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This story hit home for me. My grandfather built the soddy (a house made of blocks of prairie sod) that my mother was born in on the Colorado plains. The spirit of the people who carved out a living on those plains could best be described as tenacious as a bulldog. And here I thought that Sloppy Joes were named after my uncle Joe Masterson. Ohh well I like Ms Shelnutt's version better since I had my first one after moving to Denver. Her depiction of the people in her family make them recognizable as all of those who have fought to overcome life's boulders. I look forward to her next story.

This story, Coal & Coca-Cola, brings back memories for me. My father, a sharecropper from Missouri, had a friend who had worked in the coal mines. John, my dad's friend, had "black lung", a condition from breathing coal dust. He finally died from the ailment.
The author of Coal & Coca-Cola, Linda (Hudnall) Shelnutt, has written a fine tribute to her mother, Marge (Rocchio) Hudnall.
Those people, like Marge, that worked hard, and gave up much, were the backbone of this great nation we now share. I compare them to the steel re-enforcing rods that are laid in cement. The cement, while strong, would only break up if not for the steel rods holding it together. Just like those rods, people like Marge provided the strong fabric helping to hold our nation together.
With her tenacity, Marge did something that others bet she couldn't.
I found this story to be inspirational. A story of a family's love and devotion to one each other. A story of determination when odds were against. In this time of seemingly hopelessness it is so refreshing to read how there can be hope.
Thank you, Linda, for sharing this with your readers.

Richard Neal Huffman

Linda Shelnutt apparently likes commas...I like dots, but we obviously share one very important thing in common, an abiding love for the stories of Ordinary People...a deep-seated realization that in the stories of the so-called ordinary or Common Person can be found all the creativity, courage and emotion worthy of ten 'celebrities' or 'big names' with their free passes to Big Name publishers and the eloquence-for-hire of their ad agencies.

Other than those who loved her, no one would be bothered taking a photo of Linda's mom Marge. They certainly wouldn't be bothered taking and retaking the photo, as was obviously done to get just the right multiple silk screen effect the big name publisher poured into getting hillary clinton's hard, angry face into the kind of almost human looks necessay to fool people into buying her ghostwritten story...

No...no one. I don't imagine the years were too kind to Marge, yet by the same token I can't help but think there was a fair amount of loving kindness not too far from the surface of her eyes and face...given the love and devotion she inspired in daughter Linda, not to mention a town full of satified customers and a certain energy just being a part of that large household of coal miner men [including Joe, who wasn't Sloppy] and entrepreneurial women.

I also picture a certain triumph in those tired eyes...the triumph that came not only from her successful battle against impossible odds to raise her family, but also her success in taking the recipie for her chop suey rolls "with her" after giving Sloppy Joes to the world!!!

Yes...I believe it!! I want to!!! It's just as simple as that!!! And she had my mouth watering so many different times in the course of those 18 pages I had no trouble believeing she would be just the person.

Yes, Coal and Coca Cola is the triumph of the common person! The kind of story that restores ones faith in the people that really count. It's a sensory delight about the kind of people that delight...that leave the lives of those they touch so much better than they found them. Not like the celebrities whose books sell. Five Stars!

John W. Cassell

This loving tribute by a daughter for her mother is a tale of a strong-willed mother from a hearty Italian family with a long history of coal-mining in Colorado. The author's mother, Margie Hudnall, was a determined woman who loved to bake ... and after years of being a professional baker, became known for her delicious pastries, inventive mind, and business common sense.

Linda (Hudnall) Shelnutt, the author of an out-of-print science-fiction book, THE ROSE AND THE PYRAMID, wrote this short story to capture the feel of women in the fifties and to give a glimpse of how her mother and aunts differed from more dependent women of their generation. She refers to her mother as having "bull-dog determination," and goes on to explain how she started her own business, despite a prejudice against women in business in those days.

Although this is Margie Hudnall's story--a story of one woman's success--to a lesser degree, it's also a story of the family's success ... for the men helped, too. It was back-breaking labor to prepare the necessary location for Margie's bakery, including plumbing and inspection; cleaning up the dank, dark cellar was a challenging job. It's a heart-warming, inspirational tale of struggle after struggle. As I followed the author through the story, I not only admired her mother but also her sisters and her Uncle Charlie who worked on the project every evening ... after putting in long, grueling days as a truck driver.

