Texas has a long history of very wealthy landowners controlling not just their land, but the way of life for the local people in the area. Some have acted like benevolent dictators while others have seen themselves as gods who should have every whim catered to without question. John Magne IV certainly fits the latter category.
The current patriarch of a family that has always gotten their way over the decades is faced with a dilemma. Not only are his grown children less than helpful in keeping things going but he sees his empire beginning to crumble. Loans are coming due and the local banker is getting a bit big for his britches. But John Magne IV has a plan to deal with all of it. He wants to drill for natural gas as he believes a field lurks beneath his land in the Laguna Madre. The resulting financial windfall, if the gas is there, will restore the family’s financial footing and increase their power base considerably.
To make it all happen, he will need help and return on favors and deals he has made over the years with politicians and regulators as well as the money men. As he puts the wheels in motion on plans he has made, so do others with their own plans either is support or against John Magne IV and his interests. The result is an interesting read with shades of Greek tragedy and hubris that spans a number of interrelated characters and generations of family members.
While the read is interesting and the attempted tale is grand, this novel could have been so much better. A slick marketing package does not make a good book. Instead, it creates an illusion of what the book will be and when the book fails to reach the marketing hype, disappoints the reader. Such is the case here.
More than any thing, a strong editor would have been able to cut back on some of the overwriting of dialogue and scene as well as streamline the work so that it moves forward at a better pace. Despite the often cited blurb found on all promotional items, book jacket, etc. the author does not have a “crisp writing style.” The novel drags at numerous spots and the pace throughout work is uneven with sudden starts and near stops.
Dialogue sections are most often the problem throughout the novel as they frequently read unrealistically, both in terms of stilted prose as well as going on much longer than normal human conversation. They are also used as info dumps and serve to bring the action to a virtual standstill. At the same time, the narrative sections provide some of the best writing and serve well to move the story along. Not only do they do that, but especially in the sections detailing the region, showcase the author’s clear experience and appreciation for the natural beauty of the area.
The result is a rollercoaster of a read that serves to disappoint in that the author tried to do so much. This is a grand book in terms of various storylines covering various generations with numerous small subplots. Several of such should have been eliminated which would have resulted in a radical structural change but yet a much better book. Like many books that are released though publishing houses where authors share the financial costs of publication, this novel could have been and should have been so much more. It certainly never lives up to the hype of the promotional materials this reviewer received, nor does it ever answer the teaser questions posed in the materials. Taken for what the novel actually is, this work becomes an average read at best.
Laguna: A Novel
By Michael Putegnat
www.MichaelPutegnat.com
Synergy Books
www.bookpros.com
2006
Hardback
ISBN #1-933538-19-8
$21.95 US
Kevin R. Tipple © 2006
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
The siren's song in "Sorrow's Anthem"
Building upon the series that began in “Tonight, I Said Goodbye” author Koryta brings back private investigators Lincoln Perry and his partner, Joe Pritchard in another excellent read. This time around, Lincoln Perry is driven to help an estranged friend and it could cost him in ways he never saw coming.
Years ago when Lincoln was on the Cleveland Police Force he was put into a very difficult position. He could ignore his old friend’s criminal activities or he could work him like any other suspect. Lincoln chose not to prevent his childhood friend Ed Gradduk from going to jail. That decision severed a friendship, marked Lincoln as an outcast in his old neighborhood, and changed both lives forever. With Ed in the news and on the run from charges of arson, murder, and others, Lincoln sees an opportunity to try once more to save his friend from himself as well as assuage his own guilt.
Minutes after finding him, Lincoln is powerless to save him as Ed dies in a confrontation with police. But, just because he died does not mean the case is over. It just means Lincoln feels even more guilt and now he has to deal with a grieving mother, former friends that hold him responsible and a trail that has few answers now that the man that could give them is dead.
As the bodies began to stack up and houses burn in the old neighborhood, Lincoln is forced to relieve a childhood that he thought he understood completely. Decisions made decades ago have come back to haunt those alive today and it becomes a real question as to whom will survive the repercussions.
As he did in the first novel, the author weaves another complicated and compelling read. The pace moves along steadily without a wasted word or thought as Lincoln works the case. Back story sections are brief, to the point, and provide not only information, but rich character detail. Such transitions are done well and do not serve as information dumps as routinely happens with lesser authors.
While this is second in the series, it certainly could be read independently as a stand alone. There are brief references to the earlier novel but the information shared would not harm the enjoyment of that read. This is another excellent novel from the author and does not fall prey to any of the normal second novel weaknesses.
Sorrow’s Anthem
By Michael Koryta
ISBN#0-312-34010-9
Hardcover
www.minotaurbooks.com
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
Years ago when Lincoln was on the Cleveland Police Force he was put into a very difficult position. He could ignore his old friend’s criminal activities or he could work him like any other suspect. Lincoln chose not to prevent his childhood friend Ed Gradduk from going to jail. That decision severed a friendship, marked Lincoln as an outcast in his old neighborhood, and changed both lives forever. With Ed in the news and on the run from charges of arson, murder, and others, Lincoln sees an opportunity to try once more to save his friend from himself as well as assuage his own guilt.
Minutes after finding him, Lincoln is powerless to save him as Ed dies in a confrontation with police. But, just because he died does not mean the case is over. It just means Lincoln feels even more guilt and now he has to deal with a grieving mother, former friends that hold him responsible and a trail that has few answers now that the man that could give them is dead.
As the bodies began to stack up and houses burn in the old neighborhood, Lincoln is forced to relieve a childhood that he thought he understood completely. Decisions made decades ago have come back to haunt those alive today and it becomes a real question as to whom will survive the repercussions.
As he did in the first novel, the author weaves another complicated and compelling read. The pace moves along steadily without a wasted word or thought as Lincoln works the case. Back story sections are brief, to the point, and provide not only information, but rich character detail. Such transitions are done well and do not serve as information dumps as routinely happens with lesser authors.
While this is second in the series, it certainly could be read independently as a stand alone. There are brief references to the earlier novel but the information shared would not harm the enjoyment of that read. This is another excellent novel from the author and does not fall prey to any of the normal second novel weaknesses.
Sorrow’s Anthem
By Michael Koryta
ISBN#0-312-34010-9
Hardcover
www.minotaurbooks.com
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Haven't we figured this out yet?
Sometimes that moment, that tipping point, where everything begins to go inexorably downhill is obvious. Sometimes it isn’t. For Nick Conover, CEO of Stratton Corporation, the moment isn’t clear though he knows that things aren’t going well. His knowledge is just the tip of the proverbial tip of the iceberg and he has no idea how bad or how fast his slide downhill is going to be.
He knows he isn’t liked by his employees or the community at large and things aren’t much better at home. Nothing has been the same since his wife died. His teenage son, Lucas, hates his guts. His daughter, Julia, still loves him but things aren’t the way they were. The fact that someone keeps vandalizing their house in the expensive gated community doesn’t help matters. Having “No hiding place” written on your walls in spray paint is never a good thing. The vandalism seems to point to a faceless nameless former employee, one of many recently laid off as Nick has struggled to save a business which has recently become a small part of a much larger business empire.
With the local police force unwilling to find his vandal, Nick arms himself to protect his family. Before long, a trespasser is dead, Nick is part of a conspiracy to cover up the death and all sense of control Nick had over his personal as well as his professional life is lost.
Like most thrillers, character development is somewhat limited in this work. Most of the character development is done through back story detailing various momentous moments in Nick and his family’s past long before the period of time the novel event’s actually happen. These events aren’t complicated and are rather straightforward as well as gradually revealed throughout the course of the book.
As in most thrillers, several enemies are clearly identified early while others are revealed later in such a way to reduce the entire novel to us vs. them situation. That certainly is true here as Nick struggles mightily to defend not only himself, but his family from assault. At the same time as his actions continue to invite more trouble into his life, he attempts to bridge the gap between himself and Lucas in order to save Lucas from a clear path of self destruction.
The result is an entertaining fast moving read that pulls the reader along at a rapid clip. The novel does not pretend to be anything more than it is--a fun read. It serves that purpose well and reinforces the idea that so many folks still have yet to learn. The cover up is always worse than the crime.
Company Man
By Joseph Finder
ISBN# 0-312-31916-9
Hardback
2005
Kevin R. Tipple © 2006
He knows he isn’t liked by his employees or the community at large and things aren’t much better at home. Nothing has been the same since his wife died. His teenage son, Lucas, hates his guts. His daughter, Julia, still loves him but things aren’t the way they were. The fact that someone keeps vandalizing their house in the expensive gated community doesn’t help matters. Having “No hiding place” written on your walls in spray paint is never a good thing. The vandalism seems to point to a faceless nameless former employee, one of many recently laid off as Nick has struggled to save a business which has recently become a small part of a much larger business empire.
With the local police force unwilling to find his vandal, Nick arms himself to protect his family. Before long, a trespasser is dead, Nick is part of a conspiracy to cover up the death and all sense of control Nick had over his personal as well as his professional life is lost.
Like most thrillers, character development is somewhat limited in this work. Most of the character development is done through back story detailing various momentous moments in Nick and his family’s past long before the period of time the novel event’s actually happen. These events aren’t complicated and are rather straightforward as well as gradually revealed throughout the course of the book.
As in most thrillers, several enemies are clearly identified early while others are revealed later in such a way to reduce the entire novel to us vs. them situation. That certainly is true here as Nick struggles mightily to defend not only himself, but his family from assault. At the same time as his actions continue to invite more trouble into his life, he attempts to bridge the gap between himself and Lucas in order to save Lucas from a clear path of self destruction.
The result is an entertaining fast moving read that pulls the reader along at a rapid clip. The novel does not pretend to be anything more than it is--a fun read. It serves that purpose well and reinforces the idea that so many folks still have yet to learn. The cover up is always worse than the crime.
Company Man
By Joseph Finder
ISBN# 0-312-31916-9
Hardback
2005
Kevin R. Tipple © 2006
Friday, April 14, 2006
Update
Its been a rough stretch. The computer blew up, the wife has been in the hospital, and lots of other stuff that wasn't much fun. But, things are looking up and I hope to be back going strong again soon.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Computer death
Its ugly and painful. Monday evening my computer died in a flash of light and a puff of smoke. It is no more. Thanks to filters at my local library, I can't access my e-mail or my groups. So, it might be awhile before I can do much of anything.
Will post reviews when I can.
Kevin
Will post reviews when I can.
