Friday, July 04, 2014

What is Reavis Z. Wortham reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Reavis Z. Wortham, author of Vengeance is Mine.

His entry begins:
What am I reading (?)…

…I read the way I write…

…which means multiple processes, and at present, I’m working on three (3) novel manuscripts at the same time, in addition to ongoing weekly newspaper columns and a number of magazine articles for monthly magazines…

…ergo, I’m reading several novels at the same time. They are scattered all over the house, wherever I might sit down for a moment, or on tables in passing. There are two books on my nightstand, three beside my recliner, three here on my desk, and more stacked and bookmarked on my “to read” shelf.

Some people might think it’s hard to keep everything separate, but you don’t have any problem following your weekly television programs, do you, whether it’s the insanity of fake reality TV, or such programs as Longmire, 24, Grey’s Anatomy, or any of the other ongoing stories that you follow without fail.

The book that comes to mind first is Mr. Mercedes, by Stephen King. I’ve been a stalwart King fan since Carrie came out in 1974. There is a 4-shelf barrister bookcase in my bedroom, and it’s almost full of his works. The latest cover is occupying its space on one of the shelves while I read the book. I’m a hundred and fifty pages in, and he has my attention once again. Steve always manages to get his hands around my throat on page one, though. I love the links and circles in his novels when he refers to...[read on]
About Vengeance is Mine, from the publisher:
In October of 1967, The Summer of Love is history, rock and roll is dark and revolutionary, and people in the small east Texas community of Center Springs simply want to live their lives as quietly as possible. But a handsome darkness in the form of Las Vegas gangster Anthony Agrioli has left the business to hide out in the tiny backwater settlement with his blond bombshell girlfriend.

Two years earlier, Agrioli met newlyweds Cody and Norma Faye Parker in a Vegas casino and heard their enthusiastic descriptions of the perfect place to settle down and raise a family. At least it was perfect, before their peaceful world found itself directly in the crosshairs of a coming confrontation.

Back in Center Springs, thirteen-year-old Top Parker has what his grandmother, Miss Becky, calls a Poisoned Gift. His dreams, though random and disconnected, always seem to come true. This time Top dreams he’s a wagon hub with spokes converging from all directions. To him, the spokes symbolize that something is coming, but he doesn’t know their quiet community will soon be a combat zone when the gangsters arrive, but they’re after something else and not Agrioli…yet.

A sheriff crooked as a dog’s hind leg, an unsolved murder in the river bottoms, counterfeit money and a bank robbery all wrapped in a country Shakespearian comedy once again brings together Constable Ned Parker, Constable Cody Parker, Deputy John Washington, Judge O.C. Rains, and the rest of Wortham’s real and sometimes wacky cast of characters.
Learn more about the book and author at Reavis Z. Wortham's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

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--Marshal Zeringue