Short Takes on New & Emerging Writers
by
Allen J. Post
The Cockfighter
by Frank Manley
Coffee House Press • 1998
$19.95 • hc
The coming-of-age novel is far from rare for a first-time novelist and all too often spins out of a near-formulaic cloud of
autobiography. Frank Manley has soared above that cloud into the crisp sky of literary prose to tell a simple, yet profound tale of
emergence from child to adult.
Manley's unusual story line, engulfing the world of cock fighting, illuminates his narrative with an off-stage lighting that lends an
intriguing foreignness to an otherwise stock-vulnerable plot. Sonny, not yet thirteen years of age, has been given a prize fighting
cock by his father. He is expected to fight the cock against all comers, because it is Sonny's first time in the ring. Sonny is proud
and gratified at his father's attention, his compassion galvanized for the coarse, unemotional man. Yet Sonny must shed the
shackles of boyhood; his instinct to treat his bird as a pet, his attachment to a mother who would prefer to delay his loss of
innocence, his unmet allegiance from a father rushing to make him a man.
The third-person narrative retains the author's emotional distance from events that could easily entrap another writer into merely
plucking heartstrings. Manley's work resembles that of Southerner Lewis Nordan, who has perfected the coming-of-age novel; a
bittersweet loss of innocence while fumbling for knowledge, and a subtle poking at adulthood from the man-child's untainted
wisdom.
Sonny is thrown abruptly into the unpretty adult world that is his father's; an arena of sexual innuendo, gambling, blunt language,
machismo. A world, too, of principle. Sonny's father lives by certain respectable rules, including uncompromising sportsmanship;
accepting defeat as gracefully and unemotionally as success. Sonny is unprepared for curt lessons and meets them with innate
skepticism, in turn questioning the stature of his father.
In the end, Manley's young character finds his own path, rejecting his father's example and alienating the paternal compassion he
so desires. Ironically, Sonny not only matches his father's manhood, but excels it. Frank Manley's first novel, too, excels; a
harbinger, one hopes, of this author's rich literature to come.
Blue Bossa
by Bart Schneider
Viking • 1998
$24.95 • hc
Ronnie Reboulet is an over-the-hill, ex-junkie jazz trumpeter living quietly with a woman similarly flawed by the ravages of time
and human fallibility. He mans a golfcourse pro-shop and hustles local fat cats out of nine and eighteen holes of ego-induced
stakes. Enter Rae, Ronnie's long estranged daughter, son Quincy in tow. Rae also brings the baggage of the past; her mother's
alcoholism, Ronnie's abandonment of family, and her own single motherhood.
A marginal singer with dreams of turning professional, Rae is awkwardly welcomed into Betty and Ronnie's domain. The group,
at moments, resembles a family. The illusion is never long-lasting, however. Both Ronnie and Rae answer the call of wanderlust;
Ronnie, inspired by his daughter to again play the trumpet, and Rae, to escape the onus of single motherhood. As with all familial
dysfunction, members suffer. Here, Betty and Quincy are generational bookends softly pressuring to keep Ronnie and Rae
standing tall.
As background to the familial collage is the Patty Hearst kidnapping, providing a communal topic of interest to the characters and
setting the '70s era tone of the author's native San Francisco. 1974 marks, in essence, the winding down of the sixties and a
dogleg in social climate. For Ronnie, it is the end of self-imposed retirement and a return to the briefly abandoned lifestyle of a
jazz spirit.
Schneider, a St. Paul resident and editor of the Hungry Mind Review since its inception in 1986, employs lucid, unadorned
language that conveys a respectful empathy for his flawed characters, which may be just shy of adoration. The brevity of chapters,
often a page or two in length, initially unsettles a reader's rhythm; once attuned, however, the pace adds a jazzy tempo to this
salutary, tasteful riff of a novel.
An Underachiever's Diary
by Benjamin Anastas
The Dial Press • 1998
$15.95 • hc
Anastas' debut novella blends sardonic humor with sharp insight, transmitted within the author's easy prose. Narrated by
protagonist William as a diary from birth to twenty-something, the eponymous underachiever examines in candid detail his travel
along the path of unapplied potential. That journey is closely juxtaposed and partly reactionary to William's twin brother's vast
success.
Given the author's intelligence and command, one may assume that the autobiographical construct of this diary-novella remains
near-wholly fictional. Indeed, it is the imaginative treatment of the autobiographical motif, beginning at an uneasy natal rivalry, that
raises Anastas' work above that of many first novelists. The narrator begins at day one not only for the comedic effect of an infant's
story in an adult voice, but also to lay the psychological foundation of the character's future failings. Far from a therapeutic
confessional, the first-person narrator takes jabs at psychology, social convention, political correctness, and the like.
William, in seeing through it all, is unable to find a niche above mere survivalism. He dallies at college and various jobs, attempts
relationships which prove always empty, and is stuck forever within the shell of ennui. William seldom acts on his life but
continually reacts, flawed by adolescent self-absorption.
There is an element of contrivance in Anastas' narration that, had he extended it beyond the brief 147 pages, would have flirted
with the reader's ennui. Fortunately, the author's sense for quick cadence and barbed insight, makes An Underachiever's Diary a
successfully quirky, entertaining first book.
Rainlight
by Alison McGhee
Papier-Mache Press • 1998
$22.95 • hc
The first in a planned trilogy set in the fictional Adirondack town of Sterns, Rainlight is a poignant interplay of family and friends
reacting to tragedy and subsequently examining their own lives and relationships. McGhee braids her various characters into the
cord of her tale by employing their various narrative voices in alternating chapters.
Starr Williams is husband, father, son, and ex-lover to McGhee's respective narrators. His presence and tragic absence is the
cohesive glue that binds these small-town characters to one another. Nine-year-old Mallie, with a heart of gold and the wisdom of
innocence, explores reincarnation and maintains a living diary on the tragic and accidental demise of her father. Her mother Lucia
survives by throwing herself into her work with special-needs children. Grandfather Tim, gentle and caring, struggles with his own
dark secret, and waitress Crystal raises little Johnny, a boy with an integral tie to Starr and a fascination for shiny objects. Hopes
and dreams blend with the spiritual and exotic, buoying life above the events of the everyday.
