Legacy/Silent Abduction/Blizzard/Tears of the Sun (Journeys of the Stranger 1-4)

Book Description

Bestselling author Al Lacy's Journeys of the Stranger series features a powerful, mysterious, multidimensional hero who brings truth, honor, and justice to the people and towns of the Old West. Now the first four books in this highly popular fiction series are available in one attractive slipcase. These dramatic books-The Legacy, Silent Abduction, Blizzard, and Tears of the Sun-tell the story of a man who suddenly comes to the aid of others in situations of danger or evil. The Stranger carries a Colt Peacemaker .45 on his hip...and a large, black Bible in his pack. These fast-moving, historically accurate stories have appealed to men and women for years-now Lacy fans old and new can purchase a set of four Journeys of the Stranger classics that will provide endless reading pleasure.

Tears of the Sun (Journeys of the Stranger #4)

Average customer rating:

Tears of the Sun (Journeys of the Stranger #4)
Al Lacy
Manufacturer: Five Star (ME)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Action & Adventure | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Fiction | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0786224460

Book Description

Book Four of the Journeys of the Stranger series finds the legendary John Stranger summoned to Apache Junction, Arizona, where a hard-fought land dispute between the local Apache and Zuni Indians has led to the wedding-day kidnapping of the son of Arizona's governor. As terms for his return, the warriors demand weapons that can only escalate the fighting between the tribes, as well as the white men who come to the area looking for gold or-as it's known to the Indians-"Tears of the Sun." Readers will experience the drama and adventure as John Stranger fights to rescue Ben Wheeler and shares the tears of a very different "Son" in a dramatic new installment of the Journeys of the Stranger.

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Super Reader
great read
It's Angel, What's Not To Like
Someone Is Putting Los Angeles To Sleep!
No Stranger to Angel

Stranger to the Sun (Angel)
Jeff Mariotte
Manufacturer: Pocket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Teens | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0743449819

Book Description

Even if it takes an eternity, he will make amends....

NEVERENDING NIGHT

When Wesley opens a package that arrives special delivery, he is instantly sent into a coma-like slumber. It's obvious he has fallen victim to a spell, and Angel sets off with Gunn to get to the bottom of things. But everyone in a position to assist -- magick-shop owners and even traditional authorities like policemen -- have also been hit by the supernatural sandman.

Cordelia, meanwhile, is on research duty, which is harder without Wes around. Some of his colleagues have clued her in to a plot -- vampire, natch -- to plunge the Earth into constant darkness, so that they might reassert their power without fear of daylight. She wants to help prevent this, but while she tends to Wesley it becomes clear that he is in the throes of a terrifying nightmare. If she can't rouse him, it may be the end -- for him, as well as the rest of humankind....

Customer Reviews:

Super Reader.......2007-08-07

Wesley ends up comatose after opening a package with a magical powder payload designed for angel. In an odd interlude, Wesley appears to be back in time, stuck in a mine cave-in involving his great grandfather. A vampire closing on 200 years old displays a lack of astronomical teaching in his youth when he concocts a magic spell to tilt the planet on its axis and make one half daylight, and one half night, which supposedly somehow lets vampires rule the world. Ok, yep, he is silly. His cronies fight ok though, and it is rough work for Angel, Gunn, and crew, and Cordelia makes up the magical research as she goes along, concocting a vile potion. "You do all that stuff," Gunn said. "Fight crime, right wrongs, the whole bit. You think maybe it'd be easier if you traded in the black duster, got some kind of costumer, maybe a scary-arse name like Dark Avenger or The Stomper or something? Because, as names go, I'm sorry, man, but Angel ain't all that scary." Marriotte is definitely good with the references.

great read.......2003-04-09

when a box arrives at the hotel addressed to angel investigations, wesley thinks nothing of opening it . what a mistake. a mysterious powder that is inside the package renders him comatose and nothing the gang does will bring him out of it.
their search for answers leads them to a vampire with a diabolical plan to take over the world and leave the humans as slaves. this book had no boring spots and i highly reccomend it.
any angel fan will not be disappointed.

It's Angel, What's Not To Like.......2002-10-14

Pretty good story. Moved at a decent pace, and held my interest, with the exception of the chapters with Wes in the mine. That didn't interest me in the least. Everything else I really enjoyed, especially Angel and Gunn out and about trying to save Wes. Loved the action. Recommend to all fans of the TV show.

