Badlands Canyons

Speech after long silence,
It is right,
Just as right,
as lightning hitting dead air,
or an army of wildflowers--
Scorpionweed and beeplant,
creeping into position,
like soldiers,
in cracked and bald canyons.

Pictures courtesy of,
http://www.atlasobscura.com/

A Candle

A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.

James Keller

Dorothy Johnson's The Hanging Tree

The Hanging Tree is an impressive novelette; the prose is spare and economical yet Johnson stuns with incisive psychological portraits that are both convincing and surprising.

Joe Frail is an ace gunman who has lost the ability to shoot when it counts. He shot a man once and afterwards his widow placed a curse on him that incapacitates his shooting arm. So, in a way, Joe is just bluffing when he stares everyone down. Johnson writes that Joe challenges everyone a look that warns most men away seems to ask, "Do you amount to anything?"

The boy Rune, who is indebted to him, alternately admires and despises him. Rune wants his reputation and gun skills but he hates him for making him a "slave" or his indentured servant.

He begins to rebel after he becomes the lost lady's friend. 
"He straightened up and blurted out a question: 'How much time do I still owe you?"

Doc's position is slipping, "Time? That old nonsense. You don't owe me anything. I just wanted to cut you down to size."

Rune rejoins with, "Maybe somebody will cut you down to size some time."
  Then, there's an elaborate "joke" that Frenchy plays on Doc, something that would not have happened when Doc's reputation was intact.

Everything changes the minute someone's fortune changes: "At the end of single week, the fragility of the Skull Creek gold camp was plain. The town was collapsing, moving to the new strike..."

In a stunning reversal near the end, Rune overshadows his master.

Doc always expected to hang because of the curse that was put upon him. He does not die (only his reputation does) and that allows something new and completely different to happen.


















Dorothy Johnson's  amazing Western novelette was made into a movie in 1959 with Gary Cooper and Maria Schell.



More information:

http://newsok.com/gary-coopers-daughter-revisits-the-hanging-tree/article/3812772

Among Others by Jo Walton

Hugo-award winning, Among Others, will have you believing in magic and in the power of books, libraries, and friendship.

Mor, who loves science fiction, is sent to England where she will meet the father that abandoned her years before. He and his sisters have decided to send her to a posh boarding school, a situation Mor dreads. Morwenna is used to living in Wales with her Grampar, her twin sister, and the beings she calls fairies that inhabit desolate spaces like empty mines and  abandoned factories. 

While at school she is lonely she creates a karass, a term Walton borrows from Kurt Vonnegut. According to Mor, magic is a bit different from how its represented in stories but the karass seems to work. Using two apples she works a magic spell that helps her find a like-minded group to which she can belong.

At a library, Mor joins a science fiction club and meets Wim who changes her life. Meeting Wim makes her stronger. Though her leg is not healed, she is able to confront her mother and deal with the loss of her twin sister.

Learning by Luis Borges

Learning

After some time, you learn the subtle difference between
holding a hand
and imprisoning a soul;
You learn that love does not equal sex,
and that company does not equal security,
and you start to learn….
That kisses are not contracts and gifts are not promises,
 and you start to accept defeat with the head up high
and open eyes,
and you learn to build all roads on today,
because the terrain of tomorrow is too insecure for plans…
and the future has its own way of falling apart in half.

And you learn that if it’s too much
even the warmth of the sun can burn.

So you plant your own garden and embellish your own soul,
instead of waiting for someone to bring flowers to you.

And you learn that you can actually bear hardship,
that you are actually strong,
and you are actually worthy,
and you learn and learn…and so every day.

Over time you learn that being with someone
because they offer you a good future,
means that sooner or later you’ll want to return to your past.

Over time you comprehend that only who is capable
of loving you with your flaws, with no intention of changing you
can bring you all happiness.

Over time you learn that if you are with a person
only to accompany your own solitude,
irremediably you’ll end up wishing not to see them again.

Over time you learn that real friends are few
and who does not fight for them, sooner or later,
will find himself surrounded only with false friendships.

