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# Reviewer's Bookwatch

Volume 2, Number 9 | September 2002 | Home | RBW Index

## Table of Contents

Reviewer's Choice | Lori's Bookshelf | Barclay's Bookshelf
Shannon's Bookshelf | Kinni's Bookshelf | Bill's Bookshelf
Vicki's Bookshelf | Dana's Bookshelf | Sullivan's Bookshelf
Gorden's Bookshelf | Sandra's Bookshelf | Harold's Bookshelf
Skea's Bookshelf | Judy's Bookshelf | Harwood's Bookshelf
Macaire's Bookshelf | Roger's Bookshelf | Liana's Bookshelf
Hodgins' Bookshelf | Peter's Bookshelf | David's Bookshelf
Ninave's Bookshelf | Lowe's Bookshelf | Paul's Bookshelf
Shelley's Bookshelf | Bethany's Bookshelf | Taylor's Bookshelf
Whelan's Bookshelf |  |

## Reviewer's Choice

The Shadow Of Death
Monroe Mitchel
Writers Club Press/iUniverse
5220 South 16th Street, Suite 200, Lincoln, Nebraska 68512
0595230806 $19.95, 272 pages, www.iuniverse.com
Leigh Bennett, Reviewer
E-Mail Address: Leebe85@aol.com
The Shadow Of Death's unique genre and timeliness is a well written, exciting book which quickly engages the reader. This intricate and compelling murder mystery takes place in a Florida nursing home. The book is written in "reader friendly" prose and utilizes a cast of believable and well drawn characters. The author succeeds in hiding the identity of a sophisticated and illusive murderer who is methodically killing helpless nursing home patients. The thread of the killer's motivation is woven throughout the book to form a tapestry of frazzled nerves and mounting anxiety. Significant issues facing our nation's elderly and their families are highlighted throughout the book, and the reader has the opportunity to try to figure out the mystery's surprising ending, while considering some of the soul searching issues raised.
The opening paragraph arouses immediate interest. " Mrs Ferguson was already dead when her head hit the second floor landing with a final thud. The crunching sound of her frail body bouncing down the concrete steps was absorbed by the thick walls of the enclosed stairwell. At that time of night the large nursing home was quiet as a tomb. The ubiquitous deodorizers were working overtime to cover the odor emanating from the nursing units, where half the patients were sleeping in their own body waste."
The author, a professional health care administrator and consultant for over 35 years, has used his insights and experience to create a thoroughly enjoyable and informative mystery, which I highly recommend.
The Essential Guide For New Writers: From Idea To Finished Manuscript
Valerie Storey
Dava Books
513 Bankhead Avenue, Suite 194, Carrollton, GA 30117
ISBN: 0-9643289-0-9, Price: $10.95, page count: 107
Jan McDaniel
Reviewer
"How to get started . . . and How to get published!" The cover blurb says it all. This guidebook is my pick for anyone who wants to navigate today's publishing maze. Valerie Storey based each chapter on meticulous research and personal experience. From why writers fail in the first place to getting past rejections, this text is an inside look at what publishers really want.
Storey's book is also a way to get what you want--if you are a writer. Start right away with the assignments at the end of each chapter. To understand how to move your work along, stick your characters on the author's Seven-Point Plotting System. This hands-on approach can propel your manuscript and provide the motivation you need to finish the job.
Just one example of how easy this book is to use is the advice in the chapter titled "Characters are People, Too" which helps pin down sometimes tricky characterization techniques into easy-to-understand concepts. One paragraph reads:
Or try this: look at your hand. Go slowly. What do you see? A perfect manicure? Or a scar you got from a scuffle with Tony Richards in the third grade? Our bodies carry stories, and the most interesting stories are the result of our imperfections. Trying to describe the difference between five smooth hands all wearing the same shade of fresh red nail polish might start you yawning. But find the one with the crescent-shaped scar a the base of the thumb, and it's suddenly, "Ah, ha! I know that thumb. It's like the time Tony Richards tried to squash my papier-mache Peter Rabbit in Mrs. Biggleswade's class and I went to let him have it with my pencil but stabbed myself instead!" Instead of, "Oh, hands again," you've got the excitement of reader recognition and identification, and an, "I'd know that thumb anywhere."
Ms. Storey's winning style makes writing fun again. Whatever you do, don't resell this book or give it away once you buy a copy. Keep it handy, near your writing desk, as a reusable reference. You'll want to refer to this essential guide again and again.
The Story Of A Soldier
Ivan Paul Mehosky
Rutledge Books, Inc.
P.O. Box 315, Bethel, CT 06801
http://www.rutledgebooks.com/ 1-800-251-4000 www.amazon.com
ISBN: 1582441243, $15.95, 271 pages, http://www.substancebooks.com/mehoskybooks.html
Michael LaRocca, Reviewer
http://freereads.topcities.com
The Story of a Soldier 1940-1971: The Airborne Spirit and Recollections of Colonel Edward S. Mehosky (Ret.) U.S. Army, Infantry is a true story that begins right in the middle of the action. It is 1944, World War II, and a parachute jump into German-held France has gone terribly wrong.
Edward is, by any definition, a hero. The son of Polish immigrants, he grew up in Reading, Pennsylvania during the Great Depression. When a broken leg ended his baseball career, he joined the Army. Two years later he joined the 506th Parachute Regiment and went overseas with the 101st Airborne Division.
A natural-born leader, his career spanned three decades and three wars. He was a platoon leader during the night drop on Normandy on D-Day. He was a company commander at the Battle of the Bulge during the defense against numerically superior enemy forces at Bastogne.
During the Korean War, he volunteered for the 40th Infantry Division and commanded a rifle company on a steep, frozen ridge facing Chinese positions. With the 502nd Airborne in Germany, his men caused quite a stir by capturing a Green Beret unit. He also served in Vietnam, and retired in 1971.
The prewar portion of the book is probably more interesting to a fellow veteran than to this reader, but by letting us know how Edward Mehosky was raised and trained, it sets the stage for what follows. The story definitely picks up when it moves to Europe. Once that happens, it never lets up.
My best advice is, go visit the website and read the first three chapters free. If, like me, you get hooked, you'll buy the book.
Outwitting Hitler
Marian Pretzel
Random House Australia
ISBN: 174051159X. Paperback 343 pages, A$24.95
David Skea, Reviewer
david@skea.com
This isn't a new book. It was previously published under the title "By My Own Authority" in 1985 and then again, revised and extended, as Portrait of a Young Forger in 1989, 1990 and 1993. And now it's being published again under a third new title.
Pretzel says he wrote the book because he wanted his children to learn from him about the happenings during the war (WW2), and about his background and his parents - the grandparents they never had a chance to know.
Pretzel was raised in Lvov, then part of Poland and now part of the Ukraine. WW2 brought hardship to the Jewish communities of Poland and of the 149,000 persons who passed through the Lvov ghetto and the Janowska camp only some 500 survived. Pretzel was one of them.
So this book is his story of how he survived. He was athletic, looked Polish was clever and capable of forging official looking documents. It was enough to deceive most officials. By taking chances and seizing opportunities he managed to escape from the Janowska camp and made his way to Kiev in German-occupied Russia and then back to Lvov. Then followed a second trip to Kiev and then onto Odessa, Bucharest, and Budapest and eventually Palestine. But although Pretzel tells his story in the first person I could not share his excitement or achievement. For me WW2 is too far in the past and his story is now too old and there have been too many other ethnic calamities in the world since then.
Perhaps the story will inspire others and if so the publishers are right to publish it again. However I would have expected that it kept its original title.
Return Of The Anasazi
Wee Dilts
1stBooks Library
ISBN: 0-75964-069-6 (Paperback, 348 pgs)
Formats & Prices: Print, $12.95 ~ PDF EBook, $4.95
Kathy Burns, Reviewer
Review courtesy of EBookCritique.com
Have you ever wondered what happened to the Anasazi Indians? Have you speculated about how the Egyptian pyramids came to be, or pondered the truth behind stories of aliens?
"Return of the Anasazi" by Wee Dilts is a fictional story centered around the lost civilization of the Anasazi Indians. For those of you who aren't familiar with this piece of American history, the Anasazi Indians were an ancient Native American tribe who lived in the southwest area of the United States. Famous for their pottery and cliff dwellings, the culture "disappeared" sometime around the 1200 A.D. period in history. The term "disappeared" is used because the Anasazi dwellings were left completely intact. It is as if the people simply walked away, taking no pottery, tools, or personal possessions with them.
In "Return of the Anasazi", Dilts weaves an intricate tale that explains many of these historical mysteries, while simultaneously addressing the valid and modern-day issue of the Earth's environment.
The story begins with Owl Man, an Anasazi leader, having a vision about events that will be taking place soon in the future. Owl Man is on a planet called Anasazi Planet, but the vision explains why he will soon need to go back to Mother Earth. The story continues on to explain how the Anasazi came to be on this and other planets. It takes you back through time to when the Anasazi were on Earth, and recounts the events that caused them to "disappear".
Owl Man's vision puts him in the position of having to unite all of the ancient leaders -- including Aphrodite, the King of The Lost City of Atlantis and Space Aliens that have been helping humans since the dawn of time -- in an attempt to save both Mother Earth, and the entire universe. The universe is in jeopardy because Earth is off it's natural axis. Earth's axis has been altered by the massive weight caused from excessive buildings, modern day structures, resource plundering and people.
Dilts's book is a work of fiction, but it does a great job of offering entertaining speculation about the disappearance of the Anasazi Indians and rumors of alien visitations. The focus on the plight of the Earth's environment adds a nice twist, and makes you think about what could happen if our society doesn't change its ways.
This book does have a bit of a new age feel to it which is not quite my style. There is also a lot of peace, love and "happily ever after", so it might be too syrupy for some people's taste. And even though it fills almost 350 printed pages, it lacks a bit of depth in both the story line and character development.
In general though, "Return of the Anasazi" is a nice story that is written well. The skillful combination Science Fiction and Ancient Legends is creative, and it moves along at a nice, comfortable pace which creates a light, enjoyable, and unique read.
Black River
G.M. Ford
Avon Books
ISBN: 0380978741 - 320 pages - $23.95
Terry Matthews
Reviewer
I read a lot of books. I wish there were more writers like G. M. Ford, who take real people and put them into ambiguous situations and let them struggle with the consequences of their decisions and behavior.
Frank Corso is one of those flawed characters who finds himself in the middle of a huge jigsaw puzzle involving corrupt contractors, inspectors, jurors and more than enough bad guys to fill out the mix.
Corso's a Seattle-based writer with some mistakes in his past, a huge financial settlement in his bank account, and a reclusive lifestyle.
Corso is the only invited guest to the murder trial of Nicholas Balagula, a bad-to-the-bone mobster who is responsible for the deaths of 63 people when the hospital he built collapses. This is Balagula's third trial and the prosecution is looking pretty secure. Corso is taking notes and gathering material for his new book when his world is rocked by the savage attack on his former girlfriend, a photojournalist who believes there's a link between the seemingly insignificant death of a school district's maintenance man and the Balagula trial.
After the assault, Corso's thrown into a whirlwind of plot twists, bad guys, and paper trails. There's even some Cambodian culture thrown in for good measure (maybe the beginnings of a new book?).
I like Frank Corso and found myself drawn into the plot lines, even though the tidy Hollywood-like ending was a bit too predictable.
Enjoy!
To Keep A Promise
Terry Burns
The Fiction Works
Lake Tahoe, NV
ISBN: 1-58124-714-1, Trade paper back, 252 pgs., $12.95, www.fictionworks.com
Meredith Campbell
Reviewer
Newly married, Janie Benedict is alone, surrounded by "No Man's Land," at the border of the plains that stretched from western Kansas through Texas. Her missionary husband butchered by two Comanches, his body lies near the Conestoga. Terrified, she hides in the wagon; but the killers see her. Coming for the pretty, young woman, they climb into the wagon. She fumbles with the shotgun and the thing goes off--right into their faces. Thus, Burns opens this post-Civil War Western. The remainder of the uplifting story deals with how an Eastern-bred, Christian woman, thrown into west Texas, keeps her vow to continue the work her husband had started
Aided by Frank and Ruben, two drifters in search of their own destinies, Janie earns start-up money by becoming a cook for a round up. From there she goes on to become a baker, becoming wealthy by turning out pies and sweets for the trail cowboys who come to town. Frank and Ruben settle down to a ranch of their own, just out of town. Their presence gives Burns the opportunity to give his views about God. Ruben, the angry cynic and agnostic, contrasts with Frank's strong beliefs and laid-back demeanor. And it is Frank who counsels Janie to "go slow" in her attempts to evangelize Ruben. The interplay between the three makes for some insights often sorely lacking in Christian fiction.
The widow's piety takes the form of love that offers succor and shelter to society's cast-offs: to twelve-year-old Preston, so hungry he'd do a man's work for a crust of bread; to his drunken grandfather, a former Shakespearean actor and rootless wanderer; to Sharon, a repentant former prostitute. How these lives are changed as each finds his or her self-worth makes for satisfying reading. Equally satisfying is the use of period instruction on how to bake in a fireplace to how to tan hides. Also, Burn's style puts the reader, on a cattle drive, in a robbery, and at a murder. One can hear the cattle, smell the grass, taste Janie's peach pie, and feel the blow meant to kill Ruben.
The story is particularly excellent for young adults. The writing is simple, easy to follow prose, the plot moves at a brisk pace and all strings are neatly tied up in the end. Furthermore, it minimizes the several romances in the story, instead bringing out the exciting action--all the while keeping the reader aware that somehow a loving God is present in events and lives. Burns is at his best when he uses his descriptive talents to kernel the Christian message within this tale of the old West.
Spies: A Novel
Michael Frayn
Metropolitan Books
c/o Henry Holt & Company
115 W. 18th St., New York, NY 10011
0805070583, $23.00 , 288 pages, 1-888-330-8477
Marjorie J. Scott
Reviewer
What happens to you when you're a boy on the threshold of adolescence in WWII England where gossip holds secret dangers and your best and only friend leads you into a game of spy?
Returning to this now rundown London neighborhood forty years later, how does the aging man cope with the truth of what really happened in his tongue-tied, bogeyman childhood summer, enduring the threats and possible consequences of a war just beyond his view?
The dust jacket calls British author Frayn a "master illusionist", and so he is for 261 unforgettable pages of "Spies". The author of nine novels and thirteen plays, three of them recent Tony Award winners, Frayn is recipient of The New York Times Editor's Choice for his previous bestseller "Headlong". In this new offering, he's definitely up to the task of drawing a picture of young Stephen's intense emotions and moral confusion, set up by his friend Keith's wartime summer spy game.
In the beginning, I almost turned aside from the long descriptive passages revealing the boy's view of the middle class neighborhood in which he lived, and the families who dwelled there. Almost, but not quite, stopped listening to the beliefs that changed his life that summer, the secret fears that propelled his actions. But the pages kept turning, because author Frayn won't let the reader stop. He pulls you into Stephen's disturbing summer much like a spider might capture a fly in its skillfully woven web.
If you are a writer or a reader who appreciates masterfully written prose by a skilled wordsmith, you will find yourself less and less able to put "Spies" down and go back to work or off to bed. Certainly you will be led down a garden and other, scarier paths by this story teller. The terror, the mystery, the jaw-dropping revelations gather speed as the story reaches its climax.
By the last page, all of what has happened in the previous 260 pages makes sense. Because you already knew or at least suspected, didn't you? As you read, you may even think to yourself, as I did, why can't Stephen see what's really going on? Certainly the clues are planted (if cleverly obscured by the typical English reticence of the adult characters) in the deceptions he notes.
To tell you more of the story would be to forfeit your surprise and your reading satisfaction at the conclusions revealed by Stephen the aging man, revisiting a turbulent season in his growing up years. Again the dust jacket says it well: "Michael Frayn powerfully demonstrates that what appears to be happening in front of our eyes often turns out to be something we can't see at all."
See Night Run
D.W. St.John
Poison Vine Books
1393 Old Homestead Road, Oakland OR 97462
ISBN: 1930859171, 227 p., 2002, $29.95 Library Hardcover
Valerie R. Dart
Reviewer
Few of us have escaped feeling the impact of The Drug War and its incipient erosion of the Bill of Rights. In his controversial thriller, See Night Run, D.W.St.John shows us the human cost of the drug war. Much as Upton Sinclair in his muckraking classics, The Jungle and King Cole, St.John's chosen aim is exposing ethical dilemma, and forcing us, at the point of a pen, to examine what we would rather not. In previous novels he has shone a light on bio-engeneering and public school education (Sisters of Glass, A Terrible Beauty). Of his work to date, this is his most accessible, bearing on an issue that has touched us all.
In See Night Run he has chosen as his target a war never meant to be won. Here he manages to walk the tightrope between seamless narrative the temptation to preach. At 227 pages, See Night Run is that rare animal in fiction today a story that is bigger than its characters. An insiders view of the drug war and how it is fought, the story is told from the perspectives of enforcement officers and the suspects they arrest with compassion for both. See Night Run puts a face on the drug war, those who fight it, and the everyday people who are its victims.
The protagonist, Night Hume, an undercover INET (Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Taskforce) agent in Eugene, Oregon, has for three years lived the life of the street people in the drug culture. His years undercover have cost him much a home, a marriage, a daughter yet, always the good soldier, he does his job without thinking too much about it. Assigned to buy from a college professor who sells to her students, he meets Ceredwen Lawrence a most unlikely dealer. When, due to a misunderstanding and his own weakness, he rents a room in her home for himself and his teenage daughter, Night crosses his Rubicon. From this moment. Night, the unquestioning drug enforcement officer, is lost.
Having something now to hide himself (living with a suspected drug dealer) Night must lie to his partner, to his boss, to himself. But his troubles have just begun. With an initiative legalizing marijuana on the upcoming ballot, a routine busts turns deadly. Soon, Night's questions bring the men responsible to him, and for the first time Night sees the other side of the equation. Simon, the government agent in charge of the cover up explains the drug war to Night this way:
"Get it yet? With drugs illegal everybody's happy. Congressmen get to save us by passing more laws and raising taxes to pay for them. Cops get laws granting admissibility of improperly seized evidence. Bureaucrats get more power. Lawyers get more business. Prison workers get job security. Cartels get higher prices. Juan in Cartagena gets a job. Police departments get millions in forfeited property. And Mr. and Mrs. America get to feel safe in their beds. Does it get any sweeter?"
It doesn't. Simon's job is to make sure Night doesn't upset the apple cart. There is only one problem with the screams of his dying companions echoing in his head, Night is not willing to play along however much he might want to.
With Ceredwen about to lose her home to forfeiture, her daughter refusing to again endure the rack of chemotherapy, and a cover up protecting those who murdered his brother officers, Night is forced for the first time to question marijuana laws he has spent his life enforcing. More than this, he must now question the system which supports criminalizing a substance which can save the life of a little girl he has come to care for. The plot's climax is guaranteed to ruin a good night's rest.
While St.John's dialogue rings true, his prose will offer Joyce Carol Oates no competition for her next Pushcart prize. "Densely written" and "ordinary" is how Publishers Weekly describes his prose, and I can do no better. While accurate enough, it is spartan. Imagery there is, and vivid, but don't look for lyricism. St. John's strong suit is not waxing poetic. He writes as real people speak, with one exception a dearth of four letter words. As Mailer substituted "fug" for its evil big brother in The Naked And the Dead, mild profanity fills the place of habitual obscenity from the mouths of dealers and police here. No matter, the mind, fecund wonder it is, colorizes without effort.
What the reader will find in every scene, every sequel, every word, is conflict the kind that keeps pages turning. Prose cut to the bone, all that remains is character driven suspense. See Night Run is a story about people you will care about, laugh with, shed a tear for. But what may be the most important reason to read (and recommend) See Night Run, is that, while it covers the same ground as did the film, Traffic, it shows us The Drug War as it is fought right here at home, against those we love and at what cost.
Dead Man Falls: A Jolene Jackson Mystery
Paula Boyd
Diomo Books
PO Box 645 Pine, CO 80470
ISBN 0967478618, $13.95, 268 pages, www.amazon.com
Mary V. Welk
Reviewer
If you're looking for a laugh-a-minute mystery in the style of Joan Hess or Carl Hiaasen, run right out and buy this book. Paula Boyd has to be the funniest lady to come out of Texas in many a year, seconded only by her fast-talking, love-struck heroine, Jolene Jackson. Dead Man Falls celebrates Jolene's reappearance in print after Boyd's successful debut novel, Hot Enough To Kill, hit the shelves in 1999. Both books have won rave reviews across the country, and it doesn't take a genius to understand why. Boyd is one talented writer who plays with words the way Springsteen plays with sounds; every bit of dialogue and background fits perfectly into the story with no extraneous fluff to destroy the pace. It's as near perfect a comedy-mystery as you can find on the market today.
Jolene Jackson's greeting card business is headquartered in Colorado, but that doesn't prevent the single mom of two college-aged kids from returning to Kickapoo, Texas, on her mother's "every little whim or incarceration -- whichever comes first." This time she's back in town for Lucille's 72nd birthday bash at the local Dairy Queen. Iced tea and fried chicken are on the menu, but so are murder and mayhem. As part of the pre-birthday festivities, Lucille drags her daughter off to Redwater Falls, the next town up the road from Kickapoo, for the grand unveiling of a brand new, super-duper waterfall. Because the pumps aren't completely installed yet, water for the man-made falls has to be supplied by the local fire department via their massive hoses. All seems to be in order when the crowd gathers to watch the first drops of water trickle over the falls. But when the trickle becomes a torrent, lo and behold, down from the rocky structure tumbles a body.
The dead man turns out to be an old high school classmate of Jolene's. That's shocking enough for the ex-resident of Kickapoo, but when pages from her senior yearbook are found tied between Calvin Holt's lifeless hands, the shock turns to fear. Holt's face has been X'd out of the group photo, and Jolene's picture has been circled in red. Also circled is the face of Sheriff Jerry Don Parker, Kickapoo's top lawman and Jolene's from-a-distance heart throb. Redwater Falls Detective Rick Rankin decides that Jolene and Jerry need protecting lest they become the killer's next victims. Protection, in this case, amounts to locking the two of them up together in a hotel room while Rankin hunts down the killer. While there are certain satisfying aspects to this forced incarceration, Jolene must admit to being a tad worried about Lucille. Her gun-toting momma is being guarded -- and romanced -- by Fritz Harper, a 65-year-old retired farmer and deputy sheriff. Will the killer try to get to Jolene and Jerry through Lucille? If he does, will Fritz be fast enough on the draw to save his ladylove from harm?
For the answers to these and other equally intriguing questions, read Dead Man Falls by WILLA Award winner Paula Boyd. The book sparkles with wry good humor, but it's not all fun and games for Jolene Jackson. Boyd treats readers to a well-crafted plot rippling with suspense and a logical conclusion that ties up all the loose ends. It's a gem of a book, and one that should earn Boyd the respect of the entire mystery community.
At The Crossroads
Frankie Schelly
FireSign Exclusives
1854A Hendersonville Road, PMB 125 Asheville, NC 28803
1931391327, $26.50, 369pp,
Pogo
Reviewer
"Today's kids knew more about Pap smears, herpes, AIDS, birth control, and do-it-yourself pregnancy tests, than they knew about dental hygiene, In Vivian's high school family course, Father Cyprian had said, "In marriage any body part of one partner may touch anoher body part of the other without sin." Someone snitched because suddenly, Father Cyprian didn't teach their class anymore. Still that didn't keep her and her classmates from fantasizing how tht vital bit of information might be applied.
"Jennifer, what do they teach you in school about...you know." The girl looked away, mumbled, "That at Planned Parenthood we can find out what teachers aren't allowed to tell us, that we're welcome there." If you had heeded that advice, you wouldn't be pregnant. The girl poked at the missing eyespot on the monkey, said, "I know what's a sin." "
(p165)
In the small farming community of Sleeder, Illinois, Jennifer faces adulthood alone in the tenth grade. Like all small towns, gossip spreads faster than wildfire and growing problems can't be easily hidden, particularly when raised with strict Catholic teaching in a Catholic school. Jennifer faces a crisis, but so do the teachers of the school led by four religious sisters, suddenly confronting past traditions and exploitation of women in subordinate roles. What can she do, but turn to Vivian, the Sister Superior, at the school for consolation and advice to avoid the fears of scandal and a ruined life?
With Vatican II long past and John Paul II at the helm of an ancient ship, the seas of faith are never smooth as four nuns cruise into turbulent strange waters, exploring dangerous areas of religious life. With vows of poverty, purity and chastity, human sexuality is a topic that is avoided only to be confronted in the daily realities of life as society radically changes from the '60's to the 21st century and nuns remove their habits to dress in civilian clothes. Constrained by the sexual politics of the Church as defined by St Paul's misogyny and enforced by the manipulation of Father Rupert of the local parish church, the women question the dictatiorial authority of the Church over their personal lives as being obedient zombies without individual rights to follow their inner voice even when it conflicts with the presiding authority. Individual conscience rebels against the conformity of religious rules and orders as crisis peaks to crisis with inadequate financial support to run a school. They are forced to do extra work to pay off the basic necessities for daily living in a world where the priest lives in ease, making more demands of their austerity.
The time is gone when women retreated to the convent to avoid inconvenient marriages or to escape the world as a safe place away from the confrontation with sex. The double-talk of religious dogma no longer satifies the minds of the younger generations and leaves much to consider with double entendres such as:
Whatever did Father mean when he said, "Purity of intention renders the conception of the child holier."? (p13)
In a world of public scandal where priests escape legal prosecution and are furtively shifted from one appointment to another, this book questions the sexual ethics of the holy Catholic Church. In a time when school teachers go to prison for sexual misconduct with students, autocratic priests can still use sexual politics to manipulate their wills upon others, demanding obedience of nuns and live sacrosanct lives of polished hypocrisy. For although, St Paul lived and died centuries ago, his influence still dominates the spiritual lives of women today, leaving women in secondary roles as teachers, nurses and chalice holders, but definitely not priests or bishops, taking from them their rights to act and think independently as each new situation arises.
Vivian, trained to be obedient to vows, to ask permission for every act and forego simple pleasures such as bubble bath, becomes transformed through the self-realization that she can act independently and that individual choice may be more important than enforced dogma as personal conscience comes in conflict with stated Catholic theology. Is it right that a young girl's life is made harder by an unwanted baby at a inappropriate time. Aren't there really two issues in balance? Shouldn't Jennifer also be given a chance to live? What about love? Should she be punished her whole life for a foolish mistake ? What kind of life would the child have in a hostile environement or without its natural mother? Mirrored in the heart of Vivian, the plight of Jennifer becomes clear. The girl has no one else to whom she can turn or trust. The crisis brings fresh revelations about her own personal conflicts. She must act and change to face a different world that's not longer encrusted in medieval thinking.
Kimberly, the novice, in smart clothes, disturbs her with her brash rebelliousness. Experienced in the bitter struggle of life through illicit activites for illegal immigration, Kimberly is not able to humbly mingle with the sheep of the herd. She must have her voice heard and sees each individually with the potential of being someone different with the spiritual imperative of being me. Life can be lived only once, and then it should be lived fully with the awareness of fulfillment. Life is a gift to be given through involvement in others' lives. Through the death and suffering of others, and her own personal griefs she questions also the Church's stand regarding sexual ethics, pregnancy and family planning. Unable to accept the dictates of canon law and dogma, she rebels in secret, involving herself in another form of imposed hypocrisy.
Mary Ruth is Christ's bride, given by her father into the order. Her personal conflict with authority is much harder as she doesn't know how to challenge it since she has been dependent on others all her life. To earn the extra necessary money to help pay for the household need, she gives piano lessons after school hours. Financial pressures cause her to accept Mr Clyde Johnson as a pupil, but his interest becomes personal.
Sister Dominic is the oldest and lives in the shadows of old age. The school was her refuge and hme for many years, to uproot and change to the infirmary would be too difficult without familiar companions, and so she hides her physical pain in order to remain.
Through the eyes of these four women many of the controversial issues of today's Church are discussed. Schelly perceives accurately the crisis of an institution built stoutly on medieval theology inadequate for today's social problems. Women are accepted as equals in nearly all other western institutions: as government and business executives, scientists, astronauts, political leaders and even rabbis, but according to staid Catholic dogma they are still subordinate. The hypocrisy and double-standards are questioned with acute understanding of the sexual politics that exist. With the growing scandal of sexual misconduct and pedophilia among priests, this book accurately reflects the growing social crisis in the church. In a world where kids surf the internet, play the stockmarket and create theorems to calculate the size of black holes, catechism and dogma can no longer be accepted submissively through memorization. Strangely, the Catholic Church is faced now with the similar problems that Jews confronted with Emancipation and secular education in trying to assimilate traditional teaching and beliefs with contemporary society to bend with the winds of change. Today there are women rabbis and cantors, but there are no female catholic priests. Definitely a read about the sexual politics of the Catholic Church.
available at: www.booklocker.com/crossroads www.firesignexclusives.com www.amazon.com

## Lori's Bookshelf

The Salvation Mongers
Ronald L. Donaghe
Writers Club Press - iUniverse.com
5220 South 16th Street, #200Lincoln, NE 68512-1274
June 2000, $13.95, 257 pp, ISBN: 0595098355, http://web.nmsu.edu/~rodonagh/
Kelly O'Kelly receives a late night call from his lover, William, just before the man ends his life. A victim of the teachings of the Light of Christ Ex-Gay Ministries, William had joined the ministry program to be transformed into a functional heterosexual. Instead, he's dead. Kelly can't get over William's senseless suicide nor can he exorcise the anger he feels at the holy rollers who promised his lover a "cure" for his gayness while filling the young man with shame and impossible expectations. Nine months later, still bitter and lonely, he decides to go undercover to expose the chicanery of the church's ex-gay recruiting program.
In the heat of summer, Kelly and ten other men arrive at the Lion's Mouth Christian Ranch in New Mexico's Guadalupe Mountains for the 18-week program. And so begins a compelling and gripping story as Kelly attempts to maintain his individuality and common sense in the face of religious fundamentalism, inadequate nutrition, brainwashing, and predatory behavior by some of those in charge.
The epistolary narrator gradually draws the reader into the the bizarre rules of the camp, a world where mostly miserable, self-hating men try to squelch their natural inclinations. They're watched closely as they eat poorly prepared meals in a mess hall, sleep in a tent together, and work in small teams like prisoners or soldiers. At 35, Kelly is one of the oldest recruits. Earlier in life, he had been in the military, but the contrast between Army life and this experience is remarkable, and he writes, "Free time in the army was not gloomy. Guys played cards, cursed and laughed, wrestled, slapped each other on the shoulders, or fought loudly. Here, except for the scratching of pens on paper, the turning of a page, or the sniffling of a runny nose, I can almost hear the thoughts of the recruits like a continuous whispering, or a sibilant stream of rushing water, washing over rocks. No one is happy."
Even in the mind-numbing and restrictive environment, and despite rules against getting close to the other men, Kelly makes friends. This includes Michael, who is only a minor character, but is very endearing and further raises Kelly's feelings of protectiveness toward his fellow recruits. As time goes on, Kelly suspects that some of the men are being maltreated after hours and while on certain isolated work details. Sure enough, a series of events occur that verify his suspicions, and along the way, the author ramps up the tension. Will Kelly be a victim, too? Will the camp officials (particularly "Paul, the chipmunk Nazi") discover that Kelly is a spy? Are they all in danger? Who will get out alive?
Donaghe is a talented author with a deft touch. He does a frighteningly convincing job showing the sincere and pious surface the camp preacher and the main henchmen project while Kelly subtly describes the angry, hateful, homophobic underpinnings of their tactics. The minister is a caricature of a preacher, not really a bad man, just misguided and too stupid to see the evil two feet beyond the edge of his vision. Nor does the preacher see that the real evil does not come from the recruits, but from his own trusted camp leader.
At times violent, gritty and rough, the novel is increasingly intense, but it is not entirely without humor. Kelly has a wry way of looking at the world. Early on, I laughed aloud at: "None of us just walks around this.ranch, anymore. We walk 'in the Spirit.' We bathe in the Spirit, breathe in the Spirit, piss and do number two in the Spirit, until I want to puke." Still, the further into the book, the heavier the mood gets.
The Salvation Mongers is not a book for the faint-hearted. The violence, brainwashing, and shaming that occurs hurts one's heart while, at the same time, it mirrors the internal struggles that the men are faced with. It is Kelly's optimism, his belief in his own goodness, and his strength of heart that carry this book through to the end, at which point the reader will have completed a journey with him. That journey ultimately affirms that the acceptance of one's sexual orientation-and that of others-should not be shame-filled and full of pain.
Bleeding Hearts
Josh Aterovis
Renaissance Alliance Publishing, Inc.
PMB 238, 8691 9th Ave., Port Arthur, TX 77642
2001, $16.99, 232 pp, ISBN 1930928688, www.rapbooks.biz
Killian Kendall is 16, he's oblivious to matters of his heart, and when he meets a new transfer student named Seth, he gets whacked upside the head with a terrible dose of reality. Seth is a brave soul. He tells Killian right away that he is gay, and this sets off a chain reaction of events in Killian's formerly routine life. His friends Zack, Jesse, and Asher make fun of Seth, but Killian cannot join in. For the first time in his young life, he separates himself from his crew of buddies. He attempts to disregard his burgeoning feelings of sexual curiosity and attraction to Seth, but he is not able to stuff down the maelstrom of emotions that suddenly roar to the forefront of his consciousness. He comes to the stunning conclusion that he is gay, and he can't quite get his mind around it.
Attempting to reconcile this new understanding of himself, Killian takes a walk in the woods by a nearby pond. "It was just at the edge of dusk, the time when it's hardest to see because everything is like an old black-and-white movie with bad contrast." Thinking he sees Seth on the far side of the little pond, he heads that way, and next thing Killian knows, someone slams into him and he's knifed. It's not until later that he learns that his new friend Seth was stabbed to death. Was Seth murdered because he was gay? Do people think Killian is gay? Why, he wonders, were he and Seth assaulted? And by whom?
The novel is a mystery, a drama, and a coming out story. Josh Aterovis has written a gripping and topical story about one boy's struggle to find love, acceptance, and chosen family in the face of intolerance. Killian is a real winner-I haven't met a character as kind-hearted and fully presented since Billy Sive. This young man's story, told from his point-of-view, is well-executed and is so compelling that I read it all in one sitting. Bleeding Hearts is an excellent tale, ably told, and certain to be just the first of many novels from a talented and capable new author.
Lori L. Lake
Reviewer

## Barclay's Bookshelf

Bone Flour
Susan K. Funk
Beaver's Pond Press
5125 Danen's Drive, Edina, MN 55439-1465
1931646317 $14.95 www.beaverspondpress.com
A mix of old money, big business, family rivalry and murder. Emma Randolph is an architect who is also concerned about historic preservation. Currently working with the Riverfront Historic Coalition, she is trying to save the buildings in the old milling district in Minneapolis from destruction. After a suspicious fire breaks out at the preservation site, a skeleton is unearthed in an abandoned, century-old elevator. Emma is present when the bones are found, and identifying those remains becomes an obsession for her, bringing her into direct conflict with her grandfather and Randolph Foods. Her efforts to discover who the bones belong to exposes other skeletons (the figurative or metaphorical type) and eventually puts her life in danger.
The story opens slowly (personally I like to get to the body right away) but it is well-crafted, and though there are lots of characters, the author keeps them well-defined. I had no problem keeping these people in order. There's lots of local history, and again the author tells us just enough to keep it interesting without making it seem like a lecture.
Our heroine is an amateur detective, but she's smart and clever and her efforts seem completely plausible. We have several villains, including a vicious and greedy young woman who is bent on gaining power and revenge, and is perfectly capable of doing anything to get it, even murder.
Ms. Funk's work is clear and compelling, and she does an excellent job of keeping the reader just a bit off-balance. This is not great literature, but it is certainly good entertainment and the end provides just the right twist, which makes the reader feel that his time has been well spent.
A great debut novel. I'm willing to give it four out of five stars. And I hope the author will give us more of her work.
Seven Days
Judd Spicer
Beaver's Pond Press, Inc.
5125 Danen's Drive, Edina MN 55439-1465
1931646414 $14.00 www.beaverspondpress.com
This eclectic collection of short stories is Judd Spicer's first effort. His debut. He is a young author, still new to this world and only starting his writing career, but it is already obvious that he has great talent. He hasn't sanded off all the rough edges yet and he has made a common mistake of new writers, his endings tend to be a little disappointing, but he has a vibrant style and a clear voice. He is a delight to read.
Let me give you an example: "Sunday April 22". A story of a typical day, with a typical family - husband and wife and their faithful dog. "So Tony's chewing [Tony is the dog] on that new rawhide we had just bought him and this (I know you might laugh) this isn't something the dog has time to do during the week. During the week this dog, this animal, he's with the wife! Can you... Hearts like gold, these two. Angie fixes up an I. V. for Delores So-and-So, while Tony makes nice-nice with the rest of the patients in the room. This is the truth! This is a true thing. People love it too, everyone wants to pet the dog the paper even ran a story about The Broken Bones Team, a few months back. By the time the two of them come home the dog's too tired to sit and chew the rawhide. Unbelievable."
Each story addresses a different day of the week and a different date. Hence the Seven Days title. Each covers a slightly different genre. One even reads like a Hitchcock mystery. The sort of story where the character acts on the instruction of another without really knowing why he is doing these things, and whenever he asks, he is told to be patient and it will all make sense later on. The character ends up at a strange party full of artists and celebrities and late in the evening finds his host sitting in a back room in the dark. The story winds up in an art gallery and leaves the reader with more than one possible conclusion.
Another story comes from a man writing a letter to his wife. The man is a professional actor who specializes in chewing gum ads. In his letter he laments the changes that have come in the industry and how he is expected to do the most unprofessional sorts of things to satisfy the director and the sponsor. It is full of tongue in cheek humor - or perhaps gum in cheek humor.
This is breezy reading and the reader will move quickly from story to story, constantly having his sensibilities tweaked and his emotions will run the gamut from laughter to tears - from quiet reflection to awful fear.
Read and enjoy. Then keep your eye out for more from Mr. Spicer. If he continues to work hard and doesn't lose faith he will be a great success. Seven Days definitely goes on my good reading list, and I hope to see more of Mr. Spicer's work in the future.
Robert O. Barclay
Reviewer

## Shannon's Bookshelf

Falling Awake: Creating The Life Of Your Dreams
Dave Ellis
Breakthrough Enterprises, Inc.
P.O. Box 8396, Rapid City, SD 57709
ISBN: 0-942456-18-1, 294 pgs., over-size soft cover, $24.95, 2002, www.fallingawake.com
What struck me first about Falling Awake was the high quality beauty of the book. With glossy pages, nearly every one accented with wonderful photos, Falling Awake is an enjoyable book just to look at. But it doesn't stop there.
Dave Ellis, the author, is also an educator and philanthropist, having devoted his life to living his dream of giving away money and helping people create the lives they dream of. Falling Awake is a showcase of twelve ideas Ellis calls "success strategies." If the author's life is any indication, these strategies are indeed successful. The book is packed with exercises, journal pages and lots of white space in the margins, which Ellis invites readers to use to "write notes, argue with [him], doodle or draw." There are invitations to write, "let your imagination soar," and "dream big dreams." Ellis paints an incredible picture of what life can be if we really could create the life of our dreams. And, Ellis assures, we can do just that.
This book will be part of my life for a long time to come. I loved the short, article-length essays, making them easy to fit into a busy schedule. The essays are incredibly thought-provoking, giving the reader something to meditate on even after they put the book down.
Falling Awake is unique, not only in its title, but in the presentation. It holds your hand through the steps for discovering what you want from life, through celebrating your success in achieving those desires. It doesn't leave you there, however, offering, as a last step, to help you continue to create the life of your dreams. Falling Awake is truly a blessing in my life. It inspires me to continue pursuing my dreams.
The Western Guide To Feng Shui For Prosperity
Terah Kathryn Collins
Hay House, Inc.
P.O. Box 5100, Carlsbad, CA 92018-5100
ISBN: 1-56170-813-5, 223 pgs., hardcover, $18.95, 2002, 1-800-654-5126, www.hayhouse.com
The Western Guide To Feng Shui For Prosperity is, by its own definition, "True accounts of people who have applied essential Feng Shui to their lives and prospered." The eighteen "rags-to-riches" stories are about people with varying life experiences, are colorful and fun to read, and include accounts of Feng Shui applications in the lives of businessmen, store owners, a self-employed couple, a retiree, and a blended family, among others.
The author, Terah Kathryn Collins, the founder of the Western School of Feng Shui in Solana Beach, California, describes Feng Shui as "the study of how to arrange your environment to enhance your life." The emphasis of this book, one of several Collins has written on the art of Feng Shui, is on Wealth and Prosperity, though we are assured that "these words also represent the invaluable treasures that money can't buy, such as good health, loving relationships with friends and family, auspicious opportunities, creative self-expression, and a meaningful spiritual life."
Complementing the eighteen real-life examples of Feng Shui in action are two appendices, covering more of the basics of Feng Shui, including the Bagua Map (the core of Feng Shui design that correlates to the structures of a house or building and "shows you how to summon positive change into your life."), directions on how to use the map for many different structural scenarios, examples of the five earth elements (fire, wood, earth, metal and water) and how to include them in Feng Shui d‚cor, and a recommended reading list.
This book was my first experience with Feng Shui and, unexpectedly, I couldn't put the book down, reading nearly the whole thing the night I got it. It had many great suggestions, which I applied instantly, running around my house, book in hand, moving this, de-cluttering that, and applying Feng Shui in as many areas of my house as I could. The excitement carried over through the week, during which I made many pleasing-to-the-eye changes to my home. Whether or not my Wealth and Prosperity improves still remains to be seen, but I have surely enjoyed studying The Western Guide To Feng Shui For Prosperity , and know I will be referring to this book again and again for inspiration.
Miracles
Stuart Wilde
Hay House, Inc.
PO Box 5100, Carlsbad, CA 92018-5100
ISBN: 1-56170-540-3, 52 pp., $5.00, paperback, 1983, (800)654-5126 www.hayhouse.com
Are miracles a thing of the past? Not according to the author of Miracles, Stuart Wilde, who notes, on the back of this tiny, but powerful book, "...because the Universal Law is indestructible and therefore infinite, we can presume that whatever power was used by miracle-makers in the past must still be available today."
Fifty-two pages doesn't seem like enough to describe how to create a miracle in your life, but Wilde breaks it down into seven, easy to follow steps:
1) Understanding the Universal Law
2) Understanding Life's Mission
3) Understanding the Nature of Beliefs
4) The Miracle "Action Plan"
5) Understanding Energy
6) Understanding Time
7) Understanding Your Personal Power
Wilde asserts that we spend much of our lives contradicting any miracles we might create with the negativity that we harbor in our minds. It takes an inner journey to combat those negative thoughts and slay them. Wilde says, "These journeys have an inner reality and an outer manifestation in the physical, so anything you can conceive is actually a part of you right now. The fact that you do not have it on hand matters not. Whatever it is that you conceive is in a state of gradually becoming."
At the very least, Miracles will open your eyes to why so many of the things you want in your life do not come about.
While much of the book will seem foreign to the majority of us, it lends itself to deep thought and contemplation. Can we really create miracles in our lives? It is definitely worth a try, in my opinion, and Miracles will help you take the steps toward doing just that.
The Excuse Me, Your Life Is Waiting Playbook: With The 12 Tenets Of Awakening
Lynn Grabhorn
Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc.
1123 Stoney Ridge Road, Charlottesville, VA 22902
ISBN: 1-57174-270-0, 271 pp., $22.95, 2001 1-434-296-2772 www.hrpub.com
Okay, first off, let me confess that I am not done with The Excuse Me, Your Life Is Waiting Playbook. Nope, not done. And, I may not be done with it for a year...or ever. This book is a gem!
The companion to Excuse Me, Your Life Is Waiting; The Astonishing Power Of Feelings, this is a playbook, not a workbook. But, it is work. This book will take you deeper into your life than you have ever been, if you let it. According to the author, Lynn Grabhorn, this Playbook is about "cleaning out the old residue to make ready for what's coming down the pike for us, just around the corner."
The Playbook, for use by individuals or groups, is divided into Twelve Tenets, based on the author's first book Beyond the Twelve Steps; Roadmap to a New Life. The purpose is to make us "deliberate creators" of our lives, not just going along for the ride and taking what we get. There are exercises to be completed on nearly every page, each one building upon the last, weeding out all the things in our lives that keep us from having what we desire. The Twelve Tenets are explained, as well as principles for living better lives, journaling suggestions, and "homework", which is really just a way to carry what we learn in the book into our "real" lives.
Grabhorn's style is slightly spiritual, often in-your-face, and frequently humorous. The book's graphics are big and bold, black and white drawings, that are a treat to the eyes, and fun to boot!
I can't say enough about this Playbook. It has opened up my eyes to many things, and I found myself being unable to just read it and write this review. I found that I have to experience every last little morsel it contains, and that may take me a very long time. So, add this winner to your pile of books and PLAY with your life, until it is exactly what you always dreamed it would be!
Shannon Cave
Reviewer

