FEBRUARY 2010 REVIEWS:

HIDDEN CONFLICT
Alex Beecroft, Mark R. Probst, Jordan Taylor, and E.N. Holland, Cheyenne Publishing and Bristlecone Pine Press, 2009, $16.99, pb, 342pp, 9780979777387
    Cheyenne Publishing and Bristlecone Pine Press have combined forces to bring out a four-part anthology of that rarest of rare birds: the historical short story. You hardly ever see the form, for obvious reasons: by the time you’ve got your readers up to speed on what a Roundhead is, your page count is up.
So it’s high praise indeed that the four stories in Hidden Conflict work so well. All four are gay-themed (another tough call, since in all but a handful of settings, it virtually guarantees grim endings): “Blessed Isle” by Alex Beecroft, set in the Nelsonian Age of Sail; “Not to Reason Why” by Mark Probst, set in the cavalry regiment of George Armstrong Custer on its way to Little Bighorn; “No Darkness” by Jordan Taylor, set on the battlefield in World War I; and “Our One and Only” by E. N. Holland, which starts during World War II and progresses through the next two decades.
    All four stories are effective in their own ways, but it’s “No Darkness” readers will remember most vividly. German shelling has trapped Lieutenant Darnell and Private Fisher in a half-collapsed basement, and while they work to escape, they edge imperceptibly closer to each other’s truths. “Well, it’s just crazy, isn’t it?” Fisher asks at one point, referring to anti-homosexual laws in England at the time, “it’s like arresting someone for having green eyes or uneven teeth.” Taylor moves his story forward with no sentiment and a terse narrative voice that makes the ending all the more arresting.
    There are a few anachronisms here and there, and some authors can’t resist a little hindsight (“I think there might be a heck of a lot more Indians around here than the general’s expecting,” etc.), but in all this is a very satisfying, recommended collection. -- Steve Donoghue

GOD’S THUNDERBOLT: THE VIGILANTES OF MONTANA
Carol Buchanan, BookSurge, 2008, $18.99, pb, 410 pp, 9781419697098
    During the winter of 1863-1864, Alder Gulch was a Montana gold mining community. Dan Stark, educated as a lawyer, was one of many miners digging for a small fortune. He wished to eventually return home to New York, redeem his family honor, and marry the girl of his dreams. Unfortunately, local ruffians and criminals had formed gangs to steal and intimidate the prospectors, and when a friend is murdered, Stark is appointed the prosecutor to try the suspected local thug for murder. Not only would he face a difficult trial in trying to win his case, but he would also have to go against the local southern sympathizers. Uncovering a vast criminal conspiracy throughout the mining region, he eventually joins other miners in a Vigilance Committee to try to establish law and order.
    This book is the author’s first attempt at fiction. She did a marvelous job of creating a fascinating setting with a cast of appealing characters caught in a troubling time in American history, where men had to make their own laws to survive. At first, I thought the author introduced too many characters immediately, which caused the reading to become difficult, but eventually the story unfolded with page-turning drama and suspense.
    I highly recommend this book and feel Ms. Buchanan has a future in fiction.
-- Jeff Westerhoff

GREAT MISCHIEF
Jonathan Carriel, iUniverse, 2009, $19.95, pb, 317 pp, 9781440115233
    In Great Mischief, Jonathan Carriel returns his readers to the fictional New York village of New Utrecht in 1759 for another adventure of Thomas Dodrecht, an impressionable young war veteran and farmer in a tight-knit community of Dutch settlers. A prisoner being held in the public stocks is found one early morning with his throat slit, and to clear his own family of any implication (his father was supposed to be guarding the prisoner, and it’s Thomas himself who discovers the hideous deed by trying to wake the prisoner)—as well as out of a sense of justice—Thomas seeks to learn the truth of the matter.
    Carriel has done a phenomenal amount of research.  His website features extensive background material on practically every character, building, and livestock animal in this book and its predecessor Die Fasting; to put it mildly, you don’t often find murder mystery novels with this kind of back story, and while it actually adds nothing whatsoever to the execution of the plot, the hyper-earnestness of it all is oddly charming.  That his interests lie more with sleuthing out family trees than renegade murderers is made obvious by the curiously secondary place the murder investigation takes in the proceedings.  
    Great Mischief’s main strength isn’t revealing a crime but instead revealing a time; by walking us through what daily life was like in Dutch colonial America, Carriel makes his history come alive. His characters crack jokes (not young Thomas—at least, not often enough), do housework, agonize over whether or not to invest money in buying a black slave, and travel through a New York world utterly alien to Zagat’s or Gossip Girl. Readers will want to revisit that world—I’m hoping Carriel has many trips planned. -- Steve Donoghue

