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Texts From Jane Eyre by Mallory Ortberg, illustrated by Madeline Gobbo

January 27, 2015 by

Source: Diary of an Eccentric
Hardcover, 240 pgs
I am an Amazon Affiliate

Texts From Jane Eyre: And Other Conversations by Mallory Ortberg, illustrated by Madeline Gobbo, provides the right amount of literary humor from classics like Jane Eyre to modern characters like Katniss and Peeta from the Hunger Games.  Readers can turn to this little gem again and again for a good laugh.  Text messages are sometimes completely off the wall, but totally in character with either the fictional people or the authors who send the texts.  However, readers will garner more enjoyment from the conversations if they are familiar with the books and authors involved.

From “Wuthering Heights” (pg 114-119 ARC)

“i love you so much i’m going to get sick again
just out of spite

i’ll forget how to breathe

i’ll be your slave

i’ll pinch your heart and hand it back to you dead

i’ll lie down with my soul already in its grave

i’ll damn myself with your tears

i love you so much i’ll come back and marry your sister-in-law

god yes

and i’ll bankroll your brother’s alcoholism

i always hoped you would”

Some are visited more than once in text conversation, particularly Hamlet, and those conversations are fantastically done.  It’s fun to see Regan and Goneril fighting via text, as it is also humorous to see Heathcliff and Cathy profess their love for one another in the most Gothic ways possible.  There are others that could have been better, like the one for William Carlos Williams.  While readers will see the intent to play off of his famous poems, the text conversations could have been more inventive.  And the text conversation with John Keats was uninspired, though it recalled his famous poem Ode on a Grecian Urn.

What readers will love about the book is the use of modern technology and text-speak as classical writers and characters could use them with both their antiquated notions and points of view mixed with a more modern sensibility in some cases.  Ortberg has clearly given her imagination free reign here, and while in most cases, it pays off with a chuckle or a snicker, there are some cases where it falls flat. Texts From Jane Eyre: And Other Conversations by Mallory Ortberg, illustrated by Madeline Gobbo, is a fun little bit of humor to cheer you up on a gloomy day.

About the Author:

Mallory Ortberg is a writer, editor, and co-founder of the feminist general interest site The Toast. She previously wrote for Gawker and the Hairpin, where she met Toast co-founder Nicole Cliffe.

Filed Under: ARC, challenges, humor, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2015, reviews Tagged With: , , ,

Mailbox Monday #307

January 26, 2015 by

Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia at To Be Continued, formerly The Printed Page, has a permanent home at its own blog.

To check out what everyone has received over the last week, visit the blog and check out the links.  Leave yours too.

Also, each week, Leslie, Vicki, and I will share the Books that Caught Our Eye from everyone’s weekly links.

Here’s what I received:

1.  Puckster’s Christmas Hockey Tournament by Lorna Schultz Nicholson, Illustrated by Kelly Findley for review from LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

In Puckster’s Christmas Hockey Tournament, it is Christmas Eve and Puckster is nervously watching the heavy snowfall gather on the ground and in the trees. It is his first Christmas away from home and though he is excited to be with Team Canada at the World Junior Hockey Tournament, he is afraid that the winter storm will prevent his family and friends from traveling to the remote arena and arrive in time for Christmas morning.

But there is another traveler that Puckster and the players are excited to see this Christmas. Santa! When the heavy snow forces the closure of the roads, only Santa and his team of reindeer can help. Will everyone be together for Christmas? In this magical story of friendship, young hockey fans learn the true meaning of the holidays. Puckster’s Christmas Hockey Tournament is destined to be a holiday classic.

