Authors Books

As the back cover tells us: "About the Author--
Donn Taylor led an Infantry rifle platoon in Korea, served with Army aviation in Vietnam, and worked with air reconnaisance and intelligence collection in Europe and Asia...."

Donn Taylor is qualified to write a story with intense intrigue. He does so, masterfully, and with occasional humorous zingers from fascinating, well-rounded characters, some of them in love. You get attached and really hate to lose any of them--!

Langley, VA, 1975. Another agent is dead. So many lost recently. Is there a mole in the agency? Who can be trusted? These are questions CIA agent Dub Minden had to ask, even of the close-knit group he'd worked with for years. What was going on? Losing this last agent meant The Agency's project in the Caribbean was about to die with him unless they could insert another man-and soon. And Dub knew just the man-one who was already dead.

Mark Daniel, shot down in Thailand and presumed dead, fit the bill perfectly for the Caribbean project for reasons known only to Dub. Complicated and `need-to-know' steps were taken to protect Mark's identity and get him into the region. Code name: Lazarus. Appropriately named, but would it work?

Medellin, Columbia, 1977. After two years, Mark Daniel, now known as Carlos Ortiz, freelance pilot for sale to the highest bidder, has made contact with one of the drug warlords to smoke out the leaders of a huge drug ring the Agency has been trying to put out of business for years--the same cartel that had managed to ferret out and kill the previous agents planted in their midst before Mark. Only Dub Minden and one other know Mark's real identity and where he is.

Carlos plays a dangerous game which becomes even more so when he is sky-jacked at gun-point and forced to fly into Bogota to rescue the lovely Sol Agueda de Roca from a kidnapping attempt. Because of this flight, Carlos misses a crucial appointment with Paolo Guzman, a dangerous man Carlos hopes will put him in touch with the next man up the line. Can he explain and still meet the contact he needs? Can he even stay alive?

When Sol de Roca becomes the victim of an assassination attempt and Carlos is once again drawn into their lives, things heat up at a rapid pace and soon we find Sol and Carlos running for their lives in the mountains of Columbia.

THE LAZARUS FILE has some unexpected twists and turns that make you turn the pages, though it does get bogged down from time to time. Still, Donn Taylor shows skillful writing and a wry humor in the character of Ramon, Sol's dedicated but devious body guard. He kept me guessing all the way through. I loved him. Great characterization.

I did have a problem with the quality of the book itself, though. I haven't broken the spine of a book since I was a kid, but about half-way through this one the binding let loose and a few pages fell out. One of the hazards of small press publication. All in all, though, if you like spy/thriller novels, you might want to try to find a copy of THE LAZARUS FILE.

Genre: Suspense/Thriller
Author: Donn Taylor
Book: The Lazarus File
Publisher: Panther Creek Press
ISBN-9678343-9-2
Rated: PG 13

The Lazarus File by Donn Taylor is the author's first novel as well as the first book of a planned trilogy about subversion in Central America and the Caribbean. According to Gwyneth Atlee, author of Canyon Song, "...it features a man of his word and a woman of convictions, compelling characters that readers will follow eagerly through a world of shifting loyalties and deadly intrigues." It is indeed that and a lot more.
I always enjoy a book that teaches me something, painlessly, while the plot and characters are entertaining me. In The Lazarus File, Donn Taylor paints an accurate picture of life in the Cold War years of the early 70's. Since he was both a participant in military operations and a college teacher, he demonstrates both passion and accuracy for the topic. Donn Taylor's is the non-revisionist version of how it was when Communism was a very real threat to world peace and when some in leadership did not take it seriously enough. While never preachy, he definitely expresses convictions that have been lost in the tranquility of détente.
The story is written in the third person, which allows us to move from Columbia to Costa Rica, from Cuba to CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia. We can track Communist guerrillas carrying out a plot to take over various countries, while U.S. agents work to uncover the mole that has been compromising our undercover operatives.
One of these operatives is Mark Daniels, who took almost two years to establish himself as a renegade pilot, re-named Carlos Ortiz. He claims to be motivated only by money, thus feigning disinterest in politics and non-allegiance to America.
As pilot for a powerful drug lord, Mark uncovers an unholy alliance that has been formed between his boss, Paolo Guzman and political activist, Raul Tizon. Between them they have put into action a grand design to establish military bases around the Caribbean in order aid the Communists in their quest for world domination.
In contrast to ruthless drug dealers and vicious soldiers, Mark meets a wise and benevolent businessman and his beautiful, noble wife. She and her servants become valuable allies when subversives cut Mark off from communication with his contacts in the States. So, along with the intrigue and adventure, we are treated to a lesson about the people and their culture. Peasants and patriarchs who are trying to carry on amidst the chaos that was threatening not only their government but their very existence as well.
The last eighty pages will keep you on the edge of your chair or up way past your bedtime. I never doubted that the good guys would win but seeing how they accomplish it against seemingly impossible odds just could not wait until tomorrow!
As for the technical aspects of The Lazarus File, by Donn Taylor, I appreciated the fact that there was hardly any profanity used; so refreshing to see the language work sufficiently without it. However, I would like to see a little more personal style by the author and less grammatical formality. And, in fact, that began to happen by the end of the book. So I am definitely looking forward to the next installment in this trilogy.
The Lazarus File by Donn Taylor is an exciting story of adventure, suspense, love and relationships and can be found on Amazon.com...P>About the Reviewer: Maggie Harding is a substance abuse counselor in Phoenix, AZ. Who wanted to be Brenda Starr before life intervened. Her reviews can be heard every Wednesday on BookCrazy.net...

