Book Review - Illusions, the Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

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Illusions, the Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, written by Richard Bach (not to be confused with Richard Bachman) who is perhaps best known for having penned the now classic Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Illusions, the follow-up, almost seems to pick up where it's predecessor left off. Just where exactly that might be, is somewhat up in the air.

The bulk of this story is about the lighthearted adventures of two barnstormers during the heyday who meet by chance in the fields of America's heartland. The hero of the story, or the reluctant messiah, as the title suggests, is flier, Donald Shimoda, and his aerial accomplishments. Shimoda, is a barnstormer.

For those unfamiliar with the term, barnstorming refers to a form of aerial acrobatics performed by pilots primarily during the wildly exciting 1920's. Often a pilot would land his aircraft in a farm field or pasture where heart stopping rides were then pitched to the brave, usually for around two bits. Stunt aircraft of the period were able to perform breathtaking maneuvers at very low altitude, sometimes only inches above the crowds. Wing-walking was also a popular event with spectators. America was mesmerized, and barnstorming soon took the Midwest by, well, by storm, of course.

Illusions is a classic, feel-good adventure story, and at just under one hundred-fifty pages, it reads very quickly. For myself, I was most intrigued by the story within the story, written on an apparent note pad with a bad felt tip pen, found prefaced at the beginning. It's a short fantasy, touching on the simplicity of our basic survival instincts, based on the every day existence of tiny creatures clinging to a rock on the bottom of a river. Here's a brief passage:

"Each creature in it's own manner clung tightly to the twigs and rocks of the river bottom, for clinging was their way of life, and resisting the current what each had learned from birth."

I think you get where Bach is going with this, but it is well worth the read. The book's title portends a sense of impending dork factor, but fear not, it's really all good, comforting fun. I would highly recommend this book to older children and adults of all ages.

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

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Book Review: The Garden of Eden - Ernest Hemingway

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

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The Garden of Eden, though incomplete at the time of Ernest Hemingway’s death, contains some of the author’s most brilliant writing. Unfortunately, the brilliance is pinned beneath a steady current of mundane, meaningless pretense. This could have been a classic example of the ‘Lost Generation’s' literary contributions. Unfortunately, it is not.



It is the story of American novelist David Bourne and his intellectually inclined, but emotionally challenged bride, Catherine. Together, they spend an endless summer in the Mediterranean swimming, and dining, and drinking, and sleeping it off. And waking and showering, and oh yeah, they spend an unusual amount of time kissing and frolicking naked, even for hormonally motivated newlyweds.

Catherine quickly bores with their new routine, and decides she can spice up the relationship with a deeper tan and matching haircuts. More drinking ensues, as does more sex and more sleeping it off. Not enough, you ask?

Enter Marita. Well, needless to say, this new girl complicates matters in untold ways.(told, actually). What transpires is as sordid and predictable as only any average reader can imagine. (I’ll kindly leave the details of the affair unresolved). In fact, a reader could probably skip chapters two through fifteen and never miss a step.

The meat and potatoes of the story comes during chapter sixteen, disguised as a side dish. It’s a story within a story, about a boy and his father on safari in Africa. Here, Hemingway shines as only Hemingway can. His words flow from the proverbial pen with grace and passion, with intense focus and purpose. From these innermost (and far less trivial) thoughts, we are finally witness to the genius that was Ernest Hemingway.

David Bourne and his new wife are seriously flawed figures. There is little to like about either of them. Still, I can’t help but sense this story might have been somewhat auto-biographical. Bourne and Hemingway have much in common, including an insatiable appetite for absinth and alcohol. Africa seems almost incidental in comparison.

I can’t say I recommend The Garden of Eden, unless swimming and dining and drinking, and then even more drinking, tends to be your thing. All others might want to steer clear.

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

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The World According to Garp - John Irving - Book Review

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

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John Irving, iconic American novelist, born March 2, 1942, garnered critical acclaim in 1978 with the release of his fourth tomb, The World According to Garp, a dark, but gripping tale of love and loss, of friendship and of loneliness.

Sex and promiscuity return as the central theme in this modern tale of dysfunction, as Irving presents the reader with an array of colorful but sensitive characters. The central protagonist, Garp, as he is referred to, grows up in a world compromised by lust and betrayal. As an adult, little changes in his disturbing world but the names, as Garp confronts good intentions with disastrous results.

