Sheridan Books

**The rating above is by the author. It was required by Amazon.com in order to submit this notice. The author gave a "4" simply because of the many excellent reviews the book received when it came out in print.

From the author:

"Just a quick note to tell all those interested that my book, "The Battle of Cedar Creek: Showdown in the Shenandoah,October 1-30, 1864," will be republished soon.

The new version is a completely revised and expanded edition, with much greater scope in coverage and primary source research.

The initial edition received the highest reviews, and, published in limited runs,the book has been a much-sought-after item according to those interested in the battle and the 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign.

Keep checking back to Amazon.com for updates. In all modesty, I believe you will find the book much-improved and well worth the wait.

Thank you for your interest.

Theodore C. Mahr
Dayton, Ohio
December, 2004

A famous Civil War General surprises a peaceful Indian village and defeats the native men. Hoig details this great victory of Custer. Hoig points out that in the Indian village, there were large numbers of women and children (collateral damage in modern language). Also, the village chief was peacefully disposed toward the settlers and white authorities. Custer used the attack as an example, this struck fear into tribes that were rebeling. This and Sand Creek were detailed as victories over a rebellious native people.

After a period of time, history re-examines itself. Hopefully, this battle and others of the West will be re-examined for new details. This is a good read from an excellent Western historian.

Bombards Bombards Bombards Bombards everywhere...Bombards to the left...Bombards to the right...now this is a definite Bombard!!

Great Choice, Great Service, Great Price.....Bombard Story.

What a story!!!!!

All the essential tips to get hired on as crew and how to get prepared for giving up the ratrace and living on the high seas.

Chris Sheridan's "Brilliant Corners" is a very comprehensive and detailed resource of the recordings of the genius pianist Thelonious Sphere Monk. The strength of this book lies in the many myths and falsehoods it dispels about Monk's career, from his early pioneering days at Minton's Playhouse to the near-debacle of his final Columbia recording (which is not nearly as bad as the author insists, at least not in its entirety). I was a bit misled by the title, for while this is a discography of the highest order, the biographical inclusions are kept to a minimum. In fact, the author will often tease the reader by referencing some important fact of "Mr. Monk's" life that influenced a certain recording, only to refer the reader to another book to get even a fraction of the story. This book is essential for collectors, and often fascinating for hardcore Monk devotees, but certainly not recommended for the casual jazz fan. Those interested in Thelonious Monk's life should check out "The Thelonious Monk Reader" edited by Rob Van Der Bliek (Search for 019512166X), or "Straight, No Chaser: The Life and Genius of Thelonious Monk" by Leslie Gourse (Search for 0825672295).

This is the first volume of V.A.Stuart's series on Alexander Sheridan. Anyone who likes Bernard Cornwell's Richard Sharpe series should like this one. These can be tough to find in any format, grab them when you find them.

Planning a cruise of more than one day on the ocean?
Take this book with you and be sure you have it in your grab bag at the unfortunate circumstances you have to abandon ship. But first give it a good read when you are still on terra firma.
One point of critique: This book was written in the time when portable GPS was not common. So this invaluable instrument is unmentioned. But in case of a breakdown or loss of your GPS, Captain Cargal has some nice shoe string navigational advice for you. Also the SAR (the Search And Rescue operation following the activation of your EPIRB) is not explained. Minor remarks, because the consciencious skipper must know these facts already from other sources.

Caribbean Cruising does not delve into any topics very deeply but does provide a good general overview of cruising the caribbean. Good book for getting the wheels turning.

This was Hal Roth's accounting of his participation in a single-handed race around the world. He's one of my favourite sailing writers and this was written well. It is engaging and in some ways you almost feel his pain as problems plague him on the voyage. Still, I am happy to have read it.

J. Sheridan Le Fanu's lesser known novel, Checkmate, involves self-interest, dishonesty, deception, revenge, and murder. Sir Reginald Arden, worried by mortgages on Mortlake Hall, is arranging marriage of his daughter Alice, unbeknownst to her, to Lord Wynderbroke, a middle-aged, wealthy peer. Some time previously Sir Reginald had ostracized his fiery, proud, spendthrift son Richard, but nonetheless he temporarily recruits his son's efforts in disguising the family discord from Lord Wynderbroke. Richard sees advantages to himself if Alice marries Wynderbroke, and discredits Mr. Longcluse, a recently arrived wealthy gentleman that has been showing romantic interest in Alice. Meanwhile, we readers are puzzled by Mr. Longcluse's relationship with a French citizen, a Monsieur Lebas, who is unexpectedly murdered in a betting parlor. The plot is further complicated by a murder that occurred some twenty years previously. Harry, a brother of Sir Reginald, was robbed and murdered outside Mortlake Hall. And so goes the early chapters.

The atmosphere is not as dark and threatening as in Le Fanu's highly popular Uncle Silas, but early on there is a vague concern that something is not quite right. A gentleman of apparently good credentials is ultimately revealed to be a formidable, highly wicked man; his meticulous steps to achieve revenge are reminiscent of a carefully played game of chess. The solution to this Victorian mystery is perhaps a little farfetched as it involves rather fanciful surgical techniques practiced by an unethical Prussian doctor. Nonetheless, Checkmate makes good reading and I give it four stars.

Checkmate (1871) is a good example of the sensation novel, a genre popular in Great Britain in the 1860s and 1870s. The Victorian public was accustom to Gothic tales involving adultery, theft, kidnapping, insanity, bigamy, forgery, seduction and murder. However, the sensation novels authored by Wilkie Collins, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Le Fanu, and others were considered particularly shocking because these crimes take place not in fictionalized Gothic locales, but in familiar Victorian domestic settings.

As editor and owner of the Dublin University magazine, J. Sheridan Le Fanu's literary influence was substantial, but following his death in 1873 his works faded into obscurity. Fortunately for the modern reader, M. R. James, a scholar of medieval manuscripts and a writer of ghost stories himself, helped restored Le Fanu's reputation by editing and reprinting (in 1923) Le Fanu's Madam Crowl's Ghost and Other Stories. Today, Le Fanu's short stories and novels are all available in reprint editions. Some have become television screenplays. Sutton Publishing released a reprint edition of Checkmate in 2000.