Stone Books

Michael Carpo is a young, rising newswriter at WIBN-TV in New York. When he receives a phone call from a man who is found dead and frozen in the Central Park reservoir, he is drawn into the investigation of a murder that takes him from his own East Village neighborhood to the elite art world of Christie's auction house and the Metropolitan Museum, where his college girlfriend may or may not be involved. With FLESH AND STONE, Mark Miano has put a fresh spin on the genre by believably mixing mystery with the medium of television news.

This was a terrific book and a great read. I can't wait to read the further adventures of Michael Carpo. Miano is to be commended

The marvelous,plentiful photos plus historical information about quarries and granite make this a book that schools,libraries and collectors should own.Many professionals from geologists, physicians,historians, and others have written revealing essays for the book. There are maps (even of the original earth landmass) and the sites of various quarries. Equally important are the personal pictures and stories of the quarry workers. A book to treasure.

On one level Flesh and Stone is the story of a nineteenth-century New England coastal town, Stony Creek, Connecticut, and its engagement with the granite industry. From riveting narrative to superb illustrations it brings art and literature to one page in such stunning detail that words on paper cannot possibly capture its great achievement. To be appreciated this book has to be read--and seen.

On a deeper level, Flesh and Stone narrates a history of America. What is "America" but a combination of towns and cities whose whole is greater than the sum of its parts? By looking intensively at one town--its people, its economy, its politics, and its environment--readers of Flesh and Stone receive a graphic sense of history from the bottom up. Ordinary people come to life and assume extraordinary significance as living, breathing, case studies in Americanization.

Readers as far away as Miami, Florida or Seattle Washington, or the mythic Cabot Cove, Maine, will see and appreciate one New England town and, in the process, come to appreciate their own local history. Ideally, superb local history like Flesh and Stone will inspire imitators across the country. They could look at no better model for how to proceed than Flesh and Stone.
Harry S. Stout
Professor of American History
Yale University

First published in 1973, this work remains the best place to start for any exploration into what the English ate, when it was consumed, and why they started. As a librarian, Wilson had access to an outstanding collection of cookery books that were given to the University of Leeds's Brotherton Library, and she made great use of them to talk about the "gradual changes and developments in the preparation of foodstuffs in Britain". This is not a cookbook and does not include historical adaptations. Any recipes that are included are there to illustrate a method or ingredient and are written as part of the text. Chapters are arranged by category or type of food. For example, chapter 4 covers "Wild fowl, tame fowl and eggs"; these subjects are then discussed in a chronological fashion, proceeding from the ancients, the Romans, early medieval, etc. Wilson includes a marvelous bibliography and footnotes that can be used to further explore the subject. For a work that is nearly 30 years old, it is still an essential reading and shelf reference volume for culinary and social historians. Any general reader with an interest in British history or social customs would also find it of great value.

As a writer and a devotee of history, I am always looking for the ultimate resourse books on anything and everything from A-Z. And that is what this book is, the ultimate book on what Brits ate from stone age days to Victorian era! Not a "quickie" book, but a thorough researched book on the diet of our ancestors. It broken down into chapters in food types, the one fault I have with the book (wish it had been broken down in periods of time or at least cross-references. Maybe next updated printing?

But if you are a writer needed to know if the food fits the period, you really need this. Easy prose so it does not come across as dull facts.

An absolute must for all romance writers!

Please Visit my gtoup and inform the Steiner Education for all humanbeing

Please Visit my gtoup and inform the Steiner Education for all humanbeing

As the title indicates, Fourtold is a collection of four stories with a forward by Gary Kilworth. The stories carry the reader from one extreme to another, but they are all entertaining on multiple levels, from horror, to action, to twistedly funny.

In SAN FERRY ANNE two soldiers struggle with how the war affected them as they struggle to save a young girl who is dying of hypothermia. One of the men fights to save her in place of loosing his brother in the war, while the other begins to believe in fate/god again after loosing it in his struggles.

THE RECONSTRUCTION OF KASPER KLARK is a bizarre tale of a man who's mouth is located in the center of his forehead instead of where it rightly should be. This story is at times funny and at other times horrifying as Kasper goes to the devil's 'plastic surgery clinic' to get his condition fixed.

THE TERRACOTTA WARRIOR is the tale of a monster who is released when an ancient Terracotta Warrior 'statue' is broken, releasing it to reak havok on an insurance fellow and a retired soldier and his staff. It's the story of bravery found in the most unlikely places.

