Rusty Gallows: Passages Against Hate --by Dee Allen

 Nonfiction / poetry

Vagabond

February 1, 2022

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1936293471

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1936293476

116 pages

Print Price: $18.50

5 Stars

 

Dee Allen is a passionate man, and these are passionate poems. The rusty gallows is real. It is an old iron bridge in Shubata, Mississippi from which people were hung and left dangling.

 

Via the marvels of Zoom, I have been honored to see and hear Mr. Allen read some of his poetry, and some from this book. I wish he’d record a CD to go along with it. As I read these words, I heard his voice, which added to the power of the poems.

 

“Doctrine,” the first poem sets the tone, and explains what we find on the next pages, with lines like, “If you’re not…/You are the enemy.” I have a new understanding and empathy of what it meant and still means to grow up black in Amerikkka. And, yes, it’s spelled that way for a reason.

 

This is not a book to skim through. It is a book to read slowly, to chew the words, swallow them, digest them, let them become a part of you. It is a book English teachers throughout the country should read with their classes, discuss the poems, learn a different angle of history than what they think they know. Learn some empathy for people other than whites (who aren’t as white as they think they are).

 

It is not necessarily an easy read, at times it is downright difficult, but it is a necessary read, and one that everyone in the country should read. After all, we all of us are a minimum of 3% to 4% black.

Incidental Moments—by Mark Fleisher

 Nonfiction / poetry

Mercury HeartLink

February 14, 2022

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1949652181

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1949652185

112 pages

Print Price: $18.00

5 Stars

 

I am always amazed at Mr. Fleisher’s depth of language usage. I have read and enjoyed his book, Intersections, and am proud to place this book, Incidental Moments on the shelf next to it.

 

From the first poem, “Morning Welcome,” to the last poem, “The Fallen,” we are granted access to incidental moments, snap shots if you will, of his life. Morning Welcome with, “...the itinerant canary / but not muffling its birdsong /welcoming the morning / with unscheduled delight.” If I had an itinerant canary to sing to me, I might learn to love mornings.

 

Fleisher has poems that range from “Let it Rain” (he lives in the high desert of New Mexico) to “More than a Few” that begins, “Eight minutes, forty-seconds” and ends that poem with, “The acts of a few bad apples? // More than a few… / so many, so blatant, so common, / enough to turn the entire bushel rotten.”

 

Many of his poems are tributes to life, from “Moon Shot” to “Wonderment,” and a child’s innocent wonder and joy at a special discovery. His final poem is a tribute to “The Fallen.” A Vietnam veteran, he brings special meaning to this poem. It is sad, but powerful, and a good poem to end the book. It will make you think. 

 

This is a powerful book, with delightful moments of tenderness and joy, as well as a few times when tissue and tears are appropriate. It’s a book I will read again, and then again.

The Admiral's Wife --by M. K. Tod

 Fiction / Historical / Mystery / Love

Heath Street Publishing

April 12, 2022

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09XRCKX7F

844 KB

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0991967070

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0991967070

384 Pages

Print Price: $16.99

5 Stars

 

I knew I was in for several treats when I opened this book. M. K. Tod is one of my favorite writers of historical fiction. And she wrote about one of my favorite countries—Hong Kong, China. I feel like I’ve been there, way back and modern.

 

I found the characters to be quite believable. In fact, I’m sure I know some of them! They just have different names. ;-)

 

Ms. Tod invites me into her novels and by the time I finish them, I feel like I was there. I not only have an emotional tie to her characters, I feel like I have had a vacation to a new and fascinating country.

 

This is one of those books where you really ought to consider checking in to a nice hotel with room service and read at your undisturbed leisure! Read it slow, absorb it, revel in two different times of one exotic world. Enjoy that mini vacation to the max. 

Giveth and Taketh --by Rota

 Nonfiction / Poetry - chapbook

Wild Pressed Books Ltd.

May 17, 2020

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1916489699

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1916489691

32 pages, 11 poems

Print price Amazon $12.04

5 Stars

 

I recently saw Rota read one poem at a reading, and had his book ordered almost by the time he finished. Yes, I was that impressed. I have now read all the poems in this chapbook, and I am even more impressed. 

