I really enjoyed this book.There is sure to be a massive wave of new found interest in the suprise attack on Pearl Harbor and the events surrounding it due to the upcoming movie, and anyone who wants to get a feel for what it was really like to be there on the deck of a battleship dodging bullets and bombs, this book is unequaled anywhere. What really makes this an outstanding book is not just the gripping account of the attack itself, but also of the time period just beforehand. Mr Mason does an excellent job of relaying the false sense of security and invincibility that we as Americans held before we were thrown headlong into the most savage and trying war in the history of mankind. Mr Mason's portrait of the life of a sailor in the days of the pre-war "Old Navy" is something to be treasured and preserved especially now that our population of veterans from that period is inexorably fading. I thought that the author could ease off on some of the "50-cent" words, as constantly having to consult your dictionary can interfere with your enjoyment of this book. Overall, a great read, and a must have for anyone interested in Pearl Harbor or naval history.

My Dad was assigned to the USS California from 1936 until she was sunk on December 7th. The book reads just like the stories he would tell. My Dad past away Nov 2002. He spent 30 years in the Navy and most of the stories he told were when he was on the "Prune Barge". He played football and baseball on the ships team. I always wondered if the sailor Mr. Mason spoke to when he was touring the ship when first assigned was my Dad - he was a MM3 - "snipe" - worked in the engine room. It sure did sound like a response my Dad would give. One of the sailors awarded the Medal of Honor, Robert Scott (Zeke) was my fathers best friend on the California. They were "Battleship Sailors".

I couldn't lay this book down, once started. Ted Mason put me back in Hawaii during those dark days of 1940/41. He vividly describes how it was to be a sailor in the rigid "pecking order" of the "Old Navy." As a Pearl Harbor Survivor myself, he made that day come alive. More important, he reminded me of the days of the fleet at San Pedro in 1939. Read it if you have any interest in how it was to be a young bluejacket in the pre-war Navy.

I was immediately drawn into Mr. Mason's book, "The Dream and the Awakening," for I could relate. I was going through a divorce, fighting the soul mate myth to which my now ex-wife was drawn. Mr. Mason's honest portrayal of Aaron's matrimonial demise will ring true to anyone who is involved in a relationship based on lust and physical attraction.

This true story draws us into a world of lies and deceit. We are introduced to a couple, the man is married and the woman is single. The reader intuitively feels that this relationship has a half-life of six months. However, the focus character, Aaron, couldn't see through the haze of his passion that he was taking foolish risks and placing his family in jeopardy.

Mr. Mason provides us with a bird's eye view of the stupidity of an American male thinking with the wrong head. If the situation in which Aaron placed himself wasn't so frustratingly stupid, we'd be forced to laugh.

"The Dream and the Awakening: A True Story That Exposes the Soul Mate Myth," is an eye opener for anyone considering commitment based on lust. By the time you finish this book, you will have a deeper awareness of the nature of true love, and the fallacy of the myth we call, "soul mate." Don't miss this heart felt passionate page turner.

Question: What is worse than watching a train wreck?

Answer: Watching a train wreck in slow motion.

As difficult as it is to avert one's eyes from an impending train wreck, so it is with Michael Mason's new book. With every page turned, the wreck of a marriage lies just ahead, just around the bend, and the protaganist, unable or unwilling to halt impending doom stands idly by as the surrounding landscape of his life sweeps past.

"A real page turner". "Couldn't put it down." The reader knows where the train is going, knows the wreckage will soon be strewn, with lives lost, and much to be mourned. And page after page, a life passes in slow motion, with time aplenty to stop the destruction, but without the will to apply the brakes. A fascinating glimpse into a marriage whose wreckage lies clearly at the feet of the protagonist.

This is quite an amazing story. It reads like a fast-paced novel, with great characterization, dialogue and plot. It shows what can happen to someone who falls "in" love after buying into, what the author calls the soul mate myth. Aaron, the protagonist, comes across as a "gen-thinking" womanizer at first. Read the book to find out what gen-think means. Aaron trys despertely to do right by his family, but, as always happens in these situations, someone is going to get hurt. Just when you think the situation is going to be resolved, Aaron makes another "u-turn" and off it goes again, making you turn pages fast to see what's going to happen next. I found myself looking forward to coming home from work so I could get back into it. Very didactic.

