Man With Two Faces - Softcover

Swaim, Don

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1940233542 ISBN 13: 9781940233543

Publisher: Montag Press, 2018

Synopsis

In Manhattan, during the depths of the Great Depression, Tokol Tokoloshe, a soldier of fortune, diamond thief, and rum runner, has turned vigilante along with his Amazonian-bred, blowgun- wielding sidekick Diana. Despite his crusade to combat evil, Tokol's past catches up with him when he's marked for death by Janus, a former confederate. As the amorously adventurous, sexually equivocal Tokol battles hit men, kidnappers, mobsters, blackmailers, Chinese tongs, spies, and Nazis, he courts celebs such as George and Ira Gershwin, Groucho Marx, Woody Guthrie, Howard Hughes, Orson Welles, Clarence Darrow, and Walter Winchell. Tokol's battle for truth and justice leads him to an unexpected horror in Algiers on the eve of America's entry into World War Two.

PRAISE FOR MAN WITH TWO FACES by Don Swaim: 
"Man with Two Faces is an extravaganza--a wild ride through Depression-era America with hair-raising escapes, daring capers, and cameos by Clarence Darrow, Orson Welles, Albert Camus, and plenty of others from that unforgettable era. Don Swaim writes with such bravura assurance and rollicking good humor that the readers are carried along from beginning to end with little chance--or desire--to catch their breaths." S.T. Joshi, author of I Am Providence: The Life and Times of H. P. Lovecraft*"No one tells a story quite like Don Swaim. He's written a hell of a good yarn about a lovable antihero who expertly twists his way through a gauntlet of close calls, from villains' bullets and assassins' blades to tender affairs of the heart." William J. Donahue, editor-in-chief of Philadelphia Life magazine and author of Too Much Poison

PRAISE FOR THE ASSASSINATION OF AMBROSE BIERCE: A LOVE STORY by Don Swaim:"Swaim weaves an engrossing web-work of literary references, historical detail, and ingenuous imagination. Genuine admirers of Ambrose Bierce will have no trouble falling in love with Swaim's "Love Story" - in fact, the only trouble they will have will be putting the book down for the night." Oldstyle Tales Press

About this title

About the Author

Don Swaim is the author of The Assassination of Ambrose Bierce: A Love Story (Hippocampus Press), The H.L. Mencken Murder Case (St. Martins Press), and other titles and tales. A Kansan by birth, Ohioan by education, Manhattanite by inclination, and Pennsylvanian by preference, Don is curator of the Internet's definitive Ambrose Bierce Site (donswaim.com), founder of the venerable Bucks County Writers Workshop, and voice of CBS Radio's "Book Beat."

Review

It would be tough to match the inventiveness of Don Swaim's last book, The Assassination of Ambrose Bierce: A Love Story, but he may well have outdone himself with Man With Two Faces, his latest. The story revolves around a Depression-era renaissance man named Tokol Tokoloshe: rumrunner, diamond thief and soldier of fortune, among other designations. Throughout this jaunt through a bygone America, our hero - "Tokee," as he's known to his blowgun-wielding sweetheart, Diana - battles a league of villains, such as Nazis, mobsters and his own amorous appetites. The pages are filled with memorable characters --  there's even a king cobra named Kyle  -- and marked by crisp, clever prose  from start to finish. Swaim aims to entertain, and he certainly delivers with this one. --Philadelphia/Suburban Life magazine.

About this edition

• Publisher: Montag Press
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1940233542
• ISBN 13: 9781940233543
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 230