2. The World Is On Fire: Scrap, Treasure, and Songs of the Apocalypse by Joni Tevis, a surprise from Milkweed Editions.

Marked by the end-times sermons of her Southern youth, Joni Tevis has spent her life both haunted by and drawn to visions of apocalypse: Nuclear fallout, economic collapse, personal tragedy. This collection follows the pilgrimage she undertook to put her childhood dread to rest. Standing at Buddy Holly’s memorial in the middle of a farmer’s field recalls Doom Town—the model American suburb built in the Nevada desert to measure the devastation of a nuclear bomb. Wandering the abandoned shop floors of shuttered factories in her hometown conjures landscapes submerged by flooding. And her visceral experience of remote Alaskan wilderness merges into a meditation on the sublime instinctual joy, as well as the unutterable sorrow, that can result from a woman carrying a child in her body.

3. Stella Rose by Tammy Flanders Hetrick, a surprise from Caitlin Hamilton Marketing.

Before her death, Stella Rose asks her best friend, Abby, to take care of her sixteen-year-old daughter, and Abby does the only thing she can: she says yes. After Stella s death, Abby moves to Stella s house in rural Vermont and struggles to connect with Olivia, who immediately begins to engage in disturbing behavior starting with ditching her old group of friends for a crowd of dubious characters. As the fog of grief lifts, Abby reconnects with old friends, enlists the aid of Olivia s school guidance counselor, and partners with Betsy, another single mom, in an effort to keep tabs on the headstrong teenager she s suddenly found herself responsible for but despite her best efforts, she is unable to keep Olivia from self-destruction. As Abby s journey unfolds, she grapples with raising a grieving teenager, realizes she didn’t know Stella as well as she thought, falls in love twice and discovers just how far she will go to save the most precious thing in her life.”

4. Doll God by Luanne Castle for my first Poetic Book Tours blog tour.

Luanne Castle’s new collection, Doll God, is sublime. The manner of these poems—that they embrace the doll and bring to it humanity and divinity—is something to behold. The voice in these poems is tender, visceral, and wonderfully human. Ms. Castle has forged a vision that feels like something you want to dance with, dress up, talk to like a child, but with an adult’s sensibility. I love these poems with my whole heart because they make me feel both childlike and grown, simultaneously. Doll mistresses, primordial conches, Barbies, infuse these poems with tremendous humanity, and they delight with purpose, sadness and joy, and an incredible range that will leave you breathless.
—Matthew Lippman, author of American Chew

What did you receive?

Filed Under: mailbox monday, meme Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

290th Virtual Poetry Circle

January 24, 2015 by

Welcome to the 290th Virtual Poetry Circle!

Remember, this is just for fun and is not meant to be stressful.

Keep in mind what Molly Peacock’s book suggested.

Look at a line, a stanza, sentences, and images; describe what you like or don’t like; and offer an opinion. If you missed my review of her book, check it out here.

Today’s poem is from Walt Whitman, read by Langston Ward:

A March in the Ranks Hard-Prest, and the Road Unknown

A march in the ranks hard-prest, and the road unknown,
A route through a heavy wood with muffled steps in the darkness,
Our army foil’d with loss severe, and the sullen remnant retreating,
Till after midnight glimmer upon us the lights of a dim-lighted building,
We come to an open space in the woods, and halt by the dim-lighted building,
’Tis a large old church at the crossing roads, now an impromptu hospital
Entering but for a minute I see a sight beyond all the pictures and poems ever made,
Shadows of deepest, deepest black, just lit by moving candles and lamps,
And by one great pitchy torch stationary with wild red flame and clouds of smoke,
By these, crowds, groups of forms vaguely I see on the floor, some in the pews laid down,
At my feet more distinctly a soldier, a mere lad, in danger of bleeding to death, (he is shot in the abdomen,)
I stanch the blood temporarily, (the youngster’s face is white as a lily,)
Then before I depart I sweep my eyes o’er the scene fain to absorb it all,
Faces, varieties, postures beyond description, most in obscurity, some of them dead,
Surgeons operating, attendants holding lights, the smell of ether, the odor of blood,
The crowd, O the crowd of the bloody forms, the yard outside also fill’d,
Some on the bare ground, some on planks or stretchers, some in the death-spasm sweating,
An occasional scream or cry, the doctor’s shouted orders or calls,
The glisten of the little steel instruments catching the glint of the torches,
These I resume as I chant, I see again the forms, I smell the odor,
Then hear outside the orders given, Fall in, my men, fall in;
But first I bend to the dying lad, his eyes open, a half-smile gives he me,
Then the eyes close, calmly close, and I speed forth to the darkness,
Resuming, marching, ever in darkness marching, on in the ranks,
The unknown road still marching.