Finally, THE LEMON MAN, is a disturbing tale of heaven, love, family, and friendship. Half of the story is of a man who's longtime marriage is in shambles and the way he horribly deals with the situation. The other half of the story is his revelations as he deals with celestial beings in a strange corner of heaven. The story ended with an incredible twist that left my jaw open.

Fourtold is a thinking person's book. Not that the reader has to stop and consider every point in the story, but that when the book is put down you continue to consider the tales, finding new and disturbing aspects of them even once the story is finished. As I read the book I liked the next tale even more than the last one, and when the last story was read I regretted not having just one more tale to read, though if there had been another one I imagine I would have just wanted one more after that.

When I preordered FORETOLD, I knew it was going to be special. I knew I liked Michael Stone's work since I read his short story THE DEVIL'S FAUNA on a webzine, and I knew that I had to order his debut collection.

Let me tell you, I wasn't disappointed.

FORETOLD is a collection that brings together all that is best of Michael Stone. Michael has a talent for creating believable while bizarre situations that his characters go through. From the surreal war story of SAN FERRY ANNE to the mythical wonder that is LEMON MAN, we see that Michael Stone is capable of taking your mind on an adventure.

SAN FERRY ANNE is the story that begins FORETOLD, and it's also a story that's able to deeply-impact its reader on a subconscious level. What strikes me with SAN FERRY ANNE is the reality of it. Here, we view two men who are in the midst of war, and we are able to see how the war has affected each of them. One is distraught over being away from his wife, while the other is ashamed because he could not save his brother. What I liked about SAN FERRY ANNE was the tone it had. It wasn't a story that could be perceived as a fantasy; it was raw and real, and that's what I liked about this story.

THE RECONSTRUCTION OF KASPER CLARK is the story that follows SAN FERRY ANNE, and it's one of my favorites in the collection. A few of my favorite shows are on the Discovery Health Channel (Mystery Diagnoses, Doctor G: Medical Examiner, Skeleton Stories to name a few,) and medical mysteries and abnormalities, no matter how strange or bizarre, always fascinate me. Kasper Clark is a man who has a mouth in his forehead, and he goes away to a clinic to get it fixed. Of course, the bizarre way in which the clinic `treats' their patients is something Kasper quickly comes to realize. I liked this story so much because of the way Kasper was developed and the way he interacted with the characters. The bizarreness of the piece is what makes it stand out between the other stories.

THE TERRACOTTA WARRIOR is much like SAN FERRY ANNE, but it has a more strange and supernatural element to it. The way Michael works with the characters and mythology in this piece is amazing. I could see the creature he used in this story in so many different ways in different parts of the story, and that's what I admire in a piece that primarily focuses around a strange creature of being. The uniqueness of the creature in this story is what I liked about THE TERRACOTTA WARRIOR.

And finally, the collection closes with LEMON MAN, and it was the perfect story to end the collection. By far the most bizarre story, LEMON MAN takes us on two journeys. One is through Russell, in which we learn of his love and his troubles with sleep paralysis. He sees a being that chokes him, that haunts his dreams. This creature scares Russell so much that the man is unable to sleep, which leads him to take drugs to keep him from sleeping. This ultimately causes him and his wife to break up, and ultimately brings Russell to buy the bike that Maria noticed him for. Our other character is a man named John, who is dead and in heaven. A principality of the First Choir leads him through the bizarre heaven-world and reveals to him that he is dead by suicide.

FORETOLD is a collection that is amazingly well done. Gary Kilworth said it best when he said that Michael Stone was a special talent, and coming from an award-winning author such as himself, Kilworth knows what he's talking about.

FORETOLD is a book you'll want to add to your bookshelf, because it's a collection that deserves to be recognized for its masterful storytelling.

Most people go through life with a career that they just happened to fall into, either influenced from someone or it was popular when it came time to go to college.

Not so with Lira Luis. She knew what she wanted to be when she was a child. As luck would have it, she had the natural talent and brains to be an architect. Perseverance, dedication, hard work, courage, passion and a go-get-it attitude are to her credit.

I have no background in architecture, but that didn't stop me from enjoying her stories of her experiences at Taliesen. I now have a deeper understanding and appreciation of her line of work and most especially of the direction she wants to pursue. I agree with a lot of her beliefs towards work, especially for organic architecture, sustainable design, her ethical standards and Frank Lloyd Wright's concept of "inefficiency".

This will break your typical stereotype of a successful architect as she reads about her passion for architecture and influences from Frank Lloyd Wright.

The sky's the limit for this vibrant, brilliant, creative & beautiful Filipina architect Lira Luis as she has achieved big accomplishments in her young career but her feet are firmly planted on organic ground.

