The Reverend Ronald Kemp went to the East End of London with definite ideas of right and wrong, in keeping with a minister of the Church. However, the people of the East End had a few ideas of their own, and the Reverend quickly found his world torn apart as he met murderers, prize fighters, and the Toff! His reputation became as tarnished as the souls of those he ministered to, and only the Toff could bring him back to a state of grace and at the same time save both the Reverend and himself from a very untimely end! Views: 18
From Publishers WeeklyLast year could be remembered as a year in which the prolific young Vollmann did not publish a book; early 1996, however, shows that he wasn't sitting on his hands. This massive tome collects "tales" and "snapshots" of his travels over the past five years into something resembling "The World According to Me." Although Vollmann's style is to play it coy with respect to what is fact and what is fiction, there is no mystery as to who is doing the talking here: it is the same persona we've seen in all his books (The Rifles; Whores for Gloria; etc.), a kind of rogue innocent, a Candide with a supply of condoms and a girl in every port. And indeed, Atlas sports quite an itinerary: from Mt. Etna to Zagreb, with stops in dozens of places, none of which will surprise readers of Vollmann's previous travelogues. Unfortunately, for all the traveling, Vollmann never manages to escape his own obsessions. Whether he is discoursing on drinking beer or shooting heroin or smoking crack or chewing khat in San Francisco, Bangkok or Kenya, the reader is treated to the same lovelorn teddy-bear pining after a devastated whoredom, as if the world can be reduced to a rainy afternoon in a bug-infested hotel room. The Vollmann character throws money around (within limits), makes halting efforts at moral education, professes his love and then starts another chapter. Is this the noblesse oblige of the post-partisan American? Despite a structure that Vollmann says, in his preface, is a thematic palindrome, intrepid readers may find it a thematic monotone. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. FromVollmann has gained cult status in the writing world, which, by definition, means his work is not for tradition-bound, and certainly not timid, readers. His novels and stories--and differentiating between a Vollmann novel and a collection of his stories is often difficult, because, in his hands, the two forms share a similar structure--are surrealistic, sordid, sensational, and terrific. His latest book is ostensibly a 53-piece collection of travel writing, "a piecemeal atlas of the world I think in," as he words it. What it is, in effect, is a kaleidoscope of verbal pictures, rendered with the incredible vividness of his gritty but beautiful style. Whether he's writing about the crowds in New York's Grand Central Station ("the people who rushed through this concourse came from the rim of everywhere to be ejaculated everywhere, redistributing themselves without reference to each other" ) or witnessing mosquitoes driving human and beast to madness in the Yukon ("the most horrible thing that I have ever seen" ), Vollmann expresses himself with a clarity and a visualization all his own. His readership is growing; no fan will be disappointed here. Brad Hooper Views: 18
Possessed by a ghost who feeds on death, the undying assassin Ahjvar the Leopard has been captured by the Lady of Marakand, enslaved by necromancy to be captain of her Red Masks. His shield-bearer Ghu, a former slave with an uncanny ability to free the captive dead, follows Ahjvar into the war-torn lands of the Duina Catairna to release him, even if that means destroying what is left of Ahj's tormented soul. Deyandara, the last surviving heir of the Catairnan queen, rides into a land ravaged by disease and war, seeking the allies she abandoned months before, though they have no hope of standing against the army led by the invulnerable Red Masks of Marakand and the divine terror of the Lady. In the city of Marakand, former enemies ally and old friends seek one another's deaths as loyalists of the entombed gods Gurhan and Ilbialla raise a revolt, spearheaded by the Grasslander wizard Ivah, the shapeshifting Blackdog, and the bear-demon Mikki.... Views: 18
Jane Walters would love to fall for the right guy, but right now she's too busy getting her new business open and avoiding her over zealous landlord. In a crazy attempt to avoid his unwanted attentions, she asks her neighbor, Jacob Hayes, to be her pretend boyfriend. But Jacob wants nothing to do with her. He's been left at the altar once, and that was humiliating enough. Getting mixed up with the sexy new resident of Kings Gap is the last thing he needs, unless... Agreeing to some secret fun under the covers, doesn't solve Jane's problem with her landlord, but it certainly heats up her lonely nights. Only problem now is, how does she keep from falling for the one man she can't have? Views: 18
'Britain's equivalent to Patricia Highsmith, Celia Fremlin wrote psychological thrillers that changed the landscape of crime fiction for ever: her novels are domestic, subtle, penetrating - and quite horribly chilling.' Andrew TaylorListening in the Dusk (1990), Celia Fremlin's thirteenth novel, concerns Alice Saunders, a woman striking out on her own following a traumatic marital breakup. But when she rents a drafty attic room in a ramshackle London boarding house she meets the mysterious Mary - a young woman clearly terrified of something, or someone.'Tart and chilling piece of superior Fremlin Gothic, with some wonderful characterization and great comic passages.' Sunday Times'Suspense and mystery at its elegant best.' Birmingham Post'Celia Fremlin is an astonishing writer, who explores that nightmare country where brain, mind and self battle to establish the truth. She... Views: 18
Staff Sergeant Kimberly Woodson’s decision to attend Officer Candidate School has caused a rift in her home life. Charles, her soon-to-be-ex-husband, is determined to work things out despite his infidelities and will do anything to have his way. Passions fly when Jonathan lays eyes on Kimberly. Neither has dated outside their race, but they find themselves drawn to one another. Views: 18
He’s a wild and dangerous shifter on a motorcycle. She’s a feisty full-figured waitress trying to rebuild her life. Both have something to hide; neither is willing to let go.