What do you think?

Filed Under: virtual poetry circle Tagged With:

National Readathon Day: Jan. 24, 2015

January 23, 2015 by

This Saturday, Jan. 24, 2015, is National Readathon Day between the hours of noon and 4 p.m. in your respective time zones.  Sponsored by Penguin Random House, GoodReads, Mashable, and the National Book Foundation.

Pick up a book — something you’ve wanted to read, something you have already started, something you’ve read before…it doesn’t matter which — sit in a comfy place in your house, a bookstore, a cafe, school, or the library — anywhere really — and read for four straight hours.  Breaks for snacks, bathroom business, or drinks are welcomed and encouraged, but return to your book!

As an aside, book bloggers have been hosting a 24-hour readathon for years — since 2007 when it was begun by blogger, Dewey, who sadly passed away in 2008. The community has since continued the tradition, and information about it the readathon, renamed in Dewey’s honor, can be found here. The next is scheduled for April 25, 2015.

In Maryland, it appears that A Likely Story Bookstore, Sykesville, MD, is participating with an event, and in Virginia, these bookstores/libraries are participating: Chinn Park Regional Library, Woodbridge, VA; Rockbridge Regional Library, Lexington, VA; Chesapeake Public Library, Chesapeake, VA; BBGB Books, Richmond, VA.  In Washington, D.C., Kramerbooks & Afterwords, Washington, DC, and Politics & Prose, Washington, DC, are participating — two of my favorite venues. I hope you have a venue near you that’s participating or that you are participating at home and with loved ones. It also would be fantastic if you donated money to the cause of literacy.

Casper Pillow TalkOn a side note, I’ve often loved reading in bed, but our mattress is sadly in need of replacement as I often wake up with aches in my lower back or my hips no matter what “number” the bed is set on. I’ve found the Casper bed online, which looks promising and seems to be getting great reviews. When we have the funds, perhaps this will be the one we set our sights on, and if you have any thoughts on this mattress (especially if you own one), let me know. I digress, what’s great is this mattress company also is supporting National Readathon Day!

Casper Books

While I’m not sure what we’ll be doing as my husband toils another Saturday away at work, I do have plans to read and read with my daughter.

Also be sure to check out the Casper Mattress Twitter page!

What books are on your list?

Filed Under: announcements Tagged With:

Short Story Friday #3

January 23, 2015 by

Short Story Friday has been revamped for 2015, and I’ll be sharing snippets from my own fiction pieces, mostly short stories.  In addition to the new business, Poetic Book Tours, I’ll be writing and submitting more of my own fiction and poetry this year.

I hope you’ll offer your thoughts on this story that is currently in progress.

Here are the first and second parts posted in previous weeks.  Without further ado, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this girl and what you think is going on:

I’m Lythia, by the way, and this is my journal of Transcendence.  I’ve lived seventeen years with this blinking issue, but I’ve never let it stop me.  I’m what the others call a kiss-face because I get good grades in school, volunteer to help the third-raters in the suburbs, and generally make nice with the school’s interface.

There must be adults in charge of it somewhere, but no one has ever seen them — you know, face-to-face.

While I’m not wildly popular, very few students pull pranks on me.  My mother says this is a good thing, but I disagree.  I think it means I’m excluded.

Please feel free to share your thoughts on this snippet and let me know what you think.

