Greg Seeley's Blog, page 3
January 22, 2017
The Late Sooner - A heartwarming read
I recently had the pleasure of reading fellow Overland Park, Kansas author Sally Jadlow's "The Late Sooner". I have rated this book four stars and highly recommend it it to enthusiasts of American pioneer history. I have been inside of sod houses in museums but nothing I saw there seemed as vivid and real as Sally Jadlow's descriptions. Below is my review.
For anyone interested in the westward movement and the settlement of the Great Plains in the decades following the Civil War, Sally Jadlow’s novel, The Late Sooner, is a must read. Based on entries in a ledger kept by the Overland Park, Kansas author’s great-grandfather, this semi-fictional work is suitable for young readers and will appeal to baby boomers and beyond. Its message of the strength that comes from faith, family, community, and perseverance is truly inspirational. Poignant and heartfelt yet, at the same time joyful and uplifting, the work is a true pleasure to read.
Jadlow’s story follows Sanford Deering and his family, Missouri tenant farmers, as they seek to improve their lives by moving into the newly-opened Oklahoma Territory in the period following the great land rush. The hardships facing the family and sacrifices they must make seem unreal as they relate to our modern lives and totally realistic as the reader is pulled back into an unfamiliar time and place. Sadness, elation, courage, fear, hope, and despair - it’s all there in this superbly written journey into the past. In a very real way, the family becomes your own. I have read very few books that literally move me to tears. Parts of this one did. Willa Cather and Laura Ingalls Wilder have nothing on Sally Jadlow.
The Late Sooner is the first in series of Jadlow’s books. I look forward very much to reading the others.
For anyone interested in the westward movement and the settlement of the Great Plains in the decades following the Civil War, Sally Jadlow’s novel, The Late Sooner, is a must read. Based on entries in a ledger kept by the Overland Park, Kansas author’s great-grandfather, this semi-fictional work is suitable for young readers and will appeal to baby boomers and beyond. Its message of the strength that comes from faith, family, community, and perseverance is truly inspirational. Poignant and heartfelt yet, at the same time joyful and uplifting, the work is a true pleasure to read.
Jadlow’s story follows Sanford Deering and his family, Missouri tenant farmers, as they seek to improve their lives by moving into the newly-opened Oklahoma Territory in the period following the great land rush. The hardships facing the family and sacrifices they must make seem unreal as they relate to our modern lives and totally realistic as the reader is pulled back into an unfamiliar time and place. Sadness, elation, courage, fear, hope, and despair - it’s all there in this superbly written journey into the past. In a very real way, the family becomes your own. I have read very few books that literally move me to tears. Parts of this one did. Willa Cather and Laura Ingalls Wilder have nothing on Sally Jadlow.
The Late Sooner is the first in series of Jadlow’s books. I look forward very much to reading the others.
January 14, 2017
Hawkins' A Beckoning Hellfire - must read for Civil War buffs
The Civil War is within weeks of entering its third bloody year. At home in Alabama, David Summers learns of his father’s death in the horrific battle of Fredericksburg. Both deeply saddened and embittered, the seventeen year-old must make a decision beyond his years. He must decide whether to stay home and care for his widowed mother and his sisters or to go to war to avenge his father’s death.
After agonizing over this quandary, David begins a perilous and life-changing journey to find and join J.E.B. Stuart’s cavalry fighting in Virginia. We follow David’s journey along with that of his spirited horse, Renegade, as they travel from Huntsville northeastward by wagon, on trains, and on foot.
J.D.R. Hawkins A Beckoning Hellfire, is a dramatic and well-written coming-of-age novel. It follows the transformation of a naïve but well-intentioned boy into a battle-hardened veteran whose innocence began to leave him at the first news of his father, Hiram’s, death. Long-held religious beliefs are challenged along with his boyhood view of the world in general.
The time span covered by A Beckoning Hellfire is only six months. The fast-paced story moves quickly for the reader but must have felt much like a much longer time to the characters. There are genuine and moving segments showing depicting David’s home life prior to, and immediately upon receiving, “the news.” The dialogue and dialect are realistic and reflect genuine emotion. The story is told in third-person but could have as easily been written in first-person as David appears in nearly every scene.
