Monthly Archives: November 2017

local authors, nonfiction, reviews, setting

Alice Oldford — 10 Adventures and More in Lee and Collier Counties

Do you like the outdoors? Do you live in Southwest Florida? Would you like to learn some Florida history—see some of Florida’s flora and fauna? Buy this book and explore the trails and waterways described by the author.

A section on Florida spiders (with photos) is included in the book. The spiders are contributed by Janet Bunch who volunteers for Lee County Parks & Recreation, and leads guided nature walks at Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve and various Conservation 20/20 parks.

If you are a nature-lover, this is a guide to the best places on Florida’s Gulf Coast—Lee and Collier counties. Enjoy.

character, humor, reviews, setting, strange

Tim Dorsey — Clownfish Blues

The protagonist of Dorsey’s twenty-plus books is Serge Storms, a psychotic serial killer who thinks up unique ways to punish or kill people who are hurting others. Coleman is a drugged-out sidekick to tea-totaling Serge. Clownfish Blues main plot (if it has one) revolves around the Florida lottery.

Dorsey skips between places, events, times, and people, so you don’t know where the story is going. Sometimes he seems to throw in characters from previous novels just for the sake of mentioning them, not to advance the story. Serge is unbelievable, Coleman is getting boring in his drunken stupor, the plots are thin, but Dorsey makes me laugh.

His stories are an exaggerated view of reality in Florida. The highways and byways visited by Serge and Coleman are real or based on real places. I enjoy the tours around the state.

So even though there are many things about Dorsey’s writing that I wouldn’t put up with from other authors, I enjoy his weird tales. As I said, he makes me laugh.

character, heart, local authors, nonfiction, reviews

James Campbell — My Korean War Stories

In December 1948, James Campbell, age 15, joined the U.S. Army. June 25, 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea. Campbell, stationed in Japan, was among the first U.S. soldiers to join the conflict. The book is a collection of stories about a young soldier’s experience in the war.

His stories run the gamut of emotions—anger, heartbreak, apprehension, comradery, even humor. Campbell lets you see and feel the horrors of war through the eyes of a boy becoming a man.

This is not a book I would pick to read. I’m not into war stories. But I helped edit and format the book and of course had to read it. I thoroughly enjoyed it. James Campbell knows how to tell a story.