Ben East Books

Category: Book Reviews

  • Not Graham Greene

    —

    by

    Ben East
    in , , , ,

    Amazon asked me if my novel, Two Pumps for the Body Man, met my expectations. “Well, the author’s no Graham Greene,” I say. “Please send me some of that.” Why should I (or anyone) read a story about a foot-fetishist diplomat doing time in Saudi Arabia when I (or anyone) could be reading about a vacuum cleaner salesman making bank in Cuba? But then…

  • Indies Make it Great

    —

    by

    Ben East
    in , ,

    These independent writers are Making Books Great Again: screamingskullpress.com roguepress.net joylesshousepublishing.com paperandinkzine.co.uk vidlit.com Who else do you support by reading, reviewing, and sharing?

  • Cover Story

    Cover Story

    —

    by

    Ben East
    in , , , , ,

    To my colleagues in the foreign affairs community, known and unknown, I regret that the artwork of my novel about your service has misrepresented the truth. “BOO-ring,” LousyBookCoversDotCom hooted. “Showing you just how dramatic diplomacy can be.” What an insult my cover must seem to those of us who serve our country. What an insult to those who’ve worked in…

  • A Wry Ode to Clusterf***ing

    —

    by

    Ben East
    in , , ,

    Joyless House posted this generous review of Two Pumps for the Body Man. See what else they’re reviewing with a click on the image. “…Two Pumps is a page-turner, baby, and it takes some real balls to satirize the great Christian crusade of our times.” Two Pumps is set in the Royal Kingdom of Saudi…

  • The first readers

    —

    by

    Ben East
    in , , ,

    It’s almost twenty years since I first shared my fiction beyond the confines of family or classroom. I found three trusted readers during the months of pre-service training as a Peace Corps Volunteer. What else to do on the dusty plains of Central Malawi beneath the boiling sun, the cloudless sky? I wrote my first novel. I wrote…

  • The Big Zero

    —

    by

    Ben East
    in ,

    The latest from Don DeLillo subjects readers to suffocation in a plotless environment hosting flat characters who live out an endless procession of questions about life, death, and the consequences in between. That is Zero-K. Whether or not the flattened nature of this enterprise is intentional—to emphasize confinement, restriction, joylessness, life as a movement toward death—the result is…

  • Marine Security Guards at 70

    Marine Security Guards at 70

    —

    by

    Ben East
    in , , ,

    The Marine Security Guard program this week celebrated 70 years protecting U.S. diplomatic missions around the world. Happy Fourth of July to the Ambassadors in Blue. Two books covering their service, one non-fiction, the other fiction: Greg Matos’ Shattered Glass—The Story of a Marine Embassy Guard… recounts the December 2004 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.…

  • An ounce of hope, a Fifth of futility

    —

    by

    Ben East
    in ,

    Review: God in Neon by Sam Slaughter Sam Slaughter’s collection of stories features protagonists paddling up a great river of booze. Their strokes are futile, the current strong: with beer, tequila, whiskey, Old Crow, Jack, PBR. They struggle under the blurry burden of constant intoxication, their boozing not an act so much as a reality,…

  • DeWildt’s Brutal Rural Noir

    DeWildt’s Brutal Rural Noir

    —

    by

    Ben East
    in

    C.S. DeWildt writes a sick rural noir in Kill ‘Em With Kindness, no surprise given the strength of his previous release Love You to a Pulp. The narrative blazes through the rural backwoods of Horton burning down churches and meting out vengeance on more than a few good ol’ boys—some who deserve it, some who don’t. And…

  • Dark, hilarious, cutting

    —

    by

    Ben East
    in ,

    Exactly the kind of review that makes it all worth the effort. Somebody thought enough of Two Pumps for the Body Man to post this. Mission Accomplished. Came on top of a great plug from killer noir writer C.S. DeWildt (Love You to a Pulp and just last week Kill ’em with Kindness) who said of Two Pumps: “…Full of…