Book Review: First Draft in 30 Days

First Draft in 30 Days
by Karen S. Wieser
Writer's Digest Books

Reviewed by Jason Fryer

For some writers, ‘outlining’ is a nasty, four-letter word. So, when an author claims their outlining method will produce your novel’s first draft in a mere thirty days (no matter the genre), that’s a bold statement indeed. However, in her book, First Draft in 30 Days, Karen S. Wiesner does exactly that and, for the most part, she comes through on her promise.

Wiesner’s concise 30-day method breaks novel development down into six manageable and intuitive stages, each of which is discussed in detail. Each stage, in turn, is broken down into individual segments. Although I felt some segments would take far longer to complete than described (such as character development), the author allows the opportunity to go back and fix incomplete sections. In the end, the various segments are brought together to create a detailed outline, effectively the first draft of the novel.

Wiesner uses her writing experience, numerous examples, and a pleasant writing style to present her concepts. She also offers a plethora of useful worksheets and supplemental materials, as well as an abbreviated version of her methodology for use with projects already in production. For the most part, she does a solid job and offers an intriguing approach to novel development. I did have to question her claim that her method could be used for all genres, as I felt the book slanted more towards mystery and romance writers. Also, the highly regimented outline could make the addition of flashbacks and other narrative devices difficult. Even so, these complaints are minor, making First Draft in 30 Days an excellent resource for any writer.


Canadian-born, Jason Fryer never thought he’d end up becoming a Texan, but fate is funny that way. Although a writer at heart, he also enjoys eating. As such, he has worn many hats over the last few years, including security guard, test subject, editorial assistant, and donut maker. Most recently, he has become the grant coordinator for a cell biology department of a major Texas University. A freelance writer for over fourteen years, Jason has been published in a variety of magazines, journals, and textbooks. At the moment, he is finishing his second novel and hopes to have it ready for publication sometime next year. He also serves as the Content Producer for the Rose & Thorn newsletter.

All That Is Not Given Is Lost by Greg Kuzma

The Backwaters Press, 2007

Reviewed by Yu-Han Chao

Greg Kuzma’s long, slender poems stretch along pages so effortlessly it is like reading one long story of memories, traveling from significant moment to significant moment, occasionally focusing on meaningful objects and glimpsing the silhouettes of characters from the past.

In “The Arrangement,” Kuzma recalls nights from his childhood when he waited for his younger brother, Jeff, to fall asleep in his crib so he could sneak downstairs to watch television with his parents.

I with my wild plan,
could lie there half the night
holding my breath. And then,
gently, as if almost in time
with my breathing, I would draw
back the covers and slip out.

As adults we often forget the appeal of the very simple yet forbidden—for example, stolen time and special allowance from parents to watch late-night television. Something as small as a TV show could mean everything in the world to a young child. But one night, little Jeff found out his older brother’s betrayal:

He had only
to catch me once, downstairs,
in the living room, to puncture
the myth [...] And so
it came to pass that Father
installed a lid on Jeff's crib.

The surprising development of a wooden lid tied on with rawhide to Jeff’s crib shocks the reader, yet Kuzma states it simply, as if this were the King James Bible and God had just wiped out a sinful town or two: “and so it came to pass that…”

This unusual scene takes on further poignancy when Kuzma shifts decades forward to the present and reveals how Jeff’s story ends:

Jeff died. At twenty-five.
It's fifteen years now since
his death. He lies on his back
in a cemetery a few miles from
our house. If he cries out,
no one can hear.

This poem and its narrative leave readers with the eerie parallelism between Jeff’s lidded crib and his coffin, and also juxtapose the haunting image of him crying out as a small child, and perhaps also crying in a dark cemetery after his death.

Intricate layers of images and meaning are what make Kuzma’s poems, written in an unassumingly plain style, stick in the reader’s mind for a very long time.

About the Author: Greg Kuzma has published several dozen books, including Good News (Viking Press). His poetry has appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, New York Quarterly, North American Review and numerous other quarterlies and journals. He currently teaches at The University of Nebraska.

Yu-Han Chao is blog manager at the Rose & Thorn. She has a poetry book and a short story collection forthcoming. Visit her writing and artwork at her website.

The Amputee's Guide to Sex by Jillian Weise

Soft Skull Press, 2007

Reviewed by Yu-Han Chao

The first poem in The Amputee's Guide to Sex tackles the heart of the matter with a particular brand of humor: “To create an uninhibited environment for your partner, track their hands like game pieces on a board. For leg amputees, keep arms on upper body. For arm amputees, keep arms on lower body.”

The familiar, leisurely metaphor of a board game draws readers in immediately, yet in the second part of the first sentence Weise surprises us with the idea of hands and body parts as game pieces to keep track of, as if this were a morbid game with disembodied limbs as pieces. A hint of darkness here provides a link to Weise’s other poems in the collection which describe inner feelings and deeper moments, such as in the poem “I Want You to Know This,” which describes what takes place in a car when Weise is fifteen and a boy, Daniel Hazard, finds out her secret:

I have an artificial leg. He doesn't know
that and when his hand rubs against me

and I'm not real, he stops and says,
"What the hell?" like I've offended him.

Weise concludes this poem with these poignant words, possibly addressed to all of her readers:

I want you to know this, because maybe you
wondered about people with fake legs; maybe

you wanted to hold their hand but you didn't
because you thought you might trip.

