I really loved this book. It was the first I read of Jefferson’s vampire series since Fangoria’s magazine recommended it. I read the others and thought they were great. However, when I compared each one to the other, I personally thought this book had a lot of depth to it. Most of that is due to the careful attention Jefferson gives to Orfeo’s settings and situations. She practically paints the beautiful world of ‘Fiend,’ with a heavy arsenal of vivid words and descriptions, before our eyes. Even more, she keeps Orfeo consistently in character from start to finish, from one book to the next (unlike other characters Ariane and Daniel).

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I was a little skeptical that a reel mower could work well in my SW Florida yard of drought burned scrub. I had let the grass get pretty long since it had been a month or so since I had mowed due to the severe drought we are experiencing. Some spots in the yard are bare sand where the grass has died completely yet there are other spots where the grass is very long and wiry.

OK, to be honest I was thinking I had screwed up by buying the reel mower since the results at first were dismal. The reel mower just mostly pushes really long grass over instead of cutting it. I got the old self propelled Toro out and sheared down the neglected mess. It was after that when I decided to give the reel mower another shot that I learned what a gem this mower is.

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“The debt burden of the African Diaspora along with that of the entire Global South is rising rapidly and is one explanation for the decline in overall human development… Unwise borrowing and investments in wrong projects by some of the African Diaspora’s elites is one explanation for the current debt burden.” p.147

“[T]he historical evidence, since 1948, is readily available to show that American capitalism was not warmly welcomed by the African Diaspora. It was forcibly imposed in many countries through military interventions, political assassinations and destabilization carried out by the U.S. military and Central Intelligence Agency under the guise of routing out `communism’ in the Third World during the Cold War era.

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On the surface, it looks like another Tolkien clone, with enough name changes to keep from being sued. When you get into it, you get sympathetic villains, and you think you are in for another disquisition of there being no good and evil, just shades of gray. Then you take a look at the “good” side, and see their moral rot. And then take a look at the “evil” side, and understand that you have believed lies.

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Deuble’s book aims to look past the post-biblical traditions that shape modern theology, to see the biblical Jesus afresh. He asserts that this Jesus is in fact not divine. It is commendable to courageously do away with traditions that are comfortable, yet errant. Deuble takes the right approach by studying the relevant Bible passages, while also taking note of historical and logical concerns. However, I find his history, logic, and exegesis to be unsound, resulting in conclusions that are unconvincing.

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