The Hades Project
Justin Gustainis
Brighid's Fire Books
P.O. Box 41, Sidney, NY 13838
www.brighidsfirebooks.com
ISBN: 0971327858 $19.95 1-607-563-7523
Phillip Tomasso III
Reviewer
Justin Gustainis' first novel, The Hades Project, is an explosive horror/thriller. There is no
questioning that Gustainis is an amazingly talented storyteller. The author knows how to create
three-dimensional characters, intensely plotted scenes, and then maintains a constant,
gut-wrenching
pace throughout.
Michael Pacilio was a military SEAL, trained to handle the toughest missions in Viet Nam. Years
after the war ended, Pacilio's career is working as a federal agent in charge of investigations for
the
government. But when he is called to Fairfax, Virginia to look into the brutal massacre of ten
scientists, everything in Pacilio's life is so badly knocked out of whack, that nothing from the war
or
his specialized training could ever have prepared him for all the horrors awaiting him. Though the
evidence suggests that the one scientist who had not been murdered and appears to be on the run
could be responsible for the murders, it is the easy-to-follow trail of bodies who suffered similar,
tortured fates as the unfortunate souls in Fairfax that keeps Pacilio on the right path.
When Pacilio learns that the scientists were working on a special, secret project he decides to visit
with an old friend for help. Father Eugene Grady was Pacilio's college professor, and he may
know a
thing or two about demonic possession. Together he and Pacilio believe a serious and deadly evil
has
been unleashed on earth. Teaming up with ER Doctor, Muriel Rojas, the three think they
understand
what is about to happen. And it is possible that if they fail in their mission, the entire world will be
sucked into the horrible living nightmares of Armageddon.
Dark and disturbing, The Hades Project demands the attention of the reader. You can set the
book
down, but it will be near impossible to walk away from. There are not many novels that I would
call
frightening. However, this is one of them. It will keep you up nights, afraid to shut out the lights
and
fall asleep. It is that grippingly real. If you like Stephen King, or Dean Koontz, you'll love Justin
Gustainis and may end up preferring him. This debut novel will captivate readers and leave them
anxious for a second novel.
Ground Zero and Beyond
J.P. McCarthy
TwoRivers Publishing Co.
1216 Bradley Avenue, Eau Claire, WI 54701
http://www.TwoRiversPublishing.com
ISBN: 1401088945 $19.95
Dan Shaurette
Reviewer
This September marked the second anniversary of the tragic terrorist attacks that leveled the
World
Trade Center and scarred the Pentagon. The terrorists succeeded in killing thousands of people.
They also succeeded in awakening the American people to the very real menace that rules the
Middle East. They also succeeded in raising the level of patriotism and heroism that is only
continuing to rise.
Yes, the terrorists succeeded in changing America on September 11, 2001. Our war on terrorism
is a
constant topic of the news media. But the focus seems to have shifted from finding the Al-Qae'da
terrorists and their leader Osama bin Laden, to trying to liberate Iraq and Afghanistan and seeking
Saddam Hussein. More American soldiers have lost their lives since the main battles of combat
were
declared over than were lost when it was in full force. Now, the President is asking Congress to
set
aside $87 Billion for continuing the war on terror and rebuilding Iraq and Afghanistan.
The question that crosses the minds of most Americans now is, "What about Osama bin Laden,
the
al-Qae'da, and the Taliban?" Two years have passed and we still don't know where bin Laden is, if
he's dead, or if his organization has more terror planned for us. How were four planes successfully
hijacked to be used against us? Did anybody in any branch of the U.S. government know anything
about their plans? Is there any proof linking the key players together?
All of these questions are expertly woven together and answered in a fantastic tale of espionage
and
heroism by author J.P. McCarthy. His first novel GROUND ZERO AND BEYOND tells the
story
of forensic dental expert and Vietnam Army Ranger Patrick Murphy, who's called to Manhattan
after the tragedy to lead the dental ID unit in their massive undertaking of identifying those who
did
not survive.
Murphy discovers a unique denture that was custom designed for the purpose of concealing a
micro
diskette with critical instructions for the al-Qae'da trained terrorists to not only execute their Sept.
11th attacks, but gave details about further plans to come. This disk was naturally sought by many
organizations, as it was the vital evidence needed to prove who was behind the attacks.
Fate brings Murphy back into a working and romantic relationship with a former flame, Marion
Masterson, who set up the computer center of the makeshift identification facility. She is the only
one Murphy can trust to help discover the contents of the disk. Once they do, they realize that
al-Qae'da, the Israeli Mossad secret service, and even traitorous FBI agents are after them to
recover the disk.
All of this builds to a fevered pitch as Murphy pits his patriotism and personal desires to exact
revenge versus his fears and doubts from his Vietnam experiences and the desire to be with his
new
love who's life is in danger.
The author brings his own military and medical experience directly into the book and this evident
throughout. His writing style grips the reader because the characters and events are so real you
hope
they will unravel the mysteries that are buried at Ground Zero and beyond.
I myself am not an avid reader of espionage books of such writers as Clancy. I normally read
fiction
that takes you away to a fantasy world for escape; where the goal is to make the unreal believable.
But McCarthy's book takes a tragic reality and brings a wonderful chance for hope and
inspiration.
Though this book is fictional, you can't help but want it to be true. To me, that is the mark of an
excellent writer. I am most definitely looking forward to the second Murphy novel, MURDER
ON
THE GREEN.
Eden Found
Steve Hart
Hart-Burn Press
ISBN Number: 0974031801 $15.00
Shirley Roe, Reviewer
www.allbooks.bravepages.com
Lenny Cronin, cocky, ambitious and on a quest for truth, receives what he believes is the most
boring news reporting assignment on the planet. However, once he arrives in the Holy Land, he
parts company with the scientists to whom he is assigned and finds himself embroiled in terrorist
activities. The Palestinian group leader, Assad has chosen Lenny to report the truth to the rest of
the
world. Assad is the villain we come to know and understand; the villain we feel compassion for
through the superb literary skill of the author. We soon learn the not-so-boring scientists;
Roxanne
and Bruce are on a covert mission of their own. Excitement, suspense and drama reign in Lenny's
life until he finds himself and his friends in grave danger. Steve Hart keeps the plot rolling with
just
enough suspense to keep the reader coming back page after page.
The background research for this book is impeccable. The subject of ancient artifacts could
become
a boring narrative however Mr. Hart cleverly introduces the scrolls and their origins in a story of
10,000 B.C running parallel to the current modern day tale. We are drawn into the drama of the
ancient people, their challenges and their successes. Both stories are linked through the ancient
scrolls and their final destination.
Eden Found is a thought provoking unbiased cross-section of modern day religion with all of its
turmoil and conflict. The Middle East conflicts are viewed from both sides revealing the deep
conviction and reverence of all Muslims, Christians and those of the Jewish faith. The subject
matter
is stimulating, encouraging the reader to find his or her own hidden truth. The characters are
familiar, vulnerable and caught up in a suspense filled plot.
The author, Steve Hart's keen interest in ancient artifacts and his research for Eden Found, has led
him to develop a presentation called, "Digging for Answers," which is available for group
presentation to libraries, civic groups, etc. Eden Found is an absorbing read.
Tell No One
Harlan Coben
Dell Publishing
The Official Harlan Coben Web Site
0440236703 $7.50
Kim Atchue-Cusella
Reviewer
David Beck is haunted every day of the eight years following his wife Rebecca's murder on their
13th wedding anniversary. Her body was found and identified by her father. Her killer
was apprehended and now awaits his fate on death row. All seems to be in order until one day,
David receives an eerie email with phrases that only his wife would know. Then the sheriff calls
with
news that two bodies have been found on his fathers land. Questions arise from both David and
the
police. Things are not as they seemed eight years ago.
The case of Rebecca's death is reopened with David as the main suspect. Rebecca's best friend is
found murdered just after David visits her. He goes on the run with an unlikely guardian to help
him.
As he visits different people connected to his wife, secrets come to light. Is Rebecca alive? Has
David been believing and trusting the wrong people for the past eight years?
Both David and Rebecca have kept secrets from each other. The characters weave a story that
keeps
you on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next. Rebecca's father is a strong
person
who will do anything to save the people that he loves. David is haunted by a secret he harbors that
could have lost him his one true love.
TELL NO ONE is a story filled with twists, turns and the unexpected. Harlan Coben grabs the
reader's interest from page one and pulls you in page by page. Harlan Coben has also written NO
SECOND CHANCE, GONE FOR GOOD and a series featuring Myron Bolitar. I would highly
recommend this book to anyone who loves a great mystery book to curl up with.
The Five Year Journal
Doreene Clement
DKC Enterprises, Ltd.
Box 15566, Phoenix, Arizona 85060
ISBN 0963713809 $29.95 US, http://www.the5yearjournal.com
Judy Brown
Reviewer
In my opinion, keeping a daily journal is the single-most important action anyone can take when
they
want to make a lifestyle change lifestyle to get more organized. When I begin working with new
clients, the first thing I ask them to do is to start recording their thoughts and feelings about their
particular organizing challenges and I suggest they do this on a daily basis.
Many clients have never written anything more than an email and they are rather intimidated by
the
idea of writing something everyday. The Five Year Journal is the perfect solution for these
reluctant
scribes. Open the book anywhere and you aren't greeted with the dreaded blank page that looms
so
large and bare. There are only three lines to record your thoughts for the day, even those who
don't
like writing can record something meaningful in just three lines. Instead of rambling on to fill a
blank
page, the client can focus on the really important thoughts and feelings to encapsulate their daily
progress.
Each month has room to make five years' worth of comments; so, it is easy to look back to the
thoughts of the same day in previous years. This not only gives you a progress record over a five
year period, by focusing on one thought for a month you can improve your thinking abilities. The
simple three-line statements you record will trigger memories of where you were and what you've
accomplished in getting and staying organized over each year in a five-year period.
Each month begins with a 'Focus Thought' which you can use as a theme upon which to
concentrate
your thoughts and feelings for that month. I suggest to clients that they use these prompts as a
springboard to generating ideas on some aspect of getting better organized. As an example, here
is a
Focus Thought for the month of July.
"Yesterday has passed forever beyond my control. Until the sun rises again, I have no stake in
tomorrow, for it is still unborn. ~ Og Mandino" (p.122)
This quote invites the writer to consider living more in the moment. Procrastination is one of the
leading causes of disorganization. When we put off work we should do today until tomorrow, we
waste today and tomorrow. A bit of thinking on the above quote encourages clients to realize that
whatever they procrastinate about today is just added to the burdens of tomorrow. Time wasted
today becomes an unproductive yesterday that will make us feel disappointed or guilty tomorrow.
Writing each day in your journal will keep you focused for a month on this thought to keep you
on
track every day. The Five Year Journal is an attractive book with a feel of permanence to it.
Printed
on acid-free paper, the flexible binding allows the pages to lie flat for easy writing. There is a
bookmark ribbon attached so you can quickly find your place.
There is a table of contents and the beginning of the book features the author's reflections about
journaling with guidelines for using the journal that includes an example from the author's own
journal pages.
Although I recommend the Five Year Journal to my clients as a tool to help them get organized,
the
Journal will be helpful for anyone who wants a simple, easy way to write and record their
thoughts
about personal growth of any kind. It would make a nice gift and you don't have to wait to
January
the first to start it, you can jump in on any date. Visit the author's website for more information
and
to order your copy of The Five Year Journal. http://www.the5yearjournal.com
Granny Dan
Danielle Steel
Delacorte Press
1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036
ISBN: 0385334273 $24.95
Henrietta K. Thomas
Reviewer
A New England housewife reconstructs her late grandmother's early life as a prima ballerina in
Imperial Russia.
Her name was Danina Petroskova, and her mother died when she was only five years old. Her
father
and older brothers were in the military, and didn't have much time to raise her, so when she turned
seven, they took her to live at the Maryinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg.
She cried, of course, but Madame Markova, the stern headmistress, didn't give her much
sympathy.
"You do not believe me now, my child," she said, "but you will be happy here. One day this will
be
the only life you will want or know."
And that is exactly what happened. For the next several years, Danina worked day and night to
become the best ballerina she could possibly be. Each year was better than the year before, and by
1914, she was a full-fledged prima ballerina and honored guest at the estate of Russia's royal
family.
Then she came down with the flu, and was in such bad shape that Madame Markova asked the
Czarina for help. The Czarina sent one of her personal physicians, Nikolai Obrajensky, to see
what
could be done. He and Madame Markova nursed Danina back from death to life, but she was still
extremely weak, so he took her off to Tsarskoe Selo to recuperate. And it was there that they fell
in
love.....
This tender love story is quite a tearjerker at times. Danina is torn between her love for Nikolai
and
her love for the ballet. Nikolai is torn between his love for Danina and his duty to the royal family.
Danina has Madame Markova to worry about as well, and Nikolai's wife refuses to give him a
divorce. And then, of course, there is the war and the rumors of a coming revolution.
