Fiction Works Priced at 99 Cents

I've got nine (18 really, see below) shorter fiction titles available on Amazon and priced each at 99 cents. They fall into two categories: literary and science fiction.

LITERARY

The Saltness of Time

Reviewer: "We have a modern day slice of Chaucer here, with four traveling friends marooned in a small hotel because of a blinding blizzard in the plains of Kansas.  In the main room by a comforting fire, they meet an elderly gentleman who offers to tell them a story from his youth, when he, too, was becalmed in the home of an elderly woman, also due to a raging snow storm. From his geriatric host, he learns the story and secrets of her life. The whole thing is like a matryoska doll … a story within a tale within a narrative."

Excerpt: "Emotional truths? Emotional truths are the deepest levels of reality inside of us. They're not rational. That doesn't mean they are irrational, it just means they don't comply to rational thinking. For example, you can't argue yourself in love or out of love. Feelings just are or they are not, whether you should have them or not. And people who were important to you who die, but you dream about them for the rest of your life. These people aren't dead to you at all; they are part of your emotional truth. I wonder what kind of dreams Gabrielle had."

Hospital Days

(Ten stories)

These are some of the first stories I ever wrote. No plot really. Flash fiction slice of life things. I recently learned there is a Japanese literary term for these things: kishōtenketsu

Reviewer: "This is a different type of read. It takes the reader into the life behind the scenes of a hospital. It is not like a TV show with heroics and handsome doctors getting all the attention. This is the grittier side of life with a true feel to the happenings as the reader is shown the life of a candy striper at first would like to be a doctor, but after what he sees in the real raw world a change of occupation might be in order."

Innocent Passage

Reviewer: "When two young men (boys) try their luck at digging through old houses looking for ghosts they find a lot more including the loss of innocence and maybe a little guilt they will have to live with for the rest of their lives. I wish the story was longer but the writing and the idea was really interesting."

Excerpt: Haunted house hunting we called it. The legal term was breaking and entering. The county sheriff had warned us that he knew we were responsible for the summer rash, but couldn’t prove it. If he caught us, he’d “throw your asses in jail,” as he so quaintly put it. We hunted anyway.

Bless Me Father for I am Sinning 

What if you could hack the confessional? Two teens take on the Catholic church.

Reviewer: This is a great story that gives you something to think about and has a nice twist to the end. I enjoyed it.

Drive, Chip, Putt, and Kill

Ned's a mediocre professional golfer, but an excellent serial killer. Nora's a mediocre golfer, but an excellent detective. It's takes a golfer to catch a golfer.

Downswing

Reviewer: This is the latest short story from Randy Attwood and will bring me up to date again with his works. I like to stay abreast of Randy's writings, because he has such a terrific and interesting style, each book unique, but containing a familiar voice. Now, I had to wonder exactly how he would make golf interesting, especially in just eight pages, but I shouldn't have worried. Listen to this description of placing a ball on a tee:

And eighteen times this easy gesture, this stooping over with the tee between the fingers, the ball hidden, protected in the perspiring palm, the insertion into ground the wooden link to earth the ball would soon be contacting - all this, for me, had given the gesture a quality of sacredness.

Isn't that gorgeous? The story is full of beautiful prose like that. Who thought that a short story about golf could be so intense, so vivid and so engaging - I literally walked out to the mailbox with my Kindle in my hand, reading. You don't want to miss this latest from Randy Attwood - go get it, and his other works while you're at it. You really won't regret it.

SCIENCE FICTION

A Match Made in Heaven

(Mormonism explored in a sci-fi sort of way)

Reviewer: "I have never met a Randy Attwood book that I haven't loved; he has a real talent for bringing his characters to life and creating an environment that is realistic and detailed without going overboard. This is the first science-fiction story he has published, so I was quite interested to see how he did in this story environment. And it was... brilliant!

"This is a short story, maybe it could be considered a novella - it took me about an hour to read it through. I am not sure where, exactly, Randy came up with some of the ideas he used in this story (I'll have to ask), but I found the ideas presented evocative and thought-provoking. There are questions of consciousness, how to truly access God (in whatever form that power takes for you), the humane treatment of others, etc. Like all of his books, I highly recommend this terrific story."

By Pain Possessed

Reviewer: "I enjoyed this dark little story very much. Nowadays, we don't see much traditional science fiction as used to be the case, and Attwood takes to the genre like a natural with a beautifully drawn portrayal of aliens. Aliens are hard to write - it's not easy to make them really alien. Attwood has done a great job; his aliens are believable and consistent without being in the least human, and he avoids the trap of trying to put in too much background. A very successful venture into traditional SF by a seasoned and professional writer."

