Authors Books

The Sista Hood: On the Mic is a great book for young girls on so many levels. For starters, it's set within a hip hop background, a place that is hugely populated by men. Second, the novel shows that young women can obtain any dream they have as long as they work hard and persevere. Third, and just as important as the first two and the others not discussed, The Sista Hood illustrates that sometimes, girls (and women) accomplish their goals because of their "sistas," those girlfriends that are beside them through the good and bad times.

A fresh perspective on the urban novel--written by a Latina author, chronicling the struggle of young Latinas struggling to achieve their dreams of reaching the top of the hip-hop world. (summary by the Latino Recommended Reading List from the Association of American Publishers's * Publishing Latino Voices for America Task Force)
The Sista Hood On The Mic is an exciting book for teens who love music and love to read. It's a fast paced book and would make a great movie one day. This is a wonderful new series with strongly written multicultural characters. (BELLA Online)

This Book is "REAL". This book Not only talks about our every day lives (teens). But it also talks about the social issues, of how a Latina is seen in a world different from her's. The author did an awesome job combining 5 characters, who are from different backgrounds, and still have the same interest, hip-hop. Mariposa teached us that whatever you want to do, despite what others say, you can do it.

The Sista Hood by E-Fierce draws you in from the first page with the bold yet questioning voice of Mariposa as she pines away for school heartthrob EZ (Ezekiel) on the bus home from school. EZ has fallen for Jessica Hoffman, aka J-Ho, and Mariposa's jealousy, after befriending EZ at camp, launches the story. But it's a lot more than a book about a girl pining after a boy. E-Fierce manages to engage many contemporary issues about race, culture, sexuality, and popularity in this engaging tale of friends and sometimes enemies who are all trying to find themselves, as well as separate and learn from their parents. The girls have plenty of very heavy, adult issues to work out, and test the boundaries of family and friendship, forming much more than a clique. How they look out for one another, how they argue, how they learn who's worthy of caring about and investing time in, are important lessons here. Written in a fast-paced style, this had me rooting for the girls to win their talent show.

In a somewhat surprising (to me, at least) turn of events, lesbianism amongst these students comes up, and save for some parental freaking out and macho posturing/homophobia amongst their classmates, it's presented as pretty much normal, just one way of being amongst many. The questions Mariposa asks herself show her to be very self-aware; she's not perfect, and wants to do the right thing, but her confusion over what the "right thing" to do, as evidenced by her various to do lists, proves her willing to work on herself to improve not just her life but those of the people she cares about. Issues of class, race and identity, both in terms of discrimination and how each character feels about her own background, permeate the book, but in a way that makes the reader ask questions as well; Mariposa starts off with some very strong views that she has to rethink as her circumstances and feelings change. The use of hip-hop throughout, both by Mariposa and the influence of that culture, is everywhere in this book, with the idea being that these characters can be a part of hip-hop, not just consumers of it. I'd recommend this to any teenager, or adults like me who like engaging, unique YA novels with strong characters and something to say. I look forward to the next installment in this series.

Mariposa or "Mari", an intelligent, Puerto-Rican fourteen-year old living in San Francisco, aspires to be an MC. While her parents are going through a divorce, she spends a lot of time alone, writing lyrics that depict her pain and how she sees the world through her eyes. She becomes attracted to Ezekiel "EZ" Mathews, another aspiring MC, whom she meets at summer camp and who also attends her high school. The problem is that EZ, being three years older than Mari, refers to her as Lil' Sis instead of what she really wants to be, and that is his girl.

Due to EZ's urging, Mari befriends his younger sister, Sadie. Along with Mari's best friend, Liza and Sadie's best friend, Evita, the girls form an all-girl group called The Sista Hood. Mari rhymes, Sadie sings, Evita plays keyboards and Liza dances. The girls learn how to bond through their daily rehearsals for their high school's talent show. They end up learning so much about each other and mostly how to have each other's backs through the ups-and-downs that are common, and uncommon, to a teenage girl's life.

E-Fierce does an excellent job of illustrating to the reader what life is like for Mariposa, "butterfly" in Spanish. She touches on issues that any teenage girl growing up in an urban city would witness - divorce, a parent's alcoholism, homosexuality, teen domestic violence, race relations and teen pregnancy. She also makes an admirable effort to show how Mari and her friends come together to be a support to each other, step-by-step. Girls reading this novel will be able to gain so much from this book and hopefully apply Mari's learnings to their own life.