Rainlight is an emotive novel, unapologetically so. McGhee has a deep compassion for her characters and the tangled
relationships she explores warrant feeling. Mallie, especially, is a character drawn with such acute innocence and charm as to
make her walk off the page into the care of the reader. The depth of McGhee's characters, her even pacing of their individual
stories into a whole, and the acute interplay of dialogue, earn this debut novel a literary richness well above any syrupy
melodrama.
As McGhee's fully-developed characters examine their own lives, the joy and tragedy that enters them, the reader too is softly
cudgeled into self-examination. A person becomes defined not simply by words and actions, but by context and relations.
Readers will eagerly await a future visit to Sterns.
nixoncarver
by Mark Maxwell
St. Martin's/Buzz • 1998
$19.95 • hc
Richard Nixon and Raymond Carver as close friends in young manhood is the premise for Maxwell's highly imaginative first
novel. The tricky politician and minimalist writer, interpersonally juxtaposed, become myths of the American Dream. Yet Maxwell
reduces both men's stature to ordinary, life-size human beings with their ample share of flaws and misgivings.
The contrivance, of course, is obvious. Its success lies in Maxwell's ability to candidly and genuinely explore the psyche of these
men within that what-if? facade.
Where does Maxwell take us? Not all that far, really, but the short journey is lively. Maxwell delves into the torment of Tricky Dick's
childhood and spurns sympathy for the coarse and obsessive politician. Carver's deep existential angst plays well within the
sharp, dispassionate dialogue between these two characters. Maxwell maintains an objective tone, treating the sometimes
wince-inducing candor of his subjects with impartial humaneness. The result is ever humorous, often insightful, and incredibly
credible.
Readers with little interest in either icon will yet be impressed with the author's savvy. Maxwell has challenged himself to and has
succeeded at a unique work of the imagination.
The Paris Years of Rosie Kamin
by Richard Teleky
Steerforth Press • 1996
$24.00 • hc
At age forty, Rosie Kamin has lived in exile for two decades; exiled from family, friends, country, and history. An American Jew in
Paris, Rosie is on no quest but has reactively shut out her heritage after her mother's suicide; a death activated in time-delay by
the Holocaust.
Rosie's flight to Paris is a flight from ancestry and heritage. She builds a simple, unadorned life as a teacher of English, and
settles in with Serge, a Frenchman and intellectual communist. Rosie remains in touch with her younger sister Deb, keeper of
the familial flame.
Rosie's quiet world equally quietly begins to fall around her; Serge is suffering from a liver disease, an Algerian ex-lover suddenly
reenters her life, and sister Deb's visit roils memories of her mother's tragedy. Rosie, finally, must confront the past and what
meaning life holds. That significance is steeped in contradiction; love as both attainable and unattainable, family as definition and
constraint, history as both sustainer and devourer of the soul.
The Paris Years of Rosie Kamin is a hushed marvel of fiction. Pensive and intelligent, Teleky manages large themes within a
deceptively small focus. Author of Goodnight, Sweetheart and Other Stories, Hungarian Rhapsodies: Essays on Ethnicity, Identity
and Culture and co-editor of The Oxford Book of French-Canadian Stories, Teleky brings an unassuming, scholarly precision to
his first-novel.
MYSTERIES
Brunswick Gardens
Anne Perry
Fawcett/Columbine, 1998
"A century ago, Charles Darwin's revolutionary theory of evolution rocked the civilized world, and the outraged Angelican church
went on the warpath against it. In a mansion in London's affluent Brunswick Gardens, the battle is intense, as that most
respected clergyman, the Reverend Ramsay Parmenter, is boldly challenged by his beautiful assistant, Unity Bellwood--a Œnew
woman' whose feminism and aggressive Darwinism he finds appalling. When Unity, three months pregnant, tumbles down the
Parmenter's staircase to her death, Thomas Pitt, commander of the Bow Street police station, is virtually certain that one of the
three deeply devout men in the house committed murder..."
Pulse
by Echo Heron
Ballantine, 1998
"Murder is making the rounds at San Francisco's Ellis Hospital. When Chloe, everybody's favorite nurse, dies in the recovery room
after a routine appendectomy, nurse Adele Monsarrat's suspicions are aroused. Certain one of her coworkers is behind the three
sudden deaths among the hospital staff in a year, Adele sets out to find the culprit. But who in this pressure-cooker workplace--
where drugs, sex, and odd spiritual practices serve to ease tension--bears the mark of true madness? As Adele starts probing
with the help of the handsome medical examiner, the fever of fear soars, and a brilliant maniac watches and waits."
Dataman (galley copy)
Tom Mitcheltree
Writeway, 1998
"Fremont High School, Portland, Oregon, has just become the center of intense media attention˜ two of its teens have been
murdered while "tagging" a school wall. Attention then shifts to what looks to become an epidemic of "tagger" murders as teen
after teen is shot to death with a long- range rifle, usually in the dead of night, while the boys are practicing their "art." Stumped by
these random acts of terror, the Portland police approach information specialist Tom Walkinshaw˜ alias Data man˜ and ask him
to work his computer magic to help them discover a pattern in the murders, and perhaps the name of the murderer. Agreeing to
get involved, even though he has several other active cases to unravel˜ a missing father; a computer blackmail scheme; a couple
of county land statutes to plot˜ Walkinshaw soon realizes that he's become a target as his data programs lead him byte-by-byte to
another computer wizard. And in this real- life game of computer cat-and-mouse, there can only be one winner˜ and the killer is
determined that it won't be Data man!"
The Surrogate Assasin (A Sherlock Holmes Mystery) (galley copy)
Christopher A. Lepper
Write-Way Publishing, 1998
"Watson and Holmes come to America in the late 1880s to help Edwin Booth discover who's been taking pot-shots at the actor at
various theaters around the world. In the process, of course, Holmes finds himself drawn to the intrigue offered by the Lincoln
assassination˜ and sets out to prove, once and for all time, who really murdered the president."
