#BookReview - The Horribly Hungry Gingerbread Boy

The Horribly Hungry Gingerbread Boy

Written & Illustrated By: Elisa Kleven
Publisher: Heyday Books
Publication Date: September 2016
ISBN: 978-1-59714-352-3
Reviewed by: Amy Lignor
Review Date: August 9, 2016

In 1875, in St. Nicholas magazine, a story was printed for readers called The Gingerbread Man. Although retold generation after generation, this particular tale did not have a happy ending. (For those who don’t remember, the Gingerbread Man met his demise because of the beguiling intelligence of a fox). However, in 2016 this new tale has arrived and definitely can be and should be used from now on for generation storytelling. The story is really nothing like the original; the author/illustrator has used her own delicious twists. She leaves readers with only happiness, joy, and an innate sense of desperately needing to run to Grandma’s house for cookies ASAP!

San Francisco (my favorite city, as well) is the background for this story. A young girl by the name of Shirley is getting ready to go to school when she looks around for a dessert to pack. Baking her own gingerbread treat to enjoy at lunch, Shirley, like most people who smell that amazing scent of gingerbread, just can’t wait and decides to take a small nibble off the gingerbread cookie’s thumb.
When noon arrives, she opens her lunchbox to find a very alive cookie boy who has eaten up her carrot sticks and other packed treasures. He jumps out and tells her he will not lose anymore ‘limbs’ (so to speak) and hightails it out of the school and into the city of San Fran with Shirley following after him. Some of the coolest sites of San Francisco are drawn here, as the Gingerbread Boy runs amok through the streets, snatching everything from lollipops to clams as he rides the cable car and raids the Heart of the City Farmers’ Market. He goes a little berserk when he states to Shirley that if she keeps trying to catch him, he will chow down everything from the redwoods to the Golden Gate Bridge. Shirley makes a deal with this treat and the ending is completely and utterly...sweet.

The author has done a fine job, even going so far as to add a page highlighting the San Francisco landmarks shown in the book and telling readers what they’re all about. There is also a scrumptious recipe to make your very own yummy gingerbread people. But...be careful. You may just make the magical ones that end up being far more than just a great dessert!

Quill says: This is a lovely, fun version of an old classic that should definitely catch on fast!

Interview with Kay Hall, Wife of Author Jerry Hall

Today, Feathered Quill reviewer Amy Lignor is talking with Kay Hall, wife of Jerry Hall, author of Yes Sir, Yes Sir, 3 Bags Full! (Volume 1)

FQ: This is an incredibly honest book. Can you tell/explain a bit about Jerry’s writing experience? Such as, did he bounce his stories off you, or was he more of a man who quietly reflected in front of a computer screen and then gave you the entire book after it was completed to read?

HALL: It is a brutally honest book! Jerry had written a manuscript of this book in the late 1970s. at the time he was told no one wanted to read about Vietnam. So he worked from that original base. I converted all the typewritten pages for him and he would be at the computer writing almost possessed for hours on end. He had me review what he had done almost daily. It was very much an open collaboration. He also had some other trusted people occasionally read and comment as well.

FQ: It is certainly difficult for veterans, but it is stated that dealing with their nightmares once home are even more difficult for their wives/husbands/families. Can you speak a bit about the issues Jerry was dealing with when you two met?

Author Jerry Hall

HALL: Betrayal was big, he was very much all or nothing. If he perceived someone wronged him he was incapable of finding middle ground. He was very vulnerable and guarded at the same time. When we were alone he would break down crying and I would hold him for hours and he talked about his losses, but then the steel trap would enclose around his heart and it was over. He could put on a ‘happy face’ and entertain when he needed to so many people had no idea of his pain. He rarely was at peace. Nightmares were commonplace and more than once I ended up on the floor because he thrashed about.

FQ: Being a memoir, of course, all his characters are real. Did he speak a great deal about the “fantastic four?” And was there one particular humorous story that he loved to tell?

HALL: He did talk about them a lot – he spoke of those training days with excitement. He must have told me about graduation night when he took his dad into the bar to drink with the “Four” a hundred times. He was so proud.

FQ: In this, an election year, can you talk a little bit about what Jerry would think in regards to these two nominees? Did he have a specific President that he believed in or he thought best served this country?

HALL: He, like so many of his generation, was a Kennedy man. No one came close for him afterwards. He felt a strong moral responsibility to help those less fortunate and marginalized and thought the Democratic party did a better job of that.