The Richard Dary Weight Loss Institute

Reviewer: "This book freaked me the hell out. There, I said it. I can't tell you much about it without giving you spoilers, but the ideas that Randy expressed in this book scared the living daylights out of me. The sort of things that were done to the narrator of this story, Peggy, were inhuman. All in her attempts to fit in with modern societal standards of being thin. This made me think a little bit of the book I read earlier today, Saga of a Middle-Aged Vampire. What is it about modern society? Why are all the women expected to be anorexic-thin? It infuriates me. Healthy is one thing, but the modern goal is outright emaciation, and often extremely unhealthy methods are employed in the search for this. It actually frightens me that little girls are starving themselves to try to look like supermodels, who are (in my opinion), mostly freaks of nature."

Re-introducing Crazy About You

Crazy About You was the second novel I completed and is still at No. 1 among my downloaded works of fiction. My father had been the dentist at Larned (KS) State Hospital and its 1,500 mental patients. My first job was working in the cafeteria that I could reach by walking because the State provided us housing on the grounds, which were located three miles west of Larned. Write about what you know, they say. So I did. An excerpt:

The hospital was located three miles outside of a small town that was in the middle of a state in the middle of the nation. It was the dumping ground for the retarded, the senile, the schizos and the paranoids, the brain-damaged, adolescent dopers, the suicidal-depressed, the manics, maniacs, and the perpetually confused.

I like the structure of the book. First person. Tells about one week in the life of a high school boy that will grow him into a man far faster than he could have wanted. After it was published many readers wanted to know how much of it was real. At first, I was offended. Didn’t they think I had a creative imagination? Then I realized the question was a high compliment. If they thought it was real, the writing did its job: create a reality for the reader.

Here’s what some reviewers had to say, grouped by compliment category:

 VERSIMILITUDE

I happen to work at the state hospital depicted in this story and it is incredible fact or fiction; the detail that was written I could see everything he wrote so I was able to follow it with such ease and enjoyed it very much. A very believable story that seemed so familiar.

 *** 

Having spent my formative years in Larned, Kansas, and also having worked briefly at the state mental hospital there, I can tell you that his descriptions of life at the state hospital are totally spot-on! The story line is also good--but I won't spoil it for anyone. Funny, sad, poignant. And suspenseful!

STYLE

What I loved best about this book was, truly, the writer’s style. He has a laid-back, very easy-to-read way with words that bring his characters alive quickly.

 ***

I cannot think of an author that I can compare Randy with. He is just unique. Randy has the skill to shake your nerve and give a direction to forethought process like no other.

READER CAPTURE QUOTIENT

I sat up till 3:30 a.m. reading Crazy About You. Couldn't put it down. Have a few more pages to complete but I must tell you, I am now a fan of Randy Attwood's writing. Can't wait to begin a second book and read through his entire works. Easy read, humorous, good story line and left me wanting more.

 ***

I'm so glad this book was recommended to me. I have been reading indie books for years with so much disappointment, but this but was amazing. The pace was great, the plot was awesome, and the characters were so very believable. I loved that Attwood really dug into the mind of Brad, and let me know everything he was thinking. It was everything I imagined the mind of a teenage boy to be at times, and some thoughts so profound it made me feel like he was in my head.

DEEP IMPACT

Crazy About You is the second book by Randy Attwood I have read, and my admiration for his writing skills grows with each page as I read. This story takes the reader for a trip into the strange space between the sane and insane--a mist-blurred world full of angst, mystery, surprises, plus bizarre and unpredictable behavior . . . with an array of characters that are so well developed your heart reaches out to them. Well, most of them...but there is much more. An evil presence drives the story into even darker places that you expect, at a pace that turns the pages as fast as you can read. This is an engaging and compelling coming-of-age tale that will haunt the reader for days and leave you wishing for more. Yet, it is also satisfying and fully resolved in a way that touches your heart.

PLOT SUMMARY

The story involves brutal staff, many of whom are more twisted than those they are supposed to care for, a sad young woman who was victimized by her father and than by the system, unfortunate souls who need professional help that is seldom available to them, the local juvenile delinquent, and a couple of teenage girls whose hormones are as out of control as only teenage hormones can be. The author brings them and others together to weave a story that will keep you turning the pages and that you won't soon forget.

 ***

Crazy About You defies categorization, but suffice it to say that those looking for pure excitement and good story telling will not be disappointed. Nor will those who thrive on the deeper layers of psychological tension. Although the novel often deals with forces out of the protagonist's control, it also tackles tough moral choices that indelibly shape our lives, all within the context of a fantastical drama that will leave the reader musing for days. But ultimately, this is a story about absolution. If you have not laughed out loud often and shed a few tears by the end, you'd better see a shrink.

