Peace Corps writers

Kilometer Ninety-Nine by Tyler McMahon (El Salvador 1999-02) St. Martin’s Griffin $14.99 (paperback), $9.99 (Kindle) 344 pages 2014 Reviewed by Philip Damon (Ethiopia 1963–65) This is a gem of a book. It’s a coming of age saga that touches on visceral themes affecting numerous cultures in a disarmingly naïve narrative voice. Under the guise of a surfer’s escape fantasy gone haywire, author Tyler McMahon deftly enables his part-Hawaiian Peace Corps engineer Malia to narrate her story in such a way that it unfolds on numerous levels of situation and meaning. At one level, it’s a fictional chronicle of the El Salvador earthquakes of 2001, limning the experiences of two groups of people-the earthy class of Salvadorans, and the twenty-something PCVs living and serving among them. At another level, it’s a tale of intrigue and danger in a foreign land. And at a subtler level, Malia’s narrative breathes life to the . . .

The Splintered Paddle (An Ava Rome Mystery) by Mark Troy (Thailand 1972–75) Five Star 301 pages June 2014 $25.95 (paperback), $3.19 (Kindle) Reviewed by Bob Cochrane (Morocco 1981-83) It’s always a great bonus in any novel to find that you’ve not only been introduced to new characters and new situations, but also to a new place. For some reason the hard-boiled detective genre seems especially well suited to the portrayal of place. I suppose it’s because most PI’s are of a place. They’re not your quintessential ramblers. They manage their livelihoods by knowing a place as only someone at home there can. And they have to deal with all the strata of society. They deal in good guys and bad guys who are equally at home there. They speak the language of their place, both by region and by social tribe. Good mystery writers draw on the language of a . . .

Cannons for the Cause: A Novel of the American Revolution by Martin R. Ganzglass  (Somalia 1966–68) A Peace Corps Writers Book $11.69 (paperback) March 2014 340 pages Reviewed by Thomas E. Coyne Martin R. Ganzglass has been a Peace Corps Volunteer, a lawyer, a non-fiction author and is now a novelist who believes “thoroughly researched, well-written historical fiction will attract readers who otherwise would not read straight history books”. And he is right! The ranks of those who are turned off from the knowledge of days and decades gone by because of over emphasis on dates and place names would probably fill several armies. They never get to savor the meat and potatoes of past events; the unlikely stew of people, prejudices, truth and lies that are in our past and have shaped our present. Cannons for the Cause begins a tale that, if the author has his way (and . . .

RPCV Writer Stephan Hirst (Liberia 1962-64) is Winner in Arizona The winner of the adult category 2014 ONE BOOKAZ is Lauren Greasewater’s War by Stephen Hirst (Liberia 1962-64). The “One Book” movement began in 1998 when Nancy Pearl, executive director of the Washington Center for the Book in the Seattle Public Library, initiated “If All Seattle Read the Same Book.” With funding from the Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest Fund and several local sponsors, she invited members of the public to read The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks, and brought the author to Seattle for three days in December to discuss his book in a series of free public programs. In 2001, the Library of Congress’s Center for the Book took the One Book Project nationwide, inviting states and cities to choose books for everyone in their area to read and discuss in book clubs and libraries during One Book month (April usually). The number of projects grew rapidly, from 63 in 30 states in June 2002 to more than 350 . . .

RPCV  Jason  (South Africa 1998-2000) author of Power Lines, his Peace Corps memoir published by the National Geographic Society in 2002, has won the Democrat nomination for governor of Georgia. Jason is the great-grandson of RPCV writer Lillian Carter (India 1967-69) who wrote Away From Home: Letters to My Family, published by Simon & Schuster, 1977.  Jason is a state senator Georgia and the grandson of former President Jimmy Carter. Carter, 38, was first elected to the Georgia Senate in May 2010 and has been at the forefront among Democrats on issues like education and redistricting. While Democrats once dominated state politics, the Republicans have been the party in power since 2002 when Sonny Perdue became the first Republican governor of Georgia since Reconstruction. The state has voted for every Republican presidential nominee since 2000, although President Barack Obama garnered 47 percent of voters in 2008. Last year, Obama received . . .

Lost Girl Found by Leah Bassoff and Laura DeLuca (Kenya 1987-89) Groundwood Books $16.95 (hard cover); $9.99 (Kindle) 192 pages 2014 Reviewed by Alana DeJoseph (Mali 1992–94) The book Lost Girl Found begins with a scene of two southern Sudanese girls, Poni and her friend Nadai, eating mangos. It is the time before the second Sudanese Civil War has reached the town of Chukudum in what is now the country of South Sudan. For all of us Peace Corps volunteers who served in a country that had mango trees, I don’t need to explain the visceral memories the words mango season conjure up. For those who have not had the experience, let it suffice to say that mango season is as close to Candy Land as one can get. And with this first scene in the book Leah Bassoff and Laura DeLuca had me instantly hooked. Although Lost Girl Found . . .