Filed Under: Events, Short Story Friday Tagged With:

Silent Flowers edited by Dorothy Price, illustrated by Nanae Ito

January 22, 2015 by

Source: Library sale
Hardcover, about 40 pgs
I am an Amazon Affiliate

Silent Flowers: A New Collection of Japanese Haiku Poems edited by Dorothy Price, illustrated by Nanae Ito, is gorgeously illustrated and focuses on a lot of traditional haiku poets and their poems, which focus on the seasons, nature, and humans in nature.  There are about three haiku per page, English translations only from the likes of Basho, Buson, and Issa.

“Sacred music at night;
Into the bonfires
Flutter the tinted leaves.” — Issa

I was reminded reading the introduction to this book of Suey’s comment about defining poetry or what a proper definition would be.  Price mentions in the introduction that Wordsworth, another poet, defined poetry as “emotion recollected in tranquility.”  I’m not sure that helps much.  What I’ve loved about haiku is its ability to recognize something unexpected in nature and describe it in a way that illustrates something of the spiritual. I’ve written some horrible haiku but I still love the form and I think its one of the easiest to learn and teach, even if the poems are no where near as good as the old masters.

“The moon in the water;
Broken and broken again,
Still it is there.” — Choshu

A haiku by Basho about a butterfly is accompanied by a wonderful depiction of the butterfly among the orchids, and it is seamlessly incorporated with the poem on the page.   Silent Flowers: A New Collection of Japanese Haiku Poems edited by Dorothy Price, illustrated by Nanae Ito, won me over with not only its beautiful imagery in verse, but also its gorgeous, black and white illustrations.

Filed Under: challenges, poetry, Poetry Reading Challenge, purchased, Read in 2015, reviews Tagged With: , , ,

The Secret of Magic by Deborah Johnson

January 21, 2015 by

Source: Penguin Random House
Paperback, 416 pgs
I’m an Amazon Affiliate

The Secret of Magic by Deborah Johnson is a phenomenal look at the racial prejudices that continue to hold tight in Mississippi, Alabama, and elsewhere, even after then end of WWII when black soldiers fought bravely against the Nazis.  Joe Howard Wilson is returning home as a decorated hero after losing not only men in his unit, but one of his good friends, L.C.  He’s musing on his visit with his father, Willie Willie, who taught him so much and worked with their white employer, Judge Calhoun, to ensure he was educated enough to get out and make something of himself.

“Gotcha!

Joe Howard Wilson jerked and his hands went straight to his face, and then to his body, for his gun.  Groping. Feeling. Saying his prayers.  Checking to make sure that he was awake and what had happened in that forest in Italy, all the killing was over.  Checking to make sure it wasn’t happening now.”  (page 1)

Joe is a young man still coping with the loss of friends, only to find that the prejudices he dealt with growing up are still present and an additional pressure he has little patience for after serving for his country overseas.  When Regina Robichard, a young attorney still waiting to hear if she passed the New York bar, is called down to investigate the death of a WWII veteran a year later, she finds that the south is not as black and white as she expects it to be.  She’s sent south with a mission from Thurgood Marshall of the NAACP to investigate the matter.  Regina, the daughter of a relatively famous black female activist, is idealistic and tentative in her approach to those she encounters, particularly M.P. Calhoun, who wrote her favorite book — The Secret of Magic.

“The air in the depot smelled just like everything Southern he remembered.  Even inside, no matter where you were, there was always a hint of the earth and the things that died on it.  You could not get away from the scent of things, from the richness of them, if you had lived, like he had lived, so near to the ground.”  (page 8)

Through a neatly woven narrative, Johnson creates a tapestry of the south that depicts not only the racial prejudices present in the south that are held onto tightly even after WWII, but also the deep connections between the whites and blacks within the small community of Revere, Mississippi.  Like all relationships, at first blush racial prejudice is hatred of the other, but looking deeper Johnson demonstrates that there is a love underneath the comments of “mine” and “our” used by whites in reference to blacks in the community.  Revere is a town that is in transition whether it likes it or not, and in many ways, the change is too quick for some and not quick enough for others — especially those like Peach Mottley who see Regina as the catalyst they need.