Some of the stories this author relates about the many recipes her mother invented will surprise you; you will feel the family's pangs of regret over how they may have been released from poverty if only Margie had taken proper care to safeguard the Sloppy Joe recipe that would have given them well-earned credit for this popular sandwich.

Author Linda G. Shelnutt held me spellbound with the following account:
>> I REMEMBER Mom telling me why she made her Chop Suey Roll recipe too complex for anyone to be able to copy it, and why she promised she would take that recipe with her "to her grave," after having experienced what had happened from her happily and proudly giving the Sloppy Joe recipe to anyone who had asked for it. <<

This tale, written in simple, every-day language, is not only a smidgeon of Colorado history, but it's also a love story to a mother who was loved and respected by a devoted daughter and an entire town. It's easy to see where this author got her own "bull-dog gene," for she is following her dream of getting her first book back in print with a reputable, artistic publisher with all the fervor her mother did in starting her own business. The obstacles Shelnutt faces--though of a more high-tech, new millennium nature--are as formidable as those her mother faced, but I'm certain she will follow her mother's footsteps to successful culmination of her life-long dream.

I share the author's curiosity and wonder when she stated:
>> For me, forks in the road are fascinating. Why do we take one and not the other and what would have happened if we had taken the other? Maybe there are gifts (as well as boulders) on any path, just different ones? I wish I could somehow look into the Past and "see" what that other road would have been like. ... Just to know ... <<

I like to think of the "Coal" in this story's title as a tribute to the hard-working coal-miners of the author's family, with the "Coca-Cola" representing her strong, determined mother and other women in the family who were excellent cooks and bakers ... women who nurtured their families physically, mentally and spiritually.

SIDENOTE: You may have noticed that Amazon has made some changes to its website. If it looks the same to you right now, look out for a new format that will be rolling out gradually in the weeks to come. If you can see the changes, especially the review format, I'd like to know what you think. Please leave me a comment with your opinion.

"Love the new look" or "Hate the new look" comments are perfectly acceptable.

My e-mail address is at top of this review. Thank you for your time."

I thoroughly enjoyed this heart felt tribute from daughter to mother. That may have been the intent of Linda Shelnutt when she wrote this story, but she, in essense, paid loving tribute to her whole family, her hometown and the way of life she grew up with. Way to go, Linda.

Joshua Berry
Author of Andrea's Dream and six Amazon Shorts (four online and two coming soon)

This book will be a very helpful tool for anyone using the new image-editing software to improve drawings and paintings. There are a number of examples that show what today's software will allow an artist to do. It gave me new ideas to try as I experimented with software, my scanner and digital camera. This book would be great for anyone who is looking for some great ideas and new approaches to art!

As a novice artist and computer user, I found this book so important and useful. It is a one of a kind book, extremely innovative and ties together both the art world and todays technology. Not only is it timely for today but will be important for the future. Bravo!!

This book was extremely helpful. It provides clear instruction and beautiful examples of how many different artists have used computer software to explore innumerable possibilities for a painting in a short period of time. Pollard and Little have presented the material in an easy to read style. It gets right to the point. An excellent tool for any artist.

This book encouraged me to buy Photoshop Elements and get started learning this powerful and complex software (I have used Microsoft's Picture It! and a watered-down version of Phtoshop before, the latter for several years). This book coveres several types of media. A number of different artists put together paintings using the software to aid in explorations of graphic ideas and planning. Basically, it is an introduction to using Photoshop (or, "...Elements") or other image editing program that demonstates the advantages, and some of the ways, a computer can be used by artists. It's chief value lies in getting you excited about expanding your tools and shows you how a computer can enhance your creativity, making it easier and quicker to explore the possibilites.

As an artist taking a Photoshop class, i was hopelessly lost in a deluge of material. This book sorts through the material and focuses only on what is necessary for an artist. Great way to take the pain out of thumbnails and value studies!