Weise points out that people are often afraid of the unfamiliar, and it's not the person with the fake leg who is awkward—it's the other people who treat them differently, afraid of “tripping” themselves, that ultimately leads to the awkwardness.

Another incident of ignorant responses to the unfamiliar occurs in the poem “Nikita’s Indian Restaurant,” when an extremely rude man stares at Weise and comments on her appearance:

In the back booth on your birthday,
my treat, a man smokes and stares
and speaks, Why does she sit on
a child’s stool? Why is she so short?
Then the man says, Tell her to stand.
I want to see her body.

You do not take my hand. You do not
meet his glance, spout, slap, or spit.
This is how you fail us.

If a person is paying for her friend’s birthday meal, and the friend cannot even stand up for her in any small way, not by responding or even staring back at the rude assailant, he truly fails her (as well as “them,” as Weise points out). Yet Weise does not cuss this friend out, tell him he fails as a human being, that he should have told the man to shut up; she merely says, “This is how you fail us.” These words are subtle yet sufficient here because the scene, described in a few sparse lines, tells the rest.

Direct, vivid scenes like this conveyed with simple syntax hit the reader smack in the face in Weise’s poems, helping us to better see the world through the eyes of an “other,” and remind ourselves to not “fail” our friends or even ourselves when we are an “other”—whether this “otherness” comes in the form of ethnicity, sexuality, gender, religion, or physical appearance.

In The Amputee's Guide to Sex, readers will find beautiful and powerful prose, peppered with poignant, haunting moments and Weise's unique, wry sense of humor. The fishnet stockings on the cover promises evocative and provocative words and images, and that is a promise Weise’s poems in this slim volume fulfill.

Yu-Han Chao is blog manager at the Rose & Thorn. She has a poetry book and a short story collection forthcoming. Visit her writing and artwork at her website.

Reckonings, Contemporary Short Fiction by Native American Women

Edited by:

Hertha D. Sweet Wong
Lauren Stuart Muller
Jana Sequoya Magdeleno

Oxford University Press, 2008

Reviewed by Nannette Croce


If you have not yet sampled Native American Lit, I strongly recommend it, and Reckonings, Contemporary Short Fiction by Native American Women is a great place to start.

The term Native American, of course, comprises many different nations with their diverse cultures. Not all American Indians grow up on rural reservations. Many live in urban settings. Some maintain strong connections with their native culture, some don’t, and some rediscover their cultures later in life. So why even break out Native American writing for classification? Because, in general, most Native American writers share two things in common. They straddle two worlds, and they come from a story-telling tradition that reveres elders who pass those stories down through generations. Both of these aspects lend a richness and depth that this reviewer, at least, sometimes finds lacking in contemporary mainstream and literary fiction.

Some of the authors included here, like Louise Erdrich and Leslie Marmon Silko, have reached a wider audience. Two of Erdrich’s stories are actually excerpts from her popular novel The Antelope Wife. Others, like Paula Gunn Allen and Joy Harjo, are sometimes read in American Lit classes. Still others coming from various parts of the U.S. and Canada were as unfamiliar to me as they will be to readers coming to NA Lit for the first time.

Readers do not need an in-depth knowledge of Native American culture and history to appreciate these stories or Native American Lit in general, but it helps to know something beyond “the Europeans came and took the Indians’ land.” Actually, the rich and detailed history of what took place from the reservation period on is as important as pre-reservation history in appreciating these stories. The Dawes Act , boarding/residential schools in the U.S. and Canada, the large percentage of American Indians serving in the military, the high rates of diabetes, alcoholism, depression, and suicide, inform these stories as much or more than buffalo hunts and whaling. Another good reason to start with this collection is that some footnotes are provided.

A word of caution. When pre-ordering on Amazon I accidentally chose the hardcover version that turned out to cost a whopping $94 US. The only reason I can think for that ridiculous price is that it is used as a textbook. Happily Amazon has a good return policy and I was able to purchase the paperback at a more reasonable price.

No, Reckonings is not worth $94, but the paperback version is an excellent place to begin your journey into Native American Lit, a journey you will find rich and rewarding.


Nannette Croce is Co-Managing Editor of The Rose &Thorn. She has reviewed books on Native American history and culture for Montana, the Magazine of Western History, some of which are available on her website. You can read her review of The True Story of Pochontas on this blog.

Blood Harvest by Brant Randall

Publisher: Capital Crime Press
Release date: May 2008
ISBN: 9780979996016

Reviewed by Andrea Middendorf

Massachusetts, 1929. It is the time of Prohibition and moonshine, of backroom political dealings and smoky rooms oozing with Jazz. Part of this atmosphere is embedded within Blood Harvest, but there is another, darker, element that drives the story forward. Set in rural New England, Blood Harvest tells the tale of the lynching of immigrant Nick DeCosta.

Author Brant Randall takes on an ambitious effort with his first novel in telling the story behind what happens to DeCosta and why it happens. The novel reveals that the hatred and prejudice of the Ku Klux Klan was not restricted to the South or toward African-Americans, but toward anyone who embodied that nebulous “other.” As an Italian immigrant who is also a successful distiller of spirits, Nick DeCosta definitely fits that definition of "other."