Donn Taylor slowly develops his characters and I loved it. You get to know his characters and become comfortable with them. The villians are evil and after 9/11 we know these people do exist. His research on Columbia was extensive and I felt I was in Columbia and could feel the cold in the mountains at night. I was cheering for the hero and being a Vietnam veteran, I knew his choices were hard. Donn Taylor has a realistic, well planned plot and a great twist toward the end. Buy, read, and enyoy.

I don't think I have ever before read a spy thriller, but if action, intrigue, and an ingenious plot are the criteria for such books, then this is a good one even without regard to its deeper values. (But aren't deeper values rare in this genre?) Since Donn Taylor is an old friend of mine, it doesn't surprise me that the two main characters of "The Lazarus File" actually deserve to be called the hero and heroine, that both are not only brave but highly moral, and that loyalty to country and loved ones motivates them both. Don't worry that those qualities might make them dull, though. These characters are as tough as any of the communists and other Caribbean and Andean villains who keep trying to cause their deaths or worse and who also hope to create big trouble for the United States. The throat-slashings, stranglings, blowings-up, and shootings are frequent, explicit, and usually deserved. In short, this book keeps you interested and leaves you satisfied. I imagine that those, too, are criteria of the genre.

A must-read for "feline-ophiles" and anyone who has ever wondered what really goes on inside the mind of a cat. Not to mention that it's a love story, too. The authors have perfect captured the essence of "felineness" as epitomized by those two artistes of the keyboard, Cleo and Tyrone. Their unique outlook on life is hilarious and insightful both to cats and humans too.

A charming and insightful book, filled with a hilarious feline view of the world. Everyone (not just cat-lovers) will appreciate the wit and wisdom of Cleo and Tyrone. After reading their adventures, pet owner may find themselves putting a "password-protect" on their computer before leaving the house!

I ended up reading it myself and wondering why, in all of literature, I had never before seen a chapter headed "Moving, Metamucil and Mengele." Seems like such a natural. Anywahy, I got this for a cat-loving friend, then my kids saw it, and because we have a cat that climbs on my keyboard, they assumed it was about our cat and proceeded to pick it up, smearing it with peanut butter and rendering it useless as a gift. So I started to read some of it to them as a rest between Harry Potter installments. They liked it and so did I. Though I got a lot more of the jokes than they did. works on two levels the way the old bullwinkle shows do and the way we like to think the new grinch movie does. anyway, cleo makes me laugh. it';s just a great comedy name. cleo. has "k" sound in it, you know.

This is the present you should buy for yourself and every other cat lover you know. It's funny, it's touching, and it gets inside the minds of two extraordinary felines. If you were ever wondering what your cat was thinking when you weren't around (or even when you are!), this book explains it all to you. A really must-own book, and I hope all the cat world becomes aware of it. Even ailurophobes (hope I spelled that right!) will have their fears confirmed: Cats really ARE smarter than most of us and this book proves it! I am looking forward to seeing Cleo's screenplay made into a major motion picture!

Let's get this over with I do not like cats. Dogs are much more loyal, always happy to see you and some dogs actually work. You never hear of a cat rescuing anyone from frozen terrain.

With that out of the way, lets talk about the most refreshing, humorous book to hit the bookshelves. If you ever wanted to know a "Feline's perspective on love, life and litter", this book is for you. It's one of those rare books that you can share with your children.

Cleo and Tyrone spend the days dreaming, emailing each other, plotting ways to drive their Mommies and the dog, Loopy Ole Chester, nuts. They views of the world will have you laughing out loud.

Now if only Linda Hamner and L.Virginia Browne would write another Cleo and Tyrone novel... solving mystery?

This is an amazing, beautiful and troubling book, superbly edited and annotated by Oliver Harris. More than mere letters, it's a series of snapshots which record the transformation of a man.

In the early (1947) letters, we meet William Burroughs, living with his common-law wife, Joan Vollmer-Adams, as a gentleman farmer in South Texas, and he sounds like a loyal Republican -- denouncing the government, taxes, unions, labor and psychiatry. He signs one letter, "The Honest Hog Caller." By 1948 he has moved to New Orleans -- possibly in search of male lovers, possibly due to his attraction for the underworld and petty criminals, or possibly due to being convicted of drunk driving in Texas.

During the New Orleans period, Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady stop by as part of their On the Road trip, and Burroughs spends pages voicing his stern disapproval. "Most inveterate moochers are convinced that while they have no obligations toward anyone else . . . others have a moral obligation to supply their needs." He yet holds the values of the right: "I tell you we are bogged down in this octopus of bureaucratic socialism."

Then something happens. He is busted with his low-life friends, and it looks like a stretch in the inferno of the dreaded Angola prison farm, so he and Joan take it on the lam to Mexico, where he does just fine. He boasts, "I couldn't get back on the junk if I wanted to." He lectures Allen Ginsberg about the benefits of going heterosexual.

Then something horrible happens. He shoots Joan in the head while playing William Tell. Nothing about this is mentioned in his letters, but afterward there is a gradual and inexorable slide downward. He has an unrequited love affair with a young man. His lawyer skips town, and Burroughs leaves Mexico on a quixotic trek to South America in search of a drug called Yage, which, once he finds it, poisons him.

