"I never stopped being astonished at Terry Dobson's passion, his happy ruthlessness, and his compassionate joy. Anything he asked me to do, I did, and I would have been glad to give him my car and my horse if he had asked."
—Robert Bly, author of Iron John: A Book About Men

"Riki Moss debuts with a wonderfully original comic novel about art both fine and martial, about self-betrayal and redemption through love, beautifully written and full of memorable characters. Her louche, bohemian Vermont is captured in full color, like Anne Tyler's Baltimore and Richard Russo's upstate New York."
—Michael Gruber, New York Times bestselling author of The Forgery of Venus and The Book of Air and Shadows

"Our fantasy of a martial artist is usually of an exotic warrior: impeccably controlled, shifting between poles of cryptic wisdom and profound silence. Riki Moss gives us an only slightly fictionalized account of a real martial artist—a giant Falstaff of a man, his flaws as enormous as his gifts. Aikido is a martial art that purports to reconcile others, to establish peace. How much more illuminating to read of a man who, rather than one of those blow-dried fighting sages, actually needed the teaching himself."
bauthor of Dueling with O-sensei

"Read the stories of two 'warriors'—an extraordinary and charismatic man and the feisty woman who loves him—open-hearted characters who meet toward the end of his life and live these years together passionately and as richly as possible. Powerful, earthy, funny and spiritual."
—Jane Pincus, co-author of Our Bodies, Ourselves

By Scott Masterton, Minneapolis

"An Obese White Gentleman in No Apparent Distress" is the fictionalized version of Aikido Sensei Terry Dobsons life. It is a life that can only be described as paradoxical; filled with mirth, madnes and of course boundless love. Max (Dobson's fictional doppelganger) proudly wears his flaws like ketchup stains on his heavy white Gi; he drinks too much, takes too many drugs, eats to much red meat, while at the same time teaches conflict resolution via the Aikido principles of love and blending. He poo-poos tradition while at the same time shows a deep reverence for all things historical from both the East and the West. "What saved me was what saves all Martial men: martial men are filled with love". Dobson's undying love for Lena (Moss' doppelganger) drips from these pages.

Dobson's life partner Riki Moss writes with a simple and yet profound style that instantly pulls the reader into the story; her spiritual insights into the life of her man and her own life are inspiring. There is what can only be described as a brutal honesty to this book as Moss shows no compunctions about exposing this man and herself as flawed and so very human. Most of us spend our lives switching masks, only rarely allowing our real image to be revealed and even then only for brief glances before we snap them back into place. Rarely do we take them off and let the world look upon our naked souls. Riki Moss does that in this book with unabashed courage. Bravo.

There are lots of books that are entertaining, but only a few that have the power to turn our perceptions inward; few that encourage us to look at ourselves, warts and all. This is one of those books. A definite must read for anyone not afraid to look at their own diabolical nature to fully see the light that shines within. This is a great book that has the potential to shift the way you see the world.Pick this one up...you won't regret it.

By Little Mary (Freebs)

"What a big wild hairy book! Funny, touching and wise. If you didn't know Terry Dobson, or the capacious Riki Moss, this book is the next best thing. It is like the most entertaining dinner conversation, where you stagger away at 3 in the morning and lay awake in the dark smiling.

By Deborah Barlow
The title should be a clue: This is a work of extreme creativity, humor and deep human connection. Moss has done something very difficult--sidestepped the flawed and overwrought memoir genre and moved the story of extraordinary lives in an extraordinary time into a work of fiction. It is a credit to Moss' gifts (Is this really her first novel? She's just way too good to be a rookie) that she can merge fiction and "real life" with such skill that the reader does not feel manipulated or maligned in the process.

And these characters. You care about them immediately, and you want to find out what happens to them. This will be a book you will want to finish and will find hard to put down. The warmth, the comic turns, the engaging dialogue and commentary are all part of what makes this an unforgettable read.


By Igor Lurye (USA)
The book is very full, and gets very heavy twds the end. It it is very emotionally charged, and somehow succeeded at completely entangling me into that emotional context, which is basically that of Terry Dobson's diverse dualism, through which emerged his unshakable love for his woman (who i think is the author) and with it for the whole world - with or without it. It is interesting to note, how an aikido master (or not), reckless and inobstinate in his mundane life, gets almost automatically purified and tuned up at the hour of his death approaching, which is a story in and of itself. Overall, i give it a firm 5.