Product Description
Meet Terence Newcombe, a "literature professor with nothing original or relevant to teach. A homeowner, taxpayer, respected member of society deserving of nothing but contempt. A hoaxster, a con man, a grifter. Being a stand-up guy was my shell game. Friend? Husband? Mentor? Father? The hand is quicker than the eye." Through relentless wordplay, unflinching introspection, and spot-on critique of academia with all its pedagogy and convoluted language, Randall Silvis spins a bittersweet tale of lost hopes and nearly grasped second chances. Narrator Terence "Nuke" Newcombe revels in self-loathing, short circuits his synapses, then finds himself unexpectedly sober, with that elusive second chance not so far out of reach. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Confession All Should Read
Randall Silvis crafted in this book a character with whom everyone can relate, a story from which the reader quesions his or her own life story, and a lasting feeling of appreciation for being alive.Everyone has a confession inside them fighting to get out and Randall Silvis captures so beautifully the need and desire to finally have the weight lifted.Hangtime: A Confession is a very engaging read for all readers looking for a great story that leaves a lasting impression. ... Read more

Product Description
After the death of his beloved wife, a devastated Poe decides that a change of scenery is in order.He has been invited to Pittsburgh by a wealthy benefactor, Dr. Alfred Brunrichter, a man of intriguing contradiction who on the one hand was fascinated by subjects so macabre that even Poe did not wish to consider, while on the other hand was solicitous of Poe's comfort in every regard and was a local philanthropist and patron of the arts.Augie Dubbins, now a young man in search of adventure, joins Poe in order to keep an eye on his increasingly maudlin friend.After an exhausting journey across the length of Pennsylvania, their first glimpse of Pittsburgh is not a heartening one.The city, a tight triangle of enterprise squeezed between the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, is gray with factory smoke; its riverbanks clogged with barges, streamboats and freighters, choked with log rafts from the denuded forests farther north. It is at every turn a working-class city, gritty and rough.Moreover, the air of Pittsburgh reeks of death - a cholera epidemic has recently swept through the city, killing hundreds - and Poe and Augie soon learn the real reason behind the city's malaise.Several young females, all attractive women in their late teens, have disappeared over the past six months.All are of the merchant class - not among the cultural elite but not outright prostitutes either.With Poe almost incapacitated by the lavish attention of their host, Augie finds himself exploring Pittsburgh on his own and begins to investigate the killings. With great attention to period detail and utilizing all of his skill as a seasoned novelist, Randall Silvis once again crafts a wonderful historical thriller that will leave you gripping the edge of your seats. AUTHORBIO: RANDALL SILVIS is a novelist, playwright, screenwriter and essayist.He is the winner of the 1984 Drue Heinz Literature Prize, as well as numerous other literary awards, including two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts.He lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and their two sons. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Excellent book!
I have trouble understanding the logic of those who criticize this book.I guess if you want a fast read without much substance, there are better novels.But for a truly memorable book that covers not just into the surface of a crime, but the historical character of Poe in a fictional novel, you cannot do better.I used to work at the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond, and currently work near Pittsburgh. The author does a truly impressive job of protraying Pittsburgh in the 19th century. And his ability to deal with character of Poe using many of the same words and phrases that Poe used in his works shows that Mr. Silvus really did his research.

Buch McWuerd
Its pretty sad when most of this guys books are available for a penny and the only positive reviews come from Harriet Klausner!

A Thriller? You could have fooled me
Fresh on the heels of his critical and commercial success, "On Night's Shore," Silvis again revisits the dynamic duo of Edgar Allan Poe and his protégé, Augie Dubbins. Written in the historical crime fiction mold, the novel chiefly takes place in mid 19th century Pittsburgh. Here, the team set their minds to solving a string of female abductions that has plagued Pittsburgh over the past six months. As we eventually discover, one member of the team has a personal interest in having this mystery solved.

What kills this novel (pardon the pun) is it's pacing; quite frankly, it is brutally slow, like watching paint dry. The first 200 pages, approximately 2/3 of the book, serve as nothing more than backdrop, painstakingly detailing Poe's physical/psychological collapse; a collapse, mind you, that has nothing to do with the book's resolution. I would have understood had the psychological section of the novel dovetailed with the thriller portion and/or provided insights concerning the mystery of the disappearing women. However, there really isn't much connectivity between the two parts.

In a futile attempt to maintain the reader's interest, the narrator frequently alludes to imminent disaster. As each reference has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the chest, and Silvis constantly repeats these warnings, apparently unaware that his readers will probably remember things that are mentioned after, oh, about, 100 times, by the time the actual disaster comes about, I was irritated and past caring.

