Isle Pages

New releases from Hawaii authors, reviewed by Burl Burlingame:

The Floating City by Pamela Ball
(Viking, $23.95)

The most difficult trick in writing is invisibility. The idea is to engage the reader, to lead them down the path without yanking or pushing. When prose gets in the way of storytelling, the reader stumbles over style, distracted.

Generally, the problem is ineptness -- Clive Cussler, anyone? -- but occasionally it's excessive, flamboyant talent. That's the case here. Ball has fashioned a turgid meditation on the notion of Hawaii and personal identity in the Overthrow Years, and the shallowness of the plot and characters are overdressed in quite wonderful descriptive writing.

Despite Ball's evident gifts, "City" never manages to engage the reader. Ball is deadly serious about painting a picture of Hawaii during that tempestuous time, but her portrayal of the villains is better suited to drooling space monsters or Nazi prison-camp thugs, and her heroine is shallow, hollow and sketchy. She drifts right off the page.

Ball also makes dumb fact errors -- Father Damian is French? -- and her geography is suspect. I'm pretty sure there were no sugar-cane plantations in downtown Honolulu in 1895.

Read all about it

Send items at least two weeks in advance of publication to 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, Honolulu 96813; or fax 529-4750.

AUTHOR SIGNINGS

"The Money Dragon": By Pam Chun, 12:30-1:30 p.m. Thursday. Bestsellers Bishop Square, 528-2378.

STORYTELLING

Barnes & Noble: 10 a.m. Mondays and Wednesdays; 7 p.m. Fridays; and noon Saturdays and Sundays. Call 737-3323.
Borders Waikele: 10:30 a.m. Tuesdays and Saturdays. Storytime with Raggedy Andy, 11 a.m. Saturday. Call 676-6699.
Borders Ward Centre: 10:30 a.m. Wednesdays and 11a.m. Saturdays. Call 591-8995.
Hawaii State Library: All ages, 10:30-11 a.m. Saturdays. Call 586-3510.

WORKSHOPS/LECTURES

Brown Bag Biographies: Discussions of life writing, noon-1:15 p.m., Center for Biographical Research, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Henke Hall 325, 1800 East-West Road. "On Writing Autobiography. Did George Simson's Biodigms Help?" with Johan Galtung, March 26; "Lee Goff -- Professor, Emtomologist, Criminologist" with Kathleen kane and Sheila Conant, April 4. Call 956-3774.

CONTINUING

Bestsellers Reading Group: Meets 7 p.m. second Wednesday of month, Borders Waikele, 676-6699.
Crafts and Stories: 10 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, Barnes and Noble, 737-3323.
Literature Readers Group: Meets 7 p.m. second Tuesday of month, Borders Ward Centre, 591-8995.
Poetry Writers Circle: Meets 7 p.m. third Thursday of month, Borders Ward Centre, 596-8194.
Romance Writers of America, Aloha Chapter: Call Sally Sorenson at 739-7722 f5or information.
"Sammath Naur": The Mythopoeic Society of Hawaii meets the third Saturday of month to discuss fantasy, science fiction and other literature. call 638-7497.
Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Group: Meets 7 p.m. last Thursday of month, Borders Ward Centre, 591-8995.
Spiritual Book Club: Meets 10 a.m. Thursdays. Call Sue at 988-8618 for more details.

Writers Support Group: Meets 3 p.m. first Friday of month, Borders Waikele, 676 6699.

NOTICES

Call to Writers: Fiction and non-fiction, no more than 2000 words. Poetry up to 40 lines. Author's name on cover sheet only. The 2002 Loren Tarr Gill Writing Competition is sponosred by the National League of American Pen Women. Send entries to: Jo Judy, 1511 Nuuanu Ave., No. 61, Honolulu, 96817. Send a self-addressed, stamped envelope for more information. Deadline for submissions: April 1.
Play Festival Seeks Scripts: Scripts must be original and may be any length on any subject. Submit three copies of each script to: KAPA OPF IX, P.O. Box 5502, Kailua-Kona, 96745. Deadline for submissions is May 17. Call Jerry Tracy at 322-9924 for more information.

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Honolulu, HI 96802 or send a fax to 523-8509
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