FQ: Did Jerry comment about watching the indifference for Korean and Viet Nam War veterans change as time went on? In the 80’s and 90’s they eventually became accepted and supported, for lack of better terms; monuments were finally erected, etc.?

HALL: He took pride in the fact that Vietnam vets did their own monument etc and essentially said FU to those that put them down on their return. I don’t think he ever really felt accepted by his country though. He was very skeptical of the flag waving and what he felt was false patriotism by the general public. That is partly why he joined and became commander of the local Disabled American Veterans (DAV). He wanted to work with vets, whom he trusted, to raise the level of understanding and respect for all those who fought for this country, living and deceased.

FQ: Did Jerry have any opinions as to the new brand of war that now comes with terrorism?

HALL: He acknowledged that it was not a traditional war. He was torn between having American boots on the ground and letting the Arab nations solve it themselves. As the attacks progressed in recent years, he knew he was dying and it wasn’t his fight anymore.

FQ: Was writing therapeutic for Jerry? And how did he feel when he heard that statement: “we are publishing your book?”

HALL: It was extremely therapeutic for him. It was part of what kept him going through his cancer, to finally get his story out of his gut. He so wanted validation of what he went through, to repair his soul and pass on insight. I promised him I would do whatever possible to get it out into the world and he believed that. I think for him the bigger moment was when the professional readers report came in with raves, he was in his final days then but lit up when I read it to him. Someone, whom he had no connection with, loved the book. He could rest.

FQ: Many authors want to know how an author sets the scene...what they use to write. Such as: some authors must play music in the background, others must write in a journal before transferring to a computer, some need their loyal pet next to them in order to write, etc. Did Jerry have specific “things” he needed in order to begin writing? And was he interested in one day writing something else?

HALL: His son told me that when Jerry wrote the original draft in the ‘70’s Jackson Browne’s Running on Empty album was blasting at all times. When he wrote this version, it was quiet at all times. He wrote at the computer, generally into the night. He kept a notepad with him at all times to write thoughts and memories. I kept notepads with me as well just in case. He would jot things down during chemo, when we were in the car, anytime he was away from the computer.

He wrote a number of other short stories and really liked the format.

FQ: If Jerry were here, what advice do you think he would give to other authors about continuing the fight to be published?

HALL: Do whatever you have to do. Don’t get discouraged. Get professionals to help.

FQ: If there was one person Jerry could have sat down and had lunch with, author or otherwise, who would it have been and why?

HALL: That is a funny question. He often said he wanted to talk to the actress Debra Winger, thought she was very interesting. But also Tim O’Brien – The Things They Carried – he thought that was a masterpiece.

To learn more about Yes Sir, Yes Sir, 3 Bags Full! (Volume 1) please read the review at: Feathered Quill Book Reviews.

BookReview - Yes Sir, Yes Sir, Three Bags Full (Vol 2)

Yes Sir, Yes Sir, 3 Bags Full! (Volume 2)

By: Jerry Hall
Publisher: Sundance Hall Publishing
Publication Date: October 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9972856-2-8
Reviewed by: Amy Lignor
Review Date: August 7, 2016

What began in an unforgettable Volume 1—living Jerry Hall’s story and dealing with the heart-wrenching issues of the Viet Nam* War—continues here. The action of battle, fraught with the unending horrors that the “unwanted veterans” dealt with, grows even more painful. And as war comes closer to an end, what should have been peaceful thoughts of returning home alive are painfully absent.

Jerry Hall experiences moral dilemmas. Although wanting to avenge death, he still feels the weight of the world on his shoulders. Killing sometimes seems too easy; yet for the enemy, warfare has nothing to do with morality. Learning lessons the hard way, the reader is taken out in the rain-soaked landscape every day, at times screaming at Jerry and telling him not to question what’s right, because if he thinks too long the only one zipped in a body bag will be him.

Personal heartbreak unravels at home, as Jerry attempts airstrikes on suspected V.C. camps while thinking of his beloved son going blind. His brain becomes muddled with anger and alcohol as he says farewell to his annoying captain while a new squadron commander comes aboard. Father William offers up humor and friendship, and a new man arrives (referred to as Walrus), and the loyalty that grows between these men keeps the reader engrossed.

