Stevens Books

The intercut of the church & prison was strange yet wonderful. The abolitionists gave Yomba an illustrated Bible and he gave his heart to Jesus[alternate version]. Cinque was the man who subsequently gave his life for his clan...Yomba was the informer who died beside Cinque in remorse. Cinque did what he did because he had to.

Put yourself in the shoes of the victims of slavery. Allow yourself to really, really feel what it would be like to have every aspect of your culture, values, language stripped from you. Imagine having to sit by while someone rapes your wife, mother, 11 year old daughter. Imagine having to eat an animal which you have been taught is poison. Imagine not having freedom to marry and having to watch your baby being driven away in a wagon, never being seen again, because one man has taken it upon himself the right to sell another. Sit there, close your eyes and then you will be brought into a deeper understanding of the people of the Amistad.

MAYA ANGELOU opens this moviebook with truth. The answer to why our story must be retold over and over again. The shocking truth that a black man's skin could be cut into a postage stamp size flap and sold as souvenirs by his racist white murderers. The generational truth that Cinque's remarkable, chilling story lives on beyond the relic flap of that lynching. America today is the reason AMISTAD must live another generation in hopes that we try to do better.

In the palpable words of Debbie Allen, the inhumanity of slavery in America was put on trial. When Joseph Cinque courageously and unselfishly challenged America's Declaration of Independence, its Constitution, its President of the United States, its abolitionists, its Supreme Court, and the Queen of Spain, the entire world watched. The truth about America's slave system was revealed. That truth must continue to be discussed and explored and remembered from one generation to the next. AMISTAD, therefore, should never die on a bookshelf or in history. AMISTAD forces Joseph Cinque's story into eternity. The pictures and quotes in this fine moviebook should continue to shame and inspire all of us today to paint a better existence for all mankind.

Ask a man of extraordinary intellectual power who is equally creative such as Steven Spielberg to define "truth" and he will show you it in living color page after page, clip after clip. You will beg to discover it over and over again because AMISTAD commands that type of loyalty to tell our story repeatedly to our children, black and white. Readers will gain a different perspective on "Give Us Free" each time. You will cry your own script to the young and help keep Cinque's purpose alive to make life better. The truth not only sets us all free, it keeps us free. AMISTAD is indeed truth.

The post list of additional reading resources about Amistad for both the young and the old are an integral part of this masterpiece.

Reviewed by Swaggie Coleman
for The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Just like his film on it, Steven Spielberg's work on this book, "Amistad: 'Give Us Free'", was well-executed. It reminds one of Alex Haley's "Roots". Both stir emotions. Every bit of the story shows how cruel a man can be to his fellow man. And, I disagree with all those who term this true story "a story of illegally enslaved Africans", (Mr Spielberg didn't). We are shying away from the truth, which is that no African, (not even one), was a legal slave. There is nothing that made one slave legal, and the other illegal. There is no legality in slavery. Absolutely! That treacherous and heartless people overpowered, kidnapped, and transported, (in the most inhumane manner), their fellow human beings to America and other places does not, in any way, make those victims of inhumanity "legal slaves". Regardless of all the face-saving tales that those who defiled our lands with the innocent blood, tears, and sweat of millions of Africans will like us to believe, the truth is that not even a single African volunteered to become a slave in any circumstance. They were all forced into it: with no option but death. Those who ripped and enjoyed the bloodied fruits of slavery merely sought cheap excuses in order to justify what they did. But we know that there is nothing legal in kidnapping and subjecting human beings to such a horrible condition.
'La Amistad' tells a soul-eroding story. Cinque and his cohorts are true heroes. They are heroes of freedom, heroes of justice, and heroes of human rights. Songs have been composed about them. Books have been written about them. Films have been made about them. And, history will forever appreciate their gallantry.

"THE BEST!", Its inspiring on one's will to keep himself and other Africans from the early slave trade which destroyed many families in America. Exciting effort to fight in a foreign country without knowing its language or laws. Very forth right in telling truth of American's untold "ugly" slave trade and what slave traders were willing to do just to keep it alive. Amistad's truth about slavery was very emotional, determined to express the will of any free man who's fighting williness to remain a free soul. A Heartfelt story about a lone struggle for Africans coming to America for the first time and having to face the ugliness of slavery, this was not right and should not have happened. All wasn't lost in the end and my true thanks to the many allies: former President - John Q. Adams, Mr(s) Baldwin, Gibbs, and former slave Joadson for their unyeilding efforts to abolish this ugly sore(slavery) which infested deep within America. I truely loved this story, because it was simply "THE BEST!" Also, thanks to Alex Pate and Steven Spielberg and the many others for bring out this ugly hidden part of America's history, I never knew this happened. This could have been me and I cried when I saw the movie. "THE BEST...."

Something did happen at Roswell all those decades ago, but it's not what people think. "Arch Angels II: The Grigori" is a unique and deftly written fantasy by Steven L. Fawcette who uses the real world as the basis for his compelling, complex, and entertaining story. Arch Angels known as the Grigori have come to make the Hart family's life a literal living hell as they try to uncover the schemes that lay behind Roswell. A nonstop breakneck thriller, "Arch Angels II" is a must for those who like their fantasy with a strong action/adventure element.

Archangels II: The Grigori is such an action packed book, it doesn't just belong in print, it should be on the Big Screen too. This was such a great book to read. I was unable to put it down because I couldn't wait to see what thrilling adventure was on the next page. I'm amazed at the impressive writing style and the attention to detail by the author. Steven Fawcette has indeed written two great books and I can't wait for the remaining five books in the series to be published.

