Blood Money, part three of the trilogy Dead or Alive, brings new and old characters together. Realistic and believable, people with personality step from the pages... I recommend all three in the trilogy...

As usual I liked this Ralph Cotton book. However, it is very much more about Jake Coak, Quick Charlie Simms and Kate McCorkle than it is Sullivan Hart and Twojack Roth. J. T. Priest has been set free and Judge Parker sends Coak, Simms, Hart and Roth out to destroy Priest and his gang, Los Pistoleros. The first part of the book is devoted to Coak bringing in wanted outlaws then when the four of them are to go after Priest, Coak and Simms take over and have nearly all the action. I did enjoy the book, it is a very good western, just not really about Hart. Jake Coak is great, I hope he show up again with his automatic sawed off rifle. A rare thing to see. Did not like the part of Simms as I think he was a lier most of the time. A fast read, will hold you attention and you won't want to put it down. A few funny places as Priest and his gang to blow a safe and blow up nearly every thinging else instead.

I have really enjoyed reading this book. I found it very informative and enjoyable and plan to use several of the patterns. I have purchased an additional copy to be part of a table decoration that I am making for the annual fall meeting of the Utah Quilt Guild. I've purchased about 15 books in the last 6 months and have enjoyed this one the most. I think it will sell very well. Our Guild has over 1000 members, and hopefully the book will get exposure at the meeting from vendors that are there. One problem I had was that I would have liked to have the Indian hatchet pattern printed in the book and it was not. If anyone knows where I could get a copy of it I would appreciate them letting me know.

Mary Mashuta's Cotton Candy Quilts provides 7 quilt projects based on traditional designs and feed sacks, showing how to locate sacks and vintage fabrics to produce unusual designs of the past. Recommended for any involved in the fine art of quilting.

Dollar Cotton, written by John Faulkner, is by far the best depiction of the life and times in the flat, "black dirt", alluvial fan known as the Mississippi Delta during the era when "cotton was king". The book is an excellent read for anyone, but will hold a distinct fascination for those who are familiar with the south in general and the "Delta" in particular.

Otis Town is not Faulkner creation, as stated on the book's back cover, but rather a composite of men who came to the Delta from the hills of Tennessee and Mississippi and carved an empire out of a virtual wilderness. Having grown up in the "Delta" I have known several "old man Towns", one of them being my father. Each and every anecdote mentioned by Faulkner happened in the "Delta", not necessarily to one man, but they all happened. Faulkner describes perfectly the habits and mind-set of the black and white inhabitants of both the "Delta" and the "Hills".

Dollar Cotton is a must for anyone interested in life in the rural south.

Initially, John Faulkner was heading toward being the "writing Faulkner.' Although clearly eclipsed by his brother's fame, John is a fine writer and stylist in his own right. John has his own voice and own style, even if the heavy influence of the Faulkner family and the Mississippi delta can be clearly heard. This book, althoug essential reading for any student of William Faulkner interested in the family and its history, stands firmly on its own feet. Highly recommended.

Cotton Mather and PP Karan traveled the length and breath of Japan in a small red car, attempting to make the landscape "speak." Somewhere on the Kii Peninsula, south of Ise, what they'd been looking at finally began to make sense: categories and generalizations began. From this point on, their generalizations were tested and retested with the resultant Primary and Secondary Characteristics of what one sees in Japan: Paucity of Idle Land; Scarcity of Level Land; Compactness; Meticulous Organization; Immaculateness; Interdigitation; and Tiered Occupance among others. A nice explanation with plenty of photos by men who have been involved with Japan since the Second World War.

When i first bought this book for a gardening friend i thought i wouldn't like but it turned out i did. the next day iwent back and got one for myself.it was stimulating and inspiring and i thought it was excelent!

I didn't think the Ranger series could get any better than "Badlands" or "Montana Red," but Ralph delivered one up that's the best to date. When Ralph writes of the hard times and harder men, you feel the thirst; taste the dust; smell the horse's sweat and know the pain of catching a bullet. I hope Ralph's around for a long time writing stories like this. He has outdone even the great Louis L'Amour.

If there is formula for writing a great novel, Ralph Cotton has knows the recipe. Justice is a fine piece of writing that gazes into human nature. Once again, Ralph Cotton is able to peer into the very souls of humankind. Both good and evil, while touching on good people who make mistakes. Page by page, he weaves continual twists and turns, holding the reader spell bound. The Ranger must try to understand why an old friend has been swayed to making a bad "judgment call". A judgment call that effects many lives. Highly recommended reading.

