Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire [Kindle Edition]

Malcolm R. Campbell (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Readers who enjoy hard-bitten, wisecracking characters will surely fall in love with Jock Stewart, the main character in the new Malcolm Campbell novel, Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire. The story of the book revolves around the disappearance of the race horse, Sea of Fire, but it features a wagon load of human horsing around by the many colorful characters Campbell created, including Coral Snake Smith, Parker House, a preacher named Cotton Mouth and the Krispy Kreme eating police chief Kruller. While reading the story and gathering the clues, that frequently came to light as Stewart dialogued with his own intuition, readers may find themselves having great fun picking up the puns, word plays and hilarious cloaked references to cultural and historical items. Jock Stewart is an old time newspaperman, whose blunt force sarcasm keeps him in hot water with his bosses, co-workers and the police. But if not for his pressing the issue, the mystery would definitely not have been resolved. Stewart, Malcolm Campbell's self-acknowledged alter ego, is also the author's vehicle to decry the effects of the digital age on the craft of writing and the elegance of language. I found the book entertaining, and it might even become profitable, if I can get permission from the author to use the sermon outline he provided in chapter 13! --Ralph Bryant

Product Description

Mainstream humor with a dash of mystery... A throwback to Hollywood’s film noir reporters, Jock Stewart is out of touch with the looming world of digital journalism.

While he goes out of his way to mock those in authority by pretending to kowtow to them, he admits he does his best work by “being an asshole.” A mix of Don Rickles and Don Quixote, Stewart is the man for the job when the skirts are up and the chips are down...

Hard-boiled reporter Jock Stewart wakes up on the morning after the Star-Gazer office party with a hangover and an old flame in his bed and he cuddles up with the mayor’s wife in the back seat of a 1953 Desoto. Between these defining moments, he investigates the theft of the mayor’s race horse Sea of Fire and the murder of his publisher’s girl friend, Bambi Hill.

Stewart discovers the truth for his news stories via an interview style based on lies, pretense and audacious behavior...

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 357 KB
• Publisher: Vanilla Heart Publishing (August 5, 2009)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B002LLNUGC
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #282,245 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

Malcolm R. Campbell has a split personality. The celestial side of his personality wrote the contemporary fantasy novels "The Sun Singer" (2004, 2010 second edition) and "Sarabande" (2011) and the mysterious author's odyssey "Garden of Heaven" (2010). The rogue side of his personality wrote the comedic thriller "Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire" (2009).

Campbell lives in northeast Georgia.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Man of Many Faces, September 23, 2009

By 

Nora Caron (Montreal, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire (Paperback)

Jock Stewart has a quick answer to everything. He is sharp, unafraid to express himself, and loves to make people squirm in their chairs while he digs around for the "truth". He has the answer to everything except love. As much as Stewart portrays an outward appearance of a sarcastic journalist who has his life under control, there are many signs that he is afraid to uncover the real truth about himself. Campbell brings his readers to a place where it is hard to distinguish between reality and our own versions of it.

For those that like authors like Vonnegut or Miller, "Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire" is a must-read. The book contains a lot of dark humour, moments of sexual tension, and characters that go back and forth between light and dark. Campbell's play on words and original plot is sure to keep any reader on his or her toes.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Old-Time Noir, Kicked Up a Notch, September 19, 2009

By 

N. D. Whitney (Prescott, Arizona USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire (Paperback)

Meet Jock Stewart: irascible, sarcastic, somewhat reckless. He's Guy Noir freed from the confines of public radio.

Armed with a sharp wit and a (secretly) soft heart, Jock sets out to investigate the theft of the mayor's missing horse, Sea of Fire. For readers, arriving at the solution to the crime is secondary to simply enjoying as the colorful (and aptly named) characters become embroiled in a multitude of small-town hi-jinks. From the opening paragraph, Jock finds himself sucked into a world of deception, murder, and illicit trysts. Despite being set in modern times (as evidenced by the existence of Krispy Kremes), Sea of Fire has a delightfully old-time noir feel, kicked up a notch by fast-paced dialog and laugh out loud puns.

Malcolm Campbell clearly had fun writing this story, which takes the reader through as many twists and turns as a plate of the Purple Platter diner's spaghetti. Though his characters are obvious caricatures (such as Chief Kruller and Sergeant Bismarck), that doesn't mean they are in any way predictable. In fact, readers may find themselves surprised on several fronts, not the least of which being how much they've enjoyed the ride.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Had Me Laughing on First Page, July 5, 2010

By 

D. Salerni (Chester County, Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire (Paperback)

Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire is the first novel starring the wise-cracking journalist who heretofore has appeared in the Morning Satirical New blog and in the satire news article collection The Worst of Jock Stewart. (Jock Stewart is rumored to be the alter-ego of author Malcolm R. Campbell.) Jock Stewart is an old school journalist who started his career by handsetting metal type and doesn't appreciate the nuances of the upcoming digital news age as much as his editor wishes he would. As the Star-Gazer newspaper transitions toward a paperless future where Jock will no longer "report" the news, but merely "facilitate" discussion between (unpaid) bloggers and Internet users, Jock struggles to complete his one last, real news assignment. Unfortunately, the missing race horse Sea of Fire just refuses to turn up; his owners can't even commit to admitting he's been stolen, and the #1 suspect is Jock's on-again-off-again girlfriend, last seen leaving Jock's house without her little black dress. Then, there's the murder ...

First of all, I have to say that you shouldn't read this book for the mystery. I couldn't summon much concern for a race horse that may or may not have been stolen, and I never had any doubt about the mastermind behind the murder. The pleasure in reading this book is in the humor - rather in the vein of Joan Hess's Maggody series. Junction City is full of quirky, laughable characters whose daily activities are more interesting than the central mystery, and Jock Stewart's wise-cracking persona provides, even in third person, an enjoyable narration full of puns and word play. Whether it's Officer House, who, after accidentally shooting off his left nut (to be clarified as his sole remaining nut), no longer "has what it takes" to be a patrolman - or local author Cane Molasses who was roughed up by an unidentified woman for making the naughty slut in his novel "just like me" (to be clarified as the unidentified woman and not me) - Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire is full of fun, chuckles, and belly laughs.