Table of Contents


Views and Mechanics
Publisher's Note
Editor's Note
Review of Coventry
Review of Virginity Or Death!
Review of Imperial Reckoning
Poetry
Politico
By Beth L. Block
Peonies
By Natasha S. Garnett
A Foreigner in the Street
By Tony Zurlo
Sand Hill Cranes and Other Eccentricities
By Jaqueline Powers
On Sleepless Nights
By Joy Harold Helsing
I Don't Want To Be Hughes
By Joe Koch
Fiction
Baseball Games and One-Eared Cats
By Pete Laffin
Beige
By Dawn Merrow
Geezer Cage
By Scott W. Alten
Sandlot
By J. Conrad Guest
Dinosaurs and Barbie Dolls
By Michelle McMahon
Burlesque Show
By Stanley P. Anderson
About the Contributors

© 2006, River Walk Journal and respective authors and artists. All rights reserved. Do not use or reproduce without permission.

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Board of Directors

Chairman - Elizabeth Ross
Vice Chairman - Joseph Koch
Secretary/Treasurer - Geri Stock-Ross
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Literacy Director - Vacant
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Advisory Board
Chairman - Patti Kurtz, DA
Asst. Chairman - Dan Lachenman, PhD
Samuel Hazo
Christopher Leland
Edwin Yoder
Joseph Bathanti
Journal Staff
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Editor-In-Chief - Joseph Koch
Sen. Fiction Editor - Patti Kurtz
Sen. Poetry Editor - Neeldhara Misra
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Review of Coventry

Coventry
By Joseph Bathanti
ISBN: 0976096374

Joseph Bathanti’s Coventry is a fine example of psychological literature, exploring themes of fear, mysticism, and dominance. Calvin Gaddy, in spite of his mother’s wishes, ends up following in his father’s footsteps as a prison guard.

Coventry tells, at times graphically, the story of the thin line between prisoner and guard. Calvin is constantly trying to maintain balance between his life with his pregnant wife and father, co-workers who may be working against him, and prisoners. The line between prisoner and guard that his father taught him must remain clear becomes blurred until he recognizes the potentially disastrous consequences.

Bathanti shows that it is possible to write a highly literate psychological novel. From the family borderline-dysfunctional Gaddy family dynamic, to prison staff responses to the resident prison “witch doctor”, there is plenty for any reader who enjoys crawling into the minds of characters on the page.

Beyond Modern American Literature courses, Coventry may be of interest to instructors in Sociology, Psychology, and Criminal Justice Theory.