Though university folk are generally expected to produce scholarly works, UC alumni, faculty and staff also write novels, family histories, personal journeys, self-help books and works of spiritual guidance. The following are just some of the recently published general-interest books.

For inclusion in this section, UC-related authors may contact assistant editor Amanda Hughes before submitting their press releases and copies of their new books for review.

 

An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England
By Brock Clarke, UC associate professor of English and creative writing

As a teenager, Sam Pulsifer bumbled his way into accidentally burning down Emily Dickenson’s historic house and accidentally killing a married couple secretly meeting there. After spending 10 years in jail for the crime, Sam tries to get on with his life, finishing college, getting married and having kids. But when a string of arsons of other famous authors’ homes in New England begins, Sam finds fingers pointed at him.

Critically acclaimed, this entertaining, smart and funny story is author Brock Clarke’s fourth book.

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Amazon.com
ISBN: 1565125517

Sudden Victims: 18 Bizarre Tales from the Alternate Reality
By Dennis Latham, A&S ’92

Dennis Latham, author of other dark thrillers such as “Michael in Hell” and “The Bad Season,” offers readers a collection of his strangest short stories where reality ends and terror reigns. Tales are told of shadows that bite, a gambling boat that cheats for you, a night in jail with a corpse dragged from a river and the far-reaching effects of war.

Latham’s stories of the bizarre and unusual may stem in part from his unorthodox beginnings as a writer. While in the Vietnam War, a fellow marine bet $10 that Latham couldn’t write a story he liked in 30 minutes. Latham won the bet.

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Amazon.com
ISBN: 0979674441

King of the Bootleggers: A Biography of George Remus
By William A. Cook, Univ’79, DAAP ’81

This biography tells the successful, seedy and somewhat tragic life story of George Remus, one of the most notorious figures of the American prohibition. By focusing on both the public and privates personas of Remus, the author paints a complete picture of the man. Remus’s obsession with power and his greed helped him succeed in business but ultimately led to his undoing -- the murder of his second wife and, eventually, the loss of his fortune to the surly underworld that had produced it.

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Amazon.com
ISBN: 0786436522

Osaka Heat
By Mary Claire Mahaney, JD ’79

Ginger’s life has been at a standstill ever since her husband died suddenly in a tunnel collapse several years ago. In Mahaney’s first novel, Ginger O’Neill, a teacher, finds herself heading to Japan to research a school for a possible exchange partnership with her own. While there, however, she discovers much more about herself than she bargained for. Through a forbidden affair with a Japanese man, she is forced to come to terms with her past, her religious convictions and the truth about her marriage.

 

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Amazon.com
ISBN: 1425990827

 

Anthony Boucher: A Biobibliography
By Jeffrey Marks, Med ’05, Forward by Gordan Van Gelder

Anthony Boucher, whose real name was William Parker White, began his mystery writing career at the age of 16. This book explores Boucher in the three roles for which he’s known best: author, editor and critic. Boucher penned science fiction and mystery works, hosted radio programs and became a mystery critic for The New York Times. Marks also touches on Boucher’s personal life, offering insight into his family and the recurring health problems that eventually led to the writer’s death from lung cancer in 1968.

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Amazon.com
ISBN: 0786433205

Confessions of a Corporate Slut
By Jacqueline Gum, ATT ’70s

A manufacturer’s rep in the restaurant equipment industry, Roberta always played hard and held her own in a male-dominated industry. When she meets her CEO husband, she looks forward to being a loving wife and mother, but doesn’t count on becoming a business counselor to further only his career, losing her own identity in the process. Gum arouses a slew of emotions in telling Roberta’s story, one full of ups and downs but always moved forward by the main character’s tenacity and grit. A very human tale, it will resonate with many female readers in today’s corporate world who are faced with choices between family and career.

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Amazon.com
ISBN: 1434344916

Robert Cormier: Banned, Challenged and Censored
By Wendy Hart Beckman, UC public information officer

Robert Cormier was a gentle, introspective man who would become one of the most revered and controversial authors of young adult fiction. Beckman’s book explores the professional and personal life of Cormier and how the author’s background and family influenced his work. Learn why Cormier’s books, written for and about youth, are often banned from their schools -- a fight in which Cormier often became personally involved.

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Amazon.com
ISBN: 0766026914

A Good Woman
By Dorothy Weil, MA (A&S) ’69, PhD (A&S) ’74

Now 85, Mary Lou Friedman is the sole caretaker of her husband, who suffers from a chronic and disabling illness. Faced with his plight and the increasing deterioration and danger of her own Cincinnati neighborhood, she finds her life is crashing down around her. As her situation worsens, Friedman reflects on her life: Growing up on a farm, marrying, moving to the city, working hard to raise her children.

Author Dorothy Weil always places her main character’s struggles and experiences within a larger historical and cultural context, from the Great Depression to the revolutionary fights for equality in the ’60s and ’70s. Friedman’s somewhat predictable and familiar story, however, has a shocking and tragic end.

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Amazon.com
ISBN: 1891386859

Furniture Design
By Jim Postell, UC associate professor of architecture and interior design

Designing furniture is an art and a science, according to Jim Postell, an associate professor in the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning. In this book, Postell explains why a working knowledge of furniture history, technology, aesthetics and the human body is important for successful furniture designers. The book also contains a complete glossary of industry terms and a bibliography -- all the tools a budding designer needs to nail the craft.

Order Information:
Amazon.com
ISBN: 0471727962

Artists and Writers of the Harlem Renaissance
By Wendy Hart Beckman, UC public information officer

Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington, Josephine Baker -- stars of the Harlem Renaissance, a thriving period of creativity for African American artists and writers in New York City of the 1920s and ’30s. This history and collection of biographies, geared toward young adults, features some of the most influential and famous players of Harlem’s heyday. 

Order Information:
Amazon.com
ISBN: 0766018342

 

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