"Goldberg's work is an eclectic collection of realist and surrealist storytelling, from a brother's difficult return from the first Gulf War to a kid who turns invisible after witnessing his father's infidelity...The overheated suburbs of southern California and the crazed, sun-scorched roads through the outlying deserts are the perfect settings for Goldberg's characters. In a story that exemplifies his skill for blending the unreal with the everyday, a dyslexic kid creates his own language as a way to deal with life's stresses. As he witnesses a brutal act of violence against a fellow student and his careerist father becomes more and more aloof after a move to L.A., the kid fills binders and binders with his personal alphabet, a secret distress code. It's a startling and shuddersome story, with the kind of atmospheric tension we've come to expect from the new wave of Japanese horror movies." --TimeOut Chicago
"Simplify is a collection of twelve beautifully crafted short stories about people who inhabit a different world than (most) of the rest of us." CrimeSpree Magazine
"Short story collections are nearly impossible to review, especially in anything under several hundred words. (How do you comment generally on a book that contains twelve different stories that vary in plot, theme, quality, etc.?) Still, there are a few observations that one can make about Tod Goldberg's Simplify. The stories are sharp and insightful, many of them dealing with issues emerging from childhood. The writing is often funny, even when it's painful, and always to the point, with keen dialogue and a strong voice. Finally, the stories on the whole are powerful, provocative and a pleasure to read. The title entry, in particular, is a minor masterpiece." David Montgomery, Crime Fiction Dossier
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Each story is told from the first person point of view of someone whose perspective is a bit skewed, a bit distorted. And whose life is not
necessarily all that it could, or should, be. After all, what do you do if Jesus decides that he’s your new best friend? Or the portrait of Elvis on
your wall starts bleeding? Or you witness a brutal murder?
No story in this collection is like any other story, but all are told at breakneck pace and all are intelligent, brutally funny, melancholy, and in
some cases, tragic. Every character is interesting, full of personality and quirks. These people inhabit that no man’s land where those who
don’t easily fit into society’s pigeonholes dwell. It’s a dark and often frightening place, full of violence and greed and surprising moments of
hope and salvation. You’ll be glad you visited it.
Rae Helmsworth
SNAPSHOT
Garry Disher
2006
ISBN 1-56947-426-5
Soho Press
While offering a disturbing look at the...shall we say "alternative"?... lifestyles of a group of people, this book gives us so many interesting,
fully realized characters. A police procedural in the very best sense of the word, I enjoyed getting to know this police department, with all of
its very human members. The plot was
complex and thought-provoking, with several good twists. I haven't had a chance to read Disher before, but I will be reading more of his
works!
Judy Clemens, author of the Stella Crown mysteries
SOMETHING IN COMMON
J.R. Lindermuth
2006
ISBN 1-59374-499-4
Whiskey Creek Press
Lindermuth does a wonderful job of bringing his fictional small Pennsylvania town to life by getting us into the minds of a multitude of
characters. Each chapter teaches us about someone new, and they all became very real to me. I enjoyed Lindermuth's writing and the story
itself was interesting and without a dull moment. There were a couple of clues that hit me as too obvious, giving away the murderer's identity
too early in the process for my liking, but I still enjoyed the book and recommend it.
Judy Clemens, author of Three Can Keep a Secret
SPY GODDESS: TO HAWAII, WITH LOVE
Michael P. Spradlin
2006
ISBN 0-06-059410-1
HarperCollins
This young adult book is a fun romp with teenage spy, Rachel Buchanan, fast and funny and definitely not just for the young. A sequel to
Edgar-nominated Spy Goddess, Book One: Live & Let Shop, this book takes us on a wild ride with a smart, sharp- tongued heroine and her
even smarter friends as they try to thwart Simon Blankenship, a truly wonderful foe who is out to steal an ancient artifact. There were a few
references to modern life that are now outdated, but other than that, the book was a bit of brain candy for a rainy day. I think I'll have to go
back and read that first one...
Judy Clemens, author of To Thine Own Self Be True
STONE BUTTERFLY
James D. Doss
August, 2006
ISBN 13 978 0 312 34054 4
St. Martin’s Minotaur
Charlie Moon has enough going on in his life without his Aunt Daisy calling him about her dreams. Her latest concerns a young girl with blood
dripping from her hands. She doesn’t immediately recognize her and Charlie dismisses this dream as another one of Daisy’s notions. Then he
hears about the killing of an elderly man in Nevada. A young girl is found standing over his body holding out her bloody hands. She is soon
identified as Sarah Frank, the daughter of Charlie’s friend. He and FBI Special Agent McTeague go to Nevada but find that Sarah is missing.
Moon is soon on her trail, along with the local police, and several other concerned individuals. Sarah is a former foster child of Aunt Daisy, and
it is hoped she might head back to Colorado to find help there .And then things really get confused.
I am always on the lookout for a new Charlie Moon mystery. I love the wealth of characters and mad adventures of Aunt Daisy. There is a hint
of mysticism about her that conflicts with Charlie’s straight ahead approach to life. It all combines to give a book that is hard to put down.