What he really wants is young and handsome Allen Ginsberg, but Ginsberg rejects him, so he takes off to Tangiers and develops a heavy dope habit -- shooting-up every four hours. This part of the book is the most moving, because all he can do is recite his litany of rejection. Ginsberg doesn't want him and doesn't answer his letters. The expatriate colony of Tangiers (including Paul Bowles) understandably rejects such a pathetic wreck of a man, too, and the contrast between this lost, begging, lonely creature and the haughty fellow at the beginning could not be greater. I know of no work of fiction that portrays the destruction of a human being more vividly than these letters.

Then, another change. Ginsberg finally begins writing again, and Burroughs pours his heart out to him and then (happily assisted by weed) begins pouring out his imagination in the form of letters that became the basis for Naked Lunch. Once word about this extraordinary writing got around, Burroughs rejoined the human race. He became accepted by others and moved to Paris with artist Brion Gysin. There, a third William Burroughs emerges -- Burroughs the mystic.

He has visions. He discovers the "cut-up" method of writing which produces new and magical meanings from randomly juxtaposed words. He proselytizes Dr. Dent's apomorphine cure for addiction (when, all along, we see what the real cause of Burroughs's addiction was). He postulates a cure for cancer. I don't think that Burroughs was as attracted to Scientology for its restorative auditing practices or organization (which he later called "A fink outfit"), so much as he was fascinated by the religion's hagiography of the evil Emperor Xenu who, 75 million years ago, trapped millions of souls in volcanos and exterminated them with hydrogen bombs. (On The Best Of William Burroughs CD collection, you can hear him read about the "soul-killer H-bombs.")

What a metamorphosis! Within ten years, he transforms from a stern libertarian to a pathetic and hopeless bum, then to the modern-day Madame Blavatsky! No buncombe is too nonsensical for him, and there are pages and pages of letters rhapsodizing over the greatness of Jacques Stern, who seems to have been the world's champion of [horsefeathers]. It was also at this time that he conceived his theory that mankind's purpose was to go live in outer space. He went from being a Yankee skeptic to someone who was hungry to believe.

The book ends with some 1959 letters extolling Scientology, so we don't get to see the next incarnations of William Burroughs -- the New York Punk celebrity and the Old Sage of Lawrence, Kansas, in which persona wrote his best work. (Everyone should write James Grauerholz a letter of thanks making this last Burroughs possible.) But I have never read a more dramatic book, let alone a collection of letters, that demonstrates death and regeneration. Because he was so lonely and desperate, Burroughs put everything he had into these letters, and it's some of the best writing of the second half of the twentieth century.

This is a necessary addition to your Burroughs library. Interesting insights into WSB. Companion to Yage Letters, Naked Lunch.

That Kirkus review is cheap, trite and obvious. "Godfather of Grunge"? "MTV generations' idea of a literay outlaw"? What's that mean? They were right when they said he didn't come off as a literary "fella"--why? because Literature is phony and an obstruction to truth--"All that is literature has fallen from me, thank God," wrote Henry Miller, and Burroughs exemplifies that. He was interested in Life, and escaping oppression. Little is made of him shooting his wife? Sorry. His heroin cures? Sorry. Save that for all the lame Hollywood hacks who succumb to addiction only because they know their "life story" will sell. I think this is a great book, one that shows the human, caring, funny, straightforward man Burroughs was in a time of even greater hypocrisy and corruption than today. I think he was dead on the mark in the fifties about America becoming a police state.... Burroughs still upsets conventional literary categories, and the only way the "establishment" can deal with him is to joke and condescend and offer him up as caricature, as Kirkus did. Did anyone read the pathetic obituaries of him? They had no clue what he really did. As he said: "We intend to destroy all dogmatic verbal systems." No glot....c'lom Fliday....

Burroughs and his writings are complex and problematic. The various characters that express themselves in his personality evoke so many contradictory reactions that it's hard to get the author himself into focus. And reading his novels outside the context of the man himself is particularly unsatisfying. That's why this book of letters is so welcome. Along with recordings of his routines (that fascinating voice conveying such dry, ironic malice - "The Best of William Burroughs, from Giorno Poetry Systems" has some of the best I've heard), these letters give us a useful perspective on Burroughs to better appraise his work.

The Burroughs who emerges in these letters stands in sharp contrast to the persona he cultivated. The cool, world-wise narrator/character of his novels is shown here to have been self-deluded, weak-willed, prone to bouts of love-sickness, and particularly susceptible to being hoodwinked. But it's like the complementary hidden side of any real person. There is wit and humanity here in the titanic struggle he waged to integrate a powerful evil he felt deep in his soul. While the struggle often manifested as a battle with addiction, the evil wasn't junk: It was a pure bloody-mindedness that we all have inside. "Likely a survival mechanism inherited from our simian forebears," Burroughs might have opined.

How much of these letters is lies? The editor helps with some fact-checking footnotes, but many key facts can never be checked. A tantalizing psychological dimension is opened when Burroughs writes about his stunted heterosexual alter-ego, but Burroughs wasn't above subverting facts to manipulate people. Whatever the truth is we'll never know for sure, but these writings are entertaining and thought-provoking. They detail the inner workings of a special mind shaped by unique circumstances. Publication of these letters proves that for all his bloody-minded self-sabotage, Burroughs' output refuses to be marginalized.

