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February 2007
MAY 2007 REVIEWS:
 EDITORS'
CHOICE:
THE REMEMBERING: A Novel of Karma and Global Peril
John Nelson, Outskirts Press, 2006, $18.95/C$23.95, pb, 313pp, 1598005421
In 40,033 B.C.E., North Central Africa, Shy-loh is born for
the first time. In 2607, Shambhala, Tibet, Shyloh lives her final life. In
between, Shyloh reincarnates into different time periods, nagged by an inkling
of what has come before. This remembering, and desire to know, fuels her and
keeps her connecting with family and friends encountered during each existence.
As time progresses, humanity moves from respecting the earth to a feeling of
entitlement. Several movements take place that try to turn humanity back towards
a peaceful coexistence, but issues of religion, power, and sheer corrupt neglect
threaten the earth’s population. Shyloh and her accomplices seek to save the
world through spiritual means, but an inability to remember how to reconnect
with nature stymies the process.
Nelson uses a first-person narrative to let Shyloh convey
his/her own story. The characters reincarnate in different genders,
although all their relationships remain similar. Shyloh’s companions do not keep
the same names, but are easily identifiable by names starting with the same
letter and quirky traits that persist in each lifetime. Continuing themes, such
as protective ravens, also carry over through the thousands of years this novel
spans.
Many historians-turned-novelists inundate and bore readers with their historical
knowledge. Nelson is an exception. He deftly intertwines history and plot while
providing impressive descriptive passages of mystical experiences and sexual
encounters. Sexuality is frequently depicted as a natural part of human
existence, and while the mechanics of the sexual act are not belabored, the
perfect communion of bodies and souls is clearly conveyed.
The spirituality of humanity’s relationship to nature anchors
the novel. Various religions are explored and distilled with the prevailing
religion being one most likely unappealing to conservatives. Nelson explains the
nuances of each religion without becoming preachy, although those who think
global warming is still a myth may be put off by the later chapters.
Easily categorized as literary fiction, The Remembering
is accessible to everyone, yet contains the aspects of literary fiction that the
literati enjoy, such as recurring themes, a cohesive plotline, and astounding
imagery. Anyone who enjoys apocalyptic fiction, spiritual fiction, environmental
fiction, or just a good suspenseful story will enjoy John Nelson’s fine novel.
-– Suzanne J. Sprague
SONS OF YOCAHU: A Saga of the Tano's Devastation on Hispaniola
Gloria Bond, Lulu, 2006, $19.99, pb, 270pp, 1411693256
Yocahu is one of the many gods of the Taino culture. The book
begins with a message from Yocahu to the local peoples declaring that foreigners
will soon be approaching their shores. In the end, the entire Taino culture is
forever changed by the visit of Columbus and the Spanish explorers.
The author’s biography describes someone whom many have
identified as a born writer. This is readily apparent in this novel, as the
characters that she brings to life are amazingly real, and the drama is gritty
and action-packed. What I enjoyed in this novel is that the author spends a
great deal of time in the foreword explaining the history of the topic, as well
as providing occasional maps throughout the book to assist the reader in
determining the location of the plot.
This is the first book in a trilogy. This book has its focus
on the Taino culture that once lived on the island of Hispaniola (where Haiti
and the Dominican Republic are now located); the next book (a prequel) will
focus on events in Spain prior to the Inquisition, while the third book (a
sequel) will take place in Europe during the Reformation of the sixteenth
century.
This book is a fascinating read, and the author weaves a
mystical spell around both the drama and reader; she definitely has a talent for
writing.
-- Brad Eden
THE FALL LINE: A Tale of Old Jamestown
Errol Burland, Dorrance, 2006, $28, pb, 502pp (also e-book), 978-0-8059-7193-4
With well-developed characters and a fine sense of place,
author Errol Burland unravels the tale of Bacon’s Rebellion in colonial
Virginia. The story begins in 1660, in England, with the lives of protagonists
Elizabeth 'Lyn’ Duke and Nathaniel Bacon. The young people are neighbors who
marry, though their families are at odds. Circumstances impel Lyn and Nat to
immigrate to colonial Virginia, along with their trusted friend and man of
business, John Grey.
Nat Bacon’s cousin, a prosperous tobacco plantation owner, welcomes the
newcomers to Virginia. They also make the acquaintance of influential men in
Jamestown, and soon learn that factions divide the colony. Those loyal to
Virginia’s governor Sir William Berkeley are known as the ‘Green Spring’
faction, named for the governor’s plantation. The opposition, the core of which
is composed of Virginia farmers and businessmen, calls itself ‘The Ring’.
