The Foreign Service Journal, November 2007

WhenMike Gallatin’s young daughter is almost killed in one attack, this Cleveland investigator resolves to pur- sue the case. Drawing on his detective skills, he finds out about CHASM. But the ruthless national security adviser orders Gallatin’s “recall,” and he will have to risk his life to get to the bottom of the conspiracy. Chasm is a thriller about Washington powerbrokers and what can happen when one average citizen, a vic- tim of their policies, embarks on a quest to expose their hypocrisy and lies. It shows how malicious poli- cies can overwhelm their implementers, dragging them into self-destructive behavior. The book can be ordered from www.lulu.com . Poems: Dark Thoughts Robert W. Proctor, Mesilla Valley Press, 2006, $15.00, paperback, 34 pages. Only by openly grappling with “the shadows of a man’s nature” do we come to fully appreciate his brighter, more compassionate attributes, writes Robert Proctor in the introduction to his first full book of poet- ry. Following his earlier work, Selected Poems, 2001- 2004 , intended as a selection of “hors d’oeuvres in verse,” Proctor presents this new collection with sharper focus. Dark Thoughts explores the more frightening aspects of the mind and humanity. The 39 poems are grouped in two divisions: “Earth, Na- ture, Creatures” and “You, Me and Other People, Other Places.” The poems showcase the dichotomy of human nature, the bright and dark, violent and peaceful and resolved and disjointed, representing the author’s per- ception of the world as “incredibly beautiful and uncompromisingly harsh, and with a belief — still sub- ject to change— that man himself is the primary source of all his delights … and woes.” While exposing the shadowy influences and characteristics of our minds and mankind, Proctor reassures us that “darkness, as a force, has no equal — except light.” Robert Proctor is a retired teacher and FSO who served in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. His poems, short stories and essays have appeared in regional and 38 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 7