Kevin
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Scattered Musings
Kevin’s Corner
Well, it has been awhile, hasn’t it? It wasn’t exactly my plan to disappear from these parts for all intents and purposes for over a month. But getting sick and some personal issues, along with Spring Break for my sons and working for a living, have all conspired against me. So, while my online presence here and elsewhere isn’t quite as vocal as normal, I am still around.
One of the things I was recently involved with was serving as a Judge for the Derringer Awards. The Derringers are awards given out by the Short Mystery Fiction Society for the best in the field of Short Mystery Fiction. Again this year, I was honored and privileged to be a judge for the initial screening process. There were a number of judges with varied tastes in reading materials and the ones that scored best will be presented to the entire membership for awards consideration.
I was also recently informed that a part of my review for the novel “Pier Pressure” by Dorothy Francis was selected to be placed on the back cover of the paperback. The review dates back to when I was still working for “The Blue Iris Journal” and as such mentions that online publication. As many of you know, the site has been on hiatus for quite some time but I still hope it will come back as that was where I got my reviewing start. Elizabeth Burton took a chance on me and as they say, the rest is history.
Speaking of history, Texas History plays a huge role in two of my reviews in the March edition of SENIOR NEWS available in various locations around the great state of Texas including Whole Foods stores in Plano and Dallas. This month my review of “Blood Kin” by Henry Chappell is the lead and concerns a young man named Isaac Webb in the days and years after the fall of the Alamo. This is a young man who begins the novel incredibly naïve and as he rises in the ranks of the Texas Rangers and becomes chief negotiator with the local Comanches, becomes a more and more complex character as does Texas around him. This is a very strong read that provides a far different vision than the normal stereotypes on all sides.
Also reviewed this month is “Last Chance In Texas: The Redemption of Criminal Youth” by John Hubner. We all have a stake in the Texas justice system regardless of the age of the person involved. This book, base don the author’s incredible access to files and inmates provides a rare opportunity to see behind the gates at what brought the young offenders into the program and how they may or may not be able to turn their lives around.
That is about it. The skies are darkening rapidly here and I think I hear the rumble of thunder above the din of yet another video game down the hall, so I better get moving here.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More next time and as always feel free to drop me a note here or at Kevin_tipple@att.net with your comments, observations, and suggestions.
Thanks for reading!
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
Well, it has been awhile, hasn’t it? It wasn’t exactly my plan to disappear from these parts for all intents and purposes for over a month. But getting sick and some personal issues, along with Spring Break for my sons and working for a living, have all conspired against me. So, while my online presence here and elsewhere isn’t quite as vocal as normal, I am still around.
One of the things I was recently involved with was serving as a Judge for the Derringer Awards. The Derringers are awards given out by the Short Mystery Fiction Society for the best in the field of Short Mystery Fiction. Again this year, I was honored and privileged to be a judge for the initial screening process. There were a number of judges with varied tastes in reading materials and the ones that scored best will be presented to the entire membership for awards consideration.
I was also recently informed that a part of my review for the novel “Pier Pressure” by Dorothy Francis was selected to be placed on the back cover of the paperback. The review dates back to when I was still working for “The Blue Iris Journal” and as such mentions that online publication. As many of you know, the site has been on hiatus for quite some time but I still hope it will come back as that was where I got my reviewing start. Elizabeth Burton took a chance on me and as they say, the rest is history.
Speaking of history, Texas History plays a huge role in two of my reviews in the March edition of SENIOR NEWS available in various locations around the great state of Texas including Whole Foods stores in Plano and Dallas. This month my review of “Blood Kin” by Henry Chappell is the lead and concerns a young man named Isaac Webb in the days and years after the fall of the Alamo. This is a young man who begins the novel incredibly naïve and as he rises in the ranks of the Texas Rangers and becomes chief negotiator with the local Comanches, becomes a more and more complex character as does Texas around him. This is a very strong read that provides a far different vision than the normal stereotypes on all sides.
Also reviewed this month is “Last Chance In Texas: The Redemption of Criminal Youth” by John Hubner. We all have a stake in the Texas justice system regardless of the age of the person involved. This book, base don the author’s incredible access to files and inmates provides a rare opportunity to see behind the gates at what brought the young offenders into the program and how they may or may not be able to turn their lives around.
That is about it. The skies are darkening rapidly here and I think I hear the rumble of thunder above the din of yet another video game down the hall, so I better get moving here.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More next time and as always feel free to drop me a note here or at Kevin_tipple@att.net with your comments, observations, and suggestions.
Thanks for reading!
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
Saturday, February 04, 2006
Book Review: "High Priestess" by David Skibbins
Warren Ritter returns in the sequel to “Eight Of Swords” and like any really good sequel, it is always better to have read the first book. I did and if you haven’t, you really should read it before you read this one because things will be ruined otherwise.
As Warren discovered, while one can have a life on the run, it really isn’t possible to escape everything from your past. Plastic surgery can change your appearance. But, you still have your memories. You also have your habits and eventually if you stay in one place too long, you will become known to folks that you thought were long gone from your life. You might even think that at least some of them are dead since it has been more than thirty years. Such is the case for Warren when a man calling himself Mr. Hightower sits down at his sidewalk tarot table. As their discussion turns, Warren realizes that Mr. Hightower knows all about Warren’s past and is more than willing to use it against him.
What Mr. Hightower really wants is Warren’s help. When you are the leader of a local Satanic Church, you know that law enforcement isn’t going to take you seriously. People in his church are dying in what appears to be nothing more than rather bizarre accidents. Those accidents, if they were accidents, don’t explain the death threats Church leadership has been receiving. Not only is the man calling himself Mr. Hightower a target, there are others. Because of past events (read Eight Of Swords) Mr. Hightower believes Warren can help and intends to disclose Warren’s past if he won’t.
Warren, along with strong political beliefs about the past as well as the state of America today, is just a bit bored as well. Things have just been a little too stable for him lately and the pressure of that stability is wearing on him. He is dating and trying very hard to get his psychological house of cards in order as well as resist the lure of running again. Hightower didn’t need blackmail—Warren would have done it for free. The fact that Hightower is also willing to pay him for his troubles is a nice bonus.
Warren agrees and soon starts asking questions in all the wrong places and finds himself in real trouble. But, this is Warren Ritter. He has a unique outlook on everything and there is a method to his madness. The reader knows that not only will he get out of it but that his solution in this fast paced cozy style read will not be ordinary.
As in the first novel, politics and the state of the country are constant background themes to the work. So too is the concept of evil and the forms it may take. Neither thematic backdrop, though always subtlety present, detracts from the main engrossing mystery. Instead, as in most good novels, such issues work to enhance character development and the read. Such is the case here, which builds upon a strong first book to provide another mighty good read.
High Priestess
By David Skibbins
www.davidskibbins.com
Thomas Dunne Books (St. Martins Minotaur)
Hardback
ISBN# 0-312-35233-6
ARC
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More next time and as always feel free to drop me a note here or at Kevin_tipple@att.net with your comments, observations, and suggestions.
Thanks for reading!
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
As Warren discovered, while one can have a life on the run, it really isn’t possible to escape everything from your past. Plastic surgery can change your appearance. But, you still have your memories. You also have your habits and eventually if you stay in one place too long, you will become known to folks that you thought were long gone from your life. You might even think that at least some of them are dead since it has been more than thirty years. Such is the case for Warren when a man calling himself Mr. Hightower sits down at his sidewalk tarot table. As their discussion turns, Warren realizes that Mr. Hightower knows all about Warren’s past and is more than willing to use it against him.
What Mr. Hightower really wants is Warren’s help. When you are the leader of a local Satanic Church, you know that law enforcement isn’t going to take you seriously. People in his church are dying in what appears to be nothing more than rather bizarre accidents. Those accidents, if they were accidents, don’t explain the death threats Church leadership has been receiving. Not only is the man calling himself Mr. Hightower a target, there are others. Because of past events (read Eight Of Swords) Mr. Hightower believes Warren can help and intends to disclose Warren’s past if he won’t.
Warren, along with strong political beliefs about the past as well as the state of America today, is just a bit bored as well. Things have just been a little too stable for him lately and the pressure of that stability is wearing on him. He is dating and trying very hard to get his psychological house of cards in order as well as resist the lure of running again. Hightower didn’t need blackmail—Warren would have done it for free. The fact that Hightower is also willing to pay him for his troubles is a nice bonus.
Warren agrees and soon starts asking questions in all the wrong places and finds himself in real trouble. But, this is Warren Ritter. He has a unique outlook on everything and there is a method to his madness. The reader knows that not only will he get out of it but that his solution in this fast paced cozy style read will not be ordinary.
As in the first novel, politics and the state of the country are constant background themes to the work. So too is the concept of evil and the forms it may take. Neither thematic backdrop, though always subtlety present, detracts from the main engrossing mystery. Instead, as in most good novels, such issues work to enhance character development and the read. Such is the case here, which builds upon a strong first book to provide another mighty good read.
High Priestess
By David Skibbins
www.davidskibbins.com
Thomas Dunne Books (St. Martins Minotaur)
Hardback
ISBN# 0-312-35233-6
ARC
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More next time and as always feel free to drop me a note here or at Kevin_tipple@att.net with your comments, observations, and suggestions.
Thanks for reading!
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
It Was In The Cards
Kevin’s Corner
I know better. I should be working on my own stuff. I have the support of a great group that I meet with every month and right now I have nothing for the next session. There is the ongoing novel project that, in some senses, is sinking under its own weight like an SUV in a marsh. Despite the group consensus after reading nine chapters that, though it needs work and I should definitely not scrap it all and start over, I keep thinking I should.
Then, there is the ongoing short story situation. A number of contests are closing out at the end of the month and I keep thinking I should whip something up and enter each one. All are free which is great and all have intriguing premises. But, nothing is coming through the murk of my mind that would fit any of the contests let alone start a story.
I also recently found a number of stories that I had thought had been thrown out in the trash long ago. In fact, one of them made the rounds of the group last time and I got a lot of great advice that I should put to work. I also have some material to study and an offer from a friend to help with a kind of story I have never written before. So, I have plenty of projects to work on and I should be working on them right now. Logically, I know all that. I’m just not inspired to do any of it and haven’t been for weeks.
This is not good.
Yes, I know the old mantra about inspiration and how professionals don’t wait to feel motivated to write. Well, good for them. It does not work that way for me. I’m bummed and that is all there is to it. And yes, while I have lots of good excuses as to why I haven’t written much beyond the occasional review here and there and my monthly column for Senior News, none of them really matter. The bottom line is I am violating the fundamental rule of rear in the chair and fingers on the keyboard.
