tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59746228281889540792023-11-16T11:14:53.854-05:00Geoffrey Smagacz (aka Geoffrey Walters) - AuthorGeoffrey's writings have appeared in the following publications or websites. Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5974622828188954079.post-89494301131465486582022-06-09T18:28:00.001-04:002022-06-09T20:34:12.262-04:00Edge of your seat intrigue that keeps one glued to the words...<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtDRRLW0iPsizPNzPQTO5Avho9siCg2j_RHA3HrtJ3m8sZXKBw2inQR9qLQYNVzBeEJGaT9-XWv0-vdVyEbqaenk805l8YTYI5r4_BVx9MdNxpnhWkxdO4StAwv-bQWh2PvwN0CK4KDPLFKrgx5OfMr7o-0VPDp3wmsDwJCuQOWwCbGIqkoUce4XdsiQ/s1200/Reportedly%20Murdered1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtDRRLW0iPsizPNzPQTO5Avho9siCg2j_RHA3HrtJ3m8sZXKBw2inQR9qLQYNVzBeEJGaT9-XWv0-vdVyEbqaenk805l8YTYI5r4_BVx9MdNxpnhWkxdO4StAwv-bQWh2PvwN0CK4KDPLFKrgx5OfMr7o-0VPDp3wmsDwJCuQOWwCbGIqkoUce4XdsiQ/s320/Reportedly%20Murdered1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: aktiv-grotesk, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.9rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;">Polished and engrossing, <i>Reportedly Murdered</i> prospers in every way a murder mystery should with Walters giving his readers a classic slice of journalistic intrigue that delivers much in the way of stylistic verve.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: aktiv-grotesk, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.9rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;">Moving along at a brisk clip <i>Reportedly Murdered</i> is paced like a police procedural with Walters wringing suspense out of the parsing of nuances as protagonist Gregory Thackery digs deeper into the "reportedly murdered" Bordeaux.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: aktiv-grotesk, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.9rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;">The writing is first class and there are more than enough unexpected plot twists to keep the attention of readers throughout as Walters pulls his readers into the ensuing drama, but he’s not one to give anything away. Keeping readers involved and “in the moment” until the final chapter has come to a conclusion.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: aktiv-grotesk, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.9rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;">The key to keeping <i>Reportedly Murdered</i> from becoming just another genre crime novel is Thackery. A much-conflicted character he’s the kind of guy who occupies the school of hard knocks for a living and Walters is quick to bring him to life by capturing little quirks in typical conversation, spontaneous explicit declaratives and a good smattering of wit!</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: aktiv-grotesk, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.9rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;">Tight, focused scenes create a sense of realism that draws the reader into the story as Thackery struggles to make sense of the clues he unravels whilst taut layers of intrigue raise Walters’ narrative above the genre generic to something more profound.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: aktiv-grotesk, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.9rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;">Following tips, hounding sources, and having one door after another slammed in his face Thackery’s story is further lifted by a cast which leans into the story’s urgency and continued relevance. Especially when he finds himself as a person of interest in Bordeaux’s murder!</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0.9rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span face="aktiv-grotesk, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica Neue, Arial, sans-serif, Apple Color Emoji, Segoe UI Emoji, Segoe UI Symbol, Noto Color Emoji" style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-weight: bolder;">Generating the kind of edge-of-your-seat intrigue that keeps one glued to the words and the pages turning. <i>Reportedly Murdered </i>proves a first-class read and is unreservedly recommended.</span></span><br /><span face="aktiv-grotesk, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica Neue, Arial, sans-serif, Apple Color Emoji, Segoe UI Emoji, Segoe UI Symbol, Noto Color Emoji" style="color: #333333;"><b>—<i>Book Viral Reviews</i></b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: aktiv-grotesk, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.9rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;"><a href="https://bookviralreviews.com/book-reviews/best-new-murder-mystery-series/" target="_blank">Read the full review</a><br /></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5974622828188954079.post-53730143634790422202022-06-09T18:20:00.002-04:002022-06-09T18:20:57.953-04:00An unputdownable mystery novel about a reporter-turned-detective with a colorful cast of characters<p><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px; left: 150px; top: 794.44px; transform: scaleX(0.989596);"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisc5343yRg_KVqfBHwo6QoE9q7nqiNo9dD-OXclEBE3ky-IZjqZQYqSOJrABwIAot-j8ozp3zOL_HiZAnZ_3McJCIXQ0v-cXaMyJPFrrrYrya1-L4GEwRfeOdKo42h3EY1fERoMQfPHy9aQNhUjYymkAAdyVvEH0OdTeHVzHJuIsU8OzjUilCb1kC9Sg/s586/RM%20cover%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="319" data-original-width="586" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisc5343yRg_KVqfBHwo6QoE9q7nqiNo9dD-OXclEBE3ky-IZjqZQYqSOJrABwIAot-j8ozp3zOL_HiZAnZ_3McJCIXQ0v-cXaMyJPFrrrYrya1-L4GEwRfeOdKo42h3EY1fERoMQfPHy9aQNhUjYymkAAdyVvEH0OdTeHVzHJuIsU8OzjUilCb1kC9Sg/s320/RM%20cover%202.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px; left: 150px; top: 794.44px; transform: scaleX(0.989596);">With</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px; left: 189.188px; top: 794.44px;"> </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px; left: 194.189px; top: 794.44px; transform: scaleX(0.975843);"><i>Reportedly Murdered</i></span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px; left: 365.43px; top: 794.44px; transform: scaleX(0.97649);">, Walters has a realistic reporter-turned-detective mystery. </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px; left: 150px; top: 819.44px; transform: scaleX(1.00308);">Each character, all unique and intriguing, is a viable suspect. The colorful cast is what </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px; left: 150px; top: 844.44px; transform: scaleX(0.996207);">keeps this story so rich.