"Sara" by Greg Herren

I've read and enjoyed a number of Greg Herren's novels, mostly his Chanse McLeod and Scotty Bradley mysteries (and some of his pseudonymous ones), but this is the first of his YA novels I've tried.  I really enjoyed it because he did such a masterful job of setting up my expectations, and then knocking them completely apart.

Having not read the description of the book, I was prepared for it to be a typical story about the changes to a high school's social dynamic caused when one of the popular jocks comes out of the closet over the summer.

And that was basically how the book started.  "Sara" seemed to be  a fairly typical coming out story about Tony, a high school football player, and his best friend Glenn, the one who comes out of the closet after he starts dating a lifeguard over the summer.  It has the requisite bullying by some of the less evolved, and more religious jocks (and of course, some people turn out to be supportive).

All in all, fairly standard.  Then Sara, a mysterious stranger, comes into the picture and immediately sets her sights on Glenn.

Okay, so at this point it looked like the book was going to turn out to be a little more like "Fatal Attraction," and Sara was going to try out to be someone who wouldn't take no for an answer, despite Glenn's being gay.  Maybe she was going to be a psycho that Tony would have to save Glenn from, and boom, Glenn and Tony would be together happily ever after.

But that wasn't where the story was going either.

Glenn seems just a smitten with Sara, which is of course surprising, and somewhat disturbing to his friends, because he's just come out.  Then the people who were bullying Glenn start dying.  And the book takes a supernatural turn.

Just who or what is Sara really?  That is the question that Tony has to answer before Sara decides he's a threat to Glenn, too.

I really enjoyed all the twists and turns, and constantly being surprised when Herren would suddenly mix things up and throw in some huge surprises.  I was also not prepared for the ending to be as dark as it was.  Usually these types of books have much happier endings, and while this one was appropriate for a horror/mystery type novel, it was a surprise for a YA one.

The characters were well written, and I think Herren was especially adept with Tony's desire to be supportive for Glenn, while still being taken aback by his best friend's sexuality (and what it could imply about his sexuality as well).  While Tony clearly loves Glenn like a brother, this new side of Glenn does pose a problem for him, one that he feels very guilty about.

My one complaint about "Sara" is that Herren tips his hand about which character Tony will end up dating (I won't give it away here).  When the final confrontation happened, it was fairly clear which love interest would survive (and therefore, which one would die).  But there were enough surprises left in that final confrontation that I didn't mind.

I'm looking forward to reading some of Herren's other YA novels in the future (and I hope there is more coming up in his other series as well).

"Young and Horny: 10 Gay Erotic Short Stories" by Matthew Rettenmund

I read and really enjoyed Matthew Rettenmund's novels "Boy Culture" and "Blind Items: A (Love) Story."  I also follow his blog, BoyCulture.  So when he mentioned that he had put together a book of gay erotica, "Young and Horny: 10 Gay Erotic Short Stories," and was selling it on Amazon for under $1, I decided to check it out.

All but one of the stories are male/male pairings (the final one is female/female).  They are stories that Rettenmund wrote (and in many cases, published in gay magazines and anthologies) in the '90s.

The stories are pretty much what you want from erotica - hot, sexy, short - though Rettenmund is a better writer than many who are currently publishing erotica on Amazon, and he has a really good sense of humor that shines through in some of the stories.

If your tastes run more toward the written word than the downloaded movie clip, "Young and Horny" has a good collection of stories for you.  I will admit that it probably wasn't the best choice for subway reading, but when you only have a limited number of minutes a day when you can read, you do what you have to.

If you've read Rettenmund's blog or previous novels (or have seen Q. Allan Brocka's film adaptation of "Boy Culture"), I suggest checking out this book.  Plus, it's kind of interesting to peek inside an author's head and see what he thinks is hot.










And here's a link to the Boy Culture movie.

