Deborah Donovan

John Dalton's debut novel, Heaven Lake, is an ambitious compilation of a coming-of-age tale, a travelogue, and a probe into the role of fate in individual destiny.

Recent college graduate Vincent Saunders leaves his small Illinois town to serve as a missionary in Taiwan. He manages to convert one of his rooming house boarders, but strikes out with the other, a Scot with a fondness for both smuggling and smoking hashish. Vincent's troubles begin when he moves to his own rent-free ministry house in the small town of Toulio. For extra cash, he teaches English to small groups, including a class of high school girls; his brief, guilt-ridden affair with one student leads to his brutal beating, and the need for his immediate departure. Consequently, Vincent takes up the offer of the wealthy Mr. Gwa to travel to the mainland, marry Kai-Ling, the young girl he covets, return with her to Taiwan, and then divorce her, leaving Gwa free to marry her himself. Travel restrictions prevent Gwa from carrying out his dream, and he is willing to pay Vincent $10,000 to do it for him.

Vincent sets out on a half-year odyssey to the northwest corner of China a journey proving to be as personally fulfilling as it is culturally and geographically edifying. He endures countless delays and endless train rides, but gradually realizes this adventure might actually become "the one exceptional undertaking of his life." He begins to soak in every detail, from the vast tenements of Lanzhou to the indescribable beauty of Heaven Lake, in the mountains near the home of his bride-to-be. He deals with corrupt ticket-hawkers, thieves, and eventually the duplicitous Kai-Ling, who can't seem to decide whether to marry Vincent or not.

Like Vincent, Dalton spent several years in Taiwan, where he gained insight into the Chinese habits and mores he perceptively infuses into his vivid characters. After adding his ruminations on marriage, commitment, and self-enlightenment, the end result is this auspicious and compelling first novel. Deborah Donovan writes from Cincinnati and La Veta, Colorado.

John Dalton's debut novel, Heaven Lake, is an ambitious compilation of a coming-of-age tale, a travelogue, and a probe into the role of fate in individual destiny.

Recent college graduate Vincent Saunders leaves his small Illinois town to serve as a…

Debut Fiction, Fiction, Historical Fiction

Fiction Historical Fiction Debut Fiction

Liza Ward

Interview by Deborah Donovan

by Deborah Donovan

The traditional true-crime novel often takes the form of an introspective look at the criminal, focusing on aberrations in upbringing that might lead to a life of crime. Liza Ward's provocative debut, Outside Valentine, detours intriguingly from this formula, for she delves into the lives not only of her protagonists, but also of the people related to the victims. She dissects not just the horror of these real-life crimes, but the more subtle, rippling effects on those left behind.

Three seemingly unrelated stories set apart in time and place gradually come together as the author reveals relationships previously hidden. In the opening section, set in 1991 Manhattan, the reader meets Lowell, an antiquities dealer who is still troubled by the violent demise of his parents years ago. He avoids interacting with his two grown children, who have finally given up on him, but his wife Susan continues to try to snap him out of his malaise.

Then the scene shifts to 1957 Nebraska, where 14-year-old Caril Ann Fugate first meets Charlie Starkweather, standing behind her house with his .22 in his hand a whisper of the way things would go. Months later, the two are captured by police in a barn just outside Valentine, Nebraska, having left a bloody trail of 11 dead, including Caril Ann's mother, baby sister and stepfather. Two years later, a girl nicknamed Puggy and her family move to Lincoln, where Puggy makes friends with a girl whose neighbors were killed by Starkweather. Puggy becomes obsessed with the murders, and with the couple's son, Lowell, who was at boarding school when the tragedy occurred. The author deftly portrays Puggy's feelings of worthlessness when her mother deserts the family, and the reader begins to see similarities with Caril Ann's depressing home situation before Starkweather arrived on the scene.

Ward, who has garnered awards for her short stories, weaves together these three seemingly autonomous plots in intricate ways. In doing so, she has created an evocative tale of the power of love to both create, and destroy. Deborah Donovan writes from Cincinnati and La Veta, Colorado.