Category Archives: Books and Literature

Stories about Stories and Storytellers: One for All the Writers Out There

All About Me, Arts, Books and Literature, Fiction, fiction, Movies, Uncategorized

Yesterday was rough. The weather sucked, my arthritis was really acting up, I’ve hit a wall in trying to get my book published, and I had to go to the grocery, a weekly task which is never pleasant, but managed to sink to new lows yesterday. It was all extremely frustrating, and those of you who know me know my natural response to frustration is complete, all-encompassing rage. It was a real treat for the lovely and longsuffering Jess to come home from her work at a real job to my irrational, yet deeply felt, temper tantrum, I’m sure.

When I got up this morning, I decided today was going to be different.

Once I got through my morning chores, I had some time before I had to clock in at my work-from-home job as a writing consultant at IU East, which is generally not something I consider a real job (I’ve had real jobs and didn’t care for it), but is the first job I’ve ever had that I liked and was really good at, so I thought I’d watch a movie.

Instead of my usual fare of violence, bloodshed, and light depravity, I chose Cyrano, My Love, which tells a fictional version of the writing and making of one of my favourite stories, Cyrano de Bergerac, by Edmond Rostand. I’ve loved the story ever since I was a kid and saw the 1950 film version with Jose Ferrer, laughed my ass off at 1987’s Roxanne, starring Steve Martin, was blown away by the 1990 version starring Gerard Depardieu, and really enjoyed the 2019 musical version starring Peter Dinklage (it didn’t quite work, but Dinklage was impressive, as always). I’ve even read the play itself a couple of times, and I’m delighted to report that Cyrano, My Love did not disappoint.

It is laugh-out-loud funny, and pretty deeply touching, traits it has in common with Rostand’s play. The writing, acting, costumes, and sets, are all first-rate. The only drawback I can see (for some) is that it’s in French, with subtitles. If you love Cyrano, don’t let that stop you (if you don’t love Cyrano, I can only assume that you’re not familiar with it. Any of the adaptations I mentioned above would be a great starting point, but keep in mind that the Depardieu version, while the most visually stunning, is also in French).

But enough of plugging Cyrano, My Love (although seriously, you should see it). What I really want to write about here is my love of stories about telling stories, stories about stories, and stories about the magic of stories and books. Two examples that I’ve already written about are Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s The Shadow of the Wind, and Robin Sloan’s Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. A series I may have written about is Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series, in which Thursday, a literary detective has to find out who is kidnapping famous characters from their books. The Next novels are a wild, surreal ride through a literary amusement park – A lot of fun.

Sorry, but apparently it’s impossible for me to write about books without plugging those I really love. I’ll try to stay on track, but make no promises.

Anyway, all that got me thinking about the genre (?) of books about books, storytelling, and writing, which I’ve loved since long before I decided to try being a writer myself. I’ve been trying to figure out exactly WHY I love them so, and, to be honest, I really don’t think it’s all that complicated – they’re stories about my first, truly undying love, written by (generally speaking) really talented people in love with the same thing I love. They take characters I love in unexpected directions, while (also generally) remaining (reasonably) true to the original characters. It’s just FUN.

Then there are the books about books, which is to say books about why books matter, how a good one affects us, and what they give us. They bring books alive. Zafon’s book does that, beautifully. Another such story is John Connolly’s short story (novella?) The Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository, in which a book lover ends up interacting with both books and characters in mysterious, funny, and intimate ways. Connolly is best known for his Charlie Parker mystery series – sort of like if Stephen King started writing Philip Marlowe novels, and my favourites, the Samuel Johnson series, in which a young boy and his pet daschaund, aided by a couple of incompetent demons have to save the world from Armageddon (repeatedly) – really funny stuff – but I digress (again!). Anyway, The Caxton Private Lending Library and Book Depository is available as an e-book for $5 or $6 bucks on Barnes and Noble, and Amazon. Money well spent.

Then there are the books about writers writing (or at least trying), a sub-genre which I can really relate to. One of the best examples is Michael Chabon’s Wonder Boys which, I’m a little bit ashamed to admit, I haven’t read yet, but I did love the movie. It’s about a literature professor struggling with writer’s block (among other things). The great Stephen King has dipped his toes (talons?) into this pool a few times, with Misery, The Dark Half, the underrated Duma Key and the non-fiction On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. I know I can personally relate to feeling like something I’m writing is trying to destroy me.

It’s not just books though. Jess and I recently watched George Miller’s awesome Three Thousand Years of Longing. You probably know Miller from his awesome Mad Max series, or from the pretty-much-equally-awesome-but-in-a-totally-different-way family film (and Jess’ all-time favourite movie) Babe.

Three Thousand Years of Longing is about a scholar (Tilda Swinton) in the fields of stories and mythology who, while in Turkey, buys and accidentally breaks a vase containing a Djinn (Idris Elba). While she tries to figure out three wishes that won’t backfire on her, he tries to convince her he’s not a trickster by telling her stories of his life. Jess and I both loved it. It is funny, moving, and hypnotically beautiful.

It really reminded me of a very “for adults only” version of another favourite family movie, Secondhand Lions, starring two greats, Michael Caine and Robert Duvall. Chances are you’ve seen it. If you haven’t it’s a great, funny, and heartwarming movie about two cranky old coots telling tall tales about their lives to a neglected nephew. Both Caine and Duvall are on top of their game in this one.

Another great recent movie about storytellers is Babylon, with Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, about the hedonistic chaos that ruled Hollywood right at the changeover from silent films to talkies, and before the Hays Code that amounted to self-inflicted censorship. It is very funny, a little heartbreaking, and very raunchy.

Of course, movies about making movies is a whole sub-genre of its own with a lot of standouts: Tarentino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Barry Sonnenfeld’s Get Shorty (based on a book by the immortal Elmore Leonard), the Coen Brothers’ Hail Caesar!, Ben Stiller’s hysterical Tropic Thunder and, of course, one of the greatest musicals of all time, Singin’ In the Rain. There are innumerable others, good, bad, and indifferent, but those are my favourites.

Anyway, I could go on forever about this, but I’ll wrap it up with the book I’m currently reading: Guy Vanderhaeghe’s The Englishman’s Boy. It takes place in two separate timelines, one in the Old West, the other in 1920s Hollywood. You may recall me waxing rhapsodically about another Vanderhaeghe book, The Last Crossing. This one is just as good, maybe even better. If you haven’t read anything by Vanderhaeghe, you really, really should.

Well, I guess I’ve beaten this dead horse enough, although just thinking and writing about this has put me in a really good mood (or at least better than yesterday). I think I’ll stop now, and maybe take a shower (a pleasant little after-work surprise for Jess – Yes, I am just that sweet).

Thanks for reading!

Words: A Tale of Disappointment

All About Me, Arts, Books and Literature, Culture, Politics & Culture

During my brief and unlamented period as a graduate student teaching the basic college composition course, and in my current job as a “Writing Consultant”, one of the most important things that I’ve tried to impress on my students and consultees (not really sure what to call them: clients? victims?) is that WORDS HAVE MEANING!!!! That the order/organization of the words in a sentence conveys meaning, and can either accurately convey the writer’s intentions, or confuse the reader, causing them to misunderstand what’s being said.

