Product Description
RETURN TO EDEN is an anthology of 33 essays, written by a former commander, who is now an artist and also a man of color. They explore his combat experiences while serving as an advisor to Vietnamese troopsin the Mekong Delta in 1969, his opinions about cultural and political events since that time and an account of his recent return to Vietnam over Christmas of 2004.In a wider sense, it engages all things veteran in his life.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

A Warrior's Tale Told With Grace
Tucker Smallwood tells the story of a harrowing tour of duty with charm, modesty and an understatement that is utterly disarming. He wears his valor lightly whether telling of brutal living conditions, the recreational water skiing that made him an inviting VC target, or the nightmare attack that ended his war.

He writes with grace and more than one passage brought a lump to my throat. His descriptions of his recovery and his growing awareness of how deeply the war had affected him are particularly moving.

This book will remind you that America's greatest resource is young men like Smallwood who will serve with honor and humanity when called upon. Let's not squander them.

Good book
This is a good book giving a perspective that is not often seen.
The MACV teams operated with the Vietnamese forces and local people.It was very different from being in a regular US division like what you may see in 'Platoon'.

If you like this book, then you will also like the book 'Once a Warrior King' written by Terry Turner using the pen name David Donovan.
Terry Turner (Donovan) was on a MAT/District team near the Cambodian border, without a lot of personal or US military support.

I served on MACV Advisory Team 88 in Ben Tre, Kein Hoa Province, IV Corps, Sept. '68 - Aug. '69.
(That was where 'We had to destroy the town in order to save it.'
A dumb statement which was not true. Some buildings were damaged but were quickly repaired.)
I was fortunate to be at Province headquarers where we were able to live in a decent manner. By comparision, the MAT teams had a more rustic environment.

A modern Renaissance Man, in every sense of the word
Smallwood was a STRAC candidate (and, later, Tac Officer), a redoubtable and inventive MACV Advisor, (respected by his ARVNs and feared by those bad guys who had the misfortune to venture into his AO), a courageous vanquisher of horrific wounds, an excellent blues picker and singer, and, now, nothing less than the first part-American Indian Yaweh, white suitedly appearing on the nation's tube screens, spreading wrathful justice and fearful wisdom to all, (except, regrettably, to the recalcitrant and obtuse Sarah Silverman). Wotta man.

This book is, (to borrow a phrase from a previous combat veteran polymath), a real "movable feast", and an often funny one at that, recounting in equal measure the impressive highs and the occasional depressing lows of Smallwood's remarkable life. Reading it is a real trip, in all senses of that word, and once you've finished it, I feel safe in saying that you won't soon forget either the book or the man.

living history
A very important gentle, simple story telling of a violent and complicated time in our history.All of us should read this and never forget the legacy of wars.

Got it, read it, love it!
As a member of the Mekong River Water Skiing Club, reading Smallwood's discription of the close relationships in Mobile Advisor Teams took me back.

The MAT Advisor (if he was lucky) lived a completely different war, and the story has largely been forgotten.

This isn't a bad book to give relatives that may look at you funny. ... Read more

