Short Autobiographical Article by My Friend, Larry Sanders

There exists a contest I had not known about until Larry told me about it.  Two editors in Dallas, Ginnie Bivona and Larry Upshaw solicited short pieces by authors 65 and older, divided them in catagories: poetry, essays, and short stories, awarded them 1st, 2nd, 3rd place and Honorable Mentions and published them in in Ageless Authors Anthology,  of which the 2017 edition is the second annual.  Ginnie, 86, tells elders who complain about not being able to master technology  enough to submit entries, "Just ask your children and grandchildren for help.  After all, you taught them how to use a spoon!"

Larry sent TR and I a copy of this book for Christmas.  I will be adding it to my "to read" pile and will get to the whole thing, but in the meantime, I re-read his piece which won third place in the essay category, "My ' Go Dau Ha' Puppy.  I promised I would never forget."  Larry has written a number of rememberances of his Viet Nam experience as a medic assigned to an Army of the Republic of Viet Nam (ARVN) unit near the Cambodian border.  Those I have read are traumatic, charming, humorous, and terrifying.  This one is sweetly sad and charming.  I hope he will publish all of them, even if they have to be self published.  He included for us a picture of Deros, his adorable rescue puppy.  It was not published with the story--a shame.  Thank you for this book, Larry.



I have now started On Wings of Eagles by Ken Follett.  Unlike vintage Follett, this is a non fiction recounting of the Ross Perot led rescue of his EDS employees stationed in Iran trying to establish a national social security system when they were caught by revolution in 1978.  Because EDS is a Dallas corporation and Ross lived here, he is something of a local hero and this is a local legend.  But evidently is wider known than just here.  This rescue proceeds while our embassy officials were kidnapped and held for ransom.

Finished UNSINKABLE

More fun even than most celebrity biographies.  Debbie was in her 80's when she wrote this one and is as characteristically honest as we elders are known to be.  The first part catches us up on the rest of her life after her first book, Debbie: My Life.  At that point she was newly married to the man she thought would be the love of her life.  It turns out, NOT.  This book is well titled because life does keep knocking her down mountains and up she climbs again--slowly with a huge amount of work--just to be knocked down again.  But there is no giving up for this lady.  The second half of the book is a retrospective of all of her movies and some of her other work.  She talks about her and Harve Presnell's stage tour of The Unsinkable Molly Brown that Caryl (Gamin Coss) and I attended in Dallas and where I took Caryl's picture with each of the stars.  Caryl will be happy to know that she was good to Harve in this book--she very much enjoyed working with this kind and professional star.  Loved this book and LOVED Debbie...RIP, girl.  Your movies made our lives happier.

Finished THE UNSEEN

As usual with the Krewe of Hunters, it was a lovely, exciting, mysterious, romantic ghost story.  I had no idea who the perpetrator was until I was pretty well told.  Very enjoyable.

I have now started Unsinkable by Debbie Reynolds.  She starts with her life pretty much where she left off in her earlier boook.  She has let us know that, as optimistic about her third husband as the was at the end of that book, her optimism was premature.  Now she has proceeded to share what happened.

Finished ROUGHING IT

Mark Twain wrote several travelogues, of which this was his first.  While out west trying to make it in the territories, he kept extensive journals.  Many years later, he went back and reworked his journal into this book.  It is chock full of the exaggerated stories and the tongue-in-cheek humor he became so known for.  By the end of his adventure he had figured out that he could earn a living not only with his writing, but also, more immediately, by "lecturing" with his fabulous brand of humor.  If not the first, he was certainly one of the first stand-up comics.  His very first of these attempts was a wonderful success, though it did take some careful planning.  I enjoyed every moment of this book.

I am now about to start The Unseen,  #5 in the Krewe of Hunters series by Heather Graham.  This is a group in the FBI with "special talents"--they can see ghosts.  These ghosts are rarely evil, rather they are very helpful in solving crimes that might not be solved any other way.  This one is set in San Antonio, to this day one of my favorite cities.

Finished THE ORPHAN'S TALE

A very readable book about a close friendship between two women, leaving me feeling both sad and happy.  The combination of the Third Reich, circus, good people behaving badly because they almost have to, and good people behaving heroically.  A wonderful tale of the circus in extraordinary circumstances and the power of women.

I have now gone back to Roughing It by Mark Twain and have already. within about five pages, had several good belly laughs.

Finished THE COPPER ROOM

The only bad thing I can think of to say about Henry Melton's books is that they are badly edited--highly unusual for children's books.  I don't know if they are self-published or not, but that would explain it.  These books deserve better editing and distribution.

This one is even more inventive than the past ones, if that is possible.  Again difficulties of time travel and possible ramifications are explored with a plot that kept me on the edge of my seat.