</span></p><div><span class="markedContent" id="page22R_mcid19"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px; left: 150px; top: 894.44px; transform: scaleX(1.00462);">Walters has a gift for writing dialogue infused with unique quirks and habits. I felt as if I </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px; left: 150px; top: 919.44px; transform: scaleX(0.98392);">knew all of the characters personally by the end of the story.</span></span><div><span class="markedContent"><span class="markedContent"></span></span><span class="markedContent" id="page22R_mcid20"><span style="font-family: sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 20px;"><br role="presentation" /></span></span><i><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px; left: 150px; top: 969.44px; transform: scaleX(0.975843);">Reportedly Murdered</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px; left: 321.236px; top: 969.44px;"> </span></i><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px; left: 326.24px; top: 969.44px; transform: scaleX(0.995282);">is a fast-paced, easy read that is hard to put down. Set in New York </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px; left: 150px; top: 994.44px; transform: scaleX(0.998318);">City, it feels like a good old fashioned whodunnit detective mystery, even though Grego</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px; left: 150px; top: 1019.44px; transform: scaleX(1.02864);">ry isn’t</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px; left: 206.858px; top: 1019.44px;"> </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px; left: 211.855px; top: 1019.44px; transform: scaleX(1.03227);">really</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px; left: 257.765px; top: 1019.44px;"> </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px; left: 262.764px; top: 1019.44px; transform: scaleX(0.965258);">a detective.</span></span></div></div><div><span class="markedContent"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px; left: 262.764px; top: 1019.44px; transform: scaleX(0.965258);"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="markedContent"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px; left: 262.764px; top: 1019.44px; transform: scaleX(0.965258);"><span class="markedContent" id="page27R_mcid35"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 150px; top: 244.44px; transform: scaleX(0.99477);">Walters concludes the story neatly, giving readers the closure that we’re looking for. Fans </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 150px; top: 269.44px; transform: scaleX(0.989734);">of the mystery genre and detective fiction are going to enjoy this one. Here’s to hoping </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 150px; top: 294.44px; transform: scaleX(0.994116);">Walters continues the Gregory Thackery series.</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="markedContent"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="left: 262.764px; top: 1019.44px; transform: scaleX(0.965258);"><span class="markedContent"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-size: 20px; left: 150px; top: 294.44px; transform: scaleX(0.994116);"><span style="font-family: sans-serif;">—<i>Independent Book Review</i></span></span></span></span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5974622828188954079.post-25385185096414862252022-04-30T22:40:00.004-04:002022-04-30T22:42:07.371-04:00New Website<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidrGx1_5-attrttxe5M5xki_ZS5RWSH-3JKeurzwMRo4YC6uFQigHEo3TQMJg3PwbwGJ_N-OPhr3_EQZXOXD7tPN9Y63lEmc7LyV-FPmC1FG816kVbJOAQSgVtwIjHZjSnBafARe5bTd1UcZbFsbV6kSwZNDRveCEFW41dRJED1gFC7EorL5ORA5FXoQ/s1907/website%20pic.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="901" data-original-width="1907" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidrGx1_5-attrttxe5M5xki_ZS5RWSH-3JKeurzwMRo4YC6uFQigHEo3TQMJg3PwbwGJ_N-OPhr3_EQZXOXD7tPN9Y63lEmc7LyV-FPmC1FG816kVbJOAQSgVtwIjHZjSnBafARe5bTd1UcZbFsbV6kSwZNDRveCEFW41dRJED1gFC7EorL5ORA5FXoQ/s320/website%20pic.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><a href="http://www.geoffreywalters.com" target="_blank">Click here!</a><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5974622828188954079.post-87779501099593502632022-02-18T19:49:00.002-05:002022-05-01T19:15:25.720-04:00Coming Soon - May 14th, 2022<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjYf9XZdWKEbnofhWfliSd-t_vrbWpXB0qorh5qWHsg_OXKE5wsvCD3RZLU7FUNZZk1GyfPrE_zpJUAIGrVc2llNkcOlHmxYVzFL-Iq63kRwK0FCGo9tCyJweaqZzjDG-58GEAHnbk7KIYDRAhKIb1tNS34ttFyG9MhIZp90XKtQ9Oghse0ftdx-Cw_7A=s894" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="894" data-original-width="596" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjYf9XZdWKEbnofhWfliSd-t_vrbWpXB0qorh5qWHsg_OXKE5wsvCD3RZLU7FUNZZk1GyfPrE_zpJUAIGrVc2llNkcOlHmxYVzFL-Iq63kRwK0FCGo9tCyJweaqZzjDG-58GEAHnbk7KIYDRAhKIb1tNS34ttFyG9MhIZp90XKtQ9Oghse0ftdx-Cw_7A=s320" width="213" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">How does Gregory Thackery, a novice reporter working for a third-rate newsweekly, scoop the </span><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">New York Press</em><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">, the </span><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">New York Daily Tribune</em><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">, </span><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">New York News Journal</em><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">, and the vaunted </span><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">New York Dispatch</em><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">, America's so-called "newspaper of historical memory"? Luck? Common sense? Hidden connections? Even the clueless Gregory doesn't know for sure.