Rowe Books

Story: Set in our universe but in the year 2110, a colony of scientists has (illegally) been mixing nanotechnology with genetic engineering, to create the next step in human evolution. The result is the "nanogen" or, as they refer to themselves, the "Imagofas" or the Image of Fate. As the Imagofas are reaching adulthood, and discovering the nature of their advanced abilities (e.g., rapid healing of self or others, keen senses, ability to tap into the future's version of the Internet, called the MAM, without need of equipment), two of the Imagofas become embroiled in a power struggle between two factions on Earth: the Council is the ruling body for Earth and its colonies, while the Order is the defense, security, police, and intelligence arm of The Council, but is actually autonomous. Both the Council and the Order publicly oppose the illegal tampering of human genes, out of fear that humanity would lose its sense of, well, humanity, some members of each faction secretly condone and even support the research.

When a crime boss on Earth arranges for the kidnapping of two of the Imagofas, he plans to give (sell) one to a Council member who opposes the development of nanogens, so that she can use it to discredit the Order and further bolster her own rise toward the leadership of the Council. But, the crime boss wants to sell the other Imagofas to one of the domus, which are similar to the Great Houses in Frank Herbert's "Dune" (i.e., powerful family-run financial dynasties).

If it sounds complicated already, that's just the beginning, as there are several other major players who get involved, including Ochbo (a technological wizard who opposes restrictions placed by the government on public access to the MAM), the Cadet (a highly skilled MAM gamer who is also an excellent spy), Creid (the Councilwoman's husband, who was the inventor of the MAM and who does not share his wife's anti-nanogen sentiments), and Prometheus (a super-agent, created by Creid, who exists only in the virtual reality of the MAM, but strives to become more real). What nobody counted on was that the Imagofas in general, and the two kidnapped ones, Thesni and Sashimu, have not only extraordinary abilities, but also a powerful nascent sense of themselves as a new and separate race, including their own culture and religious beliefs.

If this sounds potentially confusing, it is. The sequences where the characters enter the virtual reality of the MAM are dreamlike, where everything might not be what is appears to be, and things that happen in "Novus Orbis" (the virtual world of the MAM) can greatly affect "Vetus Orbis" (conventional reality).

However, if you are starting to want to flee this world of chaos, please don't, as you would be doing yourself, and the author, a disservice. Despite the strange, dreamlike quality that often reigns in this tale, it is very well-written, the pace is just fast enough so that you teeter on the edge of wanting to flee the chaos, but you never slip over that edge, and the characters are powerfully written. Sashimu, Thesni, Creid, Ochbo, Prometheus, and Councilwoman Joli are all three-dimensional, credible characters with complex but realistic agendas and good blends of strengths and flaws.

While I did have to re-read a few paragraphs, when I started to get lost in the fuzziness between virtual reality and real reality, it was well worth the effort, as this is an exciting, action-packed science-fiction adventure story, that pushes the envelope by making us ask ourselves what has to be true to call something "real".

This novel is the first by Rebeccah Rowe, but I suspect, and hope, that it will not be the last. While this story can easily stand alone, I am betting that it is just the beginning of a series. The Imagofas, and the complex future they inhabit, will be fertile ground for many stories to come.

Hard to believe this is a first novel. Rowe's pacing in "Forbidden Cargo" pushes the reader through the story without dropping a beat. It is a 'whodunit' mystery, a crime story, a comment on social structure and 'government machinations' at every level, yet it is by no means a pondersome read. The story is well told and enveloping.

I have always been fond of stories with strong female characters. The mix of strength of character and naivete in Rowe's two primary characters is refreshing. The author seamlessly integrates artificial intelligence with humanity, and blurs the line between the two.

This book is plausible and believable, but more importantly, the story is *told well*. Kudos to the author for a smashing debut.

FORBIDDEN CARGO has it all. Stretching us around the corner of our neurons for a glimpse into the future. Action. Intrigue. Philosophical examination of what it means to be human. Exploration of ethical issues. Good hard fun! A clean read. When it comes out on the big screen -- and it should! -- you'll want to have read it and be able to say that you knew it would be a major motion picture hit. ~ Craig Yager, Former IB Coordinator, Whittier International School

Snow's writing style is very much a product of his era and of his upbringing, both of which are firmly rooted in a bygone era. I could wish for a little less florid language and a little more substance. That said, this book is required reading for lovers of New England maritime history and culture.

