Book Review: The Sun God's Heir

The Sun God’s Heir. Elliott Baker. Musa Publishing, July 23, 2014, Kindle Edition, 269 pages.

Reviewed by Stephanie Wilson Medlock.

Set in seventeenth century France, The Sun God’s Heir is the first book in a trilogy about Rene Gilbert, the son of a prosperous merchant who is almost supernaturally talented with a sword. Rene has trained with a master who taught him techniques of extraordinary spatial awareness along with the ability to harness his own emotions. The nineteen year old hopes never to use the killing skills he has learned. But this is not to be.

After the brutal Victor Gaspard kills his best friend, Martin, in a duel, Rene takes up his sword and cuts the murderer to ribbons. But he does not actually kill him, and the Gaspard family vows revenge on Rene and his family.  

Meanwhile, Rene has fallen in love with Claire, the woman Martin once desired. But just as this relationship is beginning, Rene must escape to the family ship, The Belle Poulé, and sail off to elude Gaspard. The journey is also to trade on behalf of his father.

Rene’s voyage is filled with sea battles as he encounters pirates and slave ships, but he also meets new allies. When he meets Akeefa, the daughter of a Muslim trader, he recognizes her as a kindred spirit. She has the exceptional ability to read the emotional currents around her and to fight like a demon. Both Rene and Akeefa may be the reincarnation of Egyptian royalty, whose actual purpose in life is to prevent Horemheb, a time traveling Egyptian general, from taking control of the earth and plunging it into centuries of darkness and corruption.

The Sun God’s Heir is on one hand a lively and well written story, filled with swashbuckling and realistic battles, and fascinating detail about commercial ships, pirates, and trading in the late seventeenth century. The author appears to have mastered the political nuances of the time, describing the situation of the Jews and the Muslims in Spain, as well as the emerging sultanate of Morocco.

The accuracy in setting and physical descriptions does not extend to the characters, who seem strictly twenty-first century. Whether the heroines are members of the French nobility or high-ranking Muslin women, they have a freedom of speech and movement that Gloria Steinem would envy. More troubling, the characters are largely one-dimensional. Either they are totally well meaning and honorable, or despicably evil. Besides being invincible, which makes Rene’s sword battles disappointingly predictable, this nineteen-year-old never has a bad mood, an unfair thought, or even a moment of irritation. The reader never really fears for Rene since his success is a foregone conclusion.

Baker intersperses the realistic aspects of the plot with Rene’s fascinating and often moving reflections on his master’s teachings, and less frequently, with chapters that focus on the ancient evil struggling to move into the seventeenth century and take on an embodied form. 

The magical secondary plot is not well developed in this book. The references to an ancient past are so different from the book’s main plot, and appear so irregularly, that their importance is easily overlooked. Some of this can be explained by the fact that The Sun God’s Heir is the first book in a trilogy. More on the actions of demonic ancient gods will no doubt assume greater importance in subsequent novels.

This first book also ends a bit too abruptly with none of its conflicts resolved. Readers will have to wait for upcoming editions to learn more about Horemheb’s attempts to destroy Rene, and which of two bewitching young women will ultimately claim his affections.

Book Review: Influencing Hemingway

Influencing Hemingway. Nancy W. Sindelar. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, May 8, 2014, Hardcover and Kindle editions, 212 pages.

Reviewed by Vicky Edwards.

When Nancy W. Sindelar taught literature at Oak Park and River Forest High School, she researched alumni Ernest Hemingway’s days there as a way of helping her students to feel connected with the man and his stories. She studied his yearbooks, his high school writing, and interviewed some former teachers, in addition to having access to the extensive library of The Ernest Hemingway Museum of Oak Park.

The result of her fascination with Papa Hemingway’s early life is Influencing Hemingway: People and Places That Shaped His Life and Work, a highly readable investigation into what factors may have inspired the genius of one America’s most important literary figures.

Sindelar relates Hemingway’s famous short stories and novels to the biographical story of a boy who was exposed to all that family, nature, and a liberal education had to offer. During his early life in Oak Park, he tried a variety of roles with a passion and ultimately chose writing.

