Rick McBee's Writings
Explore the magic of new ideas and books to read as well as see what books I have written, my favorite photos, my opinions on may subjects, including Science, Africa, the Caribbean, the Civil War, my Book Reviews, and Much More!
Book Review: “Savage Run” by C. J. Box
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Joe Pickett fits the profile of the game warden perfectly. Here’s a man who has deeply seated values, who want to live in the outdoors and loves to go beyond the call of duty to solve the cases that confront a ranger. He doesn’t sweep things under the rug, whether it’s a poached elk or a niggling suspicion about a crime scene that will ultimately lead him into a situation of life and death.
I found the exploding cow scenario a bit far out, but hey try anything once if you’re a hardened killer like Charlie Tibbs. There isn’t a whole lot of description of the man personally, it’s more of what he doesn’t say as his buddy, the Old Man, John Coble, asks questions or makes statements about the murders they are committing and the places they go. Charlie is definitely one man you don’t want to get on the wrong side of!
C.J. has done an excellent job of setting the scene in Wyoming and developing his characters in a way that makes me despise and hate the lawyer, Finotta, love the irascible nature of his crippled wife, detest the Sheriff who can’t hold onto his values as a law enforcement man, and empathize with the various environmental characters, even if I don’t agree with their tactics of spiking trees (Hey, an innocent guy could get really hurt!). Stewie doesn’t really capture me, but his demise is unique. The methodology of the murders is well thought out, including the grisly grizzly bear scenario (yuk). I think Joe’s wife, Marybeth, needs a larger part in a future book. Hey, my sisters can ride and shoot, I’ll bet Marybeth could show a rustler a thing or two.
Keep entertaining us C.J. you’ve got a good thing going!
Need another good book? Stop by Rick McBee’s Author site.
Calling all authors…again
Another way to really get your book out there to the world. Take the chance, answer the questions and see your returns!
In 2016, I had the distinct pleasure of posting interviews with over 80 authors in a 6-month period. I want to do this again in 2017. My 20 Questions series was one of the post popular features on my blog.
If you are an author and you want to be interviewed on my blog, this is an invitation to do so. The format for this year’s interviews will be to ask you ten questions. The questions have a bit more depth than my 20 question format from last year. They are also designed to tell us more about you and your process as an author. Many of my followers are also authors and I would like this interview to be informative as well as promotional.
After answering the 10 questions, I’m giving you an opportunity to promote whatever book or books you would like to.
I’m planning on posting the…
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2017 WRITING CONTEST: Tales2Inspire Celebrates Sixth Year
Here’s a free competition that could give you a lot of writing publicity. Thanks Bette for sending it out!
Get ready to share your story
“So much more than a contest…“
Lois W. Stern announces the opening of Tales2Inspire’s sixth year—with a great little contest for those with an inspiring story to share. But it is so much more than a contest, as winning authors get tons of publicity to help them on their paths to discovery. Free to enter—NO FEES involved.
Stories must be true, with one or more relevant photos submitted to enhance the impact of the story. All details posted at: www.tales2inspire.com/contest, so please refer to this link before you begin.
And since a picture is worth 10,000 words, while you’re there, grab a F*R*E*E e-book sampler of inspiring stories written by previous winners, and now published in one of the six Tales2Inspire® collections.
~ Lois W. Stern
Creator of Tales2Inspire ‘Authors Helping Authors’ Project/Contest
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The Ice Storm Froze your Quail?
Talk about Oregon winters and a storm of freezing rain! You can see what happened to the poor quail on my back porch. Literally embedded! Starting to feel cold? Cuddle up near the fire, get a book through Sally’s Cafe and Book Store: Sally’s Cafe and Book Store
Ice coated the Blue Spruce and the hundreds of pounds of snow high up in the top of the tree cascaded down with a crash! Glad I wasn’t under it! Sounded like a war zone walking to the neighbors, stomping on the icy crust to get footing and dodging the big trees from which more cascades fell.
