Dianne's Book Reviews

Through the Independent Authors Guild, I have met an incredible array of authors from across the country -- and around the world!  I have purchased and read a number of their books, which have since become favorites.  I have found independently published books to be more original and captivating  than your regular "NY Times Bestsellers."  Yeah, those guys get the sales, but these authors have the stories.

Home

Distant Cousin: Reincarnation by Al Past

Author Al Past revs up the action in this third installment of the Distant Cousin series. (Scroll down for reviews of Distant Cousin I and II.)  After seven years of quiet family bliss on the secluded Mendez homestead, hidden in the heart of New Mexico, Darcy once again sacrifices her retirement from public life in order guard against disaster.  Her brother-in-law Herecyn, a member of the Thomo delegation to Earth, has short-sightedly sold a group of terrorists technology that could be adapted to weaponry -- in violation of the stated Thoman policy.  As the very first representative from another planet on Earth, Darcy takes it personally to think that technology from her homeworld might be used against mankind.  Nevertheless, someone has developed the Thoman technology into a weapon which was promptly tested on remote villages in the tiny territory of Sedlakia, with horrifying results.  The US government is loath to interfere, thus necessitating that Darcy take matters into her own hands.

Distant Cousin: Repatriation by Al Past

This sequel to Distant Cousin is, like its predecessor (reviewed below), a novel about First Contact, Earth’s initial meeting with beings from another planet.  And yet, because these aliens are, in fact, humans—humans transplanted thousands of years ago to another planet for unknown purposes—the science fiction elements are minimal in a plotline that is more about society, character, and honor than about the arrival of extra-terrestrials on Earth. 

Ana Darcy, the most famous non-Earth-born human on the planet, lives in quiet obscurity with her husband Matt Mendez and their infant twins.  After her spectacular performance at the Olympics, and her public revelation about her true identity—not to mention the weeks spent on the run from government agents—she has opted to live a private, secluded life.  And yet, her concern over the arrival of representatives from her home planet causes her to rethink this self-imposed isolation.  The Thomo delegation includes her brother-in-law Herecyn, whom she had previously rejected as her own suitor, and she does not trust that his diplomatic skills will outweigh his simple greed when it comes to trade negotiations with Earth.  Since her marriage to Matt has stripped her of all status among the Thomans, Darcy’s only opportunity to participate in the upcoming momentous meeting is to smooth over introductions as a “good will ambassador.”

With some misgivings, Darcy returns to a celebrity life of interviews and television appearances, while trying to maintain the secrecy of her life with Matt and the twins.  Unfortunately, this may be the wrong time to step into the limelight, as an unscrupulous conglomerate is hoping to capitalize on advanced Thoman technology, and they are prepared to resort to ugly means to coerce the Thoman ambassador (Darcy’s uncle) into giving them what they want.

Peanut Butter for Cupcakes by Donna Nordmark Aviles

Although it is meant to be the third and final installment in Donna Nordmark Aviles’s “Orphan Train” series, Peanut Butter for Cupcakes stands alone as a fine historical fiction novel depicting the real life experiences of a Pennsylvania family living through the Great Depression.  Oliver Nordmark (the author’s real life grandfather) grew up without parents of his own.  Orphaned at a young age, he was shipped out west via the “orphan train” movement and given away to a Kansas couple as a cheap farm laborer.  As depicted in the first two books of this series, Oliver passes through the hands of several families without ever completely being a part of one.

As Peanut Butter for Cupcakes opens, Oliver is a grown man with a wife and six children living in the Pocono Mountain region of Pennsylvania.  When Oliver loses his job and a tragic accident takes the life of his wife, he struggles to support his children and ultimately has to seek help from the same Child Services organization which once sent him out as a farm hand.  PB for C focuses mainly on the life of Oliver’s children as they try to stick together through various foster care arrangements, as well as Oliver’s attempts to make a living and take his children back into his own care.

The title refers to the youngest Nordmark’s attempt to trade a peanut butter sandwich (which was his lunch everyday) for a sweet, scrumptious cupcake brought by another student to school.  The effort fails, and yet Benny Nordmark doesn’t give up hope that someday he might be able to turn his “peanut butter life” into a “cupcake.”  Benny and his brothers are lively and rambunctious.  Although readers will find some of their foster parents harsh and unkind, it is also obvious that the Nordmark brood were a handful.  Schoolyard pranks, horseplay with rifles, and accidentally setting a field on fire are just some of the hijinks these rascals get up to.  Interspersed with the boys’ pranks and the rough life in foster care are heartwarming stories of the Nordmark family during time with their father, such as when Oliver drives the family to visit the World’s Fair, even though they cannot afford to do anything but look.

God Outside the Box by Patricia Panahi

Having researched nineteenth century spiritualism from a skeptic’s point of view for my own novel on the Fox sisters, I found that God Outside the Box by Patricia Panahi offered a completely new perspective on alternative paths to knowledge.  Coincidentally (or perhaps through synchronicity) this topic came up in a recent book club meeting I attended where High Spirits was discussed.  Could there really be a spiritual source of information out there for those who (like Kate Fox) are attuned to listen to it?

Panahi believes that God is an “imminent, spiritual energy, a divine consciousness that permeates all of creation.”  She writes, “It’s like God is an ocean and we’re each a drop.”  Having been a skeptic and an agnostic in her early adult years, Panahi comes only gradually to this realization after a series of crises in her life drives her to seek spiritual cleansing.  Although at first she rolls her eyes over “rebirthing sessions” and “Spiritual Mind Treatments,” these inner explorations prove their value in her spiritual awakening.  Her quest for a better understanding of her Higher Self leads her to open a metaphysical book store, develop her own leadership qualities, bring an end to a marriage that had ceased to function, relocate herself to a faraway state, find her soulmate, and eventually to write this book.