 

Depopulating My Library, Part II: A Farewell to Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner

I started college early by going to summer school at the University of Kansas instead of waiting for the fall semester. I don’t remember I took any books with me, other than maybe the Webster’s dictionary given us as some sort of high school graduation honor. But across the hall from my dorm room I encountered a character who not only had books, but had racks of steel shelves to hold those books.

I became enraptured of him and his books. In the room next to mine was an older man who had finished his Navy tour and was taking courses to go to medical school. He had books. Art books, too that featured reproductions of fine art by Michelangelo, Di Vinci, and other famous artists.

All this was wonderful and new to me.

Through that first person, John Kiely (who would be come a friend, future roommate, mentor pictured right and now, sadly, long dead), I encountered Ernest Hemingway.

Hemingway wrote in a simple, straightforward way that communicated directly with one’s perception by creating through words a sense of the reality of life. How is that possible using words? It amazed me. He created scenes, but also emotions. A couple of examples:

From the Nick Adams stories:

“In the fall the war was still there, but we did not go there anymore.” Wonderful use of the self-reflective “we” instead of the technically accurate “I.” And the repletion of “there” when most advice says don’t repeat the same word. Through his prose he distilled and found the essence of things.

The first sentence from A Farewell to Arms: “In the late summer of that year we lived in a house in a village that looked across the river and the plain to the mountains.” That cascade of prepositions carries you along and again “in a house in a village” repeats a preposition that works perfectly.

His style entices young writers to imitate him. And, of course, brings the danger of being a copy cat. I took a fiction writing class at KU. The Southern writer Reynolds Price came to visit and would read what we presented to him. I had only a few paragraphs. Here’s one of them:

March Snows

The snows came in March and it was unfair because that same morning there had been the smell of spring in the air. But during the night the snows came, and I awoke when I heard the wind. I got up and parted the curtains and looked out at the street lamp and saw the snow blowing as it collected in drifts around the trees and her car in the driveway. A happiness I did not understand filled me when I looked down at the bed where she slept. I slid down under the covers again and she stirred, her lips slightly parted and her yellow hair everywhere. I pulled her close to me and slowly inhaled our warmth—man warm and woman warm together—as the wind continued to howl

Price called the paragraphs “quite lovely.” But then he was a lovely man. The Hemingway imitation is obvious. But I still like those paragraphs and I hope I learned that finding rhythms and sentences is a virtue, not an imitation.

Hemingway himself became a caricature of his macho self. And the prose ran its course in the same manner. Much wonderful stuff and should be read, of course. But I don’t need them anymore.

There is one Hemingway novel I will, however, keep. Oddly enough, it is one of his most panned works: Across the River and into the Trees. I still don’t understand why, but the evening of the day I received the phone call from my aunt telling me my father had died, I pulled that novel from the shelf and reread it with pen in hand. I underlined passages that were important to me at the unique time in my life.

I will keep that now battered, mutilated book. The other Hemingway books are now gone. Not gone is my desire to complete a simple sentence with the right rhythm to cast the right spell upon a reader.

Faulkner, with his denser prose, could cast spells, too. I enjoyed my swimming, wading, and sometimes slogging through his stories and sentences. But I have no desire to reenter his waters, lush though they were. Hemingway's popularity continues. The son of a couple we are good friends with opened a bar in Westport called "The Pressed Penny Tavern," which many Hemingway fans may recognize. He has an alcove of Hemingway books and memorabilia. I had given him many early editions of Hemingway's work and books about Hemingway. Encourage my KC Facebook fans to stop in and at find out why Gordon Roberts gave his bar that odd name.

So the Hemingway and Faulkner portions of my library have been purchased by owners of Wise Blood, a soon-to-open used bookstore at 300 West Westport Road here in Kansas City.

Selling those collections gave me enough cash for a couple of drinks over which I contemplated my few successes and my many failings. And realizing I am thankful for both and the so many people I have met along the way.

Summer Sales Special

Summer Sales
Use Promo Code PP725

Smashwords was an early entry into the ebook business and early on I used their platform to get into publishing my fiction before using Amazon's service. Smashword's month-long Summer Sales Special starts July 1 and runs to the end of the month. I've put eight of my works at 50 percent off, which means one of them, Downswing, is free! Details of the fiction available for this discount below. Remember, promo code PP725.

Rabbletown: Life in These United Christian States of Holy America

Reviewer
I expected a few things when I started reading this book. I expected to maybe be amused by a satirical take on the Fundamentalists that are doing their utmost to take over this country - sadly, the concept is difficult to make amusing, because the idea of Fundamentalists taking over this country and turning it into an Evangelical theocracy is absolutely terrifying to anyone who wants to live in love and Light. I expected to be outraged by the excesses of Fundamentalist leaders who grow fat and rich off the tithing of their flock, while the common people live in poverty and squalor. I expected to be terrified by the idea of an Evangelical theocracy in general. What I did not expect was to be profoundly moved. I did not expect the overwhelming desire to make this book required reading for everyone. I did not expect goose bumps or a profound feeling of "rightness" to come over me while I read this book.

