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Emma Lord, editor of The Alpine Advocate, is awakened by the fire truck sirens. She goes out to investigate and finds that the nearby home of Tim and Tiffany Rafferty, newlyweds, is going up in smoke. Later that day she discovers that Tiffany and her unborn child are safe. Unfortunately Tim wasn't so lucky. He perished in the fire.

Sheriff Milo Dodge suspects it was murder and arson. Emma does some investigating of her own. It appears the Rafferty marriage wasn't that solid. There is also rumors of stock fraud.

Some of the town's residents mention sightings of Old Nick, a local recluse. Some fear he caused the fire. Emma isn't so sure, but she's never seen Old Nick and sets out to learn more about him.

Vida Runkel, The Alpine Advocate's House & Home editor, assists Emma in her investigation. Can Vida and Emma uncover the truth without putting themselves in danger?

I love this series. Emma and Vida are such fun characters. The other residents of Alpine, Washington, just add to the enjoyment of this series. Being from Washington State myself, I enjoy the landmarks that are mentioned.

The author always does such a great job of crafting a wonderful plot that leaves you guessing as to the culprit's identity. The Alpine Recluse will not disappoint. I highly recommend it!

Daheim writes with compassion and longing in her latest book. Every year, the series gets better with each new outing. THE ALPINE RECLUSE draws readers into a peril world of fear and deceipt. Besides the juggle of running a newspaper and solving crime, Emma and Milo's dispute between each other make this book a winner. Vida's gossipy personality also creates a world of mischief in Alpine, Washington. The ending may be a bit of a stretch here, but not all the books can be winners. Nonetheless, I enjoy every Emma Lord caper to date, and hope for future adventures with one of my favorite editors in the publishing business.

Mary Daheim has done it again. She's one of the best writers of this genre that I can recall. It's a must to read.

Once again, Mary Daheim has forced me to abandon my social life in order to catch up on the latest exploits of Emma Lord and her loyal staff at the Alpine Advocate. After 20 odd books, each character feels like family -- so much so, that I'm tempted to draw up a genealogy of the residents of this demi-mythical town! My husband can't understand my obsessions with series of mysteries like this; imagine his confusion when I recently discovered that Mary had written an entirely different series I have yet to complete! Here's an example from the Bed-and-Breakfast series... Major Vices (Bed-And-Breakfast Mysteries)
Brew a good cuppa tea and enjoy!

I really enjoy this series a lot and think it blows away the Bed & Breakfast series, which has gotten stale and stupid. This installment, however, was not the best in the series.

The resolution to the murder was disappointing. Under the circumstances of it, it also made no sense that the person involved in the confession. would try to keep it a secret. I was definitely let down when I finished reading it.

One thing I love about this series are all the side characters. You don't have to know who they are per se, but we've learned enough about them over the length of the series for them to fit well into the story. Milo, of course, is the best of them, and I'm disappointed the author hasn't gotten him together with Emma.

That being said, however, it's time for the character of Vida to disappear. In the beginning, she was somewhat amusing. Now, she's an annoying buttinsky who really serves no purpose to the stories other than to get on everyone's nerves by butting into their business. The stories got better when Ed Bronsky left the newspaper and was reduced to an occasional "walk-on" role -- it's time to do the same with Vida and her idiotic grandson, Roger.

This is a very long but well researched and well rounded biography of Royko. It shows his good and bad sides in an evenhanded fashion.
I've been a longtime Royko admirer and reader. He is the inspiration for the column that I write for the Richmond Daily Register. Having said that, I think this is one of best biographies ever written about Royko.
A complete and through study.

Don McNay
www.donmcnay.com

Although it's long, I flew through this book while on a trip to the caribbean. I've always been a fan of Mike Royko and simply had to buy it.

Don't be turned off by the size, it is a quick read, without skimping on detail. Mike Royko's career ran for decades so there was a lot to cover. Although it touches on his early life, this book deals primarily with his writing career. Lots of coverage is given to his dislike of the Late Mayor Daley, love of softball, as well as a few embarrassing drunken escapades. All in all, it gives you a complete picture of Mr. Royko, warts and all. I recommend this book.