This book was written from Mariposa's voice and sometimes she would say things that were not consistent with her voice/language from other parts of the book. Other than that, I would highly recommend this book to middle and high school girls that struggle with friendship issues.

Lena Willis
APOOO BookClub

JRR Tolkien's late work Smith of Wootton Major has been published in a variety of formats. The version I am reviewing here is the Extended Version edited by Verlyn Flieger. It is preferable to all other versions, and it is unfortunate that Tolkien's US publishers have not made it widely available here.

Smith was first published in 1967. It is a charming story, set outside of Middle earth, in a place and time that still has links to Faery. Certain privileged individuals, such as Smith, are able to travel in Faery and learn from its wise inhabitants. The story is usually taken to be Tolkien's admission that his life was coming to its end and that his gifts must be passed on.

The Extended Version publishes Tolkien's original plans and drafts for the story, including a fascinating chronology that recalls the intricate Tale of Years in the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings. Part of the charm of Tolkien's works is the extensive and very apparent preparation he put into his tales. Nothing was ever produced without a long pre-history of writings and re-writings that often changed the story many times before it reached its final form. Flieger's editorial comments add much to our understanding and appreciation of this work as well.

Everything Tolkien wrote has an air of Faery at its best. This short work, which can be read in an hour or so, has some of the deepest and most inspiring links to that realm. It is the fay star which can be passed on but never given up, immeasurably enriching those who read it in the right spirit.

This is the quintessence of Tolkien's work and my favorite short story. There are writers that craft a good tale and then there are others who have actually been there. This book proves that Tolkien is among the latter.

In the little town of Wootton Major, they have a wonderful tradition where a special cake is baked every twenty four years, and eaten by twenty four good children. But, when a magical Faery star is slipped into this year's cake, it is eaten by the local smith's son. And so the life of the younger smith is changed beyond anyone's imagination - he is marked by beauty of face and voice, and (unbeknownst to anyone) he can even visit the land of Faery whenever he likes. It is a life of magic and giving.

I have long been familiar with J.R.R. Tolkein's famous books - The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings - but, this cute little book shows that just about everything that he put his hand to he did beautifully! This is a most wonderful little book, one that is sure to charm anyone who believes in beauty and wonder...and maybe hopes just a little that that land of Faery is a real place after all!

J.R.R. Tolkien's short work, "Smith of Wooten Major," which he wrote late in life, has already appeared in several fine editions, both by itself and in combination with other pieces by Tolkien, and most of us Tolkien enthusiasts already have it on our shelves. So why another one now, and why should we buy it? There are several compelling things about this book that make it highly attractive to those seeking a deeper understanding of Tolkien as a writer and thinker, and I'll only mention four here. First, this extended edition includes an important never-before-published essay by Tolkien on the story and on Tolkien's views of the nature of Faery, of its importance to him, of faery tales, and of the role of allegory in stories of this kind. It is a fascinating piece that provides new insight into Tolkien's thought as an artist trying to capture glimpses of Faery in his writing. The essay is in some ways an echoing companion piece for his famous earlier essay "On Fairy Stories," in which, among other things, Tolkien outlines his theory of sub-creation that he executed so successfully in "The Lord of the Rings." Second, the book contains never-before-published early notes and draft manuscripts for Smith, several pages of which are reproduced in the book itself in their original hand-written form with helpful transcriptions on the opposite page. These papers not only show Tolkien actively creating and revising his story and the history of its characters, but they also show Tolkien's working methods as a writer and so demonstrate, in a microcosm, the methods he used on such a large scale for "The Lord of the Rings." Third, Flieger's editorial contributions are very helpful. She provides an afterword that discusses the critical treatement of Smith, its genesis as a story, and outlines the new material which, as she says, allow the reader to follow "the authorial progression from explanation to inspiration to formulation to painstaking revision." Flieger's notes are also very helpful, for she points us to relevant matters in Tolkien's other works and illuminates puzzling aspects of Smith. And fourth, this is perhaps the first edition of Smith that takes Tolkien's statements that it is not a children's story seriously. He called Smith "an old man's book, already weighted with the presage of bereavement." Previous editions of Smith have ignored this statement and dressed the tale up as a children's book, presumably based on the unquestioned assumption (which Tolkien questioned very sharply in "On Fairy Stories") that because this is a faery tale, and because it is short, it must be for children. This edition honors Tolkien's view not only of Smith but of the importance of Faery and faery stories in general by beautifully reproducing the tale and the lovely Pauline Baynes illustrations, which were made for the first edition, and by setting them within a handsome hardcover text that Tolkien readers will prize very highly. This is a must have.

