Of all of Lee's many fine horror novels, Coven is far and away my favorite. It is gruesome, horrifying, demented, perverse, and, very often, hysterically funny. As another reviewer indicated, the cover of the old mass-market edition is quite misleading and not indicative of what awaits the reader. Scenes of depravity are written with gleeful gusto. This is gonzo horror writing, sort of a mad synthesis of 70's and 80's b-horror movies, the sensibility of a Hunter Thompson or Douglas Adams, Animal House, and more. I also enjoyed the references to many of Lee's favorite imported beers of the time. Mr. Lee published three novels before Coven (two under the pseudonym Philip Straker), but I consider this the true beginning to his career--this is where his reputation as the king of "extreme" horror began. Used copies can be costly, but it's worth seeking out. Or you could hold out for the new limited edition hardback due from Necro Publications in 2003.

Together with Patrick Gates, Edward Lee is -- for me -- the ultimate gore/ extreme horrorwriter. His stories ooze with nasty sexscenes and brutality, and COVEN is no exception.

Don't let the cover fool you. It shows a woman in a black cape with a pentagram on her chest and holding an axe, but this book isn't about witches. An evil force is trying to take over the world and it's up to a slacker student and an ambitious female deputy to stop them, and they do fall in love halfway through! Without spoiling to much; Lee pulls no punches, from people who get sliced in half by a enormously large axe, to gruesome alien experiments and a zombie that can't be killed, COVEN has it all. Also worth mentioning is Lee's quirky sense of humor and his knack to create characters, which are most of the times stereotypical, but also make you laugh out loud because of their human traits. An example is the way he sends up rich, spoiled collegestudents, with their expensive cars and their taste in foreign beer.

This book is very hard to find (like most of Lee's older books) and I myself paid a ridicously large amount of money for it. But it was totally worth it and if you can find it I recommend it to any fan of extreme horror!

This is a VERY good, scary story, and I am amazed that it is out of print. I absolutely adore books by Edward Lee and hope that he comes out with many more, soon.

I first heard of the Heritage Foundation while at college when I read a booklet by analyst Dan Mitchell about the flat tax. Intrigued, I started reading about Heritage. When I got my hands on this book, I immediately devoured it. It is an eminently readable history of one the greatest; if not the greatest; conservative think tanks in America.

Edwards starts at the beginning when Ed Feulner and others wanted to found a think tank to get ideas and papers out fast and timely. He follows through the troubled 70s into the triumphent 80s when Reagan became president. HE looks at the ideas Heritage put forth and how it did not hesitate to criticize Reagan if he went wrong. He follows through the Bush administration and into the 90s. This, like Feulner's book about conservative thought is a must read for all conservatives!

Lee Edwards has cranked out another gem on the history of American conservatism. I submit that one could say that he has taken up where the late Russell Kirk left off. In any case, Edwards is to be commended for bringing the history and role of The Heritage Foundation to light. And The Heritage Foundation is to be commended and praised for its significant contribution towards the propagation of conservative values and ensuring a conservative trend in public policy. I dearly hope that Edwards' concluding assessment is accurate, namely that Heritage will continue to play a substantial role in moving mainstream thought back towards the fundamental and enduring principles that are the foundation of American culture, economics, and society. And may God continue to bless Heritage with a steady flow of brilliant public policy experts willing to devote their energies towards advancing conservative values. And may God also bless Heritage with the type of brilliant leadership that it has received from Dr. Ed Feulner. And may the conservative movement continue to be blessed with historians willing to document the life and times of our heroic predecessors.

Lee Edward's "The Power of Ideas: The Heritage Foundation at 25 Years" is the definitive book to read if one wishes to understand the rise of conservative ideas in America. The Heritage Foundation helped, by embodying the principles of Lincoln, Roosevelt (Theodore), Nixon, and Reagan. Their work in shaping United States domestic and foreign policy is impressive. Lee Edward's book will inspire people in making America the place where freedom reigns and the individual and not the government holds the power. I hope the people who read this book have similar thoughts and ideas on how to make America GREAT. I also wish this book will rank next to "Democracy in America" in time.

