Category: Books

Monday Musings

Posted in Books
Easter Morning

 

BRIGHT IDEAS
My bright ideas
are in stacks of notebooks.
Articles, stories, essays…
 begun but never finished.
Now it’s doc after doc
in a folder called “works in progress,”
yet they never do,
progress, I mean.
Why do I hold onto these tarnished gems?
Beats me.
Perhaps they are like children,
waiting to grow up
and go out on their own.

 

PICKING UP WHERE YOU LEFT OFF
What did you start,
but never finish?
What did you say
you wish you could say
in a different way?
Can you walk off –
give your hat a doff –
and come back
another day
to pick up,
where you left off?
Is going back
possible?
Doable?
Advisable?
What detritus was left
in your wake
what mistakes did you make?
Can you – I – pick up
where we left off?

Line, Poetry in Notion

Review

Posted in Books, essay, fiction4 Comments

The Death of Bernadette Lefthand

The Death of Bernadette LefthandA good story is made up of a collection of elements, the most powerful is that magical thing called voice. Who is speaking and what is the storyteller saying from the heart to engage the reader? In The Death of Bernadette Lefthand, author Ron Querry nailed it with Gracie. As the primary source of insight into Bernadette’s life and tragic death, Gracie can’t know everything, so we get to hear from a few other perspectives. But at the core, this is as much Gracie’s story as it is Bernadette’s.

Through Gracie’s eyes we get to see her sister’s world falling apart, attributable to human foible as much as anything, but assigned to fable and witchcraft Native American style, with Singers/medicine men making chilling appearances that portend no good thing.

Gracie reveals the meanness of living on a reservation with little to rely on other than family and tradition. She is not described, but you get the sense of a young woman whose appeal lies in the heart, not in outward appearance. Without guile or jealousy, she concedes to her lovely sister all the attributes she does not have. Her admiration of Bernadette’s spirit, her beauty, her charm, her talent dancing to the music of the drums, all serve to create the love story between sisters. Gracie seems content in Bernadette’s shadow, as though it is the perfectly logical place for her to be. In this shadowland, perhaps she sees what’s coming before anyone else can as Bernadette’s handsome Navajo husband’s life takes a nosedive into the bottle.

The bittersweet truth of the novel is the unanswered question of whether the bad buy gets his comeuppance. It’s left to the reader to decide, but I like to believe that in this good-vs-evil story, evil met his doom in fitting Native American fashion.

The Death of Bernadette Lefthand was first published in 1993 and won the Border Regional Library Association Southwest Book Award and the 1994 Mountains and Plains Booksellers Association Book Award. It has since received critical acclaim for the author’s ability to depict the intersection between white and native worlds.

Regarding this 25th anniversary edition of The Death of Bernadette Lefthand, Kirkus Reviews wrote: This…beautiful story deserves to be back on the bookshelves of American readers with its innovative, organic use of Indigenous prose form and strong, lovely personalities.

The Death of Bernadette Lefthand is published by Cinco Puntos Press and is available online and in bookstores.

Querry lives in Northern New Mexico in a century-old Queen Anne Victorian house, with his wife, fine art photographer Elaine Querry, and their three cow dogs.

Cover image from Cinco Puntos Press

 

Book Review

Posted in Book Reviews, Books, essay

Haunted Santa Fe

Haunted Santa FeIt’s that time of year when ghosties, goblins and ghouls come out of the woodwork. Literally according to Haunted Santa Fe, a historical overview of legends and lore born of real people living real lives, and then in the afterlife returning with spectral visitations that make things go bump in the night.

What I like about Ray John de Aragón’s wonderful book is how he ties history to these legendary figures. His richly told accounts stir the mind to a time long before statehood, when many cultures were streaming into New Mexico to join the native peoples already here, not always with favorable outcomes. The tales recounted in Haunted Santa Fe reveal that cultural montage with Martyr Mysteries, Koko Man, Julia Staab, the Forlorn Spirit, La Llorona, and Billy Bonney’s Ghost, among others.

He is an educator who uses stories to bring life to northern New Mexico’s deep and wide history, whether he is delving into fiction, writing nonfiction, or creating a melding of the two. The most interesting tales come from a grain of truth. Aragon broadens the horizon of his prose in Haunted Santa Fe to engage the reader and perhaps elicit a shiver or two.

A native Las Vegan, he brings authenticity to his work by drawing on his roots and remembered stories told to him by elders in his family over the years. Haunted Santa Fe is one of fifteen books he has authored. He has written for or been featured in more than one hundred publications.

As a traveling storyteller, Aragón has thrilled audiences with his frightening and enthralling tales of ghosts and the supernatural. Holding advanced degrees in Spanish colonial history, arts, legends and myths of New Mexico, he has presented on these topics for the New Mexico History Museum, the Museum of International Folk Art, the National Hispanic Cultural Center, the University of New Mexico, the College of Santa Fe and many more. His books are available at online retailers or in bookstores.