New purchase - "Bitter Eden" by Tatamkhulu Afrika

I just read a couple of reviews of "Bitter Eden," a novel about an Allied soldier captured in North Africa and his experiences in the Italian and German POW camps.  It focuses on the relationships and bonding that occurs between the men, in what is, of course, and all-male environment.  The book was published in England, and is just now making it to the US.

Sounds like an interesting novel, though some reviewers find it over-wrought and melodramatic.

We'll see.  Personally, I don't really mind a little melodrama, as long as it is well written.  And while I'm not a fan of over-wrought emotion in plays, I don't mind it as much in books.

"Make Room! Make Room!" by Harry Harrison

"It's people!  Soylent green is made out of people."

Well, not in the original novel.

Harry Harrison's "Make Room! Make Room!" may be the basis of "Soylent Green," but it has a number of significant differences.  Soylent is just a high protein meat substitute.  Det. Rusch's elderly roommate isn't euthanized in a death room while classical music plays and bucolic nature scenes are projected on the walls.  An evil corporation isn't trying to keep itself rich at the expense of the poor.

In Harrison's book, it's 1999. The population of NYC has grown to 35 million, most of it poor and unemployed.  People live in squalor.  There is little or no infrastructure left - no subways, iffy water supply - and most of America has been poisoned or swallowed by a dust bowl caused by global warming.

The main plot deals with a murder of a rich criminal, Det. Rusch's investigation of his death, and his relationship with Shirl, the criminal's girlfriend.  But the really interesting part of the book is the dystopian future and the fact that this book is so blatantly pro-abortion (it was written in '66, 7 years before Roe v. Wade).

This was an amazingly good read, one that I nearly passed up because I was expecting, well, Charlton Heston.  It's a more nuanced book than I expected, and from what I've read, a real departure from Harrison's normal writing (darker, less humorous). Now I want to go read the Stainless Steel Rat books and see what they're like.

I'm also glad I read this while living in New York.  I love reading books set here (especially Lawrence Block's various series), because I like to see how many of the places I know and how true the story seems to be to the location.  Harrison's book was great, because it was so easy to picture.  Spend a couple of hours in Times Square and it's easy to pretend that we live in a city of 35 million people (and half of them are dressed like Elmo).

The book was bleak and the ending was pretty much what I expected.  Not a bang, but a whimper.  And one that Harrison was hoping to warn us away from.

John W. Campbell's "Who Goes There?"

I love a good monster story, and John W. Campbell's "Who Goes There?" is a really good monster story.  The novella is the basis for the movies "The Thing from Another World" (1957), "The Thing" (1982) and "The Thing" (2011).

I loved the 1982 version.  Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley (back before his dia-beet-us days), and Donald Moffatt (who had one of the best lines in the movie).

The book was surprisingly good, especially considering it was written in 1938.

"Who Goes There?" tells the story of a group of scientists at a remote Antarctic station who discover a disabled spaceship frozen in the ice and recover a vicious-looking, red-eyed alien from the crash site.

Over the dire warnings of one of the scientists, they decide to thaw it out.  Well, you can pretty much guess what happens next.  Lots of blood and death.

The alien can dissolve living tissue and absorb it, then become a new version of the person or animal that it absorbed.  And as it accumulates more mass, it can become more things - sled dogs, cows, people.  Left unchecked, it could replace all life on Earth.

The scientists defeat the creature in the end, just as it was about to use its advanced technology to escape the base.

I really enjoyed this one.  Clever, well-written, and just the right length.  The pacing was fast and suspenseful.  Just a really good read.

When doing some background research on the book, I came across a short story written by Peter Watts that takes Campbell's premise, and retells it from the monster's point of view.  Very clever, and a remarkably good read itself.  I suggest reading both.  Watt's story, "The Things," is available online at the Clarkesworld Magazine site.

I checked out Peter Watts' website, and am very impressed.  First, it's a cool design.  And even better, many of his novels and short stories are available to download for free.  I love authors (and musicians and artists…) who do that.  Getting to know them and their writing through free downloads makes me more likely to purchase their work.  Once I'm hooked, I'm hooked.