Necro Publishing does it again by teaming up 2 old Lee novellas, "Header" and "The Pig", while adding a new one, "The Horn-Cranker", in for good measure. Edward Lee goes 3 for 3 with this collection. For hardcore horror fans only. You've been warned.

Sex, Drugs & Power Tools is a collection of three lurid, hardcore, sex and violence turbocharged horror novellas by Edward Lee in the tradition of the most infamous pulp fiction. The novellas include: Header; The Pig; and The Horn-Cranker. Not for the faint of heart, these sensationally written, mesmerically compelling, extensively vicious thrill rides of the mind fully and completely capture the reader's total attention with hideous intensity. Highly recommended -- but not for the squeamish.

It's a shame the world is full of too many prudes who can't appreciate a good story involving sex, drugs, and power tools, because Ed Lee is in top form here. This book combines two of Lee's better known novellas from years gone by with a brand new story to make one of the newest additions to my top five favorite of all time list.

First is "Header". I'd heard for years about this Lee story called "Header" and always wondered, "What's a header." I can see now why this story's gained so much recognition. Ed Lee does what not a lot of writers of this type of horror can do--he makes you forget what initially got you into the story--the header--and soon you're involved in the story under that one--the REAL story. Header is a story of desperation and revenge. You come in meeting Travis Tuckton, learning about headers, and soon you realize, Hey that's not even what this story is about. Travis isn't the main character. Who's this cop, Cummings? He's the one to focus on. Header is nothing more than a cop story, turned up to eleven.

Then "The Pig". My only complaint about "The Pig" is the last 15 pages or so. And that's Ed's fault because he did such a great job building everything up, my expectations were high. All Leonard wants is to make his low budget movie and win the Sundance Film Festival, and he knows he can win because his movie, based on his own college-written short story, "The Confessor" is great. So, where does a guy fresh out of prison and with no prospects go to get funding for a movie? Thank God for Rocco who loans him the cash. Well, thank God until Rocco comes back a few days later looking for his money back. To pay the debt, Leonard is put to work, and this is where the story kicks into gear. I read this story in just a couple of days, grabbing whatever free time I could find to get through another couple pages, feeling sorry for poor Leonard and knowing I would never want his job. Remember the movie "8mm"? Same subject matter, but "The Pig" doesn't have Nicolas Cage moping around the screen and boring anyone.

And again, my only complaint here is that, with the kind of buildup Lee gives us here, I was expecting some big action-packed climax, a showdown between Leonard and Rocco (and Knuckles), but Lee chose the "let's give them something they weren't expecting" route and surprised me.

Last is "The Horn-Cranker", a story that should be winning some kind of award for Lee sometime. Dean Lohan, South Dakota Horn-Cranking champion and basic redneck, lives in Seattle now with his "loving" wife. But when his father goes into a coma, Dean has to go back home, where he finds something has been killing children by the dozens. This was my favorite story and a first-class job by Ed Lee. My wife and I were talking about this story last night, trying to decide who would make good cast members for "Horn-Cranker" the movie (I'm sticking by my vote for Bruce Campbell, but then I think he should be in everything), because it seems such a perfect choice for one of those independent horror movies that is able to go beyond what Hollywood will do . This is a story that could take Ed Lee to new heights in his career--well it seems from what I've read that his novel "City Infernal" might just do that, but this story could, too. I hate to use a King comparison when reviewing another horror writer, but this time I have to. because reading "The Horn-Cranker" it was like Lee has taken the best elements of a Stephen King novella, the stuff that makes King's novellas the great things they can be, and given them new strength, new life, and new intensity, to make the perfect combination of horror and humor in a long time.

There's a different level of energy to these stories that I don't often see in horror anymore. Some of today's horror seems more interested in style over substance, while some horror seems more concerned with what's going to gross out the reader. But Ed Lee's on a different plain from the rest of us and there's nobody else who does what he does quite like him. He's quickly proving, with each new book I read from him, that he's just a step or two above what the rest of us are doing these days.

It's difficult to easily categorize these dark works of fantasy: they are short stories written by such notables as Ray Bradbury, Michael Bishop, Nina Kiriki Hoffman and others, blending literature and art and all based on the strange kinetic sculpture Crowded After Hours by Lisa Snellings. Dark carnival stories probe the limits of humanity.

