On-the-tape

"The whole thing reads thusly...'He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names. Psalm 147:4.' It means that to God, you are as precious as every fixed star in the sky. He calls you by name, Marie." So explains the printer to Marie, the Ioway Indian woman whose journey towards hearing and grasping this simple truth provides the theme for this absorbing story.

EVERY FIXED STAR by Jane Kirkpatrick, the second book in a trilogy that began with A NAME OF HER OWN, is not merely the retelling of the migration west. Rather, it parallels the life of Marie Dorion to the struggles and adventures experienced by those brave pioneers who came in every size, shape, color and creed, with motives ranging from noble to nefarious. What a task for both the original protagonists and for the writer who accepts the challenge to write it down for us.

This phase of the journey begins after Marie has lost her husband and first-born daughter to the wilderness that the family had set out to conquer. She finds herself an outsider in encampment, where she alone is responsible to pay off her husband's debts and for the survival of herself and her two sons. There are no credit cards, no food stamps --- only a knife given to her by Sacagawea with which to gut and dress a fallen doe so that the children can eat during the difficult winter.

EVERY FIXED STAR offers enrichment on many levels. There are words of wisdom that are spoken by both Natives and Christians who try to help Marie on her journey. Her Chipewyan friend, Sarah, tells her, "Regret is the robe grief hands you. It promises warmth but gives only weight. It is woman's work to turn regret into something of worth."

There are the questions raised by Marie's unconditional love for her sons and her lack of skill to communicate that love, a lack of communication that leads the boys to have skewed perceptions of their mother --- and each one deals with his feelings in ways that wound her over and over.

And though there are the two strong, brave men who love Marie, accept her as she is and provide her support, still there is always the underlying theme, "You don't trust the good things that happen to you, eh?" She cannot see her worth; she does not understand her purpose and must struggle to accept even the smallest of gifts.

EVERY FIXED STAR will delight you with pictures of love, bravery, struggles and triumphs, all painted on a historically accurate canvas. Sit back and enjoy the many gifts that are given in this beautifully written book.

--- Reviewed by Maggie Harding

Jane Kirkpatrick's wonderful style of combining accurate historical facts with fiction in her novels is captivating! This book of the TENDER TIES series stands by itself, but invites the reader to anticipate getting "the rest of the story in a book to be published in 2004. This second book in the series continues the saga of Marie Dorion, the Ioway Indian woman who came West with the Astor expedition in 1811. This second book chronicles Marie's struggle after arriving in the Oregon Country as a widow with two small boys. She seeks to find meaning in her life through the pain of constant change. She searches for answers to complex questions of life, relationship to God, and the search for peace and comfort. The book shares the conflicts and questions she asks herself, as she seeks to fulfill her "metier" - the French word for "calling" in her experience. For the person who craves historical fact from this era, there is much to learn in this book about the settling of the Oregon Country. But for any woman who has ever had children, or who has walked through pain, separation from those she holds dear, trials and conflicts, there is comfort and encouragement in this tender, captivating tale. I highly recommend it as a "must read"!!

Every Fixed Star by Jane Kirkpatrick is an historical novel based upon the life of Marie Dorion, who was the first mother to cross the Rocky Mountains. Marie is haunted by a past filled with mistakes and she struggles with more than just the physical stresses and dangers of early pioneer life in the Northwest. Marie believes she is undeserving of a rich, good life -- until she makes a life-changing discovery. A technically flawless recording, Every Fixed Star is very ably narrated by Barbara Rosenblat. Highly recommended listening, Every Fixed Star is also available in a CD format.