Catfish Cafe
Earl Emerson
Ballantine, 1998
"It's been a long time since Thomas Black and Luther Little watched each other's backs as Seattle cops, but the friendship that
made them "as close as brothers" has endured. So when his beloved daughter, Belinda, succumbs to drug addiction and
vanishes into a world of pushers and pimps, Luther taps Black's PI skills to rescue her from the dark side. Black soon discovers
that the girl had good reason to disappear: she's mixed up in a headline-making murder. In her wake she left an empty purse and
a wrecked car with a dead Eagle Scout in the backseat pumped four times in the stomach with an automatic. Stranger still, the
victim is a Tacoma elementary school teacher with an impeccable reputation. But tracking the past of a white-bread teacher is
more hazardous than it sounds, and following Belinda's trail through the world of vice will lead Black into homicidal hell...and
back to that modest little eat-in/take-out...called Catfish Cafe."
NOVELS
The Midnight Before Christmas
William Bernhardt
Ballantine, November, 1998
"Thirty-something lawyer Megan McGee is facing a quiet Christmas with her bulldog when Bonnie Cantrell comes looking for
legal protection from her violent ex-cop husband, Carl. In a recent bout of rage, Carl vowed to kill their seven-year-old son,
Tommy, rather than to be separated from the boy. It's no idle threat, either˜ as Bonnie assures Megan: ŒHe's tried before.' And
when Tommy's school unwittingly allows him to leave with his father, Carl gets another chance. Now, with the town all but shut
down for the holiday, Megan races against time˜ and terror˜ to keep Carl's Christmas Eve jaunt from turning into a slay ride."
A Perfect Crime
Peter Abrahams
Ballantine, 1998
"Francie Cullingwood, with her no-nonsense business savvy and exquisite eye for acquisition, is a rising star in the Boston art
world. But her personal life is about to take a decidedly dark turn. Caught in a passionless marriage to Roger, a man with a
genius IQ and a failed career, she begins a love affair with a charismatic radio psychologist, Ned DeMarco, who brings her
excitement and a vibrant new sense of life. That Ned is married to vulnerable and eager-to-please Anne is of little consequence to
either Ned or Francie. Francie suggests a divorce, but Roger won't hear of it. And when this adulterous affair is revealed, his
devious mind begins to construct the perfect, flawless crime. Everything considered: motive, means, opportunity, evidence,
suspects, alibis. The perpetrator must remain an invisible presence, seeing the plot through to its chilling conclusion,
manipulating the players like chess pieces in an intricate, deadly game."
Tomcat In Love
Tim O'Brien
Broadway, 1998
"He is 6'6" tall, a cross between Ichabod Crane and Abe Lincoln. He is a professor of linguistics, bewitched by language, deluded
about his ability to win the hearts of women with his erudition and physical appeal. He is Thomas H. Chippering, a.k.a. Tomcat, a
masterly addition to the pantheon of unforgettable characters in American fiction...Tomcat In Love gives us a blundering, modern-
day Don Juan who embodies the desires and bewilderments of men everywhere."
Childhood
Andre Alexis Henry
Holt, 1998
"Set in Petrolia, a Southern Ontario town close to the US border, in the 1950's and 1960's and in Ottowa in the years that follow,
the story is narrated by Thomas MacMillan. Through his clear- eyed vision and his unsentimental ordering of events, we meet a
cast of brilliantly drawn characters. Among them are Edna MacMillan, Thomas's volatile, unpredictable Trinidadian grandmother,
and Katarina, the mother who left Thomas at birth and then, ten years later, in the company of the sinister Mr. Mataf, swoops him
up and takes him from Petrolia. Soon after, we meet the unforgettable Henry Wing, a Black man with Chinese blood, a gentle
conjurer who lives in faded Victorian splendor and whose life's work as a self-styled scientist is collecting esoteric facts of the
natural world. This is an intricately textured chronicle of a life in which a man's quest for what is lost discloses the ambiguous
nature of the past and leads him closer to the truth about himself."
Ella Price's Journal
Dorothy Bryant
The Feminist Press, 1997
"Dorothy Bryant's pioneer novel of women's consciousness unfolds as a series of entries in the journal of Ella Price, a suburban
California housewife with a reliable husband, a teenaged daughter, and a deep sense of discontent, who has decided to attend
college for the first time at the age of thirty-five. What Ella learns inside and outside of class will leave her irrevocably changed,
and force her to make painful but empowering choices."
Confessions of Madame Psyche
Dorothy Bryant
The Feminist Press, 1998
"Mei-li Murrow, the illegitimate daughter of a Chinese prostitute and a white confidence man, is recreated as the medium
ŒMadame Psyche' after she accidentally predicts the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Although she wins fame and fortune as
a medium, Mei-li seeks a truer spirituality, and embarks on a pilgrimage that takes her to the death-soaked Europe of the First
World War, to a utopian commune in the Santa Cruz Mountains in the 1920's, to Depression-era migrant work camps and
cannery strikes, and finally to the Napa State Hospital, where she finds wisdom and peace among the outcasts of the asylum.
This modern-day epic is grounded in the history of Northern California in the first half of the twentieth century and peopled by
comrades of many classes and cultures and by lovers both male and female. Yet Mei-li's central odyssey remains one of inner
discovery. In Confessions of Madame Psyche, Dorothy Bryant has created a character who is so honest in her search for truth,
growth, and spiritual understanding that this quest becomes inherent to her survival."
The Golden Rope
Susan Fromberg Shaeffer
Fawcett-Columbine, 1996
"Doris Meek adored her twin sister, Florence. She was only too happy to play in her gifted sister's shadow. And there she
remained. For when Florence disappeared at the height of her career as an artist, she had disavowed Doris. The world thought
the great Florence Meek was an orphan. For twenty years this fact made searching for Florence a psychological impossibility. But
now Doris wants to know. Why did Florence carve a life for herself from lies and half-truths? And as she seeks answers, Doris
begins to solve the greatest mystery of all: her own identity..."
