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WORK TITLE: I, Joaquin
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY: Lawrence
STATE: KS
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY:
http://www.borderband.com/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Married; wife’s name Debra.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Carpenter, fiction writer, poet. Song writer and singer for M. Litton & The Border Band.
WRITINGS
Contributor of short stories to publications, including Foliate Oak, Floyd County Moonshine, Chiron Review, Mobius, Pif, and First Intensity; contributor of poetry to Broadkill Review, Stray Branch, and Literary Hatchet.
SIDELIGHTS
Carpenter, writer, poet, and song writer Melvin Litton lives in Lawrence, Kansas. He has published fantasy novels, short fiction in literary journals such as Chiron Review and Mobius, and poetry in Broadkill Review and his own chapbook, From the Bone, which features poems that span youth to old age, featuring young voice to barroom shout, memories, sighs, wonder, faith, fate, and mortality. Litton also writes and performs songs with the M. Litton & The Border Band and solo as The Gothic Cowboy.
Geminga
Melding all his experiences into his fiction, Litton wrote Geminga: Sword of the Shining Path, a combination fantasy folk tale and creation myth about a carpenter and song writer named Rodger Games who meets a talking raven and a snake named Jimmy who is an assassin. The results of science experiments, the raven and Jimmy have just escaped the evil Zalo, an arch-ideologue in the revolutionary Peruvian Maoist movement, and take a rest to talk with Rodger. Sitting around a camp fire, the raven, snake, and Rodger tell stories about the past and present. Litton adds references to the Medellin Cartel, the secret institute The Center staffed by sons of Mengele in the Amazon, a midnight prowler who drives a black Porsche, and black, Indian, and Hispanic farm workers.
Litton combines political issues, romance, images of terror and death, and unusual characters and plot. Online at Portland Book Review, Whitney Smyth commented: “The book succeeds in grabbing your attention from the beginning and investing you in the raven’s story, though Rodger always remains a touch two-dimensional.”
I, Joaquin
Litton next published I, Joaquin, a fictional memoir of the real-life Gold Rush bandit, Joaquin Murrieta, narrated by his severed head. Killed by California Rangers in 1853, his head preserved in a jar of whiskey, Murrieta proceeds to describe his life as a bandit. In the Old West, he grows up in a small village in Sonora, learns to capture wild mustangs the Sierra Madres, and marries his love, Rosita. The couple travels to San Francisco in the 1840s where Murrieta steals horses and gold claims, and amasses a gang numbering in the hundreds until he is considered a menace to be taken down by California law men. After his death, tales told of his ghost haunting the West and the Rangers.
Despite being a bit too long and overwritten, the book is full of adventure, history, and passion, and “Drenched in Mexican lore and California history, the story stands out for its convincing portrayal of the time period’s diverse competing interests and for its Spanish-laced prose, which has many wonderful lines,” according to a writer in Kirkus Reviews.
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, February 1, 2018, review of I, Joaquin.
ONLINE
Portland Book Review, http://portlandbookreview.com/ (May 10, 2018), Whitney Smyth, review of Geminga: Sword of the Shining Path.
Melvin Litton has two published novels: GEMINGA, a man/raven fable concerning the Shining Path in Peru (III Publishing, 1993); and I,JOAQUIN, a fictional memoir of the Gold Rush bandit, Joaquin Murrieta, as told by his head encased in alcohol (Creative Arts Book Co., 2003) – both available in new editions from Crossroad Press. His stories have appeared in Foliate Oak, Floyd County Moonshine, Chiron Review, Mobius, Pif, First Intensity, with poetry in The Broadkill Review, Stray Branch, The Literary Hatchet, and a chapbook "From the Bone" Spartan Press. A retired carpenter, he lives in Lawrence, KS with his wife Debra and their black-and-tan shepherd Jack. He also writes and performs songs solo and with the Border Band: www.borderband.com
The Border Band is a four-piece group of lead and rhythm guitar, bass and drums. Melvin Litton, yours truly, captains the band, plays rhythm guitar and writes most songs. I began performing over a quarter of a century ago in Canada and have since played in the northeast, down thru Nashville, Austin, to Colorado and back to Kansas where I started out and will likely remain. My influences are Leadbelly, Jimmy Rogers, CCR and The Band, while the juices of a hundred others flavor my music, not to mention the sun, moon, wind and stars, and the devil himself if that's what it takes to make a song. But I mainly rely on the better angels of my nature and two good men who've been with me for nearly 20 years, Roger Holden and Dave Melody. They've helped forge the sound and are a great part of what makes it click.
Roger Holden is a wizard on the lead guitar. Besides his own keen talent he draws inspiration from Hendrix, Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughn and BB King among others. He's played in a dozen bands covering every idiom from Classic Rock, Punk, Ska, Surf, Tex-Mex, Country, Folk and Blues. Fast 'n clean, slick as new cards, he knows when to "hold 'em" and knows when to "show 'em" -- and he shows nuthin' but aces.
Dave Melody plays drums but does a helluva lot more than keep time and proves in the act why the drums are a musical instrument not to be denied. He can tap a rhythm soft as raindrops dimpling the dust or boom like thunder rolling down off the mountains in a crash of cymbals and toms to chasm the earth and flood the prairie, all while singing a heartfelt song.
