Review: A Season of Transitions by R.M. Gibson ★★★★
Set in New York during the late 60s, A Season of Transitions by R.M. Gibson follows single father, Cam Gordon through his career and parenting episodes while maintaining a full dating life.
This book is presented to the reader with a fairly clinical analysis with a prologue in the form of a letter from the author to the reader mentioning “women’s lib” (in quotation marks as if it was but a fancy) and voting for “blacks”, setting the tone for the rest of the book: a pretty sterile, white, male perspective of the social aspects of 1960s and 70s America.[…]
Pipeline to Plenty by Paul Clifton is an exciting corporate thriller about building a pipeline in central Australia, which turns out to be a lot more complicated and dangerous than anticipated. James Clayton – newly marriage with a new child and new house in a wealthy section of Melbourne – is tasked with the monumental duty of building the pipeline, on the urging of the giant construction firm Robco. Things are not as easy as they seem as Clayton and his brother have to battle the rough Australian terrain, ambitious politicians, thieves, terrorists, and more, who all threaten to sabotage […]
Set in the British East Midlands, the small town of Oatvale is blessed with miles of countryside, a long drive from anywhere of interest, and a smattering of no less than seven pubs, some more disreputable than others. Almost a zoo of local “characters”, the only kind of normal occupying the town is “a little bit odd”, and someone almost average can hardly escape at least a story of something extraordinary. Such is the fate of one Rob Thomas, who’s bad luck is flipped almost as marvelously as how he once caused a trouble-maker to somersault over in a single […]
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.
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.
“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.
Swim a Crooked Line by Al X. Griz follows several people’s lives in Nebraska: a farmer and his family including Chad who’s enlisted in the army in Afghanistan, and Rico, a linebacker for the Cornhuskers. Each character is richly imagined and contends with major societal issues. Swim a Crooked Line is a quiet novel about big ideas.