The dual nature of the word "sanction" drives me up the wall. I avoid using it, and when I do use it I do so exclusively in its original, positive context. There are plenty of words to use in place of "sanction" in a negative context.

"The verb form has traditionally related to the positive meaning, not the negative one. Thomas Jefferson wrote in his autobiography of preserving 'the very words of the established law, wherever their meaning had been sanctioned by judicial decisions.'"

Click here for a short article from the Wall Street Journal on the word and its usage over time.

"Impeachment" is a word that is frequently misunderstood. Here's a brief definition from Wikipedia:

"Impeachment in the United States is an enumerated power of the legislature that allows formal charges to be brought against a civil officer of government for crimes alleged to have been committed. Most impeachments have concerned alleged crimes committed while in office, though there have been a few cases in which Congress has impeached and convicted officials partly for prior crimes.The actual trial on such charges, and subsequent removal of an official upon conviction, is separate from the act of impeachment itself."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_in_the_United_States

If you haven't yet seen the October 2016 issue of the free monthly online literary magazine Synchronized Chaos, click here to check it out! It's full of poetry and other written work from a great selection of authors.

Also, I wrote the editorial this time around which was a lot of fun to do.

Enjoy!

A short and important demonstration in reading comprehension, starring Pumpkin Pie Spice

Sometimes when you leave a word out of a sentence, the sentence can still mean the same thing. But often, ignoring a word can change the meaning of what is being said and cause misunderstanding.

"Pumpkin pie" and "pumpkin pie spice" are two different things. One is a pie made from a squash, and the other is a familiar spice mixture of cinnamon, allspice and cloves that you put into the pie to give it its distinctive spiced flavor.

Which one does the label of your specialty food or drink say on it? If it includes the word "spice" or "spiced", do not expect it to have pumpkin in it, or to taste like pumpkin. It very well may taste of pumpkin if the chefs in the test kitchen for the product were feeling generous, but it's a very slim chance.

Ordinarily, it's just going to taste like spice.

Book Review: "STRAY SON" by Richard Slota

Book:Stray Son
Author: Richard Slota
Release date: September 27, 2016
Genre: Speculative Fiction, Family Saga
Publisher: Rainbowdash Publishers LLC
Available Formats: Kindle Ebook (273 pages)

I'd like to start off with a content warning: childhood sexual abuse and its associated mental trauma is at the core of this novel.

Richard Slota's Stray Son is a tale of incest and familial betrayal. It is an exploration of how unresolved issues can inform one's life and family relationships, and of the way the past has of refusing to let go until all of its unseemly contents are dragged into the sunlight to be dealt with.

In the year 2000, Patrick Jaworsky is a post-middle-aged, remarried Vietnam vet eking out a living by schlepping corpses for a funeral home. He's only marginally happy in his life, but he is comforted somewhat by his wife Lynn, his daughter Helen, and his adopted son Mike. Patrick is seeing a therapist to learn how to handle the incest his mother inflicted upon when he was a child; his coming to terms with that abuse is at the crux of this story.

Though the subject matter is quite serious and ventures into territory that makes the novel unsuitable for younger audiences, I found it to be a thrilling, enjoyable read. It veers from being a typical "mommy issues" tale in that Patrick's compulsion to deal with the damage done to him is initiated by the arrival of a shade bearing his father's youth--and that this spectre is no figment of the protagonist's guilt-ridden imagination but an actual time traveler from an earlier period in history.

On an otherwise unremarkable day Patrick Jaworsky begins to be followed by this young version of his father; the young man is somehow a ghost from the past even though the elderly version of the Sr. Jaworsky still lives. Thus begins a deeply intriguing tale featuring time travel, misplaced affection, dread, and finally, redemption.

I love that not only can his family see and interact with the "ghost" (though others often can't), Patrick also doesn't try very hard to hide the situation from them to begin with. Too many novels have the main character keeping strange happenings a secret for no good reason--something which I find baffling and irritating as a reader.

Make no mistake, this is no science fiction or fantasy novel. The method of time travel is neither displayed in any technical way nor really explained; regardless, I found the incidents where time is transversed to be believable. There were also a couple of odd occurrences which will leave the reader guessing about whether they were real or simply products of Patrick's tortured psyche. I usually like things a little more cut-and-dried than that, but in this case the elements integrated well with the story line and so were, in their own ways, appropriate.  One such thing is the appearance of 1940's starlet Rita Hayworth. Galvanized by her close relationship to the Sr. Jaworsky, she makes a few appearances as a sort of mentor to Patrick and his father. Her presence adds an extra layer of mystery to this already slightly surreal tale.

Strangely, the Sr. Jaworsky in his younger guise was the character I ended up feeling the most affection for. Not that Patrick himself was in any way unlikable, but his father appealed to me in that he was a person of strong ethical character who was nobly struggling against all predictions to keep his dignity alive. As we know from Patrick's flashbacks of childhood, the guy was a right prick while raising his son, but when the father was a young bachelor--and before the destroying influence of Patrick's mother--the man was good-hearted and reliable (if a bit gruff). It is this version of him we are treated to in Stray Son.

