Thursday, March 15, 2012

Doxology
Brian Douglas Holers

Available at Amazon

Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: BDH Productions (August 10, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0983775702
ISBN-13: 978-0983775706


I read a lot. So much, in fact, that sometimes the characters seem to blend together, all examples of various archetypes: the handsome hero, the brilliant but socially inept geek, the woman with a past, the misunderstood teen. So it's a pleasant surprise to find an author who can create characters so multi-dimensional that they stay on my mind long after the last page is turned. Vernon Davidson is one of those characters.

One of the reader's first exposures (so to speak) to Vernon is on a Sunday morning, when he plans (as he often does) to do his laundry outdoors in his birthday suit, looking to cause consternation in the ranks of the churchgoers on the other side of the creek. All we know of Vernon at this point is he drinks whiskey and mustard with breakfast, has a real will to cause trouble, and doesn't care a hoot what the rest of the world thinks about him. He appears as the standard stereotype of some old Southern 60-something, ignorant redneck with a mean streak. But Vernon is not what he appears to be. Few of Holer's characters in this book are, with the notable exception of a local bully and a very determined preacher.   Even the character that would years ago have been called the “village idiot” spends time researching stuff on the internet.

But Vernon has secrets. Terrible secrets that go back to his childhood, and tragedies in his life that are pushed deep below the surface. We discover Vernon as he learns that his brother Leonard is dying, begging Vernon to find his children and bring them to him, setting off a chain of events that will force Vernon into a confrontation with reality that will shift the very foundations of his soul.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

The Medici Legacy; Curse or Crime?

     Sometimes when I read a book, I know just the one person the book was meant for. We all have them, don't we? Aunt Sally loves any kind of book about foreign lands, Cousin Tom loves space opera, Mama loves romance with a capital R. Sometimes when I read a book, I simply want everyone else to read it. Sometimes I find books which are both a book to share with everyone because it is exceptionally good and a book I know just that certain someone who will especially enjoy it. Finding such a book is a treasure. So today I bring you a little treasure for your reading pleasure.


The Medici Legacy
By Greg Ahlgren                                                                


  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Booklocker.com, Inc. (October 15, 2011)
  • ISBN-10: 161434485X
  • ISBN-13: 978-1614344858
From Greg Ahlgren's website:
     When Antonio Ferrara of the Italian Polizia di Stato discovers that the seemingly random victims of a Tuscan serial killer are all illegitimate descendants of one Giovanni de Medici, a 15th century Florentine banker, his superior scoffs at his theory while the Italian military police caution him to leave the case alone on the basis of "national security." Undeterred, Antonio enlists Medici scholar Rachel Fuller and, together, they travel to America to unlock the secret.