Randall presents readers with a menagerie of characters and nine different perspectives, including that of a dog and a crow. The result is slightly uneven and disjointed, made even more so by the author’s insistence on inserting local accent and “color” into the prose and dialogue. I have no doubt that this is how some people talked, but putting dialect into the story can detract from the narrative, as it does in this case. This combination of several different voices and inserted dialect detract from the narrative, and rather than complementing each other, Randall’s bevy of narrators drown each other out, making the reader feel like they are in a crowded auditorium full of squawking chickens.

Randall does capture the essence of the period, however, with the caricatures he paints. There’s the crooked politician willing to do whatever it takes to become governor, the bawdy brothel owner, a pair of rival moonshine distillers, and the lawman seemingly caught in the middle, not to mention a posse of hate-filled, prejudicial Klan members with a penchant for lynching. With the possible exception of the narratives of the dog and the crow, these characters are individually rich and diverse. Blended together, the picture gets a little muddled, but one can find a delightful character study if each character is taken separately, rather than as a whole.

Andrea Middendorf lives and works in Minnesota and is very tired of winter.

The First Patient by Michael Palmer

St. Martin's Press

Reviewed by Laurel Fuller

We all wonder exactly what goes on behind closed doors at the White House. We want to know what the people who run the country are like when the cameras are off and when the press isn't listening. We wonder if there really are secret conspiracies running the show from behind the curtain, and whether or not one man—or woman—can, in fact, make a difference. Michael Palmer's latest gives us, not a definitive answer, but a fast-paced, frightening look at the inner cogs of the Washington machine. The First Patient is part political thriller, part medical drama, and part speculative science fiction. You might think that would make for a disjointed mess, but Palmer fits the pieces together quite effectively.

Physician Gabe Singleton is the "Everyman" character in this novel. He's a down-to-earth family practice doctor who works on a ranch in Wyoming—and just happened to share a college dorm room with Andrew Stoddard, the man currently campaigning for re-election as President of the United States. When Stoddard's personal physician mysteriously goes missing, he flies to Wyoming to call in Singleton as a replacement, and Singleton is quickly thrust into a fish-out-of-water experience as he attempts to learn the ropes of White House politics.

This is a world where nothing is as it seems on the surface. Everyone has a hidden agenda, everyone has an alternate identity, and no one can be trusted. The only person the reader is allowed to trust fully is Singleton, the narrator; all the others are a complete mystery until the end.

Having said that, most of these characters are stock types we've all seen before. The over-ambitious second-in-command; the smart, savvy, but vindictive female; the recovering alcoholic crippled with guilt over his one big mistake. They're well-drawn enough, but they aren't new, and they don't get enough narrative attention to allow the reader to get close to any of them. On the other hand, Stoddard, as the President, is portrayed in such an unrealistically perfect light that I was relieved rather than shocked by the secret Palmer finally revealed about him in the end. No world leader is that universally adored, and every human being on Earth has more than just one skeleton in his or her closet. I won't reveal what Stoddard's is, but I will say that it was too much of a stretch, given the previous characterization, to be truly believable.

The First Patient is a page-turning thriller, packed with action and intrigue, if short on dialogue and sympathetic characters. It's also a quick read and easy to follow—there is quite a lot of information to keep up with here, but Palmer is not one to let his readers flounder. Apart from a rather trite ending and more than a couple obvious red herrings in the beginning, this novel will keep readers hooked through to its gripping conclusion.


Laurel Fuller is a struggling sci-fi/fantasy/horror writer living in Virginia Beach, dividing time between bakery-cafe customers and a motley crew of imaginary friends.

The Year of Disappearances by Susan Hubbard

Simon & Schuster
Release date: May 6, 2008

Reviewed by Andrea Middendorf

The first thing I noticed about Susan Hubbard’s The Year of Disappearances was its cover: the ghostly image of a girl with smoke swirling around her. It intrigued me. I knew nothing of what was contained within the covers, but it caught my attention. Cracking the spine, I discovered a tightly written story, unique in its own voice, on every page a discovery. The book follows Ariella Montero in her continuing journey of learning who she is and where her place in the world is. It's a hard enough concept for any fourteen-year-old, but even more so when said teenager is a vampire.

The Year of Disappearances picks up where its predecessor, The Society of S, left off. Ariella is living in Homosassa Springs with her mother and Dashay, a family friend. It is a period of rebuilding, both physically and emotionally, because of a hurricane and the sudden absence of Ari’s father, due to the fire that he had “died” in. Existence as a vampire is complicated, especially when factoring mortal human laws and regulations.

Many topics are drawn up through the narrative: ecological disaster and conservation, politics and third party candidates, privacy, and what “truth” is in the, well, truest sense of the word. With so many mature themes, it is difficult to remember at times that the narrator is merely fourteen years of age—fourteen going on thirty. Ariella is something of a prodigy, at least compared with us mere mortals; even among vampires, she is special. Living in that shadowy realm of half-human, half-vampire, Ariella stands in-between both worlds, belonging to neither.

It is this aspect of Ariella’s life that makes the disappearances happening around her so disturbing. When one doesn’t belong and the world is seemingly going awry, it is difficult to know who to turn to and who to trust.