No doubt in a few hours I will be violating it again today and for most of the day. It just is too damn nice to be inside. As you know, Texas and especially North Texas is experiencing a severe drought. Lake levels are way down and water conservation measures are underway with more measures planned for implementation by the end of next month. Most of the days the skies have been clear and temperatures have been much higher than normal. It was 69 officially yesterday though I think we were warmer that that and sunny. So, it is just too nice to sit inside cooped up in front of a computer monitor. Not when bass are moving in the creek, trees are budding, and the occasional hornet comes winging by to annoy.
I knew my fate for the day was sealed when a small package arrived via the postal service bearing the name of author David Skibbins. If you missed his first novel “Eight of Swords” you ought to take a look at it. I was very happy to review it positively as I thought then and still do, that his character, Warren Ritter, had real potential for a series. In that novel, Ritter, who among other things reads the tarot, gets himself involved in a kidnapping and murder case and because of his links to a violent past involving the protests of the 60’s becomes a suspect. I’m oversimplifying greatly here the plot of that novel, but suffice it to say that it earned my good stuff seal of approval.
I knew another installment was underway and was supposed to be out this spring. So, I was very pleasantly surprised to open the small package and find an ARC for his latest, “High Priestess.” In this one, the past comes back once again to mess with Ritter, as an old girlfriend and her brother become the target for a serial killer. They want his help and have no problem using his past against him. I’m a little more than halfway through and enjoying it immensely. I’m not enjoying the sunburn I got on my face nearly as much though the boys seem to really like the raccoon eyes effect of the fact that I was wearing my sunglasses.
I have a feeling I won’t get much writing done today either. The porch is calling.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More next time and as always feel free to drop me a note here or at Kevin_tipple@att.net with your comments, observations, and suggestions.
Thanks for reading!
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
I know better. I should be working on my own stuff. I have the support of a great group that I meet with every month and right now I have nothing for the next session. There is the ongoing novel project that, in some senses, is sinking under its own weight like an SUV in a marsh. Despite the group consensus after reading nine chapters that, though it needs work and I should definitely not scrap it all and start over, I keep thinking I should.
Then, there is the ongoing short story situation. A number of contests are closing out at the end of the month and I keep thinking I should whip something up and enter each one. All are free which is great and all have intriguing premises. But, nothing is coming through the murk of my mind that would fit any of the contests let alone start a story.
I also recently found a number of stories that I had thought had been thrown out in the trash long ago. In fact, one of them made the rounds of the group last time and I got a lot of great advice that I should put to work. I also have some material to study and an offer from a friend to help with a kind of story I have never written before. So, I have plenty of projects to work on and I should be working on them right now. Logically, I know all that. I’m just not inspired to do any of it and haven’t been for weeks.
This is not good.
Yes, I know the old mantra about inspiration and how professionals don’t wait to feel motivated to write. Well, good for them. It does not work that way for me. I’m bummed and that is all there is to it. And yes, while I have lots of good excuses as to why I haven’t written much beyond the occasional review here and there and my monthly column for Senior News, none of them really matter. The bottom line is I am violating the fundamental rule of rear in the chair and fingers on the keyboard.
No doubt in a few hours I will be violating it again today and for most of the day. It just is too damn nice to be inside. As you know, Texas and especially North Texas is experiencing a severe drought. Lake levels are way down and water conservation measures are underway with more measures planned for implementation by the end of next month. Most of the days the skies have been clear and temperatures have been much higher than normal. It was 69 officially yesterday though I think we were warmer that that and sunny. So, it is just too nice to sit inside cooped up in front of a computer monitor. Not when bass are moving in the creek, trees are budding, and the occasional hornet comes winging by to annoy.
I knew my fate for the day was sealed when a small package arrived via the postal service bearing the name of author David Skibbins. If you missed his first novel “Eight of Swords” you ought to take a look at it. I was very happy to review it positively as I thought then and still do, that his character, Warren Ritter, had real potential for a series. In that novel, Ritter, who among other things reads the tarot, gets himself involved in a kidnapping and murder case and because of his links to a violent past involving the protests of the 60’s becomes a suspect. I’m oversimplifying greatly here the plot of that novel, but suffice it to say that it earned my good stuff seal of approval.
I knew another installment was underway and was supposed to be out this spring. So, I was very pleasantly surprised to open the small package and find an ARC for his latest, “High Priestess.” In this one, the past comes back once again to mess with Ritter, as an old girlfriend and her brother become the target for a serial killer. They want his help and have no problem using his past against him. I’m a little more than halfway through and enjoying it immensely. I’m not enjoying the sunburn I got on my face nearly as much though the boys seem to really like the raccoon eyes effect of the fact that I was wearing my sunglasses.
I have a feeling I won’t get much writing done today either. The porch is calling.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More next time and as always feel free to drop me a note here or at Kevin_tipple@att.net with your comments, observations, and suggestions.
Thanks for reading!
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
So, I Ask You....
Kevin’s Corner
Is it just me? I ask because the last week has seen a succession of strange events in my online world. I’m not really mad at anyone but rank all of this under the category of life’s petty little annoyances.
After reviewing for a number of years now, I have certain expectations. One of which is for my work to be taken seriously and appreciated. No, I’m not perfect and very well aware that I am far from it. But, if you want my work and you want it for free, as everyone seems to do, then you better have something in it for me to make up for not paying me. I have paid my dues and then some by this point. I’ve just had to turn down a gig I had accepted because it became clear that my work was not going to appear in the print version of the magazine.
No, I’m not going to name them or explain the rational I was given, but it was something I could not swallow under any circumstances. And it wasn’t, as some may feel, that I turned it down because a certain “reviewer” was and is given print access. While she and I see many books that we both have read differently as well as quite a few eyeball to eyeball as it were, that wasn’t the point. Heck, I admire her ability to read that fast. It must be nice.
The point was that my work and efforts were clearly not going to be valued the way I felt they should be at this point in my career. I don’t need “exposure” on yet another site. The whole point of joining this specific team and working for them was to get my work in print. This blog, as well as cyber sites in general just are not seen as important on the old resume as a print market. That is the plain hard truth of the matter no matter what the cyber proponents shriek to the heavens. I have had more than one editor point out to me that cyber outlets come and go and there is no stability and often no quality control.
Now, I have argued against that notion but like the argument a good friend of mine gives on the term POD, it really doesn’t matter. Perception is the key and when a print market editor feels that way, there isn’t much one can do to change his or her mind. Once I learned that what I had understood to be implied was not remotely true it became obvious that things weren’t going to work out after all.
That was disappointing but at least I knew now and not months from now. It served as the topping on what has been a strange few days. On a number of lists I am on, I have either been accidentally involved in an argument because something I said was twisted to fit someone else’s misperception of what I said or have watched a fight escalate between other list members over nothing. I have watched lists go wildly off topic and may in fact have also helped that along with a small comment or a joke.
Which brings home the point another good friend has made over the last year. Having read some of my efforts, he has commented repeatedly that what is holding me back is the fact that I spend way too much time on e-mail and discussions that really don’t matter. I’m on a number of writing lists because I keep thinking that somebody will pass on the secret that seems to be eluding me in terms of making sales. His contention is that what I need to do is get off the lists and work on my own stuff more. That I waste time reading list mail and will never find what I am looking for. He also argues that I should quit reviewing to focus on my own work.
I don’t know if he is right on that but I am beginning to think he is right about the list stuff. Especially since he has his book finished after a year and is shopping it and mine still sits here very much a rough draft in progress.
So, maybe it is just me. Maybe I am the one out of sorts with everyone else. I’d like to think not but as the sun rises to the east bringing yet another day of drought to North Texas, I’m beginning to wonder if it is a good idea to even check my e-mail.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More next time and as always feel free to drop me a note here or at Kevin_tipple@att.net with your comments, observations, and suggestions.
Thanks for reading!
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
Is it just me? I ask because the last week has seen a succession of strange events in my online world. I’m not really mad at anyone but rank all of this under the category of life’s petty little annoyances.
After reviewing for a number of years now, I have certain expectations. One of which is for my work to be taken seriously and appreciated. No, I’m not perfect and very well aware that I am far from it. But, if you want my work and you want it for free, as everyone seems to do, then you better have something in it for me to make up for not paying me. I have paid my dues and then some by this point. I’ve just had to turn down a gig I had accepted because it became clear that my work was not going to appear in the print version of the magazine.
No, I’m not going to name them or explain the rational I was given, but it was something I could not swallow under any circumstances. And it wasn’t, as some may feel, that I turned it down because a certain “reviewer” was and is given print access. While she and I see many books that we both have read differently as well as quite a few eyeball to eyeball as it were, that wasn’t the point. Heck, I admire her ability to read that fast. It must be nice.
The point was that my work and efforts were clearly not going to be valued the way I felt they should be at this point in my career. I don’t need “exposure” on yet another site. The whole point of joining this specific team and working for them was to get my work in print. This blog, as well as cyber sites in general just are not seen as important on the old resume as a print market. That is the plain hard truth of the matter no matter what the cyber proponents shriek to the heavens. I have had more than one editor point out to me that cyber outlets come and go and there is no stability and often no quality control.
Now, I have argued against that notion but like the argument a good friend of mine gives on the term POD, it really doesn’t matter. Perception is the key and when a print market editor feels that way, there isn’t much one can do to change his or her mind. Once I learned that what I had understood to be implied was not remotely true it became obvious that things weren’t going to work out after all.
That was disappointing but at least I knew now and not months from now. It served as the topping on what has been a strange few days. On a number of lists I am on, I have either been accidentally involved in an argument because something I said was twisted to fit someone else’s misperception of what I said or have watched a fight escalate between other list members over nothing. I have watched lists go wildly off topic and may in fact have also helped that along with a small comment or a joke.
Which brings home the point another good friend has made over the last year. Having read some of my efforts, he has commented repeatedly that what is holding me back is the fact that I spend way too much time on e-mail and discussions that really don’t matter. I’m on a number of writing lists because I keep thinking that somebody will pass on the secret that seems to be eluding me in terms of making sales. His contention is that what I need to do is get off the lists and work on my own stuff more. That I waste time reading list mail and will never find what I am looking for. He also argues that I should quit reviewing to focus on my own work.
I don’t know if he is right on that but I am beginning to think he is right about the list stuff. Especially since he has his book finished after a year and is shopping it and mine still sits here very much a rough draft in progress.