Someone Is Putting Los Angeles To Sleep!.......2002-07-20

Thanks to Cordelia's curiosity, Wesley is talked into opening a package meant for Angel. No surprise, there is a puff of green smoke (why is it always green!) and Wesley is out for the count. Suddenly Angel and Gunn are frantically searching for the cure to Wesley's sudden narcolepsy while Cordelia stays home and keeps an eye on Rip Van Winkle number two, meanwhile searching the Internet for a potential solution.

It doesn't take long for Gunn and Angel to realize the Wesley's sudden nap is no isolated phenomenon. Similar packages have been delivered throughout Los Angeles targeting the magically knowledgeable and a curious cross-section of scientists. Only gradually does it become clear that MacKenna, one of most notorious vampires in the city has dire plans. If he is not stopped, Los Angeles will become the capital of the Vampire States of America

Wesley himself may be down, but he isn't quite out. He finds himself in a coalmine somewhere in Yorkshire, England. We are treated to a bit of history, as Wesley and his fellow miners descend deep into tunnels where daylight is a stranger and fall victim to a cave in. Wesley must struggle through a maze of passages avoiding explosive gas and rock falls. Little does Wesley know how important it is for the miners to reach the surface safely.

For all the players, this is a race against time. The entire world is at risk as MacKenna's plan moves toward fruition. Angel and Gunn seek desperately for his lair, while Cordelia alerts mages around the world. Meanwhile Wesley sleeps, struggling to save lives in another part of the world, at another time.

Once again, Jeff Mariotte spins a complex and exciting plot while still paying attention to the character development that makes a novel keep the reader's attention. This is his fourth Angel novel, in addition to his work with Nancy Holder on 'Unseen,' and he has proven he knows what it takes to please his readers.

No Stranger to Angel.......2002-06-21

Lately I've been a little behind in my Angel books, so I bought Stranger to the Sun and Image at the same time. Since Image came first in the series, I decided to read that first. That book completely blew me away. I was expecting big things from Stranger, since it was following such an amazing tale as Image. I began reading Stranger immediately after finishing Image.

Well, I started reading and I was shocked to find out that the story's main character, Wesley, was put into a coma in the first chapter. I continued reading and finished in a day. After reading Image, I was expecting something outrageous. The plot in Stranger to the Sun is simple enough (well, at least simpler than most other Angel novels). A magickal powder is putting magicians, witches, astronomer, astrologers, and the like into a deep sleep all around LA. Wesley gets a dose that was intended for Angel, so naturally Angel feels responsible. He sets out to find who is doing this and how he can cure Wesley. The main villain is a vampire hell-bent on destruction. The story isn't too hard to follow, which is why I think I didn't like it as much as other Angel novels. I've come to love the complex plots in these stories, and Image had to be one of the most complex yet. So following that story, this one left me a little disappointed.

I've come to respect Jeff Mariotte as a superb Angel writer. He knows the characters well, so he can write intriguing work. While Stranger isn't as good as his previous novels (especially Close to the Ground), it's still worth a read.

Average customer rating:

very interesting

My Personal Favorite

Strangers You Should Know

'Strangers You Should Know

Dreaming your reality

Killing Time With Strangers (Sun Tracks, V. 45)
W. S. Penn
Manufacturer: University of Arizona Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0816520534

Book Description

Palimony Blue Larue, a mixblood growing up in a small California town, suffers from a painful shyness and wants more than anything to be liked. That's why Mary Blue, his Nez Perce mother, has dreamed the weyekin, the spirit guide, to help her bring into the world the one lasting love her son needs to overcome the diffidence that runs so deep in his blood. The magical (and not totally competent) weyekin pops in and out of Pal's life at the most unexpected times--and in the most unlikely guises--but seems to have difficulty setting him on the right path. Is there any hope for Palimony Blue?

Don't ask his father, La Vent Larue; La Vent is past hope, past help, a city zoning planner and a pawn in the mayor's development plans who ends up crazy and in jail after he shoots the mayor in the--well, never mind. Better to ask Pal's mother, who summons the weyekin when she isn't working on a cradle board for Pal and his inevitable bride. And while you're at it, ask the women in Pal's life: Sally the preacher's daughter, Brandy the waitressing flautist, Tara the spoiled socialite. And be sure to ask Amanda, if you can catch her. If you can dream her.

What more can be said about a book that has to be read to the end in order to get to the beginning? That Killing Time with Strangers is unlike any novel you have read before? Or perhaps that it is agonizingly familiar, giving us glimpses of a young man finding his precarious way in life? But when the power of dreaming is unleashed, time becomes negotiable and life's joys and sorrows go up for grabs. And as sure as yellow butterflies will morph into Post-It notes, you will know you have experienced a new and utterly captivating way of looking at the world.

