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Penzler Pick, December 1999: As the editor of an annual series for Houghton Mifflin titled Best American Mystery Stories, I read scores, if not hundreds, of little magazines in search of the best crime fiction published that year. One story that came to light from the Texas Review was "Poachers" by Tom Franklin, which I thought was easily the most original and memorable tale of 1998. It went on to win the Edgar Allan Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America and became the title of Franklin's first book, a short story collection of such distinction that it has already provided a shoo-in for spring 2000s Best American Mystery Stories of the Century.
"Poachers" is no ordinary tale of detection but rather a mood piece that will remind the reader of the best of James Lee Burke. Set in the swamps of the deep South, it is a riveting tale of three brothers who are so violent and amoral that they will kill anyone or anything in their path. One of their victims is a young lawman who was much loved, causing the locals to bring in their own hired gun, a game warden of legendary skill as a hunter of poachers. One by one, he tracks down the crazed brothers in a quest for justice.
The other stories in this beautifully produced little volume are also superb. While there is occasional humor, this is not a collection to read if you're in the mood for P.G. Wodehouse or Dave Barry. The dark woods and hollows and the unforgiving swamps and their inhabitants do not make for a sunshiny reading experience. As the old wooden sign in Poachers announces, "Jesus Is Not Coming." Franklin's first novel will be published in 2000 and I, for one, can't wait. --Otto Penzler
Book Description
In ten stunning and bleak tales set in the woodlands, swamps and chemical plants along the Alabama River, Tom Franklin stakes his claim as a fresh, original Southern voice. His lyric, deceptively simple prose conjures a world where the default setting is violence, a world of hunting and fishing, gambling and losing, drinking and poaching-a world most of us have never seen. In the chilling title novella (selected for the anthologies New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 1999 and Best Mystery Stories of the Century), three wild boys confront a mythic game warden as mysterious and deadly as the river they haunt. And, as a weathered, hand-painted sign reads: "Jesus is not coming." This terrain isn't pretty, isn't for the weak of heart, but in these deperate, lost people, Franklin somehow finds the moments of grace that make them what they so abundantly are: human.
Customer Reviews:
An excellent collection of short stories........2007-08-08
I've only had a few brief stop-offs in the south in my life, but I love reading about it. The perspectives ranging from authors like Larry Brown to Jim Thompson.
Franklin's stories are about angry, unhappy people who are disappointed to find themselves in their current situations. Most of them numb the disappointment with alcohol.
Franklin writes with a quiet and easy power. His characters come fully alive on the page. He keeps his prose simple, but always includes the perfect detail to set a scene or reveal an emotion.
Larry Brown was often said to be the spiritual brother of Harry Crews. I would say Tom Franklin is the spiritual brother of Larry Brown.
I was deeply affected by this amazing collection of short stories.
Special.......2007-04-10
Life is strange sometimes. For instance this book I read on a balmy Autumn day in a far north coast beach town in Australia. What has that got to do with Southern Prose ...well not a lot really. But Tom Franklin managed to take me to a very different land peopled by white tash , black trash , cajun trash and any other assortment of trash you want. The tales are compelling as they represent the poor not only in Mobile , Alabama but here in OZ. How's that for cross cultural....
To the stories wherein they are beautifully written picking the pace and tone of the country they deal with. Some are intense and devote themselves to violence and mayhem. Others offer poignant moments not quite completed. Five stars is well worh it.
Darn good.......2006-10-18
I really enjoyed this collection of short stories. Franklin brings the South to life wonderfully, with wit and charisma and a wonderful storytelling cadence. There's lots of humor in these stories, even though some of them are also painful and dark.
I thought the title story was particularly good. He shows us how a legend is born in it. It's really brilliant the way he uses a mythology of a character to build on that mythology so that by the end I wasn't sure if I'd read a story about the Gates brothers or if I'd just read yet another wild Frank David the invincible force of god/devil story. Also loved the way the novella starts out as if the Gates brothers are going to be the bad guys. Boy does that get turned on it's head quick.
But Franklin can also write very different stories, like Alaska, which is short and bitter sweet.
Very good stuff. Line for line well written and tight, concise and yet just as descriptive as it needs to be.
Hair raising.......2006-03-23
These stories don't mess around, they get ferocious and sometimes even worse; that's what makes them so good. Don't worry about sleep, you'll want to keep reading. If it'll make you feel better, keep a weapon handy - just try not to get jumpy at noises that seem louder than usual...
A book about loss, tragic loneliness, & snakebit lives.......2003-10-12
Friends. That's what I call my literary companions, my favorite books, the books that take me on a new and different journey every time I read them.
