This early novel by Mason Powell, finally available to the public, is a gripping, sensual suspense story of urban gay life in 80's San Francisco. The actor protagonist, now in regular rehearsals of "Hamlet", met his piano player while performing as Emperor Norton at a one-time opening. As the book begins, he is walking on the beach and mulling over his new non-relationship, when a flirtatious passer-by first intrigues and then attacks him.

His self-defense techniques are derived totally from his actor's training, and his defeat and escape of the gay-basher involve the reader in the thought-processes common to gay men "out" in a world of danger, prejudice, and denial. While his attacker is being identified and discovered to be a serial killer of gay men, our hero's budding love affair is moving along at a growing pace, as the plot and the suspense thicken.

This book is a predictable vanilla love story, and as far from the pornographic excess of its author's first book as it could be, which will relieve some readers and disappoint others. As a study in men's relationships, it is somewhat shallow and comfortable; we share inumerable details of the characters' food and drink preferences, without really learning much about their histories or in-depth motivations. We are shown a slender slice of gay San Francisco, as the main characters generally avoid it, going dancing with women from the cast of the play, and lunching anywhere outside that they can reach during their brief break from rehearsals.

Only in the club scenes, where our hero is always inexplicably alone, and the killer seeking him always closer, do we really experience the fashion-perfect, disco-trick world of San Francisco's gay night life. Our hero's thoughts sometimes seem a parody of gay obsessiveness; while being chased for his life through long stretches of the Mission district, he notices and describes the architecture for pages, wondering at the brickwork, noting historic buildings, and barely bringing the somewhat confused reader with him into a place of safety at last.

The book's charm stems from several factors: Powell's true theatrical know-how, and his descriptions of the inside view of Shakespearean performance, are fascinating. His knowledge of the City, its best views and sunsets and secret turnings, seem true, and give us a feel for the geography of the story. And the amazing side-plot, in which our hero agrees to impersonate a long-lost relative of the piano player's aged Orange County aunt, is weird and wonderful. We see an actor (not a criminal) create himself as a full-blown character, right down to family pictures, food preferences, and Hong-Kong laundry marks.

This almost extraneous section, a marvelous family drama, exists so Powell can show us hundreds of miles of Southern California through his eyes, and only peripherally hooks into the suspense and danger waiting back in San Francisco. Meeting any family, even some as strange as these, traditionally advances a love story, and before this journey is half over, we know the final commitment between our lovers is inevitable.

This book is exciting, tense and hard to put down. As an early novel, it promises more than it delivers, and some parts, such as the eternally long and descriptive drive across Southern California, are curiously irrelevant. And the typographical errors found throughout this paperback publication are disturbing to the alert reader. But we see very little of such matter-of-fact gay fiction, in which the adventure, not the lifestyle nor the sexual games, is the thing. Readers of suspense, gay readers young and old, lovers of San Francisco, and fans of Mason Powell's very good writing will all enjoy this book.

While reading this book it forces you to think, which is excellent. However I found myself annoayed at some of Mason's comments as alot of what he says is semi-controversial and he seems to try to make everything over controversial, more so than it has to be.

Like other Malmuth books, he draws on examples from many games to prove his statements. And like in his other books, I found myself skipping over a good portion because I'm simply not interested in poker.

Yet, the book is valuable in its explanation of standard deviation (luck) and non self-weighting approaches to gambling. In areas, it was somewhat too technical to grasp for the layman.

This book may take a lot of pages to explain for the blackjack player why you should vary your bet size, but the point is made clear mathematically. I'll have at least one less doubt about my play the next time at the tables.

Colonel Hugh North of United States military intelligence is sent to the semi-independent State of Jonkhar which acts as a buffer zone between Nepal and Tibet. His mission is to defeat attempts by Russia and China to gain influence in the tiny territory and control over its strategic location.

North's chief allies are Ad Delahanty and Subnadar Thopa. Delahanty is a former United States Army Sergeant who was dishonorably discharged for desertion. He is currently the owner of a business which outfits hunting and mountaineering expeditions. Thopa is a Ghurka mountain guide whose skills are indispensable during North's long trek overland to Jonkhar.

