The Revelation of Chester Fortunberry by Don Waitt

a review by Karl Wenclas

Sometime later, a man named Theodore would be able to verify how surprised Chester was by the events of that day. He would know this for a fact because Chester told him so.

While Chester was being held captive in Theodore’s basement.

Are you a fan of unusual novels? Those unlike anything you’ve ever read? 

THE REVELATION OF CHESTER FORTUNBERRY by Don Waitt is an unusual novel, focused on questions, ideas and arguments more than plot– though there is a plot, one centered upon the question, “What’s really happening?”

A philosophical discussion in the form of a novel, the protagonist, Chester Fortunberry, is in dialogue with his mind, as well as with several characters who may or may not be reflections of his mind. They’re debating the proposition, “Is everything a figment of our imagination?” The discussion explores three areas: “1. Time. 2. The mind. 3. The universe.”

At the same time the book is a mystery story. 

Why is Chester Fortunberry being held prisoner in a basement? Who is the man feeding him? Who are those behind the man– including the two men in a shiny black Cadillac who’ve been following his every move? What is it all really about?

The novel is thought-provoking. At one point it even touches on fine-tuned universe theory–

“Yes, billions of things had to align in just the right way at just the right time for us to exist. For you and I to be sitting on this beach. We are the result of a quantity of variables our minds can’t even fathom. An extra atom here or there, a few degrees hotter or colder, and we would not exist.”

— which surprised me. (A theory I read about in a book by Stephen Hawking.)

Some of the discussion then is heavyweight stuff, but presented in a crystal-clear style which anyone can follow– proving what I’ve always believed, that clarity of writing reflects clarity of thought. 

If you want to read a well-written discussion of who and why we are (with a plot puzzle or two thrown in)– like sitting in a room exchanging challenging thoughts with a highly intelligent person– then The Revelation of Chester Fortunberry is for you.

The book can be purchased at Lulu and at Amazon.
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(Photo of Don Waitt.)

Police Stories by Don Waitt

Reviewed by New Pop Lit

“I could see the younger brother flat on his back on the operating table. I could see the blood pumping out of his chest, straight up into the air, just like those little flat water fountains that kids drink out of at the park.”

Fiction or memoir?

Regardless, this is reality, written in straightforward prose that hits you between the eyes like a two-by-four. Five not-always-politically-correct tales of a police beat reporter taken from life.

POLICE STORIES contains short pieces, concise, written with total clarity– too much clarity, like the police photos Don Waitt describes in the strongest of the five stories.

“Bam, bam, bam, those photos kept cycling through my head, always in sequence, starting with the embodiment of goodness and purity and ending with vivid photographic proof that evil had taken on a new definition for me, that my understanding of true evil had, in just a few brief seconds, made a horrifying leap from assumption to reality.”

Depictions of criminal evil, mixed with insight and humor.  Veteran detectives investigating the underside of life, and yes, in this tough world which tough men police, those men– flawed, calloused, cynical– are the good guys.

Five stories. All strong, containing excellent writing.

A free copy of Police Stories can be obtained simply by emailing Don’s daughter Devyn Waitt.

Don Waitt’s first book, Leaving Early, is available thru Amazon here.

(Photo of Don Waitt.)