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Book Review: Now You See Her by Ceceila Tishy
2008-07-08 22:00:00 Regina Cutter had it all and then it was gone. Her wealthy husband dumped her in favor of a trophy wife and suddenly her years of effort, sacrifice and support for his career and their marriage didn?t matter. Gone were the club memberships, the private plane, and all the other perks and trappings of wealth ...
An Interview with John Manhold About His New Book El Tigre
2008-07-08 02:56:00 El Tigre is John Manhold’s first immersion into the world of novels, but it his not his first book, he has something like 6 textbooks and a lexicon in four languages under his belt. I really enjoyed El Tigre. I don’t usually get very excited about Historical Fiction, or the ‘Wild West’, El Tigre has ...
Book Review: The Front by Patricia Cornwell
2008-07-07 17:19:00 The murder happened in 1962. On April fourth of that year in Watertown, Massachusetts, Janie Brolin was killed. Janie was blind and spending a year in the United States away from her home in Great Britain. It was never solved and District Attorney Monique Lamont has decided Massachusetts State Police Investigator Win Gerano is going ...
Book Review: Phantom Prey by John Sandford
2008-07-07 16:13:00 Lucas Davenport of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension isn’t slowing down at all. Despite being wounded frequently and despite the fact that he long ago should have been sitting behind a desk when he isn’t home with his family, Lucas pushes cases hard. That fact is what makes him so good at what he does ...
Book Review: Little Big Bend: Common, Uncommon, and Rare Plants of Big Bend
2008-07-06 20:53:00 Devoted to the plants of Big Bend National Park this book also captures the stark beauty of the park. After brief sections on the preface, acknowledgement and design of the book, the book opens by explaining the environment in the short chapter headed, “Big Bend, The Land of Extremes.” Along with rainfall rate, temperature extremes, ...
Book Review: Rare Plants of Texas by Poole, Carr, Price and Singhurst
2008-07-06 17:41:00 Recently released by Texas A&M University Press this reference guide is a comprehensive and detailed look at the rare plants of Texas. While useful for the layman, the book is primarily of interest for botanists and others deeply immersed in the subject matter. As such, the book is highly technical in nature and written in ...
Book Review: 361 by Donald E. Westlake
2008-07-06 16:45:00 It is a hot July in the early sixties and 23-year-old Ray Kelly is coming home from his stint in the Air Force. He reunites in New York City with his dad, Willard Kelly, Sr. who seems a little nervous and off with him but Ray just puts it down to Ray being gone several ...
Book Review: The Errant Ricochet: Max Raeburn?s Legacy by Paul Mark Tag
2008-07-04 02:35:00 I first came across Paul Mark Tag when I was invited to review Prophecy, I can honestly say from page one, I was hooked. I think high adrenalin thriller is how I would sum it up. I suspect Paul liked my review, as he kindly sent me a copy of his first novel Category 5. ...
Book Review: A Real Basket Case by Beth Groundwater
2008-07-03 20:09:00 Claire Hanover is not very happy these days. Her husband Roger spends way too much time at work, the kids are grown and out of the house and her gift basket business isn?t much consolation. Rather bored and lonely, this wasn?t the way her life was supposed to go at all. Then, there is the ...
Book Review: The Case of the Greedy Lawyers by Carl Brookins
2008-07-03 19:58:00 You many not have been aware of it but Minneapolis is the home of Private Detective Sean ?No Middle Initial? Sean. Yes, you read that right. His first name is his last, he has no middle name, and maybe that is why he looks at everything just a little differently than most would. He?s short ...
Book Review: Palace Council by Stephen L. Carter
2008-07-03 02:30:00 (Knopf / 978-0-307-26658-3 / July 2008 / 528 pages / $26.95 retail) Although I had heard of Stephen L. Carter long ago, this is the first book of his that I have read. As a Baby Boomer born six years prior to Mr. Carter, I have been living through and following the same historic, modern American ...
