Category: books

Book Review: ‘Love and Synergy’

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books10 Comments

Love and Synergy: Words Dedicated to Family and Friends Love and Synergy: Words Dedicated to Family and Friends by Rebecca Loyd

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
“Rev. Jimmie Ray Loyd, age 61 of Jacksboro, died June 27 at his home. He was an Ordained Baptist Minister in 1980 and was founder and pastor for the past 25 years of the Pioneer Baptist Church. He was loved by family, friends & all who knew him.” — The LaFollette Press, Lafollette, TN, July 3, 2004

Obituaries are news carefully written in an age-old, one-size-fits all style, that informs readers about what happened without—in most modern newspapers—conveying the full emotional import of the event and the days leading up to it from the perspective of family and friends.

When Jimmie Ray Loyd was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia, he asked his daughter to share his story. In “Love and Synergy,” Rebecca Loyd accomplishes this request in a straight-forward, heartfelt manner that honors her father and family while offering comfort to others facing a terminal illness.

“Love and Synergy” is a story about the last year of a man’s life, and it begins with a memory of Jimmie and his wife Beatrice building a fire in the potbelly stove of the church that Loyd founded while their children Yvonnia, Jimmy and Rebecca play nearby and try to ignore the cold.

During the first fifteen years of his ministry at the Pioneer Baptist Church, the Reverend Loyd continued his day job in the construction business. However, the congregation wanted him available on a full-time basis. Rebecca Loyd writes that “when Dad was first diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia, we became angry that his retirement has been taken from him. In retrospect, he had been given the opportunity for ten glorious years to focus on what he loved most—serving as pastor of Pioneer Baptist Church.”

The journey Jimmie Loyd and his family took during his last year moves quickly from old memories to a doctor’s appointment to learn why he looks and feels so tired. After his physical, Loyd says he’s okay and that he will check in with the doctor again after they get back from a trip to Oregon to visit his son Jimmy and his wife Amy.

Once in Oregon, it’s obvious Loyd is more than simply tired. Hospital tests show he has leukemia and more testing shows that the form of leukemia he has is “a vicious disease…that affects red blood cells, platelets, white blood cells, and bone marrow.” The family fathers, an aggressive treatment program is prescribed, and remission comes and goes on a hope-against-hope roller-coaster ride of emotions during good days and bad days.

Known up and down the hall as “the preacher man from Tennessee,” Loyd fights his vicious disease with a positive attitude and determination that endears him to the hospital’s staff and volunteers. The staff sees the love and support of his family as they face each turning point and hard decision including the one to go home to Tennessee when there is nothing else the hospital can do. His doctors and nurses give him a standing ovation on the day he is discharged.

“Love and Synergy” is a story about the Reverend Jimmie Loyd, and his faith runs through it like a deep river. “Love and Synergy” is also a story about a family’s unconditional love and support for each other, and it ends as an inspiration to all who face similar journeys. The author’s father would like that.

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Malcolm R. Campbell is the author of “The Sun Singer” and “Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire.”

Flying with Crows

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books2 Comments

Use your imagination and you can fly with crows. Since you won’t be able to speak to unimaginative people about such things, your magic flights can be transformed into poems and scenes in novels.

David looked the crow in the eye while concentrating on the drum beat of his of his own heart until the apartment slipped away and he found himself flying, one crow among many, across the clear sky of the lower world, watching the city with brown eyes as it slid southward into the morning and disappeared.

Wind, the Creator’s breath, we found it sweet and held it as tentatively as flight required with effortless, almost lazy, caresses of our wings. The city before us, north along our route, did not exist until we manifested it out of dream and then perceived our creation, now then, West Wood Street coming out of nothing, then returning, the same, now then Eldorado and the railroad tracks followed by Central and King healthy with people wrapped against the cold, hurrying after their morning tasks unaware they owed their lives to crows, more common and libeled than alchemy’s prima materia, yet mothers of gold in all its forms, then Marietta and Orchid and Packard, less jammed with cars where the city centre held less sway, soon, then Division and the IC tracks until, in the slim distance we gave birth, were birthing without effort or preoccupation with means, a White Rolls Royce Corniche crossing the intersection with Shafer, the top was down and
Eve’s hair was flapping like a crow’s wing, and as we descended, I could just hear the whisper of the car’s 6¾ litre V-8 engine when she passed a ploughed field, reached forward, and made the call.