USE PROMO CODE PP725

SPILL

Here are some fun lines:

“Bartending has given me a wonderful perspective on the needs of the common man.” (The poor saps, she thought to herself.)

The fact that he had passed security checks to become a bonded delivery agent—given the many on-record facts of his own unreliability matched only by the disreputability of his truck—still amazed Fred. No wonder terrorists could fly planes into buildings.

Zoe was neither ugly nor fat, but at 38 she was feeling old and a little bloated.

Something always took whatever savings she was able to amass, which really was a euphemism for quarters in an empty two-gallon goldfish bowl.

But he wasn’t bad looking for a morose, failed-English-teacher, older guy.

“Why, yes, my dear. It is.” Reginald knew she hated to be called “my dear.” “Honey” was an eye-gouging offense.

Blue Kansas Sky

Synopsis: A tale of snooker on the Kansas Prairie, set in Larned, KS. Circa 1965. Larned State Hospital is but a few miles outside Larned,Kansas. Jim, who lives on the grounds where he father, the dentist of the mental hospital, has housing. He rides the bus with the few patients who are granted permission to visit Larned on Saturday mornings. Jim goes to meet a friend to play snooker and learns some valuable lessons about race and also about himself.


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The Saltness of Time

Reviewer: When four young college students get snowed in with a stranger in a small Kansas town, they hear from him a story about an event in his youth that has forever altered his life and his perceptions of the world. Like all of Attwood's stories, The Saltness of Time provides just enough information to give the idea behind the story structure, and to allow the reader to fill in the rest. Beautifully evocative, this is a story that you'll want to savor and re-read. Check it out!

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By Pain Possessed

Can the weakest human save us all?

Reviewer: Like all of Randy's stuff, this is a great piece. Fans of his work won't want to miss it. Those who enjoy thought-provoking ideas and don't mind working a bit to find all the layers should enjoy this also. Definitely check it out - like all of his stuff, I recommend it.

Downswing

Reviewer
Voluptuous, gorgeous - who thought a golf game could be so beautiful?

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The 41st Sermon

This was a strange story - Randy asked if I could assign a genre to it, but honestly, I can't think of any genre it fits into neatly. There is a bit of mild erotica, there are definitely lots of different themes - finding yourself, redemption, finding faith, learning what life is all about - but none that relates itself to a specific genre other than general fiction. I really liked the book, though - it had a lot of good things to say, and I thought the story was one in which many people could find enjoyment, once they get past feeling shocked about some of the issues that come up. I warn that you need to be open-minded about the story, but if you are willing to do so, you should find something in here to love. Check it out!

Remembering Reviewer Katy Sozaeva

Randy's style is intense, his plotting brilliant...terrific writing style. Each of his stories a gem - and each was very different. -- Katy Sozaeva

It’s hard (and sad) to realize that three years have passed since I was among the recipients of a group email that Katy Sazaeva sent informing us that her prognosis was for weeks or months left in her fight with cancer.

Katy was an ardent supporter of my fiction and also edited several pieces.

She reviewed almost all of my works and I thought I’d reprint those reviews here.

Rabbletown: Life in These United Christian States of Holy America

Life-changing, profound, MUST READ, highly recommended

September 2, 2011

I expected a few things when I started reading this book. I expected to maybe be amused by a satirical take on the Fundamentalists that are doing their utmost to take over this country - sadly, the concept is difficult to make amusing, because the idea of Fundamentalists taking over this country and turning it into an Evangelical theocracy is absolutely terrifying to anyone who wants to live in love and Light. I expected to be outraged by the excesses of Fundamentalist leaders who grow fat and rich off the tithing of their flock, while the common people live in poverty and squalor. I expected to be terrified by the idea of an Evangelical theocracy in general. What I did not expect was to be profoundly moved. I did not expect the overwhelming desire to make this book required reading for everyone. I did not expect goose bumps or a profound feeling of "rightness" to come over me while I read this book. I did not expect to want to take to the streets to preach the word of Bobby - to propose that the world would be a better place if we all became ... Bobbites.

You see, 12-year-old Bobby Crowley - the son of stone-mason Bob Crowley, who is working to build a cathedral in Topeka, KS that will be larger and more glorious than any other cathedral in the world - is special. He has an amazing memory for Bible verses, and a strangely wise way of saying just the right thing at just the right time. And he has been carefully watching the formation of a significant alignment of stars in the sky, including a new star that just appeared three months ago, which are coming into a cross-like shape. And on a Friday like any other Friday - a Stoning Friday that would see the stoning to death of a "heathen, a whore, a pair of adulterers and a pair of faggots" - Bobby takes his place among the great religious leaders of the world when he steps forward and speaks the words "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone" and in the process saves the life of a beatific young woman: he gains a following and begins performing miracles, and providing proverbs of hope, peace and love. Many people believe he is the second coming of Christ.