Book Review: Of All Sad Words: A Sheriff Dan Rhodes Mystery by Bill Crider
2008-06-27 14:48:00 Blacklin County, Texas is a fairly, quiet place most of the time which is how Sheriff Dan Rhodes likes it. His idea of a citizens’ Sheriff’s Academy had seemed like a good idea at the time in that it would teach folks about the department and generate some good publicity. Now he is getting flack ...
A Sneak Peek At Homeland Insecurity
2008-06-27 09:04:00 This is Terry Turchie and Kathleen Puckett’s second collaboration in the book world. The first, Hunting The American Terrorist I enjoyed immensely. Terry was the lead FBI investigator on the Unabomber hunt, and also spent a year leading the hunt for Eric Rudolf. Kathleen was his head profiler, and between them they changed the way ...
Book Review: Some Kind Of Angel ? A Sneetz And Muldoon Thriller by Melvin M
2008-06-25 20:22:00 It is that time of year where you want to stock up on some books to read while on your summer vacation. Some Kind Of Angel might be one to put on your list. Melvin Harter is a retired doctor and Some Kind Of Angel is his debut into the wild world of books. In this ...
Jason Starr?s Summer Reading Picks
2008-06-25 12:58:00 Move over Oprah, here are Jason Starr’s summer reading picks for Summer, 2008. These novels are guaranteed to entertain you, thrill you, and scare the hell out of you while you’re lying on the beach this summer. ONCE WERE COPS by Ken Bruen This novel won’t be out till the fall, but I read an advance copy and this will undoubtedly be ...
Book Review: Kirinyaga (1998) by Mike Resnick
2008-06-25 12:30:00 Among all of the highly readable, intelligent and well-crafted novels Mike Resnick has written, three of my favorites are Walpurgis III, The Dark Lady, and the book under consideration here: Kirinyaga: A Fable of Utopia (Del Rey/Ballantine, 1998). Although Resnick considers it a novel, it developed from a short story he was asked to write by ...
Book review: Unholy Domain by Dan Ronco
2008-06-24 19:17:00 There are a plethora of sci-fi books that have explored what the Earth would be like after the apocalypse, and generally the apocalypse in question is a nuclear war, or some sort of plague. Unholy Domain takes this genre in a new and very thought provoking direction. One only has to spend a couple of minutes ...
Book Review: El Tigre by John H. Manhold
2008-06-24 18:51:00 There are two very different schools of thought about historical fiction. One school rationalizes that it is an easy genre to write, the plot already exists, all you have to do is put it in your own words. The second school says that this genre is very hard to work in, much of the story ...
Book Review: The Last Quarry by Max Allan Collins
2008-06-23 15:04:00 Quarry was a hit man and very good at his job. These days he is retired and not so good at that. He retired not because his conscience was getting to him, but because he had amassed enough money to live comfortably and not kill for money any more. So, he quit and through a ...
Book Review: Santa Fe Dead by Stuart Woods
2008-06-22 13:25:00 Santa Fe Dead” could easily have been named “The Boring Return of the Evil B-word Barbara.” That might have been more honest and would have better reflected the disappointingly weak quality of Stuart Wood’s latest effort. It would have also worked naming it “Santa Fe STUPID.” It is time once again to hang out with Ed ...
Book Review: Wilders Walk Away (1948) by Herbert Brean
2008-06-22 09:32:00 Former newspaper reporter turned freelance photojournalist Reynold Frame travels to the village of Wilders Lane, Vermont to get a story and steps back in time. Figuratively, that is, because Wilders Lane has been restored to its pre-Revolutionary War look.The village is named after its oldest family, the Wilders, whose history is pocked with inexplicable, seemingly ...
Book Review: Ringside 1925: Views From The Scopes Trial by Jen Bryant
2008-06-21 15:56:00 In the summer of 1925, the residents of Dayton, Tennessee had a first-hand look at a controversial trial that centered on the debate between evolution and creationism. The community of less than 2,000 citizens was primarily an agricultural region, with most folks believing in the latter, especially the hard-core Baptists like Betty Barker. The trial is ...
