RAMPAGE captures, in eloquently discriptive language, the darkside of humanity, blistered by a shock of pure white light that illuminates the truths we all hide within our souls. A revelation of a book! Chehak will be around for a long, long time mustering up images so emotionally charged that they will be placed high on the shelf of literary masters.

Are you suffering from writer's block because of your perfectionism? Are you taking forever to finish your book or novel?

Well, Susan Taylor Chehak's short but inspiring meditation on "Perfection?" (page 145-146 of her book) might help get you over the hump. It did exactly that for me. And just that makes it worth more than the price of this unique book on the craft of writing.

"Don Quixote Meets The Mob: The Craft of Fiction & The Art of Life" is not your typical, predictable how-to-write-fiction manual out to make a quick buck off aspiring writers. The author teaches her craft with subtlety, sophistication, and insight. You can feel the generosity here, for it is a work of love. And if you let it, it will boost and move and grow you as a writer in unexpected ways.

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I've read a lot of how-to-write-fiction books. Many of them were helpful on the mechanics of writing. "Don Quixote" covers some of that territory, but it's mostly about what makes a story. A novel has to have interesting people doing interesting things. The author uses relatives and people she has known along with real events to demonstrate the difference between family news or gossip and fictional reality. This book would be useful to most beginning writers because it covers an area of fiction which is generally ignored.

Susan Taylor Chehak has written a remarkable book which, as its subtitle suggests, is really about two subjects: the craft of fiction and the art of life. As a writer, I have started (but not finished) dozens of "how to" books on the craft of writing fiction. I usually nod off around the chapter on "point of view," and seldom make it to the all important discussion on "revising your work." But I read Chehak's book from cover to cover in just a few sittings. As a book on the "writing craft" it covers all the usual subjects. What sets it apart and makes it so engaging is Chehak's exceptional ability as a storyteller. Her conversational style is so convincing, you feel as though you're sitting around her kitchen table, drinking coffee, while she tells you, all wide eyed, the most improbable or outlandish thing that happened to her (or her family or friends)just last week. These stories, it turns out, are for the most part not really true. Or are they? At the core of this book is Chehak's fascination with "the peculiar relationship that seems to exist between fiction and reality." Using her stories as examples, and drawing on a rich source of literature, philosophy, and writing gurus, Chehak takes us on an exploration of her underlying theme: that it is not always easy to separate fact from fiction. Whether you are interested in the writing craft, or the art of life, this is a book that sings with originality.

The title of this book has significant meaning in the opening scene, where the protagonist's wife commits suicide by falling through a skylight at a country club party in Cedar Hill, Iowa. Her death marks one of many tragedies that taints the Craig and Von Vechten names, two families that have, for generations, made a fortune together; but eventually greed, infidelity, and murder ruin their bond. Bader Von Vechten's marriage to Katherine Craig had appeared to bridge the gap between the two families, but it's soon destroyed when Bader has sex with a 15-year-old boy, Lee Kimbel, while engaged to Katherine. This affair sounds like it would be graphic and shocking, right? But it's really quite tame and nonexistent, with brief implied sex rather than any gratuitous homoerotic passages.

The pacing in "Dancing on Glass" is oftentimes slow and weighed down with details and character stories, which is a plus and minus--the plus being Chehak's writing style is good, but there's very little dialogue or action, except for the tragic outcome in the last few pages of the second part. It's also hard to follow at times--it changes narrative constantly, moves erratically over a 25-year time frame, and has too many characters, most of whom aren't very interesting or likable, such as Mudd Kimbel, who had a considerable amount of pages devoted to her, but she doesn't have any major role in this book, except as Lee's mother.

Yet, at the same time, Chehak's flowing prose draws you right into the story, regardless of the book's flaws. So, if you like small-town drama, then you might like "Dancing on Glass," though you'll have to wade through several pages before you actually get to the dirt.