The Last Resort
Alison Lurie Henry
Holt, 1998
"When Jenny met Wilkie Walker, she was 21 and he was 46. Years later, Jenny is the loyal Victorian wife, devoted to her much
older husband, a very famous writer and naturalist. She has spent her life researching and editing Wilkie's best-selling books
and raising their children, and though perhaps a little old-fashioned in the view of her friends, she has always been happy with
this life and her marriage. But as the cold New England winter approaches, Wilkie is increasingly depressed, withdrawn, crippled
with insomnia and, unbeknownst to Jenny, even contemplating suicide. Jenny, longing for warmth and sunshine in her own life
and hoping to instill some new life into Wilkie, persuades him to rent a house in Key West...Soon enough, all of their lives begin
to turn upside-down, with Jenny and Wilkie at center stage. Jenny, mistaking Wilkie's urge to die for his disinterest in her and
wrongly thinking that Wilkie is having an affair, turns to someone else for love and support. Meanwhile, Wilkie, feeling useless to
society and convinced he has cancer (even though his doctor says he's fine), is planning his own suicide--a task which turns out
to be more difficult than he thought."
The Ultimate Rush
Joe Quirk
Weisbach/Morrow, 1998
As the sole rollerblading courier at a San Francisco delivery service, Chet Griffin is the fastest messenger in town. Every day, he
delivers critically confidential packages, but when he hands over an already-opened envelope containing a floppy disk with billion-
dollar information, a deadly serious customer demands satisfaction. On a routine run, one of Chet's co-workers gets murdered,
the finger's pointed at Chet, and he finds himself on a rush job to save his own life. With quicksilver pacing and attitude to burn,
"The Ultimate Rush" is a heart-clenching chase of cat-and-mouse-pad, leading up to a blade-churning, bullet-blasting finish like
no other.
A Desperate Silence
Sarah Lovett
Villard, 1998
"ŒShe doesn't have a name. She's got the clothes on her back, a coloring book, a necklace, and a stick of bubble gum. She's ex
parte. She's not talking. That's why they want you.' With these words, Dr. Sylvia Strange--the tough forensic psychiatrist--...is drawn
into the world of a ten- year-old child too scared to speak...Dr. Strange must uncover this little girl's secrets or else the knowledge
she possesses just might die with her."
An Ocean in Iowa
Peter Hedges
Hyperion, 1998
Scotty Ocean is turning seven years old, and he has announced earlier in his life that seven is going to be his year. It does turn
out to be his year, but not the year he imagined. It is the year his mother leaves the family. At first, Scotty does astonishing things
to get her to return. When he comes to believe she won't be moving back, he tries to replace her. Ultimately, he decides he must
take drastic action to remain forever seven.
Fatal Reaction
Gini Hartzmark
Ivy Books, 1998
For Chicago attorney Kate Millholland, navigating the male-dominated legal profession was a piece of cake. Tough-minded and
amazingly poised, Kate had seen it all. Or so she thought. With its blood-spattered walls and overturned furniture, the scene
looked like a slaughterhouse. Kate wondered: Who would savagely murder Danny Wohl in his own apartment? Head of the legal
department at Azor Pharmaceuticals, Danny was in the midst of pivotal negotiations with Tokyo investors. Now Kate dives into the
billion-dollar deal midstream. And she finds the water filled with career sharks, secret affairs, lethal chemicals, and one cold-
blooded killer."
HalfBorn
Woman V. Diane Wood Brown
Anchor, 1998
"Set in the 1970's in Tampa, Florida, "Halfborn Woman" is the moving story of a teenager, her single mother, and their common
battle to overcome feelings of worthlessness. The story is told by fifteen-year-old Arlen, middle child of Olivia, an woman whose
divorce has triggered bouts of depression and fits of anger. Sensitive and observant, Arlen shares the details of their tumultuous
life together, including the incest and betrayal of Olivia's own unhappy childhood in the steamy Florida swamps. Openly yet
lovingly, she recounts how the cycle of abuse is perpetuated, first with rage and later by neglect."
Angle of Impact
Bonnie MacDougal
Ballantine, 1998
"This explosive novel of suspense opens with a bang as Dana Svenssen, a brilliant Philadelphia lawyer, witnesses a collision
between a helicopter and an airplane on her way to a routine client meeting. As fiery debris rains down on screaming families in
the amusement park beneath the crash--where Dana's own two children are spending the day--Dana desperately races to the
scene. In the frantic aftermath, she discovers that the tragic accident is far from accidental. Yet determining the cause of the
collision is arduous and nearly impossible. As Dana assembles a crack team of forensic aviation experts to reconstruct the
disaster, her troubled marriage threatens to crash and burn as well, until a kidnaping suddenly throws her into the maelstrom of
a deadly, all-consuming conspiracy."
Safe House
Andrew Vachss
Knopf, 1998
"Burke's old prison pal Hercules, hired by a shadowy network that runs a safehouse for stalking victims, botched the job, and one
of the stalkers is dead. To save his partner, Burke has to penetrate the network, and he makes a deal with the boss, Crystal Beth,
a woman as obsessed as the stalkers. But Crystal Beth has a stalker of her own, an extortionist who threatens to bring down her
entire network unless she surrenders one of the women she's hiding. When Burke learns that the extortionist might be
government issue, and that the stalker he's protecting is a member of a neo-Nazi cell with plans to make Oklahoma City look like
a pipe bomb, his survivalist instincts go on full alert. And when it comes down to making his own house and his family-of-choice
safe, Burke turns lethal."
River Angel
A. Manette Ansay
William Morrow, 1998
"A miracle? A hoax? Or something in between? After researching supernatural occurrences in a number of small towns, Ansay
became intrigued by the role which so-called miraculous events play in depressed areas. Ansay understands first hand the
desire to find meaning in difficult circumstances. Disabled by a rare muscle disorder since the age of twenty she struggles to
reconcile the longing purpose, a point to her illness-a longing instilled by her traditional Catholic upbringing-and the reality of
living a day-to-day life which can be painful and frustrating."
Standing in the Shadows
by Michelle Spring
Ballantine, 1988
"The shocking murder lingered in the tabloids for weeks. A sweet elderly lady viciously killed in a quiet corner of Cambridge, her
skull crushed with a concrete block by her eleven-year-old foster child, Daryll Flatt. Hideous as the crime was, the case was
closed when the boy, curled up on te crack of a willow tree, confessed to the murder. Now, two years later, the boy's older brother,
Howard, hires private investigator Laura Principal to revisit the case--and to answer the baffling question: Why?"