[This “A Writer Writes” was published back in the Nineties and is a amusing and touching tale by a ‘second generation’ PCV, Adrienne Benson Scherger (Nepal 1992-94).] A Writer Writes Renewable Resources Growing Up with “Sarge” Shriver’s Biggest Fans by Adrienne Benson Scherger (Nepal 1992-94) MY BROTHER IS THE BLACK SHEEP of the family. He married a year out of college and went to law school, which he loved. Soon afterwards he became a lawyer and a father. I admire his rebellious spirit. I, on the other hand, split up with my college boyfriend just before graduation. He went back home to Alaska, and I packed a backpack and headed for the Himalayas to work as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nepal. I always was the dutiful daughter. Ever since I can remember, Sargent Shriver’s name has been a household word. Often, one or the other of my parent’s would . . .

[This piece by Elise Annunziata (Senegal 1996-99) was published a decade ago, and it is one of our most remembered pieces. So, we are republishing it for those RPCVs who missed reading it the first time.] A Writer Writes The Last Ride by Elise Annunziata (Senegal 1996-99) I HAD SAID SO OFTEN that leaving my Senegalese village, Keur Madiabel, would the most difficult part of my three-year Peace Corps service. Every time a farewell scene crept into my mind, I banished it quickly and vowed to think about it later. But, before I accepted the reality of my departure, “later” was looming over my head and it was time to drive – for the last time – from my village to the regional capital, with a fraction of my original possessions thrown into the backseat of a Peace Corps vehicle. My last full day Most of the afternoon on my . . .

Moritz Thomsen (Ecuador 1965-67) is considered by many to be our ‘great’ Peace Corps writer. He is considered by others to be our most overlooked great American writer. Moritz was the author of a Peace Corps memoir Living Poor, the first of his three published books. He died of cholera in Guayaquil, Ecuador on August 28, 1991. Back in the days of our ‘old’ website: www.peacecorpswriters.org, we published a long essay on Moritz written by Marcus Covert who had reached out to me for any background information I might have on Moritz. Marc had learned about Moritz Thomsen through a piece by Pat Joseph in Salon.com, published in July 1998, titled “The Saddest Gringo.” He borrowed a copy of Living Poor and was hooked immediately. It didn’t take him long to burn through Farm on the River of Emeralds, The Saddest Pleasure, and My Two Wars, then he was, as . . .

Superstition Review is the online literary magazine produced by creative writing and web design students at Arizona State University. Founded by Patricia Colleen Murphy in 2008, the mission of the journal is to promote contemporary art and literature by providing a free, easy-to-navigate, high quality online publication that features work by established and emerging artists and authors from all over the world. They publish two issues a year with art, fiction, interviews, nonfiction and poetry. In their latest issue is this story by Mark Jacob’s (Paraguay 1978-80) Meursault’s Father. Mark Jacobs has published 96 stories in magazines including The Atlantic, The Iowa Review, The Southern Humanities Review, The Idaho Review, and The Kenyon Review. He has stories forthcoming in several magazines including Playboy. His fifth book, a novel set in Turkey entitled Forty Wolves, came out in 2010. A former U.S. Foreign Service officer, he currently works for the State . . .

Cannons for the Cause, is an historical novel about the struggle to bring heavy cannons from Fort Ticonderoga, NY to Cambridge, Massachusetts, a distance of more than 300 miles, in the brutal winter of 1775-1776. It is the first in a series of novels that Marty is planning to write about the American Revolution. Cannons for the Cause has recently been published by Peace Corps Writers. Marty, what is your background? Where did you to go college? I am a graduate of C.C.N.Y, (B.A., 1961) and Harvard Law School, (LL.B, 1964). And your Peace Corps history? I served in Somalia from 1966-1968 (Somali IV), as legal adviser to the Somali National Police Force.  I taught the penal and criminal procedure codes at the Police Academy, provided general advice to the Police Commandant, specific advice to Police Officers who prosecuted criminal cases, drafted some legislation, and wrote a casebook on the Somali . . .

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. • When British Honduras Became Belize — 1971–1973: A Peace Corps Memoir by Ted W. Cox (Sierra Leone 1969–71, Belize 1971–73) Old World Deli Publications Department $16.95 (paperback) 456 pages 2014 • Lost Girl Found by Leah Bassoff and Laura DeLuca (Kenya 1987-89) Groundwood Books $ 16.95 (hardback); $9.99 (Kindle) 212 pages April 2014 • Indian Summer: A Love Letter to India and the Story of India 29 Arthur J. Frankel (India 1966–68) AuthorHouse $29.95 (hardcover); $22.95 (paperback); $7.99 (Kindle) 296 pages 2014 • Cannons for the Cause: A Novel of the American Revolution by Martin R. Ganzglass (Somalia 1966–68) Peace Corps Writers $11.69 (paperback) 338 . . .

Posted in Paraguay is not the usual Peace Corps book — a first time voyage of discovery — because Eloise and Chuck Hanner had done it all before — twenty-five years before. That was back in 1971 when they left, newly married and newly graduated, for a Peace Corps assignment in Afghanistan. It had been a terrific experience and they swore at the time they would do it again — maybe when they were old and retired. But when they turned fifty (not old or retired) they found themselves bored with their stock-brokerage careers and in need of a new direction. Despite admonitions from Thomas Wolfe, who warned “you can’t go home again,” they decided to join the Peace Corps once more. Although this time they wanted to serve in a Spanish speaking country, and a way to use their business background. The Peace Corps recruiter had just the ticket: . . .