The sequel to Archangels of Dreamland is as phenomenal, if not more, than the first title in the series. Archangels II: The Grigori begins where Dreamland ends and it's as if the story were a single book with the extended chapters.

Like the first, the novel is filled with action and adventure, a little science fiction twined with religion and each chapter will keep you captivated by the story of the Hart family & friends as they battle Majik-12 (covert government organization) and the Grigori (fallen archangels) while trying to stay alive and save their newborn infant sister, Hope. The story is fast paced, more adventurous than Dreamland, and from cover to cover, the book is action filled and easy to read. However, the ending WILL leave you wanting more.

According to the back cover of the book, the story is to become a major motion picture. I don't know which I want first, the motion picture, or the next book in this awesome series...both would be great!!

This book is so amazing - it reads fast - it thrills you - it makes you laugh - it make you cry - it almost gives you heart failure - it moves so fast - the action is great - you get so caught up in the moment - the ending just blows you away - I can not wait to get my hands on the next 5 books.

Okay...so I read thinking that Archangels II:The Grigori will nicely tie up book one, Archangels of Dreamland,only to learn that this is number II in a series of seven!
This book flew. I don't believe that I have ever encountered a faster read. The fact that Archangels II paced faster than book one is a pretty amazing feat. Having read many series, to find this intensity and artistry not only thriving in the second book but far exceeding any expectation I thought I had, leaves me awestruck.

Now, for a very backhanded compliment. I was totally agitated and frustrated by the ending. It left me desperate to get my hands on book three.

I am not a sci fi fan per se but I do love espionage and Christian fiction. So many genres are covered;the way all of this was tied together makes it a great read for anyone.

I simply couldn't put this book down. Salvo Ursari is a rom wire walker who performs in the circus. The novel opens with him walking between the towers of the world trade center, and this one scene is so heart stopping, so well written that I was actually sweating. I bought the book for my daughter and she loved it too.

I love this book.

I recently heard Mr. Galloway on the CBC talking about his writing and reading from this book. I usually don't buy hardcover books, but I was in the bookstore browsing for my nephew's birthday and I thought I should check out Ascension. The cover is beautiful, but the inside is even better! I started reading the first chapter, part of which I had heard on the radio earlier. He hooked me. I bought the book for my nephew and thought I could read it before I send it back east. Well, I read it, but couldn't give it up. I bought another copy to send!

What makes it so good? The characters--Salvo, oh how I love Salvo. He breaks my heart. The stories. What happens. One of the things I love about this, is that you can see everything so vividly, but he never uses really poet language. The story is told simply and beautifully.

I was haunted by the people in this book. Ascension is a very special story, full of special people. I HIGHLY recommend you purchase this book. You will fall in love.

Steven Galloway has written a remarkable book. "Ascension," is the story of Salvo Usari, the family he leaves behind, and the family he gathers around him. It's also an account of the persecuted Rom, or gypsy culture, the metaphors and techniques of tight-rope walking, and the lives of "circus people." The story starts with a hair-raising account of a tight-rope walk between the twin towers of the World Trade Center, and as I wondered where the author could possibly go from chapter one, I found myself traveling the world with the extended Usari family from one adventure to another. Mr. Galloway seasons the telling with stories within the story, and it matters not whether they sprang full blown from his imagination, or are, in fact, the secret tales of the Rom. They are marvelous inventions that root the family in an ancient culture, and help explain the vicissitudes of their time on earth.

Other than its obvious details, "Ascension," is an aptly titled meditation on rising to the heights of your abilities, and maintaining your balance once the height is achieved. All the characters, none more than Salvo Usari, climb above their circumstances, but one solid rule of physics wins out - what goes up, must come down.

"Ascension," is a book for everyone. It belongs on any adult, young/mature, or family reading list, and I hope, like the Usari family, it finds the audience it deserves. Highly recommended.

This is one of the most gripping books I've ever read. The first chapter is breathtaking. I read a lot of books, and this is the best one I've read this year, one of the best I've ever read. An unknown author whose work I highly recommend.

ASCENSION, by Steven Galloway

There are few people who will not feel the fearful tension of observing another person conquering the high wire. It is a sense that normally can only be endured for relatively short spans of time. In this story Steven Galloway has his characters, led by the high wire artist Salvo Ursari, carefully and persistently walk that wire through a lifetime beginning in the 1920's of central Europe and ending across the Atlantic in America ending in 1975. It is a lifetime of unrelenting suspense.
Like the wire itself, the technique of maintaining constantly recurring emotions of success bordering on disaster throughout a book is a path that is very fine and perilous. If an author is not careful the intense apprehension of so many situations may overcome the reader and all is lost, just as with the wire artist who pushes himself too far and falls. Shakespeare recognized that an audience can endure only so much before comic relief is required to preserve the life of a story. There is precious little comic relief to be found in this book.
Somehow Mr. Galloway just manages to stay barely within the allowed limits that keep his story from floating quickly downward into the abyss of ludicrous nothingness. This is a book in which anxiety is so pervasive as to nearly bring the story over the line of reality. A large part of the thrill of this book is that the author manages, like his high wire artist character, to stay just inside the bounds that avoid disaster. It is not an easy discipline.
As Salvo Ursari carefully steps through life, starting as an Hungarian gypsy and ending as something of an American circus super star, he and his family embroil the reader into most, if not every strength, weakness, and emotion known to mankind. The loyalty and prejudices of the group; love and hatred; jealousy and attachment; carelessness and curiosity; pride and humility; bravery and cowardice; fear and courage; simple family life and corporate politics; strength and frailty; pain and joy; and of course life and death are all found in the lives of his characters.
This is a story. A story of life, a story of stories. Truth is revealed, sometimes sharply and sometimes vaguely. As specific events unfold one always knows what is coming yet the story remains an intriguing mystery. A person might ask upon finishing the story "What was that all about?' at the same time there is likely to be a sense of gratitude for having read it and for the author having written it. Very entertaining.