</span></p><p><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.5px;"><i>“Geoffrey Walters brings deadpan wit and well-wrought prose to bear on a genre that too easily devolves into formulaic and unfunny noir, knowing all the while that—as Flannery O’Connor put it—‘evil is not a problem to be solved but a mystery to be endured.’” </i>Joshua Hren, author of <i>Infinite Regress</i></span></p><p>Preview my book or request a review copy at: <a href="https://wipfandstock.com/9781666736120/reportedly-murdered/" target="_blank">Reportedly Murdered</a></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5974622828188954079.post-83837868842719738352022-01-20T22:12:00.002-05:002022-01-20T22:12:33.471-05:00"Self-Exile," a poem by Geoffrey Smagacz<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiHrzi4mcKi0ZTERynl3I4y81swF5KB0sx3JTmKxEduDHYNVqNEANR3uoWNGx5WwY_zb5odtqILUVBt9RvExJmEEjcZsN7d_ylZghLWM-eLodOK6ETdkL363qlzH9r1wED48lV5VKtCYu6__8oNigAzUSmvStwOYXwi7rnTHPsF-kXCZPDr7OH8_YY2NQ=s750" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="750" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiHrzi4mcKi0ZTERynl3I4y81swF5KB0sx3JTmKxEduDHYNVqNEANR3uoWNGx5WwY_zb5odtqILUVBt9RvExJmEEjcZsN7d_ylZghLWM-eLodOK6ETdkL363qlzH9r1wED48lV5VKtCYu6__8oNigAzUSmvStwOYXwi7rnTHPsF-kXCZPDr7OH8_YY2NQ=s320" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://classicalpoets.org/2022/01/20/self-exile-by-geoffrey-smagacz/#/" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">Click here to read the poem</a></div><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5974622828188954079.post-15325917759434468952021-09-22T09:15:00.004-04:002021-09-22T09:16:49.724-04:00I Don’t Know Why I Think Things Will Get Better<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnNfC6ASOq-TlWR1Y83rnJLHPuivcmPp3IhHSIO2MSQSwg90vQU5eTytmRHEnurMPqFKL8pVUZx4FtfAzIzpuTOf-8fiSSSP9K2M41KgeC-XvhOYnscTPOPiNsa7fDy2ReB12LfSSHwyqw/s1114/Sinatra.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="591" data-original-width="1114" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnNfC6ASOq-TlWR1Y83rnJLHPuivcmPp3IhHSIO2MSQSwg90vQU5eTytmRHEnurMPqFKL8pVUZx4FtfAzIzpuTOf-8fiSSSP9K2M41KgeC-XvhOYnscTPOPiNsa7fDy2ReB12LfSSHwyqw/s320/Sinatra.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://classicalpoets.org/2021/09/22/i-dont-know-why-i-think-things-will-get-better-by-geoffrey-smagacz/" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">Click this link to read the poem</a></div><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5974622828188954079.post-59408962186429384952021-01-01T09:02:00.003-05:002021-01-01T09:29:18.890-05:00How Deeply Should A Root Drill Down?<p> <a href="https://dappledthings.org/18512/mary-queen-of-angels-2020/" target="_blank">How Deeply Should A Root Drill Down?</a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq8iRtzPSmOKeJq6rJwntnofbP7xlIHPChsQoSzPdYfunDL7hgJKTKMmd5k1zGkexyHC9N19DpirEhjVWXw9Jn0C0qNFhhkGBVMmoNqDMmCqUn-u9RZUa7yq2ZPtay-y5HB-ytB90KP1N1/s1024/dappled+things+cover.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="682" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq8iRtzPSmOKeJq6rJwntnofbP7xlIHPChsQoSzPdYfunDL7hgJKTKMmd5k1zGkexyHC9N19DpirEhjVWXw9Jn0C0qNFhhkGBVMmoNqDMmCqUn-u9RZUa7yq2ZPtay-y5HB-ytB90KP1N1/s320/dappled+things+cover.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5974622828188954079.post-34589399557172626442020-09-03T10:51:00.001-04:002022-01-20T22:13:08.049-05:00Another Hike<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4G8KNZNGbWr-2hKwcLh9QYBRcFx4CP8vcXRkV2AjkieZuDsoPlxEituexXWt1afl6mzIkLQQcCCe_vVH6wnvUcMkD6_Z9ayq16PEi_J7OKvpWw_mf-dQJ3GUbTZ8MR7zLf54AtP0vL_IH/s948/northern+appalachain+review.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="948" data-original-width="627" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4G8KNZNGbWr-2hKwcLh9QYBRcFx4CP8vcXRkV2AjkieZuDsoPlxEituexXWt1afl6mzIkLQQcCCe_vVH6wnvUcMkD6_Z9ayq16PEi_J7OKvpWw_mf-dQJ3GUbTZ8MR7zLf54AtP0vL_IH/s320/northern+appalachain+review.jpg" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>Available through Sunbury Press<br /><a href="https://www.sunburypressstore.com/Northern-Appalachia-Review-v1-9781620062838.htm" target="_blank">Another Hike</a></p><p>or Amazon<br /><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Northern-Appalachia-Review-v1-ebook/dp/B08GCCJRHF/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1YXG1LQN8GQGB&dchild=1&keywords=northern+appalachia+review&qid=1599144133&sprefix=northern+appala%2Caps%2C175&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Another Hike</a><br /></p><div class="product-description">
<div class="qsc-html-content">
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-size: small;">The
Northern Appalachia Review is an annual publication making a place for
the under-recognized literature of its region. The editors identify
northern Appalachia as the Appalachia counties of Ohio, Pennsylvania,
Maryland, New York, and the northern portion of West Virginia, a part of
America where authors have yet to be distinguished with a literary
identity, though it remains rich in stories of conflict among humans and
their defining landscapes.</span></div>
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<p><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-size: small;">The Review publishes authors from, living in, or writing about northern Appalachia.</span></p>
<p><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-size: small;">Most
importantly, it seeks work that best conveys the character of the
people and places of the region and which represents it as both distinct
from and part of greater Appalachia.</span></p>
<p><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-size: small;">The
publication holds a vision of serving as a catalyst to more novels,
poetry, essays, history, memoir, drama, and other modes of literary
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<p><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-size: small;">The
exposure offered by the Review generates support for the authors of
Northern Appalachia, ensuring that the voice of this remarkable part of
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1RX0tkU6ZY6nXz1znzAjYZVZw4mY4dz_p5PNPrP98qUSpzpjgG0E5S8h6vbDfQF3My5k439U-mttzHcRIELlZByUSdlCeIe40lHqlbx7AvMbPMTOJlY2IDaC3p43OT-zUgtIOzAJWSmL_/s1600/25+mini+reviews.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="701" data-original-width="1146" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1RX0tkU6ZY6nXz1znzAjYZVZw4mY4dz_p5PNPrP98qUSpzpjgG0E5S8h6vbDfQF3My5k439U-mttzHcRIELlZByUSdlCeIe40lHqlbx7AvMbPMTOJlY2IDaC3p43OT-zUgtIOzAJWSmL_/s320/25+mini+reviews.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="https://classicalpoets.org/2020/06/30/25-mini-reviews-by-geoffrey-smagacz/" target="_blank">Read the reviews</a><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5974622828188954079.post-21063330121966136372020-02-21T14:34:00.000-05:002020-02-21T14:34:15.004-05:00Swift Days<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9suKnOV6RFnJoyXbTE7raMMjLGK6nafkLFF1nJC94zP2Qrr9witK-cnYhhr6ay4Ko5Meb5fwPpSCDgLt4kEzIyKs5rilndmdBxv4MsVNmvhkl-DadEGwQ2rdpGYjiZ3U7xzU4J8_K296e/s1600/hawk+come+down.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="444" data-original-width="628" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9suKnOV6RFnJoyXbTE7raMMjLGK6nafkLFF1nJC94zP2Qrr9witK-cnYhhr6ay4Ko5Meb5fwPpSCDgLt4kEzIyKs5rilndmdBxv4MsVNmvhkl-DadEGwQ2rdpGYjiZ3U7xzU4J8_K296e/s320/hawk+come+down.