Can two people with so many secrets ever learn to trust again?
Warning: This novel contains mature content intended for readers 18 years of age or older. Views: 18
After the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939, they quickly began persecuting anyone who was Jewish. Millions were shoved into ghettos and forced to live under the swastika. Death camps were built and something called "Operation Reinhard" was set into motion. Its goal? To murder all the Jews of Poland. The Commandant of Lubizec is a harrowing account of a death camp that never actually existed but easily could have in the Nazi state. It is a sensitive, accurate retelling of a place that went about the business of genocide. Told as a historical account in a documentary style, it explores the atmosphere of a death camp. It describes what it was like to watch the trains roll in, and it probes into the mind of its commandant, Hans-Peter Guth. How could he murder thousands of people each day and then go home to laugh with his children? This is not only an unflinching portrayal of the machinery of the gas chambers, it is also the story of how prisoners burned the camp to the ground and fled into the woods. It is a story of rebellion and survival. It is a story of life amid death. With a strong eye towards the history of the Holocaust, The Commandant of Lubizec compels us to look at these extermination centers anew. It disquiets us with the knowledge that similar events actually took place in camps like Bełzec, Sobibór, and Treblinka. The history of Lubizec, although a work of fiction, is a chillingly blunt distillation of real life events. It asks that we look again at "Operation Reinhard". It brings voice to the silenced. It demands that we bear witness.Review"A heart-rending novel about a Nazi death camp that didn't exist—but could have. Hicks. . . tells the story of the fictional Lubizec as if it were a historical account, complete with footnotes and quotes from future fictional documentaries, to devastating effect. . . . Hicks' prose is clear and unflinching, and while, as a result, there are many difficult-to-read scenes, this is as it should be. . . .Thought-provoking and gut-wrenchingly powerful." -- Kirkus Reviews "The fictional presentation here measures up to any factual account of the Holocaust this reviewer has ever read. Highly recommended, especially for general readers who wish to know more about this unspeakable chapter of human history. Even specialists will be taken in by its human-interest dimension." -- Library Journal "This is a vividly detailed, terrifying, convincing, and completely spellbinding story rooted in those murderous events we now call the Holocaust. It is also the story of a loving, good-humored family man who each morning goes off to oversee mass homicide -- a dramatic example of what Hannah Arendt once referred to as 'the banality of evil.' Patrick Hicks has accomplished a very difficult literary task. He has a given a believable and fresh and original face to barbarism. What a fine book this is." -- Tim O'Brien, author of *The Things They Carried* "Out of the cooling ashes of Holocaust history, Patrick Hicks manages to break our hearts with a story we thought we already knew. The Commandant of Lubizec is profound, provocative, and profane in all the best ways. While reading The Commandant of Lubizec, one question kept running through my mind: 'Was it really this bad?' Through his all-too-real fiction, Patrick Hicks convinces me that, sadly, the answer is 'Yes.' The Commandant of Lubizec is important and unforgettable." -- David Abrams, author of Fobbit, a novel about the Iraq War "In a powerful blend of research and imagination, Patrick Hicks ushers us through the history of a prototypical death camp during the Holocaust. This novel mourns the millions who were silenced, while reminding us how ordinary and matter-of-fact the face of evil can be. The Commandant of Lubizec is a painfully necessary book." -- Clint McCown, author of War Memorials and Haints; winner of the American Fiction Prize "In The Commandant of Lubizec, Patrick Hicks imagines the unimaginable and thus gives us a glimpse into the terrible complexity of the human heart. This is a fascinating and important book." -- Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize winner, author of Good Scent from a Strange Mountain, They Whisper, and *A Small Hotel* "The Commandant of Lubizec melds the historian’s factual precision with a storyteller’s compassion and love for humanity. This is fiction at its highest register -- creating inroads into the past so that we might hear those murdered in the extermination camps of the Holocaust, so that we might better recognize the world we have inherited. Profound and trenchant, The Commandant of Lubizec is a brave and unflinching book. It is a stunning literary debut. I urge you to read it before it’s made into a film." -- Brian Turner, author of Here, Bullet and *Phantom Noise* "In The Commandant of Lubizec, Patrick Hicks may have invented a brand new genre, the fictional documentary. This novel seems so convincingly based in evidence that any reader unsure of the names of the Nazi death camps is likely to read it as non-fiction—which is part of Hicks’ deep intent. He reveals to us how quickly we lose track of history and how troubling that loss is. In writing a novel about those who survived a fictional death camp, he mysteriously makes us feel and understand the millions of deaths in the real ones. Through his playful art, he makes us feel and understand the horror of the Holocaust in ways most non-fiction simply cannot. It’s a remarkable and elegant artistic achievement. This is a novel I deeply admire." -- Kent Meyers, author of The Work of Wolves and Twisted TreeAbout the AuthorPatrick Hicks is the author of several poetry collections, most recently Finding the Gossamer and This London. His work has appeared in some of the most vital literary journals in America, including Ploughshares, Glimmer Train, The Missouri Review, and many others. He has been nominated seven times for the Pushcart Prize, been a finalist for the High Plains Book Award, the Dzanc Books Short Story Collection Competition, and the Gival Press Novel Award. He has won the Glimmer Train Fiction Award as well as a number of grants, including ones from the Bush Artist Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. After living in Europe for many years, he now lives in the Midwest where he is the Writer-in-Residence at Augustana College and also a faculty member in the low-residency MFA Program at Sierra Nevada College. The author lives in Sioux Falls, SD. Views: 18
