Top 10 tales from cold climes

Marcus Sedgwick's latest novel Revolver, now available in the U.K., is a tense psychological drama set above the Arctic Circle.

For the Guardian, he named his top ten tales from cold climes. One novel on the list:

On Her Majesty's Secret Service by Ian Fleming

Rather unfairly deemed a second cousin in the series, the film version of Fleming's OHMSS still has its good points (including the best soundtrack of any Bond film) and yet, as so often, the novel gives so much more. As Bond passes himself off as an expert in heraldry to investigate Blofeld's Alpine lair, you can almost hear the swish of skis cut into the crust of the snow as the pages turn.

Read about another novel on Sedgwick's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Richard Lange's "This Wicked World"

Today's feature at the Page 69 Test: This Wicked World by Richard Lange.

About the book, from the publisher:

Elmore Leonard meets Denis Johnson in this explosive first novel set on the seedy side of Southern California.

Ex-marine Jimmy Boone-former bodyguard to Los Angeles's rich and famous-is fresh out of Corcoran, on parole, and trying to keep his nose clean until he figures out his next move. He has a job tending bar on Hollywood Boulevard, serving drinks to tourists, and is determined to put the past behind him.

But trying to do the right thing has always been Boone's downfall. When he backs up a buddy on a hero-for-hire gig-looking into the mysterious death of a kid on a downtown bus-he once again finds himself in a world of trouble.

As Boone learns more about the boy, an innocent who got involved with the wrong people, his investigation becomes a mission. Along the dangerous margins of Los Angeles, he encounters down-on-their-luck drug dealers, a vengeful stripper, a dog-fighting ring, a beautiful ex-cop, a vicious crime boss and his crew, and a fortune in counterfeit bills. Before long, Boone realizes that his quest to get at the truth about a ruthless murder may also turn out to be his last chance at redemption.

This Wicked World is a knock-out blend of superb writing and breakneck storytelling that grabs you by the collar and makes it impossible to stop reading.

Read an excerpt from This Wicked World and learn more about the book and author at Richard Lange's website.

Writers Read: Richard Lange.

The Page 69 Test: This Wicked World.

--Marshal Zeringue

Coffee with a canine: Alison Goodman & Xander

The current feature at Coffee with a canine: Alison Goodman & Xander.

Alison Goodman, author of novels including the highly acclaimed Eon: Dragoneye Reborn, and Xander Matthias Goodman, "a cross between a Jack Russell Terrier and a lower level demon," made a coffee-date at Laurent French Patisserie in Brighton, Melbourne, Australia. It didn't go exactly as planned.

Goodman’s Eon: Dragoneye Reborn (aka The Two Pearls of Wisdom) has sold into 13 countries and recently won the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel. It is also a James Tiptree Jr. Honour Book and a CBCA Notable Book. The Times wrote, “This intelligent, vividly written tale grips from the first page,” and SFX called it “addictive reading…the climax is gloriously tantalising.”

Read an excerpt from Eon: Dragoneye Reborn, and learn more about the author and her work at Alison Goodman's website and MySpace page.

The Page 69 Test: Eon: Dragoneye Reborn.

Read--Coffee with a canine: Alison Goodman & Xander.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Mary Daheim's "The Alpine Uproar"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: The Alpine Uproar by Mary Daheim.

About the book, from the publisher:

The picturesque little town of Alpine in the foothills of Washington’s Cascade Mountains is no longer the rough-and-ready logging camp of yesteryear. So when a drunken brawl at the Icicle Creek Tavern leaves a loner named Alvin De Muth dead, the residents feel as if they’ve gone back to the Bad Old Days.

The inquiry into the unfortunate incident should be a no-brainer. There are plenty of witnesses to the fatal fight, but since most of them were half-tanked at the time, Sheriff Milo Dodge is left scratching his head over a fistful of conflicting stories. Luckily for Emma Lord, editor and publisher of The Alpine Advocate, the news breaks just before the paper’s Wednesday deadline, so for once she can give the radio station some real competition. But soon she has an even bigger story to report: a heartbreaking highway accident that leaves two people dead and a likable young local on life support.