This new extended edition, edited by the estimable Verlyn Flieger, is a must-have for students and admirers of Tolkien. Of course, most of you will already have Smith of Wootton Major on your bookshelves, either in its own volume or in one of the several collections in which it has been reprinted -- so why get another copy?

Because Verlyn Flieger has included several additional (and essential) pieces to the Smith puzzle that have never been available before. These include: Flieger's introduction and afterword on Smith; Tolkien's Note to Clyde Kilby on the Genesis of Smith; his draft preface to a proposed new edition of George MacDonald's The Golden Key, from which kindling the story of Smith was struck -- though the preface was abandoned and the edition of The Golden Key never published; a long essay by Tolkien on the internals of Smith; a timetable and cast of characters with never-before-published details; and most interestingly, the entire draft of Smith, in both typescript and manuscript, reproduced in facsimile.

This is invaluable material for anybody interested in the development and meaning of Smith of Wootton Major. Prior to this edition, Verlyn Flieger quoted from some of these unpublished pieces in her 1997 volume A Question of Time: J.R.R. Tolkien's Road to Faërie, and even Tom Shippey (in The Road to Middle-earth) acknowledged the advantage she had in having seen this material. Now, it's available to all of us.

My one complaint about the book is that it is poorly produced (by HarperCollins, Tolkien's British publisher). The production quality -- and sadly, this is typical of British-made books of the past several decades -- is rather low. The spine is glued, rather than sewn, and it creaks and cracks, threatening to break any time the book is opened. The paper is like stiff newsprint and has a tendency to smudge. Terrible. But unfortunately, this volume has not been printed in the U.S., and the content is important enough to overcome the lackluster production quality.

This book can be best described as a "look into the depths and crevices of the soul of a black man". Mr. Parks, although still young in this game called life, has captured through his experiences, the essence of his mind's eye. With each word....with each phrase....with each line.....I get a front row seat to his soul.

I look forward to the next masterpiece.

This book was very well thought out and was creative. Although harsh at times, it kind of brings a certain reality into perspective. I beleive that many of us live two or more lives, a professional life of today in 2001, and another life at home that has been passed to you from generation to generation. Mr. Parks put both lives together in fine print for all to see, like it or not. That's the beuty and the brutality of it. He kind of made me feel like there were hidden messages between the words that either you saw or you didn't but either way the overall outcome was what you wanted it to be. The effect this book had on me was more than just the pleasure of reading a different reality on life, but it served me as a motivator to get me to express myself somehow. It was very motivating and entertaining. It shows a true freedom of expression to it. I like how he left everything up to the reader to interpret, giving anyone and everyone a different understanding of what Mr. Parks was trying to say. This is definately one of those books that you could read over and over and truly get something different out of it everytime you read it. Motivation or simply entertainment, even a lesson or two, this book is capable of touching a wide arena of readers.

Time-that is what's captured in Richard A. Parks' work. He takes you through several periods of his own life, and each page you turn reveals a different layer. Park's book allows you to see the warm, funny, angry, compassionate sides of a man. It even allows you to see vulnerability, which increases the impact of this man's words. His outspoken essays are thought provoking, and so are each of his poetic tributes on life, love, loss, and strength. You get to grow with him as you experience his life through his words, and it is a compilation of work that everyone can truly vibe with, no matter your age. This writer's talents are unlimited, and people will be able to read his work throughout time. He has definitely left his mark in the best way---through his words.

Poet Richard A. Parks, Jr. pens poetry which swings the closet door of his personal experiences wide open. Exposed are some of the storms he survived, loves he lost and lessons he learned along his path to manhood.

Someone Is Sleeping In My Head is definitely for those who believe that our brothers don't know how to communicate effectively. Richard A. Parks, Jr. disproves this theory as he invites readers into his head, his heart and his soul with his brilliantly expressed poetry.

I saw an ad for this book at a web site called Mental Satin that my wife told me about and this book was featured there. I saw the title and the artwork on the cover and i figured this was just a bit too deep for my taste. But i was pleasantly surprised. This is a funny book. Parks has his moments of deepness and the reality of his experiences stand on thier own but this young brotha made me laugh at things i never felt were humorous. His essays, "Blockbuster versus Bankbuster" and "Where Are All The Single Black Women?" had me in tears. I enjoy books that break things down to levels where we all can understand. Mr. Parks did that for me and i thank him for that. Well done sir....well done.