Nat Bacon is drawn to the group opposing the governor,
despite his aristocratic background and his cousin’s ties to the governor. Nat
feels, after a misspent youth, that he has found his calling when he is
popularly chosen to lead the people’s army, at first against an Indian threat,
and later against the governor and his followers. Once open hostilities commence
between the two groups with Nat Bacon, now called General Bacon, leading the
opposition, Governor Berkeley declares the opposition leaders traitors against
the King of England.
The Fall Line is a story of political strife in
colonial Virginia told through the lives of the central figures involved in
Bacon’s Rebellion. The story is enlivened with fine descriptions of Jamestown
and the surrounding country, love triangles, Indian conflicts and battles. It
illustrates that men and women, whether in the old world or the new, in colonial
times or the present, are subject to the same weaknesses and failings, but also
capable of nobility and selflessness. -- Eva Ulett
CUTLASSES AND CARESSES
Jean Fullerton, Triskelion Press, 2006. $5.99, e-book
There is nothing like a good-ole pirate tale from the
seventeenth century to provide drama, especially when there’s a love affair
involved that ends with a steamy sex scene that is described in all its glory.
Such is the plot of this book, which follows the adventures of Nathan Frazer and
Prudence Stone. Prudence’s fiancé is missing, supposedly kidnapped by pirates in
Jamaica. The reader follows the drama as Nathan and Prudence attempt to rescue
him, and in the process fall in love, with all of the prequel scenes leading to
the steamy scene itself and the denouement following.
The plot line seems more related to a romance novel than
historical fiction, but with over five pages of text describing every detail of
their first love-making, this book certainly keeps one’s attention. -- Brad
Eden
THE SHENANDOAH SPY
Francis Hamit, Amazon Shorts in 14 parts, 2006, $0.49 per part, e-book
The intimacy of the Civil War for Southerners is detailed in
Francis Hamit’s The Shenandoah Spy. The novel follows the first two years
of the war, 1861 and 1862, and its effect on the life of Isabelle ‘Belle’ Boyd.
Belle is a seventeenyear-old accomplished horsewoman at the war’s start. In
defense of her home and family, Belle shoots a Union soldier. Following this
incident, Belle is drawn into a network of Confederate spies. At all stages of
Belle’s work as a spy she is trained and in contact with men and women who are
relatives, neighbors, or family friends.
Although Belle becomes a valuable Confederate spy, her
reputation and personal happiness suffer tremendously as she is viewed as a
Union sympathizer. Belle’s courage in facing the disapprobation and slander when
she is accused of being a whore of the Union officers, and in delivering Union
information to the Confederate Army at the risk of her own life, is shown
repeatedly throughout the narrative.
To some degree Belle’s sex protects her from suspicion. Who
would believe a girl of seventeen to be a dangerous enemy? An astute Union
commander, however, observes that “The South, being poor in resources and
singularly without friends, has been forced to innovate. Girls like her are one
of the innovations.”
Yet Belle’s duplicity inevitably becomes suspected in the
small Virginia community of Front Royal in which she operates. Closely watched
by Union officials in the summer of 1862, Belle is unable to deliver Union
information to the Confederacy. To cover Belle’s devastation when a Confederate
contact is killed, Belle’s cousin Alice explains to the Union officers at a
dinner party after Belle flees, “There is no one in our army who is not a
brother, a father, an uncle, a dear friend or a cousin!” Francis Hamit
illustrates this fact superbly in his relation of the experiences of Belle Boyd,
The Shenandoah Spy.
-- Eva Ulett
THE RISING SHORE – ROANOKE
Deborah Homsher, Blue Hull Press, 2007, $13.95, pb, 273pp, 0979051606
The lives and fate of the planters at Roanoke remain a
mystery to this day, but Homsher’s The Rising Shore – Roanoke presents an
intriguing tale of adventure, determination, and desperation. Narrated in turns
by Elinor White Dare, daughter of Roanoke Governor John White, and her servant,
Meg, the novel tells their stories from troubled beginnings in London across the
wide and terrible ocean to Virginia. From storms at sea, to betrayal after
betrayal, Elinor, Meg, and their fellow travelers fend for themselves against
corrupt sailors, deceitful native tribes, and mutiny within their own motley
group of gentry, tradesmen, servants, and conscripts.
