ANDERSON, GABRIELLA
White Rose
Five Star, ISBN: 978-1-59414-724-1 AMAZON
$25.95
Alessandra Whiting is not your everyday damsel in distress. When her loathsome uncle threatens to marry off the beautiful twenty-year-old in a bid to control her fortune, Alessandra takes matters into her own hands and arranges her disappearance. Masquerading as Rose White, she joins a group of women sailing for Sedona, Oregon as potential brides. Their party is led by the kindly Reverend Perkins and the rakish Deverell “Dev” Blake who is only along for the ride.
At this point, White Rose could have degenerated into a predictable costume romance. Instead, Gabriella Anderson adds intriguing secondary characters that help the cosseted Ms. Whiting make her transformation to the farm girl she claims to be.
The trip from Boston to Oregon is well written and provides a chance for the reader to get to know Anderson’s characters. By the time they arrive, all is in place for the rest of the story to unfold.
Dev returns to Oregon to find his brother missing leaving him in charge of his pregnant sister-in-law, nephew, and young sister. Rose is trying to fit into the community of the bride’s dormitory for her hiding place until she can return to Boston at twenty-one to claim her inheritance. The last thing either of them wants is a marriage despite the steadily growing attraction between them. A low-life private detective is on the trail of the missing heiress and provides a satisfying subplot.
When it all comes together in a very satisfying ending, you know you’ve had an excellent read.
ASH, MELISSA LEITH
The Gypsy In Spanish Red
LAMY PRESS, 978-0-578-01926-0
$14.95 Amazon
The staccato pace of The Gypsy in Spanish Red by Melissa Leith Ash is in perfect harmony with the subject. Vadoma is the Gypsy princess, adored by her father and tribe for her beauty and the gifts of dance and second sight. Her passionate nature leads her to a dangerous liaison and leaves her far from her family.
Amid threats from the Inquisition, fascinated hatred from the peasantry of Spain, her love for Carlos, and the plots of renegade monks who want to claim her powers, Vadoma races passionately through her young life. With Sashe, her amazing horse and her faithful dwarf companion Panchito Tawno, the young woman escapes again and again from seemingly imminent disaster.
Ash weaves a web of dramatic tension that draws the reader into the furtive yet joyful lives of the gypsies of 17th century Spain. Based, according to Ash, on a ‘true Gypsy legend,’ their renowned psychic powers are an integral part of Vadoma’s soul and often help her escape from danger, even when she does fall into the hands of her enemies. As the book crescendos toward the end, it seems Vadoma can, yet again, triumph.
NEW
AVERY, KAY BETH FARIS
TALES From The TRAPPERS’ TRAIL
Western Reflections Publishing, ISBN 978-1-932738-84-1
TALES From The TRAPPERS’ TRAIL is nine stories of the history of the great southwest. Beginning in 1597 with 'The Believers' who conquered for “Gold, Glory and God”, and moving forward in time to the late 1870’s with the final story, 'The Long Suffering Pioneer', Tales takes the reader on a journey through just a bit of the history of Southern Colorado, New Mexico and the southwestern territory. Conquistadors, Native American slavery, journeys’ of discovery, rebellion, war, trade, trapping and the lure of gold and silver, all of it molding the culture and tapestry we see today. In Tales we discover that the first Civil Governor under American rule, Charles Bent, was murdered by conspirators wishing to create a rebellion to 'take New Mexico back' during the Mexican American War and that much of that unrest can still be seen today in the civil land grant battles. Take to the trail with Zebulon Pike and go over the mountains with the Fur Traders. Relive the pueblo rebellion and begin to understand the frustration of the Mexicans, Indians and old Spanish families forced to live by new American laws after the Mexican American war left them as unwilling members of a new country. The Civil War did not leave the territory alone either, and pivotal battles were fought right here in the state. Tales gives you a quick flavor of all of this and much more.
One of the problems I’ve always had with history was that history books are boring. That’s why I really appreciate historical fiction. Authors that can make the story live by adding, through careful research, the personality of the players and the true grit of the environment in which they lived. This is what we have here as well. Termed factually-based, Kay Beth Faris Avery delivers history lessons you will certainly enjoy. Well written, very well researched, footnoted and complete with maps, a very detailed timeline and thorough bibliography, Avery simply did a great job. Whether you are a history aficionado or not, give TALES From The TRAPPERS’ TRAIL a try. You won’t be disappointed.
BACA, ANA
Mama Fela’s Girls
Ana Baca has given us a rich gift in Mama Fela. She’s wise, funny, wonderful, and, above all else, real. She’s the grandmother some of us were lucky to get and the rest wish we had been so lucky.
Mama Fela lives in the fictional Santa Lucia located along historic Route 66. The year is 1934. If you’ve traveled much in New Mexico you’ve seen towns like Santa Lucia, often deserted now. Baca describes it as “Four stores within a two-block diameter competed for the town’s business. They were owned by a judio, an drabe, a mexicano, and an americano respectively. Mama Fela preferred to buy her groceries, the material for her sewing, and her shoes at Señor Gould’s because her sister Quirina had a good job there. The americano’s Cash & Carry was the only store that had a good selection of groceries but she was loyal to El Judio. Besides, he offered credit.”
Mama Fela is the matriarch. Her main companion is her granddaughter Cipriana; she has a daughter, Cita, a daughter-in-law, Graciela married to her son Robert. As a seamstress, she knows everything that goes on in the little town… but not always what is going on in her family.
Still, through money woes, male pride, and women’s dreams, she guides them as best she can. Mama Fela is truly the heart of the family.
Richly drawn characters, authentic dialog, clear descriptions, and a compelling story make this a novel worth reading, sharing, and re-reading again and again.
BATY, R. SAMUEL
Footsteps to Forever
iUniverse, ISBN 978-0-595-49640-2
Billed as a “World War II Thriller,” this novel begins as America goes to war. President Roosevelt has sent a noted physicist on a secret mission to Norway to get information as to how much heavy water the Germans are extracting for their atomic energy program at the Norwegian plant which they occupy. He is still in the country when war is declared by the U.S., thus placing him behind enemy lines.
Because of their fluency in the Norwegian language and their ability to ski, a young nurse and an army lieutenant are called upon to attempt to locate him and bring him out safely.
Risk, adventure, and romance are woven with special skill by the author as Jennifer and Dude are thrown together for training, their travel to Britain, and their night landing in Norway via submarine. They find the professor and begin their trek through the mountains to their rendezvous with the sub which is to return them to England.
The story alternates the story of the Americans with chapters about a German major who is disillusioned about his part in the Fuhrer’s war. The fictional characters are blended into actual wartime battles, leading the reader to sympathize with those on both sides who are forced to bear the brunt of war while trying to do their duty to their country.
The war’s end finds Jennifer in San Francisco, meeting with some of the people who shared her adventures, mourning those who didn’t make it but looking forward with optimism to what lies ahead.
4/09 Review by Lola R. Eagle, author of From the Eye of an Eagle
BLEA, IRENE I.
Suzanna
Floricanto Press ISBN 978-1-888205-21-3
The first chapter of this story of a young woman from a small village in northern New Mexico in the first decades of the 20th century seemed to promise an interesting tale.
It begins with Suzanna being betrothed at the age of 11 by her grandparents to a much older man, whom she marries when she becomes 13. Felipe is a taciturn man who is cruel to Suzanna, both mentally and physically. She bears two boys within a short time. Felipe has little use for them. Because of the Depression, he leaves their country home to find work, when the boys are about four and six years old. Suzanna is left to care for the “ranch.” For two years, she is happy to be alone with her two boys and hopes Felipe never returns. However, he comes back and announces he has sold their home and they will move to Colorado where he has a job. Suzanna does not want to move. An argument ensues, and Felipe beats her. In due course, they leave. In a gas station in Raton, Suzanna gets out of the truck and runs away.
Felipe’s character does not seem consistent. At first he is portrayed as a mean man who has no time for social communication; when he leaves to find work, however, he is painted as a person who interacts with his fellow workers and likes to speak of his past. He comes back to his family with gifts for Suzanna and the boys, but erupts into savagery almost immediately.
The book has a totally unsatisfactory ending for a reader expecting some resolution of the protagonist’s problem.
Expecting an interesting historical novel, I was disappointed in this book. It needed much more line editing to rid itself of misspelled words and faulty spacing, as well as poor story structuring.
