Amazon www.FineArtEdward.com Publishers Direct Bookstore Category:  Biography Publisher: American Book Publishing ISBN-10:  1589825047 Type: Non-Fiction Pages: 320 Copyright: 2007 ISBN-13: 978158925048 Synopsis of Book This book runs a gamut from the escapades of an adventurous young ‘scamp’ to the final story of the roots of his family, 1812 roots that barely survived Napoleon’s murderous invasion of Russia through Lithuania when the few shocked and bloodied serf survivors managed to flee into the forests to live on as little as tree bark. In between you will find an eclectic collection of all things written. You may cry, laugh, and experience every emotion between the two. You will find poems, narratives and stories both intellectually stimulating and wildly hilarious. You will adventure with the author in the Lomonosov, St. Petersburg area of Russia, work with him through his thirty one years as a firefighter, experiencing the depths of tragedy in the loss of a comrade and the heart wrenching losses of young children. You will battle black darkness and icy cold in an attempt to rescue a child lost in deep woods. You will visit with a specter from the past, live in the innocence, fears and poignant heart of a young boy, ride the waves of total nonsense and hilarity in a poem wherein the unfortunate hero mis-adventures across the continents, even below them and up through the very stars. And you will find peace and deep introspection of your own life. Midnight to Infinity the Humor and History of a Mischievous Artist Softcover, 320 Pages, includes ten pictures and photos dating back to the turn of the century. Autobiography beginning with the author's beginnings and ending with a Roots type story about the author's ancesters dating back to 1812 when Napolean poured through Lithuania in a disasterous invasion of Russia. The serfs, including the auhtor's family, were slaughtered like animals. The few survivors, including a little girl who would continue the family, fled into the forest to live on as little as soft tree bark.           The story continues to when the author's mother, a young girl, managed to escape from Lithuania, then under Rusian rule, and made her way to the United States. The book also, includes short stories, poetry, and narratives of the author's experiences with tragedies during his years on the fire department, and many writings of humor, even outrageous humor, and self-introspection and spirituality.

Pacific Book Review
Reviewed by: Gary Sorkin, Pacific Book Review
Edward R. Rogaishio writes a collection of poems, stories and thoughts in a rather unconventional genre in Midnight to Infinity, The Humor and History of a Mischievous Artist. Part auto-biography, part poetry, part diary, part philosophy, his voice is universally human. A sensitive, caring, loving man, with a depth of life experiences and an intrinsic appreciation of nature and beauty, Edward R. Rogaishio takes the reader into his world. A world that occupies his mind at times during the twilight of an evening when his body is tired but his thoughts are too stimulating to succumb to fatigue. A time when the unhurried events of his daily schedule allow for the freedom of his cognitive adventurism; boundless journeys into the past and ponderance of his future. A time when he is touched by his family, his ancestors, and friends – enjoying the reunions and fanciful exchanges in his mind. He thinks in a dimension where his words are often put into a literary pentameter with clever associations and rhymes – a wordsmith’s factory with thoughts going in and poetry being extruded. All this, and more, make up a robust 300 page diversity of humor and history, from indeed the mind of an artist.
Ed is a mensch, a real person with an undeniably spirited love of life. His narratives captivated me, especially his observations while traveling behind the Iron Curtain on goodwill missions of cultural exchange. Having my own personal heritage stem from Lithuania and Russia, and understanding much of the history, he shed an immense amount of clarity to my own understanding my ancestor’s plight.
If you think of his stories as a picture frame, then his poetry is his art, making his book become a masterpiece. A work of art that adorns a home library rather than a wall. Besides being an accomplished painter of which his cover abstract art of blue and white waves illustrates, Edward R. Rogaishio’s poetry has an illuminating and uplifting theme to most of it. Oddly whimsical, in a way reminiscent of the work by Ogden Nash, his poems take on clever and quite unpredictable prose, at times teasing the reader as to thinking what possibly could be his next line.
So when you consider the sheer volume of his epic quality poetry, his heart-felt stories, his observant narratives and add in a score of photographs and illustrations, you get a book – a unique book – a book of a life, the life of what all will call “a friend” once having read. To Mr. Rogaishio, I toast you with a glass of Stolichnaya in my left hand, and with my right hand pointer-finger snapping my lower jawbone down by the base of my ear by my neck, and I salute you with a Nazdarovia.