Writers

“Writers don't write from experience, although many are 

hesitant to admit that they don't. ...If you wrote from

 experience, you'd get maybe one book, maybe three poems. 

Writers write from empathy.”

Nikki Giovanni.

Attica Locke's Bluebird, Bluebird

Set in East Texas, this murder mystery looks at crime through the eyes of Texas Ranger, Darren Matthews. Darren's 9/11, as he calls it, was the murder of an innocent black man in Jasper, TX.  Sadly,  his favorite Uncle has been killed in an unrelated incident. 

Both incidents compel Darren to forsake law school for law enforcement.  Deciding to continue his Uncle's line of work, Darren works hard to become a Texas Ranger.

The more he succeeds, however, the more his marriage deteriorates. Even with his marriage in shambles, Darren cannot help investigating a pair of murders in Lark, TX. Both bodies--that of an African American man and a white woman--were found in the bayou behind Geneva's cafe.

One of his obstacles is the local sheriff who wants to limit the Ranger's role as much as possible. Darren suspects the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas may be involved but the local sheriff wants to pretend they don't exist in his county.

Lark has its share of family secrets; even Geneva Sweet, owner of Geneva's cafe harbors her own.

Darren needs to find a way to investigate both murders without upsetting the locals, the deceased's ex-wife, and Geneva, whom he comes to respect.

This tightly plotted thriller entertains as well as explores race relations in a small town in Texas.

My Real Children by Jo Walton

This is the startling story of a woman who remembers two different versions of her life. 

Pat's life takes two completely different trajectories. 

In one version she has four children. She chooses the safe but disparaging partner, Mark.

In another version of her life, where she is known as Trisha, she rejects Mark and chooses an unconventional lifestyle. She falls in love with a woman, writes guidebooks to Italy, and has children with a friend.

"Character is destiny," postulated Heraclitus. In this novel, however,  one choice changes not only a woman's life but alters world history and politics as well. 

My Real Children is an intriguing thought exercise but not really satisfying. Some of the turns of events in both realities are heartbreaking.

 
 

Whale Road Review, Summer Issue, 2018

My favorite poems are poems that teach e.g. "On the Occassion of Eating Bird's Nest Soup With Trung and Kim" by Rachel Barton.

The poem explores the notion of how everything is connected through a food chain. A woman eats bird's nest soup, a delicacy in China, and contemplates how everything is connected as the swifters rise into view.

The soup, she admits, is flavorless. She marvels that even the spit of the swifters, which the birds use to construct their nests, is a "jewel."

Another instructive nature poem, "Whale Fall Deadsong Heavenly Blues #17," by Christopher Todd Anderson compares a whale carcass to a cathedral. 

...Boneworms
humble themselves in the chapel of her heart,

decapods haunt her lungs’ cloisters. 

Later, its clear that the carcass is not a church but a universe. However, both are impressive and big so really a church and a universe are interchangeable:

...Creatures

born here, in the interstices of bone and blubber,

think this is the whole universe: cell-rot sky

and jaw-cave homeland, a history founded on decay

See the Summer issue of Whale Road Review,

www.whaleroadreview.com

Book Review: Mister Tender's Girl

Quite possibly there's no worst feeling than be watched, scrutinized or stalked. Mr. Tender's Girl captures the nightmare of being observed by a group of online "fans." 

At fourteen, Alice Hill is a victim of a horrible crime. Her father's creation, Mr. Tender, the devious hero of the eponymous graphic novel, has inspired two of her friends to stab her. 

To escape the media and the sensationalism of the crime, Alice, who is British, changes her name and goes to America. 

She thinks this is enough to protect her anonymity until a strange package arrives--the last book in the Mr. Tender series.

Her father, who died in London, never finished the Mr. Tender series. In fact, he never penned another drawing after the vicious attack on his daughter occurred. So, where did the package, postmarked from England, come from? 

The graphic novel is mostly blank but a few frames depicted her apartment in Manchester, MA convince Alice someone is watching her. 

