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
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