Review of HEADLESS IN HANCOCK 1882 By Sebastian Lockwood

 Review of HEADLESS IN HANCOCK 1882

By Sebastian Lockwood

LUX Press 2025 395 pages

Review by Tom Miller

Sebastian Lockwood is a story teller and a good one. He makes use of his skills in his most recent publication Headless In Hancock 1882 which he sets in the Hancock Inn and Fox Tavern, an establishment that has actually been in existence since 1789, and in the surrounding Mondack region. Lockwood is unabashedly in love with the area which he pays homage to in the book. In the introduction he declares the work to be “historical fiction” which indeed it is, allowing him the freedom to tell a good story without letting mere facts get in the way. Having said that, one needs to understand that Lockwood went to great lengths to “get it right” in the sense of the political and social sensibilities of a small town in New Hampshire in 1882. After all the Civil War is just seventeen years in the past and many of the societal opinions regarding slavery and abolition still circulate. The radical Puritans still rule south of the Merrimack River. Electricity has not quite brought the onslaught of modernism to the area. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 is in effect. Boston and New York are intriguing but frightening places. Railroads are sort of the thing...elsewhere.

While the book follows several main characters throughout, each chapter brings a new set of visitors to stay at the Inn. Each new visitor is unique and we find literary folks, cads, hunters, intellectuals, in other words a variety of interesting people. Lockwood is playful in introducing these characters. Washington Irving shows up as Benjamin Arbor, writer, who adds some gory details to the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hallow, hence the tie into the title of this book. Emerson is there as Waldo, an aged fellow whose caretaker is Aunt Moody. In real life Mary Moody Emerson, Ralph’s aunt who predeceased him by some twenty five years was a great influence on his thinking. Fly Rod Cornelia Crosby, the first registered guide in Maine appears. James Freeman Clark interested in freedom and equality in real life was a minister and a editor for several literary magazines. Clerk Maxwell, an inventor, in real life was a renowned expert on electricity and magnetism. Eddie Gibbons, a writer, could be today’s Scottish poet of the same name. Roger McGuinn, something of a recluse living on the mountain, is perhaps named for the fellow who founded the current music group The Byrds and composed “The 1882 Survivalist” in their Folk Den collection. There are others if you care to delve into historical fact.

Lockwood also introduces in detail a special libation and a unique meal in each chapter. The instructions for each drink are included in the narrative and the menus for the meals are in an addendum. Quite the epicurean Mr Lockwood is.

The main characters in the book are quite likable, a little mercurial perhaps but very real and had me cheering for them as they dealt with the adversities, none of which were outlandishly disastrous. Their stories evolve in each chapter and are the threads around which the other stories are wound. Skillfully so.

All in all this is a charming, nostalgic, and pleasant read evidencing the author’s enchantment with the town, the area and the time. Well done.

The World Played Chess By Robert Dugoni

 

The World Played Chess

By Robert Dugoni

Lake Union Publishing. Seattle 2021

369pp

Review by Tom Miller

Robert Dugoni is the author of the very popular Tracy Crosswhite series and the equally popular David Sloane series as well as a number of stand-alone novels including the critically acclaimed New York Times best seller The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell. In his just released novel The World Played Chess, Dugoni addresses the coming of age theme but in interesting ways while avoiding traditional clichés.

The central character is Vincent Bianco who in 2015 is dealing with how to or how to not assist his son Beau in his transition from semi-independent son into independent man as he prepares for departure to college and the next stage in his life. Inevitably Vincent recalls the similar time in his life which occurred in the summer of 1979. That year he worked in housing construction with two Vietnam vets, one of whom was William Goodman, who in spite of suffering from PTSD became something of a mentor to Vincent as he began to realize that his aimless carefree days were ending.

We are introduced to the story in the prologue where Vincent is considering how to deal with the journal that William kept during his Vietnam experience which Vincent has just received in the mail with no return name or address. The only guidance William has offered is the request that Vincent read the journal in the order in which it was written. Dugoni skillfully moves the reader from present day to Vincent’s last carefree summer in 1979 to William’s military experiences in 1967-68 and back and forth while never breaking the rhythm of the novel. It is remarkable how he is able to capture the appropriate point of view of each of the characters in each of the particular times and not lose us in the transition.