It isn't very often that I get time to read fiction anymore, but when I read a good book I feel a certain responsibility to let people know about it. I'm James Drury, and I've played in plenty of Western shows myself. For those of you who don't know me I portrayed The Virginian on NBC television for many years. So I hope that qualifies me to leave a review on a Western book. Of course I could say the same thing about any Elmore Leonard book I've had the pleasure of reading, but the Bounty Hunters was great. It was short and to the point, but Leonard has this way of giving you such a great feel for the country and old West settings it just makes the book pleasant. He excels at making us see what he does in very few words. I have read all of the Western novels of Kirby Jonas on audio, and while I of course think he is my favorite author of Westerns, I have to say I have never read a bad Elmore Leonard book, and The Bounty Hunters is no exception. I don't know Leonard's history as far as how he does his research. I know Kirby Jonas lived in southeast Arizona when he was working on his first books, however, and it seems to me that Leonard has done a large amount of work in getting the facts about the Arizona and Mexico country down pat. I guess I've gotten into the habit of comparing every Western author not to Louis L'Amour but to Kirby Jonas, and although I would never put Leonard above Jonas I would sure say his books would "do to ride the river," with Jonas', so to speak. Give the Bounty Hunters a try. Right now I'm starting into Escape from Five Shadows, and it already holds great promise!

In general I do not read Elmore Leonard. So I approached this book w/some tepidation.Not to worry... 2 old friends wind up on opposite sides when a mining company wants to run some landowners off their property. Sure it's a standard western plot, but it comes alive in Leonard's capable hands. More details about the plot can be garnered from other reviews. The book has a feeling of great authenticity. The lead characters are both very well drawn ( you can see them in your mind & their actions are consistent w/their character.). The plot moves at a fast clip. I wish Leonard would return to Western writng. this book is availablle by itself, or in one of his Western Roundups.

I have gotten hooked on Leonard's earlier works. His sense of timing and character development are excellent.

He is a great story teller. His subject matter is always plausible. He takes average everyday people and makes them interesting characters.

This book and the one preceding it("The Moon's a Balloon") just might be my two favorite books, EVER. I practically insist every friend I make read them. Niven had a very unique life, and had a rare gift for story-telling that makes these books real treasures. They are laugh-out-loud, effortlessly funny stories that tell us of his entry into Hollywood (an unusual career path, it involved prohibition, fish and polo) as well as his checkered career in the military in England. I guarantee you'll read these two books over and over again. I just wish he'd written more of them!

This book is one of the best books about Hollywood I have ever read. Many books of this kind are written in a bitter, sometimes nasty voice as an attack on the people involved, but Niven does not stoop to that level. Not only do you get an excellent first-hand history of the golden studio days of filmmaking, but you get to see a more personal depiction of many of the stars of the era. His style is so charming, and dare I say "witty", that I couldn't help but laugh aloud at many of his observations. Finally, a book about Hollywood that doesn't leave a bad aftertaste!

Niven admits he never checked any IDs on that yacht of Flynn's either.

Hardcore mystery fans may find it a bit of a stretch, but if your taste runs to expertly written and very light fiction, you can't do better than Lillian Jackson Braun's "The Cat Who..." series. Her detective, reporter James Qwilleran, investigates crimes with the aid of his Siamese cats--and the solutions to the crime inevitably rest more upon intution than actual deduction. While the premise sounds farfetched, Braun's work is actually less fanciful than you might expect, and she presents her eccentric characters and stories with great charm.

THE CAT WHO MOVED A MOUNTAIN finds Qwill longing for a vacation from his beloved Moose County--and at the urging of friends he elects to spend a season in the Potato Mountains. But as usual, Qwill cannot leave well enough alone: once settled in his moutain-top retreat, he finds himself drawn into a battle between developers determined to turn the Potatos into upscale retreats for the wealthy and locals equally determined to hold them at bay... and the ever-astute Koko is behaving strangely. Could an old--and some believe still unsolved--murder be the cause?

Braun frequently references ecological concerns in her work, and like THE CAT THAT CAME TO BREAKFAST, this particular title gives her plenty of opportunity to slyly satirize greed and lousy land-management. THE CAT WHO MOVED A MOUNTAIN is a particularly charming entry in "The Cat Who..." series, and both old fans and newcomers should enjoy it tremendously.

I've read all the Cat Who books, and next to the Cat Who went Underground, this is the best. The book is full of humor..as incident after incident happens to Qwill when he goes on "vacation" from Pickaxe.

