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The author, while on a train trip through the United States and Canada, comments on the people and places he sees.
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TIN LIZARD TALES by Schuyler T. Wallace
Tin Lizard Tales: Reflections from a Train, is a ride worth taking. Although author Schuyler T. Wallace may appear as somewhat of a curmudgeon, he is more a man who is passionate about the problems of life. As we travel with him by train through the United State and Canada, there is much to learn from his humorous and often penetrating observations. Readers will experience the highs and lows of train travel: the smells and sounds, the rudeness and the joys of life both on and off the Tin Lizard.
Wallace begins our journey at the Amtrak station in Bakersfield, California, and from there readers are treated to a short primer on the safety and the history of train travel. Then sights along the way become brief history lessons with frequent detours that offer in-depth looks at the people and events that shaped North America.
Along the way, Wallace delves unashamedly into subjects such as corporate pollution, deceptive drug company practices, cruel food handling procedures, littering of the countryside, the homeless dilemma, and idiotic celebrities. Tin Lizard Tales provides an eclectic mix of stories that makes his book far more gratifying than the usual literary travel fare.
About Tin Lizard Tales, Wallace says, "I've attempted to include instances of beauty, comedy, and warm-hearted encounters because I'm really not a bitter person -- actually I'm as tender as a banker's heart. I'm attempting to call attention to the problems we all face as opposed to being malicious, although I suppose that interpretation is in the eye of the beholder."
Excerpt
"As kids, we were constantly being whistled off the Capitola, California trestle by passing trains. We were just eight or nine years old, full of piss and vinegar, and small town antics were all we had to keep us entertained."
One prank was "to place a penny on the railroad track, let a train run over it, and we then had a flattened penny that didn't cost a nickel" as it did at the penny arcade at Capitola Beach. "Our careful calculations showed there was no danger of derailing the train and, in general, it worked great. One time a penny shot out sideways and parted Peewee Handley's red hair, but that's the only misfire that I remember."
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