I appreciated Panahi’s frank honesty about her own doubts, which occasionally surfaced during her spiritual development.  Everyone must choose their own path to God, and no two people’s paths are the same.   Thus, what Panahi experiences as “past life regression” she admits could be her unconscious mind’s way of teaching her lessons she needed to learn through “vivid, graphic images.”  And even Panahi, after all her metaphysical experiences, had some trouble when presented with “ectoplasm” at the Aquarian Foundation in Hawaii.  However, not being a person to criticize someone else’s path to enlightenment, she opened her mind and her heart to this and many other wondrous possibilities in a world where not everything has a rational explanation.

I found God Outside the Box to be upbeat and inspirational in ways that I had not expected.  Panahi presents a different take on the power of positive thinking and prayer, and she has also given me much to consider during future explorations of psychic and spiritual phenomena in my own fictional writing.

Cyberdrome by Joseph Rhea and David Rhea

I’ve been known to become frustrated formatting Microsoft Word documents and the last computer game I played was “Leisure Suit Larry” back in ‘93, so at first I might seem like the wrong person to review Joseph and David Rhea’s techno science fiction novel about a digital universe.  And yet, I loved it and can strongly attest that you don’t have to be a techie or a gamer to follow and enjoy this surprisingly good adventure!

In the not-so-distant future, a Nevada-based Think Tank of scientists has found a unique method of developing ground-breaking technology.  They created a digital universe called Cyberdrome containing hundreds of simulated human worlds, each of which has the potential for discovering revolutionary technologies which don’t exist in the real world.  The inhabitants of these worlds have no idea that they are only programs, living simulated lives and observed by scientists from the Nevada corporation biologically interfaced with their universe.

When a rogue virus gets past the security firewalls, wreaking havoc to the program and trapping about forty humans interfaced with Cyberdrome, the corporation leaders bring in Alek Grey, a cyber-security expert.  Alek is not only the son of Matthew Grey, the resident genius  of Cyberdrome who is currently trapped in the program, but he is also the creator of the Cyberphage, the program which inserted the attack virus after it was stolen from Alek himself.

Alek enters Cyberdrome with a nearly impossible mission: repair the damage done by his own digital creation, neutralize the threat posed by a super-intelligence that may have evolved artificially within the system, back up a security team whose initial mission has gone awry, rescue his father, his ex-fiancee, and a few dozen other human minds trapped in the program—and oh, yeah, figure out who was behind the attack on Cyberdrome in the first place.

Shalom on the Range by Michael S. Katz

When David Goldstein, a detective for the Kansas-Pacific Railroad, is assigned to investigate a train robbery in Colorado which took the lives of 22 people, he has high hopes of making a name for himself and furthering his career with a successful resolution to the case.  It is his first visit west of Kansas, and while he expects to encounter anti-Semitic sentiment and outright prejudice because of his race, he is also hoping to forge connections with a successful Colorado Jewish businessman based solely on their shared religion. 

Readers will find David an endearing, though sometimes bumbling character, a “tenderfoot” whose knowledge of the West comes mainly from his dime novel reading—which he calls “research.”  He has the not-uncommon fault of picking out flaws in others, without recognizing them in himself.  Therefore, he is quick to take offense at insults to his Jewish race, but doesn’t recognize that his own preconceived notions are just as offensive to others. To David, Germans are “hardworking, industrious, fair, and very clean.”  The Chinese all run laundries, and the Irish could make much of themselves “if they weren’t so tempted by alcohol.”  David puts his tenderfoot in his mouth repeatedly, to the point where he ends up defending himself from accusations of racism.  This is when one of his new companions assures him, “You’re not a racist.  You’re just not very good with people.”

And the West is filled with all varieties of people—Jews, Germans, Swedes, Ute Indians, Apache, Chinese, former Union soldiers, buffalo soldiers, and even a Southern belle-turned Pinkerton spy.   David’s search for the train robbers takes him across Colorado and into New Mexico, in the company of the tracker he hired, sharpshooter Red Parker, and Red’s chosen partners, the dim-witted Jake and the sharply intelligent Ute Indian, Harvey White Crow.  Along the way, readers will encounter a fascinating backdrop of Western history, neatly woven into a story which is part Western, part comedy, and part detective story.  Because behind all the shoot-outs and ambushes, there is also a mystery: How much money did the train robbers actually take from the train?  Who hired them?  And which one of David’s companions might have more up his (or her) sleeves than his arms?

56 Water Street by Melissa Strangway

56 Water Street is a spooky (but not too spooky) paranormal mystery for middle grade readers.  Derek and Ravine, two ten-year old Canadian friends know there is something strange about house number 56 on their street, but no one ever talks about it.  It is only when the two friends tell their parents about seeing lights flickering on and off inside the abandoned house that they learn the truth: nobody else can see 56 Water Street.  To everyone else in their neighborhood, it appears to be a vacant lot.

Compelled to investigate, Derek and Ravine soon discover that some entity in the house is desperately trying to send them a message and that there is a mysterious tragedy in the history of this house.  With the help of a fortune teller from the school fair – who turns out to be a real spirit medium – Derek and Ravine realize that they have a special gift, the ability to communicate with the dead.  The resident ghost of 56 Water Street wants their help to solve her own personal mystery, so that she can finally be laid to rest.