This is one of the best books I have ever read on the Christian walk. I would highly recommend this book to any new Christians. It is deep without being overwhelming. After reading this book, I immediately began ordering more Ellen White books. I haven't been disappointed with any of them.

Without a doubt, once one has read this gem of a book, it will be confessed that Steps to Christ is one of the Greatest Christian Classics of all time! One of the greatest things that the author, Ellen G. White, has done, is take the complexity out of a relationship with Christ that has been portrayed by too many who do not clearly understand. She shows a clear and steady path that can be followed by any and all who sincerely want to come close to Jesus. Because the author had such a great understanding of what it means to surrender, trust, and to follow Jesus, she is able to give in simple, easy to understand language, step by step guidance to bring the child of God into a life of humility, repentance, forgiveness, prayer, and service! As I was recommended to by my University Professors, to read this book at least once a year for the rest of my life, I have found over and over again deeper and deeper insight to my relationship with Christ, bringing me closer to His desire for me! My hope is that you will pick it up and read it too, that you may know the Sweet Jesus that I have learned of!

This is one of the best Biblically-based books that I have read on the lift of Jesus! I absolutely love it and would highly recommend it to anyone who would like to learn more about Jesus Christ. It's a must buy, in my opinion.

Of Ellen G. White's many astounding books, this is probably her best seller. Literally in the tens-of-millions. A beautiful guide to understanding and personally accepting Jesus Christ and His Grace. The perfect gift for anyone even considering following the Son of God. And despite false accusations from many, after reading her inspired works you'll better understand why she is America's all-time best selling female author, and most widely translated of any gender. A beautiful light to the real Biblical Jesus.

"Steps to Christ" is a wonderful book! If you could just read one book, this would definitely be the best one to read indeed! It brings God's love closer to you than you could ever imagine. It opens your eyes to just how much God really loves you, a love that none of us deserve. This is a must-read classic! I would highly encourage anyone to get this book and read it and pass it on! You'll never be the same. It opens to the heart the great impact of the Gospel and shows the way, the only Way, to salvation-Jesus Christ.

This is a really wondeful collection of stories. Two-Rivers takes us from Sapawe, Ontario to the streets of Chicago with stories that are immediate and from the heart. He is a terrific writer who takes us on a great journey of distance, time, and emotion.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this book that brings back fond memories of my own Ojibwe upbringing. Two Rivers writes with a style that is raw and true to his Anishinaabe people. Gchi Migwetch Eddie!

I have known of E. Donald Two-Rivers' work since he started the "Red Path Theatre Company" of Chicago, and am glad he found the time in his busy schedule/career to write a book on short stories based upon the Native American experience(s).

Good Luck E. Donald; and may the you always stay in the Gods' favor for Poety & Muse.

David Andrew Shawanokasic, Menominee

I knew Harold Ball. I wasn't his friend because, as this book explains, for most of his life he drove people away. I wasn't at the party that changed his life, but I know some who were. In fact, I know everybody in this book. Set in the city, on the rez or on the road, these stories read as real to me as the last time I stepped out the door or walked into a truck stop. Each person has his or her own fully realized voice. But what recommends this book most to me are the narrator's voices.

Many writers talk about cultural conflict, the Relocation Act or going back to the reservation, but few express it in more than one voice. Eddie Two-Rivers has the classic short story writer's gift for implication: "It was mid-afternoon-the time of day for sighing. That second when everything is just right and silence slices through time. A slight wind rustled the leaves of a nearby tree and the moment was lost to the past." (p. 54) He evokes nostalgia: "Timber supported the town and everyone in it. I remember it as a green, blue, and brown place: forest, sky, water, and sawdust everywhere. A great place for a kid." (p 221)

Yet he also has that educated awareness that summarizes whole decades in short, sociological parapgraphs: "Bill and Glenda thought of themselves as second-generation urban Indians. Their parents had moved to Chicago's South Side during the 1950s in accordance with the Relocation Act. They met at Red's, a blues bar on Thirty-fifth and Archer Avenue. It was love at first sight. They dated a couple of weeks then decided to live together. Their families disapproved so they moved to the more liberal North Side. Both had been raised in working-class homes. Both regarded their families as being provincial, not with the times." (p. 144)

But Eddie Two-Rivers also understands deeply the power of writing to heal communities and make each of us whole: "Everybody got something they do to make themselves feel better. Writing is my medicine." (p. 83)

You may see it in other writers; you can hear it here.