5/10 Reviewed by Lola R. Eagle, free-lance writer and author of A Dakota Daughter
BRENNAN, JANET K.
Harriet Murphy - A Little Bit of Something
Casa de Snapdragon Publishing, LLC ISBN 978-0-9793075-6-0
I was intrigued by the imaginative, funny, sometimes poignant, and realistic stories as related by the protagonist, Harriet Murphy, from her life in the early part of the 20th Century. Each chapter is a different story, yet carrying the same characters.
Both of her parents are dead, and the thirty-something Harriet now lives alone in the cabin in California built by her father in the latter part of the 1800s. The different chapters describe her odd lifestyle, her drinking habits, a visit to San Francisco just before the great earthquake, a romantic interlude that brings her happiness and then woeful sorrow, and how her friends help her through various trials.
Wonderful little poems precede some of the chapters.
With a gift for colloquialism, the author elicits smiles as we read the thoughts and conversations of Harriet.
My only criticism is the frequent use of misplaced quotation marks. I found it disconcerting to follow the extent of a person’s remarks because they were often not concluded by quotation marks, or they were sometimes interrupted unnecessarily with quotation marks.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book, as I am sure other readers will, also.
3/10 Reviewed by Lola R. Eagle, author of From the Eye of an Eagle
Oblivion
Petals and Pages Press ISBN 978-0-9797057-0-0 AMAZON
$19.95
Oblivion may be Utopia
Need to escape? Have the desire to start over? Has life treated you less than kind? Is your soul in need? Simple solution. Buy a ghost town.
Oblivion is dead and almost forgotten. A place that life has passed by. Where time is measured by the passing of tumbleweed in the wind and the sundown howl of the coyote. Yet for Ben, an artist of great ability and minimal confidence, and Belinda, a frustrated corporate climber who has chucked it all to find herself on the open road, for these two lost souls, Oblivion is something far more. It’s the restart of their lives. The place where their love began. That event in itself as improbable as breathing life into the long abandoned adobe and clapboard shells of buildings.
Oblivion is a dream. From the dust and garbage rises a new community and a new start for an odd group of people in need. People who dream of complete human and nature symbiosis. A start from scratch approach to living with and within nature. Solar energy and wind pumped water. Native plants and agriculture without chemicals or genetic tampering. Peace and faith.
At least that’s the plan. But Oblivion hides a secret. A commodity as precious as oil. And when Ben wins the town at auction, he foils the plans of a powerful family. They need Oblivion’s resources to complete their control of the region and they will use all means, legal and illegal, to attain it. The battle lines are drawn, alliances made.
But there really may be ghosts in Oblivion, Mother Nature will have her say and just who is that mysterious and worldly-wise old Indian? To reveal all is the journey, not the answer. Welcome to Oblivion.
Bruce delivers interesting characters with humor, depth, and humanity. The story, while tinged with liberal ideals, provides the reader with the object most desired; interest. His protagonists are quirky and deep, his antagonists tragic and in the end, salvageable. This is a book I expected not to like yet found myself intrigued and drawn into. Give it a shot; it’s a steady story, very readable with a message for all of us.
Peace Beyond All Fear: A Tribute to John Denver's Vision
Petals & Pages Press, ISBN 978-0-9797057-3-1 AMAZON
$19.95
WINNER 2008 NEW MEXICO BOOK AWARDS
Author Hank Bruce explains that inspiration for this work came from songs written or sung by John Denver, a popular folk-singer during the 70s and 80s, who was deeply committed to environmental issues and the challenge of allaying world hunger. Bruce subtitles this collection “A Tribute to John Denver’s Vision,” and dedicates these writings to his memory.
The book includes fifteen short stories, many of them told in allegorical form, with some written as modern parables and others true accounts from the author’s experience. Although punctuation and sentence structure often sidetrack the reader’s attention from what the author is saying, the stories themselves are well thought out. Each is filled with hope and illustrations of the power of love. Some include interesting Indian spiritual lore.
There is the story of an old man who, though poverty-stricken himself, started an orphanage in Kenya. Another scenario describes the misery visited upon families and the devastation to the environment caused by uranium mining. Yet another recounts how love brought a confused elderly cowboy back to normalcy.
These words sung by Denver are the basis for one tale:
“Peace is the flower that shatters the stone.
Love is the song that softens the heart.”
Told with emotion that often brings tears to the eyes, the stories are a plea for “a more peaceful world and a global community where we can all live beyond all fear.”
Idealistic in content, Bruce’s narratives are sometimes simple, sometimes convoluted. Each, however, sends an appeal to man’s innate goodness, attempting to charge the reader to join in action which will repair the torn-up earth, put an end to war, reach out to feed the hungry around the world, and make the future world a better place for all humanity.
The author writes that “fear is the illegitimate child of ignorance...the source of conflict both within ourselves and between nations.” He contends that we must each cultivate peace in our community by bringing it to flower in our own hearts.
Hank Bruce is a writer, horticultural therapist, hunger activist, teacher and speaker. Hoping this book will bring attention to the cause of world hunger, he pledges a portion of all profits to the organization Hunger Grow Away, a non-profit food security organization.
9/08 Reviewed by Lola R. Eagle, author of From The Eye of An Eagle
BRUCE, HANK
Seniors Illustrated
Petals & Pages Press ISBN 978-0-9797057-7-9
A kind of workbook for elderly people in nursing homes, this book contains short stories to be read to or by those whose faculties are impaired. Written in elementary language, perhaps directed to those with Alzheimers or poor reading abilities, the stories are plotted to hold the attention of people whose minds tend to wander, brief and with simple story lines. Many pages of illustrations are put in for patients to color, if they wish. Poems are also included and those are written to a higher level of readership than the stories.
Apparently, this book, the first of a series to be published, is written for activities directors in old age communities so that the patients/residents may have occupational therapy during part of their day. Suggestions for accompanying activities are directed to activities directors. For that purpose, it could be helpful.
Active, intelligent seniors, no matter what their age, would probably not be interested.
October 2009 Review by Lola R. Eagle, author and poet
CASH, MARIE ROMERO
Lowrider Blues
2009 New Mexico Book Awards Finalist
There is something different in this book. In the preface the author reveals that she writes to capture the essence of those with whom she grew up. She writes about events that happened or might have happened or should have happened; and admits there is no way to tell if the story is true or not. She does this well.
In 121 pages of prose and poetry she delivers a clear view of the barrio, a predominately Hispanic neighborhood or residential area within a larger city. She writes about Santa Fe, New Mexico in a way no tourist will ever view it, much less read about unless they purchase this book. Romero Cash goes beyond the stereotype of gangs, stabbings and shootings, the stuff of television cop shows and (thank the gods) and infrequent Hollywood movie.
She goes beyond her folk artist/santera tradition to give us sacred images of Hispano family life, female-male relationships, Catholicism. She writes about the joys, doubts, fears, the unknown and sadness that is universal, but manifested in a culturally specific way.
From time to time English is not enough and a Spanish word or phrase is necessary. To assist the reading she includes an important element: a glossary. In it she provides for the non-Spanish speaking and for those not familiar with colloquialisms of northern New Mexico a dictionary of sorts. Some words are used throughout the state; words like Búrque, Chuco, Mijo, Vato. If I translate them for you, I will rob you of the context in which they are used and the joy of reading this book. The book is written as a one sided conversation, in Spanish una platica; perhaps it is a soliloquy. She tells it all with a talent for description.
CHAVEZ, RONALD P.
Time of Triumph
Booksurge ISBN 13-978-1419682629
FINALIST 2008 NEW MEXICO BOOK AWARDS
*A veteran returns from war, his soul battered by his horrendous experiences, and tries to battle his way through alcohol to a semblance of a normal life.
*An old man grieves for his only grandson, whom he sent to war, to be returned in a casket.
*A grizzled prospector fends off a government agent seeking to deprive him of his land.
These and other short stories are intermixed with pages of poetry. The stories are poignant, compelling vignettes of real people in the reality of life. The poems resonate with emotions of love, aging, grieving, bitterness. In just a few words, Chavez can pull the reader into his world.
Some of the poems have side by side translations from English to Spanish, an interesting and educational diversion.
I read the book quickly, and went back to read parts again.
1/09 Reviewed by Lola R. Eagle, author of More Visions in Verse
CLAFFEY, TOM
8-Ball, Corner Pocket
iUniverse, ISBN 978-0-595-42827-4
A short novel filled with human interest and the fun of often-told and familiar jokes, this book provides light-hearted reading and a poignant ending.