THE SOLDIER OF RAETIA
Heather Domin, Lulu, 2009, $14.00, pb, 348pp
    In the Rome of Augustus, the German frontier is a wild and deadly place, filled with restless warrior-tribes and the tense backstabbing of diplomacy-on-the-fly. The legions who patrol these frontiers are constantly on the knife-edge, and in Heather Domin’s amazing new novel The Solider of Raetia, this most certainly applies to one such legion’s commanding general, Valerian. “Images,” we’re told, “came to his mind unbidden, when he was least prepared to defend himself—in quiet night hours, alone with his thoughts, memories of soft words, small breaths, private smiles. His control slipped a little more each day. He could not go on like this much longer.”
    The cause of this turmoil is a teenage boy named Dardanus, assigned to Valerian as an aide-de-camp. In the course of the novel—as Valerian (and his engaging best friend and second-in-command, Pertinax, who steals every scene he is in) and his men weave between negotiation and violence with a local German warlord, Dardanus’s sweetness and earnest courage awakens feelings in Valerian that have been asleep since the death of his wife.
    Through gripping scenes of enemy treachery, intimate betrayal, and a surprising (and surprisingly well done) amount of ordinary day-to-day legionary business, Domin paints a compelling portrait of a rough, complicated man gradually thawing to the idea of loving someone again. Some of the historical complications arising from this new love are soft-pedaled (to put it mildly, for instance, Valerian’s old friend Augustus wouldn’t have approved of his new love interest), but that love itself is marvelously captured in all its stages. Dardanus isn’t the usual pretty-boy cipher of such plots, but the book belongs entirely to Valerian, whose personal awakening makes for hugely satisfying reading. The Soldier of Raetia is wholeheartedly recommended. -- Steve Donoghue

WHITE AS BONE, RED AS BLOOD
Cerridwen Fallingstar, Cauldron Publications, 2009, $19.95, pb, 355pp, 9780578027111
    Detailing the life of Seiko Fujiwara, this epic tale of twelfth-century Japan chronicles the life of royalty during an unsettling time. The story focuses on Seiko’s life, trials, and tribulations, but it also depicts everyday court life, palace intrigues, politics, and warfare. From her mother’s temple, to an abusive marriage, to Kyoto palace, Seiko’s story weaves together all kinds of historical detail. It is in the palace, however, as a friend and confidante of the Empress, that Seiko's life fully unfolds—as a renowned poet, a court healer, and ultimately, an instructor in the art of passion.
    There is a lot to this book. It is an erotic tale, a guide on Japanese court deportment, and a story about a sad, lonely woman who just wants to be a mother. Fallingstar has successfully interwoven a lovely story with great historical details. My greatest disappointment is the excessively abrupt ending. And while I assume that the sequel will pick up where this one ends, it seemed almost like Fallingstar ends the story mid-sentence. Generally recommended, as long as you don’t mind sex on almost every page. -- Rebecca Roberts

