Frank Books

I'm hooked. Marshall Frank writes books you don't want to put down. This is another great mistery with more turns and angles than you can imagine.
Once again, he calls on his many years as a homicide captain to create a really great read.

Marshall Frank, author of six books, has proved an exceptional ability to write absorbing who-dun-it's time and time again. According to his website he is able to do this by embellishing on real life experiences during his 30-year career investigating homicides in the Miami-Dade region of Florida. In doing so he creates a realistic, action-packed, suspenseful detective story with his recent release, The Latent - a fiction novel, that I found difficult to put down.

The Latent focuses on one main character - the completely stressed out, heart-broken police investigator, Rock Burgamy. Haunted by a childhood experience and the loss of his young son, Rock battles an inclination to numb his sorrow and stress with booze. And these are not his only secrets. Twice divorced, Rock is slammed regularly with alimony and child support payments for his two other children. In order to keep up with it all, Rock must take as much overtime as possible. Unfortunately, with all of this happening at once, he delves further and further into the bottle. But he is a good man, a stubborn man who will not let a case go unsolved without giving it his all - even if it means his life or sacrificing love.

A chain of gay men killings appear to have a connection and over-worked Burgamy is assigned the case. Plots thicken as the investigation deepens and poor Burgamy walks into several situations that set him up for a fall so big that he cannot get out alone.

Fantastic and intriguing insight into the underground street-sex establishments is only one of the many angles in this book. Problems within the police department from budget constraints and personal temptations to office politics is another. I am confident that The Latent will take readers inside this dark and dangerous world so smoothly that everything else fades away unnoticed.

ISBN#: 1-4137-9890-x
Author: Marshall Frank
Publisher: Publish America
Published: 2006

~ Book Reviewer: Lillian Brummet - Co-author of the book Trash Talk, a guide for anyone concerned about his or her impact on the environment - Author of Towards Understanding, a collection of poetry. (http://www.sunshinecable.com/~drumit)

The Latent is a really great and well written book, I am not much of a mystery reader, but this book was certainly an exception. Rock Burgamy is a wonderful character, and it would be such a pleasure to read more books by Mr. Frank with Rock as the main character.
This is a must read book for mystery lovers!

I have always been drawn to the Forbidden cities of the East. I now know that the fascination is shared with many. The Authors Frank and Christine Brignoli have taken me on a Journey to this part of the World thru Visually stimulating pictures and the text of this book enhances the Historical images also. All in all a very exciting book.

I found this book to be ,not only pictorialy enthralling , historically up to date. Great Book for the Traveller or History Buff.

I found myself paging thru this Masterpiece as though I were really there. What a Breathtaking City. I could actually feel the Spirit of the City through the Photographs. I have recommended this Book to all my Friends.

I loved Liberty Meadows when it was a daily newspaper strip, and while i still enjoy it in its current incarnation as a bimonthly comic book, it is just not the same. Big Book of Love is a great trip down memory lane for me. A combination of funny material and a sympathetic "hero" in a hidden love with a dream girl make for fun reading and can be related to.

Before its voluntary departure from the Washington Post, "Liberty Meadows" had gained a loyal following that brought it back from possible cancellation more than once. Now this kooky strip and its bizarre characters are back in this book, "Liberty Meadows: Big Book of Love."

Welcome to Liberty Meadows, an animal preserve overseen by timid vet Frank and beautiful animal shrink Brandy. As Frank tries to muster the courage to ask Brandy out, the two of them also have to deal with the nutty animals there: a crazed Cow, Leslie the hypochondriac bullfrog, Ralph the tiny belligerant bear, Truman the water-fearing duck, and Dean the chauvinist pig in rehab.

This loony crew tries to deal with dates (where Brandy's crazed ex tries to kill Frank), the evil catfish Khan, camping trips with psychedelic mushrooms, falls into mine shafts, severed noses, truck-sized ticks, the insane stalker Cow kidnapping a celebrity and -- worst of all -- Dean's trip through the land of Cold Turkey.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a weirder comic strip than Liberty Meadows. Frank Cho combines the realistic drawing style (Frank and Brandy) with more traditional cartoon styles (the animals, and supporting humans like the handyman). Filled with wry pokes at pop culture and political correctness, it's refreshing and amusing in a sea of stale comics.