Ed Two-River's book Survivor's Medicine is an important contribution to the literary world both for Indians and non-Indians. The stories unfold to present a fresh perspective on the human condition in general, and the reality of American Indians specifically. As an educator, the collection of stories explores a spectrum of issues and themes that makes it a dynamic book for teaching in the classroom. Each story broadens the reader's perspective about the reality of American Indians' experience today and challenges the reader to consider and question his or her own perceptions. It grapples with history, politics, and culture in a way that is accessible and poignant to audiences of all ages and backgrounds. Survivor's Medicine can be used with students of all academic abilities. The story "Slow Walker: Hero of the Mud Flats Battle" which tells the story of childhood lessons and lifelong memories fought out in the bush in Canada, can be read to a third grade classroom or in a college literature class. I highly recommend this book for educators at all levels and encourage Native educators across the country to use this book with their students. Mr. Two-Rivers is a wonderful and rare role model for young Indians today. I anxiously await his next book.

Talon and Fang is, without a doubt in my mind, the best novel that the author has written in the entire series.

It's what would be called a Flashpoint. To any new readers to the series, it'll be very confusing if they pick up the older novels after reading this one.

Mark has written a novel that is very emotional, tragic, but touching and out and out uproariously funny in several sections.

It begins almost thirty years into the future. The entire face of the Outlands has been changed, much to the efforts of the Cerberus exiles.

Sam has taken total control of the continent, and a good part of the world as well. The nine baronies were destroyed completely in a five year war that took place after Cobalt managed to rebuild his power base and launched an all out assault against Cerberus.

Kane, Grant, Lakesh and Bry are the only ones who managed to survive the wars. Both Kane and Grant were instrumental in the victory over the nine barons, but the cost to both men was insurmountable.

Grant lost Shizuak, and Kane lost his wife, Brigid, when they rescued him from the hands of a cult, The Nirodha, based in India. That single even left more of a scar on Kane than any of the wounds that he had suffered over the many years he spent as a Magistrate, and then an exile fighting the Barons.

He has spent over twenty years researching a means to travel back in time to fix what had happened, so that he wouldn't have to suffer as he has. Even Grant, his partner, and his best friend, turned his back on Kane, thinking that he has become totally fused out because of what happened.

Kane however, has a plan. Sindri disappeared, and was never heard from again, but Kane realized what the little man did. He managed to trap himself in Zero time, using the operation Chronos facilities on Thunder Isle, just before the reactor reached critical mass. He is critical to bring about Kane's plan to life.

As always, Kane has a number of obstacles to overcome. First and foremost is Tanvirah, the daughter of Lakesh and Erica van Sloan. She is now the Scorpio Prime of the Nirodha cult, like her mother before her. She is under Sam's orders to try and win Kane over, with any means at her disposal. Grant even tries to stop him, and the fight that ensues is one of the more entertaining scenes in the novel.

But, despite as crazy as he appears, Kane's whole scheme might actually work, and after bringing Sindri back from the Zero time he had been trapped in. Together, he and Sindri use the remaining TAV to travel to the City of High River, formerly known as Cobaltville.

Surpassing even more trials and tribulations, they reach the city only to be captured and whisked off to China where they would face Sam, the Imperator.

Here, Kane confronts the hybrid and discovers exactly who and what he is, and during the confrontation, he learns the Imperators great plans. His own plan to send Sindri back in time actually succeeds, but at the cost of his life.

Once again, this is the best novel that the author has written to date, and I am very eager to read the conclusion.

How does Mark Ellis do it? Just when I think I've read the best that he has to offer, he blows me out of the water with another masterpiece. As I read these OL novels, I am completely immersed in the story and the plot.

Talon and Fang is one of those which kept me turning the pages until the late hours.. Great character development, typical Outlanders humor, and of course the mystery and suspense that only Mark Ellis can weave.

This novel represents a major event in the mythology of Outlanders. Most series novels of this type put you right back where you started from, without altering the fabric of the characters or the format. Talon and Fang takes an extra step and goes beyond this limitation.

This book has action, adventure, life-threatening situations, romance, and mystery. More than your usual action/adventure beat the bad guys plot, this book brings familiar characters a little closer to real life. If you liked the intertwining threads of the other novels in this series you'll love Talon and Fang.

It's when you come across books like Talon & Fang that you know your money spent on a series is well-spent!! I loved this book! I think it is quite possibly the best in the whole series.