From Front Street to River Road, from Stella’s Styling Salon to the Burger Barn, rumors are flying. Are the two tragedies linked in some inexplicable way? Was De Muth a mentor or a menace to Alpine’s teenage boys? What compels an ethereal female to visit Emma and insist that De Muth’s self-confessed killer is innocent? And (much to Emma’s chagrin) is it true that the sheriff is about to rewed his ex?

Emma senses that there’s a story behind the story and is determined to uncover the truth. Assisted by that human bulldozer Vida Runkel, the Advocate’s House & Home editor, Emma goes for the gold.

Welcome to another Daheim masterpiece that will challenge the cleverest reader–and a warmhearted world of small-town life, as richly addictive as it is dangerous.

Read an excerpt from The Alpine Uproar, and learn more about the book and author at Mary Daheim's website.

The Page 69 Test: Vi Agra Falls.

The Page 99 Test: The Alpine Uproar.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Greg Robinson reading?

The current featured contributor to Writers Read: Greg Robinson, author of By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans and A Tragedy of Democracy: Japanese Confinement in North America.

His entry begins:

While I like reading many kinds of books, fiction and nonfiction, I have no real system that governs my choices. The only important determinant of my reading is that I tend to study more attentively any book that seems directly relevant to my research or teaching, and take notes as I read. Conversely, I try to find other books to read for pleasure, to avoid too much of a “busman’s holiday.” I usually read two books at a time. One is a hardcover or large paperback that I keep at home, and particularly for unwinding before I go to sleep. I just finished reading (partly in French and partly in English) Claude Manceron’s 5-book series The French Revolution. He paints a really broad canvas, centering on the earlier life, before 1789, of all sorts of characters who will reappear in the revolution. He seems very fair and considered in his judgments. I particularly appreciate that he gives some depth to his portrait, positive and negative, of Marie Antoinette. I get irritated by the latter-day mythologizing and even hero-worship (à la Kirsten Dunst) of this not only frivolous but deeply reactionary and at least arguably traitorous woman....[read on]

Greg Robinson, a native of New York City, is associate professor of history at l'Université du Québec à Montréal.

Read more about A Tragedy of Democracy: Japanese Confinement in North America at the publisher's website, and visit Greg Robinson's faculty webpage at l'Université du Québec à Montréal.

Writers Read: Greg Robinson.

--Marshal Zeringue

Julie Compton's "Tell No Lies," the movie

Now showing at My Book, The Movie: Tell No Lies by Julie Compton.

The entry begins:

As a novelist, the second most common question I hear after "Are any of your characters based on real people?" is, "If someone made a movie of Tell No Lies, who would you like to see play the characters?"

It's a tough question. The characters are crystal clear in my head, but I didn't write the novel with any particular actor or actress in mind.

Finding the right actor to play Jack, my main character, would be the toughest task. He must have the right look (ruggedly handsome but with a youthful face, not too pretty, but still, a golden boy), but he must also have the acting skills to convey Jack's personality. On the exterior, Jack is sensible, smart, always the professional. But inside, he's impulsive, over-analytical, and "a hopeless romantic" (which is what Jenny, the woman who causes him to stray, rightly accuses him of being). There was a time when I thought Brad Pitt could play Jack, but he's become too old and too famous; I find it hard to watch him and not be aware that I'm watching Brad Pitt play someone else. So, my vote goes to Bradley Cooper.

Claire is only slightly easier. Again, I'd want the actress to look like the Claire I imagine in my head...[read on]

Read an excerpt from Tell No Lies, and learn more about the novel and author at Julie Compton's website and her blog.

The Page 69 Test: Tell No Lies.

My Book, The Movie: Tell No Lies.

--Marshal Zeringue

Sixty-one essential postmodern reads

At the Los Angeles Times Jacket Copy blog, Carolyn Kellogg, George Ducker, and David L. Ulin came up with a list of essential postmodern reads.

"The thing about postmodernism is it's impossible to pin down exactly what might make a book postmodern," Kellogg acknowledges. The attributes of the texts on the list include: "the author is a character, fiction and reality are blurred, the text includes fictional artifacts, such as letters, lyrics, even whole other books, and so on."

