
the
first two "Fires of Gleanmara" novel, Maire and Riona, readers will relish this tale because Alric
provides freshness to the plot and the heroine (through their relationship). Linda Windsor
continues
to furbish entertaining historical tales that readers will want to obtain the previous books in this
insightful series.
Murder On Washington Square
Victoria Thompson
Berkley
April 2002, $6.99, 336 pp., ISBN 0425184307
Sarah Brandt can trace her bloodlines to the original Dutch but she doesn't believe that just
because
her parents are wealthy, she is better than the immigrants she serves as a mid-wife are. Rather
then
live with her parents in their posh 57th St. house she lives in Greenwich Village and is friends with
many of the people in the neighborhood. One of her closest friends is her next door neighbor Mrs.
Ellsworth. When Mrs. Ellsworth's son is accused of murdering his mistress because she told him
she
was pregnant with his child, Sarah knows that the mild mannered man is innocent. Sarah decides
to
prove Nelson did not commit homicide. She persuades her friend police detective Frank Malloy to
help her. Frank wants Sarah to stay out of the case because he doesn't want her to put her life in
danger, but she is as stubborn as he and goes her own way paying little heed to her well being.
Murder On Washington Square takes place in the turn of the last century in New York City and
colorfully demonstrates the distinct class differences in the so-called "melting pot". The heroine is
an
admirable and likable person because she not only ignores her elite pedigree, but also works hard
to
better the immigrant's lot. Victoria Thompson's "Gaslight mysteries" are always a gas as they are
exciting treats to read.
You've Got Murder
Donna Andrews
Berkley
April 2002, $6.95, 304 pp., ISBN 04251819176
Universal Library is a corporation that controls, owns or fixes databases for its various clients. It
also has a website where, for a fee, users can talk to or do research with an AIP (Artificial
intelligence Personality). Their most popular AIP is Turing Hopper whose specialty is general
knowledge. Users like her because she's got a distinct and refreshing personality but what they
don't
know is that Turing is sentient. When Turing realizes her programmer Zach hasn't reported in for
eight days, she begins to worry a bit. When Mr. Smith from security tries to break into Zach's
computer she really begins to worry. She contacts her two friends at UL, Maude a secretary and
Tim the copier. Both have come to adore Turing and believe she is alive, and are willing to take
risks to find out what is going on at UL and how it relates to Zach's disappearance. Turing is one
of
the most original, adorable and refreshing characters to grace the pages of a mystery novel.
Although the protagonist lives inside a computer (for the most part) readers will choose to ignore
rather quickly that she's an AI and start thinking of her as human. She, with her partner's in crime,
tries to save the world for sentient AI's of the second generation. This reviewer can't wait for the
sequel(s).
Just Desserts
Claudia Bishop
Berkley
April 2002, $5.99, 240 pp., ISBN 0425184315
Sisters Sarah and Meg Qullian are also best friends as they jointly own and operate the Hemlock
Falls Inn in upstate New York. There is very little crime in their small hamlet, but when a murder
occurs, it seems that the Quillian siblings are right in the middle of it. To their credit they have
solved eight homicides but at the moment neither sister wants to even think of homicide because
they are very busy in their professional and personal lives. Fate ignores their wishes and dumps
the
body of George Nash in the middle of town so that two hunters discover it. George was a
participant in a crime years ago that resulted in the death of a child when the Quillian sisters were
small. Both witnessed it but it is Quill who remembers the details of it as if it were yesterday. One
by
one the members of the victims of that crime turn up in Hancock Falls and they all die except for
the
mastermind who designed the killing scheme. Quill has to discover who it is before even more
murders occur. Claudia Bishop has written an entertaining, quirky and off beat mystery in which
the
villains seem heroic and the victims seem diabolical. The Quillian sisters are as delightful as ever
especially Quill who thinks she's dying of a dreadful disease even though her sister is convinced
her
symptom's are caused by an allergy. Just Deserts is a special treat for amateur sleuth lovers.
Steps To The Altar
Earlene Fowler
Berkley
April 2002, $22.95, 320 pp., ISBN 0425183491
The central coastal California town of San Celina is home to chief of police Gabe Ortiz and his
wife
Benni Harper. Although Gabe was once an undercover narcotics officer in the big city, receiving
an
adrenaline high from collaring a drug dealer, he is content now to work in this quiet college and
retirement village. However, whenever a homicide does occur, it seems that Benni is in the middle
of
it, much to Gate's consternation. Homicide is the farthest thing from Benni's mind now. Her best
friend is about to marry her cousin (two people she cherishes) and her grandmother is getting
married after forty years of being a widow. Benni is all caught up in wedding preparations when
Gabe's ex-lover comes to town determined to win him back. To get her mind off her heartache,
Benni becomes involved in another homicide investigation, one that is fifty years old. It's
interesting
to see Benni solve a case that is over a half a century old using old newspaper reports and
historical
documents. Although Steps To An Altar is billed as a mystery, it is as much a romance with Benni
having an admirer who finally comes out of the closet. Told in the first person from Gabe and
Benni's point of view, readers are able to feel close to both protagonists and understand their
feelings and actions.
Fifty Cents For Your Soul
Denise Dietz
Delphi
April 2002, $22.95, 286 pp., ISBN 0966339782
Frannie Rosen was brought up in an affluent neighborhood on Long Island but she now lives in a
fifth floor walk up in Manhattan with her lover Andre. Frannie wants to be an actress more than
anything in the world and she believes she is on the road to success when she is cast as a demon in
a
horror film directed by Victor Madison. Since the movie is being produced in Houston, Frannie
and
Andre fly to Texas, but their relationship rapidly deteriorates from the time filming starts. Frannie
believes she is demon possessed and starts hitting the bottle. She discovers two dead bodies and
thinks that the person who killed them both also killed the screenwriter of the film. Little does she
realize that the murderer is somebody she considers a very close friend, a person she trusts
completely with her soul. Denise Dietz is a very talented writer who has crafted a combination
mystery horror novel that will appeal to fans of both genres. Fifty Cents For Your Soul stars a
delightfully quirky heroine who doesn't let the fact that she is "possessed" interfere with her main
goal of being a famous actress. Readers will adore her because she is so charming and piquant as
she
stars in a strong story line.
The Short Forever
Stuart Woods
Putnam
Apr 2002, $24.95, 336 pp., ISBN: 039914868X
Stone Barrington is a bit hung over from last night's shocker that his lover is leaving him to marry
someone else. So when John Bartholomew asks for his help with retrieving his niece, Erica
Burroughs, from her boyfriend, cocaine smuggler Lance Cabot, he accepts. It does help to say yes
when the client offers to cover all expenses, reasonable or not, in London for Stone to bring Erica
home and get Cabot arrested. However, the simple job turns quite complicated when Stone not
only
learns that Erica has no uncle, but there is no John Burroughs. Erica introduces Stone to her sister
and the trio attends a party tossed by painter Sarah Buckminster, Stone's former lover. As Sarah's
fianc‚, falls to his death, John and Lance accuse one another of being a vicious spy performing
criminal acts. Stone believes both are rogue agents trying to manipulate him as he struggles with
whom do you trust. The latest Stone Barrington tale, The Short Forever, feels as if Start Woods
could not decide between a who-done-it and an espionage thriller. The story line is action packed
and fast-paced, perhaps the speediest of the Barrington tales, but keeps shifting gear as the
subplots
never smoothly lock in place. The mystery elements feel comfortable, however the spy subplot
seems out of sorts for Stone. Still series fans will find Stone, who must have scored more often
than
Wilt, retains his likable quality as he tries to remain alive amidst the most murky a case he ever
has
worked.
Bone Key
Les Standiford
Putnam
April 2002, $24.95, 320 pp., ISBN 0399148744
John Deal is trying to return his deceased father's Florida building firm, DealCo Construction to
its
former glory. It's a matter of pride plus he needs the money to support his estranged wife and pay
his
daughter's tuition fees. He travels to Key West with his friend and co-worker Russell Straight to
see
if they can come to terms with local developer flamboyant Franklin Stone who wants Dealco to
build
his latest project. Even before the two men meet, a local hustler named Dequarious tries to tell
Deal
something in a local restaurant. Before he can, Dequarious is thrown out. The next time the
builder
sees the hustler, John tries to stop a local police officer from killing Dequarious. He succeeds but
shortly thereafter, Dequarious is found by Deal shot to death in his hotel room, a wine label in his
hand. John Deal is determined to find out who is behind the killing or die trying. Les Standiford
has
written a complex, multi-layered crime novel that will pique and maintain reader interest from first
page to last. The author is a master of characterization, populating his novel with people readers
will
like even though the audience knows that these individuals can operate on the wrong side of the
law.
Bone Key is a mystery that is impossible to figure out until the author is ready to reveal the
answers.
Three Fates
Nora Roberts
Putnam
April 2002, $25.95, 464 pp., ISBN 039914840x
As the Lusitania is going down, petty thief Felix Greenfield is in the cabin of Henry W. Wyley
stealing one of the Three Fates statues. By the time he realizes he is in danger, he pockets the
valuable item, saves a mother and son, and vows to turn over a new leaf. He is rescued and settles
in
Ireland and raises a family. Felix's descendants, the Sullivans, hold on to the statue until Malachi
loses it to Anita Waye, a black widow who slept with him in order to steal it. Malachi and his
siblings Gideon and Rebecca not only vow to get it back but they intend to find the other two
statues, uniting The Three Fates before selling them. The Sullivan siblings meet their significant
others while pursuing the statues, not yet realizing that Anita, who is one step ahead of them, will
kill everyone who gets in her way. The group must find a way of outwitting her without anyone
getting hurt in the process. Nora Roberts has written a work of romantic suspense that will please
her many fans as will as those readers who like some romance in their thrillers. The book moves at
a
rapid pace so nobody will get bored during this fascinating read. The Sullivan siblings and their
significant others are a varied group that makes for lively scenes and interactions and turns Three
Fates into one of Nora Roberts' best mainstream novels.
Midnight Runner
Jack Higgins
Putnam
April 2002, $25.95, 304 pp., ISBN 0399148337
Kate Rashid AKA The Countess of Loch Dhu is young, beautiful, and the wealthiest woman in
the
world. She is half Arab and half English and uses the money to gain even more power than she
has
already has because she has declared a jihad against some very powerful individuals including the
president of the United States. The American's top spymaster Blake Johnson, and his British
counterpart General Charles Ferguson and his most lethal agent Sean, an ex-IRA enforcer are her
current targets. She blames them for the death of her three brothers that she loved deeply. She
doesn't care they were trying to kill the President and Blake. She wants her revenge and she will
have it or die trying. Assisting her in her diabolical plot is her newly discovered relative, Rubert
Dauncey. They have something very special planned for their enemies but they don't realize that
those they want dead are one step behind or ahead of them, waiting to catch them off guard. A
Jack
Higgins novel is usually a thrill a second but Midnight Runner is a thrill a nanosecond. It starts off
at
warp speed and never slows down for a moment racing towards a life and death finale that will
leave
readers breathless but satisfied. Fans familiar with this series will be happily reunited with some
old
and familiar characters while those reading the author for the first time will immediately want to
go
out and find his back list so they can read it ASAP.
The Gates Of Sleep
Mercedes Lackey
Daw
April 2002, $24.95, 352 pp., ISBN 0756400600
When Marina Rosewood is born, her parent Alanna and Hugh, throw a party. They invite many
masters of Air, Fire, Water, and Earth to gift the little baby who is going to become a powerful
Air
Master when she grows up. Before the last gift could be given, Hugh's disgraced sister Arachne
arrives and places a magical curse on the child. The last guest mitigates the curse somewhat with
her
gift. If the child lives to the age of eighteen, the curse will be returned to its sender. To protect
their
daughter, John and Alanna send their child away to the home of artists they trust. When Marina is
seventeen, her parents die and her aunt takes custody of her. Marina intuitively hides her magic
from
Arachne because she senses the woman has a hidden agenda. Eventually, the two women face
each
other in a magical showdown where the winner will barely survive. This romantic fantasy takes
place
in the same universe as The Fire Rose and is every bit as magical as that wonderful tale. Mercedes
Lackey has the uncanny ability to write adult fairy tales that appeal to the child in all of us. The
heroine of this work is a beguiling and bewitching sweetheart who trusts her instincts to keep her
from being swayed by those around her. Ms. Lackey has crafted another best seller in The Gates
Of
Sleep.
The Dixie Belle's Guide To Love
Luanne Jones
Avon
Mar 2002, $5.99, 384 pp., ISBN: 0380819341
In Hellon, Tennessee, sixty miles or so from Memphis, Rita Stark owns and operates the Pig Rib
Palace. Divorced from her husband Pernel, whose closet of female attire is superior to hers, and
feeling empty nest syndrome with their daughter off to school, Rita decides to renovate her
dilapidated restaurant. She hires legendary football hero Wild Billy West to do the job. Rita's
wacky
best friends Cozette Harvey and Jillie West believe Billy is just the right medicine for Rita to
regain
her former confidence as a card carrying Dixie belle. Though she does not mind wearing the tiara
or
holding her head high, Rita struggles with accepting a date with Billy as her self-esteem remains in
the septic tank. The Dixie Belle's Guide To Love is a humorous satirical look at small town
southern
living as depicted in many a romance novel. Rita is an intriguing lead protagonist who makes the
tale. Though quite amusing, the local dialogue especially when Cozette and Jillie are on center
stage,
disrupts the flow of the plot as the audience struggles to understand what is being said. Still
Luanne
Jones provides her audience with a delightfully jocular hometown romance.