A review by Zane N.Gaut, M.D., Ph.D., as mailed to Bill Sanford.
"Compared to the beauty of his first novel A FRESH GALE, the author has 'bettered. himself in this wonderful novel THE PRICE OF COTTON, a story that informs as well as entertains. It has oft-time been asserted that fiction, in many cases, renders more truth than flawed history; and this book holds true to that assertion. With rich adjectives and strong verbs abounding, the author composes 'tight' sentences in such manner that one word deleted would compromise, or perhaps lose, the meaning. A story in grim relief, tells of slaves in the South wherein they are whipped and, otherwise, cruelly punished. A part of a letter from the British Legation bound for England, states, "All else seems fair in the production of cotton except slave labor. As to the British response: Let us remain neutral secure our footholds in the United States of America. And, when the smoke has cleared, let us resume our trade with whoever survives". What realism! What cynicism! This work of art inescapably pulls and tugs at the emotions; and realistically depicts beautiful love stories interwoven with the horrors, violence, cowardice, and slavery that once was accepted, abhorred, and encouraged with the most flagrant cold and abusive calumny. The "landed gentry" of the old South reminds one so much of Margaret Mitchel's GONE WITH THE WIND wherein, indeed, the complimentary practice of chivalry took its last philanthropic bow, and the epitomizing pessimism, and predication of the ultimate defeat of the South in this griping, educational and entertaining novel that would well suffice for adaptation to a motion picture or television movie presenting the developing belligerence of the ultimate cause of the war between the North and the South -the price of cotton. This forthright work reaches the heights of love, intrigue, historical correctness, hatred and violence. Ironically, Lakaetu Cobutu, a prominent protagonist, is run down by a run-away-horse and buggy on a street in New Orleans. This incident occurs after such a doleful and ultimate success that she tolerated, overcame, and enjoyed. What a marvelous book to recommend!.

The Price of Cotton is a delightful and intriguing story about the prelude events leading up to and associated with the Civil War and the marketing of cotton, which was king of the south at that time. The author presents, in a story masterfully done, a different view of the economic conditions of the United States in the early 1860s. The characters are marvelous and entertaining, and the book should be considered in the same light as Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With The Wind." The story and the struggle that Laketu and her family experience holds the reader to the edge of the seat, anxiously awaiting the next scene. It is an epic story. This being the second book from the author, one can only expects great things from his next book.

I came across this beautiful book completely by accident. Never having done counted cross stitch before, I was intrigued by the simple, elegant designs. I have completed five and probably will continue until I have done them all. What a refreshing change from bunnies, cartoon characters etc... Matted and framed each design is truly a work of art. Thank you, Inga Bergfeldt

I found this beautiful little book by accident. Never having done counted cross stitch before, I was intrigued by the simple, elegant designs. What a refreshing change from bunnies and cartoon characters! I have completed five of the designs and probably wont't stop until I have done them all. Matted and framed, they are truly a work of art. Thank you, Inga Bergfeldt.

"Spirit Rider" was captivating from the get-go. From life in an Indian village to early growth of Denver City, the characters, descriptions and images just jumped off the pages. I enjoyed this book very much.

Spirit Rider really hits home with haunted characters where the past never quite lets go, combined with the drive to dig out a personal destiny. The reader will be struck with the wondrous spirituality of the Oglala Sioux who raised the hero. You can't leave this book without being changed.

An educational and very funny read. The facts are all true, but have been presented in a consistely funny and readable tabloid style. Maps, pictures, and fact boxes (and some very funny ads) support the text. Highly recommended.

Very wry, very funny, and very educational, this tabloid newspaper-style book follows the story of early man from the missing link to about 3,000 B.C. Great fun for adults as well as children. Highly recommended.

The first professional performance of a play I ever saw was A Streetcar Named Desire. The first major part I ever acted in a play was in The Glass Menagerie. The largest city near my hometown when I was growing up was St. Louis. So I have a close connection to Tennessee Williams and I admire him very much as a playwright but I had never read these short plays of his until now. There are some wonderful things here.

Nearly all the plays here are quite interesting, my favorites of these play being the simplest ones where two or three characters are having conversations: "Talk To Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen...," "This Property is Condemned," "Auto-Da-Fe" and "Something Unspoken." Slightly more complex but still plays with depth and interest are the title play ("27 Wagons Full of Cotton"), "The Lady of Larkspur Lotion," "Portrait of a Madonna" and "The Strangest Kind of Romance."

If there is a problems with some of these plays, it is the difficulty in staging them; certainly with the kind of detail that Williams specifies in the stage directions. Many of the theatre companies I work with simply do not have the resources to create the kind of wonderful images Williams describes. I loved reading "The Purification"--a lovely verse play--but I thought it incredibly difficult to stage, which is too bad.

Even if you aren't considering staging the plays, however, they are worth reading. It is easy to see from these early plays how Williams was developing the ideas that would become some of his greatest characters, particularly Blanche from Streetcar. If you have any interest in Williams as a playwright, this is a book that should definitely be read.

This collection contains 13 short works by Williams. This work draws me to it because of the poetic style that Williams uses. Not only the dialogue, but the moods and situations are both poetic--both subtle and dynamic at the same time. These short plays may not be crafted as well as such masterworks as -Streetcar- and -Menagerie-, but Tennessee was definitely on to something when he wrote them. They are strange, but Williams doesn't seem to be contriving strange things for the sake of being strange or making spectacle. The power in these works reminds me of the power of the contemporary poet Louise Gluck; I can't really understand why Louise's poetry or Tennessee's short works are so strong because they seem so simple and sparce. I am an aspiring writer and director--for someone heading in either of those directions, this book is a must read. It will make you think. You must be prepared to not really understand the works, but that hazy quality makes them all the more wonderful. It's as if Williams knows the language of feelings and doesn't employ the language of the mind with which we're so familiar.