One title on the list:

Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner

Read about another book on the list.

Absalom, Absalom! also appears on Sarah Churchwell's list of "Six Books on the American Deep South."

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Nancy Thayer's "Summer House"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Summer House by Nancy Thayer.

About the book, from the publisher:

After years of wandering from whim to whim, thirty-year-old Charlotte Wheelwright seems to have at last found her niche. The free spirit enjoys running an organic gardening business on the island of Nantucket, thanks in large part to her spry grandmother Nona, who donated a portion of land on the family’s seaside compound to get Charlotte started. Though Charlotte’s skill with plants is bringing her success, cultivating something deeper with people–particularly her handsome neighbor Coop–might be more of a challenge.

Nona’s generosity to Charlotte, secretly her favorite grandchild, doesn’t sit well with the rest of the Wheelwright clan, however, as they worry that Charlotte may be positioning herself to inherit the entire estate. With summer upon them, everyone is making their annual pilgrimage to the homestead–some with hopes of thwarting Charlotte’s dreams, others in anticipation of Nona’s latest pronouncements at the annual family meeting, and still others with surprising news of their own. Charlotte’s mother, Helen, a Wheelwright by marriage, brings a heavy heart. She once set aside her own ambitions to fit in with the Wheelwrights, but now she must confront a betrayal that threatens both her sense of place and her sense of self.

As summer progresses, these three women–Charlotte, Nona, and Helen–come to terms with the decisions they have made. Revisiting the lives and loves that have crossed their paths and the possibilities of the roads not taken, they may just discover that what they’ve always sought was right in front of them all along.

Read an excerpt from Summer House, and learn more about the book and author at Nancy Thayer's website.

The Page 69 Test: Summer House.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: P. Machamer & J. E. McGuire's "Descartes's Changing Mind"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Descartes's Changing Mind by Peter Machamer & J. E. McGuire.

About the book, from the publisher:

Descartes's works are often treated as a unified, unchanging whole. But in Descartes's Changing Mind, Peter Machamer and J. E. McGuire argue that the philosopher's views, particularly in natural philosophy, actually change radically between his early and later works--and that any interpretation of Descartes must take account of these changes. The first comprehensive study of the most significant of these shifts, this book also provides a new picture of the development of Cartesian science, epistemology, and metaphysics.

No changes in Descartes's thought are more significant than those that occur between the major works The World (1633) and Principles of Philosophy (1644). Often seen as two versions of the same natural philosophy, these works are in fact profoundly different, containing distinct conceptions of causality and epistemology. Machamer and McGuire trace the implications of these changes and others that follow from them, including Descartes's rejection of the method of abstraction as a means of acquiring knowledge, his insistence on the infinitude of God's power, and his claim that human knowledge is limited to that which enables us to grasp the workings of the world and develop scientific theories.

Read an excerpt from Descartes's Changing Mind, and learn more about the book at the Princeton University Press website.

Peter Machamer is professor of history and philosophy of science and associate director of the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh. J. E. McGuire is professor of history and philosophy of science at the University of Pittsburgh, and a resident fellow of the Center for Philosophy of Science.

The Page 99 Test: Descartes's Changing Mind.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: J.C. Hutchins' "Personal Effects: Dark Art"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Personal Effects: Dark Art by J.C. Hutchins and Jordan Weisman.

About the book, from the publisher:

Personal Effects follows the extensive notes of therapist Zach Taylor’s investigation into the life and madness of Martin Grace, an accused serial killer who claims to have foreseen, but not caused, his victims’ deaths. Zach’s investigations start with interviews and art sessions, but then take him far from the hospital grounds—and often very far from the reality that we know.

The items among Grace’s personal effects are the keys to understanding his haunted past, and finding the terrifying truth Grace hoped to keep buried:

• Call the phone numbers: you’ll get a character’s voicemail.

• Google the characters and institutions in the text: you’ll find real websites

• Examine the art and other printed artifacts included inside the cover: if you pay attention, you’ll find more information than the characters themselves discover Personal Effects, the ultimate in voyeuristic storytelling, represents a revolutionary step forward in changing the way people interact with novels.