I've read a fair amount of Burroughs, and this book is the best of all, the volume that lets you see into the soul of the man. Many of the letters are to Ginsberg, some to Kerouac and others. The stories he tells are funny and scary, sometimes heartbreaking. From these letters you can see where the more imposing material came from, the genesis of the work that came out in the sixties.

LIFE IS WORTH LIVING BY BISHOP FULTON SHEEN IS A COLLECTION OF 24 SHORT
BUT DYNAMIC TALKS BY THIS UNIQUE SAINT OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH WHO PREACHED ON TV DURING THE SIXTIES AND SEVENTIES...BISHOP SHEEN HAS AN
EXTRAORDINARY ABILITY TO TAKE THE MOST DIFFICULT CONCEPTS AND SIMPLIFY
THOSE IDEAS INTO UNDERSTANDING AND HOPE.TOO BAD THIS IS NOT ON VIDEO AS IT WOULD BE EXCEPTIONAL FOR ANYONE TO WATCH..HOWEVER, QUIET LISTENING
WILL PRODUCE QUIET PEACE IN A TROUBLED WORLD.

The ultimate self-improvement book. Ideally suited for reading in short runs. In our too-complex, Paris Hilton world, this book provides solid moral grounding today, just as it did in the 50s and 60s. Read, heed, and then fire your psychologist.

As a child I watched Bishop Sheen on tv with my family. It didn't mean so much to me at the time, except maybe for the humor, but as I've matured, it strikes a strong chord. I'm glad I stumbled upon the book. We've lost so much of the simple truth in life that it's a pleasure and a joy to get some back. If your faith matters to you, this book will be a valuable addition to your collection.

This book contains thirty-six talks from the first two seasons of the television series. They offer inspiration and guidance on problems with fear, suffering, prayer, work, friendship, and marriage. This volume has universal appeal to all people regardless of religious persuasion or walk of life. This book goal is to offer a tender of hope to people's ongoing struggles to achieve the fullness of life. His easy manner and natural style makes you want to continue reading. His talks on TV were much better because of his easy speaking manner. But what a wonderful way to read what you missed or remind you of his loving words.

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was perhaps the greatest orator of the twentieth century in the matters of morality and the like. His writings displayed a great inner creativity and understanding of the human mind. Archbishop Sheen never lowered himself to the heathen practices of finger-pointing, and profanity. Instead, he reinforced his beliefs with Biblical texts and comedic anecdotes of his own life. His ninety-one books and innumberable radio and televsion broadcasts allowed us a glance into his mind. The Pope John Pual II declared him "a devoted son of the Church." Very few reviews carry as much weight as that comment. I highly recommend this text to anyone of whom finds morality to be the highlight of life.

This book got me a husband! Try it and see what you might get! I read it in 2001 and fell in love with Molly's poetry. I decided to take her class at the UC Davis Extension. There was a very cute guy in the class with me...today I have a handsome husband who writes excellent poetry and two adorable children, all thanks to "Listening to Winter!"

Molly Fisk's volume of poetry, Listening to Winter, is candid, clear and understated as her stories unfold. And the reader, at the end of each line, wishes for blurred focus, hopes the next line will not confirm what has just been read. Themes of survival, abandonment, and truth-telling are interwoven with a rich pictoral landscape. I took away immense strength and admiration for Fisk's facility with language. A must read for students of life, language and women.

Molly plunges you into the terror and humiliation of the greatest personal harm, the most intimate human betrayal, with raw courage and boldness, with the keenest understanding, the clearest, most vivid images, with exquisite, painful, beauty. She tells the truth of it. This is a gift beyond measure. Finally, you're not alone anymore. The closet door has been flung wide open and love becomes possible once more. She makes it so. Molly Fisk is a fine poet. I can't recommend her work highly enough.

"Listening to Winter" is full of wonderful poetry, the poem containing the title line "Hunter's Moon" is so evocative of my youth that I gobbled the rest of the book in an orgy of reading and feelings. Then, hungry for more, read each line again slowly, as if sipping great wine.

"Sugar & Salt" let me FEEL what before I'd only glimpsed. "Couples" made me cry out in pain, yearning to talk to my long dead father. "Veterans" renewed the thrill of having lived when so many didn't, made me rejoice I came back whole enough to be healed by my loving wife. This wonderful book reafirmed my joy of being alive, of being part of this lovely world and in love.

If you love great poetry, buy this book!

Bright Blessing on you Molly, where-ever you are. Thank you.

If you have ever cared for a woman, buy this book.

Thank you Ms. Fisk for your terrifying but wonder insights into the word of pain, shame & humiliation shared by all incest survivors. It is heartening & frightening to realize both that we ALL, all men can & could be betrayers and abusers of trust. Users and abusers of those either in our power or under our protection if we just follow our desires. We could be but are not, are not because we chose to be better than the potential beast within. We are better men because we make conscious choices to be the best we can be instead of taking the easy path of choosing to have all the pleasure we can take, regardless of the pain and damage caused.

Your poetry, your pain ennobles us. It helps us to be the men we should be by showing so clearly the horrible damage caused and pain inflicted by being like your father.

Thank you. For all us us I thank you.

