Review: ‘The Witch of Babylon’

On July 23, 2011 By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books, reviews11 Comments

D. J. McIntosh begins her planned Mesopotamian Trilogy with the page-turner “The Witch of Babylon” about a prospective royal treasure trove that may have been hidden away when the city of Nineveh fell in 612 B.C. Written in the ancient-secrets-modern-adventures style of fiction pioneered by Katherine Neville in “The Eight,” McIntosh’s story focuses on New York antiquities dealer John Madison’s sudden involvement in a ruthless treasure hunt for gold and gems in war-torn Iraq in 2003.

John’s late brother Stephen, a specialist in Assyrian archeology, may have been holding an engraving saved from looters at Iraq’s National Museum. After Hal Vanderlin purportedly steals the engraving, Hal dies of mysterious causes, giving opposing groups of treasure hunters the impression that John either has the artifact or knows how to find it.

Like other novels in this genre by Neville, Dan Brown and Raymond Khoury, “The Witch of Babylon’s” plot only makes sense to readers as a series of experts throughout the story continuously discuss (and sometimes lecture about) the relevant myths, history and arcane wisdom. This trademark of the genre can, at times, make readers wonder if they’re reading ancient history or modern fiction. In spite this back-story information, McIntosh keeps her plot moving. John Madison, who has had no time to come to terms with his brother’s death in an automobile accident, is always in danger; he can never be quite sure which of the other players in this deadly game are the good, the bad, or the ugly.

“The Witch of Babylon” features interlocking plots within plots from ancient Nineveh to Baghdad to New York City. The ancient history, which involves one of the Bible’s minor prophets, is just as compelling as the modern tragedy of antiquities looting in war-torn countries. Like his late brother, John believes the engraving belongs in a museum. Most of the other characters only see dollar signs and will kill anyone who gets in their way.
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You can learn more about the novel, the history and the problem of antiquities looting on the book’s website.

—Malcolm

Malcolm R. Campbell is the author of “Garden of Heaven: an Odyssey,” “The Sun Singer” and “Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire.” His new novel “Sarabande” will be released this fall.

Hard drive crashes, finished novels, book chats

On July 22, 2011 By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books4 Comments

Dear Dell Computer

My wife and I have been leasing and purchasing Dell computers since the 1980s. Suffice it to say, we’ve sent you a lot of money over the years. So, when I’m in the middle of finishing my adventure novel Sarabande, I feel rather let down when my two-year old Dell Inspiron 330 quits on me with a hard drive crash.

The PC is totally non-functional. Won’t boot. Using some trusty SpinRite software, I find that the hard drive is so bad that even trying to extract my data from it might cause it to be even more trashed than it is—whatever that means.

So now, we are forced to buy a new box, complete with new software because—naturally—the software we purchased with the 330 can’t be moved to another PC. Yes, we’re buying from you guys again, but we’re less than pleased.

Finished Novels

I realized several days after the Dell Computer crashed how lucky it was that I had backed up the most recent version of Sarabande on a flash drive a nanosecond before the computer was toast. Consequently, even though the book was done, I kept tinkering with it because it was a miracle it existed at all.

I did add a new scene that I dreamt about adding in the middle of the night, so I think my muse was right about that. But otherwise, I was just tinkering, just refusing to let go. So, I sent it to Vanilla Heart Publishing yesterday just to get it out of the house. It should be available this fall.

Smoky Talks Books

My friend and colleague Smoky Zeidel is having a VHP Day on her blog Smoky Talks Books this coming Monday, July 25th. She will be chatting with Vanilla Heart Publishing authors Malcolm R. Campbell, Vila Spiderhawk, Robert Hays, Melinda Clayton, S R Claridge, Collin Kelley, Charmaine Gordon, Marilyn Celeste Morris, and Janet Lane Walters.

Fortunately, I didn’t go on a rant about Dell computer because that would have taken up all the space on her blog. Stop by and see what makes us tick rather than what ticks us off.