Claiming The Highlander
Kinley MacGregor
Avon
Mar 2002, $5.99, 384 pp., ISBN: 0380817896
During the reign of Henry II, Maggie inglen Blar leads a sheet revolution to end the fighting in the
Kilgarigon, Scotland area. Maggie and the other women are tired of their men feuding with Robby
MacDouglas and his clan. No man will be fed or bed until peace is procured. Braden MacAllister
returns home from England to witness the appetite downfall of his brothers and the other males of
their clan. He decides to end the foolishness using his best skills at seducing a woman. His target
is
Maggie, but she rejects his kisses to Braden's amazement. Both have secrets. He agrees with her
goal and she has always loved him. As they play a game of cat and mouse, he falls in love with
her,
but will she believe him with his womanizing reputation and her idealistic objective standing
between
them? Relocate Lysistrata from Ancient Greece to medieval Scotland to understand the
underlying
theme in Claiming The Highlander. The invigorating story line is amusing yet enables the reader to
feel they are in the Highlands during the reign of Henry II. The lead couple is a delightful pair
playing Spencer Johnson and Kenneth Blanchard's "Who Moved My Cheese?" enabling readers to
fully enjoy Kinley MacGregor's opening tale in her MacAllister brothers' trilogy.
The Mackenzies: Jared
Ana Leigh
Avon
Mar 2002, $5.99, 384 pp., ISBN: 0380820072
In 1895 Kathleen "Kitty" MacKenzie knows it is time to leave her universe, her family's Triple M
Ranch after two years of mourning the loss of her beloved husband Ted. Kitty travels to Dallas
where she learns from a family member that Jared Fraser needs a governess for his twin daughters
Jennifer and Rebecca as he recuperates from injuries sustained in India. Though not confident she
can do the job as she lacks experience, Kitty sees it as a way to make money without imposing on
anyone. Through her relatives, she obtains the position. The twins initially try to run her off
without
success, but they reassess their agenda as they begin to love Kitty like a mother. She returns their
feelings, but wonders why Jared remains so aloof towards his darling impish daughters. As Jared
and
Kitty also fall in love, she concludes that she must help him with his depression, the machinations
of
his ex-wife, and her belief that father and daughters need each other. Kitty, Jared, and the siblings
are wonderful characters whose interrelationships make for a powerful western romance. On the
other hand, the ex-wife is too Machiavellian to be believable as a viable threat. Still, in her latest
Mackenzies: Jared, Ana Leigh provides an amusing yet serious western romantic relationship
drama
that fans of the series and the sub-genre will find delightful.
Lost In Your Arms
Christina Dodd
Avon
Mar 2002, $6.99, 384 pp., ISBN: 0380819635
In 1843 London, Enid MacLean survives the collapse of her marriage by becoming a
companion-nurse to ailing Lady Halifax. Enid buries her past though there remains a lot of
speculation about her. However, her idyllic arrangement ends when she learns her husband
Stephen
is dying and needs her. As expected of a wife, she goes to help him with his final days though she
hates him. Considering her spouse is a wastrel, Enid is shocked to learn that Stephen is near death
due to a bomb explosion in the Crimea. Though barely recognizing her husband due to the
excessive
injuries, Enid takes over his medical care. When he begins to recover she finds his personality has
changed dramatically from the man she once loved. Perhaps the brush with death is the cause, but
Stephen is kind and gracious, and soon Enid realizes she still loves her spouse, but begins to
question whether this nice man could even be her husband? Lost In Your Arms is a Victorian
romantic rendition of the movie Sommersby with a different ending. The story line is exciting as
Enid struggles with nursing a person she loathes, but in spite of her independence she still
performs
her duty as defined by society's edicts. The plot works hooking the audience who need to know
what will happen as the relationship between the lead couple changes as Stephen regains his
health.
Christina Dodd provides historical romance fans with her usual affable novel.
The Lily And The Sword
Sara Bennett
Avon
Mar 2002, $5.99, 384 pp., ISBN: 0060002697
In 1070 England, the King's Sword Radulf seeks the traitor Saxon Lady Wifreda whose Norman
husband Vorgen turned against William and is already dead. Zigzagging across the countryside in
an
exhausting effort to stay free, Lily arrives at Grinswade Church seeking sanctuary, but no one
remains at the House of God. Radulf arrives at the church finding Lily there. She insists she is the
daughter of a vassal of the Earl of Morcar, who remained loyal to the Conqueror, using the name
Lily as only her father called her. Radulf accepts what Lily says, but remains wary as not only
does
he trust no one, but also disbelieves women after once being badly betrayed by one. As he
uncovers
Lily's identity, Radulf and his "guest" fall in love. However, once he knows who she is he feels
like
the fool, duped again by a female, but unable to idly allow William to destroy his Lily. The Lily
And
The Sword is an exciting Conqueror romance. Though the plot strictly adheres to the era's
star-crossed lovers theme, nonetheless the story provides an exhilarating spin on the era. Radulf
may
be a giant of a warrior, but runs the human gamut of emotions such as love, hurt, anger,
possessiveness, and protectiveness towards his beloved. Lily is an intrepid heroine trying to first
stay
alive though she loves Radulf (Maslow's hierarchy). This duo turns Sara Bennett's debut book
into a
worth reading medieval romance for sub-genre fans.
Love Will Find A Way
Barbara Freethy
Avon
Mar 2002, $6.99, 384 pp., ISBN: 0380815559
Two months before his death, architect Gary Tanner took out a half million-dollar life insurance
policy on himself. Six months after his death the insurance company finds it highly suspicious that
Gary died driving off the side of a mountain road near Lake Tahoe. They refuse to pay for
accidental
death when suicide is more likely the cause. Gary's widow Rachel turns to his best friend and
business partner Dylan Prescott to help her prove that his death was an accident. However, as
they
begin to dig into Gary's life the duo finds secrets he kept from them. While Gary lived, Dylan and
Rachel ignored their attraction to one another, but with him dead they begin to open up and fall in
love. However, not only the memories of Gary stand in their way. Gary and Rachel's
preadolescent
son is in denial about the death symbolized by the deceased's incomplete dream house. When
Love
Will Find A Way stays within the subplot of mourning for a lost loved one while falling in love,
the
tale is superb. When the novel spins a subplot (no secrets revealed here) involving Gary's
clandestine
activities, though well written, it feels like a different tale. Still the lead couple, Rachel's son,
another
pair from Gary's secret life, and Gary are all fully developed to the point that the audience will feel
they are family. Barbara Freethy has written a poignant tale of grieving and renewal that fans will
enjoy.
Pride And Prejudice
Malia Martin
Avon
Feb 2002, $5.99, 384 pp., ISBN: 0380815184
In 1815, naval Captain James Ashley figures that stopping the smugglers would cap off a great
run
following on the heel of his victory over the French. However, his foe the Wolf produces a
cannon
coming out of nowhere that sinks Ashley's ship the Defender in Gravesley Bay. A stunned James
wants his unknown father to even silently applaud his achievements. Instead the fickleness of the
Ton will portray him as a laughingstock as they did last year as the "most delectable man in
England". His military successes and bravery will blithely be ignored. Feeling disgraced, James
resigns his commission to find the Wolf. He opens up his command post in Lady Prudence
Farnsworth's house near the location of where his ship sunk. As James seeks clues, Pru flirts with
him in order to keep him away from the town's prime source of income, smuggling. When they
are
caught in a compromising position, they marry. However, as they fall in love, Pru worries how
James will react if he ever learns the identity of Wolf. Pride And Prudence is an exciting Regency
romance that sub-genre fans will enjoy because the secondary ensemble provides great depth to
the
plot and the lead characters. The story line absorbs the audience from the start though some will
feel
that a spin too many occurs. Pru and James are one of the better couples in recent years as their
relationship is Much Ado About Love, trust, and caring, which is why Malia Martin deservedly is
gaining a growing fan following.
Please Remember This
Kathleen Gilles Seidel
Avon
Feb 2002, $6.99, 384 pp., ISBN: 0061013870
Suffering from manic depression, Nina Lane could not cope with her sudden fame as a must read
science fiction writer. Nina commits suicide three months after she gives birth to Tess. Her
maternal
grandparents raise the infant as far way from the Nina nonsense as possible. About twenty-four
years
later with her grandparents who raised her dead and feeling all alone, Tess decides to find out
about
her maternal heritage. She returns to her birth town of Fleur-de-lis, Kansas where she decides to
open up a coffee and gift shop. Ned Ravenal sees his dreams about to occur as he leads the
excavation of the Western Settler, a riverboat that sunk in the Missouri in 1857, but because of a
river shift is currently buried under a corn field. When Ned and Tess meet, an attraction transpires
between them. Since both are preoccupied and neither able to see the flying sparks between them,
a
relationship appears doubtful even if they fall in love. Please Remember This has all that fans of
Kathleen Gilles Seidel expect with the novel containing strong prose, deep characters, and a
powerful story line. However, this reviewer feels discontented in spite of a well- written book
because the plot focuses on Tess' needs to discover the essence of her mother rather than the
more
fascinating Western Settler (past and present) as its core theme. Still, you can't always get what
you
want and Ms. Seidel does provide fans with a powerful emotion-laden contemporary
romance.
On TunFaire, Playmate visits private detective Garrett in order for the sleuth to protect a kid
Cypres
"Kip" Prose from abduction attempts. Apparently thugs hired by bounty hunter Bic Gonlitt are to
snatch the kid so that his clients can use Kip to find his weird pals Lastyr and Noodles. Kip offers
very little in terms of what is happening and even Dead Man with his multiple minds has trouble
understanding the lad who seems more footed in his own reality than that of society. Garrett
struggles to comprehend what Kip tells him about his two pals. A frustrated Garrett is ready to
drop
the case as a waste of his time even with Playmate pushing him to stay on. However, it turns
personal when assailants snatch the lad. Garrett begins a search to find Kip and learn exactlt what
is
going on. Angry Lead Skies is a wild science fiction mystery that never slows down for a moment.
The who-done-it plays second banana to the weird ensemble representing some of the craziest
"sentient" beings to ever grace a novel. Garrett is a wonderful lead protagonist keeping the tale
grounded as if he is the nucleus and everyone else is the electrons revolving around him. Glen
Cook
cooks up a gritty novel that will provide much gratification to those sub-genre fans who
appreciate a
strange but cohesive ride.
Orbis
Scott Mackay
Roc
April 2002, $6.99, 416 pp., ISBN 0451458745
At the height of Rome's power, the Benefactors landed on an alternate Earth and went to War
with
Julius Caesar's legions. Unable to defeat the Benefactors, the Romans stole their spaceships and
flew
to a place where they could live. After two millennia, the Romans forget where earth is located,
but
both the Romans and the humans remain determined to defeat the Benefactors. The Benefactors
took the teachings of Christianity and used it to spread their own message. An underground
resistance in North America is giving hope to the people who want to cast off the Benefactor's
rule.
In Europe, the Prussian Empire is openly at war with the Benefactors and is slowly clearing the
land
of them. There will come a time of reckoning when the Romans and its conquered people as well
as
the humans must meet, defy the Benefactors, and reach some kind of accommodation with each
other. Scott Mackay can always be counted on to create a work that is original in design, yet
absorbing and populated with a cast of characters that unite for a common goal. The ethics of the
Benefactors is also fascinating because while their plans and battles are malfeasance, their morality
is
not. They do what they must to survive which is the natural order of a sentient species. If they
were
not on Earth, would humans be so quick to condemn them.
Empire Of Bones
Liz Williams
Bantam
April 2002, $5.99, 336 pp., ISBN 0553583778
In 2030 India, Hindu Fundamentalists take control of the government and reinstate the caste
system.
Riots erupt as the Untouchables try to reverse the political and social systems, but their caste and
only their caste, are struck down by a deadly plague. This disease gives credence to the belief that
the Untouchables are beneath the notice of the other, higher castes. Jaya Nihalani, an
Untouchable,
has fought against the government for much of her life and is regarded as a terrorist. When a
mutated form of the plague strikes she is turned into a Receiver, able to communicate with a ship
manned by those who seeded our planet millennium ago. Now Earth has evolved enough to be
absorbed into the Rasatran Empire and Jaya must make sure that the assimilation goes well or
Earth
will be destroyed. Empire Of Bones is a fast-paced science fiction thriller that shows what could
happen when First Contact occurs. The homeworld of Rasatra's politics, culture and social
structure
is crafted in such intricate detail it feels as if Liz Williams is a native social anthropologist. Yet the
talented writer never slows down the action while providing characters, both human and alien,
that
are believable and understandable inside the strong plot. All this makes for a great novel and easy
conversion into an excellent movie.
River Of Eden
Glenna McReynolds
Bantam
Feb 2002, $6.50, 342 pp., ISBN: 055358393X
Dr. Annie Parrish of the River Basin Coalition hurriedly needs to leave Manaus, Brazil, but her
transportation has broken down. Desperate to get out of town before Vargas, who once
imprisoned
and tortured her, learns she is there, she searches all the dives until she finds Harvard trained
ethnobotanist Will Sanchez Travers sexily dancing with a local. She asks Will if she can join his
ship
heading to Santa Maria in the morning. Will, who has given up academia to go native, agrees for a
fee. Will takes Annie up river though he knows she is hiding her real reason for the hasty ride, but
does not really care as long as her endeavor does not jeopardize his work. However, three days
along the River Of Eden leads to an attraction and then love between the field scientists, but also
danger from Vargas who has plans that will destroy the Norte Americano outsiders and many
other
innocents. In a positive way, River Of Eden will remind readers of the Amazon Queen not just
because of its locale, but also because its a strong adventure tale with two wonderful superstars.
The
story line is fast-paced and loaded with action from the first step Annie takes onto the Manaus
dive.
The tale never lets up as Glenna McReynolds provides quite a reading experience for fans of a
romantic adventure thriller.
The Bone Orchard
D. Daniel Judson
Bantam
Mar 2002, $6.50, 336 pp., ISBN: 0553584162
In Southampton, Long Island, private investigator Frank Gannon hires Declan MacManus to tail a
client's son-in-law who might be cheating. Declan wants to say no, but cannot allow his best
friend
Augie, still recovering from severe injuries, to go on the case alone. Augie and Declan conduct a
stakeout in a lonely back road when they notice a person in the nearby woods. Soon a car arrives
followed by explosion with the vehicle falling into a pond. Declan pulls the driver out of the
water,
but is too late to save the teenage girl. Because of his poor relationship with the police chief,
Declan
leaves the area. Later, Augie informs Declan that the police destroyed the crime scene evidence.
