Secret Son

Secret Son by Laila Lalami
(Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill / 1-565-12494-4 / 978-1-565-12494-3 / April 2009 / 304 pages / hardcover / $23.95 / $16.29 Amazon)

Reviewed by Malcolm R. Campbell for PODBRAM

Youssef and his mother Rachida live in a one-room house with no windows and a tin roof held in place by stones in a Casablanca slum. When it rains, the roof leaks. When it’s not raining, they live in the yard beneath a sky as spacious as Youssef’s dreams.

When it rains, they carry their life back inside the whitewashed house: the divan, the food bowls, the clean clothes off the line, and the black and white photograph of his father that hangs in the yard above the divan. The young man who forever smiles out of that old photograph was in his 20s, not so many rears older than Youssef is now as he prepares to enter college in Casablanca.

He thinks often about the man in the picture who died in an accident, his mother told him, when Youssef was two; he was a well-respected man, a dedicated school teacher and, as Youssef learns a few pages into Laila Lalami’s powerful debut novel, an invention.

As Rachida’s secrets unravel, the following facts emerge: Youssef is the product of his mother’s affair with a married man, a man who is not only very much alive, but a wealthy and influential Casablanca businessman. While his doting mother is content to play the role of the grieving widow, as Youssef sees it, and to eke out a living in a slum, he is now free to escape from all that’s been denied him into a life of achievable dreams.

Against his mother’s wishes, he leaves the windowless house to discover his true identity. While she prays her son will make something of himself by staying in college, he has set his sights on greater things. He leaves Rachida’s whitewashed house with food for thought. When the rains came, a volatile Islamic fundamentalist group called “The Party” brought aid to the flooded slum while the state handed out promises it would not keep.

Readers of Lalami’s collection of short stories released in 2006 may reflect on the title of that highly acclaimed volume, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, as Youssef makes his way through a labyrinth populated by corrupt commercial interests, inept government employees, “The Party,” and news media with a spider web of conflicting agendas.

Lalami’s prose and plot in Secret Son are devoid of moralizing and sentimentality, and therein lies the power of her story. The story is not unkind; it’s ardently realistic. While the conclusion of Youssef’s essentially illegitimate journey into the treacherous world outside his claustrophobic station is by no means predictable, it’s as inevitable as Icarus’ fall from the spacious sky.

See Also: Lala Lalami's website

Voices Under Berlin

Voices Under Berlin:
The Tale of a Monterey Mary
by T. H. E. Hill
(CreateSpace / 1-434-83973-7 / 978-1-434-83973-2 / January 2008 / 312 pages / $14.95)

Reviewed by Celia Hayes for PODBRAM

Voices Under Berlin is a wry and deadpan account of a very particular place at a very particular time – Berlin under allied occupation in the mid 1950s, when the Cold War was coming up to a steady, simmering boil – and the city was divided into four different sectors: American, British, French and Russian. The Berlin Wall had not yet been built, large chunks of Berlin were still in ruins from WWII, American GIs were technically forbidden to fraternize with German women, and the various intelligence organizations were playing all kinds of deadly serious games against each other, with varying degrees of success.

One of those operations involved a tunnel dug from a specially constructed warehouse with an unusually deep cellar, in order to install a tap on landlines used by the Russians. For better than a year, telephone calls were listened to and recorded, transcribed, and carefully sifted for essential bits of information. Subtitled “The Tale of a Monterey Mary”, this is about the group of military members at the sharp and pointy end of that particular spear over the course of their tour in Berlin. These are, for the most part, those who listened to the tapes, translated and transcribed, or those whose task it was to keep them all pointed more or less in the same direction. Other characters, who emerge through the transcriptions of their telephone conversations, are various Russian officers - the voices under Berlin. For purely civilian readers and at this date, some five decades later, it is just as well that this novel starts with an extensive glossary. Most terms, other than those specific to that location at that specific time, are familiar to anyone who has been in the military, but the purely civilian reader would most likely otherwise be at sea.

The plot, such as it is, hangs on a pair of strands; first, the existence of the tunnel itself – can it be kept secret, and for how long, in a place where the Russians are constantly probing for information, seeking out willing traitors and testing the other allies’ intelligence services. The other continuing plot strand is: which one of the handful of American characters has been targeted by the Russians, the object of a ‘honey-pot’ scheme, wherein his German girlfriend is actually a Russian agent tapping him for information? Small clues as to the activities and whereabouts of the woman involved dropped throughout, in transcribed conversations. Is it the talkative student Gabbie, who is actually having a sweet and traditional romance with Kevin, the brilliant Russian-language expert, who is so adept at transcribing the tapes and so familiar with some of the voices on them that he has begun to think of them as personal friends? What about Blackie, whose nickname might come from his penchant for black-marketing, or for a practical joke involving rubbing sheets of used carbon paper onto the earpieces of his headset? He has a German girlfriend and so does the unspeakable Lt. Sherlock, the military martinet with no perceivable talents save for that of being able to walk away unscathed from the disasters large and small that he himself has caused. The potential security breach probably isn’t Fast Eddie, the married sergeant whose wife works at the PX Theater, or the crusty career soldier Master-Sergeant Laufflaecker, he of the parade-ground command voice and limitless ability to scrounge the when it is absolutely, positively necessary. And it most definitely not is the irascible and experienced Chief of Base, with his penchant for appearing in disguise and his dictate that whosoever acquires a German girlfriend will be reassigned so fast they will have whiplash injuries.

The narrative follows the course of a year, enlivened with many seemingly vintage photos of places, objects and people relevant to the story, as well as accounts of a staggeringly varied number of practical jokes. Never underestimate the creative lengths to which extremely intelligent and bored military personnel will go to amuse themselves, especially when confined to spending hours and hours on duty, in the main just watching for something to happen; elaborate charades to divert (or scare the pants off of) the bored East German military, watching the site from a tall guard tower, the briefing book cooked up for a totally imaginary Russian unit supposedly stationed just across the way, or even just loosening an essential screw in someone else’s headset. Some of these japes are ancient, yet ever renewed by a fresh generation, sent off post-haste on their first day for a fifty-foot length of flight line and a bucket of prop-wash. Voices Under Berlin is well worth the time, to a veteran and non-veteran alike, for a glimpse into another world, another war, half a century ago. My copy came with a companion book, a collection of Army information booklets passed out to American troops assigned to Berlin around the time that Voices was set. It is the sort of material usually termed ‘ephemera’ – a revealing slice of a long-gone milieu, which will seem purely incredible to those who only know the present reunified and independent Berlin.