Steel handles all of this with great skill in a very readable book. At all times, she keeps her focus
on
the two main characters and their problems. Everyone else is part of the supporting cast, including
the Czar and Czarina, whose real names are never used. And although the war and the revolution
are
both part of the story, they, too, are kept in the background as if they were just stage props.
Danina and Nikolai are happiest when they are away from the cares of the world at Tsarskoe
Selo.
The scenes are so idyllic, It's as if they are living in another world. But when Danina goes back to
Maryinsky, reality sets in and they wonder if they'll ever be able to have the kind of life they really
want. Granny Dan recounts their struggle to hold onto each other and their dreams as long as
possible in an uncertain world.
The Fortunate Four & Other Journeys of the Heart
Joy Kuby
Beaver's Pond Press, Inc.
7104 Ohms Lane, Suite 216, Edina, MN 55439
www.BeaversPondPress.com
1592980074 $17.95 1-952-829-8818
Robert O. Barclay
Reviewer
The Fortunate Four begins with a story of four young women who make an eight thousand mile
trip
cross country in the Summer of 1935. They were all students at Hamline College in St. Paul and
thanks to the generosity of a wealthy benefactor they were able to travel by car from the twin
cities,
up to Duluth, north along the lakes into Quebec to visit Niagara Falls. Then onward to Maine,
New
Hampshire, Massachusetts, down to Cape Cod and the Islands, then to New York City, along the
east coast to Atlantic City and Washington DC and finally westward again back to
Minneapolis--arriving home on September 1, 1935.
They were allowed $2.50 per day per person, plus $2.50 per day for their car. This was a
wonderful
adventure for these young girls at a time when long distance driving was fraught with peril. The
author, Joy Kuby, has included many excerpts from a journal that was kept by Annette. All the
girls
were required to keep a journal, by Annette seems to be the only one who could find hers. The
entries were simple and straightforward, but Annete's clear writng brings the time and events to
life.
This first segment is the longest in the book, about sixty-five pages and because of the warmth
and
the richness of detail it is the best.
This is a collection of memoirs, reminiscences from the past; love lost and found; about a
generation
left behind, that suddenly has become very important to us. I admire the author for taking the time
to
go out and interview all these women and then to record their varied and sundry stories. She has
saved something that needed saving before it was lost forever. Many of these women have already
left us for that other place, that paradise of peace and rest that we hope will one day be our own
reward for a life well-lived.
There is a touching account of two young peolple, Donna Woods and Emil Grinvalds (a Latvian
Displaced Person) who meet and fall in love in a sanatorium during the early 50's; that's what they
called hospitals that treated patients who had Tuberculosis. Later, after they had both recovered,
they traveled to New York City to be married on television. A friend had helped them to apply as
guests on "The Bride and Groom Show".
Joy Kuby includes the story of Clarice "Chris" Matteson, who starts her young life in the
Hollywood
hills, grows up to hobnob with Hollywood's elite, then goes on to become a famous artist whose
work is shown in the rotunda of the Minnesota State Capitol and is hung in the Governor's
Mansion.
Not all the stories are so grand nor the people so famous, but each gives their own special
account
of hardship and courage. And we do need, especially in this world that is torn by political division,
civil war, and terrorism, to make a connection with the past if we are to have any hope for the
future.
There were a few places where I thought the reporter (Joy Kuby) could have done more
reporting.
Some of the stories seemed to abbreviate and condense the history of the woman she was
interviewing and I found myself wanting to ask questions that she didn't ask. Nevertheless, this is
a
worthy endeavor and if the reader has any interest in the past, in reading about what life used to
be,
in coming to an understanding of what we have gained and what we have lost through the advent
of
modern technology, then by all means check this one out.
Most books seem to need a rating: good, or great, or excellent. That doesn't fit here. We're
talking
about real people and real lives; some were filled with the kind of adventure that only a few of us
get
to enjoy, others were less exciting, but somehow just as important. How do you rate that sort of
thing?
Let me include one excerpt. Part of a letter written long ago by Chloe Hulbert to her husband
Bud.
"Dear Bud,
I remember the long stream of cars that flowed around Lake Calhoun and the colored lights that
played on the fountains and the way the lamps looked against the trees at the side of the lake. I
remember sitting with you on the benches and kissing and stopping on the path to kiss . . . and
kissing again in the dark under the trees.
I remember the sweet smell of flowering bushes, the smell of the lake, and the smell of the rain. I
remeber how we walked in the rain until we were sopping wet and your Aunt Lizzie peering at us
out of a closed car . . . . ."
If this is the kind of reading that you enjoy then by all means add "The Fortunate Four to your
reading list.
Christina's Bookshelf
Childhood: It Shouldn't Hurt
Claire R. Reeves, C.C.D.C.
LTI Publishing, Inc.
Huntersville, NC
ISBN 0974304808 $21.95 146 pgs
In the short span of a few hours, readers can understand child abuse a lot better than it was
understood before. They can accomplish this by reading this book.
In Childhood: It Shouldn't Hurt; Claire Reeves shares with readers her findings on this fate, which
sometimes seems a kind of death that many children in the past, and unfortunately the present,
have
endured. She also tells what some groups of people are trying to do to help and what others can
do
to help extinguish this form of terrorism among children.
Beginning with a page entitled "The Inalienable Rights of Children;" Claire word paints a
descriptive
scene, which is all too common an event in an abused child's life. The abusing father getting into
bed
with the child. Ugly to think about, and look at, we quickly find that Claire is bound and
determined
to tell us all about the victim's world.
Very unsettling are the statistics presented early in the book. When 80% of the mothers of incest
victims were victims themselves--it is time to take a close look at this growing problem and find
out
what we can do; as women, as mothers, as individuals, as a nation, to protect our children. With
this
read, Claire Reeves shares what she knows.
When A Child Discloses, shares basic information of how to handle it if a child discloses that s/he
is
being abused. Claire accurately relates that shock and denial are both common reactions to such a
disclosure, but the child must be believed. If unexplained physical changes have taken place, like
ongoing vaginal infections, sexually transmitted diseases, or vaginal scarring--these are red flags
to a
parent that abuse is probably taking place. As far as the silent child, "All you can do is wait until
the
child is ready to talk." Reeves says.
Case study citations are used to illustrate what has happened when a child disclosed abuse and
Claire
also tells readers who is molesting the children. Rather, she shares the characteristics of a molester
in
an easy to understand way. This is very important information to possess when we hug our
children
goodbye each morning and send them into the unknown.
Perhaps the best feature of this book is its readability. Reeves has gone out of her way to make
this
subject of interest to a general public which can absorb what she says. Very important when
considering books which are usually full of educated jargon not easily understood.
In a chapter entitled Letter from a Male Survivor, Donald D'Haene tells readers that abusers
thrive
on the belief that child molesting is normal and the victims are not. Survivors will know that this
thought is all too true and needs to be abolished. How? You may ask. Reading books like this can
change ideas.
Claire Reeves is a nationally recognized expert on incest and child abuse. She has received many
honors for her work including one from the mayor of Los Angeles for her work with children. In
1992, she founded MOTHERS AGAINST SEXUAL ABUSE (MASA) a nonprofit organization
dedicated to protecting children against sexual abuse. Childhood: It Shouldn't Hurt is only one of
Claire's contributions to helping.
Should you read this book? If you are concerned about children, have children or grandchildren,
work with children, have contact with children; I think you should. "Education is an enormous
part
of the answer (to this problem)," Claire says. Many will agree--she is right. Maybe someday
childhood won't hurt anyone.
A Job Ain't Nothing But Work
Emanuel Carpenter
PublishAmerica
PO Box 151, Frederick, MD 21705-0151
publishamerica.com
ISBN # 1413703232 $16.95 108 pages
When I sat down to read this book, I was not in the best of moods. My dog had just bitten me, as
he
ran away from home. My mail was continually being delivered to my nosey neighbors and lots of
other stuff was going wrong. To put it simply, things in life had not been going too well for me
and
my demeanor was sullen and depressed.
By the time I reached page 4 of this light-hearted commentary which discusses finding work,
losing
work and the things in between, I was almost busting a gut laughing.
Though Carpenter's writing style seems kind of raw, readers soon find that this is the charm of his
work. Carpenter can almost be seen standing before the reader, telling about experiences most of
us
have shared at least once. His flowing writing style is one envied by even the most seasoned
writers.
To sum up, Carpenter has found his writer's voice and it is loud, clear and hysterically funny!
Beginning with why a person may want to go job hunting, including an unusual take on at-home
work ads and other classifieds, Carpenter uses his sharp wit to take the reader through a variety of
hilarious experiences all connected with the thing most of us love to hate: Employment. Pointedly:
finding, working, and losing a job.
Even Stephen King should identify with the experience felt when Carpenter finally secures
employment. Upon being told that his smile would be changing soon, Carpenter shares, 'Suddenly,
I
heard voices from the movie Carrie echoing, 'They're all going to laugh at you.' A couple of weeks
later, I discovered she was absolutely right.'
One familiar inhabitant of the work place is Suzy. I think we all know a 'Suzy.' She is that very
open
coworker who gets other workers to do the heavy labor of the job so she doesn't have to.
'I've often wondered what kind of person has such a public life they can tell you their whole life's
story during an introduction without provocation,' Carpenter questions following his introduction
to
Suzy. 'I found my answer: a psycho.'
Readers will most likely see several characters they recognize in Carpenter's tales.
Doesn't everyone know a 'Caffeinated Cathy' at work?
Though most of us have seen this variety of personalities of the workplace, reading Carpenter's
take
on 'The Stalker,' 'The Loner,' and 'The Former Used Car Salesman Type,' gives readers a whole
new
perception.
A Job Ain't Nothin' But Work also addresses some of the common problems of being in a new
job.
Dealing with Bureaucracy is discussed as early as Chapter 2. Getting Fired and The Exit Interview
are dealt with in the last chapter here.
Where did Carpenter get all of his information? An air force veteran, Carpenter spent over 13
years
in customer service, software, sales, transportation, and logistics. As if that isn't enough, then
maybe
being a resident in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio has added to his inspiration.
Whatever the cause, the effect is a book that is funny and easy to read. Once you read it, you'll
want
to keep the book around for a quick cheer-up when needed. You will probably want the hard
copy
as well as the ebook. Carpenter is definitely a keeper.
Christina Kiplinger-Johns
Reviewer
Christy's Bookshelf
Death Gets A Time-out
Ayelet Waldman
Berkley Prime Crime
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
www.penguinputnam.com
ISBN: 0425190145 $22.95 1-212-366-2155
Ayelet Waldman is a graduate of Harvard Law School and former public defender. She resides
with
her husband, writer Michael Chabon, and their four children in Berkley, California, where she is a
stay-at-home mom. Death Gets a Time-Out is the fourth in her Mommy-Track Mystery series
featuring (no surprise) public defender turned stay-at-home mom Juliet Applebaum.
In this installment, protagonist Juliet Applebaum has begun working part-time as a private
investigator with her friend Al Hockey. Juliet's famous-actress friend Lilly Green corners her at a
banquet and hires her to investigate the case against her half-brother Jupiter Jones. Although
Jupiter's identity has been kept a secret from Lilly's public, he is now facing capital murder
charges
for allegedly killing his stepmother, Chloe Jones. Lilly's agenda is for Juliet to uncover mitigating
factors that will keep Jupiter from receiving the death penalty. As Juliet begins to explore Jupiter's
past, she discovers Jupiter's father is Polaris Jones, cult leader of a new-age religious group which
is
quickly becoming very powerful. Her investigation takes her to a rehabilitation center, where
Jupiter
met and became involved with the woman he would eventually be accused of murdering. When
Juliet learns that her friend Lilly had been accused as a child of fatally shooting her own mother,
she
begins to examine the case against her friend, in hopes of absolving Lilly of a murder that has
impacted on her psychological well-being throughout her life. Interwoven throughout the book is
Juliet's somewhat jumbled predominant life, that of wife and mother, and having to come to grips
with the fact that she is once more pregnant.
Death Gets a Time-Out offers the reader two distinct mysteries: who killed the wife of powerful
cult
leader Polaris Jones, as well as who was responsible for the fatal shooting of Lilly's mother when
Lilly was a small child. Neither mystery is too intricate or convoluted to figure out. The book
moves
at an easy pace and is one that mothers across the globe can easily identify with as Juliet tries to
balance her working life with her family life. Waldman is writing from a place of experience and
shows humor in getting her points across. The only disconcerting area is the protagonist's use of
alcoholic beverages while pregnant.
Every Secret Thing
Laura Lippman
William Morrow (an Imprint of Harper Collins Publisher)
10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022-5299
www.harpercollins.com
ISBN 0060506679 $24.95 1-212-207-7000
Author Laura Lippman, a former reporter for the Baltimore Sun, is best known for her Tess
Monaghan series, which has won the Anthony, Edgar, Shamus, Agatha, and Nero Wolfe Awards.
Lippman is also the recipient of the first Mayor's Prize for Literary Excellence where she resides
in
Baltimore, Maryland.