I haven't read any of the other reviews for opinions, but author Richard Ciccone covers the life of Chicago icon Mike Royko in a lengthy 439 pages from his years of writing for the Chicago Daily News, the Chicago Sun Times, and the Chicago Tribune. Unlike columnists of other newspapers who wrote one or two columns a week, Mike Royko wrote five columns a week before finally cutting down to four per week near the end of his career. Mike struggled with the demons of alcohol and tobacco during his life which caused him to have health problems that may have led to the brain aneurysms that took his life in 1997, the year he was to retire. This book may tell you more than you want to know about Mike Royko, but I never found the book to be boring. He could be loving and kind, but he also could be crude and profane. Nevertheless, he could write a column that could be biting with sarcasm as well as humor. I have read both of his books on favorite columns he wrote and found them both informative and entertaining. This book by Royko friend Richard Ciccone also qualifies as informative and entertaining. Read and enjoy!

I'd strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand Royko, Chicago politics, Chicago journalism, or just wants a good biography to read. Ciccone does an excellent job not merely describing Royko's roots, but showing how that affected the person he became.

Despite his brilliant writing, incisive political insights, and empathy for the ordinary Joe, Royko was a deeply troubled man. He was a severe alcoholic (as was his father before him), a workaholic who loved his family but was hardly ever around, a famous and successful columnist who was jealous of others and could hold a grudge like you wouldn't believe. When he remarried and started a second family (by adoption) after his first beloved wife's death, he spent more time on family things and tried to stop his self-destructive behavior, with limited success.

Ciccone does not hide Royko's warts (and they were many), although he does become a bit of an apologist about his later, nastier side.

Filled with anecdotes about Chicago's newspaper wars, sports teams (such as they are), its famous, infamous and not-famous-at-all, this will go on the shelf with all my other Chicagoana.

One irritant, though. Ciccone is a newsman. He was managing editor for the Chicago Tribune and teaches journalism. Did he not read the proofs? Did his editor not read the proofs? Aside from such annoyances as the constant use of the word "anabuse" when he means "Antabuse", and calling Mike and his wife "the Royko's", Ciccone occasionally, gets repetitious, telling stories more than once in a way that makes it clear that he thinks he's saying it for the first time.

But that's a minor quibble about an otherwise fine book.

You should read this book until a better one comes along.

Very few writers have ever personified their time and place like Mike Royko did Chicago. I guess the best thing about this book is that it reminds us of what we are missing. It also gave me a bit of detail in the life of a man that I had only known through his columns.

Like most of us, Mike had some serious shortcomings (what appears to have been a serious alcohol problem stands out as number one). He also had a heart and drive for perfection that made his column so great, and (probably) his private life so sad. The `daily demon,' and the inability to settle for less made him the best columnist of his generation.

This book was obviously written by an admirer. Perhaps someday there will be a more objective biography. For today if you want to understand Chicago in the last half of the twentieth century this book and a collection of Mike Royko's columns is a good place to start.

This *book* is much better than the internet sites that cover some of the same material. This is a work of devotion and love.

For those who collect Chick Tracts and ancillary Chick art works this reference is indispensable.

Cover price is rather dear, however the value is in the exhaustive reference material. I thought I was a Chick completist, but found many holes in my collection and a few items I had never heard of.

For those who like collecting the works of this raving crackpot Kurt Kuersteiner's "The Unofficial Guide to the Art of Jack T. Chick: Chick Tracts, Crusader Comics, And Battle Cry Newspapers" is the Overstreet Guide of the genre.

In a world in which vicious Catholic-bashing is given a yawn and a pass, and also viewed as no threat to decent American values, the preservation of Chick's hate is a necessary documentation of the two last forgivable public prejudices of our PC world (anti-Catholic bigotry is only as forgivable as anti-poor Scots-Irish Southern white bigotry, not even Muslims get as vicious a treatment. In mainstream sources).

Kurt Kuersteiner did an excellent job of putting this book together and he does a great job of analyzing Jack Chick, even though he doesn't go into depth about whether or not Jack Chick is right or wrong in his theological wars, (as I have done in my own work of Chick). Kuersteiner aimed to look specifically at the artwork and the story telling that have come out of Chick's publications in order to discuss Jack Chick more as a cultural phenomenon, which Kuersteiner did with great success. Kurt also adds his own humor and sarcasm throughout the work which in most cases I found to be spot on.

A quick aesthetic note: The artwork in Kuersteiner's book is also quite professional. Kurt was able to reproduce Chick Publications and keep their original feeling, while at the same time meld it together with his own written text. I thought the layout was quite good as well. It was a top notch job.