Hawkins’ work is well–researched in its depiction of cavalry procedures and tactics as well as the life of the ordinary soldier caught up in a war that no one really wanted but all seemed powerless to prevent.
Though some segments of the novel appear tailored to a young-adult audience (not a criticism), this novel is not for the queasy or faint-of-heart. The story depicts in a graphic, but not gratuitous, manner the harsh realities of war. The reader accompanies David into hell-holes that served as army hospitals, well-intentioned but lacking the sanitation, skill, and technology afforded by modern field facilities. The gut-wrench continues as Hawkins describes in detail the grisly aftermath of the Battle of Chancellorsville and the brutal hand-to-hand cavalry battle Gettysburg.
I rate A Beckoning Hellfire a very solid four stars. I look forward to going back and reading Hawkins’ earlier work A Beautiful Glittering Lie and the sequel to ‘Hellfire’, A Rebel Among Us. Well done J.D.R. Congratulations.
After agonizing over this quandary, David begins a perilous and life-changing journey to find and join J.E.B. Stuart’s cavalry fighting in Virginia. We follow David’s journey along with that of his spirited horse, Renegade, as they travel from Huntsville northeastward by wagon, on trains, and on foot.
J.D.R. Hawkins A Beckoning Hellfire, is a dramatic and well-written coming-of-age novel. It follows the transformation of a naïve but well-intentioned boy into a battle-hardened veteran whose innocence began to leave him at the first news of his father, Hiram’s, death. Long-held religious beliefs are challenged along with his boyhood view of the world in general.
The time span covered by A Beckoning Hellfire is only six months. The fast-paced story moves quickly for the reader but must have felt much like a much longer time to the characters. There are genuine and moving segments showing depicting David’s home life prior to, and immediately upon receiving, “the news.” The dialogue and dialect are realistic and reflect genuine emotion. The story is told in third-person but could have as easily been written in first-person as David appears in nearly every scene.
Hawkins’ work is well–researched in its depiction of cavalry procedures and tactics as well as the life of the ordinary soldier caught up in a war that no one really wanted but all seemed powerless to prevent.
Though some segments of the novel appear tailored to a young-adult audience (not a criticism), this novel is not for the queasy or faint-of-heart. The story depicts in a graphic, but not gratuitous, manner the harsh realities of war. The reader accompanies David into hell-holes that served as army hospitals, well-intentioned but lacking the sanitation, skill, and technology afforded by modern field facilities. The gut-wrench continues as Hawkins describes in detail the grisly aftermath of the Battle of Chancellorsville and the brutal hand-to-hand cavalry battle Gettysburg.
I rate A Beckoning Hellfire a very solid four stars. I look forward to going back and reading Hawkins’ earlier work A Beautiful Glittering Lie and the sequel to ‘Hellfire’, A Rebel Among Us. Well done J.D.R. Congratulations.
January 10, 2017
Back to the Future - The Bully Puplit
I read Doris Kearns Goodwin’s The Bully Pulpit; Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism during the recent election season but purposely waited to “let the dust settle a bit” before writing my review.
I found Goodwin’s research to be impeccably done. Though I hold a master’s degree in history, the era covered in this book is one that, sadly, I have largely overlooked. That said, recent events demonstrate that history does, indeed, repeat itself sometimes in not-so-good ways. Though Goodwin wrote this book before the events of 2014-2016, the parallels to those events and those particularly from 1910-1912 are amazingly striking. Vicious smear campaigns, official corruption, strife over trade and tariffs, disputes over income inequality and corporate greed and power, political cronyism, and the role of the media in influencing voters – it’s all there. There is even the saga of a fractured Republican Party repeated in 2016, 104 years after the infamous rift between Roosevelt and Taft. 2016 could have been ripped from the headlines of 2012.
