Shadow Books

Many of us imagine a desert as a forbidding, barren place. That's the first impression of Whitney Paige, the determined heroine in Stephanie Parker Logue's Christian suspense, Heart Shadows. Whitney leaves her established position in Georgia and travels to the Nevada desert to "save" her sister Morgan from growing religious fanaticism. But when she arrives in the tiny town of Battle Lake, Morgan is gone, and local hunk Travis McLauglin mistakes her for a prostitute. Whitney won't give up her desperate search for her sister, although she must put up with Bible-thumping roommates and attempts on her life. Slowly, Whitney realizes that this was a journey of faith all along, and that she alone cannot save Morgan from worldly dangers. Whitney's journey into belief and acceptance of forgotten faith is inspiring, and Parker Logue tells it with humor and with conviction. When the independent green shadows around Whitney's heart begin to melt, she realizes why sister Morgan's heart shadow was said to be "gold." Unforgettable characters and vivid description turn the barren Nevada landscape into a garden of hope and new chances. This is an excellent mystery for readers who want suspense and romance but not tawdriness and profanity.

In "Heart Shadows," Stephanie Logue has blended an intriguing mix of mystery, suspense, romance and Christian beliefs into a drama that's hard to put down. God may indeed send the rain on the just and unjust: but in His infinite wisdom, all things really do work to the good of those who trust Him (Romans 8:28). Non-Christian Whitney Paige travels from Georgia to Nevada to rescue her sister, Morgan, from her dangerous religious fanaticism. She hates the arid desert land from the time she arrives, when a "short-cut" sends her down an unpaved road and she gets stuck in a sandy gully. She is rescued by good-looking Travis McLaughlin, who quotes Bible rhetoric, just like Morgan, and mistakes Whitney for a prostitute because of her skimpy summer clothing. When Whitney finally makes it to Morgan's house, she finds food left cooking on the stove, Morgan's car in the driveway - and Morgan has disappeared! As if Morgan's disappearance alone weren't enough to deal with, Whitney finds herself saddled with the Bible-thumping Grace as a roommate. And she finds herself caretaker for a neglected young girl when the child's mother is hit by a car - the same car that tried to run Morgan down one night! As Whitney meets the people of Battle Lake, it quickly becomes obvious that the sleepy little town hides deep secrets. Did Morgan disappear because of a "big story" she told Whitney she'd recently uncovered? Could her disappearance be related to a recent silver mine robbery? Or to a similar disappearance of a local college-age girl some years before? Whitney finds more questions than answers as she searches for Morgan, and danger seems to close in all around her. Whitney has to deal with her increasing attraction to Travis, who doesn't want to be involved with a non-Christian. And what in the world does it mean when Whitney is told that she has a "green" heart shadow, while Morgan's heart shadow is said to be "gold"? As she faces the danger encountered from her search for her sister, Whitney also struggles to find her own relationship with God. Will God's love transform Whitney and help save her and her sister? This book has elements to appeal to almost any reader, whether you enjoy a good, down-to-earth mystery or are searching for a wholesome, family-oriented story.

Matthew Tanner is a young man living in an outcast village dreaming of more. He gets his chance and becomes a pilot flying a space freighter between a distant world and his own. As he works he finds out the truth of his parents murder and that his world is under the thumb of the planet's only corporation who run everyone's lives. He joins the underground and works to free his planet.

This book is riveting. It'll keep you up all night turning pages until you finish.

I just finished Heavens' Shadow and found it a real pleasure. Clean, spirited writing makes this a great book for a broad range of readers. Although this book clearly belongs in the science fiction genre, the strength of the story and the distinctly human characters make this book accessible to anyone. Even if you're not a great fan of science fiction, give this one a try. I'm looking forward to more from Jeff Downs.

Lucas Blackhorse is the middle of three brothers.
He learned his medic skills in the military.

He and Marlee try hard to deny their attraction for one another [but I couldn't feel any real passion] just an excellent explaination of their feelings.

The mystery was again centered around the mystical peddler and the way people tend to react when they don't understand what is going on.

The villian turned out to be a twit. Just like any average sour, greedy person.
The explaination of Marlee's background and her secret was a bit different than I expected. Also proves my point that the more you hide the more trouble you cause yourself.

Loved the enteraction between the brothers and their wives and finally we are getting a baby for all their troubles. Does everyone anticipate their marriage? And I thought people had more self-control! Hop into bed just because you feel like it? Now that I find exceedingly boring!

As a set I enjoyed the whole picture of the brothers, Blackhorse - enjoyed the mysteries and the people characters -- just couldn't get the feeling of any passion between the lovers even with the worded version. Ah, well!

RECOMMENDED --M for an enjoyable read -- not a keeper for my library.