Al Bernstein, who changed his name to Burns to marry his Catholic wife, has a troubled conscience regarding the dismissal of his Jewish heritage all the years of his married life. After the death of his wife, he wonders if he should, perhaps, return to his birth name. What would people think? Was it necessary? Was it foolish, after all these years?
His friends become concerned for him when he has a couple of bad falls, and hound him into joining them in a senior retirement village. He discovers that he enjoys living there, playing pool with his friends and making new friends. However, as time passes, unfortunately so do some of his new friends.
Claffey does a good job of delving into an aging man’s psyche. A surprise ending wraps this story up very neatly.
4/09 Review by Lola R. Eagle, author of Visions in Verse
CLAFFEY, TOM
Hoot ‘N’ Holler
An amusing short novel about two middle-aged women who decide to become over-the-road truck drivers.
Sally and Dixie are widows who have moved to Santa Fe from other states. They are both determined not to sit in retirement homes, mourning for their lost past, when there is so much left in the world to do. So they hire a young out-of-work trucker to teach them to be truckers, adopting the CB monikers of Hoot and Holler.
The young instructor’s history contains a tragic event that is tempered with a new love that threads its way through the main plot.
The author provides a fun read while incorporating romance and whimsy, together with local color from Santa Fe and Albuquerque, into a well-written story.
I would look forward to more work by this author.
2/09 reviewed by Lola R. Eagle, author of From the Eye of an Eagle
CLINE, SANDRA
Pug Sheridan
Autumn Leaves Publishing, ISBN 0-9754554-4-3
An absorbing story set during the early part of the 20th Century in the South, which delves into racism, the KKK, and hatreds flamed by ignorance and long-held traditions.
Brought up in a family that accepted others for what they were, and not for the color of their skin or their religious beliefs, Pug defies Southern mores by forming a group of seven young girls, binding them together as sisters in friendship despite their ethnic and social differences. Through the next decade, the girls meet regularly to share their joys and their sorrows, helping each other through one crisis after another.
Told with blunt truths, their growing-up years are fraught with beatings, incest, cross-burning, and torture of persons the Klan deems too different. Horrendous scenes play out as the girls’ lives are touched by these events.
Pug’s love story weaves into the fabric of these years, as well as her gift of second sight which helps her through many episodes. The author relates a story with vivid imagination, drawing from history’s factual annals.
For many of its attributes, I highly recommend this book.
Reviewed 9/09 by Lola R. Eagle, author and poet
The Shamrock and the Feather
When I first looked at this book, I turned up my nose at the premise. “What happens when you combine a mysterious Celtic bowl [and] an enigmatic Navajo Healing Man…” However, it wasn’t long before my turned-up nose was buried deep in the pages of this multi-faceted read.
Geneva Becker is a renowned scenic photographer. Years before, she had a mystical meeting in a canyon hidden in the walls of Canon de Chelly – a meeting with an ageless Navajo who tells her “You have had a long journey. But, it is only the beginning.”
Then there is Geneva’s mother who died when Geneva was just a child. An Irish girl, she fell in love with an American photographer and followed him to America. Catriona disappeared one night on the boat she loved leaving behind only Geneva and a few pieces of pottery she had created.
Plagued by dreams of an Ireland long before she or her parents were born, Geneva finds herself pulled into a mystery framed by the past and existing in the present.
Dalton does an excellent job handling the past and present story lines, keeping them clear for the reader. Her secondary characters are engaging, particularly Victoria, Geneva’s best friend who has a decidedly mystical bent. The villain is well-drawn and the hero part of past and present. And don't forget the enigmatic Navajo.
The whole thing comes together at a Bealtane (sic) festival in Ireland where past and present collide in a satisfying ending… or is it yet a new beginning?
The Shamrock and the Feather comes with a CD of music composed, arranged, and performed by the author’s acclaimed jazz pianist husband, Bert. The music complements the novel, invoking Ireland, Native American music, and mystery although two jazz vocal pieces were jarring to this reviewer, distracting from the mood of the book. That’s not to say they’re not good, just not necessary here.
NEW
Mary, My Love
Footprints From the Bible, ISBN 978-0-9844723-0-7
Drawing from the words of the Bible, events from history, and her own imagination, Davis weaves a credible account of the life of Joseph and Mary, the parents of Jesus.
The story is told through the eyes of Joseph, who works as a carpenter in Nazareth at the side of his father. He watches the neighbor child Mary grow up, nurturing a growing love for her. They are betrothed and his life is forever changed.
Dreams, angels, the voice of God, and then the birth of Jesus are all events that stagger his mind. Even more mind-boggling is the appearance of a group of shepherds at the stable where the baby is born, with a tale of heavenly revelation.
Both Joseph and Mary believe there is a special destiny for Jesus. They remain in Bethlehem, convinced he is meant to grow up there, setting up a home from which Joseph plies his trade as a carpenter. However, before the babe's second birthday, an astonishing visit from Easter Magi, attended by their retinues and bearing precious gifts, brings a threat of danger from Herod, the King of Judea. Again, an angel appears to Joseph warning him to flee to Egypt with Mary and the baby.
The author uses her imaginative powers freely, filling in ensuing years with a completely believable story of their journey to Egypt, their time there, and their eventual return to Nazareth. The story includes family life with Jesus and his brothers and sisters, his journey to Jerusalem at the age of twelve, and his discussions there with the Temple Rabbis. Davis creates a scenario in which the Temple Rabbis invite Jesus to be apprenticed to them, to live and study there. This his parents refuse, and they take him home to Nazareth.
Cynthia Davis has again brought to life historical events that grasp at one's heart and faith while satisfying the intellect.
8/2010 Reviewed by Lola R. Eagle, author and poet
DAVIS, CYNTHIA
My Abigail
Crossings Book Club ISBN 978-1-58288-269-7
A well-done Biblical novel about David’s beloved wife Abigail. Although David had many wives, most were taken to form an alliance with a particular people, but not so Abigail.
The story follows Abigail’s marriage first to Nabal, who dies, and then to David during the beginning of his career when he is still a warrior. It tells of her unhappiness with the man Nabal who is her father’s choice for her husband. Nabal is a wealthy man, but one with little consideration for his fellowmen or his wife. Abigail strives to hold onto her faith in a household that doesn’t respect it.
David and his army of followers are camping on the edge of Nabal’s land, in return for which they keep marauders and wild animals from his flocks. When he goes to Nabal requesting food for his army, he is refused. Abigail sees this and knows that all her husband’s goods and people will be destroyed if David’s request isn’t met, so she takes loaded donkeys out to his camp and begs him to forgive her husband and take the gifts she brings. David falls in love with her.
Because she has born no heir for Nabal, when he dies Abigail is sent back to her father, along with the two handmaidens given to her as a wedding present. It is then that David comes and claims her as his bride.
The author takes few liberties with the story as it is told in the Bible, merely fleshing it out in a fascinating way with her own imagination. I thoroughly enjoyed the book.
9/09 Reviewed by Lola R. Eagle, author and poet
DUNNE-BRADY, JOHN
Telemachus – A Modern Odyssey
(no publisher listed)ISBN 978-0-557-16022-8
$9.00
This is a very ambitious piece of writing, put together in nearly 700 pages of hard-to-read small print. The author runs a parallel between his story and the original “Odyssey” by Homer, inserting short excerpts from that classic before each of his chapters. I would have preferred a larger print font, but that would no doubt have increased the bulk of the book to unacceptable heft.
The book begins with interwoven stories – one the reality of Michael, the protagonist; the other a “reality” only in his mind.
In chapter 11 we are apprised of Michael’s mental illness. Because the story so often relates his demented ramblings, I was never sure whether the typos were meant to be or simply the result of poor editing.
Curiously, one chapter consists of 5-1/2 pages of unrelated words and phrases, separated only by commas – no periods or paragraphs -- which makes for tedious reading that reveals little if anything about the story.
Michael’s dozens of sexual encounters over the years provide no romance to the reader, only a clinical relating of events. He does eventually marry. One wonders, however, how someone with such obvious mental aberrations could get a woman to marry him.