Strange Attraction is a fascinating anthology that combines quality writing, art and binding into a unique synthesis. This showcase volume presents memorable and highly recommended work by Michael Bishop, Ray Bradbury, Ed Bryant, Richard lee Byers, Nancy A. Collins, Jack Dann & Janeen Webb, Charles de Lint, James Dorr, Harlan Ellison, Neil Gaiman, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Alexandra Elizabeth Honigsberg, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Brad Linaweaver, Jason Miller, Fred Olin Ray, Robert J. Sawyer, Darrell Schweitzer, John Shirley, S.P. Somtow, Chet Williamson, David N. Wilson, and Gene Wolfe.

Strange Attraction is a fascinating anthology that combines quality writing, art and binding into a unique synthesis. This showcase volume presents memorable and highly recommended work by Michael Bishop, Ray Bradbury, Ed Bryant, Richard lee Byers, Nancy A. Collins, Jack Dann & Janeen Webb, Charles de Lint, James Dorr, Harlan Ellison, Neil Gaiman, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Alexandra Elizabeth Honigsberg, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Brad Linaweaver, Jason Miller, Fred Olin Ray, Robert J. Sawyer, Darrell Schweitzer, John Shirley, S.P. Somtow, Chet Williamson, David N. Wilson, and Gene Wolfe.

This book expresses the true emotion, true challenges, and compelling life experiences of Lee G. Edwards. It gives a very real and powerful illustration of what it's like to go through life constantly faced with social and personal challenges. This book raises the awareness of albinism and has something everyone can identify with. Lee makes himself very transparent and beause of this raw vulnerability, anyone reading this book will be touched and take a peice of Lee's experiences with them.

A compelling read!!! With our national debate on race dominated by "black and white" issues, this book is a real eye opener. It provides an entirely new take on prejudice and discrimination in America today.
Imagine being forced to exist in a never-never world where you have no race to call your own, a world in which you are not only subjected to white discrimination, but those in your own community--including your own father--cannot accept you because you are not black enough. I have never read a stronger indictment of the insanity of racism. Mr. Edwards writes passionately, with raw honesty, generously offering his own trauma and recovery to give others hope A must read for anyone who says they care about social justice.

READING THIS BOOK WAS AN ISPIRATIONAL AND EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE! I WOULD SUGGEST THAT EVERYONE READ THIS BOOK. IT SHOWS HOW WE AS A NATION ARE SO JUDEMENTAL WHEN SOMETHING DOES NOT LOOK RIGHT TO US. IT ALSO SHOWS HOW A PERSON CAN BE SO GRAVELY EFFECTED BY THE IGNORANCE OF OTHERS. I THINK WE SHOULD ALL REMEMBER THIS COULD HAVE EASILY BEEN OUR CHILD. AND HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF YOUR CHILD WAS TREATED ON DAY TO DAY BASIS AS THIS YOUNG MAN HAS BEEN AND STILL IS TREATED? IT IS TRULY FOOD FOR THOUGHT. AND STILL WITH ALL THAT HAS HAPPENED TO HIM, HE STILL HAS A POSITIVE AND OUTGOING ATTITUDE AND WISHES TO EDUCATE OTHERS SO CHILDREN DO NOT HAVE TO SUFFER LIKE HE HAS BEEN MADE TO. THAT IS WHY I AM GIVING THIS AUTHOR FIVE STARS HE TRULY DESERVES IT AND HIS WRITING SKILLS ARE OUTSTANDING!

Ed Watz's book 'Wheeler & Woolsey' is a superb film history of a great and sadly forgotten movie comedy team. This volume evokes the golden days of both Vaudeville and Hollywood, as we follow the rise and sad fall of Wheeler & Woolsey. Mr. Watz also sets straight the historical record that the boys were second only to the great Laurel & Hardy in the 1930's and certainly ahead of their rivals the Marx Bros., the Ritz Bros., and the Three Stooges! Readers of this book will want to go out and see the films of Wheeler & Woolsey. Watz's book is a lost treasure.