Author Melissa Strangway has created a compelling mystery revolving around the tragic end to house number 56 on Water Street, as well as two believable protagonists.  Ravine is struggling with her family's own recent tragedy, and her best friend Derek wants to support Ravine in solving this mystery, as well as in coping with her sad loss.  The narration is descriptive and vivid, without being dull for young readers.  There are a few chilling passages, and the thrill of a long-past mystery waiting to be solved, as well as an uplifting ending. 

Recommended for young mystery lovers and ghost seekers.

Too Near the Edge by Lynn Osterkamp

Too Near the Edge is a well-crafted murder mystery of the “cozy” genre with a spiritualist twist, set in Boulder, Colorado.  I’ve never been to Boulder, but author Lynn Osterkamp has done an excellent job of laying the scene for me so that I can appreciate the flavor of the local culture without detracting from the plot of her mystery.  In a town where most people are health-conscious and into new-age types of remedies, where the term “pet guardian” has legally replaced “pet owner,” it is not unusual to find Cleo Sims, a grief counselor who assists her clients in overcoming their loss by contacting their departed loved ones in a privately funded endeavor called the Contact Project.  Cleo, surprisingly, does not come off as a nut, and her professional, down-to-earth personality makes her interest in spiritualist affairs seem natural, almost ordinary.

In Too Near the Edge, Cleo takes on new client Sharon Meyer, whose husband Adam recently fell to his death while hiking in the Grand Canyon.  Sharon cannot accept that it was an accident, and she believes that The Contact Project will help her to find answers that the police cannot help her with.  While Cleo helps Sharon ready herself for attempts to ‘contact” Adam, she meets a myriad of interesting suspects and finds herself playing “Nancy Drew” in an effort to help her client.  It appears that Adam had made a few enemies, including Sharon’s overbearing psychologist father, who threatens to file a formal complaint if Cleo tries her “con” his daughter with her “séance” business.  There is also the ne’er-do-well natural father of Sharon’s son, who is trying to re-enter their lives and and the whacko ex-wife of Adam, who once threatened his life.  In addition, a suspicious doctor at Sharon’s workplace and a good-looking but possibly shady young man who involves Sharon in his herbal medicine business complicate the mystery. 

At first, it seemed to me that the solution was going to be simplistic, something you could see coming halfway through the novel, but I was wrong.  Osterkamp handles her red herrings well and I especially liked how various characters related the same events differently during Cleo’s investigation, leaving you to wonder which ones were lying and which ones were honestly giving their true interpretation. The spiritualism and messages from the dead add a certain flavor to the novel, without detracting from the mystery.  The Contact Project provides the impetus for Cleo and Sharon to keep investigating, but it is good old detective work which leads to the final solution.

The Last Horizon by Floyd M. Orr

Before I read The Last Horizon: Feminine Sexuality and The Class System, I already had an inkling of the truth about Life in America.  A few years ago, my family went to Disney World, and I was appalled by the bad behavior of the crowds there.  I was stepped on, pushed, and elbowed—and mostly by men.  I was worse than invisible; I was an obstacle!  Of course, I happened to be dressed in old shorts and a baggy t-shirt.  The next day, I went to the very same park with my hair straightened, my make-up on, wearing a low-cut halter top.  Nobody pushed or stepped on me, and men held doors open for me.

In The Last Horizon, Floyd M. Orr states what everybody knows, but nobody wants to admit: your physical attractiveness is the single most important factor for social success in America.  Our society is celebrity-mad and consumer-driven.  A constant barrage of advertisements tells us what to think, how to act, and what we want.  And the majority of middle class Americans are content to stay in the herd, conforming to behaviors that were designed for us by a social system of pecking order which this author, calls The Class System.  Not to be confused with an economic class system, this Class System is a social hierarchy based on a person’s family background, educational status, but most of all by physical attractiveness.  You learn your place on the social ladder early, in childhood or adolescence, and once you are placed, your status will not change.  Mr. Orr identifies four different classes in the System, each with its own distinguishing characteristics, typical behaviors, and personality types.  He can even predict your political affiliation based on your “Class.”

Mr. Orr calls his book “A Detailed Analysis of the Obvious.”  He makes statements that are not politically correct, but true nonetheless. Once you read The Last Horizon, you can never un-read it.  You will find yourself applying his Class System designations to people you know and suddenly understanding the social dynamics of your work place.  Although the book claims that it is written for women who want to stop getting involved with jerks and narcissists, it is far more than a dating manual.  It’s a biting commentary on the mores of our society.

Mugging for the Camera by R. J. Clarken

Some friends have told me they need to grab a dictionary when I speak.  The words “archaic vocabulary” have even been mentioned.  But I’ve got nothing on R. J. Clarken who proved in her poetry collection Mugging for the Camera that when it comes to obscure lingo, she’s got me beat and can rhyme rings around me to boot!  Mugging for the Camera is a slim volume of humorous poetry, mainly composed of light verse and haiku.  Ms. Clarken describes her book as “An Album of Odd Poetry Snapshots,” and her background as a photographer and graphic designer clearly shows in her ability to capture moments and images of modern life with cleverly juxtaposed words.  Plucking an odd collection of obscure lingo from “Worthless Word for the Day,” the poet builds entire poems around the strange sounds of zarf, eesome, furciferous, and sesquipedalophobia (and if you suffer from that last one, you might want to avoid this poetry and anything written by me). 