Edward Rowe Snow has produced many accounts of New England maritime history, making his name as a historian of the coast: his LIGHTHOUSES OF NEW ENGLAND first appeared in 1945, was updated in 1973, and returns to print to provide newcomers with a rich history of over fifty of the region's lighthouses. This edition (1933212209) adds modern lighthouse expert Jeremy D'Entremont's annotations to Snow's chapters which brings details about each lighthouse up to date. Black and white photos enhance a lively reading style perfect for lighthouse fans and regional New England history buffs.

When I was between fifth and sixth grades, I first became introduced to the writings of Edward Rowe Snow after reading a book I believe was titled TRUE TALES AND MYSTERIOUS LEGENDS. I read other books as well and quickly learned that if anyone knows New England, it is Edward Rowe Stowe. Stowe was an expert on everything New England, especially its legends. Stowe also loved lighthouses, both the structures and the people who staffed them. His book THE LIGHTHOUSES OF NEW ENGLAND has the history of New England's lighthouses which played an essential role in the maritime history of the United States as well as the legends associated with them. For some, using the title New England may be a misnomer since the majority of the book deals with the lights in Massachusetts and Maine, with some information about Rhode Island lights, particularly then story of Ida Lewis, but the lights of Connecticut are not included, but even without this information, the book is still a great treasure.

This edition of the book was published in honor of the centenary of Snow's birth, due largely to the efforts of Jeremy D'Entremont, a contemporary lighthouse historian who shares Snow's love for the lighthouses of New England.

This is a very good entry in Rosemary Rowe's interesting series of Roman Britian. Libertus and his patron Marcus solve a mystery involving the death of a very unpleasant character called Perennis Felix. Along the way we meet up with some fascinating characters and learn quite a bit about Roman life, particularly in Glevum (modern Gloucester). Very enjoyable.

Rowe's third Libertus offering - `Murder in the Forum', is a splendidly crafted effort. We are plunged immediately into a difficult situation for Libertus as he is confronted by an overly obnoxious and well connected imperial representative, Lucius Tigidius Perennis Felix, who has swept into Glevum with the apparent intent to marry his plain daughter Phyllidia to Marcus Aurelius Septimus, Libertus' patron. Unfortunately, continuing straight from the previous novel, Marcus is happily living with Julia Delicta (the ex-wife of the murderd Corfinium decurion, Quintus) several hours away and Libertus is forced to race to `fetch' him with Felix's imperious guard and hinted lover, Zetso. Realising the real reason for Felix's visit, Marcus hastily married Julia before speeding back to the civic banquet thrown (under some duress) for Felix at the house of the dog-loving Gaius Flavius Flaminius.
Having thoroughly set up Felix as a universally hated man (in no means by his brutal murder of Marcus' envoy) it comes as no surprise we watch dispassionately as he seemingly chokes to death on a nut halfway through the banquet. Immediately Libertus suspects the redhaired Celt masquerading as a noble, Egobarbus, and Zetso, both of whom have gone missing. The suspect hasty departure of Octavius (later found to be the beau of Phyllidia) also has Libertus chasing shadows until he located one of Gaius' dogs dead of poisoning. There is a moment of splendid parody as Gaius commissions Libertus to construct a mosaic for him dedicated to the fallen canine.
So, Libertus ends up being robbed, we have to deal with 3 suspicious almond smelling phials of poison, Octavius' `confession', and Felix's mysterious dealings with the red haired Celts before we move towards the denoument. There is a neat scene where Libertus has to represent Marcus at the funeral rites to his herald (an action which gives us the methods by which the Celts escaped the city after the murder)
A quick scamper north to a mansio reveals the true state of Egobarbus and Libertus is able to track down Zetso which with much impunity that results in him questioning an imperial seal and being thrown into prison for his troubles, allows him to garner more half truths. As Rowe neatly uses the trick of one character giving further incriminating answers to questions that he is misunderstanding, it means Libertus is able to uncover a far greater conspiracy. It all ends with Libertus up on charges of treason in front of Pertinax with Zetso. The latter panics, reveals all whilst still under the misapprehension that everyone else knows about the greater conspiracy and thus permits Libertus to escape his crime on the basis of saving the emperor.
Rowe's third installment is excellent. Her writing style has progressed enormously since the first book and the adventures of Libertus and Junio are a delighful addition to the Roman murder mystery genre. Well worth reading....

