In accordance to the FTC guidelines, I must state that I make no monetary gains from my reviews or endorsements here on Confessions of a Literary Persuasion. All books I review are either borrowed, purchased by me, given as a gift, won, or received in exchange for my honest review of the book in question.

30 October, 2006

never enough time in the week

I've recently discovered that there is a Nextbook Book Discussion Group at the main branch of the Evanston Library that meets once a month. It's a shame that they meet on an evening that I am not free to attend. Their books chosen list for this fall/winter has some amazing looking books on it.

Well, it gives me some more books to add to the list for the next couple of library trips :)

I should keep an eye on the African-American Literature Discussion Group's book list page as well, but so far I've read a big chunk of the books on their list

Book Signing and Discusion in Chicago



This is going to make WoM very envious.

On November 10 from 6-8pm, Joann Sfar, Eisner-award winning author/artist of The Rabbi's Cat, Vampire Loves, Sardine in Outer Space, and the recently-released Klezmer will hold a book signing & discussion at Chicago Comics, located at 3244 N Clark. He will play banjo and talk about his methods of art & story-telling, his perspective on Jewish culture, & his passion for comics.

05 October, 2006

Book Review: Dusk Before the Dawn

Read and Reviewed for Frontstreet Reviews

What would the world be like if ninety percent of the world’s population suddenly fell asleep?

In the Tike National Park a group of Mayan shamans led by Julius, a Mayan villager who has been educated in the United States, sit on the top of a temple waiting for the important event predicted as part of a cycle change in the Tzollhin (the Mayan calendar) hundreds of years before to happen. At the same time, hundreds of miles away, Joseph Davis watches helpless, as his family fall asleep in a strange set of events before asking a stranger for help. Janet Grayson, PhD, a well known nanotechnology scientist, wakes up in a hospital to find that the last things she remembers having happened, did so several months ago and not the day before.

Welcome to a world gone wrong. Gerald Tooney, a scientist, has decided that nature needs saving over humanity and introduced a devastating, and in some cases deadly nano-virus into the worlds water supply. This is to prevent the mass extinctions that he has come to believe will happen if humanity continues on the path it has been taking. The survivors are either dependant on a temporary vaccine that keeps them awake, or practitioners of ancient techniques that have led them to enlightenment.

Dusk before the Dawn is the first book in the Enlightenment Cycle. Larry Ketchersid has created a world in conflict. The author weaves his tale together with scientific technologies and oriental mysticism to show the struggle between . Gerald Tooney, who made this life affecting world decision, and the growing resistance group working against him. These men and women are led by an enlightened Mayan scientist and his student Carlos and are trying to search out other survivors and find a way to re awaken the sleeping humans.

This is Larry Ketchersid’s first novel. It is an excellent work of fiction. I found the story slow to start, but soon it became engrossing, and ended leaving me wondering what was going to happen next. One of the things I enjoyed most was the attention to detail and the descriptions of the martial arts amd ancient practices that he show us in his story. I will be looking forwards to the next installment in the series.

ISBN: 0741430169
ISBN-13: 9780741430168
Publication Date: April 2006
Publisher: Publisher: Buy Books on the Web.Com
Series: The Enlightenment Trillogy #1
Binding: Paperback

03 October, 2006

The Love of Reading Online Book Fair - October 3-5,2006



Check them out Here, there are a ton of interviews, raffles (North America only unfortunately), and guest bloggers