Caught in his wake are a prostitute, his teacher (himself gay and who has been forcing himself up the weaker boys in his classes), the young woman who had been accused of being a whore and set to be stoned, a seller of banned books, a Catholic friar and many more; they go into Rabbletown, the slums of Topeka, where Bobby spreads the true way - the way of peace, love, acceptance and kindness, rather than the hate and manipulations used by those in power. And in a world where the leaders all revere and emulate the practices and beliefs of that disgusting scumbag Fred Phelps, those sorts of teachings are threatening to the power structure. Bobby and all who believe in him and his miracles are declared anathema and the Inquisition is sent after them.

This book does two things: it exposes the horror of a theocratic, fascist Evangelical Fundamentalist power structure, and it provides hope for redemption for anyone who chooses to live a truly good life, and follow the basic teachings that so many modern-day dogmatics seem to forget are the only two rules laid down by Christ - you know, the one Christians are supposed to emulate? Yeshua Christos told his followers to follow two simple rules: 1) love each other and treat others like you would like them to treat you; 2) love the Higher Power of Creation, in whatever form you choose to comprehend It. It doesn't matter what religion, creed, belief structure or lack thereof you choose to affiliate yourself with, these simple rules are common across almost every single one, and are the only rules that are really necessary to create a world in which everyone would like to live. This book - reading this book - will cause a profound shift in perception and I believe, honestly, that the world would be a better place if everyone followed the example set by Bobby. We all need to become Bobbites. Read this book and see if you don't find these truths to be as profound as I did.

Then and Now: The Harmony of the Instantaneous All

Randy asked me to read "Then & Now" and give him some ideas of the genre. Like all of Randy's wonderful stories, this one is hard to quantify. It tells the story of Stan Nelson and his time at KU in Lawrence, KS during the events of winter and spring 1969 - 1970, including the riots sparked off when a police officer shot a young, black man. Stan was a sort of hub - center of a group of people who were all involved in the scene in different ways. While there are a number of romance elements in the story, I think it is even more a coming-of-age story - showing how the events and repercussions of the events changed Stan's life and how he dealt with those changes.

Anyone interested in aspects of the 60s' culture and events, and/or interested in how people relate to each other and learn about themselves should find something to love in this story. I was engrossed in it throughout and read it straight through, stopping only when absolutely necessary, and then for as short a time as possible. Like all of Randy's works, I can highly recommend this book to just about anyone.

SPILL

Comic tour de farce, HIGHLY recommended!

October 7, 2011

Fred Underwood, a former English teacher and current delivery carrier, is fed up with the high price of gas. He believes the oil companies are price gouging and decides to take a stand. Together with his friend Zoe X. Quinn (that X is important - read the book and you'll understand), he hatches a plot to not only get some attention to the problem with the oil companies, but to make a bit of money in the process. What he doesn't expect is for the Big Oil companies to sit up and take notice.

Filled with intriguing characters, and an amusing subplot involving skateboarding gamers, "Spill" is a comic tour de farce that I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys political satire, generally humorous story-lines, and great writing. Randy has outdone himself on this one - give it a read as soon as possible!

The Strange Case of JamesKirkland Pilley

Chilling and beautifully written - highly recommended

September 3, 2011

Randy Attwood said that he used the Cthulu Mythos as an inspiration for this chilling story; I can definitely see the influence. As the story progresses, and people grow mad and/or kill themselves and others, we learn more about the reason, and the sense of dread grows, as does the sense of unreality. It all starts when a man who has a home at the edge of a park decides that the old, swampy pond needs to be cleaned out and a new, more pristine lily pond made in its place. But as the water is removed from the area, strange happens commence. What is the source of the strangeness, the sense of unease, and the odd behavior of those who live in the area?

While this is short - a novella at most - a lot of story is crammed into it. I highly recommend it for those who are fans of the eerie and strange.

The Saltness of Time

When four young college students get snowed in with a stranger in a small Kansas town, they hear from him a story about an event in his youth that has forever altered his life and his perceptions of the world.

Randy Attwood says this is a story he first started working on in his 20s. Like all of his stories, "The Saltness of Time" provides just enough information to give the idea behind the story structure, and to allow the reader to fill in the rest. Beautifully evocative, this is a story that you'll want to savor and re-read. Check it out!

Crazy About You

Crazy about this book! Crazy about this writer! You should be, too!

