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ABOUT RAR: For those of
you new to this site, "RAR" is Rick Alan Rice, the publisher
of the RARWRITER Publishing Group websites.
Use this link to visit the
RAR music page, which features original music
compositions and other.
Use this link
to visit Rick Alan Rice's publications page, which
features excerpts from novels and other.
RARADIO
(Click here)
"On to the
Next One" by
Jacqueline Van Bierk
"I See You
Tiger" by Via Tania
"Lost the
Plot" by Amoureux"
Bright Eyes,
Black Soul" by The Lovers
Key
"Cool Thing"
by Sassparilla
"These Halls I Dwell"
by Michael Butler
"St. Francis"by
Tom Russell & Gretchen Peters, performance by Gretchen
Peters and Barry Walsh;
"Who Do You
Love?"by Elizabeth Kay;
"Rebirth"by
Caterpillars;
"Monica's
Frock" by
Signel-Z;
"Natural
Disasters" by
Corey Landis;
"1,000
Leather Tassels" by
The Blank Tapes;
"We Are All Stone" and "Those
Machines" by Outer
Minds;
"Another Dream" by MMOSS;
"Susannah" by Woolen
Kits;
Jim Morrison, Elvis Presley,
Michael Jackson and other dead celebrities / news by A
SECRET PARTY;
"I Miss the Day" by My
Secret Island,
"Carriers of Light" by Brendan
James;
"The Last Time" by Model
Stranger;
"Last Call" by Jay;
"Darkness" by Leonard
Cohen;
"Sweetbread" by Simian
Mobile Disco and
"Keep You" fromActress off
the Chronicle movie soundtrack;
"Goodbye to
Love" from October
Dawn;
Trouble in
Mind 2011 label
sampler;
Black Box
Revelation Live
on Minnesota Public Radio;
Apteka "Striking
Violet";
Mikal
Cronin's "Apathy"
and "Get Along";
Dana
deChaby's progressive
rock
_______
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ATWOOD - "A Toiler's Weird Odyssey of Deliverance" -AVAILABLE
NOW FOR KINDLE (INCLUDING KINDLE COMPUTER APPS) FROM
AMAZON.COM. Use
this link.
CCJ Publisher Rick Alan Rice dissects
the building of America in a trilogy of novels
collectively calledATWOOD. Book One explores
the development of the American West through the
lens of public policy, land planning, municipal
development, and governance as it played out in one
of the new counties of Kansas in the latter half of
the 19th Century. The novel focuses on the religious
and cultural traditions that imbued the American
Midwest with a special character that continues to
have a profound effect on American politics to this
day. Book One creates an understanding about
America's cultural foundations that is further
explored in books two and three that further trace
the historical-cultural-spiritual development of one
isolated county on the Great Plains that stands as
an icon in the development of a certain brand of
American character. That's the serious stuff viewed
from high altitude. The story itself gets down and
dirty with the supernatural, which in ATWOOD
- A Toiler's Weird Odyssey of Deliveranceis the
outfall of misfires in human interactions, from the
monumental to the sublime. The
book features the epic poem "The
Toiler" as
well as artwork by New Mexico artist Richard
Padilla.
Elmore Leonard
Meets Larry McMurtry
Western Crime
Novel