Customer Reviews:

very interesting.......2007-05-13

This is a book about dreaming. In native north american culture folks "dreamed" their lives. this is an excellent portrayal of this in (basically) present time case. This book conveys examples to some of the plights current youths face, having split up and mixed backrounds in native american heritage. But also the fading way of dreamers, people who IMAGINED life before letting it happen. Highly recommended if you have read anything about dreaming, also recommended if you know nothing about it but are open to the idea that reality is what you make it. A wonderful story stand-alone as well.

My Personal Favorite.......2002-04-04

I was impressed by W.S. Penn's Killing Time with Strangers. I thought the author was witty, intellegent, and understanding. The characters in the book were well developed, as was the plot of the story. I would be forced to disagree with anyone who rated this book less than a 5, for I have not only bought this book for myself, but also for my friends and family as gifts. This book has everything, romance, adventure, and a part of all of us that connot be left out. The author has a unique understanding of humanity, and therefore, his story telling is enhanced. This book can be enjoyed by everyone, no matter what their character. I was so happy that this book won last year's American Book Award, (obviously this proves my point about this being a good book). After reading this book, I know you will rush out to buy all of W.S. Penn's books.I reccomend this book over all other books on this website. Thank you all for your time.

Strangers You Should Know.......2001-10-25

William Penn's novel Killing Time with Strangers, winner of an American Book Award for 2000, is not just exceptional literary craft, it's great fun. Penn seems to be saying some wonderful, optimistic things about the human condition, while poking fun at our preoccupation with the trivial and forcing us to consider basic questions, such as, what are we really doing here? Is life really just a matter of `this, then that?' Such questions are gently woven into a highly imaginative and extremely funny story. The novel shows us the LaRue family, and in particular, son Palimony Blue, whose tale is narrated by a weyekin, or Indian spirit guide, dreamed by his mother Mary. The story works on many different levels. Its structure is highly sophisticated yet unless you are examining it from the perspective of literary criticism (which you can -- this work has already received one prestigious award, and will no doubt be examined in college classrooms, if it isn't already) -- you just appreciate the ease with which it joins the stories of Pal's family, his mixblood Indian father, Indian mother, generations of native American ancestors, the story of Pal himself from infant to man, the women in Pal's life, the loves of his life (including his one true love, Amanda), ending with hope and promise in the birth of his own children. The book shows you, in splendid real-life color, the connections between all things. Before Pal is able to dream his true love, Amanda, he seeks, finds or thinks he finds, Love in a series of humorous and often lustful encounters along the way with many colorful 'strangers'. These characters make for a very entertaining story. And, unlike so many books thrown at us today by popular writers, where the characters are `born, drink coffee and die', and whose messages (if any) don't matter one whit to life or literature, this book offers in a new and imaginative way some reassuring messages: that love really makes a difference; and we can (and need to try) to hope and dream a better world. Along the way, Dreaming is an engine that propels us, and a vehicle to create our path and vision. And laughter is, still, wonderful medicine for what ails us.

Also recommended (same author): This is the World (short stories): The Absence of Angels (novel); Feathering Custer (essays); All My Sins Are Relatives; As We Are Now (Editor, essays); The Telling of the World (Native American folk tales)

'Strangers You Should Know.......2001-10-19

William Penn's novel "Killing Time with Strangers", winner of the American Book Award for 2000, is not just exceptional literary craft, it's great fun. Penn seems to be saying some wonderful, optimistic things about the human condition, while poking fun at our preoccupation with the trivial, and forcing us to consider basic questions, such as, what are we really doing here? Is life really just a matter of `this, then that?'

Such questions are gently threaded into a highly imaginative and extremely funny story. The novel shows us the LaRue family, and in particular, son Palimony Blue, whose tale is narrated by a weyekin, or Indian spirit guide, dreamed by his mother Mary. The story works on many different levels. Its structure is highly sophisticated yet unless you are examining it from the perspective of literary criticism (which you can -- this work has won one prestigious award already and will likely be examined in college classrooms, it's that good!) -- you just appreciate the ease with which it joins the stories of Pal's family, his mixblood Indian father, Indian mother, generations of native American ancestors, the story of Pal himself from infant to man, the women in Pal's life, the loves of his life (including his one true love, Amanda) and finally, the hope and promise of the future, the birth of Pal's children. The book shows you, in splendid real-life color, the connections between them all.