Every Secret Thing is Lippman's first standalone novel, a thriller dealing with children who
commit
crimes, the reasoning behind their criminal behavior, and the adults they ultimately become.
Alice Manning and Ronnie Fuller are convicted at the age of 11 of murdering a small child, who is
the granddaughter of a powerful black judge in their community. They are incarcerated in separate
juvenile facilities for seven years, then released with warnings to stay away from each other.
Ronnie,
who has always been looked upon as the "bad" girl, tries to engage herself in as normal a life as
she
can have. Alice, on the other hand, always considered the "good" girl who was simply following
Ronnie's lead, seems to be content to stay at home or take long, mysterious walks. Shortly after
their
return, small girls begin to disappear for short periods. When a young interracial girl is kidnapped,
the police begin to focus their investigation on Ronnie and Alice.
With the Tess Monaghan series, Lippman has become known for her witty dialogue and realistic
characters, but Every Secret Thing proves her ability to delve into more complex, darker
characters.
Her portrayal of Alice's mother is fascinating, as well as her depiction of the former, then present,
mental states of Alice and Ronnie. She weaves past with present as she tells the story of what
happened with the baby Alice and Ronnie are accused of murdering. A fascinating look at a dark
subject and a book which proves Laura Lippman is an author who herself stands out.
Ladies: A Conjecture Of Personalities
Feather Schwartz Foster
PublishAmerica
P.O. Box 151, Frederick, MD 21705-0151
www.publishamerica.com
ISBN 1592863612 $21.95 1-240-529-1031
Ladies: A Conjecture of Personalities by Feather Schwartz Foster weaves fiction with historical
fact
for a fresh look at those First Ladies who are not as well-known as the more recent,
much-written-about "modern" First Ladies, from Jackie Kennedy forward.
The book begins with this country's very first First Lady, Martha Washington, wife of George
Washington, and ends with Mamie Eisenhower, who was married to Dwight Eisenhower, our
thirty-fourth President. Each First Lady is given her own chapter to write about herself and her
experiences while in the White House, with comments from other First Ladies colloquialized
throughout.
These First Ladies were as diverse physically as they were in regards to personality, and the vast
majority were intelligent, articulate women possessing great insight. It is interesting to note the
steady idealistic progression of women throughout our history, as seen through the eyes of these
First Ladies. Their differing views regarding slavery, suffrage, temperance, fidelity, and a woman's
role in the workforce are fascinating to read. Most of the First Ladies were very much in love
with
their husbands, although there were some who were not so enamored. Even though many of these
women enjoyed their days in the White House, there were those who abhorred it. Some wished to
stand apart and be remembered, while others desired only to return to what they considered their
real home life. The conversations among the ladies are interesting and fun to read, especially the
snippets between Abigail Adams and her daughter-in-law Louisa Adams, and Mary Lincoln and
Julia
Grant.
The only constant between this steady flow of women is that they were married to Presidents of
the
United States. It appears that more than a few were from the state of Ohio and that most of these
First Ladies outlived their husbands. The majority never dreamed they would one day inhabit the
White House, while there were some who strove to occupy that space.
An engaging, delightful read filled with historical facts and fun conversational tidbits among the
First
Ladies, such that at times, I felt as if I were in a room, listening to these women speak. This is a
grand concept by this author and a book I highly recommend to all readers, whether history buff
or
not.
Christy Tillery French
Reviewer
Daniel's Bookshelf
The Poetry of Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda
Edited and with an introduction by Ilan Stavans
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN 0374299951 $40.00
No living poet is as famous today as Pablo Neruda was in his lifetime. He was a world figure, as
famous as Robert Frost or T.S. Eliot, but with the added cachet in some circles of being a
politically
active man of the left. His poetry exerted an enormous influence throughout Latin America, and
he
remains beloved in his native Chile. We think we know him, with his sensuous songs of love, his
tender odes to the sea, his melancholy lyrics of loss, and his fiery political statements. But despite
its
popularity in this country, his work appeared here only in slim volumes or truncated collections
which provided mere snapshots of a larger, complicated life. Now, thirty years after his death, the
most comprehensive collection of his poetry is available in English. It brings us not only more of
the
poetry we know, but also previously unavailable material. We can appreciate his amazing
productivity and his willingness to experiment. We can follow his themes through the years, and
trace changes in his thinking. At nearly a thousand pages it shows us, like a crowded mural by
Diego
Rivera, a complete life.
The son of a railway engineer, Neruda wrote poetry from an early age and won prizes as a
teenager.
His first two books, self published and rather traditional, brought little attention from the public,
although they were well-crafted and polished. His third, Twenty Love Poems and a Song of
Despair
(1924), was considered unpublishable because of its frank celebration of sex. Only the
recommendation of one of Chile's most respected writers convinced a publisher to take it on.
Body of woman, white hills, white thighs, you look like the world in your posture of surrender.
My
savage peasant body digs through you and makes the son leap from the depth of the earth. (From
"Song I")
It caused a sensation, and made him famous at twenty.
The frank eroticism brought attention, but the books technical merits and emotional intimacy
made it
endure. Rimbaud and Baudelaire were strong influences, but Neruda's voice rang out clear. His
striking images capture the ecstasies and torments of young love. Looking back, we can see the
melancholy that followed him throughout his life, and the familiar themes, such as sex as a way to
unite with the earth, and love as a salvation from isolation. Twenty Poems remains his most
beloved
book; its sales reached one million in 1961.
Famous, but poor, he entered avant-garde literary circles in Santiago, where he could be easily
identified on the streets by his cape and wide-brimmed hat the very image of the poet. Seeking
adventure, he wangled an Honorary Consulship in Rangoon. Surrounded by foreign languages
and
an alien culture, without a literary community, he was lonely and disoriented, there, and at his
later
postings in Asia. "I learned what true loneliness was," he wrote. "Solitude, in this case, was not a
formula for building up a writing mood but something as hard as a prison wall; you could smash
your head against the wall and nobody came, no matter how you screamed or wept."
Neruda turned inward. His poems from this time, which were published as Residence on Earth
(1933), are pessimistic, filled with themes of alienation and isolation, haunted by death. They
contain
the nascent existentialism of that era. One can hear the inner dialogue of a man who is being
driven
deep within himself by a chaotic and absurd world. Nature is destructive, and sex is
depersonalized
and futile. The objects of mankind disgust him.
I happen to be tired of being a man.
I happen to enter tailorshops and moviehouses
withered, impenetrable, like a felt swan
navigating in a water of sources and ashes.
The smell of barbershops makes me wail.
I want only a respite of stones or wool,
I want only not to see establishments or gardens,
or merchandise, or eyeglasses, or elevators.
I happen to be tired of my feet and my nails
and my hair and my shadow.
I happen to be tired of being a man.
(From "Walking Around")
With the publication of Residence his name began to be known internationally, especially in the
Spanish-speaking world.
Salvation came in 1934, when he was posted to Spain. Welcomed by the literary community,
surrounded by the Spanish language, Neruda was once again in his element. However, his
happiness
was not to last. In 1936 General Franco launched the civil war. Neruda watched the bombardment
of Madrid, and lost his friend, the poet Federico Garcia Lorca, to Nationalist assassins. Politically
inactive before the war, Neruda committed himself to the Republican cause in the war's first
months.
He worked so strenuously for the Republic that Chile, officially neutral in the conflict, removed
him
from Spain.
Neruda wanted to put his gifts at the service of his politics. No longer would he scrutinize his
private
experiences of life's bitterness. The cause needed stirring and optimistic exhortations to fight. A
change in politics demanded a change in style. His poems would be addressed to the masses, and
therefore had to be simple and direct.
Madrid, alone and solemn, July surprised you with your joy
of humble honeycomb: bright was your street,
bright was your dream.
A black vomit
of generals, a wave
of rabid cassocks
poured between your knees
their swampy waters, their rivers of spittle.
(From "Madrid, 1936")
Many of his poems about Spain are moving, whether they are elegies or fierce attacks, but many
are
propaganda pieces that have lost any power they may have had.
Neruda had called himself an anarchist since adolescence. Spain changed him, and in 1945 he
declared himself a militant Communist. He publicly denounced his earlier, personal poetry. In
1948
Chile's President Gonzlez Videla banned the Communist Party and ordered the arrest of Neruda.
The poet who had represented Chile abroad for over ten years went into hiding in his own
country,
moving from house to house. Choosing exile, he left Chile on horseback. Staying off the trails, he
and his companions made the difficult journey through forests and rough terrain, up into the
snowy
Andes, into Argentina and freedom.
Canto general (1950) is a history of Latin America done in epic poetry, at times lyrical, at times
plain
spoken. It moves from prehistory through the Spanish Conquest, the revolutions and tyrants, into
the twentieth century. Much of it is polemical. The combination of plain language and history
filtered
through ideology is soporific, and the reader longs for some good old decadent Symbolism or
Surrealism to come to the rescue. But at times the poem does have a grand sweep, and a
cumulative
power that makes it one of his outstanding works.
Before the wig and the dress coat
there were rivers, arterial rivers:
there were cordilleras, jagged waves where
the condor and the snow seemed immutable:
there was dampness and dense growth, the thunder
as yet unnamed, the planetary pampas.
Man was dust, earthen vase, an eyelid
of tremulous loam, the shape of clay
he was Carib jug, Chibcha stone,
imperial cup of Araucanian silica.
Tender and bloody was he, but on the grip
of his weapon of moist flint,
the initials of the earth were
written.
(From "Amor America, 1400")
Chile issued an amnesty for Neruda in 1950. Upon his return, his poetry changed once again. The
epic vision of Canto general was replaced by odes to the plainest objects of daily life, a bicycle, an
apple, a pair of socks, once again in the plain style meant for the proletariat. (He once said that
the
greatest poet is the local baker.) Some of it is delightful:
I
turn
its
pages:
caporal,
capote,
what a marvel
to pronounce these plosive
syllables,
and further on,
capsule,
unfilled, awaiting ambrosia or oil
and others,
capsicum, caption, capture,
comparison, capricorn,
words
as slippery as smooth grapes,
words exploding in the light
like dormant seeds waiting
in the vaults of vocabulary,
alive again and giving life:
once again the heart distills them.
(From "Ode to the Dictionary")
Unlike Robert Frost, who married simple phrases to sophisticated thinking, Neruda combined
simple
phrases with simple ideas, and this airy style, although lovely, can become tedious in large
quantities.
Readers responded with enthusiasm however, and Neruda published four volumes of odes during
the
fifties.
In his last twenty years he produced an astonishing amount of work, much of it love poetry
inspired
by his passion for his third wife, Matilde Urrutia (his first two marriages ended in divorce). This
collection allows us to follow the evolution of his romantic sensibility over five decades. Whereas
the young poet described an adolescent, tremulous experience of romance, the older poet
possesses
a more mature love. In The Captain's Verses (1952), One Hundred Love Sonnets (1959) and
Barcarole (1967), happiness is not fleeting, but sustained. He appreciates, without fear of loss, the
shared love and sensuality that joins him to the earth and gives meaning to the world.
Today the tempestuous sea
lifted us in a kiss
so high that we trembled
in the flash of lightning
and, tied together, descended
and submerged without unraveling.
Today our bodies became immense,
they grew up to the edge of the world
and rolled melting themselves
into one single drop
of wax or meteor.
A new door opened between you and me
and someone, still without a face,
was waiting for us there.
(From "September 8" in The Captain's Verses)
In these years, Neruda wrote poignantly of aging and of his past. The theme of alienation,
self-censored in the forties, returned. He also wrote of his estrangement from people. The poet is
by
nature separate from others, he felt. Criticism of his political poetry and his wealth stung, and
further
alienated him. At times he felt embarrassed to be a poet surrounded by people who make useful
things. "I feel the world never belonged to me I was a child of the moon."
But in his poems from the fifties and sixties, solitude is no longer unbearable. He has a lovely
wife,
and a beach house where he draws solace from the sea. Death waits on the horizon, but only as
the
final, long-sought union with nature. These poems have an atmosphere of stillness and
contemplation, especially in contrast to the turbulence of his youth. It is as if he is settling into
himself as just a man, not a famous poet.
In 1970 Neruda was diagnosed with cancer, which surgeries failed to remove entirely. The last
three
years of his life were marked by official honors, the Nobel Prize, and an Ambassadorship to Paris,
but also by declining health, which isolated him from public life and eventually confined him to his
bed. Pinochet's coup d'etat on September 11, 1973 sent his health into sharp decline, and he died
twelve days later.
Time has revealed a dark side to Neruda's work. Some of his overtly political poems express a
bloodthirsty desire for vengeance. Some readers may not appreciate the un-feminist tone to his
poems. Women are often symbolic vehicles for the poet's salvation and self-discovery. But a large
quantity of great work overshadows these drawbacks. There is so much good material that an
editor
must make difficult choices. Ilan Stavans has done a Herculean job, combing through all previous
translations, occasionally presenting an alternate one, often including the original Spanish. In
addition, he invited several prominent poets to contribute new translations. But it is hard to justify
the expense of nine pages for an anti-Nixon tract when an early book, Venture of the Infinite Man
(1924), whose importance Neruda always stressed, is omitted.