What sets this apart from "Liberty Meadows: Eden"? Despite the fact that the comics included are the same, there are also full-color Sunday strips. Not to mention a funny "framing" story: on the 100th anniversary of the Liberty Meadows sanctuary, a reporter is interviewing Ralph and Leslie (much older, but as crazed as ever).

If you weren't lucky enough to read "Liberty Meadows" during its stint in the papers, check out "Liberty Meadows: Big Book of Love." Silly, weird, bizarre, and immensely entertaining, this is definitely worth a read.

Frank Cho is a great comic artist. His style juxtaposes the detail and realism of the old adventure comic strips with the simpler lines of the best funnies. His strips contain some raw humor inspired by the physical violence in Warner Bros. cartoons, pop culture references, and too many years in a fraternity. Watch out for the great dinosaurs and cameos by Tarzan and Prince Valium.

Even if you have Eden, his first book published by Image, you will also want to pick up this volume for its fantastic Sunday color strips. These strips must have been re-colored and look great.

I had not heard of Frank Stanford until my dear friend Bill gave me this little book. He explained that he was on a mission to introduce people he cared about to Stanford's poems. I can see why I missed it, since his work does not fit into any of the clean boxes that some of my early poetry influences favored. All the same, I am sorry that I missed it for so long. The jumpy dream-like quality was a lot of what I was trying to work for, back when I was writing poetry.

Oddly enough, once I started reading this, all kinds of other connections appeared. For instance, my favorite Lucinda Williams song, Pineola, was written for Stanford.

I like the rural focus that the poems have, and the way that the diction feels familiar even when I do not know exactly what Stanford is saying. He clearly has a taste for tall tales and dreams, and tells the truth of his world through these beautiful fantasies. It is a sad truth, and often a broken truth. Even if the introduction had not told me that Stanford killed himself, I might have guessed it after reading his work.

Stokesbury wrote a good introduction, by the way. It is informative, short and not irritating. A mark that many other poetry collections miss.

Anyhow, there are times when I feel as though I can review poetry, and other times that I am left at a loss for words. All I can say about this book is that I think it is a good thing that Bill is on his mission-- more people should read this work. I may just join him in it this Christmas.

If you're thinking about buying this book go for it. It is worth it. Most of his books are out of print but thankfully this book is available. If you like it check out Stanford's "The Battlefield Where the Moon Says I Love You."

Frank Stanford died a suicide at a young age, yet managed to create a body of work that deserves to be read despite his youth and nearly 20 years of obscurity. His poems, both subject and meter, are of great beauty. It's too bad that most of his work is out of print but, despite this, the University of Arkansas Press manages to keep the best of his poems alive. They do deserve to be read, and a good part of Stanford's work merits a wider audience. Check out The Light the Dead See for a great example of what this guy managed to create in his short life.

The first thing that caught my attention when I received my copy of The Living House of Oz was, of course, Eric Shanower's top-quality artwork on the colorfully gorgeous cover of this book. The wraparound dust jacket is skillfully designed to show the main characters without cluttering up the available space. As always, Eric displays his encyclopedic knowledge of all things Oz by rendering the building in traditional Neill style, while vastly improving the art with his own attention to detail.

Edward Einhorn, continuing in the same vein as his previous book Paradox in Oz (Hungry Tiger Press, 2000; reviewed in the Spring 2000 Baum Bugle), tells us the story of a boy named Buddy and all the denizens of the sentient house he lives in with his mother. When the house settles for a while near the Ozian kingdom of Tonsoria (where everyone is dedicated to hair-fashion in some way or another), the adventure begins as Buddy strays a little too far from home, and is soon tangled in an adventure brought about by the very reason the house keeps on the move. It turns out that Buddy, his mother, and the house are on the run, pursued by some very interesting characters. Naturally, it takes magic to make all this happen, and by Ozma's law, only a certain few can practice magic in Oz. But what about all the other good (or allegedly good) magicians in Oz: the Three Adepts, Red Reera the Yookoohoo, Dr. Pipt? There comes a time when performing magic is necessary, and violating that law is a strong theme in this gloriously written and illustrated book.

