Book Blog

I fled into the world of The Regulators (by Richard Bachman / Stephen King) after a friend’s suggested book proved so dry and badly written that I had to balm myself with enjoyable, cutting fiction. And really, through people hate to admit it, King is a solid writer. It might feel clever to say he isn’t, but his prose is hard and sharp and imaginative, and his stories horrifically fun. And this one was no exception. The book explores the ironic zone between the peaceful world most of us live in (suburbia) and the brutal popular culture that flies through […]

So, to its credit, 299 days made me think. At its core, it’s a book about independent preppers who get ready for our country’s coming collapse with guns, food, guns, a bolt-hole, guns, like-minded friends, and guns. So, am I going to get a dozen guns, a prepped hiding place and enough food for a year? No. But I am looking at my total lack of preparation and reconsidering that. I think my wife and I will organize bolt-bags (gym bags with a few pairs of clothes, critical medicines and copies of important paperwork). We made it through the aftermath […]

These days, scifi is a pretty black and white affair, vast   black   space and dusty white lifeless planets. Nothing got that across for me than Ark, showing what happens when you are lucky in launching a desperate colonization effort. And there was Flying to Valhalla. Same deal. But Starwolf is old school scifi. Written as a three-book saga in the early 60’s and reprinted as a collection in the 80’s, it’s a bold splash of color. Space is stuffed with golden nebulas and Christmas-light stars. Who cares that dead worlds somehow have an atmosphere? Who cares that the party lands […]

I caught the reference to this novel right off the bat – the Ten Thousand is a reference to the like number of Greek mercenaries who signed up under Cyrus the Younger (a Persian linage queue-jumper)around 400BC. They began their trek in Ionia (western Turkey) and marched and fought all the way to Central Babylonia where their employer (and all their generals) were killed. Left without supplies in the middle of a hostile empire, totally cut off, they hoisted their thirty pound hoplon shields and turned due north, driving towards the distant Black Sea. Which is why, when I saw […]

The cover of this old paperback is a true eye-catcher: A Nazi officer and a Japanese solder whirl as a Corsair fighter flashes over them, guns blazing, against a backdrop of the crumpled Statue of Liberty. This collection was released by Baen back in 1990, and quite the collection it was. Like all collections, it had its not-so-goods, and its goods. Some of my favorites: Vengeance in her bones: An old tramp freighter hates U-boats so bad, it repeatedly wrenches the wheel out of the captain’s grasp to ram subs, or sit over them until the destroyers get to the […]

A good thing in George RR Martin’s thick Game of Thrones (the first of a series) is the character list in the back. So many characters! It’s like Bleak House. It would have been improved if it had a checkbox behind each one, so you could check them off as they died. Characters die a lot on the various struggles for power. Bravo. A friend loaned me the first book (“Yeah, thanks,” I murmured as I hefted it). It was pretty standard stuff, guys on horses, guys with swords, a threat from the north, the uneasy lord, every bit of […]

Let’s get the disclaimer out front – I love Rafael Sabatini. I’ve always enjoyed everything he’s written. And now let’s talk about the Marquis of Carabas, which is in itself a will-o-wisp literary term for a fictional Count – it’s appeared in Puss and Boots and in a handful of other places. It means “Marquis of Nowhere”. Most fitting for this young London fencing master, son of a Frenchwoman recently passed away who learns that he is actually a Count, that he owns extensive holdings in France, that he’s a rich nobleman. The trouble with this is that the guillotine […]

I thought I knew this one. Jacob’s ladders with crackling electricity. Lighting flashing around dark turrets. Hunch-backed assistants. Stumbling, rambling, helpless monsters. And, of course, “IT’S ALLIIVVVEEE!” Frankenstein. My niece got me to read this, as detailed HERE. Never read it but if a kid demands you read a classic, you really need to follow up. Okay, first misconception – that the monster is named “Frankenstein”. Actually, that I knew but most people don’t (technically, he might adapt the Victor Frankenstein’s surname, but I rather doubt it. Demon. Monster. Those are more appropriate). So the book starts with letters from […]

Got a special interest in this book – see, I’m working on a computer game, Solar Trader, and so I’m very hyped on solar system mechanics. With all this door-to-door hyperspace nonsense out there, it’s easy to overlook just how much space there is between the sun and Pluto (yes, it’s still a milepost by my standards). The Aftermath is rather like The Real Story, a tale where a simple event in the begriming snowballs into system-wide repercussions and a growing cast of characters. Here, the Zacharius family (mom, dad, and two bickering kids) are just hoving in on a belt habitat when […]