Wow. Not my usual cup of tea, but there is something so wonderfully quirky about Page's imagination that I found myself caught up in her flights of fancy. As I read on, figuring out who would play Page in the movie version became more and more an obsession. The young Joanne Woodward would have been perfect. From today's crop Kate Winslet comes to mind. And Ralph, don't know enough about him yet (and hope I can get to read the rest of this) to choose, but Robyn, the aggravating, pull-one-down-to-earth, and present dissatisfaction with life, cousin-that's obviously.... I have to stop this for it's clear I'm falling into Page's habit of daydreaming. But it's fun, clearly far better than real life. Poor Page, divorced, lousy job, no direction, but with a wacky out-of-the-box thought process that's so endearing you assume she'll triumph in the end, and not just by finding a man, but by growing and finding herself. I must add that I'm far beyond the age of the characters, but dreams are what makes life bearable, and sharing Page's brings laugh out loud moments, and laughing is the key to a good life.

A wonderful beginning to a book I want to finish - on the beach.
Page is a curmudgeon I'd like to know in real life. Someone I could relate to as we faux shopped making non-stop commentary about the "real" shoppers. The writing here is sharp. While we are led into Page's world of fantasy, practicality and creative life planning I don't get the feeling all will be well in the end. Something more is on the horizon for Page, I hope. I wouldn't put this down as a 'chic lit, and they all lived happily...' novel. The writer's sense of absurdity promises more.

Men, shopping, and a mega(mall) sense of the ridiculous -- the only thing missing here is the rest of Home Furnishings. This is a down-to-earth, smart and funny story that will hit home in an instant. Ms. Feist lets us laugh without missing a bit of Page's anxiety about work, love, and even fashion. And for those of us tied to life on either coast, the midwestern location is a real novelty. It's a rainy weekend afternoon here -- perfect for reading this book.

A refreshingly new combination of what I consider to be the best elements of light and serious fiction. The writing is that of serious literature, with well-crafted, occasionally stunning wording and imagery--just enough to give weight to the book without bogging it down in excess verbosity. In perfect counterpoint with this is the lightness of the story itself, which easily engages us from the word go, carrying us breezily along and whetting our appetite for more. I read this chapter in one delicious gulp and can't wait for the main course!

Betsy Feist's HOME FURNISHING is laugh-aloud funny, like Christpher Buckley in The New Yorker, like a Christopher Guest movie. I wish I had all of it to read NOW. What's going to become of Page whose letters are touched with comic genius?!

The book is very practical and timely; it contains the complex of useful rules either dispersed in many different sources or not published at all. For example my colleague who is a DB Oracle administrator in Sony Computer Entertainment distinguished the following recommendations:
· Hardening Oracle environment
· Avoiding the use of mod_plsql
· Not making a database a web server and not store HTML pages in the database

From my perspective the rules concerning Web services and cross-site scripting are the most valuable. Working on these applications I see how vulnerable is a database server due to some security holes; therefore avoiding the holes is important.

This is a very good book. It is very readable and very informative. It has a lot of useful stuff. I recommend it highly.

I'm rarely moved to write a review on a technical book, perhaps because I read so many of them. However, this text is truly outstanding, due to it's breadth of coverage, i.e., Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, UBD and Sybase AND well written descriptions of problems and solutions.

If you are seeking to secure your databases AND/OR audit them, this book contains both suggestions for scripting, triggers etc as well as where to look for vulnerabilities.

Bravo to the author, and THANKS, I'm using regularly, the best compliment of all.

Really good book. Easy to read and good content. I recommend it to anyone doing db work.

The book is helpful and practical. It has the right mix of "what to do" with "how to do" and "why to do" - and it covers all the databases my company owns.

I've really enjoyed what I have read so far. I was drawn into the story immediately. No matter what one's beliefs are on this subject, you can't help but be compelled by it. I can't wait to read what happens next.

This excerpt is both powerful and intriguing--excellent character development at the outset, yet careful not to disclose too much too soon. I like the scenes out of sequence, the reader has a general idea of what is going on but is left to wonder about how everything came to be and what will happen next. Perfect components for a mystery/suspense novel. At the same time it takes on real issues that nobody wants to think about and makes them accessible through May-a character we will all grow to love.

