Peace Corps writers

Tories and Patriots: A Novel of the American Revolution by Martin R. Ganzglass (Somalia 1966-68) A Peace Corps Writers Book January 2015 354 pages $13.99 (paperback) Reviewed by Thomas E. Coyne • The “born again” patriots of this country who want to do away with Advance Placement history courses and sanitize the writing of the American story are really going to dislike this novel. Actually, it isn’t just a novel for author Martin Ganzglass is on a mission to produce accurate, readable history set in a vivid, true life atmosphere that gives the reader a “See it Now” experience. Tories and Patriots is the second in Ganzglass’s Revolutionary War series following last year’s Cannons for the Cause. The series follows Willem “Will” Stoner as he travels with General George Washington’s Continental army as a teamster and artillery man during the early days of chaotic fighting and retreating in this country’s . . .

How did it happen that David Edmonds writes a novel about Peru when he served in Chile? How did he get a PC assignment to make a movie? What was his connection with Lee Harvey Oswald? What were his skills that enabled him to set up a leather cooperative? And what about Lori Berenson? Find the answers to some of these questions — and many others in this interview with this multi-skilled RPCV. Where and when did you serve in the Peace Corps, Dave? I was a Chile IV Volunteer from 1963 to 1965 after training at Camp David in Puerto Rico. . What was your Peace Corps project assignment? Didn’t have one at first, so someone in PC/Santiago came up with the wonderful idea of making a promotional film about PC activities in Chile. I was assigned to that task along with fellow PCVs Mike Middleton, Mary Ellen Wynhausen, . . .

My Life as a Pencil by Ron Arias (Peru 1963-64) Red Bird Chapbooks March 2015 47 pages $12. 00 (paperback) Reviewed by John Coyne (Ethiopia 1962–64) • I once asked Ron Arias (Peru 1963-64) what he did at People Magazine and he said, and I quote, “I cover the Third World.” I laughed, thinking he was being sarcastic, and he was, but Ron was also being serious. Thanks to his fluency in Spanish, his experience in the Peace Corps, his traveling and working in Latin America, plus his ability, his need, perhaps, to go everywhere and do anything to get a story, made him a minor celebrity in the complex and competitive conglomerate of Time/Life. A few of Ron’s brushes with danger around the world are implied and hinted at in this collection of funny, insightful, touching and true stories entitled My Life as a Pencil, a chapbook recently published . . .

A Writer Writes Our un-United States: Secede, Nullify, Defy by Gerald Karey (Turkey 1965–67) In our great nation of some 300 million unruly, cussedly independent souls, someone is bound to be unhappy with government for one reason or another. In fact most are — whether it’s because of taxes, regulations, foreign policy, motorcycle helmet rules, posted speed limits or pot holes. It runs the gamut. To paraphrase a line from the Jacques Brel song, Sons Of . . . , “Who is the citizen without complaint?” But unlike other countries where complaining about the government can get you thrown into jail, in the U.S. ranting, venting and bitching about government is a national pastime. It may not change anything, you may not get any satisfaction, but, damn it, you can and will be heard. In fact, you can be heard in the White House, via a White House web site, . . .

While most authors produce fiction to provide readers with nothing but a quick thrill, David C. Edmonds (Chile 1963-65) is quickly building a reputation for intricate adventures that, as one reader put it, shouldn’t be read if one expects a good night’s sleep. His extensive travels in, and assignments to, Peru in the 1980s and 1990s exposed him to a culture in which kidnappings, assassinations, bombings, and torture were an everyday occurrence. While Edmonds won’t say how much of the narrative is true, these experiences provided the inspiration for what is now Lily of Peru in which love and terrorism collide in the international love story of a Florida university professor’s struggle to rescue the love of his life from a brutal war between the Peruvian government and a bizarre terrorist organization. “I’ve left him. It’s over. If you still want what we’ve been talking about, I’m ready. No more . . .