Tiny Tome #1

Posted in Books, Inspiration1 Comment

cover 6x9I write daily devotionals; it is part of my faith practice. The resulting brief essays are part meditation and part writing exercise. I have quite an accumulation and decided to select 31 for my first tiny tome digital book, Joy in the Morning, Words of Hope and Encouragement. Some are in prose form, some are written as poems.

The books will only be available on this site and in e-format. I hope you are inspired by Joy in the Morning, Words of Hope and Encouragement. Below is a sample.

 

Day 25
Temptation
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. ~ 1 Corinthians 10:13 NIV

Temptation is a beast. Not always a ravening beast, one that is evident and huge, jerking you around with relish; sometimes it is far more subtle, a gentle nudge here and there to compromise your values and your morals. C.S. Lewis in The Screwtape Letters pointed out the gradual slide into sin. “You are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness,” Screwtape says to Wormwood. “It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing… Indeed, the safest road to Hell is the gradual one.”

God’s promise is the trump card. When we know the beast is at our doors, we know God is there ahead of it, ready to stand with us to overcome.

~§~

I will appreciate you downloading Joy in the Morning, Words of Hope and Encouragement, and tell me what you think of it. The next tiny tome will be a collection of short stories.

The revision of Future Imperfect, a story of the apocalyptic consequences of manipulating nature, will begin posting soon.

 

Las Vegas, NM Book

Posted in Books, essay2 Comments

Now Available

Las Vegas, NM Pages

It has been a long time in the making, but Las Vegas, NM, 1835 – 1935 is now out and ready for purchase. The price, $39.95, and well worth the investment. It began as the germ of an idea and transformed into a gem of a book. More than 150 pages packed with historical photos, essays, maps and images.

On the flyleaf, Friends of the Museum supporter and bibliophile Nancy Colalillo writes, “… here is our origin story, the birth of Las Vegas, NM. The original Las Vegas as most residents will tell you. Within these pages are the answers to who, why, and how.”

Who were the early leaders, movers and shakers of Las Vegas? Why did development progress in the way it did? How did multicultural influences come together to create the Las Vegas of today? You can find the answers in this beautifully constructed book that covers 100 years of Las Vegas, NM.

This ll” x ll” publication might be looked upon as a coffee table book, interesting to look at and a bit of a conversation starter, but it is also an historical record that is enlightening and entertaining.

“It’s all here: The Spanish explorers and pioneers, the wagon trains, the Rough Riders, the Harvey Girls, the outlaws and desperadoes and ranching legends,” wrote Hampton Sides, best selling author of Blood and Thunder. His review is one of several by noted historians cited on the book’s back cover.

In her summary statement about the book, editor Edwina Portelle Romero writes that Las Vegas, NM, 1835 – 1935 is a snapshot of the 100-year period covered by the book. “…revealed through photographs, each capturing a single moment in time, frozen and selected by a human being… All photographs were selected by Las Vegans of today looking back, reflecting, making sense of the past and its people.”

How the book came together through the agency of a committee peopled by different volunteers over a span of time is a testament to the dedication of the Friends to make sure this story was told in this way. It is a book worth buying. Currently it is available at the City of Las Vegas Museum and Rough Rider Memorial Collection gift shop.

 

Weavings in the sky

Posted in Books

Birds in flight

Birds flying south for the winter
weaving tapestries across the sky.
I wish you could have seen it,
majestic, more than awesome
more than extraordinary.
Spirit woven into nature,
creating patterns and moving on
leaving no trace but for the joy
imprinted on my heart and mind.

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PHOTO: clipart.com

The right words

Posted in Books, essay, Inspiration1 Comment

A person finds joy in giving an apt reply – and how good is a timely word! Proverbs 15:23 (NIV)

sunset beach people sunrise
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Simple and direct, that’s the best way. When you say thank you, I love you, good job, keep the faith, you’re beautiful, you’re smarter than you think you are, I’m sorry, I forgive you… these are simple phrases that go a long way toward healing, restoration, joy, laughter and smiles. It doesn’t take a tome to express heartfelt words; it merely takes the right words at the right time.

 

Finding Family

Posted in Books

Finding FamilyMy name is Lilly Irish. “Finding Family” is my story. Now I don’t want to get into detail, you need to buy the book for that, but I can tell you there was no bigger surprise to me than having my dead sister’s daughter call me up out of the blue. Like I needed that complication in my life, right? I mean, I’m a widow. What am I supposed to do with this girl I haven’t seen in years and years? And – get this – she’s bringing her three little ones with her. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I lead a quiet life, and that’s the way I like it. Still I can’t say no to her. I guess I’ll take it one day at a time. What else can I do?

 

Lilly Irish’s quiet life is interrupted when her estranged niece arrives on her doorstep with three children and a dog of questionable breeding in tow. From the moment they blow into her life on a windy fall night and Krank the dog pees on her carpet, Lilly Irish begins a life-changing journey. Available in paperback and as an e-book.

Order now from Amazon