Before Pal is able to dream his true love, Amanda, he seeks, finds or thinks he finds, Love in a series of humorous and often lustful encounters along the way with many colorful "strangers". These characters make for a very entertaining story. And, unlike so many books thrown at us today by popular writers, where the characters are `born, drink coffee and die', and whose messages (if any) are momentous in the sense only of, 'of the moment', and don't really matter a whit to life or literature, this book offers in a new and imaginative way some enduring and reassuring messages: that love may really make, not just 'a' difference, but 'the' difference; and we can (and need to try) to hope and dream a better way in this world. Along the way, Dreaming is both an engine that propels us, and a powerful vehicle to create our path and vision. And laughter is, still, wonderful medicine for what ails us.

Dreaming your reality.......2001-05-16

After reading this book, I think that Magical Realism, Native American style, may catch on as a distinct genre. The author, an "urban mixblood Nex Perce" is an English professor and it shows through in echoes from classical literature, but Penn also includes the classics of the Americas (such as the Popul Vuh) which makes this work unique and why I think that Penn may have opened up a whole new genre (if anybody can follow this act).

"Without storytelling, human beings don't exist" says Penn's narrator (a "Wyekin" or spirit guide, who, in his comic incopetence reminds me of Ed's Indian spirit guide in TV's "Northern Exposure").

This is the story of Palimony Blue Larue, son of Mary Blue and La Vent Larue, misnamed in the hospital becuase a nurse couldn't imagine anybody naming thier kid "Palomino" after a horse! So Pal goes through life trying to please and be liked as his father before him did, while his mother and her Weyekin spirit guide try to prevent him from making his father's mistakes and teach him how to dream his way out of the white world. His mother didn't want him in their world. Says Mary Blue, "I want him to envision and make a world of his own in which they are not foolish but all their knowledge and instinct don't matter because they don't have any effect."

This must have been the spirit that prompted the famous Ghost Dance.

Pal's mother, Mary Blue, is the spider woman on the set, goddess of wisdom and time, endlessly beading and feeding strangers and friends the way Penelope did - or one of the Fates. She has "...years of her Dreamer's practice at harmony, at the balance that comes from not judging until it's time and even when it became time, ususally not judging the person but maybe the results, and not harshly, which came full circle from the balance achieved by not judging, but putting the thing itself in perspective, by connecting it to five hundred years of human activity and thought, by seeing that very little about real human beings really changes. Once you realize that, once you learn to dream, which helps to create that realization, you gain humor - sometimes, outright laughter - but always the humor that is the resilience of survival."

How much of this is like the Australian aboriginal dreamtime, I wonder?

Pal gradually catches on, but with his own spin. His yellow butterflies become post-it notes by which he dreams his ideal woman, Amanda, into existence. But Amanda does declare towards the end of the book that "I'm real." Not something Pal dreamed. "Dreaming is an imaginative act. But it's very real," he says. "Like telling stories. The Navajo beleive that by articulating something, putting it into words, you actually make it exist. You bring it into being. Dreaming's like that. It makes things exist by imagining them with power. It makes them exist by imagining a world in which they mean a lot."

Pal's epiphany comes when he burns his post-it notes and says they're "dead lectures...names and dates and questions that have to mean what people have already decided they have to mean. Not a single hidden meaning in one of them. Nothing that lets you glimpse the other side of things or look for what's behind or between the words, like stories."

Besides the classical references, there are echoes of other authors in this work - Erdrich and Silko, Anaya and even Alexie - but Penn still has his own voice. He could have used a better editor who would have weeded out sentences such as, "Odd how they don't want their listeners to take part in how their stories make the world, though, isn't it?" which is simplistic at best and patronizing at worst. And you have to connect the dots and pay attention or else you have to go back and check the author's definition of terms. But it's worth it for the world view.