The Year of Disappearances is a sequel, an aspect I wasn’t clear on until I was thirty or so pages into the book and thinking to myself, “There’s a huge back story to this.” Writing a sequel can be a tricky thing, especially if the previous book is not recapped in a way that aids in the understanding of what is going on in the sequel. Hubbard doesn’t exactly fail in this aspect, but there were times when I felt like the unpopular girl who walks into a conversation already in progress and no one will explain the thread. If there is a flaw to Hubbard’s second novel, this is it. However, if you can look past this, you will discover a delightful novel full of life and color, one that won’t disappoint.

Andrea Middendorf lives and works in Saint Paul, Minnesota. When not slaving away at the keyboard, she enjoys playing with her two "monster" dogs.

Rowdy in Paris by Tim Sandlin

Riverhead Books
(A Member of the Penguin Group), 2008

Reviewed by Nannette Croce

With Rowdy in Paris Tim Sandlin has written a rollicking yet often poignant tale of bull rider Rowdy Talbot who follows two French exchange students back to Paris to retrieve his stolen belt buckle. The ornate buckle was his prize for placing first in the Crockett County Rodeo––his only first place win in a lifetime of riding the circuit. Cowboy poet Rowdy is sure that buckle will enhance his standing in the eyes of his young son, whose mother––Rowdy's ex––is always tearing Rowdy down.

Like A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Rowdy, the quintessential cowboy, is constantly clashing with French culture. He finds himself caught between two conspiracies, one an American conspiracy to open Paris for Starbucks, the other an underground student movement to rid Paris of MacDonalds and other icons of American culture.

Woven throughout the book are Rowdy’s “self-evident truths” which Tim Sandlin collects for us at the end. Like self-evident truth # 4: “You can’t hit every asshole you run into.” Though Rowdy does hit several of them.

Like the America he represents, you can’t help but be drawn to Rowdy despite his brash manners and tendency toward violence to solve all his problems.

Rowdy in Paris should really go down as an American Classic.


Read an interview with Tim Sandlin.

Nannette Croce is Co-Managing Editor of The Rose & Thorn and an official YOGer. Her work has appeared in various online and print publications including The Philadelphia Inquirer. For more information on her published work, visit her website.

Jimi Hendrix Turns Eighty by Tim Sandlin

Riverhead Books, 2007

Reviewed by Nannette Croce

In Jimi Hendrix Turns Eighty, novelist Tim Sandlin tells the often hilarious and sometimes poignant story of an uprising at the Mission Pescadero assisted-living facility in Half Moon Bay, California in the year 2022. The residents are Baby Boomer ex-hippies and Berkeley activists reliving 1967. In this future world, professional conservators can have elders committed against their will and take over—and usually misuse—their finances. Dr. Beaver, who is having an affair with dictatorial Director Alexandra Truman, sends residents "through the tunnel" to nursing care, where they are kept in a drugged state that appears as advanced dementia.

Outside of Guy Fontaine, a level-headed Oklahoma widower, most of these people have difficulty accepting their age; or perhaps it's second-childhood syndrome that leads women to practice free love and one resident to send them all on an acid trip, while outside Cyrus Monk, the son of a Vietnam vet, plots revenge for his father's suicide.

Sandlin does an excellent job of portraying the various factions that include the pre-Summer of Love Haight-Ashbury group that looks down on the Summer of Love latecomers, the war protesters, the feminists, and the two Vietnam widows who don't mix with anyone. Underlying the humor is a sharp-edged tale of what may be coming, and a moving love story.

While Jimi Hendrix Turns Eighty will be most appreciated by early Baby Boomers, anyone who knows anything about the sixties will enjoy it. If there is such a thing as a futuristic historical novel, this would qualify.

Nannette Croce is Co-Managing Editor of The Rose & Thorn and an official YOGer. Her work has appeared in various online and print publications including The Philadelphia Inquirer. For more information on her published work, visit her website.

Read an interview with author Tim Sandlin.

Earthly Pleasures by Karen Neches

Simon & Schuster

Reviewed by Maggie Grinnell

Earthly Pleasures was a very enjoyable read.

Karen Neches' novel revolves around eight central characters. Skye, a hospitality greeter, greets souls ("clients" as they are called in heaven) when they pass away. Skye knows when souls (clients) arrive by a red flashing light on her computer.

Ryan is a lonely heart who, trying to find his long lost love, calls radio talk show host, Minerva.

Chelsea is a typical teenager, handled perfectly by Neches.

Rhianna works alongside Skye as a greeter, but looks untypical with red curly hair and various color ribbons through her hair.

Susan is engaged to Ryan and has a surprising connection to Emily, a comatose young woman.

And finally, Caroline, is an elderly woman who cares for Emily in her current state. The relationship between Caroline and Emily is very touching.

Earthly Pleasures takes Heaven into the modern age and incorporates it with these various relationships. An added touch is the Beatles' songs used to explain life to the hospitality greeters/angels.

Earthly Pleasures is a fun and poignant novel.


Maggie Grinnell has been writing since 1992. She writes short suspense stories and poetry. In addition to working as an Assistant Editor at The Rose & Thorn, she is a Staff Writer for Poetic Monthly and a member of SCBWI.

The Expeditions, A Novel by Karl Iagnemma

The Dial Press, 2008

Reviewed by Nannette Croce

Like his short story collection On the Nature of Human Romantic Interaction, Karl Iganemma’s first novel, The Expeditions, also has a scientific theme. This time it is a “scientifical expedition” into the wilds of Michigan in the 1840s.

