Author - Marian Haley Beil

Long Ago And Far Away by John Coyne (Ethiopia 1962–64) A Peace Corps Writers Book 342 pages July 2014 $18.00 (paperback); $9.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by Kathleen Croskran (Ethiopia 1965–67) Long Ago and Far Away by John Coyne, an ambitious novel spanning time and place, connects the disparate worlds of Parker Bishop, a former CIA agent who retreated to safety and anonymity as a proprietor of a second hand book store in Westchester County, New York — thus masking his undercover past with respectability that included a beloved wife and two daughters. Bishop’s wife Sara has just died of cancer when the great love of his youth, the beautiful Irish McCann, reappears unexpectedly, first in the form of her travel guide to Ethiopia, and eventually in person. Irish also has cancer, but is not dying, not yet, not until she — and Parker Bishop — confront their murky history and forty-year-old . . .

Peace Corps writer Leita Kaldi (Senegal 1993-96) wrote: I haven’t seen anything about Ismael Beah, author of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, who I was listening to while was driving. He was being interviewed on NPR last week about the Africa Summit in Washington DC. He had very astute things to say about American investment vs. exploitation in Africa. And then he added that the best foreign policy the U.S. ever had was Peace Corps! The first white person he’d ever seen appeared in his village and taught him English. I was so proud I nearly ran off the road. That would have been last Wednesday on, I think “The Take Away” or “The World.” I kind of expected it to be reported by somebody else, because we’re all such avid NPR listeners.

To purchase any of these books from Amazon.com, click on the book cover, the bold book title, or the format you would like — and Peace Corps Worldwide, an Amazon Associate, will receive a small remittance that will help support our annual writers awards. • Long Ago and Far Away (novel) by John Coyne (Ethiopia 1962–64) A Peace Corps Writers Book 342 pages July 2014 $18.00 (paperback), $9.99 (Kindle) • Letters from Yemen (Peace Corps letters) by Mary Lou Currier (Yemen 1991–94) CreateSpace 158 pages June 2014 $21.00 (paperback) • Church of the Adagio: Poems by Philip Dacey (Nigeria 1963–65) Rain Mountian Press 95 pages July 2014 $15.00 (paperback) • Dead Not Dead (mystery) by John Charles Miller (Dominican Republic 1962–64) CreateSpace 150 pages 2013 $9.99 (paperback), $2.99 (Kindle) • The Italian Letter (non-fiction) by Peter Eisner and Knut Royce (Ethiopia 1962–64) Amazon Digital July 2014 288 print pages $5.95 . . .

Rush of Shadows by Catherine [Fitch] Bell (Brazil 1966–68) was chosen by the Washington Writers Publishing House (WWPH) as the fiction book it will published in 2014. The WWPH sponsors an annual competition for writers living in the Washington-Baltimore area working in fiction and poetry. The winning works in these two categories comprise the pair of books that WWPH publishes each year. “Rush of Shadows evokes the clash between natives and settlers in 19th century California through the friendship of two women — one white, one Indian. Tough-minded and lyrical, Rush of Shadows brings to life the human dimensions of a tragic conflict which corrupted the winners and left the losers to haunt the landscape as shadows.” The official publication date for Rush of Shadows is October 15th, however it currently can be purchased at Amazon. Rush of Shadows (historical fiction) by Catherine Bell (Brazil 1966-68) Washington Writers Publishing House . . .

Paul Theroux (Malawi 1963-65) has a new story in the August 4, 2014 issue of The New Yorker entitled, “Action” which is one of the stories in the collection  he will publish in October entitled, Mr. Bones: Twenty Stories. In the New Yorker John Updike is quoted as saying that  Mr. Bones exhibits Theroux’s “fluent, faintly sinister powers of vision and imagination.” To pre-order Mr. Bones from Amazon.com, click on the book cover or the bold book title  — and Peace Corps Worldwide, an Amazon Associate, will receive a small remittance that will help support our annual writers awards.

The New York Times ran a lengthy, front-page article in its Sunday edition (7/27/14) about Peace Corps writer Jason Carter (South Africa 1998–2000) who is the Democratic candidate for Governor in Georgia, and the close relationship he has with his grandfather, former President Jimmy Carter. The article relates that Jason was advised to join the Peace Corps by his grandfather. In 2002, Jason published his memoir of his Peace Corps experience, Power Lines: Two Years on South Africa’s Borders (National Geographic Society) and in 2003 the book won the Peace Corps Writers Paul Cowan Non-Fiction Award. Read “Grandson Proudly Squirms in Carter’s Footsteps” by Sheryl Gay Stolberg, for insight into the special bond between these two men.

The August issue of New Republic carries a long (and engaging) piece by Tom Bissell (Uzbekistan 1996–97) entitled, “You Are Now Entering The Demented Kingdom of William T. Vollmann.” Vollmann, as Tom writes, “has been churning out thick, conceptually audacious books faster than New York publishing could keep pace. From 1987 through 1993, for instance, Vollmann published eight books through five difference houses.” It turns out that Tom Bissell first came upon Vollmann’s vast outpouring when he was 26 and an assistant at Henry Holt. Vollmann had sent in his manuscript, Rising Up and Rising Down, on compact disks that translated into 3,800 pages of paper Tom had to print out for his editor. In an interview with Vollman this year, Bissell appears to have been taken back by the strangeness of the man who, among other things, was listed as a Unabomber suspect. Vollmann found out that only when . . .