In his willingness to experiment and change styles repeatedly, and in the way in which these
changes
released a flood of new work, Neruda resembled no one so much as Picasso. Contrary to what he
believed, the more personal he wrote, the more people he reached. He considered himself
primarily a
love poet, and readers will be reaffirming that assessment for some time to come. Who could
resist:
My words rained over you, stroking you.
A long time I have loved the sunned mother-of-pearl of your body.
I go so far as to think that you own the universe.
I will bring you happy flowers from the mountains, bluebells,
dark hazels, and rustic baskets of kisses.
I want
to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees.
(From "Song XIV" in Twenty Poems and a Song of Despair)
Daniel Chouinard
Reviewer
Diana's Bookshelf
I.M. Internet Message
Stephanie Simpson-Woods
PublishAmerica
PO Box 151, Frederick, MD 21705-0151
www.publishamerica.com
ISBN # 1413702287 $19.95
Since it's advent, the Internet has linked people to all manner of things; information on just about
every topic you can think of, buying and selling all types of wares, both legal and otherwise, and
talking to people all over the world spontaneously using what are called I.M.'s, or Instant
Messaging. However, in Stephanie Simpson-Woods debut novel, I.M., the Internet, is used in a
unique way-as a means to fulfill a destiny.
Lily Wagoner is haunted in her sleep by dreams that are gradually growing increasingly intense,
displaying a dark and frightening figure. By nature she is a loner and using the Internet as a means
to
try to exorcise the darkness of her mind, she finds a friend, Tristan, a seemingly kindred spirit, and
soon spends what free time she has online chatting with her new pal. The bond she develops with
him over several months of correspondence is strong, and she is excited and pleased that they
arrange for a get-together, and for it to happen soon. In a cunning manner, she gets her friends to
chaperone her rendezvous without them even being aware that she is, in actuality, going out for
the
sole purpose of meeting this stranger who she became so attached to.
More than just the bonds of friendship however draw Tristan to her, for he is more than he
appears.
After he finally meets her, he knows that he will fulfill both her own destiny and help him to fulfill
the promise he made to her dying mother. She is his and nothing will get in his way as he claims
her
and her soul, making her into a child of the darkness, a vampire like himself.
There is so much more at work here than what your initial thought might be as you read this
captivating story. Once she invites Tristan into her world, her friends begin to disappear at an
alarming rate and things really heat up. Eventually, her father is brought into the mix, being forced
to
face some old ghosts of his own as he tries to solve this puzzle before it is too late for his
daughter.
I.M. is a modern vampire tale without the weigh of myth exploration as is so often the case today.
The author has cut through all of the excess to bring to you a delightfully dark, highly entertaining
tale of sinister destiny. This is the kind of novel that grips you from the first word and takes you
for
a fast paced ride, dropping you breathless and full of wonder at the conclusion. The
characterization
is superb, with perfect detailing provided to the supporting cast allowing you a full picture of not
only the main characters life, but every one around her as well. I should also add here that sexy
and
mysterious Tristan is my idea of a bad guy; Ms. Simpson-Woods sure knows how to make her
female readers tingle with delight. This is a novel for all lovers of horror, with plenty of death,
blood, betrayal, and evil to make us all smile a wicked little smile.
I give my highest complements to Stephanie Simpson-Woods for creating an interesting and
enjoyable vampire tale, which is not an easy task. Allot the time needed to fully become one with
this novel because it is most definitely a page-turner that you won't want to put down. After
reading
this, the next time I'm on line, I wont be as quick to click on the accept button when I get an
I.M.-unless it's Tristan that is.
Crescendo
L. Marie Wood
Publish America
PO Box 151, Frederick, MD 21705-0151
publishamerica.com
www.lmariewood.com
ISBN # 1592866689 $19.95
What exactly happens when a person loses their mind? When on the outside things seem normal
enough, your typical suburban lifestyle by all appearances; however, on the inside, darkness is
brewing a nasty treat. If you really want the answer, I invite you to look into the mind of James
Adams in the novel Crescendo.
In her debut novel, author L. Marie Wood allows her readers a close look at the struggles to stay
in
control of reality while his nightmares begin to take such a grip on him that he can hardly tell the
real
from unreal. His torment is so great, both mentally and physically, that as you read this gripping
work, your mind tries to solve the puzzle of just what exactly is going on. However, when you
think
you have it figured out, you'll be pleasantly surprised to find you are wrong.
Just what is the cause of his vivid dreams? Could it be the past coming back to haunt him? Is it the
guilt of his actions eating away at the very fiber of his life? It is when he starts to get close to
those
answers that Ms. Wood takes hold of the reader with such vivid details and drags them down
further
into the pit of horrors that has become Adams' life. His only grip on the real world is his wife
Andrea, but even that bond is threatened due to both his past actions and her growing concern for
the sanity of her husband.
The questions that will plague you as you read are ones sure to change your mind with each twist
and turn. Is he insane or are the dead really pulling him deeper into the bowls of hell?
At first the reader may be confused as they are introduced to the story via the deaths of some not
yet
explained characters and the haunted mind of James, but as they continue to read all is made clear
in
a delicious manner that turns into gripping storytelling.
This being a debut novel, I found myself quite impressed by the brush with which the setting is
painted, as well as of the character depth and readability. The attention to detail is outstanding
and
breathes life to the story with each passage. This is sure to be favorite among both lovers of
horror
and psychological thrillers alike.
Crescendo by L. Marie Wood is not for timid readers, or those that need held by the hand as they
delve into a story, which only adds to the enjoyment of the read. If you are up to the challenge
and
are willing to go where you have never been before as a reader, check out Crescendo, and be
prepared for a descent into the mind of madness.
Extremes 5
Brian Hopkins, editor
Lone Wolf Publications
13500 SE 79th St., Oklahoma City, OK 73150
www.lonewolfpubs.com
CD-Rom $17.95
Extremes 5 is an aptly named anthology featuring a wide gamut of stories which happen not only
at
extreme locations, but also carry your emotions from one extreme to another. All of the stories
selected by Editor Brian Hopkins work on not only the obvious superficial level of entertainment,
but also as triggers of deep thought. Not only that, but as with the other Lone Wolf products I
have
had the pleasure of viewing this too is loaded with extras offering a multimedia experience that is
not
available with a bound paper anthology. The following is a short rundown of the stories found in
Extremes 5.
The Cobia Kings, by M. W. Anderson, explores the lives of those lost at sea and so much more.
The
opening tale in this anthology is a multilevel exploration sure to raise questions in your mind,
creating a truly engaging journey for the reader.
Natural Order, by Jennifer Rachel Baumer, is a deeply moving tale told on many levels, of mythos,
real life and sacrifice, and sure to make you think twice about how you live your own life. Rarely
do
you find such power in a short story.
The Wind That Shakes the Barley, by Simon Bestwick, is a deeply disturbing tale filled with
wonderful imagery. The premise is integral to the enjoyment so I won't give away one bit;
however
suffice to say that it will most assuredly leave the reader with a chill and a sense of sadness.
Dagger in the Rain, by M. Lynn Booker, is a truly unique twist on curses and revenge. There is a
deep meaning to this tale, and the author has accomplished a great task in so few words, causing
the
reader to care for her characters in a strong and moving way.
Taghairm Close, by R. Michael Burns, examines the dangers of loving too much be it a person or
some other obsession. This is a very dark vivid tale, and truly disturbing. It is one of my personal
favorites in this astounding collection.
La Rage, by Marlissa Campbell, is a story of early rabies vaccinations and a perfect breading
ground
for implications and insinuations. Her style is so rich that it lends itself to total credibility and will
have readers tempted to pull out their history books. Kudos.
Descent of the Spirits, by Kristy Dark, is a story of love and death, mixed in a powerful and
disturbing combination. The author effortlessly whisks you away allowing you to view the events
unfold via the experiences of the main character, while wrapping you up totally in the
experience.
Ice Vermin, by James S. Dorr, explores extremes, in a delightful new way; and that is, when
exploring, one needs to remember this-no matter how cold and inhospitable the climate may be; it
is
always home to something. Not only is the story unique, but the telling of it is as well.
The Hags Picnic, by Paul Finch, is a beautiful but disturbing picture exploring suffering, and
proves
that when you think you have experienced the worst, there is still more to come. The narrative is
powerful and highly engaging.
Martyr's Music, by D.G.K. Goldberg, reveals the sad tragedy of a life unsung, and begs for the
reader to assess just what is important to them. This story reaches to the depths of your soul and
tugs with force.
These are the Moments I Live For, by Brian Hopkins, is written in a style that can be enjoyed as
both an entertaining tale or as an inspiration to think deeper. What is in a dream? What is in a life?
Profound piece of work.
Lifting the Veil, by Lisa Mantchev, proves in a chilling manner that nothing should be feared more
than a woman scorned. A truly delightfully dark tale that warmed my jaded heart.
Cable Street, by Simon Morden, is a story of what happens when we underestimate our enemies. I
especially enjoyed the characterization in this tale. The prose is engaging and action packed from
the
first word to the last.
Tinkle Tinkle Tiger Bells, by Julie Anna Parks, is a moving tale of the destiny of one's soul. Yet
another piece that takes place on both a superficial physical level and that of the soul.
Fall From Grace, by Chris Paul, is a search for answers to the age-old question, science or faith.
His
master craftsmanship of characters allowed my own heart to be burdened with the problems and
issues faced by his characters.
The Englishman, by Philip Robinson, drives home a point I have always stated; late night phone
calls
are never a good thing. This is a powerful tale of hate and insanity, which can be deciphered as
one,
the other, or both.
Cechas! by Judi Rohrig, speaks directly to the soul of readers. It tells of things lost and true empty
loneliness. The construction of words created an inescapable hold on my heart. Very nicely
crafted
story.
Honor, by Wrath James White, is just what the title says, a story about honor. Of course it is a
disturbing tale with a dark slant that gave me quit the chill. This was one that made me smile with
wicked delight.
The Laughing Place, by Dean Wild, reminds us that at times, even when otherwise tempted, it is
best
only to take pictures of things that interest us. The desperation in this story pulls you through to
the
breathtaking end.
More Than Words, by David Niall Wilson, closes the anthology with a truly deep and thought
provoking tale. What is in a word? A life? Or a soul for that matter? It has a compelling plot that
unfolds in an intriguing manner.
Art, by Keith Minnion, I found Keith's work to be a delightful treat, with a lot of range in his
talents,
from subtle to extreme. Snowman is one that I found extremely impressive. But by far my favorite
piece is the piece he did to accompany The Natural Order by Jennifer Rachael Baumer. Anyone
who
loves good art should give his website a browse, http://www.kminnion.com.
Fantasy and horror lovers alike will find the stories in this anthology to be so much more than
mere
entertainment. Kudos to Brian Hopkins for having selected such wonderful tales and to each of
the
contributors for their fine work. How soon until Extremes 6?
Dark Rhythms: A Collection
Steve Beai
Lone Wolf Publications
13500 SE 79th St., Oklahoma City, OK 73150
www.lonewolfpubs.com
CD-Rom $15.95
Dark Rhythms is a story collection on CD-Rom that shows how an author is capable of writing in
a
myriad of voices and tones. Creator Steve Beai has mastered the craft of writing so completely, so
effortlessly, that he can take his readers through all the ranges of emotion, from fear to laughter.
Reading this collection was like taking a moment to get to know the author and heightened by the
fact that if you take full advantage of the features available on the CD-Rom you can actually hear
Steve read the stories. Often as an author, I wonder if my inflections can be heard in my words.
This
wondering caused me to first read, and then listen to all of the stories; and as a master of words,
Steve managed to get both the inflection and tone in each of his stories with his written
word.
The stories that appear in the collection are the following:
Slipstream Season is one of those stories you read and think I wish I had written that. The
concept is
very original and the execution is superb. I am not going to begin to give away anything; I will
simply say this is one of the most fascinating short stories I have read to date.
Falling totally caught me off guard. This story of loss is told in such a moving and powerful
manner
that, as it nears the end, you will have to read as I did through the clouded view of tears filled
eyes.
The Scatterbrains is a delightful tale filled with poetic justice. The characters in this story come
alive
with the skillful talent of the authors' pen; making is a thoroughly engaging tale to the last
word.
The Midnight Sanctuary is spooky from start to finish. I thought I was reading just another tale of
love gone bad and was more than pleased as the layers of the story peeled back to revel I was so
very wrong.
The Virgin Method was an absolutely wonderful glimpse into he mind of a player, by that I mean
a
ladies man not a sports team member, full of rich detailed thoughts and experiences sure to make
every woman chuckle and every man cringe. The surprising element was that, the author still
managed to have me routing for Jim, the player, despite my feelings for his past actions.