Product Description
Despite the success of his color-coded Easy Rawlins series, WalterMosley dares, with Blue Light, to go where few mystery writers have gone before. The novel is pure(if not simple) science fiction, less evocative of Philip Marlow than Philip K. Dick. It begins during the 1960s, when flashes of extraterrestrial blue light enter the bodies of several Northern Californians. Those struck by the flashes immediately take on superhuman abilities. Mosley's narrator, Chance, is not himself a recipient of the heaven-sent beams, but after a blood transfusion from the leader of the Blues, his consciousness expands. The biracial, suicidal Thucydides scholar becomes a supernal historian of his new, blue-inflected peer group. He dreams of a "far-flung future, when science is not estranged from the soul" and where human beings will see the world with the purified vision of his enlightened brethren. Still, he is powerless in the face of the Gray Man--a vicious incarnation of evil who seems intent on wiping out the entire Blue population. Somber and violent, bizarre and oddly reverent, Blue Light marks a promising new direction for Mosley. What's more, the dangling threads at the end intimate a vast epic to come (Mosley has suggested that a trilogy awaits) and a literary challenge that's anything but Easy. --Patrick O'KelleyAmazon.com Review
Despite the success of his color-coded Easy Rawlins series, Walter Mosley dares, with BlueLight, to go where few mystery writers have gone before. The novel is pure (if not simple) science fiction, lessevocative of Philip Marlow than Philip K. Dick. It begins during the 1960s,when flashes of extraterrestrial blue light enter the bodies of severalNorthern Californians. Those struck by the flashes immediately take onsuperhuman abilities. Mosley's narrator, Chance, is not himself a recipientof the heaven-sent beams, but after a blood transfusion from theleader of the Blues, his consciousness expands. The biracial, suicidalThucydidesscholar becomes a supernal historian of his new,blue-inflected peer group. He dreams of a "far-flung future, when scienceis not estranged from the soul" and where human beings will see the worldwith the purified vision of his enlightened brethren. Still, he ispowerless in the face of the Gray Man--a vicious incarnation of evil whoseems intent on wiping out the entire Blue population. Somber and violent,bizarre and oddly reverent, Blue Light marks a promising newdirection for Mosley. What's more, the dangling threads at the end intimatea vast epic to come (Mosley has suggested that a trilogy awaits) and aliterary challenge that's anything but Easy. --Patrick O'Kelley ... Read more

Customer Reviews (55)

If you haven't read any other Walter Mosley books, DO NOT READ THIS ONE
My biggest fear is that someone who has heard about how great a writer Walter Mosley is will pick up this book as an introduction and that would be a horrible mistake.I know of no author with the skill and perception, and sensitivity displayed by Mosley in his other books.But he just plain didn't do it hereAll I can think is that every author is entitled to a bummer.There is much about sex in this book, and there is much about death.And I will admit, because there are some rave reviews for this book, that I might have missed something.I will say that if you've read several of the author's books, go on and try this one.But please, don't read this until you've read at least a couple of the Easy Rawlins books, and at least one of the Socrates Fortlow books so that you know what Walter Mosley is capable of.

Blinded by the Light
I bought Blue Light blindly and in excitement thinking it was another Easy Rawlins mystery.The color in the title totally threw me off. I couldn't even get myself past the first half.Maybe my pallet was just too ready for more Easy and I never really gave it a chance.I've picked it up again since and just coudln't do it.. lol.I'll leave this one up to you Sci-Fi fans out there.I'll stick to the mysteries and his other novels.Always will be a Walter Mosley fan.

Pure And Entertaining Sci Fi
This was only the second book I have read by Mosley. It has a well thought out story idea and some of the best Science Fiction I have ever read. Mosley's style is unique. He is an artist in this profession as demonstrated by the range of his work. I have read many (hundreds) of science fiction novels. This is some of the best I have ever read and takes Science Fiction in a new direction.

Super Reader
A strange alien presence manifests itself on Earth as a blue light, and infects a small number of people. One of them, just as he was dying. He become the Gray Man, and has a thing for going around and killing these 'Blues' rather violently.

The Blues become something more than human, and go off to live by themselves in a sort of cult, as well as some others they have partly infected.

It is all kind of pointless, and the end makes you just about want to yell about how bad it is.

Avoid.

Appallingly bad
Walter Mosley, like too many mainstream and mystery writers, appears to believe that "science fiction" means "logic and plausibility get tossed out the window." That the official Amazon.com review compares this book to the work of Philip K. Dick is amazing and wrong-headed; Dick knew how to ground his surrealism in the real world and especially in real human beings. Whatever Mr. Mosley does in his mysteries and mainstream fiction, that's not what he's doing here. ... Read more