Found books - "The Power of Now," "Juicing for Life," and "Emotional Cuisine"

In the lobby of my building, there is a small table that has become, much to our landlord's dismay, ground zero in a building-wide swap meet.  Anytime someone has an item that they no longer want, it gets put on that table.  Sure it can look a little junky at times - recently one of our neighbors put four bags of clothes and one bag of shoes - but it's a great way to get rid of stuff that you no longer need, but still has some life left in it.

I've gotten some great scores there - some lovely scarves that I'm going to give to my niece for her birthday, some kitchen utensils, and a few hundred dollars worth of Waterford crystal wine glasses (seriously, who throws those away!?).

But mostly, I get books.

The latest ones are "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle, "Juicing for Life" by Cherie Calbom and Maureen Keane, and "Emotional Cuisine" a book and accompanying CD by Marriott Marquis chefs Armando Monterroso and Steve Evetts (the book is signed by both chefs and features stunning photos of their creations).

The goal for the books that I get from the swap table is to read them, then pass them on (though I'll keep the signed one).  "The Power of Now" will probably go to my mom, who is really into these kinds of books right now, for whatever reason.  "Juicing for Life" will go to my trainer, who collects any kind of nutrition books that he can.

All in all, not a bad haul.  I'm especially looking forward to the Eckhart Tolle book.  I've never read any of his books, but good Lord, you can't help but see tons of his quotes on Facebook.






There is no Amazon link for "Emotional Cuisine," but here is  a great article on the travel site LandLopers that talks about the book and has a few of the amazing recipes.

New purchase - "Daily Rituals: How Artists Work" by Mason Currey

Today's purchase.  I read an article about the daily habits of a number of artists that was pulled from this book.  Sounded like a good (and hopefully inspirational) read.  Here's the review from The Guardian.  I don't know when I'll get around to reading this book, but I look forward to it.

DCW "Bar Full of Poets" on Thursday, April 17th

Drunken! Careening! Writers! 

"Bar Full of Poets"

Featuring:

Guillermo Filice Castro 

Ron Drummond 

Carol Rosenfeld
with your hostess, Kathleen Warnock

Guillermo Filice Castro is a recipient of the 2013 "Emerge-Surface-Be" fellowship from the Poetry Project. His work appears in journals such as Assaracus, Barrow Street, The Bellevue Literary Review, The Brooklyn Rail, Court Green, Fogged Clarity, Hinchas de Poesia, LaFovea.org, Quarterly West, among others, as well as the anthologies Rabbit Ears, Flicker and Spark, Divining Divas, Saints of Hysteria, and more. His translations of Olga Orozco, in collaboration with Ron Drummond, are featured in Guernica, Terra Incognita, U.S. Latino Review, and Visions. In 2012 he was a finalist for the Andrés Montoya prize.

Ron Drummond's first collection of poems is the prize-winning Why I Kick at Night. His poetry also appears in the Penguin textbook Literature as Meaning, and in the anthologies Poetry Nation, Poetry After 9/11, This New Breed, and Saints of Hysteria. His translations, in collaboration with the talented and muy guapo Guillermo Filice Castro, have appeared in U.S. Latino Review, Terra Incognita and Guernica. He has been awarded fellowships from Ragdale, VCCA, and Blue Mountain Center, and is a member of the Macondo Writers Workshop. Ron received honorable mention for the latest Pushcart Prize and has poems forthcoming in DUCTS and Ocean State Review.

Carol Rosenfeld is excited and proud that the fabulous team at Bywater Books will publish her novel, The One that Got Away, in spring/summer 2015. “Not too shabby for a 60-year old New York City-based writer and poet. Now when people annoy me I (silently) think, ‘F—k you, I’m having a novel published.’ It helps! I blog occasionally at http://crosenyc.wordpress.com./”

Drunken! Careening! Writers! is a reading series based on the proposition that all readings should be by: 1) Good Writers; 2) Who read their work well; 3) Something in it makes people laugh (nervous laughter counts).

