Sun Yat Sen In The Mouth Of The Dragon

Typescript, copyrighted 1998. Premiered December 3, 1999, at John Wright Theatre, California State University, Fresno. Soon thereafter presented at The Kennedy Center American Theatre Festival, Washington, D.C.

Playbook/monologues.

As a young man, Cowles was spellbound by tales of danger and daring from those who had ventured into the famed "Dragon's Mouth." In 1946, just prior to the Communist takeover, Cowles, along with a Chinese professor and an Army pilot-engineer, set out to experience the gorges firsthand. For 19 days they immersed themselves in the life of the river, along side 65 crewmen aboard a 95-foot junk.

This teaching novel is an archaeological suspense story set in northeast China at a site that is called the Goddess Temple. Clara, protagonist of Nelson’s Spirit Bird Journey, begins work at an excavation at the Temple, only to discover the problems of contemporary looting, government meddling, and excavation interpersonal dynamics. Nelson’s story also describes the lifeways of the Neolithic people who used the temple thousands of years ago—their economy, social structure, gender relations, and religious rituals—through the eyes of a young woman living there. Written by a leading American archaeologist specializing in these topics, this volume is both a good read and good archaeology. An ideal starting point to introduce archaeology to college students.

"Realistic characters, natural dialogue, well-integrated historical detail and a surprise twist ending mark this as superior mystery fare."—Publishers Weekly STARRED review To think of Chicago in the 1930s is to conjure up pictures of the Chicago Outfit and its earlier crime lords like Capone. Even the storied history of the Cubs or of the city's merchant princes and philanthropists can't quite shake the city's gritty image. It's time for a new look. And here it is, a mystery with a warm family of widowed mother and four daughters at its core. Elodie, the Browne family bread-winner, lacks direct experience with crime, but she's full of curiosity, sharply observant, and nobody's fool. So when a man stumbles into a party given by a Chinese importer of jade and antiques where she is working "for a lark—and extra cash" and utters a dying word—mingdow—she begins to connect the murder with some odd doings in the office building where she works, events that began one night when the elevator door opened on the wrong floor....