Watch the Personal Effects: Dark Art book trailer series and learn more about the book at the official website.

The Page 69 Test: Personal Effects: Dark Art.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six great moon novels

Accompanying his essay "Curse You, Neil Armstrong!," writer Ted Gioia offers a list of "six great moon novels."

One novel on the list:

From the Earth to the Moon
(1865)
by Jules Verne

Is Jules Verne the father of science fiction? Too bad they don’t have a DNA test to settle this paternity case. With an offspring so successful, there is no shortage of candidates seeking custody.

Read about another novel on Gioia's list.

Also see: Five best insider accounts of the moon landings.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Nicholas Ostler reading?

The current featured contributor to Writers Read: Nicholas Ostler, author of Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World and Ad Infinitum: A Biography of Latin.

His entry begins:

I'm reading Russell Hoban's Riddley Walker, a novel from 1980 written in deformed, but in the end curiously readable, colloquial English, which speculates on Iron Age life in Kent some centuries after a nuclear apocalypse, as humanity is slowly but steadily building up a new path to power and self-destruction.

I grew up in Kent, so I wondered if I should recognize the locales, but it is set exclusively in East Kent, and with a geography deformed by flood, so all I can recognize is Cambry (Canterbury), whose Ardship (archbishop) is one of the characters.

I got into it because...[read on]

A scholar with a working knowledge of at least eighteen languages, Ostler has degrees from Oxford University in Greek, Latin, philosophy, and economics, and a Ph.D. in linguistics from MIT, where he studied under Noam Chomsky.

Read more about Ostler's Ad Infinitum: A Biography of Latin at the publisher's website. Among the praise for the book:

"Refreshingly, this book is serious and scholarly, though it wears its considerable learning lightly, and in a world of increasing Anglophone hegemony and globalization against a backdrop of the rapid extinction of thousands of languages, its implications are thought provoking."
—A.E. Stallings, American Scholar

"An impressively detailed account of how Latin has dominated later cultures and languages...Ostler provides a wonderfully geekish account of the intimate relationship between the empire and language of the Romans, and reminds us that there may be lessons for the English-speaking world in the history of the Latin language "
—Emily Wilson, Slate.com

Learn more about Nicholas Ostler at the Linguacubun website.

Writers Read: Nicholas Ostler.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Christina Schwenkel's "The American War in Contemporary Vietnam"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: The American War in Contemporary Vietnam: Transnational Remembrance and Representation by Christina Schwenkel.

About the book, from the publisher:

Transnational politics of war and remembrance

"A significant achievement, and one that does much to demonstrate the complexity of sites of war memory.... [Offers insights] that have an eerie resonance for today's political debates over the purpose and legitimacy of U.S. actions in the Middle East."—Geoffrey White, University of Hawaii

"The study of memory has been a common pursuit of historians of war and its aftermath, but Christina Schwenkel’s insightful and brilliantly written ethnography of the visual, political and semiotic processes that shape memory in Vietnam offers a new and transnational dimension to the field. Going far beyond the simple dichotomy of looking at 'both sides' of the war, her study of the commemorative concerns of both Americans and Vietnamese reveals the deep ambivalence over their 'shared history' and offers a profound window onto the present contemporary Vietnamese reality."
—Nora A. Taylor, Alsdorf Professor of South and Southeast Asian Art, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Christina Schwenkel's absorbing study explores how the "American War" is remembered and commemorated in Vietnam today—in official and unofficial histories and in everyday life. Schwenkel analyzes visual representations found in monuments and martyrs' cemeteries, museums, photography and art exhibits, battlefield tours, and related sites of "trauma tourism." In these transnational spaces, American and Vietnamese memories of the war intersect in ways profoundly shaped by global economic liberalization and the return of American citizens as tourists, pilgrims, and philanthropists.

Read more about the book at the publisher's website and visit Christina Schwenkel's faculty webpage.

The Page 99 Test: The American War in Contemporary Vietnam.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: J. Courtney Sullivan's "Commencement"

Today's feature at the Page 69 Test: Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan.