"Her Shadow" is the final book of Thurlo's "Four Winds" trilogy after "Her Destiny" and "Her Hero." Anyone who hasn't read those books will probably find this to be a great read, but for me, it was a bit too similar to those books. It follows the same basic structure: the heroine, Marlee, receives a cursed gift from the town's mysterious peddler. As in the other books, it brings her nothing but trouble, as the townspeople turn against her. Only Lucas Blackhorse, who she secretly loves can help her. The mystery element was interesting, and the way an illness was being spread to the townspeople was a surprise. But Thurlo has been telling us since the first book that Four Winds is a place people seem to find when they just need somewhere to go. I don't know, but I sure wouldn't want to stick around this place. This is the third straight book where the townspeople turn against our heroes and are out to get them. Not exactly my idea of home sweet home. The romance is also a bit underwhelming, since we learned in "Her Destiny" that Lucas and Marlee love each other. The book is just about them admitting it to each other. Bo-ring. Thurlo's writing flair lifts the proceedings considerably, but for me, that wasn't enough to make it a great book. Just a good one.

This book is an excellent analysis of the Holocaust and how the Second World War incorporated into it. The authors premise that a significant amount of literature devotes itself solely to the war or the Holocaust without infusing one with the other is true and this book tries to correct that. How many men in the SS and in general how many workers were needed to keep the massive genocidal machine going throughout the war are presented as well as how much material was used up transporting Jews to slave labor and their deaths. A good amount of room is also given to how much money the Germans made by simply stealing from or blackmailing Jews and how much monetary value the goods taken from Jews after they arrived in concentration/death camps amounted to as well. It is a wonder that compensation wasn't forthcoming sooner from some of the countries that benefited from Jewish slave labor and harbored stolen goods (including art, furniture, etc). The book is also a good analysis of some of the recent literature that has come out about the Holocaust, form the idea that it was a unique event in the history of this world to allied noncompliance when asked to bomb Auschwitz or to inform the world about what was going on within German occupied territory. A lot of room is also given to understanding how Jews left Germany and how many even returned for one reason or another. Another point is Jewish resistance and how underrated it is in Holocaust literature, literally around 100 ghettos had some form of a resistance organization and even concentration/death camps such as Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Sobibor had some kind of rebellion or revolt. All in all this book is an excellent investment with a lot of excellent information and analysis.

This is an excellent introduction to this most depressing and distressing topic. Prof. McKale makes his case rather well that Hitler did indeed order the Holocaust. (It's hard to believe that there are those who still maintain his innocence, but they are out there.) His final chapters reviewing current controversies surrounding the Holocaust are very good. For one seeking a broad overview, this is an excellent choice. He provides sufficient detail and analysis about the various stages and components of this most dreadful enterprise to allow the reader to understand the whole picture, but does not overwhelm the reader with a myriad of details more appropriate to a specialized study. His bibliography and endnotes provide a wealth of more specialized works for anyone who discovers a particular interest in some aspect of this wretched business. Mercifully, Prof. McKale spares the reader much of the more grisly details of the murders' methods such as may be found in works such as Richard Rhodes, "Masters of Death: The SS-Einsatzgruppen and the Invention of the Holocast", for example, an excellent work that requires a very strong constitution from the reader. Prof. McKale is not the least bit balanced in his approach: the perpetrators of this murder and their accomplices, whether direct or indirect, are completely guilty and utterly without excuse; the victims -- those actually murdered in the camps or in the field by the SS, the German Army, or the local population -- the victims are totally innocent, ruthlessly murdered simply because they existed. I do not recall one instance where Prof. McKale gave the slightest credence to any proffered rationalization or justification for the murderers' dismal deeds. There were none.

I tried to read this story through the eyes of a teacher, but the tale was so enjoyable, I had to continually remind myself to be more analytical. I gave up after two chapters and relished the rest of my time with Jessie Bell and crew.
According to the Fry Readability Graph, "Treasures" is written at a 4th to low 5th grade reading level. I think that's perfect, since many girls (and hopefully some open-minded boys) that age will quickly become engaged in the adventures of the characters.
Though the time period and circumstance of the book's heroines may be hard for today's youth to imagine, their individual longings and friendships are definitely not.
Our school has "curl up and read" time and I can visualize Mr. Harmon's book among the jumble of blanket, snack and pillow brought by a student for those moments.
Some of the phrasing and descriptive language will be lost on a young reader, but an adult will certainly appreciate Mr. Harmon's ability to create a vivid image in a way that is both captivating and touching. A writing strength I noticed is the way the author provides more than one window to view what he describes: using, in turn, terminology that adult readers can savor and then crafting sentences for young readers to comprehend. Throughout the book, this type of writing exposes young minds to a variety of styles, phrases and vocabulary.
This book would make a wonderful read-aloud book for classroom or bedtime and an excellent addition to any library.