This reminds one of a fictionalized biography, as though perusing someone’s sixty years’ worth of daily journals, complete with verbatim conversations and all his imaginings. We become privy to his every thought. Many characters and sets of characters are introduced who do not seem to help develop the story, but only serve to confuse the reader looking for some pertinent connection. However, a little humor is achieved in places through puns and word play.
If one has the time and stamina, this book may provide the reader with an engrossing study of a man’s entire life, from the womb to old age, searching for a religious faith and community, for a relationship, for the meaning of life, taking him through years of fears, sexual deficiencies, uncontrollable rages, and many menial jobs, as seen through a deranged mind.
2/10 Reviewed by Lola R. Eagle, author and poet
La Ranfla & Other New Mexico Stories
Papalote Press, 978-097558814-7
Stories about New Mexico are myriad and endless, but few collections embody the Land of Enchantment like Martha Egan’s La Ranfla & Other Tales of New Mexico. Reading the pieces contained therein is like stumbling upon the memoirs of close friends, allowing one to relive their memorable events and intimately share in those triumphs and sorrows.
In “La Ranfla,” the title story, Mary Louise Kowalski, a Wisconsin-born law student, leaves behind an unfulfilling career choice and follows her love to New Mexico in a 1961 Buick LeSabre, where she becomes a bonafide transplant within a small town community. The story is a captivating blend of ‘60s hippie culture, car worship, and New Mexican justice.
La ranfla, slang for a person’s ride, is an ongoing motif throughout the book, rearing its head in various incarnations: Crown Victoria, Dodge Dart Pioneer, Cadillac, Corona, MGB, VW, and miscellaneous Ford pickups. Transportation not only provides the means to enjoy the beauty and diversity that is New Mexico, but it also speaks to our need to be mobile and constantly moving forward.
The remaining six stories range from the humorous and political to the heartbreaking and mystical. Rachel Guenther has a frank, open discussion with her granddaughter about sex and teen pregnancy, while emphasizing the importance of family history and values in "Green Eyes." Tempers almost flare into violence in “Carnales,” when Joe Ortega holds a group of elders at gunpoint at a camposanto, which he claims is on his property. Luckily, a calmer influence in the form of Father Ed prevails over the heated dispute. The standoff highlights the complexities stemming from the Spanish land grants, as well as family loyalty, which can be just as complicated.
While the book lacks a specific Native American viewpoint, Egan acknowledges this vital influence in “Time Circles,” the longest story in the collection. Anna has reservations about following her dreams of owning a small business until her participation in a Navajo ceremonial expands her horizons. Her unique gift to the medicine man also proves that the universe rewards those who freely give of themselves.
The stories are relayed through female viewpoints, though Egan also writes authoritatively from a male perspective in "Granny." On his way to California, Jimbo Morales' car (a 1978 MGB) abandons him near a New Mexico border town. He befriends the village's mechanic, comes to grips with the local meaning of "mañana," and decides to become the fourth-grade teacher of the town's school, where he learns the true value of community. The MGB finally fixed, Jimbo is ready to leave - until his stay is delayed by an alluring encounter with one of his students' relatives.
And what would New Mexico be without its beloved pets? Two stories feature not man’s, but woman’s best friend at their most remarkable. “Mutt” relays the tale of Gretchen Maier, a North Valley artist who buys a timid German shepherd puppy to be her guard dog against the areas’ thugs. Mutt turns out to be half coyote, as well as a free agent, but his hilarious antics through Gretchen’s personal ups and downs show that there is no deeper bond than that between kindred spirits. “Guapo” features a stray that is saved by a vet. Eventually adopted by its human guardian, the blue heeler becomes a catalyst for love and ultimately a symbol of undying loyalty.
The collection is a nostalgic look at the state’s cultures, landscapes, and peoples, circa the 1960s up to the turn of the century, but the character’s dilemmas and the stories' themes are universal, all portrayed with the loving strokes of an adopted native. As such, La Ranfla is an engaging, noteworthy addition to the New Mexican literary tradition.
4/19Reviewed by David J. Corwell , author of “Legacy of the Quedana” (see Cloaked in Shadow)
Hombrecito’s War
Llumina Press ISBN 159526082X
Although not a native New Mexican, the writer obviously delved deeply into New Mexico’s past to conjure up this fascinating tale of “what if.” What if Henry Fountain had not been killed when his father, prominent attorney, politician and newspaper publisher Albert Fountain, was murdered back in the 19th Century? What if the eight-year-old, who had made the trip with his father from Las Cruces to Lincoln County and back, had somehow escaped the murderers and survived?
Told fifty years later in a soul-cleansing revelation by the adult Henry, now a doctor, to his nurse as they drove those same miles, the story takes the reader back through time, unfolding a tale that seems entirely plausible.
For myself, a former resident of El Paso, Las Cruces, and White Sands Missile Range, the areas in and around the Organ and Sacramento Mountains, I was able to picture the locales where the action was taking place, having driven those same roads frequently. I thoroughly enjoyed the descriptive representations of the many places with which I am familiar, as well as the hypothetical fiction surrounding this long-ago event of which little is actually known.
My only fault-finding concerns the inconsistent use of italics to set off parts of conversations, as well as continual quotation marks, in the formatting of the story, which keeps the reader on his toes to discern who is speaking and at what point the speech stops and the telling takes up. Though this is a bit confusing, it does not take away from a very imaginative story, excellently told, with plenty of action, retributive justice, and a romantic ending.
I would look forward to more such writings from this author.
1/09 Reviewed by Lola R. Eagle, author of From The Eye of an Eagle
Lost in the Gila
Five Star, 978-1-59414-732-6
Kate Donovan has an unusual gift – she can relive past events by examining the bones of the dead. Quite a boon for a forensic anthropologist who works on archaeological digs, well, except for the fact that she cannot find a job due to a tarnished reputation from a prior, impulsive mishap.
With only a month of savings to spare, Kate is unexpectedly asked to join a secret excavation in the Gila wilderness run by Dr. Adam Richter, the world’s foremost archaeologist. Arriving at the site, she is stunned to find a pyramid built in the same talud-tablero architectural style of Teotihuacan. It appears that the king of the fallen city and the remnants of his people lived out their final days in southern New Mexico, news that will entirely rewrite the region’s historical record. Of course, there’s also the promise of treasure – lots of it!
Even so, the king, his burial chamber, and the bones of his entourage remain hidden, refusing to be found, the pyramid simply a monument to his elusive presence. Complicating matters further, Dr. Richter has been missing for days, and an underlying tension amongst the crew threatens to derail any prospects of finding the tomb at all.
Kate, once again disregarding protocol, surveys the surrounding mesa on her own, and experiencing another vision, stumbles upon the king’s burial chamber. The descriptions of the cavern and its marvelous contents (including a rare codex) are thrilling and completely involve the reader, moment by moment, in the exciting find.
Her discovery is met with hostility back at camp, particularly by Dr. Richter who has returned. He confiscates her notebook and map, intending to take full credit for the find, but the issue becomes insignificant when a murderer in their midst suddenly strikes. The complex interactions between characters leave everyone suspect, including Sam Gallagher, the crew’s lithics specialist - and the man Kate finds herself drawn to. The sense of unease at being isolated in the woods with a killer, as well as the twists up to the final revelation, make for fast, edge-of-your-seat reading.
The epilogue, in which the earlier professional jealousies disappear like a fleeting fog, is disappointingly simplistic, as is the realization that the crew isn’t multicultural. There’s one Hispanic volunteer (who uses clunky Spanish) out of a group of ten.
The very possibility of finding a pyramid in the wilds of New Mexico bespeaks an alternate reality. However, in this case, Gilbert’s portrayal of the discovery is so convincing that one would expect to see a feature article about the find in tomorrow’s newspapers.
Gilbert’s fourth novel is an enthralling mixture of archaeology, dark family secrets, and suspense, balanced with a touch of humor and romance, which makes it a worthy contribution to the Southwestern mystery/thriller genre. And while it could be said that mystery series themselves are rapidly becoming clichéd, Kate and Sam are fascinating enough characters that they merit some extended adventures.
Reviewed by David J. Corwell, author of “Legacy of the Quedana” (see Cloaked in Shadow)
GISH, ROBERT FRANKLIN
Dreams of Quivira
14.95
Dreams of Quivira. The title conjures visions of mythical cities on distant hills shrouded by mists and glowing gold should the sun finally burn through. It is the stuff of dreams, one of the Seven Cities of Gold, long sought but never found. The cover of this book states that within are ‘stories in search of the golden west’. Inside you will find seven short stories including one with the title name. Seven stories all very different though with a common thread, people with a story to tell. Individuals in search of something more. Each journey very personal.