Over time you learn that words spoken in moments of anger
continue hurting throughout a lifetime.

Over time you learn that anyone can apologize,
but forgiveness is an attribute solely of great souls.

Over time you comprehend that if you have hurt a friend harshly
it is very likely that your friendship will never be the same.

Over time you realize that despite being happy with your friends,
you cry for those you let go.

Over time you realize that every experience lived,
with each person, is unrepeatable.

Over time you realize that whoever humiliates
or scorns another human being, sooner or later
will suffer the same humiliations or scorn in tenfold.

Over time you learn to build your roads on today,
because the path of tomorrow doesn’t exist.

Over time you comprehend that rushing things or forcing them to happen
causes the finale to be different form expected.

Over time you realize that in fact the best was not the future,
but the moment you were living just that instant.

Over time you will see that even when you are happy with those around you,
you’ll yearn for those who walked away.

Over time you will learn to forgive or ask for forgiveness,
say you love, say you miss, say you need,
say you want to be friends, since before
a grave, it will no longer make sense.

But unfortunately, only over time…”

Wreckers

Wreckers is a strangely unsatisfying movie. A young married couple, who are in the midst of repairing a dilapidated house, 
begin experiencing problems after the arrival of the husband's brother.

The past encroaches upon their happy world, leaving Dawn to realize she doesn't know her husband at all.  But if David (Benedict Cumberbatch) is dishonest with his wife, so is Dawn. The wife(Claire Foy) is unfaithful to David with a man who, like everyone else, is not what he seems.

Wreckers is an intriguing but somewhat flawed film. The movie ends but conflicts are not resolved, just avoided. David refuses to asks about the paternity of the child his wife bears. He hints, though, that he suspects something.

The conflict between the two brothers isn't resolved either. Nick goes AWOL. David finally admits that there is something wrong psychologically with Nick but the he two brothers never reconcile.

We're given a semi-happy ending; David and Dawn are together sans Nick with a new baby, but it feels like a shortcut.

Performances by the actors are superb and the film is beautifully shot. The screenplay itself, however, is not fully realized.

The Husband's Secret

Hamlet. Frankenstein. Moby Dick. These are all classic revenge stories that end in tragedy. Where do we look for a contemporary twist on the revenge tale? For starters, there's Liane Moriarty's The Husband's Secret. 

In her novel, revenge is like a snake hidden in a beautiful garden. Underneath the novel's frothy, humorous exterior are terrible secrets waiting to be unearthed.

We see the world through the eyes of three women--Tess, Cecilia, and Rachel. Tess an advertising account executive hides her 
secret--social anxiety--fairly well. She has even fooled herself. Her witty but fat cousin, Felicity, helps her with  any and all insecurities until --oops-- she wants what belongs exclusively to Tess.

Cecilia is a Tupperware queen who practically runs the Catholic school her children attend. She is the envied, perfectly-organized Mom until she finds a letter that unhinges her well-ordered life. The letter to be opened, it says, upon her husband's death, reveals a terrible secret that will shatter the lives of the three women.

The shattered rose on the cover is a fitting image.

Rachel who dislikes her daughter-in-law is probably the character who suffers most in the novel. In one terrible moment, Rachel seeks vengeance upon the man whom she believes has murdered her daughter. Tragedy ensues yet truth--the secret and its repercussions--is finally revealed.

Complicated, yet entertaining, funny and thrilling, The Husband's Secret will delight all kinds of readers. 

G.K. Chesterton

"Fairy tales are true, not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten." 

G.K. Chesterton

Litany by Billy Collins

One of the best poems ever...by one of the best poets

You are the bread and the knife,

The crystal goblet and the wine...

-Jacques Crickillon

You are the bread and the knife,
the crystal goblet and the wine.
You are the dew on the morning grass
and the burning wheel of the sun.
You are the white apron of the baker,
and the marsh birds suddenly in flight.