...and 15 minutes tops.

Careening since 2004!

For more info: careeningwriters@aol.com

KGB Bar

85 E. 4th Street

Thursday, April 17th

7:00-8:30 PM

Reading - Michael Nava, Tim Seibles and Janlori Goldman

I'm a huge fan of Michael Nava's Henry Rios mysteries, and can't wait for the opportunity to hear him read from his new novel, City of Palaces.  I am not familiar with poets Tim Seibles or Janlori Goldman, but look forward to hearing their work.

More info at Bloomreadings.org.

For more info on the authors, visit Michael Nava's Amazon page, Tim Seibles' Amazon page and Janlori Goldman's YouTube channel.

John Wyndham's "The Midwich Cuckoos"

While I was familiar with the screen versions of "Village of the Damned" (I haven't seen the original in its entirety, but I did see the fairly awful John Carpenter version from the mid-'90s), I didn't realize they were based on a John Wyndham book "The Midwich Cuckoos."

I read the book this week, and frankly thought it was not very good.  The concept of the story was interesting - an entire English village goes unconscious for a day, and anyone who tries to enter the village passes out as well.  Photos taken from above the village show some sort of UFO... or I suppose a UO, since it isn't actually flying, just sitting on the ground.  When the UO disappears (presumably becoming a UFO at that point), the town wakes up.  A few weeks later, all the women of childbearing age find out they are pregnant.

What spins out is a pretty standard invasion story (though not, I suppose, for the time in which it was written, the late '50s).  The children begin to show signs of being parts of a greater alien entity, they look all look alike, they have powers of mind control, etc.  When hurt, they lash out with extreme violence toward the people who hurt them, and eventually hold the village hostage.

It is discovered that this happened in a number of places around the world, and that each society acted against the children in a different way.

The book deals with the philosophical questions behind dealing with the unknown and alien, and whether a modern, democratic society can adequately combat a genuine threat like an alien invasion.

And that's the downfall of the book for me.  It is basically set up as a memoir, with one character Richard Gayford writing his reminiscences of the Midwich affair.  This leads to a fairly dry narrative in which events are described by the narrator, rather than experienced by the reader.  And the philosophical discussions, while interesting, brought what little action was in the book to a screeching halt.

I did like the idea of an alien made up of individuals with a group mind, and the children who were born through xenogenesis (with the biological mother really being little more than a host, and not sharing any genetic link with the offspring).  But overall, the book didn't really do much for me.


The Midwich Cuckoos (RosettaBooks into Film)

John Leguizamo's "Pimps, Hos, Playa Hatas, and All the Rest of My Hollywood Friends: My Life"

Today's purchase.  Currently on sale at Amazon for $1.99 (Kindle edition).

I've seen a couple of Leguizamo's shows on Broadway and really enjoyed them.  His stories are hilarious, and he is such a manic performer.  It's incredible to see how much energy he puts into his performances.  I'm looking forward to seeing if his humor works as well in book form.



Pimps, Hos, Playa Hatas, and All the Rest of My Hollywood Friends: My Life

Here are his Broadway shows I've seen.  I hope he decides to bring another show to Broadway soon.

Spic-O-Rama : A Dysfunctional Comedy

Medieval cooking - British Museum Cookbook, The Forme of Cury, and mujadara

On a recent trip home, my mother gave me a cookbook to bring back to New York with me.  It was one I bought for her in the late '80s during a trip to London, the British Museum Cookbook.  It's full of modern recreations of recipes from various points in human history.



This got me searching online for a variety of other cool cookbooks and recipes from ancient history.  Tonight I'm making a traditional Middle Eastern lentil and rice stew called mujadara.  The recipe is courtesy of the New York Times.  According to tradition, this is the stew that Esau sold his birthright to his brother Jacob for.  We'll see if it's that good.

While cruising the cooking sites, I found a great one that has modern versions of The Forme of Cury, a cookbook from late 14th century England.  I'm looking forward to trying some of these recipes in the future.