If you are tired of the hum-drum watered down mess that the "Deathlands" serise has become well then my friends this is the book for you.

Set in the future with nost of the Cerburus warriors dead or aged this book provides a freash spin on things.

Kane (old now) wants to find some way to get back and warn his old friends of all that will take place in order to do so he has to walk into the very belly of the beast. Lets just hope he hasn't lost his edge.

My Impression-Great book, how one central point is resolved is very inventive!! Well worth the money.

Talon and Fang could be one of the best in the whole series so far. It has one of the most original plots of them all of the ones I've read. Along with the action it has lots of heartbreak too. I can't wait for the next one in this two parter.

when I read this book, back in the 70s, I was blown away. I LOVED IT. I wrote to Herman Raucher and he wrote me to thank me and say it wasn't a critical success but he was glad I liked it. Liked it? I LOVED IT!!! I lost my book after lending it out too many times, but have just found a few copies.

Upon reading the 8 reviews that were as endearing as I felt about the book that was one of my first internet purchases, it occurs to me that it would have been a charming, warm, wonderful love story. Does anyone have any ideas on who should play the two main characters? Better yet, maybe some Hollywood producer or his wife will read our tribute and make it into a movie.

This novel a wonderfully inspiring love story between two compelling characters. It is also one of the most frequently read novels in my bookcase,. If 'Castles' was to be re-released today, it would become a best seller overnight. Not only is it my favorite novel, it also started my love affair with New York... Its an evocative period piece, funny & romantic. Its Herman Rauchers masterpiece & should be recognised as such. Find a copy in your nearest secondhand book store!

I read this book in the early 80's and like another reviewer stated, I've read it periodically over the years. I am sad to hear that it is out of print and i am glad that I hung on to my copy, cover intact. I will pull it out for old times sake. This is one of my top ten favorite books. I wish there was a sequel and someone should make a movie.

This is the book that started me reading, once my kids were old enough to not need every waking minute of my time. It is a laugh-out-loud, genuinely funny book. I'm sorry I lent my copy out - they must have liked it too!

"Waterbaby" is somewhat of a departure for Cris Mazza. While she generally sets her stories in Southern California, or at least populates them with people from that region, this novel takes place in a Maine coastal town. The other side of the country though has some similarities to the hardscrabble desert; the landscape becomes a character as much as any person in this novel. The continuity of the rocky shore and lobster industry across generations makes up a large part of the main character Tam's dilemma. As she tries to find her place in her own family, the various family dynamics of past generations intrudes on her psyche as well. The story then incorporates several lost baby stories as Tam investigates her ancestors and her relationships with her family, especially her brother. As in several of Mazza's works, the theme of regret and the conflict that arises from trying to negotiate being a woman play a large role in the novel. Additionally, like other American writers (i.e. Cormac McCarthy, Annie Proulx, Faulkner), Mazza merges style and place in a masterful way. Family relationships, sex, and self-reliance might be as dangerous as the rocky shore of Maine. Mazza does a wonderful job of portraying these dangers with honesty and engaging storytelling.

Cris Mazza has for many years now been on the radar of readers who admire technical skill and innovation. Her latest, Waterbaby, demonstrates the same technical mastery of her earlier writings, but adds an imaginative dimension to result in her most satisfying effort to date. She begins, not unusually, with a character flawed in body as well as spirit. Tam suffers from epilepsy and has been tormented since childhood by the memory and consequences of a seizure during a swim-meet. She would have drowned had her athletic brother Gary not saved her--or possibly he selfishly used her to appear the hero, in the process dahsing Tam's own girlhood dreams of athletic excellence. Tam has been haunted by this early memory and its consequences for the long forty-something years before the novel begins. Through another series of mishaps (also perhaps resulting from personal failings) she ends up in the rich setting of a Maine lighthouse, haunted by her memories, by a hard-luck single mom and kid she chooses to harbor, by a distant ancestor she researches, and, finally, by an actual ghost. Mazza pieces the various stories together in a pastiche of different verbal media (including letters, emails, websites, and traditional past tense narrative). So much for the technical mastery, which is accomplished and assured as usual. The great achievement of Waterbaby is the investment the reader comes to feel in Tam, in wanting her to accept/transcend her past and become a more whole person. The magnetism of this main character keeps the many different quirky minor characters, asides, episodes, from eroding reader interest.

