Set against the backdrop of the Wars of the Roses, The Black Arrow is an intriguing look at the life of young Richard Shelton. Richard's life is shaken when he realizes that those he had thought to be his friends are really his enemies, and he is forced to make choices that will determine the course of his life. Although the characters are well-developed and the plot is fascinating, this book is not for the squeemish or lazy reader. The description is not only vivid, it is often gorey. The language is sometimes difficult and a dictionary might prove quite handy. But anyone looking for a well-written, action-packed classic should read this book.

This book is one of the best I've read. It is what every book about the middle ages should be and more, with suspense, action, disguises, escapes, and of course, the occasional love scene. Robert Louis Stevenson lived in the mid-1800s, and is renowned for his many works, includingTreasure Island, Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, andKidnapped. The Black Arrow, written originally for a magazine, was written after a serious illness in Stevenson, and was published right after Treasure Island.

Dick Shelton, a boy of sixteen, is quickly thrust into the conflict of the War of the Roses. He battles against almost any kind of evil - bloodthirsty pirates, a murderous priest, and even his own legal gaurdian - Sir Daniel Brackley. Through the whole book Dick strives to become a knight, and to rescue his true love. The Black Arrow is a sure winner for 6th graders and up.

The Black Arrow is, without a doubt, one of my all time favorite books, just as Robert Louis Stevenson is one of my all time favorite authors. I find it hard to believe that The Black Arrow is probably the least well know of his great adventure novels (the others being, of course, Treasure Island and Kidnapped), as it is certainly the best as far as I am concerned. As far as the story goes, it is one of the most entertaining plots that I have ever encountered. It is filled with more twists and turns than I would have thought possible, but remains very clear and fast paced. The characters are wonderful, as is the description and the writing itself. Granted, some of the language is a bit archaic, but I feel that this adds a lot to the authenticity of the story.
The Black Arrow is not a very easy read at first, but once you get into it it really flies by. It is as entertaining, exciting, and intriguing book as you will find, and I would recommend it to anyone.

I read this book and I am MORE encouraged in my own fight against a large corporation that I felt discriminated against me. Needless to say Ms. Roberts felt she had to tell her story and IN HER OWN WORDS she did so. That included recalling the trials and tribulations of her own life growing up to the present (as all these mentally damaging things were going on.) For other reviewers to say "too much about Roberts and too little about Texaco" just shows the ignorance that still exists. Her personal account reveals that racial discrimination is still happening today in THIS DAY AND AGE. If one wants to hear more about Texaco then let them read Texaco's account of what happened. Oh that's right, acccording to Texaco, they still believe that they did nothing wrong... I rather hear from the personal accounts of those involved- to see the REAL toll of what racism does to people rather than hear a bunch of corporate and legal BS.

Ms. Roberts book was so real it was frightening to think that racism that she experienced still exists and is getting worse.

The good thing is that the book gives you hope and makes a model corporation out of Texaco in the end. By the year 2002, all major corporation will look to Texaco as a leader in real diversity.

Look at Denny's and AT&T and other companies that have had racial/discrimination charges and we see exactly what Ms. Roberts is talking about.

She is a brave woman to tell the story must African Americans were too afraid to speak about.

Roberts vs. Texaco,a true story of race and corporate America, started a little slow, depicting Bari-Ellen Roberts' life since childhood. At first, I didn't know why it went into such detail, but as I read along, I understood how all of the pieces in her life connected to the storyline.
Throughout her life, Bari-Ellen was faced with overt, institutional, and implicit racism. As she entered Texaco's workforce, the racist philosophies were the worst she had ever seen. The book depicts the monumental challenges she faced in such a hostile environment. (The glass ceiling and the "good-old-boy" network.) The effects of this, along with hitting the glass ceiling/"brick wall" was enough for her and a core group of others to spark a class action lawsuit which cost the company the largest discrimination settlement in U.S. history. One hundred and seventy-six million dollars!
This book did an excellent job by not focusing solely the lawsuit aspects. Bari-Ellen put a lot of herself into writing this book. I enjoyed reading about her family issues and personal opinions as the case was pending. The outcome was emotionally touching and inspiring.

