Title

         Gilberto a caballo

         Gilbert horseback riding

         in La Confluencia

         Jarabacoa, Republica Dominicana

Ride the Forbidden Horse and Other Stories

Todd & Honeywell, Inc.

First edition

    ISBN  0-89962-344-1

    © 1984  Gilbert Creutzberg  All rights reserved

    CreateSpace.com

Second edition

    ISBN  145058845X

    ISBN13  9781450588454

© 2010 Gilbert Creutzberg  All rights reserved

Four years after "Ride the Forbidden Horse" came out, the publisher, Todd & Honeywell, went

out of business, without leaving a clue how to order copies.  Not until 25 years later, when my second book, "The Mosaic," was published in 2009, did I notice that both books were listed by Amazon.com.

The back cover reads: 
"Ride the Forbidden Horse" is a collection of short stories with an emphasis on stark realism. These 'tales from the streets' are concerned with sexual love, drug addiction, crime, prostitution and mental illness. Readers will find every human emotion expressed in this fine collection. Each story has an unusual twist in plot...

The author has a keen eye for descriptive narrative and makes the characters come alive out of the pages and into the lives of the readers.

 After re-reading my collection of short-stories that had been dormant over the years, I decided to reissue it. I had to ask myself, "Is this book, published in 1984, still relevant in our time?"  I answered my own question with a resounding "Yes."  Surely, we  lived then in a world without I-pods and cellular phones, but the stories are not outdated and human feelings and conflicts haven't changed. The book has not lost one iota of its relevance to life in 2010. People are still people.

The five stories in this book have a common theme, which is metaphorically suggested by the title, "Ride the Forbidden Horse." The author attempts to delve into forbidden areas of life:  the taboos, the unmentionables. These are tales of human passion in which raw sex and drugs are frequently interwoven in a subtle play of human relationships.

The symbolic significance of the horse as an archetype  is not limited to  one meaning, as Carl Jung shows in Symbols of Transformation.  As a prelude to the other stories, the frightening loss of control over the forbidden horse signals the loss of impulse control associated with drug addiction, mental illness, violence, and death. It is the story of Phaeton, who, disobeying the command of his father, Helios, the Sun-god, seized the reins of the ferocious horses that moved the sun along its route across the heavens, but, losing control, he plunged into the ocean. Yet, as in the myth, the cycle of life continues.

Some comments from readers:

"Students in several sociology classes under my instruction have been using this book as a supplement to their textbook. 'Ride the Forbidden Horse' provides a near 

authentic look at the forbidden areas of life in both sexual and drug relationships...

It peeks at the world of central city combat zones and deviant encounters. I highly endorse this book to vitalize sociology courses taught to college students."

    Charles J. Cataldo, DSW
    Assistant Professor, Sociology
    Plymouth State College
    New Hampshire

    1984

"I applaud a book entitled 'Ride the Forbidden Horse', by Gilbert Creutzberg.  I am a social worker, working in the field of substance abuse and was pleasantly surprised to find a book of short stories which accurately and realistically pictures drug abuse and addiction and brings up important issues regarding drug abuse, drug treatment and mental health, in addition to being literate, well written and interesting. I recommend it highly to my colleagues in both the substance abuse and social work fields."

    Edith Springer, MSW, ACSW
    St. Luke's/Roosevelt Hospital Center

    New York, NY

    1984

Tasting Life for What It Is

    Strategic Book Publishing and Rights Co.

    ISBN 978-1-62212-105-2

    © 2012 Gilbert Creutzberg - All rights reserved

    (Paperback edition and e-book edition)

It's a collection of short stories and a stage play.  If you liked  "Ride The Forbidden Horse 

and Other Stories," you'll like this  book.  A number of the stories deal with alcohol and drugs.

One story deals with racial conflict. Here and there the paranormal pops up.  This is not a book recommended for children unless they are very precocious.  The language and subject matter are raw, like my first book,  "Ride the Forbidden Horse and Other Stories."

