[amazon_link id=”0316093556″ target=”_blank” ]Chasing the Moon[/amazon_link] – Sometimes an author sneaks up on you, which is what A. Lee Martinez did to me. First, I read Gil’s All Fright Diner about a lonely diner in the southwest that was a favorite stop for hungry zombies. It was funny, weird, and sure…a touching romance. Then I read Monster, in which a girl discovers she’s got powers and winds up with a demon for a boyfriend. But hasn’t that happened to everyone?
But I still hadn’t put Martinez’s name on the list of authors I watch. I read a lot of books and, frankly, keeping new authors straight isn’t that easy. So I was already on the second page of the second chapter of Chasing the Moon before a voice spoke inside my head, “Like, dude…you know this author. Remember the diner thing and the other one, with the monster?” Oh, yeah. A. Lee Martinez. I’ll have to keep that in mind. Now, please shut up and let me read.
Note: The full review will be published in May on SF-Site, and will be available both there and here after June 1, 2011
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[/amazon_link]In 1940, Woody Guthrie wrote, “This land is your land, this land is my land, from California to the New York Island…” Though parts of his song made it into school songbooks and the public consciousness, it’s underlying message runs counter to the notions of independent Americans. The land, Woody contends, belongs to all of us and not just people who put up fences around their property. While he would probably find that an extreme expression of his views, Author James Russel maintains that we all have a stake in the land, no matter who holds its deed.