So, maybe it is just me. Maybe I am the one out of sorts with everyone else. I’d like to think not but as the sun rises to the east bringing yet another day of drought to North Texas, I’m beginning to wonder if it is a good idea to even check my e-mail.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More next time and as always feel free to drop me a note here or at Kevin_tipple@att.net with your comments, observations, and suggestions.
Thanks for reading!
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Meet the Author: Earl Staggs
Kevin’s Corner
One of the things I have noticed about my local paper is that book coverage continues to shrink and shrink. With every design change to improve readability and to stop the steadily shrinking customer base, books are covered less and less. In so doing, author appearances are also covered less. Neither one is a good thing at all and maybe the bean counters at the paper ought to figure out that the better idea would be to cover more and quit dumbing down the paper.
In the meantime, I’m doing my part to help promote an author and a good friend. As some of you may know, Earl Staggs has been involved in the Short Mystery Fiction Society list for years. He was one of the first to welcome me with open arms on that list and has suffered through reading my efforts many times and has always offered constructive criticism on my efforts.
He was also aware that despite our friendship, if I thought his book stunk, I would say so. I do that something that used to get me in trouble with my bosses at the bookstores because they believe a book is a book is a book. They aren’t. Some books are just flat better than others. Fortunately for both of us, his book was/is really good and I was very pleased to write a very positive review of it for the online site Mysterical-e http://mystericale.com/current_issue/ That review is on down the page as a refresher for you.
If you are in the Dallas/Fort Worth area there are four chances coming up to “Meet The Author” as the say in the publicity world. So come on out, say hi to Earl, buy the book if you like, and make sure to tell him Kevin sent you.
January 14, 2006
Saturday, 10.30 AM
Barnes & Noble Booksellers #2193
2201 I-35 East South
Denton, Texas 76205
Event: Book signing
January 21, 2006
Saturday, 3 PM
Barnes & Noble #2060
Stonebriar Centre
2601 Preston Road, #1204
Frisco, Texas 75034
Event: Book signing
February 11, 2006
Saturday, 2 PMBarnes & Noble #2584
3909 S. Cooper
So. Arlington, TX 76015-4124
Event: Book signing
March 26, 2006
Sunday, 11 AM - 6 PM
5th Annual Plano Book Festival for Adult Literacy http://www.planobookfestival.com/index.asp
Plano TX
Memory Of A Murder
By Earl Staggs
Quiet Storm Publishing
http://www.quietstormpublishing.com/
Summer 2005
ARC
In Ocean City, former FBI Agent Adam Kingston has made a bit of a name for himself since he left the bureau. Thanks to a rather freakish accident, he has the ability to touch objects connected to individuals and see what has happened to them elsewhere---a sort of remote viewing. Such talent comes in handy at times, especially when the mother of his godson asks Adam to check on him.
Other than a brief image of a strange unkempt longhaired bearded man, Adam Kingston sees that everything is fine with Junior. Random images often drift into the viewing of the person he is concentrating on, so he isn’t that concerned about the man. But then the vision of the strange man appears in the flesh on his doorstep seeking Adam’s help. Suffering from amnesia, the man who gives his name as Chip Weathers, also believes he may have committed a murder. He has seen news reports of a body that was recently discovered buried in a basement in Baltimore. The woman died approximately sixteen years ago, which was about the same time as his amnesia. According to Chip, the doctors blame his amnesia on the shock of a tragic event. Chip believes he knew the woman and killed her and wants Adam to find out who she was and why he killed her.
In Baltimore, Detective Brenda McCort has her hands full. Not only is she working the female body in the basement case, she now has another body to deal with. “This time, a man shot, wrapped in black plastic trashbags and left in the trunk of a car.” (Chapter 2) He hasn’t been dead long and won’t be the last, as her cases will lead her to Ocean City and Adam’s case. Not only will they have to solve a sixteen-year-old murder case, but stop a new wake of killings based on the past.
Shifting in point of view from Adam, to Brenda, to a killer who enjoys the work way too much, this novel moves forward at a rapid pace. Both primary characters have suffered major traumas making the past a heavy and recurrent theme in the work. At the same time, both have survived and by being rich in such detail, become very real to the readers. So too is the killer who, unlike in many novels, is not a cold calculating unfeeling killing machine. While he may be a product that showcases the worst society has to offer, his motivations are clear and realistic and the killer becomes just as real for the reader.
As in a few other offerings I have had the pleasure of reading from this publisher, this is a quality novel. The characters are real, the story complex and changing, and Mr. Staggs performs an excellent piece of literary deception that keeps readers guessing to the end. Fans of his numerous short stories will not be disappointed and neither will those new to his work.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More next time and as always feel free to drop me a note here or at Kevin_tipple@att.net with your comments, observations, and suggestions.
Thanks for reading!
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
One of the things I have noticed about my local paper is that book coverage continues to shrink and shrink. With every design change to improve readability and to stop the steadily shrinking customer base, books are covered less and less. In so doing, author appearances are also covered less. Neither one is a good thing at all and maybe the bean counters at the paper ought to figure out that the better idea would be to cover more and quit dumbing down the paper.
In the meantime, I’m doing my part to help promote an author and a good friend. As some of you may know, Earl Staggs has been involved in the Short Mystery Fiction Society list for years. He was one of the first to welcome me with open arms on that list and has suffered through reading my efforts many times and has always offered constructive criticism on my efforts.
He was also aware that despite our friendship, if I thought his book stunk, I would say so. I do that something that used to get me in trouble with my bosses at the bookstores because they believe a book is a book is a book. They aren’t. Some books are just flat better than others. Fortunately for both of us, his book was/is really good and I was very pleased to write a very positive review of it for the online site Mysterical-e http://mystericale.com/current_issue/ That review is on down the page as a refresher for you.
If you are in the Dallas/Fort Worth area there are four chances coming up to “Meet The Author” as the say in the publicity world. So come on out, say hi to Earl, buy the book if you like, and make sure to tell him Kevin sent you.
January 14, 2006
Saturday, 10.30 AM
Barnes & Noble Booksellers #2193
2201 I-35 East South
Denton, Texas 76205
Event: Book signing
January 21, 2006
Saturday, 3 PM
Barnes & Noble #2060
Stonebriar Centre
2601 Preston Road, #1204
Frisco, Texas 75034
Event: Book signing
February 11, 2006
Saturday, 2 PMBarnes & Noble #2584
3909 S. Cooper
So. Arlington, TX 76015-4124
Event: Book signing
March 26, 2006
Sunday, 11 AM - 6 PM
5th Annual Plano Book Festival for Adult Literacy http://www.planobookfestival.com/index.asp
Plano TX
Memory Of A Murder
By Earl Staggs
Quiet Storm Publishing
http://www.quietstormpublishing.com/
Summer 2005
ARC
In Ocean City, former FBI Agent Adam Kingston has made a bit of a name for himself since he left the bureau. Thanks to a rather freakish accident, he has the ability to touch objects connected to individuals and see what has happened to them elsewhere---a sort of remote viewing. Such talent comes in handy at times, especially when the mother of his godson asks Adam to check on him.
Other than a brief image of a strange unkempt longhaired bearded man, Adam Kingston sees that everything is fine with Junior. Random images often drift into the viewing of the person he is concentrating on, so he isn’t that concerned about the man. But then the vision of the strange man appears in the flesh on his doorstep seeking Adam’s help. Suffering from amnesia, the man who gives his name as Chip Weathers, also believes he may have committed a murder. He has seen news reports of a body that was recently discovered buried in a basement in Baltimore. The woman died approximately sixteen years ago, which was about the same time as his amnesia. According to Chip, the doctors blame his amnesia on the shock of a tragic event. Chip believes he knew the woman and killed her and wants Adam to find out who she was and why he killed her.
In Baltimore, Detective Brenda McCort has her hands full. Not only is she working the female body in the basement case, she now has another body to deal with. “This time, a man shot, wrapped in black plastic trashbags and left in the trunk of a car.” (Chapter 2) He hasn’t been dead long and won’t be the last, as her cases will lead her to Ocean City and Adam’s case. Not only will they have to solve a sixteen-year-old murder case, but stop a new wake of killings based on the past.
Shifting in point of view from Adam, to Brenda, to a killer who enjoys the work way too much, this novel moves forward at a rapid pace. Both primary characters have suffered major traumas making the past a heavy and recurrent theme in the work. At the same time, both have survived and by being rich in such detail, become very real to the readers. So too is the killer who, unlike in many novels, is not a cold calculating unfeeling killing machine. While he may be a product that showcases the worst society has to offer, his motivations are clear and realistic and the killer becomes just as real for the reader.
As in a few other offerings I have had the pleasure of reading from this publisher, this is a quality novel. The characters are real, the story complex and changing, and Mr. Staggs performs an excellent piece of literary deception that keeps readers guessing to the end. Fans of his numerous short stories will not be disappointed and neither will those new to his work.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More next time and as always feel free to drop me a note here or at Kevin_tipple@att.net with your comments, observations, and suggestions.
Thanks for reading!
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Blood In The Desert
Kevin’s Corner
“Yeah, Wendell said. I guess you ought to be careful cussin the dead.
I would say at the least there probably aint no luck in it.
It’s just a bunch of Mexican drugrunners.
They were. They aint now.
I aint sure what you’re saying.
I’m just saying that whatever they were the only thing they are now is dead.
I’ll have to sleep on that.”
(No Country For Old Men, Page 73)
Sleep is something in short supply in this violence filled book.
Llewelyn Moss while on a hunt for antelope manages to wound one and is forced to chase it across the West Texas desert country. Instead of finding the antelope dead or dying he finds the results of a drug deal gone bad. To the south of him lie the mountains of Mexico and their stark beauty as well as the surrounding stark beauty of the desert country he walks in as he closes in on three off road vehicles and numerous bodies. He investigates and discovers the dead, the dying, the drugs and a large amount of money. He decides to take the money and run.
Huge mistake.
For Sheriff Ed Tom Bell society at large, as well as the folks that populate his county next to the Rio Grande, have changed so much that he doesn’t know what makes sense anymore. Already facing the twilight of his law enforcement career and burdened by what he did in the war, he feels helpless to stop the killing. With Moss on the run and a number of parties looking to get the money as well as the suddenly now missing drugs and not caring who dies in the process, this caring Sheriff seems always two steps behind.