I originally bought this book and interviewed Kurt when I was writing my own book refuting some of Jack Chick's wilder claims and slanders which he produced based on the false testimony the the religious fraudster Alberto Rivera. (My book is called Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness: The Truth about the Vatican and the Birth of Islam). Kurt Kuersteiner is one hell of a knowledgeable source of information about Jack Chick and his book is definitely the ultimate in depth resource spanning the entire career of Jack Chick and his Chick Publications. Keep it up Kurt! Haw! Haw! Haw!

What little i knew as a kid about catholicism and the druids came from Chick comics. My only regret is that he never did one comic or tract about my church. I enjoy good camp and would consider it a badge of honor if he did. Haw haw haw!!!

Chick is one of the best comic artists out there. The color printing and line detail was better quality than most other comics, especially of that time. His work deserves an unoffical guide.

Aaaaiiiiieeeeeeee!!!

I love this book, and hope that we can update it soon! I'm glad that I got to submit several reviews and write a chapter, but dang, I only wish I had a co-writing credit! YAAAAAAHHHHH! Haw haw haw!

I write down anything about Jack Chick with some trepedation because as a Christian I have never been quite sure how to take him. The most christian lady I ever knew described these booklets as "satanic", other Christians have described them as "a bit extreme at times", and still others have described them as "the right message, but brutal". No one has ever completely agreed with them, whether they are Christians or not. Non-Christians are usually amused or repulsed or even infuriated by them.

Yes, it is true - they show everything in black-and-white terms. Unbelievers are usually loud-mouthed brutes, guffawing, cursing, and snarling their way through life. Believers are angelic and innocent-faced. I suspect he is an ex-Catholic (I have known ex-Catholics as angry, or angrier at the Church as he is) since he seems to feel that every evil in the western world was committed by the Catholic Church, and that the King James Bible is the only valid translation apart from the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Koine Greek. he has a lot of opinions, some a little far-out, but some of them are brutally close to the Truth. But they are also very blunt, and sometimes bluntness is not a bad thing, especially in a world that is often too nuanced, too politically correct, and too concerned about giving offense.

I first read some of these books in college, decades ago, back when I didn't even know what it meant to even be a Christian. No, these books did not lead to my conversion, but they did present some topics I had never heard before, and they made me think about a few things which had never before crossed my mind.

Some of these books are a little crackpot, no doubt. They are a lot more about hellfire and brimstone than what most Christians are comfortable with, and yet in spite of the fingerpointing, I do not really see hatred in them. Hatred Chick projects is towards Satan, and towards various institutions that he feels have lost their way, or those which never had it in the first place. I don't think he hates individual people at all, but he doesn't hesitate to show that people living apart from God are sinners, and this comes accross in his drawings.

Part of me is really turned off by these books, yet another part of me enjoys them. You cannot dismiss or ignore them, and that may be their greatest strength. You cannot be unaffected by them.

And now you can collect them.

This was a very helpful and informative guide to Coca-Cola collectibles. I would highly recommend it to any serious collector. Full of valuable information.

We have quite a few old Coke signs and none were in this guide. We were disappointed to say the least.

I recently had the opportunity to review another company's Coca Cola collectibles book, they too a well respected publisher of antique and collectibles books and there's no doubt about it, the B.J.Summers Sixth Edition guide has got that one beat hands down. This is a thoroughly beautiful book. Hardcover, thick, glossy stock pages, and fantastic photography highlight this book.

The introduction provides legend keys to the condition as well as the source of the item's value which I think is very important. Summers lets the reader know if the value came from a collector, a completed auction, a dealer, or the author himself. The book then presents 46 different item categories, everything from signs, bottles, calendars and trays, to more eclectic items like Jewelry, no-drip protectors, and ashtrays. There's also a miscellaneous chapter for items that don't fit into one of the other 45 categories.

I was absolutely fascinated by the number of items pictured in the book. With nearly 300 pages and as many as 10 items pictured per page, there are literally thousands of different Coke items pictured. The signage is simply fantastic, particularly those featuring celebrities such as Eddie Fisher and jazz musician Lionel Hampton. In all there are 82 pages of signs alone. Does it picture EVERY Coca Cola sign ever made? Of course not, but what book does? Still even if you have one that isn't pictured, you should be able to find one similar that you can use as a basis for value.