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.integratedcatholiclife.org/2020/01/poetry-swift-days/" target="_blank">Read Geoffrey's latest poem</a><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5974622828188954079.post-83690335535207025252020-02-15T08:55:00.000-05:002020-02-15T08:55:02.982-05:00‘To Whom It May Concern’ and Other Poetry by Geoffrey Smagacz<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiij0Sjbh5ZpejZsLRGgqp59jd6PyI7A1-TANhRnt68uOzUrfFCKodFlHFfhaQT9ySIU4l97XB7McIoZg8Ovsvig45yWrCpMy-2FcMN_XVKT5069UjybQ8bfmDWBZZwGyS40nA7E0QvSR7r/s1600/writer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="750" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiij0Sjbh5ZpejZsLRGgqp59jd6PyI7A1-TANhRnt68uOzUrfFCKodFlHFfhaQT9ySIU4l97XB7McIoZg8Ovsvig45yWrCpMy-2FcMN_XVKT5069UjybQ8bfmDWBZZwGyS40nA7E0QvSR7r/s320/writer.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="https://classicalpoets.org/2020/02/15/to-whom-it-may-concern-and-other-poetry-by-geoffrey-smagacz/" target="_blank">Click here to read the poems</a><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5974622828188954079.post-26997386071771095092020-01-20T09:26:00.000-05:002020-02-07T13:57:27.447-05:00I made the masthead of English Plus, a language school in Zihuatanejo, Mexico where I am teaching conversations classes three days a week as a volunteer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi96UHTqTLvZg-n0yMOSRUmtDaKLYrBoacZjuUvIm7lTpo72qnNYI_1iOoXLnu8MzuoJPalz1I4Z-jCUYKU6QgeRhOEkJX7srJMwrG9WdhVp0zqDyZcfSxd-05dF1e7yiFt-xNZ_fEODivh/s1600/English+plus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="591" data-original-width="1600" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi96UHTqTLvZg-n0yMOSRUmtDaKLYrBoacZjuUvIm7lTpo72qnNYI_1iOoXLnu8MzuoJPalz1I4Z-jCUYKU6QgeRhOEkJX7srJMwrG9WdhVp0zqDyZcfSxd-05dF1e7yiFt-xNZ_fEODivh/s320/English+plus.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5974622828188954079.post-53036511962972884602019-10-06T12:03:00.002-04:002019-10-10T14:32:04.375-04:00Never Say Murder<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_31TwmjXWlzpijZOZYZgDRNf6iwIfoh-_HpfmxafC93oACkTriVj99JNm-_UvEWKgiHJaCCbY0d9zyTpwj-66TyMy4elE9vGJfuNwkHNi3iBPqtMiFHj50AomRc3nKH7GRDuZn_D1IywN/s1600/New+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="755" data-original-width="471" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_31TwmjXWlzpijZOZYZgDRNf6iwIfoh-_HpfmxafC93oACkTriVj99JNm-_UvEWKgiHJaCCbY0d9zyTpwj-66TyMy4elE9vGJfuNwkHNi3iBPqtMiFHj50AomRc3nKH7GRDuZn_D1IywN/s320/New+cover.jpg" width="199" /></a></div>
<br />
<span id="goog_1593135043"></span><span id="goog_1593135044"></span>My first novel, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Never-Say-Murder-Gregory-Thackery-ebook/dp/B07YGN3JT3/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=geoffrey+smagacz&qid=1570375954&sr=8-1" target="_blank">NEVER SAY MURDER</a><span id="goog_1593135052"></span><span id="goog_1593135053"></span>, has been re-released. It's an
amateur sleuth murder mystery originally published in 2005 by a small
press. NEVER SAY MURDER is part one of a five part series featuring
Gregory Thackery, a young man who always seems to become the prime
suspect in a murder he must investigate.<br />
<br />
"Walters manages to
deliver, no matter what your preference in fiction may be. Fast paced
and a fast read, he weaves a story that will keep you on the edge of
your sea<span class="text_exposed_show">t and manages to mix in some new elements." —POD-DY Mouth</span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
<br />
"Mr. Walters bares down description to its elements and spins a tale of
believable events and motivational reasons for his character to find
the truth. The style is blunt and fast paced. Following the hero’s
journey, NEVER SAY MURDER has a well defined story line." —Futures
Mystery Anthology Magazine<br />
<br />
"The narrative premise is solid, and
the author demonstrates a particular talent for creating a viable set of
suspects." —Kirkus Discoveries<br />
<br />
"NEVER SAY MURDER is almost a
pulp detective story, except there is no detective involved. But Walters
infuses his tale with all the great qualities of Nero Wolfe's Archie.
Greg is the hero and narrator of the story. There is a murderer out
there and colorful characters who have something to hide. The plot takes
place in New York, the Gotham of murder. A great tale!" —Midwest Book
Review<br />
<br />
"It's a fast pace enjoyable, at times a bit funny,
[whodunnit.] By funny, it's just the way the writer presents his
characters. I could envision them. The characters are well developed and
interesting. The plot is quite good, really. All in all, good reading!
And NEVER say, 'I could just murder that person!'[;] you could become a
suspect." —June Ahern, Amazon Reviewer</div>
<div class="text_exposed_show">
<br /></div>
<div class="text_exposed_show">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Never-Say-Murder-Gregory-Thackery-ebook/dp/B07YGN3JT3/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=geoffrey+smagacz&qid=1570375954&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Order here</a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5974622828188954079.post-44742581985860541202019-03-09T15:31:00.001-05:002019-03-09T15:31:31.036-05:00Shattered reflections on Hemingway<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBRkmkKd1zkexkFnhz_GnkeevX567cztDHHMdVFnVPvDixRTq9zrXz6z_zNK5p56OnZTMOayuosnlm1DpV_RxPU8DMlvTu_UM29SRuhJOzgOcezdvgTCtx-G2sQtAbZDsWDCm13jy3RGmz/s1600/castro+hemingway.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="469" data-original-width="613" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBRkmkKd1zkexkFnhz_GnkeevX567cztDHHMdVFnVPvDixRTq9zrXz6z_zNK5p56OnZTMOayuosnlm1DpV_RxPU8DMlvTu_UM29SRuhJOzgOcezdvgTCtx-G2sQtAbZDsWDCm13jy3RGmz/s320/castro+hemingway.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<a href="https://europeanconservative.com/2018/12/shattered-reflections-on-hemingway/" target="_blank">Shattered Reflections on Hemingway</a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">It’s safe to say that Hemingway set
me on the course of the writer’s life. He certainly loomed large in my
development as a writer and as a man. Through my 20s, I read most of
his novels and stories, particularly <em>In Our Time, The Green Hills of Africa,</em> and <em>The Sun Also Rises </em>(of
which I’d read the latter twenty times or more). He led me to Turgenev
and Twain and Sherwood Anderson, and at least one book of the Bible, <em>Ecclesiastes</em>.
