'Blood on the Wild Red Poppies', is a fictional murder mystery novel containing a multitude of twists and revelations. Set in Steepleford, an imaginary sleepy village in Suffolk, England, the story focuses on how a horrific accident in 1974 changes the lives of five school boys forever. The main plot is complemented by a number of subplots that link to the final outcome and ultimately the disclosure of the murderer's identity. As secrets and new information are revealed, the reader will continue to change their mind about who committed the murderous crimes and is highly unlikely to be sure of their final choice until the very last page and will still be left in shock at the ending.
This collection of stories and verse embodies a wide spectrum of subjects that will certainly appeal to young and old alike. Perception of human life and love of nature are strongly evident especially in the heartfelt verse. Whether poignant, humorous, macabre, adventurous or a social commentary, this selection is extremely entertaining at all times.
From the author of A PALER SHADE OF RED -- Memoirs of a Radical; FLIGHT FROM EIN SOF and THE INVENTOR comes this collection of gritty, satirical, chilling, iconoclastic, always ferocious and unrepentant dystopias. Death and virgin birth, immortality and cannibalism, paradise and hell, the cosmos, bigotry and vigilantism, close encounters, wars to end all wars, hallucinations, disquieting prophecies and insanity -- mainly insanity -- are the forces that drive ONE NIGHT IN COPAN. Oscillating between parody and polemic, allegory and unalloyed horror, paradox and hyperbole, the apocalyptic canvases W. E. Gutman paints can be read as one man's antidote for the despotism of inflexible creeds and the paralyzing effects of groupthink. A work of hyper-realism, this collection of thirteen tales uses bizarre, fantastic, sometimes ghoulish, always disquieting devices to capture and expose truths that people ensconced in ideological cocoons ignore, shirk or refute. About the Author Born in Paris, W. E. Gutman is a veteran journalist and author. A former writer at OMNI magazine and U.S. editor of Science in the USSR, he covered politics and human rights in Central America from 1994 to 2006. He lives with his wife in southern California.
With its satirical and semi-journalistic style, Chewing Gum is an existential quest to understand how a society exists beneath a repressive dictatorship. The rhythmic act of chewing relentlessly continues as individuals, time and land turn to waste. In this debut novel, no one escapes the critical gaze of a writer who witnessed first-hand the brutality of Gaddafi's regime. At times downright funny and at times poignantly sad, Chewing Gum depicts the academics, politicians and businessmen of Libya who all claim a monopoly on the truth of the country.
The gently smoking cone blows its top, belching flames and molten debris. Suffocating rains of ash, pumice, and blistering hot gases shower down on the unfortunate luxury resort, amid rivers of lava. Breaking news, with the byline of climate change, Live from CNN —- No, this is 79 BC. Vesuvius, the sacred mountain of Hercules, engulfs the Roman city of Pompeii, burying everything and everyone. Miraculously, a papyrus scroll, carbonized but still intact, lies buried under the ruins of a collapsed seaside villa. Given up as lost forever, the fabled ‘Epicuriana’ is recovered —- a riveting tale of adventures, loves and losses —- told firsthand as a novel by Epicurus of Samos. Book-ending two romances, classical Athens and 21st century Boston, the storyline pays homage to the ancient Eleusinian Mysteries —- tracing the ceaseless synchronicity of chance encounters that may take minutes or millennia to play out. “Deeply character-driven, the Epicuriana is clearly very well researched, drawing on a rather substantial bibliography. ( It ) certainly has the ability to evoke emotion in the reader and I found myself hooting and laughing and having other pleasant emotional responses occasionally throughout the reading. A lovely personal story which mirrors the struggles and doubts of many of us today – perhaps we are in too much of a hurry to make our own mistakes! The story really makes you think”. --- Society of Friends of Epicurus Paul Donovan, Ph.D., draws upon his lifelong love of the Greek Golden Age and the wish —- using the narrative possibilities of a novel —- to bring its impressive cast of players back from the history books, to vibrant if sometimes messy lives. He lives in rural Maine with his wife, Pamela Pease, Ph.D
This original account of the significance of the pig and its relationship to Jews in European Christian culture encompasses a vast array of folklore, history and ritual. Practices related to the breeding, slaughter and consumption of the pig have inspired both religious and secular taboos and rituals, laid out by the author in fascinating detail. She demonstrates clearly the power which a symbol may hold to mould an ethnic identity, and the book stands both as s study of the role of the pig, and as an analysis of the creation of anti-Semitic myths.