See Also: Celia's BNN Review
The Author's Website
Review of T.H.E. Hill's Reunification

Faust

Faust: My Soul be Damned for the World (Volumes I & II)
by E. A. Bucchianeri
(AuthorHouse / Large format paperback with notes, appendices, and bibliography. Volume I: 1-434-39060-8 / 978-1-434-39060-8 / September 2008 / 436 pages / $65.00. Volume II: 1-434-39061-6 – 978-1-434-39061-5 – September 2008 / 704 pages - $95.00)

Reviewed by Malcolm Campbell for PODBRAM

E. A. Bucchianeri describes her two-volume work on the back cover as “a comprehensive exploration of Dr. Faust, the man who sold his soul to the devil, and those who lived to tell his tale.”

“Comprehensive” is almost an understatement, for the scope and scholarship of this two-volume, large-format Faust – My Soul be Damned for the World is astonishing. Bucchianeri traces the evolution of the Faust legends and literature from the historical individual who called himself Faustus (c1466 – c1538) through early folktales and Christopher Marlowe’s drama The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (1604) to Goethe’s closet drama Faust: The Tragedy Part One (1829) and Faust: The Tragedy Part Two (1832).

Clearly, the Faustian literature evolved with the times, and at each stage, Bucchianeri shows how the influences of the church, state, society and the education, upbringing and life experiences of the of the principal authors and commentators changed the intent and flavor of the legend. The Faust story, as Joseph L. Henderson notes in Man and his Symbols (Carl Jung, Ed.) dramatizes man’s battle with the dark or negative side of his personality, the “‘shadow’ figure that Goethe describes as ‘part of that power which, willing evil, finds the good.’” One of the greatest strengths of Buchianeri’s work is in its heavily documented presentation of the vast symbolism found throughout the multiple versions of the legend.

The historical Dr. Faustus, Faust books and folk tales, Marlowe’s drama with its “A and B texts,” the puppet plays, and Lessing’s unfinished drama comprise Volume I. At the outset, Bucchianeri writes, “Faust, the notorious reprobate who willingly forfeited his immortal soul to the devil in exchange of the fleeting illusory pleasures of the world as recounted in famous works of drama, literature, and music did not originate as the imaginary brainchild of a literary genius.A historical figure named ‘Faust’ did exist.”

Separating the historical personage from the folklore that quickly arose in letters, pamphlets and that individual’s own circulated exaggerations of his “powers” requires careful research. “Faustus” was the title/pseudonym used by Georg Helmstetter who was born in or near Heidelberg, Germany, in the mid-1400s. He was an educated man and, according to reports, an accurate astrologer. His self-aggrandizing claims of dark-side occult powers and an association with the Devil gave rise to the initial folklore and popular Faust books.

Bucchianeri brings order to the documented facts about Christopher Marlowe’s contribution to the Faust legend during Elizabethan times. She writes that the poet and dramatist “recognized in the character of Faustus his personal cynicism in regard to the subject of religion and his ardent desire to accomplish great deeds in the world.”

Here, as with the Goethe material, the author ostensibly presents readers with a miniature biography of the dramatist as a means of demonstrating important themes in the resulting play. Marlowe’s difficult route to a college degree and his rebellious views and lifestyle play into his version of “Faust.”

Goethe worked on “Faust” throughout his lifetime. Like Marlowe, Goethe had deep and basic questions about religion. He brought to “Faust” his youthful, manic-depressive mood swings and a wealth of study into subjects including the greater and lesser mysteries, alchemy and freemasons as Bucchianeri shows in Volume II.

Written in an academic style, Faust – My Soul be Damned for the World, will be of especial interest to scholars as well as serious students of the Faust legends, Marlowe, and Goethe. The scope of work and impeccable research may, in fact, be definitive insofar as the development of the literary Faust is concerned.

Some readers will find the biographical detail about Marlowe and Goethe to be too lengthy, far exceeding that which is required to illustrate how their personalities and their lives and studies influenced their Faust dramas.

If a second edition of Faust – My Soul be Damned for the World is released, the work will be greatly strengthened by the addition of an introduction that explains how this work differs from earlier Faust literature, concise chapter summaries and additional subheads and sidebars to break up the ponderous sections of straight text, a biography showing the author’s credentials for writing the book, and a comprehensive index.

That said, this work is a labor of love that greatly adds to our understanding of the literary Faust as he grew with the changing times.

See Also: The March of Books Review
The Faust Wikipedia Page

Remembering Hypatia

Remembering Hypatia:
A Novel of Ancient Egypt
by Brian Trent
(iUniverse / 0-595-34252-3 / 978-0-595-34252-5 / February 2005 / 292 pages / $16.95 / $15.25 Amazon)

Reviewed by Dianne Salerni for PODBRAM

Imagine a great city that 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, and rational people find refuge here from senseless violence. 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. Can you name the city? Possibly not, because this city was in its glory two millennia ago, and the events described here are straight out of ancient history.

Remembering Hypatia 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. 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, modern 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 in the 5th Century, 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.”

Readers should be prepared for scenes of graphic and tragic violence taken, sadly enough, from truth. Although you know from the beginning of the book how it will end, this does not make it any less shocking or poignant. Brian Trent brings the 5th Century world of Alexandria to life with vivid imagery and resurrects a great woman and a terrible injustice in this worthy and highly researched historical fiction novel.

See Also: The High Spirits Review
Dianne's B&N Review
Brian Trent's website

In Her Name

In Her Name
by Michael R. Hicks
(Imperial Guard Publishing / 0-615-20853-3 / 978-0-615-20853-4 / April 2008 / 684 pages / $21.95 / $19.75 Amazon / $7.19 Kindle)

Reviewed by Dr. Al Past for PODBRAM

One of my good friends, a literate, book-reading friend, says he likes his movies tightly edited and concise, but he prefers his books by the pound. If that friend enjoys the occasional science fiction/fantasy adventure as well, then do I have a book for him! Michael R. Hicks' In Her Name is a monster of a paperback and an absolute steal for the price. (It's also available in Amazon's Kindle edition at a budget price.) I estimate In Her Name to be at least two pounds of solid entertainment.

For those who might be a little shaky on genre distinctions, science fiction involves devices like faster-than-light travel, exotic weaponry, alien species, and all the sorts of Star Wars features that most of us are familiar with. Fantasy adds the elements of spiritualism, magic, mysterious powers, and suchlike.

