Author - John Coyne

Lullaby for the Rain Girl by Christopher Conlon (Botswana 1988–90) Dark Regions Press, 2012 $45.00 341 pages Reviewed by Leita Kaldi Davis (Senegal 1993–96) A GHOSTLY GIRL STANDS IN THE DRIVING RAIN without getting wet, facing a mist-shrouded clock tower whose hands are stuck at 4:20. Her mother jumped from that tower long ago, when she, the girl, was a mere blastocyst in her mother’s womb. Many years later she appears as a zombie-like being to her father, who’s ironically named Benjamin Fall. She tries to explain her presence. People like me are not people . . . but whatever we are we’re not ghosts. We’re not spirits. We’re fragments. Partials. Incompletions. If you can love me . . . really love me . . . I might be able to become complete. Ben had somehow conjured her through his own despair and need. He is a high school teacher . . .

Terrence McCoy (Cambodia 2009-11) is, I think, the first RPCV to publish an Amazon Kindle Single. It is the story of how China is trying to buy Cambodia and one woman’s quest to stop it. Called, The Playground, the e-book is  ’36-pages’ long (sells for $1.99) and McCoy mentions the Peace Corps several times. Here’s a quick summary: We’ve heard of China’s buying sprees. That it’s plowed billions of dollars into some of the poorest nations in the world. But the story we don’t know is what this money means for the people there. In Cambodia, the cost has been devastating. More than 700,000 people have lost their homes – others their lives – while China buys the former killing fields for resorts, hotels, and exclusive residences. And as this country of genocide descends into another era of chaos and violence, some whisper it’s the second coming of Pol Pot. But one woman . . .

The regional premiere of “Gruesome Playground Injuries” by Cleveland Heights native Rajiv Joseph will be April 27 at Ensemble Theatre at 8 p.m. This play opened last January on Second Stage in New York City. In “Gruesome Playground Injuries,” childhood friends Kayleen and Doug find their lives intersecting as they compare the scars and physical calamities that keep drawing them together. Joseph today is a writer on Showtime’s current season of the drama “Nurse Jackie,” has won numerous awards, including being a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2010. Still, Joseph, who moved to Cleveland Heights when he was four says he is “amazingly excited” to see his work produced where he grew up. “I had works produced all over the world before I was able to do something in Cleveland,” said Joseph.   Joseph says the play is “about a relationship, a friendship. It’s a love story about people who . . .

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 . . .