I read (and reread) this book after beginning reverse therapy. While I am finding the therapy very important, reading the book has given me a great foundation for understanding the process, and provides reminders and support between sessions. Applying the principles described in the book is life-changing, and not just for people who have CFS. Anyone wanting a healthier and happier life can benefit from the mindset and strategies described here.

I read the book a year ago, and I've been going to Reverse Therapy sessions for about 6 months. I'm about 10 percent better, and I will persevere as that's more benefit than I've gotten from anything else. I would recommend it to anyone who is thinking about trying Reverse Therapy, and I would recommend it to anyone with CFS to have as a tool. Reading it in conjunction with John Sarno and Freedom From Fibromyalgia (Selfridge and Peterson) will help.

I suffered from CFS for 13 years, but now I am recovered. Reading Dr. Eaton`s book gave me very valuable and vital clues about the process of recovery. The book is almost sufficient to treat the condition by yourself and I would recommend it to anyone suffering with CFS/M.E. or fibromyalgia. It gives a detailed overview of Reverse Therapy and how it developed from earlier theories of eminent psychologists and therapists. In addition to giving a good theoretical basis for understanding RT, this book gives a lot of practical information as well. The book gives you a good understanding of Reverse Therapy, but is a bit lacking in instructions on how to treat the condition by yourself. But I assure you: you can get well with the help of this book. I used some additional sources to learn about the process, but I would say that if you read this book, you only need a bit of outside support to get well. Which is not to say that the therapy is useless, ofcourse. If you have a chance, attend the sessions, but by all means, read the book first!
This book is THE BEST book ever written on CFS! Dr. Eaton has done a wonderful job. Thank you for your invaluable work!

Whether you go ahead and work with a therapist using this approach or not, just the reading alone can be enormously helpful. It was for me. I think with this view I am finally getting to the root of why the CFS took hold and what causes the various symptoms, and this education/perspective is helping me get going so the symptoms can loosen their grip, not only for CFS but for other sub-optimal reactions my body has developed over the years that lessen a full experience of life.

In a word, this book was life-changing. I thought I was recovered from CFS, but I have made great strides since reading, and internalizing, the smart tenets of this book. It's a quick read, and Dr. John Eaton makes all the concepts simple and easy to understand. A must-read.

This is the best collection of short stories I've read in years. I would suggest it as required reading in high school or early college years. It is as pertinent for ladies as it is for me.
Aloha,
Don

This book appealed to me for a Father's Day gift, but before I sent it along, I had to read it. Once I picked it up, I couldn't put it down! The stories were so varied and so human that my curiosity was piqued for each character. My Dad said he enjoyed it too and my Mom read it in one day!

Alex Mindt's believable characters come from all over the land, giving insights into their own dilemmas through their relationships with that male of the species, the father. To this non North-American, the stories also present a vibrant collage of the country its characters call home. A rewarding read which merits rereading.

This is a stunning collection of stories. Unlike most authors who have a standard setting for their writing, Mindt is amazingly facile. Each story is set in an entirely different locale--not just geographic locale but psychological locale. He writes as convincingly in the voice of a Vietnamese immigrant who does Elvis impersonations in Vegas as he does in the voice of the son of hospitalized schizophrenic encyclopedia author as he does in the voice of the wife of the nerdy science teacher who flunks the high school football star. Every story offers the unexpected. This author is someone to follow....

A copy of this was given to me as a gift, and since then I have passed on the favor, purchasing a half-dozen and giving them to my friends who enjoy well written and powerful short stories. There is not a weak story in this collection.

Terrific, and highly recommended.

Christopher Meeks teaches creative writing, has three full-length plays produced in Los Angeles to his credit, and is the author of four non-fiction children's books. "The Middle-Aged Man & The Sea" is an anthology of thirteen short stories by this accomplished author, many of which have been previously published in such literary journals as 'Rosebud', 'Clackamas Literary Review', and the 'Southern California Anthology'. These are original, articulate, engaging stories which examine life in America from the unique perspectives of ordinary people searching for their share of the promises held out as part of the American dream. Meeks' writing style is characterized by an ability to create identifiable characters that will hold a haunting familiarity for the reader, along with imaginative but realistic and original scenarios which play out succinctly in the short fiction format. "The Middle-Aged Man & The Sea" is highly recommended, highly entertaining, and highly rewarding reading.

Not since reading John Cheever's short stories have I encountered a writer able to map the shifting landscape of mid-life, mid-loss characters as well as Chris Meeks.

Meeks specializes in compressed fiction, almost contemporary parables really, where a taken-for-granted moment can abruptly empty into oblivion. A magician who doesn't pander to applause, Meeks stands in the shadows, performing one feat after another. His tone is steady yet eerie, as though something is "not right with this picture," and he proceeds to whisper just what it is -- from a character unable to rid himself of the scent of jasmine, to a husband who arrives home and finds his wife has fled, making him the ghost of his own life.

Reading The Middle-Aged Man & The Sea, one can feel the inexorable floating just below the surface of words, of things, of silence. Meeks' characters inhabit a great loneliness: themselves.

A fine collection of short stories, The Middle-Aged Man & The Sea left this reader with that uncanny feeling one gets standing in front of a Hopper painting, thinking, Look, you can see the solitude. Meeks holds it forth in words.

I was glad to find this collection by an author I remembered from Rosebud Magazine. Although I'd read a couple of the stories there is plenty here I'd never seen. I like the way these stories draw you in and then punch you in the stomach, or make you laugh, or make you realize how close we are to tragedy. If "Nine Stories" by Salinger is your kind of thing you'll probably like this book.

