This is the fourth book I've read by C.H. Foertmeyer and it won't be the last. His books are always imaginative and well written, complete with excitement, danger, and life lessons as a subtle part of every story.

Alex Carey and Bender Baxter are teenage friends. They live in a small Idaho town bordering on forested wilderness. One day while swimming in the river, Alex drowns and Bender cannot save him. An unexpected and miraculous rescue occurs, and Alex is discovered alive days later. Both boys set out to find whoever saved Alex from death. Their search takes them deep into primeval forest, and a world no one could possibly believe exists today.

Jubel Owens is a hermit like his father before him. Half Indian and half white, he prefers his life in the peaceful forest, away from the modern world. Still, he befriends Alex and Bender and helps them understand the mystery they uncover on their trek.

The Atiri are throwbacks to an ancient time before the white man threatened their existence. Although different from native Indians and modern man, the Atiri have their own language and way of life, are compassionate and devoted to their families. Jubel, Alex, and Bender finally meet Bersh, the male Atiri who rescued Alex and nursed him back to health. Bersh has a wife named Brish, and a son named Besh. The adventure proceeds as planned until two teenagers named Dirk and Carter stumble onto Besh and shoot him. From that point, less than kindly townfolk get involved in searching for the Atiri. Jubel and his young friends have their hands full in protecting the Atiri and preventing the world from invading their home.

Along the way, lives and attitudes are changed. New alliances and friendships are formed. And good behavior wins out over bad. With C.H. Foertmeyer, each book is a new adventure. The American wilderness and human nature are portrayed as what they were and are. This author's books are appropriate for both adult and young adult readers. The occasional mild expletive does not detract from the message. Highly recommended, as are all this award winning author's books.

Alex 'n Bender
by C.H. Foertmeyer
ISBN 0-595-26541-3

This is the fourth book I've read by C.H. Foertmeyer and it won't be the last. His books are always imaginative and well written, complete with excitement, danger, and life lessons as a subtle part of every story.

Alex Carey and Bender Baxter are teenage friends. They live in a small Idaho town bordering on forested wilderness. One day while swimming in the river, Alex drowns and Bender cannot save him. An unexpected and miraculous rescue occurs, and Alex is discovered alive days later. Both boys set out to find whoever saved Alex from death. Their search takes them deep into primeval forest, and a world no one could possibly believe exists today.

Jubel Owens is a hermit like his father before him. Half Indian and half white, he prefers his life in the peaceful forest, away from the modern world. Still, he befriends Alex and Bender and helps them understand the mystery they uncover on their trek.

The Atiri are throwbacks to an ancient time before the white man threatened their existence. Although different from native Indians and modern man, the Atiri have their own language and way of life, are compassionate and devoted to their families. Jubel, Alex, and Bender finally meet Bersh, the male Atiri who rescued Alex and nursed him back to health. Bersh has a wife named Brish, and a son named Besh. The adventure proceeds as planned until two teenagers named Dirk and Carter stumble onto Besh and shoot him. From that point, less than kindly townfolk get involved in searching for the Atiri. Jubel and his young friends have their hands full in protecting the Atiri and preventing the world from invading their home.

Along the way, lives and attitudes are changed. New alliances and friendships are formed. And good behavior wins out over bad. With C.H. Foertmeyer, each book is a new adventure. The American wilderness and human nature are portrayed as what they were and are. This author's books are appropriate for both adult and young adult readers. The occasional mild expletive does not detract from the message. Highly recommended, as are all this award winning author's books.

Laurel Johnson
Midwest Book Review

ALEX 'N BENDER is another fantastic book from the very gifted author, C.H. Foertmeyer. Mr. Foertmeyer just keeps coming up with one right after another, and I hope that he doesn't stop for a very long time.

Alex Carey is dead. Of that his best friend, Bender Baxter is sure. He saw it with his own eyes. Alex had jumped off the cliffs into the water, and did not surface. Bender jumped in and finally found Alex anchored to the river bottom, and although using every bit of strength that he could master, he could not free him. Alex was dead, and Bender knew it.

After finally summoning help to the area, Bender knew that they would find Alex, but it would be his body. It had been over twenty-four hours, and besides he had seen Alex dead under the water. He was completely heartbroken, but they had to retrieve the body, and Bender knew where it was. Or did he?