The poems are divided into twelve sections, some of which explore topics as mundane and familiar to suburbia as food, gardens, clothes, and holidays—as well as ripping Barbie and G.I. Joe out of their plastic packaging bondage on Christmas morning before the children have a meltdown.  Other sections of the book, however, explore the strange, the bizarre, and the ridiculous—taken from real news stories around the world.  Do you want to vent some anger by smashing your plates in a restaurant in the Philippines?  Or would you rather pump up your adrenalin by having yourself buried alive for fun in Holland?  Ms. Clarken’s lively verse keeps us laughing at all the ways humans can make fools of themselves. Literature takes a hit, too, as she reduces Hamlet, Jane Eyre, and The Wizard of Oz to haiku length.  Laundry becomes a horror story worthy of Edgar Allen Poe (at least in parody), and the physics of the bra gets its own ballad.  Clarken summarizes the journey of Handel’s Messiah from opus to ringtone and pens an ode to the rare earth metal Ytterbium.  And, in my personal favorite, she turns a quote from comedian Mike Binder—“Never moon a werewolf”—into some clever words of wisdom appropriate for the workplace, family reunion, or neighborhood barbecue.  (Because don’t we all know a werewolf who would bite us in the butt if possible?)

Scarecrow in Gray by Barry Yelton

A North Carolina farmer goes off to fight a war in which he has no stake in this historical novel of the Civil War.  It is the final months of a war reaching its inevitable conclusion, and most people know the Southern cause is already lost when Francis Yelton enlists against his better judgment.  He is not a slave owner, nor has he any interest in the politics of the failing Confederate government. But the rebel army is desperate for men and if Francis does not volunteer, he will be conscripted.  The author’s elegant prose brings a poetic quality to this well-written novel.  Francis, an ordinary but insightful man, sees the beauty of the land around him more clearly than most and recognizes the devastation of war as a grievous insult to the Earth and its Maker.  He questions his reasons for being on the battlefield, comparing himself to a leaf floating in a river:

 “The leaf doesn’t have a say in where it’s going. It just goes because a greater power takes it.”

While Francis reluctantly shoulders his musket to shoot men just like himself, he worries about his home and his family, who must survive in a hostile world without him.  Thanks to General Sherman’s “scorched earth policy,” Francis knows exactly what the enemy could do to his farm.  But Southern deserters and outlaws pose just as great a threat.  Scarecrow in Gray is a worthy read – the story of a war already lost and the men who knowingly served the losing side in defense of the land and the people they loved.

Remembering Hypatia by Brian Trent

The great city is a peaceful melting pot of mankind, brimming over with a variety of race and religions.  In a world where bearded barbarians wreak senseless violence on faraway cities, this place is a bastion of civilization and tolerance; rational people feel lucky to live in safety from terror here.  But still, the danger of religious fanaticism is growing, and a woman scientist and teacher will soon find herself in mortal danger, partly because her free-thinking ways threaten the power of certain theological leaders, but mostly because she is a woman who dares to stand out among men … Is this a story of our modern times, a warning of how religion can be used to teach hatred and given as an excuse to commit evil deeds?  Not exactly …

This is a story of Egypt in 414 A.D.  The great city is Alexandria; the terrorists are Visigoths; and the fundamentalist fanatics are early Christians, plying their growing strength against the science and philosophies of intellectuals.  First the Alexandrians lose their freedom to worship as they wish; now their freedom to think as they wish is threatened.  And Hypatia, a woman of remarkable brilliance and charisma, pays the ultimate price for her intelligence, her unorthodox beliefs, and her gender.  Although this story happened nearly two thousand years ago, we Americans can shiver with apprehension.  The issues may be different – pagan temples and astronomy instead of same-sex marriage and stem cell research -- but the parallels are undeniable.  And when religion overcame reason in Alexandria, an age of darkness descended which lasted a thousand years.

 “If nothing else, Hypatia thought, history is like a planet continually traversing the same path around a sun.  Just when you think something’s over, it comes looming back from the gloom on yet another pass.”

Brian Trent brings the 5th century world of Alexandria to life with vivid imagery, unforgettable characters, and every-day details which prove life in the ancient world was not so different from our own.

Beyond the Orphan Train by Donna Nordmark Aviles

Oliver Nordmark is fifteen years old when he decides to jump on a moving train and “ride the rails” through Kansas, looking for work and a better life.  Beyond the Orphan Train picks up the story of Oliver’s life where Fly Little Bird, Fly leaves off.  Oliver is an orphan, a former rider of the “orphan trains” which transported children from overcrowded orphanages in the east to Midwestern towns where they were generally taken on as farm laborers.  Yes, small children – used for labor.

At fifteen, Oliver realizes that after seven years of free labor with Farmer McCammon, he has nothing he can call his own.  He makes a snap decision to strike out on his own, hoping to earn money which he plans to use to locate his younger brother Edward, whom he hasn’t seen in half a dozen years.  Oliver is haunted by a promise he made to Edward when they were children together on the orphan train -- that he would not allow them to be separated – a promise that he had been unable to keep.

Beyond the Orphan Train is the true story of the author’s grandfather’s life, and it was a sad and difficult life for certain.  Sometimes it seems as if Oliver and his brother must be terribly unlucky to have so much unwarranted misfortune in their lives.  And yet, through it all, Oliver maintains his dignity, his determination, and his sense of humor.  “Nothing ventured, nothing gained” is his philosophy.  Sadly, Edward’s character does not develop in the same positive manner, which the reader will come to find out before the end of the book.