As is nearly always the case with an Irving novel, we learn to love his most dysfunctional characters the most. We grow as they grow, we suffer as they suffer, and ultimately, we die silent deaths in the shadows of these tragic people and the events which shape their lives.

The antagonist in The World According to Garp seems to shift from one chapter to the next, but in fact remains metaphorically consistent with John’s implied intent. The real antagonist is ourselves, always and forever in contrast with our own moral and ethical self loathing. It is we, who are the enemies of our souls. “In the World According to Garp,” a young Donald Witcomb would write, “we are obliged to remember everything.”

The novel ends as tragically and as ironically it begins, leaving the reader with a real sense of loss. It is an art form Irving has mastered, and continues to share with great passion. His novels are timeless statements on humanity, and although perhaps not suitable for young readers, I strongly recommend his work to adults of all ages.

Irving, who studied under the Late Kurt Vonnegut at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop during the sixties, continues to live and write in his home state of New Hampshire. Other novels by John Irving include: Setting Free the Bears, The Water-Method Man, The 158-Pound Marriage, A Prayer For Owen Meany, The Hotel New Hampshire and Cider House Rules. For further information on John Irving and his novels, visit your local library or book store.

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

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Book Review -John Steinbeck-Tortilla Flat

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

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John Steinbeck, the voice of American conscience, and a true literary genius. His work has grown increasingly important in these modern times, these devoid of his ceaseless grace and passion. His words hang like crystal chandeliers in a world inhabited by shadows. John Steinbeck is more than a novelist. He is our reflection.

Tortilla Flat represents Steinbeck’s first critical and popular success as a novelist. Comprised of seventeen ‘episodes, Tortilla Flat documents the events surrounding a group of ‘paisanos living on the fringes of society in the fishing community of Monterey, California nearly a century ago.

It is a story of Danny’s house, and Danny’s friends. It is a story of loss and redemption, and more loss. It is a tale of meaningless triumph, of alcoholism, of loneliness and of friendship. Steinbeck warns the reader of such impending peril, and delivers with great sadness. Such is the fabric of Tortilla Flat.

Ultimately, Tortilla Flat confronts the basic tenets of morality, steeped in a shadowy broth. Sometimes humorous, but always painful in it’s analysis, the story tumbles and slides down the slopes of humanity. Blood and wine are equally spilled, and the loss is communally shared.

The story ends as it begins, full circle, cryptic and proverbial. It is Danny’s house and these are Danny’s friends. Like the candle that burns in the evening, and by morning, was never there, Tortilla flat tells us of a world that existed once, but only within the bounds of it’s own jurisdiction. With Tortilla Flat, John Steinbeck does not create a world we wish to share, but instead shares a world with us created by others. A world created by Danny and his friends.

Born February 27th, 1902 John Steinbeck grew up in Salinas California, and much of his writing is centered around these peoples of the coast. Perhaps best known for his depression era masterpiece, Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck wrote several unforgettable novels, including Cannery Row, Of Mice and Men, East of Eden and The Pearl. Steinbeck passed away on December 20th, 1968, but his writing lives on.

“Now it is over”, remarks Pilon, friend of Danny’s and fellow resident of Tortilla Flat. “Now the great times are done. Thy friends will mourn, but nothing will come of their mourning.” Perhaps Pilon was correct all along.

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

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House of Sand and Fog - by Andre Dubus lll - Book Review

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

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House of Sand and Fog, a dark tragedy of loss and relentless crisis, as two families from divergent cultures struggle for sociological integrity in a system void of compassion. Our antagonist and protagonist are one and the same, as each steamroll forward on an antagonizing and ultimately fatal collision course.



The author, Andre Dubus lll walks the reader through the process of tax foreclosure and the damage it inflicts on it’s victims. He reminds us that time and again that when dignity becomes cheap, a man can do things never imagined. Meet Colonel Behrani, former man of wealth turned struggling immigrant:

“After cutting the grasses, I thought of phoning the gentleman at the county tax office who supervised the auction, perhaps make an inquiry of this woman, but I was not able to pick up the telephone; if there is no snake at your feet, do not lift rocks at the side of the road.”

The woman of which he writes is the former home owner, Kathy Nicolo, who has lost everything, and now stands to lose her house as well. It is a fight she cannot win. Meanwhile, a love story of sorts develops, but only as fodder for greater and greater disruption and disillusionment. At times the tension becomes readily palpable.