That night both men are separately attacked with Augie killing one of his assailants and Declan
badly
injuring his. The police arrest Augie for murder, forcing Declan to take his buddy's teenage
daughter
into his home while trying to prove his friend's innocence against a conspiracy that includes the
police. The Bone Orchard is an exciting private detective mystery that belies the fact that this
book
is D. Daniel Judson's first novel. The story line is loaded with action as readers take a tour of the
underbelly of the Hamptons. Declan adheres to what he believes is morally correct and is aided by
the secondary characters providing depth so that readers fully grasp how much ethics mean to him
and how much future appearances by him will mean to the audience.
Cold Heart
Chandler McGrew
Bantam
April 2002, $5.99, 336 pp., ISBN 0553583719
Micky Ascherfeld was only sixteen years old when she saw her parents gunned down in their
store.
Years later, as an as an adult she still is traumatized by that event. Although she managed to pass
the
police exam and is part of the Houston Police Department, none of her peers knows that she is
still
suffering from her ordeal. Only her partner and lover knows and a psychopath kills him before her
eyes. After her injuries heal Micky visits her friend in the small isolated Alaskan town of McRay.
It
is such a peaceful community that Micky stays, selling the stained glass work she makes so she
will
have income to support herself. Just as she is gaining recognition in the art world, one of the
residents, El Hoskins, a psychopathic serial killer snaps and starts killing the residents one by one,
doing unthinkable things to their dead bodies. Micky becomes aware of what he is doing and
along
with sixteen-year-old Dawn Glorianus, whose mother is the second victim, is determined to
survive
and stop him. There is a lot of gratuitous and graphic violence in Cold Heart but if one has the
stomach for it, readers will find it an engrossing reading experience. Both Dawn and Micky gain
reader empathy for their determination to live despite the killing machine that is after them. El is
one
of the most terrifying villains since Hannibal Lechter.
Justice Hall
Laurie R. King
Bantam
April 2002, $23.95, 334 pp., ISBN 0553111132
Four years ago in 1919, Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell were in Palestine working a case.
Their
paths crossed that of two Arabs, Ali and Mahmoud Hazr, two agents of Mycroft who reported on
German movement. These four people worked so closely together, breaking bread watching, each
other's back and taking care of business that a bond was formed, closer than that of family. In the
present (1923) a knock on the door of Holmes and Russell's home reveals a wounded and
desperate
Ali who says he needs their help. It seems that the Hazr's are descendants from one of England's
oldest families, one who came over with the Conqueror. Mahmoud is now the Seventh Duke of
Belleville and he is on the family estate of Justice Hall. Duty forces him to come to England
though
his heart and soul yearn to be with Ali in Palestine. Mary and Sherlock must find out if there is
anyone of the blood to take Marsh's place, a job that is fraught with danger and peril. It's hard to
imagine any author writing about Sherlock Holmes in a manner that is significantly different than
his
creator and having it come out fabulous but Laurie R. King makes the impossible possible. Justice
Hall is a rich multi-textured tale that is as much a historical mystery as it is a parable of the human
condition. This book as well as the series is a must read for Holmes fans as well as anyone who
wants to read something unusually good.
The Interrogation
Thomas H. Cook
Bantam
April 2002, $23.95, 304 pp., ISBN 0553800957
Fourth grader Cathy Lake was supposed to meet her mother in the lobby of her friend's apartment
building but failed to show up. Shortly after she was reported missing her twisted bloody body
was
found in the park near the duck pond. The police questioned several of the homeless that live in
the
park before arresting twenty-six years old Albert Jay Smalls, a vagrant who resides in a drainpipe.
After holding him for almost two weeks, the police have no evidence or witnesses that can place
Smalls in direct contact with Cathy. The police have only twelve more hours to charge the
homeless
man with the crime or release him, something they are loath to do since the lead detectives, the
chief
of detectives and the chief of police are convinced he's guilty. They intend to use their remaining
twelve hours to try and break him so they can get at the truth. The Interrogation takes place in
1952
before Miranda and Gideon at a time when the police had more latitude in dealing with a suspect
involved in a heinous crime. This crime thriller is a fantastic historical police procedural due to the
dynamic interactions of the characters and their personal perspectives on the crime. Thomas H.
Cook is a mesmerizing storyteller, who knows how to create and sustain suspense throughout the
story.
Dream Island
Josie Litton
Bantam
Mar 2002, $5.99, 400 pp., ISBN: 0553583891
In 1811, Lady Joanna Hawkforte pleads with Lord Alex Darcourt to help her find her brother
Royce
missing for over six months. Joanna believes her sibling is being held prisoner on the fortress
island
of Akora. Since Alex is half Akoran and half English and is half-brother to Atreus, the Vanax
ruler
of the island, she believes he can rescue Royce. Alex insists no stranger has come to Akora
because
he would know. When Alex sets sail for his home, a desperate Joanna sneaks on board the ship.
With dissension even among the Akoran Council over Atreus' efforts to reform society, Joanna is
an
unwelcome stranger. As Alex struggles to keep the female Xenos safe, they fall in love. However,
before exploring a relationship between them, they must deal with an insidious plot to depose the
Vanax using the incarceration of Royce to further their cause. In a short time, Josie Litton has
become a fan favorite and her tale will embellish her reputation. Ms. Litton's latest trilogy opens
with
an exciting Regency romance that takes the two stars refreshingly away from the Ton to an
enchanting Shangri-La. The exciting story line enables the audience to taste a culture that is more
isolated than most; though insightful, the description paints a place to enlightening and Utopian.
Still, Dream Island is a wonderful tale that fans will enjoy while anxiously awaiting the next story,
Kingdom Of Moonlight, starring Royce and Kassandra (Alex's Akoran sister).
Not By Accident: Reconstructing A Careless Life
Samantha Dunn
Henry Holt
Mar 2002, $23.00, 256 pp., ISBN: 0805065857
In an isolated part of California, Samantha Dunn was leading her horse Harley across a creek
when
her steed accidentally stomped on her leg. The injury was severe enough to threaten her life as she
suffered splintered bones, ripped muscles and torn veins. Samantha's luck changed when a
passerby
happened to find her. While physically recuperating and going through various mental stages of
recovery, Samantha reflected back on her three-decade plus life. She concludes that her long
string
of accidents are not really bad luck misfortunes, but something with much deeper underlying
causes
that make her ignore signs of potential trouble like her panic stricken horse that stepped on her.
Eventually Samantha not only gets back on Harley, but she picks herself up personally as she now
knows she is a good person with much too offer. Not By Accident: Reconstructing A Careless
Life
is a great first hand account of recovering from a near-fatal accident that inspires the audience.
Samantha Dunn learns that riding horses for pleasure is a lot different than riding to escape life.
She
concludes that life is too precious to carelessly destroy it. As Lou Costello once said "97% of all
accidents occur to 3% of the people". Ms. Dunn encourages those 3% frequent accident victims
to
reflect on why this happens and how to live life fully, but not negligently. Besides animal lovers
and
repeat accident victims, readers who enjoy an uplifting didactic account will want to peruse this
introspective nonfiction.
Point Fury
John Maxwell
Scribner
April 2002, $24.00, 320 pp., ISBN 0743222075
Chris Nielson has lost his job in the rock and roll band he has played with for years and his long
time
girlfriend has thrown him out physically after he kept her out of his life emotionally. Needing to
regroup and reenergize, he accepts a job as a house sitter for his father's friend on a tiny island off
the Maryland Coast connected to the mainland by an unnamed, almost hidden bridge. The owner
of
the house, Ted Harper, is a very successful, wealthy and powerful businessman who decides to
show
Chris that he isn't living up to his potential. When he discovers what his employee is doing, Chris
takes his revenge in a very diabolical manner. His satisfaction is very short lived because he
crossed
the wrong person, a man who knows how to take care of his enemies. John Maxwell's debut novel
is
the ultimate in suspense, a work that could have been created by Anthony Shaffer (Sleuth) or Ira
Levin (Deathtrap) because it is so darkly foreboding and atmospheric. Point Fury stars two
characters, neither of them very likable, making it remarkable that readers become involved in the
torturous mind games that the predator designs for his prey. This is a very well designed novel
that
once started can't be put down until the audience finds out how things turn out.
The Bones In The Attic
Robert Barnard
Scribner
April 2002, $23.00, 272 pp., ISBN 0684873796
Matt Harper is a minor celebrity in England because of his past professional soccer playing and his
present day work as a media sports commentator. While his significant other is in South Africa
taking care of her ailing husband, Matt is nurturing and watching over her three children. In fact,
the four of them plan to move into Elderholm and decorate much of it before Aileen returns.
Before
Matt sets a moving date, he and the decorator make a grisly discovery in the attic. They find the
whole skeletal remains of a very young child lying in the corner of the room as if somebody put it
there and forgot about it. Matt calls in the police but since the crime happened in 1969 it is not a
high priority case. Since Matt knew most of the children in the area during that summer he begins
investigating and discovers a conspiracy of gigantic proportions. The protagonists of The Bones
In
The Attic is a good sensitive man eagerly taking care of three children not his own while their
mother is away taking care of their father. Readers will get caught up in Matt's investigation of
why
the child died and was left up in the attic and hope he gets some answers quickly. The
investigation
is believable and the answers will more than satisfy the audience.
The Wall Of Night
Grant Blackwood
Jove
Mar 2002, $7.99, 576 pp., ISBN: 0515132780
In 1990 China, People's Liberation Army Chief of Staff General Han Soong stuns the West when
he
secretly informs an attach‚ at an embassy reception that he wants to defect. CIA Agent Briggs
Tanner is assigned the task of safely bringing Soong out China. Briggs arranges the escort of
Soong
starting in Chengde. However, the scenario fails as the Chinese are ready and Soong is taken
away
while Briggs can only helplessly watch before escaping to safety. Twelve years later, Soong has
made contact again and wants to flee to the West. He will only do so with Briggs as his guide.
However, Briggs's actions are being scrutinized at the highest levels of power including a White
House with Chinese campaign support. If he survives his return trek to China, his efforts could
lead
to global war. Though it takes an adjustment to the constant switching of perspectives and events,
readers will feel it is worth the effort as The Wall Of Night is an exhilarating thriller. The story
line is
fast-paced and filled with action that seems believable in our modern world. Fans of international
political, military and espionage tales will want to read Grant Blackwood's novel that combines
the
best elements of all three genres.
Runaway Bay
Lisa Hendrix
Jove
Mar 2002, $6.50, 310 pp., ISBN: 0515132640
With December icing over the city, Jackie Barnett looks forward to two weeks in the West Indies'
St. Sebastian Island with her boyfriend. That changes when he leaves her a voice message that he
does not want to go with her or ever see her again because he cannot abide by her constant
routine
of drawing and following lists with no spontaneity at all. Jackie drowns her sorrow in a half-gallon
of ice cream though she did have vacation insurance. At work her boss Walt informs Jackie of the
coincidence that Farley Phelps of the Phelps Foundation for New Directions in Medicine will be at
the same resort that Jackie was going to stay. Walt insists she go because they need a grant.
Reluctantly Jackie goes to St. Sebastian only to find her long time nemesis Reade Hunter trying to
get the same grant. As they compete for the Phelps Foundation money, Jackie and Reade fall in
love.
However, she is a stick in the mud while he is a daring adventurer making a relationship between
these opposites impossible. Lisa Hendrix provides fans of contemporary romances with an
amusing
Caribbean romp once the reader accepts the initial coincidence of the Fair Winds Resort. The
story
line never takes itself seriously as Jackie, who doesn't do spiders and snakes, struggles with love
and
competition. Reade is a heroic figure willing to slay spiders for his beloved. Anyone needing an
escape even from this relatively warm winter will want to try Runaway Bay because the humor
never
stops until the final relationship is resolved.
In 1150 North York Moors, Christian La Croix known as the Slayer for his ferocity at war, saves
his
newborn's life by cutting the infant out of his dying wife's body. He blames himself for Genrose's
death because she was doing fine in her labor until the midwife arrived. Though he saved the
child,
everyone concludes that he murdered Genrose as the omen predicted nine months ago from the
blood all over him, the shape of Genrose's body, and his battle reputation. Simon needs a wet
nurse
so the arrival of Clarise DuBoise is most fortuitous though Christian believes she has a hidden
motive. Her stepfather Ferguson, using her mother and sister as pawns, has ordered Clarise to
poison the Slayer. However, upon meeting Simon and quickly realizing that Christian is a man of
honor, she cannot do the dastardly deed. As they fall in love, she admits what she intended to do.
Instead of tossing her out, Christian plans to defeat Ferguson and his allies without any harm
coming
to his beloved's family. Danger's Promise is an engaging medieval romance that features a
wonderful
hero, who is misunderstood as a Slayer instead of the compassionate caring person that he is.
Only
Clarise sees the truth about Christian, a fabulous lead character. Insight into the twelfth century
church is fascinating and vividly described by Marliss Moon, but on the other hand tends to slow
down the pace of the prime tale. Still, if this novel is any promise of her works to come this is one
author that will reach the medieval moon.
Once Forbidden
Terri Brisbin
Jove
Mar 2002, $5.99, 309 pp., ISBN: 0515131792
In 1351 Dunnedin, Scotland, Lady Anice MacNab, after a long wait for the return of her
betrothed
from his exile in England, marries Alesandra "Sandy" McKendimen. On their wedding night her
dream turns into a nightmare when her spouse badly beats her. Fearing retaliation from her father
and his clan, and appalled by his son's dastardly deed, Laird Straun McKendimen beats his son,
disinherits him, and sends him to live with his English friends. Straun chooses his illegitimate son
Robert Mathieson as the new heir in spite of their spat eight years ago over the sire not
acknowledging the lad as his. A reluctant Robert returns to Dunnedin only to find most of the
keep
opposes him as the heir. Worse yet, he finds himself attracted to Anice, who avoids him like the
plague until she accepts him as her friend. However, to Robert that is not enough, as he loves the
keep's lady even if she is married to and carrying the child of his half-brother. Though not for
everyone due to the thick Scottish brogue, historical romance fans will fully enjoy Once
Forbidden.