For all those interested in the ways Haitian society operates, RESTAVEC is a must read and will occupy your mind a long time after you've put it down. But you will not be able to put the subject of this book to rest. As a child growing up in Haiti, You witness a lot of things that you do not consider abnormal. As far as I knew I belonged to my parents, and I considered other kids to be so. I knew Mr. Cadet, I played with him, I saw him everyday for at least four years, and only thaught of his adoptive mother as a strict disciplinarian. A lot of what my young eyes saw did not prepare me for what I read in this book. As they say in HAITI, nothing is what they seem. RESTAVEC has broken another link in this vicious chain of poverty and child abuse. BOB -as I used to call him - has overcome.

It all started when a friend at work and I were talking about spiritual things and He shared a story with me about his childhood. He told me of a boy that he met when he was a young boy himself living in Haiti, that boy turned out to be Jean -Robert Cadet and he was "Oliver" in the book "Restavec". I was so touched by his story that I wanted to know more, it just so happens that there was a book about the experience that his friend went through. He let me borrow the book and I was so inspired that I could not put the book down or stop talking about it, I wanted to share it with any one who would listen. The book stirred many emotions in me. Even though I am a white person and was never a child of slavery, I felt my inner child cry out and feel once again all the abuse that I felt as a child. Jean's story of survival and overcomming great adversity was awe inspiring. I am praying that this book gets the well deserved attention it should receive. As I read the book the vivid sceens came into view. It would make a great movie. I have since shared the book with many who have felt the same emotional response that I have. We all feel that this book is an important message for all to read.

"Restavec: From Haitian Slave Child to Middle Class American" is the biography of a man who endured an heroic struggle with fate even more daunting than that of Shackleton at the South Pole in 1914-15. Caudet did not choose to be born into the cruelty and abuse to which he was subjected, yet he endured his ongoing trials with an indomitable spirit which would undoubtedly have broken most of us. Shackleton sought his adventure to the Antarctic, took calculated risks, and rose above the challenges to rescue all of his men and return them to civilization. Jean-Robert Cadet did not choose his childhood, in which he was essentially alone, unloved, abused and neglected. By force of his own will, he matured, learned to love and be loved, and is a citizen in our society toward which he has every right to feel an uncontrollable anger. You cannot read this book without wishing you could be the loving and proud parent he sought.

This is not light bedtime reading. Rather, it appears to be a textbook masquerading as popular history. The book begins with an attempt to explain plague ecology. As an academic with a background in both history and ecology I found this section raised more questions than it answered. By the time Gottfried moved the plague from its endemic homes in Asia through 14th C Europe we knew what it was, how it moved, and were thoroughly saturated with facts about the purported and hypothetically actual mortality in every major city in Europe. But some things don't add up. If, for instance, the mortality rate for bubonic plague was 50%, and 50% of the population of Siena died in the first attack, then every man, woman, and child in Siena was infected. Even in an era of poor sanitation and relaxed attitudes toward personal hygiene, that strains our credulity.

The second half of the book is less tedious. Here Gottfried deals with the effects of the plague, on medicine, economics, government, sociology, and many other aspects of life in the late Middle Ages. This is history as it should be written, and it is hard to believe the same author wrote the overwhelmingly dull first half. My recommendation: buy this book only if you have an academic interest in the effects of the plague on pre-Renaissance European affairs.

In this book, professor Gottfried gives us an in-depth, and yet easy to read analysis of the Black Death of the late 14th century, as well as earlier and later epidemics of various diseases. The first chapter is an examination of the three varieties of plague--bubonic (with a 50%-60% mortality), pneumonic (with a 95%-100% mortality), and septicaemic (mortality unknown as of the writing of this book). The following chapters examine the history of plagues, and the effects these had on Western and Middle-Eastern civilization.

I particularly appreciated the author's use of first-hand accounts in this book, which really served to keep the dialogue from ever becoming too dry and academic. This book is easy to read, with the issues made quite apparent. For example, the author was careful to delineate what epidemics included the pneumonic strain that produced such horrific mortality in many locations. I was also impressed with the author's examination the plague's affects on the Islamic world, not just confining his examination to Europe.