This is a rather obvious whodunit. The reader is constantly two steps ahead of the purported sleuths. Strangely, ostensibly important clues that are intimated earlier in the book, such as Augie's sequence where he is not sure whether he is dreaming, are later totally ignored by our enterprising duo when putting the clues together. The book had me wondering whether Silvis was deliberately trying to insult the pair's intelligence.

Having paid a mere $5 for the book (in hardcover, no less) at my local book superstore, I really can't say I was swindled out of my money. After all, as the old adage goes, `you get what you paid for.' Nevertheless, I was still disappointed, particularly in light of Silvis' reputation as an intriguing storyteller.

more a dark historical fiction than a mystery
When his spouse died, Edgar Allan Poe drowns his sorrows by frequenting the local bars and over indulging.His disenchanted former protégé Augie Dubbins comes to Philadelphia to find Poe.Augie finds a shell of his mentor whose depression is bone deep.However, Augie has some good news. The Quintillian Society head Dr. Alfred K. Brunrichter wants Poe to come to Pittsburgh as his houseguest while providing lectures to the rank and file members.

When Poe and Dubbins arrive at their host's mansion, they are stunned as Brunrichter looks like Edgar's twin.The doctor wants Poe and his cohort to investigate the disappearance of several women in the last month or so.As Brunrichter keeps Poe in a virtual state of stupor with ether, Dubbins begins a search for the lost ladies.However, when Dubbins is accused of murder, Poe shakes off the daze to start his own inquiries including into that of his benefactor.

Though well written, DISQUIET HEART is radically different in mood and tone than the superb ON NIGHT'S SHORE.The sleuthing by Poe and Dubbins comes late in the tale, as the novel is more a historical fiction than a mystery.Instead readers glimpse a depressed pessimistic Poe spiraling into addiction.Still, the story line grips the audience as the atmosphere of 1847 Pittsburgh and Philadelphia vividly seems real through the actions of Poe and Dubbins.Though very gloomy, readers will appreciate Randall Silvis' latest tell tale Poe adventure.

Harriet Klausner ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

For anyone who's felt trapped by life...
That's what immediately caught my attention about this book. Somehow, the author makes the initially hum-drum life of a cubicle-bound accountant into a highly entertaining page turner. I got this finished in one night because I couldn't put it down. It's hard to believe that more people haven't read it. Bloomhardt is a man with good intentions, who somehow usually messes things up. Despite loving his wife and son, there's a barrier between them that he can't manage to break through. At the start of the book, his life is dull and routine. His biggest complaint is that nothing ever changes. He sees his options in life as going to work at a job he hates or staying at home with a family he can't communicate with. His co-workers are a bunch of low lives for the most part, and Bloomhardt's view on life is alternately bleak and humorous. As one of his friends says when he's just about hit rock bottom after the split with his wife, "We know what the world is made of. It's made of food and drink, noise and stink, sex and death."Bloomhardt's reminisces about his youth, how he wound up bound to a job he hates and a mortgage to a house he doesn't like, makes for some good reading. So for anyone who's ever felt trapped by life while managing to see the humor in it, this book is for you. ... Read more

Product Description
Novel, hardcover with embossed jacket, 420 pp. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Mystical "Mysticus"
Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This is the Place and Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered

Mysticus is a new novel with the potential to be a classic--if it only were getting the attention it deseves.

Like most classics, Mysticus cannot be wrapped up and tied in a pretty bow. It is a bit mystery, a bit futurist, a bit literary, a bit fantasy, a bit mainstream, a bit historical, a bit contemporary and a lot compelling. The story lines are woven like threads in a tapestry; they intersect one another in imaginative ways.

Each story is told from the character's own point of view, carefully labeled and dated. Some of these "chapters" are only a few paragraphs long, some much longer, but all leave the reader wanting-needing--to learn more, to turn those pages as fast as she can.

This book is for the mystical, the political, the literary, and even the fantasy-lovers among us. There is no way that a reader will turn that last page and think "Mysticus" is like anything else she's read. It is daring and original. Randall Silvis takes chances with his writing and the result is exquisite-palpable and yes, mystical.

(Carolyn Howard-Johnson's first novel, This is the Place, has won eight awards. Her newly released Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remember has won three. Sona Ovasapyan, Student at Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic, says,"This author's words set me free.")