I fear that it is a futile endeavor. For a long time, I’ve been dismayed by the quality of writing I see in the public sphere, especially in regard to the news. Rarely does a day go by when I don’t notice some glaring grammatical, or even spelling, error in the news coverage of the day. Which leads me to the following headline from today’s Daily Mail, a British newspaper that also publishes American and Australian versions:

Cops: Georgia homeowner shot dead intruder breaking into his house

I will admit to a bit of confusion: initially, I thought the homeowner was killed, and was sad for a moment, until I read on, and realized that the homeowner is fine, and that he had actually shot a dead intruder for breaking into his house.

Now, as a fan of horror and apocalyptic novels and movies, I have to admit, I was both excited – there’s real-world zombie action! – and worried – there’s real-world zombie action?! Oh shit! Needless to say, I felt the need to learn more. I clicked on the link, and you can imagine my dismay when it almost immediately became obvious that I had been misled.

There are so many ways that this headline could have been worded to accurately convey it’s meaning: “Georgia homeowner shoots intruder dead for breaking into his house”, OR “Georgia homeowner kills intruder”, OR “Intruder killed by Georgial homeowner”, OR “Intruder shot dead by homeowner in Georgia”.

So why did the Daily Mail go with their headline? I don’t know. Maybe it’s a British thing, like adding U’s to words like honour, humour, etc. Maybe they are trying to appeal to a more morbid, gothic readership? Whatever the reason, my disappointment/relief about the apparently-not-impending zombie apocalypse was eclipsed by my disappointment in the sinking standards for public writing.

On the upside, bad writing, whether it be mechanical (grammar, punctuation, etc.), or communicative (actually conveying the intended meaning) would seem to be a unifying factor in an increasingly fractured world. It doesn’t matter whether a publication or writer is conservative, liberal, gay, straight, authoritarian, anti-fascist, or whatever other faction you want to mention, or if they’re a professional writer, semi-pro, or hobbyist blogger like me, or if the publication is reputable, disreputable, or just click-bait nonsense, apparently the idea that WORDS HAVE MEANING!!!! means less and less influence every day.

Of course, there are always exceptions – like myself. I pride myslef on vigorously proofreading every word and sentence I write, before sending them out into the world, lavishing all the care on them that most people apply to their children. I would be mortified if errors were to be found in any of my own deathless prose! Except of course, for those intentional errors I plant occasionally, just to prove to myself that readers are just as careless, and uncaring, about words as most writers are. The fact that no one has ever brought any such error to my attention proves that. But I dirgess.

To go back to my initial point, I have to say, irresponsible writing, like that evidenced in writing like: “Cops: Georgia homeowner shot dead intruder breaking into his house” certainly doesn’t make my job any easier. On the other hand, it does provide a certain amount of job security.

Another Review of My (So Far) Unpublished Novel, To Be Free: The Life and Times of Nate Luck.

All About Me, Arts, Books and Literature, Fiction, fiction

Sometimes I’m glad I checked my email. This is one of those times. Enjoy this review from IndieReader!

Potential Book Cover I’ve put together.

TITLE: TO BE FREE (The Life and Times of Nate Luck)

AUTHOR: Lloyd Mullins

RATING: 4.8 stars (out of 5)

Half-Russian, half-Mongolian Nate Luck immigrates to America in 1854 and spends the next forty years seeking a path to social justice—a path soaked in the blood of the Black and Native Americans he calls family and friends.

In Lloyd Mullins’s historical novel TO BE FREE (The Life and Times of Nate Luck), a half-Russian, half-Mongolian young man immigrates to America in 1854 in the search for freedom from the confining pressures of his home. Anatoly Mikhailovich Lukyanov, now called Nate Luck, is often mistaken as Chinese, but he soon finds solace in work as a cowhand (calling himself a cowboy) with the help of his newfound friends Jack and Dave. Steered by his moral compass, when the Civil War breaks out, Nate fights for the Union to help end slavery, after which time he spends over a decade among Native Americans, marrying and having children with a wonderful woman named Coming Together. Gruesome and traumatic experiences later turn his new life upside down, but Nate continues to be consumed by thoughts of justice. His unique perspective and his lifelong theme of social justice lead to an ironic yet cathartic conclusion—if the ending is abrupt—with profound implications.

Each chapter is a self-contained scene describing a specific event Nate endures, sandwiched by wisdom he learns on that adventure. The introduction paragraph to each chapter is usually ominous and foreboding, as when Nate offers foreshadowing on the dangers of nicknames, while the conclusion is typically insightful—for instance, this follows a tense scene where character suggest names to tell three men named Dave apart: “Always beware a man who changes his own name, no matter what position he may hold. He is not to be trusted.” While each chapter is a self-contained scene, the chapters build on one another to progress the story forward at a steady pace propelled by character relationships and Nate’s personal ambitions. Nate is a moral man, driven to act in ways he feels are “right” and “responsible,” though he is often led astray by material distractions, like lust and money and revenge, which makes him both a likable and a relatable hero.

The book’s historical setting is masterfully cultivated, not only with era-appropriate content but also with dialogue that feels true to the time period. While most of the characters’ beliefs and values are products of their time, Nate and his friends tend to be more liberal, showing how social progress was made at the time. For instance, Nate is an avid reader of philosophy and shares his books and knowledge with Dave, who is a freed slave, but Nate often butts heads over this with Jack, who is fiercely loyal to Dave and aims to protect him from the dangers of white men who would kill a black man who knows how to read. Other minor characters, like Nate’s tenacious wife Coming Together, have full, lush personalities that challenge Nate’s beliefs and influence the plot while successfully respecting their individuality. While the book’s major antagonist at times feels one-dimensionally evil, most characters remain dynamic and complex. The traumas of Black and Native Americans are approached with tact and powerful empathy.

IR Verdict: With many moving parts and taking place over several decades, Lloyd Mullins’s TO BE FREE is a sweeping historical novel populated by richly complex characters about a man’s search for justice in a world rife with violence and discrimination.

Out of Time, Out of Place, Still Not Giving Up

All About Me, Arts, Books and Literature, Culture, Fiction, Movies

There is so much bad and/or stupid stuff going on in the world, and I frequently find myself really, really wanting to write about it. Then I take a step back and realize there are enough angry voices out there, and that I just really, really, don’t want to be one of them – at least not right now. Instead, I’ve decided to write about something I love: Westerns. Specifically Western movies.

Yes, I know I really need to figure out how to resize these pictures.

I’ve always loved westerns. Some of my earliest memories are of my little brother and I building pillow forts to watch High Chapparall on the TV. The only movies I remember my family ever going to were John Wayne movies (although dad did make an exception for Jeremiah Johnson – a glorious experience for seven-year-old me!). I would guess that Westerns have had a stronger influence on how I see the world than just about anything else.

Like any genre, the greatest westerns are those about much more than just cowboys and indians and gunfights and wagon trains and schoolmarms and whatnot. To be truly great, any movie or book has to be doing more than just telling a story: For example, Silverado is one of my favorite westerns. I never get tired of it, but it’s a fun western, not a great one.