This may lead one to wonder on the plural of the title, but, in fact, the novel deals with several expeditions inside the main one. There is the expedition young Elisha Stone joins, thinking he’s looking to discover a new species, but really out to discover answers about his own life. Then there is the expedition of Elisha’s father, The Reverend Stone, to find his son who left home three years earlier and reconnect (or perhaps just connect) with him. Even Elisha’s expedition includes two men with dueling purposes. Mr. Brush portrays himself as an objectively high-minded researcher, but turns out to have more selfish interests. Professor Tiffin, an abolitionist, is so determined to find proof of “the unity of races,” that he may be willing to bend the truth.

The Expeditions works on two levels. It can be read simply as a wilderness adventure. On a deeper level, Karl Iagnemma explores questions like the connection of science and religion, whether there can be true objectivity in scientific research, and whether objectivity is even worth striving for.

“‘A wise man told me,’ Reverend Stone notes, ‘that the more profound the conjecture, the fainter the possibility of discovering its truth.’”

Somehow between his robotics research at MIT and his fiction writing, Karl Iagnemma found time for extensive historical research that adds rich detail to the story. While I still prefer Iagnemma’s short stories for their tightness and wonderful character development, The Expeditions is a very creditable debut novel, especially for those who enjoy historical fiction about the settlement of the American West.

Nannette Croce is Co-Managing Editor at The Rose & Thorn and a regular YOGer . Her work has appeared in various online and print publications including The Rose & Thorn and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Visit her website

poems from snowhill road, A Poetry Chapbook by Brent Martin

New Native Press, 2007 (a one-hundred percent organic press)

Reviewed by Kathryn Magendie

Never judge the power of a book by its size or how unassuming its cover is—“poems from snow hill road” holds just twenty poems, has a plain black and white cover depicting the title of the book, the author’s name—all in small letters—and a murder of crows linked together wing by wing in an abstractly simple but strikingly effective design (and the first poem gives us those crows—“Snow Hill Crows,” …The crows of Snow Hill have returned this morning to slide their shiny bodies between heaven and earth…). This slender collection of poems is completely printed in black and white, and indeed, as I read, the poems were imagined, revealed in shades of black, white, and sepia, with sudden flashes of bright light or bold color breaking through the stark beauty of his poetry.

Martin’s language is pure and as clear as the creek water that tumbles down these western North Carolina Mountains. There are no blurred lines, no hidden obscure metaphor, no tangled abstract to cut through, yet each poem is rich with meaning in both the obvious and in the way good poems offer up insights upon later reflection. A fine storyteller, Martin looks us in the eye and points here, there, here to lessons and warnings, yes, but also to his love of nature, of the mountains, of a people (as in “Old Woman at Brush Creek,” …The world is old, her hands a labyrinth of river valleys spilling yesterdays into that porcelain bowl over there by the stove wood…) and its ideas, its life, its places Martin does not want to see fade away by the forgetting—remember, he seems to say, remember and cherish, and what you do not understand, then leave it alone.

If you live in the mountains, you will nod your head in familiar agreement; if you do not know the mountains and its people, Martin will show them to you (all but those places that should remain secret, that is!); offer them up as a testament to this way of life, this wild beauty. Each poem tells an individual story, yet each are one connected to the other, just as those murder of crows on the cover are connected.

Read Kathryn Magendie's Interview with Brent Martin.

Kathryn Magendie is a writer, freelance editor, and a Senior Editor & Senior Newsletter Editor at The Rose & Thorn. Visit her website at http://www.kathrynmagendie.com/, her GOT YOG? blog at http://barbaraquinnyearofgratitude.blogspot.com/, or her personal blog at http://kathrynmagendie.spaces.live.com/

Sleeping with Ward Cleaver by Jenny Gardiner

Dorchester Publishing

Reviewed by Maggie Grinnell

Sleeping With Ward Cleaver is the most refreshing book I have read in quite some time. Jenny Gardiner writes from a woman's point of view and doesn't veer away from it.

I like how in Sleeping With Ward Cleaver, a wholesome character, like Ward Cleaver from a 1950s sitcom, is brought into the twenty-first century. Claire, an adoring and overworked wife, is a character that modern women can identify with. She describes her bathroom drawer as disorganized. Every woman has a drawer like that where things can never be found. Jenny Gardiner shows how men are sometimes frustrating and not appreciative of the women in their lives.

The way Gardiner uses satire and humor to express Claire's emotions is priceless. I would recommend Sleeping with Ward Cleaver to anyone who enjoys insights about women, is frustrated with a man in her life, or who just likes a little humor.

Read Jenny Gardiner's Guest Blog, And They Lived Happily Ever After.

Maggie Grinnell has been writing since 1992. She writes short suspense stories, children's stories, and poetry. Some of her work has been published online and in booklets. Writing is a part of her soul. To check her work, visit her website.

Strangers and Angels, A Poetry Chapbook by Howie Good

Scintillating Publications

Reviewed by Sandra Merz

In one paragraph several lines long, the poem "First Light" opens this chapbook. It is a disturbing poem of the abuse of a small, sensitive child. It is not written in a maudlin or self-pitying style, but in the voice of a child who is speaking for the many who cannot speak for themselves, who undergo this type of insensitivity of parents.