As I noted, the book is meticulously researched. My only complaint would be the inclusion of, perhaps, too much background with respect to the Taft and Roosevelt families. While I am aware of the importance of family background in shaping one’s life philosophy and world view, I found the book to be a little top-heavy in that respect. As I read the first 125-150 pages, I found myself drowning in detail to the extent that it became very difficult to focus on the larger picture. That made the read seem to drag as I tried to recall and sort out those details which might appear to be the most relevant later in the work. This gives me a bit of trepidation as I prepare, at some point, to begin tackling Goodwin’s Team of Rivals. The saving grace is that the period covered in that work has always held more interest for me.
With all of that in mind, the book is comprehensive and well-done, meriting serious attention. My suggestion would be to read a less-detailed history of the period first as well as other biographies of both Roosevelt and Taft.
I found Goodwin’s research to be impeccably done. Though I hold a master’s degree in history, the era covered in this book is one that, sadly, I have largely overlooked. That said, recent events demonstrate that history does, indeed, repeat itself sometimes in not-so-good ways. Though Goodwin wrote this book before the events of 2014-2016, the parallels to those events and those particularly from 1910-1912 are amazingly striking. Vicious smear campaigns, official corruption, strife over trade and tariffs, disputes over income inequality and corporate greed and power, political cronyism, and the role of the media in influencing voters – it’s all there. There is even the saga of a fractured Republican Party repeated in 2016, 104 years after the infamous rift between Roosevelt and Taft. 2016 could have been ripped from the headlines of 2012.
As I noted, the book is meticulously researched. My only complaint would be the inclusion of, perhaps, too much background with respect to the Taft and Roosevelt families. While I am aware of the importance of family background in shaping one’s life philosophy and world view, I found the book to be a little top-heavy in that respect. As I read the first 125-150 pages, I found myself drowning in detail to the extent that it became very difficult to focus on the larger picture. That made the read seem to drag as I tried to recall and sort out those details which might appear to be the most relevant later in the work. This gives me a bit of trepidation as I prepare, at some point, to begin tackling Goodwin’s Team of Rivals. The saving grace is that the period covered in that work has always held more interest for me.
With all of that in mind, the book is comprehensive and well-done, meriting serious attention. My suggestion would be to read a less-detailed history of the period first as well as other biographies of both Roosevelt and Taft.
January 2, 2017
Steve Malone's "Southing"
I just finished reading Steven Malone's new novel "Southing; Escape of the Rebels". Here is my review.
The Civil War is over. It has ended badly for the South. Facing the harsh realities of Reconstruction, and with the greater part of their livelihood destroyed, thousands of Confederates, both civilians and returning veterans have made a heart-wrenching decision. They will flee to Mexico or South America to attempt to rebuild their lives. Some are simply displaced members of a society that no longer exists. Others are alleged war criminals on the run from Federal troops. Against the background of this largely unreported chapter in American history, Steven Malone brings us his intriguing and action-filled novel Southing; Escape of the Rebels.
From diverse settings such as south-central Texas to New Orleans, Natchez, Galveston, and Matamoras, Mexico “fugitives” gather in an attempt to reunite their families and reach a ship that will help them to run the Yankee blockade. We again meet characters who first appeared in Malone’s earlier novel "Sideshow at Honey Creek" and are introduced to a new group of fleeing families.
The story is a bit difficult to follow in the beginning with the new characters and depiction of action in the various venues. Things, however, soon become much clearer as we become more familiar with the characters and their circumstances. Any early confusion quickly dissipates and the story is well-worth the journey as these diverse groups of characters begin to interact with each other. The action is hard-charging and does not let up.
As with Sideshow at Honey Creek, weather plays a key role – from soaking rain to the lung-choking heat and dust of Emperor Maximillian’s Mexico. So also do side characters such as Mexico’s rebel bands known as Jauristas, rogue bandits, and Maximillian’s occupying troops.
The story builds to a heart-pounding, and unexpected ending that will leave the reader both fulfilled and wanting more. I highly recommend this well-done sequel to "Sideshow at Honey Creek". It can be read as a stand-alone but I strongly recommend reading that novel first. I rate this book at solid, well-deserved four stars.