A couple of days ago Brooke Warner at Huffington Post posted an article listing mistakes new writers shouldn’t make. They are: 1. Believing what they want to hear. 2. Not taking advantage of every available digital platform. 3. Deciding that they don’t need a marketing campaign, or starting one too late. 4. Believing that more is better. 5. Going renegade. 6. Not doing enough research on who they’re publishing with. 7. Believing that “traditional” is better, no matter what. 8. Failing to get sample product. 9. Not hiring professionals. 10. Choosing a print run over print-on-demand (POD). NOW, go to “The 10 Biggest Mistakes New Authors Make” to read the whys.

Church of the Adagio: Poems by Philip Dacey (Nigeria 1963-65) Rain Mountain Press $15.00 95 pages June 2014 Reviewed by Mark Brazaitis (Guatemala 1991-93) Reading Philip Dacey’s poems is like having a conversation with a funny, sophisticated, and insightful friend. You’re laughing, you’re nodding in appreciation, you’re saying, “A-ha. I never saw things that way, but-wow-you’re right.” And you don’t want to say goodbye anytime soon. If you pick up Dacey’s new collection of poems, I guarantee you will: 1. Laugh. At, for example, a poem about a llama who shows up in Dacey’s driveway. “I was all stammer and gawk and disbelief,” Dacey writes. When the llama ventures into the middle of the road, however, Dacey must act: . . . I saw the headline, “Llama killed by truck.” Dropping the rake, I raced to rescue him, who now stood frozen, straddling the centerline, looking this way and that-oh, too much . . .

Gwyn Hyman Rubio’s newest novel will be published in October. Entitled Love & Ordinary Creatures. Gwyn’s website says this about the book: Love and Ordinary Creatures is told through the eyes of a cockatoo in love with his very human caretaker. Snatched in a net from his Australian homeland as a young parrot, Caruso has adapted to captivity and has learned the lessons of love from his previous owner, Theodore Pinter, who was obsessively fixated on his childhood sweetheart. Now in his new home with the beautiful and talented Clarissa, Caruso has found both love and happiness—until a handsome stranger arrives in town and sets his sights on Clarissa. Smart, passionate, and wildly inventive, Caruso strives to put his human rival in his place before he steals Clarissa away for good. Set in the early 1990s in the quaint seashore town of Ocracoke, North Carolina, Love and Ordinary Creatures is . . .

I just came across an article that was published in May of 2004 on the our old website Peace Corps Writers that is worthy of republishing for all those contemplating — or are in the midst of — writing a book. — M • The Ticking by Bonnie Lee Black (Gabon 1996–98) • THERE IS a classic fiction-writing-workshop story that goes something like this: A man drove home from work, pulled into his driveway, and parked his car. As he opened his front door he called out, “Hi, Honey, I’m home!” Then he settled into his favorite chair, exhausted, to read the evening paper. “Sweetheart, I’m just putting a pie in the oven,” he heard his wife call out from the kitchen. “Dinner will be ready in about a half hour.” “Great,” said her husband, “I’m starving to death.” “So what?” you say? “Who cares?” You put the story down . . .

Yes, our very own, recently retired editor has just published his latest novel — it’s number 13! Here’s what John has to say about his new book in his PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE LONG AGO AND FAR AWAY By John Coyne Displaying the storytelling skill that has made him a seven-time bestselling author, John Coyne delivers a suspenseful, haunting and tender story about star-crossed lovers who first meet in their twenties and four decades later are reunited. The novel takes place on three continents, and involves the lives of four main characters. The plot pivots around the tragic death in 1973 of a young woman in Ethiopia. The outcome of a trial changes the lives of the four young people, leaving unresolved the question of whether it was an accident or murder. Long Ago and Far Away opens in Westchester, New York, in 2008, and through a series of . . .

Lauren Greasewater’s War (novel) by Stephen Hirst (Liberia 1962–1964) Muuso Press 2013 238 pages $14.99 (paperback), $7.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by Darcy Meijer (Gabon 1982–84) The front cover of Lauren Greasewater’s War by Stephen Hirst is an Edward Curtis photo from 1907 depicting the full face of a Havasupai woman. From the first page until the dramatic finish, Hirst relates a gripping story that could well have occurred in 1970s Arizona within the Native American Havasupai community. Lauren Greasewater’s War comprises five parts: Cradle, Blood, Song, Shelter and War. The first four develop the themes of the novel — origin, family, spirituality and home, while the last part brings these together. In brief, New York lutenist Lauren Napier, adopted by a white family as an infant, learns her true parentage and travels to the Havasupai canyonlands in the Southwest to find out more. Strong-willed and driven by the need for senses . . .

After receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in wildlife biology from Michigan State University in 1969, Rich Schneider volunteered for the Peace Corps, which had sounded like a life-altering opportunity – and he wasn’t ready for marriage and a career. As a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) assigned to the Philippines, Rich lived in the remote mountain village of Villar from June 1969 through June 1971, and worked with Pinatubo Aetas, an indigenous people, to increase their rice yield. The Aetas lived in permanent dwellings on a government reservation each assigned about 0.6 hectare (1.5 acres) of land suitable for planting rice. They had given up slash-and-burn agriculture, and on this land started traditional rice farming. Rich’s assignment was to assist the Aetas increase their rice yield per hectare from 30 to 80 cavans (1 cavan = 50 kilograms) using the improved rice varieties and enhanced cultivation practices developed at the . . .