Of course, one cannot review a book illustrated by Eric Shanower without raving about the art. The dust jacket, the full-color endpapers, the illustrations, and the map and bookplate from the limited edition are all stellar examples of the care and effort that Eric pours into each picture. Look at the cover a second time and you'll see Buddy's mother hiding in the house's tower. Each face on everything inside the house has its own distinct personality, as shown on the endpapers. And the strong line work in the interior black and white illustrations makes for crisp, clear and accurate depictions of what goes on in the book. There's a wonderful double-page spread on pages 146-147 that gathers together a lively bunch of Ozian celebrities; it not only gives us several characters from the famous forty (like Glinda, Jack Pumpkinhead, Scraps, Tik-Tok, Handy Mandy, Captain Salt, Ozana, Button Bright, Ojo, Sir Hokus, Kabumpo and more) but also characters from books Eric's been involved in, such as Flicker, Imogene the cow, the Salt Sorcerer, and Abatha (the Good Witch of the East).

Einhorn's story brings about a novel turn of events that reintroduces readers to familiar (and not-so-familiar) favorites such as Tollydiggle the jailer, the former Flatheads, Red Reera the Yookoohoo, the Three Adepts, and even a hostile enemy commonly long-forgotten. But looks are not everything. A wonderful theme about kindness and love in the form of a stereotypical enemy (much like Kericot the Considerate Kalidah from Phyllis Ann Karr and Melody Grandy's stories) fits perfectly in this story. In fact, without that element, I don't think Einhorn's text would have been as good as it is. The story is very Baumian, with several polite nods to established history, and very Thompsonian in the epic character-driven adventures. However, Einhorn has his own unique writing style, which turns out to be very enjoyable and actually quite intellectual without going over the heads of younger readers. You won't find any condescending "down-talk" aimed at children. This is a book that adults and kids will both appreciate.

As for the living house itself ... well, there's much to be enjoyed about it. The house is alive, the stairs are alive, the railing is alive, the silverware and pots and pans are alive, the bookshelf and books are alive, the beds ... in fact, I'd believe it if the dust were alive! But of course Einhorn focuses only on relevant characters (and characteristics) within the house. Readers will particularly enjoy meeting the Earl of Haberdashery, a coat-tree with a scarf and various other articles of clothing that make up its body. His personality is very outgoing and vibrant, if often befuddling. He provides the comic relief for the tale, yet plays a very important role in the outcome of the story.

The production is also a treat. The book is a Smythe sewn, hardcover layout in the traditional Reilly & Lee size and format. With the production team of Hungry Tiger Press putting forth every effort to make this book as aesthetically pleasing as it is literarily pleasing, you can't go wrong adding it to your library. In fact, I highly recommend getting an extra copy to donate to your local library. Futhermore, I cannot stress enough the value of the signed collector's edition of this book. The extras are well worth it--the map, the book plate, the autographs ... yet what the true collector cannot be without is the deluxe edition, which contains not only the extras that are in the signed edition, but a copy of Einhorn's play "Unauthorized Magic in Oz," extra illustrations (!!) by Shanower, and is housed in a decorative slipcase. This book is so very appealing that I thoroughly believe folks who pick it up might soon want to read more about Oz!

The Living House of Oz is Edward Einhorn's second collaboration with Eric Shanower on an Oz novel. The first, Paradox in Oz, was critically aclaimed, and took Ozma, the fairy ruler of Oz, on a rollercoaster ride through time into an alternative Oz where good and evil characters were reversed.

The Living House of Oz has the classic structure of an Oz novel: a young child coming of age visits Oz and, through his adventures and interactions with the good people of Oz, he matures and overcomes a crisis. In this case Buddy and his sorceress mom have fled to Oz to find safety, but have to hide because his mother uses illegal magic to protect him from danger. When she is discovered and brought to Ozma, all Oz is threatened by her enemies.

Although the structure is traditional, Einhorn brings it new life with his examination of the two themes of Nature vs. Nurture and the Role of Law in a Just Society. Einhorn's delightfully eccentric characters, like the living hat stand called the Earl of Haberdashery and the tuneful flying piccolo Flutefly, lend the work a joyful and humorous presence that is brought to life by Shanower's beautiful illustrations. His color cover and endpapers and the black and white drawings throughout the book show that he is still the best living artist of Oz themes. Einhorn has shown himself to be a master of the Oz genre by skillfully weaving in, not only themes from his previous novel, but also from two of L. Frank Baum's original series: The Emerald City of Oz and Glinda of Oz. Together Einhorn and Shanower are the best Oz Historians since the original team of Baum and Neill. They capture the essence of Oz as Baum and Neill imagined it and keep its timeless character, while presenting a sensibility that can be understood by a modern audience.