A thing I found refreshing about Stray Son is that aside from the scenes recounting the actual acts of abuse, the author doesn't implement cut-away shots to avoid fully depicting the disturbing nature of some of the most frightening scenes. Slota trusts the reader to be able to handle this raw tableau of a family embroiled in moral and psychic disarray, and I'm impressed whenever I find a book where that sort of consideration for the fortitude of the audience has been made by the author.

Richard Slota's Stray Son is available at Amazon.com

And check out an interview with Richard Slota on Authors Interviews here.

This review also appears on Goodreads.com and The Dog-Eared Dragon Facebook Page.

Book Review: "ONE GROOVY SUMMER: A SUMMER ADVENTURE FROM 1968" a novel by Rocky Gregory

Genre: Memoir-style Fiction
Released: 04/24/2014
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
Available Formats: Paperback, Kindle eBook

I've always harbored a deep sort of love for the freewheeling counterculture of the 1960s. Over the years, this affection has manifested as a festering nostalgia for a time which I was born far too late to participate in. Because of that it's little surprise that a book like this easily grabbed me by the ears, refusing to let go until the final page.

In this semi-autobiographical novel, author Rocky Gregory introduces us to Wilbur "Will" Hinklemeyer, a young man who has just spent his final years as a minor enrolled in a military school for juvenile delinquents. With his newly granted freedom, but with the threat of a Vietnam draft haunting him, Will is looking to score some big fun, enlisting his best friend Skip for a bombastic summer spree.

Their adventurous trip across the country culminates with endless partying in a sexual smorgasbord, a good time exemplifying one of the most carefree subcultures in American history.

In an unusual turn for books set in the Flower Children era, there was hardly any drug use--in fact, I can't immediately remember any at all--only plenty of alcohol. It was an interesting change to see the perspective of someone who was involved with the hippie movement but who was less extreme than many--on the fringes of the fringe, as it were.

The scenic descriptions were broad and well-mastered, steeping the tale in an atmosphere both magical and ephemeral, satisfying my wistful longing for the 60's zeitgeist in a very pleasing way. This novel was an enjoyable peek into a teenage mind during the mid-20th century, and will be enjoyed by young adults and mature readers alike.

ONE GROOVY SUMMER: A SUMMER ADVENTURE FROM 1968 is available at Barnes and Noble.com, Abebooks.com, and Amazon.com.

~Assena V


A version of this review previously appeared on the Dog-Eared Dragon Facebook Page, Goodreads.com, and Barnes and Noble.com on March 31, 2016.

Book Review: PARADISE HACKED by Alex Siegel

Genre: Fiction, Fantasy
Released: January 2016
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Available Formats: Paperback, Kindle eBook

Once again, Alex Siegel delivers a book that is nearly impossible to put down.

In this exciting sequel to FIRST CIRCLE CLUB, our favorite otherworldly detectives are back, still trying to solve the mystery about who is messing with Creation--and why. Things heat up when a bizarrely damaged corpse is discovered and a secret government agency tries to cover up the death. Turns out that said agency has discovered a secret portal which they believe to leads to an alien world.

The players behind the grand scheme against Creation are revealed in this second installment of the series, and we also learn a little more about what's at stake.

Virgil, unofficial leader of the team of conscripted heroes, moves aside a little to allow the other three to really shine. We get a better view of Sara and the lengths she is willing to go to solve the mystery, and Alfred, who is surprisingly a lot tougher than he seemed at the beginning.

All of the characters are great, but Lisa has become my favorite; I love to see that her personality as a bad-ass warrior is gaining even more depth.

As usual all of the characters and scenes are dynamic and believable, right down to the main "bad guys" and to the descriptions of Heaven and Hell. In both of these areas there are a few twists--which I won't reveal. You'll just have to see for yourself; you won't be disappointed.

This novel gave me a "book hangover"--you know, that feeling when you're not ready to move on to another book because you're still stuck in the world of the one you just read. The only thing that can help me to heal faster is the next novel in this series, which has not yet been released--and which I am anticipating eagerly.

The book is available through Amazon.com and Abebooks.com in both eBook and paperback format.


Assena V
 

A version of this review originally appeared on the Dog-Eared Dragon Facebook Page and on Goodreads.com on February 24, 2016.

Book Review: THE STORMS OF DELIVERANCE by Larry Higdon

Genre: Fiction
Released: November 22nd 2011
Publisher: Tate Publishing
Available Formats: Paperback, Kindle E-Book

THE STORMS OF DELIVERANCE is a remarkable novel featuring descriptive prose which paints a vivid image of a man forcefully separated from his familiar narrative of the world.

Johnson wakes by the side of the road in a different car, outfit, city, and decade than he fell asleep in, and comes to the conclusion the he must have unconsciously traveled through time and space. He embarks on a journey to figure out just how he arrived where he is, and what has happened to his loved ones.

In glimpses of his past we see that for his whole life, Johnson wanted more than anything to become a renowned baseball player. He had phenomenal skills yet his body failed him, disappointment after disappointment driving him to the bottle for relief. His relationship with his girlfriend Katy suffered a serious blow when she decided she wanted more out of life than the desperate existence he had condemned himself to.