With some sense of urgency, I traveled to France and Spain. I worked
on a newspaper. I began to drink heavily. Although it’s been at least
25 years since I’d consciously let go of Hemingway as any kind of a
model, here I am having another go at him.</span><br />
<br />
I’ll start with the interview I recently viewed. If you’ve read what
Hemingway has said about himself, or what others have written about him
in biographies—or, Heaven knows, hagiographies—you are told that he
could speak French fluently, read Flaubert’s <em>Madam Bovary </em>in the original, knew German, and also spoke Spanish. In <em>The Sun Also Rises</em> and<em>The Old Man and the Sea</em>, as well as several short stores, he peppered his prose with Spanish words and phrases.<br />
<br />
I don’t mean to be nit-picky but for crying out loud, after listening
to the interview, I have to ask: Was this the level of his Spanish when
he was driving an ambulance during WWI in Spain, or when he fought with
the Republican Communists during the Spanish Civil War, or when he was
chumming around with Fidel Castro and Che Guevara in Cuba? He must have
missed a lot of the conversation or had an interpreter.<br />
<br />
And note, Hemingway was being interviewed <em>at the end</em> of his
career, not at the beginning. Was he just having an ‘off day’? Had his
brain already become pickled from years of heavy drinking? <em>I</em> speak Spanish more fluently. <em>Gwyneth Paltrow </em>speaks
better Spanish. All these many years I continued to hold this idea of
Hemingway as a towering intellect, a man of letters and languages; but
in the interview, he used <em>soy</em> instead of<em>estoy. </em>He virtually
ignored a complex question asked by the interviewer on how Cuba had
influenced him as a writer and, instead, launched into the probably
rehearsed, linguistic theme of <em>The Old Man and the Sea</em> on the difference between <em>la mar</em> and <em>el mar</em>in very pedestrian Spanish. Oh well.<br />
<br />
I began to break free from Hemingway’s magnetic personality after I
quit drinking at the age of 29 and sobered up. Shortly thereafter one
clear-headed day I asked myself: Why in the world cannot I write
‘can’t’? Why do not I write ‘don’t’? Why will not Hemingway let me
write ‘won’t’? Good grief. Hemingway adamantly didn’t use contractions
so I didn’t use contractions. Scales might have fallen from my eyes.
I’m no polyglot but name me a language that doesn’t ellipse and elide,
compress, blend in, or telescope in spoken and written forms. English
does. Spanish does. That’s how people talk and write—and Hemingway’s
writings are almost nothing but talking.<br />
<br />
I’m inclined to think that his hard-headed dicta was a manifestation
of his addictive personality, the obsessive compulsive behavior of the
alcoholic. I know all about it. Maybe if he’d loosened up a little
bit, he would have grown as a writer; but instead he held to this narrow
principle his entire life. Couldn’t he have taken a risk and tried
something new? Couldn’t he slip the surly bonds of his own hidebound
code? He could hunt kudu in Africa, elk in Idaho, game fish for marlin
in Cuba and Mexico, sip brandy and chomp a cigar as he watched Che
Guevara murder his political enemies in Cuba—but he couldn’t use a
contraction? <br />
<br />
Click the link to read the entire article: <a href="https://europeanconservative.com/2018/12/shattered-reflections-on-hemingway/" target="_blank">https://europeanconservative.com/2018/12/shattered-reflections-on-hemingway/</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5974622828188954079.post-39315119056260620262018-09-12T10:21:00.001-04:002021-10-24T10:48:56.347-04:00Reflections on Gerard Manley Hopkins and “The Wreck of the Deutschland”<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidC2iNVRKllcpxt2iq15eWHBP-vWkqRrjWM1uDenksExYp4pBNJDyOjimK9u3xi5WarSXlWzF2BWmhZDcn_nU7UAgQTb2xIT-uqs6pZMQOaSw8Ox5ZYXqssQKEp_sXdxxsvy098NwmDdlh/s1600/Gerard-Manley-Hopkins-4x3md-001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="400" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidC2iNVRKllcpxt2iq15eWHBP-vWkqRrjWM1uDenksExYp4pBNJDyOjimK9u3xi5WarSXlWzF2BWmhZDcn_nU7UAgQTb2xIT-uqs6pZMQOaSw8Ox5ZYXqssQKEp_sXdxxsvy098NwmDdlh/s320/Gerard-Manley-Hopkins-4x3md-001.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1"><p>Reflections on Gerard Manley Hopkins and <i>The Wreck of the
Deutschland</i></p>
<p>I'm no Bertie Wooster when it comes to singing in the shower. In
fact I don't sing, I mostly read poetry aloud, and I usually don't
shower; I bathe because the book would get wet. The wall tiles in
the bathroom make for theater-like surround sound.
</p>
<p>I've read anthologies of sonnets, collected works of individual
poets like Robert Herrick or Robert Frost or Emily Dickinson. I've
done Shakespeare in the tub. For example, I did <i>Macbeth </i>in
about 10 days. <i>Hamlet </i>took longer. Recently, I read
Sophocles's <i>Antigone</i>.
</p>
<p>But I also do a few revivals, a couple of long poems that I read
again and again: Coleridge's <i>The Rime of the Ancient Mariner</i>,
Keats's <i>On the Eve of St. Agnes</i>,and one of my all-time
favorite poems to read aloud, <i>The Wreck of the Deutschland </i>by
Gerard Manley Hopkins.</p>
<p>Reading Hopkins's poem aloud is a revelation, and I'm convinced
that it's the only way that it should be read. And being submersed
up to your neck in water, upon reflection, adds to the understanding.