## Kinni's Bookshelf

Business: The Ultimate Resource
Perseus
c/o Perseus Books Group
Eleven Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142
2172 pp, $59.95, ISBN 0738202428, 1-800-242-7737
The book of the month is Business: The Ultimate Resource, an ambitiously conceived and fully realized one-volume encyclopedia of business. It includes over 150 best practice essays written by topic experts, several hundred management and action checklists, summaries of seventy seminal business, bios of business greats, a business dictionary, a world business almanac, and an extensive topic-based listing of additional information sources (books, magazines, Internet, and associations).
Watches Tell More Than Time: Product Design, Information, And The Quest For Elegance
Del Coates
McGraw-Hill Book Company
Two Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121
281 pp, $29.95, ISBN 0071362436, 1-800-722-4726
Design is all about communication, says San Jose State's Coates. In Watches Tell More Than Time: Product Design, Information, And The Quest For Elegance, he describes design theory and principles, as well as the four ingredients - contrast, novelty, objective and subjective concinnity (the harmony of the parts) - that must be blended and balanced to create winning designs.
Blindsided: A Manager's Guide To Catastrophic Incidents In The Workplace
Bruce Blythe
Portfolio
231 pp, $24.95, ISBN 1591840007 www.amazon.com
In Blindsided: A Manager's Guide To Catastrophic Incidents In The Workplace, consultant Blythe addresses workplace crises - physical attacks, natural disasters, and accidents -- in two parts: preparedness and response. Paying particular attention to the human factor, he walks readers through the common reactions, issues, and phases that occur during crises and then, describes a six-step process to prepare for them.
Standing At The Crossroads: Next Steps For High-Achieving Women
Marian Ruderman and Patricia Ohlott
Jossey-Bass, Inc.
350 Sansome Street, 5th floor, San Francisco, CA 94104-1342
245 pp, $26.95, ISBN 0787955701, 1-800-225-5945
This study of participants in the Center for Creative Leadership's Women's Leadership Program finds that there are five key themes impacting the careers of women - the desire to act authentically, make connections, control one's destiny, achieve wholeness, and gain self-clarity. Standing At The Crossroads: Next Steps For High-Achieving Women explores the themes and how they can be attained through individual and organizational action.
How To Make Collaboration Work
David Straus
Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc.
235 Montgomery Street, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94104-2916
247 pp, $14.95, ISBN 1576751287, 1-800-929-2929
The core content of How To Make Collaboration Work: Powerful Ways To Build Consensus, Solve Problems, And Make Decisions by consultant Straus is five principles that enable successful collaborations. They are: Involve relevant stakeholders; Build consensus phase-by-phase; Design a process map; Designate a process facilitator; and, Harness the power of group memory.
Walking The Talk: The Business Case For Sustainability
Charles Holliday, Jr., Stephan Schmidheiny & Philip Watts
Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc.
235 Montgomery Street, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94104-2916
288 pp, $29.95, ISBN 1576752348, 1-800-929-2929
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development produced Walking The Talk: The Business Case For Sustainability by Charles Holliday, Jr. features a somewhat dense overview of the state of business sustainability. It examines the major elements (10 Building Blocks) of eco-efficient, socially equitable commerce and supports them with 65 short case studies drawn from the Council's membership of international corporations.
Value Sweep: Mapping Corporate Growth Opportunities
Martha Amram
Harvard Business School Press
60 Harvard Way , Boston, MA 02163
285 pp, $35.00, ISBN 1578514584, 1-800-668-6780
Properly analyzing a business investment requires a valuation tool that can measure the unique characteristics of the opportunity and evaluate the resulting information in terms of the current financial markets, says Silicon Valley's Amram in Value Sweep: Mapping Corporate Growth Opportunities. To achieve that goal she offers three tools for measuring value - Discounted Cash Flow, Real Options, and Decision Analysis - and "valuation templates" that allow the tools to be customized to the features of specific investments.
Geeks & Geezers: How Era, Values, And Defining Moments Shape Leaders
Warren Bennis and Robert Thomas
Harvard Business School Press
10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022-5299
208 pp, $26.95, ISBN 1578515823, 1-800-242-7737
Difficult events and the meaning that individuals glean from them are the "crucibles" in which leaders are formed, conclude the authors of Geeks & Geezers: How Era, Values, And Defining Moments Shape Leaders, a study of geezers (leaders age seventy and over) and geeks (leaders age 35 and under). They find a common set of characteristics in their subjects, the so-called "Big Four" - adaptive capacity, engaging others by creating shared meaning, voice, and integrity.
Wireless, Inc.
Craig Settles
Amacom Books
1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019
382 pp, $29.95, ISBN 0814407250, 1-800-250-5308
Wireless, Inc.: Using Mobile Devices And Wireless Applications To Connect With Customers, Reduce Costs, And Maximize Profits is an executive-level overview of the wireless revolution explores four business objectives that wireless technology can enhance -- communication with existing customers, service and support, communication with prospective customers, and the creation of internal efficiencies - and the tactics that can be used to achieve them. Finally, consultant Settles describes how to wrap it all up into a neat written plan and implement it.
The Chasm Companion: Implementing Effective Marketing Strategies For High-technology Companies
Paul Wiefels
Harper Business
10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022-5299
323 pp, $24.95, ISBN 0066620554, 1-800-242-7737
The Chasm Companion: Implementing Effective Marketing Strategies For High-technology Companies is a fieldbook which is billed as the final installment in the Chasm Trilogy, a series that includes high-tech marketer Geoffrey Moore's Crossing the Chasm and Inside the Tornado. Authored by Moore's partner, its three sections are designed to teach readers how to identify the life cycle of high-tech markets, specify appropriate market-development strategies, and create comprehensive go-to-market plans.
The Fall Of Advertising & The Rise Of PR
Al Ries and Laura Ries
Harper Business
10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022-5299
298 pp, $24.95, ISBN 0060081988, 1-800-242-7737
Use PR for brand building; use advertising for brand maintenance, advise this well-known father and daughter consulting team in The Fall Of Advertising & The Rise Of PR . In their usual readable style, they target credibility as the primary ingredient of brand-building, show why advertising isn't credible and why PR should replace advertising as the key strategy in launching new offerings.
10 Natural Forces For Business Success: Harnessing The Energy For Positive Impact
Peter Garber
Davies-Black Publishing
3803 East Bayshore Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303
160 pp, $26.95, ISBN 089106169X, 1-800-624-1765
In 10 Natural Forces For Business Success: Harnessing The Energy For Positive Impact, Peter Garber identifies ten forces - survival, change, diversity, discovery, etc. -- that naturally occur within organizations. Each chapter describes one of the forces, how it impacts the business and the workforce, and how to harness and manage it to achieve organizational goals.
Switched-On Quality: How To Tap Into The Energy Needed For Fuller And Deeper Buy-In
John Guaspari
Paton Press
PO Box 44, Chico, CA 95927-0044
190 pp, $24.95, ISBN 0971323127, http://www.patonpress.com/
Consultant Guaspari's newest book, Switched-On Quality: How To Tap Into The Energy Needed For Fuller And Deeper Buy-In , is a readable reassessment of quality. In a good-natured presentation that mixes stories with advice and practical lessons, he connects quality to the business objectives of value creation and moneymaking, and explains how to build the organization-wide support needed to raise quality levels.
Theodore Kinni, Reviewer
http://home1.gte.net/bizbooks

## Bill's Bookshelf

The Five Love Languages
Gary Chapman
Northfield Publishing
215 West Locust Street, Chicago, IL 61610
ISBN: 1881273156, Price: $12.99, www.moodypress.org
The Five Love Languages far exceeds John Gray's Mars and Venus series on many levels. Each part of a relationship really is brought into five language choices. Regardless if your "love language" is "spoken" by Acts of Service, Words of Affirmation, Physical Touch, Gifts, or Quality Time, this book will explain how to express them and how to "speak" to your mate via their love language. The information within the book can be used on many relationship levels: spouse, friends, and even co-workers.
Even if you think "a love language for my co-workers?" this book will show you how to speak to them. Some of your co-workers need you to speak their language in order to be understood. This book puts you one step ahead of the game for work as well as your personal life.
Half the fun for couples is finding out what language your spouse speaks. After determining the language, an entirely new realm opens for you to explore the possibilities.
Couples should read The Five Love Languages to really understand how to speak to their mate. Leaders should read this book to understand how to speak to their subordinates. Single people should read this book to understand the other person in their relationships. "The Five Love Languages" is worth its weight in gold and has improved many relationships of people that I see on a regular basis.
The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws Of Business Success
Brian Tracy
Berrett-Koehler
235 Montgomery Street, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94104
ISBN: 1576751260, Price: $14.95, 1-800-929-2929
From a person who has created success, this book provides fabulous insight into what is required for anyone who wants to be successful. The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws Of Business Success is broken into easy to read chapters and headings for each of the laws, followed by easy to understand descriptions. Even if you implement just one of the laws, you will see a change in your business.
With helpful anecdotes, you will understand why these laws should not be broken. You will see how these laws provide a successful career pattern for any person. You don't need a formal education to be able to apply the laws from the book. The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws Of Business Success should be read as soon as you buy it because if you hesitate to read it you will delay your success.
I asked several of my successful friends to read the book and tell me what they thought of the "laws". They all agreed that if there are laws to success then these are the most important ones. I recommended it to several other people working their way up the corporate ladder. As a result of reading the book they were able to climb more than one rung at a time. If your competitors are reading it, you may soon find yourself looking for a new job. This book should be required reading for all business students prior to graduation and for all people trying to get ahead in today's world. You will soon see why there is more to business than the school of "hard knocks".
Body For Life
Bill Phillips
Harper Collins
10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022
ISBN: 0060193395, Price: $26.00, 1-800-242-7737
As the name implies, this book provides examples of how to build that "Body for Life". Body For Life explains in simple terms how to lose weight, tone muscle and become overall physically fit amazed me. The success stories show real life people overcoming obstacles and being able to do the things they always wanted to do.
This book is written for those people who do not feel comfortable going to the gym and for those who just cannot get motivated to work out past the first couple of weeks. This 12-week program is designed for all people and it is written in a language that anyone can understand. The book shows you not only how to set up a "workout" routine, but also an eating and maintenance routine.
I have seen results, not only in myself, but in other people who have tried the program. Even for those who feel they cannot accomplish the 12-week challenge, this book will motivate you to complete what you have started and honor self-promises. For those who hesitate, rest assured the book will more than pay for itself within a short period of time by showing you how to improve your health and overall well-being.
Are We Living In End Times?
Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins
Tyndale House Publishers
PO Box 80, Wheaton, IL 60189
ISBN: 0842300988, Price: $19.99, www.tyndale.com
What a fabulous book! The title of the book is a question that resounds through the minds of many. Are we living in end times? The text points out current events that were predicted in prophetic passages. Are We Living In End Times? was written for two reasons. The first is as a guide for the millions of readers of the Left Behind Series, showing where and how the facts were put together for the storyline in the book. The second is for those people wondering, are we living in end times?
The examples in the book help the reader to understand what has happened throughout history and what is to come. The text compares different books of the Bible as well as passages within the same books. Most of the scriptural references are pulled from Isaiah, Daniel and the controversial book of Revelation. Regardless of your current opinion, the authors present many facts to back up their opinion in the book. It promotes free-thinking and discusses the differences between Pre-tribulation, Post-tribulation, and Mid-tribulation theologies.
Are We Living In End Times? is written for any person wanting to dive into the world of prophetic scripture. While written with Christians in mind, the book will appeal to non-Christians wanting to know more about things to come and what God has in store for the world. Even though no one knows the date and time in which the tribulation will happen, except the Lord God, this book will help ease the minds of many and get others to understand more about the "thief in the night". I feel that this is one of the best books on prophecy in many years. It is a must for any Christian library and should be everyone's library.
Come To The Table
Doris Christopher
Warner Books
1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
ISBN: 044652428X, Price: $12.95, 1-800-759-0190
In missing the way things use to be, we often miss the value of the role the kitchen or dining room table has played within a family. Nothing can replace the memories of time spent at the table. Come To The Table, reminds us of a time when things were simpler and family moments were more frequent. It shows the value of quality time and the little things we can do as family members to catch a glimpse of yesteryear.
Come To The Table gives real life examples of things that other families have done to bring life back into the family. Whether it is having a special plate and awarding it to the person of the day or a special display on the table, the book will change the way the reader looks at mealtime, homework, or game time around the table.
Come To The Table is written for families, and those persons within the family, that want to increase the constructive time spent with family members. Even by implementing just one of the ideas within the book, the reader can capture time so it becomes a special moment. It also helps build self-confidence in some members of the family and allows all of them to look forward to the time spent around the table. Come To The Tablek should be required reading for all members of the household, but especially those responsible for each family member's welfare.
ABSolution
Shawn Phillips
High Point Media, LLC
PO Box 16009, Golden, CO 80401
ISBN: 0972018409, Price: $28.50, www.highpointmedia.com
Inspiring! That is the first word that comes to mind when I think about this book. ABSolution is a great book for showing us how we can get in shape. By the time you reach the end of the book you will understand that building abs is not just about exercising those "trouble" spots, it is a way of life.
ABSolution gives complete instructions on how to build perfect abdominal muscles. It doesn't give you just abdominal exercises, it also shows you other exercises, discusses supplements, and has a great section on nutrition. The text does not go into detail about what every meal should consist of, but instead it describes how your eating patterns should be developed. This helps you focus on a lifestyle change and not a "diet". It also highlights reasons why we should not just do sit-ups for our abdominal muscles. Instead, it shows you exercises that have been proven to build those perfect abdominal muscles.
Whether you are a person with perfect "six-pack" abs or a person that could use a little workout, this book was created with you in mind. Don't hesitate to buy and read ABSolution be required reading for all future leaders of the world? I believe that it should. It offers inspiration to those people who are not yet world leaders and it offers a reality check for those who are in the top echelon of leadership.
I believe it holds the key to building the perfect body, as well as a great set of "abs".
They Shall Expel Demons
Derek Prince
Baker Book House
PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
ISBN: 0800792602, Price: $12.99, www.bakerbooks.com
They Shall Expel Demons is a jewel among all other books on deliverance. The author's tremendous level of knowledge shows through in this highly readable book. Among the pages you will find not just what type of demons or spirits operate in the life of a person but the reasons that one might become possessed. It will open the eyes of most people who feel pressured and often use "the devil made me do it" as the excuse for their actions.
They Shall Expel Demons forces the reader to ponder the differences between the need for healing and the need for deliverance. While there are many sicknesses that are of a common biological nature, the text shows that evil spirits may cause some sicknesses. There are battles fought in the heavens and battles fought here on earth and through the Biblical foundation you are shown the realism of the fight between "good and evil".
They Shall Expel Demons is for those interested in understanding the ministry of Christ and those who want to understand the different battlefields on which Christian battles are fought. It will prove to be a valuable asset to all Christian libraries and is a definite must for an Evangelical. I feel there should be more books as direct as this one. It gets to the point, shows examples, and provides a great solid base, which is the Word of God.
The Transparent Leader
Dwight L. Johnson
Harvest House Publishers
990 Owen Loop North, Eugene, OR - Oregon 97402
ISBN: 0736904581, Price: $10.99, http://www.harvesthousepubl.com/
Being a leader in today's world is not what it used to be. There was a time, when a leader was tough, rugged and quiet. That time is no more. It is time for leaders to let their guard down, to show their true selves, to lead by following and to lead by example.
The Transparent Leader shows many of today's national leaders in this light. It shows them being transparent, vulnerable and initially with no protection. Along the same lines of Jesus, they step into the worlds of other people and lead them, ultimately showing the way to the one true God. It shows who these leaders were, the situations they were in and how they succeeded in becoming great leaders. All of them have one thing in common; they all know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.
The text shows leaders who have failed, where they failed, and how they came to succeed. The leaders within the compilation tell their story, either via testimony or anecdote. Some open their entire lives to the reader so they can see the heart of the storyteller. Although the booklover might not be able to identify with all of the passages throughout the book, there is no doubt that more than one will hit the heart and soul of the reader.
Should The Transparent Leader be required reading for all future leaders of the world? I believe that it should. It offers inspiration to those people who are not yet world leaders and it offers a reality check for those who are in the top echelon of leadership.
Bill Reese
Reviewer

## Vicki's Bookshelf

The Angel Factory
Terence Blacker
Simon and Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas, NY, NY 10020
ISBN 0689851715, $16.95 216 pages, www.SimonSaysKids.com
More and more young adult books are being touched by an angel these days, regularly raising such questions as: Do angels exist? Do they walk among us here on earth? In the contemporary fantasy The Angel Factory, children 's author Terence Blacker tackles this now-common theme from behind, launching a sneak attack on the very concept of angels and goodness. Are angels what people have always believed? What is their true mission? Are they inherently good, or is there something more sinister about their motives? Could a celestial conspiracy be at work?
The very concept of good and evil is at the heart of this somber novel, told through the eyes of English 12-year-old Thomas Wisdom. He seems to have it all: a loving family, true friends, and a bright future. But then he makes dark discoveries about secrets his parents have been keeping. When it becomes clear that they are not who they claim to be, Thomas and his outcast friend Gip wonder if they're spies of some kind? Alien beings? Angels? Through plot twists and turns, Thomas not only finds out that they are in fact all three, but also discovers that he is adopted and is part of a worldwide plan to alter the fate of mankind. Is he up to the task? Should he be? He wrestles with multiple moral dilemmas, and must weigh the value of friendship vs. family, birth family vs. adopted family, good vs. evil, and the basic tenets of right and wrong. He discovers that nothing is black and white, however, and the angels "goodness" is in fact laced with a sinister threat. Alone he is faced with choosing the correct path while burdened with the weight of all humanity on his shoulders.
Blacker's novel is wonderfully subversive in concept. It. powerfully addresses the very concept of "good" without clich‚s, preaching or heavy-handed tactics. Its pre-teen protagonist speaks in a compelling internal voice so real that young adult readers will drink in every word -- words that could help them harness the power to make crucial decisions in their own lives.
Angelic Layer
Clamp
Tokyopop
5900 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 2000, L.A. , CA 90036
ISBN 193151447X, $9.99 174 pages, www.tokyopop.com
Clamp is an all-female team creating some of the most popular "manga" Japanese comic books compiled into paperback-bound graphic novels in the business. They're best known for their funny "Cardcaptors" series of books and toys for young girls -- a modest "yin" to the "yang" of the boy-targeted Pokemon phenomenon. That phenomenon is at the center of Clamp's newest series, a tongue-in-cheek satire that was quickly translated for the English-speaking market. Angelic Layer is an action-packed fantasy story for girls age six and up, about a human-like "Angel" toy that kids collect and program to fight other Angels in tournament battles.
In volume one of three slated for release before year's end, Clamp introduces 12-year-old protagonist Misaki, who goes to the big city to enter middle-school and discovers Angelic Layer, a new action toy that is sweeping the nation. She becomes hilariously obsessed with buying her first Angel, and covets the many pricey accessories. A mysterious stranger in a lab coat helps her get started, and periodically shows up to lend a hand as she gains tournament experience, but is he friend or foe? After a surprise win in her first local battle, how can Misaki hope to survive the next round against a vastly more experienced 5-year old and her astonishingly fast angel, "Lightspeed"?
This is not an easy book to follow for manga newcomers. Names and characters are difficult to keep straight, and the action is so central to the story that little plot actually exists. Still, part of the fun reading manga books is simply the tactile experience. "Authentic" manga is read from the back page to front, with the comic cels read right to left, Japanese style. This enables the reader to read the book as the creator intended, while allowing the publisher to cut production corners in the translation process. Why bother going through the production hassles of reversing and correcting the layout of every image, when new readers can so willingly be taught to reverse their habits? Like 90% of the manga genre, however, this series (like "Chobits," an new series for older boys, also by Clamp) isn't likely to have much staying power.
Chobits
Clamp
Tokyopop
5900 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 2000, L.A. , CA 90036
ISBN 1591820057, $9.99 -- 178 pages, www.tokyopop.com
Japan had no age of consent laws until recently, so it should be no surprise that Japanese comic books called "manga" are often sexual in nature. This new series by the prolific Clamp team of women artists and writers is their first created for a teen male readership. It's a sci-fi fantasy in which a lonely 19-year-old virgin finds a humanoid computer "Persocom Chobit" in the form of a beautiful, scantily-clad, young blonde. She's subservient and na‹ve, so is easily led into a career as a peep-show stripper to earn extra money for her busboy owner. He's too busy falling in love with a fellow student while also lusting after his overly-familiar teacher to realize what his Personcom has been up to. So when he finds out the race is on to save her cybernetic soul, it triggers a fantastic event among all other Persocom's walking the earth.
For many reasons sexuality, brief nudity, language, adult situations, complexity the "Chobits" series is suitable only for young adults. The problem is that though it's rated for "older teen age 18+" by the publisher, the pretty, colorful comic book package is designed as eye candy that attracts readers as young as seven. This is the primary complaint about manga in general: nearly all books in this genre look so similar that kids (and parents and librarians) aren't able to differentiate between them. As a result, fans of "safe" children's series like "Dragonball Z," "Sailor Moon" and "Cardcaptors" are frequently reading graphically violent and sexual adult material such as "Chobits." Guardians: beware. Adult fans: enjoy.
Goddess Of Yesterday
Caroline Cooney
Delacorte Press
c/o Random House
1540 Broadway, NY, NY 10036
ISBN 0385729456, $15.95 264 pages, www.randomhouse.com/teens
The Iliad is one of the greatest stories ever told, but it can't speak to the hearts of contemporary readers in nearly as vivid a fashion as this intimate, imaginative retelling. In Caroline B. Cooney's (The Face On The Milk Carton) first historic novel, the myths and history of ancient Greece come alive through the eyes of a 12-year-old Anaxander, the bright, strong-willed, righteous yet naive daughter of a minor island king. The harshness of her dramatic life, and the clarity of the story-telling, makes this a powerful fable impossible to put down.
Abducted at age six from her tiny island kingdom of Menalaus, Anaxandra becomes companion to another king's crippled daughter. When, years later, her new home is attacked by maurauding pirates, Anaxander impersonates her idol "goddess of yesterday," the snake-haired goddess Medusa, and singlehandedly frightens away the plunderers by emerging from the sea with an octopus on her head. To avoid slavery, she takes on the identity of the island's Princess Callisto, and so is rescued by the kindly king of Sparta who adopts her as his own but not so vain and cruel Queen Helen, the legendary half-god, half-mortal beauty. Further danger arises when treacherous Trojan warrior Paris plots to steal Helen's heart and the kingdom's riches. Anaxandra again reinvents herself as a Spartan princess to protect the king's princely heir on a violent sea voyage, but can she manage to elude tragedy once again when Sparta and Troy plunge into war? How can she appease the gods yet remain loyal to those she loves, especially when warriors from Menalaus join the battle?
This is an exceptionally fine read, filled with fully-realized personalities, seeped in high adventure, and complete credibility despite the story's fantastic circumstances and mythic legend. At the conclusion, young adult readers will crave more about this princess that fills your heart, particularly when she struggles with moral dilemmas, rejoices in even the smallest of new discoveries, and blossoms into her first romance. It's Cooney's finest hour.
Crazy Eights And Other Card Games
Joanna Cole and Stephanie Calmenson, Illustrated by Alan Tiegreen
SeaStar Books
11 East 26th Street, New York, NY 10010
ISBN 1587179504, $14.95 -- 76 pages
It's not easy for us old folks to recall the rules of our favorite childhood games, and it seems that the generation-to-generation tradition of teaching card games is waning. That's where "Crazy Eights" comes in handily. Written clearly and concisely for the grade-school level, it hits its market well. It teaches 20 classic and unusual card games for kids, from old favorites like Snap, Spit and War, to new-to-me games Make A Wish and Steal the Pack. It begins with a basic lesson in shuffling and cutting the deck, then proceeds to simple numerated directions accompanied by step-by-step illustrations. In no-nonsense fashion, it spells out the number of players, object of game, value of the cards or alternate deck composition (if needed), then gets right to the rules of the game. Sidebar suggestions give tips for improving your playing technique or suggests fun ways to create your own versions, and more complicated games are followed by helpful hints. The ace up the authors' sleeve is their choice of games, which even non-condescendingly includes Rummy and, of all things, Poker and other casino games. Deal me in.
How To Draw Butt-Ugly Martians
Maria B. Alfano
Scholastic
557 Broadway, 9th Floor, NY, NY 10012-3999
ISPN 0439407923, $3.99 32 pages, www.scholastic.com
The grin-worthy title alone makes this worth a look, particularly for grade-school boys. Never mind that this thin coloring-book formatted paperback is a licensed tie-in to the cartoon series -- this step-by-step drawing guide is entertaining from start to finish. Kids can draw simple outline sketches or detailed aliens, depending on skill; absolute beginners can simply trace the characters and feel they've achieved something. Amusing and helpful directions accompany each step with clear details. There are fewer than a dozen characters here in all including Do-Wah Diddy, 2-T-Fru-T and B.Bop-A-Luna -- with each requiring an average of six sketching steps. If your results are butt-ugly, you've done a great job.
I Asked A Tiger To Tea
Ivy O. Eastwick, Illustrated by Melanie Hall
Boyds Mills Press
815 Church Street, Honesdale, Pennsylvania 18431
ISBN 1563975157, $15.95 32 pages, www.boydsmillspress.com
This post-humus collection features 20 traditional poems for children by Englishwoman Ivy O. Eastwick. By all accounts, she was a delightful woman who drew influences for her work from her enjoyment of nature and an optimistic outlook on life. The book's selections each share that unrelenting optimism, no matter the subject. Her long-time editor-in-chief at "Highlights for Children" magazine, Walter B. Barbe, lovingly compiled this edition, grouping his selections into four sections: Nonsense and Humor; Nature's World; Seasons and Weather; and Wishes, Dreams and Fancy. My particular taste favors the lighthearted first chapter, which includes the work from which the book's title is borrowed. That poem's lilting sweetness is as good an example as any of Eastwick's work. With gentle grace it concludes, "I asked a lion to tea / But he said / That he just / Couldn't bother / So I think I will share / My afternoon tea / With my cat / And my dog / And my father."
Ballerina Bear
Shana Corey, Illustrated by Pamela Paparone
Random House
1540 Broadway, NY, NY 10036
ISBN 0375814167, $14.95 26 pages, www.randomhouse.com/kids
This short and sweet picture book tale about Bernice, a novice ballerina who has two left paws. Her leaps end in lumps, and her twirls end in tumbles, but she loves ballet and keeps practicing, practicing, practicing. One day a new dancer, Bertram, joins her class. He is perfect, the best ballet dancer in the whole school and Bernice is riveted by his performances. But Bertram is so perfect, he bores everyone else. Bernice begs him to be her partner, and he agrees. They buy matching costumes and practice every day for the big dance recital. When Bertam did his solo piece, the audience yawned. But then Bernice came out: "Bertram leaped, Bernice lumped. Bertram twirled. Bernice tumbled. The audience went wild." Young dancers will love every move, and hang on to every word. Ballerina Bear imparts a darling study in contrasts, and a vivid lesson about never giving up, finding your own true talent, and enjoying the process.
Winkle's World
Lara Joe Regan with Michael Regan
Random House
1540 Broadway, NY, NY 10036
ISBN 0375815430, $14.95 34 pages, www.randomhouse.com/kids
If you haven't met Mr. Winkle yet, you won't believe your eyes. What exactly is it? A teddy bear? An Ewok? No, it's a real dog the size of a kitten and cute as a button. His little head is a ball of fluff with two round tuffs for ears. His black marble eyes are toooo adorable, and his tongue what a tongue! is permanently extended. He draws oooohs and ahhhhs wherever he goes with his photographer mom Lara Joe Regan, who documents his every move. The little heart-stealer now has so many fans around the world that Regan has compiled this photo scrapbook giving a peek into Winkle's world. There he is jet-setting in a turtleneck sweater and air-conditioned travel bag. There he is with his pal Wheely Willy, a Chihuahua that uses a wheeled harness to walk. There he is visiting retirement homes and a school for deaf children. There he is getting his monthly fur cut and looking impossibly cute. It's Mr. Winkle unleashed! Recommended strictly for his panting fans.
Ugh! A Bug
Mary Bono
Walker & Company
435 Hudson Street, NY, NY 10014
ISBN 0802787991, $15.95 -- 30 pages, www.walkerbooks.com
Kids will go bug-eyed over Mary Bono's bold multi-media insect sculptures photographed against vivid watercolor and pencil backdrops. In this, her first picture book, Bono's creepy crawly rhymes tickle the senses, and make us wonder about our conflicting feelings about the amazing yet icky world of bugs. Rather than end on a frivolous note, its conclusion is apt: "Next time you see a bug don't make a fuss. After all, there's a lot more of them than of us." Bono infuses just the right note of humor to make young readers pleasantly squirm.
Becoming Butterflies
Anne Rockwell, Illustrated by Megan Halsey
Walker & Company
435 Hudson Street, NY, NY 10014
ISBN 0802787975, $15.95 32 pages, www.walkerbooks.com
Step by step, this concept picture book for young elementary students takes readers through a popular class project: raising butterflies. It begins when the class teacher brings a surprise to school: three caterpillars, and insect house and a milkweed plant. Together they prepare the tiny caterpillar's new home, feed it, and watch it grow. They witness its process of turning into a chrysalis, gradually evolving, and at last turning into butterflies. Prior to their release into the wild, the teacher provides lessons about how butterflies feed and travel far south for the warm winter months, giving the class (and readers) an excellent sense of even the tiniest creatures' place in the world at large. Each double-page spread is a virtual how-to guide enabling readers to duplicate the activity at home -- next to each story illustration is a drawing of the elements needed to accomplish what's pictured, or study the results up-close.
Champion: The Story of Muhammad Ali
Jim Haskins, Illustrations by Eric Velasquez
Walker & Company
435 Hudson St., NY, NY 10014
ISBN 0802787843, $17.95 36 pages, www.walkerbooks.com
This oversized hardback is a knockout. The superior production values of the cover art alone gives clear testament to the strength and legacy of the bigger-than-life man it profiles. Eric Velasquez's illustrations are gloriously rendered; from still-life and contemplative portraits, to cityscapes and freeze-frame action shots, his versatility breathes life into every page, particularly when his art is permitted to fill spreads without a single word. Biographer Jim Haskins tells Muhammad Ali's facinating story concisely, using minimal words for maximum effect. He also knows when to let Ali do the talking, so often quotes the fighter's famous rhyming patter and displays on the page in headline-sized type. Kudos too, to the book's uncredited art director, for the book's sublime layout and production; the choice to alternately print white type on black pages (and vice versa), for instance, was inspired. Champion: The Story Of Muhammad Ali is among the best evidence yet that picture book biographies have come a long way.
Just Ducky
Kathy Mallat
Walker & Company
435 Hudson Street, NY, NY 10014
ISBN 0802788246, $15.95 22 pages, www.walkerbooks.com
The simple pleasures of being yourself is at the heart of this ducky picture book for toddlers. A little yellow duckling searches around his pond for a friend to play with, but the bee, mouse, and frog are too busy doing their own thing. Finally, Ducky finds a playmate who looks just like him or is it just his reflection? Together they float and blow bubbles, quack and splash in perfect harmony, delighting in a simple day just being a duck. It's a sweet, short story-lesson that will ring truest to only-child readers.
I.Q. Goes To School
Mary Ann Fraser
Walker & Company
435 Hudson Street, NY, NY 10014
ISBN 0802788149, $16.85 32 pages, www.walkerbooks.com
I.Q. is one smart rodent. Not content to simply be the class pet, he listens and learns every school lesson and yearns to someday be chosen Student of the Week. Month by month, he grows smarter along with his human classmates. He learns the alphabet, colors, numbers, and holidays, and runs on his wheel when the children go to recess. He even joins them in the Thanksgiving play! Still, week after week his name is not chosen from the teacher's bowl, so I.Q. puts his lessons to work and writes his own name on a paper to add to the drawing. Just before school vacation, at last, I.Q.'s name is picked! What a terrific surprise for the class when I.Q. finally gets to share his art and stories and truly be considered part of the class.
This charming picture book is a teacher and student dream come true. It's both academic and fun; organized like a lesson plan, yet imaginative; complex enough to warrant multiple readings, yet simple enough to engage even young pre-schoolers. It's heads and whiskers above similar bestseller "If You Take A Mouse To School" and warrants a sequel. As hinted on the final page, hopefully "I.Q. Goes To Camp" will follow.
Slim and Jim
Richard Egielski
Laura Geringer Books / Harper Collins
1350 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10019-4703
ISBN 0060283521, $15.95 -- 40 pages, http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com
Caldecott Medal-winning illustrator Richard Egielski retells Charles Dickens ' "Oliver Twist" in this picture book for ages three and up. In his animal-cast version, a homeless rat, Slim, falls into a life of crime until he is befriended by a kindly mouse, Jim, and his family. When the mice trust the stranger with money to buy birthday candles, they are disappointed when he appears to run away with it. Alas, he fails to return because Slim is kidnapped by the evil criminal cat who dragged Slim into trouble in the first place. But Jim has faith in his friend and searches for him. Jim saves that day when he discovers Slim's predicament, and the two buddies team up to make sure his captor ends up behind bars.
Egielski throws two fun twists into his "Twist." Firstly, the rat and mouse share a love for yo-yos, and discover that their skill with the toy comes in handy in the end. And secondly, the story continues briefly in a joyful epilogue that imagines best friends Slim and Jim teaming up forever to perform their yo-yo tricks on the stage.
Oh My Gosh, Mrs. McNosh!
Sarah Weeks, Illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott
Laura Geringer Books / Harper Collins
1350 Avenue of the Americas, NY, NY 10019
ISBN 0694012041, $15.95 28 pages, www.harperchildrens.com
One good giggly tale deserves another and another. In Sarah Weeks' second picture book sequel to the rollicking "Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up Her Wash," her frazzled protagonist chases her pooch all over the park after he escapes from his leash, and darts off on the heels of a squirrel. The canine caper takes the trio from one mishap to another: splashing in a pond, smashing into a wedding cake, through a ball game, and so on. "I'll catch you!" she cries, but "Oh, my gosh," all she catches is a cold. Defeated, poor Mrs. McNosh admits she's licked and shuffles back home alone. Sweetly, one final "Oh, my gosh" plot twist puts a smile on everyone's face.
If You Take A Mouse To School
Laura Numeroff, Illustrated by Felicia Bond
Laura Geringer Books / Harper Collins
1350 Avenue of the Americas, NY, NY 10019-4703
ISBN 0060283289, $15.99 30 pages
The enormously popular "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" picture book has proved to have tremendous staying power, and so, naturally enough, it spawned the sequels "If You Give A Moose A Muffin," "If You Give A Pig A Pancake," and "If You Take A Mouse To The Movies." Each features the same chain-reaction story structure, with varying degrees of success. Can lightning strike a fourth time with the new "If You Take A Mouse To School"? Sticking with the silent little mouse protagonist is a sure-footed first step, as is the story-rich school setting what better location to help young ones identify with the mouse's enthusiastic antics? The first-day-at-school premise, however, doesn't lend itself well to the cause-and-effect concept, so incidents tend to meander without providing much "what happens next?" dramatic tension. A satisfying conclusion wraps things up nicely and, yes, still manages to lead readers to wonder what the little guy will get up to next.
I Stink!
Kate & Jim McMullan
Joanna Cotler Books / HarperCollins
1350 Avenue of the Americas, NY, NY 10019-4703
ISBN 0060298480, $15.95 -- 32 pages
Don't believe there's a gender gap between modern boys and girls? I dare you to try reading the rough-and-tumble "I Stink!" autobiography of a garbage truck to Pre-K-2nd grade girls in the throes of the princess phase. Read it to boys or the same age, however, and hear them roar along with the truck as it crushes, mashes and smashes trash with abandon, then proudly boasts that "no skunk ever stunk this bad!" Garbage trucks and young boys are a perfect match it's amazing how many boys dream of becoming trash collectors when they grow up. The appeal of this picture book about a day in the life of an aggressive, loud garbage truck told in his own attitude-ladden words has enormous appeal for fans who can't get enough of things with wheels and engines and noise. They won' t be able to resist the brawny energy and brazen attitude of the stinky protagonist, particularly when he enthusiastically lists all his mechanical equipment in action: "Hopper's full. Hit the THROTTLE. Gimme some gas. Rev me to the MAX. Engine? ROAR!" When he's "way compacted" and gives out a mighty burp, you can almost smell his stinky breath. "Get a load of my recipe," he taunts, then lists his grimy ingredients A-Z, from apple cores and banana peels, to year-old yams and "zipped-up ziti with zucchini."
The truck finishes his job by dumping his load on a barge, but fails to finish the story: where exactly does his trash go from there? No morals are imparted among the sound effects and job checklist here, though many come to mind: Waste not, want not? Reduce, reuse, recycle? Pick up your trash? The basic rules are ignored here, unless you count the scary taunt "Without me? You're on Mount Trash-O-Rama, baby," accompanied by an illustration of New York City buried under garbage. As a lesson in cleaning up our mess, "I Stink!" really reeks. But as a dirty book providing vicarious thrills? Move over Jackie Collins! "I Stink!" may be the best trashy book yet.
Knocked Out By My Nunga-Nungas
Louise Rennison
Harper Tempest
1350 Avenue of the Americas, NY, NY 10019
ISBN 0066236568, $15.99 183 pages, www.harperteen.com
Georgia Nicholson is back, the irrepressible British teen who puts every waking thought onto paper in this month-long diary-form novel, the third in a hilarious, slang-laden series. As with "Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging" and "On The Bright Sides, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God," she continues to rant and rave about her nutty (and adored) family, her sex-crazed cat Angus, her school, her girlfriends, boys, boys, boys, and her teen anxieties (aka "nervy spazzes") over snogging (kissing), lurkers (zits) and her growing nunga-nungas (breasts). Like us, she still can't be bothered knowing the names of secondary characters such as her boring neighbors (Mr. Next Door), but it's clear she's fond even of them. It's just that her love life is so, like, you know, totally all-consuming.
In "Nunga-Nungas" Georgia begins right where we left her: head over heels in lurve with her new "sex god" boyfriend Robbie, whose rock band is gearing up for a concert where Georgia giddily plans to make her public debut as an OG (official girlfriend). So naturally, her world is turned upside-down when she has to leave him unguarded while she takes a dreaded family vacation in Scotland with her mom, dad ("Loonleader of the Universe") and pre-school sis Libby (whose antics provide numerous humorous asides). Meanwhile, she meets up again with nice boy-next-door type Dave The Laugh, who Georgia dumped to snag the SG. And yet on two occasions, why does she find her lips suddenly attached to Dave's? When the big OG event finally occurs, it's not what she'd hoped. And why is it that Robbie never seems to show up, but Dave does, and hmmmm, does DTL have to be so fun to hang out with?
Two boys and a pair of nunga-nungas spell double trouble for Georgia, who describes her daily events with sit-com snap. Three cheers for author Louis Rennison for a third series sequel that's as fabbity-fab-fab as the first.
The Little School Bus
Carol Roth, Illustrated by Pamela Paparone
North-South Books
11 East 26th Street, New York, NY 10010
ISBN 0735816468, $14.95 -- 32 pages, www.northsouth.com
"Here comes the school bus, beep, beep, beep! Step right up and take a seat, and ride the bus to school, to school, and ride the bus to school." Back-to-school excitement builds in this sing-song picture book written in a style reminiscent of "Old McDonald." The yellow school bus makes its stops, picking up friendly animals along the way: a little goat in his coat, a pig in a wig, a squirmy worm, a sleepy sheep, and so on. The checklist grows as other students board, and is chanted again when the school day ends and they find themselves "riding home from school, from school, riding home from school." "The Little School Bus" is a delightful ride that human back-to-school students will want to take again and again.
LeapPad Phonics Program: Book & Cartridge Lessons 1-10
LeapFrog Enterprises
6401 Hollis Street, Suite 150, Emeryville, CA 94608-1070
ISBN 1-58605-738-3 (Lesson 1)
ISBN 1-58605-739-1 (Lesson 2)
ISBN 1-58605-740-5 (Lesson 3)
ISBN 1-58605-741-3 (Lesson 4)
ISBN 1-58605-742-1 (Lesson 5)
ISBN 1-58605-743-X (Lesson 6)
ISBN 1-58605-744-8 (Lesson 7)
ISBN 1-58605-745-6 (Lesson 8)
ISBN 1-58605-746-4 (Lesson 9)
ISBN 1-58605-747-2 (Lesson 10)
$14.99 -- 34 pages (average), www.leapfrog.com
LeapFrog's best-selling LeapPad Learning System an interactive hardware/software program for preschoolers through second graders (age 4 through 7) -- is the pinnacle of fun and productive technological phonics teaching. Parents and teachers are amazed how quickly pre-readers take to the reading system, and everyone rejoices in the quick results and accomplishments especially proud students who enjoy their accomplishments so much that they don't even realized these colorful little "talking books" are a learning tool. The LeapPad program's success makes the company claim that "Learning to read has never been this fun" easy to believe. If the interactivity elements weren't so finicky and susceptible to frustrating electronic glitches, the system would be close to perfect.
The system requires the purchase of a $49.99 LeapPad hardware playing system that gives the appearance of a laptop computer operated by an electronic pencil, rather than a keypad. Simply open it, place inside one of several spiral-bound book titles (purchased separately) and the coordinating cartridge, press "start" and you're off. Kids must remember to touch the "pencil" to the "go" symbol on each spread whenever they turn a page a frustrating task for beginners -- then they have the option of hearing the text read to them ("Say it"), hearing the pronunciation of each word ("Sound it"), or reading along letter by letter ("Spell it") by touching the pencil to any word, phrase or image they wish. Nearly every spread also offers one or more game options and other surprises, which proved to be the biggest hit with our product testers.
These ten interactive books are the newest additions to the company's Phonics Program series, the second stage of the four part program: "Leap Start" is for preschoolers, and teaches pre-reading, pre-math and essential subjects; Phonics is for preschool through second grade, teaching reading step-by-step; "Leap 1" is for preschool through first grade, teaching reading, math and essential subjects through story and activity books primarily based on licensed characters ("Arthur's Lost Puppy," "Winnie The Pooh," Richard Scarry characters); and "Leap 2" is for grades 1-3, teaching reading comprehension and reading to learn ("Hit It, Maestro!," "I Know Where My Food Goes"). Each comes paired with a plug-in cartridge necessary for operation.
The ten new books are: Lesson 1 -- "Alphabet Adventures," teaching letters and letter sounds with over 30 phonics games. Lesson 2 -- "Tad's Good Night," teaching short vowels A and I, and includes 14 phonics games. Lesson 3 -- "A Day At Moss Lake," teaching short vowels O and E with 12 games. Lesson 4 -- "The Day Leap Ate Olives," teaching short vowel U and vowel review, with 14 games. Lesson 5 -- "Lost and Found," teaching consonant blends with 12 games. Lesson 6 -- "Cake and Mice Cream," teaching vowels A and I, silent E, with 12 games.
Lesson 7 -- "Mole's Huge Nose," teaches long vowels E, O and U, silent E, with 12 games. Lesson 8 -- "Rainy Day Play" teaches vowel combinations and rhyming words (though kids are usually proficient at rhyming by this stage) with 14 games. Lesson 9 -- "A Bark in the Dark" teaches R- and L-controlled vowels with12 phonics games. Lesson 10 -- "A Fisherman's Tale" teaches compound words (example, "star + fish = starfish"), with 10 games.
Each book gradually introduces new vocabulary words, rhyming words, decoding words, sight words, spelling lessons, and word identification skills. Occasionally they suggest companion activity books, such as "I Know My Long Vowels," for further practice. As a personal learning tool, the LeapPad and its phonics Program is remarkable. It's a shame that hardware fragility and prohibitive cost of the unit and books makes it an unlikely addition to school and public libraries where it would quickly become in-demand item at check out.
A Perfect Snow
Nora Martin
Bloomsbury
175 Fifth Avenue, NY, NY 10010
ISBN 1582347883, $16.95 144 pages, www.bloomsbury.com
The title to Nora Martin's second novel works deftly to provide a pivot point for this quietly powerful story of hate and redemption. Is "a perfect snow" symbolic of the goal of hate groups for a "pure" all-white nation? Or is it a clean slate, providing a chance to start over again?
Sensitive teenager Ben Campbell must decide for himself when he and his brother find themselves drawn into an Aryan Nation hate group that grows increasingly violent and reckless. Told deftly from Ben's perspective, "A Perfect Snow" gives a remarkably revealing and disturbing view of just how easily vulnerable kids are lured and indoctrinated into insidious cults of hate.
The downward spiral begins when Ben, his older bully brother, and their beleaguered parents move to rural Montana, down on their luck. The boys live in a decrepit mobile home, stumble socially at their new school, while their out-of-work father struggles to find a niche. They were used to be starting players, but now they're stuck on the bench so the brothers' anger and frustration festers. Ben tries to stop David's bullying behavior toward the "privileged" kids, but it lands himself in trouble too.
Their father finds needed comfort in men's support group of sorts, so he brings Ben along to meet the charismatic leader. The group turns out to be a new clan sect secretly recruiting members. Without realizing their sinister intent, Ben gets David to join them too and they unleash their pent-up anger by vandalizing a Jewish law office, a gay student's home, and a church with a black minister. Ben soon becomes shocked by his own actions, however, and his awareness inspires compassion toward others and compels him to do the right thing. But by the time he realizes the true nature of the horrible crimes, Ben discovers that his brother is in too deep with no desire to change. The wedge between them grows deeper and deeper when Ben discovers the horrible error of blaming others for your problems, instead of solving them yourself. Encouraged by the redemptive comfort of his new girlfriend, Ben strives to right his wrongs. But will she still care for him when she learns what he has done? Bravo to Martin for her revealing, sensitive, and lecture-free approach to an all-to-common problem troubling teens across the nation.
Scholastic Student Thesaurus
John K. Bollard
Scholastic
557 Broadway, NY, NY 10012-3999
ISBN 0439248825, $16.95 204 pages, www.scholastic.com
Complete, concise, and easy-to-use are three ways to describe Scholastic's latest reference too, the "Scholastic Student Thesaurus." Or rather, by putting the book to work, students might prefer to call it "thorough, short and simple."
Complex and obsolete words are eliminated to suit the vocabulary of students age 10 and up in this comprehensive, yet fairly slim, tome. Each entry contains synonyms with cross-references to point students toward additional word options. A seven-page introduction gives a detailed usage overview for beginners, but the clear and concise format requires little explanation. This thesaurus' most innovative device is the creation of a unique on-the-page index that lets students search for a word that is not a main entry. It should be noted that not all on-the-page index words are actually on the same page sometimes two or three pages must be turned to find what you need but in most cases it is a welcome antidote for frustration with back page indexes. As such, the "Scholastic Student Thesaurus" is a worthy addition to any elementary and middle-school student reference shelf, and an excellent companion to the "Scholastic Children's Dictionary."
Scholastic Student Dictionary
Scholastic
557 Broadway, NY, NY 10012-3999
ISBN 0439365635, $17.95 648 pages, www.scholastic.com
The updated edition of this popular reference dictionary for ages eight and up, now includes nearly 200 new and updated entries among the original 30,000 entries. Interestingly, the new entries are not advanced vocabulary choices, but rather technology-based words and acronyms that have become commonly used in contemporary life, such as browser, Internet, DVD and SUV. Likewise, many pre-existing words such as click, chat, extreme, and net -- have been updated to include their newest definitions. This modernist approach extends to visuals as well; some pictures have been refreshed by replacing a dozen or so entry illustrations with color photos. The dictionary is as eye-catching as ever, featuring color guide words and locators; color boxes that feature interesting "side-bar" information; and more than 1,000 photos, illustrations and diagrammed pictures that encourage casual browsing as well as precise research. Bold-faced cross-references keep things interesting by sending readers to related subjects and illustrations elsewhere in the dictionary. Never forgetting the readership, multicultural entries provide enrichment and balance, and most entries provide kid-friendly sample sentences to demonstrate real-life usage. The "Scholastic Student Dictionary" continues to be a valuable asset to every elementary school student and library.
Will Rogers
Frank Keating, Illustrated by Mike Wimmer
Silver Whistle/Harcourt Brace Children's Books
525 B Street, Suite 1900, San Diego, CA 92101
ISBN 015216524X, $21.95 14 pages, www.HarcourtBooks.com
Given the surging interest in patriotism and Americana, Will Rogers is excellent subject for a picture book biography, particularly one with nostalgic illustrations reminiscent of Norman Rockwell. As a child in Oklahoma, Rogers was a skilled horseman with a Cherokee bloodline and an insatiable taste for adventure. He loved rural life but his restless nature loved modern travel even more, setting the stage for daring round-the-world air travel when flight was new. Later, he was a devoted family man who lived the country life in California by paradoxically building a ranch on the lot of a movie studio. He reached star status via films, radio and his newspapers, and became beloved as America's everyman, speaking plain and simple wisdom. He influenced politics and left a legacy of memorable quotes, most notably, "I never met a man I didn't like."
It's a loose assortment of Rogers' quotes, however -- not his life story -- that has formed the structure of this book. Written by Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating, its text mainly serves to flesh out a single quote chosen for each spread. After several pages about Rogers boyhood, the story loses its way, and never manages to define the man. Was he a cowboy, an actor or a reporter? A celebrity or a politician? An aimless wanderer or an explorer? More questions are raised than answered; his career, accomplishments and basic identity are never made clear. Though ill-defined, Keating's gentle "hat's off" salute to the colorful personality is honest and direct, allowing Rogers' essence to shine through. The book's beautiful design including typewritten words on yellowed paper, and a close-up excerpt of Rogers' front-age obituary are effective time-travel devices, but young readers will need much more to gain a true understanding of the man and his legacy.
My Little Blue Robot
Stephen T. Johnson
Silver Whistle/Harcourt Brace Children's Books
525 B Street, Suite 1900, San Diego, CA 92101
ISBN 015216524X, $21.95 14 pages, www.HarcourtBooks.com
This is the perfect non-book for all those young reluctant readers out there who are constantly disappointed with literary gifts. The pages of this heavy-duty board book cleverly house the flat cardboard components of a blue robot toy. That's it. No story, no morals, no lessons, just a satisfying adventure in construction. Like the popular "My Little Red Toolbox" that preceded "My Little Blue Robot," this hands-on concept book is an engineering feat and a 4-to-7-year-old's treat. It's an excellent parent and child activity.
First, young builders punch out three puzzle-styled headpieces and a cardboard screwdriver for the youngest participants to lend a hand, pretending (or thoroughly believing) that they are screwing in the moving orange "bolts." Older kids or parents simply follow the five lines of directions for proper assembly. The next spread completes the head with three more pieces and five movable silver square "screws." The next spread has two leg and wheel pieces, followed by a big back piece with power packs then two jointed arms.
The final spread contains the piece de resistance: the secret to making this robot tick. "My robot needs one more thing. He needs a heart. Just like me," states the text, directing the builders to open the chest door with a key, and insert a red heart. The magic reward for a job well done? Press on the closed door and the robot talks just one phrase, mind you, but it's enough to make kids feel like rocket scientists.
Page by page, the text contains nothing more than friendly, no-nonsense directions. Theoretically, the sturdy robot's pieces are to be taken apart and slipped back into their book-page compartments. In my household, however, the robot seems to have found a permanent home as a special playmate, never to be disassembled again.
Auntie Claus And The Key To Christmas
Elise Primavera
Silver Whistle/Harcourt Brace Children's Books
525 B Street, Suite 1900, San Diego, CA 92101-4495
0152024417; $16.00 40 pages, www.HarcourtBooks.com, 1-800-543-1918
Children will love unlocking the magic of the holiday season with "Auntie Claus and The Key To Chrismas." Elise Primavera's sequel to her best-selling "Auntie Claus" picture book is another merry treat about Sophie Kringle and her mysterious great-aunt, Auntie Claus, who is again preparing to leave on a "business trip" as Christmas approaches. This time, Sophie's precocious little brother, Christopher, becomes involved when he expresses doubt that Santa really has a Bad Boys & Girls List. "I get presents every year," he reasons. "And to be honest, I'm not all that good." To prove his theory, he tries to get on the list by doing everything in his bad-boy power to misbehave. Sophie intervenes, but soon her brother's investigation leads to the North Pole where the siblings are shocked to find the gates to Christmas locked! What can the secret key to Christmas possibly be? The satisfying story is richly and humorously told, and the illustrations are an exuberant feast. Readers will owe Primavera thank-you notes for such an enjoyable gift.
Little Yau: A Fuzzhead Story
Janell Cannon
Harcourt
525 B Street, Suite 1900, San Diego, CA 92101
ISBN 0152017917, $16 50 pages, www.HarcourtBooks.com
Author-illustrator Janelle Cannon has worked her magic time and time again with such splendid picture books as "Stellaluna," "Verdi" and "Crickwing," the unique fictional portraits of a bat, a snake and a cockroach, respectively. It was considerably more difficult to get a handle on her "Trupp" fantasy, however, a meandering tale about an intelligent cat-like creature with human speech and characteristics who leaves his native desert to explore the big city with a homeless woman.
The new picture book sequel, "Little Yau" is equally perplexing. Again a fuzzy protagonist lives as a southwest Native American, but this time wishes to learn how to utilize herbal remedies taught by "the Wise Ones." When she discovers the nearly lifeless body of Trupp, Little Yau struggles to use natural medicine to save him. The elders instruct her to find a "thumbfoot leaf" as a cure, so Little Yau rushes to the field where they grow only to find it was destroyed to build a parking lot. Further search leads into dangerous human territory, so she dons clothes to supposedly escape detection. When she finally finds a now-endangered "thumbfoot" plant, Yau rushes it home, Trupp is cured, and the plant is nurtured for future generations.
Although the snow-white fuzzheads themselves are as cuddly as Ewoks, the story's mix of fantasy and reality is unsettling for children. The author's zealously touts natural medicine and ecological preservation, but the messages scream too loudly for the quiet story, burying it under its own weight. Perhaps the fuzzheads can find a cure for their story's lingering ailment in their next adventure.
Epossumondas
Coleen Salley, Illustrated by Janet Stevens
Harcourt
525 B Street, Suite 1900, San Diego, CA 92101
ISBN 015216748X, $16.00 32 pages, www.HarcourtBooks.com
Louisiana-native Coleen Salley has been keeping the Southern oral storytelling tradition alive and well for thirty years, and here, for the first time, is her signature tale in picture book format. "Epossumondas" is her newest variation of the old "noodlehead story," originally about a human Epaminondas and his muddled-up mishaps. This time the protagonist takes the form of a foolish young possum, the "sweet little patootie" of his human mama and auntie who claim he "hasn't got the sense he was born with."
In one case of misunderstanding after another, Epossumondas transports a gift from his auntie to his mama, and manages to ruin each item before it reaches home. When he listens carefully to his mama's absurd directions for, say, carrying a cake home on his head beneath a hat, he follows her directions to the letter, resulting in a head dripping with melted butter, a soggy puppy covered in leaves, and a raggedy loaf of bread dragged on the end of a rope. His final "oops" occurs after his mama decides to skip the middleman by going to see auntie herself. She leaves him along at home with six fresh baked pies on the porch and the warning, "You be careful about stepping on those pies." So of course he was careful: "he stepped right in the middle of every one."
It's a laugh out loud tale for young and old. All that's missing is Salley' s actual voice -- a thick-as-molasses southern drawl -- but her presence is felt in a different way: Janet Stevens ("To Market, To Market," "And The Dish Ran Away With The Spoon") had fun basing the books' illustrations of both exasperated women, on Salley herself.
The Little Red Lighthouse And The Great Gray Bridge
Hildegarde H. Swift and Lynd Ward
Harcourt, Inc.
525 B. Street, San Diego, CA 92101,
ISBN 0152045716, $16 -- 64 pages, www.HarcourtBooks.com
In celebration of this classic picture book's 60th anniversary, Harcourt has produced a special hardback "facsimile edition" that tremendously improves the vividness of its illustrations by printing from the original watercolors. Compared with Harcourt's own Voyager Books paperback edition, the pale pinks and blues have been beautifully reconditioned into the original rich palette of rich reds, blues and purples.
There's no more fitting way to celebrate this classic little-lighthouse-who-could story than with a fresh coat of paint to match the restoration of the real Hudson River landmark. The melancholy story is now experiencing a true-life storybook ending. First, the book inspired the rescue of the real 1880 lighthouse when it was decommissioned in 1932 and left to rust until a 10-year-old boy's fondness for the book and its subject alerted the public. Nearly 30 years later it was added to the National Register of Historic Places and was restored in the 1980s. Best of all, this year the lighthouse was fitted with a new lens so it can shine once again when its beacon is lit for the first time since 1947. Now that's a happy ending worth sharing with generation after generation.
Moonbeans, Dumplings & Dragon Boats
Nina Simonds, Leslie Swartz, and The Children's Museum, Boston
Gulliver Books/Harcourt Brace Children's Books
525 B. Street, San Diego, CA 92101
ISBN 0152019839, $20 80 pages, www.HarcourtBooks.com
Subtitled "A Treasury of Chinese Holiday Tales, Activities & Recipes," this outstanding collection explains the hallmarks of traditional Chinese celebrations, and pairs each with folk tales and appropriate do-it-yourself projects from holiday foods and decorations to hand-made toys and other art-and-crafts ideas. The outline is broken down into four seasonal festivals, each with four to 13 subsections, making out-of-sequence reading a particular pleasure. Interested in the Chinese Zodiac? Jump to page 19. Want to make dragon boats or shadow puppets? See pages 54 and 70. Do Five-Treasure Moon Cakes whet your appetite? Turn to page 66 for the recipe.
Written with special care by best-selling cookbook author Nina Simonds along with a vice president of The Children's Museum, Boston, the elegant book sparkles with authenticity and grace. The myths offer intrigue, festival explanations provide riveting detail, and the how-to projects encourage hands-on participation to make the core material come alive.
Love To Langston
Tony Medina, Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie
Lee & Low Books
95 Madison Ave., NY, NY 10016
ISBN: 1584300418, $16.95 26 pages, www.leeandlow.com
This picture book tribute to poet Langston Hughes is exemplary in every way. Created as a 100th birthday gift to the late, great poet, this unique biography is written in verse by talented poet Tony Medina ("DeShawn Days"), a native of Hughes' old Harlem neighborhood. Each poem gives a moving glimpse into the events of Hughes' life, from his lonely childhood and the racism and poverty he overcame, to his travels and eventual success as a major creative figure of the 1920s Harlem Renaissance. Sometimes the poems give background details ("Grandma's Stories"), some reveal what made him tick ("Libraries") and some simply impart a feeling of Hughes' passion ("Jazz Makes Me Sing"). Medina's choice of the poetic idiom to honor a poet is purely wonderful, and his riveting execution guarantees that it can be absolutely appreciated by even the youngest readers. Hats off too, for illustrator R. Gregory Christie (who also illustrated Medina's "Deshawn Days") and his loose, childlike paintings. Highly recommended.
Home At Last
Susan Middleton Elya, Illustrated by Felipe Davalos
Lee & Low Books
95 Madison Ave., NY, NY 10016
ISBN 1584300205 -- $16.96 32 pages, www.leeandlow.com
With unsentimental grace, "Home At Last" tells a realistic, personal story of a Mexican family adjusting to new surroundings when they move to the United States. This picture book for older children is all the more moving when it reveals -- through the eyes of their young daughter -- the obstacles that adult non-English speaking immigrants face every day. Mama misses the love and support of her extended family back home, is afraid when she and the children are alone in their American apartment. Papa works long hours, and cannot be there when medical help is needed for the baby, so she finally musters up enough bravery to enter an "English as a Second Language" night class. Little Ana's progress in school boosts Mama's spirit and confidence too, and so together the family discovers the true meaning of home. It's a touching story that speaks to both immigrant and non-immigrant families without guise or pretension.
Summer Sun Risin'
W. Nikola-Lisa, Illustrated by Don Tate
Lee & Low Books
95 Madison Ave., NY, NY 10016
ISBN 1584300345, $16.95 -- 30 pages, www.leeandlow.com
From one of the country's best multi-cultural publishers comes this simple tribute to African American farmers. Or at least that is the stated design of this rhyming picture book for young children, which follows a typical farm family through their daily chores. Don Tate's colorful, folk-art inspired illustrations lovingly embrace the concept through the smiling black faces, serene landscapes and fluid lines. But oddly, not one word of the author's spare rhyming couplets "celebrates African Americans as part of our country's farming landscape," as he claims. It might just as well have been written about a Texas farmstead, a Mexican ranchito, an Amish community or even -- with literally a few word changes -- a Thai rice field. As is, the text is 100% ethnicity-blind and culture-blind, treating its subject without slant of any kind. As admirable as that may be, it leads one to question the author's somewhat hollow assertion instead of enjoying the simple joys that lie on each page.
Sailor Moo: Cow At Sea
Lisa Wheeler
Atheneum Books / Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas, NY, NY 10020
ISBN 0689842198, $16.95, www.SimonSaysKids.com
This udderly-delightful bovine picture book for ages 3 through 7 is the latest from punster Lisa Wheeler, the #1 farm critter fan/author of "Sixteen Cows" and "Wool Gathering: A Sheep Family Reunion." In this hilarious, exceedingly well-executed poem, she tells the tale of Little Moo who dreams of escaping the drab life of a dairy cow by seeking adventure on the high seas. "Moo loved the way the ocean sang/ 'Like moo-sic,' she would utter/As rocking, rolling ocean waves/Would churn her milk to butter."
Wheeler employs clever cow puns left and right, milking them for all they're worth. She throws in a few surprise zingers too, as with the happy-ever-after conclusion about Sailor Moo settling down with the pirate bull Red Angus: "They have a bonny baby now/A sweet, cream-colored calf/ Part Sailor Moo, part Angus, too/They call her Half-'n'-half!" No matter how you cut it, the inventive humor, exciting story, skillful poetry and rich illustrations are all USDA prime choice. "Sailor Moo" is a blue-ribbon winner.
It Came From Beneath The Bed!
James Howe, Ilustrated by Brett Helquist
Atheneum Books / Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas, NY NY 10020
ISBN 0689839472, $9.95, www.SimonSaysKids.com
Beware! It's another frightfully funny "Tale From The House of Bunnicula," James Howe's silly, dog-narrated chapter book thrillers for grade-school kids that tickle funny bones instead of rattling them. In this installment, little Howie, the wirehaired dachshund puppy, yearns to be a writer like his uncle Harold, who previously narrated the best-selling chapter book "Bunnicula" (about a sweet furball they thought was a vampire bunny). Here, Howie weaves a meandering story about an evil menace lurking under the bed. Could it just be the dust bunnies, or is it something too horrible to imagine! The action is amusingly halted between chapters with asides about the writing process. What's a cliff-hanger? Poetic license? Similes? Howie explains it all with humor and ease. Young readers will surely feel encouraged to try the mystery writing game for themselves. After all, if a puppy can do it, why not a kid?
John Coltrane's Giant Steps
Chris Raschka
Atheneum Books / Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas, NY, NY 10020
ISBN 0-689-84598-7, $17.00 -- 32 pages, www.SimonSaysKids.com
This spirited introduction to the music of the jazz giant is a visual treat that strives to make music jump off the page in an entirely innovative way. Chris Raschka's text introduces each image as if they were supporting band members: raindrops symbolize the tempo; a box lays down the foundation; a snowflake provides harmony; and a kitten steps in as melody. The shapes and colors combine as if different instruments in Coltrane's famous arrangement of "My Favorite Things" hence the lyrical images that Chris Raschka has wryly selected.
The combined effect creates a visual equivalent to the aural experience. It 's a high concept effort that will zoom over the heads of most young readers, but hopefully, they will enjoy the ride. Caldecott-winning illustrator Chris Raschka has traveled this road before. This is his third picture book illuminating jazz maestros -- having been preceded by "Charlie Parker Played Be Bop" and "Mysterious Thelonious" yet this exceedingly well-produced picture book is fresh and delightful as raindrops on kittens.
Micawber
John Lithgow, Illustrated by C.F. Payne
Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas, NY, NY 10020
ISBN 0689833415, $17.95 42 pages, www.SimonSaysKids.com
John Lithgow's by-line is all it will take to place his third picture book for children on the bestsellers list, but at least "Micawber" deserves an audience. The rhyming book and companion CD (read by Lithgow) tell the story of a squirrel art-lover who can't get enough of the famous oils at the museum. When he sees an artist painting copies of masterpieces, it inspires Micawber to do the same. He sneaks into her studio, dabs paint with his tail, and creates his own imitative works of art. When he has collected enough canvases, he fastens them to the walls of his home, and invites all his Central Park friends for the unveiling of his gallery: Micawber's Museum of Art. Lithgow's honest enthusiasm is felt throughout, his delight in exposing young children to the beauty of the fine art is admirable, and his challenging vocabulary is an unexpected pleasure.
Barry Trotter And The Unauthorized Parody
Michael Gerber
Fireside Books
c/o Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas, NY, NY 10020
ISBN 0743244281, $11 176 pages, www.SimonSaysKids.com
Brevity is the soul of wit, so it's unfortunate that this wicked, bratty satire doesn't know when to quit. Skilled comic writer Michael Gerber gleefully fills 176 dense (in both senses of the word) pages with vulgar humor, mild sexual deviation, muddy storytelling, mean-spirited barbs and (fictional) character assassination. So far so good, satire fans will say. But it's guaranteed to anger Harry Potter's core audience and their rating-conscious parents, and will soar over the heads of non-Potter readers. So who exactly is the non-PG "Barry Trotter" intended to amuse?
Whoever the readers may be, those who manage to make it to the final page will be rewarded with the book's funniest bit: a multiple-choice form-letter protest note that effectively absolves the author of all blame and shields him from knee-jerk criticism. "I HATE YOU!" screams the letterhead. "Dear Sir: I was very offended by your book I am writing to say how appalled I was at your (check all that apply): [ ] turning something wonderful into something sordid [ ] unrelenting scatology [ ] shaky grasp of grammar, spelling and syntax (note no serial comma) [ ] inept plotting [ ] reliance on cheap meta-tricks [ ] irritating characters that all sound the same [ ] cheap-ass paper [ ] getting drunk and calling me, asking to get back together [ ] teaching my young child about "water sports," for God's sake " I'm willing to wager that even J.K Rowling (and her attorneys) can't help but get a chuckle out of that.
Vicki Arkoff
Reviewer