This "sleeper" book, which I picked up because of my curiosity about the subjects (they are appearing regularly on the Turner Classic Movies station) is a revelation. Positively one of the best researched and entertaining books about a comedy team from the movies' golden age, the 1930s. To watch Wheeler & Woolsey is to understand what vaudeville-type comedy is (was) all about. Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey have been overlooked in favor of teams like the Marx Bros. or the 3 Stooges. This book corrects that oversight. It is also a highly readable accounts of Hollywood politics behind the scenes at some of the major studios. If you're a fan of vintage movie comedy, get this book.

Wheeler and Woolsey were second to Laurel and Hardy in the heart's of movie going audiences of the 1930's. Since then, however, their star has faded and their acomplishments have been relegated to footnote status in the history of the golden age of comedy. Thanks to Edward Watz, Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey are alive and kicking again in a definitive history of the lovable pair and their films. Exhaustingly researched and lovingly executed, the book chronicles the career ups and downs of the most unjustifiably forgotten comedians in the history of show business. Personal biographies are included, as well as detailed accounts of all of their features and short subjects. Long time leading lady Dorothy Lee lends her first hand account of the way things happend with a refreshingly candid foreward. She also shares her memories of each of the films that she participated in with a fascinating view that only an insider could relate. The later years are chronicled in the final chapter, featuring accounts of Bert Wheeler's career after the untimely death of his partner. All in all, this book ranks along side the superlative Laurel and Hardy, The Magic Behind The Movies, and Abbott and Costello in Hollywood, as one of the most enjoyable and informative demonstration's of film history as can be expected. If you love film comedy, you should not be without this book.

As a former North Carolina resident, our secret's out. "Coasting the
Mountains" depicts Western North Carolina as a magical place full of the
finest arts and crafts, antiques and an abundance of natural beauty and
outdoor activities. And it is! This guidebook covers a 200 mile
stretch from Murphy to Boone and uncovers lots of hidden treasures along
the way. It's a fun read too, with unusual facts and recipes. My
personal favorite: Kudzu Jelly!

Editorial Review

Call dibs on the shotgun seat as four enthusiastic travelers take you on a lively ride through western North Carolina in "Coasting the Mountains". The authors are friends...whose love of discovery shines through.

Their personal insights validate our enthusiasm for places we've visited and whet our appetites for those we haven't. Scattered throughout the book are recipes gathered during their rambles as well as boxes with notes of interest, little-known facts and insider tips. Plus they steer travelers to the best shopping and antiquing.

"Coasting the Moutains" is thorough and a lot more fun than most guidebooks.
Excerpted from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
September 16, 2001

Dr. Holton has performed superbly in extracting the essence of Lee the man, the soldier, leader and hero from a variety of primary source materials. His alignment of these quotes from Lee and those who knew him to some 119 characteristics of leadership is riveting and true.

Arranged alphabetically, Holton covers a wide range of leadership characteristics-from courage to management by objectives and virtual reality-that unmask problems and bottle necks in almost any private or public corporate structure. Personnel from any level in the corporate structure will find this readable, easily understood, and immediately applicable to their area of work.

This is a must for any organization that is or already has shifted to self-directed or high performance team management. Lee was a master of this strategy, and the details of his skill show clearly through Dr. Holton's work.

Having read extensively of the literature on Lee's command of the Army of Northern Virginia, I was very impressed with Dr. Holton's skill in matching the excerpts from primary sources of Lee's career with the 119 management concepts presented in this compact, 158 page, guide to leadership.

The only quote that I missed seeing in my reading of this work, which would have only added to the character portrait Holton develops, is a paragraph from the January 21, 1993 Congressional Record:

"Robert E. Lee's religious conviction was clearly expressed in his sense of honor and duty. He revealed this in a note he wrote to himself: 'There is a true glory and a true honor: the glory of duty done--the honor of the integrity of principle."