The lead couple is a delightful pair as both warily step towards one another, but the barriers of the
past keeps them tentatively walking quite slowly. Though Sandy is depicted as a totally evil
wastrel
(as are most of the English), the secondary characters especially the occupants of Dunnedin
provide
insight to the two stars. Scottish historical romance readers wanting a strong tale with authentic
sounding dialogue will enjoy Terri Brisbin's powerful relationship drama.
Isle Of Lies
Donna Fletcher
Jove
Mar 2002, $6.99, 344 pp., ISBN: 0515132632
In 1513 the death of King James IV has led to chaos and clan skirmishes throughout Scotland. Ian
Cameron of Glencoe arrives at a convent claiming to have been sent by the father of resident
Moira
Maclean. Ian informs the Mother Superior and Moira that her father lies near death and wants her
to
marry him immediately. Stunned, she reluctantly agrees and they wed and consummate their
vows.
Not long afterward, her father arrives only for Moira to learn that she married the leader of her
clan's
greatest enemy. Ian feels this marriage will insure the peace, yet he deserts his bride. Moira wants
to
forget how she has become a pawn of clan politics and return to her serene life. However, she
now
carries Ian's heir. Ian comes back for his wife not only because he fears an assassin seeking trouble
between the clans will kill her, but also because he realizes he loves his gentle spouse. Now he
must
find a way to gain her trust first. Once Scottish historical romance fans leap past that
Machiavellian-like Ian is in love based on one quick night, they will enjoy this well-written tale.
The
story line is filled with action and counteraction as the clans' leaders and the assassin battle for
supremacy between each other. The lead couple is a delightful duo and the secondary characters
provide strength to the plot. Readers will enjoy Donna Fletcher's latest historical Isle Of Lies once
the plot shifts into gear.
Wild And Wicked
Lisa Jackson
Signet
Feb 2002, $6.99, 329 pp., ISBN: 0451203623
In 1283 England, her half brother Payton assigns Lady Apryll to obtain the means of gaining
needed
goods for the cold winter. When Apryll arrives for a holiday feast at the castle of Lord Devlynn,
everyone cannot help notice how beautiful she looks. Devlynn, a single father since his wife died
in a
failed childbirth, cannot resist Apryll's lure. The next morning, Devlynn learns that his enchantress
has vanished abducting his son Yale with her. Frantic, Devlynn gives chase and quickly finds the
abandoned Apryll. Payton lied to the extent of his scheme and no longer needs her, but has taken
Yale as a pawn in a bigger plot. Devlynn wants to kill Apryll, but instead makes her his prisoner.
As
they work together to free Yale, they fall in love, but he rejects her protestation of innocence.
Wild
And Wicked is an exciting medieval romance filled with drama and several delightful twists and
turns. The cast is fully developed so that the audience understands the essence of the key players
especially the lead couple. The hero struggles with his feelings of love and distrust while the
heroine
tries to atone for her inadvertent role in Yale's kidnapping. Lisa Jackson writes a jewel of a novel
that makes the thirteenth century seem so darkly real.
The Case Of The Ripper's Revenge
Sam McCarver
Signet
Nov 2001, $5.99, 212 pp., ISBN: 0451204581
In the summer of 1917, London is not swinging with the war against the Kaiser in full bloom.
However, if that is not enough to keep one sleepless in London, the murdering of prostitutes will.
These killings cause a panic as much of the city wonders if Jack is back after a three decade
absence.
Scotland Yard is baffled as the evidence point to the return of the Ripper thought to be dead since
'88. The police turn to Professor John Darnell, renowned for his abilities to find the human factor
in
seemingly supernatural crime cases. John and his wife Penny accompanied by Scotland Yard
methodically investigate the murders that strike very close in modus operandi to playwright
George
Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion". Bringing GBS into the inquiries, John sets in motion a plan to catch
what he believes is a human copy cat killer. Though a bit more grounded and grittier than its
delightful predecessors, the fourth Darnell novel, The Case Of The Ripper's Revenge, is a superb
historical mystery. The story line centers on John's investigation while enabling the audience a
glimpse at GBS, a real person intricate to the plot. John remains an engaging detective and his
support cast provides light on his persona. Fans of early twentieth century who-done-its will enjoy
this novel and the other books in Sam McCarver's strong series.
A Killing Sky
Andy Straka
Signet
Apr 2002, $5.99, 288 pp., ISBN: 0451205707
When Frank Pavlicek received the call from a person claiming to be Cassidy Drummond, daughter
of
the Charlottesville, Virginia Congressman, he thought it a prank. However, Cassidy persuades
Frank
that she is for real so the former New York detective agrees to meet with her and hear her reason
for needing a private detective. Cassidy believes her father Tor has done something to her missing
twin sister Cartwright. Though the evidence is flimsy and Wright is probably warm and
comfortable
with some guy, Frank begins to make inquiries. Perhaps he would have reconsidered taking on the
case if he knew the danger to those he loves from uncovering family secrets and betrayals.
However,
by threatening the birds he and his associate Jake Tornado cherish as much as any falconer does
only
makes Frank dig all the deeper. Though less involved in falconry than its predecessor (see the
mega-
excellent A Witness Above), A Killing Sky is a delightful investigative tale. The action-packed
story
line focuses mostly on Frank, who firmly believes he is wasting his time and that of his client even
as
he begins to uncover clues re the disappearance of Cartwright. The secondary cast adds depth to
the
investigation though to his family Tor, a Clintonesque-like player, seems so nasty that one
wonders
if his charisma is enough to keep getting him reelected. Still Andy Straka soars to wonderful
heights
with his latest Pavlicek tale.
Murder Of A Sleeping Beauty
Denise Swanson
Signet
April 2002, $5.99, 272 pp., ISBN 0451205480
When Skye Denison was the valedictorian of her graduating high school class, she made an
inflammatory speech. She implied that she was too good for her backwater town and couldn't wait
to start the good life in a big city. Two years ago, Skye returned home, broke, out of work and
without a place to hang her hat. Eating crow, she accepted a position as the district school
psychologist thanks to the influence of her Uncle Charles. Since she moved back, she solved two
murder cases and lost two boyfriends (the sheriff and the coroner) because she refused to heed
their
advice and quit sleuthing. Murder is the last thing on her mind when she enters the high school
gym
and finds the body of a dead girl. The victim is the most beautiful and popular girl in school, one
who was going to play Sleeping Beauty in the school play. When it becomes obvious the girl was
murdered, Skye starts snooping once again determined that she, as an insider of the school
system,
could find out things the police can't obtain. Denise Swanson has written another charming
amateur
sleuth tale that takes the readers into the complete and often vicious world of beauty pageants.
There are so many suspects who would have liked to see the victim dead that the protagonist is
working double time checking out all the suspects. Murder Of A Sleeping Beauty is a winner by
anyone's standards.
The Pretender
Jaclyn Reding
Signet
Mar 2002, $6.50, 320 pp., ISBN: 0451204166
In 1746 England, Duke Alaric Drayton becomes upset to learn that his oldest daughter Elizabeth
wrote the infamous "A Letter in Favor of Women's Equality to Man". Alaric feels that Elizabeth
broke convention even if she anonymously sent her letter to the Female Spectator. He informs her
that she will visit her aunt in Scotland until he calms down. In actuality, Alaric is sending
Elizabeth
to marry a family friend. On the trek to Scotland, the carriage becomes stuck in mud. Douglas
MacKinnon helps pull the carriage free. Elizabeth, learning she is to marry, concocts a plan to
pretend that Douglas is her fianc‚. However, a few drinks later and by morning her sister Isabella
catches the duo in bed together. Though both insist nothing happened, Bella insures they marry.
Alaric learns that Douglas is a noble seeking the return of his family lands taken because his father
participated with the Jaocbites at Culloden. Alaric blackmails Douglas into remaining as
Elizabeth's
husband for two months. The couple falls in love, but what will happen to their relationship once
Elizabeth learns the intricacies of the deal between her beloved and her father. The Pretender is an
entertaining Scottish historical romance that provides a vigorous look at the too often written
post
Culloden English- Scottish relationship. The lead couple is a delight with their own agenda that
love
ravages. The story line is loaded with plots and counterplots that feel like an espionage tale, but
instead provides a robust historical romance. Sub-genre fans will relish this novel while looking
forward to Jaclyn Reding's tales starring Elizabeth's four younger siblings.
Hell To Pay
George Pelecanos
Little, Brown
Mar 2002; $24.95; 344 pp., ISBN: 0316695068
Working for the Aiding Prostitutes in Peril non-profit organization, Montgomery County sleuths
Karen Bagley and Sue Tracey specialize in locating teenage runaways. They hire DC private
detective Derek Strange to help them with cases in the District. After proving his worth to his
retainers, Derek and his partner Terry Quinn are sent to bring in fourteen-year-old Germantown
runaway Jennifer from the cold mean streets of the city. While Terry works the child prostitution
case, Derek has a more personal vendetta to handle. Someone(s) killed the quarterback of the Pee
Wee football team that Derek coaches while the kid was at an ice cream stand. At the same time
Derek anguishes over the lad's murder, his longtime lover is all over him for his frequent visits to
the
massage parlor. No one describes the neighborhoods of Washington DC better than George
Pelecanos who take his audience on quite a vivid tour of the other side of Washington. The two
subplots are well written and exciting, but the action is the streets of the city, homicide hot even
on a
wintry night. The characters are believable and make the story line sing while augmenting Mr.
Pelecanos tour guide of the nation's capital. Fans of gritty urban investigative tales will want to
read
Hell To Pay and its predecessor Right As Rain because these are some of the best the sub-genre
offer.
The Orphan
Stella Cameron
Mira
Mar 2002, $6.99, 400 pp., ISBN: 1551668831
In 1823 at 7 Mayfair Street in London, Latimer More knows he has found his love of a lifetime in
Jenny McBride. However, the poverty stricken Scottish lass cannot believe he even remotely
cares
about her. Like his family and the other tenants, Jenny finds it impossible to believe that someone
as
successful in business and with women like Latimer could love a pathetic orphan like Jenny. Jenny
has other problems to deal with besides an alleged mooning suitor. She owes rent and her
landlord
wants her to barter sex as payment. She refuses his offers, but Mr. Bucket is not a man that easily
accepts any denial of his pleasures. Can Jenny turn to Latimer or is he faking affection to get into
her
boudoir? The Orphan is a fun regency romance that follows the story of two middle class types.
Latimer is a heroic individual, but The Orphan belongs to the title character Jenny. Her struggles
with Bucket while debating whether Latimer is her savior or a leap from the frying pan into the
fire
make the tale. The return of the Shakespearean-spouting ghost adds humor as Stella Cameron
provides a fresh look at the era with an engaging yet simplistic tale.
Twilight Hunger
Maggie Shayne
Mira
Mar 2002, $6.50, 400 pp., ISBN: 15516688661
Desperate to escape from the Hollywood gossip that engulfs her following the deaths of her
famous
adopted parents, Morgan DeSilva flees to the Maine coast. Though a continent away, Morgan
plans
to finish a script that should help pay off the enormous debt her parents left behind. Perhaps it is
her
mourning for her loss or just the desperation of needing to write, but Morgan struggles to get
anything done. However, she lucks out when she finds the aging journals of Dante, who claimed
to
be a vampire. Using his work as a springboard, Morgan becomes a success though haunted now
by
elaborate dreams of Dante. He wants her too, but can he trust this Chosen One with his vampiric
secrets especially in light of an investigator closing in on the undead? Fans of vampire romance
know that no is quite as dependable as Maggie Shayne is to provide a powerful tale of
supernatural
love. Twilight Hunger, the seventh Shayne vampire novel, is an enticing tale that stars two
deserving
lead characters. Empathetic readers will definitely want them to make a life together. The story
line
is loaded with action as Dante shows up in the flesh even as the investigator closes in on him and
his
beloved, but trust keeps them apart. As always, Ms. Shayne makes an impossible creature seem so
real and romantic that sub-genre fans will claim that she must have found some old journals in a
Kingly Maine home.
Ask Anyone
Sherryl Woods
Mira
Mar 2002, $6.50, 400 pp., ISBN: 1551669013
In Trinity Harbor, Virginia Jenna Kennedy, the daughter in Pennington and Sons, desperately
needs
the waterfront renovation contract. She obsessively thirsts to prove to her chauvinistic family that
she is not a loser who messes up everything. That is why she told no one about her scheme to
place
a carousal horse on the lawn of the homeowner who also owns the waterfront property. Gourmet
chef Bobby Spencer wants nothing to do with the gorgeous single mother who demands he
contract
with her to renovate his waterfront property. However, when someone steals the antique horse
Bobby cannot resist her vulnerability. He helps a disconsolate Jenna with finding the horse before
her family accuses her of another reckless screw-up. As they search together, they begin to fall in
love, but both have been burned once and so are twice as shy when it comes to relationships. Ask
Anyone who enjoys amusing contemporary romances as to who is worth reading and Sherryl
Woods
will appear on most lists. The return of characters from About That Man adds depth so that the
audience better understands the lead couple, especially Bobby. He struggles with his feelings for
supermom-business mogul wannabe Jenna, a person that would search the Afghanistan caves for
Bin
Laden if given the assignment. This is an admirable trait yet at times irritate the audience. Still Ms.
Woods provides a very amusing return to Trinity Bay that will leave fans anxiously awaiting
future
tales of Bobby's older brother.