Elinor’s determination to follow her father to the colonies
makes her his greatest supporter and replacement when he leaves the colonies
again for England. Her desire only for her father’s notice and love is
compelling but fruitless, and her strength throughout all of their trials is
impressive. Homsher paints a harsh yet believable picture of life in Roanoke,
and she skillfully intertwines the narratives of the women, revealing the
difference in perceptions based on class, situation, and personality, yet
painting a clearer and clearer picture of their lives with every stroke.
Homsher’s novel gives life to the few scraps of historical
documentation of the Roanoke colony and creates strong characters that grab your
attention and make you dream of an altered history. -- Catherine Perkins
CELTIC FIRE, DESERT RAIN
Jude Johnson, Scorched Hawk Press, 2006, $16.00, pb, 270pp, 0976246910
This second installment of Johnson’s Western saga finds
Welshman Evan Jones and his Mexican wife Reyna living on a ranch near Tombstone,
but aching to move elsewhere. Evan needs assistance with the ranch, and when
Owen Pritchard, a fellow Welshman, arrives in town, Evan thinks he’s found his
man. Unfortunately, Owen has other ideas in mind, including robbery, blackmail,
and rape. Evan is too blinded by his desire to help a countryman in need to see
what Owen is trying to do to his family.
This book provides an interesting look at what happens after
the happily-ever-after ending of Dragon and Hawk. The themes and content
of the two books are similar, right up to the abundance of Welsh and Spanish
phrases sprinkled throughout the book. Reyna’s knowledge as a traditional healer
clashes with the local physicians yet again, reminding readers of the frequent
conflicts between the new medical science and traditional folk wisdom. Side
characters from Dragon and Hawk also appear in this sequel, including the
famed prostitute Velvet Ass Rose, who appears where Evan least expects to see
her.
Johnson knows her Arizona history well, and she includes
plenty of side plots that highlight the settlers’ conflicts with the Native
Americans of the region, the lawlessness of the territory, and the settlers’
desire to transform their lives into something better. Readers who enjoyed the
first novel in the series will devour Celtic Fire, Desert Rain. --
Nanette Donohue
THE GAWAIN QUEST
Jay Margrave, Goldenford, 2007, £8.99, pb, 263pp, 0953161358
Prideux thinks that he has seen and done it all, a weary
knight whose campaigning days are over and now works as a hit man for John of
Gaunt. His latest mission is to seek out and kill the anonymous writer of a
popular new poem telling the exploits of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The
poem reads as though the writer describes a greater court than that of Richard
II and seems to be inciting rebellion. Prideux must journey north and survive
many adventures before he has the answer, but is it the one he is seeking?
This is described as "A Mediaeval Mystery" but anybody expecting a Paul
Doherty-style whodunit with bawdy knights, bloody corpses, and sinister spies is
going to be disappointed, or at any rate, entertained in a different manner.
This is nearer in style to Malory's La Morte D'Arthur and its many
imitators than the usual mediaeval adventures and mysteries.
Prideux, a man led by his loins and little else, has his own
personal journey to make as well as the physical one, through winter lands,
assassins, and the evil occupants from an unnamed castle and his final
destination. There is a curiously dreamlike quality about the tale reminiscent
of a fantasy, but despite the strangeness, the novel is rooted in the Middle
Ages showing some research and knowledge of the period.
The Gawain Quest is probably just the thing for
anybody who is feeling rather jaded with the more usual fare. Since this novel
is set at the end of the fourteenth century, it will be interesting indeed to
see how Prideux has managed to arrive at the court of Henry VIII for the sequel
Luther's Ambassadors which is advertised at the back of the book. --
Rachel A. Hyde
THE EASTERN DOOR
David More, iUniverse, 2006, $19.95, pb, 315pp, 0595389929
The Mohawk River Valley of the mid-eighteenth century was a
wild place, requiring a man to have strength, courage, quick wit, and cunning.
Enter Billy Smithyman, a young Irish Catholic, come to be a trader in the
English colonies and manage his uncle’s new lands well inside Iroquois
Territory. From his youth in rural Ireland in the 1720s to New York and the New
World of the 1750s, Smithyman’s ambitions, sharp business acumen, and innate
social and diplomatic skills give him all of the advantages a poor country
upbringing denied, making Smithyman a great man in the region known as a fair
trader, landowner, and community-builder, a human bridge between the colonial,
and the native nations.
Throughout the novel, Smithyman is shadowed by a vain,
violent, Englishman, Edward Stoatfester, whose character is a shallow foil to
Smithyman. Stoatfester’s character seems a weak attempt to add tension and
violence to the novel, but this staging is not necessary--the Iroquois “hunting”
rituals, political espionage, and the final battles are solid and thrilling.