One of the themes of most of the truly capital-G Great Westerns that resonates with me more every year are those about the passing of time and place. Sometimes it’s The Wild Bunch or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, or The Long Riders going down in hail of gunfire because they couldn’t (or wouldn’t) change with the times. Sometimes it’s The Outlaw Josey Wales or Jeremiah Johnson or Shane trying to make a new beginning, to put the past behind. Sometimes, of course, it’s those burnt-out old cowboys and gunslingers showing they’ve still got some fight left in them, like in Unforgiven, Ride the High Country, and Lonesome Dove.

I think the reason I used to love those stories was that, in addition to being capital G Great movies, I felt a lot of sympathy for those characters – and glad that was never going to happen to me. Now, I love them because I can empathize with those characters – because I feel like it’s happening to me. The world I live in is very unlike the world I grew up in, the world of my salad days. Now, it seems like sometimes I spend as much time looking for the remote or cursing because I’ve-hit-the-wrong-damned-button-and-now the-TV-is-asking-me-questions-and-I-can’t-figure-out-what-I’ve-done-wrong-or-how-to-make it-stop, than I do actually watching a movie or show.

I’m pretty sure that in another 10 years or so, I’m going to need to pay a kid just to hang around, turn the TV on, change the channel, etc. It’s really frightening, how fast technology is changing, and how bad I am at keeping up with it. Most days, I don’t even want to try.

Of course, it’s not just technology. It’s society. It’s always changing, and the one thing that doesn’t change is that the generation shouting “We Shall Overcome” at us old fogies will, before they know it, hear a new generation shouting it at them (a tip o’ the hat to Sir Terry Pratchett for that joke).

I’ll tell you what, if you want to feel out of place, try being a retired veteran who’s always worked with his back and his hands, starting a Creative Writing graduate program at a really, really, liberal college like Miami University! It’ll freak you right out. I know it freaked me right out, and not only was I really, really, trying to belong there, everyone there was really, really, trying to make me feel like I belonged.

I’d never even known that pronouns were an issue, until the first day of the program (which was on zoom, talk about an adjustment!), when the Prof. asked us all to introduce ourselves and give our pronouns. At first, I thought it was some kind of English joke. It was not.

Don’t get me wrong – I have no problem with the whole pronoun thing. I figure you’re entitled to be referred to however you want. My issue isn’t philosophical or political or religion-based, it is entirely a matter of an inability to change, no matter how hard I try. It is embarrassing and frustrating to be unable to refer to a perfectly lovely human being as “they” when, for my entire 50+ years, it’s always just been “he” or “she”*. I would sit there stammering and stumbling and cursing, trying to correct myself to “they”, feeling like a jerk and a linguistic dinosaur the whole time (and this was in my last semester of the program!).

Fortunately they (meaning the individual in question, not everybody in the room) was very understanding, and when I apologized after class, told me not to worry, that they appreciated that someone like me would even try, which was more than they got from their family. Honestly, after that, I didn’t know whether to feel better or worse.

But I digress – back to the Westerns!

This morning, I watched Out of the Wild (on Amazon) which, if not a great movie, was a really good one, about a broken-down, alcoholic cowboy forced to take a job at a dude ranch after no real ranch would hire him. It was a beautiful redemption story, but not sappy or sentimental. It put me in mind of the TV movie The Good Old Boys, based on a novel by the late, great Elmer Kelton, about another cowboy facing the end of the cowboying days.

By the way, you can’t go wrong with Elmer Kelton, but his best, in my opinion, are The Good Old Boys, The Time It Never Rained, and The Day the Cowboys Quit, precisely because they deal with the changing times.

Thinking about The Good Old Boys got me thinking about Monte Walsh (the awesome Lee Marvin version, not the Tom Selleck one). Monte Walsh is another one about an aging cowboy, and honestly, I don’t think anyone can do that role better than Lee Marvin (and I just learned that Jack Schaefer, the guy who wrote the book Shane also wrote Monte Walsh! I just bought it – I’ll let you know how it is).

Anyway, this has all been (for the most part anyway) waaaaaay more fun for me than writing about all the things that are wrong with the world and how I’d fix ’em. Probably more fun for you, too. At the very least, you’ve got some good books and movies to check out! By the way, you don’t have to be a man to enjoy them, especially not The Good Old Boys or Out of the Wild, which are basically love stories that even a strong, manly man like myself can love.

I guess that’s about it, for now anyway.

Thanks for reading!

*Or, to my shame, as “it” whenever there was some question. That was years ago, before I became friends with a trans man, and had to seriously start thinking about this stuff, back when I was a much less decent human being, and less Christian, something I’m trying to rectify. Can’t fix something if you can’t admit it’s broken.

A Few Quick Reviews of Books Not by Me

Arts, Books and Literature, Fiction

In case you’ve gotten tired of reading about my book, which isn’t even published yet, I thought I’d turn the focus on some fantastic books by other authors that I’ve enjoyed recently. Happy reading!

Nightmare House by Robert Clegg. A really entertaining old-fashioned haunted house story. Not particularly terrifying, but has a great gothic creepiness to it. I’m not a big haunted house fan, but I do enjoy a good one (Richard Matheson’s Hell House is the best, in my opinion – yes, even better than The Shining!), and Nightmare House definitely falls into that category, if not on the same level as Matheson or King. It’s the first of a series of stand-alone novels about the same house, and I’m looking forward to reading the next one. If you’re in the mood for a creepy but entertaining good time, check it out!

The Son by Philipp Meyer. The basis for a great mini-series starring Pierce Brosnan, The Son tells the story of three generations of the McCullough family: Eli McCullough – raised by the Comanches who slaughtered his family, Eli eventually returns to white society and founds a Texas dynasty, Peter McCullough – Eli’s son, caught up in the racial struggles of south Texas of the early 20th Century, and Jeannie McCullough – Eli’s Great-Granddaughter, who struggles to find her place in the world of oil booms and progress. To be honest, I haven’t even finished it yet, but it is great, the kind of great book that gets into my dreams. If you like rough, tough, historical fiction about the Old West and early 20th Century, give it a try!

The Fervor and The Hunger by Alma Katsu. Excellent historical horror. The Hunger is a psychological horror story about the Donner Party, whose wagon train got lost in the Rocky Mountains and were forced to turn to cannibalism to survive. Even without the horror trappings, it’s a really good look at the Donner Party, and what drove people to risk everything on the long road west, to California. The Fervor begins in the Japanese Internment Camps of WWII, and follows Meiko and Aiko Briggs, the wife and daughter of an American combat pilot fighting in the war. A mysterious disease afflicts the camp, and things go downhill from there. Again, it’s more psychological horror than blood-and-guts, and like the best genre fiction, its about way more than it seems on the surface. Katsu is a really good writer, and I’m looking forward to reading The Deep, about a woman who survives a supernatural mystery aboard, and the sinking of, the Titanic, who ends up on its sister-ship, the Britannic, a WWI hospital ship.

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry – by Fredrik Backman. A very sweet, funny, and fantastical story about Elsa, a little girl whose loose-cannon grandmother dies, but not before setting up one last adventure for Elsa. It’s kind of a very modern, kind-hearted fairy tale about found family, love, and mystery. It’s not the sort of thing I normally read (like I said, it’s a very sweet book), but I may have to change my reading habits to include more of this sort of thing. Backman is the author of A Man Called Ove, which I’m looking forward to reading.