Tom Franklin's Poachers is a friend of mine. It's a book for the journey. An author, in my judgment, has nothing more to give than words for the public good, and Franklin delivers this with a bare-knuckle punch. Whether or not a writer has done his moral duty is proven in the reading of his work: I've read Franklin's book straight through three or four times over the past several years.
Franklin's stories are set three hours east of where I'm from, but I suppose his folks are much the same as mine, related by their sense of loss, their tragic loneliness, their snakebit lives. He knows my people, I know his. Just thinking about Poachers sitting on my shelf makes me want to take it down, and go straight through it a fifth time.
-------------------Reviewed by Dayne Sherman
Customer Reviews:
Well written, totally engaging.......2006-04-26
Reviewed by Kelli Glesige for Reader Views
I found "North Woods Poachers" to be a thoroughly enjoyable and well written story with a wholesome message meant to be enjoyed primarily by young teens, particularly boys, in the 11-12 year age range, but I truly think anyone will enjoy it. Max Elliot Anderson shares a good message on the importance of having and establishing family traditions while keeping a reluctant reader with a short attention span enthralled with the question, "What will happen next?"
This story is about the two Washburn families going on their annual camping vacation in Canada, far from civilization, near the lovely Dore Lake. Andy and Jessica are cousins to C.J. and Jessica. Both the boys are age 12 and the girls are both age 9, and they are all good friends and get along well. As what typically happens when kids get older, Andy, the athlete of the bunch, no longer feels he wants to go on the trip, dreading a few weeks of doing nothing but being bored with fishing. C.J. is a computer and electronics whiz, with a father that owns a computer solutions company and brings along all kinds of new and fun things for the guys to try out. Of course, Andy soon forgets that he didn't want to make the trip when he and C.J. have a great time with all the new gadgets.
As the families are crossing the Canadian border in their vehicles, guards are stopping all the trucks and are inspecting the contents and the people inside. The families learn that the guards are checking for poachers involved in organized crime. The curiosity of C.J. and Andy are now on high alert, and they keep their eyes open for any signs of poachers. It isn't long until the boys do spy some odd things going on, but they keep it to themselves until they can prove something beyond a doubt. The boys learn about the harmful things poachers do via the Internet, which convinces C.J. and Andy they have come upon some poachers in the act near the Washburn's secluded vacation cabin. The adventure takes off from here, and all four kids work to solve the mystery of the loud, black float-planes with blinking lights which take off, land and skim the water at full speed. The children encounter some very real and alarmingly dangerous situations, especially the boys.
On a lighter note but just as interesting, the Washburn cousins learn all about the aurora borealis, or Northern Lights, how catching Big Wally is the goal of every fisherman on the lake but yet how vulnerable any fish really is out of water, and how Jesus himself was a fisherman. They also get a very thorough lesson in the dangers of illegal poaching and how wrong and hurtful it is, especially to the animals. And finally, the families learn how important carrying on traditions can be, even though we may not see the importance at first.
In my opinion, this book has all the important elements of a truly great work. I can recommend this book completely to any parent looking for a good story for their tween, particularly boys, but girls will like it too. Anderson makes you feel you are right there in the woods with the families, seeing all the beautiful scenery and bright lights right along with them! I fully enjoyed this story!
Product Description
Mass market paperback by Popular Library, Inc., 1968. Ten startling sci-fi adventures by Anderson, Bloch, Brunner, Campbell, Dick, Hamilton, Russell, Sheckley, Simak, Wyndham. 176 pp
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Magic Pickle Vs. The Egg Poacher
Scott Morse
Manufacturer: GRAPHIX
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Humorous
| Literature
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Comics & Graphic Novels
| Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery & Horror
| Literature
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Literature
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ages 9-12
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Comic Strips
| Comics & Graphic Novels
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Comics & Graphic Novels
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Graphic Novels
| Comics & Graphic Novels
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0439879973 |
Book Description
In book two of Scott Morse's funny send up of superheroes, eight-year-old JoJo is hard at work on her homework, when Magic Pickle bursts through her bedroom floor. The flying kosher dill needs her help: there's a bad egg in town. The Egg Poacher is working for the Brotherhood of Evil Produce. The Brotherhood wants him to kidnap a "wild kiwi" from the zoo, which they think could be a welcome addition to their rogue produce gang. Egg Poacher has already created havoc at the zoo and by the time Magic Pickle and JoJo arrive, it's lions and tigers and bears, oh my!
As zoo animals run amuck, Magic Pickle and JoJo have to stop that rotten egg. Ever crafty, the little girl makes fake signs to lure Egg Poacher to the reptile house, where Magic Pickle has a big surprise waiting for him: an egg-EATING snake! Yolk's on you, Poacher!