What a deliciously conceived novel about personal redemption! The protagonist, Tam, suffers her first epileptic seizure at 12. Her condition will steal her swimming career and estrange her from her brother, Gary. But it will not impede her journey into her troubled family's complicated past, a journey that takes her to the Maine coastline, going back to the early nineteeth century. Here tales of thwarted love and shipwrecked babies haunt the landscape. Tam will unlock more than one story, connecting newspaper acounts, oral history and her own search for understanding until she unfolds a broad historical panorama, a fascinating past. Particularly terrific is Mazza's interweaving of contemporary tools of communication, from websites, to blogs, to email mixed with archival accounts. Reading Waterbaby is a thrilling intertextual adventure that feels immediately ours, but simultaneously layered with a fresh understanding of nineteenth century economic and legal conditions for women and their children. As always, Mazza, is a wise voice, deeply concerned. This novel is a thrilling non stop read.

The greatest pleasure of "Waterbaby" is the sense of being in the hands of a master storyteller. The voice alone, deceptively simple and straightforward, intrigued this reader to relax and let it take me. This is a rare quality, quite independent of compelling character or driving plot. Yet "Waterbaby" provides characters and plot aplenty. It has been called a ghost story, which it is, even an erotic ghost story; but of a surprising post-9/11 kind. (One character, a search-and-rescue professional, is more than haunted by what he and his search-dog find in the still-burning ruins of the World Trade Center.) In Shakespeare, ghosts are the past penetrating the present. In Mazza the present invades, recreates the past, in every sense. One ghost, Tam, the main character herself, a relatively young (late 40's) retired stockbroker, takes imaginative and spiritual possession of an unremembered, long-dead ancestor who once helped keep a light-house on the dark and stormy coast of Maine. Family is the mysterious presence disturbing Tam - not only the hostile "hero" brother who disappears to pursue her, but all the alien great-great aunts and uncles, grandfathers and grandmothers who never knew her but now will not leave her in peace. Central to her exploration of who they were and how they persist in her are a shipwrecked baby, a newborn found in a toilet, and a drowned woman whom the locals continue to see walking at twilight the light-house rocks. Not the least ghostly of the people leading Tam into her terra incognita is the graveyard lover who insists she play the drowned woman - for prospective renters of the modernized light-house. No one writes with more comic poignance about the guerilla warfare of intimacy between women and men than the author of "Your Name Here_____" and "Is It Sexual Harassment Yet?" But I have long hoped she would enlarge her canvas and here she does: reaching out to the loves and wars of siblings, children, and parents - Maine to California - and 21st century back to 20th and 19th, with assurance, depth, compassion, and inexhaustible, penetrating wonder.

Filmmaker Werner Herzog has written, "There are deeper strata of truth in cinema, and there is such a thing as poetic, ecstatic truth. It is mysterious and elusive, and can be reached only through fabrication and imagination and stylization."

Cris Mazza takes this one step further with her seductive book Waterbaby, giving us a protagonist who seeks to create a present by recreating her past -and the possible pasts of her ancestors as well. Tam not only attempts to piece together her ancestor's lives through research and genealogy, she delves into lore so thoroughly she finds herself literally recreating the sea-legends that are intertwined with her own familial history. Mazza is able to juggle the various stories and mix them with imagined pasts and historical pasts, even using the occasional cutaway page of a blog or an electronic archive. Links between legend and historical fact--as well as Tam's personal past and her family's history--begin to accumulate pretty quickly, leaving the reader dazzled by Mazza's ability to keep all the plates spinning without wobble.

All this plus Waterbaby is a funny and compelling page-turner to boot.

While I didn't find every story particularly gripping or insightful, for those I didn't, there is someone I know who did so there seems to be something for everyone. The strength of these short stories is that the portrayals are so convincing to get us involved yet short enough to leave much to the imagination. The stories about the soon-to-be-guardian, the cancer patient, the mountain climber, the child on a road trip, and the sheriff were all powerful.

Chris Coake doesn't subscribe to the wacky narrative experiments that seem to be infesting the American literary landscape lately. There's no funky type-setting, no illustrations, no cameos by comic book heroes or post-modern tomfoolery. But at the same time, it's not fair to place his work in the strictly neo-realist tradition either: the dull epiphany punctuated by a stream of quotidian events. He's just too original for that trap. He's experimental and conventional at once. The title story is three unrelated stories in one that share similar themes. The final story, "All Through the House", plays with chronology to maximize its cumulative affect.