A sequel to Einhorn's own Paradox in Oz, this is the story of a sorceress and her son who live in a Living House, a magical home that is, itself, alive -- and so is everything in it. Ozma, long ago, passed a decree that the use of magic was unlawful for anyone but herself, Glinda and the Wizard. When Buddy's mother, Mordra, is found to be practicing magic, she is arrested and brought to the Emerald City to stand trial, sending Buddy on a quest to rescue her.

Einhorn is very faithful to the world that L. Frank Baum created. He uses the original Baum characters in a very consistent fashion, and even better, he crafts new characters to add to the mythos that seem perfectly at home with the likes of the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman and the Cowardly Lion. (The Earl of Haberdashery, for example -- a living coatrack with a scarf for a face and a tendency towards severe exaggeration.)

Einhorn actually manages to do one thing even better than Baum, at least for the sensibilities of a modern reader. Baum's books were written in the early years of the 20th century, a more innocent time, and many of the original books fall short in communicating a feeling of actual danger to our heroes. Einhorn creates a genuine threat and genuine excitement in this book, but does so without compromising the sweetness of Baum's world. Baum, to this day, is categorized as "The Royal Historian of Oz." Although many, many writers have tried to fill that role in the decades since his death, Einhorn is without a doubt one of the best.

Excellent resource for a basic toxicolgy course in college. I read through each chapter for a more concise understanding because the lectures didn't do the subject justice like this book.

Item was as described, but shipping took more time than expected even when I paid for two-days shipping.

Lu's basic toxicology is a very good choice when you what to learn some toxicology even though you have no sound chemisttry or biochemistry background. The authors use easy-understood words to explain the fundamentals of toxicology. After you read this book, you will have an overview of toxicological principles, such as professional terms, target organs, test methods as well as risk assesment.

yeh yeh yeh !!!!

This is an excellent book. There is a lot to read here. It is more like a mini encyclopedia of oddities.

This thick little book will have you chuckling and guffawing---did I mention laughing?---because of its skewered spin on just about all human and animal peculiarities. DON'T PASS IT UP!

if have bought this book a few month ago. i found a lot of the old style posters from the "salad days". the book is a great summary of the interesting style of kozik. everytime when i take a look on it, i found some new details.

What I love about so much of Frank Kozik's work is that on first glance you see a sweet image, but when you start looking at details you see just how twisted they really are! The work in this book is no exception, starting with the cover image of a boy swinging with a giant roach and a leg brace! In fact, I think new things come out with each viewing.

This is a great book to have on your coffee table to get conversation flowing. Very high quality too!

This wonderful volume covers the first 12 years of poster Artist Frank Kozik's career. Covers every phase of this lowbrow artist savant's development: from the early punk rock photocopies to the newer, wildly colorful and imaginative silk-screen designs. Kozik's work has brought rock poster art back into the forefront. A must have for any poster collector.

This book contains a wealth of information on every single page. Father Sheed has an excellent way of presenting theology in a very simple, and interesting fashion. Since it is only about 150 pages, it might be appealing to people who aren't big fans of large theological treatises. I found the section that deals with the Supernatural Life (Sacraments, prayer, Mass) and how it comes to the soul to be the most exciting. Highly recommended to anyone interested in life's mission.

In his book "A Map of Life," Mr. Frank Sheed gives his short plan of life to the reader in simple, easy terms that are not extremely theological. At the same time, it is not watered down "Kumbayah" Catholicism. These are not meditations; they are simple chapters that outline certain truths that the Catholic Church holds. The book is very well written and is written from the perspective of a layman who spent fifty years preaching on the streetcorners of London. Various topics include original sin, Hell, the Supernatural Life, Heaven, and Law. A good read, "A Map of Life" can be knocked out in two afternoons.

Sheed bases his book on the postulate that every man is on a journey. This journey ultimately must take into account the destination, but also who man is and the various turns he will encounter on the path. Sheed answers these questions, turning his attention to various aspects of human nature and the end of man as understood in Catholic theology. This is a useful book for clarifying one's thoughts on such topics as the Trinity, the Four Last things: death judgment, Heaven, Hell, and many other topics in between.

This book exposes the fear that is at the heart of the modern reproductive rights movement: fear of female reproductive power. We need a women's movement that allows us to be ourselves, instead of a women's movement that demands that we chemically castrate ourselves. Angela Franks points the way to a new women's movement that is based on what is truly distinctive about women. We need to celebrate motherhood, not fear it. Angela Franks shows that Margaret Sanger and her movement were strongly eugenic, and feared too much reproduction by people they considered unfit. The women's movement has never recovered.