The harsh ring of the phone tore me out of the air; I hit hallway floor next to the Chippendale claw-and-ball candlestand on the 4th ring. Somewhere between the field and the apartment, reality twisted inside out and expected Siobhan to be calling from the police station.

–I’m here, Cat.

–No, David, it’s Eve. I’m glad you’re up.

–I couldn’t sleep, he said, disoriented and heavy.

–Sweet Jesus, all these birds in my face.

–Perhaps they’re looking for fallen corn in that field to your left.

–You did this?

–Don’t be silly. Nobody controls crows.

–Copyright (c) 2010 by Malcolm R. Campbell; excerpted from Garden of Heaven, a novel in progress.

Book Review: ‘Let’s Play Ball’

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books

Let's Play Ball Let’s Play Ball by Linda Gould

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
If author Linda Gould isn’t an avid baseball fan, she covers it well, for her descriptions of plays, players, locker rooms, owner’s suites and game-time tension in Let’s Play Ball will easily take readers out to the ball game. But the games between the Washington Filibusters and the Florida Keys feature more than pitchers’ duels and homeruns. A conspiracy is brewing during the game that will decide the National League championship. Fraternal twins Miranda and Jessica are at the stadium, Miranda as a guest in one of the owner’s suites and Jessica to cover the came for her sports magazine. Jessica’s fiancé, Manual Chavez is at the game, too. He’s the Filibusters right fielder.

The highly competitive sisters snipe at each other during the game. Perhaps Jessica is envious of Miranda’s marriage and her high-paying career as a budget analyst for a government agency. Perhaps Miranda is jealous of Jessica’s high-profile job and her engagement to a handsome baseball star with an exciting past in Cuba. After the game, while the teams are in their locker rooms, Manual is the victim of a crime. As the true scope of this crime looms larger and larger in the days that follow, logic might suggest that the sisters should work together, to support each other and help the police find out who’s behind the outrage.

Instead, Gould ramps up the tension with twins who become openly hostile. Miranda’s marriage to Tommy, an attorney with political ambitions, is less than perfect, so she has her own distractions. Yet, she thinks Jessica’s shock over what happened to Manuel is impairing her reporter’s instincts about the case. After all, how realistic is it to suggest that the owners of the Washington Filibusters and the Florida Keys, the President of the United States, the Cuban dictator and an assortment of baseball players and shooting range friends who are actively racist and/or promoting an invasion of Cuba were all in bed together plotting against Manual Chavez?

Jessica is convinced the police and the FBI aren’t handling the investigation properly and that everything will be swept under the rug if she doesn’t get personally involved. When Miranda urges caution, Jessica suggests that Miranda and Tommy, who both have agendas as well as skeletons in their closets, may even be involved in the conspiracy and the cover-up.

Gould’s inventive plot features feuding sisters who become tangled up with baseball strategies, high-profile officials and international politics. Jessica thinks criminals lurk in every shadow. She follows real and imagined leads with a vengeance. Ultimately, when she goes on bed rest because of her pregnancy, she must ask Miranda to help uncover the secrets behind the crime. This forces Miranda to risk her well-paying job and step outside her comfort zone.

However, the novel’s potentially taut pacing bogs down, in part by the insertion of back story information during the police investigation to cover the twins past history and partly because the conspiracy’s probable ringleaders are outside the sisters’ amateur investigative reach. Without the authority or resources for confronting government officials or engaging in private undercover operations, Miranda and Jessica spend a great deal of time speculating about the involvement of major suspects while trying to maneuver the more minor suspects into making inadvertent confessions.

The action leads toward a dangerous confrontation that fittingly unfolds during another tense ballgame. Most of the suspects are near at hand with a lot more than a game to lose, and Miranda is in a position to either act with courage or to pretend the FBI will eventually figure everything out. Gould handles the resulting showdown well. But it’s not closure. Most readers will expect the novel’s next chapter to show how the feisty twins will resolve the rest of the story.

Instead, the author appends a 23-page epilogue. Since the twins are interesting characters, some readers will come away from this epilogue feeling that Miranda and Jessica have successfully navigated a major crisis as well as many crucial personal issues and can now get on with their lives. No longer in the forefront of the action required to bring the conspirators to justice in the epilogue, Miranda and Jessica are suddenly—figuratively speaking—sitting on the bench as Let’s Play Ball wraps up the fortunes of the good guys and bad guys at some distance in summary fashion well after the fact. Action-oriented readers may feel cheated when Let’s Play Ball lifts its primary characters from the game before the final inning.