The book is replete with charming stories that stand alone, or, for those who are aficionados of Hemingway’s works, add another dimension to the genius of his writing. Take, for example, one of the stories from his mother Grace Hemingway’s memory book She had asked her toddler son what he was afraid of, to which he responded, “Fraid of nothing!” Who could have guessed that such youthful bravado would evolve into the Hemingway code “Grace under Pressure”?

There are several stories of his family’s travels to remote Lake Walloon, Michigan, which inspired Hemingway’s love of fishing, hunting, and living with nature and later became the basis for his Nick Adams’ stories. Sindelar also chronicles his high school years and his many school activities, including a photo of him dressed as Beau Brummel in the school play. He tried it all: theatre, track, swim team, football, rifle club, and orchestra. It was journalism, though, that had the greatest influence, and it is clear that he was a clever and creative wordsmith even in those early days.

Later, after serving in the military, marrying, and living in Paris where he began to find fame as a writer, Hemingway seldom returned to Oak Park, but Sindelar gives compelling evidence of how those early experiences shaped his writing. Although the book discusses all four of his marriages, its focus is on his work and not on a psychological inquiry into his troubled relationships.

Overall, this well-documented book tells compelling stories of Hemingway’s life and serves as an academic archive, rich with photos, a chronology, and an extensive bibliography. Sindelar herself traveled to Hemingway homes in Paris, Key West, and Havana, and includes her photos in the book as well as archival photos. Pictures from his yearbook and of Hemingway with his family and friends enrich the book greatly; however, several photo captions could be improved by identifying Hemingway’s exact position in the group photos where it is difficult to make out which one he is.

This inspiring book reminds us again that Ernest Hemingway was a larger-than-life figure, and the world of literature is far better for it.

Book Review: The Men Who Made the Yankees

The Men Who Made the Yankees: The Odyssey of the World’s Greatest Baseball Team from Baltimore to the Bronx. W. Nikola-Lisa. Gyroscope Books: Chicago, July 2, 2014, Paperback and Kindle, 144 pages.

Reviewed by Ed Marohn.

The Men Who Made the Yankees takes the reader through the history of the National and American Leagues and the men who laid the basis for professional baseball today. As the American League developed so did the New York Yankees. If you are a baseball fan, you will enjoy the book with its detailed and solidly researched story of team owners, key players, and the political and financial pressures that the leagues endured from the late 1800s to 1923, the year the Yankees won their first world championship title. If you aren’t a baseball fan, you will still enjoy the book. You will learn about the handful of powerful club owners and how players such as Babe Ruth, Carl Mays, and John Baker influenced the leagues and shaped baseball into the sport it is today.

Even though it is loaded with some specific and detailed history, the book is a fast and enjoyable read. The author, W. Nikola-Lisa, expresses a love for the game through entertaining anecdotes, such as how the New York Yankees finally acquired Babe Ruth.

And just as impressive are the names of the owners and other figures that played pivotal roles throughout the leagues’ history: Charles Albert Comiskey, Ban Johnson, Jake Rupert, T.L. Huston, John McGraw, and Albert Goodwill Spalding.

Read the book and experience history by discovering some unique treasures about American baseball and the famous New York Yankees.

Book Review: Carpe Diem, Illinois

Carpe Diem, Illinois. Kristin A. Oakley. Mineral Point: Little Creek, April 1, 2014, Trade Paperback and Kindle, 284 pages.

Reviewed by Paige Doepke.

Carpe Diem, Illinois explores familial relationships, teenage angst, the modern-day educational system, and journalistic integrity all in a concise and compelling story. It follows Tali Shaw and Leo Townsend, who are totally unrelated characters, except for the fact that they are both entering the town of Carpe Diem, Illinois for the first time in the same week.

Tali is brought there when her mother, Alexandra, is in a near-fatal car accident and must recuperate at the Carpe Diem hospital. Leo is a struggling journalist who hopes to give his career a second wind by covering the town, which exclusively homeschools, or “unschools”, its children. The two characters come into their experience in Carpe Diem with different backgrounds and agendas, but both develop a fondness and desire to protect the small town and its beliefs when it falls prey to scrutiny by large political figures.

