DINNER WITH W.T.

Author:
Rick Baber

From fiction on line with a modern-day Twain, to lyrics worthy of your favorite honky-tonk bar, to essays on getting through the 21st century in the South, Rick Baber provides a full barbecue buffet of good readin'.

~ AMY

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"Baber is a man of vision; not of the present, but of the past"

I have just completed reading Dinner With W.T, and as soon as I wipe the tears of laughter from my eyes, I hope to give you the reader, a true and accurate view of the book. Rick Baber is a man of vision, vision not of the future but a vision of the past. Much along the lines of Garrison Keeler, Rick takes us into his world to give us a place to belong.

His masterful use of verbiage brings to life long forgotten moments from our own pasts and allows the reader to once again visit those sometimes confusing, sometimes painful, but now with age and time, often times humorous incidents. He paints with a colorful palette, telling how he and friends conspired to get a snow day. How he dealt with a poor, old woman with Rhumors. He slashes his canvas with bits or quiet watercolors in the form of poetry and lets the reader gain an insight into his persona. He even opens a part of his life that few allow us to see - his anger. His focal point and the title of the book is so hilarious that might I caution the reader not to have a cup of coffee in their hands when reading! I really do believe he owes me a new keyboard since I spilled my coffee because I laughed so hard.

Rick has a hit here; he will have a following and those of us privileged to take his journey will grow from the experience of knowing this fine gentle man. This book leaves us wanting more, we want to again live our lives vicariously through his, we want him to again dredge up those long forgotten memories of past lives, lives before minivans, before IRA's, before we had to have the toys that define our mundane lives today.

Jacquie Britton, Children's Book Author

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"..good, old-fashioned story telling.."

A smooth blend of wit, irreverence, nostalgia, and whimsy are how we visit the past, deal with the present, and contemplate the future in Dinner With W.T.— The CyberMouth Chronicles. The short story entitled Dinner With W.T. is certainly the main event in this eclectic collection from the diverse mind of Rick Baber. In this hilarious tale of "life on the road," he demonstrates his adaptability for good old-fashioned story telling. With deftness and vivid imagery, he draws you in for the ride; the anticipation takes hold, as you eagerly fasten your seat belt. … Rich with character, personality, and humor, each offering in the Chronicles is a crowd-pleaser; together – unbeatable.

~ Jennifer Koplitz

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"[Barber] is the thinking man's redneck."

A completely unauthorized review of “DINNER WITH W.T.”

What can I say about Rick Baber that hasn’t already been said - he's a Poet, a Humorist, lover of barnyard animals? Okay, scratch the last one. Truth be told, Rick Baber is a burgeoning star on the horizon. His brand of down-home humor and “every man” sensibility, gives him an accessibility that is a cross between David Sedaris and Jeff Foxworthy. A thinking man’s redneck if you will.

The title piece, “Dinner with W.T.” was perhaps the funniest and most absurdly amusing work I’ve ever read. Rick’s ability to self-deprecate in the face of such embarrassing circumstances is a testament to the charm of his Southern-fried wit. You will revel in his tales of adolescent rebellion in “The Great Ice Capades of 1971”, and you will you will almost certainly shed a tear in his nostalgia look at the Baby Boomer’s most beloved dinosaur, the drive-in movie, in “ Ode to a Silver Screen”. You will also delight in his appreciation for the eccentric, as he paints an elaborate portrait in a muddied homage to Arthur, in “For Unlawful Construction (K) Nomenclature.”

Rick Baber’s literary debut is pickled with poetry about his amusing existence, as well as a working man’s survival guide on how to deal with bill collectors, unhygienic bakers, and the annoying “Sunday drivers”. All in all, Rick Baber has a finger on what makes people laugh, unfortunately for him, that finger is pointing at him... and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

~ John Sarmento

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In his first offering, Dinner With W.T., Rick Baber serves up a mixture of stories and poems guaranteed to satisfy anyone hungry for homespun humor and charm.

While his wife, Becky, (who did not drop the baby off the Maytag), frequently refers to him as a “redneck”, Rick appears to be more a misplaced renaissance man. Writer, musician, insurance adjuster, field soils god – he leads us into the mundane world of drive-ins, marriage, unemployment, bill collectors and “regular food at as cheap a price as possible” and turns it into an hilarious adventure.

His coming-of-age stories, Ode to the Silver Screen and The Great Ice Capades of 1971 capture the innocence and idiocy of teens in the late 1960s with painful accuracy. Anyone who ever snuck into a drive-in movie or “put Fred in a 55 gallon barrel and rolled him down the hall” will appreciate the wry humor of these tales. On the other hand, The Cold Shoulder, and the poem “Rhythm Machine” explore some of the more peculiar aspects of marriage. Anyone who can incorporate a fried bologna sandwich into a story has to be good.

Still, the main course of this literary feast is the title story Dinner with W.T. I don’t want to give away too much of this riotous tale, but W.T. is a turtle and what he’s dining on would make any man holler and curl up like a spider on a hot stove. How he gets into this situation and how he ponders getting out of it create a laugh-out-loud (and squirm inside) saga you won’t forget.

If you want to kick back and have a good laugh, then Dinner with W.T. is a great way to spend an evening.

~ Hannah Hanszen