The small print in the book is a little disconcerting at first. Then it made me think of children who have been abused through ridicule or other means. They speak in a quiet voice, afraid of any repercussions that might be the result of their utterances. The small print acts like a child’s whisperings.

However, the book is by no means depressing. Howie Good’s masterful techniques make the poems flow seamlessly from one to the other. His use of fresh and original language make it a pleasure to read and re-read.

Lines like the ones in "Love is an Accident Waiting To Happen": "Time is an invisible patch of black ice..."

"Vowels": In this poem, Good captures the atmosphere of a school room with the teacher’s litany droning on and states, "Our backs to the windows/the sun the glaring yellow/of crime scene tape..."

"How to Write a Story": How many books tell us to start with the conflict? Good puts it better in this poem. "Begin in the middle with the screams..."

"Home From the War (for Mikey O.)": This is a good example of how a poem is written with an unsettling, unexpected end.

"Love, Death, Etc.": In this poem, the third last, Good returns to his mother and answers the question someone asks of him, "Have you written anything yet about your mother’s death?"

Good’s command of line breaks makes it look easy to write poetry. A nice rhythm flows and carries you along. Well worth reading for content and technique.
………………………………………………………………………………………….

Howie Good, a journalism professor at the State University of New York at New Paltz, is the author of two previous chapbooks, “Death of the Frog Prince (2004) and Heartland (2007), both from FootHills Publishing. He was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize and the Best of Web Anthology.

To obtain this thin volume contact:
Scintillating Publications Mustiis@aol.com Scintillating Publications

Sandra Merz is a Poetry Editor/Editor for The Rose & Thorn.

Succubus on Top by Richelle Mead

Kensington Publishing Company


Reviewed by Andrea Middendorf


When we first met Georgina Kincaid, she was a white-mocha-drinking, bookstore-working succubus whose love life was pretty much in the crapper and who hated her job--her supernatural one, that is. In Succubus on Top, not much has changed. Georgina still drinks white mochas, but she now enjoys a nearly celibate relationship with hunky mortal writer Seth Mortensen, risking his life and soul every time they get too close, too intimate. None of her demon pals understand Georgina’s relationship with Seth, especially Bastian, an incubus from Georgina’s past.

A friend from the old world, Bastian arrives on scene with a tantalizing proposal for Georgina: help bring down local ultra-conservative talk show host Dana Dailey, seduce her, and siphon off her soul. It should be simple enough, but Dana isn’t taking the bait, and Georgina’s aid proves less than helpful.

Romantic and professional troubles aside, not all is hunky-dory in Georgina’s life. Her friend and co-worker Doug is acting strange, more so than normal. Normally an exuberant and playful spirit, Doug now exhibits an über-mania that perplexes Georgina as she begins to wonder if her friend is taking drugs, until she catches a whiff of something supernatural afoot. Literally.

Richelle Mead smoothly returns with Georgina Kincaid in her girl detective role in this sequel, an entertaining, humorous read with colorful characters. Whereas characters are Mead’s strong point, her plot was a little thin, if not predictable, but still enjoyable. Steamy enough without banging the reader over the head with sex, Succubus on Top is a perfect beach read for that winter vacation.

Andrea Middendorf lives and works in Minnesota.

Letter in a Woodpile by Ed Cullen

Cool Springs Press

Reviewed by Kathryn Magendie

Letter in a Woodpile is 138 pages, but this slim collection is limitless in its lessons of life, love, family, and people quite comfortable in their skins, thank you very much. Although Cullen’s essays are centered on citizens and places in South Louisiana, his prose concerns Every One and Every Place. From the boy, his father, and their homemade kite (“My Father’s Kite"), to first crushes (“Tutti Frutti Girl”); from baseball, Hale-Bopp comet, gardening, and even hamsters and an armadillo, to the heralding of summer by its sounds (“Flip-flops”), one will be hard-pressed not to find an essay that touches on some aspect of their own lives. Letter in a Woodpile is nostalgia, a glimpse into a neighbor’s backyard, a ride around the old block in an old blue pickup truck.

Cullen doesn’t over-sentimentalize; he leads readers with a wink and a crooked finger to places he wishes us to go. And what are those places? A Baton Rouge full of interesting people and landscapes; a corner of New Orleans tourists may seldom, if ever, see; a farmhouse where chopped wood becomes a perfect place to leave messages for his son; his garden, where critters and people meet and call a truce, because that’s just how it is sometimes.

Cullen’s work on NPR’s All Things Considered reaches the listener’s ear, settling in warm and inviting, and his essays have no less effect on the reader’s eye. In poignant slices of American apple pie and spirited dabs of Louisiana hot sauce, Cullen’s essays span his childhood and adulthood, where he introduces readers to a life well lived.

Read an interview with Ed Cullen.

Kat Magendie is a writer and freelance editor, and Senior Editor/Senior Newsletter Editor at Rose and Thorn. Visit her at http://www.kathrynmagendie.com./ http://kathrynmagendie.spaces.live.com/, or GOT YOG? at http://barbaraquinnyearofgratitude.blogspot.com/

The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson

Avon Books

Reviewed by Wil Hough

The Power of English

To use a term presently in vogue, my poetic voice has not been informed by the scholastic community. Rather, it is from out of the “Great Unwashed” that I have drawn the syntax of expression. There are many who would snidely agree. I am bothered by this about as much as were the Anglo-Saxon invaders by the Celtic civilization they supplanted. And, now that I have discovered The Mother Tongue (English & How It Got That Way), I understand why.

