I worked with Barbara Carlson for 5 years at KSTP. I am a part of this book. If you want to laugh. If you want to cry. If you want to learn. This is the book for you. This woman has achieved such incredible highs and low lows. Barbara is a study of addictions and the ability to talk about them is a frank way. Barbara is one person that you would want to meet after reading this book. The book is an accurate look at her life and deserved to be a best seller. Do yourself a favor, read this book. Barbara Carlson is one of the most dangerous people in America, she is willing to reveal all. I love her and you will too after you read it.

Rarely does a book come along that waters my soul with such profound depth and simplicity. "Today is the Day" has done this with gripping storyline and masterful illustrations. I keep a copy on the coffee table and a copy on the bedstand, as reading and re-reading reveals new and deeper insights. "Today is the Day" is a must read for the soul-searching world.

I found this book in a terminally ill hospice library. Then I read this article in this book by Dr.Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and now I know why The Vestibule was there. Her own testimony tells it all:

"I just had a thrity-two year old man, an actor by profession, who died of a brain stem tumor. He was searching all over the literature for some accounts of what it is really like to be dying. I was able to send my last copy of The Vestibule, and his mother read it to him ten days prior to his death. It was a great consolation, not only to him, but to his family. I am using The Vestibule quite extensively because I have about two hundred workshops on death and dying throughout the country." Signed-Dr.Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, best selling author of Death and Dying.

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I had already been in communication with Jess Miller for sometime before I read his book. He was councelling me on a one-on-one basis. When I finally got the book everything that he had told me made so much sense. The language is simple and you can understand where his coming from totally. This book will always be by my side, when I need it most I will have a friend in Jess Miller and his words in this book will be close by.

I was almost too young to understand my sister's early death. But I was not too young to understand this book and how it helped me. It is about the same situation I was in. A small boy's sibling dies and he notices she is gone. The parents tell him what death is about and how it is alright to remember and talk about Jess. I was only four and could not quite read, but my mom read me Where's Jess almost every night. This is a helpful book for children and parents.

This cookbook does an exceptional job of blending eastern cooking techniques with contemporary recipes and adventureous combinations for any palate. The photography is superb.

Jess Walter understands something that escapes many thriller writers: Character comes first. This first novel has a gritty and credible plot about a series of murders in Spokane, Wash., but Walter goes beyond the usual cliches of the genre by building his characters carefully and believably. Det. Caroline Mabry is an intriguing, complicated and wholly sympathetic escort into the world that Walters evokes, a dangerous world of prostitutes, johns and seedy bars. Because we care about her, and about her sometimes partner Alan Dupree, we care even more deeply about the case that consumes her. Walter also does an exceptional job of capturing the flavor of Spokane, a mid-sized Northwest city with a super-sized inferiority complex. The plot may invite comparisons to Spokane's real-life serial killer story, but Walter's story veers off in unexpected ways. An assured first effort by a fine writer.

If you're looking for incredible writing, great character development and a plot that'll make you awaken at 3 a.m., wanting to crawl out of bed and read more then reach for Jess Walter's "Over Tumbled Graves". It's joined my list of all-time favorites.

Walter crafts an immensely satisfying mystery that tugs the reader through every twist and turn. You'll race through the pages, unable to put the book down until you reach its conclusion and then, when you do finish, you'll feel saddened that the joy ride has ended. Don't miss this one.

Just finished reading Over Tumbled Graves by Jess Walter. He's written before as a reporter but this is his first novel. The lead character is a female detective and she's trying to catch a serial killer. Even though it sounds like the same old stuff, this one is different.

I get tired of reading books where the detective sifts through tons of evidence and only follows the good leads, as if they know in advance "who done it". This book has just enough bad leads, wrong conclusions and less than perfect cops to make it interesting.

I'm not sure who recommended I read this one, but I enjoyed it and am glad I gave it a try.

It is a common and persistent misconception that Vampire characters and chronicles should be Camarilla by default. Maybe this is because the core rulebook outlines the Camarilla more thoroughly than other possibilities, or perhaps because Camarilla society is closest to human in ideology and behaviour. Either way, other storytelling options tend to be neglected, and none more so than the Sabbat.

More than any other vampire group; the Sabbat is routinely labelled as the "bad guys". Most Storytellers present them as little other than marauding packs of bloodthirsty, monstrous, straightforward adversaries. Are they bloodthirsty? You're damn right. Monstrous? Maybe. Straightforward? Hardly.

If you've always found the Sabbat confounding and two-dimensional, this book will change that. The "Guide to the Sabbat" contains a wealth of information on Sabbat culture, lifestyle, philosophy, motivation, and behaviour. Included are useful guidelines for creating Sabbat characters, incorporating Sabbat into stories in a rich and interesting fashion, and developing and running Sabbat chronicles. This guide serves to show the depth and complexity of this misunderstood sect and reveals the many excellent storytelling opportunities it offers.

In all, the book is handsome, well formatted, thorough, and entertaining. An extremely useful volume, it makes a necessary addition for any Vampire game.

I love the Sabbat now. I've always found an attraction to the Lasombra but never the Sabbat as a whole. This book changed my perception. The Sabbat isn't a group of mindless killers as the Camarilla makes them seem, they are Crusaders against the ancient ones who would destroy them.

The books intro "Smart Moneys on Vegas" is very nice and is probubly my favorite opening fiction. It captures the mood of the Sabbat and keeps you moving through the introducion area that explains the Sabbat structure and internal strife.