For those who have not read the other books in the series this is a book about Roman Britain in the 2nd century AD. Libertus the main character is a freedman, working as a Pavement maker (Mosaic Artist) in Glevum (modern day Gloucester.) He has an influential Roman patron Marcus Septimus who calls on him frequently because of his ability to solve mysteries. These books differ from the Lindsey Davis and David Wishart books as Libertus is portrayed as a person attuned to his surroundings rather than with the manner of a New York cop. For those who have read the other books, this is just as good. Not much about the plot here, but why spoil it. Buy the book.

This is the latest from the Libertus stable and once again features the remarkable talents of the 'Pavement' maker.

Libertus is on his sick bed recovering from a bout of fever that has laid him low for several days. He drowsily wakes to the imposing figure of his patron, Marcus Septimus, who at no little expense to himself has organised for Libertus to have the luxury of a physician.

Libertus finally grasps through his weakness and bouts of delirium that Marcus's young son and wife Julia have disappeared from the villa leaving no trace of their whereabouts. Marcus is the senior magistrate in Britannia and a wealthy man to boot and soon a ransom note demanding money is received.

Libertus is well aware that if Marcus gives in to the demands of the kidnappers his reputation for being fair and unmoved by bribery will be severely damaged.

Before he has even made a chance to make some sort of recovery Libertus has made an enemy, who strives to embroil him in the plot to take Julia and the child. Can Libertus help his patron and also extricate himself from the false accusations.

The blurb says second to Saylor but I like these better than Saylor. I would say second to Lindsey Davis instead. That said, these are books that I buy as hardbacks since I don't want to wait a year for the paperback. History lessons have never been so enjoyable!

After the trite last offering from Rowe she has bounced back with a kidnapping and series of ransom demands that proves her ability to produce a classic Romano-British whodunit. Opening with Libertus recovering from his potential deathbed we find him cracking open an ill eyelid to find his anxious patron, Marcus Septimus, hovering over him having contracted one of Britain's finest medicus', Philades, to nurse him back to health. This case of largesse on his patron's part is not without cost, however, as his encouraged recovery is in order to help Marcus find out who has kidnapped his wife, Julia, and baby son, Marcellinus.
The immediate appearance of a ransom note and the disappearance of Myrna, the wet-nurse has our aged sleuth lobbed into a carrier and hot-footed to Marcus' villa in order to manage the ensuing events.
However, en route, they are stopped and Marcellinus is returned to Libertus as everyone's attention is elsewhere. This fortunate event is turned on its head as the medicus' Philades, turns nasty on Libertus and accuses him as having a hand in the kidnapping, reeling off one persuasive argument after another to Marcus to convince him that Libertus has a case to answer.
After Gwellia also disappears and Myrna is found murdered the circumstantial evidence on Libertus begins to stack up. He is given two days to clear his name and spends much of it interviewing the personal slaves of Julia ascertaining a classic case of people seeing what they expect to see.
Having unraveled a tale of family intrigue and swapped babies, shaky inheritances and callous murder he eventually saves Julia, uncovers a medical tale of slavery and paranoia and restores his patron's faith in him. However, our faith in Marcus has taken a severe dent as he is all to ready to believe Libertus could turn on him and cause him personal grief with zero motive.
Rowe's Libertus series is a delightful addition to the Roman sleuth genre with the kind of novels you go through in a lazy haze on a sunny afternoon post-Countdown.It is lightweight, but after the hard-hitting Saylor and humorous Davies, this is a refreshing easy on the eyes read that fits in nicely with the rest.