EVACUATION DAY: A BOY’S TRIP THROUGH TIME TO GEORGE WASHINGTON’S FIRST VICTORY
Stanley Harris, Critical Choices, 2009, $12.95, pb, 233 pp, 9780615277622
    Bostonians still celebrate Evacuation Day, which leaves the rest of the country scratching its head in confusion because most modern history courses have neglected to teach the fact that for eight years, from 1768 to 1776, Boston was a town under strict military occupation. British troops were encamped in the town, quartered on private families, drilling on Boston Common.
    Charles Miller, the young hero of Stanley Harris’ light, engaging novel Evacuation Day, knows all about these things; he and his family live in a 200-year-old house in Lexington, Massachusetts, and Charles has grown up hearing Boston colonial history from his parents and teachers. This turns out to be a lucky thing—the knowledge stands him in good stead when he finds himself mysteriously transported back in time to Boston of 1776, the very time when General Washington’s new army is grappling with General Howe’s occupying forces.
    The boy has many entertaining adventures and makes a few friends in the past (and of course meets a slew of famous people), and Harris generally does a smooth job of integrating his obviously detailed knowledge of the period. The fact that young Charles is already something of an expert on the time helps to facilitate the hindsight, as when he hears an American soldier cheer the British finally being forced to withdraw from Boston:
    That’s excellent, except you didn’t really lick them. You just made them leave Boston. And it’s going to be a long war with many dead and wounded on both sides before it’s over. But it’s a great beginning.
    Harris sometimes fails to generate drama (the past is pretty much exactly as Charles always pictured it), but his story is active anyway, with lots of historical tidbits. -- Steve Donoghue

THE FAIREST PORTION OF THE GLOBE
Frances Hunter, Blind Rabbit Press, 2010, $22.95, pb, 418 pages, 9780977763603
    If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that one of the biggest attractions held by historical novels is the chance we’ll get to hear famous figures from the past vilifying, bad-mouthing, and otherwise slandering other famous figures from the past. After all, we weren’t around to slander such famous figures ourselves, and we probably wouldn’t have had the courage to do it even if we were. So it’s smiles all around when, in Frances Hunter’s fantastic new novel The Fairest Portion of the Globe, General “Mad Anthony” Wayne unloads these choice words on none other than Meriwether Lewis: “Ensign, as an officer, you’re not worth the shit on my shoes.”
    The novel delivers such smiles frequently (“He’d been warned to expect coldness from the American temperament,” we’re told of a French visitor who’s just been presented to George Washington, “but had anyone checked Washington’s pulse lately?”), but thankfully, there’s much more to it than a little costume irreverence. Hunter has crafted a well-researched, fast-paced, and incredibly lively novel of frontier war and intrigue in 1793 Louisiana, as Jefferson and his various agents seek to wrest the territory from the control of Spain using any means necessary—including two young officers who are just beginning to forge the friendship that will become the famously ampersanded Lewis & Clark.
    The Fairest Portion of the Globe abounds with great set pieces, fascinating period details, and a compelling “backstage” look at history in the making, but none of those things will absorb you the way Hunter’s sheer bravura writing ability will. The characters here leap off the page, vibrantly living their lives, reading their books, worrying their worries—and the end result is nothing less than wonderful. Urgently, wholeheartedly recommended. -- Steve Donoghue

THE GHOSTS OF WALDEN: THREE CONCORD STORIES
Jack Hussey, Virtual Bookworm Publishing, 2009. $13.95, pb, 296 pp, 9781602642867
    In The Ghosts of Walden, Jack Hussey brings together personages both historical and fictional to create a well-researched, multi-voiced narrative that explores the fears, aspirations, and hopes of the citizens of Concord, Massachusetts, during a time of expansion and rapid change. Set in nineteenth-century Concord, the three stories in this collection are linked by the history of Concord and the legacy of the Transcendentalists.
    A letter written in 1941 sets the stage for the three tales, as Bessie Cooke Lawrence recollects events that occurred on a fateful day more than 150 years earlier, revealing a shameful family secret with the power to alter the image of Concord at the start of the revolution.
    In “The Wilderness of the World,” a young Henry David Thoreau heads West, seeking to escape from the disappointment and dissatisfaction of life in Concord, only to find himself along the way and return to become an unlikely hero for the Abolitionist movement. “In My Hour of Darkness” exposes the dreams and frailties of the Cookes and Bigelows as these neighbors unite on a long, torturous night for a common purpose and learn a little something about themselves while trying to secure a new life for a slave on the run. “A Waltz at Walden Pond” looks back on the ghosts of Walden as the town celebrates the brave acts of one of its own. As Judge John Keyes plans an event that will cement his position as a town leader once and for all, Sarah Sanborn struggles to free herself from the call of Concord and the remnants of the spirit that once stirred the town.
    Though Hussey admits to taking liberties with the events and lives portrayed, I recommend the collection for readers interested in the Transcendentalists and nineteenth-century New England. -- Gricel Dominguez

