Fiction Reviews 2001
Fiction Reviews 2002

Vol 1, Issue 1, September 2001
This was our very first issue of the Gazette. We used canned reviews from Amazon to meet our publishing deadline, which we've decided not to archive.

Vol 1, Issue 2, October 2001
Feature Theme: "It's a SCREAM!"

SWAN SONG by Robert McCammon

SWAN SONG is rich with characters such as an ex-wrestler named Black Frankenstein, a New York City bag lady who feels power coursing from a weird glass ring, and a boy who claws his way out of a destroyed survivalist compound. They gather their followers and travel toward each other, all bent on saving a blonde girl named Swan from the Man of Many Faces.

Like THE STAND, it's an end-of-the-world novel, with epic sweep, apocalyptic drama, and a cast of vividly realized characters. But the tone is somewhat different: the good is sweeter, the evil is more sadistic, and the setting is harsher, because it's the world after a nuclear holocaust.

SWAN SONG won a 1988 Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel. It's a monster of a horror book, brimming over with stories and violence and terrific imagery--God and the Devil, the whole works.

Purchase Swan Song

THE SECRET HISTORY by Donna Tartt
Reviewed by Milli Thornton

I don't usually gravitate to books about murder. Growing up, I was the odd one out among a mother and sisters who lived and breathed for mystery novels. All those dead bodies, ugh. When a friend recommended this book to me and I read the blurb on the back, I immediately stiffened.

" . . . an ancient rite was brought to brutal life . . . and led to a gruesome death."

Oh, get me out of here! But my friend--who is intelligent and not at all obsessed with gore--insisted that this was a book not to be missed. She was right. I now recommend this book to anyone who will listen.

The characters are so finely drawn you can see them sitting in the room with you. The ancient rite that comes to life here is provocative stuff, something you might expect in a Hollywood movie. And yet, Tartt's characters--five college students--are not the least bit unbelievable or sensationalized. On the contrary, you begin to understand how people's innocent obsessions can lead to secrets and tragedies, even in outwardly respectable or geeky lives.

523 pages of psychological brilliance. Kirkus Review pooh-poohs it, and half of the ten readers' reviews at Tartt's Amazon sales page give it the thumbs down. But the other five give it up to five stars. Personally, I go with the five star reviews.

Purchase The Secret History

Vol 1, Issue 3, November 2001
LIFE AND MARY ANN by Catherine Cookson Reviewed by Jennifer Turner

As we approach the holiday season, I can think of no other book that fully encompasses the great meaning of Thanksgiving than LIFE AND MARY ANN. Catherine Cookson creates a star in Mary Ann Shaughnessy, a young girl living in poverty in a tenement on Tyneside.

We follow her trials and tests of faith from the ages of eight to thirteen. Her plan is to bring about a better way of life for her Irish family, to the amazement of the parish priest, Father Owen, and in spite of the instigations of her arch-enemy, Sarah Flanagan. Mary Ann's spirit and determination make this a fast read and you'll want it to go on forever. Her tenacity eventually pays off, but it's a wild ride to the end. Thank goodness Catherine Cookson continued the series and we are privy to all that happens afterward. I give it a Four Chocolate rating!

Purchase Life and Mary Ann

DRINKING THE RAIN: A MEMOIR
by Alix Kates Shulman
Reviewed by Milli Thornton

Hitting fifty means settling down, right?

Wrong, it means challenging yourself to the depths or your soul--at least for this remarkable woman, a novelist and activist who leaves her family behind in Manhattan to rough it on an island off the coast of Maine.

Alix lives without plumbing, power or telephones and even forages for her own food. She immerses herself in solitude and the sensualities of mussel stew. In bare feet, Alix gathers wild lettuce that she would have paid $36 a pound for back at the Yuppie market in Greenwich Village.

But deeper things go on, even while she embraces the joys of seaweed. This is a delicate book, even though Alix is robust enough to survive alone on an island in rustic conditions. What she learns about herself is like living life without wearing a watch. The reader feels privy to an intimacy and a life rhythm that we are all born with but soon forget in the hustle and bustle of making it.

Get a great price on this book at xaosearch.com

Vol 1, Issue 4, December 2001
WAITING FOR THE RAIN by Sheila Gordon
Reviewed by Milli Thornton

Books for young adults can provide an outlook on the world that more sophisticated adult reading sometimes lacks. Frikkie and Tengo are childhood friends on a farm on the South African veld. Frikkie is the privileged nephew of the white owner, Oom Koos, while Tengo (with his black skin) is the "boy" who must finish his milking duties and other chores before he can play.

Frikkie hates school and pines for the day when he can be free to live his dream: taking the reins as foreman on his uncle's farm. Tengo yearns for an education with every fiber of his being. A gift of a box of used books from rich folks means the world to him.

As he grows older, Tengo begins to notice the inequalities and he can't help but hurt and rankle at what he sees. When he at last gets the chance to go to the city for an education, Tengo is unwillingly swept into the violence of apartheid. When he next sees Frikkie, it's on the wrong side of a gun in a ghetto riot.

Although this book does not supply a substantial ending, the scene where Tengo and Frikkie confront their differences is the heart of the matter. Disturbing but enlightening reading in the present climate of war and revenge.

Purchase Waiting for the Rain

THE GIFT OF THE MAGI by O. Henry
Reviewed by Milli Thornton

The tales of O. Henry have become embedded in our culture. Does everyone remember what sacrifice Della made to buy her brother the ultimate Christmas present? And what was Jim's sacrifice--the one that made Della's present null and void and vice versa? I knew it had something to do with hair and watches . . . it all came flooding back to me as I read.

On the last page you find out who the Magi really are in this world. An old-fashioned book to read to your kids as part of the season of giving. Also a good antidote to the commercialism of Christmas that is thrust upon us everywhere.

Many illustrated editions available here: The Gift of the Magi

Fiction Reviews 2002
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