I'm making this work sound like a literary exercise - which it isn't. It's an entertaining story, but you have to pay attention or miss the point. You have to read it to the end to get to the beginning. So it's not light reading. But again, it's worth it.

pamhan99@aol.com

Average customer rating:

Too strange

an amazing discovery---sci fi for adults

Not Even Readable

Bleak, depressing, pessimistic

With luck, this will stay out of print

Stranger Suns
George Zebrowski
Manufacturer: Spectra
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Historical | Romance | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0553291750
Release Date: 1991-08-01

Customer Reviews:

Too strange.......2005-12-05

The lack of coherence in this novel is as stunning as the alien technology our heroes explore. There are enough plot elements going here to fill a shelf of books; few of the lines are tied up with any satisfaction. All in all, a deeply frustrating book.

an amazing discovery---sci fi for adults.......2004-03-04

As a novel, it's terrific---the story hurtles along, never predictable, with characters of depth and moment, and above all, the writing is a cut above. The science is cutting edge, the alternate world elements are fascinating. The combination of storytelling and sci fi is breathtaking and exciting. But the philosophical concerns---and this book has them---are at the heart of it, and they are the concerns of characters in midlife, looking back on their dashed and persistent dreams, their frustrations and failures, and examining the history and nature of humanity from this perspective. The book's protagonist, Juan Obrion, is a kind of Raymond Chandler character--an idealistic but disillusioned detective of cosmic mysteries and the mysteries of human nature. For me, all this gives this book an added dimension, a depth in character and in general concern not often present in any novel these days, let alone science fiction. I don't think you have to be older to enjoy this novel, but it helps to understand the concerns of the main character from that perspective.

This is a novel that H.G. Wells would love---it creates a believable future, but uses it for more than fun and games. It's an inner and outer journey to the edge, and even if Obrion starts out with a Huxley/Darwin idea of human nature fated to be limited by what it needed for its own evolution, he ends up with a more hopeful one.

Readers of Zebrowski's MACROLIFE and BRUTE ORBITS will recognize this universe, taken this time to a kind of ultimate. It's been an amazing experience finding someone this good who's been writing this long with this depth and these concerns. I've come to Zebrowski late, but I'm sure glad not too late.

Not Even Readable.......2002-09-17

I've read some bad books in my time, and this is one of 'em. It was so bad that I couldn't even finish reading it. The characters are cardboard, the dialogue is ridiculous, the plotting is haphazard, and the science isn't even very good. It's hard to believe this book ever got published.

Bleak, depressing, pessimistic.......2000-10-01

The blurb from the back cover of the paperback reads thus:

"Physicist John Obrion designed his orbiting tachyon detector to listen for signs of life in other star systems. And though he doesn't anticipate the failure his employers expect, the last place he thought to trace a signal was to Earth itself.

"Under the frozen ground of Antarctica lies the fantastic starship of a forgotten culture. Long dormant, it requires only passengers to awaken it...and Obrion's exploration team triggers the ship's launch. Prisoners in the empty craft, the four scientists find themselves reluctant, awestruck travelers through a universe where humankind has never ventured. And that is only the beginning: as Obrion and his companions explore the alien ship, they discover portals to an infinite number of variant Earths. The questions raised by these doorways are as innumerable as the worlds they access...but they only matter if Juan, Lena, Malachi, and magnus can find their way back home."

Before reading "Stranger Suns" I had previously read one other novel by George Zebrowski, "The Killing Star". While that book was quite gloomy (entire human civilisation, cautiously hopeful about the future, is wiped out in a matter of seconds by a relativistic weapon dispatched by a coldly logical alien species) it comes nowhere near the feel-bad philosophy espoused by this particular book.

The central character, Dr. Juan Obrion, wore me down with his - and by extension, the author's - misanthropic take on the human condition. Each grim variant of Earth he and his companions discovered was a cause for tedious griping and whining about humanity's penchant for self-destruction, greed, and corruption. At times I wished Obrion would happen upon an alternate Earth just seconds before it's utter destruction by a "Killing Star" like weapon just to shut him up!.

When not bashing humankind for its failings, he briefly examines the nature of a particular prison system and the moral responsibility, if any, of its wardens.

Despite it's cheerless perspective, the book does have some things to recommend it. The technologies left behind by the alien ship-builders are quite intriguing, focusing on mind-boggling methods of inter-stellar and cross-dimensional transportation (this particular technology lead to some confusing plotting as the characters travel between successively more improbable Earth variants), bodily rejuvenation, matter replication and energy manipulation. Zebrowski's depiction of a far-future alien culture is similarly impressive, if incomprehensible.

With luck, this will stay out of print.......1999-08-13

With any luck, Stranger Suns will stay out of print. I picked it up because I'd been so impressed with Zebrowski's collaboration on the Killing Star, but this was a complete disappointment.

The alleged plot starts out with some similarities to Norton's Time Trader's series, where humans discover ancient starships buried on Earth. The difference here is that the time travel is between different realities, instead of linearly through historic time. A group of miserable excuses for scientists start to explore, and the plot completely derails. Threads start and die with no discernable plan. The "scientists" make wild speculations based on no data and conclude they are facts. The ending comes 150 pages too late, and resolves nothing. What a waste!