Jim Qwilleran, former crime reporter, has just inherited the vast Klingenschoen fortune. He had been required to live in Moose County for 5 years to satisfy the stipulations of the will and now he was ready for an adventure. Lately he had been having a strange yearning to see mountains so he loaded up his Siamese cats to set out for the Potato Mountains intending to spend the summer. Soon after his arrival Qwill found himself involved in local politics, an old murder and family scandals. After a series of adventures and mishaps Qwill and the cats reveal the true culprits and realize just where they really want to be.

For fans of this long running series the lack of Moose County action can be a bit frustrating but it is more than off set by the whole new community of the Potato Mountains. The scenes of Qwill traveling with cats is hilarious and all too familiar to anyone who has tried to travel with pets. As always with this series the depictions of small town life are totally realistic.
The bits of Moose County life we do get are significant and hint of action to come in later books.

This is one of the best of the series, it will appeal to any fan of the 'cozy' mystery genre not just to fans of this particular series.

Es uno de los mejores libros y una buena razón para leer los clasicos. Me recuerda a Don Quijote - y aún hace una referencia al libro - en que hay muchos temas que desarrollan en el cuento: lealdad, fe, venganza, honor y, principalmente, el libre albedrío.
No hay ninguna sorpresa en el final, aunque cómo se llega al fin es muy entretenido. Es muy interesante cómo Dumas teje los cuentos dispares de los crímenes en el papel del inocente Edmond Dantés. Y aunque Edmond adopta su papel del angel vengador, aprendemos que hay nuevos principios para todos que siguen las palabras: esperar y confiar. Hay varias lecciones para muchas personas de esta època.

Realmente este es uno de los mejores libros que he leído, lo considero uno de los mejores, sino es que el mejor que escribió Dumas junto con Los Tres Mosqueteros. Es una narración extraordinariamente detallada, hermosamente conjuntada y con un final totalmente sorpresivo. o creo que en esta novela, Dumas se proyecta como lo que el siempre quiso ser, un conocedor de la ciencia, un hombre infinitamente culto y sobre todo, controlador de sus emociones y calculadoramente frío. Es una lección sobre lo que es la moral de la vida, los valores y los sentimientos.

Este es uno de los mejores libros que he leido en mi vida... Todo en el es excelente.. Es realmente maravilloso como la forma de pensar de un hombre que se cree dichoso puede llegar hasta el fondo cuando se esta encerrado en un calabozo por tantos años y separado de lo que el considera su dicha. Edmundo conoce al Abate Faria y gracias a eso comienza a pensar diferente y cuando es libre la manera en que planea y logra llevar a cabo su venganza.. Esta historia no solo da una leccion de paciencia, sino que se puede ver de que la venganza no se realiza siempre como es planeada tal como podemos ver cuando Monte-Cristo trata de revivir al hijo de Villefort..

En resumen..... Excelente....

For the start of this book I was a bit worried I wouldn't finish it, as it felt in the beginning like a terribly earnest 'ladies' book; but I soon found out what a lovely book it is - I would call it charming if that wasn't so twee.

Four women - all strangers - spend a month sharing a house in Italy. Slowly but surely they slough off their old, grey skins and discover happiness. Much of this happiness comes simply from a change in their perceptions. Lotty, slightly fey, is the first to fall for the house's charms, and soon begins to act like the person she really is, rather than the quiet mousy woman her life has made her. When her husband comes to visit he realises what a wonder his wife is, and though his motives for visiting were less than pure, he falls back in love with the woman he first married. Rose, who constantly battles to square any enjoyment in life with her conscious, has the same effect when her husband accidentally arrives near the end of her holiday - he realises that his wife is still the woman he first married.

The other two women also have their epiphanies - old Mrs Fisher realises that living in the past, her only enjoyment being memories of the good and the great she met in her youth, is not as enjoyable as she thought; she lightens up and moves on to let happiness in to her life. And beautiful Scrap - Lady Caroline - realises how empty her life is. Slowly through the book we see her formulate a future life, and though she hasn't reached it by the novel's end, you feel she will.

This is a clever book - it makes you question how your perceptions flavour your life, and it also makes you question your perceptions of others. If only we all had a house in Italy to spend time reflecting on these issues.....

Much like the film this book by Elizabeth Von Arnim inspired, there is something peaceful here on these pages. This is a gentle novel about the gradual internal changes brought about by the beauty of our surroundings. It is a book that reads itself as much as it is read, the author writing with the flow of the characters thoughts and feelings as their hearts are changed by the suprise of beauty.

