Bloodville 325 Pages, ISBN: 1-888725-75-3 By Don Bullis
New Mexico 1967. A robbery gone bad. A random double murder. A positive witness I.D., a trail of evidence and an apprehended suspect. Case closed? Not likely. There may be a rush to judgment, criminals may actually lie and the cops may have something to hide.One of the victims is a man few will miss, a local entrepreneur who keeps his foot firmly planted on the side of the law and using said law to bilk his customers and kickback the profits to said officers. Don Bullis delivers his story as a snapshot in time and with true insight that can only come from the inside. He doesn’t flinch from the internal police politics, seedy criminal element and bigotry of the time.
If you like murder mysteries and police dramas you will like Bloodville. Bullis is very detailed in the casework, forensics, investigation and arrest process, attorney client and attorney cop relationships, criminal and courtroom procedure, and frustrations of police work. The story takes you through the murder and finishes with the final judge’s gavel. In between is a compelling story that makes you taste and feel what his characters taste and feel. I liked it, though I must admit I work for the state and have a police force that works under me, and even though this is 2008 I still found more than a few common threads.
Gregory Saunders
Author of the Trilogy, Unknown Country
www.gregoryjsaunders.com
Cloaked In Darkness
239 Pages, ISBN: 0-9713608-2-0
By Edited W. H. Horner
Illustrated By Star E. Sutezzo
Introduction By Drew Hayes
“Elves aren’t always creatures of the light.” A quote from the back cover of the book.
Not every elf is as faithful as Legolas. Not every elf carries the moral burden of Drizzt Do'urden. Cloaked In Darkness carries twenty two tales of the darker side of elves. In the first story, Diminishing, elves are bent on nothing less than the extermination of mankind. A fact that takes a very jaded police detective by surprise. In Celabrant, the final story, a widower is seduced by an elfin queen for designs most shocking to the mortal and for a purpose essential to the future of the elves. And in between? Stories of Elven drug lords. Elven hit men.Elven turn coats who wish to destroy their own kind, and the fey who believe they’ve out smarted the foolish humans only to find they have gravely underestimated their foe. For having short lives does not necessarily mean dim of wit. Each of us feels unsettled in the deepest part of night. Listens to the creaks and groans of a settling house and wonders what if? Spent a night in a cold wood untrusting of every shadow. Cloaked In Shadow brings all those fears forward to be confronted by us mortals and provides new fears we never thought of.
Of note is NM author,David Corwell, and his story, Legacy of the Quedana. This is not only one of the longest stories in the book, but one of the most twisted. A story of the duplicity of man and the far worse treachery and bitter deceit brewing within the tribes of the elves, proving the axiom, “Divided we fall.”
As an author I read for three reasons. Entertainment, escape and ideas. Cloaked In Darkness delivered all three in spades. The stories are compelling, fast paced and surprising.Anyone who loves horror or fantasy will enjoy this book.
Gregory Saunders Author of the Trilogy, Unknown Country www.gregoryjsaunders.com
Dreams of Quivira
202 Pages, ISBN: 0-940666-98-7
By Robert Franklin Gish
Dreams of Quivira. The title conjures visions of mythical cities on distant hills shrouded by mists and glowing gold should the sun finally burn through. It is the stuff of dreams, one of the Seven Cities of Gold, long sought but never found. The cover of this book states that within are ‘stories in search of the golden west’. Inside you will find seven short stories including one with the title name. Seven stories all very different though with a common thread, people with a story to tell. Individuals in search of something more. Each journey very personal.
What does basketball have to do the heart and death? Why is a young man so fixated with the severed hands of Che Guevara? Why does Elfego spend a dark night alone surrounded by enemies while talking of Billy The Kid with a carven Saint? And the term “Seeing the elephant” takes a new twist in the coming of age story with the same title. A story about a young man, a rich man’s wife and a lake called Elephant Butte.
Well written, earthy and thoughtful. If you like quirky short stories, you will like Dreams of Quivira.
Gregory Saunders
Author Zahir, horror in the deep Amazon
www.gregoryjsaunders.com
Magic Lance
315 Pages, ISBN: 978-1-57416-094-9
By Hal Simmons
Cowboys and Indians in the old west with a twist. It’s the ‘New West” and for once the Indians have the upper hand. With millions of dollars in casino money sitting in the bank and foolish gamblers throwing more at them all the time, they need an investment. Their plan, buy up all the public and private land they can get their hands on with the goal of creating the first ever Native American state. Enter one stubborn cowboy with apiece of property that’s not for sale at any price. Never mind he’s months behind on the mortgage, his wife is living faraway in town and wants nothing to do with the ranch and the fact he has a haunted silver mine on his hands. He loves the place and the simple yet hard working ranching life. But this small piece of land is coveted by the tribe above all others because of spiritual and ancestral reasons and the tribe isn’t taking no for an answer. Complicate the plot with a rich landowner who needs to win at all costs, an internal power struggle within the tribe that may turn deadly, a beautiful neighbor with an eye for our idealistic young rancher and her ranch foreman partner with a sadistic jealous streak, poisoned cattle and an old Spanish legend, and you have the makings of a very entertaining story.
