Janko, James 1949–

PERSONAL: Born 1949; married Uong Chanpidor. Education: Studied at University of California, Berkeley.

ADDRESSES: Home—Oakland, CA. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Curbstone Press, 321 Jackson St., Willimantic, CT 06226-1738.

CAREER: City College of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, instructor of English as a second language and native language literacy. Military service: Served as a medic in Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

WRITINGS:

Buffalo Boy and Geronimo (novel), Curbstone Press (Willimantic, CT), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS: James Janko's studies at the University of California at Berkeley on conservation, as well as his time spent as a medic in Vietnam during the Vietnam War, mirror the content of his debut novel, Buffalo Boy and Geronimo. Set during that war, the story follows a young Mexican-American medic who is distraught over the fighting and destruction of the wilderness around him. The novel received mostly positive reviews. Jim Coan, writing in Library Journal, commended the use of "naturalistic detail" in this "engaging and tragic human drama," while a Publishers Weekly reviewer felt the focus on introspection and description in the novel "comes at the expense of plot movement." However, a reviewer for Kirkus Reviews considered the prose to be "often lyrical though never self-conscious." Finally, Gerald Nicosia, writing in the Los Angeles Times, predicted that the novel "is a debut that seems to portend more fine work to come."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Hartford Courant, January 22, 2006, Michael Lee, "Vietnam War Memories Alive in Two Books," review of Buffalo Boy and Geronimo.

Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2005, review of Buffalo Boy and Geronimo, p. 995.

Library Journal, December 1, 2005, Jim Coan, review of Buffalo Boy and Geronimo, p. 113.

Los Angeles Times, January 22, 2006, Gerald Nicosia, "All You Need Is Love, Even in War," review of Buffalo Boy and Geronimo.

Publishers Weekly, October 24, 2005, review of Buffalo Boy and Geronimo, p. 34.