Individual war stories are told, as well as visits with the family who are waiting for the day “Daddy” can come back home. Readers learn that the cockpit was Jerry’s sanctuary—a place where he could think while flying above the madness. In fact, he wanted nothing more than to ride out the rest of the war peacefully. He came to understand that certain people down below were a lot like him. Their families, too, had been ripped apart. Destroyed by the foreign occupation, they now stare at craters where rice paddies used to be.

An assignment back to the States arrives, and the slow trickling of his final days add to Jerry’s nightmares. The ending of this memoir is not something you would guess as you begin Volume 1. Changes certainly occurred for Jerry Hall upon returning home. Perhaps the best lesson to take away from this memoir is the fact that we can change for the better. Perhaps it’s the fact that Jerry Hall crossed many lines, yet somehow found the power within himself to cross back over. But whatever the case may be, the downside remains that war hasn’t become obsolete.

Quill says: This story is a fantastic look at those who served, died, and who returned home to fight a personal war all their own.

*Americans typically write Vietnam as one word. The Vietnamese use two, Viet Nam, when referring to their country. Out of respect, Jerry Hall chose this version.

#BookReview - Dark Horses

Dark Horses

By: Cecily von Ziegesar
Publisher: Soho Press, Inc.
Publication Date: September 2016
ISBN: 978-1-61695-517-5
Reviewed by: Diane Lunsford
Review Date: August 4, 2016

Cecily von Zeigesar unites one misguided girl and a failed off-the-track thoroughbred and delivers a story of hope on the heels of devastation in her latest novel: Dark Horses.

Merritt Wenner used to be a fairly even-keeled teenager. She loved visiting her grandmother (Gran-Jo) at every chance and the added bonus was her beloved horse, Noble. Sadly, after both pass on to the ever after, Merritt's new life entails too much alcohol, always with a chaser of pills. Her parents are (somewhat) aware, but elect to accept perhaps it's just a typical teenage phase. Besides, they're busy preparing for their next marathon, triathlon or whatever other 'thon' that involves running. On the morning of her SAT, Merritt struggles to maintain and attempts to shake off her overindulgence of booze and pills from the evening before. She vaguely hears the well-wishes of her parents as she departs for the exam. She arrives late and all she wants to do is leave. She asks for a pass to the restroom and never looks back at the school grounds behind her as she heads for the train station.

Still woozy from the night before and the side-effects from the pills she found (and took) on the train ride, Merritt arrives at her grandmother's house in New Canaan. The thing is, she forgets her grandmother doesn't live there anymore and she can't figure out why that handsome dapple gray horse is in Noble's paddock. The horse trots to the fence and allows Merritt to ease onto his back. She remembers this. She remembers Gran-Jo and Noble and she is crying. Everything is so messed up. Who is that strange man coming toward her from Gran-Jo's house?

When Merritt's parents receive the call about their daughter skipping the SAT and her whereabouts are New Canaan, it's time for some boundaries. They enroll Merritt in Good Fences, a school for troubled adolescents and one exceptionally troubled horse. Enter Red, a failed racehorse and the dark horse of the barn. There was no horseback riding at Good Fences. Rather, there were pairings of lost human souls with a horse in hopes the two could find their way back together. Red had other plans. He had his own paddock because he was crazy. He was muzzled virtually 24/7 because he knew how to unlatch gates. He liked to bite and had no problem scaring the crap out of anyone or anything that got in his way. How is it that he saw something in this new girl Merritt and why would she be the one to open his dark and closed heart?

Cecily von Ziegesar hits her stride (no pun intended) immediately in this heart-warming story between a broken girl and a horse. I have a personal love of stories that capture the beautiful bond between girls and horses and Ziegesar does not disappoint with Dark Horses. Her knowledge of equestrian lingo is spot on, affirming her years in the saddle. Her main character, Merritt, is not your typical teenage girl struggling to 'find' herself. Rather, she is a character who doesn't know where to begin to look and Ziegesar points her in the direction of a very snarky and larger than life character in Red, the failed racehorse. Ziegesar weaves a story of grit as much as love and manages to complement transitions from scene to scene with believable and credible dialogue. In tandem fashion she transitions from chapter-to-chapter between Merritt's voice and Red's voice and accomplishes the segues beautifully. As a mother of two girls who competed in equestrian circles for many years, I was able to connect immediately with the relationship Ziegesar develops between Merritt and Red. This is a wonderful story of perseverance and never giving up - great job in the delivery Ms. von Ziegesar.

