Mark Spencer is one of the best literary writers alive! Why don't we see more of him? His writing is a thousand percent better than most of the works being published today. Take a hint, publishers!!! LOVE AND RERUNS IN ADAMS COUNTRY is an excellent book - so well written. The story and the characters remain with you forever.

Booklist does an excellent review of this work by Mr. Spencer, so that there is little I can add other than to simply say-- TRACK THIS BOOK DOWN AND *READ IT*!!

But, don't be surprised it it stays with you, if the characters haunt you after you close it up and shelve it away; they may all be sad, dysfunctional, maudlin hayseeds, but there's a bit of Bobby, Pamela, Lon and Becky Anne in each of us... It's the humanity of the characters-- as unexamined lives as they may be leading-- that is most appealing about this book. Whatever else they are or are are not, whatever else they may or may have not done with their lives, they're REAL and they're ALIVE. *That's* what makes this book worth finding and reading!!

For any rock climber planning a trip to the greater Yosemite area, this book is a must. All the climbs in the book are within a few hours of Yosemite, and it may even help you to avoid the headaches of the valley tourists. I reccomend that you take a trip to The Balls as it is called. This place consists of six or seven granite domes with superb climbing.

Mary Spencer writes a wonderful story with two remarkable characters. Margot has a horrible stutter but doesn't let that limit herself. Ever since she was eight years old, she has loved Eric who was kind to her when others were mean to her because of her stutter. Now ten years later, he comes back into her life to protect her from a foul villian who wants to marry her for unscrupulous reasons.
Their loves grows as they journey from her home into the safety of his. There are also many wonderful secondary characters such as Eric's brothers and Margot's best friend.
There is also enough passion but doesn't go too far for those who are squemish with steamy love scenes. Overall a sweet story. Margot is a gem and Eric a true hero.
If you like stories set during the Middle Ages with intrigue, passion and unduring love, check out The Vow.

This book is a lot of fun. It's is original in that the damsel is in pursuit of the knight instead of the other way around. She's honest with her feelings and appears to be more courageous than helpless. It's a delightful book that makes you laugh as well as pull your heartstring.

When they burned down the library at Alexandria, The excuse was if it is in the Koran than we already have it; if it is not, then we do not need it. What was true for them is true for us; if it is not in this book, then we do not need it. Or as Ed McMahon would say on the Johnny Carson Show "everything there is to know is in this book"

I will not give you a blow by blow description of all the features in this book, as it would weigh as much as the book. Let's say it covers everything you need to get off the ground or expand your existing knowledge. One usually overlooked feature that is well covered is [Connecting Using ODBC (with Microsoft Access)]. What I really want to do is tie this back to my Unix applications, as this is the only program I use that is not UNIX at this time. My best guess is that AutoCAD can not afford to keep their UNIX experts. That is no excuse for lack of information in this book. So five stars for coverage of almost everything and minus one for lack of UNIX information.

The book itself is an amazing tool to have at ones side while learning this complex program. However, I see I'm not the only one who had problems with the CD. Most unfortunate as the files that do work are an excellent match with the scripted tutorials.

I have found the book to be an excellent source of information. The only problem I have found is that the CD that comes with the book locks my computer when autorun is turned on, and will not let me access the CD.

From these short stories I got the feeling that William Spencer is good game for taking the place of Ira Levin in popular fiction: Great premises, underdeveloped plot and characters, and plain jane prose.

The man CAN write, I'll admit to that. He drops ingenuous metaphors and literary references. But the stories hardly feel as a whole, just some witty tidbits tied together in a bundle.

Frankly, Spencer sets the trap for himself with his introuction, where he analyzes the state of short fiction as a playground for writers, where stories are used as prose exercises of preciousist writing, with little fun in the tale to tell. He admits by the end that some of his own stories can be held for having the same (un)qualities... but it seems they had a lot more of it than he expected.

So, this is my scorecard:

"The Entomologists at Obala" is, arguably, the most enjoyable of this stories. A minimalist reworking of Romeo and Juliet, with young lovers fighing through family feuds over exotic insect and aracnid species.

"Looking out for Eleanor" is a psychological suspense story, and the lenghtiest story in the book. That may be key to its success, for it allows the characters to develop their traits and the plot to move at a pleasurable pace.

Spencer adds three literary exercises in character description through metaphor: "The Wedding Photographer in Crisis", "Pep Talk" and "Snow". They may need to be read more than once to sink in, because they somehow feel flat.

There are also three tales I could envision featured in "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", exercises in twist ending: "Haunted by the Horror King", "The Return of Count Electric" and "Best Man". Sadly, by the time the twist came I was expecting it, and failed to shock me.

Lastly, there are "Graven Images", "A Child's Christmas in Florida" and "Daughter Doom", tales where several elements are left intentionally obscure, and which I found to be the most disappointing from the whole lot.

As I said, Spencer can write, and this book may keep you entertained as you read it. But you shouldn't be surprised if, like me, you finish it feeling nothing really happend while you were at it.

This guy is really funny and dark at the same time. His style flows and is really easy to read. I don't usually like stuff that's this 'normal' but I plan on reading everything this guy has. By normal I don't mean boring I mean there were no 'fantastic' elements in it like magic or monsters, just people and situations. I thought almost all the stories were very original but the last two were definitely the worst. I think I will like his novels even more than his short stories.

This is an excellent starter book for stargazers, and fits into your pocket.

A nice book of poetry--but since I'm asked this a lot, let me add that the Mark Waid who wrote this is not the Mark Waid who writes for DC and Marvel Comics...which, for all I know, may come as a relief to both of them.