It's author Jonathan Pearce, not having a headache or a sore tooth, but in a usual reflective mood, probably on or near Memorial Day, Veterans Day, or perhaps thinking about Don Keyshot, narrator of A Perched-in Soul.

   According to folks over in neighboring Lodi, Balona is "that swampy place" under the Yulumne River levee. But to Balonans, their village of about 2,500 souls is, if not remotely Heaven, at least homely. Jonathan has populated the place with teens, quirky old folks, wiseacres, crooks, some distinctly retro ideas, a friendly cannibal, dumbells, geniuses, possibly a serial murderer, Cool Beautiful People, the Rejected, veterans, ghosts, weirdos, veterinarians; and the Slys, Ordways, Chauds, Runcibles, and Preenes. Of course, a featured narrator or character is the inimitably predictable would-be secret agent, psychologist, poet, and retro teen detective Joseph Oliver Kuhl and his funny, quirky family. The author has written sympathetically (sort of) about many of these oddball characters in his Balona Books. He's also written some critically acclaimed historical fiction.

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