—Malcolm

Review: ‘The Butterfly’s Kingdom’

On July 17, 2011 By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books, fiction, reviews2 Comments

The Butterfly’s Kingdom by Gwendolyn Geer Field

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Gwendolyn Greer Field has woven together the lives of the career-oriented Elizabeth Bishop and her old friend Annie into a compelling and complex psychological and spiritual coming of age story. Bishop, who plans to leave her increasingly empty high-profile New York City job visits Annie in a small town because Annie’s life is falling apart and she needs help.

Annie’s husband Arthur committed suicide a year earlier, plunging what had appeared to be a perfect home into a world of secrets and doubt. Annie’s fourteen-year-old daughter, Betsy—who was Arthur’s favorite—blames Annie for the family’s ills. Her eight-year-old brother, Sam, who was ignored by Arthur, is less overt about his feelings.

Without realizing it, Elizabeth steps into a minefield of doubts, secrets and mysterious undercurrents, many of which cannot seem to be openly discussed. The cast of characters also includes Arthur’s former best friend Jackson, whom Annie despises for reasons she will not say, and Luke, Elizabeth’s high-school boyfriend whom she hasn’t seen or heard from in years.

“The Butterfly’s Kingdom” focuses primarily on the multiple conversations between these characters as they try to understand each other and their complicated relationships. Elizabeth, who went to Annie’s side as a rescuer not only has to come to terms with who her old friend has become, but with the fact that she herself also needs to be rescued from whatever sent her away to New York in the first place.

Field allows her characters the time and space to get to know each other and discover where their lacks of trust begin and end. While the conversations are therapeutic and demonstrate that all of those involved need to confide and trust each other more than they do, they also show that a temporal solution isn’t going to fix all the discordant lives.

“The Butterfly’s Kingdom” is also about spiritual journeys. While the spirituality has a clear Christian focus, it should resonate well with readers from many faiths.

This beautifully imagined book has a pervasive editorial flaw. The characters’ conversations all follow the same pattern: When one character makes a pithy and revealing statement about another, the statement is followed by “you’re not mad at me for saying this, are you?” or by “do you know what I mean?” This device for transitioning from the pronouncement back into give-and-take dialogue is overused throughout the book and tends to blur the characters’ personalities because they all do the same thing.

Nonetheless, this book of mysteries and secrets provides a thoughtful plot, issues that many readers may be experiencing in their own lives, and beautiful spiritual images and analogies en route to a satisfying conclusion.
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Upcoming Reviews :

The Witch of Babylon by D. J. McIntosh

Telling the Difference by Paul Watsky

Soul Stories by Elizabeth Clark-Stern

—Malcolm

A few of my unfavorite things

On July 15, 2011July 15, 2011 By Malcolm R. CampbellIn Harry Potter2 Comments

Wolfbane on poppies and ghosts on tables;
Dark shrieking shacks and houses with gables;
Splintered brooms held together with strings;
These are a few of my unfavorite things.

Cream-colored potions and ill-smelling lotions;
Snape and Voldemort demanding evil devotions;
Wild owls that fly with horcrux rings;
There are a few of my unfavorite things.

Unshaven wizards with nasty old spells;
Ministers of magic in their private hells;
Sinister doorways covered with dents and dings;
These are a few of my favorite things.

When the spell kills,
When the witch thrills,
When I’m getting mad,
I simply remember my unfavorite things
And then I feel oh so glad.

—Malcolm

Another Glacier Park Novel

On July 12, 2011July 12, 2011 By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books3 Comments

When my next novel Sarabande is released this fall by Vanilla Heart Publishing, it will become my third novel set partially in Glacier National Park. Sarabande’s Glacier Park locations include Mt. Gould, the Angel Wing, Lake Josephine, Swiftcurrent Lake, Many Glacier Hotel, and Chief Mountain.

When the novel begins, my protagonist Sarabande has just finished spending the night on top of the Angel Wing. I’m sure the park service prohibits this practice, but then she lives in a look-alike universe that is accessed via several portals in the park. Her world is the 1970s. Our world, at the time the novel is set, is the 1980s.

She has much to learn about our world, from electricity, to the existence of a major hotel sitting where there’s an empty space in her world, to cars and highways, and how to travel across country. The Many Glacier area, as I mention in my e-book Bears; Where they Fought: Life In Glacier Park’s Swiftcurrent Valley, is rich in history, trails and mountains to climb.