Not to be flippant, but Hopkins wrote the poem in memory of five
Franciscan nuns who drowned in the wee hours of the morning of
December 7, 1875. They were passengers in a ship called the
Deutschland that ran aground and broke up in a terrible storm at the
mouth of the Thames River in England.</p>
<p>I tried to read the poem many times because I had to. Right?
It's his most famous, the pinnacle of his poetic achievement, the
consummation of his sprung rhythm theories, the triumph of sound over
sense. And it's a religious poem that even a secular could enjoy,
bad things happening to good people, a theme that atheists use to
deny the existence of God, and Christians ponder to understand the
mystery of suffering.</p>
<p>My first introduction to Hopkins was in a college literature
survey class. I can't remember why I chose the poem <i>Spring and
Fall </i>or if it had been assigned, but my task was to read it aloud
to the class, give a brief bio of the author and analyze it.
</p>
<p>This was a secular college and I'd already disavowed my vaguely
Christian upbringing and proclaimed myself an atheist. Yet I learned
that Hopkins had been a priest (which didn't put me off), was a bit
of an eccentric (like me) and was an original, developing his own
unique metrical theories (much like Emily Dickinson, a poet I greatly
admired).
</p>
<p>And to top it off, reading <i>Spring and Fall </i>is a blast.
It's lilting and lovely and sad and musical. It begs to be read
aloud. This poem led me to read some of his others, particularly his
rule-breaking sonnets.</p>
<p>Spring and Fall<br /><i>to a young child</i></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Márgarét, áre you gríeving<br />Over Goldengrove unleaving?<br />Leáves like the things of man, you<br />With your fresh thoughts care for, can
you?<br />Ah! ás the heart grows older<br />It will come to such sights colder<br />By and by, nor spare a sigh<br />Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;<br />And yet you wíll weep and know why.<br />Now no matter, child, the name:<br />Sórrow’s spríngs áre the same.<br />Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed<br />What heart heard of, ghost guessed:<br />It ís the blight man was born for,<br />It is Margaret you mourn for.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The next time I heard the name of Hopkins, I was watching an
episode of <i>The Waltons</i> when John Boy reads <i>The Windhover </i>to
his mother on her birthday. I was glued to the TV set every Thursday
(I know that dates me), so John Boy's reading of it gave Hopkins for
me some extra cache.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8_rnfXYLj8">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8_rnfXYLj8</a></p>
<p> In retrospect I think John Boy should have been reading this to
his girlfriend and not to his mother but that's a different essay. I
also have to note that I had an Oldsmobile Achieva and I couldn't say
the name of that car without thinking, “the achieve of, the mastery
of the thing,” despite the fact that it could barely make it up a
hill at 30 miles an hour.</p>
<p>The Windhover</p>
<p><i>To Christ our Lord</i></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a name="annotation-3"></a>I caught
this morning morning's minion, king-<br /> dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding<br /> Of the rolling level
underneath him steady air, and striding<br />High there,
how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing<br />In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on
swing,<br /> As a skate's heel
sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding<br /> Rebuffed the big
wind. My heart in hiding<br />Stirred for a bird, – the achieve of,
the mastery of the thing!</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Brute beauty and valour and act, oh,
air, pride, plume, here<br /> Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion<br />Times told
lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier! </p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a name="annotation-8"></a><a name="annotation-9"></a>
No wonder of it: shéer plód makes plough down sillion<br />Shine, and
blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,<br /> Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion.</p>
<p>My first encounter with <i>The Wreck of the Deutschland </i>occurred
in a modern poetry class. I couldn't penetrate it. I tried, believe
me. It bored me to tears, until the day I broke it open in the tub.
I read it aloud and thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It sings.
There's so much sound, so much melody, words sliding into other
words, alliterations, internal rhymes and strong rhythms. And that's
how I took it at first, and maybe that's where Hopkins wanted me to
take it, where he excels or impresses or has influenced modern
poetry. In the delicate balance of sound and sense, Hopkins heavily
tilted to sound. But wow, the achieve of! I'd finally read it from
start to finish, and I enjoyed it, too.</p>
<p>And I read it aloud again and again over the years before, during
and after my conversion to Catholicism, and one day it struck me. In
the same way that this ship gets stuck on the shoal and breaks apart
in a gale-force storm and people begin to drown one by one, I too was
drowning in a sea of words. That's it! Hopkins wanted me to drown,
to become overwhelmed. When you read that poem, particularly the
last half, it's difficult to find a literal reality to cling to. But
every now and again, you'll bubble up to the surface and see the
“jay-blue heavens appearing” or the “moth-soft Milky Way.”
But then back down you'll go, into the raging sea, and as you are
ready to give up the ghost – as those five nuns and others did that
night – Hopkins asks you to contemplate ultimate things, God,
suffering and the Cross.</p></div>
Read more at: <a href="https://dappledthings.org/14188/reflections-on-gerard-manley-hopkins-and-the-wreck-of-the-deutschland/" target="_blank">Dappled Things</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5974622828188954079.post-33525027406392854372018-02-05T17:56:00.000-05:002018-02-06T11:31:31.290-05:00Volunteering at English Plus in Zihuatanejo, Mexico<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxpgMid_2FOBy0T7Ag1hGpM8FsKBh0DmG1uywJstLi4vbL3w3-RmyT5XwJ90gTCkMmefZdb15DuCti9cn2S1w' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
The author is volunteering as an English club facilitator at English
Plus in Zihuatanejo, Mexico until April. Geoffrey wants people to know
that it's always summer in Zihuatanejo! <br />
<br />
(Also, click link below) <br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/englishpluscenter/videos/1562120527168914/" target="_blank">English Conversation Club</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/englishpluscenter/videos/1562120527168914/?hc_ref=ARSfTz8DSmB1mU_Jg1sWzKvPifP4Pct5jDoEfSHOoDitswIwNdyddztoM6dTEu043Ls"></a>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, Mexico17.6416693 -101.551695517.5811413 -101.63237649999999 17.7021973 -101.4710145tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5974622828188954079.post-71768178489737355012017-09-17T09:17:00.001-04:002017-09-17T09:18:19.376-04:00The Wound<span data-offset-key="eb7jk-0-0"><span data-text="true">Dappled Things literary magazine has published one of my poems. They've featured it online: <a href="http://dappledthings.org/12347/the-wound/" target="_blank">The Wound</a></span></span><br />
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<br />
<br />
A WASTE OF SHAME, and Other Sad tales of the Appalachian Foothills <br />
by Geoffrey Smagacz
<br />
<br />
•Reviewed by Jim O'Neill <br />
<br />
Appalachia is an American Transylvania; its myth looms larger than its reality. The region evokes images of craggy hills, dark woods, feuding families, and woodshed moonshine. Appalachia extends along the mid-Eastern United States from southern New York and Lake Erie to Mississippi and Alabama. Its geographic expanse and its ecological and cultural diversity hardly qualify it as a stagnant backwater or a desperate outpost, although quite a bit of literature, film - and even news reporting would lead us to think so.