## Dana's Bookshelf

Dr Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation: The Definitive Guide to the Evolutionary Biology of Sex
Olivia Judson
Metropolitan Books
115 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011
ISBN 0-8050-6331-5, LC CIP data, 5" x 7.5" hardbound, 224 pages, $24.00US/$34.95CAN
For a budding author looking for a first-book rise to the top, the word "sex" in the title shears a million competitors off the Amazon best-seller rankings just by being there. Even for a reviewer of my age, for whom the topic of sex has me in the unfortunate position of engaging in anti-union behavior looking down on the unemployed a book with that word in the title gets front and center privileges. Among three-letter words, it inspires more inches (column, that is) than any other, except in those parts of the world where the word "God" is the preferred substitute. (The capital "G", by the way, has something to do with this: the Hindus know how to have their gods and lots of sex, too, merely by desanctifying the G. Can you imagine the son of God making off with the clothes of some skinny-dipping cowgirls the way the god Krishna did with the gopis?)
So for we who, like Krishna, admit that there's a bit of the voyeur in us (the non-admitters are stuck behind keyholes, reaping a lousy view for their denials), what are we to make of a book so brazenly titled as "Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to all Creation"? Even titillation and what other pun word embraces equally both late developers and Playboy readers? is a word too flaccid.
Flaccid Dear Tatiana is not. She knows how the other 99.99999 percent loves, and it's kinkier than daytime TV without clothes. Nature's way, it seems, could deflate even a porn star. For example, a certain male species in the Pacific Northwest forests has an implement so big and complex that it does not deflate after the job is done but instead gets stuck in place (male readers will remember that fantasy from their before-sex days when the problem wasn't getting it up but getting it down). Well, this fellow's mate solves her problem by eating his off at the base. Without ketchup, even. Then things go beyond even Hollywood: he turns into a she because his "he" is hermaphrodite. That certainly saves on the hormone shots and wigs.
The kinky among you can enjoy this male's novel sexstyle, too, but you have to be reborn a giant yellow banana slug to do it. Sigh, there's always a catch when it comes to Mother Nature. So, too, with lions. That lordly creature, whose mien has inspired no end of granite statues at the entrances to banks, has also a lordly carnal appetite: "I've heard of lions copulating 157 time in fifty-three hours with two different females," Dr. Tatiana reports, and then, fretful perhaps that her readers might not like the fact that animals can outperform the legends surrounding Henry VIII and any number of tented sheiks, palaced potentates, and exemplary teenagers, she unconvincingly adds, "Honestly."
Somehow I can't believe any of this is part of the decision-making process of the bankers who order in those statues.
But when was sex ever reasonable? Its great virtue in fact is that it isn't. Dr. Tatiana's whole book is a paean to unreason or at least the part of unreason that ensures reproduction and the many ways Nature does this with beguiling panache. Virgin conception? It was around millions of years before that celibates' kerfuffle over Jeshua ben Miriam. Fastidious about oral sex? Don't read the account of the green spoon worm who doesn't just eat but inhales her mate. Saves on divorce costs, that. That dandyish auto-toff you know suffers from the same feather-anxiety as the male peacock. Just watch what happens when he and his silver-gray Porsche are at a stoplight and a racing-red Ferrari pulls up in the next lane. The hapless Porsche owner can't even do what his plumed colleague does: pull out his second-rate feathers.
Edge aside all these examples for a moment and what we have is an agony aunt for lovestruck or more accurately, reproduction challenged creatures, not one of which is a human. Unlike most agony aunts, she has some credentials behind her opinionating: Graduate of Stanford, doctorate from Oxford, an evolutionary biologist, award-winning journalist, published in The Economist, Nature, Science, and The Times Higher Education Supplement. As sex-advisers go, she gets between some pretty impressive covers herself. Her non-pen name is Olivia Judson, this is her first book, and she's both hilarious and an expert in her specialty, evolutionary biology. The first 234 pages of her book are page-turning sexual escapades. The next 62 pages are scientific notes and an exhaustive bibliography of papers on subjects you can't imagine anyone ever writing, such as "Host race radiation in the soapberry bug" and "Ejaculate quality, testes size, and sperm production in mammals." Then, too, there's the more promising "Group raids: A mating strategy ...." All this, and if the cover photo tells true, a knockout looker too. Eat your heart out Danielle.
Despite the frequent gruesomeness (in some eyes, anyway) of the copulations she describes, she's funny. There are several kinds of spiders "where there can be no doubting the females' intention to take head, not give it." There is hapless "Anxious in Amboseli", who cites an oddlot of symptoms ending with the plaint that his penis has turned green (and who, may we ask, would you write if one fine day you glanced down and it was green?). Dr. Tatiana diagnoses this case as an African elephant suffering from SINBAD (Single Income, No Babe, Absolutely Desperate), and aren't the singles bars just dripping with those types these days. She describes the peculiarities of male elephant horniness (green weenie included), and then goes on to point out the interesting fact that that male and female elephants do not share the same vocabulary: "Elephant boys and girls couldn't discuss the same subjects even if they wanted to. I know the feeling."
She fields pleading letters from "Dandy on the Cowpat", a yellow dung-fly who wants to make his sperm more attractive, and fields more ominous ones from "I-Like-'Em-Headless-in-Lisbon", a praying mantis who asks Dr Tatiana if she, too, digs the mortal orgasm of a partner whose head she has just bitten off. There is the female midge who plunges her proboscis into her mates' heads and turns their innards to a soup, "which she slurps up, drinking until she's sucked him dry. . . only his manhood, which breaks off inside her, betrays the fact that this was no ordinary meal." It's enough to bring one back to the missionary position just to keep an eye on things.
Sex straight out of Hollywood manic, ruthless, deadly copulation at all costs even when the costs are amazingly high. The only thing that holds Hollywood back is the low marketability of watching the likes of sea slugs and mealy bugs screw. (Then again, with one eye on Dr. Tatiana's sales figures, they're probably doing focus groups on it right now.) Between her gift for catchy titles ("The Evolution of Depravity" could sell millions of copies even there was a blank book inside) and her descriptions so graphic that if they were about humans, she would be banned in hundreds of locales, she explains that sex indeed has science behind it, be it Darwin's theory of sexual selection or Ph.Ds trying to fathom why sexual reproduction even exists as compared with other methods. Plenty of creatures clone themselves, for example, and some have survived since dinosaur days by naturally doing without what comes, well, naturally.
Unsentimentally yet wittily comparing the mating habits of the natural world to the human world, she perhaps intentionally reveals to us the wonder of a verb we oft utter but less oft do: love. That humans are enslaved to their predilections is comic. Take the "get bigger in spite of your genes" falsity behind the junk mail ads for men and push-up bras for women. These wail at the same wall as the ads inveigling men into the notion that if they buy a truck with big tires or wear a big cowboy hat they will become bigger, too. The anxieties behind these are laughable to someone whose sense for love renders them unconcerned about prowess between the sheets. So for answers to your concern that there must surely be something more important than the absurdities of desire. There is: the richness of fulfillment, and few are the creatures other than human who aspire to it. Ask any bug . . . or send a note to Dr. Tatiana at www.drtatiana.com.
Praise, success, and huzzahs to her. She invented a new genre, is probably the only one who fits the job description, and if she continues on with more books like this to say nothing of the TV series and syndicated column she will make pots of money and be the envy of every developmental biologist on earth. Don't be an oaf, though, and hit on her.
The Best of Gowanus: New Writing from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean
Thomas J. Hubschman
Gowanus Books
473 17th Street, #6, Brooklyn, NY 11215-6226
ISBN 09669877-2-1, LCCN 2001116427, $17.95, paperbound, 5.5_ x 8.5_, 228 pages
Introduction by Thomas J. Hubschman, http://www.gowanusbooks.com
The world's full of literary journals. Why read this one? If you want to know about the world, it's all on National Geographic, Discovery Channel, and CNN, isn't it? What can a literary journal add?
Don't look for the answer in The Best of Gowanus's Table of Contents. Look for it in the Author Bios. To take only a few of the 28 contributors: Razi Abedi is from Pakistan, Vasilis Afxentiou from Greece, Arlene Ang from Manila, Anjana Basu Calcutta, Richard Czujko South Africa, Viktor Car and Miroslav Kirin from Croatia, Raymond Ramcharitar from Trinidad. Several others are from India, there's a handful of Yanks, plus assorted jotters-on from places in the world with no fixed address. Apparently they just respond to 'Occupant.'
Some people leave a rut, some make a mark, some luxuriate in unearned reward, some crumple under the stubbornness of systems, some sing, some cry. Yet when the last shovel of dirt is spaded or the pyre done to embers, their little bundles of personality vanish along with their fleeting, private histories, blips on a scale whose magnitude they or we may never know. Their meaning is incomplete because our comprehension is incomplete. And would remain that way except for two things: the short story and the novel.
Consider the compression to be had in a short story. Here is a wealthy character whose ideas are not original; they were picked up raw from the churning maelstrom of virtuality that the affluent use to deceive themselves into believing life is as it is. There is a beautiful face, skin a blank surface awaiting the scribbles of time. Another is all too aware that he is being cheated out of the last half of his life by the demons he made into memories during the first half. There a woman who can both love and hate, and does both too thoroughly. The type of person whose smile is a storm warning. The celebrity all personality and no self, of somewhat abbreviated intelligence but a nicely cluttered mind, counterpointed with a mind made evil by the fatal inability to trust intellect. An old factory rat who hates being sidelined by technogeeks. On and on, these summations of self, because humanity goes on and on, our cadences swerving between the sonorous and the onerous so frequently because we are unsure if we are living poetry or swearing at the dog. Maybe both.
Many is the great photographer who started off on a Box Brownie, and so here we are in The Best of Gowanus, mulling over the contact prints of character, seeking the picture of a thousand words.
More than mere characters live in these stories. They are, in that part of themselves which is all humans, first a dream, then not, then they are again ('Sister Hanh' by Ly Lan), only this time as vaporous angels, the angels of the keys, angels in the sense of "Mon ange te pr‚c‚dera My angel will precede you the ignored part of our own relevance going ahead of us into the future to part its waves for us ('A Feast of Crows' by KC Chase), preceding, going ahead of us, furthering us ahead of the pace of our abilities ('The Long Journey' by Vasanthi Victor; 'Jesus Christ Lord of Hosts Discovers Southern California' by Holly Day), while events of the hour play themselves out as if seemingly important in our monkey-brain salad-bar humanity heads ('Parking Ticket' by Norma Kitson). The carnival barker calls on ('Singing in the Wind' by Keith Smith).
In some is the taste of cultures gone rancid ('The Ngong Hills' by Rasik Shah and 'London Through the Magic Eye' by Raymond Ramchartiar), scallop-shaped memories in white light ('The Lost Village' Lang Lo in Vietnam by Le Van Thao), the wire through which happiness flows ('The Burden of Grace' by Vasilis Afxentiou), the sense of life's undoing preordained ('Curses and Poetry' by Anjana Basu and 'Diary of a Street Kid' by Fanuel Jongwe), this or that character blocked by not knowing their true worth ('Dalit Literature' by Rezi Abedi and 'Spectacles' by Anjana Basu), others a tarantella of quick cuts as the burning finger of the past reaches their heels ('Snapshots of Elsewhere' by Raymond Ramchartiar). The shape of a woman created out of the galaxies ('A Betting Man' by Vallath Nandakumar). The gelatin temple of deeds become brand name (Winnie Mandela portrayed in David Herman's 'The Lady and the Tiger'; 'The Transformation of Sleepy Hollow' by Richard Czujko).
Everything is real, even the phantasmagoric. Like the paintings of California Realist James Doolin, the 'realism' in these stories is skewed in a way that what is seems always lunging forward at an angle, anything but static. A good story tells us of time; what it brings us to know within is untouched by time, and therefore always ahead of it. These accounts are real, yes, close to the surface of the here and now, but also deeper for in their absence of self-interjection, the contrived just-so light and just-so exoticism of the TV tale, nothing artificial, nothing fake, nothing held back. What you feel is not the author's work, it is your own feelings responding to the facts the author sets forth. That's good writing, and there's much of it here.
About half these entries are fiction or rather, reality with the clothes of character on the rest non-fiction. Some are cryptic enough to be short-shorts. Most have a certain fabulist air about them; all you have to do is change the humans to animals and you have Apulius' Golden Ass or Mr. Toad and friends. The usual baggage of reviewer lingo hovers uneasily above these pages. The stories are lives, not stories; circumstances, not contexts. In the lives on these pages, Levi-Strauss, F.R. Leavis, postmodernism, and semiotics are self-indulgent flatulence. When we know where fear and love come from, we transect them. That's when the stairway appears before us, a hibiscus blossoming out the window casting its hue over what we choose for breakfast.
Landscapes For Small Spaces
Katshukio Mizuno, transl. by John Bester
Kodansha America, Inc.
575 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022 http://www.thejapanpage.com
ISBN 4-7700-2874-1, no LIC CP data, $39.00, 9' x 12', hardbound, 120 pages, 100 illustrations
Believing what is there, seeing what is not
Japan's decorative canon is not a busily ornamental monastically ornamental is closer to the mark. Not even in India, the birthplace of Buddhism, is the artistic interpretation of Buddha's admonition to seek Enlightenment through relinquishment of earthly delusion practiced as diligently as it is in Japan. And since so many traditional arts of Japan derive from temple life and court life, it is hardly surprising that the earliest decorative canons originated out of Japan's sense of regeneration via ritual. It is hard to think of Japanese culture without also thinking of formal yet cursive rituals.
For those who will never be invited to Exhibit A the tea ceremony Japanese gardens are Exhibit B. The gardens built abroad for Western eyes veer into caricature with moon bridges, koi ponds, multiple stone lanterns, pagodas, and tea houses. The real gardens are anything but a caricature. There are two basic types: outdoor and indoor. For each of these there are garden styles for palaces, shrines, and temples; gardens styles for townhouses; and styles for public places. To the casual eye all these look much alike. Look deeper, though, and they are quite different.
Landscapes for Small Spaces is about indoor gardens of a special type: very small courtyards. There is word for them, tsuboniwa (a word that is prettily rewarded on a Google search). Niwa means garden; tsubo derives from an early measure of distance, roughly ten feet. Although that measure is not a dictat for a tsuboniwa layout, many of the book's 100 gardens are close to it. Author Katsushiko Mizuma narrows his subject even further by including only tsuboniwas in the city of Kyoto and nearby.
Tsuboniwa began very simply, in part a successful adaptation to architectural styles that began in the Heian Period (794 1185), in which closely adjacent buildings were connected by covered corridors. This in turn created small open spaces. Kyoto's hot summers gave garden designers every reason to come up with layouts that were cooling as well as pleasing. It also made possible a principle feature of the tsuboniwa: the ability to be viewed from many angles and perspectives.
Soon perspective became a metaphor for sequestering. Some gardens were designed to be seen from only one location (and in a few cases only through an aperture in a shoji screen). Others were designed to be viewed from two locations (often inducing different impressions). Still others lay in the middle of ambulatories meant to be walked around meditatively, just as medieval and renaissance abbey cloisters were meant to be viewed from the unreeling change of a slow stroll. The effect is like watering one's own garden by walking its periphery, seeing how the whole can be viewed from a multitude of points of reference which add up not to the whole but to more than the whole.
The metaphor is that any one view of a thing is only a tiny fragment of all. It is beyond the all that one must seek, no matter from which point of view one happens to see. Relinquish your point of view and you relinquish yourself; only then will the all, the greater-than-whole, be perceived.
The three gardens which open the book are among the earliest to have been created, and common to them is a single message. A tsuboniwa in the ancient Kyoto Imperial Palace consists of a lone wisteria in a rectangle of pea gravel. A small tuft of green moss carpeting beneath wisteria trunk reminds one that nature must be left to nature no matter how managed the surroundings. In the same palace, behind the Emperor's personal quarters, is a courtyard garden comprising twenty small shrubs, also set in pea gravel, surrounded by ancient wooden walkways with vertical columns of simplicity but horizontal balustrades of structural though not decorative complexity.
The garden is a reminder of the Emperor's taut duties of presiding over a busy, layered, court life while presenting a personal demeanor akin to what would be called Olympian detachment in the West. Finally, in the Shinto shrine at Kamigamo, a cluster of miniature bamboo (a special species prized for its smallness) froths skyward, placed off-center in a rectangle of white sand. A few unclipped grass blades remind one that this garden is pretty much left to be what it is, century after century.
The commonality to all these is allegoric: isolation in the sea, an island of elegance and balance in a sea of time.
There are other harbingers of Japanese taste that were not fully formalized for centuries. One is the absence of symmetry; another is disinterest in perspective trickeries whose purpose is to fool the eye. What you see is what you get.
There is a number of Zen 'dry gardens' (those with the raked stones), and, like a koan, they use the obvious to beg answers to the cryptic and enigmatic. At the Tokaian Temple, a garden of gravel raked into concentric circles around an off-center focal stone the smallest of seven in the garden hints at the unfathomability and limitlessness of the cosmos. Yet consider more deeply: the sea of infinity is also the sea of one's innerness. This is the message intended upon the devotees who periodically re-rake the stones into exactly the same formation they were before as part of their duty of 'walking meditation,' a form of vipassana intended to achieve the same transcendence aimed for by the more familiar cross-legged samadhi or sitting meditation.
At the Totekiko Garden in the Ryogen'in Temple the stones are raked into concentric circles around a lesser stone at each end, set amidst a linear row of furrows from end to end. The ripple effect around the focal stones reminds one of the ripples made by a drop of life on the flow of time (represented by the straight furrows). About midday, the sun cuts a narrow blast of light straight through the garden, announcing the obvious to any Buddhist: The light of the Buddha illumines the relation between existence and time. Several images show these gardens in the winter with the snow partly melted and are especially evocative.)
At the Kyoo Gokokuji temple in the complex of Kanchiin is a 'semi' dry garden as perfect as a refined aesthetic can create. An irregular stream of white gravel is embanked by rock groups, ferns, tall grasses, shrubs, and trees. The overall effect is flowing into the sea of time through the world of being. It is one of the most breathtaking tsuboniwa in the book.
A tsuboniwa at a Buddhist nunnery is graced by the 400-year-old azalea, whose fallen petals become a carpet confetti of creamy lavender-pink and ecru decaying inevitably into tinges of brown, at once a reminder of the transitoriness of beauty and the cycle of the seasons life itself which brings beauty back once again only to pass into decay once again.
The more complex gardens at first are more attractive to the eye, perhaps because the purpose of the eye is to embrace all in its myriads of detail.* Then note that the more striking gardens are those with very few elements the adornment of the least needed which stops the inner eye in its tracks and asks it to stop looking and start seeing. Send the unnecessary on a vacation the garden says, and refresh your self here.
* Amaze for a moment at the task of the brain as it processes millions of pixels each the size of a retinal receptor cell, at roughly ten times a second, stores them in short-term memory, processes them, informs us of what is moving and what not; and all of this but a tiny fragment of the brain's job as it then assesses priority, hierarchy, appropriate emotive response, and finally for those with the leisure to contemplate, meaning.
On the opposite end of the scale are gardens, as at the Reikanji and Daishin'in temples (with a 360-year-old azalea!), whose focus is not inanate line and stone refusing the enticements of existence, but lush, dense, flowering trees, each coming into bloom in succession through the warm months. These gardens are the Japanese equivalent of the numinous, a nonphysical presence or spirit of place presiding in a locale and also regenerative energy, since the designers were so mindful to cycle that they planted not for themselves but for many generations beyond them.
There's a Zen Buddhist phrase, 'Water in the bucket, rice in the pail,' which alludes to the desire for nondesire. Anything beyond these utmost essentials of rice, bucket, water, pail distracts from Enlightenment. Buddhahood can be known in a few square yards of garden equally as in the sutras, lotus ponds, rituals, or a life of compassionate deeds. There are many paths to the Buddha, just as in the tsuboniwa, there are many perspectives of view.
In the garden at the temple of Sorenji on the outskirts of Kyoto, the stones were set flat side up so the snow would remain longest on them. Such a placement symbolizes how embracing nature can be as it resists the encroachments of moss, root, shrub, fern, and yet how tender that embrace is as the ephemeral snow yields away its presence in furtherance of life. The significance of simplicity is that one never tires of it.
At the Ryojuin Temple the use of white in a garden of spare monohues converts color into shape. The sense of colorness is absent. A species of white rhododendron is cross-bred specifically for this effect. The fact that all this planned purpose is set off to the side in a raked stoned garden conveys an unmistakable message: the non-color of Illumination turns the sparrowy hues of being and meaning and figure and wish into not the hues of being, but the tints of transition. Seeing what is there is believing what is not: there is no such thing as casual.
All this contemplative void-worship is radically reversed when the book comes to the courtyard gardens in the townhouses of well-off merchants. Merchants are rarely attracted to the minimal in any society. In their gardens is not the shunning of delusion but the embrace of decorativeness. Tasteful, to be sure, but the effect is many elements vying with each other for each its share of your attention span. Townhouse gardens seek not to edify or catapult into contemplation, but to relax and calm. They transport the intimate beauties of nature into the heart of the home, and thus so the purpose goes into the dweller. Instead of karuna action taken to diminish the suffering of others that is the garden of the temple, the residential garden is ohana sharing undertaken to maximize the articulation of self.
And it is hard to fault the merchants for their pride. With wealth came the best of Japan's arts ikebana, scrolls, ceramics, tatami, bamboo furnishing, shoji, lacquered wood, ink brushes, all those delicious crafts that make the country the subject of so many lovely picture books. Merchants do not relinquish with their gardens, they embrace. You begin to see utility objects converted into decor objects, specifically to be not used water basins, bamboo cups, and, for the first time, tori or stone lanterns. Costly steppingstones (often in locations where they can't be stepped on) made of rock imported from distant quarries take the place of the natural indigenous rocks found in temple gardens. Size or rather oversize for effect becomes a preoccupation, the way the well-to-do convey substance with overimage pretty much all over the world (ever see a small luxury car?).
This usually happens with tori lanterns, which sometimes are overdimensioned to twice the size needed for a well-proportioned garden. Why? The significance of the stone lantern is its placement. Where it stands is a balance point between the thicket of the flower and plant and stone and the sky. The 'eye' of the lantern ends the garden and begins the sky. Oversizing it draws attention to the lantern itself rather than the plane at which it divides garden from sky. The intent can only be drawing attention to an object for the object's sake, which then in turn reflects on the assets of the owner. It is significant that tori do not occur in the temple and shrine gardens in the book, being inimical to the temple garden's point.
Domestic devotion usually shows up as ornamentation over abstraction. In townhouse gardens this occurs in juxtapositions of the best of Japan's art forms ikebana flower arrangements, tansu, painted folding screens, calligraphy on scrolls adjacent to the tsuboniwa. In a temple garden there must be no distraction from the garden itself. It is hard to escape the notion that in Japan devotionalism occurs as ornament of surface. There is a shift in attention from emptiness and space to detail and volume. Absence of significance is not the goal, but rather significance of significance.
Not to say that a townhouse garden can't simplify. In one garden, a single stone lantern amid seven large bamboos instantly achieves the irreducible. It is like seeking the perfect poem by arranging seven words into a shape. The artist Keinen Imao designed his personal garden using the traditional elements stone lantern, water basin with bamboo cup for washing the hands, carefully arranged stones, kutsunugi stone (a special shape from a handful of quarries all over Japan) to sit on while removing footwear, and two small trees. None of this is remarkable until the sun shines down through the leaves of the trees, creating a play of leaf- and twig-shaped shadows on the ground. To Keinen Imao, the garden was these shadows, not the other objects in view.
Then search his name on the Web and you will see why. He all but lived among the leaves. (See especially http://www.artelino.com/archive/art_object.asp?evt=2&rel=11 and http://info.partner.de/kunden/schwaegr.nsf/nav/doc/doster-doc10.htm.
Damp scented air, zephyr, dust of snow, shaft of light: These are the merchant garden's spiritual refreshment amid the crowded, hyperbolic ekistics of a city, the ekistics of too much thing and too little time. Morning is brief. Evening is brief. Light is brief. But a tsuboniwa is not brief, even though any one gaze may last for only a few moments. It is not brief because it is not of time.
Landscapes for Small Spaces is a masterwork. Consider the physical production before even opening the book. It has overwide jacket flaps, reaching almost to the gutter; a generous expanse of space on which the jacket flap text floats gracefully. Most dust jacket flaps cram the text so tightly you can't help but think of life in a telephone booth. Once inside, although there is no further mention than a small box on the copyright page, the book is printed in something called Diamond Screening, 'a technology that enables the reproduction of color artwork and photography which far surpasses the quality achieved by traditional printing methods.' Indeed so: the wood floors of the Honen'in Temple on pp. 32 33 have been walkworn and waxed to such blackness that the very few reflections coming off them are a printer's nightmare: large expanses of incrementally blending blacks and dark grays are broken by equal expanses of brilliantly whitewashed walls. Yet even at the far end of the halls in this double-page spread you can see undulations in the boards that perhaps even the eye might not notice. There are deep blacks and there are deeper blacks, and this printing process shows them all.
There are less obvious touches, too, such as the ability of a large-format camera (apparently a 4' x 5' view camera in some shots) to render images sharper than the same scene seems to the eye.
Kodansha produces books that will still have something to say a century from now, and then, as now, will say it well. However, this book lacks an important necessity: a bibliography. Here is a brief starter biblio if you want to pursue this subject a bit more:
Shigemori Kanto. The Japanese Courtyard Garden. New York: Apollo Books (out of print but used to be carried by Weatherhill), ISBN: 0-3175-4981-2.
Yoshikawa Isao. Japanese Gardening in Small Spaces. Tokyo: JOIE/Japan Publications, 1997, ISBN: 0870409778
Patricia Jonas (Editor), Japanese-Inspired Gardens. Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 2001, ISBN: 1889538205
Isao Yoshikawa. Japanese Gardening in Small Spaces. Japan Publications, 1997, ISBN: 0870409778
You can also check Amazon.com for current books and alibris.com for out-of-print titles.
Dana De Zoysa
Reviewer

## Sullivan's Bookshelf

A New Christianity For A New World: Why Traditional Faith Is Dying & How A New Faith Is Being Born
John Shelby Spong
Harper: San Francisco
353 Sacramento Street, #500, San Francisco, CA 94111-3653
ISBN # 0060670843(cloth edition), 276 pages/indexed, $24.00, 1-800-272-7737
Retired Episcopal Bishop Spong has written his most controversial book ever. Herein he proposes a new Christian religion. It's Christianity minus a theistic God. Yet this author's proposed creed holds "that God could no longer be defined personally as a being, but must be approached nonpersonally as the Ground of All being."
Christians are here on earth, adds the retired Bishop, to be all that they can be{not dissimilar from a recent U.S. Army TV commercial}. And that God is experienced as Life.
Spong also allows for Jesus Christ to be a part of this new religion. However, he, too, must now be accepted as nontheistic: no Bible miracle stories, no atonement for our sins death, no baptism, no virgin birth, no Trinity, no Resurrection, etc. In short, it's a more human Christ, though still divine and yet the pathway to God.
With the new creed, one could still be called a Christian. Spong sees it as the method toward knowing God. Yet the author further believes that all creeds come to the same God as does the new Christianity.
The author doesn't take credit for the theistic God's demise. That goes back to such people as the philosopher Nietzche who espoused that God was dead. But even then many knew that the supernatural acts accredited to God would no longer happen: smiting one's enemies on the field of battle, changing weather for a picnic, defeating the opposing football or baseball teams, and on and on. The time for that has passed some said. Others, including Spong, say those days never were. All was nothing but myth.
With the departure of that mythological, security-blanket God, Spong believes we're now witnessing individuals panicking in the form of killing others at such places as Columbine High School, the attack on the Trade Towers in New York City, and all the workplace shootings. The retired Bishop also believes that the shrinking memberships in mainline churches and the growing members in fundamentalist sects are nothing more than frightened people looking for safety in churches that have hard and fast beliefs in a theistic God.
The author writes, "The work of the ecclesia {Spong's name for the church membership in his new Christianity} of the future is to expand the arena of life, to enhance the capacity to love, and to develop in every person the courage to be, for these are the marks of God's realm, the God who is beyond the definition of theism. These things are also pointers to a universality of faith and practice that will recognize no boundary between Christian and non-Christian, Protestant and Catholic, true believer and heretic, conservative and liberal, educated and illiterate, male and female, Caucasion and person of color, homosexual and heterosexual, for all are creatures in whom the source of life, the source of love, and the Ground of Being find expression."
This book is an outgrowth of the William Belden Noble lectures that Bishop Spong delivered at Harvard. Most of the author's previous books, of which there are many, have been dramatic, but this one is truly radical. It is highly recommended reading, regardless of religious orientation or the lack thereof.
Mapping Human History: Discovering The Past Through Our Genes
Steve Olson
Houghlin Mifflin Company
ISBN # 06l809l572, 292 pages/indexed, $25.00,
Olson writes of tracing humans' ancestors through use of their mitochrondial DNA, inherited only from the mother, and the Y Chromosome, inherited from the father. Through use of these genetic tools, scientists have traced everyone alive today back to one mother, Eve so to speak, and one father, Adam, so-called. They likely didn't mate with each other. In any case, this man and this woman lived in Africa where all modern humans, homo sapiens, arose. In short, this author makes a convincing case for all humans being related, regardless of physical features or color of skin.
The concept of race, argues this writer, is nonexistent, making racism baseless. In fact, the whole book is a subtle polemic against the erstwhile idea of race. Olson's thoughts on this subject are reminiscent of Stephen Jay Gould's. The now deceased, world-famous, paleoanthropologist and Darwinian, said, with substantial scientific proof to back himself up, that anyone who says there are different races in this world is just plain wrong-headed.
Human ancestry in all parts of the globe is tackled in this tome. Olson shows how man and womankind have migrated out of Africa, on more than one occasion, to populate various parts of the earth. These human migrations were prompted by growing populations, changing weather and environment, the development of agriculture, and other dynamic reasons.
Through the whole volume that is intriguing reading, perhaps the final chapter, on Hawaii and its native people, is illustrative. After Captain Cook arrived there in l778, Hawaiians, generous and sharing to a faul, were never the same again. Today, half the islanders are of mixed ancestry.
Olson concludes with, "I began this book by calling attention to the different appearances of human beings. I conclude it now by calling attention to the opposite. Throughout human history, groups have wondered how they are related to one another. The study of genetics has now revealed that we are all linked: the Bushmen hunting antelope, the mixed-race people of South Africa, the African Americans descended from slaves, the Samaritans on their mountain stronghold, the Jewish populations scattered around the world, the Han Chinese a billion strong, the descendants of European settlers who colonised the New World, the Native Hawaiians who look to a cherished past. We are members of a single human family, the products of genetic necessity and chance, borne ceaselessly into an unknown future."
SHAPING THE FUTURE and BIOTECHNOLOGY were also written by Steve Olson, who has had articles published in Science and Atlantic Monthly magazines. Once employed by the White House Office of Science and Technology, he was worked for the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute for Genomic Research, too.
Recommended!
Jim Sullivan
Reviewer

## Gorden's Bookshelf

Blood Work
Michael Connelly
Warner Books, Inc.
1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
ISBN: 0446602620, $7.50, paperback, October 1998, 498 pages
Connelly has a simple open writing style that disappears quickly behind the storyline. He is a storyteller first and a writer second. With detective mysteries and most other genre novels, the best writing is when you lose the printed words and just remember the story. Connelly succeeds in this task with Blood Work.
McCaleb is an ex-FBI profiler who is about to start his third month since a heart transplant surgery. A woman comes aboard his boat and his life changes. Graciela Rivers tells him he has her sister's heart. She asks him to find her sister's murderer. McCaleb's own heart gave out when he became too attached to the victims and survivors of the killers he profiled for the FBI. This time his new heart tells him he has to follow death again to find the killer. McCaleb follows a twisted web of clues left by the killer that only he can see and the local police have missed. The killer has decided to play a game with the wounded McCaleb with McCaleb's life or living death the ultimate prize.
Blood Work is a well paced and aptly named murder mystery. For a few readers, the mystery unfolds early but the pace of the story will keep them happy. For the others, Connelly lays out the clues and with satisfying efficiency works them out. 'Blood Work' is a solid well-told detective story that holds its own with the best in the genre.
Icarus
Russel Andrews
Pocket Books
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
ISBN: 0743451562, $7.99, mass-market edition, July 2002, 547 pages
Andrews starts his story with a slow methodical style. Even the horrific murder at the beginning of the story seems sanitized by the way Andrews holds the characters away from the readers. At the halfway point, Andrews finds his pacing and the story explodes into a solid psychological thriller and mystery.
'Icarus' is a story about Jack Keller. At ten, he sees his mother thrown out the window by an insane man. Despite the trauma, Jack grows up to become a well balanced man with only a reasonable fear of heights. He marries the girl of his dreams. Middle-age looks both normal and beautiful for him until insanity and murder stalk the people around him. Every step he takes, every clue he follows ends in death. And every death seems linked to the murder of Jack's mother. Insanity, secrets, and murder walk hand-in-hand through to the last few pages of the book.
The explosive second half of 'Icarus' holds up to expectations. It pulls the okay, but slow, story into a breakneck mystery. Icarus is a satisfying thriller filled with the dark addictions of humanity. The obsessions that twist and bend are the mystery in this thriller. There is nothing new in 'Icarus' but the story trickles out just enough clues so the mystery holds until the end. In spite of the slow start, 'Icarus' is one of the better thriller/mysteries.
A Martian Odyssey & Other Classic Science Fiction Stories
Stanley G. Weinbaum, Jean Marie Stine, editor
Renaissance E Books
P.O. Box 494, Clemmons, North Carolina 27012
ISBN: 1588731219, $4.00, electronic download, Copyright 2002, 187 pages, www.renebooks.com
Stanley G. Weinbaum is one of the best science fiction writers in the twentieth century. For an average SF reader of today, Weinbaum's science and style seem a little dated but the stories are interesting and well written. What makes Weinbuam one of the best is that he was the first. He was the first to create truly alien creatures and environments and not just use a re-setting of earthly creatures in otherworldly roles. Weinbaum's writings span only two years, 1934 through 1935. He died in '35 from cancer. His illness might be why there is an emphasis on medicine with his stories. But the cancer never touched the brilliance of his writings.
'A Martian Odyssey,' 'Valley of Dreams,' and 'Tidal Moon' show Weinbaum's ability to create aliens and alien environments. E.E. Doc. Smith's 'Lensman' series is arguably the best SF series ever written. Without Weinbaum's unique creations, it is hard to imagine how Smith's writings would have changed but they would have. Smith borrowed heavily from the inspiration of the Martian Tweel and Ganymede's Cree.
'Pygmalion's Spectacles' is an easy romp into the mind and virtual reality. Again, you can see the effect in the later writings of Theodore Sturgeon and Ray Bradbury.
'The Circle of Zero' delves into time travel through the mind. 'Zero' adds the concept of multiple timelines to time travel which was followed up so well by Heinlein and even James P. Hogan.
'The Dictator' is a common post World War II story that was written before World War II started. Because the War overshadowed so many of the SF writings in the later twentieth century, it is harder to see Weinbaum's influence but it is there.
These six short stories do what great storytelling always does. They make the reader think and inspire others to explore farther. Anyone who claims to like science fiction or science needs to read these stories at least once.
S.A. Gorden, Reviewer
www.paulbunyan.net/users/gsirvio/content.html