Glorie
by Caryn James
Zoland Books, 1998
"Glorie is the deeply moving story of a life recounted in old age, a gently humorous and bittersweet elegy for an independent spirit
in decline. The daughter of immigrant parents from Portugal, Gloria Carcieri escapes the tedium of tenement life during the
depression when she meets and marries her first true love. Pampered and protected by Jack during their fifty years of marriage,
she survives the shock of his death by invoking his spirit for advice and solace in the suddenly confusing world in which she finds
herself. With passion and humor she struggles with her well-meaning daughter and a colorful cast of relatives to hold onto her
freedom, in this poignant tale of memory and the persistence of love. Caryn James vividly evokes the drama of life at the last
turning. Glorie is a rich, powerfully accomplished novel."
The Service of Clouds
by Delia Falconer
Von Holtzbrinck Publishing, 1998
"Nineteen-ought-seven. The Blue Mountains of Australia. Eureka Jones, a young pharmacist's assistant with Œhistorical eyes,'
falls in love with Harry Kitchings, a man who comes to town from some vague elsewhere to photograph clouds and the shadows
they cast upon the land. Harry thinks of himself as a mystic, and he sees his pictures of clouds as images of the mind of God.
Eureka's love for Harry is at the heart of Delia Falconer's lush and gorgeous first novel, a bestseller in Australia. The story unfolds
in a town full of colorful eccentrics, and against the awesome backdrop of the Blue Mountains. Theirs is a stately, old-fashioned
courtship, in which the first kiss comes after a couple of years; and after Harry suddenly leaves her, Eureka waits fifteen years
before telling the story."
Range of Light
by Valerie Miner
Zoland Books, 1998
"Set in the High Sierra of California, Range of Light is a drama of friendship and memory as rich and intricate as the landscape of
its setting. Two women are uneasily reunited for a week's hiking after an estrangement of 25 years. On the surface they could not
be more different--Adele, a professor of history with a husband and children; and Kath, an unemployed community worker, a
lesbian caring for her aging parents. Each will complete a transforming odyssey in the suffused and brilliant light of the
mountains."
Now It's Time to Say Goodbye
by Dale Peck Farrar
Strauss, Giroux, 1998
"Colin Nieman and Justin Time abandon New York City for the tiny Kansas village of Galatea. Racially polarized and desperately
poor, the town is dominated by Rosemary Krebs, a white matriarch determined to resurrect her lost Southern childhood, and
Abraham Greeving, the black preacher who will do anything to stop her. This is the story of violence and prejudice in small town
America: of Divine, a black hustler who's slept with as many men as he can seduce; of Wade Painter, a white artist insulated by
his wealth and hermitlike existence; of Webble Greeving, a budding academic called back to take caare of ther disabled father;
and of Myra Robinson, the grieving mother who lost her daughter long before she was kidnapped. As their stories unfold, we
learn the truth about Galatea's dark past and even darker future: of Eric Johnson, an albino black man lynched because of the
color of his skin, and of Lucy Robinson, the white teenager who must pay for her parents' crimes."
Boyne's Lassie
by Dick Wimmer
Zoland, 1998
"Dick Wimmer has created a classically irreverent hero in Seamus Boyne, a man of high purpose and tarnished morals. Now
middle-aged and at the height of his celebrity, Boyne is a world- renowned painter and a ladies' man of heroic proportions,. Madly
in love with his life, he stages hiw own death to rediscover the pleasures of anonymity. When his estranged 17-year-old daughter
Tory hears of his death, she defies her mother and travels from New York to Dublin to attend his funeral, setting in motion a
rollicking misadventure. This is a hilarious, picaresque romp through the back alleys, bedrooms and moldering castles of the
Irish countryside."
Miss Giardino
Dorothy Bryant
The Feminist Press, 1998
"Miss Giardino is a rare testament to the inner life of a teacher, and to the possiblility of growth and self-discovery at any age. As
the novel begins, retired schoolteacher Anna Giardino is found unconscious in front of the high school where she once taught, in
San Francisco's Mission District. She is unable to remember what has happened or who she is. Gradually, Anna begins to
recover tender but painful memories of her Italian American, working-class childhood, of her escape through education, and of
her years devoted to teaching. But Anna must acknowledge that she has arrived at the end of her career estranged--from herself,
from her profession, and from the students she sought to enlighten. Only when she confronts the events surrouding her
mysterious "accident" can Anna accept and affirm her life."
Mulberry and Peach
Hualing Nieh
The Feminist Press
"Mulberry and Peach is set in the troubled climate of contemporary China and tells the story of a woman so haunted by the trauma
of state authoritartianism that she develops a split personality. After years of physical and emotional confinement in both China
and Taiwan, Mulberry moved to America where her alter-ego, Peach, emerges, becoming completely intoxicated by the freedom
that America allows. Through the protagonist's fractured consciousness, Hualing Nieh encapsulates the turmoil and dislocation
of the immigrant experience."
Misadventures in the (213)
Dennis Hensley
Weisbach/Morrow, 1998
"What ŒTales of the City' did for San Francisco, ŒMisadventures in the (213)' does double for Los Angeles in this tale of a
struggling screenwriter, his circle of celebrity-seeking friends, and their madcap attempts to make it in the biz."
Picture of Innocence
Jill McGown
Fawcett/Columbine, July, 1998
"East Midlands farmer Bernard Baily, a violent man with a brutal temper, stands to pocket a hefty inheritance if he fathers a male
child. After destroying one wife to achieve this end, Bailey turns his next marriage into a twisted business arrangement. If his new
spouse produces a son, she will be paid handsomely for her trouble. But the real trouble is just beginning."
Island Justice
Elizabeth Wanthrop
William Morrow, July, 1998
"For Maggie Hammond, home means her beloved godmother, so when Nan dies, the Victorian house she inhabited becomes
merely a possession for Maggie to shed. Bust when she meets Sam, the island naturalist, and a dead body rolls up on her
beach, she finds herself drawn deeper and deepter intoo the complex world of the island's winter community."