Quill says: Dark Horse is a story of victory and redemption as much as it is a tale of love and lessons learned.

#BookReview - The Angels' Share

The Angels’ Share (The Bourbon Kings)

By: J.R. Ward
Publisher: New American Library
Publication Date: July 2016
ISBN: 9780451475282
Reviewed by: Diane Lunsford
Review Date: August 7, 2016

J.R. Ward serves it up neat once again in her second installment of The Bourbon Kings series, The Angels’ Share, the continuation of her epic series devoted to the Charlemont, Kentucky Bradford family ‘bourbon kings.’

William W. Baldwine, the ‘bourbon king,’ has passed. His demise wasn’t exactly what his family would have anticipated. How is it possible a man of such strength, power and notoriety would end it all one day by way of suicide? His body had been found at the base of the Falls of the Ohio River; wedged and tangled in one of the boat slips next to a weather-beaten old fishing trawler. Indeed, this was not how his life was supposed to end. Jonathan Tulane Baldwine (Lane) had to see for himself. He drove out to the Big Five Bridge and climbed upon the rail. He wondered what final thoughts went through his father’s mind moments before he took the plunge. He railed insults into the air around him and blamed his father for the death of the faithful business accountant, Rosalinda. He would never forgive him for the act of trying to murder his own son, Edward. The kidnapping and subsequent torture Edward endured in the jungles (and at the hands of his captors) was all due to the orchestration of the mighty William F. Baldwine.

Perhaps it was Lane’s father who got out just in time. In the wake of his death, his family was in financial ruin. The millions were gone—promises and the constant borrowing from Peter to pay Paul had caught up. It was never Lane’s plan to fix anything his father had ruined. He had plans for his future and it didn’t include cleaning up someone else’s mess. His future was looking great with Lizzie, his one and only true love. He could care less about the train wreck his spoiled sister had made out of her life. Let her figure it out even if it required marrying the creep she was about to marry. What Lane didn’t know, however, was back at the estate, a matter is uncovered that changes the notion of Baldwine Sr. committing suicide and has the authorities considering murder in its place.

J.R. Ward succeeds ten-fold in delivering a juicy and scandalous sequel to The Bourbon Kings in her latest installment: The Angels’ Share. I was immediately drawn to the title and even more-so when I read the note from the author. Ward explains the correlation between the title and the fact it is a ‘term of art used in the bourbon-making industry.’ I will not give away any more information as this is merely a tip to the iceberg of a truly well-written and engaging novel. Ward also provides a character guide in the forefront of the book that outlines their respective roles within the story. I had the pleasure of reading the first in this series and found this helpful as a refresher to jump into the continuation of the story. Ward dives into the continuation of the Baldwine family legacy full throttle and the pace does not let up throughout. The scenes are well-planned and are a fantastic platform to launch the reader into the next round of dialogue. The characters are colorful at best and Ward has a natural knack of planting seeds that grow emotion from her audience. Great job! I look forward to where the bourbon kings go next.

Quill says: Yet another epic journey further into the lives of Charlemont, Kentucky’s famed ‘bourbon kings’!

#BookReview - Along the Infinite Sea

Along the Infinite Sea

By: Beatriz Williams
Publisher: Berkeley Books
Publication Date: November 2015
ISBN: 978-0-399-17131-4
Reviewed by: Diane Lunsford
Review Date: August 7, 2016

Beatriz Williams has penned a lovely and elegant work of historical fiction in her latest novel, Along the Infinite Sea.

Pepper Schuyler is a society girl who loves to be naughty. She may have taken her shenanigans too far this time. She is pregnant and the baby's daddy isn’t just some average ‘Joe’. Rather, he’s a renowned politician. Sadly, he has a wife and it’s not Pepper. Proud and defiant, Pepper refuses to grovel and beg for his support and finds a way to support herself and her baby. After all, she can’t ask her own daddy given his elevated social status. Think of the scandal. When she fixes up a rare vintage Mercedes found in a garage on Cape Cod and sells it at auction for a lofty price, Pepper can check money off her list of needs for her and her unborn child.