I thought that the family infighting was okay. However like many novels, the main characters got together too quickly and lived happily ever after. I wish that the book was longer so that we could learn more how mean the family really is.

Ok, I guess Sonja totally over looked the crazy Heart family and just loved her man! She did not start out like that, let me tell you! Cole had some serious ground to make up for, and that he did!! Nice read!

I truly enjoyed reading Ms. Mason's latest book.I found both Cole and Sonja to be very sympathetic characters. I particularly enjoyed the family battles. They could give General Hospital's patriarchial family the Quartermaines a run for the money. The family infighting, the backstabbing and greed was too much. I loved Uncle Jimmy who had a way of just stirring up trouble. There were certain scenes that I just could not stop laughing at,especially the boardroom scenes. I look forward to reading more of Ms. Mason's work

Pangaea 1 is the first installment of a series about a decadent future society of strict castes. I have it on good authority that the word "pure", used throughout the book, is a direct translation of the word "caste". Those in the higher castes (and subcastes or subpures) consider themselves more pure or more nearly godlike. The god here is called Pan, but His ideal of sexless Platonic love seems less like the Greek god Pan - Dionysus and more like "pan" meaning "all", perhaps. "Gaea", I guess, is "earth".

Each chapter is introduced with a quotation from an I-Ching like oracle, which has been banned by the rigidly hierachical totalitarian police state that runs the place.

The world of Pangaea seems to be built on something like San Francisco on the San Andreas fault, except with a lot more earthquakes, everyone waiting for "the big one". The government trys to control the people just as it tries to convince the people it has earthquakes under control.

As is stated above, sex is considered a disgusting bestial remnant of the past. Children are cloned or bred in government breeding stations. The breeding and caste system is somewhat like that descibed in Aldous Huxleys' "Brave new World". Women's eggs are harvested at puberty and become property of the state. Married partners in Pangaea are not expected to have sex with each other, but visit and "erotician", of either sex, who takes care of the occational bestail urge.

To me, Pangaea with it's fascists, earthquakes, drugs, bizarre religion and sexual mores is sort of like an echo of late 60's underground San Francisco pushed onto the far future. Pangaea is a decadent world of Supression, supression of people, supression of sex, supression of alternate opinions and supression of the earth. And we know what happens when things are supressed... The book is clever and literate. I eventually figured out how Ms. Mason was using her words but a glossary might have been helpful.

Pangaea has a profusion of vivid Dickensonian characters. Pangaea 1 starts very slowly, but builds to a fevered pitch at the end leaving the reader hungering for the next installment!

This was a very interesting book, and once it got rolling (about halfway through, after all the introduced characters finally got tied in) I could not put it down either. But at points the elaborate vocabulary got to be a "little" excessive. I would put the book down and still have weird words and phrases ringing in my head such as, 'times lost to antiquity' 'pure, subpure, impure' 'imperial this and that'. But other than those things, it was a quick and enjoyable read, and I will probably hunt down the next book when it comes out.

Pangaea I is one of those marvelous stories where you get to gradually figure out the rules of an artfully crafted, but ultimately totalitarian, Big Brother (actually "Angel Dreamer") society. Pangaea is an obliquely alternative earth, now beginning to fall apart in literally all respects, rather like our own gondwanaland and plate tectonics (which they haven't quite figured out on Pangaea, to their sorrow). The story's structure is episodic (cleverly "faceted" like its Orbs of Power), featuring a rotating cast of characters, before it all begins to hang together. While you get to see all sides of Pangaea, of course it therefore takes a while to identify, come to know, or care for our heroes--and then the story cuts off abruptly.

The plot about power slowly becomes spell-binding. The characters come from diverse walks of life, called "pures," in an extraordinary, genetically stratified, human society. The opening pages are difficult, for they abound in truly obscure, incantatory words appropriate to the aethereal "angel" who has the first scene. The whole story feels much more like a mainstream novel because Mason is stronger on characterization than most traditional SF, and doesn't delay things with long descriptions of technical minutia. "Things" are just there (hence touched with seeming magic); instead we get to see the interactions develop among the strongly drawn characters, as their world opens to our view.