I heard about this Audio Book and bought it to understand the actual environment of Taliesin West. I could hear in the audio the actual story about how life in their shelters are. With the actual voice of Frank Lloyd Wright integrated with Lira Luis's voice, the story and theory came to me as a very REAL story. I learned a lot about sustainable building and the idea of organic architecture. It is very educational and fun to listen to the adventures of the actual life of living in a Desert environment. I specially enjoyed listening to the personal journal by the author.

This book is lively and engaging. The author is able to put together an unlikely combination of cultures and spin a page-turning historical tale replete with fascinating detail and images. It's a great read: swift, entertaining, poetic, at turn humorous and gory. I highly recommend it.

I read a dozen books a month, but this swift, slim volume captured my attention immediately and never let it go. George Stone thoughtfully and economically reviews centuries of Celtic and Nordic cultural development, touching on the emergence of these "barbarian" peoples and tracking their countless accomplishments as they made their way across Europe and around the world. Celts in Iceland? Vikings in the Middle East? America discovered ages before Columbus? Warp spasms, silver hoards, Tolkien? The breadth of this book is simply astonishing. The author's use of literary genius, from Greek and Roman records (including notes by Strabo and Caesar) to Celtic and Nordic epics and sagas adds richness and incomparable depth to this wondrously illustrated volume. The National Geographic Society-and the title's young author-are to be commended. This is the best book I've read all year.

This book tells the story of how Muscular Dystrophy impacts the life of a woman...how the disease unavoidably molds and changes the course of her life...but more importantly, how she meets each challenge that it presents. For someone with this disease, even the small tasks that most of us take for granted require creativity and resolve to accomplish. I was actually on the edge of my seat over some of these everyday events. I was rooting for Elizabeth.

For me it is a simple story, well crafted. It gave me insight into MD that I would never have had without reading it. And perhaps most importantly, it portrays how the most difficult life becomes manageable when built on a foundation of faith in God.

Review by QUEST magazine:
In this well-written novel,the author, who has FSH muscular dystrophy, introduces Elizabeth, spirited as a child and as an adult, who's had FSHD since early childhood. The story is a tapestry woven of humor, creativity, spiritual insight, passive/aggressive acceptance, adjustment, struggle, balance, discrimination and, finally, trust.

Elizabeth becomes a teacher and dormitory manager in the inner city. As she faces a variety of challenges, she remains true to herself, motivated by her resolve to move forward even when a future doesn't seem to exist for her. Because of this resolve and her deep faith in God, she leads a life full of emotion balanced by the routine of daily living, always seeking to understand what life is about. Sound familiar?

In Garden Stone: Creative Ideas, Practical Projects, And Inspiration For Purely Decorative Uses, gardening expert Barbara Pleasant has produced an impressive compendium of tips, tricks, techniques, suggestion, and original ideas for blending stone, plants, soil, water, and light to create gardens of enduring beauty and inspiration. The informative and practical text is wonderfully illustrated by Dency Kane's 250 full-color photographs of lush gardens and garden stonework taken from gardens throughout North America. More than forty different gardening projects are presented, along with instructional line drawings to complete stone projects in association with highlight plants that are especially effective when used in the company of stone. Garden Stone is a unique and enthusiastically recommended addition to personal and professional gardening reference collections.

This is a lovely book, full of practical advice, good ideas and useful tips. It's well written and easy to follow, perfect for anyone interested in adding stone to the garden or creating a garden in a stony site. But even those who may not have an application for the book will enjoy Dency Kane's gorgeous photographs. It's a great book for perusing and dreaming.

Everything I thought I knew about Japanese gardens, especially so-called "Zen Gardens," was turned on its head by this enlightening gem. I will never look at, or think about, Japanese rock gardens in the same way. Highly recommended for a completely fresh approach to an old subject.

A collection of photographs of nothing more than raked gravel and sand, Leonard Koren challenges the many myths surrounding the `Zen gardens' of Japan in short essays interspersed throughout this book. He shows that their special context as part of temple precincts does not necessarily imply that these gardens were meant as `spiritual' installations, but only that they grew in the context of a specific aesthetic and function that developed in Japanese ritual and society.

While Koren's book is bound to ruffle the feathers of traditionalists that would like to idealize these gardens as an expression of Zen philosophy, I believe he contributes to the demystification that is going on in contemporary writing about Japanese gardens. In that regard this book is an important contribution to the ongoing dialogue and discussion about the origins and history of the dry landscape garden in Japan.