Showing results by author "Ronald R. Van Stockum Jr." in All Categories

You will be mesmerized by Ronald R. Van Stockum, Jr.'s description of primitive times at the site of a pre-Columbian Native American city. Written as creative non-fiction, the author takes us to the Mounds of Cahokia, situated directly across the Mississippi River from modern St. Louis, Missouri. His protagonist, Elber, lives more that a thousand years before any European settlers. He dresses in skins, "... was the leader of this small clan of families and was the priest of its Fire. He maintained control of his people through exercise of the Fire Myth.

In his latest novel, Markman's Cave, Ronald R. Van Stockum, Jr. draws us into the further adventures of the humans Marna, Elan, and Martin as they leave their home in the village of Tenlakes.

Markman's Home is a journey in modern Magical Realism. Using multiple narrative accounts with a mix of history, philosophy, story, and essay, Ronald R. Van Stockum, Jr. blends the present and past with a possible future after the world's destruction. The action takes place in familiar settings, fertile plains, palisades of stone towering above rivers, caves, waterfalls, and trees. Freedom against tyranny and slavery are at stake when humans turn against their own kind. They control Warts, wolf-like packs of wild dogs, and Mutans, human variants seeking to rise and dominate.

"But how do I get in?" The narrator asks himself, just as Alice did before she followed the White Rabbit. In a similar land of magical realism, Ronald R. Van Stockum, Jr. sets up an escapade in "a long thicket of trees separating two sloping farm fields". We hike with Tony beyond a fallen fence with twists of old barbed wire wrapping into the tree bark of the forest perimeter. Encountering "Buddha-like" images, muscular snakes that grasp at his clothing, and rotting fruits from Hedge Apple trees, Tony ventures further into the unknown forest.

Author of Markman's Home, Ronald R. Van Stockum, Jr., has created characters as memorable as any in the realm of magic realism. Set in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1976, the writer recounts what-ifs with spectacular scenes in a rail yard, through hidden tunnels, and in old abandoned buildings. From the beginning when a visitor from another world pops up in a downtown Louisville ad agency, until the spectacular finale, the action ratchets up at a dizzying rate.

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Drawing upon his vast knowledge of the environment, biology, botany, and history, Ronald R. Van Stockum, Jr. has written a love letter to Kentucky. The lay person as well as the expert will understand as he describes the state’s evolution - its history, original land surface, the river-cut gorges, the mountains, and the lakes. Along with thorough documentation, the writer gives us a poetic description of this “...verdant state, lush in its heat, humidity, and rainfall. The diversity and abundance of life was immediately evident to all who came here”.

Picture a bar in Red Hook, a dangerous port in Brooklyn across the river from New York City. A horrible scene begins between Rebecca who serves beer and a customer Lawrence, who looks with one eye on Rebecca and one on the door.

Fasten your seatbelts for another amazing adventure from the pen of Ronald R. Van Stockum, Jr. Bringing together characters that rival the Mad Hatter, Mary Poppins, or Voldemort, the author takes us with them on a fantastic space journey. Tony, the adventurous reporter, begins quite innocently by knocking on the door of Doctor Heironymous Newton, who leads him down a farm path to an unusual barn made of orange tile blocks.

This is a joyous story about the granddaughter of Pappadoo who visits the Kentucky farm where her father was born. She was born along the Hudson River in New York State. The author paints her adventure with his knowledge of the plant and animal life on the farm, with its bounty along the trails, in the high fields, and among trees.

Ronald R. Van Stockum, Jr. has written a book which investigates a place we know not, but will certainly explore. When Tony, the narrator, steps into a shallow flat boat, we are heading into uncharted waters that is "wickedly weird". As new characters enter the boat and begin their own voyage, Tony deals with questions that have plagued him during life. Questions of how we look upon God, how men relate to women, and how words can be deceiving and "strung out like vines with which to strangle".