Department of Book Reports: A Better View of Paradise

Here's some more Hawaii! A Better View of Paradise by Randy Sue Coburn (Ballentine Books, $25.00) 36 year old landscape architect Stevie, has just completed a park in Chicago, but a broken pump has flooded the fountain and grounds and critics are ruthless in their reviews of the design. On the heels of this career set-back, her boyfriend dumps her and she decides a return to her childhood home on Kaua'i will put her back in tune with the nature she brings to her garden designs. Facing her argumentative father is the part she dreads, but learning he is dying forces Stevie to come to an understanding of her relationship with him and her stiff upper lip British mother. Family secrets are revealed and Stevie learns much as she finds a new life for herself among the natural splendor that is Hawaii.

If you can't get away for a vacation this summer, this is a book to make you feel you have spent the day at the beach. The legends of the islands are vividly drawn on here.

A Better View of Paradise is available at Jackson Street Books. The book's release date is Bastille Day, which coincidentally is Stevie's birthday. This fact tickles me to no end.


I'd like to invite everyone to attend the movie, A Soldier's Peace, tonight in Second Life. You can read much more about it in Progressive Witness' dailykos diary.
Netroots Nation in Second Life and Virtually Speaking are very proud to host the SL premiere of Marshall and Kristen Thompson's documentary A Soldier's Peace, the remarkable chronicle of one veteran's 500-mile journey into activism, which follows former Army journalist Marshall Thompson, an Iraq war veteran, as he walks the entire length of his home state of Utah, talking to people along the way about war and peace.

Please join us at Netroots Nation Arena for this simple yet powerful film, followed by an interview with Marshall Thompson.

Serenity has been Muppet-Rolled.

This promises to be much fun!


And another SL friend, Larkworthy, has made this powerful video:

Department of Book Reports: Julian

In the Spring of AD 380, letters are exchanged between two old men, philosophers, one in Athens and the other in Antioch. They squabble over the price of copying and their respective ages. One complains about the aging process while the other brags about his on-going virility. Most importantly, they discuss the existence of a hidden memoir written by the Emperor Julian, their friend, who was killed in 363 while conducting a military campaign in Parthia, modern day Iran.

Gore Vidal's Julian (Vintage $16.00) was first published in 1964, and remains one of the great historical novels. For me, it bears a rereading often as new ideas and details emerge on each reading. The prose is luminous, and the voices of the three narrators, the philosophers Libanius and Priscus, as well as the Emperor Julian, are lively and engaging.

Julian reigned only two years, but the memory of his time remains. He was the nephew of the Emperor Constantine, who built the new Roman capital of Constantinople, as well as adopting Christianity as the preferred state religion. Following the death of Constantine, Julian, reared as Christian, managed to avoid the family fighting among his cousins for the Imperial throne. He fell in love with philosophy, studied in Athens, which he loved, and secretly renounced his Christianity. Ultimately impressed into Imperial duties, first as Caesar in Gaul, where he warred successfully against the threat of the German tribes on the frontier; and then as acclaimed Emperor. As Emperor, he tried much less successfully to reintroduce Paganism to the Empire, resisted at all times by the various Bishops of the Church. Perhaps thinking himself a new Alexander, Julian went on to march against Rome's great Eastern nemesis, Parthia, where he was killed in a skirmish, maybe by a Roman lance.

Gore Vidal is our best historical novelist. Anyone who read his series on American history know how compelling a storyteller he can be. From Burr, to Lincoln, 1876, Empire and Hollywood, he knows (and is related to many) the major actors of the American past. He is one of the last of those great public intellectuals born in the 1920's that included Norman Mailer and is as well-known for his essays on contemporary affairs as well as his novels. He has also written plays like Visit to a Small Planet, as well as mysteries under the name of Edgar Box. In any event, if you enjoy history and historical novels, do yourself a favor and read Julian. Or re-read it.

Julian, and other novels by Gore Vidal, is available at Jackson Street Books and other fine independent bookstores.

Westport Pirates

We decided to venture out and look for pirates today. We got to see a few, but it was the boats we came to see.This is the Lady Washington, originally built 20 years ago to illustrate the local history of Gray's Harbor.


the Hawaiian Chieftain


You can catch the silliness here. I really wanted to see the Pirates Parade, and I did notice the firetruck and another float two blocks away, but I didn't realize we missed the parade. Note to Organizers: if you have a parade; tell people where it is. Oh, and don't leave your floats parked on the street we're not supposed to be looking at.

I hadn't realized alien abductions were such a problem in Westport.
We did go look at the ocean! We waved at RevPaperboy!

Department of Book Reports: Dark Paradise

Faithful readers will know, when I recommend crime fiction, it's the good stuff. Dark Paradise by Lono Waiwaiole (Dennis McMillan, $35) is one of the best of the season. I've been a fan of Lono's since the Wiley series, that were set in Portland, OR. The ending of Wiley's Refrain says "you got to get back to the islands brah". Lono took that to heart and this fast-paced novel is the result of his moving to the big island just as a major meth ring was busted. This dark view of vacation paradise won't be welcomed by the tourist board, but fans of crime noir should rejoice.

Mexican distributors from California have decided to take over the meth trade from the established Japanese, and this has brought the attention of the FBI.

We meet Geronimo Souza, dedicated cop, unfaithful husband and over eager gambler. He knows and is related to many of the local drug dealers. Geronimo wants to minimize collateral damage he knows will come to pass.

Nanali has had to navigate dangerous waters all her life. When her mother was killed by her father, Dominic Rosario, she became the woman of the house at 13. Nanali watches the events and players and believes she is strong enough to step up and take her father's place. Buddy Kai and Sonnyboy Akaka want to keep their share of the action.

Chapters switch between the viewpoints of the characters giving different shifting angles as the battle and retaliations stack up. The Big Island isn't that big where everyone has known each other since grade school.

Lono has a fine ear for the local pidgen and uses it effectively throughout the novel. He has been a high school basketball coach during his teaching years and depicts the teenage scene well here. Well-drawn characters make this a satisfying read, with an ending as sad as the Hawaiian Hymn that closes the book.

Dark Paradise is available from Jackson Street Books and fine indie bookstores everywhere. This beautifully produced volume is a joy to hold.

A Soldier's Peace

When Army journalist Marshall Thompson came home from a tour of duty in Iraq, two things were clear to him – the war is wrong and he needed to do something to stop it. Marshall sets off on foot to walk the entire 500-mile length of his conservative home state of Utah in the hopes of getting people talking about war and peace. All along his 27-day journey, Marshall meets other peace-minded Utahans, as well as those who vehemently oppose the idea of a solider calling for an end to war. No matter what your views are on the War in Iraq, A Soldier’s Peace will leave you with something to think about.

Last weekend, our SLgroup tried to host Marshall Thompson's movie, but it turned out to be the day all things Second Life crashed. The movie didn't get aired, but a very enlightening discussion ensued. You can catch up by going to Marshall's website, or watching the Young Turks tomorrow. Check at 25 minutes past the hour, every three hours. But, you will be a better person if you show up and watch the whole hour.

The movie will be re-scheduled so stay tuned!

More on Gitmo Detainee

Gottalaff has part four of her discussion on Gitmo detainee Fayiz al-Kandari up at The Political Carnival. It is not pretty reading. And it is made worse by that these war crimes were made in our name as Americans. That this man can retain any semblance of a sense of humor is truly amazing. I don't think I would have.


(via http://twitter.com/odaraia)