I am offering another
novel through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing service.
Cooksin is the story of a criminal syndicate that sets its
sights on a ranching/farming community in Weld County, Colorado,
1950. The perpetrators of the criminal enterprise steal farm
equipment, slaughter cattle, and rob the personal property of
individuals whose assets have been inventoried in advance and
distributed through a vast system of illegal commerce.
It is a ripping good yarn, filled
with suspense and intrigue. This was designed intentionally to
pay homage to the type of creative works being produced in 1950,
when the story is set. Richard Padilla
has done his usually brilliant work in capturing the look and feel of
a certain type of crime fiction being produced in that era. The
whole thing has the feel of those black & white films you see on
Turner Movie Classics, and the writing will remind you a little
of Elmore Leonard, whose earliest works were westerns.
Use this link.
EXPLORE THE KINDLE
BOOK LIBRARY
If you have not explored the books
available from Amazon.com's Kindle Publishing
division you would do yourself a favor to do so. You
will find classic literature there, as well as tons
of privately published books of every kind. A lot of
it is awful, like a lot of traditionally published
books are awful, but some are truly classics. You
can get the entire collection of Shakespeare's works
for two bucks.
You do not need to buy a Kindle to
take advantage of this low-cost library. Use
this link to go to an Amazon.com page from which you
can download for free a Kindle App for
your computer, tablet, or phone.
Amazon is the largest,
but far from the only digital publisher. You can
find similar treasure troves atNOOK
Press (the
Barnes & Noble site), Lulu,
and others. |
|
|
|
Written Arts
Probably more than anything else, RARWRITER.com is a
writer's site, and on this page we house examples of the work of RARWRITER
readers with similar interest in the "written arts". -
- RAR
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
THE SKUNK LIST
Publisher's Weekly's current list of Top 25 Hard Cover
Fiction may not be their fault - or maybe it is, I'm not even sure what
Publisher's Weekly does other than advertise the products of publishing houses -
but fiction in 2013 sucks every bit as bad as does popular music. There is a
nexus there someplace, probably having something to do with the downward spiral
of humanity that refuses to
RANK |
LAST WEEK |
WEEKS ON LIST |
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
(Click title for review)
|
PUB DATE |
UNITS
2013 YTD
|
1 |
2 |
7
|
Robert Galbraith, Author
Mulholland Books, $26.00 (464)
978-0-316-20684-6
|
Apr
2013 |
17,929
215,720
|
2 |
- |
1 |
Louise Penny, Author
Minotaur Books, $25.99 (416)
978-0-312-65547-1
|
Aug
2013 |
16,717
17,136
|
3 |
1 |
5
|
Mistress
James Patterson, Author, David
Ellis, Author
Little Brown and Company, $28.00 (410)
978-0-316-21107-9
|
Aug
2013 |
16,661
106,994
|
4 |
3 |
16
|
Dan Brown, Author
Doubleday Books, $29.95 (480)
978-0-385-53785-8
|
May
2013 |
14,515
1,226,620
|
5 |
5 |
15
|
Khaled Hosseini, Author
Riverhead Books, $28.95 (416)
978-1-59463-176-4
|
May
2013 |
9,140
450,502
|
6 |
4 |
3
|
Rose Harbor in Bloom
Debbie Macomber, Author
Ballantine Books, $26.00 (322)
978-0-345-52893-3
|
Aug
2013 |
8,336
37,622
|
7 |
- |
1 |
Kathy Reichs, Author
Scribner Book Company, $26.99 (336)
978-1-4391-0245-9
|
Aug
2013 |
8,072
8,151
|
8 |
- |
1 |
Diane Mott Davidson, Author
William Morrow & Company, $26.99 (384)
978-0-06-134817-4
|
Aug
2013 |
7,503
7,610
|
9 |
8 |
2
|
Frederick Forsyth, Author
Putnam Adult, $27.95 (352)
978-0-399-16527-6
|
Aug
2013 |
6,101
14,053
|
10 |
9 |
2
|
Samantha Shannon, Author
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, $24.00 (480)
978-1-62040-139-2
|
Aug
2013 |
5,720
12,937
|
11 |
7 |
2
|
Marisha Pessl, Author
Random House, $28.00 (624)
978-1-4000-6788-6
|
Aug
2013 |
5,607
14,985
|
12 |
- |
1 |
Kenobi: Star Wars
John Jackson Miller, Author
Lucas Books, $27.00 (380)
978-0-345-54683-8
|
Aug
2013 |
5,530
5,654
|
13 |
10 |
7
|
Danielle Steel, Author
Delacorte Press, $28.00 (384)
978-0-385-33830-1
|
Jul
2013 |
5,512
110,645
|
14 |
12 |
5
|
Liane Moriarty, Author
Amy Einhorn Books, $25.95 (416)
978-0-399-15934-3
|
Jul
2013 |
5,055
25,512
|
15 |
11 |
7
|
The English Girl
Daniel Silva, Author
Harper, $27.99 (496)
978-0-06-207316-7
|
Jul
2013 |
4,801
108,521
|
16 |
6 |
2
|
The Third Kingdom
Terry Goodkind, Author
Tor Books, $29.99 (527)
978-0-7653-3599-9
|
Aug
2013 |
4,643
14,470
|
17 |
15 |
8
|
William Shakespeare's Star Wars
Ian Doescher, Author
Quirk Books, $14.95 (174)
978-1-59474-637-6
|
Jul
2013 |
4,563
41,833
|
18 |
13 |
4
|
Hotshot
Julie Garwood, Author
Dutton Books, $26.95 (356)
978-0-525-95301-2
|
Aug
2013 |
3,952
31,361
|
19 |
16 |
4
|
W. E. B. Griffin, Author,
William E. Butterworth, IV, Author
Putnam Adult, $27.95 (352)
978-0-399-16257-2
|
Aug
2013 |
3,757
24,805
|
20 |
- |
1 |
The Family Business 2
Carl Weber, Author, Treasure
Hernandez, With
Urban Books, $23.95 (324)
978-1-60162-559-5
|
Aug
2013 |
3,504
3,676
|
21 |
14 |
11
|
Neil Gaiman, Author
William Morrow & Company, $25.99 (192)
978-0-06-225565-5
|
Jun
2013 |
3,407
124,982
|
22 |
- |
1 |
Jason Mott, Author
Mira Books, $24.95 (400)
978-0-7783-1533-9
|
Aug
2013 |
3,272
3,326
|
23 |
17 |
11
|
Second Honeymoon
James Patterson, Author, Howard
Roughan, Author
Little Brown and Company, $28.00 (432)
978-0-316-21122-2
|
Jun
2013 |
3,251
161,507
|
24 |
18 |
6
|
Philippa Gregory, Author
Touchstone Books, $27.99 (544)
978-1-4516-2609-4
|
Jul
2013 |
3,154
31,360
|
25 |
- |
1 |
Anne Perry, Author
Ballantine Books, $26.00 (352)
978-0-345-53670-9
|
Aug
2013 |
2,616
2,653
|
Phillip Rauls' Photo Archive
Photo-documenting Rock History