Karen Jordan
TANGLED ROOTS
Angela Henry
June 2006
ISBN: 1-58314-608-3
Sepia/Hardcover Press
Angela Henry’s The Company You Keep was one of my favorite books of last year, so I was excited when Mr. Postman brought me a new
Kendra Clayton novel. It was not a disappointment.
Willow, Ohio is a small college town and Kendra works hard as a GED instructor and hostess at her uncle’s restaurant. Her life is full–a close
family, new boyfriend, fulfilling work, and her best friend’s imminent wedding. So when a beautician she barely knows is killed, why should it
be her problem? But somehow it becomes her problem when she finds the suspect tucked away in her apartment. To top it off, her beloved
teaching position is in jeopardy when a martinet is put in temporary charge and her best friend expects her to wear a clown dress in the
wedding. We won’t even begin on the preacher with the excellent bedroom manner...
Smart, witty, and fast-paced, this second Kendra Clayton novel is as likeable as the first. When some detail from the first book is needed, it is
plaited into the storyline in an offhand manner that often flies right under the reader’s radar.
Same time, next year, Angela? I’ll be waiting.
Kathleen Tromp
TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE
Judy Clemens
2006
ISBN 1-59058-298-5
Poisoned Pen Press
I’m very fond of Judy Clemens protagonist, Stella Crown. I don’t like it when Stella has a bad day. What could be worse than having to leave
your fav tattoo parlor with a tat half finished? How about finding out that while you were snoozing in the inking chair the owner was being
tossed in a dumpster in back. And now she’s dead. Her husband is missing and Stella? Stella has an excuse to get involved with another
mystery. From the halls of Congress to the biking community in Stella’s home county, everyone has a clue to offer. Can Stella get the missing
husband home and how about that last minute Christmas shopping?
What Clemens does so well is create believable mysteries in an incredibly small community. Her since of place takes the Crown series beyond
the cliché of “cozy” and into a world all her own.
Ruth
THE TORCH OF TANGIER
Aileen G. Baron
May 2006
ISBN 1-59058-221-7
Poisoned Pen Press
In a new century, and with the momentous events of the Second World War now more than 50 years in the past, there are only a few persons
still living who experienced those days first hand. Books like Tom Brokaw's popular THE GREATEST GENERATION have related the
experiences of real people caught up in the conflict and have also sparked the interest of the newer generations who are interested in
knowing what it was like to live in those days.
Baron's entertaining book relates the experiences of fictional archeological researcher Lily Sampson, who follows a colleague to Morocco in
the early 1940's to work on an interesting dig near the city of Tangier. When military camps encroach on their work sites, the research group
turns to the governmental offices located in the area, and find themselves working on coded messages which will support the invasion of
Northern Africa by the Allies planned for late 1942.
Not surprisingly, there are shifting alliances at work, both political and romantic. Lily waits anxiously for word of the man she loves, stationed
with the military in the area. Servants behave in ambiguous fashion, colleagues may or may not have turned against each other, murdered
bodies are discovered, important codes and documents go missing. Finally deciding she can rely only on herself to stay safe and alive, Lily
perseveres to keep the important messages flowing to the invasion force.
Woodstock
TWIN CITIES NOIR
Julie Schaper, Steven Horwitz Editors
June 2006
ISBN: 1-888451-97-1
Akashic Books
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Traffic in Minneapolis/St.Paul can be hell...it takes me 50 minutes to get to work, and that's on a good day. I take a bus/light rail combination,
and the best travel companion I've recently had is Twin Cities Noir, Akashic Books' latest edition to their fabulously dark and seedy Noir series.
The stories are perfectly sized to a commute, a lunch break, or a spare half hour; they are also an ideal antidote to an overdose of Minnesota
Nice.
In all, fifteen talented writers contributed twisted tales with Twin Cities settings, each specific to a neighborhood. (Okay, so Steve Thayer
cheats a little by setting his elegant tale in a storm-tossed Duluth, or "Up North" as the city folk say.) William Kent Krueger's Bums is a wicked
delight with a twist, and Chris Everheart's Chili Dog is a real killer--literally--but worth evey bite.
This volume of the popular Noir series has a nice rhythm: the voices are varied, and the stories are consistently strong. Editors Julie Schaper
and Steven Horwitz deserve kudos for putting together an anthology that showcases some of the best writing the Twin Cities has to offer--and
we really do have an embarrassment of riches.
...And so this week I have a new form of entertainment on the trip into downtown: I check out the assorted businesspeople, bleary-eyed
students, flocks of teenagers, and ne'er-do-wells that share my ride, and I wonder what hearts of darkness may by lurking beneath their
innocent facades--what subtle menace lies beneath closed eyelids--what diabolical plots are being planned over a cup of Starbucks and the
Star Tribune.
After all, they don't call it Murderopolis for nothing...
Jill Lynch
WILD THING
Mike Harrison
2006
ISBN:1-55022-716-X
E.C.W. Press
My favorite first novel of last year was a book by Canadian Mike Harrison. ALL SHOOK UP introduced the reading public to Calgary P.I. Eddie
Dancer. With great back story and an interesting case to solve I was charmed by Dancer and more than ready for a second date.
