Spellbinder Saturday: Longmire Rides Again

Easy as A, B, C . . . from HA

A Serpent’s Tooth by Craig Johnson was mentioned in a blog earlier this year; not even really mentioned, just a picture of the cover in passing while discussing television shows based on books. It’s time to take a real look at this latest entry in the Walt Longmire series.

A Mormon “lost boy” (a term used for young men who have been excommunicated or pressured to leave polygamous Mormon fundamentalism groups) shows up in Absaroka county and, consequently, in Walt Longmire’s jail.

Longmire, his deputy Vic Moretti, and his best friend Standing Bear try to find the boy’s mother, but, of course things just aren’t going to be that easy.

In the course of the investigation, an eclectic group of characters make themselves known: an interstate polygamy group—amazingly well armed—with a 400-pound leader who happens to be the young man’s father; a delusional (or is he?) old man claiming to be Orrin Porter Rockwell, Man of God, Son of Thunder, blessed by Joseph Smith himself. Throw into the mix Big Oil and possible CIA involvement and you’ve got yourself a spellbinding pager turner.

There are some unhappy surprises in this chapter of the Longmire odyssey: the death of a well-known character and another whose life hangs in the balance at the end of the book. Any Other Name, the next book in the series is being released in the middle of May. We have to wait until then to find out the fate of this person. Talk about your cliff-hanger… (I’ve already preordered my copy.)

This is a great series and I hope you give it a try.

See you next time for Tips on Tuesday

Saturday’s Softcover: You Will Believe a Boy Can Fly

As easy as A, B, C . . . from HA

Peter and the Starcatchers—Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

At the beginning of this book, toward the end of the Acknowledgement section, is the following statement: And above all we thank Paige Pearson, for asking her daddy one night, after her bedtime story, exactly how a flying boy met a certain pirate.

We all owe a “Thank you!” to Paige. Without that question, this book may have never been written.

I was introduced to this concept while watching last year’s Tony award program. Peter walked home with five awards including Best Actor.

The Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City was the only regional theater in the US to be able to show Peter. It was one of the funniest productions I have ever had the pleasure of seeing; everything about it was AWESOME! Which, of course, lead me to read the book.

As I have ranted before, movies made from books don’t always translate well. The same holds true with transferring any media into any other media. That being said: note the difference in the titles—Peter and the Starcatchers (book) and Peter and the Starcatcher (play). Note the subtlety?

While the two venues share a common thread—that of Peter, an orphan boy, becoming Peter Pan and how he met Captain Hook—the play is much more comedic and broader in presentation. The book is more detailed with more backstory and character details.

It is also much more dramatic in its presentation.

The basic story line in both versions (and this is one of the few times where I absolutely recommend both venues—Peter is playing at Shakespeare through the summer and early fall—has two ships, The Never Land and The Wasp, each carrying a secret cargo: one of two trunks. One is full of “star stuff” and one is a decoy.

But which is which?

Star stuff is the remains of falling stars containing magical properties. It seems they’ve been collected throughout the millennia by opposing forces: the basic good vs. evil.

I’m going to keep this relatively short. Read the book—see the stage production.

You’ll be thanking me when you do—and Paige as well.

See you day-after-tomorrow for Monday Moans.