Yeah right Amazon. I'm doing research on political issues for a new story I'm writing and I come upon this fictional fiction. This smells of a dot com's version of "Wag the Dog." It just so happens that some writer that hasn't published a darn thing came up with this intriging idea, concept, put it on paper with obvious seasoned abilities and got it to you right before the biggest election in history? I don't think so. Nice try. Who really wrote this story?

From the start this excerpt of "Killing Innocence" portrays the plight of women who choose or consider abortion. Like most women, May had hoped her personal choice would be as unassuming as she was, yet it all literally blew up in her face. Now she's in handcuffs while politicians are playing on anti-abortion sentiment and using religion to rise to power! I can't wait to see what happens as the rest of the story unfolds. The writing is very clear, and the way the characters are described brings them to life. May is especially intriguing and I'm looking forward to the rest of her story and where her resolve takes her.

I can't wait to read the rest. Great story line, interesting characters -- made me want to see what happens next.

It will extend your life by years. That's what the joy of this piece and the laughs will do for you. All hail Hugh Taylor.

really, this is a laugh out loud piece! i thoroughly enjoyed it. can't wait for more.

This witty, clever excerpt introduces Havelock and Adam. Both are comically, drily cynical in a way that calls to mind the essays of David Sedaris and David Rakoff. Adam's lengthy analysis of a beverage ad, and his deconstruction of the pretty-but-shallow lives of the people in it, is hilarious, and college-aged Adam is bitter beyond his years in a way that's reminiscent of Holden Caulfield. This is more talky than plot-driven, but with characters like these, that's not a bad thing.

Looking forward to Hugh Taylor's next book as this one left me wanting to read more. The characters were intriquing and the story plot kept my interest until the end.

Rarely does a piece operate on so many levels as this. It can be read as just a fun rompy character piece. But also conveys a lot of social commentary on what our society and those who teach us really value. And the relationships really pulled me in. Loved it!

What a beautiful and sensative piece of writing! I actually found myself in tears reading it. I very much want to read more from this writer.

Not Mine to Keep by M. Dana begins with a recount of how Maddy celebrates her daughter's first birthday: by getting drunk.

This excerpt was such a smooth and effortless read but perfectly conveys the possible life lingering torment of a women having given a child up for adoption.

From Maddy's perspective, this excerpt shows a single day: her daughter's 35 birthday. It is full of thought and emotional fortitude that has encapsulated her despair and redirected it to the gift of joy toward others. While she admits to having better control of her feelings, the lost child scene and the declination to stay at the shelter show a strain on her limits of numbing out her emotions.

One can't help but wonder what emotional and mental state will guide her through her soon-to-be divorce and subsequent search for her daughter.

Maddy's voice is completely authentic for her circumstances, and the flatness of emotions in the beginning (despite the strong emotive nature of her situation) is completely understandable.

I hope to see more of this so I can read how Maddy negotiates her own story.

This story, about a middle aged woman who gave away her only child for adoption, is well written and moves smoothly through the various scenes. It does a good job of describing the emotions of the woman and, although she seems a little OCD, I am not sure that isn't a normal reaction. While I liked the excerpt, I wouldn't buy it or even really want to read it. The plot and story are definitely more oriented to women, as it does deal with the heavy and topical subject matter of giving up a child, and marital infidelity. It is not, however, "chic lit".

So much information and back story is communicated so smoothly and quickly so the reader is drawn in right away. I would love to read the rest to find out what the main character will do with the revelation at the end of the passage. The writing is well-done - good descriptions, engaging character and situation.

From the first sentence to the very last I was captivated by this storyline and what impresses me is this is only the beginning. Through this story Maggie Danna allows us to experience the pain the main character goes through due to giving up her own child for adoption. The birthday celebrations she has every year for her child, the fact that she hasn't been able to have another child with her husband, and seeing other parents with their children are all easily 'felt' as a reader. I also felt unbelievably rage at the end of this sample when it's obvious that not only has her husband had an affair but he's expecting a baby with the other woman.