However, you are not the wind in the orchard,
the plums on the counter,
or the house of cards.
And you are certainly not the pine-scented air.
There is just no way that you are the pine-scented air.

It is possible that you are the fish under the bridge,
maybe even the pigeon on the general's head,
but you are not even close
to being the field of cornflowers at dusk.

And a quick look in the mirror will show
that you are neither the boots in the corner
nor the boat asleep in its boathouse.

It might interest you to know,
speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world,
that I am the sound of rain on the roof.

I also happen to be the shooting star,
the evening paper blowing down an alley
and the basket of chestnuts on the kitchen table.

I am also the moon in the trees
and the blind woman's tea cup.
But don't worry, I'm not the bread and the knife.
You are still the bread and the knife.
You will always be the bread and the knife,
not to mention the crystal goblet and--somehow--the wine. 

Billy Collins

Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers

If you haven't had a chance to read Yellow Birds yet, this is one to put on the top of your reading list. The story features two raw recruits--Murph and Bart who her deployed to Al Tafar, Iraq.

Both are from the "sticks," as they call it, and both are searching for meaning and adventure, wrongly thinking they can find that by enlisting.

They fall under the spell of Sargent Sterling, a hero of the first Gulf War. Sterling is a warrior so perfect that commanders want to put him on recruitment posters.  Bart soon discovers Sterling's darker side.

Bart's world start crashing the minute he promises Murph's mother he will look after Murph who is only 18. Sterling immediately tells him the bitter truth: "People are going to die...It's statistics."

Throughout the novel, individuals do not want to be responsible for anyone else. Even though Sterling says these are "his" men--he trains and prepares them for battle--he does not want to be responsible for their psychological state.

After Murph goes AWOL, Sterling and Bart take matters in their own hands. Both become entangled by a futile and morally dubious attempt to "fix" the situation.

The Yellow Birds will soon be a movie. 

I Think Continuously of Those Who Were Truly Great

I think continually of those who were truly great.
Who, from the womb, remembered the soul's history
Through corridors of light where the hours are suns
Endless and singing. Whose lovely ambition
Was that their lips, still touched with fire,
Should tell of the Spirit clothed from head to foot in song.
And who hoarded from the Spring branches
The desires falling across their bodies like blossoms.

What is precious is never to forget
The essential delight of the blood drawn from ageless springs
Breaking through rocks in worlds before our earth.
Never to deny its pleasure in the morning simple light
Nor its grave evening demand for love.
Never to allow gradually the traffic to smother
With noise and fog the flowering of the spirit.

Near the snow, near the sun, in the highest fields
See how these names are feted by the waving grass
And by the streamers of white cloud
And whispers of wind in the listening sky.
The names of those who in their lives fought for life
Who wore at their hearts the fire's centre.
Born of the sun they travelled a short while towards the sun,
And left the vivid air signed with their honour. 

Stephen Spender

I Carry Your Heart by E.E. Cummings

This beautiful poem will become a children's picture book.

E. E. CUMMINGS

i carry your heart with me
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go, my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
                                                        i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Where you used to be, there is a hole in the
world, which I find myself constantly walking
around in the daytime, and falling in at night.

The Kept by James Scott

The Kept is not a typical novel yet it kept me transfixed. Elspeth is a midwife who has stolen her children and they, in turn, were taken from her in a horrific act of violence. Her husband, Jorah, stays by her because he promised to stand by her no matter what even though he is troubled by what his wife does. 

Caleb moves to the barn after his father commits an inconceivable act. He alienates himself from his family and becomes more animal-like. When three strangers murder his family, though, he and his mother form a pact. The commit themselves to finding these men and seeking revenge. Much like a Western, the heroes of The Kept try to live honorable lives in a fallen world. 

Other books with similar themes: The Thicket by Joe Landsdale.
Non-fiction books with similar themes The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend by Glenn Frankel and Captured by Scott Zesch.
 

Lost Girls of Rome--Part 2

Lost Girls of Rome is a complicated mystery with several subplots and several story arcs. Even though both Marcus and Sandra Vega are both trying to solve the disappearance of Lara, they are each separately conducting additional investigations. 