Author Bill Bryson uses humor and insight to show why English has become such a powerful force for expression. During the early 5th century BC, the Roman Empire withdrew from the British Isles, leaving the dominant Celts at the mercy of invading tribes. The Anglo-Saxon invaders left no written history of their conquest for the simple reason that they were functionally illiterate. Nonetheless, the language of the Anglos gradually spread throughout the land, supplanting the Celtic tongue. Once literacy was finally brought to them, this language,“rich in possibilities”, flowered with astonishing speed until a century later when England became a center of culture and learned to rival any on the European continent.

Bryson explains the varied reasons for this in a most entertaining manner. Not the least of these had to do with the flexibility of English both in original structure and how easily it evolved according to circumstance. Whereas French, the original court language of England, developed a society dedicated to the rigid preservation of its sacred forms, English shamelessly borrowed from other languages, combining the various forms into building blocks of expression. At this, it became superior to any other language group. Basically, the only true grammatical rule in English is: does it get the point across.

In operating my business, I've had the pain and pleasure of dealing with non-native English speakers who lack the facility of lateral thinking. In the face of the unexpected, I found they would continue pounding their heads into the wall of resistance. I literally would have to point them in a different direction. Native English speakers, on the other hand, would adroitly side step the issue and search for another solution. I really think this is because of the multiple “exceptions to the rule” we find in English--the "Aye" after EEEEE except after "See" type of exception. From infancy, we grow up dealing with exceptions in that most basic of human endeavors, language skills. So, when a worker would spread his hands in supplication and declare, “But, we always do it that way, Boss,” I would remind him of rule numero uno: “We always do it that way except when we don’t.” I think this may very well be the reason England and America have led the world in invention, itself a stolen construction. It is why the movement to legalize English as the official language of America is so foolish.
This pretty well sums up what the author declares about our Mother Tongue. It is a language designed to communicate. Because we draw from so many variables, English speakers can distinguish between house and home, whereas the French cannot. For almost every word we have an abundance of synonyms. Something isn’t limited to just being big; it can be immense, large, capacious, bulky, massive, whopping, humongous. No other language has so many variables. It is what makes English at once so wonderful and so hard to master. In addition, English has more than a hundred suffixes and prefixes. A word such as the French word for rebellion, mutin, can morph into mutiny, mutinous, mutinously, mutineer, and many others, while the French have still just the original form.

This is but a hint of what Bill Bryson has to offer, and nowhere near as entertaining as he puts it. But, I did offer two examples. The second deals with how English has changed through the ages and from region to region. This is of particular value to me as a writer of historical fiction. Anyone interested in writing period pieces would do well to study the examples illustrated in this book. In addition, there is no better way to style the individual variations of voice necessary to the creation of compelling characters than by recognizing the ethnic, regional, and social variations in how words are pronounced, used, and slaughtered. And, there is so much more! As the author points out, people do not ask "what are you going to do about it?" They ask, "Wachadoonboudet?"

The Mother Tongue is available through Amazon.com. I consider it a must for any writer’s bookshelf.

Wil Hough is a senior editor at The Rose & Thorn. A grandfather multiple times over, Wil still earns his keep as a painting contractor specializing in artistic finishes and frescoes.

Dr. Identity (Or Farewell to Plaquedemia) by D. Harlan Wilson

Raw Dog Screaming Press

Reviewed by Jason Fryer

After reading Dr. Identity by D. Harlan Wilson, I felt as if someone had removed my brain with a chainsword, placed it atop a stack of tabloids and newspapers, and then thoroughly beaten it with a brick wrapped in pages torn from Harlan Ellison’s Dangerous Visions. That tingling sensation means it’s working.

If Philip K. Dick and William S. Burroughs had ever spawned a mutant love child, I’m certain that Dr. Identity (Or Farewell to Plaquedemia) would have been the razorblade-cuddly result. Raw, funny, and utterly merciless in his portrayal of an unsettlingly familiar future, Wilson explores the absurdity of the media, politics, and academics of today at breakneck speed. His wit cuts to the bone and exposes the visceral truths beneath society’s cultural devolution.

The novel follows the chaotic lives of Dr. Blah Blah Blah and his robotic ‘gänger, Dr. Identity. After a relatively innocent mistake results in the death of a student-thingy—thus prompting the massacre of the English Department of Corndog University and a lobster named Lucille—the Dystopian Duo must slip an ever-closing noose of Pigs, bounty hunters, and Papanazi. They cut a hilarious, blood-soaked swath through the bizarre world of Bliptown, hoping to escape death and possibly score a comic-book deal along the way.

Certainly not for the tame of heart, Dr. Identity can be jarring at times when it comes to content. Also, its speed and confusing nature might be off-putting to those unaccustomed to this form of avant-garde literature. But for those readers wishing to experience something beyond the norm, this pythonesque tale will grab you by the synapses and never let go.