Wow - what a fun story to read. I'm in my late 40'2 and even though it was written for a younger audience, I found it impossible to put the book down. The details in the story make you feel like you are part of it and you want to help the young herion as she goes through her crusade.

It is a great way for parents to connect with their young children. It can be read at bedtime and you won't need to worry about them having nightmares. The only drawback is that your children won't let you stop until you have finished the book, so remember to start early in the evening.

I highly recommend it for anyone who loves a feel good story.

A well written and complex book that takes you on a dream-like journey through other worldly plots and terrific characters.

This book is a remarkable interweaving of classic and hypermodern. It is a supernatural mystery thriller. It has elements of fable and fantasy, complex multi-dimensional characters with psychological and spiritual problems that the reader really comes to know and care about, and a variety of amazing non-human and ex-human players that play significant roles in the story: angels, demons, genies, and a few mysteries. The world of Peter Pan is explained as a centuries-old struggle of evil spirits seeking to gain access to the physical world by swapping places with children who then become lost boys, boys who have been replaced, half in our world and half in another. The damaged, sinning, yet redeemable humans who finally discover and resist this evil are an amazing group. The narrative pace is mostly fast and switches perspective frequently among chararacters. The climactic final battle is amazing. Good triumphs, but not without cost and tears. I hope to read more of this author in the future.

I can do no better than QUOTE:
Comments On
ILLUMINATING SHADOWS: THE MYTHIC POWER OF FILM

I was intrigued by Geoffrey Hill's highly creative collection of essays on the mythic power of film. These deeply felt and carefully crafted writings analyze the current tragic war on Mother Earth caused by an imbalance of patriarchal mythology. I commend Hill's well articulated call for a cinemasophia, the wise voice of the Goddess calling for change.

--the late MARIJA GIMBUTAS, Professor Emerita of European archeology at UCLA, author of Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe, The Language of the Goddess, and other works.
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The embers of a bonfire may appear to be dead until someone breathes on them - then they burst into flames. So it is with film: though thousands of people may see a film, its essential meaning may remain hidden until an observer with clear understanding reveals its mythic beauty, making its song resound for one and all. A great peace comes over me when reading what Geoffrey Hill has written about these films: thanks to his inspired analysis, they come to life with a new significance. May the cinema always have commentators of his caliber.
--ALEJANDRO JODOROWSKY, director of El Topo, Holy Mountain and Santa Sangre

There have been many books written on film. Most have a different approach of the film and the metamorphisms of film. We usually pull apart the elements as characters, costumes, camera angles, narrative types. As we would look at a person as a series of systems vascular, lymphatic, respiratory, etc. In the process of dissecting people we fail to find the soul. In the process of dissecting movies we do not notice their mystic power.
Geoffrey Hill gives a unique view of films. He shows us what we would have missed just treating the movie as entertainment or a story. The movies he chooses to point out are not overtly mystical. Be sure to read the introduction in which he explains his definition of the terminology used. It also helps to view the movies ahead of the book and then again after.
A selection from table of contents alone will give you an idea of what to expect.
The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea: The religion of the Nietzchean Samurai Warriors
The Seventh Seal: A Morality Play of the Feminine Principle
It's a Wonderful Life: Saint George and the Dragon
Insignificance: The Destruction of Universal Significance
A Year of the Quiet Sun: amazing Grace
Shane: The Ambivalent, Violent Prince of Peace
Babett's Feast and The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover: Two Stories of Redemptive Ritual Sacrifice
Little Shop of Horrors: The battle between Heaven and Earth
The Trip to Bountiful: Paradise regained
The Graduate: The Terrible Mother form the Black Lagoon
Blue Velvet: Embracing the Shadow
Santa Sangre: The Bloody Alchemy of the Soul
Rumble Fish: The Motorcycle Messiah
Taxi Driver: The Mad Messiah of the Historic Christian Art
Repo Man: A prophet of Time Travel
Field of Dreams: Seeing the Invisible

You will never look at film the same way again.

In Gotham's Shadow examines three towns in the Mohawk Valley region of New York State. He looks at economic changes in the city and suburbs of Utica as part of the general pattern of economic restructuring found in eastern cities. He shows that Utica has struggled with the loss of the textile industry, a bazarre scandal that hit the political machine in the 1950s, and the closing of a nearby air force base. He then compares this "metropolitan" pattern to similar changes in the rural towns of Cooperstown and Hartwick. Both lost retail and agriculture during the same time period (since World War II), but whereas Cooperstown could rely on tourism and a small hospital to keep it afloat, Hartwick just kind of withered away. I think this is a great book, and anyone interested in addressing the problems in upstate New York should read it.