The Civil War is over. It has ended badly for the South. Facing the harsh realities of Reconstruction, and with the greater part of their livelihood destroyed, thousands of Confederates, both civilians and returning veterans have made a heart-wrenching decision. They will flee to Mexico or South America to attempt to rebuild their lives. Some are simply displaced members of a society that no longer exists. Others are alleged war criminals on the run from Federal troops. Against the background of this largely unreported chapter in American history, Steven Malone brings us his intriguing and action-filled novel Southing; Escape of the Rebels.
From diverse settings such as south-central Texas to New Orleans, Natchez, Galveston, and Matamoras, Mexico “fugitives” gather in an attempt to reunite their families and reach a ship that will help them to run the Yankee blockade. We again meet characters who first appeared in Malone’s earlier novel "Sideshow at Honey Creek" and are introduced to a new group of fleeing families.
The story is a bit difficult to follow in the beginning with the new characters and depiction of action in the various venues. Things, however, soon become much clearer as we become more familiar with the characters and their circumstances. Any early confusion quickly dissipates and the story is well-worth the journey as these diverse groups of characters begin to interact with each other. The action is hard-charging and does not let up.
As with Sideshow at Honey Creek, weather plays a key role – from soaking rain to the lung-choking heat and dust of Emperor Maximillian’s Mexico. So also do side characters such as Mexico’s rebel bands known as Jauristas, rogue bandits, and Maximillian’s occupying troops.
The story builds to a heart-pounding, and unexpected ending that will leave the reader both fulfilled and wanting more. I highly recommend this well-done sequel to "Sideshow at Honey Creek". It can be read as a stand-alone but I strongly recommend reading that novel first. I rate this book at solid, well-deserved four stars.
December 26, 2016
Author Interview
Wayne Turmel, Goodreads author of "Count of the Sahara" and "Acre's Bastard" has done me the honor of interviewing me in his blog regarding my new novel,"Henry's Pride". Here is the interview.
Family Letters Inspire Civil War Drama: Greg Seeley
Lately, my email has been filled with authors who’ve written Civil War dramas (henceforth to be referred to as Civil War 1.0, because I’ve got a bad feeling about this.) I’m a bit ambivalent about the time period, maybe because I’m Canadian and don’t really empathize too much with the South on this one. (I’ve heard all the arguments. Bite me.) At any rate, many of the authors have deep family connections to the event. Such a writer is Greg Seeley, whose new novel, “Henry’s Pride,” is here for your consideration.
greg-seeleyGreg Seeley was raised on a farm north of Afton, Iowa. He graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with a major in history and received his Master’s degree from the University of Iowa. He is a retired certified public accountant and lives in Overland Park, Kansas with his wife Carolyn, a retired math teacher. Henry’s Pride is Greg’s first novel. He is also the author of
a book verse entitled The Horse Lawyer and other Poems.
So what’s Henry’s Pride all about?
Henry’s Pride is a wide-sweeping novel of the Civil War told from the perspective of two families, one from Minnesota and the other from Georgia. Henry Hancock is a Minnesota tenant farmer who reluctantly but dutifully goes to war to save the Union. Darius Morgan, the son of a Georgia plantation owner eagerly enlists in the Confederate army to save what he considers to be his rightful legacy. Other characters, whose stories are interwoven include Hamilton Stark, the cowardly yet vicious overseer from the Morgan plantation and Adam Kendrick, a gentle but dutiful southern soldier, who must keep his anti-slavery sentiments hidden. Meet also Joshua Gibbons, a Union chaplain and Hosea Billings the vindictive captain of guards at a Federal prison camp.
