Archive - 2012

No Senator’s Son by RJ Huddy has just been published by Peace Corps Writers Books. RJ Huddy is the pen name of  Bob Cochrane who was a PCV in Errachidia, Morocco from 1981-83.  This novel–No Senator’s Son–is about a young historian who decides to pursue his father’s dream for him and run for Congress. To accomplish this he must turn his back on his profession and on the woman he loves. People don’t vote for a man who speaks openly of historical events such as the Palestinian diaspora, and they don’t vote for a man with a Palestinian wife. So for nearly thirty years he hides his views on the Middle East, and his love for the beautiful Aziza Hatoum, choosing instead to lead a deteriorating, toxic life as a Kentucky Congressman. His squandered love has gained him nothing–nothing except the chance to run for president. Nothing except the chance to go for broke, with . . .

The Farther Shore by Rob Davidson (Eastern Caribbean 1990–92) Bear Star Press 158 pages $16.00 (paperback) 2012 Reviewed by Mark Brazaitis (Guatemala 1991-93) IF YOU ASK UNDERGRADUATES to name a modern short story writer they like, they might say (if they don’t say “Stephen King” or, forgetting what “modern” means, “Edgar Allan Poe”) “Raymond Carver,” although Carver died in 1988. There’s a good reason why: Carver’s stories about working class men and women in crisis are as elegant as they are spare. To compress so much emotion, so much complex psychology, so much life into such narrow borders is a wonder. So it’s no wonder Carver continues to have devotees — and imitators. If you’re an American short story writer and you haven’t been influenced, at least a little, by Carver, well, poor you. Most of the stories in Rob Davidson’s new collection The Farther Shore share with Carver’s tales . . .

No Senator’s Son by R.J. Huddy (Morocco 1981–82) Peace Corps Writers 380 pages $17.50 (paperback), $2.99 (Kindle) 2011 Reviewed by Lawrence F. Lihosit (Honduras, 1975–77) FANS OF HARD-BOILED CRIME a la James M. Cain (The Postman Always Rings Twice) and political thrillers a la Jeffrey Archer (Kane and Abel) should make room on your bookshelves for R.J. Huddy’s third novel. The book follows an obscure Kentucky Congressman and his sons from 1959 until the 1990s. The author uses family tension to lay out a story about the Palestine problem and in so doing, simultaneously explores our government’s role in the Middle East from the time of FDR. The Congressman longs to create a family political dynasty but his youngest son volunteers for the armed forces rather than submit. He is killed in Vietnam. The older son studies at Georgetown, then in Beirut when it was still considered a Paris of . . .

Job Title:Writer/Editor Agency:Peace Corps Job Announcement Number:DPC12-A0096-KC SALARY RANGE: $65,840.00 to $96,689.00 / Per Year OPEN PERIOD: Tuesday, April 17, 2012 to Tuesday, May 01, 2012 SERIES & GRADE: FP-1082-04 POSITION INFORMATION: Full Time – Term PROMOTION POTENTIAL: 04 DUTY LOCATIONS: 1 vacancy(s) in the following locations: Washington, Dist of Columbia WHO MAY BE CONSIDERED: United States Citizens JOB SUMMARY: Applications for this position are being processed through an on-line applicant assessment system that has been specifically configured for Peace Corps applicants. Even if you have already developed a resume in USAJOBS, you will need to access this on-line system to complete the application process. To obtain information about this position and TO APPLY, please click on https://www.avuecentral.com/casting/aiportal/control/toVacancy?referenceCode=QCRVC. KEY REQUIREMENTS See Other Information. DUTIES: Back to top Provides an initial review of specialized products to ensure that they meet approved editorial standards of objectivity, style, and manner of presentation. Recommends . . .

The Perennial Wanderer: An American in the World by Steven D. Orr (Panama 1964-66) Publish America 438 pages $6.95 (paperback), $6.60 (Kindle) 2010 Reviewed by David H. Day (Kenya 1965–66; India 1967–68) READERS OF STEVEN ORR’S DENSE FARRAGO of his Peace Corps service, global travels, military tours, and work-assignments-both long-term and short-in more than forty countries, should outfit themselves with flak jacket, crash-helmet, insect-repellant and  further shield themselves in an armored personnel carrier as they prepare to read The Perennial Wanderer. Orr has been knocked out, taken hostage, nearly asphyxiated by sulphuric fumes from Costa Rica’s Irazu volcano, narrowly avoided mortar shellings in Iraq, survived a near-fatal motorcycle crash, was wounded in Vietnam, and was rammed off the road by communists in Panama. When I finally made it to the end of this brisk, hefty narrative, I had to mop my brow and apply more anti-perspirant. My own two Peace . . .

Jason Boog (Guatemala 2000-02) on the Internet site GalleyCat published this short piece on April 5, 2012 giving all of us self-published writers inspriation. In May, the University of Chicago Press will publish A Naked Singularity, a 700-page debut novel that Sergio De La Pava self-published in 2008 through Xlibris. The story behind the book deal may inspire more literary authors to self-publish. In an email, Chicago Press promotions director Levi Stahl recounted how he discovered the self-published book: Late in 2010 I read a review by Scott Bryan Wilson in the Quarterly Conversation that said the novel was the best he’d read all year, maybe the best of the decade. And that praise, I discovered, had led to other critics picking it up-and they all agreed: it was brilliant, and it was a shame that no publisher had signed it. I got a copy, was blown away, and started rattling cages here at Chicago to . . .

Valley Views II — Four Plays Charles G. Blewitt (Grenada 1969-71) Uncle Wilson’s Productions 156 pages Paperback $15 2009 Reviewed by Tony D’Souza (Ivory Coast 2000-02, Madagascar 2002-03) READING MORE LIKE SHORT STORIES, the four very brief plays in Charles G. Blewitt’s Valley Views II, all take place in the ‘Great Pocono Northeast’ of Northeastern Pennsylvania, which the author describes in his introduction as being populated by, “…first, second, or third generation descendants of ancestors who had literally been dropped off a bus or a train because they either had relatives living locally or they just didn’t have the fare to go farther.” That said, the people in these plays are familiar to any of us who live in smaller urban areas where socio economic groups and races live uncomfortably side by side. Using the framework of counseling in two of the plays, Blewitt mines those divides for his earnest . . .