J. Conrad GuestRezensionen

J. Conrad Guest has taken the heartbreak of sexual betrayal and turned it into a romance-fantasy... Readers will not be able to put it down. —Current Entertainment Monthly, Ann Arbor, Michigan

He may be Bogart-cool and clever, sharp-tongued and fedoraed—but underneath the veneer Joe January reveals himself both in his vulnerability and the most ageless adventure of all: a journey of the heart. —Rachael Perry, author of How to Fly

Great books strive to entertain, enrich and do nothing less than change the world. In January's Thaw, J. Conrad Guest gives us an unforgettable adventure seen through the cracked lens of our broken present and an all-too-possible, what-if past. Full of intrigue, romance and scathing social commentary, it is both an ambitious novel and an exciting, page-turning imaginative quest for that which is beautiful and true. —Rachael Perry, author of How to Fly

... an eye-opening tale of drama, scandal, and intrigue highlighting the living, breathing history of a fatally-flawed, intrepid folk hero. —Apex Reviews

J. Conrad Guest once again demonstrates his outstanding literary range in this compelling, captivating novel. A Retrospect in Death is one part Ingmar Bergman, one part Joseph Heller, a la Catch 22, and—with its copious cigar smoke and leggy women—two parts vintage J. Conrad Guest. Like his previous novels, readers will be sorry when the story ends. —Lazarus Barnhill, author of Lacey Took a Holiday, The Medicine People, and Come Home to Me, Child

J. Conrad Guest has demonstrated once again not only his innate literary ability, but also his marvelous ability to draw us irresistibly into this incredible, thrilling and heartfelt story. We would jump ahead to the finish, if the writing were not so compelling—and when the race is over, we want to go again!" —Lazarus Barnhill, author of Caddo Creek

J. Conrad Guest ventures into new literary territory, and once again the result is gripping and beautiful. The seamless prose draws the reader from the horror and peril of combat to the agony of post-traumatic stress and despair. In A World Without Music, protagonist Reagan is a creature of the brutality of the real world, stripped of idealism and past, waiting for miracles, searching for the music that will make his life worth living. —Lazarus Barnhill, author of Lacey Took a Holiday, The Medicine People, and Come Home to Me, Child

Superbly crafted with a deft, tender touch, Backstop: A Baseball Love Story in Nine Innings is a compelling tale of following the true passions of the heart. A truly heartwarming read. —Apex Reviews

Discussions of life, love, faith and the universe fuel Conrad Guest’s intriguing dialog-based novel “A World Without Music.” Music itself “stands half way between thought and phenomenon,” a fascinating concept that leaves the reader pondering all. But the conversation's powerful and real, and the tale moves on; locations change, topics flow and grow, and the reader soon feels like a traveler delighting in overhearing strangers who might become friends.

Reagan is a musician haunted by the horrors of war as the story starts. And “Spock was a fictional character from a fictional planet.” This I know. But I'm a mathematician; I soon want to argue my subject's just as musical as the spheres. Let me join in! Thus proving the author's characters and world are as real as the guy beside me on the plane.

This novel's path through music, movies, sci-fi, baseball, politics, faith and romance is endlessly intriguing and deeply involving, even as mystery deepens and danger looms. Allusions to jazz and song lyrics are as natural as the flight of a softball into the air, smoothly delighting the reader whether they're caught or simply catch the eye. And Reagan, born to lust, love or jazz, has choices to make, and scary consequences to navigate.

The end of this novel is a surprise, unsettling maybe, but perfectly in tune with what came before. And the music of the common man proves as vital to our world's symphony as that of heroes and villains throughout all time. “A World Without Music” reads like a masterpiece of music, culture and life and is highly recommended.

Disclosure: I was given a free edit and I offer my honest review. I honestly loved it!

500 Miles to Go, by J. Conrad Guest
My parents loved watching Formula 1 races on TV, and the sound of cars speeding around the track always takes me straight back to childhood. So does J. Conrad Guest’s 500 Miles to Go, which evocatively recreates everything to do with the American USAC , from scary crashes, miraculous survival, pit-stops that always seemed impossibly fast, to, of course, that magical sound as the cars rear around the bends, seemingly ready to fly. I read as drivers jockey for position and expect to see my father, tense in his seat, watching, wondering if the favored car will find a gap. Mum’s telling me which driver’s honest and which one’s going to cheat his way to victory. English names fill me with pride. Foreign ones with memory. And it’s just plain fun.

Meanwhile, of course, there are drivers living real lives with lost loves, dashed hopes, and off-track arguments. 500 Miles to Go tells the story of one driver’s success and separation. “Lucky in cards, unlucky in love,” my Gran used to say, but Alex Król is lucky and skilled in cars, while his love life is more unfortunate.