Reviewers say the sequel, Imperium Afire, is a bummer, so we are, sadly, left well and truly hanging about the involving, cross-caste partnering Mason carefully developed for the characters here. Ah well, Pangaea vol. 1 is worth re-reading instead. The paper quality is cheap, but there's no better hardback if you want to treasure this.

The orginal reason I got this book was because of Brenda Jackson Cupids Bow. I was reading her books on the Madaris Brothers and wanted to read them in order. Well, when I first got the book I only read her story which was great. Kimara getting a chase to be with the man of her dreams it was breath taking. But I decided to go ahead and read the others stories. Matchmaker was a wonderful story about 2 woman that were neighbors matching up Justin small town sheriff and Camille who works & lifes in the city it was a great story with Justin not wanting to fall in love with a woman from the city but it was in the cards to happen. Made In Heaven, Co-owner of a match making company falls in love with a clinet. All three story truly touched my heart. I look forward to the next books you ladies write together.

If anyone wants to know how to put together a perfect anthology collection, I would point them to A Valentine's Kiss (and to Welcome to Leo's). The collection begins with a theme of matchmakers and adds three talented authors who crafted excellent stories. All three of the stories are keepers that readers will want to revisit again and again and again.

I may me bais because Brenda Jackson is my favorite author, but that means something. "A Valentime Kiss" is a great story about two people put in a compromising position where they are doing something for a bigger cause; where as, at first they would not think of doing something so out of this world. But love came make you do strange things! Kyle and Kimara are a fun couple to read about. I enjoy the reading a lot! If I was in Kimara shoes, I would not have thought twice about living out my dreams with my first crush! I highly recommend everyone who sees this book advertised to buy it, along with all of the other Brenda Jackson stories like the complete set of the Madaris Brothers stories, you will not regret it! Not to focus on this one author, the other two stories were very good also!

This book starts out ok, but then in chpt.8 the author writes that there is no eternal punishment in hell for those who choose to reject Jesus as their savior. The author rejects Jesus' own words about hell that are in the gospels.(He doesn't reject the scriptures about heaven, however.) This doesn't represent the God of the bible accurately, and is misleading to "seekers".God is a God of Love, but also a God of Justice. The choice to reject Jesus is ours, but we must know the truth about the consequences of that choice.

Quite simply, this book has changed my life. As a christian who still has a lot of questions, I love how Chris's writing addressed so many deep yet everyday questions that I ponder. His style of writing and way of relating concepts are beautiful. I really just wish everyone could get a copy of this book - it is so full of tidbits of wisdom and passion and it truly will give you a new and refreshing perspective on the love of Jesus.

Wonderfully honest, open book that takes on some tough questions. Presents a new way of looking at things, including the fundamentalist teachings about hell. Hey, if you're not sure, order it used!

This was a far better book than I thought it would be. I recalled vaguely the rather anaemic film of the same name, and thought that if it was different from the film, a novel of this vintage, with a story line about a Hong Kong prostitute, would be a sickly romantic fantasy, pulling all its punches.

The novel is a romance, telling of the growing relationship between the British painter Robert Lomax and the prostitute Wong Mee-ling ("Suzie Wong"). However, it contains much of interest despite the fact that one could be hyper-critical and question the plausibility and originality of the plot. Small sections of the writing are very below par - I thought the court scene in particular was very poor.

On the positive side (which outweighs the negative, in my opinion) the world of Hong Kong prostitutes is depicted in a sympathetic but not a naive way: the sense of hopelessness, brutality, disease, violence, poverty, and exploitation are all covered. Men too are treated sympathetically, but by no means uncritically. All of the male characters are lonely and inadequate - one (the American, Rodney Tessler) is seriously unhinged, even dangerous - another is manipulative and pathetic (the married Briton, Ben Jeffcoat). Mason does not spare the British expatriates and colonial adminsitrators - their petty class-consciousness and overt racism are depicted graphically.

In spite of the flaws I mentioned above, I thought that Mason's writing was on the whole stylish and controlled - it held my attention throughout.

Read this book not for its story but for its descriptions. The "hooker with a heart of gold" is arguably the oldest and most flailed to death device in Western literature. It's a trope all the more stale when told through the eyes of the chivalrous man who saves the sweet girl from her sordid fate.