Dr. Raferty has done a wonderful job bringing together Henry Rowe Schoolcraft's journals of his adventure into the eastern and central Ozarks Region before major settlement. Schoolcraft's jouney begins at Potosi, Missouri on November 5, 1818 and proceeds southwest to the Arkansas border along the North Fork River. From there he travels northwest towards modern day Springfield and then back southeast into Arkansas along the White River to Batesville. From the Batesville area he proceeds northeast back towards Potosi arriving there on February 4, 1819.

Schoolcraft's descriptions of the unsettled land and its native plants and animals are wonderful. Prof. Raferty has added an appendix which provides a day by day account of Schoolcraft's journey and the modern reference points with amazing accuracy.

This is a great book for anyone with an interest in the history and geography of the Ozarks Region. Very well done!!

Schoolcraft's journal describing his expedition into the Missouri/Arkansas border area in the dead of an Ozarks winter is an entertaining read! He describes with great dignity how he fell into the icy cold river -not just once, but twice! He talks about the wildlife that roamed the area, many species of which are long gone from here now. He also talks about how clean and clear the rivers were then - a shame its not true today. Schoolcraft used an expansive vocabulary to describe his surroundings, which is almost more entertaining than the facts he's trying to relate. A common misconception is that Schoolcraft was exploring country that had never before been seen by white settlers. Not true! There were several hunters' families in small, isolated settlements in the area long before Schoolcraft arrived, and he stayed overnight with some of them. He saw himself as a bit of a lad, which is evidenced by his writings regarding the "greasy" women in the settlements. He once made some of his imported tea for a hunter's wife, who was used to drinking only sassafras tea. She told him his tea was the most bitter thing she'd ever tasted; a mark of how uncivilized she was, in Schoolcraft's opinion. He ends his journal abruptly, with no philosophical revelations about how 90 days of stomping through the brush and ice and greasy women has changed his life, etc., which is a bit of a let down, but all in all it's a fun read. In the back of the book Rafferty has inserted a table that relates the landmarks Schoolcraft described to the way the landscape looks/is used today. There are also several excellent maps marked with the dates and locations of Schoolcraft's movements. Rafferty's research, comments, and detailed maps, coupled with Schoolcraft's descriptive tales, earn this book a well-deserved Five Stars.

While not as famous as Lewis and Clark, Henry Schoolcraft conducted the first of his many expenditions with similar care and attention to detail. One needs to excuse some of the poetic descriptions. The book gives an excellent insight into the very early development of the region shortly after the Voyage of Discovery.

The author has considerable personal research with Schoolcraft's travels as a college professor leading field trips on portions of the expedition. The most helpful is the author's appendix which keys the days of travel to current day locations.

For anyone studying the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks, this is a must-have. It provides the only contemporary vision of this part of the United States prior to the rapid development in the years prior to the Civil War.

This book has intrigue, romance, and suspense, and while I liked the characters, I found the plot to be a little mundane. I didn't really like the advice Kim's mother gave her, I just didn't buy it, and I didn't like WHEN the mother gave it to her. Couldn't she have talked 'sense' into Kim long before she was seconds away from the altar?

This was my first time reading Stephanie Rowe and I will read more. I enjoyed this book. It was fast-paced and kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end. Excellent book for a rainy day at the beach!

Stephanie Rowe keeps you guessing until the end. Nothing is cut and dried, especially not the complex relationships between the characters.

Tessa Vance is not having a happy life. The daughter of a martyred police hero, she joined the force and fought her way into a position as a Senior Detective in homicide. After two years in homicide she transferred location to be nearer her significant other who was having a significant snit because of her devotion to The Job.

It's Tessa's birthday. An intimate dinner for two is planned. Flowers are bought. She's wearing a low cut black dress and a pair of stiletto heels. Then the phone rings. There's a homicide at Funworld. Leaving her lover, her dinner and her flowers she faces her first case on the new job, her superior on the force and her new partner in stiletto heels and full face makeup. However, Tessa brazens it out.

The character of Tessa Vance was created for an Australian TV series, but the book is more than an adaptation of a TV script into a novel. Jennifer Rowe created the story line herself so she can tell the story in more depth here. The book is not as strong as the Verity Birdsong series, but it is quite entertaining.