I really enjoyed the section on coolers and those bright, red coolers of days gone by. I remembered the old Coke cooler we used to have back in the early 70's. Like a lot of people, I love the Coke Santa items, especially those great ads by Haddon Sundblom which look great framed and are still very affordable today.

The problems are few and minor. The categories could have been laid out in alphabetical order but instead there seems to be little rhyme or reason to the order. That said, it's still a truly wonderful book that will delight collectors or just plain fans of nostalgia.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

Pros: Extensive selection of signs and cardboard items with lots of nice colour photos throughout. Many items in this book aren't in Petrettis, so it makes a good companion. All up I am happy with this book and use it regularly to price and check items.

Cons: The book is hoplessely laid out and it can be very hard to find items as it seems there is no logic to the order items are listed or displayed. It seems the entire book is largely made up from the collection of one or two private collections and as such prices can be inflated compared to market values, plus many items are missing simply because these collectors didn't feel they are important enough. As with most other Coca-cola collectors books this one is entirely US centric with very little information on foreign items.

*****April 2005 UPDATE: "Could be great" but after seeing the 5th edition, the publisher has taken a book with great potential and flushed that potential down the toilet. What they did was gloss up the paper and make it look old-fashioned (it doesn't work for me, but maybe it will for others), but the huge mistake is that they actually dropped a significant number of items from the book and went overboard hiking up the price values! If you are a serious collector, browse through the 5th edition at a bookstore, before buying it. END UPDATE*****

This guide has great potential, but somebody should do some usability studies on it to make it better. It's a chore finding a specific item. For example, collector trays: I still can't figure out what logic was used to arrange/order them in the book. By title? By name? The index at the back of the book is incomplete and often worthless. For example, there's a whole section on blotters in the front index, but try finding "blotter" in the back index.

Prices are conservative. Unrealistically low in many cases.

There are items that aren't found in other guides, and the color pix are exceptional. I really like this guide, but it has design flaws that need to be fixed.

this book is so unrealistic! I don't think any school or parents of these kids would approve of the personals column claudia started in the school newspaper about dating people in the school and match making and giving out adresses and phone numbers, who is responsible if there are stalkers or any of that eh? Maybe if it were written more recently and people posted email instead it would work out, or rather parents would complain about internet dating, dangerous for middle school kids!

Although people at this age generally begin to think about dating, not all of them have the privlege of being allowed to do so and this book gives a false impression throughout that you are not normal or have no status if you don't have a boyfriend or girlfriend and that gives kids who are reading this the wrong message. Claudia's feelings about not having a boyfriend like her friends Mary Anne and Stacey however, are realistic for a teen girl to feel unworthy so she dates several guys but finds they are not artistic like her, it shows that she can be a very choosey and picky person, but at the end she learns a lesson that it's okay to be single and someday she'll find mr right. I enjoyed reading the descriptions of the dates though to what claudia was wearing and how she was feeling throughout as she got to know the guys she was dating like about their interests and stuff.

Claudia is desperate for a boyfriend so she starts a personals column at her school in hopes of finding herself a boyfriend and hooking other people up with their ultimate mates, but I noticed that claudia judged these guys when it came to art more so than personalities. It turned out claudia felt the date with Brian didn't work out because she didn't like how he sketched model cars and jets or something he put together with kits, it wasn't her kind of art. Also she didn't like Richard cause though he was artistic she thought the tattoo he gave himself was gross. She expected too much from them in a way, but at the end fins that she doesn't need a boyfriend and she's fine the way she is, after she is taught a lesson that is

I really like this book a lot, it was definitely well written. I don't think the guys Claudia went out with were that bad, I think she was a little bit too choosey and put guys on a pedestal, and because of that she didn't seem to have fun. The columns idea was a nice one though, it was interesting hearing about people hooking up with one another, some interesting couples if you ask me. So, does Claudia find her perfect boy at the end or not? Read to find out

it's a nice book!! kind of reminds me of something that would happen in the Sweet Valley twins series. Anyways, it was well written and I could relate to a time in my life when I wished I had a boyfriend too. But I think maybe claudia was a bit too picky and choosey when it came to going on dates with a couple guys. Brian and Rock weren't so bad.

When claudia meets Brian, she know she the perfect boy for her. but BriaN AND cLAUDIA ARE VERY DIFFERENT. fIRST OF ALL, Brian is not interested in paintings and Claudia is not interested in cars!