A wonderful depiction of American life in the early days of the twentieth century, Beyond the Orphan Train will be sure to educate and entertain readers of all ages.  Oliver Nordmark represents the all-around American youth – optimistic, keen to learn, and willing to make his way in the world through hard work and resourcefulness.

Mozart's Wife by Juliet Waldron

Many a romance novel ends with marriage.  The courtship, the chase, the first declarations of love … these things provide the backbone of the novel, and in the end there is marriage and, presumably, a happy ever-after.

In Juliet Waldron’s historical novel Mozart’s Wife, however, the courtship and marriage of Konstanze Weber and Wolfgang Mozart is only the beginning.  The true story begins with the wedded life that follows, when romance and love are truly tested.  Konstanze begins the novel as a self-conscious young maiden, overlooked in favor of her more talented sisters.  She falls in love with Mozart and can hardly believe that the astonishing young composer has chosen her for his one true soulmate.  But marriage to the musical genius turns out to be a tumultuous existence for Konstanze, who quickly must mature into a wife, a mother, and household accountant.  Konstanze, who grew up in a musical family, is not unappreciative of Mozart’s genius, but reality dictates that music be treated as a business, rather than an art.  While Wolfgang Mozart follows his muse, creating the music he loves—whether there is a market for it or not—Konstanze tries to prevent them from falling into poverty.

Mozart is flighty, unpredictable, and easily swayed by his friends.  Konstanze has to wrest control of the household accounts from him just to keep their family from ruin.  Like many women of her day, she finds herself constantly pregnant; every childbirth is a life-endangering horror, and the precious infants are easily carried off by disease.  Grief for her children and scandalous rumors of her husband’s infidelity test the limits of her love, but Mozart’s emotional bond with his wife proves strong enough to last beyond his death—surprising even Konstanze.

Juliet Waldron has created a believable, multi-faceted portrait of a wife loved but betrayed, adoring and yet resentful, capricious and sometimes spiteful.  Mozart’s Wife is a memorable historical novel about a woman who has been long overlooked and often maligned by historians, but without whose intervention Mozart’s music might have been lost to the world forever.

Distant Cousin by Al Past

What if our First Contact from another planet was a human?  What if the first real alien to visit Earth from another solar system was a woman on a mission to find the distantly related cousins of her own people?  What if she brought with her a warning of an impending disaster of apocalyptic proportions?  And what if nobody believed her?

Al Past’s novel Distant Cousin is a most unusual science fiction story with a most unusual heroine.  Ana Darcy has jeopardized her mission and cut herself off from her own people to bring a desperate warning to Earth authorities.  Astronomers at a Texas observatory don’t believe her, but the US military is willing to interrogate her—under custody of course.  Her astonishing escape from Army detainment is our first hint that she may be more than she first appears and capable of more than we imagine.  While the military scrambles to locate and recapture the woman they call “Gidget from Outer Space,” Darcy realizes that her journey to Earth has placed her in the path of the oncoming destruction and she will suffer Earth’s fate if the calamity is not avoided.

Befriended by ordinary people as varied as the family owners of a Texas dude ranch, a mild-mannered reporter, and an Olympic contender from Barbados, Darcy conceives a daring plan to evade government capture, while hiding in plain sight, and to deliver her warning in a manner which cannot possibly be ignored.  Afterward, she might just fall in love … if she can trust her own feelings … and if she can trust her boyfriend with the truth about her origins.  This is a science fiction novel which might better be described as a love story with scientific speculation.  The premise of humans on another world is startling, and the author reels out details about Darcy’s homeworld so sparingly that our curiosity is cleverly aroused. It is only when unexpected arrivals provoke a sudden crisis of diplomacy that we learn exactly what Darcy gave up in accepting her mission to Earth—and what she might be running from. Distant Cousin is the first in a set of three books about Ana Darcy, her people, and the reaction of Earth to their existence and arrival on our planet.

My Splendid Concubine by Lloyd Lofthouse

My Splendid Concubine is the story of Sir Robert Hart, a nineteenth century British consular and customs official who, over several decades, grew into a position of unprecedented respect and trust in China.  The story opens in 1908 with the Empress Dowager granting an audience in the Forbidden City to an elderly Hart, Inspector General of Chinese Maritime Customs, but the novel is really about Hart’s early days in China as a young interpreter.

Hart travels to China in 1854 seeking to redeem himself after a shameful episode of wenching and carousing at college that embarrassed his family.  He first meets Sir John Bowring, Governor of Hong Kong, who advises him to study everything around him in an effort to understand the Chinese and learn something new everyday.  This is the only advice of its kind he receives from his own people, for Hart discovers that the rest of the Westerners view the Chinese culture with disdain and superiority.  His first employer, for example, chastises him for trying to learn Mandarin, saying, “It is their place to understand us.  We don’t have to understand them.”

While most of the British and American officials dismiss the Chinese as superstitious heathens, there is one part of the Chinese culture they are quick to assimilate: the taking of concubines.  Hart finds it repugnantly hypocritical that his fellow countrymen should hold so little respect for the culture while indulging their own desires in a manner that Victorian society would condemn.  He notes that, “on one hand the Europeans and British were shoving Christianity’s message of brotherly love down the Chinese collective throat with the barrel of a rifle.  At the same time foreign merchants, mostly British, were selling opium to the populace.” Hart hopes to rise above such prejudice and lack of ethics, but finds himself sorely tempted by repeated opportunities to sample a service that the Chinese take for granted and the Westerners are perfectly happy to exploit.