The writing is exceptionally well crafted. House of Sand and Fog flows from page to page with great ease, the heart pounding harder with each passage. I won‘t give it away, but predictably, the story does not conclude with a happy ending. Quite to the contrary, I’m afraid, leaving the reader exasperated, and perhaps more than a tad empty. House of sand and Fog may well be remembered as a literary classic for the ages, but a feel-good story it isn’t. Dubus carves his ground carefully. The subsequent scars run deep.

I wouldn’t recommend this novel to just any reader, as the subject matter is at times, jarring. This is highbrow literature at it’s finest and we would be wise to expect more extraordinary works from Dubus in the future. Still, House of Sand and Fog is a cautionary tale, and was not written with the light hearted in mind.

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

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Ernest Hemingway, American Literary Icon

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

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"In Africa a thing is true at first light, and a lie by noon and you have no more respect for it than for the lovely, perfect weed-fringed lake you see across the sun-baked salt plain. You have walked across that plain in the morning and you know that no such lake is there. But now it is there absolutely true, beautiful and believable."
-Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway, an American literary icon, whose life, was as extraordinary as his writing. Born in July of 1899, Hemingway is credited by many with having changed the voice of literature in twentieth century America. His passion was ever present, his words revealing. An avid outdoorsman and adventurer, Ernest brought his world into our world, he brought his adventures into our living rooms, and together we shared the pain and loss dominant in his writing.

He wrote many unforgettable novels, including A Farewell to Arms, The Sun Also Rises, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and the fictional memoir, True at First Light, but it was his classic novella, The Old Man and the Sea, which earned him his Pulitzer Prize in 1953, defining Hemingway and his unique style of writing.

Ernest Hemingway always seemed to be searching for something, a search which would lead him to France in his youth and later Africa, where he hunted wild game, finding inspiration for some of his most intriguing stories. While on safari, Hemingway contracted dysentery, which nearly cost him his life. He was seriously mauled lion hunting, survived two plane crashes, and once shot himself in the foot while deep-sea fishing.

Unfortunately, the one killer Hemingway could not overcome was mental illness. Years of alcoholism and a lifetime of self abuse eventually took its toll, ravaging his body and his mind. Mental illness is a lonely road, and one which Ernest was increasingly unable to navigate. On July 2nd, 1961 Hemingway ended his life with a shotgun. At age sixty-one, Ernest Hemingway was gone.

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

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Book Review: John Irving - The World According to Garp

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

blogment - National News wire - The Infinite Echo

John Irving, iconic American novelist, born March 2, 1942, garnered critical acclaim in 1978 with the release of his fourth tomb, The World According to Garp, a dark, but gripping tale of love and loss, of friendship and of loneliness.

Sex and promiscuity return as the central theme in this modern tale of dysfunction, as Irving presents the reader with an array of colorful but sensitive characters. The central protagonist, Garp, as he is referred to,
grows up in a world compromised by lust and betrayal. As an adult, little changes in his disturbing world but the names, as Garp confronts good intentions with disastrous results.

As is nearly always the case with an Irving novel, we learn to love his most dysfunctional characters the most. We grow as they grow, we suffer as they suffer, and ultimately, we die silent deaths in the shadows of these tragic people and the events which shape their lives.

The antagonist in The World According to Garp seems to shift from one chapter to the next, but in fact remains metaphorically consistent with John’s implied intent. The real antagonist is ourselves, always and forever in contrast with our own moral and ethical self loathing. It is we, who are the enemies of our souls. “In the World According to Garp,” a young Donald Witcomb would write, “we are obliged to remember everything.”

The novel ends as tragically and as ironically it begins, leaving the reader with a real sense of loss. It is an art form Irving has mastered, and continues to share with great passion. His novels are timeless statements on humanity, and although perhaps not suitable for young readers, I strongly recommend his work to adults of all ages.

Irving, who studied under the Late Kurt Vonnegut at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop during the sixties, continues to live and write in his home state of New Hampshire. Other novels by John Irving include: Setting Free the Bears, The Water-Method Man, The 158-Pound Marriage, A Prayer For Owen Meany, The Hotel New Hampshire and Cider House Rules. For further information on John Irving and his novels, visit your local library or book store.