I wanted to keep reading after this sample ended so I'm extemely hopeful we'll be seeing this one in print or ebook - I'm not picky! Just please, please, I need to know what happens

I fell in love with Only the Ring Finger Knows with it's initial manga release. It was a beautiful story not only about young love, but a love that developed and grew stronger and more passionate as time went, despite the fact that it seemed a forbidden desire. Only the Ring Finger knows separates itself from the typical BL manga in that the couple is forced to struggle with being accepted by society, as most gay couples ultimately have to. Wataru and Yuichi's relationship is also more drawn out and heartfelt in the novel, and the brand new pretty illustrations scattered throughout are definitely a treat. While the translations were awkward at points and by no means perfect, the overall effect of the manga still transferred to the novel, and you truly feel the pain of Wataru's broken heart, and then relief when they finally do end get together and overcome everything. It's a lovely read and definitely worth buying, especially if you're a fan of the manga. (And if you haven't read it, this is a good start too)

I love these books. I really like the normalness of this novel I guess. It's not some fantastical story with demons have sex with pretty boys. It's an as true to life story as you'll get. I can;t say anything on the poor translation quality. My mind overcompensates and fixes most typos and syntax erors automatically. Ona few occasions I had to stop but if you're like me you shouldn't have any trouble.

As DMP's first Novel translated because of its popularness as a Manga I would have expected DMP to take a little more time to make this Novel perfect. There are a couple of mistakes and whatnot and confusing areas (due to lazy translation) but overall it's a beautifully written story (mainly contains everything in the Manga of the same title) and the images are gorgeous.

It's a light BL Novel atm, doubt it'll reach a Yaoi Label. And goes for 4 volumes.

But this is a deffient buy for anyone who is looking for a Novel to add to their Yaoi/BL collection.

I guess most of us pick up this novel because we enjoy the manga version.
I like the manga but I love the novel more. This novelist's expression of the boys' budding love is simply beautiful. Thankfully the translation did not let us down even though more editing would have been appreciated. I could not help regretting not knowing Japanese (sigh!).
Vol 1 has 2 stories. The manga is based on the first story but even the pleasing graphics and faithful adaptation could not beat the expressive words depicting the angst and romance in the novel.
And of course there is the second story which is even more emotional and the last part when our 2 boys finally consume their love is touching and warmly romantic and described with a fluid grace. This second story was never published in any manga form.
For the price, the novel is definitely worth its weight in gold considering I have no qualm about spending close to $10 bucks for the manga.
Glad there are 2 more volumes to go in this beautiful series. After reading "Don't worry Mama" and this, I am hungry for more translated Japanese BL/Yaoi novels.

I absolutely love this novel! The story itself is great to begin with; not that the manga didn't do a wonderful job bringing the characters to life, but it didn't continue the second part of the novel which was about Wataru and Yuichi's time together as a couple.

The first half of the novel titled "Only the ring finger knows" is similar to the manga, so i won't elaborate more about this part. The second part titled "The lonely ring finger" is what you should look forward to (i know i did!).

"The lonely ring finger" is a continuation of Wataru and Yuichi's relationship after they became a couple; how they try to spend time together without revealing themselves to their peers in school, a bet that is out-of this-world, etc, etc; in my opinion, this second part tells more about their "human" side and their struggles to stay together (like how any other normal couples would) despite all the mishaps and lies.

Other than a few typo errors here and there, i find this novel a joy to read and have; it's a must-have for you yaoi fans out there! I can't wait for the second novel to be released in July!!!!

First off, this is the BEST shounen ai manga I've ever read and it surpasses the yaoi titles too (and I've read a lot of yaoi-BL manga) it has everything anyone can ask for: beautiful art, wonderful stories and great characters, well except yaoi but this is better off without it because the love each character feels for one another makes up for the lack of sex.

#1 on my yaoi top list.

It was like poetry through art! It was such a beautiful collection of short stories. I fell in love with it on page 1. If you're expecting a long in depth sex-fest, you're going to be dissapointed; however, this book is by no means shallow, pointless, or without depth. Truely a work of art.

my best friend lent it to me and i was aghast at how beautiful the stories were, i'm really picky when it comes to yaoi or shonen ai and this, i must say is one of my favorites.