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Malcolm R. Campbell is the author of “The Sun Singer” and “Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire.”

Note to Interviewers talking to Writers

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books

Every writer and his/her half brother is taking a blog tour these days.

Tours are designed around the following premise: If an unknown author with a new book to talk about answers a series of canned questions on a series of unknown blogs, s/he will experience something or other.

Perhaps something or other is the knowledge that, “hey, I gave the publicity thing a shot.”

Unfortunately, that something or other doesn’t often include sales unless the author has conned Uncle Jim from Peoria and Aunt Thelma from Grand Rapids into buying a copy and posting a 5-star review on Amazon because that’s what family is all about.

Lousy Questions

If you’ve ever read one of these blog “interviews,” there’s a good chance you’ve read them all. Why? Because every author sees the same series of canned questions. Why? Because the person serving as the host doesn’t want to go to the trouble to learn anything about the author or the book and ask the kind of questions a good reporter might ask.

The first question is usually this: So, tell us, Zeke [or whoever] when did you first know you wanted to become a writer?

LORD HAVE MERCY. Nobody cares. Nobody wants to hear that Zeke was staring out the kindergarten window one fine spring day and though, holy crap, I’m destined to be a writer.

This is not only boring, but it gives absolutely nothing to the suffering prospective reader. Just what, in a gushy rendering of that kindergarten experience, will make the reader buy Zeke’s book?

Nothing.

While blog tour hosts aren’t pimps for authors or a PR flaks for the books, the least they can do is ask a question that’s interesting enough to tempt the reader into reading the answer.

Homework

Get a fact sheet from the author and then write the questions. If Zeke wrote his book while digging graves in a cemetery, ask something like: “Is it true that dead men tell no tales?”

If Zeke’s book is a true story about his quest to find the giant green lizards in the Sierra Madres of the northern Philippines, ask something like, “Why did you spend a year of your life looking for a lizard?” Or, “Once that green lizard got a hold of your leg, did you begin thinking right then how you were going to tell your story?”

My premise: If I enjoy reading the interview with the author, I’m more likely to go find out more about the book.

It stands to reason that is Zeke’s book is called EATEN BY LIZARDS IN THE SIERRA MADRE, then we might want to skip over his kindergarten experience and get right to the good stuff.
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Copyright (c) 2010 by Malcolm R. Campbell, who doesn’t even remember kindergarten, much less what the hell possessed him to become a writer.

Campbell is author of “Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire,” a novel that mixes sex and satire into a sweet story about murder and theft.
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Clip Art Copyright (c) 2010 Jupiter Images

Geek Your Public Library

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books8 Comments

from geekthelibrary.org

Create your own banners
The public library is a valuable and popular community resource—in most communities, it is the most visited and used public resource.

Did you know there are more library visits per year than movie tickets sold in the U.S.? In fact, American libraries reported 1.4 billion visits.

More relevant than ever In addition to traditional services, such as books and children’s programs, all libraries offer their communities Internet access and online opportunities, and educational programs such as homework help for teens and financial planning classes for adults. And for many Americans experiencing economic challenges and career needs, the library is more relevant than ever.

Access to information technology The public library’s core mission is to provide free and open access—more and more, that means access to the Internet. Over 70 percent of public libraries—over 80 percent of rural community libraries—report that they are the only source of free public access to computers and the Internet in their communities.

Library return on investment to the community Public libraries support both personal and economic development. They can influence job creation and community expansion that supports increased property values and commercial tax revenues, as well as improved quality of life. Studies report that dollars spent on libraries provide solid economic returns to the community.

Usage is up, funding is down While millions of Americans enjoy the library and understand its vital role for individuals and communities, many people aren’t aware of the critical funding issues libraries face. Most library funding comes from local sources and local budgets are decreasing.

Local dollars pay most for libraries Nationwide, the average per capita operating revenue for public libraries is pproximately
$37—of that, over $31 comes from local sources.

Here’s the reality

As Americans look for support during this economic downturn, more and more are turning to local libraries for entertainment, educational opportunities and job searching resources. But while demand increases, most libraries are experiencing shrinking budgets.

• Libraries across the country are cutting hours, staff and even closing locations.

