Charles Ashbacher Reviews

  Review of Moonchasers and Other Stories , by Ed Gorman, ISBN 0312860102 Five out of five stars Very tight and entertaining short stories   In this collection, Ed Gorman demonstrates his versatility in writing about the faults and foibles of human beings. The title story is about how two boys sneak around and explore an abandoned building. While moving around, they encounter a wounded bank robber who still has the money. Desperate for provisions and medical supplies, the robber gives the boys money to buy supplies. There is a police officer that has some real personal issues, so there is a complex interaction between all the players.   Gorman creates a complex story where the line between the good and bad guys is blurred. The resolution of the issue of police malfeasance is one that was very unexpected. Boys will be boys, sometimes they are full of mischief and other times they stand their ground to try to make the wrongs as right as possible.   Other st...

  Review of Wild On the Bases , by Wilfred McCormick Three out of five stars A story that has not aged well   Baseball coach Rocky McCune has taken his Koulean team to the annual Kaibob tournament. It is being played on a Native American Reservation, although only one of the four teams consists of Native Americans. They have traveled some distance to take part in the tournament and their expenses have been paid by the tournament organizing committee. A fundamental component of the tournament is a dancing performance by the locals.   The Kouleans are by far the better team and the tournament not only draws people in the area, but others plan their vacations so that they can be there when the games are played. There is a great deal of action off the diamond, Rocky and his players commit several major verbal blunders in their conversations about the Native Americans. These blunders take place on and off the diamond. Some of the people rooting for the other three te...

  Review of Where Nobody Knows Your Name: Life in the Minor Leagues of Baseball , by John Feinstein ISBN 9780307949585 Five out of five stars Deep insight into the minor leagues   All sports nonfiction books provide insight into the machinations of the action to some degree. However, few provide the depth of revelations like this book. The main characters are a group of baseball players, managers, coaches and one umpire that have spent an extended about of time in the minor leagues. Many of the players have spent at least some time in the majors, some little more than a cup of coffee, but others had significant success, yet for whatever reason, ended up back in the minors and still retain the dream of going back.   For me, there were two major revelations in this book. The first was about the umpires, who also start at the very bottom and slowly work their way up the levels until some of them get the call to be full-time in the majors. The most recent contracts ...

  Review of Sky: A True Story of Courage During World War II , by Hanneke Ippisch, ISBN 0816745242 Five out of five stars Another story of great bravery during WWII   Hanneke Ippisch was fifteen years old when the Germans invaded Holland in 1940. Up to that time her childhood was a normal one, her father was a pastor, so his family was known throughout the region. At first, the German occupation was fairly mild, and the war damage was localized, so little changed. However, as the war continued the Germans began their process of removing what they considered undesirables and confiscating materials they needed for their war effort. This included conscripting men to work in jobs supporting the Wehrmacht.   As the German grip on Holland tightened, Ippisch began working for the Dutch underground in opposing the Germans.   Her actions put her at great risk, for the Germans reacted very harshly to any action they deemed as anti-German. For some time, she was able ...

  Review of On Dangerous Ground: Stories of Western Noir , edited by Ed Gorman, Dave Zeltserman and Martin H. Greenberg, ISBN 9781587671920 Five out of five stars Wide variety of stories in the western genre   There are 21 stories in this collection and while all are based on the western genre, there is a wide variety. There is often the requisite gunplay, but in most cases the characters are fairly well developed, so the shoot-em-up action is not necessarily the primary plot event. The emphasis is on the people living their lives in a place where the social conditions are still wild and untamed. My favorite in the collection is “The Old Ways,” by Ed Gorman. The plot is based on the clash of cultures between whites and Native Americans, told from the perspective of a Native American that works as a floater in a casino run by Madame Dupree. His job was to circulate among the card games using house money and use his holdout cards to win. A large percentage of his winni...

  Review of Island of Hope: The Story of Ellis Island and the Journey to America , by Martin W. Sandler ISBN 0439530822 Five out of five stars So many stories based on one place   An amazing 12 million immigrants were processed on Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954, and they were from a wide variety of cultures. Up until 1924, the source countries were widely varied, but new laws that took effect in 1924 set quotas from certain areas and countries. This book is a brief explanation of the process and brief mention of their stories and what their lives were like once they were accepted and left Ellis Island.   The best aspect of the book is the inclusion of photos of some of the people that have arrived for processing. There is the Greek man in full military uniform that looks like a dress, there is a picture of two Russian Cossacks trying to look fierce and a Norwegian woman wearing clothes that look Scandinavian. One of the most interesting aspects is how the im...

  Review of Shaihu Umar: A Novel About Slavery in Africa , by Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Barewa, ISBN 9781558760066 Five out of five stars Another look at the history of slavery   This is an excellent book that covers an aspect of the history of slavery that is very rarely covered. The fact that slavery has until very recently been a fundamental component of human economic life is often lost. The context of this novel is the slave trade in the northern section of Africa around and in the region of the Sahara Desert. With an emphasis on Nigeria.   Issues of how African chieftains regularly raided the areas of other tribes in order to capture people to be sold into the slave trade and how many of those slaves were sold and held locally are covered. It has generally been lost in the modern conversation about slavery that the people that European ships picked up on the African coast for slave cargo were sold to them by Africans.   The timeframe is the late ni...