What does basketball have to do the heart and death? Why is a young man so fixated with the severed hands of Che Guevara? Why does Elfego spend a dark night alone surrounded by enemies while talking of Billy the Kid with a carven Saint? And the term “Seeing the elephant” takes a new twist in the coming of age story with the same title. A story about a young man, a rich man’s wife and a lake called Elephant Butte.
Well written, earthy and thoughtful. If you like quirky short stories, you will like Dreams of Quivira.
THE GRANDE DAMES: Contributors O’Gara, Mary; Ballard, Judy; et al.
The Trouble With Romance: An Anthology
Treble Heart Books, ISBN 1-932695-22-2
FINALIST 2007 NEW MEXICO BOOK AWARDS
It’s all the fault of a little blue-eyed black cat named Trouble. He mysteriously appears in ten lives and then, just as mysteriously, disappears. But the changes he brings in his short stays have lasting effects on the men and women he visits in the stories contained in this volume.
Take for example New Mexican Mary O’Gara’s contribution in Trouble on the Home Front. Maggie, divorced from rocker Lex, is having a little trouble accepting her old beau Tom Brewer’s return to her life. When her twin daughters, traveling with their father, are missing, an assist from Trouble and a Maggie’s own mince pies shed a new light on her feelings for Tom.
Another New Mexican, Judy Ballard, makes her contribution with Trouble In Columbus – Columbus, New Mexico, that is – Mark Santisteven and newcomer Danna Yates are brought together by a lost red cat collar and an encounter with its owner.
When you've finish this book, you’ll be hoping to run into a black cat with blue eyes and a red collar with a tag that says Trouble. Don’t chase him away… a little Trouble makes things interesting.
HENDRICKS, JUDITH RYAN
Isabel’s Daughter
HarperCollins PublishersISBN 0-06-050347-5
$13.95 Amazon
Once in awhile I read a book and feel a welling up of envy – “I wish I’d written that” – that kind of admiration and regret. This book is a perfect example of a fascinating story, well-plotted, with excellent writing and great editing.
Set in Santa Fe and northern New Mexico, the author captures the flavor of our state in language, customs, food, and locale.
The story relates the problems built into the life of Avery James, a young woman left as a baby in a Colorado foundling home. At thirteen she runs away when the only two friends she has in the home are taken away, one by adoption, and the other by death. Fortunately for her, she is taken in by an old woman who lives outside a small town in New Mexico which she has reached by hitchhiking. She lives with her for several years, completing high school at the old woman’s insistence, and learning hard work and the use of herbal remedies.
She falls in love with a fellow student, but believes his parents would never accept her because of her background. Her mentor/guardian dies, so again Avery runs away, this time to Albuquerque. Here she makes friends with a waitress with whom she shares living quarters for several years while waitressing and taking college courses. They subsequently move together to Santa Fe.
It is in Santa Fe that Avery finally finds information about the mother she never knew. In the process of seeking her mother, she finds out much about herself and is finally able to accept the love of others without pushing them away.
An outstanding book.
9/09 Reviewed by Lola R. Eagle, author of From The Eye of An Eagle
HENDRICKS, JUDITH RYAN
The Laws of Harmony
Harper Paperback, ISBN: 978-0061687365
The Laws of Harmony relates the story of Soleil “Sunny” Cooper, a woman who grew up in a hippie commune in northern New Mexico. She is at once ashamed of her past, yet unable to let it go. When her live-in boyfriend is presumed dead and the truth of his vagaries is revealed, Sunny sets out on a journey to the farthest place she can travel without having to fly over the ocean. Along the way she learns many things about herself and others that were previously hidden and discovers another side to her own beliefs and desires. She finally settles on an island off the coast of Washington state and there begins a new life and a new journey that shows her how to blend the past with the future.
Once I started reading this book, I could not put it down. It is one of the few books I’ve read in recent years that made me wish the ending would never come. Ms. Hendricks drew me in with her believable characters and had me thinking it was work of nonfiction before I realized that it was, indeed, a novel. She skillfully interweaves strong characters with incredible situations and familiar places and makes it seem as if the reader was invited into her home for afternoon tea and a tale told next to a roaring fire on a cold New Mexico night.
Like Steel Magnolias is to the world of chick flicks, The Laws of Harmony is to the literary world aimed at female readers. It is a wonderful diary of one woman’s journey into self-discovery and dealing with the cards that life has dealt her. This book is definitely worthy of a place of honor on the “keeper shelf”. Great job, Ms. Hendricks, and I look forward to reading more of your insightful works.
7/09 Reviewed by Candace Moorehouse, author of Suspicion of Love
KING, NANCY
The Stones Speak
Atelier Books Ltd.ISBN 978-0-9818096-7-0
$13.95
2009 New Mexico Book Awards Finalist
Naomi Rosen, a 67-year-old professor, has made some bad decisions in her life which have ultimately led her to work with disadvantaged youth. Some of those decisions are held back from the reader for so long that it is hard to tell just what they were and how they affected her life.
However, her first really bad decision, we are told, was to go to Europe as a young woman with a stranger who offered her a job traveling with him to teach folk dancing. She stays with him even though he uses her for his own gratification, until she finally gets the courage to break away and go off on her own. With little money or knowledge of the languages in the countries she visits, she nevertheless is determined to see Europe. She often takes up with strange men who then, not surprisingly, take her for a sex object. One of her escapades involves her with Franco’s police and she is deported.
Forty years later we find her as a mature, successful career woman. What we aren’t told are the secrets she continues to carry into adulthood.
Characters that we take to be of some significance are introduced into the narrative, but are offhandedly dropped when the theme of the story is revealed. Does the situation have a bearing on her relationships with her long-lost son, her childhood friend, and her new beau? Apparently so, although the reader is left to work that out for herself.
A lot of secrets in a person’s past can be repressed as they mature, but in fiction the reader wants to know what has happened in the protagonist’s life that affects the way they live and think. To hide it all from the reader leaves us wondering. Some of Naomi’s secrets and past experiences are only hinted at, so we must guess why she and the people in her life act as they do.
9/09 Reviewed by Lola R. Eagle, author of From the Eye of an Eagle
KING, NANCY
A Woman Walking
Atalier Books, ISBN 978-097-0660-3290
$12.95
Many folk tales within a folk tale—that is the best description of A Woman Walking.
The main character, Ninan, discovers right before her parents’ death that she has inherited her grandfather’s book of tales as well as the responsibility to wander the world telling his stories. She is told that she cannot refuse this task for there is no one else in the family who has been given the gift of storytelling.
At first she rebels, questioning why she should be deprived of a normal life, married to a man who loves her, free to bear and raise his children. As her parents continue to insist, she reluctantly gives in to their wishes and begins her travels, but finds she cannot tell the stories from her grandfather’s book. All the stories she tells come from within her as if she is compelled to tell her own stories.
Ninan travels far stopping at villages and towns to tell tales, but, each time she stops, she makes friends and wonders again why she must spend her life alone. “Is storytelling enough to fill my life? Will I never be able to put down roots and have a normal life?” are questions she asks herself again and again.
When Ninan meets a man who says he loves her and wants to spend the rest of his life traveling with her, she makes a decision that shows she accepts her own identity as a storyteller and as a woman.
All the folktales that Ninan tells are very well written, almost lyrical in fact. The idea of a person having to take on a life of a traveler to tell stories might be a little hard to accept in a modern novel, but in a folk tale, reality is whatever the author wants to make it. This book is an enjoyable read.
10/08 Reviewed by Mary Lombardo, writer
KING, NANCY
Morning Light
Atelier Books Ltd. Co., ISBN 978-0970663276
For author Nancy King, catastrophic illness became a watershed dividing her life into a time before and after she learned to ask for help when she needed it. Using her experience with leukemia, she crafted Morning Light, the story of a journey from weakness to strength, from dependence to interdependence.
As a very young woman the story’s main character, Anna Baum faces a leukemia diagnosis alone. Her verbally abusive mother has abandoned her. Her father, who sexually molested her, has died, and Anna has divorced the husband who hit her. Amidst feelings of absolute friendlessness, she remembers Boonah, a character from Australian mythology who has lived in her heart since childhood, and whom she has forgotten until now. Boonah used to tell her stories. Now he does again until Anna comes to not only understand the blackest parts of her life, but also the people who have helped her through them, and the people who will continue to help her in times to come.
