I first came across Philip Gould's photography in Jason Berry's living room down in New Orleans this February. Jason had just presented me with the mesmerizing Louisiana Faces. Gould is a masterful photographer on many levels, but it is his portraits of the people of Louisiana that grab me the most.

So it was a special Christmas treat to get the latest version of Louisiana Cultural Vistas. I knew it would feature an excerpt of Last of the Red Hot Poppas but had not realized the excerpt would be coupled with Gould's work. Gould's photos and Berry's words hit just the right notes together. And the fact that the magazine editors decided to print Gould's photos without explanatory captions allows us to imagine that the characters in the pictures have jumped right out of the novel. It's a great touch.

Some other good Poppas news: Curtis Wilkie wrote a glowing review of the novel in The Southern Register, the newsletter for the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi. Wilkie writes that "Berry gets it just right in this jambalaya of a novel concerning high corruption and lowly scoundrels," adding later:

"Money, of course, has flowed for years from Big Oil, which plunders the Gulf Coast, pollutes its people and puts money in the pockets of politicians. The skies over Baton Rouge are a testament to Big Oil's power; refineries burn there with the impunity of hell itself. Thus, an aide to the governor is pleased when the sky turns blue for LaSalle's funeral. 'He had persuaded Exxon to cut the smokestacks to clear air for the services.'

"Laconic lines like this drive the narrative; lines such as the one where an FBI agent is told, 'Your problem is deciding who not to indict.' This is, after all, a state where a recent roster of convicts included a governor, an attorney general, an elections commissioner, an agriculture commissioner, three insurance commissioners, a congressman, a Federal judge, a state president and sundry local officials."

Neither of the publications cited above are available online, which serves as another reminder that not all the good reading can be had on the Internet just yet.