Vibrant and unusual
In 1949 Ronald Shepard, the son of servants to a millionaire playboy living on a private island off the coast of South Carolina, meets Marilyn Monroe. This begins the child's movement from innocence to the eventual experience that results in an obsession with sex, power, greed and ambition that shapes the rest of his life.

In 2001 seventeen-year-old Cassandra DeRoy has been employed in the world's oldest profession for three years. A dead ringer for Marilyn Monroe, Cassie stands at a street corner one night when Ronald spots her. Remembering his encounter with Marilyn so many years ago, Ronald picks her up and takes her home. He proves to be the gentlest man she'd ever met.

In 2018 sixteen-year-old Ginger Todd faces the ugliest elements of her society. Disgusted with her past, Ginger sees no hope of improvement for her future. Adopted to people who don't understand her, Ginger finds herself pregnant and seeking answers to her identity in the journals of her alcoholic mother. For a brief moment, she realizes she had actually been valued, that her existence had not always been an inconvenience and an annoyance.

Three narrative flows gracefully intertwine in a powerful novel about love, sex and power. Randall Silvis' fine storytelling mesmerizes the reader, combining wonder, comedy and crassness in an incredibly moving epic that confronts our deepest natures. Light and dark likewise intertwine resulting in a profound revelation of pain and redemption. These vibrant characters enact our greatest desires and our greatest fears, yet touch our hearts and imaginations in ways that are moving and profound. Very highly recommended.

Just In Time: In Praise Of Mysticus
Mysticus, the latest novel from Randall Silvis, invites us to look atourselves through what we value.The plot is revealed in three separatenarrative lines, all different time segments in the life of Ronald Shepardand each focusing on significant characters who make their ways into or outof Shepard's life.In braiding three different times as he does, Silvislets us see how past, present and future are in a way contemporaneous.Because of what we have in common culturally, we are not so different frommembers of other generations.Perhaps the feeling that the twenty-firstcentury isn't so stunningly different as we thought it would be is partlyexplained by the treatment of time and events in the book. Otherreviewers of Mysticus agree that what Silvis does with language is reasonenough to read the book.Most impressive is the way language melds withtheme.On any page, the reader can see an understanding of language whichseems both professional and instinctive.Silvis's strength is his embraceof the nature of words and his faith in narrative.This explains theachievement of Mysticus, whose descriptions will leave readers wistfullylonging for more, even while they feel well fed on a sensual feast offeeling and thought. Buy this book and savor the way language andtheme are almost one in Mysticus.As the dawning of the third millenniumprompts us to remember where we've been,it may be that you read Mysticusjust in time.

A giddy, bawdy ride through the mysteries of the human mind.
Mysticus follows the life and times of Ronald Shepard beginning as the nine-year-old child of servants to a millionaire playboy who lives on a private island off the coast of South Carolina and continuing through hisadulthood. Ronald lives in a world of power, greed, ambition, and sex thatspans from Marilyn Monroe (a goddess of seduction whose presence sweepsthrough the novel like an avalanche); to Cassandra DeRoy, a SunsetBoulevard teeny-bopper hooker (who bears a disconcerting resemblance toMarilyn); to sixteen-year-old Ginger Todd hitchhiking illegally acrossAmerican in search of parents she has never known. Mysticus is a literarysymphony of cosmic loneliness with a consummate mastery of prose revealingits profane and profound song of darkness and redemption. Author RandallSilvis offers the reader a giddy, bawdy ride through the mysteries of thehuman mind. Highly recommended.

A giddy, bawdy ride through the mysteries of the human mind.
Mysticus follows the life and times of Ronald Shepard beginning as the nine-year-old child of servants to a millionaire playboy who lives on a private island off the coast of South Carolina and continuing through hisadulthood. Ronald lives in a world of power, greed, ambition, and sex thatspans from Marilyn Monroe (a goddess of seduction whose presence sweepsthrough the novel like an avalanche); to Cassandra DeRoy, a SunsetBoulevard teeny-bopper hooker (who bears a disconcerting resemblance toMarilyn); to sixteen-year-old Ginger Todd hitchhiking illegally acrossAmerican in search of parents she has never known. Mysticus is a literarysymphony of cosmic loneliness with a consummate mastery of prose revealingits profane and profound song of darkness and redemption. Author RandallSilvis offers the reader a giddy, bawdy ride through the mysteries of thehuman mind. Highly recommended. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (2)