Former Atlantic A&R pro
Phillip Rauls will probably
eventually want to donate his extraordinary personal collection of
photographs of golden era rock luminaries to a rock museum
someplace. It is probably paralleled by few other such
collections. For now, however, he has put some of it online,
in documentary form, and you can watch it by going to his
Photolog site.
Just click on the image at right or on the link provided
here. Happy trails.


For more information on Baron Wolman,
and to view his work, visit:
www.baronwolman.com
www.omnibuspress.com
____________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________
Proper Records
presents ...
Beefheart: Through The Eyes Of Magic - John ‘Drumbo’ French
Written
by the man who spent more time than anyone else with Don Van
Vliet and The Magic Band this book serves as the definitive
story about the group.
This book clocks in at nearly 900 pages with 16
pages of very rare and often previously unpublished photos. Tracing the history
of the group it includes reminiscences from key members of The Magic Band and
The Mothers Of Invention. There are amazing stories about the recording process,
particularly Trout Mask Replica, and life on the road with the Captain.
Few names carry such formidable mystique and rabid cult status as Captain
Beefheart, who led various line-ups of his Magic Band to make some of the most
startling, ground-breaking albums of the last century. In 1982, he retired to
concentrate on painting, leaving the mythology he’d stoked himself to grow
untamed over the years.
John French is better qualified than anyone to
talk about Beefheart, joining the Magic Band in 1966 at the age of 17 just
before recording their Safe As Milk debut album, finding himself plunged into a
tyrannical regime which would dominate his life for the next 14 years as he
played a major role in eight subsequent albums, including translating the
mind-blowing avant-blues assault of 1969’s Trout Mask Replica into readable
music for the Magic Band from the Captain’s piano poundings under torturous
conditions he likens to a cult.
French’s remarkable memoir starts with a vivid
description of the rarely-documented early 60s Lancaster garage-rock scene which
also spawned names like Ry Cooder and Beefheart’s childhood friend and later
nemesis Frank Zappa, whose appearances in the book will enthral his own legion
of fans. As his spellbinding, often shocking tale unwinds, he encounters names
including jazz giant Ornette Coleman, Jim Morrison and Paul McCartney, writing
with dry, sometimes surreal humour and disarming honesty about his old boss and
even himself, occasionally bringing in his old Magic Band comrades to jog his
memory. The book is packed with new revelations, many previously-unseen photos
and enough anecdotes to keep the Beefheart faithful ruminating for years, French
finally crystallising and bringing to life over 40 years of legend and
speculation in what has to be the ultimate book on the mercurial genius of
Captain Beefheart.
"One of the most incredible stories to emerge out
of 20th century music ... the definitive account of life with the Captain from
the inside." Kris Needs - Mojo.
__________________________________________________________________________
Trower Drummer
Bill Lordan's Rock Life

