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Nonfiction Down and dirty noir THE SYNDICATE By Clarence Cooper, Jr. 144 pp. Molotov Editions Reviewed by Eric Petersen A book reviewer’s job is to review the latest offerings, both fiction and nonfiction, by today’s authors for today’s readers. But once in a great while, he gets the opportunity to review something like this – a long-lost work finally published many years after it fell into obscurity. Clarence Cooper, Jr., an African-American writer of considerable talent, deserves a place alongside his contemporaries James Baldwin, Richard Wright, and Ralph Ellison. Born in Detroit in 1934, he moved to Chicago in 1950, where he began his literary career working as an editor for a black newspaper. At the same time, he began his nearly lifelong struggle with heroin addiction. Most of his writings were penned in prison, as he spent most of his life in and out of jail. His first novel, The Scene (1960) was published to critical acclaim. The rest of his novels ended up buried in the ...

At the Edge: A life in search of challenge By Stephen J. Trafton Amazon Digital Services LLC, $37.50 paperback, $7.49 eBook Reviewed by Regina Koellner To say Stephen Trafton led an interesting life would be an understatement. His achievements are many and versatile. Climbing Boulder Peak in Washington State, at the age of twelve led to an impressive career in mountain climbing, with numerous first ascents and subsequent leadership in mountain rescue.  A college job in a bank became a professional career which peaked in taking the US government to court and so saving what became Citibank. Later in life, he discovered a passion for car racing, and there he also excelled. He set the Ferrari land speed record in a car that he restored himself, and had an impressive racing career including an unsuccessful attempt to complete the Peking to Paris Rally. His passion for exploring led him across the USA on solo hikes and by kayak and on eleven expeditions to the High Arctic. His interest i...

--> Nonfiction We smiled and drank the Pouilly-Fruisse SLOUCHING TOWARDS BETHLEHEM By Joan Didion 354 pp. Picador Modern Classics Reviewed by Sue Ellis In Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Joan Didion has amassed a memorable collection of essays formerly published during the turbulent 1960s and early 70s. Born in Sacramento, California, Didion graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1956 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. During her senior year, she won first place in an essay contest sponsored by Vogue , and subsequently went on to work for them for the next several years, moving from her home in Sacramento to New York City. From there she married, moved back to Sacramento and began writing essays for some of the most successful publications of the time, including The New York Times , Holiday , The American Scholar , Vogue , and The Saturday Evening Post . Sharply observant, she was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time and the right cred...

Fiction A witness to change THE LIGHTHORSEMEN: A Novel of Indian Territory By Jack Shakely 214 pp. Strider Nolan Reviewed by Bob Sanchez The Creek Indian Billy Mingo murders a man who he says really “needed killing.” The year is 1895, and the law catches up to him. Mingo surrenders to the Lighthorsemen, the Creek Nation’s law enforcement, and he admits his guilt. Creek judges sentence him to death, but according to custom they tell him to go home and be with his family for most of a year and “return on the first Saturday in August 1896 to be executed.” Mingo complies on the appointed day, and in the audience the journalist Edward Perryman watches the man’s death by firing squad. Perryman is deeply impressed by the murderer’s honor and bravery, and by the system of laws that command such respect even from a convicted criminal. Perryman decides to become part of this honorable Creek legal system, first by becoming a Lighthorseman and eventually a lawyer to protect his people. The execut...

Nonfiction Stoking our daydreams TEN MOVIES AT A TIME: A 350-Film Journey Through Hollywood and America 1930-1970 By John DiLeo 407 pp. Hansen Publishing Group Reviewed by Rebeca Schiller Back in the mid-1990s I lived with an economist who cursed his choice of careers. His dreamed of writing novels, but he had one problem: he wasn’t a natural-born storyteller. To find his muse, he decided to watch 100 films in one month. I went along with the idea, but mentioned we needed some viewing guidelines that covered genre, directors, country of origin and so on. Out of those 100 films, I watched 84 from the opening to the ending credits. That averaged out to three movies a day while he cheated and fast-forwarded the remaining 16 films. The outcome of that challenge? He’s still an economist, and I’m the writer. And that leads me to John DiLeo’s Ten Movies at a Time. DiLeo, the author of five other books on films, is a contributing book reviewer for the Washington Post , a weekly regular on...