Customer Reviews:
Very Good Read.......2007-04-14
Good from beginning to end. I like my romances a bit more sensual with longer love scenes, but Madeline Baker's writing makes up for it.
Fantastic........2005-08-31
Everything the other reviewers said is true about this book. Even though it took be 3 days to finish it, I didn't want to put it down & see it end.
I don't know weather there is a story for Black Winds uncle, that preceded this one, but if there is i'd love to read that one too.
This is the 1st. timetravel by Madeline but it won't be my last. I am just about to start "Under a Praire moon" & shall be searching for her other stories.
Excellent Book.......2005-08-29
I love anything written by Madeline Baker and this book is no exception. It was Romantic, exciting and just plain sexy. I loved the hero and heroine they were so in love even time couldn't keep them apart.
Romantic, mysterious, chilling, sensual, tragic, triumphant.......2003-11-18
This book is all of those things and more.
Madeline Baker succeeds in making your own romantic fantacies come to life in this book. Her leading lady, Susannah, is such a real woman of the late 90's that you can almost pretend the story is about you. She has the same habits, likes and dislikes, hobbies, and tastes as you or any of your friends. She loves to read romance novels and dreams of meeting a "Mr. Right" like those in the stories. (Sound familiar?)
Susannah attends a powwow in Orange county, CA. There, she meets an old indian who gives her an eagle prayer feather. He insists that she take it without paying for it, saying that it is meant to be hers, and that if she prays with it her dreams will come true.
Susannah wakes up in an army camp in South Dakota, in the year 1870. There, she sees him for the first time. Tata Sapa (Black Wind) is a prisoner serving 3 years hard labor for stealing a cow to feed his people. He recognizes Susannah right away as the woman he had seen in a vision 6 years earlier. Susannah recognizes him as the indian who was in an old photograph she had purchased back in her own time period. Each night she sneaks to his cell, where they gaze at one another in amazement. Sparks fly and she helps him escape. This is only the beginning of the story. Now, the real adventure begins.
Susannah and Black Wind travel around South Dakota. They make friends with an elderly white couple, rejoin Black Wind's Lakota tribe for a short time (Susannah isn't welcomed with open arms), marry in their own private ceremony, live privately near a waterfall, attempt to make peace between the Lakota and the "blue coats", and face imprisonment by the army together.
Will they escape prison and hanging? You'll have to read the book to find out.
These are just a few highlights of this amazing story. There is so much more. The book is 395 pages, and never once gets boring.
The love scenes are very tame, but so romantic. Susannah, being a woman of the 90's, is not a doe- eyed virgin. She teaches Black Wind how to kiss like white people do. Black Wind is an eager student.
The book involves many likable characters who make you smile, and plenty of "bad guys" to keep the story exciting.
Great read. You won't want to put it down. You won't want it to end.
excellent.......2003-10-04
this was an excellent book, and as i thoroughly enjoy reading madeline baker anyway, i bought this book at a store a few years ago. i have not forgotten it. the enjoyment i got out of reading it was worth the money i paid for it. i bought it new...and still have it. as a matter of fact i think i shall read it again. i have already read it at least twice.
Average customer rating:
- Divinely Beautiful and Profound
- A Novel for All Those "Left Behind"
- Collectible Writer
- The tongues of Angels
- MOVE OVER DILLARD AND UPDIKE
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Feather in the Wind
J. D. H. Duncan
Manufacturer: Parrot Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 1930277008 |
Book Description
An enchanting mystery-romance laced with profound spiritual insights. Work by this new author has already been selected to appear alongside the likes of Steinbeck & Dillard in a new book, Inking Through the Soul: Writers on Writing.
Customer Reviews:
Divinely Beautiful and Profound.......2004-05-28
A rare novel of delicious beauty, compelling narrative, and profound spiritual insight. Should be required reading for all who dare to call themselves Christian.
A Novel for All Those "Left Behind".......2004-04-08
A glorious weaving of mystery-romance and inspirational fiction. I noted this novel was published in 1999. All of its pre-millennium prophecies have already proven true! And its central Biblically prophetic theme -- a satanic strategy to keep lowering the bar of human values -- continues to prove truer with each passing day. If you are among those still "Left Behind," do yourself a favor and put this thought-provoking, beautifully written novel at the top of your "must read" list.
Collectible Writer.......2003-10-31
I collect signed first edition books from extremely promising new authors. I have 3 signed copies of Feather in the Wind. If JDH Duncan isn't recognized as the genunine artistic talent he is, it is because we live in a world where hype and hoopla and big budget promotions outsell a beautifully written, one-of-a-kind story that will make you laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time.