In Her Name features a galaxy-wide war of vast dimensions between humans and a race of reptilian warrior bipeds who are ferocious and merciless fighters. (Think of Whorf, the Klingon, or the samurai warriors of Japan.) One of these warriors notices a human child survivor during the aftermath of a battle that human forces lose. For whatever reason, the warrior remembers this child, and it is later kidnapped from an orphanage and enrolled in warrior training on the alien world (to see if it has a soul, actually). The child thrives after a difficult start, becoming completely acculturated to the alien society. Eventually, however, the child, Reza Gard, cannot stay with the alien race and must return to human society, where he likewise thrives... up to a point. After all, who would trust a person who has gone over to an enemy no one understands? The galactic war builds to a final conclusion, where Reza finds his fate is to be the culmination of the fate of his people – but which people?

I won't spoil the tale with further details, and in a book this size there are many. The basic outline is not a new one. Anyone at all familiar with Joseph Campbell's seminal study of mythology, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, will recognize the story of the person who sacrifices himself to save his people. (Indeed, even Christianity embodies this pattern.) In Her Name adds the notion of two peoples, however, one being non-human, and does it with meticulous and convincing veracity.

That was what I liked best about the book: the author's complete and convincing rendering of a non-human culture, to the point that the reader comes to understand and respect it, honor it, and even root for it! That is no mean feat of imagination, and it makes what could have been a purple-prose space opera into a delightful recreation.

Another feature that makes the book a great read is the style in which it is written: it is clear, elegant, and serves the story. When one is describing, let's say, the code of an alien warrior race or the feelings of attraction of a human for one of the Saurians, it would be easy for the prose to become an overwrought, Technicolor mishmash of hyperbole. But Mr. Hicks has a sure hand with this. Even when describing something totally fantastic, it is done so smoothly and gracefully that one accepts it at face value. The willing suspension of disbelief is alive and well in this novel.

A third positive feature that absolutely needs to be mentioned is the immaculate editing. The text reads as cleanly as any you will find, better, in fact, than most traditionally published efforts.

The bottom line is that In Her Name is highly recommended to those who love the sci-fi/fantasy genres, or are even tempted to try them. There is little profanity, but some gore, so perhaps the very young might hold off (though the movies they see are far, far worse). The most difficult thing a young reader is likely to find with this book would be holding it off the ground.

See Also: The B&N page
The author's website
Interview with Michael R. Hicks
Review of Michael R. Hicks' Publish Your Book on the Amazon Kindle

Winter's Silence

Winter’s Silence
by Stephanie Silberstein
(Narrow Path Publishing / 0-981-64590-9 / 978-0-981-64590-2 / June 2008 / 130 pages / $12.50)

Reviewed by Dianne Salerni for PODBRAM

On the first day of Chanukah, first grader Emily Horowitz arrives home with a note from her teacher pinned to her coat, complaining that Emily refused to sing Christmas songs with the rest of the class. She needs to get it signed, but her parents don’t have time to look at it. Her baby brother has just been diagnosed with autism, and the family is reeling with the repercussions.

In this slim novel, author Stephanie Silberstein explores the issues faced by one small child who happens to be the only Jewish student in her school. If a menorah is displayed alongside the Christmas tree, does that justify the demand that Jewish children sing Christian songs? If a Jewish child is visiting a Christian household, should she be forced into helping decorate the Christmas tree, because “ornaments don’t bite”? Harassed by an anti-Semitic principal and ignored by parents distraught about their other child, six-year-old Emily is confused and alone with her dilemma.

Ms. Silberstein’s theme is poignant and personal. I believe that she has experienced the prejudice that Emily faces in this novel. However I wish that she had chosen an older narrator who could have brought more depth to this story. Six-year-old Emily is too young to understand autism or her Jewish faith, and her parents are extremely uncommunicative. As a reader, I could not empathize with the parents’ plight and anguish; I was too taken aback by the way they criticize Emily, talk over her head, and at times disregard her own safety. The dialogue conveys too little information, and even the most sympathetic character, Emily’s young uncle Max, never manages to talk to her about her problem. Half-heard conversations and uncompleted statements assure that the reader never really understands the adults’ actions.

I was not surprised that the book ends without a resolution to Emily’s problem, since her problem could not easily be solved. However, there also seems to be no growth in any of the characters. I kept waiting for a climax, and when it came, I felt left out of the information loop. Emily’s mother can’t complete more than a few words without crying, and her father rarely finishes his sentences.

Distracting errors in editing and layout appear sporadically throughout the book, but these things could be updated and fixed in a later edition. I was more concerned by the book’s lack of a focused audience. Adults will find the dialogue and plot too thin, but the inclusion of an adult-themed preview for the author’s other book at the back of this one makes it problematic for child audiences.

See Also: Stephanie's Website

Life Against All Odds

Life Against All Odds
by Alfred Cave
(Outskirts Press / 1-432-72912-8 / 978-1-432-72912-7 / November 2008 / 240 pages / $15.95)

Reviewed by Lloyd Lofthouse for PODBRAM

Life Against All Odds is an autobiography about one man surviving in a cruel world instead of allowing himself to be destroyed by that cruelty. In my opinion, Alfred Cave's story is about real success. The reason I'm saying this is because many times during Cave's youth he finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time but makes the right choices regardless of the hardships and challenges that keep getting in the way. Every time he falls down, he picks himself up and keeps going—an example others should copy.

I started reading Life Against All Odds on a flight from Oakland, California to Phoenix, Arizona. By the time I landed in Phoenix, I was halfway through the story. I had to talk to someone about the book, so I picked a captured audience, the driver for the shuttle bus from the airport to the car rental agency. During our brief conversation, he told me he knew all about discrimination. I said he should read this book and tell others about it. I said it was a history that should not be hidden or forgotten.

As I was reading Alfred Cave's autobiography, I wondered if he attempted contacting literary agents and traditional publishers first. If so, I felt this incredible story was one example of what is wrong with the traditional publishing industry and why the print media is in so much financial trouble. I know for a fact that most agents only read the first page and if they don't get excited, they reject. That is understandable since there are so many manuscripts to consider. However, it is my opinion that something else might have kept this book from being published by a traditional publisher and getting the kind of attention it deserves.

