SETTING FREE THE KITES by Alex George: A Review

Posted on by Rae Longest

powerfulwomenreaders

This 2017 novel, available in large print at the Alvin Public Library, was an “impulse pick up” displayed at the library much like the impulse buys at the grocery store. My biggest compliment to the author is that the characterization (which I read for, more than plot) was outstanding. The story was set in Haverford, Maine and begins in 1976 when the narrator , Robert Carter, was attending Longfellow Middle School.

Like most middle schools, Longfellow had its bullies, specifically Hollis Calhoun, whose main purpose in life was to make Robert’s life miserable. Enter on the scene, the “new boy,” Nathan Tilly, who although small in stature, confronts Hollis and rescues Robert.  From there, a friendship is formed that supersedes Robert’s older brother’s disability and Nathan’s loss of his father shortly after moving to town. Robert’s part in this terrible accident, leaving Faye, Nathan’s mother unhinged and unhappy, is the…

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Hotel Incognito: Where Nobody Knows Your Name

Posted on by Rae Longest

This is one of my favorite “series.” It is simply too good not to share .

Writing-Insight-Success

Hotel Incognito

“Welcome to the Hotel Incognito,” a bored, shabby, elderly question mark intoned. “How can I help you?”

The hotel unsuccessfully tried to project the grandeur and luxury it once had.

Grammar Smith scrutinized the question mark. There was something vaguely familiar about him.

“We’re looking for En Dash,” Dis Connect said flashing his badge. “Have you seen her?’

The question mark turned his back on the two and started sorting mail into pigeonholes.

“I’m sure I don’t know who you mean,” he said.

“We have good reason to believe she’s staying here,” Dis got stern. “Look at this picture. She may be going by the name ‘Henrietta Hyphen.’”

“Our guests are entitled to some discretion,” the question mark ignored the outstretched picture.

“Turn around, and take a look!” Dis was miffed. “We have a warrant for her arrest. If you don’t tell us what room she’s in, I’ll haul you…

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Who Is the Human? Sam, Fred, Dylax: A Review of a Sci-Fi Novel

Posted on by Rae Longest

powerfulwomenreaders

Gary Pegoda’s novel begins with a question posed on the title page: “If computers were human in every way, would it be human? How would you know?” In this day of messing around with IA, it is a question to be considered. The first character we meet is Sam, “I am Sam, the Star Bright Machine…” a computer activated in 2020 who is, in its/his own words, “intelligent,” and “conscious” although he/it is a quantum computer in reality. The second character we meet is Fred, who is escaping from Sam, in a series of fast-paced, action-filled escapes and near-escapes as Fred tries to decide whether he, Fred, is a human or a figment of Sam’s creation and imagination. When Dylax, who speaks strangely and is a bit hard to follow until one gets used to her disjointed, out-of-syntax speech, comes on the scene, she is the love-match for Fred, and…

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TUESDAY TEASER

Posted on by Rae Longest

powerfulwomenreaders

This meme hosted by The Purple Booker asks readers to take the book they’re currently reading, open it at random, and copy a couple of sentences that might tease other readers into reading the same book.

I love books about books, reading, and people who love books. The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald is just such a book.  It is her first book, her debut novel, which tells the story of Sarah who comes to visit the US from Sweden to see her elderly Book Buddy, Amy, only to find a surprise.  While spending her time in Broken Wheel, almost a ghost town, Sarah re-opens Amy’s small shop as a book shop, using Amy’s vast collection of books as her merchandise. Here is an excerpt from near the beginning of the book:

As she enters the local cafe, Sarah meets Grace, the toughest, shotgun-toting woman in town who…

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THE DEVIL’S HIGHWAY: A Good Non-Fiction Read

Posted on by Rae Longest

powerfulwomenreaders

Non-fiction is not my first love, not my favorite genre in which to read. However, Luis Alberto Urrea’s The Devil’s Highway kept me turning pages like any good novel.  It is excellent investigative reporting on the US border policy.  The readability is probably what made this book a Pulitzer Prize finalist. It deals with illegal immigration, specifically from Mexico and South America into Arizona, California, and Texas.

The author tells the story of a 2001 crossing of the desert which contains the area known as “The Devil’s Highway.”  The author expresses his own “outrage tempered with concern.” As one critic explained, Urrea writes with “tragic and beautiful intimacy.” Dealing with hyperthermia and how people die in the desert, the author traces a group walking across and down the Devil’s Highway seeking a better life in America. It is at times, “artful, powerful, and shocking.” It is a border story written…

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Mozzie

Posted on by Rae Longest

Sue Vincent's Daily Echo

Image result for mosquito cartoon

I am a small mosquito
And my task is not the best…
To be a nuisance all my life
And be a perfect pest.

It isn’t really all my fault
When deep within the night
You wake to find I had a snack
And left a nasty bite.

I need the stuff that’s in your blood
I have none of my own…
That’s just the way that I was made
And so the seed was sown.

I am the perfect predator
No tiger bite can beat
The stealth attack that gets to feed
Yet leaves you on your feet.

I’m made by Mother Nature,
Working to her own design…
So when you try to squash me flat,
Recall…the fault’s not mine.

I can’t turn vegetarian,
That’s not the way I’m made,
A mozzie needs her sustenance,
The Piper must be paid.

We may surpass our natures,
But we can’t be…

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