Here is the mujadara.  It is amazing!

The Singer, The Song and The Finale - Three Books by Calvin Miller

When I was in high school, I was very active in my church.  Choir, bell choir, high school fellowship group, etc.  Choir tours in the U.S. and Europe.  Bell choir competitions.  Lock-ins and youth suppers at church.  Great memories.

One year our choir director Tom decided to adapt Calvin Miller's The Singer, a poetic allegory based on the life of Jesus, into a musical.  I remember the show being good (but then, I remember all of our shows being good, so…).  But I was so impressed by The Singer (the book), that I bought the two companion books, The Song (based on Acts) and The Finale (based on the Book of Revelation).

I loved the books, and while I imagine I would roll my eyes today at some of the purple prose, I held onto them for 30-some-odd years.  Now that I have to downsize, I'm sending them off to Goodwill.

I suppose that should the desire to read them ever hit again, I can buy them on Kindle, but I really like the feel of these books.  First, the books measure 4" x 8.5".  Most paperbacks, at least the mass-market ones, are more like 4.25" x 7", so this one is taller and narrower.  Looks good on a shelf.

Then there was the artwork by the late Joe DeVelasco.  There is something about his drawings that just screams 1970s, and I don't mean that pejoratively.  They have a look that was so popular back then, especially in the fantasy book market (and D&D circles), and they inspire a feeling of fond nostalgia.

Here are the covers of the books.

The Singer

The Song

The Finale

De Velasco's drawings are inside each book, as well.

My memories of these books are, of course, tightly bound to the musical.  Remembering my friends playing the various roles (Joel as The Singer, Pete as The World-Hater, and Carrie as The Friendship Seller are the ones that I remember), the songs we sang (I don't think any of the songs were written specifically for the show… in fact, I'm fairly certain we used Magic to Do from Pippin, and several worship songs written by our choir director), and putting the show together.  Since I wasn't active in theatre at school (I was a band geek), these church performances really fostered my love of theatre.

This was some of my first exposure to real choreography (a choreographer named Carolyn volunteered with us and came up with some pretty cool dance numbers… I remember learning the term Fosse Hands from her, without having any clue who Fosse was).

It was great fun, and I really do miss those times quite a bit.  I'm happy to have reconnected with many of my friends from those days thanks to Facebook.  Truly hard to believe that it has been 30 years.

Well, if you are so inclined, here is a link to the latest edition of The Singer, The Song and The Finale, all now included in one volume, and as near as I can tell, without De Velasco's artwork.

More new books - John Lithgow and Agatha Christie

Even as I get rid of books, I can't help but buy more.  But all my purchases recently have been for my Kindle.  Here are the latest ones.

First up is Drama: An Actor's Education by John Lithgow.  I've been meaning to read this for a while.  I'm a huge fan of Lithgow, mostly through his film and television work (though I did get to see him in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels on Broadway), and have heard wonderful things about this book.



Next up is a bunch of Agatha Christie novels (Cards on the Table, Death on the Nile, The Man in the Brown Suit, The Body in the Library, and 4:50 From Paddington).  It's surprising that as much as I love mysteries, I've never actually read any of Agatha Christie's works.  I've seen movies and TV versions (I love the Poirot mysteries with David Suchet.  He was an excellent Poirot.  Peter Ustinov… not so much.).  Anyway, I look forward to reading these.











One more Agatha Christie-related note.  My friend Rob Hartmann (along with Liv Cummins) wrote a wonderful musical called Vanishing Point that dealt with the disappearances of Agatha Christie, evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, and pilot Amelia Earhart.  You can hear some of the songs here.

Speaking of purchasing things for my Kindle, I ordered a new Paperwhite Kindle recently.  I'm going to give my old one to my mom because I'm a good son.  The new one should be here this week, and I've already loaded it with a bunch of new books (the ones above, for instance) and all my magazine subscriptions.

Can't wait to get it.