Mundomuerto es Muy Bien!
I disagree with Whemmer "billyjames".What makes Randall Silvis' writing so special is that unlike many other authors, he doesn't write the same storyline for the same genre over and over.Instead, Silvis is a masterful storyteller who is capable of writing for numerous genres with his lyrical language and magnificent storytelling.His writing is fresh, new, and different with each story he delivers.I enjoyed Mundomuerto because it is yet another example of how Silvis' storytelling captivates the reader and leaves him or her with a book they can't put down.It was no surprise to me why Mundomuerto was rated as one of the ten best books of the year by [...]!It's a wonderfully written story and I congratulate Silvis on another job well done!

a real disappointment
After reading reading Silvis's two terrific Edgar Allen Poe thrillers, I was anticipating a great read. Oops! not Silvis's genre, I guess. The writing and the characters were flat. Real Writing 101 stuff.
Read the Edgar Allen Poe thrillers, then move on. That's my advice.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Eclectic, somewhat academic, stories
I was led to this by reading Silvis's mystery, "Occasional Hell".The book as a whole was somewhat strained and over the top in places [it featured a hard-boiled ex-PI, now a college professor with a colostomy], but had moments of brilliant prose and observation, as I wrote in my review of that book.I hypothesized that in his short fiction, those moments might dominate.

Alas, I was mistaken. The stories that I read had similar oddity of situation, plot or character, and few if any of the lapidary sparkles of prose that made "Occasional Hell" noteworthy.I give the book four stars because the stories are, in their way, engaging, and well done for what they are -- academic, "small magazine" works not intended for a wide audience.

I read four of the six stories here.That I read that many, but did not feel like devoting time to finishing the rest, is indicative.Pleasant, but like a restaurant dish that serves the purpose of filling up but is not so good as to make one lick the plate, feelings of gluttony and straining belt notwithstanding.

"Trash Man" is about a garbage collector having something like a midlife crisis, for whom "the crisp clarity of the world disappeared."He meditates on the fate of what he hauls, is haunted by his horribly injured assistant Goony, and has a revelation/hallucination/dream in which the universe seems to consist of a giant garbage pit.

In "Prayer and Old Jokes" two old friends -- the serious artist Eligio "Ellie" Gutierrez who is reduced to painting velvet Elvises for Tijuana tourists, and gringo liquor store clerk Michael -- go on a trip with Ellie's young brother Carlito, using a racetrack windfall.In Ensenada, they find love .. or at least lust .. nights on the beach, growth and tragedy.The atmosphere is somewhat reminiscent of the film "Amores Perros", a native spin on the debauched tales of American tourists.In a Silvisian twist, the story is tied together by the fantasies of Ellie's senile mother.

The viewpoint character of "One Night with a Girl by the Seine" is "Major" Zoya, an aging Russian WWII veteran living in the US with his nearly blind wife Nana, on the bitter edge of poverty.The story is mainly concerned with Zoya's quest for enough funds to buy a cheap pint of vodka, so he can relive in drunken memory his only other experience with a woman, a one night stand with a French girl in liberated Paris who thought he was an American soldier.The surprisingly complex economic calculations of those not concerned with stocks and bonds are well laid out.

In "A Walk in the Moonlight" the classic small town loser Eddie Bailey has been arrested for public urination in plain view of the sheriff, and Father MacDonald debates with the amoral but clever town teen sexpot, Eddie's lover Lori, in the confessional.

... Read more

Product Description
"RIVETING...COMPELLING...Silvis engages the reader from first word to last.
--Los Angeles Reader
P.I. Ernest DeWalt snooped on two-timing spouses for twenty years until a hail of bullets knocked him out of the game. Whoever heard of a sleuth with bum kidneys? Denied such staples of gumshoe life as booze, salty food, and sex, Ernest DeWalt winds up teaching literature courses in a nearly comatose college town.
It's a life that the reclusive DeWalt has nevertheless snuggled into with reasonable comfort. Too bad fate won't just let this disillusioned sleeping dog lie. Too bad a fellow faculty member--in the throes of a fling with the sexy waitress wife of a small-time rock singer--ends up with a musket ball in his brain. And too bad it's so hard to say no to the dead man's wife, when she asks DeWalt to crawl out of his shell and bring his private-eye prowess into play just one more time....
"AN EXTRAORDINARILY LITERATE MYSTERY.
--The Washington Times
"An interesting puzzle packaged in superior prose, AN OCCASIONAL HELL is an absorbing and reflective read.
--The Mystery Review
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An Occasional Delight
The Publishers Weekly review quoted by amazon has it about right -- An Occasional Hell is occasionally hellaciously good but overall a mixed bag.It gets four stars rather than three only because the parts that are good are SO good.