I have now started The Orphan's Tale by Pam Jenoff, another WWII novel of women struggling to survive within the Third Reich.  This one adds another point of interest for me, though.  Much of the action takes place in a traveling circus--  Could a book be tailored more for me?

Finished THE BROKEN LAND

This was the third book in a four book series.  It is sad to finish a good book.  But, it is nice to know there is more to the story.  This one was exciting and spiritual, as are all the books by these authors.  We have now seen our heroes grow to man and woman-hood and become strong leaders for their people.  But, though the beginning of bringing the peoples to peace has been accomplished, there is still a very long way to go.

I have now started another of Henry Melton's sci fi for YA novels.  This one is again about time travel, but only in one direction.  Once a person makes a mistake, how can they ever get home again?

Finished THE CINDERELLA MURDER...

Loved it, as usual with Mary Higgins Clark.  When I read the first in the Under Suspicion series, I didn't know it would be a series.  Hurray.  I love the characters, especially Laurie's co-workers, her on screen interviewer, Alex, but mostly her father the retired policeman and her son, the very smart and observant ten-year-old.

I have just started The Broken Land, the third of four books in The People of the Longhouse series by Kathleen O'Neal and W. Michael Gear.  This one started with a preface that explained the many different versions of the story about the beginnings of the Confederation of the Iroquois about 2 - 300 years before the arrival of the Mayflower.  They have amalgamated the legend into a retelling....  After being captured and enslaved as a child, Odion, now called Sky Messenger as an adult, cannot abide the taking of child slaves, which gets him in trouble with his people.

Finished THE WITCH WITH NO NAME and with it the Entire Hollows series.

I am in mourning.  The is the second much loved series I have finished this year--Sookie Stackhouse and now the Hollows.  It was a great book and a satisfying end to the series...but I really wish there was more.  Edge of your seat thriller and this one makes its own case against bigotry.

I have now started reading The Cinderella Murder by Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke.  This is the second "Under Suspicion" novel which centers on a TV producer who is doing a series of reality programs that dig up old cold cases that have left a number of people living for a long time "under suspicion" of murder.  She does interviews with all parties and brings them together to reenact the scenes that happened, in this case, twenty years ago.

Finished MISS SEATON SINGS

How to explain the character of Miss Seaton or the series of misadventures, mistakes, and accidents that have her totally unaware of what is going on and all the criminals (and law officers) around her sure she knows everything that is going on--criminals trying to kill her and officers trying to protect her?  And how the havoc that follows her around somehow manages to solve crimes, some of which she doesn't even know about.  These books are not really mysteries--they are comedy of errors which somehow manage to come out okay, leaving the reader laughing, giggling, and wondering how they got here.

I am now heading back to the Hollows and to Rachel Morgan in The Witch With No Name  which says it is the 13th and last book in the Hollows series by Kim Harrison.  Again, I am saddened to come to the end of a beloved series.  Ivy has a powerful undead vampire wanting to kill her--powerful enough so that both she and Rachel may have to give up their freedom and stay with Trent in order to keep her alive.

Finished PRINCE LESTAT

Another really complicated Lestat adventure in which we meet many very old vampires, some of whom we've never met before.  There is a voice encouraging the older vampires to go out and kill the younger ones.  It talks in their heads.  Many ignore it, difficult as it is, but others follow its directions, not really knowing why.  The younger vampires loved by many of our much beloved vampires are in serious danger.  When no one knows who or what the voice is, how can the problem be solved?  What a treat to find another rich Anne Rice environment and community to explore...

I have now started a Miss Seeton Mystery, Miss Seeton Sings, by Heron Carvic.  Our heroine has been hired by the police to keep an appointment with a Swiss bank, in which she is to explore, in a subtle way, whether they know they are shipping England pound notes they have collected, about half of which are forged.  She has never been out of the country before and has never been on a plane...

Finished THE KING'S JUSTICE

What I love about this author is as apparent in this small novella as it was in the ten book Chronicles of Thomas Covenant and the six book Gap series.  The ability to create wonderful sensory worlds the reader can feel, complicated characters the reader can care about, and plots that unfold organically from the interaction of this world and these characters.  After reading a book of his, I feel as though I have taken a vacation albeit in a foreign and intricate world.

And what a treat to move from Stephen R Donaldson to Anne Rice, a creator of wonderful ways of  seeing this world through the eyes of beautiful, ever growing complicated characters.  The book starts with a quick  history as told in previous books of this series, through the eyes of Lestat.  We find him again nursing depression and boredom and a feeling of being outside of the world alone looking in.  He is being haunted by a "Voice" that speaks in lots of languages, mourning and mumbling almost in tune with Lestat's own mood.  He is bid by the Voice to "Help Me," and "Come to Me," but he does not know who or where it is....

