Archive - July 2015

Additional Facts about the Writer Served in the first decade of the Peace Corps Peace Corps assignment was as an Administrative Assistant to Director of Foreign Trade, also worked in the National Planning Agency as a transport economist attached to the Harvard Advisory Group Has a law degree Has appeared before the United States Supreme Court Pioneered the use of the battered woman’s syndrome in four murder cases Freed two innocent men sentenced to life in prison for murders they did not commit In college took one Creative Writing class and received a C + The writer had never met anyone in publishing or anyone who had written a novel before publishing one The writer’s next novel will be published by HarperCollins in 2016 The author’s hometown

Forthcoming on August 29, 2015, the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall a new novel by Ellen Urbani. The story is this…. Rosebud Howard almost survives. She charges through the Lower Ninth Ward, beating the wall of floodwater by a half-block. She clambers out of an attic, onto a roof, into a rowboat. But her grueling trek to Tuscaloosa, in search of help for her family, ends when she’s hit and killed by a car laden with supplies for Hurricane Katrina victims. Passenger Rose Aikens, orphaned by the crash, climbs away from the wreck after lacing the dead girl’s sneakers onto her own feet. When she discovers they share not only shoes but a name and a birth year, Rose embarks upon a guilt-assuaging odyssey to retrace Rosebud’s last steps and locate her remaining kin. The stories and destinies of these two teenagers-one black, one white-converge in Landfall, giving voice to . . .

A Writer Writes • Fear and Loathing on the Inca Trail by Folwell Dunbar (Ecuador 1989-92) After all these years I still have flashbacks. When I see a child blindly strike a piñata or when I smell a rotten egg, the memory, lodged deep in my scarred bowels explodes to the surface. Like Marlon Brando in the heart of darkness, I recall, “The horror, the horror.” “¡Levántate Leonardito! ¡Vamos!” the campesino or farmer yelled from the base of the hill. “Get up little Leonardo! Let’s go!” Like grilled cheese, I was pressed between a lumpy straw mattress and a stack of cheap coarse blankets. I didn’t want to levántate; I was warm and reasonably content. I pretended not to hear. Moments later though, the campesino pounded on my front door causing chards of adobe to cascade down on my head. “Deme un ratito,” I pleaded. “Give me a second. I’ll . . .

My novel Hobgoblin (written in 1981) is being republished in November by Dover Publications. This is how is appears now on Amazon.com for pre-order. Ancient magic and contemporary horror combine in this tale of a lonely boy’s increasing immersion into a sword-and-sorcery fantasy game. Within the isolation of a medieval Irish manor house rebuilt on the banks of the Hudson, Scott Gardiner drifts deeper into the myth-laden world of Hobgoblin as the line between nightmare and reality erodes. This novel was first published in 1981 at the height of Dungeons & Dragons’ popularity & soon after the intense media coverage of the Egbert steam tunnel incident (urban myths wherein roleplaying gamers enacting live action role-playing games perish, often in the utility tunnels below their university campuses). Here are two reviews of the first edition from GoodRead. The book, by the way, received a 3.33 of 5 Stars from 39 reviews. . . .

To purchase any of these books from Amazon.com, click on the book cover, the bold book title, or the publishing format you would like — and Peace Corps Worldwide, an Amazon Associate, will receive a small remittance that will help support the site and the annual Peace Corps Writers awards. • To Banquet with the Ethiopians: A Memoir of Life Before the Alphabet (A verse memoir) by Philip Brady (Zaire 1980–82) Broadstone Books June 2015 168 pages $24.94 (hardcover); $18.50 (paperback) • The Unspoken: The Lost Novel by Christopher Conlon (Botswana 1988-90) CreateSpace January 2015 776 pages $25.95 (paperback) . • Wise Aging: Living with Joy, Resilience, & Spirit by Rabbi Rachel Cowan (Ecuador 1966–67) and and  Dr. Linda Thal Behrman House Publishing May 2015 $16.95 (paperback) . . • Mersin-10, Turkey: Six Years in Northern Cyprus (Memoir) by Eddie James Girdner (India 1968–70) CreateSpace June 2015 374 pages $19.95 . . .

The Peace Corps Writers Award for Best Travel Book was first presented in 2001. • And the winner for Best Travel Book published in 2014 is . . . . 100 Things to Do in Tampa Bay before You Die by Kristen Hare (Guyana 2000–02) Reviewer Leita Kaldi Davis (Senegal 1993–96) said about 100 Things . . .: 100 Things to Do in Tampa Bay is not your ordinary guide book, but describes the historic district of the cigar capital — Ybor City, Latin and European influences on cuisine, the awesome Salvador Dali Museum, the Ringling Museum with its circus model, professional football and soccer teams that date from the 1970s, and surrounding meccas of St. Petersburg, Clearwater and Sarasota. The book is divided into chapters on “Food and Drink,” “Music and Entertainment,” “Sports and Recreation,” Culture and History,” “Shopping and Fashion,” with suggested itineraries and seasonal activities. No tourist . . .

The Peace Corps Writers Award for Best Children’s Book was first presented in 2001. Each award is given the  year following its the publishing. This year we have something special — for the first time since Peace Corps Writers has been presenting book awards in 1990 we have a repeat winner. Just last year Jim Averbeck won the same award for his book The Market Bowl that was published in 2013. • The 2015 Award for Best Children’s Book goes to — A Hitch at the Fairmont by Jim Averbeck (Cameroon 1990–94) . In 1956 at the fabulous San Francisco Fairmont Hotel, 11-year-old Jack teams up with the famous movie director Alfred Hitchcock to uncover a plot involving drugged chocolates, mistaken identities, kidnapping, disguises, and close escapes. References to actual Hitchcock films and anecdotes abound throughout, in chapter headings, settings, and focused descriptions reminiscent of camera pan-ins. Congratulations again, Jim! . . .