Meanwhile, soon after Bender dove into the icy water to help Alex for the last time, and had left to summon help, Alex woke in a dark cave. There was nothing around him except for a small fire, and even that didn't light up the darkness around him. He remembered drowning, and Bender trying to save him, and couldn't figure out what in the world was going on. Alex tried to light a torch and explore his surroundings, however the torch wouldn't stay lit long enough to see much of anything. Finally giving up he went back to the fire, and promptly fell asleep. When he woke again he found that someone had killed, dressed, and put a rabbit on a spit for him to eat. After eating, he fell asleep again to wake to a shimmering light coming from the river of water running through the cave. After much consideration he figured that was the only way out, and dove into the water, and swam in the direction of the light, to surface again in the river. The river current being so strong, it pushed him onto a sand bar, where he lay unconscious until Bender and the rescue crew finally found him, alive.

Bender is totally dumbfounded. Although completely, and utterly ecstatic that Alex is alive, he can't believe it. After all he saw with his own eyes that Alex was dead. There was absolutely no mistake about that. After Alex is treated and able to tell Bender what happened, the boys decide that they are going to investigate this phenomenon. Bender's mother had told him the story about an old hermit, Jubel Owens, that lived on the other side of the river, in the wilderness, and Doc confirms this story. Although Doc thinks that this old man has to be dead. After all, he would be 85 by now, and hadn't been seen in town, getting supplies, for a long time. Alex and Bender decide that they are going to hike over to the other side of the river and find old Jubel so Alex can thank him for saving his life. Jubel has to be the only explanation as to how Alex got free, and was saved.

After getting enough supplies to last them a couple of days, Alex and Bender head off to find old Jubel. Meanwhile unbeknownst to them, two boys, Dirk and Carter, who have been tormenting Alex and Bender off and on for quite a while, decide to follow them.

The woods on the other side of the river are quite different than the ones on the side where the boys live. Although only a few miles from home, on that side of the river the woods are virgin, very thick, and with overgrown foliage. But that doesn't stop Alex and Bender. They are determined to find old Jubel. And it soon looks like they may have done just that. After spending their first night in the woods Bender wakes to find a man sitting by the fire petting Snitch, Benders dog.

ALEX 'N BENDER is absolutely wonderful. As with other books that Mr. Foertmeyer has written you cannot put it down. It is written so simply, and yet with so much heart and soul that the reader finds himself in the story, actually seeing the beautiful scenery around him. The characters are so realistic that you actually feel their breath on your skin.

The only problem that one may find while reading ALEX 'N BENDER is that Mr. Foertmeyer has tried to demonstrate to the reader the actual language of the Atiri. He has written their thoughts in English, but spelled the words backwards, in order to demonstrate their true language. Although this is different, it certainly isn't that difficult to follow, once you get the hang of it. And in my opinion has added a lot to the feelings of the story.

Mr. Foertmeyer gained my appreciation, and admiration of his writing abilities with the first book that I read, CARVER: HIGH MOUNTAIN TRAGEDY, and ALEX 'N BENDER only solidified it. He is a master of the art, and continues to completely thrill me with his work. ALEX 'N CARVER is another masterpiece and will completely engage any reader in the first chapter, carrying them through to the last page.

Although he is a talent unto himself, and I don't normally like to compare one authors talent with another, I cannot help but be reminded of Samuel Langhorne Clemens when I read Mr. Foertmeyer's work. He writes in much the same fashion, and I honestly believe some day Mr. Foertmeyer's work will be thought of as the modern day Samuel Clemens.

I completely recommend that you get a copy of ALEX 'BENDER immediately, and prepare yourself for a ride into a wonderful world, one that you will not want to leave. One that will leave you waiting, and hoping, for another world that Mr. Foertmeyer takes you into again, soon.

The twins in this story are much, much, trouble!! The funny part is when the twins lock Alex out of the house. Then she I think either used her telekinesis or morphed into a puddle and got back into the house using the back door. The best part is at the HAUNTED HOUSE, she scares the twins using her telekinesis to move stuff around. They were so, so, scared!!! Now that taught them a lesson!!

I thought the book was EXCELLENT! I read it during one of my classes and I couldn't stop! I suggest anyone who likes Alex Mack books read it!! -Ashley M.