 

Rota speaks of the Jewish condition. He does so with pathos, with humor, with honesty, and makes almost wish I was Jewish.

 

From the opening (prose) poem, “To the man at the waspy dinner party who told me I’d go to Hell (if I didn’t embrace Jesus)”to the closing (prose) poem, “From the protest” I was not just in his thrall, I am once again in literary lust!

 

With the exception of the two book-end poems above, all are narrative free verse, and they will blow your socks off! Rota takes us on an emotional roller coaster ride. From anger to sadness to humor. Especially in Midrash where the part of Job is played by Rota’s Jewish grandmother. I can see her. I can hear her. I can laugh with her.

Crowbones --by Anne Bishop

 Fiction / Urban Fantasy

Ace

March 8, 2022

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B096WYLSW2

ISBN ‏ : ‎ 9780593337332

363 pages

Kindle price: $14.99

Print price: $28.00

5 Stars

 

I have now read all the books in The World of the Others series, and I truly hope there are more. Ms. Bishop is a master world builder, and all the worlds she’s built that I’ve had the pleasure of journeying through are wonderful. But the World of the Others is my favorite. Well, unless I’m reading the Black Jewels books, and then…

 

I won’t repeat any type of a synopsis, there are over 2,000 reviewers before me, and I’m more than sure most contain story lines. Suffice it for me to say that the writing is engaging, the characters are more real and alive than some people I know. And definitely more fun to spend an afternoon or evening with. ;-)

 

I think these books would be appropriate for teens of any age. The one thing I heartily recommend is when you get one of Ms. Bishop’s books, you check into a nice hotel with room service, tell everyone you’re on a trip out town (that’s not a lie, you will be in another universe!), call room service when needed, and enjoy the book. If you’re married, you may tell your spouse where you are, but not your kids, they’ll want to come, too, and you’ll get no reading done.

 

Other Anne Bishop books I’ve read and reviewed:

http://lenoragood.blogspot.com/search?q=anne+bishop

Water Chasing Water by Koon Woon

 Nonfiction / Poetry

Kaya Press (Muse Publishing, Inc.)

Paperback

March 31, 2013

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1885030495

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1885030498

152 pages

$11.83 at time of this review

5 Stars

 

The poems in this book bring us into the conversation about what is, what isn’t, and what was. Mr. Woon is open about his mental illness, and the poems in which he discusses it are a marvelous insight.

 

All of his poems are very good, readable, accessible, and some will blow your socks off. His untitled poem about coffee is outstanding, “Perhaps it is not needed to look beyond coffee as coffee.”

 

We learn about his family, about him, about the Chinese diaspora in this country. If you are moved by poetry, you will definitely be moved by these poems. There is humor enough to smile and laugh, and pathos to make you sad, and perhaps cry. These poems contain life as lived by a sensitive poet.

 

And, an added bonus, the art by Sean Chao, is great fun. 

My Viking Vampire: A vampire fated mate fantasy romance (Sanctuary, Texas Book 1 of 7) —by Krystal Shannan

 

Fiction / Paranormal Romance

KS Publishing

August 25, 2014

Kindle

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00MR4DKGS

237 pages

$0.00 (at time of review)

5 Stars

 

This is not a book for someone who doesn’t want to read about the shiny pink parts. But if you don’t mind that, this book is a romp!

 

This is pure brain candy. No calories, great taste and fun. The protagonists are a human woman who has been terribly mistreated and a 1,000-year-old Viking vampire. And, of course, she beautiful, and he’s a hunk. The characters are fun—siren, dragon, werewolf, vampire, pixie, and that’s just a sampling.

 

Though this is book one of seven, it is a complete book, and I’m guessing the rest of the series will show off one of the minor characters in this book, and the protagonists of this book will become minor, supporting characters in the other books.

 

I must admit, I rather like her take on Texas. And I’m wonderfully intrigued by Sanctuary!