However, "The World of Suzie Wong" is worth the read not for its obviously silly plot but rather for its amazing descriptions of Hong Kong, from the seedy Wan Chai to the sophisticated snobbery of the Peak, in the 1950s. With its detail of chaotic streets, lecherous sailors, and the noble [people] themselves, it's less a bird's eye view of the port city than a roach's perspective, but sometimes the roach gets a more accurate portrait than the bird.

Mason has a meticulous eye for detail, and that's what has made the book a classic. The minitae of outfit and carraige, the lighting and seats at a late night restaurant, the layout of a shop window, the drinks and predjudices at a cocktail party...these are the things that old Hong Kong alive to the reader.

Credit is also due to the author for mostly avoiding, and often forthrightly criticizing, the racism of the time. The book works ultimately because Suzie is a multi-demensional character, not a characature of the Chinese Doll. She's not even sympathetic much of the time, although we're made to understand what the narrator sees in her.

Ultimately, what matters of this book is not Suzie Wong herself, but the world she inhabited, and which we get to visit for a few brief hours.

I have never read, nor ever expect to read a novel as beautiful as this one. The World of Suzie Wong reads like pure song. Richard Mason takes an oftentimes tawdry subject matter and delivers a charming novel. If any novel could be classified as poetry, this novel would qualify. Upon completion the reader will feel as though he or she has just finished the most satisfying of meals, complete with dessert, cigar, and cognac. This is one that you will return to again and again; it will never let you down. I can not recommend it enough.

This book, like all of the other Perry Mason books, far succeed their t.v. counterpart. This book was very good and surprising. It's always interesting to find out whodunit. It's never the one you think it is. Great read. Highly recommended.

Very well plotted mystery. The Glamorous Ghost is trapped by a deadly web of circumstantial evidence. It is partly her fault; she piles up so many lies that even Mason can't believe her. But, as Mason points out, Hamilton Burger, the rival District Attoney, is not a thorough thinker. He often overlooks and/or deliberately ignores some evidence "to keep from confusing the issues". It is superb how Mason digs out such buried evidence through the persistent cross-examination.

For those out there whose only knowledge of Perry Mason comes from the old Raymond Burr series, I implore you to find the books! They're loads of fun, with snappy dialogue, complex plots, and sharply drawn characters. Perry's relationship with Della Street, his confidential secretary, is extremely interesting, not at all the innocent friendship as one might think.

THE CASE OF THE GLAMOROUS GHOST has all the aforementioned elements plus more: beautiful women, murder, misdirection, Perry's client trapped within a web of circumstantial evidence. But it is the trial sequence in this book, which is over 100 pages long, that elevates this novel. Slowly we learn exactly what happened in these people's lives and who REALLY is the villian of the piece. As is true with most Mason books, no one is who they seem.

This is an exciting work, with an above average puzzle. Gardner never, EVER lets the action drag (one of his primary trademarks) and I feel that it will appeal to modern tastes as much as it appealed to those in the 40s and 50s. Let Perry light the way for you in one of his more interesting adventures. You'll love it!

"Binary Star" by Clif Mason is an intriguing story filled with vivid descriptions of the everyday life and the mysteries surrounding "twins". A story in search of the meaning of life.

A wonderful effort by Cliff Mason!

Clif Mason's novel, 'Binary Star', is full of vivid and startling images. This is a powerful and humorous first novel. There are many lucid passages that border on becoming a prose poem that whisks the novel along at an amazing pace. Some would say that 'Binary Star' is a novel filled with magic-realism. Contained within its' pages are the White Buffalo, holy and sacred to the Sioux people, appearing again and again to the main characters, there are tornadoes that take combine and rider for a wild jaunt, and many more strange things that shouldn't be ruined here. Dismissing this novel as simple magic-realism or as South American magic-realism would be a mistake though. Clif Mason uses fantastical images to stretch the bounds of perception for the characters in the novel. The violent and the closed minded characters are only able to see in narrow bands of reality that are coterminous with their limitations. Mason does an excellent, if unsettling job, of presenting the fantastic as ordinary. There is no build up to an amazing event, it is just part of life for the protagonists. Mason does a good job in resisting the temptation to over-dramaticize the incidents.