There are frequent moments of brilliant prose and observation, with lapidary precision and beauty -- and then in the next page the writing becomes over-reaching and self-indulgent.Some of the good parts:
"... he had lived a long time without the madness of sex -- not without sex itself but the wonderful terrible insane burn of desire..."
"[speaking of faculty wives] that typical hostess mentality he had grown to abhor, that shallow self-centeredness of women whose days are comprised of lunch, tennis and cocktails..."
"... a middle-aged man is hope betrayed. ... Dawn arrives too quickly, before strategy can become execution."

But then we have the too cutely self-referential:
"He was writing a story now even as he stood there, writing a story about himself thinking about himself, a story empty of epiphanies about a man staring at the juncture of sweet grass and dirty sidewalk...."Which in a way summarizes Silvis, the author, as much as DeWalt, the protagonist.

Plotwise, the first half or so builds unbearable whodunnit tension, as the facts of the case become less and less explicable and we wait some revelation to make sense of it all.But then, though there is a resolution of sorts, DeWalt does not seem to come to it by genuine evidence or Sherlockian reasoning but more the "it COULD be like this, therefore it IS" syllogism.And in the end, we are left with a cop-out, a vaguely indeterminate ending.Silvis's own prose expresses it well:"[H]e had tossed too many glass balls into the air, had started too many plates spinning.And now what was he to do..."

So ... get this one for the half which is brilliantly written, and skim over the parts less so.It's still a rewarding read.Silvis is very likely better at short fiction, and I plan to check his collections out. ... Read more

Product Description
Helping a young woman find her brother's killer is the biggest risk wildlife filmmaker Mac Parris has ever taken, since he has spent most of his adult life hiding from the FBI and his own past in pursuit of revenge. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Very highly recommended
A leg bone and the upper portion of an arm have been found in separate locations in north central Pennsylvania. As Diana reads the newspaper account, her blood freezes. She intuits that the victim is her younger brother. Tony was only fourteen, but had been on his own since she left her abusive home the day after her eighteenth birthday. Diana couldn't blame him for leaving too, and she refused to damn him for the harsh choices he made to stay alive on the streets. The police can't help since Diana can't even prove her brother missing. So she approaches filmmaker Mac Parris to help her. He's said to have an eye for detail, doesn't mind late hours, has the right equipment, and is within her price range.

Mac has his own demons to fight. Thirty years ago his life dramatically changed with the tragic loss of his wife and child. Now his nights are haunted by fire and only the deep woods, far from civilization, brings relief. Now he films the lives of wolverines and other scavengers, living his life on the path of most resistance. Perhaps he prefers having the odds stacked against him. And perhaps he feels more of a kinship for the wolverine than most of the members of his own species. Surprising himself, when Diana shows up at his doorstep requesting his help, he finds it "physically impossible at a time like that to say no to a girl with snowlights in her hair."

The more time Mac spends with the strong, yet strangely vulnerable Diana, the more he comes to realize that the vacuum he's defined as his life is sterile and useless. Her presence gives him a purpose beyond the vision of revenge he's held for thirty years. They come to know one another not by what each reveals but by that which they work to keep hidden. As their joint quest for answers leads them deep into a world of perversion, violence and decadence, the answers also lead these sharply compelling characters to a transformation of vision and self.

DEAD MAN FALLING is one of those strangely compelling novels that fits into the genre of murder, of mystery, of crime thriller, and yet it is so much more. DEAD MAN FALLING echoes the grace and profundity of much classic literature such as Hemingway's THE SUN ALSO RISES. Further, Randall Silvis' voice moves with a subtle depth and compassion that entrances the reader, drawing one deep within this absorbing narrative. Very highly recommended. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

An Excellent Sequel
Originally to be titled "Disquiet Heart", this is a chiller! It is a sequel to the same author's "On Night's Shore", which I would recommend reading first. These books are not of the hearts-and-flowers variety, but the prose is so fine, the characters and story-telling so strong and the massive research into life in New York City and in Pittsburgh in the 1840's so unobtrusive, I found them both compelling. In fact, I lost a lot of sleep because I was unwilling to put them down.
This being the case, I ordered two other books by the same author: "Mysticus" and "Mundomuerto". What a comedown! Very third-rate stuff. Hard to believe they were written by the same guy. Flat, uninspiring prose. One-dimensional characters.
I look forward to a third novel on the adventures of Augie Dubbins. That seems to be a storyline from which the author draws true inspiration.