This book is easy to read and understand, and a great reference for anyone (academic or not, such as myself) interested in the Black Death. I recommend this book absolutely.

This is the second book I read about the Black Death of 1347-51. I was equally impressed with the way Gottfried presented his materials. The author also examines several other diseases that were common in those days, and takes a scientific look at the bacillus that infected fleas and, eventually, the rodents that spread the epidemic. Thoroughly researched (look at his bibliography), this is a terrific book for anyone wanting to know not only about the Black Death but also about its aftermath in Europe (it shaped and changed the future of Europe). I would rank this book with Philip Ziegler's classic "The Black Death."

This book is a great resource for anyone who is just starting his or her study of the history of black magick. It gives an overview of some of the darker practices and the bigger personalities involved. I give it three stars because only half the book is really about black magick. The rest is about occult practices that I don't believe fall under the heading, such as alchemy, divination and dream interpretation. It would have been nice if Masello had used that space to go into more detail about what the magicians actually did, but it is still an interesting historical study of the occult.

The best book of it's kind that I have seen. A succinct overview of numerous historical sects, traditions, and so fourth from Crowley, the Golden Dawn Tradition, the Gnostics, Simon Magus, and others. This is an excellent book to attain the historical and real points that each of these orders possessed. This book elicits many hidden facts about these people and sects and is excellent for anyone to attain a fundamental study of the various types of occult knowledge there is today in the world. Also demonstrated in this work of art is how most of modern technology came from these profound occultists. From astrologists paving the way to astronomers, to the alchemists developing the steel industry in their futile attempts to change base metals into gold and silver. For other historical books of this kind, check Angel Magic, which is not as clear, but still good. -For further disucssion of this book e-mail me-

This book is a history of the black arts, and those who practiced them, as the title states. It goes into everything from alchemism to palmistry, to raising demons, to wizardry, and much more, with excellent examples and stories as well. The books format was easy to follow, easy to understand, and yet still managed to provide a cornecopia of information. I found this book quite fascinating, I found it very difficult to put down.

Trust me, I'm a pretty harsh judge of books, I don't hand out 5 stars for it unless theres something there. This book is a definate "must buy" if you, like myself, are generally new to the studies of the occult.

"Bitita's Diary" by Carolina Maria de Jesus was a very interesting testimonial about a young black girl growing up in Brazil. Bitita had to face many obstacles throughtout her life, beginning in her childhood years. Many people in her onw family would (did) not accept her because of her dark skin and kinky hair. She was not allowed to enter the homes of her mulatto relatives. Bitita was treated different from her brother because he was of a lighter complextion. She was very curious as a child which irritated her mother and older relatives (she would constantly question different theories/aspects of life. As Bitita grew up she found that life was difficult, and she had to work very hard to maintain in society. For example, Bitita was very sick and was had an infection in her leg; yet she still worked on that leg as much as she could until she could not work anymore. In all, this book was a great exapmle of a testimonial. You were able to view the world as Bitita saw it and see the hardships that she had to face throughout her life.

Bitita's Diary by Carolina Maria de Jesus is a wonderful testimonial depicting the life of a poor, black, Brazilian woman. Bitita takes the reader first hand through her life from a young girl to a mature woman. Most importantly, this book opened my eyes to class, gender, and race relations in Latin America. Not only is Bitita discriminated against because she is black, but she also feels discrimination because she is poor and a woman. Despite her misfortunes and sicknesses, Bitita becomes quite educated (mainly self-taught). Through Carolina Maria de Jesus' style of writing, the reader can see just how spunky and inquisitive of a child Bitita was. The innocence of a child can see truths and wrongs quite easily, unlike us adults. Not only does Bitita question these wrongs - she argues them loudly and openly. For this, I admire Bitita. This book was an easy read because of the author's frankness and honesty. The background settings were well explained which lead to the complete understanding of why Bitita acted the way she did. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Latin American culture, or the plight of gender, class, and race issues.