Doing Good
Pamela Morsi
Mira
Mar 2002, $6.99, 384 pp., ISBN: 155166884X
When she was Jane Domschke growing up in impoverished Sunnyside, she had one goal and that
was to get out of the wrong side of town. Jane succeeds by marrying into a wealthy family. She
and
her spouse David have one child, Brynn away at school, and Jane becomes a five million-dollar
realtor. Her world seems perfect though her husband cheats and her daughter disrespects her
whenever they talk. Everything changes for Jane when an 18-wheeler tanker crosses the median
of
the highway and crashes into her car. Jane, trapped with smoke and gas all around her, prays to
God
that if she is rescued she swears that she will do good things from now on. Septuagenarian
Chester
Durbin unexplainably saves Jane's life. Jane makes efforts to do good deeds, but learns that good
is
in the eye of the beholder and that her intentions rarely pan out as expected. Still even with David
leaving her and Brynn fleeing with her therapist for Europe, Jane rehabilitates herself with the help
of Scott Robbins born on her side of the tracks. Doing Good is an engaging contemporary
morality
tale that the audience will relish because of the complexity of the world that Jane is just beginning
to
explore. The story line shows how difficult and complicated society is as Jane's attempts to
perform
good deeds often go astray ending with questionable results. This includes the seemingly simple,
symbolic and innocent act of giving Snickers to Chester. Doing Good is a great tale that deserves
wide reading as Pamela Morsi demonstrates that sound bytes or even hard work do not
necessarily
solve social issues.
Open Season On Lawyers
Taffy Cannon
Perseverance Press
Apr 2002, $13.95, 288 pp., ISBN: 1880284510
In Los Angeles County a serial killer has declared Open Season On Lawyers. Homicides are
mounting as attorneys with track records for abusing justice to win cases for their clients are
eradicated one at a time. LAPD Detective Joanna Davis leads the investigation, but in spite of
several more murders and interviews of friends and families of the victims, clues remain lacking.
Finally, Joanna begins to make progress, but her deadly foe follows her every move even as he
aces
another lawyer or two. Soon Joanna has a suspect, but will she find concrete evidence before he
takes a detour and adds a police officer to his murderous list? Open Season On Lawyers is an
engaging serial killer - police investigative tale that is fun to read, but falls a bit short of the mark
of
a great satire. The story line engages the audience though there seems too many murders
cluttering
the cat and mouse game between the killer and the detective. The irony of this novel is that Taffy
Cannon clearly provides an entertaining tale that readers will fully enjoy as an evening of
escapism,
but misses the classic parody mantle that it could have become.
The Horned Man
James Lasdun
W.W. Norton
April 2002, $24.95, 208 pp., ISBN 0393003361
Lawrence Miller left England over seven years ago to come to the United States where he taught
gender studies at many different colleges. When he arrived in New York, he met Carol and later
married her, tremendously simplifying his obtaining a permanent visa. He and Carol are separated
but not a day doesn't go by that he doesn't miss her or hope that they will reconcile. He currently
teaches at Arthur Clay College in a Manhattan suburb when he discovers that the previous
occupant
of his office walked away from this job. When pranks appear, Lawrence thinks that the previous
occupant is hiding out in his office. When the capers escalate into something far more dangerous,
a
determined Lawrence plans to confront his tormentor who he believes is the reason Carol is
keeping
her distance from him. James Lasdun's debut novel is a powerful tour-de force about a man's
ability
to twist reality to suit his need to delude himself from the truth. Still the question the reader must
ask is the simple paradox that though a person is paranoid, some one still might be out to get him
or
her. So is some one out to get the paranoid somewhat tormented Lawrence or is the threat to his
peace inside his mind? The Horned Man is worth reading for those fans who enjoy a taut
psychological thriller similar to the Dustin Hoffman movie Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is
He
Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?
Unexpected Outcome
Dawn Stewardson
Harlequin SuperRomance
Mar 2002, $4.99, 297 pp., ISBN: 0373710488
Robert Haine and business partner Larry Benzer believe someone is sabotaging their company,
Four
Corners Imports. Desperate to stop the destruction to their reputations and the waste of precious
money used to cover arson and losses, Robert hires former New York Police Officer turned
private
investigator Dana Morancy. Dana agrees with Robert's assessment that the sabotage is most likely
an inside job. She explains about her cover, Dana Mayfield, organizational design consultant hired
by Robert to look into the "run of bad luck". As Dana works closely on uncovering the identity of
the criminal, she falls in love with Robert's nephew who reciprocates her feelings. However,
family
secrets once revealed will make it impossible for the sleuth and the finance manager to share a
permanent relationship. Unexpected Outcome is an exciting Manhattan romantic suspense novel
that
is at its best when the story line focuses on the undercover investigation. When the plot spins off
into a genetics issue, it loses steam, as many readers will believe the tale ran thirty pages too long.
Dana is a great rounded heroine struggling to overcome her belief that she failed herself and her
father when she quit NYPD. Noah breaks the image of the bottom line accountant by actively
becoming Dana's partner on the case and courting the female sleuth. Together they are dynamic
leaving readers with the entertaining pleasure expected from a Dawn Stewardson novel.
A Convenient Proposal
C.J. Carmichael
Harlequin Super Romance
Mar 2002, $4.99, 299 pp., ISBN: 0373710445
In Canmore, Alberta, Royal Canadian Mounted police officer Kelly Shannon kills Danny Mizzoni.
Kelly cannot cope with using force even if it saved the life of her sister. For the next two months,
Kelly sees five year old Danny and three year old Amanda struggle to survive as their widowed
mother drowns in alcohol and to make matters worse is pregnant. Danny's brother Mick, editor of
the Canmore Leader, tries to help his niece and nephew, but twenty-four hours is not enough
time.
Guilt-laden Kelly needs to help the children so she offers a deal to Mick in which they forge a
marriage of convenience to support the youngsters. Love enters the equation between the adults,
but
she wonders if he could forgive her killing his sibling. The underlying premise to A Convenient
Proposal is well written as angst-laden Kelly struggles between what was and is the right thing.
Readers will feel sympathy to her and the two children, empathy towards Mick, and anger
directed
at Sarah for "abandoning" her children and placing her fetus at risk. The plot falls short because
the
key relationships between the children and Mick and Kelly never fully surface. Still the latest
Shannon Sister tale (see A Second-chance Proposal for the debut tale) shows C.J. Carmichael's
talent to raise the conscience of her audience.
My Enchanted Enemy
Tracy Fobes
Sonnet
Mar 2002, $6.99, ISBN: 0743412796
In 1810 Shoreham, England, Cole Strangford works on a diving suit that will enable him to breath
underwater when his Uncle Gillie interrupts his work with unwanted news. The father of Juliana
St.
Germaine looks favorably on a marriage match between his daughter and Cole. The duo are
arriving
today, which means Cole's race to complete his invention before William James is in jeopardy.
Cole
does not want to marry anyone, as he prefers searching for the lost Sea Opal, but knows he is
obligated to sire a Romany heir for the good of his people. Joanna does not want to marry anyone
either, but knows she is obligated to find a way to remove the family curse that makes them sea
people. When they meet sparks fly and love enters the relationship. However, he obsesses on
finding the gem that means good fortune for his family while she must betray his love to lift the
curse. This enchanting Regency romantic fantasy charms the audience from start to finish due to
the
strong cast that makes readers believe in the unreal. The story line is fabulous due to the lead
protagonists. Joanna struggles not to fall in love, which would mean failure to accomplish her
task;
Cole battles obligations with his feelings for his prospective bride. With a powerful support cast
propelling the action-packed plot forward, readers will delight in My Enchanted Enemy while
seeking previous and future works from Tracy Fobes.
People Die
Kevin Wignall
Simon & Schuster
April 2002, $22.00, 220 pp., ISBN 0743212673
He was earning a history degree when he veered one hundred and eighty degrees off course to
become a free lance hit man. He works for a secret service organization in Great Britain but
always
knows he could accept employment elsewhere. His latest assignment is to kill Dave Bostridge, an
American in a Russian hotel. Two years later, J.J. aka William Hoffman is plying his trade when
something unexpected happens, the predator becomes the prey. Everyone in his organization is
being killed and J.J. doesn't know why. Ironically, it is at the Vermont bed and breakfast inn of
Mr.
Bostridge's family that JJ begins to get a glimmer of what started two years ago and is supposed
to
end with his life. Surprisingly enough, J.J. isn't a character that will turn readers off but an enigma
that the audience will want to figure out. The plot is basically simple and easy to follow but it is
the
characters and how they interact with J.J. that make People Die a very unusual and refreshing
tour.
Kevin Wignall has talent to create an anti-hero that will live on in the audience's memory.
The Runaway Quilt
Jennifer Chiaverini
Simon & Schuster
April 2002, $21.00, 256 pp., ISBN 0743222621
Elm Creek Manor, the estate owned by Sylvia Bergstrom Compson, is doing quite well as a
quilter's
camp and resort. The founding members of the business now see fifty campers per week coming
to
learn and exchange interests. The business is a success beyond their wildest dreams and Sylvia
now
has a new lease on life. She makes peace with her remaining in-laws, has more friends than she
can
count, and even has a guy that wants to marry her. She's very proud of her family heritage and
when
she discovers the diary of Gerda Bergstrom, she can't wait to read it. Once she begins, she realizes
that Annekee and Hans, Sylvia's ancestors and Gerda's brother and sister in law are not the
paragons
of virtue she was led to believe. In fact, one of Annette's actions is so horrible that it affects Sylvia
in
the present, making her doubt who she is and from whom she came. If the audience is not
interested
in genealogy before reading The Runaway Quilt, they will be after finishing it. The author shows
how using primary and secondary resources, a person can learn about their family over five
generations ago. Jennifer Chiaverini is a brilliant storyteller who creates characters we've grow to
care about especially when they're in the middle of a quandary.
Bones Of The Earth
Michael Swanwick
Eos
Feb 2002, $25.95, 352 pp., ISBN: 0380978369
The Smithsonian is considered by most paleontologists as one of the most distinguished museums
to
work for as Richard Leyster knows and relishes. He is at the top of his game with the discovery of
a
"gold mine" site filled with dinosaur fossils. What more could a Mesozoic gravedigger asks out of
life. Richard soon answers that question when the enigmatic Harry Griffin offers him an odd
proposal. Richard becomes hooked when his strange visitor leaves a cooler containing a fresh
head
of a Stegosaurus that appears to have just died. The Unchanging provides time travel to selected
humans with the only stipulation being not to alter recorded history. If the taboo is broken the
contract becomes null and void. Thinking Nirvana while observing live dinosaurs, Richard soon
runs
into the complexities of paradoxes about himself and danger from those individuals willing to kill
to
maintain a duplicitous, but hallowed truth. Readers who want a thrill a paragraph adventure tale
need to look elsewhere. Though filled with action, Michael Swanwick's cogent tale is a cerebral
look
at scientific theories. Both Griffin and Leyster are incredible characters as both have succeeded in
their respective endeavors and on the surface happy, but neither feels contented with their
achievements because they know the answer to "is that all there is?" Mr. Swanwick's rewriting of
his
Hugo Award winning short story "Scherzo with Tyrannosaur" is loaded with engaging twists and
turns that dinosaurites and time-travelers will enjoy. Bones Of The Earth is a fabulous science
fiction
thriller that readers will conclude the author deserves another Hugo nomination for the story line's
captivating brilliance.
Warchild
Karin Lowachee
Warner
Apr 2002, $6.99, 512 pp., ISBN: 0446610771
The Ghengis Khan pirates attack the merchant space ship Mukudori murdering the adults and
enslaving the children. During the fracas, eight- year-old Joslyn Musey kills one of the assailants.
Impressed by the courage of the obviously frightened youngster, the pirate leader Falcone decides
to
keep Jos as his personal toy while selling the remaining captives. Falcone begins training Jos on
how
he expects the lad to behave. When the Ghengis Khan ship lands on a space station, Falcone takes
Jos with him. However, the Striviire-na, known by mankind as the deadly Strit, attacks the
station.
Jos escapes from Falcone only to be taken prisoner by the Strit. He is taken to their home world,
Aaian-na. They begin to brainwash him so that as an adult he will loathe his own kind and become
a
future pawn when the Strit invade their mortal enemy, humans. Warchild is a strong science
fiction
tale that easily explains why Karin Lowachee won the Warner Aspect First Novel contest. The
thrilling story line cleverly balances plenty of action with full character development. The depth
of
the tale enables the audience to live Jos' plight and believe that the Strit exist. The story line is
used
to tell the adventures of the star while furthering the understanding of the key cast especially Jos.
Fans of alien space wars will fully relish Ms. Lowachee's debut novel.
Double Exposure
Susan Ford with Laura Hayden
Thomas Dunne
Apr 2002, $23.95, 240 pp., ISBN: 0312284713
Though she loves her widowed father, Evelyn Ann "Eve" Cooper is the First Daughter, a role she
hates and not just because she is under a media microscope. Eve fears everything about her new
home the White House as she thinks of history will remember her for ruining the antiques with a
can
of diet soda. During a photo shoot in the Rose Garden, Eve, photographer Michael Cauffman,
and
her two Secret Service Agents (Perkins and McNalley) find a body. Someone apparently
murdered
Head Usher Burton O'Connor sometime yesterday even if the deceased was seen performing his
duties this morning. The victim turns out to be Burton's twin. Realizing that this homicide could
become the first scandal of the new Cooper administration, Eve accompanied by Michael and her
two Deputy Dawgs begin investigating. The look inside the White House by President Ford's
daughter rivals if not surpasses that of Elliot Roosevelt and Margaret Truman in both their long
running series. On the other hand, the who-done-it is entertaining, but fails to match the quality of
those novels written by the latter two White House residents. The key to the investigation is the
audience needs to accept the Secret Service allowing and even enabling a First Daughter to place
herself in jeopardy like Eve does. Still Double Exposure has an insider feel that the White House
amateur sleuth audience will enjoy and that in turn will encourage Susan Ford and Laura Hayden
to
provide more tales starring the Cooper Administration.