Fun and interesting piece of historical fiction
Although Edgar Allen Poe is a minor character in this novel, it is nonetheless quite an entertaining piece of historical fiction mixed with mystery and suspense.Augie Dubbins has returned to Poe after the death of Poe's wife, in an attempt to help him get by.When Poe receives a letter from a man in Pittsburgh asking him to come visit, it seems like just the sort of thing Poe needs to pull him out of his extreme depression.However, the longer they stay, the more Augie worries - Poe is acting very strangely, and Augie isn't very impressed by Dr. Brunrichter, so seems mostly interested in re-making himself as Poe.

There is a lot more to this book, of course - there's a love interest sub-plot involved, and of course Augie's attempts to make himself his own person.I really enjoyed it and went through the story in just a couple days.Definitely a recommend to those who like this sort of fiction.

More August Dubbins than Poe
WARNING-THIS IS NOT AN ORIGINAL NOVEL-RATHER IT IS A RE-ISSUE OF RANDALL SILVIS NOVEL THE DISQUIET HEART.

Now that I have got that out of the way aside from the packaging and marketing of this novel, it is a rather enjoyable piece of historical fiction. Once I got past the disappointment of there not being that much Edgar Alan Poe or supernatural occurrences going on I found myself enjoying the authors' ability to bring the pre-civil war era to life.

The book takes place immediately after the death of Poe's wife which has left Poe in a desperate maniac-depressive spiral. Fortunately Poe's friend August Dubbins has received a letter from an Alfred Brunrichter of Pittsburgh who asks if Poe would like to be his house guest while providing lectures and readings to Pittsburgh society. Poe and Dubbins quickly accept and find themselves in Pittsburgh. However as the reader is to find out Mr. Brunrichter has reasons of his own for wanting to bring Poe to Pittsburgh-which coincidentally is experiencing a rash of serial killings.

The next 1/3 of the novel deals with Auggie's attempts to emulate Poe and win his admiration by becoming a writer himself. At the same time Auggie falls in love with the beautiful Susan Kemmer, the daughter of a dockworker and when she is brutally murdered finds himself accused of her slaying and the other serial killings. With the assistance of Buck Kemmer, Susan's father,Auggie is able to rescue Poe from the clutches of Brunrichter, who has been keeping Poe in a drug induced stupor and they are able to solve the killings and clear Auggie's name.

Although advertised and marketed as a supernatural thriller, this is much more of a historical fiction piece. Randall Silvis does an admirable job of bringing the mid 1800's to life and that is the strength of this novel. The suspense would have been a touch more intense if Mr. Silvis had not abused the method of foreshadowing. It seemed that almost every other chapter ended with a portent of upcoming doom. Although the pacing is a bit slow the details and realism of the period tended to overcome this and the authors narrative style kept the pages turning easily. After reading this novel I am quite anxious to read the first one as it has received much better reviews. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Any who enjoy history blended with adventure will relish the turn-of-the-century adventurer Mina Hubbard
Any who enjoy history blended with adventure will relish the turn-of-the-century adventurer Mina Hubbard, who journeyed into the Labrador wilderness and changed from a rural nurse into a celebrated female explorer. Mina's husband died of starvation while trying to map Labrador's interior in 1903: wife Mina was devastated not only by his death, but by his partner's accusation that the expedition failed due to her husband's incompetence. Mina launched her own expedition simultaneous to partner Dillon Wallace's second attempt: she followed her late husband's original route and with a native crew won the race to chart Labrador - and became the first white women to contact the elusive Naskapis Indians. Original source material and memoirs blend with Randall Silvis' masterful history in NORTH OF UNKNOWN: MINA HUBBARD'S EXTRAORDINARY EXPEDITION INTO THE LABRADOR WILDERNESS.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Others do it better
THere were a few other books about Mina Hubbard before the centenary last year, by far the best of which is 'Lost Lands, Forgotten Stories' by British writer Alexandra Pratt, who combines Mina's story with her own as she re-traces Mina's route across Labrador. Rugge and Davis also wrote a fictionalised version of Mina's trip back in '85, which is worth a read.

A labor for love in Labrador

Mina Hubbard was devastated when her husband died exploring the interior of Labrador.Upon return members of his expeditionary team members told reporters that they were not well equipped.She felt these statements made Leonidas Hubbard look like a foolish amateur, andwondered if this team did all it could to help him survive.

Silvis poses that to clear the family name the grieving widow left her upstate NY life and struck out on the same trail. I think she went to be closer to Leonidas (Laddy)... be where he was... see what he saw. Mina chose a crew of 4 Indians, including George, who spoke a native tongue and had been on her husband's expedition.What ever the reason she did it, once on the trail, the trip took on new motivations: survival, competition, discovery.