I felt that the book Bitita's Diary by Carolina Maria de Jesus was an excellent testimonial about a young girl growing up in Brazil during the early 1900s. As a young girl living in the favelas near Sacramento, she faced many hardships because of her race, gender, and class. She was discriminated in every which way because she was a women of darker skin who belonged to the lower class. Throughout all the obstacles that she faced in life, she still seemed to conquer the impossible. She recieved an education which helped to succeed in life. I really did enjoy this book because Bitita took you on a journey through her thoughts and feelings. She forced you to endure the suffering that she felt during her hard times, yet she also let you enjoy her happiness during good times. What I also enjoyed about the book is that by it being testimonial it challenges "offical history." Many time there is only one side to the story, but through Bitita's writing, one can see how a young girl of the lower class viewed the Brazilian Revolution of 1930 differently than others.

This collection of short stories written by our black men is something to be proud of because it displays a tremendous amount of talent and thought. What it lacks is the kind of bold eroticnature that you expect from an anthology that promotes just that.
There were some instances of the combination of great story-telling and great eroticism, too. Like in "Home Alone," by Curtis Bunn. His bio said he wrote an Essence best-seller called "Baggage Check," and I went on and ordered it. Loved that book, which was filled with []scenes that supported a strong story. He's a great writer. In After Hours, Bunn's Home Alone was a wonderful story about a great married couple that gets freaky when the kids are away for the weekend. The love scenes are spicy and hot, and it brings the story full circle. But, and maybe it's just me, I wanted more. Really, his story could have been a book. It's the best story in After Hours.
But there were other great stories, too. Where Strangers Meet by Robert Scott Adams was a thoughtful read. Just the idea of throwing away all inhabitions and just going for it is something most of us - even us women - contemplate sometimes. Even if we never do it, we do think about it.
Colin Channer's Revolution was well-written and a good story, but lacked in sexiness. Kalamu Ya Salaam, whom I have read in "Black Erotica," is always an interesting, thought-provoking writer, and he was in this case with his story, The Roses Are Beautiful, but the Thorns Are So Sharp. And Earl Sewell's Rock Me Baby gave us some hot moments, but not Cayenne pepper hot.
All in all, the collection is an artful piece. Robert Fleming should be commended for exposing us to some truly gifted writers that we didn't know of, like Curtis Bunn and Brian Egleston (Wallbanging) and Brandon Massey (The Question). It is a tastefully written and edited work that works more toward arousing your imagination than your senses. Nothing wrong with that, but a little more spice in each story would have added to the experience.
Lana Rickett, New York, NY

What exactly is erotica? This is the first question that popped into my head as I began reading After Hours and continued running through my mind as I delved further into my reading. Robert Fleming has introduced us to a collection of short stories by some of the hottest African American male authors on today's literary scene in which they share their take on erotica. Intially, my mind was focused on mind-boggling, soul-stirring, toes-curling stories of love, romance, and sex; but this book opened my eyes to the gamut of levels of erotica. Icing on the cake was the fact that it comes directly from our black men; what they want and consider sensual and erotic.

From the humorous stories that tickled my funny bone to the ones that sent shivers of delight through my body and on to those that heated up my imagination and played with my senses, I was lost in a world of delightful storytelling. I visited with men willing to completely let go as in Earl Sewell's "Rock Me Baby," saw glimpses of men ready to give everything up to please their women as in Brian Egeston's humorous story "Wallbanging" and even saw a married man with a secret admirer who isn't quite sure how hot the "Cayenne" can be (written by Eric Pete)--one of my favorites of the bunch; especially the sentence..."Come kill this."

Fleming has done a wonderful job compiling these 19 stories to present this collection and done so in a manner that is not demeaning to either women or men or to the actual theme of erotica. I will admit that I would've liked things a bit steamier in a few of the stories (to fit my own personal definition of erotica), but as a collection, the stories were wonderful. It was also fitting in that we each see erotica on many different levels; seeing it from a man's point of view definitely makes it even better and dispels the stereotype that men don't share their emotions or their vulnerbilities.

