Two Pigs and a Chicken

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Summary: a man of many (cowboy) hats
Review: as Jim Ostach once remarked, Two Pigs and a Chicken is "a remarkable story, endearing characters, and a wonderful ending." Jim couldn't have been more right. This enchanting tale of blue collared romance amidst chaotic domestica is filled with bathos peppered with hubris. Seligman massages romantic ideals like a husky Vietnamese Jane Austen. He is truly a master in command of such dazzling literary devices such as chiasmus. As a former student of Seligman's I can proudly assert that Seligman deftly blends assonance, alliteration and astronomy into a higher school of thought. His book goes where The Color Purple never could and where The Grapes of Wrath blundered. It's a dust bowl ballad for lovers of all civil war battles, from Shiloh to Bull Run and Antietam to Vicksburg. No conisseur is left behind. Seligman blessed with a fiery mane propels his passion for the universal plight of love in Two Pigs. This book is deceptively simple, tricking us to thinking it's comparable to the county fair and before you know it you're trapped inside a bonnet and chaps. It's like the strength of Orion, mighty and bold disappearing only to leave us waiting for more (Three Pigs and a Coop?????)

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Summary: A Note From The Author
Review: I would like to thank the many readers who have sent such kind comments about my novel, "Two Pigs and a Chicken", and to let them know that in response to their requests, a sequel -- "The Maiden All Forlorn" -- will be published around the end of 2005.

I would also like to answer the many questions that I have been asked about the novel's setting. I was deliberately vague about that, stating only that it takes place in "a land which exists not in ordinary space and time, but only in our collective imaginations," because I felt that it was the characters and their story which were important, not the setting.

Despite that, many readers have told me with some certainty exactly where the novel must have taken place. Suggestions have ranged from Ireland or Wales, to Pennsylvania or Ohio, and even the American West. And in my mind, any of these places could have been the setting, depending upon the time frame, as the novel was meant to be a timeless story of love and friendship that could have been set almost anywhere, if it were set in the real world. But it is not set in the real world. It is set in that place where we keep our dreams, and the hope that those dreams will be fulfilled.

The setting is the imaginary land of Erindale, and the Erindale Valley, which is not meant to resemble any specific place, but is inevitably similar to any number of real places. In "Two Pigs and a Chicken", there was no need to reveal any of the local geography, save for the low hill which lies between Gael's farm, and Ryan's farm. In the sequels, more of the landscape will be revealed, so that the reader has some idea how far apart different places are, and the sort of terrain which lies between them; but the geography is not of any importance. It is the people who live in Erindale, and what they are like, and what they do, that is the basis of the stories. So, please feel free to imagine Erindale anywhere, and any way, that you would like it to be.