Steve's talent and passion for child psychology is evident throughout the text. His mastery of Winnicott is unparalleled, as his is ability to carefully disect convoluted concepts in an easily discernable fashion. On a personal level, one would be hard-pressed to find someone who knows more about child psychology than Dr. Tuber. Having met Steve on several occassions now, I feel confident in recommending this masterpiece of his to both anyone in the psychological community, as well as anyone in the English-speaking world.

Steve Tuber's "Attachment, Play, and Authenticity" is brilliantly written, a true pleasure to read in its clarity, originality, and playful approach. Tuber's book is an especially welcome addition as a primer that makes Winnicott's complex and often-paradoxical ideas accessible to a wide range of readers. Tuber unpacks and explicates Winnicott's theories--including "good-enough" mothering, the child's capacity to play, and the "False Self"--through the use of examples from his own experiences as a clinician and as a parent. Tuber also draws on works of popular culture (J.K. Rowling and Bruce Springsteen, among others!) to illustrate the universality of Winnicott's ideas. I highly recommend this book to clinicians, parents, and anyone curious about the inner life of children.

"Attachment, Play, and Authenticity," is a beautifully written primer by Steve Tuber on the work of Donald Winnicott, detailing the richness and clarity of his writing and ideas. Tuber starts each chapter by grappling with a paradox inherent in an aspect of Winnicott's work, and then wrestles with each paradox by delving deeply into a paper or two by Winnicott that is particularly illustrative of that idea. The chapters focus on key aspects of the text, and each passage beautifully illustrates Winnicott's evocative language and depth of thought. Tuber elegantly unpacks the density of Winnicott's ideas while constructing a narrative for the reader, with each theory building on the last, leading the reader to an integrated understanding of the developing internal world of the child. Tuber uses examples from his own work as a therapist, his experiences as a parent, as well as illustrations from classic children's stories that have become classics precisely because, as Tuber shows, they so perfectly capture the emotional dilemmas of childhood. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to delve into Winnicott's work; this book is a must-read for therapists working with clients of all ages, as well as anyone who wants to better understand the emotional lives of children.

Steve Tuber's book, "Attachment, Play, and Authenticity," is an incredible resource not only for students of psychology, but for any mother or mother-to-be. Tuber transforms Winnicott's theories into accessible, everyday language and invokes familiar songs, lyrics, children's books, and other bits of popular media to highlight the manifold meanings behind every moment of mother-baby interactions. As recent mothers ourselves, we found Tuber's ability to capture and make come alive the subtleties of mother-infant interactions remarkable. He describes the importance of the mother's ability to mirror her baby's experience through her facial expressions, the particular ways in which the fluctuations of her mood contribute over time to her baby's development, and the importance of the mother's participation in baby's play--all of which are vital parts of the new mother's everyday experience. Furthermore, this book "gives voice" to the infant, providing mothers with new ways of understanding the inner life of her baby and highlighting just how very psychologically alive their babies are. Winnicott is known for the idea of "good-enough mother," and Tuber's repeated invocation of not only the inevitably but the importance of a mother's imperfect attunement to her baby is likely to resonate with and inspire confidence in mothers. So many new mothers feel overwhelmed with the "rules and regulations" of new mothering provided by the myriad books and internet sites with "to-do" and "not-to-do" lists. It's incredibly reassuring to think that we need only be good enough, not perfect, and that the mother's effort to repair a "failure" is just as--if not more--vital for the infant's emotional development than attempting to provide a perfect attunement at all times.

Attachment, Play, and Authenticity: A Winnicott Primer
Steven Tuber is Professor of Psychology and Past Director, Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology of the City University of New York at City College. His new book on Winnicott's work will be of great interest to play therapists. Of particular interest to play therapists is his Chapter 8, "The Meaning and Power of Play." Tuber states on page 119, that Winnicott "believes that the ability to play is the benchmark for the entrance into a life of health and vitality." Tuber explains Winnicott's notion of the duality of play, "It is the milieu in which the baby discovers her True and hence utterly private self and yet the means by which she engages others and develops support" (p.122). Another important Winnicott concept of play is "Playing thereby allows the child to consistently work on the boundary between illusory omnipotence and helplessness and thus has at its essence the quest for mastery over the inner and outer chaotic (that is, not yet understood) aspects of its experience" (p. 123). Tuber cites an essential characteristic of play in general emphasized by Winnicott, but in play therapy this quest for mastery over the inner and outer worlds, creating cohesive play and later verbal narratives out of the bewildering experiences of a young child is a quintessential task. Tuber also explains that play is about repetition; play themes are endlessly repeated. This redundancy is most valuable to the play therapist because if we miss something the first or second time around, chances are it will come around again. This, however, poses a challenge to the parent, especially the mother who is typically the primary caretaker because she must attempt to maintain a "good enough" connection with the child in the face of boring, repetitions of play themes that may after a point become mind-numbing boring. Ending these play sequences often as a result of necessity involves as Tuber explains the "good-enough" mother learning to help the child make a difficult transition. Among many clinically astute and remarkable insights expressed by Tuber in this outstanding book is his comparison to the role of a child therapist in ending a play session. He states, "It makes me think immediately of what it is like to be a child therapist when the patient doesn't want to leave at the end of the session. These moments speak to how difficult it is to end the magic of play, to end the magic of relating, and for children who have had parents who have been experienced as unreliable, how frightening and/or depriving it is to end the therapy session. These children expect that the ending of the session will also not be reliably done, such that they won't get back to the pleasure of playing and the pleasure of relating" (p.124). Tuber goes on to explain that not wanting to end the session is a sign of hope in child therapy because it represents a wish in Winnicott's term of continuing the "good object" and a fear that the "good object" will not come back. Although the "good object" is viewed as unreliable there nevertheless is implied both the wish and capacity for relatedness.
Tuber beautifully expands on Winnicott's concept of a holding environment and its crucial importance in the creation of the True self. But the very process of creating a true and separate self presents the young human with the ever present prospect of aloneness. Tuber eloquently elaborates on this point, "The capacity to be alone thus implies the need for relatedness. To the extent that the baby can evoke treasured people in its play, and use the play to engage imaginatively with these people in interactions that explore every type of affect the baby knows, then the baby can tolerate the aloneness and indeed come to thrive despite--actually because of--its awareness. We can also say that the capacity to create symbols allows the child to cognitively "hold" her parent more easily, creating a salve to combat aloneness" (p.127). The above examples are samples of the richness of insight and creative clinical process that this beautifully written book offers to my colleagues in play therapy. The other 12 chapters in this book expand on Winnicott's key conceptual contributions and his approach to therapy. This book will be invaluable to mental health professionals unfamiliar with Winnicott's work or those of us who need a refresher. It is a comprehensive, wise, and unusually readable summary of Winnicott's important contributions to child and play therapy. Steve Tuber is a first rate clinician and scholar. On a personal note I met Dr. Tuber more than 30 years ago when he did a Post-Doctoral Internship at the Astor Home for Children. Even in the early days of his career, he impressed me both by his scholarship and research interests and his ability to connect with even the most unintegrated children. I regard him as well as his book as a true gift to the field of child therapy.