The story is told through the usual means of narrative and dialogue but also through numerous letters written back and forth between the characters expressing their loneliness, fear, pride, and other emotions associated with what the title character calls “the nation’s nasty business”. The story also portrays the devastating effect of war on soldiers and families alike – wounds both physical and mental as the characters deal with battle injuries and with what is now called PTSD. There is Jonas Hancock, Henry’s brother, who is injured and mustered out early in the war but continuously deals with haunting memories. There is Henry himself, tormented by reminders of what he has had to see and do. Henry’s Pride is a war novel that, in sense, is also an anti-war novel. Characters on both sides examine themselves and must decide whether or not their respective country’s objectives are worth the sacrifices they and thousands of others are called upon to make. Henry’s Pride is not about generals and military strategy or troop movements. It’s about ordinary soldiers and families each trying to find their way through the “madness” that is the Civil War.
What inspired the story? Where’d your passion for the topic come from?front-cover-thumbnail
My great-grandfather, Ira Seeley, served with an Iowa regiment in the Civil War. When I was still in elementary school, my grandmother would sometimes bring out letters he had written home, show them to me, and read me some of them. After college, I took the same letters and carefully typed a transcript of each one exactly as written.
Many years later, after I retired as a CPA, I thought about trying to reconstruct all of the unsaved letters that my great-grandmother might have written to her soldier husband and mesh them with the transcribed letters. I soon determined the task to be nearly impossible given the time it would have taken for their letters to cross in the mail and the difficulty of determining which letters each would have received when writing to the other. At that point, I decided to write a novel of the period – a fictional account where I could weave into the story letters to and from my characters written in the style of the day.
What’s your favorite scene from the book?
I believe my favorite scene takes place after Henry Hancock has been mustered out of service and has returned home. The traumatized Henry, though of Methodist faith, seeks out a priest to take his confession and absolve him of the things he has had to do. The scene shows a certain depth of feeling shared even now by veterans of more recent wars. Though Henry was a hero of the Battle of Shiloh – even called ‘the Lion’ by his men, he is vulnerable. He is at the same time proud of his service to the country and guilt-ridden over the part he has played.
Where can people learn more about Henry’s Pride?
The book is available at Goodreads and as both an e-book and paperback edition at Amazon.com
Family Letters Inspire Civil War Drama: Greg Seeley
Lately, my email has been filled with authors who’ve written Civil War dramas (henceforth to be referred to as Civil War 1.0, because I’ve got a bad feeling about this.) I’m a bit ambivalent about the time period, maybe because I’m Canadian and don’t really empathize too much with the South on this one. (I’ve heard all the arguments. Bite me.) At any rate, many of the authors have deep family connections to the event. Such a writer is Greg Seeley, whose new novel, “Henry’s Pride,” is here for your consideration.
greg-seeleyGreg Seeley was raised on a farm north of Afton, Iowa. He graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with a major in history and received his Master’s degree from the University of Iowa. He is a retired certified public accountant and lives in Overland Park, Kansas with his wife Carolyn, a retired math teacher. Henry’s Pride is Greg’s first novel. He is also the author of
a book verse entitled The Horse Lawyer and other Poems.
So what’s Henry’s Pride all about?
Henry’s Pride is a wide-sweeping novel of the Civil War told from the perspective of two families, one from Minnesota and the other from Georgia. Henry Hancock is a Minnesota tenant farmer who reluctantly but dutifully goes to war to save the Union. Darius Morgan, the son of a Georgia plantation owner eagerly enlists in the Confederate army to save what he considers to be his rightful legacy. Other characters, whose stories are interwoven include Hamilton Stark, the cowardly yet vicious overseer from the Morgan plantation and Adam Kendrick, a gentle but dutiful southern soldier, who must keep his anti-slavery sentiments hidden. Meet also Joshua Gibbons, a Union chaplain and Hosea Billings the vindictive captain of guards at a Federal prison camp.