• Most libraries report that they don’t have enough Internet access computers to keep up with demand and waiting lines are commonplace.

• Many libraries are understaffed and are unable to provide the support users need to find and utilize resources to improve their lives.
—

Note to librarians

I worked my way through college as a student assistant at the library. This was an education itself, partly as an opportunity to learn how libraries work, and partly as an opportunity to discover hundreds of books I never otherwise would have found. As a way of giving something back, I donated a fair number of copies of the 2004 first edition of “The Sun Singer” to public libraries and to the libraries where I worked.

If you are a librarian and would like to include a copy of the new second edition of “The Sun Singer” as part of your on-the-shelves collection, I do have a limited number of copies available for donation. If interested, please contact me via e-mail from your library’s e-mail account to: thesunsinger@yahoo.com

Book Review: ‘Ghost Mountain’

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books

Ghost Mountain Ghost Mountain by Nichole R Bennett

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
“Ghost Mountain” by Nichole R. Bennett features a reluctant seer who becomes the prime suspect in a murder case because she knows only what the killer could know.

When Cerri and her family move to western South Dakota, her attention is drawn to a murder at the Devils Tower across the border in Wyoming before all the moving boxes are unpacked and the family is settled into their new home. The site, also known as Bears Lodge, is sacred to many Native American nations. Because of this, Cerri’s spirit guide tells her that the murder has profaned the site and she must help the police bring the killer to justice.

Making Cerri the prime suspect in the case is a nice touch, for it’s the very thing many of us think would happen if we suddenly had a psychic impression or a visitation from a spirit guide with detailed information about a murder that hadn’t been released to the public. Cerri–named for the Celtic Goddess Cerridwen by a mother who’s made “hocus-pocus” a way of life–doesn’t want to be drawn into a spiritual, paranormal mission. But she can’t seem to extricate herself from it. Her spirit guide He Who Waits is stubborn; so is Special Agent Joseph Oliver who thinks Cerri belongs in jail.

Bennett has given Cerri a fine mystery to solve, and while she would like to avoid being a special person with a sacred mission, staying out of jail is motivation enough for clearing up the case to she can get on with her life. While the novel could have been made a little stronger if Cerri had grown more into her talents during the book’s 164 pages, the story is well told and engaging.

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Malcolm

Each purchase benefits Glacier National Park

Book Review: ‘An Echo in the Bone’

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books, reviews

An Echo in the Bone (Outlander, #7) An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Like many fans of the “Outlander” series, I “met” author Diana Gabaldon on an online literary forum in the days of yore when CompuServe was the Internet service provider. At the time, Diana was posting what she referred to as “chunks” of her work-in-progress and garnering very enthusiastic comments and a fair amount of interesting discussion. The excerpts were so fluid and natural, I fair thought we might all end up speaking either Highland English or Gàidhlig before the manuscript was complete. In 1991, the writing chunks became “Outlander.”

In the years that followed, we traveled with Sassenach (English people and Lowlanders) Claire Beauchamp Randall through multiple countries in time lines beginning in 1945 and 1743. In 1945, she’s married to Frank Randall. In 1743, she’s in love with Highlander James Fraser.

As “Outlander” led to a sequel and then another sequel, I thought it rather presumptuous to review any of the installments of a series (heading toward 17 million copies sold in 21 languages and 24 countries) written by the very gracious mentor for the writers on the CompuServe Literary (now Books & Authors) Forum.

But 19 years and seven books have passed since I read the opening line “It wasn’t a very likely place for disappearances, at least not at first glance” as former combat nurse Claire Randall surveyed a 1945 Inverness bed and breakfast with “fading floral wallpaper” where she was celebrating a second honeymoon with Frank. Surely Diana would say “dinna fash” if I told her I was mustering up the grit to say a wee word or two.

Were I to distill this wordy review down to basics and say only a wee word or two, it would be this. “An Echo in the Bone” is the best book in the series since the first one.

Some readers have criticized the novel’s episodic presentation and multiple story lines. On the contrary, I view this approach as one of the novel’s many strengths, others being the evolving characterizations of individuals series readers have known for years, the exceptional detail and historical accuracy, and the author’s clear focus on the tension, danger and humor that make a darned fine story.