Robert E. Lee was not only one of the greatest soldiers of all time, his managerial ability and leadership enabled him to withstand overwhelming odds for four years and emerge with the love and respect of all who knew him.
While few of us can muster the sterling qualities (and patriotic impetus) of Marse Bob, we can yet benefit from his wisdom and integrity, and aspire at least to emulate the qualities which made him one of the most respected figures in American history.
The present work is a companion to "From Battlefield to Bottom Line", a study of U.S. Grant's leadership, by the same author. Both are highly recommended to anyone who wishes to learn leadership from two masters.
(The numerical rating above is an ineradicable default setting within the format. This reviewer does not employ numerical ratings.

I never read a book in this style before. It is not a history of Lee, but a list of lessons illustrated by events in his career.

The lessons are laid out chronologically in Lee's career. They highlight as much about his strengths as his weaknesses. More importantly for me, they give an insight into the Civil War that is uniquely from the perspective of General Lee.

This is a book that can appeal to Civil War readers, or it can appeal to those interested in Management.

It is an easy read, I like the style, and it is a book that you can stop and start as you like. No need to plough through it all in one go.

Al Kaltman has assembled an interesting and refreshing book about issues General Lee faced during his entire life. More of the documented letters featuring opinions and Lee offered others during his military adventures through Mexico and the Civil War are intriguing. Kaltman takes Lee's approach to subjects on managing people or conflicts and offers advice on how to handle similar circumstances in business and personal life situations. This book is rather a quick read as topics such as preparing one's self, taking command, continuous improvement and the winning image are just a few of many that are featured.

This book is one you can jump from chapter to chapter on and not read from start to finish if you wanted as it deals with leadership approaches for various subjects. This book I recommend to anyone involved in business be it a salesperson or manager looking to better themselves with great thought. Also it can be a book one could keep with them at work as a helpful guide to reflect back on for insight on how to deal with situations that arise. Lee's style of handling issues is usually the correct and friendly non-confrontational approach which many could benefit from reading. On another side of this great book, Lee's failures or mistakes are also covered and Lee offers his thoughts on how he should have handled things differently.

Obviously, Kaltman found in Lee's management strategies and tactics relevance to the contemporary business world. The book's subtitle reveals Kaltman's primary theme: "Leadership lessons for the outgunned, outnumbered, and underfinanced." That is probably true of almost all of the companies now struggling to survive. The material is carefully organized within 11 chapters which correspond in chronological sequence with the various stages of Lee's career. Kaltman has identified 260 specific "Lessons" each of which he summarizes within an appropriate context and is accompanied by a Lee quotation, followed by a brief "Advice" mini-commentary. Unlike so many other books which purport to draw such correlations between the battlefield and the marketplace (e.g. The Military Genius of Daffy Duck), this one is sensible. Granted, many of the "Lessons" are rather obvious and much of the "Advice" is somewhat simplistic. However, the content is quite substantial. I think this would be an excellent gift for someone about to begin or who has only recently begun a business career. Here are Kaltman's concluding comments: "Robert E. Lee led armies in battle, helped reconcile a people to their defeat, and built a great educational institution. Lee never worried about his legacy; he focused on the job at hand. He believed that our legacy is the work we do to improve the human condition and bring about better times: "We may not see them but our children will, and we will live over again in them." You may also wish to check out Kaltman's Cigars, Whiskey & Winning: Leadership Lessons from Ulysses S. Grant, Crocker's Robert E. Lee on Leadership, and Hilton's Leadership Lessons from Robert E. Lee: Tips, Tactics, and Strategies for Leaders and Managers.

Ed Lee is best known for spectacularly gruesome books like "The Bighead," or sick short stories like "Header." This little chapbook, entitled "Quest for Sex, Truth, and Reality" marks a significant departure for Lee. While the three stories included here still contain Lee's usual warped outlook on modern day society, the stories are much deeper than mere blood and guts tales. The three stories in this booklet are not easy to decipher, but in that respect they mirror our own individual search for truth and reality.

The first story, "Goddess of the New Dark Age," concerns a washed up writer dying of cancer and his attempt to seek the meaning of reality. He goes to the usual sources one would consider in such a quest, heading down to the university to talk to a philosophy professor. The professor gives him a long, academic rant that is neither illuminating nor coherent. The author turns to sex, finding nothing lurking there that reveals reality. Only when he recognizes that the reality of our time is horror heaped upon horror, the reality of man's cruelty and endless heartbreak, does he discover what is real.