Those who're interested in this book might also want to check out a newly released book, Lady Eugenist: Feminist Eugenics in the Speeches and Writings of Victoria Woodhull and a companion book that will soon be released, Free Lover: Sex, Marriage and Eugenics in the Writings of Victoria Woodhull.

In her 1938 autobiography, Margaret Sanger noted that "Eugenics, which started long before my time, had once been defined as including free love and the prevention of conception." Eugenics and free love was a reference to Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for President (1872), for a time a fierce advocate of free love, and a life-long advocate of eugenics and state-controlled child rearing. In 1927, in what was perhaps Woodhull's last public statement, she praised Buck v. Bell, a US Supreme Court decision declaring forced sterilization constitutional and, according to the New York Times, told a reporter that she had "advocated that fifty years ago."

The two books mentioned above present detailed evidence that one of the nation's leading feminists was advocating eugenics, then called stirpiculture, in the 1870s, three decades before Francis Galton took up the cause in earnest and four decades before it acquired a significant following in Margaret Sanger and others. That demolishes the argument of those who claim that feminists such as Sanger only adopted eugenic rhetoric because the movement was too powerful to ignore. When Woodhull took up eugenics, she was virtually the only public figure in the U.S. speaking on the topic. She 'mainstreamed' an issue, controlled human breeding, that had previously only been discussed by strange utopian cults on the American frontier, such as the Oneida Community.

The historical reality is that, far from being united in defending 'reproductive freedom,' certain groups of well-connected and powerful women have been some of the strongest proponents of the government limiting the birth rates of women they consider "unfit" or inferior. (You see this in their sneers at 'stay-at-home' mothers.) Newspapers noted that Woodhull attracted those sorts of women in the 1870s-90s when she advocated eugenics. They continued to do so when Charlotte Perkins Gilman promoted negative eugenics in the 1910s, and when Sanger did so with her birth control movement from 1917 on.

Woodhull's speeches and pamphlets also demonstrate that there is a close connection between those who want to control who can have children and those who want to limit the rights of parents to rear their children after they are born, as illustrated by a recent Ninth Circuit decision denying the right of parents to protect their grade-school children from sexual questions. These are most emphatically not people who believe in protecting anyone's "privacy."

--Michael W. Perry, Seattle
Editor of The Pivot of Civilization in Historical Perspective by Margaret Sanger
Editor of Eugenics and Other Evils by G. K. Chesterton

TIME magazine called Margaret Sanger one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century, saying that "her crusade to legalize birth control spurred the movement for women's liberation." While many remember her advocacy for birth control, few remember or give due consideration to the eugenic philosophy that drove Sanger and her allies in the birth control, and later population control or "family planning" movements. This book corrects that significant historical deficit.

In this book, Franks shows that any concern Sanger had for women's rights was secondary to her larger agenda -- helping to create a better race by controlling the fertility of those she saw as society's least "fit" members -- the poor, the disabled, the "feebleminded," the sickly, the epileptic, the alcoholic, etc. Where persuasion worked, that was fine, but as Franks points out, Sanger and her allies were prepared to use coercion when they felt it was necessary to achieve their eugenic aims.

Franks traces what she identifies as the "control movement" from its earliest days in the 1920s when sterilization programs began to spring up in Virginia, Alabama, North Carolina, and later California to the 1990s when U.N. "family planning" money helped support forced sterilizations and abortions in China. Along the way, she identifies the key players, policies, and programs that helped to mainstream many of the ideas that the world once found so abhorrent in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s.

There are those in our modern PC culture that might be tempted to dismiss such charges, but this book is thorough and well documented, with over 1,200 footnotes and a bibliography featuring about a thousand books, articles, and interviews on Sanger, her associates, and the organizations they founded and led.

The tone is academic, but the language is generally accessible, so that both scholars and activists alike will benefit from the reading of it.

Despite Sanger's celebration as a liberator of women and the feminist hagiographies that have been written of Planned Parenthood's founder, Franks argues that Sanger's eugenic ideas are antithetical to freedom and to true feminism, aiming to suppress precisely what it is that makes women women.

Sanger certainly had enormous influence, but before deciding whether that influence was good or bad, one would be well advised to read this book.