The Queen's Cure
Karen Harper
Delacorte
April 2002, $23.95, 304 pp., ISBN 0385334788
Elizabeth had a long hard road to travel before she ascended the throne as England's Queen. As a
child growing up, she knew any day could be her last and when she was imprisoned in the tower,
she
thought she would never get out. Though she has full control of the government, she remains alert
that her enemies both Catholic and Protestant are waiting for the chance to topple her from the
throne. Following a visit to the Royal College of Physicians Elizabeth finds an eerie looking
pockmarked effigy of herself in the waiting coach. Although she tries to pass it off as a prank,
Elizabeth knows that this could be the opening gambit in a plot to assassinate her. When she
discovers the leech laden body of a naked woman on her private grounds, she is sure of it. She
and
her Privy Plot council investigate her closest enemies but it's only when she recovers from a case
of
the pox do the people loyal to Elizabeth knows in what direction does her enemy lie. This is the
fourth installment in this historical mystery series and The Queen's Cure is as superb as the first
three. The role of doctors and medicine in Elizabethan society plays an important part in the
solving
of this intricately woven mystery. However, it is the characters, especially the vulnerable Queen
and
her loyal followers who make this historical novel a winner.
The Blue Edge Of Midnight
Jonathan King
Dutton
April 2002, $22.95, 288 pp., ISBN 0525946438
Max Freeman was a Philadelphia police officer working a beat and taking it easy when he's called
to
a neighborhood store that has a robbery in progress. Even at a distance, Max hears gunshots fired
so
he's prepared to go in shooting but before he enters the store, he takes a bullet. Almost as a reflex,
he returns the fire and later learns he shot a twelve-year-old boy. Even though it was a clean
shooting, Max can't handle the fact that he shot a child, even rationalizing that the preadolescent
was
a killer in the making. He accepts a fantastic buy out from the police department and moves into
an
isolated shack in the Everglades. He's trying to distance himself from society but that won't be
possible when a serial killer of four children tries to frame him for the crimes. Max, refusing to go
down without a fight, uses himself as bait in the ultimate cat and mouse game. This might be
Jonathon King's first novel but it definitely won't be his last creation. He has developed a
character
who, though he is one of the walking wounded, is a heroic figure, trying to do the right thing even
if
he ends up in trouble because of it. Readers will love The Blue Edge Of Midnight because of the
complexity of the plot and the exciting finale. Picture an angst-laden Die Hard Bruce Willis
fighting
for survival and justice in the Everglades.
Not Guilty
Patricia MacDonald
Pocket Books
April 2002, $24.00, 400 pp., ISBN 0743423550
Keely is happily married to Richard Bennett and living in Ann Arbor with him and their
nine-year-old son Dylan. The only problem is Mark's crippling migraines, which come with
increasing frequency and cause Kelly and Dylan to remain absolutely silent when he's in the throes
of
one. One day, when Keely comes home from work, she sees Mark dead, the victim of suicide and
her son hiding in the closet. Four years later, she is happily married to Mark Weaver and has a
one-
year-old daughter by him. Mark and Richard were best of friends in high school and from the
moment he saw Keely at the funeral, he claimed to have known she was the one for him. History
repeats itself when Keely comes home from shopping to find Mark dead in the pool, his wet
daughter at the side of the pool. At first the police treat it like an accidental death but an
ambitious
District Attorney, who once was Mark's lover, tries to blame Dylan for his death. As a result of
her
actions a tragedy occurs and Keely goes to extraordinary lengths to exonerate her son and flush
out
the real killer. Patricia MacDonald is the mistress of suspense, an author who writes such an
exciting
tale that readers immediately become interested in the story line. Not Guilty stars a strong and
dynamic heroine but the character that steals the spotlight is Dylan, a fourteen old teenager who
has
known much tragedy in his life but goes on fighting even though the odds are against him.
Stormrider
David Gemmell
Del Rey
Apr 2002, $25.00, 400 pp., ISBN: 0345445775
Eight hundred years after Connavar and Bane defeated the Stone (see Sword In The Stone)
freeing
the Rigante, the clan needs a hero to end their current oppression. That champion appears to be
Kaelin Ring, better known as Ravenheart, who becomes the leader of the still proud but slaved
Rigante clan. He leads the demand for freedom from the Varlish and their Lord Moidart.
Ravenheart
takes his revolution to the north where Moidart's son Gaise Macon, the Stormrider, awaits the
confrontation. As the war comes closer, the Knights of the Sacrifice obtain a skull said to contain
the evil of the Orb. If true, an evil artifact owned by unconscionable individuals who slaughter
innocents for fun will spin the war-wracked lands into deeper dismay and chaos. Then there is the
anticipated impact of preadolescent Feargol who as the Ghost Walker might prove to be the
ultimate
savior or destroyer of all. Stormrider is an exciting sword and sorcery fantasy that never slows
down
for a moment. The keys to this exciting, action-packed tale are the prime characters. Ravenheart
and
Stormrider, in spite of their respective positions, seem real and will remind the audience of Harold
and William. The two rival stars are giants whose persona overwhelm the support cast, even the
evil
orb; yet they entice readers to refuse to put David Gemmell's latest fantasy down until the novel is
complete to see how the final battle between these giants ends.
Final Justice
Nancy Kopp
Onyx
April 2002, $6.99, 352 pp., ISBN 0451410270
After being dumped by her fianc‚ two weeks before their wedding, Wisconsin attorney Ann
Monroe
buries herself in her work and doesn't give a thought to dating again. Her latest client, Bill
Robinson,
the victim of gay bashing, wants her to try his case in civil court since he lost in a jury trial and his
attackers went free. Ann looks at the court records, but wonders how anti-gay people were
placed
on the jury with neither the judge nor the prosecutor recusing them. Another client of Ann's, a
Planned Parenthood clinic, comes under attack from a group of extreme religious fundamentalists
Lambs of God. Preacher Charles Tremaine, an enemy of Ann, leads these zealots. She tries to
thwart
him once again, but she becomes a target of attack from a sub-group within the main church. A
frustrated Ann calls upon her friends for help and they come up with links between the two cases
that puts the lives of Ann and her allies in danger. Fans of Nancy Taylor Rosenberg will definitely
want to read Nancy Kopp's latest legal thrill Final Justice. The heroine is a strong woman who
doesn't let fear get in her way from doing the right things even if it means wearing rubber
underwear.
Her support allies are equally admirable though Charles and his horde pale in comparison.
Although
the author provides an extremely exciting novel, there is a clear social message about hate crimes
that Ms. Kopp cleverly works into the plot.
Blood Diamonds
Jon Land
Forge
April 2002, $25.95, 384 pp., ISBN 0765302266
It is over a year since the events in New York and it appears that the relationship between
detectives
Palestinian-American Ben Kamal and Israeli Danielle Barnea is at an end. He is returning to
America
while she tries to reconcile with the National Police. On an undercover assignment for her old
boss,
a trap is sprung and Danielle is arrested supposedly for killing her immediate supervisor. When
Ben
hears about this, he helps her escape from jail. The pair learns that African diamonds are
exchanged
for weapons using corrupt Israeli officers as well as Palestinians and the Internet. The United
Revolutionary Front in Sierra Leone led by the fanatical Latisse Matabu is determined to unleash
weapons of mass destruction on their own people and the United States unless the Palestinian and
the Israeli can work together to stop her. Jon Land authors a timely and believable political thriller
that reflects the complexities of the global social and military infrastructure. His characters reflect
the times and culture that they live in so when they intermingle, there is always a lot of action.
Blood
Diamonds is one of the author's best works to date and it will be interesting to see what will
happen
to Ben and Danielle in the next installment of the series.
The Destruction Of The Inn
Randy Lee Eickhoff
Forge
Mar 2002, $13.95, 238 pp., ISBN: 0312870221
Conaire Mor's mother is an elf princess who marries the king of Erin. The altruistic monarch
permits his stepson to foster with three sons of loyal warriors. The foursome become quite tight
as
friends pulling pranks and capers until the monarch dies. Conaire is named king over his three
friends. His former buddies resent the anointing of Conaire and abuse the power of being
associated
with him by ravaging the country. Though he knows he should put them to death, Conaire is
averse
to harming his childhood friends. Out of control their petty jealousy forces a reluctant Conaire to
banish them to Scotland for the good of his subjects. However, the trio joins other looters to
continue to plunder Erin with their goal to destroy their former pal. Though well done in
performing
the difficult task of "translating" an epic poem written during medieval times in "Old Irish" into
English, the tale loses some of its imagery and lyrics. Still Randy Lee Eickhoff captures the
essence
of this insightful poem that focuses on the varying perspectives providing a full look at the same
event. Different eyes paint relatively different panoramas. This is a strong transliteration, but it
fails
to match the easy flow of Seamus Heaney's Beowulf rendition, making The Destruction Of The
Inn
more for fans of Irish historical poetry.
Irish Stew
Andrew M. Greeley
Forge
Mar 2002, $25.95, 303 pp., ISBN: 0312871880
Dermot Michael Coyne accompanies his wife Nuala Anne McGrail as she performs at the Celtic
international music festival in Milan. While in Italy, Dermot and Nuala Anne meet fellow Chicago
resident Seamus Costelloe and his family. After unceremoniously dumping Seamus into the pool
for
insulting his wife, Dermot and Nuala Anne agree to joining the Costelloe brood for dinner. Nuala
Anne noticed the mark of death on Seamus, a blowhard with many enemies not all in organized
crime. Meanwhile the couples' daughter hears the explosion associated with the Windy City's
Haymarket Riot. The only problem is that the incident occurred over a century ago. To provide
solace to his daughter who believes that someone is crying for fairness through her, Dermot tries
to
uncover the truth over who really started the riot. Meanwhile Nuala Anne, perhaps being the only
person to see any good in Seamus, tries to keep him alive as she believes that is why her Irish fey
powers gave her the sign. The latest Nuala Anne tale is a fun to read story because the two lead
characters are a delight to watch in action even if she is a too perfect Irish goddess. The dual story
lines require leaps of faith as the audience will struggle with why Nuala Anne feels obligated to
protect Seamus and why Dermot believes he must solve the Haymarket Riot mystery. Still fans of
Andrew M. Greeley's "Irish" series and those paranormal cozy readers who can forgive the chasm
between the first and second dominos of the plot will dine on Irish Stew.
Five years ago Noble Britton's wife mysteriously died. Unable to resist putting a scandalous label
to
events without supporting facts, the Ton "logically" concludes that Noble was involved in the
death.
Dubbed the "Black Earl" by his peers, Noble rusticated for the last few years, but now seeks a
new
wife, one who is mousy and behaves with proper decorum. Gillian Leigh does not want a coming
out, but though too old at twenty- five, too American by a half, too tall by a head or more, and
too
accident prone she has no choice. So why does Noble want to meet and marry this amazon
paragon
who literally sets the Ton on fire if he seeks an unobtrusive spouse? Love works in mysterious
ways.
Noble Intentions is a very amusing Regency romance that will delight sub-genre fans especially
since
Noble lives up to his name as he is the victim of Gillian's pratfalls. The lead couple is a delightful
pairing whose story line remains true to its basic slapstick like theme. Fans who enjoy a jocular
look
at the foibles of the Ton will want to read Katie MacAlister's humorous tale just keep ice packs
and bandages handy in case one falls while laughing.
Savage Moon
Cassie Edwards
Leisure
Feb 2002, $5.99, 349 pp., ISBN: 0843949635
In 1852 Wyoming, eight year old Mitzi "Misshi" Bradley has had plenty of recent sorrow with the
death of her mother in childbirth and that of her father from an Indian attack. Left with only a
teenage brother to care for her, Misshi is abducted by renegade Chief Bear of the Bannock tribe
during a raid of the wagon train that included the two Bradleys. A decade later, Chief Bear's son
Soaring Hawk knows that the confrontation between he and his sire is coming soon. Ten years
ago,
Soaring Hawk left his father's tribe to start anew in peace and has succeeded in his endeavor.
However, he knows he needs help before challenging his father. He turns to Chief Washakie
where
he meets Misshi, who was kindly raised by this benevolent tribe. Misshi and Soaring Hawk
immediately recognize in the other their soul mate, but their shared past converging at the pivotal
figure, his evil father, makes a permanent relationship seem impossible. Though Cassie Edwards
has
often told tales of star-crossed lovers in her "Savage" series, her latest tale Savage Moon is a
well-written entertaining entry. The story line is action packed and loaded with angst as the lead
couple falls in love while just about everyone except for Chief Washakie (who has doubts) oppose
this relationship. Ms. Edwards is one of the best at emotion-laden forbidden lovers' tales and this
book will enhance her esteem amidst sub-genre readers.
The Reluctant Reformer
Lynsay Sands
Leisure
Feb 2002, $5.99, 371 pp., ISBN: 0843949740
Lord James Huddleton promised to protect the sister of his now deceased friend. However in
1815
he never expected to learn from Bow St. that the sibling Margaret Wentworth is the notorious
courtesan Lady X. As bad, the chit is heading to Madame DuBarry's establishment frequented
only
by male members of the aristocracy. Not sure how to reform the fallen lady, who apparently has
had
sex with everyone but him, James kidnaps Margaret even though she denies his accusations.
However, James soon finds himself falling in love with his captive who reciprocates his feelings.
As
he learns that she is not Lady X, James needs to keep his beloved safe, as someone wants her
dead.
James is a caring individual who sticks by his word though no one but he knows what he vowed.
However, he also learns that good intentions can prove a strange road. The identity crisis is
amusing, as readers who like an earnest battle between the sexes will laugh a lot. Though
Margaret's
danger adds excitement, that subplot spins away from the prime theme of The Reluctant
Reformer.
Still, Lynsay Sands furbishes an engaging tale that the Regency crowd will find delightful.