Book Review: The Fabulous Clipjoint (1947) by Fredric Brown
2008-06-21 14:08:00 If mystery fiction has its own equivalent of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, this might be it. It?s not a wholly accurate description, and I?m sure there are a lot of folks who?d take me to task for it, but The Fabulous Clipjoint may be the closest thing in spirit?though without the comedy?to Mark Twain?s ...
Book Review: Baby Shark?s High Plains Redemption by Robert Fate
2008-06-21 12:12:00 The third in the action crime Baby Shark series opens in May 1957. Kristin, aka Baby Shark, is still wielding guns and pool sticks with deadly accuracy. She is still working with Otis and the latest case and resulting plan of action were supposed to be relatively simple. Travis Horner has a girlfriend who got ...
Book Review: The Maya Stone Murders by M. K. Shuman
2008-06-10 23:19:00 It is the late eighties as this novel set in New Orleans opens. Private Investigator Micah Dunn, home from Vietnam for quite some time and still suffering flashbacks and war injuries, is used to people staring at his left arm. He doesn’t have much use of it and usually tucks his left hand into his ...
Stacey Waite: "XY" and "Finding My Voice"
2008-06-10 13:31:00 Continuing this week's Trans Pride theme, below are two poems from Stacey Waite's chapbook love poem to androgyny, winner of the 2006 Main Street Rag Chapbook Contest. Thanks to M. Scott Douglass at MSR for permission to reprint. Stacey has just won another prestigious award, the Tupelo Press Snowbound Series, for her forthcoming chapbook the lake has no saint. Put it on your Amazon wishlist today. XYThe doctor, who speaks slowly, after spendingquite a few moments to himself in his gray office,says there is a strong possibility I am "chromosomallymismatched," which cannot be determined nowunless I pay for the test, because according tomy coverage, the test is not necessary dueto the fact that I am "out of the danger zone."The danger zone is puberty, when, he says,"women like me" are at risk for developinggenital abnormalities. I look back at myself at 13,staring at my body. And I think it might haveall made sense to me somehow, if my clitoris grewlike a wild flower and hung its pe...
By: Reiter's Block
Fire Up Your Personal Brand and Influence Others
2008-06-10 13:19:00 Carmine Gallo is a communications coach for the world’s leading brands, such as Raytheon, Salesforce.com, Loreal and Home Depot. His new book, “Fire Them Up!” includes insights from inspiring business leaders, entrepreneurs, and educators who reveal what he calls the seven simple secrets of motivation. As a world recognized personal brand, Carmine was able to ...
Book Review: Holy Moly by Ben Rehder
2008-06-08 18:21:00 The death of backhoe operator Hollis Farley appears at first glance to be a tragic accident. Found underneath his overturned rig on land he was clearing to make way for a mega church near the Pedernales River, Hollis Farley died on the job. But, this is Blanco County where weird things happen and this one ...
Book Review: The Sweet And The Dead by Milton T. Burton
2008-06-07 19:14:00 Tyler, Texas Author Milton T. Burton distinguished himself with the powerful debut novel ?The Rogues? Game.? Unlike many authors, there is no slump in his stand alone second novel titled ?The Sweet And The Dead.? The mystery is complex, the writing is superb, and the read is wonderful. As the novel opens, it is the fall ...
Book Review: Flames In The Jungle by John Cunyus
2008-06-07 01:47:00 Misdirection has long been a theme of thrillers where cross and double cross are the rule and not the exception. That is certainly true here in a novel that shows just how easy it is to cause economic havoc and military action. Miguel Escalante, who has a family history of hating the guerrilla movement in Columbia, ...
Book Review: Dead Head by Allen Wyler
2008-06-07 01:44:00 Following up on his novel ?Deadly Errors? the author has crafted yet another superb and at times very disturbing medical thriller. For neurosurgeon Russell Lawton the conference where he has presented his paper on connecting a robotic hand to the neurons in a monkey?s brain by way of on interface between the two has been ...