The popular valley is not only a draw for tourists, but is my favorite place in my favorite park. I can think of no better place for an adventure novel. We have the extremes of weather, of dangerous high places and the chances of meeting grizzly bears or moose or ospreys or wolverines.

I’m looking forward to the release of Sarabande for many reasons. It’s my long-promised sequel to The Sun Singer. It’s told from a female protagonist’s point of view—a first for me. And it gives me an excuse to write again about Glacier National Park. I have been posting about the heroine’s journey itself in my Sarabande’s Journey weblog. It’s been fun to explore the differences between the solar journey in The Sun Singer, which follows Joseph Campbell’s well-known series of mythic steps in The Hero with a Thousand Faces, and the lunar journey which is quite different.

Lunar journeys are usually much darker and much for frightening because they focus on the lore of the night and the unconscious and, as we see in many myths, the domain of the underworld. Nevertheless, Sarabande is an adventure story with its primary scenes in a mountain world that park visitors know so well. The story also unfolds along U.S. Highway 2, the wetlands of northeast Montana’s prairie pothole region, and in Decatur, Illinois where Robert Adams, the Sun Singer lives.

As we get closer to the release date, I’ll begin posting excerpts of the book. It will appear first as an e-book on Amazon’s Kindle and in the other formats available at the smashwords.com site. A bit later, it will also be available as a paperback. If you’re a fan of Glacier National Park, I hope you will enjoy both the story and the location.

—Malcolm

Review: ‘When the de la Cruz Family Danced’

On July 8, 2011 By Malcolm R. CampbellIn fiction, reviews2 Comments

When the de la Cruz Family Danced by Donna Miscolta

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The slice-of-life scenes in Donna Miscolta’s tightly written “When the de la Cruz Family Danced” create an elegant portrait of a Southern California family suspended between its first and second generation Filipino origins, its “Little Manila” neighborhood and the outside world, and between familial cohesiveness and individual freedom. As the novel begins, the family is mired in a stasis that has crept uninvited into its home through the dynamics of time, illness, aging and lack of attention.

Also uninvited, a young man named Winston comes into their home because he believes he might be Johnny de la Cruz’s unacknowledged—and perhaps, unknown—son. Nineteen years earlier, Johnny made his only return trip to the Philippines to visit his family. While there, he had an unplanned sexual encounter with an old flame. Since they never spoke again, Johnny didn’t know Bunny Piña subsequently separated from her husband and moved to California with her son Winston. Winston didn’t know about the de la Cruz family until he found an un-mailed letter to Johnny hidden among his mother’s mementos when she died.

Lost after his mother’s death, Winston wants to know more about Johnny even though he cannot articulate exactly why. He wonders whether Bunny meant to mail the letter and simply forgot it or whether she chose to remain silent. The sentiments include “since you so gallantly made your escape from my couch that afternoon” and “we each had our reasons for what happened.” Does this suggest that Johnny is Winston’s biological father? While Winston isn’t sure, he wants to get to the heart of the secret Bunny never shared.

When he finds Johnny dying of cancer and the rest of the family suspicious of his motives for appearing on its doorstep, Winston simply says he’s Bunny’s son. He says he didn’t know if Johnny heard that Bunny moved to the U.S. or that she had recently died. At this point, readers might expect Winston to leave after suffering through a few days of the de la Cruz family’s polite but disinterested company or that he will produce the letter and ask, “Johnny, are you my father?”

Instead, Miscolta carefully inserts Johnny into the family’s life. None of them are quite sure why he’s still there, but he’s nice enough. He helps Tessie look after Johnny, partly by keeping him company. While the slice-of-life details about family life, shown from the viewpoints of each of the family members, do slow down the development of the plot, they paradoxically add great depth to the novel and to the reader’s understanding of the family itself.

Miscolta has created poignant story about a family (with secrets) that very much needs to find itself within the multicultural world of Southern California. The story revolves around one dual question: will Winston come and go and soon be forgotten or will he be the catalyst for something more long term and meaningful? All of the characters step close and then step away from that question like awkward beginners at a club who haven’t yet learned how to dance.