I finished reading Life Against All Odds on the flight back with more than an hour of flying time left. It would have been nice to have another fifty pages about Cave's life to fill that hour. I wouldn't be surprised if this book wasn't published by a traditional publisher because it stumbled in that swamp called Political Correctness in some way. Cave is blunt at times with his opinions. In fact, he's like many of us working stiffs that weren't born with a privileged life and gold spoons in our mouths. He's too honest, and Political Correctness sometimes requires one to be a skilled liar so people hear or read only filtered history.

Alfred Cave's story starts in Jacksonville, Florida, when he is born in 1930. It doesn't take long before his father Earl and his mother Sarah are gone. Alfred was a few years old when he was orphaned and separated from his older brother and sister and sent to live with his step-grandmother. Imagine being beat with a plank of wood that had small nails in it so your body has puncture wounds that bleed and stain the bed sheets with your blood leading to more punishment.

Alfred Cave survived that episode and tried to run away. He was caught and brought back to a possible worse fate leading to another, but this time, successful, attempt to run away to avoid an even worse form of abuse that managed to catch him later while surviving on New York's tough streets. Most kids that experience abuse like Cave end up taking drugs or getting in trouble with the law. Not Cave. He was smart and made the right decisions. With some help from a few good people, he survives, but it is never easy.

The fact that Cave survives growing up without being turned into a basket case is evidence that he is a resourceful individual. What he goes through is enough to break most people. Eventually, Cave joins the army starting as a private and more than twenty years later retires as a major. He did all this on a GED. Ending racial segregation in America started in the military and that is another aspect of Cave's autobiography—the history behind those changes. Cave was part of that military history and that is the most powerful story in his autobiography.

Cave is a fast learner. He doesn't hide his flaws either. He puts it all out there—his mistakes are on display, too. In other words, he is made of flesh and blood. We learn from Cave's autobiography that there are damaged people but at the same time we also see good people. It doesn't matter what skin color a person has. Evil comes in all colors; so does good. This story shows us that Cave is one of the good guys. If you want to read a powerful story about how one man survived discrimination, this autobiography does the job.

See Also: Books of Soul
A True Journey Through Fire

Kosher by Design Lightens Up

Kosher by Design Lightens Up:
Fabulous Food for a Healthier Lifestyle
by Susie Fishbein
(Mesorah Publications, Ltd. / 1-578-19117-3 / 978-1-578-19117-8 / November 2008 / 336 pages / $35.99 hardcover / $28.79 B&N / $23.75 Amazon)

Reviewed by Celia Hayes for PODBRAM

I will plead guilty of having more cookbooks than any normal person needs: cookbooks for French food, for Cajun, for Italian food, and practically every cookbook ever generated by Sunset Magazine, and about fifteen shelves of others, to which Susie Fishbein’s Kosher By Design Lightens Up is cheerfully added. It goes onto the shelf with my admittedly limited collection of cookbooks by celebrity cooks like Jeff Smith, The Frugal Gourmet, and Ina Garton from the Barefoot Contessa, all of which have at least one thing in common: the recipes are fantastic. In the case of this book and Contessa, the pictures and presentation of the finished dish are to drool over – and the dishes are not terribly complicated in preparation. This is no small consideration for someone who prefers cooking from scratch, but doesn’t have all bloody evening to do it.

Being strictly kosher and relatively low-calorie has obviously set some challenges and limitations in setting up the recipes, but to an artist of any sort – even a culinary one – a limitation is nothing but a challenge to shine. The recipes from which we have tried are absolutely splendid, bursting with flavor. The Roasted Pepper Pesto over whole-grain pasta (p.232) was especially savory. The dishes are a nice assortment, taken from many different culinary traditions – Mexican, Chinese, Moroccan, as well as traditional American and Eastern European dishes, slimmed down, calorie-wise. There is a particularly tasty-looking version of ‘fried chicken’ – but instead of being battered and fried, the chicken pieces are crusted with crushed cornflakes and baked in the oven. I assume using artificial sour cream to coat the chicken underneath was necessary to meet the kosher requirement, for otherwise this collection refreshingly minimizes low-calorie fake food elements, like sugar substitutes and soy cheeses. Some recipes are more than a little creative. There is one for salmon steaks crusted with crushed wasabi peas and then baked – which does sound and look a bit strange. There are helpful hints for cooking – such as, baking the look-alike for fried chicken on a baking rack set over a pan in the oven, in order to ensure the very maximum of crispiness, and interesting suggestions and information on various ingredients – oils, whole-grains, sweetening agents and the like – but calorie information per serving is oddly omitted. Perhaps the intention is to take away the onus of being a ‘diet’ cookbook, and to concentrate on the luscious taste and appearance of the dishes as being lighter and healthier versions of well-known favorites. Overall, the recipes prove that it is not necessary to sacrifice taste in the interests of eating ‘light’.

See Also: Celia's BNN Review
Susie Fishbein's Website

To Truckee's Trail

To Truckee’s Trail: The Greatest Adventure…Never Told by Celia Hayes
(Booklocker / 1-601-45252-7 / 978-1-601-45252-8 / July 2007 / 276 pages / $15.95 / Kindle $7.19)

Reviewed by Juliet Waldron for PODBRAM

We’ve all seen plenty of wagon train stories on TV and at the movies. To Truckee’s Trail will carry you back “to those thrilling days of yesteryear,” but not in Hollywood fashion. This is an historical novel in the truest sense of the word, because it is based upon surviving documents from a real journey made by emigrants to California. As this is the late 1840’s, the “trail” was not well known, and the most challenging part of the journey was crossing the mountains before the snows came. The documents are here, artfully interspersed with the author’s characterizations of these intrepid travelers.

They set off in the spring, fording rivers, and encountering Indians and buffalo as they made their way over a pristinely beautiful prairie landscape. At first, their difficulties are mostly with each other. When they reach the desert, however, their primary antagonist becomes Nature, and this continues as they race to cross the trackless mountains before winter traps them. As this journey actually took place a few years before the Donner Party, the reader knows quite well (better, perhaps, than did those long ago emigrants) what the risks were.

The expedition’s doctor carries the story. He’s uniquely positioned to interact with all the members of the party, at their best and at their worst. The author's feel for period dialogue and sensibility never fails her. I found her portraits of the oxen and mules as genuine and moving as those of the human characters.