I liked the title but I think it could have been more creative. THE book really kept me reading though. I always would read it at night after I was suppose to be asleep. And I liked it so much I read it twice! My favorite part was when Alex was in the Hanted House and started to pick up all the furniture aand scare the kids out of their wits!! I love the ALEX MACK SERIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am a serious, pro-amature who's been away from photography for quite a few years. When I treated myself to a Nikon N80 for my birthday this year, I knew that black and white photography was where I wanted to focus. Black and White Shots is an invaluable source for me for staging as well as lighting for black and white photography. I was able to look at pictures that caught my eye and read both description and a diagram of how the photographer put the shot together. Film type, f/stops, lighting types, positioning and notes about the shoot -- this book had it ALL!!! It told me the basics and allowed me to add my own creative touch to a photo session. Definitely a reference KEEPER!

This book is one of the best in studio photography. you can even use the lighting and diagrams for color portrait.
I love this book, it's the best among all the other books i have in this field.

As with all of the Pro Lighting series of books, this latest edition adds insightful tips and tricks into the world of "pro" level B/W photography. Especially helpful are the detailed shot elements that allow you to very closely achieve results like those you see in print.

A must have to complete the collection. Do not miss this title.

This book is written by an experienced IRC user and operator and I can't think of anyone better qualified to write this book. Additionally, his sense of humor makes this book enjoyable to read as you find out about all the features of IRC. This book is useful for anyone who spends time on IRC, from the "newbies" to veteran IRC "addicts" like me. I wish there had been a book like this around six years ago, when I logged on to my first IRC channel.

Among the subjects the authors covers include a brief summary of IRC and its history, IRC clients for UNIX, Windows, and Macintosh machines, how to connect to an IRC server, finding various channels and people on IRC, and also a good description about the dreaded "net splits" and lag you will eventually run into on IRC. I just wish the author had gone into more detail about ways to deal with server splits and lag. Maybe the next edition will cover that.

More and more users are logging on to IRC all the time (which probably explains why it seems there's always those "splits" I mentioned) and this book is an excellent guide to what you can do on IRC and what to watch out for.

Great book, I have met Alex on IRC a while back and found him to be one of the few people on irc who has the ability to explain things without the need to use too many technical terms, Now he finally managed to put it on paper. Its a great book for beginners and experienced users alike. Good stories about early days of irc, making it quiet amusing as well.

This book is pretty big for its low prize. On 350 pages there is first a quick overview how Internet works, so its really good for a "newbie". Later on, the book goes more into the detail about clients simply explained, and later on how to setup your own IRC server, which you miss in most other IRC books. The Appendixes and tables round it up to THE book of IRC.

I've owned and utlized this 'guide' for approximatly two years. We reside in the Atlanta area and are avid mountain bikers and cyclists. This guide is essential for trail markers, ride routes and cool treks off the beaten path. The book is small enough to tuck away in your camelback and use while riding! FANTASTIC! I would highly recommend if you are looking for trails in Georgia...

An absolute must for any level mountain biker. Trail reveiws are very accurate, maps well marked and easy to read and elevation profiles are helpful in gauging the trail's difficulty level. North Carolina FalconGuide book is also worth checking out. Buy 2, one for your bookshelf and one to keep with your bike eqipment or give to a friend. One complaint - not enough trails in Metro Atlanta area. ...

Alex Nutt, former president of SORBA (Southern Off Road Bicycle Association), does a fantastic job of listing the best rides in North Georgia. The book includes very accurate directions, maps, and photos of the trails. This is the best trail book I have seen for Georgia. As former president of SORBA, Alex knows the trails better than almost anyone in the area.

Alex Farrell's work is quite impressive for a first-time author. Betty and Max, Farrell's two main characters, come alive in the writting, sharing a twisted romance based in the supernatural. His relaxed style of description, beautifully fleshed-out characters, and excellent effort at creating a grim setting make this book truly worth reading. This is a definite buy.

I started this book one morning, and I had to finish it to its end that day! Betty and Max are two assassins caught in a whirlwind of love, death, and an evil demon which might or might not be the figment of Max's imagination. Alex Farrell's novel is skillfully told in his very readable yet elegantly advanced writing style. The best part, though, is the end, which I can't give away to you here--you'll just have to find out for yourself!