"Creative Interviewing" is a standard text in journalism classes. Even if you're not a student, however, it's still worth its $60+ cover price. Metzler uses anecdotes, exercises, and statistics to teach prospective (and current!) reporters about the interviewing game.

Are you clueless as to how to set up interviews? More nervous than your respondent? Unsure whether you should record interviews with a tape recorder or take notes? Metzler answers all of these questions and more. Metzler's brand of journalism is humble and at-odds with sensationalistic television "journalism," so it's a refreshing read.

The 3rd edition is from 1996 and thus the chapters on the Internet and e-mail are slightly dated. Hopefully there's a 4th edition in the works!

Good interviewing skills are essential for freelance writers. Ken Metzler's book, Creative Interviewing: The Writer's Guide to Gathering Information by Asking Questions, is an excellent source for learning how to conduct an interview and improving your interviewing techniques.

Did you know that most interviews happen in ten stages? Mr. Metzler explains, "Face-to-Face interviews usually, though not always, run through ten stages. Four stages occur before you even meet your respondent. The success of the six subsequent ones depends largely on how well you accomplish the first four."

Do you know what the ten interview stages are? Here's the list from Creating Interviewing:

1. Defining the purpose of the interview
2. Conducting background research
3. Requesting an interview appointment
4. Planning the interview
5. Meeting your respondent: breaking the ice
6. Asking your first questions
7. Establishing an easy rapport
8. Asking the bomb
9. Recovering from the bomb
10. Concluding the interview

Based on this ten stage list, Mr. Metzler details all the ins and outs to creating and conducting interviews. From his text you'll learn what makes for a constructive interview, details on accomplishing the Ten Stages, how to form and ask questions, find sources, and more. There's even a chapter on how to be the interviewee, which will hopefully be important to all of us someday.

Creative Interviewing is written in clear, concise prose, with a pleasant sense of humor thrown into the mix. Mr. Metzler also provides plenty of case studies and anecdotes to help you learn by example for your own interviews.

If you're serious about improving your interviewing skills you'll want to add Creating Interviewing to your writer's bookshelf.

This compact paperback is filled with information, from defining your interviewing problem, anatomy of interview, dynamics, probing, and strategy. The book contains actual interviews, with exercises, special problems. Guide is offered for newsbeat reporting to broadcast television and personality interviewing. A wonderful, thorough, guide to creative interviewing. ....MzRizz.

I am not a writer nor journalist but a person in the field of marketing. Since journalists are the experts at extracting information from people they are interviewing, I thought this could help me in my field. In marketing, it is necessary for me to understand why people buy or have an affinity with a certain product or person. I interview people in the same manner journalists do but with a slightly different objective in mind. I explore the person's mind to find an unkown reason for buying a certain product just as journalist wants to discover something never revealed before to the public about an actor or politician. This book provided me with many new insights about the person being interviewed, their reasons for opening up to the interviewer and how to conduct the interview in an organised manner while also being flexible when things start to lead astray from my original plans. This book has helped me in many ways. I highly recommend it to business people to read as well.

This book shows you how to conduct just about every type of interview. It also explains concepts, helps the journalist devise a plan and more importantly provides key information on how to cope with the "difficult interview." In my opinion, "The Writer's Guide to Gathering Information by Asking Questions: Creatinve Interviewing," by Ken Metzler should be required reading for serious journalism students everywhere.

"The need for interviewing skills is by no means confined to newspaper writers," according to the author. And I agree. The corporate world is always interviewing...they are always on the look for new talent. In many cases, they need to be better than simply ask, "where do you want to be in five years."

Believe or not there truly are many typical errors you want to avoid when interviewing. To this end, you will find a healthy discussion on how to avoid mistakes here. Moreover, this book will help you navigate the tricky interview process. Chapters two and three are terrific. Chapter two outlines the ten stages of the interview. And chapter three covers the conversational dynamics of interviewing. This book even includes a chapter on interviewing excercises.

All in all this book is a valuable tool for everyone interested in making journalism a profession. The gathering of information in journalism is primarily done by oral means. Consequently, it makes sense to seek the knowledge of a book that helps you control an interview and how to handle sensitive issues. Highly recommended.