The Secret of Magic by Deborah Johnson is gorgeously told, and it is riveting from the first page.  Readers will develop an instant connection with not only Joe Howard Wilson and Regina Robichard, but with the other major and minor characters as they continue to navigate the social constructs that are the same and yet changing.  The fairy tales that peek around the realities of the South provide hope of a new world, but they also are endangered by those who wish to halt change in its tracks.

I haven’t been this blown away by a book in a long while, and this one is a must read and a definite contender for the Best of 2015 list.

About the Author:

Deborah Johnson was born below the Mason-Dixon Line, in Missouri, but grew up in Omaha, Nebraska.  After college, she lived in San Francisco and then for many years in Rome, Italy where she worked as a translator and editor of doctoral theses and at Vatican Radio.  Deborah Johnson is the author of The Air Between Us, which received the Mississippi Library Association Award for fiction.  She now lives in Columbus, Mississippi, and is working on her next novel.  Check out her Website.

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: 2015 War Through the Generations - Read Any War, challenges, fiction, historical fiction, New Authors Challenge, Penguin, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2015, review copy, reviews Tagged With: ,

The Princess Panda Tea Party by Jewel Kats, Illustrated by Richa Kinra

January 20, 2015 by

Source: Loving Healing Press
Paperback, 52 pages
I am an Amazon Affiliate

The Princess Panda Tea Party: A Cerebral Palsy Fairy Tale by Jewel Kats, Illustrated by Richa Kinra, is a fairy tale in which a stuffed panda comes to life to help young Michelle find the self-confidence within to achieve her goals and brush off the insults and meanness of the other girls in the orphanage.  The illustrations will remind older readers of the pictures that once accompanied our own fairy tales.  Rather than have the typical beauty and able-bodied young girl as the protagonist, Kats has a smart protagonist with cerebral palsy.  Josephine is the mean girl in this tale, and Princess Panda is the fairy godmother.

“Panda Bear Princess patted the beautiful horse.  The pink pads of her stuffed paw tapped at his sides twice.  Just like that, magical wings appeared.”  (page 20)

Michelle merely needs more self-confidence.  While she is different and has many physical challenges, she comes to realize that there is more to her than what is on the surface.  The toy she’s been longing for at the Salvation Army store, which she finally has the money to purchase, is ready to help in any way she can.  While the story text is a little long, my little reader who is only three was riveted by the magical story and the pictures as I read to her.  She loved how Michelle found the strength, with the help of Princess Panda, to practice and achieve her goals despite her physical limitations.  One of her favorite parts of the story was the beautiful Princess Panda and her magical powers — no surprise there.

The Princess Panda Tea Party: A Cerebral Palsy Fairy Tale by Jewel Kats, Illustrated by Richa Kinra, is a story about overcoming challenges, and while there is no explanation of what cerebral palsy is or how it occurs, the book can become a stepping stone for parents and kids to learn about the disease.  Parents should be prepared to answer questions about Michelle and her disease and to teach their own children that making fun of those who are different is not only mean but also makes them look bad in the eyes of others.

About the Author:

Once a teen runaway, Jewel Kats is now a two-time Mom’s Choice Award winner. For six years, Jewel penned a syndicated teen advice column for Scripps Howard News Service (USA) and The Halifax Chronicle Herald. She gained this position through The Young People’s Press. She’s won $20,000 in scholarships from Global Television Network, and women’s book publisher: Harlequin Enterprises. Jewel also interned in the TV studio of Entertainment Tonight Canada. Her books have been featured in Ability Magazine (USA) twice. She’s authored eight books-five are about disabilities. The Museum of disABILITY History celebrated her work with a two-day event. Jewel has appeared as an international magazine cover story four times! Recently, her work was featured in an in-depth article published in “The Toronto Star”. Jewel’s work has also appeared as an evening news segment on WKBW-TV and on the pages of “The Buffalo News”.

