Tag: author

#17

by Gene DeWeese

I was browsing my shelves late last night because I wasn’t yet tired, although I should have been. That’s when I discovered that this book is the sequel to the one I read earlier (Chain of Attack). The Enterprise goes back to the anomaly to find out why people coming near it and similar openings seem to be experiencing terror and paranoia. Spock and Kirk believe that this may be the reason why there was so much destruction in the area where the anomaly/nexus left them in the last book. The author does a good job of explaining the physics theories that are the basis of the existence of the nexus and the cause of the terror, but it wasn’t as interesting to me as the first book.

#16

by S.P. Somtow

The plot of this book is complicated and difficult to explain briefly. The author draws on elements of Indian culture and mythology for the alien race he creates. The multiple story lines are woven together tightly, but at times it was difficult for me to follow what was happening. Still, it was an enjoyable read.

Wow. Two books in one day. If I keep this up, I might actually get to fifty books read this year.

#13

Wow. It’s been well over a month since I last read a book. I am so far behind on this fifty book challenge!

I knew I needed to read something the other evening, so I selected something relatively short and entertaining. Crisis on Centaurus by Brad Ferguson fit the bill. It’s a Star Trek novel set in the original series. I found the 1960s/1980s perspective on computers to be quite amusing. The Enterprise computer has experienced a malfunction that causes problems all over the ship. Before they are able to go to a starbase for repairs, they are sent to Centaurus to aid in the recovery from a huge matter/anti-matter explosion that wiped out the capital city and killed thousands of people. The tension builds steadily throughout the story, but the resolution is abrupt and unsatisfying. It seemed to me that the author had a much fuller story that got cut down in the editorial process. Too bad, because he had some interesting subtext with some of the minor characters like Chekov and Sulu.

updates

General update about blog stuff and things happening in my life.

My recently read/reading list is gone for a little while. I tried upgrading the plugin last week, and it broke. The author says he’ll have a fix for it sometime this week. I’m heading out to NASIG on Wednesday, so it will probably be sometime next week before I can get it up and running again, if all goes well.

Speaking of NASIG, the hotel this year has free wifi in public areas and some meeting rooms. The conference organizers have a blog available for attendees to post and comment on. If you aren’t able to attend the conference and you have an interest in all things serials, then do keep tabs on the blog. I’ll be attempting to some live blogging both here and there.

As you may know, I write reviews for a website called Blogcritics.org. I’m trying to catch up on the backlog of review items in my house, which is why that’s about all I’ve been posting lately. Hopefully things will get back to normal once I get caught up. You can keep tabs with what’s pending, if you’re interested. I’m really behind on the books. Arg.

the pen

Music for the literate masses.

John McCutcheon - Mightier Than the SwordBefore I listened to Mightier Than the Sword, my experience with John McCutcheon’s music consisted of one track from his 1987 Step by Step, which featured the hammer dulcimer. The song is “Babylon is Fallen,” which is an old Sacred Harp tune, and one of my favorites to sing. When I bought that CD some years ago, I was singing with a shape note group in Kentucky. Now I’m in Washington, surprised to discover that this hammer dulcimer player is also a guitar-playing contemporary singer/songwriter of repute.

Mightier Than the Sword first attracted my attention because of its theme. McCutcheon has been a voracious reader for most of his life, and the themes from the books he read found their ways into his songs. For this recording, he took that a step further and collaborated with willing authors to write a collection of songs inspired by a particular book or poem of each author. I haven’t read any of the works that inspired this recording, but after having listened to it, I feel like I know the essences of them.

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#11

If the Lord of the Rings movies hadn’t done so well, I doubt this book would have made it onto the New York Times best seller list, much less reach number one.

My sister gave me a copy of Eragon by Christopher Paolini for Christmas this past year, and last night I finally finished reading it. I’d picked it up a copy while at a friend’s house earlier this month and read the first few chapters, but then life got in the way of finishing it. Last night I decided to read a few more chapters before going to bed (early). Sigh. I finished it at one this morning, and I am still ticked with the author.