And then Hart meets Ayaou, a fiery and courageous girl from the lowest sector of Chinese society, the boat people.  Their startling and memorable introduction – which I will not reveal here – sparks a passion that takes the young Englishman by storm.  Hart is willing to bankrupt himself to buy Ayaou from her father, who is selling her to provide for the rest of his family, but circumstances whisk her away and Hart finds himself compelled to buy her sister, rather than let the younger girl fall into undesirable hands. Suddenly Hart owns a concubine, although not the woman he loves, and he is caught between his own Christian beliefs and the worshipful attention of young Shao-mei, who desperately wants to earn the love of her master.  And what of Ayaou, who has been sold to the violent and unstable American mercenary soldier Frederick Townsend Ward?  What ethics will Hart be willing to compromise in order to get her back?

The Confederate War Bonnet by Jack Shakely

The Confederate War Bonnet by Jack Shakely was a thoroughly enjoyable historical novel on many levels, not the least of which was that it taught me I still have a lot to learn about American history. I knew, of course, that the central character of the novel was a half-breed Creek Indian who was to serve as a Confederate officer in the Civil War.  Still, that did not prepare me to meet the intellectual and reflective Jack Gaston walking across Harvard campus with a book of Shakespearean sonnets in the opening chapter.  I learned much about my pre-conceived notions regarding Indians in the mid-19^th century, and I empathized with the astonishment of the Harvard dean who hadn’t realized that he had an honest-to-goodness Indian in his school.  (Our embarrassment for this gentle and bumbling professor turns to warmth when he proves his friendship to Jack later in the novel.)

Within a few chapters, Jack Gaston is traveling across the country (by train) in the company of his giant, banjo-playing Creek friend Jim Tom Nokose.  Along the way they visit Jack’s grandmother, wealthy widow of a prominent St. Louis doctor, enjoy dinner at the home of a Union Colonel, and serenade bluecoat soldiers on a riverboat with an impromptu banjo performance.  When Jack finally reaches home, I learned that the Creek Nation is nothing like I expected.  They own the only printing press in Indian Territory and Jack’s father published the only newspaper there before his death.  The Creeks are mostly Christian at this point, and they not only celebrate their uniquely Creek Green Corn Ceremony, but Christmas as well.  Jack is one of many well-educated men among the Civilized Tribes of Indian Territory, but their traditional ways are also alive enough for Jim Tom to take two wives – devoted cousins and the only surviving members of their family – rather than “break up the set.”

I learned as well that the Confederate army had many Indian officers, and some, like General Stand Watie, were fiercely devoted to the cause and just as hard-headed as the white officers.  The Confederates appear to be spiraling down into a slow and lingering defeat, despite the assistance of Indian allies and mercenary soldiers such as the flamboyantly attired Major Stephen Toland and his Bright Light Boys. Jack, however, comes to see that no matter the victor in the American Civil War, the Indian nations are bound to be the losers.  Captain Jack Gaston is willing to do his duty – especially to lead the war away from his home – but comes to realize that when two great beasts wrestle, the grass always loses. His home is the grass.  His goal in the end is to preserve his people and their land, rather than see it become yet another casualty of the war.

I highly recommend The Confederate War Bonnet to readers of historical fiction and to anyone interested in the Civil War or American history.  Filled with rich characters and warm humor, it is a novel that will enhance your appreciation of this melting pot we call America and your understanding of how we came to be the nation we are now.

Tales of a Texas Boy by Marva Dasef

Tales of a Texas Boy is a charming collection of anecdotes about life in Western Texas during the Great Depression.  The author has related these stories through the narrative voice of Eddie, who is a slightly fictionalized version of her own father.  These twenty vignettes are retold in first person, with an appropriate Texan dialect. 

I have used them with great success in my fifth grade classroom as models for writing personal narrative.  Each story is fairly short, the perfect length for a quick classroom reading, and will undoubtedly spark the students to respond with anecdotes of their own.  (“That makes me think of the time …”) Although the historical setting of the tales provides an unfamiliar backdrop for most students, they will be able to relate to stories about Eddie meeting a bevy of skunks in a cornfield, briefly living his dream of becoming a cowboy, and watching an act of acrobatic derring-do from a sheep dog.  Because each story revolves around one simple but charming episode of daily life, they provide perfect models for writing workshop.

Pemberley Remembered by Mary Simonsen

You pick up Pemberley Remembered at first because you loved Pride and Prejudice and you want to enjoy those characters again.  But once you begin to read, you will find yourself drawn into a multi-layered story taking place in three different time periods, with three different couples.

Maggie Joyce, an American living in England after the Second World War, visits Montclair, a mansion rumored to be the inspiration for Pemberley, the home of Mr. Darcy in Jane Austen’s famous classic novel.  Once there, Maggie learns that the former inhabitants of the mansion, William Lacey and his wife Elizabeth Garrison Lacey, are considered by locals to be the true inspiration for Austen’s Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy.  Meaning only to while away an afternoon, Maggie talks to Jack Crowell, one of the local experts on the story, and finds herself caught up in a complex tale of family and love.

In Pemberley Remembered, characters and plotlines are revealed to the reader as a series of interconnected anecdotes and reminiscences.  For me, it called to mind the way you learn about your own family history.  Ancestors, recent and not-so-recent, are known to you through the stories told by your relatives.  This is the way Ms. Simonsen reveals her characters’ lives to the reader, one remembrance at a time.  As Maggie talks to Jack Crowell, she learns not only about the Garrison-Lacey family, but also his own.  The tale of the Crowell family, and its connection to the Laceys, turns out to be just as interesting as the original Jane Austen novel.

