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John Shors traveled extensively throughout Asia after graduating from Colorado College in 1991, living for several years in Japan, where he taught English, and then trekking across the continent, visiting ten countries and climbing the Himalayas. More recently, Mr. Shors worked as a newspaper reporter in his hometown, Des Moines, Iowa, before entering public relations and moving to Boulder, Colorado. Beneath a Marble Sky is his first novel.
aFrom page one of Beside A Burning Sea, you know you are in the hands of a master storyteller. This novel has the aura of the mythic, the magical, and that which is grounded in history. Shors weaves psychological intrigue by looking at his charactersa competing desires: love, revenge, and meaning. Both lyrical and deeply imaginative.a<br> aAmy Tan, Author of The Joy Luck Club <br> aShorsa sophomore effort (following Beneath a Marble Sky ), set on an island in the South Pacific during three weeks in 1942, features achingly lyrical prose, even in depicting the horrors of war. After a U.S. hospital ship is torpedoed and sunk by the Japanese, a handful of survivors struggle for survival on a remote island. They include the captain and an officer; a Japanese prisoner, Akira, and two shipas nurses he saved (one of them the captainas wife); and the shipas engineer, who saves a Fijian stowaway, Rat u. Akira, a college professor pressed into service, is haunted by what he saw, did, and didnat do at Nanking. Jake, the engineer, is a black farmer who sees in Ratu the son he never had. Ratu adds a colorful combination of winsome bravado, humor and childish fear; each main character is similarly well-rounded, excepting the single-minded traitor among them, unsuspected by his fellow castaways. Shors pays satisfying attention to class and race dynamics, as well as the tension between wartime enemies. The survivorsa dignity, quiet strength and fellowship make this a magical read.a<br> a Publishers Weekly <br> Praise for Shorsa debut BENEATH A MARBLE SKY : <br> aJahanara is a beguiling heroine whom readers will come to love; none of todayas chick-lit heroines can match her dignity, fortitude andcunning...Elegant, often lyrical, writing distinguishes this literary fiction from the genre known as historical romance. It is truly a work of art, rare in a debut novel.a <br> The Des Moines Register <br> aAn exceptional work of fiction...A gripping account.a<br> a India Post <br> aAgreeably colorful...[with] lively period detail and a surfeit of villains.a <br>a Kirkus Reviews <br> aHighly recommended...A thrilling tale [that] will appeal to a wide audience.a <br>a Library Journal <br> aAn absorbing novel about the extremes of passionawith much relevance for our own time.a<br> a Rocky Mountain News <br> aAs luminous a jewel as any that adorn the Taj Mahalas walls.a<br> a ForeWord