This book is a part of a series. At no point must you think that most of the mysteries will be revealed by the end; nor must you think that any conflicts will be resolved, either. Personally, I think it’s cruel to leave a cliffhanger at the end of 508 pages. This is yet another way that the author has poorly ripped off Tolkein. His depiction of Elven and Dwarf societies are very Tolkein-esque, his map of Alaga

hearing voices

chick lit disguised as a cozy mystery — a pleasant but unsubstantial read

My Very Own Murder by Josephine Carr takes place in an upscale and venerable Washington apartment building. Aside from mentions of retired Senators, nothing particularly distinguishes the inner-beltway setting, and it could be any major American city with a sizeable international population. The focus is entirely on the protagonist and her worldview from the eighth floor. Recently divorced at fifty and living off of a generous inheritance, Anne quickly grows bored with the usual time fillers. It is at this point in her life when she is seeking direction that a message comes to her. A voice in her head tells her that a murder will be committed in the building within thirty days and she must prevent it. Deciding to take it seriously, she enlists the aid of her ex-husband, two grown children, and the cleaning lady to sleuth out the murderer and prevent the murder. Between the sex, drinks, and shopping, a bit of sleuthing occurs, but this is definitely in the cozy mystery category or borderline chick lit.

The author seems to have spent more time on Anne’s relationships than on developing a solid mystery. Through the events of the story, Anne rediscovers herself and grows in ways she was unable to in her failed marriage. In and of itself, that aspect of the story is quite compelling. However, the problems occur when Carr attempts to wrap this into an armchair detective story. At times, it is difficult to tell if the red herrings are red herrings or if in fact they are the fumblings of a not-very-well-thought-out plot. Sinister or suspicious characters are introduced and then never fully explained away. In the end, and almost paranormal science fiction explanation is given for the voice heard by Anne — an explanation that seems out of place. The author would have done better to leave this as a self-discovery coming of age story, rather than attempting to use the mystery genre for that purpose. Still, it is a pleasant escape from reality for a few hours, and likely to be popular with the chick lit crowd.

gospel of biff

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore What if Jesus had a crass best friend? What if they went to the East and learned kung fu and Zen Buddhism? What happened to Jesus when he was growing up, anyway? The title of this book caught my eye when I first … Continue reading “gospel of biff”

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore

What if Jesus had a crass best friend? What if they went to the East and learned kung fu and Zen Buddhism? What happened to Jesus when he was growing up, anyway?

The title of this book caught my eye when I first read it. I wasn’t quite sure if the book was a satire or a religious tract, and it turns out that it’s a little of both. Lamb asks the question, “What if…” and then proceeds to answer it page after page.

The story is told from the perspective of Biff, who was raised from the dead in the present time by an angel (with a directive from God, it seems) to write his gospel. The angel gives him the ability to speak in tongues, so the gospel is written with modern American idioms and informal language. If this book had been written now instead of a few years ago, one might imagine that the author would turn the Gospel of Biff into a blog.

There’s a lot in this book that is sure to rile the righteous. Although Joshua (Jesus) remains chaste throughout the story, Biff makes up for it by sleeping with almost every woman he meets. If the sex isn’t enough to make biblical literalists squirm, I’m sure that Joshua’s insistence than there should be a beatitude for the dumbfucks will do the trick. Clearly Moore had a great deal of irreverent fun filling in the gaps of Jesus’ life left by the other gospels. And, as he notes, if this book is enough to shake your faith, then perhaps you need to do a little more praying.

caribbean beer

It’s a tough job to write a guide to regional beers, but thankfully Mark McKenna’s ten years in the Caribbean gave him the opportunity to sample all 75 local brands. His experience is chronicled in his new book, McKenna’s Guide to Caribbean Beers: All the Islands, All the Brews published by Parrot. In the book, … Continue reading “caribbean beer”

It’s a tough job to write a guide to regional beers, but thankfully Mark McKenna’s ten years in the Caribbean gave him the opportunity to sample all 75 local brands. His experience is chronicled in his new book, McKenna’s Guide to Caribbean Beers: All the Islands, All the Brews published by Parrot. In the book, he goes through each of the 22 islands alphabetically, including Bermuda and the Bahamas because of their proximity and beer offerings.

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job security

Tonight I read a Star Trek novel by Diane Duane called The Wounded Sky. In it, the Enterprise™ makes use of an experimental device to travel outside of the Milky Way to another galaxy. The writing is well done, and like many of the early Star Trek novels, it presents physics that are unique and … Continue reading “job security”

Tonight I read a Star Trek novel by Diane Duane called The Wounded Sky. In it, the Enterprise™ makes use of an experimental device to travel outside of the Milky Way to another galaxy. The writing is well done, and like many of the early Star Trek novels, it presents physics that are unique and not restricted to the known Star Trek Universe post-TNG/DS9/Voyager/etc.

What caught my attention the most, however, is the list of reference sources at the end of the book. The two journal citations written before the book’s 1983 publication, I assume to exist in reality. The other four are obviously creations of the author’s imagination. No matter how creative and fantastic are the futures envisioned by science fiction authors, journals still have their place in them. As a serials librarian, I find great comfort in that.

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