Customer Reviews

Tales Of The Blue Meanie

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You can always count on a good read from Allan Cole, one of my favorite writers. This one is more fun than I've had in a long while. It covers Allan's years living in Venice Beach, CA, in the sixties, and to quote Allan himself, it truly is damned funny. It will make you nostalgic for all the best parts of those times, and make you cringe at some of the worst. It's the sixties experience everyone should have had. It's worth reading just to get to know the Blue Meanie himself. Full of good characters and their great stories, it'll have you humming "Yellow Submarine" to yourself. A good fun read.

Once I picked up the book I was hooked. I just couldn't put it down. It's full of great stories, characters and memories of that amazing period of time in an equally amazing place (Venice Forever).

You can not read this book without saying to yourself, is this stuff true. Well there is little if any exaggeration going on here. I know this to be true, I am one of the characters. I'm Jay. I bet Alan could write volumes on these few short years that we where all together on Washington St in Venice, California.

Thanks, Allan. It's a great read.

Jay Tompkins

Man, this really DOES take me back. Imagine Steinbeck and his cast of characters, moved to the California Venice Canals in the late 60s; add in a touch of Kerouac and maybe just a bit of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and you have a taste of "Tales of the Blue Meanie." This is a great read and a lot of fun, and encapsulates a slice of life and a slice of time in the late 60s and early 70s that I mostly have cut off and left behind. Now, I may be just a bit biased because I am one of the cast of colorful characters depicted in the story, but I think it's very well written and a page turner none-the-less. Kudos to Allan for capturing the tastes, smells, and rollicking insanities and inanities of the period. And, what's amazing to me, that after all of the good and bad dope and the gallons of red mountain that was consumed, that, to the best of my recollection, most if not all of this is as I remember it happening (not to mention that we all survived relatively intact).

Hi, Allan Cole, here. The author of this book. I've been a professional book writer since 1981. And I have over a hundred hours of television and movie sales to my name. I think I know by now what is a good story and what isn't. But, I played hell getting any of my publishers to take a look at Tales Of The Blue Meanie. It's a true story. Damned funny, even if I say so myself. And is packed with interesting characters and interesting history. They all agreed to the above. Their excuse for passing: nobody cares about the Sixties. So, I took advantage of Amazon.com's excellent new publishing program and put out the book myself. The cover, when you see it in full, will blow you away. It's from a painting by Pat Hartman, one of the primo artists of Venice Beach, California. (http://www.virtualvenice.info/) Anyway, I think you'll like the book. If you hate it, drop me a line at sten3001@aol.com and tell me why. If you love it, say so here. And then write to my personally. For a limited period of time I'll give anyone who buys and loves the book a free book from my library.

Meanwhile, here's what some critics have said about some of my other books, all of which you can find here on Amazon.com.

Here's what critics have said about Cole's other works:

Lucky In Cyprus: A haunting, humbling, and sobering experience - J. A. Kaszuba Locke, Bookloons.com

A Reckoning For Kings: Classic war novel - SF Chronicle

The Timura Trilogy: Page turner of the year - Locus Magazine

The Sten Adventures: Landmark science fiction series - Publishers Weekly

A Cop's Life: Must-read for anyone with a badge - Philadelphia Fraternal Order Of Police

The Far Kingdoms Adventures - Finalist in the World Fantasy awards. And declared one of the best fantasy novels of the year by Locus Magazine.

MacGregor - Fascinating... A modern day knight errant - Boca Raton Daily News

Thanks to all...

Allan Cole

www.acole.com