I SERVE: A NOVEL OF THE BLACK PRINCE
Rosanne E. Lortz, Anno Domini, 2009, $16.95, pb, 361 pp, 9780979214547
    A tale of war, royalty, knights, tournaments, and love, I Serve: A Novel of the Black Prince has everything a lover of dramatic historical fiction could ask for and more. Set early in the Hundred Years’ War, I Serve chronicles the life of Sir John Potenhale, a young knight in the service of Edward, the Black Prince of Wales. Over the course of fourteen years, they travel across England and France, fighting battles both personal and professional as they attempt to reclaim England’s lost French lands and find happiness and acclaim for themselves.
    At the center of the novel are the concepts of duty and honor, and how the characters reconcile them to their own desires. While Sir Potenhale is thrilled upon being knighted early in the novel, in time, he grows disenchanted with war and wonders if he would not better serve God and his soul in a monastery. Adding to his confusion is his love for Margery, a lady with her own secret struggle between her feelings and her responsibilities. Potenhale’s master, the Black Prince, fares little better, as he too is torn between his duty to his father, King Edward III, and his desire for personal command and independence.
    Author Rosanne Lortz keeps the story excellently balanced between the battle sequences and domestic court scenes, and her characters are well drawn, from the hero Potenhale to the deliciously obnoxious villain Sir Holland and Sir Geoffroi de Charny, a French knight who befriends Potenhale and helps guide him through his dilemmas. The battles, especially those involving the town of Calais, are exciting, and the love stories, while not quite fully fleshed out, feature several amusing scenes. Well written, entertaining, and intriguing, I Serve is definitely an enjoyable and worthy read.  -- Megan Kitzman

RIVER REUNION…SEVEN DAYS ABOARD THE SULTANA
Alice Louise Morrison, Concept Printing Company, Inc., 2009, $10.00, pb, 91 pp, 9780615226828
    While the American Civil War is a highly covered topic in historical fiction, stories of its aftermath can be easier to overlook. The sinking of the steamboat Sultana is one of these. With more than 1800 lives lost, the sinking of the Sultana was the greatest maritime disaster in American history, yet today, it has been all but forgotten.
    In River Reunion, author Alice Louise Morrison attempts to remedy this oversight through her tale of Ray, a young stowaway on the ill-fated ship. Ray, traveling to find his older brother, boards the ship in New Orleans, encountering various passengers and escaping crew members. In Vicksburg, Mississippi, he witnesses the loading on board of over 2000 Union soldiers, well in excess of the ship’s capacity of 376. Tragically, most of these homebound soldiers would not survive the explosion, caused by a faulty boiler the ship’s captain neglected to replace.
    While this tragic story provides plenty of drama and action and Ray is an engaging character, the book falls flat in other areas. With only 91 pages, there is little space for character development; consequently, many minor characters, especially those introduced after the thousands of soldiers come on board, are little more than a confusing blur of names. And while much time is spent covering the days leading up to the explosion, the climatic event itself seems rushed and the ending abrupt in comparison.
    Luckily, the Sultana is a charming setting, and Ray’s stowaway status allows him to explore the entire boat, providing readers with an understanding of what the journey of the doomed soldiers was like. While this book has its rough spots, the story of the Sultana is one well worth telling.
-- Megan Kitzman