Annabelle Dommerich has a few secrets of her own. Her husband was a Nazi. Her lover was Jewish and her flight from Europe would have never been successful without the help of both men. That part of her life is in her past. Is it? Without proper closure, her past continues to haunt her present. Who would have thought the sale of the vintage Mercedes would be the conduit of introduction between strangers Annabelle and Pepper? The auto auction unites the two women in an obscure town in coastal Georgia. Such is the beginning of the womens’ respective journeys to confront their complicated pasts and embrace a future that has the potential to wash it away ever more.

My ‘go to’ preference for book reviews is ‘historical fiction.’ When I happen upon a golden nugget like Along the Infinite Sea, I’ve won the lottery! Beatriz Williams does a superb job of delivering a fascinating historical read in Along the Infinite Sea. Her voice lifts off each and every page with beautiful prose and nuance. Her characters are rich and sassy and manage to seep beneath the skin of the reader in a good way. This is a story that is difficult to put down until the last page has been read. There is a terrific balance between action and dialogue. Her characters have backbone and her scenes are vibrant. Williams breaks the story into parts and patiently steps the reader from one era to the next between her two main characters: Annabelle Dommerich, Nazi Germany survivor and Pepper Schuyler, ‘60s socialite bad girl. The chemistry she creates between the two women is electric and a joy to discover with the turn of each page. Well done Ms. Williams!

Quill says: Along the Infinite Sea is a personal library must have. If it isn’t on your summer reading list yet, add it!

#BookReview - Yes Sir, Yes Sir, Three Bags Full! (Volume 1)

Yes Sir, Yes Sir, 3 Bags Full! (Volume 1)

By: Jerry Hall
Publisher: Sundance Hall Publishing
Publication Date: September 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9972856-0-4
Reviewed by: Amy Lignor
Review Date: August 1, 2016

How long does it take for compassion to die? In the case of the Viet Nam* War, little was shown for the “unwanted veterans” from the very beginning. Unlike WWII, and the cheers given to the “beloved” veterans who returned home victorious, the Viet Nam soldiers were not so enamored. And although there are many books written about this particular subject—from the political to the personal—this particular memoir addresses all points. It is a baring of the soul, to be exact, laying the nightmare out for readers to understand.

Not for the faint of heart, Jerry Hall speaks about his personal battles during the Viet Nam War and beyond. In this, Volume 1, readers are introduced to a young man who’d chosen the Air Force when he had to take ROTC upon entering college. We then dive head first into the summer of 1968, when he and his three friends (the “fantastic four” was their title) graduated, ready to fly. The probability for survival, said their instructor, was one in three over in Viet Nam. But their youth and excitement at their accomplishments led them to believe that they were a particular quartet that would end up all still breathing when victory was achieved.

That was the beauty of it all; the initial belief that saving the country would be a good thing and that he and his friends had earned those gold bars that were now pinned to their lapels. Then, however, that shiny gold begins to rust. The young man who began by seeing “the Nam” as a place with “golden beaches leading to a lush jungle,” soon rides down a road with vegetation that’s been completely burned on both sides, so that the “villains” no longer had the ability to sit in ambush. We meet a man he must bunk with who speaks more like the enemy than the American friend. The inner fear is felt when Jerry takes his first solo flight, and everything from the word-for-word account of battles fought to the introduction of Agent Orange that went on to collect numerous victims, is experienced.

Readers will go back and forth—even head to the beautiful Washington State for prison camp survival training. Fights with higher ranking officers; brawls in pubs; a man named Father William who readers will come to love; cease fires that were most definitely not ceased; and the flow of liquor running faster as friends are taken out are faced.

There are no apologies given in this memoir. Readers will not wonder, after watching the pain and darkness that was constantly stored away in Jerry Hall’s mind, why a person would have to fight to keep their morals in this situation. It is almost hard to believe that someone would even fight for their own mortality while stuck in this hell, and not just decide to end it once and for all.
What Mr. Hall must do when he returns home to a country that barely, if ever, accepted the people they trained to kill, is find a way to climb out of the bitterness, liquor bottles, and the overall horror he refers to as a vortex, in order to fight for the only one who deserves his attention: himself.

Quill says: Volume 1 of Yes Sir, Yes Sir, 3 Bags Full! is filled with pages that slap you upside the head as Mr. Hall delivers his story without editing out a second of humor, trauma, or absolute reality.

*Americans typically write Vietnam as one word. The Vietnamese use two, Viet Nam, when referring to their country. Out of respect, Jerry Hall chose this version.