Król is being interviewed by a newspaper reporter as the story starts. They eat, drink scotch, and smoke cigars; the author recreates the scent of cigar smoke on the air as evocatively as the sense of racing on the track, while the older man teases his interviewer, offering truths and half-truths, before plunging into revealing all. He's lured perhaps by her beauty and her obvious interest. But is she interested in him, or just in her article?

There’s a wealth of fascinating history in this novel, all told in the voice of a man who lived it and cares. And there’s a convincing sense of someone transcribing his words. A sweet love story gives way to the love affair with speed. And cigar smoke offers that sense of slow listening, where interviewees can speak in full paragraphs and tell the tale their own way. First loser becomes disillusioned winner, hindsight waxes philosophical, and a lonely man reminds us “One doesn’t find love... It’s not some object to be unearthed... Love is a choice.”

Is losing love a choice as well? As riders seek that median path, how do those of us on life’s track avoid being overtaken?

I started to enjoy this story for its evocative depiction of racing cars. In the end I loved it for its people, and I'm really glad I found the time to read it.

Disclosure: The author kindly gave me an ecopy and I offer my honest review.

"J. Conrad Guest once again demonstrates his outstanding literary range in this compelling, captivating novel. A Retrospect in Death is one part Ingmar Bergman, one part Joseph Heller, a la Catch 22, and - with its copious cigar smoke and leggy women - two parts vintage J. Conrad Guest. Like his previous novels, readers will be sorry when the story ends."

-Lazarus Barnhill, author of Lacey Took a Holiday, The Medicine People, and Come Home to Me, Child

"J. Conrad Guest has taken the heartbreak of sexual betrayal and turned it into a romance-fantasy ... Readers will not be able to put it down."

--Current Entertainment Monthly, Ann Arbor, Michigan

To become a champion driver one must have rare, natural abilities that have been honed to the highest levels by experience, discipline and sheer determination. Champions so become one with the art of driving that they attain levels others will not even dare. The same is true of writing, and J. Conrad Guest has demonstrated once again not only his innate literary ability, but also his marvelous ability to draw us irresistibly into this incredible, thrilling and heartfelt story. We would jump ahead to the finish, if the writing were not so compelling – and when the race is over, we want to go again!

—Lazarus Barnhill, author of Caddo Creek

Great books strive to entertain, enrich and do nothing less than change the world. In January’s Thaw, J. Conrad Guest gives us an unforgettable adventure seen through the cracked lens of our broken present and an all-too-possible, what-if past. Full of intrigue, romance and scathing social commentary, it is both an ambitious novel and an exciting, page-turning imaginative quest for that which is beautiful and true.

—Rachael Perry, author of How to Fly

Joe January may be a man out-of-time—Bogart-cool and clever, sharp-tongued and fedoraed—but underneath the veneer he reveals himself both in his vulnerability and the most ageless adventure of all: a journey of the heart.

—Rachael Perry, author of How to Fly

“Baseball, like love, is a game of errors and regrets. Pop-outs, ground-outs, strike-outs. A bad swing, a bad throw, a bad hop. But what captivates us most is the possibility of the next at-bat, of the chance for a rally, of an unlikely clutch play that suddenly changes the stakes. This is where J. Conrad Guest meets us in Backstop: in this beautiful, hopeful place closest to our hearts, where we play for the love of the game, and we love with everything we have.”

—Rachael Perry, author of How to Fly

Apex Reviews has awarded The Cobb Legacy its highest rating of 5 stars, hailing the book as “... an eye-opening tale of drama, scandal, and intrigue highlighting the living, breathing history of a fatally-flawed, intrepid folk hero.”

Backstop plays for the Detroit Tigers, and to say he is passionate about baseball is an understatement. He doesn’t see the players as “sweaty athletes mostly brawn with little between the ears”; on the contrary, he sees baseball as something intricate and artistic, even poetic. He says, “… the balance, the shifting of weight and rotation of hips, the extension of arms … it’s all poetry in motion.”

Forever haunted by his disapproving late father, this lover of baseball, and lover of poetry one day finds the woman of his dreams in Darlene, owner of a small Chicago arts and crafts shop. They fall in love, marry, and just when things couldn’t get any better, Backstop, against his better judgement, has a one-night stand. Darlene kicks him out and his world comes crashing down around him.

But Backstop is an artist, sensitive and really decent to the core, and because of this the reader can’t help but want to see him get his life back together. While continuing to play major league baseball, he forever strives to win back the woman he betrayed. When at last he vows to give up baseball for love, it is at this point that he wins the readers over and completely, especially the female ones. But will he win back Darlene?

Backstop is a beautifully crafted novel with much charm and humor, the humor often coming in from left field. Sports and romance are effortlessly interwoven, and there is as much love and hope as there is forgiveness. Genuinely written, Backstop is a story that will remain with you whether a baseball fan or not.