A serial killer has been targeting Roman women. A rogue within a rogue organization has betrayed the Penitenzieri by giving victims access to the Penitenzieri files. Victims are beginning to exact vigilante justice.  A strange killer, a transformist, steals the identity of victims before killing again. An Interpol agent who has been helping Sandra may not be who he claims to be.

The central mystery, and the most intriguing one, is who is Marcus. Since Marcus has amnesia, he cannot remember his faith or what happened in a Prague hotel room while on assignment.

Carrisi has created an intriguing set of interlocking mysteries that will keep readers guessing. Though there are several time shifts, and though the plot is complicated, everything is resolved at a satisfying break-neck speed. Carrisi's novel is not to be missed. 

continued from Lost Girls of Rome--Part 1

The Small Hand by Susan Hill

On his way back from a client on the coast, Andrew Snow, a rare book dealer, cuts through the Downs and has an odd experience. After leaving the main road, he gets lost and finds himself inexplicably stopping at a dilapidated mansion. On The White House grounds, he feels the presence of a small hand gripping his own but yet there's no visible child. Is this a ghost or is he going mad like his brother, Hugo? Why do the gardens and pool fascinate him? Why does it all seem so achingly familiar?

Susan Hill (The Woman in Black) does a masterful job of creating tension and suspense in the marvelous ghost story. Hill is particularly good and creating psychological portraits that ring true. Infused with the supernatural, this novelette also revels how skillfully we deceive ourselves as adults. Grown-ups falsely believe their past is past--that their childhood fears and offenses are long buried. 

Review of Lost Girls of Rome by Donato Carrisi

Don't miss Donato Carrisi's novel, Lost Girls of Rome.

 Forensic photographer Sandra Vega is still coping with her husband's accidental death. There’s something real and recognizable in Sandra’s grief. Sometimes she forgets he is dead and says, ‘I have to tell David.’

David's bags are in the storeroom at Headquarters. Vega found them too painful to look at. After she gets a call from an Interpol agent, however, she becomes alarmed.



Martyrdom of St Matthew Source: Wikipedia

Searching through his bags, at last, she finds his diary, a two-way radio, and photographs on his favorite camera, a Leica. The camera has photographs of the construction site (where David died) a detail from a Caravaggio painting, and a picture of a man with a scar on his temple. 

Vega finds more items at the construction site, including a recording device, which convinces her that her beloved David was murdered.

Did the man with the scar murder her husband?

The scar is the result of a gunshot wound to the head and it has left the mysterious man, Marcus, with amnesia. Clemente, head of a secret investigative unit, wants him to solve a case, the disappearance of architecture student Lara.  (continued)

Scribophile

www.scribophile.com
I'm excited about this writing website.

Some Kind of Fairy tale by Graham Joyce

Two versions of the cover art from Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce

Joyce returns with another captivating fantasy. In Some Kind of Fairy Tale, a sixteen-year-old girl, Tara, creates havoc when she goes missing. Many suspect the teen-anger's boyfriend, Ritchie, including Tara's brother, Peter. 

She and her boyfriend, Ritchie, have just fought after taking a walk in the Outwoods near Leicestershire. She runs off and he leave her there which is why many suspect him.

Tara returns twenty years later at Christmas time. She is ostensibly unharmed but relates a wild tale about being kidnapped by fairies.

 Tara knows however that the beings are must more dangerous than storybook fairies. She believes one of them, Hiero, has even followed her from that other world.

Though no one believes her story about the bluebells, the crossing, and the other realm, she clings to this belief. Her psychiatrist and family members believe Tara has suffered trauma or else is an imposter. The only one who does believe her is the "mad" old lady whom everyone believe is a witch.

Joyce wonderfully mixes the plausible and the implausible in this fantasy. The theories presented by Vivian (Tara's psychiatrist) seem completely reasonable. One problem. Though Tara has been missing for twenty years, she has not aged a day. 