Strip by Thomas Perry. Perry is a fantastic writer of thrillers and comic crime novels. A small-time gangster has been robbed, and his goons have been informed that Joe Carver, a new guy in town, is the robber. He isn’t, but that doesn’t stop them from going after him, and finding out they’ve caught a tiger by the tail. An action-packed thriller with a lot of laughs and a great every-man hero.

The Last Crossing by Guy Vanderhaeghe. For my money, the best book on this list. It’s actually pretty similar to mine, but while reading it, I found myself thinking “Man! I wish I could write” and deciding I should start calling myself a storyteller rather than a writer. It’s about English brothers who come to the States in 1876 to find a third brother who’s gone missing. It is beautiful, harrowing, and rugged, and should not be missed, especially if you like historical fiction.

The Border by Robert McCammon. An apocalyptic sci-fi thriller in which two alien races lay waste to the earth, which lies on the border of their universes (dimensions?), the few humans left struggling for survival, and the possibly psychic teenage boy who may hold the key to save mankind and the planet. McCammon rarely disappoints, and pretty much knocks this one out of the park. It’s got everything you look for in your basic sci-fi apocalypse, and then some. McCammon’s already done the apocalypse a couple of times, with nukes (Swan Song), vampires (They Thirst), along with numerous other thrillers, horror, and historical novels. Sci-fi isn’t usually my thing, but I really loved this book.

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi. Another guy whose Sci-fi I always enjoy, it’s the story of a group who work in a different dimension, one inhabited by Kaiju (monsters like Godzilla and Mothra), to protect them, and keep them from destroying our dimension. Of course, there are nefarious forces at work to use the Kaiju for their own ends here on earth. A quick, fun read with a lot of humor and action. Honestly, you can’t go wrong with Scalzi.

The Good Lord Bird and Deacon King Kong by James McBride. McBride is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers. The Good Lord Bird is the story of John Brown, from Bloody Kansas to Harpers Ferry, told from the point of view of a slave boy mistaken for a girl and freed by Brown. A historical horror/tragedy told with humor and heart (for those of you who aren’t readers, it was made into an excellent mini-series starring Ethan Hawke as John Brown). Deacon King Kong is about an old church deacon in Brooklyn, 1969, who goes off the rails and shots the local drug dealer in front of the entire community. It is big-hearted, funny, and moving, but not sentimental. It is an amazing book – one of those that feels like it’s making the world just a little bit better, just by being read. Great stuff.

Finally, for all you book lovers out there (and if you’ve read this far, I’m guessing you are one), there’s Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan. Who doesn’t love a book-based mystery-adventure revolving around an old bookstore with mysterious, coded books and even more mysterious customers? Especially told by a down-and-out laid-off computer programmer who stumbles into a job in the store and becomes obsessed with solving the mystery of the store. Lots of fun. Really, it’s not going to change your world, but it is a delightful break from it.

Anyway, I guess that’s it for now. Happy reading!

The Latest Review of My Novel!

All About Me, Arts, Books and Literature, Fiction, fiction

Hey all! Just wanted to take a minute to post a copy of the latest review of my historical novel To Be Free: The Life and Times of Nate Luck. The review is from the Historical Fiction Company, and has given my novel 5 stars and the HFC “Highly Recommended” medal!

Now, I don’t know if that’s going to impress anyone in the publishing industry, but I’ll take it! Feeling pretty stoked this morning. I also want to take a minute to thank all the folks who helped me get this turkey written: my brother David, my sister Sharon, my cousin Ross, Dave McCoy, Andy Miller, Judy Jennings, Beth Slattery, and all the others who gave me very valuable feedback and encouragement, my MFA committee – Brian Roley, Margaret Luongo, and TaraShea Nesbitt, and the folks who were in the program with me. Couldn’t have done it without all of you, so THANKS!

Anyway, without further ado, here’s the review:

To Be Free Review

To be Free is a biographical novel about Nate Luck, a Russian of Mongolian descent who immigrated to the United States in the 19th century. Luck’s Russian name was Anatoly Mikhailovich Lukyanov. The novel begins with his childhood in Russia, follows him through his journey across the Pacific, his time as a cowhand and Civil War soldier, his joining Native American tribes, and a legal officer. It opens with an editor’s note, which states one of the book’s most interesting features. Lloyd Mullens, the author, explains that he discovered Lukyanov/Lake’s unpublished memoir manuscript within a trunk his friend purchased. Mr. Mullens then says that he left most of the memoir intact, primarily editing the language common in the 19th century but offensive in the 21st. Other clues imply a modern hand had a larger role in shaping this novel. It contains direct, post-Hemingway prose that would have been uncommon for a writer in the 1890s. It also has an extensive bibliography of sources at the back, and most of all, contains modern conceptions about marginalized communities. For example, here is a quote from Esme, one of Luck’s primary love interests, about relying on men:

“There’s not a woman in this world that’s safe, and a woman who counts on a man to make her feel safe is a fool. Besides, anything I can’t handle with this, Samson’ll take care of.”

Samson was Esme’s pimp/club owner. Similarly, here’s a quote from a Native American chief justifying his people’s actions against white American encroachment:

“Enough!” Wolf Chief who interrupted, “You call us savages! We fight yes, to protect what is ours! Who wouldn’t? But you ve’ho’e who come here to take everything and leave us nothing — you call yourselves civilized! You bring nothing but disease and death and destruction, and all in the name of your Jesus Christ.

“I was there,” he continued, “when your soldier chief Eayre attacked our village at Ash Creek. Lean Bear rode out to greet them with your president’s paper in his hand, your president’s medal on his chest. ‘Don’t be afraid!’ he told us, ‘The soldiers are our friends.’ The soldiers shot him down and kept shooting his body as they rode over it.”

All of these elements lead To be Free to read like a modern composition. If the Editor’s Note is accurate, and the document was minimally edited, Mr. Mullens made a remarkable find and readers of biographical fiction have an exciting new entry into the genre. Like some other biographical novels, To Be Free acts as a fictional memoir. Unlike some of those contemporaries, (such as Marguerite Yourcenar’s Memoirs of Hadrian) it reads more like a first person novel than a memoir. The novel is largely dialogue driven, much of it excellently written, and each character possesses a unique voice.

The novel’s main theme is finding a place in American society as an outsider. Lukyanov flees Russia under the threat of violence and holds an idealistic view of the US, largely due to his Enlightenment-infused father. He quickly learns that his Asian features result in discrimination from his new countrymen, his first step toward cynicism. His Enlightenment views lead him to critique America’s hypocrisy on slavery, including this interesting exchange about American slavery and Russian serfdom:

Dave sat deep in thought for a while and then said, “You Russians sure done us one better.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well here at least, a slave’s free when he dies. You boys have figured out how to keep him in chains and make money off him even when he’s dead.”