But their paths do cross, as do numerous other paths in this highly atmospheric read. What follows is an engaging and often very violent read as the bodies pile up on a trail that leads into Mexico and back and forth across Southwest and West Texas. While the read does occasionally confuse the reader due to the author’s absolute refusal to use quotation marks and his rare use of identifier tags such as “he said,” etc., the novel provides a complex study of morality.
Much of this is done through the deeply complex character of Sheriff Bell. Simplifying greatly which does a disservice to the character and the novel, this is a man who knows that he has always done the best he could and yet wonders if he could have done more. He also wonders why so much was sacrificed in war to have society as it stands today. He wonders why the country he fought for has so many folks willing to dope themselves up among other philosophical issues. His conflicted character is in contrast to the killer Chigurh, who along with killing a number of people innocent and guilty alike, offers his own brand of absolute certainty in wisdom regarding himself and the world he inhabits. Somewhere in the middle is the character Llewelyn Moss, who far from perfect, gives in to temptation and sets lose a secondary wave of death and wonders what fate had to do with all of it.
The result is an engrossing story where amidst everything else, a world that makes no sense on one hand and perfect sense on the other is contemplated. Those looking for escapist fun need to look in other places and steer wide of this book. The novel is one of those examples that abound in good literature—a work that makes the reader think.
No Country For Old Men
By Cormac McCarthy
www.cormacmccarthybooks.com
Alfred A. Knopf
www.aaknopf.com
2005
ISBN # 0-375-40677-8
Hardback
309 Pages
$24.95 US
$32.95 Canada
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More next time and as always feel free to drop me a note here or at Kevin_tipple@att.net with your comments, observations, and suggestions.
Thanks for reading!
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
“Yeah, Wendell said. I guess you ought to be careful cussin the dead.
I would say at the least there probably aint no luck in it.
It’s just a bunch of Mexican drugrunners.
They were. They aint now.
I aint sure what you’re saying.
I’m just saying that whatever they were the only thing they are now is dead.
I’ll have to sleep on that.”
(No Country For Old Men, Page 73)
Sleep is something in short supply in this violence filled book.
Llewelyn Moss while on a hunt for antelope manages to wound one and is forced to chase it across the West Texas desert country. Instead of finding the antelope dead or dying he finds the results of a drug deal gone bad. To the south of him lie the mountains of Mexico and their stark beauty as well as the surrounding stark beauty of the desert country he walks in as he closes in on three off road vehicles and numerous bodies. He investigates and discovers the dead, the dying, the drugs and a large amount of money. He decides to take the money and run.
Huge mistake.
For Sheriff Ed Tom Bell society at large, as well as the folks that populate his county next to the Rio Grande, have changed so much that he doesn’t know what makes sense anymore. Already facing the twilight of his law enforcement career and burdened by what he did in the war, he feels helpless to stop the killing. With Moss on the run and a number of parties looking to get the money as well as the suddenly now missing drugs and not caring who dies in the process, this caring Sheriff seems always two steps behind.
But their paths do cross, as do numerous other paths in this highly atmospheric read. What follows is an engaging and often very violent read as the bodies pile up on a trail that leads into Mexico and back and forth across Southwest and West Texas. While the read does occasionally confuse the reader due to the author’s absolute refusal to use quotation marks and his rare use of identifier tags such as “he said,” etc., the novel provides a complex study of morality.
Much of this is done through the deeply complex character of Sheriff Bell. Simplifying greatly which does a disservice to the character and the novel, this is a man who knows that he has always done the best he could and yet wonders if he could have done more. He also wonders why so much was sacrificed in war to have society as it stands today. He wonders why the country he fought for has so many folks willing to dope themselves up among other philosophical issues. His conflicted character is in contrast to the killer Chigurh, who along with killing a number of people innocent and guilty alike, offers his own brand of absolute certainty in wisdom regarding himself and the world he inhabits. Somewhere in the middle is the character Llewelyn Moss, who far from perfect, gives in to temptation and sets lose a secondary wave of death and wonders what fate had to do with all of it.
The result is an engrossing story where amidst everything else, a world that makes no sense on one hand and perfect sense on the other is contemplated. Those looking for escapist fun need to look in other places and steer wide of this book. The novel is one of those examples that abound in good literature—a work that makes the reader think.
No Country For Old Men
By Cormac McCarthy
www.cormacmccarthybooks.com
Alfred A. Knopf
www.aaknopf.com
2005
ISBN # 0-375-40677-8
Hardback
309 Pages
$24.95 US
$32.95 Canada
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More next time and as always feel free to drop me a note here or at Kevin_tipple@att.net with your comments, observations, and suggestions.
Thanks for reading!
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Another Writing Life Update
Kevin’s Corner
It’s been a little over a month since my last column bemoaning the fact that my fiction still isn’t selling. Since then I don’t have any good news to report in the terms of sales. Nothing. Which is not only revolting personally but also when a cyber friend of mine posts the fact that he just received acceptances numbers 55, 56, and 57 (at last count as it changes hourly) for this year it becomes frustrating as all get out. In other words, he is humming along at more than one a week. Which is true because not only he is more talented than I am he has a lot more contacts and works flowing in the submission pipeline.
At the same time, I have been receiving words of encouragement not only here but through private e-mail as well. Then there is the fact that a certain group that I meet with every month has been enthusiastic in their continuing support of a novel I have been slowly working on. Yes, it has problems and needs a lot of work, but the overall core idea seems to entertain, as do the characters involved. It seems to be more an issue of how to make the novel better as opposed to blowing the whole thing up.
I am also reminded of one of my favorite authors James Lee Burke who experienced his own multi year drought in sales. By no means am I having the absolute nerve to compare my efforts to his. Not hardly. But it seems to me that if he and others have had such problems and overcome them to have the kinds of careers that I and many of us only dream about, then maybe it isn’t time to fold that tent just yet.
So, the tent is still up and the beat goes on. I’m still plagued by tons of self-doubt but then again, I know I may not be the best evaluator of my own work. Hopefully, like the parched landscape of North Texas, we shall both get watered in a good way pretty soon.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More next time and as always feel free to drop me a note here or at Kevin_tipple@att.net with your comments, observations, and suggestions.
Thanks for reading!
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
It’s been a little over a month since my last column bemoaning the fact that my fiction still isn’t selling. Since then I don’t have any good news to report in the terms of sales. Nothing. Which is not only revolting personally but also when a cyber friend of mine posts the fact that he just received acceptances numbers 55, 56, and 57 (at last count as it changes hourly) for this year it becomes frustrating as all get out. In other words, he is humming along at more than one a week. Which is true because not only he is more talented than I am he has a lot more contacts and works flowing in the submission pipeline.
At the same time, I have been receiving words of encouragement not only here but through private e-mail as well. Then there is the fact that a certain group that I meet with every month has been enthusiastic in their continuing support of a novel I have been slowly working on. Yes, it has problems and needs a lot of work, but the overall core idea seems to entertain, as do the characters involved. It seems to be more an issue of how to make the novel better as opposed to blowing the whole thing up.
I am also reminded of one of my favorite authors James Lee Burke who experienced his own multi year drought in sales. By no means am I having the absolute nerve to compare my efforts to his. Not hardly. But it seems to me that if he and others have had such problems and overcome them to have the kinds of careers that I and many of us only dream about, then maybe it isn’t time to fold that tent just yet.
So, the tent is still up and the beat goes on. I’m still plagued by tons of self-doubt but then again, I know I may not be the best evaluator of my own work. Hopefully, like the parched landscape of North Texas, we shall both get watered in a good way pretty soon.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More next time and as always feel free to drop me a note here or at Kevin_tipple@att.net with your comments, observations, and suggestions.
Thanks for reading!
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
A Writing Life Update
It’s been a little over a year now since we started sharing this space, you and I. Where has all the time gone? Another Halloween has passed and Thanksgiving looms next week though you couldn’t tell it from the way the stores are decked out. I ranted last year on that subject and won’t do it again this year.
At least it finally feels like fall here in North Texas. After days and weeks of above normal temps, this morning we woke to clear skies and lows in the low thirties and lower. That and a large blue heron that flew over this apartment complex screaming its head off at five am. Normally, the bird, which lives around here somewhere, lets loose once or twice and then quits. Not this morning—it didn’t stop for about fifteen minutes and was almost continuous. Of course, everyone else slept on but not yours truly.
I’m up now. Thanks, bird.
So, I grabbed a cup of tea and my coat and stepped out on the porch and caught the last of a full moon heading towards the western horizon as well as the first fingers of dawn. No wind and no traffic except for the occasional car heading down the adjoining street. It was beautiful.
And while I was out there I began to think about my writing and lack of progress as I have for the last week or so. I’m not sure if it is because of my upcoming birthday this weekend, the fact that my oldest, who at birth wasn’t much bigger than my hands put together now can stand toe to toe with me and turns eighteen in late December, or what it is but time seems to have flown. And at least writing wise, I have very little to show for it.
Good News Front
Currently at OnceWritten.com http://www.oncewritten.com/RecommendedReads/ my reviews of THE RIVER HOUSE By Margaret Leroy, SEE ISABELLE RUN by Elizabeth Bloom, RED HOT CAJUN by Sandra Hill, and PROMISES TO KEEP by Susan Crandall are now up as well as several other ones.
Currently at Mysterical-E http://www.mystericale.com/ my review of AS DOG IS MY WITNESS by Jeffrey Cohen is now up as well as numerous other reviews in the archives section.
In print (not available online) in the November edition of SENIOR NEWS I have my normal book review column which this month covers STILL RIVER: A LEE HENRY OSWALD MYSTERY by Harry Hunsicker and THE TEXAS RODEO MURDER by George Wilhite.
Bad News (Or No News) Front
I have zero fiction sales again this year. Not a one. Nothing and it certainly isn’t from not sending them out. The local stores have made a small fortune from me in mailing supplies and currently a number of stories have yet to bounce back so I could be premature in all of this. After a year, I’ve made very little progress on my novel and there is still no word on the publisher search for the anthology I am involved in so that isn’t going to come into print anytime soon.
So, there you have it. I can and do review books and I think I do them pretty well. But for the life of me, I can’t seem to sell my fiction and haven’t been able to since the late 90’s.
Which begs the obvious question—is it time to fold the tent on all of it and call it quits?
I honestly don’t know.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More next time and as always feel free to drop me a note here or at Kevin_tipple@att.net with your comments, observations, and suggestions.
Thanks for reading!