Through the years we've had as many bass players as a spider has legs, for one reason or another -- a girlfriend, work, a better gig back east -- none of 'em stuck. The last to go was Daniel Weaverling, a fine talent, and we nearly folded with his leaving. Then a young man stepped up like an apparition out of the Old West – a young Navajo with a Scottish name, Hugh Campbell, full of fierce and wonderful song, adding fresh blood to our old skin. And the drums beat on…
Melvin Litton’s stories have appeared in Mobius, Foliate Oak, Floyd County Moonshine, Pif, Chiron Review, First Intensity, with poetry in Broadkill Review, Stray Branch, and a chapbook “From the Bone” Spartan Press. He has two published novels: Geminga, a man/raven fable concerning the Shining Path in Peru (III Publishing, 1993); and I, Joaquin, a fictional memoir of the Gold Rush bandit, Joaquin Murrieta, as told by his head encased in alcohol (Creative Arts Book Co., 2003) – both available in new editions from Crossroad Press. He is a retired carpenter and lives in Lawrence, KS with his wife Debra and their black ‘n tan shepherd Jack. He also writes and performs songs solo and with the Border Band
Melvin Litton
Vocalist for M.Litton & The Border Band
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I'm the main vocalist/songwriter for M.Litton & The Border Band and play rhythm guitar. I also write novels -- GEMINGA, Sword of the Shining Path; and I JOAQUIN, available at: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LJLQOE0/ When not performing/recording with band, I appear solo as "The Gothic Cowboy" -- usually the first Sunday of each month at Frank's North Star Tavern, Lawrence, KS.
Litton, Melvin: I, JOAQUIN
Kirkus Reviews. (Feb. 1, 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Litton, Melvin I, JOAQUAiN Crossroad Press Publishing (Indie Fiction) $24.99 7, 4 ISBN: 978-1-941408-65-0
A Mexican bandit tells the story of his life as a lover and an outlaw in 19th-century California in this novel.
The California Rangers have finally killed the notorious JoaquA n Murrieta, horse thief, murderer, and the scourge of the Old West. They have preserved his severed head in a jar of whiskey to present it to the authorities to collect a handsome reward. JoaquA n, still sentient, notes wryly, "When whiskey goes to your head it is not so bad really...if you no longer have a stomach." JoaquA n proceeds to relate his rather colorful life story, starting in a small village in Sonora. He grows up among scorpions and a threatening panther in a world steeped in magic and folklore. As a teen, he spends three years learning to track and capture mustangs before returning home to marry his beloved Rosita. He and Rosita and three others decide to head north to California, arriving in San Francisco in the 1840s, early enough that they can still pick sizable gold nuggets out of the ground. The environment they inhabit is at first ideal but soon turns rough, yet the stallionlike JoaquA n is undeterred. Settling in a secret valley, JoaquA n steals horses and other people's gold for a living, survives innumerable dicey encounters, and gains a reputation as a menace to society. Frustrated by gringo law and the Rangers, who are constantly pursuing him, JoaquA n devises one last plot to take California for all it is worth and triumphantly ride back to Sonora with Rosita. But the Rangers have other plans for the bandit. Litton's (Geminga: Sword of the Shining Path, 2016) novel has an irresistible premise, and the preserved head of the infamous JoaquA n as narrator works very well, particularly in the book's almost serene conclusion. The characters are fiery and real, and the indefatigable JoaquA n has as much passion and even sweetness as he does bloodlust. Drenched in Mexican lore and California history, the story stands out for its convincing portrayal of the time period's diverse competing interests and for its Spanish-laced prose, which has many wonderful lines. But the book is a bit long and somewhat overwritten; a more concise narrative would have helped to highlight the novel's key events.
Full of adventure, history, and passion, this tale delivers an exciting ride through the gold rush with a singular hero.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Litton, Melvin: I, JOAQUIN." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Feb. 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A525461325/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=0f74b1b9. Accessed 7 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A525461325
Geminga: Sword of the Shining Path by Melvin Litton
by Whitney Smyth on May 10, 2018
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At the beginning of Geminga, Rodger finds himself in a bit of a predicament. He is hosting a pair of unlikely guests – a talking raven and a green snake named Jimmy – who he has just found out murdered his beloved cat. From this tense standoff emerges an unlikely friendship and Rodger and the raven begin to share stories over the series of several evenings and Rodger learns of The Center, Zalo’s great revolutionary plot, and the parts the raven and Jimmy played. The raven and Jimmy are fleeing Zalo, now considered to be loose ends, but is their respite with Rodger truly safe or has their past followed them across borders?
Publisher: Mystique Press
Formats: Paperback, eBook, Kindle
Purchase: Powell’s | Amazon
Melvin Litton’s Geminga: Sword of the Shining Path has all the hallmarks of good folklore: there are animals that speak, an obvious villain, and a musician turned carpenter who just happens to be in the right place. The book succeeds in grabbing your attention from the beginning and investing you in the raven’s story, though Rodger always remains a touch two-dimensional. Most writers will have heard of the saying “show, don’t tell,” as this makes for a much more involved narrative, allowing the reader to feel as if they are along for the adventure. While parts of Geminga follow this rule, the bulk of the narrative is told via the mechanics of the raven telling Rodger stories and vice versa. This has the effect of keeping the reader removed, but does work well with the folklore elements. In the end, whether or not the reader likes this style of writing will come down to personal preference and what they were expecting out of the story.
The strongest parts of the narrative are the bits that take place in the current day and include discussions between Rodger and the raven about the stories told. These discussions often delve into philosophy and the characters bantering over these subjects is enjoyable to watch unfold. Despite the bulk of the narrative having taken place in the past, there is just enough tension via the mysterious people who keep lurking around Rodger’s home and the dying wildlife to keep readers invested enough in the current events to keep flipping pages. Do note that this story is evocative of older folklore and fairy tales such as the original Cinderella whose stepsisters cut off parts of their feet to ensure the slipper fit, rather than the sanitized Disney version many are so accustomed to. Zalo is not a good man, and Jimmy and the raven are the results of science experiments rather than magic. All said, Geminga is a charming story, if a touch bizarre.