With “An Echo in the Bone,” we have regained the tension and tight plotting that we lost to come extent in “The Fiery Cross” and and “A Breath of Snow and Ashes” which spent too much time with everyday affairs at the expense of the stories’ primary thrusts. Well after “Outlander,” it was almost as though the uniqueness of a modern and highly skilled medical practitioner living two centuries before her own time was being asked to carry too much of the books’ weight.

“An Echo in the Bone,” however, is exceptionally strong. Multiple characters grow in multiple times and places, and the episodic approach strengthens the drama of the strong doses of harm’s way in each lifeline we’re following. Drama is not contained by linear time, a fact Diana has proven many times over, and this time out, she has honed her writer’s scalpel to a fine edge indeed.

The use Fort Ticonderoga and the September and October 1777 Battles of Saratoga as a major focal point anchors the novel in historic time and provides a memorable counterpane for compelling action sequences and character development without losing the series hallmark (often earthy and humorous) interactions between a feisty Sassenach and a volatile Highlander.

No one need try to read “An Echo in the Bone” as a standalone novel, for the characters have too much history for that and there’s no way to catch up with it short of, say, adding some distracting and/or helpful footnotes. And then there’s the cliffhanger ending, or–more accurately–the multiple cliffhanger endings. Some readers are saying (basically), “Diana, how can you do this to us?”

My last wee world or two is: How can she not, for storytelling doesn’t get better than this.

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Copyright (c) 2010 by Malcolm R. Campbell

With each purchase of my novel “The Sun Singer” in any format, Vanilla Heart Publishing makes a donation to Glacier National Park in support of this year’s centennial celebration. It’s only $5.99 on Kindle.

“The Sun Singer,” an adventure novel that also bends time, is set in Glacier National Park’s Swiftcurrent Valley.

Digital Books – Saying Goodbye to Paper

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books6 Comments


As a junior high school student delivering the Florida Times-Union to customers throughout my neighborhood, it never occurred to me that one day we’d say goodbye to newspapers. But we are, sadly and surely doing just that.

Soon, I suppose, hardback and paperback books will become as rare as papyrus scrolls and possibly just as hard to find.

I grew up on 35 cents-per-gallon gasoline, telegrams, party line telephones, cars you could fix yourselves without hooking them up to computers, and real books. Real books were more than words on paper: they were the paper itself and the type selection and the binding.

Digital books have no binding or paper–it’s all just pixels on a screen–and the tactile sensations of paper choice and weight and type font are going, going, almost gone with the wind.

I resist this, of course, as I must, while simultaneously seeing little point in fighting it. I see the value in it, too, and hope that accessibility and ease of purchase will make up for what we are losing in the transition from paper to screen.

You will have a chance to “pick-up” a few e-books between March 7 and March 13 at a bargain, for this is Read and E-Book Week. My personal preference is books made out of paper; I’ll admit, though, to having a few e-books on my computer. As for Kindle, no, I’m not ready for that, or for reading books on my phone, for Pete’s sake. But sometimes price and convenience trump everything else.

I wonder if anyone employs newspaper boys any more. I suppose I could Google that and find out some day when I’m feeling nostalgic for news left on my driveway by a kid riding a bike. Kids still ride bikes, don’t they?

You can find “The Sun Singer” and other Vanilla Heart Publishing books at Smashwords, a sponsor of Read and E-Book Week.

Review: ‘Torden, Hear the Thunder’

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books, reviews2 Comments

Torden, Hear the Thunder Torden, Hear the Thunder by C. Kirkham

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
“Torden, Hear the Thunder” is a delightful story about eleven-year-old Niesje Brouwers and her powerful, high-stepping Friesian horse. Niesje, who is helping her aunt and uncle for a year on their Dutch farm, discovers a seriously wounded black stallion on the property. While her uncle is dubious about the horse’s chance of survival, Niesje is determined to save it; ultimately, a strong bond is formed. While the Brouwers don’t know where the horse came from, the reader knows it has survived an explosion on a World War I battlefield in Belgium.

While this historical novel was written for children 9-12 years old and older, it’s an interesting story for adults and young adults, especially those who love Friesian horses and/or who are attuned to the world of dressage The story focuses on Niesje, farm life, and her developing friendship with Torden. She worries about being allowed to participate in dressage–for which she must ride astride in an “unladylike manner”–and about what she will do when it’s time for her to leave the farm and go back home where there is no provision of keeping the horse.