The Renegade's Heart
Stobie Piel
Leisure
Feb 2002, $5.99, 392 pp., ISBN: 0843949643
In the 1890 New Mexico Territory, Diego de Aguirre knows he cannot live up to the heritage his
heroic brother set so decides to take pleasure from the role of hedonistic scapegrace. When
trouble
returns to Tewa Pueblo, his sibling dubbed the Renegade is not in town to save the day. Diego
knows his town needs a hero so he darns his brother's mask in order to save the community.
Daughter of a photographer, Melanie Ann Muessen arrives in town on a personal quest. She is
attracted to Diego, but Melanie makes a play for the Renegade in hopes of a special photograph.
As
Diego tries to make his home safe, they fall in love. However, before their relationship can forge
into
something permanent identities and obsessions must be revealed. Though well written, The
Renegade's Heart reads like son (perhaps younger brother) of Zorro as the story line is very
similar
to its delightful predecessor (see Renegade). What makes this tale unique is the deepness of Diego
that only Melanie can observe. Perhaps her need to model a man after her father is as great so that
it
enables her to see inside to the real man. Diego's need to emulate his brother is so intense he pulls
a
reaction formation and goes in the opposite direction. Bottom line is that the two lead
protagonists
take a plot similar to one Stobie Piel wrote last year and turn it into a powerful Americana
romance
that sub-genre fans will fully enjoy.
At The Edge
David Dun
Pinnacle
Apr 2002, $6.99, 432 pp., ISBN: 0786013990
Attorneys Dan Young and Maria Fisher are the intermediaries exchanging the five hundred
thousand
dollars in the dark reaches of Muldoon's Pub. Dan represents enormous lumbering interests while
Maria serves as an agent for the environmental crowd. The money is to be used by the tree
huggers
to push for Highland Park, a forest north of San Francisco near the Oregon border, to become a
National Preserve. Everything goes smoothly until Maria leaves the pub with the loot. An
unknown
assailant assaults Maria and escapes in a waiting getaway car with the money. Maria and Dan give
chase, but almost die in the nearby forest. Seeking help, they soon become embroiled in a secret
project of the Amada Corporation headed by unscrupulous individuals willing to kill to keep their
clandestine operation quiet. Though their lives are in jeopardy, can a tree hugger and a tree cutter
find the common ground to work together to stay alive? If love has any say in the matter the
answer
is yes. Though the protagonists are both lawyers, At The Edge is an exhilarating amateur sleuth
environmental tale (not a legal thriller). The lead couple is a delight as their opinions on the
environment are not as far apart as one might expect (only the Atlantic Ocean not the Pacific
Ocean). The story line is action-packed though some of the moves by the bad guys seem dumb for
a
group trying not to bring attention to their activities. Still fans of environmental thrillers will want
to
read David Dun's tale that takes the audience over the edge with excitement and want more
novels
starring this appealing duo.
Paradise Found
Mary Campisi
Zebra
Mar 2002, $5.99, ISBN: 0821772805
The accident left Matthew Brandon blind and a recluse refusing to allow the world to see him. His
despondent brother Adam begs family friend, psychologist Jeff Sanders, to fly across the continent
to California to see Matthew. Though willing he cannot leave his wife pregnant with
complications
at this moment. Jeff asks his partner Sara Hamilton to fill in temporally until he can arrive. Sara
believes Matthew contains the same negative traits as her ex-husband and wonders how she can
overcome her own obvious bias to help the author who has already devoured four West Coast
psychologists. Still no one, including her, refuses Jeff. Sara travels to California only to hit the
Great
Wall as Matthew refuse to see her. Like a crash dummy, Sara consistently bashes his defenses
until
they begin to crumble enabling her to work inside to his fractured soul. He counters by shattering
the locks around her heart. Will these two injured beings find solace in their love for one another
or
will they continual to relive the past that controls the present and the future? Paradise Found is a
potent contemporary tale that stars two hurting individuals that begin to heal through love. The
story line could have been a trite retelling of love heals all, but author Mary Campisi never lets the
melodrama take control. The audience deeply feels the angst and pain as if it is their own as Ms.
Campisi acknowledges that her own first hand dealing with illness and pain is imbued inside her
two
wonderful lead characters. This furbishes an ardent novel that never loses its focus on the essence
of
humanity.
Falling For April
Lisa Plumley
Zebra
Mar 2002, $5.99, 352 pp., ISBN: 0821771116
After playing the sucker and being jilted at the altar, Ryan Forrester decides no more hedonism
and
especially no more women. He becomes active in the family department store business. He
proposes
to his father and the other board members a way to save the midsize stores being squeezed out by
superstores. His suggestion is to forge partnerships with local merchants. That is why Ryan is in
Saguaro Vista, Arizona testing his idea. April Finnegan worries about money as her rent just
doubled with her roommate's marriage and she has lost her catering business job unless she finds
new accounts. April realizes that Mr. Moneybags, as she has labeled Ryan, is a rival competing
with
her efforts to partner with Charlie's Pizzeria Funhouse and other accounts. April bets Ryan he
would
fall on his face without his family cash. Unable to resist Ryan accepts the wager. As she and Ryan
compete for the same business, they fall in love, but he was recently jilted and she has little trust in
men. Lisa Plumley provides readers with an amusing contemporary romantic romp. The story line
never takes itself seriously as the lead couple battles one another and their growing feelings for
the
other while the support cast provides the ambiance of small town southwest living. Readers will
fall
for the humorous Falling For April.
Someone Knows
Karen Young
Zebra
Mar 2002, 384, $6.50, ISBN: 0821768298
A few years ago college student Charlie Case got his girl friend Sara Long pregnant. The couple
talked of marriage, but his father Jordan interceded and said no. Unable to buck his father, the
twenty-one year old Charlie acquiesced. Not long afterward, teenage Sara miscarried. Her mother
Valerie blamed Jordan for the tragedy. Valerie is delighted abouther promotion to editor-in-chief
of
Manhattan's Panache magazine until her boss drops the other shoe. The drawback is that Jordan
has
also been hired by the holding company Kurtz- Whitman to oversee the directions of all the
magazines including Panache. Valerie will work for the person she hates most in the world.
However, Valerie soon has a more dangerous problem to cope with. Someone knows her New
Orleans street kid roots and is methodically ripping her present life asunder. With Jordan at her
side,
Valerie must face a shocker from her past if she is to have any future. Karen Young furbishes
readers with a strong romantic suspense that is filled with varying causes of tensions that tie back
together. The story line emphasizes the suspense as Valerie struggles with the resurfacing of her
demons that could cost her everything she cherishes in life. The growing love between Jordan and
Valerie as well as that between their children is cleverly designed to enable the audience to better
understand the lead couple and appreciate Valerie's peril. Someone Knows will lead to everyone
knows how good an author Ms. Young is.
Harriet Klausner
Reviewer
Burrough's Bookshelf
Music In The Works Of Broch, Mann, And Kafka
John A. Hargraves
Camden House
PO Box 41026, Rochester, NY 14604-4126
1571132082 $65.00 www.amazon.com
Music In The Works Of Broch, Mann, And Kafka by John A. Hargraves is a serious, exhaustively
researched studies of great literary works such as "The Death of Virgil," "The Sleepwalkers," and
"Doctor Faustus" and the role music plays within the depths of the written words. Erudite,
persuasively written and adhering to the rigorous demands of scholarship, Music In The Works Of
Broch, Mann, And Kafka is a college-level and highly recommended literary study that lends a
deepening appreciation to the subtle nuances of three great writers in German literature, music,
linguistics, and culture.
Oxford
Paul Streitz
Oxford Institute Press
8 William St., Darien, CT 06820
0971349800 $32.50 www.amazon.com
Oxford: Son Of Queen Elizabeth I by Shakespearian enthusiast and scholar Paul Streitz is a daring
and controversial account that puts forth a new claim as to the true identity of William
Shakespeare.
In this persuasively presented account, William Shakespeare is proclaimed to be in fact Edward de
Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford and the illegitimate son of Queen Elizabeth I. A gripping historical
construction of incest, betrayal, and murder in the royal family as well as a new look at the origin
of
some of the greatest classics of Western literature, Oxford: Son Of Queen Elizabeth I is a highly
compelling, iconoclastic and challenging read for anyone with an interest in English history, but
most
particularly for the Shakespeare buff.
Writing The Action-Adventure Film
Neill D. Hicks
Michael Wiese Productions
11288 Ventura Blvd., Suite 821, Studio City, CA 91604
0941188396 $14.95 www.amazon.com
Writing The Action-Adventure Film: The Moment Of Truth by professional screenwriter Neill D.
Hicks ("Rumble in the Bronx"; "First Strike") is a straightforward, sensible, "user friendly" primer
for creating a solid screenplay specifically for one of the most popular movie genres in America.
Individual chapters specifically address issues of characterization, plot structure, pitfalls, and the
strengths of the Action-Adventure film genre, as well as what the audience expects when they go
to
see the latest action movie. If you are contemplating, or already involved in, scripting an
Action-Adventure screenplay, then give Neill Hicks' Writing The Action-Adventure Film an
immediate and careful reading.
Jack Burroughs
Reviewer
Sharon's Bookshelf
Losing Malcolm
Carol Henderson
University Press of Mississippi
3825 Ridgewood Road, Jackson, MS 39211
1578063396 $24.00 www.amazon.com
Losing Malcolm: A Mother's Journey Through Grief is the compelling and candid story of Carol
Henderson's traumatic experiences arising from the death of her infant son. Writing with a
sometimes painfully honest insight, Henderson chronicles the events that ran her through a gamut
of
emotions including bewilderment and fear to a bone deep grief to a transforming recovery. Losing
Malcom is especially recommended reading for anyone who has ever suffered the devastating loss
of
a loved one, as well as those that care about them and seek to substantively assist them in dealing
with their suffering.
Celtic Queen Maeve And Addiction
Sylvia Brinton Perera
Nicolas-Hays
P.O. Box 2039, York Beach, ME 03910-2039
0892540575 $29.95 www.amazon.com
Celtic Queen Maeve And Addiction: An Archetypal Perspective by Jungian psychoanalyst Sylvia
Brinton Perera is a scholarly, serious look at the phenomenon of addiction utilizing the
mythological
stories and images of the Celtic Queen/Goddess Maeve. Highly researched and presenting a
complex, multi-dimensional view of a very human problem and social ill, Celtic Queen Maeve And
Addiction offers a fascinating dichotomy presentation that seeks to better understand the nature
of
addiction and the symbols of addiction. A close and extensively detailed look at how a figure in
ancient Celtic lore relates to modern times. Celtic Queen Maeve And Addiction is an impressive
and
insightful contribution to the literature of psychoanalysis, addiction, and Jungian Studies.
Tobacco
Iain Gately
Grove/Atlantic
841 Broadway, New York, NY 10003
0802117058 $25.00 www.amazon.com
A stimulant employed for medicinal and ritual usages by Native American cultures going back
thousands of years, it was the coming of the Europeans that enabled tobacco to become a part of
every culture in the world and through 20th Century advertising practices, to become an
established
cultural icon even while being discovered as the source of numerous, often lethal, ailments for its
habituated and addicted users. Tobacco: A Cultural History Of How An Exotic Plant Seduced
Civilization by journalist Iain Gately is a fascinating, informative and in-depth look at the addictive
and deadly drug that has become intertwined with the American way of life throughout the
centuries. Individual chapters discuss everything from ancient use of tobacco among native
peoples
to how tobacco is grown today. A compelling, meticulously researched, occasionally humorous
and
always well written read, Tobacco is strongly recommended for both school and library
collections.
Stitches In Air
Liane Ellison Norman
Smoke and Mirrors Press
1139 Wightman St., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15217
097095901X $19.95 www.amazon.com
Liane Ellison Norman's Stitches In Air is a compellingly written, superbly crafted historical novel
about Anna Pertl Mozart, who was the mother of the legendary 18th-century composer Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart. An evolving, personal tale of conflicting family dynamics and the struggle to
balance responsibilities to kin with individual freedom, Stitches In Air is a fascinating,
entertaining,
fully engaging read, and a very highly recommended addition to community library
collections.
Take The Ride Of Your Life
Joyce Weiss
Bloomfield Press
P.O. Box 250163, West Bloomfield, MI 48325-0163
096485600X $12.95 www.amazon.com
Take The Ride Of Your Life by self-development expert and corporate consultant Joyce Weiss is
a
unique and very special self-help, self-improvement guide that inspires the reader to experience
life
to the fullest. Using bicycle riding as a metaphor for life itself, individual chapters address the
importance of enjoying the moment, earning fun, keeping balance and pursuing goals. An
enjoyable
book which is as entertaining as it is beneficial, Take The Ride Of Your Life is a strongly
recommended addition to any self-help reading list or community library reference collection.
Chips From The Chopping Block
Jay Hammond
Epicenter Press
Box 82368, Kenmore, WA 98028
0970849354 $14.95 www.amazon.com
Chips From The Chopping Block: More Tales From Alaska's Bush Rat Governor is a frank,
straightforward memoir written as a postscript to the autobiography of former Alaskan governor
Jay
Hammond. Filled with frank, candid, unvarnished honesty and a with wit, humor, and keen feeling
for the Alaskan soil, wilderness, cities, and people, Chips from the Chopping Block is very hearty
autobiographical and observational entertainment and highly recommended reading.
Under Construction
John Hudson Tiner
Concordia Publishing House
3558 South Jefferson Avenue, Saint Louis, MO 63118-3968
0570052890 $9.99 1-800-325-3040
Under Construction: Bible Verse Puzzles To Build by John Hudson Tiner is a wonderful
compilation
of 56 reproducible word puzzles specifically designed to provide children ages 8 to 12 with a fun
and informative approach to learning scripture. As the children completes each puzzzle, they
discover a Gospel-based message that they will remember long after lesson time is over. Also very
highly recommended are John Tiner's other bible activity books from Concordia Press including:
They Followed Jesus Word Search Puzzles and Favorite Bible Stories From Acts Word
Search.