As the first novel of a trilogy-in-progress, The Eastern
Door offers a rare look into life in the Northeast of the eighteenth
century, and More’s excellent dialogue, attention to detail, and respect for the
history of the time and for the beliefs and practices of the native nations long
lost makes this a rewarding read. -- Catherine Perkins
AFTER THE BONES
Mark Hazard Osmun, Twelfth Night Press, 2006, $16.95, pb, 359pp, 0967307910
The novel takes place in Honolulu in 1866, and according to
the cover is inspired by Mark Twain’s letters from Hawai’i. While Mr. Twain is
just a bit player in the book, his spirit of adventure and excitement permeate
the story. Two actors, Mac Ducain and Delaware Flinn, wrongly accused in the
assassination of Abraham Lincoln, flee to the kingdom of Hawai’i in an attempt
to elude their persistent pursuer, Colonel Henry Steel Olcott. The amiable pair
stumbles into a dangerous conspiracy by rogue agents to overthrow the Hawaiian
monarchy and return the country to Great Britain. What ensues is an engrossing,
page-turning adventure filled with action and memorable characters.
Osmun’s handling of character is deft and well done. On
introduction many of the characters appear to be standard stereotypes of the
post-Civil War era. This serves to anchor the story quickly and neatly to its
historical time period and feeling. However, Osmun quickly fleshes out his
characters with life, personality, and some definite quirks.
Fast pace and nonstop action is wonderfully set against a
vibrant and mystical depiction of the Hawaiian islands. This book is highly
recommended for anyone looking for adventure, romance, or just an entertaining
read.
-- Amanda Yesilbas
KATE’S PRIDE
Renee Russell, Wings ePress, 2007, $11.95, pb, 335pp, 1597059188
Kate Randsome is a headstrong young woman living on her
family’s farm with her brother, George. Both of their parents died during the
Civil War, grief-stricken because of their two sons killed in battle. Kate is
tied to her home in Tennessee, and George wants to leave. When George hires
Michael to help work the farm, he sees a way out—if Kate and Michael fall in
love and marry, he can pursue his dream and move West. Unfortunately, Kate
becomes pregnant before they marry. George and Michael both abandon her, and she
is shunned by her family and her community. The only people who accept her are a
family of freed slaves, who give her a place to live when nobody else will help
her.
Russell does a good job exploring the complex racial and
sexual politics of the post-Civil War South, particularly the assumptions that
everyday people made about an unmarried mother. Though the novel is called
Kate’s Pride, it’s really about Kate’s redemption and her struggle against a
society that misunderstands her and the decisions she has made. Having a child
out of wedlock allows Kate to follow her personal morals and beliefs rather than
those of her community, but it also leads the townsfolk to believe that she is a
woman of loose morals who is willing to bed any man who asks.
The dilemma of sharecroppers in the post-Civil War economy
also plays a role in the novel, and Russell has done her research in this area.
The descriptions of cotton farming are particularly vivid. Readers who enjoy
historical women’s fiction, particularly stories where a woman goes against
societal standards to forge her own path, will enjoy Kate’s Pride.
-- Nanette Donohue
A MORE OBEDIENT WIFE: A Novel of the Early
Supreme Court
Natalie Wexler, Kalorama Press, 2006, $21.08, pb, 452pp, 9780615135168
A More Obedient Wife is historical fiction in the most
literal sense. Wexler blends real letters written by the historical personages
into a plausible fictional account of their lives. The novel is structured as
fictional excerpts from the journals kept by the wives of two of the first
Supreme Court justices interspersed with actual letters written between the
people portrayed in the novel.
That the novel is written by a professional and dedicated
scholar of early American history is readily apparent by the fine, level
knowledge in every aspect of the characters lives, from dress and mannerisms to
medicinal remedies. The two main characters, Hannah Iredell and Hannah Wilson,
are exceptionally well drawn. Their psychology is rich and compelling. The
characters and situations are so authentic that even when off putting, there is
a deep humanistic understanding and compassion for their situations.
If the novel has any flaws it is that it is a bit too
dedicated to portraying authentic daily life. While the detailed daily accounts
of illness, anxiety, and housekeeping make for illustrative history, it doesn’t
always make for the most riveting read.
Overall, though, the book is compelling in its portrayal of a
very turbulent time in American history and its effects on the often forgotten
women of the day. But what makes the story memorable is the personal intimate
lives and relationships of the two very different ladies. -- Amanda Yesilbas
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