## Sandra's Bookshelf

Mind To Mind
Rene Warcollier
Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc.
1125 Stoney Ridge Road, Charlottesville, VA 22902
ISBN: 1-57174-311-1 Soft Cover. 95 pp. $14.95, www.hrpub.com 1-800-766-8009
Hampton Roads Publishing Company has begun to reissue classical metaphysical texts in their new series, Studies in Consciousness/Russell Targ Editions. Mind To Mind, originally written by telepathy researcher Rene Warcollier, is one of the first classics chosen for the series.
Ingo Swann has written a new preface for this edition, noting that while Warcollier's 1948 book is still valid, "it is useful to partially reset Warcollier's seminal work into a larger, and now more inclusive, historical overview." For one thing, little was known in Warcollier's time about psychic phenomena. Additionally, Warcollier's pioneering research has withstood the test of time.
Contemporary physicist and psychic researcher Russell Targ, along with Jane Katra, Ph.D., wrote an interpretive introduction, which describes current investigations into remote viewing, distant healing, prayer, and self inquiry. They "conclude that the scientific and spiritual implications of psychic abilities are evident in the continually unfolding mystery of the space-time in which we live."
The remainder of the book details Warcollier's meticulous experiments, which provided "impressive scientific evidence for the untapped power of human consciousness." He was a chemical engineer, who became interested in telepathy after studying psychology. He sought to answer questions about what information is actually transmitted during telepathy, how it's transmitted, and its relation to the unconscious. He eventually collaborated with researchers worldwide, including the United States.
Mind To Mind is an excellent resource for all readers interested in understanding the foundation and background of research into telepathic phenomena and human consciousness.
The Healthy Living Space
Richard Leviton
Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc.
1125 Stoney Ridge Road, Charlottesville, VA 22902
ISBN: 1-57174-209-3 Soft Cover $18.95, www.hrpub.com 1-800-766-8009
Far more common household and personal care products contain toxic substances than many of us realize. Those toxins affect our bodies and may lead to serious illness. At the least, they can reduce the quality of life by making us feel less than vibrant and healthy.
Richard Leviton is a health journalist and author with more than twenty-five years experience. The Healthy Living Space is his eighth book.
In it, he offers "70 practical steps on how to use safe, proven, nontoxic, self-care methods drawn from the fields of natural and alternative medicine." Leviton not only explains how to detoxify, he also explains why. He also emphasizes that it's important to detoxify both home and body, as the poisons accumulated in both can make you sick.
He begins with an eye-opening inventory of substances most of us are exposed to every day. He then describes some of the health symptoms people suffer. Many of these symptoms can be vague or subtle, leading health-care professionals to either mis- diagnose or label sufferers as hypochondriacs. Instead they need to be treated as early-warning signals of what may become severe health problems.
Leviton says "the truth is that we are being slowly poisoned, because although the toxins are potent, we are rarely exposed to a lethal or even sub- lethal, but dangerous, dose. We are instead routinely exposed to very small doses of many toxic chemicals, which together overwhelm our body's natural detoxification system." He says the key is to recognize that toxicity is occurring so slowly that most of us don't realize it until too late.
Because few of us can entirely avoid all toxic substances, Leviton explains how we can reduce our exposure, while at the same time strengthening our body's ability to resist damage from the elements we are exposed to. He includes chapters on emotional and spiritual detoxification as well as extensive information on physical detoxification. The chapters on detoxifying homes describe how to remove common pollutants, as well as utilize the more esoteric techniques like feng shui.
Whether we realize it or not, all of us know what it feels like to live in a toxic environment. The Healthy Living Space provides readers with the practical information and tools they need to create healthy bodies and homes.
Moments Of Grace
Neale Donald Walsch
Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc.
1125 Stoney Ridge Road, Charlottesville, VA 22902
ISBN: 1-57174-303-0 Hard Cover. 201 pp. $22.95, www.hrpub.com 1-800-766-8009
Known world-wide for the Conversations with God trilogy, Neale Donald Walsch is back with his eighteenth book, Moments Of Grace. Walsch says moments of grace occur "when God intervenes in our lives in very real, very direct, and very visible ways." The intervention usually results in individuals changing the course of their lives. His book is filled with real-life accounts of such moments.
Walsch asked people who'd had direct, life- changing experiences with God to contact him. He received an outpouring of stories, from which he selected more than twenty to offer as proof of God's existence. Each story is interwoven with commentaries and reflections based on the rich material in his earlier books. He says that his experiences and those of the people who've sent stories to him teaches us "that God talks to all of us, all of the time."
Walsch emphasizes that his purpose is not in forcing anyone to believe a particular thing, but rather to simply encourage people to share their experiences and stories. His goal is to have people "tell each other our innermost truth about God, about ourselves, about spirituality, about life, and about all the higher callings of life." In this way, we can answer for ourselves the important questions about our relationships to the Divine and to each other. He says we don't know far more than we do know, and it's only through openness and the sharing of our experiences that we can find answers that many of us seek.
Miracles occur every day in every life. Moments Of Grace is designed to help individuals discover those miracles in their own lives. Readers will find themselves accepting the challenge of increasing their "openness to new ideas, to new possibilities, and to new ways of understanding each other and God--and God's many gifts."
Human Personality And Its Survival Of Bodily Death
F.W.H. Myers
Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc.
1125 Stoney Ridge Road, Charlottesville, VA 22902
ISBN: 1-57174-238-7 Soft Cover. 352 pp. $16.95, www.hrpub.com 1-800-766-8009
In the 1890's, when F.W.H. Myers wrote Human Personality And Its Survival Of Bodily Death, people didn't believe they necessarily had souls, much less that the soul would survive their death. After Myers experienced communication with his deceased wife, he set out to prove his contemporaries wrong.
Myers was a scholar who became a scientist when he began investigating paranormal phenomena. He conducted research and experiments in a variety of fields, including personality disintegration, genius, sleep, hypnosis, and trances. His goal was to "break down that artificial wall between science and superstition." He believed that questions of the soul should be subjected to the same open mind and critical analysis used in other scientific inquiries.
His landmark investigations set the standards for subsequent research into human consciousness. In his interpretive introduction to the book, Jeffrey Mishlove says that Myers's "classic synthesis of nineteenth century field research [is regarded] as the most important single work in the history of psychical research." He adds that it is still "fresh, vigorous, and contemporary."
Like many of the classic metaphysical texts, Myers's book has been out of print for years. Hampton Roads Publishing Company has begun to reissue the classical texts in their new series, Studies in Consciousness/Russell Targ Editions. Their current edition of Myers's book is an abridgement of the original, "prepared to make its major content more readily accessible to the modern reader."
Human Personality And Its Survival Of Bodily Death documents Myers's extensive experiments and conclusions that personality does, in fact, continue after death. Readers will discover that he achieved his goal of proving that the human personality is not limited to material life.
Mystics, Masters, Saints, And Sages: Stories Of Enlightenment
Robert Ullman and Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman
Conari Press
2550 Ninth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710
ISBN: 1-57324-507-0 Soft Cover. 286 pp. $16.95, www.conari.com 1-800-685-9595
Robert Ullman and Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman are naturopathic and homeopathic physicians who have also studied with numerous spiritual teachers. Mystics, Masters, Saints, And Sages: Stories Of Enlightenment is their seventh book, in which their "intent is to capture the experience of enlightenment as clearly and succinctly as possible."
While recognizing that each individual's experience will be unique, the Ullmans believe that the stories of others will serve as models or signposts for those who are still seeking. They emphasize that "no one religion, country, socioeconomic class, or gender has laid special claim to enlightenment." They've chosen a diverse collection of stories, ranging from Buddha to St. Catherine of Siena to Suzanne Segal. A total of thirty-three stories are told.
Each story focuses on the moment of transformation in each individual's life. The Ullmans include a brief informational essay, describing the culture and times the individual lived in and his or her teachings. The enlightenment stories themselves are in the words of the masters themselves whenever possible; or from those closest to them.
An extensive bibliography provides a variety of sources for readers wishing to delve further into the lives and times of the individuals.
Although every enlightenment experience is different, the authors describe the common elements they discovered. These include interconnectedness and ego transcendence, timelessness and spaciousness, acceptance, beyond pleasure and pain, clarity, and shattering of preconceived notions.
In his foreword, His Holiness The Dalai Lama says "each human being has an equal opportunity to attain wisdom, happiness, and enlightenment by cultivating a correct motivation--a sincere aspiration to benefit all sentient beings--and engaging in diligent practice." He adds that Mystics, Masters, Saints, And Sages "is a valuable, inspiring book." It belongs in the library of all readers seeking spiritual insight.
Nothing Left Unsaid: Words To Help You And Your Loved Ones Through The Hardest Times
Carol Orsborn
Conari Press
2550 Ninth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710
ISBN: 1-57324-565-8. Hard Cover. 129 pp. $15.95, www.conari.com 1-800-685 9595
Carol Orsborn wrote Nothing Left Unsaid: Words To Help You And Your Loved Ones Through The Hardest Times to help people nurture their relationships while there is still time. She "focuses on the experience of being with someone who is sick or dying, and encourages the reader to move to a new level of connection and relationship with the one they love." Orsborn wrote it following her own experience with a personal health crisis and after a vigil with her critically-ill father.
A master teacher and theologian, Orsborn has written ten other books applying spiritual philosophy to the challenges of life.
She begins with a collection of inspirational readings, prayers, and affirmations from a variety of cultures and traditions. Brief essays from her personal experiences follow each of these, along with suggestions as to how individuals may incorporate them in their own lives.
Following that is a section of "Rituals for Healing and Resolution." Orsborn includes several techniques for releasing negative feelings such as guilt and grief. She also describes a forgiveness meditation and several methods of effective communication.
The final section is designed to help with introspection. It contains questions which the individual may use for journaling, or to initiate conversations with loved ones.
Orsborn's desire is that her words will "help you to grow your love and minimize your regret, come what may." In Nothing Left Unsaid, she's provided a compassionate and inspirational guide for anyone who is struggling with trying to find the right words to say at difficult times.
The Way We Pray: Prayer Practices From Around The World
Maggie Oman Shannon
Conari Press
2550 Ninth Street, Berkeley, CA
ISBN: 1-57324-571-2 Soft Cover. 249 pp. $15.95, www.conari.com 1-800-685-9595
Prayer may take many forms and be for an infinite variety of reasons. In The Way We Pray: Prayer Practices From Around The World, Maggie Oman Shannon provides a "compendium of prayer practices with enough context to acknowledge the cultural traditions behind them, while offering an invitation for further exploration."
Oman Shannon is a spiritual director, and founder of The New Story, an organization that helps people discover the deeper purpose to their lives. She's also a writer and editor, with a previous anthology of healing prayers to her credit.
Although many of us think of being on our knees with hands folded in front of us as the way to pray, practices as diverse as fasting, haiku, meditation, storytelling, and visual arts can all be a way of prayer. Oman Shannon quotes Catherine of Siena with the thought that "everything you do can be a prayer." What you physically do is of less importance than your sacred intentions. She says that prayer can become the "enfolding fabric in which we live our lives, and everything we do has the potential to be prayerful."
She describes over fifty ways of offering prayer. Each description details how that practice developed and how it has been used throughout time. Then Oman Shannon provides suggestions of how each method can be used in contemporary times, for contemporary difficulties. Each description is finished with a section containing several suggestions as to how individuals can explore that particular means of prayer to determine if it's something they can use.
An extensive resource section is provided to assist readers who want to investigate a particular practice in more depth.
Alan Jones, Dean of Grace Cathedral, has this to say in the Foreword: "The Way We Pray offers us a treasury of integrating spiritual practices [and] they all have the power to open us up to a deeper and more generous reality." Readers will find the Oman Shannon has provided an invaluable resource for discovering the power of prayer in the way best suited to meet their needs.
Sandra I. Smith
Reviewer

## Harold's Bookshelf

Kinoetics: Signs Of Conflict: Our Personal Body Language
William Linson, M.D.
Kinoetics Publishing
PO Box 3057, Ketchum, ID 83340
0970073909 $24.95, Pages: 215
Kinoetics: Signs Of Conflict provides a unique and close examination of one specific aspect of body language. While other books concentrate on such things as the way one crosses their legs, leans forward, etc., "Kinoetics" concentrates on the meaning of self-referential touch. What does it mean when we touch ourselves by placing our hands over our face, pulling at the corner of the eye or corner of the mouth, etc. The premise of the book is that "conflict typically has an associated physical response, and it is often accompanied by self-referential touching... which symbolically manifests what one is thinking and feeling". What does this mean? When we are experiencing internal conflict we often make self-referential actions, which reveal those internal conflicts. William Linson takes the reader on a very detailed journey through self-referential touch and the specific conflicts each of them symbolize. A fascinating read, I find myself using the information regularly as I deal with others. Highly recommended.
Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice To All Creation
Olivia Judson
Metropolitan Books
115 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011
0805063315 $24.00, Pages: 234 plus Notes, Bibliography and Index
Unable to read through the book in one setting, I found myself desperately trying to find ways to get back to it as soon as possible. Who would have thought that you could take the subject of sexual reproduction and evolutionary biology and made it into such a thoroughly entertaining read? The author chose an advice column format with letters supposedly from crickets, stick bugs, stickleback fish and dozens of other creatures asking advice about their sexual situation. Needless to say most of it is fascinating and highly unnatural - for a human that is, but perfectly normal for them. Some of the situations she describes are so bizarre as to be beyond what one would expect from even the best science-fiction writers. Olivia Judson is to be applauded for writing an educational book that is so thoroughly entertaining that it does not seem like you are actually being taught in the process. But you will learn and you will walk away with a completely different view of nature and reproduction. I was so thoroughly fascinated with the book that all I can say at this point is "Encore, encore".
Effective Business And Nonfiction Writing, 2nd Edition
Jan Yager
Hannacroix Creek Books, Inc.
1127 High Ridge Road, PMB 110, Stamford, CT 06905-1203
1889262331 $30.95, Pages: 176
No matter whether you need to write a business letter, report, proposal, procedures manual, nonfiction book, or simple e-mail we all write on a regular basis. Why not make your writing the best it can be? Why not make it the most readable and easily understood writing that you can? This book will help you to do just that. In Effective Business And Nonfiction Writing Jan Yager shares her experience and knowledge gathered through years of teaching writing at the collegiate level as well as writing several successful books. The book is very thorough and includes information on evaluating your current skill level, steps to effective business or nonfiction writing, overcoming writer's block, style, getting published, time management and other areas. At the end of each chapter you can further your knowledge in that area by utilizing the exercises, references and additional resources listed there. Easy to read, easy to understand, and well written using the same principles put forward in the book it is a highly recommended read that is sure to improve anyone's communication skills.
Everything You Know Is Wrong: The Disinformation Guide To Secrets And Lies
Russ Kick (Editor), Richard Metzger (Preface)
The Disinformation Company, Ltd.
163 Third Avenue, Suite 108, New York, NY 10003
0971394202 $24.95, Pages: 287 plus 50 pages of appendixes
Have you ever wondered if the media is telling you the complete story? Have you ever wondered if there is another side to the stories that is just plain not being told? Is it possible that everything you are being taught is not necessarily true but is instead just the position that the government, media or other group wants you to believe? If you have then you owe it to yourself to read this book. Just a couple of examples from the book include the current situation with Mad Cow disease in America, the fact that violence involving young people is at it's lowest level in over 30 years (despite the impression you get from the news), how French authorities kidnapped a girl in California and took her to France. Other areas include nuclear safety, globalization, serial killers, the Vatican Bank, Olympic Games, the Columbine murders and many others. While at times the book seems like a series of articles from a "conspiracy theory" group, it has the advantage of each article being contributed by an authority in that field. The authorities include everything from investigative journalists to researchers to commentators and academic authorities. Each article includes well-documented evidence to backup all claims. If nothing else, you owe it to yourself to learn the alternative possibilities and explanations that are out there, most of which are at least as plausible and sometimes more so than the "official" or "accepted" version. A fascinating read that opens the mind, answers many questions and at times creates more questions than it answers. Fun and irreverent, sometimes politically left, sometimes politically right, it is a recommended read.
Transformational Change
Thomas K. Wentz
Corporate Performance Systems, Inc.
5001 Pine Creek Drive, Westerville, OH 43081
0966843509 $22.95, Pages: 265
Transformational Change addresses the problem of how to deal with change when moving from a mass production oriented business to a customer centered customized production business. One of the truly unique perspectives of this book is that it discusses and details the process of such a change. Many similar books effectively argue the need for change but then provide no direction on how to make the change. Thomas Wentz' book provides detailed discussion and processes for creating that complete transformation of your business In the past most businesses were based on a mass production focus. Success and management were evaluated on a numbers basis. How much has sales increased? How many items were produced during this period last year? This numbers orientation tends to cause people to work hard to meet the numbers as their primary focus. In this scenario employees typically don't go beyond what is expected of them. There is no motivation to create a unique world-class organization. Add to that the fact that times have changed and customers now require a solution or product that is customized to their specific needs. If you can't provide a customized solution or product then they will simply go to a competitor that can. Is this just another business direction change? Thomas Wentz argues that it is more than just a directional change, it requires a complete transformation of the business from one form to another completely different form. A nice extra to the book are the numerous "Key points" scattered throughout the text. By summarizing the prior information in just one or two sentences and making it stand out from the text it is easy to quickly read over the key points of the book and refresh your memory on an ongoing basis. An excellent book on business and change that also has some applicability to personal change, it is a recommended read.
World Trivia: The Book Of Fascinating Facts: Culture, Politics And Geography
Michael Scott Smith, Cash Donovan (Illustrator)
East West Discovery Press
PO Box 2393, Gardena, CA 90247
0966943708 $9.95, Pages: 262
World Trivia is a small book filled with trivia questions from around the world. Each page has a single question with the answer on the reverse. It contains an excellent selection of questions that I found genuinely interesting, however, with only one question on a page it contains only just over 130 questions. It would have been nice if there were two or three questions per page. There are very few trivia books that have the nerve to ask questions on culture and politics because they change so quickly in some parts of the world. That is the situation here, some of the questions and answers are outdated because of the rapid political and cultural changes in the Middle East. It still makes an interesting read and is a great book to leave lying around for company to pick up and leaf through.
Multiple Streams Of Internet Income
Robert G. Allen
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
605 Third Ave., New York, NY 10158-0012
047121888X $16.95, Pages: 288
In Multiple Streams Of Internet Income Allen points the way to using the Internet as a vehicle for attracting wealth and the personal freedom that comes with wealth. The book covers marketing fundamentals as well as how to apply those principles to the special needs and opportunities of the Internet. In addition, it covers specific opportunities and techniques unique to the Internet and how to use them to make money. (For example, selling links and web-site affiliations). And, of course, it covers more traditional manners of generating income such as advertising, auctions, niche marketing, etc. One of the best things about the book is the detail with which he goes over the process from beginning to end and all of the options in between. This produces a repeatable framework that anyone can use to follow Robert Allen's footsteps. The bottom line is that the Internet is probably the fastest and easiest method for making a lot of money in the current economy. Following the principles and techniques set forth in Multiple Streams Of Internet Income the average person should be able to create sources of recurring online income. Recommended for those wishing to pursue using the internet as a source of either primary or secondary income.
Girls Will Be Girls: Raising Confident And Courageous Daughters
JoAnn Deak, Teresa Barker (Contributor)
Hyperion Press
77W. 66th Street, New York, NY 10023-6298
078686768X $23.95, Pages: 287
Enlightening, provocative and powerful, this is perhaps the most useful book on raising daughters that I have ever read. In the book Deak covers the problems, confusion, motivations and fears that are all a normal part of growing up female. But more than just noting that they exist and their basis, she also provides practical advice on how to deal with the problems in a proactive and productive manner. The book follows the expected logical pattern of moving from the basics of perspective through the normal growing up process. First are the formative years, then preadolescent, then adolescent years. Of special interest, she includes chapters on the special relationship between daughters and their mother as well as one on the relationship between daughters and their father and one of dealing with the normal fears and worries of being parents. Each chapter has comments from girls at that age or referring to the subject of the chapter as well as the defining or "crucible" events that occur during that age or relationship. If there were one book that I would recommend to anyone raising a girl in today's world, this would be the one that I would recommend. It stands like a lighthouse warning parents of dangerous shoals and how to avoid them as well as offering guidance on how to help their daughters negotiate dangerous waters and come out safe. This book truly lives up to the title and empowers parents with the tools to mold young girls into confident, courageous and well-adjusted adult women.
Surrendering To Marriage: Husbands, Wives, And Other Imperfections
Iris Krasnow
Hyperion
77 W. 66th Street, New York, NY 10023-6298
0786887710 $13.00, Pages: 235
In Surrendering To Marriage Iris Krasnow openly exposes an aspect of marriage that is generally not discussed - that the perfect marriage includes problems. With divorce so easy to come by and people entering into marriage with the concept that if it does not work then they can just get a divorce, it is refreshing to find someone who openly discusses the realities of marriage. Marriage requires committment, work and real personal growth as well as concession and recognition that people come into a marriage with their problems and quirks. Drop the expectations of perfection and come to surrender to the fact that all marriages have problems. The grass is not greener on the other side. When you divorce and enter into a new marriage you bring the same you into the new marriage. The measuring stick of the perfect marriage is not that it has no problems but how the couple deals with their problems. This does not mean that all marriages can be or should be salvaged. There are situations such as abuse or life-threatening situations that may require a much more drastic course of action. While the author is full-force in favor of working through problems in a marriage, she does recognize that some situations require drastic action for your own protection. Full of actual interviews and real life situations, the book is insightful and to the point. Not only does it discuss the real life problems of marriage, but also the real life effect of radical actions such an extra-marital affair. Did it harm the marriage? Did it provide the excitement sought? Did it really provide a solution or even more problems? No sugar-coating of the truth here, just the cold, hard facts. While it is true that some marriages have more problems than others, Iris Krasnow's discussion of the realities of married life should be read by everyone contemplating marriage or married people contemplating a radical action. A highly recommended common sense, reality based book.
The Ultimate Sales Letter
Dan S. Kennedy
Adams Media Corporation
57 Littlefield Street, Avon, MA 02322
1580622577 $10.95, Pages: 187 plus index
Although designed primarily for the direct-mail market, the principles and techniques of The Ultimate Sales Letter : Boost Your Sales With Powerful Sales Letters, Based On Madison Avenue Techniques can be adapted and applied to a wide variety of situations. Kennedy covers all the important topics and techniques on how to write the letter so that it not only gets opened but read and acted on. One of the most common mistakes a poor salesman makes is trying to sell a product based on features. This is totally ineffective when compared to selling based on the benefits the product will provide the customer. Kennedy does an excellent job of demonstrating the difference and how to write a sales letter that focuses on the benefits to a customer. The result is a highly effective letter. Add to this the tricks of the trade, writing style, revision information and multitude of other tips that fill the book and you have one of the best books on writing sales letters that I have ever read. Well organized, well written, and easily understood, Kennedy takes you through a complete and repeateable process from concept to followup to sale that does not miss a beat. If you want a sales letter that can produce leads and then convert the leads to sales there is no better book on the market today.
The Fast Track Course On How To Write A Nonfiction Book Proposal
Stephen Blake Mettee
Word Dancer Press
1831 Industrial Way, #101, Sanger, CA 93657
188495622X $12.95, Pages: 128
A query letter and book proposal is the best place to start when considering writing a nonfiction book. Using the query letter and book proposal you can locate a publisher interested in printing your book before you spend all that time writing it. The purpose of a proposal is to give a very busy editor enough information to determine if they have an interest in the book and to have at least a basic level of confidence in you as an author. In his book Mettee gives many detailed examples of what should be included in the proposal and well as example proposals and queries. In addition he covers contracts, agents, royalties and other factors that you will need to understand. Finally, he includes the very important information of what should not be in the proposal. In How To Write A Nonfiction Book Proposal you receive a complete guide to writing a professional proposal that greatly increases the chances of getting your book published. A highly recommended read and a required read for any new nonfiction writer.
Damn! Why Didn't I Write That?
Marc McCutcheon
Quill Driver Books/Word Dancer Press
1831 Industrial Way #101, Sanger, CA 93657
1884956173 $14.95, Pages: 256
The common conception about writing as a career is that it is difficult to get into and produces many "starving" artists. While this may be true in many situations, In Damn! Why Didn't I Write That? How Ordinary People Are Raking In $100,000.00...or More Writing Nonfiction Books & How You Can Too!, Marc McCutcheon argues convincingly that it is not necessarily the case when it comes to nonfiction writing. According to the author over 50,000 new books are published each year, but only about 3,500 of them are fiction. As a result, most of the competition is in the fiction area. The nonfiction area is by far the easiest one in which to become published. The author relates how even a beginning writer can learn to write nonfiction and start making a living as a writer much faster than commonly believed. The book is filled with the necessary details of not only writing a great nonfiction work but also how to handle contract negotiations, why you need (or don't need) an agent, writing proposals, marketing and just about any other subject that the writer may need to know. Throughout the book, McCutcheon encourages the new writer and points out that many top selling titles were written by ordinary people without any special writing skills or training. A book that should be on the bookshelf of all writers, I can't recommend it highly enough.
Beautiful Moments In The Wild: Animals And Their Colors
Editor: Stephanie Maze
Moonstone Press
7820 Oracle Place, Potomac, Maryland 20854
097077687X $15.00, Pages: 32
Beautiful Moments In The Wild is a pre-school level book filled with beautiful animal photography. Sure to keep a child's interest as the full color plates fill each page, each animal is included because of it's particular color or range of colors. Solidly bound to put up with the stress of being handled by children, it is sure to be a favorite. A highly recommended pre-school book.
Tender Moments In The Wild: Animals And Their Babies
Editor: Stephanie Maze
Moonstone Press
7820 Oracle Place, Potomac, Maryland 20854
0970776802 $15.00, Pages: 32
Beautiful, captivating photography makes this one of the best pre-school picture books that I have had the pleasure to review. Instantly appealing it celebrates the bond of affection between a parent and child. Solidly bound to put up with the abuse that it is sure to receive as childred carry it around to have mommy or daddy read it to them one more time, it is a highly recommended purchase.
Harold McFarland
Reviewer

## Skea's Bookshelf

BRICK 69: A Literary Journal. Spring 2002
Ondaatje, Redhill. Spalding, editors
Macmillan
ISBN: 0968755534 PRICE: A$20.00 (paperback) 184 pages
My first impression of this journal was that it was produced by a group of people who had a nice sense of humour. "Subscribe...or it's fricasee time for Bugs", announces a half-page advertisement: 'Bugs' being a lop-eared rabbit charmingly sketched by Mary Meigs, an artist who is relearning her drawing skills after suffering a stroke. And Margaret Atwood, who has contributed a cartoon to this edition, is listed amongst "The Usual Suspects" as their regular cartoonist: "She is also a writer", it says.
My second impression, after reading Mark Abley's piece about the Boro language, (which has such very useful verbs as "gobray: to fall in a well unknowingly": as distinguished from "gobram: to shout in ones sleep"), was to wonder why I had never heard of this journal before. This is, after all issue 69 of a bi-annual journal. It is published in Toronto, Canada, which is still a long way from Sydney, Australia (in all sorts of ways). No doubt that's why.
My final impression, having read all the articles, is that this is a very literary, literate and avant-garde journal which presents a variety of views on a wide range of subjects. Sadly, I fear that it will find only a small, probably academic, readership in Australia, especially since one or two of the articles require some familiarity with the Canadian literary scene.
Nevertheless, there is good reading here. The journal is devoted to non-fiction topics and this issue includes interviews with W.G. Sebald and Charles Johnson; an extract from a conversation between Michael Ondaatje and film editor, Walter Murch (from a recently published book); a discussion about ultra-modern poetry, sound poetry and virtual poetry between two Canadian poets, Christian B”k (whose recent book, Eunoia, is the fastest-selling book in Canadian history and tells a story in five chapters using only one vowel per chapter) and Darren Wershler-Henry (whose book, the tapeworm foundry, is a single run-on sentence proposing ideas that a writer might use for inspiration); an article about travel, politics and culture in Pakistan in 1988 and 1990; a piece about Stendhal's methods in his Life of Henry Brulard; poetry, pictures, and much much more.
Anyone seriously interested in modern literature, its practitioners and its current practice, will find this journal well-written, thought-provoking and challenging.
Timepieces
Drusilla Modjeska
MacMillan
ISBN: 0330363727 PRICE: A$22.00 (paperback) 229 pages
"There was once a tradition that when a cabinet maker finished his apprenticeship, he'd make a miniature chest, or cabinet, as a gift for his master."
So, begins Drusilla Modjeska in her introduction to this small collection of her essays. But although the idea for this book was conceived with this pattern in mind, Modjeska soon found that the art of writing did not lend itself to imitation in miniature. For one thing, her "masters" were too many and too diverse, ranging from Christina Stead, Virginia Woolf, Doris Lessing, Eleanor Dark and Dorothy Green, to editors like George Munster and Hillary McPhee. So, what was planned as a simple collection of pieces drawn from a career in writing, turned into a re-assessment and re-interpretation of some of those pieces. "There's a lot I'd say now that I wouldn't say then" Modjeska notes, and she chose these pieces accordingly, changing some and adding to others.
As always, her writing is a pleasure to read. Most of the essays in the book are diverse and interesting: a mixture of memoir, literary criticism, biography, autobiography, art appreciation, and comment on the Australian literary scene seasoned with a little politics. The final two essays in the book, however, are much more serious and challenging. They are more densely argued, very much more political and controversial, and they are suited more to the arena of academic literary debate that to a general readership. This is not criticism. Rather, it is a warning to those who might expect to read all of this book as they did Poppy or The Orchard, neither of which were predictable, straightforward narratives, but both of which were works of imagination with no overt reference to current Australian politics or literary issues.
'Memoir Australia' and 'The Present in Fiction' , however, deal with issues such as Prime Minister, John Howard's, refusal to apologize to the Aboriginal people of Australia, and his handling of immigration issues. They also deal with the relationship between fiction and fact, meaning and life. Big issues, with serious implications, discussed from a very Australian perspective. Interesting, but not easy reading.
In the end, those who already know Modjeska's work will enjoy these essays as much for her usual skill in sharing her enthusiasm for literature and art as for the more personal and passionate views she expresses about the country in which she chooses to live and work. Newcomers to her work will appreciate her intelligent and forthright approach and may well be inspired to read more of her work.
Henry VIII: King And Court
Alison Weir
Pimlico, Random House
ISBN: 0712664513 PRICE: A$28.00 (paperback) 639 pages
Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0345436598, $28.00, 608 pages
It is hard to improve on Alison Weir's own Introduction. "My aim", she writes, "has been to draw together a multitude of strands of research in order to develop a picture of the real Henry VIII, his personal life throughout his reign, the court he created and the people who influenced and served him."
This she does admirably, providing detailed information about every aspect of Henry's daily life, from the time he rose and was dressed each morning, through his various courtly and administrative routines, his work and his play, his loves and his hates, to the time (midnight) when he retired to his bed of estate and thence to his privy chamber for the night.
Working from original documents and other contemporary sources, Alison Weir assembles a picture of the court, the times, the man, and some of those around him. Henry appears as very human: neither wholly god-like not wholly a monster but certainly both at different times of his life. His marriages are dealt with briefly and factually (Weir has written about them in detail in an earlier book), so too is his relationship with his Cardinals and with other important figures.
With so much material to handle and such an eventful life to cover, this book (thick as it is) is deliberately narrow in its focus. The political history of Henry's reign is outside its scope. So too, is the broader context of events in Europe, without a knowledge of which many of Henry's most important decisions appear arbitrary and self-orientated. Nevertheless, Alison Weir has done a superb job of bringing to life a remote period of history in an interesting and accessible way. Not for her is the journalistic, simplistic presentation of unproven "facts", such as was seen in the recent TV series on Henry's wives. She examines some of the most contentious aspects of Henry's life, and she offers informed, documented and careful opinions.
Inevitably, much of the book will already be familiar to those who are interested in Henry's reign, but there is still much that is of interest and much to be learned about Henry's life and his court which has not been brought together in this way before.
The Snow Geese
William Fiennes
Picador, PanMacmillan
ISBN: 0330375784 PRICE: A$40.00 (hardback) 250 pages
Random House
ISBN: 0375507299, $24.95, 288 pages
'This guy's come from England to watch geese,' Ken said. 'Is that so?' Jack replied absently, smoothing his hair back, gazing out over the lake and flat fields. 'He's going to follow them from Eagle Lake to Canada, Hudson Bay, maybe even the Arctic Ocean.' 'Each to his own,' said Jack. 'He just flew in. Hasn't ever seen a snow goose.' ' Is that right? Sometimes I wish I'd never seen a snow goose.'
William Fiennes passion for snow geese began by accident. Convalescing from an unexpected and frightening illness, he found a familiar book amongst the pristine volumes in the pseudo library of his hotel - The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico. Outside the hotel, professional women golfers with "tanned calves [that] resembled fresh tench attached to the backs of their shins" practised their golf strokes: inside, Fiennes lost himself in this book. It haunted him, and inspired him with a new passion for birds and bird-watching. In particular, migratory birds, and especially snow geese, became an obsession and he started planning to follow their migratory routes across America.
The Snow Geese records Fiennes journey, but it is a very quirky record in which science is entangled with Fiennes unique perception of the people he meets along the way, and his meditative observations on the homing instinct in birds and humans. He not only has an ornithologist's eye for the oddities of our own species, he has a wonderfully vivid and unexpected way of recording them:
"The spherical man was first up, grabbing the handles of a leatherette overnight bag with his left hand, wielding the orthopaedic stick in his right, and walking briskly with the rolling gait of a goose towards the uniformed VIA ticket collector at the gate."
Unexpectedly, this elderly man turned out to have run away from home at the age of fifteen just to ride the freight trains. His tales of jumping rattlers, and of the wino's and hobo's he met up with along the way, amused Fiennes from Winnipeg to Hudson Bay, but Fiennes own account of the problems which faced the men who built the Hudson Bay Railway is equally fascinating.
And although Fiennes' tracking of the migrating snow geese was not as smooth as he expected, he certainly saw geese. On the front cover of the book is a picture which looks like a random pattern of grey, white and blue. On closer inspection, it resolves itself into an Escher-like picture of geese. It is, in fact, a photograph of snow geese in flight - huge flocks of birds, just as Fiennes first saw them in Texas. There, from faint drifts of specks on the horizon, the birds flew closer until each speck became a goose and finally "whole flocks circled over the roost, thousands of geese swirling round and round, as if the pond were the mouth of a drain and these geese the whirlpool turning above it. Nothing had prepared me for the sound, this dense, boisterous din, the clamour of a playground at breaktime..."
From Texas, Fiennes followed the geese north, travelling by Greyhound bus, by car and by train. Sometimes he had to wait for the geese to catch up, but each wait had its own character and interest. Each was full of surprises. Eventually, he reached the breeding ground of the snow geese in Foxe Land, on the edge of the Hudson Strait. There, in a landscape so strange to him that he felt dazed and disorientated, he borrowed a Snow Goose parka patched with grey masking tape, pocketed a can of CounterAttack bear-repellent gas and accompanied an Inuit elder and her chain-smoking son on a hunting expedition. To his distress, he ended up eating snow-goose stew.
Fiennes own journey, like that of the geese, was one of migration and return, and of discovery. As well as describing his journey, he describes the earliest medical recognition of nostalgia (homesickness) as a clinical condition in humans; he explains the strange experiments scientists have devised to discover why and how birds migrate; and he notes, in passing, the migratory and homing instincts of the people he meets and finds the same impulses in himself.
This is an unusual and very enjoyable book. It shares something of the spirit of Peter Matthiesson's The Snow Leopard, but Fiennes has his own distinctive way of seeing the world and he writes about it beautifully.
The Resurrectionists
Michael Collins
Weidenfeld & Nicholson
ISBN: 1861591950 PRICE: A$29.95(paperback) 360 pages
Scribner
ISBN: 0743238567, $24.00 (October 2002)
Frank Cassidy is a sick man, and in many ways this is a sick book. Just about everyone in it is mentally disordered in some way, even the psychologist, who is obsessed with proving his own theory in any way he can.
Frank has been psychoanalysed; he was once confined in a mental institution; and he has been subjected to ECT; but he is also the victim of circumstances and events which add to his mental confusion. And since Frank tells this story, the reader is disorientated too.
Frank is an unpleasant character and it is hard to empathize with him as he tries to unravel the mystery of his Uncle's supposed murder. Nor did I find anything amusing about the sordid unpleasantness of his life, although the publicity handout for this book describes it as "Brilliantly funny and unsettling".
It is unsettling all right. And the mystery is there, largely due to Frank's repressed and burned-out memories. In summary: As far as Frank knows his parents died in a fire on their farm when he was a child. He remembers a burning barn; fear; his Uncle's presence; and a man called Chester Green, whose name he calls out in recurrent nightmares but who was dead at the time of the fire. Now, suddenly, Frank's Uncle has been found dead with a bullet in his head and a gun in his hand; a man with Chester Green's distinctive tattoo is suspected of his murder but is in a coma in hospital after trying to hang himself; and Frank or his cousin, Norman, or Norman's wife, are also under suspicion and may well have done the deed.
If you can put up with Frank and the unpleasant ways in which he wilfully alienates his wife, his step-son, his sister-in-law and everyone else, then the confusion and puzzlement may keep you reading until the end. But you may find the denouement as disappointing and over-elaborate as I did, and the book's title gives you a hefty clue right from the start.
Not my cup of poison, as you can tell, but mystery addicts may feel differently about it all.
The War Against Clich‚
Martin Amis
Vintage, PanMacmillan
ISBN: 0099422220 PRICE: A$26.96(paperback) 506 pages
Vintage Books
ISBN: 0375727167, $16.00, 527 pages
"Everybody", cries Martin Amis, referring us to the Internet to prove his point, "has become a literary critic - or at least a book-reviewer". This, apparently, is all part of the "democratization" of the literary world. Mr Amis does not deplore this move towards egalitarianism (he believes that would be pointless) but he thinks it unrealistically utopian and he feels that the results will be contaminated by "herd opinions and social anxieties, vanities, touchiness, and everything else that makes up self". He yearns for the eternal verities on which literary critics(and reviewers) once based their views: the canon; "the body of knowledge we all call literature"; Art.
Mr Amis is an idealist. But he is right about talent. Talent is not something which can be democratized; and fresh, original, unclich‚d writing requires talent. For Mr Amis, the "crucial defect" in literary journalism is dullness. In this collection of his own essays and reviews he not only wages war against clich‚, he demonstrates just how fresh and energetic and enjoyable talented criticism can be. He is hardly ever dull. Of course it is tempting to go through his pieces and pick out the clich‚s (literary criticism is "dead and gone" and egalitarianism has "the pale a glow of illusion", for example, - and that's just in the Foreword) but that would be churlish given the enjoyable quality of most of the pieces in this book. The collection covers a period of thirty years and the pieces were originally published in such magazines and newspapers as The New York Times Review of Books, the Atlantic Monthly, The Times, Observer, Guardian and the London Review of Books.
Mr Amis's "voice" in this collection is by turns critical, argumentative, applauding, witty, and often shockingly irreverent and insulting. It is rarely boring, although on the evidence of some of the pieces he is not always remote from the "hot snort of the hobby horse" which he identifies in his review of a collection of John Updike's essays and criticism.
It is a matter of curiosity, too, that Mr Amis rather quaintly accords some authors a title (Mr Parker or Miss Murdoch, for example) whilst others are referred to by their surname (Updike, Nabokov, Vidal etc.) or, in Hillary Clinton's case, by just "Hillary". Perhaps there is a note of irony in the use of a title, and man-to-man respect in the surname-only form of address. There is clearly disparagement in calling Hillary Clinton simply '"Hillary", if Mr Amis's assessment of her literary skills in his review of It Takes a Village is anything to judge by. This particular review was the first piece I read in Mr Amis's book and his sarcasm took my breath away. It also made me laugh.
Another piece which surprised and amused me was 'Zeus and the Garbage", in which Mr Amis was consumed by mirth and prompted to explore male consciousness by Robert Bly's Iron John. Iron John was grouped with such unlikely bedfellows as Margaret Thatcher, Andy Warhol and Elvis Presley in a section called 'On Masculinity and Related Questions'. Other section-titles include 'Some English Prose', 'Philip Larkin', 'From the Canon', 'Vladimir Nabokov', 'Some American Prose' and 'Great Books'. In all of them, I found things to interesting me and I was sorry when I had finished the book.
I especially liked Mr Amis's essay on the "revaluation" of Philip Larkin (reprinted from the New Yorker, 1993) in which he restores Larkin's work to the social context in which it was written, puts the Hermit of Hull's various accusers in their place, and brings us back to the poetry, not the man. Would that more critics might follow this example and turn from biography, gossip and concerns about political correctness to the work itself.
But here I am writing like one of those Internet reviewers who, as Mr Amis imagines, settles into a book "defensively", sees which way it "rubs him up," [him?] "the right way or the wrong way", and then writes a review "without any reference to the thing behind", i.e. to the canon etc. I don't think Mr Amis is always as immune to this approach as he thinks he is, but often his personal reactions to a book are funnier and/or more interesting than any demonstration of his educated background. Nevertheless, it might be educative for Mr Amis to write a few Internet essays and reviews himself - just to set us an example and to lead us back to Art. He would discover, too, that Internet readers are amongst the most demanding, knowledgeable and talented review and essay readers he could hope to find.
Ann Skea, Reviewer
http://ann.skea.com

## Judy's Bookshelf

Spin Wave Technology
George Bugh
Vasant Corporation
P.O. Box 121741, Fort Worth, TX, 76121-0741, USA
ISBN: 097166160X (165 HTML pages) Price: $34.00, http://www.vasantcorporation.com/
Format: CD Rom,, Initial Release, Collectors Edition, 2001
The author believes: "Using conventional science, it is possible to explain electromagnetic processes that have not been understood or described previously." (Cover notes) He states that spin wave processes may prove to be the basis for future technological advances; and in this CD Rom, Bugh shares his research on this subject.
There is a great deal of interest world-wide in various areas of spin wave theory. Bugh's interest is in electromagnetic fields and spin waves as they relate to propulsion, power generation, signal generating and communications. This opens up a wide field of study of concepts that could be applied to include: ESP, UFO's and alternate sources of power.
George Bugh is a senior staff electronics engineer in the aero-space industry with 19 years of experience in the field of electronics and electromagnetic devices. His work involves testing various systems of advanced aircraft design using flight simulation studies. The CD Rom is not a result of work done for his employer, rather it was a project he did on his own time.
In his off hours, Bugh began to browse the web where he visited sites with content about electromagnetic theory, spin waves, and related devices. He began to wonder if there could be any truth to the claims being made in relation to the electrical output of some of the unusual devices he found online. He realized that to understand the concepts and theories about spin waves, he would have to learn more about quantum physics so he could apply that knowledge in his research. Bugh embarked on a six year course of self-study, also learning more about the nature of time, and Einstein's Theory of Relativity, while conducting his research.
This CD Rom is comprised of forty files developed during that research. There's also an introductory video lecture, by the author, expanding on the concepts put forth. The CD is in the format of HTML pages, viewable in Netscape or MS Explorer browsers, with .mpg and .mov files included. There are many links to web sites, with definitions and supporting information, which the reader can access online. Included, are four very nice original music selections composed by Stephan D. Schmidt - the CD Rom's web designer.
Bugh's application of the theories discussed and the conclusions he puts forth on the CD are not scientifically validated. His exploration into spin wave theory is from the point of view of an electronic engineer with a curiosity about possible adaptations of spin wave theory and electromagnetic devices.
The author postulates:
"Classically, all precessional motion of charged particles should emit and absorb EM waves regardless of the amplitude of the waves. It is this author's contention that they do. The EM waves of paired electrons will cancel except for an oscillating magnetic field direction with no accompanying electric field oscillations. This is because while one precesses clockwise the other will precess counter-clockwise.
"If this theory is correct there should be waves of toggling magnetic field direction at a frequency or a set of frequencies that is common to all atoms. There may be a frequency associated with the precessional frequency of paired electrons in each of the possible orbitals. There should also be a much higher frequency or set of frequencies common to precessing quarks in protons and neutrons of all atoms." (File 25)
Although not yet scientifically proven, by offering his conclusions Bugh provides a springboard for further discussion with readers who may be able to build on his research. Instead of being an academic, scientifically validated discourse, the material presents as a discussion between interested students sitting around the dorm. The author's inclusion of copies of related discussions between himself and other interested parties on a Usenet forum add to the easy-to-read, informal nature of the production.
There are drawings to help the reader understand the concepts, and Bugh includes many mathematical equations throughout the work. The CD could use a bit more line editing, although not riddled with grammatical errors, there are some. All the links that I tried were working well; but the author does warn readers, due to the nature of the Internet, that some online links may not work. There is a related web site where readers can get the most up-to-date information and notice of any errors. In visiting the web site while doing my review, I did note that the author reported that one of the drawings on the CD was incorrectly formatted. New editions will certainly be corrected.
This CD is for the informed reader. Students, and those of a scientific bent, may find this to be of interest. Anyone working in the field of spin wave theory may enjoy working out the exercises the author uses to demonstrate some of his points in order to see if the conclusions drawn are ones worth further study.
The author hopes, by sharing his research, that he may stimulate discussion that may lead to new technological advances. A print book, based on the material presented in the CD Rom version, will be available in the near future.
How To Promote Your Local Business On the Internet
Sharon Fling
e-Net Business Solutions
337 - 14431 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, California, USA 91423
ISBN: 0-9718971-0-7 First Edition, 2002, Format: PDF (137 pages) Price: $37.00, http://www.localbizpromo.com
The author is an experienced web designer and Internet business person. Sharon Fling has written an ebook that is the definitive manual for making your business website a successful enterprise.
The Internet first started as an information sharing technology between government agencies in the military. The educational community also used it to network with peers for the free dissemination of information. Somewhere along the way, there was a ground swell of entrepreneurs who decided that they could make lucrative livings by starting up online businesses. The dot.com boom was on and Investors lined up to shell out the millions to finance the new phenomenem. It didn't take long before the boom was bust and the financing dried up. Many people lost money and a large percentage of online business dropped out of sight. The boom was over.
The reason why? The idea of earning large sums online with little or no work was not in keeping with what people had come to expect from the Internet. Fly-by-night operators fleecing unsuspecting buyers were widely reported and caused would-be shoppers to be suspicious of security and trust in the online marketplace. Many bricks and mortar business people realized the importance of having a website but they didn't know how to go about getting started online, or if they did pay someone to create a web presence they weren't using it to full effect.
Sharon Fling is one of the few Internet business persons to realize that having a website can compliment your local bricks and mortar business. Her ebook, How To Promote Your Local Business On The Internet, is the definitive manual for marketing your offline business online, and even if you don't have an offline business you can pick up many great tips to improve your online business strategies.
Fling understands perfectly, the law of the web, "Gimme Some Free Stuff" (p. 8) and has suggestions for freebies to give away. The author suggests "Building relationships is what business is about, especially on the Internet. Focus on the customer and you'll never have to worry about selling. Win their loyalty and trust and they'll buy from you willingly, over and over again." (p. 14) The author goes on to describe winning strategies for ecommerce, how to use email in your marketing and how to go about setting up your first website. Even the most inexperienced user will find this to be an invaluable learning tool that will provide the incentive to set up a website that will be a winner for any type of business.
Chapter 10 is a series of case studies that are, alone, worth more than the price of this ebook. Anyone interested in what to offer online to enhance an offline business will find a wealth of information from the experience of the businesses depicted here. There are also links to each website so the reader can see just how a successful website is set up.
Appendix A is a glossary of Internet terms and Appendix B offers an extensive list of online resources for business people with links to each website.
Appendix C, Internet 101 is a primer for the new Internet user by Scott Cottingham of Internet101.org, "...selected by Yahoo as one of the three best sites on the net for beginners." (p. 102) It is an excellent guideline for anyone wanting to learn how to use the Internet and is written in such a way that even the first time user will get a good grounding in how to search for information, find free software and much, much more.
As an ebook specialist for the Midwest Book Review, I read many ebooks, I can say that "How To Promote Your Local Business On The Internet" is one of the most attractive and well formatted ebooks I've seen. The information flows logically and is written with clarity in a straightforward manner. Every page has valuable advice with tips and links to more information on the subject at hand. The graphics are particularly well done, just enough to relieve the eyes and highlight the text. They are small and very well designed.
One of the most informative and helpful ebooks I've had the pleasure of reviewing. Very highly recommended.
Reviewed by Judy Justice
http://www.creativepurrsuits.com/