Bert Ruiz

Empire is fun to read, and informative. I trust Vidal's history, and in fact, his scrupulousness may be reflected in the book's major fault. The historical characters are very static: it seems Vidal does not wish to use his imagination to embroider on the actual historical record, so that by the end of the book I began to grow tired of Hays and Adams and even Theodore Roosevelt (contrast to Max Byrd's "Jackson"). Of the two prominent fictional characters, Carolyn Sanford, the more important, is engaging, interesting and well developed. The writing is witty, often droll. No citizen, after reading this novel, will long for the "good old days" of politics.

Although Vidal provides a shotgun approach to character development, Empire is best viewed in the perspective of two primary conflicts; one among fictional characters (Caroline and Blaise Sanford) and the other among two historical players (Theodore Roosevelt and William Randolph Hearst). Only through fictional characters could Vidal create narrators capable of such convoluted and impossibly rich experiences that they could come into critical conversations with so many historical characters. Caroline and Blaise are half-siblings who rival for the same fortune and unravel a dark secret regarding their respective dead mothers.

McKinley and Roosevelt both have imperialistic aims with racist purpose. Both want America to fill the power vacuum created by the decline of the British Empire; both feel it is the duty of the civilized Americans to be stewards for the primitive races of the Asian, Caribbean and Pacific Islands. To the regnant aristocracy, war is the natural state of man. Hearst, McKinley and Roosevelt are portrayed as not only making war inevitable, but also desirable. The respectable and intellectual few, best exemplified by John Hay and the Five Hearts, are more conscientious, but remain low key compared to the dashing and charismatic politicians bent on imperialism and self-promotion.

Hearst is an antihero similar to Satan in Milton's "Paradise Lost." Clearly, Hearst is a manipulative megalomaniac, but he is much more interesting character than the prudent McKinley or the bellicose Teddy Roosevelt. Although the Hearst who instigated the Spanish-American war of 1898 and incited the assassination of McKinley connotes horror and repulsion, Vidal clearly enjoys Hearst's vapidity and ingenuity. Hearst is a cad to the American nobles, but he is able to history on his own terms and to suit his own purposes. Using inaccurate and biased propaganda, Hearst is flamboyant and irresponsible, exploiting the indifferent American masses while inventing heroes to lead them. To Vidal, Hearst created public opinion, while Roosevelt simply rode public opinion. Therefore, Hearst is the inventor of the modern world while Roosevelt simply followed his lead.

This historical novel takes place roughly between the years 1898 and 1906. The novel is seen through the eyes of three characters: one who actually existed, William McKinnley's and Theodore Roosevelt's Secretary of State John Hay; and the other two are purely fictious, the aristocratic half-siblings Caroline and Blaise Sanford. Vidal uses his immense knowledge of the intricacies of all the political controversies, large and small of the period, and personal conflicts among the elite Americans described here.

Those elite Americans who make frequent appearances in this book include Henry Adams, Theodore Roosevelt, and William Randolph Hearst. However, many of the other prominent characters of the period also make appearances: Mark Hanna, Henry James, William Jennings Bryan, William McKinley, etc. Vidal portrays James, one of his favorite novelists, in a funny way in that James speaks in that long winded wordy way that he wrote most of his novels.

Blaise is a chief lieutenant of Hearst before he strikes out on his own. For most of the novel he is in legal battle with Caroline over the disbursement of their late father's estate. Caroline herself can probably be said to be the main character of this book. She manages to make a modest success as the publisher of the Washington Tribune. However, she gets herself into trouble when she starts an affair with a disconcertingly good looking married freshman congressman named James Burden Day. This affair starts when Caroline is 25 and is her first sexual experience.

The part of the book describing the first sexual encounter between Caroline and the Congressman is probably the worst written part of the book. We see Jim and Caroline at a party in the midst of other aristocrats; then they are talking; then Vidal through the thoughts of Caroline, heaves tedious lengthy metaphors about food and Greek gods at the reader in the midst of which Jim's hand is sneaking towards Caroline's [...]; then we have Jim asking why, if Caroline is a virgin, there is no blood coming out of her frontal private area. Then we have the news that Jim pays a visit to Caroline's home every Sunday for a session in Caroline's bath tub and bed.

Vidal has the tendency to put his own intelligent observations and metaphors about certain characters into the minds of his characters, which makes the latter seem not always 100 percent plausible. When I was reading the book I thought the dialogue between the characters was sometimes a bit wooden but then I when I finished the book I thought maybe it was plausible enough. One or two of the scenes of lofty philosophical conversation between Caroline and Henry Adams, in the latter intellectual giant's drawing room, seemed somewhat implausible and maybe a little pointless for the novel's purpose.

