>Karen was on a plane out of Boze with some wealthy doctor and his wife
who'd
>spent the weekend at their Big Sky condo palace. She asked them if they
got out
>and hiked around the area. The woman said "no, they spent the whole
time buying
>more furniture, and didn't have a minute to actually look at the
wilderness
>they are helping to destroy"...or something to that effect...

I would recommend all the detective books and non-fiction by Carl
Hiaasen for people who have an issue with out-of-control development.
His stories are placed exclusively in Florida and he tackles the subject
with insight and lots of humor.  A re-occuring character is a one-eyed
ex-governor who live in the swamp, eats road kill (and annoying pets)
and punishes people he catches littering.  He has a fun mini-book about
Disney, sections on the re-birth of Times Square and the Disney build
suburbs in Florida.  Carl co-write a little with Warren Zevon in the
last few years.

I think I like hard-boiled fiction for much the reason I like power-pop
- there's a formula but enough variety to keep it interesting over the
long haul.  Dennis Lehane is great too - set in Boston, and George
Pelecanos - whose books are set in Washington - one of his characters
manages a vinyl shop and many scenes are set up describing the song
playing on the radio or on the stereo, he's had me searching our tunes
because of his obvious love for the music used in his books.

Lee Elliott
www.anotherplanet.ca