## Harwood's Bookshelf

The Book Your Church Doesn't Want You To Read
Tim C. Leedom, editor
Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company
4050 Westmark Drive, Dubuque, Iowa 52002
ISBN 0840389086, 1993, 446 pp, ppb, $20 from Amazon.com
"Knowing the reaction of established religion in the past to critique and examination, we anticipate a strong response from those who won't even read The Book. These leaders and followers continually take the attitude, 'don't bother me with facts; I've already made up my mind.'" (p. iii)
"Because of religion, more human beings have been murdered, tortured, maimed, denigrated, discriminated against, humiliated, hated and scorned than for any other reason in the totality of the history of man." (p. v)
After that promising opening, The Book moves steadily downhill. This well-meaning proof that "a little learning is a dangerous thing" is riddled with inaccuracies. For example, it credits Paul of Tarsus with adopting the Mithraic Sun-day to replace the Hebrew Sabbath. (p. 4) In fact Christianity had no sacred rest day until Constantine borrowed the Mithraic Sun-day three centuries after Paul.
It states that "Ancient man saw in his male offspring his own image and likeness, and his own existence as a father was proved by the person of his son." (p. 21) But men did not have any "father" concept until c 3500 BCE, millennia later than the author of that passage appears to believe. It lists the original concept of the zodiac, "circle of animal," as consisting of twelve houses. (p. 24) But the original zodiac contained thirteen houses. Ophiuchus was purged and its portion of the sky transferred to neighboring Scorpio sometime after the male revolution of c 3500 BCE.
While The Book correctly identifies the hexagram as "evolving later to become the Jewish Star of David," (p. 42) it gives its origin as a Hindu sun symbol. In fact it originated as a sex-glorification, with an up-pointing triangle representing the male genitalia superimposed on a down-pointing triangle representing the female genital orifice. And while it identifies the sixth-century Mandylion of Edessa as the source of all later portraits of Jesus, it does not mention that, prior to the sixth century, Jesus was acknowledged even by Christian apologists to have been ugly, deformed, and "not even of honest human shape." As for the statement that Jesus' Aramaic/Hebrew name was Yehoshua, (p. 147) the author of that item was either unaware or, as a practising pusher, deliberately concealed that the correct name was Yahuwshua, Yahuw being the Jewish god's proper name.
The Book also includes an excerpt from John Allegro's hypothesis that Jesus the Nazirite was "really" a deified mushroom, a theory so ridiculous that Robert Graves called it a "hoax." Graves was far too polite. Allegro's mushroom fantasy destroyed his reputation, and rightly so. The inclusion of such drivel says more about the editors' status as amateurs than perhaps anything else in the book.
On the good side, The Book includes a letter from Thomas Jefferson to his nephew (pp. 33-34), spelling out a methodology for examining the evidence on which religious claims are based, a methodology currently used by all legitimate scholars in all fields and rejected only by those disciplines (religion, parapsychology) that start from predetermined conclusions and distort the evidence until it fits. Articles by Bertrand Russell, Thomas Paine, Steve Allen and Joseph Campbell argue against the illogic of religious thinking, as do pieces by scholars whose names are less known to the masses, such as Gerald Larue, G. Vermes, A. J. Mattill Jr, Morton Smith, Robert Ingersoll and Joseph McCabe.
There is a lot of interesting reading in The Book Your Church Doesn't Want You To Read, but nothing to justify its pretentious title. Indeed, bible thumpers might be well advised to promote the book, so they can argue that, if this is the best case that can be made against religion, it has nothing to fear. Fortunately, there are books in print that do to religion what the first photographs of the Martian surface did to the "canals" delusion, including those of Martin Larson, Richard Friedman, McCabe and Ingersoll, not to mention Mythology's Last Gods.
Bad Astronomy
Philip Plait
John Wiley & Sons
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158-0012
ISBN 0471409766, 277 pp., ppb, $15.95
"Movies show space travel all the time, but they show it incorrectly, and so it doesn't surprise me that the majority of the viewing public has the wrong impression about how it really works.... The news media's job is to report the facts clearly, with as much accuracy as possible. Unfortunately, this isn't always the case.... I remember vividly watching the Today show on NBC in 1994. The Space Shuttle was in orbit, and it was doing an experiment.... Anchor Matt Lauer was reporting on this experiment, and ... admitted he didn't understand what he had just said. Think about that for a moment: three of America's most famous journalists, and they actually laughed at their own ignorance in science! The report itself was accurate ... but what the public saw was three respected journalists saying tacitly that it's okay to be ignorant about science. It isn't okay. In fact it's dangerous to be ignorant about science. Our lives and our livelihoods depend on it." (pp. 2-4)
After that promising start, Plait's next hundred pages drop to a level appropriate to junior high school in any country in which teaching is still legal, or first-year university in North America. The information dispensed is trivial, but readable and useful-to the degree that one finds it useful to know that sinks and toilets do not drain clockwise in one hemisphere and counter-clockwise in the other, and that anything that can be done to an egg on the vernal equinox, including balancing it on one end, can be accomplished just as easily any other day of the year. Persons whose knowledge of reality is more than minimal are urged to skip (or skim) the first thirteen chapters, and jump directly to "The Disaster that Wasn't," Plait's definitive debunking of the nonexistent "Jupiter Effect," that had cranks, humbugs and sincere fantasizers claiming that a planetary alignment could cause the destruction of planet earth. From that point on, this is a really good book.
For example (p.153): "People believe weird things. There are people who believe the earth is 6,000 years old. Some people believe that others can talk to the dead, that a horoscope can accurately guide your day, and that aliens are abducting as many as 800,000 people a year. I believe weird things, too. I believe that a star can collapse, disappearing from the universe altogether.... So what's the difference? Why do I think it's wrong to believe that the earth is young when I believe in things I've never seen? It's because I have evidence for my beliefs. I can point to well-documented, rational, reproducible observations and experiments that bolster my confidence in my conclusions."
And on page 154: "Odds are that you believe NASA sent men to the moon. So why devote a whole chapter to the minority that doesn't? There are several reasons. The most important is to simply provide a rational and reasoned voice when such a voice is hard to find." That may not seem like much of a reason to anyone unfamiliar with Emmanuel Velikovsky or Roman Piso. But scholars' refusal to dignify those gentlemen's mushroom fantasies with rebuttals (until they did) led people to wonder if perhaps they could not be rebutted. I have never met anyone who thinks the moon landing was a hoax. But the theory has been raised, and without a Plait to demolish it, it could conceivably start to be taken seriously. That now seems less likely than it did before.
In his otherwise excellent chapter on Velikovsky, Plait states (p. 182), "The Hebrew calendar, still going strong after 5,800 years...." The idea that the Hebrew calendar, which indeed dates Creation about 5800 years ago, existed any earlier than the oldest biblical writings, is as "utterly and obviously wrong" as the nonsense Plait is rebutting. Fortunately, that one credulous paragraph does not weaken the chapter's effectiveness.
After berating Hollywood's bad astronomy for placing profits and ratings ahead of accuracy (Gene Roddenberry's desire to have the Enterprise move silently through the vacuum of space, instead of "whooshing" as it would do in an atmosphere, was vetoed by the network), Plait writes (p. 257), "Do I really hate Hollywood movies? Armageddon notwithstanding, no I don't. I like science fiction. I still see every sci-fi movie that comes out.... If movies spark an interest in science in some kid somewhere that's wonderful. Even a bad movie might make a kid stop and look at a science book in a library, or want to read more about lasers, or asteroids, or the real possibility of alien life. Who knows where that might lead?"
No argument from me.
Litany Of Loons
Jack Truett
Xlibris
436 Walnut Street, 11th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19106
ISBN 1401049575, 190 pp., ppb, $20.99, (also available in hardcover)
"Frankly, I don't care one whit what people believe. That is their individual business and of no concern to me. But when a belief propels herds of them into damaging the rights and freedoms of others, when such belief continually and constantly results in hideous wars and slaughter, and when such belief is obviously destroying my country's future and its citizens' well being, then it damned well is my business." (p. 9) With those words, Jack Truett justifies writing a book designed to "help someone else, maybe even you, to avoid wasting your life-time stumbling fruitlessly on the same path." (p.8) And he warns, "If you are a 'God' believer, I suggest you fasten your set belt. Or, if you are determined to live in fear, ignorance, and slavery the rest of your life, you can toss this book in the trash can now." (p.51) Sadly, the people most in need of liberation from self-inflicted mind-slavery are likely to do exactly that.
Truett explains the origin of tyranny as follows: "Perhaps one day the group encountered a beast of prey smack in the middle of their berry patch. The 'followers' would expect the King to do something.... So he grabs a dry piece of brush ... charges at the beast, yelling and raising hell.... The predator growled threateningly even as he fled ... but he did go.... A few days later ... there looms out of nowhere, a sudden violent storm.... The bush shaking and yelling had scared off a vicious beast ... what if... And, scared of the streaking, howling pandemonium around him, he grabbed the self same bush, shook it at the roaring storm.... And the storm receded.... And so was born the first 'incantation.' ... The 'Adviser' had gained kudos galore, and it is very probable that he had also convinced himself of his 'magical' powers." (pp, 21-22)
Anyone who doubts the validity of that reconstruction need only look at a friend or acquaintance who thinks he/she is "psychic," to realize that as few as two or three fulfilled expectations in a lifetime will reinforce the believer's fantasy, while dozens of unfulfilled prophecies will not disillusion him. And I have met more than one megalomaniac priest incapable of doubting his power to send anybody who pissed him off to the Christian Hell.
On the origin of gods: "Awareness seeks answers, especially to avoid dangers. Explanations offered 'spirits.' Spirits demanded subservience. And thus Deity Religions were born." (p.38) To back up that assertion, Truett explains, "When one reads 'Holy' scripture from any of the world's religious writings, the 'God' that is described matches exactly the human Kings that ruled on Earth: Childish, self aggrandizing, temperamental, picayunish, demanding, conceited, and merciless ... always ready with 'reward' offered for those who will literally kiss his ass." (p. 39)
After explaining that his disillusionment with religion began in World War II, when he found himself in a British dungeon still containing torture devices used by the Catholic Inquisition (not a peculiarly Spanish or splinter-sect phenomenon), Truett goes on to explain the evidence that falsifies religion far more effectively than any anecdotal experience. He reports the conclusions of a five-year examination of the King James Bible by a panel of various experts: "There are over 19,000 provable errors and self contradictions in God's Word, The Holy Bible." He adds his own comment, "Does that really sound like an Omnipotent, All Knowing God inspired the thing?" (p. 148)
Most of Truett's account of the older religions plagiarized by their bastard offspring, Christianity, is identical with what is to be found in Mythology's Last Gods. But in places his interpretation of the facts is very different. A truthseeker should read both and then decide who is right. Also, while I am not an expert on Muhammad and the origins of Islam, Ibn Warraq is, and Truett's reconstruction of the facts of history differs profoundly from Warraq's. Again, a seeker of truth should read both before reaching a tentative final conclusion. And Truett may be the first person with the intestinal fortitude to state openly that the position Muslims assume five times a day, presenting their rear ends to the sky, is an open invitation to their deity to shtup them up the brunzer.
While I have no quarrel with Truett's use of the words "hypnotized" and "mesmerized" to describe the cultural conditioning imposed on all of us on a regular basis by hidden persuaders, and self-hypnotized is surely the most accurate description one can come up with for incurable creationists, he reports a wartime anecdote that appears to indicate a belief that hypnotism as something more than heightened suggestibility actually exists. Apparently he has not read They Call it Hypnosis, Robert Baker's definitive debunking of the hypnotism delusion.
Truett's last chapter, in which he analyses the opening pages of Genesis, was clearly written before he encountered either Mythology's Last Gods or The Judaeo-Christian Bible Fully Translated, and was not rewritten to take the information in those publications into consideration. That is unfortunate, but it does not invalidate the rest of the book. But, assuming that he does not actually reject the multiple authorship of the Torah that explains the inconsistencies he found inexplicable, he should certainly give them a close reading before writing the second volume of his trilogy.
I sometimes got the impression that Truett received much of his information orally, and greater familiarity with the spoken that the written forms of such words as anything, bloodbath, brainwashing, countryside, everything, Hellfire, hindmost, humankind, leftover, lifetime, midnight, nevertheless, outcastes, outlays, reincarnation, selfsame, shamefaced, stranglehold, therein, thumbnail, uppermost, warlords, wedlock, whatever, wherein, widespread, without, wrongdoing, yourself, and a few others caused him to write the various parts or syllables as separate words, sometimes hyphenated. This is trivia, and only a nitpicker such as myself would even notice. But as a regular contributor to Truett's freethought journal, Pagan Palaver (P.O. Box 935, Somerville, TN), I need to preempt any accusation of treating Jack's book less severely than that of an author with whom I am unacquainted, so that when I say this is a book worth reading, that evaluation can be accepted as objective, and not simple butt-kissing. And it is worth reading, despite technical errors that had reached triple digits by page 60-imperfect, but worth reading.
The Ghost in the Universe: God in Light of Modern Science
Taner Edis
Prometheus Books
ISBN 1573929778, 326 pp, hc, $29.00
In his introduction to The Ghost in the Universe, Taner Edis observes (p. 14), "But today, conservative, magical, scripture-waving religion has become obviously false to the well-educated person.... Now, I don't intend to spend time refuting such claims; they are too blatantly wrong." He continues (p. 17), "The complexities of life do not require intelligent design; accidents and blind mechanisms do the trick. Not only old-fashioned creationism but also more liberal attempts to find a progressive guiding hand in biology get nowhere." And as the icing on the cake he adds (p. 24), "It might even be said that proofs of God enjoy an immortality only truly bad ideas can aspire to."
In arguing for an evolutionary rather than creationist origin of life, Edis writes (pp. 51-54), "Evolution accounts for life as we see it, warts and all-without a designer.... Now that creationism is relegated to the intellectual fringe, and that liberal religious people accept evolution, it would seem the Darwin wars are not relevant to today's questions about science and religion.... When creationism collapsed, this was not because of philosophical difficulties or even because of a direct contradiction by data. There were always things which did not fit smoothly; parasites, for example, strained the picture of benign harmony, even if imperfections could be expected in a fallen world. In time, more uncomfortable facts like extinct species and an old earth accumulated.... Populations adapt to their environment and exhibit good 'design' because genes promoting reproductive success have a better chance to make it to the next generation.... Indeed, such uncompromising opposition to evolution as to concoct a bizarre 'creation science' as an alternative is largely an American, evangelical Protestant peculiarity."
On the failure of natural science to find any supporting evidence for a metaphysical First Cause or Intelligent Design, Edis observes (pp. 107-108), "The story is that Napoleon asked Laplace what part God played in his system, and Laplace answered, 'I have no need of that hypothesis.' ... If we cannot fathom the divine reason behind why it rained last Sunday, or why the sky is blue, this is hardly a great challenge to religion. But when God vanishes from physics, indeed, from all natural science, it begins to look like there is no God after all. If there were a cosmic power, a divine purpose behind everything, we should see traces of God in our world. We do not." As for the reasoning behind the God hypothesis, Edis's comment is (p. 167), "It is like deciding Santa Claus exists because we cannot figure out who bought one of the presents under our Christmas tree."
On page 118: "Yahweh decides to cultivate a special nation from the seed of Abraham. He gathers the Jews out of Egypt, and leads them to a promised land which becomes theirs after some ethnic cleansing. He also promises that if the Jews try and become more godly, obey his laws, be nice to their neighbors, and slaughter whom he dislikes, they will become a privileged people." Reading that description of the authorized version of the origin of Western religion, I found myself wondering if it referred to ancient Jews under Joshua, or the modern Likud under prime ministers whose status as "freedom fighters" rather than "terrorists" is strictly a function of their being on "our" side.
As a physicist rather than a historian, Edis not surprisingly makes factual errors concerning historical documents. For example, he states (p. 121) that Deuteronomy was "written in or after the exile of the elites of Jerusalem to Babylon." But Deuteronomy was discovered behind a loose brick in Yahweh's temple in 621 BCE-a generation before the Babylonian Captivity. It is a minor, one might even say insignificant, error. But it draws attention to Edis's status as an amateur in at least one of the fields on which he comments. And, while he expresses disagreement with some of the conclusions of Burton L. Mack and John Dominic Crossan, he quotes or paraphrases them to a far greater extent than their indefensible speculations warrant.
On Muhammad (pp. 130-131): "Muhammad seems to have been especially concerned about poets who, in an age without television, could be influential in shaping public opinion. Fortunately, he was usually able to have them assassinated.... Muhammad dealt with the last remaining Jewish tribe in Medina by a method straight out of the Bible.... So the Muslims, led by Muhammad, killed all of the men, divided the property among themselves, and enslaved the women and children."
On the incompatibility of different religions (p. 133): "If we create God in our own image, it is no surprise that God should turn out to have so many different faces."
Edis asks (p. 153), "How does a Jewish apocalyptic prophet who was dead wrong about the coming Kingdom and who was crucified as a pest end up starting a Greek religion?" He suggests, (p. 167), "If Jesus was a failed apocalyptic prophet, a teacher, or a faith healer, it is hard to see why God would bother resurrecting him anyway." His explanation is (p. 169), "Believing in a peculiar but deeply meaningful creed is not unusual for a fringe religious group.... Members of the early Christ cult were convinced Jesus had to be vindicated by their God, and converted the disaster of his death into a reason for missionary fervor." He summarizes (p. 172), "But it is still strange to watch Christianity dissolve into a vapid verbiage and contempt for truth which would be more at home in a California psychotherapy cult."
On the interchangeability of religion and parapsychology, Edis states (p. 179), "Miracles are the tabloid underside of religion. Tales of levitating saints and weeping statues belong with poltergeists, spirit-summoning mediums, and psychics predicting California will slide into the sea." He elaborates (p. 203), "For all the overheated rhetoric, the skeptics are correct: parapsychology, like homeopathy or astrology, survives not on the strength of its results but because of its appeal outside of the scientific community." And one of his subheadings is Thirty-one Flavors Of Ultimate Reality.
As for religion's pathetic attempts to harmonize an omnipotent, omnibenevolent god with the existence of AIDS, cancer, transportation accidents, earthquakes and religious wars, to say nothing of urine, excrement and menstruation, Edis's observations are as good as any I have seen before (P. 278): "After all, historically the biggest nuisance for theology has been the need to reconcile God and evil.... Our Creator is supposed to be morally perfect and all-powerful, and this world was the best it could manage? ... Most everyone can understand the pain of a parent who loses her child to disease, and hear God's maddening silence in response. We need not master arcane technical skills to see how theologians' excuses for the silence are absurd in the face of suffering."
Edis's book says little that is new. How well he says it, the reader can judge for himself on the basis on the quoted passages. I see history as the only discipline capable of ultimately freeing humankind from religion, no matter how valid philosophical arguments may be. Not everyone agrees.
William Harwood
Reviewer

## Macaire's Bookshelf

Sex Magic
Jennifer Dunne
Ellora's Cave
MS Reader (LIT) ISBN # 1-84360-192-3; Mobipocket (PRC) ISBN # 1-84360-193-1
Other formats (no ISBNs): Rocketbook, HTML, Adobe, $6.49, 100,000 pages
Simon Parkes is not your ordinary, mild-mannered professor. Actually, he's not ordinary at all! His stunning looks put him head and shoulders above most men, but it's his extracurricular activities that are more impressive.
Simon is a Guardian. He guards the earth from evil entities by using magic. Beth Graham knows something is different about Professor Parkes. He borrows such strange books from the library where she works. What could he want with all those occult books? But one thing is clear in her mind - books or not, she's interested in professor Parkes. So, not being shy, she invites him to dinner. What better way to get to know someone? Beth doesn't know it yet, but she's in for a surprise. Simon is interested in Beth, oh yes, but he's especially interested in sex magic. On their first date, Beth and Simon make love for hours. Beth is in heaven, convinced that she's found her perfect mate. Simon, however, leaves in the middle of the night on a strange errand. 'Sex Magic' is a tightly woven tale of love and magic. Simon, as one of the Guardians, also works with the police solving occult mysteries. On the campus, two students are found brutally murdered. The entity that Simon has been fighting against has somehow found a breach into the world, and Simon knows he's the only one who can stop it. He must protect Beth, who has by some means come to the entities attention. Perhaps it has possessed one of the students who have visited the library lately? Simon doesn't know, but he wants to keep Beth safe, so he insists that she stays at his mansion.
The entity grows stronger though, and more murders occur. I don't want to give anything else away, but the story grows more fascinating with each chapter and I found myself staying up after midnight to find out how it would turn out! I wasn't disappointed! 'Sex Magic' is a rare combination of murder mystery, occult magic, scorching sex and true love.
Highly recommended.
Shifting Faces
Marilyn Lee & Elizabeth Jewell
Ellora's Cave
http://www.ellorascave.com
ISBN: 1-84360-176-1, Erotic romance rated NC-17, $6.99
Shifting Faces, an anthology with two stories in it, starts with The Quest II, Divided Loyalties. The story takes place on a faraway planet, somehow linked to earth. Jemi's husband, Cody, had always believed in life after death. When he died, Jemi continued to receive letters from him, and one directed her to an abandoned mining town, where she met two huge, talking felines and was transported to the Volter, another land in another dimension. Somehow, Jemi shares a body with a princess royal, Jeroni. Jeroni is to wed a crown prince, and it is on the journey to her new home that Jemi 'arrives' and takes over her body.
Volter is an alien land set in the middle ages, or bronze age, perhaps, where men fight with swords and live in simple villages. Jeroni, princess royal, has a bodyguard, Dioni, who loves her. Jemi is in love with the huge, talking carnivore called Hunter, who is the crown prince of Terra Tern, another part of Volter. These great cats can shape-shift at will, becoming human or catlike. The royal cats mate with humans, who give birth to shape-shifting felines. Hunter has chosen Jemi as his life-long mate. And mate they do - several times a day! This book largely deserves its NC-17 rating, for the language is raw, the action well described, and the situations incredible. Suffice to say that Jemi, sharing Jeroni's body, has a vagina that can contract and expand to accommodate her feline lover's huge, foot and a half long penis, or pleasure her human lover's more normal attributes. I had a hard time following the story, and believe that there must be a Quest I, a first book in the series, that would have helped keep everyone (and their lovers) straight. It's hard to tell, for example, what really happened with Cody, or what Jemi and Jeroni were doing together. This story is a journey to a wild society where giant felines search for likely mates, and where humanoid women dream of snagging the male-feline of their dreams. If you like your sex graphic and unusual, if the idea of huge, shape shifting felines titillates your imagination, then this sex-filled story is a must read!
The second story in the series, A Matter of Faces, also deals with shape shifting, but it takes place on earth, and the shape shifters are an ancient race that live among us, and have for thousands of years. Piper is a human who meets the exact twin of her dead lover in a bar one night. Startled, she lets herself be wooed by him, and ends up in his apartment in bed with him. But once over her shock, she decides not to see him again, knowing that his appearance will always cause her pain. She doesn't realise he can change appearances, and when she does, it's too late; they've already fallen in love. But some shape-shifters are evil and believe that mankind should not be aware of their race. One in particular plans to kill Piper. Luckily, her lover Trey, is there to protect her (in whatever form it takes!) The shape shifters cannot change into animal form, but they can change from men to women, and Piper is able to explore all the different facets of her sexuality with just one person, Trey, who can change to fulfill her every fantasy! Again, the rating is NC-17, so I couldn't recommend this to just anyone. But if you are open-minded and enjoy a book hot enough to scorch your eyeballs, this story is a fascinating tale of a relation between a human and an alien shape shifter. This story was particularly well written, and both stories use strong, graphic language to describe sex, never once falling into silly euphemisms or 'purple 'prose', which is refreshing!
Recommended
Ravenous
Sherri King
Ellora's Cave
http://www.ellorascave.com
Erotic romance, ISBN : NA, $TBA
Cady Swann, a human woman, has powers that enable her to fight monsters. She feels obliged to protect her sleepy little town of Lula, Georgia from the attacks of the ravenous beasts. At night she hunts monsters, and in the day she's a part-time librarian. The perfect life for Cady, who lives in the house left to her by her beloved grandparents, alone with her cat, Squaker.
But one night she's attacked in her own house by something even more terrifying than a monster. Obsidian, a totally gorgeous, six foot ten inch Shiker warrior, has been assigned to find out more about Cady. Instead, he treats her like she's a monster and attacks her. The fight is short and vicious, but before Cady can best Obsidian, he stabs her with a white blade that shoots out from the tip of his finger. The pain is blinding, and Cady passes out. Obsidian heals her with his magic, and then finds out (to his chagrin) that he was supposed to convince Cady to fight with the Shikers, and that she's not an enemy. He has to go back and confront her again - and this time, he has to get her on his side. Not an easy task - Cady is not one to forgive and forget. Obsidian, being a proud, handsome warrior, is convinced she'll soften up in a minute. Instead, he finds himself looking down the barrel of a very large gun, held by a very angry woman.
The interaction between Cady and Obsidian (whom she insists on calling 'Sid', much to his horror) is wonderfully funny. They are obviously made for each other, but even as their bodies join in perfect harmony, they manage to have epic fights, in and out of bed. Part of the problem is that for the Shikers the human race is an inferior breed. But Cady is much more than an ordinary human, and Obsidian soon comes to realize just how much she means to him.
Filled with a fascinating cast of characters including 'Grimm', a Shiker transporter given to voyeurism, and Tryton, a matchmaker in search of flaming matches, this story moves so fast it's hard to keep up! Once started, it's impossible to put down, and the fighting blends in with the hot and passionate lovemaking - with love winning in the end, of course!
Highly Recommended.
Rayven's Awakening
Sherri King
Ellora's Cave
http://www.ellorascanve.com
ISBN 1-84360-199-0, Erotic romance, $6.49
Rayven has never felt like she belonged anywhere. An orphan, she spent her life shuttled from one foster home to the next, never fitting in, never finding anyone remotely like herself. Lovely, with long, black hair and startling, golden eyes that seem to read people's minds, Rayven disconcerts most people searching for a child to adopt. And then, two people who love her despite her oddness adopt her and at fifteen, she finds contentment. Her happiness is short-lived, however. The house burns down, and only a mysterious bird helps Rayven escape the inferno. But her parents are dead. Worse - clues seem to indicate she was the one who started the fire!
Arrested and convicted on trumped-up charges, Rayven lands in prison - but not for long. Using her will power, she bids the jailer to open her door and he does. She walks free, but then spends many years in hiding, while the police search for her. While free, Rayven finds she has other powers. Powers that range from exceptional strength to the ability to see into people's minds and sense their emotions from a great distance. But all this has no meaning for her. Instead, she only longs for a place to call home - a place where she can feel at home.
Far away, in another galaxy, General Karis rages at his minions. For years they have hunted the elusive woman called Rayven, and yet she remains unfound. In desperation, he hires a Monabi psychic bounty hunter to track her, and sends him to earth with his soldiers. Karis must capture Rayven - his life and rule as dictator depend upon destroying her - or worse.
Rayven is not human. She is a member of a once mighty race called The Aware, who used to live on the planet of Nye. General Karis, using the might of the Galactic Communal Army, destroyed the planet and massacred the Aware. Every last one of them had been killed. Except one - a little girl whose parents managed to send to a distant planet, earth. The girl's parents hadn't been just anyone - she was the daughter of Empress and the Emperor of Nye, and future leader of her people. Hah! What people? He'd destroyed them all! All? Well, not quite. A few escaped and now lived on a beautiful hidden planet, Hostis. Their numbers being few and their main concern is procreation. But they need the powers of two leaders joined in marriage to ensure fertility for the whole race. Draco, their male leader, must find Rayven and marry her. Using his powers, he saves her from the ignoble General Karis and brings her to Hostis.
Rayven finds herself suddenly at the head of a strange and powerful race of people. But there are some problems. She was raised on earth, where it's considered rude to make love at the dinner table. On Hostis, the Aware copulate anywhere, anytime, much to Rayven's embarrassment. And worse - they expect her to throw herself into Draco's arms. But she won't! Draco may be incredibly handsome and seductive - he's also overbearing, insufferable and is trying to teach her all she has to know about using her powers to save their people. Rayven is caught in the middle of a maelstrom, and to make things worse - General Karis has raised another army and is on his way. Will he succeed in destroying the Aware once and for all? Read Rayven's Awakening, and find out! This book will take you on a fascinating voyage to another planet where you'll find yourself high in the beautiful Neffin trees, lit by twinkling emalaya vines, where Rayven must face her destiny.
Highly Recommended.
Born To Fly
Becky Barker
Ellora's Cave
http://www.ellorascave.com
ISBN: 1-84360-155-9, Erotic Romance, $5.95
Sharla is a triplet - she and her two sisters share lovely blue eyes and honey blond hair. They also share the family business - Prescott Air Service - and they are all pilots. Her newest job is flying Reed Conner from one city to another.
Reed Conner! Sharla can't stand him. He's always rubbed her the wrong way for some reason. His golden brown eyes seem to criticise her every time he gazes at her. He's not tall, but incredibly well -built. Sharla can't help reacting to his presence, even while she wishes he were somewhere else! But he's not - he's right next to her in her small plane.
Reed Conner is an FBI agent, and his mission is a delicate one. He's acting as a decoy guarding a witness, and the US Marshals and several other FBI agents are involved. He doesn't want to get Sharla in any trouble, but someone breaks into her hotel room the first night, and Reed thinks that now his cover is blown and she may be in danger. He feels he has to protect Sharla, but her curvaceous body wrecks havoc on him. Each time she gets near him he goes into sensory overload.
Then they run into more trouble - Sharla is forced to make an emergency landing in a storm. Luckily, Reed knows of an airstrip and a deserted cabin. Sharla has suffered a bump on the head, but otherwise is all right. Neither is thrilled about being stuck with the other. Sharla because she can't stand Reed, and Reed because Sharla's sexy body is driving him crazy.
The sexual tension climbs to the stratosphere as they spend the next few days alone together. Of course, I won't ruin the ending - suffice to say the author has taken romance rules to heart and cooked up a steamy love story! If you like form romance, with macho heroes, spunky heroines and lots of sexual tension and graphic sex, then this book is for you.
Recommended.
Jennifer Macaire, Reviewer
http://monsite.wanadoo.fr/Iskander

