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Carstairs Considers....: Book Review: Days of Wine and Roquefort by Avery A...: Stars : 4 out of 5 Pros : Strong characters in an engaging mystery Cons : A few niggles, but mostly minor issues. The Bottom Line :...

Senior News Newspaper Book Review Column-- November 2014

For my monthly newspaper book review column in the Senior News Newspaper, I usually make sure to choose one fiction and one nonfiction book in the hopes of interesting more readers. For November I went with Fast Track by Bill Crider and Ed Gorman. Different from Bill Crider’s Sheriff Dan Rhodes series set in East Texas and yet very good. I don’t think the man could write a bad book if he tried. For the non-fiction book I went with Crochet: The Complete Step-By-Step Guide by the DK Editors. Sandi crochets a lot so I always pick up the new crochet books when I see them at the library so she can take a look. Longer reviews of both books were run here on the blog earlier this year and can easily be found by clicking on the above book titles.

Included below are the relevant book covers for my November 2014 column… 

Fast Track

Bill Crider and Ed Gorman

Rough Edges Press

ASIN: B00J9XPUUY

E-Book

244 Pages

Agent Dev Mallory was supposed to get off the train in Corvair, California. He would have too if he hadn't been drugged and slept through the train stop. He also had with him a young female Secret Service agent named Tess O’Neill who was also supposed to get off the train with him in Corvair. Now, as the train approaches Rock Creek and the fog lifts from his mind, Mallory realizes she is missing. According to the conductor she appeared to be ill and was escorted off the train by two unknown and yet very helpful gentlemen.

Mallory from a secret federal agency that is so secret it has no name and Tess from the Secret Service were assigned to protect the most famous race horse in the world named Starcrossed at the most famous horse race in the world. Letting his guard down once got him drugged. Mallory isn't about to let his guard down again.

Fast Track by Bill Crider and Ed Gorman may be set roughly 100 years ago, but the issues in horse racing are almost as prevalent today. Recently released in e-book form by Rough Edges Press this is a complicated mystery western tale full of action, intrigue, and suspense. Rich and detailed in terms of characters and setting with plenty of twists and turns the read is a good one.

Crochet: The Complete Step-By-Step Guide

DK Editors

DK Publishing

ISBN# 978-1-4654-1591-2

Hardback

320 Pages

Billed as a resource book for crocheters at all levels, Crochet: The Complete Step-By-Step Guide features the basics and over 80 patterns at all skill levels. Visually stunning thanks to the well done photographs, the book showcases quite a number of possibilities for gifts, home use, and more.

After a section on the basics of tools, various types of yarn, stitches, and more the book goes on to projects. Each of the more than eighty projects has detailed instructions, a recommended skill level, pictures of the finished project, and often a tip to make the item more useful or easier to make.

While a comprehensive and interesting book Crochet: The Complete Step-By-Step Guide suffers from organizational issues. Many of the projects seem to have little rhyme or reason as to why they are placed here or there and the table of contents is a bit scattered. The result is a good book that is made more difficult to use than it should be.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2014

Shop Amazon - Black Friday Deals Week

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Via CNC Books Blog-- A Christmas Novella Giveaway

As posted elsewhere earlier today.....

The holiday stories are beginning to take hold of our reading consciousness
and I'm giving a new one away on Buried Under Books. If you'd like to have
a taste of Sharyn McCrumb's Ballad books or if you're already a fan, NORA
BONESTEEL'S CHRISTMAS PAST may be just the one for you---

https://cncbooksblog.wordpress.com/2014/11/23/book-review-nora-bonesteels-christmas-past-by-sharyn-mccrumb-and-a-giveaway/

Come on by for a chance to win a hardcover copy of this pleasing little
novella---it will make a dandy little gift for yourself or for a lucky
someone in your life 


Regards,
Lelia

Lelia Taylor
Creatures 'n Crooks / Buried Under Books
http://cncbooksblog.wordpress.com/

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KRL This Week Update-- Sandra Balzo, JoAnna Carl, Elaine Faber, Marilyn Meredith, Thanksgiving mystery short story & much more in KRL

As posted elsewhere earlier today....