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

Sound Foundation Entertainment - National Newswire - The Infinite Echo - Impeachment Now! - Sound&Recording - Skate the Razor - Skate the Razor Blog - blogment

Book Review - John Steinbeck - Tortilla Flat

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

blogment - National News wire - The Infinite Echo

John Steinbeck, the voice of American conscience, and a true literary genius. His work has grown increasingly important in these modern times, these devoid of his ceaseless grace and passion. His words hang like crystal chandeliers in a world inhabited by shadows. John Steinbeck is more than a novelist. He is our reflection.

Tortilla Flat represents Steinbeck’s first critical and popular success as a novelist. Comprised of seventeen ‘episodes, Tortilla Flat documents the events surrounding a group of ‘paisanos living on the fringes of society in the fishing community of Monterey, California nearly a century ago.

It is a story of Danny’s house, and Danny’s friends. It is a story of loss and redemption, and more loss. It is a tale of meaningless triumph, of alcoholism, of loneliness and of friendship. Steinbeck warns the reader of such impending peril, and delivers with great sadness. Such is the fabric of Tortilla Flat.

Ultimately, Tortilla Flat confronts the basic tenets of morality, steeped in a shadowy broth. Sometimes humorous, but always painful in it’s analysis, the story tumbles and slides down the slopes of humanity. Blood and wine are equally spilled, and the loss is communally shared.

The story ends as it begins, full circle, cryptic and proverbial. It is Danny’s house and these are Danny’s friends. Like the candle that burns in the evening, and by morning, was never there, Tortilla flat tells us of a world that existed once, but only within the bounds of it’s own jurisdiction. With Tortilla Flat, John Steinbeck does not create a world we wish to share, but instead shares a world with us created by others. A world created by Danny and his friends.

Born February 27th, 1902 John Steinbeck grew up in Salinas California, and much of his writing is centered around these peoples of the coast. Perhaps best known for his depression era masterpiece, Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck wrote several unforgettable novels, including Cannery Row, Of Mice and Men, East of Eden and The Pearl. Steinbeck passed away on December 20th, 1968, but his writing lives on.

“Now it is over”, remarks Pilon, friend of Danny’s and fellow resident of Tortilla Flat. “Now the great times are done. Thy friends will mourn, but nothing will come of their mourning.” Perhaps Pilon was correct all along.

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

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Inside the 9/11 Report

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

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I've been reading through the 9/11 Commission Report, and it really doesn't do much to address some of the hard questions. It seems almost unconscionable to suggest the Bush administration could have been complicit in the events of 9/11, and yet, a great many Americans believe it to be true. Then again, one need not be a physicist to realize the official version of the story simply doesn't stack up.

Much like a house of cards, both towers tumbled to the ground in a matter of minutes, defying the laws of physics. The impact of the aircraft, and the subsequent explosion of jet fuel has been blamed for compromising the integrity of the structures, but leaves us with more question than answers. If indeed, the towers fell due to structural failure, why then would building seven also fail, as it was not struck by aircraft, nor was it built in the same manner as the towers. How does a building three blocks long collapse from a localized debris fire? Obviously, it doesn't.

Perhaps you are not familiar with the World Trade Center complex prior to 9/11. As such, it would be easy to overlook the obvious contradictions concerning the event. Throughout history, no other buildings have failed in a similar manner, and yet, we are expected to believe that this fluke of physics occurred not once, but three times, in a single location.

Could the Bush administration have somehow been involved in orchestrating these events? Frankly, the jury is out. We know for a fact, however, that the administration of Dwight Eisenhower drew up plans for similar attacks on US soil to bolster support for invasions of the USSR and Cuba. The covert operation, known as Operation Northwoods' was wholly rejected by subsequent administrations, but a precedent had been set. The US government had proven beyond doubt, a capability to kill innocent Americans.



Could 9/11 be another Operation Northwoods'? Unfortunately, it appears entirely possible. Just as the North tower was beginning to list to one side, a series of explosions occurred at street level, causing the building to buckle from beneath, bringing it straight down. These explosions could not have been the result of exploding fuel, as heat rises. Furthermore, we watched in terror as the jet fuel erupted into flames. What then, could have caused the explosions at street level?

We may never know the truth about 9/11, but we certainly know the official explanation is flawed and unacceptable. Could George W. Bush and his administration have knowingly murdered thousands of Americans? One can only wonder.

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

blogment - National Newswire - The Infinite Echo