Some of the scenes are empowering. In a wonderful scene, Tara gets the upper hand over her psychiatrist who has been patronizing her. 

Though some threads of the plot are resolved nicely, the ending is problematic. As a reader, I was hoping Tara would become a true heroine instead of self-sacrificing one.  

Thank You For Your Service by David Finkel

David Finkel takes a dark topic, soldiers returning from duty with PSTD and other injuries, and turns it into something starkly beautiful. The book is filled with haunting stories.

For instance, James Doster makes a fateful decision. Doster gives Adam Schumann his chance to Skype his family because he feels Schumann needs the time more than he does.

Because he earned Doster's spot, Schumann misses a mission that blows up Doster's Humvee. Adam feels horribly guilty. He was the one, after all, who was best at spotting bombs.

Michael Emory, shot in the head, is paralyzed down the left the side. Adam rescued him by carrying him down a flight of stairs. Emory keeps his helmet and uses it as a Halloween candy bowl.

Then there's Tausolo Aietti who sees the soldier he didn't save every night in his nightmares.

Written in a frank, engaging style, Thank You For Your Service is incredibly moving.

Film rights were purchased by DreamWorks so its possible this will be a book-to-movie title soon.

Endless by Amanda Gray

Written by two authors who write under one pen name, this young adult novel will resonate with teens.

 Outsiders, Jenny and Ben, become unlikely friends when strange circumstances push them together. Jenny has always been able to feel and envision the past with her hands. She hides this condition behind gloves, but a Ouija board session forces her to confront her gift. Someone "out of time" is looking for her. Will she be able to protect her soul mate from the Order?

Endless was an enjoyable novel from start to finish. Readers will find the love triangle, and Ben, in particular, intriguing. Ben comes across as even more alluring than Jenny' out-of-time soul mate, Nikolai.

Brief Encounters With Che Guevara by Ben Fountain

In his astonishing short story collection, Fountain gives readers humorous, politically-aware stories. Several stories are set in Haiti where political tensions run high but others are set in South America and Asia.  

In "Asian Tiger," an American golf pro finds himself in over his head in Myanmar where he is hailed as hero. He's paid well to be an instructor, but, in exchange, he is expected to participate in illegal deals.

Inevitably, heroes face betrayal by those they trust the most. In "Near Extinct Birds of the Central Cordillera," an idealistic graduate student is kidnapped by revolutionaries.

He feels betrayed, however, by the Americans who airlift him out danger. Being rescued ensures the destruction of the near extinct parrot he is studying.

Like the hero in "Asian Tiger" and "Near Extinct Birds," most of Fountain's stories heroes find themselves facing absurd, self-serving bureaucrats.  

For instance, in "Bouki and the Cocaine," two brothers who try to do the right thing are targeted by unscrupulous officials. 

In Fountain's stories, criminality is normal while honorable actions (returning the cocaine, in this case) is crazy:

"I"m just looking for a little justice in this life."
"See what I mean?" said Alcide, rolling his eyes. "Totally nuts."

A UN observer in "Reve Haitien" finds himself drawn into the counter-movement's desire to free Haiti from an oppressive regime. The UN observer agrees to smuggle art work for the cause with unexpected results. 

The best story, "Into the Lion's Mouth," is about a jaded peace corp worker who nearly crosses over to the dark side--becoming a diamond smuggler's accomplice. That she can go from that to the courageous heroine in the end is testament to Fountain's writing abilities.

Into the Blood by Lisa Unger

Lisa Unger returns to The Hollows, a fictional town near New York City, for her latest thriller, In the Blood. Emotionally-fragile Lana Granger, a college student, narrates the story.

Since its first person and since she's emotionally scarred by a crime she witnessed, readers might expect the narrator to be largely unreliable. They would be right.

Lana has told so many lies to herself and others, she cannot even recognize the truth anymore.

A mentor suggests she take a job since her trust fund is drying up. A babysitting job pits Lana against a troubled eleven-year-old boy who seems to know a lot about the disappearance of Lana's friend, Beck.