Vidal's fiction is always a pleasure to read. In this book, he demonstrates his usual genius mastery in describing the buildings, people, streets and other details in the historical epoch in which the novel takes place. His prose is always clear and graceful, sometimes really extraordinarily so. The way he portrays American politics at the turn of the Century is really quite effective. The American people were restless under the extreme corruption and brutality of the big businessmen who controlled politics. Vidal effectively shows the sordidness of all this towards the end of the novel, with the conflict between William Randolph Hearst and Theodore Roosevelt. Hearst, who is excluded from the drawing rooms of most aristocrats because of his uncouth journalistic practices, finds solace in posing as a champion of ordinary people, a reformer and progressive. Of course, what he really wants is political power and he is willing to make alliances with anybody, including the bosses of New York's Tammany Hall, to whom he is theoretically in opposition. Theodore Roosevelt similarly poses as a Progressive, but his substantive gestures towards seriously regulating corporate power and political corruption are not much. The climax comes when Roosevelt gets wind that Hearst has obtained copies of numerous letters from the man who disperses bribes for John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil to politicians, to those politicians. A letter from this man to Theodore Roosevelt is in this file but its meaning is unclear. Hearst wants to print these letters in his newspapers at politically opportune times during his own quest for political offices such as New York governor and President. The last scene in the novel is a meeting between WRH and TR at the White House where each man gives to the other, very unflattering opinions about the other. Vidal says at the end of the novel that WRH and TR really did have a meeting at the White House relating to Standard Oil corruption and Roosevelt's link to it, but no one one really knows for sure what was said in it. Nonetheless, the dialogue Vidal places in the mouths of the men, are accurate renditions of what they really thought, he explains.

I realize that I'm supposed to think "Empire" is brilliant, because it's Gore Vidal, but it is a major bore. Nothing actually happens; its just 400+ pages of dialogue. A well-written conventional history of the period would be more enjoyable and more informative. This is a total snooze-fest.

Faced with a long and dreary winter? 'Empire' may be just the antidote. Gore Vidal's 1987 epic makes for educational, if sometimes tedious, fireside reading. 'Empire' is a tough one to plow through in one sitting, let alone one month, but in the end it rewards the reader with an informative narration of turn-of-the-century America. The fourth in Vidal's five-part series, 'Empire' features both historical and fictitious characters, who share the plot in equal dollops throughout the novel. A cursory knowledge of early 20th-century American history -- McKinley, Roosevelt, Hay, etc. -- enhances the reading experience. But even without this knowledge, the book is well worth the read. The closing dialogue alone justifies the effort.

These are a great little carry on book to take anywhere you need to waste some time.The puzzles are fun and inventive and keep your mind working. A great upgrade from the old dot-to-dots!!!

These were dot to dots on a book that is so small it's almost impossible to do the puzzles. I thought they would be in an average sized book, but the books are super tiny, like 4" by 4", so they obviously are very jam packed together puzzles. The puzzles themselves aren't bad this just was not what I expected.

I loved these as a kid now they are done for adults. I got them all and when I was laid up with foot surgery has fun with them. they varried by numbers. number sequences, symbols, letters, not for little kids..a big kid toy.

These dot-to-dot books are the best I've found. It keeps my active five-year-old son busy for hours. They are small, so we can take them with us anywhere. Adults often love them too. They definitely beat the 60 page kids dot-to-dot books that my son finished in about 30 minutes (the entire book). Definitely worth the money! Also, it is good for teaching kids to count to over one hundred, as well as teaching them count by twos. It's the beginnings of math hidden in a dot-to-dot.

Ever try to put a maze or crossword book in your purse? They don't make them that small. These dot to dot books are great for traveling. I always have one to do while waiting for my appointments. I can't draw freehand, but with these at least I can pretend. You never see the image before you start like the little kid connect the dots. And if you haven't tried his newest book "Super Challenge", just wait! It's not named Super Challenge for nothing!! It took over an hour to do the crazy dot puzzle! But at least I know I will finish it. I hate getting a puzzle that I just can't finish without looking at the answer key.

My used book arrived as stated, in very good condition with no marks. Quick friendly service will make me come back when the need arises.

This book was easy to read and had some valuable information but skipped over a lot of the nuts and bolts. I would pass on it next time.