The tongues of Angels.......2003-10-16
If there is anyone you would like to introduce to God in a subtle manner, this is the novel to give them. Some of the most beautiful descrptive prose ever penned and a compelling mystery-romance story open the gates to profound Christian truth.
MOVE OVER DILLARD AND UPDIKE.......2003-10-02
I'd never heard of Duncan until a well-read, well-bred friend "highly recommended" this new author. Annie Dillard and John Updike included, seldom have I read such powerful prose. Add to that incisive wit, profound human and spiritual insight, and a compelling story, and you've got a winner. I burned the midnight oil to get through this inspiring novel the first time, then immediately read it again slowly to savor the sheer lyrical beauty of the language and subtle nuances of plot. I thank my friend for turning me on to this great novel. And, like her, I highly recommend Duncan to you.
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The Golden Harpy II: Feather Lost On The Wind
S. C. Klaus
Manufacturer: The Peppertree Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Epic | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Series | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1934246468 |
Book Description
On the jungle planet Dora, the handsome half-human, half-bird creatures called harpies finally dwell in peace. Shail, their golden ruler, has made a truce ending years of slaughter by human hunters. Reigning over the western outback, he settles down with his mate, Kari, to raise a family. Now evil forces conspire against him. He and his foster brother Aron face a formidable enemy, the ultimate challenge to the harpy flock. But the greatest threat to Shail may lie in his wild animal nature and his demons within. The Golden Harpy II, Feather Lost on the Wind, sequel to The Golden Harpy, received superb reviews. Harpy II is a fast-paced, action-packed fantasy. It raises a haunting and realistic question: Can the harpies - can nature - survive mankind?
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Feather On The Wind
Catherine Snodgrass
Manufacturer: Amber Quill Press, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General | Romance | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 159279761X
Release Date: 2006-01-16 |
Product Description
Archaeologist Raina Cotterell uncovers a corridor while searching for the tomb of an ancient Mayan ruler. She and her colleagues step from 1970 to 750 and into a ceremony to select a bride for the Mayan prince Al-Mon.
Al-Mon never believed the gods would bless him with a woman so lovely. Now it seems he must fight them to keep her. He must find a way to convince his look-alike, Burke O'Neill, to stay—and to avoid another more deadly foe who will do anything to keep the men from switching places.
Will the woman from the future and the man from the past find their way?
2005 Independent Publisher Award Winner for Best Romance!
3rd Place in the 2001 Laurel Wreath Awards!
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Feathers In The Wind
WinterHawk
Manufacturer: Lulu.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1430304510 |
Book Description
In the late 1800s the Native Americans in the central plains states lost their land and home to the white invaders. Over a hundred years later a group of young Native Americans had a vision of that land being returned to their people. Then one morning the world awoke to hear the national news broadcasting that thousands of Native Americans dressed in their 1800s attire and carrying primitive weapons had taken control of the Black Hills area. They took a stand that they would not leave, nor negotiate; they wanted their land back NOW! This book contains many true facts in this fictionalized account of what could have taken place in modern day times if Native Americans were to make a stand.
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Feathers in the wind
Manufacturer: Review and Harold Publ. Assoc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 081270309X |
Product Description
Historical young adult novel about girl on plantation.
Customer Reviews:
Feathers in the Wind.......2005-11-18
From book one - "Go ahead and beat me-beat me all you want. You never loved me or wanted me anyway. All you took me for was so you'd get the money that came with me... 'Dear, precious' Aunt Hetty told me that a long time ago. So-now you know that I know!"
Dee Dee Barker's parents had died during the influenza epidemic. The relatives had sold the family ranch and divided the children among the aunts and uncles. Four-year-old Dee Dee went from Kansas to a plantation near the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Separated from her sisters and brother, a Yankee in the deepest South, rejected by neighbors and even relatives, the girl struggled to find love and family.
Based on a true story.
Product Description
Multiple books shipped as one item. Save on Shipping/Handling charges.
Books:
- Rabbit Angstrom : The Four Novels : Rabbit, Run, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit Is Rich, Rabbit at Rest (Everyman's Library)
- Rabbit Angstrom : The Four Novels : Rabbit, Run, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit Is Rich, Rabbit at Rest (Everyman's Library)
- Rabbit Angstrom : The Four Novels : Rabbit, Run, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit Is Rich, Rabbit at Rest (Everyman's Library)
- Regulus (Latin)
- Setting Free the Bears
- Sewer, Gas and Electric: The Public Works Trilogy (Public Works Trilogy)
- Signed, Sealed, and Delivered: True Life Stories of Women in Pop Music
- Someone to Run With: A Novel
- The Angel of Forgetfulness
- The Archivist: A Novel
Books Index
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