Much of the plot also deals with US-Native relations, which contributes to Lukyanov/Lake’s disenchantment with his adopted country. He lives among them multiple times, once infiltrating a tribe as part of an Army assignment and once joining from genuine choice. Each time culminates in witnessing the Army’s brutality toward Natives. Lake’s outsider perspective allows him to see 19th century America more objectively than its natural-born citizens. By the novel’s end, he views much of American society as a corrupt sham, and no longer blames his enemies for their behavior, but society’s incentives. The end result is a tragedy of sorts. This means that To be Free shares themes with two of America’s greatest artistic works, The Godfather and The Great Gatsby. The first implied that assimilating into mainstream American society was impossible, the second made a similar statement about fulfilling the American dream. Lake’s commentary fits along similar lines.

Most stories prioritize either their plot or their characters. Biographical fiction generally falls into the latter camp, with much of the genre serving as character studies for their respective subjects. To Be Free does an unusually good job at balancing both. Its adventurous plot of voyage, cowboys, wars, Native Americans, love, rivalry, and corruption will keep most readers hooked through what is admittedly a long narrative. But Lake discusses his view of himself and the world, building a compelling psychological portrait. He discusses his support for the Enlightenment, his love of novels, his skills at language and in horseback riding, and his thoughts on Manifest Destiny, on killing during war, and on what makes a good life. Each chapter opens with a fragment about its theme, which is a nice touch and gives additional insight into Lake’s mind and beliefs. One of this reviewer’s favorite quotes was the following:

It was funny, but then I thought about “Blessed are the peacemakers.” In my experience, all too often, the peacemakers pay the price for all of us. Look at Jesus. Or Black Kettle. The world would be a whole lot better off if we’d listen to men like them rather than kill them because they’re inconvenient.

Side characters, such as Esme, a love interest, and Bill Morrow, Lake’s rival, also receive thoughtful character analysis that produces important character arcs. The romantic and conflict driven plot-lines help ensure a well-rounded narrative that will appeal to most readers.

In conclusion, To Be Free balances the different aspects of storytelling better than most novels. It contains an exciting plot and thoughtful characters, good dialogue and descriptions, conflict and romance, social commentary that is forward looking and doesn’t overwhelm the narrative, and even functions as both a biographical novel and a memoir. It is highly recommended for fans of creative nonfiction (biographical fiction) and westerns.

“To Be Free” by Lloyd Mullins receives five stars and the “Highly Recommended” award of excellence from The Historical Fiction Company

Today, My Inner Narcissist is a Happy Camper: Tomorrow, a Return to Despair

All About Me, Arts, Books and Literature, Fiction, fiction

I’ve often thought that there is a certain degree of narcissism present in anyone’s decision to become any kind of artist. Just having the idea that I’ve got something to say, and I want as many people to hear it as possible, because it’s important to me and should be important to them too, strikes me as arrogant at the very least – of course in my case, it’s a charmingly self-deprecating sort of arrogance.

It is, however, really difficult to maintain that narcissism/arrogance/healthy self-confidence once you start sending your work out into the public. Take me for example – I spent waaaay too much money on research (I’m going to have to sell a lot of books just to pay for the books I bought to write my book*), and two years of my life thinking and writing and editing and rewriting and re-editing and so on, until I thought, “That’s it! That’s exactly what I want to say, and said as well as I can say it!” Then I started shopping my new baby around to agents and publishers, visions of accolades, best-seller lists, and movie deals in your head. “Hahahahahahahahahaha!” I thought (charmingly and humbly, of course), “This’ll show those naysayers who said I was dreaming/wasting my time!”

So I sent out a shitload of query letters and waited for the offers to start rolling in, for the agents to start slugging it out over representing me and my modest little book: “What? All this fuss over little ol’ moi?”

Except that’s not what happened. Responses start trickling in, but they’re all rejections – as of this writing, I’m up to 67 rejections from agents, with only a couple of tiny nibbles of interests. They’re almost all really, really nice, but still . . . I haven’t faced this much rejection since before I met the lovely and talented Jess . . . I’d kind of forgotten how much it stings.

It really gets kind of demoralizing but every once in a while, something happens that gives me hope. A few weeks ago, I learned that Frontier Tales wants to publish a chapter of my novel, which was a huge boost.

Last week, I entered my book in a Cinematic Novel contest. I broke down and paid an extra fee to get some feedback. I wasn’t hoping for much – after all, I’d sent my first novel, Thumperica, to Kirkus Reviews for an obscene (to me anyway) amount of money, and they trashed it. What made it even worse was that the reviewer clearly only read roughly the first half of the book (but at least I’m not bitter).

Anyway, today, I got the feedback from the contest. Here’s what the contest person had to say (by the way, IP stands for Intellectual Property – I’m guessing that by an “existent IP” they mean a character or story that is out in the world now, i.e. a franchise sort of character):

*****

Feedback (Cinematic Book)
TO BE FREE tells the action-packed, vivid story of Nate Luck, a Russian-Buriat immigrant to
America during the heyday of the “wild west.” As a rancher, a soldier, and a father, he transforms
effectively from a starry-eyed, adventure-craving idealist to a disillusioned but still principled
American in every sense of the word. The characters, plot and structure are all there to make this
a dynamic feature or limited series, and the storytelling should be noted as a standout. The
primary obstacle to adapting this work to the screen will be that it’s not based on existent IP, and
as a period piece may be expensive to produce.

One of the primary elements studios and streamers look for in adapting material is character, and
that is an area where this book really shines. Nate Luck is a captivating protagonist, driving the
action forward with his impulsive love of life, fighting spirit, as well as sunshiny optimism. Whether
he’s defending someone outside a brothel or battling the love of his life, Esme, the plot hinges on
his action and his character. He also is a unique protagonist in terms of his heritage, and the
specificity that brings to him navigating The West is truly wonderful. His strength as a horse-rider
due to his Mongolian grandfather and mother, his resistance to being seen as anything other than
independent, they are ripe for bumping up against this classic American setting. How he
transforms into someone who sees the cracks in the shiny marquee of The American Dream are
all the more heartbreaking for the great spirit he brings to fulfilling it.

The women characters are also refreshingly vital and active, which is all too rare in male-dominated
genres and historical stories. From the engaging way Nate’s mother is described to the feisty
Esme, there would unquestionably be desirable parts for actors of many different genders, ages,
and ethnicities. This diversity is a definite plus, but all the more so because it doesn’t feel on-the-nose,
but rather — simply — earned and factual.

Speaking of factual, the historical research would set this project apart for adaptation as well. They
add so much (seeming, at least) authenticity, whether talking about the cargo laborers traveling
on credit-tickets to the differences between the Cheyenne and the Nez Perce tribes. While at times
the line between reality and fiction is blurred, much like in the novel of The Princess Bride by
William Goldman, this only serves to plunge us deeper into the story and is effective. My only
caveat would be that some of the racial realities of the time, even if they are grounded, can be a
tough pill to swallow. For instance, Nate’s reaction to the Chinese as an “inherited prejudice” may
shut down some readers, even if he very quickly realizes the error of his ways in America.

My main word of caution is that, as the story is not based on existing IP, it will likely be more
challenging to get made. Typically, historical adaptations have had a well-known protagonist or a
connection to a specific, well-known event that can help sell the story. One thing to consider is
how Nate Luck can feel like a FORREST GUMP protagonist, traveling through many different well-known
events. Highlighting these instances structurally could perhaps help filmmakers connect
the dots. That said, this may be a challenge for the writer, no matter how well-told the story is,
particularly given the added expenses that come with any historical setting.