The late Tony Hillerman wrote a fullpage review for the back cover of this novel so I’m not sure what more I can add, except like Mr. Hillerman, I thoroughly enjoyed this story. Imaginative and well written with characters that live. Perhaps even plausible. Well done.
Gregory Saunders
Author of the Trilogy, Unknown Country
www.gregoryjsaunders.com
Northfield
227 Pages, ISBN: 978-1-59414504-9
By Johnny D. Boggs
I have two words for Johnny D. Boggs on his novel, Northfield; “Well done.” Some of you may know the story of the 1876Northfield, Minnesota bank robbery by the notorious James and Younger gang, but unless you’re a history buff, you don’t know the whole story. This was the last ride for the Youngers’ and the promise of northern Yankee riches proved illusory and costly. Three of their friends and two civilians lay dead in their wake for a net take of less than fifty dollars. What brought them north to country they knew nothing about? What went through their minds as the lead flew? How could more than a hundred shots be fired yet hardly anyone was hit by these professional killers? And more importantly, what were these men like?
Boggs answers these questions and many more. Using in-depth research from many sources, the author builds a compelling view of this piece of history. In a unique style, he uses the first person perspective for all the participants on both sides of the conflict, switching from character to character, chapter by chapter. Not only Jessie ‘Dingus’ James, but Anselm Manning who shot and killed one of the gang, Clell Miller. Sod-busters to governors, Cole Younger to the unfortunate bankers. Was Jessie even there? This is more than history, it’s a damn good story and I highly recommend it.
Gregory Saunders
Author of the Trilogy, Unknown Country
www.gregoryjsaunders.com
Oblivion
by Hank Bruce
Oblivion may be Utopia
Need to escape? Have the desire to start over? Has life treated you less than kind? Is your soul in need? Simple solution. Buy a ghost town. Oblivion is dead and almost forgotten. A place that life has passed by.Where time is measured by the passing of a tumbleweed in the wind and the sundown howl of the coyote. Yet for Ben, an artist of great ability and minimal confidence, and Belinda, a frustrated corporate climber who has chucked it all to find herself on the open road, for these two lost souls, Oblivion is something far more. It’s the restart of their lives. The place where their love began. That event in itself as improbable as breathing life into the long abandoned adobe and clapboard shells. Oblivion is a dream. From the dust and garbage rises a new community and a new start for an odd group of people in need. People who dream of complete human and nature symbiosis. A start from scratch approach to living with and within nature. Solar energy and wind pumped water. Native plants and agriculture without chemicals or genetic tampering. Peace and faith. At least that’s the plan. But Oblivion hides a secret. A commodity as precious as oil. And when Ben wins the town at auction,he foils the plans of a powerful family. They need Oblivion’s resources to complete their control of the region and they will use all means, legal and illegal, to attain it. The battle lines are drawn, alliances made. But there really may beg hosts in Oblivion, Mother Nature will have her say and just who is that mysterious and worldly wise old Indian? To reveal all is the journey, not the answer. Welcome to Oblivion.
Bruce delivers interesting characters with humor, depth, and humanity. The story, while tinged with liberal ideals, provides the reader with the object most desired; interest. His protagonists are quirky and deep, his antagonists tragic and in the end, salvageable. This is a book I expected not to like yet found myself intrigued and drawn into. Give it a shot; it’s a steady story, very readable with a message for all of us.
Gregory Saunders
Author of the Trilogy, UnknownCountry
www.gregoryjsaunders.com
Shadow Of The Jicarilla Owl
187 Pages, ISBN:987-0-595-47259-8
By O. K. Unruh
“Long Life, Everything good, Old Age, No Evil.” The wish to you from the author. Set in beautiful north central New Mexico, in Chama, the Brazos and the Jicarilla Reservation.Owl is a story of Indian Mystics, the tragedy of drug use, friendship, hope and a twisted plot that will very much surprise you at the end. All of it started by the death of a canary. John Noah is a divorced and retired engineer who moved to New Mexico to contemplate the end of his life. The death of the canary is the final straw, the last link to everything he cares about. Mourning the bird and his lost purpose in the world, he meets a Jicarilla Shaman. One who knows far more about John than he should, even knowing his dreams. Thus begins a journey he never expected. An apache needs a friend to help him into the afterlife and the Shaman has picked John Noah. He has also predicted a future full of danger for the unsuspecting white man. A prediction that is far too accurate for John’s comfort. What follows is a series of drug related murders that give the reader an insight to just some of the challenges facing this native people.