The book moves to the numerous Anti-Tribes of the Sabbat and even special bloodlines that previous reviewers mentioned. One that didn't fit in to me though was a group called the Kiasyd, they are like Faeries but Vampires also... I don't see where they fit into the Sabbat or any sect for that matter.

The discipline section was medicore. Nothing to new, or ground breaking. Especially considering the neutral disciplines like Auspex are in Guide to the Camarilla. The path section is rather interesting, especially since it drills in that many sabbat aren't on paths and stick to humanity, most people can't take pathes dangers.

The section detailing Sabbat tactics for taking cities is amazing and a story based around a siege would be amazing. The tactics are varied especially due to Sabbat disciplines and considering that they already are good at fighting makes me wonder how the Sabbat could ever lose.

This book was very good all in all but my one complaint is that it really doesn't say much about what a Sabbat city really does when it isn't crusading? They weed each other out? Well, this book is still worth the price. It's information is invaluable.

The Sabbat are many things, mysterious and everpresent, violent and oppressive, exotic and different. These are not the Kindred of the hidden Camarilla, they are the Cainites who roam the streets.

The Sabbat clans and bloodlines are given here in detail, save for those already in the primary Vampire sourcebook. Also included (and excellently done) are several bloodlines designed for non-player characters. Among these is the Harbingers of Skulls, an odd group of Cappadocian Elders who escaped the Giovanni purge. Their now-forgotten legacy is only hinted at in this book, following a powerful tradition of answering one question and opening two.

The overall tone of this book is moving. Like its companions, it focuses on horror. But this is a whole different horror, from being buried "alive" to torturing mortals. It's a powerful guide to the darker half of the night, and an absolutely marvelous resource to anyone running a Sabbat chronicle.

Lynette Fromme is a rather obscure figure to merit a lengthy biography, but Bravin's book is worth the read for anyone interested in the cult mentality. While the most famous book about the Manson Family is Vincent Bugliosi's excellent "Helter Skelter," that book focuses on the crimes, not the creed. Here, Bravin shows us how an intelligent middle-class teenager could be drawn into a quasi-religion based on violence, drugs, and racism.
Also unlike "Helter Skelter," Bravin's book tells what happened later, that the Manson Family did not end with Manson's incarceration. Fromme and other charter Family devotees like Sandra Good are still devoted to their guru, and Bravin traces the strange course of their small sect.

I had forgotten just how turbulent those times were. Mr. Bravin brought it all back. This is an excellent account of Ms. Fromme's life before and after Manson on many levels. Bravin maintains a format that is intelligent and literate, unlike the moronic twadlings of Ed Sanders, as well as insightful and interesting. Anyone interested in this period should definately read this book. It will certainly give you a new prospective on Ms. Fromme. I would like to see Mr. Bravin produce a book about Sandra Good.

Jess Bravin has done a great job providing insight to a very complex person. Told without sensationalism, done with sensitivity yet objective as well. I feel great compassion and sadness for the girl Lynette Fromme was, but not for the person she became. My only criticism is that I wish Mr. Bravin had given more information about Squeaky once she was convicted (though I assume that would have been impossible without her cooperation). And also, I would like to have been given as much insight to other family members as well-- it's hard to seperate one from the pack since they are all so intertwined. It would have made an even longer book but so what? Being an animal rights and eco-activist this book effected me deeply. What a waste of a life! Anyone who has visited Sandra and Lynette's website knows that these 2 women are more invested in Charlie Manson and intimidation than saving the earth. In conclusion, I think Jess Bravin did an EXCELLENT job writing this book.

i think this book gives a good example of what life in West Oakland is like for young African American's raised in poor families. The book takes place in roughly three intense days. It gives the reader an inside look at gang life and issues they have to deal with. Issues like, rival gangs, gang fights, and protecting their territory. I think the best parts of the book were when the characters realized that it takes more than getting shot or shooting someone to be way past cool. I think that if someone was considering joining a gang and then read this book, it would make them think twice.

Reviewers:

Jess Mowry, because of this book, is now my favortie author. This book expresses the true hardcore life on the streets. Depicting poverty, violence, drugs, and the necessity for survival and a few blocks of rugged territory. The "Friends" a small gang of yound boys that struggle to survive and keep their block, find an true enemy, that wants them dead. A drug dealer, hoping to make profit on their deaths, as a means to sell on their block. Ty, the dealer's bodyguard, unexpectadly became the most important character in the story. It depicts the hardness of the street, but also shows the love hiding behind the hard shell. This is a must read. It hypnotizes you. I hope you like it.

After thirty-something years of teaching African-American Literature (and having survived my "mid-life crisis" many years ago) I'm afraid I must disagree with the reader from "Planet Earth". It is not so much that I like this book, but rather that my kids all seem to like it that impresses me most. This shouldn't be surprising as, to the best of my knowledge and research, Jess Mowry wrote this book for the same children it is about. It should be remembered that the book was written in the early 1990's, and what was "hip" then as far as language and expressions is now history. But I suppose this is one of the risks any author must take when writing for kids. The positive message is there, the story is there, the excitement, the color, the life is there, and they are timeless. Common sense would dictate that the more widely read a book is, the more likely it is to have critics. However, it has been my experience that people are generally more apt to write negative letters (or book reviews) than positive ones. Many people are much quicker to critisise than to praise. I find much more "praise" for this book than critisism, and I feel that speaks for itself. I like this book, I teach from this book each year, and even though I give my students a choice of books, most of them read Way Past Cool, and most of them seem to like it. Of course no author can please every reader, nor should any author try to.