“When the de la Cruz Family Danced” is a highly recommended waltz of well-crafted prose and endearing characters.

—Malcolm

Malcolm R. Campbell is the author of “The Sun Singer,” “Garden of Heaven: an Odyssey” and “Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire.”

What the hell is Florida Power Thinking?

On July 7, 2011July 7, 2011 By Malcolm R. CampbellIn conservation, ecology3 Comments

While the heading of this post is mine, the story comes from the National Parks and Conservation Association:

Everglades National Park…home to the largest wilderness area east of the Rockies; home to the largest protected mangrove ecosystem in the western hemisphere; and home to 68 federally threatened and endangered species.

Does this sound like a place for giant towers puncturing the landscape with multiple power lines stretching as far as the eye can see? We don’t think so either.

The National Park Service is currently accepting public comment on a proposal that would allow Florida Power and Light (FPL) to build massive transmission lines through Everglades National Park. The use is completely incompatible with the designated purpose of the Everglades, and it is therefore necessary that FPL find an alternative route. Taxpayers are the rightful owners of America’s national parks, like the Everglades. Conveying a track of Everglades National Park–also a U.S. World Heritage Site–to a for-profit utility for a transmission lines corridor poses a threat to the Everglades ecosystem and conflicts with long-term restoration efforts. This is definitely not the way to treat a World Heritage Site.

Take Action: Submit your comments to Everglades Superintendent Dan Kimball and tell him that Everglades and all national parks are owned by the American people and are not for power lines.

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Growing up in Florida, I learned that “swamps” were often simply tolerated as junk land that needed to be fixed in some way. In the panhandle, Tate’s Hell swamp was logged to death while the natural flow of the water was dammed up with the logging roads. In south Florida, the Everglades is constantly under threat due to water and air quality issues, invasive species and the sprawl of nearby cities. Power lines through the swamp are another one of the many insults.

Let’s try to stop them from being built.
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See also, a new threat to the Grand Canyon in House Funding Bill Reverses Policy to Protect Grand Canyon

—Malcolm

Learn more about the historic milestones of Glacier National Park’s Swiftcurrent Valley, site of Many Glacier Hotel and Swiftcurrent Campground, for only 99 cents on Kindle. The e-book is also available for 99 cents in multiple formats on Smashwords.

This short introduction to Glacier National Park’s Swiftcurrent Valley will delight, entertain, and offer a glimpse into the dramatic history of the most beautiful place on Earth… or so many visitors claim!

The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris

On July 5, 2011 By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books1 Comment

Historian David McCullough first caught my attention with his excellent and highly readable Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt in 1982. He’s also focused on President Truman, the Panama Canal and the Brooklyn Bridge.

In May his publisher Simon and Schuster released The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris, a book that Kirkus Reviews calls, “An ambitious, wide-ranging study of how being in Paris helped spark generations of American genius. . . . A gorgeously rich, sparkling patchwork, eliciting stories from diaries and memoirs to create the human drama McCullough depicts so well.”

I am definitely adding this book to my wish list. Meanwhile, you’ll find an interesting article about the book on the NPR web site called The Best Of The Louvre, On A Single Canvas. Among the Americans mentioned in the book is Samuel F. B. Morse, the inventor of the telegraph. Morse also fancied himself an artist, painting a huge canvas showing the then-famous paintings in the Louvre.

You can see the painting at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C and online on the NPR web site.

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Upcoming Reviews

When the de la Cruz Family Danced by Donna Miscolta

The Witch of Babylon by D. J. McIntosh

The Butterfly’s Kingdom by Gwendolyn Greer Field

—Malcolm

Reflections on Good News for Our National Parks

On July 2, 2011 By Malcolm R. CampbellIn environment4 Comments

More often than not, the daily news brings us more bad news about threats to the environment and Congress’ continued threats to reduce National Parks funding even more than they have already. Next week, Congress will decide whether to vote for a “Dirty Water Bill” that would undo much of the rivers, lakes and watersheds progress implemented with the 1972 Clean Water Act.