Dillon Wallace, who leveled the criticism of that expedition to the press, also hired a crew and hit the trail simultaneously.

As Mina travels, she marvels at the land, learns to eat fresh meat and work as a team.Mina's journals and maps survive longer and stronger than Wallace's who made the bigger media splash upon return.Both spend 3 days in Ungava Bay and avoided each other (cannot imagine, since this is only a settlement).

This is a nicely written piece of forgotten history and it has everyday heroes.It's written for adults, but I'd like to see it find its way to high school reading lists. ... Read more

Product Description
Seldom does a historical thriller so authentically re-create a time and place as does ON NIGHT'S SHORE. In the tradition of Ragtime and The Alienist, critically acclaimed author Randall Silvis breathes life into this intriguing crime story featuring Edgar Allan Poe, the father of all detective stories, whose brooding imagination was the coal that fueled his genius. Here, Silvis gives us a window to peer into Poe's troubled psyche as he finds himself caught up in a mire of greed, lust, and murder...The year is 1840 and New York City is captivated by the mysterious murder of a beautiful shopgirl. The discovery of the body of Mary Rogers in the Hudson River prompts a young journalist, Edgar Allan Poe to search for the truth behind an apparently motiveless crime. Joining him in his investigation is Augie Dubbins, an orphaned street urchin who becomes Poe's most trusted ally. Using intuition and rational thinking, Poe and Augie recreate the last days of the victim's secret life.Narrated by the precocious Augie, the story swings wildly from the hidden depths of the Five Points slums to the glittering mansions of Fifth Avenue society. As Poe and his sidekick gather information, a sadistic killer threatens to destroy everything they've worked for. The clock is ticking, and Poe must solve the mystery or become a victim himself.AUTHORBIO: RANDALL SILVIS is the author of the acclaimed novels Mysticus and An Occasional Hell and is an accomplished playwright, screenwriter, and essayist. He is the winner of the 1984 Drue Heinz Literature Prize as well as the recipient of two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. He lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and two children.Amazon.com Review
Fans of Caleb Carr's historical mysteries will lap up this well-told tale of murder, mayhem, poetry, prose, and political corruption in mid-19th-century New York. The poetry and prose comes from Edgar Allan Poe, the mayhem from young Augie Dubbins, a street urchin befriended by Poe when he leads the writer to the body of a murdered girl trapped under a pier in the Hudson River. The unlikely duo join forces, visiting the darkest, dirtiest slums and opium dens of the city as well as its glittering mansions to track down the story behind the death of Mary Rogers, a shop girl whose connection with the power brokers of the city is at the heart of this literary mystery.

Augie's love for Poe, who seems like the father he never had, drives the narrative as strongly as the inner demons that beset the struggling poet, encountered here a decade before his final descent into the darkness he so brilliantly depicted. Although Poe's death is foreshadowed here (the story is told from the perspective of an Augie grown old after his own career as a writer), it doesn't detract from the immediacy of the story or the emotional resonance of the relationship between an unlikely pair of heroes this reader strongly hopes to meet again. --Jane Adams ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Dazzling prose
Besides the story telling and the insights into the character of Edgar Allen Poe, this book is written in the most dazzling prose! It's a tale told by an old man remembering his boyhood and his friendship with the remarkable but flawed Poe, whose struggles with editors and his own dark and moody psyche as he roams the streets of 1840's NYC, brilliantly described, in search of the murderer of a young girl, are thrilling to read of. I'm ordering more Silvis novels. I'm hooked.

A must-read for mystery buffs and Poe fans alike
The father of the modern detective story takes center stage in a riveting tale of murder, corruption and redemption.A street urchin discovers a dead girl, and chance leads his path across that of struggling journalist Edgar Allan Poe.Ever the alert profiteer, Augie Dubbins reveals his grisly find to Poe in exchange for a coin.The two then find themselves navigating a labyrinth of contradictory evidence and repelling attempts both on their lives and on their integrity in order to expose the murder's identity and motive.In so doing, man and boy find in each other a commonality that transcends their divergent backgrounds.Poe is the nearest thing to a father Augie has ever known; his home and family life are paradise to a child who has known only squalor and violence.Augie serves a purpose for Poe as well, becoming a no-nonsense, street-smart caretaker when Poe's dark instabilities cast their enervating shadow on him.