Same Cell Organism surpassed my expectations. The stories in this manga were sweet and charming. Starting with the first story of Nakagawa and Yokota. The emotion expressed through the breathtaking and clean artwork to the story lines enraptured me from the start. Very good and highly reccommended to Yaoi fans!!

I had never heard of this author before (whom, it seems, writes under several names) but I fell in love with this anthology of short stories and am now a huge fan. The artwork is gorgeous and the storytelling wonderful.
This manga is not, as the cover implies, yaoi. It is Shounen-ai, with only a few kisses,but shounen-ai at it's best. The first story is about two friends who fall in love and it's incredibly heart-warming.
The next story is very bittersweet, but great and there are several more stories.
Overall, this book won't change your life, but it will make it a little bit brighter.

It's risky and complex to write in the colloquial and, as a female writer, in the 1st person masculine, but Victoria Bell does it. She does it in a way that captures the essence of a specific generation - with all its foibles, ideosynchrasies and familiar uncertainty.

It's believable, the characters are real, alive and palatable. The prose is natural and slightly shocking, the situations are familiar. The text and script flow easily and spontaneously.

She speaks, obviously, from personal knowledge - she's been there and we respect that! The characters are interesting and the plot intriguing, leading to a desire to hear more...... so let's hear the rest please!

Victoria Bell has a confident, clear and direct style that immediately lures us into the night time world of music enthusiast and journalist, James Esterhuysen. All of our senses are attended to as we see, hear, even feel the music in the opening scene. Immediately, we know about James' unrealized dreams to be a musician, his failing marriage, his uneasy sense of geographic displacement, his obsession with the singer, Stella Snow, who is alluring to him, a kind of modern day siren. Has she in fact managed to commit suicide as the news report says or is she still alive? Bell delivers us the story between James and Stella by dipping back in time and putting the puzzle together bit by tantalizing bit, weaving in quirky, exotic worlds such as Pemba in northern Mozambique. Her first excerpt leaves you wanting more. I look forward to buying this book once it's published!

Lean in close, lay your head on the chest of Bell's "The Same Deep Water As You", and you will hear its heartbeat. At first, the reader may want to step back, stop listening, regain distance from James with his uncomfortable depths. But then, with just a hand in the water, the reader is carried under by a powerful current.

With a deft hand, Bell has set down a compelling lyric.

Being a Cure fan from way back, I was immediately drawn to this excerpt by the title alone. But I was hooked from the first sentence and was disappointed that I couldn't read more. Bell's descriptions put the reader right in the middle of the smoky clubs and the rainy night, and the sadness inherent in the two main characters is made obvious, both through their descriptions and actions. Right away, I found James the kind of sad-sack I could root for, and in the excerpt readers already have enough backstory to see why he would be compelled to search for Stella. I would think this book in its entirety would be a must-read for music fans, but I sense that it's a must-read for fans of a good story as well. Hope to see this in print so I can run out and buy it.

The title conjures a song and the song takes me back. So does the excerpt. This is one of the best pairings of title and narrative I've seen in this contest. It may take knowledge of the song to get it, but both are well worth the time.

It begins with South African journalist, James, listening to a concert. He assures the band he'll give them a good write up at the end. When he's home alone with cat absconded out into the darkness, he hears a news broadcast. Stella, a female singer he's loved at first sight is missing, walked off stage.

Flash back to the time James met Stella, hearing the whiskey voice of an old Southern African American woman (I conjured Bettye Lavette) and realizing it's a pretty young white girl...

Flash back to the time Stella met Dan. She goes back to his place and is too embarrassed to admit she's a fan...

I'm hooked. There's this dark, rainy night feel to the manuscript just like the song it's named for. I normally am not fond of the flashbacks, but like the song, the writing's taking us deeper and deeper. Both James and Stella are people you want to know. You can hear James' accent, conjure an image of Stella, little girl with the great big voice, and you want to know who they are and where they've been. The writing's crisp and rhythmic. It's a good, dark companion to Robin Goldsby's "Rhythm" and it's well worth a read--and a listen. Best of luck to Victoria Bell.