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
At least it finally feels like fall here in North Texas. After days and weeks of above normal temps, this morning we woke to clear skies and lows in the low thirties and lower. That and a large blue heron that flew over this apartment complex screaming its head off at five am. Normally, the bird, which lives around here somewhere, lets loose once or twice and then quits. Not this morning—it didn’t stop for about fifteen minutes and was almost continuous. Of course, everyone else slept on but not yours truly.
I’m up now. Thanks, bird.
So, I grabbed a cup of tea and my coat and stepped out on the porch and caught the last of a full moon heading towards the western horizon as well as the first fingers of dawn. No wind and no traffic except for the occasional car heading down the adjoining street. It was beautiful.
And while I was out there I began to think about my writing and lack of progress as I have for the last week or so. I’m not sure if it is because of my upcoming birthday this weekend, the fact that my oldest, who at birth wasn’t much bigger than my hands put together now can stand toe to toe with me and turns eighteen in late December, or what it is but time seems to have flown. And at least writing wise, I have very little to show for it.
Good News Front
Currently at OnceWritten.com http://www.oncewritten.com/RecommendedReads/ my reviews of THE RIVER HOUSE By Margaret Leroy, SEE ISABELLE RUN by Elizabeth Bloom, RED HOT CAJUN by Sandra Hill, and PROMISES TO KEEP by Susan Crandall are now up as well as several other ones.
Currently at Mysterical-E http://www.mystericale.com/ my review of AS DOG IS MY WITNESS by Jeffrey Cohen is now up as well as numerous other reviews in the archives section.
In print (not available online) in the November edition of SENIOR NEWS I have my normal book review column which this month covers STILL RIVER: A LEE HENRY OSWALD MYSTERY by Harry Hunsicker and THE TEXAS RODEO MURDER by George Wilhite.
Bad News (Or No News) Front
I have zero fiction sales again this year. Not a one. Nothing and it certainly isn’t from not sending them out. The local stores have made a small fortune from me in mailing supplies and currently a number of stories have yet to bounce back so I could be premature in all of this. After a year, I’ve made very little progress on my novel and there is still no word on the publisher search for the anthology I am involved in so that isn’t going to come into print anytime soon.
So, there you have it. I can and do review books and I think I do them pretty well. But for the life of me, I can’t seem to sell my fiction and haven’t been able to since the late 90’s.
Which begs the obvious question—is it time to fold the tent on all of it and call it quits?
I honestly don’t know.
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More next time and as always feel free to drop me a note here or at Kevin_tipple@att.net with your comments, observations, and suggestions.
Thanks for reading!
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Review: "Techno-Noir" Edited by Eva Batonne and Jeffrey Marks
The dark side of technology is often reported in the day’s news. The modern problem of identify theft was a topic long ago covered in classic science fiction. With such problems and others being daily fodder for the media which seems to be driven by sensationalism these days, it isn’t surprising that authors in other genres are going to explore the positives and the negatives of technology. The mystery field, out of the remaining genres, seems to be not only the most suited to do so, but the genre leading the pack in the form of novels, anthologies, and collections.
Case in point is the recent anthology release Techno-Noir edited by Eva Batonne and Jeffrey Marks. In the book, which contains eighteen stories by as many authors, the roles of technology, morality, deceit and consequences are considered. Some authors and the resulting stories play on the classic stereotypes in the mystery field and twist them while others go in a different direction. A couple of works contain some humor but most of the stories in the anthology are deadly serious as is subject matter. Like all anthologies, it’s hard to go into detail on all the strong stories so just a couple will be covered here.
One that really jumps out is “Suspicion” by Leann Sweeney. Keeping one’s mental health secret is important because even the paranoids do have enemies.
“Cookie Monster” by Tim Wohlforth also stands out for divine retribution on a dishonest computer salesman.
Driven by memories that won’t let go, “All the World is a Stage” by Rick McMahan also works very well and gives the reader a lasting image.
That isn’t to say the other authors, Libby Fischer Hellmann, Nick Andreychuk, Michael Bracken, Earl Staggs, Eva Batonne, Stephen D. Rogers, J. Michael Blue, Flora Davis, Bill Crider, Jeffrey Marks, Arla Gregory, Linda Posey, Kris Neri, H. Robert Perry, and Vera-Jane Goodin didn’t contribute excellent stories. They did. But any reader, or reviewer for that matter, is going to have personal favorites. The above are mine. Your experience will vary.
Techno-Noir
Edited by Eva Batonne and Jeffrey Marks
Zumaya Publications
www.zumayapublications.com
2005
ISBN #1-55410-266-9
Large Trade Paperback
223 Pages
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
Case in point is the recent anthology release Techno-Noir edited by Eva Batonne and Jeffrey Marks. In the book, which contains eighteen stories by as many authors, the roles of technology, morality, deceit and consequences are considered. Some authors and the resulting stories play on the classic stereotypes in the mystery field and twist them while others go in a different direction. A couple of works contain some humor but most of the stories in the anthology are deadly serious as is subject matter. Like all anthologies, it’s hard to go into detail on all the strong stories so just a couple will be covered here.
One that really jumps out is “Suspicion” by Leann Sweeney. Keeping one’s mental health secret is important because even the paranoids do have enemies.
“Cookie Monster” by Tim Wohlforth also stands out for divine retribution on a dishonest computer salesman.
Driven by memories that won’t let go, “All the World is a Stage” by Rick McMahan also works very well and gives the reader a lasting image.
That isn’t to say the other authors, Libby Fischer Hellmann, Nick Andreychuk, Michael Bracken, Earl Staggs, Eva Batonne, Stephen D. Rogers, J. Michael Blue, Flora Davis, Bill Crider, Jeffrey Marks, Arla Gregory, Linda Posey, Kris Neri, H. Robert Perry, and Vera-Jane Goodin didn’t contribute excellent stories. They did. But any reader, or reviewer for that matter, is going to have personal favorites. The above are mine. Your experience will vary.
Techno-Noir
Edited by Eva Batonne and Jeffrey Marks
Zumaya Publications
www.zumayapublications.com
2005
ISBN #1-55410-266-9
Large Trade Paperback
223 Pages
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
Monday, November 07, 2005
Killing With Food
One of the things I have noticed lately is the number of books using food directly as a murder weapon or serving as a backdrop to crime, murder, and mayhem. One wonders why and one wonders if it is really safe to eat anywhere but home. Even then, one may not be safe depending on what gets recalled five months after it hit the nation’s food supply. Food and the creation of it is one of several themes in this recent release titled Patterns In Silicon: A Lea Sherwood Mystery by Maureen Robb.
Having someone you just served dinner to in your restaurant become ill and within a short time die at the hospital is pretty bad. Being accused of being the murderess or assisting in it is worse. Both things happen to Lea Sherwood in short order in this very good mystery.
Five months ago, Lea opened Panache in San Francisco. So for, critics have been kind, business is pretty good and other than the usual problems associated with running any small business, things have been going well. Her ex-boyfriend Keith Whitten also is doing well as head of Whitten Systems Corp. Just today Whitten’s company had taken over Decision Ace, run by her current boyfriend, Mr. Paul Boyd. Keith’s decision to come to dinner at her restaurant with a couple of his executives quickly becomes fatal as within hours he is dead, a victim of poisoning.
Having served him, Lea, quickly becomes the number one suspect in both the eyes of the police and the voyeuristic media hungry for another sensational cause. While she is the prime suspect and her business begins to suffer, the police don’t seem inclined to either publicly clear her or search for other suspects. Instead, it is left to Lea to snoop and ask questions both in her culinary world as well as Paul’s high tech computer world.
Using detailed scenes in the restaurant and the company the author shows readers a world where creative input is valued into both arenas. Lea, a complex character doing her best, is left to hang in the media whirlwind and forced to fight for her economic and personal survival with little help from others, several of whom she had previously thought of as friends. The result is an engrossing read that steadily moves forward towards a fully satisfying conclusion.
According to the small author bio at the back of the book, the author is currently working on the next novel in the series. That is very good news as this book provides an excellent foundation for a series while leaving plenty of character growth opportunities to be explored. This is definitely a series to keep your eyes open for in the future.
Patterns In Silicon: A Lea Sherwood Mystery
By Maureen Robb
Drake Valley Press
www.drakevalleypress.com
2004
ISBN #0-9728186-4-2
Large Trade Paperback
304 Pages
More next time and as always feel free to drop me a note here or at Kevin_tipple@att.net with your comments, observations, and suggestions.
Thanks for reading!
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
Having someone you just served dinner to in your restaurant become ill and within a short time die at the hospital is pretty bad. Being accused of being the murderess or assisting in it is worse. Both things happen to Lea Sherwood in short order in this very good mystery.
Five months ago, Lea opened Panache in San Francisco. So for, critics have been kind, business is pretty good and other than the usual problems associated with running any small business, things have been going well. Her ex-boyfriend Keith Whitten also is doing well as head of Whitten Systems Corp. Just today Whitten’s company had taken over Decision Ace, run by her current boyfriend, Mr. Paul Boyd. Keith’s decision to come to dinner at her restaurant with a couple of his executives quickly becomes fatal as within hours he is dead, a victim of poisoning.
Having served him, Lea, quickly becomes the number one suspect in both the eyes of the police and the voyeuristic media hungry for another sensational cause. While she is the prime suspect and her business begins to suffer, the police don’t seem inclined to either publicly clear her or search for other suspects. Instead, it is left to Lea to snoop and ask questions both in her culinary world as well as Paul’s high tech computer world.
Using detailed scenes in the restaurant and the company the author shows readers a world where creative input is valued into both arenas. Lea, a complex character doing her best, is left to hang in the media whirlwind and forced to fight for her economic and personal survival with little help from others, several of whom she had previously thought of as friends. The result is an engrossing read that steadily moves forward towards a fully satisfying conclusion.
According to the small author bio at the back of the book, the author is currently working on the next novel in the series. That is very good news as this book provides an excellent foundation for a series while leaving plenty of character growth opportunities to be explored. This is definitely a series to keep your eyes open for in the future.
Patterns In Silicon: A Lea Sherwood Mystery
By Maureen Robb
Drake Valley Press
www.drakevalleypress.com
2004
ISBN #0-9728186-4-2
Large Trade Paperback
304 Pages
More next time and as always feel free to drop me a note here or at Kevin_tipple@att.net with your comments, observations, and suggestions.
Thanks for reading!
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
Sunday, November 06, 2005
Ending it right.....