C. Kirkham, who has written a realistic and accurate book, ends up indirectly teaching the reader a lot about a horse breed that almost became extinct. And then, in the final climatic chapters, an unexpected adventure teaches Niesje more about the world’s dangers than she expected to learn.

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Copyright (c) 2010 by Malcolm R. Campbell, author of “Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire” and “The Sun Singer” from Vanilla Heart Publishing.

Book Review: ‘Nero’s Concert’

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books, writing1 Comment

Nero's Concert Nero’s Concert by Don Westenhaver

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
“A Nero: Any bloody-minded man, relentless tyrant, or evil-doer of extraordinary cruelty; from the depraved and infamous Roman Emperor C. Claudius Nero.” – “Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase & Fable”

Almost twenty-one centuries after the Great Fire of Rome, most people believe that Nero fiddled while Rome burned. In reality, Nero–who ruled as Emperor between AD 54 and AD 68–played a lyre, and the fiddle as we know it had yet to be invented. Even the historian Tacitus discounts the rumor that Nero sang and played his lyre while enjoying the six-day spectacle of his city on fire. But the fiddling myth lives on.

Nobody knows whether the fire was accident or arson. Disgruntled Romans said Nero started it for reasons of insanity or to clear away land for a new palace. Nero blamed and persecuted Christians to direct the public’s antagonism away from himself. Don Westenhaver’s well-researched novel “Nero’s Concert” provides readers with a what-might-have-happened scenario for the calamitous days of July, 64 AD and their aftermath.

In “Nero’s Concert,” Nero does not start the fire. He asks his close friend Rusticus to investigate in hopes of proving Christians are responsible. Nero doesn’t get the answers he’s looking for. Tensions mount and the friendship between Nero and Rusticus becomes strained. Subsequently, Rusticus’ life and safety are jeopardized when Nero turns to Tigellinus, the sadistic prefect of the Praetorian Guard, for more appropriate conclusions and when Rusticus falls in love with a Christian.

In addition to Nero and Tigellinus, Westenhaver’s novel includes Seneca, Poppaea, St. Peter and other historical characters. Rusticus, who is wholly fictional, attends to both his duty and his heart, making him a wonderfully level-headed protagonist for a story about a chaotic city with an erratic Emperor.

When Camilia, a nurse helping the injured during the fire, tells a Tribune she’s found a murdered senator among the dead, the Tribune says he will take her information to Rusticus rather than Tigellinus.

“I don’t know Tigellinus obviously,” says Camilia, “but his reputation is that he punishes those who bring bad news.”

“Yes,” the Tribune responds. “Whereas Rusticus seems quite different–analytical and professional. Somewhat distant rather than friendly. But I worked with him on the fire and he was fair to everyone.”

Through the novel’s wide window into the past, readers see the workings of the Roman hierarchy via Rusticus’ investigation and his interactions with Seneca, Nero and Tigellinus. As Camilia and Rusticus spend time together, readers learn about daily life and about the horrors of being a Christian at a time when such beliefs are likely to lead to imprisonment, torture and death. The author has taken great care in his presentation of facts about Rome’s rulers, buildings and people. An author’s note at the end of the novel supplies additional details.

While Westenhaver’s writing is highly readable, his modern-day words and phrases add a disruptive casualness that doesn’t fit the time or place. When Thaddeus calls out to Rusticus with the words “Hey boss,” the reality of Rome within the novel crumbles a bit. So, too, when Nero’s efforts to improve his image are referred to as “public relations,” an individual is called “your guy,” a parade is called a “big deal,” and sexual encounters are described as “getting laid.” Personal taste may dictate whether or not this is distracting.

The research behind the story gets in the way of the story occasionally when the primary plot line is diverted into travelogue-style moments around the city and a vacation trip Rusticus and Camilia take to the Bay of Naples. Likewise, a visit with an imprisoned St. Peter strays past its intended purpose into a monologue about Christianity. Such information does provide interesting facts and insights into the characters and the times, but at the expense of the novel’s pacing. Some readers may skim these sections while others may enjoy the additional atmosphere.

On balance, “Nero’s Concert” is an engaging love story as well as an entertaining and informative account of a time that lives in our consciousness as myth more than fact. Readers will come away from the novel knowing that, in all likelihood, Nero neither played a violin nor fiddled around while Rome burned.

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Copyright (c) 2010 by Malcolm R. Campbell

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