VIRGIN AND THE CRAB: Sketches, Fables and Mysteries from the Early Life of John Dee
Robert Parry, Amazon CreateSpace, 2009, $14.73, pb, 480pp, 9781441415172
    Set in Tudor England, Virgin and the Crab is based on the story of Elizabeth Tudor and John Dee, the mathematician and astronomer. Patterned somewhat after a drama, the novel opens with a list of players, a prologue, and then interspersed among the chapters are individual historical plays divided into acts and interludes. The time frame encompasses not only John Dee’s early life, but that of Elizabeth up to her coronation. When Dee and Elizabeth meet as children, he promises always to look after her and protect her. Later as her tutor and confidant, he continues to advise her. As Elizabeth struggles to survive the reigns of first her brother, Edward, and then her sister, Mary, Dee works to return England to peace and religious tolerance with the assistance of the Chaldean Lodge of the Rose. Her faithful staff—Blanche, Kat, and Thomas—also aid Elizabeth during these troubled times, even at risk to their own lives.
    Some historians feel that Elizabeth had more than her fair share of luck—first in coming to the throne and then in her long reign—and Parry has used a secret society, the Lodge, to explain Elizabeth’s luck. As Cardinal Pole comments, “[S]he has been supported by some ... some strange yet influential party ...” and then he recounts the many escapes she has had beginning with the Jane Grey debacle to accusations of witchcraft. The mix of fact and fiction only increases the sense of intrigue, magic, and mystery surrounding both Elizabeth and Dee.
    The descriptions of Tudor England’s social life and customs are rich and well written. The story is excellent and a page turner. While we all know what happens, it is the journey that Parry has so capably described for our entertainment. A book well worth reading. -- Debra Spidal

1939—INTO THE DARK
Paula Phelan, ZAPmedia, 2009, $14.95, pb, 243pp, 9780977819218
    The storm clouds of war are gathering in Europe in the opening pages of Paula Phelan’s historical novel 1939, and in America the New Deal is coming to an end even as the arts scene in New York flourishes like never before. At the periphery of that scene are minor playwright Jason Rothman and his poet wife Miriam, and Phelan follows the story of their life and times (and the adventures of several secondary characters) through a tense year, alternating her narrative with mock society pages and war correspondent reports.
    There’s a danger lurking at the heart of this book, and it isn’t the Nazis. Rather, it’s one readers (and writers) of historical fiction know all too well: research. Any good historical novel will have a great deal of research in its back rooms. The trick is to control what gets into the front rooms of the book—too little, and you won’t convey to your readers the sheer fascination of the past; too much, and you risk choking your own story.
    Phelan has done so much research—and is so eager to share it—that she runs the risk of looking silly. At a glittering New York party in the book’s opening pages, for instance, Dorothy Lange calls out, “Stieglitz, you old so-and-so.” And when William Faulkner makes a racist comment, we’re told, “Dashiel Hammett responded by pouring his drink on Faulkner’s foot. ‘You’re talking sludge, Faulk. Excuse me, I need a fresh drink.’” And a moment later: “Dear boy, where there’s a lawyer, there’s a way,’ said Dorothy Parker as she joined the clique.”
    1939 has far too much of this literary name-dropping, and it distracts from an otherwise engaging story, especially since with only a couple of exceptions, the famous figures contribute nothing to the plot. Let’s hope less will be more in the sequel. -- Steve Donoghue