My 10 year old son who doesn't like to read loved this history based mystery. It was great to see him reading without me asking him to read. I read the book as well Dan Gutman did a great job of mixing an interesting story with history.

Qwerty Stevens Back In Time is a wonderful book. Dan Gutman took his time on this story and made a detailed and fun chapter book. This book teaches you important lessons such as reminding you that you should never go somewhere with out telling your parents because they will get worried! I especially liked how Dan Gutman told some fun facts about Thomas A. Edison through this enchanting story.
In the beginning of this story, Qwerty Stevens, a thirteen-year-old boy, has a tough life. When Qwerty was in his young years his father died, which made his family very unhappy. To deal with his sadness and anger, Qwerty digs in his backyard. One day he was digging in his backyard and found a box. Qwerty ran into his room and burst the box open on his bed. Qwerty's mouth dropped open and his eyes widened larger than a quarter. Qwerty couldn't believe his eyes. Qwerty Stevens had found a time machine made by Thomas A. Edison.

If you are looking for a great book read Qwerty Stvens back in time Edison mystery.It's about this boy named Qwerty that was digging in his back yard and found Edisons back in time machine. So he hooks it up to his computer and goes back in time and gets stuck.If you want to know if he comes back read this book.My favorite part is when he finds the time machine.I would recommend this book to any one who loves history because it shows pictures of Edisons labratory.

The book Qwerty Stevens-Back In Time By,Dan Gutmanis an awesome book,if you like mystery and suspense.It's about this boy who finds a wooden box with a machine inside of it while digging in his backyard.Qwerty recinizes that the box says Thomas A. Edison. Qwerty soon finds out that the machine can take you anywhere you want. After awile he finds out that Thomas never patented it. He is soon to discover that that it can take you back in time also. After a man shows up(Ashley Quadrel) thinking that Thomas made an inventioncalled the "anywhere, anytime machine". He also thinks that Thomas burried it in his backyard. So Qwerty goes back in time to ask Thomas why he burried it, But Thomas says he didn't burry it.

I like it when Qwerty hears beaping from the machine, thats when Thomas was trying to talk to qwerty on the computer. This bok is full of suspense. The main character is Qwerty. He is tall, has brown hair and brown eyes. When he is mad or frustrated he digs in the backyard(thats how he found the box with the machine inside of it).He's also a pack rat. The ending of the book is the best!

Thirteen-year-old Robert Stevens, known as Qwerty for the mistake he made in his third grade keyboarding class, unearths in his backyard a large mysterious wooden box that has the name Thomas Edison inscribed with gold lettering.

Qwerty and his best friend Joey who lives in West Orange, New Jersey in a community called Llewellyn Park bordering the mansion that Edison once lived in,locked themselves in his room to discover what was in the aged box. To their surprise, it was Thomas Edison's time Machine.

Unsure whether to give the machine to the authorities, sell it for millions, or take it to school to show off to their friends, the boys decided to find out how the time machine works before bringing it out of obscurity.

Qwerty hooked up the wires from the machine to his computer and with a touch of a button he was transported into Thomas Edison's workshop where he helped him develop the electric light bulb. Qwerty Stevens had no problem getting there. However, he needs his older sister, whom he hardly says more than one word to, to help him return home safely.

The author cleverly depicts Edison's story while adding circumstances that bring his character into the 21st century. In addition to the text, Gutman includes a "Truth and Lies" section in the back of the book with one recommendation "Read the story first!" Also included are black and white photographs of Edison's mansion and laboratory. In the far back of the book is the chronology of Thomas Edison. Younger children will also enjoy this book as a great read aloud. Living in the next town over from West Orange, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book because the author captured the authenticity of the town. Children everywhere will enjoy this book but I know it will be a big hit in New Jersey.

This book is jammed pack full of SAGA info on critters of Krynn. I have gotten a lot of useful information from it. I wish they had more than just the two books on Krynn.

This is such a good role-playing aid. it is well-written, & visually superb. it is THE BEST MONSTER MANUAL that TSR has put out. The Bomb!