One quick thematic note: I really like the idea presented that, because Nate has a wealth of
memories to “draw on and remember,” that he can live as a “King of Infinite Space.” This poetic
counter to the ravenous demands of Manifest Destiny elevates the story into the arena of the best-themed Westerns, like NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, TRUE GRIT or UNFORGIVEN. Overall, this is a
highly readable story that has the action-oriented, visual elements to translate well to the screen.

*****

Yes, you read that right – it gets compared to No Country For Old Men, True Grit, and Unforgiven! Feel free to go back and double-check it; I’ve probably read that thing six or seven times since this morning. I’ve got to say, this came out waaaaay better than I expected. To be honest, I had very low expectations. I certainly didn’t hope for anything this positive, and I’m not sure how to process it. I was really expecting something that would just make me feel worse for wasting the money (lookin’ at you again, Kirkus!).

Instead, I got feedback that made me feel like they really “got” what I was going for, and that I kinda hit that nail on the head. I’ve had some wonderful friends and family who’ve given me very generous and favourable feedback but, outside of my thesis committee (who also liked it, but mostly seemed impressed by my ability to eliminate 50,000 words in a couple of weeks while keeping it a coherent narrative), there hasn’t been much in the way of outside/objective validation until now.

It’s nice to feel this way, even for a little while!

So now I’m doomed to have hope again, at least for a little while. To quote some British Sports commentator, “It’s not the despair, it’s the hope that kills you.”

Oh well, I never expected it to be easy.

*On the other hand, is money spent on books and travel ever really misspent?

Some More Recommendations for Your Reading/Watching/Listening Pleasure

Arts, Books and Literature, Movies, Music

Hi folks, just a few entertainment recommendations for you. Well maybe not for YOU, (you know who you are), but for everyone else. Some of these you’ve probably heard of, many you probably haven’t. I highly recommend all of these (for what that’s worth).

Books:

The Shadow of the Wind

A great book, but kind of hard to describe: sort of a literary, book-based coming-of-age thriller about how books can affect our lives. Takes place in Barcelona, Spain after WWII. Amazing writing, great characters, very suspenseful. Some cursing, some sex, but nothing too graphic/explicit. Best thing I’ve read in a while.

World Made By Hand

A great post-apocalyptic tale: In the not-too-distant future, society has collapsed, wars, famine, and epidemics have drastically reduced the population, and those left are living in a technology-free, early 19th century kind of world. Modern medicines and technology are things of the past, but most people are old enough to remember them, which just makes adjusting harder. A small town reaches a crisis point where they realize they must either dig in and start over, or give up and sink even deeper. A new religious group moves into town. Are they a force for good, or evil?

A great read: Exciting but thoughtful, dystopian but ultimately optimistic, very non-political. Reads more like a western than a typical dystopian story. World Made By Hand is the first of a series of four. It’s followed by The Witch of Hebron, A History of the Future, and The Harrows of Spring, all of which are really, really good. Some bad language, some violence, some sex, but none gratuitous, exploitative, or graphic. Really not much worse than most Louis L’amour books.

Wyoming Range War: The Infamous Invasion of Johnson County

A non-fiction account of the Johnson County War of 1891-2. A great examination of a little-known range war in which the big ranches/cattle interests literally recruited an army of hired guns and invaded Johnson County Wyoming with the intention of killing numerous small ranchers and law enforcement officials. Goes to great depth in examining the events that led up to it, and the aftermath, in addition to recounting the events of the actual invasion. A little dry/very detailed, but really worth reading. A great tale of power run amok, and what can happen when the little guy stands up to it. Also an eye-opener to those who think that “fake news” is something new.

Augustus Carp, Esquire

A very funny and frequently hilarious “autobiography” of a man so convinced of his own righteousness that he writes the story of his life to serve as an example to others of how they should live their lives. Surprisingly relevant (at least I thought so). Not a very long read, and very entertaining, although the language is somewhat old-fashioned (first published in 1924). Definitely the lightest of these four recommendations. Nothing objectionable.

Movies

Flu

Great Korean thriller about a city struck with an especially virulent strain of flu. Not a horror movie, but if you liked Train to Busan, you’ll enjoy this. One of the most likeable and amiable heroes I’ve ever seen in a movie of this kind, and once again proves that there’s nothing more tear-inducing than a 7-year-old Korean girl crying for her mother. Gotta hand it to the Koreans, they give this type of thing a lot more heart, and ramp up the suspense way more than most American films of this type. Some cursing, violence. A lot of flu-based gore. Great movie. Available on Amazon Prime.

The Terror: Infamy

Season two of AMC’s series The Terror. History-based horror, this time taking place in the Internment Camps of WWII America. A great blend of actual historical horror and supernatural horror, with the historical horror coming off as scarier. Like the best of any genre, it’s about more than just horror. It makes you think about much deeper issues (at least it did me). A great show. Some bad language, some violence, but nothing too extreme or graphic. Just as good as season one The Terror, which was based on the Dan Simmon’s fictional account of the real-life Franklin expedition to find the northwest passage. That was one of the few programs that I felt was actually better than the book (and I love the book). This recommendation is kind of a two-fer.

The Terror season one takes place in 1845-6. Two ships, the Erebus and the Terror, under the command of Sir John Franklin, become frozen in the Arctic ice while searching for the Northwest Passage. Not one of the crew was ever seen again. That part is all true. The show (and book) provide a partly realistic/partly supernatural explanation. Some violence and a lot of suspense.

JoJo Rabbit

Hands-down the best movie I’ve seen in a long time. A hilarious, heart-breaking, thought-provoking look at Nazism and the end of WWII through the eyes of a ten year old member of the Hitler Youth who discovers a Jewish girl hidden in the walls of his house. Amazing performances by the entire cast, and especially from Roman Griffin Davis (JoJo), Thomasin McKenzie (Elsa), Scarlett Johanson (Jojo’s mother), and Taika Waititi (Jojo’s imaginary best friend Adolph Hitler. He also wrote and directed it). I can’t say enough good about this movie. Jess and I both loved it. I can’t think of any higher recommendation. WATCH THIS MOVIE!!!!!!

Hunters

An Amazon Prime series about a group hunting Nazis in America in 1977. The most difficult recommendation here. It has come under completely understandable, legitimate, and valid fire from a number of people and groups (like the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum) for its historical inaccuracies regarding, and cartoonish embellishments of, Nazi atrocities in the camps (and, if that sounds stupid, read what they had to say, as well as what the show’s creator had to say in response.)

It is a very pulpy, cartoony show with overt nods to comic books, Quentin Tarentino (especially Inglorious Basterds) and other WWII fantasies like The Dirty Dozen and Kelly’s Heroes. I have a hard time taking anything seriously that includes the words “rag-tag group” to describe the heroes. That term pretty much always describes something that is basically a fantasy, and Hunters is definitely a fantasy.