About the book, from the publisher:

A sparkling debut novel: a tender story of friendship, a witty take on liberal arts colleges, and a fascinating portrait of the first generation of women who have all the opportunities in the world, but no clear idea about what to choose.

Assigned to the same dorm their first year at Smith College, Celia, Bree, Sally, and April couldn’t have less in common. Celia, a lapsed Catholic, arrives with her grandmother’s rosary beads in hand and a bottle of vodka in her suitcase; beautiful Bree pines for the fiancé she left behind in Savannah; Sally, pristinely dressed in Lilly Pulitzer, is reeling from the loss of her mother; and April, a radical, redheaded feminist wearing a “Riot: Don’t Diet” T-shirt, wants a room transfer immediately.

Together they experience the ecstatic highs and painful lows of early adulthood: Celia’s trust in men is demolished in one terrible evening, Bree falls in love with someone she could never bring home to her traditional family, Sally seeks solace in her English professor, and April realizes that, for the first time in her life, she has friends she can actually confide in.

When they reunite for Sally’s wedding four years after graduation, their friendships have changed, but they remain fiercely devoted to one another. Schooled in the ideals of feminism, they have to figure out how it applies to their real lives in matters of love, work, family, and sex. For Celia, Bree, and Sally, this means grappling with one-night stands, maiden names, and parental disapproval—along with occasional loneliness and heartbreak. But for April, whose activism has become her life’s work, it means something far more dangerous.

Written with radiant style and a wicked sense of humor, Commencement not only captures the intensity of college friendships and first loves, but also explores with great candor the complicated and contradictory landscape facing young women today.

Read an excerpt from Commencement, and learn more about the book and author at J. Courtney Sullivan's website.

The Page 69 Test: Commencement.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten of the best failed couplings in fiction

At the Guardian, John Mullan named ten of the best failed couplings in fiction.

One book on the list:

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

Edward is keen; Florence is terrified; both are virgins. No detail of the first (which is also the last) night of the honeymoon is spared. His premature ejaculation proves to be "a calamity". "If his jugular had burst, it could not have seemed more terrible."

Read about another book on Mullan's list.

On Chesil Beach also appears on Mullan's list of ten of the best marital rows in literature.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Carol Muske-Dukes reading?

The current featured contributor to Writers Read: Carol Muske-Dukes, poet, novelist, and essayist.

Her entry begins:

I'm reading Murakami's Kafka on the Shore & re-reading a fascinating book called Comparative Perspectives, which provides several translations of well-known poems in different languages (I used it in a graduate course I taught at USC last semester called The Aesthetics of Translation), re-reading Auden's The Dyer's Hand, and...[read on]

Learn more about the writer and her work at Carol Muske-Dukes' website.

Writers Read: Carol Muske-Dukes.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Sheila Curran's "Everyone She Loved"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Everyone She Loved by Sheila Curran.

About the book, from the publisher:

A wise and triumphant novel about four women who've come of age together only to discover that -- when it comes to the essentials -- life's little instruction book will always need revising.

Penelope Cameron, loving mother, devoted wife and generous philanthropist, has convinced her husband and four closest friends to sign an outlandish pact. If Penelope should die before her two daughters are eighteen, her husband will not remarry without the permission of Penelope's sister and three college roommates. For years, this contract gathers dust until the unthinkable happens. Suddenly, everyone she loved must find their way in a world without Penelope.

For Lucy Vargas, Penelope's best friend, and a second mother to her daughters, nothing seems more natural than to welcome them into a home that had once belonged to their family, a lovely, sprawling bed-and-breakfast on the beach. This bequest was only one of the many ways in which Penelope had supported Lucy's career as a painter, declaring her talent too important to squander. But now, in the wake of a disaster that only lovable, worrisome Penelope could have predicted, Lucy has put her work on hold as she and Penelope's husband, Joey, blindly grasp at anything that will keep the girls from sinking under the weight of their grief.

With the help of family and friends, the children slowly build new lives. But just when things start to come together, the fragile serenity they have gained is suddenly threatened from within, and the unbreakable bonds they share seem likely to dissolve after all.