This book is well-written, lots of fun to read, and the illustrations are fantastic.

Fans of the novels will enjoy this as much as game players.

If you plan to play SAGA or you just red the novels, this book is for you. It is a narrative book by Caramon Majere. He shows us all the feinds and freinds in DL. The Illustrations are great and the set up is much nicer than TSR's past Monstrous Manuals and Compendiums. The reason I gave this only 4 stars is that the book didnt include mosses and fungi, and some plants that can play a major role in a SAGA campaign.

If you play the Dragonlance adventure game with SAGA, this book will tell you all you need to know to have any creature in your game! And even if you don't, it provides excellent background knowledge and stories about the creatures. It is great!!!

What a fascinating read this is. You realize that so many products (kitty litter, liquid paper, trivial pursuit etc.) were invented by very ordinary people living ordinary mundane lives and whose lives were transformed by a great idea. Truly inspirational.

The Big Idea is a great view into the world of great business innovation. The Big Idea looks in detail at some of the great innovative products of our time such as: the remote control, Teflon, liquid paper, Velcro, Microwave oven, USA today, Silly Putty, post-it notes and many other innovative products.

The Big Idea is good at is getting to the story behind the story. I was amazed that many of these innovations where thought of in a flash of inspiration, but took many, many years to be realized as products (Xerox, Polaroid and Barbie). I was also reminded of the personal and financial hardship that many of the entrepreneurial innovators faced. Many innovators had several (many) failures among the way to reaching their success.

The Big Idea also impresses the need to copyright, patent and trademark your creation so that you can reap the rewards from the creation. There are also a couple of interesting examples of innovation within a corporate setting.

If you want to innovate you need the commitment and persistence to stay with it for the long term. The Big Idea closes with the following lessons from innovators The Big Idea covers.

1. Think of things that never were and ask, "why Not" - innovations is doing what others don't see
2. The Power of One - Behind every great innovation there is typically a single individual driving it forward
3. Keep It Simple, Stupid - complexity kills innovations
4. First is best - own the consumers mind by being first
5. Try, try again - when you fail... try again
6. Risk Business - to hit homeruns you have to swing for the fence
7. Synergy is necessary - know you strengths and weaknesses and let other's strengths offset your weaknesses

The Big Idea builds these lessons out with a good level of detail and it worth the purchase price.

This book is perfect for any entrepreneur who would like a dose of inspiration and a quick read. Strauss describes the design process and marketing of many of our favorite products (Palm Pilots, Barbie dolls, Tupperware, cell phones) along with the difficulties these entrepreneurs encountered. Although the word "visionary" is overused in today's business world, these men and women were truly visionaries who marched to the beat of a different drummer. Strauss focuses on different rules of innovation in each chapter, and the book becomes a cohesive (although certainly not exhaustive) lesson on building a business.

This is a different sort of business book. Most are boring or self-important. This book was neither. Rather, it was a very enjoyable read while still being very useful. The stories were informative and entertaining, and, I thought, drove home the salient points. As an entrepreneur, it was helpful to see how others created great companies.

I heard about this book on the radio and picked it up. It was easy to read, entertaining, and very informative. The stories were great too - how people invented and marketed things like Post Its, the computer mouse, Trivial Pursuit, Kitty Litter ... It would be good for anyone who is an inventor, entrepreneur, or simply likes pop culture. It's like those Paul Harvey "Rest of the Story" stories.

If you have prominant Pluto placements, aspects or strong Scorpio in your chart, this book is a must have. I have studied astrology for thirty years and the things I found in this book amazed me. I don't think I ever realized what magnitude Pluto held until I read this book.
If you are an astrologer, you need to have this book as a reference. Kudos to Steven Forrest.

"Let's go get stoned...or drunk. Or watch television until we're bleary eyed blobs of protoplasm. Or eat, or work, or exercise until no human feelings are left. Or, if our denial mechanisms require the apperance of nobility, fast or meditate or maintain a yogic posture until we achieve the same state. Or read self-help books until we have reduced ourselves to a flurry of concepts and insights dancing around the top three inches of our skulls...

Extinguishing consciousness is easy; generating it is difficult..."

"Pure religion and pure psychology both fail miserably at such junctures. We need something that embraces both. In practice, except among 'fundamentalists' of either category, ministers and psychotherapists often play roles that blur into one another. The same can be said, in my opinion, for any counseling astrologer who's worth a nickel."

"...what do we mean by the word feminine? Easy, just ask Betty Crocker: "'Feminine' means emotional, nurturing, non-linear, creative...the same old traditional stereotyping that truly modern women (and men!) have been battling since long before Beatles roamed the earth...Sometimes, especially among Jungian thinkers, this old notion is dressed up in more sophisticated garb...

"There is in the human psyche a very real syndrome of interrelated, "transrational" qualities. That is a psychological fact. But in my opinion it is past time we stopped poisoning and confusing ourselves by calling them "feminine" and began calling them by their name: LUNAR traits... To be human is to access both the solar and the lunar aspects of our common humanity, and to experience their eternal cross-pollination."

"Where PLUTO lies in the birth chart, we are particularly vulnerable to distortions and navigational errors based on un- processed wounding [life] experiences...if you are pretending to be happy in your job, your friendships, relationships, religion, whatever, a Pluto...event will try to reveal that to you...what if a ...person makes a less than optimal response? The basic Plutonian contract is simple to say: you go to the dark or the dark comes to you..."