Alexander Thomas wrote about three towns in upstate New York, which has been having pretty bad economic problems. What makes this book worth reading is that he shows how what's happening today developed from the end of world war II. He talks about Utica and the urban renewal programs, the highways, the effect of companies moving out, and how the state of the city today is really the product of fifty years of events. Then he shows how small towns like Cooperstown and Hartwick have suffered the same trends but, because theyre small towns, they experienced them differently. Everybody interested in upstate New York needs to read this book! Anybody interested in social change needs to read it too.

"In Light of Shadows" collects three more Gothic tales from Japanese master Izumi Kyoka. He is not an easy writer to get into, as is style is deep and complex, and filled with allusion to classic Japanese literature that you probably haven't read. However, the skillful translation of Charles Inouye has provided a bridge into Kyoka's world, allowing Westerners to experience the sad beauty of his stories for the first time.

Kyoka's work is of extraordinary depth, and are the kind of tales that muddle around in your head long after you have turned the final page, trying to figure out if you actually understood them. Then, you are drawn back for a second, and a third reading, with each time a little more of the mystery being made clear.

"A Song by Lantern Light" weaves together two storylines, both of which are influenced by two separate Japanese classics, the travelogue "Shank's Mare" are the Noh play "The Diver." Two gentlemen, Yajirobei and Nejibei travel the same route as "Shank's Mare," constantly dropping quotes from the famous novel and trying their best to re-create the circumstances of the trip. Intermixed with this is the melancholy tale of a nameless, wandering singer and a beautiful woman, Omie. A haunting tale of redemption.

"A Quiet Obsession" is Kyoka's attempt at an old-fashioned Japanese ghost story. A traveler visits an ancient inn, where the bath is haunted by the ghost of a beautiful woman. Slowly, her sad story unfolds in an unexpected way.

"The Heartvine" is a story with its own story. Kyoka was dying of lung cancer, and he knew full well that this would be his final tale. A young man considers suicide, but is saved by the intervention of a young woman who killed herself that same night. It is a story of life and death, the kind only a dying man could write.

At the end of the book, there are also individual essays of the three stories, putting them into historical and cultural perspective. Inouye's passion for Kyoka's writing is infectious, and it is wonderful the way he lays bare the secrets of the stories. I can only hope that this is just the next volume in a continuing series of Kyoka stories translated by Inouye.

This collection of stories by Izumi Kyoka is every bit as excellent as "Japanese Gothic Tales"--possibly better. The haunting moods that Izumi crafts are unlike most anything else I've come across in literature, resembling Poe but more subdued, less horrific. Less dramatic yet more moving. Unlike so many Japanese writers of the early 20th century, Izumi does not throw out the fine literary tradition of Japan in favor of the latest ill-digested trends from Europe, but draws on the best of both traditions to create something altogether more than the sum of its parts. This is probably why he's misunderstood by both his detratctors and his supporters as "quintessentially Japanese" or whatnot. Nope, he's just quintessentially himself, like all the authors we keep reading and re-reading generation after generation,

All three of the fine stories here are distinct in a number of ways too, giving the reader some sense of the scope of Izumi's talent. "A Song by Lantern Light" is one of the more structurally complex of his works, a moving tale of salvation and reconciliation. "A Quiet Obsession" is the closest thing here to a good old ghost story, but the convoluted layers of narration and the sort of time warp effect of the story make for a real mental bender. And "The Heartvine" is easily the most intense; the guy knew he was dying as he wrote it, and you can really feel that he put his whole heart and soul into this partially autobiographical final testament to his readers.

The virtuousi translation work by Charles Inouye should truly be commended, and his essays afterwards are thought-provoking and insightful; he should be thanked too for putting these at the end so that there are no spoilers.

I found the book an enjoyable and interesting account about a unique group of VIPs. Their individual and collective views provided a dichodemy of approaches/resolutions to saving the Union, abolishing slavery, mending the Nations socio-economic system, etc.
The authors address to "assimilation: remains a key to social progress, even to this day.
At first glimpse, I had reservations that the essence of one of our nations most important and longest lasting issues could be captured with such brevity.
The book is thought provoking and cuts to the chase; I can only hope continued progress is forthcoming.
I highly recommend this book, especially because it is a quick read.

I highly recommend "In Lincoln's Shadow". I found it enjoyable, enlightening and easy to read. The author's own insight and delicate telling of these unique historical figures helps transform pure facts into an informative recounting that is rare. The author paints a picture for each period of history to set the tone and delivers personal points that move the historic figures to a level that quickly captures the reader's empathy, illuminating the struggles and conflicts that existed. The author's ideal of "bronzing of America" is a hopeful challenge to us in the present time that I hope one day becomes a reality. It's a quick read that leaves a lasting impression.