Nancy King puts Anna’s tale together as one might a jigsaw puzzle. Flashes of her memory connect to her present. Multiple points of view show the reader the minds and hearts of people who influence Anna for good or bad.
The resulting story is a reverse of the old movie ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’ Instead of the main character realizing the influence she’s had on others, she gets to discover and be thankful for the influences people have had on her.
In Morning Light, Ms. King strikes a balance between the darkness of abuse and major illness, and lightness of discovering life’s unexpected joys. The story is for the person who’s ready to take on the tough parts of growth and coming of age.
Ms. King handles the craft of writing with style. Shifts in character point of view work well, once the reader adjusts to them. The blend of family stories that Anna recalls, traditional tales that Boonah tells, and fictional narrative make the book intriguing. So does the list of unanswered questions at the end. Will Anna develop some kind of relationship with her mother? What about her live-in helper, Paulus?
Morning Light stops before we know, giving the story a real life ending. People wonder all the time what ever happened to someone they’ve known. The reader muses the same way on Anna Baum.
11/08 Reviewed by Kate Harrington, writer
KOGAN, KAREN
An Artful Deception
Karen Kogan
$23.95 Amazon
Lady Katherine wants no part of marriage to Phillip, to whom she has been pledged since childhood. But as her carriage takes her farther and farther from her girlhood home, she realizes she must either accept Phillip as her husband, or Cedric, the cousin she detests
When the carriage turns over on a rough road and her maid dies, Lady Katherine conceives a plan to avoid both Phillip and Cedric. She will pose as the maid until she can find her own husband But Phillip turns out to be handsome and much kinder than the bullyboy she remembers. Now what?
The absolutely delightful romance, An Artful Deception of course, by Farmington author Karen Cogan, published by Avalon Books.
The story twists and turns as romances do, while Lady Katherine struggles to clear up the misunderstanding she has created. With the help of a jealous servant, Cedric finds her and closes in. Phillip becomes furious when he discovers her true identity and threatens to let Cedric have her.
Predictably, Lady Katharine straightens out her mess, as good romance heroines do, but the fun of An Artful Deception comes from watching her do it. Karen Cogan has an easy-to-read style and a good sense of pacing. She balances action with just the right amount of description and dialog.
An Artful Deception is a light, cheerful, and totally fun read. It’s great for a winter night by the fire, or a warm beach in some mid-February vacation spot.
KOEHLER, JIM
Answers
Books for Pleasure, ISBN 155349075-4
$17.00, Canadian
An intriguing story that investigates a sixty-year-old plane crash in the Sandia Mountains as a son attempts to discover facts regarding the death of his father near the end of World War II.
Raised by a step-father and mother who wouldn’t discuss his biological father, Tom Olson hires an investigative historian to trace his father’s last days to determine why he was in the small military plane and what the mystery was that surrounded it.
The historian, living in Arizona, is assisted by a retired lawyer and a paramedic in Albuquerque who do the actual footwork and local probing into the long-ago accident. Their efforts lead them to discover that Tom’s father was a participant in secret activities centered around Los Alamos, New Mexico and war-related inventions.
Subsequently, Tom’s puzzling questions regarding his father are answered and he finds long-lost relatives he has never known.
The author fleshes out his novel with conversations and commentary relevant to New Mexico history and culture which give insight into our unique state.
7/09 Reviewed by Lola R. Eagle, author and poet
LOPEZ, KERMIT
Cibolero: A Novel
iUniverse, ISBN: 978-0595-43567-8 (pbk), ISBN: 978-0-595-87893-2 (ebk)
FINALIST 2008 NEW MEXICO BOOK AWARDS
Genealogical research often sparks the imagination. What are the stories and personalities behind those names and dates? Kermit Lopez used his research into his family’s four hundred year history in New Mexico to develop Cibolero: a Novel. The story focuses on Antonio Jose Baca, a nuevomexicano farmer forced to cope with the changes brought by the Americans to his homeland, especially after 1846 when the area became a United States territory.
Baca feels the impact of gringo intrusion into his world in many ways, but never more so than when a group of Texas Rangers kidnaps his daughter. As he tracks them across the Llano Estacado, the vast plateau east of the Sandia Mountains, his mind journeys back over his life and the changes he’s seen in New Mexico. The landscape brings back his experiences as a Cibolero, or buffalo hunter, tracking the large herds of buffalo roaming across the same countryside where he is now searching for his daughter. Baca was present at many key moments in New Mexico history. Among other memories, he recalls his childhood in Atrisco near the small town of Alburquerque, his life in Taos where he met and married his wife, the Taos Rebellion of 1847, and how his family’s land grant in Atrisco was stolen from him, which forced his family to move to the La Cuesta area in northern New Mexico.
Cibolero is a very personal account of New Mexico history as seen through the eyes of a nuevomexicano. The descriptions of the Ciboleros hunting buffalo with lances and mastering the llano are especially interesting since that is a little-known aspect of life in New Mexico. The narrative moves quickly – sometimes too quickly. The story is generally told in a direct manner and could use more detail and character development at times. The aspect of the book dealing with the daughter’s kidnapping adds excitement and a reason to return the farmer to the llano, but isn’t as compelling as the portions of the narrative that bring Baca’s past, and through him the history of New Mexico, to life.
One of the most fascinating aspects of this novel is the contrast of the Anglo and Hispanic cultures through their response to the land, and especially the llano. For the tejanos (Texans) the llano is ominous and undifferentiated and they quickly become lost. “The Llano Estacado was too large and mysterious to fathom. . . . the area was devoid of life or utility.” Baca is perfectly at home on the llano. He knows the terrain well and is able to easily navigate and find everything he needs to survive. “To Antonio, the llano was a mystical land that filled him with a sense of freedom.” After reading this book you will never travel across eastern New Mexico without imagining those herds of buffalo roaming across the llano and having a whole new response to the landscape yourself. Cibolero is a great read for anyone looking for an intimate account of New Mexico history from a Hispanic point of view.
10/2008 Reviewed by Lisa Kindrick, librarian
MANDELBAUM, JONNA LYNN K.
Unpredictable Crossing
OutskirtsPress, Inc. ISBN 978-1-4327-4024-5
We find Amanda, a character from Mandelbaum’s earlier book, Unspoken Farewell, at a later time in her life as she and her husband embark on a cruise vacation which will take them back to Portugal.
With mixed feelings about returning to a place with so many memories, fond and otherwise, Amanda is startled to discover a young woman working as a crew member on the ship, whom she had known briefly while she served as a nurse/missionary in Africa ten years before.
Tristi is the lone survivor of a massacre which totally obliterated her village during the war to gain freedom from Portugal. She had been sent to Amanda for help when she was just twelve years old by the freedom fighter who had been Amanda’s fiancé. Now she is panicked when she sees the person responsible for the devastation in her village, as he and his family board the ship.
Suspense builds during the weeks that follow as Amanda gets pulled into the drama unfolding on board the cruise ship, involving Tristi and the vicious former army captain.
This is another of Mandelbaum’s well-crafted stories, with an ending which seems to promise a sequel. I look forward to it.
October 2009 review by Lola R. Eagle, author and poet
MANDELBAUM, JONNA-LYNN K.
Unspoken Farewell
dog ear Publishing, ISBN 978-159858-543-8
Minor line editing glitches do little to detract from this well-written story of a young missionary woman posted to Mozambique in the 1960s. Autobiographical in content, it is written as a novel which only enhances the telling of her story.
The heroine, Amanda, is sent to Lisbon to study Portuguese for an assignment to a Methodist hospital in Mozambique in Africa. While there, she is dismayed to find that the secret police, the DGS, are always watching the missionary students, trying to discover if they are aiding the guerrilla fighters who are warring against Portuguese rule. Her visa is held up and she finally leaves without obtaining it, arriving at last at the Cachimbo Mission by a circuitous route.
Her time at Cachimbo Mission fulfills her dream of being a missionary nurse; however, although she loves her work and the people who befriend her, she is unexpectedly deported because of political machinations which in fact have little to do with her. After spending many months in another African venue, she is allowed to return to Cachimbo Mission. She finds herself becoming emotionally attached to a young African hospital worker, who is a member of the guerrilla fighters and who one day must leave or be arrested.
