The Grant Bailie railroad project has been chugging along for many years. He’s been throwing out bags of letters to each town he passes with such regularity it’s a wonder why anyone would think of advancements in technology.

Mr. Baile’s latest book, Mortarville, begins with one of Grant’s ancestors, his great, great uncle Willy, building a sand castle on shores of the northern most point of Ireland, the Irish province of Ulster. His plan was to open the castle to the outside world and turn it into a plantation, but the tide came in an hour later and destroyed uncle Willy’s creation. This made him very upset and he decided everyone took him for granted because he had such a childish name. A change would have to be made. He found a piece of driftwood and knighted himself The Polyhronopoulos then began his assault on the ones who had wrecked all his hopes and dreams. He died an hour later.

The book takes a strange turn from there and oddly enough the life and times of Uncle William are not touched upon again. Normally this wouldn’t work in a book and would leave readers scratching their heads or irate, but it works in this instant because this story isn’t part of the book. Mr. Baile has hidden this story within the copyright page.

The rest of Motarville is an interesting read. It looks at an oddball character that goes by the name The Basque American screwing his Phillips Head into a Columbian river basin. Yes, that is the character’s name, The Basque American screwing his Phillips Head into a Columbian river basin and the book highlights his adventures living in a time of nuclear holocausts.

This is a serious read for anyone concerned with the end of times as it sets a foundation of how one should survive if the world should choose to check out early. According to Bailie there are two ways to look at the world when the end comes. You either live out the remaining days in doom until you kill yourself or you get a hobby like collecting camels and enjoy what time you have left. The latter option is what The Basque American screwing his Phillips Head into a Columbian river basin chose. And the novel follows him as he collects a herd of over a dozen hump backs.

review by Mark Baumer