The Mordant Theory of Bricklaying is yet another story in the collection where I was just blown
away as the tale unfolded in a way I never expected. The attention to character detail and subtle
nuance wraps the reader in the tale such that I am certain they will also be as pleasantly surprised
as
I.
Lundy's Lunch had me cracking up, but then I have been told I have a twisted sense of humor.
Nevertheless, I am sure this tale will be found by most to be dark satire at it's finest. This is
possibly
my favorite tale in the entire collection, bravo.
Who Wants To Be a Gizllionaire is not a story, but more of a skit play of silly television game
shows
that bombard the eyes of anyone not bright enough to turn off the TV, or at least change the
station.
Relax and enjoy the inescapable humor.
The Roach: again I am dazzled with the wit. However, perhaps there is a lesson to be learned
here.
We all know when we do things we shouldn't there are consequences. Okay that said; this story
was
plain and simple good fun-crafted as all the other tales to enable the reader's sheer enjoyment.
Memorial is first person narrative used in such a manner as to allow you insight into the mind of
the
speaker. It is hard to pull off first person but makes for a very spooky tale when done properly
and
this one was just that.
2000 Enemies is a unique telling of a vampire story. The author truly stretches his writing talents,
using excellent characterization and taking full advantage of the plot devices at his disposal, to
make
this a captivating and highly entertaining tale.
She Likes the Lights shows how a short tale can be just as engrossing as a longer one. There is
not a
word wasted in this story of the unanticipated. As mentioned in the introduction, and what is
perhaps the best compliment to a writer, I never saw it coming.
White Boy Blues takes regretting assumptions to a completely new level. Again, the author has
created a masterful tale full of charters that come to life, dragging you into their world and mind,
and taking you for a ride right through to the last period at the end of the last word in the last
sentence.
If you are looking to read a fresh voice, to have both the light and darkness meld perfectly, I must
recommend Dark Rhythms. Join Steve Beai as he tells you his tales; take the time to relax and
enjoy
each and every word.
I must also mention how Lone Wolf continues to impress me with both the talent of their authors,
as
well as the unique experience their products grant, which can't be found elsewhere. If you want to
enjoy the reading experience on a new level, no one can provide the full experience like Lone
Wolf.
Scarabus
Karen Koehler
Black Death Books
www.khpindustries.com
ISBN # 096792202X $18.00
What is it to truly be damned? Sadly, Scarabus or Tjanefer knows the answer. In her novel,
Scarabus, author Karen Koehler, takes the woefully overused 'damned immortal' storyline to a
new
level that is impressive in its freshness.
As Scarabus recounts what he is and how he became that way, the reader instantly falls in love
with
his charm and good looks; but he also quickly gains the empathy needed to allow them to still
love
him despite what he has to do, feeding on humans to sate the numbers within. He tells of how he
wasn't seeking immortality, nor power on any level; in fact, all he wanted was to paint tombs and
be
with his wife Miw. Playing on this devotion to his family, he is betrayed and forced to become this
creature, controlled by the hunger of what he is now made of.
As if his own damnation is not enough anguish, while he continues to seek out a way to undo
what
was done to him; his wife continues to be reincarnated. The love he feels for her makes it hard for
him to continue to end her torment, by killing her, each time he discovers her new
incarnation.
As the tale continues, the reader hopes along with him that as a collector, his next archeological
find
will hold the answer to his salvation, if such a thing is still possible, or at the very least allow him
to
live out this incarnation with Miw and finally find some rest for his soul.
Author Karen Koehler has a wonderful ability to make her readers feel what her characters are
going
through; coupled with the ability to paint a rich backdrop of both history and setting making her
story highly addictive. I look forward to reading more of her work.
Scarabus is the type of book that any reader can enjoy, since it is not stuck in one genre; there is
horror, but not drenched in gore, action and romance are perfectly balanced so neither
overshadows
the other. This, in my opinion, makes for a wonderful read; blending genres can lead to a
mismatch
when you attempt to read, but not under the skillful pen of Ms. Koehler. Scarabus has something
for
everyone, and you should check it out-and coming from this jaded horror reader, that is saying a
lot.
Diana Bennett
Reviewer
Fortenberry's Bookshelf
The Barefoot Fisherman
Paul Amdahl
Clearwater Publishing
P. O. Box 778, Broomfield, CO 80038-0778
ISBN: 0962781509 $14.95
Paul Amdahl has a unique ability. It's not that he's good at fishing, there is something more at
work
here. As his friend Jim Fay says in the introduction to The Barefoot Fisherman, "He knows how
to
think like a bug and think like a fish...." Its this unique ability that gives him an edge over the
usual
clod standing on the bank with a piece of stringed wood and a worm in his hand. One type knows
he
wants to fish and sometimes, accidentally, catches a few before the sun goes down. The other
type
knows fish, loves fish, and catches them like rain in a bucket. It seems to boil down, says this
book,
to something about your approach to the water. Amdahl knows fishing from the inside out and it
shows. He has tricks and techniques that work for all kinds of fish, in all kinds of waters, warm or
cold, river or ocean. Luckily, he's decided to share this talent with us all and produced a fun,
easy-to-read and easy-to-comprehend guide to fishing. I know the book says it is for kids, but
adults
can gain a lot from this book as well. Jim Fay made a salient point in the introduction when he
said,
"I kept wishing that he had written the book 50 years ago so the kid in me could have learned
from
this master fisherman." Well, mastery of anything takes a lifetime, and so now that Amdahl has
mastered the art, he is finally able to do just that, share it with the kids who will be tomorrow's
fishermen.
Amdahl has produced an amazingly concise guide to fishing. With fully illustrated chapters on
reels,
rods, line, tackle, lures, bait, fly fishing, and just about every type of fish worth catching, you can
see
he's covering the spectrum, yet he never bogs down. He breezes through these topics with tongue
firmly in cheek, giving us all the basics and insider knowledge only a master can glean, yet cuts
away
the dead wood, er, I mean fishheads, and accomplishes it all with dazzling flair in a mere 100
pages
or so. A perfect example of his wit is the deadpan delivery of "several things I've learned the hard
way" at the back of the book where he issues this commandment, "Don't ever step on wet rocks."
Seems that taking a hard fall off a rock into a river can, um, dampen "even the best day of
fishing."
Wisdom with a wink is just what kids love and the world needs more of. Laughter is good
medicine,
but even better is laughter from barefoot fishermen echoing along the shores of a beautiful lake or
river deep in the heart of nature. Now that's something to make even Thoreau want to take a walk
in
the woods. Amdahl casts a good book here and will snag many a reader. He's got a natural voice
and a God-given talent. Good thing he's sharing. Of course, reading this book makes us feel a
little
bit like old Stan, "...acting like a kid. He had his face pressed up against the glass of the car and
was
sort of making a whimpering noise, similar to a hungry dog." You see, Stan was eager to get to
his
secret spot, a fishing paradise. So, this book is a window to that secret spot that makes us slobber
up
the page wanting to get baited up. Thanks, Mr. Amdahl!
The Einstein Scrapbook
Ze'ev Rosenkranz
Johns Hopkins University Press
Baltimore, MD
[An earlier version of this book appeared as Albert Through the Looking Glass (Jewish National
&
University Library, Jerusalem, Israel, 1998)]
ISBN: 0801872030 $22.50
The Einstein Scrapbook is a brilliant book chronicling the life of a brilliant man. The production is
of
the highest order and each page of this beautifully bound "scrapbook" overflows with candid
personal and professional photographs, art, advertisements (such as one for Dry Sack sherry
showing a bottle of the product next to a picture of Einstein and the statement "Do one thing and
do
it well."), and reproductions of his writings (both typed and hand-written), letters (to and from
Einstein), and other mementos of an extraordinary life. We follow Einstein's development as
thinker
and common man, from his rough early years to his middle years of rising respect and escape from
war-torn Europe, and on into his later life of growing fame, fortune, and security. It is rather
unique
in that we have here a record of the development of a modern legend. Legends usually exist in and
of themselves, long after the actual events that spawn them, and hence seem to arise without roots
in
some cases and therefore emanate a ghostly unknowability that keeps it more mythic than real.
Think King Arthur and you see my fuzzy, romantic point. But here we have a life, fully
documented,
unfolding before us and evolving into a legend. As the book notes, Einstein has become "the
personification of supreme intellect, his name synonymous with genius." He is our culture's mythic
Thinker. Yet here we get a rare glimpse behind the curtain of myth to see the concrete man at its
foundation.
There are some very interesting moments captured here, many obvious or popularly recognized
with
others far off the beaten path and not generally known, that create a well-rounded and yet
sometimes bizarre portrait of one of our few modern legends. It is the best book of its kind I have
yet encountered. Einstein is an endlessly fascinating human being and this book does not fail to
live
up to the man. All bases are covered from his intellect to his romances to his other passions like
music and sailing. We have pictures of his family and friends and colleagues and rivals throughout
his life. We have letters from all sorts of people, many like the ones from Niels Bohr (with their
friendly rivalry over quantum mechanics which Einstein dismissed with his dictum, "God does not
play dice," to which Bohr responded "Stop telling God what to do.") or from Sigmud Freud
(expressing their thoughts on international peace -- not utopian dreams but concrete potentialities
involving cultural revision via schools, churches, and presses) are shown in the original languages
and translated. We have a look at his mythic status and his later use (appropriate or not) in all
ways
or forms, from scholarly debates to advertising to humor. We have, basically, details of all types
from Einstein's birth until his last will and testament. Something like a prism, this book refracts the
light of his life into a million parts so that we can behold all the myriad colors or facets of this
brilliant man's character. It is marvelous and breathtaking to behold from all its angles. We know
and
feel, page after page, that we are in the presence of a great man.
Somehow this scrapbook manages to be extremely thorough, yet thrifty and succinct at the same
time. All this crammed into only 200 pages? I applaud what Rosenkranz has accomplished: the
almost impossible task of capturing the entirety of a giant of a man who is both real and
abstraction,
a thinking man who moves beyond flesh and has become a concept unto himself. In its way, this
book is as simple an equation as Einstein's great E=mc2. Of course it is only simple after the fact
when we all nod gravely and say, "But of course!" How in the world Rosenkranz captured this
wild
and complex matrix of mind and matter in motion so completely between the quaint old covers of
a
book is just beyond comprehension. I give this book highest marks on my Must Read It, Own It
scale.
Thomas Fortenberry
Reviewer
Gorden's Bookshelf
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
J. K. Rowling
Scholastic Press
557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012
ISBN : 043935806X $29.99 870 pages
By now everyone knows that 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix' is the fifth installment in
Rowling's seven book series. The books have been consistent. In many ways the series is one
story
with the books being a division of a single year in the life of Harry Potter. Rowling is a great
storyteller and a good writer. The books are filled with characters you care about and details you
recognize. Everyone knows about the bullies, clumsy kids, the smart ones, the 'in' crowd, the
cliques, the other students, and the teachers. Everyone even knows about life and death. Rowling
uses what we know and takes us to a fantasy world where the good and evil are known and good
has the chance to stop the greatest evil.
Harry Potter is spending a miserable summer with his Aunt and Uncle at number 4 Privet Drive,
when both he and his cousin Dudley are attacked by dementors. He drives them off but the
Ministry
of Magic threatens to expel him from Hogwarts for using magic outside of school. The Ministry is
in
a fight to get rid of Dumbledore and is using Harry as pawn. Meanwhile, Harry and Dumbledore
are
involved in the true fight against the evil Voldemort. Everything you have loved about the four
previous novels is here, the fight against heavy odds, the exploration of a fantasy world that is
new
but filled with things you know, and the final battle where Harry and his friends overcome but
don't
win.
'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix' is a fantasy story for everyone. It is escapism that has
more about life and living than what we find around us. The biggest problem with the novel is that
we have to wait a few more years for the final two books to be written in the series.
'Lara Croft Tomb Raider The Cradle of Life'
Dave Stern
Pocket Star Books
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
ISBN: 074347709X $6.99
'The Cradle of Life' is a better novel than the first Lara Croft 'Tomb Raider'. The story is less busy
with a powerful fast paced storyline. Except for requiring a little pre-knowledge of the characters,
this story can easily stand as it is in the fantasy/action genre.
Lara is recovering from her last adventure when Bryce interrupts her with a satellite photo. An
earthquake near Santorini, a volcanic island between Athens and Crete, has brought to the surface
of
the sea a wooden object engraved with the eight pointed star of Alexander the Great. Lara thinks
she has found the location of the Luna Temple of Alexander. She leaves to find the temple and
runs
right into thieves, murders, terrorists, and traitors. The race is on to find Pandora's Box before
someone else opens it releasing a plague that could destroy most of the world.
'Lara Croft Tomb Raider The Cradle of Life' is a pleasant surprise. It is one of the best
fantasy/action
novels of the year. Cussler's Dirk Pitt has met his match.
2nd Chance
James Patterson with Andrew Gross
Warner Books, Inc.
1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
ISBN: 0446612790 $7.99 400 pages
'2nd Chance' is a good sequel to '1st to Die'. The story is a little smoother but the cast of
characters
and plot are familiar enough that the story that has a little less spark than the first one.