How does a new writer follow up a case of prison corruption and bikers gone bad?
Harrison gets his protagonist out of Dodge (Calgary in this case). Dancer receives a plea for help and a one-way ticket to England in WILD
THING. A benefactor has been accused of being a serial killer and asks Eddie for help. An infamous prison, a lost manuscript, pap paparazzi
and reincarnation are all elements of Eddie’s second case.
Having left his secondary characters back in Canada Harrison creates a new and exciting cast. As Eddie helps Dr. Maurice and his wife try to
negate the circumstantial evidence implicating him the stakes continue to be raised. Soon it’s personal. WILD THING is doing 120 on the Fat
Boy with no helmet. Proof positive that this writer has the chops to go the distance. And I’ll take the bitch seat.
Ruth
WOLVES OF MEMORY
Bill James
2006
ISBN:0-393-06188-4
I’d follow Bill James to the depths of hell. Oh wait, I already have. The Harpur and Iles series is for me like a nice long bath at the end of the
day. Nothing can salvage a bad day like reading of a world where morality is often left behind but always trying to come to the forefront from
the most unlikely of sources.
After over twenty books in this series you’d think it would be hard for the author to find something new to write but James has proven he’ll
never run out of original ideas once again with WOLVES OF MEMORY.
As WOLVES opens Harpur and Iles are relocating a “grass”. Iles is in his element playing benefactor as he tries to forward his own reputation.
Harpur is wary that reassigning a family of four new identities may prove impossible when they are relocated so close to home.
As the Ballions become the Templetons, Harpur’s concern for their safety grows. Iles has always been a character on the edge and more than
once he has crossed the line. WOLVES OF MEMORY is the book in which he embraces his insanity with the nonchalance of Caligula.
James tells this tale almost exclusively with dialog. The conversation running throughout the book between Iles and Harpur is rather like
watching a horrific accident. Even as you realize the catastrophic ramifications the action holds you riveted. A less experienced writer would
be content with this as a whole of the book but James has never written anything without layers.
Although the eventuality of a final face off between Harpur and Iles makes up much of the body of Wolves, the story of the Ballions is what
drives the plot forward. What would you do to save your family? In WOLVES OF MEMORY you’ll find one answer.
Ruth
"The stories in this collection hum with speed and ferocity and a raw energy that exposes your nerve endings, wakes up places inside of you that you had happily lulled to sleep. The sharp-edged, hard-luck boys that populate these pages know exactly how you feel at two in the morning and are telling the truth about it. Simplify is ruthless and tender, truthful, full of heart and scary in all the right ways."
--Pam Houston, author of
Cowboys Are My Weakness; Sight Hound
"Energized, engaging, highly readable-- each one of Tod Goldberg's stories is a nugget of originality. I started each new story with fresh interest, wondering where he would take me next-- to bleeding Elvis, or the Salton Sea, or through the strange way childhood cruelty rearranges adulthood. A terrific collection."
--Aimee Bender, author of
The Girl in the Flammable Skirt; Willful Creatures
"With Simplify Tod Goldberg places himself in the company of such modern masters of short fiction as Dan Chaon, Rick De Marinis and Thom Jones, demonstrating a broad range of styles and moods that he manages to coalesce into a single and frankly, pretty disturbing whole." --Scott Phillips, author of
The Walkaway; The Ice Harvest
"Tod Goldberg is an amazing true original who plunges deep into the scary heart of our American life. Hilarious and unnerving, charming and creepy, dusted with a strange, ineffable melancholy, these stories made the hair on my head stand up and my eyes fall out. I recommend Simplify to everyone, everywhere. Read it right now!"
--Dan Chaon, author of
You Remind Me of Me; Among the Missing
"Things this book has in it:
A Jesus who hangs out at Gay Pride Parades and Toys R’ Us and Starbucks.
A bleeding portrait of Elvis
The Loch Ness monster
These stories are superlatively smart, friggin' hilarious, stab-in-the-chest painful, and overall super rad and awesome. Best of all, this is a book with some serious heart. Quite simply, Goldberg has the ability to make you connect with every one of his characters--and since not a few of them are weird on their good days, that's no small thing. If you want more than that from a book, I don't think I know you anymore. This is the kind of book I wait for, the kind of book that makes whatever the next book is disappointing. It's a skip the next book altogether and wait for the next Goldberg. More please."
--Elizabeth Crane, author of
When The Messenger Is Hot; All This Heavenly Glory
From the author of the acclaimed novel Living Dead Girl, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, comes twelve haunting stories about people caught somewhere between love and madness. Simplify mines the often surreal terrain of people on the margins of life: from the man with a photo of Elvis bleeding on his wall in "Comeback Special," to the profoundly troubled boy genius of the title story "Simplify," to the family that must traverse "The Distance Between Us" to finally get to the truth about their son the murderer, each story hums with sharp drama, mystery, wonder, and startling humor. Simplify, the first collection of short fiction by Tod Goldberg, portrays a world where redemption, hope, and violence are never too far apart. Available now from OV Books.
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