What it comes down to, for me, is that it does what all good fiction based on historical “real events” does. Although it is, frankly, shitty history (and virtually anything based on “real events” is. If it wasn’t, no one would watch.), it asks the right questions (“was going to the moon worth doing if we had to smuggle Nazis in to do it?” and “What does the fact that we brought Nazis here and protected them to suit our ends say about us?” and “Was it worth it?” and “At what point do monster-hunters become monsters themselves?”), and it makes me feel the need to read more about the actual events, to try to understand not only what happened, but why it happened, and how those events affect us today, so that we can avoid/prevent repeats.

At any rate, it is the sketchiest recommendation here. Lots of violence, profanity, bloodshed, etc. However, I did find parts of it very moving and thought-provoking. If you can make it through the first 10-15 minutes, you’ll probably enjoy it.

Music:

I haven’t been checking out a lot of new stuff (and by that, I mean new to me), but I do have some recommendations for bands you might not otherwise hear about (and some you should already know).

The Bottle Rockets

A great Americana rock band that’s been around for almost 30 years. A lot of fun to listen to. Here’s one of my favorites of theirs, “Indianapolis“. If you like Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt, Lucero, or Drag the River, chances are you’ll like the Bottle Rockets. If you don’t know any of those bands, then you’re missing out. If you like Tom Petty, chances are you’ll like most of those bands.

The Old 97s

Another band that’s been around since 92. These guys fit in well with the Bottle Rockets and those other bands I mentioned. On the Cowpunk scale, they come down more on the Cow side, while the Bottle Rockets are more punk. If you’re a fan of Gram Parsons or The Flying Burrito Brothers, you’ll probably enjoy these guys. Great stuff with a great sense of humor to go along with that honky-tonk twang.

Jethro Tull – Thick as a Brick

Okay, I know that most of you have probably heard of this one. However, I’ve recently reconnected with Tull, and with Thick as a Brick in particular. I find it amusing that an album recorded in 1972 and intended as a parody of the concept album genre, with the standard prog-rock obtuse lyrics should suddenly be relevant again (or at least I find it so). Do yourself a favor and listen to the whole songhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X15PsqN0DHc, not just the radio edit, and read the lyrics. Then check out Aqualung, War Child, and Too Old to Rock and Roll, Too Young to Die.

And finally,

RUSH

Of all the musicians/artists who’ve died recently, the one that hit me the most personally is Neil Peart of Rush. Not only was he one of, if not the, greatest rock drummers of all time, he was also a brilliant lyricist whose humanity, and view of the world was always tempered with love and mercy. Songs like “Limelight“, “Spirit of Radio“, “Freewill“, “Far Cry“, “Bravest Face“, “Subdivisions”, “Lakeside Park“, “Fly By Night“, “Making Memories“, “2112” (of course), and too many others to list, show an intelligence and transcendence that is rare in any kind of music, much less rock, and a lot of that came from Neil Peart. When we lost him, we lost a giant.

Anyway, I guess that’s about it for now. Happy reading/watching/listening!

Shelley Gorin’s Review of Thumperica!: Eat It, Kirkus!

Arts, Books and Literature, Culture, Fiction, Politics, Politics & Culture, Religion

Since I’ve already posted the Kirkus review of my novel, Thumperica! A Novel of the Ghost of America Future, I feel that, in the interest of presenting a fair and balanced view, I have a responsibility to post the following review from Shelley Gorin, a woman of undeniable taste and depth. Enjoy!

Thumperica!: A review by Shelley Gorin.

The definitive evidence for me of a book being worth reading, or at least being something I’m connecting with on some level, is that overly-cliche’d “inability to put it down.” No matter how “quiet” I try to get in order to have time to read, my life ends up full of nearly-nonstop interruptions. If I’m not really into a book, those interruptions will have me justifying putting it down constantly, and then having an excusably-hard time getting back into it. If I’m really drawn in, however, I’m shushing the interruptions and sacrificing sleep to get it finished. 

Thumperica was both of those for me, at different times. That’s just the normal consequence, I think, of a major hurdle that naturally has to be overcome when setting the stage for the events of a story that’s just enough outside our humdrum daily life and circle of awareness to require some deeper explanation. America TM’s state at the opening of the book seems almost completely unbelievable without such further explanation… almost.

Due to the nature of having to lay a LOT of groundwork and presenting a rather fantastic world (that most of us would not like to admit openly – or even privately – could actually come true), there was a lot of detail and explanation that came along with the core story, especially at the outset. At the start, copious amounts of footnotes seemed almost distracting. They ended up, however, being one of the book’s strengths, and something I clung onto to help me navigate the difficult groundwork.

The first handful of chapters were admittedly hard for me to stick with – they hit me like Tolkien’s Silmarillion, that was so detailed and so outside my brain’s normal ability to retain an overload of information outside its little bubble, that I had to keep re-reading pages and chapters it to try to get it to stick. There was a LOT of detail in Thumperica’s first chapters that left me going, “Wait, what? I can’t remember what that was. Who was that again?”… and a LOT acronyms. I couldn’t read it, originally, any time my anxiety was flared up, because my brain just got overloaded with info and stopped taking it in. 

However, instead of leaving it and not coming back, I kept going back to pick it up and push through. Part of that was a promise – I said I was gonna read it! Most of what initially hooked me, though, was the hidden humor and the play on names… I’d be reading along, trying to keep up, and suddenly do a spit-take. There were also a few times I thought, “Oh man, Lloyd’s not right in the head,” and smiled. But mostly I stuck it out because there was just enough “could be true” woven in, that I wanted to see just how this whole mess of a nation might turn out.

In all frankness, Thumperica is a WEIRD book. It is clearly written by someone who has little interest in following status-quo success recipes for best sellers. It’s probably not going to make the New York Times best seller list (though who knows?), but it’s a worthwhile read. I want to say it was about a quarter of the way through that I found I was staying up late to finish chapters, or I was shushing interruptions. It happened subtly. But sticking it out through the initial info overload was worth it, once the chess pieces started to move.

There were many moments where I felt the plot was over the top – a country couldn’t POSSIBLY become THAT effed up. And yet, if Scripture tells us that things like adultery actually occur in the heart, or that a man is as he thinks in his heart, Thumperica is a frightening exposure of just how dark, depraved, and gluttonous mankind can be, if we are brutally honest with ourselves. And if that fantastic and depraved world is unrealistic, the fantastic and depraved thoughts in our own minds are not. As such, Thumperica is a book that might make you a wee bit uncomfortable, if you’re prone to self-examination. And if our basest human instincts (not simply sexual, as some might assume, but greed, power, control, all-who-aren’t-like-me-are-bad, or mine-is-bigger kind of thinking) are left to run amok; if we become, personally or as a country, increasingly desensitized over generations to things like basic human conscience and dignity, and we re-write the rules or re-spin the sacred to support such things, is it truly that far-fetched?

Is that not exactly what we’ve already done as a nation? We can’t be naive enough to think that we as a people have not been guilty of genocide, degradation, or humiliation of races and peoples on the scale of Hitler, in our past. The kind of world presented in Thumperica is certainly extreme, but it is already in existence; it already HAS been in existence. And it may be in a bit of existence in each of us. 