An eleven year old girl is shot down in a hail of bullets in front of a church. Everyone assumes
that
the murder is racially motivated but nearly immediately homicide inspector Lindsay Boxer senses
that there is more to the killing. Lindsay must fight the politicians, the FBI, and the misleading
clues
left by the killer to stop him. She goes for help to the Women's Murder Club. Unwittingly, she
makes her friends targets of the killer.
'2nd Chance' is a strong detective mystery and is well worth reading. Patterson and Gross have
started a series of novels that the detective mystery reader needs to watch for.
S. A. Gorden, Reviewer
http://www.paulbunyan.net/users/gsirvio/content.html
Harwood's Bookshelf
Treatise on the Gods, Second edition
H. L. Mencken
Random House
available new or used from Amazon.com
080185654X $19.95
"The ancient and curious thing called religion, as it shows itself in the modern world, is often so
overladen with excrescences that its fundamental nature tends to be obscured. When we hear of it
in
everyday life, it is usually in connection with some grandiose pretension by its priests or
practitioners
or some unseemly scandal among them, religious only by courtesy." (p. 3) "In its pure and simple
form religion is not often encountered today. It is almost as rare, indeed, as pure democracy or
pure
reason." (p. 5) "It is highly probable, indeed, that the first priest appeared in the world
simultaneously with the first religion; nay, that he actually invented it." (p. 11) "The common
people
have always rejoiced over a show of piety in their rulers; it flatters them to have a sign that the
inferiority they must suffer on this earth has its compensation in equality before God." (p.25)
"That
is the hallmark of a priest to this day; he has a god working for him." (p. 34) "There is every
reason
for believing that this emergence of the priest as infallible law-giver goes back to the earliest days
of
religion." (p. 35)
Before anyone asks, "So what else is new?" let me point out that Mencken published the
foregoing
in 1930, when the promulgation of pseudoscience, hypocrisy and power-lust posing as religion
was
as prevalent as it is today, but far less widely recognized. Mencken was an innovator whose
willingness to be seen as a one-eyed man in the country of the blind set the precedent for literally
thousand of later writers whose definitive falsifications of every element of religion are no further
away from anyone in the western world than the nearest university library.
"So far I have said nothing whatever about the soul, nor about the theological theory, so familiar
to
modern man, that it never dies, but goes on serenely after the death of its owner, maybe in
Heaven,
maybe in Hell, and maybe lingering somewhere between. The omission has not been accidental
but
deliberate, for I can find no reason to believe that early man had any conception of such an
entity."
(pp. 36-7)
Today we know that the ancient Jews had no "soul" or "afterlife" concept until sometime after the
Babylonian Captivity. But for Mencken to separate "soul" from religion in 1930 was innovative
and
even daring. It would be unrealistic to say that without him, scholarship would not be where it is
today. But he set the precedent of "telling it like it is," and while critical analysis of religious
documents can still be labeled as "heresy" or "blasphemy" by the Sky Fhrer's most braindead
sycophants, the general public accepts even scholarship that tells them things they do not want to
know as a legitimate activity. At least to some degree Mencken (and Clarence Darrow of
"monkey
trial" fame) can be given credit for that evolution in human thought.
Mencken was one of the first writers to show that the "all gods are the same god" dogma requires
intensive self-brainwashing: "The God of the Episcopalians is an elderly British peer, courtly in
manner, somewhat beefy, and, in New York, vaguely Jewish. The God of the Mormons shaves his
upper lip, and believes in large families and a protective tariff. The God of the Methodists is an
agent
provocateur, forever fingering His pad of blank warrants. The God of the Baptists is amphibious,
and, in some of His aspects, almost identical with the Neptune [actually Poseidon] of the Greeks."
(p. 55) "When a Georgia Baptist drops ten cents into the plate of a touring rhetorician for the
Foreign Missions Board, it is not primarily because he yearns to save the Chinese from Hell, but
because he likes to dwell upon the fact that his own god is much more potent and respectable than
the Chinese gods." (p. 58) Perhaps out of prudence, given the necessity of placating his publisher,
Mencken did not point out that only the Christian god has three heads.
"The earliest records of all the historical peoples, from the Sumerians to the Celts, are full of
references to this Earth Mother, and she survives among savages today, and even in Christendom.
The Virgin Mary, in all probability, descends from her, for in very remote times she was already
looked upon as the mother of the other gods." (p. 61)
While Mencken did not identify any specific society as "savages," the very use of such a word
denotes a degree of cultural prejudice, as does his reference to "semi-civilized Hindus." (p. 59)
And
there is no lack of evidence in many of his writings of what is now termed anti-Semitism.
Fortunately, we no longer demand perfection from critics of religion, any more than we expect it
from politicians and other manipulators of the masses.
Historians certainly preempted him. But Mencken may have been the first writer to convey to a
mass
audience the reason God the Father replaced Goddess the Mother as humankind's presiding deity,
and fathers replaced mothers as family despots: "the greatest single discovery ever made by man,
to
wit, the discovery that babies have human fathers, and are not put into their mother's bodies by
the
gods . Primitive society, like many savage societies of our own time, was probably strictly
matriarchal . Man's view of the entire cosmic process changed as his view of the process of life
changed. He needed a new god to mirror his new sense of importance." (pp. 71-75)
Mencken goes on to describe the evolution of religion, in chapters titled "Its Evolution," "Its
Varieties," "Its Christian Form," and "Its State Today." He offers a reason why priests and other
professional pushers of god mythology respond to the discoveries of scientists and non-dogmatic
biblical scholars "by denouncing the proponents of the new spirit as no more than priests of a new
and heathenish cult . Science, we are told, has become a religion on its own account, with a
theology like any other." (p. 255) His explanation for incurable believers shutting out scientific
reality accepted even by an overwhelming majority of theists is, "In part, I suspect, it is simply
cowardice . Everyone can recall Presidents who carried the appetites and attitudes of the village
grocery-store or the small-town lodge of Elks into the White House." (p. 256) Again: So what
else
is new?
Mencken had no patience with the pathetic rationalizers whose delusion that reality and
superstition
could both be true was in recent times carried to its ultimate absurdity in Stephen J. Gould's
imbecilic Non-Overlapping Magisteria theory. Even seventy years ago, Mencken recognized that,
"The truth is that every priest who really understands the nature of his business is well aware that
science is its natural and implacable enemy." (p.257)
And so says every person with a functioning human brain.
Elmer Gantry
Sinclair Lewis
available new or used from Barnes and Noble
0451522516 $7.95
The timing of Elmer Gantry (1927) is consistent with its being a fictionalization of the careers of
Billy Sunday and Aimee Semple McPherson. But parallels with real-world history played little
part
in the book's success. At a time when a large majority of believers were repulsed by the antics of
flamboyant "hot gospel" evangelists, Elmer Gantry touched a lot of receptive nerves. If
McPherson
was the archetypal sucker-fleecing hypocrite on the "pin your contribution to the curtain and
you'll
be cured" faithhealing circuit, there were also plenty of others. And if McPherson did not suffer
the
fate of Sharon Falconer, a lot of moderate worshippers believed she deserved to do so.
When the movie, Elmer Gantry, was released, the suggestion was raised that Gantry was modeled
after Billy Graham. Since Graham was still a child when the book was written, the suggestion was
nonsense, but it probably sold a lot of tickets.
Ultimately, the identification of Gantry and Falconer as real people is peripheral, even irrelevant,
to
the book's appeal. Lewis portrayed barnstorming preachers as lying humbugs, and every time a
Jimmy Swaggart or a Jim Bakker is exposed as exactly that, persons tempted to write a book on
such a subject are faced with the reality that it has already been done incomparably. While Lewis
portrayed all religion as something less than a force for good, he did so in a low-key manner that
had
moderate believers rationalizing that the book's target was only extremist, flamboyant religions,
not
their own conservative sects. Lewis won a Nobel Prize for his literature, and Elmer Gantry leaves
little doubt that it was well deserved.
Judas, My Brother
Frank Yerby
available new or used from Barnes and Noble
0440142903 $TBA
Apart from Uncle Yeshu, Messiah, on which I cannot comment, since self-praise is not a reliable
recommendation, Judas My Brother is the only novel about Jesus the Nazirite that can be
recommended for its accurate depiction of the social conditions under which Jesus lived and died,
and for its artistic merit. The scene in which Jesus stands upright on a floating outhouse door,
giving
watchers the impression that he is walking on water, can be excused on the ground that, in a
historical novel, anything that conceivably could have happened is legitimate. And while the
equivalent scene was the closest the gospel author dared come to having Jesus emulate Joshua's
parting of the Jordan River, it nonetheless could have happened the way Yerby described.
Yerby depicts Judas the Sicarius ("daggerman") as the victim of bad press, and credits him with
noble motives for doing what the Christian gospels say he did. Yerby either was unaware, or did
not
agree, that the author of Mark invented Judas's betrayal for the purpose of convincing Vespasian
that the terrorist among Jesus' lieutenants was "really" Jesus' enemy and had ultimately betrayed
him.
The novel is not completely free from superstition. In what I can only interpret as an endorsement
of
astrology, Yerby's narrator reads Jesus' horoscope and tells him that he is destined to become the
greatest criminal in human history, with temples erected in his name, graven images made in his
likeness, and himself elevated to the status of a pagan god. He also tells him that his people,
meaning
the Jews, will one day "die in the chambers of the choking smoke." Was there no way, other than
by
validating astrology or "prophecy," that Yerby could have portrayed Jesus as the ultimate cause of
the atrocities committed in his name? Perhaps not. But the imperfections are minor. Judas My
Brother is good history and excellent storytelling.
We of the Never Never and The Little Black Princess
Jennie Gunn
available new or used from Barnes and Noble
$TBA
When author Jennie Gunn wondered why Bett-Bett "shutim eye quickfella" in the presence of her
uncle Goggle-eye, Bett-Bett explained, "Him little bit father belong me." In the 1920s that was as
close as Gunn dared come in print to acknowledging that, among the Aboriginal tribe on her
husband's acreage, a wife was automatically sexually available to all of her husband's male
relatives.
By Gunn's time, the fact that a child had only a single father was known. The "little bit father"
status
of all of her mother's intimates was a holdover from a much earlier time when it was still believed
that children were jointly fathered by every man who had deposited his sperm into the child's
mother.
The social conditions described in We of the Never Never no longer exist. The book is as useful a
source for a period of Australian history as is The Grapes of Wrath for American history, even if
Gunn is no John Steinbeck.
Stranger in a Strange Land
Robert Heinlein
available new or used from Barnes and Noble
0441790348 $7.99
Michael Smith was born on Mars to human parents, and after all of the other humans died he was
raised by Martians for twenty years before being returned to his home planet. And because Mike
was able to recognize what he found here as less than ideal, the reader is enabled to see it as
perhaps
he has never seen it before.
There is no more effective way to view the insanity of this planet's anti-sexual culture than by
looking at it through the eyes of a Martian. And when that perspective is spelled out by one of
science fiction's Big Three giants, it becomes so impossible to continue believing that victimless
recreation can be immoral, that only the incurable brainwashed can retain such a mindset.
For sixty years science fiction was the only genre through which ant rational moral philosophy
could
be sneaked past the theocratic censors. Clarke and Asimov did it effectively. But no one matched
the
unassailable logic of Robert Heinlein. Anyone who still believes that sexual recreation involves
moral
questions not applicable to tennis or golf either has not read this book, or is incurable.
Living History
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Simon & Schuster
Rockefeller Center, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, NY 10020
ISBN 0743222245 $28.00
The bad news is that Hillary Clinton is a godworshipper, and therefore a scientifically illiterate
ignoramus by definition. The good news is that she belongs to the only major political party
dedicated to preserving and protecting the basic human rights that the feebleminded, theofascist
serial killer in the White House is hell-bent on exterminating in the name of the imaginary
playmate
he shares with Osama bin Laden.
Ms. Clinton must have been keeping a diary since her childhood. It seems unlikely that she could
have written 562 pages of such detailed autobiography otherwise. Since she is a public figure, no
doubt that is what a lot of people wanted and expected to get. Bestseller status surely could not
have been attained if a majority of readers had found the book disappointing. Personally I do not
give a flying fig whom she had lunch with on the 93rd of May, 1981-and-a-bit. While I looked at
every page, I skimmed without really reading as far as page 524. On that page she wrote:
"In the end, Al Gore won the popular vote by over 500,000 ballots but lost the presidency in the
Electoral College. The Supreme Court voted 5-4 on December 12 to stop a recount of votes in
Florida, effectively sealing victory for Bush. Seldom if ever in our history has the people's right to
choose their elected officials been thwarted by such a blatant abuse of judicial power."
Clinton also spells out her views on the political atrocities of which she was an inside observer,
including the desperate efforts of morally retarded Republicans (tautology) to show that a
Republican president's attempt to overthrow the Constitution differed in no significant way from a
Democratic president's lying about an issue that should have been none of the law's business. That
was what I wanted to read, not simply because I agree with her, but because that is the kind of
writing that interests present and future historians. Unfortunately, such material comprises only a
small proportion of Clinton's book.