An ad to rent a castle in San Salvatore on the Italian Riviera will prompt two British women, Rose and Lottie, with only a passing acquaintance, to inexplically leave their husbands behind for a summer that will change their lives and their marriages forever.

Joining Rose and Lottie for this holiday is Mrs. Fisher, an older woman living in the past, and Lady Caroline Dester, a grey-eyed society beauty tired of being gawked at like a majestic statue, not allowed to be human. Diverse in nature and temperment, not to mention background, they interact uneasily together until the flowers and the sea bring about a change in their souls.

Surrounded by fig and olive trees, plum blossoms and Tamarisk daphnes, and the scents of fortune's yellow rose and blooming acacia, the women slowly find their roles at this castle by the sea, and in doing so find themselves as well. New insights will prompt Rose and Lottie to send for their husbands. Lady Caroline, or 'Scrap' as she is known, will find love in spite of her wish to be alone and her great beauty. Mrs. Fisher will form a friendship with Lottie and her husband, and discover a renewed zest for creativity in this heaven by the sea.

This is a novel about life and love, told gently through the emotions of these women, as the the suprise of beauty and the warmth of being suddenly admired and seen as beautiful, when they had not been before, changes their simple lives, which were not so simple at all. You will definitely enjoy this novel if you enjoyed the film. It is about love restored, and love discovered, along the wistaria covered steps leading down to the sea.

Wonderful! I could read the book and watch the movie over and over! Treat yourself to a vacation in an Italian paradise with real characters and a physical beauty you could reach out and touch. Von Arnim makes this simple plot so magical and warm it makes you want to visit San Salvatore too!

Ordinarily I am not a huge fan of horror stories, but I can honestly say that Black Evening is frightfully fantastic. This spine-tingling collection of sixteen tales explores the dark side of greed, power, and madness. Morrell is able to pack a lot of punches and twists into his short (but not so sweet) stories. Moreover, his writing expresses his compassion and intelligence like that of an accomplished literary great.

An added bonus to this book is the foreward at the beginning of each story. Morrell discusses his development as a writer and shares with the reader his personal tales of triumph and tragedy: from his meeting with his idol, writer Stirling Silliphant, to the death of his teenage son to bone cancer. Each story seems to be weaved around an event that touched Morrell's life. This authenticity makes for a more eerie read. For example, "But at My Back I always Hear," is about a professor who is stalked by a female student infatuated with him. Morrell himself faced this dilemma while teaching at the University of Iowa. Other scary topics covered include an art historian who follows his subjects' break with reality and ultimate demise; an amateur writer who becomes a best-selling novelist with the help of a ghostly typewriter; and a high school football team that is victorious because the coach is dabbling in witchcraft and produces an evil good luck mascot.

Two of the stories in Black Evening won Best Novella, Horror Writers of America Award. One story was a nominee for this same award and one other story was a finalist for the World Fantasy Award. Morrell stated that the first piece of advice he received as a young writer was to write about what he feared most. Obviously he took that advice to heart and left us with some chilling entertainment.

never in my life have i been so captivated by a short story then when i read "Orange is for anguish, Blue is for insanity", the other stories included are tremendous as well, but this one is the spellbinding one that grabs ahold of you and never let's go. i praise Morrell for letting out all of his frustration and his own insanity within this collection of masterpiece writing..."Black Evening" is a must own, no one should go through life without reading these stories...they have the power to keep you reading all through the night, and the power to change your life...now that's an author.

Although his novels often include horrific elements, David Morrell rarely deals with the supernatural and macabre in his longer works. Rather, he explores those topics in his shorter work, such as those gathered in his 1999 collection BLACK EVENING. These well-crafted tales, written between 1971 and 1992, are ample credentials for recognizing Morrell's status among the modern masters of horror.

The stories selected for inclusion are presented in order of composition. In Morrell's words, they "wear their age well." "Tales of dark suspense," he continues, "their approach is different from that of my international thrillers. You won't find spies and round-the-globe intrigue here. What you will find are the stark emotions behind that intrigue: fear and trembling."