TRUTH IS THE SOUL OF THE SUN
Maria Isabel Pita, Amazon CreateSpace, 2009, $16.95, pb, 564 pp, 978144852686.
    Truth is the Soul of the Sun, Maria Isabel Pita’s historical novel about Hatshepsut, is over 500 pages long and has dozens of footnotes. Pita follows her subject from childhood to twenty years of ruling as Pharaoh Hatshepsut-Maatkare and includes a cast of hundreds along the way. In less adept hands, such a profusion of detail would almost certainly prove deadly (several highly publicized historical fiction tomes of the last few years come to mind), but Pita has a consummate storyteller’s skill for pacing—and as a result, this long novel is an absorbing reading experience.
    Hatshepsut of course is one of the ‘big three’ female protagonists in Egyptian history—but she wielded far more real power than either Nefertiti or Cleopatra, and she ruled longer than both of them combined. In Pita’s tale, she relies on two men: high priest and governor Hapuseneb, whom she warily respects, and Senmut, a commoner she raises to minister and loves. Senmut is a fascinating creation, an honest man caught between love and devotion, as he admits to Hatshepsut:
    “Why do you say you were being foolish, Senmut?”
    “Because it is always foolish to lie, especially to yourself. I thought I could bear to distance myself from you, but the truth is I desire to be buried as close to my beautiful king as possible.”
    “I would also like that,” she answers him, but it’s a tribute to Pita’s skills that Hatshepsut herself ends up towering over all other characters in this novel.   The decision to follow her through every trial over years bears fruit: readers will close the book feeling they’ve known this remarkable woman. Highly recommended. -- Steve Donoghue

BLACKBIRD RISING
Gary Earl Ross, Full Court Press, 2009, $15.00, pb, 302pp, 9780981707044
    Blackbird Rising is a story about three (non-consecutive) generations of African Americans in the Buffalo, New York, region. From a runaway slave, to piloting the first airplane over the 1903 World’s Fair, to joining NASA, flying and freedom envelop this daring and dream-filled African-American family.
The first member of the family we are introduced to is a runaway slave crossing into Canada who, in order to save his life, commits a double murder. The next generation (his grandchildren) takes the predominant role in the story. They continue his literal “flight into freedom” by flying the first airplane (the Blackbird) over the 1903 World’s Fair. The final generation contains the grandchildren of the creator of the airplane. At a reunion at the same spot where the runaway slave crossed into freedom, the pilot’s granddaughter continues the family’s dream by joining the astronaut program at NASA.
    Western New York has historically been a vanguard for equality; it is no accident that the Underground Railroad ran through town, Women’s Liberation was born here, and the Niagara Movement was the beginning of the NAACP. With a nod to this tradition, the author describes how the black creator of the airplane builds and stores the plane, as well as receives active support from a white doctor. The novel is also as much about the rich black community as it was in Buffalo, and how much of a support factor it was and continues to be, often as a balm against oppressive laws and social conditions, as is the flight over the Exposition at the same moment as the assassinated President McKinley was being taken into surgery.
    The pace of the story is quick and confident, and the characterizations, deeply believable. Maps of downtown Buffalo and the layout of the Exposition Center add to the verisimilitude of the story—a solid addition to all school media centers, community colleges, and public libraries. -- Steve Shaw

THE GIRL IN THE LIGHTHOUSE
Roxane Tepfer Sanford, Lumina Press, 2009, $13.95, pb, 250pp, 9781605942384
    Lillian Arrington’s father is a lighthouse keeper and, until the age of nine, she lived in an isolated world devoid of friends. Born in 1862 to Ameilia and Garrett, she was the epitome of a daddy’s little girl. Her mother was not always well, and she and her father were inseparable. When her father is transferred to Jasper Island, she abounds with joy when she learns there will be an assistant keeper on the island who has two sons. With hope and anticipation she meets Heath and Ayden, and the trio become instant companions. Lillian’s childhood is carefree and joyous, each day full of promise with a bright outlook toward the future. Her world is flipped on end and turns from joy to misery when her mother’s health becomes critical and she is sent to live with her grandmother, Eugenia, on her Georgia plantation. Southern to the core with a drive to rekindle the glory of the past, Eugenia Arrington is nothing like her daughter Amelia. Lillian must endure new challenges that are painful, both physically and mentally, as she uncovers deep secrets from her family’s past. Wounds of flesh and mind will scar her deeply as she tries to cope with her discoveries.
    Sanford depicts each of the variety of settings with accurate acuity. The details enable the reader clarity and perception as if one were there. Eugenia, hateful and retched, juxtaposed with Lillian, who possesses a loving and sweet demeanor, are both fully developed characters representing good versus evil in imaginative tale of immorality. Glimmers of Lillian’s past are sparingly uncovered as the author teases you through to the conclusion. A long journey for Lillian, this historical fiction novel is brimming with tension and crescendo like drama that will captivate the reader. -- Wisteria Leigh

