Gripping Tale by Author Roxie Faulkner Kirk

 The story of Red Dirt Hymnbook is one set in a land and time that are nearly prototypes of  a mythic 'Anyplace' peopled by "Everyman' archetypes.  It could be the 1970's or 1980's but seen through the lens of a religious strata - Holiness sects and subgroups - existing under a dozen or more banners - they are as current as today.  In Kirk's work the author masterfully captures larger than life themes and small nuances with equal skill. She handles both with a soft focus haze of a dream of the not too distant past and the harsh edged shadows of glaring ugly reality.

Told through the powerful and authentic voice of Ruby Fae, young wife of young traveling preacher J.W.Jasper, throws back the covering of appearances of holiness to reveal the frailty of humanity tainted by patriarchy, power hunger, and manipulation. It is a land at once familiar and idealized, peopled by characters drawn in vivid lines of reality, whose stories speak to not just one group but to the broader wealth of human experience.

These all combine gently, elegantly. At first with just a teasing whisper of currents under the surface and then with gripping force to pull the reader into the story, and into a world bordered by appearances, corrupted by control, poisoned by the misuse of scripture, and stalked by the hunger of the human heart to be free.

The motif of music - how it can be used to manipulate perceptions of skill (as Ruby notes early in the book) and present a false front that helps people to see only what they manipulators desire. How that music and memories can serve as a soundtrack for the search of the soul for identity and value  become thematic. Spanning the book like a long and much traveled country road. References to old camp meeting spirituals and hymns (well known to those in Baptist, Holiness, Nazarene and other religious groups) are interspersed with the hits of the book's setting (John Denver Country Roads to Three Dog Night's Jeremiah was A Bullfrog) creating almost count and counter point as two words and two realities begin to merge.

The Red Dirt Hymnbook by Roxie Faulkner Kirk is a beautiful story told in an eloquent, sometimes poetic manner as fresh as the prairie winds and as limitless as the broad blue sky. The voice of Ruby Mae Jasper is fresh, clean, and vividly compelling. Highly recommended!

Visit the author at: /http://www.roxiefaulknerkirk.com/about-roxie/

Review by MaH2019

Vampire Story with Bite

Enid, Oklahoma's own Brian N. Young continues his launch into the steam punk genre with the release of news about the expanded Silent War series.  A dramatic and intriguing story line is inventively woven through the first book  De Civitate Sanguino: The City of the Bloodthirsty. Recently released through Damnation Books,a publisher specializing in dark  horror, and others are already in the works.  It is sure to be a favorite series of not only Oklahoma Steam Punk followers but any who love Gothic, Vampire, Adventure, and Historical fiction. Young holds degrees in history from Northwestern University and University of Wales, Lampeter.   To order go here.

'ANNA'S SONG'- Bolerjack and Jones

ANNA EBBESSEN grew up in a soddie on a farm her father homesteaded after the Cherokee Strip land-run in 1893. At barely seventeen, her mother insists that she leave home to seek a better life. Anna feels guilty about leaving her mother with her abusive, drunken father but decides to stay with her uncle until she can determine what to do. When given the opportunity to work as a hired girl for the Muellers, she accepts even though she is homesick and must move a great distance from her family. The Muellers’ modern farm has many conveniences and their lifestyle is vastly different from what Anna has experienced. In their home for the first time she hears the Bible read, she learns about salvation and what a happy family should be. While living there she meets JOHN DAVIS, an “entirely satisfactory” man, only to learn that her mother has been put in a mental hospital, and she is expected to return home as her father’s caregiver. She is faced with a choice, accept her responsibility and face her father’s abuse and hostility, or stay and have a chance to fulfill her dreams.

About the Authors:  Areline Bolerjack grew up in Alva, Oklahoma, near her grandparents’ homestead where this story took place. She graduated from the Cadet Nurse Corps and is a retired Register Nurse. For nearly 15 years she wrote a column for two newspapers under the byline, Something Special. In 1982 she published her first cookbook which was revised and reprinted. Anna's Song is her first novel. Her home is in Blackwell, OK. Barbara Wright Jones is an award winning and published author of a biography, several articles, and short stories. She also has written a book of finger puppet plays and curriculum books for Spanish language teachers. She is a retired teacher and she and her husband, Kenneth, live in Meeker, OK.

Available via Amazon