A Writer Writes Bam! Pow! Smack! Slam! Splat! by Gerald Karey (Turkey 1965–67) How do you know you’re getting older? Let me count the ways. Here’s one certain way — you’re slowing and everything else is speeding up: Traffic — Someone told me that traffic only seems faster because your reflexes slow with age. Maybe, but if I’m tooling along at, say,  70 mph in a 65 mph zone, I will be passed on my right and on my left by vehicles traveling, I’d say, at 80 and 85 mph, along with the obligatory tailgating. Technology — Check out your basement or attic, or visit a recycling  center. Stacks and stacks of yesterday’s must haves, waiting to be shipped off to God knows where to be stripped for reusable metals, plastic, wiring, perhaps to wind up in tomorrow’s shiny new electronic toys, where they will begin their life-cycle all over . . .

A Writer Writes Gerald Karey taught English in a middle school in a Turkish village from 1965 to 1967. After the Peace Corps, Karey worked as a general assignment reporter for two newspapers in New Jersey, and for a McGraw-Hill newsletter in Washington, D.C., where he covered energy and environmental issues. A collection of his essays entitled Unhinged, was published in October, 2014. • Look About You, There is So Much to See by Gerald Karey (Turkey 1965–67) . Ride the Staten Island Ferry across New York’s Upper Bay and look about you. It is one of the world’s most magnificent urban/sea-scapes. The Atlantic Ocean lies just beyond a suspension bridge spanning the Narrows between the boroughs of Brooklyn and Staten Island; the great hundred square mile Lower Bay protecting the Upper Bay from the Atlantic; 770 miles of waterfront; on land, towers of commerce and finance scrape the sky; . . .

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. • The Unspoken: The Lost Novel by Christopher Conlon (Botswana 1988-90) CreateSpace January 2015 776 pages $25.95 (paperback) • Tories and Patriots: A Novel of the American Revolution (Historical Fiction) by Martin R. Ganzglass (Somalia 1966–68) A Peace Corps Writers Book January 2015 366 pages $13.99 (paperback) • Jeju Island Rambling: Self-exile in Peace Corps, 1973–1974 by David J. Nemeth (Republic of Korea 1973–74) Digital Repository, University of Toledo, Department of Geography and Planning December 2014 227 pages Free (Click to download .pdf) • Mort(e) (fiction) by Robert Repino (Grenada 2000–02) Soho Press January 2015 368 pages $26.95 (hardcover), $12.99 . . .

For those who get Playboy “only for the fiction” here’s a story in the March issue by RPCV, Mark Jacobs (Paraquay 1978-80) entitled, “The Bull You See, the Bull You Don’t.” It is about Alice, a young American woman in Madrid, who finally figures out what she needs to do to get away from a husband who is lost in a fantasy of an acting career that isn’t going to happen. Her path to freedom goes through a bullring of sorts.

In November 1963, a bright Hawaiian morning is shattered by news of the assassination of the President. This marks the beginning of a journey to a remote Iranian village by a young American Peace Corps Volunteer who sets out with rebellious tenacity to do what is right, unaware of America’s loss of innocence — and his own. From a youthful determination to perpetuate Kennedy’s legacy, to coping with the reality of America’s faults and ambitions, to grappling with unfamiliar customs and languages, to discovering the friendship and love of Iranians, Tom Klobe discovers that being “Tom of Iran” is as fulfilling as being “American Tom.” A Young American in Iran is a tribute to the people of the village of Alang and Iran — to their love and to their goodness. It strives to capture the essence of life in a specific village and Iran in the mid-1960s. It is . . .

An East African Peace Corps Life Tales from A Muzungu by Nicholas Duncan (Uganda 2006–08) A Peace Corps Writers Book December 2014 156 pages $14.95 (paperback) Reviewed by Richard M. Grimsrud (India 1965–67) • Nicholas Duncan’s entertaining memoir of his experiences as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uganda after 9/11 presents a fascinating picture of his host country during his service. One slight problem with the book at the outset, however, is that it is not exactly clear when during the five five-year terms of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni (1986-96 and 2001-present) Duncan actually served. When I searched for a specific date in the book, I had to assume from the reference to Super Bowl XLV on pp. 75–76 that the author’s service dates were 2006-08, but it would have made the story more interesting to me (for reasons that should be evident at the end of this review) if . . .