TRANSPORTED: A PIONEER’S STORY
Terry Spring, Love of Books, 2009 (2nd ed.), $20.00/$24.99A, pb, 248pp, 9780646511795
    Transported is a biographical novel based on the true story of George “Dusty Bob” Smith. At sixteen years of age and orphaned, he falls in with other unemployed young men when he arrives in London from the countryside where he grew up. Starving and cold, his first attempt at stealing fails and he lands in Newgate Prison. His death sentence for theft is reduced to transportation to New South Wales.
    George’s friend, Mathew Flynn, rails against the social injustices both in London and New South Wales, where Mathew also finds himself. George determines to work hard and earn his “Ticket of Travel” that will allow him freedom as long as he does not leave New South Wales. George marries twice and raises five children. Through luck, help from Mathew, and hard work, George becomes a man of means and position in Dubbo by the time of his death.
    The descriptions of the New South Wales landscape and life are interesting and vivid. The use of Mathew’s character to highlight the social injustices is well done. George is less inclined to fight the system than he is to work within it to achieve his goals, and his character speaks out for the aboriginal peoples. The mixture of fact with fiction is deftly handled. The epilogue containing biographical information about “Dusty Bob’s” family and the note by his great-great-grandson is a nice conclusion.
    Terry Spring has done a fine job of portraying the life of George Smith. The account of life in the Outback during white settlement and the inclusion of women’s perspectives are particularly interesting. Recommended to those who enjoy works of biographical fiction and historical novels set in nineteenth-century Australia. -- Debra Spidal

BLUE GOLD
Lindsay Townsend, Bookstrand, 2009, $15.99, pb, 372 pp, 9781606012246.
    Early on in Blue Gold, Lindsay Townsend’s fast-paced novel of ancient Egypt in 1560 B.C., the charismatic (and acrobatic) Pharaoh Aweserre shouts in battle: “I’m the best there is! You’re looking at a man who can drive between your wind and your ass—watch!” You can’t really resist that kind of invitation, but you know one thing for sure: Cecille B. DeMille this isn’t.
    Townsend’s story centers on the Pharaoh Sekenenre, his scheming wives, his scheming children Kamose and Ahhotpe, and—in the book’s most innovative stroke—the multifaceted Egyptian deities themselves, especially the god of storms and upheavals, Set, whose immortal perceptions add spice to an already plenty spicy narrative:
    He [Set] saw the lines of the future mapping out from this tiny room, yet he could not see exactly where they ended. No one, not even Ra, could do that. Endless beginnings: that was one of the gods’ functions.
    The sands of Townsend’s Egypt are blood-soaked, and the halls of her palaces echo with lust and intrigue—and yet, the most interesting part of her novel is how real, how human all of her characters feel (even the supernatural ones). Even while you’re booing and hissing her villains, you’re fully informed as to their motives and might even sympathize a little. Part of this effect can be attributed to Townsend’s keen ear for dialogue and phrasing (when two characters kiss we’re told “their lips met with the greedy accuracy of lovers”)—and the effect is so strong that when all the book’s grandstanding and conniving and personal drama has concluded, readers will be mildly shocked to be reminded that the whole delightfully complicated business happened three thousand years ago. That’s praise indeed. -- Steve Donoghue