Finished THE BILLIONAIRE'S VINEGAR

Though I found the beginning rather dry being a recounting of history, I was interested in Jefferson's encountering fine wines in France while ambassador there and his subsequent enthusiasm for it and for growing it here in the USA.  His dream was not to be realized until after WWII however.  Then the action came ahead to the auctioning at Christies of a bottle of 1787 Bordeaux with the initials ThJ inscribed on the bottle.  Speculation was that the bottles had at least been ordered by Thomas Jefferson--the year and the area where Christies was told it was found were certainly right.  The bottle bought 157,000 dollars and was bough by Forbes for display.  From there the action becomes really interesting and sometimes seriously funny while watching the ultra rich people continue to buy rare wines at amazing prices and making fools of themselves.  I greatly enjoyed the book.

I am about to start a Stephen R. Donaldson novella.  I began to love this author with The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant which I read all 10 books of, then continued with a wonder six-book science fiction journey in The Gap series.  This short book promises to be just a brief excursion, but I look forward to it.

Finished MORTAL FEAR

As always, a very exciting read.  This may have been the first time he has used this motive, but, since I am so late in coming to this book, I've encountered others.  The very fact that he has used it multiple times convinces me that this may be a very real threat...talk about scary!

I am now reading The Billionaire's Vinegar, the Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine.  It has opened with an interesting history of Thomas Jefferson's interest in French wines, especially Bordearx, developed while he was serving as ambassador to France.  He tried to get a budding wine industry started here then, but was largely unsuccessful.  That didn't really happen until after WWII.  I find, though it is pretty dry, I am learning a lot about wine history and some quirky characters participating in wine collecting.

Read another 100 pages of THE WITCHES

This section was pretty dry and slow going because it included lots of background information about the times, the government, the accused as well as the magistrates and jurors.  It covered through the hanging of the first 6 witches.  Mostly interesting...just dry.  Lots of info I didn't know before, and I had researched the subject and visited Salem prior to teaching The Crucible.

I have now started Mortal Fear by Robin Cook.  This is a pretty old one and I don't know how I've missed it.  Middle aged men are dying of heart attacks and strokes within a month of getting a good report from a comprehensive physical complete with cardiograms and an active stress test.  What is wrong?  This strikes home for me because my sister (age 46) died of such a heart attack three weeks after receiving  a clean bill of health.

Finished ORPHAN TRAIN

A story of now only how a rich old woman can help a 17 year-old foster child who has been "in the system" most of her life, but also how that girl can give the help back to both of their fulfillment.  And we learn about some mostly hidden part of our history along the way.  I loved it and heartily recommend it.

And now, I head back to The Witches by Stacy Schiff.  It is being told in a matter-of-fact, well researched, and somewhat dry way, but there is a great deal about what life was like in Salem for both the women and the girls.  Children were usually indentured to another family to be raised and taught to either farm (boys) or take care of the house and children (girls.)  Life was boring and hard.  It is quite understandable how these young servants were having a field testifying at the trial.  For the first time in their lives they were the center of attention and adults (especially Judge Hathorne) were not only taking them seriously, but hanging on their every word and antic!

Finished FOLLOW THAT MOUSE by Henry Melton

All of Henry Melton's books pick a common theme in science fiction and this is no different.  It takes up the mad scientist theme and couples with Star Wars' "force."  As always, really inventive.  I loved it, and even, by the end, was sitting on the edge of my seat.

I have now started reading Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline.  This is a well-researched novel.  So far, I have met Molly, for all intents and purposes an orphan since she was young, is now 17 and has been stuck in the foster care system going from family to family for a very long time.  Now, sentenced to community service for stealing a beat-up paperback copy of Jane Eyre from the library, she meets Vivian, a 91 year old woman whose attic Molly will be cleaning up.  Both women have interesting/ tragic pasts.

Finished THE DREAM STALKER

I love this mystery series, and I have only read 2 of them.  There is a good mystery that keeps me guessing, a dangerous villain who keeps me on edge, and wonderful characters that I can like and therefore worry about.  Not bad at all.

I have now started Follow that Mouse, another of Henry Melton's science fiction for young people novels.  This one appears to be veering strongly toward fantasy, but it is a pretty interesting fantasy.  A mouse runs ahead of the protagonists and then turns back and waits for them to catch up, obviously wanting them to follow him.  How could anyone's curiosity not be piqued?

Finished DO YOU PROMISE NOT TO TELL?

Sometimes promising not to tell is not a good thing.  I believe this is the first of Mary Jane Clark's Key News books.  Her heroine is a reporter/producer for a popular news television show.  The subject of this book is Faberge jewelry and, of course, the eggs.  I thoroughly enjoyed the book.  Stayed up late last night to finish it.