Press Release:

"What are we looking for in life?  This collection of fiction contains seven short stories 

and a stage play. Its common thread is our need to taste life for what it is, though that need may be markedly different from one person to the next. The spice of life sometimes involves the forbidden, the bizarre, the dangerous. From our very beginnings, love and sex have been spiced with drugs and alcohol to enhance our sensations. We yearn for redemption, but often get trapped in a maze.    This powerful book offers a close look into the lives of people who are tasting life for what it is."

The Mosaic

    Strategic Book Publishing/AEG Publishing Group

    ISBN   978-60693-736-5     SKU   1-60693-736-7

    © 2009 Gilbert Creutzberg   All rights reserved

    ( Original hard cover edition ) 

Second edition (soft cover) 2010 by 

   Strategic Book Group 

   ISBN: 978-1-60976-772-3

 © 2010 Gilbert Creutzberg  All rights reserved

Electronic edition 2012 by

   Strategic Book Group

   ISBN: 978-1-61897-503-4 

© 2012 Gilbert Creutzberg All rights reserved

 (Amazon.com, Kindle store, Barnes & Noble, Nook store. Other countries, all electronic editions) 

"The Mosaic" is a book about Nazi-occupied Holland, when the author was a teenager...

a book that tells about how Gilbert's family stood up  against the oppressor...

and how his cousin risked her life by rescuing a Jewish baby...

you'll read how the church where Gilbert's father was the pastor  was destroyed by the Nazis to make room for the "Atlantik Wall"...

and you learn about the heroic resistance by Jan Verleun, who gave his life in the fight for freedom...

the book tells how a priceless art work, a mosaic depicting the Last Supper, was salvaged...

you also want to know what we have learned from those war years, and what we are prone to forget... 

Some comments from readers:

"This extremely readable book -- named after a mosaic in his father's church that was rescued from destruction before the Nazis demolished the church -- tells the story of life under the Nazi occupation and of the hardships that followed, and raises important questions about the nature of humanity and the meaning of evil."

    The Episcopal New Yorker, Dec. 2009

"There is a new book out about the Dutch Resistance during WWII, centering on their protection of holocaust refugees. entitled THE MOSAIC. It reads a bit like a  Steinbeck novel, with a nice fluid style. The time frame  transitions are interesting, as well as Creutzberg's

 personal accounts, which are fascinating. He basically maps out his personal growth experiences alongside the war's developments."

    Jim Kental

    Yahoo Message Boards

"This book opened my eyes! It's a fascinating account of this young boy living through the invasion by the Nazis in Holland... I recommend it to everyone."

    baybrennen2

    YouTube

"I loved your book. The form fits the title and life,  too, which is fragmented. Someone asked me once to tell about my life and I said, "Which one?"  How nice to have met someone else who has dreams of flying.  In my dreams, I am the plane/leaf/bird. What a feeling of power! It is glorious. I felt in reading your book that I have met a dear friend."

     Lorna Ryder, 2009

    Guest book www.gilbertcreutzberg.com

"He didn't know it at the time, but the morning of May 10, 1940 was a pivotal morning in the life of Gilbert Creutzberg, who was then 11 years old.  That was the morning German troops invaded Holland, which was a neutral nation, like Switzerland. It took  some time for young Creutzberg to grasp the ramifications. In fact, much of the country was in  a state of disbelief. They believed that, as a neutral country, they were safe. Hitler's Nazi army proved otherwise. 

"Though close to tears, a curious sense of dispassionate observation crept over Gilbert. 

He was aware that this was a very important  moment in history and there was no reason to cry. it was as if things would remain somewhat unreal as long as he stayed an observer," wrote Creutzberg in his memoir, "The Mosaic." It wasn't until a Jewish classmate disappeared that the horror of the situation began to sink in for young Creutzberg."

    Kim Harnett 

    Suburban Trends, Feb. 2010

The site of Gilbert's Dutch publisher, which not only has an obituary but also some video of his book presentation in 2017 in Amsterdam. https://www.conserve.nl/fonds/het-mozaiek-32/