This is My Daughter
Roxana Robinson
Random House, June 1998
"When Emma Goodwin and Peter Chatfield marry, both for the second time, they each have a daughter from their first marriages--
Tess, three, and Amanda, seven. Their world is one of old money, fine houses, private schools and nannies. Beneath this
glowing surface, however, is emotional turbulence. Over the next eight years, Emma and Peter work to forge a marriage and
merge their families, certain that with love and determination they will succeed. Their two daughters, however, live in a world
defined by loss and sadness, and their own sense of family has been shattered. The tensions increase as each character
struggles within the confines of their new life, until a tragic accident forces them to confront themselves and one another."
Swimming Lessons
Lynne Hugo and Anna Tuttle Villegas
Morrow, July 1998
" An engrossing story of the unbreakable bond that develops between two very different women. Laurel is a highly competent
psychologist with one seemingly unconquerable demon of her own: she's deathly afraid of water. Marna is a former swimmig star
who has relinquished her Olympic dreams for the safe haven of her marriage. When Laurel resolves to master her fear and learn
to swim, she enlists an initially reluctant Marna to teach her. Thus begins an extraordinary relationship, one that encourages the
women to reveal their deepest, darkest selves. For Laurel, that means confessing the tragedy at the root of her paralytic phobia;
for Marna, that means divulging her aversion to motherhood--and her furtive use of birth control pills to keep from conceiving.
Then a sudden accidental disclosure upends both their lives, and their friendship may be just one of its many casualties."
Love is a Racket
John Ridley
Knopf, 1998
"Everything's a racket for Jeffty Kittridge, a thirty-seven-year-old ex-wannabe scriptwriter living on the skids in Hollywood--the two-
bit cons he pulls for spending money; the way he convinces himself that he's not a drunk between every shot of booze he kicks
back; the way he tries to assure Dumas, the local shark, that he's just about to pay off his 15K debt...Except he's not good at any of
that...Then he stumbles on salvation: a dirt-caked, street-hardened, exquisitely beautiful young homeless woman named Mona--
Jeffty prefers to think of her as Angel--who inspires both his love and the idea for the perfect con. It's Jeffty's chance to hit it big,
and to be set for good in his new life wiht his new love. But as the momentum of the con carries him closer and closer to what he
imagines will be a moment of blissed-out consummation with his angel Mona, Jeffty discovers there are some severe exceptions
to his rule."
No Physical Evidence
Gus Lee
Fawcett/Columbine, 1998
"Joshua Jin is a deputy district attorney whose life is in crisis and his job in jeopardy. He is handed a politically charged
Chinatown case involving the rape of a thirteen-year-old girl. The victim refuses to talk. The ex-con charged with the crime was
arrested on a hunch. And there is no physical evidence. As an Asian-American prosecutor, Jin is under tremendous pressure
from Chinatown to win a conviction. First, however, he must earn the confidence of his stone-silent client, a distant, troubled
teenager who trusts no one. Working against a brilliant, high-priced defense attorney who wants nothing more than to crush the
opposition˜ particularly when her opposition is Josh Jin˜ he throws his heart and soul into an imposible case that is for more
explosive than he ever imagined." NOVELS
Road Kill
Kinky Friedman
Ballantine, September 1998
"Who would slap an Indian curse on a good ol' boy like country singer Willie Nelson? Probably the same person who's been firing
shots into Willie's hotel room and sending nasty notes promising the cowboy crooner a one-way ticket to the big rodeo in the sky.
Could it have something to do with the medicine man who got run over by Willie's tour bus one dark night? If anyone can find out,
it's ace troubleshooter and well-known troublemaker Kinky Friedman."
Mr. White's Confessi
Robert Clark
on Picador, 1998
"For nearly two decades Lieutenant Wesley Horner has been working the homicide beat for the St. Paul Police Deptartment.
During that time he has seen his country recover from the Great War, build highways and streetcars, and fall into the Great
Depression. He has also lost his wife and his daughter, and returns each evening to a small house grown larger with emptiness.
Detective work has been the one constant in his life...when a young woman if found dead, strangled and thrown to the bottom of a
hill, at first, the clues come easily. Wesley locates Mr. White, a slow-witted store clerk who like to photograph attractive women,
including the deceased, in his spare time. Wesley knows he can make White confess˜ until he finds that his suspect has a
peculiar memory impairment. Meanwhile, Welsy must contend with Welshinger, a vice officer who has a strange, violent
dissatisfaction with the job Wesley's been doing. Wesley always thought he knew the difference between memory and reality,
guilt and innocence, but the closer he gets to Mr. White, the less certain he becomes."
Switch
Carol Guess
Calyx Books, 1998
"Everyone in Cartwheel has a silent desire burning in his or her heart. Their stories twist around Caddie, a waitress and the M&H
Diner. Sometimes she hears a whisper of someone's secret story˜ Caddie is a person who pays attention. But she is also
absorbed by her own hidden life: Caddie's lover is a woman passing as a man. Caddie and Jo look like any other Cartwheel
couple, and Caddie has learned not to stumble with pronouns in front of the other waitresses. But she longs to tell someone
about Jo; she longs for other women like herself."
Those Who Trespass
Bill O'Reilly
Bancroft Press, 1998
"One by one, high-level executives and correspondents are being murdered in the brutally competitive world of TV journalism.
Soon it becomes clear that the killings are linked, the work of a bitter former newsman exacting revenge on those who derailed
his career. First to be suspected is Shannon Michaels, a once-promising correspondent whose hopes for a TV new career were
dashed when he violated the rules of the game. Also under investigation is jaded, hard-drinking David Wayne, another journalist
whose career has been destroyed by the personal betrayals and corporate machinations of the TV news world. Tommy O'Malley,
a tough but warm-hearted New York City detective, is assigned to crack the widening, high-profile murder cases, but encounters
competition from a beautiful and tenacious tabloid reporter, Ashley Van Buren. As the story unfolds, Tommy and Ashley quickly
discover they've got more in common than a knack for crime-solving!"