Last time in this space I wrote about how some series seem to slowly crash and burn. That the series runs out of steam and should be ended but for some reason, much like a certain annoying commercial (which should be banned so that IQ scores would instantly rise across the nation and planet) the worn out series just keeps going and going. At the opposite end of the spectrum are those series that are ended leaving the reader wanting more. Such is the case with the final installment of The Fisherman’s Son Trilogy aptly titled, “Return of the Golden Age.” Author Marilyn Peake has crafted another winner here.
The third book in this moving young adult series finds Wiley O’Mara faced with a problem. How to blend the six boys from the incredible ancient city on the sea floor into his society which is very poor and where strangers are quickly noticed? Everything about the six boys marks them as being different and they can’t survive on their own or stay hidden for long. Not only do they need to blend in for themselves and accept what can’t be changed, they have to blend in for the society as a whole. Wiley also has to figure out how to help his people understand their magnificent past and to break out of the circle of poverty they have been in for quite some time.
With the help of Elden, Lucinda and others, the aid of seven magical rings and secret caverns on the island, Wiley begins to find answers. Answers that help him aid the newcomers as well as help his own people plan for a future that honors one of the themes of all three books. “Destiny is bigger than what you can understand at the moment” (P. 23). A destiny that he and he alone can fulfill if he has the strength to seek it.
Blending the mystical of what could have been with period correct descriptions, author Marilyn Peake brings to a close what she started so well in The Fisherman’s Son. The usual melancholy feel to the ending of a series is not present in this final novel. Instead, much like the preceeding books, the novel champions determination, perseverance, and a willingness to achieve something greater than can be imagined. This final novel in the series is another strong and enjoyable read as well as a fitting conclusion to the story arc.
Return Of The Golden Age
By Marilyn Peake
Double Dragon Publishing, Inc.
http://www.double-dragon-ebooks.com/
2005
ISBN #1-55404-256-9
Large Trade Paperback
138 Pages
More next time and as always feel free to drop me a note here or at Kevin_tipple@att.net with your comments, observations, and suggestions.
Thanks for reading!
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
The third book in this moving young adult series finds Wiley O’Mara faced with a problem. How to blend the six boys from the incredible ancient city on the sea floor into his society which is very poor and where strangers are quickly noticed? Everything about the six boys marks them as being different and they can’t survive on their own or stay hidden for long. Not only do they need to blend in for themselves and accept what can’t be changed, they have to blend in for the society as a whole. Wiley also has to figure out how to help his people understand their magnificent past and to break out of the circle of poverty they have been in for quite some time.
With the help of Elden, Lucinda and others, the aid of seven magical rings and secret caverns on the island, Wiley begins to find answers. Answers that help him aid the newcomers as well as help his own people plan for a future that honors one of the themes of all three books. “Destiny is bigger than what you can understand at the moment” (P. 23). A destiny that he and he alone can fulfill if he has the strength to seek it.
Blending the mystical of what could have been with period correct descriptions, author Marilyn Peake brings to a close what she started so well in The Fisherman’s Son. The usual melancholy feel to the ending of a series is not present in this final novel. Instead, much like the preceeding books, the novel champions determination, perseverance, and a willingness to achieve something greater than can be imagined. This final novel in the series is another strong and enjoyable read as well as a fitting conclusion to the story arc.
Return Of The Golden Age
By Marilyn Peake
Double Dragon Publishing, Inc.
http://www.double-dragon-ebooks.com/
2005
ISBN #1-55404-256-9
Large Trade Paperback
138 Pages
More next time and as always feel free to drop me a note here or at Kevin_tipple@att.net with your comments, observations, and suggestions.
Thanks for reading!
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
Monday, October 17, 2005
More of the same in "Eleven On Top"
Kevin’s Corner
Sometimes it seems as if a series begins to crash and burn on itself. What used to be funny or at worst mildly amusing becomes less so after a number of novels. Actions of the main character, which used to entertain, now make the reader wonder why in the heck hasn’t the character learned something by now. Even an attempt to shake things up a bit comes across as halfhearted and instead turns more into what has been read before in the series. Such was the way it seemed things worked in Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich.
This latest Stephanie Plum novel opens with Stephanie announcing to one and all she is quitting the bail bonds business. After one too many rolls through garbage (see preceding novels) and one too many car fires (see preceding novels for this running gag as well), she has decide she has had enough. No more chasing FTA’s and all that. To ease her life dissatisfaction, she will instead pursue new employment and one knows before she starts looking, her search won’t go well.
It wouldn’t be a Stephanie Plum novel if it did go right so, of course, it doesn’t. Each new job seems to end in spectacular public failure and her old friend Lulu constantly shows up seeking her help in capturing this suspect or that. In fact, once she quits, it seems as if Stephanie goes out on more chases than when she was officially working for cousin Vinnie. Of course, the ongoing saga of her Grandma Mazur with her comments and need to view bodies goes on as well as the ongoing saga of Valerie, her kids, her weight and her pending marriage to Kloughn. Also included is her ongoing struggle in regards to Ranger and Morelli and which one she wants more at the moment while thinking about the other one. And if that were not enough, she once again has to deal with another crazed stalker and his desire to see her dead.
While some of the novel goes into the secret sanctum of Ranger’s company, that is the only new area readers haven’t seen before and the entire read has absolutely zero character development regarding Stephanie. This is the same character as seen in the first novel, loveable and bumbling from crisis to crisis leaving havoc and Morelli and Ranger in her wake. This novel is proof that fiction allows the author to get away with what would never work in real life.
Eleven On Top
By Janet Evanovich
Random House Large Print
http://www.randomlargeprint.com/
2005
ISBN # 0-375-43533-6
Hardback
405 Pages
More next time and as always feel free to drop me a note here or at Kevin_tipple@att.net with your comments, observations, and suggestions.
Thanks for reading!
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
Sometimes it seems as if a series begins to crash and burn on itself. What used to be funny or at worst mildly amusing becomes less so after a number of novels. Actions of the main character, which used to entertain, now make the reader wonder why in the heck hasn’t the character learned something by now. Even an attempt to shake things up a bit comes across as halfhearted and instead turns more into what has been read before in the series. Such was the way it seemed things worked in Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich.
This latest Stephanie Plum novel opens with Stephanie announcing to one and all she is quitting the bail bonds business. After one too many rolls through garbage (see preceding novels) and one too many car fires (see preceding novels for this running gag as well), she has decide she has had enough. No more chasing FTA’s and all that. To ease her life dissatisfaction, she will instead pursue new employment and one knows before she starts looking, her search won’t go well.
It wouldn’t be a Stephanie Plum novel if it did go right so, of course, it doesn’t. Each new job seems to end in spectacular public failure and her old friend Lulu constantly shows up seeking her help in capturing this suspect or that. In fact, once she quits, it seems as if Stephanie goes out on more chases than when she was officially working for cousin Vinnie. Of course, the ongoing saga of her Grandma Mazur with her comments and need to view bodies goes on as well as the ongoing saga of Valerie, her kids, her weight and her pending marriage to Kloughn. Also included is her ongoing struggle in regards to Ranger and Morelli and which one she wants more at the moment while thinking about the other one. And if that were not enough, she once again has to deal with another crazed stalker and his desire to see her dead.
While some of the novel goes into the secret sanctum of Ranger’s company, that is the only new area readers haven’t seen before and the entire read has absolutely zero character development regarding Stephanie. This is the same character as seen in the first novel, loveable and bumbling from crisis to crisis leaving havoc and Morelli and Ranger in her wake. This novel is proof that fiction allows the author to get away with what would never work in real life.
Eleven On Top
By Janet Evanovich
Random House Large Print
http://www.randomlargeprint.com/
2005
ISBN # 0-375-43533-6
Hardback
405 Pages
More next time and as always feel free to drop me a note here or at Kevin_tipple@att.net with your comments, observations, and suggestions.
Thanks for reading!
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Venturing into "No Man's Land"
Kevin’s Corner
Meza Azul prison in Arizona is supposed to be proof of what private enterprise can do for the nation’s prison system. Superior in design and featuring state of the art controls, it was constructed to hold the worst of the worst from across the nation. It wasn’t supposed to allow an escape or for an inmate to be able to lead a rebellion and take over the prison. That is until now.
Timothy Driver has instigated a rebellion and as their leader, has over 100 guards and workers hostage. He intendeds to kill a hostage every six hours until Frank Corso comes to him. The same Frank Corso who profiled the former submarine commander in a best selling book after his sensational murder trial. Corso thinks all Driver wants is for Corso to tell Driver’s story again in exchange for the freedom of the hostages.
Driver has other plans as he walks the slippery slope of sanity. He also has accomplices and despite his apparent growing break with reality, manages not only to escape the facility with Corso as his newest hostage, but to leave mayhem and death in his wake while constantly eluding law enforcement.
While G. M. Ford portrays law enforcement as bumbling idiots from time to time, especially in the federal ranks, that tone is not directed at them in this novel. While Frank Corso in his recurring role as the difficult reporter/author does make a few comments, most of his scorched speech and thought is aimed at the national media and their attempts to sensationalize a story no matter what it is. In this case, it works in the form of the character Melanie Harris, who rode her own emotional trudge of the death of her young child into celebrity pundit expertise and eventually became host of a reality based television show dedicated to hunting down criminals and putting them back behind bars. The allusion to a certain long running televion show on FOX stations around the country are many and at times the thin veneer of fiction is almost non-existent.
Series fans that hoped for a quick return of Meg will surely be disappointed. She remains gone and without contact, which may exacerbate Corso’s legendary by now “death wish.” Or not as the novel is certainly open to reader interpretation on that matter. What isn’t open is the fact that this novel is a hard-edged violence filled book that continues the character well and provides another strong entry in this very enjoyable series.
No Man’s Land
By G. M. Ford
William Morrow/Harper Collins Publishers
www.harpercollins.com
2005
ISBN # 0-06-055482-7
Hardback
310 Pages
More next time and as always feel free to drop me a note here or at Kevin_tipple@att.net with your comments, observations, and suggestions.
Thanks for reading!
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
Meza Azul prison in Arizona is supposed to be proof of what private enterprise can do for the nation’s prison system. Superior in design and featuring state of the art controls, it was constructed to hold the worst of the worst from across the nation. It wasn’t supposed to allow an escape or for an inmate to be able to lead a rebellion and take over the prison. That is until now.
Timothy Driver has instigated a rebellion and as their leader, has over 100 guards and workers hostage. He intendeds to kill a hostage every six hours until Frank Corso comes to him. The same Frank Corso who profiled the former submarine commander in a best selling book after his sensational murder trial. Corso thinks all Driver wants is for Corso to tell Driver’s story again in exchange for the freedom of the hostages.