This book would be worth it alone for Big Bill, Mason's personification of the crows and his well-developed mimetic ability that ranges much further than a typical contemporary American author. The narrative is strong too, even if the dialogue sounds, at times, a little false in the ear of the reader. The book and Mason are at their best in the sections of the book that deal with the natural world and supernatural world of the main characters. The book's tragedy and resolution seem a little rushed and left me with a strong desire for some of the more salient characters to be better defined and foiled against the protagonists. Possibly though, I just wanted more of the novel. I finished it in two sittings and was more than a little impressed when I set it down.

Mr. Jensen, how can we take your review too seriously when you can't even spell properly or apply the correct punctuation? I KNOW for a fact that you had a terrific English professor, so where exactly did you go wrong? At least you got to slip in the words coterminous and mimetic--you've been keeping those in your back pocket for awhile, haven't you? And the day has finally come when you are able to utilize them--kind of like high school calculus (and equally as innocuous).
At any rate, Dr. Mason's novel is a terrific example of magic realism being used to create a heightened sense of reality and eventually help us to care more about the characters than we would if told the same story in a realistic manner. Binary Star is a lush and lovely tale told by a genius, signifying a great deal.

This was the first book in the Trails West trilogy including, WIND RIDER, & SIERRA. Its the romantic tale of a woman named Tears Like Rain by the Cheyenne who is white and was found along with her white brother Wind Rider, wandering aimlessly around the wreckage of their dead parents wagons after a brutal Crow Indian attack.

Tears Like Rain never thinks of returning to the white world of her birth until a calvary officer with blonde hair and stunning blue eyes is captured and tortured in her camp. She is somehow captivated by his beauty and kindness shining in his eyes. She must help him. She takes him as her slave and wonders what she will do with him now!

Zach Mercer never dreamed he would be taken prisoner by a wild group of Indians within his first few months of being out west! On his first ride out to the praires investigating attacks on settlers no less! Was this to be his fate? To die in the savage hands of blood thristy Cheyenne warriors? Then he would gladly die with pride and not be a coward. Just as he resigns himself to die, a beautiful maiden with long dark hair and strange gray eyes watches him from a distance with intrest. Was she white? What in the world was she doing in this camp of savages?

Zach is furthermore in awe when it seems as if the beautiful maiden has made for his release, but finds himself her slave instead! A slave of a woman!? Soon Zach shows Tears Like Rain that he is slave to no one, not even a gorgeous woman who pretends she is Cheyenne. His curiosity also discovers she IS white and so is her powerful brother Wind Rider! When more questions arise about how she ended up in the camp, Zach finds himself falling in love with the strange woman and vows to take her away.

In a time when the settlers are demanding more and more land from the government, the once proud Cheyenne and Sioux are having to face starvation and death if they don't comply. Tears Like Rain realizes she is a woman named Abby Larson from times gone by, but she refuses to leave her people to save herself from certain death by fighting alongside the Cheyenne and Sioux against the American government, but she has no choice.

Abby soon finds herself in a strange world of faces she doesn't recognize and people who are the same skin color but sneer at her as if she were some animal. She longs for her own People once again, but her love for Zach blossoms out of control and she must choose. What of her brother? What of her missing little sister Sierra? Sierra was never found when the wagons were attacked, was she dead? Abby is determined to solve all her problems, but she doesn't have time. Time is running out for the Cheyenne.

This story is jampacked with action and history of the Sand Creek Massacre and the downfall of the Cheyenne. As always Connie Mason delivers a solid story of courage and love that surpases all colors and boundries. The love between Abby and Zach is touching and sometimes heartbreaking. This is a sure keeper and a great start to the trilogy, followed by her brother's story WIND RIDER and their missing sister's story SIERRA.

Tracy Talley~@

Of all the books that I have read about Indian's this one was hot and heavy in the love scenes such details took you right their you could actually feel the warmth and the love that they felt for each other, Now I will have to search for Book two and 3 of the sage of Tears of Rain (Abbey) I really felt she was from the Indiana world that is where her happiness was felt at. this is the first one of I read dealing with the Cheyenne I really enjoyed it all.

The first of 3, Abbey being Raised by Indians along with her Brother Ryder, Save Zach from being killed by the tribe. thinking that she wants him for her slave. Zach has other ideas and wins the respect of the tribe when he helps fight off the Crow. Knowing that Tears Like Rain and WindRider are both white he talks the Chief into letting her go back with him. They have their hard times, but love wins out.