Fear does indeed lurk at the heart of these stories, and in many
permutations. This may be fear for the safety of your loved ones ("The Dripping"), fear of being exposed as a fraud ("The Typewriter"), or the fear of being caught up in someone else's delusions ("But at My Back I Always Hear You"). Each successive story peers deeper into the dark, revealing just how close at hand it really is. Whether he is writing about an apocalyptic thunderstorm, a high school football team that owes its
success to an idol, or a town paralyzed with fear over the presence of a serial killer, Morrell writes with an edge of the seat immediacy, an urgency that communicates his characters' fears directly to his readers.

How good are these stories? Consider this: the majority found homes in the premier anthologies of the eighties and nineties, including WHISPERS, SHADOWS, NIGHT VISIONS, PRIME EVIL, and DARK AT HEART. If you question the judgment of experienced editors like Charles Grant and Douglas Winter, you can always find assurance in the fact that two of the stories "The Beautiful Uncut Hair of Graves" and "Orange is for Anguish, Blue is for
Insanity," won Stokers for Best Novella. Enhanced by Morrell's revealing Foreword, individual story notes, and Afterword, BLACK EVENING makes for rewarding reading, the kind that keeps you up late into the night. Just don't turn off the lights.

I love reading novels by Christiane Heggan. Ms. Heggan is a very creative/wonderful writer and I've read nearly all of her novels which are each filled with a lot of mystery, suspense and intrigue. Blind Faith was a good reading experience and one I don't think you'd want to miss. There's a lot of action and suspense and you'll be guessing until the end whodunit. The characters are simply excellent. Investigative reporter Kelly Robolo and Detective Nick McBride do set the pages ablaze as the plot untangles. The story is enjoyable and I think you'll catch the feeling of excitement as I did. If you haven't read one of Ms. Heggan's novels, try one - you just might like it.

After being the Philadelphia police force's most popular investigative reporter, Kelly Robolo becomes known as "Typhoid Kelly." During a Chinatown shakedown, Kelly, who was shot, inadvertently caused the death of an underground cop. The cops harass her with undeserved tickets and graffiti at her home.

Kelly's best friend Victoria Bowman asks her to look into the disappearance of her faithful, adoring spouse Jonathan. Reluctantly, while still recovering, Kelly agrees. She tries to enlist the aid of police detective Nick McBride, but he rips her head off, still blaming her for the death of his partner. As the evidence piles up that Jonathan had a mistress in Miami, Nick sees a strong link to the homicide of his father last year. Nick joins forces with Kelly not knowing where their attraction for one another will go or where the investigation will lead.

BLIND FAITH is a powerful suspense thriller. The story line is fast-paced, requiring a one-sitting read, as the audience will want to know what really happened. Kelly is a great heroine who readers will admire. Although Nick's change of heart occurs due to his learning that his partner was dirty, his ease of accepting Kelly seems too simple. Still, as a team, they are dynamic. Christiane Heggan shows why she is so popular with fans with this taut investigative thriller.

Harriet Klausner

Investigative reporter, Kelly Robolo, used to be in good with the police, especially with Detective Nick McBride, but while helping a friend who was being forced to pay for "protection" in Chinatown, she was shot and an (undercover) Detective Matt Kolvic was killed. Now the police shunnher, harass her, and didn't answer calls if she needed any help. While still on medical leave, her closest friend, Victoria Bowman, called her for help. Victoria's husband, Jonathan, was missing. Soon there was evidence of an affair and possible drug trafficing from the casino in which he was an executive of. Swallowing her pride, Kelly went to Nick for help. Nick's father used to work, high on the food chain, at the same casino that Jonathan had. He was soon convinced that Jonathon's disappearance and his father's murder a year ago were somehow linked. The widow of Matt also found out that her husband was more than "undercover", he had actually been part of the protection ring! Nick was positive that was connected as well. This one catches its readers and holds onto them for dear life! Fast paced, full of action, twists, and surprises! I see awards in the future for this one!