I recommend books that make significant points concerning contrary-to-fact belief systems, and
the
attempts by incurable dogmatists to impose their myths and delusions on whole populations that
disagree with them. On that basis, Living History does not qualify. But I do not dispute that the
book achieves what its author set out to do, and anyone who wants to know about the personal
life
of a prominent politician will find it here. While this book will not hurt Clinton's political career, it
is
unlikely to win her the support of persons who are not already her admirers.
Can Hillary Clinton become America's first woman President? She does not mention such a
possibility, but presumably does not rule it out. While she is unlikely to be influenced by the
opinion
of someone who is not even an American, I nonetheless urge her: Go for it.
"Weekly Wonders" is the newest in Brook Noel's Rush Hour Cook series of specialty cookbooks
designed for the time-constrained cook. In this book she has put together nineteen weeks worth
of
complete menus. Each of these weeks is a standard five-day working week, so it actually contains
recipes for five balanced, easy-to-make dinners. At the end of the recipe section for the week is a
grocery list that has all the items required to prepare that week's recipes. So instead of spending
your time figuring out that you need a half-pound of hamburger for one meal and a pound for
another there is a total of a pound and a half already listed in the grocery list. Grab the list, head
to
the store, and know that you have all the ingredients for dinner for the whole week.
In addition to the weekly recipes, the first part of the book includes information and recipes for
bulk
cooking. For example, how to prepare a base beef mix that can be used to prepare meatloaf,
Salisbury steak, or meatballs in a flash. It also contains some quick last-minute meal and dessert
recipes.
Brook Noel continues to follow her philosophy of only using ingredients that are easy to find at
the
neighborhood grocery store, the list of ingredients being shorter than the instructions, recipes are
easy to prepare by even the most inept cook, and tasty enough that even the most finicky child
will
at least eat a portion of it. This is a recommended book and is just the ticket for those crazy
weeks
that sometimes come up where there is just not going to be enough time to cook for the family
and
you don't want to do fast food every evening.
Power Desserts: The Ultimate Collection of Nutrition-Packed, Reduced-Fat Indulgences
Karen Pellegrin
Champion Press. Ltd.
4308 Blueberry Road, Fredonia, WI 53021
ISBN: 1891400568 $TBA
Well, I have to admit that I was skeptical about low-fat, low-cholesterol, reduced calorie dessert
recipes tasting even remotely like dessert. I was glad to be proven wrong with this delightful
book.
The desserts are still calorie packed with most of them still having 300+ calories per serving.
However, this is still typically about a third less calories than the same dessert prepared using a
traditional recipe. Each one of the desserts has significantly less fat (often one third or less), has
almost completely eliminated the cholesterol, and has added nutrients and minerals. I have always
equated less fat with less taste simply because that has been my experience, now I can say that
less
fat can still mean delicious.
Some of the recipes that I really liked included Amaretto Cheesecake Brownies, Chocolate Peanut
Butter Crunch Bars, Hazelnut Fudge Cake, Cream Cheese Pound Cake, Chocolate Peanut Butter
Pie, and Maple Nut Fudge. If you are looking for a better alternative to satisfy your sweet tooth
or
just a healthier dessert you can't go wrong with this book. "Power Desserts" is a highly
recommended purchase for anyone looking to better their health and still satisfy their sweet
tooth.
Newspaper Caper
Max Elliot Anderson
Baker Trittin Concepts
Tweener Press Imprint
PO Box 20, Grand Haven, MI 49417
ISBN: 0972925651 $16.95
Tom Stevens could sell anything to anyone. He immediately reminded me of Tom Sawyer with his
ability to convince the other kids that it was fun and a privilege to paint the fence. Tom Stevens
had
the same gift of persuasion. In "Newspaper Caper" Tom soon convinces his friends Jimmy and
Matt
to help him with a newspaper route and the adventure begins.
When cars start disappearing from the neighborhood the boys decide to keep their eyes open for
anything unusual as they deliver their papers early in the morning. Their diligence soon pays off.
Ride along with them on their adventure as the story unfolds and the suspense continues to build.
Although it is more likely to appeal to boys than girls, it is an excellent story for kids around eight
to
twelve years old of either sex.
There is one section of the story that some parents are likely to find offensive. Near the beginning
there is an incident with a vicious dog. In dealing with the dog Matt prepares some fresh meat
with
jalapeno juice and Tabasco sauce and finishes it off by lacing it with laxatives. Needless to say it
makes an immediate impression on the dog and it no longer is a problem for them. In fact, by the
end of the adventure it is on a friendly basis with them. It would be a shame for a child to miss a
good story because a parent is offended by such a passage (although I can understand their being
offended). Taking the positive angle with the incident it could be used by parents to open up a
discussion of cruelty to animals or whether or not the ends justifies the means in many situations.
The same passage could be used as a reason not to allow your child to read the book or used as a
springboard for an important and educational discussion. Other than that one caveat, this is a
suspenseful, fast paced, story with the choice of words appropriate for pre-teen readers and a
recommended read.
Greek for the Rest of Us
William D. Mounce
Zondervan Publishing
5300 Patterson SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49530
ISBN: 0310234859 $34.99
Is it possible to engage in an in-depth word study of a New Testament passage without mastering
the Greek language? Author William Mounce would answer that question in the affirmative and in
his book "Greek for the Rest of Us" he proves his point. Many people know that with an
Interlinear
translation and a good concordance, Biblical Greek dictionary or similar tools they can see all the
possible meanings of a particular word. However, just knowing the meaning of a particular one is
only part of the puzzle of good Biblical exegesis. You also have to understand Greek syntax. It
can
make a big difference in the meaning of a passage to know whether something is an active or
passive
verb, a dependent clause or an independent clause, and whether words like "man" is inclusive of
mankind or just "men". There are a lot of things to know when trying to understand a passage and
the definitions of the words is only a small part of it.
The introductory material includes a section titled "What are translations?" that should be read by
every serious student of the Bible. In it he points out the problems of translation, differences
between literal and equivalent translations, problems of ambiguity, moving from implicit to
explicit
in order to fill out a passage, misunderstandings, sensitivity issues, and euphemisms. If you don't
read Biblical Greek as a primary language and rely heavily on a translation of the Bible for your
theology (as almost all of us do) then you have an obligation to at least understand these problems
of translation.
The rest of the book deals primarily with understanding syntax and the significance and
implications
of whether a word is nominative, accusative, imperative, or dative form, active or passive, or
whatever other form it might take. After reading through the book I would have to agree
wholeheartedly with Mr. Mounce, you don't have to be able to speak and read Greek if you have
an
understanding of the language and the right tools. This is a very highly recommended book for
anyone without the time to learn the Greek language but interested in deep scriptural study.
The God Who Hung on the Cross
Dois I. Rosser, Jr. and Ellen Vaughn
Zondervan Publishing
5300 Patterson SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49530
ISBN: 0310248353 $18.99
Autobiographical, biographical, inspirational, life changing, there are a lot of ways to describe this
book, but easy to put down is not one of them. It is the story of Dois Rosser who was raised as a
poor child in Appalachia and ended up building churches and establishing broadcast ministries
throughout the world. This is the story of the difference that one person, fully committed to God,
can make in the world. It is a living illustration of how sometimes things don't go the way that we
plan them but we find out later that they went just the way that God planned them.
The point of view switches regularly from that of Dois Rosser as he tells first hand what happened
to
that of Ellen Vaughn who reports the events as an outside observer. The writing style is graceful
and
flowing as it draws the reader into the story and the ministry. By drawing the reader into the
ministry
it creates excitement that can then be used to change your part of the world. This is one of the
purposes of inspiration, you become a part of something bigger; an ordinary person part of
something that is way beyond ordinary.
"The God Who Hung on the Cross" is an excellent read and highly recommended read for any
Christian seeking inspiration and verification that despite the bad news that is constantly played in
the media, God is working His will even in the remotest corners of the earth.
The Frantic Family Cookbook: (Mostly) Healthy Meals in Minutes
Leanne Ely, C.N.C
Champion Press. Ltd.
4308 Blueberry Road, Fredonia, WI 53021
ISBN: 1891400118 $29.95
The days of the stay-at-home mother who has nothing to do but wait around for the kids to come
home from school and her husband to come home from work are long gone (if they ever really
existed to begin with). These days most mothers are juggling the kids, at least a part-time job,
after
school activities, and most of the domestic chores. So, how does she provide for dinner without
resorting to the local fast food drive through each evening? The answer to that question is in this
cookbook.
The recipes are delicious and you would never know that the cook didn't spend hours in the
kitchen
preparing it. I say "the cook" because the recipes are easy enough that even I can prepare them.
This
makes it perfect not only for the frantic mom preparing dinner but also the frantic college student,
or
anyone else with a desire for a good meal but a shortage of time to prepare one. Some of my
favorites include Fragrant Lemon Chicken and Potatoes, Chicken Stir Fry, Caribbean Chicken (for
those who like spicy foods), Calypso Red Beans and Rice, Double Baked Cheddar Cheese
Torpedoes, and Double-Chocolate Bread Pudding.
One of the things I have to comment on with this book is that it is in ring-bound form, which
allows
it to lie flat while you use it for cooking. While Champion Press, Ltd. has a wide variety of
specialty
cookbooks most of them are not spiral or ring bound or anything similar and so are tough to keep
open when preparing the food. This one is an exception and is a highly recommended
cookbook.
Day Tripping: Your Guide to Educational Family Adventures
Teri J. Brown
Champion Press. Ltd.
4308 Blueberry Road, Fredonia, WI 53021
ISBN: 1891400410 $13.95
"Day Tripping: Your Guide to Educational Family Adventures" contains ideas for educational
trips
with (or without) your kids. Most people tend to know a few of the historic places in the area
where
they live, but with a little investigation and a little creativity the opportunity exists for many kinds
of
educational day trips. What about a trip with a culinary theme, or an artistic theme, or botanical
theme, or even governmental theme?
Author Teri Brown includes information on how to plan such a trip, including what not to do as
well
as what to do. She also goes over planning a group trip if there are others who would like to join
you on your educational adventure. While a short book, it is packed with good advice and some
very creative ideas on unusual places where you might not think of visiting on a day trip but might
prove to be very educational.
A Cutting Garden for Florida, Third Edition
Betty Barr Mackey, Monica Moran Brandies
B. B. Mackey Books
PO Box 475, Wayne, PA 19087
ISBN: 0961633891 $15.99
Living in Florida I can vouch for the difficulties of growing just about anything in the sandy,
nutrient
poor, water deficient soil. Starting from that less than perfect base Betty Barr Mackey and
Monica
Moran Brandies walk the reader through the various things they need to know in order to grow a
beautiful cutting garden. From finding the right place, to properly preparing the soil, to picking
the
appropriate flowers for soil, sun, and moisture conditions "A Cutting Garden for Florida" covers
everything you need to know to have a successful garden. It even covers germination times, when
a
particular flower blooms, how long it blooms, and other information so you can make sure that
when one flower goes out of season another is coming in. This is a highly recommended book for
anyone dealing with the daunting task of getting flowers to grow in Florida.
Crazy About Crockpots! 101 Recipes For Entertaining at Less than 75 cents a Serving
Penny E. Stone
Champion Press, Ltd.
4308 Blueberry Road, Fredonia, WI 53021
ISBN: 1891400533 $12.00
"Crazy About Crockpots! 101 Recipes For Entertaining at Less than 75 cents a Serving" is an
unusual book in that it contains none of the stews and soups that you expect in a crockpot
cookbook
(actually you will find them in the companion book "Crazy About Crockpots! 101 Soups and
Stews
for Less than 75 cents per Serving"). Instead, this book contains a wide variety of unusual recipes
for using your crockpot to prepare casseroles, desserts, and even drinks. It has a great recipe for
BBQ Beef sandwiches (always a personal favorite meal) as well as really good recipes for
Seasoned
Chicken and Rice, Lemon-Herb Chicken Breasts, and Sweet and Sour Pork. There are several
pages
of dips as well as cobblers, puddings and sauces, and even drinks like Apple Cider, Wassail, and
punch. If you never really knew what to do with that crockpot sitting around the house other than
to
heat up soup this is the place to find out what you can do. The results are delicious and the book
deserves a recommended read designation.
Crazy About Crockpots! 101 Soups and Stews for Less than 75 cents a Serving
Penny E. Stone
Champion Press, Ltd.
4308 Blueberry Road, Fredonia, WI 53021
ISBN: 1891400525 $12.00
"Crazy About Crockpots! 101 Soups and Stews for Less than 75 cents a Serving" is a cookbook
for
the busy cook who still wants to provide their family or their self with hearty meal that is much
more
than just heating up a can of soup. With recipes like Cream of Mushroom soup you can make
your
favorites from scratch. There are traditional recipes like Ham and Beans, Onion Soup, and Chili
that
you would expect and recipes like Cheese and Potato Soup (absolutely great), Cheesy Chowder,
or
Corn Chowder that are a bit more unusual. Most of the recipes are quick and easy to fix and taste
wonderful. If you want to know what to do with that crockpot besides heating up canned soup
you
are sure to find some great ideas and very tasty recipes in this book. "Crazy About Crockpots!