## Roger's Bookshelf

Recruit Smarter, Not Harder
Mel Kleiman & Brent Kleiman
HTG Press
8300 Bissonnet, Suite 490, Houston, Texas 77074
ISBN 1893214044, $15.95, trade paperback, 177 pages
Have you read Eli Goldratt's "The Goal?" How about other business novels that read like a story, but teach valuable business lessons? "Recruit Smarter, Not Harder" is one of those instructive tales. The lesson is about recruiting the best hourly employees, a message that is vital to today's employers. The setting is a grocery retailer, but could easily apply to any organization employing hourly workers.
The key to success today is recruiting, hiring, and retaining top talent. Competition for top talent will intensify as the economy heats up again, so now is the time to learn the lessons of this book . . . and apply them. Human resources professionals, small company owners, managers, and supervisors will all benefit from this quick read.
There are many lessons in this book including "A Marketing Approach to Recruiting, Jobseeker Profiles, Job Analysis, Attracting Applicants, Sources of Applicants, and Managing Turnover. Appendices on the authors' Magnetic Company philosophy and tactics add value to the book, as do the summaries at the end of each chapter.
Lots of helpful, practical knowledge packed into a story that's easy and enjoyable to read. The lessons almost sneak up on you as you read the interesting tale. Good balance between fiction and moral.
Pay Attention, For Goodness' Sake: Practicing The Perfections Of The Heart; The Buddhist Path Of Kindness
Sylvia Boorstein
Ballantine Books
ISBN 0345448103, $24.95, hardcover, 284 pages
In all fairness to my readers, I must begin this review by telling you that I typically review business books. This is not a business book. I'm not sure how I got it, but somehow this unusual (for me) book appeared on my shelf of books to review. I took it along on a business trip, more out of curiosity and whimsy than a particular interest in actually reading the book. On the airplane, for some reason, I decided to skim through "Pay Attention, for Goodness Sake" instead of reading a business book I'd also brought along.
This read was refreshing. Good word. It was a refreshing change of pace from my usual fare. But, it was also re-freshing, if I may hyphenate for emphasis. Sylvia Boorstein, both a Jew and a Bhuddist, has written a number of books. Thought I haven't read them, I suspect, like this one, they teach in a conversational, comfortable way. I learned and found some interesting comfort as I read through these pages, like having an interesting discussion with someone who knows more than you do. You want to listen. As I turned page to page, I found myself held to the book. I wanted to read a little more and a little more.
This is a thoughtful book, describing ten "paramitas" or perfections. The organization and flow of the book makes it easy to grasp the author's message and organize it in your own mind. The introduction explains the concepts and their application. Each "perfection" or practices is presented in its own chapter: Generosity, Morality, Renunciation, Wisdom, Energy, Patience, Truthfulness, Determination, Lovingkindness, and Equanimity. I would describe the work as an instructional guide that inspires the reader to think . . . no, to ponder.
This is not a business book in the customary classification of books, but I'd certainly recommend it for current and aspiring business leaders. We all need to pay attention more than we are; we miss so much in today's rush-rush world. Take time to reflect, to ponder. Refresh yourself with this book.
Patagonia: At the Bottom of the World
Dick Lutz
Dimi Press
3820 Oak Hollow Lane, SE, Salem, OR 97302-4774
ISBN 0931625386, $18.95, Trade paperback, 206 pages
What's a Patagonia? It's a region of the world, rather than a country. Located at the southern tip of South America, it spans portions of both Chile and Argentina. A many-faceted environment, it is closer to Antarctica . . . complete with penguins, glaciers, and much, much more.
Author Dick Lutz, a veteran of three previous nature/travel books, takes us on a delightful journey of this little-known region. The first chapter is a sort of journal of his experience on a guided tour, reporting one adventure after another. Throughout the chapter are references to later chapters for detail on what Lutz has seen and experienced on the tour. Just reading the first chapter alone will be a worthwhile education, but there's so much more to this book.
The following four chapters deliver a considerable amount of information to the reader. You could never even ask all the questions that are answered in these pages. Chapters on the environment, history, native groups, and Patagonia today are chock-full of information that makes for fascinating reading. The environment chapter explores a wide range of facts, including the wildlife, terrain, and climate. The now-extinct Patagonian Indians are described in Chapter 4, while Chapter 5 explains the current situation in this sparsely populated region governed by two nations.
A long appendix of Darwin's 1834 treatise of his experience in the area, as written in "Voyage of the Beagle," is included as an appendix, amplifying the stories of sailors' experiences around Cape Horn. A bibliography, seven color photos, and index add extra value to this intriguing book.
If you're interested in visiting the region (I am now) or just want to learn about it, this book will be an enjoyable eye-opener. Well-researched, well-written.
The Innovator's Dilemma
Clayton M. Christensen
Harper Business
ISBN 0066620694, $16.00, trade paperback, 287 pages
If a business does things the right way and invested in new technologies, would you not expect them to succeed? If they introduced new products that could really make a difference in the marketplace, should they not be rewarded with a strong market leader position? Is not innovation the key to a great future?
If the technology is "disruptive" to the point that it is initially rejected by mainstream customers, great firms could fail miserably. Too much change, apparently, is not good. Huh?
As Christensen, a Harvard professor, explains it, "Most new technologies foster improved product performance. I call these sustaining technologies. Some sustaining technologies can be discontinuous or radical in character, while others are of an incremental nature. What all sustaining technologies have in common is that they improve the performance of established products, along the dimensions of performance that mainstream customers in major markets have historically valued." "Disruptive technologies bring to market a very different value proposition than had been available previously." Aha, it's the type of change. Well, that's part of the story. There's much more.
The first part of this book explains why great companies can fail. Examples are provided to help the reader understand how innovation can, in fact, cause problems instead of improvements. The second part of the book, much longer, explores how to manage disruptive technological change. Readers will learn how to give responsibility for disruptive technologies to organizations whose customers need them (the right provider makes a difference), how to match the organization size to the market size, and how to appraise your organization's capabilities and disabilities.
A valuable feature of the book is a summary that can serve as a guide or
executive summary. The strong index helps, too.
Work Worldwide: International Career Strategies For The Adventurous Job Seeker
Nancy Mueller
John Muir Publications
ISBN 1562614908, $14.95, Trade paperback. 232 pages.
If working in another country is in your career plans, you will find a treasure chest of valuable and important information in this book. Author Nancy Mueller is a recognized global career expert. It's obvious as you read these pages that this woman knows what she's talking about. What a resource to have for your international experience.
Some Americans who work in other countries do so by choice; others are assigned to overseas posts by their employers. This book works well for both situations, though it begins with lots of advice for people who are driving their own career choices. The introduction and the first couple of chapters are designed for people who are making this exciting decision on their own. The big question about how to find work abroad is fully explored to help you make educated decisions. Those first two chapters are Get Started---Focus and Get the Facts---Research.
Chapter 3 advises Get Connected---Network! Lots of dos and don'ts here, supplemented by an appendix listing the American Chamber of Commerce offices in other countries. Chapter 4: Get Support---Ask. Chapter 5---Prepare. See the pattern? Chapter by chapter, this book helps you get your act together for the idiosyncrasies of global work and life. You'll learn how to prepare your resume for international job-seeking, how to conduct interviews, how to follow-up, and even warnings about what kinds of mistakes to avoid.
Chapter 7 will help you navigate through the jungle of visas, work permits, and an international work contract. You'll learn about compensation, how to get ready for the move, and how to prepare for culture shock. Chapter 8, Acculturate, will give you a good lesson in etiquette, social customs, and even a set of social profiles country-by-country about some of the places you're most likely to go. Wherever you go, you'll probably come back . . . and that's not as easy as you might think. Chapter 9 will guide you through the readjustment. This is a good chapter to read during your decision-making process. Anticipating the return, is this really something you want to do?
Yes, at this point in the book, you'll still have questions. That's why you'll be delighted to see that chapter 10 starts with Frequently Asked Questions. You'll find all kinds of tips in this chapter that will deepen your understanding of the adventure that lies before you.
Extra value is provided by the appendices and index. You'll get a good reading list, internet resources, and even a list of foreign embassies in Washington, D.C.
If you're considering working abroad, read this book . . . with a highlighter handy!
Good Fat, Bad Fat: How To Lower Your Cholesterol And Reduce The Odds Of A Heart Attack
William P. Castelli, MD and Glen C. Griffin, MD
Fisher Books
c/o Perseus Books Group
Eleven Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142
ISBN: 1555611176, $14.00, trade paperback, 1-800-242-7737
This book was recommended by my cardiologist. After a good scare, remedied with a stent, doc suggested I drop some weight and alter my diet. I nodded respectfully, stuck the book in the drawer in my nightstand, and forgot it. In spite of my good eating intentions, my weight kept climbing. Not good. Hmmm, maybe I ought to take a look at that book. Probably a waste of time; I've never been able to understand all that nutrition stuff anyway.
Well, I got a bit of a surprise as I opened this book and started reading. My interest was captured pretty quickly, something I didn't expect. The book is conversational---and understandable! I'll share a few items from the opening Helpful Information summary on page 3: Saturated fats are bad fats. Trans-fatty acids are also bad fats, but you won't find them listed on nutrition labels. Healthy people should limit their intake of bad fat to 20 grams a day. Folks like me should restrict their consumption to 10 grams a day. Uh oh.
The more I read, the more I learned. I know a lot more now about the things I should not be eating . . . if I want to keep my arteries clear and avoid another heart problem. I'll confess that reading this book changed my eating habits. I had been eating food that I thought was good for me, or at least acceptable. Boy, did I get some surprises! My sensitivity to saturated fat, cholesterol, triglycerides, and other problems is significantly enhanced. And I can understand why the authors are saying!
The second half of the book is comprised of recipes, low-fat, low-cholesterol recipes for appetizers, soups, salads, breads, beans, vegetables, fish, and much more. This section is a really nice feature to help readers put their new knowledge to work. An advertising note on the back cover proclaims, "This book can save your life!" Believe it. Healthy or not, read this one.
Ask The Right Questions. Hire The Best People
Ron Fry
Career Press
ISBN 1564144143, $14.99, Trade Paperback, 221 pages
Interviewing job candidates is not as easy as it looks. And in today's world, with legal constraints and applicants driving interviews, the process is certainly different than in the past. This book offers some good practical tactical advice for interviewers, presenting the information in a way that's easy to grasp. This ease of understanding is vitally important for department heads and other people who now participate in sequential or shared interview experiences. If you don't interview applicants every day, you just don't know this information.
Fry has written other books on this topic---from the applicant's perspective. He's the author of the strong-selling "101 Great Answers to the Toughest Interview Questions." It's interesting to watch him play both sides of the table like this whole hiring process is like a grand game of chess.
But, hiring people is not a game. It's serious business. To hire the right people, you have to ask the right questions. It's important to understand what the answers are telling you and how your questions and the applicant's answers guide your hiring decisions.
The Table of Contents is sparse. It really doesn't help the reader determine where to find things in the book. Fortunately, there is a somewhat helpful index that can assist, but that's going backward. The book begins with some preliminary information about job advertising and resume screening. Chapter 2 explores interview styles including telephone interviews, team interviews, behavioral interviews, and stress interviews. Next, the reader is instructed about what to look for in the interview, then comes the interview process itself. Various categories of questions are presented, with suggestions of good answers (represented by the green light graphic) and not-so-good answers (represented by the red light graphic). This pattern begins on page 72 and continues through the balance of the book. I felt a sense of too much of a pattern, like an assembly line process, in the presentation of the information, though there is value in the advice that is shared.
Chapter 11, Staying Out of the Legal Cauldron, may be one of the most valuable chapters of the book. It contains several pages of questions that interviewers are NOT allowed to ask by law. In those organizations (most?) that have supervisors and potential co-workers interview applicants, this information is vital to impart.
Deliberate Success: Realize Your Vision With Purpose, Passion, And Performance
Eric Allengaugh, PhD
Career Press
ISBN 1564146170, $24.99, Hardcover, 288 pages
"Achieving success is not an accident; it results from a deliberate process of identifying a compelling purpose, passionately pursuing your vision, preparing for high level outcomes, and performing at your best." Thus we being our journey with a seasoned (two decades) executive coach, professional speaker, and consultant in peak performance. The author is a proven expert in his field-a specialty that has enduring value for individuals, teams, and organizations.
The book-full of advice and counsel that would cost you thousands in a personal consultation-is organized into five strategies. The strategies are Direction, Culture, Empowerment, Coaching, and Renewal. Each strategy is presented as a section of the book, with three or four chapters on each category. Two special features add value to this book: an abundance of relevant quotes throughout the book and cameo contributions from thirteen fairly well-known authors and executives. A bibliography and index round out the book.
Under Direction, Allenbaugh shows readers how to link purpose and passion with performance. Chapters focus on creating a compelling mission and vision, linking into your passion, and implementing your vision. The Culture section describes how to sustain a results-oriented, customer-focused climate-valuable for individuals as well as organizations. The three chapters illuminate various aspects of culture, including the importance of values. The Empowerment section focuses on releasing human potential. There are several insightful chapters on empowering people, honoring the differences among people, and hiring winners by using Attitude, Aptitude, and Alignment as filters.
The coaching section addresses building others' success, effective expression and listening skills, and a focus on results. The last portion of the book explores the "3 Rs of Renewal: Release, Reaffirm, and Reinvent." Chapters on individual renewal and organizational renewal contribute useful perspectives.
Easy-to-read book for individuals, managers, business owners, consultants, and those charged with the responsibility (and opportunity) of coaching others to deliberate success.
This is a good how-to book, enjoyable and enlightening as a read-through and worthwhile as a reference when you need a re-focus.
Valuing People: How Human Capital Can Be Your Strongest Asset
Lisa M. Aldisert
Dearborn Publishing
ISBN 0793150159, $27.00, Hardcover, 230 pages
With the increasing shortage of qualified skilled labor, concern for human capital has grown. Major consulting firms have established whole departments around the concept, much has been written, and there's even a magazine called "Human Capital."
We used to talk about "personnel," then the term shifted to "human resources." The same thing, but different words? No. The human resources concept is more broad, more comprehensive, and hopefully more strategic. So what's the difference with this newer term of "human capital?" This concept emphasizes measurement---measuring the value of people to their employing organization. The human capital value doesn't show up on the balance sheet, at least not yet, like other forms of capital. Investors, however, are paying more attention to concerns like staffing levels, worker competency, employee performance, and workforce stability.
Interestingly, while chief human resource officers typically have strong relationships with their chief executive officers, their least effective relationships are with chief financial officers. These results from a recent survey of senior HR executives was quite revealing, demonstrating that human capital valuation has not yet reached all those who should be concerned about it. This book will help. It's written for people who have responsibility for generating revenue, increasing profitability, or enhancing productivity.
The author, a nationally-known consultant and speaker in the field of strategic growth and leadership development, marries the two concepts well in these pages. She starts with The Strategic Importance of Human Capital with three chapters that do a fine job of positioning, education, and stimulating thought. Each chapter is recapped with a summary of key ideas and thinking points. Just flipping to the of each chapter and reading these pages will give you your money's worth from this volume. These chapters cover the broad spectrum of relevant trends and issue to give readers insight into the "why" as well as the "what."
Part Two, Measuring Human Capital, provides an in-depth survey of the measurements being used to value employees today, as well as the organizations that are engaged in this work. In spite of a brief section on moving from theory to practice on page 81, the author does not present any specific recommendations about which process should be used.
Part Three shifts to How to Develop Human Potential in the Firm. The more modern concepts are presented here: attracting talent, developing employees, virtual capital, building leadership, and looking at human capital as an investment in the organization. As an appendix, Aldisert offers her Valuing People AuditSM. It's a check-off list with a 5-point Likert scale exploring how much attention is given to issues that affect the people side of the business. Thus, the book explores well the concept of valuing human capital, but does not definitively provide a step-by-step specific method. There isn't a standard yet, but this book builds the understanding that could provide a platform for such development. First, corporate executives need to understand the concept of valuing their employees as human capital. This book will certainly help.
Good notes section and strong index.
Skill Wars: Winning The Battle For Productivity And Profit
Edward E. Gordon
Butterworth-Heinemann
ISBN 0750672072, $24.99, Trade paperback, 339 pages
America-and the world-face a serious, probably debilitating shortage of skilled workers. Oh, there are plenty of people out there, most of whom want to work. However, if they don't have the skills that are in demand by employers, their work opportunities and career futures are limited. Employers will compete to attract and hold the people with the skills to get the job done. Savvy workers will compete to acquire and market skills that will be in demand and that will make them unique and marketable in the world of work. Many will do well. Other employers and workers will not fare so well, changing the face of employment.
This book addresses a wide range of topics, organized into three sections: Measuring Human Capital Development, Reports from the Firing Line: Improving Productivity and Performance, and Developing People. The content is not directed just toward educators or professionals in the field of training and development. It is more broad-based. As explained by the author in his introduction, "For the business person, "Skill Wars" is a policy book about managing and measuring workplace performance and profit. For the union leader and employee, "Skill Wars" is about employability and personal growth. For parents, "Skill Wars" is about their children's future careers and guaranteed participation in "the American Dream." For politicians and government leaders, "Skill Wars" is a blueprint for what new voters are beginning to demand in every state across America: new laws to create a more knowledgeable workforce. For educators and trainers, "Skill Wars" offers new ideas on how to better collaborate with all these groups and create innovative, diverse curricula, whether in a schoolroom or the corporate classroom."
Ninety figures illustrate the book, accompanying the text to illuminate the concepts delivered on page after page by Edward Gordon, PhD, a consultant specializing in human/intellectual capital for over two decades. His teaching experience at DePaul, Loyola, and Northwestern Universities complement his work as a consultant, writer, and speaker. Gordon certainly has the credibility and background to write this important book.
You will bob your head up and down in agreement as you read this book. You'll also shake your head in disbelief and amazement as you realize how far behind we are-how much remains to be done. Gordon cites the numbers, concentrating on the ROI: the Return on Investment in building skills and capacity. The research has been done on this book, as evidenced by the number of footnotes offering bibliographical references. The pages are packed with information.
The final chapter, Investing in Human Capital: A Blueprint for the 21st Century, is particularly powerful . . . and should be carefully considered by everyone in a position to help build the skill base that will be needed. And that's all of us. Gordon warns that "The gap between the so-called 'knowledge workers' and low skilled workers is widening at an alarming rate." Why is the gap growing? "Because too many businesses are engaged in an act of financial levitation, trying to make bigger and bigger stacks of money from companies that are barely growing. Their magic act centers on cost-cutting, squeezing staffs, slashing training, eliminating everything except their 'core business operations.' The predominant American management philosophy of the 1990s has been that business exists only to drive up stock prices and enrich shareholders."
As we've seen in recent months, this strategy has been damaging, to say the least. More sensitive employers are creating life-work balanced environments, demonstrating stewardship for the world around us, and taking other steps to correct and improve our corporate society. "Skill Wars" should stimulate more serious efforts to build workforce competencies or all the other efforts will be smoke-and-mirrors and fa‡ade.
More people need to read this book. Now.
Thrival! How To Have An Above Average Day Every Day
Dr. Paul O. Radde
Pathligher Press
1500 Riverside Drive, Suite 810, Austin, Texas 78741
ISBN 0902587214, $25.00, hardcover, 300 pages
Paul Radde is an international keynote speaker, executive coach, and organizational consultant with a PhD in psychology and community counseling. His career includes 25 years as a practicing psychologist. Over a lifetime, Radde has studied human behavior, observing that most people simply survive, not thrive. They don't really relish life at its fullest. His practice-and this book-are a sort of a mission to help people really maximize their lives.
Radde's concern is that "Very few people seem to be living in a thriving space, or letting on that they are, if indeed they are. One percent currently derive the richest experience of, and full enjoyment from, their lives." The balance are Committed Seekers (35%), Going About Their Daily Lives (40%), or Think Thriving is a Forbidden Fruit (24%). So, the focus of his book "is on this exceptional state of well-being called thriving . . . an experience of lightness, expansiveness, and exceptional well-being: the precise exceptional moments of well-being that many people say make life worth living."
The book is organized into three parts: Defining Thriving and Thrival, Getting Started on Your Path to Thriving, and Rules & Guidelines to Access Thriving. The twenty chapters range from Life Can Be Better to Entering the Thrival Era, Opening Yourself Up, Five Things You Can Control, and Meet Your Essential Need for Balance. The third section of the book includes three rules and seven guidelines for thriving and a guide to getting it all together. A recommended reading list expands the reader's opportunity to learn.
This book is a first-person sharing and caring that opens into a sort of conversation, a discussion about the topic. Readers will nod, contemplate, and perhaps make adjustments in their lives to reach closer to Radde's thrival state. For those who would like a sort of personal experience with an introspective psychologist and close observer of life, this book will be very enjoyable. For those who don't desire to really get in touch with their inner selves, this is not the time for you to read this book.
Capture The Rapture: How To Step Out Of Your Head And Leap Into Your Life
Marcia Reynolds
Hathor Hill Press
Post Office Box 5012, Scottsdale, AZ 85261
ISBN 0965525007, $16.95, Trade Paperback, 237 pages
"Capture the Rapture." What kind of a title is that? A watercolor landscape on the front cover against a background of a sort of light blue that seems to say "I'm not really blue." This must be one of those touchy-feely woo-woo books about finding God in your life, written by a housewife with nothing else to do. A friend gave me the book, suggesting that as a book reviewer I might be interested.
Get real. Most of the books I review are business books. Solid stuff written by people with credentials, a right to convey an important message to others. Some of the books I review are self-published; other are produced by major royalty publishers. I look for what I call "worthiness." Is this book worthy of my time and attention and, more importantly, is it worth the time and attention of people who trust my reviews.
With the above statements in mind, you can understand how I approached "Capture the Rapture." I started with the acknowledgements page. (Yes, I actually read this stuff!). The page begins "It has been twenty-five years since Vicki, my cellmate and soulmate ." Whoa! "Cellmate?" Who is this?
Chapter 1. The author trots off to elementary school and proves herself to be a high achieving, outspoken, well-liked kid. Proud of her academic and social achievement, she goes on to high school where she encounters a much different culture: sports and drugs. She excelled in this environment, too, to the extent that two years after graduation she found herself in the county jail for six months. Whew! This kid's on a downhill slope to nowhere. Nope. Read her story.
Marcia Reynolds graduated summa cum laude from college, earned two masters degrees, moved up in the corporate world, and established her own business. She's a Master Certified Coach, professional speaker, and a former president of the International Coach Federation. If you're thinking, "Wow, if she's done all that, I'll bet she could teach me something!"
You will learn a lot in this three-part book: The Pleasure of Being, Venturing into the Vertical World, and Capture the Rapture. Chapters like Strengthening Your Foundation, Visioning and Covisioning, The Possibility Game open your thinking and stimulate your mind and heart. Chapters on Rapture at Work, at Play, and in Relationships deliver ideas, guidance, and inspiration. The book is practical, deliberately helpful, and hard to put down. Your own personal coach will emerge from the pages to enable you to move to the next level in your life.
Marcia Reynolds is an outstanding example of "been there, done that." Her book reflects that power, experience, love, and support. Well worth the investment of your time and attention.
One-Day MBA In Marketing: A Complete Education For The Busy Professional
Michael Muckian
Prentice Hall Press
240 Frisch Court, Paramus, NJ 07652
ISBN 0735202079, $35.00, Hardcover, 316 pages, 1-800-631-8571
Increasing emphasis is placed on marketing in today's competitive world. Getting the word out to the right market in the right way is crucial to success. If the right people learn about the product or service at the right time, in a way they can accept and believe, there is a good chance they will buy. And that's the principal objective. Marketing exists so sales can be made. That's why I got warm feeling when I discovered that this book has two chapters on selling. But marketing can be expensive and corporate executives want to understand what campaigns will cost and what kind of return on investment they can expect. There's a chapter on budgeting.
This is an impressive book. It covers a lot of material and organizes it well. Twenty-one chapters and an index. Don't believe the title, though. It's going to take you more than a day to get through this book. There's just so much there! Very complete. Note: This is the kind of book that serves as a great reference work as well as a cover-to-cover read.
The author begins with a chapter on some of the basics of marketing, then launches into the importance of knowing your market and understanding positioning and branding. Chapter 4 addresses creating marketing plans, which, amazingly, isn't covered sufficiently in the real college courses. Creative thinking is explored, then cleverly connected to strategic planning. Music to my ears--someone who actually understands that marketing creativity has to actually do something to produce strategic results, or it's useless.
Skill-focused chapters enable readers to learn about copywriting, design, and working with an advertising agency. The chapter on product launch even includes discussion on business life cycles. Public relations is covered in two chapters, including one specifically addressing the all-important media relations. A discussion on demographics is followed by a couple of chapters about on-line marketing.
The book design is helpful. Large enough type and enough white space to make it very readable. The language of the text also helps-interesting, flows well, appropriate stories.
For executives, business owners, marketers needing new perspectives and reinforcement, and for students, this book is a treasure.
22 Keys To Creating A Meaningful Workplace
Tom Terez
Adams Media Corporation.
ISBN 1580622666, $24.95, Hardcover, 288 pages.
Highly recommended for bosses and workers, this book was a delightful surprise. I expected to read yet another business book directed solely toward owners, executives, and managers. This specialized audience will gain quite a lot from this book, but so will "ordinary employees." 22 Keys is an Everyman's book, written in a tone that encourages focused initiative by all sorts of readers. Not only does this approach add value to the book, it makes it much more salable in bulk to companies interested in changing their work environment.
Corporate culture has been defined as "what it feels like to work here." Terez has captured what people are looking for in today's work environment in his exploration of what it takes to create a meaningful workplace. Before going any further, it's important to list the 22 Keys. As you read this list, pause at each one and think about how it relates to your personal situation. Purpose, Direction, Relevance, Validation, Respect, Equality, Informality, Flexibility, Ownership, Challenge, Invention, Support, Personal Development, Dialogue, Relationship Building, Service, Acknowledgement, Oneness, Self-Identity, Fit, Balance, and Worth.
Each key is presented in a chapter heavily seasoned with vignettes that hold the reader's attention. Not all the stories have happy endings, making this book even more valuable. It's not a quick-and-easy-guide-to-Nirvana, but is a realistic presentation. Questions challenge the reader's thinking and, hopefully, stimulate behavior. Actions by others are described to build a sense of confidence that the reader can also do these things and make a difference.
The book has a number of features that increase its readability and usefulness. Reality checks at the end of each chapter focus the reader's attention. Did you get the message?
Quotations, liberally sprinkled throughout the book, stimulate thought. I felt the author could have done with a few less quotes, but that's a very minor issue. One of the pages I turned down (there were many) marks a quote by Albert Einstein: "Not everything that can be counted counts, but not everything that counts can be counted." When we're all looking to measure our performance, yet at the same time achieve life-work balance, the quote is meaningful. Ah! Meaningful. The objective of the book: well-achieved.
This book will be around for a while. It fits comfortably with what needs to be done in the world of work-in the private sector, in government, in non-profits, in education. If it isn't on your shelf yet, now is the time to get a copy, read it, and share it.
Life Is Not Work. Work Is Not Life: Simple Reminders For Finding Balance In A 24-7 World
Robert K. Johnston and J. Walker Smith
Wildcat Canyon Press
2719 Ninth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710
ISBN 1885171545, $13.95, Softcover, 237 pages.
We live in a rush-rush world filled with a myriad of activities that demand our time and challenge our priorities. More and more people are talking about balance, life-work balance. A theologian and a corporate executive (a nice balance in itself) got together and wrote a little book that may bring you some serenity and perspective.
Life is Not Work is one of those little books you often see next to the cash register in book stores or gift shops. An impulse buy. Except this one is more expensive at $13.95.
It offers more than just little quotations, though. The little essays, personal stories, make this book a cross between a quote book and a Chicken Soup for the Soul volume.
The authors bring us 137 of these short, easy-to-read essays, organized into twenty categories. Listing the categories will give you a sense of the content you'll discover: Balance, Time, Work, Living, Play, Spirituality, Wholeness, Empowerment, Strength, Joy, Stress, Materialism, Repose, Wonder, Nurture, Happiness, Authenticity, Integrity, Community, and Fulfillment. Have I whetted your appetite? Consider the background and perspective of the authors and slide into your easy chair to think about the balance in your life. Forewords from the authors will help you understand who they are and where they're "coming from." A bibliography completes the book, giving the reader an extra sense of connection to the messages and their sources.
This book will rest comfortably, waiting for its next opportunity, next to the bed in our family's guest room. Be my guest. Read this book gently and contemplate your life-work balance.
The 2,000 Percent Solution
Donald Mitchell, Carol Coles, Robert Metz
AMACOM
ISBN 0814404766, $24.95, hardcover, 258 pages
One of my all-time favorite books is Eliahu Goldratt's "The Goal." As a Certified Management Consultant, I have often recommended the book and its concept of discovering bottlenecks, eliminating them, and moving forward to greater accomplishment. That's the theme of this book, as well, so I was excited about delving into the content. I wasn't disappointed at all.
Turning to the Table of Contents, I was concerned that there were only two sections in the book. Somehow, I expected more. Two sections: Free Your Organization from Mind-Forged Manacles and A Stallbuster's Guide in Eight Steps. Hmmm. Is it that easy? The foreword: "The book's fundamental premise is that no matter how successful your organization is, it is performing way below its easily achievable potential." Whew! Then the authors assert that complacency is the primary reason for the frustrating gap between achievement and potential. Complacency? I want to read more. That feeling crept in throughout the book: I want to read more.
The design of the book makes it easy to read. It flows. The authors tell us story after story to illustrate their points. Chapters full of thought-provoking stories. And each chapter starts with an italicized paragraph to help the reader understand the chapter and its importance. The chapters are organized into short sections which make it easy to get the gist and the point. It's like participating in a lively conversation with others who have "been there, done that." You'll learn from a treasure chest of experiences. An afterword will help get you started by suggesting specific tasks to accomplish. The book is indexed, as well.
Stallbusting. The authors contend that there are all sorts of things that cause stalls. Stall. Dictionary definition: to come to a standstill. When that happens, organizations get bogged down, don't make progress, and don't achieve their goalsor potential. In page after page, you will understand what may be getting in your way, pick up ideas, and be inspired to take action to make a difference. Happily, the book is practical, not theoretical, so it will be well-read and well-used. After completing the book, I envision that readers will venture forth to combat stalls and build much more productive organizations. Stallbusters could be the corporate version of the popular film, Ghostbusters. Read, learn, and go get 'em!
Strategic Staffing: A Practical Toolkit For Workforce Planning
Thomas P. Bechet
AMACOM
ISBN 0-8144-0728-5, $79.95, Hardcover. 336 pages.
As corporate leaders look into the future, developing strategic plans, human resources must be a vital component. Without people, most organizations would be unable to meet their objectives, pay their bills, and satisfy their owners. Many corporations have difficulty getting properly organized and filling positions with the right people even in present-day terms. Looking into the future, even a few months into the future, is beyond the scope of most human resource departments. They're too busy scrambling to address current problems.
There are three components necessary for solid strategic staffing-the planning for the company's future workforce needs. First, you need a CEO and senior leadership team that is future-focused. These key people must be good planners, with concern about all the resources they will need in the years ahead-including people. Second, you need human resource professionals who can business-speak, who can understand the strategic plans being drawn by those top executives. These professionals must be able to determine what kinds of people will be needed-when, where, and why. Third, you need a good tool to forecast workforce supply and demand, be flexible in response to changing plans, and be highly usable. "Strategic Staffing" is that tool.
Written by a human resource strategist with decades of experience under his belt, this book has it all-in writing and on an accompanying CD-ROM. Included in the easy-to-read pages are forms, examples, and diagnostics to help readers evaluate their own workforce strategies and preparedness. The CD-ROM includes templates, graphs, formulas, Excel spreadsheets, and even slide presentations to convey the vital message to others in the organization.
The book is organized into four sections: Setting the Context, Developing the Strategic Staffing Process, Implementing and Supporting Your Strategic Staffing Process, and Beyond Staffing Plans: Analyzing and Applying the Results. Three Appendices add more value, addressing frequently asked questions and providing guidance to using the extra material on the CD-ROM. A glossary and an index contribute to the usefulness of the volume.
The sixteen chapters of the book are well-defined, enabling the reader to work from the Table of Contents to move to sections where help might be found for specific problems. Readers will learn about how to make strategic staffing a part of the organization, how to define staffing levels, and how to make the whole thing work. Included are chapters about how to involve other mangers (buy-in is important) and how to use the web for staff acquisition over the long term. Solid costing information brings a cold sense of reality to the picture. The cost of not doing what this book advises can be considerably higher than following the author's helpful guidelines.
Bonus: The book's type size and design makes it easy to read and work with.
Transforming Work
Patricia E. Boverie and Michael Kroth
Persues Publishing
ISBN 0738205060, $30.00, Trade Paperback, 221 pages
This book is one of a series on New Perspectives in Organizational Learning, Performance, and Change. The series is designed to showcase current theory and practice in human resources and organizational development. While there are practitioners on the editorial board, this looks like more of an academic series. I'd describe this publication as one for professionals, but a volume that individuals can benefit from, as well.
The focus of this book is passionate work. This concept will be difficult for many readers, since passion is emotion and emotion and work are usually considered incongruent. The authors point out, early in the book, that "Passion is at the root of creative genius, personal transformation, and notable events. Passion is emotional energy; it stimulates life and energizes individuals to work toward goals. New products, new ideas, creative ways to deliver services, inventions, an scientific discoveries are produced because someone or some organization is passionate." OK. Passion seems to be consistent with what we're striving to accomplish in employment organizations today.
How might we approach this? The authors explain that they've done some research that connects learning with passion. Put the concepts together and you get meaningfulness, and there are a lot of people looking for opportunities to feel a greater sense of meaning in what they do. Readers will be guided through an interesting study into passion, what it is, how it fits, and what to do with it. Individuals will gain, but trainers and organizational development professionals will find it most thought-provoking and stimulating.
The book is organized into eight chapters: Introduction to Passion and Work, The Foundations of Passionate Work, Passion Transformation Process and Cycle, Occupational Intimacy, The Discovering Process, The Designing Process, The Developing Process, and Transforming Work---the five keys to achieving trust, commitment, and passion in the workplace. An index will help you find your way back to those things you want to work with again. A number of exercises are included to stimulate your thinking and help you gain some sense of measurement in the emergence of passion in your personal and corporate life.
The book may seem a bit pricey for only a couple hundred pages, but there is a lot packed into those pages. The book is set mostly in 11 point type, so find a nice quiet place with good light to absorb all the authors have to share.
Unlocking The Secrets Of Successful Women In Business
Linda Brakeall & Anna Wildermuth
Hawthorne Press
11 Arrow Wood, Suite 2D, Hawthorn Woods, IL 60047
0971020906, $24.95, trade paperback, 336 pages
Every once in a while we find a book that is well-meaning, has lots of good information, but was written by consultants who were just a bit too commercial. It's obvious that Anna Wildermuth wants to help you with your appearance and Linda Brakefall wants to help you with your empowerment, professionalism, and effectiveness. Their addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses are easy-too easy for this reviewer-to find in the book. OK, let's get past the commercial and the authors introducing themselves at the beginning of the book. Let's get into the meat.
The book is organized into 26 Keys for success. Each key is a chapter with text written by the authors and a wide range of guest columnists-cameo appearances, if you will, by people with expertise in the subject matter. These contributions, in a smaller type size, are a bit of a stopper as you read the book, but build a sort of sense of community. Hmmm. Stopper. Like a speed bump or a curve in the road.
Actually, the whole book is designed with curves and speed bumps that slow the reader's pace so more can be absorbed. The pages are filled with tips and quizzes and quotes and questions to answer. Quite a bit to absorb-like the authors mixed a stew and threw everything in that would add to the "body." The "body" of this book is loaded. It's a potpourri of information and advice about being taken seriously, rising to the top, charm and charisma, personal and professional style, approachability, color, clothing, business travel, image, and working with your shape. You will find helpful information on business make-up, hair and grooming, business etiquette, interviewing for a job, presentation skills, and public speaking.
The authors cover a wide range of topics, though I'm not sure that I agree with all they suggest. Being a man, I asked a couple of businesswomen to look at this book with me so I could be sure to be fair. Their response included words like "inconsistent," "unprofessional," and "very basic."
There's a section in the back of the book offering resources for additional learning. By category, you will find what I believe are book titles and authors. There is insufficient detail for those who might want to access additional information, but readers could use search engines on the world wide web to do their research.
The authors are, no doubt, fine professionals in their fields. Unfortunately, while it offers valuable content, this book is not as professional as it could be. Advertisements at the end of every chapter is a bit much. The publishing of this book was managed by The Jenkins Group, says a statement on the back cover. They should have been more deeply involved to keep this stew from becoming stone soup.
Handle With Care: Motivating And Retaining Employees
Barbara A. Glanz
McGraw-Hill
ISBN 0071400672, $16.95, Trade Paperback. 316 pages
If you want to retain employees, motivate them and care for them. OK, no-brainer. Arguing with that kind of a statement is like being against Motherhood and Apple Pie. So, there has to be something more to this book. And there is . . . after just a little bit of digging.
The book begins with a chapter on the research of what motivates employees. Not much new here. In chapter 2, the author reports the results of her original research into what motivates front-line workers. She surveyed 1200 employees. There is some thought-provoking information here, but nothing dramatic if you've spent much time in this kind of human resources research. For those who have not been exposed to this kind of data, this will be interesting material.
The real meat of this book is the author's C.A.R.E. model for motivating and retaining employees. The acronym represents Creative Communication, Atmosphere and Appreciation for All, Respect and Reason for Being, and Empathy and Enthusiasm. The model is explained, completing Part 1 of the book.
Part 2 consist of Ideas and Stories from Managers, Employees, and Organizations Who Care. Some interesting case studies here. Chapter 6 includes a six page list of ideas from employees. Great checklist of reward opportunities. Chapter 7 presents a brief survey used by one company to gain input from employees about what kind of rewards they prefer.
In Part 3, the book begins to bubble with value. In over 200 pages, Glanz delivers dozens of ideas, explaining each idea and giving real-life examples of how the ideas are actually implemented in a wide range of employer organizations. Chapter after chapter--full of ideas organized in an easy-to-follow format according to the author's C.A.R.E. formula. This section of the book is the real power which earns this book a good rating. The quality of the content and presentation in this section overcomes the weaker beginning.
Four appendices add value, providing self-evaluations for managers (useful for trainers), a sample employee survey, a culture test, and a bibliography. A worthwhile book for managers and supervisors.
Roger E. Herman, Reviewer
www.hermangroup.com

## Liana's Bookshelf

The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook
Editors, Murdoch Magazines
Murdoch Books
213 Miller Street, North Sydney, NSW 2060
ISBN 08641151051, CND $ 29.95, 304 pp,
There are many cookbooks on the market, but this one is unique in every aspect as it is written by a team of experts in food who are professionals in the field of vegetarianism. ' Vegetarian food has come a long way since the days when it was regarded as the province of faddists,' the Editors say. ' Now, it is fresh , modern and young an exciting cuisine nearly everybody is attracted to try it and appreciate it.'
Packed with superb vegetarian recipes, from snacks to substantial meals, from desserts to drinks, this book is the tribute to world-wide flavors and fresh produce.
'Our eating habits have evolved,' the editors write. '...our discovery of the infinite range of non- meat dishes from other lands, and the seemingly daily increase in the variety of vegetables ,grains, nuts and pulses now available, have combined to make vegetarian cooking exciting and innovative and, simultaneously, extended our appreciation of good food.'
The book is divided into various sections. It starts with facts about a Good Vegetarian Diet and goes on to the Healthy Food Pyramid which tells the readers what to eat and how much of each kind. 'EAT MOST: Grains, foods made from grains ,and fruit and vegetables. EAT LEAST: Sugar, honey, butter, cream, margarine...'the authors write. Then come the Carbohydrates, Fibre and Protein parts, all filled with useful info and advice ,as well as the food sources of the above. 'Finding Fibre: Rolled oats, hazelnuts, sesame seeds, sultanas...' There is also info on Vegans Diet, a Vitamins and Minerals section , Fats and Rich-in-Nutrients foods and in the end are the Flavors and a brief Guide on how to use the book. 'A WORLD OF FLAVORS : One of the great joys of vegetarian eating lies in its versatility. There are many exotic detours available through the world's cuisines...' the experts say. Next ,there is a list of herbs that match certain foods, a quite essential piece of info everybody needs to know in order to enhance their dishes: ' Mint with potatoes, cloves with oranges, garlic with just about anything savory...'
Next come the recipes, which are displayed in a highly attractive way that makes the readers want to try them! Soups and starters, snacks and party food, pies and pizzas (such as Silverbeet pie and Harvest pie which look extremely appetizing ) ,grain and pulses are only a few of the categories mentioned in the book. At the end of this section there are the Drinks; delicious, easy-to-prepare drinks for every taste. Peach Dream, Banana Egg Flip, Energy Shake are only few of the lot. All worth trying ! There is an index at the back of the book for easy reference. The book is fully illustrated in colored photographs .
Packed with scrumptious vegetarian recipes, The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook contains all the info the readers need to make the most of these mouth-watering foods. It caters for everybody not only for vegetarians- who would like to try something different, exotic, tasty, but most of all healthy.
Related titles
Broader Than Beans, Lesley Waters
The Optimum Nutrition Bible, Peter Holford (www.ion.ac.uk)
The Functional Foods Revolution, Dr M .Heasman & Julian Mellentin
Turtles
Mervin F. Roberts
T.F.H. Publications, Inc.
1 TFH Plaza, 3rd & Union Avenue, Neptune City, NJ 07753
ISBN 0876669283, $5.99, 94 pp, 1-800-631-2188
Turtles as Pets was the author's first little book about pets, in 1954. It was a 32-pager, '...which is still being read, but today pet keepers are more sophisticated and they want more useful facts, more accurate reasons,' the author says. 'So, here it is, completely re-written.'
This book includes 50 full-color photos and over 25 black and white photos. It presents easy-to-follow advice about all aspects of selecting and caring for pet turtles.
The readers have all the info they need , such as getting started, feeding turtles, diseases and ailments. A simplified, yet detailed book that is still popular .
The introduction deals with the anatomy of turtles supported by attractive illustrations. 'All turtles are toothless. All have tails and eyelids but no external ears...,' M. F. Roberts writes.
Then comes Turtle Keeping which includes useful advice on how to care for these pets. It mentions all the risks involved, like Salmonella infection. 'This disease is similar to typhoid fever but is less dangerous. It is best controlled by habitat cleanliness,' the author says.
Reproduction includes facts and striking photos, such as the one that a baby turtle is hatching from its egg. Feeding, Housing and Keeping aquatic and semi-aquatic and terrestrial species chapters follow giving a lot of info and advice on turtles.
'In general, the semi-aquatic and fully aquatic turtles tend to prefer more meat in their diets than do the purely terrestrial species,' the author says.
'If you want your pet to be an inside pet, give it warmth and full-length daylight hours with artificial light right through the winter.'
'If you choose to keep terrestrial turtles you will find that many are long-lived and easy to maintain.'
The last chapter is about Diseases and Ailments , a very important section everyone should read before buying a turtle, especially those who have children.
'Aquatic turtles are often fed decayed or spoiling meat scraps which harbor Salmonella bacilli,' the author says. '...no pet keeper should knowingly let children who suck their thumbs also put their hands into an aquarium...'.
The book ends with a quick review of aquatic and semi-aquatic turtle-borne Salmonella. There is also some reference to other publications.
Turtles is a well-organized book, clearly laid out and easy-to-read by both adults and children.
It caters for all pet lovers who wish to know more about turtles, no matter if they intend to buy one or not. It is educational, interesting and highly informative.
The photographs are attractive and very helpful and all the facts are presented in an interesting way.
So, if you are going to buy a turtle, or if you already have one, or even if you want to learn about turtles, then this book is for you!
Related titles:
Sea Turtles, Jeff Ripple, ISBN 0896583155
Amphibians, Steve Grenard, ISBN 0876051379
Liana Metal
Reviewer