Punch!
Jennifer Lawler
Wish Publishing
P.O. Box 10337, Terre Haute, IN 47801
1930546505 $16.95 www.amazon.com
Punch! Why Women Participate In Violent Sports by Jennifer Lawler is a candid, thoughtful look
at
women in violent, competitive sports such as boxing, hockey, and martial arts. But what type of
women choose to become involved in such pastimes? Why do people have such concern over it?
These questions and more are addressed in-depth in Punch!, which is a serious and informative
look
at a widespread phenomenon reflecting changing gender roles with the progression of a few
decades. A fascinating, informative, seminal, ground breaking, thought-provoking study, Punch!
is a
strongly recommended addition to Women's Sports and Feminist Studies supplemental reading
lists
and academic reference collections.
The History Of Islamic Theology
Tilman Nagel
Markus Wiener Publishers
114 Jefferson Road, Princeton NJ 08540
1558762035 $28.95 www.amazon.com
The History Of Islamic Theology: From Muhammad To The Present is a thoughtful, informative,
careflly presented and scholarly tracing of the evolution of Islamic doctrine from its origins down
to
the present day. Written by Islamic theology and history expert Tilman Nagel (University of
Gottingen, Germany), The History Of Islamic Theology has been superbly translated from the
original German into English by Thomas Thornton. While the primary focus is on the early
development of Islam in the ninth through twelfth centuries, Nagel also reveals the many ways in
which Muslims from around the world have carried the precepts and doctrines of Islam into
contemporary times. A strongly recommended addition to Islamic Studies supplemental reading
lists
and academic reference collections, The History Of Islamic Theology is also available in a hard
cover edition (1558762027, $89.95).
The Simple Life
David E. Shi
The University of Georgia Press
330 Research Drive, Athens, GA, 30602-4901
0820323403 $18.95 www.amazon.com
The Simple Life: Plain Living And High Thinking In American Culture by David E. Shi (President
and Professor of History, Furman University) is a candid, informative, scholarly examination
throughout American social history of the drive to simplify one's life and find meaning by the
means
of deliberately giving up excess material vanity, as embodied in the writings and lifestyles of
Thomas
Jefferson, Henry David Thoreau, Jimmy Carter, and others. Individual chapters discuss the simple
life concept from the Puritan, Quaker, Republican, and other points of view, and the importance
and
value this way of thought, behavior, and culture retained even in today's increasingly fast-paced
electronic world. A thoughtful book, filled with carefully assessed observations, The Simple Life
is
strongly recommended reading for anyone contemplating simplification of their personal lifestyles
and circumstances as a means of improving the quality of their lives and themselves.
Prairie Dogs
Kim Long
Johnson Books
1880 South 57th Court, Boulder, CO 80301
1555662706 $15.95 www.amazon.com
The newest addition to the outstanding "Johnson Nature Series", Prairie Dogs: A Wildlife
Handbook
by wildlife expert Kim Long is an amazing, informative, "reader friendly" guide to a fascinating
species of small mammal. Prairie Dogs thoroughly documents the species, habits, and habitats of
the
prairie dog as well as relating myths and folklore. A highly enjoyable, information-packed book
Prairie Dogs is enthusiastically recommended reading for anyone with an interest in these sociable,
energetic creatures and a welcome addition to school and community library wildlife reference
collections.
Billancourt Tales
Nina Berberova
New Directions
80 Eighth Ave., New York, NY 10011
0811214818 $24.95 www.amazon.com
Billancourt Tales is an amazing anthology of thirteen stories by the skilled and talented Russian
writer Nina Berberova (1901-1993) who left Russia in 1922, lived in Germany, Czechoslovakia,
Italy, and then finally settled in Paris in 1925. Ably translated into English for the first time by
Marian Schwartz, these stories are set in the Paris suburb of Billancourt and take place from 1928
to
1940, featuring a variety of Russian immigrants seeking to adjust to a strange new land and a new
set of customs. Billancourt Tales is an appealing, highly enjoyable and recommended literary
classic
that withstands the test of time and the boundaries of language.
Avant Rock
Bill Martin
Open Court
332 South Michigan Avenue, Suite 1100, Chicago, IL 60604-4434
0812695003 $19.95 www.amazon.com
Avant Rock: Experimental Music From The Beatles To Bjork by Bill Martin (Professor of
Philosophy, DePaul University, Chicago) is a fascinating, informative survey of rock music made
by
artists who resist the inexorable pulls compromise their work in order to commercialize it,
conform
it to consumer demands, and simply sell out to the highest bidder. Taking a broad look at avant
garde rock from Yoko Ono and 1970s punk to contemporary figures such as Sonic Youth, Avant
Rock is a fascinating study, and a genuine tribute to rockers who consider their music, in and of
itself, to be the most important part of what they do. Avant Rock is strongly recommended
reading
for students of 20th Century American music history, -- and most especially for anyone with a
pioneering rock music vision of their own.
Sharon Stuart
Reviewer
Greenspan's Bookshelf
Creative Flies
Robert Williamson
Frank Amato Publications
PO Box 82112, Portland, OR 97282
1571882251 $15.00 www.amazon.com
Written by fly fishing expert Robert Williamson, Creative Flies: Innovative Tying Techniques will
enable any angler to create well-constructed, fish-catching flies. A wealth of patterns
incorporating
both traditional and new techniques and materials are featured with step-by-step, fully illustrated
instructions. The spectrum of fly-tying techniques and styles range from overhead knot weaving
and
chain-stitching, to air-filled bodies and the foam twister technique. Of special interest are
Williamson's commentaries on the most effective presentation for the various flies. If you are
planning a fly-fishing excursion with your own handcrafted flies, give a particularly careful reading
to Robert Williamson's Creative Flies!
Never Too Young
David Albright
American Literary Press
8019 Belair Road, Suite 10, Baltimore, MD 21236
1561677140 $7.95 1-800-873-2003, http://www.amazon.com
Never Too Young takes the reader on a kind of guided tour through more than twenty-eight
presidential residences and libraries as he shares personal experiences in local and state political
activities. Included are Albright's commentaries about his encounters with state and national
politicians -- including former First Lady and now New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The
engaging and informative text is enhanced with colorful photography and the authors obvious
enthusiasm, optimism, and humor. Never Too Young is a much appreciated affirmation of the
American political system and is a welcome and highly recommended antidote to the pervasive
cynicism that taint's the general public's attitude toward state and national politicians and the
American political process.
The Religious Right
Glenn H. Utter
ABC-CLIO
Box 1911, Santa Barbara, CA 93116-1911
1576072126 $45.00 www.amazon.com
Part of the ABC-CLIO "Contemporary World Issues" series, The Religious Right is now available
in
an expanded and updated second edition. Collaboratively prepared by Glenn H. Utter (Professor
and
Chair of the Political Science Department, Lamar University, Beaumont, Texas) and John W.
Storey
(Professor and Chair at the History Department, Lamar University), The Religious Right is an
impressive, 395 page compendium that provides comprehensive information on the American
"religious right", its formation and advocacy involvement with key political and social issues.
From
the Christian Coalition; to the domination of the Kansas Board of Education by religious
fundamentalists; to then Texas Governor George Bush's dedication of June 10, 2000 as "Jesus
Day"
in the Lone Star State, The Religious Right is an invaluable, scholarly work, and a strongly
recommended addition to academic American Studies, Religious Studies, and Political Science
Studies reference collections.
Afghanistan
Ralph H. Magnus & Eden Naby
Westview Press
c/o Perseus Books Group
Eleven Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142
0813340195 $17.50 www.amazon.com
In Afghanistan: Mullah, Marx, And Mujahid, the late Ralph Magnus drew upon his expertise as
coordinator of Middle Eastern Studies at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California
and
his experience as a former assistant cultural attache of the American embassy in Kabul, to examine
Afghanistan's physical situation, human environment, and modern history, as well as the rise and
fall
of competing internal forces which at the time included the Taliban as well as the independent
regional warlords of the north. The reader is provided with invaluable insights into Afghanistan's
political position within the restructured Central Asian region, the ethnic relationships
complicating
its history and potential for political, economic, and social stability. A new introduction by Eden
Naby provides a contextual framework for a reasoned perspective on Afghanistan's past, present
and
future. Afghanistan remains a valuable, timely, and strongly recommended addition to both
academic
and community library reference collections.
Baffling Murder Mysteries
Marilyn Morgan
Loompanics Unlimited
PO Box 1197, Port Townsend, WA 98368
1559502134 $14.95 http://www.loompanics.com, http://www.amazon.com
In Baffling Murder Mysteries: Famous Unsolved Homicides, crime buff Marilyn Morgan has
assembled a collection of murders either involving popular celebrities, famous investigators, or
community terrorizing serial killers. Along with the usual "who, what, where" kinds of descriptive
scene settings, Morgan provides fascinating commentaries as to why these crimes were committed
and how the perpetrators got away with it -- even when later findings give us a pretty good idea
as
to their identities such as with the famous homicide cases involving Teamster President Jimmy
Hoffa, George "Superman" Reeves, and Bob "Hogan's Heroes" Crane. Baffling Murder Mysteries
is
strongly recommended reading for "true crime" enthusiasts wanting to decide if these famous (and
infamous) murders really are unsolved.
Gleanings From The Wayside
A. W. Tillinghast
TreeWolf Productions
9 Coleridge Road, Short Hills, NJ 07078
0965181820 $39.95 www.amazon.com
The final title in "The Tillinghast Trilogy, Gleanings From The Wayside: My Recollections As A
Golf Architect is a volume of memorable, insightful, informative essays by professional golf
course
designer Albert Warren Tillinghast. This was a most remarkable man who traveled across the
nation
creating recreational paradise with his unique vision. Black-and-white photographs enhance this
extensive, thoughtful book merging the love of architecture with the love of golf, Gleanings From
The Wayside is fascinating reading for golf enthusiasts everywhere, but most especially for the
armchair golf fan who want a glimpse of incredible courses without traveling hundreds of miles to
play on them. Also highly recommended are the author's previous two golf architecture memoirs
in
"The Tillinghast Trilogy": The Course Beautiful (0965181804, $34.95) and Reminiscences Of
The
Links (0965181812, $34.95).
California 1850: A Snapshot in Time
Janice Marschner
Coleman Ranch Press
P.O. Box 1496, Sacramento, CA 95812-1496
0967706947 $19.95 www.amazon.com
California 1850: A Snapshot In Time by native Californian and history buff Janice Marschner is a
riveting, informative, and unique county-by-county look at the state of California over one
hundred
and fifty years ago. Filled with black-and-white photographs, tables, maps, historical sites to visit,
and a first-class survey of the notable events in the history of the state, California 1850 is the
perfect
reading selection for students of California history and the non-specialist general reader wanting
to
know more about this great Western and influential American state!
The Great Indiana Touring Book
Thomas Huhti
Trails Books
PO Box 317, Black Earth, WI 53515
1931599092 $21.95 www.amazon.com
The Great Indiana Touring Book: 20 Spectacular Auto Trips by native Midwesterner and Indiana
travel buff Thomas Huhti is a first-rate guide to natural parks, Lincoln memorials, historical sites,
art
galleries, and much more that fill this proud state rich in cultural heritage. Maps, a color insert
section, black-and-white photographs, explicit directions, and a wonderful narrated tour through
all
corners of the state comprise the superbly practical and informative showcasing twenty singularly
impressive car-based excursions. If you are planning an Indiana-bound RV or automobile
oriented
vacation adventure, begin your planning with a careful reading of Thomas Huhti's The Great
Indiana
Touring Book.
Stupid White Men
Michael Moore
HarperCollins Publishers
10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022
0060392452 $24.95 www.amazon.com
Stupid White Men... And Other Sorry Excuses For The State Of The Nation! is the latest political
commentary, satire, and outspoken letter to America by the renowned Michael Moore, perhaps
best
known for his independent movie "Roger & Me" as well as the "TV Nation" television series.
Though finished before the terrorist attacks of September 11, Stupid White Men was delayed for
long months after the tragedy - which is a terrible shame, for Moore drew the fat-cat connections
between the Bush Administration and "Shadow Advisor to the President" head of Enron Kenneth
L.
Lay (who would "interview" some of the administration's appointees before they could get a job)
long before Enron's outrageous financial scandal became headline news. Michael Moore pulls no
punches, from the gut-wrenching and criminal denial of the right to vote throughout Florida (and
other places) that resulted in "President un-elect Bush" to painting an ironic, tongue-in-cheek
picture
of Bill Clinton as "one of the best Republican Presidents we've ever had." Half comedy, but half
very
serious and highly researched political insight, Stupid White Men is both hilarious and compelling
reading all the way to the end. If Michael Moore has a flaw, it's in his inability to fully
comprehend
the importance of globalization in today's economy and politics. If he has a talent, it's his visceral
gut-instinct feel for perfectly articulating the heart and soul of the everyday American, buffeted by
tidal forces that buy and sell human lives like rock salt at the grocery store. If he has a great
virtue, it
is in his exhortation that Americans everywhere get up and get involved in the political process
before it's too late - by voting, by writing congressmen and senators, by running for office, by
using
every legal means to change the future. Stupid White Men is a highly recommended social issues
comentary and as timely as today's newspaper headlines.
The Singing Of The Dead
Dana Stabenow
Books on Tape
P.O. Box 7900, Newport Beach, CA 92658
0736668535 $48.00 1-800-959-8273
The Singing Of The Dead: A Kate Shugak Novel by Dana Stabenow is a chilling political murder
mystery. The strong-willed and firm-minded heroine Kate Shugak decides to work security for a
Native American woman running for state senator. But the bizarre of the campaign's staff
researcher
pulls Kate Shugak into a murderous web stretching back ninety years, and pits her against a
modern-day killer with a cold and cruel irreverence for human life. Suspenseful and occasionally
down-right mesmerizing listening, this complete and unabridged audiobook edition of The
Sing