This book has it all: love, murder, revenge, adventure, and a bit of the supernatural. It's about a group of assassins, basically going through mid-life crises. The dialogue impressed me more than anything else. It is fluid, colorful, and real. An impressive first book by this new author.

This novel shows you surprisingly little about the postcard Prague; rather, it delves into the mental dregs and physical flinches of a narrator who takes us into his and his friends' hallucinations, nightmares, visions, and haunted tales. Comic book knights, Bohemians in the ancient sense of the word, a curious order of Catholic (?) sisters, Native American legend, trash-heap denizens, a forest journey in the Ruthenian mountains in which our hero and his love stumble into the Warhol(a) Museum, Laotian refugees, tender lovemaking, lots of violence, and most notably an extended visit from Mr. Novak and the field of bones at Auschwitz are among a few of this book's highlights.

It feels like, as reviewers remarked, Clockwork Orange (in its vocative mood, its frequent addresses to its audience, and in its linguistic/philosophical-theological, and urban melanges) meets Trainspotting (drugs galore, incoherence, muddly plotline, and dialects beyond counting). You'll lost track of who's who and what's what, but this may be intentional on Topol's part as he recreates the world of illusions, or my difficulty with a rather alien Central European host of allusions. Sheer love of storytelling doggedly pushes you on. Topol creates his own original novel, and the strange beauty mixed in with endless goings-on that stretch over 500 closely printed pages lull you into an hypnotic state of altered consciousness when you plow on through this daunting text.

Keep going, give in to the flow, and the book will take you in if you're patient. Alex Zucker's introductory notes help non-Czechs gain a rough background for what we can expect, and the fact that the prose moves so well, so densely, and so vividly attests to his and Topol's considerable skills. I predict even better work from their future collaborations. Although it's a difficult book to handle in its Pynchonesque, Joycean ambition, it rewards you with hundreds of vignettes, miniature scenes pulled out of reveries and terrors for our delight and instruction. A more serious book at its core than the punkish surface may let on, the respect for mercy, faith, and humanity beneath the mayhem and alienation reminds us that the search for enduring values persists in the most unlikely fictional and factual terrains. And, like Dante at his quest's end, somehow he sees and does not see his Beatrice again. At least that's my guess. See for yourself. This book marvelously conjures up images from its descriptions, and you too drift through space.

I just finished this long, dense novel and my head is swimming. Topol is the real deal: a creative, mad genius whose head is bursting with an insane amount of knowledge. One of the themes Topol touches on is how "time exploded" following Czechoslovakia's 1989 Velvet Revolution, and consequently, the book has an almost post-Apocalyptic feel to it.

The plot follows the narrator, Potok, a twenty-something Prague kid, who forms a "byznys" tribe in the wake of the 40-year communist rule. We then track his odyssey through the dissolution of his tribe; his search for his Sister soul-mate (foretold by an ex-girlfriend); and finally his wanderings in the dreamscape borders of Czechoslovakia, the fringes of Prague, and ultimately, the hinterlands in himself. If the events of the narrative are a bit muddled at times, it doesn't really matter, especially in the chapters that depict Potok's dealings with ex-government spies who re-surface as spooks-for-hire. Topol uses this confusion to mirror a country-wide puzzlement about the re-emergence of former Party apparatchiks into the private sector after the fall of communism.

Despite its episodic feel, City Sister Silver isn't about plot. In essence, this is a story *about* telling stories, and the events of the narrative serve to that end. Topol, a playful mythomaniac and raconteur at heart, embraces the tradition of oral storytelling and the accuracy-flaws inherent in such babel. CSS of the East Germans," when thousands from that country sought asylum in Prague's West German embassy in 1989); Native American history-cum-legend; Old Bohemio-Celtic tribal-war tales; revisionist Greek mythology (a re-imagining of Odysseus and Penelope that has Homer rolling in his grave); mock-American tall-tales; Urban legends (a snuff film); modern cliche's (a prison rape); Grimms' fairy tales; a riff on a fictional comic book; and most unnerving, a chilling Auschwitz dream sequence, replete with a talking-skeleton tour guide and an endless morass of human bones. Someone is always telling a story in CSS, but the tales always entertain and engage; they never seem forced, superfluous or pretentious.