She discovers that she is the "star" of an underground online community that have been discussing her case for years. They have been collecting and posting photographs of her, her house, her coffee shop.
But that's not all. Alice is also being stalked by an associate of an ex-boyfriend who tries to extort money from her. The associate comes to the coffee shop demanding cash or he will implicate Alice in her ex's crimes.

This is a taut, psychological thriller that was inspired by two true life events--the Slenderman stabbings and the Theo Van Gogh killing in Amsterdam.

What I liked best about this novel was the character development of Alice. Though she is a victim and isolated in the beginning, she emerges as a self-aware protagonist who is in charge of her own life.

Coding club?

We aren't anywhere near Christmas but here's a simple tutorial to make a Christmas tree using CSS.

http://www.cssviking.com/css-christmas-tree#comment-2483

Cssviking.com originally posted this in 2012 but it would make a good exercise for coding clubs.

.ctree {
    background-color: #FFFFFF;
    border: 1px solid black;
    margin: 15px;
    height: 350px;
    position: relative;
}
.ctree .trunk {
    border-color: brown transparent;
    border-style: solid;
    border-width: 0 14px 300px;
    bottom: 0;
    left: 50%;
    height: 0px;
    position: absolute;
    width: 0;
}
.ctree .branches {
    border-bottom-left-radius: 50% 20px;
    border-bottom-right-radius: 50% 20px;
    border-color: green transparent;
    border-style: solid;
    border-width: 0 100px 120px;
    bottom: -270px;
    height: 0px;
    left: -100px;
    position: absolute;
    width: 0;
}
.ctree .branches.middle {
    border-bottom-left-radius: 50% 15px;
    border-bottom-right-radius: 50% 15px;
    border-width: 0 80px 100px;
    bottom: -176px;
    left: -80px;
}
.ctree .branches.top {
    border-bottom-left-radius: 50% 12px;
    border-bottom-right-radius: 50% 12px;
    border-width: 0 60px 80px;
    bottom: -100px;
    left: -60px;
}
.ctree .band {
    background-color: transparent;
    border-color: white;
    border-style: solid;
    border-width: 6px;
    border-radius: 103px;
    clip: rect(152px, 260px, 260px, 82px);
    margin-bottom: 15px;
    height: 200px;
    right: -50px;
    margin-left: -165px;
    position: absolute;
    bottom: -110px;
    width: 200px;
}
.ctree .middle .band {
    bottom: -92px; 
    clip: rect(162px, 260px, 260px, 95px);    
    right: -50px;
}
.ctree .top .band {
    bottom: -77px; 
    clip: rect(172px, 260px, 260px, 110px);    
    right: -50px;
}
.ctree .star {
    border-color: yellow transparent;
    border-style: solid;
    border-width: 0 30px 21px;
    -moz-border-end-style:dashed !important;
    display: block;
    height: 0px;
    left: -28px;
    position: absolute;
    top: -10px;
    -moz-transform: rotate(35deg);
    -ms-transform: rotate(35deg);
    -webkit-transform: rotate(35deg);
    transform: rotate(35deg);
    width: 0px;
}
.star:before {
    border-color: yellow transparent;
    border-style: solid;
    border-width: 0 9px 21px;
    -moz-border-end-style:dashed !important;
    content: '';
    display: block;
    height: 0;
    left: -22px;
    position: absolute;
    top: -14px;
    -moz-transform: rotate(-35deg);
    -ms-transform: rotate(-35deg);
    -webkit-transform: rotate(-35deg);
    transform:rotate(-35deg);
    width: 0;
}
.star:after {
    border-color: yellow transparent;
    border-style: solid;
    border-width: 0 30px 21px;
    -moz-border-end-style:dashed !important;
    content: '';
    display: block;
    height: 0px;
    left: -34px;
    position: absolute;
    top: 3px;
    -moz-transform: rotate(-70deg);
    -ms-transform: rotate(-70deg);
    -webkit-transform: rotate(-70deg);
    transform: rotate(-70deg);
    width: 0px;
}