## Hodgins' Bookshelf

Living History Chronicles
Gwilym Jones
General Store Publishing House
Box 28, 1694B Burnstown Road, Burnstown, ON, Canada K0J 1G0
ISBN 1-894263-50-2, $24.95, 227 pp., 1-800-465-6072
This collection arranges contributions alphabetically by author's surname. An average memoir here runs to about a page of the author's biography, four pages of wartime experiences, and a page of photos and perhaps a map or mural or blank space - about six pages in all. However, individual entries may be as brief as Paratrooper Frank West's two pages, or as lengthy as the 14 pages devoted to Infantryman (Black Watch)/POW (Prisoner of War) MacGregor Roulston.
Each true story tends to make an easy read, but interest quotients naturally vary. Among other things, some writers have pedestrian styles, while others add sparks of wit and the like.
The first story of the collection happens to be that of a woman who was a noncombatant entertainer, but these facts have no bearing whatsoever on her coming first; she owes her initial place in the book to the alphabetical order of the name her second husband gave her: Ackroyd.
Opinions are likely to differ on the following point, but I feel the 33 biographical sketches of the participants in this collection of war stories must be of far greater interest to the persons described, and to their families and friends, than they are to me - and perhaps to others who likewise find themselves unrelated to any of those 33.
To me, the book's chief fascination lies in the often remarkable experiences recounted, supported by the volume's quite copious graphics, which are more expensive to produce than plain text.
Should the price of this book seem high for a paperback, then, note that there are two group photos, plus two individual ones of each ex-warrior - one in uniform long ago, and another showing the person's present face - tallying 68 author photos alone, then - plus 24 maps (index: see page 205), 21 badges/insignia, photos of murals typically showing warships and warplanes or battlefield scenes, photos of foot patrols in Korea, etc.
The 1941-45 war in the Pacific is scarcely represented, except in the recurrent theme that after the fall of the Third Reich in Europe, many service people received new orders to ship out and fight the Japanese ... only to have those orders cancelled with the dropping of atomic weapons upon Japan, bringing that war to an abrupt halt.
The book would have been very different had it been compiled in, say, Winnipeg rather than Toronto - Winnipeg having been home to the contigents of about 2,000 largely untrained Grenadiers and Rifles (some of whom had in fact never fired a rifle!) sent early in WW II to hold Hong Kong against 50,000 Japanese troops. See www.valourandhorror.com for these and many further details.
At some point, I must explain for fellow non-military types that Welsh-native Gwilym Jones's "MM" is evidently the Military Medal - a British decoration, I believe. One of the points on which I cling to my profound ignorance is whether or not we now have uniquely Canadian decorations for merit, valour, etc. in military service; there are at any rate uniquely Canadian civilian honours nowadays, such as the Order of Canada ... but the men and women veterans who figure in Jones's book left the armed forces many years ago, and seem unlikely to have been decorated under any new, all-Canadian guidelines.
Canada has never had a corps of Marines (so handy for invading other countries from the sea!) and has had a Canadian Coast Guard only as a civilian service responsible for navigational aids, for icebreaking and some Arctic provisioning, and, to an extent, for search & rescue. In recent years the CCG was taken from Transport Canada and merged into the Fisheries and Oceans dept., which until then had solely had its own, separate civilian fleet.
Thus during WW II Canada in essence had only her army, navy, and airforce as foreign-going armed services. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police or "Mounties" were and are an armed force, but go foreign only very occasionally in the process of enforcing Canadian law, e.g., on the high seas, or when helping other countries organize and train police forces.
What the people of both sexes who contributed memoirs to this book chiefly share today is their membership in the Royal Canadian Legion's Toronto/Highland Creek Branch 258 and its Living History Speakers Bureau - the Bureau's name explaining the seemingly redundant terms, "History" and "Chronicles", in the book's title.
I have no idea what branch of the RCL is located in, say, Winnipeg, but it certainly is not 258!
Even a collection of 33 different personal stories is far from covering the total Canadian experience in the wars in question - particularly concerning our 40,000 WW II fatalities, such as my cousin Leslie was: a bomber pilot lost without a trace over the English Channel, circa 1940. (It has always seemed to me the height of irony that those who gave the most receive the least reward afterward ... but how could matters be arranged in any other way? This problem of assuring equity leaves me amongst those who feel totally stumped.)
The book does however make a significant sampling among those wars' survivors, and it is important that such documentation has not been attempted too late. An RCN veteran related by marriage to my family, one who'd survived the Battle of the Atlantic in corvettes, was silenced forever by natural causes, a year or two ago - a form of attrition that must be occurring everywhere.
The sampled authors served in numerous different Canadian units, except that some few represent all the British armed services save the Royal Marines, and one was in the Polish Army. The three women among them were in the CWAC (Canadian Women's Army Corps), the RCAF (WD) or Royal Canadian Air Force Women's Division, and the (British) Women's Royal Navy Service. The three men from the British Army had been in the Infantry, Artillery, and Airborne (SAS) - and this last is still sworn to secrecy. There also is a native of the northern Netherlands province of Friesland, but he had immigrated to Canada at age 6, in 1930.
One man in this group tried and tried to enlist in the various fighting forces, but was thin and didn't meet the minimum weight criterion until finally being accepted for service only in Canada, on speculation that he could eventually gain the necessary bulk to go overseas; then, once trained, he was utilized in training others to drive tracked and wheeled army vehicles. It appears he never got sent overseas in the war but, as he points out, German U-boats carried the war right here, torpedoing ships and causing other havoc by penetrating as far inland as perhaps Trois-Rivie`res, about halfway between Que'bec and Montre'al.
Canada might have been considered a fringe war zone, then, and, preparing in advance of need, we installed air-raid sirens, appointed civilian block air-raid wardens complete with tin hats, held drills, and so forth, besides instituting rationing and many other measures.
Members of the Forces who had volunteered for overseas service but had been kept in Canada wore a special G S emblem visibly conferring the status of at least being willing to risk everything for their country.
A woman RCAF member among the book's authors also didn't go overseas, but was trained to assemble and service aircraft instruments. Apart from her time in training, she spent the early part of the war assembling oxygen masks, and then was set to painting radium dials for fuel gauges and the like, to facilitate night flying - speaking of which, I've heard that such artisans used often to lick their paint brushes to give the bristles nice sharp tips, resulting in their ingestion of far too much highly radioactive radium; in fact, ANY amount is too much.
Somewhat more that halfway through the book occurs the story of British Paratrooper Ronald F. Johnson who, we are told, was 18 in 1956. A bit of arithmetic suggests he was born in 1938 and was therefore too young for either WW II or the Korean War. Instead he served in Gibraltar, Cyprus, and Jordan in the late 1950s. He thus is an exception among those who, compiler Gwilym Jones informs us, were "veterans of the Second World War and Korean War".
Johnson mentions semi-humorously one Charlie C. who, in Nicosia, "caught a piece of shrapnel in the rear end". That happening reminds me of a forestry student I knew at a research camp in 1948, who told of having been the only survivor when an enemy had lobbed a grenade in through the open hatchway of their tank. He himself had a cavity about the size and shape of half a North American football, or perhaps less than half a Rugby ball as used elsewhere in the world, blown out of the solid flesh of one of his buttocks. Despite the marvelous job some surgeon had done in patching him up as well as possible, just how he had managed to stand, walk, perhaps even run, I've never quite understood. I am quite ready to believe, at any rate, that there was nothing humorous in the predicament into which he'd suddenly been flung.
I'd hazily understood that "The Legion" was only for "real" war veterans, i.e., for ones who'd served in actual theatres of "shooting" war overseas ... but from this book it seems I have been at least partially mislead. The first story, for example, is told by a stage performer who only once happened to catch sight of a German SS man, escaped from a truckload of prisoners, in a theatre in Nijmegen, Netherlands. It seems however that she, and a number of others too, qualified well enough to bear the name of veteran.
Actually, that seems a thoroughly good thing. Who needs more rank-pulling or other forms of belittlement and ritualized unpleasantness, once the people involved have all received their discharges and are on as close as they'll ever get to an even footing?
Almost as soon as World War II broke out in September '39, some of the most curious arrangements imaginable were made to get war materiel into rapid production. In centretown Ottawa, for example, an existing streetcar barn was hurriedly pressed into service to build training aircraft for the RCAF. Tram tracks still ran into and perhaps right through the new "aircraft factory"; completed aircraft fuselages and wings were simply loaded aboard flatbed streetcar chassis and rolled out and through the busy streets to, I suppose, Ottawa Rockcliffe Airport (Ottawa Uplands Airport, now the Ottawa International site, had no tram access) where the construction, outfitting and testing of the new craft were completed. Ferry pilots would then fly them away to training fields that were being thrown together at breakneck pace all over the country.
In that environment of utmost urgency, it may perhaps be better understood why airforce rather than contractors' personnel were used to paint instrument dials; whatever did the job got the nod. More than once, a reader of these wartime stories is likely to need to see matters in this perspective, whenever what look like second-rate arrangements were rammed through. Consider, after all, that the entire war ran its course in about five years, a period of time that many a peacetime scheme might spend merely under analysis and discussion!
Can I recommend this book, then, and if so, on what basis? Well, it's certainly no compendium on "Canada at War" - but if we accept that it's a product of a number of individuals centred upon Toronto, almost all of whom served in the European theatre during WW II or else in Korea, it does provide a spot sampling of experiences of mid-20th-century warfare which can both inform us and, for those who don't feel too appalled, even entertain us (noting that some folk actually go looking for horror films and the like, in the personal conviction that those are "entertaining".)
Here we get a worm's-eye view, on the whole - not a strategic or commanding-officer's overview. This scope too, however, can have its uses, such as to some future author of historical war novels who will not have the opportunity to experience that style of warfare, but who may nonetheless learn of it vicariously by reading these very "Living History Chronicles", and like sources.
Those who hope to understand the "average joe/jane" and his/her times during WW II and/or the Korean conflict have the most to gain.
Lazarus, Arise
Nicholas Kilmer
Poisoned Pen Press
6962 E. First Ave. Ste. 103, Scottsdale, AZ, USA, 85251
1890208809, $24.95; 213 pp., 1-800-421-3976
Nicholas Kilmer was, says his blurb on the back flap of this book's dustjacket, a teacher for many years; now he is a painter and art dealer. However, the book's front-cover design (illustrating Lazarus's miraculous revival from the grave by Jesus) was created by an apparent kinsman, Jacob Kilmer, according to the back cover.
The mediaeval-style painting - either the story's circa-1400 parchment version, purporting to be from Duke Philip the Bold's `Limbourg Bible', or its modern representation as attributed to the other Kilmer - may play a limited role, depending on how one sees the novel's genre.
Words on the dust jacket call the book an "art mystery". True, it outlines plentiful research, etc., into the painting's origin, history, and value, and many of the tale's characters are dead painters or live art dealers/agents - many of the lot none too ethical. Yet the final outcome is double murder. Is the genre really "murder mystery", then?
The Lazarus painting's role in the tale being enigmatic, the use of Lazarus's name in the title may be questioned. Supposing the genre to be murder mystery, the book might better have been named "Death, Sweet Death", for reasons that become evident toward the novel's finale.
The painting has the chief function of bringing the protagonist, Fred, into contact with other characters in the drama, but to what extent do the characteristics of the painting matter to the story, and to this review? I still can't decide, but it may be helpful to you if I summarize the Lazarus story as described in the Gospel of St. John, Chapter 11.
Jesus had been performing miracles, and the orthodox Jewish clergy felt threatened that He was drawing away their power base, a problem shortly to culminate in Jesus's trial before Pontius Pilatus. "What is the life of this one man, Jesus, compared with the integrity of our entire system?" the argument went. In that perspective, the Lazarus episode seems to have been fated as the proverbial last straw sealing Jesus's doom.
Jesus apparently dawdled on his travel toward Jerusalem while He learned that His friend Lazarus was seriously ill, then dead, and finally buried. At last Jesus arrived at Lazarus's sepulchre, where He would perform His last miracle to raise his friend to life again.
Verse 38 describes the tomb as follows: "It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it." That rough enclosure is nonetheless depicted, in the novel's cover illustration, as a finely and expensively carved coffin of marble or alabaster, with a series of gilded medallions on its side and a long, precisely fitted lid of the same stone.
Well yes, technically "a stone lay upon it" - but since when is a casket worthy of a Duke's interrment the same as "a cave"?
Kilmer writes into his story an expert in such matters, Hannah Bruckmann by name, who recognizes the painting as the work of a family of mediaeval artists surnamed Limbourg who hailed from the town then spelled Nimwegen, now Nijmegen, originally the Roman outpost called Novio Magus.
(I happen to know that area pretty well, my wife being from nearby Arnhem. Both towns lie in Gelderland, but Nijmegen borders on Limbourg, today's Limburg, divided between Germany and the Netherlands; I have in-laws living on the open Dutch side, about a 5-minute stroll from the forested German area.)
Those Limbourg-family artists also created a "Book of Hours" containing a closely related illustration, so that protagonist Fred and technical expert Hannah hold the following exchange, on page 103:
`Fred said, "You were suspicious when you saw the `Lazarus'. `That sarcophagus is familiar,' you said, or `too familiar.'"
`"Well, it is. You get exactly the same image, the same dying Greek of a naked corpse, the same carved coffin a duke could afford but not Lazarus, even half of the same surprised mourners, in the `Lazarus' Herman Limbourg painted for the Duke of Berry's `Book of Hours'.'
Ducal expectations had outweighed Biblical testimony, then. Kilmer's grasp of power-based mediaeval art, relayed to us by his Hannah character, dazzlingly emerges as the first half of the story unfolds.
At first I suspected the two-handed scythes of three farm workers in the painting's background constituted an anachronism, but research showed that the implement was invented by the Romans (no date being mentioned by my source), and may well have been available to agriculture in Jesus's day - not to say during the Mediaeval era in which the artwork was supposedly painted.
This illustration's relevance to Kilmer's tale is that it accidentally comes into the possession of Fred Taylor, the protagonist of Volume Five in a series of art- (or perhaps murder-) mystery novels, the previous books in this presumed series evidently being named, "Harmony in Flesh and Black", "Man With a Squirrel", "O Sacred Head", and "Dirty Linen". It quickly creates a sensation in the art world.
As my readers will know, I'm interested in the structures of novel series, but I swear I didn't know of any such connection when I chose this book to study! Now that I'm started, though ...
Sequel novels present a special challenge to the author, if not also to the reader.
At one extreme, should the author not recapitulate previous volumes, a new reader discovering one of the later books may be mystified by unexplained references to events, personalities, etc. of the earlier volumes; one's bewilderment is like that of entering a movie theatre long after the show's beginning, so that the background is missing.
At the opposite extreme, excessive recapitulations, particularly if clumsily detailed, can nearly drive established readers up the wall.
How does Kilmer's 2001 serial novel rate? I find he errs in omitting a sufficient background. Established readers of his series may understand him without a proper recap but, as a newcomer to the series, I didn't. Thus when someone named Molly (Riley?) was mentioned without explanation on page 5, I wondered at first whether she was Fred's secretary, professional partner, daughter, mistress, wife, or perhaps even a bridge partner? Some of these guesses fairly soon appear wrong, though; a Sam, who is Molly's son but is apparently not Fred's, and a Terry, evidently short for Theresa rather than Terrence, also appear, but they seem too old to be Fred's grandchildren. All in all my guess, based on "Lazarus, Arise", is that Molly and Fred have a common-law marriage.
With exceptions noted hereunder, Kilmer's writing style is reminiscent of Lawrence Block's Bernie Rhodenbarr series, but moved from New York to Boston, and not as literary. If we may give the word "art" its broad interpretation, I'd say the genre of their books is precisely the same. However Kilmer, as a specialist in the graphic arts, will not likely be as polished a writer - all other things being equal - as is a literary specialist such as Block, who even has written a guidebook for novelists.
In fact Kilmer's writing irritates me in two specific ways, while his editor seems asleep at the switch. (Why, oh why don't editors edit or, failing that, then strongly advise their authors how to self-edit?)
Firstly, protagonist Fred Taylor indulges in a great deal of talking aloud to himself - soliloquizing is a more dignified word - even if the men in white suits have yet to catch him in their butterfly nets.
Secondly, Kilmer repeats the clause, "Fred said", or "Fred" followed by some similar verb, entirely too often.
To exemplify both faults, from page 91 I quote these brief soliloquies:
"Get information. Don't speculate," Fred said.
"So, we talk to the neighbors," Fred decided.
"That'll have to wait," Fred said.
That simple, declarative sentence structure is so unvaried as to grow as boring as "See Dick run" in a child's reading primer.
Summing up "Lazarus, Arise", I find it something of a mishmash that comes to an end, rather than to a conclusion, and that leaves me dissatisfied. I hope however that other readers will appreciate this, or perhaps some other work of Kilmer's, better than I; for whoever wrote the inside-back-cover blurb calls this book "no less than masterful," suggesting there should by rights be ample reason for such a hope.
The Black Pit ... and Beyond
J. Gordon Mumford
General Store Publishing House
Box 28, 1694 Burnstown Road, Burnstown, ON, Canada K0J 1G0
ISBN 1-894263-19-7; price Can$19.95, plus Can$5.05 if sent by mail
138 pp., incl. 2 simple maps., tel. 1-800-465-6072);
Author Gordon Mumford was a British citizen at the time he describes, in the 1940s - although, with his family, he would move to British Columbia, Canada in 1980. His memoirs tell us chiefly of his wartime experiences as junior radio officer in his second, third, and fourth ships, although his first vessel is several times mentioned in passing and in minimal detail. Even less discussed is his fifth ship, mentioned but not even named at this book's end.
These memoirs are organized in three Parts relating to three voyages or cruises in different ships, from late 1942 to early 1945.
In Part One, "The Western Approaches [to the British Isles]", he describes the terror of finding his Transatlantic convoy beset by "wolf packs" of enemy U-boats or submarines (U was German for Untersee, "undersea".) This harrowing episode occurs in a North Atlantic area implicitly compared to the black pit of Hades; for anti-sub aircraft of that era, when powered flight had only 39 years of developmental history, had insufficient range to patrol and fight enemies that far from land.
It was an area, then, where a convoy was on its own, the available escorting naval forces then consisting chiefly of corvettes - originally little more than converted whaling vessels, in emergency production since the outbreak of war in 1939, although vastly improved classes would follow.
The entire naval squadron escorting that particular convoy was Canadian, save the British rescue ship, HMS "Toward", of unstated class but presumably fitted out for hospital use. The RCN (Royal Canadian Navy) escort ships were the river-class destroyer HMCS "St. Laurent", and the five town-class corvettes, HMCS "Chilliwack", "Shediac", "Napanee", "Battleford", and "Kenogami".
Convoy ONS 154 had formed off Malin Head, Ireland, for a voyage via New York to Curacao in the Caribbean, to fetch a load of high-octane aviation fuel. It reached the Black Pit area around Christmas of 1942, a season dreaded for its awful weather and frigid seawater, for its short days and long nights. This was the convoy that would also be written of by Henry Revely in "The Convoy the Nearly Died" (Wm. Kimber, London, 1979).
Mumford was the Third (most junior) Radio Officer aboard the "Scottish Heather", in a day when radio communication was transmitted and read in Morse Code, although no doubt further encrypted in case of enemy interception. He is on duty for two four-hour watches or shifts per 24-hr. day, from midnight to 4 a.m. (the First Watch or "graveyard shift"), and from noon to 4 p.m. (Afternoon Watch).
A black-and-white (there was little colour photography at the time) aerial photograph of such a convoy in the process of assembling is spread out over the front, spine, and back covers of this book, the hue actually being a sort of leaden blue-black suggesting the sombre mood of the wartime ocean. Distant ships nearly vanish in the haze, while others are overprinted on the back cover and thereby made somewhat indefinite to count. The view shows between 50 and 60 merchant (commercial) ships, but there likely were additional vessels, perhaps many of them, outside the camera's field of view.
Some such ships would have been slow tubs the U-boats could run rings around, and the entire convoy was obliged to travel at the speed of the slowest; for sticking together was the only practicable way to take shelter under naval protection.
Superimposed on the front cover is a smallish b&w photo of a lifeboat crowded with survivors of a torpedoed "merchant ship" - generically so called to include freighters, tankers, and any other categories present, such as troop ships.
As further graphical materials, each Part of this book ends with a map which, I feel, should have been placed at the Part's BEGINNING. It's true that the Table of Contents reveals the existence and location of each such map, but I habitually consult Tables of Contents only for reference purposes, not during pleasure readings - and I suspect doing so is quite usual. I thus only discovered the maps for Parts One and Two after I no longer needed them.
Their better placement would have been easy. There is a big blank space on page viii opposite the beginning of Part One on page 1, where the Part One (or Black Pit) map could have been ideally placed to inform one's reading of the Part One text. Then, that first map having been moved ahead fifty-odd pages, the Part Two map could have come from page 98 to the vacated spot on page 52, opposite the start of Part Two's text. Likewise, the Part Three map should have been printed on page 98, not page 138 where this book essentially ends.
U-boats certainly held the upper hand for a time in the Battle of the Atlantic, having been well ahead in the technological arms race at the outbreak of hostilities. As the war progressed, though, improved aircraft became available, while simple depth charges, developed in WW I and requiring that the attacking ship pass right over the attacked U-boat, were supplemented or possibly replaced by ahead-firing squid and hedgehog anti-submarine weapons.
Another important factor aboard the escort vessels was ASDIC, actually the acronym of a committee formed in 1918, an echo-based technology comparable to underwater RADAR, later renamed SONAR for "SOund Navigation And Ranging". This system, which generated "pings" and measured their return time, could locate a submerged sub and guide the surface attack vessel to a position where her munitions might become effective. No doubt Sonar improved as the war progressed, but for whatever cause, Mumford mentions no actual successes scored by naval escorts, anyplace in his book - possibly out of a longstanding if ill-advised antipathy between the fighting and merchant navies?
A onetime colleague of mine spent the war flying patrols in British-built, four-engined Sunderland seaplanes over the Atlantic from a base in, I think, Dakar, Senegal, Africa, dropping depth charges set to fire at 30 feet depth around, and firing guns upon, any U-boat they could catch on the surface - to which tactics, however, the Germans soon replied with the schnorkel (our "snorkel"), which allowed U-boats much increased submerged cruising time. Evidently the Sunderland, too, lacked the range to patrol the Black Pit area.
Also during the war, nighttime U-boat detection improved vastly in moving from ships' guns firing "snowflake" parachute flares, as devised in 1941 and mentioned by author Mumford as seeing much use in 1942, to radar. To quote from "The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea", Peter Kemp, Ed., Oxford University Press, (c) 1976, "The breakthrough for shipborne radar occurred in 1940 with the British invention of the magnetron ... by 1943, 1.9 centimetre wavelength sets were capable of detecting U-boats' periscopes ..." This would have meant that even submerged U-boats could be detected, and many were destroyed in consequence. (I speculate that a U-boat running with her periscope down, but with her schnorkel up, could likewise be detected by radar.)
Before radar, though, merchant ships such as Mumford's were proverbial "sitting ducks", particularly at night.
With no pretence of elegance, Mumford's plainspoken memoirs are told not only in the first person, but also in the present tense. Although my personal feeling is one of slight discomfort with that style, it does have great immediacy. A greater you-are-there impact could only be created by writing in the second person singular, plus the present tense - "You scramble down the netting, sometimes hanging above the inky ocean free of the ship's side, sometimes being slammed against the steel plating, all but destroying your knuckles; until at last you allow yourself simply to drop the last foot or two, as the lifeboat rides up on a wave as if purposely to meet you ..." I've read only one story told in the second person, and I didn't like the mood of compulsion it produced - but certainly the job CAN be done that way. It is not, though, the POV used by Mumford; the foregoing, brief sample simply exemplifies how a 2nd.-person story might read.
The first-person perspective strikes me as closest to the way we live our daily lives, each staying strictly within his or her own skin, and Mumford manages it rather like an old salt telling some friends of his life's high points over a mug of dark ale in some smoky waterfront dive.
Here's a last point concerning style: although Mumford has lived in Canada for over two decades, he cannot have forgotten the English terms he used for over five decades. He (or his editor) nonetheless writes "truck" where an Englishman would write "lorry". North American readers should have no difficulty in understanding his use of words.
Convoy ONS 154 begins its suffering when the "Empire Union", lead ship in the convoy's twelfth column, is torpedoed in the wee hours of the morning of 27 December 1942. It being the young Mumford's radio-office watch, he logs in her distress call, but it is solely the rescue ship's task to search for survivors. Some minutes later it's the turn of the "Melrose Abbey", going down without a chance to transmit any message. Third is a Dutch ship, the "Soekaboemi". Fourth is the "Kind Edward", which suffers a second explosion when her boilers blow. Nonetheless Mumford, who has contracted a 'flu on top of being seasick, and who is running a fever and much weakened, manages to drop straight off to sleep after being relieved by a different "Sparks" who has the next watch.
Now he has a chance of up to eight hours of sleep, but is called to breakfast at 8 a.m. He is however too badly "off his feed" to eat.
He gets through the Afternoon Watch too, and has returned to bed when the "Scottish Heather" herself is racked by the explosion of a torpedo striking somewhere near her bow. Its violence is such that his cabin door is blown from its hinges, to land upon him in bed. His entire compartment is now a shambles ...
Stresses such as those men lived under may be relieved by some very rough talk, and I suspect that despite the many profanities and obscenities embedded in the dialogue Mumford records, he may if anything have expurgated almost as much as he retains. This is not a book for those who may be intolerably shocked, then, but it IS highly realistic.
There are many ways to die or be injured at sea in wartime, even without counting such standard hazards as heart attack or stroke, diseases and other medical conditions, falls and other accidents, murder, and suicide. When a torpedo, shell, or other explosive missile strikes a ship, one can be instantly slaughtered by the blast itself, or even at some distance by shrapnel dispersed in all directions. Fire is also a frequent, and frequently deadly consequence of such a blast, and in badly ventilated places one may be stricken by such gases as carbon monoxide or even cyanide. Some victims may well be untouched, yet unable to escape - sealed in by jammed hatches, for example - as the ship founders. Persons cast, falling, or jumping into the sea may drown, or may die of hypothermia (low body temperature). Anywhere, people may be crushed or pinned by falling masts or other debris, or struck even by human bodies falling or leaping from above. Mumford later hears that one of his classmates has been killed by flames spreading over oil-slicked water. Even when one is supposedly safe in a lifeboat, there is a terrible fear of a second torpedo or other explosion, such as from bursting boilers of a steamship, before the boat can make her offing.
The boats and any swimming men must also get far away from the mother ship before she sinks, lest they be towed under in the vortex of her rapid founder. Mumford identifies two related, potentially deadly hazards of being too near a torpedoed ship; one is that timbers and the like may come shooting back to the surface after escaping from the plummeting hulk, doing so with such force as to maim or kill people and destroy boats not actually towed under in the vortex. What nearly carries off Mumford and his boatmates, though, is letting their boat too nearly approach the gaping hole blown in the ship's forward plating, into which the sea pours to create a situation comparable to being caught in the currents leading to a waterfall.
Even after escaping all those menaces, in the dark they find their lifeboat sinking! For she's been shot through and through with shrapnel from the torpedo burst.
War is indeed hell, just as they say. I won't tell you how the episode proceeds and ends, though, being conscious that I might spoil the story by giving too much away.
Obviously Mumford survives, but he is not entirely whole in spirit for some time. Even sent home on leave, nightmares plague him.
Nor are all his evil memories from the war. He then had, and may have even today, many a nightmare involving his dysfunctional, supposedly religious educators, some of whose own learning seems to have been limited to the last seven words of the first (of three, 1612-1680) author Samuel Butler's couplet in "Hudibras", reading -
"Love is a boy, by poets styled,
Then spare the rod, and spoil the child."
That is, whereas Butler seems to preach that one should, out of love, spare the rod despite some risk of spoiling the child, others seem to have missed the first line and concluded - out of hatred rather than love, perhaps? - that one must NOT spare the rod, lest the child be spoiled!
Of the apparently few nuns and monks lacking sadistic inclinations who had taught Mumford, one had instead been a paedophile - frightening the boy yet worse.
The years of maltreatment at school were complemented by his mother's frequent, stern inveighing against every form and manifestation of sexuality. ("Masturbation will stunt your growth!") The combined impacts of nearly all authority figures in his life - his more moderate father having died early - made him a severely repressed and guilt-ridden youth ... not to say, I'd expect, very nearly a mental case. Although normally attracted to females, he found himself unable to relate to them properly, in part because he seemed unable to dissociate them from the many belt-whippings their kind had meted out in his boyhood, or from his mother's dire warnings and explicit embargoes. To say he was profoundly sexually harassed seems only to begin describing his difficulties.
Some of Mumford's tormentors had in fact instilled such hatred in him that he takes a vicious delight when one is killed in the war. He learns bitterness even toward his mother, for when he is home on leave between his Part Two and Part Three voyages, she interferes with and aborts his only opportunity to date a charming and desirable young woman, a friend of the family who might have become the perfect antidote for the psychical damage wrought by others.
These themes recur time and again in Mumford's memoirs. They clearly represent a huge "hangup". To say that "discipline did him no harm" would be a most dreadful lie!
Thus as the book's end draws nearer, a reader wonders whether young Gordon will EVER find a normal life or, as to that, whether even old Gordon has done so even yet, although his former oppressors have quite possibly gone to a place reserved for the cruel and unjust?
There is good reason for hope, though, as he dedicates his book, "To my wife and partner, Barbara ..." Since his Author's Note warns us that "many personal names have been changed", it's even possible that he has married one of the women so sadly mentioned in this book.
After his home leave at the end of Part One, Mumford is assigned to a different ship, the "Empire Harmony", receiving a promotion with an additional stripe on his sleeve. It is now that the title words "... and Beyond" begin to apply, for Part Two is subtitled "The Rock of Gibraltar".
"The Mediterranean" would have been more representative, but at all events, Part Two begins with our protagonist staring through binoculars a the coast of Morocco, Africa, and with Gibraltar also in sight. His ship will put in at "Gib" once or twice; much more of his time, though, will pass farther east in the Mediterranean theatre.
The "Empire Harmony" is now on the order of 800 nautical miles or 900 statute miles south of his previous voyage's Black Pit; she remains well north of the Tropic of Cancer but, compared with the previous episode's, this is a far warmer, sunnier world - besides which, it is now mid-April of 1943, and hence a warmer, sunnier time of year, too.
His is an unusual ship. Besides having the holds typical of a bulk carrier, the "Empire Harmony" is distinguished by carrying two huge 60-ton cranes which allow her to lie against piers or the like, in ports near the warring armies' front lines, where she was used to replace war-damaged land-based hoisting machinery. Thus the Allies are able to land heavy tanks at Naples in Italy, as one example, despite the great damage the port facilities have sustained.
Naples is one of the ports in which young Gordon meets a strikingly lovely lass, in this case a rare blonde, blue-eyed Italian, who gives him a clear invitation - and from whom he all but runs, even though it was wartime and he couldn't be certain of living to see the morrow. Afterward, as he curses his hangup, we can only sigh with him yet again.
Let's note that Mumford, as a radio specialist, was never officially involved in ship navigation. It thus is understandable that he and/or his editor writes erroneously of port and starboard "forward (or for'ard) quarters". Mathematically, four quarters do indeed make a whole - but a ship with four quarters, two up forward, would be like a person with four buttocks, two of them in front.
I quote an unimpeachable authority on nautical terminology, "The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea": "QUARTER[S], the two after parts of the ship, one on each side of the centreline. Strictly, a ship's port or starboard quarter is on a bearing 45 degrees from the stern, but the term is more often rather loosely applied to any point approximately on that bearing." The correct nautical expression would have been "on the port or starboard bow," technically meaning, again in the Companion's words, "within an arc of four points (45 degrees) extending either side of the bow [i.e., the forward end of a ship, the opposite of stern.]"
Mumford's ship for his Part Three voyage was the Canadian-built "Empire Path", favourably compared by a mate to the all-welded wartime Kaiser Liberty-ships that had developed a reputation for breaking apart in heavy seas. (As an engineering student in the early 1950s, I learned that the problem, by then resolved, had been a lack of annealing to relieve the stresses induced by extreme local heating during the welding process; whereas much of the "Empire Path"'s hull was riveted.)
This "voyage" should have been a brief and simple North Sea crossing from the River Thames to the Rivier Scheldt, almost opposite, with Antwerp, Belgium, as the convoy's port of destination. There was however the dangerous complication that the Germans still held much of the Netherlands, just to the north, where they had a base for E-boats (fast torpedo boats) and midget submarines.
During the crossing, Mumford is at it again, cursing himself for his ineptitude with women. At least, though, his social woes seems to take his mind off the dangers of war. Among other factors, German aircraft nightly lay mines in the shipping channel, following which Allied minesweepers try to clear it. The catch is a new type of German mine which lies on the seabed and isn't picked up by minesweepers' paravane gear.
They pass a recently destroyed ship, evidently a mining victim - one of the earlier vessels in their own convoy, perhaps? They do however reach Antwerp safely, and discharge their cargo.
It is in beginning their return trip to England that one of the new mines gets them. Rescue is at hand, but among those killed in the initial heavy explosion is a close friend of Mumford's.
At the book's end, although he has renewed his acquaintance with a young woman he'd known three years earlier, the question remains open as to whether or not he has resolved, or will resolve anytime soon, his social troubles. Smarting (after so much real maltreatment by the world) under a perceived slight, he refuses a chance to go aboard a different ship with the same, previously congenial radio colleagues as in the "Empire Path". Instead, he becomes chief radio officer in a small tanker heading for the Far East; he thus advances in rank, if perhaps not in social situation ...
All this time he has been the employee (and, to a large if not total extent, a responsibility) of a private-sector company. That fact did little to limit the danger and drama, however, of his part in the war.
This book has broadened my perspective on World War II a great deal. Perhaps even more, it makes a good if somewhat accidental study of a seriously repressed and disturbed, even personality-damaged young man, while raising some moral dilemmas for our consideration.
I've heard one can do oneself more harm than good by contravening a deeply held conviction. If that's true, then however lovely, cultured, etc. a whore Mumford might potentially have had for a one-night stand, he could well have ended by regretting it most bitterly, whether or not he'd compromised his health in accordance with his mother's dire warnings.
If so, might he not have been better counselled - say, by an insightful psychiatrist - to see things differently? Rather than following a common male trend of buying a loveless and commercial "lay", might he not have done better to make amends to the also attractive family friend he had so admired, but whom his mother had forced him to offend? I for one feel inclined to answer, "He very likely would have done."
He was, after all, a precariously sensitized, even oversensitized young man. His best options were not necessarily those that might perhaps satisfy us more common and - happily or hopefully - more resilient types.
It is at all events now "water under the bridge". In the book when we part company with Mumford, it is early 1945. As I write these lines, it's mid-2002, over 57 years later! We can at best wish that Mumford may have experienced much joy, in the meantime.
The Translator
John Crowley
William Morrow
ISBN 0380978628; price USA $24.95, Can.$37.95; 295 pp.
Here's some brief lead-off advice. Don't hunt through this book's Part I for information on the translating profession. It is a story of the personal development of a woman who will only begin studying Russian in Part II, which starts almost exactly at this book's midpoint.
Even thereafter, resemblances to normal translating jobs are close to nil and Kit never becomes a professional translator; she only helps her professor as further noted hereunder, doing so as a part-time volunteer.
"Kit", or Christa Malone, the consistent protagonist (or central character) of this initially just interesting, but increasingly gripping third-person story, is an American woman who has made, or will make - for almost throughout Part I there's the complication of a timeframe which (usually) fluctuates in 30-year leaps between the early 1960s and the early 1990s - stabs at university studies, writing poetry, and helping translate poems from Russian to English, the lastmentioned overlapping the territory of Part II. Sometimes we may aptly call her a young woman (aged 19 when we meet her in the 1960s) but, whenever the action leaps 30 years ahead, she obviously becomes fiftyish - middle-aged ... then back again!
Her more-or-less planned activities in what I might call her "Sixties phase" have first been disturbed by an unwelcome pregnancy, and at some other point by the disappearance and possible death of the Russian poet, Falin. He had been exiled in the early '60s from his homeland and, when Kit first meets him in her freshman year at a Western American university, it is because he is taking refuge by teaching poetry there.
This novel's complex structure makes a compact analysis all but impossible. It often seems the scenario may never settle down, but perhaps the "Nineties phase" only exists to reveal the Sixties in the perspective of a freedom of Russian enquiry that was unavailable during almost all the 70 years of the USSR's tyrannical existence. Perhaps, in other words, the core of this story is actually the events of the 1960s, and the 90s episodes merely concern the story's telling in retrospect.
Infrequent, shorter flashbacks into, I think, the 50s also occur involving Kit's perhaps too-dear brother, Ben, before he had joined the U.S. army.
Never have I had such trouble in understanding a novel's genre. For instance, after having tentatively assigned other labels (the very first was "Literary"), I decided about 70 pages before the end that this was a slow-developing "spy thriller". After that, however, the spies all but vanished. Then, 45 pages from the last page, and with the end of the world threatening, I decided to call it a "Cold War drama" in hopes of covering all possible, further turns of the plot. Yet REALLY slowly developing "romance" may even be in the running, as the work's genre!
If the work's scenario is confusing when condensed, by a coup of masterly writing Crowley leads us through it quite effectively. For instance, the introductory sequence of perhaps five chapters flows quite smoothly - but subject to certain then-unresolved mysteries, and despite leaps between the American era of John F. Kennedy and the post-Communist era of Russia.
In the second paragraph of this review the words, "the consistent protagonist", refer to the way this story maintains Kit Malone's point of view (POV). In contrast, many another third-person tale's POV jumps about from character to character like the proverbial flea on a hot griddle, until the reader doesn't know who is who or with whom to identify. Crowley deserves credit for maintaining a perspective that's stable in that regard, despite his frequent temporal leaps which turn out to be largely limited to Part I. Although it isn't Kit who narrates the story, in essence we are constantly immersed in her thought patterns.
Crowley, or perhaps his editor, is less consistent in handling dialogue spoken by "Rossians" in an English that's sometimes broken, sometimes perfectly mastered. To explain further to the non-linguists among us, a wellknown imparity between the two languages is that the Russian tongue lacks grammatical articles equivalent to "the", "a", and "an"; its habitual speakers thus tend to omit such articles when essaying other languages. The same may or may not apply to the pronouns he, she, it; for, at least in our cliche'd North American view, those too are dropped in Russian speech. "Is Rossian tenk" might be our pseudo-Russian way to say, "It's a Russian tank." In a day when word-processing programs are in common use, a computer could have scanned a digitized "manuscript" and automatically picked out, even corrected such inconsistencies.
I also notice an absence of representations of mispronounced words, such as might have aided Crowley's character-building efforts and lent his work more authenticity. In all this I intend no slight, however, upon Russians. Who does not mangle a foreign language while still in the process of learning it?
On pages 50-51 in Chapter 6, Crowley has the Russian poet Falin teach his class (including Kit) about English poet A. E. Housman's strikingly simple yet elegant and evocative verses by quoting from, I think, the famed collection, "A Shropshire Lad". His sample poem is that lovely one about cherry trees in blossom. I enjoy/admire the works of many poets, but I LOVE most of Housman's! They are deeply affecting, but not affected.
In the bad old days of the Cold War, mysterious assassinations may have been regular fare on both sides of the Iron Curtain. When fugitive Russian poet Falin's car is pulled from an American river in flood, but no trace of a body is found, it seems to have been merely par for the course - just another atrocity that especially the presumably dead man's admirers in Russia must put up with, during the Sixties. They will have questions to ask some better day, though, as emerges in the Nineties. This we know already in the book's first dozen pages, but no further light is shed on Falin's fate until nearly the very end of Crowley's book.
Let's see whether I can make sense of the story's jumpy timeline, then, in this condensed discussion ...
In one flash-forward to the 90s we learn that, back in time during the Cold War, Kit had included within her own book her translations of several of the vanished Russian's works - full stop! [Notice the complications of writing about another writer's (Crowley's) writings about yet another writer (Kit), who has appropriated the writings of still ANOTHER writer (Falin) - the one blessing being that none of us writes about "writer's block" - a usual resort of authors writing about writers. Anyway, reasonably short, manageable sentences are my only solution.]
Crowley says that much in Part I, even though Kit will become an assistant translator only in Part II - full stop! That is, this news seems to arrive before the fact which it describes has been accomplished.
In fact, Kit's versions of Falin's works were the only forms to survive, for the USSR's Khruschev regime had evidently obliterated his Russian-language originals.
Thus, in the much freer Nineties, Kit is invited to visit for a discussion on Falin to be held in Russia. She feels morally obliged to attend, almost as if summoned.
Author John Crowley is capable of a fine Literary style. At the beginning of Chapter 2 of this work he describes as follows Kit's airliner's arrival over St. Petersburg's (until recently Leningrad's) airport, near the Baltic Sea's Gulf of Finland: "Christa Malone's plane descended out of the clear desert air [above the clouds,] and was clothed again in clammy batting; came down through the ceiling [as it were] into the house. There a light rain was falling; steely ocean, colorless heaped-up city, air of tears ..." Perhaps the entire book really does merit being genre-tagged "Literary". At what point, though, is (say) an adventure not an adventure because it is capital-L "Literature"? That distinction is too fine for me, as a non-expert, to call.
Still less certain is whether to call this novel "historical", a genre term I for a while tried on for size.
In dealing with recent history, subjective feelings can be evoked. I for one face a question of whether I myself have become "historical", together with that era? Too, does history begin one second ago - in which case you, too, are merely "historical" ... or, if not, then just when in the never-ending march of time does the historicity transition occur?
I consider the era of the Cuban missile crisis and, say, the fall of Dien Bien Phu to be recent history - but yes, certainly historical; whereas - again, to me - the 1990s are still of the current era. The result is that Crowley's novel seems (to me) historical when it delves into the Sixties, but nearly current-day when it leaps forward into the Nineties. To handle such issues, I now often wish I'd studies Arts instead of Engineering!
At the outset, those leaps into and out of the historical period had me labelling Crowley's 2002 release "semi-historical", but I gave that idea up when Part II essentially settled down, as if to stay in the 1960s.
Kit "gets a crush on" her teacher Falin, and in her obsession takes to surreptitiously shadowing him - as shown in the dust-jacket photo - of which activity he is perfectly aware, having been shadowed by the best, in his time. He calls her bluff, and as their conversation verges upon personal as opposed to literary territory, Kit drops certain answers to us - not to Falin - concerning her onetime pregnancy. As usual, though, I mustn't spoil an author's mysteries by revealing their solutions.
For me, Kit's instructions at the beginning of Part I, Chapter 10 on how to kill oneself are too horrifying to read. If you're similarly squeamish (and some are more so, e.g., not donating blood despite good health), or if you're suicidal, just jump straight from page 97 to 100.
By page 110, and about 37% (or 3/8ths) of the way through the volume, I found myself wondering whether and when the novel's title translator will EVER materialize?
To do that kind of work you need both training in a second tongue, and education in its accompanying culture - in this case evidently Russian. Before Part II, there is no sign of that's actually happening except for the merely tangential circumstance that Kit studies English poetry under a native Russian.
What happens instead, late in Part I, is that Kit's dear brother Ben, who at the end of his army gig had re-enlisted in the supposedly peacekeeping Special Forces or Green Berets, is officially reported as accidentally killed during routine training in the Philippines - but rumour (which seems to stand up) has it that Green Berets were in fact clandestinely fighting in Vietnam and, whenever they were killed and their bodies could be retrieved, they were shipped home via the Philippines with "training accidents" for cover stories.
To have been lied to, ontop of losing Ben, disturbs the family still more, although supposedly those lies soothed world as well as U.S. opinion.
We seem firmly moored in the 60s, then, when Kit, still grieving her dead brother, has another encounter with Falin. He tells his own life story, a horrific tale of Russian children, like himself, lost by the million through the Great War (WW I), revolutionary upheaval, civil war, retribution, pestilence, and other often unimaginable adversities; children unsheltered, comfortless, untutored and unfed, either surviving by theft, or else dying in silence in the streets.
Then suddenly on page 124 there is a gap between paragraphs, and a different Russian man takes up much the same story, but now in the 1990s - yet mentioning happenings in the year 1927. Oh, well - hop, hop, hop!
Around this point in the book, we comprehend that Falin wrote some (or many?) of his poems about those lost Russian children, such as himself. I infer it may have been for this reason that he became persona non grata in his own land, and had his poems confiscated and destroyed, all as a matter of an embarrassed and brutal state's policy. We may even speculate that Falin has been - or should that read "will be?", given the numerous leaps of the timeline? - killed by Russian agents to prevent his recalling and rewriting those works whilst in exile ... or will the assassin (if assassinated Falin in fact is) prove to be American? Once the book seems unmasked as in some slight degree a spy thriller, anything seems possible.
We're ahead of ourselves here, though. Until we catch up, I'll play this tale for the calm affair it first seems.
Part I ends on page 145. Early in Part II, which proves to be set nearly entirely in the Sixties, Kit decides to study Russian by taking a summer course that seemingly is supported by the U.S. Dept. of Defense, given at an institution located conveniently close to her university. At last, then, we seem to have got onto track for her translator status.
Kit has deviously brought her bike from home to go calling on Falin, who has not yet disappeared and is irresistible to her. He is not her Russian instructor, but she will learn much Russian from him.
Don't expect a hormone-drenched tale of flaming romance and lust, however; even alone at his place (but for an almost immobilized landlady who stays in her own part of the house), their conversation chastely centres upon poetry, poets, and the Russian language and idiom.
Out driving in his car one day, they see a distant prospect of farm buildings; the word "silos" arises, and they both think of the Cold War missile silos buried underground not far to westward, and of the fact that Americans were the only ones - true even today - ever to have dropped The Bomb on enemies.
In English, Falin shows Kit an example of the great problem of understanding the Russian idiom; in his poem "1937" he tells of a son who follows in his father's footsteps by being ever prepared for his potential midnight arrest. Within that poem is the line, "Some smoke of the northland, known to him and me;" that is, to both father and son. Falin points out undertones a non-Russian wouldn't catch, but a Russian would: that Northland was a popular cigarette smoked by both men, while "smoke of the northland" can also refer to the chimney smoke of prison camps in the far north. How could such innocents as we ever guess such things? How could we find apt equivalents in English, particularly if we hadn't seen the hidden references to begin with?
Nonetheless, Falin goes on to ask Kit's help in translating his poems to English - not that she knows his language to any useful degree, but that she has written expressive poems of her own, in English; it is obvious that she can help greatly to form his poems' new versions.
What he proposes, then, is his close collaboration as a Russian specialist with her as an English specialist, to create the same results as one able poet might who had a sure mastery of both tongues. That means closeness, but Kit's sexual fascination seems to have waned, while he has never really shown any (keeping it in mind also that, the book being written from her POV, we don't know what secret thoughts occur to him.)
For instance, the common Russian term for a black police car, "raven" in translation, might equate to "paddy wagon" in English - but that is unsuitable to the poet because of its ridiculous Keystone Cops overtones; the team therefore agrees on "black maria". (Incidentally, the same French term is literally translated into English as "salad basket"!)
Such negotiations and joint decisions continue evening after evening, page after page, in a dispassionate fashion, relaxed but with neither poet pursuing the other except to find just the right words.
At last Kit offers herself to Falin, but is rejected. Ouch! Then he leaves on some sort of trip, asking Kit to feed the cats, etc., in his absence.
On page 175 a common Americanism occurs that always jars me, particularly in a generally Literary novel and when placed in the supposedly expert mouth of a poet and linguist. It is an error in English if not American syntax, so blatant and basic that even Kit's Russian interlocutor must have winced. She tells him, "Well I bet I actually can fail pretty good." That whole miserable sentence is of course colloquial, but mere colloquialisms are accepted in quoted speech. The problem is that, outside the U.S., the use of the adjective "good" to replace the adverb "well" is practically never seen except in only semi-literate sports and crime reports. (An American dictionary indicates that the adverbial "well" does in fact exist in the United States.)
Far more importantly, with Falin away, when Kit drops in to feed the cats a U.S. government agent enters Falin's premises to snoop. The agent is, moreover, in league with Kit's university dean. By page 225 Kit is horrified to find herself plunged into a dangerous world she'd scarcely dreamed of; a broth of duplicity, covert surveillance, veiled threats, and assorted secret agents. Even one of Kit's close friends seems to be such.
Falin returns, but by now doubts have been cast on him and so he decides that in the new circumstances they must part. There now seems scarcely anyone short of Kit's distant parents whom she can trust ... but this dramatic climax seems to fade away and be replaced by the universally felt (for the real likelihood of the mass extinction of life on Earth now looms) tension of the Cuban missile crisis. In this exigency - the Cold War is threatening to become very hot indeed - Kit and Falin reunite.
It was in part a time for gallows humour. A girlfriend tells Kit about the Russian medium-range ballistic missiles, MRBMs, going into Cuba. "... And they could reach as far as Washington and Indianapolis ... We'd lose Indianapolis[!]"
More to the point, with the world's end in view Kit at last gets the love affair she's wanted with Falin. In the morning, though, she awakens to hear him ending a telephone conversation in Russian. While reassuring her that this is not the end, he tells her he must go, but that whatever people expect, he will return to her - and then, taking the Russian versions of his poems with him, he drives away.
In the meantime, the danger of all-out war escalates farther over two widely separated U-2 spyplane incidents, one grave because the US aircraft was shot down over Cuba and its pilot killed, the other perhaps even graver because it has occurred in Soviet airspace with US nuclear air-to-air missiles being deployed, although their firing is just averted.
A student march to support Cuba places Kit before a TV on which Falin's car is seen being winched out of the water. Thus after 255 pages, the action first mentioned on page 11 is completed. In the remaining 29 pages, we can hope at last to learn Falin's fate.
In fact we don't learn it except abstractly, even metaphysically, during a last 30-year flash-forward. Back on her Russian visit in the Nineties, Kit sees a street urchin who bears Falin's first name, and finds an acceptance concerning Falin's end that's too complex to explain here.
The murder of Kennedy about a year after the Cuban crisis is seen in this book as an atonement.
Kit makes one try (I don't know in what year) at telephoning the onetime lad who'd deflowered and impregnated her, years earlier - he has been of no other account to speak of, in the book - but she gives it up at the mention of his new house, his wife, and his baby.
A memorial to those lost in Vietnam is raised in Washington, but without honouring Kit's brother Ben, who "wasn't really of the Vietnam era"; in other words, Ben's supreme sacrifice hasn't quite counted because it had occurred while his country was in denial.
Kit herself has married and given birth to a family, so garnering perhaps as much happiness as anyone has much right to expect.
The end.
Pete Hodgins Sr.
Reviewer

## Peter's Bookshelf

Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed In A Noisy World
Shel Horowitz
Chelsea Green Publishing
Post Office Box 428, White River Junction, VT 05001
ISBN 1890132683, $22.95, (800) 639-4099, http://www.chelseagreen.com
Grassroots Marketing is a great book for small business owners who want to improve their company's marketing and do so inexpensively. The book surveys nearly every marketing method known to man.
Horowitz says that the average U.S. adult is exposed to about 2,000 marketing messages each day. So, entrepreneurs really need to make their message stand out from the crowd. Further, Horowitz argues that the average small business, individual, or organization needs to market very inexpensively.
Horowitz summarizes marketing as: 1) Identifying your target market; 2) Getting the right information and message to your market; and 3) Convincing the target customer to do business with your company.
Horowitz discusses:
- Choosing a company name and how the name impacts marketing
- Designing logos
- Writing press releases
- Writing professional articles to market your business
- Using Yellow Page ads effectively
- Direct mail: when it's effective and when it's not
- Bumper stickers and billboards
- Radio and TV advertising via free publicity
- Internet marketing and getting listed on search engines
- Affiliate marketing
- Telemarketing
- Personal sales and mulitlevel marketing
- Word-of-mouth referrals and networking to get them
- Branding and creating 'buzz'
The chapter about effective copyrighting is especially strong. Horowitz expands the basic AIDA formula (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) into ten points of effective copywriting.
Horowitz writes: "Great Copywriting:
1. Catches the reader's attention with something relevant;
2. Addresses the reader's fears, anxieties, and/or aspirations;
3. Stresses specific benefits to the user, not the features that leads to those benefits;
4. Offers to solve the reader's problem, in the most specific terms possible;
5. Provides the reader with a chance to acquire something of clear value-but only for a limited time;
6. Pulls the reader toward immediate action;
7. Shows the consequences of failure to act;
8. Includes solid, substantial validation of your claim by someone else ( a customer, an expert);
9. Backs up claims with comparisons to competitors; and
10. This should be obvious-provides the necessary order form, address, and/or telephone number to allow the reader to move forward."
The strength of the chapter about writing effective copy isn't surprising, given that Horowitz is a professional copywriter who helps companies develop advertising (http://www.frugalmarketing.com). Horowitz also helps entrepreneurs plan marketing and publicity campaigns.
Grassroots Marketing gives many resources throughout. Not every marketing method discussed in Grassroots Marketing will be appropriate for your company. For example, while a plumber will benefit greatly from a Yellow Page Ad (Horowitz says that people tend to consult the Yellow Pages during emergencies among other occasions), other entrepreneurs will benefit more from direct mail. And, while Horowitz says that balloons with logos are best used to draw people to events, financial advisors will probably not want to place their business logo on balloons.
Tapping Into Wireless: The Savvy Investor's Guide To Profiting From The Wireless Wave
Tom Taulli and Dave Mock
McGraw-Hill
P.O. Box 182604, Columbus, OH 43272
ISBN 0071384197, $27.95, Hardcover., http://www.mcgraw-hill.com/, 1-877-833-5524
Tapping Into Wireless is written for those who want to invest in the high-growth area of wireless telecommunications. Entrepreneurs entering the wireless industry and people interested in learning more about the world of wireless will also benefit by reading this book.
Tapping Into Wireless begins with a chapter about the history of wireless technology. Taulli and Mock say we can understand the how's and why's of the industry by learning a bit about the history of wireless. This will help us make better investment decisions today.
After telling us about the advent of the telegraph and the early adventures to lay transatlantic cable to allow continent-to-continent communication, Taulli and Mock discuss Gugielmo Marconi's development of the radio and the growth of amateur radio.
Surprisingly, nearly 100 years ago, many people imagined that wireless would become the dominant personal communication device. Because of the ability of waves travelling through air to reach any location and the expense of laying cable from every point to every point, it seemed logical that person-to-person communication would be radio-based, not cable-based.
Yet, only recently have wireless personal communications become a consumer reality. Taulli and Mock explain that the wireless future had to wait until electronic advances allowed compact and reliable wireless devices.
That didn't stop early promoters of wireless from starting companies promising a bright future and guaranteeing huge investment returns. Taulli and Mock discuss the wireless telegraph investment bubble of the early 1900's.
Taulli and Mock write: "Unscrupulous stock promoters exaggerated this theoretical advantage of radio way beyond reason at the time....it demonstrates what can happen when a revolutionary technology emerges in a capitalist society. Truly, there was a very real and promising industry in wireless telegraphy and telephony; it only needed more time to develop. The problems with stock scams at this time actually had more to do with corrupt financiers than with the radio industry...." Eventually, government regulators shut down the fraudulent companies.
Taulli and Mock explain a successful investor in technology must distinguish hype from reality. This doesn't imply the need to have an engineer's level of understanding of wireless technology.
Taulli and Mock write: "...knowledge of wireless technology may not be a significant advantage for the investor. The technology buffs who have the inside scoop on how all this stuff works often make no better investment choices than those who are clueless in this area."
The authors explain that too many other factors affect wireless investments, including government regulation, politics, communication standards adoptions, buy-in from industry leaders, intellectual property management, and consumer taste.
For example, Taulli and Mock tell us that, as radio grew in America, the U.S. government felt a foreign corporation shouldn't control the airwaves, so the U.S. government put pressure on Marconi to sell its U.S. radio interests to an American-based company. Overnight, G.E. and RCA became the dominant radio companies in America. By this example, the authors alert wireless investors to the politics and regulations affecting their investments.
We also learn about the formation of the Federal Communications Commission to manage the frequencies available to radio. Because unregulated use of the airwaves led to overlapping signals as multiple users tried to communicate on the same frequency, the government decided it should regulate the spectrum of available frequencies. The FCC decided it would own the air frequencies and auction off the rights to broadcast on various parts of the electromagnetic spectrum in various geographical regions.
Taulli and Mock tell us that, in 2001, the FCC earned nearly $17 billion from spectrum auctions. Further, the authors say the U.S. government will earn even more through such auctions in the future. (I've heard of entrepreneurs and investors buying auctioned airwave rights and reselling them for a profit. In one case, I believe a $100,000 investment earned a few tens of millions of dollars. So, some people have literally become rich by legally buying and reselling thin air!)
In a chapter about investing in wireless network operators (i.e., the companies that provide access to wireless communication), Taulli and Mock tell us that spectrum licenses are an important investment metric (POPs).
Taulli and Mock write: "Licensed POP's include the population covered by spectrum licenses. If a service provider has a license to 10 MHz of spectrum in Atlanta, Georgia, then the population of this area is included in its figure for licensed POPs... . The owning of rights to spectrum is basically wireless real estate... ."
Taulli and Mock cover many other important investment measurements when evaluating wireless network providers, such as revenue per user, customer turnover, and the average cost to add a new customer.
Wireless network providers aren't the only way to profit by investing in wireless. Other chapters of Tapping Into Wireless discuss wireless IPO's, investing in wireless equipment and component manufacturers, mutual funds that invest in telecommunications, ways to invest in foreign wireless companies, and knowing when to sell a telecommunications stock. Angel investors will find the chapter about investing in smaller, private, wireless companies valuable.
Entrepreneurs will especially enjoy the chapter about wireless enterprise solutions. Basically, "enterprise solutions" involve helping companies use technology to become more efficient or to do things in new ways. Such enterprise-solution companies usually don't provide wireless network access nor manufacture components. Rather, they usually develop database systems and computer code allowing a company to use wireless devices in a productive way.
Taulli and Mock point out that wireless access to the Internet will create huge opportunities for entrepreneurs and those who provide wireless enterprise solutions.
Taulli and Mock write: "The combination of wireless capabilities with the resources available on the Internet has every entrepreneur chomping at the bit to develop something hundreds of millions of cellular phone owners would pay to have....The merging of the Internet and wireless communications has tremendous potential to change the lives and cultures of people around the globe... Not only do we have a global network that stores vast amounts of information at various nodes, we also have the capability to access one of those nodes from virtually anywhere on the planet."
Peter Hupalo
Reviewer

## David's Bookshelf

Reclaim Your Life
Jim Donovan
Lahaska Publishing
ISBN: 0-96505348-2, $9.95, www.lahaskapublishing.com.
Simple wisdom in a pocket-sized package -- that's Reclaim Your Life by Jim Donovan. There are no surprises and no gimmicks, just plain honest wisdom. If you seek something new that you have never heard of, this is not the book for you. If you seek a handy little reminder of the timeless truths that somehow get lost in the hustle and bustle of everyday stress and panic to get out the door and try to catch the bus so you won't be late for work where that pile of paper is threatening to fall off your desk and cause a workplace injury Well, let's just say that if real life sometimes gets in your way, this book is an excellent reminder of where that way is.
In a slim 84 pages, Donovan offers us the opportunity to "claim our divine birth rite to have a life of peace, joy, happiness, excitement, health, love, prosperity, fun, passion and abundance." As I read Reclaim Your Life, I revisited most of the themes of my own book (a much larger volume focusing just on the "happiness" part).
I found myself nodding my head to the beat. No, I haven't switched to a music review -- books have beats, too. The good ones, the ones that help reveal the truths we hold inside, often cause our heads to nod to their beats.
Let me leave you with one "beat" that caused my head to nod: "Whatever the passion within you, let it out. Life is too fragile and uncertain to postpone your dreams, hoping that 'someday, I'll really begin to live my life.'"
If you are serious about your life, I recommend this book for light, but serious, reading.
Harkening: A Collection Of Stories Remembered
Carolyn Howard-Johnson
PublishAmerica/AmErica House Publishing
PO Box 151, Frederick, MD 21705-0151
ISBN: 1-59129-550-5, $19.95, www.publishamerica.com
Carolyn Howard-Johnson's latest wonder arrived in my mailbox just when I was already trying to squeeze 30-hour days into my paltry 24. But how could I let something from such a gifted writer just sit there? Carolyn Howard-Johnson writes like an onion with each layer she peels craftily coaxing tears from her readers' eyes.
Harkening is one such tear-jerker -- a collection of Depression era tales from her mother's childhood and memories of her own. Some sad, some happy, all heartwarming.
There is something eerie about this book, something that keeps the reader off balance. It is clearly an autobiography, both of Howard-Johnson and of her mother. It says as much up front: "Stories can easily lose themselves without a teller-of-stories to keep them alive. A family needs a bard."
But sometimes I get the feeling that this book may be as much fiction as reality -- like the feeling some people get that they are outside themselves watching their comings and goings from afar. Two quotations she places up front lend credence to my theory.
And some of her tales are clearly not autobiographical or are they? Well, the names seem to change and she writes some in the third person, but maybe they are autobiographical just the same. I so dearly wanted to ask the author. But I held back so as to take the stories at face value, just as you, dear reader, will when you get the chance.
Harkening -- or at least some of the tales in Harkening -- picks up where This Is The Place left off. (If you have not yet read This Is The Place, I highly recommend it.) There are moments of triumph. There are scenes of tension. Many of the stories are seen through the eyes of a child, through the innocence of youth, and through superb, descriptive writing that makes the reader feel like he is there in the story.
Howard-Johnson finally reveals the source of her magical writing skills when she calls her mother "The most avid of these story-tellers."
If I could describe Harkening in one word, it would be "captivating!" Enjoy every story.
David Leonhardt, Reviewer
http://www.TheHappyGuy.com

## Ninave's Bookshelf

A Shadow On The Glass: Book One, The View From The Mirror
Ian Irvine
Aspect Fantasy/Warner Books
1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
0446609846, $6.99 US, 654 pages including glossary
A Shadow On The Glass is the first installment of The View From The Mirror, a four volume series. In this part, we discover the world of Santhenar, a place where, long ago, four races converged to fight over a magical flute that opened the doorways between their worlds. At the apex of the final battle, the flute is lost, and the doorway between the worlds is closed forever. It is a world where these races live in uneasy peace, the wounds still not scabbed over, where Mancers fight each other for the one relic that might allow the way between the worlds to open again, where the ultimate evil lurks in his prison cell, waiting patiently to be free once more.
Llian of Zain is a student Chronicler who, at his graduation, tells a new version of The Histories, or the tales of the people on Santhenar. He has discovered papers that changes some of the key aspects of the final battle, and is bold enough to tell it. Any change in The Histories is bound to cause controversy, and Llian gets it in handfuls. One day he is a Master Chronicler, ready to take on the world with his great tale, the next he is stripped of his stipend and forced to fend for himself. His hunger to find out the truth of his tale, to forge a new masterwork, causes him even more trouble. His is expelled, but given one last chance to redeem himself. He is sent to find Karan of Bannador, to lead her and what she carried to Mendark the magister.
Karan is a sensitive - a blending of the races trapped on Santhenar. Her talent is that she can link with people's minds, feel the presence of people from a distance. Years ago she was captured and put into slavery, only to be freed by the enigmatic Maigraith. The price will come later, Maigraith assures her, and it does. Maigraith knows the secret of Karan's gift, and needs her to help her break into a unbreachable citadel, to gain a relic for her mistress. Karan is reluctant to leave her home, but her vow to repay Maigraith's past kindness binds her to the task.
The relic - a mirror that may be the only way to re-make the paths between the worlds, will become Karan and Llian's greatest burden. Drawn together, they run from their enemies - Karan trying to decide who is worthy enough, who is wise enough, to be the final possessors of the mirror, Llian trying to find the materials to write the greatest tale ever spoken.
I found the story fascinating . Irvine's strength is in his characters. Llian is sweet, intelligent, a little full of himself, but entirely wonderful to hang around with, even if he does make some grave, and sometimes somewhat frustrating, mistakes. Karan is practical, a good, resourceful heroine that manages to see them both through some truly terrifying situations. There's many interesting relationships. For example, Maigraith is torn between the duty to the cold Mancer who raised her and the strange affections she feels for the man who imprisoned her. Things like this should be interesting to watch as the series progresses. I also loved the settings - so different from our world, yet every once in awhile Irvine places a material or an item in - like rubber, or a house that sounds like nothing less than a dilapidated Victorian that, rather than stopping you, makes you feel even closer to the world and its inhabitants.
The next two books in the series, The Tower on the Rift and Dark is the Moon are already out. I would compare this series quite favorably with the works of George R.R. Martin and Terry Goodkind. I'm looking forward to finding out what happens next.
Black River
G.M. Ford
William Morrow
10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022
ISBN 0380978741, $23.95, 308 pages, http://www.harpercollins.com
Frank Corso is a former reporter and crime book writer who has long desired to see Nicholas Balagula behind bars. He has seen the best efforts of some of the brightest stars of the Attorney Generals Office try and fail to convict him twice. Now he is the only outsider allowed to sit in on the trail that has sparked so much public anger, on the third and last try. Balagula is said the be behind the collapse of a hospital which killed 63 people, most of them children. He allegedly made substantial cutbacks in the materials that went into the building which, when the San Andreas fault made a tiny shift that hardly anyone noticed, caused the building to topple like a house of cards. Balagula has long maintained his innocence, and anyone saying otherwise is effectively dealt with.
The book begins with an innovative twist. A pair of hit men are scouting out their mark, who, according to his schedule, is sitting inside his truck, about to go to work. They soon discover the man they're supposed to kill has already been shot. Instead of being happy, they decide that they have to earn their money by hiding the body and the truck according to plan. The truck is discovered months later, which happens to bring Meg Dougherty into the scene. She's Frank's ex-love, and a friend. When she is discovered in her own wrecked car, he suspects that someone may be after her. She's suffered terrible injuries, and he has to wait until she recovers before he can find out what she knows.
These interwoven plots make for a really exciting story. The trial, the hit men, and Meg are tangled together, and Frank's determination to figure out why makes for incredible reading. He admits to having a high morality, and so it makes sense that his love for her and his desire to see justice weigh equally in his motivations. He's a good character. A little quick tempered, but in a way that's a reliving factor, for the reader, rather than a detrimental flaw in the character. He's chivalrous and driven, and these attributes mixed in with the sort of wistfulness he feels for Meg make him immensely likable. Meg is another interesting character, despite her limited role. She has a very sad and unusual past...one of her ex-lovers, when she dumped him, drugged her and tattooed every inch of her body in an obscene act of revenge. This odd fact drew me to her more surely than her already sad fate, because one can not help but wonder how it would feel to live with a body permanently marked like that. This, along with her other character points, makes her an equally powerful character despite the fact she only has enough "on page" time to seem like a minor one, and infuses the actions of Frank, where they have to do with her, an air of credibility and chivalry.
I spent the whole day reading this book. It really drew me in, and kept me going. This is the second book Ford has written with Frank Corso as a character, the first is called Fury.
Ninave Lake
Reviewer