Originally, of course, the story begins with the Garrisons and the Laceys, who may or may not be the Bennets and the Darcys.  But the reader is quickly caught up in the story of Jack Crowell and his wife Beth, whose own love story spans the First World War.  In addition, Maggie’s romance with the former navigator of an American bomber runs through the novel like a ribbon.  Their developing relationship—and the ways in which their different backgrounds and his experiences in the war may affect their future—provides the backbone of the novel, while the Elizabeth-Darcy and Beth-Jack romances mirror each other in surprising ways.

This is a story of love, of the devastation wrought by two different wars, and of social status and family ties that complicate the lives of three different couples in three different time periods.  A thoroughly enjoyable and complex historical romance.

Maurice on the Moon by Daniel Barth

Maurice on the Moon is a wonderful science fiction novel for the middle grade reader – appropriate as an enjoyable independent read as well as a perfect tool for classroom instruction.  Maurice’s life in a colony on the moon is fascinating and full of accurate scientific information, but the narrative never veers into boring lecture.  If we learn about gravity on the moon, oxygen production and CO2 waste, ecosystems, and geological mining, it is because the narration has taken us there – effortlessly and entertainingly. 

Maurice is a reluctant moon colonist, longing to return to the jeweled planet that hangs motionless in the lunar sky, the planet of his birth.  He hatches one hare-brained scheme after another for getting back to earth, often dragging his best friend Cassie along for the ride.  Maurice is a delightful protagonist – he’s inventive and impulsive, stubborn and persistent.  His planning skills often leave a lot to be desired, for he fails to think some of his plans all the way through to their logical conclusion before jumping into them, but in a pinch he doesn’t lose his head.  Mature readers will be able to predict that Maurice gets to Earth eventually and finds it less a paradise than he thought.  But no one will be disappointed by his eventual Earth visit or by Maurice’s hilarious reaction to such things as lakes, mosquitoes, and “wild” trees.  And when Maurice returns home to the moon, the reader welcomes it as much as he does.

I read Maurice on the Moon to my fifth grade class as a read aloud to accompany our science unit on space.  They loved it!  I also recently read the second book in the series, Maurice and the Doomed Colony of Mars, and found Maurice's further adventures to be even more hair-raising than in the first book!

The Rising Shore -- Roanoke by Deborah Homsher

In 1587, two English women board a ship to cross a treacherous ocean towards a land full of promise and danger.  The Rising Shore – Roanoke is an historical fiction novel which sketches in possible answers to an old American mystery: what happened to the colony on Roanoke Island, Virginia?

The author has chosen to explore this theme with a multiple viewpoint narrative.  Elenor White, daughter of the expedition’s chosen leader John White, hastily marries a bricklayer for the chance to join the company as lawful wife of a member.  Elenor, an intelligent woman with the soul of an unfulfilled artist, sees Virginia as a land where she will be able to spread her wings and reach a potential denied to her in London by her gender.  Her young serving girl, Margaret Lawrence, also believes that Virginia holds the key to bettering herself, not realizing that the land will tax her strength and her self in ways she cannot conceive.  Strikingly, both women frequently refer to themselves in the third person, as if in their daily lives they are playing a role while their secret selves look on. 

Once the expedition reaches Virginia, all plans disintegrate as the little society fails to meet their expectations.  The lazy are still lazy; and the greedy, the jealous, and the ambitious are still all of those things with greater intensity.  The colonists' own faults are magnified by the smallness of the company and the extreme hardships and danger of the land, and soon, events are tumbling unstoppably toward the inevitable fate of the colony.

Deborah Homsher has created a compelling historical fiction novel, through which we glimpse the earliest ragged edge of recorded American history.

The Traitor's Wife by Susan Higginbotham

Susan Higginbotham has created an intricate and substantial tapestry of English life in the fourteenth century.  The Traitor’s Wife recounts the history of the reign of Edward II and the beginning years of his son’s reign.  The story revolves around Edward, the likeable king who was nevertheless not strong enough to hold the loyalty of his people, and Isabella, his beautiful but icy young Queen.  However, the central character is a relatively unknown person from history: Eleanor de Clare, granddaughter of Edward I and, when the story opens, thirteen year old bride to an up-and-coming young commoner, Hugh le Despenser.

Ms. Higginbotham writes in a clear and precise style, and her subject has been painstakingly researched.  The author’s clarity is particularly helpful considering the legions of characters who all bear the same names.  There are scads of Edwards, Eleanors, Isabels, Joans, and Hughs.  In addition, half the cast bears a title as well as a given name, and their habit of intermarrying means that everyone is related to everyone else.  Thankfully, Ms. Higginbotham skillfully guides the reader through the complexities of these relationships until we know the people well enough to tell them apart.  It wasn’t until I realized that I had grown to know all the characters that I truly appreciated the author’s skill.

The Traitor’s Wife is the story of a king who loves intemperately and unwisely, showering his lovers with gifts and favors which bring doom upon their heads.  It is the story of a queen who exacts psychological and physical revenge for the humiliation of being loved second-best.  It is a story of men who stop at nothing to obtain and hold onto power, selling out their integrity, their friends, and even their bodies.  And it is the story of how one woman’s loyalty – to her husband, her king, and her family – is tested by fire. 