Although she and the young man keep in touch with letters routed through his parents, the terminal illness of her mother necessitates her return to the United States, and she returns the ring he had given her.
With highly descriptive, poetic writing, Mandelbaum draws the reader into the beauty of Africa, while realistically portraying the problems that plagued the missionaries and the Africans. I found this to be an absorbing read. A simple map of the area where the missions were in Africa would have added to the interest. I look forward to her next book.
6/09 Reviewed by Lola R. Eagle, author of From the Eye of an Eagle and Visions in Verse
NEW
MARTINEZ, MARIO
Converso
Gaon Books, ISBN 878-0-9820567-7-8
Converso is a small novel that packs a lot into a short space. There is Spanish history. There is New Mexico history. There is a love story. There is even a mystery. Traditions found in Northern New Mexico are part of the story. Sephardic (Spanish) Jewish traditions are expressed. There are mini life dramas.
The novel is based on Mr. Martinez’ family history. The main character is Abran Espinoza. His uncle discovers an ancestral journal that reveals that the family are conversos. So what is a converso? When Ferdinand and Isabella reunited Spain in 1492, Jews and Moslems were expelled from Spain. Many Jews converted or became conversos in order not to leave or suffer the consequences of the Inquisition. Some other words used for conversos have been marranos or crypto-Jews.
The family in the novel goes through major adjustments upon learning of their converso background. Abran’s pending wedding is in doubt. Uncle Moises is arguing with the new French priest. Another family reveals their converso history as well. Turmoil and confusion result.
Mr. Martinez does a wonderful job of bringing out many feelings common to converso families. He illustrates well the initial confusion and shock upon the discovery that you are not who you think you are. He brings out the terror felt because of the expulsion from Spain and the Inquisition. He exemplifies the double life that the families had to lead and their feelings of confusion and some shame that accompanies the discovery.
As a Jew from an Ashkenazi family who decided not to be Jewish upon arriving in America, I understand the feelings and confusions expressed in this novel. It is quite easy to read and can almost be read in one sitting. I found it informative, enjoyable and packed with feelings.
8/10 Reviewed by Georgia Roybal
Approaching Loss
$15.49
FINALIST 2008 NEW MEXICO BOOK AWARDS
What started off as a good story, with some exceptional writing in description of characters and places, slowly evolved into a book difficult to categorize.
At first I thought it was a romance, about marriage and divorce and finding oneself again. As chapters went by, however, I found myself becoming confused. Every other chapter seemed to shift into a whole new story. The protagonist was in each chapter, but different characters and different time frames were introduced, making it hard to follow a story line when the following chapter would revert to another place and time.
About halfway through the book, I decided the theme was alcoholism and how it fouls peoples’ lives. However, the writer then took us in another direction, and the plot seemed to be a murder mystery.
By the end of the book it finally was shown as a dark piece of fiction about alcoholism, marriage, infidelity, divorce, and murder. The punctuation and sentence structure suffered from poor copy editing, which often made it difficult to know who the characters were or who was talking. With a second reading, knowing how it ends, one is more able to follow the author’s convoluted plotting and is better able to appreciate the writing and the story.
9/08 Reviewed by Lola R. Eagle author of From The Eye of An Eagle
Medina-Sandoval, Isabelle
Guardians of Hidden Traditions
Guardians of Hidden Traditions by Isabelle Medina-Sandoval chronicles the story of New Mexico’s Crypto Jews, particularly women. They bore the responsibility of preserving the Jewish faith and passing it to their children in the face of the Inquisition. Medina-Sandoval begins the story in the 1300s when Spanish Jews, Christians, and Muslims lived in an atmosphere of tolerance. From there she discusses the rise of anti-Semitism, pogroms, particularly in Toledo, he question of what to do with people who converted to Christianity (conversos) and finally the expulsion of the Jews to the Americas.
The author draws upon her own family history, using her great-grandfather Medina’s 1894 journal as the basis of her research. Some of the characters she portrays are fictional. Others, such as Catalina Lopez, Catalina Romero, and Maria Paula Mascarenas are her grandmothers.
Guardians of Hidden Traditions includes detailed descriptions of Jews leaving Spain and life in Santa Fe once they got here. A picture emerges of how women used songs, rituals, prayers, foods, holy days, prayer shawls, altar cloths, and menorahs to preserve their faith and heritage as best they could, sometimes in dangerous situations.
Unfortunately, the book is not without problems. While interesting, some of the writing falls awkwardly onto the page. Phrases like “the aging old woman” or “in the light of the window the storage chest was filled with wheat” jolt the reader out of the story.
Guardians also lands somewhere between a novel with characters that grow and changes individuals, and an illustrated history using people to bring facts to life. The split is unsettling at times, giving the reader a feeling that the book can’t decide what it wants to be.
But overall, Guardians of Hidden Traditions is an interesting read. Medina-Sandovol includes a bibliography at the back for those wishing to further study crypto-Jews, and translations of some family songs and stories. Guardians of Hidden Treasures works both as the history of family and the story a group of people who helped settle New Mexico and have contributed much to it.
MILLER-ALLEN, MICHELLE
Journey from the Keep of Bones
20.00
Michelle Miller Allen’s Journey from the Keep of Bones, published by Amador Press, is a tough novel to describe. It blends modern main stream fiction, humor, the ancient Mezzo-American world view, Reincarnation, and New Age philosophy into a unique multilayered and quirky reading experience. Two Mezzo-American shamans and their mates agree to reunite in the future as members of the opposite sex. They do it in the modern singles world of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
In the process of letting them locate each other through a spiritual medium who calls herself Light, Michelle Miller Allen takes a gentle poke at New Age teachings, Yuppies, and the self delusion that can disguise flimsy sex affairs as solid relationships.
But while laughing, the author also examines change, love and peoples’ complex reactions to both. In a note at the end of the book she comments, “All we have to live by, to offer and to leave behind, are our complicated responses to each other, what we think it all means, and where it is taking us.”
That philosophy makes Journey from the Keep of Bones a read that requires imagination and alertness Ms. Miller Allen alternates chapters between the characters’ lives in present day Albuquerque and their lives hundreds of years ago in Mezzo-America. The reader must keep the two straight, or lose the thread of the story. The couples never quite realize who they once were, though they have subconscious inklings. That results in disequilibrium which the reader must accept in order to get through the plot. The author leaves the ending ambiguous, never saying what becomes of the reunited pairs. The reader must add his or her own imagination to the mix to sort that out.
The book has some weaknesses. The author makes a few references that are difficult to understand. Cats of all kinds wander through the book but don’t seem to connect to anything. They just hang around watching people. One of the shamans tries to swim a large body of water, which might be an ocean. Later he and his mate try again. It’s never clear why, in either case. Some of the dialogue goes on for lines and lines with no tags, making it easy to lose track of who is speaking. Then there’s Motorcycle Woman who leads the characters up endless paths more of distraction than importance.
Fortunately Michelle Miller Allen’s clear writing style and chapter organization guide the reader around most of these difficulties, leaving edgy questions as to what relationships are all about, instead of confusion at the end of the story. The reader can filter out the stuff that makes no sense and enjoy the parts that resonate. It would be interesting to discuss Journey from the Keep of Bones with other readers, and see if confusion and resonance differ for different people.
MONTOYA, CHERYL with illustrations by MONTOYA, JERRY
Three Dog Night: A New Mexico Cuento for Grown-ups
14.99
WINNER 2009 New Mexico Book Awards
A cuento is a story generally passed from generation to generation. This one just happens to be for adults as Juan the Coyote, his love Maria, the local cantina girl, and his cousin Manuelito get involved in a triangular relationship. Manuelito is a bad influence on Juan and talks him into stealing a Maria's rooster that’s expected to win the prize at the State Fair.
This is a fun story with charming illustrations that will make a nice gift to take home from New Mexico to the neighbors who watched your cat while you were gone or to give to your uncle that’s impossible to buy for at Christmas.
However, I do have some problems with the formatting of the book combined with the contents. At 8.5 inches square, it has the appearance of a children’s book. Yes, “Grown-ups” is boldly printed on the cover, but the formatting will guarantee that this book ends up mis-shelved in the children’s section of the library or picked up by a well-meaning grandparent unaware that the story contains adult situations and language.
Three Dog Night is a great book for its intended audience and will bring a lot of laughs to the right readers. It does the traditional cuentos proud.
