“The Columbarium”

A new novel by Chico writer Emily Gallo continues the story of one Jedidiah Gibbons, “a tall, thin, muscular African-American. He was pushing fifty but easily looked fifteen years younger.… He was one of those people who turned heads but not because of his physical attractiveness, although he was quite handsome. It was his air of mystery and aloofness that drew them in.”

Jed is in San Francisco, looking for another new start: “This time he was running from the law.” Part of his history is told in “Venice Beach,” published earlier this year, but he was one of many characters. In “The Columbarium” ($12.95 in paperback from CreateSpace; also for Amazon Kindle) the focus is on Jed, a survivor of the Jonestown massacre in Guyana.

A note indicates that “the Columbarium is a real place, a designated landmark at One Lorraine Court in San Francisco…. It was three stories high and built as a rotunda,” with the walls containing thousands of niches holding urns of every variety, some “ornately decorated with items that were obviously meaningful to those who knew the dead person as well as to the ones whose ashes were inside.”

At Glide Memorial Church, an attractive social worker named Monica directs Jed to a job at the columbarium, which had fallen into disrepair. Owned by the Neptune Society, the facility needed a gardener, a craftsman, an artist, someone who cared. That was Jed.

And he is surrounded in the community by outcasts and the forgotten. There is Rose, an eighty-year-old Chinese woman enamored of the baseball Giants; Sam, whose dear wife Sadie is dying and who befriends Jed and teaches him Yiddish; Goldie, sixty-five and very ill, part of a marijuana selling operation, who also loves Broadway musicals. And many more.

As Jed becomes the caretaker of the columbarium he must confront his anger at the Jonestown murders which took away his family, and allow love, all but pushed away, to enter once again. The columbarium is vandalized; that unites his friends, the unlikeliest of characters, to rally around Jed. Gallo tells the story of a good but flawed man whose transformation through the dailyness of life is quiet yet profound.    

“The Daughters Daring”

When his daughters were young, Biggs resident Steve Thompson made up bedtime stories for them, tales of two courageous girls in a world with “an enchanted forest, gnomes, witches, and all kinds of fun.” After serving as a drill sergeant in the Army Reserve and now as a foster care worker, Thompson has begun putting those stories into print.

“The Daughters Daring” ($10.99 in paperback from KECELJ Publishing; also for Amazon Kindle, with more information at daughtersdaring.com) introduces readers to Elizabeth and Emily Daring, daughters of Duke Daring, “the hero of Highcynder,” a kingdom that would soon face grave peril. (Thompson’s own daughters are the cover models; the book also contains chapter illustrations by Paradise’s Steve Ferchaud and, at the end, a descriptive list of characters.)

While Elizabeth practices archery, watched by her older sister Emily, 12, things go awry, just slightly. It was usually Emily, the athletic one with “the explorer’s heart,” who got into trouble. Fortunately, Elizabeth, “sharp-minded and a skilled negotiator,” was “able to melt even her father’s stern heart with her sapphire blue eyes.”

The Sweetberry Festival is coming (how the duke loves sweetberry pie!), but the sweetberries have disappeared. Some blame the gnomes of the Enchanted Forest, so Emily and Elizabeth sneak off to recover the goods.

That’s when the adventure begins, one that will test the determination and courage of the sisters as they encounter goblins, ogres, and a witch with a cunning plan to take over Highcynder. The gnomes are the good guys, as are the Faery Folk, but seemingly no match against the ogre king, “taller even than their father and some of the tallest knights in the kingdom. He was also thick like a burled tree trunk, with skin that looked almost like bark.”

The witch tempts Elizabeth with talk of the evils of freedom in Highcynder. “I would harness their selfish energies to be utilized for the greater good.” The words, perhaps, of every tyrant.

It’s a well-told tale, with plenty of action, suitable for reading aloud to children and for pondering how “the love of one family can make the difference against the greatest of odds.” Readers will eagerly await the next adventure.    

“Miguel, Mateo & The Magic Fish”

According to an author’s note, Chico writer and photographer Lisa West “became fascinated with Mayan culture on a trip to Yucatan, Mexico, in 1987.” Much later, teaming with illustrator Theda DeRamus and translator Rocío Guido, West created a fanciful tale of twin brothers and a mysterious world.

“Miguel, Mateo & The Magic Fish” ($12.99 in paperback from Star House Books), and an associated coloring book, are for kids with a third- or fourth-grade reading level. A glossary highlights some of the key aspects of Mayan mythology West uses in weaving her story. There’s the fish Kukulcan (or Quetzlcoatl), once a man; ceremonial pyramids, the sacred Jaguar, fearsome stone creatures that come to life at night, and magical twins who win the day.

Things begin peacefully enough. “The morning Miguel and his twin brother Mateo snuck off to go sailing, the sky was as blue as their mother’s shawl.” The boys, both ten (though Miguel, twenty minutes older, is more daring) set off in their father’s dinghy to look for fish. “No one will even notice we’re gone.” That’s Miguel.

As for Mateo, he’s about to respond when a storm appears and the wind begins to blow. “They tugged at the sail with desperate hands, the ropes digging deep into their skin. The sail ripped away from the mast, flapping wildly. Terrified, they crouched low, gripping the sides of the boat as it spun and rocked violently in the angry sea.”

The storm stops just as suddenly. The boys find themselves near a strange jungle beach; there in the water, “a marvelous fish. Gold and blue scales covered its body, and green feathery plumes grew from its head.” The fish, once a man who had tried to lead his village to safety, tells Miguel and Mateo that “only twins have the power to overcome the magic that keeps me locked in this shape. I brought you here because I need your help.”

The twins must find the jade ring and in so doing find courage.

The colorful paintings on every page, and the text in both English and Spanish, make for a captivating journey into the cultural imagination of an ancient people.