Midwest Book Review on Delta Pearls

Written by Judith Bader Jones, Delta Pearls is an anthology of very brief stories—most only a few pages long—set in the Missouri Delta. Ordinary men and women facing challenges from poverty, racism, loss, and their own personal demons populate the pages, and Jones' capture of the Missouri Delta dialogue, as well as Southern culture, atmosphere, and daily life, is exquisite. A treasury of prose gems to savor one at a time or all at once.

Amy Thiltges' Review of Through Eyes of Stone

In Through Eyes of Stone, the humor and sensitivity of young Michael Hobbs is captivating, and undoubtedly the book's strong point. His image of war is real, not heroic. It is the farthest one could get from a Hollywood movie. There's no poetic justice, only the painful loss of innocence, as the writer conveys in the book's opening poem, "In my eyes there is nothing. . . I have lost my soul." The unapologetic, sometimes bitter, and often perplexing older Hobbs is seen through the book's preface and appendix. I found him somewhat less intriguing than the younger (perhaps because his humor and confusion are replaced by so much certainty), yet the contradictions, rationalizations and angry outbursts of this complex person (both young and old) can't help but draw in the reader and make him contemplate his own humanity. {Editors' note: The book has been reprinted and the graphics are now good, but the following paragraph is included for accuracy.] It is unfortunate that this edition does not do the text justice. It could look a bit nicer. The photographs didn't print well and the cover is devoid of color and contrast. But like the words within, the images are stripped down. There is nothing fancy about Through Eyes of Stone, just a raw look at a hostile world from the point of view of a compelling and dynamic narrator. [Warrensburg Free Press 3.1, April 3-21, 2004: 14.]

Amy Thiltges' Review of The Spring Branch

As a metaphorical journey through the mind of a fisherman over the course of one year, The Spring Branch clearly references Edmund Spenser (an English Renaissance poet whose Shepherd's Calendar like The Spring Branch is cyclical and structured in the form of a calendar). As Shaffer points out in one telling line, however, this narrator is wholly American "never to be construed or confused as being/related to the anglophile." He is clearly inspired by the American Romantic poet Walt Whitman, and one can see Whiteman's influence in Shaffer's emphasis on the senses, nature, and his depiction of the poet as philosopher. . . . Like the pastoral and romantic poets who precede him, Shaffer is clearly concerned with the natural world. His mistrust of advancement, both technologically and economically, is in keeping with his role as philosopher-poet. In order to remind us that "The true gold in the creek is not the soft metal/but the glorious reflection of the sun from the flanks," we need the Tony Shaffers of this world. [Warrensburg Free Press 3.l,April 8-21, 2004: 15-16.]

From Orman Article on Shaffer

Excerpts from "After 20 years of thought, a book is born" by Chuck Orman. "His [Shaffer's] book is not one you will read straight through, but will dip into from time to time and come out feeling better." [Quoting Leroy Van Dyke] "'Tony is multi-talented--a musician, a teacher, a philosopher and he has studied the human animal. He has a sage comment for everyone.'" (Sedalia Deomocrat, Friday Jan. 21, 2005, p.7)