My chicken Fence sagged and so did the peaks of snow atop each one of the posts! Even the barbed wire froze up! Fortunately the 14 hen were snug in their hut with 1 rooster and 8 ducks. Get your cuppa, warm up and read a good book!
Here’s another shot of one of my fences!
Snow and ice just drooping down. Fortunately I shoveled off the roof of my 1950’s garage which has 2×4 rafter holding up the roof.
And then there were the Quail! Oh! those poor Quail!
Stay inside, Read a good Book and check out Sally’s Cafe and Bookstore at this site she has great reviews on a lot of books you will want to read! Enjoy! Sally’s Cafe and Book Store
Enjoy! Rick McBee
Sally’s Cafe and Bookstore – New on the Shelves – The Ghosts of Ukuthula by Rick McBee
Reblogged on WordPress.com Hope you all get a chance to enjoy my books and all of Sally’s great offerings! Rick McBee
Source: Sally’s Cafe and Bookstore – New on the Shelves – The Ghosts of Ukuthula by Rick McBee
Book Review: “Honey in the Horn” by H. L. Davis
Honey in the Horn by H.L. Davis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
H. L. Davis spins a tale that only a man who had lived through that period of time in Oregon, had picked hops, stacked hay, ridden the outlaw trail and listened to a whole lot of stories in bars could have written.
As a native Oregonian (that’s actually a new paper, not the real name we call ourselves) with ancestors and relatives living across most of the state at one time or another in the past 150 years, I have heard some of these stories from the Willamette Valley about the bums and the hops picker gangs. I’ve seen the coastal range forests and tried hunting them in the deep snow where a man can step off a log and disappear because of the undergrowth, and my grandmother and father told a number of stories about the wild country east of Eugene, OR up in the lakes above Oak Ridge where the McBee’s lived every summer in the early 1900’s picking berries, catching fish and shooting an occasional deer for the pot.
Davis captures the real essence of the young Clay Calvert coming of age, realizing that he is growing up, becoming interested in women, wanting to move away from the authorities who have governed his life up to the moment. As you read the book you begin to understand how Davis’ keen eye for the minutia of detail brought him the accolades and awards as a great writer.
A scene that comes to mind is at the beginning of the book during the flood with Clay Calvert attempting to save a flock of sheep that had decided to follow the leader into the swelling river and drown. Only a man who has seen the floods of the Oregon rivers, been run over by a big old ewe or two, tried to pick up a sodden sheep or been wet to the skin in the Oregon rain can be so eloquent in writing about it.
Another scene in the middle of the book when Clay is picking hops, has a blow-up with his girlfriend, and goes off to camp with an older single woman who plays guitar and is running from the law, captures the hand to mouth existence of many people at that time.
Finally, for those of you who have a spot in your heart for scenes from Lonesome Dove like the hanging of Jake Spoon. Davis’ description of the hanging of Wade Shiveley from the hay stacking boom will strike your heart as to how hangings did occur in those days, sometimes not for what you just did, but because of other things associated with your life outside the law that just finally caught up with you.
It took me a while to get into the swing of the book, the paragraph long sentences, the language that is slow, deliberate and much like the true country folk still speak when they are at home or work, away from the rush of modern Californicated Oregon. You may not love the book, but you’ll enjoy it and know you have read one of the best authors for writing about that period of time in Oregon history by the time you are done.
The Beauty of Ice! An Alien World!
Last night we got about 1/2 inch of freezing rain here in Hood River, OR. Wow! What a dazzle to the eyeballs when the sun peaked out momentarily this AM. An alien world.
Take me to your leader! Then there were more!
Coating the roses!
Bending the Yews, plastering the Hydrangeas and the Silver Birch
Leaving the Pampas Grass shimmering! A wonderland of nature!
Can’t get out cause the roads are closed and the drive to get there like glass!
So: Dream about the Caribbean, Re-fight the Civil War, visit the sands of the Kalahari in a book! Rick’s Books on Amazon or Kindle!
Enjoy!
