Reader’s Diary

Richard S. Wheeler

“Sun Mountain” is the fictional memoir of a self-described “middling reporter” on Nevada’s famous newspaper the “Territorial Enterprise”. The narrator’s tenure lasts through Virginia City’s boom years. Reporters Mark Twain and Dan De Quille, silver king John Mackey, and other historical personages figure in the story. The book is more history than fiction, and Wheeler includes details on mining and the business of mining. I’ve long been interested in the period and the locale, so I found it an engrossing book; a reader looking for dramatic fictional action might be disappointed.

Robert Conroy

In this alternate history World War II in the Pacific is prolonged by a palace coup that prevents Hirohito from announcing the surrender.  Despite the interesting premise, the book lacks dramatic tension.

Richard S. Wheeler

In this historical novel set in 1890’s Denver a variety of characters begin lives that are not what they intend. Wheeler includes some interesting details on the business of mining.