Up this morning in Kings River Life Magazine a review & giveaway of a Thanksgiving mystery, "Hit and Run" by Sandra Balzo http://kingsriverlife.com/11/22/hit-and-run-by-sandra-balzo-a-thanksgiving-mystery

Also up, reviews & giveaways of three food related mysteries, perfect for Thanksgiving when we have food on the brain- "By Cook or By Crook" by Maya Corrigan, and "Chorus Lines, Caviar and Corpses" by Mary McHugh, and "The Chocolate Book Bandit" by JoAnna Carl http://kingsriverlife.com/11/22/food-mysteries-for-thanksgiving-dinner

We also have a never before published Thanksgiving mystery short story by Gail Farrelly http://kingsriverlife.com/11/22/busted-a-thanksgiving-mystery/

And a review and giveaway of the "Black Cat and the Lethal Lawyer" by Elaine Faber http://kingsriverlife.com/11/22/black-cat-and-the-lethal-lawyer-by-elaine-faber/

Also a review & giveaway of "The Anthology of Cozy-Noir" edited by Andrew MacRae with stories by Bobbi A. Chukran, John Haas, and several others http://kingsriverlife.com/11/22/the-anthology-of-cozy-noir-edited-by-andrew-macrae/

And in honor of Thanksgiving being a time for families, Deborah Harter Williams looks at mystery TV shows featuring families, such as "Blue Bloods" http://kingsriverlife.com/11/22/sleuthing-family-style-this-thanksgiving

We also have a review & giveaway of the latest Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery, "River Spirits," by Marilyn Meredith http://kingsriverlife.com/11/22/river-spirits-by-marilyn-meredith

And for those who enjoy fantasy with their mystery, a review and giveaway of "Spells at the Crossroads" by Barbara Ashford

http://kingsriverlife.com/11/22/spells-at-the-crossroads-by-barbara-ashford/

Lastly, over on  KRL Lite, reviews & giveaways of "Ensconced" & "Purged" by M.E. May http://kingsriverlife.blogspot.com/2014/11/ensconced-purged-by-me-may.html

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Via Books and Benches: Books and Benches Monthly Giveaway: STONE MOUNTAIN...

Books and Benches: Books and Benches Monthly Giveaway: STONE MOUNTAIN...: November 2014 Giveaway Author Caroline Clemmons is this month's Books & Benches featured author! Enter to win one of ...

FFB Review: "Kings of Colorado" by David E. Hilton

It is Friday and that means Friday’s Forgotten Books. In my post chocolate cake haze it seemed like a good idea to run my review of David E. Hilton’s Kings of Colorado. As I said in the review that appeared back in 2011 it isn’t easy to label this book. Suffice it to say, you should read it if you have not already done so. After you read the review make sure you check out the complete list over at Patti’s blog. Surely something will catch your eye…

Austin, Texas resident David E. Hilton's debut novel Kings of Colorado is in turns heart breaking and uplifting. A novel that is not easy to describe while filled with tragedy and ultimately redemption. At its core, it is the tale of one man finally finding peace with a very brutal past decades later.

It was the summer of 1963 when the abusive world William Sheppard knew changed forever. He was thirteen and one time too many his father came home in a drunken rage and started terrorizing his family. When it was over, his father was near death because his thirteen year old son William Shepard had stabbed him multiple times with a pocket knife.

By September, thanks to the order of the court, William Sheppard was on his way from Chicago to the Swope Ranch Boy's reformatory in Colorado. The legendary reform school located near Gunnison, Colorado in a high mountain valley isolated from the world is to be his home for the next twenty four months. That is if he can survive the altitude of over thirteen thousand feet, the extreme weather, the other inmates, and the guards.  Of all the threats the guards may be the worst threat as, with a couple of exceptions, they exist to abuse the boys in every way possible. The ranch sustains itself by using the boys as a cheap labor source to break and take care of the wild horses that are shipped in at regular intervals. The threats are many but the reality of life is put very simply by Warden Walter Barrow: 

“We'll break you, Mr. Sheppard. Just like we break each of the animals outside.  One step at a time.” (Page 22)

Those in charge use the natural environmental elements of the ranch being located in a valley above thirteen thousand feet, intimidation, weapons, and other factors to control the population. Days away from anywhere, knowing that to resist means being shot, etc. means that nobody is going anywhere. This prison may have beauty around it and nothing in terms of walls or guard towers but it is a lock down prison in every sense that matters.

What follows is a tale of William Sheppard during those brutal 24 months and the aftermath of his ordeals decades later. It is a harsh and unforgiving world that bears a striking resemblance to Lord of the Flies in a far different location. One wonders if it was pitched as that when the author was seeking representation and publication. If so, it was a truly perfect fit that encapsulates well what this novel is about.

An emotionally powerful book with both humor and sheer tragedy often mere lines of text apart, Kings of Colorado is a complex book that is very hard to define or explain in great detail without destroying the very story lines that serve as the fabric of the novel. It reads like a memoir with a voice far older than the author would appear, and yet there are elements of any good mystery fiction story. Crimes have been and are committed, there are several mysteries, and other elements could easily move the book into the mystery field.

Not for the squeamish or faint hearted, the graphic moments in this story of language and description fit well into the story. They are not added for shock value or to pad the word count. They are in there because they fit seamlessly into the text as a whole.

By the end of the book you will wonder if these events really did happen?