Bill Lordan, pictured left,
has been in the high ether of the rock, funk and soul universe
for 40 years. Coming from humble beginnings in Minnesota, Lordan
caught on with soul groups The Amazers and The Esquires,
perfecting his chops at Harlem's Apollo Theatre, the only white
guy in otherwise Black ensembles. Success in that company led to
the big time with Gypsy, The Mystics, Sly and the Family Stone
and the Robin Trower Band.
Bill Lordan, working with
RARWRITER.com contributor Diana Olson, has written his
autobiography, From the Basement to the Coliseum,
charting his long and successful career. They are currently in
negotiations with publishers. Lordan remains an active player,
winning an L.A. Music Award as recently as 2004 for his
compilation album "The Best of BLX" (i.e., the Bill Lordan
Experience).
Click
here to read a brief excerpt from the book and listen to MP3
from his "Best of..." LP.
______________
"Valhalla
of Decadence"
L.A. Rocker Tony Gamble
(left) has been through quite a lot over the past six years,
including album releases, rock tours, and shows at the annual
NAMM conference, where he represents ESP Guitars.
And...oh yeah, there was
that murder, that body found in a trash bag in a dumpster
wearing Tony's watch...
Oh-oh...
Tony Gamble is a RARWRITER
Featured Artist in this edition, where he discusses the book he
is writing on his experiences surrounding a highly publicized
murder case in L.A., his childhood in Malibu, growing up with
the Z-Boys of Dogtown and the children of famous rockers, and
his plans for the future.
Click here to read the Tony
Gamble exclusive.
_______________

_____________________________________________
RARWRITER.com Offers Serial
Novels
NOTE FROM
RAR: Beginning with this May 2009 edition,
RARWRITER.com will begin the practice of serializing novels,
offering long works in installments. I intend to do this with my
own completed work as well as a few things that I currently have
in development. I invite the participation of other writers of
short and long fiction, should they have work they feel would
find an audience through this site. Contact me by email at
Rick@RARWRITER.com to
make inquiries.
The first offering is my "western
novel" Cowboy Town, which is a story of love and
redemption set against temptation, lust and violence. If that
sounds like promotional text from another era, it is meant to.
Modeled on 1930s-40s era cinema - read the forward provided with
the novel - Cowboy Town aims at the unapologetically
romantic and sentimental, and serves it up sautéed in
testosterone, just like how I knew it growing up out there on
the Great Plains and in Rocky Mountain country.
This first installment includes the
first 11 chapters of 50 total. Next month will include
additional until the book is full.
Click here to
go to Cowboy Town. The serialized novel will open
chapter-by-chapter in separate HTML files.
Click here
to go to the RARWRITER Literature page for additional
information.
____________________________________________________________________________________

___________________

INSIDE
STORY: James Warner, Ransom
Stephens and Yanina
Gotsulsky launched InsideStoryTime, which
SF Weekly selected "Best New Reading Series" of 2006. It is
described at Jame's site
as "A fun, cozy event where you can booze and schmooze with the
San Francisco literati." Ransom Stephens is a PhD., a
Physicists, and a public speaker in the fields of
electrodynamics and signal analysis. He is also a novelist, a
memoirist, a technical writer, and a consultant in problem
solving. Yanina Gotsulsky is a novelist, poet, and a translator
of Akhmatova and Pasternak. She holds a degree in Russian
Literature from York University in Toronto, travels frequently,
and splits her home time between Canada and Northern California.
She is represented by Markus Hoffmann of Regal Literary. James
Warner is profiled briefly in the following story.
James Warner:
Identity Theory
San Francisco,
California - Our friend James
Warner has carved out something of a niche for himself
in San Francisco's literary circles, publishing in various
on-line publications (McSweeney's Internet
Tendency, Eclectica, Monkey Bicycle), reading at the City's
LITQUAKE festival, and producing the club-hosted InsideStoryTime
reading series. British-born James, whose credentials include a
degree in philosophy from Oxford and a Java programming
certificate, tends toward the "pataphysical" in his own writing
- and he will appreciate that reference, along with Paul
McCartney, Eugene Ionesco, Autolux, and other readers of obscure
French journals - or at least he used to. These days he
is hosting a literary blog (click
here to read and leave comment) in which he is downright
sober, like a 7:30 a.m. survey class on 19th and 20th Century
British and American novelists.
James' recent entries have included
musings on Nabokav, Joseph Conrad, Thomas
Hardy, Henry James, Rudyard Kipling, Jack London, and a bevy of
other historical heavies, plus the very alive Louis de Bernieres.
For those who enjoy deep analysis of what it may mean to be
brilliant, all tied up in neat Gordian bows, you might find
James' musings highly entertaining. You might even learn
something! Or become inspired to write.
James is a musician, classically trained on
piano, and he has written some wonderfully entertaining tunes
over the years, though this avocation seems to have taken a
backseat to his literary explorations into what it all must
mean. Check out James blog at
www.identitytheory.com.

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