I was shocked, delighted, and tremendously honored to learn that PW selected Crockettville for a review. And what a review! This is the second book of mine that they've chosen so, thank you, PW.
I'll admit, there is always trepidation but what a wonderful thing to read. It is certainly not something I could have engineered, coerced, or begged to have happen so this was a holiday gift come early. I'll take it as validation, and on that note....
I was recently at a gathering of really talented writers in the Sacramento area including such luminaries as James L'Etoile, Claire Booth, and Rick Meredith and the subject of theme came up. It was agreed that it is a big part of why a lot of us write in the first place. It's the motivator, the thing we really want to say.
In Crockettville, the theme is really about our environmental responsibility, but it's more than that. It's the story via the protagonist's journey - literally in the desert - that reinforces that we are natural creatures and with the synthetic environment of screens and pseudo-interactions via a 2 dimensional interface on our tablets, computers, and phones, we lose something of our souls. Only by getting in touch with the natural world and its inherent therapeutic effect can we balance the negative of the modern world. Of course, if we don't treat the natural environment responsibly, we won't have it, and then we or at least a valuable part of us, will be doomed.
In any case here's the review in larger font for those myopics like myself
Crockettville
Matthew Minson. TLOED, $5.99 e-book (320p) ISBN 979-8-9854717-7-9
Minson (Sun City) delivers a heartfelt and hilarious story of greed, environmental protection, and small-town life in West Texas. Dave Crockett, acquisitions agent for Enroxx Energy, is no fan of the outdoors and the suffocating Texas heat, so he’s dismayed when he’s dispatched to the state by his eccentric boss, Dick Dunlap. Dick, a nudist who’s often naked at the Houston office, erroneously believes Dave is descended from the famous frontiersman of the same last name and insists on calling him Davy. Dave’s mission: purchase the sleepy desert town of Crockettville, Tex., which has the most consistent wind currents in America, and where Enroxx plans to install wind turbines. Dave eventually learns to appreciate the landscape’s charms—including a crystal-clear swimming hole and wondrous night sky free from light pollution—and bonds with café owner Bettie, maker of an addictive fried apricot pie, along with beautiful biodiversity researcher Angie and stoic Native American Geronimo, a direct descendant of the Apache warrior, who watches over the town with his donkey, BidenTrump. After an Enroxx engineer reveals the company’s true motives for the site, which would devastate the town, Crockett tries to intervene. Infused with deadpan humor and stocked with appealing characters, Minson’s witty tale builds to a stirring environmental rallying cry. This is sure to put a smile on readers’ faces.
Comments