Book cover of Drain the Marsh
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D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

“This is a historical, literary, and satirical masterpiece….  Readers who hold such interests and expertise will readily recognize that Drain the Marsh is a solid literary production that juxtaposes past and present with not just a comic hand, but an attention to building characters, history, ironies, and encounters that embrace both realistic detail and the drama usually seen in play formats….  Drain the Marsh is hard-hitting, allegorical, and hilarious—a highly recommended pick for literary audiences who will find the satire and observational ironies impeccably constructed.”

Foreword Reviews

“Drain the Marsh mixes historical and current events with healthy dollops of fantasy for a modern and timely political satire….  The book’s wordplay and ruthless mockery of recognizable personalities, from Donald Trump to Socrates, play off of the characters’ well-known foibles and faults to great and humorous effect….  The world of ancient Athens comes to life because of the text’s intimate, painstaking details, from the beautiful artwork of the Athenian marketplace to the increasing unpleasantness of the Dionysian Marsh….  The book’s final section, in which multiple subplots reach their climax at once, is as fitting and suspenseful as it is clever.”

Reviews
5-page excerpt
Historicity

Drain the Marsh

(Hardcover, 322 pages)

In the midst of the Peloponnesian War against Sparta, civil war threatens to break out in Athens between the elites and the deplorable. Though Cleon is the demagogic leader of the deplorable, all is not well with him: His businesses are all going broke. Cleon decides to run for office, colluding with the Great King of Persia, Athens’ archenemy, to get elected.

Things are no better for his former nemesis, the comic dramatist Aristophanes, whose last three plays have been failures. He gives up the theater and joins the navy.
But a coterie of anti-Cleonists tries to convince Aristophanes to wield his pen once more and rally the citizens against the incipient tyrant:

  • Socrates the philosopher
  • Lysistrata, a courtesan and Cleon’s former mistress
  • Thalia, a mysterious young widow from Phocis who always seems to know what others don’t

Find out whether Aristophanes returns to the theater and finds success, riches, and love; and whether Cleon recoups his fortune via his secret plan to drain Athens’ sacred Dionysian Marsh.

Characters – click to read an excerpt

ARISTOPHANES

CLEON

PHALES

LYSISTRATA

THALIA

KORAX

Book cover of JV A Novel by K. Partridge
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The author speaks !
5-page excerpt
Dirty Jokes and Non-

J.V.

(Hardcover, 336 pages)

Nothing’s going to stop midfielder Jack Gaffney from leading State College to the NCAA lacrosse championship, graduating from college, and winning the girl of his dreams—nothing, except possibly:

  • Assistant coach Big Sir, who longs to kick his ass off the team
  • Psychopathic defenseman Cy Bishop
  • Team captain and Adonis John Vavolano, class president and 3-time All-American
  • Fugitive Black Panther Bobby Coolidge
  • Smirking English prof Dr. Harlem Smith, who misses no opportunity to stick it to the young
  • College president C. Barton Fisk, who longs for a ticket out of backwoods State College
  • Riley Freimann, a sharp-witted prankster and underachiever appointed Jack’s roommate under mysterious circumstances

And of course, the women in Jack’s life:

  • Babbling Brooke, a cheerleader whose attainments plateaued with tying her own shoelaces
  • Little Miss Kneesocks, cat burglar and agent provocateur for the local Optimists Club
  • Tokyo Roz, Viet Cong wannabee
  • Axis Sally—intellectual, supermodel, terrorist
  • Adelle Chardonnay, stunning freshman inexplicably attracted to Jack

Characters - click to read an excerpt

JOHN VAVOLANO

ADELLE CHARDONNAY

AXIS SALLY

TOKYO ROZ

LITTLE MISS KNEESOCKS

DR. HARLEM SMITH

Characters - click to read an excerpt

JOHN VAVOLANO

ADELLE CHARDONNAY

AXIS SALLY

TOKYO ROZ

LITTLE MISS KNEESOCKS

DR. HARLEM SMITH

New Persistence Cover
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The author speaks !

D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

“The Persistence of Consciousness: Its Prevention and Cure sounds like nonfiction, but is actually a comic novel set in a Minnesota college where existential arguments and philosophical debates permeate everyday life…. [ The author ] excels at tongue-in-cheek observation and strong dialogue as his characters interact over subjects ranging from University policy and the building of a wall to DNA evaluations, men and women's lives, cognition research, and more…. From neurochemistry PhD Emmilene Suggs and University savant Montgomery Tubercules to middle-aged Detective Aishin, the fun romp incorporates scientific theories about consciousness into a story of characters who explore their worlds in different ways.”

Reviews
5-page excerpt

PARTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

This is a partial bibliography.  It includes only whole volumes and does not include articles, which were an invaluable resource.

Jared Diamond, The Third Chimpanzee, HarperCollins, 1992

Jared Diamond, Why Is Sex Fun?, Basic Books, 1997

Evelyn B. Kelly, The 101 Most Unusual Diseases and Disorders, Greenwood, 2016

Sharon Janis, Spirituality for Dummies, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2008

Bryan Kolb and Ian Q. Whishaw, An Introduction to Brain and Behavior, Worth Publishers, 2014

Desmond Morris, The Naked Woman, Thomas Dunne Books, 2004

Jena Pincott, Do Gentlemen Really Prefer Blondes?, Bantam Dell, 2008

Daniel N. Robinson, Consciousness and Its Implications, The Great Courses DVD series

Patrick E. Sharp and Marie C. LaRegina, The Laboratory Rat, CRC Press, 1998

Max Velmans, Understanding Consciousness, Routledge, 2000

Larry Young and Brian Alexander, The Chemistry Between Us, The Penguin Group, 2012

Wolfgang Zeman and James Robert Maitland Innes, Craigies’s Neuroanatomy of the Rat, Academic Press, Inc., 1963

Bibliography

The Persistence of Consciousness

(Hardcover, 308 pages)

“A neurochemical romantic comedy”

At State University, the philosophy department and neurology department are at each other’s throats like the Capulets and Montagues, each propounding its own theory to explain the existence of the human soul. Into the fray are cast a pair of star-crossed lovers:

  • The devastatingly handsome philosophy professor Ford Phelan, who is trying to get hired as a philosophy of consciousness professor
  • The brilliant but average-looking neurochemist Dr. Emmilene Suggs, who is seeking the scientific basis of human consciousness

Alas, the course of true love never did run smooth. While Ford is trying to coax the virginal Emmilene into the sack, she is using her knowledge of biochemistry to make him fall in love with her. Will the male imperative or the female win out?
All the while, Ford’s philosophy peers will stop at nothing in order to squelch Emmilene’s research.

With State University hosting the world-renowned Philosophy of Mind Symposium, which side will emerge triumphant?

Characters – click to read an excerpt

FORD PHELEN

ABELARD SPADO

BENEDIK TOYBOAT-TOYBOAT

PARVATI SUGANDHITYONI

EMMILENE SUGGS

MONTGOMERY TUBERCLES

Characters – click to read an excerpt

FORD PHELEN

ABELARD SPADO

BENEDIK TOYBOAT-TOYBOAT

PARVATI SUGANDHITYONI

EMMILENE SUGGS

MONTGOMERY TUBERCLES