Filed Under: challenges, children's fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2015, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , , ,

Mailbox Monday #306

January 19, 2015 by

Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia at To Be Continued, formerly The Printed Page, has a permanent home at its own blog.

To check out what everyone has received over the last week, visit the blog and check out the links.  Leave yours too.

Also, each week, Leslie, Vicki, and I will share the Books that Caught Our Eye from everyone’s weekly links.

Here’s what I received:

1.  Bullied Kids Speak Out by Jodee Blanco from Anna.

Have you ever felt alone, as if no one understands what you’re going through, and that no matter how hard you try, you’re scared things may never get better? Do you wish your classmates would give you a break? I felt that way often in school. I was bullied and excluded for the same reason maybe you or someone you know has been–simply for being different. There were days when all I wanted was to stay in my room. Back then, I would have given almost anything to meet the kids you’re going to meet here.

2. Vessel by Parneshia Jones, a surprise from Milkweed Editions.

The imagination of a girl, the retelling of family stories, and the unfolding of a rich and often painful history: Parneshia Jones’ debut collection explores the intersections of these elements of experience with refreshing candor and metaphorical purpose. A child of the South speaking in the rhythms of Chicago, Jones knits “a human quilt” with herself at the center. She relates everything from the awkward trip to Marshall Fields with her mother to buy her first bra to the late whiskey-infused nights of her father’s world. In the South, “lard sizzles a sermon from the stove”; in Chicago, we feast on an “opera of peppers and pimento.” Jones intertwines the stories of her own family with those of historical Black figures, including Marvin Gaye and Josephine Baker. Affectionate, dynamic, and uncommonly observant, these poems mine the richness of history to create a map of identity and influence.

What did you receive?

Filed Under: mailbox monday, meme Tagged With: , , , ,

289th Virtual Poetry Circle

January 17, 2015 by

Welcome to the 289th Virtual Poetry Circle!

Remember, this is just for fun and is not meant to be stressful.

Keep in mind what Molly Peacock’s book suggested.

Look at a line, a stanza, sentences, and images; describe what you like or don’t like; and offer an opinion. If you missed my review of her book, check it out here.

Today’s poem is from Donald Hall, recited by Russell Heitmann:

Poem With One Fact

“At pet stores in Detroit, you can buy
frozen rats
for seventy-five cents apiece, to feed
your pet boa constrictor”
back home in Grosse Pointe,
or in Grosse Pointe Park,

while the free nation of rats
in Detroit emerges
from alleys behind pet shops, from cellars
and junked cars, and gathers
to flow at twilight
like a river the color of pavement,

and crawls over bedrooms and groceries
and through broken
school windows to eat the crayon
from drawings of rats—
and no one in Detroit understands
how rats are delicious in Dearborn.

If only we could communicate, if only
the boa constrictors of Southfield
would slither down I-94,
turn north on the Lodge Expressway,
and head for Eighth Street, to eat
out for a change. Instead, tomorrow,

a man from Birmingham enters
a pet shop in Detroit
to buy a frozen German shepherd
for six dollars and fifty cents
to feed his pet cheetah,
guarding the compound at home.

Oh, they arrive all day, in their
locked cars, buying
schoolyards, bridges, buses,
churches, and Ethnic Festivals;
they buy a frozen Texaco station
for eighty-four dollars and fifty cents

to feed to an imported London taxi
in Huntington Woods;
they buy Tiger Stadium,
frozen, to feed to the Little League
in Grosse Ile. They bring everything
home, frozen solid

as pig iron, to the six-car garages
of Harper Woods, Grosse Pointe Woods,
Farmington, Grosse Pointe
Farms, Troy, and Grosse Arbor—
and they ingest
everything, and fall asleep, and lie

coiled in the sun, while the city
thaws in the stomach and slides
to the small intestine, where enzymes
break down molecules of protein
to amino acids, which enter
the cold bloodstream.