7/09 Reviewed by Sabra Brown Steinsiek, author of Annie’s Song
Golden Enchantment
$14.95
New Mexico Territory, 1880, San Vicente Cienega (known as Silver City today). Charles Alexander is dead, murdered in an attempt to get his knowledge of a long-lost treasure in the unknown Oro Valley. With Charles gone, his eighteen-year-old daughter, Andrea, becomes the target when she returns from her schooling in New York to run the Flying A Ranch with the help of her dandified New York cousin, Clarence.
Enter the boy next-door, or at least as next-door as you get in the wide-open spaces of territorial New Mexico. Jake Houston who had left the Diamond C Ranch to join the Texas Rangers when Andrea, “Andy” was only a child. It’s no wonder she fails to recognize him as her childhood crush when he tumbles out of the saloon doors to land at her feet.
Andy, all grown up, captures Jake’s attention. If it weren’t for his parent-arranged, loveless engagement to the beautiful Seńorita Lupita Vega, he wouldn’t mind paying some serious attention to Andy.
It soon becomes clear that someone thinks that Andy holds the missing clue to the treasure. She’s determined to find it before her father’s murderer does and Jake is drawn into the pursuit of the Oro Valley gold while he fights off his feelings for Andy.
This is a fun read, rich in historical detail, with well-written characters that have a depth not always found in a romance. Add a glass of lemonade and a hammock, and this is the perfect read to while away an afternoon.
NEW
MORRELL, DAVID
Extreme Denial
Warner Books, ISBN 9780446519625
Few readers of suspense novels would need an introduction to David Morrell, author of such books as First Blood and The Brotherhood of the Rose.
In this novel, Morrell brings his protagonist, Steve Decker, to New Mexico. After years with the CIA, Decker is involved in a mission gone wrong in Italy in which innocent lives were lost. Although the fault for the fiasco was not Decker's, he decides he's had enough of the life he had been leading with the Agency. Based on something he sees on television, he moves to Santa Fe and establishes himself as a realtor. A year later he meets a woman calling herself Beth Dwyer, sells her a home next to his, and falls in love. From that point, his life is again caught up in intrigue, violence, and mayhem. His first thought is that terrorists have found him again and want to exact revenge for his part in the Italian tragedy. Subsequent events bring questions as to Beth's involvement, which leads him back to New York and hair-raising adventure before ending with a return to New Mexico and a shoot-out in the mountains north of Santa Fe.
Having perfected his writing through numerous prior books, this author relates a story that both thrills and fascinates, while capturing the essence of New Mexico in wonderfully descriptive prose that often borders on poetry. From Albuquerque to Madrid to Santa Fe, the reader gets a realistic mental view of the terrain, the inhabitants and the culture in wonderful detail.
I couldn't put the book down from start to finish.
8/10 Review by Lola R. Eagle, free-lance writer and poet
MULLIGAN, NEIL
Lost Letter
Booksurge.com, ISBN 978-1-4392-2636-0
A truly moving story about the last letter a World War II soldier writes to his wife, which is inadvertently lost in the mail and discovered sixty years later. It is delivered to his widow as she lies dying of cancer.
This story was especially nostalgic to me as someone who grew up during those war years, with a father in the army. I felt empathy, too, for the caretaker daughter, since I too cared for two loved ones who died in similar circumstances.
The widowed Maggie raises her daughter by herself and never remarries. The daughter, Mary, becomes a successful business woman. When Maggie nears her last weeks of life, Mary takes a leave of absence and brings her mother to her own home with home hospice care so that her last days will have her surrounded by some of her own things and Mary can always be with her.
With an intriguing cover, the book is well set-up and may very well be based on a true story. Professional editing could have tightened the writing to avoid awkward sentence structure and improper word usage, which would have resulted in a more perfect publication.
However, the author’s efforts showed great imagination and a knack for following a story down through the years.
I liked the story a lot. It took me back in time and brought me to tears at the end.
6/09 Reviewed by Lola R. Eagle, author and poet
Searching for Spring
The Naiad Press, Inc., ISBN 0-941483-00-2
$ 15.00
While sometimes disturbing, Searching for Spring is one woman’s journey from incest victim to emotionally whole survivor. Written with humor as well as gut wrenching honesty, Searching for Spring takes readers through the stages from traumatized child to confused adolescent to dysfunctional adult and finally to triumphant survivor. By the end of the book, the protagonist is finally able to confront her father the perpetrator, as well as her mother the enabler.
Searching for Spring explores the damage incest inflicts not just on the victim(s) but on later partners and children. Much of Searching for Spring explores the consequences of incest and other forms of sexual abuse among various members of the same family, in this case, 5 daughters and 2 sons, now all grown with families of their own. The 5 daughters shared different experiences of sexual abuse at home, while the sons learned abusive behavior from their father and replicate the pattern in their own lives with their own daughters. When the protagonist, Annie, gathers her adult sisters together to demand they all address the issues of incest and family dysfunction, the family splits between those who want to forget the incest happened and those who want to confront the perpetrators, both father and sons, and threaten legal action.
Much of the book details Annie’s experiences in an incest victims support / counseling group and the series of increasingly honest letters she pens to both her parents, especially her mother, demanding they acknowledge and explain their actions. There is little sense of vindication or resolution at the end of the book, just as there would be little in real life. Annie gets little of what she actually wanted from her family, but she does learn the primary lesson from her support group. The only person you can save is yourself.
Women (and men) who are victims of emotional, physical and sexual abuse but lack the means or ability to enter counseling may read Searching for Spring with profit and apply some of the counseling techniques to their own situations.
Although published over 20 years ago, Searching for Spring is still available through the author’s website (click on author’s name.) Proceeds from the sale of the book go to assist victims of sexual abuse.
Reviewed by Victoria Erhart
We Walk the Back of the Tiger
The Naiad Press, Inc. ISBN 0-941483-13-4
$8.95
When we first hear about Neil Norman, he is a grossly overweight 17-year-old boy who is physically and mentally abused by a demanding father. His mother stands by with ineffectual pleas for her husband to abstain from beating Neil. We feel sympathy for the boy.
However, all the abuse and resulting lack of self-worth push Neil into a path of drugs and acting-out fantasies until he becomes a woman-stalker, and eventually a killer. Our sympathy is replaced with shock at the callousness with which he chooses and disposes of his victims.
Cara Doherty and her lover, Marti McDavid, work with women’s advocate groups, and when several girls go missing from the university, Cara organizes rallies to provide information for women to protect themselves. Marti is one of Neil’s drug customers, but never suspects him as the killer.
With some graphic scenes of lesbian love, the relationship of Cara and Marti develops, is strained by incompatibility, then resolves into friendship.
Well-written (aside from frequent typos which may be attributed to the use of spell check which does not check whether a word is the proper one to be used), the story is engrossing and thought-provoking, reminding women to be very cautious when interacting with strangers.
I liked the “justice is served” ending. We’d like to see all such criminals get their just deserts with a little help from Fate.
Reviewed June 2009 by Lola R. Eagle, writer and poet
ORTEGO, SHEILA
The Road From La Cueva
$26.95 Amazon
WINNER 2008 NEW MEXICO BOOK AWARDS
This beautifully done novel pulls the reader along through the trials of a young mother, unhappy in her marriage yet reluctant to do anything about it. Her home is thirty miles out in an undeveloped area. She resents the inconvenience, her husband’s lack of respect for her, his obsessive controlling, and the fact that he hasn’t provided the home he promised.
Working as a lab technician in a Santa Fe hospital, she meets a male nurse who is attracted to her. She sneaks an affair into her life which goes on for some time, until her lover breaks it off because she won’t leave her husband, being afraid of a confrontation.
She then gives up her job at the hospital to avoid her estranged lover.
During this time she becomes friends with a fiercely independent Indian woman who lives alone in the same neighborhood. From this friendship she derives strength of her own and builds her independence, finally divorcing her husband and starting a new job and a new life.
After taking care of her friend through a terminal illness, she finds herself no longer afraid to face life. She decides to reconnect with her lover.
This is a well-written story with only occasional typographical errors, the most disconcerting of which was the use of hyphens in place of commas in many places which makes the reader stumble over the meaning of the phrase. However, all in all, well worth reading for its examination of a woman’s psyche and her spiritual growth.
12/08 Reviewed by Lola R. Eagle, author of From the Eye of an Eagle