September 2, 2012

Brad's father is a dentist at Larned State Hospital - the hospital for the insane - and they live on the grounds of the hospital. Brad also works in the hospital cafeteria, and feels a deep compassion for many of the inpatients. "Crazy About You" details a week in Brad's life - a crazy week that teaches Brad more about life than he really wanted to know. He learns the mysteries of love, learns the true meaning of fear, and is involved in several murder investigations. Just a typical week in the life of a teenage boy? Hardly. But Attwood's involving style and wealth of information make this a highly engaging and interesting read, especially for those who, like me, have always had a fascination with insanity.

One of the many things that I found fascinating about this story was how the early 1960s are portrayed - and how very much like the mid 1980s it was; I think being a teenager, exploring life and learning these things, tends to make every generation think they are unique - but what they don't realize is, that they're really very much the same.

A coming-of-age novel in the hands of a master storyteller, "Crazy About You" is a book in which anyone should be able to find something to enjoy.

One More Victim

One More Victim" is an amazing, heartbreaking, beautiful story (says so right on the cover) - but then, those are my words, the words I said right after I finished editing it - I cried while I was editing it, and I'm not the sort to easily become overly sentimental about a story. It is a coming-of-age story, a story of realizations, a story about beginnings and endings - it is a story I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys a well-spun tale.

Randy Attwood's short stories are also always a treat. Highly evocative, helping the reader connect in even the strangest ways - you can find my individual reviews on most of these stories. As I've said, Mr. Attwood even makes snooker and golf interesting!

I'm so excited to see these two stories paired into a single book, and I think most readers will find something to love here. Check it out - you'll love them!

The 41^st Sermon

For the open-minded, this story of sin and redemption should be as enjoyable as it was for me

October 7, 2011

Father Christopher Talley, an Episcopalian priest, spends a week each year at a resort in the Ozarks. This gives him a chance to escape the constraints of his life as a minister - to fish, to drink, and to spend some time with a woman other than his wife. He also writes his sermons for the coming year. This year, while at the resort, he runs across one of his parishioners, the lovely Molly, who says she is thinking of divorcing her husband and has come to the resort to think about things. That isn't why she is there, of course - but she's bored and decides to seduce her handsome pastor.

This was a strange story - Randy asked if I could assign a genre to it, but honestly, I can't think of any genre it fits into neatly. There is a bit of mild erotica, there are definitely lots of different themes - finding yourself, redemption, finding faith, learning what life is all about - but none that relates itself to a specific genre other than general fiction. I really liked the book, though - it had a lot of good things to say, and I thought the story was one in which many people could find enjoyment, once they get past feeling shocked about some of the issues that come up. I warn that you need to be open-minded about the story, but if you are willing to do so, you should find something in here to love. Check it out!

Heart Chants

Really excellent story

January 1, 2014

This book provides a peek into the legends and lore of the Diné, or as they are commonly known, the Navajo. Their creation story is beautiful.

“In the beginning was the wind. And when the earth came, the wind cared for it. And when the darkness came, the wind breezed across it beautifully. And when the dawn came and laid its lightness over the darkness, We, the People, were created. And the wind kissed our faces.”

Phil McGuire's portion of the story focuses on two young women—Hsu Chi and Zonnie—whom he takes in to try to protect, Hsu Chi from anti-democratic Chinese gangs, and Zonnie from whoever or whatever has taken away two of her friends, also Navajo, from their college. Attwood has obviously done a great deal of research into the Diné culture, legends and lore and shows the reader exactly how beautiful that culture was, and how much the European settlers destroyed in their hubris. I do not know if there are any reparations to be made for the damage we did to the native cultures here, but I find it been heartbreaking how much knowledge has been lost. It would behoove us to find those who have kept this knowledge and preserve it before it is gone forever.

I found the talk Ko-yo-teh had with the old man at the filling station very funny, especially when the old man repeated the message he had sent to the moon in Navajo: “Watch out for these guys; they come to take your land.” Sad, of course, but also very funny. It fits in with the overall theme of the book, which is well represented by this quote: “I'm convinced the deepest passion mankind has is the need to inflict belief on another person. Belief in God, belief in these words as God's words, belief in this interpretation of these words, belief in these acts in the name of God. If it's not religion, it's politics.”

Overall this is a fairly clean book, but I did note some editing errors, mostly extra, missing, or repeated words, awkward commas, and misused words, such as “rationale” for “rational” and “statute” for “statue”. Not enough to lower my rating or lessen my enjoyment, obviously.

Like all of Randy Attwood's stories, this one is absolutely amazing. I kept having goose bumps from reading it. Highly recommended for those who enjoy a good story, especially if you are interested in Native American stories and culture.