Kings of Colorado: A Novel

David E. Hilton

http://davidehilton.com/

Simon & Schuster

http://www.simonandschuster.com

January 2011

ISBN 978-1-4391-8382-3

Hardback(paperback, audio, and e-book versions available)

288 pages

$24.00

Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano Texas Public Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple © 2011, 2014

Anthology Market Call-- Submissions for an anthology of historical crime and mystery fiction

As posted elsewhere earlier today......

Subject: Submissions for an anthology of historical crime and mystery fiction

Submissions remain open for an anthology of historical crime and mystery fiction

Darkhouse Books seeks stories for an anthology of historical crime and mystery fiction. For the purpose of this anthology we are defining historical fiction as, those works set more than a few decades prior to the present and written by someone without direct experience in the setting and events of the story. But should a truly superb story happen to stray from the above strictures and cross our threshold, we would happily consider it.

The submission period is now open and will remain open through 11:59pm (PST), December 31st, 2014.

We are seeking stories in the 2500 to 7500 word range, though if it’s knockout material, we’ll consider any length.

The anthology will contain between twelve and twenty stories, depending on the overall length. Authors will share equally fifty percent of royalties received.

We accept MS Word .doc and .docx files. Submissions must be in standard manuscript format. Links to formatting guides are available here.

Previously published work will be considered, provided the author has the power to grant us the right to publish in ebook, audio, and print versions, and that it has not been available elsewhere more recently than January 1st, 2014.

Submissions may be sent to submissionsATdarkhousebooksDOTcom

submissions@darkhousebooks.com.
Please leave “Submission-“ in the subject line and add the name of your story.

Andrew MacRae
Darkhouse Books
www.darkhousebooks.com
Now available "The Anthology of Cozy-Noir"!

Via Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine: Another Little Update

As I said on Bill's blog this is encouraging news for Bill and his lovely wife Judy. Our thoughts and prayers continue.....

Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine: Another Little Update: And this time it's relatively good news.  All the biopsy results have come in, and it appears that Judy's non-Hodgkin lymphoma has &...

Today

Interestingly enough, I share my birthday today with comedians Richard Dawson and Joel McHale as well as Dick Smothers, V.P. Joe Biden, actress Bo Derek (she always ran on the beach better than me and looked way better doing it), astronomer Edward Hubble, author Don Delillo, Mark Gastineau (he ran and played football better than I could too) and Journalist Judy Woodruff, among many others.

I also share the date with friend and fellow Ravens Mavens writing buddy Jan Christensen. If you have seen her picture, you know she wears big hats way better than I do as well as being quite prolific book wise.

In history on this date, the British using tanks, which were thought to be more trouble than they were worth, as well as air support attacked German forces near Cambrai, France.  The Nuremberg Trials began in 1945. And, among other things on this date, in 1923 Garret Morgan patented the revolutionary three step traffic signal which included a “warning” between stop and go (equivalent of today’s yellow light). It is unknown exactly when humans evolved to interpret the warning signal as a reason to accelerate to beat the stop signal.  

Thank you one and all for the birthday wishes expressed here and elsewhere. Nobody has to be anywhere today---yeehaw!!!!—so the plan is to hang out at home and have a quiet day. There will also be serious consumption of chocolate cake.


*****Jinxed It*****

Not five minutes after I posted the above, it became clear I would be running errns as Sandi had an urgent need for her insulin and a couple of other things had to be done. At least it is a stunningly beautiful day here before possible severe weather rolls in late tonight thru Saturday.

And so it goes......

Via Variety--- Netflix Picks Up ‘Longmire’ for Season 4 (EXCELLENT NEWS EDITION)

Netflix Picks Up ‘Longmire’ for Season 4

Via My Life Called So: Reviewer Bias Revisited

For the record I was the member who sparked this off yesterday by pointing out that reviewing a story in the same book your own story is published in is simply not done. I did say it was beyond a bad idea and way worse than a veiled sale pitch. Not surprisingly the only ones who disagreed all had a connection to the book in question.

I never mentioned friendships--the focus of Gerald So's post--as that had nothing to do with the group topic at hand.

My Life Called So: Reviewer Bias Revisited: © by Gerald So | geraldso.blogspot.com | 4:00 A.M. The topic of reviewer etiquette came up yesterday in Short Mystery Fiction Society d...

Queries

I am buried in books and am pretty much closed to submissions unless you are an author I have read and enjoyed before. Having written my last column for the Senior News Newspaper books specifically aimed for that market are no longer needed.

If you do query have some freakin idea what I read.

For the record---  I am not reading anything billed as a "medical thriller." With a spouse dying of terminal cancer, I am certainly not going to read a soon to be published medical thriller where a dying cancer stricken woman gets some sort of treatment that turns her into a homicidal manic and she unleashes a reign of terror upon big pharma because they want folks to die from cancer.

I kid you not.