Although the book starts slowly, as so many characters must be introduced, the excitement begins as soon as they hit the trail. A society in miniature must be established, and not everyone wants to follow the rules. There are quarrels and illnesses, as well as Indians and deserts, floods and storms, and at the end, those death-trap mountain snows to endure. If you're a fan of adventure, or if you're a lover of Westerns, you'll certainly enjoy To Truckee's Trail as much as I did.

See Also: Dianne Salerni's High Spirits Review
Reviews of Adelsverein by Celia Hayes - The Gathering - The Harvesting - The Sowing

Signature

Signature by Ron Sanders
(Ron Sanders / 0-615-15653-3 / 978-0-615-15653-8 / September 2007 / 168 pages / $10.95)

Reviewed by Dianne Salerni for PODBRAM

In the future, in 1347, a trio of scientists rendezvous during a New Years celebration while making their way to the observatory of another famous scientist, Titus Mack. They have been invited by Mack so that they can share in an astonishing discovery he has made regarding racial memories and altered history. Mack has invented a program, which he names Solomon, capable of reading waveprints and magnetic profiles encoded in Earth’s gravitational field and thus recreating historic events in vivid imagery. Mack’s investigations have revealed that everything he and his fellow citizens have been taught about the world is wrong – that a massive governmental cover-up has erased and replaced human history.

Mack’s presentation to his three scientist friends is interrupted when his observatory is overrun by the lawless, insane inhabitants of a nearby “plague colony.” While Mack and his friends, thanks to Solomon, now know the real nature of the “plague” which infects these people, the savage colony has no interest in hearing their explanation.

Signature has received accolades from various review sources, naming it a worthy reading experience and an intellectual thrill ride. I didn’t find it as appealing. I was most interested in the technology which made viewing the past possible and the historic events and cover-up which were discovered by this invention. Unfortunately, these elements were not revealed through the actions of the characters and events in the book – they were presented in a lengthy lecture over the course of four chapters. The actual events of the book revolved around periodic chases, captures, and escapes as the scientists unwillingly explore the underground lair of their savage neighbors. I found these scenes repetitive and designed mainly to present an ever-worsening parade of bizarre characters.

The writing was technically competent, although I found the dialogue to be frequently confusing. The cover images are vivid and striking, but the title and author’s name could have been more professionally displayed. While not my cup of tea, this book would appeal to readers interested in religion, history, and dystopic futures.

See Also: The POD People Review
For Readers Only, a collection of Ron's best short stories

Ever Your Servant

Ever Your Servant: (Or How Retail Really Sucks) by K. A. Corlett
(Corlata Press / 0-973-28440-4 / 978-0-973-28440-9 / 2004 / $17.99)

Reviewed by Juliet Waldron for PODBRAM

If I may rephrase the cover blurb: "Imagine Anne Rice being trampled by the cast of The Office." If tired formula vampire stories send you to sleep, here comes a genuine page-turner!

Joelle works for a department store in a Canadian city. She runs one of the ossified firms' attempts at a trendy health-food section. The bosses are what you'd imagine, obsessed with inane protocol and office politics. Joelle's best friends are the slacker geeks who run Electronics, although she has a work ethic that they lack. Ms. Corlett has a gift for smart dialogue, and an ear finely tuned toward 9-5, and you will be splitting your sides when a tall dark stranger arrives to cast a pall over the scene. Max owns a franchise, the newly installed cyber café, and with independence from the powers that be, he begins to wreak havoc, not only upon the one remaining good nerve of the pompous managerial staff, but upon Joelle, who has never before met a man she couldn't manage.

Max is (ostensibly) from Quebec, a fluent French speaker. He's handsome, bright and aristocratic, and Joelle's seriously off-balance around him. He's also very pale, and has some unique habits, like hanging upside down from the ceiling in his darkened office. Fellow workers begin to drop dead, and even though Joelle guesses who is to blame, she can't kick a growing passion for the urbane, mysterious Max. Ever Your Servant is by turns funny, witty, terrifying and sexy. What's more, there's a formidable wealth of occult knowledge folded into the humor and gothic romance. If you're looking for a vampire tale with a genuine, not mass-produced, bite, pick this one up. Om Krim Kaliyai Nama!

Editor's Note: This self-published paperback is no longer available from Amazon except through a secondary seller. It is not available at B&N online, either. You can order a copy directly from the author in Canada for the $17.99 posted price plus $8 shipping. You can place your order from the author's website. At least one copy is currently available at a lower price through other sellers. Check the Addall link below for details. If you want to read an excerpt from the book, there is one at the author's site. Thank you.

See Also: K. A. Corlett's website
The Ever Your Servant page at Addall

Janeology

Janeology by Karen Harrington
(Kunati, Inc. / 1-601-64020-X / 978-1-601-64020-8 / April 2008 / 256 pages / $24.95 hardcover / $18.21 Amazon)
 
Reviewed by Malcolm Campbell for PODBRAM

Jane Nelson "snaps" and tries to drown her two children in the kitchen sink. Her son Simon dies, her daughter Sarah survives, and Jane is placed in a mental institution after being found not guilty by reason of insanity. However, since society, as we saw in the Andrea Yates case and others, can neither understand nor tolerate flawed motherhood, it will go to great lengths to find extenuating circumstances to explain a mother's crime.

The stunned and grieving husband and father, Tom Nelson, becomes a convenient scapegoat. As high-profile cases in recent years have demonstrated, husbands are expected to know whether or not a wife under stress is a clear and present danger to her children. So Tom is charged with failing to protect his family from his wife, a wife he didn’t know as well as he thought he did.

In Janeology, as in life, Tom and his lawyer Dave take as a given that the evidence used in Jane's trial to demonstrate that she was insane will be brought into Tom's trial and used against him. The prosecution will argue that if Jane was crazy enough to kill her children, Tom should have noticed this fact and done something to keep Simon and Sarah out of harm's way. How could he not have known?

Tom asks himself this question many times even before he is charged. He also wonders what happened to Jane, the loving wife and mother, to bring her to such a point. In her exceptionally well-written, carefully plotted and inventive novel, Karen Harrington considers where blame begins and ends and what, if anything, will bring us closure.

Dave tells Tom that they can mount a stronger defense by going farther into the past than the psychologists who testified about Jane's mental instability at her trial. He introduces Tom to a psychic who will learn through "retrocognition" what Jane's parents and grandparents were like and whether, through bad genes, psychological imbalance, or criminal activity, they played a part in creating Jane's instability and propensity for murder. As the psychic explores Jane's family tree in a series of compelling vignettes, the initially skeptical Tom begins to see a multigenerational pattern of behavior that might help him, as well as society, answer the question "why did Jane do it?"