"No one has ever been, or can ever expect to be, nurtured perfectly. Parents are only human. Communities are flawed. The Shadow makes itself felt sooner or later in every life...on one hand, there is a temptation to say, "So quit your whining!" But so easily that can generate into denial and avoidance... On the other hand, there is the toxic-psychologist's exhortation that we reduce our lives to a resentful meditation upon our wounds. And given life's richness and brevity, isn't that a foolish waste?"

from Steven Forrest, THE BOOK OF PLUTO

For anyone intuitively saddened and subsequently turned off by the perceived stereotypes and actual limitations of both the disciplines of psychology and astrology, this alchemical book, combining the profound and cleansing essences of both in simple terms, will steer you down a very interesting and enlightening path. We "know" that astrology is much more than the sun signs you read in the newspaper or magazines. We "know", ironically enough, that many of the secular patron saints of many a religious conservative have been well known to use and follow the advice of professional astrologers (Ronald and Nancy Reagan immediately come to mind). But do you really believe that there is something you can be truly taught by this discipline, beyond how popular it can make you among progressive or artistic friends when you bring it up?

If you already do, you will get even more out of this book than you currently would think. Steven Forrest's approach is one that combines some of the essential ideas of modern psychology--Jungian and Freudian--with the metaphysical wisdom of the ancient and modern astrologer (and some of his own silly sense of humor) into a book that teaches you as much about yourself as it does the methods, overarching purpose and intrinsic, trans-cultural social value of this often maligned, millenia-old science/art form. If you have ever felt that the fundamentals of psychological perspectives on the human mind and heart and the astrological perspectives on the human soul are inherently antagonistic (and show themselves to be such when assessing the meaning and imapct of the same events of a human life) THE BOOK OF PLUTO will provide you with the synthesis you need to appreciate--and be healed-by both.

This book is easy to read, and very valuable. I did not find it antagonistic to religion either. I advise people to read his work in tandem with your own astrological chart, and the work of psychologist Alice Miller, to free yourself in ways you did not know you could be freed.

Steven Forrest's work on Pluto in the natal chart is a truly great work that is also incredibly useful. He introduces the beginning and advanced to the notion of the planet and astrological concepts in the chart. He infuses his own humor, charm and love of humanity throughout the book, which allows you to believe that he is there with you, as a guardian angel, as you are walking through the depths of Hades. This allows the reader to keep looking with an unflinching eye at some touchy and difficult-to-face topics in the beginning. He introduces Pluto by house, sign, and by aspect in separate chapters which are outstandingly clear and profound. He also deals with the transits and progressions . This is a book for people who want more than a cookie-cutter interpretation of their charts; the author asks that you use your imagination and your heart. It's a truly inspirational and illuminating book by a great teacher of psychological astrology, and a book I often keep going back to!

I really love in-depth and psychological books like this. Being a Pluto in 8th House person myself (with tons of Plutonian aspects), I am already quite "Plutonian" -- according to the author. I sort of knew this already, and I also knew a lot about the subject matters in this book already, as well as having researched it; but Forrest's writing is quite interesting and in-depth, and has the same intense and penetrating insight as another book on Pluto that I hold in high-esteem ("Pluto, The Evolutionary Journey of The Soul" by Jeff Green). I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about Pluto, or anyone who has interest in either Pluto or Scorpio and how these dark and powerful forces affect us all.

Steve Forrest is one of the few people I would recommend to both utter astrology novices and advanced astrologgers alike. He writes very intelligently, but can phrase his ideas in very simple, earthy language. It's definitely not for the uptight and prudish.
Make sure you read his "Parable of the beer can."

When you get Bright Balkan Morning you are likely to open it up and then leaf through it, looking at the photographs. After a few minutes of this you'll remove the CD from the inside back cover and put it on. Then you continue looking at the photos while listening to the sounds.

That in itself is a rich and satisfying experience. But don't stop there. Read the text!

It tells of Roma (aka Gypsy) musicians who have cornered the market on live music in polyglot Greek Macedonia. While they are at the bottom of the social order, anyone who wishes a proper wedding, festival, or party of any kind hires these musicians. The musicians generally perform in trios, one playing a bass drum while the other two play the zurna - a double-reed woodwind found throughout Eurasia and Africa. Their repertoire is drawn from the peoples who live in the area, or passed through at one time, and is sometimes more Oriental, sometimes more European - whatever the customer wants.

Keil and Keil give detailed accounts of several performances - a baptism, a wedding, and a saint's day festival - tell the life stories of a dozen or so musicians & family, and recount the broad history of the Roma in the Mediterranean as well as presenting a more focused account of their sojourn in Greek Macedonia. Blau's photographs range from intimate portraits, to dancers in full party whirl, through street scenes jumbled or measured, to serene landscapes. Some of his shots are so strikingly composed - the cover image, for example - that the effect is both subjective (Blau's aesthetic) and objective (we're looking at things, out there, in the world). Steven Feld's soundscapes give us the living flow of sound. Not only do we hear the twin zurnas flying through drum rhythms, but dancing feet, shouts of joy and exertion, motors churning, sheep braying, and Stevie Wonder piped in through a tinny sound system.

Bright Balkan Morning is a milestone. See it, hear it, read it. Take pleasure in it.

This book is, in a word, extraordinary; so is the accompanying CD recording, which gives in addition to music of the Macedonian Romany people, a slice of their life in cafes and markets. One hears their daily activities, the sale of pita, and various wares, as well as juke boxes and street sounds as the Mahala awakens.

Mahala, for those unaware, is the village ghetto to which Rom people are generally confined, although the anthropologists who compiled this book do not seem to know that it is Arabic for ghetto, and the same word used in North Africa and other Middle Eastern Muslim nations to describe the Jewish and Christian ghettos in which those dhimmi groups are similarly confined. Dhimmis are the non-Muslim minorities in Muslim lands, and their treatment (and in Muslim nation remains) generally described and defined by the Islamic laws of jihad.