D&D 4th Edition = FAIL
2008-06-06 17:00:00 I was really disappointed with the 4th edition. D&D 4th edition (dnd4) is the Microsoft Vista of the Role Playing Game world. I have been playing D&D and bought D&D products for close to 30 years. When they went from 2nd edition to 3rd edition. I thought that Wizards of The Coast (WoTC) did a ...
By: Wild Bluff Media
Chariots on Fire - Eric Liddell ran a 9.7 second 100
2008-06-06 09:50:00 In 1924, Eric Liddell ran 9.7 seconds for the 100 - 100 yards that is, not meters, which is equivalent to 91.44 meters. Yes, it’s hard to believe we have only increased (or decreased) 8.56 meters or 28 feet - 1 inch in the last 84 years! (Thanks to Matt Bogdanowicz for pointing this out) Who ...
Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
2008-06-05 07:51:00 J.M Coetzee’s Disgrace is a relatively short work. It is also quite unputdownable. This was my second reading of it, having first read it about four years ago. And it was a far more vivid experience this time. Professor David Lurie is a University English professor with a penchant for Romantics, whose ?disgraceful? sexual liaison with ...
Even the Receptionist Needs to Be a Corporate Marketing Maven
2008-06-04 12:48:00 The corporate view of personal branding is very different than from an individuals point of view, which I’ve previously discussed. Companies need to understand the importance of personal branding within the corporate culture. If only the executives have a grasp on the corporate message, then the company will fail. I believe that ...
Book Review: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
2008-06-04 01:23:00 Review by Michelle Gagnon This fascinating nonfiction work by author Barbara Kingsolver chronicled her family?s attempt to feed themselves for a year either from their own farm or with items purchased from local farmers. After relocating from Tucson, Arizona to a tract of land in the Appalachian region of West Virginia, they began their experiment in ...
Carl Phillips: "The Point of the Lambs"
2008-06-03 18:53:00 Carl Phillips is a professor of English and African and African-American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. His poetry has received numerous honors including the Kingsley Tufts Award, an Academy of American Poets Fellowship, and a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship. The poem below is reprinted by permission from his collection Quiver of Arrows: Selected Poems, 1986-2006.The Point of the LambsThe good lambsin the yellow barn--the resthoused in blue. By"the rest," meaning those who--the guide explained--inevitablyarrive suffering. Forsome do, he added.Soft.Serious. This--likea new lesson. As tosome among us, it was,it seemed. The usualstammer of heart the naivetend to, in the face of what finallyis only the world. Whatmust it be, to passthus--clean, stripped--through a life? Whatreluctance the mindshows on recognizingthat what it approachesis, at last, the answerto the very question it knowsnow, buttoo late,oh better to never to have neverput forward. What Imean is we movedc...
By: Reiter's Block
Twilight of Kerberos: Shadowmage
2008-06-03 06:16:00 Twilight of Kerberos: Shadowmage, by Matthew Sprange, is the first in a new fantasy series from Abaddon Books. As a child, Lucius Kane?s parents were murdered by soldiers. Now, he is living on the streets and decides to join a thief guild. Lucius is a gifted thief, with extraordinary magical abilities. When a rival ...
By: SciFiChick.com
Book Review: The Gathering Dark & Other Tales by Andrew Ian Dodge
2008-06-03 05:23:00 Andrew Ian Dodge is certainly an interesting guy, and one that I always enjoy chatting with, part time freelance writer, part time author, part time music critic, and part time musician, who could resist a band called Growing Old Disgracefully? I class myself as an aging hippie, and I suspect Andrew is a fellow, if not ...
Book Review: Succession by Herbert Lobsenz
2008-06-03 04:18:00 I have my finger in many different pies, and one of those pies is an adult literacy program. Although I am only peripherally involved. I am always on the lookout for suitable material. Every book I read gets pigeonholed into one of three categories, beginner, intermediate, and advanced. There is no doubt in my mind ...