Driver has other plans as he walks the slippery slope of sanity. He also has accomplices and despite his apparent growing break with reality, manages not only to escape the facility with Corso as his newest hostage, but to leave mayhem and death in his wake while constantly eluding law enforcement.
While G. M. Ford portrays law enforcement as bumbling idiots from time to time, especially in the federal ranks, that tone is not directed at them in this novel. While Frank Corso in his recurring role as the difficult reporter/author does make a few comments, most of his scorched speech and thought is aimed at the national media and their attempts to sensationalize a story no matter what it is. In this case, it works in the form of the character Melanie Harris, who rode her own emotional trudge of the death of her young child into celebrity pundit expertise and eventually became host of a reality based television show dedicated to hunting down criminals and putting them back behind bars. The allusion to a certain long running televion show on FOX stations around the country are many and at times the thin veneer of fiction is almost non-existent.
Series fans that hoped for a quick return of Meg will surely be disappointed. She remains gone and without contact, which may exacerbate Corso’s legendary by now “death wish.” Or not as the novel is certainly open to reader interpretation on that matter. What isn’t open is the fact that this novel is a hard-edged violence filled book that continues the character well and provides another strong entry in this very enjoyable series.
No Man’s Land
By G. M. Ford
William Morrow/Harper Collins Publishers
www.harpercollins.com
2005
ISBN # 0-06-055482-7
Hardback
310 Pages
More next time and as always feel free to drop me a note here or at Kevin_tipple@att.net with your comments, observations, and suggestions.
Thanks for reading!
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Hitting The Circuit
Kevin’s Corner
There is an old adage in writing fiction. No, not the beat to death and should be buried under a mountain of lime one about “show, don’t tell.” That one never made much sense to me especially when one considers what makes the bestseller list. Not that I believe in the bestseller list much either. For me it ranks right up there with political polling – it just does not have much reliability.
The writing adage I’m referring to is the one about “write what you know.” Sure, there are those that argue against it (personally, I’m not going to kill folks just so I can write about murder in my book) but when you read it as a reader, without knowing a word about the author’s background bio, you know it. There is that certain ring of truth that comes through when the author is writing about a subject that the author knows completely. That is certainly true in George Wilhite’s case and the result is his very enjoyable novel, The Texas Rodeo Murder.
For English Department Professor Ira Carter, it begins with a phone call from his old friend Jake, publisher and owner of the Texas Rodeo Magazine that is disconnected seconds after Ira hears something that sounds like trouble. Concerned, Ira goes off and finds his friend near death from a shotgun blast to the stomach. He survives just long enough to get to the hospital and tell Ira to find J. D.
J. D. was John Davis who had ridden in the rodeo circuit years before along with Ira and a few other good friends. Ira had eventually cut back to just taking pictures at the rodeos and occasionally doing clown performances as his regular job became teaching English at the rural campus of Hill County College. Around the same time, J. D. had crashed his truck into a lake in western Oklahoma and though his body was never found, was presumed dead. His family, a wife and two boys, had moved back to live with her family on a reservation in New Mexico.
With Jake's dying plea in his ears to find J. D. and an address in New Mexico in hand, Ira begins to hunt for J. D. The trail will cross into New Mexico before returning to the rodeo circuit in Central Texas. Along the way the 34-year-old Ira will have to deal with the fact that others with dark intent are looking for J. D., that clowning at the rodeos isn’t as easy as it used to be, and that the sport he loves is changing and not necessarily for the better. All that and the fact that romance can be more difficult than any bull in the ring.
George Wilhite uses his thirteen years of bare back riding, eight years of bull riding, and numerous other years experience in and around rodeos, to create an enjoyable and heavily atmospheric read. By the time he is through, the world of the rodeo comes alive for the reader in every sense. Along the way he also delivers a good mystery, a few twists and turns, some romance, and characters to care about. The result is a good read, guaranteed to entertain, and a great introduction to a sport that one does not hear nearly enough about. This is good stuff and well worth the read.
The Texas Rodeo Murder
By George Wilhite
Sunbelt/Eakin Press
http://www.eakinpress.com/
2003
ISBN # 1-57168-779-3
Large Trade Paperback
178 Pages
More next time and as always feel free to drop me a note here or at Kevin_tipple@att.net with your comments, observations, and suggestions.
Thanks for reading!
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
There is an old adage in writing fiction. No, not the beat to death and should be buried under a mountain of lime one about “show, don’t tell.” That one never made much sense to me especially when one considers what makes the bestseller list. Not that I believe in the bestseller list much either. For me it ranks right up there with political polling – it just does not have much reliability.
The writing adage I’m referring to is the one about “write what you know.” Sure, there are those that argue against it (personally, I’m not going to kill folks just so I can write about murder in my book) but when you read it as a reader, without knowing a word about the author’s background bio, you know it. There is that certain ring of truth that comes through when the author is writing about a subject that the author knows completely. That is certainly true in George Wilhite’s case and the result is his very enjoyable novel, The Texas Rodeo Murder.
For English Department Professor Ira Carter, it begins with a phone call from his old friend Jake, publisher and owner of the Texas Rodeo Magazine that is disconnected seconds after Ira hears something that sounds like trouble. Concerned, Ira goes off and finds his friend near death from a shotgun blast to the stomach. He survives just long enough to get to the hospital and tell Ira to find J. D.
J. D. was John Davis who had ridden in the rodeo circuit years before along with Ira and a few other good friends. Ira had eventually cut back to just taking pictures at the rodeos and occasionally doing clown performances as his regular job became teaching English at the rural campus of Hill County College. Around the same time, J. D. had crashed his truck into a lake in western Oklahoma and though his body was never found, was presumed dead. His family, a wife and two boys, had moved back to live with her family on a reservation in New Mexico.
With Jake's dying plea in his ears to find J. D. and an address in New Mexico in hand, Ira begins to hunt for J. D. The trail will cross into New Mexico before returning to the rodeo circuit in Central Texas. Along the way the 34-year-old Ira will have to deal with the fact that others with dark intent are looking for J. D., that clowning at the rodeos isn’t as easy as it used to be, and that the sport he loves is changing and not necessarily for the better. All that and the fact that romance can be more difficult than any bull in the ring.
George Wilhite uses his thirteen years of bare back riding, eight years of bull riding, and numerous other years experience in and around rodeos, to create an enjoyable and heavily atmospheric read. By the time he is through, the world of the rodeo comes alive for the reader in every sense. Along the way he also delivers a good mystery, a few twists and turns, some romance, and characters to care about. The result is a good read, guaranteed to entertain, and a great introduction to a sport that one does not hear nearly enough about. This is good stuff and well worth the read.
The Texas Rodeo Murder
By George Wilhite
Sunbelt/Eakin Press
http://www.eakinpress.com/
2003
ISBN # 1-57168-779-3
Large Trade Paperback
178 Pages
More next time and as always feel free to drop me a note here or at Kevin_tipple@att.net with your comments, observations, and suggestions.
Thanks for reading!
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
The past comes alive in "The Rogues' Game"
Kevin’s Corner
Like the small west Texas town that is never named, the man with no name is not what he appears to be on the surface. He drives a beautiful car and appears in town with a beautiful woman named Della. It isn’t the first time he has been in town as he was here before in 1942. This time he is back to seek some revenge and no one remembers him or suspects that he is anything other than what he appears to be—a flamboyant gambler.
Revenge for what isn’t clear nor is his plan. His plan does involve a weekly high stakes card game that has been going on for decades at the Weilbach Hotel. It also isn’t really clear which of several players is his target. It also isn’t clear on how Della’s interest in a recent oil strike is going to help or for that matter hurt his plan. Like his cards, he keeps his plans close to the vest and adjusts for changes. He does have a plan, he is flexible and he just needs a little help from friends like Chicken Little and Icepick Willie.
What follows in this novel by Tyler, Texas resident Milton T. Burton is an intriguing and deeply twisted tale of a great con. The author opens a portal back into a different time and pulls the reader deeply into a Texas of the recent past. Told through first person point of view he spins a rich and complex weave that pulls the reader deep into his world where only slowly does the shape and scope of the plan come tantalizingly clear like the mirage on a West Texas highway during the heat of the summer before disappearing again. Heavily atmospheric both in place and in style of writing, this is the kind of novel that starts slowly, moves slowly and pulls the reader in so deep that when one looks up from the book there is that splendid moment of disorientation between the past that might have been and the present.
The Rogues’ Game
By Milton T. Burton
Thomas Dunne Books
www.minotaurbooks.com
2005
ISBN # 0-312-33681-0
Hardback
296 Pages
$23.95 US
$33.95 Canada
More next time and as always feel free to drop me a note here or at Kevin_tipple@att.net with your comments, observations, and suggestions.
Thanks for reading!
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
Like the small west Texas town that is never named, the man with no name is not what he appears to be on the surface. He drives a beautiful car and appears in town with a beautiful woman named Della. It isn’t the first time he has been in town as he was here before in 1942. This time he is back to seek some revenge and no one remembers him or suspects that he is anything other than what he appears to be—a flamboyant gambler.
Revenge for what isn’t clear nor is his plan. His plan does involve a weekly high stakes card game that has been going on for decades at the Weilbach Hotel. It also isn’t really clear which of several players is his target. It also isn’t clear on how Della’s interest in a recent oil strike is going to help or for that matter hurt his plan. Like his cards, he keeps his plans close to the vest and adjusts for changes. He does have a plan, he is flexible and he just needs a little help from friends like Chicken Little and Icepick Willie.
What follows in this novel by Tyler, Texas resident Milton T. Burton is an intriguing and deeply twisted tale of a great con. The author opens a portal back into a different time and pulls the reader deeply into a Texas of the recent past. Told through first person point of view he spins a rich and complex weave that pulls the reader deep into his world where only slowly does the shape and scope of the plan come tantalizingly clear like the mirage on a West Texas highway during the heat of the summer before disappearing again. Heavily atmospheric both in place and in style of writing, this is the kind of novel that starts slowly, moves slowly and pulls the reader in so deep that when one looks up from the book there is that splendid moment of disorientation between the past that might have been and the present.
The Rogues’ Game
By Milton T. Burton
Thomas Dunne Books
www.minotaurbooks.com
2005
ISBN # 0-312-33681-0
Hardback
296 Pages
$23.95 US
$33.95 Canada
More next time and as always feel free to drop me a note here or at Kevin_tipple@att.net with your comments, observations, and suggestions.
Thanks for reading!
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
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