While these vignettes are well handled, astute readers might wonder why Tom didn't ask his lawyer two questions about the information the psychic was finding: (1) How can you present evidence in court that's been gathered solely through paranormal means? (2) Is there any legal precedent for using the "sins of the fathers," especially sins nobody knew about at the time of the crime, as viable extenuating circumstances in the same manner as one's own psychological past is traditionally used when presented by experts?

Lacking a stronger clarification from Dave about how the information will be used in court, the psychic's revelations appear, while they're unfolding in the storyline, more as compelling nice-to-know histories than viable facts for a court of law. Dave could have said, without the plot being spoiled, how he intended to get these revelations before the jury. Tom should have asked, and the reader needs to know to keep from thinking that the past, no matter how compelling it is, is unrealistic in a legal drama.

In their consideration of Jane and how she came to kill her children, Tom and Dave want to answer the question "why" with something more satisfying than "she just went nuts." Do these answers they find create reasonable doubt when weighed against the state's charge of "failure to protect"? Maybe yes, maybe no, but even if the answers clear Tom's name, will they also bring the true closure family, friends and society desire? Harrington puts these questions before the reader in a very engaging novel.

See Also: The March of Books Review
Karen Harrington's website

The Bomb That Followed Me Home

The Bomb That Followed Me Home
by Cevin Soling
(CreateSpace / 0-976-77712-6 / 978-0-976-77712-0 / Rumpleville Chronicles Series / Illustrated by Steve Kille / Monk Media / November 2007 / 40 pages / $14.95 hardback)

Reviewed by Dianne Salerni for PODBRAM

A little boy is walking home from school, primarily focused on avoiding the property of Mrs. Greenspan who yells in gibberish at all trespassers, when he realizes he is being followed home by the cutest little bomb he’s ever seen. Of course, he wants to keep it, but his mother is worried it belongs to someone else (perhaps a crazed anarchist who misses it desperately) and thinks it will be too much work. But the boy and the bomb are already attached – whatever shall they do?

This fractured fairy tale is one in a series of politically charged picture books written by Cevin Soling and illustrated in brilliant, psychedelic colors by Steve Kille. While the story at first seems simple, if a bit bizarre, it’s the kind of thing that haunts you afterwards. What did that story really mean? Once I started asking myself questions, it was hard to stop. Why were the parents annoyed by the presence of the bomb, but not really alarmed? Why were they more worried about their own inconvenience than the potentially dire consequences? What significance was there in the fact that the unpleasant neighbor spoke gibberish, instead of English?

Although this is a picture book, it could easily have a significant place as a discussion starter in a high school or college political science class, especially used in conjunction with the other books in the Soling series: The Disciples of Trotsky, Kierkegaard’s Dilemma, and more. I even tried it out on my advanced fifth grade reading group, and with a little guidance, they had a rousing discussion about its theme. They were able to grasp that the story addressed an important idea beneath the surface and reflected at length on the use of bombs to quell your troublesome neighbors, whether they spoke English or not. As one girl put it: “I think the author is saying that people are too used to bombs. They don’t think about them the way they should. They should be afraid, but mostly they’re annoyed because they don’t want to think about it.” Children are certainly not naïve, and they recognize irony when they see it, even if they don’t know the name for it!

Colorful, engaging, and thought-provoking enough to annoy you, The Bomb That Followed Me Home is a good choice for literature discussion among the younger set or political debate among teens.

See Also: The High Spirits Review
Kevin Soling's website

Cloud

Cloud by Charles Henry
(Timestone – CreateSpace / 0-615-23388-0 / 978-0-615-23388-8 / December 2008 / 336 pages / $12.99)

Reviewed by Donna Nordmark Aviles for PODBRAM

The Souza Family is vacationing in Colorado when a day trip to the top of Pikes Peak touches off a most unusual and dangerous adventure. As a storm gathers and visitors are encouraged to start heading down the mountain before fog sets in, a small cloud floats in through the open hatch on the family van and is trapped when the doors are shut.

The family comes to realize that the cloud is a sentient being with a personality and emotion. Since the cloudling, which they name Zephyr, needs water and electricity for its survival, the family devises unique ways to recharge their new being, all the while trying to figure out how to return it to its family – the thunderstorm from Pikes Peak.

To complicate matters, the accidental trapping of the cloudling is witnessed by Rick Snyderman of Millennium Weapon Systems. Snyderman also observes the cloudling’s ability to shape shift and evaporate water. MWS is in the business of weapons development and Snyderman’s evil mind begins to conjure up ways to weaponize the cloudling if he can only get his hands on it. The chase is on as the Souzas track the thunderstorm’s eastward movement with the Millennium agents hot on their trail. Cloud is a fast paced, imaginative adventure story of a family trying to do the right thing in the face of great danger. There are many near misses as the family is pursued, and just when you think this is it, they’re caught, the family’s ingenuity kicks in and they escape yet again.

There are several Biblical references throughout the story that the author tries to debunk by attributing them to the actions of clouds, thus testing the faith of one of the main characters. In the end, there are no judgments made, just questions asked. It seems that the author wants the reader to question his or her own beliefs with regard to the Bible, however unconvincingly.

The cover design of Cloud is beautifully done. The use of color and light is wonderful – the passing storm appears nearly photographic. The use of language and spelling are very good, but the text, unfortunately, is in need of a serious edit with regard to all types of punctuation. There are missing periods, dialog errors, and misuse of capital letters, colons and semi-colons. All, of course, are very distracting to the reader. The target audience for Cloud would probably be the pre-teen or teen reader with plenty to hold the interest of boys and girls alike.

See Also: Charles Henry's Authors Den page
Donna's Orphan Train Reviews

Valley of the Shadow

Valley of the Shadow
by Steven A. Knutson
(Knutson’s / 1-607-25994-X / 978-1-607- 25994-7 / December 2008 / 148 pages / $10.95)

Reviewed by Lloyd Lofthouse for PODBRAM

Knutson's memoir is about the Vietnam War. I fought in that war, too. That is why this review was not easy to write. There was so much I wanted to say but didn't, because this book wasn't about me and yet it was. So, I'm going to struggle to write this review and not hop on my soapbox and echo Knutson's opinions in Valley of the Shadow. If I slip sometimes, forgive me. Although my story is different, I felt as if we shared the same experiences right down to when he bought that new Ford near the end. My celebration to-still-be-alive car was a Buick with bucket seats and a five-speed stick shift.