It is a difficult novel to pin down in the best possible way. Right when I thought I had the theme or the “point” of the book figured out, I was proven wrong. It hooked me in and continued to keep me interested with its incredibly dynamic, changing characters. One moment I was learning about the educational system in Illinois and different perspectives on it, while the next minute I found myself thinking about the importance of a healthy father-daughter relationship. It reads like real life, in a way, because there never is just one easy problem to solve.

When Leo arrives, he has an almost cult-like notion of the intentionally homeschooled town. Carpe Diem is an outsider because its beliefs on education do not fit the social norm. Oakley does a great job of introducing several side characters whose personalities, kindness, and love for their town quickly bring Leo to change his perspective.

For Tali, it’s a coming-of-age story. She’s standing up for herself, which is something her mother has not exemplified in her marriage with Tali’s father. Tali is in an unhealthy relationship, the kind we all had at 16, and she is getting her first shot at spreading her wings. She’s getting to know herself and feels a connection to Carpe Diem.

I highly recommend this book to all readers. There are relatable characters for all ages and the descriptions of Chicago are a treat for both those familiar with the city and those unfamiliar. It’s a great story about life, wake-up calls, and keeping an open mind.

Book Review: Solace in So Many Words

Solace in So Many Words. Edited by Ellen Wade Beals. Weighed Words, LLC, Glenview, IL, 2011, Trade Paperback, 216 pages.

Reviewed by Cronin Detzz.

Solace in So Many Words is an eclectic, crisp, and well-edited compilation of essays and poems. The book is arranged alphabetically by author’s last name. In the introduction, the editor reminds the reader about tragedies America has endured during the past decade, from 9/11 to Hurricane Katrina. Spurned by empathy, the editor wrote to the Chicago newspapers. She never heard back. Undeterred, she took out an ad in Poets & Writers and this collection was born.

Solace brings to mind comfort and peace in troubled times, but this collection spans more than this singular theme. Some of the works in the book don’t seem to relate directly to solace, so it takes a little imagination to connect the dots. This was a bit confusing to me. However, this is the beauty in the subjectivity of art; what one writer sees as solace may differ from another writer’s view. For instance, if a reader has a loved one languishing in a nursing home, Alternative Eulogy by Carol Kanter on p. 95 will resonate:  “No more yelling at her / to use her hearing aid so she sounds / as with it as she is.” Antler’s poem, First Breath Last Breath on p. 15 provides great imagery on the first breath that a newborn son shares with his mother, and the last breath they share when she dies.

As with most great anthologies, there are references to nature: October gardens, March winds, April rains, strolling on the Appalachian Trail to hunt for frogs, farmer’s market flowers. Several poems reference birds. Laura Rodley’s poem Addicted, p. 166, explains that her solace lies in her addiction to dogs and horses: “My horses are my opium, my anisette, my cheroot, my cinnamon sugar, my firm footstep on the ground, my bottle of vodka, my whiskey.” At some point, we all find solace in nature.

There are undercurrents of higher ideals like hope, endurance, religion, and love. Hopes Rise by T.C. Boyle, p. 38-49, is an odd story of a man who goes to a conference and learns that species of frogs are dying. By the end of the story, his girlfriend gives him hope that some frogs or other new species may exist so they take a nature hike.

The theme of endurance is evident in Fighting Inertia by Susan O’Donnell Mahan, p. 134: “I do not have the strength / to go on without you, / but let me go forth.” Tekla Dennison Miller’s essay, A Caring Place, p. 151-153, tells the autobiographical tale of a physically fit skier who is diagnosed with a rare nerve condition and has to learn to walk. Through her endurance, she finds a group of women that offer mutual support. She writes, “I believe our lives are enriched by a circle of caring friends who help us make sense of the world’s madness.”

Chicagoans will delight in the fact that there are references to streets we call home, the Loop, and even a quote from His Holiness, Mike Ditka. I guess there is solace in humor, too.