Downswing

Voluptuous, gorgeous - who thought a golf game could be so beautiful?

May 3, 2012

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this short story from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis: A lone golfer discovers the fusion between the mechanical physics of golf and the feeling of the soul.

My Thoughts: This is the latest short story from Randy Attwood and will bring me up-to-date again with his works. I like to stay abreast of Randy's writings, because he has such a terrific and interesting style, each book unique but containing a familiar voice. Now, I had to wonder exactly how he would make golf interesting, especially in just eight pages, but I shouldn't have worried. Listen to this description of placing a ball on a tee: And eighteen times this easy gesture, this stooping over with the tee between the fingers, the ball hidden, protected in the perspiring palm, the insertion into ground the wooden link to earth the ball would soon be contacting - all this, for me, had given the gesture a quality of sacredness. Isn't that gorgeous? The story is full of beautiful prose like that.

Blue Kansas Sky

Excellent, multi-faceted

May 2, 2012

Synopsis: A tale of snooker on the Kansas Prairie, set in Larned, KS. Circa 1965. Larned State Hospital is but a few miles outside Larned, Kansas. Jim, who lives on the grounds where he father, the dentist of the mental hospital, has housing. He rides the bus with the few patients who are granted permission to visit Larned on Saturday mornings. Jim goes to meet a friend to play snooker and learns some valuable lessons about race and also about himself.

My Thoughts: Told from the point of view of a person who lives the same life as Brad in Crazy About You, but has a very different attitude toward the inmates of the Larned Asylum, the main gist of the story is about playing snooker. But, like all of Randy's works, that is not all there is to it. I'll say this much - I don't know squat about snooker, but he made the game - which is, I think, a metaphor for other things - very exciting. I won't tell you what I think it is a metaphor for; I'll let you draw your own conclusions. Check it out.

A Match Made in Heaven

Perfect!

April 12, 2012

Synopsis: The Mormons have left the Earth to populate the planet Moroni, finding their destiny among the stars and themselves.

My Thoughts: I have never met a Randy Attwood book that I haven't loved; he has a real talent for bringing his characters to life and creating an environment that is realistic and detailed without going overboard. This is the first science-fiction story he has published, so I was quite interested to see how he did in this story environment. And it was... brilliant!

This is a short story, maybe it could be considered a novella - it took me about an hour to read it through. I am not sure where, exactly, Randy came up with some of the ideas he used in this story (I'll have to ask), but I found the ideas presented evocative and thought-provoking. There are questions of consciousness, how to truly access God (in whatever form that power takes for you), the humane treatment of others, etc. Like all of his books, I highly recommend this terrific story from Randy Attwood.

By Pain Possessed

Synopsis: Can the weakest human save us all?

My Thoughts: I was actually on my way to go to sleep (I have a lot of manuscripts to get through this week, so it's going to be a busy one), I learned that not only did Randy Attwood have a couple new short stories up, but that this one, By Pain Possessed, was currently free! Well, I figured I could fit in a short story; after all, I did have to wait to fall asleep until after 8 a.m. so I could take my medication, right? So, I grabbed the story and opened up in my Amazon Cloud reader and started to reading!

Because this is a short story, it is hard to provide a synopsis that describes the idea behind the story without spoilers - that is, I think, why Randy Attwood went with such a short and succinct synopsis (provided above). This story is about pain - those who enjoy dealing it, those who enjoy feeling it, those who would rather avoid the whole thing... Deeper, there is an undercurrent of facing up to your fears and becoming a stronger person for it, but also a warning about becoming that which you hate and therefore losing sight of yourself. So, there are a lot of ideas put into this short story.

Like all of Randy's stuff, this is a great piece. Fans of his work won't want to miss it. Those who enjoy thought-provoking ideas and don't mind working a bit to find all the layers should enjoy this also. Definitely check it out - like all of his stuff, I recommend it.

3 Quirky Tales

Quirky, and highly readable

September 3, 2011

"Tell Us Everything" - a girl's piercings create a connection that allows her to see truths and broadcast them over the air in a limited area. That doesn't do the story justice - it's a wonderful piece

"It Was Me" - while driving home one night, the narrator looks in the next car ... and sees himself from 30 years ago. Is it really him, or just a crazy coincidence? Then other coincidences start to show.

"The Notebook" - Two people connect over their losses, brought together by an unbelievable confession and a mysterious notebook hidden in an attic. Impossible to describe this story without spoiling it, but it is very powerful. The ending has a twist you'll never see coming.

"Dark Side of the Museum" is now live

Dark Side of the Museum is live now.

When asked where I get my story and novel ideas and I have to admit I have no clear idea. Not so with Dark Side of the Museum. I remember when I told my father that I was majoring in art history he replied, “What are you going to do with that?” Towards the end of my adult career I was hired as the media relations officer by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art here in Kansas City. Unfortunately, my father had died decades before so I couldn’t call him and tell my art history major paid off.