Recommended for those who enjoy police procedurals and a good puzzle plot.

Jennifer Rowe is one of the top 2 or 3 practitioners of the traditional, classical mystery story. This book does not dissapoint; while different from the Birdie novels, still has a great plot, red herrings, multiple solutions and many of the classical tricks of the genre. Rowe and the now inactive Jane Haddam are probably the best 2 old-fashioned (in the very best sense of the word) writers of the fair-play detective story. And Rowe makes it seem effortless. If you like this type of mystery, the one where Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen, and John Dickson Carr excelled, Rowe is a worthy successor to all 3 of them. Do not miss any of her books. Here she tries the currently popular genre of the serial murderer and gives it a ride like Christie's "The ABC Murders" and others of the classic era. Again, do not miss this!

To spend more time with her significant other, Senior Detective Tessa Vance transfers from one homicide division to one closer to her home. While celebrating her birthday, the on-call law enforcement official is notified to report for duty. Feeling a bit guilty, she still leaves an angry Brett behind to join a murder investigation.

At Funworld, Tessa joins the already in progress investigation. This is also the first time she meets her new partner Steve Hayden. Apparently, Marty Mayhew was strangled to death. However, when the police removes his costume, it turns out that Pete Grogan is the victim. Though they get off on the wrong foot and do not trust one another, Tessa and Steve begin searching for clues. Soon, Tessa uncovers the fact that a brilliant serial killer is cutting a path through town that leaves the two detectives racing the clock before the final murders complete a grim record.

Americans will absolutely adore Australian Jennifer Rowe, who proves that she is an incredible mystery writer. As it has in Down Under, SUSPECT is going to be doubly recognized as one of the best police procedurals and best serial killer novels of the year. The classy story line never eases its grip on the reader's adrenal glands. The characters are all engaging because their tiny flaws make them seem so genuine. Readers will demand that Ms. Rowe's previous novels gain an American publisher because she will have already obtained an American audience.

Harriet Klausner

but not what the subtitle promised.

the instructions for both hand and machine applique are excellent, very thorough with many alternate suggestions to encourage quilters to find the best ways for their individual needs. there are photos accompanying the techniques, but i can't judge how useful they would be to someone not familiar with sewing and quilting.

the projects are beautiful. the use of color, fabrics, settings and quilting is inspirational. the gallery includes variations of the patterns given and even a few photos of clothing embellished with applique.

the reason i haven't given it a five star rating is this: the subtitle promised 1930s patterns, which i am always looking for. however, i don't think that a 19th century pattern published in the 1930s is a '1930s' pattern. there are several designs taken from 30s patterns that were in the style of the 30s, but they have been modified and simplified. and, too often, the original quilt from the 30s that was the inspiration is not pictured. whatever the design era, i have a major problem with what seems to be the quilting industry's increasing insistence on simplification of pattern and technique. i don't understand why the 21st century quilter is expected to be less skilful than a 19th century child--especially given the high standards of most of the quilters i know.

while this is not the book i hoped for, it has several designs that have gone of my list of future projects and has given me ideas i will use in my own designs. i would recommend it to any quilter, especially a beginner, for the beautiful projects and the wonderful instructions.

Collaboratively compiled and presented by needlecraft and quilting experts Cindy Walter & Gail Baker Rowe, Basic Applique: 1930s Quilt Patterns Created With Traditional And Contemporary Techniques showcases the fine art of applique from cutting to quilting. Featuring lovely patterns and easy-to-follow directions (illustrated with hundreds of photographs) for making sixteen beautiful quilts, even the most novice quilter will be able to create memorable quilts to grace any home. Basic Applique is a welcome and much appreciated contribution to the growing library of needlecraft references in general, and quilting manuals in particular.

My great uncle was listed in this book as one of the "whtchimacallits" and he certainly was not mad. He build his plane in western Kansas and exchanged ideas with the Wright brothers. He was also an artist trained in fresco and painted many of the back of the alters in churches throughout Missouri and Kansas. It is rather rare that a person has a combined interest and skills in art and science.
He returned to his home in Luxembourg when his mother became ill. He left the plane he had build in a barn in Kansas.
As a child younger than age five, I can remember the daytime sky becoming almost dark with all the planes that flew over our western suburban Kansas City home on their way to the East.
One of the likely reasons for the early experimental air craft choosing central Kansas was that there were many places to land if they got into trouble. Cow pies are often very soft!

