Update: Another mini-review, but it’s not poetry. The Angry Genie by Karl Z. Morgan and Ken M. Peterson is a non-fiction account of one man’s work with nuclear bombs, nuclear safety regulations, and nuclear power.

If you’re interested in whether nuclear power is safe (no), whether the government knew what it was doing when it poisoned hospital patients, African-Americans, and Native Americans in radiation experiments in the 50’s and 60’s – including a high-profile case of an evil SOB at my Alma mater, University of Cincinnati – (yes) and the scientific health hazards of working at the Manhattan Project (including descriptions of safety regulations at Oak Ridge National Labs, Los Alamos, and Hanford) – then you might want to read Karl Z. Morgan’s account of working to develop the first nuclear bomb and research what is called “health physics”. Fascinating and horrifying, this is research for my next book project about Oak Ridge – but should be required reading for every American, since guess what – you’ve probably been affected by the radioactive fallout from government experiments. The writing isn’t fantastic (this guy’s a physicist, not an English major) and the guy spends a lot of time apologizing for his bad decisions – but the information included (including the author’s theory that Karen Silkwood was murdered for speaking about about her plutonium poisoning and how many files have not been released by the government for self-protective reasons.) is vital to understanding the government, the environment, and unfortunately, some of our chronic health conditions.

Mini-review of Steven D. Schroeder’s Torched Verse Ends from BlazeVOX books

Having followed S.D.S.’s work (and blog) for a couple of years, I was happy to find his trademark wit, word-play, and pop cultural references in his first collection from BlazeVox. (The cover art, by Rebecca Loudon’s son Page Loudon, is quite remarkable as well.) Of course, I loved “Robot Rhetoric,” with all the expected robotics in-jokes (yes, Asimov’s laws are referenced) and the fairy-tale-with-an-edge nature of “All the Better to Eat You With, My Dear” and “Fairytale.”
A few sample lines from “Fairytale”
“Alone in a tangle of ambulatory trees

among tattered Safeway bags
and smokers’ aerosol coughs,

the puffs of dragons cranky overhead.
Only old growth. The woodcutter,
hauling his ax, hurries homeward…”
The quotes that separate the sections from Charles Schultz, the Simpsons, and Douglas Adams, give you a kind of map to the mind of Steve. But there is also a solemn edge to the collection, barren and toxic landscapes, and relationships with family gone sour. Schroeder is funny, but don’t mistake this for “light” verse. His underlying themes – alienation, loneliness, and a celebration of the comic elements in otherwise bleak situations – make this book a thoughtful, entertaining read.