In this entertaining and uplifting novel, Sheila Curran explores the faith one woman placed in her dearest friends, the care she took to protect her family and the many ways in which romantic entanglements will confound and confuse even the most determined of planners. A story about growing up and moving on, about the sacrifices people make for one another and the timeless legacy of love, Everyone She Loved is, above all, about the abiding strength of friendship.

Read an excerpt from Everyone She Loved, and learn more about the book and author at Sheila Curran's website, blog, and Facebook page.

The Page 69 Test: Everyone She Loved.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five best insider accounts of the Apollo moon landings

Harrison H. Schmitt, a former U.S. senator for New Mexico and, as Apollo 17’s geologist and lunar-module pilot, the last man to step on the moon, is the author of Return to the Moon: Exploration, Enterprise and Energy and the Human Settlement of Space.

For the Wall Street Journal, he named a five best list of insider accounts of the Apollo moon landings. One title on his list:

Rocket Boys
by Homer Hickam Jr.
Delacorte, 1998

The motivation of many of the young men who ­became miracle workers for Apollo ­began with the launch of Sputnik I in October 1957 by the Soviet Union. I know that my interest in space began at that point. So did Homer Hickam’s. His “Rocket Boys” (later released as “October Sky,” after the title of a 1999 movie based on the book) vividly describes his roots in West Virginia coal-mining country and his post-Sputnik attempts during high school to build and launch small rockets. Hickam went on to become an engineer and was part of the Saturn V rocket team that launched 27 astronauts to the moon. His story was typical of Apollo ­veterans across the country.

Read about another book on Schmitt's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Karen Harrington's "Janeology," the movie

Now showing at My Book, The Movie: Janeology by Karen Harrington.

The entry begins:

When I was invited to participate in My Book, The Movie, I had the same thought as Daniel Wallace, author of Big Fish when he said something like “If you asked me if my novel could be made into a movie, I would have said it had just as likely a chance as being made into a car.”

Why?

Like Wallace’s work (which has been a big influence on my writing), I like reading and writing linked stories and novels that are short, but feature a large cast of loosely connected characters or ideas. Janeology is a such a composite novel so I’d be surprised if it could be adapted into a film. (Although you good-looking producer reading this, please don’t let that stop you from trying. In fact, I’m throwing down the challenge. Ha!) After all, I used a genealogy pedigree chart to keep track of eight of Jane’s eclectic ancestors as I was writing the novel. However, the novel has one narrator: Jane’s husband, Tom. From his point of view, the story reveals not only Tom’s own guilt about not really knowing his wife, but also shows the character of Jane through the lives of her ancestors, going back four generations, in hopes of teasing out that dark gene she may have inherited that predisposed her to violence.

Now, that’s a lot of casting. There’s her mother. Her mother’s mother. Her father. Her father’s mother. And so on.

But fear not! After I slept on it, I...[read on]

Read an excerpt of Janeology and learn more about the book and author at Karen Harrington's website.

The Page 69 Test: Janeology.

My Book, the Movie: Janeology.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Steven Luper's "The Philosophy of Death"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: The Philosophy of Death by Steven Luper.

About the book, from the publisher:

The Philosophy of Death is a discussion of the basic philosophical issues concerning death, and a critical introduction to the relevant contemporary philosophical literature. Luper begins by addressing questions about those who die: What is it to be alive? What does it mean for you and me to exist? Under what conditions do we persist over time, and when do we perish? Next, he considers several questions concerning death, including: What does dying consist in; in particular, how does it differ from ageing? Must death be permanent? By what signs may it be identified? Is death bad for the one who dies? If so why? Finally he discusses whether, and why, killing is morally objectionable, and suggests that it is often permissible; in particular, (assisted) suicide, euthanasia and abortion may all be morally permissible. His book is a lively and engaging philosophical treatment of a perennially fascinating and relevant subject.

Read an excerpt from The Philosophy of Death, and learn more about the book at the Cambridge University Press website.

Steven Luper is Chair of the Philosophy Department at Trinity University in San Antonia, Texas. Read about his other books and many articles.

The Page 99 Test: The Philosophy of Death.

--Marshal Zeringue