There are few more significant areas of historical study for twentieth century America than the development of aviation. For residents of the Midwestern part of the United States aviation was an especially significant engine of change, owing to the unique combination of open spaces, relatively small numbers of population, distances between urban areas, and, a pioneering spirit.

"Borne on the South Wind" is a useful large-format illustrated history chronicling the growth of aviation in one Great Plains state. The authors describe in eight chapters of narrative and more than 250 photographs the aviation story of Kansas. Beginning with lighter-than-air activities with kites and balloons in the nineteenth century, Frank Joseph Rowe and Craig Miner move quickly into a discussion of the oddities of early aviation, called here "watchimacallits" because they were clearly weird contraptions constructed by inventors, some of whom were both brilliant and mad. They expend some effort dealing with air meets, barnstorming, and daredevils but then move on to the much more significant air mail activities of the 1920s and 1930s, the first time airplanes were widely acknowledged as having much practical application.

There is, appropriately enough, both a geographical and chronological center to Borne on the South Wind. In the first category, Wichita occupies center stage in this narrative. The city has for decades billed itself as the "Air Capitol of the World," and while that is certainly an overstatement, it is one of the significant centers of aviation in the U.S. Accordingly, Rowe and Miner describe in great detail the rise of the general aviation industry there, led by such entrepreneurs as Walter and Olive Ann Beech, Clyde Cessna, and William P. Lear. The three companies those business leaders founded and operated in Wichita, accounted for the lion's share of whatever claims the city and the state had to leadership in aviation and account for the bulk of the discussion in this book.

The chronological emphasis is on the World War II era, for once again, that it where the bulk of the importance lay. The major aircraft manufacturers in the state--essentially Beechcraft, Cessna, and Lear in Wichita--received millions of dollars in defense contracts to produce military versions of their civil planes and to design and build both new models and components for other aircraft. Because of the knowledge base, skilled work force, infrastructure already in place in the city at the outbreak of World War II, other manufacturing firms soon set up shop in Wichita and any number of other craft were manufactured there as a result. Boeing, North American Aviation, and a host of smaller firms did business in the region during the war. Indeed, as a chart from the Aircraft Industries Association of America concluded about 34,500 aircraft were built in Kansas during the war, 11.5 percent of the U.S. total. Clearly, this marked the high water mark of Kansas contribution to U.S. aviation in the twentieth century.

The story of Kansas aviation since World War II has been one of trying to hang on to at least a portion of an ever shrinking manufacturing market. There were some notable successes, the business-class jets of Lear and Cessna became enormously successful beginning in the 1960s and have been a mainstay of manufacturing ever since. The state also became a haven for innovative general aviation entrepreneurs. For example, James Bede designed and marketed a kit for a tiny personal aircraft, either prop or jet powered. Additionally, Randy Schlitter formed a company to manufacture and sell sport and ultralight aircraft kits in Hays, Kansas. But the overall business trend for Kansas aeronautical firms has been downward. Rowe and Miner analyze this slide quite well, for instance, most of the firms that boomed in World War II either closed down altogether or greatly restricted their operations after 1945.

Aviation in general and especially in the American West very badly needs in-depth, sustained, question-oriented study. The rise of the air lines linking western cities deserves the same type of treatment that historians have given the railroad and other modes of transportation in the West in the nineteenth century. The development of military airfields in the West requires the same kind of analysis that has been the bread and butter of historians of the military frontier. "Borne on the South Wind" is one building block that can help in the process of understanding aviation in the larger West. As such it is a useful contribution.

A neighbor gave this to my 2 year old son and he loves it. Each page adds a new animal to find while repeating the animals from the previous pages. It is fun to try to find the animals and can be challenging even to the adult reader. The illustrations are wonderful. I would highly recommend this book for your child or as a gift to someone else's child.

An excellent book for all ages.Keeps children attention.