Silvis recreates 1840s New York with an unstinting and often brutal clarity.His elegant, evocative prose is suggestive of Poe's own style and his narrative integrates elements from Poe's more popular works.The characters, real and fictional alike, are masterpieces of insight into the human experience.Nowhere is this insight more evident than in the author's rendering of Edgar Allan Poe, a brilliant, compassionate and fatally complex man whose devotion to his work was exceeded only by his love for his family.

An interesting read...
This mysteryopens with a young boy viewing the murder and suicide of a baby and its young mother. Another body is discovered and the story begins. Resolution of the mystery surrounding the death of shopgirl Mary Rogers is augmented by the telling of the relationship between street urchin Augie and Edgar Alan Poe. It's rare to find a mystery where the reader is so taken in by the characters...a very worthwhile read.

Poe mystery evokes New York
In the summer of 1840 a New York street urchin witnesses a young woman throw her baby, then herself, into the murky Hudson River. Making a few pennies recounting the tragedy, ten-year-old Augie Dubbins meets an impoverished young journalist, Edgar Allan Poe.

Together they discover the body of another young woman caught under the docks and embark on an investigation which takes them from the squalor of the Five Points slums to the glitter of Fifth Avenue, where Augie learns that ruthless depravity thrives at all levels of society.

Narrated by Augie many years later "On Night's Shore" seamlessly incorporates elements of Poe's later tales into the narrative - "The Mystery of Marie Roget," "The Cask of Amontillado," "The Black Cat" - without overreaching. Poe is a gloomy, driven man whose genius is beset by poverty, nagging self-doubt and bouts of drunkenness. Augie, brutalized, clever, and resourceful ("in calamity, opportunity"), attaches himself to Poe as a father figure, enchanted by his family circle of consumptive, gentle wife and strong, generous mother-in-law.

Despite occasional backsliding into, respectively, despair and opportunism, Poe and Augie bring out the best in one another and together they delve into Mary Rogers' working class life, shattering several official versions of the murder on their winding path into the bastions of city power. Atmospheric and suspenseful, Silvis' ("An Occasional Hell," "Excelsior") character-driven story brings the city to life in all its cruelty and grandeur and the writing - mannered, gritty and eloquent - evokes the voice and sensibility of the time.

New York Times review
By MARILYN STASIO

The vibrant panorama of New York City in 1840 that Randall Silvis spreads before our eyes in ON NIGHT'S SHORE (Thomas Dunne/St. Martin's Minotaur...) bears little resemblance to the flat, static scenes that unroll like so much wallpaper in most historical mysteries. Even more arresting is his sleuth, a wild-eyed newspaper journalist who signs himself E. A. Poe and makes his meager living peddling sensational crime stories like the one that captures his imagination here -- the murder of a shopgirl, Mary Rogers, whose bloated body is discovered in the Hudson River by Augie Dubbins, a 10-year-old ragamuffin who narrates the tale from the vantage of an old man.

The lively investigation conducted by this oddly matched pair of sleuths is interesting in its own right, providing rich background on the seminal short story (''The Mystery of Marie Rogt'') that helped establish Poe as the father of ratiocinative detective fiction. But let's give Silvis his own creative due. Despite his mannered tendency to ape what Augie calls Poe's ''funny way with words,'' Silvis delivers pungent impressions of the living city, exploring its mansions, slums, morgue, prisons, poorhouses and opium dens for all the ambient sounds and smells that define the character of a busy, brawling, unwashed metropolis. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of Randall Silvis, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 1786 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

Product Description
Even in the 1840's New Yorkers possessed a fine appreciation of the macabre, and when the body of a beautiful young woman is found in the Hudson River, all of Manhattan is fascinated by the case. At least for a day or so. The victim's youth and beauty, while the very things that make her death so poignant, are at the same time undoubtedly the virtues that enticed her murderers. The stirring account of the tragedy in The Mirror has conspired with the public's morbid curiosity to sell a great many papers, and yet the author of the article, a Mr Edgar Allan Poe, is unsatisfied. Poe's discovery of the body of Mary Rogers leads to more than a newspaper article. While investigating the manner of her undoing for a follow - up piece, Poe becomes convinced that her death was not the result of a botched abortion as was first thought. Accompanied by his young assistant, Augie Dubbins, who in turn acts as the narrator of the novel. Poe strives to uncover the true method and purpose of her murder. Drawn inexorably onward by both his keenly rational mind and his dark obsession with the abyss, Poe finds himself blocked at every turn by mysterious forces and pursued by a tall, ominous assassin. ... Read more