## Lowe's Bookshelf

Gun Shy, 2nd Edition
Lori L. Lake
Renaissance Alliance Publishing, Inc.
PMB 289, 8691 9th Ave., Port Arthur, Tx 77642
ISBN: 1930928432, $18.95, 396 pages; www.rapbooks.biz
Lake's Gun Shy is the story of two somewhat reluctant women who finally learn to believe in themselves and each other enough to commit to love. Covering just over a year in the lives of these women, the novel reads like a season's worth of episodes from a television show that lesbians might wish was on TV. The story opens with Desiree Reilly, a formidable cop over six feet tall with dark hair and startling blue eyes, capturing a pair of serial rapists and in the process saving two young women, Sara and JayLynn. It is a meeting that electrifies both JayLynn and Desiree. JayLynn Savage, a lesbian in her mid-20s, decides to become a police officer in order to get to know Desiree, the hero of her dreams, literally. Lake follows Savage through the academy and most of her rookie year on the St. Paul Police Department.
Gun Shy is also the story of Desiree who is struggling with the loss of her partner and good friend, Ryan. Early in her career Dez was a conquest for a rather superficial older female cop who apparently made a hobby of bedding young dyke officers. Hurt and embarrassed, Dez has made a rule not to date cops. Presumed by many of the other cops to be lesbian, Dez has rarely dated at all, let alone been seriously involved with a woman for almost eight years. Already known as the "Ice Queen" the tall and intimidating Dez has withdrawn even more since Ryan's death.
Reilly becomes Field Training Officer for Savage and the two women begin a long complicated dance toward friendship and love. Along the way, the bright and innovative, if diminutive Jay becomes a good police officer. She learns to develop her own attributes in her work, deals with the trauma her first shooting and the pries the elusive Dez out of her shell. Meanwhile Dez comes to grips with Ryan's death. Over the course of the year the partners learn a great deal about each other and themselves. And the reader learns about life as a patrol officer in St. Paul as well as being treated to an inside view of the world of amateur bodybuilding.
Gun Shy is an engaging, readable book. This second edition includes some editorial clean up that improves the flow of the novel and features new cover art. The characters are interesting and the action drew this reader into the story. Amusingly, Lake seems to have created two lesbians that are the antithesis of the standard u-haul joke. This reviewer was relieved when Jay and Dez finally got together! Overcoming the barriers to expressing their love is the theme of Gun Shy. The sequel, "Under the Gun" is due out this fall. It will be interesting to see how she depicts Jay and Dez as a couple. In the meantime, treat yourself to a copy of Gun Shy.
Coming Home
Lois Cloarec Hart
Renaissance Alliance Publishing, 2001
PMB 238, 8691 9th Ave, Port Arthur, Tx 77642
ISBN: 1930928505, $ 20.99, 380 pages, www.rapbooks.biz
Almost 25 years old and just finished with her Masters in English, Terry has taken a job with Canada Post delivering the mail. A job that she hopes will give her the time to think about and write her first novel. One day on her route, Terry is asked to help a woman lift her quadriplegic husband who has fallen. Terry is quite taken by Rob and Jan, and their respective attitudes toward dealing with Rob's advanced MS.
When Terry sees Jan at a local park a few days later, she strikes up a conversation with her. This is the beginning of a special friendship between Terry and Jan as well as Rob. For some 15 years, Terry learns, Jan has been taking care of Rob as his health increasingly declines. Jan's escape and comfort, during these years as a caregiver, are her books. She has a voracious appetite for reading a range of fiction genres. A mutual love of books becomes an important common ground for the two women.
Once an athletic hotshot pilot for the Canadian Air Force, Rob continues to maintain a deceptively lively attitude. A charming extrovert he enjoys the opportunities to socialize with Terry and her family. Rob's point of view is rarely known, although his personal history and tales of his exploits are often provided. This creates an interesting impression of Rob that reflects some of his distancing with life.
Intelligent, kind and generous, Terry can also have a quick temper that sometimes prompts her to speak without thinking. She is perhaps the most rounded character in a well depicted cast. Her point of view is prominent and her interactions with her two roommates and extensive family are followed over the course of almost a year. During that time, Terry comes to realize that her feelings for Jan are not entirely platonic. Meanwhile, Jan begins to acknowledge feelings that she's long ignored regarding her own orientation. Honorable, neither woman will betray their obligations or Rob's trust.
There's a popular saying that experience is what you get when you don't get what you want. Suffice it to say that Terry gets a great deal of experience over the course of Coming Home. Ordinarily, titles that deal with such a "lovers' triangle" do not appeal to this reviewer because of the amount of angst involved. Unsurprisingly, Coming Home has a great deal of that angst. However, it is also a very touching and well-told story. Hart has populated Coming Home with realistic, interesting characters and she provides a loving tribute to persons like Rob who struggle against diseases like MS and the caregivers that give them love, care and a dignified life. Furthermore there are some charming insights to living in Calgary, particularly its lesbian community. If you're in the mood for a good tear jerker, Coming Home is worth your while.
Slay Me Tender
Jenny Scholten
New Victoria Publishers
P. O. Box 27 Norwich, VT 05055
ISBN: 1892281155, $ 11.95, 2001, 216 pp.
Twenty five years old, Aubrey is worried about how much longer she can work as an exotic dancer. Her knees are aching and her breasts are sagging. Actually, Aubrey claims they've always sagged. Nevertheless, this awareness of the vulnerability of her likelihood to her physique and the extreme measures other dancers go to, particularly in regard to breast enhancements, are central themes to Slay Me Tender. The novel opens with Naughtylands weekly feature dancer (usually porn stars from out of town), Plushious Velvett, complaining to Aubrey about the hardening the stars very large breast implants. When Plushious disappears, leaving part of her wardrobe and fails to appear at her next scheduled club, Aubrey's natural curiosity gets peaked. Then she finds a gun, dark poems written by Plushious and what appears to be a bloody breast implant in the building where Plushious was staying, Aubrey can't help but start looking into the disappearance.
Scholten portrays the colorful and seamy aspects of the housing shortage in San Francisco and the gentrification of the infamous Tenderloin district with amusing detail. Her strengths are her characters and sense of humor, particularly irony. Aubrey shares a flat with four other people. Its a wonderful, motley group. There's Vivian who is working on her thesis and exploring non-monogamy much to the strain of her relationship with the quiet Zan. There's the beautiful and vibrant artist, Geoffrey who is "tri-sexual" (as in he'll try anything sexual) as well as his current, and frequently present, boyfriend, Gregor-with-the-red-Renault-convertible. And finally, there is shy, neurotic and modest Hugh. With his photographic memory Hugh provides most of the roommates with some fashion accessories from thrift store where he works and looks after everyone including Aubrey's cat, Hodge. Added to Aubrey's regular roommates are the feature dancers who are temporarily staying at Aubrey's place (along with their manager or body guard or girlfriend, etc.). These are just a few of the amusing, yet realistic and compassionately drawn characters in Slay Me Tender.
A fiercely independent young woman of Southern white trash ancestry, Aubrey continues to be ambivalent about her job. She defends the choice of employment. "With what other job could a history major without computer skills make three hundred dollars a day? (page 26) When a roommate makes disparaging comments about "those women," she points out that she is a worker in the sex industry. Yet Aubrey is realistic about the potential problems of the job. She worries about how long much longer her body will be "profitable" as a dancer, and the possible dangers of overly friendly customers. She carefully avoids being in debt to the older police officer who is a regular at Naughtyland. Yet she is a constant witness to the victims of the industrys "victimless crimes."
At one point, Aubrey is surprised at her own stereotyping of customers' wives. She realizes that her assumptions are a "buying into the systems" view of these women. Aubreys willingness to self examine, makes her character more attractive. Scholten's sardonic humor takes the bitter edge off the futility of the situation for the residents and workers of the Tenderloin. Despite a range of offers, Aubrey, ironically continues her life of celibacy, futher disrupting those annoying stereotypes of exotic dancers.
This second Aubrey Lyle mystery is better than the first. The plot flows more smoothly. Scholten creates an interesting hybrid mystery. Her characters and plots have a very traditional amateur sleuth mystery quality. However, her focus on the sex industry and related organized crime are subject matter that is far more typical of "hard boiled" noir detective mysteries. She even manages to incorporate an almost slapstick car chase scene. This combination works for Scholten and makes for often amusing and occasionally provocative reading. I will be looking forward to further developments in Aubrey's world.
MJ Lowe
Reviewer

## Paul's Bookshelf

Al-Jazeera
Mohammed El-Nawawy and Adel Iskandar,
Westview Press
5500 Central Avenue, Boulder, CO 80301), 2002,
ISBN 0813340179, $24.00, 228 pages, http://www.westviewpress.com
Al-Jazeera is the all-Arabic TV news channel which burst on to the international scene in the wake of September 11 and the war in Afghanistan. Its unfettered access to that country during the war and its showing of the bin Laden tapes made it an automatic force on the world stage.
Based in the Gulf state of Qatar, it came from the remnants of the BBC Arabic TV service. With the help of startup money from the Emir of Qatar, Al-Jazeera was to have complete editorial independence.
In a part of the world where the press is usually government controlled, Al-Jazeera is not afraid to get specific and name names. At one time or another, it has been criticized or condemned by seemingly every government in the Arab world, for broadcasting things that the local government would prefer not be broadcast. Every local editorial of condemnation and every denial of press credentials to Al-Jazeera reporters just increases its audience all over the world by satellite.
One of the things that Al-Jazeera is most known for is its talk shows, especially a nightly, two-hour show called The Opposite Direction. Two guests appear on the show, with totally opposite opinions on a certain issue, and with help from live phone calls, the sparks fly. Even by American TV standards, things get pretty loud and lively. Arab governments have noticed, and have begun imitating the format on their tame and boring government TV channels.
Even though Al-Jazeera is an Arab TV channel, it has tried very hard to be impartial, hosting members of the Bush Administration, after September 11, and government officials from Israel.
For those who want to decide for themselves if Al-Jazeera is a legitimate news broadcaster or a terrorist mouthpiece, this book is highly recommended. It's comprehensive, clearly written and is quite enlightening.
Stardoc
S.L. Viehl
Roc Books
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
ISBN 0451457730, 394 pages, $6.99, http://www.penguinputnam.com
Cherijo Grey Veil is a brilliant Earth doctor who, to escape a domineering father, accepts a position at the FreeClinic on the planet Kevarzangia Two, about as far away as one can get. It's inhabited by over 200 species who live in separate colonies, and only a tiny fraction of them are humanoid.
From the moment she arrives, she has to prove herself with each and every patient. She experiences the egos and varying levels of competence among the staff inherent in any hospital. The equipment is in desperate need of replacement because the home worlds of the planet's inhabitants are not very sympathetic.
Cherijo meets, and falls for, a Jorenian, a tall blue humanoid, named Kao Jorin. They bond (get married) and she becomes an official part of the Clan.
One day, a person comes to the Clinic with symptoms resembling tuberculosis. According to their medical tests, there's no germ involved, no virus, nothing. Cherijo wants to declare a quarantine, but Dr. Mayer, the Chief of Staff, says no without something more specific to go on. A quarantine is declared after it becomes a full-scale epidemic, with hundreds dying of this disease that isn't really a disease, and Cherijo is the only one on staff not affected. Kao Jorin, Cherijo's mate, is among the dead.
Her father, who hasn't stopped trying to bring her back to Earth, puts enough pressure on the League of Worlds to have Cherijo relieved of her position at the FreeClinic and returned to Earth, sedated and restrained if necessary. Just before that is to happen, she is rescued by other members of Kao's Clan and taken aboard their ship. The League wants her back real bad, and the Jorenians are just as determined to not give her back.
This one is really good. The best part of this novel is that the aliens are really alien, and not just humanoids with strange skin coloring. It certainly feels like a worthy successor to James White's Sector General series. There's a good story here, too. It's worth reading.
The Perseids And Other Stories
Robert Charles Wilson
Tor Books
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
ISBN 0312873743, 2000, $12.95, 224 pages, http://www.tor.com
This group of speculative fiction stories take place in, and around, the city of Toronto, Canada.
An amateur astronomer buys a telescope at a local shop, and starts dating the female sales clerk. With a little hallucinogenic help, what starts as a relationship story turns into a tale of the next stage of human evolution. In 1950s California, young girl who claims to have been visited by aliens and is spending the summer with an uncle has a strange encounter with astronomer Edwin Hubble. Another story is about an ever-changing group of friends who get together for some intellectual conversation. One person says, "Invent a religion."
A writer of New Age books has a genuine encounter with the extraordinary, courtesy of a mirror that shows very interesting things to those who stand in front of it. In another story, a man speculates a being as far above humans as we are above a house cat among us right now, but we wouldn't know it. At a local used bookstore called Finders (locale for several of these stories) the man bought a rock as a paperweight. It's actually a scrying rock, which lets the holder of the rock see into their future.
I loved these stories. They could be set in any large city, they're sort of like Twilight Zone stories (a mixture of fantasy, science fiction and horror), and they are very thought-provoking. Wilson is one of my favorite science fiction writers, so I don't claim to be totally unbiased, but this is highly recommended.
Paul Lappen
Reviewer

## Shelley's Bookshelf

Trace Their Shadows
Ann Turner Cook
iUniverse.com, Inc.
5220 S. 16th St., Suite 200, Lincoln, NE 68512
ISBN: 0595204104, $16.95 US/$27.95 CAN, GOTOBUTTON BM_1_ www.iuniverse.com
Ann Turner Cook was one of the celebrated Gerber babies at the beginning of her life. She is presently a retired English teacher, living in Central Florida, where she researches for her mystery writing with her husband. She acted as an emissary for the Gerber Company and has made several guest appearances on national talk and news shows, including The Today Show; Good Morning, America; Entertainment Tonight; Sally Jesse Raphael; and the Rosie O'Donnell Show. She is just as cute now as she was as a Gerber baby.
Brandy O'Bannon is trying to save her job with the Tavares Beacon by writing an interesting feature article for her editor, Mr. Tyler. It concerns an old mansion that is decaying and about to be sold to a developer. Brookfield Able bequeathed the old mansion to his sister Sylvania, with the understanding that she could sell it if she so desired. There are rumors that the mansion is haunted, and the tale of a bizarre drowning forty-five years ago adds to the mystery. Brandy enlists the aid of Sylvania's grand-nephew, architect John Able, to gain access to Sylvania and the mansion's sad and eerie history. John and Brandy connect after sharing life-threatening experiences as they "look around" the mansion for artifacts and find human remains:
"At the same instant, the moccasin's fangs sank into John's hand. She gave a sob, sprang out of the boat, and rushed toward John as the moccasin drew back and slid over the edge of the pier into the water. John had dropped to his knees, supporting his wounded arm with the other hand."
Ann Turner Cook's twenty-six years of teaching high school literature shines through in her writing. The plot is first-rate; characters are people who are easy to relate to and care about; the action is nonstop; and the denouement is excellent. Ms. Cook intertwines a sad but wonderful ghost story into her plot, which keeps the reader guessing from page one until the delightful finale. I got totally caught up in her tale and couldn't put the book down! I personally wish I could have experienced Ann T. Cook's teaching, because I'll bet she was a superb teacher. Trace Their Shadows is an entertaining mystery and ghost story that can't help but please.
The Law Of Falling Bodies
Edmund X. DeJesus
iUniverse.com, Inc.
5220 S. 16th St., 200, Lincoln, NE 68512
ISBN: 0595202004, $17.95 US/$29.95 CAN, GOTOBUTTON BM_1_ www.iuniverse.com
Edmund X. DeJesus is a native of Cranston, Rhode Island. He holds a B.S. in Mathematics, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Physics. He has taught at Middle Tennessee State University and Boston University, has worked as a programmer, a researcher, and an editor of BYTE magazine. He is currently a freelance writer, and The Law Of Falling Bodies is his premiere mystery.
Mark Napoli is a physics graduate student at a fictitious university somewhere in New England in the 1970's. The law of the land is that professors rule on high, with graduate students acting as their minions, whom they may or may not enlighten with enough of an education to eventually gain their Ph.D.'s. Of course the system is rife for corruption, and a particularly nasty professor, by the name of Speen (whom we can't help but think of as Professor Spleen) is found murdered, his body apparently tossed from either the roof or a window of the physics building.
Mark is instantly interviewed by the police, and uses his genius to help them solve the crime (beginning with a physics demonstration to Mark's newest crush, Lt. Rachel Trask, of why Spleen had to have been launched out a window):
"'The roof overhangs the building by seven and a half feet,' I began. 'Speen's body, the center of it, was only three and a half feet from the building. The head was even closer, but that may not matter. It is impossible for the body to have fallen inward, toward the building, from the edge of the roof. So any witness who says that's what happened is lying. Speen couldn't have been out on that roof at all.'"
DeJesus launches an intensely funny, poignant, and entertaining first mystery. Mark Napoli is one of the sweetest heroes this reviewer has come across. He is engaging in his eccentric genius, fantasy love life state, and the reader is cheering for him every step of the way. DeJesus' description of academic life with its misfit characters is accurate and hilarious. The Law Of Falling Bodies begs for a sequel from an immensely talented first-time author. This book is a great read, with lots of thrills and spills; a surprise denouement; and a bittersweet conclusion.
The Jericho Flower
Stephen F. Wilcox
Mystery and Suspense Press/iUniverse.com, Inc.
5220 S. 16th St., Suite 200, Lincoln, NE 68512
ISBN: 0595215092, $18.95
A former newspaperman, Stephen F. Wilcox now runs an online newspaper, The Wilcox Gazette. His prior novels, The Twenty-Acre Plot and The Painted Lady, drew rave reviews from the likes the the San Francisco Chronicle and Publishers Weekly. Niagra Fall precedes The Jericho Flower, and all books seethe with murderous plots, quick wit, and rapacious humor.
Elias Hackshaw has a talent for stumbling onto murder. In this fourth installment, he happens upon a dead con man, a missing gypsy princess (named Bimbo Wanka, which brings to mind a picture of Gene Wilder, crazy-eyed and ranting in the chocolate factory), a former high school crush, a jealous cop, and his own unique perspective to ensnare himself in the middle of what at first appears to be the "offing" of a cold-hearted con artist. Elias keeps digging at the story, in part to free himself from beatings from Bimbo's overzealous brothers, and in part because that it's what he does best:
"But all my nocturnal cogitating hadn't factored in a role for the Koons and, frankly, I didn't see where they could possibly fit into the picture. The Koons in cahoots with the Hemfords? It would make for the oddest of odd couples, the uptight, overachieving, image-conscious Koons and the profane, slothful, lowlife Hemfords. I mean, picture Ozzie and Harriet playing bridge with Bonnie and Clyde.
Wilcox is an absolutely first-rate writer, with enough picturesque metaphors to make up for the brawn he assures the reader he lacks. He does have quite an active libido, which makes for some strange bedfellows as he embellishes his already multi-faceted, character-laden tale with his own foibles as he stumbles towards a raucous, followed by a serious, denouement. Suffice to say Hackshaw emerges with his sense of humor intact; immensely satisfied with his own devilish methods of revenge and detective work. The Jericho Flower is a well-crafted, imaginative tale that this reader wished could go on for much longer. It's a great read, and Wilcox deserves acclaim and kudos festooned with big sales for this delicious story.
Dark Angel
Ronald E. Baird
iUniverse.com, Inc.
5220 S. 16th., Ste. 200, Lincoln, NE 68512
ISBN: 0595179754, $14.95 US/$24.95 CAN, www.iuniverse.com
Ron Baird is an award winning writer who has specialized in environmental writing, Gulf War Syndrome, and fly fishing. Hailing from Boulder, Colorado, he makes the mountains his home and they figure fully in his first mystery.
Aaron Hemingway is an interesting mix. He is a former basketball star, Vietnam vet, and Denver cop who got too close to the evil he was trying to wash out as an undercover narcotics agent. He has a daughter, Cassie, whom he hasn't seen in years and a former wife, who sounds like an intense career marm. He is living in Jack Springs and workers for the local newspaper, run by a woman who is interested in reporting some actual news.
Jack Springs has a diverse population; anything from old miners to cowboys and old hippies, with a few survivalists thrown in for good measure. When a new mine is proposed by a shady company with a bad track record, Aaron finds himself in the middle of the quarrel. One of the local anti-mine activists is murdered and her body is dumped in front of the newspaper office. Someone appears to be stalking Aaron, just as he is reunited with his daughter:
"'Cassie, what are you doing here?' Tears welled up in my eyes and before she could answer, I reached down, swept her into my arms like holding a baby bird to my chest, its heart beating wildly. Or maybe it was my heart. 'Oh Daddy,' she whimpered. Then the dam burst and she cried huge, breath-robbing sobs as she held me tighter and tighter."
Dark Angel is an extremely well-written novel with tons of beautiful metaphors and a slap-bang plot. Baird's characters are finely wrought, and the action is non-stop. The backdrop is the gorgeous mountains of Colorado, with its diverse population all conspiring against one another. Baird's passages range from utterly beautiful and simple descriptions of nature to nerve-wracking accounts of Aaron going into battle to save his daughter from the bad guys. He has a highly developed socio-political conscience that forms an integral part of this very timely plot about. This is one heck of a tale, and hopefully Mr. Baird has a follow-up that he is presently writing.
Even In Darkness
Jeffrey Aran Leever
Writers Club Press/iUniverse.com, Inc.
5220 S. 16th St., Suite 200, Lincoln, NE 68512
ISBN: 0595208649, $14.95, GOTOBUTTON BM_1_ www.iuniverse.com
Jeffrey Aran Leever is a publications manager for a nonprofit organization in Colorado. An English/writing major from the University of Nebraska (Kearney), he presently lives in Arvada, Colorado. He has co-authored two published non-fiction books.
Colleges often have immense power with the locals of the communities they serve...power which can be turned for dark purposes. When Jay Downing's friend Reed Manley doesn't appear for a preappointed "night on the town," and some strange girl tries to lure Jay into the University's long unused underground tunnels, Jay begins to fear for his friend's life. The police treat Jay as if he is on drugs, and when Reed's body appears outside of town, even the coroner seems to be in on the coverup. But it is the professors at Jay's school in Stratton who act the most bizarre:
"Jay looked again at his professor, and wondered what the man knew. What pieces of the truth he held. It was as if Lanum was trying to hold back something, and yet share it at the same time. As if there'd been something Jay had done that gave Lanum reason for contempt. It had to have been something independent of their never-quite-so-serious interactions in class. But what?"
The idea that a university setting could be used for nefarious purposes, and that professors (who, after all, are supposed to represent the creme de la creme) could be arch-fiends stirs up a shiver of recognition in all of us. (Who hasn't dreamt about not attending class and not knowing where their final was?)
Even In Darkness is a well written, spine-tingling, Gothic, Steven Kingish novel that grips the reader from page one. Leever's use of uncertainty in speech, action, and tone puts the reader into a nervous state from the beginning. It is an excellent tool to produce the results he wants, which is to scare us to death and keep us turning those pages. Even In Darkness is an great first effort in the genre for Leever, and presents him as a new talent to be reckoned with. It is entertaining, scary, infuriating, and deeply satisfying, all at once. A great read.
The Teed-Off Ghost
Lee Tyler
Fithian Press
PO Box 1525, Santa Barbara, CA 93102
ISBN: 1564743896, $12.95, e-mail: dandd@danielpublishing.com
Lee Tyler is a veteran travel writer and current member of the Golf Writers Association of America. Other books include The Case Of The Missing Links.
Hawaii is full of mystery and romance, and when Harry "Win" Winslow and June Jacobs (who are self-described top golfing sleuths) are talked into watching over the new Mauna Makai golf course for a week, they have no idea that they will be dealing with more than just political mischief. Mauna Makai has an ancient wall, known as "papohaku" running through it. The wall is both the draw and the originator of many of the problems Martha Masters and Doug Banner have been having in getting the golf course online in time for a big celebrity wedding and the launching of the golf course:
"As they lurched along toward the first hole, Ted said, 'I live up-country, up there, about ten miles away.' He pointed to a mountain in the distance. 'See that rainbow? That's Waimea, where I live. Sometimes in the middle of the night, I hear this golf course calling to me. Like it's crying for help. So I get up at like two in the morning and get dressed and drive down here to check on things. My wife thinks I'm crazy. Doug here thinks I'm superstitious. Me, I'm just doing my job. And you know what? Every time I've come down here, there's been something screwy. Like majorly wrong.' He turned to Doug and said, 'Explain that with your mainland logic.'"
Tyler has combined the game of golf, ancient Hawaiian mythology, and a couple of scatterbrained sleuths to produce a whimsical tale about love, ghosts, and the history and culture of Hawaii. The Teed-Off Ghost is an excellent book to pull out on a cold winter day, as Tyler's passages about luaus can't help but warm the spirit. Tyler pokes fun at the obsession of golfers, while treating us to a warm Hawaiian experience complete with lots of terminology for the uninitiated. She adds island mystery, an entertaining and irascible ghost, and handsome natives who play havoc with the ladies' hearts. The Teed-Off Ghost is more about getting into the native spirits than it is about murder and mayhem, but it is a fun read nevertheless.
The Fractal Murders
Mark Cohen
Muddy Gap Press
PO Box 1801, Boulder, CO 80306-1801
ISBN: 097189860X, $13.95
A Denver native, Mark Cohen graduated from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, then attended law school at the University of Colorado. He practiced law in Nebraska, served as an Air Force Judge Advocate, and now resides in Boulder, Colorado, where he serves as a municipal judge. He has written several articles, and probably many more briefs. The Fractal Murders is his first mystery.
Pepper Keane is a retired attorney and former Federal Prosecutor who is now living and working in Boulder with his two dogs, Buck and Wheat. He is hired by Jane Smyders, a math professor at the University of Colorado when three of her colleagues who specialize in her area of expertise, fractal geometry, are either murdered or die by suspicious means. Pepper has enough of a background, having been a former Marine JAG, and connections galore from past and present affiliations, to find the common thread that connects the deaths. Pepper is an interesting man, with an affection for Diet Coke, rock and roll, reading Philosophy, and exercise; an unusual observation of sizing people up (often associated with what they are wearing); and an encyclopedic knowledge and grasp of many subjects. Then there is the attraction he feels for his new client, Jane Smyers:
"We continued running and I thought about Jayne Smyers. She was pretty, no doubt about that. And she was certainly smart. But some other quality was drawing me to her. She possessed a certain perky optimism something I felt I lacked. I tried to put her out of my mind, but I kept hearing that Sam Cooke song. Maybe by being an A student, I could win her love for me.
The Fractal Murders is an intensely entertaining book that is simply delicious to read. The action is well-paced, Pepper's character is a nice package of enough brawn, brains, experience, logic, and sensuality to make him a hero of sorts, but with enough flaws to make him a believable character. The plot is well charted and covers many areas where Mr. Cohen has something to teach that is interesting without overshadowing the story. Pepper Keane is a nice mix of sensitivity and intellect, with just enough experience to give his character depth. Cohen does a superb job of keeping the reader guessing, and even the end poses a bit of a love puzzle. Cohen leaves us clamoring for more. Exceptionally clear writing makes it a great read!
The Self-Publishing Manual
Dan Poynter
Para Publishing
PO Box 8206 Santa Barbara, CA 93118-8206
ISBN: 1568600739 $19.95 www.amazon.com
Dan Poynter is an entrepreneur who discovered publishing when he spent eight years writing a book about parachutes and realized he probably wouldn't find a publisher. He wrote a book in 1973 about hang gliding, which became a best seller, and he was hooked. To date he has published over 80 books and revisions which have been translated into many languages. He has written a book on what he calls "the new publishing model."
Anyone who is even remotely involved in the publishing world knows that new authors don't stand much of a chance with publishers. The lucky few who do succeed wait a long time for their books to be published and often lose control of any profits. Mr. Poynter correctly points to eight main reasons why someone would want to publish their own book:
1. To make more money,
2. Speed
3. To keep control of your book
4. No one will read your manuscript
5. Self-publishing is good business
6. Self-publishing will help you think like a publisher
7. You will gain self-confidence and self-esteem
8. Finally, you may have no other choice."
The Self-Publishing Manual (How to Write, Print and Sell Your Own Book) is a bible on how to write, start your own publishing company, produce your book, advertise your book, decide what to charge, promote your book, and how to find your audience and get it sold. Mr. Poynter is a very concise and efficient writer who knows how to get his point across with his audience's pocketbook in mind. He explains the pitfalls of the publishing business and how to get the most bang for your buck. He does a great job of explaining the distribution end of the business...something very few people other than librarians and book distributors understand.
In short, Mr. Poynter knows his stuff and can offer some very good advice to all the fledgling authors out in book land. He even thoughtfully includes a chapter entitled "Coping with Being Published," which will help the new author transition from private to public life and what that entails. He includes a book calendar to help the author stay focused and organized during the process, and ends with a very useful appendix and glossary of publishing terms. This is an invaluable book for anyone with enough courage to make the foray into publishing. Mr. Poynter deserves a hearty thank you and congratulations from his grateful disciples.
A Flash Of Emerald
J.M. Taylor
Blue Eagle Press
23745 Oakside Boulevard, Lutz, Florida 33549-6904
ISBN: 1879043084, $14.99, GOTOBUTTON BM_1_ www.BlueEaglePress.com
J.M. Taylor has an impressive array of talents, to say the least. He served with the 101st Airborne Division as platoon leader and battalion commander; served at the Pentagon, in Germany, the Middle East, and Vietnam. He is a trained scuba diver; parachute trained for airborne assault; worked as a systems engineer; and finally, is a writer. In short, he puts the rest of us to shame!
Harry Stoner began his career as part of the failed attempt to free Cuba in the 1960's. Set in Southern Florida, home of the Southern Cross and the life enhancing "flash of emerald" at sunset for those lucky enough to catch it, Harry Stoner returns from his present assignment in Virginia to help his daughter with a "problem." That problem turns out to be her husband Lou's relatives, who have added drug trafficking to their import/export business. Lou has stumbled upon the "goods," and now his Uncle Lastero is threatening his life unless he joins in with the family "business." That business turns into money for guns, and Stoner finds himself in the middle of a plot to detonate a nuclear bomb, as well as being the object of the terrorists' hatred. Harry himself has unwitting been the target of terrorists, whose attempt to kill him resulted in the death of his wife, Lynn. To catch the terrorists and save his daughter and husband from danger, he must return to his military training, old friends, and keen thinking of a survivor:
"When he's been really working, not just clerking, Stoner had squirreled away the old identities, depositing small amounts of money in the scattered accounts and making charges against the cards, keeping everything legit. Back then he'd thought toward the future. He had almost let those days slip away. He thought back. When was the last time he had used the bank card? The expiration date came up next month. He had let the old days slide way back in his memory."
A Flash Of Emerald is a hard-hitting, exciting spy game story with lots of subplots, intense and charismatic characters, and enough action to glue the reader to the book. Harry Stoner is a larger-than-life character who singlehandedly takes on a Florida drug ring and a terrorist group at the same time. Taylor lends his considerable expertise to the story to give the reader insight into just what the military does to keep the bad guys out and to police their own. A great read!
Shelley Glodowski
Reviewer

## Bethany's Bookshelf

A Dress For Mona
Mark Perry
5th Epoch Press
c/o Discover Writing Press
PO Box 264, Shoreham, VT 05770
1931492026 $10.00 www.adressformona.org
A Dress For Mona is a powerful play by Mark Perry and based upon a true historical account. A Dress For Mona is set in 1982 Iran when the Bahai (an offshoot of Islam and the largest religious minority within Iran) were subjected to brutal prosecution, imprisonment, and even murder. Young Mona is a Bahai believer, and thus a primary target for arrest and execution. Her vision of three dresses, each representing a different direction possible for her life, and her difficult choices between faith and sacrifice are vividly presented in this gripping human account, in many ways a modern-day mirror of the fanaticism portrayed in another great classic, "The Crucible". A Dress For Mona is an absorbing, thought-provoking, and at times emotionally wrenching drama which highly recommended for either personal readings or community theater productions.
The Woodchuck's Guide To Gardening
Ron Krupp
Whetstone Books
8 Lyons Avenue, South Burlington, Vermont 05403
0915731053 $15.95 www.woodchuck37.com
The Woodchuck's Guide To Gardening by Vermont organic gardener Ron Krupp, is a thoroughly "user friendly" guidebook written especially for aspiring organic and biodynamic home gardeners. Embracing thrift and the practical considerations as symbolized by the woodchuck, The Woodchuck's Guide To Gardening provides a wealth of tips, tricks, and techniques for keeping soil healthy, overseeing nutritious produce through all four seasons, foraging for wild plants, teaching one's children to garden, and a great deal more. Written in down-to-earth, accessible language for gardeners of all experience levels and backgrounds, The Woodchuck's Guide To Gardening is an enthusiastically recommended addition to personal and community library gardening reference collections and supplemental reading lists.
Comadres
Nasario Garcia, editor
Western Edge Press
126 Candelario Street, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501
1889921157 $17.95 www.mountian-press/otherpages/catalog/WestEdge.htm
Compiled and edited by Nasario Garcia (Professor of Languages, New Mexico Highlands University), Comadres: Hispanic Women Of The Rio Puerco Valley is a unique and ground breaking survey of Hispanic-American women and their manifold contributions to the evolving culture of New Mexico, especially during the first ten years of statehood. Ranch life, the evolution of Spanish dialects, the struggles to birth and raise children, and so much more are accessibly covered in this unique anthology of vignettes, anecdotes, and revealing glimpses into New Mexican daily life. Black-and-white photographs enhance this outstanding collection of brief yet personable tales, each of which is rendered in both Spanish and English. Comadres is a very strongly recommended addition to Women's Studies, American History, and Southwest Regional Studies academic reference collections and supplemental reading lists.
Night Fishing In Galilee
Kenneth Arnold
Cowley Publications
907 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139
1561011959 $12.95 1-800-225-1534
In Night Fishing In Galilee: The Journey Toward Spiritual Wisdom, Kenneth Arnold (Director of Communications, Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts) offers keen insights into the twenty-first chapter of the Gospel According To John, as well as the author's own personal journey of reflection, maturity, and spiritual evolution. From a close examination of the ethics and life of the way of Jesus Christ, to cross-comparison with other religions around the world, to thought-provoking commentary on the truths expressed within psalms, Night Fishing In Galilee is an intellectual, emotional, and faithful exploration of what it means to believe and live in accordance with God.
Race And The Cosmos
Barbara A. Holmes
Trinity Press International
PO Box 1321, Harrisburg, PA 17105
1563383772 $20.00 www.trinitypress.com
Race And The Cosmos: An Invitation To View The World Differently by Barbara A. Holmes (Associate Professor of Ethics and African American Religious Studies, Memphis Theological Seminary) is a compelling and insightful metaphysical study of cosmology, race, and what it means to awaken to full liberation. From the eternal quest for finding meaning to one's life, to interpreting what it truly is to be reasonable and tolerant in the grand scheme of things, Race And The Cosmos is offers a new and recommended look at the basic philosophies that shape our lives and how we view the universe.
The Odyssey Of Enlightenment
Berthold Madhukar Thompson
Wisdom Editions
204 West Lake Street, Suite C, Mt. Shasta, CA 96067
1931254095 $19.00 1-888-267-4446
The Odyssey Of Enlightenment: Rare Interviews With Enlightened Teachers Of Our Time by Berthold Madhukar Thompson is a selection of interviews with twelve East Indian spiritual teachers, each of whom are widely respected for their enlightened wisdom. Hindu guidance to life-long harmony, the full depth of the immortal truth within Socrates' classic phrase "Know thyself," as well as insights on the meaning of destiny and God's will round out this superbly presented anthology of spiritual acumen. Essentially a chronicle of Thompson's personal quest for spiritual meaning and eternal truths, The Odyssey Of Enlightenment is a welcome and highly recommended contribution to Eastern Spirituality reference collections and Hindu Studies supplemental reading lists.
Secret Of The Vajra World
Reginald A. Ray
Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Horticultural Hall
300 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA 02115-4544
157062917X $18.95 shambhala.com
Secret Of The Vajra World: The Tantric Buddhism Of Tibet by Reginald A. Ray (Professor of Buddhist Studies, Naropa University, Boulder, Colorado) is the second and final volume of "The World of Tantric Buddhism" series from Shambhala Publications. A straightforward presentation written in plain accessible terms for readers at all Buddhist studies and experience levels, Secret Of The Vajra World deftly explores the foundations of Vajrayana, the essence of Tantric Buddhist philosophies, and applications of Buddhist principles and insights to one's own personal life, bodhisattvas in the world, and a great deal more. Secret Of The Vajra Worlds is a very welcome, superbly presented, truly comprehensive introduction focusing upon a unique and profoundly important aspect of Buddhist spiritual practice.
The Afterlife Of Trees
Brian Bartlett
McGill-Queen's University Press
3430 McTavish Street, Montreal, QC, Canada, H3A 1X9
0773519106 $14.95 1-800-387-0141
The Afterlife Of Trees is a selection of Brian Bartlett's memorable, free-verse poems that carry both the pedantic nuance of events of everyday life, and a personal respect for the majesty and grace of the soul that trees, birds, and nature have given to humankind. The Afterlife Of Trees is recommended as an insightful body of work reflecting communion with nature amid a culture choked with the clutter of material things. "To a red-eyed vireo: Minimalist of the tree tops / more than a scrap of dawn chorus, all day / you ask and answer one question / in two-to-four-note phrases, you're drawl's inflections / reversing, a rise giving way to a fall, a fall / to a rise / ask, answer / ask answer / Is it fair to say you sound like a lecturer who won't / move on to the next point, / or some weary barker / slowly going mad with the monotony of selling?"
Imagining Rhetoric
Janet Carey Eldred and Peter Mortensen
University of Pittsburgh Press
Eureka Building, Fifth Floor, 3400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15260
0822941821 $34.95 1-412-383-2456
Collaboratively researched and written by Janet Carey Eldred (Associate Professor of English, University of Kentucky) and Peter Mortensen (Associate Professor of English, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Imagining Rhetoric: Composing Women Of The Early United States is a scholarly and revealing study of how women's writing developed in the era between the American Revolution and the Civil War. A truly fascinating look at how educated women used the power of the pen to promote civic goals, as well as how a new female readership emerged and changed the as yet fledgling book industry, Imagining Rhetoric is a highly recommended contribution to Women's Studies and Literary History reference collections and academic reading lists.
The Coast Of Maine Book
Nancy English
Berkshire House Publishers
480 Pleasant St., Suite 5, Lee, Massachusetts 01238
1581570589 $18.95 1-800-321-8526
Now in an expanded and thoroughly updated fifth edition, The Coast Of Maine Book by Nancy English is an excellent and thorough guide for tourists and travelers who want to explore the fun, wonder, and richness to be found along the coast of Maine. An excellent, comprehensive, highly recommended informational resource, The Coast Of Maine Book offers everything from tidal zones and bicycling advice, to a host of recommended lodging and dining places, historic buildings, tips on what to expect from the weather, seasonal events, shopping, and much more.
Is It A Date Or Just Coffee?
Mo Brownsey
Alyson Publications
Box 4371, Los Angeles, CA 90078-4371
1555837271 $13.95 www.alyson.com
Mo Brownsey's Is It A Date Or Just Coffee?: The Gay Girl's Guide To Dating, Sex, And Romance is a practical guide, laced with wry humor, about countless problems, confusing questions, and delicate issues of lesbian dating, sex, and romance. From distinguishing between potential lovers and just plain friends, to monogamy vs. polyamory, to the special hurdles of the bisexual and the bi-curious, Is It A Date Or Just Coffee? doesn't have the answers to everything but does have opinions, suggestions, and simple advice for just about anything. Is It A Date Or Just Coffee is a highly recommended, gently-mannered, tongue-in-cheek guidebook written by a gay gal, for gay gals.
Susan Bethany
Reviewer

## Taylor's Bookshelf

Soldier Of The Legion
Marshall S. Thomas
Timberwolf Press
202 N. Allen St., Suite A, Allen, TX 75013
1587520397 $14.95 TimberwolfPress.com
Book one of the "Beta 3" series, Soldier Of The Legion by Marshall S. Thomas is an epic science fiction novel. Set in the far-flung future, Soldier Of The Legion chronicles the struggles of a brave squad of Legionnaires who must fight to survive horrific battles against a corrupt, slave-raiding empire -- and a far worse force of inhumans. A perilous, exciting space saga, Soldier Of The Legion is enthusiastically recommended reading for fans of the science fiction action/adventure genre.
Flying The Alaska Wild
Mort Mason
Voyageur Press
123 North Second Street, PO Box 338, Stillwater, MN 55082
0896585891 $19.95 www.voyageurpress.com
Flying The Alaska Wild: The Adventures And Misadventures Of An Alaska Bush Pilot by Mort Mason (who has flown more than 18,000 hours over the Alaskan outback bush country) is an amazing collection of true stories from the airborne adventures of an Alaska Bush pilot, who met challenges ranging from dealing with dangerous headwinds, to the hazards of ice on the plane, to participating in search and rescue missions, and more. From cover to cover, Flying The Alaska Wild is an exhilarating and highly recommended account of an exciting occupation that demands steady nerves and a courageous heart.
U.S. Army Survival Handbook
Department of the Army
The Lyons Press
PO Box 480, Guilford, CT 06437
1585745561 $14.95 1-800-243-0495
Originally prepared and issued by the United States Department of the Army, the U.S. Army Survival Handbook is a definitive guide to survival in a variety of outdoors locations and circumstances, especially when one has access to few tools or personal gear. A standard issue survival manual for U.S. Special Operations Forces and air force pilots, the U.S. Army Survival Handbook is also a first-rate reference and highly recommended primer for campers, hikers, travelers, and anyone else who ventures into unknown territory. From avoiding and dealing with dangerous snakes, fish, and insects to direction finding to survival techniques for cold weather, open sea and seashores, desert, and more, U.S. Army Survival Handbook is a definitive resource that can (and should) be a part of every family and community reference library collection.
Music In Ancient Israel/Palestine
Joachim Braun
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
255 Jefferson Ave. S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503
0802844774 $30.00 www.eerdmans.com
Music In Ancient Israel/Palestine: Archaeological, Written, And Comparative Sources by Israeli musicologist Joachim Braun is the first truly comprehensive study of the musical culture in Israel/Palestine in antiquity, as interpreted from the available archaeological record. An engrossing, informative, academically endowed exploration of the crafting of musical instruments and the evolution of musical expression as understood through evidence, as well as scholarly hypothesis stretching from the stone age to the Hellenistic-Roman period, Music In Ancient Israel/Palestine is a singularly amazing and very strongly recommended analysis which is a welcome an valued contribution to both Music History and Mideast Archaeology reference shelves and supplemental reading lists.
Carl B. Stokes And The Rise of Black Political Power
Leonard N. Moore
University of Illinois Press
1325 South Oak Street, Champaign, IL 61820
0252027604 $34.95 www.press.uillinois.edu
Carl B. Stokes And The Rise Of Black Political Power by Leonard N. Moore (Assistant Professor of History and Director of the African and African American Studies Program, Louisiana State University) is a meticulous portrayal of Mayor Carl Stokes of Cleveland and the impact his tenure has had on local and national African-American politics. Individual chapters address a range of issues such as "the making of a mayor"; black capitalism; internal political power struggles; and much, much more. A well-researched and scholarly examination of executive government in microcosm in general, and its reflections in the broader scope of African-American politics in particular, Carl B. Stokes And The Rise Of Black Political Power is a welcome and highly recommended addition to academic Black Studies and Political Science reference collections and reading lists.
Palestinian Religious Terrorism
Yonah Alexander
Transnational Publishers
410 Saw Mill River Road, Ardsley, NY 10502
157105247X $40.00 1-914-693-5100 1-914-693-4430 (fax)
Palestinian Religious Terrorism: Hamas And Islamic Jihad by Yonah Alexander (Senior Fellow and Director, International Center for Terrorism Studies, Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, and Director, Inter-University Center for Terrorism Studies) is a straightforward, authoritative presentation of the history, composition, organization, and workings of the Islamic terrorist organization Hamas. Palestinian Religious Terrorism covers everything from the Hamas official charter, ideology, tactics, and time line, to copies of selected Hamas documents including military communiques and press releases. A highly factual book written to present solid information with academic objectivity on a ruthless and deadly terrorist organization, Palestinian Religious Terrorism is an invaluable and timely contribution to the growing library of International Terrorist reference materials.
By Reef And Palm
Louis Becke
Dixon-Price Publishing
9105 Leprechaun Lane, Kingston, WA 98346
1929516215 $11.99 www.dixonprice.com
Originally in the late 1890s, By Reef And Palm is Australian author Louis Becke's thoroughly amusing collection of short-story "yarns" about daily life in the Pacific Islands that has been brought out in a new addition by Dixon-Price Publishing and will aptly serve to introduce a whole new generation of readers to the work of a man reputed in his lifetime to be the "Kipling of the Pacific". Reflecting a lawless era in candid, nothing-is-sacred prose, By Reef And Palm is a unique, captivating, enthusiastically recommended compendium of short stories showcasing the trials and travails a century gone "Paradise".
Experiencing Dominion
Thomas W. Gallant
University of Notre Dame Press
310 Flanner Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556
0268028028 $19.00 undpress.nd.edu
Experiencing Dominion: Culture, Identity, And Power In The British Mediterranean by Thomas W. Gallant (Professor of Greek History, University of Florida) is scholarly and historical survey revealing the anthropological, cultural, and social ramifications of British influence on Greece and the Ionian Islands, especially during the nineteenth century. From legal cases of slander, to the conflicts of religion and identity, and much more, Experiencing Dominion is an evenhanded and highly recommended study of historical events offering a wealth of thoughtful insights into the evolution of Greek and Ionian society.
Government's Greatest Achievements
Paul C. Light
The Brookings Institution Press
1775 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20036
0815706049 $19.95 www.brookings.edu
Government's Greatest Achievements: From Civil Rights To Homeland Security by Paul C. Light (Douglas Dillon Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution) is an informed history and celebration showcasing twenty-five of the American government's policy successes from 1944 to 1999. Documenting and highlighting the eradication of polio, the rebuilding of Europe after World War II, the strides made forward against racial discrimination, the reduction of poverty among the elderly, expanding the right to vote, and much, much more, Government's Greatest Achievements is an extraordinary, uplifting read which offers striking and sometimes even surprising facts. A very strongly recommended addition to both academic and community library Political Science and American History collections, Government's Greatest Achievements is a welcome antidote to the usual drumbeat of media criticism and endemic public skepticism.
Gentleman Spies
John Fisher
Sutton Publishing Limited
260 Fifth Avnue, New York, NY 10001
0750926988 $29.95 1-800-462-6420
Gentleman Spies: Intelligence Agents In The British Empire And Beyond by historian John Fisher is a truly fascinating and informative look at political undermining between nations since before the first world war. The evolution of a British foreign intelligence bureau, originally called SIS and which later evolved into the legendary MI6, whose mission was to specifically provide vital information about activities stemming from the furthest corners of the British empire, is presented with incredible anecdotal tales of intrigue and deceit. An amazing, deftly researched look at the cutthroat machinations of international history, Gentleman Spies is totally absorbing reading from first page to last!
Submerged
Daniel Lenihan
Newmarket Press
18 East 48th Street, New York, NY 10017
1557045054 $25.95 www.newmarketpress.com
Submerged: Adventures Of America's Most Elite Underwater Archaeology Team by professional diver and archaeologist Daniel Lenihan is the amazing story of the award-winning Submerged Cultural Resources Unit team of the U.S. National Park Service. Lenihan guides the reader on an incredible tour of the team's finds and the archaeological work accomplished from 1975 down to the present day. In their bid to retrieve the bodies of drowned divers, recover lost artifacts, survey Isle Royale shipwrecks in Lake Superior, and so much more, Submerged provides archaeology students and the non-specialist general reader with an interest in underwater archaeology an incredible window into real-life archaeological adventures.
Gettysburg: An Alternate History
Peter G. Tsouras
Greenhill Books
c/o Stackpole Books
5067 Ritter Road, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055
1853674826 $18.95 www.greenhillbooks.com
Gettysburg: An Alternate History is an epic saga by Peter G. Tsouras that explores what might have happened if a few twists of fate had significantly altered the course of the battle at Gettysburg, and therefore the American Civil War. Written with close heed to the actual events, Gettysburg: An Alternate History is a fascinating "what-if" journey of speculative fancy, often told through the eyes of soldiers struggling to survive the bloody battlefield. Gettysburg: An Alternate History is especially recommended reading for Civil War buffs, and will have great appeal for "Alternate Universe" science fiction fans as well.
John Taylor
Reviewer

## Whelan's Bookshelf

Governance.com
Elaine Ciulla Kamarck and Joseph S. Nye Jr., editors
Brookings Institution Press
1775 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20036
0815702175 $18.95 www.brookings.edu
Collaboratively compiled and edited by Elaine Ciulla Kamarck (Lecturer in Public Policy , John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University) and Joseph S. Nye Jr. (Dean, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University), Governance.com: Democracy In The Information Age is a selection of impressive scholarly essays focusing how leaps and bounds in modern technology and the Internet are directly affecting American governmental policy and performance. Exploring the link between power and information, and drawing broad conclusions and implications from mounting evidence, Governance.com offers an informed and informative look into the near future, and where the democratization of information is ultimately leading.
Narrating The Arctic
Michael Bravo and Sverker Sorlin, editors
Science History Publications
c/o Watson Publishing International
PO Box 1390, Nantucket, MA 02554-1390
088135385X $39.95 www.shpusa.com
Collaboratively compiled and edited by Michael Bravo (Science and Development Research Group, Sott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge University) and Sverker Sorlin (Chair of Environmental History at Umea University, Sweden), Narrating The Arctic: A Cultural History Of Nordic Scientific Practices is an outstanding collection of seminal essays by erudite authors concerning the history of arctic exploration. From Inuit exploratory ventures, to conflicting claims of history, to the Danish arctic research of eighty years ago, to Swedish arctic travels of a hundred and fifty years ago, Narrating The Arctic is a vivid, intense examination and scholarly analysis of the historical quest to venture onto, and discover more about, the very top of the world.
Is Nothing Sacred?
Don Cupitt
Fordham University Press
2546 Belmont Avenue, University Box L, Bronx, NY 10458-5172
0823222039 $40.00 1-800-247-6553
Is Nothing Sacred?: The Non-Realist Philosophy of Religion by educator and philosopher Don Cupitt is an outstanding selection of informative and challenging essays examining a "non-realist" interpretation of Christian doctrine. Persuasively arguing for a "kingdom" version of Christianity that resonates more strongly with the original Jewish Jesus Christ, Professor Cupitt draws his philosophy and theology in part from the wisdom of Kant and Kierkegaard, while also accepting insights from Buddhism and the contemporary philosopher Richard Rorty. Is Nothing Sacred? is a provocative, intriguing discussion, and highly recommended for academic philosophy, theology, and Christian Studies collections and supplemental reading lists.
A Season Of Grief
Ann Dawson
Ave Maria Press
PO Box 428, Notre Dame, IN 46556
0877939780 $12.95 www.avemariapress.com
A Season Of Grief: A Comforting Companion For Difficult Days by newspaper columnist Ann Dawson is a compilation of quotes, reflections, prayers, poems, and heartfelt sentiment compiled for the specific purpose of offering hope and comfort to those surviving difficult loss. A Season Of Grief is very highly recommended as being an unusually thoughtful collection, with each vignette or passage brief enough for quick browsing, and a volume that presents a variety of differing, yet sincere, perspectives on dealing with the loss of a loved one.
Thomas G. Whelan
Reviewer

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