Unlike most other recent books about the Rom, this one contains a massive amount of research on the lives and music of these people, as they live it; but what I like the most are the oral histories that provide readers with a real sense of the hardships suffered by the Rom in Greek Macedonia. While the book mentions the great and disastrous Turkish invasion of Greece in 1922, it does not note the great massacre of an estimated 150,000 Christian Greeks and Armenians in Smyrna on the Aegean coast that year. This undoubtedly included some Rom, as the town was then (as now) central on the Turkish coast.

But without knowing it, the authors have demonstrated some of the ill effects of Muslim rule, for they do discuss, via oral histories, the great liberation experienced by Greek Roma in 1924, when Turks were repatriated to Turkey and 1 million Greeks from Turkey to Greece. The latter may have lost some territory, but she gained liberation from Muslim oppression.

As Greeks from Turkey poured into Greece, the town fathers in Jumaya, for example, and presumably everywhere else the Roma then lived in Greece, began to allow the Roma to go to school with Greeks. Beforehand, the Turks had imposed separation on non-Muslim peoples. But with Turks gone, Greeks exiled the old cast system too, thereby relinquishing the system that had helped imprison Greek Roma in lives without equal education. Now, suddenly, the Rom could attend the same school as everyone else.

There are many wonderful features of this book, including the photographs and the music CD at its end. But make no mistake, the oral histories are the best feature, making this one of the best books on the Rom I have read to date.

--Alyssa A. Lappen

In the rich and wonderful BRIGHT BALKAN MORNING: Romani Lives and the Power of Music in Greek Macedonia (Wesleyan University Press. Includes a CD), Charles and Angeliki Vellou Keil write of how, since the earliest days of Byzantium, commentators have remarked, sometimes positively and sometimes negatively, on the power of the Romani people to "steal your heart." With its stunning photographs by Dick Blau and its evocative CD produced by Steven Feld, this book is just one more instance of stolen hearts. The Romani, who are sometimes called gypsies, have stolen the authors' hearts and are well on their way to stealing my heart as well.

I urge you to buy this book. I say so as someone who almost never reads anything published by an academic press. I am definitely not an anthropologist or a social scientist of any kind. What I know about the raw and the cooked doesn't get very far beyond my kitchen, but I couldn't put BRIGHT BALKAN MORNING down. This book ought to be that rare thing: an academic book with popular appeal.

The easiest way into the riches of BRIGHT BALKAN MORNING are Blau's black-and-white photographs of the Romani playing their instruments for weddings, wrestling matches, and the little parades that apparently form wherever they go. When the dances started up, I have a feeling that Blau joined in, for these pictures just pulled me along. I could smell the perfume in the grandmother's handkerchief as she held it out to Blau and, through him, to me, as we all danced together. I could see the textures of the road when I took my place in the wedding parade; I could almost hear the sound of the zurna (a kind of outdoor oboe) being played in my ear.

Of course Steven Feld's CD brings the actual sounds to life. The CD begins oh so slyly by introducing Romani music emerging from the ambient sounds of twentieth-century Macedonia. The Romani are, if nothing else, great survivors of history's cultural wars, and you can hear so many diverse musical strains-from the Muslim to the techno pop. Eerily enough, the rhythm of the dauli (a two-headed bass drum) being played sounds exactly like the bass-drum pounding at a high-school football pep rally.

I wasn't as happy with the book's writing style, but then the authors seem to be wrestling with shaping this heartfelt information of theirs into all the requirements of academic publishing, and that struggle oddly mirrors the lives of the Romani. This sometimes awkward prose becomes just one more instance of the dance the Romani inspire everywhere they go as they blend in and out of the moment's culture.

--R. M. Ryan
Duncans Mills, CA

Last night I planned to read this book for just a few minutes before going to sleep. Hours later, instead of sleeping I was transformed into the world of the Balkan Roma musicians and their incredible culture! I simply couldn't put this amazing book down. I love the stories and interviews with the old musicians, the informative history of the Roma people and their culture, the full-of-life photos, and the CD with soundscapes. All these pieces combine to give the reader a great view of a people and their heritage, and one that has been largely overlooked in the past. I found the work ethic of the musicians described in this book to be very inspirational. To be able to play all kinds of requests for days on end is really something to admire. Musicians of any genre could learn a whole lot from reading about the musicians in this book. Years ago, these authors turned me on to the subculture of polka in the USA (and made a polkaholic out of me) with their super "Polka Happiness" book. They have clearly done it again - informed the world about an incredibly rich culture that was largely hidden from view.

This book responds to my interest in the social context of folk music and dance. The focus was on the lives of the people who make the music, in this case the Roma of Jumaya (Iriklia) in Greek Macedonia. The writers give you quite a rounded view, describing how the music is performed, at what kinds of events, how people relate to the music and each other, how the musicians see themselves and their occupation and how making a living as a Roma musician fits into Greek society. There is also a strong sense of history and how things have changed over time in many ways - the history of Roma in Greece and other Balkan countries, the specific history of Roma in Jumaya, and the stories of individual musicians and their families. The consistently positive way that the writers approach their subject is also refreshing - they describe how Roma have used music to survive and, in some cases, prosper, and how in doing so they have contributed to the multi-layered fabric of Greek-Macedonian ethnic identities.

What is especially interesting to me is the authors' view of how multi-ethnic society works in Greek Macedonia as compared to Bulgaria or Former Yugoslavia, and how the strategy of Roma musicians is different in these different countries. In Greek Macedonia the musicians play the music of all ethnic groups in order to maximize their flexibility and income. During multi-ethnic celebrations the musicians follow a strict policy of playing everyone's requests in the order requested, so that no one feels that they have priority. There is a fascinating description of an ethnically mixed wedding where the families have to adjust their various wedding traditions to accommodate each other, making it up as they go along to some extent.

