Empty Nest and More

Both of our kids are now off at college, and those of you who have gone through this know that it's an odd feeling. When public school started a couple of weeks ago (yes, they really start that early in Texas, but that's a rant for another time), it seemed strange that for the first time in 15 years it had no effect on our family. Now I'm torn between feeling proud that they're moving on and doing well, and remembering when they were toddlers playing in our front yard -- which couldn't be more than a year or two ago, surely.

Well, before I get all misty-eyed like Maynard G. Krebs, I should move on and say that I've been writing a lot the past few days, trying to get a lot done while it was going well. I also finished Charles B. Stilson's A MAN NAMED JONES, which has an unfortunately bland title since it's actually a pretty good adventure novel. The title character is a young man who inherits a fortune from his father and therefore never has to work, so he becomes a rather dreamy sort, holed up in an apartment with a bunch of books. Then one day (and you knew something like this was coming), an old friend from college shows up with a fabulous uncut emerald, a photograph of a beautiful girl, and an enigmatic tale of adventure in the South Seas. The old friend conveniently drops dead, Jones becomes obsessed with finding the girl in the photograph, and before you know it he's off to the South Pacific where all sorts of exciting things happen. This has all the makings of a classic adventure story, and the fact that it never quite rises to that level can be traced to the fact that Stilson doesn't have the storytelling ability of an Edgar Rice Burroughs or H. Bedford-Jones, two authors who were already at work when this yarn was published in 1919. The pace is a little slow, especially in the first half, and the writing is pretty stilted at times. The second half is a corker, though, with plenty of action and some vivid, well-written scenes. I would have loved this book if I'd first read it when I was fifteen or so. As it is, I found it enjoyable and will definitely read the sequel, the better-titled LAND OF THE SHADOW PEOPLE.