The story is told through the usual means of narrative and dialogue but also through numerous letters written back and forth between the characters expressing their loneliness, fear, pride, and other emotions associated with what the title character calls “the nation’s nasty business”. The story also portrays the devastating effect of war on soldiers and families alike – wounds both physical and mental as the characters deal with battle injuries and with what is now called PTSD. There is Jonas Hancock, Henry’s brother, who is injured and mustered out early in the war but continuously deals with haunting memories. There is Henry himself, tormented by reminders of what he has had to see and do. Henry’s Pride is a war novel that, in sense, is also an anti-war novel. Characters on both sides examine themselves and must decide whether or not their respective country’s objectives are worth the sacrifices they and thousands of others are called upon to make. Henry’s Pride is not about generals and military strategy or troop movements. It’s about ordinary soldiers and families each trying to find their way through the “madness” that is the Civil War.
What inspired the story? Where’d your passion for the topic come from?front-cover-thumbnail
My great-grandfather, Ira Seeley, served with an Iowa regiment in the Civil War. When I was still in elementary school, my grandmother would sometimes bring out letters he had written home, show them to me, and read me some of them. After college, I took the same letters and carefully typed a transcript of each one exactly as written.
Many years later, after I retired as a CPA, I thought about trying to reconstruct all of the unsaved letters that my great-grandmother might have written to her soldier husband and mesh them with the transcribed letters. I soon determined the task to be nearly impossible given the time it would have taken for their letters to cross in the mail and the difficulty of determining which letters each would have received when writing to the other. At that point, I decided to write a novel of the period – a fictional account where I could weave into the story letters to and from my characters written in the style of the day.
What’s your favorite scene from the book?
I believe my favorite scene takes place after Henry Hancock has been mustered out of service and has returned home. The traumatized Henry, though of Methodist faith, seeks out a priest to take his confession and absolve him of the things he has had to do. The scene shows a certain depth of feeling shared even now by veterans of more recent wars. Though Henry was a hero of the Battle of Shiloh – even called ‘the Lion’ by his men, he is vulnerable. He is at the same time proud of his service to the country and guilt-ridden over the part he has played.
Where can people learn more about Henry’s Pride?
The book is available at Goodreads and as both an e-book and paperback edition at Amazon.com
December 7, 2016
Free Preview - Henry's Pride
I have posted on Createspace a preview of my debut Civil War novel, Henry's Pride, which I released in October. The preview I posted is Chapter I. I encourage you to take advantage of the free preview that you can access at
Createspace.com/preview/1203861
I welcome any and all feedback (be as detailed as you wish). This will be helpful as I begin writing the sequel.
Thanks
Createspace.com/preview/1203861
I welcome any and all feedback (be as detailed as you wish). This will be helpful as I begin writing the sequel.
Thanks
October 11, 2016
Now available - Henry's Pride
I have now released in paperback and e-book my debut novel, Henry's Pride. Henry's Pride is a wide-sweeping novel of the Civil War told from the perspective of two families, one from Minnesota and the other from Georgia. Henry Hancock is a Minnesota tenant farmer who reluctantly but dutifully goes to war to save the Union. Darius Morgan, the son of a Georgia plantation owner eagerly enlists in the Confederate army to save what he considers to be his rightful legacy. Other characters, whose stories are interwoven include Hamilton Stark, the cowardly yet vicious overseer from the Morgan plantation and Adam Kendrick, a gentle but dutiful southern soldier, who must keep his anti-slavery sentiments hidden. Meet also Joshua Gibbons, a Union chaplain and Hosea Billings the vindictive captain of guards at a Federal prison camp. The story is told through the usual means of narrative and dialogue but also through numerous letters written back and forth between the characters expressing their loneliness, fear, pride, and other emotions associated with what the title character calls "the nation's nasty business". The story also portrays the devastating effect of war on soldiers and families alike - wounds both physical and mental as the characters deal with battle injuries and with what is now call PTSD. There is Jonas Hancock, Henry's brother, who is injured and mustered out early in the war but continuously deals with haunting memories. There is Henry himself, tormented by reminders of what he has had to see and do. Henry's Pride is a war novel that, in sense, is an anti-war novel. Characters on both sides examine themselves and must decide whether or not their respective Country's objectives are worth the sacrifices they and thousands of others are called upon to make. Henry's Pride is not about generals and military strategy or troop movements. It's about ordinary soldiers and families each trying to find their way through the "madness" that is the Civil War.
