From the Whistler

Poetry

Wasps - Scott Provence

Marshland Dusk - John Philip Johnson

Gerwin - Calvin White

Near Harmony - John Abbott

The Wedding Room - Shanan Ballam

Hello - Maria Cinanni

November - Chip Corwin

Fiction

Angle Side Angle - Mary Lynn Reed

There Is Always More Work to be Done - Dave Barrett

The Relief Printer - Jessica Rae Hahn

Reviews

The Nine Scoundrels by Deanna Reiter

Elisha's Bones by Don Hoesel

Poetry Reviews

Whistling Shade's Literary Cafe Review

Memoir

My Meeting with Mengele - Maryla Neuman

Essay

Eating Your Words in a Prague Cafe - John-Ivan Palmer

John Dos Passos, a View from Left Field - Hugh Mahoney

Lost Writers of Minnesota: Clifford D. Simak - Joel Van Valin

Columns

Shading Dealings - Race-based Literary Journals

Fun Patrol - I Never Promised You a Shit Garden

Cover

Elisha's Bones by Don Hoesel

(Bethany House Publishers)

One wonders what excitement is missing in our day-to-day, that adventure and intrigue repeatedly draw our attention. The outrageous, the improbable, keep us reading. If you loved The Da Vinci Code and wanted more of the same, you’ll enjoy Elisha’s Bones.

This romp across continents, starting with a tired archeologist professor in the US recalling an assignment years prior wherein he lost a beloved brother, carries us to Venezuela, North Africa and Australia in a breathless pace. Of course, he has the requisite female companion who is a little smarter than he is. The mission is no less than one step beneath the Holy Grail (whatever that is). The chapters are short and tense. The characters are drawn cleverly enough so that we care what happens.

It’s one of those books we read because we really want to know what happens next, then reconsider the outrageousness of it all. This most simple and humble of scholars runs across the globe and leaves a trail of death and destruction wherever he goes; innocent friends and colleagues fall by the wayside, and we are left to believe that nobody in any of the worldwide law enforcement society is questioning car bombs and house fires. Bethany House surely accepted this because of a vague nod to a religious conversion at the end.

Being hauled out of reality in a book is a wondrous thing, but it’s good to know that is the expectation at the start. If a reader wants characters they can empathize with and is willing to see them die for an undefined cause, this novel will offer all the excitement required to keep the pages turning.

- Beadrin Youngdahl