Janet Aalfs: "Facing the Wall"
2008-06-02 19:11:00 Janet Aalfs is a former Poet Laureate of Northampton and the director of Valley Women's Martial Arts. Her poetry collection Reach was published by Perugia Press in 1999. The poem below is reprinted with permission from her chapbook Full Open (Orogeny Press, 1996). Facing the Wall1. Someone found a hearton market street not humanthere's really no causefor alarm though a naked heartwarm on the sidewalk on halloweenis upsetting but not as bad as ifit were the organ of a valuable lifewe don't meanone of the seventeen women foundstrewn along desert highwaysyou can't question whores their storiesaren't reliable their lives aren't stablethe reason we haven't found a suspectyet is that we can'tget a straight answer out of anyoneand no one really knowsa slut she'll go with whatever manwill take her you can't trust womenlike that to die when they're supposed towith their clothes on at a legal addresswe think we've discovered the eighteenth2. I want to know whythe fbi is so good at...
By: Reiter's Block
Personal Goal Setting & Planning Success
2008-06-02 09:30:00 Just before the New Year’s, I wrote a post on The Power of Writing Down Your Goals. Tom Venuto had another great example that didn’t include Harvard Graduates. In his Blog, he wrote: (Guess Who) ?I will come to America, which is the country for me. Once here, I will become the greatest bodybuilder in ...
Book Review: The Curious Child by Donni Floyd
2008-05-31 20:19:00 This children’s book tells the tale of a child full of questions. The child lives on a small island that contains a tiny village of 100 people. He constantly is asking questions and his curiosity is driving everyone, including his own parents, to the edge. It is decided that he shall be sent to the ...
Book Review: Winter Study by Nevada Barr
2008-05-31 18:30:00 Anna Pigeon is back at Isle Royale in Lake Superior. The last time she was here it was summer and those events occurred in the book titled “A Superior Death.” This time it is January and the island park is far different and not just because it is in the deep winter and closed to ...
Book Review: Blood Harvest by Brant Randall
2008-05-30 23:58:00 Set in rural New England in the late 1920?s, Blood Harvest is a chilling book that deals with racism in the heyday of the Klu Klux Klan, or the ?Dumb Clucks? as the author?s grandmother refers to them. The novel was inspired by the stories Grandma told Randall of her marriage to a non-white European and ...
Book Review: Differentiating Reading Instruction by Laura Robb
2008-05-30 02:19:00 OK, so maybe this book does not have mass appeal. It is written by a teacher and aimed at other teachers, the plot, how to entice school kids to read. Reading is the very cornerstone of learning. Without the skill life is pretty darn hard for a school kid, and even worse for an adult. I ...
Doocey Again: Dragon Edition
2008-05-29 23:22:00 Porter discovered a book called Dragonology (A Field Guide To Dragons) when we spent half the day at the bookstore. It’s designed as if it were written in 1898 by a dragonologist who provides information about dragon spotting and their habitats, and exhorts readers to continue his investigations. Best of all, the book contains ...
Change The Way You See Your Personal Brand
2008-05-29 13:25:00 I recently received a copy of “Change The Way You See Yourself” by Kathryn D. Cramer and Hank Wasiak. The picture above is not a mirror reflection, but rather proves the point of the book. If you keep thinking the same way and don’t use asset based thinking, you will have problems changing the ...
Book Review: Through the Wardrobe: Your Favorite Authors on C.S. Lewis?s Ch
2008-05-29 02:37:00 This book consists of spoiler-filled essays from various author delving into the themes from C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia series.
By: Geeks of Doom
Book Review: Beyond Eden by S. L. Linnea
2008-05-29 02:21:00 Three years ago Chaplain Major Jamie Richards disappeared into the Iraq desert. On Thursday, February 23, 2006, she made her first appearance back in the real world when she flagged down a small U. S. Military convoy in Iraq. She soon is passed up the chain of command, her way eased at points along the ... |
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