Judy Garland, Ginger Love
Nicole Cooley
Harper Collins, 1998
"Devastated by the death of her baby while it is still in the womb, Alice has emotionally distanced herself from her husband,
Owen, and from her work as an artist. When her estranged, unstable twin sister, Madeline, calls out of the blue with the uncanny
foreknowledge that something is wrong, Alice is drawn back to this one person to whom she is inextricably bound. Though wary
of Madeline's hold on her, Alice is vulnerable after the loss of her stillborn daughter, and in need of answers to the puzzle that has
been her life...Alice quickly realizes that Madeline is set on a psychological collision course that has long been in the offing. Still
trapped in a childish world of make-believe, Madeline seems destined to repeat the calamitous delusions of her mother...Alice,
caught between her desire to rescue Madeline and the knowledge that she must save herself from a similar fate, desperately
sifts through the shared debris of long-discarded truths to find the antidote for this legacy of misplaced, illusory hope. It is, she
discovers, her only chance of moving beyond the shattering pain her child's death has caused."
Staying Under
Carol Alma McPhee
Papier-Mache, 1998
"Maureen and Joann were best friends growing up together in a small California town where attitude and custom isolated them
from social, political, aand biological realities. When Joann˜ a gifted, almost visionary child who fantasized herself as a risk-taker˜
became pregnant, Maureen offered to help. Unsophisticated and sheltered, they took to train to San Francisco seeking an illegal
abortion. Afterward Joann unaccountably refused to continue their friendship. The episode has survived in Maureen's memory as
a puzzling feleing of guilt, a recurrent desire to probe for what she might havce done to betray or offend her best friend. Joann, still
living in the same small town, finds herself paralyzed by the network of social lies she has constructed in order to survive. Now,
forty-five years later, Maureen˜ generous, responsible, and competent˜ decides impulsively to look up her old friend, hoping for an
answer to the puzzle: why had their friendship failed after the crisis?"
Inheritance
Kieth Baker
Morrow, 1998
"The year is 2017, and the political turmoil in Northern Ireland has been peacefully resolved. Or has it? When retired policeman
Bob McCallan is suddenly killed in a gas explosion, his son Jack, living in London, returns home to Northern Ireland to learn that
he has inherited a small, and unexpected fortunne from his father. What Jack also learns is that he has inherited the keys to a
past that many would rather forget. Probing his father's life and death, Jack discovers that law aand order are not, and never were,
what they seem. He discovers that shortly before his father's death his father, hardly a devout Christian, began to confide in the
local priest and was clearly troubled by an act of terrorism that had occurred years before. Jack also learns of a mysterious tranfer
of funds to the bannk account of a woman he believes may have been married to one of his father's colleagues. The more that
Jack uncovers, the less he seems to know, and the wider˜ and higher˜ the circle of conspiracy goes. As the violence around him
begins, eerily, to resemble the terrorism that plagued Ireland twenty years earlier, Jack wonders if peace was ever really part of
the politcal plans."
The Great War: American Front
Harry Turtledove
Del Rey, 1998
"When the Great War engulfs Europe in 1914, the United States and the Confederate States of America˜ bitter eneemies for five
decades˜ enter the fray on opposite sides,. The United States aligns with Germany, while the Confederacy joins forces with their
allies, Britain and France. I8t soon becomes clear to both sides that this fight will be different˜ that war itself will never be the
same again."
SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY
For The Time Being (galley copy)
Marie DesJardin
Write Way, February, 1998
"..chronicles the adventures of the ŒPubbers' (ten graduate-level MENSA-gifted misfits) who set out one night to explore a set of
steam tunnels beneath their school, end up being captured by aliens, and transported by space ship to another planet. Hoping to
return home, the group secretly begins to build a time machine. Their scheme is discovered and the Pubbers learn that that's why
they were kidnaped in the first place: They'd already promised the aliens in the past that they'd build a time machine to save their
race from extinction 5,000 years ago! Unraveling what they'd done in the past, figuring out what they'd planned for the future, and
getting home in an alien space ship, while eluding two warring alien races, sends this quirky sci-fi into high gear, action and fun!"
The Last of the Dream People
Alice Anne Parker
HJ Kramer, 1997
"On a bombing mission in the Pacific theater during World War II, Captain Kilty Sterwart is shot down. Seriously injured, he is the
only survivor of the crew of Paper Doll. Unable to move and temporarily blind, he discovers that his rescuers are a native people
known as the S'norra, a legendary tribe, who greet his arrival as the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy. Pursued by their enemies,
Kilty and his benefactors narrowly escape to the mountain sanctuary of the S'norra. But is he really the mysterious "messenger"
they have been anticipating? And can he save them and their unique knowledge from the encroaching Japanese army? At once a
hauntingly erotic love story and a gripping tale of adventure, the last of the Dream People explores the mysterious realms
between waking and dreaming, life and death."
Kirinyaga
Mike Resnick
Del Rey, 1998
"In the first half of the twenty-second century on the terraformed planetoid of Kirinyaga, Koriba-- an educated black man from
Kenya--founds a utopian society. Modeled on the native Kikuyu society as it was before European colonization, it is a primitive
colony where existence is harsh. As the founder and self-appointed witch doctor, Koriba alone governs the lives of the colonists,
enforcing his magical decrees through secret computers. He alone communicates off-world to the rest of humanity. And when his
carefully wrought utopia begins to unravel, he alone confronts his challengers, both on Earth and among his followers..."
Mind Matters: exploring the world of artificial intelligence
James P. Hogan
Del Rey, 1998
"Written clearly enough for less-than-technical people, ŒMind Matters' shows us the relationship between the technologies that
enabled a sophisticated mechanical device to roll across the surface of Mars and the Œsimpler' technology that allows us to do
our taxes using a hand-held calculator. ŒMind Matters' also offers a historical overview of how we think about thought. From the
earliest philosophers to the medieval Scholastics, through to renaissance mathematicians, and current computer science,
Hogan show his readers that the basis of Artificial Intelligence has been with us for a very long time, and he illustrates that since
antiquity, the technology of thought has been driven by economic necessity."
The Whispers
Dan Parkinson
Del Rey, 1998
"It is a fateful day when Lucas Hawthorn awakes in his own home to find Edwin Limmer standing before him. Lucas first met old
man Limmer back in 1952. Only now Limmer is much younger-- and the idea that someone can actually age backward in time is
almost too much for Lucas and his wife, Maude, to handle. But Limmer is here to turn the Hawthorns' Kansas home into a time-
travel depot for the Whispers, mysterious beings from the future. The Whispers' mission? To find the beginning of time..."