The Nelson-Atkins was a fantastic place to work with amazing people for colleagues. I really enjoyed it. One day I was looking at a large piece of furniture from the workshop of a Salem furniture maker National Gould. I stared at one of the finials on top of the piece and wondered if it was possible that something could be hidden there.

I had come to the museum from the University of Kansas Medical Center where I had been Director of University Relations. This mean that what was going on around me really was often a matter of life or death.

The professionals I found myself with at the museum worked with the same intensity in what they were doing as I had encountered at the medical center. I came very much to admire the curators with whom I got to work. Their knowledge, articulation and judgment really impressed. But I have quite a bit of fun with the curators in Dark Side, none of whom are based on any real person.

When I wrote my one comedy SPILL I found a writing voice that I quite liked and I wanted to visit that voice again. I don’t know if Dark Side is a comedy or not, there certainly are some laughs in it, at least there were for me. Dark Side is an outrageous exaggerated work in which I get to have fun with a bit of paranormal and time travel.

I am grateful for the many great experiences working at the museum provided for me and the extraordinary environment in which I found myself. Here’s a sampling:

 You get to meet some of the nicest people and work in the most interesting and beautiful of environments. One shot down there is from the roof of the museum when Jacques de Melo came from New York for a photo shoot.

"Dark Side of the Museum" Found an Ending

I think Dark Side of the Museum is finished. I need to have the patience now to let it sit and then reread it. I started this novel over a year ago, although the idea had been percolating longer than that. I don't know how to categorize it other than a good read (I hope). It has a pinch of paranormal and a dash of time travel. The result seems to me deliciously outrageous. The set up is pretty simple and engaging. Engaging, well that's for you to judge. Here's the first chapter. I'm looking for beta readers if anyone is interested.

CHAPTER ONE
Edgar Makes a Discovery and Gets Fired.

I was on my way to report the extraordinary X-ray finding to the chief conservator when I encountered her in the hallway waddling like a penguin toward me in her daily dress of black pants, white blouse, black vest. Stella said, "Ah, Edgar, we need to talk."

I could have told her about the discovery as we walked back to the windowless bowels of the art museum where 93 percent of the collection was stored, a vast majority of which would never been seen by any visitor. I wondered what we NEEDED to talk about. I haven't done anything wrong. I'm polite to the curators. I get on well with them, even Beatrice. Just saying her name is like pulling a pin from a grenade and looking at the thing in your hand. And I get along well with my fellow conservators, except for Nina, that little bitch in the painting department. I glanced sideways at my boss, but her face showed only the slight smile she always wore that kept you guessing. Is she pleased or deeply upset? Her hair, probably dyed black, hung straight to the top of her shoulders and always looked as if grease needed to be shampooed vigorously from its sticky strands.

I kept quiet, sitting in front of her desk as she settled into her own chair adjusting the multiple knobs it offered to ergonomically match her short, dough-girl frame.

"We're going to have to let you go," Stella said, the slight smile showing no uneasiness with having to impart this piece of news. "The cutbacks, you know. Layoffs affecting all departments even, I hear, one of the curators. Full month's notice. Irma in HR will give you the details on your severance package, how to file for unemployment, COBRA insurance and all that. With your credentials, I'm sure you'll find something else soon. You're young. How's the Gould coming along?"

"Fine, fine. X-rays almost all done. Well, thanks."

And I left asking myself: Why me? I'm the only furniture conservator they have. And having just turned thirty-five I didn't feel young. Dejection started to slump my shoulders, but remembering what waited for me back in the lab made my step more brisk. I retrieved the one X-ray that had so excited me, putting it in my briefcase before anyone else could see it.

At 5 o'clock I walked to security where I opened the briefcase for the guard to peer inside. The X-ray elicited no interest. Work being taken home. At my apartment in the old brownstone near the museum, I stuck the film under the light table to examine the anomaly again.

A year ago, the Museum had acquired a Nathaniel Gould chest-on-chest. The massive, though elegant, wooden thing now sat in the lab for examination, cleaning, and, if needed, restoration. The 91-inch tall piece—when the top part was put on the bottom part—now sat in its two separate sections. I had started my work by X-raying the piece so I might see any hidden cracks, inspect joints, and espy the presence of nails.

Its top featured three finials—knob-like extension spires that began as rectangles of wood sitting on which was a round piece that became a kind of upside down toy top. The X-ray of the right finial seemed to show a box-like object within its rectangular base. Some kind of metal was blocking the view so I had headed to tell the news to Stella.

Now, I'll find out for myself—and alone—what's inside that cube of wood.