In raving about CSS to various friends, I found myself comparing Topol to a host of different writers, and yet, as in all great literature, this novel remains unique. Topol invokes everyone from fellow Czechs Bohumil Hrabal, Franz Kafka and Jaroslav Hasek, to others such as Celine, Pynchon, Kerouac, Irvine Welsh, Blaise Cendrars, and Anthony Burgess. Every reader will find as many different comparisons (I saw one reviewer liken the novel to the best of Gunther Grass and Salman Rushdie).

One caveat, which is confession by Potok, and at first punctuation seems arbitrary (e.g., Topol is fond of ellipses and the sentence fragment-as-sentence). Like Burgess's Clockwork Orange and Welsh's Trainspotting, it takes a good fifteen or twenty pages to get into the rhythm of the slang, but once you get with it, the book flows like water. Afterall, this is a book about the beauty and elasticity of language, and the tales one can spin using creative language. Finally, I should point out the smooth translation of this novel by Alex Zucker, who took on an obviously gargantuan task, and who rounded out his duties with an engaging translator's preface and insightful and erudite end notes.

Great book and nice translation (I read the book in Czech and skimmed through the English version). Topol's book makes a fascinating and thoroughly demanding (disturbing?) reading IF the reader knows a lot about communism, the former Czechoslovakia, Prague, the 1989 Velvet Revolution and years that followed, Jachym Topol himself, and so on. Reader, be warned, unless you have a basic grasp of all this (and preferably more), you will miss the inner meanings of the story and will be left only with Topol's writing. This is not necessarily a bad deal, because Topol's speech-like writing is really great. The story itself has not changed much from the time of Miguel Cervantes: a guy leaves his cozy home, goes through many sufferings, and eventually grows wiser. Only the horrors of the 20th century are more horrible.

I picked up this book simply because I was interested in pricing my comicbook collection. Imagine my surprise when I read the wonderful editorial on heroes (both real-world, and the four-color kind) as well as the moving tribute to those heroes of the 9/11 tragedy. I highly recomend this book to everyone!

If you are looking for a great price guide to price out your comicbook collection, then this is the book for you! Fair, realistic pricing, and fine editorial content as well

As always, the Team of Malloy, Wells, and Sodaro bring sanity and clarity to the multi-tiered world of comicbook prices. This guide has consistently ranked as one of the best price guides on the market. Malloy truly has a handle on what stuff is truly worth. This edition is especially relevant in the post 9/11 world, as it contains a pair of stirring tributes to "Heroes" (both the four-color and the real-world kind). I heartily recommend this book

I may buy this because I collect comics and I need to know how much they are worth

Written and assembled by the team of writers and editors who used to publish the magazine Comic Values Monthy (as well as Triton, and Toy Values Monthly). This guide offers sections on each of the major comicbook companies, as well as Golden Age Comics, smaller Color and B&W publishers. Very well put together, they have been issuing this guide since 1994.

I am new at selling comic books a task you can say was "left to me". I have a large inventory of underground comics and it was a great pleasure to find a section on the subject in this book. I refer to it every day.

I have a house under construction and I need information on windows types, heating and cooling appliance options as well as insulations. This book is over 5 stars. I borrowed a copy from a library and am planning to buy one for reference collections.

This book covers both the house itself (insulation, windows, etc.) as well as appliances, furnaces, and lightbulbs. Written in 1999, it lists major appliances, windows, furnaces, boilers, and air conditioners by brand name and model number in table format showing the energy ratings of each one. This saves you the time of running around town or making dozens of phone calls to collect this info.

It also explains all the information contained on energy labels when you go shopping. In particular, I found the section on windows most beneficial. It details what tests are done to obtain the ratings, which tests are most relevant and which ratings you should pay particular attention to, as there are several ratings on each window.

It also was bold enough to say which things you should be spending your money on and which things are nice to have but not absolutely necessary.

I bought this book from amazon for research into healthy houses and I skimmed it for my deadline. I'm reading it closely now. Well written, easy to read, detailed, comprehensive. Even if you haven't a speck of money for new appliances, much less a new heating system, you can save money on energy. It's small--you can fit in your bag to take to the appliance store, but it's packed with stuff. Well worth the price.