Lucifer's Hammer
by Larry Niven and Jery Pournelle
Del Rey, 1998
"Monumental devastation will sweep across the globe if the newly discovered Hamner-Brown comet collides with the one major
obstacle in its path: Earth. For millionaire Tim Hamner, the comet is a ticket to immortality. For film maker Harvey Randall, it's a
shot at redeeming a flagging career. And for astronauts John Baker and Rick Delanty, it's a second chance for glory in outer
space. But for a world gripped by comet fever, fascination quickly turns to fear. And only those who survuve the impact will know
the even greater terror, when rich and poor, politicians and killers, turn to each other or against each other--and the remmnants of
humanity grow savage to battle for what little remains..."
ANTHOLOGIES
Generation to Generation
Sandra Martz and Shirley Coe
Papier-Mache, 1998
"...a marvelous collection about special relationships between people of different generations. Whether family, friends, or brief
acquaintances, we have all been enriched by our friendships with people older and younger than ourselves. Supporting a great
aunt's desire to continue living independently, sharing a love of gardening with a neighbor child, and claiming on's right to
grandparent are just a few of thee richly textured stories in this heart-warming collection focusing on intergenerational
relationships."
MEMOIRS
Dreamtime
Alice Mandy Sayer
Ballantine, 1998
In this vivid, seductive, powerfully written book, Mandy Sayer recounts the fascinating years she spent performing on the streets of
New York and New Orleans with her father. Gerry Sayer was a jazz drummer, a beguiling Irish charmer with a million stories and
an insatiable love for jam sessions and all-night parties. Mandy grew up captivated by his outrageous tales even after he left the
family for good and her mother descended into the distance of drink. When her siblings failed him by rejecting the bohemian
performing life, Mandy saw her chance to become a character in his stories, part of the only life he really loved. So she learned to
tap dance, and they set off together to satisfy their grand ambitions on the toughest stage in the world--New York.
Orphan Girl: The Memoir of a Chicago Bag Lady
by Marie James as told to Jane Hertenstein
Cornerstone Press of Chicago, 1998
"Hertenstein makes little attempt to find typologies or propose solutions; she simply allows a woman named Marie James to tell
her resonant story
POETRY
Ceremonies of the Damned
Adrian C. Lewis
University of Nevada Press, 1998
"Adrian Louis channels the energy of anger into poetry with as much incendiary power as any poet writing in this country today.
But he is also a poet of extraordinary compassion, whether for the Œendless army of brokenn Skins' on the reservation or for his
wife in her tragic struggle with Alzheimer's disease. Ultimately, he is a poet of hope in the midst of despair, a poet of honest
prayer who can see ŒWild Indian ghost cars' and ask if love is still possible."
ESSAYS
About This Life: Journeys on the Threshold of Memory
by Barry Lopez
Knopf, 1998
"A literal and figurative journey across the terrain of autobiography, assembling essays of great wisdom and insight. Here is far-
flung travel (the beauty of remote Hokkaido Island, the over- explored Galapagos, enigmatic Bonaire); a naturalist's contention
(Why does our society inevitably strip political power from people with intimate knowledge of the land--small-scale farmers,
Native Americans, Eskimos, cowboys?); and pure adventure ( a dizzying series of around-the-world journeys with air freight--
everything from penguins to pianos). And here, too, are seven exquisite memory pieces--hauntingly lyrical yet unsentimental
reecollections that represent Lopez's most personal work to date, and which will be read as classics of the personal essay for
years to come
SELF-HELP
Exploring Forgiveness
Robert D. Enright and Joanna
North University of Wisconsin Press, April 12, 1998
"In never before published essays, 13 experts on forgiveness from the fields of psychology, law, politics, theology and philosophy
reveal the power fogiveness has to change our lives.'
SOCIAL ISSUES
Reinventing the Continent: Writing and Politics in South Africa
Andre Brink
Zoland Books, 1998
"A chronicle of an extraordinary period of social change in South Africa..These essays give an intimate view and a personal
interpretation of the way in which literature functions in a virtual state of siege, and the challenges thrown up by a shift towards
democracy, when suddenly the clearly visible old enemies fall away. Exploring what South Africa has in common with other
recently liberated societies in Central Europe and elsewhere, they also focus specifically on forces that gave change in South
Africa its particular flavor: the national identity of the Afrikaner people who for so long shaped the destinies of the country, the
peculiar brand of racism that characterized apartheid, the nature of African "ubuntu" (generosity, sharing, humanity) which largely
prevented a bloodbath in South Africa."
Conglomerates and the Media
Erik Barnouw, et al.
The New Press, 1998
"To what extent have the media compromised itself to protect and enhance conglomerate interest? Have media moguls, such as
Time Warner, Disney, and Westinghouse, limited our judgements? Have they come to regulate our tastes, pleasures, and
politics? Who is controlling the increasingly passive public, now intellectually dulled and primed for manipulation? In nine newly
commissioned essays, leading media insiders and critics take probing looks at the dramatic changes of recent years...examine
the decline of journalistic integrity and the reasons behind it, the dumbing down of the publishing industry, the transformation of
Hollywood and the dramatic return of the studio system." SHORT STORIES
Ocean of Words
Ha Jin
Vintage, 1998
"Ha Jin's collection of stories portrays army life in China with subtlety, grace, and infinite complexity. With his fine attention to the
manners of his time, and evident technical mastery, he has created out of perverse reality, pure art. The best of these tales wreak
pleasure from pain and resound with an irony that distances us not from the characters but from the harshness of their world."
BIOGRAPHIES
Titan
Ron Chernov
Random House, 1998
"ŒTitan' is the first full-length biography of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. to make use of recently opened Rockefeller papers, including
countless letter, business correspondences, journals, office ledgers and other documents that have never been published.
Perhaps the most remarkable resource is a 1,700-page transcript of reminiscences Rockefeller recorded for an authorized
biography that was ultimately never written."
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