The Traitor’s Wife is not a quick or light read.  However, for Anglophiles and those with a particular interest in English history, it is a must-read. Once engaged, you will find yourself compelled to learn more about this tumultuous time of British history and wondering how, with leaders like these, the country of England ever survived the middle ages!

The Confession of Piers Gaveston by Brandy Purdy

Piers Gaveston was a soldier, a champion jouster, and a witty conversationalist.  According to his own fictional account in this novel by Brandy Purdy, he was also a pagan and a male prostitute who viewed his long-standing affair with King Edward II as merely another means to make a living. 

The Confession of Piers Gaveston is a skillfully written debut novel which reveals some very ugly aspects of the British monarchy in the fourteenth century.  I am not speaking of King Edward’s gay love affair with the narrator, Piers Gaveston, but of Edward’s obsessive and histrionic personality.  He was certainly not the first or the last ruler to allow his lusts to cloud his judgment, but he may have been one of the most disinterested and incompetent kings in England’s history.  Some of the scenes in the novel seem almost unbelievably melodramatic – such as Edward abandoning his bride on their wedding day for his male lover’s company and actually giving him the jewelry that had been a wedding gift from the queen’s father – but these are all documented historical facts!  Brandy Purdy’s depiction of them is probably accurate, outrageous though it may seem that a king would behave that way.

Piers Gaveston makes a lively and personable narrator for this tale, and Purdy has given him a lyrical, compelling, and sometimes playful voice.  She has created in Piers a believable man of many talents who nonetheless is only credited with one – his ability to seduce almost anyone with his good looks and wit.  During the novel, Piers bitterly reflects on how his prowess on the battlefield and intelligence in statecraft go unappreciated by his detractors and his friends alike, as he is considered merely a pretty bauble to be used to sate the king’s lust.  Meanwhile, the man on the throne of England clearly is incapable of the job he has inherited. As Piers so aptly puts it: “Edward is the King of England and if he cannot find one misplaced shoe which he knows is somewhere in a single locked room then no wonder his subjects have no confidence in him!”

It is inevitable that this book will be compared to Susan Higginbotham’s novel, The Traitor’s Wife, which also depicts Edward’s reign.  Brandy Purdy’s novel focuses on a narrower time period, includes a smaller cast, but still provides a chilling glimpse of the events which follow Piers Gaveston’s death.  All in all, I wish I had read The Confessions of Piers Gaveston first, because this novel more clearly introduces and explains the King’s three most serious adversaries: Pembroke, Lancaster, and Warwick, whom I confused in the other, longer novel.  However, both books are very worth reading for anyone interested in this dark era of England’s history and a king who makes King Henry VIII seem temperate and reasonable by comparison!

Archelaus Hosken's Dilemma by F.J. Warren

If Wuthering Heights was a comedy… it would be this book!

There’s the young man of shady background and nebulous heritage, the firebrand maiden fighting to keep her land, a covetous cousin and his sweet, half-wit son, not to mention the trusty house servants … It could almost be a Bronte, except with humor.

Archelaus Hosken, a pickpocket condemned to hanging or transportation to a penile colony, finds himself unexpectedly released from prison – provided he agrees to marry the young woman who has bailed him out.  As you might expect, there is a will and some valuable land involved, and young Hosken is expected to make his vows and then humbly step aside so that his new wife can continue to run her estate as it suits her.  Hosken’s wife Patience (a notable misnomer) assumes that the ne’er-do-well will be grateful for her intervention and is a little taken aback by his reaction to his new form of imprisonment.  Of course, she has made it clear that the marriage is a sham and they will be sleeping in separate bedchambers – but she expected him to at least express some disappointment!  While Archelaus comes to grips with the loss of his life of freedom and Patience becomes more and more offended by his indifference to her, sinister cousin Richard plots to get his hands on Patience’s land.

I would have liked to see a novel’s worth of character development, but Archelaus Hosken’s Dilemma is a short novella of just over 100 pages.  Thus, the reader will get only a taste of nineteenth century Cornwall while this romantic comedy explores the character development of the disreputable Archelaus and the possible taming of Patience.  A positive, pleasant, and amusing read.

City of Lights by Melika Dannese Lux

City of Lights is a period piece set in fin-de-siecle Paris, where the Moulin Rouge and other cabaret nightclubs dominate the evening culture just as the newly finished Tour de Eiffel dominates the skyline.  This short novel is reminiscent of adventures serialized in magazines of the time, and the mood and plot remind me of an opulently-costumed silent film extravaganza.

Ms. Lux populates her novel with characters one might expect to see in a turn-of-the-century melodrama: Ilyse Charpentier, the 21-year old French diva, Ian McCarthy, the penniless Brit who falls in love with her, Maurice, her brother, the struggling artist, and of course, Count Sergei Rakmanovich, the evil Russian patron who has trapped poor Ilyse in his clutches.  The settings vary from La Perle, the glittering nightclub where Ilyse performs -- to the airy heights of the new Eiffel Tower -- to the dark and gargoyle-infested manor house which harbors the Count’s dangerous obsession.  Imagining City of Lights as a classic silent film, I had no trouble at all picturing Mary Pickford or Lillian Gish batting large, expressive eyes as the damsel-in-distress Ilyse, while the part of the cape-swirling villain Count Sergei would be aptly filled by Bela Lugosi.  There would even be a small part for Charlie Chaplin in the role of comic relief as Renault, the French waiter.

Home    About High Spirits    High Spirits Author Blog

Independent Authors Guild    Spotlight on Good Books

reset July 21, 2008