I am now about to start the third of Margaret Coel's Father O'Malley Arapaho mysteries.  I really enjoyed the first of them and expect to do the same with this.  I thought I had the second book in the series, The Ghost Walker, but I don't.  I have two Dream Stalker's, so I need to order the second and read them out of order.  Phooey!

Finished SHADOWED SOULS

I very much enjoyed this, maybe more than most of the books of short stories I have read.  There was only one that I found too silly (the zombie detective--but I really dislike zombies).  There was one author that I immediately ordered the first book in his series.  (This is pretty good.  If I can find one new author in an anthology, that is fabulous.)

I have now started Do You Promise Not to Tell? by Mary Jane Clark.  An enamel artist is killed.  Why?  Who is next.  This is a Key News book featuring Ferrell Slater, reporter.

Finished RAISINS AND ALMONDS

As with all of these Phryne Fisher books, I marvel at how much can be made to fit in this small a space.  The multifaceted mystery is solved satisfactorily and the saga of Phryne's social life and household is advanced.  Altogether fun reading.

I have now started Shadowed Souls, an anthology of short stories edited by Jim Butcher and Kerrie L. Hughes.  The first story is Jim Butcher's entitled "Cold Case."  This has Molly as the protagonist and narrator and, though I have only just started, I am already into it.  The theme of these short stories are beings (people-ish folk) whose personality and influence on the world are both evil and good.

Finished THE HARLEQUIN

Though many of the authors I read do this very well, Laurell K Hamilton is about to best for sustaining a story climax for what seems like days.  And there you are, late at night, having to read to the finish no matter what you have to do tomorrow.  However, unlike some of my authors, her books don't start with her getting clobbered--there is usually some humor to make us believe the book will be a bit lighter than usual...don't be fooled!  A very long night is ahead.

I have now started book #9 of the Phryne Fisher Mysteries, Raisins and Almonds.  A man walked into a bookstore owned by a single woman and fell to the floor dead shortly afterward.  He and the owner were the only people in the store at the time and poison is suspected.  So, of course the police charged the shop owner.  Phryne is hired by the shop owner's landlord to find out the truth.  Set between the two world wars in Austrailia.

Finished WARLEGGAN (Poldark #4)

I am getting seriously tired of George Warleggan!  He reminds me of the villains in The Pillars of the Earth and World Without End.  I think I have now caught up to where the TV show is.

I have now started reading The Harlequin, an Anita Blake vampire hunter novel by Laurell K Hamilton.  This is the 16th book in the series; I have read them all.  Malcolm, the very power master vampire who heads the vampire church has come to Anita to tell her of something that terrifies him.  He asks her to pass the information on to Jean Claude without telling her what it is!  But, Jean Claude knows right away and says telling her would get them both killed.

Read the first 100 pages of ALEXANDER HAMILTON

Included in this section are Alexander's tragic childhood growing up in the Carribbean, his passage to America, his college training and his growing partisanship for independence.  I have chosen to read this book in sections merely because it is cumbersome to carry around and my hands need a break.  It is quite readable, though it is a well footnoted scholarly biography.  I will be back.

 I have now started Warleggan, the 4th book in the Poldark series by Winston Graham.  So far, Caroline and Dwight are tip-toeing around each other, knowing they are very attracted to each other but also that they are from different worlds and Caroline's family would frown on such a match.  George Warleggan is sniffing around Elizabeth, though she is of course married, and she reveals to Ross that she had been wrong--she had never really loved Francis.

Finished THE UNHOLY

All of the books I have read by this author are supernatural romance/ thriller/ mysteries.  Only once can I remember a ghost being evil...all the other times they have been helpful.  In this book I met the most precocious (powerful) ghost I remember so far.  The motive of the perpetrator was pretty convoluted, as one of the protagonists points out.  As usual a very enjoyable and readable book.

I have now started Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow.  It is readable and interesting, but it is long and at some times dry, so I will probably divide it into sections to read.  So far I am reading about his parents' history and his childhood.  The laws at the time being so anti-women caused him to bear the label of "bastard" throughout his childhood and, to people who knew his history, all his life..

Read another quarter of BY BLOOD WE LIVE

I am now 3/4 of the way through this and may have found a new author to check--Lilith Saintcrow.  I really enjoyed her story in this book--very noir and very P. N. Elrod (who I adore.)  I will check her out.  The vampire stories have a kind of sameness to them which is why I'm reading this in sections.  Who would think I'd ever get bored by vampires???

I have now started The Unholy, the sixth of the  Krewe of Hunters books by Heather Graham.  These are fun ghost stories in which the ghosts are usually helpful.  The story opens with a murder in a special effect workshop and a very friendly ghost of Humphrey Bogart.  What fun!