<br />
<br />
Mapletown, a fictional Appalachian community [somewhere north of the Mason-Dixon Line], is the setting of Geoffrey Smagacz's short novel, A WASTE OF SHAME. Smagacz's tale about the dissolution of a friendship deals with real things that occur in real time in a real place. The author does not mythologize, caricature or patronize the book's Appalachian setting or the region's population. He presents people whose flesh aches and whose blood runs. Mapletown could be any locale passed by time and forgotten by the world. It is a town studded with "houses one on top of the other like a misplaced New England village only dilapidated," and roundly encroached upon by woods whose paths are "hewn out by village drunks," but much like Mapletown Lake, the "dark forlorn puddle" on which the small town sits, something deep and dark swims under the surface. That something will rise up and create a tempest that will rattle lives in the small, otherwise sleepy, enclave.
<br />
<br />
Smagacz's first person point of view is droll and deft. He lets the reader stay a few steps ahead of Kevin, a narrator physically in low gear ("There's nothing in his shoulders") but morally in overdrive. Kevin disapproves of foul language, halter-tops, and creased pants. He's a stuffed shirt, but a colorful one: "I aspired to class (whatever class was.)" He's likable in the way a somewhat simple but amusing sidekick or companion can be. He tries to come to grips with the interactions that play out between himself, his best friend Jim, Jim's fiancée Debra, and Jim's lover Pam. While Kevin manages to know every aspect of everyone else's life, he has little insight into his own. Self-awareness beckons, and ultimately falls in his lap, but it comes at a tall price.
<br />
<br />
Kevin, Jim, and Pam work in a restaurant. Beer battered fish is the nightly special. Kevin is as adept at brining, seasoning and coating his own underbelly as he is at battering and frying those fish fillets. He is a master of putting a golden shell on top of the so-so meat underneath. But fish is not the only thing in Maplewood dipped in beer; everything seems to be beer soaked. Even the kisses are "beery." It is a booze-fueled world, but never a stale one. Yet all the brew in all the taverns of Maplewood won't dull the sting of the truth that ultimately breaks through the alcohol-buzzed surface.
<br />
<br />
Smagacz's story breathes fire, but it is a fire that smolders more than it blazes. Unease creeps into every interlude, even the funny ones, and there are many of those. The author has a way of catching the reader off guard just when things start to seem comfortable and cozy. As in any good noir or anti-hero piece, the slack-paced lead character reaches a watershed - but he gets there by taking all the wrong turns.
<br />
<br />
The small circle of friends come together, tangle, separate and reunite as each moves closer to a wrenching showdown. Kevin resents Jim, whose stronger and more confident - but also more reckless and heartless. May also have a thing for Jim's fiancée, Debra - especially since Jim openly carries on an affair with Pam, a restaurant waitress. The plot may sound like the soap operas Kevin's mother likes to watch—yes, poor Kevin even lives at home with Mom—but it is not; its taut, cunningly minimalist structure builds steadily to a climax that will stay with the reader long after the book's final startling moments.
<br />
<br />
In Flannery O'Connor's short story, "A Good Man Is Hard To Find," one character says of another, "She would have been a good woman if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life." A clear mind is elusive. Discovery almost never comes full and fast. It is a poky process. When it comes it hits like a bullet - one nobody saw coming, not Kevin, nor us. A WASTE OF SHAME starts with a cocked gun whose trigger will at some point be pulled. After the shot, all is revealed.
<br />
<br />
Smagacz's characters often find themselves lost in thick woods. They do not have an easy time finding their way out. Neither does the reader. The novel is challenging and disturbing (as is the short story collection "Sad Tales of the Appalachian Foothills" included in this edition), but it is a gripping read, one that both chills like the wind across the town's dark lake and warms like the fire from one of its even darker taverns. (Wiseblood Books 181 pages) Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5974622828188954079.post-84089558206418169472014-02-14T11:16:00.001-05:002014-02-14T11:16:22.033-05:00A Waste of Shame -- Reviewed<h1 class="entry-title">
A Waste of Shame</h1>
<div class="post-info">
<span class="author vcard"><span class="fn">Mark Peterson</span></span></div>
<div>
What are the thoughts that run through our heads when we eat at a
small-town restaurant? Do we look past the crappy bowl of soup in front
of us to the hobbled steps that brought it to our table? What is our
honest opinion of the kitchen staff we may catch a glimpse of? Are
they too lazy to go out and get real jobs, or might there be more
complicated factors at work?<br />
</div>
<div>
<a href="http://dappledthings.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/shame.jpg"><img alt="A Waste of Shame" class="size-full wp-image-3168 alignleft" height="299" src="http://dappledthings.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/shame.jpg" title="A Waste of Shame" width="188" /></a><br />
Life
is hard, period, but it is especially difficult in the poverty-stricken
foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. In Geoffrey Smagacz’s, <em>A Waste of Shame</em> (from the forthcoming, <em>A Waste of Shame and Other Sad Tales of the Appalachian Foothills</em> [Wiseblood Books]),
we follow a small group of young adults as they sometimes confront, but
more often than not attempt to avoid, the facts of life and the
repercussions of their choices. As we watch this new generation make
decisions that lock themselves and those around them into the cycle of
poverty and pain, we may be left wondering if it is even possible for
these young people to break out of it at all. Woven into this fabric we
find an excellent study of character, and a writer’s engagement with the
contemporary milieu in which he writes.<br />
</div>
<div>
<br />
<em>A Waste of Shame</em>, gives us a wonderful illustration of just
how powerful Minimalism can be when invoking character, especially in
its volcanic first chapter. By chapter’s end, we have been presented
with very few concrete details about our protagonist, Kevin, but we feel
pretty confident that we know who he is and what his relationships are
with the people around him. It is a wonderful evocation of the timeless
nature of frustrated, unbridled youth, and it is immediately apparent
why this chapter has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.<br />
</div>
<div>
<br />
The placement of the entirety of Shakespeare’s, <em>Sonnet 129</em>, in the prologue is a curious move, one which begs our careful consideration. <em>Sonnet 129</em>,
is basically an extended rant on the dangers of unbridled lust, and our
early inclination may be to assume that it points towards interpreting
this story as a condemnation of the young men who abandon their wives
and children for the pursuit of base pleasures. This interpretation ties
in nicely with the way that Kevin is shocked to learn that Jim is
cheating on his pregnant girlfriend, and how he is outraged when he
learns that Jim has continued the affair after his marriage, but at
times Kevin also seems to be complicit, almost jealous of Jim’s affair.