I found the back and forth between time and place to be hard to follow at first, but that confusing quality is later revealed to be the crucial foundation upon which the story turns, and a valuable tool for understanding the mindset of the protagonist as he makes his way through an alienating world.

Creepy encounters with two mysterious characters--one seemingly sinister, the other apparently benign--add an extra element of instability to his plight, making it clear that even as strange as his situation already is, all is not as it seems.

This was not a "jolly and fun" type of book; it was one which was emotional and intriguing. Even at his worst, Johnson is a sympathetic character. He could be any one of us if we were struck with the spiritual hangover born from the realization that it's too late to salvage unfulfilled dreams.

THE STORMS OF DELIVERANCE was a believable, moving examination of failure and denial through the eyes of a formerly ambitious addict. This story serves as a great allegory about finding one's way when all seems lost, and preserving in the face of forces that may attempt to drag one down or turn one around. Despite the underlying statement about hope, the tale is devoid of any heavy-handed, preachy or trite platitudes that often plague written works attempting a similar message.

Larry Higdon's THE STORMS OF DELIVERANCE  is available at these and other stores:

BetterWorldBooks.com
Books A Million.com
Amazon.com
Abebooks.com
BarnesandNoble.com


--Assena V


A version of this review was previously posted on BarnesandNoble.com and on Goodreads.com on March 1, 2016

Book Review: FIRST CIRCLE CLUB by Alex Siegel

Genre: Fiction, Fantasy
Released: December 2015
Publisher: CreateSpace
Available Formats: Paperback, Kindle E-Book

The soul of a serial killer has somehow done the impossible--escaped from Hell. Both Heaven and Hell are extremely embarrassed and want the situation solved as soon as possible, so they have collaborated to hastily assemble a team of souls to catch him.

This team consists of two from each realm who have been gifted with special abilities in order to complete this mission. From Hell comes Virgil, a US Marshal who was killed in the line of duty, and Lisa, a rouge cop also killed by a criminal. From Heaven there is Sara, a forensics specialist, and Alfred, a psychologist.

FIRST CIRCLE CLUB was a riveting tale, and I appreciated the way in which both the plot and the actions of the characters didn't always go in the direction I assumed it would. I read a lot of urban fantasy, and this one avoided many of the cliches and pitfalls that I've come across in the genre.

For instance, Alfred started off seeming like too much of a goody-two-shoes, but he grew on me with his evident strong conviction that the right thing should always be done. Even when there were situations for which the more violent Virgil and Lisa seem to have carte blanche to give in to their bloodier, Hell-influenced instincts, Alfred kept his cool without coming across as the typical holier-than-thou sort of character who is often meant to embody goodness in a novel.

Contrary to my admiration for Alfred, I did also love that both Lisa and Virgil seemed to feel little to no guilt for indulging in the type of behavior for which they had been created.

It was with deep reluctance that I tore myself away from reading the (also wonderful) sequel PARADISE HACKED in order to write this review.

Fans of authors like A. Lee Martinez and Carrie Armstrong will appreciate the humor and depth of detail which went into building the "universe" of this novel; once this book grabs you, it holds fast.

There were some minor editing issues, but nowhere near enough to distract or detract from the utterly engaging storytelling.

--Assena V

A version of this review originally appeared on the Dog-Eared Dragon Facebook Page and on Goodreads.com on February 15, 2016.

An Old Word for a Weary Feeling

Huh. I didn't know there was a word for this feeling. I've heard this word before, but I didn't know what it meant.

"Weltschmerz (from the German, meaning world-pain or world-weariness, pronounced [ˈvɛltʃmɛɐ̯ts]) is a term coined by the German author Jean Paul and denotes the kind of feeling experienced by someone who believes that physical reality can never satisfy the demands of the mind. This kind of world view was widespread among several romantic authors such as Lord Byron, Giacomo Leopardi, François-René de Chateaubriand, Alfred de Musset, Nikolaus Lenau, Hermann Hesse, and Heinrich Heine. It is also used to denote the feeling of anxiety caused by the ills of the world."

Source:Wikipedia


This post originally appeared on the Dog-Eared Dragon Facebook Page February 2, 2016

'And Then They Came For Me': Revisiting a Classic 'Poem'

"Then they came for me..."

 Most people are familiar with the poem-like quote from Martin Niemöller featuring that line. I think it continues to hold relevance, especially at this time in the U.S.

 Follow the link below for a rundown of the context in which the statement was originally made, a brief bio, and an explanation as to why versions you may have read of this statement mentioned different groups than what you see here.

"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me."

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007392

This post originally appeared on the Dog-Eared Dragon Facebook Page November 24, 2015.

 

Searched and Found: Are There Languages That Don't Use Question Marks (or Equivalents)?

I've noticed that there are many memes and posts around the web lately that forgo the use of a question mark at the end of a query.

I wondered if there were languages that don't use any or any equivalents; I found this. It only semi-answers my question, but is interesting nonetheless:

http://www.wintranslation.com/dtp-punctuation/