Kirjahaku

Part 1 is set in the American South one year before the civil war. It focuses on three young adult boys at a fictional schoolhouse in Charleston who challenge their racist schoolmaster, a former preacher on a slave ship. Jack is at the center of the revolt against "Master Whittemore" and confronts him directly during a "trial" that the schoolmaster conducts in his one-room schoolhouse. This trial is one of the many humorous parts of the book. Master Whittemore ultimately but reluctantly sees the criticism his students have tried to make in opposing him at every turn, and finally understands that his efforts to sing the praises of the plantation slavery system to children and the "benefits" of secession were wrong. He decides to atone for his "sins" against a whole race of people by returning to the same slave ship - the Helena -on the ruse that he will again preach the necessity of slavery. He does the exact opposite. He tries to incite rebellion in Sunday sermons aboard the ship. Having seen the change in their teacher, Jack and Jeremy sign up for work on the same ship, unaware it is a slaver sailing to Caribbean slave-trading ports. Once they realize the ship's true purpose, they try in vain to stop their teacher from inciting a revolt and are deeply concerned about his intent. In Jamaica they meet two beautiful young black women - America and her friend, Mauricia, - and the four conspire to take the ship to free the slaves that are planned to board in Cuba. The full trilogy - written between 2000-17 - is now available in stand-alone books and as a single volume. In his editorial review, Grady Harp, HALL OF FAME, TOP 100 AMAZON REVIEWER, VINE VOICE, said: "Massachusetts born but world traveler author Gary L. Dorion has a colorful career and outlook on the world. He has been a journalist specializing in court coverage in Boston, has taught English and Global History in New York, an author of three books (wide ranging topics), and now lives in Thailand where he is devoting his attention to Young Adult novels - the JACK Trilogy - of which this is the first installment. Gary's strong interest in history is evident in all of his works - whether about the Holocaust or the African American saga in American history, and it is that depth of knowledge that informs his writing while he entertains us with colorful characters and his magnetically attractive prose style. Gary's novel ... is directed to the young adult (ages 12 - 18) and he knows this audience well, able to speak in their language form to further involve them in the progression of the story ... Adventure peppered with solid humor to make the tale yet more pungent, this first installment is fine reading for adults as well as young adults. A solid start on a worthy project. February 16, 2016, Dr. Grady Harp, Art Historian, and Art and Poetry Reviewer.

Jack, Book Two, is an intense high seas adventure for young adults ages 15 to adult readers of all ages. Book Two transitions from the main characters' youth to early adulthood as Jack Book One ends with Jack's and Jeremy's teacher, Schoolmaster Jerome Whittemore, quitting teaching after a devastating classroom humiliation at the hands of the petulant, scheming Jack. The now repentant schoolmaster who had tried to corrupt his students with his grandiose slavery lessons and secessionist propaganda, decides he must return to the sea to make amends as he realizes he had been unfair not only to his students but to a whole race of people. Jeremy and Jack believe that their former teacher is now reckless and bent on a suicide mission. Jack - who had hated him throughout book one - has a change of heart, and follows him to sea while recruiting his reluctant best friend. They sign for the same sea voyage, unaware that the Helena is a 'devil slave ship'. Whittemore is appalled to see his students on deck on that first night after the ship is well beyond the northern-flowing Gulf Stream. There is no turning back. Whittemore fears for his students' lives but will not abandon his plan to incite a revolt. The master plans to incite rebellion in his first sermon since glorifying the southern white plantation slavery system on the same ship three years past. He refuses to listen to Jeremy and Jack who beg him not to go through with his 'crazy' plan. Intrigue, espionage, conspiracies, mutiny and a hurricane plague the ship's voyage afterwards during its several-month cruise through the Caribbean Sea to the islands of Jamaica and Cuba and to the African coastal islands as Jack, Jeremy, America and Mauricia - the latter who become their Jamaican girlfriends - conspire to take the ship to free the 130 slaves expected to board in Cuba. Book 2 opens with the schoolmaster's sermon - long diatribe against the slave trade and against Captain Pendleton and his enablers who are the crew of the Helena. While in the US Navy, I spent many weeks at sea, and on one Caribbean cruise without seeing land for more than 20 days. One of the warships to which I later was assigned negotiated a hurricane in the North Atlantic above England and that experience inspired some events in the book.

The idealistic Anna tells her Warsaw University medical school friends during the 1939 German invasion they should meet the German soldiers with Tolstoyan passive resistance, not violence. They were all drinking beer in the cafe, except Anna who had classes. "Yes, Comrade Anna. If a German fascist comes at me with his semi-automatic blazing away," said Victor, "I'll just show him your copy of Tolstoy, and say, 'Hey, please stop. There's a better way than violence. Let me show you this book I've been reading." All in the group - about ten people, most of them drunk - laughed uproariously. "You know, you guys should fucking grow up " Anna said. "And I wouldn't go off making fun of Tolstoy. If Germany attacks us, the Soviets may well help their good comrades in Poland. Just because the Russians exploited us in the past doesn't mean it'll happen again. They are our comrades now. We are all in this together as good communists. So, you know something, you can insult Tolstoy all you want but you get fucking stupid sometimes when you drink I've got to get to class. Good-bye comrades." "The group roared again with laughter. Victor stood up and raised his glass prompting the rest of the group to stand and raise their glasses. "To Comrade Anna, Comrade Tolstoy and Comrade Stalin May they save Europe and the world from Comrade Hitler " The group roared again, and drank the full drought of beer left in their glasses "Drunken fools " Anna shouted. An hour later, the bombs rained down on the cafe . Anna's ordeal had just begun.