Category Archives: Musings

Review of Tessa’s Dance

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Tessa's DanceI would like to recommend a book to you. Dave Walker is a writer, musician and poet.  I found out about Dave’s book through a friend of his, Tom Isbell, who is also a writer and was at a book signing event with me at Uppercase Books in Snohomish. Dave served as the first psychologist at Yakama Indian Health Clinic from 2000 to 2004 and has continued as a consultant to the Yakama Nation since then.

Here is a copy of the review I posted on Amazon and elsewhere.

I started reading Tessa’s Dance as research for my own suspense novel, Bend Me, Shape Me which has a main character who is half Yakama though she lives in Chicago.  Since Dave Walker has spent so much time working with people from the Yakama Nation, I hoped his unique perspective would give me a realistic portrayal of life on the reservation.  In this regard, I was not disappointed.

Not only does Tessa’s Dance paint a picture of the setting and culture, he also breathes life into the characters and makes you care about what is happening to them.  I was not expecting a mystery-like plot element when I started reading but since that is my usual genre preference, I was happy to find one in this book.  Gangs and gun-running add a suspense element that worked really well as a side dish to this feast for the brain.

The real story, though, was Tessa’s struggle to overcome not only her past, but the baggage of an abused culture passed down from one generation to the next.  The relationship between Tessa and Dr. Ret Barlow grows naturally and is cathartic for them both.  I would love to read more about both of them and think there is a potential for Ret, at least, to tell us more about his experiences in western Washington.

The only reason I did not give Tessa’s Dance five stars is because the Kindle version, at least, had several editing and format errors like those often found in self-published books.  There were not enough of them to detract from my enjoyment or appreciation for the story, but as a writer who also does freelance editing, I found myself wishing at times I’d had a chance to do a thorough proofread before the book went live.

Grandma’s Pennies

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Years ago, I wrote a short essay in memory of my Grandma Bodnum who was the best example of Grandmotherliness you could ever find.  Recently, I submitted it to Renee Rongen who was compiling bits and bobs and ribbons and trifles into a book to celebrate females everywhere.

“Grandma’s Pennies” was accepted by Renee and published earlier this year in Fundamentally Female, a beatufully bound book full of essays and art and poetry and catch phrases that hint at the diversity and awesomeness of women.

Here’s a teaser from my essay.  If you want to read more or see what other gems Renee found, click here to order the book.

We called them ‘Gramma Days.’ Grandpa was there, too, and Uncle Jack as well, but Gramma was the day. She made it hers from the first bowl of red Jello with bananas to the weekly cache of penny rolls.

Her busy hands must have prepared for us hours ahead of time–homemade potato salad always waiting, jelly jars standing with spoon handles sticking out of them. Summers meant freshly squeezed lemonade and flat pans of ice cracked into chunks in the ‘zink.’ In winter there would be sweet tea with milk and a sugar sandwich to fold and dunk.

Her fingers were old and arthritic when I first saw them, yet still she faithfully inspected the buckets of cherries Grandpa brought in. She would cut shortening into flour, pressing the mixture in her fist to explain the evolution of pie crust to a small girl. She signed her flaky pastries with leaf-shaped signatures from which cherry steam escaped as we waited for them to cool.