September 1, 2016
HENRY'S PRIDE
COMING FALL 2016
HENRY'S PRIDE
"In a time defined by unspeakable violence, there was extraordinary compassion. In a time of bitter hatred, love flourished. In a time of national shame, there existed uncommon courage and pride."
HENRY'S PRIDE
"In a time defined by unspeakable violence, there was extraordinary compassion. In a time of bitter hatred, love flourished. In a time of national shame, there existed uncommon courage and pride."
August 2, 2016
Henry's Pride
Coming Fall 2016, HENRY'S PRIDE
"Sometime, maybe not next year and maybe not in our lifetimes, someone will look back and try to figure out this madness. Perhaps they will be able to and perhaps not. For me, I have to try to make some sense of it now to help me get through it."
-Lieutenant Henry Hancock, Minnesota Infantry (Civil War), to Sgt. Leland Atlee
"Sometime, maybe not next year and maybe not in our lifetimes, someone will look back and try to figure out this madness. Perhaps they will be able to and perhaps not. For me, I have to try to make some sense of it now to help me get through it."
-Lieutenant Henry Hancock, Minnesota Infantry (Civil War), to Sgt. Leland Atlee
June 8, 2016
The Gingerbread Collection - Taste it!
Victor Davis, author of "Grains of Sand" delivers again with "The Gingerbread Collection". The book is a treat to be savored. Having read his first book, I took my time reading this superb collection of short stories, not because I wasn't tempted to just gobble it up, but because I wasn't anxious for it to end. I knew that, when I finished it, I would be hungry for more. That was indeed the case.
Davis shows, in this work, an amazing versatility in setting both tone and imagery. "Change" is a touching story based on a a simple event that would occur right in front of most people, disappear, and be entirely forgotten by the next day. This author takes the same seemingly non-occurrence and turns it into something truly special that lingers in the reader's memory long after the moment has passed.
The title story, Gingerbread, on the other hand, is a dark fantasy based on a children's fairy tale but with a new, unexpected (and, yes, bizarre) twist at every change of scene. It reads like a combination of Stephen King and Alfred Hitchcock. The reader knows it's a fantasy but, at the same time, it feels amazingly real. As the "hero" was runs from place to place, the reader feels the sensation of tired and heavy legs, nearly paralyzed with both fatigue and fear.
"A Night at the Lake" feels more like pure Hitchcock. Since there is no "fantasy" one senses that the events depicted could happen to normal people on a normal outing. The "fear quotient" rises accordingly. As one who has spent many evenings at the lake, the story made me feel indeed fortunate to spend my nights in a house rather than camping out.
Well done,Victor Davis. This is another must read that will indeed leave readers wanting another taste.
Reviewd by Greg Seeley, author of "The Horse Lawyer and Other Poems"
Davis shows, in this work, an amazing versatility in setting both tone and imagery. "Change" is a touching story based on a a simple event that would occur right in front of most people, disappear, and be entirely forgotten by the next day. This author takes the same seemingly non-occurrence and turns it into something truly special that lingers in the reader's memory long after the moment has passed.
The title story, Gingerbread, on the other hand, is a dark fantasy based on a children's fairy tale but with a new, unexpected (and, yes, bizarre) twist at every change of scene. It reads like a combination of Stephen King and Alfred Hitchcock. The reader knows it's a fantasy but, at the same time, it feels amazingly real. As the "hero" was runs from place to place, the reader feels the sensation of tired and heavy legs, nearly paralyzed with both fatigue and fear.
"A Night at the Lake" feels more like pure Hitchcock. Since there is no "fantasy" one senses that the events depicted could happen to normal people on a normal outing. The "fear quotient" rises accordingly. As one who has spent many evenings at the lake, the story made me feel indeed fortunate to spend my nights in a house rather than camping out.
Well done,Victor Davis. This is another must read that will indeed leave readers wanting another taste.
Reviewd by Greg Seeley, author of "The Horse Lawyer and Other Poems"
