For all the questionable antics PublishAmerica has been involved in lately, they did accomplish one notable achievement. They were the one publishing company with the common sense to put David Coyote's Roomful of Rainbows into our hands. This is how LL Editor Michael Graves looks at this book.

In order to start this review, I'm going to have to make a very embarassing confession. When I picked up my copy of Rainbows, I actually felt that I was just doing a friend a favor. Having read his short stories, I knew I could expect a good read. I didn't however expect a read of the caliber I encountered. To be frank, the book totally amazed me.

It would be easy to compare David to writers such as Hemingway or Steinbeck. He borrows a technique here and there from each of these classic authors. The comparison would fall short in several respects. David is one of the few emerging writers who has actually found his own voice; and a marvelous voice it is. His writing style is sparse and economical; yet at the same time he manages to conjure up rich images and textures in the scenes he weaves that belies the simplistic word count.

A few blocks from the Y, he ate dinner in an old Chinese cafe. Ornate red and gold decorations, elaborately carved light fixtures, calligraphic artwork; every part of its interior had been imbued over the yers with aromas of cooking herbs and Chinese spices. Practicing with wooden chopsticks, he ate every bite of the spicy ginger-laced meal. Even after paying the bill, a never-empty opt of green tea kept him at the counter until after 8....

Roomful of Rainbows is the story of Robert Reagan, a man who one day realizes the futility of his life as it is. In a sudden flash of conscious awareness, he tries to imaging living the only life he is going to have with a job he hates and a wife who loves a cafe more than she does him. The idea fills him with despair and one day, he packs a few clothes into a suitcase and walks out the door with only a few dollars in his pocket.

David Coyote successfully blends well-developed and very believable characters into the type of story that Wright Morris wishes he'd written. If there are any flaws to the story, perhaps it is in the fact that the woman Robert meets in his meanderings is suprisingly without flaws. This didn't detract from a wonderful read. If you want more information, check out David's website at David Coyote's Den. Immerse yourself in the wonderful stories, amazing photographs and poetry he provides, along with a background of beautiful music.

Give us more, David.