I have been a member of the National Parks and Conservation Association (NPCA) ever since the days when George Hartzog was the high-impact director of the National Park Service between 1964 and 1972. There’s an indepth feature about Hartzog in the current issue of National Parks.

The greatest threat to the environment, is much larger than the issue of a Dirty Water Bill or an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico: it is, quite simply, the fact we have to keep fighting to save and protect something that ought to be a top priority for everyone.

While it’s almost criminal that we–as a society–should have to fight so long and at such great expense to create good news for our environment and our National Parks, such news brings hope and a chance to reflect upon what kind of world we would have if the good news occurred so often, it was no longer newsworthy.

Reading the first 14 pages of the Summer 2011 issue of National Parks was a true pleasure:

Once again, the Gettysburg National Military Park has been spared from the disruption and sprawl of a casino on its doorstep. According to the NPCA, opposition to the casino by prominent historians, NPCA members and supporters, and a 30,000-signature peition helped persuade the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to do the right thing.
Kaiser Ventures has been trying since 1988 to create the largest landfill in the United States on land adjactent to Joshua Tree National Park. Had the company been allowed to do so, 20,000 tons of trash per day would have been dumped next to a fragile ecosystem. In 2009, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said “no,” and the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal from Kaiser. Until Kaiser finds a new way to build the dump, Joshua Tree has much to celebrate on its 75th anniversary.
It has taken eleven years for the NPCA, its allies and its lawyers to force the Tennesee Valley Authority to stop polluting the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. On days when the pollution is at its worst, vistors to the park can see only 17 miles. On a clear day, visitors can see 77 miles. With the settlemen agreement, there will be many more clear days. The TVA will reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 69% and sulfur dioxide emissions by 67% by phasing out 18 coal-fired units and by installing modern pollution controls on 36 other units by 2018.

I look forward to the time when clear victories will bring us the kind of clear days that allow us to see forever-–insofar as clean air and clean water are concerned. Until then, every success brings infinite relfections on what is possible.

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You May Also Like: Beauty and Heartbreak in Arroyo Pescadero – The Whittier, California city council wants to drill for oil in this environmentally sensitive arroyo east of Los Angeles.

–Malcolm

Malcolm R. Campbell is the author of the recently released Bears; Where they Fought: Life in Glacier Park’s Swiftcurrent Valley, a glimpse at the dramatic history of the most beautiful place on Earth. A Natural Wonderland… Amazing Animals… Early Pioneers…Native Peoples… A Great Flood… Kinnickinnick… Adventures… The Great Northern Railway.

“Give a month at least to this precious reserve. The time will not be taken from the sum of your life. Instead of shortening, it will indefinitely lengthen it and will make you truly immortal. — John Muir, “Our National Parks,” 1901

Glacier Park Concessioner Acquires St. Mary Lodge

On June 30, 2011 By Malcolm R. CampbellIn Glacier National Park

from Glacier Park, Inc.

Columbia Falls, June 30, 2011–Glacier Park, Inc. (GPI), a subsidiary of Viad Corp, today announced the acquisition of St. Mary Lodge and Resort.

St. Mary Lodge and Resort is an upscale full-service motel and resort situated just outside Glacier National Park’s east entrance in St. Mary, Montana. With 115 guest rooms spread among six facilities, the propert features accommodations ranging from luxury lodge rooms and suites to rustic and relaxing cottages and motel rooms.

“The addition of St. Mary Lodge and Resort extends GPI’s current operations in and around Glacier and Waterton Lakes National Parks,” said Cindy Ognjanov, president and general manager. “We are very excited about this addition to our company.”

Glacier Park, Inc. is the lodging, retail, and dining concessioner in Glacier National Park for the Village Inn At Apgar, Lake McDonald Lodge, Rising Sun Motor Inn, Many Glacier Hotel, Swift Current Motor Inn and Cabins, Two Medicine Campstore, the East Side Shuttle, and park tours using a fleet of vintage red buses.

GPI also owns an operates Glacier Park Lodge at East Glacier and the Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta.

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As a former GPI seasonal employee during the days when there was a spirited competition between St. Mary employees and those at Many, East, PW and McD, I think it will be interesting to watch St. Mary Lodge grow into its new family.

–Malcolm