101
Soups and Stews for Less than 75 cents a Serving" is a recommended read for anyone with a
crockpot.
CNE Update to NetWare 6
David James Clarke IV
Novell Press
201 West 103rd Street, Indianapolis, IN 46290
ISBN: 0789729792 $69.99
Since the purpose of this book is to teach the reader what is necessary to upgrade their Novell
CNE
5 certification to a Novell CNE 6 the review is rather simple and to the point. I read through it,
skimmed through it a second time, looked at the included CD and reviewed the questions at the
end
of each chapter, took the exam and passed it the first time. That makes it pretty clear that all the
information is in here to pass the exam, all you have to do is study it. Since it made upgrading my
certification a snap I would have to give it a very high recommendation to anyone seeking to do
the
same.
Climbing Gardens: Adding Height and Structure to Your Garden
Joan Clifton
Firefly Books, Ltd.
155 East 34 Street #5B, New York, NY 10016
ISBN: 1552976106 $19.95
Although I have enjoyed gardening for some time it never occurred to me to create a climbing
garden. In "Climbing Gardens: Adding Height and Structure to Your Garden" author Joan Clifton
provides solid advice on how to create such a garden. This is not just a rose trellis type of
climbing
garden, there are a myriad of forms a climbing garden can take and she illustrates and discusses
several of them. The book is illustrated with beautiful photographs of garden trellises, walkways,
arches, and other structures covered with flowering foliage. On a more practical aspect it contains
some more practical ideas such as the photograph of an archway covered with fruiting squash
plants.
It even has a few pictures and ideas for one of my favorite vines - wisteria. With instructions on
how
to build structures such as an obelisk or a living arbor, the book is very complete and a
recommended read for anyone looking to add a new dimension to their garden by adding height
and
other structure.
Cooking for Blondes: A Fun Collection of Gourmet Recipes and Menus for the Holidays
Rhonda Levitch
Champion Press. Ltd.
4308 Blueberry Road, Fredonia, WI 53021
ISBN: 1891400800 $27.95
The newest book in Rhonda Levitch's tongue-in-cheek series "Cooking for Blondes", this one
contains not just gourmet recipes for the culinarily challenged but ones designed specifically for
the
holidays. Each recipe is rated as Platinum Blonde, Golden Blonde, or Natural Blonde. The recipes
rated Platinum Blonde are very easy so that even a Platinum Blonde can prepare them. Those
rated
as Golden Blonde require a slightly higher level of ability. And those labeled as Natural Blonde
are a
little more difficult, but all are easy enough that even a blonde, of any type, can prepare them.
All the recipes are simple, using common ingredients and the preparation instructions are
generally
shorter than the ingredients list. Of course it has the usual divisions of beverages, appetizers,
soups,
salads, entrees, and desserts. What makes this book truly unique and a cookbook that should be in
everyone's collection is the section of complete holiday menus with grocery list. For example, A
Soulful Thanksgiving dinner suggests a meal of Soulful Greens, Elbow Macaroni & Cheese,
Candied
Sweet Potatoes, Soulful Cornbread Dressing, Turkey, Sweet Potato Pie, and Southern Pound
Cake.
Beside each of the items is a page reference where you can find the recipe and at the bottom of
the
page is a complete grocery list for all of the suggested recipes and a list of the staples used. Other
holiday meals include several Christmas Even dinners, Valentine's Dinner, and even a Superbowl
Sunday and Ladies Gathering meal. In short, if it is a common reason for people getting together
for
a meal (whether or not it is a recognized holiday) there seems to be a complete meal here. This is
a
wonderful way to prepare for the holidays without having to plan a meal from scratch and the
convenience of having a complete shopping list for all the recipes in the meal cannot be
overstated.
This is a highly recommended purchase for the person who wants a cookbook with simple recipes
and ingredients, complete meal plans, and even a section on what should be included in the
well-stocked kitchen. This is the best of Rhonda Levitch's "Cooking for Blondes" series to
date.
Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar, Second Edition
William D. Mounce
Zondervan Publishing
5300 Patterson SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49530
ISBN: 0310250870 $41.99
If you've read "Greek for the Rest of Us" by William Mounce and decided that you really wanted
to
learn the basics of Biblical Greek including vocabulary then this is the book that you will want.
William Mounce has a gift for taking the Greek language and making it approachable even to
those
who have tried before but not succeeded in learning Biblical Greek. While there are many, many
grammar details to learn such as whether something is dative, nominative, accusative, genitive,
active, passive, dependent, independent, etc. Mr. Mounce actually makes it interesting and finds
ways to keep the student interested and feeling positive about their progress. All those grammar
rules are very important in correctly interpreting the Greek texts and in understanding English
translation. Sometimes there is no English equivalent for a Greek word, sometimes we can only
approach a correct translation by approximating a similar word in English, but then our personal
prejudices and beliefs affect the word that we choose. Understanding Greek is important to a
serious
level of study of New Testament writings. This book gives you the basic ability to look through a
Greek text or Interlinear Translation of the Bible and understand not only what is said, but also
what
is actually meant but the text. This is a very highly recommended text for anyone desiring to learn
Biblical Greek and one of the best books on the subject that I have ever read.
Harold McFarland
Reviewer
Hodgins' Bookshelf
Necessary Betrayals
Guillaume Vigneault
Douglas & McIntyre
2323 Quebec St. Suite 201, Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 4S7
$14.95, ISBN 1550549561, 188 pp.
tr. by Susan Ouriou from the French "Chercher le vent" ('Seek the wind'), Les Editions
Boreal,
Montreal, 2001 (no. pp., price, ISBN unknown)
The protagonist of this well told first-person story, with its unfunny (whereas a back cover blurb
omits the "un-"), sometimes spaced-out characters, is officially named Jacques (in English, James)
Dubois, but he prefers "Jack", which may be more chic in today's Quebecois French. He answers
to
either name, but "Jack" is shorter to write.
After a 2 1/2 page prologue, the book is structured in three somewhat meaningless Parts, of
which
Part One contains 30 nameless chapters; Part Two, 12; and Part Three, 9.
The reader may find it useful to know more than this reviewer does about Zen, and about New
Age
moeurs. "Necessary Betrayals", a name partially explained in the work's closing sentence, is at all
events a very readable, if sometimes confusing tale.
The confusion arises from facts in Jack's life which he finds impossible to confront, as the reader
will
eventually come to understand.
He has been divorced by ex-wife Monica, who, toward the end, says she could never have
forgiven
him. This softcover book is equipped with cover flaps, the front one of which puts the matter
thus:
"Peace comes at a price and sometimes that price means burning bridges. Jack and Monica broke
up
a long time ago, but there is still something broken inside."
It will in fact turn out even worse than that.
Jack is now in contact with Monica's neurotic (manic-depressive, Monica says) younger brother,
Tristan; again as the front flap puts it, "After years of silence ... Tristan, Monica's younger
brother,
reappears in Jack's life."
Something more like a fraternal relationship develops; these ex-brothers-in-law somehow know
more than seems likely about each other, especially given that they've been so long separated.
Jack is attached to his old six- (sometimes five-) cylindered Buick Regal in which, at the outset,
he
revisits Val-d'Or ("Valley of Gold", a Western Quebec town) to complete the sale of his and
Monica's former home. The back cover and the front flap both suggest this begins an on-the-road
yarn, but it's really a series of episodes set in fixed locales, any description of actual travel by
Buick
being minimal.
A Hasselblad Swedish camera is depicted twice to symbolize Jack's part-time work as a
professional
photographer: once on the front cover flap, and again at the frontispiece of Part Two. In the latter
Part, Jack discovers that valuable camera in the bilge of a secondhand fishing boat.
He also has a past in "general aviation", sometimes flying hunting and fishing parties into the
wilderness, or sometimes flying for personal recreation. He now somewhat mysteriously claims,
though, not only that he doesn't fly, but also that he doesn't miss it; he only misses the life he once
led, and the person he was when he also happened to fly.
In Chapter 6, selected haunting memories of his last, ultra-brief flight are revealed, complete with
the engine's dying shortly after takeoff. That time, Monica had been with him in the Cessna 172 -
an
aircraft only vaguely represented by the woodcut(?) emblem on the front cover and frontispiece.
Jack lacks the courage to tell the whole story, though, until about we're 2/3 through the book, 30
chapters on from Jack's first revelation of the crash - and even then he can't seem to put a name to
what he sees, but only gives a too-vivid if metaphorical description.
However, we do learn at last of that horrifying calamity, and of the immense weight of resulting
guilt
Jack carries, secretly preying on his mind, or at least affecting his outlook, throughout the
book.
At Chapter 17 Vigneault also first mentions a Beaver that Jack has flown. That's a DeHavilland
Canada bush plane or, if I may put it this way, a "flying SUV" of roughly similar configuration to
Jack's Cessna. The Beaver, though, is of no real importance in this story.
In Chapter 7 Jack tells Tristan, and us, "I'm forever getting over [Monica] ... That's all I do."
Their
break was not entirely caused by the crash, though; it also resulted from events to be recounted in
Chapters 18 & 19, involving Muriel, Jack's sexy, former photo-business agent.
As one of the results of Jack's accumulated guilt, he overdoses on a drug washed down "with a
full
glass of rum". After 15 hours of numb sleep, he stumbles out, naked, to the lake and comes close
to
knowingly if still numbly drowning himself, all while still under the influence.
Now the story seems to mutate into the promised on-the-road tale, perhaps as inspired by
Kerouac
(mentioned on page 104). Yet there will be little sense of actual movement; only of what happens
at
places visited.
Further, as things will turn out, Jack will travel mostly alone.
Following Jack's near-suicide, the following (abridged) discussion occurs between the flaky
narrator
and his oddball ex-brother-in-law:
"Okay, let's go," he [Tristan] said quite simply.
"Oh. Where?"
"I don't know, we're going, that's all. We'll worry about where later."
I looked out the window. The two surfboards were attached to the Buick's roof.
...
[I said,] "The fins are supposed to go to the front."
The two males get only as far as Montreal before chance adds a third adventurer, a young
Catalan-American woman named Nuna. First they meet her working in a pizza joint. Tristan is
quick
to proclaim he's in love with her, but they lose track of her.
Later, already stretching one's credulity, they spot her again hiking on a gridlocked highway,
where
she joins them in Jack's car.
Think that is coincidence enough? Read on!
The first leg of their journey takes them to Bar Harbor ("Harbour" on the back cover), Maine.
There, in a scene reminiscent of "The Sloop John B.", all three get into a drunken fight against a
huge, tough local character. ("We sailed in the sloop John B. / My grandfather and me; / 'Round
Nassau town we did roam. / We stayed awake all night. / We got into a fight. / Well I feel so
broken
up, I just want to go home.")
Surprisingly, the fight produces no sequel and our trio peacefully takes up rented residence in the
vicinity.
Nuna and Tristan become lovers; Jack happens upon them going at it, and waits for the groans to
avoid detection. That's just another reason for Jack to remain in mourning for his lost love,
Monica,
even after Nuna suggests Jack could make a triangle of her affair with Tristan.
All three play chess - likely an enthusiasm of the Vigneault himself - and interact while playing. It's
thus that Jack picks a quarrel with Tristan over the latter's writing to his "ex", Louise, with whom
Tristan has had a long, unhappy, perfidious, disjointed, yet unforgettable affair - only how can
Jack
be so knowledgeable about it, if he and Tristan have been apart for years? Louise herself sounds
all
too true to life, though.
The Louise controversy boils over, separating Jack from the others but creating an occasion for
him
to associate with May, owner of the place they'd rented and coincidentally a fan of Jack's
photography. May has now become a Nuna enthusiast, as well.
Everyone Vigneault imagines, even the ladylike, elderly May, seems about equally prone to
blurting
such expletives as "bullshit!" Writer Vigneault also makes May a writer - something of a cliche' -
but
to his credit he makes May only a minor character, whose chief functions are to introduce the "I
Ching" to Jack and to us, and to give him encouragement.
To earn most of her keep, May at present composes Hallmark greeting cards. These she describes
as
"antiliterature, almost like antimatter." That is, they do the opposite of literature which, she says,
"Start[s] with the specific to get at the universal;" for a greeting card aims to sell mass produced,
"universal", short messages which nonetheless look personal, or "specific".
(As a merely self-taught novelist, I hadn't thought of purposely working from the particular to the
general. One sees, though, how it works in Jerzy Kosinski's 1971 short novel, "Being There".
There
a clueless nobody, "Chance the gardener", through misinterpretations becomes a high Presidential
adviser known as "Chauncey Gardiner"; in the end Chauncey literally walks on water, at least in
Peter Sellers's film version. Under the star system o
