Title: Just Folks: Earthy Tales of the Prairie Heartland Vol. 1
Author: Jerry W. Engler
Illustrator: Sheri Schmidt
Publisher and/or Distributor: 6 Mile Roots
Pages: 292
ISBN: 0-9771255-0-5
Price: $14.95
Publishing Date: 2005
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts
Each generation should have its own Mark Twain. If that were true, this generation could lay claim to Jerry Engler. First and foremost, Jerry is a writer. From journalist to editor to newspaper owner (several times, which takes either raw courage or massive denial), Jerry chronicles life in rural communities on the great heartland prairie of Kansas. Each week he dutifully tells another story of hilarious characters such as an elderly Tom Sawyer archetype to two dairy workers who are totally clueless about what their wives want for Valentines Day, so one buys a case of imported beer—Lone Star, all the way from Texas.
Jerry measures the worth of hardy farm folk who take their mission of feeding the world as seriously as they do their friendliness and support to one another. His stories are richly filled with both humor and wry poignancy. We rated this book five hearts.
Title: Collateral Man
Author: Alex Ferrara and Jose Levy
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Grafica Andina
Pages: 335
ISBN: 987-43-6563-3
Price: $16.95
Publishing Date: 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
Imagine getting contacted by a representative of Satan who informs you that you owe them your soul because of something your grandfather didn’t do—give them his soul after he signed a contract that he would. The collateral man is a concept very similar to a co-signer of a loan. The collateral man guarantees the contract but is not a party to it. Manhattan-based Psychologist Martin Mondragon is faced with this situation and spends the rest of the book trying to find a way out of his situation.
This Faustian story is totally captivating and thoroughly enjoyable. There is a race against a time limit for both the protagonist and the antagonist. These Hispanic authors are highly successful on the international literary scene. We rated this work a solid five hearts.
Title: The Man with No Skin
Author: Orfhlaith Ni Chonaill
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: “Dialogue” Publishing, Inc.
Pages: 254
ISBN: 0-9764904-9-8
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2005
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
This most unusual novel written by a Gaelic Irish lady living in Colorado is set on the slopes of Mount Kenya in Africa. Father O’Sullivan, an Irish Priest, naively intermixes local economics, politics, and religion and almost pays the ultimate price for it. Barely surviving a vicious slashing attack which uses a garden tool as a weapon, the priest hangs between life and death, eventually awakening to the fact that he is being cared for by a woman whom he helped to get an education earlier on. Now she is the wife of a successful businessman. Lust raises its head to cause the fall of the resurrected clergyman from grace.
The author has captured the feel of cultures so alien to most Americans. To do so, she has to paint word pictures of vibrant and depressing landscapes while developing and explaining cultural contexts that most of us would otherwise never think about. This book is mind expanding, and we rated it four hearts.
Title: More Sweet Tea
Author: Deborah Smith, Virginia Ellis, Sandra Chastain, Debra Dixon
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Belle Books
Pages: 320
ISBN: 0-9673035-4-0
Price: $14.95
Publishing Date: 2005
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
This is a second short story anthology from a perky group of Georgia authors. This highly experienced group provides additional warm and fun stories based on deep southern culture. As a bonus, a recipe section is included. All these authors are good, with interesting stories to tell. We especially admire the way several of them started this publishing company as an outlet for their works because they were tired of being taken advantage of by their old Yankee mainstream publishing houses for which they once wrote. Every thing they write is either touching and/or a hoot. We highly recommend their entire catalog and rated this particular book four hearts.
Title: Yankee Peddler
Author: Robert L. Hecker
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Hard Shell Word Factory
Pages: 237
ISBN: 0-7599-4695-7
Price: $12.95
Publishing Date: Jun 2005
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
This is a delightfully farcical novel which reminds me very much of “The Mouse that Roared.” Protagonist Elizabeth Sullivan Wexford Adams comes from a family of US statesmen. She has been specifically selected to open diplomatic relations with a hither to fore unknown Mediterranean island nation of Litania. Their location is ideal for the placement of missiles to be used to over watch and control the Middle East. She is given a grounded US Air Force pilot as a missile expert and assistant. Litanian leader, Papa George Papalopocos, is delighted his island is being “invaded” since its population and birth rate keeps shrinking and the new blood from all the sweetly anticipated raping and pillaging from the invaders is desperately needed. Enter the Russians with an intent to claim the island nation for their own purposes. How will the two Americans deal with this much more real-life invasion threat?
This tongue-in-cheek account is written by an author who has the Air Force and writing experience to make this wonderful story come alive. The characters are kooky and quirky. The story concept is all too probable, and the governmental bureaucracy is very predictable. We gave this a score of four hearts.
