To live in a world meant for other people

To live in a world meant for other people     Here a bartender carves a block of ice into a near-perfect sphere with a sharp knife and his bare hand.  A geisha steps onto the elevator in the hotel, her hair brushed back with painstaking accuracy.  In the restaurant, food is prepared with care and served with even more care.  Ugly buildings and tangled wires overhead share space with small gardens and handmade signs and window displays and rows of idle bicycles.  Neon skeletons hang by day and become breathing beauties at nightfall.  Preschoolers line up like ducks in yellow uniforms on a train platform.  I hear one visitor refer to these children as the reason why “they are so militaristic.”  My introduction to Japan is a list of quips like this one from other westerners.  I hear them from strangers on the subway.  I hear them from my co-worker who has lived here for several years.  I hear them from the occasio...

The Story of Teddie and Eddie 5 out of 5 stars  ' Reality is a slippery demon.' By Grady Harp HALL OF FAME TOP 100 REVIEWER VINE VOICE on October 3, 2015. Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. Author James Halat has experience from several locations of living. He was born in New Jersey, lived in New York City, and now lives in Tokyo Japan. To date he has published three books - SYNCOPATED RHYTHM, CLIFFORD AND CLAUDIA and THE STORY OF TEDDY AND EDDIE. Few authors can handle same sex stories as well as James as those who have had the pleasure of reading SYNCOPATED RHYTHM especially will witness. But fine as that story is, it s a novella. His full-length novel CLIFFORD AND CLAUDIA proved that he can interplay gay characters with aplomb and make his story so universally relevant that the reader can simply sit back and enjoy the entertainment. He carries that gift, developed even more fully, into this new novel THE STORY OF TEDDY AND EDDIE. James’ ele...

Clifford and Claudia 5 out of 5 stars  "It takes my keen eye no time at all to discern that Clifford is prettier than Claudia."  By Grady Harp HALL OF FAME TOP 100 REVIEWER VINE VOICE on September 26, 2015. Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. Author James Halat has experience from several locations of living. He was born in New Jersey, lived in New York City, and now lives in Tokyo Japan. To date he has published two books - SYNCOPATED RHYTHM and CLIFFORD AND CLAUDIA. Few authors can handle same sex stories as well as James as those who have had the pleasure of reading SYNCOPATED RHYTHM will witness. But fine as that story is, it is a novella. Now in a full-length novel he proves that he can interplay gay characters with aplomb and make his story so universally relevant that the reader can simply sit back and enjoy the entertainment. And in his novel there is entertainment aplenty! An example of his technique of placing italicized asides - a me...

Syncopated Rhythm 5 out of 5 stars  ‘I have a feeling of being incomplete with this place.’  By Grady Harp HALL OF FAME TOP 100 REVIEWER VINE VOICE on September 25, 2015. Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. Author James Halat has experience form several locations of living. He was born in New Jersey, lived in New York City, and now lives in Toyko Japan. To date he has published two books – SYNCOPATED RHYTHM and CLIFFORD AND CLAUDIA. Knowing this biographical data SYNCOPATED RHYTHM suggests a memoir of sorts, or at least a character the author has created whom he knows quite well – the narrator – no name, just a kind of everyman who is lost in tangential relationships and incidents. His gift at creating conversations, whether overheard or participating, is unique. The language is so appropriately raw when needed and so fragile in other passages. A bit of ‘for instance’, a conversation of a family in a car trip: ‘“Geez, look at the traffic. We’ll be stuck h...