Lana and Luke play a dangerous game, a scavenger hunt, that breaks Lana's façade and puts her and everything she holds dear in peril.

The novel moves a break-neck speed; it can be read as a stand-alone novel or as part of Unger's The Hollows series. In The Blood was an Indie Next pick.

The Winter People by Jennifer MacMahon

The Winter People opens with the makings of a wonderful ghost story: strange disappearances, missing diary pages, a rock formation in the shape of a hand, and a local legend about a woman that walks at night.

The novel loses some of its punch, however, by giving us too many different points of view. Sara/Martin is the most interesting thread, as they are closest to the main narrative events.

Having lost many children, Sara makes a Faustian bargain to bring back one of the dead. She uses her Aunt's instructions to bring her child back from the dead. Sleepers, however, can only walk the earth for seven days unless they spill blood.

Three contemporary stories muddy the waters, however, making the plot somewhat difficult to follow. A teenage girl and younger sister, the new inhabitants of the house, find strange objects (two driver's licenses and a gun) in Sara's house. These items lead them to a deranged woman who demands the return of missing diary pages--something they know nothing about. 

Next, a grieving woman becomes involved in the hunt for missing diary pages when she learns her deceased husband had also visited Sara and Martin's house. The four of them, the teenage girl, the little girl, the deranged woman and grieving woman decide to look for the "portal" in the Devil's hand.

MacMahon crafts beautiful prose and an intriguing scenario. While the novel is still enjoyable, a tighter plot would have made it even better. 

 *I received a free advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo

Katherine Boo, a Pulitzer prize winning journalist, shines a beacon of light on an otherwise ignored, under city slum in India. In this makeshift slum, the inhabitants' homes are always in danger of being razed to the ground by Mumbai officials.

Boo focuses upon Abdul Husain and his family, a Muslim family who barely scratch out a living. The family's business is garbage-picking. They have painstakingly risen a little in status and they are Muslim, which makes them vulnerable.

Jealous of them, a neighbor starts a fight that leads to disastrous consequences. In Boo's words it causes Abdul's life to implode. Despite the adverse living conditions, however, the slum dwellers do their best to enjoy themselves and lead good lives.

Boo has written about the cycle of poverty in U.S. cities but here she becomes philosophical. Boo searches for the "infrastructure of opportunity" in Annawadi and finds few opportunities.

One wonders, she argues, how anyone can be moral in these circumstances. In one of the most poignant analogies, Abdul realizes he can't be "ice" (hopeful and untarnished): "For some time I tried to keep the ice inside me from melting...But now I'm just becoming dirty water, like everyone else."
 
Behind the Beautiful Forevers, winner of the National Book Award, is both informative and heart-breaking. 

The Bat by Jo Nesbo

In Nesbo's first Harry Hole mystery, Hole, goes to New South Wales, Australia, to discover why a fellow Norwegian and gap-year student, Inger Holter, was murdered. 

The local police chief, Andrew Watkins, immediately tries to undermine Hole. Harry is told to take a vacation--enjoy the food and scenery--while the locals do the actual investigation. Naturally, Harry does the opposite, immersing himself in the case.

Readers are introduced to the flawed hero, Hole, who is a reformed drunk as well as many quirky characters. Andrew Kensington is an ex-hippie and ex-boxer while Otto Rechtnagel is a clown who discusses politics. 

Local detectives and Harry Hole, argue whether Holter's death is a random killing or the work of serial killer. 

Aboriginal myth pervade the story, including the "bat" of the title which is the aboriginal symbol of death.  In the aboriginal stories, the bat is called Narahdarn and plays an important part in their dreamtime myths.

Thoroughly enjoyable, The Bat has a fast-paced plot and a detective who makes intelligent observations and somewhat erratic decisions. I like the Norwegian title (Flaggermusmannen) better than the prosaic-sounding title in English (The Bat).

A BBC interview with Jo Nesbo below:
http://jonesbo.com/en/