Review: Human by Den Holson ★★★★
In a time somewhere after 1952, and a place often known as Dundee, a man concludes the search for his mother’s grave, failing to find any remnant of a true piece of her being in her headstone and final remains, and thus giving up on his life-long quest. Rather than being the final conclusion to a wider tale, this event is at best a mid-point.
With his father’s spirit in his ear, and his mother’s photo as phone wallpaper, the narrator continues an introspective journey of the nature of truth, humanity, being, and a few other more interesting things, maybe. […]
Spiritualized is a raucous rock and roll mystery, part of Victor Levine’s Spec Time Trilogy series of books, which follow the exploits of Jon Cells, an aspiring rock star (based on a real person and real musician). Spiritualized acts as a kind of prequel to Vaporized, taking place four years before, over four days in 1978. This novel covers everything from coke deals, to cow mutilations, to New Age Buddhists, to rock stardom, to Hollywood filmmakers, and more in this spirited and literary epic novel.
Murphy Drummer is bad luck personified. As Murphy’s Law states: anything bad that can happen will happen. This is Murphy’s lifelong mantra. After a lifetime of causing havoc wherever he goes, he becomes the ultimate agoraphobe and locks himself inside so he can’t cause any more damage. Keeping himself busy with a multitude of hobbies, Murphy becomes the “Hobby Guy” with a devoted following. Eventually, Murphy has to leave the safety of his cocoon and comes in contact with his polar opposite: Joy Daley, who is touched by lady luck wherever she goes, and who might just change Murphy’s luck […]
Pianist in a Bordello by Mike C. Erickson is a political satire about a congressional candidate who, ten points down in the polls, decides to tell the truth about his life in an incendiary memoir. After the introduction where his handlers are imploring him to not release this autobiography, the bulk of the book is the autobiography itself, where we learn that the congressman-to-be was raised by a hippie father on a commune, and gets involved with all types of women, nearly gets arrested for spilling state secrets, and basically doesn’t behave very well for someone hoping to enter politics.[…]
“I’ll bet you twenty bucks that you won’t mess with that old man by the bar.”
Vaporized by Victor Levine follows the exploits of up-and-coming/down-and-out musician Jon Cells who’s looking for his big break in the New York music scene of the early eighties. In the meantime, he’s working at a perfume factory, which is under investigation by the FBI for possible drug connections. John Cell gets caught in between the rivalry between two familes, the Iranian Monsouris and Italian Pecorinos, when all that he wants to do is make music.
Just Pru, by Anne Pfeffer, is a laugh out loud, heartwarming story about a twenty-five-year-old woman named Prudence Anderson.