January|February 2016 Alumni Authors
The End
by John Crawley, BA ’73, Life Member
Teacher Lucy Brooks is diagnosed with a painful, aggressive strain of terminal cancer before falling into a coma. Despite Oregon passing the Death with Dignity Act, which allows terminally ill patients to die on their own terms, the state doesn’t recognize her marriage to her partner Christine. Lucy’s estranged brother, a Catholic priest named Father Brooks, is called in as the next-of-kin, and he and Christine try to represent Lucy’s best interests despite their moral differences.
The Bulloch Belles
by Walter E. Wilson, BA ’70, Life Member
Wilson’s second book about the Bullochs of Georgia examines the women of one of the Civil War era’s most prominent Southern families. Among the clan are first ladies, a Confederate spy, and President Teddy Roosevelt’s mother, Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, thought to be an inspiration for Gone With the Wind’s Scarlett O’Hara.
The Monkey House
by Boyd Taylor, BA ’52, LLB ’55, Life Member
Donnie Ray Quinn’s friend Wesley Bird is back in town and up to his old tricks again as he persuades Donnie’s parents to invest in a potentially shady land deal. There’s no convincing his parents of the deal’s shakiness, so Donnie works on getting his parents’ money back while also making sure Wesley doesn’t snare anyone else in his trap.
Wrath of the Furies
by Steven Saylor, BA ’78
The third book in Saylor’s Roman Republic mystery series is set in 88 B.C., when the entire world seems to be at war. Gordianus the Finder hides his Roman identity and crosses enemy lines into Ephesus to save his old tutor, the poet Antipater, before King Mithridates can massacre every Roman in the city.
Pow Wows and Potlucks: Finding an American Indian Community in Los Angeles
by Laura Sajbel, BA ’86
In the early ’90s, Sajbel interviewed teachers, artists, elders, activists, and others in the Los Angeles-area Indian-American community. Pow Wows and Potlucks is a time-capsule ethnography examining what it meant to be an American Indian in the sprawling urban setting of 1990s Los Angeles.—Marisa Martinez and Jillian Kushner
Dollar Signs: Texas Lady Lawyer vs. Boots King
by Manning Wolfe, JD ’83, Life Member
Austin lawyer Merit Bridges faces off with popular businessman Boots King, who has scammed numerous residents into signing leases that are not what they seemed. Bridges must help her clients get their money back and get out of their contracts while also protecting herself as she fights a legal battle with one of the wealthiest men in the city.
Getting Off at Elysian Fields
by John Pope, BA ’70, MA ’72, Life Member
Pope’s anthology shows how New Orleans puts the “fun” in funeral, collecting 123 obituaries he wrote for the New Orleans Times-Picayune along with the stories of four notable funerals. He tells the tales of Mardi Gras royalty, peculiar doctors, and many other colorful characters who have lived and died in the Big Easy.
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