The Ghost Dancers

by G.P. Schultz, Andrea Warren (Editor)

From Thorpe Menn award winning author G.P. Schultz. The Ghost Dancers is a novel of historical romance set in the 1930's and 1940's.Shorty is just a scrappy fun-loving kid when he and Katie and their gang witness the infamous Union Station massacre in 1933. That incident starts him on a path that leads to small time crime, run-ins with the Mafia, and an association with the powerful Pendergast machine that controls Kansas City. Shorty's profession as a numbers runner and his Dutch Hill rough-and-tumble Irish immigrant upbringing don't stop him from courting the beautiful, headstrong Emma, who has defied her upper crust family to study at the Art Institute and persue her own dreams. Then there's Katie. Shorty's younger sister wants to rescue her brother from a life of crime. She also wants a life of her own with joe, who dreams of being a writer and is deeply in love with her.The gang enters adulthood, sharing moonlight swims, practical jokes, and first love. But World War Two intervenes, and suddenly life turns deadly serious. On the beaches of Guadalcanal, Shorty, Joe, and their friends must face the most difficult moments of their lives, when courage and luck will change their destinies forever.

259 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Bio Smash
G.P. Schultz was born in Longacre, West Virginia to a coal mining family. He grew up in wild, wonderful West Virginia, where he loved to play sports. He then served with the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii where he met his wife, Vicki, who was attending the University of Hawaii. They have two daughters and currently reside in Kansas City.
His writing career began in mid-life, with the publication of his first novel, Gully Town. His idea for the novel came from years of working with the Irish and the Itailans in the River Quay area of Kansas City, and he wanted to revive the city’s rich history in a novel.
He currently divides his time between his one man marketing business and writing, but also enjoys golf and gardening, and follows any sporting event that requires the use of a ball.
He writes fiction, but combines it with years of research to make his novels accurate in time and place. His writing philosophy is, that you can’t have a compelling story, without a compelling romance.

Reviews

[Haley Whitehall · Rating 2 out of 5]

G. P Shultz has more of a memoir writing style than a novel voice. This took me a while to get used to. The group of friends followed in this novel each have their own quirks and personality. I found it interesting how they interacted with each other, influenced each other. However, I would have liked the characters to have been developed deeper. This novel is written very simply (translate as not fresh), but it made the book a very easy read.

Perhaps it is just my preference, but the best part of the book was during the actual war. According to the Author’s Note, the novel “follows the exact movements of the 25th Infantry Division during World War II, the battle scenes are fictitious.” That would explain why army life felt real. I haven’t read that many books set during World War II so I learned several things reading these scenes.

This book is more of a historical literary love story. In order for a liteary novel to shine, the characters have to be extremely well-drawn, unique and strong. In The Ghost Dangers this was not the case. I did not feel a strong connection to the story and I was never fully pulled into the novel.

[Laurie Jameson · Rating 3 out of 5]

My taste runs more to large books with a lot of character development, so I didn't really expect to like this book simply because it is not very long. I was pleasantly surprised though. The Ghost Dancers is a deceptively simple read, but touches on themes important to all of us; love, loss, family and the importance of friendship. There were no surprises for me plot-wise, but I still found myself caring about the characters, though I would have liked to have seen them fleshed out a bit more. On the other hand, leaving the characters a little under-developed allows the reader's imagination to take over, so maybe that's not always such a bad thing. I think most people hope to have a Shorty, a Katie, a Corky and a Joe in their life, which makes this story easy for anyone to identify with.

In a nutshell, I enjoyed the story.

[Linda K · Rating 1 out of 5]

It is difficult to write a review when you have been given a free copy by the author and then do not care for the book. As a native to the Kansas City area, I was drawn to reading about it during this time of the 1930's and 40's.

Although it was fun to read about the town landmarks of Union Station and the downtown area, I was quickly disenchanted due to the author's use of crude and graphic sexual remarks. I put the book down more than once in disgust, but felt obligated to finish it as I had said that I would read it and review.

Aside from that, the book is written in a predictable manner, with predictable dialog and predictable outcomes. Ironically, my husband was reading another of this author's books at the same time, Incident at Simms Center, and he thought it was very good.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author of this book was kind enough to send this to me because of my interest in historical fiction. It's the story of friends/family as they are growing up in Kansas City during the WWII period. It wasn't what I was expecting when I started reading it and quickly realized I was on page 35 and already drawn in. This was a very sweet story with well defined characters. It was a bit more of a charming love story than I usually like to read, but it moved quickly and I enjoyed reading it.

[Katharine Wells · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific book given to me by Grandmother who lives in Kansas City. This book made me laugh and cry. I adore the character's G.P. Schultz creates, each lyrical and beautiful. I couldn't put it down from start to finish.