Dugoni did not fight in the Vietnam War but nonetheless in constructing William’s journal and his point of view, he captures the abruptness of being thrust into a quagmire in which the senselessness and desperation of the situation unfolds. He gets it right.

This novel is moving, poignant, and insightful. For someone such as this reviewer who is a similar age to William the detail in the journal is particularly on point. And the title itself is particularly applicable – the world did indeed play chess while the young men were just playing checkers. I think all audiences would gain something from reading it.

Doug Holder interviews poet Tom Miller

Doug Holder ( Right) Tom Miller (Left)

https://archive.org/details/zoom_0_20200608_1943   ( click on)

  ( Click on for video)  Doug Holder interviews poet Tom Miller-- Miller is a well-known North Shore and Greater Boston Area poet. His work has been published in The Somerville Times, Ibbetson Street, Poem During the Plague Series, and elsewhere.

Poem During the Plague: Poem 45

Tom Miller is a Somerville Bagel Bard,  a retired auto executive,  and a much-published poet. Recently he got his master's degree in history from Salem St. University.


COVID-19

I was three when the war ended.

I didn’t understand it

But the world lightened.

I could feel it.

I knew it.

Uncle Frank came home.

Uncle Don came home.

Uncle Ron didn’t.

But people were happy.

A burden lifted.

And life became good.

I felt that burden again just yesterday

            Seventy-five years later

Only now I understand it.

            The tension

            The uncertainty

            The need to persevere

            Not knowing the outcome

            Nor how the world will be different after.

A Review of Layla and the Lake By Marcia D. Ross

A Review of Layla and the Lake

By Marcia D. Ross

Pelekinesis Printing, Claremont CA. April 2019

Review by Tom Miller

This is a work of fiction. The lake does not exist except on these pages. Layla does not exist except on these pages. None the less they both are real. They are recognizable. This is because the author, Marcia D. Ross does an excellent job of creating place and person in her story Layla and the Lake. The lake, unnamed in the book, could be one of hundreds that exist in Maine not unlike those that one finds in New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, or Minnesota. It is a pleasant place to be as is the forest that surrounds it.

Layla is a thirty something single mother with two children - a 14 year old son who is pushing limits and beginning to try his wings and an eight or nine year old daughter who still needs her mother in her life. Layla is a poet and an editor for a publisher of classical and academic works whose current project is an analysis of Milton's Paradise Lost , scenes of which pop into Layla’s internal narrative throughout the book. Layla is also everyone who has ever stumbled, erred, made bad choices in life and punishes themselves with constant recrimination and self-doubt. Her self-view is jumbled as is her life. She is confident in her competence with her work but less so in relationships with others, her children, her former in-laws, her ex-husband, and her somewhat mysterious lover whom she meets at the lake.

Layla has brought her children to her former in-laws’ summer home at the lake so they can spend time together as a family, (which is no longer really a family) in anticipation of her ex-husband and his current wife’s arrival the following week. Layla will then depart to give family time to that particular portion of the family, after which the children will return to their mother in Boston. At least that’s the plan.

The Lake is the setting but also a main character in the story. It is peaceful, relaxing, welcoming, beautiful and most of all…away. But it is also challenging and while not threatening, none- the- less --it is to be respected as at times it can be unexpected and tumultuous, potentially dangerous. This is unlike Bobby, the man who lives alone across the lake and with whom Layla engages upon a journey of discovery. Bobby is kind, caring, and gentle but a man with secrets. Layla who constantly berates herself for her impulsive actions and unthinking decisions follows her normal behavior pattern as their relationship evolves.

Of course this adds another layer to Layla’s constant self-derision and her search for indicators in others’ behavior that validate her conviction that they have judged her and found her wanting, but are too polite to be overt in their assessment.

In this her first novel, Ross portrays both Layla and the lake with excellent depth. Her ability to describe both place and character immerses the reader in them. You are there. You experience the lake and its surroundings. You come to know Layla and root for her. The cast of characters are each introduced as one dimensional, but as Ross peals away their layers they prove to be far more complex and real. The tensions between Layla and the in-laws build and are in flux. The same is true in the relationship with Bobby. And the arrival of the ex-husband presents another set of tensions which are resolved, more or less, in an interesting way.

And Layla’s self-esteem? Well, therein lies part of Ross’ artwork. You need to read the book in order to find out how that progresses. Ross is an excellent story teller and the reader will find themselves engrossed.