Burnt Toast: The Frontispiece

There is a cemetery a mile downhill from the Corners, where the action of Burnt Toast begins. Some October nights, you can hear stories being told by lantern light.

There’s a Zen Buddhist priest/actor named Peter Coyote. This is what he says about Horse-Drawn Yogurt:

“Peter’s tone-perfect narratives captures it all—the labor, the danger, the disappointments, the deep joys of living a life of meaning, in harmony with one’s deepest intentions. Horse-Drawn Yogurt is a great read by a fine writer and an even better reminder of a time and season when many young people were fearlessly committed to living lives of meaning and ecstasy. You can’t beat that combo.” 

There’s this guy in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Kent Peterson, who writes his reviews on a 1956 Smith-Corona Skywriter. Here’s Kent on Marly:

“One of my favorite questions to ask is, ‘What’s the weirdest book that you’ve read that you’ve really enjoyed?’ Well, now there’s this novella called Marly by Peter Gould and it is a uniquely compelling read. It’s confusing but it drew me in. the one-sided dialogue is funny and the subject matter, saving the earth, and the various ways we may agree or disagree about methods and tactics are dear to my heart.”

There’s a theater company in Mumbai, India that performed A Peasant of El Salvador in repertory for 10 years. One reviewer, Deepa Punjani, wrote:

“The play makes a humane case and it makes it well. There is humor and pathos in equal measure. In a minimalist staging, one’s got to be creative and clever. The last scene in this production gives us a fleeting visual of the sheer scale of the tragedy. For so much sadness, the beauty of the play lies in the indefatigable hope that guides the peasant of El Salvador to the very end.”