With this brave work, D. Harlan Wilson has created a brilliant dark comedy for the new age. So, if you’re craving something innovative and absurd—an experience you’re not likely to forget—then the deliciously subversive world of Bliptown is the place to go and Dr. Identity is your perfect, psychopathic guide.

Read Jason Fryer's interview with D. Harlan Wilson.

Canadian-born, Jason Fryer never thought he’d end up becoming a Texan, but fate is funny that way. Although a writer at heart, he also enjoys eating. As such, he has worn many hats over the last few years, including security guard, test subject, editorial assistant, and donut maker. Most recently, he has become the grant coordinator for a cell biology department of a major Texas University. A freelance writer for over fourteen years, Jason has been published in a variety of magazines, journals, and textbooks. At the moment, he is finishing his second novel and hopes to have it ready for publication sometime next year. He also serves as the Content Producer for the Rose & Thorn newsletter.

This review may not be reproduced electronically or in print without the express permission of its author. ROSES AND THORNS welcomes comments, however REVIEWS MAY BE POSTED BY STAFF MEMBERS ONLY. Leave comments below or join in the discussion.

Hundred in the Hand by Joseph M. Marshall III

Fulcrum Publishing, 2007

Reviewed by NANNETTE CROCE

Joseph M. Marshall III has developed a certain following with his numerous books that combine history with memoir and commentary on both Lakota and white culture, past and present. In what I believe is his first novel, Marshall writes a fictionalized story of the Fetterman Battle, known to the Indians as The Battle of the Hundred in the Hand.

First, a little background for those unfamiliar with the history of the American West.

Even as Lakota (Sioux) leader Red Cloud was involved in talks with US officials assuring him that immigrants along the Bozeman Trail required no more land than the width of their wagons, Indian scouts reported supplies being unloaded for fort building along the trail. The constant string of wagons and their detritus had already disrupted migration patterns of the buffalo and elk, making hunting ever more difficult for Indians of the surrounding plains. In an effort to get the whites out of their territory once and for all, the Lakota and Cheyenne allied in an elaborate plan to decoy soldiers from Fort Phil Kearny into an ambush. It might have failed except for a brash young Lieutenant William Fetterman who, after apocryphally claiming that with eighty men he could run through the entire Sioux Nation, ignored his commanding officer’s orders to cut off pursuit at Lodge Trail Ridge, leading to the death of himself and the exactly eighty men he led into the ambush. At the end of the series of raids known as Red Cloud’s war, US troops abandoned all forts along the trail and the Indians promptly burned them to the ground.

In addition to recreating actual historical figures like the young Crazy Horse, who led the decoys, Joseph Marshall creates the fictional characters of Cloud, one of the decoys and a friend of Crazy Horse; Cloud’s cousin, Rabbit, out to revenge the loss of his right arm; and Max Hornsby, a white adventurer, who, while not in the military, finds himself in the middle of the fight.

The Fetterman Fight (or massacre, as it was first called), is a classic tale of hubris, ripe for fictional treatment. Marshall does a good job of moving the story forward. His Indian characters are a little better developed than his white characters, but they all engage in realistic dialogue, sometimes moving and often humorous.

Having been dazzled by the prose in Marshall’s nonfiction books, The Lakota Way and The Journey of Crazy Horse, a Lakota History, I admit to being a little disappointed in his first novel. In providing equal treatment to so many different characters––Lakota and white, fictional and nonfictional––Hundred in the Hand lacked any one, truly compelling story to draw the reader in. For that reason, I’d give his earlier work a stronger recommendation. However, especially for those who don’t already know the story, Joseph M. Marshall’s Hundred in the Hand is filled with suspense, action, pathos, and the novelty of telling a true story where the Indians came out on top.

Nannette Croce is Co-Managing Editor at The Rose & Thorn. Her work has appeared in various online and print publications including The Rose & Thorn and The Philadelphia Inquirer. For samples of her work, visit her website .

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Love, Lies, and a Double Shot of Deception by Lois Winston

Dorchester Publishing

Reviewed by Apryl Fox

Emma Wadsworth is one lucky woman: she has just been asked out on a date with the handsome billionaire, Logan Crawford! Emma, who is being haunted by the dark secrets of her past, refuses to have anything to do with him... especially after he spills an entire cup of coffee in her lap. Logan Crawford is handsome, witty, and rich, but Emma can’t get close to any man after the abuse she suffered at the hands of her ex-husband Philip Wadsworth while living at his grand estate with him and her two sons. It’s a past that she wants to remain buried forever.

Logan’s wit, sensitivity, and charm make it impossible for her to resist him for long, but it also brings two unwelcome guests: a jealous ex-lover and a ruthless reporter, who are both trying to frame her for two unsolved cases-–burglary and attempted murder.

With the help of Logan’s love, and her two boys, she can clear her name and face her fears once and for all. Love, Lies, and a Double Shot of Deception by author Lois Winston is a wonderful suspense-filled mystery with love, lies, betrayal, and cappuccino.

Read an interview with Lois Winston.


Apryl Fox is an Assistant Poetry Editor with The Rose & Thorn Ezine. She currently resides in North Carolina, where she is working on a fantasy novel.

This review may not be reproduced electronically or in print without the express permission of its author.


ROSES AND THORNS welcomes comments, however REVIEWS MAY BE POSTED BY STAFF MEMBERS ONLY

Leave comments below or join in the discussion.