I cannot imagine this book and the story of raw truth it vividly shows being published by any traditional publisher. I cannot imagine Hollywood making this book into a movie since it would go against the engineered Political Correctness that seems to rule American thought these days. The only reason Valley of the Shadow was published is because POD, Print on Demand, self-publishing and the Internet have provided another avenue to express truth and reality that isn't politically correct.

After all, since Vietnam, it's been a challenge to find the truth from the antiwar American mass-media machine. When you read or watch the news, do so with a grain of salt and consider that Hitler once said, “if you say a lie enough, it becomes the truth”. When I say that, I'm talking about all ends of the American political spectrum. When Knutson writes about the media in his book, I agree with him one hundred percent, and I earned a BA in journalism on the GI Bill after I left the Marine Corps in 1968.

If you want to learn about the Vietnam War, here's my list of the best: We Were Soldiers with Mel Gibson (a movie showing what combat is like instead of the Tom Cruise variety of couch jumping combat that is Hollywood); Chickenhawk, a memoir by Robert Mason that shows how 'necessary' carnage can damage one soldier's mind and body, and of course, Valley of the Shadow. There are other books and movies that do a good job, but this is where I recommend you start.

When Knutson writes about the use of drugs in Vietnam, I agree with him. When he writes about getting those GG shots, which I had to get, too, but out in the open with everyone in a line on top of a hill in the middle of Indian Country, that's true, too. I could go on. Each short chapter is another gritty, sometimes funny (I laughed often), nugget of reality and truth.

Knutson's memoir is about the unsung heroes that supported the guys like me that went into the field on ambushes, recons, patrols and field operations. Without soldiers in uniform like Knutson, also risking their lives since they were in Vietnam, too, how could guys like me have survived and succeeded? I want to thank those soldiers for what they did. Oh, by the way, I was on a field operation with South Korean soldiers. Knutson was right about them. If I had to pick a warrior to fight beside, to watch my back, I'd want him to be a South Korean.

There are ten to twelve men in uniform in support positions for each grunt in the field to make sure we get our job done, to fight and win. War is hell. It’s always been hell and it's always going to be in one form or another, where people of all ages die and suffering is a harsh reality. If you are one of those that lives in denial dreaming of a fantasy world where we all hug and kiss and love each other as in a fairy tale produced by Hollywood with a happy ending, look around at the American street gangs and the war on drugs taking place here. Fix that first.

In forty years, Valley of the Shadow is the second book I've read that depicts the real side of war through the details Knutson writes. I was there in the thick of it. I know. I wrote a book about Vietnam in the 1980s and although an agent represented that book and editors said they liked my writing, no one published it. I'd locked so much inside my head behind concrete walls built of anger, writing that story was like taking a razor blade and slicing open an artery in my neck. It wasn't easy. I don't think it was easy for Knutson, either.

If you love what America is supposed to stand for according to what our Founding Fathers created (not what modern day government—I'm talking about the tug-of-war between the left and right—is making our country into along with biased, Yellow Journalism and a Hollywood controlled by those that decide what is Politically Correct as they socially engineer America into something—whatever that is—they want it to be) I highly recommend reading Valley of the Shadow.

Valley of the Shadow comes in a small package. It's well priced and easy to read. On the other hand, there could have been a detailed glossary for the military equipment mentioned. I found myself getting lost occasionally in the machines Knutson used, and there were a 'few' grammatical and mechanical errors. However, do not let that stop you from reading this memoir. This story is not about the military machines and equipment. It's a personal account of war and the price men and women in uniform pay to fight for their country. It's another rare, and sometimes humorous voice of truth after forty years of you know what I'd like to say.

If you buy Valley of the Shadow and read it, spread the word—please. Encourage others to buy and read it, too, even if you do not agree with Knutson's opinions. If you haven't noticed, the world is a violent place. Read books about history to learn. Memoirs like Knutson's and historical fiction are a good place to start.

See Also: Steve's Authors Den page
Review of It Takes One to Catch One
Confessions from the Last Frontier

A Thorough Researcher

Juliet Waldron has had a fascination with the past since earliest childhood, perhaps from growing up in a haunted 1790's house in upstate New York, or maybe from sharing a birthday with George Washington. She had a professorial Grandpa who used to read her The Canterbury Tales in Olde English when she was a baby. She was educated in the U. S., Cornwall, England, and in the British West Indies. She has a B. A. in English, and has worked in both the private placement and brokerage industries. Now retired, she’s a proponent of detailed research before you begin to tell your story, a path democratically open, thanks to our public libraries and the ever-expanding Internet. She lives with her husband of forty years and four cats.

A lifelong passion for history led to research and the writing of many novels. Mozart’s Wife was a pioneering electronic 2000 Frankfurt nominee, and it won the First Independent e-Book Award for best e-published fiction at the 2001 Virginia Festival of the Book. Mozart’s Wife has had several publishers, but is now in print from Hard Shell Books. Genesee, set during the Revolutionary War in upstate NY and based upon family history, won the 2003 EPIC Award for best historical novel, as well as succeeding as a romance, receiving five stars from Affaire de Coeur. Independent Heart, a sister story to Genesee, set in the Hudson Valley, is currently on-line and in print. Hand-Me-Down Bride, a post Civil War romance, set in Pennsylvania farm country, is coming soon from Second Wind Publishing.

Juliet Waldron has also been featured in the Motivation section of the "Writer's Digest Publishing Success". You can browse through many articles written by Ms. Waldron at Authors Den. Let's all welcome Juliet Waldron to the PODBRAM review team!

Juliet Waldron's website
Juliet's Mozart's Wife site
Juliet's Authors Den page

The Saga of Beowulf

The Saga of Beowulf
by R. Scot Johns
(Fantasy Castle Books / 0-982-15380-5 / 978-0-982-15380-2 / October 2008 / 640 pages / $14.95 / $13.45 Amazon)

Reviewed by Dr. Al Past for PODBRAM

It would be hard to find anyone in the English speaking world who has never heard of Beowulf. Most could tell you he was the hero of "some old poem" who killed "that monster, Grendel." Some younger people might have seen the comic book-like movie flaunting its digitalized special effects, but most of the population will have had to have read parts of it in school, in translation.