Christopher Meeks, author of several children's books as well as a playwright, has put together an interesting collection of short stories in 'The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea'. Meeks is a good storyteller, and draws on the ordinary and mundane and combines it with the sublime and esoteric in new and fascinating ways.

In the first story, there is a new look on envy and keeping up with the Jones, as a couple visits their neighbours for an Academy Award party, but find the grass-is-greener life in that house isn't in fact the perfect bliss one might hope for; in another story (the one that gives title to the collection), an ordinary fishing trip turns into a psychological trip as significant revelations are made that leave the characters at a want for words.

Most of the stories look toward a darker impulse, a foreboding or ominous presence, or some other indication of limitation and mortality. 'The Scent' explores in some ways the psychological power of the sense of smell, but also the ways in which decay comes into our lives on a larger level. One can get from these stories a sense of love and sense of loss, a feeling of hope and the stab of despair. A remarkable aspect of these stories is their subtlety - the stories don't jump out with neon signs signifying meaning, but rather let the meaning seep into the more-ordinary tasks and situations of life.

Meeks is a good narrative writer, equally adept at description as well as a conversation and explanation. Each story has engaging characters who are familiar, yet with significant attributes that make them interesting to follow. I kept finding myself wanting more from each story, which is the mark of good writing for me, that the well has not run dry.

I look forward to further writings by Christopher Meeks.

I'll admit that I'd started reading THE MIDDLE-AGED MAN AND THE SEA during an evening, becoming so engrossed in its chapters that I'd wanted to finish it off in one sitting. I couldn't -- Fairies and Dreamland were calling -- but that was the sole reason I hadn't.

Middle-aged Man is *that* compelling. Meeks has this uncanny ability to thrust you right into the center of his characters' sundry dilemmas, desires, and demands -- as if you're standing right there next to them, or sitting one bar stool over listening to their wonderful chats about wine, their musings about the wisdom of the next Shuttle launch, or their ebullient waxing about the velveteen smoothness of Breyer's coffee-flavored ice cream.

As an unrepentant reader, I simply crave books like Middle-aged Man. In general, I want my hard-copied prose to move me. I wish it to twist up my emotions up like a high-tensile spring, then tossing it hither-tither; only at the end to liberate it majestically, like the former occupation of Czechoslovakia: glorious, unencumbered, and free.

I'll only give you a smattering of Meeks' prosaic samples to whet your appetite:

"...a man who ran a steakhouse, but looked like he could run the country."
"...Californicated"
"...Plan your work, and work your plan."

Punctuated. Polished. Perfect!

Like I said, this is merely a smattering.

Within a compact 145 pp, Meeks manages to cram in a delectable smorgasbord of witty metaphors, sage middle-aged reflections, and the wisdom of a well-loved and well-lived man who possesses a depth well-beyond the deceptive chimera of a finite number of earth-years.

As I happily breezed through this read, pondering the magnitude of Meeks' mantra, I couldn't help but let a part of my mind drift towards what I staunchly felt was more than a handful of captivating film ideas. Producers? String a few of these stories together, and you've got the makings of the next MAGNOLIA. I digress...

I guess I can speak for most readers who are fatigued with all the spoonfed jujeune runaround which seems to adorn the spic-and-span oaken shelves of our box-store book emporia.

What we desperately need is more gritty, more hard-hitting, more so-viscerally-real-it-smarts copy that Meeks skillfully dishes up in this astounding collection of tales.

I'll certainly be keeping my eyes out for more from this scribe. In other words, count me in. Big time.

This is pretty much my favorite book. I so wish I could write like he does. The names he comes up with are hilarious, and no sentence ends the way you think it's going to. It's nice to see some other positive reviews here, because everyone I show this book to thinks I'm a nut. Not because they don't like the book, but because they are stupid. So basically, if you don't like this book, it's not because the book is bad, it's because you are stupid.

If you are familiar with Mike Gordon, then you know what to expect... lots of word play, unexpected imagery, and plot in a very loose sense of the word. A great little volume for the absurdist-minded among us. Illustrations and photos, too!

Few people in the world have the imagination of Mike Gordon. While reading through his collection of daydreams and short stories one can't help but imagine just what goes on inside his head. In a time where it is difficult, if not impossible, to be original Mike Gordon has achieved just that. These motley tales take you to the outer limits of your mindscape and push you to think in ways you never thought possible.

Mike Gordon is able to capture the essence of the adjective. His wordings are the greatness of spike. Where can grammar go, from where Mike Gordon has taken us all? Its another plane. A minute piece of the past. Chilling realizations speak of its chime towards bone curdling flies. A time Lost? I truly think not. The emotional highpoints captured in the embrace between Winchester and Buggyboo brought a tear. And besides, does the "Corner" really exist. Figment. Figment is a part of life that cannot be avoided. A fig on the other hand creates love. Newtons of my youth spoke of a willing plea. A plea for literature. This literature is captured in the pleas of Mike Gordon. The many pleas thereof. Some are hard to replace, but for a book to stand alone, it must prioritize. Priorities are a necessity for a book to understand.

hence the title of this review, i proclaim this book to be extremely funny. mike gordon's sense of humor is very unique, which is a very good thing. let me share a little story. a few days after buying this book, i was driving a long distance with a friend, and she decided to read the book aloud. i almost drove off the road a few times due to the tears (of laughter) distorting my vision. finding a copy of this book may be difficult, but its well worth the struggle. so in closing, i recommend this book. indeed.