Further back in mankind’s history, “civilized” humans once killed other humans for entertainment; they certainly have killed for lust or power or greed in our generation as much as in the first. If someone held a magnifying glass to our basest thoughts or perhaps gave them free reign, it’s frighteningly possible that things could decline to the state in which Thumperica begins. They seem too far-fetched and yet too near to what we wish not to see in reality; they could have easily been predicted by Irving’s Owen Meany, and it feels as though they were. There are elements of this book that seem to be a nod that one. And though my first instinct was to laugh and how absurd it all sounded, there is enough in my life experience to say that the comedy of it all reveals a real tragedy underneath.

I am left wondering what my own part might be in the macabre play, if I keep my eyes closed.  I truly did not know where this book was going, or could possibly go; it certainly didn’t go where I thought it would. It didn’t wrap up with a neat little bow, and it didn’t follow predictable patterns of overused plot devices. But that’s the reality of the world in which we live – rarely does anything go as expected, and even knowing that mankind repeats itself endlessly (“nothing new under the sun,”) that knowledge doesn’t help us prevent those twists and turns, or even stop the unfairness of it all.

But sometimes…. sometimes, evil will overreach and be its own undoing. And that is the hope for those seemingly doomed under it all in this book and in life – if we question those things our conscience can’t abide, and we’re willing to risk fighting for it, even when the odds are stacked, maybe evil things will stumble.The book certainly leans strongly left, but even those leaning strongly right can find good substance here, if they’re willing to set aside party and politics enough to let it simply be a magnifying glass on mankind left to its own devices. It wouldn’t matter what party or what political leaning a person claimed, the potential is there for anyone willing to question what blind allegiance to blind national ambition can lead to.

Thumperica is NOT a book I’d recommend my mother read, or a Sunday School class, or anyone easily offended – unless being offended is the very thing they need. There are elements to the book that won’t be fitting for the book club, but they just might be the food for thought we need in the days and years ahead. 

And Now for Something Not Completely Different: A Few Recommendations

All About Me, Arts, Books and Literature, Culture, Movies, Music

Enough with dwelling on politics and all the bad stuff in the world. Also, I don’t want you guys thinking I’ve just turned into an Andy Rooney-type grouchy old dude who just hates everything. I’ve recently read, or watched, or listened to some really good stuff that has actually made me feel better.

Books:

I’ve got to admit, a lot of the books I’ve read lately have not been what you’d call “feel-good” reads – a lot of history books, particularly about the Indian wars. After reading a lot (a LOT) of that stuff (research for a new novel), I needed some lighter fair, so I read The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window And Disappeared, by Jonas Jonasson.

It is a really funny novel that’s sort of a mix between a caper novel and Forrest Gump (if Gump were Swedish, 100 years old, and a demolitions expert). It’s just a really fun novel to read, and surprisingly reassuring.

It’s also a very nice novel: little to no cursing, no sex, virtually no violence (lots of explosions, however), honestly, I can’t think of really anything objectionable about it. It is literally suitable for everyone. Seems a little weird to be recommending something like that. Anyway, it gets my highest recommendation. If you need a good laugh and some relief from the daily horrorshow of social media and 24-hour news, this is the book for you.

Next up, The Android’s Dream, by John Scalzi. I’m no huge fan of science fiction, but Scalzi is a really funny writer. I loved his novel RedShirts, which not only made me laugh, but made me think.

The Android’s Dream is about a guy who has to save humanity from interstellar war by saving a woman who – as a result of genetic experimentation and mad-sciencetry- has no idea that her DNA contains a specific kind of sheep DNA.

It’s pretty weird, and very funny, with lots of bad guys, some violence and bad language (nothing really gratuitous or extreme), a little romance, some interstellar political intrigue, and at least one extremely unusual and funny way of assassination. Highly recommended, especially for sci-fi fans.

Movies

We Have Always Lived In the Castle. Based on a novel by Shirley Jackson (The Haunting of Hill House, “The Lottery”). A really creepy story about two wealthy sisters living in the house where their parents were poisoned. Although the older sister was tried and acquitted of the murders, the girls are hated in the village. Things go from bad to worse when a cousin comes to visit.

Little to no sex, nudity, bad language. Some mob violence (old-fashioned pitchforks and torches type, not Godfather). Not particularly scary, but very unsettling, in a good way. Available on Netflix.

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared. Okay, yes, it’s just the film version of the book, but for those who don’t have time to read, it’s a really faithful version, and maintains the spirit of the book. In Swedish with English subtitles.

Ready or Not. A poor girl marries into a wealthy board game family. Whenever someone marries into the family, they must draw a card from a magic box and play the game indicated. There’s only one bad card, and this poor girl draws it. A really funny horror-comedy, and lots of fun to watch. One of the few movies I’ve seen in the theater that I didn’t regret going to see.

Lots of gratuitous almost everything: violence, bad language, bad behaviour, violence, bloodshed, violence, and a huge splatter factor. Oddly enough, no nudity, but plenty of everything else.

Should be coming out on video and streaming soon.

TV

Marianne. French tv show about a horror novel writer who is being tormented by a 16th century witch who wants her to keep writing. Not a great show – it’s French, dubbed into English, so the dialogue doesn’t always carry the emotional impact the scenes deserve – but it is very creepy, with some decent surprises.

Quite a bit of nudity, bad language, bloodshed, and violence. Available on Netflix.

Good Omens. Based on the novel by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, it’s all about the endtimes. Really funny stuff, with a great cast, and a lot of heart. It shares quite a few plot points with The Omen and Rosemary’s Baby, but it’s much funnier than either of those.

I don’t really remember much in the way of violence, profanity, or nudity/sex, but then again, I’m probably pretty jaded. The whole thing is probably pretty objectionable for the more fundamentalists out there, but I think it asks a lot of questions that we ought to be asking.

Norsemen. Sort of a cross between Vikings and The Office. Really funny. Can’t really remember anything too objectionable, but then again, I’m pretty jaded.

Music

YYNOT. Kind of a strange band, at least for an old-timer like me. They started out as a kind of internet-based Rush cover band, but have coalesced into an actual band. They do awesome covers of Rush songs, and have now released two albums of original (heavily Rush-influenced) material. Both albums are really good. If you’re a fan of Rush, chances are you’ll like YYNOT. If you’re not a fan of Rush, you should give them a try anyway.

Bob Mould. If you like hard-edged, punk-tinged, pounding-but-melodic music, then check out Bob Mould. Whether as a solo act or part of the bands Husker Du and Sugar, he won’t let you down. Husker Du has been cited as very influential on the alt-rock scene of the 90’s. I highly recommend the Husker Du album Warehouse: Songs and Stories, the Sugar album Copper Blue, and his solo albums Patch the Sky and Silver Age.

The Wood Brothers. A great jazz/blues/folk band, similar to the Avett Brothers, but honestly, their songs are (to me anyway) much more memorable. Some really great stuff. I recommend the albums The Muse and Ways Not To Lose. If you like those, then go crazy.

Finally, the strangest of the bunch, Cynthia Hopkins. I think she’s really more of a performance artist than just a musician, but she makes some really great, weird, challenging music. I don’t really think she’s an acquired taste, I think she’s one of those that you either like or don’t like, at the first listen. At any rate, I really like her, and recommend the album The Truth: A Tragedy.

Anyway, I guess that oughta be enough for now. Remember, no matter how much bad crap gets flung at us, there’s a lot of good stuff out there too. Enjoy!