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JOHN TANA

Name: JOHN TANA
Author: Bill Fernandez
ISBN: 978-1-5393-1500-1

N ADVENTURE NOVEL OF OLD HAWAI'I

by Bill Fernandez ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 6, 2017

For the setting and era alone, this ripping adventure yarn offers sufficient rewards.

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Set in 19th-century Hawaii, a historical novel stars a handsome young hero.

The story begins in 1867, when 17-year-old John Tana, an orphan, is thrown off his land by the evil sugar baron Robert Grant. John finds himself on the run, not only from Grant’s henchmen, but also from the vengeful Capt. Julius Shaw and the murderous crew of the whaler Jeremiah. But friends and relatives abound, including his beautiful cousin Leinani (who in fact is not his cousin; it’s complicated). He escapes to Maui with Shaw in hot but futile pursuit. When things get too dangerous, John and company eventually flee to Honolulu (Oahu). Along the way, readers meet John’s Aunt Malia, his cousin David, Ah Sam (John’s close Chinese friend), and many, many others. This is all against a social backdrop that has the Caucasians (Americans) at the top of the heap, then the native Hawaiians, then the Chinese. (The Hawaiians themselves are divided between those of supposed royal blood and commoners like John.) The story chronicles a hatefully racist time and place, in which the Chinese, especially, live in fear of the next mob to bubble up. And don’t forget missionary Christianity versus the native religion. John is adept at the ancient Hawaiian martial art of lua, which stands him in good stead as combat has become a crucial part of his daily survival. Fernandez (Cult of Ku, a Hawaiian Murder Mystery, 2016, etc.), a native Hawaiian, is an authentic voice for John and the Pacific archipelago’s turbulent history. Plot twists come thick and fast, and there is always the seductive undercurrent of John’s love for Leinani, a romance that at times seems doomed. The author expertly moves the plot along (through short chapters), and the vivid and intriguing details of Hawaiian daily life in the 19th century ring true. At times, John’s virtue and especially his fighting prowess test the reader’s credulity, but the striking ending is not tidy, a plus.

For the setting and era alone, this ripping adventure yarn offers sufficient rewards.

Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-5393-1500-1

Page Count: 290

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: April 6, 2017

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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END OF THE GODS
by Bill Fernandez ; illustrated by Judith Fernandez

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CONQUEST
by Bill Fernandez

- BOOK REVIEW
TERRORISM IN PARADISE
by Bill Fernandez

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CARRIE

by Stephen King ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 8, 1974

King handles his first novel with considerable accomplishment and very little hokum—it's only too easy to believe that these...

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Figuratively and literally shattering moments of hoRRRRRipilication in Chamberlain, Maine where stones fly from the sky rather than from the hands of the villagers (as they did in "The Lottery," although the latter are equal to other forms of persecution).

All beginning when Carrie White discovers a gift with telekinetic powers (later established as a genetic fact), after she menstruates in full ignorance of the process and thinks she is bleeding to death while the other monsters in the high school locker room bait and bully her mercilessly. Carrie is the only child of a fundamentalist freak mother who has brought her up with a concept of sin which no blood of the Lamb can wash clean. In addition to a sympathetic principal and gym teacher, there's one girl who wishes to atone and turns her date for the spring ball over to Carrie who for the first time is happy, beautiful and acknowledged as such. But there will be hell to pay for this success—not only her mother but two youngsters who douse her in buckets of fresh-killed pig blood so that Carrie once again uses her "wild talent," flexes her mind and a complete catastrophe (explosion and an uncontrolled fire) virtually destroys the town.

King handles his first novel with considerable accomplishment and very little hokum—it's only too easy to believe that these youngsters who once ate peanut butter now scrawl "Carrie White eats shit." But as they still say around here, "Sit a spell and collect yourself."

Pub Date: April 8, 1974

ISBN: 0385086954

Page Count: 216

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: Sept. 26, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1974

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE
by Stephen King & Peter Straub

- BOOK REVIEW
NEVER FLINCH
by Stephen King

- BOOK REVIEW
YOU LIKE IT DARKER
by Stephen King

- PERSPECTIVES
Appreciations: Carrie Turns 40

- SEEN & HEARD
Stephen King Used ‘Carrie’ Advance To Support Mom

- BOOK TO SCREEN
New ‘Carrie’ Series in the Works at Amazon

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.