I would like to focus in this review on the final pages of this outstanding and moving biography. In it Pawel tells the story of two of the great loves of Kafka's life, Milena Jesenka and Dora Dymant. In these stories we see how Kafka who somehow more deeply than any other writer conveys anxiety in loneliness, was very much loved and respected in his own lifetime. The heroic Milena Jesenka whose courage in helping people throughout her terrible time in Ravensbruck Concentration camp where she died on May 17, 1944 is related by her friend Margeret -Buber- Neumman's outstanding memoir of their time there.She understood and was devoted to the genius Kafka. Dora Dymant was with Kafka through the painful last months of his life. Her sacrifice, devotion and love of him knew no limit.They dreamed together of traveling to 'Palestina' and beginning a new life together. She loved him with a total and true love, and remained devoted to his memory throughout her life. We owe the fact that Kafka's works were not destroyed, and in fact became known to the world through the devoted action of his best friend, writer and biographer, Max Brod.
This book is written with deep human feeling and sensibility.
I want to close this review with Milena Jesenka's obituary for Kafka which appears towards the end of the book.
" Dr.Franz Kafka , .. writer who lived in Prague, died the day before yesterday in the Kierling Sanitorium at Klosterneuberg near Viena. Few knew him, for he was a loner, a recluse wise in the ways of the world, and frightened by it. For years he had been suffering from a lung disease, which he cherished and fostered even while accepting treatment.. It endowed him with a delicacy offeeling that bordered on the miraculous, and with a spiritual purity uncompromisingto the point of horror... He wrote the most significant works of modern German literature' their stark truth makes them seem naturalistic even where they speak in symbols. They reflect the irony and prophetic vision of a man condemned to see the world with such blinding clarity that he found it unbearable and went to his death."
I believe with the years many readers would substitute for the phrase 'most significant works in modern German literature' the phrase 'most significant works in world literature'.

I really enjoyed this bio. Unfortunately my copy was very used and progressively fell apart as I neared the end. Would like to buy a decent (whole) copy for keeps.

Few twentieth century authors have had as widespread an impact on modern literature as Franz Kafka. Even fewer biographers have managed to serve their subject so well as Ernst Pawel does the eternally enigmatic Kafka in THE NIGHTMARE OF REASON: A LIFE OF FRANZ KAFKA.

If ever the term "tortured genius" was applicable to one of the giants of literary history, it was without question to the Prague-born Jewish author Franz Kafka. Born July 3, 1883, to this day Kafka is celebrated worldwide for the seemingly bizarre, amorphous, surrealistic, and yet pin-point precise writing that characterizes such classics as his novels The Trial and The Castle, and his story Metamorphosis. What most readers don't realize, and what Ernst Pawel makes so stunningly clear in The Nightmare of Reason, is that Kafka's phenomenal work represents a true-to-life rendering of the emotional trauma, religious persecution, political oppression, and physical anguish he suffered throughout his life.

In the course of weaving together the historical and spiritual threads that bound the different elements of Kafka's existence, Pawel sheds much-needed light on one of the most famous father-son relationships in literary culture. In his wisdom, Pawel illustrates how both Franz and his father Hermann Kafka were largely products of their political and social times--an era that saw the unapologetic murderous oppression of Jews in Europe, ongoing debates over Zionism, and eruptions of war around the globe. How father and son adapted as individuals to these issues created between them walls too thick and tall to work their way around. Moreover, his mother Julie's need to make herself more available to her husband as a business partner and comrade than to her only son and her daughters did little to heal the future author's sense of abandonment in a terrifyingly tumultuous world.

If Kafka had had only his family's collective angst and Prague's political instability to cope with, he would have been immersed in the same kind of life conditions that many writers revel in to create their best work. His situation, however, was a far more complex one. Despite a healthy appreciation for sexual enjoyments, he nevertheless distrusted the deeper levels of binding emotional intimacy. In addition, he was prone to contracting illnesses rarely heard of outside Biblical times and accentuated the pain of these with an acute hypochondria.

The grace with which Kafka navigated chronic illnesses, held down a demanding job as an insurance claims administrator, pursued serious literary ambitions, and compassionately addressed the needs of others, made him appear more than human in the eyes of some. That his biological clock seemed to stop around the age of 20 did little to persuade them differently. Even months before his death at the age of 40, his countenance was more that of a youth curious about whatever surprises life might hold than it was that of a middle-aged man who had weathered his share of brutal storms, not the least of which was maintaining commitment to his literary art.

In his biography of the author, Pawel allows readers to feel the full weight of pain in Kafka's life so we come to understand what it means for a dedicated writer of his caliber to struggle past the agony of accumulated wounds and transform unrelenting affliction--if not into ecstasy capable of saving the life of the writer, then at least into art capable of inspiring humanity to address the danger of its absurd and deadly vanities. Kafka once put it this way: "Anyone who cannot come to terms with his life while he is alive needs one hand to ward off a little of his despair over his fate... but with his other hand he can note down what he sees among the ruins."

