This novel attempts to present a complete, unvarnished, and rounded portrait of the young manhood and education of a white American male, RICK STEVENS, in a mid-western state.  It depicts his good qualities as well as his bad ones—his “warts.”  The span of his life covered is from infancy to twenty-nine years of age.  The years are from 1928 until 1957.

Parts of his life included are:  his early childhood and boyhood growing up on a farm and in a small town in northeastern Ohio; persecution and verbal abuse by his stepfather; constant moral support by his mother; his extreme shyness and inability to socialize during his high school years, his lack of a father-figure and its effect upon his personality, his dubious sexual education; his voluntary service in the United States Army Quartermaster Corps (the peacetime Army from 1946 – 1949); his clerical and stenographic training and jobs in the Army; his achievement of the rank of Corporal and then Sergeant; his friendships with Army buddies; his long automobile trip with friends through the Western states; his college education (with help of the GI Bill) at the University of Virginia and Ohio State University; his friendship and romance with a southern lady; his college friendships; his failures and his successes; his college summer jobs on Great Lakes iron ore freighters; his education courses and preparation for a science teaching career (Glasgow College, Pa.); his love life and his sex life; his European trip with his best friend—a fellow sailor and college chum.

Moreover, the novel deals with the nearly complete transmutation of a shy young man into a gregarious man.  Rick Stevens was determined to overcome his shyness, break out of his shell, and find friends first in the Army and  later in college.  This novel depicts Rick becoming more of an actor than just a spectator.  He was able to eliminate his laid-back passive behavior, and become a much more aggressive man—active, outgoing, generous, caring and fun-loving; His meditations, letters, and discussions with college and Army friends reveal his transformation.

This book correlates the presidencies of Bush and Nixon, presidents that have been controversial and divisive. The author adopts an objective point of view on both men and their influence on foreign affairs. With country in a political disarray, this book may answer the question asked by many: could Bush have the same fate as Nixon?

In the years following World War II Americans in every city in the United States enjoyed bowling. Men and women bowled in separate leagues or together. In bowling’s early days, pin boys risked the dangers of flying wood to set pins from afternoons through early mornings, often in seedy surroundings. When pinspotters replaced the pin boys, national advertising campaigns changed the sport’s image. Huge bowling lanes welcomed people of all social levels. Bowling boomed.

Hidden Agendas is set in the 1980’s, a time when bowling’s popularity was universal. The story focuses on a young New York man hired to participate in an Arizona bowling match with a $20 million dollar jackpot.

Edward Vincent Karol has worked his way to the top of two professions. Smart enough to realize the people bankrolling his opponent might want him removed, he vanishes from his usual haunts. Yet, two dominant needs remain. One is regular practice, and the other, a way to get to Arizona unharmed.

His challenges are complicated by his mother’s incessant demand for a grandchild, and a meeting with a young woman whose physical and mental health verge on total disaster. He’d like to help her. Doing so would mean added tension throughout the most difficult month of his career.

Leola Williams was a strong-willed, independent woman who only wanted to provide for her children. Growing up in Boston with her parents and eight siblings, she had a good life and never wanted for anything. At least that’s what she told her six children. But Leola kept a secret; and a code of silence that reigned supreme throughout the family held that secret close. Following Leola’s death, her youngest daughter embarks on a journey through her mother’s past—a journey that takes her back more than sixty years to the discovery that Leola’s life took a dramatic turn when she married handsome WWII solider, James Williams. Determined to break the code of silence, she uncovers the truth of her mother’s compelling and shocking past.

& n b s p ; & nbsp;          I was introduced to the poetry of Abdalla Straker when he became a student of mine in Honors English courses at South Carolina State University. Overflow, his second book of poems, is a continuation of a fascinating journey through several motifs that still undergird his deep, spiritual ideals.

When taking this journey, the reader will be able to detect poems that are arranged in five distinctive categories. The reader will be able to get a glimpse of the personal side of the author in the section titled “About Me.” “Revelations” gives us his life experiences that we can all find something to connect, associate, or identify as a similar experience in our own personal lives. “Love” explores relationships, triumphs and sorrows that can often occur with surprise and anticipation. In the “To Trinidad and Tobago with Love” section, he pays homage to the pride and traditions of his rich culture. In the section “Our Rise”, the poet discusses the right to pursue dreams. Our poet concludes his journey with the section called “Poetic Prayer,” where he again, shares his strong, spiritual commitment. There is also a relevant, thought-provoking poem written by his mother. She takes the opportunity to pay special tribute to the city of New Orleans and its people surviving hurricane Katrina.