Reviewed by Tee C. Royal

I have been eagerly awaiting After Hours. A fan of black erotica, I noticed that writings BY black men were pretty scarce, so when news of After Hours came out, I knew I had to read it, and let me tell it, it doesn't disappoint.

After Hours contains stories that aren't simply about sex. These stories actually have depth and make you think while at the same time, they evoke the sensual tension that makes good erotica....GOOD. And it's a plus that with these hot black male authors writing these stories, it's nice to finally see a positive spin on sex from a male's perspective; it's refreshing.

You will find yourself immersed in wonderful stories that will tickle your mind and your sensual bone, especially in stories like "If It Makes You Happy," by Cole Riley, which is by far my favorite in the collection. In this story, a correctional officer gets caught up in the sexual heat permeated by a beautiful inmate and when he essentially ruins his life to have her, he realizes that this beautiful creature has skeletons too big for him...or her to tackle.

Aside from Riley's stellar story, After Hours contains nineteen stories from some of the best black male authors in the business today, such as National Book Award Winner, Charles Johnson, Colin Channer, Curtis Bunn, Brandon Massey, Brian Egeston, and many more.

If you want to peek into the many facets of the erotic black man's mind - the virgin who is afraid of revealing his inexperience for fear of rejection, the husband who finds himself in an awful predicament when he assumes the sexy notes he's been receiving are coming from an admirer, the man who mysteriously won't allow his girlfriend to kiss him and the hilarious reason behind it, the lyrically beautiful story about a man who wants what he can't have and a woman who can't be for him what she doesn't know she is, among many other deep sensuous tales - then you owe it to yourself to pick up After Hours and be tantalized.

Shon Bacon

Overall I was not impressed. Information on the majority of subjects covered, is readily available in either the phone book, dial-up directory, or by doing a simple internet search. It appears the author is trying to turn a subject worthy of a pamphlet into a novel. With each turn of the page I felt more the chump for having purchased this book. I am left to believe, the appendices must have been included for the benefit of the simple minded - so "elementary my dear, Watson" they are almost an insult. If a P.I. needs a book like this I probably wouldn't hire him. A recommendaton for Black Book 4 would be to include some of the ways P.I.'s really get information for their clients.

I can't believe someone would divulge these secrets in a book. The information would take a private investigator several careers to obtain. I would be lost without this highly reliable and useful resource. Thanks Mr. Scott.

Couldn't put it down.
Went online the first day I got it, using the links provided by the book. Six hours later I realized it was getting late and that I was only up to page 80 or so.

A fantastic source of hard to find info, with tons of URL's provided, when available.

The first book I have bought in several years, in which I feel I got the better end of the deal.
It provided much,much more value than the ...price.

Jimmy Gage is a newspaper reporter and movie critic for Slap Magazine, a tabloid on a par with those sold in supermarkets. Amidst his office mail, he receives a letter from the Eggman, a serial killer who has slain six people. The Eggman brags that no law enforcement official has found a link between the homicides. The police conclude that Jimmy wasted their time and made up a story to gain notoriety for himself and his paper. He leaves town under a cloud.

Jimmy returns home a year only later to find his brother married to the woman he loves. He also finds a set of Eggman graphic pictures in Jonathan's beach house. By the time the police arrive, the photos are missing. Jimmy and Jonathan begin a rematch of their cat and mouse game that ran the former out of town once before.

Robert Ferrigno has written another action-packed thriller that sends chills up and down the spines of the audience. Jimmy is an interesting protagonist who remains likeable even as he rushes into trouble without thinking about the consequences. FLINCH is the ultimate cat and mouse game in which a blink may prove a lifetime for the loser.

Harriet Klausner

"Flinch" is a fast-paced mystery detailing a cat and mouse game between a low-rent journalist and his brother, a high priced plastic surgeon who the journalist suspects of being a serial killer. The title refers to the relatively innocent sado-masochistic games of their adolescence, magnified in the present to deadly proportions.