Lee moves down darker trails in "The Seeker," a tale even more obscure than the previous story. A writer wonders into a strange town, encountering several weird people in a local bar while the army searches for something strange in the surrounding environs. A few stomach churning scenes later finds the writer encountering what the army is looking for. What it is and what it means is unclear, but the man discovers the object has bigger plans than corrupting the local townspeople. Lee writes that the symbolism of this story is that the things we seek out because we believe it is the truth often turn out to be something completely different. Hmmm.

"Pay Me" unavoidably deals with the quest for sex. In this pornographic yarn, a man named Smith runs across Lisa, an old school chum, in a seedy bar. She is even more attractive than he remembers, and the two make small talk over drinks for a time. Regrettably for Smith, he soon sees what her job is in this type of bar. The descriptions here are graphic in a tone that suggests certain magazines available only to those over eighteen. Smith and Lisa do spend the night together, resulting in Smith's incorporation into the stage show at the bar. Lee claims this story deals with the biggest fear of the 1980's, namely the shroud of sexual terror that descended over the country due to the AIDS virus.

Ed Lee fans will want to pick this slim book up quickly, since small press stuff tends to quickly fade from view. I do not pretend to understand these mysterious stories, but they are quite different from the usual Ed Lee fare. For instance, I do not remember any rednecks or hillbillies turning up in any of the stories, definitely a rare and noticeable occurrence for this author. Ultimately, it is nice to see a writer in the grue genre attempt to stretch his talents now and again even if he does not necessarily pull it off.

An author finds himself close to death and followed by a ghost that tells him to 'make her real.' So, his quest for enlightenment, to find the becoming mentioned before his terminal illness catches him begins. A town that is going mad, filled with horrific events that consume mind after mind, and a writer that thinks of himself as 'a seeker' journeying through it. Along the way he hears a voice, a voice that tells him not to turn away but to seek out what is real. A man listening to a voice inside his head journeys into a 'seedy' part of town, into a bar offering 'live shows,' finding someone he once loved in the process and also finding that, in time, truth is relative and it all changes. Every truth has a price.

Three stories, one chapbook, and the label out-of-print on all this beast's previous release. That is what this work, by Edward Lee, comprises on its Quest For Sex, Truth, and Reality. It also entails something that's well written in its short, 35-page run, something that reflects upon its author while the main character's ' all reflecting on bits of Edward's internal struggle ' search for something more, and a more meaningful side of the gore writer's persona. Personally, I find this time period in his writing life an interesting one, filled with reflections of what is going on in the author's mind after each tale told, letting you into the painter's mindset as the scene was crafted. To me, that is an important keyhole to sometimes peek through because knowing the author, its knowing something behind-the-scenes.

For fans of Lee's writing, this is something that you'll want to definitely procure because the alternative to picking it up here is paying way too much for the out-of-print volumes of this, his first chapbook. Also, Pay Me, the third story in the book, is also listed as exclusive to the volume, so that makes it a nice find, too. Included herein is Goddess of a New Dark Age, The Seeker, and the before-mentioned piece, evening it out as something that is worth picking up. For anyone that has yet to check out Lee, you should bear in mind that he is a horror creator and incorporates the spilling of internal stimuli to get his message across. If this works for you and you want a tale coated in the renditional imagery of terror, then this is worth picking up.

When I ordered this Necro chapbook, I didn't realize that I'd already read 2 of it's three stories ("The Goddess Of The Dark Age" and "The Seeker" were both in the author's 1st collection of short fiction - The Ushers). Knowing that now, I would still order this book as it is the only place (besides the original out of print chapbook by Tal) to get the 3rd story, "Pay Me". Having just finished Lee's Sex, Drugs & Power Tools, I had to shift gears a little bit as this collecion isn't as hardcore/in your face as S,D&PT. Don't take that the wrong way. If you like Edward Lee, you'll like this collection. Just don't go looking for a header. Be sure to check out the afterword that follows each story (and the picture of Lee smiling at the end). Seek out this chapbook now before it joins the Tal edition.