Combat Crew by John Comer

To quote, “There's the right way, the wrong way, and the army way.” Okay, airforce in this case but same diff. The crew we are following learned they were on active duty when they were awakened at 2:30 AM for their first mission. They had not had gunnery practice nor did they know where the guns for their plane were located and lacked key parts for those guns until mere minutes before take-off. If encountering flak made a mission count to a crew's credit they encountered flak, no questions asked. Know how to play the game.

In a squadron that had suffered 100% casualties there's more than enough tension to go round. This account is matter of fact, embellishment seems unnecessary. The writer is American but his tales of fire bombings reminds me of the furor that followed the Canadian mini-series that highlighted the career of Bomber Harris. If ethics and warfare belong in the same discussion can anything justify the firestorm that incinerated a city such as Dresden?

Possible Spoiler

If you’ve watched the movie Memphis Belle you know that crew members who survived 25 missions got a ticket home. The fact that we’re reading this airman’s account means he survived 25 missions. Being in a Flying Fortress at 28,000 ft in negative 80 conditions on oxygen sounds frightening enough without the added horror of enemy fighter cannons firing on one. Add the boredom of life in a Quonset hut in camp waiting between missions.

Recommended reading.

Unearthing Cole

This is a bromance set in a small town. A lot of text is devoted to describing the clearing of Cole’s parents home of decade of pack rats collection valuable and trashie piles. Novella length the story comes to an abrupt end. Abusive relationships exist between gay partners as illustrated here.

Virgins

A prequel in the Outlander Series, we meet Jamie Fraser just after the death of his Father and his flogging at the hands of Randall, in France with his future Brother-in-Law Ian serving as a mercenary in the French Army. To my knowledge 100 lashes with the cat of nine tails would have been a death sentence. Even did a man survive a severe flogging it seems to me that the muscles of his back would be maimed for life. The men do most of their swearing in French but the language and talk is as bawdy as you’d expect. 

The Perfect Family

The issue of the recognition of gay rights and marriage has caused deep division within church groups and many to question church dogma. The Old Testament rates the “sin” of homosexuality as deserving of punishment by stoning. Only in the last year the province of Alberta removed homosexuality from the list of psychological disorders and Ontario outlawed the practice of conversion therapy. The Law of the land and public opinion are often out of sinc making the act of “coming out” as gay an issue still fraught with emotional turmoil.

The present novel is a coming of age saga of one teen’s attempt to assert his true identity and the grief he suffered along with the consequences to family members. The implication being that the perfect family was less so when it came to offering him their support.

Grandma Lorenzo, Maggie’s mother is totally self-centred--her world revolves around her needs and beliefs to the extreme of driving away her eldest daughter. Jamie’s Brother Brian with whom he was formerly quite close is caught with the reactions of his peers to his brother’s coming out and what all this says about him. Jamie’s father Mike is a staunch Catholic, pillar of the church, caught between his strongly held beliefs and love of his son. Luc, Jamie’s lover is Brian’s team mate whose revelation divides the team. His parents are ultimate homophobes.

Religion has lead to many wars over the centuries both between nations and family members. When one feels one has God on one’s side it’s so easy to forget, “And the greatest of these is Love.”

Always a Cowboy by Linda Lael Miller

Second in the Carsons of Mustang Creek series centred on Drake, the second of three brothers. Luce Hale shows up in the opening pages studying wild horses on the ranch and given the Romance genre we can bet not all her stallions will have four legs. The story has a strong animal rights component and works in all the characters we met in the first opus.

You Remind Me of You

The pair portrayed in this collection are nuts. If you want a more PC term say mentally disturbed. One is a bulimic, the other an unsuccessful suicide. Why did I buy this self-published booklet? Probably due to a glowing review someone wrote.

The Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge

Yet another coming of age story about 16-year-old Billy who has moved to Tuscon to spend the summer with his gay uncle who has arranged for him to have a job on a racetrack so he can figure out whether he has the aptitude to become a vet. Short and bright he comes with certain self-confidence issues hardly helped when he faints in the heat after getting off the train.

The subject matter is rather mature for YA though we are spared the profanity that would obviously be the argot of a backstretch. We do get immersed in the jargon of horse racing and betting and confront HIV and teenage sex. Uncle Wes is the kind of friend every boy should have as a mentor.

Just Over the Mountain by Robin Carr

Only in a small town:

Will your regular order be plunked in front of you almost before you find your seat at your favourite spot in the local diner.

Will the local cop be the kid with whom you grew up playing hide and seek.

Will the whole town know your business even before you do.

Welcome to Grace Valley. If you find this lifestyle claustrophobic you can always move to the big city but first breath the clean mountain air and bask in the view.

Chris' 14-year-old twin sons are utterly selfish, self-centred and spoiled.

Second book of a trilogy in many ways this book is transitional. One issue that is strongly contested is that of the value of a woman’s work in the home. Hardly secondary is the issue of the sharing of duties that were once considered a housewife's when a wife has a profession outside the home.

Road Ends by Mary Lawson

Mary Lawson brings to life small town Ontario in much the same fashion as does Alice Munro.

Megan is the second child and only daughter in a large family of boys. It is taken for granted that she’ll remain home to support her Mother. When she announces at the Dinner table her intention to leave home at 21 her brothers are more interested in their stomachs and when the meal will be served than in her imminent departure and how it will affect their future.

The horde’s mother seems to make having babies her principal domestic accomplishment. The clan’s father, Edward, a banker, beyond planting the seed is a disinterested parent who does not even set at table with his brood to partake of meals. These parents are not overtly abusive but their neglect amounts to the same thing illustrating how bad parenting is a multi-generational syndrome.

The focus shifts between Edward, the father; Tom, the eldest whose best friend Rob, the minister’s son committed suicide; and Megan in London, England. Her descriptions of London bring back memories of my once in a lifetime BOAC London Show Tour. Standing outside a pub Dickens frequented, Picadilly Circus, Oxford St, London Cabs and Double Decker Buses. The Underground. Through talking about his mother’s diary and reading entire portions Edward takes the tale to three-generations.