Mahu Fire: A Hawaiian Mystery

by Neil S. Plakcy | Mystery & Thrillers |
ISBN: 1593500793 Global Overview for this book
Registered by dustyflint of Honolulu, Hawaii USA on 6/28/2008
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6 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by dustyflint from Honolulu, Hawaii USA on Saturday, June 28, 2008
Certainly not for wild release, it brings a different sensibility to Hawaiian mystery novels. They are usually pretty light - but this is light and Gay. Reserving for my friends at TOC.

Journal Entry 2 by wingghirwing from Honolulu, Hawaii USA on Saturday, June 28, 2008
Going to give this a try. My first impression from the first page is that if you're going to make the effort to put in the marks for glottal stops in Hawaiian, you ought to put in the right symbol. Oh, and there's some bad pidgin by page 21. I probably won't like this.

Okay, was going to start this today, but decided to quit on the first paragraph! Last sentence: "We'd had a parched winter, and as April began, and with it our dry season, there were already reports of wildfires in dry spots on the Ko'olau Mountains."

Hello. Koolaus are the wet ones. Wildfires are on the Waianae range. Can't do this. Back to TOC for another victim.

Journal Entry 3 by winghyphen8wing from Honolulu, Hawaii USA on Sunday, July 27, 2008
Well, with a title like that, I have to at least give it a shot...even if *all* the details aren't right, at least he's trying. If there are any ancient Hawaiian pottery shards and arrowheads, though, I'll definitely quit! (Wish I could remember which author came up with *that* turkey.)

Journal Entry 4 by winghyphen8wing from Honolulu, Hawaii USA on Thursday, August 7, 2008
It's important know what mahu means in Hawaiian or you might get more than you bargained for in this one. As dustyflint says, this is not terribly serious and it's certainly not straight.

Although I haven't read much specifically gay fiction, Actually, now that I think about it, that's not really accurate if you count all those Gael Baudino books..but they're fantasy and not nearly as explicit..

Anyway, I was happy to cheer for Kimo & friends against these particular bad guys. I do sort of wonder why a guy from Florida would decide to set his series in Hawaii, though. Sort of an uphill battle, although this was better done than many other books set in Hawaii and written by non-residents.

Technically yes, the 'okina (glottal stop) should look more like a 6 than a 9, and I'd like to see that fixed. But that's quite common and it doesn't bother me much in this context. As for the mountain ranges, I don't feel so strongly about a geographical mistake that I'd quit reading the book that early. (On the other hand, I watch Hawaii Five-0 reruns, and they *often* mangle directions and locations, so maybe I just don't have high enough standards.)

On the other hand, I did find a few things to grumble about:

1) Nobody ever puts a glottal stop in "Hawaiian" - it's an English word, not a Hawaiian word. This just looks like a typo to me, and that drives me nuts every time I see it.

2) (Pet peeve) I don't know anyone in Hawaii who calls it frangipani; there's one paragraph that actually mentions both frangipani & plumeria but doesn't seem to connect the two. Kimo, as a local, would definitely call it plumeria.

3) Minor stuff: the Advertiser is the morning paper and the Star-Bulletin is the evening paper, not the other way around. And I had no idea that they were called cabbage palms, but I'm so bad with plant names I guess I shouldn't complain.

Think I have to reserve this for return to TOC, at least partly because I'm not sure where else I can release it! The mermaids on the author's website are a riot.

Journal Entry 5 by winghyphen8wing at Honolulu, Hawaii USA on Saturday, August 23, 2008

Released 15 yrs ago (8/24/2008 UTC) at Honolulu, Hawaii USA

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CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

The gumshoe mahu found a new reader today at lunch..I hope.

Journal Entry 6 by Purple58 from Honolulu, Hawaii USA on Sunday, October 26, 2008
This genre is segregating itself the way some of chicklit does. The guy's a fairly deft author and his work would be stronger if every aspect didn't return to being gay--i.e., keep the love story, keep the negotiation of relationships with the straight world-- but does the crime also have to be gay-related? Teach us-- but you'll do it more powerfully by blending perspectives. Cf. Sarah Waters' Night Watch. Like the rest of TOC, I am driven nuts by glottal stops and inaccuracies about mountain ranges, locations of fires in dry season, flowers etc.

Journal Entry 7 by wingawaywithfairieswing from Sydney CBD, New South Wales Australia on Monday, October 27, 2008
Picked up at brunch at MAC-24/7. Many thanks, although this non-Hawaiian may have confused Mahu with Maui...

Journal Entry 8 by wingawaywithfairieswing from Sydney CBD, New South Wales Australia on Tuesday, April 14, 2009
I've held onto this book for six months without reading it and I think it's time it moved on. As we all know, so many books, so little time!

By all reports, this book is really not suitable for wild release. I will take it to the World Bookcrossing Convention in New Zealand and leave it on the "Table of Temptation". Possibly with an "adult content" warning...

Released 14 yrs ago (4/17/2009 UTC) at 2009 Bookcrossing Convention in Christchurch, Canterbury New Zealand

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Left on the Table of Temptation.

Journal Entry 10 by acts from Dunedin, Otago New Zealand on Friday, April 17, 2009
At convention -yet to read

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