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The Academician – Southern Swallow – Book I
by Edward C. Patterson
ISBN 1-44149975-X
An inner look into ancient China
By Ellen George (Atlanta, Georgia USA)
It is well known I am a fan of Edward C. Patterson.
He is one of the most versatile writers I’ve encountered – he can write gay themed stories that touch every reader, straight and gay – and he is an expert in all things China – a Sinologist extraordinaire.
His Jade Owl series – The Jade Owl, The Third Peregrination, and The Dragon’s Pool is a masterful series – and follows ‘China Hands’, sinologists who help unravel the marvelous myths and history of China.
In The Jade Owl and The Third Peregrination, we meet the learned figure in Chinese history, Li K’ai-men, an academician’s academician.
It is this man, Li K’ai-men’s story told in The Academician. Li’s man-servant, K’u Ko-ling, tells the story through his eyes, although Mr. Patterson, deftly transfers to third person to overview the goings on we need to know. We come to know each character, the good and the bad, and understand their part in history and part they play beyond this book.
To me, having read the Jade Owl series before this book, I found great insight into the characters we have learned about in literally past adventures featuring the China Hands.
The Academician hints at actions we see in the Jade Owl series, which were brilliant. For example, Li K’ai-men, smells lavender, which is the signature scent of Nick Battle, whose life and spirit are literally tied to both the Jade Owl series, and the Southern Swallow series – which The Academician is Book 1.
Li-K’ai-men’s banners are painted with mystical and mythical proportians and we know these paintings are shared in the Jade Owl series.
So one book flows into the other – almost a highlight film, a backstory to the Jade Series, but The Academician can also be a stand alone read. It shows the heart and soul of the time of Li-K’ai-men’s China.
An excellent read from an amazing author.
Continue reading about Review of Edward C. Patterson’s The Academician
by Edward C. Patterson
from Dancaster Creative
ISBN: 1-43489395-2
Kevin Borden has a secret, and that secret is about to shake the world around him -- a tame and suburban world ruled by his widowed mother, Sarah and peppered by his study-mate, Louis. Teenagers sometimes do the darndest things, but in Kevin and Louis’ case, it’s a stroke of wisdom wrapped in fool’s gold. In a time not so long ago, in the days of JIM CROW and NO IRISH NEED APPLY signage, the world made hate clear to those regarded as the fringe. Stay away. To those who know no better -- or perhaps know best, such lines are only meant to be crossed, or why else would they be drawn
No Irish Need Apply is dedicated to PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), an organization that has guided many youth across that line into the loving arms of those listening to their hearts; those shattering those hateful Jim Crow signs. Come visit with the Bordens and the Lonnegans as they take that journey across the line.
SELECTED REVIEW
Reviewed by Cheryl Haynes
I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free. Mankind will surely not deny to Harold Skimpole what it concedes to the butterflies.” -Bleak House, by Charles Dickens-
No Irish Need Apply is a brilliantly written novel most worthy to sit next to some of the greatest writers. It speaks from the very soul of the author to the soul of the reader.
Two boys of Irish background know inside they are different but not exactly sure if they are gay, and certainly don’t know if they want others to know. This keeps them alienated from the rest of the world until they discover one another. They are not products of perversion or trauma. They come from Irish Catholic background.
Sarah, Kevin’s mother, pushes the boys to each take a date to the prom together. “Make it a double date,” she said.
Rumors around the school already have it that the two boys are gay, but the prom night may show a spectacular come out for both.
Edward C. Patterson knocks down the barriers to see the superficial discrimination of gays without knowing who they are or judging them by a stereotype and this enlightening novel, like Butterflies Are Free, shows the world of a gay as seen through the eyes of a young person who is gay. Open your mind. Be enlightened to this. Is has an invaluable lesson.
What humbled me about this tale was Sarah was presented up front as though she would be someone who would have been heart broken to hear that her child was gay. Perhaps the type (stereotype that is) who would not accept Kevin or Louis for who they were. Yet, the reader finds the reason why you can’t judge the book by its cover-no matter if you are gay or straight! And it shows the real reason why they are accepted. Sarah has a true love for everyone-not just her own son but someone else’s son. Are you a parent? How would you judge your son and the other man in his life? You can be a Sarah or a Louise. It hits both audiences and the truth is the truth!
The point is well taken and the boys are fascinating their audiences with the wonder of discovering who they were. (This is not a sexually explicit book.)
Edward C. Patterson leaves a mark of enlightenment on the reader with his beautifully delivered narrative prose.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Edward C. Patterson has been writing novels, short fiction, poetry and drama his entire life, always seeking the emotional core of any story he tells. With his eighth novel, The Jade Owl, he combines an imaginative touch with his life long devotion to China and its history. He has earned an MA in Chinese History from Brooklyn College with further post graduate work at Columbia University. A native of Brooklyn, NY, he has spent four decades as a soldier in the corporate world gaining insight into the human condition. He won the 2000 New Jersey Minority Achievement Award for his work in corporate diversity. Blending world travel experiences with a passion for story telling, his adventures continue as he works to permeate his reader’s souls from an indelible wellspring.
Published Novels by Edward C. Patterson include No Irish Need Apply, Bobby’s Trace, Cutting the Cheese, Surviving an American Gulag, Turning Idolater, The Jade Owl, The Third Peregrination and The Dragon’s Pool. Poetry includes The Closet Clandestine: a queer steps out and Come, Wewoka - and -- Diary of Medicine Flower. Non-fiction includes Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?
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