The authors compare and contrast this with the approach taken by Roma musicians in other areas of the Balkans. In Kosovo in the 1980s the Roma musicians are said to have purposely selected music from traditions from other than Serbian and Albanian in order to avoid conflicts. In Bulgaria the wedding band tradition is described as leading to a new pan-Balkan "fusion" style which borrows from many cultures but still feels Bulgarian. Ultimately the motivation behind each strategy is the need of musicians to make a living.

The book is interesting reading from a North American perspective as well. Keil contrasts the multi-ethnic consciousness of Greeks, where the same person may have several types of ethnic and national identities simultaneously, with the concept of "multiculturalism" which he describes as slices of a pizza in which there are lots of ethnicities but everyone is either one thing or another. This raise the question of what is really going on in such immigrant nations as Canada and the United States.

The accompanying CD is a potpourri of sounds, including music of various types, and there is a section of the book describing the contents of the CD. Some of the track titles are Market Day in Jumaya, Afternoon at a Mahala Café, At Home in the Mahala, New Year's Party in Serres, Taverna Party at Nikisiani. The combination of the text, the many high quality black and white photos and the soundscape are successful in putting you into the experience, as much as this is possible. There was also a nice balance between Angeliki Keil's straight-forward and very readable reporting of the lives of the musicians and Charles Keil's more theoretical musings about ethnicity, the music and the role of the musicians. My only complaint about the book is its weight - it's printed on very heavy, glossy stock, no doubt adding to the quality of photographic reproductions, but it is so big and heavy that you pretty well have to read it sitting up. An alternate title could be, "Your Big Fat Roma Music Book."

Steven Shrewsbury's DACK SHANNON is bigger than life with adventures that need to be read in the light of day. I recommend all DACK books written by Mr. Shrewsbury. I own them and they were well worth the money. By the time you finish the book you'll be calling for more Dack Shannon.

Can't deny Steven L. Shrewsbury here especially with a character as Dack Shannon. I read a few of Steven's work on The House of Pain, and that was my first introduction of Majestic Services. Dack Shannon is a bad ass of a character who I could imagine going to the big screen. Thank you Steven for writing this book and I just got done reading "Dust" -- this is a dark collection and read Black Helicopter on his website, much as Robert E. Howard created Conan The Barbarian; Dack Shannon is the modern version of Conan. One part detective fiction, one part action, and one part horror then you are halfway there. Steven is the 815 area's best kept secret. Pick up this collection and be looking for his next story coming out soon. I won't say of the details right now because I want him to speak of this story; but one thing is this -- there is no stopping Shrewsbury, and it will be an honor to be in the same anthology as him. I offered to loan him my spiders from House of Spiders to give Dack Shannon something to shoot at.

I'm not a fan of Steven Shrewsbury's chosen genres, but have become addicted to reading his books on a regular basis. The hero of Bulletproof Soul - Dack Shannon - has helped win me over.

Dack Shannon is a flawed man beset by inner demons. He has a soft spot for children, war veterans, and innocent folks at risk. But God help the bad guys who cross his path.
Dack is a larger-than-life character, intriguing and unusual.
Abandoned at birth, he was raised in a Catholic orphanage and holds few things dear to his heart. As a black ops specialist, his allegiance is to Majestic Services and his mysterious superior, Hank. Dack is an albino, 6'5" and skilled at rooting out and killing those who are deserving of such ends. He operates outside the law, accountable to no one as he fulfills each grim assignment. Dack does the dirty work, and in most cases law enforcement gets the credit as he fades into the night.

In these twenty related tales, Dack Shannon and his compadres take on evil doers in their quest for justice. Whether it be drug dealers, NSA spooks, a demented arsonist, or Goth grave robbers, no criminal prevails for long. The strength of this anthology is the author's vivid imagination as a story teller. His characters have depth and charisma. Steven L. Shrewsbury is making a name for himself, one book and one distinctive character at a time.

The albino bad boy is back! I am honored to get a copy from Shrewsman himself! Twenty stories that make one keep turning the pages. These are stories that get in your face and make you shake your head at times. I really liked them all, but a few more than most. "Damnation Angels" rocked. The aging porn star as a bio weapon--Jesus! How did he think of that?

That said, the idea of the loner agent, Dack Shannon, is a good one. He works well as a diseffected, cold angel of death in these stories. I loved Nocturnal Vacas, and this is a super follow up.
The book itself is well made and I liked the anarchy symbol embedded on the back cover. 2 thumbs up!

First off, I'd like to say I loved reading this book. The tales were action-packed, and the characters were all intriguing. I found myself reading along, and getting so entranced in the plots of each story, I didn't want to put the book down.

This is honestly the first fiction anthology I've ever read, so a few things were new to me. Most of the tales are written from different points of view, which was of great benefit, I thought, to the overall collection. You tended to get a different feel for the characters, seeing them first from the third person perspective, and then later in first person, a new look from inside Dack's mind. Definitely have to give a thumbs-up there.

I especially loved the general notion of most all of the stories, in the fact they were mostly 'vigilante justice' tales. The fact a group of individuals (such as the super-secret group, Majestic) can operate outside the normal rules and laws definitely lends itself to some great fiction. Granted, it also lends itself to some hefty barbarism, so I'd have to put a disclaimer in here: this book probably wouldn't be a great gift for children, or those with weak stomachs (myself, I loved every minute of it).

All in all, the entire book was great, and I recommend this book to everyone.