As much as he was beset by demons or sorrow throughout his years on the planet, Kafka was also blessed by the company of such angels as his courageous younger sister Ottla, his legendary off-and-on-again fiancé Felice Bauer, the famed political journalist Milena Jesenska, and the passionately devoted Dora Diamant. Just as he empowered each with his knowledge and influence, so did each in turn serve as sources of strength and refuge in his many hours of profound need. In his account of their place in Kafka's life, there's never a need for Pawel to exaggerate because the humbling facts speak so persuasively for themselves.

Had it not been for his friend Max Brod, few people outside European literary circles would likely have ever heard of Kafka. It was Brod who first recognized Kafka's genius, Brod who secured publication outlets for that genius, and he who later wrote the first biography on his friend, all while producing dozens of volumes of original writings himself. His most significant role in the Kafka story as the world knows it today is that of the man who defied his friend's instructions to destroy his unpublished works after his death, which occurred at noon on June 3, 1924. Brod did the exact opposite, editing and publishing as much as he could, in the process providing the world with two of its most enduring classics. If the act may be described as a betrayal of trust, it may also be interpreted as a towering testimony to a rare kind of friendship.

As amazing as The Nightmare of Reason is for its full-dimensional treatment of Kafka, it is equally so for Pawel's examination of the roots of modern anti-Semitism. The insights gleaned from his account of the irrational fears and exaggerated accusations that eventually gave rise to the Holocaust are not without their use in 2007. Consequently, reading the book is not only an excellent way to explore the creative depths and historical substance that produced Kafka's art. It is also a powerful way to reexamine those tendencies which lead humanity to blindly destroy that which it does not easily understand, and to reclaim the ability to transform fear into knowledge, then knowledge into the power to heal, and healing into a greater capacity for love.

by Author-Poet Aberjhani
author of The Harlem Renaissance Way Down South
and Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance (Facts on File Library of American History)

Mr. Pawel's book is an articulate account of Kafka's tortured life. Though the details are interesting, it is the manner in which these details are presented by Pawel that makes this book such a pleasure to read. Pawel's style is commendable and his insight is impressive. A worthy tribute to a giant of modern literature.

Photographs of Franz Kafka at age thirty and age forty appear in the center of the book. Through the years, nothing has been subtracted from the world's consciousness of his genius. He was born in a Prague still solidly embedded in the middle ages. His father, Hermann Kafka, had clawed his way out of poverty. In 1848 full citizenship rights had been granted the roughly four hundred thousand Jews within the Hapsburg Empire. Hermann did not have to exaggerate the hardships of his youth.

The world of Freud was the world of Kafka. Kafka, named for the emperor, felt that his childhood had crippled him. Family life focused on his father's drygoods store. Hermann had a booming parade-ground voice. Kafka denounced school as the conspiracy of the grown-ups. He had life-long difficulty over face-to-face meetings with authority figures. Over ninety per cent of the Jewish children in Bohemia received their education in German. For eight years Franz attended the German National Humanistic Gymnasium. Among other things, pupils were trained to work in a bureaucracy. They did many pointless tasks.


Kafka noted that to him writing was a form of prayer. In his age literature had taken the place of faith, ritual, and tradition. The productivity of writers in Austro-Hungary was staggering. The western Jews faced a dilemma. The sons, who seemed to be out of the business game, wrote. At the university Franz moved from philosophy to chemistry to the study of law. In 1902 he met Max Brod at a student society called the Hall. Brod recognized Kafka's genius. He came to believe Kafka would become the most important writer of his time. Brod had zest for life. The young Kafka was a striking combination of innate nobility and tact. He was both a middle class Jewish law student, at least until his graduation in 1906, and an underground hermit.

Franz Kafka once compared insurance to the religion of primitive man. The Workmen's Accident Insurance Institute was part of the Austro-Hungarian bureaucracy. Kafka's superiors claimed he had exceptional faculty for conceptualization. He was granted Civil Service tenure in 1910. Franz became a vegetarian, he practiced body-building, and sought to break his creative paralysis. He began in 1910 to keep detailed notebooks. The diaries inspired him to develop working methods.

In the fall of 1910 Kafka went to Paris with Otto and Max Brod. He was ill, but returned the following year and had better luck. In 1911 he attended a lecture of Karl Kraus and in the same year he met Kurt Tucholsky. Kafka became fascinated with the Yiddish theater. Subsequesntly he became interested in Jewish history and studied Hebrew. He also followed the affairs of the Zionists and the agricultural settlers in Palestine. In 1912 he gave a speech on the Yiddish language. The speech has been preserved by the notes taken by Elsa Taussig, Max Brod's wife.

He read voraciously. Writing justified his life and his not living his life. Kafka's first novel was AMERIKA. Kurt Wolff became his publisher. In 1912 as he was preparing his manuscript he met Felice Bauer through Max Brod. The courtship lasted five years. Felice preserved the leters. His unfinished novel, THE TRIAL, arose from his involvement with Felice Bauer. Later he had tuberculosis and he determined that the illness was a reason for him to terminate the relationship.

By 1921 Kafka could not longer meet the physical demands of his job. Visits by old friends tired him and depressed him. He corresponded with another friend, Milena, and wrote THE CASTLE his most elaborately autobiographical work. At some point in 1922 he pleaded with Milena not to write him again. His letters to her have also been preserved. In the end, Kafka, who feared death, surrendered to Dora Dymant. He stayed in a sanitorium near Vienna. Dora joined him there. He died in 1924 of tuberculosis of the larynx, (hungry and thirsty).