Average customer rating:
Stranger Suns
George Zebrowski
Manufacturer: The Easton Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Leather Bound
ASIN: B000O7MXJ0

Average customer rating:
stranger Suns
George Zebrowski
Manufacturer: Easton Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HK3WXK

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Stranger Suns (Signed First Edition)

Manufacturer: Easton Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Leather Bound
ASIN: B000GEAHZS

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Strangers in the sun
Noël Barber
Manufacturer: Bles
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books
General | Travel | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0007J67FQ

Average customer rating:
Strangers in the Sun
Mary Sheppard
Manufacturer: Lenox Hill Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000J2JT74

Average customer rating:

A Lambic Tour

Wild Brews

Wild Brews: Culture and Craftsmanship in the Belgian Tradition
Jeff Sparrow
Manufacturer: Brewers Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Beer | Drinks & Beverages | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
European | European | Regional & International | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Murder & Mayhem | True Accounts | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Brew Like a Monk: Trappist, Abbey, and Strong Belgian Ales and How to Brew Them

Farmhouse Ales: Culture and Craftsmanship in the European Tradition

Radical Brewing: Recipes, Tales and World-Altering Meditations in a Glass

Belgian Ale (Classic Beer Style Ser)

Brewing Up a Business: Adventures in Entrepreneurship from the Founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery

ASIN: 0937381861

Book Description

Explores the world of Lambics, Flanders red and Flanders brown beers as well as the many new American beers produced in the similar style.

Customer Reviews:

A Lambic Tour.......2005-08-28

I've never been in a Belbium brewery, but from what I hear, the health department in any city/state in the US would immediately shut them down. The very title of this book 'WildBrews' explains why. The traditional lambic beers of Belgium are produced using wild yeast. While you can find wild yeast everywhere, the ones you get here in the US produce truly bad beers. Each batch you produce will be different, sometimes totally different, but in my experience always bad.

The yeast that seem to abound in Belgium produce beers with a consistency that has lasted for generations. I don't know if it is true, but I have always suspected that clumps of yeast would gather together rather like cob webs or dust balls around the brewery and fall or be blown into the mix. I was rather surprised at the appearance of the breweries in this book as they seemed clean and sanitary.

Lambics have not been among the most popular beers made in this country. Only a few micro breweries produce lambics, the most popular around here is New Belgium from Ft. Collins, CO.

You can, of course make your own Lambics, the recipies start on page 255 of this book. But you don't do it with the natural yeast floating around the air in your garden. You buy Lambic yeast from a couple of companies.

One scary thought. Beer was invented some 5,000 years ago. Probably some grain got wet, sprouted, dried out, got wet again and some yeast got into the mix. Boy that must have been bad stuff. At that time it was all wild yeast. Personally I'm glad that we've had 5,000 years of yeast development.

This is an enjoyable book, almost a travelogue through Belgium beers.

Wild Brews.......2005-06-26

Wild Brews covers those beer styles of Belgium that depend upon fermentation by wild yeast and bacteria, specifically East Flanders brown, West Flanders red and lambic. Although you may be under the impression, as I was, that a lambic brew could occur only in the Brussels and Payottenland areas and inside cobweb infested barns with leaky roofs, Sparrow contends that wild yeast can occur anywhere. It is the cultivation and control of the right microorganisms that create a quality brew.

The book looks at the history, brewers and brews of the area and includes many photographs, but of particular interest to advanced brewers are the sections on the nature of Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, Pediococcus, Saccharomyces and other microorganisms that ferment and acidify wild beers. Temperatures and other environmental factors can enhance or inhibit their activity.

An infusion mash is commonly used for Flanders red and Flanders brown and a turbid mash for lambic. The methods are detailed in the book, plus specifics on how to control the fermentation process to balance the yeasts and bacteria by allowing dominant stages and adjusting temperatures. The addition of fruit would amplify the complication. This is not a book for a beginning home brewer.

Brewers will find it nearly impossible to copy a style because of the unpredictability of wild yeasts and bacteria. Two brewers using the same recipe are likely to come up with brews quite different. Wild brews are often blended to change the character of a beer or achieve consistency. Blending is an art that requires trial and error to learn.

Sparrow provides ten recipes, including options to experiment with the brews at different stages. The recipes and information in this book provide a wonderful challenge to create a unique brew while aspiring to the standards set by the Belgium brewers.

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