Ferrigno writes in an updated noir style, using crisp dialogue, oversized villains, and the sleazy/glitzy settings in Orange County, California. Although writer Jimmy Gage has the requisite cynicism and a balance of fair play and tough defiance, he's not strictly out of the Sam Spade mode either: His sense of moral outrage is a bit askew, and he doesn't always use the best of judgment. Additionally, the novel contains some very graphic violence, more gruesome than the traditional style.

The novel moves briskly, unimpeded by the several minor characters and related subplots. Other than a romance with Detective Jane Holt that develops a little too quickly, the plot twists are both plausible and genuinely surprising. Ferrigno captures the outrages and pretenses of Southern California without stereotyping. Much better than his more famous "The Horse Latitudes," Ferrigno has written a brisk and believable story that grabs your attention from the first page.

Ferrigno writes great dialogue and shoot 'em up action scenes with the sleazy side of Southern California as backdrop. Despite a sibling rivalry that is uncomfortable in its extreme, this is a great story.

Flinch is the game Jimmy Gage and his older brother Jonathan played as kids, each pushing the other to a point that would make him flinch. Jimmy creates a national sensation when he gets a box of broken eggs claiming to connect six unrelated murders and writes about it for "Slap" magazine. Soon the story is dismissed as a hoax with only Detective Jane Holt still believing there is an "Eggman killer" on the loose. Jimmy follows a rock band to Europe, gets tossed in jail for three months and finds that his girlfriend Olivia married brother Jonathan the day before he got out to return home.

Jimmy believes Jonathan is the Eggman killer, and one ongoing game of high stakes Flinch runs between them throughout the book. The interlocking stories work well. Jimmy avenges the death of cop Desmond Terrill's son killed by Lee Macklin, a real bad guy who runs drugs, a nightspot and a wrestling business of sorts with Great White, the classic monster muscle guy as his bodyguard. A rival group consisting of weightlifting Spanish chick Pilar and her lackey Blaine, wrestling's Robo-Surfer, fill out the cast of weird people.

There are some terrific action scenes with Great White - wait 'til you get to the one where he takes on the Chechens or his final showdown with Jimmy.

The ending is, well, interesting ... enough said. A very different but very enjoyable story.

This book is fairly close to the movie with the exception of the ending. in the movie, Laura herself is the Light of Zartha, not the bracelet. The daughter of Princess Lauranna, she is sent off to the planet of Zartha to fulfill her destiny and rule her people.
In this book, which, don't get me wrong, is good and hilariously funny, the bracelet is sent off to the planet of Zartha, and Laura is deneuralized and sent to her NYC home.
that's about the only discrepency that i can see. Actually, the additional info in the other parts of the books helps fill you in on other areas, (such as, when Kay and Jay depressurized MIB HQs and fly in, it explains that the security guard was fastened into his seat with a chain so he didn't budge)
Overall, I liked it, and i'd buy it again, even though it doesn't have quite the same ending.

This book is fairly close to the movie with the exception of the ending. in the movie, Laura herself is the Light of Zartha, not the bracelet. The daughter of Princess Lauranna, she is sent off to the planet of Zartha to fulfill her destiny and rule her people.
In this book, which, don't get me wrong, is good and hilariously funny, the bracelet is sent off to the planet of Zartha, and Laura is deneuralized and sent to her NYC home.
that's about the only discrepency that i can see. Actually, the additional info in the other parts of the books helps fill you in on other areas, (such as, when Kay and Jay depressurized MIB HQs and fly in, it explains that the security guard was fastened into his seat with a chain so he didn't budge)
Overall, I liked it, and i'd buy it again, even though it doesn't have quite the same ending.

What an awesome read. I am an avid reader, usually drawn to biographies and non fiction. I picked this up to pass the time. Weather you have seen Men in Black one or not, even if you saw the second installment, grab this book. Even with 249 pages, it is a quick read because you cant put it down. I really enjoyed Men in Black one, the movie, and reading this book, you totally have the images for Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, as agents Jay and Kay, respectfully. This book was written with them totally in mind. It reads just like it is coming out of Will Smiths own mouth. The action, the description, the humor, what a cool read!!