This book is writen by a series of authors. Each chapter is written by a single author, and each write about a single theme. However the chapters are too shallow. No good substance found for a serious person trying to write a good article that may be a good candidate for publishing. The autors are more interested in telling how good they are (in their own perspective) than willing to teach anyone about their supposed knowledge.

A classic book that should be kept and used by anyone wanting to write an article for publication. This book gives more "how to" than any other book I've seen on the market.

Handbook of Magazine Article Writing answers often sought-after questions, such as:
- What do editors look for in your work?
- Is a cover letter always essential?
- Can you sell the exact same article a number of times within certain groups of publications?
- And, How do you keep your readers reading?

With 33 experts, including Don McKinney, James Morgan, Lois Duncan, John Brady, and Candy Schulman, this book proffers advice on everything from queries to the mechanics of writing an article. With so much talent packed into this 246-page book, the difficulty of publishing a newer edition is understandable. However, this book would benefit if it were brought into the age of the Internet.

If you are looking for the basics on article writing, and want it only from the masters of manuscript, then the Handbook of Magazine Article Writing is for you!

This book was bought for my 10 year old granddaughter that loves to write short little stories. I thought I would try this book and see if she could use it. She loved it! It gave her some great ideas in an easy to understand way. She will be able to refere back to this book many times.

One of the best little hand books. Summs it up really. This book is concise and has little fluff and condenses what a dozen other How-Tos get to. True there are not so many stories and the explanations do not ruminate but get straight to the point, but its a great resource to have in hand with a book like Burroways Writing Fiction and Baechtel Shaping the Story. Its light and
best appreciated probably after you have waved through the other multi hundred page behemoths, but the behemoths will be the books you read and forget, this book you'll go back to repeatedly. I know I will.

I'd recommend this book, BUT only to short story writers who are considering the short story medium; that's to say, newer writers who are just starting to get a feel for the short story. This book is basic; and I'd expect nothing less of a "How To" book as thin as 135 pages. How to Write Short Stories reminds us that every good short story has a setting, a plot (with conflict), character development, and a theme. The book dives into dialogue and description, but the examples aren't that great. Is your story best told in the first or third person, or some variation? This book also opens the door to the strengths and weaknesses of perspective. It's not a bad book and it reads quickly, but it feels like a creative writing 101 class at a local community college. (Nothing against community colleges. I received my first two degrees from a community college.) The best part of this book is that it uses "The Birthmark" by Nathaniel Hawthorne as one of its samples. (However, is analyzing a classic without analyzing a modern written short story wise? That is like analyzing the movie, "Casablanca" as an approach to making movies today. The classics are great, but we need to look at the art form across time.)

Ms. Sorenson's book was the perfect accompanament to a short story course I took last January 2002 in Vancouver, British Columbia. The course taught how to write short stories that get accepted for literary magazines. It was taught by a young woman with a Master's Degree in Creative Writing. The course was excellent and when I found this book, I felt it was the course all over again. It covers so much of what we took, and, of course, I couldn't remember everything. This book, which I have already read once, is the perfect reference book for writing literary short stories. I have been recommending it to anyone interested in the short story writing form. I can't tell you how happy I was to have found it. I have read so many books on how to write short stories and they all tend to be the same, but this one takes your hand and walks you step by step through the process. I can't praise this book enough.

Keep up the good work, Ms. Sorenson.

Sandra Merz.

Sorenson's coverage of the mechanics of short story writing is brief and focuses on the craft, rather than the art, of writing. While she does well by covering theme, character, plot, setting, point of view, dialogue, and description, she offers little more than three to five pages on each. Writers wanting more than the basics on each of these elements will be disappointed.

However, 'How To Write Short Stories' does have something to give both novice and accomplished writers. Distinguishing it from the many other works on short story writing is her inclusion of three entire short stories and a paragraph-by-paragraph analysis of each. Using this technique, Sorenson shows the reader how concepts like theme and point of view are actually integrated into stories that work. She also includes extracts of stories in the chapters on the elements of writing to add clarity and comprehension to her advice. This analysis made the book a worthwhile read.

Other features include a checklist to help the reader ensure they have omitted no essential ingredient from their story, a chapter of tips on breaking into print, a section on basic grammar that includes explanations on the different types of clauses and phrases, and a handy glossary of the writing concepts and jargon mentioned in the preceding chapters.