Not many will remember why they had to read it in school, but there's a good reason: it's the first identifiable work of literature written in English. The problem is it must be read in translation (unless one is a graduate student in English, perhaps) because it was the language spoken when part of the Germanic languages split off and became modern English. We call that founding language Anglo-Saxon, or Old English. Supposedly, the verses in which the Beowulf story is told constitute very powerful poetry, but very few are able to appreciate it today. It takes work to pick out a single understandable word in two or three lines of verse, and a semester or two of college-level study to get comfortable with it.

The story itself, of the hero Beowulf saving a neighboring tribe of Danes from the horrible Grendel, and later from his equally horrible mother, ultimately becoming king of his own tribe, the Geats, and dying while saving them from a ferocious fire dragon, is a dramatic one. But in addition to the language problem, the tale is made even harder to appreciate by virtue of apparently being written down by two different people hundreds of years after Beowulf lived, by the fragments of the manuscript which have disappeared, and by its being compressed possibly for purposes of recitation.

All this is by way of saying that there is a terrific story here, but how to make it accessible to today's typical readers? Author R. Scot Johns has the answer: spend ten years researching the poem and the historical documents of the era, and weave it all into a novel, a novel of 630 pages. The result of this impressive scholarship is a labor of love: an astoundingly readable, satisfyingly meaty historical tale of fierce battles, of intricate clan ties and loyalty, of Norse folklore, and of characters who develop over time to stand as distinct personalities that were only dimly glimpsed in the ancient version.

As to how Mr. Johns managed all this, he has a website (fantasycastlebooks.com) with extensive and interesting author's notes laying out the documents and the manner of stitching them into one continuous narrative. The book itself has glossaries of names and places, and a map of ancient Scandinavia, but these are helpful only when needed and do not intrude on the continuity of the story. There are no footnotes, for example.

One might reasonably ask, "What possible prose style would suit ancient poetry rendered into a modern novel?" Mr. John's solution seems to be rather a hybrid: in places he uses what feels like Old Norse hyperbole, and in others a more sensitively observed, human-scaled style. Since the original story featured heroic deeds of strong, brave men with large swords, chain mail, and horns on their helmets fighting monsters with mythic abilities, exaggeration is only fitting, and faithful to the original. In other places, when warranted, the style eases into a more comfortable, conventional narrative, with few flights of bellicose elaboration. It retains the feel of an ancient story, yet can be enjoyed comfortably and without rescanning the lines.

As a reviewer of books, I'm inclined to want to march right through a text. At the same time, I found myself enjoying the story and wishing to slow down and immerse myself in it. Torn between these two desires, I noted that Grendel and his mother had been dealt with by the halfway point. What, I asked myself, could possibly fill the rest of the pages?

To my surprise, I found I enjoyed the second half even more than the first, with accounts of battles with normal humans (well, ancient Swedes, anyway), an ill-advised raid into Frankish territory, sea voyages, Frankish politics and military maneuvers, the puzzle of Roman ruins, struggles over kingly succession and tribal politics, courtship, and more small doses of mythology: stone-eating trolls, fearsome dwarfs, and, overseeing all, the three Fates of Norse mythology, spinning out the threads of lives, measuring and cutting them when the time comes. It's all cleanly written and edited, a few errant apostrophes notwithstanding.

Mr. Johns' version of Beowulf is a terrific bargain at its current selling price. It should appeal to, and delight, those who like the original poem, those who enjoy the sword and sorcerer/dungeons and dragons type of yarn, lovers of historical fiction, and the many readers who are tired of the same old formulas and wish for something completely different. It would be an excellent choice to read the summer before signing up for an Old English course. If only I had had it back then!

See Also: The Author's Website

Stories for Children

Delaware resident Donna Nordmark Aviles is the granddaughter of Oliver Nordmark, the protagonist of her books for children, ages eight and up. She has worked in many fields including foreign exchange, social services and business. After raising three children, Aviles returned to her early love of writing and is currently working on her next book. She enjoys speaking to school students and organizations about the Orphan Train Movement and The Great Depression.

Donna signed a contract for the screen rights to her books with Los Angeles screenwriter William Rotko, who is best known for his work on Breach and Beast. Rotko had this to say about Ms. Aviles and her work: "She's able to write the story in these books wonderfully. She's a young writer, new to the craft, and she's able to accomplish that. It's very difficult. The ideal movie will bring it to a larger audience. I want to make it a family movie about that period of America and make it relatable for everyone."

Donna's first two books, Fly Little Bird, Fly! and Beyond the Orphan Train are the true life adventures of her grandfather, Oliver Nordmark. Orphaned at age six and sent west on the Orphan Train at eight, Oliver struck out on his own at age fifteen. The third book in the series, Peanut Butter for Cupcakes, is the story of Oliver's journey through parenthood as he struggles to raise six small children during The Great Depression after the unexpected and tragic death of his young wife.

Donna Nordmark Aviles' website
Her publisher, Wasteland Press

Medieval Mistress

The newest member of our PODBRAM review team is Susan Higginbotham. Susan and her first book, The Traitor's Wife, hold a special place of honor here at PODBRAM. Way back in September 2006, The Traitor's Wife was only the second book selected for review on this site, and what a book it was! Susan had already garnered pounds of high praise for her historical fiction novel by the time it arrived in my mailbox. She built the storyline up from the viewpoint of some of the lesser known characters involved in King Edward II's scandalous affair with Piers Gaveston.

There have been three separate editions of The Traitor's Wife published with three very different covers. The one shown with the PODBRAM review is, of course, the first one. The book graduated the second tier of success offered at iUniverse, whereas an updated version was released. As far as I know at this time, both of these versions are totally unavailable because Sourcebooks Landmark has scheduled the release of the third edition for April 1st of 2009. Each of the three editions of the five-hundred-page book has been offered at a lower price than the previous one. The new edition has already reached a better sales ranking at Amazon than most POD books ever achieve in their long lifetimes, and this at more than two months prior to its release!

Susan Higginbotham has also released two shorter books entitled Hugh and Bess: A Love Story and Edward II: His Friends, His Enemies, and His Death. She has written many articles and short stories, all of subject matter within a similar genre, historical fiction from Merry Olde England. Susan's website is quite substantial, offering many avenues of research and historical significance. Her site states that Hugh and Bess will be re-released later this year. I published my in-depth interview at PODBRAM with Susan Higginbotham in December 2007. Surprisingly, Ms. Higginbotham practiced law after receiving her degree, and she has worked for a legal publisher for many years. You can visit the site of her new publisher at Sourcebook, Inc.