THE BRIMSTONE WEDDING is one of Barbara Vine's finest novels, a blend of romance, murder, mystery, and much adultery that forms a remarkably peaceful book. Once more, Vine gives us a clever and intricately developed plot and vividly drawn characters. Though the story has its dark, suspenseful moments, it has an overall calm, serene overtone, with the exception of the exciting and explosive climax, a section you'll literally plow through so quickly you won't be able to turn the pages fast enough. Finally, on the very last page, Vine demonstrates once more that few authors are so gifted at throwing in the final, sudden twist, the twist that is totally unpredictable, yet fits in logically with the plot, and makes you look back on the whole story and the characters differently. This last, spectacular twist is likely to leave the reader breathless but satisfied. A solid achievement, not quite as compelling as A DARK-ADAPTED EYE, but every bit as readable. Well done.

Jenny/Genevieve Warner is one of the most appealing heroines in contemporary women's fiction. Vine (Ruth Rendell) creates a dark, complex plot that unwinds almost too slowly, drawing the reader inward, to a conclusion too horrifying to want to believe. How does love die? Many ways, but none more sad than the story of Stella and her boyhood sweetheart, reunited at last and lost to each other forever. Strong stuff! Is redemption at hand with what might happen with Jenny and Richard, Stella's son? Vine leaves it open, but surely some happiness has to come out of all this misery! Masterfully written; a poignant psychological mystery. The setting --- the brooding, watery fens of England's east coast, adds a subtle layer of unease to the story and almost becomes another character with which to reckon. Another writer who does this well -- combining mystery, broody setting, and psychological drama -- is the wonderful Minette Walters.

Driven by atmosphere and character, this novel by Ruth Rendell writing as Barbara Vine, centers around two stories of infidelity and deception.

Genevieve, 32, a working-class caretaker at a private nursing home, confides her affair to her favorite patient, Stella, who is middle-class, educated, affluent and dying. Stella responds with the keys to a house none of her family knows she owns, a house no one has visited in 30 years. She asks Genevieve to report its condition.

Shocked that something so valuable could be simply abandoned -for whatever reason - Genevieve appropriates it as a trysting place, her curiosity only slightly piqued by the abandoned, burned car in the garage, the photographs hidden away, the food and champagne left in the refrigerator.

And so begins a story in tandem as Genevieve's stolen meetings alternate with Stella's story of her own doomed love. Character precipitates the events of the plot, and as we increasingly sympathize with Stella's shy dignity and Genevieve's fretful ardor, foreboding envelops the narrative like a London fog. Not to be missed.

Barry Goldwater could have saved this country many of its fiscal problems had he been elected President. He lost though, and the government adopted huge programs that are still costing America to this day. Goldwater's brand of libertarian/conservative politics were responsible, compassionate, and not a burden on the American public. The large welfare state, wasteful education programs, inefficient social security programs, and other government controlled entities would not have been created had Goldwater's policies been accepted. He clearly explains why the federal government should stay out of the lives of the people and business, not only because it is for the good of the society, but the Constitution calls for it as well. Goldwater believed in expanding states' rights and letting liberty and freedom with responsibility be the norm in society, not a far-reaching goal. Had his ideas and precepts taken effect with his desired presidency, America would have been a far different, and better, place to live.

Published in 1960 and reproduced in the millions in 1964, when Goldwater ran for President, it is still read widely today. Some people suggest that, since the draft of the book was written by the late Brent Bozell (whose son, Brent Bozell III, is the head of the media-watchdog organization, the Media Research Center), credit for the book belongs more to Bozell than Goldwater.

        Bozell studied Goldwater's writings and listened carefully to his speeches. He wrote this book in close coordination with Goldwater Conscience of a Conservative is pure Barry Goldwater, circa 1960. Those who haven't read it should do so, not only for its masterly distillation of the principles of limited government, but also to gain an insight into Goldwater's great impact on politics in America. This book didn't win the 1964 election for Sen. Goldwater, but it launched the political education of many grassroots activists who eventually nominated and elected Ronald Reagan.

No self-respecting conservative should be without this book. Goldwater lays out the seminal argument for American conservatism. This book became the underground college book of the early sixties, and no doubt is one of the most influential political works of the 20th Century. If you're a conservative today, you have Goldwater to thank for it.