Let it snow…. But don’t let it rain….Oregon and California 1/9/2017
Where have all the flowers gone!
Here’s What Mt. Hood Looks like when you see it when the storms clear. Look at those wind blown snow plumes!
Here’s my house in OR after a whole month of snow/shovel/snow/shovel/sn….
Guess when I’ll use my van again? Look at those two eyes peering out over a blue nose and crooked smile!
So If you think that’s bad, look at these two sites in California that show the American River going Bonkers on flow levels!
Rover Flow on American River – Graph
and here!
What California can expect is still coming!
Let’s just stick with the snow, Oregon! OK? Stay dry and warm where ever you are folks!
GRR! BRR! Winter! Read a good book! Ghosts of Ukuthula! It will keep you warm!>))
Book review: The Sky Stone by Jack Whyte
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Author Jack Whyte has done an excellent job of portraying the Roman Empire in Britain as the end of Roman domination begins to wane and decay. The narrator, Gaius Publius Varras, writing this in the form of a memoir gives us his inside views of the decadence that ultimately brought about the downfall of the empire, as Romans turned more and more of their own border defenses over to mercenaries and locals who were not as disciplined and motivated to keep out the hoards from beyond the pale.
The story line is interesting, covering the period from around 364 through 385 A.D. and beginning with one of the first strong invasions over Hadrian’s Wall, one which caught the Romans by surprise. Varras, a first ranked Centurion under General Britannicus manages to survive the invasion. The legion fights its way back south to the London area over a period of more than a year. Reaching a fort under Roman control, they are told that they have been condemned in absentia as deserters and traitors for not reporting in. (Where were your cell phones guys?)
The narration of Varras’ adventures following his return to good graces with the Legion and his eventual marriage to General Britannicus’ sister rambles through the villages and countryside of Roman Britain and follows Varras into a new career as a smithy following a near death recuperation from a battle wound. In this capacity, Varrus becomes the renowned smith and begins a quest to find the sky stones from which his grandfather fashioned a sword and a fabulous dagger.
I loved the story and only lowered my rating because I felt that author Whyte has a tendency to become too verbose in his telling of the tales, often to the point that whole paragraphs can be skipped without losing the train of the action and story line. Additionally, I was surprised to find that the story didn’t end where I would have suspected in reading the cover and introduction, at the pulling of Excalibre out of the stone. This doesn’t diminish the ending which is unique in its anticipation of that event and introduces us to The Lady of the Lake.
Enjoy the read, you will learn a lot about Roman Britain and the legions.
Book Review: One Shot by Lee Child. Wow!
One Shot by Lee Child
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Here’s an outstanding book representing the excellence of Lee Child’s writing, plot and development of his hero, Jack Reacher. When I talk to others about this action/thriller mystery series, this is one of the titles that epitomizes the skill of a #1 best seller author!
The violence by either the villain or J.R has a purpose, and is not just thrown at you for shock value. The plot pulls you in and keeps you thinking all the way through the book, right up to the grand finale. The twists and solutions to the problems of solving a crime are logical, well thought out and spelled out within the story, such that you have to go back and reread sections to make sure you got all the detail if you are trying to figure out the plot ahead of the game.
My wife and I had great fun talking about the story after each of us had read the first fifty pages. We both figured that it was a slam dunk to send James Barr to the ‘chair’ for his sniper assassination of five persons in the heartland of Indiana. Then after we finished our separate readings, we went back to those first impressions and laughed at how wrong we were to jump to flawed conclusions based on the ‘facts’.
The book will keep you guessing through the next four hundred pages as Jack Reacher dissects the evidence and eludes the cops who have it in for him as well.
Yep, it’s a great novel. Take it on vacation, take it on the airplane, or just curl up in a corner and turn your spouse into a book widow(er) for a couple of days while you have an intense immersion experience. Then hand them the book and be prepared to take your own medicine! Discuss after the first fifty pages, but for goodness sake, don’t spoil the fun. Let them figure it our for themselves, if they can!
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