Unruh gives a story that is at once personal and compelling and you can tell he not only lives in the area, he has an understanding of its diverse community. One that I was intrigued with because I spend a lot of time at a cabin in the Brazos as well. Reading the back cover, I didn’t expect to connect with this book, yet I finished it in one sitting. Give it a chance. I think you will enjoy this book.
Gregory Saunders
Author of the Trilogy, Unknown Country
www.gregoryjsaunders.com
Aremac
“Terrorism, technology, quirky romance and coming of age all rolled up in a thrill ride with a final twist that will leave you wondering why you didn’t see it sooner. Weinberg weaves his characters with finesse and distinction. Take Tess, a young female with determination and drive that is only matched by her brilliance. She knows her mental abilities by far eclipse those of most twenty-two year olds and she has a plan. Find and woo her opposite.The man that will complete her and provide her with babies more brilliant than both of them combined. Only a few things stand between her and her goal.Terrorists, the FBI, Corporate raiders that want the technology she and her intended have developed, and an unscrupulous former professor that wants to clam it, and Tessa, as his own. Oh, and Tess might not survive the test of her own technology. As the terrorists up their game, blowing up many of the best known landmarks of Chicago, and with their ultimate target, the vice president about to make a scheduled visit, the FBI becomes desperate. The good guys have arrested her intended’s cousin and they aren’t above torture and blackmail to get what they desperately need.Plots twist, intertwine and mislead in Aremac for a very satisfying read.
Weinberg gives you futuristic science that just may not be fiction, insight into the domestic war on terror and a glimpse into the minds of the gifted. A fun ride all the way to the unexpected end.”
Lance Kincaid, A US Marshal in pursuitof a murder who killed a man in Texas. A chase that will take him from theTexas hill country to South East Colorado and down through central New Mexicobefore cornering his quarry. Along the way he and his side kick, ‘Hefty’encounter and conquer all manner of situations that would kill lesser men.Kinkaid is a dead shot with a pistol and can handle himself with knife or fist,and he uses all to subdue Apaches, Comencheros and outlaws. He rescues his wifeto be, ‘if she’ll have me’, from outlaws that would ransom her or else, rescuesburning wagon trains and even an army command cutoff by the Indians, all whilemeeting such notables as Judge Roy Bean before he became the judge and young WilliamBonney when he was just a waiter. Billedas an ‘action-packed western adventure’, Six Pints Of Death is the second inthe Kincaid family of Texas.
Will Davis certainly has a grasp ofwestern life and history of the southwest, and he blends the two into his storywhich could have been a much longer novel. Unfortunately, while I got the mealI was missing the flavor. This book was full of cowboy clichés, abrupttransitions and simplistic solutions. What I was missing was the descriptionsof the old west vistas, dusty towns and the feel of the people who lived it. Ididn’t get the rage of the Indians, feelings of injustice and persecution orthe passion of two lovers, one rescuing the other from certain death. I neverfelt anyone’s pain and I never connected with the characters. And the ending,while poetic in its justice, was flat and anticlimactic. I think the story was good;it just needed the sizzle added.
Reviewed by Gregory J. Saunders, author of thetrilogy, Unknown Country www.gregoryjsaunders.com gjswriter@gregoryjsaunders.com
Non Fiction Reviews
Land Grants & Lawsuits In Northern New Mexico
401 Pages, ISBN: 978-0-9605202-1-3
By Malcolm Ebright
“To the victor go the spoils,” despite a treaty to the contrary. 1846, America invades Mexico for reasons that are still debated, including such lofty excuses as injustice,criminal trespass, and ‘Manifest Destiny.’ What is sure is that in less than two years Mexico capitulated. The two belligerents signed the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and Mexico, under gun-point, ceded 55% of its territory including what is now New Mexico, to the United States subjecting some 80,000of its citizens to the laws of a new country. So ended a war and so began a hundred and sixty years of land use and ownership disputes. A legal war that continues today. This is the story Ebright brings to light in this, the fifth volume in the New Mexico Land Grant Series.
It’s not often one gets to read a definitive work and this is what I found in Land Grants & Lawsuits In Northern New Mexico. You hear the term ‘Norteňos,’ but you may have no idea of the long history of the families who define it. Families who trace their ancestry to old Spain and who were granted ownership, either personal or community, to vast tracts of land. Rights that were to be protected under the treaty, and rights that were often misunderstood, misinterpreted or more often,ignored by the new authority. Read this book and you will begin to understand the struggles, sometimes passive, many times bloody, that have defined the tapestry of this great state. I moved to New Mexico in 1970, not too long after the 1967 court house raid in Tierra Amarilla and that was my first introduction to the land grant struggle. An outsider not understanding and using an outsiders view to judge. This book changed my perspective. If you are a history buff or just curious about the stories behind the headlines, read this book.