The more we learn about Kevin, the more we wonder if he isn’t just
angry that he’s not the one getting laid.<br />
</div>
<div>
<br />
As our understanding of Kevin continues to expand, we begin to
suspect that maybe he’s a better explanation for the presence of the
sonnet (this is a brilliant character study, after all). Once again, we
find this cannot be a simple application of condemnation. Not only is
there an anger and frustration to Kevin, but there’s also the effects of
a crippling bout of depression; a fact that he can’t see and, given the
first-person narration, it takes us a bit longer to realize is there.<br />
<br />
</div>
<div>
So what are we to make of the sonnet in the prologue? Can we find a
better fit for it? While it may contain a good deal of insight into
human nature, you might start to wonder how much attention the average
contemporary reader will be willing to give it. Many readers may just
skip over it. It sounds too harsh to our contemporary ears: too
Elizabethan, too poetic, too moralizing. Don’t we prefer
our characters more like Kevin?<br />
</div>
<div>
<br />
The answer lies in the brilliance of this book; what it has to add to
the conversation. We begin by acknowledging the fact that the old
rules regarding character have changed. There was a time, not long ago,
when writers simply needed to leave the stagnant harbors of the
bourgeois and nobility for the safer shores of the peasantry and other
fringe groups of society; but, this is the age of soap operas and
syndicated tabloid talk shows. Consider for a moment how
readers might react to characters such as those we find in, <em>A Waste of Shame</em>,
after they’ve had such a prodigious helping of Jerry Springer.
Will readers still be able to find in these characters the epitome of
the human condition, or will they just see a bunch of hillbillies who
need to stop drinking, smoking, and cheating on their wives? Will they
still sympathize with our narrator, Kevin, or will they just want him to
get off his ass and go back to college and get a real job?<br />
</div>
<div>
<br />
These are questions that Smagacz openly wrestles with, and there are
moments where the thoughts of Kevin seem to be overtaken by those of the
author: “I must have heaved several sighs, but who could hear over
mom’s soap opera? Sappy strings tried to direct her to feel trepidation
over some immanent doom.” Later at a party, we find that, “the song Don
played was kind of rock and roll and kind of twangy at the same time, a
tune with a sappy story. “ Upon hearing this song, one listener seems to
voice the consensus of those around him (and potentially us) when he
asks, “What is this shit?”<br />
</div>
<div>
<br />
There is more to this than just the standard, post-modern questioning
of plot. This goes much deeper, to the
many debates recently regarding the authenticity of character in
fiction; of what exactly is believable and what is worthy of our
sympathy. Here is a well written text that is both believable and full
of characters that more than deserve our sympathy, and it dares to ask
us what we make of it. Do we really know ourselves well enough to
answer, and are we honest enough to admit our judgment? Perhaps the
crisis is not in literature, it is in us.<br />
</div>
<div>
<br />
There is much more to be found in this and the other short stories
that are included in this volume. Don’t let the cover fool you;
“literary fiction that scrupulously avoids being literary,” does not
mean that it is short on themes, conflicts, and many of the other
literary elements that make fiction worth reading. There is plenty here
to satisfy readers with both contemporary and more traditional literary
interpretations (know of any other young men in Shakespeare who were
unable to summon themselves to action?).<br />
</div>
<div>
<br />
The late James Laughlin’s publishing house, New Directions, is the
standard at the moment for contemporary fiction. When you see ND on the
spine, you know that you’re getting a solid work that is actively
engaged with contemporary literary concerns. It is still too early to
tell what will become of the upstart Wiseblood Books, but such a strong
entry as this early on is a sign that it is heading in the right
direction.<br />
</div>
<br />
<a href="http://dappledthings.org/3166/a-waste-of-shame/" target="_blank">Dappled Things</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5974622828188954079.post-76890057855226491432013-12-03T18:18:00.002-05:002013-12-09T22:46:42.063-05:00Go Tell It On The Foothills<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://www.wisebloodbooks.com/geoffrey-smagacz.html" target="_blank">Click on this link to find out more or to pre-order</a></b></span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5974622828188954079.post-73850371918447750192013-08-25T10:07:00.005-04:002013-10-14T11:44:25.239-04:00COMING SOON<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i><b></b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><i><b></b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><i><b>A Waste of Shame and Other Sad Tales of the Appalachian Foothills</b></i>:</span><br />
<br />
As the Russian great Anton Chekov infamously noted, when a loaded rifle appears on page one, it absolutely must go off. In <i><b>A Waste of Shame</b> </i>Geoffrey Smagacz does not ignore this dramatic principle. Before the last page is turned, someone sadly pulls the trigger. <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: small;">Smagacz
debuts a short novel and an accompanying collection of short stories
written in a vein that carries the blood of Hemingway, Wodehouse,
Nathaniel West, and Sherwood Anderson. Enter a small town where tragedy
collides with fish fry cooks, soap-opera addicts, and the convenient but
strained friendships of youth. Minimalist through and through, this is
literary fiction that scrupulously avoids being literary</span>.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><i><u><b>On December 15, 2013, </b></u></i></b> <i><b>A Waste of Shame and Other Sad Tales of the Appalachian Foothills </b></i><b><i>will be available for purchase via Amazon or <a href="http://www.wisebloodbooks.com/">www.wisebloodbooks.com</a>.</i></b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Stay Wide-Eyed!</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"></span><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1