Iranian.com

Iranian.com Pulbished a feature on my E-book, The Ten Phases of Ansbach. Check it out at http://www.iranian.com/main/2012/jan/ten-phases-ansbach .

Added Book Trailer

I’m adding book trailers to my links on my front page.  Check them out and feel free to leave your opinions or comments.  Hope all my writer and reader followers are having a great day.

George's Wine and Spirits Corner

This month's beverage recommendation is a wine from the Village of Santo Stefano Belbo in Piedmont, Italy and is a Stella Rosa Rosso.  It has a natural carbonation and is mildly sweet.  I don't usually gravitate towards dessert wines, but the sweetness was not overbearing, and coupled with the mild carbonation, the Stella Rosa Rosso made for an enjoyable drink.  It should sell for under $10 depending on your location.  Cheers!

The Husband

The Husband, by Dean Koontz was a fairly quick read with little over 400 paperback pages, of comfortably readable size font; it made for an enlightening experience.  I’ll preface by saying, I’m not one of the biggest fans of The Husband, but I cannot deny there were events discussed drawn from the memories of the main character, Mitchell (Mitch) Rafferty that would make the most hardened child social worker cringe with disgust.

As you may imagine, the main character is a married man, happily I’ll add, but the book leaves you hanging a bit in the beginning as to who the villains truly are which I enjoy as it draws me into the story more.  Mitch who is a humble business owner of a landscaping business out of Orange County, California witnesses a murder directly across the street from him as he is on the cell phone with the soon to be found out kidnappers of his wife.  A man of humble means, Mitch has been directed to deliver two million dollars of ransom for the healthy return of his lovely wife or the same fate awaits her.

It was once said, “It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”  The book at this point is exclusionary to some and inclusionary only to the lucky ones in life, at this juncture, as it reminds us of the true loves we once had or have and the willingness to die without second guessing so that someone you hold dear may live.  It truly brought me back to the things I said and meant, and still do, as we get caught up in jobs, school and the needs of our own kids.  It is a wake-up call that we need to share an “I Love You” periodically with the ones so close to you that sometimes it is left to assumptions rather than actually speaking the words.

My favorite supporting character would be Detective Sandy Taggart.  Mitch is sworn to secrecy by the kidnappers as they threaten to kill Holly, Mitch’s wife, if he is to go to the authorities.  As Detective Taggart chisels away at the reason for the murder in Mitch’s clear viewing, it becomes more apparent to the detective, Mitch might be hiding something.  I only wish we heard more from the detective as the evasiveness of Mitch in conversation with the detective, kept you on the edge of your seat.

Mitch is desperate to find the money and pays a visit to Daniel and Kathy, his parents by first name since thirteen.  Daniel and Kathy, both Doctors of Behavioral Psychology approach child rearing like a psychological experiment and if you read The Husband, I won’t ruin it all for you, but remember two things: the learning room, and the shame game.  Wow, scary stuff.  I shared with my kids, just to remind them, how lucky they really are!  “Now go do your homework!”

Anson is the older brother to Mitch of five siblings and the only other to remain local to the parents as horrified memories of childhood were too much for the three sisters to bear and moved far away when the opportunity showed itself.  Anson was the one light of his parents’ life (and successful experiment) as he pursued the intellectual path and received his doctorate and excelled in the corporate world.  Anson was the shining star and the favorite of all the children as well; with a smile and laugh that would light up the room.  Only, things aren’t always what they seem, and the effects of the behavioral experiments may have affected one or two of the children more than what first meets the eye (without giving too much away).  From this point in the book through its completion, I was let down, somewhat, having built me up with intrigue and curious disgust.  I thought the storyline became a little too predictable towards the end.  Nevertheless, if I was forced to score it, I would give it a 3 out of 5 stars.  And just for the record, I am still a huge fan of Dean Koontz, so if you have the opportunity, I would recommend The Good Guy, and By the Light of The Moon, but certainly would not talk you out of reading, The Husband.

The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath, is an oldie but a goodie. Periodically, as you may have read in my bio, my daughters will get tired of me reading my favorite action/thriller authors to try and provide me with a semblance of culture and literary background that they have been blessed to receive. As I thrived on “Cliff Notes” during my high school years, my girls, for the most part, will read books cover to cover and it shows in their depth of knowledge as they grow through the years. My true love of reading was spawned during my military days and never subsided, though being a parent continuously pulls and tugs at one’s time, I will fight for my reading time as I wait outside in the parking lot for the kid’s Karate, swim or tennis practice.


The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck was handed to me by my older daughter not too long ago that hit a particularly sensitive nerve in me. You see, I was laid-off in late 2008 and have endured the tremendous stress and worry that one experiences as a provider for a family and a parent whose children looks to them for security and comfort . Security comes in many forms including shelter and food, and those things children take for granted including medical coverage and the ever so available parent taxi driver. As most of you know, the timing of my unfortunate event was at the beginning of the recession, which borders on a depression, but never seems to hit all the necessary benchmarks to be called a depression. The Grapes of Wrath follows the Joad family as they are forced to leave their farm in Oklahoma as the dust bowl had ravished so many farms in the mid-states, including Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma and more of course were affected. In the midst of the Great Depression and with an unprecedented nationwide drought, the Joad family along with hundreds of thousands of other displaced farmers migrated west to the land of opportunity, California.

Now stop and envision yourself almost penniless, slaughtering the last of your pigs for food and hoping that would last long enough until you possibly land a job, driving in a warn-down pieced together car with your entire living lineage from Grandpa and Grandma right down to the youngest, piled every which-way on the so-called vehicle, hoping you’re going to make it just to the next town. The dialogue Steinbeck uses is representative of the broken rural English of yester year and is trying at first to understand, but your mind soon makes the adjustment as you are pulled in as part of the Joad family as you stop for a night’s rest along a long lonely road and ask strangers politely to join them for the night. It is soon found out that the poor are the most giving and hospitable and makes what seems as an impossible trek possible. The Grapes of Wrath is not about the fleeing from one’s decimated farm life, but of hopes and dreams and family and a stark reminder that things aren’t truly as bad as they seem at times, and that a great and timeless novelist such as John Steinbeck can pull you in and turn you around and make you a better person for having shared an important piece of Americana. I would highly recommend it to the young and the old and the middle-aged, such as myself, for it takes a lot to move me, and The Grapes of Wrath surely has.