THE MULE SHOE
Perry Trouche, Star Cloud Press, 2009, $29.95, hb, 216 pp, 9781932842333
    Young South Carolina Confederate soldier Conner Dumont is just trying to stay alive amid the carnage of the American Civil War in Perry Trouche’s engrossing, fiercely intelligent novel The Mule Shoe, but that survival is rendered trickier than usual by Conner’s participation in the fearsome Battle of Spotsylvania in May of 1864—a bloodbath in which well over 10,000 men were killed or wounded. Trouche does many things in this novel with surpassing skill, but perhaps nothing he does quite matches his visceral realizations of battlefield violence and chaos:
    One yank pulled himself back over the parapet shooting geysers of blood from his groin as he squirmed over on his belly. He swung his leg up and dropped to the other side just before another yank volley ripped into the logs. One of our men jerked backwards and went down limp with a hole in his forehead and I felt whining bullets blow past my ear. I fired under the head long until empty then dropped to the ground and crawled over bodies back to the edge of the traverse to find the other cartridge box.
    Trouche’s book is also rife with psychological horrors, and its most harrowing scenes show human depravity at its most casual and horrible. The Mule Shoe is not a pleasant book or an easy one, but in its gripping depictions of the first-hand subjective experiences of war, it deserves to take its place on the same shelf as The Red Badge of Courage or Stephen Becker’s When This War Is Over. This is powerful stuff, poetically told. -- Steve Donoghue

THE NIGHT’S DARK SHADE: A NOVEL OF THE CATHARS
Elena Maria Vidal, Lulu, 2009, $22.50, pb, 226pp, 9780557159246
    The Night's Dark Shade explores the passions of the human soul, the danger of heresy and religious fervor, and the heady enchantment of courtly love.
    In the wake of the untimely deaths of her family and her betrothed, Lady Raphaëlle, Vicomtesse de Miramande, is delivered into the custody of her uncle, the Baron de Marcadeau, during the height of the Albigensian Crusades. Innocent and brave, the Lady Raphaëlle is thrust into the midst of the heretical Cathar sect, falling prey to the machinations of her aunt, the Lady Esclarmonde, a Cathar Perfecti. Aided by her cousin Bertrande and the dashing Sir Martin, a Knight Hospitaller whose love for Raphaëlle challenges everything she knows about herself, Raphaëlle seeks the aid of the crown to nullify her betrothal and protect her ancestral home from an unholy alliance that will prove advantageous to the Cathari.
    Torn by duty, honor, and love, Raphaëlle is a woman bound by the rules of medieval society. Unwilling to compromise her virtue, Raphaëlle stands firm, remaining true to her faith and enduring unspeakable hardships with spirit and grace.
    A gripping tale filled with danger, intrigue, and adventure, The Night's Dark Shade is a fast-paced romance that recalls the tradition of the troubadours and the lais of old. The narrative is compelling and Vidal’s treatment of the moral and spiritual concerns of the time drive the story and illustrate the female experience of thirteenth-century Christianity. Raphaëlle also emerges as a well-rounded and likeable character, making this an enjoyable and highly readable novel. -- Gricel Dominguez

DAYS OF ETERNITY
Louise Lenahan Wallace, Sundowner and Mountain View Publishing, 2009, $13.95/$13.60C, pb, 355pp, 9781932695618
    In 1859 Zane and Larissa Edwards are raising their two children, Mac and Rose, on the family farm in Ohio. Life is idyllic with school, chores, and Mac learning the ropes from the local doctor. The Edwards befriend widow Ethan Michaels and his daughter Charity, both new to town. The two families quickly become close. But when the Civil War breaks out, Zane joins up and leaves Ethan in charge of the farm, and their lives are changed forever. Not knowing if Zane will return, the family must endure the hardship and loss that comes with war.
    Each character in the story struggles with inner demons, fears, and uncertainty during a time of upheaval. Wallace successfully portrays the different issues citizens of Mill Creek face during the war, while keeping it a simple tale of everyday life. The scenery that she paints is rich; one can easily imagine the wagon that creaks down Main Street or the sheets crackling in the wind on Larissa’s line. It is a quaint, picturesque, and placid tale; all in all, a pleasant read. -- Rebecca Roberts