The opposition includes Russian and Chinese agents who are also competing against each other.

Members of the Jonkhar Royal Family have their own personal agendas based mostly on the struggle for succession to the throne of the Sri Rajah.

The one loose canon in the whole mix is Baroness Atossa Frederika Matala. Although she is an Estonian and allied with the Russians, the Baroness is also a very liberated lady who is quite capable of making her own deals.

The novel is crowded with too many unconvincing characters with competing schemes. Colonel North's mission is unnecessarily vague. He operates best when facing a specific challenge such as the search for a secret enemy chemical formula in TWO TICKETS FOR TANGIER.

The book's greatest strength lies in its authentic description of mountain travel by pony and on foot.

Author Mason Matthews has compiled stories from his life as a veterinarian. He writes about treating exotics and traveling to foreign lands. What Matthews doesn't do, however, is go into much depth in his stories. Many of them, only a page or two long, are interesting, but are simplistic and shallow. I was expecting a heartier, beefier collection of tales. The 55 pages just isn't enough room for 18 stories. It's cute, light reading...but don't expect it to fill an afternoon.

This history of the Eastern Frontier, first published in 1904, is a very interesting and entertaining account of the Indian Wars of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It was written at a time when the Indian wars had only recently ended and the idea of political correctness was decades away. This book is filled with tales of bloody wars and massacres as well as highlights of the exploits of the most famous frontiersmen and pioneers of the trans-Allegheny west including such notables as Daniel Boone, Simon Kenton, Lewis Wetzel, George Rogers Clark, and many others, giving descriptions of their lives and encounters with hostile Indian tribes, wild animals, and a harsh wilderness. It also gives brief histories of several later scouts and moutain men like Kit Carson and Jim Bridger. It recounts the history of the settlement of Kentucky, Western Viriginia, and Ohio, that infamous area known as "That Dark and Bloody Ground".

This book is interesting for its tone of time and place. It is told from a decidedly white perspective, as it was written at time when the notions of Manifest Destiny were still griping a growing nation, and the Indians were still regarded as hostile savages to be subjugated in the creation of a greater United States.

This book is a collection of stories that are sometimes very hard to understand. Although there were some stories that were pretty enjoyable, like "An Open and Shut Case". This story tell about a defense lawyer who is captivated by her client even though he is dirty and unshaven. Another story in this book I liked was "Greed is Good", which tells about a chef that is becoming bored with her boyfriend. This book has some very interesting stories in it but they are not good enough for the book to be unable to put down.

A masterful reading of a wonderful novel. Unfortunately, this abridgement cuts out so much that the storyline becomes almost nonsensical. In the original book Mason gets two eyewitnesses to change their story by convincing them that they were mistaken in what they thought they heard. In this condensed version, the eyewitnesses change their story after simply being asked, "Are you sure you are not mistaken?" The book was better.

This is better than your average gay murder mystery. Parts are funny, and nothing sticks out as being particularly bad. Not the best Zubro, but one to read after you've finished all the others. Good beach reading material.

The rules of soccer is an easy to read, manual for the game of soccer, it lists the 17 rules of soccer in an easy to follow booklet. The booklet is divided into 17 laws for playing soccer and reflects differences between US leagues law alterations and International interpretations. The booklet is a continuation of the law updates for the game of soccer, and reflects changes made by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) for the year 1999. I managed to use the booklet in organizing our student's club soccer matches and listing a member as a referee. The quick read Booklet is recommended for those who wish to start game using the official soccer rules and laws in a "fast and efficient" manner, I would recommend this title to Intermediate readers and people with some familiarity to soccer.

Kevin Spoon and his proudly non-conformist friend Mason Mintz walk six miles early one morning in order to be the first customers at a new burger franchise -- Spaceburgers. There they frolic and feast and have a wonderful time. Pinkwater's vocabulary isn't as hilarious as usual, and the overall effect is indeed uneven as Horn Book says, but it went over well in my son's first grade class. Spaceburgers shows the reader a warm male friendship, and reminds us of why it's so important to know how to look for fun in unexpected places. Mason, who always wears a checked hat and prefers "Ho!" to "Hi!", isn't like the other boys -- he's a lot more fun.