& n b s p ; & nbsp;          I hope you are excited to know more about this dynamic poet and singer who is currently Poet Laureate for South Carolina State University. From “Excuses,” “Let’s Talk About Sex,” and “On The Shoulders of Giants,” to “Pieces,” “Family,” “Independence Day,” and “Forgive,” enjoy your journey about life’s experiences! As our poet says, “Words are not just words. Too many of us take the things we say for granted.”

By

Mr. Allen H. Fleming

Assistant Professor

English and Modern Languages

South Carolina State University

The poems in No Room For Kindness are for the most part short and jewel like in their faceted brevity and yet are extremely fragile.  The 51 "messages" are to be read as one continuous poem in which the protagonist conducts in his mind a soliloquy with the wife of his best friend and, sometimes, with that friend himself.  He describes what he is feeling and thinking in this imagined affair, using images drawn from his day-to-day reading and experience.  This compound poem was written when the Viet Nam war was going on.

All the poems in Dragonfly have been previously published, most in the Sixties and early Seventies.  They all come from that period in his life when he was experimenting with language and form, learning what it means to be married and have children, and making the transition from student to employee.  Several of these poems he considers to be among his most elegant.  The images are drawn from nature, literature, current events, and daily life.  Each poem, as a result, is a distilled story that if you are willing to make the effort you can begin to reconstruct.

Every since this beacon of light has been placed upon my life, I see things and circumstances in a different perspective. My negatives turned into positives. It became no longer my way but God’s way. I fell under the anointing. When my strength gets weak, I surrender all to Him. When I pray to Him, it’s an honor, a closeness I have with Him. It’s a blessing to fall under the anointing. The enemy has launched a counter attack against me, but I’m shielded, protected, placed in the arms of God and covered

UNDER THE ANOINTING……..

This book draws the story of David’s life out from the lengthy history of Judah.

The poetry makes it easy to read and explain to children. I loved drawing the pictures which tell a story in themselves. I hope the children and adults will be drawn to a closer knowledge of why David was also called, “A Man after God’s own Heart.” Like us David was far from perfect, but always turned to God when he needed help.

In an instant, your life can change.  A serious accident involving someone you love can turn your world upside-down, leaving you completely helpless.  The confusion and uncertainty associated with an extended hospital stay can be debilitating for the family and friends of a patient in critical condition.  From the ICU Waiting Room depicts the emotional roller coaster experienced by the family of Ruth Schwartz as they struggled through the 37 days following her tragic car crash.  Written through the eyes of her niece, Theresa Schwartz, M.D. prior to her medical training, this original journal of the daily occurrences throughout her hospitalization illustrates the frustration and heartbreak felt by the family of an unstable patient. 

The book ‘When Tomorrow Comes’ is about my Life’s adventures, my thoughtful insight and reflections. It’s about the many people that I have met in my life and the path that I’ve traveled.

The impact those people have had upon my life caused me to write about my adventures in poems, jokes and stories. I hope my book will inspire courage, create laughter and cause one to reflect on their life and the journey one must travel.

& n b s p ; & nbsp;          Infant Memories and their Mess is a recollection of memories imprinted in the mind of a man, who during his middle age re-leaves them again, with the hope of satisfying his need of self Identity.

& n b s p ; & n b s p ; & n b s p ; & n b s p ; & n b s p ; & n b s p ; & n b s p ; & n b s p ; & n b s p ; & n b s p ; & n b s p ; & n b s p ; & n b s p ; & nbsp;         

& n b s p ; & nbsp;          In this dilemma of his dreamless main, he gives life again to his pass in a very culturally interpretation of life seeing trought the eyes of a handicap child.  When the clouds were dancing with the moon, his shadowy mind was give life to his infant memories allover again.  For the second time, he was living his life again, however this time, he could not let his main continue ignoring the poorness of innocence.

& n b s p ; & nbsp;          After many sleepless nights, the sun finally was born in his mind and peace and tranquility returned to him.  Of course it was only a dream because the real mess of his life was just about to start. 

& n b s p ; & n b s p ; & n b s p ;         

Memoria Infantiles y sus Revoltijos es una colección de memorias imprimidas en la mente de un hombre, en cual a mayor edad, las buelve a vivir de nuevo para satisfacser la nesesidaded de rencontrar su identidada.

En este relato de su mente soñadora, le da nuevamente  vida a un pasada, en una forma culturalistica.  Cuando las nuves vailavan con la luna, su mente nublada le dava nuevamene armonia a los recuerdos infantiles de su niñez.  Por segunda vez vivia su niñes y por segunda vez no pudo dejar su mente que coninuara inorando la probresa de la inocencia.

Despues de tantas noches de desbelo, el sol finalmente renace de nuevo en su mente y la paz y tranquilidad regreso a su mente, claro solamente fué un sueño, porque el verdadero revoltijo de su vida apenas enpesava.