What do you think?

Filed Under: virtual poetry circle Tagged With:

Short Story Friday #2

January 16, 2015 by

Short Story Friday has been revamped for 2015, and I’ll be sharing snippets from my own fiction pieces, mostly short stories.  In addition to the new business, Poetic Book Tours, I’ll be writing and submitting more of my own fiction and poetry this year.

I hope you’ll offer your thoughts on this story that is currently in progress.

If you missed the first part posted last week, check it out here.

Finn would be the one I’d flirt with, but even though he’s new here, he already knows about my condition.  That’s the high school grapevine for you.  No way he’ll let me rely on it as flirting now.  Besides, the blinking is too rapid.

He’s still sweet.  He holds open doors for all the girls, even me.  It reminds me of those books on my mother’s bookshelves.  Men held doors for ladies and helped them into their seats at dinner, an idea as antiquated as my mother’s bookshelves.

All of my materials in school are digital and holograms teach us our lessons, making even human teachers obsolete.  I guess it helped reduce student-teacher violence to zero.  That’s something.

Please feel free to share your thoughts on this snippet and let me know what you think.

Filed Under: Events, Short Story Friday Tagged With:

War’s Trophies by Henry Morant

January 15, 2015 by

Source: Author Henry Morant
Paperback, 246 pgs
I am an Amazon Affiliate

War’s Trophies by Henry Morant is a tumble in the jungles of Vietnam, Seattle, and in the minds of Vietnam War veterans dealing with latent post-traumatic stress.  Lieutenant Jeremy Hall is a new man on Captain Stephan Wozniak’s unit in Vietnam, and the captain is none too pleased about it.  As part of an intelligence unit, Hall realizes that these missions are not always sanctioned and that what happens on these missions are kept hush-hush for more than one reason.  Through a series of chapters that alternate from 1986 and 1966, Morant takes readers on a journey into the fog of war; he fleshes out the corruption, killing, and the only brand of justice that can be found on the battlefield and parallels it to the cutthroat business of the newsroom.

“Today’s talent lacks sophistication.  There was class to this one.  Kids and punks today think a drive-by with an ejaculation from their Uzi or a sawed-off is a big deal.  They don’t take the time to learn how to do someone by hand.  Even the mob has had to import pizza men from Sicily to get any style.  Someone with a sense of craftsmanship, pride in their work.  Besides, there isn’t anyone around here smart enough I’ve run into who could break into the federal courthouse the way this phantom did and do a kill.”  (page 18)

Although both of these men have left Vietnam’s jungles far behind, what happened in the heat of battle has stuck with them over the last 2o years and refused to let go.  These men must prepare to do battle once again in the concrete jungle, and just like Vietnam, there are many casualties — some of them innocent.  Morant’s characters are complex in their emotions and while Hall and Wozniak are similar in build they are foils for one another, which makes their imminent squaring off all the more dramatic.

War’s Trophies by Henry Morant is a wild ride into the darker side of war and its effects on the soldiers who fight them — do they succumb to corruption and greed at all costs or do they cow to the pressure of the mission and commit unnecessary murder.  How strong can a soldier remain under the constant barrage of bullets, bombs, and fear?  Morant has written a thriller that will keep readers turning the pages.

About the Author:

Henry Morant has been a soldier, sailor and mountain climber and still seeks adventure in the Salish Sea and along the waters of the east coast of the United States. He often can be found at the Schooner’s Wharf bar in Key West, on a sailboat or in a kayak or rower. His first book is War’s Trophies, a thriller based on murder and robbery during an intelligence mission during the Vietnam war and two former army officers’ cat-and-mouse battle for deadly revenge that begins in Vietnam and resolves 20 years later in Seattle.

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: 2015 War Through the Generations - Read Any War, challenges, fiction, historical fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2015, review copy, reviews Tagged With: ,