He's convincing, deliberate and never gimicky. His stories have a sort of devastating quietness about them--stories that are invested in character and craft--stories that are unsettling, that are bristling and building like a dormant volcano, adding pressure upon pressure toward the last sentence. The final affect is startling, pure and terrifyingly beautiful.

These stories are often dark but never cynical, haunting but humane. There's a morality behind the trauma, a design that seems to redeem its horrors (Coake never compensates for the trauma--but there is something that is always subtlely gained, extracted from it. In "Abandon", for instance, it's a sense of accountability, of true devotion). The title of the collection is evocative of its theme--but to say these stories confront the cataclysmic seems to undermine their subtlety. It's not the event that matters but the way that the characters respond to the cataclysm. In clumsier hands, these stories could be vulgar, almost melodramatic. But Coake is in such control of his craft that he pulls each one off masterfully.

In short, this is the strongest and most consistent story collection I've read in years. If you care about literary fiction: Read him. Go. Now. Get this book. Read it. And Enjoy.

The prevailing theme of these short stories is of love, in the face of death, and this core idea is viewed from a fascinating variety of angles: long-married love confronting terminal illness, sudden death of friends turning a young man into a reluctant father, love entwined in jealousy, depression and violence, love born of heroism. Each scenario presents real characters, people we all know, tightly drawn, speaking words we all recognize. You read these stories with a near sense of having heard of or known these people. I read this book straight through, gripped by each unique story, and look forward eagerly to future work from this author. Don't be dissuaded by the seemingly dark content; some of these stories are actually uplifting, or at least come to a satisfactory close.

I picked this book up based on a friend's recommendation.

"We're In Trouble" is one of the best, and most memorable, books I have read this year. The theme: people in extremely difficult life circumstances, and their varied responses, is a difficult,painful topic to tackle, and there were moments where I almost could not take it. I hung on through the tough parts and found that the author took me places I don't usually go, and saw things I might not otherwise see, which, after all is part of why I read in the first place. I found this to be one of the most rewarding, thought-provoking short-story collections I have read in years.

As other reviewers have stated,these unusual stories combine the themes of love and death in some very troubling and thought provoking ways. An amazing debut collection of short stories with nary a dud in the bunch. My favorite by far was "All through the house", but all these stories are much better than the standard fare gracing the best seller list. Christopher Coake has an illustrious career ahead of him.

I keep this book handy for a quick read and the perusal of some wonderful art. It's colorful, restful, and thought-provoking. It keeps reaffirming for me that reading is definitely a passion to be pursued amid all the busy-ness and daily stresses. It's a terrific gift to give your book-lover friends and family!

It would be difficult for a book lover not to thoroughly enjoy this collection of writings about books. A great resource for thinking about books, reading and writing, for ideas about how to go about reading and writing, and for just finely crafted writing by lovers of books.

Bascove's art which adorns this collection creates a marvelously private, cozy, bookish world where voices seldom sound aloud, and the world outside is muted, allowing the reader or writer to be in the world on the printed page.

I am pleased with the handling of my order of "Where Books Fall Open". The book arrived in a timely manner and in good condition. I will always buy from Amazon.

This is a gorgeous book! It is filled with essays and poems and thoughts on reading, writing, and the love of books. The writings are from various authors some classic and well known and some I haven't heard of before. Some writings I liked a lot better than others. (-Regardless of the ones that didn't 'speak' to me, I still consider this a great collection of writings on the subjects I love.) The paintings are rich in color and detail and anyone who loves books/reading/writing will enjoy these highly eye appealing pictures that depict people with books! I'd love to have some of these to hang in my home!

This is a beautiful gift for yourself or someone you know who loves the literary world.

Buy it and enjoy!

This anthology of prose and poetry starts out strong .... prose selections from Italo Calvino, Lynne Schwartz, Roy Blount and Anne Fadiman are wonderful, affectionate tributes to reading, Also, I think this is the first time Steve Martin and Jane Austen have appeared together, and both are fine. There are also a LOT of poems here, and some are better than others, as with all poetry. This is a mix of contemporary (Fran Lebowitz, Billy Collins) and classic (Cervantes, Elizabeth Barret Browning) selections that explore reading, writing and books. Artwork by Bascove is of a style consistent with the cover -- bold, colorful and primitive, sixteen paintings that also feature books. A percentage of the profits go to First Book, a literacy program for children.

I'd say the quality of the selections is uneven, but you will undoubtedly find something, and probably many things, that will please you. This is a small volume that can be read quickly, or savored, and as an object it is very pleasing. This would make a fine gift for a bibliophile you know.